RtP Week in Review (07/06/14)

Reading the Paranormal's Week in Review

• Cold Hard Secret by Sierra Dean [Review] - I really can't wait to see how things play out in the final book.
• 2014 Seriously Series 'Sessment - Kelly Tackles Round 2 - Series books. I read them!
• Top Off Tuesday - Just bask in the beauty!
• 2014 Seriously Series 'Sessment - April-June - Link 'em up!
• See How She Runs by Michelle Graves [Review] - Enjoyable for the most part, I just got hung up on betrayals and inept minions.
• Absolution by Angela Louise McGurk [Review] - An intriguing world filled with corrupt and corruptible vampires and a handful of humans who know what's what.
• All-American Wolf by Adriana Hunter [Review] -
• Blog Housekeeping [40] - Time to CLEAN HOUSE!

Bookish Delights

• Books added to the pile - 6
• Peanut Goes to School (Elder Races #6.7) by Thea Harrison
• Diamond Dust (Takhini Wolves #3) by Vivian Arend
• A Demon and His Psycho (Welcome to Hell #2) by Eve Langlais
• Fairy Luck (Songs of Magic #6) by J.L. Bryan - For review!
• Saving Grace Devine by Catherine Cavendish - For review!
• Freebies - Check the prices before you buy!
• The Wolf Within (Purgatory #1) by Cynthia Eden (Paranormal romance)
• Books read - 8
• Currently reading 
• The Forbidden Life of Alex Moore by Erin Quinn

Globetrotting...

• On Tuesday, I talked about my writing plans for July at KellyApple.com.  Zombie apocalypse romance, dark fairy tales, and monsters. ALL THE GOOD THINGS!
• Free Books Need Love, Too! weekly reviews:
• Monday - Dragon Days by Abby McGovern
• Tuesday - GLA: Take Me: The Maiden and the Monster by Madelene Martin
• Wednesday - Hot and Bothered by Roxie Rivera

Check it out!

• Seriously Series weekly update: New quarter! Let's see how I do over the next three months!
• Series started in 2014: 5/18 (+5 since last week)
• Series started before 2014: 2/18 (+2 since last week)
• Series rereads: 7/9 (+0 since last week)

Blog Housekeeping [40]

It's that time again! Time to polish up your blog until it shines!

*This weekend is my wee boy's birthday (yeah, he's not so wee. He's 15 and taller than me!), so it's unlikely I'll be around. Does that mean I'm neglecting my housekeeping? Heck no! I planned for this and worked in a few tasks during the week! My boy is happy, my blog is happy, I'm happy.

Update:

• review archive - are you responsible for sites other than your own? Don't forget about those
• sidebar - check for buttons or links for events that have ended. Have any new events coming up? Now's the time to add them.
• reading challenges - update your progress, add links to challenges where you can link up. If you're a challenge host, do you try to comment on linked reviews? Now's your chance!
• blogrolls -  clean 'em up!
• crosspost - do you crosspost to Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, Library Thing? Don't forget to add your reviews to Netgalley or Edelwiess for those ARCs.
• check your subscription and social media links - if this isn't something that you normally check, now's an excellent time to make sure it's doing what it should be doing. (check out Felicia's Tech Tips for ideas on what to do if you're getting errors on your subscription link)
• check your static pages (About, Review Policy, etc) for outdated information, broken links, etc.
• review your profiles - when was the last time you updated your Goodreads or Facebook profiles? Is everything up to date?

Get ahead:

• July has arrived! The second half of the year wants you to schedule it! Prepare drafts of upcoming reads now so that you can write up the review as soon as you're finished! Do you accept review requests? Do the same with those.

Misc:

• respond to review requests and other bloggy emails
• check your spam folder - legitimate emails can sometimes slip through, catch them now.
• check the spam filter on the blog - get rid of the spam! save the legits!
• make the rounds - check back on blogs where you left comments, maybe spread a few new comments around like candy.

Did you do everything that applies to you? Well done! Now...

BACK UP YOUR BLOG!

| Tutorial |

The next Blog Housekeeping is scheduled for July 19th! I hope to see you there!

All American Wolf by Adriana Hunter [Review]

All American Wolf by Adriana Hunter
Format: ebook
Source: provided for an honest review as part of the Fated Mates bundle
Date read: March 14, 2014

Adriana Hunter
| Website | Twitter | Amazon | Kindle |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

When a dead, naked body is found frozen in the snow, recently promoted Detective Serena Daniels is assigned to the case. Determined to be taken seriously, she sets to work unraveling the mystery, one suspect at a time.

Brody Sullivan is a man with many secrets and he also just happens to be Madison County's newest citizen. So when he ends up on the list of potential suspects, it is Serena's job to clear his name. There's just one problem: Serena's felt an undeniable attraction to Brody that ignited from the moment they first met, and if she's not careful she may lose more than her job, she may lose her heart to the man who is willing to break every one of her rules.

Thoughts on All American Wolf: Overall, I liked this book. However, it did have a couple of interactions in it that bordered on rape and those weren't my favorite. On one hand, I was uncomfortable. On the other, what Serena went through WAS uncomfortable, especially as she came to understand what had happened and why she'd acted the way she acted, so that worked.

Still, rapey scenes aren't really my cup of tea.

BUT... hot werewolves who woo their lady friends with long looks and by saving their frozen booty ARE my cup of tea. So, yay!

I did like the mystery. Serena had to sort through a lot of unbelievable information to get to the truth and she handled it like a champ. Between the weirdness of this case and her attraction to both the main suspect and someone who was flat out telling her werewolves were real, she could have easily checked out mentally. Instead she follows her gut and works through what she knows to be true to find justice.

Not going to lie, the hot sex probably jump started her brain somehow. Because hot werewolf action ALWAYS helps.

Enjoyable for the most part. While I wasn't a huge fan of some of what Serena went through, I can appreciate how it worked with the story.

Absolution by Angela Louise McGurk [Review]

Absolution (The Vampire Alliance #1) by Angela Louise McGurk
Format: ebook
Source: provided by the author for an honest review
Date read: March 12, 2014

The Vampire Alliance
1. Absolution - Kindle
2. Allegiance
3. Antithesis

Angela Louise McGurk
| Website | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Absolution is a new story of heartbreak, betrayal, seduction and re-finding love.

Eve Blakethorn can barely remember what it was like to be unaware of the vampire world around her. Many years have passed since she met the stranger, the man who saved her life, gave her the world and promised her immortality. Unfortunately for Eve someone in power had not wanted her to have the world. Within days of her marriage her life is shattered. Everyone Eve cares for, vampire and human, is taken from her and she is left alone to fend for herself in a world she neither understands nor fits into. How can she hope to survive her dark and lonely existence while still plagued by the horrors she witnessed when her husband died? How can she avoid becoming prey to the monster who stalks her footsteps, the devil she has long suspected to be the one who brought about her husband’s downfall?

Desperation drives her every move, leading her into the darkness where monsters wait. Can Eve discover the truth about how her world came to crumble and who was really responsible? Is there another stranger out there capable of bringing her some sense of peace? And just what is the vampire government, The Senate, hiding in the dark tunnels under the city?

Thoughts on Absolution: This book had a slow build. While the beginning started with a bang, the narrative then slips between Eve's present circumstances and the story of three men (Eve's lost husband being one of them) who became vampires in the early 1900s. It isn't until a good way into the book that the threads of the past and the present begin to come together and you can see why we needed both sides of the story.

Frankly, I didn't always know what to think of Eve. I can appreciate that she managed to find a way to survive against terrible odds, but she was very disconnected in the beginning. She makes some choices that have devastating consequences for her. She pushes hard for answers at some of the worst possible moments.

As the truth of things begins to come out, she sees how she's been played. And it's not pretty.

An intriguing world filled with corrupt and corruptible vampires and a handful of humans who know what's what. Throw in a small force of vampires who want to stop the corruption in its tracks and you have the makings for something big. Eve's life isn't always pretty, but she keeps soldiering on. Some days, that's all you can ask for.

See How She Runs by Michelle Graves [Review]

See How She Runs (The Chronicles of Izzy #1) by Michelle Graves
Format: ebook
Source: provided by the author for an honest review
Date read: March 6, 2014

The Chronicles of Izzy
1. See How She Runs - Paperback | Kindle
2. See How She Fights

Michelle Graves
| Twitter | Facebook | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

One delivery changed her whole life.

Izzy was a normal girl living in Chicago as a bike messenger before that fateful day. She delivered one package and set into action a chain of events she never could have expected.

Now she is running for her life from the Corporation, her best friend is not at all who he seemed, and to top it all off she keeps having visions.

Will she survive to navigate the waters as a Seer? Will her feelings for Kennan be her very downfall? Find out in See How She Runs.

Thoughts on See How She Runs: There were things I liked about this book and things I was left scratching my head over. While the good definitely outweighed the head scratching moments,they were present and they took me out of the story a bit.

I liked the overall story and the mythology of the Seers and Guardians. In fact, the mythology was very cool and kept the story moving. My biggest issue came from the idea that if someone was keeping an eye on Izzy the whole time and they knew who she was, why wasn't she exposed earlier? They knew what she was capable of, why not hand her over the first chance they got?

Frankly, I got tangled up thinking about that and about the betrayal/betrayer and got sucked out of the story.

I liked Kennan for the most part. I don't think he was particularly right in keeping the truth about Izzy's heritage from her, especially when he could see the signs coming, and he's not the best at explaining things until after the fact, but he was a good guy. I wasn't enamored of Ian when he first flailed his way on page. BUT... I can see how Izzy needed someone around who was a little less intense than Kennan.

As for Izzy, she doesn't always make the smartest choices, but she isn't willing to sit back and do nothing. And that matters.

Enjoyable for the most part, I just got hung up on betrayals and inept minions. Which could be an entirely me-thing, I'll admit.

2014 Seriously Series 'Sessment - April-June

Welcome to the second official check-in for the 2014 Seriously Series Reading Challenge!

As a reminder, this check-in is a chance for you to report your progress during the previous 3 months (April - June) and reassess your goals, if needed. If you need a refresher on the categories and/or levels that you can shoot for, visit the sign-up page.

Check-in schedule:

• April 1st: January--March
• July 1st: April--June
• October 1st: July--September
• January 1st, 2015: October--December

Ready to share your progress? Excellent! Please link to either your initial sign-up post or a progress post -- not your blog's homepage.
Please note: The linky will remain open through the month of July for this check-in.

Top Off Tuesday - Just bask in the beauty!

I've decided to join Felicia, Christi and Amanda for their gratuitous shirtless covers on Tuesdays. Because nothing says Tuesday like flashing some skin! Hop over to Felicia's blog to see who else is participating!

Yes, I am completely smitten with the entire Beyond series. I mean, DO YOU SEE THESE COVERS???

Beyond Innocence (Beyond #6) by Kit Rocha
(another one without an official blurb yet, but the teaser is -- This ice princess might melt the heart he didn’t know he had. *swoon*)