Exciting News!

Hi!

Ok, a little bit later than planned due to interwebbie issues but I’m pleased to announce that to celebrate an entire year of blogging, I’ve treated myself to a personalised domain name so that I can get this book blogging thing going in earnest.

Thank you so much for following and encouraging me up to now, it’s meant so much to me. If you’d like to keep up with my reviews and other bookish goodies, please follow me here at http://www.themostsublime.com

I’m still in the process of transferring over all my old reviews so please bear with me, they should all be up in the next couple of weeks.

Here’s to another great year!

Temporarily Without Internet: Not Dead

I’m currently living sans internet, which is a very liberating experience and surprisingly not as stressful as I thought it would be.

It put a spanner in the works for all my planned posts but I’ll be reconnected on Tuesday, if all goes to plan. 
While I’m out of the loop- what’s everyone been reading? 

Review: Carrots by Colleen Helme

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

 

 

Synopsis:

Shelby Nichols is an average woman who is married to the only guy she ever fell for. Her life is organized and predictable, revolving around her husband and two children.

All that changes the day she stops at the grocery store for some carrots. As the cashier rings up her purchases, a gunman is busy robbing the bank inside the store. When a customer grabs the robber’s mask, he is shot and everyone runs for cover. Everyone except Shelby, who finds herself face to face with the killer.

The next thing she knows, she’s lying on the floor with a bullet wound to her head. Luckily, the bullet only grazes her scalp, and she doesn’t suspect any lasting affects until later, when she suddenly ‘hears’ what people are thinking.

With this uncanny ability, her life takes on a whole new dimension. Her kids think she’s bossy and too old to understand them, but that’s nothing compared to her husband. He says he loves her, but what is it about the redhead at work that he doesn’t want her to know?

As if that isn’t enough, the gunman knows she can identify him, and he’s out to silence her forever. In her fight to stay alive, she is saved from certain death by a handsome hit-man with ties to organized crime. This pulls Shelby even deeper into danger, where knowing someone’s thoughts can not only hurt her feelings, but get her killed.

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I discovered this series when I listened to the audiobook for book 8 (I really should start doing these things in order) and I knew that I wanted to start again from the beginning, even more so when I saw the cover!

Shelby is an amazing character, she’s a fun mix of ditzy and resourceful. At times she’s infuriating, getting herself into scrapes without thinking but of course, uses her new gift to wiggle her way out of them.

This is like a less supernatural take on Charlaine Harris’ Stackhouse series, with a likable and down to earth woman has the ability to read minds and what a decent human being would do with such an ability. In this case, make chicken enchiladas and help the police in their investigations.

Everyone I’ve described this book to has been interested: ‘housewife is shot in the head by a bankrobber, can now read minds and is forced to help out a mob boss’. What’s not to love? That’s pretty much what drew me in.

The organised crime part of this book is great fun, Shelby ends up helping the leader of the local mob after repeating something she overheard in someone’s thoughts and then admitting everything to save the lives of her family (standard). She’s now helping him determine the loyalties of those closest to him and rooting out any traitors.

Obviously, she has to wear a wig to do this. And sunglasses.
These are the things that keep the book light and funny, Shelby is sweet and eccentric and infinitely likable. While she loves her family, she can’t help but enjoy her new power and the new purpose and variety it’s brought to her life. Not least, meeting the mysterious Ramos, hired hitman and bodyguard who has more than a passing interest in her and her wellbeing. I still doubt anything will happen between the two of them, which is quite frustrating but I guess I shall just have to wait and see….

I’d recommend this book to fans of mysteries, fun paranormal books and light crime novels. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be follwing the series right to its conclusion!

Bookish People and the Internet: A Match Made In Heaven

The internet is one of my favourite modern inventions after indoor plumbing and toasters.

It seems like the ultimate tool for bookish people – a lot of us are introverted, busy, and don’t actually live anywhere near the authors who write our favourite books.
I’m still discovering places online to talk books, but here are my favourite things so far:

• Twitter

  This is where I’ve met most of my favourite new authors, @LeeAnne_Hansen_ , @outfortune (Stephen Kozenieswki), @TerryMaggert and @kelkey1202 (Kelley Kaye)  to name but a few.

  Talking to authors online gives you a better understanding of their work and more importantly, reminds you not to be a dick when writing your reviews. They’re real people with real feelings, seeing their personal tweets reminds you of this.

• NetGalley

  
  Ok, so my limited understanding is that a ‘galley’ is similar to an advance reading copy (ARC) – essentially it’s a sample of the book that isn’t available for sale or sharing.

  You can browse the tiles available and put in a request for any book that takes your fancy, if the publisher accepts then you can download a copy to read and then link in your review when complete.

  This is how I discovered the Everealm series, so I’m a firm fan!

• Goodreads

  

I imagine that every booklover with access to the internet knows about Goodreads (I’ve been on it for years though I have no idea how I found it in the first place).
It’s a bit like Twitter in that you have to put work in to get something out of it.

Authors love you to add your reviews to this site as well as Amazon, so clearly reviewing is a big part of this site but there are also forums which allow you to find recommendations, ARCs from authors looking for reviews and generally talk books with like minded people.

I’m making full use of the reading challenge facility, I was aiming to read 100 books this year but I’ve finished 50 books so far so I may have to up my game a little bit.

I suspect there’s a lot more to Goodreads that I haven’t found yet so any pointers would be appreciated.

You can add me as a friend on Goodreads here

• BookRiot

  I first found this as a podcast on Itunes, in my sweet naivete by typing ‘books’.

  I’ve been hooked ever since and listen to it weekly, the presenters talk about the book news of the week and they are incredibly well informed. I always feel like I’m on the right track if I already know about something they’re discussing that week!

  Each episode is about an hour long, perfect for a gym session or while cooking dinner. I can’t recommend this podcast enough, this series alongside ‘Stuff You Should Know’ are the reason I listen to Podcasts.

  There are some spinoffs produced by the same people, my favourite of which is ‘Get Booked’

The presenters answer listener emails/tweets asking for book recommendations along a certain theme, they’re so well promoted that I find myself scribbling the titles down on the back of receipts so I can check them out later and consider buying (I’m a book marketing department’s wet dream).

 

I’ll be writing another post on book blogs, definitely too many to add into this! Where do you get your books news from and stay up to date on new releases?
Where do you source your review copies?

 

Review : I Kill in Peace by Hunter Shea

Samhain Publishing

 

 

Synopsis:

Peter Blades is, in every sense of the word, an ordinary man. Hard worker, father, husband, a man content with small-town life. Except for one small fact—he’s slowly being turned into a ruthless killer.

Compelled by mysterious texts to murder, he’s provided a fiery red Mustang and an ancient sword to carry out an ever-growing hit list. His jerkoff boss is victim number one. You always remember your first.

By the time his sword sings through the air to dispatch a would-be school shooter, taking lives is as easy as breathing. And if the world is going to hell around him, all the better. No one wants to burn alone.

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Oooooooh. Well this book wasn’t what I was expecting!

Peter is a likable main character, he’s an ordinary office worker who loves his family and does everything he can to support them until he’s laid off by his morally dubious boss. When he’s sent a text message telling him to kill his boss, he obviously ignores it at first … but then it starts to seem like a good idea.

I thought that this book would end in an enjoyable but predictable way but it went off in a completely different direction and blew my mind! I can’t give much away because the surprising twist is something that’s threaded throughout the entire book.

The violence in this book isn’t too gory, it’s mostly ‘necessary’ and not too disturbing. What is disturbing is the behaviour of a lot of the characters in this book, I will warn you now that there is a scene of child abuse so be warned.

Shea has a gift for story telling, his writing style is simple and had me finishing this book in a single sitting. He knows how to spin a good yarn and hold your attention, as well as building suspense wonderfully.

I would recommend this book for fans of horror, dark fiction and psychological thrillers.

**Thank you to Netgalley for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

‘and that’s how you get ants’ – any book that quotes Archer automatically gains an extra star in my world!

Review: Miranda’s Rights (Paranormal Detectives Book #2) by Lily Luchesi

Vamptasy Publishing

Synopsis:

The dead don’t always rest easy…
Retired detective, Danny Mancini, is haunted by nightmares after he found out that paranormal creatures exist. All he wants is to forget them…especially a certain half-vampire. When cursed werewolves show up trying to kill him, he is forced to go back to the Paranormal Investigative Division for help against a powerful old enemy. What he was not expecting was a dead ex showing back up after twenty-six years.

 

 

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Here’s the sequel to Stake-Out , the book that I reviewed earlier this week and hell, if it isn’t another stunning cover!

This book came on in leaps and bounds from the last one, Luchesi has developed her writing voice and brings the story to life. The storyline is a classic but it appeals to both my inner romantic and my gore fiend (beasties get their hearts ripped out. Literally).

The pace of this book is excellent, it picks up directly from where the last book left off but now adds some more depth and history to both of the main characters, Danny and Angelica, the history that I was dying to know after being pulled in from the beginning of the lfirst novel. We learn about their past loves and some of Angelica’s early years, though I personally can’t wait to hear more about Danny’s upbringing and how he came to be where he is now.

The relationship between the two characters blossoms but this time I enjoyed the added finesse to proceedings, their interactions were more complex and seductive and I now desperately hope they get their happy ending!

The ending of this book was my favourite part (not in a bad way!), it was a wonderfully neat cliffhanger which has me looking forward to the next installment where we’ll be seeing a lot more of the denizens of hell and where they fit into the mythology of this world. I’m a huge fan of demons in literature so I can’t wait to read on.

** Thank you to the author for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

Review: The Bride Wore Brains by Emily Wesley Stringer

 

 

Synopsis:

Claire’s perfect wedding takes a horrific turn when her guests start turning into zombies. It’s up to her best friend, Kat and a motley crew of wisecracking misfits to save the day.

 

 

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This book really did it for me. I have finally found a situation in which I love wedding details – the author has planned a wedding right down to the bouquet and pink satin bridesmaid shoes, then trashed it all with zombies and a chainsaw. Exquisite!

I sometimes think I’d make an awesome wedding planner, I enjoy the details like colour schemes and making the cake frosting match the colour of the boquets and stupid crap like that…. I just don’t want the hassle or expense of an actual wedding. This allowed me to indulge in my enjoyment of wedding arrangements but all the squishy stuff involved leaking brain matter rather than real human emotions.

The story was short and utterly compelling, I really enjoyed reading this little gem and would absolutely read any other books written by this author in the future. This little beauty will be staying on my kindle for a re-read at a later date, it’s the perfect book to crack out when you have a spare moment and don’t have time to emotionally invest in characters. This book is funny, violent, gory fun.

We follow events through the eyes of Kat, the stressed out maid of honour. She is badass, ready to do what needs to be done and skips the wearisome ‘this can’t be happening’ stage and jumps right in to killing wedding guests and catering staff.

I found this book on Twitter, the cover art drew me in initially (mega props to the person responsible for the cover design) and then the title of the book sealed the deal. I would definitely consider buying a print copy of this book if it became available, for the sake of gorying up my bookshelf.

It was a beautiful combination of humour and zombie horror/action – I would recommend it to anyone looking for a refreshing read with a bit of gratuitous gore.

**Thank you to the author for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

Review: Stake-Out by Lily Luchesi

Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing

 

Synopsis:

Detective Danny Mancini is on a case, following a murder suspect. When he catches him, he finds out that the perp isn’t even human: he’s a 200 year old rogue vampire!

The department doesn’t believe him, and puts him on early retirement, despite his many years of service to the Chicago Police Department, which sends him into a downward spiral.

Two years later, Danny gets an invitation from the beautiful, young and very attractive Detective Angelica Cross to join a secret branch of the FBI to help her track down Vincent, the wayward vamp.

But renegade werewolves, meddling immortal witches and Danny’s strange visions of a life lived a century ago with Angelica make things more difficult than it should be.

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This book is of my go-to comfort genre, vampire fiction with a hint of mystery. I’m a huge Anita Blake fan so this series immediately appealed to me.

The story line itself is good, featuring my favourite concept of a regular human discovering that there’s more to this world than they’d ever expected.

Danny finds himself enlisted by a paranormal investigation branch of the FBI and teamed up with a mysterious and unsubtly gorgeous woman, following his early forced retirement from the police department. Their bond grows both professionally and romantically (obviously) and then BOOM! events get in the way and they have to engage in some serious violence to come out the other side.

As it’s first book in the Paranormal Detectives series, I may be being a little harsh only awarding it 3 stars (there may be guilt later that I have to assuage with vanilla clotted cream fudge) but I have high hopes for the rest fthe series and don’t want to peak too soon with the stars.

Luchesi’s writing style definitely grew in confidence as the book went on but the beginning was a little blunt, I’m a big fan of subtlety in books and this definitely lacked that. The characters  essentially fall into the ‘wow, you’re hot. I’m in love with you now’ mindset from their first meeting and it isn’t really much more sophisticated than that – I’m all about the seduction in these books!

One thing that I did find weird was the numerous and forced references to pop culture series like Lord of the Rings and Supernatural (specifically Season 10, the episode where Dean is possessed by a Demon) – there were too many of them and definitely date the book, in a few years time no-one will know the Crowley/Mark Sheppard link.

As the book went on, the characters started moving in the right direction towards complexity and all the feely-brainy stuff I like. The action was brilliant and the story really gripped me, now I just look forward to seeing the author’s voice coming into its own and catching up with the brilliance of her ideas.

By which I mean I have the sequel and will probably be reading that until I fall asleep tonight!

**Thank you to the author for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

One Full Year of Blogging

Given my overwhelming hatred of squooshing two words together to form a new word, I can’t bring myself to use the word ‘Blogiversary’ – so happy Blog-Anniversary to Most Sublime!

 

The actual date was yesterday but the WordPress notification slipped under my radar until late last night but I did want to do something special to celebrate so for the rest of this month, I will be writing a series of ‘things that I learnt in my first year’ posts to mark the occasion.

I’ve got so much more to learn to get where I want to be but I’m so proud of that I’ve learnt already and the friends I’ve made along the way, I now contribute to two other websites and have better defined plans for my future in the book industry but there’ll be more about that in the next 3 weeks….

Most importantly of all, thank you for reading my reviews and witterings over the past year. You’ve made it worthwhile and are the reason I want to carry on learning, to be able to offer you even better content to read when you should be doing something constructive instead.

At the very end of this month I’ll have a surprise reveal for you too, so stay tuned!

 

Review: Escape (Lake of Sins Book #1) by L.S. O’Dea

 

Synopsis:

 

Backbreaking work from dusk to dawn is just a typical day for sixteen year old Trinity, but that is about to change.

Harvest is over which means that it’s time for the less than perfect teens to be removed from camp. Trinity is okay with that. It’s just another stage of a Producer’s life, but she fears her new home will be like her old one unless she can figure out a way to make friends.

She’s different than the other Producers and even though she’s hidden her fangs and claws her entire life, the others still sense her strangeness.

She concocts a plan to sneak into the forest and discover where the teenagers are taken every year. Once she figures that out she can return home. The other kids will be dying to learn the secret which means that they will have to talk to her and once they get to know her, they’ll like her.

Escaping into the forest is simple; she’s done it before, but never at night. That is different. So is the feeling that she is being followed.

When she stumbles across a new creature, a large fish-like river man, that is only the beginning of her adventures in the forest.

She is hunted, captured, and befriended but she still needs to discover the fate of her kind and return home before the week is up or her mother will be punished for her escape.

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As you might rememer, I’ve already read and reviewed one book by this author ‘Rise of the River-Man’ which was a spin off to this story.

This book was considerably more YA-ey than the last which appealed to me a little bit less, but all said – it ticks all the boxes of things that I would want from a YA novel.

A young heroine who doesn’t fit in, develops her sense of self awareness while learning to kick ass and forming relationships of the non-romantic variety with the people she meets. I think this is particularly important in books where the main character is a young woman, it’s ok to be helped by the menfolk but being constantly validated and rescued by a love interest makes my face sad.

The relationships in this book were particularly interesting and quite complex. A young man in a wheelchair who lies about his isolation so his mum doesn’t worry about him, an older Tracker who hasn’t been able to have children of her own so adopts waifs and strays she finds in the forest to nurture, an amicable marriage between a gay man and a woman who is having a forbidden relationship with another man. These are things that should be accessible to young adults to read – there are lots of great perspectives in this book that I really enjoyed.

O’Dea’s particular gift in this book is her view on the class system. This is something I’ve always been interested in but I find a lot of dystopian novels make it a little too exaggerated or dry to really pique my interest but this book really did open my eyes – a lower class so low, that they’ve been bred into compliance (not a lack of intelligence, just a lack of curiosity) and kept as livestock that care for themselves.

It’s a horrifying concept that’s actually got under my skin and will stick with me….

I would recommend this book in general for any fans of dystopian YA novels, but particularly as a good read for the child 10+ in your life as a good way of broaching the topic of segregation and the class system.

**Thank you to the author for providing a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

Review: Rise of the River-Man