MY FIRST OFFICIAL SHOUT OUT!

This morning I got a lovely little message from Ambur (Burning Impossibly Bright) that said Good Books, Good Coffee, Good Life is mentioned on the back of the e-book version of Olivia Cunning's Rock Hard. After some squealing, I went and checked my digital version of the book and there it was! I can't tell you how excited I am! Big question is how the heck did I miss this!?! Anywho, this little shout out has really renewed my blogging mojo. As you can tell, I haven't been around much lately thanks to school but my finals will be done soon and I promise I will be back with vengeance. I'm currently reading Big Bad Beast by Shelly Laurenston and it's soooooo good. I can't wait to review it for y'all.

New Cover Alert: Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey

Shannon Stacey just posted the cover for the third book in her Kowalski series on her blog. Yours to Keep features Sean Kowalski, who I cannot for the life of me remember hearing about in the other two books. Oh well, as long as he is like his cousins, I'll be satisfied. Those Kowalski men are sweethearts. Can't wait to read this! Yours to Keep comes out June 6th through Carina Press. CLICK HERE to read an excerpt from the book.

                                                                                                                                         Sean Kowalski no sooner leaves the army than he’s recruited by Emma Shaw to be her fake fiancé. Emma needs to produce a husband-to-be for her grandmother’s upcoming visit, and, though Sean doesn’t like the deception, he could use the landscaping job Emma’s offering while he decides what to do with his civilian life. And, despite his attraction to Emma, there’s no chance he’ll fall for a woman with deep roots in a town he’s not planning to call home.

Emma’s not interested in a real relationship either; not with a man whose idea of home is wherever he drops his duffel bag. No matter how amazing his “pretend” kisses are…

New Cover Alert: Fate's Edge by Ilona Andrews

Ilona Andrews revealed the cover for the third book in The Edge series on her blog today, which happens to be one of my favorite author blogs btw. Her and her husband Gordon, who is also her writing partner, have the funniest little stories to share. Definitely check it out! According to Amazon, Fate's Edge is slated to be released on November 29, 2011. I read the first book in the series and really enjoyed it. However, the second book remains sitting in my TBR pile...along with the Kate Daniels series. Yes I know, shame on me for not reading the Kate Daniels books yet. I swear I'll get to them soonish.

Check out Ilona's blog to read a snippet from Fate's Edge!

New Cover Alert: Chasin' Eight by Lorelei James

I have lots of love for Lorelei James and her Rough Riders series. As I have said before, she is my favorite contemporary romance/erotica author. Her McKay men are just to die for. 

Although there isn't a lot of information available on Chasin' Eight, it features Chase McKay who makes a small appearance in Cowgirls Don't Cry. I believe in that book Chase is described as the rodeo stud who has a different buckle bunny in every city. Sounds promising! 

Chasin' Eight is out June 30, 2011. 

Review: Touched by an Alien by Gini Koch

Touched by an Alien by Gini Koch
Katherine "Kitty" Katt #1
Sci-fi Romance
April 6, 2010
Paperback, 400 pages
DAW
                                                                                                        Favorite quote: "I'll marry you before any tree on Earth."
                                                                                                How can a sexy marketing manager join forces with an Alpha Centauri male in Armani to save the planet-using hairspray, a Mont Blanc pen, and rock n' roll? Easy... She's Touched by an Alien.

Marketing manager Katherine "Kitty" Katt steps into the middle of what appears to be a domestic dispute turned ugly. And it only gets uglier when the man turns into a winged monster, straight out of a grade-Z horror movie, and goes on a killing spree. Though Kitty should probably run away, she springs into action to take the monster down.

In the middle of the chaos a handsome hunk named Jeff Martini appears, sent by the "agency" to perform crowd control. He's Kitty's kind of guy, no matter what planet he's from. And from now on, for Kitty, things are going to be sexy, dangerous, wild, and out of this world.
                                                                                                                                         Sadly, Touched by an Alien has been sitting in my TBR pile for quite awhile. I first started the book last April, but after reading the first 80 pages, I got bored and put it back on my bookshelf. However, this week, I decided that instead of buying a new book, I need to save my money and read some books I already own. I didn't want to read the same old thing, so I decided to give Touched by an Alien another try. 
                                                                                                                                         Touched by an Alien is truly unique. I am a fan of sci-fi romance, but I have never read anything like this before. Hot alien men who like to dress in Armani? Yes please! Although I was expecting the book to be pure fluff from beginning to end, I was surprised that some parts of the book were actually quite serious. Koch's take on religion was truly enlightening and I was glad she tackled such a difficult topic. The book also had great comedic moments. A couple times I found myself laughing out loud at some of the characters' lines. However, parts of books were also kind of cheesy. The descriptions of the superbeings (the evil aliens) are just way over the top. I felt like having such funny looking villains took away from the story. Bad guys need to be scary!
                                                                                                                                     Katherine "Kitty" Katt is a really fun heroine. She is no wilting flower and can kick some ass when she needs to. Although I really liked Kitty's character, I found that in some parts of the book she just came to conclusions too quickly. I understand that Kitty is good at thinking on her feet, but I still found that there was no way she could have known the things she does when the supposedly superior Alpha-Centauri   aliens had no clue. I also had a little bit of an issue with Koch failing to write about Kitty's appearance. I'm the type of person who likes to imagine the characters in my head as I read, so I found this kind of annoying. Nevertheless, I enjoyed Kitty immensely. 
                                                                                                                                         Koch's hero, Jeff Martini, is also quite swoon worthy. Martini is the perfect mix of Alpha and Beta. He isn't too overbearing, but he still makes it known that Kitty is his and his alone. I also loved how Martini asked Kitty to marry him a few seconds after they meet. Although it sounds quite cheesy, his proclamations about wanting to be with Kitty are quite cute and inspire great banter between the pair. There was also lots of sexual chemistry between the two. However, I wish there was just a bit more romance in the book. Although, when you are busy battling evil aliens, there isn't much time for sneaking in some lovin'.                  
                                                                                                                                   Usually, I try to write my own synopsis of a book in my reviews, but this book is just so jam-packed with information I don't even know where to start. I think the reason I put this book down the first time was because I just couldn't keep however. Honestly, I don't think a lot of the information Koch included was necessary to the story, so the book could have been a lot shorter. However, I still had a lot of fun reading this book. I'm excited to see what wacky-zany things will happen to Martini and Kitty in the future!

Other opinions: 

~Goodreads

~That Bookish Girl - 5/5

~Bitten by Books - 5/5

Other books in the series:

Alien Tango

Alien in the Family (April 5, 2011)

Author's website

Steamin' Hot New Cover: One Grave at a Time by Jeaniene Frost

I love the covers for Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series and thankfully, One Grave at a Time (book #6 in the series) doesn't disappoint. It looks like they got a new cover model for Cat, which is fine by me. This girl looks more like how I pictured Cat. I also love how they put Helsing on the cover. That reminds me,  I need to finish This Side of the Grave soon. This cover gets two thumbs up from me!

One Grave at a Time comes out August 30, 2011.

Check out the setback!

Steamin' Hot New Cover: Lord of the Abyss by Nalini Singh

Not too long ago I posted the cover for the first book (Lords of the Vampires by Gena Showalter) in the new HQN Nocturne series Royal House of Shadows. Well, here is the cover for book #4, which is written by Nalini Singh.

Again, I have to give my stamp of approval to this cover just because it's so different from other Nocturne books. Yes, the cover has got some cheese thanks to the whole cape thing, but I find the nicely sculpted abs makes up for it. Yeah, I think I'm just going to stick with staring at the abs.

Lord of the Abyss comes out December 2011.

Once upon a time…the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden. To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance. Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs…and time is running out.…

As the dark Lord who condemns souls to damnation in the Abyss, Micah is nothing but a feared monster wrapped in impenetrable black armor. He has no idea he is the last heir of Elden, its last hope. Only one woman knows—the daughter of his enemy.

Liliana is nothing like her father, the Blood Sorcerer who'd cursed Micah. She sees past Micah’s armor to the prince inside. A prince whose sinful touch she craves. But first she has to brave his dark, dangerous lair and help him remember. Because they only have till midnight to save Elden.