Book News: New Excerpt from Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost

It looks like Jeaniene Frost is also in the gift giving spirit!

Head on over to her blog, found HERE, to read an all new excerpt from the much anticipated Once Burned, featuring the dark and delicious Vlad. Although it's just a little tidbit (or timbit for us Canadians) of an excerpt, you can tell that sparks really do fly between Vlad and his love interest Leila ;) Also, I love that Leila thinks that Vlad has role-playing issues, what with thinking he is the "real" Dracula and all. I bet that just burns him right up. Pun intended.

For those you who are not in the loop, Once Burned is the first book in a brand new series from Jeaniene Frost set in the Night Huntress world. It will be released on June 26, 2012. You can pre-order the book HERE.

Quick question: wasn't Once Burned slated for release on March 27th? I thought for sure I read that somewhere...

Book News: A Free Kate Daniels Novella from Ilona Andrews

I love when authors get into the gift giving spirit!

The husband and wife writing team of Ilona and Gordon Andrews are giving fans of their Kate Daniels series an early Christmas present. From now until January 7th, you can download the novella Magic Gifts, featuring Kate and her furry friends, from their website. Apparently, this novella takes place the same time as Andrea's book (coming July 31, 2012) and right after Magic Slays.

And you better jump on this limited time only deal quick because Magic Gifts will not be available after the two week period!

Click HERE and get your fill of that yummy Beast Lord Curran. Thanks Ilona and Gordon!

PS: Doesn't Kate look so badass on the cover?!

Site Updates

Hi everyone! Long time, no blogging. First, let me wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! For your viewing pleasure, I present to you a steamin' hot photo of a sexy Santa. With all the hay, I like to imagine that this is one of those yummy McKay men from Lorelei James's Rough Riders series. Drool.

Ok, so there isn't a whole lot to update you on right now, but here's an idea of what I'm working on and what you can except from Good Books, Good Coffee, Good Life in 2012.

- First, let me apologize for being gone for so long. One morning in August, I simply woke up and had no desire to read anymore. I thought I was just in a little funk and would soon realize how much I miss all the yummy men and kickass chicks (to cite one of my favorite blogs). So, I decided to ignore my bookshelf for a little while despite my books' constant cries of "read us, READ US!" Before I knew it, a few days turned into a few weeks and then a few months. But I have found my way back to the wonderful world of blogging and romance. Yeesh, I have a lot of catching up to do!

- As you've probably guessed, I have started reviewing again. I'm currently working on a few reviews, as well as tinkering around with the formatting. I want to make my reviews more satisfying by including something unique. I have some ideas and will probably try a few things out and see what works best. All I know is that it's going to involve sex scenes ;)

- I've included a section on upcoming releases right up there on the Nav bar. It's still a work in progress, so come back soon and check it out.

- I also want to start a new meme devoted to my random musings. One of my most popular posts is the E-reader pillow, so I was toying around with the idea of talking about silly book related things I find on the net. Or maybe just silly things in general? Look for this yet to-be-named meme in 2012. Hopefully, I can find some good stuff to share with you.

- Since I didn't read a lot this year, there will be no yearly wrap-up lists. I really liked doing my favorite sex scenes last year, but thanks to my self-imposed hiatus, I don't have enough material to work with. Instead, I was thinking about doing a top 12 of 2012, highlighting the books I am most looking forward to in 2012. There is a lot of great books coming out next year and I would love to discuss them with you! If you are looking for a great list on the best sex scenes of 2011, head on over to Smexy Books. I'm in total agreement with most of Mandi's choices.

That's about it for the updates. I hope you will stick around and check out the new changes to Good Books, Good Coffee, Good Life in 2012. I'm so excited to start blogging again and can't wait to dive back into the romance genre!

Giveaway & Book Trailor: Retribution by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I think any good paranormal romance fan has read at least one Sherrilyn Kenyon. Seeing that her Dark Hunter series is one of the most loved and longest para-rom series out there, it's hard to resist the temptation of reading a Kenyon book. While I still need to do some catching up in reading the rest of the Dark Hunter books (there is a gazillion of them!), the few books I have read, I have loved. Also, Kenyon's The League series is my without a doubt hands down favorite sci-fi romance series out there. So if you haven't read a Sherrilyn Kenyon novel yet, you need to go to your local bookstore right this minute and get yourself some Kenyon goodness...

Better yet, why not enter my contest to win yourself a copy of her latest Dark Hunter book, Retiribution (good segway, eh ;)? And while you are entering this super cool giveaway, why not check out the book tailer for Reritubition. 

GIVEAWAY

St. Martin’s Press is offering one copy of Retribution to one lucky commenter. Make sure to leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open to Canada / U.S. only. You must leave your comment by Thursday, August 11th 2011 11:59pm MST. Good luck to everyone who enters!

Book Trailer: One Grave at a Time by Jeaniene Frost

Usually, I'm not a huge fan of book trailers. While I'm not a total book trailer hater, I have found that most trailers tend to be very poorly done and extremely tacky. However, I found this gem of a book trailer on Jeaniene Frost's blog this morning. Oh man you guys, it's a good one! It makes you want to squee with excitement and pull your hair out in frustration for having to wait another month for One Grave at a Time to come out. Make sure to watch it all the way through for some steamy Cat and Bones goodness!
Oh and click HERE to read the first three chapters of One Grave at a Time.

Bought Me a Kobo!

Sadly, my Sony Ereader decided to stop working this week, tear. No matter how long I plugged it in for, the battery would just not hold a charge. I'm still fuming mad because the stupid thing was so darn expensive. However, I have secretly coveted my friend's Kobo touch for awhile now and I thought that the passing of my Sony Ereader was the universe telling me that I must buy a Kobo for myself. So I did. And let me tell you, I loves it! Had to buy myself a lovely purple case for it too.

How cute is the little sleeping Kobo?

So what do you think? Did I make the right decision? Any of you Kobo owners have advice for me to keep my Kobo running smoothly?

Review: Loving on Borrowed Time by Olivia Cunning

Loving on Borrowed Time by Olivia Cunning
Lovers' Leap #1
Erotica (Paranormal/Time Travel)
June 2, 2011
E-book
Self-published (Smashwords)

Lara Kensington is living a perfectly mundane life as a museum curator, when bad boy treasure hunter, Reece Jerhico, leaps into her life.  Literally. Obviously distressed, Reece tells Lara that one year in the future she will be murdered. The evidence he uses to back up his  incredible story doesn’t convince Lara. She thinks he’s crazy. Especially after he claims to be her future fiancé. Lara would have remembered dating someone as delicious as Reece Jerhico. Hot as Reece is, Lara has a difficult time believing anything the man says until the broken amulet he wears around his neck  transports them into different bodies, during a different time, in a different place--an ancient place, a cold place, a place where Lara arrives naked, hysterical, and... Norse.
                                                                                                                                              On the run  through time, attempting to escape a man who is hell-bent on Lara’s lack-of a-future becoming a reality, the couple must leap from one time and place to another just to stay alive. In the first volume of this sexy and humorous new series, Lara and Reece share an existence with a ruthless Viking and his captive bride and  then with a noble medieval knight and the feisty lady he  is determined to win.

Olivia Cunning is one of my favorite new authors. Her Sinners On Tour series is everything that a girl with a few rockstar fantasies could ask for. Therefore, when I read an article over at Shameless Romance in which Olivia Cunning talks about her new self-published novella, Loving on Borrowed Time, I first berated myself  for not being up-to-date on my Olivia Cunning news and then immediately bought the book so I can read it for myself.

What I found is that Loving on Borrowed Time is a fun and entertaining read that includes a few of Cunning's trademark smokin' hot love scenes. Although the love scenes aren't quite as provocative as the Sinners books, you will certainly need some type of fan or cool drink nearby when you read this book. Fans of Cunning will definitely not be disappointed. Also, the actual romance between the main characters Lara Kenningston and Reece Jericho is quite well done. Cunning truly has a talent for creating easy chemistry between characters. Reece and Lara also have some great banter that will keep you laughing and of course, there is lots of sexual tension between the pair. Although this book was a short read, I didn't feel their relationship was rushed even though Reece does make it his mission to make Lara fall in love with him again...or I guess for the first time.

The premise of the book itself is interesting and original, although it is complicated to understand at first. In the book, we learn that in the future, Reece and Lara fall in love and plan to marry. However, Lara is killed by a terrorist. Rather than living without her, Reece, who is an archaeologist, uses an ancient Egyptian amulet to travel back in time and save Lara from being killed. But one of Reece's colleagues, Carl, doesn't want Lara to live for reasons I'm still not 100% sure about. Things aren't exactly straight forward about how the amulet works, but basically when the wearer of the amulet is thrust back in time, they embody a particular person in the past. So when Reece grabs Lara and uses the amulet to escape before Carl stops him from saving Lara, they travel to the time of the Vikings and Reece becomes the leader of a Viking horde and Lara a saucy wench he captures. In their different roles, Reece and Lara must act out history and make sure the couple they embody have their HEA. All the while they are still on the run from Carl...

Still with me? Yeah, I got a little lost too. I think the book would have been better if there was more explanation about how the amulet works. I am still scratching my head about why Reece and Lara seem to travel in time randomly, yet Reece was able to pinpoint Lara in a museum a year before they met. Also, I would have appreciated more info about how Reece and Lara met before she was killed. Yes, we know they were in love and Reece had to win Lara over, but there isn't a lot of info about Reece and Lara's courtship and life before her death. Since Loving on Borrowed Time is the first book in Cunning's Lovers' Leap series, I'm hoping that we learn more about Reece and Lara's past (future?) relationship and the motivation behind creepy Carl wanting to apprehend the couple.

Although Loving on Borrowed Time  is a little complicated to understand at times, I still really enjoyed reading this novella. I applaud Ms. Cunning for expertly using her imagination to create something that is whimsical and fun to read. Reece and Lara are two great characters that have great chemistry. And the sex scenes in the book were top notch. Definitely what I would expect from the likes of Olivia Cunning. I hope more authors continue the trend of self-publishing.

Good. Lukewarm, but still hits the spot. 

Other opinions:

~Goodreads

~Shameless Romance Reviews - 4/5

Author's website