Win a Copy of The Thirteen by Susie Moloney

I think I've expressed my love of witchy books here before, but I'll continue to do so as long as folks continue to write them. Like all books and all kinds of characters, there are so many different angles. Witches can be evil or altruistic, they can be manipulative and sneaky, or they can be mild tricksters. There's an array of possibilities. 

So what do you get when you combine Desperate Housewife-esque suburbanites with devil worshipping witchcraft? The Thirteen by Susie Moloney of course!

Paula's mother sent her away from Haven Woods over a decade ago. Now, broke and jobless, she and her twelve-year-old daughter have received word that Paula's mother is very sick. And so Paula drags her daughter back to her hometown for a visit. While there, Paula runs into some old acquaintances, including a possible new love interest. But Paula should beware Have Woods. Something dark has been waiting for Paula to return. Something that will put both her and her daughter in grave danger. 

Moloney has an interesting style, throwing in character's inner thoughts in between the regular narrative. It's an interesting layer added to the story itself even if it is used sparingly. It's an element that makes Moloney unique, at least in my reading experience. 

The Thirteen is dark and twisted indeed, but also has a sharp and sarcastic tone that makes it an utterly delicious read. And though this is not Moloney's debut, nor is it her first release stateside, it is my introduction to Moloney's work and I do hope that it will be the first of many new releases from her. In the meantime, I've got a backlist copy of The Dwelling currently waiting in my TBR stack. 

The Thirteen is out now in paperback.  

Ooh, ooh! I almost forgot. I have a copy of The Thirteen to give away! If you want to throw your name in the hat, leave me a comment below with a way to get in touch with you. I'll draw a name on April 30. (US only please)

Where's My Bookmark: Nightfall by Stephen Leather

It was so nice out this past weekend and I got in some quality time with more than a couple reads. As of last night, I had just under 100 pages to go on Stephen Leather's Nightfall and realized that I've had quite a few demon related reads of late... hm.

The folks over at Wunderkind were nice enough to send me over a copy of Leather's latest (or newest US release). Leather is quite prolific in the UK but only a few of his titles are available here thus far. Nightfall is the first in his Jack Nightingale series. 

Nightingale was a successful police negotiator until his last case ended in two dead bodies. He was unable to save the little girl who died first and was never charged with the death of her father, though truth be told, no one would have blamed him if he were responsible. Now working as a PI, Nightingale receives a strange call from a solicitor who claims that Jack has now inherited a large mansion from his recently deceased father. But Jack's parents have been dead for years. Turns out, Jack was adopted and the truth about his biological father is shocking indeed -- the man was either a total nutter or he sold his son's soul to a devil. If he's telling the truth, Jack has just three weeks before his soul is claimed. 

To be honest, Nightfall has been a super easy read so far. I jetted through over 300 pages Sunday afternoon. The story is interesting and Nightingale is a cool character. Plus all the stuff about the devils and whether or not he'll be losing his soul is intriguing. The best part though is that this is the first in a series: Nightfall is followed by Midnight (due out in June) and Nightmare. Come lunchtime today, I'll be finished with Jack's first adventure and see if he gets to keep his soul or not!

Nightfall is available in paperback and audio and is part of Amazon's 47North imprint, their sci-fi, fantasy, and horror imprint. 

New Releases 4/03/12

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

Mystery Writers of America Presents Vengeance ed by Lee Child

Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art by Christopher Moore

Vengeance by Ian Irvine

The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O'Melveny

Capitol Murder by Phillip Margolin

Dorchester Terrace by Anne Perry (Thomas & Charlotte Pitt #27)

Beastly Things by Donna Leon (Brunetti #21)

More Than You Know by Penny Vincenzi

Keeper of the King's Secret by Michelle Diener

The Deep Zone by James M. Tabor

The Shape of Desire by Sharon Shinn

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan

Sidney Sheldon's Angel of the Dark by Tilly Bagshawe

The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan

The Last Romanov by Dora Levy Mossanen

Mariana by Susanna Kearsley

Strange Flesh by Michael Olson

The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark

Gypped by Carol Higgins Clark (Regan Reilly #15)

The Shoemaker's Wife Adriana Trigiani

Nocturnal by Scott Sigler

The House of the Hunted by Mark Mills

The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Black Heart by Holly Black (Curse Workers #3)

Fear by Michael Grant (Gone #5)

New on DVD:

We Bought a Zoo

War Horse

Torchwood: Miracle Day


New reviews at Bookbitch.com:
A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont
Starters by Lissa Price
The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose
Enchantments by Kathryn Harrison

Pre-Pub Book Buzz: Nocturnal by Scott Sigler

There are some super awesome books on the horizon that I am dying to get a chance to read. Scott Sigler's latest is just one, but I came across the trailer this week and REALLY wanted to share, so Nocturnal had to be my Pre-Pub post for today. 

If you've not read Sigler before, he's a master of gory horror. Seriously. I read a lot of horror and Scott Sigler can make my hair stand on end with his bloody descriptions. But I love it!

Here's the synopsis from Crown:

Scott Sigler reinvented the alien-invasion story in his bestselling novels Infected and Contagious… rebooted the biotech thriller in Ancestor…now, in his most ambitious, sweeping novel to date, he works his magic on the paranormal thriller, taking us inside a terrifying underworld of subterranean predators that only his twisted mind could invent.

Homicide detective Bryan Clauser is losing his mind.

How else to explain the dreams he keeps having—dreams that mirror, with impossible accuracy, the gruesome serial murders taking place all over San Francisco? How else to explain the feelings these dreams provoke in him—not disgust, not horror, but excitement?

As Bryan and his longtime partner, Lawrence “Pookie” Chang, investigate the murders, they learn that things are even stranger than they at first seem. For the victims are all enemies of a seemingly ordinary young boy—a boy who is gripped by the same dreams that haunt Bryan. Meanwhile, a shadowy vigilante, seemingly armed with superhuman powers, is out there killing the killers. And Bryan and Pookie’s superiors—from the mayor on down—seem strangely eager to keep the detectives from discovering the truth.

Doubting his own sanity and stripped of his badge, Bryan begins to suspect that he’s stumbled into the crosshairs of a shadow war that has gripped his city for more than a century—a war waged by a race of killers living in San Francisco’s unknown, underground ruins, emerging at night to feed on those who will not be missed.

And as Bryan learns the truth about his own intimate connections to the killings, he discovers that those who matter most to him are in mortal danger…and that he may be the only man gifted—or cursed—with the power to do battle with the nocturnals.

Featuring a dazzlingly plotted mystery and a terrifying descent into a nightmarish underworld—along with some of the most incredible action scenes ever put to paper, and an explosive, gut-wrenching conclusion you won’t soon forget—Nocturnal is the most spectacular outing to date from one of the genre’s brightest stars.

Nocturnal hits shelves Tuesday, April 3.

And for your viewing pleasure, the massively awesome book trailer for Nocturnal:

Starters by Lissa Price

What if your parents died and you were left on your own? In the aftermath of the Spore Wars, everything has changed. With limited vaccine, only the young and the old were protected from infection. Now, an entire generation of Starters (teens) has been left parentless. Those like Callie Woodlawn and her brother have been living on the streets trying to survive. Unable to work thanks to legislation protecting Enders' -- those over 60 -- interests, teens are frequently rounded up and put into institutions. Desperate, Callie signs on with Prime Destinations, a new company that allows Enders to rent Starters' bodies so that they may enjoy youthful energy and activities once again. The money Callie will earn could save her and her brother. But something has gone very wrong. Callie finds herself sharing her body with the mind of a woman she is unable to trust. What are her renter's motives and will Callie be able to protect her brother?

Whoa! Lissa Price's crazy futuristic dystopian is amazing! Definitely one of those books that you can't put down once you've begun and a cliffhanger ending that already has readers (including me) on the edge of their seats until book two is released. 

The pacing and momentum of Price's writing is perfect. From the beginning, the reader is able to easily connect with Callie and is drawn into a story that is irresistibly intense. 

I find the plot here a bit close for comfort. There's more than a shred of believability in Price's imagined future and that makes it all that much more exciting and kind of creepy to think about. Either way, Starters is an absolute must read with great cross-over appeal for both teens and adults. Another great 2012 debut!

(Lissa Price is one of the Apocalypsies. Check out more 2012 debuts here!)

A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont

Who doesn't love Jane Eyre? Well, I guess there are some but I'm not one of them. I have an unhealthy adoration for the book, which is pretty amazing -- there are very few times in my life that I can honestly admit to having enjoyed required school reading. 

I think I happened to come to this one at just the right time. It's hard to say if I would have enjoyed it quite as much if I'd had to read it earlier in life. I'm certain, though, that I would have loved it just as much had I come to it on my own instead of as a part of college coursework. We'll never know. Rambling on...

Anyway, when I heard of Eve Marie Mont's very newly released A Breath of Eyre, I was dying to get my hands on it. A girl who gets to travel into the pages of Bronte's book!? Fabulous premise!

Emma Townsend is a pretty average teen. A scholarship student at Lockwood, an exclusive prep school, Emma has chosen Jane Eyre as the subject of her English lit essay for the year. Eyre was her mother's favorite book, after all. But then Emma finds herself inside Jane's story, living in Jane's shoes and falling in love with Mr. Rochester. Does Bronte's tale hold more within its pages for Emma than real life? 

I gobbled up this book! 

Emma is a wonderful character and in her, Mont has brought to life a teenager who must confront issues of loyalty and love, family and friends, and her own future. I was surprised to find that this was much more of what I'd consider a contemporary read given the sort of paranormal twist -- traveling into a book is a bit paranormal (there might be a better word for it but I can't think of one right now). It was a nice surprise. 

I've always been an ardent supporter of Jane and ultimately forgiving of Mr. Rochester's sins. Mont presents a really interesting side of Bertha, however. Emma's own examination of the character has sort of invaded my brain. I don't think that I've changed my mind with regards to Jane and Rochester, but Mont's given me some things to ponder over. 

I'm anxious to see what comes next for Emma. I know that she'll be traveling into the pages of The Scarlet Letter (not one of my favorite lit assignments) in A Touch of Scarlet. I expect Mont will inspire me to take another look at Hester's story.  

Where's My Bookmark: The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

OMG, y'all! I started a new teen binge this weekend and made it past the halfway mark on Maureen Johnson's modern-day Jack the Ripper mystery, The Name of the Star. Honestly, I wanted to stay up until I finished last night, but I woke up at 2am with my lamp on and the book sharing my pillow :)

The Name of the Star is actually book three in the binge. I did finish two others this weekend, so it was a pretty awesome reading weekend. And I got to see Hunger Games -- so fantastic!

I love Jack the Ripper. It's one of those mysteries, which (as one of the characters in the book points out) has never been solved. And at this point, that's the big part of the appeal with Jack. I don't think anyone will ever "solve" it, though many have their own theories. I've read some really interesting ones and Jack's provided all kinds of fodder for books and movies for ages now. Which is pretty awesome, 'cause I'm really loving Johnson's twist on it!

Rory Deveaux is a Louisiana girl recently arrived in London; she'll be spending her last year of high school at Wexford. On the day of her arrival, everyone is talking about the new Ripper murder. A body has been found on the anniversary of the death of Mary Ann Nichols, bearing the same wounds and in the same location. Word is out that Jack is back! As each new anniversary approaches, London becomes more tense. Soon, the students at Wexford find themselves under lock and key in an attempt to protect them from the dangers surrounding the school grounds. And when Rory sees someone near the site where yet another body is found, she becomes the one and only witness. But why was Rory the only person to see him?

Maureen Johnson is one cool lady! Rory is a solid character who shines through Johnson's prose. And being a Louisiana girl myself, I love her all that much more! Yeah, I'm a little biased. Basically, anyone who can put together believable Louisiana settings and characters is a winner in my book.

I've got about 100 pages left to go at this point and really can't wait to finish. Thus far, the plot is fantastic. I'm afraid to give away spoilers, but the mystery is put together very well. And of course it's Jack!

I'd heard quite a bit about this one before I bought it for myself. This is my first Maureen Johnson book, and it was really Lori over at Pure Imagination who convinced me that I NEEDED this book :) Here's the link to her post on the book so you can see why.

I hope you guys had a fabulous reading weekend as well! I'll be finishing up The Name of the Star today!