Bloodfever

Karen Marie Moning’s second novel in her Fever series, Bloodfever, was filled with intense roller-coaster action.  Mac is still trying to get her revenge on her sister’s murderer, as well as trying to save the human world from being encompassed by the Fae world-no easy task.  This has come  at no small price for Mac.  She has had to give up the girl she once was, and embrace the ruthless creature that has been lying dormant inside her, not to mention having to stay in a foreign country that is far from her remaining family.

I really liked this book.  Mac finally stopped being the pretty-in-pink shallow girl and grew up a bit.  In fact I am really excited to see how Moning continues to develop Mac’s character.  There was also a lot more action in the book to keep  you completely engaged in the story.  Every time you thought the story was going to quiet down, Moning reeled you  back in with a new twist to the plot.  We are also starting to learn more about  faeries as well as all of the major players involved in the hunt for the infamous book.  Creating a complicated web that Mac is going to have to navigate through.  All and all, a fun read that has me excited to start book three.

Darkfever

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning is an excellent paranormal romance novel that is sure to leave you wanting more.  MacKayla, or Mac, thought everything in life was perfect, until she had to identify the brutally murdered body of her sister.  Grief stricken and frustrated with the Irish detectives, Mac finds herself leaving the states and flying to Ireland to help track down her sister’s murderer.  Mac soon realizes that she led an incredibly sheltered life back home in the south, and things are not always as the appear.  It doesn’t take long for her to pair up with an unusual ally who starts to teach her about the world of faeries and how to use her special gifts to track down a missing book.

Moning creates a fun new paranormal world while adding in a bit of Irish folklore.  Filled with the darker side of the Irish fae and interesting characters, readers are sure to get caught up in this addictive series.

Book Discussions

Here are our next book discussion:

September 24th- The young adult group will be reading Sarah Dessen’s novel, Just Listen.

Septebmer 28th- The 4th Wednesday mystery group will be reading Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s novel, My Soul to Take.

October 8th-  The romance group will be reading Karen Marie Moning’s novel, Darkfever.

October 15th- The fiction group will be reading Philippa Gregory’s novel, The Red Queen.

Join us as we chat about books.  The Saturday groups all meet at 1 PM and the Wednesday group meets at 7 PM.

September Bestsellers

Here are our bestsellers for the beginning of September:

1  The Help by Kathryn Stockett

2  Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

3  Left Neglected by Lisa Genova

4  The Unbroken:  A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

5  A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

6  Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

7  A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

8  A Dance With Dragons by George R. R.

9  Skippyjon Jones Class Action by Judy Schachner

10  A First-Rate Madness:  Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness by Nassir Ghaemi

Dead Reckoning

 Dead Reckoning, the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel by Charlaine Harris, was just as good as the ones before.  Sookie is trying to discover who destroyed Merlotte’s, and all the while is getting wrapped up in Eric and Pam’s plan to kill their vampire master.  Harris has such a knack for creating the feel of the south in her books.  It is easy as a reader to get caught up in the southern charm.  Another great thing about this series, is that the characters just keeping getting more interesting and diverse.  Harris does such a great job of making her vampires span the world, giving her readers great character dynamics to follow.  This is such a fun series to read, and perfect for lounging by the beach.

Mid-June Bestsellers

Here are our bestsellers for the middle of June:

1  Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2  Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

3  Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent

4  Seal Team Six by Howard E. Wasdin

5  A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

6  The Help by Kathryn Stockett

7  10^th Anniversary by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

8  Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

9   Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

10  Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

Witches of East End

Witches of East End is Melissa de La Cruz’s first adult paranormal romance novel.  Previously, we have known and loved her young adult series such as Blue Bloods and Au Pairs, and now we can continue to love another series.  In this novel we meet Joanna and her two daughters Ingrid and Freya.  All three are immortal beings with magical gifts who, unfortunately, have been banned from using their talents in the human world.  Of course, things are starting to change and the women are growing restless after centuries without their magic.  Before long, all three are using their magic in the small town of North Hampton and hoping that the higher-ups don’t smite them.  Problems arise when a man is murdered and a young girl goes missing.  Soon, all of the townspeople  are looking at the three women who seem to be helping people but may in fact be witches practicing black magic.

Overall I enjoyed this book, especially the last 80 pages when all of the action and plot started to come together.    De La Cruz always does an amazing job of leading up to the next book; I always finish her books wanting to know more about the story.  Her mythology was a nice twist  and I am hoping the other books look at the women’s pasts a bit more.  Another stregngth of De La Cruz, is her talent to weave the characters’ past lives slowly into their current lives.  My one complaint is that I wanted more interaction in the beginning between the three characters.  Each one went about their own life completely separate from their family members.  At times, I felt like I was reading three different books.  Towards the end the three women started coming together and I am hopeful that the next book will have them solving problems together, or least have more daily interactions.  And needless to say, I do plan to read the next one as soon as she has finished writing it.

We were luck enough to get an advance copy of this book while we were at the book expo in May, but don’t worry it will be out June 21st-get your pre-order in now.

June Bestselles

Here are our bestsellers for the beginning of June.

1  Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent

2  A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

3  The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry

4  Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

5  The Help by Kathryn Stockett

6  Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr Seuss

7  10^th Anniversary by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

8   Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

9  Shelter of Stones by Jean Auel

10  Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

Graveminder

Melissa Marr’s newest adult novel Graveminder is a fantastic story.  I hadn’t originally planned to read this novel since it is about zombies, but I convinced myself to try it simply because it was written by Melissa Marr, and I was not disappointed.  This is the tale of Rebekkah and Bryon and their destinies to become the next Graveminder and Undertaker.  Things are not made easy for the two since no one prepared them for their new lives, and now they are needed immediately  to capture the walking dead before more townspeople are harmed.  I love the small town feel of Claysville.  It was fun getting caught up in the town drama and mystery.  Marr did a great job of just giving you a little knowledge in the beginning of the book and then slowly letting you learn more about the past.  It was easy to get sucked in and want more information about what was being hidden from Bryon and Rebekkah.  Marr’s underworld was vivid and intriguing.  I already want to know more about the people who reside there and am hoping there will be a follow up novel that will look more at those characters and perhaps past Graveminders.

Yes, there were zombies, but there were more to them then just your typical blood-lust  and frankly it was refreshing to see a new type of paranormal being as the focus.  Don’t be turned away because you are not a zombie fan, this book has much more to offer and isn’t all about the gore.

May Bestsellers

Here are the bestsellers for the beginning of May.

1  Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

2  The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel

3  The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

4  All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

5  Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

6  A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin

7  10^th Anniversary by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

8  Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

9  The Help by Kathryn Stockett

10 We Are in a Book! by Mo Willems

Stop in the store, or order online at mostlybooksaz.com for your copies today.