Unknown

~*~Appetizer~*~
For the Jane Austen Fans out there.
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction with Romantic Elements
Heat Level: Mild - heavy kissing but no sex.

Austenland by Shannon Hale was a fun read. 

You follow Jane, a graphic artist whose love life sucks because she's stuck on the ideal of Mr. Darcy. Not just any Mr. Darcy but the one depicted by Colin Firth in BBC's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. 

Thirty-three years old, still single with no boyfriend in sight, she's left a vacation by a great-aunt she barely knew to Regency-themed Penbrook Park, a place filled with actors helping their guests feel as though they are living in a Jane Austen novel.

Jane hopes that living at Penbrook for the next three weeks will help her kick her Mr. Darcy obsession forever. 

The problem is that part of being in a Jane Austen novel is the romance and so actors are hired to woo the women Regency-style - no touching - and give them a romance filled weekend. Lines start to blur and Jane isn't sure what's real and what's acting.

This was a really fun read. Nice and light and perfect for Jane Austen fans.

I started reading this book because I'd seen the movie and the book definitely gets more in-dept with the characters. I feel if you like Jane Austen, you'll like this book. I'm a real Pride and Prejudice fan myself and it had me not only wanting to reread the classic novel but watch Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.
Unknown
~*~Savory Selections
via Kids Menu~*~
A Young Adult Novel worth sinking your teeth into
Genre:  Paranormal
Heat Level:  A dash of spice.

So the other night I rented the movie Vampire Academy. I'll admit, I never picked up the book because, let's face it, there are a ton of vampire teen books out there and I sort of just got burnt out. Sad, but true. I'm one of those people who think, "Oh, God, not another Vampire YA..."

However, the trailer for the movie looked interested so I'm like, "I can spend a $1.25 at Redbox and give two hours of my life to it. Check it out."

Now the movie was good but not great. Having not read the book, I found a lot of things very confusing. Like who the hell that third girl who suddenly showed up was. It wasn't until the freaking end I figured out she was the old guy's daughter when she gives Rose a necklace.

But I liked it enough that I decided to pick up the book... which ended up being really good.

Yes, there are lots of books out there with teen girls in a magical school of some sort, a ton of books about vampires, and even quite a few books about teen vampires attending a magical school. What Richelle Mead does here is different.

She sets up the species, sets up her own mythology behind them - using a lot of ancient legends others don't touch, even sets up her own religion. 

The story was solid, a great introduction to her world. But I think what I like best is what she does with her characters.

In many YA's you have the girls who don't have sex, never use drugs, never drink, think everyone who does it is stupid, etc. We have that because, as a society, that's what we want our youth to be like. We want them to be perfect.

In this book we follow Rose Hathaway, a seventeen year old Dhampir, who is in training to be a bodyguard to her best friend, Lissa Dragomir, a Moroi princess. Most Dhampirs - half-humans, half Moroi hybrids - dedicate their lives to protecting the Moroi - vampire-like beings who are not immortal. This is because Moroi are the only beings Dhampirs can mate with. You also have the Strigoi, who are the evil undead immortal vampires that we are more familiar with.

What I love about this is Rose, before she ran away from the Acadmey, use to be a real party girl. She use to drink, smoke weed, etc. But she stopped, she came back from that. For me, that's a great role model. Showing that just because you use to do bad things, doesn't make you a bad person.

Now during the book she threatens to revert back after she's brought back to the academy but that's normal too.

Lissa has her own mental issues that have to do with her strange abilities to heal.

I like this because these are flawed girls that people can understand. They have issues they're trying to overcome and it really did remind me of high school in that trying to find your own path sort of way.

Rose even starts to fall for her hot instructor who is seven years older than she is. Instead of just trying to seduce him, she fights it, not liking their age difference. So does he.

I mean, the book just had a lot of elements I loved and I'm looking forward to starting the first one.

Because of some of the mature content of it, while its technically YA and thus goes on the Kids Menu, it has some adult themes and I just feel it really belongs on the Savory Selection.

Either way, give the book a try. Let me know what you think!
Unknown
Every year, FF&P - Fantasy, Futuristic, & Paranormal chapter of Romance Writers of America - has a writers conference just for books within their genre. The Prism Awards. Below are the 2014 finalists for this fabulous award.

What does this mean for you? A chef special menu of fabulous reads in the theme of Fantasy and Paranormal Romance! Enjoy.

The Prism Awards - 2014 Finalists

Dark Paranormal (includes Urban Fantasy)

For the Love of a Goblin Warrior by Shona Husk

South of Surrender by Laura Kaye

Storm Force by Susannah Sandlin

Tangled Souls by Jana Oliver

Erotic Romance

Edge of Night by Crystal Jordan

Lust Eternal by Sabrina York

Masque by Lexi Post

Fantasy

A Soul for Vengeance by Crista McHugh

Rogue's Possession by Jeffe Kennedy

Spy's Honor by Amy Raby

Futuristic

Caught in Amber by Cathy Pegau

Deep Deception by Cathy Pegau

Something New Under the Sun by L.A. Witt

The Cat Star Chronicles: Wildcat by Cheryl Brooks

Light Paranormal (including Urban Fantasy)

Fire of the Dragon by Lori Dillon


Immortal Ever After by Angie Fox

Sunroper by Natalie J. Damschroder

Wildfire: A Paranormal Mystery with Cowboys and Dragons by Mina Khan

Novella

Sing for the Dead by P.J. Schnyder

Taken by the Vampire King by Laura Kaye

Tame the Storm by Ella Drake

Young Adult

Briar Rose by Jana Oliver

Hero by Alethea Kontis

Spark:  Feyguard Book 1 by Anthea Sharp
Unknown
~*~Savory Selections~*~
Genre:  Historical Romance
Heat Level:  Spicy but perhaps not as much as the other two books.

Okay, I admit it. I think I've become completely addicted to Sarah MacLean's Rule of Scoundrels series and No Good Duke Goes Unpunished is no different.

Here you have Temple, the Killer Duke, who isn't sure if he is or is not a killer. He's lived twelve years not knowing if he killed his father's young to-be bride, Mara Low. Until the girl shows up at his townhouse to plea for her brother's money back.

While Mara is set up as a woman to hate, I actually rather liked her. She made a mistake - a very big mistake - a mistake of a foolish young girl. She hadn't meant to set Temple up for her murder but once the die was cast, she didn't know how to call it back.

Now she's a Governess for a school of orphaned boys with a pig named Lavender.

Mara makes some mistakes in the book just as she did with her past but I'm okay with that because I like characters who make mistakes.



I really enjoyed watching the story unfold between Temple and Mara. The conflict is fabulous.

I will say - and this is WITHOUT spoilers - that the major plot twist at the end made my jaw drop and I want Chase's book - the final book of the series - so badly I can't stand it! It broke my brain and then I had to go back and look at all the books again to search for clues. I'm very excited for the final book to say the least.

To placate myself for the time being, I am going to have to go read Love by Numbers in the meantime. Same world, set about twelve years or so before these books.