Sunday, January 31, 2010

Comfort Reads

Want to know what I've been reading while taking time of for Tendonitis and Seasonal Affected Disorder?
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HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCEROR'S STONE by J.K. Rowling.  I finally got around to reading this one and it was instantly obvious why this novel went through the stratosphere of the bestselling charts.  The author totally and completely nailed all the emotional needs of the average 10 to 12 year old child and then some!
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DOWN HOME ZOMBIE BLUES by Linnea Sinclair.  I usually only like the Hero OR the Heroine in a Romance novel, but this is one novel in which I like both.  This was the second or third time I read this one.
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AMAZON INK by Lori Devoti.  Great worldbuilding.
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Oh, and UGLIES by Scott Westerfeld
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Remember to tune in on Tuesdays for reviews by our new reviewer, Rebecca Lynn!

Friday, January 29, 2010

New Reviewer- REBECCA LYNN!

Swinging in like Jane who needs no Tarzan, Rebecca Lynn is coming aboard Enduring Romance right at a time when I need her the most, what with my hands being shot with Tendonitis these days.  Rebecca will be reviewing on Tuesdays.  Group hug!  Also, pop over and check out her blog.  I swear it's the coolest one I've ever seen, all purple and black.
http://newkidonthewritersblock.blogspot.com/

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Darkship Theives

DST

I’ve been a fan of Sara A. Hoyt since I read Ill met by Moonlight back in 2002, I reviewed Heart of Light last March, and I read Gentleman Takes a Chance over the Holidays and was planning on doing a review of it sometime after the first of the year. Then, I found out that Ms. Hoyt was doing a “blog tour" to promote her new book DarkShip Theives. I had just read a teaser chapter for DarkShip Thieves in the back of Gentleman Takes a Chance, and had put it high on my mental TBR list so I contacted Ms Hoyt about doing a guest spot here at Flying Whales and she agreed. You can read her Guest Blog here.

I enjoyed DarkShip Thieves a great deal. All the other books I have read by Ms. Hoyt were fantasy. One of the things I liked best about them is that they were not traditional sword-and-sorcery-coming-of-age-quest stories that seem to take up so much fantasy shelf space. Even when the plot involves a quest or character maturation it happenes in slightly nontraditional unexpected way. I Iike that. I also like that her stories are built around relationships, the development and growth of the characters relationships is just as important as finding the magic gem, or getting the serial killer targeting shape changers. I hesitate to say they are Fantasy Romance, because although a HEA for the main characters is part of the plot resolution there isn’t much time spent on the physical resolution of the HEA. In other words, while there is romance there are not the sort of sex scenes that seem to define the Romance genre these days.

With DarkShip Thieves Ms. Hoyt does with Space Opera the same thing she has been doing for years with Fantasy.

The story takes place in several centuries after a semi-apocalypse caused by a rebellion against a planet wide government run by a group super bureaucrats bioengineered to be clever, honest and benevolent rulers. They were known as Mules since they were designed to work hard and they could not have offspring. Of course things went wrong with that idea and their time in power ended in a reign of terror and the slaughter many innocent humans as well as the Mules and their followers. This lead to the outlawing of any bioengineering work on humans and bio-tech in general. Civilization on Earth now centers around independent city-states ruled by Good Men. Athena Hera Sinistra is the heir to the Good Man who runs Syracuse Seacity. She is not a sweet little debutant, but a young woman with a rough and tumble past. It would be very easy not to like Thena, and I think the author took a chance with giving her as hard an edge as she did, but it works. Thena is prickly and anti-social, but since the story is told from her point of view the reader bonds with her early on and is pulled along for the whole thrill ride.

On the way home from a dog-and-pony show meet-and-greet with her Father, of Circum Terra, a scientific research space station in orbit not too far from Earth , Thena wakes as someone is sneaking into her cabin. Dressed in only a nightie, and armed only with a high fashion boot with a clunky metal heal, (This wonderfully quirky choice for a weapon really helped get me hooked on the story) Thena fights off her attacker and several other members of her father’s security staff. They all seem to have switched sides, may have already killed her father, and now want to hurt her. Unsure of who to trust she leaves her father’s ship in an escape pod and heads back toward Circum Terra.

This is a kick-ass action sequence, one of several in the book. Tiny sexy female heroes who beat the crap out of larger male bad guys are one of my pet peeves. They are everyplace in Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance these days. I’m sick to death of this character type, because most of the time they are just too improbable. Unlike most of these ball-busting female characters Thena works for me because one of the first things we learn about her is that she has spent her entire life outsmarting and breaking out of private academies, reform schools, rehab clinics, and tough love military boot camps. Sure, she is un-naturally fast and strong for her size, but she also has experience, and she’s smart. Most of the time she is mentally one step ahead of the folks chasing her. That makes her ability to beat up a whole goon squad believable.

Although Thena thinks she has seen her father either dead or gravely injured during her escape while in the escape pod, she overhears a message from him telling Circum Terra that she is having a drug induced mental breakdown and that they should detain her as soon as she docks. Given her sordid past this is believable, and Thena decides to try to hide in the nearby powertrees. They are artifacts of the Mules reign, plants designed to grown in space harvest solar energy and store it in battery like pods. Thery are the main reason Circum Terra is located where it is. Thena hopes one of the harvesters who gather their pods to be converted to fuel will help her escape whoever has taken over her father’s ship.

Because of the ban on bioengineering no one alive knows much about the powertree's biology and instead of growing in easily tended rows they now grow in thick briar like tangles. Harvesters tell stories of DarkShips piloted by escaped Mules who hide in the powertrees stealing pods and sometimes attacking Harvesters, but they are considered folklore not reality. Going into the powertrees is dangerous because it is very easy for a ship to get caught in their twisted branches or brush against one of the power pods and be blown up. After entering the powertree thicket Thena’s life pod runs into something, but it’s not part of the powertree . It’s a space ship, one unlike any ship she has ever seen, it is completely dark, designed to not show up in light or on ship’s scanners. A DarkShip.

The pilot of the ship, Cat Kit Klaavil, is quite upset that she has run into his ship and damaged some of its sensor. He takes her lifepod onboard anyway, saving Thena’s life even though he thinks she is an “Earthworm” spy sent to trap a Darkship. He’s a nice looking young man, except for his calico hair and catlike dark adapted eyes, obviously the result of biogen . (Cat is a title that has to do with the biogen he has gone through to become a DarkShip pilot) His biogen makes it hard for Thena to trust him or believe anything he say. She does not let him tying her up, and locking her in an empty cabin on his ship, stop her from trying to escape. She's escaped from worse places. Unfortunately she has finally met her match. Kit is faster and stronger than she is, and he has not problems knocking her on her bottom every time she attacks him. He says he is not a Mule, but his obvious biogen scares Thena, as does the strange mental bond they seem to share.

In the end the two escape the people looking for Thena, although not before both Kit and his ship have been seen by Thena's attackers. They flee to Kit’s home, a hidden asteroid colony called Eden. There Thena learns that what she knows about the reign of the Mule is not the complete truth. Life on Eden calls into question all her ideas about the nature of government and civil society. Also, by being accepted into Kit’s large eclectic family she sees for the first time what family is supposed to be about.

Kit and Thena are attracted to each other from the start. Neither of them is a real prize in the personality department, but they smooth each other’s rough edges in a way that makes them both better together than either is apart. Thena learns that being a pain in the butt isn’t the only way to interact with the world. Kit learns that running away from unpleasant secrets isn’t the answer. There are several plot twists. Kit and Thena return to Earth to search for missing DarkShips which may have been caught stealing pods in the powertrees. We get a glimpse of the grittey broomer gang underworld where Thena spent most of her life avoiding the hollow glittering, but hollow, life of her Father’s social circle. Thena rescues Kit from her father’s evil clutches in a wonderful one-escape-after-another action sequence that is almost cinematic. There are some more plot twists. Kit and Thena save the day, and win a Happily Ever After.

Feeling Better

I'm not really back, but I hope to be back by next week...with radical changes to my computer time.  It's taken this long for my hands to stop throbbing.  Tendonitis is a drag.  Besides blogging, I also have four children, you know, one of whom is a baby who requires my hands a lot.  Also, I'm entering the final stages of revising a novel I've written.  Those two things take priority over blogging.  However, this blog ranks first on my blogging priorities.  I'll keep it, but I'll cut back to one review per month. 
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Just got the ARC for XOMBIES APOCALYPTICON by Walter Greatshell and am very excited about it.
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I am not accepting new ARCs.
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I encourage authors to contact one of my fellow reviewers.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Kimber An on Medical Leave

My tendonitis is not improving and so I am going off-line completely.  I will check email once a week.  The Seasonal Affected Disorder is improving with increasing sunlight here in Alaska and lots of Star Trek re-runs and Harry Potter novels.
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Until I return, please pop in and read reviews by my fellow reviewers.  I've enabled comment moderation.  Comments will not be posted until I return.
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Live Long and Prosper.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Kimber An on Semi-Hiatus

Just to let you all know, I'm not accepting ARCs right now.  They wouldn't get reviewed in a timely manner.  As many of you know, I live in Alaska and I struggle with Seasonal Affected Disorder, S.A.D., every year about this time.  I just don't feel like reading right now.  If your book is already with me or in the mail, you should know I get over this by the end of February when we start having significantly more sunlight. 

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Free Story Excerpt from Linnea Sinclair

She's got a new novel coming out in March, I think, REBELS AND LOVERS.  In the meantime, she's part of an anthology.  Read up at the Galaxy Express and find out where to go for the freebie-

Thursday, January 14, 2010

ATLANTIS RISING by Alyssa Day


This review was a year and a half in coming.  The author sent me the book and then I got knocked up and lost it somewhere between throwing up and giving birth.  Ha!  Better late than never.
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From the outside, Riley seems like your average good girl social worker, trying to save babies from their moron parents and such.  It's a tough job I'd never want.  After sending yet another poor baby into foster care because it's parents were selfish, violent idiots, she goes for a walk on the beach and is set by a pack of slobbering drunks, which are, well, not entirely human.  Fear not.  This is a Romance novel.  The Hero, Conlon, charges to her rescue on a fiery, uh, I mean watery steed, I mean wave. 
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So, he whoops the bad guys and Riley's more than a little freaked out.  I mean, wouldn't you be?  But, it does help that Conlon's a regular Romance novel studmuffin.  You know the kind, long black hair, washerboard abs, a butt...wait...did she mention his butt?  Dang.  Anyway, she realizes they have a regular empathic/telepathic thing going on and he's totally getting off on it. 
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Meanwhile, the bad guys are really bad.  No redemptive qualities there.  They like to slurp congressmen blood for breakfast.  Yep, they're Blood-Sucking Dead Guys.  And they've sensed a Tremor in the Force.  (Oops, that Star Wars, sorry.)  And they want to find out who the Empath is who caused it.  You can probably figure out it was Riley.
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But, don't worry.  Remember I told you Conlon was totally getting off her empathic abilities? He's red hot and ready to defend his woman at all costs and all that.  But, you know, it does kinda complicate things that he's heir to the Throne of Atlantis and already arranged to marry someone else in two weeks.
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Fear not!  He's got brothers.  A whole lotta brothers.  The Warriors of Poseidon and if they ever got loose at the RWA National Convention...um, okay, nevermind that.  Picture the Chippendale Dancers in black leather coming out of the ocean and, oh, baby, they really think you're hot.
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Anyway, where was I?  Oh, right, Conlon.  He's on a mission to find Poseidon's Trident.  It's his first mission after being locked up by the Psycho Lady From Hell for few years.  I guess that's what it takes for a guy with washerboard abs to doubt his masculinity.
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Ah, but love conquers all, you know, and Riley quickly helps him remember how, um, great he is in the water.
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ATLANTIS RISING is the first in the Warriors of Poseidon series and world-building is awesome.  That was my favorite part about it, the blending of mythology with present day reality.  Pop over to the author's website and learn more-
http://www.alyssaday.com/

Sunday, January 10, 2010

The New Year at Enduring Romance and Need a New Reviewer



Good morning, Blog Buds!
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Now that my baby's out of the newborn stage and we're past the holiday season, I mean to blog on schedule, any genre on the second Thursday of each month and Young Adult on the fourth Tuesday of each month.  My ARC stack is at maximum capacity.  If your book is already there or on the way, you're good for go.  If not, please know it might be a while before your book gets reviewed if you send it.  Please remember unsolicited ARCs go to the bottom of my stack, unless they're from established favorite authors.  Established favorite authors have their own catagory in the sidebar directory.
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Meanwhile, my fellow reviewers here, Mfitz, Robin, and K continue to review.  Please, send them ARCs.  K *prefers* eBooks.  I can't remember the preferences of the others.  Click on 'Meet the Reviewers' on the sidebar.
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Now a call for a new reviewer.  We have room for another reviewer, or two or three even.  I like to space reviews out by a couple of days so each new review stays on the top of the page where busy bloggers are unlikely to miss it surfing through.  So, that makes Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays the days for posting reviews.  Once a week, twice a month, it's open as long as there's room and you're consistant.  If you already have a review blog, you could always post your review on both blogs.  I don't mind.  We need more Fantasy reviews, I think, Paranormal Romance, and reviews of books featuring *non-white* protagonists, like Latino Romance or African American Romance.  A reviewer of Inspirational Romance would be great too. 
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I like a buffet, you know. 
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I think one of the advantages of having a book reviewed at Enduring Romance is that the author can reach readers who don't usually read his or her genre.
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If you want to review here, just bear in mind we review all genres, except Erotica and Horror.  Please be sure your definitions of Heat Level and Violence are compatible.  See those definitions on the sidebar.  Also, we only post positive reviews here, which means you need to like or love the book before you review it.  It's okay to say if something doesn't work for you, but you must say it politely.
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My reviewing style is to help readers find the books they'll love.  If that's your style too, email me.
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The other thing to remember is Showcase Sunday, which is the third Sunday of each month.  On that day, reviewers may post book news, opinions, and whatever they want all day long.
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Other than that, I'm hoping to do more author interviews.  I haven't figured out how to work that in yet.  I'll let you know.
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Thanks for popping in and Happy New Year!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

THE VIKING'S CAPTIVE PRINCESS By Michelle Styles


After being attacked, Ivar Gunnarson (LOVE that name) and his Viking fleet land at Ranriken Bay (the border of Norway and Sweden) to request assistance from the jaarl (lord) there. Well, request is putting it nicely. Demand is more like it because everyone is scared of the raiding happy Vikings. Ivar has a reputation for being big, bad, and fierce. He is not a man to mess with.

The jaarl decides that his daughter will… well… entertain the Viking leader. This doesn't sit too well with the daughter. She is crazy in love with a lumberjack and threatens to kill herself. Her innocent half-sister Princess Thyre, doomed to marry a rather disgusting man, secretly takes her place in the Viking's bed. That one night rocks both Ivar's and Thyre's very different worlds. Although he can't see his partner (too dark), Ivar, not being a dumb man, suspects he got the saucy half-sister, the woman he has been lusting after all evening. He marks his mysterious bedmate (gives her a Viking hickey).

Thyre and her half-sister trade off before Ivar wakes up. His tigress is now a puddy cat and Ivar knows he's been tricked (told ya he wasn't dumb). He thinks the entire village is laughing at him (dissing his bad boy rep). He is so not pleased that when the half-sister asks for her morning gift (a thank you for the night before), he tells her he'll give it to her later… in public. You can imagine what happens then…

The Viking's Captive Princess, although published by Harlequin Historical, has the romance as more of a subplot than the main attraction. There are too many other fascinating things going on to focus heavily on Thyre and Ivar's relationship. There's the unique setting, the richness of the customs, the tight, tight political intrigue, and… and… and... This is book three in Michelle Styles' Viking series and I can guarantee there will be more (because if I don't hear more about a certain secondary character, I'll go totally Viking in the bookstore).

You can read more about Michelle Styles and her Viking series here
http://www.michellestyles.co.uk/

Ivar Gunnarson... sorry, just had to say it one more time

Sunday, January 3, 2010

THOSE OF MY BLOOD by Jacqueline Lichtenberg


I love ancient history and have always been fascinated by the idea of aliens visiting Earth thousands of years ago and, inadvertantly, kicking off some major mythology in the process.  You know, Stonehenge could be a landing platform or those gigantic rock pictures in South America could be signaling orbital spacecraft.  Maybe the Ancient Egyptians had help designing the Spinx and the Pyramids of Giza, you think?  Myth was how ancient people grappled with understanding the universe around them.  The griffin probably got its start when Ancient Greeks discovered the skeletons of protoceratops near gold deposits.  Take a look at griffin art and skeletal remains and you'll be amazed.
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And so I often have such oddities in my own Earth-based Science Fiction-flavored stories. 
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A couple years back I followed Linnea Sinclair around the blogosphere and discovered Jacqueline Lichtenberg.  She co-wrote STAR TREK LIVES! many moons ago and a bunch of other cool stuff.  I read a couple of her books before, DREAMSPY and HOUSE OF ZEOR.  You can find her books in good libraries and decent-sized used bookstores.  Her backlist is galactic.  She wrote Science Fiction Romance when it wasn't cool and so had to sneak it under radar.  Of course, I would never dream of doing the same thing for the Young Adult crowd!  Oh, no, never, I swear!
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That all brings me to the book, THOSE OF MY BLOOD.  I was in the process of writing a near-future Science Fiction-flavored story for young adults and, as usual, it features some mythological creatures which got their start from aliens.  So, I figured I'd better read Jacqueline's book.

THOSE OF MY BLOOD explains to us all that vampires got their start as aliens too.  See, they crash-landed here eons ago and had to make do because they couldn't contact their homeworld.  Over the centuries they seperated into two groups, the Residents who feel they belong here now and view humans as sentient beings worthy of respect, though a little dimwitted.  They developed alternative means of feeding which don't involve chomping on their buddies. 
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To the Tourists, we're nothing but a bunch of lollypops.
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The Residents think this is very bad.
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The Tourists think the Residents are misguided fools and they'll get over it once the other Lurens (that's their alien name) find them.
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The story starts with Titus the Hero getting ready for a trip to the Moon.  Seems a way has been found to contact the Luren homeworld and the unsuspecting humans have no idea the Tourists have plans.  Titus is a Resident.  He kicked the bucket in a carwreck some time before and was turned into a 'vampire' by Abbot who is now kind of a father to him.  Trouble is, Abbot is a Tourist.  Titus had a wife, Inea, when he was alive, but he heartbreakingly had to leave his life with her behind because, after all, he's dead, as far as she knows.  He meets Mirelle on the spaceship trip and thinks she's probably just yummy.  So does Dear Old Dad and he has no reservations about a little nibble. 
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To tell you the truth, I didn't find the individual characters that interesting.  It's a 'cup of tea' thing.  However, I was captured by their interaction.  It's all very primal.  The Hero must deal with his Bad Dad.  The Hero misses his wife, but must move on, likes the girl but doesn't want to hurt her because she's human and he's a Blood-Sucking Dead Guy.  (Twi-(cough)light(cough)about a(cough) decade or so early))  But, don't get excited, Mirelle's no Bella and this is regular grown-up stuff.
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Titus thinks he can handle the mission.  Go to the Moon, stop the bad guys (unfortunately his own kind) from contacting the homeworld, because all his nasty cousins would come and throw humanity on the ol' barbecue.  Once they're underway, however, he discovers his supply of cloned and powdered blood is gone.  And he's getting hungry.  Then, dear ol' dad, you know, Abbott, uses his telepathic powers to mark and control Mirelle as his food source.  Seems Abbott wants to teach his boy a lesson or two on how to be a good little vampire.
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Then, Titus' wife shows up.
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Protecting a girl whom you're kinda interested in is one thing.  Guarding your mate is another thing altogether.  It's primal.  But, how does he fight his 'father' whom he's supposed to have some kind of loyalty to and whose a lot better at the vampire thing than him?  He could use his own telepathic powers and such to mark Inea and make her understand and believe and all that, but that would go against his Resident ethics.
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So, onto the Moon they go, grappling for the right parts, finding a supposedly dead Luren, and fighting over whether humans are partners or just a major food group.
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Check out THOSE OF MY BLOOD.  Definitely not your standard issue Blood-Sucking Dead Guys.
http://www.jacquelinelichtenberg.com/
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P.S. The cover art for my copy of this book has a girl with long hair.  I like it better, but I like long hair.

'Romancing the Blog' Takes a Break



Hopefully, it's only a break.  It's the one industry blog I read every day.  They've published several of my articles.  I always appreciated the polite, yet provocative discussions from readers, authors, agents, editors, everyone who cares about the Romance genre.  I hope they'll be back.
http://www.romancingtheblog.com/blog/

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Books Sent to Me Which I Won't Review

It's not because they're bad.  It's because they were sent to me unsolicited and they're not my cup of tea.  I can usually pass them on to other reviewers.  In the case of the Urban Fantasy, I'm the only one who reviews that here and they already had copies at Tia's blog, Debts & Reviews.  These are good books, so I didn't want to not mention them at all.
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BITTER NIGHT by Diana Pharoah Francis.  Urban Fantasy.


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THE BETTER PART OF DARKNESS by Kelly Gay.  Urban Fantasy.


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DON'T BARGAIN WITH THE DEVIL by Sabrina Jeffries.  I think Kimber Chin might review this one.  I wanted Historical Romance, but this one turned out to not be my style.

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ONLY IN PARADISE by Michelle Moncou.  Contemporary Romance.


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Please, remember unsolicited ARCs get bumped to the bottom of my list or passed around.  Sometimes, they don't get reviewed at all.  Please ask before sending.