This Space Under Construction!!!

Greetings wonderful readers and followers,

I know things have been quiet around my little confessional, but worry not I have not forgotten you or stopped reading. The new year is fast upon us and it will be an exciting year for me in my little slice of literary heaven.

Get ready for a new look, updated review policy, updated rating system, lots of nifty features, giveaways, interviews, guest posts and reviews if course.

Things will be revealed on January 5th! Are you as excited as I am, are you ready for things to kick off and get rocking for 2013, I know I am.

I will also be featuring my top ten books of 2012 and my top ten least favorite books of 2012. What else do I have in store for you, you will just have to wait and see.

Love, kisses and great reads,

Martha aka Caedy

Hello to New and Old Faces! Some Important Information Ahead

To all the new followers, thank you, thank you and thank you a hundred times over and I am quite pleased that you've found my slice of literary heaven.  Some things in the works, I will be revamping my review policy, as well as further detailing a few things to stream line the process.  I will be attempting to get back into posting a blog schedule, and now that I am once more the proud owner of a Kindle (THANK THE GODS) I will have lots more books to read and review (including some from the 1300 in the archives of my amazon account that I've not yet touched). 

I will also be perhaps sharing with you some of my writing, though that might go to a separate blog in and of itself.  Beyond that, I've also got computer access again at home (for more than a handful of hours early in the morning on weekends) so I can post things more regularly. 

Also, if you like my reviews, and the content that I provide, I would highly recommend sharing me with your friends, finding me on Goodreads and ultimately following my reviews and things here.  I do post my reviews on goodreads as well, and I will be once more refreshing my smashwords account and posting things there (mainly because I have books that I need to grab there and redownload on my Kindle). 

If you are an author and following me here on my little piece of heaven, and would like me to review your book I am more than willing.  Digital copies are accepted (mobi/kindle format preferred above all others) and print copies as well.  If you send me a copy of your book (digitally or otherwise) allow me minimum of three (3) weeks to have time to read and formulate an opinion on your book to provide you with a proper review and not allow you to feel slighted. 

I will in the coming weeks be catching up on my backlog of reviews (and trust me when I say that there is a backlog!).  Those ultimately come first, and then I will be moving on to some of the newer material that I have received.  But, worry not, I will not allow your book to be lost in the shuffle like some have in the past.  I do apologize if you happen to be one of those authors (it was so very not intentional). 

Also, if you aren't an author, but you have an awesome book that you want to recommend to me, and it is available for lending via Kindle, you can of course always lend it to me and I will have it read and reviewed within the two (2) week grace period that is allowed for Kindle lending. 

Any other comments, questions, or concerns, please do not hesitate to email me and let me know.  Also, if you are looking for Beta readers, decidedly more than willing!

Review: Year of the Cat by Carroll Bryant

Title: Year of the Cat
Author: Carroll Bryant
Format: e-book (Kindle edition)
Read: Dec 9 - DNF
Rating: 1/5
Recommend: No

Summary: Lancaster Parks, an American Detective is sent to a tourist city in Mexico.  What exactly he's investigating is a string of deaths of male tourists over the past years.  The case he's on currently has 16 unsolved murders, all the victims American males and murdered between Spring Break and Memorial Day Weekend (the city's two biggest tourist times).  Oh, and there is this mysterious woman too.

Review: I am so usually not one to give into hype, drama or let other people's reviews color my opinion of a book.  So, up on receiving this book as a gift (which I usually do not turn down, but in this case I probably should have).

I could not even finish it, I have no desire to finish it.  Nor do I think any amount of money could make me finish this book. This author reminds me of Vizzini in <i>The Princess Bride</i> with his use of words improperly.

The on that made me giggle, seriously, was apparently the main character was going to spend "the next ions" of his life in the city he was transferred to in Mexico.  Dear Author, you are aware that the word that you should have used in that sentence was EONS.

Ions do not measure time.  Ions are an electrically charged atom, and is a term used in physics or chemistry.

Eons measure time.  They measure an indefinite amount of time.

So, your character would not be spending electrically charged atoms in a place, instead he would be spending eons (an indefinite amount of time) in the city in Mexico.

Then, there is this mystery woman.  I don't get entirely where she comes from (maybe I would if I finished the book) but to have her simply show up in this one mini flash back toward the beginning of the book is kind of disjointed and really doesn't make things flow nice and neatly in my opinion.

Anyway, that is my two cents and I bid you all a good day and happy reading.  Please do not bring your hate, drama and various other trivial things to my page.  I've now read the drama and the whirlwind of a shit storm that this book and the author has produced.  I do not want any part of it, and you will not hesitate to find yourself blocked, banned, or reported for bringing the drama here.

Review: Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazaer

Title: Innocent Darkness
Author: Suzanne Lazear
Format: E-book - Galley
Read: May 13-14 2012
Rating: 3.5/5
Recommend: Maybe.

Summary: This book has a unique premise: Steampunk faerie tale.  Magnolia has been sent to a school for troublesome girls, but ultimately she is broken out of the school with the aid of a Faerie.  She is slated to be the sacrificial lamb to save Otherworld.

Review:  I was given this book as an ARC/Galley copy from Netgalley, and the prospect of Steampunk mixed with faerie did seem intriguing especially since it raises so many questions about how the two would intermingle especially with Fae being known for having a strong allergic reaction to all things iron and frowning on the inclusion of too much mortal world technology.
There were things that I liked in this book and things that irritated me with this book.  Multiple names for each character tended to get confusing, especially since each character had a nickname and their actual name but went by one or another name throughout the entirety of the book.  That was one of the things that rubbed me the wrong way, and I also disliked the sudden drop off of the steampunk part of the story.  The devices that were used at the beginning of the story were among my favorite and it upset me that once things shifted there was little to no more steampunk influence on the story.
Okay, so Noli is a hoyden, but there was no closure given to the harsh and unacceptable treatment she'd received at the school.  It kinda irked me that there were no lasting, lingering effects (as their should have been from such treatment) and everything was suddenly overshadowed by the fact that she had to be sacrificed to save Otherworld, and ultimately the romance took over as well.  While, I do like a good romance, it to me is not something that should have taken center stage when there were more pressing issues that needed to be dealt with.
Will I continue to read this series? I am on the fence about picking up the second book simply because there was a lot that had left me wanting with this one.  We will see, I may pick it up just to see what twists are in it and if there is further inclusion of the steampunk or if it has merely turned into another faerie story.