Saturday, February 25, 2012

HOUNDED/ KEVIN HEARNE/ MY REVIEW


Book Description~
Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old — when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old. Not to mention: He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit, and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer. Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he’s hounded Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power — plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys, a sexy bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish — to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil.



Hounded is book #1 in the Iron Druid Chronicles


MY REVIEW /  An Urban Fantasy set in modern times.


This book was a fun read. I was engrossed with all the different creatures in this book. I also enjoyed the bantor between Atticus and his dog, Oberon. Yes, I said dog!

Atticus is not the average 21 y. old male, living in Tempe, Az. trying to live a normal, quite life. He owns a store and has a dog, sounds normal, right? WRONG! Atticus is actually a Druid, and he's over 2000 yrs. old. He is trying to live a normal life, but things are definitetly not normal. 
All kinds of creatures and beings are trying to interrupt his life all over a sword, but this isn't a normal sword, nope it's a magical sword that is coveted by a God. This God will stop at nothing to try to steal this sword away from Atticus, He sends all kinds of creatures, witches, demons, etc. to try to take down Atticus, but Atticus seems to always stay a step ahead of them. Using magic, and some helpful friends who always seem to show up at the right time. He manages to allude the danger, until friends actually turn into foe, or do they?

The fun parts of this book had to be, for me, the interaction between Atticus and his dog, Oberon. Oberon and Atticus don't actually talk to each other, vocally, they "talk" to each mentally and it's funny and likable. This book is filled with action, flows well, and is different from anything else out there. 4 stars
                                   
                                      



Audio Review
I actually got the Audio, unabridged version of this book, and I must say it was a narrative delight.
Luke Daniels, who is a professional actor narrated this book and he did a great job tapping into the different characters and voiceing them with different accents. The voice he uses to play Oberon(the dog) is a delight, as you can only imagine how your dog could truly sound like, if it could talk. Luke also narrates each character's accent or voice with a true actors insight and plays up the uniquness in each character. I enjoyed his narration  and will continue listening to the rest of this series, as oppossed to reading it.  5 Stars to Luke Daniels narrative! 

  

TASTE/ KATE EVANGELISTA/ NEW COVER REVEAL


At Barinkoff Academy, there's only one rule: no students on campus after curfew. Phoenix McKay soon finds out why when she is left behind at sunset. A group calling themselves night students threaten to taste her flesh until she is saved by a mysterious, alluring boy. With his pale skin, dark eyes, and mesmerizing voice, Demitri is both irresistible and impenetrable. He warns her to stay away from his dangerous world of flesh eaters. Unfortunately, the gorgeous and playful Luka has other plans.

When Phoenix is caught between her physical and her emotional attraction, she becomes the keeper of a deadly secret that will rock the foundations of an ancient civilization living beneath Barinkoff Academy. Phoenix doesn’t realize until it is too late that the closer she gets to both Demitri and Luka the more she is plunging them all into a centuries old feud.

Taste is to be published by Crescent Moon Press and its release is slated for Fall 2012.


For more information, visit official website: http://www.kateevangelista.com/



*What a beautiful cover and intriguing story, I'm adding this to my TBR pile!!!

Friday, February 24, 2012

22 FREE E-BOOKS!! ~AMAZON

Large selection today!  Click on book cover for direct link!  Always check the price on Amazon before making a purchase, please! If a book is free, you should see the following: Kindle Price: $0.00 ~Enjoy

 

Thursday, February 23, 2012

KINDLE FIRE/ MY REVIEW



Movies, apps, games, music, reading and more, plus Amazon's revolutionary, cloud-accelerated web browser
  • 19 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books
  • Thousands of popular apps and games, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, and more
  • Ultra-fast web browsing - Amazon Silk
  • Free cloud storage for all your Amazon content
  • Vibrant color touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle - same as an iPad
  • Fast, powerful dual-core processor
  • Favorite children's books, graphic novels, and magazines in rich color
  • Amazon Prime Members enjoy unlimited, instant streaming on thousands of popular movies and TV shows.
  • Amazon Prime Members choose from thousands of books to borrow for free.
8GB internal (approximately 6GB available for user content). That's enough for 80 apps, plus 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books.



BOOKS/MAGAZINES/NEWSPAPERS



TV/MOVIES


GAMES/APPS/WEB BROWSING

MUSIC




*MY REVIEW*

Being that this is my first e-reader/tablet, I really didn't have anything else to compare the Kindle Fire to, but I must say this device is perfect for my needs.

 It's a great e-reader, holding 6,000 books that are downloaded in mere seconds. In addition to holding all those books you are also offered the Cloud storage, a free storage device for all Amazon content. So you can have the option of holding books on your device and/or the storage. The Cloud storage can hold all your Amazon content that you have downloaded. So the storage is basically a library of your books at your fingertips.

It's also a great system to play and store your music. With good sound quality, and music can be played as a backdrop while you use your Kindle. 

It also can can play Movies, TV Shows with live streaming or you can download your movies directly on the device or utilize the Cloud storage, again. With a very high resolution screen, colors pop and images are perfect.

Play games on this device, get 1000's of APPS, with again a high resolution, as images and colors pop out of the screen. Games/Apps can be downloaded from Amazon, which offers Apps from Android and they offer a good selection of free games/apps.

Surf the web, with wireless connection from your home or anywhere that offers wireless connection.
This system comes with the Amazon Silk technology which is basically an accelerated browser(split browser) with connection speeds and power you'll be surfing the web with ease. I can say I've had no problems getting connected and staying connected. It actually is quicker then my laptop.

Amazon also offers a free 1 year warranty with the option to purchase a 2 year warranty for your device.

They also offer a free trial month of Amazon Prime which is a great way to utilize the free movies, tv s.hows, book lending program, and the 2 day free shipping on most items, labeled with the Amazon Prime logo.

It's a great device that offers more than other e-readers and it's price is hard to beat at $199.00.

 My only gripe with the Kindle Fire, it has a horrible glare in bright sunlight and indoor bright light making the device nearly impossible to use outdoors. It's a huge disappointment to this almost perfect device.
I'm sure future Kindle Fire's will be upgraded and they will eventually come up with a solution to this annoying problem. There is also the option of purchasing an anti-glare, screen protection sheet, but reviews are saying while the glare is reduced the image quality is also reduced. I haven't purchased the screen protection sheet so I'm not sure if it actually will reduce glare when using the Kindle Fire outside.

I am giving the Kindle Fire 4 Stars but only because of the glare issue. I would highly recommend this tablet, especially if your an avid Amazon shopper, reader, and now gamer, like me!



                                                                            





*Leave your comments or questions about Kindle Fire below, I will be happy to answer them for you.  Thanks!