WWW Wednesday 11-9-11

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Then answer in the comments, or go back to Should Be Reading (Click on image above) and add your blog to the list! :)

What am I currently reading?

Gastien Part 1, The Cost of the Dream, by Caddy Rowland 

In this both dark and hopeful first book, young Gastien Beauchamp begins his journey to Paris with two goals in life. The first is to become an artist with his own studio, following his own rules. That is an almost impossible dream for a peasant. Gastien has no money, no formal training, and is a naïve eighteen year old fresh off the farm. Paris spits out talented men into the gutters every day. “Good” gets you nowhere. “Great” maybe gets you a bowl of soup. The second is to become the greatest lover in France. That should be easy. With his stunning looks, and his willingness to learn, the women of Paris are about to be awakened in a way they have only dreamt about in the 19th century! Gastien swears that he has no interest in love. Love would only take away his dreams. But he is innocent and does not realize that sex without love can be quite empty. Before he can learn that, he must face obstacles and heartaches that will threaten to destroy his very soul. Insatiable, burning passion. Focus and drive. Raw, natural talent. Armed with those, Gastien is determined to succeed at any cost. Poor Gastien. If he could only know in advance what struggles lay before him, he might think twice about leaving home. However, he is young and full of hope. The dreams burn relentlessly inside of him, not allowing him a moments rest. And so the journey begins..


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What did I recently finish reading?

Me and My Shadow, by Katie MacAlister
May Northcott is at the end of her tether. Her demon boss has moved in and is making life hell. Her scorching hot dragon lover seems to think everything can be solved with a fiery kiss. And worse still, she's being shadowed by her ditsy twin sister -- a naiad who simply can't seem to stay out of trouble. The arrival of a nearly-dead man on May's doorstep could be the final spark that sets light to their tinder-box world. And with dragon war imminent, it's looking increasingly like it will be up to May (and her watery shadow) to stop it before the fire consumes them all, and their lives end up in smoke






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What will I read next?

Intricate Entanglement, by Su Halfwerk
Trapped in a lunatic asylum and compelled to listen to the stories of the deranged patients, Doug Pinkham becomes entangled in the twisted mind of a cold-blooded killer. As the reporter tries to get to the bottom of a mysterious murder case, he gets more than he bargained for. He must separate truth from fiction as he realizes he no longer controls his own world. Will Doug manage to escape the asylum, or will the killer’s stories lure him into an enigmatic world full of mazes, each so fascinating that he can’t stop listening?












I would love to hear whats on your WWW.  Let me know!

Me and My Shadow - Katie MacAlister

Title: Me and My Shadow
Author: Katie MacAlister
Format: Borrowed print copy from library


From Goodreads:
May Northcott is at the end of her tether. Her demon boss has moved in and is making life hell. Her scorching hot dragon lover seems to think everything can be solved with a fiery kiss. And worse still, she's being shadowed by her ditsy twin sister -- a naiad who simply can't seem to stay out of trouble. The arrival of a nearly-dead man on May's doorstep could be the final spark that sets light to their tinder-box world. And with dragon war imminent, it's looking increasingly like it will be up to May (and her watery shadow) to stop it before the fire consumes them all, and their lives end up in smoke!

This is the third book in the Silver Dragons series.  First, of course I loved it, as I did the other two.  This book had a lot more action, and a lot less firey dragonny mating.  I remember one, but there might have been more.  Anyhow, I believe this is the last in this installment of the series.  The Dragons continue their next book with the Light Dragons and “Love in the time of Dragons”.  However, I need to go backwards and read the Aisling Grey series.

It seemed like for a large part of this book May and Gabriel were apart, and when they were together there were a lot of other pressing matters to attend to.  I really would love to see the whole book devoted to just those two, but I suppose that is a bit selfish of me.  There was a lot of missing Gabriel, thinking about Gabriel… When they were finally together there was a dragon hunt scene that was fun and sexy and fresh. 

Ok, I’m finding it hard to review this without spoilers.  So here they are.  For those who want to read the spoilers, just highlight the text.  For the rest of you, you will (hopefully) just see white space.  If it doesn’t work, I’m sorry and you may as well stop reading now.

Ok, you’ve been warned… (and email subscribers, just stop reading now….)

Here’s my page break to help…

Meme: Movie Cast (2)

<center><a href="http://fictionalcandy.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Fictional Candy" src="http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z392/FictionalCandy/moviecast.jpg"/></a></center>

It's really easy to do.  Just pick a book, and cast it for the movie you wish it'd be made into!  Comment, pass on, come back here and link to your post.  And link to Fictional Candy in your post :)

Rules?  You can make it as extravagent as you want, or as simple as you want.  Want to add locations?  Or a soundtrack?  You don't have to add pictures, but it sure does help :) Live or dead actors, it doesn't matter!

And if you want to do the same book, go for it!  I'd love to see how you envision the characters.

Up In Smoke (Silver Dragons #2) - Katie MacAlister

Title: Up In Smoke (Silver Dragons #2)
Author: Katie MacAlister
Published: 2008
Format read: Print copy borrowed from library


From Goodreads:
Though May Northcott’s heart belongs to Gabriel, leader of the silver dragons, being stuck in Abaddon has significantly cooled down her love life. Especially since a demon lord is trying to woo her. Looks like May will have to barter to gain her freedom and fulfill her destiny by Gabriel’s side...

“Carrie Fay always says that nothing is really horrible unless it eats away your face.” Sally said with sublime disregard.

That line made me laugh out loud.  Seriously, its hilarious.  And well, it’s true too!

I loved this book.  This may very well be my newest favorite trilogy.  I want to read the last book more than any other book I have right now.  And I will have to soon, cause they are due back to the library on the 24^th! On the other hand, I’m really sad that its almost over.  Sure, there’s the Aisling Grey series, and the start of the Light Dragon series, but I want more Silver Dragons.

  

Why?  Gabriel.  Woooooohooooo, that dragon could give me his fire any time he wanted.  Ok, so after the first book I claimed that I got more of a Bruno Campos vibe from Gabriel.  Not anymore.  I still don’t know if I can picture him just like the author describes, but I am just about there.   I can picture this guy moving through the room.  Quiet.  Calm.  Deadly.  And he loves May Northcott more than anything in this whole universe.  And boy oh boy oh boy, it is a hot hot love that they have. 

This book takes place right after the first.  We find May in Abaddon, basically getting all prettied up for a whole lotta nothing in her mind.  Magoth, by the way, I am certain is Rudolph Valentino. I may be wrong, but Katie MacAlister keeps saying how he was a dark, brooding, sexy silent film star.  I would place my money on Valentino!  Ok, back to the book.  May is getting a mud mask from Sally, who has designs on becoming a demon lord herself.  You want to hate her, you kind of like her, she’s funny.  She reminds me of Paulette in Legally Blonde.  Up in your face, seemingly naïve…but you know there is more there.  This woman has layers, even if she isn’t a top character in the book.  She has enough personality to have a spin off!  Then May disappears!!  Ok, she doesn’t actually.  But she does get summoned up to see Gabriel, Aisling, and the group.  There’s a plan to get her out of Abaddon.  Annnnnd it involves her becoming Magoth’s consort.

But whatever works, works.  I don’t care, as long as she gets out and gets closer to Gabriel.   And through a series of events, the dragon shard from the phylactery lands itself right inside of May!!  Suddenly she is shifting during sex into a dragon, she is moody, she is flying off the handle.  I loved it!!! She doesn’t, however.  She’s worried about becoming a dragon permanently.  So of course there is a plan to get her out of that situation.

That’s what I love about this trilogy.  There’s a main storyline, and all kinds of shenanigans along the way.  Cyrene gets into trouble, of course.  Kostya is around.  We meet some new dragons.  Its mayhem! There is no way you could get bored reading this series.  Katie MacAlister definitely does a good job of keeping you on your toes.

There’s a lot of action in this book.  Fighting action, plotting action, battle action, sexy as hell on fire action.  I couldn’t read it fast enough.  I love the absolute unfaltering devotion of May and Gabriel.  If I gave stars on my reviews, this book would get all 5 :)




UPDATE:
Ok, I've got it.  I know who I picture Gabriel as:  Jason Momoa!!   I wish I had some quotes on hand so that I could do a "My Book Boyfriend" but maybe next week.  In the meantime, check out these pics!

A little dragon fun...

So right now I am reading book two of the Silver Dragon series, from Katie MacAlister, "Up In Smoke".  I can't say this enough, I love these dragons!!!

Found this little quiz on Katie's website, and I got the perfect result!!

(Ok, the embed feature, and the add to blog feature didn't work, but here is a pic of my result and if you click on it, you can take the same quiz!)

A Girl's Guide to Vampires - by Katie MacAlister

Title: A Girl's Guide to Vampires
Author: Katie MacAlister

Published: 2003
Format:  Print copy borrowed from library

From Fictfact.com:
Joy Randall's Top 5 Tips for Vampire Hunters: Location, location, location. Vampires won't be caught dead (ha!) in places like discos, ten-minute lube shops, or Switzerland. Remember, if you wouldn't be there, neither would a bloodsucker. Trust your eyes. You know the handsome, annoyingly arrogant, self-assured man in the shadows with long hair and a cleft in his chin? He's your vampire. No matter how tempting it might be, do not "accidentally" acquire a paper cut on your finger and suggest your vampire kiss it to make it better. Play it cool. Don't offer to accompany your prince of the night on the talk-show circuit, and whatever you do, don't offer him your heart! Most of all, remember: being a vampire is nothing to laugh about.


Ok, so I finished this book in the weeeee hours of the night, half asleep, but I just had to get to the end.

At first I was kind of iffy, I wasn't sure this was the book for me.  Sure, the main character, Joy, had a lot of snarky one liners that I just love.  But there seemed to be a lot of confusion.  One moment Joy suspects person A is a Dark One (vampire, if you will) the next moment she suspects someone else, and so on and so forth.  There were a few times I suspected several different and multiple people.  One of my first instincts was right. But being inside her mind... well, it just kind of felt like it was all over the place.

But why did I like this book?  Raphael St John.  Yummy.  He made me wish this book had pictures, for oh so many reasons.  Ladies, I'm sure you understand :)  But even aside from that, he's an alpha male.  Gotta love that!! A tattooed European alpha male.  He's cool, calm, collected.  He's strong and he's got a secret.

I'm going to read the second book, I'll even go so far to reserve it at the library. I just checked, and as it turns out it is about... oh, you almost got me there.  I can't tell you!!  That may (or may not?!?) spoil this book?

Can't make up my mind which to start!

  So I have a ton of books ready to read.... and I keep getting more.  There are 3 more in my mailbox at home from the bookswap!

So here are my choices on what to read:

Envy, JR Ward

Ok, I love love love JR Ward.  I buy her books, full price paper editions, brand new....and loan them to my friends with serious threats of violence if they are not returned quickly and in great condition.  I know this book is going to be great.

A Girl's Guide to Vampires, Katie MacAlister

I basically know nothing about this series.  I got this from the library last night.  Some of the others in the series looked damned interesting, but you have to start at the beginning.  I did check goodreads from my Blackberry, so I know this has good reviews.  I'm sure it will be a fun read.

Playing with Fire, Katie MacAlister

This is another one from the library.  I don't know anything about this author.  But again, this has good reviews and the series looks interesting.