ReadingGrrls Paper Safari

Title:   Kiss the Dead by Laurell K Hamilton Publisher: Berkley 367 Pages Genre: horror, romance, Synopsis:  When a fifteen-year-old girl is abducted by vampires, it’s up to U.S. Marshal Anita Blake to find her. And when she does, she’s faced with something she’s never seen before: a terrifyingly ordinary group of people—kids, grandparents, soccer moms—all recently turned and willing to die to avoid serving a master. And where there’s one martyr, there will be more… But even vampires have monsters they're afraid of. And Anita is one of them... Review: I really like Anita Blake and her harem of gorgeous guys but the writing of these books is getting repetitive.  I get it, she feeds off sex, she likes sex, she is good at sex, and the men in her life are all gorgeous even if they have scars, and they are all amazing in bed and have large equipment.  Call me crazy but I actually like when the books have a plot.  This one waffled between having one...

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading . Anyone can play along! •  Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page •  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!  ( make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others! ) •  Share the  title & author , too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! My teaser Tuesday is from:  Kiss the Dead by Laurell K. Hamilton "They needed someone to hold their leashes, because you give most people this kind of power and you find out that they aren't nice people at all; they'd been nice because they were weak. It takes a truly good person to gain power, strength and mystical abilities and not misuse them."     When a fifteen-year-old girl is abducted by vampires, it’s up...

Title:   The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow Publisher: Algonquin Books 272 pages Genre: Fiction Synopsis:  Rachel, the daughter of a danish mother and a black G.I., becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy after a fateful morning on their Chicago rooftop. Forced to move to a new city, with her strict African American grandmother as her guardian, Rachel is thrust for the first time into a mostly black community, where her light brown skin, blue eyes, and beauty bring a constant stream of attention her way. It’s there, as she grows up and tries to swallow her grief, that she comes to understand how the mystery and tragedy of her mother might be connected to her own uncertain identity. Review:  Switching time periods and perspectives Heidi tells the story of Rachel, the girl who literally fell from the sky with the rest of her family.  Did they jump? Were they pushed? Now Rachel is living in NY with her grandmother in an African-America...

Title: Tats Too: The Case of the Devil's Diamond by Layce Gardner Publisher: Bella Books 248 Pages Genre : Lgbt, Lesbian, romance, mystery Synopsis: They got out of Oklahoma alive. With a baby on the way, Lee Hammond and Vivian Baxter have settled down to uncomplicated domesticity—until Lee finds bugs in the smoke detectors. The electronic kind. It seems that there are a few details about her past that Vivian has neglected to share with Lee, and the men with the big guns are back. They want what Vivian took from them: the thirty million dollar Devil’s Diamond. From the bright lights of Vegas to the dazzling sights of Hollywood, the chase is on in Layce Gardner’s sequel to the instant sensation Tats. Review: Tats had me laughing so hard I must have looked like a lunatic reading that book and this one is no different.  I chuckled, I spit water across the room, and I smiled my way through reading this book.  Lee and Vivian are perhaps the most dysfunctionally functi...

Title:   My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family by Zach Wahls Publisher: Gotham Books 234 pages Genre: memoir, biography Synopsis:  On January 31, 2011, Zach Wahls addressed the Iowa House Judiciary Committee in a public forum regarding full marriage equality. The nineteen-year-old son of a same-sex couple, Wahls proudly proclaimed, “The sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character.” Hours later, his speech was posted on YouTube, where it went viral, quickly receiving more than two million views. By the end of the week, everyone knew his name and wanted to hear more from the boy with two moms. Review: I was moved when I saw Zach Wahls address the Iowa Judiciary Committee it was hard to believe he was only 19 years old.  Wahls book is about his family.  Growing up with two moms and how although he doesn't have anything to compare it to he thinks it wasn't too much different than the w...

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading . Anyone can play along! •  Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page •  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!  ( make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others! ) •  Share the  title & author , too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! My teaser Tuesday is from:  Tats Too: The Case of the Devil's Diamond by Layce Gardner "It is not identical." Vivian raised her voice. "Believe you me, it is not fucking identical! I want the casket I paid for!" That was when the lid to the coffin raised and I looked up with a mouthful of left tit and a handful of right tit to see Feinberg looking down on us. He looked even more surprised than me. Nonplussed, Vivian stared right a...

Title:   Brook Street: Rogues (Brook St. Trilogy) by Ava March Publisher: Carina Press 71 pages Genre: lgbt Synopsis:  Two of London's most notorious rakehells, Linus Radcliffe and Robert Anderson, are the best of friends. They share almost everything—clothes, servants, their homes, and even each other's bed on occasion. The one thing they don't share: lovers. For while Linus prefers men, Robert prefers women...except when it comes to Linus. As another Season nears its end, Robert can't ignore his growing jealousy. He hates watching Linus disappear from balls to dally with other men. Women are lovely, but Linus rouses feelings he's never felt with another. Unwilling to share his gorgeous friend another night, Robert has a proposition for Linus. A proposition Linus flatly refuses—but not for the reasons Robert thinks. Still, Robert won't take no for an answer. He sets out to prove a thing or two to his best friend—yet will learn something about the he...

Title:   Sara by Greg Herren Publisher: Bold Stroke Books 264 pages Genre: lgbt, YA I received an E-ARC of this book from netgalley.com - it is being released July 17, 2012 Synopsis:  For Tony Martin, being a senior means being a star on the football team, classes to get through, hanging out with his friends—and dating Candy Dixon. And once he graduates, he’s getting out of Kansas and never looking back. But his best friend Glenn’s decision to come out and be openly gay at their small rural high school creates a lot of problems for the two of them. But a beautiful new student arrives at Southern Heights High—Sara. When all the kids who’ve been mean to Glenn start dying in very strange circumstances, and Glenn starts acting strangely, it’s up to Tony and Candy to get to the bottom of what’s going on in their school—before it’s too late for them. Review: What starts off seeming like a coming of age story about Glenn coming out and how his best friend Tony and his f...

Title:   Brook Street: Fortune Hunter (Brook St. Trilogy) by Ava March Publisher: Carina Press 127 Pages Genre: LGBT Synopsis:   London, 1822 Impoverished Julian Parker returns to London with one goal: marry an heiress. He'll do whatever it takes, even if it means denying his desire for men. After all, with a fortune comes happiness and social acceptance—which have eluded Julian his entire life. The only things a vast fortune has brought Oscar Woodhaven are greedy relatives and loneliness. At twenty-one years of age, he has everything a man could possibly want—except someone to love him. When he meets devastatingly handsome Julian Parker, he believes his luck has turned. Between Oscar's lavish gifts and their searing-hot nights, Julian is caught between what he thinks he needs and what his heart truly desires. But when a betrayal threatens to tear them apart, Julian discovers he'll do whatever it takes to convince Oscar the greatest fortune of all is love. Re...

Title : Death Scent by SV Wolf Publisher: Black Rose Writing 252 Pages Genre: Mystery - Native American Folklore I received this book through netgalley.com - it was released in April 2012 Synopsis:  Titan is a Death Dog (trained to detect human remains), belonging to an undisclosed sect of the Shawnee Nation, which provides special services to the highest levels of U.S. Law Enforcement. The sect members all possess superior skills, most involved with the tracking and sometimes killing, of the most grievous of perpetrators. Titan though is not only a specially trained dog, he also possess supernatural abilities such as seeing and speaking to the spirits of the dead. As he matures he slowly learns of new gifts and uses them as he is pressed into service through a series of murders of young women. Titan embarks along with his handler (daughter of the sect chief) and other sect members on a suspense filled hunt for the killer; tracking down the victims with Titan's fine ...

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading . Anyone can play along! •  Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page •  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!  ( make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others! ) •  Share the  title & author , too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! My teaser Tuesday is from:  Death Scent by S.V. Wolf "Our integration into this wabi world (white) has always been for the sacred purpose. But I will tell you this: A man needs not hold a knife to my throat for me to know when my life is in danger. Just because this killer stands not before our Death Dog or my daughter does not diminish the fact that he has indeed placed their lives in danger from afar."     T...

Title:   Brook Street: Thief (Brook St. Trilogy) by Ava March Publisher: Carina Press 116 Pages Genre: LGBT I received this as an e-ARC via netgalley.com from Carina Press .  This title was released in March 2012 and there are two other books in this Brook Street Series.  Synopsis:  London, 1822 It was only supposed to be one night .  One night to determine once and for all if he truly preferred men. But the last thing Lord Benjamin Parker expected to find in a questionable gambling hall in Cheapside is a gorgeous young man who steals his heart. It was only supposed to be a job.  Cavin Fox has done it many times-select a prime mark, distract him with lust, and leave his pockets empty. Yet when Cavin slips away under the cover of darkness, the only part of Benjamin he leaves untouched  is  his pockets. With a taste of his fantasies fulfilled, Benjamin wants more than one night with Cavin. But convincing the elusive young ma...

Title:   Between You and Me by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus Publisher: Atria Books 272 pages Genre: YA, I received this book as an e-ARC through netgalley.com - this title is due to be released June 12, 2012 Synopsis:   Twenty-seven-year-old Logan Wade has built a life for herself in New York City, far from her unhappy childhood in Oklahoma. But when she gets the call that her famous cousin needs a new assistant, it’s an offer she can’t refuse. Logan hasn't seen Kelsey since they were separated as kids; in the meantime, Kelsey Wade has become one of  Fortune Magazine’s most powerful celebrities and carrion for the paparazzi. But the joy at their reunion is overshadowed by the toxic dynamic between Kelsey and her controlling parents. As Kelsey grasps desperately at a “real” life, Logan risks everything to try and give her cousin the one thing she has never known—happiness. As Kelsey unravels in the most horribly public way L...

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading . Anyone can play along! •  Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page •  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!  ( make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others! ) •  Share the  title & author , too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! My teaser Tuesday is from:  Between You and Me by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus "Finn, don't - I have to - I'm scared for her."  "I'm scared for you. What if you'd been in that car she crashed? You can't see this clearly - you're too close."     What happens when you are followed by millions . . . and loved by none? Twenty-seven-year-old Logan Wade is trying to build a life for herself far from her unhap...

Congratulations to all the Lambda Literary Award Winners! Ceremonies were held yesterday in New York hosted by Comedienne Kate Clinton.   24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners Lesbian Fiction Six Metres of Pavement , by Farzana Doctor, Dundrun Press   Gay Fiction   The Empty Family , by Colm Tóibín, Scribner   Lesbian Debut Fiction Zipper Mouth , by Laurie Weeks, The Feminist Press   Gay Debut Fiction Quarantine: Stories , by Rahul Mehta, Harper Perennial   Lesbian Memoir/Biography When We Were Outlaws: A Memoir of Love & Revolution , Jeanne Córdova, Spinsters Ink   Gay Memoir/Biography The Jack Bank: A Memoir of a South African Childhood ,  by Glen Retief, St. Martin’s Press   Lesbian Mystery Dying to Live , by Kim Baldwin & Xenia Alexiou, Bold Strokes Books   Gay Mystery Red White Black and Blue , by Richard Stevenson, MLR Press   LGBT Anthology Gay Latino Studi...

Title:  Shades of Murder (The Mac Faraday Mysteries) by Lauren Carr Publisher: CreateSpace (imprint Acorn Book Services) 232 Pages Genre: Mystery I received this book as an electronic ARC from netgalley.com - this book was released on May 15.  Synopsis:  Question: What do you get the man with everything? Answer: When that man is the heir of the late mystery writer Robin Spencer, retired homicide detective Mac Faraday, you get him cold case to solve.  In Shades of Murder , Mac Faraday is once again the heir to an unbelievable fortune. This time the benefactor is a stolen art collector. But this isn’t just any stolen work-of-art—it’s a masterpiece with a murder attached to it. Ilysa Ramsay was in the midst of taking the art world by storm with her artistic genius. Hours after unveiling her latest masterpiece—she is found dead in her Deep Creek Lake studio—and her painting is nowhere to be found. Almost a decade later, the long lost Ilysa Ramsay masterpiece...