Second Giveaway Winners & Hostage to Pleasure & More Ways To Separate You From Your Hard-Earned Money

Here are the winners of the second First Blood giveaway — comment number courtesy of random.org, and name courtesy of you. Thank you again to everyone who entered!

4 Michelle (MG)

5 Kerry (overseas is fine)

12 Karen Mahoney

23 Fancy

34 Neal L

37 Ashley V

43 RachaelfromNJ

I’ll be e-mailing all of you shortly! I plan to take the first batch of books to the Post Office tomorrow, and the second next week — so the earlier you get back to me, the earlier you’ll get your book 🙂

And because authors are evil (when we’re not giving away books) here’s another book that you’re going to want … but this one isn’t mine.  I wish it was — and I’m quite certain that Nalini Singh is a witch, by the way. She’s five for five with her Psy-Changeling series, and those kind of odds don’t happen naturally. Nope, she’s got some weird freak magic helping her out.

For those of you who have been following the Psy-Changeling series, you already know Dorian, the hero of Hostage to Pleasure. He’s the one whose sister was killed by a Psy psycho, and who can’t shift. He’s effed up (and that’s putting it mildly.) So going into this book, I felt a bit like I did when I opened Caressed by Ice. I was thinking: this guy has a loooooong way to go before I can believe in his HEA (except that, unlike Judd who repressed every emotion, Dorian is like a walking sexy ball of rage and pain). The thing is, Nalini pulls it off … again.

Then there’s Ashaya. What I find in many books is that there is a very thin line between the strong, self-sacrificing heroine and the martyr heroine. There are times when I want to put a book down and scream, “Oh my god will you PLEASE just do something for yourself for once instead of trying to make the lives of everyone around you perfect!!!!!” And, considering everything around her and the choices she’s made, Ashaya could have probably tipped over into that hair-ripping type of heroine … but she doesn’t. Part of it is Ashaya’s character — I never feel as if I’m being told that she’s strong; I feel that she’s strong. I see it. And the other part of it is that the stakes matter. They really, really matter. This isn’t the martyr heroine who sells herself to the devilish rake after her wastrel brother loses the family home — no, this is life and death, and cultures balanced on a precarious edge. The Psy-Changeling world changes because of the actions of these characters and the people they know; it all matters. And Nalini has me so emotionally invested in this world and her characters, that it matters to me.

And that’s what I’m looking for as a reader — great romance, great worldbuilding, and an incredible storyline. I can’t speak as to whether Hostage to Pleasure stands alone, because I’ve been here from the beginning; I think that there is enough background that you could get by without reading the previous books in the series (although you’d be missing out on some fantastic romance.)

I’ve also recently added My Prerogative by Sasha White to my TBR. I’m already a fan of Sasha’s work, and I’ve been hearing quite a bit of buzz over this one.  (And I love that cover.)

Who else is there? 😀 Last week, Amie Stuart released MAKE U SWEAT. Ann Aguirre’s WANDERLUST is the follow-up to the fantastic GRIMSPACE. And if that’s not enough to blow your wallet, Jennifer Estep has a new release in her Bigtime (superhero) series, JINX. NOAH is the final Nightwalkers book in Jacki Frank’s series, and I’ve got Jean Johnson’s brothers slowly making a stack in my TBR pile; her latest brother is THE STORM. Shayla Black and Rita Herron each kick off a new series with TEMPT ME WITH DARKNESS and INSATIABLE DESIRE, respectively. And Anna Windsor finishes off her trilogy with BOUND BY LIGHT. That doesn’t even include the historicals, heh.

Or, you can just go to Literary Escapism, who maintains one of the most helpful lists of upcoming paranormal/urban fantasy releases I’ve found.  Oh my god — look at all those sweet, sweet books.