[COVER REVEAL] The Girlfriend – Abigail Barnette

Abigail Barnette
The Girlfriend (The Boss, Book 2)
JennyTrout.com (US: 20th August 2013)
Unemployed, blacklisted, and pregnant, Sophie Scaife’s life is totally upside down. Her relationship with publishing magnate Neil Elwood is on the rocks. Her best friend’s career is igniting. And Sophie is afraid she’ll make one of the toughest decisions of her life alone… When a devastating diagnosis forces Neil to return to London, Sophie throws caution to the wind to follow her heart across the Atlantic. Keeping a scorching D/s affair as red-hot in sickness as it was in health is a challenge, even for two lovers as inventive as Sophie and Neil. But Sophie is more than willing to try anything her Sir commands, and their fantasies of control become a welcome refuge from the daily stress of illness. While Neil’s wealth and privilege make adjusting to her new situation easier, Sophie finds herself rebuilding her life around an uncertain future. And while both of them face the changes between them head-on, they’re all too aware that their happiness could be fleeting – and Sophie could lose Neil forever.

Have you already read Abigail Barnette‘s The Boss? Then you’ll want to check out its sequel, The Girlfriend. Be in the running to win the eBook here.

Abigail Barnette and Jenny Trout are both pseudonyms of the fabulous Jennifer Armintrout. Haven’t read all her work? Time to go shopping!

JENNY TROUT
Such Sweet Sorrow Paperback

JENNIFER ARMINTROUT
The Turning Paperback
Possession Paperback eBook
Ashes to Ashes Paperback eBook
All Souls’ Night Paperback eBook
Queene of Light Paperback eBook
Child of Darkness Paperback eBook
Veil of Shadows Paperback eBook
American Vampire/A Vampire’s Penance Paperback eBook

ABIGAIL BARNETTE
Ravenous eBook
Glass Slipper eBook
In the Blood eBook
Infernal Devices eBook
Awakening Delilah eBook
Giant eBook
Bound in Brass eBook
Striped eBook
Bride of the Wolf eBook
The Temptress eBook
Beast eBook
Long Relief eBook
Wolf’s Honor eBook
Naughtily Ever After (Glass Slipper/Giant/Beast) Paperback
Double Header eBook
Triple Play eBook
The Pirate, the Bride and the Jewel of the Skies eBook
Hardball (Long Relief/Double Header/Triple Play) Paperback

January Through June 2011 Reads – Star Ratings

Books I read in January through June this year. Separated into star ratings, then listed by order in which I read them. All up at GoodReads. Some reviews here on my WordPress. Does not include books that I didn’t finish, because I’ve deleted them from my catalogue, and likely my memory.

Let me know if you decide to read or not to read them, based on my ratings. Because yes, I am that egocentric 😉

5 STARS: Rage (Jackie Morse Kessler), American Vampire (Jennifer Armintrout), Project 17 (Laurie Faria Stolarz), The Gathering (Kelley Armstrong), The Repossession Mambo/Repo Men (Eric Garcia), Moongazer (Marianne Mancusi), Wither (Lauren DeStefano), Girl Hero (Carrie Jones)

4 STARS: Outside In (Maria V. Snyder), Stocking Full of Coal (Amanda Feral), The Walled Garden (Michele Lang), The Shadow Runners (Liz Maverick), The Vespertine (Saundra Mitchell), Linger (Maggie Stiefvater), Dark Life (Kat Falls), Demonized (Naomi Clark), The Reckoning (Kelley Armstrong), Midnight Alley (Rachel Caine), Feast of Fools (Rachel Caine), Lord of Misrule (Rachel Caine), Carpe Corpus (Rachel Caine), Fade Out (Rachel Caine), Coming Home (P. D. Martin), Kiss of Death (Rachel Caine), XVI (Julia Karr), Ghost Town (Rachel Caine), The Girl in the Steel Corset (Kady Cross), Matched (Ally Condie), Uninvited (Amanda Marrone), The Bradbury Report (Steven Polansky), Uninvited (Justine Musk), Exile (Rebecca Lim), Helper12 (Jack Blaine), Darkness Becomes Her (Kelly Keaton)

3 STARS: Jealousy (Lili St. Crow), Among the Betrayed (Margaret Peterson Haddix), Among the Barons (Margaret Peterson Haddix), Becoming (Kelley Armstrong), Shadow Days (Andrea Cremer), Day of Fire (Kathleen Nance), Dreaming Anastasia (Joy Preble), Things Bogans Like, Beyond Heaving Bosoms (Sarah Wendell & Candy Tan), Fugitives (Alexander Gordon Smith), The Power of Two (Patti O’Shea), Coming Undone (Lauren Dane), In the Arms of Stone Angels (Jordan Dane), The Iron Witch (Karen Mahoney), Damaged (Yolanda Sfetsos), Falling Freestyle (Vivian Arend), Jeweled (Anya Bast), Thyla (Kate Gordon), It Takes a Village Idiot and I Married One (Alex Borstein & Cherry Chevapravatdumrong), Burn Bright (Marianne de Pierres), A Touch Mortal (Leah Clifford), Night and Chaos (Naomi Clark), Savage Transformation (Lexxie Couper), The Official Illustrated Guide (Stephenie Meyer), Exit Strategy (Kelley Armstrong), Made to Be Broken (Kelley Armstrong), You Are So Undead to Me (Stacey Jay), Hereafter (Tara Hudson), Relentless (Lauren Dane), The Scarlet Empress (Susan Grant), Close Encounters (Katherine Allred), Perfect Cover (Jennifer Lynn Barnes), Killer Spirit (Jennifer Lynn Barnes), West End (Laura Van Wormer), Moon Sworn (Keri Arthur)

2 STARS: Defiance (Lili St. Crow)

[REVIEW] American Vampire – Jennifer Armintrout

Jennifer Armintrout
American Vampire [also published as A Vampire’s Penance]
Harlequin Mira (US: 22nd February 2011; UK: 18th March 2011; AU: March 2011)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

American Vampire had me at “snatch magnet” on the first page. Jennifer Armintrout streams clever turns of phrase and dry humour with characters flawed enough to be real. Sophia and Marjorie steal their scenes, and Becky’s over-the-top trashiness is a delight.

From the cornfields to the high school, Penance is one freaky town, populated with spooky Baptists…and a monster. This romantic creature feature novel has suspense in spades, and though it’s best suited to Halloween, buy it now and read at night. A rollicking good time!

7 New Covers (Armintrout, Battis, Dane, Falls, Jay & Navarro)

February 2011 Releases

Done with January 2011 Releases? Here are February’s releases. To see further into the future, check my Reading Wishlist.

7 New Covers (Armintrout, Arthur, Barnes, Richardson, Snyder, Somers & Stiefvater)

9 New Covers

Behind the cut.

7 New Covers

Jennifer Armintrout: Ashes to Ashes (UK) Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Ally Condie: Matched Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Megan Hart: Exit Light
Caitlin Kittredge: Pure Blood (UK) Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Yolanda Sfetsos: Unnatural
Maggie Stiefvater: Linger (UK) Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
S. L. Viehl: Dream Called Time Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

10 New Covers

Have fallen behind in my covers posting, so you may have already seen these by now. Click on the images (behind the cut) to take you to the direct sources where I found them. Please note that Tales of the Otherworld and Tales from the Otherworld are the same book – I imagine the Oz version will switch to the UK cover before release.

Jennifer Armintrout: All Souls’ Night (UK) Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Kelley Armstrong: Tales of/from the Otherworld (UK/AU) Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Holly Black: White Cat (UK) Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Catherine Fisher: Sapphique (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Megan Hart: Naked Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Caitlin Kittredge: Second Skin (UK) Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Jessica Verday: The Haunted (UK) Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

[REVIEW] All Souls’ Night – Jennifer Armintrout

Jennifer Armintrout
All Souls’ Night (Blood Ties, Book 4)
Harlequin MIRA (US: 1st June 2008)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

The Soul Eater needs a couple more souls before he can become a god, and he has some particular ones in mind. From Grand Rapids to Chicago and Italy, All Souls’ Night tracks the battle to prevent a Godpocalypse.

I last read a Blood Ties book two years ago, and while this is a decent catch-up, there’s still a muddle. So each vampire has two hearts: one human, and one vampire. The human heart is not required, and sires like to keep their fledglings’ hearts as some sort of power thing? The vampire heart may explain why vampires can bleed and shag, but I’m still confused.

Max and Dahlia are not at their most awesome here. The melodrama with Bella’s family just doesn’t seem to belong amongst the hardcore soul eating story. This also could’ve done without Ziggy’s point of view, though his relationship with Bill is sweet. Bill and Henry are both welcome additions to the series, but Carrie isn’t at her cleverest. She makes an obvious mistake here, but is supremely cool when in the doctor zone.

A heart transplant, skin grafts, golems, zombies, and some hot m/m shagging are the highlights of this sometimes difficult novel. The pace is slow at first, but definitely picks up as the ritual draws nearer. The golems provide welcome humour, and happily remind me of the clones in a Simpsons Halloween special.

Though the ending is a little too HEA, All Souls’ Night is a fitting finale for this effed-up four-part series. Check my favourite quote, from page 251: It was depressing to think that people actually chose to spend their free time this way, all trying to out-goth each other with their Hot Topic wardrobes and grossly inflated attitudes of made-up depression.