ARC Review: Donners of the Dead by Karina Halle

Donners of the Dead by Karina Halle
Release Date: 24th Feb
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

Jake McGraw was unlike anyone I’d ever known. He was brash, rude, unapologetic and arrogant; chauvinistic, close-minded, and terribly stubborn. He was built like a tree, tall with a hard chest and wide shoulders and hands that looked like they could wrestle a bear. He was a cigar-chomping, scruffy-faced, beast of a man. I was pretty sure I hated him. And I know he hated me. But among the flesh-eating monsters in these snow-capped mountains, he was the only thing keeping me alive

The year is 1851 and pioneers in search of California gold are still afraid to travel on the same route as the tragic Donner party did years before. When the last wagon train to go into the Sierra Nevada mountains fails to arrive at their destination, Eve Smith, an 18-year old half-native girl with immense tracking skills is brought along with the search party, headed by an enigmatic former Texas Ranger, Jake McGraw.

What they find deep in the dangerous snow-covered terrain is a terrifying consequence of cannibalism, giving new meaning to the term “monster.” While the search party is slowly picked off, one by one, Eve must learn to trust Jake, who harbors more than a few secrets of his own, in order to survive and prevent the monstrosities from reaching civilization.

A while ago, for a Top Ten Tuesday post, we were asked to list the top 10 books we wished would exist. One of the things I wanted more of was a historical romance book that wasn’t set in England or Europe for that matter so you can imagine why I wanted to read this book so much (not considering the fact that I love everything written by Karina Halle). I wasn't disappointed. Karina worked her magic and out came a highly entertaining historical romance. 

Eve is a young woman who lives with her uncle. Her father died a while ago and it affected her mother so profoundly that she stopped talking. As a half breed, she is shunned by society and doesn’t get the same opportunities as her cousin. She isn't seen 'fit' enough to engage with society but her best friend, Avery, is a champ and helps her out the best he can. Her uncle only tolerates her and wouldn’t think twice about championing her out if that meant he could get more money (in my opinion). Avery’s life changes when a band of Texans come. They are looking for a tracker to help them get through the mountains. They also pay handsomely so she joins their group with her best friend and a companion but little does she know what she’s getting into *cue dramatic music*. The mountains are hiding something terrifying, monsters no one could have dreamed of. Will they survive? Or will they turn into the same monsters they are running away from?

Eve was a very likable character. She was brave but she also possessed survival instincts. She was smart and instead of giving up, tried to find alternate solutions. She was a survivor. I think one of the the best things about her character is that it is very easy to imagine her in that time period. She is not a lady because of who she is, a half breed, society cannot bind her but at the same time she isn’t so out of place for the time period this book took place in.

I had mixed feelings about Jake though. He was an asshole at first, referring to Eve as a savage and hating on her Indian heritage. As you get to know more about him, it becomes clear that there is a reason for his hatred and when you learn his story his actions are easier to swallow. My biggest problem with him was well, him. He bears scars from something that happened in the past but all of that is forgotten as soon as he becomes infatuated with Eve. On the positive side though, he really was a fun male lead. Perhaps not as wonderful as some of Halle's others but yeah.

The romance did not work. It pains me to say this but it did not work. It was insta. Jake starts being a jealous creeper even though they’ve barely known each other for a hand full of days for half of which he was rude to her. The romance could have been more developed. There was some obvious chemistry between the two but the romance itself wasn’t strong. I wasn’t swooning. Towards the end, the romance did become easier to swallow but it disappointed me since I can usually count on Karina to develop the romance really well.

With that said, the creepy in this book was WONDERFUL. I was legit scared and oh my god the cannibalism and the beliefs surrounding it was so wonderfully executed. I had goose bumps and was on the edge of my seat and scared as fuck.

The plot was excellent. It was just straight forward adventure and survival and there were tons of hardships. The author did not cut back on the gory and gave us all she had. The journey was exciting and the author never took the easy way out. The turns this book took were also realistic (in terms of the situation they were in).

The ending was slightly cheesy though. I don’t know what it is with me but I cannot stand those kind of endings. I am not the biggest fan of epilogues and I don’t see the need for them for the most part.

All in all, Donners of the Dead was an exciting read that combined history and romance with a lot of horror that resulted in a book that can be quickly devoured and is extremely satisfying. You cannot expect anything less from Karina. 

Blog Tour: Ashes to Ashes

Ashes to Ashes by Karina Halle 
(Experiment in Terror #8) 
Publication date: December 11th 2013
Genres: Horror, New Adult, Supernatural

Goodreads Summary

It’s been two months since Perry Palomino and Dex Foray’s relationship reached a new turning point, two months since Perry started a new life in Seattle, and two months since their Experiment in Terror show took on a new partner, ex-Wine Babe Rebecca Sims, and found a new level of success. But whenever there is light in their lives, the madness still has a way of coming back in.

When the team is sent back to the stormy Oregon coast to investigate a haunted school, Perry wants to use the opportunity to reconnect with her family and reintroduce Dex into their lives. Only Perry’s not the only one who’s reaching out – her grandmother Pippa has started appearing to her with disturbing warnings and Perry’s presence at the school has ignited a chilling new wave of supernatural phenomenon. Once used a century ago as a sanatorium to house children dying of tuberculosis, the school’s past residents are slowly coming back to life and with one thing on their mind. They want someone to play with, someone to join them. Forever.

Even when dead, some children get whatever they want.

And they want Perry.

* Find my review for Come Alive (Experiment in Terror #7) here.

My Review

“Only there’s no lighthouse this time. As shit-your-pants scary as that Old Roddy fucker was, we’ve got a school of dead children. But we can handle it. And if we can’t, well that’s what Jack Daniels is for.”

THIS is what I’ve been waiting for. For the past 2 books THIS was what was missing. This is, hands down, the best book in the series.

The creepy goes up a couple of notches. The romance becomes even better and the characters; well we have Rebecca this time around so everything in this book is more awesomer than it has ever been before. Hell Dex and Perry are FINALLY a couple so yes things are definitely different but a good different.

This book goes back to where everything started, Oregon. But this time around we are in a school of dead children.

The book starts with Perry getting a tattoo in honor of Dex. We all know Dex can be a little insecure when it comes to how Perry feels about him (and he actually has a good reason to be) so this also serves as a reassurance. What really bothered me was that it seemed as though Dex hadn’t told Perry what he learned from Max in Come Alive. Dex really needs to stop keeping secrets from Perry.

Pippa was back too so I was really happy. I may not have read her short novella but she is one of my favorite characters in the series. She has a great background story and despite being Perry’s grandmother she isn’t always warm and grandmotherly, she kind of does border on the edge of creepy because well, she isn’t alive. We cannot even be sure that she is a ghost.

While we’re still talking about Pippa I also have to say that I am annoyed that Perry always doubts Pippa’s advice, shouldn’t she know better by now? I have to give her credit though, she doesn’t completely dismiss it; it hovers at the back of her mind until well she realizes Pippa may be onto something with her ‘feelings’. That was my only grievance when it came to Perry. Aside from that I was really glad to read in her POV again. I may have enjoyed the 7^th book but nothing beats Perry’s POV. Perry has come such a long way from the first book. She has developed so much and has finally learned to stand up on her own feet. She may still be slightly insecure about her body but she’s getting there.

Even Dex has come such a long way. Yes he still annoys me with the amount of secrets he keeps but even I cannot fault him about the whole thing with Rebecca. Yes he didn’t tell her but it didn’t concern her, it happened in the past. I still continue to be surprised by how sincere he can be. I should know better by now but those moments are so rare that I cannot help but treasure them. But he is supportive no matter what and will always be there for Perry no matter what.

Their romance was at its best in this book. Now that they have finally worked through their issues, they can work together as a couple. I had the best time watching them do just that. To finally talk about these ghosts they see, to talk about their future both career wise and relationship wise. It was great.

THE PLOT THOUGH. HOLY CRAP. It was great. So so so great. There was so much creepy and so much scary. I had goosebumps. I always enjoy how these books aren’t about getting rid of the ghosts but rather about finding their stories and sharing that. They may be special but they don’t have superpowers. They cannot just get rid of ghosts; they can only help them by sharing their stories.

One of the other things that happened was that Perry talked to her parents. The reunion was absolutely hilarious. All the awkwardness made me laugh but the thing about Perry’s mother came as a surprise. I am curious to see how things will go.

That ending though, I CANNOT. WHY? I am going to like need the next book but you cannot rush genius so I’ll just have to wallow in my misery while I wait for the last book in the series to come out.

About the Author:

The daughter of a Norwegian Viking and a Finnish Moomin, Karina Halle grew up in Vancouver, Canada with trolls and eternal darkness on the brain. This soon turned into a love of all things that go bump in the night and a rather sadistic appreciation for freaking people out. Like many of the flawed characters she writes, Karina never knew where to find herself and has dabbled in acting, make-up artistry, film production, screenwriting, photography, travel writing and music journalism. She eventually found herself in the pages of the very novels she wrote (if only she had looked there to begin with).

Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently lives on an island on the coast of British Columbia where she's preparing for the zombie apocalypse with her fiance and rescue pup.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

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Review: Come Alive by Karina Halle

Come Alive by Karina Halle
Series: Experiment in Terror #7
Release Date: June 23rd, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

It’s one thing to bring the woman you love back into your life. It’s another to try and keep her there. For Dex Foray, con­vinc­ing Perry Palomino to open her­self to their bur­geon­ing rela­tion­ship has been more chal­leng­ing than hunt­ing ghosts, bat­tling demons and stalk­ing Sasquatch com­bined. Add in the fact that the only way they can keep their Exper­i­ment in Ter­ror show run­ning is to take on a third part­ner in the form of the mys­te­ri­ous Max­imus Jacobs — all while inves­ti­gat­ing a sin­is­ter voodoo sect in New Orleans — and you’ve got the per­fect South­ern storm and a recipe for dis­as­ter. Luck­ily, Dex has never been one to back down, even when his life –and heart — are on the line.

When I first found out that this book would be written in Dex's POV I was beyond excited. I had read and loved And With Madness Comes Light and felt like if anyone could pull of a male-pov it would be Karina. I was right.

Although I didn't think I was at first. After the initial excitement wore off, I started remembering what Dex was like. Now we all love Dex, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend a whole book in his perverted mind. When I started the book for the first 11% percent I had been right. I wasn't enjoying the book and Dex was starting to *gasp* annoy me .

But then things turned around. Then the creepiness and other things came in and I started remembering why I, why we, all were in love with Dex in the first place. 

This is one of my favorite series. It's creepy and original and this book didn't change that. 

This book takes us to the city of New Orleans, which (I think) is well known for voodoo magic. We have that but this book also has zombies. As in real life scary ass zombies. I've never been a huge zombie fan. I am not sure why that is but when it comes to Karina, I don't seem to mind anything. She has this brilliant way of crafting an amazingly unique story. The horror and creepiness levels went up by a couple of notches in this one which was relieving because honestly, the 6th book had not done it for me. It wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped it would be after the awesomeness of the 5th one but Come Alive did not disappoint. Although I'll admit to missing the ghosts.

What I was really glad to see was that even though this was written in Dex's Pov, he didn't overshadow Perry. Perry wasn't just 'a character' she was still one of the main characters. She managed to stand out as someone who wasn't just Dex's love interest and someone Dex spend almost the whole book lusting after. Karina gave Perry a voice and it was almost as strong as Dex's. She remained as strong and lovable as always. 

Dex managed to surprise me though. He surprised me by being a good narrator but even more of a good character. Sexual innuendoes and jokes aside, Dex was actually an incredibly likable character. In fact when Perry had her doubts about Ambrosia, he may have chalked them up to jealousy but he at least followed up on them just to be sure because he respected her and her opinions. She wasn't just a piece of ass to him. The thing about Dex is he manages to show depth at the most surprising of moments, he is such a charming and hilarious character that you sometimes forget that he can be serious as well. I might not have agreed with some of his decisions but I respect them. 

We were also reunited with one of our (not so beloved) characters, Max. I never really liked Max in all honesty. Maybe because I was too busy holding the Dex flag. He was alright in the 2nd book but in the 5th one I had come to hate him. So I wasn't too happy when he was redeemed and when his true identity came to surface. There are several reasons for this but I don't want to spoil anything so I won't elaborate.

The 6th book left us with a very shaky ground for Dex and Perry's relationship. After the incident of the 4th book, Perry wasn't sure she could trust Dex so easily but she realized she needed him. Their relationship finally blooms in this book though, after 7 books of waiting for the two to admit to each other that they love the other, it FINALLY happened and it worked out beautifully. 

This book, though not my favorite in the series, was a great installment. There was creepy, awesome, romance, heartbreak and let's not forget Dex's incredibly amusing wit. It was a good addition to the series and fans should definitely pick this up asap. 

Cover Reveal: Donners of the Dead

Donners of the Dead by Karina Halle

Publication date: February 24th 2014

Genres: Horror, Romance

Synopsis:
***A Standalone Horror Romance coming February 2014***

Jake McGraw was unlike anyone I’d ever known. He was brash, rude, unapologetic and arrogant; chauvinistic, close-minded, and terribly stubborn. He was built like a tree, tall with a hard chest and wide shoulders and hands that looked like they could wrestle a bear. He was a cigar-chomping, scruffy-faced, beast of a man. I was pretty sure I hated him. And I know he hated me. But among the flesh-eating monsters in these snow-capped mountains, he was the only thing keeping me alive

The year is 1851 and pioneers in search of California gold are still afraid to travel on the same route as the tragic Donner party did years before. When the last wagon train to go into the Sierra Nevada mountains fails to arrive at their destination, Eve Smith, an 18-year old half-native girl with immense tracking skills is brought along with the search party, headed by an enigmatic former Texas Ranger, Jake McGraw.

What they find deep in the dangerous snow-covered terrain is a terrifying consequence of cannibalism, giving new meaning to the term “monster.” While the search party is slowly picked off, one by one, Eve must learn to trust Jake, who harbors more than a few secrets of his own, in order to survive and prevent the monstrosities from reaching civilization.

***This is NOT New Adult***

About the Author:

The daughter of a Norwegian Viking and a Finnish Moomin, Karina Halle grew up in Vancouver, Canada with trolls and eternal darkness on the brain. This soon turned into a love of all things that go bump in the night and a rather sadistic appreciation for freaking people out. Like many of the flawed characters she writes, Karina never knew where to find herself and has dabbled in acting, make-up artistry, film production, screenwriting, photography, travel writing and music journalism. She eventually found herself in the pages of the very novels she wrote (if only she had looked there to begin with).

Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently lives on an island on the coast of British Columbia where she's preparing for the zombie apocalypse with her fiance and rescue pup.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

ARC Review: The Devil's Reprise by Karina Halle

Title: The Devil's Reprise
Author: Karina Halle
Series: Devils #2
Release Date: October 29th, 2012
Publisher: Diversion Books
Buy:  -

Goodreads Summary

Given a second chance, music journalist Dawn Emerson and guitarist Sage Knightly are reunited, only to have their lives threatened again by a demonic bargain. The sequel to THE DEVIL’S METAL, from USA Today bestselling author Karina Halle.

When Dawn Emerson got the chance to go on tour with her favorite metal band, Hybrid, she thought she landed the writing gig of the century. But what started off as a dream for the budding music journalist quickly turned into a nightmare that she and guitarist Sage Knightly barely escaped alive.

Now, months after they went their separate ways, Sage invites Dawn to accompany him on his first solo tour across Europe and write about it for Creem Magazine. But like the last tour, nothing is as easy as it seems. Sage is a broken man on the path to self-destruction and Dawn isn’t sure if she’s the right person to save him. And aside from having to pick up the pieces of their burgeoning relationship, they have to negotiate the mysterious new photographer assigned to Dawn’s story, as well as vindictive promoters and demonic groupies they thought they’d never see again.

Because this time, it’s Dawn who made a deal with the devil and the only thing worse than having to uphold a bargain with the prince of darkness is not remembering how you’re supposed to pay it back.

It may be with their souls.

“Be careful what she wished for”

I honestly expected a lot more from this book. It was a pretty short read in general but so much more could have been done. I don’t mean to say that it was bad, it was a really fun read but I just wanted more.

This book is written in Dual POV and while that doesn’t always work out, it definitely worked in favor of this book. It made it a lot easier to enjoy the book and not only because we finally got to be inside of Sage’s mind. There were just times when it was so much easier to be in the other person’s head, for example, when Dawn went all jealous on me, I found it a relief to be in Sage’s head. Similarly when Sage went all douchebaggy on me, I preferred Dawn’s mind.

This time around it was Dawn who made ‘a mistake’ by making a deal with the devil, but she doesn’t even remember doing it. She still remains a pretty great female lead. She does have a few moments where I want to smack her but she pulled through in the end. I could say more about her but there isn’t much of a point because even though she is the one who made the deal, this was definitely Sage’s story.

“It should have been me.

But it wasn’t.

And the music played on”

Sage is basically a mess after the events of the last book. He is full of self-loathing and pain. He blames himself for what happened. He doesn’t think he should have survived. He just wants to be numb because he cannot live with himself half of the time. His best friend won’t talk to him and Noelle is a mess, and will probably remain that way for the rest of her life.

 At the beginning of the book he is a shell of a person, always drunk out of his mind and high on something. Sound familiar? No? That’s because he changed completely. Even music, the one thing he loved, doesn’t bring him the peace he needs. He is floating through life. And then Dawn comes back. Oh it takes him a while to actually see through his haze of self-hatred and man up, but when he does, it’s definitely worth it. It was great to see him come such long ways from the beginning of the book to where he was at the end of it.

He had some help of course, from his manager Jacob. It was actually refreshing to see how little he had changed. He obviously cared a great deal about Sage but you know, he has got to make his money. The show must go on even if lives are at stake. We did get to learn some about his past so that was nice.

There are new secondary characters as well, Max and Tricky. Tricky was mostly in the background and Max, well I don’t know what to say about him because honestly, I still don’t know how I feel about him.

I think the main reason this book didn’t work for me was because the magic of the first book came from the band and there wasn’t a band in this book. It was mostly a one man’s show. You didn’t get to see how the band interacted with each other and how despite all their issues they were really great people. I missed all of them so much.  

The book was definitely a whole lot creepier this time around. Which made it so much more exciting. The plot was well paced and like I mentioned before, the book was a quick read. I was sad to see it end so soon.

I have to admit though; I did NOT like the epilogue. It just seemed so unnecessary and cheesy in some ways. The book could have definitely done without it.

On the whole this was a pretty decent sequel. You could tell that Karina had actually planned the whole thing out instead of just writing a sequel just for the sake of it. 

Review: The Devil's Metal by Karina Halle

Title: The Devil's Metal
Author: Karina Halle
Series: Devils #1
Release Date: September 21st, 2012
Publisher: Diversion Books
Buy:  Amazon | BookDepository

Goodreads Summary

It’s the summer of 1974 and 21-year old Dawn Emerson has only three things she wants to do: compete one last time in the Ellensburg Rodeo, win back her ex-boyfriend Ryan, and become the best damn music journalist at Central Washington University. But all her plans are left in the dust when she’s contacted by Creem magazine to go on the road with one of her favorite groups, the up-and-coming metal band, Hybrid.

At first the assignment reads like a dream come true. Not only will Dawn land some much-needed credibility as a female music journalist, but she’ll finally get to experience life from the other side of the stage, and maybe crack the drunken, enigmatic code that is guitarist Sage Knightly. Instead, Dawn finds herself on an aging tour bus filled with ego-maniacs, band politics and a whole lot of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. When monsters start showing up in dressing rooms and some of Sage’s groupies become increasingly strange and dangerous, Dawn discovers the band is not only going places – they’re going straight to Hell.

And Dawn has a backstage pass.

My luck with books involving rock stars/bands has been shit so the only reason I even read this was because it was by Halle. If anyone could pull it off it would be Karina. And I wasn’t wrong. 

Karina has this special knack for originality. She takes ‘common ideas’ and works her magic on them and they come out full of awesome. 

I actually thought the fact that this book was set in the 70’s would have been a setback for me as a reader but it turned out to be one of things I loved most about the book. It made it feel even more real and gave it a whole other atmosphere.

Dawn is a small town girl. She loves music. She is a music journalist but because she is a female most people don’t give her much credit. She hasn’t had a breakthrough in months until she is offered a job to write a piece on Hybrid, one of her favorite bands. 

Let me start off by saying that the part about her ex -boyfriend has no relevance what so ever. He is only mentioned and that too in the beginning. 

Getting back to Dawn, I loved being in her head. I couldn’t help but relate to her, from the parts about being disappointed to the whole ‘reviewing process’ and even her nerves about doing the whole thing. She was a great main character. She makes mistakes but she is so strong. Even with all her excitement about being with the band, she isn’t so star struck to pick up on their faults but even then she accepts them because well, they are only human (…. :P :P :P if you’ve read the book you’ll get what I am making tongue faces about). 

Sage, well, we don’t really know much about him seeing that he is so secretive but as he and Dawn get closer you get to learn quite a bit about. While I liked him, I didn’t really love him until the ending and it wasn’t because we finally got the whole picture about him. It was because of what he did, that truthful moment because if he had said something other than what he had it wouldn’t have worked. Karina knows that too. So she did justice to his character by making it end the way it did. I actually cannot wait to read the next book and be in his head and see how things turn around with him.

The band was so FUN to read about. Their interactions with each other, their interactions with Dawn. EVERYTHING. I loved getting to know them better. Seeing their faults and weaknesses. My favorite one out of all of them was Bob, yes he wasn’t a band member but I cannot help but adore him. He is so cool! 

Jacob, however, was the most interesting of the lot, even more so than Graham. He was the one character who you couldn’t quite pinpoint. What were his motives? Was he the good or bad guy? It wasn’t until the end when you actually got a little insight into his character.

The plot was pretty amazing. It was pretty fast, I found myself worrying the book would end too soon, which it did. I will however admit to expecting more in the ‘creepy’ area from this book because compared to the creepiness level of her EIT series, this was nothing.

I cannot wait to read the sequel and even my short wait for about a week seems too long. 

READ THIS PEOPLE.

Experiment in Terror by Karina Halle (series review)

Name of series: Experiment in Terror
Author: Karina Halle
Number of books: 10 parts, 7 have been published

Goodreads Summary

In a large, flaky nut­shell, the Exper­i­ment in Ter­ror Series is an eight-part sci-fi/fantasy/horror series that revolves around a pair of ghost hunters. Well, aspir­ing ghost hunters, any­way. After film­ing a creepy expe­ri­ence in her uncle’s dilap­i­dated light­house, 22-year old Perry Palomino becomes a YouTube and inter­net star overnight. She attracts the atten­tion of Dex Foray, a pro­ducer and cam­era­man for a site that spe­cial­izes in var­i­ous webisodes, who con­vinces her to be a host for a low-budget ghost hunt­ing series. The only prob­lem is, nei­ther Perry or Dex are entirely “with it” — I mean, they see ghosts, after all. And when the duo isn’t wrestling with their very notion of real­ity, they’re grap­pling with a work­ing rela­tion­ship that’s deep-cut with sex­ual ten­sion. As the series moves on, lead­ing Perry and Dex to new locales and super­nat­ural sit­u­a­tions, their lives become more and more inter­twined, where they dis­cover that ghosts aren’t the only things that can haunt them.

(It says 8 parts in the summary on the website but when I checked there were supposed to be 10)

I feel this crazy need to watch Ghost hunting shows. I used to dislike them because they scared me even when I kept on telling myself how lame they are. But after reading the first two books I felt this crazy urge to watch every goddamn Ghost hunting show there is. I watched 2 episodes of two different ghost hunting shows. I hated them both. All the time i was watching them I kept on thinking how bad they were and how the “ghost hunters” could never compare to Dex and Perry. It really sucks. I mean I wasn’t even goddamn scared. I kept on trying to be scared or at least enjoy the shows but you know I kept on thinking how fake they were. After that I searched Experiment in Terror on google to see if somehow magically there WAS infact a ghosthunting show by that name. No such luck.
Damn you Karina. Why are you so GOOD? YOU KNOW I AM NOT EVEN A FAN OF HORROR. Yet here you have me under your spell.

Waiting on Wednesday #4

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Title: Come Alive
Series: Experiment in Terror #7
Author: Karina Halle
Release Date: June 23rd, 2013
Goodreads Summary

It’s one thing to bring the woman you love back into your life. It’s another to try and keep her there. For Dex Foray, con­vinc­ing Perry Palomino to open her­self to their bur­geon­ing rela­tion­ship has been more chal­leng­ing than hunt­ing ghosts, bat­tling demons and stalk­ing Sasquatch com­bined. Add in the fact that the only way they can keep their Exper­i­ment in Ter­ror show run­ning is to take on a third part­ner in the form of the mys­te­ri­ous Max­imus Jacobs — all while inves­ti­gat­ing a sin­is­ter voodoo sect in New Orleans — and you’ve got the per­fect South­ern storm and a recipe for dis­as­ter. Luck­ily, Dex has never been one to back down, even when his life –and heart — are on the line.

My Thoughts: So I just read And With Madness Comes Light and well let's just say I am all riled up for Dex's POV. We are going to get a WHOLE BOOK from Dex's POV. What else can a girl want? Dex is one of my all time favorite male leads so yes I am excited but this is one of my favorite series as well and  well... it seems as though things are getting even more interesting. I'll admit that I wasn't a huge fan of the 6th book because I expected more but then again the 6th book was supposed to be about Perry getting back into the game. I'll also admit that I may have initially wanted this to be written from Perry's POV because I wanted to see what it would be like for her but never the less I AM DAMN EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK!

Sins & Needles by Karina Halle

Sins & Needles by Karina Halle
Series: The Artists Trilogy #1
Date Published: January 24, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

Ellie Watt is used to starting over. The daughter of a grifting team, Ellie spent her childhood being used as a pawn in her parents’ latest scam. Now she’s much older, wiser and ready to give her con artist life a rest. But returning to the dry desert town of Palm Valley, California means one more temptation than she bargained for – Camden McQueen. Once known as the high school weirdo, Camden is bigger and badder than the boy he used to be and a talented tattoo artist with his own thriving business. Ellie’s counting on Camden still being in love with her but what she’s not counting on is how easily unrequited love can turn into obsession over time. When Camden discovers Ellie’s plan to con him, he makes her a deal she doesn’t dare refuse, but her freedom comes with a price and it’s one that takes both Ellie and Camden down a dangerous road.

“You’re a con artist. A liar. A thief. An unredeemable soul. You can’t be reformed. You can’t be saved. You’ll die trying to make the world pay for what it did to you. And you’ll die alone.”

I read this book because of the author. I’ve read what has been published so far of the “Experiment in Terror” series and I loved every single bit of it. I saw this book (and the pretty cover) and I had to read it. Then I read the summary. It was right up my alley. I love books with mysteries and with ummm.. Con Artists (I don’t know what that says about me, I blame The Curse Workers for my obsession). So how could I not want to read this. I was glad I had found this book only a few days before it released or I would have died waiting for this master piece.

I read it and I wasn’t disappointed one bit. I read it in one reading. I didn’t get up to do anything else. How could I, I didn’t exist in this world, but in another that Karina had created.

“You’re a bad person, Ellie,” he said without a trace of irony.“I’m not bad. The world is bad and I’m just trying to survive in it.”

I. Love. Ellie. She is absolutely awesome. Although I wish we saw a bit more of her in her con artist brilliance. Anyways, I love her single minded determination. Nothing can stop her from achieving her goal. The whole time she was planning to con Camden, even though she liked him, she wouldn’t change her mind. No matter how many times her conscience screamed at her to stop. She wasn’t hung over him but they did have a history, she felt bad for what she had done but she couldn’t change it so she didn’t bother trying to make up for it or apologize. Apologies don’t fix things.

Camden. Where can I find this guy? Like seriously. He isn’t even a con artist and he managed to trick her. Halle may have hinted that he may be conning but it was still a surprise when he turned her own mission against her. I started laughing when that happened. The irony was so epic. The sweet guy (who by the way isn’t that sweet) conning the con artist.

Ellie of course was surprised this happened, not because she was conned-con artists get conned as well, but because it was Camden. She didn’t see it coming. Of course when they do strike their little deal, this doesn’t mean Ellie trusts him, she is always on the look out, making sure he won’t pull of something again, no matter how nice he is or genuine he acts. Better safe than sorry.

The plot to this book was great. I was so surprised when the book ended. I read the last page and tried to scroll down, and I saw that it was the last page. So yes it was a cliff hanger but not one that annoyed me, it was one that made me want more. But since Karina is awesome, I won’t have to wait forever for the sequel. Back to the plot, it was great. The whole thriller part was great, it wasn’t a mystery and shouldn’t be mistaken as one. But there were people on the run so I was very happy. I loved how the whole book had a past and present timeline going on, although I DID prefer the present one, more Camden  .

I look forward to reading the sequel and I plan on visiting the author’s blog and the goodreads page everyday until I get an exact release date for it. (It's coming out this August)