WLP, Spaz & John talk NEON GRAVEYARD

Our review of Neon Graveyard by Vicki Pettersson is up today and we are joined with John from Murder by the Book to discuss the end of one of our favorite series! It's out today!!! Go get it! And if you haven't started the Sign of the Zodiac series, now is the time to start with the first book: Scent of Shadows.

My Top 5 UF & PNR Picks for June!

These are my five auto-buys for June. What are yours?!

All excerpts are taken from Goodreads.

Nightfall (Dark Age Dawning #1)

Ellen Connor

Growing up with an unstable, often absent father who preached about the end of the world, Jenna never thought, in her wildest nightmares, that his predictions would come true. Or that he would have a plan in place to save her–one that includes the strong, stoic man who kidnaps and takes her to a remote cabin in the Pacific Northwest.
The mysterious ex-Marine named Mason owes a life-debt to Jenna’s father. Skilled and steadfast, he’s ready for the Change, but Jenna proves tough to convince. Until the power grid collapses and the mutant dogs attack–vicious things that reek of nature gone wrong.
When five strangers appear, desperate to escape the bloodthirsty packs, Jenna defies her protector and rescues them. As technology fails and the old world falls away, Jenna changes too, forever altered by supernatural forces. To fight for their future, she and Mason must learn to trust their instinctive passion–a flame that will see them through the bitter winter, the endless nights, and the violence of a new Dark Age.

* Ellen Connor is a collaborative writing team comprised for Anna Guirre and Carrie Lofty.

Shadow Walker (Stormwalker #3)

Allyson James

Stormwalker Janet Begay returns home only to have the ground collapse beneath her-literally. After tumbling two hundred feet underground, Janet is rescued by her dragon boyfriend, Mick. But something dark touches Mick while in the sinkhole, and Janet might lose him forever unless she recruites the most unlikely of allies to stop the growing shadow.

Deeper Than Midnight (Midnight Breed #9)

Lara Adrian

At eighteen, Corinne Bishop was a beautiful, spirited young woman living a life of privilege as the adopted daughter of a wealthy family. Her world changed in an instant when she was stolen away and held prisoner by the malevolent vampire Dragos. After many years of captivity and torment, Corinne is rescued by the Order, a cadre of vampire warriors embroiled in a war against Dragos and his followers. Her innocence taken, Corinne has lost a piece of her heart as well--the one thing that gave her hope during her imprisonment, and the only thing that matters to her now that she is free.

Assigned to safeguard Corinne on her trip home is a formidable golden-eyed Breed male called Hunter. Once Dragos's most deadly assassin, Hunter now works for the Order, and he's hell-bent on making Dragos pay for his manifold sins. Bonded to Corinne by their mutual desire, Hunter will have to decide how far he'll go to end Drago's reign of evil--even if carrying out his mission means shattering Corinne's tender heart.

Hit List (Anita Blake #20)

Laurell K. Hamilton

I still read this series, don't just me!!!

Word has leaked to Anita Blake that hit men are headed for St. Louis- and that she, Jean-Claude, and Richard are the targets.

Black Heart Loa (Hoodoo #2)

Adrian Phoenix

“An eye for an eye is never enough.”

Kallie Rivière, a Cajun hoodoo apprentice with a bent for trouble, learned the meaning of those ominous words when hoodoo bogeyman Doctor Heron targeted her family for revenge. Now, while searching for her still-missing bayou pirate cousin, Kallie finds out the hard way that someone is undoing powerful gris gris, which means that working magic has become as unpredictable as rolling a handful of dice. The wards woven to protect the Gulf coast are unraveling, leaving New Orleans and the surrounding bayous vulnerable just as an unnatural storm—the deadliest in a century—is born. As the hurricane powers toward the heart of all she loves, Kallie desperately searches for the cause of the disturbing randomness, only to learn a deeply unsettling truth: the culprit may be herself. To protect her family and friends, including the sexy nomad Layne Vallin, Kallie steps into the jaws of danger . . . and finds a loup garou designed to steal her heart—literally.

Spaz Reviews: Rebel - Zoë Archer

My review of Rebel by Zoë Archer is up at Wicked Lil Pixie Reviews!

Nathan Lesperance comes from a world of being an Outsider in every way. Taken from his Native people as a child, raised in white society yet never being accepted socially in that society would have beaten down anyone. But not Nathan. He shows them all by becoming the only Indian lawyer in Victoria, often taking pro bono cases by the minorities who would otherwise have no representation. Nathan has always known he was different on the outside, but could only guess that he was different on the inside as well. The minute he enters the Northwest territory, and meets the enigmatic Astrid, the land immediately calls to him and his yet to be tapped magic. Continue reading...

I'm Training for Another Triathlon!

Since I turned 30 years old, I've run 4 Half Marathons (13.1 miles) - Decker, 3M twice, & Austin. One Full Marathon (26.2 miles) - Austin. And have cycled 180 miles from Houston to Austin over two days - BP MS150. I really really love endurance athletics. At one point in the middle of training for all of these events I decided "I am going to do a triathlon!"...

And so I did the AVIA Austin Triathlon two years ago - I wrote about it previously If I Did One You Can Totally Do One Too! ... but my swim... oh it was so tragic. I had taken lessons and had a few open water practice swims, but seriously, if there was video of the swim I would have some amaazing laugh material. It was so pathetic, in fact, that I freaked out early on with my breathing and swam the entire 700 meter on my side and back. And the transition from swim to bike? Once I was "helped" from the water at the finish, I am not even entirely sure I knew where I was or who I was. The entire transition is all a blur. The bike was heavenly, and even the run was a cinch - those are my strengths. The only downside was that it was 100+ degrees so the discomfort level was high but it wasn't undoable. But once I completed that Tri I said, "Uhhh that was freaking HARD!" then, as I embarked on training for a Marathon, I quit swimming all together. I said "see ya later bitch" and never looked back.

My face before the swim:

Me, on my back and kinda my side doing the back/side imaginary stroke that kept me from dying:

It's two years later.... and I AM looking back. The truth is, with my multiple knee and ankle issues, and the fact that they are shot up with more cortizone than can possibly be safe, I have to add swimming more in to my endurance athletics to preserve my dang joints. I am not going to let the pool, and the swimsuit, and the breathing scare me off. I want to face that one thing I have in my life that makes me completely uncomfortable. I want to stare it down and make it my bitch.

See, that is how running used to be for me. I didn't start running until I was 30 years old because I would start losing control over my breathing, would hyperventilate, and then become frightened of it all together. I finally mastered the breathing part on a treadmill and I never stopped! I just kept going and going to see just how long I could run for until two years later, I trained for and finished a freaking Marathon. With that under my belt, I feel finally ready to go back and face my evil nemesis...

SWIMMING. Because I am so completely helpless in the water as an adult, I am taking the T3 Swim Stroke and Efficiency Clinic. I just started on Monday and my confidence is already improving. Hopefully in 6 weeks, I will be ready and confident enough to continue swimming with a passion. I want the passion for swimming, dammit! I am registered for Jack's Generic Triathlon on July 29th, which is a sprint distance (500 meter swim, 13.8 mile bike, 3 mile run) and the AVIA Austin Triathlon AGAIN on September 5th most likely the sprint distance again, BUT my ultimate if-i-don't-break-something-in-the-training-process goal is the Olympic distance (1500 meter swim, 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run).

I'll keep y'all updated in my progress! You haven't lived unless you consistently place yourself in foreign and uncomfortable situations, which is why I am constantly trying to throw myself at the face of things I am scared of.

So.... What are things that make YOU uncomfortable that you feel you need to face?

Spaz Reviews: River Marked - Patricia Briggs

My review of River Marked by Patricia Briggs is up at Wicked Lil Pixie Reviews!

Mercy is just a girl trying to make her way in life being split in to four different worlds: coyote walker, human, Indian, and white. She has spent her entire life reconciling all 4 parts of herself, never feeling accepted by anyone. In River Marked, she has the opportunity to finally learn more about her Blackfeet father and learn more of where she came from. And with Adam by her side as her Mate. We have not had a whole heck of a lot of information on Mercy's dad in the previous books, aside from his being Native American and dead. This is the book where we get to learn about her Dad! Something nasty and evil is happening down at the Columbia River and some of the locals and her father's people may know how to fight it. And what do you know? Mercy and Adam just happened to be there when everything starts to go down. Continue reading...

Spaz Reviews: Lord of the Fading Lands - C.L. Wilson

My review of Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson is up at Wicked Lil Pixie Reviews!

Lord of the Fading Lands is the first novel in C.L. Wilson's Tairen Soul series and is the first true Fantasy book I have delved in to. Continue Reading...

My First Book Signing: Nicole Peeler & Jaye Wells on their SNARK-LA-TEX Tour

When I found out that Nicole Peeler and Jaye Wells would be taking their Snark-LA-TX Tour to BookPeople here in Austin, I flipped out. The Jane True (Nicole Peeler) and Sabine Kane (Jaye Wells) series are two of my most favorite Urban Fantasy series and they were coming here! At a time I could actually go! I spazzed out on Twitter, I spazzed out on iChat. I basically spazzed out all over myself until the time came to get there and I was completely spazzed in to absolute starstruck silence.

I got to the bookstore super early so that I could sit in the very front and stare at them Single White Female-style. Once again my overactive brain spazzed itself in to turrets. I had a million clever things I wanted to say but I ended up with one shtick: giggling. That was my act. I couldn't talk I could only giggle. Where was my "I'm not retarded I'm blonde" t-shirt when I needed it?! Especially since Nat had tasked me to ask a dang question... the pressurrre I can't take the presssuuuure.

What did I ask? "Why selkies?"... Seriously? No that's not what I wanted to ask! I wanted to say something funny about SEA CODE. Oh, and how about "Are we supposed to hate Ryu as much as I do?" What? And "How do we pronounce Giguhl?" No no no. I had a whole page of quotes I just wanted to ask Jaye how she came up with. All gone from my brain. It was not my finest two hours but it was so freaking fun listening to them read and talk. Their series have some definite similarities in that the heroine is very smart and snarky and strong, and the chemistry between the two authors is awesome and infectious as well.

ANYWAY. Jaye Wells read first and it was the first chapter of Siver-Tongued Devil the fourth book in the series. It was awesome. I will never hear the word "elbow" the same again. Oh it is going to be soooo good! The only bummer is it was such a dang tease, because it won't be out until 2012 - booooo.

Then Nicole Peeler read a passage from the very beginning of the first book in her Jane True series, Tempest Rising, and I was done-for. The section she read was a brilliant example of the clever intelligent narration of Jane and unique edgyness of why I love the heroine so dang much.

Speaking of the rest of Rockabill, I thought, as Linda headed toward Romance.

She didn't even bother to speak to me, of course. She just gave me one of her loaded looks that she could fire off like a World War II gunship. The looks always said the same things. They spoke of the fact that I was the girl whose crazy mother had shown up in the center of town out of nowhere, naked, in the middle of a storm. The fact that she'd stolen one of the most eligible Rockabill bachelors and ruined him for life. The fact that she'd given birth to a baby without being married. The fact that I insisted on being that child and upping the ante by being just as weird as my mother. That was only the tip of the vituperative iceberg that Linda hauled into my presence whenever she had the chance.

Unfortunately, Linda read nearly as compulsively as I did, so I saw her at least twice a month when she'd come in for a new stack of romance novels. She liked a very particular kind of plot: the sort where the pirate kidnaps some virgin damsel, rapes her into loving him, and then dispatches lots of seamen while she polishes his cutlass. Or where the Highland clan leader kidnaps some virginal English Rose, rapes her into loving him, and then kills entire armies of Sassenachs while she stuffs his haggis. Or where the Native American warrior kidnaps a virginal white settler, rapes her into loving him, and then kills a bunch of colonists while she whets his tomahawk. I hated to get Freudian on Linda, but her reading patterns suggested some interesting insights in to why she was such a complete bitch. -pg. 11-12

By the time the readings were done and we could ask questions, I couldn't even remember book or character names. My brain just kinda went derrrrrrrbonkglunkgurgle. HOWEVER, there were several other people who had awesome questions, and I enjoyed hearing these two charismatic women talk so much. I was so disappointed when the BookPeople employees asked us to wrap it up so we could get our books signed and they could close shop. I could have sat there and stared while listening them talk another hour or two at least. They were so interesting!

Nicole's face here is blurry (above) because I was killing her with my sharp wit and clever tongue. Not really. I just couldn't stop giggling which I think made them nervous giggle as well. Now I wish I had said something like "SEA CODE" and punched Nicole on the arm. Bah, hindsight!

And what, pray tell, do comedic literary geniuses such as Nicole Peeler and Jaye Wells write in your books when you ask them to sign them? Take a look:

From my Tracking the Tempest book:

"To Pamela - Jaye Wells smells like Goats. Nicole Peeler"

Aaaand from my Green-Eyed Demon book:

"Pamela - Giguhl thinks you will like page 130. You look like the kind of lady who'd like to whip a naughty gimp. He's volunteered to be your first victim. Cheers! Jaye Wells"

Let's flip to page 130, shall we?

"He wore assless chaps and a zippered mask."

Can I be these ladies' sidekick? Please??? I'd have stomach cramps from laughing non-stop.

Maybe now that I'm no longer a Book Signing virgin I won't be such a goober next time. Nehhh. I will definitely either be giggling or completely silent at AAD in Philly, and apparently so will Nat. We are going to drive people bananas.

To sum it up, I am a big goober. And I will never forget this evening.

Spaz Reviews: Magic on the Hunt - Devon Monk

My new review of Devon Monk's Magic on the Hunt, the 6th book in her Allie Beckstrom series, is up for review at Wicked Lil Pixie! Please join us!

Magic on the Hunt is the 6th book in the Allie Beckstrom series and is also known as the book that Zayvion Jones royally pisses me off and in which I write a review where I gush over Shame. This book pretty much picks up where book 5, Magic at the Gate, left off. Allie and Zayvion are recovering from all the insanity that occurred in the last book but you know the break is only a short lived reprieve. The Authority is completely splintered, nobody knows who is truly on what side, and right off the bat another Authority member goes rogue and injurs both Allie and Zay. Now the entire future of the Authority seems to fall on their shoulders, along with finding out why Leander is back. Continue Reading...

Spaz Reviews: Sins of the Flesh by Eve Silver

My new review of Sins of the Flesh, the 3rd book in Eve Silver's Otherkin Trilogy series is up at Wicked Lil Pixie!

Malthus Krayl is one of four sons of Sutekh. Sutekh is also known as Seth. Seteh. Lord of Evil. He is described as the Underworld überlord of chaos. Mal and his brothers are soul reapers, well, his 2 other brothers Dagan and Alastor are because they are still alive. His 3rd brother Lokan was skinned and butchered, beginning the Otherkin trilogy. In Sins of the Flesh, Dagan, Alastor and Mal continue their search to find out the who, how, and why of Lokan's murder and to seek revenge. Caliope Kane is part of the Asetian Guard and a Daughter of Aset, sworn enemy of Sutekh. Thousands of years ago Sutekh hacked Aset's husband, Osiris, into fourteen pieces - seven for each of the two regions of Egypt. As you can imagine, the hatred and tension between the two Egyptian Gods and their followers has manifested and grown all the way to present day. Mal and Caliope meet while on a similar mission, intending to kidnap the same person, but for opposing teams (Son of Sutekh versus Daughter of Aset). The result of this meeting is nothing short of explosive. Continue Reading...

Spaz Reviews: Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison

My review of Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison, a first in her new Elder Races series, is up at Wicked Lil Pixie Reviews!

Have you ever started a book and immediately thought to yourself about the heroine, “Oh. Oh, I am going to like HER”? And then, if you are lucky, you move on to the hero and immediately think to yourself, “Oh. Oh yeah, I LIKE this guy. oh yes.” Well, that pretty much sums up my initial reaction to the heroine Pia Giovanni and the hero Dragos Cuelebre in Dragon Bound. And it all got even better from there…

In Thea Harrison’s debut novel of her new Elder Races series, she mastered the art of developing the heroine Pia in a perfect combination of vulnerability and moxy. She had me at Twizzlers and Cherry Coke Slushees. And oh my, Dragos…. Continue reading....