You Don't Say Award

J. Kaye's Book Blog was kind enough to pass along the "You Don't Say" award to me. Thanks so much J. Kaye! If you haven't visited her blog, you're missing out!

The "You Don't Say" Award is given to bloggers that take the time to comment on your blog. I'm finally back to pass this award along. Thanks so much to the following people for taking the time to comment on my blog. It means alot. :)

1. DeSeRt RoSe at DeSeRt RoSe BoOkLoGuE

2. Laina at YA Blog Newsletter

3. Penny at Penny's Pages

4. Jenny at Jenny Loves to Read

5. Sharazad at The Dangerous Pages Review

Ginormous Vegas II Celebration Contest

Grand Prize: $100 GC to Amazon.com
Runner Up: $25 GC to B&N and a box of surprise paperbacks and other goodies (like chocolate, bath goodies, ect). This is going to be a NICE prize!
Runner Up: $25 GC to B&N and a box of surprise paperbacks and other goodies. (same as above)

Plus chances to win books (almost) every day for a month!

Go to http://www.anyabast.com/blog/ for details on how to enter.

Blood Lite

3 stars

Blood Lite is an anthology of short stories from some of today's most prominent horror writers. The stories in Blood Lite all have a dark humor edge to them which I think makes them more enjoyable than just pure horror. Some of the stories were really good but some were just okay. That's pretty typical of the anthologies I've read. My favorite stories in the book were "Day Off" by Jim Butcher (I'm a huge Dresden Files fan), "Hell in a Handbasket" by Lucien Soulban, "Elvis Presley and the Bloodsucker Blues" by Matt Venne, and "Dear Prudence" by Steven Savile. I was really looking forward to Charlaine Harris' contribution since I like her other work, but I was a bit disappointed with it.

The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury

4 stars

Four horsemen dressed as Templar Knights raid the Metropolitan Museum of Art during an exhibit of Vatican artifacts. Out of all the artifacts, many jeweled and priceless, the horsemen leave with an ancient encoder. Tess Chaykin, an archeologist, was looking at the encoder when the horsemen stormed in. While hiding nearby, she overheard one of the horseman say something in Latin while he was holding the encoder. Thanks to that phrase, the Templar costumes, and the look on the horseman's face while he was holding the encoder, Tess and FBI Agent Reilly are sent on an amazing adventure across the world trying to solve the case all the while digging into Templar history to find out what the horsemen could be after.

This was a fast paced, exciting adventure story. I've seen the reviews comparing it to The Da Vinci Code, but I didn't feel that way at all. As a matter of fact, I think I enjoyed this book more than The Da Vinci Code. It seemed to be a faster read and it flowed better for me than The Da Vinci Code did. If you're looking for great literature, you won't find it here. If you're looking for a fun adventure story, this would be great. I had a hard time putting it down.

Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

3 stars

Fourteen year old Ned Marriner finds himself in Aix-en-Provence on a shoot with his famous photographer father. While his father and his team are shooting photos of an ancient cathedral, Ned meets Kate, an American exchange student about his age. While Ned and Kate are hanging out together in the cathedral, they meet a very strange man with a knife that threatens them. After the confrontation with the man, Ned gets a very disturbing feeling that overwhelms him while he's looking at a carving of what's supposed to be The Queen of Sheba on a pillar inside the cathedral. These two events set in motion a story that's been going on for centuries and Ned and Kate are now in the middle of it.

I found Ysabel to be a quick, interesting read. I thought the story was quite good, but for some reason, I just felt it could be a little better. Maybe I felt that way because the story had such a young adult feel to it but there were so many elements that could have made it an even better adult story had the author chosen to go in that direction. I would recommend the story to fans of historical fiction with a fantasy or supernatural element to it.

Splash: Making an Impression

Thanks so much to Black_Eyed Susan's for awarding me my first award, The Splash Award!

The Rules:
1) Put the logo on your blog/post.
2) Nominate up to 9 blogs which allure, amuse, bewitch, impress, or inspire you.
3) Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4) Let them know that they have been splashed by commenting on their blog.
5) Remember to link to the person from whom your received your Splash award.

I will be passing this award on to the following bloggers:

1) Mary at Books, Gardens, and Dogs
2) Monie at Reading With Monie
3) J. Kaye at J. Kaye's Book Blog
4) DeSeRt RoSe at DeSeRt RoSe Booklogue
5) Andi at Radiant Light
6) Kristi at Books and Needlepoint
7) Carrie at Books and Movies

Lisa Jackson Read-a-Fest

I've decided to join the Lisa Jackson Read-a-Fest hosted by J. Kaye over at J. Kaye's Book Blog. The idea is to read as many Lisa Jackson books as you want between April 1st and June 30th. Did I mention there are prizes??? I've never read a Lisa Jackson book before, so I'm looking forward to trying out a new author. I just won an ARC of Malice, which is really convenient. As much as I hate to start reading a series out of order, I think I will have to this time as I have a review to write. I plan to read the following books:

1. Hot Blooded

2. Cold Blooded

3. Malice

If I like this series, and I think I will, I hope to finish it before the Read-a-Fest ends.


UPDATE

Ugh! I did horrible! It was my intention to read three books and I only managed to read Malice. I did enjoy it and I still intend to read the other two, but my reading just seemed to slow down over the past couple months. I've read way less at this point this year than I did last year.