Six Pack Book Review

I decided to do a book review for today's post. I mention books as one of the topics I'm likely to talk about in my tag line, but I haven't really do so yet. Lots of writers/bloggers do book reviews. But, I thought, why just review *A* book? Why not review my favorite books for the first half of the year?

What are my criteria? Well first, I had to read the book between January 1st and July 4th. Second, I only picked books that I rated as five stars on Goodreads. If you haven't tried Goodreads before, I've found it a fabulous resource to track the books I've read.

So, armed with those two ironclad criteria, here is my first bi-annual "1/2 year Book Review".

At the Queen's Command by Mike Stackpole (@MikeStackpole)

Format: Print

Available: Amazon.com (Print and Kindle) BN.com (Print and NOOK)

What would Colonial America have been like with magic, and dragons? This is a book for any fan of fantasy, colonial history or just a good read! The quickest way to describe this book is The Last Of The Mohicans meets The Lord Of The Rings. Stackpole has a love of colonial history, and it shines through brightly in the foundation and attention to detail in the book. It was fun to read the book, following the heroes through the wilderness and try to puzzle out which parts of real world New England and Canada the action takes place in.

Immortal by Gene Doucette (@GeneDoucette)

Format: Print

Available: Amazon (Print and Kindle, Kindle UK) BN.com (NOOK) Apple iBook Sony E-Reader Kobo Diesel EBooks Smashwords

This book was a hoot from start to finish. Adam is an immortal who's just trying to get through life. Staying drunk for large chunks of it is his plan. But when you've lived as long as he has (and as many places!) you make a few friends and more than a few enemies. That's when his life gets complicated. Doucette fills this book with loads of humor and well written flashbacks into Adams past. I blasted through this book in a little more than a day. It's a quick reading page-turner that left me giggling in stitches the entire time.

American On Purpose: The Improbably Adventures Of An Unlikely Patriot 

by Craig Ferguson (@craigyferg)

Format: Print

Available: Amazon (Print and Kindle) BN (Print and NOOK)

I read this book and the immediate question came to mind: How the #$%& did this man live past the age of 17?! I love "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson". Over the years he's given us peeks and stories from his life on his talk show. Now, the autobiography of a former blackout drunk gives us the stories that the CBS censors wouldn't let him tell on air. I howled out loud reading this book. WARNING: There is some graphic subject matter covered in this book, and it's not entirely safe for the faint of heart.

Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding

Format: Print

Available: Amazon (Print and Kindle) BN (Print and NOOK)

This book fairly reminded me of Firefly. If you're into a misfit crew thrown together by fate or circumstance, each one with his or her own secrets to hide, this book will be right up your alley. The further you read into the book, more and more of each crew-member's story becomes exposed and tangled together. If there were one thing I would have included in the book would be a map of the world. Given that this is a story about a crew of airship pirates, a navigation chart would have been a nice touch. The good news is there is a sequel already. I can't wait to get hold of that book to continue the adventures of the Ketty Jay and her crew.

Dead Barchetta by Kathryn Lively

Format: Ebook (Kindle)

Available: Smashwords Amazon (Print and Kindle) BN (Print and NOOK)

I saw this title on a list of books in a blog tour for the Troops over Memorial Day Weekend. the first thing that I thought on seeing the title was "That looks like a Rush parody title." I am a huge Rush fan, so examined the book blog further. I am *so* glad I did. What I found was a mystery thriller written by a Rush fan for Rush fans. Hero Matt "Lerxst" Johnston plays guitar in a tribute band that specializes in Rush and Grateful Dead songs. This book is packed with sly references to both bands. The story sucked me in rapidly; Lively writes a lot of humor into the story, and enough plot twists to keep you guessing right up to the last pages.

Nemesis by NL Gervasio (@NLGervasio)(@Jinxie_G)

Format: Ebook (Kindle)

Available: Smashwords Amazon (Kindle)

This was a type of book not in my normal routine. In fact, I'm not sure how I would classify it: Action-Romance? Chick-lit-Thriller? Gervasio herself calls it Contemporary Romance, so that's what I'll go with. Again, outside of my norm. The characters were well done, and completely believable as three-dimensional people. Anna "Nemesis" Mussolini is an Italian Mafia Princess bartender who can sling drinks and snark with equal ease. She's been burned too many times by love and has given up on men. Then she realizes that she has the hots for the boss she's worked a year for, and does he have the hots for her too? Don't come to this book expecting some shy, retiring violet for a heroine. Nemesis is a thoroughly modern woman who can go toe to toe and shot for shot with anyone. Gervasio did an excellent job with the details in this book, I could see everything happening before me. Listen up, Hollywood. Nemesis would make a great movie. And the best part is, this is only book one of the Kick-ass Girls Club. I can't wait to see what Nemesis and the other girls in this club get up to.

There's six book reviews for the price of one. Where else are you going to find such a deal in today's economy? Check them out, you won't be disappointed!

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Nemesis Soundtrack

Characters are just like people. Each of them is unique, with his or her own goals, problems in life, and personal soundtracks. Instead of injecting my own insanity into the blog today, Twitter's own @Jinxie_G (Author N.L. Gervasio) is letting me "squeeze" her for information on her heroine Nemesis's personal soundtrack for N.L.'s new book "Nemesis", available now from Smashwords and Amazon.

Here's Jinxie -

When I first started writing Nemesis, and pretty much any book before it, I didn't listen to music like most writers do. I have ADD, so I'm distracted quite easily. I needed total solitude and mostly silence, so I sat outside on my back porch in a place I used to call my Sanctuary, and the only sounds I would hear were those of the neighborhood and city surrounding me.

Over the past two years, I've learned to write/edit with larger distractions, such as music or television, if absolutely unavoidable. You see, I don't have kids, so I didn't know how to block out the sounds before. It takes a lot of practice to get to that point without children running rampant through the house. I did have a teenage foster-daughter for a couple of years, but she knew not to disturb me during my writing time. And with my Sanctuary now gone, it was a much-needed skill I had to learn.

What I'm going to share with you today is the playlist I made up while working on the book. Some of these are the songs I listened to during edits, while others are merely perfect subtitles, so I made them all subtitles for each chapter. Most songs fit the chapter they're assigned to, such as Another Hole in the Head for chapter 10. The credit for finding that little gem goes to my dear friend H.C. Palmquist, who also helped me shape that chapter, as it was part of the major overhaul I did on the book.

Here's the actual list of songs, in order by chapter:

Nemesis Playlist

1. The Creeps – Social Distortion

2. Little by Little – Robert Plant

3. Wake Me in the Morning – The Bollox

4. Nemesis – Shriekback

5. No Man’s Woman – Sinead O’Connor

6. Devil’s Dance Floor – Flogging Molly

7. Next Contestant – Nickelback

8. Lick – Joi

9. I Will Possess Your Heart – Death Cab for Cutie

10. Another Hole in the Head – Nickelback

11. 3 Libras – A Perfect Circle

12. How You Remind Me – Nickelback

13. Something I Can Never Have – Nine Inch Nails

14. Not in Rivers, But in Drops – ISIS

15. Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing – Chris Isaak

16. Let It Die – Foo Fighters

17. King of Fools – Social Distortion

18. Foxy, Foxy – Rob Zombie

19. Winter Solstice – The Tea Party

20. You Do Something to Me – Sinead O'Connor

21. Head Like a Hole – Nine Inch Nails

22. We're in This Together – Nine Inch Nails

23. Feelin' Love – Paula Cole

24. You Know I'm No Good – Amy Winehouse

25. Tura' Lu – The Bollox

26. You Know What You Are? – Nine Inch Nails

27. Just a Girl – No Doubt

28. Weak and Powerless – A Perfect Circle

29. No, You Don't – Nine Inch Nails

30. Hour of Darkness – Social Distortion

31. Headstrong - Trapt

32. Feel Alive – U.P.O.

And here's the link to the playlist on Grooveshark.

As you can see from this list, I'm a huge Nine Inch Nails fan and an old punk. Be glad I didn't throw a bunch of 80s punk songs in there, although that'd be kind of cool. Oh, and by the way, I always call the Death Cab for Cutie song I Will Possess Your Heart the stalker song of the year decade. Seriously, listen to the lyrics!

My reason for not listening to music before wasn't that music didn't inspire me—it does on many levels. In fact, there's a Celtic song titled A Thousand Curses on Love by Richard Searles that inspired my first paranormal novel, The Vampyre Prophecy. It's not available at this time, but will be as soon as I dive into the edits to revamp it. I wasn't happy with the final product, so I retired the book and it's no longer in print. It should be out by this fall.

For now, I give you Nemesis, a sort of darker Cinderella story, if you will.

Prince Charming was a putz.

Prince Charming number two was even worse.

After the last prince ran off without any notice, breaking her heart and their engagement along the  way, Nemesis Mussolini swore off  men and passed the time kicking ass and slinging drinks, something her mafia father would never approve of. But, when her boss Clancy ups his flirtations, it’s difficult to remember she’s not interested, especially when he gets that delicious evil glint in his eye that has her melting. Just when Nemy starts to think all men might not be bad, she hears whispers about Clancy’s less than legal past, and wants to run like hell from the idea that he could be just like her father.

Great … Prince Charming number three may possibly be on FBI’s Most Wanted.

While Nemy and Clancy tumble down the romance road, hitting potholes every step of the way, Nemy discovers how much of her heart already belongs to Clancy, and how much of a Don’s daughter she really is. When Clancy’s daughter is kidnapped, they must work together to use every talent and connection they have to get her back, which means Nemy must learn to trust again. If they fail, Clancy could lose his daughter forever. Can Nemy surrender in time to get her happily ever after, or is she hell-bent on letting her past keep her from the one man who could be her true Prince Charming?

Nemesis has her own blog: Foxy’s Den

Nemy can also be found on Twitter: Nemy_girl

You can find Nemesis on the Running Ink Press website, which will direct you to the purchase points and desired e-formats. The book is not yet available in print form.

Bio:

N.L. “Jinxie” Gervasio was born on Friday the thirteenth. Her dad wanted to call her Jinx. Her mom said no. It took thirty-four years for her to discover the nickname, and she’s grown quite attached to it. She lives in Tempe, Arizona with Umi (her mother) and Moon (her Alaskan malamute). She enjoys riding her beach cruiser “The Betty” around downtown Tempe, loves a good pub crawl, and has had the pleasure and the heartache of experiencing a love far greater than she could have ever imagined.

She welcomes you to her world.

Twitter: Jinxie_G

Facebook: Jinxi3G

Blog: Jinxie's World

Other blog: Unclouded Perspicacity

Fun stuff: Zombie Survival Crew

Email: jinxieg13 (at) gmail (dot) com