Fire and Ice Hop

This is the month for romance! For defying the cold nights and curling up with a good novel on your lap, and to revel in the power of love.

Okay, that might have sounded slightly tacky, but it is true: romance is not only hot, it's also vital and when its official holiday comes up, then it's time to give it some thought. And to celebrate with a gift! What am I going to give you, I wonder....

I know! A copy of a book of your choice in the Soul Screamers series! And yes, that includes the omnibus volumes or a preorder of With All My Soul. As long as Book Depository ships to your country, you can win. To enter, just leave me a comment with the answer to this question:

What makes romance perfect for you?

My answer is, of course, related to the series I picked (And from this point on, there are spoilers up to book 5, so if you're not there, feel free to not read on!)

VBT Review: The Hands of Tarot, by SM Blooding

Author: S.M. Blooding

Title: The Hands of Tarot

Series: The Hands of Tarot

ISBN: 9781477600290

Publisher: Blooding Books (July 3^rd 2012)

Disclaimer: Copy received for review

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

    “She killed his father.

    She imprisoned and beat him.

    And now she thinks he’s her trophy.

    Synn El’Asim will do almost anything to prove her wrong. But he’s only proving her right.

    Queen Nix awakened his Mark of power and inducted him into the House of Wands. She knew what she was doing. The son of the two most powerful Families standing against her is the ultimate prize.

    What she didn’t take into consideration was that maybe he was too strong for her.

    Maybe.

    But the Families aren’t. They’ve been weakened and it’ll take a lot more than one young man with a powerful Mark to take on the Hands of Tarot.”GoodReads’ blurb

I had two chances to pick up this title for review and so I thought some higher being might be trying to tell me something (I don’t usually get repeat request from several fronts!). So, I dug in for a little more information, because the blurb felt slightly confusing to me, and then I thought: “Well, if this doesn’t look like the kind of stuff I could love!”

So I gave in and became part of the review tour. I’m really, really glad I did, though I have to say one thing before going any further: The Hands of Tarot is one of those books that get a rating because of gut feeling (more on this later) and a different person, or even myself at a different moment, might not have enjoyed it as much.

Okay, on to the details.

Eve Hallows Book Blast (Plus Giveaway)

EVE HALLOWS AND THE BOOK OF SHRIEKS (BOOK 1)

For fourteen-year-old Eve Hallows, life can be summed up in one word—horrible.  She has the most horrible friends.  She lives in a horrible old castle.  Even her family is a bunch of horrible monsters.



However, in the monster-inhabited world of Gravesville—a world where messages are sent through Ouija boards, jack-o’-lanterns get facials to suit their moods, and the worst thing Eve has to deal with are those annoying zombie tourists who overrun her favorite graveyard during the Halloween season—horrible means wonderful.  And everything for Eve is perfectly horrible.



But her life is about to go head over heels when a mysterious group known as The Source starts terrorizing Gravesville.  Now she must move to the human world—where everything is opposite ... and for Eve, that's absolutely adorable!

Praise for Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks:

"Move over, Neil Gaiman’s CORALINE and THE GRAVEYARD BOOK … make room, Lemony Snicket’s A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS … you’ve got company and competition for shelf space!" -- THE HORROR FICTION REVIEW