Day 295 - Book Arrivals

So this is the last of my birthday gift card spending *sigh* I wish I had more money... I'll go on another splurge soon I'm sure... not that I really need to =)

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From B&N:

Awaken Me Darkly :: Gena Showalter
Book one in the Alien Huntress series

RIDDING THE WORLD OF EVIL, ONE ALIEN AT A TIME: THATS MIA SNOW'S MISSION.

Snow is in the forecast.

In a time and place not too far away, Mia Snow is an alien huntress for the New Chicago Police Department. Heading up her expert team of Alien Investigation and Removal agents, Mia's unmatched at battling the elusive enemy among us, and she's the perfect girl for the job. She's seen her brother die at the hands of aliens. She's earned each of her scars. And she'll die before she cries. Now, a series of killings have Mia and her partner Dallas tracking alien suspects -- but a sudden blast of violence leaves Dallas fighting for his life.
They are ice and fire.

The chance to save Dallas appears in the form of a tall, erotic stranger. An alien. A murder suspect. Kyrin en Arr, of the deadly Arcadian species, holds the power to heal the injured agent but not without a price. For Mia Snow, that price is surrendering to Kyrin's forbidden seduction...and embracing their electric attraction. She's walking a knife's edge, risking her badge and even her life. The closer she gets to Kyrin, the more Mia learns about her own heart, her human needs -- and the shocking secret that will shatter everything she's ever believed.


The Stepsister Scheme :: Jim C. Hines

Book on the Princess Novels series

What would happen if an author went back to the darker themes of the original fairy tales for his plots, and then crossed the Disney princesses with Charlie's Angels? What's delivered is The Stepsister Scheme - a whole new take on what happened to Cinderella and her prince after the wedding. And with Jim C. Hines penning the tale readers can bet it won't be 'and they lived happily ever after.'

King's Property :: Morgan Howell

Book one in the Queen of the Orcs series

Born into hardship, Dar learns to rely on herself alone. When her family betrays her, Dar is conscripted into King Kregant's army and its brutal campaign to conquer a neighboring country. Now she is bound as a slave to a dreaded regiment of orcs, creatures legendary for their savagery and battle prowess. Rather than cower, Dar rises to the challenge. She learns the unique culture and language of the orcs, survives treachery from both allies and enemies, and struggles to understand a mystical gift that brings her dark, prophetic visions. As the war escalates - amid nightmarish combat and shattering loss - Dar must seize a single chance at freedom.

Grimspace :: Ann Aguirre

Book one in the Sarantha Jax series

Sirantha Jax had the Midas touch. She and her pilot could do no wrong until the incident on the Sargasso. She's the only one who could say what went wrong, but she doesn't remember. Or doesn't want to. Now she's sitting on Perlas Station, waiting for the other shoe to drop. If dream therapy doesn't kill her, the Corp will, and after losing everything but her mind in the crash, she isn't sure she cares. Until the man in the suit strolls into her cell...

The Blue Girl :: Charles de Lint

When Imogene, her mother, and her brother move to Newford, shedecides to reinvent herself-this time she won't go looking for trouble. She quickly gets to know two very different people. Maxine is a "good girl," following a strict life plan. Imogene helps Maxine loosen up and break a few rules, and in turn Maxine keeps her on the straight and narrow. Imogene's other new friend is a little more unusual. His name is Adrian. He is a ghost. Adrian was killed when he jumped off the high school roof in 1998, and hasn't left since. He has a huge crush on her-so much so that he wants her to see the fairies that also haunt the school. The fairies invade Imogene's dreams, blurring the line between the unreal and the real. When her imaginary childhood friend Pelly actually manifests, Imogene knows something is terribly wrong. With Maxine, Adrian, and Pelly's help, Imogene challenges the dark forces of Faery. This compelling novel from Charles de Lint, the acknowledged founder of the "urban fantasy" genre, is set in the city of Newford, home to some of his best stories. After reading it, you will want to live in Newford, too.

Black :: Ted Dekker

Book one in the Books of History Chronicles: Circle series

Fleeing assailants through alleyways in Denver late one night, Thomas Hunter narrowly escapes to the roof of an industrial building. Then a silent bullet from the night clips his head and his world goes black.

Now Thomas wakes from a deep sleep, remembering the vivid dream he just had of being chased. Incredibly real. His head is even bleeding - but he's fallen on a rock. He's in a green forest, waiting to meet Rachelle, the woman he's falling madly in love with. That night, Thomas tumbles into bed and falls into a fitful sleep. He dreams. But here comes the real mind bender. Every time Thomas falls asleep in one reality, he awakes in the other. He truly no longer knows which reality is real. Each reality has dramatic impact on the other, each proves to be real, each presents huge stakes, and the fate of each will depend on one man: Thomas Hunter.

This groundbreaking trilogy will be the fiction publishing event of 2004. Black is unleashed in February, followed by Red this May, and concluding with White in September 2004. Each new Dekker book has surpassed the prior one...but never before has he created such an unforgettable multi-layered epic as Black, Red, and White.

Sisters of Misery :: Megan Kelley Hall

Book one in the Sisters of Misery series

There are some girls who have everything...

She has the right clothes, the right friends, and the right last name, but fifteen-year-old Maddie Crane sometimes feels like an outsider in her clique in the wealthy, seaside town of Hawthorne, Massachusetts. And when her gorgeous, eccentric cousin Cordelia LeClaire moves to town, Maddie is drawn toward her ethereal, magical spirit and teeters even more toward the edge of her friends' tightly-knit circle...

Then there are the jealous ones...

Kate Endicott and the Sisters of Misery--a secret clique of the most popular, powerful girls in school--are less than thrilled by Cordelia's arrival. When Kate's on-again, off-again boyfriend Trevor takes an interest in Cordelia, the Sisters of Misery become determined to make her pay...

Now Maddie must choose between the allure and power of the Sisters of Misery and her loyalty to her beloved cousin. But she'll have to give up on ever fitting in and accept the disturbing truth about the town, her friends, her mysterious cousin, and even herself as she faces the terrifying wrath of the Sisters of Misery...

The Lunatic Cafe :: Laurell K. Hamilton

Book four in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series

And you don't fall in love with a werewolf. It interferes with your work. Especially when you're a preternatural expert, like me. My business brings me up close and personal with all shapes and sizes of monsters. And not ALL of them want to kill me. Take, for instance, the local pack of lycanthropes - they're werewolves to you. A number of them are missing, and they've come to me for help. Maybe because I'm dating the leader of the pack. I've survived a lot - from jealous vampires to killer zombies - but this love thing may kill me yet.

The Magic Kingdom of Landover :: Terry Brooks

Books one-three of the Magic Kingdom of Landover series

Capture the fantasy, thrills, and far-flung adventure of the first three novels in Terry Brooks's enchanting Magic Kingdom of Landover series-now for the first time in one gripping volume.

Chicago lawyer Ben Holiday can't fathom what lies ahead when he purchases Landover-a magical kingdom of chivalry and sorcery-from Meeks, the mysterious seller who placed the ad. Weary and jaded, Ben clings to the ad's promise: 'Escape into your dreams.' But Landover is not the enchanted idyll he expected.

The kingdom is in ruin. The barons refuse to recognize Ben as King, a dragon is decimating the countryside, and a demon lord has challenged any prospective ruler to a fatal duel. To make matters worse, the Paladin, renowned champion of the Kings of Landover, seems to be merely a legend.

Ben's only allies are a bumbling court magician, a talking dog turned court scribe, and the beautiful Willow, who is part girl, part tree. With his friends in tow, Ben sets out to claim the throne. But when Meeks decides he wants Landover back, Ben will face supernatural foes of every stripe to prove himself worthy of the kingship. The question is: Can he survive?

Blackbringer :: Laini Taylor

Book one in the Faeries of Dreamdark series

When the ancient evil of the Blackbringer rises to unmake the world, only one determined faerie stands in its way. However, Magpie Windwitch, granddaughter of the West Wind, is not like other faeries. While her kind live in seclusion deep in the forests of Dreamdark, she's devoted her life to tracking down and recapturing devils escaped from their ancient bottles, just as her hero, the legendary Bellatrix, did 25,000 years ago. With her faithful gang of crows, she travels the world fighting where others would choose to flee. But when a devil escapes from a bottle sealed by the ancient Djinn King himself--the creator of the world--she may be in over her head. How can a single faerie, even with the help of her friends, hope to defeat the impenetrable darkness of the Blackbringer?

Nightwatch by Sergei Lukyanenko

Book one in the Watch series

Walking the streets of Moscow, indistinguishable from the rest of its population, are The Others. The Others are magicians, possessors of supernatural powers and capable of entering the Twilight, a shadowy world that exists in parallel to our own, each Other owes allegiance either to the Dark or the Light. The two factions, having long before realised that open struggle can only create chaos and disaster, coexist in an uneasy truce, each side aware of, and keeping a close eye on, the other's activities around the city. Their aim is not mutual destruction, but rather the maintenance of the precarious balance between good and evil. Anton, a young Other, who owes allegiance to the Light, is a Night Watch agent, newly seconded to patrol the streets and metro of the city, to protect ordinary people from the vampires and magicians of the Dark. On his rounds, Anton comes across a young woman, Svetlana, who he realises is under a powerful curse that threatens the entire city, and a boy, Egor, a young Other, as yet unaware of his own enormous power, whom Anton narrowly saves from vampires. Anton is assigned a partner, Olga, a powerful female Other who is trapped in the form of an owl in punishment for a past error of judgement. Together with their colleagues in the Night Watch, they struggle to remove Svetlana's curse and to protect Egor from the vampires that pursue him.

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From PaperbackSwap:

Isolde: Queen of the Western Isle :: Rosalind Miles
Book one in the Tristan and Isolde series

In the golden time of Arthur and Guenevere, the Island of the West shines like an emerald in the sea—one of the last strongholds of Goddess-worship and Mother-right. Isolde is the only daughter and heiress of Ireland's great ruling queen, a lady as passionate in battle as she is in love. La Belle Isolde, like her mother, is famed for her beauty, but she is a healer instead of a warrior, "of all surgeons, the best among the isles." A natural peacemaker, Isolde is struggling to save Ireland from a war waged by her dangerously reckless mother. The Queen is influenced by her lover, Sir Marhaus, who urges her to invade neighboring Cornwall and claim it for her own, a foolhardy move Isolde is determined to prevent. But she is unable to stop them. King Mark of Cornwall sends forth his own champion to do battle with the Irish—Sir Tristan of Lyonesse—a young, untested knight with a mysterious past. A member of the Round Table, Tristan has returned to the land of his birth after many years in exile, only to face Ireland's fiercest champion in combat. When he lies victorious but near death on the field of battle, Tristan knows that his only hope of survival lies to the West. He must be taken to Ireland to be healed, but he must go in disguise—for if the Queen finds out who killed her beloved, he will follow Marhaus into the spirit world. His men smuggle him into the Queen's fort at Dubh Lein, and beg the princess to save him.

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From Contests/Giveaways & Misc:

The Tear Collector :: Patrick Jones
(Thanks Tina from FantasticBookReview!!)

Fans of urban fantasy should prepare for a new kind of vampire-one that feeds off of tears instead of blood. Descended from an ancient line of creatures that gain their energy from human tears, Cassandra Gray depends on human sorrow to live. Only Cass has grown tired of living this life and wants to live like a human, especially now that she's met someone worth fighting for.

The Hunger Games :: Suzanne Collins
Book one in the Hunger Games series

(Thanks Book Chick City!!)

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

Catching Fire :: Suzanne Collins
Book two in the Hunger Games series
(Thanks again to Book Chick City!!)

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.



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**This was supposed to be posted yesterday (Sunday) sorry for my tardiness...

Happy Reading Everyone <3