Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Book Giveaway: Murder As A Fine Art by David Morrell

Murder As A Fine Art by David Morrell
Publisher:Mulholland Books
Publish Date: May 7, 2012
Hardcover, 368 pages
Fiction, Historical
 ISBN: 0316216798












***My review will be coming in the next few weeks.***

About the Book:
GASLIT LONDON IS BROUGHT TO ITS KNEES IN DAVID MORRELL'S BRILLIANT HISTORICAL THRILLER.

Thomas De Quincey, infamous for his memoir Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, is the major suspect in a series of ferocious mass murders identical to ones that terrorized London forty-three years earlier.

The blueprint for the killings seems to be De Quincey's essay "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts." Desperate to clear his name but crippled by opium addiction, De Quincey is aided by his devoted daughter Emily and a pair of determined Scotland Yard detectives.

In Murder as a Fine Art, David Morrell plucks De Quincey, Victorian London, and the Ratcliffe Highway murders from history. Fogbound streets become a battleground between a literary star and a brilliant murderer, whose lives are linked by secrets long buried but never forgotten.

About the Author: 
David Morrell is a Canadian novelist from Kitchener, Ontario, who has been living in the United States for a number of years. He is best known for his debut 1972 novel First Blood, which would later become a successful film franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. More recently, he has been writing the Captain America comic books limited-series The Chosen.

For more information on David Morrell and his novels, please visit the official website.  You can also follow David on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Giveaway:
Thanks to the publisher and Historical Fiction Book Tours, I have one copy of Murder as a Fine Art to giveaway.  Book will be mailed directly from the publisher.  Open to US only. Ends 6/4.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

Armchair BEA Introduction


Welcome to ArmchairBEA!  While I would love to be in New York this week, it's just not in the cards for me, so I'm joining in from home.  And it's day one, so here's my answer to the interview questions!  Can't wait to see the others and learn more about my fellow bloggers!
  1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging? My name is Crystal, I live on the beautiful coast of NC with my husband of 15 years (we've been together 21, since the end of high school), our two sons (12 & 8), a black cat, Buckwheat and our pound puppy Chewbacca, oh and a goldfish. I work in marine science (hurricane storm surge work) and read every chance I get. I've been blogging since March 2009 when I started having health problems and was home from work more. I really did it to keep up with what I was reading, but it blossomed into so much more.  I've kept up blogging because I enjoy it.
  2. Where in the world are you blogging from? Tell a random fact or something special about your current location. Feel free to share pictures. I live outside of Beaufort, NC in the beautiful world called Down East.  I actually live in Otway which is named for Otway Burns who was a privateer during the War of 1812.  Also Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge was found just off of Shackleford which is where we spend a lot of our time when we are boating, though we spend more time at the Cape Lookout end, which you can see the beauty here: 

  3. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2013? I'm currently reading Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I love the Nick Chronicles books and this one is pretty good.  My favorite book changes at least once a month, but right now I would say it has been Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts.
  4. Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you. I'm what my husband calls a lizard. I love to be out in the sun all warm and cozy. It can be 90+ and high humidity (like we have anything else around here) and I will be on the boat laying out while Mitch and the kids are playing in the water complaining about the heat.  That makes me happy.  Oh and I have to have a book of course.
  5. What is your favorite part about the book blogging community? The camaraderie, the friendliness and the helpfulness of so many bloggers.  I haven't been commenting like I use to but I plan on getting back to it as soon as my son's ball season is over and summer starts.  I also love getting feedback on books, finding new-to-me authors and just enjoying reading posts.
Click on the banner for the original post to visit lots of blogs and read their intros.

If you are new to my blog or new to the blogosphere please comment and let me know you stopped by and I will get by your blog as well.  I hope to make my way through the list, but it's usually huge.  Also if you are an oldie like me, please comment as well, I know I'm missing some great blogs out there! 



Book Review: Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Acheron (Dark-Hunter, #15)Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publish Date: Aug. 5, 2008
Audiobook, 23 hours 39 minutes




My Review:
This is one long book, but to get it all in it really had to be. I decided to tackle it on audio instead of reading and it took awhile (not because of the book, but because of me), but it was well worth it in the end.

This book is comprehensive. First you get a look at Ash's past. Something I knew nothing of before. Of course Ash was the most mysterious as leader of the Dark Hunters and now I understand. I think the past was handled well and I never felt like "hurry up and get to the present", I was enthralled by Ash's backstory. It really explains so much. Then it moves forward to the now, when Ash meets Tori and they are thrown together because of the danger to her. This part was amazing as well. It felt slightly more rushed, at least in the romance department than the first part, but I was okay with that. They were thrown together in danger and there was an obvious attraction. Then there is a lot of excitement and an epilogue that has me anxious for what happens next.

I felt Ash and Tori were both well-developed in Acheron. Ash more so than Tori, but it was his book. However I did feel I got to know Tori and I really liked her. Another plus, more of Simi in this book, I love Simi!

The story is great, moving from past to present was seamless and the whole storyline kept my interest through all the hours of listening. I loved this installment to the Dark Hunters series and loved how Ms. Kenyon handled everything. I just wasn't sure how things could be done with a book about Ash before the end of the series, but now I understand (no spoilers).

I listened to the audio version and I think Holter Graham did a great job. The reader is male, but he did well changing his voice for the various roles and he did great with the female voices as well. I again especially loved Simi, I felt like he nailed her. If you are going to listen to a very long audiobook it's great to have a good narrator and he was very good. He will definitely go on my list of narrators that I enjoy.

Overall this was a great installment in the Dark Hunters series. More things were explained but more mysteries were opened as you would expect. I am anxious to play catch-up and see what happens after this book now, especially with Styxx coming out soon. I am very curious to see his side of things. Acheron is an excellent book with great characters and a plot that keeps you enthralled from page 1 to page 700-something. So don't fear the large book, it's well worth your time!

My rating:  5.0/5.0

About the Book:
Eleven thousand years ago a god was born. Cursed into the body of a human, Acheron spent a lifetime of shame. His human death unleashed an unspeakable horror that almost destroyed the earth. Brought back against his will, he became the sole defender of mankind.

Only it was never that simple. For centuries, he has fought for our survival and hidden a past he never wants revealed - until a lone woman who refuses to be intimidated by him threatens his very existence.

Now his survival, and ours, hinges on hers, and old enemies reawaken and unite to kill them both. War has never been more deadly...or more fun.

About the Author (from Goodreads):
Sherrilyn Kenyon lives a life of extraordinary danger... as does any woman with three sons, a husband, a menagerie of pets and a collection of swords that all of the above have a fixation on. But when not running interference (or dashing off to the emergency room), she's found chained to her computer where she likes to play with all her imaginary friends. With more than ten million copies of her books in print in 26 countries, she certainly has many friends to play with.

Writing as Kinley MacGregor and Sherrilyn Kenyon, she is the author of several series, including The Dark-Hunters, Brotherhood of the Sword, Lords of Avalon, Nevermore, BAD (Bureau of American Defense), Sex Camp Diaries, The MacAllisters and Sea Wolves.

Her books have appeared in the top five of the New York Times, Publisher's Weekly, and USA Today lists.


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***I received this book from the publisher for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way except receiving the book for free.  ***