New Releases with Contests and Monstrous Beauty GVDs

Here are a few new releases to check out at the bookstore and library.

Everneath (Everneath #1) by Brodi Ashton

Gorgeous cover art, right? If you like the dress, you can win a copy by entering the contest at Waterstone's for UK and Ireland residents.. (See other restrictions at the site.) "The dress will be handmade in the winner's size by fashion designer Sally Higginson and worth up to £700." You can read a review of Everneath at Novel Novice.

SUMMARY:

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she's returned - to her old life, her family, her boyfriend - before she's banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance - and the one person she loves more than anything. But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

BRODI ASHTON'S WEBSITE

Now, this is unusual -- Patricia Briggs' third Mercy Thompson novel, Iron Kissed, was originally released in 2008 in mass market paperback. It's been so successful that it's coming out as a hardback edition. But it's still got it's then-trendsetting tramp stamp cover art. If you've never seen Doug Knipe's nifty video at SciFiGuy, prepare to be amused.

SUMMARY:

When her former boss and mentor is arrested for murder and left to rot behind bars by his own kind, it's up to shapeshifting car mechanic Mercy Thompson to clear his name, whether he wants her to or not. And she'll have to choose between the two werewolves in her life-whether she wants to or not.

Read a sample chapter of Iron Kissed.

PATRICIA BRIGGS' WEBSITE

Lothaire (Immortals After Dark #12) by Kresley Cole

I've posted this cover before. Yep, it still looks like a red-eyed Owen Wilson to me, but the title reminds me of Mike Myers' Lothar of the Hill People skit.

SUMMARY:

From the humblest of beginnings a millennia ago, Lothaire the Enemy of Old rose to power, becoming the most feared and evil vampire in the immortal world. Driven by his past, he will not rest until he captures the vampire Horde's crown for himself. The discovery of his Bride, the female meant only for him, threatens to derail his plot.

Elizabeth Peirce is a mere mortal, a glaring vulnerability for a male with so many blood foes bent on annihilating anything he desires. Yet soon he discovers his Bride's secret. A magnificent power dwells inside the fragile human, one that will aid his quest. But to possess that power, he will have to destroy her. Will Lothaire succumb to the torments of his past, or seize a future with her?

KRESLEY COLE'S WEBSITE

Third Grave Dead Ahead (Charley Davidson #3) by Darynda Jones

Everyone says that this urban fantasy series is really funny and sexy. If you'd like to win a copy, Heroes and Heartbreakers is having a contest for it that runs through January 30.

SUMMARY:

Paranormal private eye. Grim reaper extraordinaire. Whatever. Charley Davidson is back! And she's drinking copious amounts of caffeine to stay awake because, every time she closes her eyes, she sees him: Reyes Farrow, the parthuman, part-supermodel son of Satan. Yes, she did imprison him for all eternity, but come on. How is she supposed to solve a missing persons case, deal with an ego-driven doctor, calm her curmudgeonly dad, and take on a motorcycle gang hellbent on murder when the devil's son just won't give up?

DARYNDA JONES' WEBSITE

Wings of the Wicked (Angelfire #2) by Courtney Allison Moulton

I rather like the "girl with a really crappy job" theme in a lot of urban fantasies. The crappy jobs usually involve demons, ghosts, and corpses. You can read an interview with Courtney and enter a contest for an ARC of her new book at My Shelf and I. The contest ends in four days.

SUMMARY:

Life as the Preliator is harder than Ellie ever imagined. Balancing real life with the responsibility of being Heaven's warrior is a challenge for Ellie. Her relationship with Will has become all business, though they both long for each other. And now that the secret of who she really is has come out, so have Hell's strongest reapers. Grown bold and more vicious, the demonic threaten her in the light of day and stalk her in the night. She's been warned. Cadan, a demonic reaper, comes to her with information of Bastian's new plan to destroy Ellie's soul and use an ancient relic to wake all the souls of the damned and unleash them upon humanity. As she fights to stay ahead of them, the revelations of those closest to her awaken a dark power within Ellie that threatens to destroy everything - including herself. She'll be betrayed. Treachery comes even from those whom she loves, and Ellie is broken by the deaths of those who stood beside her in this Heavenly war. Still, she must find a way to save the world, herself, and her love for Will. If she fails, there will be Hell to pay.

COURTNEY ALLISON MOULTON'S WEBSITE (very fun artwork here!)

GRATUITOUS VIDEOS OF THE DAY

I'm continuing the monsters and beauty theme. This is a little gory, but really well done.



I'll post something soon about the new Underworld movie that just came out.



I was happy to see James Marsters, aka Spike, on Caprica. Spike is still one of my favorite vamps.



It always bothers me when I see convertible scenes and people's hair isn't fiercely blowing forward and they aren't shouting to hear each other. Because that's what happens in a convertible when you go over 5 MPH. No, realism doesn't work for pretty and romantic conversation scenes, so put them in a regular car.