June 2, 2010

Wednesday Wishes and the Romance Experiment

This follows BBC weekly meme, My Wishlist.

This Wednesday Wishes I'll be sharing my Wishlist, plus the books I have picked and orderd for the Romance challenge. (Which you can check out by clicking on the link in my right side bar.) So this Wishlist is very long winded at the end.

Rise of the Poison Moon (Jennifer Scales, #5)
Rise of the Poison Moon (Jennifer Scales, #5)
by MaryJanice Davidson, Anthony Alongi
Jennifer Scales is a were-dragon with a fiery temper-but a warm heart.

Jennifer's ex-boyfriend, werarachnid Skip Wilson, is out of control. His powers have grown as strong as his hunger for revenge, leaving her little choice but to confront him-hopefully without giving in to her own dark side...
Face Off (Laura Blackstone, #2)
Face Off (Laura Blackstone, #2)
by Mark Del Franco

Laura Black is a druid who can change her appearance. She is both the Fey Guild's public relations director and a secret agent for the International Security Agency. And now she'll have to choose where her loyalties lie when a political war breaks out between the fey and human populations...
Demon from the Dark (Immortals After Dark, #10)
Demon from the Dark (Immortals After Dark, #10)
by Kresley Cole

A dangerous demon she can't resist...


Malkom Slaine: tormented by his sordid past and racked by vampiric hungers, he's pushed to the brink by the green-eyed beauty under his guard.


A maddening witch he aches to claim...


Carrow Graie: hiding her own sorrows, she lives only for the next party or prank. Until she meets a tortured warrior worth saving.


Trapped together in a savage prison...


For them to survive, Malkom must unleash both the demon and vampire inside him. When he becomes the nightmare his own people feared, will he lose the woman he craves body and soul?
The Iron Thorn (Iron Codex, #1)
The Iron Thorn (Iron Codex, #1)
by Caitlin Kittredge

A series set in a Lovecraftian industrial city in an alternate 1950s that centers on a mechanically gifted young girl approaching her 16th birthday, the age at which everyone in her family goes insane, leaving it up to her to unravel the mystery of their madness--and save the world.


It is 1955...but not the 1955 you know. The Witchcraft Scare polarizes America. Magic is outlawed and practitioners are burned. And one girls has discovered that magic is neither fiction nor fairy tale, but very much alive...


Aoife Grayson is a month shy of sixteen, the age when everyone in her family goes mad. An orphan in the steam-powered city of Lovecraft, Massachusetts, Aoife escapes the confines of her repressive boarding school and along with her best friend Sam and outlaw guide Dean, sets out to discover the secret of her family's madness. What she discovers is a world of forbidden magic and faerie curses, and a dark secret that has shadowed the Grayson family for generations. Aoife must choose between keeping the secret or keeping her sanity, and unravel the dark machinations of the Winter Court of the Fae before it's too late to save her city...or herself.

Read an excerpt of this on the authors site, loooooved it.
Sanctuary (Red Rock Pass, #1-2)
Sanctuary (Red Rock Pass, #1-2)
by Moira Rogers (Goodreads Author)

A print volume containing CRY SANCTUARY and  SANCTUARY LOST.

Dark Oracle (Oracle, #1)
Dark Oracle (Oracle, #1)
by Alayna Williams

Can an oracle change the future she sees?


Tara Sheridan swore off criminal profiling years ago. By combining Tarot card divination with her own intuition, she narrowly escaped the grasp of a serial killer who left her scarred for life. She put down her cards and withdrew from work and society. Now, Sophia, a member of an ancient secret society connected to the mythic Delphic Oracle, asks Tara to find a missing scientist who has unlocked the destructive secrets of dark energy. Tara resists— she fears reawakening her long-buried talents and blames Sophia’s Daughters of Delphi for the death of her mother. But, grudgingly, she agrees to search for the missing scientist, Lowell Magnusson.


Tara travels to Las Alamos National Laboratory, the location of Magnusson’s disappearance. She meets the serious, impatient, and highly attractive Agent Harry Li— and re-encounters her old partner, Richard Corvus. Corvus is now chief of the Special Projects Division, a position Tera might have held, had she not dropped out of investigative work. Corvus considers Tara mentally imbalanced and not to be trusted— but it may be Corvus who is untrustworthy.


Tara’s investigation and Tarot cards tell her Magnusson’s daughter, Cassie, may hold the key to her father’s plans, and that they both are in grave danger. Meanwhile, Corvus and the Daughters of Delphi have their own plans...and the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Romance Challenge

Now I really thought about the books I wanted to try out for the Romance Challenge I've joined. I even went as far as to look at lots of recommendations, blogs, browsed Amazon. After finding likely candidates I tracked down excerpts and viewed them. Luckily I didn't have too many duds. The ones you see here are the ones that got me addicted.
Historical:

Historical was the side of Romance I was originally interested in seeing. Once I started to dive in, I didn't realize that the sub genres had sub genres in Romance. Wikipedia has a nice guide (click here), but didn't list all of those sub genres. Luckily it wasn't hard to figure out.  As you can see regency is the one that caught my eye.

Regency
Secrets of a Summer Night (Wallflowers, #1)
Secrets of a Summer Night (Wallflowers, #1)

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake
Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake

Lord of Scoundrels (Scoundrels, #3)
Lord of Scoundrels
The Duke of Shadows
The Duke of Shadows

Highlander/Scottish:

Highlander Romance was one I was going to stay away from like the plague. Once upon a time a friend had given me a Highlander Romance because she assumed I would love it. (At the time I had an obsession with the Highlander TV show that had been on.) Sadly that title ruined the whole experience for me.

Then low and behold, Kresely Cole has a Highlander romance out. After reading the first chapter there was no way I could not get this one. If anyone can bring Highlanders to the page, it's her!

If You Dare (MacCarrick Brothers, #1)
If You Dare (MacCarrick Brothers, #1)

Sci/fi:

Holy cow! The sci/fi sub genre of romance was hard to infiltrate. First I couldn't find anything, then the next thing I new I was looking at erotica for it. I almost gave up. Then I remembered a book that had been roaming the wishlists, Touched by an Alien-so that made my list. Close Encounters kept resurfacing a lot after that, finally I gave in and decided that it was pretty good. (Plus the series name rocks!) I'm really picky about sci/fi books, so I really had a hard time choosing the romance side of it.

Touched by an Alien (Katherine "Kitty" Katt, #1)
Touched by an Alien (Katherine "Kitty" Katt,  book 1)

Close Encounters (Alien Affairs, #1)
Close Encounters (Alien Affairs, book 1) by Katherine Allred

Western was at the top of my list to read. After searching around I found out there was old western (which was what I was looking for) and Contemporary, or new, western. Even after finding a cool site all about western romances (Love Western Romance) I couldn't find any I liked. After about 12 excerpts, proclaiming defeat was my only option.

After reading a review over at Book Bitch, I decided to read a Contemporary Romance instead. After her awesome review, and an awesome preview of the book, Colter's Woman made the cut. (For Book Bitch's review click here.) I have to admit this is probably a really strange pick for a newbie into romance, but I couldn't resist.

Colters' Woman (Colters' Legacy, #1)
Colter's Woman (Colter's Legacy, book 1) by Maya Banks

Phew! So there is my crazy adventure in what I'd like to call THE ROMANCE EXPERIMENT. Hope you're all enjoying your week!

5 comments:

Blueicegal ♥ said...

great selection of book you have there, happy reading!

Shera (Book Whispers) said...

Thanks! Can't wait to get my hands on them.

Alayna Williams said...

Thanks so much for picking up DARK ORACLE. I hope you enjoy!

Shera (Book Whispers) said...

^_-

Shera (Book Whispers) said...

Thanks, I'm a little leery about them, but everyones been saying those are some great beginer books.