Title: The Shadows
Author: J.R. Ward
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication Date: March 31, 2014
Edition: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 0451417070
ISBN-13: 978-0451417077
Pages: 576
Price: $17²⁵
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I’m such a big fan of J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series and so far there have 13 books published including the current release named The Shadows. We previously met the Shadow named Trez “Latimer” in previous books but he doesn’t really exist though it’s not just because his identity was created so that a Shadow could function in the underbelly of the human world. His parents sold him to the Queen of the S’Hsibe as a child, but Trez escaped the Territory. He has been a pimp and an enforcer in Caldwell, NY for years – all the while on the run from a destiny of sexual servitude. He’s never had anyone he could totally rely on...except for his brother, iAm. It has been iAm’s sole goal for most his life to always keep his brother from self-destructing – and he knows he’s failed but it’s not until the Chosen Serena enters Trez’s life that the male begins to turn things around...but by then it’s too late. The pledge to mate the Queen’s daughter comes due and there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no negotiating. Trapped between his heart and a fate he never volunteered for, Trez must decide whether to endanger himself and others – or forever leave behind the female he’s in love with. But then an unimaginable tragedy strikes and changes everything because staring out over an emotional abyss, Trez must find a reason to go on or risk losing himself and his soul forever. And iAm, in the name of brotherly love, is faced with making the ultimate sacrifice...that will change both of their lives forever.

Title: See Bride Run!
Author: Charlotte Hughes
Publisher: CreateSpace Publishing
Publication Date: December 23, 2014
Edition: Paperback
ISBN-10: 1505711983
ISBN-13: 978-1505711981
Pages: 210
Price: $8⁹⁹
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In the book See Bride Run! By Charlotte Hughes you meet Atlanta’s Iron and Steel billionaire heiress Annie Hartford. She has no desire to marry a man she does not love, which is where the runaway bride part comes in. Annie’s very controlling father has been calling the shots her entire life but this time he has pushed her too far that she hijacks the family limo, only to have it break down in small town Pinckney, Georgia. Then Annie meets small town lawyer and restaurant owner Sam Ballard who has been unlucky in love as well with his own runaway bride. So the last thing he expects is Annie coming into town in a short waitress uniform and breaking every dish in his Dixieland Café since she only graduated high school and then finishing school. Still, he can’t very well fire her because she has won the hearts of everyone in town and he starts to fall in love with her but he doesn’t know if she will stay or go running back to her rich father.

New Romance Author Interview Podcasts with Phoebe Jordan on BlogTalkRadio

Today I have an RT BOOKlovers Convention special show for you because I will be chatting with romance author C. H. Admirand who will be talking about her upcoming novels. And she may even give us a sneak peek into some of her future books as well as any of her other novels that she may have in the works right now and any other projects. She will be telling us about her writing experience and what she has in the works writing wise.

C.H. was born in Aiken, South Carolina, but her parents moved back to northern New Jersey where she grew up, which if you’ve met her would explain a lot. She’s always had her nose in a book, has traveled the world over, and even tested the time-space continuum, thanks to the awesome power of the written word. One of her writing quirks is that she loves to include bits and pieces of her ancestors and ancestry in all of her books. Her family centers her and keeps her sane, which is why she enjoys adding elements of family, hearth, and home in all of her romances.

With 8 short stories and 15 novels to her credit, this award-winning, multi-published author’s books are available in paperback, hardcover, trade paperback, magazine, e-book, and audio book. You can find out more about her by either going to her Website, Blog, Facebook Author Page or Twitter.

New Romance Author Interview Podcasts with Phoebe Jordan on BlogTalkRadio

Today I have an RT BOOKlovers Convention special show for you because I will be chatting with romance author PJ Schnyder who will be talking about her upcoming novels. And she may even give us a sneak peek into some of her future books as well as any of her other novels that she may have in the works right now and any other projects. She will be telling us about her writing experience and what she has in the works writing wise.

Born and raised in the North East, PJ Schnyder spent her childhood pretending to study for the SATs by reading every fantasy and sci-fi novel she could borrow from the local and school libraries. She scored fairly high in the verbal portion. She was introduced to the wonderful world of romance a decade later by her best friend at an anime convention in Seattle. PJ recently received the Golden Leaf award for Bite Me, Book 1 of the London Undead series, and is one of the contributing authors to the Parsec-award winning Tales from the Archives Vol. 2 of The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. In the past, she has also won honors from the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal RWA PRISM awards for her novella, Hunting Kat, Book 1 of the Triton Experiment series. You can find out more about her by either going to her Website, Blog, Facebook Author Page or Twitter.

Fifty Shades Darker by EL James

Today I'm reviewing the second book in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, Fifty Shades Darker. In the first book you met Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey the hero and heroine of this trilogy. They are completely different people who meet for the first time because Ana's friend had an exclusive interview with the elusive entrepreneur Mr. Grey. The first book left off with Ana and Christian having made love for the first time in what some people call in straight vanilla way without her signing the contract that Christian had original given to her before they started their relationship. But as Ana got to know Christian she wanted to please him in the way that he likes and even though he knew that in some part of Ana that she wasn't ready for it he gives in to her. Christian gives her a taste of the BDSM world he is a part of by spanking her and the experience leaves her both enticed and slightly confused. This confusion is worsened by Christian's extravagant gifts, and the fact that he brings her to meet his family. After successfully landing a job with Seattle Independent Publishing, Ana further bristles under the restrictions of the non-disclosure agreement and the complex relationship with Christian.

The tension between Ana and Christian eventually comes to a head after Ana asks Christian to punish her in order to show her how extreme a BDSM relationship with him could be. Christian fulfills Ana's request, beating her with a belt, only for Ana to realize that the two of them are incompatible. Devastated, Ana leaves Christian and returns to the apartment she shares with Kate. In this book Ana's desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven and demanding Fifty Shades. While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her, and make the most important decision of her life. Through this journey that both Christian and Ana take they both experience new feels that they've never had before because they have now found someone that they can see living out the rest of their lives. I really loved that both Christian and Ana start to realize that they need to change a little bit for one another if they ever want to make this a successful relationship.

Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James

Today I'm reviewing a book that I know that everyone has read since it came out a few years ago. And though this book isn't one that I just read recently but it's one that I really loved reading when I first heard about it and just had to read in 2012. I first heard about the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy from my aunt who heard about it on the Z100 morning radio show. I decided to give the first book a try so I downloaded the entire trilogy on my NookColor. I read the description of each book so that I would get a feel for the trilogy and I thought it was really intriguing since I've never really read books about characters who practiced BDSM. Also I don't read too many books that are written in the first person because I sometimes feel that they limit what the reader gets to understand about all the characters. So when I first started reading Fifty Shades of Grey I was hooked after getting thru the first few pages.


Anastasia Steele is a literature student who goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey because her roommate Kate was too sick to go though she didn't want to miss her only opportunity to get an interview with Mr. Grey. She encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating when she is first escorted into Mr. Grey's office and to read how they first meet was intriguing to read because Grey seems like a man who doesn't talk about himself to anyone. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. This instant attraction somewhat reminded me of the Twilight characters Edward and Bella but with a non-paranormal twist. And it was fun to find out later that this series was actually James previously writing the trilogy as a Twilight fan fiction with BDSM mixed in. Though I like Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele much more than I ever liked Edward and Bella since Grey and Steele's romance felt more real to me than Edward and Bella's romance and it's not because Edward was a vampire and there were werewolves mixed in. For me Ana and Grey have an instant attraction to each other but it's not like Edward and Bella's which I found was somewhat unhealthy because they were I feel obsessed with one another rather than in love with each other. Ana and Grey seem to have a somewhat healthier relationship but it's just the first book in the series so we have only gotten to see how they start to fall in love with each other which may change as they get to know how to deal with each other's emotions.

So it's been almost 2 years since I last posted on the blog but it's been a crazy two years since I've gotten a permanent office job in downtown Manhattan. When I last posted was about two months after I bought my 15" MacBook Pro and I am still loving it much better than my Dell laptop that I bought a few months earlier than my MacBook Pro. I still use the Dell once in a while when I need to use the Adobe Acrobat program to make fill-out forms for work. My MacBook Pro has been such a great purchase even though I had to spend almost $2,000 for it. It took me a bit of time to get use to some of the changes from my PC but in the long run I have had almost no troubles with which is the total opposite of my experience with all three of my previous Dell laptops.


Recently I got a message on my Facebook Fan page from Lisa Watson who works with RT Book Reviews about doing author interviews on my Blog Talk Radio podcast show. I wasn't too sure about doing it since I haven't been doing any author interviews on my podcast except for that one author interview with Susan H. Crowley in July of 2013. But I decided that this was an opportunity that I shouldn't pass up since I really need to get back to what I use to love doing which is reading book that I would post reviews about and interviewing romance authors of all genres about the books that they write. So I think from now on I will try to get myself back into the rhythm of writing book reviews on the blog but like I said it has been a long while since I've done it so bare with me please. I've also been updating my websites with new information but as you know maintaining a website takes a lot of time and mine hasn't been updated since I started it in 2010. I've done a few maintenance updates with the information that I have since changed but I'm using some of my free time from work to get it all done.

15" MacBook Pro

Well it has been almost about 2 months since I bought my 15" MacBook Pro and I have to say that though it's been a process to try learn how things work differently on it than on my Dell PC I'm having such a great time playing on it. I have actually stopped using my PC for now because it has come up with a problem with the Internet Explorer and I just don't have the time to waste to fix it. So now I'm using my MacBook Pro full-time and I'm happy since I have some really nice games which I downloaded thru the Mac store. I can basically do most of the things that I was doing on my PC and there has only been a few things that I had to get use to which is the key board and how to use some of the buttons that aren't on my PC.

It's a very slick 15" MacBook Pro though if I were to get it in a different color than the sliver color it might make it look interesting with that Apple logo that lights up whenever I have my MacBook on. I haven't actually taken my MacBook out with me because I don't have a cover or sleeve or case for it yet and even if I do get one for it I'm not sure I want to take it anywhere with me since it is a really expensive. I'm actually getting us to using Safari since I was able to download my Yahoo! Bookmarks and exported it to Safari with a few problems that I eventually fixed. Now I have everything that I need on my MacBook so I don't even really miss anything on my PC except maybe my Microsoft programs but that I could work around. I'm not going to buy the Microsoft Office for Mac since I've heard such negative reviews along with those positive reviews. Besides that if I really need to use Microsoft Office I can always do what I've been told might work out for me which is using Parallel or Boot Camp to use Windows on my MacBook.