Happy Monday, Muses!
So, I know things have been a bit sparse on my blog and I said last week I was going to be posting double reviews since I am behind on my review schedule. Yeah, it didn't happen. But, I did finish a review over the weekend so I can promise everyone that there will be a new review posted on Wednesday! And a giveaway, so stay tuned for that :)
There are a few new releases worth mentioning this week. In adult books, check out the science fiction apocalyptic novel THREE by debut author Jay Posey. I am currently reading it now and it is totally kick ass! In Young Adult books, Indelible by Dawn Metcalf finally hits bookshelves. There has been a lot of buzz surrounding this one and can't wait to read it!
In Movies, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the highly anticipated sequel will be available this week. I'm also looking forward to Cloudbust, starring Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker. In TV shows, Cinemax's Banshee: Season 1 and Hunted: Season 1 both are released this week, but I think Hunted is an amazon.com exclusive only.
Enjoy!
BOOKS (30th JULY)
ADULT
Blood Warrior (Dragon Kings, #2)
by: Lindsey Piper
As a young man, sarcastic, violent Tallis Pendray believed the Dragon Kings’ survival depended on a prophecy delivered in dreams by a woman named “the Sun.” His role has been to complete inexplicable, even reprehensible tasks. First, by murdering a priest, he united his fragmented clan in their hatred of him. Dubbed “the Heretic,” Tallis fled his family’s Highland estate. Now disillusioned, he seeks revenge on the woman he holds responsible for two decades of exile.
Telepath Kavya Indranan is a charismatic, seductive cult leader born to a prominent family. However, she grew up terrorized by the ominous threat of her powerful, insane twin brother. On the run and hiding among the poor, she witnessed the destruction wrought by her clan’s centuries-old civil war. Maturity nurtures Kavya’s determination to end the cycle of bloodshed. Those who follow her call for peace have nicknamed her “the Sun.”
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Complete Me (Stark, #3)
by: J. Kenner
Our desire runs deep. But our secrets cut close. Beautiful, strong, and commanding, Damien Stark fills a void in me that no other man can touch. His fierce cravings push me beyond the brink of bliss—and unleash a wild passion that utterly consumes us both.
Yet beneath his need for dominance, he carries the wounds of a painful past. Haunted by a legacy of dark secrets and broken trust, he seeks release in our shared ecstasy, the heat between us burning stronger each day.
Our attraction is undeniable, our obsession inevitable. Yet not even Damien can run from his ghosts, or shield us from the dangers yet to come.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Website | E-book | Paperback
Darkest Craving, The (Lords of the Underworld, #10)
by: Gena Showalter
Josephina is hunted by a brutal enemy—her royal family—and Kane is her only source of protection. He’s also the only male to ever set her aflame, and even he succumbs to the heat. But as they navigate the treacherous world of the Fae, they are forced to make a choice: live apart…or die together.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Exhale
by: Dakota Harrison
Takeshi is finishing up a brutal double shift in the ER when a familiar—and bloody—face erases all thought of heading home. The broken body of the woman fighting for her life belongs to Gabby, his best friend’s mother. A woman he has rarely seen since he turned nineteen and foolishly declared his love for her.
She’s not dying today. Not on his watch. And not with a promise left unfulfilled.
Gabby has never forgotten the taste of the kiss Taka gave her under the mistletoe all those years ago. Or the silly promise that surely by now he’s forgotten. She’s wrong. Taka remembers. And she melts as he uses every trick in his highly trained surgeon’s hands to heal her—and rekindle the heat between them.
But there’s a secret lurking in Gabby’s past. And when it follows her all the way to Seattle, it threatens to drag the one man she loves into the nightmare she thought she’d left behind.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Highlander's Desire, The
by: Margo Maguire
Anna has been a lowly servant in her uncle, the Laird of Kilogorra's home, since her mother died years ago. She has no envy for her cousin's matrimonial fate as observation of has taught her that freedom--no matter the serving chains--is far more precious that being under the command of a husband. But when Lachlann arrives to marry Anna's cousin, she finds herself longing for something she never knew she wanted. Together the maid and the highlander may find that some things are worth having, no matter the cost.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Last Blood (House of Comarre, #5)
by: Kristen Painter
One of them will change sides. One of them will die. No one will survive unscathed. Can Chrysabelle save those she cares about or will that love get her killed? What price is she willing to pay to draw last blood?
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Pile of Bones (Parallel Parks, #1)
by: Bailey Cunningham
The Cree called the area Oscana, "pile of bones," a fertile hunting ground where game abounded. The white settlers changed that to Wascana. And centuries later, it became Wascana Park, a wooded retreat in the midst of the urban sprawl of Regina.
For a select few, who stay in the park until midnight, the land reverts into a magical kingdom, populated by heroes and monsters. They become warriors, bards, archers, gladiators. In the city called Anfractus, they live out a real-life role playing game.
All harmless fun—until they find themselves in the middle of an assassination plot which threatens to upset the balance of everything. Politics are changing, and old borders are about to disappear. The magic of Anfractus is bleeding into the real world—an incursion far more dangerous than the students suspect. Only they know what is happening—and only they can stop it...
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Scent of Salvation (Chronicles of Eorthe, #1)
by: Annie Nicholas
Stranded in another dimension, on a primitive version of Earth, Dr. Susan Barlow needs to find a way to survive. There’s no electricity, no cities, and to her shock, no humans. Instead, she faces a population of werewolves, vampires and incubi. The people are vicious but she must find her place among them. And live.
An illness is killing Sorin’s pack. As alpha it’s his responsibility to save them, but it’s a battle this warrior doesn’t know how to fight. Then a blue light in the sky brings a creature he’s never seen. She calls herself human, but to him she smells like hope.
Sorin offers Susan a safe haven in return for a cure, but she’s not that kind of a doctor. She’s a doctor of physics, not a physician. Yet as they search for a cure to save a dying people, they find something special—each other.
But even with Sorin’s protection, Susan can’t help but wonder how long she can survive in a world without humans…
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Three (Legends of the Duskwalker, #1)
by: Jay Posey
But when a lone gunman reluctantly accepts the mantel of protector to a young boy and his dying mother against the forces that pursue them, a hero may yet arise.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
YOUNG ADULT
All Our Pretty Songs
by: Sarah McCarry
And it’s up to the narrator to protect the people she loves—if she can.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Boy on the Bridge, The
by: Natalie Standiford
Laura Reid goes to Leningrad for a semester abroad as Cold War paranoia is peaking in 1982. She meets a young Russian artist named Alexei and soon, with Alexei as her guide, Laura immerses herself in the real Russia--a crazy world of wild parties, black-market books and music, and smuggled letters to dissidents. She must keep the relationship secret; associating with Americans is dangerous for Alexei, and if caught, Laura could be sent home and Alexei put under surveillance or worse. At the same time, she's been warned that Soviets often latch onto Americans in hopes of marrying them and thus escaping to the United States. But she knows Alexei loves her. Right?
As June approaches--when Laura must return to the United States--Alexei asks Laura to marry him. She's only nineteen and doesn't think she's ready to settle down. But what if Alexei is the love of her life? How can she leave him behind? If she has a chance to change his life, to rescue him from misery, shouldn't she take it?
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Brother, Brother
by: Clay Carmichael
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Earthbound (Earthbound, #1)
by: Aprilynne Pike
Tavia immediately searches for answers, desperate to determine why she feels so drawn to a boy she hardly knows. But when Tavia discovers that the aunt and uncle who took her in after her parents' death may have actually been responsible for the plane crash that killed them--and that she may have been the true intended victim--she flees for the safety of Camden, Maine, where the boy she sees in her visions instructs her to go.
Now, Tavia is on the run with no one to trust. No one, that is, except for her best friend and longtime crush, Benson.
Tavia feels torn between the boy who mysteriously comes to her at night and the boy who has been by her side every step of the way. But what Tavia doesn't know is that the world is literally falling apart and that to save it she will have to unite with the boy in her visions. Only problem? To do so would mean rejecting Benson's love. And that's the one thing Tavia Michaels swore she'd never do.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
If I Ever Get Out of Here
by: Eric Gansworth
Acclaimed adult author Eric Gansworth makes his YA debut with this wry and powerful novel about friendship, memory, and the joy of rock 'n' roll.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Indelible (The Twixt, #1)
by: Dawn Metcalf
Indelible.
And they cannot be changed back.
Joy Malone learns this the night she sees a stranger with all-black eyes across a crowded room—right before the mystery boy tries to cut out her eye. Instead, the wound accidentally marks her as property of Indelible Ink, and this dangerous mistake thrusts Joy into an incomprehensible world—a world of monsters at the window, glowing girls on the doorstep, and a life that will never be the same.
Now, Joy must pretend to be Ink’s chosen one—his helper, his love, his something for the foreseeable future...and failure to be convincing means a painful death for them both. Swept into a world of monsters, illusion, immortal honor and revenge, Joy discovers that sometimes, there are no mistakes.
Somewhere between reality and myth lies…
THE TWIXT.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Under the Empyrean Sky (Heartland, #1)
by: Chuck Wendig
Release Date: 30th July 2013
MOVIES & TV SERIES (30th July)
MOVIES
Assault on Wall Street
Directed by: Uwe Boll
A security guard for an armored truck, Jim (Dominic Purcell) is a blue-collar New Yorker who works hard to earn a living. His wages support himself and his wife Rosie (Erin Karpluk), who is on the upswing recovering from a near-fatal illness. Yet things start to fall apart after Rosie's health insurance stops covering her treatment and Jim's life savings are lost via a disastrous investment his stockbroker had advised him to make. As a row of professional and personal dominoes falls, Jim is confronted by the realization that, after being abused and exploited by financial institutions for far too long, he has only one choice: to strike back. From the mind of notorious German writer/director Uwe Boll (House of the Dead), ASSAULT ON WALL STREET is excoriating look at the American financial system that is sure to stir up plenty of Occupy-esque sentiment.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Black Rock
Directed by: Katie Aselton
Starring: Kate Bosworth, Lake Bell
Three young women - Sarah (Kate Bosworth), Abby (Katie Aselton) and Lou (Lake Bell) - get together for a private campout at one of the iconic settings of their childhood, an empty island off the coast of Maine, to renew their bond of sisterhood. They quickly learn, though, that the island is anything but empty, when they encounter three men, who have come to the island to hunt. A misunderstanding quickly turns to tragedy, and the three women soon find themselves the targets of the hunt. What started as a simple playdate to recall old times is now a race for survival.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Cloudburst
Directed by: Thom Fitzgerald
This hilarious road movie co-stars Oscar-winning actresses Brenda Fricker and Olympia Dukakis as Dot and Stella, a crackerjack lesbian couple on the run from a nursing home. You ll laugh so hard you ll cry. Stella and Dot have been together for 31 years and have faithfully accompanied one another through life s ups and downs. Now in their seventies, Stella is hard of hearing and Dot is legally blind. Dotty s prudish granddaughter, Molly (played by Genie Award-winner Kristin Booth), decides the best place for Dot is a nursing home that will provide all the necessities. This forces Stella and Dot to make a bold decision: they will leave their hometown in Maine and make their way to Canada, where same-sex marriage is legal. It s a last-gasp bid to stay together. En route to Canada, they pick up a young hitchhiker, Prentice, played by newcomer Ryan Doucette. A small-town boy turned modern dancer, he is returning to Nova Scotia to visit his dying mother. Despite his bravado, Prentice is a confused and wounded soul who has much to learn from Stella and Dot as they wage their own unexpected battle after three decades, can they keep their family together?
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Filly Brown
Directed by: Youssef Delar, Michael Olmos
FILLY BROWN is the inspiring portrait of a young woman striving to find her voice without compromising herself or the fate of her family. Majo Tonorio, aka, 'Filly Brown', played by Gina Rodriguez, is a young aspiring hip-hop artist from Los Angeles. With her mother, Jenni Rivera, in prison and her father, Lou Diamond Philips, struggling to provide for his daughters, Filly knows that a record contract just may be the answer to her family's financial problems. So when a record producer offers her a shot at stardom, she has to choose between selling out her dreams or saving her family. Directed by Youssef Delara and Michael Olmos, FILLY BROWN is propelled by an exceptional cast. Fueled by a fierce hip-hop score, FILLY BROWN heralds the arrival of Gina Rodriguez in the electrifying title role.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Directed by: Jon M.Chu
In this sequel, the G.I. Joes are not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Old Dog
Directed by: Pema Tseden
Starring: Yanbum Gyal
In Old Dog, directed by Pema Tseden, the leading voice of the Tibetan New Wave, a family on the Himalayan plains discovers their dog is worth a fortune, but selling it comes at a terrible price. The Tibetan nomad mastiff is an exotic prize dog in China, potentially fetching millions of dollars from wealthy Chinese buyers. When a young man named Gonpo notices several thefts of mastiffs from Tibetan farm families, he decides to sell his families dog before it is stolen and sold on the black market. His father, an aging Tibetan herder, is furious when he discovers the dog missing. He sets off to buy the dog back, sparking a series of events that threaten to tear the family apart. Weaving together narrative strands of humor and gravity, Old Dog beautifully depicts life among the rural Tibetan people and the erosion of Tibetan culture under the pressures of contemporary society.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Teen Beach Movie
Directed by: Jeffrey Hornaday
Teen Beach Movie centers around two teen surfers, Brady and Mackenzie, who are magically transported into a 1960s beach movie where they must try to blend in until they can find their way out. They soon discover that there is an intense rivalry between the local surfers and bikers. Things don't go according to plan when our modern-day duo accidently change the plot of the movie, and the two lead characters fall for them instead of each other! As everyone around them starts singing and dancing, and a fight between the bikers and surfers breaks out, Brady and Mack must attempt to get out of the movie and back to present day.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
TV SERIES
Banshee: Season 1
From Alan Ball, creator/EP of True Blood, this exciting new Cinemax action drama charts the twists and turns that follow Lucas Hood (Antony Starr), an ex-convict who improbably becomes sheriff of a rural, Amish-area town while searching for a woman he last saw 15 years ago, when he gave himself up to police to let her escape after a jewel heist. Living in Banshee under an assumed name, Carrie Hopewell (Ivana Milicevic) is now married to the local DA, has two children (one of whom may be Lucas’), and is trying desperately to keep a low profile – until Lucas arrives to shake up her world and rekindle old passions. Complicating matters is the fact that Banshee is riddled by corruption, with an Amish overlord, Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen), brutally building a local empire of drugs, gambling and graft. With the help of a boxer-turned-barkeeper named Sugar Bates (Frankie Faison), Lucas is able to stay on even footing with Kai and his thugs, and even manages to bring a measure of tough justice to Banshee. But eventually, Lucas’ appetite for pulling heists pulls him and Carrie into a dangerous cauldron of duplicity, exacerbated when Mr. Rabbit (Ben Cross), the NY mobster they once ripped off, closes in with vengeance on his mind.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Hunted: Season 1
Following in the footsteps of Strike Back and from creator/writer and three-time Emmy® nominee Frank Spotnitz (Strike Back, The X-Files), Hunted is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that stars Melissa George (In Treatment, Alias) as Sam Hunter, a highly skilled operative for an elite private security firm called Byzantium, who narrowly survives an attempt on her life that may have been orchestrated by members of her own team. Once Sam returns to work a year later (having told nobody her whereabouts), she must perform her secretive duties without knowing who to trust – and who might want her dead. While continuing her search for the truth – and effort that sheds light on her tragic past – Sam is ordered to infiltrate a wealthy, high-profile family by posing as a good Samaritan, which leads her into a mystery more vast, complex, and dangerous than she could have ever imagined. Brilliant, beautiful, ruthless, and efficient, Sam is a force to be reckoned with as the first season of Hunted unfolds.
Release Date: 30th July 2013
Hi Mia, how are you???
ReplyDeleteI hope summer school is being a blast :)
Here we are having really cold days and work is exhausting :)
I totally understand about the lack of time to write and post reviews, last night I stayed up until really late because I had to write a review.
rite a review.
BTW, Great picks for this week, my sister is being a pain in the a## about the Teen Beach Movie :) the worst part is that I'll probably end up watching it...
Ruty@Reading...Dreaming