Bookish Rants or Raves: Standalone Novels X Series!

Time and time again I ask myself why do I favor Book series so much more than standalone novels. I mean, cliffhangers are a killer for me, so standalone books should always be my drug of choice, right?

Hell no! I think I might be a masochist for reading a great book and willingly suffering for months until the next installment comes out. If it’s a successful series? Then i am really screwed, because then I will be waiting years until I get all my answers and a conclusion to the story.

Why do i do that? Why do I keep adding series to my already full roster? The answer is simple, I can’t help it!
Book series give you so much more than a standalone novel. You get more of your favorite characters, more action or romance and more everything else.

I know series can be annoying …

Interview: Author Leslie Dicken

The Crazy Lover: First of all, We’d like welcome you to Book Lovers Inc.!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Leslie Dicken: I’m a wife and mother of three kids. A teenager and twins. I live in Maryland, the DC suburbs. I still work a full-time job. That’s the boring stuff. 😛

The Crazy Lover: What’s your favorite book at the moment?

Leslie Dicken: The most recent books I read were Tessa Dare’s first series. They were awesome. I have so many books on my shelf I still need to get to!

The Crazy Lover: What do you think is the difference between a reader and a real Book Lover?

Leslie Dicken: A “reader” will read when they are told to (for school, for instance) or because they need something to do while on a long plane ride. …

Review: The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay

Format Read: PaperbackNumber of Pages:  394 pagesRelease Date: November 24th, 2009Publisher: PocketFormats Available: Mass Market Paperback, eBookPurchasing Info: GoodReads, Author’s Website, Amazon

Book Blurb:Divorced mother of one, Charlie Madigan, lives in a world where the beings of heaven and hell exist among us, and they aren’t the things of Sunday school lessons and Hallmark figurines. In the years since the Revelation, they’ve become our co-workers, neighbors, and fellow citizens.

Charlie works for ITF (Integration Task Force). It’s her job to see that the continued integration of our new “friends” goes smoothly and everyone obeys the law, but when a new off-world drug is released in Underground Atlanta, her daughter is targeted, and her ex-husband makes a fateful bargain to win her back, there’s nothing in heaven or earth (or hell for that matter) that Charlie won’t do to set things right.

My Thoughts:Sometimes there is nothing like a …

Bookish Rants or Raves: Reader / Author Relationships – The Good, The Bad and The Weird

It still amazes me the array of possibilities that the internet has opened up when it comes to the relationship between us, the readers, and the authors we love so much.

However, as with anything else in life, there is the good and there is the bad side of it and I decided to talk about both today.

Personally I love that, us, book bloggers that live in countries that don’t have English as their native tongue and therefore much less access to books, signings and conventions, are able to connect with our favorite authors through Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads and so on. I feel really lucky to be able to talk to them, share stories and really get to know them in a level that was not possible not so long ago.

But, as I said before, there is also the bad side …

Review: Beauty Tempts the Beast by Leslie Dicken

Format read: eBookNumber of Pages: 196 pagesRelease Date: May 4th, 2010Publisher: SamhainFormats Available: eBook (paperback on May 4th)Purchasing Info: GoodReads, Author Website, Amazon.comBook Blurb:

“Is the enemy of her enemy a friend-or a beast?
Lord Ashworth is scarred by a night of terror years ago that left his face in ruins and his life in shreds. He hides in Silverstone Manor, using rumors that paint him as a horrible, murdering monster to keep visitors at bay. Yet he can-t shake the feeling that the rumors might be true. He tells himself it-s better this way. If his memories ever resurface, at least he …

Bookish Rants or Raves: To Each Their Own – Say NO! to Plagiarism

I’ve seen a lot being said on regards to plagiarism on the blogverse and personally, I find the act of taking someone’s hard work and claiming it as your own, despicable.

We, the Book Lovers, had a recent email talk about the issue, because we all have our individual blogs besides BLI and cross posting does happen, so we were trying to come up with ways to make it clear that we are simply using our own texts a second time.

When I started thinking about what to write here, I realized something about myself. I actually don’t read reviews  of books I haven’t read or reviewed yet because I don’t want to be influenced by someone else’s opinion and writing style in any way, shape or form.

I work hard on my reviews and opinion posts and I know a lot of bloggers do that as …

Bookish Rants or Raves: The Price of Our Addiction

Amazing to think how much us, book lovers in general, spend on books on a regular basis. We book bloggers do receive some books for review and its a great way to get to know new and established authors. However, if you are as addicted as I am in series, there are too many of them that you follow and  unless you have contacts and/or live in the US, you rarely get a chance to receive the newest installments of the series you love so much.

Besides, we bookaholics can’t stand to not look around a bookstore and/or an online bookstore and buy some books that just catch out eyes.

I’ve lived in two different countries and neither of them is an English speaking country. I have to make do with really small areas in the local bookstores that have books in …

Bookish Rants or Raves: From Page to Screen

How many times have we heard the phrase: “Based on…” when referring to movies or TV shows? The tradition of transforming a novel into a movie or a TV series has been going on for the longest time and it makes complete sense, doesn’t it? There are so many books out there and  tons of them just scream to be adapted to a screen, any screen.

How many time have you read a book and thought about which actor or actress would represent your favorite character better? To be honest, I don’t, ever. You might want to cast stones, but I hate movie of TV show adaptations of books I’ve read. They never match, let alone surpass whatever expectations I have for them and they always turn out to be a disappointment for me.

I have to say that I do find myself enjoying a few …

Bookish Rants or Raves: eBook Publishing Fail

I have a bone to pick with publishers about eBook publishing. Something happened recently that really pissed me off. I am sure that I am not alone in being upset about the different release dates when it comes to releasing a book in electronic format verses release dates for hardcover or paperback.

The newest book in Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan series was released February 23rd and I had pre-ordered it about a week before. On release day I found out that it had been pushed back a week and I was only going to be able to get it on March 2nd. When I went to the eBook online store where I bought it, I had the surprise of finding out that it had been pushed back once again to April 9th. WTF!?!?

That is so disrespectful to readers! I understand that publishers …

Review: Catching Fire (The Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 2) by Suzanne Collins

Format Read: Hardcover

Number of Pages: 391

Release Date: September 1st, 2009

Publisher: Scholastic

Formats Available: Hardcover, Paperback, Audio Book, eBook

Purchasing Info: Suzanne Collins Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes&Noble

Book Blurb:

“Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.“

*Might contain minor spoilers if you haven’t read The Hunger Games!

My Thoughts:

Catching Fire starts off a couple months after the events in The Hunger Games and we learn what happened in this period through flashbacks. 

Katniss won the games and now needs …