The Second #BookHaul From Better World Books @BWBooks

Look what came in the mail yesterday! There's no mail today, of course, because it's U.S. Independence Day! We're celebrating our independence from the U.K. and also the time Will Smith and Bill Pullman defeated those awful, awful aliens.

You can find the photos from my previous Better World Books haul here.

What's inside this mysterious-looking chartreuse package? As it turns out:

...Three new (well, new to me) books from Nalini Singh. I already had Slave to Sensation, Visions of Heat and (unfortunately, in hardcover) Kiss of Snow. Today I acquired Mine to Possess and Hostage to Pleasure (books 4 & 5 in the Psy-Changeling series), plus Play of Passion (which is the ninth book and comes immediately before Kiss of Snow).

The plan is to finish reading Kate Douglas's DemonFire, then finally finish off Jackie Kessler's Hell on Earth series by reading Hotter Than Hell (technically there's a fourth book in the series, but you can't get it in paperback - and I'm scared of what's going to happen to Paul), then read Visions of Heat. When that happens, then I'll need to get Book #3, Caressed by Ice. I'll feel good when I have books 1-5 all ready to go. I'll worry about 6-8 later.

What else was in that package?

I love my monster mash-ups, and now that I've read Jane Eyre (not to mention Jane Eyre Laid Bare), I have to read this vampire mash-up.

These are a few of my mash-ups. Little Vampire Women is not pictured (it's at my parents' house), nor is Android Karenina.

And yes, I did donate a paper bag filled with gently used books to Better World. Books come in, books go out. It's the circle of life.

Book Review: The Girls' Guide to Dating Zombies by Lynn Messina

The Girls’ Guide to Dating Zombies by Lynn Messina

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When a publicist for Lynn Messina asked me if I'd like to read and review this novel, I said yes based on how much I enjoyed Messina's monster mash-up Little Vampire Women. It took me a little while to get around to reading it, but the release of the movie based on Warm Bodies renewed my interest in this charming "zombie chick lit" (the publicist's expression) novel. It was better than I was expecting. Rather than being written in the style of a self-help book, as the title implies, it's written from the point of view of Hattie Cross, a journalist who has written the self-help book of the title.

In the novel, the human male is a thing of the past. Since Hattie was a small child, all men have contracted a disease that transforms them into decaying zombies. (The one positive is that women fill every position in every occupation as a result of this plague.) They're not usually dangerous to women, since they mistake the human brain for a third kidney, but they feed on animals. With the aid of pharmaceuticals and some patience, women can date zombies, but the experience is completely different from human female-male relationships. Hattie is an expert on the perks of dating zombies and something of a talk-show-circuit celebrity.

Hattie hopes her star will rise even higher when she has the opportunity to introduce brilliant pharmaceutical company maven Matilda Stansfield. Like the clever, resourceful journalist she is, Hattie slowly uncovers a disturbing truth about Matilda and her role in the zombie apocalypse. She's also discovered another interesting complication - Jake Maddox, a living, breathing human male, alive and well and working deep within Matilda's laboratories. Hattie can't help but be fascinated by Jake.

There's romance, adventure, a little horror (this is a zombie novel, after all) and a hefty dose of humor. Readers who enjoy everything paranormal, are sick to death of vampires (personally, I'm not, but maybe you are) and haven't yet had their fill of zombies will love this light, breezy tale of terror and redemption.

As you have probably gathered, I received a free e-book copy of this novel in exchange for a fair, honest review, which represents my own honest opinion. I received no other compensation for this review. View all my reviews on Goodreads

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Till Zombies Do Us Part by Celeste Ayers. $0.99 from Smashwords.com Noah and Amy are two teens in love. There is however one problem; the world as they know it was turned into nothing but a pile of chaos and zombies. As they battle for survival they’ll embark on a journey into the unknown while facing new trials that will put both their love for each other and their humanity to the ultimate test. Just how far will they be willing to go?