Forget the glossy, beautiful hardcover; this should have been published as a mass market paperback in the romance section.

I was cautiously optimistic when I cracked this supposedly epic fantasy novel and found (yay) a map! But, when the author frequently mentions cities, countries, and other geographical features that I could not even find on said map what, really, is the point?

Frustrating.

Tepid world building, some dragons, some sort of magic, nothing really well explained, and of course a hot prince who falls insta-in-love with the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.

Prince Corin, most eligible bachelor, is caught up in a struggle between the Emperor that rules his country, some dragons who no one really knows too much about, some wizards, and an invading barbarian horde.

Corin is hot stuff and he knows it.
"The table-maid appeared a few minutes later and refilled the glass. his fingers brushed against hers as he took it...their eyes met. He thought she would not slap his hand away. He wondered if she knew who he was. He was tempted, but she was too young and too ignorant. It would not be fair."
Gag.

He also has had a bevy of lovers, including his current (married) mistress, but he quickly ousts her when he sees the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world, a girl who turns out to be a "commoner" (in fact a wealthy daughter of a doctor, just not a noble). Tam of course is unaware of her extreme charm and besides being gorgeous is a paragon of virtue and talent. Cue romance, balls, dresses squeeee, and long talks and smoochies. Tam falls desperately in love, and she can barely restrain herself from bonin' the brains out of Corin. So they don't wait very long. Honor and country be damned (don't worry it will all work out in the end).

Oh wait, what about the dragons? Apparently after getting the hots for each other, both Tam and Corin find out they have POWERS. Cue epic battles, lots of love making, worries about the future, and oh now the king says we can be married, yay happily ever after.

What just happened? I'm still not sure.

**Review based on an ARC received for free from www.netgalley.com

Imagine late 19th century Europe, the dresses, the entangling alliances, the royalty, the DRAMA!!!! Then throw in some alternate history (America lost the Revolutionary War, Britain owns France) and add some poorly explained magic, and you have this novel.

The five POVs and the light page count leads to a complete lack of depth to any of the characters. The one character who seemed the most interesting, the Sorceress Aelwyn (who rips out the soul of a boy who tries to steal her bag in the first chapter AWESOME) is barely used and the magic she and her father, the Merlin, use is barely described or explained. Why even have it?

This book is also fairly violent and sexual. One character was repeatedly date-raped AND later you find out she was molested as a child/teen. Multiple characters engage in various sexual acts despite constant worries about their honor, and girls are described as feeling without control over their bodies. Boo. One Chapter where we find out the Uncle is molesting his neice is called Flower in the Attic. Really?

Hopefully the subsequent books in the series will add depth to this tale. I'm sure Melissa de la Cruz fans will love this, but not for me.

What a quirky graphic novel, but such gorgeous art. I'm sort of surprised this is considered "children's" but the messages about bullying and staying yourself are awesome.

About time I started this series. It is pretty amazing. That's about all I need to say.

In the near future, smart phones evolved to the point where they anticipate your every need and provide all the basic functions of communication and news, effectively killing off printed materials. A few "luddites" try to maintain the integrity of the written word but overall technology has won. Even Anana, a struggling artist and low-ranking employee at one of the last printed dictionaries, is a slave to her device, but when she is pulled into a dangerous plot to completely subvert language by turning it into a profit generating businses, she learns sometimes reliance on technology can be a very dangerous, and even lethal, thing.

Such a promising premise, but unfortunately the writing style left me cold. The story was written as if the characters themselves were writing a history of events, so I never felt drawn into the action or seriously concerned. Obviously if they were writing about events they were going to survive all along. The addition of the "romance" between Anana and her co-worker Bart was a stretch. I ended up skimming through to the end just to finish.

That said, I am sure there are many who would really respond to this story, it just wasn't to my personal style.

Teen heart-throb actor Graham and small-town Maine girl Ellie "meet" and correspond for months via email after Graham mistyped the email of his pet pig baby-sitter. Dying to meet the mysterious "e," Graham convinces his current movie director to film in Ellie's town. It's love at first true meeting, but will a secret from Ellie's past keep them apart?

This was a cute and summery romance, good for the beach and fans of love at first sight. For me, this was a bit boring because the two mains have already fallen for each other when we meet them. The the only real drama is the will they or won't they make it due to Graham's stardom and Ellie's secret which she refuses to share with him.

Clearly researched, superbly written. I recommend this to all parents or anyone thinking of becoming a parent. Full review to come.

Aptly titled, this was a great volume of Sandman! I enjoyed this volume better than the first as I felt a clearer theme and knew the characters better. I'm intrigued to learn more about Dream's extended family. What a darn, dirty bastard that Desire is!

After a raging bender, Iggy Parrish wakes up with horns growing out of his head. Thinking he has finally lost his mind after the brutal rape and murder of his girlfriend Merrin Williams, Iggy soon finds out that his horns have a strange power over people. Will he finally be able to clear his name and find Merrin's real murderer?

This story started out super promising for me, but began to drag when the narrative became muddled due to many changes in time and POV. While I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and the audiobook narrator was excellent, I never really got the sense there was a meaning to all of it. Iggy got horns, yes **SPOILER ALERT** he got his revenge after several mishaps and I think he had a somewhat happy ending. I don't know, I was just a bit underwhelmed and found my attention wandering after one too many descriptions of violent acts. There was also a bit too many "leap of faith" moments were I wasn't really able to fully suspend my disbelief. I MUCH preferred N0S4A2.