250 Facebook Followers Giveaway!

**CONTEST IS NOT CLOSED**

First I want to thank EVERYONE who has liked my page, or possible will in the future! You've made my blog something that I could only have dreamed about, and it's continuing to grow each and every day.

Ok so I'm going to make this simple and pain less, well at least I hope so. For my first ever giveaway I am going to allow the winner to pick whatever book they want as their prize, the only catch is that it will be a paperback, not an ebook or anything fancy like that :)

Here's the 5 easy steps to enter & win:

1. Just leave a comment about how you came across Taking it One Book at a Time, and you'll be entered to win.

2. +1 if you're a new Facebook follower

3. +3 if you're an old Facebook follower (before today)

4. +1 if you stalk follow me on Twitter

5. +1 if you follow my blog

So now tally and comment, that seems simple enough, right? I'm not making you re-post this anywhere or blog about it, but if you want to spread the word, that would be UH-MAZE-ING!

This contest will be closed one week from day: 3/7/11, GOOD LUCK!!

Monday Morning Man Candy

Good morning! Though it's Monday, and Monday's suck, I thought I'd wake you up with a little jump start. Some MAN CANDY!! Enjoy!

ANNNNNNNNNND.........this

Fresh Face Friday 2-25-11

Death isn't what Eden expected. Where the hell is her release? Her quiet ending? Not that Eden remembers the details of her final hours, but one thing is for sure--becoming a sider, trapped between life and death, was definitely not part of the plan...

Cover Whore

Yes, I said it! I'm a cover whore! I LOVE LOVE LOVE book covers, and I'm not gonna lie sometimes I tend to be drawn to the more distinct, original covers. Or the ones with bright colors, LOVE me some neon :)

So with that said, here are a few completely awesome covers that I've found lately. Some might not be new, but they're all pretty bad ass!

Talkative Tuesday 2/22/10

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacccccccckkkkkkk!! And boy does it feel good! After 7 days out of town, sleeping in someone elses bed, I am SO happy to be home & at work.

Not-Really-Southern-Vamp-Chick 666 Giveaway!

In honor of hitting 666 followers, Not-Really-Southern-Vamp-Chick is having one of thee most amazing giveaways!!

So make sure you head over & check it out!

Fresh Face Friday 2-18-11

The gates of hell have opened, and one woman will stand in the crossfire as the Dark Breed -- vampyre, demons, shape shifters -- and mankind fight their last battle for survival.

Kyana is half Vampyre, half Lychen...and the last of her kind. Determined, dangerous, and damned, she has no love for the mortals who have imprisoned and misused her. But when the Order of Ancients entrusts her with a mission -- to find the key that will send the Dark Breed back into Hell for eternity -- Kyana has no choice but to accept.

She is furious to learn her assignment comes with an escort. . . Ryker, a demigod and fierce warriour who long ago found a way under her skin and stayed there. In a shaky alliance, they discover an ancient cult with dangerous motives and a god who seeks to destroy all others. And as Kyana begins to feel the heat that threatens to bind her to Ryker, she knows she has to resist.  For it could only mean the undoing of them both. . .

Emerging author, or should I say authors, Sable Grace, is made up of two long time friends and critique partners. Finding that their voices truly came together during a warm up writing session, it has now blossomed into a highly anticipated 1st novel of their Dark Breed Series.

I for one can NOT wait to read this book! It sounds wicked cool!! Seriously, why wouldn't you want to read about a half vamp, half lychen who's in charge of battle all kinds of evil?  Then as a hot demigod into the mix. That just screams steaminess & mayhem!

Next step, you all know the drill. Scout out her website: Sable Grace. Must, must, must like her on Facebook , and stalk her to death on Twitter!

Talkative Tuesday 2/15/11

So while I'm sitting here in lecture hell, listening to how we need to save money as a company this year, all of you get to meet some great people who run a fantastic blog!

Who doesn't want chocolate for Valentine's day?!

Okay, so maybe I'm a freak because I honestly don't care for chocolate all that much. But after looking at this....um, I think I might have the sudden urge to buy stock in Ghirardelli!

I just want to smear that yummy goodness all over....anyways...hope your Valentine's day is as memorable as our friend here :)

XOXO

Fresh Face Friday 2-11-11

Happy Friday! Let the happy dances begin! This week I'm throwing you all into a realm full of mysterious sexy vampires......wanna know more, well here you go:

Once, Sarah Bingham’s biggest challenge was making her
students pay attention in class. Now, after rescuing a
wounded stranger, she’s landed in the middle of a battle
between corrupt vampires and powerful immortals who also
need blood to survive. Roland Warbrook is the most
compelling man Sarah has ever laid hands on. But his
desire for her is mingled with a hunger he can
barely control . . .

In his nine centuries of immortal existence, no woman
has tempted Roland as much as Sarah. But asking her to
love him is impossible -- when it mean forfeiting the world
she’s always known, and the life he would do anything
to protect.

In the world of Immortal Guardians vampires come in 2 forms, the heroic Guardians warriors and the scum who give Vampires a bad name. In her debut novel, Darkness Dawns, Dianne Duvall has written a story full of action, suspense and of course romance! Receiving rave reviews from all over the blogging world, I for one can't wait to get my greedy little mitts ALL over this book!

So make sure you stop by her Facebook, follow her on Twitter, and be very sure you hop over to her website and enter her Kindle contest!

 

Angelfire - By Courtney Allison Moulton

Release Date: 2/15/2011

Publisher: Haper Teen

Website: Courtney Allison Moulton

Purchase Info: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders

When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.

 

A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once.

While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Think back to your 17th birthday....now imagine if you ran into a super hunky boy in the middle of the night on a dark street....yeah, you'd be a little freaked out. This is exactly what Ellie was thinking when she ran into Will for the first time. Oh and now add a digusting dog-like reaper beast attacking you into the mix! Hands down weirdest birthday EVER!

Chaos, Inner Heroines & Man Candy!

This week I feel like a tornado has taken over, and I can feel my inner heroine trying so hard to keep my feet on the ground. With between the dentist, work, and the gym, I feel like my reading life has taken a down turn. Add being computer-less all next week to that and it brightens my situation OH-SO-MUCH.....not!

So I figured what better way to put my mind at ease then some Man Candy. Seriously, who doesn't like a good dose of it every once in a while? It's like giving chocolate to a grown woman, it makes everything better! (and try to tell me that this doesn't make you feel better?)

or THIS

Talkative Tuesday 2/8/11

Tuesday, already? These weeks are just speeding by, it's crazy!

I want to introduce you all to Dark Divas Reviews this week. They're a very extensive team of creative individuals, who manage to bring so many different and interesting P.O.V's to their blog without it being all over the place.

Stealing Time - By Elisa Paige

Release Date: 1/31/2011

Publisher: Carina Press

Website: Elisa Paige

Purchase Info: Amazon

It wasn't that she wanted to live forever. She just didn't want to die.
 
When artist James Wesley realizes Evie Reed is dying, he is so moved by the beautiful reporter's determination to live that he makes her immortal—a vampire, like him. She's the woman he's been waiting over 150 years for. Though initially shocked by the change, Evie quickly embraces her second chance at life, and love.
 
Just as James and Evie begin to define eternity together, a zealot breaks an ancient treaty, threatening a peace between humans and vampires that has stood for a thousand years. And when he focuses his hatred on Evie, the immortal lovers find themselves swept up in a deadly supernatural war...

Okay....I really like this book for the first 3/4 of the way through it, then we kind of had a lovers quarrel. I honest to god wish that I would have loved the ending as much as James & Evie love each other. But I can't sit here and say that the book as whole sold me.

Books, Books and Clones!

Seems that when I think I have my, "To Read in the Near Future", list done, another three pops onto the radar! Seriously there are times when I wish I could clone myself and give each clone a different task.

Clone #1 read, #2 review, #3 read some more, #4 review some more.....it would be WAY easier. Regardless I will find a way to make it work, I always do :)

Now I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to get everything taken care of for next week since I'll be out of town for work....with no computer access. SO looking forward to that one. It's my companies annual "Start Up" meeting, and we get to sit in the warehouse part of our asphalt plant in Sacramento and listen to people talk about things we don't want to hear 8 hours a day, for 5 days....jealous, I know. I get that often when it comes to company crap like that. I'll be posting pictures and random thoughts from my phone throughout the day, so look forward to those too!

So now back to the chaos that is happening this week, got FFF's to to finish, Talkative Tuesdays to go over and reviews to bust out! Wish me luck!

Fresh Face Friday 2/4/11

Charley sees dead people. That’s right, she sees dead people. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an entity who has been following her all her life…and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely.

Darynda Jones debut novel, First Grave on the Right, has been praised by the gods of the writing world. Like, J.R. Ward, Mary Janice Davidson, Kresley Cole, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Gena Showalter, just to name a few. Darynda has created a spitfire main character named, Charlotte Davidson who was born with a "hot ass", sarcasm to spare, and oh yeah, the job of being the grim reaper. The world that Charley lives in seems to be not only action packed, but wickedly sexy as well.

When first introduced to Darynda's work I instantly became enticed. First because, sarcasm is my second language and her main character Charley speaks it fluently, and second, who doesn't want to see a hot female as the grim reaper?? Yeah, thought so.

Make sure you hop over to her website and read an excerpt  from chapter one. Then "Like" her on Facebook and make sure you stalk follow her tweets in Twitter!

American Vampire - By Jennifer Armintrout

Release Date: 2/22/2011

Publisher: Mira

Website: Jennifer Armintrout

Purchase Info: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders

Buried in the Heartland is a town that no one enters or leaves. Graf McDonald somehow becomes its first visitor in more than five years…and he was only looking for a good party. Unfortunately, Penance, Ohio, is not that place. And after having been isolated for so long, they do not like strangers at all.

Jessa's the only one to even remotely trust him, and she's desperate for the kind of protection that only a vampire like Graf can provide. Supplies are low, the locals are ornery for a sacrifice and there's a monster more powerful than Graf lurking in the woods. New men are hard to come by in this lonesome town, and this handsome stranger might be Jessa's only hope for salvation.
Even if she has to die first…

If Green Acres, The Twilight Zone and True Blood got together and had a baby it would be, American Vampire.

When vampire Graf somehow stumbles into Penance, he is wondering if it's the fact that he's a vampire that allowed him into this hell hole in the first place. In the last 5 years this small southern town has been trapped in time, not allowing anyone out, and sure as hell not allowing anyone in.


In first starting, American Vampire, I honestly thought that the scenario might not work, or that it would just seem kind of hokey. Needless to say I was wrong! The depth of the story, and side stories truly make the plot fall into place perfectly. When first meeting, Graf & Jessa don't exactly "hit it off". You know, he wants to eat her because she's annoying, she just wants him to shot him and be done with it, the makings of a great relationship. They are definitely two very strong willed characters, who love to torment each other. Though Jessa doesn't know Graf's a vampire, she does not want him staying at her house, and adding more unwanted town gossip to her name. They already think she's a home-wrecker, whore, and slightly crazy.....oh man, what are they going to do if they figure out what Graf is?! After being with Jessa for only a matter of days, Graf realizes that there's more going on here then being trapped by a random monster. As the mystery unfolds, their chemistry heats up! Now it seems the two least likely to come together will have to in order to survive.....

American Vampire been on my, "To Read", list since I knew it was coming out. Jennifer is such a great author, I love how she blends humor, horror and sex. With great one-liners, and main characters who seem to forget their brain to mouth filter at times, Graf & Jessa made an unlikely, but amazing pair! This story offered so many twists, that it was hard to settle back down before the next one hit you. By the end of the book I sat back and thought, "I NEVER would have imagined it ending this way", but now I couldn't see the book ending any other way!


5/5

An excerpt from Vampire Mine By Kerrelyn Sparks!

Oh, and I thought this day would never come! Connor Buchanan's story is coming to a store near you SOON, and Kerrelyn has granted us the privilege of viewing an excerpt from the first chapter!

Now run, go here to read it! Connor's book comes out on March 29th, 2011!!

Wrap It Up - January

So I thought to make it easier for those who aren't able to read each review, or miss one, I'd start doing a monthly wrap up letting you know what books I've read this month :) So here goes.....

Blood Vice - By Keith Melton

(click here for review)

Dreamfever (Fever Series Book #4) - By Karen Marie Moning

(didn't do a review for)

Fall into Winter - By Eden Baylee

(click here for review)

Death's Sweet Embrace (Dark Brethren Novel #2) - By Tracey O'Hara

(click here for review)

Bonded by Blood (Sweetblood Novel #1) - By Laurie London

(click here for review)

American Vampire - By Jennifer Armintrout

(review here)

Stealing Time - By Elisa Paige

(review here)

Shadowfever (Fever Series Book #5) - By Karen Marie Moning

(no review)



I'm happy with the number of books that I read last month, I hope to double it this month! Let me know what you read last month, and what's on your wish list for this month!

Talkative Tuesday 2/1/11



Welcome back! Once again it's Tuesday, and that means I'm picking one of my outstanding fellow bloggers to introduce you all to!

This week I'm introduce some very lovely ladies from across the pond who make up Book Chick City blog. Carolyn originally founded the blog in July of 2009, and now has Laura & Jo as regular reviewers who help her with her massive reading load. One thing that I really like about BCC is that they cater to not only their fellow UK readers, but the ones who are here in the states too!

They have more reading challenges then I've seen on any other blog, which makes it nice for all their followers to find one that fits them. But of all the great things that go on over at BBB  blog, their feature called, "Cover Crush",  is one of my favorites. They find unique and interesting covers and write a little about them, and what makes them crush worthy.....and I do LOVE a great cover!

So now that I've enlightened you a little about this wonderful blog, you all know the routine! Follow their blog, stalk them on Twitter, and becoming a wonderful friend on Facebook!