Ladies, today’s post comes courtesy of Patrice Michelle. And not only did Patrice bring a post, she brought a prize. One lucky reader is going to win a copy of her book, Scions: Resurrection.
Everyone believed vampires were extinct.
Everyone was wrong.When Ariel Swanson wrote a novel about vampires, she hoped it would exorcise her fear of the creatures that had, not so long ago, terrorized the human population.Instead, it brought her to their attention.
And to the attention of Jachin Black—a man banished from the Sanguinas, a vampire clan, and forced to hunt among the despised humans. For he clung to the prophecy given years ago, of a better way for his kind to live… a prophecy Ariel unknowingly used as the basis of her novel.
Ariel hates and fears vampires. Jachin despises humanity. But the prophesy—and passion—bind them in ways they could never have imagined. Ways that may heal the past, and change the future…
Hmmmmm…. can I win? 
- Shi
Patrice Michelle’s Comfort Reads and Holiday Gift Ideas
Thanks so much to Shi for asking me to Guest Blog on Vamps and Scamps!
I’ve had a lot of fun around blog land lately. Many fun discussions were had, from subjects like “my favorite top twelve romances” to “why I think historicals and paranormals aren’t that different from each other”. :o)
One of the things that came out of those topics is a subject I wanted to explore more—all time favorite books. So I thought back to the very first time I fell in love with reading. I was in the fifth grade and wanted to win a prize in my elementary school’s reading contest. I read the twenty books and won the prize, but the biggest surprise to me was that in the process of reading all those books…I fell in love with reading.
With the holidays fast approaching, I thought it would be fun to talk about some of our favorite reads, those authors or books that we would recommend to friends looking for something new or maybe even a classic. Here are some of my favs. I’ve listed them in order of age reading level in case you’re looking for gift ideas (and linked to the ones I thought you might have a harder time finding).
Children (early age)
Balloonia – Imagine an entire world where everything, even the people were made of balloons. Children LOVE this book!
The Kissing Hand – Great book for preschoolers about to go to kindergarten.
Elementary to Middle Grade
A Wrinkle in Time/ Swiftly Tilting Planet/A Wind in the Door – Madeleine L’Engle
Spiderwick Series – If you liked Harry Potter, young kids will like these books about children discovering faeries are real.
Older Young Adult
Twilight – Stephanie Meyer
Wicked Lovely – Melissa Marr
Tithe – Holly Black
Adult Romance
Historical Romance
Jude Deveraux – Remembrance – A reincarnation story that made me cry, not once but three times!
Judith McNaught – Kingdom of Dreams – The kind of story that stays with you forever!
Contemporary Romance
Linda Howard – After the Night, Mr. Perfect, Sun of the Morning
Sandra Brown – Slow Heat in Heaven, Where There’s Smoke
Paranormal Romance
Marjorie M Liu – All books
Christine Feehan – Carpathian books
Urban Fantasy
Patricia Briggs – Mercy series (Moon Called, Blood Bound)
OT from books, but a MUST recommend!
Secret of Roan Inish DVD - For anyone who loves the Selkie legend. A beautiful sound track of traditional Irish music and a great movie for the whole family!
Come on, join in the fun and share. Name a couple of great books to give everyone some cool and unique Holiday shopping ideas!
I’ll draw one name from those commenting for a signed copy of my upcoming Silhouette Nocturne January 1, 2008 release, SCIONS: RESURRECTION!
Patrice
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
You can visit Patrice’s site here to read more about her books. Go ahead, toss out some suggestions. Just a reminder, you can comment and discuss as much as you want (and please do) but contest entries are done by IP addy and get entered only once.
The winner’s name will be posted here on the blog in a few days, so check back to see if you won. You do have to check back in order to claim your prize!
-Shi
There are so many good authors and books out there.
Here are a few authors in no particular order:
JR Ward
Shiloh Walker
JD Robb
Robert Jordan
Jackie Kessler
Jaci Burton
They all have some wonderful books out.
YA - Stephanie Hale; Caridad Ferrer, Lisa Barham
Adult - Kim Harrison; Jaci Burton; Jennifer Skully; Madelyn Alt
Some favorites…..
Young Kids - Me First by Helen Lester about a pig that always has to be first… in line, off the bus, eating lunch; Caramba by Marie-Louise Gay is the only cat in the whole world (besides his friend Portia the pig) that can’t fly; Countdown to Kindergarten by Alison McGhee as the little girl (believes she) must learn to tie her shoes all by herself before she’s allowed to start kindergarten!
Junior/Young Adult - Narnia series, Trixie Belden, Ursula LeGuin, Tolkien, Lemony Snicket, Jerry Spinelli….
Adult - Ain’t She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips; everything I’ve read so far by Kimberly Dean; Julie Garwood’s historicals…. I feel some re-reads happening soon! Have a great week everyone.
Young Kids - Curious George and Amelia Bedilia
Adult - Lori Foster (she’s the one that got me hooked on romance)
Young Kids: Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are”
Historical: Julie Garwood, Lisa Kleypas, Julia Ross, Jenna Petersen, Stephanie Laurens
Contemporary: Linda Howard, Cindy Gerard, Alison Kent, Allison Brennan, Karen Rose, Meryl Sawyer
Paranormal: Heather Graham, Jaci Burton
Hey Patrice. You should come work at the bookstore I work at part time. Those are awesome picks.
In no order:
Linda Howard
Karen Rose
Lori Foster
Jamie Denton
Alison Kent
Susan E Phillips
Erin McCarthy
Lucy Monroe
I am sure there are more but its way to early for my brain this am.
Welcome, Patrice!
I just finished Libba Bray’s second YA book, Rebel Angels. Her first book in the series is A Great and Terrible Beauty and her third book in the series will be out Dec 26–and I already have it in my shopping cart at Amazon.
I have so many fav authors but I have to say Sharon Sala/Dinah McCall, Gena Showalter, Jill Monroe, Jane Graves, our very own Scamps and Vamps authors, my books if I’m not past page 75 yet and pulling my hair out while wondering what could have posessed me to come up with this idea or doing copy edits or revisions…..LOL
I love finding new authors and re-reading the ones that made me fall in love with the romance genre.
What a fantastic topic!
Karen
I love all the books in the Silhouette Nocturne line by Harlequin…have found some great new authors to read this way. I like any books by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Carrie Vaughn, JR Ward, Gena Showalker, Jayne Ann Krentz, Lori Foster, Lori Handeland and Susan Grant just to name a few. By reading various blogs and newletters I am always discovering new authors and books to read
Jambrea, lots of good author choices there! Interesting to one straight fantasy author in your list of romance authors. We are eclectic readers are we not?
Lis, I’ve never heard of Lisa Barham. Will have to check her out.
Allison, I have never read and SEP book. One of these days, I’ll have to pick one up.
Jodi S. - Lori writes some great heroes!
Jane - Oooh, I loved Where the Wild things are!
Judy F- That’s a great list!
Hi Karen, thanks for the welcome! I’ve heard about A Great and Terrible Beauty. Must look into it! And yes, I do think mostly about the books that make me remember why I fell in love with the romance genre.
Shari C, Yes, Sherrilyn Keynon’s Dark Hunters are great reads!
Some of my favorite authors who haven’t been mentioned yet are:
Jennifer Crusie
Rachel Gibson
Jill Shalvis
Donna Kauffman
Lisa Jackson
Alison Kent
Shannon McKenna
Susan, Mmmmm, Shannon writes great heroes!! And Alison has written some great books. The one that sticks out in my mind is The Sweetest Taboo.
I loved this post!! Your book sounds fabulous and this was a great list!
I am glad that someone besides me knows who Encyclopedia Brown is. I loved his books growing up and wanted to get some for my nephew but haven’t been able to find any.
My great-grandmother always gave us books as gifts and it is a tradition I have tried to continue with my nephews and neices.
As for other book ideas:
For children: The Magic Treehouse…my 8-year-old nephew loves these books.
For adults: Lori Foster, Mary Connealy, Julie Garwood…and here are some authors I actually did buy for others: Erin McCarthy, Jaci Burton, Shiloh Walker.
Hmmmm… I don’t suppose any of you that remember kids books would know this one…
A young girl, sort of lonely, goes into a deserted house close to where she lives and on the walls are paintings of young women dressed in clothing from the 1800s. They are all sisters, and there were a number of them… 7, or maybe 12.
The last portrait was a girl named Ingrid, I think, and her dress was the prettiest, but the girl wearing the dress wasn’t.
Anyway, the young girl (main character) somehow travels back in time, can’t remember how, she might have just touched the portrait of Ingrid.
It was older when I read it and that was a good twenty years ago. I’m thinking it was probably printed before the 70s. And sulk, I can’t remember the title or much of anything else about it. But I keep thinking my daughter would love it.
Hi Jennifer Y, I LOVED the Encyclopedia Brown series of books (along with Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys). I did find them at my local Barnes and Noble so you might want to try there. Magic Tree house are wonderful to “teaching history” as well as telling a story. And yes, Jaci and Shi both write great stories!
Shi, I’ve never heard of this! I would be interested to see if anyone else knows what it is.
I love all the suggestions given but noticed that no one mentioned Enid Blyton for all ages of children. My own favourites were the Secret Seven stories
As for adult books I would suggest Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey to any one who wants a non-romance book that is still full of great characters.
My favorite is Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series. I also recently discovered Colleen Gleason’s Gardella series, she is a great new find for me. Another great read was Antlantis Rising by Alyssa Day, I’m looking forward to her next release.
Ilona, I have never heard of Enid Blyton. The Secret Seven sounds intriguing. I’ve heard good things about both Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey. I liked PC Cast’s Luna books. Are they similar?
Teresa W, Alyssa Day’s Atlantis series sounds really unique.
E-mailed you Shi! I think I found the book you are talking about.
Some of my earlier favorites were The Wrinkle in Time and The Witch of Blackbird Pond. My boys loved the Amelia Bedelia books too.
I have a new best friend. I think Jennifer found the book.
Of course… now I wanna know how Jennifer found it in that short amount of time when I’ve tried several times over the past three years… man, for a writer, my research skills suck.
Thanks so much, Jennifer.
BTW, Patrice, I’m pretty sure Jennifer did find it and it’s been repubbed at
The Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House
oops. Repubbed AS… not at.
Shiloh, Could the book you are looking for be The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden? It was later renamed The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House by Mary Chase.
http://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Ladies-Haunted-House/dp/037582572X
Shiloh,
We must have been typing at the same time. hahaha!!
http://logan.com/loganberry/solved-w.html
The above link is where I found the book
That’s great, Shi! See, this blog post even had a cool side benefit…bringing up an old book you couldn’t find. Good for Jennifer for finding it. Did you see when it was first published, Shi? 1968. There were a couple more books recommended by someone in the reviews that were of a similar vein, too.
Hi, Patrice! I’m seeing you everywhere! lol.
I love Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series. And Rachel Gibson,
Jill Shalvis, Shannon McKenna.. well, and a ton more!
Thanks for recommendation, the film sounds wonderful.
Hi Wendy! I can’t wait for Patricia Briggs’ next book to come out! The movie was filmed in Ireland and the scenery is just so breathtakingly lush!
I can’t wait either! I hear Mercy FINALLY chooses a guy in this one *fangirl squeal* I hope it’s Adam!!! Although okay, I like Stefan too but I really doubt that would work..and there’s way too much story with Sam.
I’ve always though Ireland is beautiful and can’t wait to visit!
Ireland is a dream, Wendy. If you ever get to go. GO!
I dunno…I love Adam, but mmmm, Sam’s a great character for Mercy, too.
You’ve already been to Ireland?? Ugh, I’m so jealous! I definitely plan on going the second I’m able to.
Sam’s awesome but see, there’s such not-so-good history between them and I really think she needs to give Adam a chance. I’m dying to found out who she chooses!
Yes, I went to Ireland a couple years ago. LOVED IT! She’ll probably choose Adam. He makes the most sense for her overall. We’ll see soon enough.
Man, Jambrea… lol, between you and Jennifer, I’m seriously doubting my research abilities here.
Shi, what is your avatar? I can’t tell what it is.
I thinks it’s the back of a little boy wearing diapers and a huge white shirt. Or I’m possibly going insane, lol!
Anyway, good night ladies!!
Patrice… it’s the baby bratlet.
You can see a better picture here…
We were at RAW~Lora Leigh’s reader/writer get together. The baby bratlet sort of had an accident and I’d left her extra clothes in the cabin. So we grabbed a T shirt and she modeled it all night long. *G*
LOL! How cute, Shi. Thanks for sharing.
One book I remember from my childhood as being a favorite is Where the Wild Things Are. My oldest son for his first halloween was Max from the book. I even made his costume.
My reading was pretty much brought to a halt by my third grade teacher. She was a wonderful teacher, but she had us reading only historical non-fiction and biographies. I read 100 books that school year and was one of the top readers (we got a DAR pin). But after that I never wanted to read anything especially if I had to read it. A couple of years ago my friend Rhonda got me reading again by introducing me to Charlaine Harris and MJD. Now I can’t get enough books. I read some before that, but I was very picky about what I read and it would take me days or a couple of weeks to finish a book. Now it drives me crazy if I can’t finish a book in less than a week.
Laura J, it’s amazing how much influence (even indirectly) teachers can have on us, yes? I’m so glad you found the love of reading for pleasure again. It’s a wonderful way to spends some free time and beats TV watching any day!