Borders UK Closing

So I made my usual Sunday trip to the shopping centre to get the weeks groceries, intending to nip into Borders for a little browse - as I like to do. To find out that Borders UK is in administration and the store is closing down. :( I'm pretty sure I heard rumours about this a while ago, but as it all seemed to come to nothing I kind of thought it had gone away.

Sadly today they are selling off the stock, everything seems to have at least 20% off, some stuff had 50%. I shall miss the place.

I tried to buy books that I definitely knew I hadn't got on my TBR pile, though since I've got back and added them to Goodreads it looks like I may have slipped on the Carrie Vaughn.

So I picked up:-

The Thorn Queen - Richelle Mead
Succubus Dreams - Richelle Mead
Succubus Heat - Richelle Mead (I'll add here that I haven't yet bought book 2 of the Georgina Kincaid series but they didn't have that on the shelves)
Demon Bound - Meljean Brook
The Darkest Pleasure - Gena Showalter
Kitty & the Silver Bullet - Carrie Vaughn (I was sure I hadn't got this one but apparently I have, lol so look for a free book giveaway when I get round to reviewing it.)
Quilting, Needlework and Embroidery - Not fiction but it had a great section on knitting and crochet so that went into the basket as well


Also if anyone knows how to break a pair of 8-hole Dr. Marten's in I'd be grateful for suggestions. I've had these for a few months now and the leather doesn't seem to be giving at all. I virtually rubbed my left calf raw whilst shopping.

Mind F*ck by Manna Francis - So Far

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There are no bad guys or good guys.
There are only better guys and worse guys

This will be the second time I've read this book, but the first where I'm reading it with an eye to writing a review.

This was just one of those books that I never thought I'd be able to write a review that would justify what a great book I think it is. (Did that make sense?) Anyway I'm going to give it a go.

Manna Francis has written an amazingly detailed story set in a future dystopia. With one of the most fascinating characters I've read about - Val Toreth, he being one of the 'worse guys' from the tagline.

I picked this book up again after it was mentioned on Wave's blog, so expect the review at some point this week. Anyone have any objections to me not asterisking out the 'u'? Only I think I'll probably slip up at some point anyway.

Bitten to Death by Jennifer Rardin

The fourth book in the Jaz Parks series follows our heroine to Greece. Where she, Vayl and her brother Dave, infiltrate a vampire Trust. Edward Samos (The Raptor) is trying to take over the Trust that Vayl used to belong to. Jaz is going to do her best to stop that and at the same time she's going to have to save Vayl from the new leader of The Trust who has her own plans for Vayl's future.

This is not my favourite of the series. I think the first two books set such a high standard and books three and four (for me) haven't quite measured up. However, that's not to say that they aren't great reads and I'd still read a Jaz Parks book over a lot of the other urban fantasy and vampire books out there.

Partly I don't think this book (plotwise) hangs together quite a well as previous books. It's quite possible that I haven't been able to concentrate as well as with previous books and I struggled somewhat picking up on the plot after putting the book down.

The other niggle I had with this book is that we have a lot more internal dialogue from Jaz - not a problem in itself as I love Jaz's snark. The problem I have is that different facets of her personality are now appearing as different characters inside her own head, arguing with each other. I think this works well if not overused, unfortunately I think it was. I wanted to get away from her overly analysed introspection and back to the action and character devlopment in the 'real' world.

Okay, niggles aside.

Quite a lot happens in this book. Despite saying he'd deal with it in the previous book, Vayl still hasn't come to terms with the loss of his sons. And it remains a weak point that his enemies are able to manipulate.

Jaz and Vayl still don't get together - how much longer can they stay apart?!!!

There are some genuinely creepy and disgusting scenes. The attack of the grall made me feel like I'd got lice crawling over my body.

"Check my back! My back!"

Possibly one of the most bizarre recommendations for a book you're ever going to read. :)

Despite my problems with the book. Jaz remains one of my favourite UF heroines. There aren't too many protagonists out there who could get away with this line.

"...I can't think with my underwear stuck up my crack. I know it's a weakness, but it's just one of those things."

She has such a lovely turn of phrase.

This book wraps up some plot points - Edward Samos is finally dealt with. But it also raises more questions. My biggest one being - Who was the Evie lookalike fighting in the Daemon Wars? And are Jaz and Vayl ever going to get together? It has to happen soon, right? I have the next book on order so will hopefully find out the answer to that one. This is one series I'm not ready to give up on.