300 Follower Giveaway!

From the Shadows is now at 300 Followers.  Wow! Thank you all so much. You're the best! 

**Giveaway**

I'm going to keep this giveaway simple.  Since it is a follower giveaway you must be a follower of this blog to enter.  Please leave a comment on this post, including your email address, to enter.  Links, Twitters, and reposts are appreciated but I won't be adding extra points to this giveaway.  Now on to the prizes!

I recently read and reviewed Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods, book 1) by Melissa de la Cruz (review here) and Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, book 1) by Richelle Mead (review here).  I enjoyed both of these books so much that I decided to order new copies for this giveaway.  I am also including a signed copy of my new collection of dark paranormal poetry Shadows of Myth and Legend by E.J. Stevens.  One lucky follower will win all three books!

Contest is to US mailing addresses only (sorry!).  Contest ends at Midnight EST June 16th, 2010.  Winner will be notified by email and posted here at From the Shadows.

On My Wishlist (5/22)

Touch of Fate by Christine Amsden

Marianne can predict the future but is powerless to alter its course. After a lifetime spent coming to terms with an ability that has cost her much, including her marriage, Marianne moves halfway across the country to make a fresh start and salvage her relationship with her daughter, who has inherited her terrible ability.
Once there, Marianne is drawn to a group of women who share her ability. She starts to find meaning and purpose--until she finds one of them murdered.
In the wake of the murder, Marianne is once again caught up in predictions she is powerless to change. Complicating matters, she finds herself falling in love with the handsome Detective Derek Richards--a man who, her daughter predicts, will become an intimate part of her future.
Time is running out for Marianne. She must learn the truth--about herself, about her power, and about the murderer--before she becomes the next victim.

The Crescent by Jordan Deen

Becoming a werewolf is not an option for seventeen-year-old Lacey Quinn, but death can be a strong motivator.   Lacey is so focused on her future that everyday life has passed her by. Counting down the days to her eighteenth birthday, Lacey is almost home free. But when she falls for the mysterious Alex Morris, she lands in the middle of an ancient war between two enemy wolf packs. Tempting dreams, tantalizing lies and a dangerous love triangle ensues leaving Lacey heartbroken and confused. Lacey's fate rests in the hands of Alex and Brandon, but both are pulling her strings for their own agendas. Even as she slips further into the dark world of werewolves, Lacey struggles to find the truth and save the only family she's ever know.

Pestilence by Brian L. Porter

Pestilence....breathe if you dare!

The year is 1958, the place, an idyllic village in the heart of the English countryside. Olney St. Mary has stood in its peaceful rural location for over 900 years. Suddenly however, the peace of the community is shattered when two teenage boys are stricken with a mystery illness. The newly arrived village doctor suspects 'flu to be the cause of their malady. Her initial diagnosis is terribly and tragically wrong.

Award-winning author Brian L Porter takes terror to a new dimension as an age old horror returns to nineteen fifties rural England. This time however, the pestilence itself appears to have evolved!

Be sure to join us here tomorrow when I interview paranormal, horror, suspense, thriller author Brian L. Porter.  Brian is the author of Pestilence, listed above, as well as Dracula Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Kiss of Life, Purple Death, Avenue of the Dead, and A Study in Red: The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper.

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday.

Book Review: Poison Study

Poison Study (Study, book 1) by Maria V. Snyder

Murder, mayhem and magic...

Locked in a coffin-like darkness, there is nothing to distract me from my memories of killing Reyad.  He deserved to die--but according to the law, so do I.  Here in Ixia, the punishment for murder is death.  And now I wait for the hangman's noose.  But the same law that condemns me may also save me.  Ixia's food taster--chosen to ensure that the Commander's food is not poisoned--has died.  And by law, the next prisoner who is scheduled to be executed--me--must be offered the position.

A palpable darkness.  Poison Study begins in the dank, dark confines of the dungeon where Yelena awaits her execution for murdering Reyad.  Though Yelena is led up out of the dungeon, and given the opportunity to become food taster to the reigning military leader Commander Ixia, the darkness of the dungeon pervades this novel.  Maria V. Snyder creates a gritty realism that is at once believable and yet at times painful to read.  Your heart goes out to Yelena and I found myself wanting to comfort her and help her.  Though terribly betrayed by the men who took her in as an orphan Yelena holds out hope that perhaps she will one day find someone she can trust to be her friend, fantasizes for someone to love and love her in return, and yet she is faced with the harsh reality that she will likely not survive her next meal.  Yelena though has a propensity for overcoming adversity and a strength of will that makes her an incredibly enjoyable to read heroine.

I hesitate to recommend this book to young adults, even though the main character herself is young, due to violence and adult situations in the form of abuse, torture, and rape.  I would also warn readers who are sensitive to these topics.  Forewarned of the difficult subject matter I would recommend this book to readers of fantasy, paranormal fiction, mystery, suspense, and especially to fans of paranormal fantasy including magic.

Source:  This book was purchased by me for review.

Poison Study on Amazon.
Poison Study on Goodreads.