Upcoming Reunion Book!

Dark Celebration, a Carpathian reunion novel by Christine Feehan is about to be released. I can not begin to tell you how much I have been waiting for this one. I LOVE the Carpathian series. I absolutely love it. But, if you are expecting this to be a story filled with humor and white hot sex, yes it has that. But this book also contains tradgedy. Some of our favorite characters are going to die. Though I haven't read the book yet, I have seen the reviews and they say that by the end of the first chapter you will be in tears.

Here is a brief synopsis of what Dark Celebration is about. Raven, the lifemate of the Carpathian Prince, has decided to gather all the Carpathians together for a feast to celebrate the holidays. With all Carpathians gathering, this is too good an opportunity for the vampires to gather and kill them off. Now instead of going after the warriors whom have proven too difficult to kill, the vampires decide to go after the ones who give them hope and light, their women and children. After all, if they kill the lifemates, the warriors won't be able to exist without them. They will either choose to die as well, or turn vampire.

But there is some cause for hope. A cure has finally been found for why their women keep miscarrying and for why their children often die within the first year of life. But Dark Celebration definately carries a dark, edgy feel to it as it begs the question, what price are you willing pay to for love? Dark Celebration also more closely follows the characters of Skyler and Dimitri. If you have read the Carpathian novels, then you know who Skyler is, and although we haven't before met Dimitri, we have been told about him. As you may know, Skyler is human, adopted by two powerful Carpathians. Skyler's mother died when she was young and her real father abused her terribly and sold her out to men for drug money. But Skyler is psychic and thus possesses the potential to be a lifemate to a Carpathian male.

Skyler is still too young, and a bit too scarred to be claimed as a lifemate, but Dimitri is on the verge of turning. This will force some hard choices on both Skyler and Dimitri. Claim her before she is 18 and risk the wrath of the Prince and Skyler's guardians for breaking the rules, or risk turning vampire by not claiming her. It also brings us back to the days when women wed a lot younger than they do now. This book also focuses on the fact that because Skyler is human, she makes the perfect target for the vampires to kill. After all, how easy wound it be to bump off a human female rather than a Carpathian female? And it begs the question, who would be willing to die to protect her?

But, as I said, this is a reunion novel so all of our favorites will be back. And, Christine introduces some new characters who will most likely be getting their own stories later down the road. Christine Feehan has the full trailer up on her website for this book. Go to www.christinefeehan.com/ if you'd like to see it. And make sure you read about the making of the trailer written by the head of the company that filmed it, Circle Of Seven Productions. If you want to visit the website that made the book trailer, go to www.cosproductions.com/ and check em out. If you want to read Dark Celebration, it comes out September 05, 2006 and is available for pre-order. I know I can't wait.

A Really Great Game!

I want to tell you about a really great game I just got done playing. It's for the PC. Nancy Drew: Danger By Design. This is the newest Nancy Drew game in HerInteractive's line. It's number 14. Number 15 will be coming out in November. Anyway, a lot of people who played this game have liked it. Some have not. But I personally loved it. The story takes place in France in the heart of the fashion industry. The mystery involves intrigue, espionage and betrayal.

You also get to cook with this game which is fun. You get to bake mint chocolate chip cookies and make parfaits. You get to swim through the French catacombs. And you get to take digital pictures which you can print up. You also get to go shopping and really get to barter for items to bring down prices. And if you ever wanted to make masterpiece art, you get your chance to do that too all the while solving a mystery.

You, as Nancy Drew, have been hired by a fashion investor to find out why fashion designer Minette, who works out of a moulin, or windmill, has been acting so strangely lately. Throwing tantrums, firing people left and right and suddenly wearing a mask all the time. Could it have something to do with the threatening letters she has been getting? Or could the reason for her odd behaviour stretch further into the past back when France was occupied by Germany during the second world war? It's up to you to unravel the clues.

I think this game is fantastic. And the clever thing is, this game is designed for almost all ages really. And if you love mysteries or ever wanted to be Nancy Drew, then these games rock. I highly suggest Danger By Design for anyone, but especially for anyone new to Nancy Drew games. The reason for that is this game, unlike the earlier ones comes witha very good and detailed tutorial, so if you haven't played Nancy Drew then this one is a good one to start with. And if you have played Nancy Drew games but not Danger By Design, then I think you'll love it. I did. My favorite part was making cookies and the catacomb swimming. Awesome!

Like I said earlier though, number 15 will be out in November and is called The Creature of Kapu Cave. For those of you who played number 13, Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon, in Kapu Cave we again get to team up with the Hardy boys. But this looks to be even better involvement with the Hardy's than Blue Moon because you actually get to play part of the game as all 3 characters, Nancy, Frank and Joe. In Blue Moon you only got to play as Frank very briefly when working as a short-order cook and never as Joe. But this time, you get to play em all. But you play longest as Nancy. After all, the games are named after her.:-)

Told You So

I told you I was a huge X-Men fanatic. My favorite characters are Mystique and Dark Phoenix and I have just started a fan site dedicated to my two favorite villians. It's called Blue Fire and I just completed it. It's a very small fan site and I intend to keep it that way. I used to run a very large fan site several years ago and it was just too much work to maintain as huge as it was. So this, as a small site is much better. If you'd like to see it go to http://ladiesofmarvel.freehomepage.com/ and tell me what you think. Yes I am aware of the typos and will be fixing those over the next couple days. Hey, it keeps me relatively out of trouble.

Mutants Unleashed!

The third movie in the X-Men saga is about to be released on DVD. On October 03, 2006 X-Men The Last Stand will be available for purchase. It's already available for pre-order on Amazon. I am so dying to see this movie. I am a total X-men fanatic. It's my most favorite comic ever. It is the darkest of all three films and literally everything hangs in the balance. There is no guarantee the X-Men will succeed.

The government has come up with a cure for mutation. Magneto, angered over the idea pulls together an army of mutants and go to war. Joining his army is a newly resurrected Jean Grey. But Jean isn't the same loving Jean she once was. Overwhelmed by her powers, the greatest villian to ever grace the world emerges. Jean is now the Dark Phoenix, and even Magneto with all his power can't stop her.

Also, Rogue finds out that her boyfriend is dropping her for another girl and fellow student, Kitty Pryde. Bobby, A.K.A. Iceman is tired of not being able to touch Rogue at all without risking going comatose. So Rogue seriously considers the cure. Does she take it? You'll have to watch the movie. Even the director wasn't sure whether he was gonna cure her or not so he filmed both outcomes. Rogue not taking the cure and Rogue getting the cure. Both scenes will be included with the DVD.

Storm has a bigger role in this film and we get to see her fly. Wolverine is forced into a position of leadership for the X-Men, a spot he never wanted. But because Cyclops is still mourning Jean and so is Xavier, it's up to Wolverine to keep the team from falling apart. Kelsey Grammer plays new character Beast. Other new characters include Angel, Callisto, Juggernaut, and Shadowcat. Even though Kitty has been in the other movies, it was just as a background character with almost no part in the story. She has a big part in X3. She's a love rival for Rogue, has a big action scene in the Danger room, and gets chased by Juggernaut.

I definately intend to buy this movie. I have the first 2 and can't wait for this. I didn't go to see it in theaters because I was sick at the time, so it will be a totally new movie for me when it comes out. Dark Phoenix was my favorite character in the comics so I can't wait to see the movie version. I hear Famke Janssen, who plays Jean grey did a great job by the character. It's said she not only showed just how evil Dark Phoenix could be, but the complete and total desperation of Jean in those few moments that she is actually in control.

Werewolves Are Fun

I just finished a great book. It's called Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn. This book was a laugh-riot that was still very intense and action filled. Kitty is not your usual werewolf. Used to being submissive to her Pack leader and his Alpha female, Kitty surprises herself by becoming defiant. Her attitudes change when she starts a late-night radio talk show called The Midnight Hour.

Her show is dedicated to helping other werewolves, vampires, witches and other paranormals talk out their problems and becomes an instant hit. But this show attracts attention from those who would rather she shut up. Her Pack leader, the head of the local sect of Vamps, a cute but homicidal werewolf hunter and even a government think tank. Kitty is finding more trouble than she has ever faced.

I loved this book. It was hilarious while also keeping you on the edge of your seat. I have the sequel which I will start tomorrow, but this was a great book. And without giving anything away, I will say you are seriously gonna want to slap her Pack leader and his Alpha female. Go Kitty!

Did Someone Leave The Oven On?

If, like me, you live on the east coast, then you know saying it's hot is an understatement. It's not hot, it's sizzling. I live in New Jersey, and even on the beach the temperatures have gotten over a hundred degrees the past couple days. Even though I am staying inside with the air conditioning on it still gets so hot you can't breathe. And when I do go outside to get the mail, it feels like a sledgehammer is hitting you in the chest. In the 2 minutes it takes to get the mail I am literally dripping with sweat.

The actual temps are bad enough. We got to 102 degrees yesterday and are expecting to make it there today as well. But this oppressive humidity on top of it makes it worse. Yesterday, the heat index reached 111 degrees in the shade. Today they are saying about 107 degrees. Hot doesn't begin to describe it. It's so humid outside that at 6 am this morning, even though it was only 82 degrees at the time, the sky was so hazy you couldn't see anything clearly after about a quarter mile. It's almost as bad as fog.

The ONLY good news is this awful heat and humidity is supposed to break tonight. We are supposed to have really bad thunderstorms and then bye bye heatwave. Tomorrow, the temp is only supposed to go up to 81 degrees with very low humidity. But, that still means we have to get through today. The thunderstorms that will cool us off finally won't hit until after sunset, so we have all day with the sun high and baking to get through. In case I never mentioned it, I HATE summer. But take heart people. Today is the last day for this oppressive heat.

In the meantime, be sure to check on the elderly and the very young as this weather is worse for them than even for us. And if it at all possible, stay inside today in the AC. If you have to go out, take lots of water with you and I strongly suggest wearing a hat or carrying an umbrella to keep the direct sunlight off your skin. Stay cool people.