Monday, February 14, 2011

Recent Read - And in Other News

Night Betrayed by Joss Ware

Why this one: I am LOVING this series so it’s a no brainer that as soon as a new one comes out, I’m reading it!

Steam Level: Although the setting is stark and cold, the steam level is hot

Blurb: The world they knew is ashes.

The world that remains is in peril.

And five extraordinary survivors are humankind's last, best hope.

The Change that devastated the earth did not destroy Theo Waxnicki. It made him something more than human; eternally young, eternally beautiful . . . but not immortal. When he dies on a mission against the Strangers, he is lost to the darkness . . . until a miracle lady brings him back.

Born during the apocalyptic storms and earthquakes that left the world in ruins, Selena has dedicated her life to easing the pain of others. But Theo is the first in her care to survive. Responding to Selena's tender touch, Theo starts to live again, to feel and desire again. But joined in a world of terrors, the secrets they can never share make them targets. And love could be the ultimate betrayal.

My Thoughts: As mentioned in reviews on the previous books in this series, if someone had told me I would really enjoy an ongoing series where, although labeled romance, that aspect kind of takes a back seat, and the setting in years in the future after an apocalyptic ‘end of the world’ scenario, I would have said ‘right, and pink pigs fly. But I would have been forced to find those flying pink pigs because I do love this series and Night Betrayed is no exception. Though the hero, Theo Waxnicki is in his 80’s, he stopped aging when the catastrophe happened fifty years earlier. I had to smile to myself as I was kind of guilty of age discrimination. Theo has quite the libido cause he still looks young, but he’s in his 80’s and I thought ‘wouldn’t he need Viagara or something?’ I have to say that in the middle of this tense story, I was distracted by something rather silly.

In the previous books, I hadn’t really warmed up to the character of Theo, so when I heard this was ‘his’ story I couldn’t help wishing it might have been someone else’s. But once I started reading this book, that was a non issue. Once more this world that Joss Ware has created is so compelling, so interesting yet so bleak at the same time, and just so damn well written, that I found myself on the edge of my seat as I read along.

In this one, Theo has been brought back to life by the heroine, Selena in a small community far from his home in Envy. Theo is smitten with Selena but just getting over a broken heart when the woman he loved chose another. Selena for her part, is leery of getting involved with Theo as she has many secrets and has been burned in the past because of them.

As with previous books though, the romantic relationship isn’t really in the forefront. Instead it’s the mystery of the events that resulted in the end of the world as it was known and what has been happening since then. And it’s utterly and completely fascinating. It’s edge of your seat exciting. People who you hope make it don’t.. This isn’t a happy and sunshine series, that’s for sure. But it’s such a compelling read that I highly recommend it. I can’t say too much so as not to give too much away – that’s the way it is with this kind of series I think.

Now – should you read the first three books in order to read this book? I’m not sure – probably. But the first ones are so good you will want to anyway. I just checked and the first two books are one for a ‘really can’t be beat’ price on the Kindle:

$1.99 for Beyond the Night

$3.99 for Embrace the Night

I say – get at least these first two and see what you think!

Grade: 4.5 out of 5


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And in Other News....

It seems as if I'm going to have to return my Velocity Micro Cruz Touchscreen Wifi Tablet. I couldn't figure it out and my Son Who is Getting Married was too busy for a couple of days to come over and look at it. So I took it into work and had someone from the It department look at it. He showed me how to turn it on - it's amazing that a button that looks like the same kind that turns on computers also turns on a table

(oops - gotta wait for a couple of minutes - the song by Nellie is on and I have to wave my arms - be back in a minute)

OK - I'm back

Anyway - wait another sec - gotta turn the radio down now. See - it would be an IPod to turn down but that's a small electronic device that scares me - and with good reason as you shall see!

So the IT guy got it turned on, but it seemed Very Slow and as I was sitting there I was getting more and more frustrated. So I figured I'd better stop playing with it until The Son who is also an Accountant took a look at it. He and my future daughter-in-law came over Saturday and guess what? Now matter what we tried, the damn thing would not turn on. I swear I didn't throw it anywhere. We shall call her Kara said I should check to see what kind of ratings it got. Sure enough, they were bad, real, real bad. And of course The Son who is Getting Married pointed out the foolishness of buying small electronic devices on The Shopping Channel. They both said and I reluctantly agreed with them that I'd be better off returning it and paying more money and getting an IPad. My future daughter-in-law who we are calling Kara offered to come with me. I'm sure while my head was turned, my son Who is Getting Married must have nudged her and whispered "For the sake of the sanity of all of us, do NOT let her buy a small electronic device on her own!

10 comments:

nath said...

Well I don't know, Kristie. If he stopped aging, then his libido really shouldn't be a problem LOL. It's not the mind usually, it's the body no? :P

Sigh, gotta start reading these books :)

And LOL at the tablet, Kristie. I kind of have to agree with your son about buying electronic devices... actually anything, on the shopping channel.

By the way, do you really need an iPad?

Kristie (J) said...

Nath: LOL - I'm not sure if I really need one or not. Here are my reasons for WANTING one
Size: it's much lighter than even the laptop so I can take it when I go away anywhere whereas the laptop is to heavy - specially when I'm leaving someplace with a whole bunch of books
Fits into a purse so I can take it with me when I got for a coffee or something as more and more restaurants and coffee shops have WiFi
I can sit in the living room and tweet a lot more than I do now.
It's a Mac and I've wanted a Mac for ever so long!!
There are probably more reasons than that and since Ryan - oops - the Son who is Getting Married *g* is also The Accountant Son and he says to go ahead and get one - who am I to argue with him - heh heh heh

Kristie (J) said...

Oh - and I do have some great clothes that I love that I got on the Shopping Channel - and a couple of gorgeous winter coats - and now I have revirginized hair thanks to them. And let us NOT forget the Joan Rivers clunky yet funky jewelery. So *laughing* the Shopping Channel isn't ALL bad. Just not a good place to get small electronic devices.

Nicole McLaughlin said...

I LOVE this series, and I'm with you...Theo...meh. But I trust you. I hope my man can pull it off at 80! (crap I hope i can!!)

Does your son need a wedding photographer? I'd love to travel!! lol

Karenmc said...

If you're going to buy an iPad, try to wait until the iPad 2 is released (sometime this spring). When a new generation is released, the price on the first generation is reduced.

I absolutely love my iPad - so much easier to read on than the Touch, and you can stream Netflix on its wonderful, crisp screen. I have the base model, and don't have any music on it (music is on an old Nano that works just fine), so there's tons of room for books.

As for paranormals, I just finished one and it was rather meh. I can watch that stuff on cable, but historicals are much harder to come by in movies/tv.

CindyS said...

There I am judging books by their covers - I didn't know they were books set in the future - for some reason I thought they would be romantic suspense. Probably the covers.

And boo for the tablet - but I agree with Karenmc - wait for the next iPad - also I saw a commercial somewhere (I wish I could remember where) about another company bringing out a tablet that sounded even better than the iPad - again, comes out this spring. So things to watch for.

Because Bob is about to be unemployed I keep telling myself that even at 139 bucks, I can't afford the Kindle. Cause in the end, that's the reader I want. Sad, I know.

CindyS

azteclady said...

See, I don't need gadgets either, but... they are so shiny!

And all the cool kids have one too.

Of course, the cool kids actually know how to use them, but that's beside the point, yes?

nath said...

Well it seems like yes, you'd have a use for an iPad :) In that case, just go for it then :) But as the others have said, wait for the new version :P

by the way, Kristie, be careful about free wifi... just saying.

orannia said...

Good luck with the new electronic device purchase!

Kristie (J) said...

Nicole - sorry to be so late in responding. One of we shall call her Kara's aunts is a photographer so *sigh* they already have one - but if they didn't I would recommend you! You take beautiful pictures!!
And yep - the author pulled it off and I did like Theo in this one.

Karenmc: Good suggestion. Since I don't need it in any kind of hurry, I can wait and get the first version cheaper and *laughing* reading on it isn't one of the things I really plan on doing with it - though I'm sure I will :-)

Cindy: Yep - they are set 50 years in the future - in a much different world that the one we are living in now!! I've really been loving this series!

AL: ROTFL I'm *gulp* admitting to the same thing. I DO want to be one of the cool kids! Not many people where I work have ereaders - though some are starting to get them now. So I'm a leader in that area at work. And I thought with a tablet I'd keep that trend going - but alas - it wasn't meant to be :-(

Nath: You mean I should do banking for example in areas with free WiFi???? *g* I would just do very surface surfing in public WiFi places - not to worry *g*

Orannia: They scare me - that's for sure - and I don't think I'll get over it anytime soon either!