ARC August

Due to my hiatus in May and June, my review pile is still out of control. So when I found out about ARC August, hosted by Read Sleep Repeat, I knew I needed to sign up. This challenge for me will be about catching up on the physical books publishers and authors have been kind enough to send me (and I feel bad that I've had some of them for months). I have a few ebooks to read this month as well, plus a ton in case I finish up the physical copies. Here's my physical book pile:

Wish me luck!

Cover Compare (6): Zombies Don't Cry

Last month I read Zombies Don't Cry by Rusty Fischer for Zombie month of the Paranormal Reading Challenge and now I'm featuring it again for the return of Cover Compare.

This ones appears to have gotten a cover change when the paperback changed publishers (I think that's what happened). Anyway, I prefer the old cover for sure. The yellow on the new one looks out of place and the placement of the words on her cheeks made me think the girl has really bizarre eyelashes. Plus I feel like the girl on the old cover looks more like a zombie.

old cover (Medallion Press)

new cover (Electric Monkey)

And just for fun, here are a couple of foreign language editions! I actually love the Italian cover the best!

Italian

Spanish

Review: Oxford Whispers

Info:

 

Title: Oxford Whispers

Author: Marion Croslydon
Series: The Oxford Trilogy #1
Publisher: Carlux Publishing
Publication Date: October 8, 2012
Source: I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

Madison LeBon is dead set against the dead.

Her fresh start at Oxford University is a brand new beginning. She finally has a chance to turn the page on her psychic powers and cumbersome voodoo heritage. Snakes, dolls, ghosts, and spirits: Farewell…

Not quite.

When the tragic lovers in a painting—the subject of her first history class—begin to haunt her, she must accept her gift before life imitates art. The lovers warn her against their own nemesis, a Puritan from the English Civil War. Unfortunately, said nemesis is now going all homicidal on Madison.

College becomes more complicated when she falls hard for Rupert Vance, a troubled aristocrat and descendant of one of the characters in the painting. With the spirit of a murderer after her, Madison realizes that her own first love may also be doomed…

Review:

You guys! This was my first NA (New Adult) read. I was actually kind of scared. Sex scenes in books make me feel kind of squibbly. And, while I'd never read a NA books before, I assumed they were a bit of a cross between YA and erotica. But I decided to give it a go anyway, despite my squibbliness.

Madison is a girl on the run from her past and a side of herself she wished didn't exist. I'm usually the kind of reader who is annoyed by wimpy characters who don't want their powers. However, I can definitely see why Madison wasn't a huge fan of her's. They didn't tend to lead to good ending from her ancestors.

I really enjoyed the paranormal story in Oxford Whispers. The ghosts were creepy and had a well developed backstory that I really liked. There was also an aspect of mystery which I felt really took the story to the next level. I don't read a lot of ghost stories, but this tale of love lost was heartbreaking, which help to make me care more about both the past and present characters.

Unfortunately, the modern day love wasn't quite as beautiful as the past one. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, but there were a couple things that grated on my nerves a little. First of all, I could have done without the hint of a love triangle, although I think I know why Marion included it. Secondly, I wasn't a huge fan of Rupert. It felt like he was so hot and cold with Madison and sometimes he was way to possessive for my taste.

Also, thankfully, it wasn't the overwhelming erotica I feared. I think there was a total of 3 sexy scenes, which isn't overwhelming in a book of over 300 pages. Instead, I got to enjoy a creepy ghost story with interesting ties to actual art! It made me feel so smart! Plus it was set in Oxford, which is cool since I actually went there on my trip to Britain!

Me at the top of the motte at Oxford Castle

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