5 for Friday - September 28

It is Friday, September 27... three days after the release of JR Ward's Rapture. I still have not read it.  I fail at both fandom and blogging.  But we have tons to talk about this week!

5. I know this is a week old, but Jennifer Estep revealed the cover for Deadly Sting, the next book in the Elemental Assassin series.  Check it out:

Red is definitely my color. Good thing, because in my line of work, I end up wearing it a lot.

Most people shy away from blood, but for an assassin like me — Gin Blanco, aka the Spider — it’s just part of the job. Still, it would be nice to get a night off, especially when I’m attending the biggest gala event of the summer at Briartop, Ashland’s fanciest art museum. But it’s just not meant to be. For this exhibition of my late nemesis’ priceless possessions is not only the place to be seen, but the place to be robbed and taken hostage at gunpoint as well. No sooner did I get my champagne than a bunch of the unluckiest thieves ever burst into the museum and started looting the place.

Unlucky why? Because I brought along a couple of knives in addition to my killer dress. Add these to my Ice and Stone magic, and nothing makes me happier than showing the bad guys why red really is my color.

It's a stepback cover and I love that we see Gin's face, but... Did you guys notice the one word missing from that blurb?? I'll give you a hint. It starts with an "O" and ends with a "wen."  I pray that we get some happy news on the romance front with this next book.  Deadly Sting is out March 26.

4. Lord's Fall is just weeks away and Thea Harrison is giving out advanced copies of her newest Elder Races book.

This is another Dragos & Pia book!  You can win a copy at Thea's blog or pre-order now.  It's out November 6th.

3. If you don't read Stacia Kane's Downside books, you may not understand the pure moment of squee I had when she tweeted the following:

That was followed by:

I don't know anything else. But whatever this turns out to be.... I will buy it. I love Terrible so hard.

2. Two big announcements from Ilona Andrews.  First, the spectacular writing duo announced the name for the next Kate Daniels book.  MAGIC RISES will be out in July or August of next year.

In the meantime, they are putting out a free serial on their blog.  It's called Clean Sweep. You can link to it HERE and they will likely release it as an ebook when they are done.  Help spread the word.  I love these two.

1. And finally... I promised you some big news last week! I've got a huge feature coming in the month of October. It's called Favorites From My Favorites.

Every weekday in the month, I'll have a guest post from one of my favorite authors, offering up recommendations of their favorite books for you to try. We'll have great giveaways, thanks to the amazing folks at Penguin, Harper Collins, Grand Central, Kensington and St Martin's Press.  And some of the authors are sharing their own work as well.  I could not be more excited about the lineup.  We've got such a great variety of authors from Urban Fantasy to PNR, fantasy and HR.  From NYT bestsellers to debut authors and some you may not even be familiar with.  But each one of them is a favorite of mine!  So please give them all a warm welcome.  Be sure to enter the giveaways and leave lots of comments.  Our first guest is Jennifer Estep --and her post will up first thing Monday morning.

I hope you love it!

XOXO,
Jen   

*"Favorites from..." photo: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos