It's hard to be an assassin when a giant is beating the crap out of you. Luckily, I never let pride get in the way of my work. My current mission is personal: annihilate Mab Monroe, the Fire elemental who murdered my family. Which means protecting my identity, even if I have to conceal my powerful Stone and Ice magic when I need it most. To the public, I'm Gin Blanco, owner of Ashland's best barbecue joint. To my friends, I'm the Spider, retired assassin. I still do favors on the side. Like ridding a vampire friend of her oversized stalker—Mab's right-hand goon who almost got me dead with his massive fists. At least irresistible Owen Grayson is on my side. The man knows too much about me, but I'll take my chances. Then there's Detective Bria Coolidge, one of Ashland's finest. Until recently, I thought my baby sister was dead. She probably thinks the same about me. Little does she know, I'm a cold-blooded killer . . . who is about to save her life.
RITA Award–winning author Gwyn Cready continues the "sexy fun" (BookPage) of her charming time-travel adventures with a high-spirited tale of a modern-day mapmaker and the eighteenth-century English navy captain she can't resist.
Ambitious and feisty Josephine "Joss" O'Malley has spent years fighting to keep her mother's map-making company alive. Just when she finds herself considering taking a risky next step with bad-boy entrepreneur Rogan Reynolds— whose generosity has helped keep the business afloat—Joss meets dark and mysterious Hugh Hawksmoor. Hugh's deft touch and old-world seduction stir Joss's desires like a storm at sea, and she has no clue that he has sailed three hundred years into the future to avenge the death of his brother at the hands of her father. Or that she holds the key to a map that will help him undo the destructive changes her father wrought in the past. When Hugh lures Joss into a treacherous journey through time, there's not a twenty-first-century trick that can save her. But when she applies her own instincts to a course she thought was set, she discovers that the high seas hold some scandalous surprises.
Enter the ultimate treasure hunt--with a map made of skin, a playing field of alternate realities, and a prize that is the greatest mystery of all.
Kit Livingstone's great-grandfather has re-appeared with an unbelievable story--the ley lines throughout Britain are not merely the stuff of legends but truly are pathways to other worlds. So few people know how to use them, though, that doing so is fraught with danger.
But one explorer knew more than most. Because of his fear of being unable to find his way home, he developed an intricate code and tattooed his map onto his skin. But the map has since been lost and rival factions are in desperate competition to recover it. What none of them yet realize is that the skin map itself is not the prize at the end of this race . . . but merely the first goal of a vast and marvelous quest to regain Paradise.
Book Trailer
Author Trailer
About The Author
Stephen R. Lawhead
Stephen Lawhead is an internationally acclaimed author of mythic history and imaginative fiction. He was born in 1950, in Nebraska in the USA. His early life was lived in America where he earned a university degree in Fine Arts and attended theological seminary for two years.
His first professional writing was done at Campus Life magazine in Chicago, where he was an editor and staff writer. During his five years at Campus Life he wrote hundreds of articles and several non-fiction books.
After a brief and unsuccessful foray into the music business—as president of his own record company—he launched his free-lance career in 1981. In the Hall of the Dragon King was his first novel.
In 1986 the Lawhead family moved to Britain so that Stephen could conduct research for the PENDRAGON CYCLE books. They settled there permanently in 1990, with some years spent living in Austria and a sabbatical in the United States.
In addition to his twenty-four novels, he has written nine children's books, many of them originally offered to his two sons, Drake and Ross. He is married to Alice Slaikeu Lawhead, with whom he has collaborated on books and articles. They make their home in Oxford, England.
Stephen's non-fiction, fiction and children's titles have variously been published in twenty-four foreign languages. He has won numerous industry awards, and in 2003 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the University of Nebraska.
His middle name is ‘Ray’.
My Take:
I have only read (actually listened to) one other book by Stephen Lawhead (Hood). I really liked that book so I thought that I would give The Skin Map a try. This is the first book in His series Bright Empires. Most of this book it seemed like he was settting us up for the rest of the series. We learn about Ley Lines taht are pathways between time and places. Kit meets his great-grandfather, who disappeared one day, and he introduces Kit to these lines. This whole other reality leads Kit to an adventure that is unlke anyother.
I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
The Next one is named The Bone House and is suppose to come out in September 2011.
KARIA BUNTING (Dallas Theological Seminary; Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary; University of Texas) is an expository Bible teacher and the founder of Focused Forward Ministries. She currently serves as an adjunct professor at Dallas Baptist University and teaches a weekly Bible study at her church, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. Karia and her husband, George, live in Dallas and have three children
In Daddy’s Delight, Dr. Karia Bunting reminds women that they are God’s workmanship, His masterpiece, His “poema”. That God has intricately woven together every fiber of their being and created each one special and unique. That God, having completed His work of art, gave her to mankind as a gift.
Evident in this great care God took in fashioning woman is the importance and value of each one. So why do so many women struggle with God’s design, wishing they could change just this or that one thing about themselves?
Dr. Bunting challenges each reader to accept and embrace the fact that, in whatever season of life, she is God’s masterpiece – not her own work of art. When God sees her, He sees His beautiful creation. A creation that yes, has some wrinkles needing to be smoothed out and yet is one in whom He delights to love to perfection.
My Take: In this book the author addresses many issues, all taken from the point that we as women have a divne design that God wants us to realize. Some of the issues she addresses deals with are self esteem issues dealing with looks, being single, being married, motherhood, friendships, careers. With each of these issues she has us look at ourselves and and what our divine design is.
I found this book challenging and very rewarding to read. I will be passing this on to my daughters and having them read it also.
If you are interested in finding out what others are thinking here is a list of our blogs touring this book.
I originally was intrigued by this book because I had read Presumed Innocent when it first came out and had recently listened to the audio version of Innocent. Unfortunately this book did not live up to those books in my opinion.
Mac Mallory is an ex-cop that has become a lawyer in a law firm whose main client is an airline. He has not performed up to the firms expectations. He is given the job of finding a missing partner who has disappeared and apparently taken a lot of money from this client. The bottom line for the firm is the money. The bottom line for Mac is what is going on within the firm. The deeper he diggs the more he finds out about how the firm really is run and what is really important to the firm.
I really had a hard time caring about any of these characters. They all came across as what people usually think of as a stereotypical lawyer. I found none of them likeable any any way. The love story part between mac and another lawyer felt like it was just thrown in to give the book a romance, possibly to attract a female audience. I just didn't feel that the book was on par with the other books I had read by Scott Turow.
This book was Narrated by Robert Petroff and I thought he did a fair job.
I listened to this book in exchange for a review for Readersfavorite.com. I received a review copy of the audio.
The Vigilante Bride by Yvonne Harris
Tamara Alexander
