Blog Post Rescheduled, A Review and A Contest

*note: contest is now closed. Thanks to all that entered*

Hey Kiddies, so because of some redamndiculous stuff that went down this weekend my review of Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr is being moved down the blogging schedule. However, since you all shouldn't have to pay for crap that aint yo fault and because I feel like giving shit away, I bring you a review and contest featuring this bit of hotness right here:



Isn't she pretty? Don't you love the coffee and cream skin? Isn't that navel made for a belly button ring? And that knife strapped to her thigh? Improbable, but freakin hot, right? *sigh*

Anyway, today I bring you my review of Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding.

The protagonist, Evangeline Stone, is a hard ass bounty hunter that specializes in taking out Dregs, which are the supernaturals that are considered bad by the humans that know they exist. She kills things. She likes to kill things. She talks trash and she isn't known for her emotional connections. What I like about her is that yes, she is all those things, but she is also often compassionate, insightful, loyal and has a good sense of humor.

Evy is murdered in the course of her old life as a dreg bounty hunter and brought back to life, but she ends up in a stranger's body. When she wakes up, she remembers some things but the last three days before she died are a blur. She doesn't remember how she died and she knows she and her slain partners were set up. She needs answers and she sets out to find them pretty much from the moment she wakes up on a morgue table freaking the hell out of the chick about to perform an autopsy on her.

I have to admit, if I woke up from the dead with no recollection of how I died, no knowledge of who to trust and in some other (albeit hot) chick's bod, I would need a good five minutes to lose my shit, but Evy sizes up the situation determines the best course of action and sets out, never looking back. I dig that about her.

One issue I have with this book is the race war premise. For all Evy's compassion and insight, she pretty much figures that if you're not human you are bad and cannot be trusted and for a lot of the book supernatural creatures are portrayed that way. She does make a few exceptions, but is quick to look down on them or distrust them. I do feel that by the end of the book, her views had broadened and she was willing to believe that some other races had good and bad members, but there is still a sweeping characterization that some species are just evil. Wholly. That one's tough for me, because humans in the book weren't always trust worthy either and I feel like there are usually good and bad members of every species. This; however, is part of the author's poetic license and I respect her right to tell her story her way. The ending does leave hope for the next book to have more interactions with supes that were once considered bad.

The other issue I had was that not all of humanity knows about the existence of Dregs and the fight against them is carried out in secret. I don't know y'all, maybe I missed something, but there were some crazy ass happenings and knock down drag out fights with knives and guns and funky colored blood and furry creatures and you're telling me no one notices this shit? Maybe I missed the paragraph or sentence that explains that they are all invisible. ::shrugs::

I did like how the world is populated by all kinds of supernatural creatures. There's more here than just your standard vamps and weres. You have your Bridge Trolls, and goblins and Vampires and Gargoyles and Sprites and Elves. The list goes on and each species has it's own mythology that gets explored a bit which is fun, but a bit long winded at times, too.

I felt the writing was good, but a few times in flashbacks it felt a bit inconsistent. This could also be because she was basically remembering a different life and a different self or it could be because it's a debut book. Either way, I feel the author has a lot of potential and I will definitely be checking out the next book that is supposed to come out in Summer 2010.

You'll like this book if you enjoy lots of supernatural creatures, action, a bit of mystery, and a light sprinkling of romance. It is a bit gritty and may be a little disturbing in some places for some people so if you don't like blood guts and gore with a bit of torture then you may not like this one.

Three Days to Dead gets a solid B rating from me. It was enjoyable and has great potential for a good UF series. I had some issues and rolled my eyes in a couple spots, but I think it was worth reading and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre.

You can buy this book here

Or here

Now for the contest part.

I am giving away a brand new copy of Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding.

All you have to do to win is be a follower of my blog and leave a comment on this post. That's it. Contest is international, too. I don't care where ya live as long as it's on planet Earth ;)
*edited to add: contest will run through Thursday 12/10. Winner will be announced in Friday's post.*

Smooches