The Saucy Wenches Book Club

The Wall "Hear my words, and bear witness to my vow," they recited, their voices filling the twilit grove. "Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post.  I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come." ~ George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

“With the inevitability of a tongue returning to probe a painful tooth, we come back and back and back again to our fears, sitting to talk them over with the eagerness of a hungry man before a full and steaming plate.”  Clive Barker, Books of Blood, Vol. 24

​Why, yes. I am in love with a serial killer...sort of. Who is this nefarious villain, you ask? Well, he’s not really a serial killer, but he does play one on TV. The subject of this week’s Fangirl Fridays post is none other than Dexter himself, Michael C. Hall. Source ​ I debated for a quite a while about whom or what the subject of this piece should be. My new-found love of Supernatural and its three stars? The sheer joy that is Franklin & Bash ? ​The complete craziness that is the Gallaghers on Shameless ?​ Then, I realized this is Dexter ’s final season and, therefore, a great time to focus all of my love and affection on the multi-talented Michael C. Hall. While my love of Michael doesn’t nearly border my love of Joe Manganiello some other men, every week while watching Dexter , I marvel at Michael’s outstanding level of talent. ​I will admit that I haven’t watched Six Feet Under , another Michael C. Hall show. But that in no way diminishes my l...

The line went silent, and Ben was about to ask if his father was still there, but Andrew spoke again. "You can always come home. Your room is still like you left it." Ben took a moment to assess his father's rare show of sincerity. "Yeah, okay. I'll look into it." "You do that," Andrew said, and a sizzle of static from the connection disrupted the final word. Ben closed his eyes at the condescension in his father's tone. It was as if Andrew knew that he would not see his youngest child anytime soon. "I should go, I'm pretty beat," Ben said, and he berated himself when he heard the awkward edge to his voice. "Yeah, all right," Andrew said. "Bye, Benji." The connection went dead. Ben stared at the phone for a few seconds before he returned it to the cradle, and his thoughts drifted far off to another state. "Bye, Dad," Ben said, and the words echoed through the empty kitchen. ~ Jen Arc...

The Saucy Wenches are very pleased to welcome Megan Hart today for an interview in connection to her newest book, Tear You Apart , which was released on August 27th. Those of us who have read her books are big fans of her writing, and we were so thrilled when we were offered the opportunity to have her as a guest Wench and ask her some questions! Click through the jump to see what she has to say about her experiences when writing, what her favorite genres are to read and write, and what books she would recommend for us and our readers. AND if you want a chance to WIN a SIGNED COPY of Tear You Apart , be sure to enter our giveaway at the end of the post!

Source A sharp thud sounded and we all stood there a stunned moment before Garret looked back at me and crumpled to the ground. I glanced at Cookie. At the frying pan she had in both hands like a baseball bat. Another grunt from Reyes had me lunging forward. I took hold of the dagger, braced a foot on the wall beside him, and pulled. The blade slid out easier than I thought it would, and I fell back with it. "No killing friends in the house," Cookie said, terrified and shaking. "I am so glad I didn't have a son. Boys are so destructive and violent." ~ Darynda Jones , Fifth Grave Past the Light

From Goodreads: Atlanta is a city plagued by magical problems. Kate Daniels will fight to solve them—no matter the cost. Mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate, Curran, the Beast Lord, are struggling to solve a heartbreaking crisis. Unable to control their beasts, many of the Pack’s shapeshifting children fail to survive to adulthood. While there is a medicine that can help, the secret to its making is closely guarded by the European packs, and there’s little available in Atlanta. Kate can’t bear to watch innocents suffer, but the solution she and Curran have found threatens to be even more painful. The European shapeshifters who once outmaneuvered the Beast Lord have asked him to arbitrate a dispute—and they’ll pay him in medicine. With the young people’s survival and the Pack’s future at stake, Kate and Curran know they must accept the offer—but they have little doubt that they’re heading straight into a trap… Kate Daniels fans, you will be thrilled with book #6, Magic Rises . ...

“You string some letters together, and you make a word. You string some words together, and you make a sentence, then a paragraph, then a chapter. Words have power.” I snorted, replacing the book on the shelf. “Words have power? That sounds like you're into some Harry Potter juju.” ― Chloe Neill, Firespell

The Wenches have been busy with a lot of things this week, but we still managed to get some reading done! You’ll see lots of familiar titles on our reading lists today. Westeros is keeping some busy, others are currently busy in Chicago with our favorite vamps, or rereading a favorite series. A few of us have discovered some brand new reads, thanks to great recommendations or movies based on the books. Click through to see what has been occupying us this week! And don’t forget to share what you’ve been reading! 

Truth is female, since truth is beauty rather than handsomeness; this, Ridcully reflected as the council grumbled in, would certainly explain the saying that a lie could run around the world before Truth has got its, correction, her boots on, since she would have to choose which pair—the idea that any woman in a position to choose would have just one pair of boots being beyond rational belief. Indeed, as a goddess she would have lots of shoes, and thus many choices: comfy shoes for home truths, hobnail boots for unpleasant truths, simple clogs for universal truths and possibly some kind of slipper for self-evident truths. ~ Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals

By all accounts, I feel that I should adore Jane Austen. I mean, everybody does, right? She's always been well loved, but her popularity has exploded in recent years. Big budget movies, BBC adaptations, spin-off books. Even people who don't read have read her books and love her. I am quite fond of her contemporaries (Shelley, Brontë, etc.). And having a lit degree from a small midwestern college means I have some appreciation for British literature (my program was all about the dead white guys). Austen was considered somewhat of a rule-breaker in her time; novels weren't entirely accepted as an art form, and she supported (tried to) her family by writing rather than marrying well. I like rule-breakers. I have tried, over the years, to like Jane Austen's work. I've tried really hard. I'm not sure why, but I kept telling myself, "You should like these books, why don't you like these books? Try reading just one more, maybe you'll like this one....

Once more, I am watching the most powerful men in the kingdom bring their power to bear on a woman who has done nothing worse than live to the beat of her own heart, see with her own eyes; but this is not their tempo nor their vision and they cannot tolerate any other. When a man wants a mystery, it is generally better to leave him mystified. Nobody loves a clever woman. ~ Phillipa Gregory, The Lady of the Rivers

“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”    ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn , The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

Paranoid?   Probably.     But, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face. — Harry Dresden ~ Jim Butcher,         The Dresden Files ,             Storm Front

How I Met the Wild, Wild West Source “Inventing a world is the essence of being a writer.” ~ Karl May Please don’t laugh, I have a tender spot in my heart and mind for this author and his Winnetou series. You might never have heard of Karl May (rhymes with why), but this German Author is responsible for my infatuation with the old Wild American West stories and myth. I read his stories when I was in high school, and they were my first encounter with the American Frontier. I don’t drink firewater, rarely wear turquoise jewelry or feathers in my hair, and my experience with gun shooting is limited, but I do love the stories. Growing up, I read tons of books about that era and watched a fair number of classic Western movies. It might surprise you to know that Karl May is responsible for me watching all this and more: You might recognize a few of these! Though the novels I loved were set in the Wild, Wild West, he also wrote about the Orient and the Midd...

**Submitted for Wench Donna who is enjoying some well-deserved time off!

Source Some birds are not meant to be caged, that’s all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure. ~ Stephen King, “ Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption ” , Different Seasons

Our Trip to See Chloe Neill in Chicago What happens when you combine three Wenches and an avid-follower-now-turned-Wench with one of their most beloved authors? You get shenanigans, that is what happens! It all started in mid-June, when we got wind that Chloe Neill would be making her way to Naperville, IL to do a book signing for her then-upcoming book Biting Bad at Anderson’s Book Store. Well this got the Wenches a-buzzing and a-stirring and making plans to invade Chicago! Of course, it was an added bonus that Chloe Neill’s books all take place in Chicago—hence the series name, Chicagoland Vampires ! So Head Wench Barb booked a plane ticket into Chicago to stay with Wench Anne, our soon-to-be Wench Care rearranged a few things so that she could drive in, and Wench Natalie arranged to be there in spite of jobs and family obligations. We all dropped what we were doing and headed into the Windy City! Click through to see what happened in typical Day-After style!

He already saw her a fuck of a lot more than he'd ever expected, or hoped. Almost every day. Never would have seen that one coming; iffen he'd been asked two months past he'd have said she may have been the prettiest dame he'd ever met but she seemed like one of the bitchiest too. But turned out she weren't a bitch at all. She was fucking amazing, and iffen he could spend all his time with her he would. ~ Stacia Kane, Wrong Ways Down

Most of the Wenches have checked in this week! Summer in the Northern Hemisphere must be winding down, giving us time for reading and sharing our choices. Many of us are catching up on the great new releases that have hit our e-readers in the past month; new Kate Daniels , Chicagoland Vampires , and Downside Ghosts appear on our list several times. In addition to established favorites, we're also reading about FBI agents, fantastical worlds, English queens, and grim reapers. Click through to see what we're reading. Don't forget to share your choices in the comments!

Ty is not amused. He grabbed Ty's arm and dragged his teeth over the tattoo. "This might be my favorite part of you." Ty turned his head to press a kiss to Zane's chin. "Why?" "It's who you are." He kissed Ty again, holding him tighter. "It's you in meta form." "Zane." Ty's voice was harsh in his ear. "Don't speak geek to me when you're naked. It shatters the illusion." ~ Abigail Roux , Touch & Geaux

Stacia Kane's Downside Ghosts series is one that took me completely by surprise. It had been recommended to me by Goodreads, based on the books on my shelves, for months, when I finally got a break in my TBR list and picked up Unholy Ghosts , a book which changed everything for me. Since then I've certainly been suffering from Terrible Fever, and I've recommended these to anyone with a strong stomach, and the fortitude to find the beauty that lurks within this deeply dark and disturbing series. I still think this is one of the best series you aren't reading, as I explained in this post . When I finished Chasing Magic , unable to find any mention of continuing the series, I was distraught, but Ms. Kane eventually put my fears to rest, saying that there would be more Downside coming. Although there were no concrete details (and still aren't, really), I was satisfied with that vague answer and ever so patiently waited for more. First up was to be a novella from...

Durzo Blint* “There is no higher purpose. There are no gods. No arbiters of right and wrong. I do not ask you to like reality, I only ask you to be strong enough to face it. There is no essential good in living. Life is nothing itself. The ends don’t justify the means. The means do not justify the ends. There is no one to justify to. There is no justification. There is no justice. Do you know what punishments I’ve endured for my crimes, my sins? None. I am proof of the absurdity of men’s most treasured abstractions. A just universe wouldn’t tolerate my actions.” — Durzo Blint ~ Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows * Image from www.pinterest.com

And here we go, straight into the lake of drama without taking our clothes off first.      – Kate Daniels      ~ Ilona Andrews,  Magic Rises

‎When you point your finger at someone, anyone, it is often a moment of judgment. We point our fingers when we want to scold someone, point out what they have done wrong. But each time we point, we simultaneously point three fingers back at ourselves. J'accuse! (Copyright Marc-Andre Lariviere ) ~ Christopher Pike, Evil Thirst

Let me tell you a secret. I had months to decide who I was going to fangirl over today. And I just couldn't decide. It's not that I had soooo many people to pick from and couldn't bear to choose one over the other. Oh no. This self-professed fangirl couldn't think of a single person I wanted to write an entire Fangirl Friday about! My inspiration well had run dry. Source Until one weekend in July. Big Slick was in town. Apart from its unfortunate name (it's a poker term, but it still makes me giggle), it's a weekend every year when Jason Sudeikis, Rob Riggle, and Paul Rudd come home to Kansas City with 10 to 20 of their closest celebrity friends, take over a Royals game to play wiffle ball, throw one hell of a poker tournament, and have a big party at the end of it all. No, they aren't "actors behaving badly." It's all a fundraiser for a local children's hospital. As the Big Slick festivities were getting underway, I couldn't ...

The Saucy Wenches are pleased to welcome Alex Beecroft on her fifth and final stop of The Crimson Outlaw ’s Blog Tour! We’re so excited to have Alex as a fellow Wench for the day! Click through the jump to learn a little about her latest book, what it takes to be a writer, and your chance for a little swag.

Tom wanted her to be cute, a ditz, a sexy ideologue, a glib bitch, a camera junkie, a news hound, a crusader, anything but this--literal and seemingly unschooled and tormented and wrapped as tight as you get before you explode. "Do you think it's possible," she began, and with the drop in her voice Tom leaned over to hear her better, "for someone to lose their soul?" ~ Bob Shacochis, The Woman Who Lost Her Soul

The Princess Bride Come my love, I'll tell you a tale Of a boy and girl and their love story And how he loved her oh so much And all the charms she did possess Now this did happen Once upon a time When things were not so complex And how he worshipped the ground she walked And when he looked in her eyes he became obsessed My love is like a storybook story But it's as real as the feelings I feel My love is like a storybook story But it's as real as the feelings I feel It's as real as the feelings I feel This love was stronger than the powers so dark A prince could have within his kingdom His spells to weak and steal a heart Within her breast but only sleeping My love is like a storybook story But it's as real as the feelings I feel My love is like a storybook story But it's as real as the feelings I feel It's as real as the feelings I feel He said "Don't you know I love you oh so much And lay my heart at the foot of your dress?" She said ...

I just finished a book that was a big letdown for me. Was I alone? Let's look through our reading pile this year and see what duds we have discovered. I am positive that we've all read at least one book that made us roll our eyes and shake our heads wondering what we had put ourselves through. You know the type of book. Scraping your fingernails along a blackboard would be more entertaining. Counting sheep suddenly seems really attractive. Or perhaps these are the types of books that put you to sleep because you were so... Wake Up!!! Who knows why sometimes we persevere to see a book to the end. Perhaps because we just hope it gets better. Maybe they have been recommended to us, and we think if our friend loved it, we probably will too. Let me tell you that this is definitely not always the case. We close the final page realising that it isn't going to get better and we've been duped. Duped into thinking that a book was going to be interesting and really it w...

“God Layken. How do you do it?” She says. She blows her nose and grabs another tissue out of the box. “How do I do what?” I sniff as I continue to wipe the tears from my eyes. “How do you not fall in love with him?” The tears begin flowing just as quickly as they had ceased. I grab yet another tissue. “I don’t not fall in love with him. I don’t not fall in love with him a lot!” ~ Colleen Hoover , Slammed

  It was a pretty stellar week in the Wenches’ World. Look for a recap of Chloe Neill’s Biting Bad book signing in Chicago. Needless to say, the four of us who attended had an experience we will never forget. A few of the other Wenches are also reading Biting Bad this week, with some Kate Daniels, Red Queen, and Terrible rounding out our lists. Click through to see what each Wench is focused on this week. Don’t forget to tell us what you’re reading in the comments! Don’t be shy, we won’t bite!

“I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it calls itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use — silence, exile, and cunning.”

Source I have a confession to make. I am a book hoarder. I bet a lot of you are book hoarders. By this, I mean you keep buying more books, even though you have a ton already on your shelf or on your e-reader waiting for you. However, that’s not what I mean when I say that I’m a book hoarder. I actually (sometimes) hoard the book I am currently reading. By this, I mean the more I love the book, the more I avoid reading it. Why would somebody do this? Read on to find out, and learn how you, too, can play this little head game and make that book that you love last forever!

Source: Tuck Everlasting , © Walt Disney Studios, 2002 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.  - William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18

Felt like everybody in the room was watching him stare at her, too, but he couldn't look away. Even though he wanted to. Even though it hurt, a dull ache in his chest because she was in the same room but far away. Because he couldn't just walk up to her and touch her. Because she wasn't his. But then she saw him. Were he the kinda dude thought that "she wants me but won't admit it" bullshit, then the way her face lit up, the way she smiled, woulda made him convinced she'd come there looking for him. As it was...it still made him feel awful fucking good. He ain't could even be embarrassed she'd caught him watching her, she looked so happy to see him. ~ Stacia Kane, Wrong Ways Down

I was awakened by the shifting of weight in the bed; Ethan took a seat on the edge as he finagled cuff links into shirtsleeves. He was forever adjusting cuff links. Maybe that was a potential belated Valentine's Day gift. Monogrammed hearts? Tiny silver katanas? Little male figures with tiny arched eyebrows? ~ Chloe Neill, Biting Bad

Fangirl Fridays – Merit, Sentinel of Cadogan House Collage by Olga Daniels We’ve gushed about Ethan , so it seems only fair that we spend some time discussing the awesomeness that is Merit of House Cadogan. We’ve loved that girl from the very beginning of her Chicagoland Vampires adventures, even before we loved Cadogan’s master. Merit is our window into the CLV world, and while we sometimes have to look past the biases in her narration, we love the people she loves, and we love her for the way she loves them. Because of Merit, we adore Chicago, we want to hang out with her and Mallory and Lindsey. We want to read with her in Cadogan’s library, and we want to go sleuthing with her, striving to make Chicago a better place. We can’t get enough of the Sentinel. Click through to discover a few of the many reasons that Merit is one of our favorite heroines, worthy of our fangirling tendencies. ** Spoiler Warning: We can’t talk about how amazing Merit is without touching on t...

Welcome to the final day of Chloe Neill’s Biting Bad blog tour. We at The Saucy Wenches are unbearably excited, because not only did we get a fabulous book this week, but some of us are actually meeting the author herself, tonight in Chicago! PLUS we’re talking about book boyfriends, one of our favorite subjects, AND giving away great CLV swag! If you haven’t devoured the book yet, what are you waiting for?!? Here's what you can expect from Biting Bad : Merit has been a vampire for only a short while, but she’s already seen a lifetime’s worth of trouble. She and her Master, centuries-old Ethan Sullivan, have risked their lives time and again to save the city they love. But not all of Chicago is loving them back. Anti-vampire riots are erupting all over town, striking vampires where it hurts the most. A splinter group armed with Molotov cocktails and deep-seated hate is intent on clearing the fanged from the Windy City come hell or high water. Merit and h...

"Friendship—my definition—is built on two things. Respect and trust. Both elements have to be there. And it has to be mutual. You can have respect for someone, but if you don't have trust, the friendship will crumble." ~ Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Collage by Olga Daniels The city of Chicago plays a major role in Wench Favorite, Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Vampires series. I am fortunate enough to call Chicago my hometown. I grew up in the city and, aside from four years of college, have lived in the Chicago area my whole life. Much like Merit, I love my city. In my admittedly biased opinion, Chicago is the best city in the world. And I'm here to tell you a little more about it, to give you some visuals and history of some of the places Merit and company visit over the course of the books. Before we jump into the CLV world, let me tell you a little bit about Chicago in general.   Chicago is the third largest city in the U.S., with close to three million people within the city limits. Contrary to the belief of some, however, Chicago is NOT the capital of Illinois. Though it is, without a doubt, a very influential force on the rest of the state.  Our mayor is Rahm Emanuel, who, quite honestly, remi...