Also, a chance to photowhore my curly hair.

  This was one of my many glorious birthday acquisitions, and so far it's not half bad.  Then again, considering the accolades spattered across the damn thing like so much demented flair, it had better be above par.
  I'm enjoying it so far (the first chapter was a real mind fuck).  Has anyone else read this pu

  Hooray!  Two naked people reading for the price of one! 

  ...And I hope y'all have a "hopping" good time...

  Yes, this is me at work on Good Friday in a bunny onesie.  Because frankly, one should celebrate Easter (or any holiday for that matter) with as much spirit as they can muster.  And also, when you're hungover, a onesie is the ultimate in comfort.  
  Happy Easter, bibliophiles!
  Muah!

  *Now with bonus ET and MythBusters references!

  You guys know the BiblioBabes have got themselves a pair of kobos (the "Touch" version, natch).  Well I (Kat) have had a balls-ass time with mine since I got it at the end of 2011.  The goddamn thing wouldn't sync properly, so I would have to load my books over and over AND OVER again before they'd register on my unit.  Sometimes they just wouldn't register at all.  I was pretty bummed:

  So I went to Chapters and told them the problem.  They were kind enough to hook me up with the kobo help number.  I called and they gave me some steps to follow, which they said should fix the problem.  No such luck.  So I called again, and they said, "Well, the system will be updating soon, and one of the updates will fix it.  It might not happen right away, but soon.  Then everything should be fine.  And if it's not, then an update will eventually fix it."  Yeah, awesome.  And of course, the problem was never fixed.  But I sucked it up and just chalked it up to the age-old "Nothing's perfect" adage.
  Well, cut to last week.  My kobo stopped holding a charge.  First it only worked for an hour or two.  Then maybe an hour.  Then less.  So I called kobo again and explained my problem.  The chick asked when I bought it and I told her it was a little over a year ago.  "Oh, your warranty is up.  That's not covered anymore."  Warranty?  What warranty?  I was never told about a warranty!  So she sent me some steps, and assured me that I still had options, even though I was past my 1 year warranty date.
  I followed the steps.  And my kobo got worse.  WAY worse.  I had 15 minutes MAX before it had to be charged again, after charging it for a FULL NIGHT.  Colour me pissed: 

  So I called back the next day and told them what happened.
  You know what the guy told me?  He said, "Well, if you had called before your warranty was up with your issues..." 
  "But I DID call when I had issues, right after I bought it.  I was told nothing about having a warranty and wasn't given the option to send it back."
  "Well, unfortunately, you're past your warranty.  Sorry."
  So I asked to speak to a supervisor.  I explained the whole damn story AGAIN, and added that as a book reviewer, having a working kobo was pretty damn important.  I said, "Look, I work in customer service myself, and I understand that warranties are strict and rules have to be followed, but I also know that sometimes exceptions can be made and strings can be pulled.  Please, is there ANYTHING you can do for me?"
  Her reply?
  "You're past your warranty.  We can't do anything." 
  At that moment, I had a beep and I asked her to hold on for just a second.  I answered the beep and asked said I'd call them back, and then returned to my call with kobo.
  AND SHE HAD HUNG UP ON ME.
  Basically kobo told me to eat a hot bowl of dicks: 

  Obviously, this made me very VERY sad:

  And nearly angry enough to round up my posse and take it to the next level, because you don't mess with a true OG:

  Instead, I resigned myself to my very last desperate hope.
  I took my problem to Chapters.
  I got my favorite dude there, and I asked for a manager or supervisor.  Instead of pawning me off on someone else, he said, "What's the matter?" in the nicest way ever, and that's when I spilled my guts to him. 
  Finally, after explaining it all, I said, "So I just came here to see if there was anything, LITERALLY ANYTHING you could do to help me..."  I was hoping for maybe an extra long cord so I could at least read it while I was plugged in at work, or maybe even a discount on a new kobo, since I had to have an ereader ASAP to get the book I'm currently reading done by deadline.  Instead, he looked me in the eye and said, "Well, normally there wouldn't be anything we could do, but with your extenuating circumstances...  Well, I can exchange yours for a new one.  It would be the same unit though, is that alright?"  I WAS DUMBFOUNDED:

  He was going to help me?!  Just like that?! 
  I almost started bawling, I was so shocked.
  So he hooked me up, and helped me out, and the whole thing was taken care of in less than 5 minutes (unlike the 38 minutes I spent on the phone with kobo WHERE I GOT HUNG UP ON).  He handed me a brand new lilac kobo and took my crappy one, and I was SO FRIGGIN' STOKED:

  Totally the best experience I've ever had at Chapters, and that's saying a lot, as I love Chapters, and would probably marry the place if given the option.
  So, to summarize:
  kobo customer service refused to help me in any way, treated me horribly, hung up on me after having me on the phone for almost an hour, and literally was the worst experience I've ever had regarding customer service EVER.  kobo customer service can eat a hot bowl of dicks.
  Whereas Chapters is an awesome company that took amazing care of me; I will forever shop there and continue to spend all of my money there.  And the white knight who rode in and rescued me from my shitty deal (in less than five minutes!) is, by far, one of the raddest dudes EVER.  I am eternally in your favor, man.
 
            kobo customer service licks sweaty donkey nuts
 
                  Long live Chapters!
 

  I went into work today (like most days ending in "Y") and got myself a mighty big surprise (both literally and figuratively):

  Mr Edgar Swamp was kind enough to send me a copy of his book "THE GYRE MISSION: JOURNEY TO THE *SSHOLE OF THE WORLD" and I'm ridiculously stoked to read it.  Hooray for badass new books (and trust me, this looks mighty badass)!
  Also, hooray for boobies.

  Because in English you can be both an inanimate object and someone who enjoys rock and roll!  Just like these girls:

Oct 31 - Nov 6, 2012

  A Hunger Like No Other
  Kresley Cole
  Paranormal Romance
  Published April 2006
  360 pages

  8.5/10

  Lachlain MacRieve is a badass psycho werewolf.  Emmaline Troy is a half-breed at best (cue the Cher):

And she's got an overly healthy dash of wuss.  But when fate thrusts these two together, they must overcome it all to follow their hearts...

  I fucking love this paranormal romance series.  You hear that?  FUCKING LOVE IT.  These are words that I never though would come out of my mouth (or out of a pen, or onto a computer).  This was right up there on the "Zero Probability of Ever Saying", along with "No salt for me, I'm watching my cholesterol!" and "Family Guy?  Can't we watch C-SPAN?" as well as "There's too many books in here and we need to burn them to make room for my bunny skinning station."  I've had a pretty bad impression of romance novels of any kind, as a few of the first books I'd read in the genre were pretty predictable and bland.  Bad luck for me because I'm also a big fan of sexy sex, and apparently I've been missing out.
  Now, I won't say this was without flaws.  I mean, it's still romance.  There wasn't enough focus on the actual penetration and the sex was a little soft for me (said the chick who reads some pretty fucked up erotica thanks to the internetz).  I can live with that.  This is aimed at suburban upper-crusty housewives who actually have enough time to read:

As opposed to the internetz, which is aimed at emotionally disturbed 17-year-old boys:

And I was surprised at how little doggy style there was, considering the protagonist was a goddamn werewolf.
  I will also fully admit that I took issue with the stunning lack of communication between Lachlain and Emmaline that drove the majority of this plot (as it seems to with most romance novels, paranormal or otherwise).  But again, to be fair, miscommunication is a common occurrence in the lives of the general populace.  "Do I tell her she's my mate?"  "Should I let him know about my horrific visions?"  "Do I need to tell him I have herpes even if I'm not having an outbreak?"  (Seriously, the last situation is one I read in a zombie anthology... though zombies probably don't worry about herpes so that character ended up being in the clear).  This illogical ritual of keeping the people you care for in the dark out of some strange desire to protect them or yourself makes for a convenient but irritating as fuck plot device.  Hell, maybe it's just that us readers can see that what the characters are doing isn't going to end well, just like movie watchers who yell at the chick for going into the spooky attic after midnight to have sex with her boyfriend after a naked swim. 
  But I can forgive all that, because this is some of the bast damn fluff EVER.
  Sexy monsters and werewolves and vampires, sexy battles between these sexy creatures, sexy sex...  A Hunger Like No Other was a stimulating book in more ways than one.  Trying to read this at work was the most deliciously awkward nightmare you could possibly imagine.  If you ever come into my shop and I yell, "Hello!" into your face at max volume and I look like I've just run a 5 minute mile, it's because I've been reading stuff like this at work. 
  Liking our female protagonist Emmaline is easy as fuck.  Who wouldn't love a character that starts out shy and insecure (just like most of us) and just gets stronger and more badass as the story progresses.  Lachlain, our manly male protagonist is even easier (to love, that is): he's ridiculously tall dark and handsome (and also buff) as well as sex crazed king with unlimited wealth.  I kind of imagine him as looking like Gerard Butler:

But with less clothes.
  It was written well enough; the author has a fertile imagination and she's got this massive Lore Universe that has unlimited potential for storylines.  And I love books that have recurring characters but don't necessarily have to be read in order.  That way I pretty much know what's going on but I don't have to read them one after the other in one massive orgy of the same damn shit.  You know what I mean, right?  If you're going to have an orgy, you want variety, not just vanilla after vanilla after vanilla, if you catch my drift.  And the author throws in tons of culture references, and while I normally hate that (it dates the book so quickly) here it works.  Look, ma!  I can identify with this!
  I really enjoyed the read (a few times even!) and I'm stoked to try out the next one in the series.  Consider me stimulated.
  -Kat

Xx

  The BiblioBabes have gotten some serious spotlight as of late - the Simon & Schuster Book Blogger Spotlight  is pretty notable, as well as the exchanges we've had with a whole slew of authors recently.  We're positively chuffed. 
  And you know, happy BiblioBabes lead to happy photos, and I've got a pretty decent one for y'all!

  As I said, positively chuffed.
  Happy Naked Reading Sunday!