Melissa of Melissa’s Bookshelf has received over 100 followers and in celebration she’s giving away a $20 dollar Amazon gift card.

Entering is very simple and there additional methods of entry you can gain as well. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on the giveaway post and tell Melissa what you would spend the $20 gift card on if you won. You can also follow Melissa on Twitter for an additional entry among other things.

The giveaway runs until 11:59pm on Saturday, May 9th 2009. The winner will be selected and announced on May 10th. So hurry on over and enter today.

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Hell’s Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club
by Ralph “Sonny” Barger
with Keith and Kent Zimmerman

There have been numerous books written about outlaw motorcycle gangs from the perspective of law enforcement officers, experts, and even former members who “turned” and assisted federal agents in prosecuting these groups. But what of the actual members of these groups? What do the members have to say about themselves? And by members I don’t mean those who have testified against the groups or infiltrated them. How do these people see themselves and what are their goals? Those are the very same questions I had in mind when I first picked up this book.

As the founder of the Oakland, California charter of the Hell’s Angels, Sonny Barger is perhaps one of the most well-known motorcycle club members of all time. Not only has he appeared in movies centering around the Hell’s Angels, he’s also been a source of information for several movies that utilized motorcycles in them. Then of course there are the various incidents that were splashed across newspapers everywhere. As a result, one would expect to really get an understanding of the club and their many exploits.

Hell’s Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club opens up with an introduction from the author discussing the release and promotion of his book. Barger shares a few anecdotes from the book signing tour - all of which help to set the pace of the coming tale and let you know exactly what to expect from the rest of the book. A blunt and bold retelling of some of the most infamous Hell’s Angels escapades and an honest recollection of Barger’s life from his earliest memories. Barger’s style easily draws the reader in from the get go and holds onto them until the last page is turned. I found Barger’s style to be not only amusing, but also mildly shocking and highly entertaining and informative. Some readers will find Hell’s Angel to be offensive, insulting, and derogatory; there is no question about that, and certainly Mr. Barger makes no apologies for it either.

For example, Barger has no qualms speaking about drug use, sex, and violence in the club. The author does not gloss over fights and instead details how they went down: every blow and every expletive that was uttered. As such, I would not recommend this book for anyone below the age of eighteen or those with a sensitive constitution. In short, the book is anything but politically correct. Despite this fact, I was engrossed in the book from beginning to end. Hell’s Angel provided a wealth of information about the Hell’s Angels, Sonny Barger, motorcycle clubs [in general], and motorcycle-riding and repair as well.

Readers, no doubt, are curious as to whether or not Barger’s depiction of the Hell’s Angels is the “true” and accurate version or if it is an attempt to merely paint the Angel’s as the misunderstood victims. Barger does not sugarcoat or gloss over things, however, neither does he attempt to disprove the claims made against the Angels either. Barger merely provides his version of the events, some of which has rarely (if ever) been told from the perspective of a Hell’s Angel member. Such as the rioting and stabbing at the 1969 Rolling Stones free concert at Altamont. In short, Hell’s Angels provides a counter-argument to information already readily available about the Hell’s Angels and encourages readers to come to their own conclusions. That is not to say that the book is not without bias though. There is a great deal of author bias, all of which is easily distinguishable from the facts of the story and provides yet another source of amusement for the reader.

Joana’s Rating: (4 out of 5 stars)

Book lovers, have you been dying to get your hands on Amazon’s Kindle? If your answer is yes then you might like to know that GetGlue, the social networking tool that sticks with you, is giving you the chance to win a Kindle 2 free. There is no purchase necessary to enter, you don’t even have to be a GetGlue member to enter and win either. Although, being a member does give you more chances to win.

To enter, all you need to do is follow @glue_genie on Twitter and tweet this message:

Entered to win a Kindle from @glue_genie and www.getglue.com (rules: http://bit.ly/freekindle)

Once you do that you’re entered to win. GetGlue members have the chance to earn multiple entries by advertising GetGlue once a day on Twitter or by getting friends to join GetGlue as well. Each entry betters your odds of winning and GetGlue will also be giving away $25 Amazon.com Gift Certificates to the four people who have the most points/entries. For more rules and details be sure to visit their blog.

Needless to say, I’ve already entered. I can’t see buying a Kindle for myself right now sadly. Winning one would be wonderful however. I’d probably be glued to the thing 24/7 though.

Will you be entering? My GetGlue username is, predictably, joanana (same as my Twitter and Last.fm accounts). So be sure to add me to your friends if you’re a member.

Halfway to the Grave
Night Huntress Book 1
By Jeaniene Frost

After finishing Frost’s Halfway to the Grave, my only regret is that I did not get a chance to read it sooner. Frost introduces us to a new heroine in the urban fantasy genre by the name of Catherine Kathleen Crawford, a lanky redhead with a rather sad and tragic past, a vicious temper, and damn good aim with throwing knives. What sets Cat apart from other heroines in this genre is her refusal to wallow in her past, her desire to move forward, and her ability to find the humor in any situation without loosing focus. And did I mention that killer aim?

Cat has spent her life knowing she was different, and being the product of a rape was really just the tip of the iceberg. You see, Cat’s not entirely human, she’s half-vampire in fact, and she spends the evenings trolling for the fiends that turned her mother’s world upside down. Then one night she’s captured by a vampire bounty hunter named Bones whose convinced that she’s being hired by the very vampire he’s spent eleven years hunting - Hennesy.

Cat’s convinced that all vampires are scum of the earth, and really, since she’s only got her mother’s experience and her own from hunting them to go by you can’t really blame her. Bones, however, throws Cat’s perceptions out the window and forces her to reevaluate her findings. Is there such a thing as a good vampire? Cat’s not entirely sure anymore. Together this duo set out to take down a ring of vampires who are nabbing human girls off the streets and selling them at a pretty penny. It becomes apparent soon enough though that there is more going on than the dirty dealings of vampires, there’s law and politics involved as well and that’s never a good thing.

While Frost’s world doesn’t really contribute anything to the genre in terms of originality when it comes to vampires, ghouls, and ghosts, the story itself is still a fun and enjoyable read that will have readers hooked from start to finish.

The entire book was rife with humor, be it dry witty banter, sarcastic repartee, biting asides, or just good old slapstick humor. Even the most tensest of scenes was lightened with a bit of humor. Now, sometimes that isn’t always a good thing, however Frost does an excellent job of injecting lighthearted humor without completely killing the mood or inducing the gag reflex. Take, for example, this scene: Cat and Bones are staking out a club looking for Hennesy and his crew when Cat’s looser of an ex-boyfriend wanders up to her and attempts to “catch up”. Bones persuades the guy that talking to Cat is a bad idea however. On the way out Cat and Bones have this exchange:

[…] Apparently we still had some issues to discuss over good killing versus bad. “Oh I have feelings for him, all right. I’d like to put him in the ground myself, believe me. Still, it would be wrong. Promise me.”
“Fine, I promise I won’t kill him.”
He said it too easily, my eyes narrowed.
“Promise me right here and now that you will also never cripple, maim, dismember, blind, torture, bleed, or otherwise inflict any injury on Danny Milton. Or otherwise stand by while someone else does as you watch.”
“Blimey, that’s not fair!”
Guess it was good I hadn’t just accepted his first agreement. (p253)

The ending was a bit of a surprise for me, I must confess. I very much expected this novel to follow the same annoying trend that a good majority of paranormal romances and urban fantasy books have been adhering to as of late. I’m sure you know the one I’m talking about; the good guys kick butt and take numbers, the cops arrive and it looks like it’s curtains for our heroes. Then, in one or two chapters, everything is nicely summarized and we’re told that the police have nothing to tie our heroes to the crime. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that after the nasty critters die their bodies disintegrate, thus no bodies no crime. Maybe instead some memories were messed with. Whatever the case, the heroes get no more than a “we know you did something, don’t know what, but we’re watching you” and then we go to more pressing matters - relationships! Sometimes we even get served a “good job, we’ll turn a blind eye for you” from the boys in blue.

It’s a nasty trend that tends to leave me dissatisfied, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. It may be a work of fiction, but it’s always nice to see some cold-hard reality in there. Needless to say Frost delivers on this and she does so with much gusto. Cat has been tied to a homicide, kidnapping, with a strange corpse thrown in by the human authorities. Cat uses this to draw the police to the vampire hideout as a sort of “cavalry” and in the process digs herself deeper in their eyes. Add to that she’s seen killing multiple people, attacked two officers of the law, evaded arrest, and murdered a politician. Frost doesn’t cheat her readers by pulling a deus ex machina and contriving a cheap ploy to magically make everything sunshine and roses for Cat. Instead Cat faces a very real and very daunting reality, in the law’s eyes she’s nothing but a murderer.

The story does not end there, nor does it end with Bones coming to the rescue and whisking Cat and her mother to safety. Instead, while hospitalized, Cat is approached by a government agent and offered a chance. They know what her “victims” really are, they know why she did what she did, and they know what she is. She can sign up with them, train their men to hunt down the vile creatures known as vampires, and become their best weapon in this war on the undead and unholy. Or she can die for her “crimes” and her mother can be left out where any vampire seeking revenge can get her. The choice is completely up to her.

With her mother’s life in her hands Cat realizes that this is battle she can’t win, at least not yet. I personally love a good conspiracy theory and I’ve been looking for a good series that boasts a government agency and the supernatural in an otherwise modern-day setting. I didn’t find that in Russe’s Darkwing Chronicles but I think Frost’s Night Huntress series just might have hit the nail on the hammer. In any case I find myself eager to read the second book in the series, One Foot in the Grave.

Joana’s Rating: (3 out of 5 stars)