ReadingFanatic

35. Evernight by Claudia Gray

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:37:03 GMT

Title: Evernight
Author: Claudia Gray
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 0061284440
Pages: 327
Rating: Must Have
Series/Anthology: 1st in the Evernight series. (There's no particular name for the series)
Dates: 9/10 - 9/12

About this book:
At the eerily Gothic Evernight Academy, the other students are sleek, smart, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in.

When she meets handsome, brooding Lucas, he warns her to be careful - even when it comes to caring about him. But the connection between them can't be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart...and to make Bianca question everything she's ever believed.

My thoughts:
I loved this book. In the beginning, I almost stopped reading cause I was like, this book is weird and they're not explaining anything. So I was kinda put off by it and whatever. After like halfway through the book, it started picking up and I couldn't put it down. I love Lucas and how protective he is over Bianca and jealous over the other guy that pays her attention.

*Starts out with Biana trying to run away from Evernight Academy cause she doesn't fit in and doesn't want to go to school there. In the woods, she thinks someone is chasing her and she falls down but Lucas is there to help her up and tell her that she should be careful at Evernight cause the people aren't what they seem to be. She ends up going back to the school instead of running away. Bianca's roommate is one of the "in crowd" and when Lucas see's her hanging with the "in crowd" he tries to stay away from her. They end up falling for each other and the night of the Autumn Ball, they end up making out and Biance kisses his neck and ends up biting him and drinking his blood. He ends up passing out but he lives. Biance starts her transformation into a vampire. She gets in trouble cause it's a school rule that the students are not allowed to drink the blood of the human students. Lucas remembers nothing about what happened and was told a totally different story but doesn't believe it. One night before christmas break, Bianca goes on top of the roof where his human friend's dorm is at and finds this nasty vampire student Erich up there making noises to scare her. She ends up drinking his blood and seeing all the death and horror that he wants to inflict on her friend. Then she notices Lucas watching her and he runs off and won't talk to her. They end up leaving for Christmas break and she writes him an email, telling him the truth about everything that she lied about. When he returns from Christmas break they finally end up talking and everything is okay. He can deal with her being a vampire. He ends up letting her bite him at this point and the next day, Lucas has some vampire powers. They end up having to tell her parents (who are teachers at the school) and they tell the head mistress and she gets in trouble again. One night while Lucas is with Bianca and her family, they're all sitting around talking, Bianca ends up telling them a story that Lucas told when they first met in the woods about how his great great grandfather had been a student at Evernight and got into a duel and ended up getting kicked out. Little did Bianca know that human students weren't allowed at Evernight back then. Bianca's parents and her vampire friend instantly knew what she was talking about. That long ago, a member of the Black Cross had broken in and tried fighting the vampires. The Black Cross were vampire hunters and now they all realized that Lucas was one of them. Bianca's dad and Lucas got into a fight but since he had some vampire powers was able to fend him off enough to escape. He took off to the woods. A group of vampires got together and went in search of him. They had to cross a river though which they are afraid to do, so Bianca who wasn't afraid (cause she wasn't a full vampire yet) crossed and vowed to get to him before he escaped. When she found him, he ended up talking her into going with him to the Black Cross cause he loved her and didn't want to leave her. She ended up going and when they arrived, it wasn't long after that the vampires arrived too and burned the church they were in down to the ground. The vampires didn't want a fight, they just wanted Bianca back so she walked away from Lucas to save him and his family.

Awesome! I loved it.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 9,948

Next book to read: Stargazer by Claudia Gray

34. Retribution by Jeanne C. Stein

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:35:36 GMT

Title: Retribution
Author: Jeanne C. Stein
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 0-441-01773-8
Pages: 296
Rating: Must Have
Series/Anthology: 5th in the Anna Strong Vampire series
Dates:

About this book:
A newly turned vampire, Anna is forging an uneasy balance between her old human life and her new supernatural one. STill, with her partner out of town, her family abroad and her mentor estranged, she doesn't have anyone to turn to - which is why she's keeping a low profile.

But now young vampires are turning up ead, completely drained of their life force. Although Anna worrieds she might be next, things start getting personal when her shape-shifter friend is found clinging to his life. So when williams, her former teacher and now the leader of a supernatural enforcement squad, asks for her help, Anna can't say no.

But soon she'll wish she had...

My thoughts:
I loved this book. I've been waiting and waiting for this book to come out since I've read the other ones. Anybody that likes vampires, you'll love this series!

Don't feel like doing a recap. Sorry all.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 9,621

Next book to read: Tried starting The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall by L.J. Smith. I'm not really into it.

33. Witchlight by L.J. Smith (Story in Night World: Volume 3)

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:30:54 GMT

Title: Witchlight (Story in Night World: Volume 3)
Author: L.J. Smith
Genre: Young adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 1416974520
Pages: 244
Rating: Must Have
Series/Anthology: 9th in the Night World Series.
Dates:

About the book:
Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters - they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in lov breaks all the laws of the Night World.

The apocalypse is drawing near. But four Wild Powers can save the world from the impending dom.Circle Daybreak, an underground organization with both Night World and human members, is searching for the four who can stop the darkness.

Circle Daybreak hires Keller, a shapeshifting panther, to guard a new Wild Power. But when Keller falls in love with the Wild Power's soulmate, her love could destroy everything...

My thoughts:
This was a great story! I really enjoyed this one. There was so much action.

No Recap on this one. I don't feel like it right now. LoL.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 9,325

32. Black Dawn by L.J. Smith (Story in Night World: Volume 3)

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:05:14 GMT

Title: Black Dawn (Story in Night World: Volume 3)
Author: L.J. Smith
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 1416974520
Pages: 251
Rating: Must Have
Series/Anthology: 8th in the Night World series. (In Volume 3)
Dates:

About the book:
Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters - they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World.

The apocalypse is drawing near. But four Wild Powers can save the world from the impending doom. Circle Daybreak, an underground organization with both Night World and human members, is searching for the four who can stop the darkness.

Maggie stumbles upon an old Night World kingdom where the ruling vampire prince is both an enemy and an ally.

My thoughts:
Very good story. I loved the characters and the fantasy concept behind the story. ***Bare with me for anybody that is going to read the Recap. This entry is a little late. I read it a few weeks ago. So the recap is going to basically be just a summery, as I can't remember everything that happened to give good details.***

Maggie's brother went on a mountain climbing trip with his girlfriend, Sylvia. There was an "accident" and her brother's body wasn't found. Maggie realizes that Sylvia has to be lying because of her facial expressions while retelling the story. When Sylvia leaves the house to go home, Maggie follows her. Sylvia knows that Maggie is following her so when they get to Sylvia's house, she has Maggie drugged. When Maggie comes to, she is in a horse and carriage being taken somewhere and there were 3 other girls with her. One who was blind and really knocked out from the drugs that they had given her. Another was one that had runaway from the bad Night World people and told Maggie all about where they were going. Maggie comes up with an idea of how to escape and they tip the carriage over. After the carriage tips over, they make their escape but Maggie won't leave the blind, drugged girl behind so she helps her and they make their escape. The other two girls took off their own way. The Night World bad guys end up finding Maggie but someone behind them ends up using a blue flame and kills the Night World guy. He ends up turning out to be the vampire prince. Maggie ends up being the one that is supposed to free all the human slaves from the castle which she does do. She ends up being Prince Delos soulmate as well and the blind girl is the Blind Maiden of the Witches who is trying to get Prince Delos on the Circle Daybreaks side cause his Great Grandfather is Hunter Redfern who doesn't want peace with humans and wants the world thrown into chaos and darkness where the vampires rule. Maggie and Prince Delos (who is a Wild Power) are taken to Circle Daybreak to be protected until the Apocalypse is near and the four Wild Powers can fight to protect the world.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 9,081

31. Huntress (Story from Night World: Volume 3) by L.J. Smith

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:45:38 GMT

Title: Huntress (Story in Night World: Volume 3)
Author: L.J. Smith
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 1-416-97452-0
Pages:237
Rating: Must Have
Series/Anthology: Book 7 in the Night World series.
Dates: 8/5 - 8/8

About this book:
The apocalypse is drawing near. But four Wild Powers can save the wrold from the impending doom. Circle Daybreak, an underground organization with both Night World and human members, is searching for the four who can stop the darkness.

A vampire hunter - who is half vampire - stalks her own kind to protect humans.

My thoughts:
I loved this story. I was kinda disappointed in Volume 2 of the Night World series. It wasn't as thrilling but this story itself made up for that. There was love and adventure. It had me sitting on the edge of my seat wanting to find out what was going to happen next. Fantastic!

*Jez and her gang are hunting bad humans in the beginning and Jez realizes that there is something wrong with the picture of them doing this. She had a flashback and had to return to her Uncle and find out the truth of how her parents were killed. She then learns that she is half human and half vampire. After learning this, she disappears from her gang and goes to live with her mothers family. Humans. She becomes a vampire hunter, she hunts the kind of vampires that kill humans just for the fun of it. She joined Circle Daybreak and then learns of this prophecy that the apocalypse is coming and about the wild powers.

*Jez goes back and joins her old gang cause Morgead is trying to make a deal with the council that if he hands over a Wild Power, he wants a seat on the council. So Jez joins up with them again, fights Morgead for leadership and wins and Morgead tells her who he thinks the Wild Power is. Who ends up to be a little girl. They kidnap her and take her up on the roof of their building and make a ring of fire around her to see if she lets out the blue fire. She doesn't and instead jumps off the roof instead to try and save herself from burning alive. Jez jumps after her and the little girls lands on top of Jez. This is when Morgead first kisses Jez.

*They take the little girl back to her home and then Jez and Morgead talk about their kiss and Morgead tells Jez that he thinks they are soulmates. There's this silver thread that connects them. They go their seprate ways and make plans to meet up the next day. Jez went to the train station cause her aunt and uncle took her motorcycle, Claire sneaks there too without Jez knowning. She over hears Jez and Hugh talking about the wild powers, vampire, witches and everything else. So she is then dragged into the middle of this. Werewolves and vampires come to the train station and Jez fights them off. Claire and Jez end up on the train tracks with a train coming and the blue fire comes out again to save their lives.

*Claire, Hugh, Jez and Morgead are taken and tied up. They realize that the powerful vampire that was in charge was Lily Redfern. Her "sidekick" was Pierce who was spying for Lily by pretending to be in Jez and Morgead's gang. Lily wants the Wild Power and knows that one of them is it. However nobody will talk and tell her who it is. Lily then has Jez staked to see which one of the others will save her with the blue fire. Nobody does. She then decides to go after everybody else and see what happens. They went for Morgead next and had the stake over his heart. Jez felt all this warmth and realized that she is the wild power and lets out the blue fire. When she opens her eyes, the blue fire is gone and so is everything else, including Lily and her gang and the house they were in. All vaporized. Her friends and herself were the only things left. Morgead holds Jez in his arms and tells her that he loves her. She slips away and stops breathing but hears Morgead telling her that he will follow her into the next life and kill her if she leaves him. Jez sees the shining light and the warmth from the other side but realizes that the silver thread between her and Morgead is still there. She takes hold of it and pulls herself back towards Morgead and starts breathing again. She does end up surviving.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 8,830

Next book to read: Black Dawn (Story in Night World: Volume 3) by L.J. Smith

30. Carpe Corpus by Rachel Caine

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:49:52 GMT

Title: Carpe Corpus
Author: Rachel Caine
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 0-451-22719-0
Pages: 241
Rating: Must Have
Series/Anthology: 6th book in the Morganville Vampire series.
Dates: Been too busy to keep track. Ugh!

About this book:
In the small college town of Morganville, vampires and humas live in (relative)peace - until all the rules got rewritten when evil vampire Bishop arrived, looking for the lost book of vampire secrets. He's kept a death grip on the town ever since.

Now an underground resistance is brewing, and in order to contain it, Bishop must go to even greater lengths. He vows to obliterate the twon and all it's inhabitants - the living and the undead. Claire Danvers and her friends are the only ones who stand in his way. But even if they defeat Bishop, will the vampires be content to go back to the old rules after having had such a taste of power?

My thoughts:
Very good book. Better than the last couple of them at least. I'm glad things evolved with Shane and Claire though. That's what I've been hoping for and it finally happened. Yeay! There were a lot of shocking parts of this book so that was good. A lot of action and stuff.

Recap later. I've been too busy and don't feel like writing it right now.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 8,593

Next book to read: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

29. Bloodline by Maggie Shayne

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:20:42 GMT

Title: Bloodline
Author: Maggie Shayne
Genre: Romance - Paranormal
ISBN: 0-7783-2618-7
Pages:330
Rating: Must Have
Series/Anthology: 4th in the "new" Wings in the Night series.
Dates: 6/15 - 6/20

About this book:
Lilith awakens cold, naked and alone, knowing nothing - not even who she is - except that she has to run, run for her life...because someone is after her.

When Eathan discovers the terrifiedwoman hiding on his ranch, he knows immediately not only who she is, but what. He's never forgotten her, not in all the time since he escaped their joint prison, a clandestine CIA facility where humans are bred into vampires willing to kill on command. He refused to accept that fate, and since he won his freedom he's become a legend to those he left behind. With her own escape, Lilith has become a legend, too, and now - together - they have no choice but to fight those who would become a legend by killing one.

My thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book. It was a step up from Shayne's last books. I think only because the characters were put together a little better. Shayne's last books were always missing something and I have to say that her characters personalities were just a bit dull and pretty much the same. Some of them though. I was really surprised that this book is still part of the series because her lastest characters from the last 3 books weren't in it at all. So I have no idea where Shayne is going with the rest of this series. Seems strange to me but I'm anxious for the next one to see how she's going to weave them together.

*Lilith wakes up under a bridge not knowing who she is or how she got there. She ends up finding a road and a truck that stops when it sees her. When she goes up to the truck, the driver pulls a gun on her and tells her to get in. Instead she runs off with her vampire speed. She finds Ethans little house in the middle of the forest where he has horses. Ethan grew up at The Farm where Lillith escaped from. He had escaped from The Farm too a few years earlier just as his brother had. Ethan helps her remember who she is and tells her what she is. But doesn't want to tell her about The Farm until she starts to remember things from that place. He feels ashamed that he never returned for her after his escape but he was waiting to find his brother, James.

*Lillith comes up with a plan that she wants to go back to The Farm and rescue the other Chosen people from capitivity. Ethan however doesn't want to do that but doesn't want to see Lillith get killed so they go off in search of The Farm even though Ethan knows where it is but doesn't want to lead Lillith there in hopes that he can change her mind. While in the forest, they are ambushed by a group of women called the Sisterhood of Athena, who helps keep the natural order of the Undead without the Vampires knowing of them or the DPI. The sisterhood is searching for Lillith though because a member of their organization is the mother of Lillith, Serena. Lillith and Ethan escape these woman and James shows up during that escape and tells them to go to one of his "safe places" during the day. They do but once nightfall comes, they are supposed to wait for him but Lillith gets a bad vibe and wants to leave. Thinks that James is working for the DPI and that it's a trap. The DPI does find them but Ethan doesn't believe that it was because of his brother but because of a tracking device that he finds in Lilliths back. He removes it and gives her his blood.

*Lillith makes Ethan promise her that he won't contact James again until they save the Chosen from The Farm since she suspects that James in not on their side. Ethan does make the promise but does not end up keeping it. When Lillith and Ethan find shelter for the next day sleep in an old church, Ethan contacts James and tells them of their plan. James says that he will meet them at the wall of The Farm and they will all go in to save The Chosen.

*The Sisterhood of Athena gets a message from one of their own members who was planted inside The Farm for information saying where The Farm is located and that the DPI knows of Lillith and Ethans plan to save The Chosen. Serena and her sisters comes up with a plan to ambush Lillith and Ethan on their way to The Farm and tranqulize them and tell them who and what they are and explain that they are on the good side and not with the DPI. During the ambush, they get Lillith but James shows up and takes Ethan. The sisterhood takes Lillith to one of their safe houses where Serena tells Lillith that she is her mother and explains what happend the night of her birth. Lillith does believe her and realizes that it is not lie. They instantly have a connection and a bond. One of the members realizes that there is a tracking device on one of their vehicles while ambushing. They seek to destroy their safe house and escape into the tunnels. After the next days sleep for Lillith, Serena takes Lillith to a river where there are boats and tells her how to get to The Farm. After Lillith leaves, Ethan then finds Serena standing by the river with tears in her eyes. Serena tells Ethan that she is Lillith's mother and that Lillith doesn't trust him anymore. That she thinks that Ethan is against her and not to expect anything less. She also tells him that the DPI on The Farm knew of their plans to break in and break out the Chosen. She's asks Ethan who he told because Lillith didn't tell anybody so whoever Ethan told, told the DPI. That's how Ethan knew James was working against them instead of helping them.

*After Lillith gets to the end of her time on the river, she gets out of her boat and starts towards The Farm where she is intercepted by James. He tells her of his plans and that he is taking her back to The Farm, dead or alive but they prefer her alive. Doesn't matter to him either way. Ethan takes Lillith to the gates of The Farm where he is let it. Ethan is off in the distance waiting for his chance to sneak in. When James gets Lillith inside the gates, the owner of The Farm is rather upset because James didn't bring Ethan along. James lies and tells them that he hasn't seen Ethan and the owner knows that he is lying because they've had people watching James and they've seen Ethan with Lillith. They are both taken and chained to the walls of a room. Ethan tries to find Lillith throughout the compound but finds a couple of The Chosen being tortured in rooms. He unties them and helps them. They end up telling Ethan that since Lillith's escape, they've formed a group that disobeys orders cause they want to escape too and not be held captive anymore. Ethan tells them to round up all of their little group and to get free. They however want to stay for the big fight.

*Ethan ends up find the room that Lillth was being held in with James but Lillith isn't there. They planned on letting Lillith fry at sunrise. Ethan sets free James and he tells Ethan where they've taken Lillith and then runs off. Ethan goes in search for her but once the DPI realizes that James has escaped and that a lot of the Chosen is no where to be found, they take Lillith to another more secure building with Keepers around the building. Ethan ends up entering from the ceiling and takes Lillith up to the roof but DPI has them surrounded and waiting for them to make a move to shoot them down. The Chosen end up making their way into the building without being seen and Ethan and Lillith go back into the room as well. They tell them that if they do not surrender that they will torch the building. The power is cut and they think that they are going to have this big fight but nobody comes. They peek out the door to bodies laying all over the grass and blood shed everywhere. Help had arrived. Lillith steps out and sees tons of vampires killing the Keepers and this beautiful woman about to kill Callista which was the woman that was sent in as a spy for the Sisterhood. Lillith runs to them and tells her that she is on their side as a spy for good people helping the Chosen. The lady vampire is Rhiannon and one of the "wildborns" as Lillth was told by the DPI. Rhiannon tells Lillith that she was called by Serena to come and help save the Chosen and Lillith from the DPI. Serena comes out of the darkness and mother and daughter hug. Rhiannon gives them orders that the Chosen are to go with the Sisterhood and to care for them until other arrangements are made. The other vampires are to find shelter for the day sleep. As Ethan and Lillith walk out the gates of The Farm for the last time, they are met by James. James has a gun pointing at Lillith. Ethan tells James that he has no more orders to kill Lillith because all DPI are dead. James still wants Lillith dead because she's the one that got his family and the people that raised them dead. Ethan lunges at James and his gun. The gun goes off and Ethan is shot, the gun goes off and James is shot. Ethan however is alive and needs blood, James dies. Lillith gives Ethan her blood and they pledge their love for eternity.

The End.

Good right?! I know! I totally loved this book.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 8,352

Next book to read: I have so many books to choose from. Not sure what to read next. I have a lot of YA books to read. I guess you'll have to wait and find out what I decide is next on the list.

28. Royal Blood by Ellen Schreiber

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:30:46 GMT

Title: Royal Blood
Author: Ellen Schreiber
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 0-061-28887-X
Pages: 195
Rating: Must Have
Series/Anthology: Book 6 in the Vampire Kisses series.
Dates: 06/11 - 06/13

About this book:
Summer break is over, and Raven is hardly eager to be returning to Dullsville High. Not only does school mean daily interaction with preppy pest Trevor Mitchell, but her sleep filled days and romantic nights with her immortal boyfriend, Alexander, must come to an end. Plus the shock of morning classes isn't the only change in store.

An unexpected letter turns up to Alexander's mansion - announcing his parents will be coming to town. And once they arrive, just about everyone has had a sighting of the macabre couple except Raven. What could be delaying Alexander from introducing Raven to them? Could Alexander be hiding something about his parents' homecoming?

When Raven is finally invited to the most thrilling dinner party of her life, the nesxt turn of events could transform her entire future with Alexander.

My thoughts:
Great book! I love the gothic nature of Raven and how she's so in love with Alexander as he is in love with her. I love the relationship that Raven has her with enemy Trevor Mitchell though. Raven says she can't stand him but I think otherwise. Trevor acts like he just wants to pester her but he doesn't. I know that he is secretly in love with her. :) I love this series!

*Raven and Alexander ends the summer on a good note until Alexander receives a note from his parents saying that they are coming to visit. Both Raven and Alexander aren't happy about this because this means that all the "redecorating" that she did to the mansion, will have to be taken down and no more Raven sleeping with Alexander in his coffin. When Alexanders parents do arrive, Alexander is distracted and breaks their dates. He also doesn't want Raven meeting his parents right away which everybody else in Dullsville has seen them but Raven. She gets curious and sneaks onto the Mansions property and trys to get a glimpse of the Sterlings. Which she does.

*Alexander does invite Raven over to meet his parents but they casually use the word "friend" when referring to her. Everything goes well and they seem to really like Raven. Especially Mrs. Sterling cause she offers to have a girls night with Raven. They go into town and Mrs. Sterling buys Raven a new custom made purse that is way expensive. Raven ends up loving Alexanders parents and think they are cool.

*Trevor and Raven are paired up to do an essay with each other and Raven is putting it off for a long time. Trevor is still impulsive and stills makes come on statements to Raven even though he knows that she wants nothing to do with him. Trevor has a huge thing for Raven but would never tell her that.

*Alexander tries to tell Raven what has been distracting him but doesn't because she tells him that she is the happiest that she's ever been. Until the next morning, she sees in the paper that the Sterlings Mansion is up for sale and that they are moving. Raven goes to the Manison that night and Alexander said that he didn't tell her because he was trying to find a way for him to stay but hasn't had any luck. He's begged and pleaded with his parents but they won't relent. Raven ends up coming up with an idea that if they spread rumors around Dullsville that that will keep people from wanting to buy the place. It worked until Trevor's dad decides that he might buy the mansion and tear it down and put up a strip mall. Raven then comes up with an idea that Alexander should sell his art work in the auction. So they do that and Alexander sells all of his work for a whole lot of money. And he's going to put a down payment on the Mansion and then when he turns 18 is going to pay off the morgage with his inheritance.

*When he tells his father of his plan, his father is so proud of Alexanders artwork selling and realizes that he has become a man now, that he takes the mansion off the market and is giving it to Alexander to stay and live in it. Alexander plans on becoming a great artist and having his dad sell his work.

*Raven gets an 'A' on her essay with Trevor and she goes over to his house to tell him. Mrs. Mitchell lets her into the house and tells her that Trevor is up in his room. When she goes up there to find him, he's not in there and looks around his room. On the floor and leaning against the wall is something covered with a sheet and Raven lifts it up to look and see what's underneath. The last painting that was sold in the auction was looking back at her. It was the painting that hardly anybody wanted but Trevor obviously did because the painting was of Raven.

I loved this book so much! :)

Amy

Pages read YTD: 8,022

Next book to read: Bloodline by Maggie Shayne

27. Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:34:27 GMT

Title: Dead and Gone
Author: Charlaine Harris
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 0-441-01715-0
Pages: 312
Rating: Must Have
Series/Anthology: 9th in the Southern Vampire Mystery series.
Dates: 6/8 - 6/10

About this book:
For Sookie Stackhouse, the day-to-day activities of the vampire and Were communities in and around Bon Temps, Louisiana, are of vital interest. She's blood bound to the leader of the vamps, is a friend to the local Were pack, works for a man who is a shifter, and has a brother who is a werepanther.

But for most of the humans in Bon Temps, the vamps are mysterious, seductive creatures - and they don't even know about the Weres.

Until now. The Weres and shifters have finally decided to follow the lead of the undead and reveal their existence to the ordinary world.

At first it seems to go well. Then the mutilated body of a werepanther is found in the parking lot of the bar where Sookie works. The victim is someone she knows, so she feels compelled to discover who - human or otherwise - did the deed.

But what she doesn't realize is that there is a much greater danger than the killer threatening Bon Temps. A race of unhuman beings - older, more powerful and far more secretive than vampires or werevolves - is preparing for war. And Sookie will find herself al all-too-human pawn in their battle.

My thoughts:
All I have to say is WOW! This book was fantastic and I was really expecting it to just be 'okay' but Harris really did an awesome job! I couldn't have asked for a better story. Sookie just ends up in the middle of all the different battles though and gets hurt. I feel so sorry for her. Here's the recap!

*The Weres finally decide to come out and let themselves be known to the world. Since the world has accepted Vamps for quite some time the Weres thought it was their turn. They thought everybody took it okay until Sookie showed up for work and Crystal, Jason's wife her sister in law, was found dead. Crucified and nailed to a wooden cross. The horrible thing about it other than she was dead was that she was with child. Sookie vowed to find who the killer was so Jason wouldn't be accused of killing his own wife.

*One of Eric's guys show up at Merlotte's and tells Sookie that Eric would like to see her that night and when she comes, to hand Eric a velvet bag with whatever was in it in front of the new King. Sookie didn't look in the bag cause she trusted Eric. When Sookie got to Fangtasia, she went to Erics office, handed him the velvet bag and took out what was in it. It was the ceremonial knife from the wedding from the last book so now since Sookie gave it to Eric, it means that they are pretty much married. Sookie doesn't get mad at Eric for tricking her though but she thinks its because of their blood bond that happened in the las book.

*Sookie's great grandfather comes back into the picture to warn Sookie that she is in danger from his enemy. Another fairy prince that wants to get rid of Sookie so her great grandfather will leave the human world and seal up the portal and live in Faery. Sookie does have a visitor one day while she is pulling weeds in her garden and ends up killing the fairy. Although that does not mean that she is out of the water.

*Tray Dawson is dating Amelia and is guarding Sookie during the day and Bubba at night. Tray ends up getting poisoned and a fairy ends up attacking him at his house. When Sookie makes her way home to make sure Amelia is home and well, she is kidnapped and taken by two fairies and they torture her by cutting her over and over with a razor. Bill and her great grandfather end up saving her and kill the two fairies. At the hospital, there's an all out battle and Tray dies, Bill is seriously injured but survives and everybody else is okay. At the end, Sookies great Grandfather tells her that he has decided to close the portal to keep the fairies away from humans instead of the other way around. Tells Sookie that she won't ever see him again and that the vampire is not so bad. He takes off before Sookie can ask him which vampire he was talking about.

Alright I feel like I've missed a big part. Does anybody know if I did? Let me know!

Alright so you can't say this book was terrible!! It was great!

Amy

Pages read YTD: 7,827

Next book to read: Royal Blood by Ellen Screiber

26. Lover Avenged by J.R. Ward

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 05:56:25 GMT

Title: Lover Avenged
Author: J.R. Ward
Genre: Romance - Paranormal
ISBN: 0-451-22585-6
Pages: 527
Rating: Must Have
Series/Anthology: 6th book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.
Dates: 5/25 - 6/7

About this book:
Caldwell, New York, has long been the battleground for the vampires and their enemies, the Lessening Society. It's also where Rehvenge has staked out his turf as a drug lord and owner of a notorious night-club tht caters to the rich and heavily armed. His shadowy reputation is exactly why he's approached to kill Wrath, the Blind King and leader of the Brotherhood.

Rehvenge has always kept his distance from the Brotherhood, even though is sister is married to a member. Because he's a symphath, his identity is a deadly secret - the revelation of which could result in his banishment to a colony for sociopaths. As plots within and outside the Brotherhood take their told on Rehvenge, he turns to the only source of light in his darkening world - Ehlena, a vampire untouched by the corruption that has its hold on him - and the only thing standing between him and eternal destruction.

My thoughts:
Fantastic book! OMG, probably the best yet. Well, maybe not quite as good as book 2 & 3 but still right up there. Loved the storyline and all the different things that happened in this book. It really brought a lot together and we really found out a whole bunch of symphaths. Amazing. There was a lot of stuff with Wrath and Bella's family. A LOT with John Matthew which the next book is going to be about. I can't wait. Ward really left the ending to be open when it comes to that. There's going to be a lot going on in the next book so I hope she comes out with it pretty soon. I hope not a whole year has to go by to read about John Matthew and Xhex.

I'm going to do a quick summery of the important things that happened just because so much happened in this book that I just can't do a thorough summery.

*Montrag goes to Rehv and he wants Rehv to kill Wrath because there are too many changes that are going on and the glymera doesn't like it. Rehv ends up having Xhex kill him instead which then leads to Montrag sending out an affadavit written by Rehv's mothers hellren saying that Rehv killed him and that Rehv is a symphath so instead of having his sister find everything out about him, he decided to blow up ZeroSum and fake his death and then went up to the colony to be with the other symphaths.

*John Matthew and Xhex finally have sex but the first time they did, Xhex walked out like it didn't even matter, kinda like pity sex. It destroyed John Matthew and prompted him to not give a shit about anything anymore so he now ends up having sex with any female he can and that does include doing threesomes with Quinn. They have sex a second time the night before they go to fight against the symphaths to get Rehv out of the colony. Also, we find that Xhex really does love John Matthew but doesn't tell him so. At the end of the book during the fight at the colony, Lash ends up kidnapping Xhex since she killed the Princess.

*Rehv falls in love with Ehlena but doesn't tell her about his being a symphath. She ends up losing her job to bring him antibotics for his arms since he is too stubborn to go back in a see Havers. The Princess pays a visit to Ehlena and tells her of what Rehv is and when Rehv confirms it, he brings her to ZeroSum and proves it to her. She leaves and doesn't want anything to do with him and he did all that on purpose because he knew that he was going to fake his own death. After his fake death, Rehv leaves a lot of his money to Ehlena using Montrags death and Ehlena's father as next of kin. He knew that she would never accept it from Rehv. So after a month, Ehlena realizes and suspects that Rehv is still alive and confronts Xhex about it. She confirms and tells her everything. Ehlena then makes the plan to go and rescue him from the colony but Xhex pulls the Brotherhood into the mix since Rehv saved Wraths life by taking care of Montrag and letting him know that the guy had plans of killing him. So the Brotherhood goes to the colony to rescue Rehv.

*Wrath ends up going blind all of a sudden and now uses a dog to help him get around and actually grows quite fond of him.

*Phury starts fighting again because Wrath started fighting again but when Wrath went blind, he obviously had to stop. But Phury doesn't. Tohr ends up getting out of his mourning stage for Wellsie and joins back with the Brotherhood.

Okay, I don't think I missed anything. I might have though so let me know if I did.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 7,515

Next book to read: Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

25. The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

Mon, 25 May 2009 06:08:58 GMT

Title: The Lucky One
Author: Nicholas Sparks
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0-446-57993-9
Pages: 326
Rating: Worth the Read
Series/Anthology: No.
Dates: 5/10 - 5/24

About this book:
When U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the dirt during his third tour of duty in Iraq, his first instinct is to toss it aside. Instead, he brings it back to the base for someone to claim, but when no one doesn, he finds himself always carrying the photo in his pocket. Soon Thibault experiences a sudden streak of luck, winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat that kills two of his closest buddies. Only his b est friend, Bictor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph - his lucky charm.
Back home in Colorado, Thibault can't seem to get the photo - and the woman in it - out of his mind. Believing that she somehow holds the key to his destiny, he sets out on a journey across the country to find her, never expecting the strong but vulnerable woman he encounters in Hampton, North Carolina - Elizabeth, a divorced mother with a young son - to be the girl he's been waiting his whole life to meet.
Caught off guard by the attraction he feels, Thibault keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate and all-consuming love affair, the secret he is keeping will soon threaten to tear them apart - destroying not only their love, but always their lives.

My thoughts:
Starts out a little slow because of the author explaining what happened to the main character in Iraq, but turned out to be a great story. I would definitely recommend this book to someone that likes fiction stories or likes Nicholas Sparks in general. However it is not one of his better books.

*Thibault is in Iraq and finds a picture half buried in the dirt and ends up taking it to base where he posts on a board for someone to claim. When nobody does, he decides to keep the picture in is pocket. One of his friends in Iraq, follows him out of danger only because he thinks the picture is lucky and knew that no matter the danger, nothing would happen cause Thibault carried the picture on him always.

*After getting out of Iraq, him and his friend take a fishing trip and Victor tells him that he needs to find the lady in the picture because he owes her his life and needs to repay her or something like that. Anyways, they decide to stay on the lake longer instead of leaving to return home and a boat ends up crashing into their boat and hitting Victor dead on and killing him instantly. It wasn't too long after that, that Thibault set out on a journey to find the woman in the picture and ends up walking all the way to North Carolina. Ends up finding her and taking a job to be close to her. Beth's grandmother owns a kennel that is right next to their house and he gets the job helping take care of the dogs and training them.

*Him and Beth end up becoming close and start dating. Her son, Ben, ends up adoring Thibault and looks to him like a son should to a father since he's not very happy with the father that he has. His father, Clayton, is a big shot cause his whole family owns the town pretty much and he threatens off all of the dates that Beth has.

*Beth ends up learing the truth about why Thibault came to Hampton, NC and feels betrayed and stalked. Thibault does end up explaining things to her and she forgives him. Clayton doesn't like this at all and tries forcing Beth to be with him once a week on a "date" and if she doesn't agree to that then he'll go to court and get full custody of Ben. Ben hears this and gets upset saying that he doesn't want to live with him and runs out the door into the storm. Beth tries to go after him and Clayton wouldn't let her, when he finally lets her go, she realizes that Ben went to the tree house and makes a run for the woods. Clayton realizes what danger Ben is in also and runs after her and Ben. Beth ends up breaking her foot by steping on a tree root wrong and when they finally reach the creek, Ben is already in the creek holding onto something. Clayton rushes in after him and couldn't reach him. Thibault goes in after them but Zeus ends up saving Ben's life and Thibault barely made it out of there. Clayton however didn't.

*Beth and Clayton end up continuing their relationship and Ben is happy with the way life is although Ben and Beth were both sad that Clayton died in the river although Beth never thinks bad of him and believes him to be a hero for helping her to the creek after breaking her foot and then trying to save their son and paying for it with his life.

So all in all, it was a good book. I was surprised by the ending because normally Sparks books end kinda sad but this one wasn't too bad so I was happy with it.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 6,988

Next book to read: Lover Avenged by J.R. Ward

24. Unfinished Symphony by V.C. Andrews (REREAD)

Thu, 07 May 2009 07:21:07 GMT

Title: Unfinished Symphony
Author: V.C. Andrews
Genre: Horror
ISBN: 0-671-53473-4
Pages:344
Rating: Must Have
Series/Anthology 3rd in the Logan Family series.
Dates: 5/3 - 5/6

About this book:
Melody had always believed her mother, Haille, and dear stepdaddy had died in tragic accidents - that's why she'd come to stay with her secretive Logan relatives on Cape Cod. But then a friend recognized Haille's pictures in a catalog and kindled Melody's hopes. Maybe her mother hadn't perished in a fire in California after all, but was in some desperate trouble that kept her out of reach...

Melody's dream of finding her mother seemed as flimsy as the scrap of paper that was her only clue. And despite the pampered life Melody was offered as a guest in a Beverly Hills mansion, nothing could soften the blow of the moment she stood face-to-face with her mother and saw her eyes turn dark and cold as stones. Melody knew there must be a reason why her mother pretended at first not recognize her - and why she'd even faked her own death. Though Melody's beloved Cary beckoned from Cape Cod, she felt in her heart that her mother needed her now more than ever. And beneath her mother's unkept promises and tattered fantasies, Melody hoped to unearth the truth about her own past, and find her way to a safer, better place...where she could embrace a bright new future of her own.

My thoughts:
I didn't like the beginning of this book because it starts off rather slow. I was quite bored with it and it doesn't help that I have read it before. However, I did stick with it because there were things that I didn't quite remember from way back when. You know, one thing that I can't stand about these first 3 books, is that Melody calls her mom and dad, mommy and daddy and she's 19. When I think of someone calling their parents Mommy and Daddy, I think of a little girl. I don't know. Anyways, I still enjoyed this book after getting through the boring parts. Here's the recap...

*Holly drives Melody to New York so she can get a flight out to L.A. Melody meets Holly's busniess partner, Billy, and they form a very bonded friendship. When Melody gets to L.A. she stays with Holly's sister who is very rich and takes her out to nice restaurants and buys her clothes that are very expensive. When Melody goes to the address of Gina Simon who she believes really is her mother, her mother pretends not to know who she is. When she ends up going back the next day, her mother owns up to faking her death and the woman that was buried back in Cape Cod was one of Richard's other clients but she had Haille's identification on her so they went along with the story. Melody moves in with her mother and Richard but the new story/lie is that Melody is Gina's sister that is just visiting. Richard becomes her "agent" and gets her a role in a independant film but Melody doesn't realize that it's a porno movie until she gets there and runs off. Richard tries to rape her because he was so angry with her for running out on the gig but Melody escaped him. Richard left to go back up Haille but he already told her that Melody was the one that was trying to seduce him. She believed Richard so Melody decided to leave. Before leaving, Haille tells Melody who her real father is...Teddy Jackson. Which shocks Melody and makes her angry.

*Melody returns home and finds out that Uncle Jacob died from another heart attack. She still decides to live with Grandma Olivia who ends up having Melody take lessons on "becoming a lady". Grandma Olivia forbids Melody to spend so much time with Cary after realizing that they have formed a relationship. They sneak behind her back anyway. Kenneth and Judge Childs start talking again and have come to terms with happened. They will never be the father and son they should be but Kenneth tolerates him. Kenneth ends up selling Neptune's daughter to Judge Childs as long as he donates it to a museum.

*After Uncle Jacob dies, Grandpa Samuel starts getting things really confused so Grandma Olivia put him in the same home as Grandma Belinda. When Cary and Melody went to visit them one day, Melody found Grandma Belinda in the garden on a bench and she had passed away. They had a small service for her. Soon after, Grandma Olivia has a stroke. When they went to tell Grandpa Samuel, he started mumbling about something being in the basement and that it wasn't his fault. He couldn't stop her. So Melody went down to the basement to find out with he was talking about and found documents saying that Laura (Cary's twin that died from drowning while going out on a sailboat) had actually survived but Grandma Olivia put her in an instituation instead of telling the family. I guess she had amesia or whatever. Anyways, Melody contronted her and threatened to tell everybody on the Cape what kind of woman she really was and that made GO upset and made her worse. Melody went out the door and told Cary everything after visiting her father since he was the one that helped. GO blackmailed him and said that if he didn't do it then she'd tell everybody that he was Haille's lover and Melody's father. Cary and Melody drove out to the instituation but found out that Laura died shortly after being brought there by walking into the ocean and drowning. They never did tell Aunt Sara.

*Melody got to manage the family fortune and they started Cary a boat building business. Cary and Melody were making plans for getting married. And Kenneth and Holly got married too.

The next book is Laura's book but I'm not sure I want to read that. At least not right away. I'm not sure yet. I remember the first 3 books in the series being my favorite but maybe I should read the other 2 since it has been so long.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 6,662

Next book to read: Either.... Music in the Night by V.C. Andrews OR The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

23. Heart Song by V.C. Andrews (REREAD)

Sun, 03 May 2009 21:01:00 GMT

Title: Heart Song
Author: V.C. Andrews
Genre: Horror
ISBN: 0-671-53472-6
Pages:378
Rating: Must Have
Series/Anthology: 2nd in the Logan Family series.
Dates: 4/27 - 5/3

About this book:
When Melody Logan's mother died in a car accident, Melody lost the last shred of family she had ever known. She was practically a stranger to the Logans, her wealthy relatives on Cape Cod, where she now drifted on a sea of dark secrets. In the eyes of gentle Aunt Sara, Melody was a replacement for her dead daughter, while for Uncle Jacob she was a reminder of the family's ahmeful past. Only good-hearted Cary seemed to care, and since it was revealed that she and Cary weren't truly cousins, the affection that had always surged between them now crested in thrilling waves.

But Melody knew she could never truly echo Cary's loving promises unil she discovered her own buried identity. Despite Grandma Olivia's daggerlike threats, Melody sought out Belinda, a mysterious, half-crazy woman who was her real grandmother. Belinda gave Melody hope - and a glimmer of the pearls of truth she knew were hidden in the shifting Cape Cod sands. Somehow, someday, the story of her past would be her hard-won treasure, to be savored in a world of sunshine and happiness...where seh truly belonged.

My thoughts:
I love this series. I love the characters and the lies and the secrets I guess. I absolutely love the relationship between Melody and Cary though. I think that's my favorite part of it all. In this book, their relationship starts to grow stronger since they find out that they're not cousins and it's just a sweet and innocent love. I just love it.

*Melody works for Kenneth Childs during the summer and starts growing a crush on him and pushes Cary away. Kenneth finds his vision for his piece of marble and he asks Melody to model for him which means that eventually she'll have to get naked. Cary and Melody break into Kenneth's store room and find pictures of Haille (Melody's mother) when she was younger, modeling for his pictures, naked.

*Uncle Jacob still hasn't come around with being nice to her. Grandma Olivia has taken a lot of interest in Melody. Melody wants to go see her real grandmother, Belinda. Her first visit went kinda well but when she went back, Olivia ordered that she have no more visitors. Melody didn't accept that and went back anyways where she found out that her mother's father, her grandfather, was Judge Childs. Which means that Kenneth is her uncle. Melody realized that is the reason why Kenneth didn't speak to his father because that meant that Kenneth and Haille couldn't be boyfriend/girlfriend or even more because they were half brother and sister.

*Kenneth offered for Melody to move in with him since he was her uncle but Olivia forbade it and told Melody that she would move in with her and Grandpa Samuel. Kenneth didn't put up a fight because of how involved he was with his art and thought that Melody would have a better life living with Olivia.

*Melody was getting her stuff packed and she got a package from her friend back in Sewall with En Vogue magazine. In the magazine, a model that looked exactly like Melody's mother was in it and Melody took the magazine to Kenneth for him to make the decision if that was her or not. Kenneth said that he was sure it was Haille. He made some phone calls and the woman had the name Gina Simon and her manager was Richard Marlin who was the man that Melody's mother took off with. Melody then went to Grandma Olivia and wanted an advance from her inheritance so she could go to L.A. and find out about this woman.

*Throughout the book, Cary and Melody get closer in their relationship and end up making love on their lobster boat and another time during the book. Cary even talks about marrying her one day and having children.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 6,318

Next book to read: Unfinished Symphony by V.C. Andrews

22. Melody by V.C. Andrews (REREAD)

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:23:34 GMT

Title: Melody
Author: V.C. Andrews
Genre: Horror
ISBN: 0-671-53471-8
Pages: 373
Rating: Must Have
Series/Anthology: First in the Logan Family series.
Dates: 4/18 - 4/25

About this book:
Melody Logan knew her beautiful mother, Haille, was unhappy in their hardscrabble mining town...but with her wonderful father's unwavering love, Melody always felt safe - until a dreadful mine accident ripped her from her family's moorings.

She was still devastated by her father's death when she left West Virginia with Haille to follow her mother's dream of becoming a model or actress. But first they stopped in Cape Cod to visit her father's family at last.

Melody knew only that her grandparents had disowned their son when he married Haille - just because she was an orphan, her mother said. Yet moments after Melody first laid eyes on dour, Bible-spouting Uncle Jacob, nervous Aunt Sara and her cousins - handsome Cary, whose twin, Laura, had been killed recently in a sailing accident, and sweet, deaf little May - Haille announced that Melody was to live with them.

Sleeping in Laura's old room, Melody was awash in a sea of grief and confusion, with only her beloved fiddle to comfort her. Then Cary revealed the truth he'd gleaned about her parents - a sad, shocking story that only puzzled her more. Melody knew nothing of the dark deceptions that would soon surface...the devastating betrayals she would face before she glimpsed the faint, beckoning lights of a safe harbor...

My thoughts:
I love this book/series from V.C. Andrews. It's my favorite out of all her books. To be honest, I don't even know why. I think it's the relationship between Melody and Cary. Even though they are semi related, I still love the relationship that they have. It doesn't really mention it too much in this book but you know there is something growing towards the end. I love all the characters even though a lot of them make me mad because they are narrow-minded and look down on Melody for her parents mistakes. It sucks.

*Melody and her parents live in West Virginia in Sewall. Melody's father is a coal miner. Melody's mother works in a beauty salon, not really making much money. She complains about how their life sucks there and that she could've been an actress or model but she's stuck there in that small town. Melody's father is killed in a mine accident and then afterward, Melody's mom starts seeing Archie Marlin who then puts the idea in her mother's head that she could still becoming an actress/model. So they took off but their first stop was Cape Cod to visit with Melody's dad's side of the family, since she's never met them on account of they disowned him and Haille because they married.

*When they finally get to Cape Cod, Melody's mom tells her that she is going to be living with her Uncle Jacob and Aunt Sara until she can get settled somewhere cause they were going to be on the road a lot until she could get a job. Unfortuately Melody learns the unfortuate truth while living with her Uncle and Aunt. She visits her grandmother Olivia and she tells her the truth. The truth being that Haille was adopted but not by some strangers, by Olivia and Samuel themselves. That Haille was Grandma Olivia's sisters child out of wedlock so she took her in as an adopted child. She grew up with Chester and Jacob like brothers and sister. Haille ended up getting pregnant and blamed it on Olivia's husband, Samuel. Chester believed her over his own father and got into a fist fight with Jacob about it. They took off and got married and Olivia and Samuel disowned Chester for it.

*Melody takes off back to West Virginia to live with Mama Arlene and almost gets raped along the way. When she finally makes it back to Sewall, she finds out that Mama Arlene went to live with her sister because Papa George died. Her friend Alice loans her money cause Melody planned on taking off to L.A. to find her mother. However, she was intercepted by Cary at the bus station and he was told by Grandma Olivia to bring her back. He told her on the way back, that he was sure he knew who her real father was and that it was Kenneth Childs. She was spending a lot of time with him before she got pregnant.

*After Melody returned home, she went and met Kenneth for the first time but couldn't get up the nerve to ask him if he was her father. So she kept her mouth shut. On the day of her birthday, Cary took her sailing and gave her and I.D. bracelet. Melody went to kiss him on the cheek for it but Cary turned his head and ended up giving her a kiss on the lips instead (love brewing). When they got back to the house, Kenneth was there and wanted to offer Melody a job working as his assistant for $100/week. Then that was the end.

I know it may not sound like the best book but I just love it. The 2nd book is way better but I still love this series!

Amy

Pages read YTD: 5,940

Next book to read: Heart Song by V.C. Andrews

21. Lord of Misrule by Rachel Caine

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:42:17 GMT

Title: Lord of Misrule
Author: Rachel Caine
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 0451225724
Pages:231
Rating: Worth the Read
Series/Anthology: 5th in the Morganville Vampire series.
Dates: 4/11 - 4/18

About this book:
In the college town of Morganville, vampries and humans have coextisted in (relatively) bloodless harmony...until the arrival of Bishop, a master vampire who threatens to put the evil back in evil undead and smash the fagile peace. But Bishop isn't the only threat...

Violent black clouds promise a storm of devastating proportations. As student Claire Danvers and her friends prepare to defend Morganville against the elements - both natural and unnatural - the unexpected happens: Morganville's vampires begin to vanish one by one. Discovering why leads Claire to one last choice: Swear allegiance to Bishop...or die.

My thoughts:
This book was good although I'm extremely disappointed with this series. There's so much that could be left out that would still make the books good. I mean, a lot of it just seems like there's too much to read about nothing if that makes sense. Then when the book finally gets good, the author ends it. I know the whole point is for the author to make money. But come on now, that has to really anger some of the people that buy the books. Of course, this is all my opinion and I'm sure some people will agree with me and others won't but I just don't understand why the author puts so much stuff and fluff into these books and then leaves it open and then continues it in the next book. Doesn't make any sense to me. However, the book was good and more exciting then the last couple of them that's for sure.

*Basically, Amelie and Claire save Myrnin from Bishop. Claire drags Myrnin away and leaves Amelie and Bishop fighting it out. Amelie is then nowhere to be found and nobody knows if she is dead or alive. The town starts rioting and turning on the vampires by taking their bracelets off and wanting to kill the Morrells because they've gone along with the vampires and sided with them. Claire saves Monica from a riot that was beating her and chasing her, wanting to kill her. Amelie sends out a call to all the vampires that have aligned themselves with her and it makes the vampires, even Michael want to go out in daylight to get whereever they were being called to. Michael was then put in a cell in the basement of City Hall to keep him from going out in the sun. After things start to settle down, the vampires are released and they all go home. Michael finds out that Shane knew his dad was coming back to town and never told him so Michael is pissed at Shane. Shane gives Claire a silver cross and tells her that he loves her. The gang finds Oliver in the attic with several burns on him from silver powder. While they all are trying to help him, Claire gets hit over the head and dragged through a portal. When she wakes up, Jason was with her and he brought her to Ysandre who threatens to kill her but Amelie shows up and saves her. Tells her to find Richard Morrell and tell him to clear everybody out of City Hall cause that is going to be where the big fight happens and pushes her back throught he portal and kills Ysandre. Everybody ends up going to City Hall to tell Richard but the big fight breaks out anyways and humans are getting killed right and left. A big tornado hits and takes out half of City Hall. Richard has a big chunk of metal in his side, Mayor Morrell dies, Myrnin saves them and uses the portal to take them back to his lab where Theo saves Richard doing surgery. Theo ends up coming back and tells them that Bishop has his family and asks them to help. Myrnin betrays Claire and gives Bishop the book and leaves. Claire gets some kind of tattoo on her arms and pledges herself to Bishop. Bishop releases Eve and tells her to go to Amelie that he has everything of hers now and that if she wants to fight, to come and fight him face to face. The end.

Like I said, the book was good and a lot happens, there's just too much inbetween stuff that doesn't need to be written. I think anyways.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 5,567

Next book to read: Melody by V.C. Andrews OR The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

20. Feast of Fools by Rachel Caine

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:21:17 GMT

Title: Feast of Fools
Author: Rachel Caine
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 0451224639
Pages:242
Rating: Worth the Read
Series/Anthology: 4th in the Morganville series.
Dates: 03/28 - 4/11

About this book:
In the college town of Morganville, vampires and humans have learned to live in relative peace. Still, students like Claire Danvers know that after dark, studying can take a backseat to staying alive. But the tenuous good-neighbor policy is really turned on its head with the arrival of Mr. Bishop.

Bad to the bone, the ancient old-school vampire cares nothing about harmony. Staying at the top of the food chain is enough. What he wants from the town's living and dead is unthinkably sinister. It' only at the formal ball attended by vampires and their human dates that Claire realizes Bishop's plan - and the elaborately evil trap he's set for the warmblooded souls of Mrganville...

My thought:
It was good. It took me a long time to read only because of family things going on and not having the time. However, the book was actually pretty good. Better than the 3rd book. I loved all the drama this book had to offer. The jealousy over Ysandre going after Shane. The relationship that Claire built with Myrnin and trying to find a cure for his disease. It was really good. Loved the ending too!

*At the end of the book 3, Claire's parents show up at the Glass House with a traveler they found that was coming to Morganville named Mr. Bishop. Mr. Bishop is a vampire and threatens to kill them all if Claire doesn't get Amelie there right away. Claire calls Amelie but she doesn't answer so Eve calls Oliver and not long afterward, him and Amelie come rushing over and have a long talk with Mr. Bishop who happens to be Amelie's father. Amelie tells Claire to butt out of vampire busniess and to stay away from Bishop.

*Claire starts working with a doctor from the hospital at Amelie's request to try and find a cure for Bishop. Or at least take the crystals that Myrnin was using to keep sane and make a better solution for it. They did find another way to make the solution better and then they also made it in liquid form so they could inject it into Myrnin instead of getting close to him for him to take it by mouth. The solution actually makes him stay sane longer and evenutally convinces Claire that he is fully better and can remember things that he reads.

*Eve gets a call from Jason and he tells her that their father is in the hospital and is dying from his liver from drinking all those years. Eve wants to pretend that she doesn't care because her parents threw her out at 18 because she wouldn't sign herself over to Brandon. Eve does go to the hospital and is pretty torn up about her father dying.

*When Bishop came to town he brought 2 of his followers and one of them is Ysandre who ends up wanting Shane even though he doesn't want her. She targets Shane to be her date at the Welcoming Ball for Bishop and makes him dress up in leather and with a leash and brought him as her dog.

*Amelie tells Claire that she cannot come to the party and for her not to disobey her. The day of the party when nobody was home, Claire went to go see Myrnin and he convinced her to go to the party with him as her date. They found costumes and what not. At the party, when the vampires were supposed to offer their "human date" to him as an offering, Myrnin and Claire went up to the front. Myrnin pulled out a knife and sliced his arm and took off running leaving Claire there. Ysandre came after Claire but she poured Holy Water on her head and made her start to smoke. Amelie stepped in and said that he could not have Claire because she was hers. Bishop commented how everybody there was hers and that was all about to change. One of Bishops followers went after Jason and Jennifer. Michael and Shane pulled Jennifer away from the bad vamps but Jason got bitten. Amelie went to save him and pushed the vamp away and told them that Jason was hers too. Jason smiled an evil smile and staked Amelie through the heart. All hell broke lose and everybody was running. Sam and Michael grabbed Amelie to get her to safety and Oliver carried Claire away.

*When Claire woke up, she was at the Glass House and there were about 30 people there. Amelie was in the safe room with Oliver and Sam. Claire had to go and get blood from Myrnin's lab and found Myrnin there. She found out that it was all a set up for Myrnin. He went there to get a sample of Bishops blood so they could prove that his blood was a cure for him. When Claire was getting ready to leave, Bishop showed up and said that he know Claire would lead him right to Myrnin and threw Claire through a portal that made her end up in her parents new house, one of the founder's houses. She called Richard Morall and he gave her a ride back home where she went to talk to Amelie and tell her that she left Bishop and Myrnin alone. Amelie already knew. She said that she could feel it and Claire got mad at her and accused her for not caring about any of them when they all donated blood to save hers. Amelie formed a plan. Claire was going with her to save Myrnin, 2 vampires and 2 humans were going to each founder's house to guard it from Bishops followers and Shane had the "most important" job of all. He was supposed to guard the Bloodmobile and then Amelie gave him the book that Bishop wants back. Claire realized then that she was using Shane as the bait. And thats where it ends.

A lot happened in this book.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 5,336

New book to read: Lords of Misrule by Rachel Caine

19. Midnight Ally by Rachel Caine

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:17:50 GMT

Title:Midnight Ally
Author: Rachel Caine
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 0451222385
Pages:245
Rating: Good but nothing special.
Dates: 3/17 - 3/21
Series/Anthology: 3rd in the Morganville Vampire series.

About this book:
When Claire Danvers learned that her colleg town was run by vampires, she did what any intelligent, self-preserving freshman would do: She applied for a transfer and stocked up on garlic. The transfer is no longer an option, but that garlic may come in handy.

Now Claire has pledged herself to Amelie, the most powerful vampire in town. The protection her contract secures does little to reassure those closest to Claire. All of a sudden, people are turning up dead, a stalker resurfaces from her past, and an ancient bloodsucker extends a chilling invitation for private lessons in his secluded home. To what end, Claire will soon discover - and it will give a terrifying new meaning to night school.

My thoughts:
This book was just okay. I wasn't really impressed with it but it was good enough that makes me wanna read the next book in the series. So that's a plus I guess. I'm not a fan of Eve and Michael anymore just because they are acting dumb with Michael being a vampire now. It's weird. Anyways, here's the recap...

*Claire did the sign the contract to "belong" to Amelie but she didn't tell Shane, Michael or even Eve about it. She didn't want them to know or anything. Shane is still pissed at Michael for making the decision to have Amelie turn him into a vampire so now Shane isn't talking to Michael and is making smart ass comments. Monica shows up at the Glass House and asking for Claire. She all of a sudden wants to be friends but Claire turns her away. Claire later in the book learns that Oliver has taken over Brandon's (a vampire that died in the last book) protection status so now Monica "belongs" to Oliver and he wants Monica to become friends with Claire and find out her secrets cause if Monica doesn't do a good job, she's afraid that Oliver is going to sell her to another vampire that will take away her "popularity".

*Claire gets her bracelet in the mail with Amelie's symbol on it but Claire decides that she doesn't want to wear it because she doesn't want her friends to see it and be upset. Amelie shows up and tells her that she has to put it on and does it for her. Claire ends up wearing long sleeves and hides it but Michael figures it out and tells her that if she wants them to treat her like an adult instead of a kid then she needs to fess up and accept the consequences. So she does but her friends take it well.

*Amelie puts in her first demand of Claire and makes her start studying with Myrnin who is sick and loses his mind. He doesn't remember who he is and what he's doing and almost kills Claire a couple of times. Myrnin needs to teach her the way of the doorways and see if Claire is smart enough to find a cure for all the vampires that are eventually dying and suffering like Myrnin.

*A girl that works with Eve ends up dead, Sam (the vampire) ends up being staked, Shane finds a girl at the bottom of the basement stairs, dead, and takes her body to the church to be found. Everybody wants to turn on Shane of course for the murders and for what happened to Sam. Oliver tells Claire that if she tells him what Amelie has Claire doing, that he would give Shane and Eve his personal protection but Claire refuses.

*Shane was attacked and Stabbed by Eve's brother, Jason. He was taken to the hospital to have surgery which he survives. Claire gets kidnapped by Officer Fenton when she puts together that he was the one who staked Sam. He takes her to some shed where others are. Fenton's wife, a jantor at the university, Jason. Michael shows up with Oliver to save Claire. Oliver kills the Fentons but Jason got away.

*Claire gets a note from Amelie saying that she was disappointed in Claire progress with Myrnin and that she had 2 days to figure things out. Claire rushes over to Myrnin's place and they take some of the crystals for Claire to learn faster. Claire learns that Jason is working for Oliver and Claire left them with Amelie. (so you don't know what happened with that)

*At the end, Claire's parents show up and tell Claire that they are moving to Morganville. When Michael invited them in, Claire's parents had picked up a stray and his name is Bishop. He told Michael and Claire to get Amelie to that house in a half an hour or he was going to kill everybody. He told them that he was Amelie's father.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 5,094

Next book to read: Immortal Warrior by Lisa Hendrix

18. Hunted: A House of Night Novel by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:59:22 GMT

Title: Hunted: A House of Night Novel
Author: P.C. Cast + Kristin Cast
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 0-312-37982-X
Pages 323
Rating: Worth the Read
Dates: 3/11 - 3/15
Series/Anthology: 5th in the House of Night series.

About this book:
Zoey's friend's have her back again and Stevie Rae and the red fledglings aren't Neferet's secrets any longer. But an unexpected danger has emerged. Neferet guards her powerful new consort, Kalona, and no one at the House of Night seems to understand the threat he poses. Kalona is gorgeous, and he has the House of Night under his spell. A past life holds the key to breaking his rapidly spreading influence, but what if this past life unearths secrets Zoey doesn't want to see and truths she can't face?

On the run and holed up in Tulsa's Prohibition-era tunnels, Zoey and her gang must discover a way to deal with something that might bring them all down. Meanwhile, Zoey has a few other little problems. The red fledglings have cleaned up well - they've even managed to make the dark, creepy tunnels feel more like home - but are they really as friendly as they seem? On the boyfriend front, Zoey has a chance to make things right with super-hot ex, Eric, but she can't stop thinking about Stark, the archer who died in her arms after one unforgettable night, and she is driven to try to save him from Neferet's sinister influence at all costs. Will anyone believe the power evil has to hide among us?

My thoughts:
I have to say this about all of the books in the House of Night series...They are good, however the more I read the books, I'm disappointed because the whole beginning of the books are all talk and no action and then the ending is fantastic with a whole bunch of action thrown into the mix. I love the writing and the storyline but I feel like the books are just being dragged out. So in a way, I'm disappointed in that face. However, as always the story was good and I loved the ending. Glad there will be more books on the way though. I do have to say that I can't stand the Twins. Ugh. They drive me insane the way they talk to each other and finish each other's sentences. So yeah...here's the recap...

*Zoey and the gang are all hanging out down in the tunnels since Kalona rose up out of the earth. The red fledglings have used Aphrodite's credit card to buy things for the tunnels to make them like home. Zoey and Erik end up getting back together while down there and they both admit that they miss each other. Heath shows up in the basement of the tunnels and wanted to make sure that Zoey was alright. Erik and Heath end up agruing over Zoey which makes Zoey upset with Erik because he's being to possessive over her. So Zoey and Heath step outside the basement and go to Heath's car which Heath tries to get her to drink his blood so they can Imprint again. Zoey flees the car and there's noise from a tree where a Raven Mocker is there watching her and tries to get Zoey to go back to the House of Night. Heath speaks up and tells him no way and so the Raven Mocker tries attack him but Zoey steps in the way and gets cut from left shoulder down her chest to her right shoulder.

*Heath ends up letting Zoey drink from him to get her strength up so they Imprint again. Darius tells everybody that for Zoey to fully recover, she has to be around more than just a couple of full Vampyre's so they have to return to the House of Night. Everybody does not go though. Only Zoey, Aphrodite, the Twins, Damian, and Darius. When they return to the House of Night, Kalona is there waiting along with Neferet. Kalona calls Zoey A-ya because in the legend, A-ya is the one the Cherokee women created from earth to trap Kalona inside the earth and they named her A-ya. Zoey realizes that Neferet has more power than ever before.

*Zoey tries to help Stark get his humanity back and when Stark swears his alliegance to her as his High Priestess, he becomes the 2nd full red Vampyre. (Stevie Rae is the first)

*There are 3 professors at the House of Night not influenced by Kalona and they are on Zoey's side and help her figure out a plan to get Zoey and the other fledglings away from the House of Night because Zoey figured out the prophetic poem that one of the red fledgling had written. To get Kalona to flee and leave the House of Night the place to do it is the Benedictine Abby where Zoey first met Sister Mary Angela. and the 5 women that forms a circle to get him to flee is...Blood = Stevie Rae, Humanity = Aphrodite, Earth = Zoey's Grandma, Spirit = Sister Mary Angela and Night = Zoey. They form the circle and Kalona and Neferet end up fleeing into the night but at the end of the book, Sister Mary Angela tells Zoey that they will be back and Zoey realizes that that is true.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 4,849

Next book to read: Midnight Ally by Rachel Caine

17. The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:03:00 GMT

Title: The Dead Girls' Dance
Author: Rachel Caine
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 0451220897
Pages: 238
Rating: Must Have
Dates: 3/6 - 3/10
Series/Anthology: 2nd in the Morganville Vampire series.

About this book:
Claire Danvers has her share of challenges - like being a genius in a school that favors beauty over brains, dealing with the homicidal girls in her dorm, and above all, finding out that her college town is overrun with vampires. On the up side, she has a great roommate ( who tends to disappear at sunup ) and a new boyfriend named Shane...whose vampire-hunting dad has called in backup: cycle punks who like the idea of killing just about anything.

Now a fraternity is throwing its annual Dead Girls' Dance and - surprise! - Claire and her equally outcast best friend, Eve, have been invited. When they find oiut why, all hell is going to break loose. Because this time both the living and the dead are coming out - and everybody's hungry for blood.

My thoughts:
This book was fantastic! A whole lot of action and drama. It's awesome! I was disappointed because Shane doesn't play a big role in this book. I mean he does in a way but not in the way I would've liked. I'm excited to read the rest of this series. Turns out that this is probably going to be one of my favorites.

Recap:

*Shane's dad ends up killing Michael cause he thought that Michael was a vampire. They ended up burying him in the backyard but Michael can't die because of the protection the house holds over him. Michael calls the police and tells them that there were people that broke into his house. Shane's dad ends up leaving and the police come to question them. They don't believe that none of them knew who the intruders were.

*Brandon was killed and Shane was being blamed for it. Shane went to go and talk to his father and stop this madness but they ended up torturing Brandon and Shane was in the wrong place at the wrong time. When Claire found out, she tried to reason with Amelie and Oliver but Amelie wouldn't do anything even though she knew Shane was innocent and when she went to Oliver, he wanted her to give herself over to him. That she would have to surrender all of herself over to him and that she would be under his control. Dectective Hess pulled a gun on Oliver and told him that he would not let that happen because Claire was sixteen and too young to make that decision.

*When Eve and Claire was out during the day, they were attacked by Monica and her crew. They left Eve and took Claire. Monica told her that her father wanted to see and talk to her about Shane. That her father didn't think that Shane had anything to do with Brandon's murder. Before Monica could take Claire to her father there was another attack and Shane's dad took over the van that they were in. Shane's dad wanted Claire to deliver a message to Monica's dad and that was to let Shane go or he was going to set Monica on fire with a blow torch. But Claire knew that he had no intention of letting Moncia go. So Claire went to her father and told her of Shane's father's message. It didn't do any good. Michael made the decision that he couldn't stand staying in the house any longer and told Amelie that he wanted to become a vampire so he could at least leave the house and try to save Shane. So she did it. Michael is now a vampire.

*Claire made the connection that Shane's father had ganged up with Oliver and they figured out that they were hiding out in Oliver's warehouse and that Oliver and Shane's dad made a deal that he could kill Brandon. Oliver wanted this so the town would be in chaos and Amelie would lose control. They all went to the warehouse and when they got there, the building was up in flames. Claire and Eve ended up saving Monica and her brother, Richard by pulling them out of the burning building. Afterward, they all went to city quare and returned Monica to her father. They were going to release Shane but while everybody was focused on the warehouse building that was up in flames, Shane's dad broke Shane out of his jail cell. All the cops were in pursuit and they were in an old hospital building. When they all got there, there was a big fight. Oliver ended up grabbing Claire by the throat and threatening on crushing her throat if Shane didn't surrender himself and Claire had to surrender herself to him and give him complete power over them. Shane stepped out of the building and ended up throwing holy water at Oliver and forced him to release Claire which she ran to him and they retreated back into the building. They ended up running through the building trying to find a way to escape. They heard people behind them. Shane's dad showed up when he was supposed to have been gone and planned on blowing up the building with all those people in it but Claire messed up the circuits and Shane's dad said that Shane was no son of his because he was siding with the people of Morganville and took off.

*They made it back to the house and Shane found out that Michael was now a vampire and was pissed about it. Shane went to Claire's room where they ended up just sleeping next to each other and Claire decided to sign the contract with Amelie to surrender herself over to Amelie for all of eternity. Claire planned on signing it to save her friends...

It just ended without knowing if she signed the contract or not.

Amy

Page read YTD: 4,526

Next book to read: Hunted: A Houe of Night Novel by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

16. Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 08:08:27 GMT

Title: Glass Houses
Author: Rachel Caine
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 0451219945
Pages: 239
Rating: Worth the Read
Dates: 3/5 - 3/6
Series/Anthology: Book one of the Morganville Vampire series.

About this book:
It's a small college town filled with quirky characters. But when the sun goes down, the bad comes out. Because in Morganville, there is an evil that lurks in the darkest shadows - one that will spill out into the bright light of day.

Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation. The popular girls never let her forget just where she ranks on the school's social scene: somewhere less than zero. And Claire really doesn't have the night connections - to the undead who run the town.

When Claire heads off campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don't show many signs of life. But they'll have Claire's back when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood...

My thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book. Surprisingly. I didn't think that it was going to be up my ally for some reason since I do like vampires but I just got the feeling by reading the back of the book that I wasn't going to like it. So, I guess my feeling was wrong. I really enjoyed this book...even enough to go and buy the next book in the series. So...with that said. Here's my recap...

*Claire starts school in Morganville and lives in a junky dorm thats kind of run down. She get bullied by Monica who ends up doing really harmful things to Claire such as pushing her down the stairs at her dorm, punching her in the eye, stealing her clothes out of the washer and hiding them, cutting up her clothes so she can't wear them anymore. Claire ended up on Monica's bad side because she corrected her on what WWII was and made Monica look stupid. Monica made a threat that Claire was going to get what was coming to her. So, after that, she decided to see if she could move out of her dorm and found a listing for a 4th roommate needed. She inquired about it and after almost being turned down my Michael because she is under eighteen, she does move in there. This is where she learns from Eve that Morganville is full of vampires and that they run the whole city. Claire of course doesn't believe her until she meets Brandon at Common Grounds where Eve works and stumbles into Brandon and he shows off his fangs to her and then Oliver, Eve's boss shows up and turns him away from Common Grounds. This doesn't fly well with Brandon and ends up following them back to their house and attacks Eve. Shane runs out of the house to save her.

*Claire returns to school only to have acid poured on her back by Monica's BFF's and ends up in the ER. Shane stays with her the whole time and then ends up taking her home. They decide that it's not good if Claire returns to school because Monica will eventually succeed on killing her as she had planned to do when she was living in the dorm. One night, Claire was listening to Michael play the guitar at 5am and went down to hang out because she couldn't sleep. When she was there watching him, he put down the guitar and went and stood in front of the window. He bent over in pain and then disappeared. Claire realized that Michael was a ghost. That is why he "slept" all day and only "awoke" at night. Claire promised to keep it a secret.

*While hanging out at the house, Eve told Claire that the vampires are looking for something in the town. It's a book with a certain symbol on it but the vampires can't read it for some reason. Claire stumbles on a hidden room in the library and ends up breaking into there where there are 2 vampires and a professor of Claire's down there looking through old books. While there, the professor take a book and slips it into his backpack to take home because it was first edition and worth some cash. The vampires caught him and were going to kill him and keep Claire in the room for the rest of the day but they made their escapse and the professor had a heart attack in the elevator but told Claire first that he had the book that they were looking for at home and not to let them get it then he died. Claire went home and got Shane and then they went to the professors house and found the book in a bible with the pages cut out of the middle of it. They took it and decided that it was a bargaining chip to get Shane out of trouble. Claire went to Oliver who she thought that she could trust and told him that she had the book and wanted to make a deal for it.

*When Oliver showed up at the house to take a look at the book, Claire was about to let him in but Michael stopped her and told her that he was a vampire and he was the one that attacked him to try and turn him into a vampire but ended up a ghost instead when the transformation didn't work. So Oliver didn't get inside but brought the whole town back with him to try and get that book. There was a huge fight and Shane ended up giving the bible with the book they wanted over to Monica's brother. Then they set the house on fire. They tried putting the fire out by themselves and then found that Amelie was there and brought them into the hidden safe room. They talked and she told them that Michael's house was her house and that she had built it a long time ago. She wanted to know about the book and Shane said that he cut the pages out of the leather bound cover and filled it with pages that had no meaning to them. So...Shane handed the real book over to Amelie and then in return granted them protection from the other Vamps but they couldn't leave town and they had to keep peace in Morganville or she would consider revoking her protection.

*At the end of the book, there was someone ringing the doorbell and when Shane opened it up, there was 3 big guys standing there and one of them was Shane's father. During the fighting, Shane called for help but his father didn't make it in time. Now they were there to hunt the vampires and stake them all. They realized that Michael wasn't normal and then attacked him....

And that was the way it ended. Not finding out what happens with Shane's dad and Michael being attacked. Good thing I have the next book waiting for me....Oh one more thing I forgot to mention, somewhere in this book, more towards the end, Claire and Shane end up kissing and liking each other.

Amy

Page read YTD: 4,288

Next book to read: The Dead Girl's Dance by Rachel Caine

Writer's Block: More Island Time

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:30:59 GMT

You're packing your bag for that other desert island—the one with no electricity—what 5 books do you take with you?

Submitted By mika_uriah

View 501 Answers

1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
2. The Long Home Home by Danielle Steel
3. Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward
4. Kissing Coffins by Ellen Screiber
5. Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward

15. Soulmate by L.J. Smith

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:43:30 GMT

Title: Soulmate (Story in Night World: Volume 2)
Author: L.J. Smith
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 1-4169-7451-2
Pages: 234
Rating: Good but nothing special.
Dates: 2/27 - 3/3
Series/Anthology: 6th in the Night World series.

About the book:
Hannah receives notes warning her of incredible danger is Soulmate. But if death is her destiny, is the Lord of the Night World's love strong enough to save her?

My thoughts:
This book was very strange to start off with. A little boring too but it did capture me to find out what was going on in the story. Anyways, overall it was good but I don't think I'd ever want to read it again. It was a little slow through the whole book except for the end where everything came together. I'm not really fussed with this series but I plan on reading the 3rd volume when it does come out.

*Hannah is leaving herself these little notes around her house that she has no idea writing them. Weird notes that she's going to die before her seventeenth birthday, stuff like that. She goes and sees Paul, a psychologist and he puts her under hypnosis where they establish that she has been reincarnated from other lives. Her very first life was a cave person way back when and that is when she first met Theirry. When they met, he was a newly made vampire and he drank blood from a member of her clan and he was put in "prison" to be killed but Hannah let him go to save him but then the clan found them and tortured him by sticking spears in him. He got angry and hungry and started killing them all. When he opened his eyes, he realized that he was drinking from Hannah and that she was almost dead and that he had killed all of the people of her clan.

*Hannah realized that he had killed her in every lifetime that she has had and that she needed to stay away from him. When he came to her, she told him to stay away from her and he gave her a ring to wear of a rose with black gems in it. He also buried an amulet in her backyard so other vampires are going to have to get permission from someone that lived in that house to enter. The ring was supposed to protect her from mind control. One night, after Hannah was outside and a form came at her...it was Maya, the vampire that turned Theirry into a vampire. She told him all these warnings about him. Then after she left, Hannah went to her room where Theirry was sitting on her bed. She told him that she never wanted to see him again that she hated him. He grabbed her and drank from her and tried to get Hannah to drink from him. Hannah grabbed a pencil and stabbed it into his hand. After Thierry left, Hannah decided to go over to her friend Chess' house and drove over there but got real tired and ran her car off the road.

*Thierry found her and weak and in the road. She told him to stay away from him. Hannah looked down at his hand and realized that there was no pencil mark on his hand. She realized that it wasn't Thierry who had attacked her in her room. She eventually fainted and Thierry carried her to Chess' from door and rang the doorbell and left. When she woke up she needed to call Paul and schedule another session with him and do another hypnosis so she can recover more of her memories. When she went under hypnosis, she realized that Maya was the one that takes Thierry's form and kills her. Not Thierry himself. When she came out of hypnosis, she realized that she had to find Thierry but then recalled that he had told her that he was going to leave her alone and go home. She would never see him again.

*Hannah went to Chess and told her that she needed money. She needed to take a trip and that Chess needed to cover for her with Hannah's mom. Chess gave Hannah her credit card that her mother gave her to get some stuff for graduation. Hannah went to the airport and flew to Vegas. She spent the day searching for Thierry or the witches that he had mentioned once. It was night and still no sign of anybody. She was sitting on the street and spotted someone that looked strange. She realize that he was a night person and followed him. He was a vampire and when he realized that she was following him, he decided that she was going to be dinner but she fought back. He then spotted the black rose ring on her finger and asked who she was. She told him that she was trying to find Thierry and he took her to Thierry's house. Thierry wasn't there but the rest of Circle Daybreak was and she met them. Hannah went out on to the balcony when she was in her room and there was bat hanging there. Eveything went dark.

*When she woke, Hannah was in a cave and tied up to a pole. Maya showed up and bit her again. She planned on making Hannah into a vampire and then killing her so she couldn't come back and then Maya could have Thierry all to herself. Maya left and Hannah found something to cut the ropes that held her and then made a weapon to kill Maya when she returned. When Maya did return, she couldn't kill Maya with her back turned. Maya went after Hannah but then Thierry showed up. Thierry made Maya realize that if she killed Hannah, that Hannah would live on in his heart and he wouldn't turn to Maya and that if she killed them both, that she wouldn't have a prize to claim and that she wouldn't win either way. Maya went after Thierry and Hannah yelled no and shoved the stake that she made into Maya's shoulder and through her heart andn killed her. Theirry and Hannah ended the cycle and could be together.

So, all in all, it was a good story but just really slow.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 4,049

Next book to read: After Midnight by Teresa Medeiros

14. The Chosen by L.J. Smith

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:07:00 GMT

Title: The Chosen (Story in Night World: Volume 2)
Author: L.J. Smith
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 1-4169-7151-2
Pages: 218
Rating: Worth the Read
Dates: 2/24 - 2/26
Series/Anthology: 5th in the Night World Series.

About the book:
Armed with a wooden stake, martial arts, and the will to resist a vampire's mind control, Rashel struggles to avenge her mother's death in The Chosen. Then she meets Quinn, her woulmate, who is part of the world she has vowed to destory.

My thoughts:
This story was a lot better than the one before it. This one had action and love that made sense. It was good. I loved the connection that Rashel and Quinn had. They felt it instantly. I do like that in a love story when they are talking about soulmates. I was a little shocked by the beginning though. It was kind of vulger and I'm not used to that in young adult books. But, I have to admit that I think that is what drew me into the book. It was different and really hooked you.

*Rashel and Timmy went to a play thing with tubs and climbing things like at McDonalds for Rashel's birthday. While in the play thing, Rashel wanted to show Timmy how to climb the nets and when she looked back, Timmy was gone. She went in search of him and found him in a tent and a monster was "eating" him. (Biting his neck and drinking his blood). Rashel started screaming and her mother came running. The vampire put her into a trance and then snapped her neck. Rashel ran into the play thing and got up as high as she could. She started screaming that the man tried touching her and when a marine started walking up to him, the vampire diappeared.

*Ever since, Rashel learned how to defend herself in all ways. She learned Martial arts and everything. She was a very popular vampire hunter named Rashel the Cat. There was even a reward out of her in the Night World. Anyways, Rashel and her group of vampire hunters, caught a vampire and had him locked up in a warehouse. Rashel however felt a connection with him and untied him. They had a brief discussion and then her "friends" came back. Quinn then ran. Her friends turned on her saying that she was a vampire lover and was on their side now. So they all turned their backs on them. The next night Rashel went back to that ally where they caught Quinn and there was a truck leaving a warehouse down the street in the ally and the door to the back of the truck opened and a girl rolled out and started running towards Rashel. Rashel of course knew the guys in the truck were vampires so she helped the girl escape and found out what her story was.

*She found out that there was a club in the basement of a warehouse and that it was all gothic and stuff. She was a chosen and the night she was kidnapped, she was supposed to meet with Quinn. So Rashel wanted to go to this club and get "Chosen" so she could be taken to where ever they were going to take Daphne. Daphne wanted to go with Rashel as backup since she didn't know to get into the club or be "Chosen". So Rashel went along with that and both Rashel and Daphne were "Chosen" that night. They met up with Quinn and Daphne was put into a kind of sleep and so was Rashel. When they woke up, there were in a room handcuffed to a bed with 2 other girls. 2 days later, there were taken in a truck to a boat and then taken to an island. There were kept in the basement of a big house where there were 24 girls all together. They realized that there was some bloodfest going on. Rashel picked the lock on the handcuffs and formed a plan to get all the girls to safety. She made all the girls go on without her when Quinn stopped the plan but then knocked him unconsious. She had to find out what was going on at the house and who was behind the bloodfest.

*Quinn ended up coming out of unconsiousness and grabbed Rashel before she went into the room with all the vampires. Quinn confessed his love for her and Rashel did the same thing. They just "knew" that they loved each other because they were just like each other. Both fighters and both hunters but both had honor. So they wanted no violence. Quinn said that he would tell the Counsel if they tried the bloodfest and told them never to think about it. Until the real vampire that planned all this showed up. It was Hunter Redfern, the vampire who made Quinn. Also the same vampire who killed Rashel's mother all those years ago. Then realize that Timmy didn't die, Hunter made him into a vampire and that he was there. When a fight almost broke out, Nayla (one of the girls in that room that was supposed to have been on the boat) came forward. She had gasoline in her hands and told Rashel that she really was a vampire hunter. She tossed the gasoline into the fireplace and Rashel grabbed Timmy and Quinn grabbed Rashel and ran out the door. The got into a boat and off to land they sailed. Rashel realized that since she wasn't going to be a vampire hunter anymore and Quinn didn't want to hurt humans anymore, that the only place for them was Circle Daybreak.

I didn't like how Quinn just professed his love for Rashel and then she did the same. There could have been a better storyline for that part but, whatever.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 3,815

Next book to read: Soulmate by L.J. Smith

13. Dark Angel by L.J. Smith

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:03:31 GMT

Title: Dark Angel (Story in Night World: Volume 2)
Author: L.J. Smith
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
ISBN: 1-4169-7451-2
Pages: 209
Rating: Good but nothing special.
Dates: 2/21 - 2/23
Series/Anthology: 4th in the Night World series.

About this book:
In Dark Angel, Gillian is saved from drowning by her guardian angel. Only visible to Gillian, Angel will fulfill her heart's every desire. But when Angel starts making strange and sinister requests, Gillian must question who he truly is and where he came from.

My thoughts:
This story started out a little strange for me. I actually started this book a few months ago but I couldn't get into it because of how weird it was. Anyways, I'm glad that I did pick it back up because it was a good story and made perfect sense. It kinda reminded me of that TV show, Ghost Whisperer. So if anybody likes that show, then this story of L.J. Smith's would be something that you'd enjoy and you don't have to read the whole series to understand it either. The characters were a little....odd. I don't think they were truly believable characters but I think they did have potential.

*Gillian was walking home from school and heard a child crying in the woods. She decided that she needed to go and help the child and started walking into the woods and through the snow. She came to a stream and then couldn't hear the child's crying anymore so she assumed that the child had drowned or went under the water so she climbed in to try to find him/her. (She assumed it was a her because a year before, a little girl went missing in the woods.) However, Gillian ended up drowning herself and actually died. She found herself in a meadow and realized that she was dead but didn't think that it was heaven. All of a sudden, she heard a voice and she seen a teenager. He said that it wasn't her time and that she could go back if she wanted to. So of course, Gillian went back. She stumbbled out of the woods and there was a car passing by. The car stopped and it was a boy from her school. A boy that she liked. He drove her home and called his girlfriend to come and help.

*That night, Gillian realized that the boy she met in the Meadow came with her home. That he was her guardian angel and he was going to help her get what she wanted. He made her cut her own hair and put make up on and everything. She become popular over night. All the guys wanted her and even the guy that picked her up from the woods, who never noticed her before then. Angel told Gillian that she was decended from a family of witches and that she could do spells. David broke up with his girlfriend because he found out that she had cheated on him. So Tanya wanted to punish David by telling the college that he applied for that he bought his entrance paper instead of writing it for himself. So since Gillian new of these powers, she put a spell on Tanya and this other girl Kim who was going to help bring down David and Gillian. Angel of course helped and they gave Gillian a really bad rash and Kim something so she couldn't talk.

*Gillian finally started to realize that Angel wasn't an angel and that he was actually evil when he told her that David didn't understand Gillian at all and the only way to make him understand her was to kill him and then he would know what she went through. But Gillian didn't want that. She realized that Angel wanted to kill David so he could get into David's body. Gillian went to Melusine who worked at the witch shop and told her everything. She said that Angel was stuck in the inbetween. That he had unfinished business and that's why he didn't cross over and go into the light. That when Gillian died, he somehow attached himself to her and went with her back to earth and became and earth bound spirit. Gillian had to figure out what that was and make it right and then Angel might possibly be able to cross over. So Gillian went to the grave yard and found out that his real name was Gary and that his unfinished business was that had accidently killed a little girl in the woods (the same one that went missing a year ago) and instead of telling anybody, he buried the little girl in the woods and then went to a party, got wasted and got into a terrible car accident and died. He felt so awful that he couldn't go into the light.

*Angel showed Gillian where he buried the body and David and Gillian dug her up. They called the police and told them that they were going to make a fort in the woods and they came across the "body". After the police had left, the little girls dad came to visit the spot where his little girl had been laid to rest and said that whoever had killed his little girl he forgave them. That was what Gary needed to hear and was able to cross over.

So as I said it, it sounds like an episode from Ghost Whisperer.

Amy

Page read YTD: 3,597

Next book to read: The Chosen by L.J. Smith

12. Night after Night by Kathryn Smith

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:23:11 GMT

Title:Night After Night
Author: Kathryn Smith
Genre: Romance - Paranormal
ISBN: 0061632708
Pages:373
Rating: Must Have,
Dates: 2/15 - 2/20
Series/Anthology: 6th in the Brotherhood of Blood series.

About this book:
I am Temple, Guardian of the Blood Grail...

Centuries ago, this magnificent chalice sealed my fate as a vampire, and now I am its protector. Many have hunted me for it, but only Vivian has accomplished the task. Strong, lovely, haunted...I am more attracted to her than I should be, yet her loyalty lies with a man determined to bring about my destruction. But I am not so easily locked in a cage, and now the captive has become the captor.

Though her stormy eyes tempt me, there is too much at stake - not merely my life, but the lives of my vampire Brotherhood. And I am not about using Vivian to achieve my goals, even if it means denying my own heart. The battle to end all battles is just beginning, and I must fight...if I could only let my desire be damned.

My thoughts:
I really liked this book. The beginning was a little boring because they didn't explain too much of what was going on. So it was a little confusing but definitely glad that I stuck with it. The ending was a little weird and they always are when the big fight scene breaks out or whatever but, there was one aspect it that I didn't like. Which will be under the cut. I'm sad to see that this series has ended. All the books were about the different vampires and finding their mate and getting out of the mess that the Order of the Silver Palm created by trying to kidnap them. It would be nice to have a book where they are all together and see what happens after their fight with the Order. My opinion anyway.

*Temple was captured by Valliers and put in a cage in the basement of his house. Vivian was rescued by Valliers when she was a young teen because her father sold her to a freak show because she was different than other girls. She was stronger than men and she was an "amazon" woman. So since Vivian is stronger than anybody besides a vampire, Valliers has her feed Temple is in cage. Vivian and Temple are secretly attracted to each other but they don't admit it. Temple drinks from Vivian's wrist and then leaps through the ceiling and makes an escape. Valliers ends up having Vivian go after Temple because she is the only one that he trusts and she is supposed to do anything to get Temple to trust her while she finds out information for Valliers.

*Temple goes to the island of Clare where there is a Academy for girls that have had bad pasts and they worship Lilith who is the mother of the Vampires with with they drank her blood from the blood chalice that made them what they are. Vivian follows him there where they end up becoming lovers so she can win Temple's trust. Later one, Temple tells Vivian that the reason why the girls at the school look differently at her is because they know that she is the decendant of Lilith which explains why she looks the way she does and why she is stronger than men. The other vampires arrive and all explain their experiences with the Order of the Silver Palm and Vivian sees why Valliers is so evil and she turns on the side of the vampires. Payen and Violet who are also vampires and have a direct connection to Valliers tells everybody that they know why Valliers needs them all and what Vivian has to do with everything. Valliers wants to awaken Lilith by using the 5 vampires as a sacrifice and then Vivian is supposed to be the body that Lilith enters to remain human.

*Brownie (the headmistress of the Academy) took Vivian to the mainland but what she didn't know was that Brownie was a traitor to Temple and was working with Valliers because she wanted Lilith to rise again. So she took Vivian to Valliers and he kept her captive so Temple would come to rescue her. Which he did with all the other vampires. Valliers had Vivan on a table strapped down so she couldn't fight and threatened to kill her if they didn't get into their silver restraints so they all did. Valliers started the ritual and did bring Lilith back but Lilith was so angry that he would hurt her children that she got angry and called him a fool. He was so angry that she wasn't happy with him and wouldn't let him rule by her side that she stabbed Vivian in the heart so she died. There was a big fight and most of the Order of the Silver Palm died. Violet got to get her revenge on Valliers when he ran away from the fight so he died by her hand. Lilith gave Vivian her blood which gave her immorality as a vampire and brought her back to life. Lilith took over the Garden Academy as the headmistress. All the vampires went their seperate ways to begin their new life not having to worry about the Order.

*In the epilogue, all the vampire couples get together for Temple's birthday. Olivia and Reign had a daughter, named Druex who lives with James, Olivia's nephew, in his apartment in NY. Chapel and Pru had 2 children a boy and girl, Francis and Marcus. Temple is afraid to become a father so they haven't had any children. Father Molyneux died just after the battle with the Order. Marcus died when he was 98 and Shannon died a year before that.

I didn't like that Lilith lived on after the ritual took place. Vivian was there for Lilith to go into her body so she could become human so I don't understand how she became human if she didn't take anyones body. So that was my confusion with the ending. I thought that was weird and not something that should have happened although I did like that Lilith did get to live on but I just don't understand how.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 3,388

Next book to read: Not sure yet.