Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Young Adult Novel Discovery Contest!!!

This is for all you YA aspiring writers!

Writing Great YA Fiction
No query? No pitch? No problem!

Serendipity Literary Agency, in collaboration with Sourcebooks and Gotham Writers' Workshop, is hosting its first Young Adult Novel Discovery Competition for a chance to win a one-on-one consultation with one of New York's leading YA literary agents!

If you've written a novel for young adults—or have an idea for one that you would like to write—we invite you to enter our contest. Simply submit only an enticing title along with the first 250 words from the opening of your original YA novel using the form below. There's no entry fee or purchase requirement.

GREAT PRIZES
The Grand Prize Winner will have the opportunity to submit an entire manuscript to YA literary agent Regina Brooks and receive a free, 10-week writing course, courtesy of Gotham Writers' Workshop.

The Top Five Entrants (including the Grand Prize winner) will receive a 15-minute, one-on-one pitch session with Regina Brooks, one of New York’s premier literary agents for young adult books. They will also receive commentary on their submissions by editors at HarperCollins, Penguin, Harlequin, Random House, and Sourcebooks and receive a one-year subscription to The Writer magazine.

The Top 20 Entrants will receive autographed copies of Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks.

JUDGING
YA literary agent Regina Brooks, along with editors at Sourcebooks, will read all of the entries and determine the top 20 submissions. These submissions will then be read by Dan Ehrenhaft, head Acquisitions Editor at Soucebooks Fire; Alisha Niehaus, Editor at Dial Books for Young Readers (Penguin); David Linker, Executive Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books; Michele Burke, Editor at Knopf Books for Young Readers (Random House); and Evette Porter, Editor at Harlequin. These judges will whittle the top 20 down to five, and each of the five winners will be provided commentary on their submissions.

NOVEMBER IS NaNoWriMo
In honor of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org)—an international event where aspiring novelists are encouraged to write an entire novel in 30 days—entries for the YA Novel Discovery Contest will be accepted from 12:01am (ET) November 1 until 11:59pm (ET), November 30, 2009.

IT IS EASY TO ENTER!
The contest is open to writers 13 years of age or older. Entrants will be judged solely on the title and the first 250 words of their YA novel—no additional material will be accepted. For an inside look at what the judges will be looking for, participants can refer to Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks. There is no minimum word count for the submission. Only online entries will be accepted. And only one submission per person.

CLICK THIS LINK TO ENTER THIS AWESOME CONTEST!!!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

A Quick Bite, by Lynsay Sands

Ok, so this is an adult book, but older young adults are sure to enjoy this book as well. I thought this book was so funny. I mean laugh out loud funny. I just love Lynsey Sands ironic sense of humor.

The book opens up with Psychologist Dr. Greg Hewitt, he's closing his office to go on a much needed and long awaited vacation in Mexico. he boards the elevator to go to the parking garage and encounters a beautiful woman who happens to be a vampire that's out to kidnap him for her daughters 200+ birthday present. She uses her powerful mind control to get him to her car and suggest he get in her trunk. He has no idea he is being controlled and thinks he got in her trunk of his own volition. He is pretty hard on himself for doing something so idiotic. His internal dialogue is hysterical.

He wakes up tied to a bed in Lissianna Argeneau's bedroom. You know the birthday girl. Well she is a vampire with a very crippling phobia. She faints at the sight of blood! In this version of vampire tale, vampires have become sophisticated in that they do not drink blood directly from humans anymore, also known as feeding off the hoof. They are civilized and drink only donated blood out of bags. Because of Lissianna's problem she has been feeding off of humans that she can find usually at work where they turn out to be drunks and druggies.

Absolutely starving from lack of a good meal, Lissianna arrives at her birthday party and has a run in her pantyhose. She runs up to her room to change and finds a surprise. A gorgeous hunk of man with a red bow around his neck. Well she decides on a little snack before the festivities. Only her snack was not supposed to be feasted on. He was to be her therapist, to cure her phobia. Anyway she gets way more than she bargained for when she bites Greg. Their minds meld and they experience a euphoria of pleasure they almost get it on right then and there with him all tied up. That is until her mother walks in!

This book was so good you just have to read it for yourself. I'm actually really looking forward to reading this whole series. I really enjoyed it so much. I hope you do too.

The Argenaeu Vampire Series

The Argenaeu Family Tree

Book 2 Love Bites
Book 3 Single White Vampire
Book 4 Tall, Dark & Hungry
Book 5 A Bite to Remember
Book 6 Bite Me if you Can
Book 7 The Accidental Vampire
Book 8 Vampires are Forever
Book 9 Vampire, Interrupted
Book 10 The Rogue Hunter
Book 11 The Immortal Hunter: A Rogue Hunter Novel
Book 12 The Renegade Hunter: A Rogue Hunter Novel
Book 13 Born to Bite: Avon
Book 14 Hungry for You: Avon (releases Nov 30, 2010)



Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Vampire Kisses 2: Kissing Coffins
by Ellen Schreiber

Sequel to Vampire Kisses

Our story continues with goth girl Raven Madison, a 16 year old wannabe vampire. In the last book we ended with Raven finally hooking up with the mysterious Alexander Sterling, who was rumored to be a vampire. The rumors dissipated but Raven found out that her true love really is a vampire. Alexander moves overnight without a word to anyone. Now Raven is alone and lost without him.

Her BFF Becky and her new man, Matt, are tied together at the hip leaving Raven to figure out what to do about Alexander all by herself. She decides the best place to start would be her friend at the travel agency where she used to work. She was supposed to have a date with Jameson, Alexander's Butler. She finds out Jameson sent flowers to her friend from a nearby town Raven calls "Hipsterville." Her Aunt lives in Hipsterville giving Raven the perfect cover for a visit to continue her investigation.

There she discovers a guy named Jagger who knows Alexander. He offers to help Raven find him, but Raven thinks he might be a vampire too and is kind of scared of him. He starts stalking her and she gets spooked and goes back home only to have Jagger follow her. Will her true love save her from Jagger or will he arrive too late?

This sequel was alright but the first book was slightly better. I wished the book was longer, but it sets the tone for the third book which looks promising.

Book 1 Vampire Kisses
Book 3 Vampire Kisses 3: Vampireville
Book 4 Vampire Kisses 4: Dance with a Vampire
Book 5 Vampire Kisses 5: The Coffin Club
Book 6 Vampire Kisses 6: Royal Blood
Book 7 Vampire Kisses 7: Love Bites



Monday, April 6, 2009

Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, by Holly Black

Great story but needed a little tweaking here and there. Starts off slow but picks up speed almost going too fast and ends with a bang. Some of the conversation is hard to follow and seemed incomplete at times. There's a lot of bad messages in here that some young adults probably shouldn't be reading even though it's written for the YA audience. Including drinking, smoking, cutting school, having boys sleep in your room, staying out at night to all hours, cursing, etc. You get the idea.

Our main character is Kaye Fierch, a 16 yr old High School drop out. She's Asian but manages to be blessed a natural blond. Kaye's mom is a wannabe rock star playing in bars and getting so wasted that Kaye has to take care of her most of the time. They start out the story in Philly where her mothers boyfriend becomes possessed or something and tries to knife her. With no place to go the two wind up going back to New Jersey to live with Kaye's Grandmother.

Kaye remembers growing up there as a small child and thinks fondly of her old faerie friends. She's come to think of them as imaginary but soon discovers how real they were and are. Her Faerie friends contact her and Kaye discovers she is not the person she always thought she was.

Kaye happens upon a Faerie Knight that's gorgeous and badly wounded in the woods. He has shining silver-white hair that is very long and pointed ears. He needs her help. In exchange he says he will answer her 3 questions of her choosing. This strange encounter draws the unwanted attentions of the unseelie queen. The queen decides that Kaye will be their next human sacrifice called a "tithe"!

Very interesting reading. Like I mentioned earlier some of the dialogue is hard to follow but it's not very often so it's easy to overlook. The story is good so I didn't mind too much. I figure it's gotta be OK if there are 2 more books in this series. The next one is probably better written. Enjoy.

READ Chapter 1 and 2 of TITHE CLICK HERE

Book 2 Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie
Book 3 Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause

I absolutely love the main character, Vivian. Shes a 16 year old werewolf. Vivian and her kind (loup-garoux) live in a modern city were humans are the majority of the population forcing them to blend in as best they can. Her father was leader of their pack when they lived in West Virgina. About a year ago he tragically died in a fire trying to rescue other members of the pack. Angry townsfolk who found them out set fire to the Inn where the werewolves were living and working. The roof collapsed in on him when he went back into the blazing building to save some others. That's why they must hide their true nature from humans who would destroy them.

Vivian currently a loner. She is the only female werewolf her age. There are 5 guys her age that she used to hang around with that are werewolves too. She refers to them as "the five". They have become too rowdy for her lately and besides that she's the only available mate their age. She's not interested in them romantically, so she distances herself from them. Viv loves being a wolf and running through the Forrest and worshiping the moon. She paints about it and recently got one of her works published. While admiring her work in the magazine she notices a poem about a werewolf next to her painting. This intrigues her because a human boy wrote it and it sounds so close to the real thing. She seeks him out and falls in love with him. Aiden falls for her as well.

None of the pack like Vivian having a relationship with a human. Especially her mother, Esme, who thinks Vivian should only date within the pack. The pack has no leader since her fathers passing and the pack has issues quarreling and keeping it's members safe. Humans start turning up dead and it's obviously a werewolf. No one in the pack can figure out who and they are all afraid of being found by humans. Vivian is having blackouts and believes she might be the killer. The pack is being torn apart and it's time for a new leader to be chosen. They decide the old way is the only way. Fight to the death and the strongest male wins. Then the females fight to be the new leaders mate.

This book was so good. I loved the plot the most. Vivian is such a deep character. Great story and a great ending. I loved it! I hope you do too. They made a movie out of this one. I hadn't heard of it till I read this book. It came out in 2007. I included an old movie trailer so you could check it out! I think I'll rent it myself. Cool!

READ CHAPTER 1 of BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE CLICK HERE!



Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Undead and Unwed, by MaryJanice Davidson
(Queen Betsy "Undead" Series, Book 1)

Many reviews on this book say it's hilarious. In my opinion not so. It's mildly humorous, but hilarious, I think not. It's kind of like the chick from "Legally Blond" gone vampire but slightly more annoying on the personality of Betsy Taylor, the main character. If you like that type humor, you will adore this book. This ones not for the guys, that's certain. All you girly girls who love fashion and shoes, you will treasure this series.

Betsy is a former model, gone secretary, but recently got canned on her 30th birthday. She is a total fashion expert and spends all her money on designer shoes. She's single and lives with her cat that keeps running away. The night of her birthday she wonders out in search of her lost cat and gets plowed down by an SUV. She awakens in a funeral parlor lying in a coffin. She discovers her Mother-in-law has her dressed for her own funeral in a tacky pink dress and the worst cheap shoes that could have been purchased at payless! She is outraged and totally flabbergasted as to why she is a walking corpse.

Betsy is determined to finish the job of offing herself for good. After a dozen attempts kind of like that in that movie "Groundhog Day", she discovers she is here to stay. If she's going to be undead she is going to get her shoes back from good ole evil step mom. She starts craving blood and realizes she's not just a zombie, she's a vampire. She's not the run of the mill type vampire either. She is special because holy water does not burn, she can recite scripture, hold a cross and go into the sunlight without bursting into flames.

The undead community believes she is part of a prophecy come to life. One that says she will defeat the Vampire king and become Queen of the vampires. This book starts off rather funny and innocent but let me tell you there is a lot of graphic sex scenes towards the end. Some of it you will be shocked at what is described. I was like whoa holy sh*t! Yep. You will either be disgusted or turned on. Either way you'll love it! ;0 Oh My!

READ an EXCERPT from UNDEAD AND UNWED CLICK HERE!

Book 2 Undead and Unemployed
Book 3 Undead and Unappreciated
Book 4 Undead and Unreturnable
Book 5 Undead and Unpopular
Book 6 Undead and Uneasy
Book 7 Undead and Unworthy
Book 8 Undead and Unwelcome
Book 9 Undead and Unfinished
Book 10 Undead and Undermined (Coming July 2011)
Betsy the Vampire Queen (books 1-4 in one volume)
Betsy Bride of the Vampire (books 5-7 in one volume)

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Reunion, by Meg Cabot
(The Mediator Series, Book 3)

Sequel to Ninth Key

Suze Simon is a mediator. She helps those unfortunate ghosts who have unfinished business preventing them from moving on. In this installment Suze's best friend, Gina from NY, comes to visit her in Carmel, California. While the two sixteen year olds are tanning on the beach they get thirsty and go to the market for drinks. It's there that Suze sees 4 ghosts dressed up like it's prom night trying to steal a six pack. Suze finds out the 4 were dubbed the RLS Angels by the newspaper that covered their deaths because they were all A-students, popular, and obviously all had a great future mapped out in front of them. Then they all perished in a car accident.

Suze also learns that a boy named Michael Meducci is the only survivor. He was driving the other vehicle, and he just happens to be in one of her classes. Suze shows interest in him and now he's trying to pursue a relationship with her. Yuck! (I mean come on, she's in love with Jesse the hot ghost that's living in her bedroom!) Problem is that the RLS angels are out for blood. They are pissed and think that Michael killed them on purpose. The angles try and kill Michael every chance they get, but Suze is usually there to thwart their efforts.

Father Dominic, Suze's mentor/principle, and fellow mediator investigate the scene of the accident. Jesse tags along, and Gina covers for Suze at home. Jesse talks to the ghosts and they agree to talk to Suze and Father Dominic about what happened the night they died. They also discover clues at the scene that might support the angels claims of being murdered.

READ CHAPTER 1 of REUNION CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Shadowland
Book 2 Ninth Key
Book 4 Darkest Hour
Book 5 Haunted
Book 6 Twilight

Sunday, March 22, 2009

A Certain Slant of Light, by Laura Whitcomb

WOW! This book was amazing! It had me transfixed to each page I couldn't put it down or stop thinking about it. I even dreamed about it! It was so well written and it had so much depth and feeling. It was a remarkable plot that was so interesting and heartfelt. I just can't say enough good things about it!

This book is mainly a ghostly love story but with plenty of messages about life, death, heaven, hell, religion, drugs, violence, abuse, sex and adultery all intertwined together with a passion for books and poetry.

The main character is the ghost of a young woman who died over 130 years ago. Death made her forget all her memories except her name and how old she was when she died and that she was female. She haunts a modern day English school teacher named Mr. Brown. She refers to herself as that of the light (a ghost) and Mr. Brown as one that is quick (still alive).

In the classroom one day is when it happens: (amazingly written)

"Someone was looking at me, a disturbing sensation if you're dead... I felt someone watching me. Not even my beloved Mr. Brown could see me with his eyes. I had been dead so long, hovering at the side of my hosts, seeing and hearing the world but never being heard by anyone and never, in all these long years, never being seen by human eyes. I held stone still while the room folded in around me like a closing hand. When I looked up, it was not in fear but in wonder. My vision telescoped so that there was only a small hole in the darkness to see through. And that's where I found it, the face that was turned up to me. "Like a child playing at hide and seek, I did not move, in case I had been mistaken about being spotted. And childishly I felt both the desire to stay hidden and a thrill of anticipation about being caught. For this face, turned squarely to me, had eyes set directly on mine."

Billy Blake, a human who overdosed on drugs and passed on, and at that moment that Billy left his body James of the light stepped into his empty shell. Now James no longer of the light can still see ghosts in his new teenage boy body. He discovers Helen and they find a kinship that turns into a love so deep that James convinces Helen to get her own body to inhabit so that they can be together.

He helps her find the body of a girl who goes to the same school as him. The young girl, Jenny, fled her body because her parents were religiously conservative and controlling to an extreme. Suddenly Helen is a teenager and not at all familiar with the life she's taken over and supposedly been living for the last 15 years. Billy (James) and Jenny (Helen) quickly become lovers and soul mates. They share a love so deep and meaningful.

Many obstacles to overcome and twists in the story to keep you reading to the very last page.The ending had me in tears. I was a weeping mess. This one gets a high score for being unforgettable!

READ CHAPTER 1 of A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT CLICK HERE!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Revelations, by Melissa De La Cruz

Sequel to Masquerade

We learn in the first two books that Vampires are really fallen angels who fought against Lucifer during the war in heaven. God could not forgive them because they started out on Lucifer's side, the dark side, but then they turned and fought for the light. Since god could not fully redeem them, he sent them to earth as immortal blue blood vampires.

Each blue blood lives a normal cycle like a human, but reincarnate every 100 years. They don't remember their past lives until they start the change to vampire in there teenage years. Then, they remember their past lives and start to develop their abilities. Every blue blood was an angel that has a twin soul they are bonded with. Sometimes the vampires have to find their twin in a cycle. They must also renew their bond every cycle, like a wedding ceremony, this unleashes the full potential of their powers and memories.

Silver bloods are sent to earth by Lucifer to destroy the blue bloods. They consume all of the blue bloods essence (blood) killing them for good. Blue bloods need a drop of their blood in order to be able to reincarnate. It contains their soul, memories and powers. The silver blood then has that blue blood trapped inside them. The silver blood has their powers and memories making them stronger and faster, and smarter than blue bloods.

There are several main characters. One of them is Schuyler, a half-vampire without a bond. In this instalment she is trapped living with twins Mimi and Jack Force. Her arch-nemesis and her forbidden crush. The twins are bonded, but that doesn't stop Schuyler from having a secret affair with Jack. She's hoping that Jack will sever his bond with Mimi to bond with her.

Meanwhile, her best friend Bliss is still having blackouts and now visions of a man in a white suit. She also believes Schuyler might be her sister. Dylan accuses Schuyler of being a silver blood. Oliver is in love with Schuyler. And Mimi is desperate to re-bond with Jack forcing Schuyler out of her and Jacks life for good. The plot thickens and you fly through the pages really fast without much happening.

Then, the climax, there you learn some really cool stuff, but it was so short lived you kind of feel cheated. I think it was kind of disappointing. I didn't feel satisfied like I did after reading Masquerade. It almost felt like half of a novel. Probably because the plot is left unfinished at the end. All in all it was good book, but not great. You should read it though, you'll enjoy it. Can't wait for the next book! Sorry I didn't give too many details. There are so few that I didn't want to spoil it for you!

READ CHAPTER 1 of REVELATIONS CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Blue Bloods
Book 2 Masquerade
Book 4 The Van Alen Legacy
Book 5 Misguided Angel (releases Oct 26, 2010)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Stolen, by Kelley Armstrong
(Women of the Otherworld, Book 2)

Sequel to Bitten

We continue our story with our main character, Elena Michaels, the only female werewolf in existence. She's a Canadian journalist who belongs to an exclusive group of werewolves who call themselves the "pack." Werewolves who are not part of the pack are called mutts. This book doesn't really focus on the werewolves like the first book. So you should read Bitten before this one to get some adequate background info.

Part of Elena's responsibilities as a pack member include investigating rumors and information about werewolves that pop up in newspapers and media. If it seems like it might have some authenticity to it, then either Elana or Clay do damage control. Clay is Elena's maker, soul mate, hot sexy lover, and the most feared werewolf of their species.

While investigating a suspicious article stating information is for sale about the existence of werewolves, Elena meets two witches. Paige and Ruth Winterbourne are out to enlist the help of the werewolf community and they ran the fake article knowing Elena would come to check it out. The witches tell Elena that supernatural beings are being kidnapped and it's only a matter of time before they come after her kind. Elena learns that in addition to werewolves and witches there are also demons, shamans, sorcerers, vampires, and other creatures living among humans. Wow. Elena's not sure about taking these ladies seriously or not, so she returns to her hotel. Later on, she winds up getting kidnapped by psycho, billionaire, computer geek, Ty Winsloe.

Elena is being held captive in a compound with supernatural security as well as state of the art human security. It's in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Maine. Winsloe is kidnapping every different kind of supernatural being and has scientists trying to figure out how to duplicate what makes them special. He wants to be able to market and sell abilities to the highest bidder. Once his prisoners run out of usefulness he likes to make a game out of their death. He lets them go, and then hunts them down and kills them.

This book was awesome! Anybody will agree. Non-stop action, plot twists, psychologically thrilling, gorily detailed. Loved it. Definitely not for the young or weak stomached. I can't wait to read Dime Store Magic!!!

READ the PROLOGUE to STOLEN CLICK HERE!

READ CHAPTER 1 of STOLEN CLICK HERE!

Women of the Otherworld Series:

Book 1 Bitten
Book 3 Dime Store Magic
Book 4 Industrial Magic
Book 5 Haunted
Book 6 Broken
Book 7 No Humans Involved
Book 8 Personal Demon
Book 9 Living with the Dead
Book 10 Frostbitten
Book 11 Waking the Witch
Book 12 Spell Bound (Coming in 2012)

Spin off Book: Men of the Otherworld

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire Prince,
by Darren Shan

Sequel to Cirque Du Freak: Trials of blood

Well, I unwittingly started in the middle of this series somehow. Oh well. I'll do this review then start at the beginning, so look for those reviews in the future. Don't worry, I link all my series books together at the bottom of each review. This book, (book 6), I would say is more for the young adult male audience. It did however suck me right into the plot in the blink of an eye. Short novel. It doesn't take very long to read, and the plot is simple, not a lot to it.

Half vampire half human, Darren Shan, the author is also the main character. Not very original, is it? He is a vampires assistant, they don't really go into much detail about what that means, but maybe it was in a previous book. His mentor, Larten Crepsley, shuffles him off to take a test to see if the undead will let him join their ranks. It's called the "Trials of Initiation," consisting of 5 different tests. If he passes all tests he can live, if he fails any test they execute him.

Darren passes the first three trials, but on the fourth the rules were broken. Darren escapes, but at a costly price. He falls into a vicious stream and is carried away and swept underground into the belly of a mountain. He manages to survive and is nursed back to health by wolves. Rather disgusting details here that guys are sure to enjoy.

There is a second race of vampires called the vampaneze. Darren figures out this whole traitor conspiracy thing involving the vampaneze. Then he has to sneak back to vampire mountain, and there is a war that is like the whole second half of the book. There is nothing in it really for us girls. No romance at all. The one woman they had as a warrior dies rather swiftly and unbecomingly. The vampires are all ruled by Princes. At the end they decide Darrens fate, so I won't give it away. All in all, if I was a guy, I'd love it, so that's why I'm giving it a review. I'll only review books I think are worthy here. You will never see a bad recommendation from me.

I scoured the Internet for an excerpt from this book and this was all I could find:

READ PARTS of the FIRST DRAFT of THE VAMPIRE PRINCE CLICK HERE!

The Saga of Darren Shan, Cirque Du Freak Series:

Book 1 Cirque Du Freak: A Living nightmare
Book 2 Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's assistant
Book 3 Cirque Du Freak: Tunnels of blood
Book 4 Cirque Du Freak: Vampire mountain
Book 5 Cirque Du Freak: Trials of blood
Book 7 Cirque Du Freak: Hunters of the dusk (the Hunter's trilogy)
Book 8 Cirque Du Freak: Allies of the night (the Hunter's trilogy)
Book 9 Cirque Du Freak: Killers of the dawn (the Hunter's trilogy)
Book 10 Cirque Du Freak: The Lake of souls (the Destiny trilogy)
Book 11 Cirque Du Freak: Lord of the shadows (the Destiny trilogy)
Book 12 Cirque Du Freak: Sons of destiny (the Destiny trilogy)

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

An Ice Cold Grave, by Charlaine Harris

Sequel to Grave Surprise

Harper Connelly was struck by lightning as a teenager and brought back to life by her step brother, Tolliver Lang, who resuscitated her. Ever since then Harper has the ability to locate dead bodies like a homing device. She can see their last few moments of life and tell you what they died from, BUT not who killed them. She tries to make a living from her ability by traveling from place to place offering up her services where they are needed. Tolliver travels with her and acts as her manager and caretaker.

In this installment, Harper is called in to Doraville, North Carolina. The town Sheriff is new and was Deputy under the old Sheriff. Over the past several years 6 boys of similar age have gone missing from the town. The old Sheriff chalked it up to runaways and suicides, but the new Sheriff thinks an investigation is in order.

The grandmother of one of the missing boys convinces the Sheriff to call Harper to see if she can locate the missing boys bodies. It doesn't take long for Harper to discover the horrific spot of the crimes and the dumping ground for the bodies. Harper is visibly shaken having never encountered a serial killer before. She finds all six boys plus two more from neighboring communities.

Harper and Tolliver want to leave as soon as they get paid, but the killer has other ideas. Harper is attacked and wounded, Tolliver comes to her aid and the assailant gets away. The law enforcement tell them not to leave town. And an Ice storm is on the way. Harper fearing the killer is out to get her for uncovering his carnage decides to try and figure out who the killer is before he can get to her or kill again.

Harper and Tolliver take their relationship to a new level. I was kind of creeped out by that even though they really aren't blood relatives. Good story, kept me on my toes!

READ CHAPTER 1 of AN ICE COLD GRAVE CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Grave Sight
Book 2 Grave Surprise
Book 4 Grave Secret

Extras, by Scott Westerfeld

Spin off book to the Uglies, Pretties, Specials trilogy.

In the first 3 books we follow the adventures of a girl named Tally Youngblood. Tally ended the "mind-rain" and a new world awakened. The cure spread across the globe ending the perpetual state of bubbleheadedness. Without the roles and rules of the prettytime the world becomes a popularity contest.

Extras is set in the future 3 years after the end of the "mind-rain". You really need to have read the trilogy to understand a lot of this book. I don't think it will work as well as a stand alone book.

So, it's a race to become famous. It works on face rank. The more famous you are, the lower your face rank is. A lower rank means more special treatment. You can choose where you live and get whatever you want. There are many ways to achieve a good face rank. Some are "Tech-heads" obsessed with gadgets. Then there are "Surge monkeys" they can't get enough plastic surgery. Last there are "Kickers" these use the feeds (kind of like blogging) to spread gossip and news stories.

15 year old Aya Fuse is a kicker. She's had her own feed for a year now, but she's still a nobody, an extra. Too young for plastic surgery and her face rank is a 451,369. She lives in a Japanese city and is desperate to become famous. She meets a click of girls. "the sly girls", who turn tricks but stay off the radar. Aya just knows if she can kick their story she can improve her face rank. She follows them into a cave and they catch her and destroy moggle, her flying camera. It's at the bottom of a lake inside the cave.

Determined not to give up she gets accepted into the group and they stumble across a strange being inside a train tunnel. The alien opens a porthole in the tunnel wall and more beings come out of the train and start unloading these metal things. She only hopes that moggle got a good shot. She rescued him from the bottom of the lake and had him tag along in the shadows to try and get a story. Aya just found the story that will make her famous. Tally youngblood makes an appearance at the end. All in all, a great read!

READ CHAPTERS 1, 2 and 3 of EXTRAS CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Uglies
Book 2 Pretties
Book 3 Specials

Monday, March 16, 2009

Dead to the World, by Charlaine Harris

Sequel to Club Dead

This series is about a small town waitress named Sookie Stackhouse who has the ability to read minds. She used to date the towns resident vampire Bill until the last book, where Sookie found out about Bill's infidelity.

Newly single again and still trying to get over Bill. Bill announces he is leaving for Peru to meet with some other vamps to due research for his project. He's not a main character in this installment. Sookie is a little relieved to have him gone for a while, thinking it might ease her pain. You know, out of site out of mind.

Driving home one night Sookie sees Eric on the side of the road wandering aimlessly. He is naked and scared and vulnerable. Complete opposite of the Eric she knows. The cocky owner of the vampire bar, and Area Sheriff of the Vamps. It turns out some witches put a spell on Eric, erasing his memory. He doesn't know who he is or even who Sookie is. Sookie takes him in and hides him. He can stay in the hidey hole that Bill built for himself under the floor in the spare bedroom closet.

Her Brother, Jason stops in and discovers Eric is living in Sookie's house. The next day he goes missing and Sookie is frantic with worry. She turns to the supernatural community for help and clues. She discovers the witches have a reward out for Eric. The werewolves, vampires and witches have an all out war that will have you greedily devouring every page.

Sookie and Eric wind up having an affair to never forget! This one boarders on erotica, but with a plot that is fantastic and memorable. I loved this book, and it is my favorite out of this series thus far.

READ an EXCERPT of DEAD TO THE WORLD CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Dead Until Dark
Book 2 Living Dead in Dallas
Book 3 Club Dead
Book 5 Dead as a Doornail
Book 6 Definitely Dead
Book 7 All Together Dead
Book 8 From Dead to Worse
Book 9 Dead and Gone
Book 10 Dead in the Family

Sunday, March 15, 2009

The Immortals Sreies:
Evermore, By Alyson Noel

Ever is 16, pretty and popular, until a deer runs in front of her families vehicle killing her mom, dad, sister and family dog. Ever dies too... for a brief moment she's in a place called "Summerland" a sort of in between place. She gets caught up in it's beauty and doesn't realize her family has moved on. She tries to catch up to them when she is pulled back into her body. Racked with pain she sees a guy... he cradles her in his arms and asks her name. She tells him "Ever" before she passes out.

Ever blames herself for her families death and you don't learn why until the end of the book. After the accident, Ever becomes very unpopular. She can see auras and hear peoples thoughts. If she touches someone she can see their whole life story. She tries to drown out the constant chatter of minds and very unwanted thoughts invading her. She hides herself in a hoodie sweatshirt and blasts an ipod that she's conveniently sewn into her hoodie. Her dead sisters ghost hangs around and Ever has frequent conversations with her.

Ever now an orphan moves to a new town to live with her Aunt Sabine, her fathers sister. Sabine is a lawyer and very wealthy. She tries to comfort Ever by giving her a giant room with a spa, living room, flat screen, balcony with view of the ocean beach, mini fridge, etc. The only downfall is Sabine is too busy working and never at home.

Ever makes 2 friends at school, Haven a goth chick, and Miles a gay guy. Then a mysterious new guy comes to school. His name is Damen Auguste. He is gorgeous and charming. All the girls and guys are swooning over him. When Ever finally meets him she is in awe of his fantastic beauty and lack of aura! Captivated, and it's as if the world stops and it's all dead silence. No more chatter in her head just Damen and peace. She starts a relationship with him and then she meets Drina. A really beautiful girl who is creepy and somehow involved with Damen. The book takes off from here.

READ CHAPTER 1 and 2 of EVERMORE CLICK HERE!

The Immortals Series:

Book 2 Blue Moon
Book 3 Shadowland
Book 4 Dark Flame
Book 5 Night Star (releases Nov 16, 2010)

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Vampire Kisses, by Ellen Schreiber

This is for the younger, young adults. Although, I enjoyed it nonetheless, and I'm 36. I like my books a little more action and suspense, but it was still worth reading.

The main character is Raven Madison, a 16 yr old goth girl who wants to become a vampire in the worst way. She lives in a small town she calls "Dullsville" and has only one friend to speak of. She is a social outcast.

A boy named Trevor sets Raven in his sites and tries to get her to give up her virginity at a popular kids party that she crashed, but she isn't exactly a push over and turns the tables on his plan. She acts as if she's all into him and makes him get naked then she grabs his cloths and runs for the hills. He becomes the laughing stock of the school when she displays an article of his clothing on her locker everyday at school. He gets so mad he becomes her arch nemesis throughout the book.

Then a mysterious family moves in to the boarded up mansion that sits atop of Bensen Hill. The house is rumored to be haunted and only Raven was brave enough to actually break in when it was vacant. Now a cute guy named Alexander Sterling has moved into it and rumors start to circulate that he and his family are vampires. Raven is determined to find out the truth and to maybe get bitten and become a vampire herself!

I love a good long series! This one shows promise.

Book 2 Vampire Kisses 2: Kissing Coffins
Book 3 Vampire Kisses 3: Vampireville
Book 4 Vampire Kisses 4: Dance with a Vampire
Book 5 Vampire Kisses 5: The Coffin Club
Book 6 Vampire Kisses 6: Royal Blood
Book 7 Vampire Kisses 7: Love Bites


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Monday, February 16, 2009

Masquerade, by Melissa De La Cruz

Sequel to Blue Bloods

Let me just start by saying this book was so much better than the first book in the series. This book makes the series worth reading. Very enjoyable novel.

We begin exactly where "Blue Bloods" leaves you hanging. Schuyler Van Alen and her human conduit, Oliver Perry, traveled to Venice in search of Schuyler's grandfather, Lawrence Van Alen. She thinks he holds the key to unraveling the mystery of the Silver Bloods. Her and Oliver search everywhere but to no avail, then Schuyler spots her mother? Her mother is back in a NY hospital in a coma ever since Schuyler's birth. She chases the woman down discovering a hidden talent for super speed, one of her vampire powers.

Meanwhile back in NYC, Mimi Force is planning an after party to the Four Hundred Ball exclusively for blue bloods and by invitation only! A masquerade party, and in order to get in you have to be text messaged during the Four Hundred Ball with an invite relealing the secret location.

Bliss, Mimi's BFF, is still having blackouts. Waking up in a freezing lake is no picnic unless your rescued by Dylan? Dylan was attacked by a silver blood in the last novel and presumed dead, but Bliss still believes he is alive somehow.

There is also a mysterious handsome new student at Duchesne school, Kingsley Martin. Jack Force, Mimi's brother, is still drawn to Schuyler as she is to him. Mimi is green with jealousy.

At the Masquerade party it's hard to tell who is who with all the guys dressed in the same suit and with masks covering their faces. Makes for interesting conversations and kisses from who knows who?

Unlike the last book, this one actually has a climax so you feel satisfied after your done, but can't wait for the next book! It's interesting to see how these characters develop relationship wise as well as their new found vampire abilities. You will enjoy this one for sure!

READ CHAPTER 1 of MASQUERADE CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Blue Bloods
Book 3 Revelations
Book 4 The Van Alen Legacy
Book 5 Misguided Angel (releases Oct 26, 2010)

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Bitten, by Kelley Armstrong
(Women of the Otherworld Series, Book 1)

This book is definitely for mature audiences. Extremely detailed Sex scenes, killing, blood and gore. I loved it!

This book is about the only female werewolf in existence, Elena Michaels. The werewolf gene is passed down to sons but not daughters. Elena was bitten by a werewolf and miraculously survived the change against the odds becoming the only female werewolf in the world. She still harbors resentment against the werewolf that bit her, Clay, her x-fiancee. Werewolves live in packs and don't kill humans. Those that choose not to live in a pack are called mutts and sometimes do kill humans.

The only thing Elena has wanted her entire life was a family. Becoming a werewolf squashed that dream, but she tries her hardest to create as much of a family as she can and still keep her secret. Elena, a mutt, living in Toronto-Canada, is dating an architect that she recently moved in with. Living with a human guy does make it difficult to leave in the middle of the night to go running naked in the woods. But she manages to keep it together.

Then she starts getting phone calls from her former pack mate and leader of the werewolves, Jeremy, saying it's urgent that she contact him. She tries avoiding the call but eventually gives in and calls, and calls, and calls. No one picks up even after days of trying. Finally sick with worry she decides to take a trip back to the place she ran away from months before, Upstate New York, and Clay.

Arriving in NY she discovers that mutts have been killing humans a little too close to pack territory bringing unwanted attention to the pack. Elena tries to help her pack mates defend their territory while trying to deal with her old flame Clay. The story really takes off from here. Amazingly detailed and believable. Nicely done.

READ the PROLOGUE TO BITTEN CLICK HERE!

Women of the Otherworld Series:

Book 2 Stolen
Book 3 Dime Store Magic
Book 4 Industrial Magic
Book 5 Haunted
Book 6 Broken
Book 7 No Humans Involved
Book 8 Personal Demon
Book 9 Living with the Dead
Book 10 Frostbitten
Book 11 Waking the Witch
Book 12 Spell Bound (Coming in 2012)

Spin off Book: Men of the Otherworld

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Ninth Key, by Meg Cabot
(The Mediator Series, Book 2)

Sequel to Shadowland

High school sophomore Susannah Simon is a mediator. She can see hear and touch ghosts as if they were living people. She helps ghosts find closure and move on. Not all ghosts, just the ones that come to her for help.

Life is going good for Suze. Since moving to Southern California, Suze has got a tan, and no bad hair days! She's even got a gorgeous guy named Jesse living in her bedroom, albeit he is a ghost, but still! While attending a pool party she meets a hunky guy named Tad Beaumont and he asks her on a date. Then later that night, she awakens from a dead sleep to a blood curdling scream! The ghost of a woman screaming and sobbing manages to beg her to tell Red he didn't kill me. Suze has no idea who Red is, so she does some investigating and comes to the conclusion that Red is really Red Beaumont, Tads father!

Delivering her message is easier said than done. Suze becomes uneasy when she's rushed out of the strange home of Red Beaumont after giving him the message. Imagine her surprise, when the ghost reappears accusing her of not delivering the message at all. Then she runs into a second ghost, who tells her Beaumont is responsible for HER death. What's going on? Does Suze have the right person? Is Red Beaumont, a prominent businessman in the community, a multi-millionaire, not to mention Tads father, really a cold blooded murderer?

READ CHAPTER 1 of NINTH KEY CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Shadowland
Book 3 Reunion
Book 4 Darkest Hour
Book 5 Haunted
Book 6 Twilight


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Sunday, February 8, 2009

The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion, by L.J. Smith

The Sequel to Book 1 and 2: The Vampire Dairies: The Awakening and The Struggle

The Fury (Book 3)

Elena is very confused. She's in love with two men who happen to be brothers, Stefan and Damon. The brothers constant fighting over her is really worrying her. She doesn't want to make the same mistake as Katherine.

Long ago, both brothers fell in love with Katherine, a beautiful yet frail vampire. She was so distraught over the brothers hating each other because of her that she took her life. When the brothers discovered that Katherine killed herself, they each blamed the other for her death. Consumed with rage the brothers had a battle and it ended with both their lives. Each awakened a vampire turned by their vampire girlfriend having given them enough blood the night before her death to complete the transformation.

An evil force is still lurking around Fells Church. It chased Elena to her untimely death and now she and her friends try to discover what it is. Elena became a vampire because Stefan and Damon both gave her blood before she died. It seems as if this evil can change shape, control the elements, and turn every dog in town against their owners! And if that wasn't enough, a vampire hunter is in town and he's on the hunt! This book ends in tragedy. :(

READ AN EXCERPT FROM THE FURY CLICK HERE!

Dark Reunion (Book 4)

It's hard to give a review for this book without giving the ending to "The Fury" away. So I'm just going to give a very brief general review. The insane fight at the end of "The Fury" leaves someone dead. This book deals with the loss of that someone and a new evil that has descended on Fells Church. It's up to the survivors to figure this one out, and they decide to contact the dead friend by using the Ouija board. This results in another death. That's all I'm going to give you here. You'll need to read it to find out all the gory details! Happy reading!

Book 1 and 2 The Vampire Dairies: The Awakening and The Struggle
Book 5 The Vampire Diaries: The Return Vol 1: Nightfall
Book 6 The Vampire Diaries: The Return Vol 2: Shadow Souls
Book 7 The Vampire Diaries: The Return Vol 3: Midnight (Releases March 15, 2011)


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Saturday, February 7, 2009

Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman

This ones for the GUYS! I found it alright, but if I was a guy I would have loved it. You girls might like it, but it's totally a guy book!

Charles Nancy, nicknamed "Fat Charlie" by his father, is getting married to a wonderful woman named Rosie. She convinces him to call the US and invite his father to their wedding in London, who he hasn't been in touch with for years. He calls and discovers that his father has just passed away.

While in the US attending the funeral, he learns that his father was the West African trickster god, Anansi. To top it all off, he has a brother named Spider that he never heard of who inherited his fathers god like abilities. A neighbor of his fathers informs him of how to contact Spider if he ever felt the need to meet him.

Back in London, Charlie calls his brother on a whim, not really expecting anyone to show up on his doorstep, but that's just what happens. The moment Spider shows up, Charlie's life becomes a living nightmare. Spider manages to get Charlie fired, sleeps with his fiancee, even gets him arrested for embezzlement and suspected of murder! Now Charlie can't get rid of him, so he travels back to the US to meet with a witch to try and magically force Spider out of his life. That's when things start getting interesting.

All you Guys are sure to love this one. I've also heard that some of the characters in this book were part of another novel called "American Gods" also my Neil Gaiman. I plan on reading that one too, so look for my review in the future.

READ AN EXCERPT FROM ANANSI BOYS CLICK HERE!


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Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Chosen, by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Sequel to Betrayed

Zoey Redbird is a vampyre fledgling attending the House of Night. It's where you go to complete your change from human to vampyre. Some fledglings don't finish becoming a vampyre, their body rejects the change and they die.

In this installment Zoey hides the fact that Stevie Rae her BFF that died rejecting the change is actually still walking around the living feeding off and killing them. Zoey makes it her mission to save her friend even if it means lying to her friends.

If you count having three boyfriends as being trouble then Z's in deep. Number one, her former human boyfriend, Heath. She's sucked his blood and now she has got a really bad case of blood lust and a special bond with him that is nearly impossible to sever. Number Two, her real boyfriend Erik Night, a gorgeous fledgling she has so much in common with. Three, the new substitute teacher, Loren Blake, who makes Z's legs go weak every time he's in close proximity.

Vampyres are turning up dead, really dead. Two professors are murdered on school grounds and The House of Night calls in the Suns of Erebus (super hot Vampyre warriors) for protection. Things get crazy for Zoey. Can she keep it together, save her friend, find a killer, and keep her friends after her betrayal?

This is a great book. I found it a little out of control, but when your a teenager you make mistakes and have to learn some hard lessons. Some people are way too critical, it's a made up story. It doesn't have to have the right messages or even be realistic. It's a fantasy book, shut up and enjoy it or don't read it! Sorry, but I had to vent on that. :)

READ CHAPTER 1 of CHOSEN CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Marked
Book 2 Betrayed
Book 4 Untamed
Book 5 Hunted
Book 6 Tempted
Book 7 Burned
Book 8 Awakened (releases Jan 4, 2011)