Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Shadow Kiss, by Richelle Mead

The Sequel to Frostbite

This book is the best in the Vampire Academy series thus far! Non-stop action cover to cover so intriguing you cannot put it down until the last line is read. Then you'll be marking off the days on the calendar till the next book "Blood Promise" comes out. The ending will have you biting your nails and agonizing over every turn. This is a must read!

In this novel there are 3 types of vampires:
1) Moroi (Born vampires)
2) Dhampirs (half breed - vampire/human) Sworn to protect all Moroi from Strigoi.
3) Strigoi (extremely powerful vampires that have been damned and will stop at nothing to kill all Moroi.)

Rose (a Dhampir) falls hard for Dimitri (a Guardian Dhampir), but struggles to keep focused on Lissa (a Moroi) the Princess she is sworn to protect at all costs. Rose is Shadow Kissed and makes the startling discovery of what it truly means. She begins to question her life and her decision to be a guardian. She is also having flashbacks, terrifying dreams, and trouble concentrating in class.

Victor (bad guy in the last book) is on trial and tensions flare. The Academy is under attack. Moroi use their powers to fight alongside the Dhampirs in an all out war with the Strigoi. The book builds to an unbelievable climax that leaves you with a satisfied ending but with a promise for a great next book. If you find this interesting you must go back and read the series from the beginning.

READ AN EXCERPT FROM SHADOW KISS CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Vampire Academy
Book 2 Frostbite
Book 4 Blood Promise
Book 5 Spirit Bound
Book 6 Last Sacrifice (releases Dec 7, 2010)

Monday, January 19, 2009

Club Dead, by Charlaine Harris

Sequel to Living Dead in Dallas

This is about a small town waitress named Sookie Stackhouse who has the ability to read minds, and dates the towns resident vampire, Bill. Sookie is exasperated when she cannot get Bill to pay any attention to her. Then he announces that he is going on a business trip, which is clearly more than it appears to be.

Eric, the Area Sheriff, and Bill's superior, informs Sookie that Bill has gone astray. Eric is completely taken with Sookie and sees this falling out as an opportunity to gain favor with Sookie. Bill has taken up with his ex, the beautiful vampire, Lorena, who is also his maker. Now, Bill has gone missing. Eric wants Sookie's help in finding out what happened to Bill and to get him back. Sookie agrees to go to Jackson, Mississippi, even though she is deeply hurt by Bill's blatant betrayal but cannot ignore her need to see him safe.

Alcide Herveaux, a werewolf, will be Sookie's contact when she arrives. With his help, Sookie will be able to gain access to an elite club for the supernatural, Club Dead. Alcide is very handsome in a very masculine way and Sookie cannot help her attraction to him. Alcide has just come out of a relationship too, and they bump into his jealous ex at Club Dead. Things get really interesting here and the book gets hard to put down. The series is so good they made an HBO special out of it called "True Blood".

READ CHAPTER 1 of CLUB DEAD CLICK HERE!

If you haven't read the series from the beginning you are really missing out. Here's a list of books in the series:

Book 1 Dead Until Dark
Book 2 Living Dead in Dallas
Book 4 Dead to the World
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

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Specials, by Scott Westerfeld

Sequel to Pretties

In the first two books, we learn that humans destroyed the world with their carelessness for preserving the earth. This story is set in the future where the few survivors left built a society that makes humans conform by giving them mind altering surgery. The story is about a 16 year old girl named "Tally Youngblood" who learns that free will and truth are more important than a false sense of security.

In this installment, Tally wakes up a "special" and finds she is part of an elite team called the Cutters. Her best friend Shay is the leader of the group, and all of them have been outfitted with special upgrades. Like embedded computer chips, unbreakable ceramic bones, razors that come out of their fingernails, and a special stomach that can digest almost anything. Each of them are a supreme fighting machine with super strength and senses, the ultimate weapon.

Tally can think more clearly than ever, and she hasn't forgotten about Zane. Zane took the cure to the mind alteration in the last book, and it caused brain damage. Tally thinks if Zane becomes a special that he will be fixed and they can be together. The problem is Zane was left behind in the New Smoke. Dr. Cable, the inventor of the specials, wants the cutters to find the New Smoke and eliminate it once and for all. So, Tally and the cutters begin their adventure.

This was a super interesting book, but you will have a hard time following it if you haven't read the first two books. It would be best if you start at the beginning.

READ AN EXCERPT FROM SPECIALS CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Uglies
Book 2 Pretties
Book 4 Extras (Spin off book)

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Betrayed, by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Sequel to Marked

Zoey Redbird is a vampyre fledgling attending the House of Night. It's where you go to complete your change from human to vampyre. Right from the start it is clear that Zoey is special. She has the marks of an adult vamp and powers never seen before in a fledgling.

Zoey has taken over leadership of the Dark Daughters, and is determined to change the schools organization from an elitist clique to a group with meaning, value and substance. The previous leader, Aphrodite, is hellbent on regaining her old status, and has it in for Zoey especially since Z has also stolen her boyfriend, Erik. There are two other love interests complicating Z's life. Her kind of X, Heath, a human who she accidentally imprinted with and is now craving his blood and sex. Then there is the hot new substitute teacher on campus, Loren Blake, who so obviously has a deep connection with her. Z finds herself attracted to him even with herself already committed to another relationship. Things really get complicated and out of control.

Zoey knows something is amiss when human kids start turning up dead and fingers point to the House of Night. Determined to figure it all out and find balance in her life really keeps you on your toes throughout the book. I really enjoyed this one and hope you do too. If you haven't read "Marked" you should start there.

READ CHAPTER 1 of BETRAYED CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Marked
Book 3 Chosen
Book 4 Untamed
Book 5 Hunted
Book 6 Tempted
Book 7 Burned
Book 8 Awakened (releases Jan 4, 2011)

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Grave Sight, by Charlaine Harris

Fantasy lovers this one is not for you. Harper Connelly is no superhero. However, she can locate the bodies of the deceased and tell you what, in fact, did them in. She is the real deal and is 100% accurate on cause of death. She travels from place to place trying to earn a living off her ability. Her stepbrother, Tolliver, travels with her and helps her along the way not only managing, but other things as well. You see, Harper came upon her ability only after being struck by lightning. It was Tolliver who resuscitated her and saved her life. Although this book has fantasy tones it is firmly grounded in reality. Harper suffers strange side effects from the accident and is still weak in one leg, the one with the strange spider veins on it.

Harper and Tolliver travel to Sarne, Arkansas, to find a missing teenage girl named Teenie. She's been missing for over six months, and many assume her body is somewhere in the woods near where her boyfriend was found shot. The boyfriend's mother wants to clear up the town rumor that the boy killed Teenie and then shot himself. But when Harper finds the body and tells everyone that Teenie was definitely murdered, and most certainly not by her boyfriend, she and her brother find themselves in danger. Harper's life is threatened and Tolliver ends up in jail on trumped-up charges. Harper and Tollivers relationship seemed a little too close for brother and sister and it kinda was a little creepy. I would say overall the book was pretty serious and dark, but I did enjoy it in a different way then I usually do.

READ AN EXCERPT FROM GRAVE SIGHT CLICK HERE!

Book 2 Grave Surprise
Book 3 An Ice Cold Grave
Book 4 Grave Secret

Frostbite, by Richelle Mead

Sequel to Vampire Academy

In this novel there are 3 types of vampires:
1) Moroi (Born vampires)
2) Dhampirs (half breed - vampire/human) Sworn to protect all Moroi from Strigoi.
3) Strigoi (extremely powerful vampires that have been damned and will stop at nothing to kill all Moroi.)

Rose Hathaway is a Damphire and in her senior year at the academy. In 6 months she will be a guardian sworn to protect her lifelong friend Lissa, a Royal Moroi and the last in her line. Rose and Dimitri, her instructor, are on their way to meet with one of the guardian greats so she can take her qualifier. When they arrive they find everyone slaughtered by strigoi. The school panics and goes into lock down mode. It's Christmas break but no one is allowed to go anywhere but the schools scheduled ski trip.

It soon becomes apparent that strigoi are attacking in coherent, organized groups, slaughtering royalty and their guardians with frightening ease. Then, Rose's previously absent mother appears at the academy to help strategize a defense. Rose's feelings for Dimitri, while returned, are constantly being rejected and turned down, as they have a duty to protect Lissa, and the risk of emotion cannot get in the way of that. Her friend, Mason, begins to show interest in her just as an old friend of Dimitri's shows feelings for him, causing even more chaos in Rose's heart. And all the while, she's lacking the company she sorely misses from Lissa, but through their bond she unwittingly witnesses Lissa and her new boyfriend take their relationship to the next level!

READ AN EXCERPT FROM FROSTBITE CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Vampire Academy
Book 3 Shadow Kiss
Book 4 Blood Promise
Book 5 Spirit Bound
Book 6 Last Sacrifice (releases Dec 7, 2010)

Friday, January 9, 2009

Shadowland, by Meg Cabot
(The Mediator Series, Book 1)

Susannah Simon is on her way to live in her new home with the rest of her new family in Carmel, California. Her mother just remarried and now she has to leave her home in NYC and the only friend she's ever had. Living with three new stepbrothers is going to be interesting. And who knows what kind of dead people will be haunting the place. That scares her the most because Suze is a mediator. She can hear, talk, and touch ghosts of the recently and not so recently deceased. Only the ones that seem to have unfinished business. She found out at the age of 2 that ghosts will come to her for help and won't go away until she helps them move on.

In her new home she discovers her bedroom is haunted by Jesse, a hot young guy who was murdered 150 years ago. Makes it hard to have any privacy. She resorts to changing her clothes in the bathroom.

At school things aren't much better. Her first day and she gets the locker of the recently deceased Heather. The girl that killed herself when her boyfriend Bryce broke up with her over the Christmas break. As Suze attempts to protect Bryce from the angry girls attempts at revenge, she grows even more irate and determined to cause pain and destruction to not only Bryce, but Suze too.

READ CHAPTER 1 of SHADOWLAND CLICK HERE!

Book 2 Ninth Key
Book 3 Reunion
Book 4 Darkest Hour
Book 5 Haunted
Book 6 Twilight


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Thursday, January 8, 2009

Living Dead in Dallas, by Charlaine Harris

The Sequel to Dead Until Dark

Sookie finds Lafayette's body in the back of Andy Bellefleur's car.
Lafayette was the cook at Merlotte's bar where Sookie waits tables. Andy is a police detective in Bon Temps who was too drunk to drive home the night before. Sookie is a telepath and hears everyone thoughts. Actually only human thoughts, vampires are silent to her. Sookie is dating the only towns resident vampire, Bill.

Before Sookie can look into the death of her friend and coworker, she and Bill are summoned to Shreveport by the vampire sheriff, Eric. Before going to Shreveport Sookie has a run in with a manead who decides to carve a note onto her back demanding tribute from Eric. Bill gets Sookie to Eric, but there is no cure for the venom the manead left in Sookie. The only way she can live is if the vampires suck out the venom.

Eric sends Sookie to Dallas to look into the case of a missing vampire. There she finds herself the focus of the local anti-vampire club, 'The Fellowship of the Sun'. They kidnap her and plan on giving her to god as a sacrifice.

This book is crazy good, but if you haven't read the first book in the series you may want to start there.

READ CHAPTER 1 of LIVING DEAD IN DALLAS CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Dead Until Dark
Book 3 Club Dead
Book 4 Dead to the World
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

Night World No. 1: Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, Spellbinder, by L.J. Smith

3 stories related by Night World, a secret society of supernatural beings with 2 rules.
1) Never tell a human about Night World.
2) Never fall in love with a human.
These stories are about what happens when we break the rules.

Secret Vampire
James is a lone vampire living among humans who is secretly in love with a human girl named Poppy. He has watched Poppy grow up from a little tot. Now Poppy is a young woman, but James must never let Poppy know of his true feelings. He fears the consequences of the night world should they discover he has broken the rules.

Poppy is in love with her best friend James, but he's never shown any interest in her. When Poppy gets diagnosed with terminal cancer James offers her another chance at life and love.

Daughters of Darkness
3 vampire sisters, (The Redferns--Rowan, Kestrel and Jade), sick of the night world and all its rules decide to strike out on their own to live among humans. After all, their Aunt has been living among the humans so why can't they? They travel to Briar Creek, Oregon, where they discover that their Aunt has been staked buy someone who must have found her out. The sisters befriend the neighbors Mary-Lynette and Mark, humans who discover the sisters true identities. The sisters brother, Ash, hates humans and is on a mission to get his sisters to go back home. The sisters are worried Ash will kill their human friends if he were to find out they know about night world. Ash is in for a big surprise when he discovers his soul mate is the human, Mary-Lynette!

Spellbinder
Thea and Blaise Harman are sisters and witches. Blaise likes to mess with human boys by using spells and potions to make them fall in love with her. She plays with them then tosses them aside as soon as she gets bored. Thea accidentally discovers her soul mate is a human boy named Eric. She tries to stay away from him so she's not tempted to break night world laws. But when Blaise decides Eric will be her next boy toy, Thea steps in to challenge her.

READ SECRET VAMPIRE HERE FREE CLICK ME!

Volume 2 Night World: Dark Angel, The Chosen, Soulmate
Volume 3 Night World: Huntress, Black Dawn, Witchlight
Volume 4 Night World: Dark Angel, The Chosen, Soulmate
Book 10 Night World: Strange Fate (TBA)

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle, by L.J. Smith

Book 1 and 2 in one volume.

Elena is blond, gorgeous and the most popular girl in school. Her friends, Caroline, Bonnie and Meredith are pretty and popular too. Elena is used to getting what she wants and what she wants is the mysterious dark handsome new guy, Stefan. She dumps her quarterback boyfriend Matt in hopes of something sparking with Stefan. Elena tries every trick and lure she knows to attract Stefan and nothing is working. She doesn't understand it. To top that off her friend Caroline has turned against her and is trying to steal Stefan for herself.

Stefan notices Elena right off the bat. She looks exactly like his long ago lost love, the one who transformed him into a vampire. It is only with his lapis lazuli ring, a talisman forged with a powerful magic that allows a vampire to endure the sun without perishing, that he is able to live like a human. Tortured by the mere site of Elena, he does everything in his power to avoid her and her charms. Then along comes Damon, Stefans rival brother. The one who killed his beloved so long ago. Damon wants Elena and Stefan can't let that happen, not again. Not without a fight.

Damon is dark, sexy and dangerous. He follows his brother to this town in the middle of nowhere only to discover a rare beauty, Elena. He is captivated with her and will stop at nothing to possess what he desires. The only hitch in his plan is Stefan, the one who destroyed his true love so many years ago. The only girl he's ever loved, the one that made him a vampire.

This book was really good. I loved the brotherly hate and lust after Elena. It was very dark and fun. You'll love it.

Book 3 and 4 The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion
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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Blue Bloods, by Melissa De La Cruz

Some of you may not like this book. It starts off too slow and then just when you get to the good parts it ends before the climax. WTF. I felt cheated, especially since I read all that boring crap in the beginning. I was expecting an ending at the least. Nope! But I'm reviewing this book because I really did like the second half of the book, and if it had an ending I would have liked it even more. It is my hope that the sequel has a climax or two and is as interesting as the second half of book 1.

If you are still interested in reading this book, I recommend you have book 2 handy for when you finish this one because it leaves you hanging. Also, save yourself the torture, and skip to chapter 19 and start reading from there. The beginning is BORING and you won't miss it. I'll fill you in on it here so don't worry.

There are a lot of main characters, but only two groups of friends. The first clique is Schuyler, her BFF Oliver, and new friend Dylan, they are treated like outsiders by the popular clique who is made up of twins Mimi and Jack Force and BF Bliss. They all go to this high end private school in NYC. They all grow up as normal as the rest of us until they start the change. They start to get a strange pattern of blue veins on their arms and crave raw meat. Some experience knowing things they haven't been taught. (ex. another language.) Then they also experience a kind of daydream where they remember a past life. The reason all this is happening is that they are all vampires (blue bloods) and have been reincarnated every 100 years. So they live forever and can't die, EXCEPT if they are killed by a silver blood. All blue bloods are asked to join a prestigious charity group where they learn who they really are. This is where it gets good. Chapter 19, Schuyler is joining the charity and things get interesting from there. Schuyler is also only part blue blood. Her father was human. She shouldn't even exist because blue bloods cannot reproduce new souls like humans can. The book does end before you get to any real action. That's why I'm hoping book 2 is better.

READ CHAPTER 1 of BLUE BLOODS CLICK HERE!

Book 2 Masquerade
Book 3 Revelations
Book 4 The Van Alen Legacy
Book 5 Misguided Angel (releases Oct 26, 2010)

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Pretties, by Scott Westerfeld

The sequel to Uglies.

The sequel to Uglies is a great continuation of the original with the feel of a new story. I just loved it. Tally becomes pretty to try and find a cure for her best friend Shay. Shay has brain damage due to the operation that made her pretty. Tally will also get brain damage when she gets the operation, but she has already given permission to a scientist to give her experimental drugs that may cure the damage.

Tally has forgotten all about The Smoke and finding a cure. The operation that made her pretty has also fried a few brain cells. Now all Tally knows is partying with her new found hunk, Zane. But when an old friend crashes a pretty party and gives Tally 2 pills and a note from herself that she wrote while she was still ugly. Tally has to make a choice. Take the pills or not. Unable to decide before getting busted by special circumstances, Tally splits the pills with Zane. They each take one pill. They both seem to be waking up to their former selves when Zane starts to have a bad reaction to the pill. Tally is desperate to save Zane's life. The only way to help Zane is to find the Doctor who created the cure, but that would mean breaking out of Prettytown and trying to find the NEW smoke. Tally embarks on another adventure that will keep you turning the pages.

You won't be disappointed with this one, but if you haven't read the first book then this one may be hard to follow.

READ AN EXCERPT FROM PRETTIES CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Uglies
Book 3 Specials
Book 4 Extras (Spin off book)

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Marked, by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

House of Night (book 1)

Zoey Redbird is 16 and lives in a world where vampyres are an accepted part of society. Everyone starts out human but a select few get chosen to be vampyres. Those that are chosen will make the transformation into a vampyre or die if their body rejects the change. Once you are chosen you must leave your old life behind and enroll in a new school just for vampyres, The House of Night. It is there you learn what it is to be a vampyre and how to live as one.

Zoey is a regular teenager with a regular life. She's dating a guy on the football team and has a best friend. She can't stand her family especially since her mom remarried a total a-hole who makes her life a living hell. She's standing by her locker when she's approached by a vampyre and is marked in front of all her friends. The mark is like a tattoo in the middle of her forehead an outline of a crescent moon. Zoey goes to see her grandmother who she is close to about the change happening to her. She trips and falls and goes into some sort of dream state where she meets the Goddess Nyx who tells her she is special and meant for great things. When Zoey awakens she discovers her mark has been filled in. At the House of Night, Zoey makes new friends and some powerful enemies. She meets a new guy, but her old one doesn't seem to want to go away. People are drawn to her because of her special mark. Only adult vamps have a filled in mark, all except for Zoey.

The book contains some suggestive language and sex. I've read all the books in this series so far and I must say they just get better. I'm looking forward to a book 5!


Book 2 Betrayed
Book 3 Chosen
Book 4 Untamed
Book 5 Hunted
Book 6 Tempted
Book 7 Burned
Book 8 Awakened (releases Jan 4, 2011)

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Vampire Academy, by Richelle Mead

In this novel there are 3 types of vampires:
1) Moroi (Born vampires)
2) Dhampirs (half breed - vampire/human) Sworn to protect all Moroi from Strigoi.
3) Strigoi (extremely powerful vampires that have been damned and will stop at nothing to kill all Moroi.)

A Dhampir named Rose and her best friend Lissa have been on the run for 2 years. It's up to Rose to keep Lissa, a vampire princess and the last in the Dragomir line, safe from Strigoi. Rose and Lissa share a special bond because of Lissa's special abilities. They are captured and returned to the Vampire Academy from which they escaped to face ridicule, speculation, and danger.

Lots of social politics and pressures. Adult content, language, steamy sex, love triangles, friendships and loyalty. Strangely fascinating and exciting plot that has you up all night reading instead of sleeping. I was pleasantly surprised I liked this series so much. After reading the "Twilight series" I didn't think anything could compare. The main character turns out to be Rose and not Lissa which confused me a little in the beginning but I enjoyed this book and the 2 others that followed.

READ AN EXCERPT FROM VAMPIRE ACADEMY CLICK HERE!

Book 2 Frostbite
Book 3 Shadow Kiss
Book 4 Blood Promise
Book 5 Spirit Bound
Book 6 Last Sacrifice (releases Dec 7, 2010)