Monday, October 4, 2010

Don't Talk Back to Your Vampire, By Michele Bardsley

The second book in the series is about Lorcan, Patrick's brother from the first novel and Eva LeRoy, a recent turn blood. Eva is the town Librarian of Broken Heart. In the last book Vampires bought out all the humans in the town and are making it the first full blood supernatual town.There are humans in Broken Heart, you have donors and children of the Vampires that were turned. Vampires cannot have babies. The taint is still running rampant and a group of rival vamps is causing trouble.

Eva is still new at being a vamp and it's a big adjustment for her teenage daughter as well. Ever since becoming undead, Eva noticed that animals are attracted to her somehow. So she's outside being all Snow White when Zap Lorcan materializes in front of her and collapses at her feet. Eva realizing it's only a few minutes before sunrise manages to get him indoors. The sunlight will fry a vampire to ashes. She gets him onto her bed and he magically makes his shirt disappear. Yeah cool, huh. Lorcan is also a witch and so is his twin brother Patrick.

Eva soon discovers she has abilities far beyond that of a regular turn blood. She can compel and mentally communicate with any animal that has a human side. This ability is enough to make her wanted by the consortium, lycans, the vampire rival group, basically everyone. This puts her in danger. She gets herself kidnapped and someone poisoned her with the taint. Can Lorcan find a cure before it's to late to save Eva, his soul mate. You'll have to read it and find out.

My favorite quote. Lorcan giving Eva a compliment on page 69:

"The sun weeps because it can no longer caress your skin or warm your lips. I do not envy the sun, Eva. But I truly hate the moon, because it's light touches you in all the ways I cannot."

This book was almost as good as the first. I've read the 4th book too and that one is awesome so I'm definitely going to read them all. I'm glad I know the history of the vampires and how the town came to be. you should read the first 2 novels too. All the books in this series can be read as just a stand alone, but they are all connected to the town and it's undead residents.

Read an excerpt from Don't Talk Back to Your Vampire Click Here!

Broken Heart Series:

Book 1 I'm the Vampire That's Why
Book 3 Because Your Vampire Said So
Book 4 Wait Until Your Vampire Gets Home
Book 5 Over My Dead Body
Book 6 Come Hell or High Water
Book 7 Cross Your Heart
Book 8 Must Love Lycans (Coming 2011)

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Sweep, Volume 2, By Cate Tiernan

Volume 2 covers books 4-6

Dark Magick

This is a very confusing time for Morgan Rowlands. Everything is happening so fast lately. She found out she was adopted, a blood witch, her birth parents were murdered, she found her soul mate Cal, and she lost her best friend Bree. What more could happen? Oh yeah, at the end of the last novel Cal's half brother, Hunter, revealed he is a Seeker with the International Council of Witches sent to investigate Cal and his mother Seline for practicing dark magick. Cal and Hunter have a battle that ended with Cal being kicked off a cliff and disappearing making Morgan agonize over his death.

When Morgan finds out that Hunter is still alive strange things start to happen. She begins to question everything. Her strange attraction to Hunter, her relationship with Cal, her broken friendship with Bree. She's even drawn to the dark side of magick which scares her. Things come to a head at the end and Morgan faces the biggest betrayal of her life when someone locks her up and sets the place on fire. Will she be able to escape the same fate as her birth parents? Read on and find out or stop here to avoid a spoiler.

Awakening

Morgan is crushed and her heart is broken. How can she possibly go on. Cal tried to kill her! Her Soul mate, her muirn beatha dan. She starts to study with Hunter to develop her abilities for her own protection. Someone is using dark magick and Hunter suspects Morgans friend David Redstone, owner of Practical Magick. Morgan does everything she can to prove David is innocent. Hunter and Morgan get close as they try to find the source of the dark magic.

Spellbound

The coven of Cirrus (Formally led by Cal) and the coven of Kithic (Led by Sky, the one developed after Bree left Cirrus) join together to form one coven. Morgan and Bree begin to repair their friendship. Morgan starts to realize her developing feelings for Hunter. Cal tries to convince Morgan he still loves her. Mary K., Morgans sister gets kidnapped by Seline. Someone dies at the end. But who? Dum, dee, dum, dum. You will be dieing yourself when you find out! Happy reading!

These three books were amazing. I loved the plot twists and tension. Unbelievable! I love it when a story takes me by surprise. :)

Sweep Series

Read an Excerpt from each book by clicking the corresponding book title links! If you click the Volume it will take you to the review of that volume.

Volume 1 (re-release)
Book 1 Book of Shadows
Book 2 The Coven
Book 3 Blood Witch

Volume 2 (re-release)
Book 4 Dark Magick
Book 5 Awakening
Book 6 Spellbound

The rest of the series in the old one book format
Book 7 The Calling
Book 8 Changeling
Book 9 Strife
Book 10 Seeker
Book 11 Origins
Book 12 Eclipse
Book 13 Reckoning
Book 14 Full Circle
Book 15 Night's Child

Saturday, September 25, 2010

I'm the Vampire, That's Why, By Michele Bardsley

The first in a series of vampire novels by Michele Bardsley. I enjoyed the writing style, witty humor and the fact that she appeals to the older age group and not the teens. The cartoon cover may fool you into thinking it's a teen novel but trust me, it's NOT, although teens may enjoy it as well, I'm sure.

The book opens with a mom named Jessica Matthews who has two kids named Bryan 14 and Jenny 5. She's dragging the garbage pails out to the curb because her son conveniently forgot to do his one chore. Before she could finish the deed she was attacked and killed by a beast. She awakens in a room sucking on the thigh of a 4000 year old vampire who was stark naked and chained to the wall. Much to her surprise he has a full erection and offers it to her. She almost takes him up on that offer since she's been sex starved for 18 months. Her husband left her for his much younger secretary and was expecting their first child when he perished in a car accident. She never did get that divorce, now instead she's a widow. A voice comes over a loud speaker "Do not have sex with Mr. O'Halloran. If you have sex with Mr. O'Halloran, you will be mated to him for the next hundred years."

Jessica is wearing a ring that's been passed down from generation to generation in her family. A ring that Patrick O'Halloran claims is his, and only his soul-mate can wear the ring. Ahem...that would be her. She also finds out that his brother Lorcan is the beast that killed her and Patrick saved her by turning her into a vampire. Lorcan is a vampire too but has a vampire disease called the taint, which the Consortium is currently searching for the cure. It turns out that Jessica was not the only person Lorcan attacked and there are 10 more like her including her nemesis Charlene, the secretary that her husband Rich left her for. It just so happens the vampire that turns you is also your protector and Patrick also turned Charlene.

I loved this book. It was action packed and full of lust and desire. It will have you squirming in your seat wanting more. You'll love it.

Read a small Excerpt from I'm the Vampire, That's Why Click Here!

Broken Heart Series:

Book 2 Don't Talk Back to Your Vampire
Book 3 Because Your Vampire Said So
Book 4 Wait Until Your Vampire Gets Home
Book 5 Over My Dead Body
Book 6 Come Hell or High Water
Book 7 Cross Your Heart
Book 8 Must Love Lycans (Coming 2011)

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

A Bite to Remember, By Lynsay Sands

Vincent Argeneau is a 400 year old vampire and is in need of a private detective. One that knows about his special situation. His cousin set up a PI to take care of his problem with his production company but the person that arrived on his doorstep was a woman and a mortal and she brought a giant with her.

Jackie Morrisey is a detective that is in the know when it comes to vampires. When she was younger a vampire named Cassius took control of her mind and made her think and do things she otherwise would not have done. Jackie learned the hard way what vampires can do. That's why she will never get involved with someone that won't be there for her when the sun comes up. She brought her very tall assistant and best friend Tiny McGraw to help her with this case.

Vincent's production company has come under attack. What seemingly started out as a few freak accidents and some actors falling ill has turned into murder and mayhem forcing Vincent to stop all productions until whomever is out to get him is caught.

Jackie and Tiny take over Vincents house, moving in and having alarms and gates put in. They took over his kitchen and refrigerator. Tiny has taken the cover of his personal chef and housekeeper and Jackie took on the cover of Personal assistant. Living in such close proximity and with Vincent walking around half nude is not helping Jackie to resist his charms. So what if he's the hottest guy she's ever met, living or dead. She's been hired to stop a killer, not jump into bead with him.

What I like about this book is the mystery and action part more so then the romance part. It's kind of a mystery novel with romance thrown in. The book builds up slowly but has a really nice ending. It was a good book but not great.

Read an Excerpt from A Bite to Remember Click Here!

The Argenaeu Vampire Series

The Argenaeu Family Tree

Book 1 A Quick Bite
Book 2 Love Bites
Book 3 Single White Vampire
Book 4 Tall, Dark & Hungry
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, September 21, 2010

The Vampire Diaries: The Return Vol 1:
Nightfall by L.J. Smith

Elaina sacrificed her life for Damon and Stefan and made them promise to look out for each other as the last breath left her mortal body. Elaina was drawn back to earth by a supernatural power and given her human body back but it still carries the gifts bestowed her in the afterlife. Even more alarming is the blood that courses through her veins is like a drug to vampires. Once Stefan tastes it he becomes even more powerful causing him to worry and covet Elaina. He says he wants to keep her safe and make a life together, but Fells Church is in trouble again.

Two magical fox spirits felt the power of Elaina's rebirth and were drawn to Fells Church. Theses two creatures called the "Kitsune" are brother and sister and are named Shinichi and Misao. They decide to have fun in town and place a "Malach" inside Damon that slowly grows taking control of his body and mind. Misao appears to Caroline as her brother Shinichi in her bedroom mirror and promises to take care of her enemies and promises to love her. The Kitsune cause all sorts of trouble and residents start to exhibit strange behaviors.

Damon under the control of the Kitsune lure Stephan away from Fells Church with a promise of becoming mortal. Stephan leaves a note in Elaina's electronic diary, which Damon conveniently changes. He makes the note say he's left Elaina for good and to trust Damon to look out for her.

This was an interesting book and the author changes direction from the previous books. This one was more sci-fi than paranormal but it wasn't bad. I wish there was more of an explanation on who or why that supernatural force put Elaina back on earth. Stephan is out of the picture most of this book which is also different than the previous novels. Things do heat up between Elaina and Damon which I enjoyed immensely.



Book 1 and 2 The Vampire Dairies: The Awakening and The Struggle
Book 3 and 4 The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion
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)

Friday, September 17, 2010

The Vampire Academy Series:
Blood Promise, By Richelle Mead

This novel takes off right where we left off in Shadow Kiss with Rose taking off to hunt down Dimitri, her love turned strigoi. Making the hardest decision she's ever had to make by abandoning Lissa her best friend and Dragomir Princess she had sworn to protect.

Rose has no clue where to begin to look for Dimitri but she feels she has to fulfill his last wish. Kill him if he ever became strigoi, a soulless vampire, which he has. She travels to Russia, hoping he might have been drawn back to his home country. Rose kills every strigoi she comes across in her search which draws the attention of a local Alchemist named Sydney. It's her job to clean up any mess that might draw attention to the supernatural community. Sydney helps Rose travel to Dimitri's home town where they meet a mysterious man who want's Rose to leave Russia at all costs. But who is this guy, Abe, and why is it so important she leave?

Dimitri's family welcomes Rose with open arms and Rose is sad to tell them the news of what has become of Dimitri. They hold a small ceremony for Dimitri and everyone tells stories about him and his life. While in Dimitri's town of Baia, Rose meets another couple who is also shadow kissed.

Abe finally gets Rose to leave but instead she travels to a town called Novorsibirsk with a group of other unpromised Dampires on a quest to kill all the strigoi they come into contact with. Rose convinces the others in the group to torture strigoi for information on Dimitri. Eventually word of Rose reaches Dimitri and there is a crucial confrontation in which Rose disobeys the one rule Dimitri always taught her: Never Hesitate. Rose is struck by how much Dimitri still looks like his old self giving Dimitri the opportunity to kidnap Rose! He refuses to kill her and does everything to convince her to become strigoi so they can be together. Things get interesting from her on out. Find out what happens next. Read Blood Promise and I promise you will be captivated by an enthralling story of love and loss. One of the few book series that never disappoints me. A GREAT READ!

Read an Excerpt from Blood Promise Click Here!

Book 1 Vampire Academy
Book 2 Frostbite
Book 3 Shadow Kiss
Book 5 Spirit Bound
Book 6 Last Sacrifice (releases Dec 7, 2010)

The Immortals Series:
Blue Moon, By Alyson Noel

The second book in the Immortal series continues the story of Ever and Damen. There is a new guy at school named Roman who everyone seems to like except Ever. She senses something wrong with him. Even Damen seems to like Romen. Things start to get interesting when Damen suddenly starts falling ill and becomes unable to access Summerland, the mystical in between place of the living and the dead. Ever of course thinks Romen must be involved but has no proof.

Damen and Ever decide to finally consummate their relationship after countless lifetimes of Ever being killed by Drina, Damen's ex-wife. In the last book Ever kills Drina ending the cycle, leaving Damen and Ever finally able to explore their relationship. The night of the special date Damen takes off leaving Ever to wonder what happened. Romen shocks Ever telling her he seen Damen deliberately leave without her. Ever denies it but is proven wrong a few days later at school. Damen suddenly has a new personality and calls her a freak and a stalker. The whole school seems to hate her. And to top it all off Damen is flirting with Ever's sworn enemy, Stacia. To further confuse Ever, Damen suddenly has an aura, something he never had before.

Ever sets off to find a cure for the ailing Damen and turns to Ava, a psychic. To Ever's surprise, Ava is not only aware of Summerland but has been attempting to get there for years. Together, they are successfully able to enter Summerland, allowing Ever to seek out the Great Halls of Learning to find a solution to cure Damen. She meets two twins there who show her around. However instead of being given a direct answer, the Great Halls of Learning show Ever Damen's true past.

This was an interesting read and left me eager to read the next book in the series.

Read an Excert of Blue Moon Click Here!

The Immortals Series:

Book 1 Evermore
Book 3 Shadowland
Book 4 Dark Flame
Book 5 Night Star (releases Nov 16, 2010)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Single White Vampire, By Lynsay Sands

Kate C. Leever just got promoted to editor at Roundhouse Publishing. Thinking she has to prove herself to keep the position she set her sights on Lucern Argeneau a successful Paranormal Romance writer. The previous editor was never able to get him to do any book signing tours or romance conventions. However Kate thinks she can get it done with her persuasive personality and her refusal to accept a no.

Lucern Argeneau is a vampire over 600 years old and not about to be thrust into any book signing or conventions, interviews or anything else public. No. And that's just what his response was to his new editor every time she wrote. He refused to give her his phone number or his e-mail address too.

Kate, desperate, decides to make a personal visit to Mr. Argeneau but he refuses to let her in so she sticks her foot in the door and stands her ground. She gets in only after he walks away leaving the door ajar. So Kate takes that as an invitation and follows him into the kitchen where he was sucking on a bag of blood bent over in the fridge. He gets startled and bumps his head spilling blood all over his face. Kate sees the blood and thinks he got a head wound. Lucern insists he is alright but Kate decides to not leave him in his time of need and says she's staying to make sure he's alright but really is just looking to buy more time to convince him.

This book is very comical and easy to read. It doesn't have any dull moments and is hot and steamy too. This book is laugh out loud funny and dark and delicious. You gotta love Lynsay Sands, I do! Don't ever stop writing, you have true talent.

Read an Excerpt from Single White Vampire click here!

The Argenaeu Vampire Series

The Argenaeu Family Tree

Book 1 A Quick Bite
Book 2 Love Bites
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, September 14, 2010

The Morganville Vampires:
Glass Houses and The Dead Girls Dance
By Rachel Caine

A re-release of the first 2 books in one volume. Glass Houses and The Dead Girls Dance are about a vampire town called Morganville. A place where vampires and humans co-exist in a one of a kind town. Humans are encouraged to buy protection from the vampires to ensure their safety. If you are under contract you are required to wear a bracelet indicating your Vampire protection status at all times. Every resident is required to make a weekly blood donation as part of the deal. No one walks the streets at night in Morganville.

Glass Houses

Claire Danvers is an extremely smart young lady and graduated High School rather early for her age and is eager to attend a great college. The only problem is her over protective parents who cannot bear the thought of their little girl moving so far away to a huge University. They insist she start college close to home then transfer when she gets older. They send her to a College in a town not far from home in Morganville. Claire likes the classes but the students are downright cruel. This one girl named Monica has totally got it in for her harassing her to the of point of serious injury. Claire decides to look off campus for housing. Answering an ad in the paper she is led to the Glass House. Michael Glass the owner of the house is out but she meets a goth chick, Eve, who lives there and welcomes her with open arms after seeing the awful shiner Claire got from the bullies at school. Michael, Shane, and Eve are all roommates in the house and Claire is the forth. It's here that she learns all about Morganville and it's special kind of residents. The First Book leaves off on a cliffhanger but lucky for you the second book is right at hand.

The Dead Girls Dance

This book starts off with Shane's Dad arriving to annihilate all the vampires in Morganville. Hellbent on revenge and totally unstable killing off a vampire and getting Shane blamed for his murder. Shane is caged in the middle of the town square and is awaiting a beheading. Will Claire and friends be able to save him in time? Their only hope is Michael's grandfather a vampire they hope will help them. Eve and Claire hope to run into him a the Dead Girls Dance only Claire gets offered a drink that was drugged and then needs saving herself. This series is very interesting because it's a total different take on vampires with a lot of suspense, I enjoyed the Morganville Vampires, and I hope you do too.

The Morganville Vampire Series:
(click the links to read an excerpt from each book)

Volume 1: Glass Houses, The Dead Girls Dance
Volume 2: Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools

The rest of the series in old one book format:
Book 5 Lord of Misrule
Book 6 Carpe Corpus
Book 7 Fade Out
Book 8 Kiss of Death
Book 9 Ghost Town (releases Oct 25, 2010)
Book 10 Bite Club (coming in April 2011)
Book 11 (coming in Oct 2011)
Book 12 (coming in April 2012)

Monday, September 13, 2010

Love Bites, By Lynsay Sands

The thing I like most about this series is that each book is a stand alone book but each is also intertwined with all the other books as they are all about the same family, the Argeneau's. This one focuses on the brother of Lissianna Argeneau the main character of book 1, A Quick Bite.

Some background on vampires in this series:

They need blood but they use blood banks and only feed on cold bagged blood. Biting someone is just not practiced in this modern society, but if it were to be done they call it "feeding off the hoof".

Vampires are descended from the lost city of Atlantis where scientists were doing experiments and created nanos that live inside your blood and repair damaged cells. The problem is the nanos feed off blood and the more they repair the more you need. The human body just doesn't produce enough to sustain life so ingesting blood is required and through evolution they grew fangs among other abilities used to sustain their existence.

Being a vampire means you live a very long life and so some ground rules must be followed. You can only have one child every 100 years. Since you have nanos in you, your children are also vampires. You may only turn one person in your entire existence no matter how long you happen to live. Most vampires choose to save that privilege for a life partner. However that's not always the case.

This book opens with an assasin intent on killing Etienne Argeneau a 300 year old vampire. He manages to shoot the victim point blank, but vampires are hard to kill. Etienne ends up in the hospital morgue where the coroner is Rachel Garrett. She's absolutely exhausted and sick to death with the flu. She pulls the bullet out and Etienne regenerates. Rachel thinks she's hallucinating because of her high fever and passes out. Etienne makes a getaway destroying his paper trail. But as luck would have it he ends up in the morgue a second time as a burn victim. This time Rachel notices a heartbeat just as the assassin enters wielding an axe. Rachel instinctively jumped in front of the assassin to try and stop him from killing her burn victim only to end up getting the axe herself. Assassin freaks and flees the scene. Vampire regenerates completely and turns Rachel out of an obligation he feels since she did save his life.

Things heat up between Rachel and Eteinne and things do get sexually explicit so reader beware. The story was very well written and had me flipping pages like my life depended on it. I managed to read the whole book in one night! Whew. It's a good sign if that happens and a definite keeper. You will be sure to love this one. I know I did!

Read an Exerpt from Love Bites Click Here!

The Argenaeu Vampire Series

The Argenaeu Family Tree

Book 1 A Quick Bite
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)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Tantalize, By Cynthia Leitch Smith

Ok, so this wasn't my favorite book. It started off slow and never really made me care too much for the characters. There really was never any kinds of relationships that meant anything either it was kinda weird for a book like this. I would say it was mostly about vampires even though there were werewolves in it. Ok enough about how little I liked it here is what it was about.

Quincie Morris, the main character, is a young woman who lives with her Uncle D since her parents passed away. Her Best friend is a Half Werewolf, Half Human named Kieren. She pines after him wishing he would take their friendship from friends to something more, but he treats her more like a sister. This is the failed romantic relationship the author fails to make us care about.

Quincie is going to be the owner of her parents restaurant one day when she's old enough to take over. For now her Uncle D takes care of it for her. The Restaurant is in real trouble of closing due to the competition that's set up residence down the block. Uncle D comes up with a plan to revive the business by turning their quaint Italian restaurant into a Vampire Themed Dining Experience. This is where you meet Kieren's competition. The New head Chef at Sanguini's. Quincie gets involved with the Chef who turns out to be the perfect chef for a vampire restaurant. In the end the restaurant is saved and the conflicts are resolved with a truce robbing you of a climax and leaving open the possibility for a sequel. Let's hope not. OMG and not the good OMG the bad one!

Read an excerpt from Tantalize here!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Sweep, Volume 1, By Cate Tiernan

Three books in one. This one is a re-release combining the first three novels in one volume. This series is about discovering Wicca and Magick with a little mystery and love mixed in. Plenty of betrayal, spells, circles, rituals, jealousy, mystery and suspense. The first book starts out a little slow but it builds nicely. By the end of the first book I was hooked.

Book of Shadows

There is a new kid in town and he is smokin hot. His name is Cal and he is Wiccan and practices magick. No one is immune to Cal's charms including Morgan Rowlands. But before she can make it known that she has a thing for him her best friend, Bree, stakes her claim on him. Oh well she resigns to let Bree have him since she always gets what she wants anyway. Cal invites Morgan, Bree and some others to do a circle for Samhain. That's where Morgan discovers she has a special talent for magick and a Coven forms.

The Coven

So now that Morgan knows she's really a blood witch descended from one of the original clans, she confronts her family. They must be blood witches too, but they deny all of it. That's when she discovers she was adopted. Morgan and Cal's relationship starts to develop putting a rift between her and Bree. Bree even claimed to have slept with Cal. Morgan just thinks she's jealous because Bree didn't get Cal. Cal chose Morgan after all. Bree sets of with another clan member to form their own coven. While at Cal's house Morgan stumbles upon a secret door that leads to a library. There she discovers a secret kept hidden from her. Her mothers book of shadows.

Blood Witch

Morgan is coming into some pretty powerful powers. She scrys with fire and has a vision of her birth mother pointing under a house. The one her mother and father lived in before they were killed. She finds out they were murdered. Burned to death in a barn that was locked from the outside. She finds the house and under it a box with her mothers magickal tools. Now she has her mothers book of shadows and her mothers tools making her a very powerful blood witch. Cal and his mother seem overly interested in getting their hand on her mothers tools and Morgan begins to question her relationship with Cal. Cal's half brother, Hunter, is a Seeker for the International Council of Witches assigned to investigate Seline, Cal's mother, and Cal for using Black Magic. Hunter attacks Cal causing someone to fall off a cliff.

Sweep Series (click the links to read some)

Volume 1 (re-release)
Book 1 Book of Shadows
Book 2 The Coven
Book 3 Blood Witch

Volume 2 (re-release)
Book 4 Dark Magick
Book 5 Awakening
Book 6 Spellbound

The rest of the series in the old one book format
Book 7 The Calling
Book 8 Changeling
Book 9 Strife
Book 10 Seeker
Book 11 Origins
Book 12 Eclipse
Book 13 Reckoning
Book 14 Full Circle
Book 15 Night's Child

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Sorry I was gone, I'm Back!

Sorry for being gone so long. Well, I'm back! YAY!

To tell you guys the honest truth, I wasn't planning on continuing the blog. During my absence I have gotten plenty e-mails from some pretty awesome fans as well as publishers wanting me to do reviews, so here I am.

Let's start fresh. I may have left you for a while but I sure didn't stop reading! Oh I have so many reviews to write so you guys will love it. And I may change the look of the blog as well. Many exciting changes will be happening over the next few months. I have a lot planned. So stay tuned. :)

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