Book Review: Louisiana Vampires.

This was another short story collection, and I bought this book on a whim, I was in Georgia at a book store and saw it, I thought hmm, we will be moving out of Louisiana soon, and this will be a cute book to have, to think back on. It was a good read, short, but good. Of course it was about vampires, and it was all pretty much about the great city of New Orleans, the vampire capitol down here. There were old fashioned vamps, new age vamps, lively vamps, and buried vamps. All in all it was a good selection. I like vampire stories, and being how these were short stories, they could be summed up and made for campfire stories I suppose. Unlike the stories in Pretty Monsters, these ones weren't really at any length, so it didn't make you really get into them, so when the story came to an end, it was the end, and expected, nothing to leave you hanging, which was well appreciated.

I enjoyed this book. And would recommend it if you need to come up with some good scary stories to take to camp with you this summer ( teenagers ).

Book Review: Falling Through the Earth.

Falling Through the Earth by Danielle Trussoni was an excellent read, only this year have I picked up reading memoirs, but once you start reading about other peoples live, you really have to sit back and think about your own. Her life was about hardship, in some ways, and finding who she was in others. The Vietnam war was the center of her life, and was also what moved this entire book, it was the fuel for the fire. This book takes us from when she was a little girl living at home with her mom and dad, and brother and sister, and all the ghosts that her father brought home from Vietnam, to her visit to Vietnam itself, trying to put her fathers ghosts to rest.

I loved this book because of who she was, even as a little girl, Danielle had strength and courage. She fought demons that she didn't even know existed. All for the love and admiration she had for her father. I respected her even at the age of six. Also in reading what this little girl was like as a child, then a teenager, then a young adult, there was something about her that reminded me of me, I had a strange kinship I felt with her. I know that sounds weird, especially because it's just a book, but what can I say, I did.

Anyhow, I would definitely recommend this book, and I am very pleased to announce that I have definitely become and avid follower of Danielle Trussoni's works, I just wish she would write her sequels faster :)

Book Review: Dry.

Dry is the sequel to the VERY good first Memoir 'Running with Scissors' by Augusten Burroughs, and his second Memoir was just as good, no.. it was just as great. While the difference in his writing style and his personality is very noticeable, you can tell that this is still the same man, the one who has such an incredible childhood.

In this second introduction to his life, Augusten Burroughs takes us through his early adult years, with his addiction to alcohol, and his love and loss of Pig Head. He bears his heart on the pages, and it makes you think about what you really do everyday. Well it made me think about what I do everyday anyway, about how much I take for granted.

He comes from this crazy childhood with barely any education at all, nothing past elementary. Makes himself a successful career in advertising. falls head over hills in love with a man named Pig Head, who sadly doesn't return the love in the appropriate way until it's too late, until after Pig Head has been diagnosed with HIV. He has a dramatic love affair with alcohol, one that is all consuming, and one that he doesn't even realize he has until his boss and coworkers gang up on him and force him into rehab about. Once there though, he does realize that this love affair has gone on too long, and has gotten way out of hand. He severs it. And is a better man for it. His career continues to grow, he has the same old friends, and has made some new ones, unfortunately, one of the new ones, is a man that is no good for him, and is make some of the mistakes that Augusten himself made before he got rid of his love affair with alcohol, only this man has an addiction to cocaine.

This story has it's ups and downs of what he went through in his younger adult years, and it was a very interesting read, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, I would definitely recommend it to others, but you should really read the first memoir to begin. Oh and this one has my less crude reference to sexuality that the first book as well.

Book Review: Fallen.

After the terrible accident that the shadows seemed to cause leaves Luce with short hair and strips her away from all her friends and family, it sends her to Swords and Cross boarding/ reform school in Savannah Georgia. Luce is left with a bad reputation, and little to hold onto, except those same shadows. No one trusts her, and no one is readily willing to believe in her. On her first day she gets the run down of the place. This is where bad kids go to mingle with other bad kids, and to ' get a fresh start' , yeah right. Half these kids look like they could have crawled straight from the pits of hell, but Luce has no idea exactly how close that line of thinking actually is.

After her first day of meeting her new best buds, Arriana and Penn and oggling this total jerk Daniel. Luce realizes she really hates this place and just wants to go home, but sadly this is home now. A guy in her class starts giving her the attention that a girl really wants, the proper attention, he is sweet and charming, and of course good looking, Cam. Even though Cam is all of these things, and he does not try to hide it, she just can't help but still feel a pull towards Daniel, even if he was a jerk to her that first day, and has been again everyday since.

Days go by and Luce feels more and more drawn to Daniel, after he saves her, and they are able to steal a few minutes alone, she knows now that there IS something more to what she feels, she just doesn't know yet, with the help of her best friend Penn, she starts to research Daniel, his family, his past, and even though she continuously comes to dead ends, it doesn't stop her. After a terrible accident at the school leaves one student dead and her injured, Daniel again saves her, even though she feels like she knows he saved her in a more magical way than what everyone else knows, she can't prove it just yet. Daniel is different, she is different, but she doesn't know what kind of different they are.

After the accident, Cam takes Luce on a trip off campus, and Daniel saves her... again. He tells her a story that she can't possibly believe, but she does, for some reason she does believe what he's saying. Then all hell breaks loose on campus, and Luce has to decide who, not what is reality, Daniel or Cam, and what she should do. Because her very next kiss could be her very last, it is definitely life and death.

I loved this book, it is definitely Young Adult material, and I know they say " you are only as old as you  feel. " and technically I'm not THAT old, lol. I'm still not considered in the ' young adult ' category. Anyhow, like I said, I loved this book, I like the mystique, and intrigue. I also like the love story that was there, the way true love can last for hundreds of years, that was sweet, especially since I really will not sit down and read a romance novel, lol go figure. But I do recommend this book to people who like the fantasy world of books, I read them all the time, and I'm definitely looking forward to Torment.

Book Review Update: Pretty Monsters.

I wanted to apologize, I did a shotty job of a review on the book Pretty Monsters. My computer had crashed, I was working from the laptop, which is super crappy, and I was being really impatient. Now with that being said. I did sum it up pretty well with the short, sweet things I said, I wasn't used to reading short stories, so the abrupt endings did in fact disappoint me. But the best part was the stories didn't come off as 'short' stories they were well read, like you could sit down and start one, get into the story and finish it, chapter after chapter. Too bad they were just ' short stories'.

Book Update Fallen

I just finished Fallen, it was amazing, but I don't have time to comment at the moment. But I will def. be writing about it soon!!!

Book Review: Pretty Monsters

After reading 9 short stories, I was a little bit amused, I enjoyed Kelly Link's book, Pretty Monsters. The only complaint I do have is, the fact that I'm not used to short stories, so just as I was just getting into the storyline, they would come to an abrupt stop. But other than that, they were good stories. I'm dying to know if Fox ever got saved, or which wolf got shot, but I guess I will never know.

Book Review: The Dead-Tossed Waves.

First and Foremost, I want to say that when people say sequels never live up to the original, they are wrong. Secondly, I really liked this book. Unlike it's companion, it did not take me long at all to jump right into this story, I was grabbed and yanked in,right from the beginning. However, roughly around pages 100 through 150, I felt as if I were drowning in repetitiveness, but it didn't last long. Carrie Ryan did a great job with this second novel in the series, and so I can only imagine that the third time will be a charm when the final book in this trilogy is released next year.

Gabrielle grew up on the shores of Vista, tending the lighthouse with her mother, Mary. Living among the living, in a safe, secure and happy world. Until her best friend and her friend's brother talk her into sneaking over the barrier, into the abandoned amusement park, next to the ruins. Until they don't see the Mudo Breaker until it's almost too late. Then Gabry's world changes overnight, she runs away, Catcher gets infected, Cira is arrested, her mother goes back into the forest of hands and teeth, and Elias seems to be her savior.Trying to protect her friendship, her love, her mother and all she believes in takes Gabry down a path she never could have imagined, one that is neither safe nor secure. Killing a man, running from the Recruiters, finding her real home, and losing everyone she loves will either destroy her permanently or will wake her up to realize the person she has always been, but was just to afraid to become. 

Book Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

This story didn't catch me at first, it was a quick read, but took me a couple days just to get past the first 50 pages. It couldn't hold my attention. Which really disappoints me, I hate saying bad things about books, I adore books. Now, with that being said, after I drug myself through the grueling first few chapters, I made it to a better place. The beginning of the story reminded me a lot of M.Night Shaymalan's , The Village. A small village, surrounded by a big fence, and big bad scary monsters, and it is all that is left of mankind. Of course in the movie, there turned out to be no monsters at all, and in this one there really is, zombies, which I think was a nice twist, there aren't too many zombie stories out there.

Mary has always been told that there was a world beyond the forest, one with an ocean, and buildings so tall they seemed to touch the sky. To everyone else they were just stories, but to Mary they were her reason for survival, her reason to go on. When the one she loves becomes betrothed to her best friend, and she betrothed to his brother, she feels that her dreams have ended and she must give up her hope and settle for a life of commitment. But then the barriers are breached, and with a flash of red, red that Mary knows as familiar, her whole world ends, and begins at the same time. The one she loves, and the one she is betrothed to, as well as her best friend, her brother, his pregnant wife, a child from the village and her wedding present, a puppy, they set out down a path. Beyond the gates of their village, through the forest but still safe, the fences are built on either side, this path was made for this, for escape. Her brother loses his love to the unconsecrated, Mary loses her love to them as well, all she has left is the faith, the hope and the knowledge that the ocean is still out there, and that she will find it. Willing herself to go on and to not break a promise she made to a dying man, her dying love.

Carrie Ryan did a good job of this book, I would definitely recommend to the friends of mine who have tween kids, or kids in their teenage years. ( for the kids to read, lol. )

Book Review: Pride/Prejudice

I have read Pride and Prejudice by the esteemed Jane Austen, I have read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, written by Jane Austen and parodied by Seth Grahame-Smith. The original of course being an amazing love story, one I believe that every avid reader should read, at least once, along with a whole list of other classics, but that's neither here nor there. The second, was the same as the original, but with zombies added, which of course changed the story a bit, and made it slightly more comical, but otherwise, it was still a wonderful love story.

Now after reading these stories, I found this book, Pride/Prejudice : A Novel of Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, and their Forbidden Lovers. No joke, that is the entire title. So of course I had to read this book as well.

When it says Forbidden Lovers, that's exactly what it means, I was not prepared for what lay in between the covers of this book. Pride/Prejudice takes us back into the lives of Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingly, and how these two men, who seem of completely different nature, are such close and intimate friends. Darcy being a tall, robust, silent, and arrogant man, and Bingly being a slight, kind, energetic, and friendly spirit. These two have a grand friendship they share their deepest confidences and as it unfolds within these pages, deepest intimacies. The story also takes us back to when Darcy was but a young man, and lets us in on the secrets that really unfolded between him and the despicable Mr. Wickham. And while the men are sharing their secrets in a personal way, Elizabeth and Charlotte are as well.

One thing I particularly loved about this book was that it took us well past the wedding day. It took us into the wedding night, and onto the honeymoon.

If you liked the original Jane Austen book because it was a love story, you might like this one as well. However, if you have children in your home who are old enough to read, and are under the age of 17, I would definitely put this book somewhere they can't get it, or make it off limits, it makes more than a few references to sex, and has quite a few details involving both hetero and homo sexuality. I for one enjoyed the book, it wasn't one of the best I ever red, but it did have me in a giggly fit more than once.

Book Review: The Mortal Intruments Trilogy

This is as I promised, a review, after I have finished the final book in the series. I blew through these books, not because they were short, quick reads, but because I couldn't stand to tear myself away from the books for even just a short time. Those times that I did have to stop reading, like when sleeping or, showering, or eating.. I couldn't stop thinking about them. I dreamt about them and even day dreamt about them.. this story had me, from the beginning.

Clary grew up in a normal single parent home in New York, going to school, having a best friend, and hanging out a nightclub for the underage. Until one night she saw something that made her wish that her very boring, very normal life, was all that it was. After her mother is abducted and Clary is whisked away by the devilishly handsome Jace, nothing goes back to normal, if anything it gets more and more strange by the minute. Going to the Institute, finding out who her mother really was.. is, learning who it was that kidnapped her and what she has to do to get her back is only the beginning. Clary must face the guardians of hell themselves, demons, in order for just to be back with her mother. As she learns more and more and the story takes more twists, a forbidden love develops, and Clary is introduced to her father, the one she always thought was dead. Fighting for her life, her mother's life, and against  love she knows she can never have, Clary jumps head first into the world of the shadowhunters. Valentine will stop at nothing and will spare no one in order to cleanse the Clave, not even his own flesh and blood, but no matter how many times he has tried to purify his own blood himself, nothing came close to his first experiments. Jace and Clary are both shadowhunters, even though brought up in opposite worlds, the fact that they are different, elite, makes them powerful. They can change things, and in order to do that, Valentine must be stopped, and this time for good.

This book still has me reeling, I absolutely loved it, it has it all, Vampires, Werewolves, Warlocks, Demons, Bounty Hunters, Nephilim, Good, Bad, and Ugly, I didn't put these books down, couldn't put them down for almost four days straight, and it was well worth it. Normally when I love a book this much, I can usually find some flaw, I either hated the ending, or it took me a while to get into at the beginning or some parts confused me, but with this there is nothing. I will not be complaining about the published works of Cassandra Clare, she has done a remarkable job with this trilogy and I am more that patiently awaiting her next works of art.

Pre Book Review: The Mortal Instruments

There are three books in this series, better known as a trilogy. I have sped through the first, almost finished with the second and on my way to the third. I almost wrote a review when I finished the first book, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I wanted to finish the series before I wrote how I truly felt about these books. But I will tell you this, so far, definitely so good. I haven't been so enthralled, so wrapped in the world of storytelling, since the Twilight saga. Cassandra Clare has done an excellent job so far!!

Book Review: Running With Scissors.

This book is a memoir of the personal writings of Augusten Burroughs, written about the trials and tribulations he faced growing up. It was referred to me from a friend. This is not the sort of book I would usually pick up on my own. However, with that being said, this was an extraordinary book. Things happened to this child that some of us could only imagine, and then some us imagining them would be mortified. How this boy withstood all he went through, and went on to become a successful author, well that is a sign of true mental illness.


Auguesten was born to two equally insane parents, though one was clinically insane and the other liquidly insane, he still only had himself really, and his goals of becoming a TV doctor.
After a nasty divorce Augusten's father, for lack of better definition, cuts off all contact. His mother has decided her years of oppression are over and she is finally free, with this revelation she gives guardianship of her son over to her ' shrink ', Dr. Finch, and Augusten is now being raised by a family more crazy than his original.
Deciding he has been gay his whole life, and his first true relationship is a tumbleweed romance with a man almost twenty years his senior, Augusten is locked away and trapped,inside himself, even though he truly has more freedom than he could ever ask for.
After learning more secrets than he knows what to do with, feeling defeated over and over, and loving a family that's not really his, he still has his sights set for New York city, yet now he wants to become a writer. After all it's in his blood, his mother was a writer.... his mother was also insane.

** This book does contain some content that I would personally not recommend for anyone under the age of sixteen, given that in most states, sixteen is the legal age of consent.

Book Review: Beautiful Creatures

In a period when most books we find ourselves drawn to are the paranormal, vampires, werewolves, witches, and immortals this books comes right up that alleyway.

Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl have taken the love affair of two people, even though they were ' species apart' and intertwined them through hundreds of years, bringing forth a curse that runs throughout a bloodline and threatens to end a new young love before it even has the chance to start.

Even though nothing ever changes in Gatlin, and everything you see everyday is exactly the same, there is always a way of seeing things without ever really seeing them. That's how Ethan Wate feels after he has discovered truths he never thought possible.

Lena Duchannes has moved from home to home, living in fear and isolation trying her best just to fit, never having any real friends, and never being normal. Her parents dying when she was young, and being raised by many different relatives, life is ever changing, but sadly always the same. Until she comes to Gatlin, until she meets Ethan, until she finds the locket..... until her mother returns.

The hurricanes seem worse this year than ever before, the rain won't stop coming. The witch hunt seems to have started throughout the entire town, the shadows seem to haunt her. But Ethan can save her, no one knows how it's possible, he's just a mere mortal, but as time gets shorter, the more her family believes that Ethan has the power to protect her, and to make sure she makes the right decision.

Beautiful Creatures was a wonderful book, I would definitely classify it under young adult, however, I not being a young adult still loved it. I am so glad there is a second book to this story, the ending left my mind spinning and spinning, there were so many questions reeling in my head after I read it. What happened to her mother? What happens when she goes back to school? Does she go back to school? Now that Macon is dead does she move away? I finished it at night, right before bed, so of course I laid awake for over an hour afterward just thinking about the book, and all the possibilities that now lay ahead of these two young people. But no matter what the ending did to me, I still recommend it to anyone who enjoys the paranormal realm of story reading.