The Up side of Insanity.

And the Winners Are!!!

2011-02-12T09:06:00.000-06:00

Here are the Winners of Our Morganville Vampire Giveaway!! I'd Like to Thank Everyone who Participated and I hope everyone had fun!!

In no particular order: Congratulations to

Sharon Ames
Katrina Whitaker
Batina Bandy
Kadambari
Lisa Potts

I will be sending each of you and email at sometime today congratulating you, attached to this email will be YOUR copy of each book.. so make sure to A. keep your eyes open for it and B. don't delete it :)

Thank you again for everyone you entered!!! Have fun and Stay Warm

Update

2011-02-04T23:40:00.004-06:00

I wanted to let each and everyone of you know, I love this blog. This was my starting point and it will always be my baby. With that said, My friend Christy and I both have individual book review blogs, but have decided it's time to merge them.

This is a happy day!

We will be able to post more, review more, and best of all, host more GIVEAWAYS!! Make sure you head over to our new blog page, ( link is below ) sign up to be a follower via email, and follow the blog, after all that's the only way to participate in the contests!!

Good day everyone and stay warm!!

Middle of the Road Reviews

Contest :)

2011-01-31T14:30:00.015-06:00

OK guys here it is, the contest, like I promised.

I stated in my previous post that I will be giving away an Ebook. I know that unfortunately not everyone has access to an Ereader, but I will be sending the Winner(s) the Ebook file in multiple formats, therefore, you should be able to read it on your desktop, laptop..ect...

Now for the good part.

I will be giving away my Ebook copies of the ENTIRE Morganville Vampire series!! that is 9 books out to date :)

I am so VERY excited about this, I love these books so much and am really anticipating the upcoming release of book 10 this year, Bite Club.

The titles I will be giving away are:
( click on any one of the titles for a lil bit of info on the series )
Glass Houses
The Dead Girls' Dance
Midnight Alley
Feast of Fools
Lord of Misrule
Carpe Corpus
Fade Out
Kiss of Death
Ghost Town

To Enter and Participate in the contest there are a few things you must do first :)
1. You Must be a follower of this blog.
2. You Must be at least a Tween, these are good books, but Def YA, as in too old for the kiddos :) ( sry guys )
4. You Have to Enter NO LATER THAN 9pm, Feb. 11th.
3. Last but Not Least, You must Answer my Riddle!!

I will be giving the Complete Ebook series to 5 Winners, I will pick them Randomly from the ones who are able to guess correctly!! Winners will be announced By 10am on Feb. 12th ( Just in Time to get Your Sweetie an Ereader for Valentine's day, completely Loaded with this series ) Good Luck and Have Fun!!

CONTEST FORM HAS BEEN REMOVED : CONTEST HAS ENDED

Updates :)

2011-01-30T13:54:00.000-06:00

Hello, everyone. I have spent the better part of this morning updating a few things on this blog. I apologize for my absence of late, I have been so very busy.

I blogged a couple of recent books I have read, wonderful books by the way :) I also added a few books to the suggested reading lists. I added to both the Adult books and the Young Adult books, so check those out. I removed some of the Up & Coming that have already been released and added a few new ones that I am just dying for. Hopefully you guys are as well :)

Also I am going to be hosting a giveaway VERY soon for some free Ebooks... I know not everyone has an Ereader, but I will be giving the winner the book(s) in multiple formats, so they can at least read it on their computers if they don't have access to an Ereader!!

I hope that everyone enjoys the updates, and stay tuned for the contest, I will be announcing it within the next 24 hours :)

Book Review: The Iron King

2011-01-30T13:05:00.000-06:00

The Iron Fey have quickly become some of my favorite Ya books. I don't need to tell those who have read this series how addicting they are, but for those of you who are being deprived of this series, go out and get them, they are like the most decadent piece of candy to a sugar-holic :)

The first book brings us into the life of Meghan Chase, a half Fey girl living in the mortal realm. Of course she doesn't know she is half Fey, where would the fun be in that. After her brother Ethan is kidnapped though and replaced with a changeling, things start to go a little haywire.

The notorious Puck, or Robbie Goodfell, as Meghan has always known him, comes to rescue in a rather roundabout way. he lets her in on her little secret. Even though by doing so he is defying direct orders from the Summer King himself. Puck can't help it, he has to help Meghan no matter the cost.

A trip into Faerie isn't exactly all dancing and parties, When Puck brings Meghan through they have their first run in with the Winter Prince, Ash. Ash is about as beautiful as he is cold, and Meghan feels herself drawn to him immediately.

Saving her brother turns into the biggest ordeal of her life, as Meghan realizes it wasn't her father, the King of the Summer court, or the Winter Court who have kidnapped him, but an all new threat to the Faerie realm. The Iron Fey. And they have decided that they want Meghan Chase all to themselves.

Tricking Ash into helping her probably wasn't the smartest move she could make, but then again, he left her do it. Mab, the Queen of the Winter Court will be furious once this is all over. But it doesn't matter to Meghan, she needs to save her brother and she will sacrifice herself in anyway possible to get him back.

Even though Ash is cold in the beginning and then constantly throughout the book, he begins to thaw towards Meghan and she lets her heart lead her into directions that she should never go, but she isn't the only one who is falling in Love. Ash the adventure gets more dangerous, Meghan has to decide where her future is going to take her... right after she saves Ethan.

Amazing series!! Anyone and Everyone should read this!!

The Iron King
Winter's Passage ( a novella )
The Iron Daughter
The Iron Queen

Book Review: Switched

2011-01-30T12:50:00.000-06:00

The first book in this three part series is Switched. Amanda Hocking did a great job of bringing us into this world in this book, introducing us to the characters and letting us get a feel of who they are and their personalities.

Wendy has moved more times than she can count, of course it's always for her benefit. If she could keep herself out of trouble for at least more than a few months then things might be able to settle down and they could live in one place. Her brother Matt and her Aunt Maggie would be absolutely delighted if that would happen, but Wendy just can't seem to do it. For the life of her she can't fit in, she wants to to.. sometimes. She wonders what it would be like to be normal, have normal friends and a normal boyfriend. But she knows that's just not who she is, and she doesn't even try to kid herself.

The newest home is hopefully going to be the last, Matt and Maggie are to the point of begging Wendy to make things work. They try to be as careful as possible with her, they think she is more fragile than she really is. Her whole life ppl have been treating her like a piece of porcelain. Ok, so yeah her mom tried to slice and dice her when she was a kid, big deal, it happens. She knows they only mean the best, but it gets so frustrating at times.

Enter Finn Holmes, they mysterious new boy at her school, he is even newer there than she is. And he seems obsessed with Wendy. He stares at her like there is nothing else in the universe to look at. If it wasn't so creepy Wendy might actually find it sweet. Confronting him doesn't work out exactly as she wants it to, he only stares at her when she isn't looking now.

The school dance turns into a nightmare when Finn decides it's time to tell Wendy why he is really there and why he has been following her so closely. Once she hears the truth of her Tryelle heritage it is a whirlwind from there.

Life couldn't get more complicated than it already was, or so she thought, now she is being drug into the middle of a war. A war between tribes of Trolls for that matter, and she seems to be the prize that could make or break it all.

Wonderful wonderful series, and I would def recommend this to everyone who loves a good paranormal series in the YA area!!

Switched
Torn
Ascend

Jennifer Laurens Heavenly contest!!

2011-01-28T08:59:00.000-06:00

Here is a contest hosted by Jennifer Laurens in the attempt to get her amazing books into the hands of anyone who is able to read them. These books are just as Heavenly as this contest, check it out and enter for your chance to win.. today is the last day!!!

CONTEST

TRAILER FOR PENITENCE

this is the book I am hoping to win ;)

Where have I been??

2010-12-28T19:37:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone, I have not fallen off the face of the Earth, though it may seem that way. I have been so busy as of late and have just not had the time to write or blog about anything.

I got my new ereader for my birthday and that was by far the best gift I have ever received... next to the super cool white tassel ankle boots I got when I was 12 :) But with the new book and the website where I can download hundreds of ebooks for free, I have been reading up a storm.

Which I suppose is no excuse not to review them as I go, except that I just don't stop reading :)

I hae moved in the last few months, twice. Out of our home in Louisiana and into Ohio. It's much colder here, but the perfect place to curl up next to a fire and read... even though I do miss my days of sitting outside in the wonderfully warm air and reading.

Never fear though my fellow book enthusiasts, I will begin blogging again soon, and I have many many books to review. I can't wait to give you my opinion on them all.

Up and Coming...

2010-10-18T18:35:00.000-05:00

I just added a whole lot of new books to my up and coming list. Great names like Cassandra Clare, Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, Carrie Jones, Lesley Livingston... and many more. If you have not had a chance to read any of the amazing stories they have in publication, you need to get on the ball.. SERIOUSLY... where have you been??? Under a rock?? lol

The Mortal Instruments, and the Wicked Lovely series are two of the best teen series out there. Let's not forget the Wondrous Strange series, the Darkest Powers series, or the Need series... I have read at least one book by EVERY author on my Up and coming list.. except Ms. Gwen Hayes. She is a debut author who's book sounds absolutely delicious!!

Check them out, catch up on the ones you are behind on and get ready, 2011 is just around the corner and it seems that we have some amazing reads about to be available to us. EEEK I'm excited.

Great contest!!

2010-10-07T09:10:00.000-05:00

Ok guys there is an awesome contest going on right now. No I am not hosting it but some Wicked Lovely ppl are. It's the folks over at Reading Teen: Reading Clean, and they totally nailed this one!! It's a Caster Contest in honor of Beautiful Darkness coming out in just a FEW SHORT DAYS from now!!!! Log onto their webpage, check out the contest, definitely participate and be ready because October 12th is just around the corner!! I wish all of you the best of luck ;)

Book Review: Radiance

2010-09-17T12:24:00.000-05:00

This is the first book in a new series by Alyson Noel. And again she has done a great job.

In the series The Immortals, we are introduced to Riley, who is Ever's sister. Her younger sister who passed away in a horrible car accident, that only Ever walked away from. Riley doesn't cross over at first with the rest of her family, she stays behind with her sister to still experience as much of life as she can.

After finally deciding to join the rest of her family, she will begin to start a new life in a new place. A place called The Here and Now. She isn't quite sure if it's heaven or hell she is in, but she is somewhat happy to be here. Her family is happy she is here, she that should make her be happy as well. Right?

Her first day of school starts out a nightmare, she gets snubbed by a snob, and is more than a little confused. Especially when classmates who are glowing start to get called up to the front of class. Riley is freaked out, why are they glowing??

Riley still has her sense of humor, even if it is gritty. And then she is introduced to her guide, man things just go from bad to worse.

She has been given a job in The Here and Now. She is a catcher. She will be returned to the Earth plane to help coax across souls of people who are refusing to let go of life, for one reason or another. And guess what? Her first assignment is one that NO ONE has been able to complete, though many have tried and failed.

Riley knows this is how things have to be now, and when her assignment scares the bejesus out of her, she decides not to give her guide the satisfaction of knowing she ran scared. She knows she can do this, and so do this she will. And she will succeed... she hopes.

This was a wonderful read, it was so sweet and funny. I love Riley's character so much. And the best part about this book is after i read it, it made me wonder if maybe my little sister is up there in the Here and Now, doing a job and fulfilling her destiny. I will recommend this to everyone!

Ratings: Number 3 and 4 stars

Radiance
Alyson Noel

Book Review: Clockwork Angel

2010-09-17T12:06:00.000-05:00

This is the first book in a new trilogy by Cassandra Clare. I am so excited about the entire trilogy, I loved her first works, The Mortal Instruments trilogy. And now she is back with her amazing talent to give us more to feast our eyes on.

Tessa is headed to a new country, she is going to meet up with her brother for the first time is ages. Only once she gets there everything turns upside down. Kidnapped by the Dark Sisters, and held prisoner in a home. She is more than a little alone, and she is extremely scared. Ever since her arrival, the Dark Sisters have been trying to teach her a dark kind of magic, one she never knew she had abilities for.

After being rescued by a very handsome Shadowhunter, Tessa is thrown into a world that she never thought could exist. Where warlocks and witches, vampires and werewolves are the everyday normal person. Finding out that she isn't the human she always thought she was, and being used as a new tool in the ongoing war between the Shadowhunter and the downworlders. It is all too much for her.

In the mist of discovering a new self, being rescued, and trained, Tessa is finding herself more and more drawn to the Shadowhunter that saved her from the Dark Sisters. Will is attractive and smart, funny in his own dark way, and every time Tessa tries to get close to him he gets just as close and then pulls back away. She is frustrated and can't understand if he is falling for her as well or if he is playing a cruel joke.

James is another Shadowhunter living among them and he is just as handsome as Will, but he is so much nicer, he is calm and polite, helping her to adjust to all the new things in her life. James is the kind of man she should be falling in love with, and it becomes obvious that James is feeling the same way towards her. But for some reason she keeps going back to Will.

When the war breaks out and they are now facing a new enemy, robots. The Shadowhunters take a big blow and they may not be able to make it out of this one alive. When Tessa gets involved using her new found magic things sway in their favor. But then Tessa starts to learn things about who she really is and has always been, but even with these answers she's getting, all she ends up with is more questions.

I loved loved loved this book. Cassandra is my absolute favorite YA author, and I would recommend this to everyone, it's a great read.

Ratings: Number 3 and 4 stars

Clockwork Angel
Cassandra Clare

Book Review: The Dark Hunter series

2010-09-17T11:49:00.000-05:00

So here I am back after a few weeks. Sry it has been taking me so long to get around to writing these days, but you know how life goes sometimes :)

I am going to finish reviewing the Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon in this blog. I finally finished the series, yes all 17 of the books. Each and every of them were absolutely amazing!

The first book up is Dark Side of the Moon. This one is about Rayvn, he is different from all the other Dark Hunter. Not only is he a Dark Hunter, but also a Were Hunter. Yet the only ones who associate him are the DH's. Almost 300 years ago Rayvn was betrayed by everyone he held near and dear to him. Becoming a Dh was the one choice he could make to extract revenge. Now because he has crossed that line, he can never go back to his Were family. Susan was the next big thing when she worked on another newspaper, but falling into a trap sent her career into reverse. Now she works with an old college associate on his tabloid paper, and goes throughout the day one step at a time. Susan's best friend has her come to the local animal shelter to warn her about some strange things. Once there Susan is accosted with stories of vampires and the undead. Of course it's all made up, except that she has never seen her friend so serious about anything. Rayvn is currently stuck in Were form by a magic containing band around his throat. Of course no one knows he is a Dh at the animal shelter, so Susan is talked into adopting him, against her better judgment. Once home Susan suddenly gets thrown into the world of the Dark Hunters. After she releases the band from Rayvn's neck, all hell breaks loose. Both of them having been betrayed by those closet to them makes it hard for either one of them to trust anyone. But with both their lives in danger, and the unrelenting chemistry their bodies seem to have for each other, all they can do is jump in head first and hope they both hit the surface before it's too late.

Next up is Upon the Midnight Clear, another rockin' book in this series. Aidan O'Conner is famous. Like super star famous, but he doesn't care anymore. After he spent his whole climb to the top giving to everyone around him, caring for all of those h was meant to car for, and doing everything in his power to makes other's lives better, he has given up. Not because it got to hard, but because everyone betrayed him. Everyone. When his brother calls a sleeping demon God into play, planning on killing Aiden for finally turning him out, Leta, a Dream Goddess is woken as well. It is time fore her to destroy the demon once and for all. At the same time she is trying to rid the world of this ultimate evil, she has to also protect the human it is after. Leta shows up on Aiden's doorstep in a snowstorm, and the only reason this cold hearted man doesn't throw her out is because he has seen her before. In his dreams. Aiden and Leta have to battle more than just the supernatural evils. They both have personal demons as well that could make survival impossible. If they can get over their pasts and start anew, they just might survive the night, and save the world.

Once Silent Night takes a little bit of a turn in the series. It is not about a Dark Hunter redeeming himself and finding his mate. But about a Daimon who has been cursed with a life of loneliness by his own making. Stryker rules the underworld and leads an army of daimons, the very same daimons that Ash and the Dh's kill on a daily basis. Only this time Styker had pissed off the Gods. His ex wife whom he presumed was dead years ago shows up, and not for a nice family reunion. She is sent to kill Styker, and after he abandoned her all those years ago, breaking her heart, she has no qualms ending his life. As a new evil has turned some of Strykers army against him, and he and his wife are at a never ending war with each other, time seems to crawl by as he has to find an answer to every problem. The one thing he wants more than anything else is to have his wife understand why he left, to have her forgive him, and to be back by his side, forever. When time starts to speed up and they are on the brink of extinguishing their own race, Stryker must face the fact that he has to trust again, or else every one's life will be over.

Now I am blogging the book Acheron, this is my ultimate favorite book in the whole series. All through reading the books you get bits and pieces of Ash;s life and who he is now and who he used to be, but now we get the entire story. I am not going to write anything else about this book because I don't want to spoil any of it. This is by far the one you have been wanting to read if you are enjoying the DH series.

I of course am going to tell you that these are ADULT only books, and will not recommend them to anyone under the age of 18. But I definitely recommend them to all of my readers who are of age.

Ratings: Number 5 and stars.

The Dark Hunter Series
Sherrilyn Kenyon

Book Review: The Sword

2010-08-28T15:17:00.000-05:00

This is the first book in the Sons of Destiny series.

Kelley Doyle, is stuck in the modern day world, but has a fascination with the past. Because of this fascination she has been accused of being a witch.

Being accused of being a witch wouldn't bother her so much, if threats didn't come along with it. From notes posted at her house, to someone hanging a noose outside her door. Letting her know that they used to hang witches in the old says. The police department doesn't care, and Kelley is actually getting scared.

When they set her house on fire with her inside it, she is all but dead. Until she is pulled form her world into another. Sat down in the middle of a castle in a foreign land, Kelley is freaking out. Even worse is the fact that there are men here that are holding her down and they are talking to her in a language she doesn't understand. All her worse fears are running through her mind.

Once they are all able to understand each others language, Kelley realizes that she is not only in another land, she is in another world completely. One where magic is the main source of power, and most people here have magic.

Saber is the oldest of the eight sons. And he is terrified in some ways of Kelley. He knows that the prophecy says that he is to fall in love, and with that it will bring a great disaster. That is why he and his brothers were exiled on Nightfall Isle to begin with, and why women are forbidden to be on the isle.

But even though Kelley and him fight, and the coming disaster is on her heel. He still finds himself falling in love with her. The only thing he can do is embrace his destiny and pray she loves him in return.

This was a very good book, and a great start for this series. I can't wait to read the rest of them. The only complaint I have, is the covers look like 80's cheesy romance novel covers. lol. But this is an adult read, so I will only recommend it to ALL of my adult readers :)

Ratings: Number 5 and 4 stars

The Sword
Jean Johnson

Book Reviews: Goddess Summoning Series

2010-08-28T13:42:00.005-05:00

So far I have only read four of these wonderful books. I'm not sure exactly how many there are out there, but I can't wait to get my hands on them.

The first book I am reviewing is The Goddess of the Sea. Since this is the First in the series. This was a awesome book. I have always been in love with the magic of the sea myself. So when you add the mermaids and the Goddesses and Gods to the mix. I just fell in love with the book.

Twenty five year old Air Force Sergent, Christine Canady, or CC as everyone likes to call her, is alone. SHe joined the Air Force to get out of the small town she grew up in. She never felt like she belonged there. For that matter, there is no where she has ever felt like she really belonged.

On the night of her birthday, the loneliness is overwhelming. She is about to fly to another country, in a war zone, to do her job, she needs more in her life. Getting too drunk by herself on wine, she decides she needs the help of magic in her life. She can't do it on her own anymore, and she knows that every woman has a little magic in each of them.

Casting a summoning Spell, asking the Goddess Gaea to bring Magic into her life, CC feels rejuvenated. Going to bed drunk and happy for once. She dreams of a man she has never known. But even stranger is she is under water when she dreams of him. Like she is floating in the sea.

Waking up the next morning makes CC realize that she really is a lucky woman, she has almost everything she has ever wanted in life. The next day CC heads out to her overseas duty. At the airport she meets a God Like handsome man, Sean. Ever though he is an officer, he still wants CC to call him by his first name. She feels so strange, she knows she has always been average looking, but this beautiful man is looking at her like he is shy, and sneaking glances in her direction.

Before CC can do anything about the handsome man, her worst fear comes true, the plane crashes. In the process the man who switched seats with her, Sean, is killed. CC is devastated, but also she is struggling to get to safety so she doesn't die in the crash as well. When she tries to reach the surface, something from below pulls her down into the depths of the sea.

Changing places with a mermaid in order didn't seem like that big a deal, after all she was able to live. But when Sarpedon starts to pursue her she has to escape. The Goddess grants her the gift of legs and sends her back to land, in ancient Wales. Here she needs to find true love, in that she will be able to escape Sarpedon forever.

But land is not where she finds true love. It is in the waters that CC realizes she truly wants to be. Even more so she wants to be in Dylan's arms. The beautiful merman who has helped her discover what a magical world the sea can be.

In order for them to be together, they have to escape both the clutches of Sarpedon and the Abbott. And even then they may not be able to stay together. Only the Fates know their true destiny.

This was a GREAT read, I loved it sooo much. But again, it is an adult novel. So no one under the age of eighteen, sorry guys.

Book number two is the Goddess of Spring. Again this was another wonderful read.

Lina is a baker in Tulsa, and unfortunately she hired the most unqualified accountant in the area. Because of this she owes more money than she can imagine to the IRS.

Demeter is the Goddess of the Harvest, and her daughter is Persephone, the Goddess of Spring. The underworld needs the appearance of a goddess to bring new life into the weary lands, but Persephone is not yet mature enough to visit the underworlds.

When Lina Summons Demeter, asking for help in saving her bakery. Demeter responds, but not in the way Lina expected. Lina and Persephone have now exchanged souls. Lina is in Mount Olympus, while Persephone has become a baker in Tulsa. Each are needed in the others place to help fix a situation.

Once Demeter explains the situation to Lina, she understands what she has to do. Go to the underworld, allow the shades to see her and bring peace and happiness to the underworld, so they all know that a Goddess still cares for them. That part Lina gets, but what she doesn't count on is the fact that the God of the underworld Hades is stunning. The most attractive man she has ever laid eyes on.

Spending time in the underworld becomes harder and harder as Lina realizes that she has fallen in love with Hades, and Hades with her. She feels as if she is living a lie, she isn't able to revel who she really is to anyone. When she finally decides the time is right, Demeter interferes and Hades turns from her, fearing she betrayed him.

Heartbroken, Lina is returned to Tulsa. Her business is thriving, Persephone did an amazing job of turning the bakery around. Lina should be ecstatic, but she can't make herself be as happy as she should be, she misses Hades.

It is time for the Goddess of the Harvest to meddle once again. She realizes she didn't think through all the consequences of her original plan. On both Lina and her own daughter Persephone. Not to mention the underworld and it's God Hades. Now Demeter must set things straight so that true love can flourish.

This was a sweet twist on a classic tale of the Story between Hades and Persephone. I loved it.

The third book was Goddess of the Light. After meeting Lina in Persephone's body, Apollo was dumbfounded. He never met a mortal who would resist him. Now he has been spending his time rethink ing what it is he has been missing throughout his life. He has decided it is Love. The God of light has been missing Love.

Pamela just got out of the most horrific marriage she could imagine. Duane seemed to be perfect when they were dating, but from day one of their marriage he caged her. She hated it. Now it's been two years since he divorce, and six months since he finally got the clue that they would never b together again. It is time for her to get back out there and see what she could find for herself in the world of men.

Las Vegas is where her job takes her, she is a interior designer. Las Vegas is also Bacchus realm. He has claimed it for himself. And he is more than a little angry when Zeus decides to open a portal and give the Goddesses, Gods, and Nymphs the chance to visit it on the weekends.

What angers him even more is the fact that the twins Apollo and Artemis are visiting. He hates them. Bacchus decides that a small ritual to get back at them will do as payback. He has his Nymphs perform a summoning spell to bind a human to a God to Goddess.

Unknowingly Pamela whispers the words of her hearts desires during the spell and binds herself to Artemis. She wishes for true love. Artemis decides that her brother is the perfect person to give this mortal what her heart desires.

Apollo has never felt so alive as he has the last few days being with Pamela. But when he and Artemis get trapped in the mortal realm without there powers, Bacchus thinks he has set the perfect trap. It isn't until Zeus punishes him that he decides that what he has done isn't enough.

Now that Apollo has fallen in love with Pamela, he is going to kill her. It's up to Apollo and Artemis to save Pamela's life before all is to late. And to save their love, now that they realize they are soul mates.

I Love P.C. Cast's work :)

The final book I read in this series was Goddess of the Rose. Mikki is the last one in her family. Both her mother and grandmother died in the last five years, and she has never found a man to make her happy enough to settle down and have a family. But she always has her roses. They make her happy.

She has a family secret to keep the roses alive and thriving. Her blood. On the new moon every month, she cuts a small slit in her palm and feeds the roses with her blood mixed with water. They flourish with that better than they would any other fertilizer.

Coming home from another horrible blind date, Mikki decides to check on the roses in the Rose Garden, it has been under construction and she is sure the workers have trampled the roses. On her way to the gardens she is stopped by the local acting group who is setting up and doing sound checks in the park. They need her help to do sound checks since they can't seem to find their main actress. She obliges. What she doesn't realizes is that once she starts reading the lines in the script, her mind takes over and somehow she starts saying a summoning spell to invoke to Goddess Hecate.

Once the sound check is over, Mikki is extremely embarrassed, she doesn't know where that came form she was just supposed to read the lines, not make up ones of her own.

Just like she thought the roses in the garden look terrible because of the construction. She knows what she has to do. Mixing her blood with a little water she feeds the sick roses. She also feeds the roses around the Guardian statue that is in the main part of the gardens, after all the statue has been there for as long as she can remember. In the process of feeding the Roses she accidentally gets some of her blood on the statue.

Leaving the gardens, she hears a terrible noise, then before she knows it she feels like she is being attacked. When she wakes up, she is not at home. In fact she is in the room that her dreams have been taking her to night after night lately.

Extremely afraid, and thinking she has finally went out of her mind. Mikki is introduced to the Realm of Roses, where the Goddess Hecate reigns. Unknowingly Mikki awakened the guardian of the realm after centuries of sleep and now she has come to this place to be the next High Priestess Empousa. The keeper of the roses in this place.

At first Mikki is scared and intrigued by the guardian. But she quickly gets over her fear, and realizes that it is being replaced with love. But the guardian is not just any old person. He is half beast half man. With horns on his head and hooves for feet. But that doesn't stop Mikki. She falls in love with him anyway.

Mikki is tricked into letting Dream Stealers into the Realm of Roses, once they are there the guardian has to battle them. Even though they get defeated they have already done damage to the roses. Disease spreads like wildfire through the plants, and nothing Mikki does can save them. But she knows in her heart what she must do.

Even though she loves the guardian with all her heart, she knows that the Realm of Roses is truly her home and where she belongs. She knows that sacrificing herself to save the roses is what she has to do. She only hope that everyone can forgive her for what has to be done.

This is a wonderful story of beauty and the beast, where the beast stays they way he is and the animal inside is what fuels the passions. In both the beauty and the beast. I loved it. and I recommend these books to all of my adult friends!!!

Ratings: Number 5 and 4 stars

Goddess of the Sea
Goddess of Spring
Goddess of the Light
Goddess of the Rose
P.C. Cast

Book Reviews: Sons of Destiny

2010-08-28T12:06:00.000-05:00

I am so far behind in reviewing the books I have been reading. I have about ten books I need to review, but I have been so busy lately that by the time I get a chance to sit down and focus on writing I'm too exhausted. But here I am now to update all of you on these books that have kept me thoroughly interested these last couple weeks.

The first book I am reviewing today is the second book in the Sons of Destiny series, The Wolf. I have already done a review on the first book, The Sword.

This book was no less intriguing than the first one. Wolfer, the second oldest of the eight sons, has to meet his destiny now. It is his turn to fall in love and fulfill his part of the prophecy. The only problem is his heart was already captured years ago, before they were exiled onto Nightfall Isle. The fair Alys was a neighboring child that grew up with the boys. Even though she was five years younger than Wolfer, she was always by his side.

Wolfer doesn't know how he will fall in love when there are no women on the island. But he is sure that when the time comes he will know. Alys is currently afraid for her life. After the death of her parents she was taken to live with her uncle. A man who is evil in every way possible. He lives to frighten and torture everyone around her. Even though he has wanted to take Alys to his bed on more than one occasion, she has managed to talk him out of it. But since the price on her head is very valuable, her uncle has sold her to the highest bidder as a wife and slave. Now is the time for her to escape.

Escaping to Nightfall Isle is the only chance she has a t freedom. She knows Wolfer is there and she has been in love with him since she was three years old. Praying he still loves her, she escapes. Now it's time for all of their destinies to unfold. Hopefully they can all survive, especially when her uncle decides to attack in full force.

This was a good book, but just like the last few books I have been reading and reviewing, it is an adult novel. So I'm not recommending it for anyone under the age of eighteen.

Now onto book Number three, The Master. In book number one the prophesied disaster they faced was the fact that Dominor was kidnapped by a visiting country. The country was a group of men who were out to claim new lands in the name of their kingdom. They had suffered oppression at the hands of women for generations and had staged and uprising. Freeing them form the clutches of those women who would keep them captive.

When they found out that Dominor was a very powerful mage they drugged him and kidnapped him. Once shackled in magic binding restraints, there was nothing he could do until they reached their destination. Unfortunately their vessel was overtaken by rival sea goers. Everyone on board was taken prisoner.

Dominor was taken to port and to the auction block where he was put up for sale as a slave. Though he tried to protest that he was not a commoner and should not be put through this treatment, it changed nothing.

Serina has been working manically for months now to finish the mathmagical formula to right the wrongs that generations past created. She has finally discovered what it is she needs. A foreign man, who is a powerful mage. One who is willing to mate with her and produce a child.

The Fates it seems took Serina to the market the same day Dominor was being actioned. A foreigner, and a powerful mage. She couldn't have asked for anything better than that. Now to get him to agree with her plans, and preform the ritual.

Unknowing that his older brother has completed his part of the destiny, it is now Dominor's turn to find his soul mate. As he and Serina work out the plans of her formula, things begin to change between the two of them. Now they just have to figure out what will happen once he fulfills his part of the prophecy.

I am in love with this series, and I can not wait to read the rest of the book. I recommend them to all my adult fans. They are delicious books :)

Ratings: Number 5 and 4 stars

Jean Johnson
The Wolf
The Master

Book Review: Tithe

2010-08-24T13:16:00.000-05:00

Sooo, I have been partially absent these last few days. Mostly due to the fact that I am having serious internet problems. But all in all that is no excuse to get as behind as I have. I am doing this review on Tithe by Holly Black. But I have about four or five other reviews to do today as well. All on books I have read since I last blogged. Again, I'm sorry for the delay.

Tithe, A Modern Faerie Tale, was a really good read. I actually bought the book because Holly Black is going to be one of the authors at the Smart Chicks Kick it tour in Houston Tx in just a few weeks. I wanted to have something with me for each author that is going to be there to sign, but I wanted to make sure I read each thing before I went. As it was, I chose this book by Holly Black, and it was an excellent choice indeed.

Kaye and her mother have moved more times than she can count. Being the daughter of a talented rock star wanna-be, Kaye doesn't have much choice. But even though she misses her childhood 'imaginary' friends, Spike, Lutie Loo, and Gristle, she still loves her mom and will follow her anywhere. But after a strange attack on her mom from the man they were staying with renders them homeless, Kaye finds them returning back home to the seaside of New Jersey.

Unknowingly Kaye enspells her long time real friends Janet's boyfriend into becoming obsessed with her. She doesn't know how she did it, but the fact that it actually happened kind of scares her. Then meeting a dark and handsome stranger in the woods in the middle of a thunderstorm makes things getting even stranger for her.

Roiben is the chosen knight of the Unseelie court. Part of Faerie, of course Kaye already knew this, but she has known about faeries since she was a girl. Everyone has always said they were her imaginary friends, and no one ever believed her. So now explaining things to anyone would be impossible. Until she makes an unlikely aly, Janet's older brother Corney.

Taken prisoner, against her will, but drugged in magical ways, Kaye has to fight to stay alive before she is sacrificed to the Unseelie court. She has a secret weapon that she doesn't even know she possesses until it is almost too late. In the end she could save or destroy the entire structure between the human and faerie realms for the next seven years if she doesn't act fast enough.

This was a great little book, and I think it was the very first book she ver realeased. You can tell Holly Black had what it takes from the very start!!

Ratings: Number 2 and 3 stars

Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale
Holly Black

One Lovely Blog Award

2010-08-23T12:36:00.000-05:00

Well I have been in just the grumpiest of grumpy moods all afternoon, and then I open my email and I get a wonderful surpise.

A wonderful fellow blogger by the name of Lisa M. Potts has awarded me the One Lovely Blog Award. I was so surprised by this that I smiled, despite my sour mood. And thanks to Miss Potts I have been in a much better mood all evening. So thank you again Lisa M. Potts for your wonderful generosity!!

You can check out her wonderful work at Lisa M. Potts . This is the link to her blog.

Here's how it works:

1.Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2.Pay it forward to fifteen other blogs you have newly discovered.

3.Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen.

Here are the fifteen wonderful blogs I have chosen in no particular order:

1.All Things Dark Hunter
2.Commanding Thoughts
3.Confessions of a Closet Bookworm
4.Reprisal(Now Microwave Safe!)
5.Shadow of Iris
6.The Clumsy Reader
7.Confessions of a Teenage Bookaholic
8.Edel 2200
9.Life, Love, and Thoughts of the Moment
10.Angels and Demons and Portals. Oh My.
11.Black fingernailed Reviews
12.Bloody Bookaholic
13.My Favourite Books
14.Buried in Books
15. Reading with Tequila

Congrats to everyone who recieved this award. It really made my day. I hope it makes yours as well!!

New Ratings System

2010-08-18T21:12:00.000-05:00

I have changed the Ratings system. Every post after this one will start the ratings system. So if you don't know what they are or you need to know what each number and star mean, on the left hand side of this page is a link that says New Ratings System. Click it and it will take you strait to the page that explains everything. Enjoy :)

Book Review: Mistress

2010-08-18T20:59:00.000-05:00

Emily went from being a somewhat well off girl in her father's home to a nothing, living in the workhouse, barely surviving. After being rescued in a way and given a job at a school for young ladies in London. Even though it was better than the workhouse, it was still barely above surviving and Emily wanted so much more out of her life.

When she was approached by Mr. Twyford about being a model for his new photograph business, she thought that maybe her life was going to turn around for her. Just maybe she could get the kind of life she wanted.

Emily was no no fool and not for a second did she think that modeling for Mr. Twyford was going to be easy, or decent. She rather expected it to be both hard and intimate. But when she arrived to talk to him about his offer, she was surprised that he was offering to take pictures of her in a more modest position than she expected. Though she was still going to have to take her clothes off.

Never having been in love, Emily had made up her mind that she was going to take these photos and have them sold in order to get herself a protector. She was going to make herself a wealthy mistress. She would not go about her life a poor old maid any longer. With the help of Eric Twyfold, this dream would come true.

Unfortunately the heart never listens to the mind, and before she knew it Emily was head over heels in love with Eric. But much to her dismay he didn't seem to have half the bit of interest in her. Not like Mr. Murdoch, who had decided that Emily was to be his new wife, weather she wanted to be or not.

After procuring one of her photos to use as blackmail, Mr. Murdoch secured Emily as his wife. But after he surprised her with his horrid ideas about what she was do to in obedience for him with continuing her pictures, she decided that she had been reckless and foolish in her marriage. The only person to turn to was Eric.

Still heartbroken over her marriage to Mr. Murdoch, Eric was outraged at what Mr. Murdoch had planned for Emily and immediately agreed to help her escape him. With a few ideas in mind the two of them set out to save her from the beast he was. All they could hope for was that the love they felt for each other would out do anything that man had over their heads.

This was a wonderful little read, but it is extremely mature. So I do NOT recommend it for anyone under the age of eighteen. Other than that I would definitely tell anyone else to read this book!

Ratings: Number 3 and 5 stars

Mistress
Leda Swann

Book Review: Ruined

2010-08-17T10:26:00.000-05:00

Lisette was murdered in 1853, her body stored in a family tomb and her mother lied to about her death. A curse was placed upon the family that murdered her and has lasted for over a century and a half. Now it is the time for the curse to be over, and no one wants to die.

This was a really good read, it was given to me to read by a friend of mines daughter. She has a wonderful passion for books. Something I wish a lot more younger ppl had.

Rebecca has lived in New York City almost all of her life. Just her and her dad. Rebecca's mom was killed when she was just a baby, so there has always just been the two of them. But now things are changing, she is fifteen and her dad has to go away on business, to China. This isn't just a week trip, this time he will be gone for six months. In the meantime Rebecaa is being sent to live with her Aunt in New Orleans. She is dreading every second that ticks by, taking her closer to that destination.

Arriving in New Orleans is just as Rebecca feared, it's hot and sticky, she doesn't no anyone and no one is nice to her. She realizes as soon as she gets to school that she is destined to not have any friends at all while she is here. But strangely enough, it doesn't bother her. The only thing that she really wants is to get into the cemetery across the street. Especially since her Aunt says that she is to never go there.

Sneaking into the cemetery to follow the 'Them' crowd one night was not exactly the smartest thing to do, but she did it anyway. Almost getting caught spying was even dumber, but on her way out she got lost. Panicked she fell, luckily she was approached by a friendly stranger instead of one of the horrible kids form school. Showing her the way out, the girl gave her a sweet smile and left her be, Rebecca ran home as fast as she could.

Determined to find out who the girl was, Rebecca went back to the cemetery. She found who she was looking for, but wasn't expecting the surprise that came with her. The girl that helped her was named Lisette, and she was a ghost.

After learning about the curse on the Bowman family, and that it was Lisette who was the one appearing to the girls in the family to curse them, Rebecca began to worry. After all she was seeing the ghost as well. Her aunt explained to her the reason, and she was none to happy. After another girl fell too ill, Rebecca was asked to take her place in the Septimus parade. It wasn't until the parade was over that Rebecca realized what kin of danger she was in.

This was the night the curse was supposed to end, and it was the night the last Bowman girl was to die. But which one would it be? Helena or Rebecca?

This was a very cute read.

Ratings: Number 3 and 2 stars

Ruined
Paula Morris

Book Review: Bad Moon Rising

2010-08-17T10:08:00.000-05:00

Ok, I know I have been absent for over a week now, but I just didn't want to blog each and everyone of the Dark Hunter novels every time I got finished with one. After all there are around twenty of them :) I haven't finished the whole series yet, I think I still have like four more to go, and I am waiting patiently as I can for them to come in. I have already ordered them.

I have four of the books in the series to talk about in this post, all of them were great books. One thing I have noticed as I am getting closer to the end is that there are more and more Were-Hunter novels. Personally I like the Dark Hunter ones better, but they are all great reads.

The first book is Sins of the Night, which is number eight of the series I believe. I could have the reading order mixed up though, so don't quote me on that :) This one is about Alexion, Acheron's right hand man. He is sent in to take care of business whenever one or more of the dark hunters decide they can do whatever they feel like doing. This time he has been sent to a neutral party's home, someone who hasn't yet turned to the bad side of things. A dark hunteress named Dangereuse, or Danger for short. Alexion request this mission due to the fact that this dark hunter gone rogue was one his brother in arms, Kyros and him were some of the first dark hunters, and now Kyros was turning his back on Acheron. Alexion is there to try and save him before it's too late, but what he doesn't count on is the fact that he needs a type of saving himself. All the years of execution have made him a cold shell of who he used to be, and with Dangers help he could become a man much more than he was before.

The next book I read was Unleash the Night, and it was a Were-Hunter book. This one is about Wren Tigarian, the tiger and leopard mix. To him and his family he has always been an abomination, nothing more than a mistake. Sanctuary allows him to live and work there because that is the law, they must allow him refuge. But now his cousin and Mama Lo are conspiring to be rid of him and it's up to him to find out why. He now has a death sentence to out run and a mark on his back where no matter where he goes he will recognized, after all he is the only one of his kind. His parents made sure they never made a mistake like him again. Even though he is an outcast and looks like a bum, Maggie can't help but be compelled by Wren. He puts off every signal in the world to leave him alone, yet she wants nothing more that to be in his arms. The fact that she is a politicians daughter makes everything even more complicated. In order to save Wren's life they have to figure out who it was that killed his parents. In order to save their relationship they have to save his life. Things are never easy.

Then I went on to read Devil may Cry, I really liked this one. I guess it has something to do with the fact that I like the dark hunter ones better than the were hunter ones, but I don't know exactly. Ex-God turned Dark hunter Sin, had his powers stolen by the Goddess Artemis, so he has thought for the last few centuries. Artemis is terrified he is going to come after her and kill her once and for all so she send her daughter in to take care of him for her, to get rid of Sin once and for all. But no one expected Kat to fall in love with Sin, least of of all Kat herself. But what's worse than Artemis fear is the fact that the gallu demons are getting free and Sin is on a very short time table to reseal the prisons before all hell breaks loose and the end of the world really takes place. But not trusting anyone his entire life has become a habit that isn't easily broken and if Sin can't learn to trust the one person who truly loves him, then everyone will die.

The last book I will blog on here is Bad moon rising. While I say that I like the dark hunter books better, this was a good one for the were hunters. This is the story of Fang and Aimee.. finally. We have got bits and pieces of their relationship through other books, but this was the full thing. When Fang gets attack and is sent to a nether realm, his brother, the only family he has ever had abandons him. But Aimee doesn't, she stays by his side and goes above and beyond to bring him back to her. Killing daimons is a dark hunters job, but she takes it upon herself to rid the world of the ones that have stolen most of Fang's soul. Once back Fang kills a demon and unknowingly takes the demons spirit into himself. In turn the demon begins waging a war inside Fang trying to gain control of him. Fang disappears in order to keep everyone he loves safe. But that bites him in the butt, because that makes him a wanted man. As more and more bodies turn up and him no where to be found they all pin the blame on Fang. He has surrender himself or have his family killed in his stead. Fang is no coward and has never ran from anything. He just wishes he had had a chance to love Aimee the way she deserved to be loved.

These are great books, and i recommend them to anyone over the age of eighteen to defiantly go out and grab them up.

Ratings: Number 3 and 5 stars

Sins of the Night
Unleash the Night
Devil may Cry
Bad Moon Rising
Sherrilyn Kenyon

Book Review: Night Embrace

2010-08-07T17:26:00.000-05:00

So I have been scouring through the Dark Hunter series. After Night Pleasures there was Night Embrace, right now I am on Sins of the Night, and it's great so far. This review is going to be about all the ones I have read since my last post.

Night Embrace is about Talon, the ancient Celt. Talon died when his tribe betrayed him, and sacrificed him to the Morrigan, trying to bring peace back to them. But the ultimate betrayal was when they told him that they needed a sacrifice from his bloodline, and he offered himself, they tied him up and then killed his baby sister in from of him when he could do nothing to help her. Sunshine Runningwolf is something else altogether, she is funny and sweet, beautiful and eccentric. And for some reason Talon has found himself falling in love with her. If they all survive he prays that she can love him as well.

Dance with the Devil came next. This is so far one of my two favorite stories in the series. Zarek is a grumpy, cold, vicious Dark Hunter. He hates everyone and everyone hates him. Being condemned to the frozen lands on Alaska for the last nine hundred years has made him even worse. Now it's time for him to be judged or else it's time for him to die. His judge is Astrid, the Fates youngest sister, and she is physically blind, but she has begun to discover that there is more to Zarek that she can see without the ability of sight. If only she can convince everyone else that this is the right decision before it's too late.

In Kiss of the Night, Wulf has been cursed throughout the centuries to be forgotten. The only people who can remember him five minutes after he leaves a room are the other dark hunters, and the squires that are descendant from his brother, since they are of his blood. After one fateful night in a club Wulf meets Cassandra, and she remembers him. Wulf is startled by this and then even more so when he finds out exactly who and what Cassandra is. But then Cassandra gets pregnant and Wulf is the father, even though they have never touched. Protecting humanity has never been more important and now Wulf has gotten his heart involved. No matter what happens he can't let anyone down.

Night Play was a little different. It wasn't so much about the dark hunters as it was about the Were hunters. Vane has only had two other people to count on in his whole life, his brother and his sister. His sister was killed a few months ago and now his brother is all but dead, lying in a comatose state barely moving to even eat. Vane is lost with no one to turn to, until he meets Bride. Bride has just been dumped by her long time boyfriend and she is on the verge of collapse, she is heart broken.. kinda. Vane has seen Bride before and thought her beautiful then, now when he sees her hurting he is all but speechless. After their first nite together the end up mated. Vane is astonished and Bride is terrified, they only have three weeks to bond or else Vane will be alone for the rest of his life. There are things out there though that will go to almost any lengths to make sure it never happens.

The last book I'm blogging about today is Seize the Night, this is my other favorite so far. This one is about Valerius Magnus, the grandson of Kyrian and Jullian's mortal enemy. Because of that family trait almost everyone hates him, and they don't hold back when it comes to showing him. Tabitha has been a pretty big player in the Dark Hunter world. Being a human but going out every night hunting vamps, she does her duty. Tabby is also an empath, and when she comes across Val she feels his pain. Valerius has never let anyone is and is caught off guard when he realizes that Tabitha has reached a part of him that no one ever even tried to reach before. But an enemy from the past is back to finish what he started, and now that Val knows what love feels like he will do whatever it takes to save Tabitha from whatever comes after her and her family. No matter who hates him and is trying to stop him.

Like I said before this series is NOT for anyone under the age of 18 but this is a great series and if you can get a chance to read it i suggest you do :)

Ratings: Number 3 and 5 stars

Night Embrace
Dance with the Devil
Kiss of the Night
Night Play
Seize the Night
Sherrilyn Kenyon

Book Review: Night Pleasures

2010-08-02T21:26:00.000-05:00

So this is the second book in the Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I unusually read the whole series before I blog on the books, but seeing as this is a looong series, I'm going to do them in ones and twos.

When I first started reading the series I was going to stop at this book. It is where the YA book, Infinity ties in at. I just wanted to catch up to that part, but of coarse that didn't happen. I got hooked. Sherrilyn Kenyon is a great writer. However I will warn you, her writing is for adults only. I will not recommend these books for anyone under the age of eighteen.

Kyrian of Thrace was betrayed by the one woman he ever loved. He gave up everything and everyone that ever loved and cared for him for that woman. In the end she turned him over to his enemies to be crucified and then his Kingdom was overtaken by the Romans. He has never forgotten that.

After the betrayal he was turned Dark hunter, given the chance to extract his revenge on her. But he couldn't do it. Even though she had betrayed his heart and soul, he still loved her, and couldn't take her life. So he walked away, and now walks the earth protecting humans from the things that would kill them in the night.

When he wakes up handcuffed to Amanda he doesn't know what to do. She was mistaken for her vampire hunting twin sister Tabitha in the hopes that Tabby would kill him on sight. Unfortunately their capture didn't bank on her having a twin, or did he.

As Kyrian tries everything in his power to slay the demonic forces that have set out to kill him, but when the prophecies reveal that only a Dark Hunter with his soul can kill his foe, Kyrian is at a loss. The only way to get his soul back is for him to fall in love, and to have someone fall in love with him. Ever since his wife betrayed him, he has never, NEVER trusted anyone remotely enough to even think that. Until Amanda.

She gets to him like no other woman has ever done. He loved his wife more than anything in this world and beyond, with his whole heart and soul, so he thought. But the way Amanda makes him feel is beyond imagination. H=It makes a mockery of what he felt for his wife, but he dares not hope that she feels the same for him, less he be cursed again.

Amanda loves Kyrian more than she could ever explain, and she will give anything to help him get his soul back. Together they can make everything happen and everything come together the way it should be.

This was a really good book, but like I said, definitely not for younger readers AT ALL.

Ratings: Number 3 and 5 stars

Night Pleasures
Sherrilyn Kenyon

Book Review: Fantasy Lover

2010-08-01T21:45:00.000-05:00

The main reason I bought this book was because of the book Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Infinity was her first YA book, and after reading it I found out that some of the characters form it actually spin off from her Dark Hunter series. And Fantasy Lover is book one of that series. Book two is where Infinity actually ties into the Dark Hunter series, but after reading this one, I might actually have to go ahead and read the whole thing :)

Grace is a twenty nine year old, successful phychatrist. Well she is a sex therapist, but still she has her PhD. She has a best friend, her own home and a great career, but she is lonely. Sometimes it's not so bad, after what her ex did to her, ripped her heart out, she wasn't in the mood for anyone else.

Selena, Grace's best friend, totally disagrees with her. She thinks that four years without sex is ENTIRELY too long. Even though she understands then pain Grace went through with Paul. Selena buys a book with a picture of the most perfect man anyone has ever seen in it. With this book comes a summoning spell, all you have to do is speak the man's name three times and he appears. Once he has appeared to you, the summoner, he is your love slave for exactly one month.

Getting Grace tipsy on her birthday, Selena talks her into summoning Jullian of Macedon, son of Aphrodite. When nothing happens Grace laughs it off and Selena goes on home. Then Jullian appears in Grace's living room, completely naked and ready to please her in any way she wants. She freaks out.

Grace was used and thrown away like garbage, she refuses to do that to Julian. So instead of going about this the normal way and him being a sex slave, she decides to treat him like a normal person, like a human.

Julian's brother finds out there is a way to lift the curse that he has been under for two thousand years, and Grace is exactly who he needs to save him, but in the process they can not have sex. Not until the very last night of his summoning. Once they agree to it, things start to change, and they both realize that they have fallen in love. But neither one want to let the other know, for a multitude of reasons.

In the end, everything works out has it should, and payback is a bitch. I really liked this book. But I would not recommend it for anyone under the age of eighteen, due to the fact that it is HEAVILY laced with sex and sexual innuendos.

Ratings: Number 3 and 5 stars

Fantasy Lover
Sherrilyn Kenyon

Book Review: Forgive my Fins

2010-07-31T22:33:00.000-05:00

I finished this book this afternoon. With my bestfriend now four states away I will have a lot more time for reading :(

Enough of my personal life. Forgive my Fins was a very adorable read. When I first read about it online I thought it sounded like a good book, then when my favorite bookstore got it, The Page Turner, I definitly went and bought it :)

Lily is in love. The popular guy, swim team jock, on the news team, cute as can be, funny, flirty, everything she could possibly want in a guy. The fact that she is in love with him doesn't help when he has no clue of it. She has been silently fawning over Broddy for the last three years, and now with only weeks before her eighteenth birthday, she has got to tell him. She is convinced he feels the same, and that once she tells him her secret, they will swim off to her kingdom and live happily ever after.

At least that's what she wants to happen. But her very annoying neighbor, Quince seems to pop up at every chance she has to be alone with Broddy and ruin the moment. Not only does he ruin the moment for her then, but he has also been aggravating her in every way possible for the last three years. She hates him.

Unknown to Lily, Quince doesn't feel the same way about her. During the spring fling dance, he sneaks up on her and kisses her. In Lily's world a kiss is akin to marriage. The kiss forms a bond and now Quince is turning into a mer. Poor guy has no idea what he is in for, but worse than that, she only has weeks left and he has no thrown a huge wrench in her plans.

Taking him with her to Thalassinia, her mermaid kingdom, where her father is the king. Lily is going to have a separation done, and remove the bond. She does not want to spend her life attached to this human. Once there she thinks her daddy will be happy to see her and willingly give her the separation. She is in for a big surprise. Not only does he not grant it but he stipulates that they remain bonded for a week, to test out their new feelings.

After fighting the bond so strongly, Lily eventually begins to realize how Quince feels about her. She starts to question how she feels about him. After years of torture from him, she is getting to see a new side of him, a nice side, romantic even. She doesn't know what she wants anymore. But she will go through with the Separation anyway, it's whats for the best. She still loves Broddy.

Once the bond is removed and Lily goes back home, she realizes that it was never Broddy she loved. She is in love with Quince, but now that the bond has been removed he will be immune to becoming mer and therefore be on land for the rest of his life. Going after him would mean leaving behind her kingdom and staying on land. Lily decides what is best for her and finally she does something for herself, breaks away from being a coward.

This was a a wonderful little book. I would love to have friends of mine read it. It was a magical love story, and I am excited about a sequel!!

Ratings: Number 3 and 2 stars

Forgive my Fins
Tera Lynn Childs

Book Review: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flammel

2010-07-31T22:11:00.000-05:00

So this review has been too long coming. Sorry about that. I started the series about two weeks ago. Usually it wouldn't have taken me but a week to breeze through these, but I have been so busy these past weeks it's ridiculous.

That being said, I finished up the fourth book this morning, The Necromancer. I really enjoyed this series. Reading the reviews on the cover of the book, one said that it was a great read for the post Potter era. I guess I can agree with that. Seeing how this originally came out right after the Harry Potter series made it big :) But at the same time, this series had it's own personality, it came to life on it's own accord with no help from any of the wizarding world of the Happy Potter books.

In the first book the Alychmest, Nicolas and Pernelle Flammel are introduced as well as the twins of legend, Sofie and Josh Newman. The Flammels have been searching for centuries for the twins of legend. While they have come across many sets of twins, have verified the auras, ones of silver and gold, and had the twins awakened. None have ever panned out to be the ones they were searching for, to their, and the worlds disappointment. But Sofie and Josh are different, they don't just have silver and gold auras. They have pure auras. There hasn't been a pure silver aura since Joan of Arc. and the last Pure gold was Midas himself.

Stumbling upon these twins was a great circumstance, but before they have the chance to actually speak to the twins, to explain to them the process, Dee finds the Flammels. Dee is an Immortal, but unlike Nicolas and Pernelle, Dee was made immortal but his Elder masters, which in turn makes him in debt to his master. Dee has been searching for the codex, the book that holds the secrets to all mankind, for centuries. He has been hunting the Flammels for the same amount of time, for they are the guardians of the book.

With Dee attacking, the twins are thrown into a battle between the humani and the Dark Elders. The Dark Elders and the ones that serve them are bent on bringing them back to the earth realm and enslaving the humani. Or using them for food.

With Sofie and Josh newly being awakened, and learning the elemental magics as fast as they can, they are pushed the very edge of exhaustion. Fear that they are losing their minds, and scared they are going to lose each other, they race through time and shadowrealms, trying to save all the humani before everything and everyone they know gets destroyed.

These were great books, and as I finished up book for I was delighted to find out there will be a fifth book out later this year, The Warlock. I am excited!!

Ratings: Number 3 and 3 stars

The Alychemst
The Magician
The Sorceress
The Necromancer
Michael Scott

Update: My absenteeism.

2010-07-31T09:35:00.000-05:00

Ok so I know that I have been MIA for like.. a while now. and I am sorry about that. I have had a lot on my plate but I have a few books to blog. You know how I really don't like to blog a book in a series until I have finished the whole series?? Well that is one of the reasons I have been absent. I started the Wake, Fade, Gone trilogy by Lisa McMann.. but haven't been able to get my hands on Gone yet.. argg. Then I started the Need, Captivate, Entice series by Carries Jones, and even though Entice isn't out yet, I can't find Captivate around here. ALSO, I'm reading the Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flammel, which is a four book series, and I would have soo been done with it weeks ago but I have been helping my best friend move :( Then of course my Sunday and Tuesday nights are wrapped up in TV land these days.. but only for a few more weeks as the seasons are coming to an end. TrueBlood and Pretty Little Liars have got me hooked.. True Blood for the 3rd season in a row. The final reason I have been behind on my blogging is my writing, yes people I picked it back up. Some of you know that I have been published before, but only in poetry books, and it was years ago. Now I'm going to focus on stories. fiction of course, and I have a great story in my head and I have been putting the pen to paper.. err typing it out ya know. So excuse me for being away, but as soon as I can I will be blogging some more books!!!

Info on the Fallen series by Lauren Kate!!!

2010-07-26T15:01:00.003-05:00

So of course like many curious fans out there, I sent a letter to the author of Fallen. I wasn't expecting a response so quick though. I was excited by her reply and I can't wait for the upcoming bookS, yes I said books. There will be four total in this series, how great is that!!!

I posted the who letter in my notes section on the facebook page associated with this blog, check it out and I hope you all enjoy!!! Just click the link below:

Fallen Info

Book Review: Fairy Tale Lust

2010-07-22T12:34:00.000-05:00

First thing I'm going to say, if you are under 18 you should not read any farther than this. Since I leave my blog open to everyone since MOST of my reviews are about YA books, I have lots of underage readers. However, this book is definitely NOT an YA book.

Secondly, this was a funny book. It is supposed to hold erotic tales for women, in the fairy tale setting. So that makes it a short story book. Some of the stories were in fact very, very... erotic. But others were just plain dumb, in my opinion anyway. There were a couple that were just so darn cute, about finding your true love, or your true love coming back to you.. with the steamy sex scenes thrown in for good measure.

I'm not sure if I would recommend you go out and buy this book, unless this is something you are into, I got it as a free copy. I found it interesting, but I find most books at least somewhat interesting :) This book has everything from vampires and werewolves, to bondage and gingerbread men, there should be something for everyone in here. I even have one favorite story, In the Dark Woods, by Kristina Wright.

Her story is about angels and the devil, about a faithful wife, a cheating husband and a mistress who doesn't care he is married. I know it's wrong, but this story I liked. But hey, to each their own ;) If you read it I hope you enjoy.

Ratings: Number 2 and 5 stars

Fairy Tale Lust
Kristina Wright

Coming this Winter

2010-07-21T16:29:00.000-05:00

This upcoming winter.. I'm not giving more details than that right now, I will be hosting a contest or two on this blog site. The winner(s) will receive signed copies of some of my favorite books of 2010, and a prize pack... Most, if not all, of those books have been blogged on here. The contest will only be for the ones who are following my blog, so make sure you sign up as a follower. I am soo stoked about the contest and I am getting excited to see who all participates. So be ready everyone, winter is just around the corner !!!

- Danielle Thomas

Book Review: Hush Hush

2010-07-21T16:00:00.001-05:00

This book came out earlier this year, and for some unknown reason, I have just now picked it up to read. The cover looks enticing, and reading the back cover was intriguing, so I have no excuse why I waited so long to read it. But it was worth the wait, this was a really, really ... really good book :)

Nora is a normal girl, going to high school, having a best friend, doing all the things that normal girls do. At least that's what she tries to do anyway. Things have been hard on her and her mom since her dad was murdered last year, and she has come to the conclusion that the 'presence' she feels sometimes, is her dad watching over her. Her best friend, Vee Sky, is boy and shoe crazy, and the two of them are tied together by the invisible ropes that keep friendships going for many, many years, no matter what, that is the one thing that Nora is thankful for, more than anything.

Patch is a transfer student with a mysterious air about him, and a mysterious past, no one knows anything about him, and when the biology teacher makes them switch partners, and Nora is assigned to learn 'who' Patch is, the word nervous is just a mild way of explaining how she feels.

Elliot has just transferred into their school as well, and after a little digging Nora discovers the reason is so he can run from a very disturbing past. He was a suspect in a murder investigation, the only suspect. His girlfriend was thought murdered, then later ruled as a suicide. Now all his interest seems to be focused on Nora, and he doesn't like to take no for an answer. As much as this bother Nora, Vee is excited, Elliot's best friend, Jules, is Vee's new love interest, and Jules is almost as elusive as Patch.

Even though Elliot seems to be pursuing Nora, she is not interested in him, and tries to make it perfectly clear. Patch seems to become more and more intense every time they meet, something inside her tells her to run away from him, as fast as she can, but another part of wants to melt into his arms. After Vee is attacked while they are shopping, Nora is convinced that Elliot is up to no good, but Vee is convinced that Patch is behind it.

When the new school shrink, Mrs. Greene, starts to push Nora more and more about staying away from Patch but gives her no explanation why, Nora starts to worry. She has a feeling inside her about Patch that she just can't explain. She really doesn't want anyone to warn her away from him, but at the same time she wants to run as far and as fast from him as she can.

Nora is going to have to choose between Elliot and Patch before this is all over, and her wrong decision could cost her her life, but then again.. she may not have a decision in that... her life as she knows it may be over, things are not as they seem.

Ratings: Number 4 and 3 stars

Hush Hush
Becca Fitzpatrick

Book Review: Linger.

2010-07-18T14:34:00.001-05:00

Linger is the second book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series. And it is just as good as the first one.

Grace was bitten by the wolves, werewolves to be exact, when she was a little girl. Shortly after she was bitten, her dad accidentally left her in the backseat of his car, asleep, in the sweltering heat, and she practically cooked to death. That event in itself is what lead Grace, Sam, and Isabel to believe that it was the extreme heat, the temperature at which her body got, that cured the 'wolf' inside her. Which in turn lead them to inject Sam and Isabel's brother with meningitis, to raise their bodies core temperature higher than it should ever be. Sam survived the experiment, Jack didn't.

It's wintertime now, and Sam is human, has been human the entire time. Even though it's real, he wakes up each morning and walks around in the cold each day, and goes to sleep each night, as a human, it's is still hard for him to accept.

Grace is sick, Grace never gets sick. She has been having dreams about her shifting into a wolf, the wolf she should have been, but never was. Her head hurts, her stomach aches, and she has an on again off again fever, especially at night when the wolves are howling.

Cole was a rock star, lead singer of the band NARKOTIKA, but his life meant nothing to him, he choose to be a wolf, to escape everything he had been constantly already running from. Beck promised him that he would be lost forever once he changed, that's exactly what he wanted... didn't he?

Isabel couldn't forgive herself for Jack's death, it was her fault, no matter what anyone tried to tell her, she knew it was her fault. She was slowly getting more and more lost in a world of self loathing. Until she met Cole, who was finally finding his way out of that very same world.

The 'cure' they found for Sam may not be a cure at all, as Grace gets sicker and sicker, they remember that after a wolf has stopped shifting for about fifteen years, it finally dies. Grace never shifted to her wolf form, but she was still bitten, and it's been about fifteen years now, Grace is dying from not shifting. They need to find a cure, one that will save her life and one that will allow her and Sam to remain together. And they need to do it fast.

This was an awesome book, and I absolutely can not wait for the third one in 2011, Forever. Maggie Stiefvater has done a wonderful job with this series!!

Ratings: Number 4 and 3 stars

Linger
Maggie Stiefvater

Update: This thing is awesome, compare your writing...

2010-07-14T19:38:00.001-05:00

Soo a favorite author of mine posted this on her Twitter account, and I went ahead and checked it out for myself. It analyzes your writing and compares it to other famous writers, letting you know who you write like. I was impressed. I submitted a few of my posts from here, a few from my other blog, and I put in some of my actual ' writing' , as I am in the middle of kind of writing a story myself :). My results were James Joyce, I got him over 4 times, which is exciting. Arthur Conan Doyle, Stephen King and Dan Brown, all of which are GREAT writers. So you guys should head over there and check out your writing style, it was really cool.

http://iwl.me/

Book Review: Radiant Shadows.

2010-07-13T09:47:00.000-05:00

The fourth book in the Wicked Lovely series was a great book. Even though the series didn't follow the same main characters throughout each book, it still did the same thing that it seems all series do, to me anyhow, it gets better the deeper into it you get.

Radiant Shadows was about Ani, a halfling. Even though nature should have placed more mortal into her than faery, she got 'lucky' so to speak, and was turned more faery than mortal. She loves it, except for the fact that now that the faeries know what she is, she has to move to the Dark Court and leave behind her sister and brother. Rabbit and Tish, other halflings that have been hiding in the mortal realm with her, away from the High Court.

Devlin was give orders almost fifteen years ago to kill the halfling. Sorcha is the High Queen, and Devlin is her Bloody Hands, he never disobeys his queen. Until then, and until now. Sorcha is so upset about her son, Seth, returning to the mortal world to be with his beloved, Aislinn, that she sends Devlin to go there and stay for awhile. Go to the mortal realm and look after her Seth. While there Devlin sees her, the halfling he was ordered to kill fifteen years prior, and he is drawn to her like he has never been drawn to anyone, mortal or fey. Ani is both.

Bananach gives Ani an order, to kill people she cares about, she can't fulfill this order, and now she is on the run. Her and Devlin run as far as they can, until he gets word that Sorcha has done something terrible in search of her son, and Faerie itself is falling apart, now they have to return. And face War.

Once back inside of Faerie Devlin learns secrets he never thought could exist, and him and Ani, along with Rae, a dream walker, redefine Faerie and begin bringing it back to it's original beauty. They begin doing what need to be done it order to save all the fey, and save both the faery world and the mortal one.

This was a wonderful book!!

Ratings: Number 3 and 3 stars

Radiant Shadows
Melissa Marr

Book Review: Fragile Eternity.

2010-07-12T10:35:00.002-05:00

So I have finished books three and four of the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr, really good books by the way. Usually I wait until I have finished an entire series before I write about the books, but she has made this almost impossible as her books do not follow one specific person, they jump to different characters as the leading lady, so I am forced to blog about each individual book :)

Fragile Eternity wasn't so much about a leading lady as it was about Seth deciding that his mortal weakness was just too little too much for him to remain by Aislinn's side anymore, and he decided to do whatever it took to change that fact. Either he was going to become Faery or die, but he had to try. He wasn't going to give his woman to Keneen without a fight, of some soft.

After all the faeries he knows and trusts turn his request down, Bananach, War personified, decides that Seth's becoming faery actually has some benefit to her, so she brings him to her sister, the High Queen, Sorcha. Who makes the trade, she give Seth his faery abilities, in trade he has to stay with her for one month in Faerie out of every eleven he is in the mortal realm. But Sorcha has an alternative motive, she has always wanted a son.

Seth now is faery, but his one month Faerie is actually six months in the mortal realm and no one has heard anything from him, Aislinn has all but given up hope of his disappearance, and has finally given Keneen leave to try and make her love him, the Summer King.

When Seth returns, Keneen is devastated and flees, leaving behind Aislinn to rule the Summer court alone. Bananach still has not gotten her war, and Seth is more confused than ever, he did all this to be closer to Aislinn yet it seems to have pulled them further apart.

Really good book, I definitely recommend it to all my friends :)

Ratings: Number 3 and 3 stars

Fragile Eternity
Melissa Marr

Smart Chics Tour.... I'm more than a little excited.

2010-07-10T13:21:00.000-05:00

I will be attending the Signing in Houston on September 14th at Barnes and Noble, I really hope to see some of you there, this is going to be absolutely awesome!!!!

Smart Chicks Tour - Toronto

Date: Saturday, September 25, 2010
Time: 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: CHAPTERS - Brampton, ON
Street: 52 Quarry Edge Drive
City/Town: Brampton, ON

Description: Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl & Jeri Smith-Ready

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Smart Chicks Tour - Cincinnati, OH

Date: Friday, September 24, 2010
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: Joseph-Beth
Street: 2692 Madison Road

Description: Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Margaret Stohl, Jessica Verday & Jeri Smith-Ready

* Kami Garcia will be there to sign.
----

Smart Chicks Tour - Dayton, OH

Date: Thursday, September 23, 2010
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: BOOKS & CO: AT THE GREENE Dayton, OH
Description: Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Jackson Pearce, Kami Garcia & Jennifer Lynne Barnes

* Margaret Stohl will be there to sign.
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Smart Chicks Tour - Dayton, OH

Date: Thursday, September 23, 2010
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: BOOKS & CO: AT THE GREENE Dayton, OH

Description: Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Jackson Pearce, Kami Garcia & Jennifer Lynne Barnes

* Margaret Stohl will be there to sign.
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Smart Chicks Tour - 2nd Stop Houston, TX

Date: Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: Site TBD - Hosted by Blue Willow Books

Description: Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan, Margaret Stohl & Cassandra Clare

* Kami will be there for the signing.
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Smart Chicks Tour - Houston, TX

Date: Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: BARNES & NOBLE - THE WOODLANDS Houston, TX
Street: Woodlands Mall - 1201 Lake Woodlands Dr. #3008

Description: Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Kami Garcia & Rachel Vincent

* Margie will be there for the signing.

Book Review: Ink Exchange

2010-07-08T14:58:00.000-05:00

Ink Exchange is the second book in the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr. I liked this one just as much, almost a little bit more that the first one. I guess that comes with the territory with almost all series, the more you read into them the better the books get.

Leslie is Aislinn's friend, the have been friends as long as they can remember, but lately Leslie's life has fallen apart. Even though no one knows it, she puts on a good face, she doesn't let anyone know, even Aislinn. Her mom took off, leaving her with her drunk dad and druggie brother.

After her brother decides to drug her and use her body as a payment to some of his druggie friends, Leslie has had enough. Her life is her own and she needs to take it back, take back control. She decides that the first step is to get a tattoo.

After spending months and months she finally decides on the tattoo she wants. Unfortunately she doesn't know that this particular tattoo comes with a cost. The ink used for this tattoo with attach her and the King of the Dark Faeries. She will provide him a way to feed off not only the faeries but mortals now too. Ever since the Summer Court found their Queen, and Beria was destroyed, the Dark Faeries have been suffering, becoming weak. They live off the suffering of others, the fear and emotions that others put off. Now Leslie is going to give him more of what he needs, only she doesn't know it yet.

Niall is determined to keep Leslie safe. He has been advisor and friend to Keenan for over nine centuries, and he has helped Keenan finally bring peace to his Kingdom. Niall has not always been a Summer Farey, but he is determined to never become what he once was, even though he is falling in love with Leslie. He will denounce his Kingdom before he will let anything happen to her.

Once Leslie realizes what is happening to her, it is almost to late to stop it, Niall has found a way to save her. Once the connection is broken Niall thinks she will come to him, be with him, but Leslie has other plans of her own, ones that don't include any faeries at all.

This being the second book made me definitely look forward to the third, I can't wait to read it!!!!

Ratings: Number 3 and 3 stars

Ink Exchange
Melissa Marr

Book Review: Wicked Lovely

2010-07-08T14:46:00.000-05:00

So Wicked Lovely is technically the first book in a series my Melissa Marr. However, it is one of those series that doesn't necessarily go back to back. Each book coincides with the others, but the main character is different and the story is different. I like it, it's different.

The first book Wicked Lovely is about the Summer Court, the summer faeries, and the Summer King, Keenan. The Summer King has been searching for over nine centuries for his queen. Even though he is a king, he is not in full power yet. His mother, Beria, the Queen of the Winter Court, had is powers bound when he was born, so that her court would rule with a higher power than the summer, and the world would suffer through the cold longer.

After searching and failing for hundreds of years, Keenan believes he has finally found his Queen. Aislinn has always seen the faeries, has always hid the fact that she can see them. Her grandmother told her at a very young age to never let them know she can see them, it is dangerous. So when she sees a Court Faery start to follow her, she starts to worry. She has never let them know she can see them, then he puts on his human glamour and approaches her, so that he is visible to all humans. She is terrified. Keenan knows now that he has definitely found his Queen.

As Aislinn accepts her role of Queen, the love of her life, Seth is also put into the world of faeries, as a mortal. And because of the hatred of Beria, Seth almost dies. Aislinn manages to hold onto what she wants of her humanity, but learns to rule a kingdom, one that hasn't had a Queen in over 9 centuries.

I really liked this book a lot, and I'm really glad that it is a series, with a fifth in the series coming out soon. :)

Rating: Number 3 and 3 stars

Wicked Lovely
Melissa Marr

Book Review: 13 to Life: A Werewolf Tale

2010-07-08T14:33:00.000-05:00

This was a great book. Shannon Delany is a breakout artist. What surprised me the most about this book, was the fact that this is her first piece of work, it came out at a time when the werewolf/vampire genre is at it's peak, and it's good. Good enough to rate right up there with the rest of the ones that I put on the top shelf of my book cabinet. ( Only the really good ones go on the top shelf ).

Jessie's life took a turn for the worse when her mother was killed last year. But instead of making it turn her into the hateful suicidal person everyone thinks she's going to be, she takes the death and tries to make it turn her into a better person. Forgiving the one who killed her mom, nursing that person back to health and becoming her best friend is only the beginning.

When the new guy gets to town Jessie's goodwill is tested. He infatuation with the start football player is put to the test too, after years of silently drooling over the hot jock, he is finally starting to pay attention to her. Then in step the wicked cheer squad to ruin everything. And all of a sudden the hottie has nothing to do with her anymore, but that still hasn't stopped the new guy.

With Jessie's patience worn just about to nothing, Pietr has pursued Jessie since he walked in the door, making it as obvious as possible. But with her should be mortal enemy turned best friend wanting to date him. Jessie is at a loss, especially when she realizes that she is wanting him to pursue her.

Finding love after her loss is not easy, and trying to give it up is even harder. But in the end will it make her a monster?

Like I said, this was a great book, I loved every minute that I was reading it. Shannon Delany will do amazing things. I am more than looking forward to the next in this series!!!!

Rating:Number 3 and 3 Stars

13 to Life: A Werewolf Tale
Shannon Delany

Update: Be back soon.

2010-06-29T20:25:00.003-05:00

I'm headed out of town for a few days, so I won't be on here posting anything new. But I won't be gone very long. And I will be posting my review about 13 to Life by Shannon Delany as soon as I can. I was an AWESOME book!!!

Update: About the Music.

2010-06-28T20:03:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to let everyone know about the music thing. I like listening to music while I read if I can, without it I can get very easily distracted. :) On Thursdays when the mowers are out in the neighborhood and I want to sit outside reading, the music comes in handy, and at night when I like to relax in bed and read, the music does wonders when I'm trying to tune out the video game players in my room ;).

Book Review: Dark Flame.

2010-06-28T12:11:00.001-05:00

This is the fourth book in The Immortals series by Alyson Noel, and all I can really say is wow. This is definitely the best book yet. Hands down. While I have enjoyed the first three, I wasn't as into them as I have been other series, but after Shadowland, which was also great, and now Dark Flame, I am a full fledged fan.

Ever and Damen have gone centuries without fulfilling their love, in every physical way. The emotional and mental ways have been fulfilled over and over, and as far as both of them are concern there has never been and never will be any doubt as to who their soul mate is.

Ever is so tore up inside, she has told her friend Haven what she has done to her, turned her immortal, in order to save her life, and expects the worst reaction possible from Haven. Instead Haven is super excited, but already too drunk with power, this makes Ever feels even worse. Roman, the Immortal who has cursed Ever and her soul mate, Damen, from ever physically touching each other, is now Haven's true love, which is even worse, because he is Ever's sworn enemy. After Ever tries a binding spell, one to get Roman to do her bidding, and it backfires on her, she is now bound to him. Not in doing his bidding, but in a sensual, physical form, a need to have him. It's a fire inside her that she can't resist. After she tries to unbind herself, and that only succeeds in making the bond even stronger so she turn to Jude, her long time love, many lifetimes over. Only to have her soul mate come in and take her away.

Jude doesn't understand all the circumstances but is still willing enough to help, he loves Ever, despite everything, despite the fact that she loves Damen. As she searches to find a solution, she loses what has made her feel immortal, her beauty, her strength, she feels weak, and she feels a desperate need to be with Roman, and terrified to tell Damen, sure he will finally be through with his patience for her.

Finally coming to terms with the beast inside of her, the dark flame that burns for Roman, she centers herself, and approaches Roman, desperate for the antidote to her and Damen's problems. Once Roman trusts her, Jude misjudges the situation, and interrupts. Leaving in the wake a disaster, Roman is gone, the antidote is now gone forever, Haven is consumed with hate for all of them, determined to destroy every bit of their lives, and Jude has lost his love again. Ever and Damen are left to figure out the pieces and where to go from there.

I'm so excited that this book was this good, and I can't wait until the next one comes out this winter, I would definitely recommend this to all my friends :)

Rating: Number 4 and 3 stars

Dark Flame
Alyson Noel

Book Review: Grave Sight.

2010-06-27T13:22:00.001-05:00

This post isn't just about Grave Sight, it's about all four of the Harper Connelly books. Just like I do with all the series I read, I wait until I have finished the last one in publication before I post. I really like all four of these books, like I said before, they ain't no Sookie Stackhouse, but Harper Connelly did a wonderful job of separating herself and getting her own spotlight.

One thing I especially loved that was different from many other series, was the fact that each book ended. Like it began with a story and at the end that specific story concluded, it didn't leave you hanging and anticipating the next book so bad it was like a drug. Given there were some things that weren't ' solved' until the very last book, that were brought into play in the first, they weren't the main focus. I enjoyed this because I was able to get a new story in each book, not one looong drawn out story, I like that.

Harper Connelly spent the early part of her childhood in an upscale neighborhood with her mom, dad, and older sister, Cameron. Her parents were lawyers, made a good living, they had a maid and loved their lives. Then their dad got busted for embezzling and a few other white collar crimes, and her mother remarried, to another lawyer. With the new step dad came new siblings, Tolliver and Mark were her step brothers, their mother had died of cancer. Once they got married their parents decided that defending the bad guys wasn't nearly as fun as partying with them, and that began the downward spiral. The ended up in a trailer with the four of them, plus their parents, and to make it even more complicated, their parents decided to go and have two more kids, Gracie and Mariella.

When Harper was 15 she was struck by lightening, and if Tolliver hadn't been there to save her life by immediately giving her CPR, she would have died. They had to fight her step dad and then sneak to even call an ambulance. When Cameron was 18 she was abducted off the side of the road on her way home from school. Their life completely fell apart. The seams that had been worn ragged from what little life they had finally busted. The two babies were taken by her aunt and uncle to raise, Harper was sent to foster care, Tolliver moved in with Mark who was old enough to live on his own and both their parents went to jail.

After being struck by lightening, Harper realizes she now has a special ability, she can sense the dead. When she is near the dead, she starts to get a humming in her head, if it's a recent death it's like a loud buzz, if it's an older death it's like a faint mosquito. When she encounters the bones, or body of a bead person, she can tell you who it is, tell their identity, and tell you how they died, she can kind of 'see' their last minutes of life, but never see who or what killed them if it wasn't a natural death.

The lightening strike left her slightly weak in her leg and with headaches at times, so working normal job was not that good an option, so her and her 'brother' Tolliver set out across the country, taking jobs to 'read' the dead. Sometimes it was from families who just wanted to confirm that a family member died of what the official report said they did, and sometimes she worked with the police, finding a body of a missing person or persons they were looking for. She was always right.

I really liked these books, I enjoyed reading them, I wouldn't recommend them for anyone under the age 16 due to the fact that there is a few sex scenes in them. Especially since Harper and her 'brother' Tolliver, aren't really brother and sister at all, and they realize exactly how much they love each other. ;) I would definitely recommend them to my friends.

Rating: Number 3 and 4 stars : This has sexual content.

Grave Sight
Grave Surprise
Ice Cold Grave
Grave Secret
Charlaine Harris

Update: What I'm Reading

2010-06-26T09:12:00.002-05:00

I'm doing that not posting until I finish the series thing again, I'm reading all of Charlaine Harris's Grave series, I'm on book three, and so far so good. I mean of course these ain't no Sookie Stackhouse, but they are still pretty good ;) I will blog more about each of them as I finish up the series.

Book Review: The Host.

2010-06-23T19:55:00.000-05:00

Reading this book was not like reading Stephanie Meyer's other books, The Twilight Saga, those books were written with teenagers in mind, this was for adults. It took me a long time to pick this one up and read it, obviously, since it's been out so long, mainly because I really enjoyed the Twilight Saga, and everyone I had talked to who had read both said that this wasn't as good. I didn't want to be disappointed, so I stayed away from it. That was just plain dumb of me.

This was a wonderful book, I absolutely loved it. Yes, it went a completely different direction than her original works, but it was still somewhat supernatural. It was about space aliens taking over earth. Hello, definitely paranormal :) It was also about love, true, strong, binding love, not that much different than Bella and Edward... except that this seemed more grown up on so many levels. Hence written for adults.

The aliens, or Souls, as they call themselves, have taken over the planet Earth. It's not the first world they have taken, and won't be the last. It is the first with emotion, and memories, and needs and wants, that go beyond just survival, after all we humans are a selfish bunch. The souls came to Earth because we were violent, and because we had such a wonderful planet, yet in out pettiness we let it go to waste and were to greedy to control what ruin we did. The came in and very stealthily took over, the only noticeable changes at first were the fact that everyone was all of a sudden so nice, and the fact that their eyes suddenly were reflective. The souls do not believe in violence at all. The would no more harm another being any more than you or I would cut off our own arm. The are a peaceful species, bringing peace to a hateful world. Unfortunately not all humans see it that way, and once some humans figured out what was going on, they took to the hills, literally. They made a little community in the mountains and became rebel fugitives, if the souls believed in such a thing as fugitives.

No one hunted them, really, it was just if they were found out they were taken to a healer and a soul was placed in their body, sometimes the humans would fight and then the souls would protect themselves, but other than that, no violence, except for the few rebel souls themselves.

Wanderer, Wanda, as all her new friends and family call her, has just recently been placed inside the body of a former rebel. The rebel, Melanie, was a strong one, and to Wanda's great despair, Melanie still is strong, and only gets stronger as each day passes. She should be getting weaker, the host is not supposed to still be present after the soul has taken over. Wanderer was giver her name adequately, she has lived eight lives before this one, never finding a place where she felt she belonged, never wanting to settle, so she wandered to different worlds. Now placed inside this rebellious host, she is starting to grow a kinship with Melanie, and Melanie's memories, and feelings. She realizes that she has fallen in love with the love of Melanie's life, and that she would die to protect the little brother Jamie, that Melanie wants so desperately to find.

Trying to get away from her seeker, and unfortunate rebellious soul, Wanderer decides to drive to her old healer to ask his advice before she decides to give up on this host and be placed in another, Melanie is getting to strong, and that could be dangerous. On her way she reaches a small town that peeks Melanie's interest from inside her mind, Melanie convinces her to drive a little way into the desert. A little way turned into a little more, then a little more until they were hopelessly lost, by this time Mel had Wanda convinced to search out her Uncle Jeb, another human rebel, who knew the mountains nearby, who could save them.

Four days in the desert almost killed them both, but then Jeb found her, bringing her back to his home almost killed them as well. She wasn't a human, she was a soul, but she was in Melanie's body, that was the only thing that kept her alive. Proving that she meant them no harm took a long time, working side by side, and twice as hard reaped very little benefits, but it helped her stay happy. Jamie, her brother couldn't have been more happy, especially when he learned that it wasn't just Wanda, that Melanie was still in there and she still talked to Wanda. He was happy to have his sister back. Jared, the love of Melanie's life was there as well. He hated this thing that Melanie was now, this creature, but he still loved Melanie will his whole heart. Eventually he became to respect Wanda as well, and even became her ally.

Wanderer had never before found in her own species, what she now found in this one, love, friendship, honor, everything she could ever want, but she had no way to hold on to it, it didn't belong to her it belonged to Melanie. With all of this going on around her she found the time to fall in love for herself, Wanda fell in love with Ian, and Ian fell in love with her, not her and Melanie, just her. When she decided to give Melanie back her world, it broke not only Wanda's heart, but Ian's as well.

Wanda didn't want to be a parasite anymore, she wanted to give the humans what they all deserved, and she didn't deserve anything they had, she wasn't one of them. Even though she loved them more than she could ever express. So when she snuck off to Doc and closed her eyes, she thought that would be her last goodbye. Opening her eyes again was strange, especially since they weren't in Melanie's body, once she realized what had happened she was angry, and relived at the same time, she got to stay, Melanie was free, and they had put Wanda into another host, one that wasn't present at all, so there was no one in her mind but herself. She was able to stay, to love and to be loved.

I loved this story.

Ratings: Number 4 and 4 stars

The Host
Stephanie Meyer

Book Review: Infinity.

2010-06-20T13:38:00.000-05:00

I didn't know much about this author until after I read the book and was looking up the cover to put a picture next to my post. After reading up on her and her Dark-Hunter series. I'm pretty impressed. This isn't technically the first in this series, a book about Kyrian is, but this one is the first about Nick. This series will consist of twelve novels total and will actually end up tying into her original Dark Hunter series in another spot... what a cool concept. So when you are reading this, you are actually reading the other story, but you are going back in time and trying to change the future so that the other books will change.. I'm loving this plot so far, and am definitely going to submerge myself in her other books!

Nick is fourteen, he lives at home, well he lives in a dumb of a renovated old house turned studio apartment, with his mom. She found out she was pregnant when she was fourteen, and instead of giving him up for adoption, she turned her back on her family, their money and her education, and decided that she wanted to raise her son. And for the last fourteen years that's exactly what she has been doing. unfortunately it hasn't been the best life for either of them, being poor is never really fun. She works as an exotic dancer and he has earned a scholarship into a prestigious school, obviously he isn't there for money, only smarts, the kids there never seem to give him a break.

He gets picked on from day in to day out, and if that's not bad enough, his mom thinks he is over exaggerating. One night he runs into some of his other hoodlum buddies, they want him to help them make a few quick bucks. He goes along, until he realizes that a few bucks is coming from mugging an old couple. He stops the mugging, only to get himself beat up and shot, what a reward. Saved by Kyrian, he spends the next few days in the hospital, where he meets who he thinks is the girl of his dreams, Kody, he just hasn't figured out yet that she could very well be the girl of his nightmares.

If all of this isn't bad enough, all of a sudden his school is being over run by zombies, flesh eating, drooling zombies. But it wouldn't be so bad if they were normal zombies, you could kill those, but these are undead- undead zombies. The kids he goes to school with who are alive, hearts beating, still breathing are all turning into zombies, and they are after him, of all people. Once Kyrian enters his life things start to change, he learns that werewolves are real, vampires are real, and demons are real, but not all demons are bad, it's like a race thing. Like blacks and whites, u can't hate someone because of their color, so you can't hate them just because they are a demon, some are good, some are bad. Nick is completely confused.

After saving the day from zombies, and rescuing everyone he cares for, everything goes back to normal, on the outside. But deep inside Nick has changed and so has everything in New Orleans, there is Evil here now, a bad evil a strong evil, and he is the one who is going to have to learn to stop it or become part of it.

Honestly when I first read it I thought it was lacking a lot of information, but after reading up on it, I realize that to get the info I want I'm going to have to read some of the Dark Hunter series. So read up I believe this is going to be a great series.

Ratings: Number 3 and 3 stars

Infinity
Sherrilyn Kenyon

Book Review: The Lovely Bones.

2010-06-18T21:33:00.000-05:00

When I picked this book up, I was excited. I saw the movie, and it was good. I've read multiple reviews about the book, and everything I read said that the movie didn't come close to being as good as the book. So yeah I was definitely reading this.

It's no secret that I'm a speed reader, I flew through Breaking Dawn in about 13 hours, and The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare took me all of 4 days to read all of them. But when I read this book, as small as it is, it took me over two days. The reason is, this book was boring. I had to draggggg myself through it. And that took forever.

When I sat down to read it I was like ok, here we go, a great book. But soon after I was extremely disappointed. I don't know what book those other reviewers were reading, or if they even read the book, or just watched the movie, but this book was bland. That's something you will rarely ever hear me say, a movie was better than the book. It has a great story plot, great characters, and could be an amazing novel, but the presentation was lacking a lot.

In a quiet suburbia in the 1970's a girl was abducted and murdered. Things like this didn't happen then, Things like this didn't happen there, in this neighborhood, maybe in big cities, but not there. Susie was a regular girl, had a mom and dad, a little brother and sister. She had dreams and goals, and was going to grow up and be something someday. Until Mr. Harvey violently took it all away from her. The police scoured the surrounding area, looking everywhere they could think of. The cornfield, where she was murdered, the neighbors houses, backyards, gutters, everywhere, but not a trace of her body was ever discovered. Until a neighbors dog came home one day with a body part in his mouth, an elbow, Susie's elbow. After that all their worst fears were realized, Susie was in fact dead.

From Heaven, Susie watches her family grieve, each in their own way. She watches her mother turn inside her self and then start to lean towards escaping, she watches her father cling to everything that could have ever reminded him of his first born baby girl. Her sister turns to steel and keeps everything inside, never letting anyone see how it effects her, and her baby brother is too young to understand why Susie isn't coming home anymore. She watches through the years as they grow up, and grow apart and then finally grow back together, like they should have always been. She sees her family struggle and she tries to protect them the best she can. The way they all wish they had been able to do for her. In the end Susie realizes that her family is finally safe and finally healing, it's time to go.

See what I mean by a good story plot, it could have been a wonderful book, such a shame, really. I'm not sure who I would recommend this to, if anyone. It has nothing offensive in it, but due to the emotional aspect of it, I would say that it's a teen or older book.

Ratings:Number 2 and 2 stars

The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold

Book Review: The Island of Eternal Love : #2

2010-06-17T23:03:00.000-05:00

This is my second post on the book The Island of Eternal Love. The first one was short and really uninformative, sorry about that. It was late at night when I finally finished reading the book and I just wanted to write something, it was such a good book. The copy I read was a Limited Edition Uncorrected Proof ( those are always cool to find ).

Now I'm here, trying to think about about what I wrote in that one. Well, whatever I wrote it wasn't enough, so now I'm going to write what I should have all along. The book follows three families. Generation through generation we watch them grow, from babies to mother and fathers to grandparents, and we watch their children do the same. The families do not know of each other as in they are three families connected in the same circle or same town, but they are three families connected, throughout time.

Cecilia escaped Cuba during a time of great terror. When the probability of dying greatly outweighed the possibility of living. After both her parents had already died, she was left with nothing to do but figure out her own escape. Fleeing with the rest seemed like the only solution. The tiny raft that floated, tossed and turned throughout the ocean, took her to America, to Miami, a new place, a new start. A much bigger chance of survival.

Now with her successful career as a journalist, Cecilia has happened upon a story that leads her to a phantom house. A few people around Miami have seen this house appear, seemingly out of no where, on dark night, in vacant lots. The lights are always on, the house is well out of date and the old fashioned clothes that the silent strangers on the porch wear let anyone who see this house know that it's form the spirit world. As she gets more and more intrigued my this story, she also meets a woman, Amalia. Amalia starts telling Cecilia a story that started long ago, in the far reaches of the globe and ends in the present day. From the moment she begins to reveal what happened all those years ago, Cecilia is hooked, no longer can she think, or dream of anything other than what this woman is going to tell her next.

The families started their journeys in China, Africa, and Spain. The Chinese family, the Wongs, story really begins with a child by the name of Kui-fa in the year of 1919. She was only eleven then, but as she grew her uncle married her to a young man who was smart and well off in a business way. But soon after the wedding and the birth of their son, he left for Cuba, where better work was a great possibility. Five years went by before she saw her husband again, Siu Mend.

The family from Spain, their story starts in Cuba. Don Pedro and his wife have a daughter Angela, and Angela has recently inherited her family's feminine curse. The curse of Martinico, an Imp who only appears to the women of the family, or the wife of the first born son. And he does nothing but cause them grief, mischievous as he is. Unfortunately, Martinico is not the only mythical creature that she sees, her family is gifted with the sight to be more sensitive to the supernatural, they see creatures that others can not. With this gift Angela is blessed with the love of a wonderful man, for all of eternity and beyond, but she also makes a deal with the Devil himself.

Africa's Family starts with a mulatto girl named Caridad, a slave on a plantation in Cuba, her mother had gotten pregnant with her on the trip from Africa to Cuba after being kidnapped from her tribe to be sold as a slave. When the girl was a little older, she had been working inside as the mistresses quarters girl, an epidemic swept through the land, killing numbers of people that Caridad couldn't even fathom. She was sent to a vacation home on another part of Cuba, and because she was a mulatto, she was unique, the slave master's wife liked this and kept her for herself. Keeping Caridad out of the hot sun and inside, once again being the house mistresses girl. It was in this home that Caridad fell in love with a boy from another home, another slave, another mulatto. Once they were old enough they were going to buy their way to freedom, and start a family. Happy together, forever. But fate always changes everyone's plan.

This is a story of love, loss, great happiness and great sadness. It's been such a long time since I actually cried reading a book, but this one did it. I actually cried. Some of the things here were so unfair, unjust it made me sick to think what they went through. But the ending more than made up for anything that went bad. I recommend it to all my adult friends. While it does contain anything unfit for children, I believe that only another grown up could appreciate this story.

Ratings: Number 4 and 4 stars

The Island of Eternal Love
Daina Chaviano

Update

2010-06-16T13:24:00.000-05:00

I know the post of The Island of Eternal Love, was short and under informing, so I will re write it very soon, I was so tired when I finished it but so excited about how good it was that I had to write something, sorry guys. Also I have decided to join a book club, well I don't know if I'm going to join.. yet. I will be going to the first meeting tomorrow night, we will be discussing Twilight. I will see how it goes from there. Wish me luck :)

Book Review: The Island of Eternal Love

2010-06-15T23:11:00.000-05:00

This book was originally published in Spanish in 2206, and translated into English in 2008. I enjoyed this book. It seems by days have been dragging by lately, getting into those dog days of summer I suppose. Being in Louisiana is wretched anyway, and to add the heat on top of it almost makes it unbearable. Usually getting lost in a book takes my mind off just about everything that surrounds me, so I don't even notice that I'm in such a miserable place. But then I go and read a book about Cuba and Miami, go figure.

Cecilia, Ceci, as her friends and grandmother call her, escaped to the United States on a raft, fleeing from Cuba, alongside hundreds of other immigrants taking refuge from the evils within the island. Coming to America was her only real option, but ever since coming here she has been nothing but miserable. Her two best friends drag her out to a bar one night where Ceci meets an old woman, one that begins telling her a story. Being it is so late when they start the story, and the story is a very long tale. Cecilia keeps coming back, she has to know what the woman, Amelia is going to reveal next.

The tale follows the lives of three families in the beginning of Cuba. A Chinese family, a woman who is mulatto, and a original Cuban family. Their lives intermingle throughout their histories, and the story reveals that even though generations separate their paths, they still cross. With mystery, and intrigue. Daina Chaviano brings to life a story that shows us that all the scary stuff from the spirit world can sometimes be sweet and generous and can unite us more than we ever imagined.

I really liked this book, it was sad in a wow, I feel bad for those people, sort of way, and inspiring to see her figure out who she was and finally grasp onto her heritage and become the woman she was supposed to be. I would definitely read this book again sometime. This book is no really YA, it's more of a grown-up book, as in it would probably be appreciated more by people older than 25.

Ratings: Number 3 and 3 stars

The Island of Eternal Love
Daina Chaviano

Book Review: Raised by Wolves.

2010-06-14T19:32:00.004-05:00

When I first heard the title of this book, I was honestly a bit skeptical. I mean after all the new books that have come out lately that are YA paranormal, they all have kind of unique titles, so something so basic didn't peek my interest. But like always I can rely on my very trustworthy BFF to come through for me and recommend a book that was a good read.

Bronwyn Alessia St. Vincent Clare, Bryn, was only four years old when she witnessed her parents brutally murdered. And if that wasn't enough to haunt her for the rest of her life, the voice that echoes in the dark recesses of her dreams " Come out, come out, wherever you are, little one. No sense in hiding from the Big Bad Wolf. I'll always find you in the end...". That had been the chant to change Bryn's life for good.

The rogue werewolf that had destroyed her human family was killed before he ever got the chance to kill Bryn. Callum, Stone River's Alpha, took Bryn with him, marked her, and she became his. He gave her to another human, a woman, Alison Clare. She was marked as well, and put in charge as the one who be raising Bryn as a mother, for all intensive purposes. With being Marked Bryn was able to be a part of the Pack, even as a human, but because she was human, she would never really be part of the Pack.

Teenage and quite fond of her rebellious and curious side, she was not in the least bit happy when Callum put a guard ( babysitter, in her opinion ) by her side to escort her wherever she needed to go, and to make absolute certain she was home by dark. No questions asked, and unfortunately none of her questions answered. She had to be on her best behavior, for Ali's sake if nothing else, she was very pregnant, and most Were/human pregnancies didn't turn out for the best,on the human side. Most of them died. So Bryn had to put as little stress as possible on Ali as she could.

When the delivery day comes, Bryn is so distraught, the cries of agony coming from her beloved 'mother' and nothing she can do to help, the only person she knows who can comfort her is Callum. She sneaks away from her guard and makes it to Callum's house. But what's waiting for her there changes her future just as much as Callum did the night he rescued her.

Chase is a boy, Chase is also a Werewolf, but Chase wasn't born a Were, he was made. It's almost impossible for her to comprehend. Only a handful of humans who have been attacked in over a thousand years have actually survived and Changed. Chase did. He isn't stable yet, she smells like meat, he shifts within his cage and lunges for her, trapped inside the bars. She makes her escape and runs right into Callum. Her comfort.

She can't go without seeing him again, she knows that they are connected. They are alike, neither of them born a Were but both are now Pack. And there is something else. A pull. Seeing him again is Bryn's mental undoing. The wolf that killed her family is the same one that Changed Chase. Callum has been lying all these years. No one is safe. She breaks her permissions, she is punished, she weakens one connection to make another one stronger, she is sent away.

Bryn now has to overcome what she fears most, pull forward what she repressed for over ten years, and learn to do things she never consciously knew she was capable of. All out of the sake of love and family.

I really enjoyed this book, I'm normally a team Edward kinda girl, ya know, more into the vampire stuff, but I will read werewolf stuff as well, and with this I'm glad I did. It had a lot of teenage back and forth emotion. But it also shows a lot of exactly what it means to grow up, and become who you are. I would definitely recommend this book to my young adult friends :)

Ratings: Number 3 with 2 stars

Raised by Wolves
Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Book Review: Breaking Dawn.

2010-06-13T21:30:00.003-05:00

So of course after re-reading Eclipse I couldn't stop there, I had to finish out the Saga again. I went on and read Breaking Dawn again. Just like Eclipse, I got sucked in, and couldn't do myself the favor of putting the book down and getting a good night of sleep, it took me all of two days to finish it, and that adding a couple hours, and going grocery shopping during those two days.

One thing that I still have never quite figured out is why so many people have decided that this was their favorite book. Out of the four, Breaking Dawn seems to be the most popular. Does it have something to do with Bella finally becoming immortal? Or is it the wedding? I know a lot of women are in awe about Renesme, could that be what pushes this book to be the best? I just don't know. I mean don't get me wrong I adored it, it was.. er is a great book. But it's not my favorite, I will tell you which one is mine and why in a few minutes. Anyhow, I liked the family in this book, the way it all comes together, at last. After all the bickering and fighting throughout the last three books, finally they are all harmonious, it puts a smile on your face and makes you relax a little, knowing that your favorite vampires and werewolves/ shape shifters are not going to kill each other after all.

This book will also be turned into a movie, actually as I just discovered, it will be turned into two movies, just like they did with final Harry Potter film. The first one is due to be released in November of 2011, that honestly kills me, seeing as Eclipse is being release in two weeks, then I will have to wait practically a year and a half to see my favorite vampires on the big screen again, ugh :) Anyhow, While I was reading Breaking Dawn I was trying to decipher where they will make the cut off point, where are they going to leave us hanging at? I think I have it figured out.

In the first half we are going to get to see Bella and Edward get married, personally I'm not happy there, hehe. no really I am, I just covet Edward in my own absurd daydreams. But after that they go away to their honeymoon to Isle Esme, oh how I wish my husband would buy me and island. Then the pregnancy, and that's where the story will really pick up. Bella getting her butt kicked from the inside out, literally. Edward in agony over what has happened, and none of them knowing what to do. Rosalie and Bella protecting the baby with every ounce of their souls, and no matter what anyone thinks, I don't believe for one second that after this Rosalie would throw Bella's life away, I think she is not only protecting the baby but Bella as well.

Then the baby is delivered, and you would think with all the preparation that it would be Carlisle, but nope, it's Edward and Jacob in the end, in the delivery/ operating room. Successful delivery, Bella dies. THE END. That is what I think is going to happen in the first movie. The second is going to consist of them turning Bella into and immortal, seeing Renesme for the first time, being warned of the Volturi, the coming together of the covens and the face off to save their family. and then we will be left in the wake of what was the Twilight generation. It will be a sad time for all of us who are fans, and feel like we are part of it.

now to tell you my favorite book of the four and why. New Moon. I loved it because of the strength of their love, even though he left, and she hurt for so long, and he hurt for so long. We he thought she died, he wanted to die, there was no reason for his existence if she didn't exist. And in the end he came back. He realized that he couldn't be apart form her. I know the extreme measures that it took for him to wise up and realize is was a bit .. well extreme, but hey, no one ever said men were the brightest, even a hundred year old vampire man. That book got me because of their long, and how even though it was tested to it's limit, it stayed strong. It was impenetrable.

Ratings: Number 4 with 3 stars

Breaking Dawn
The Twilight Saga
Stephanie Meyer

Book Review: Eclipse.

2010-06-13T21:06:00.001-05:00

So I re-read this book to refresh my memory, with the upcoming release of the movie at the end of this month. I originally read it in 2007 when it was first released, yes I was a huge Twilight fan. Still am, just not as much as I was then. When I first decided to re-read this book I thought that it might not attract me the same way it did the first time. The first time I read it, it was like a black hole, it sucked me in, I read the entire book in about 13 hours, I was more than a little disappointed when I was finished with it, it was all consuming. The second time around made absolutely little difference, even though it has been three years. From the very first sentence it had me again. I paced myself this time, taking a day and a half to read it. This time thinking about things as I read it. Discovering things I rushed through the first time, and finding out I loved this book so much more the second time.

Now after saying this, I realized that I have learned a few things about the main character Bella. She is a total masochist. She enjoys the pain that comes along with the pleasure of being in love with two men. Er, ok maybe enjoys is not the right word but she rather wishes for the pain that she is subjecting them to, just so that she can keep both men in her life. She maybe selfless in many ways, always wanting to sacrifice herself for the good of others, and always worrying about how something she does may effect someone else, but in this sense no, she is completely selfish.

The movie to this book will be hitting theaters on June 30th this year. I, for one, am SUPER excited about that, I can't wait to see it. My husband will be taking me and we will be having a great time. For any girl who is having a hard time convincing her guy to take her to see this movie, explain to him that this is the one, out of the five movies that will be made total, that he SHOULD see. This is the one with the guy stuff in it. It's going to have fast cars ( remember the yellow Porche from New Moon? yeah it's back ), gory details of blood and carnage from the battle of the newborns and the Cullens.. and the Wolves, God knows we can't forget them :) There is also the CONSTANT ego/ pride thing between Edward and Jacob throughout this entire movie, and the Volturi make an appearance. The guys will love this movie, though not as much as us girls.

With all this being said, I know it's not much of a book review, just like my next one on Breaking Dawn probably won't be, but that's because there is nothing else to say about these books that hasn't already been said. Stephanie Meyer did and amazing job of letting us into this world of Vampire and Human love. She put us inside the homes, and out there on the front lines. I was captivated from beginning to end, and am amazed over and over again at exactly how great these books actually are. If you haven't read them yet, do yourself a favor, read them. Oh and don't be like some of those irritating critics out there who only read them so they can demolish them JUST because they are popular. Yes vampire and other supernatural stuff is the ' cool' thing right now, but even with that, there are hundreds of books out there pertaining to just these types of topics, and not many have had this kind of success. So when you read them, do it with respect for the book, and judge it as you would any other.

Ratings: Number 4 with 3 stars

GO TEAM EDWARD!!!!!!

Eclipse
The Twilight Saga
Stephanie Meyer

Book Review: Spirit Bound

2010-06-10T00:08:00.002-05:00

So to start off I'm going to tell you that when they say that the first book in a series is always the best and blah blah blah.. they are usually WRONG with capitol W. One thing I have learned about books over the years is that if it's a series, it usually gets BETTER after the first book, the deeper into the plot you go, the juicier the story gets. And my theory didn't fail me with The Vampire Academy series, not at all.

After reading the first couple I had deemed them basic young adult, high school reads. No biggie, just the norm for what was popular now days. Vampire love, fatal attraction, all that good stuff. Then after moving onto the third and fourth books, Shadow Kiss and Blood Promise, my opinion altered. These were no longer mundane reading. They were getting good, it seemed to me that the actual writing improved, not just the story. They became more involved, more detailed, and more realistic. I like a book that I can picture in my mind, without having to add much of my own to it, I like the story painted for me, like a movie screen in my head. The third and fourth book did that for me, the first and second did as well, but the third and fourth definitely kicked it in gear.

Now I pick up the fifth book, Spirit Bound. Holy cow am I completely blown away or what??!! This book has me reeling by the end of it, and to think I have to wait all the way until December of this year for the final installment of this series, Last Sacrifice, to reach the public, argg.. just imagine my frustration if you will.

The story follows Rose, Lissa, Christian, and Adrian through graduation and onto Court, where they will now be given their official assignments as guardians, and Lissa will be attending college and Adrian.. well he will be doing whatever it is he decides to do. But of course Rose still has big problems, one being especially now out in the ' real ' world, Dimitri. Dimitri, the one man she has ever loved. The one that she also lost, he died.. but didn't, he turned strigoi, the undead vamps. He had captured her in Russia, gave her the choice to become what he is, so that they could still be together, but she didn't do it, she escaped, and with doing that she also lost him again. This time for good, now he was hunting her, now he would kill her. Unless the could possibly find out if a rumor about spirit powers were true, and if it was, if they could use it to their advantage, and if so if Dimitri would agree. But before they can finish their plan, the unthinkable happens, and they are forced to rush ahead of schedule. Sometimes working under pressure wields tremendous results, and they came out on top, for the most part, Rose will still walk away with a broken heart.

When you might think that this is a huge thing to happen in the book, and it is, believe me, it's not the biggest thing... I'm not going to spoil anymore of it for you, but the last few chapters blew my mind, they were absolutely amazing, and completely came out of the blue. Never would I have imagined that was where this story was going to go, but I am so glad it did, the anticipation for the next book is killing me already.

Ratings: Number 4 with 3 stars

Spirit Bound
Vampire Academy Series
Richelle Mead

Book Review: The Short Second life of Bree Tanner

2010-06-08T19:34:00.016-05:00

So I just finished this book about twenty minutes ago, err should I say e-book. Yes, I've succumbed to technology, I read a book online. I would have went out and purchased the book but it was offered to us fans to read for free on Stephanie Meyer's website. So since it was FREE how could I ever pass it up??!!

Anyhow, when the title of this book said ' Short ' I didn't take it as too literal, as in this would be a ' short ' story. But it was. Now saying that, it was still a good book. It was just as good as the Twilight Saga, well not as good, but the way it was written was just as good. I enjoyed the story. Even though Bree was only a few months old when we entered her life in this story, I would have liked to know more about those few months in which she first became a vamp. Like how she discovered that Fred equaled protection, and why Fred decided that she was ok, not a threat like the rest of her coven. Also I would have liked to know more about her ' change ' and the circumstances that surrounded it. From what I gathered, she was a homeless fifteen year old girl who was starving to death and Riley came in and took her to a burger joint, then kidnapped her and took her to Victoria to become a new vamp. But other than that... I got nothing.

I did however enjoy the loved and lost aspect of the bittersweet moments she had with Diego. How sweet to find love, even after you're dead. But how sad to lose it. At least she didn't have to pine her whole life away like most the other heroines we hear about these days, over a love that was lost, because shortly after she realized that her precious Diego had perished, she joined him in the Great Beyond. If that's where the already dead people go when they die again.

http://ld-breetannerbook.libredigital.com/index.html

Ratings: Number 3 with 2 stars

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Stephanie Meyer

Book Review: Girls of Riyadh.

2010-06-08T10:50:00.003-05:00

How should I start this book review, ah the many things that swam through my mind while reading this was pure amazing. First of all, in America, if this book was written by an American, about what teenage and young adult girls ' in America ' do, it probably would have never made it out of someones rejection pile of books sent to them daily. The sheer fact that this was not from America but from the Eastern world, the world we romanticize women as either possessions or terrorists, places this book into a whole other category all together.

Girls of Riyadh was originally written as emails sent throughout the Arabic world anonymously, they tell the story of four girls who grew up in the ' velvet society ' of Riyadh. If this had been a story about four boys or men growing up, no one would have even blinked an eye, but it wasn't, it was about four girls, then women. This of course started a huge uproar. No one writes about the secret ongoings of what women in this country do. No one knows what happens in their private affairs, and the worst part is no one knows what these women feel.

Reading this book, made me look at some of those women in a whole new light, they are no different than you in me, emotionally. They want to love a man worthy of love, and want to be loved by a man who she deserves. They want a happy home, with children and comfort. They do not want to be these stupid slave wives that have walked the streets for generations before them. But they also do not want to wait for this love to never come along and they end u being spinsters.

This book told the tale of these four girls, and what love filled their hearts and what heartbreak befouled them. It showed their strength in friendship, and their weakness in knowledge of life matters. The courage these girls possessed and what blind faith drove them at times, oh how I loved this book. There were times when reading this and a man in the story had done something vile towards one of the women, and my poor husband got the rotten end of that, for I was so mad at Rashid ( Gamrah's husband ) that I yelled at my own husband. It just wasn't fair for her to be treated that way.

This book made me feel more powerful as a woman, knowing what these women have to deal with, and all the losses they suffer, yet they still go on. I know that if they can do then so can I. I may not be suffering the way they have and possibly still are, but I still deal with crap on a daily basis, and yet I will persevere :)

Ratings: Number 4 with 4 stars

Girls of Riyadh
Rajaa Alsanea

Book Review: The Heroines

2010-06-06T21:48:00.002-05:00

This book tickled me. It was a very cute book. On a prairie in Illinois a woman and her daughter live in a family owned bed and breakfast. It's cozy for the two of them, thirteen year old Penny and her mother Anne-Marie, Penny's father was killed in a car accident when she was younger.. that's what she was told.

The best thing about this bed and breakfast isn't the quiet seclusion of the prairie, or the interesting stories that the travelers share, it's the stories that some of the travelers come from. They have had guests in their home for as long as Penny can remember, guests with extremely familiar names. Madame Bovary has a short stay at Prairie Homestead, even Scarlett O'Hara stay a night. But with Penny being only thirteen now, the magic of these visits has not yet began to sink in, she is too upset that these heroines from story land get all her mother's attention, while she has to deal with things herself. When Deirdre, from Deirdre of the Sorrows, checks in, then moves into her room, which causes Penny to move out of her own room. Penny hits the fan, enough is enough.

Mother always told her to stay out of the woods at night, dangerous things dwell there, Penny didn't care anymore, she was mad. But when hoof beats were behind her and she was running scared out of her wits, oh how she wished she had listened to her mother. Conor, King of Ulster, Lord of the Red Branch,the Twinkling Hoard, the Ruddy Branch, has now come into the picture. He is a Hero, or possibly a villain, Penny hasn't decided yet. Heroes never come, only the Heroines, the women or girls come, mainly during their most trying times in the story, and they rest, they stay a day, a week, a month, but they always go back and finish their story, alone. But here is a Hero, come to capture his Heroine. Penny doesn't know what she should do, her mother has ingrained in her from the very beginning, NEVER meddled with the Heroines destines, but Penny knows what she is going to do, hand over Deirdre.

After being gone so long and worrying her mother, her mother calls the police, the police take her to the hospital, after an exam, the doctors ask what happened, poor Penny who is only thirteen revels the truth, and is locked in a loony bin. After being drugged up and being subjected to real crazies, she manages a call to Albie, her one real life friend, her gets news to Conor.

Even though never before has her mother meddled in a Heroines story, this time she just might, after all it is her daughter who is out there in the world somewhere, with this Hero, all she has to do is hand over Deirdre.

I loved this story!!!

Ratings: Number 3 with 2 stars

The Heroines
Eileen Favorite

Book Review: Dawn of the Dreadfuls.

2010-06-02T18:47:00.000-05:00

This is the prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies written by Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen. It's set four years ahead of the romance between Mr. Bingly, Mr. Darcy, and the Bennett girl. While this book says 'Dawn' of the dreadfuls, it unfortunately is not set at the beginning of the outbreak of the terrible zombies that plague all of the English countryside, for that matter all of England itself. This story tells us of how the Bennett Family.. err, the Bennett daughters got involved in the battle with the undead, and how they became esteemed as warriors. I enjoyed the book for it's storyline, it was a good read, but if you were reading it so you could go along with the rest of the story of the unmentionables, as I was, you would sorely be disappointed. The story changes some things that shouldn't be changed, such as the girls training. In P&P&Z, the girls had had devout training by a china man, and were taught to be very disciplined in the deadly arts. In this book however, they were taught by a Japanese man who was not entirely loyal to his warrior ways, as he falls in love, but then is revealed as a coward. Also in the first book, the younger sisters never did take their training as serious as they did in finding a husband, but in this book they took them in both the same stride. To say the least I was disappointed in the way the story was changed and in the waste of money I spent purchasing the book in the first place.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls
Steve Hockensmith

Book Review: His Dark Materials, Trilogy

2010-06-01T22:35:00.002-05:00

As always, I could have written the review when I finished the first book, but for some reason I just can't seem to make myself do that. I always have to wait until the story concludes.. or at least all the books in that series that have been published are read, before I write about them. When I first picked up The Golden Compass, I had no idea it was part of a trilogy, I had heard of the movie from a few years ago, and I have seen bits and pieces of that movie, honestly the only thing that really interested me was the controversy that surrounded it, apparently 'the Church' disliked this book, alot.

After do some searching and starting the series, I couldn't get enough. It started with The Golden Compass, in which Lyra, a young girl in Oxford, has made a strange discovery and then starts out on an even stranger journey. Lyra being raised by scholars since her parents death as a young child, all she has ever known is inside the walls of Jordan College. Now with Ms. Coulter coming to help Lyra grow and mature into a young woman, Lyra is taken to places she never even imagined could exist.

Discovering things that she should never know, and then running away and joining up with the gyptians, Lyra is thrust into her destiny. One that she must fulfill, but one that must never be revealed to her. Trying to rescue her dear friend and being kidnapped herself, Lyra escapes and is taken even further away. Once Lyra enters a new world and the next book The Subtle Knife begins, Lyra has learned much about her world and all the other worlds that she never knew existed, but she still has so much to learn. Her father, Lord Asriel, and Her mother, Ms. Coulter are both after Dust, they want to both destroy it and harness it at the same time. Lyra is just the tool they need to complete their work, however, they are not working together, they are very very much on the opposite sides of the coming war. Ms. Coulter is with the Church, and once they discover exactly who Lyra is and what her destiny involves they set out at once to destroy the child, killing her is the only way to stop her, to stop original sin.

Lyra meets Will and together with Lyra's Daemon, Pan, they continue her journey, take more risks and traveling through more worlds. Winning the ownership, if you can call it that, of the Subtle Knife, through battle, Will now has the power to travel to a fro throughout the worlds, any world, he wishes. Together Lyra and Will survive some amazing challenges and life threatening feats. In the third and final book, The Amber Spyglass, Lyra and Will enter the world of the dead, even though they are very much alive. They set out on a quest to speak with some recently deceased people they knew, some that they need answers from, and they end up fulfilling one part of Lyra's destiny, without her ever knowing. Coming back into the world of the living brings the into the direct line of fire and a war wages. Lord Asriel has called all the forces he could gather, including all the angels who rebelled from the Kingdom of Heaven centuries ago, to fight against the Athority, God, himself. To put an end to evil, and bring about a new world where everyone could live together, demolishing the Church. Cutting through the worlds in order to find safety, Will and Lyra find themselves in the welcome company of the Mulfa and Dr. Mary Malone, who is trying to find out where the Dust is going, and why things in the world are dying without cause.

Lyra's destiny comes to a head as everyone, but her realizes that she is the one to save Dust. How she will manage it, no one knows, but she will be tempted. But Will never leaves her side. Not until he has to.

I really enjoyed these books, I was very upset that Lyra and Will couldn't be together in the end, but that's how it goes sometimes. Other than that I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys history, fiction, and fantasy. Oh I'm not sure I would recommend it to anyone who takes fiction seriously, like the 'Church'.

His Dark Materials Trilogy
The Golden Compass
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass
Philip Pullman

Book Review: Louisiana Vampires.

2010-05-23T22:03:00.002-05:00

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.

2010-05-23T21:56:00.000-05:00

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.

2010-05-23T21:48:00.000-05:00

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.

2010-05-23T21:29:00.001-05:00

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.

2010-05-23T21:08:00.000-05:00

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

2010-05-17T16:23:00.003-05:00

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

2010-05-14T18:17:00.000-05:00

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.

2010-05-12T14:22:00.000-05:00

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.

2010-05-11T13:14:00.002-05:00

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

2010-05-09T22:50:00.000-05:00

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

2010-05-06T15:36:00.000-05:00

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

2010-05-05T15:35:00.001-05:00

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.

2010-05-02T16:10:00.004-05:00

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

2010-05-01T13:21:00.008-05:00

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.

Anything I have is good.

2010-04-30T17:23:00.003-05:00

A neighbor of mine recently had surgery, in order to comfort her during her down time in the days afterward, she borrowed a few books i own to read through. As she was looking through my bookcase, she asked me " What's good on here?" . I could barely contain my laugh, I have never even considered that before. To me, any and all books I have are good.

In the Begining.

2010-04-29T16:48:00.002-05:00

Ahh, so here is my first post, no it's not a review, it has not much to do with books at all actually, this is a more of ' let me get to know the author' kinda thing, haha.
I grew up in Georgia, with my mother and my sister there to both guide me and torture me through the years. But I would never change a thing about it, those are two women who mean the world to me.
Growing up I appearently had ADD/ADHD, but in the 80's no one even know what that was, well except maybe the super rich folks ( and Lord knows that wasn't us, lol ). Having this 'disorder' back then was normal really, I was just a really hyper kid. As i started to get older, I had to figure out a way to channel this energy somewhere. Most would think sports is a GREAT thing for a hyper kid to get out all their extra energy, HA, maybe if that kid didn't trip over her own feet, just standing still!!!
That's when I discovered books, and it became my first love. Once I started ready I couldn't stop, and I'm glad I never did. I've been to more places, met more people, and experienced more things through the pages I've read, than I could have ever in real life. I love books.
Unfortunately I'm the only one in my home who has this passion, both my children are too young to grasp this world yet, but my daughter is almost there and shows a great interest, it makes my heart happy.
I'm not sure what my next post will be about, I'm still trying to figure all this blog stuff out, I have been reading soo much lately, I don't even know what to comment on first, wish me luck.