Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Vamps - Nancy Collins



Now this was a fun read. Cliquey, rich schoolgirl vampires, with cat fights. It’s really obvious where they are going with this story, but hey, all books can’t be cliffhangers I guess. All in all a fun read.

Here is Amazons product description

" When the sun goes down, New York's true elite all head to one place: Bathory Academy, where the young ladies of the finest vampire families are trained in shapeshifting and luring their prey.

Bathory's reigning queen, Lilith Todd, is the daughter of a powerful vampire businessman, and she knows exactly what she wants from life. She wants to look beautiful for eternity and party till the sun comes up with her gorgeous boyfriend, Jules. And she doesn't want any New Blood upstarts standing in her way.

Enter Cally Monture, an unexpected threat from a trash zip code. When their first meeting leads to tragic results, Lilith is hungry for revenge."

Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Mark - Jen Nadol



Sixteen-year-old Cassie has always seen a glowing light around certain people. Until recently she had thought nothing of it. That was until her grandmother was hospitalized and she saw the mark on her hospital roommate, then the next day she found out the lady had died. From there Cassie decides to follow the next person she sees the mark on, to see if her wild theory is correct: That she can tell the day a person is going to die. Sadly, she finds out that she can.

What does she do with this information? What would you do? She wants to help people, maybe give them warning so that they can spend their last day preparing, or saying goodbye, but of course the strangers she approaches think she crazy.

This book talks about heavy choices, while doing so in the context of a teenager so that it is not so overwhelming.

Wintergirls - Laurie Halse Anderson





Lia and her best friend since childhood, Cassie, had battled to be the skinniest girl in the school. Lia is anorexic and Cassie was bulimic. I say was because Cassie died before the novel began. Lia has to deal with the aftermath and her urges to cut, while her parents are watching her every move and bite, threatening to send her away. From the frantic crazy writing style the author uses, you can really feel what Lia is feeling, and maybe being put away for her own safety wouldn't be the worst thing.

Well... this isn't my usual genre of book, but I didn't know that until I started reading it. I kept seeing it show up in recommended books and on the shelves of my various haunts so I decided to give it a shot. Honestly, the second half of the novel I spent most of the book just skimming, not so much interested in the story but in just seeing if Lia was going to succumb to anorexia or depression and die.

Twice Bitten - Chloe Neill



The third book in this series, 'Twice Bitten' is still plenty action packed. Merit, the head of security at Cadogan House, one of Chicago's elite vampire houses is still as witty and chic as ever while still being slightly aloof. One thing though... I thought this series was young adult, but there is a scene in here that does NOT meet my qualifications of a young adult novel!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Long Weekend

I'm heading off for a long weekend in Sunny Florida! Aside from the plane I wont have too terribly much reading time, but I'm taking 'Wintergirls' and 'The Mark' with me to read and will write my reviews for them and for 'Twice Bitten' which I just finished, when I return.

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Glimmerglass - Jenna Black



Probably the only reason I read this book is because the title is followed by 'Faeriewalker, Book 1' indicating there will be more. I am glad I did though.

Dana a not so average high school-er lives with her alcoholic mom who she basically takes care of. When her mom gets drunk enough, Dana can get information out of her about her dad. He's a high ranking political faerie from 'Avalon'. The city in Europe where the faeries live (duhhh). Anyways, sick of her mom's drunkenness she contacts him and goes there and gets kidnapped several times (yes, she gets kidnapped from kidnappers), and doesn't know who to trust in this new world. Suddenly home doesn't look so bad but her mom is on her way to get her and her dad, more powerful than her mom had let on, was not letting Dana leave without a fight.

Why you might ask? For that you'll have to read the book, I don't want to give away anything to good. This first in a series has potential.

Spells - Aprilynne Pike



I was anxiously waiting for this book to come out, along with everyone else it seems. However, when I finally got the book I couldn't remember why. I spent the first two chapters trying to remember what the first book was about, and the remaining chapters not caring.

To refresh your memory in case it's been awhile: In the first book, Laurel starts growing a flower out of her back and finds out she is a faerie sent to live with humans to guard the land that holds the gate the faerie.

Right? OK... Spells, picks up with her human bf and faerie crush of course, each vying for her attentions and she is sent to faerie for the summer to catch up on her faeri'ness schooling. It was all quite boring, and the author went a little far with the sprouting/plant faerie idea. In some of the story line she says talks about baby sproutlings (faeries) don't grow up with their parents for the good of civilization, but then in other chapters, faeries are spending time with, or talking about their parents, etc. Which is it? I couldn't really wrap my head around faerie's being plants. This book was a FAIL.