Book Review: The Awakening

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

Description:Chloe has been captured by the Edison Group. She wants to know why they seem to be after her and her friends with special abilities. (Chloe can raise the dead and speak to ghosts - she is a necromancer). Her getting captured means two things - an opportunity to find out what is really going on and an opportunity to get back and save her friends.

Simon has always liked Chloe and he is protected by his werewolf brother Derek. Derek seems to not appreciate Chloe but will do anything to protect her. Add to that the complication of someone who seems like a friend who isn't and maybe someone who doesn't seem like a friend truely being one.

They need to escape the Edison Group and stay together. But is that possible? Why are they really here?


Thoughts: I had forgotten how much I liked this series until I picked up this book and started reading. The characters are great and not your normal run of the mill story line. I have my very own suspicions as to who is supposed to end up with who. Who is good and who is bad. And all of those kinda thoughts show me what a good book that this is.

It definitely is appropriate for teens. Other than the paranormal twist there is no sex - some limited violence (but not graphic).

In fact I like this teen series even better than Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series. And I always thought that was good.

What genre would you consider this?
Teen/Paranormal

Overall:

Book Review: Dead and Gone

Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

Description: Sookie is excited - the weres are going to come out. It has been a while since the vampires have done it and now the Were community has decided to try it. It can't go wrong can it? Except it seems to be a problem.

Add to that her great grandfather the fairy Naill is back. He loves Sookie and wants to protect her. But his enemies know that she is in his life. And they figure why not just hurt the expendable human. Sookie has a lot of friends but can they protect her from all of these enemies?

Thoughts: I have been a Sookie Stackhouse fan for a while now. I have enjoyed the books and kept picking them up whenever they would come out. Imagine my surprise (and feeling of stupidity) when I picked this one up and it explained to me that the TV show I had been hearing so much about (and yet never seen) on HBO - True Blood was based on the books. All of a sudden I couldn't believe that I had totally missed it. I mean I like vampires. I had heard of True Blood but because it was on HBO hadn't paid any attention to it. Well now I will have to.

I liked this Sookie book quite a bit. Sookie has been progressing as a charecter as things have changed in her world. Her brother isn't the man she wishes he would be. She loves Eric (but is that because of their blood bond or cause she really does love him)? Then there are her conflicted feelings for Bill. I mean he was her first love but something has changed. This book explores Sookie's view on family and how having a brother who is a bit of an a** has changed her perspective and made her want just anyone who can love her and care for her. Even if it means he is a fairy and she can't totally trust him.

I would defintly recommend this series and if you can start at the begining. Then you will understand the depth of these feelings she has for everyone.

What genre would you consider this?
Paranormal

Overall:

Book Review: Hunted

Hunted by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast (A House of Night Novel)

Description: Zoey and her friends saw the bird man Kalona unleashed on the school and its participants by headmistress Neferet at the end of the last House of Night Novel. They escape into the world only to be forced back into the school.

Zoey has always had special abilities and her loyalty to her friends as well as Nyx has served her well. She now is surrounded by different vampires then the kind that were originally created when teens like herself transformed. She knows it is up to her friends and herself to save the world. Kalona is out to get them - especially Zoey and she is the only one that can figure out a way to stop him.

Zoey has to figure out if all of those who seem to be her friends really are. Are the red fledglings someone she can trust? What about the students who are still back at the House of Night? Zoey has been burned before can she figure out who is good and who is bad in time?


Thoughts: I liked this series when I first started reading it. As time has progressed I have grown to like it more and more. You don't know who is the good guy and who are the bad guys. You instead focus on relationships of teens - within groups as well as individual friendships and romantic relationships. Tie all that in with a girl who maybe has a little too much responsibility and it may have hurt her in these relationships. But she is loyal - both to her friends as well as Nyx - the goddess.

The way things are progressing Zoey learns to rely on her friends a little more and more and that group is ever expanding. The red vampires, her special guards, as well as her circle. The story is interesting and inventive and if anything the only thing wrong with it is that it ends - and you keep wanting more.

I personally would recommend starting at the beginning of the series - as I think many of the things in it would be things you don't necessarily need to know about - but would start out as confusing (why are some of the teens dead, how do they become vampires, who Kalona and Neferet are and what is up with Heath the human teen who seems to be attached to Zoey).


What genre would you consider this?
Paranormal/Teen

Overall:

At Grave’s End

At Grave’s End by Jeaniene Frost (Night Huntress Novel)

Description: Cat Crawford is the Night Huntress. She is part vampire and part human. She is in love with a very old (and powerful vampire – Bones). She and her friends must stop the vampires (and other creatures) that are evil – stop them from hurting people.

But her hard work is paying off with not only defeating the bad guys – but now everyone knows who she is. In her line of work this isn’t a good thing.

A vamp has come back to town to defeat Bones, hurt Cat, and also destroy everything she loves. Is Cat strong enough to do whatever it takes to defeat this evil?

Thoughts: Loved it, loved it, loved it. This is my first Night Huntress Novel and from now on I won’t hesitate to pick them up.
The character of Cat is a strong woman who wants to make the world a better place. Even though she has some super powers – she has to deal with things like an unhappy mother, relationship problems, and friends who don’t get the idea that she isn’t available.

For anyone who likes paranormal books – I think this is a great one for you to pick up.

What genre would you consider this?
Paranormal

Overall:

Book Review: Dreamfever

Dreamfever by Karen Marie Morning

Description: In the last book Mac had been captured and the fae were making her pri-ya. She was now addicted to sex and to them. But she knows she needs to save the world as well as get back a the thing that killed her sister. But who is Mac to trust – Vlane who didn’t rescue her even though he left his name on her lips. Barrows who didn’t save her until it was almost too late and really it was just a matter of her sanity (and he keeps way to many secrets for her to be happy). Then there is Danielle the girl who is also a sidhe seer and has special powers. Lastly there is the group that should help her but turn her away at every turn.

The world is being taken over by Shadows and Mac must stop them. But who is in it to help her and who is just trying to get their hands on the dark book for their own horrible purposes.

Thoughts: When the last book left off I had no idea how they would get Mac out of the Pri-ya state. It had to go somewhere but I just wasn’t sure where. And Karen Marie Morning made another book that will keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what would happen next.

Let’s just say don’t pick this book up if you aren’t willing to wait a while for the last book in the series (the next one). Because this one will leave you at a cliffhanger waiting for way to long before the next one comes.

You will definitely find it worth your while to start at the first book in the series. I think that is the only way to enjoy it.

How this one will wrap up – I have no idea. But I hope that I walk away from the series as happy as I have been so far.

What genre would you consider this?
Paranormal

Overall:

The Pagan Stone

The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts

What was this book about?

For Gage, Fox, Cal, Quinn, Layla and Cybil it is almost the 7th of July. This means that the demons that have been haunting the Hollow for the last 21 years is coming and this time it is going to be an all out war.

They have each been preparing and trying to do their part in solving this mystery of sorts. How to defeat evil. Meanwhile relationships have been formed between all of them – they are brothers, sisters, and lovers.

The last holdout for love are Gage and Cybil. They are each used to being travelers and not staying in one place. They aren’t looking for long term relationships. They just want to help out their “family” so they will stay and fight with them against this evil. Can love rule the day?

What did you think about the book?

I enjoyed this series immensely. It is a combination classic love story – combo supernatural thriller. While I love Nora Roberts in general this is just another of her classic trilogies that she has had with a paranormal twist to.

Sometimes I am just not sure how she is going to close everything out in just one novel. But she definitely does it. I would love to get more of the characters in terms of a wrap up (because how can you not want to know about life after – when you have been reading about their lives for three books).


What genre would you consider this?
Paranormal Romance

Overall:

Question for You!
What is your favorite trilogy or books in series? How do you read them – wait till they all come out and read them at once – or piece by piece?

Swallowing Darkness

Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton

What was this book about?

Princess Meredith has accomplished what her aunt (the Queen of Light and Darkness) wanted her to - she is pregnant. With twins! By six different men! So you would think things were going to quiet down for Merry. Instead she was kidnapped and raped by her uncle so that he could tell everyone that he was the father.

All Merry wants is to live in peace with her men and her children. But everyone seems to be out to either kill her or capture her. Her magic is expanding and she is granting so many of the powers and lost things to those in faerie land.

Can she keep her men alive and cared for? Can they protect her and her children? Will the faerie accept Merry as their new queen?

What did you think about the book?

I love the world of Meredith Gentry. She has men, intrigue, love, mystery, and so much more all around her. This book was a great addition to the series. The last book I enjoyed but it wasn’t really all I was looking for. It seemed rushed and didn’t have enough in it. While this one has returned to everything I love about the series.

I have to admit that when I finished the book the first thing I did was check out the internet to see if this was going to be the last book in the series (cause if it was I was going to be very disappointed). The way the author ends the book it just seems as if this could be the last one. Thankfully on Laurell’s blog I found out that this wasn’t the case. The series will be going on and we will see everything we want from Merry and her fairy world in the future.

I wasn’t sure how I would feel when this main character was pregnant. I mean it is a hard line to walk between over sexual faerie lady and a pregnant woman. But I felt like things were handled very well in this book and I can’t wait to see what her two children – fathered by six men are like!



What genre would you consider this?
Erotic Paranormal

Overall:

Question for you!
What for you is the most in-depth fairy world (from a book) that you could believe is realistic because of its detail?

Untamed

Untamed by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast (A House of Night Novel)

What was this book about?

Zoey Redbird is a vampire fledgling in the House of Night. She has been surrounded by a merry group of friends who have now abandoned her because of her keeping secrets. They don’t understand why she didn’t tell them things. Especially the things about Stevie, Zoey’s roommate who never made the conversion to full vampire, she instead died. But she really isn’t dead – she is a special sort of fledgling that Zoey and her friends brought back from craziness.

Zoey knows the Neferet is out to get her and her friends but she doesn’t know her plan. When things start happening on campus that leave Zoey with an uneasy feeling she knows that her friends and her must do something. With unlikely friend and old time enemy Aphrodite she must stop Neferet before everyone is hurt (especially her).

What did you think about the book?

I love the House of Night Novels. I was actually sad when I finished this book – not because it was bad – but instead because it was done.. And I would now have to wait who knows how long for the next book in the series. I can’t wait to see what Zoey and her friends are going to do with what has been left for them to deal with.

Despite the cliffhanger – I really felt like the book ended at an appropriate place (even if I wish it could keep going and going). I would suggest that anyone who likes these sort of paranormal novels – get past the fact that it is supposed to be a teen book and start at the beginning of the series. It will be worth it.

What genre would you consider this?
Paranormal

Overall:

Questions for you!:
Over the series have you begun to like Aphrodite? Do you trust her? Do you feel that these sort of crossover Teen/Adult Paranormal books are something you enjoy?

Into the Flame

Into the Flame by Christina Dodd (Darkness Chosen Book 4)

What was this book about?

We have read the stories of Firebrand’s three brothers. Her great-great… grandfather made a pact with the devil that gave him and his progeny strength, powers and damned them all to hell. When her father found his love and started to break the curse of the devil it was up to his four sons to finish things. But they didn’t have four sons (or so they thought).

Firebrand has had a tough life knowing there were Varinski’s out there to get her at every turn. When she finally finds a man that she loves, Doug Black, and then finds out that he too is a Varinski she flees. Taking with her their unborn child (that he knows nothing about).

Doug just wants to find his family – as he was an abandoned child. He doesn’t understand how she could walk away from him like this. To finish the story of the Wilder’s Firebrand will have to seek him out and help the story come to a close.

What did you think about the book?

This series was great! Half man/half human with a pact with the devil. Only they and their loves can defeat evil and save their souls from hell. What a great plot arch! One thing I would note to people reading this and thinking about picking up the series. You don’t want to read this book till last. It is the perfect ending to the series.

I really enjoyed the family who is not really a 100 percent good but they know that their love is the most important thing. I thought it was great how all the parts fell together in this book. Every one played a role and was integral to how the plot moved forward.

So go out and READ IT!

What genre would you consider this?
Paranormal Romance

Overall:

Dark Curse

Dark Curse by Christine Feehan (Carpathian Novel)

What was this book about?

Lara Calladine, daughter of Razvan has a history that has forced her to remain quiet about her mage abilities. She was tortured as a small child by her father and grandfather and trusts very few. She also can’t handle the Carpathian part of her that requires her to drink blood. It is all a difficult living for her.

Then she meets Nicolas De La Cruz. He is her lifemate and immediately binds the two of them together. He was an edge – ready to give up his life – because he believed the day would never happen that he would find her. But for Nicolas who is used to being in charge and “manly” it is difficult for him to realize he cannot just claim Lara as his and all will be well. Her history makes that difficult.

It is a difficult time for the Carpathian people. They are dying out, their children are dying, it looks like things may be at a turning point – for the bad. Little do they know that Lara – being of Dragonseeker blood – holds the key to making things better for all of them. Will she help? Will she accept her lifemate?

What did you think about the book?

I love the Carpathian’s. They have everything a romance novel like this should have – people meant to be together, a complete and complex history and past, characters that reoccur so that you don’t lose your old friends. To me it is amazing the world that Christine Feehan has created. It is definitely more then I could have ever imagined.

So if you liked the other novels you must read this one. I love how we learn more about Razvan (through his daughter Lara). You learn more about the evil Xavier and the things he has done to exterminate the Carpathian race. I find the fact that he is the reason that Carpathians have had such a hard time bearing children as a great twist in the larger picture. Can you read one of these book on their own? Probably. I wouldn’t suggest it though – you get so much more out of reading them all!

What genre would you consider this?

Paranormal Romance

Overall: