Vacation Reads - Part 2

The Kiss Quotient was just the first of three (I think) books with inter-racial couples (Michael is half Vietnamese) I've read this summer. (Also, I'm not counting Bridal Boot Camp because it was a short story.) Inter-racial couples really grab my attention, for obvious reasons for anyone who knows me or anyone who has read my blog since the beginning. That brings me too...

The Wedding Date

I sort of loved this story. Jasmine Guillory's heroine is black and hero is white. That is not the main focus of the plot, but it does play a part. There's a wedding (obviously), some misunderstandings, and some emotional moments. Any talk about the differences in race are natural to the evolution of the relationship. At least they felt natural to me, moments I could really relate to. What I appreciated about how Guillory handled it, was the thoughtfulness she gave to both characters. Alexa makes Drew really think about the differences in the way they grew up. I also really liked how Drew never doubted Alexa, even when she commented about a guy he thought of as a nice guy. The Wedding Date had a fun "rom-com" feeling. I think it would make an adorable Netflix movie.

Hearts at Stake

Like Faefever, Hearts at Stake was one of the only books I read that didn't have an adult romance at the centre of it. Hearts at Stake is a vampire book. One of the first I have read in a long time. It's also Young Adult, again a departure from my other steamy summer reads. The main reason I read it: author Alyxandra Harvey will be speaking at the York Writer's Conference this October. I have registered to attend her workshop about genre-blending. I enjoyed her first book in the Drake Chronicles and look forward to reading more of her work.

Steeped in Love

Together We Read is a digital book club with participating libraries Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Steeped in Love was the selection for August. I saw it on the homepage and the synopsis gave me that summer rom-com feeling, with a little extra that spoke to me. One of the main characters is a writer, suffering from writer's block. The other main character is a tea-lover and tea leaf reader. I LOVE tea. I'm probably drinking tea right now. It's one of those stories I had to read. Author Julie Evelyn Joyce is also very Canadian (just take a peek at her profile pic). Steeped in Love was funny, sweet, and had a great feel-good ending. Also, unlike several of the adult romances I read this summer, the "steam-level" was rather low. The story of Abbie and Ethan is heartwarming. It made me smile.

This summer I also read the sequel to The Kiss Quotient, The Bride Test, also featuring an autistic main character. Again, a fantastic story.

I read, Seaside Nights, Seaside Embrace, Seaside Lovers, and Promise My Love by Melissa Foster. Still clearly one of my favourite romance writers.

I read Reckless In Love, and Fearless in Love, by Bella Andre and Jennifer Scully, who have me loving the Maverick Billionaires.

I also read Chemical Reaction, the sixth book in the Nerds of Paradise series. It's Merry Farmer's last Nerd book for a while. She typically writers Historical Romances (Bodice-Rippers?), and it'll be a while before another Nerd book pops up. I don't think I've read a Historical Romance (unless Shadow of Night counts), but if it's written by Farmer, I might give it a try. Ten years ago, I never thought I'd read Romances, but this year, I had a summer filled with them. I think it's the happy endings. The past few years, I've needed more happy endings.

Three Novels Beyond the Real

I was reading Shiver, when as I neared the end, two books came in for me at the library. Bloodfever and Glory In Death. In that order. I was so excited. Two sequels to two books that had me staying up past my bedtime reading. 

Shiver

Wow. I think I use that word too much, but that ending was a definite wow. After reading The Raven Cycle I knew I had to read more from Maggie Stiefvater. Shiver did not disappoint. I was a little hesitant to read a werewolf tale, but Stiefvater's take on werewolves is not one I've read before. It's tragic. Beyond the supernatural "issues", it was the characters that got me. The characters are rich and real. They are believable and relatable. Grace is a wonder. She is unique and deserves love. Sam is sad and warm and kind. I really enjoyed the alternating points of view, but Grace was the centre for me. I often enjoy that stylye and Stiefvater does it well. 

Bloodfever

I am loving the Fever series. Bloodfever is Karen Marie Moning's sequel to Darkfever. I think I enjoyed the second book more. I loved Mac more. I loved watching her grow and learn more about herself. I liked that she didn't just fall in with whoever was making her promises. She trusted herself more. I'm in this series until the end. I want to know who/what Barrons is. I want to know more about the sisterhood. I want to see Mac get her revenge.

Glory In Death

Lt. Eve Dallas is still amazing. Glory in Death is the sequel to JD Robb's Naked in Death, a novel about a hard-ass detective, set in a future New York City. Glory in Death makes me so happy. Eve is the same, but growing, as is Roarke. He surprises her and himself. She puts it all on the line for her cases and for people she cares about. Watching her relationships grow, not just with the man in her life, but with her best friend, and her new reporter friend. Eve Dallas has me hooked. I don't know if I'll ever get tired of reading about her - and there are a lot of books in this series.

Each of these novels have a lead character who is strong, yet vulnerable. They learn and want to know more. They are three completely different worlds that these characters live in, but they adapt and seek to understand. They are compelling, consuming reads and I can't wait to read more about each of them. 

Bloodsucking Fiends

The end of Bloodsucking Fiends was everything, was the best part of the whole story for me. I kept waiting for more action and more tension, but there were so many lies and so many people blind to what was really going on, that I don't know if the tension fully coalesced the way I thought it would. Everything finally built up at the end though. It was a good end. Christopher Moore crafted a great conclusion, but there are questions, there is more to learn about Jody, Tommy and the ancient vampire who started it all.

I'll try to keep the spoilers vague.... How is Tommy going to feel? Tommy was always a laid back kind of guy, but things did not go the way he wanted. I feel like at the beginning of the next book, Tommy will be feeling a surge of emotion. At least I hope it's like that. I am really looking forward to Tommy's reaction. The ancient vampire has left me really curious. Why? When? How? I'm hoping for answers there too. Jody was certainly an interesting vampire protagonist. Why was she so strong? She seemed like she stayed very much herself, just more. It will be interesting to see how she develops through the series. I'm also really interested in revisiting the Emperor and the Animals.

One thing that struck me as I started reading Bloodsucking Fiends was that it was published in 1995! I had forgotten how old this book was until I was with Jody, looking for a payphone. She couldn't remember her "calling card number". Do you remember having those? Cards that you kept for pay phones or long distance calls? My parents made sure I had one so I could call home and couldn't use the excuse of not having any change. I wonder how this will affect the sequels, as You Suck was published in 2007 and Bite Me in 2010. I remember having a similar feeling reading Generation X, a book published in my youth, but not really contemporary anymore. Also, I found several book covers from over the last 22 years. Art styles have definitely changed. I've included just four in this post. Favourites? I know which one I like best, but it's not the one I own. Oh well!

Since it was published in 1995, it was before the latest vampire/supernatural madness began, but one of the reasons it might have taken me a while to read it, is because of the latest vampire madness. Bloodsucking Fiends is different though, a little more Buffy than Twilight. There's a lot less brooding. It's basically a romantic comedy. The turtle thing is tragic, but also tragically funny. Tommy  is quirky, Jody is kind of random. I am interested in seeing how they characters develop and what the do in the future.

*Side note: Moore has a Bloodsucking Fiends reading guide. So, book clubs? It would be an unusual read.

Undead and Unsure

Perfect Laura is just awful. She's the Anti-Christ though, so I don't know what I expected. I can't elaborate without spoiling the story. I let what she did sit with me for a bit, but she makes me so angry. MaryJanice Davidson spent several books, possibly since Laura was first introduced, setting up the ending to this novel. I didn't see the full twist coming though. Some of it was expected, but not all. Did she always know she was going to do this? Sometimes, I still can't believe it, what a terrible girl and such a cold-hearted thing to do.

Undead and Unsure is another entertaining installment is the Undead series. Whenever I want something fun to read Queen Betsy is there for me. Like the other Undead books, Undead and Unsure had a quirky storyline and piled together is an unlikely cast of characters. Really though, I loved the baby storyline. Dr. Taylor coming in and trying to tell everyone something was wrong, but NO ONE listened? How everything distracted them from what should have been a horrible situation? Those moments were the best for me. I also really liked the hellfog. That strengthened the sister versus sister storyline. I still have to say, the best part of the story was the end. The epilogue made the book so much better. It caused me to be a little astonished and a little mad too (in a good way). It also made me very excited to read the rest of the series. I know the final book in the series will be out soon, but I have two more to read before I see Betsy's end. I hope it's a happy(ish) one.

Can I also mention how excited it was to get some of the story from Sinclair's perspective? His tone was different, it was nice to hear him, the way he thinks and some deeper truths into who he is. Reading him from Betsy's perspective has long kept him at a distance. I feel like he's deep, thoughful and loves his wife. I hope that more books will have his perspective and maybe the perspective of other members of their family. I always enjoy the Undead books and I look forward to more.

The Book Of Life

I can barely breathe for how much I loved The Book of Life. I'm suffering from a major book hangover and it is all Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont's fault. I just love them. I love Gallowglass, Jack, Sarah, Ysabeau, Father Hubbard, just everyone. Emily and Phillipe! I often talk about endings, something I really think is important, but the beginning. The first chapter is amazing and heartbreaking. You just want them to be able to hug, to touch the ones they love. I won't say anymore, because it might ruin the awesomeness.

I can't get over Diana's confrontation with Peter Knox. It's just amazing. It's perfect to the story. I just want to see it, bloody and crazy! That entire sequence, really leans this installment of All Souls towards the horror side. It was scary and tense, and when Diana was standing there with the arrow, I just wasn't sure what was going to happen next, which made it perfect. I loved the unpredictability.

Diana's confrontation with Satu too, was perfect. Satu just went one step too far. I'm with Diana, she did what she needed to do to protect her family. I wish she could have done more, though I think there's the possiblity for leaving it open in a future novel. (Yes, more novels, please.)

There are a lot of characters in the All Soulstrilogy. Did we need more? Yes, when the character was Janet. She was perfect, exactly what the story needed. I like what she represented. She gives Diana hope for the future. I loved her attitude too. Her all-knowingness, her sarcasm, her confidence. She was a perfect addition to the cast of characters.

Like the first two books, I really liked the history talked about (lived?) in The Book of Life. It wasn't nearly as much as in Shadow of Night and possibly less than in A Discovery of Witches, but Diana (and Deborah Harkness) is a historian, so history just has to come up. I appreaciated that we came out of the Elizabethan age though and were talking about Phillipe's past and World War II. The historical aspects of these novels are a big part of the appeal for me.

The Book of Life is simply amazing. Just wonderful. I don't know what could be made better. Honestly, this might be one of my favourite books now, definitely a favourite series. It has a little bit of everything. It's literary, historical, romantic, with vampires, witches and a splash of demons. I could gush about every little thing in this novel, but I don't want to give anything away. What I think is that more people need to read this novel. I can't wait to read what's next (another book about Diana and Matthew) from Deborah Harkness.

Shadow of Night

I love the All Souls series so much. I don't know what it is about it. It's historical, paranormal, romantic, literary and mature. There's family, love, loss, betrayal and magic. Shadow of Night was everything I wanted in Deborah Harkness's sequel to A Discovery of Witches. It might even be better. There was an amazing flow to the story, it took its time, but had a sense of urgency.

I loved the introduction of the new cast of characters. I loved Gallowglass. I loved Annie and Jack. I really enjoyed the interpretation of historical characters. Elizabeth I was fantastic. Christopher Marlowe was nuts. I wonder if they're going to talk about what happened to them in the next book.

The next book! I can't wait to read Book of Life. Shadow of Night was a perfect second book. Yes, it left me with questions about the overall story that started with A Discovery of Witches, but the story of just this novel completed nicely. Matthew and Diana arrived, then they left. There wasn't a crazy cliffhanger ending, which I appreciate. There's so much left to discover though.

This story had me hooked from the beginning. Every time I opened it up, I read for longer than I intended. Shadow of Night had me up late every night. I just had to know what happened. I'm still itching to know. I could totally stop what I'm doing to dig into the next book right now. I'm in for a serious book hangover. But I should have a break between books, because I can't keep ignoring life for Diana and Matthew's story.

Shadowhunters

I’m not sure how I feel about Shadowhunters. I read all the Mortal Instruments books (and The Infernal Devices). I saw City of Bones (but heard it was disappointing, so waited until it was on TV). I was excited to hear about the television series. I enjoyed Cassandra Clare’s novels. They were exciting and fun. I thought they would be a fun series. I wanted to see what they would change, what they would keep from the books and how it would differ from the movie. It is definitely different from the movie, but I’m not sure how much I like the differences from the books.

I do have to mention though, that Shadowhunters only airs on Tuesday on a US network.  For those of us who don’t live in the States, Shadowhunters is only available on Netflix, with new episodes available the day after it airs in the States. That’s fine, I guess. I have Netflix, so I get to see the show the day after, but I stay away from Twitter while the show is airing the in US.

There have only been about six episodes so far, but here are the changes... The first one that really struck me was Hodge. He’s not some doddering old man, stuck up in the library. He is the weapons instructor, who spends time with his shirt off. The second, why are there so many people in the New York institute? It’s so high tech.  It’s also very sexual, more so than I expected for a show airing on Freeform (ABC Family).

Stuff I liked… the Silent Brothers. Yes. The whole look of the City of Bones was good.  I liked that Simon and Isabelle have had a moment together. He’s intimidated by her, but she seems to be fond of him. We’ve already addressed who Clary’s father is, so that’s going to be causing some good tension. Luke, I think he’s great. I miss the bookstore, but the police station makes a lot of sense.

I’m not opposed to changes, I just want them to fit the narrative and the feeling of the books. I also understand the need for some of them, to get an audience watching that isn’t just made up of people who read the books.

I do like that Magnus name-dropped Tessa. Everything about Magnus. He might be my favourite part of the show.

So, how do I feel about Shadowhunters? I don’t know yet. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it. I am invested though and I’ll be watching how everything unfolds this season.

A Discovery Of Witches

Reading A Discovery of Witches was an obsession. It was desperately romantic, historic, literary and full of magic. Deborah Harkness blends paranormal, romance and historical fiction into one amazing novel. I don't know if I can express how much I loved this book. It is not a short novel, well over 500 pages of history and intensity. Harkness is a historian, like Diana, the main character. She also loves wine (and had a wine blog), this trait comes out in Diana's love interest, Matthew. Harkness's love of both history and wine permeates the novel, but it is seamless, as they are easily taken as traits belonging to Diana and Matthew. Harkness makes the pages of alchemical manuscripts come alive through Diana's descriptions of them. Matthew adds depth to history with his "recollections". The way she writes about history is with love. It makes me want to read one of her historical books, maybe The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution? That's how wonderful I am left feeling after a Discovery of Witches, I will read anything Deborah Harkness writes at this point.

I adored every character. Diana and Matthew were brilliant. It just wasn't there relationship that was wonderful, it was how they existed apart from each other before coming together.  They had careers, pasts, goals for the future. I loved Diana's need to understand the past and Matthew's scientific inquiry. For a minute there, early on in the story, when Matthew is watching Diana sleep, I wondered if I'd end up with grown up Bella and Edward, but thankfully nope. Still, guys, it was creepy. Harkness seemed to "address" the creep factor, showing that it was wrong within the story, not some romantic gesture.

I loved Marcus, Matthew's vampire son. He was young and full of energy. I loved his context within Matthew's family. I loved Matthew's family. Diana's family, just wonderful.

I enjoyed the relationships that developed between the witches, vampires and demons in the house. Marcus and Em seemed to have a special connection. Marcus and Nathaniel too. I wonder if they'll get up to trouble in one of the future books. Sarah and Matthew also developed some kind of respect and understanding. The growth of Diana and Ysabeau's relationship was interesting. I am excited to see them all under one roof.

I loved all the places they went too. Oxford, a castle in France, a small town in New York. They were each so different from each other, but Harkness made them all feel real.

I'm not going to be satisfied until I get my hands on Shadow of Night and see what Harkness has in store for her star-crossed lovers.

Overbite

Overbite was a race to the finish. I just had to know what was happening. I did not expect the twist with Father Henrique and his guards. It was a nice surprise in a story where my main focus was finding out who Meena was going to end up with. I just needed to know. Lucien? Alaric? The end, it was great. I would have liked a little more romance, especially at the end, especially with Insatiable as a precedent, but I still enjoyed Overbite.

I appreciated again that though Meena was in love with a vampire, she didn't get all swoony every time he was around. She valued her friends, her family and her job. She didn't want to be turned, she wanted to live. Meena wasn't desperate to be with any man. She desired one (or two), but she that wasn't the focus of her life (though it was a big part of the novel). She wanted to save people. She wanted to figure out the mystery. 

Acording to Goodreads, Meg Cabot is working on a third Insatiable book. They cite Cabot's website, but when I look, I see no mention of it. I hope it's true though. I want to read it. I want to read more of Cabot's books. Overbite, was an entertaining read and I looked forward to more fun stories.

The Eyre Affair

I loved The Eyre Affair. I am totally hooked on Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series. I love Thursday. She was amazing. Thursday was a grown-up. Just a couple years older than me. It's been a while since I've read a book with a main character that was my age. Everyone has been in their twenties or a teen lately. I really related to Thursday and was happy to see a woman in her thirties taking charge, fighting the bad guy and dealing with relationships. Thursday was a complex character, like a real person.

I loved all the fun character names Fforde came up with. There were a lot though, and there was a point, while in the middle of the novel, where I couldn't read for a couple days and I kind of forgot who was who with some of the minor characters. Thankfully, Wikipedia helped me out with that... Not that there were too many characters or anything, you just have to pay attention while reading. I loved Thursday's Dad and the whole Next family. I am a little iffy on Landen. I think I liked Bowden better. I think I know what Hades was, I just wish there was more confirmation in the book. I liked Spike and Victory Analogy, Mycroft and Polly. So many wonderful characters. I wonder who we'll see in the next novel.

The alternate 1985 was intriguing. The English war with Russia. Wales having independence. The Battle of Waterloo. Winston Churchill. Literature is revered. People battle over Shakespeare. There is an entire investigate branch of the government devoted to the preservation of literature.  The LiteraTecs are amazing.  I loved Jane Eyre.  I loved everything about her novel and Rochester's involvement in Thursday's life.  I love the idea of entering a piece of literature, whether it is a novel, like Jane Eyre or one of Wordsworth's poems. Everything in Thursday's world is so different from ours, yet still similar.  It's just that priorities changed somewhere in history (or altered by the French Revisionists). I love the tidbits of history and altered history that Thursday's Dad is always talking about.

The Eyre Affair is such and interested, intricate, engaging, fun novel.  I enjoyed every minute of it. I had heard so many good things about Jasper Fforde (especially from over at What Red Read), that when I saw The Eyre Affair I had to pick it up.  I am so glad I did.  I have to read more by Fforde and I am obsessed with getting the rest of the Thursday Next series, which my local bookstore doesn't have in stock.  Time for online shopping. I need to get Lost in a Good Book.

Undead and Underwater

Undead and Underwater is a collection of three novellas by MaryJanice Davidson.  In it, Davidson has included a crossover story with Queen Betsy and Fred the Mermaid, a grown-up Lara Wyndham, and a character I've never read about before, Hailey Derry.  While I love Queen Betsy and the Undead books, I've been interested in reading something different by Davidson and more about the world of the Wyndham werewolves and Fred the Mermaid.

Super, Girl

Hailey is great (aka It Girl - a name she hates) and has an unusual power. She doesn't wear a cape or have a crafted persona. She just does what's right, what needs to be done.  I love where Hailey works; her office has its own personality. If Davidson ever writes more about Hailey, I feel like she'll need to flush out that company and its CEO a little more. Even with the unanswered questions, I really enjoyed the story.  I felt like we were getting a peak into Hailey's life. I appreciated that Hailey wasn't just a copy of Betsy.  She talked "a mile a minute", but before Linus, she felt like she had no one to talk to.  Unlike Betsy, from the beginning, she puts others first. She has no life except for her Human Resources job and saving people.  She owns her gifts.  She makes excuses at work, but the end is no surprise.  I wish I could know more about Hailey's minions, who love her and want her to be happy.  For a novella, it was good, with just enough mystery that will make readers want more.

Undead and Underwater

Will there be more Betsy and Fred crossover? Because I think I would enjoy that. Betsy has changed the way Fred thinks about the world. With both of these characters, having them change in any way affects how they deal with the problems that come up in their stories. It is Betsy that has kept me reading the Undead series and who influenced me to pick up a trilogy about mermaids. I think Fred is seeing Betsy the way her friends and other strangers don't, maybe because of her unique perspective.

In Undead and Underwater, Betsy and Fred accidentally come together because they were asked to help the same person. At first Fred can't stand Betsy, which is understandable for anyone who's read any of the Undead books, but she sees the way that Betsy is willing to help Madeline, a human and someone she doesn't know. Fred reluctantly gets to know Betsy. You can feel a lot of different things towards the reluctant vampire Queen, she's ditzy but likable, self-centered but fierce. Betsy is often perfectly put together, but in a flash, she can also be covered with someone else's blood. Fred knows that Betsy is someone she never wants to piss off and never wants to lose track of. Those final lines of the Undead and Underwater novella make me think that Fred and Betsy will come together again. There are Undead novels I have yet to read and one or two more yet to be published and I am excited to see what Davidson has in store for them.

Incomer

I really enjoyed Incomer it might be my favorite of the three stories. Incomer is about Lara the daughter of Michael Wyndham and new Pack leader. The story takes place in near the future, when Lara assumes leadership of the Pack. Incomer is about her first day, her first challenge and becoming an adult. I loved her brother, Sean and I loved Jack. It was nice to know what happened to Derik and Sara after Derik's Bane. I appreciate that there wasn't the typical werewolf fight to the death.  Laura, after taking on her father's mantle, is also continuing Michael's new tradition of excepting change. When Lara addresses the challenge in an unusual way, the result is unexpected.  I appreciate the unexpected, especially when using familiar stories, like werewolf fight to the death or challenge for leadership.

I also really liked Davidson's vision of technology in the future.  It's only about 20 years, but foldable iPads sound awesome, though even if our homes get wired to the Cloud, I think some of the young folk will know what iPhones are, because their parents had one. I loved the glimpses of future Queen Betsy and future Fred.  They're the same, but older. They might give Lara a hard time, but they are loyal and seem to have genuine concern for her well-being.  Betsy seems to be at home, still with Sinclair, living life, trying not to turn evil.  Fred is in the Caspian Sea, the seat of power for the Undersea Folk, with kids. How did she end up in the Caspian Sea when she loved Boston?  I think more than Betsy, I have questions about Fred.

I enjoyed getting to be in the Pack and experiencing it through their perspective.  There have only been two Wyndam Werewolves novels, the rest have been short stories, most of which I don't think I've read.  Neither of the novels took place in Cape Cod, where the Wyndhams live.  What is it like there, what has Michael Wyndham had to deal with? What were his children like as teenagers?  How did humans fit into their world?  What was the fallout after Queen Betsy's visit?  Incomer gave me some of that, some of what I've been wanting to read.  But I'd like more.

In the end...

It was a great threesome of novellas.  I enjoyed each story, each character accepting their positions of power, their responsibilities.  It has reminded me how much I enjoy Davidson's writing and I look forward to the next book of hers I pluck off the shelf.

Insatiable

I thought I did not want to read anymore vampire books. I did, however, want to read something by Meg Cabot, who I kept hearing all kinds of wonderful things about.  I see her books everywhere, but for some reason, had never read one.  Then there was that sad thing that happened to a local bookstore.  I found one of her books there and I had to have it.  I knew it was a vampire book when I bought it.  Just look at the cover, there's a stake on it. Insatiable is a vampire book that makes fun of other vampire books though. The main character, Meena, hates vampires in fiction.  She makes fun of the girls that get all swoony, but guess what happens to her? Also, Meena...Meena Harper! Has anyone read Dracula or seen the movie?  Mina Harker is the name of the leading lady in Bram Stoker's classic. Her husband is John Harker.... Insatiable also has a Jon Harper.  Meena's brother. When I realized this, I had a tiny "eww" moment.  But I got over it. Insatiable has a few of the vampire "conventions", but the book is so entertaining

Meena, oh Meena.  She's not just an ordinary girl, or even a girl.  She's a twenty-something woman with a career.  She can also predict people's deaths. Meena had me reading the book, the way that she behaved like a twenty-something, the way she accepted her gift, that she tried, but didn't want people to think she was crazy.  Meena, especially in the end, did not do what was expected.  Lucien, the prince of darkness, he was kind of typical, but when he is perceived by Meena, it makes him different.  I appreciated a lot of the characters.  Alaric did have an annoying side though.  I liked that he wasn't a talker, he was all about business, but he was also very narrow-minded. He learned something and changed. The Señor Sticky thing though, seemed a little out of place for a guy who liked the finer things.

I was hooked by Insatiable.  I love that it is the name of a soap opera series.  The vampires story-line thing was so funny.  I like that people text in this book too.  I was out all night, better text my brother and my friend.  I just haven't noticed it a lot with stories lately, the use of modern technology beyond email.

I am also hooked on Meg Cabot now.  I've already sought out the sequel to Insatiable, Overbite.  She has written so many books though, I feel like it might be my desire to read all of Stephen King's books, it'll either take forever or never happen.  I'll be keeping her in mind though, whenever I head out to a bookstore.

The Night Eternal

I totally called the ending. About a third of the way through, I looked over at Hubby and said...* well, I won't say hear what I said, because I was right. Every bit of it. I think that is my only problem with the book, about a third of the way through, I predicted the end.  I'm hoping Hubby doesn't remember what I told him when we start watching the second season of the The Strain television series on Sunday, thought the series has not been exactly following the novels.

The characters kept me hooked on The Strain trilogy.  Eph and his son were a unique pair.  I couldn't have predicted what happened to Zack.  Eph wasn't the perfect hero either, he didn't do what we would expect and at the beginning of The Night Eternal we find out what happened with him and Nora.  "The girl" isn't just a damsel either.  She's badass. She kicks ass and will not be left behind. The butter-knife shank is one of my favourite things, and something I'll have to remember in case of the apocalypse.

Minor Spoilers Below...

As I read about how the Master destroyed the possibility for revolt, taking out world leaders, the strong and willful, how he got rid of "the news", took control of the internet, I thought, this is the way to destroy the world.  The ash cloud was one thing, but the Master didn't even bother with trying to subjugate Presidents and Prime Ministers, any royal family, anyone who showed a strong will, he just killed them all. Why waste the time breaking anyone? He had a herd. He had his B- farms, the tastiest of the humans, and then the average person. By giving them the apparent return to normalcy, he could control the herd better.  There were jobs and television, perpetual re-runs were better than blank sets.  People lived in their homes.  There was only a couple hours of sunlight a day and black rain, but they had the shell of the old world. The Master had a great plan.

I wonder how accurate the atmospheric nuclear fallout was. I should look it up.  Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan thanked Dr. Seth Richardson for help with lore, likely in creating the Lumen, but who helped them with the post-nuclear planet?  The biblical lore was interesting (and so was the space station). I wonder how much of that they made up and how much was from the actual story of Sodom and Gomorrah.  I'm going to have to look that one up too. I really connected to the plot of The Night Eternal, it was so unlike anything else I've read lately and different enough from The Strain and The Fall, that I had to know what happened. (Thank you, for the epilogue.) If you want a good, real, horror series, then pick up The Strain series.  The Strain, The Fall and The Night Eternal do not disappoint.

*This is what I basically said, but I didn't want to include it in the rest of the post because SPOILERS. I wanted to write it down though, because I was right - "Everyone is toast. In the end, it'll be Fet and Nora. Everyone, Eph, his kid, all dead.  I mean, other people in the world will be alive, but from the characters, they're all gone but those two."

The Tale of the Body Thief

The ending!  The ending makes the book for me.  It was unexpected. Just when you think the story aught to be done, bam!  Lestat hits you with something more. I feel kind of bad admitting this, but seeing the press for Anne Rice's new vampire book (it's been over a decade since her last), Prince Lestat, reminded me that I never got past Queen of the Damned, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Before I started The Vampire Chronicles, I had read Lives of the Mayfair Witches, as well as one of Rice's stand-alone novels.  That's a lot of books by one author for me.  I don't know why it took me so long to read The Tale of the Body Thief.  It is not as though I didn't want too.  Maybe because the book is a long one.  Not "Stephen King long", but still a bit of a chunker.

I really enjoyed reconnecting with Lestat.  The Tale of the Body Thief takes place many years after The Queen of the Damned. The vampires have separated, gone on with their lives. Lestat has returned to New Orleans.  Louis lives there too, but they do not live together.  While flying about the world, Lestat is presented with an irresistible offer.  Lestat goes on an adventure he wanted, that other vampires can only dream of, but then doesn't want.  There are ups and downs and madness.  I think in The Tale of the Body Thief we are seeing Lestat learn and grow in a way we haven't before.

I do wish that this novel was 50 pages shorter.  I had a bit of a difficult time getting through the beginning of the book.  Lestat had a lot of exposition; he explains why things aren't as they were left in Queen of the Damned.  He talks about his life, Louis, Claudia, Marius, Miami, everything.  What the beginning does well, is set up the novel as another one of Lestat's chronicles.  He speaks/writes directly to his readers.  He refers back to his previous books and to Louis's memoir.  I've read a lot of action-packed books lately, and there wasn't much action in the beginning, so maybe I'm just not used to that level of description anymore.  Once I got past the first part of the book, the pace really picked up and I just had to know what Lestat will do next.

I also loved David.  David Talbot through the whole story was amazing.  Am I totally happy with the end? No. Not in the sense that I didn't like it, because I very much did.  I am left wondering, however, if we are given David's real, human feelings in those last pages.

The Tale of the Body Thief has left me eager to read more dark, vampire tales.  Mature, evil bad guys, anti-heroes, and ethics that get thrown out.  Is that what Memnoch the Devil will bring?  We will see.

The Fall

The Fall is the second book in The Strain trilogy by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I've been watching The Strain television show on FX Canada and the more I watched it, the more I had to read the second book. Not only did the show put me in the mood for some more dark, vampire fiction, but something happened on the show that I knew related to the second book. How long until I read The Night Eternal?  We will see.

Vague Spoilers ahead.

I really enjoyed seeing the evolutions of Eph, Gus and Fet. These are not the same men who appeared in The Strain. They've adapted to the battle against the vampire strain infecting the world.  I wish Nora had been developed a little more.  I also didn't like the end of her, her mother and Zach.  I did like what happened with Palmer.  I continue to wonder how Eph and Fet's relationship will develop.

I'm not sure how I feel about The Fall.  It was a good story, a little slow at the beginning, but really picking up speed and flowing easily to the end.  It was engaging and entertaining.  It felt like a second book though.  The ending wasn't a total cliffhanger, but still full of wonder.  However, I know The Night Eternal does not pick up right away after the end of The Fall. It's years later, so I am not left with the urgency to read the final book, as so often happens with me and trilogies.  Next month is October though, the perfect time of year for vampire fiction.  Maybe I will be reading it soon.

 

I really want to know what happens to Zach.  His fate is left so dark, scary, and very uncertain.  That's what I am looking forward to most in the final book.  Also, after all that has happened, how will humanity survive?

 

City of Heavenly Fire

That's it. I have finished Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series. City of Heavenly Fire is the sixth and final book. It was full of excitement and adventure. It took Clary, Jace and their friends to places I didn't expect. I'm not sure how I feel about the story though. I really enjoyed it up until the end.  I had the same issue with the final book in Clare's The Infernal Devices trilogy. 

Spoilers...

The ending of City of Heavenly Fire was too perfect. Like Clockwork Princess, I found that it was written to make the fans happy, the epilogue especially.  Every reader's hopes and wishes for the characters were there on the pages.  Maybe I've just become a cynic over the years.  I just expected a little more of the unexpected, a little more shock and awe.

I also felt like there was a little too much setup for Clare's next series, The Dark Artifices.  I understand and even appreciate a little setup.  I loved Emma Carstairs and the Blackthorns.  I loved Brother Zachariah.  However, I don't think we needed to see that Carstairs file.  It could have been part of the prologue of the next book or something.  It just took too much away from the main story, because even though the contents of the file are brought to our attention, what happens after will only be known if you read the next Shadowhunter series.

Spoilers End...

Even though I didn't really like everything about the epilogue, I enjoyed the book as a whole.  I liked Edom, the way that the group got to see the consequences if everything went wrong.  I loved the characters growing up, understanding themselves and each other.  I loved Magnus.  I wish I could have seen Magnus speak with Zachariah, but maybe in other book. So, while I wasn't entirely happy with the ending, I still very much enjoyed the book and the entire Mortal Instruments series.  I'm interested to see where the Shadowhunters take us next.

Undead and Unstable

Undead and Unstable is the 11th book in MaryJanice Davidson's Undead series. Undead and Unstable ends Davidson's series within a series. Queen Betsy Taylor "fixes" some of the issues she had with the timeline. The ongoing battle with Laura's mother is over. The major storyline for the last few books gets tied up. That doesn't mean that it's all over. There have been three more since this one was published. I'm guessing that they will deal with Laura's reaction to what Betsy has done. Also, what is up with Jessica's pregnancy? What will happen to Marc? During the books, there will probably be more fights between Betsy and Sinclair, but they always make up. Also, there are merfolk in the next book.

Though I enjoyed Undead and Unstable, I found the middle chunk of the book to be a lot of talking and not a lot of action. It's times like this I wonder if the author has some kind of minimum word count to reach. I like that Betsy is ditzy, but eventually works it out. I like her babbling. I even like her obsession with shoes. But I think the novel could have easily been shorter. Even with the extra words, I still enjoyed the story. I like Queen Betsy and her "minions". Davidson's books are fun and a great distraction from life. I'm excited to read those three books I don't own yet.