Book Review (50).

Jessica Rules the Dark Side (Jessica #2)

by Beth Fantaskey

Publication: 25th January 2012

Publisher: Penguin Australia

Pages: 309

Genre: Paranormal

Age Appropriate: Young Adult 

**Warning May Contain Spoilers From The Previous Book**

It’s one thing to find out you’re a vampire princess. It’s a whole other thing to actually rule. Newly married Jessica Packwood is having a hard enough time feeling regal with her husband, Lucius, at her side. But when evidence in the murder of a powerful elder points to Lucius, sending him into solitary confinement, Jessica is suddenly on her own. Determined to clear her husband’s name, Jessica launches into a full-scale investigation, but hallucinations and nightmares of betrayal keep getting in her way. Jessica knows that with no blood to drink, Lucius’s time is running out. Can she figure out who the real killer is—and whom she can trust—before it’s too late?

My Thoughts.

Having loved the first book in the series I was pretty excited to read this and I definately loved it.

Jessica and Lucius are now married but Jessica is struggling with royal life, she can't speak or understand Romanian, she can't stand up for herself and feels intimidated by the Elders.

As well as having her Uncle Dorin around Jess has befriended a cousin Ylenia who helps her with her new life as a princess, she contacts her friend Mindy from America and asks her to come and visit and so Mindy who is flunking all her college classes agrees as long as Lucius' cousin Raniero who she got together with at Jess and Lucius' wedding isn't there.

Lucius has an altercation with his Uncle Claudiu an Elder during a meeting  and later that night Claudiu is found murdered, the next day Jessica suggests that everybody shows their stakes to see if any of the Elders have Claudiu's blood on it and it is found on Lucius' stake, he's taken into custody and it's up to Jess to find the real killer.

I loved the alternating chapters of Jess, Mindy, Lucius And Raniero the latter two who's chapters are correspondance by email and Raniero comes home to help out and we also find out a lot about his background and his short romance with Mindy.

And Jess finally comes into her own as a princess having to take over royal duties when Lucius is put into solitary confinement and it's up to her with help from Mindy and Raniero to find the traitor in their midst.

I only hope that there will be another book in this series.

I give this 4/5.

A Big Thanks To Penguin Australia. 

Book Review (49).

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side(Jessica #1)

by Beth Fantaskey

Publication: 1st February 2009

Publisher: Harcourt

Pages: 351

Genre: Paranormal

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

The undead can really screw up your senior year ...

Marrying a vampire definitely doesn’t fit into Jessica Packwood’s senior year “get-a-life” plan. But then a bizarre (and incredibly hot) new exchange student named Lucius Vladescu shows up, claiming that Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess by birth—and he’s her long-lost fiancé. Armed with newfound confidence and a copy of Growing Up Undead: A Teen Vampire’s Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions, Jessica makes a dramatic transition from average American teenager to glam European vampire princess. But when a devious cheerleader sets her sights on Lucius, Jess finds herself fighting to win back her wayward prince, stop a global vampire war—and save Lucius’s soul from eternal destruction.

My Thoughts.

I've been wanting to read this book for quite a while now and since I was sent the second book in the series to review I was quite excited to start it, and I was not disappointed.

Jessica is your normal everyday teenager or so she believes, one morning while waiting for the bus to school she notices a guy standing across the road staring at her, feeling a bit weirded out she's very grateful when the bus arrives, but in English class later that day there's a new foreign exchange student in class Lucius, none other than the strange boy from that morning.

It's while her mum is driving her home after school that she sees Lucius by the side of the road and Jessica points him out to her mum after telling her the story, then unbelievably her mum gets out of the car and invites him to dinner.

It's while eating dinner that Jessica is told that her real name is Antanasia and she's a vampire princess, not only that but she's told that Lucien (who is a vampire prince) and her were promised to each other at birth and they are to be married when Jessica is eighteen.

Of course Jessica thinks that they are all crazy and there's no such thing as vampire's let alone her being one, it takes quite a while for her to accept it as truth and by then Lucien appears to have moved on to the popular girl at school while Jessica has been dating a boy from school.

It's after Lucien starts dating someone else that she realises she loves Lucien and needs to talk him back into the pact (getting married to stop a war between their feuding families) before it's too late.

I loved how at the start Lucien was so formal but then started to relax and dress and act like all the rest of the American kids he was so fond of making fun of.

We also hear about the way Lucien was brought up by his Uncles (they used to beat him) after both his and Jessica's parents were killed by the same mob many years before.

I also lovd the originality of the vampire story, males are born vampires but the females aren't fully vampires until they are bitten.

Great storyline and characters, now I'm off to start the second book.

I give 4/5.

 

Feature And Follow Friday (14).

Follow Friday Is A Weekly Meme Hosted By Parajunkee And Alison Can Read.

Q: Which book genre do you avoid at all costs and why?

Ok well I definately avoid poetry, I just don't understand it and I'd rather read something that has more of a storyline to it.

Sorry to all the people that like it but each to their own.

Book Review (48).

Spoiled

by Heather Cocks, Jessica Morgan

Publication: February 2012

Publisher: Allen & Unwin Australia

Pages: 372

Genre: Contemporary

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

Arc Review.

16-year-old Molly Dix loves her ordinary life in suburban Indiana, so when her single mother passes away, she is shocked to discover that her biological father is Brick Berlin, world famous movie star and red carpet regular.

Equally intrigued and terrified by her Hollywood lineage, Molly moves to Southern California and plunges head-first into the deep end of Beverly Hills celebrity life. Just as Molly thinks her new life and family couldn't get any stranger, she meets Brooke Berlin, her gorgeous and spoiled half-sister whom welcomes Molly to la-la land with a healthy dose of passive-aggressive "sisterly love."

Set against the backdrop of a sparkling and fashion-filled Los Angeles, this deliciously dysfunctional family soap opera will satisfy every reader looking for their next lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous beach read.

My Thoughts.

Molly has just lost her mum to cancer and it was while her mum was on her death bed the she admitted to Molly that her father is the world famous actor Brick Berlin, so she moves from Indiana to Los Angeles to go and live with her father and half-sister Brooke.

Brick is an absentee father, if he's not shooting a film he's on the phone not realising that all his two daughters want is his attention and some of his time.

When Molly first meets Brooke she's nice as pie and it isn't until Brick isn't around that she lets her true colors show and is vindictive in spreading rumours around school, Molly gets attention from the press which Brooke has always longed for but has never gotten.

Molly is befriended by Brooke's arch-nemesis Shelby who's father owns the Hey! a very popular gossip magazine and Shelby aims to follow in his footsteps and will do anything to get back at Brooke, even use Molly to get what she wants.

Molly also has to deal with her long- distance relationship with her boyfriend Danny and her growing feelings for Teddy a boy at her new school,

For all those people who ever wondered what the world of celebrity would be like, this is the tale of an ordinary girl who didn't know what she was getting herself into.

I give this 4/5.

A Big Thanks To Allen & Unwin.

Australian Vs. U.S.A. Book Covers.

A Million Suns (Across the Universe #2)

by Beth Revis 

Australian.

American.

Book Review (47).

Fracture (Fracture)

by Megan Miranda

Publication: 27th January 2012

Publisher: Bloomsbury Australia

Pages: 261

Genre: Paranormal

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine

—despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.

My Thoughts.

What I loved so much about this book was the originality of a subject we don't read a lot about.

Delaney is out with her friend Decker going to meet a bunch of their other friends when while walking across an ice covered lake she falls and cracks the ice and before she knows it she falls in and is trapped under the ice.

We then flash forward to 6 days later and Delaney miraculously awakens from her coma, everybody including her doctor expected her to stay in a vegetative state and never wake up, it's then she's told she was dead for 11 minutes, pulled out of the lake and given cpr by Decker.

It's while she's in hospital that she feels her first pull towards the dying but at the time she doesn;t realise what it is but because of her brain damge she knows when someone is going to die the stronger the pull the closer they are to death.

After getting out of hospital she feels different and herv parents her Mum in particular treat her like she can't be trusted with anything not even to touch the oven and it's while out studying at the library one day with a friend that she meets Troy a boy she finds out who was also in a coma and has the same ability that she now does, the only difference being he speeds up their deaths belieiving it's better to put them out of their misery.

Also through all this Delaney realises that she has feelings for Decker and it's her jealousy of his relationship with Tara a semi friend of their's that drives a wedge between them, Delaney feels she's losing everyone around her, her Mum turns into a shallow shell not eating, compulsively cleaning and being extremely overprotective, her and Decker aren't talking and through time she comes to fear Troy, while also trying to prolong the lives of the people she knows are going to die.

Even though everyone was so happy she survived Delaney feels alienated from everyone and wonders whether it would have been better for everyone if she never woke up.

I loved this story,it flowed really well and I just wanted to keep reading to know what was going to happen next.

I give this 4/5.

A big thanks to Sonia @ Bloomsbury Australia.

Australian Vs. U.S.A. Book Covers.

Lothaire (Immortals After Dark #12)

by Kresley Cole 

Australian.

American.

Book Review (46).

Lothaire (Immortals After Dark #12)

by Kresley Cole 

Publication: 19th January 2012

Publisher: Simon And Schuster Australia

Pages: 464

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Age Appropriate: Adult

Price: $19.99

**Warning This Review May Contain Spoilers From Previous Books In The Series**

From the humblest of beginnings a millennia ago, Lothaire the Enemy of Old rose to power, becoming the most feared and evil vampire in the immortal world. Driven by his past, he will not rest until he captures the vampire Horde’s crown for himself. The discovery of his Bride, the female meant only for him, threatens to derail his plot.

Elizabeth Peirce is a mere mortal, a glaring vulnerability for a male with so many blood foes bent on annihilating anything he desires. Yet soon he discovers his Bride’s secret. A magnificent power dwells inside the fragile human, one that will aid his quest. But to possess that power, he will have to destroy her. Will Lothaire succumb to the torments of his past, or seize a future with her?

My Thoughts.

This series is definately one of my favourites and this new book in the series didn't disappoint.

I always wondered how Lothaire would be turned into a leading man and whether he could redeem himself to be a likable character.

We've known from the previous book that Lothaire had been blooded and had found his Bride (vampires are dead inside and their hearts only start beating once they come into contact with their  mates), what we didn't know was that his BrideElizabeth is a  human who's body is possessed by Soraya the Goddess of death who takes over her body at intervals and kills people.

After killing one night the police arrive at her families trailer (she lives in the mountains of Appalachia) and Elizabeth figures if she confronts the police while holding a gun they'll kill her and she'll be rid of Soraya forever, but as she's about to appear to the police Lothaire comes by and stops her because he believes that Soraya is his Bride not Elizabeth as he believes humans are below him, so she is sent to death row and after five years she is about to be executed but it's stopped by Lothaire who is enraged that Elizabeth would once again be trying to kill herself to get rid of Soraya.

The rest of the book has Lothaire trying to locate the ring he stole from La Dorada so he can remove Elizabeth's soul and Soraya can permanantly take over, but Soraya prefers Elizabeth stays in charge of her own body until the ring is found.

I loved the interactions between Lothaire and Elizabeth, her hillbilly talk is hilarious and the way she matches wits with Lothaire makes it one of my favourite books in the series.

We get some scenes with the valkyries at Val Hall, Thad and one of my favourite characters Nix who I'm hoping is going to be the lead in the next book.

A definite must read about the series bad boy.

I give this 5/5.

A big thanks to Caroline @ Simon And Schuster Australia.

My Facebook Games Obsession.

So lately I haven't really done much on my blog or read much at all **gasps** now normally I'd have a book read in a day or two the book I read before my current one took me 6 days **no that's not a typo** 6 days that is extremely bad for me.
And the reason why? well I blame Facebook mainly the games Cityville and Castleville I think I'm obsessed and need help, now I get up for work at 5.00am and normally I read while drinking my coffee, but have I been doing that? hell no I'm on Facebook playing games I think I need an intervention (where's the How I Met Your Mother gang when you need them?).
So I am still here I haven't deserted my blog, now that I've explained why I haven't been doing much on my blog I'll be going (now what's happening over on Cityville?).

In My Mailbox (13).

In My Mailbox Is A Weekly Meme Hosted By Krist The Story Siren.

Review.

The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1) -  Michelle Hodkin (Simon And Schuster Australia)

Fracture - Megan Miranda (Bloomsbury Australia)

Fated (Fated #1) - Sarah Alderson (Simon And Schuster Australia) 

Lothaire (Immortals After Dark #12) - Kresley Cole (Simon And Schuster Australia)

Pre-Order.

A Million Suns (Across The Universe #2) - Beth Revis

Dating The Undead - Gena Showalter & Jill Monroe

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion

Brought.

The Name Of The Star (Shades Of London #1) - Maureen Johnson

Inside Out (Insider #1) - Maria V. Snyder

Stealing Phoenix (Benedict #2) - Joss Stirling

Dead In The Family (Sookie Stackhouse #10) - Charlaine Harris

Envy (Empty Coffin #1) - Gregg Olsen

Book Review (45).

Spirit Bound (Sisters of the Heart #2)

by Christine Feehan

Publication: 27th December 2011

Publisher: Piatkus Books

Pages: 404

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Age Appropriate: Adult

**Warning May Contain Spoilers From The Previous Book In The Series**

Lethal undercover agent Stefan Prakenskii knew a thousand ways to kills a man—and twice as many ways to pleasure a woman. That’s what made him look forward to his new mission: arrive in the coastal town of Sea Haven and insinuate himself in the life of an elusive beauty who had mysterious ties to his past, and a link to a dangerously seductive, and equally elusive master criminal who wanted only one thing: to possess her.

Judith Henderson was an artist on the rise—an ethereal, and haunted woman whose own picture-perfect beauty stirred the souls of two men who have made her their obsession. For years she has been waiting for someone to come and unlock the passion and fire within her—waiting for the right man to surrender it to. But only one man can survive her secrets, and the shadow she has cast over both their lives.

My Thoughts.

Christine Feehan is one of my top ten favourite authors of all-time and it's always exciting for me when a new book is released, having read every book she's ever written I know to expect a great book, and this one didn't disappoint.

This series is a spin-off of one of the author's previous series about the seven Drake sisters, Jonas a husband of one of the sisters makes an appearance doing his job as the local Sheriff.

Stefan Prakenskii is undercover in jail with a criminal Jean-Claude La Roux hoping to find information on a microchip that Jean-Claude has that he needs to retrieve to give back to Russia, Jean-Claude has the wall on his side of the cell covered in photos of a woman who Stefan is drawn too and later learns is an ex-girlfriend named Judith.

After getting out of prison he makes his way to Sea Haven in hopes that Jean-Claude passed the microchip off to her and she's hiding it, and to find his brother Lev who has an assassin named Ivanov after him, but unknown to Stefan Judith doesn't have the microchip and is in hiding from Jean-Claude after he ordered the torture and murder of her brother after he wouldn't give up information on where she was.

As soon as they meet Stefan undercover as Thomas Vincent a rich businessman who is interested in buying the local art gallery and Judith are instantly attracted to one another and it is while they are locking up the gallery that Stefan senses Ivanov close.

I did love Stefan and Judith as a couple and that her spirit element was complimented by Stefan's, and I also liked it when Stefan and Lev met up again for the first time since they were children,my only complaint is that they keep mentioning Ilya (their seventh and youngest brother who is married to another of the Drake sisters) but it's the second book and he still hasn't made an appearance although he's been mentioned quite a few times in both books and he's my favourite Prakenskii brother so far.

I also have a feeling that Blythe (a woman who lives on a farm with Judith and five other women) has married a Prakenskii brother after reading the second last page.

Can't wait to see who the next brother is.

I give this 4/5.

Feature And Follow Friday (13).

Follow Friday Is A Weekly Meme Hosted By Parajunkee And Alison Can Read.

Q: Many readers/bloggers are also big music fans. Tell us about a few of your favorite bands/singers that we should listen to in 2012.

At the moment I'm a big fan of Adele, Josh Groban and Rihanna.


My all-time favourites are: Mariah Carey (her old stuff), Celine Dion, Bon Jovi (their old stuff), Beyonce, Madonna (her old stuff), Leona Lewis and Michael Jackson.
There's more but it would take me quite a while to add them all.

Australian Vs U.S.A Book Covers.

A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle#1)

Australian.

American.

I definately prefer the American cover.

In My Mailbox (13).

In My Mailbox Is A Weekly Meme Hosted By Kristi The Story Siren.

Pre-Order.

Spirit Bound (Sisters Of The Heart #2) - Christine Feehan

Shadow Heir (Dark Swan #4) - Richelle Mead

Dreaming Awake (Falling Under #2) - Gwen Hayes

Brought.

Breaking Dawn (Twilight #4) - Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn (Twilight #4) - Stephenie Meyer (I Like To Collect The Movie Covers)

Devoted (Elixir #2) - Hilary Duff

Angel Fire (Angel #2) - L.A Weatherly

Wood Angel (Plain Kate) - Erin Bow

Book Review (44).

A Need So Beautiful (A Need So Beautiful #1)

by Suzanne Young

Publication: 21st June 2011

Publisher: Balzer + Bray/Harper Collins Australia

Pages: 267

Genre: Paranormal

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

We all want to be remembered. Charlotte's destiny is to be Forgotten...

Charlotte’s best friend thinks Charlotte might be psychic. Her boyfriend thinks she’s cheating on him. But Charlotte knows what’s really wrong: She is one of the Forgotten, a kind of angel on earth, who feels the Need—a powerful, uncontrollable draw to help someone, usually a stranger.

But Charlotte never wanted this responsibility. What she wants is to help her best friend, whose life is spiraling out of control. She wants to lie in her boyfriend's arms forever. But as the Need grows stronger, it begins to take a dangerous toll on Charlotte. And who she was, is, and will become--her mark on this earth, her very existence--is in jeopardy of disappearing completely.

Charlotte will be forced to choose: Should she embrace her fate as a Forgotten, a fate that promises to rip her from the lives of those she loves forever? Or is she willing to fight against her destiny--no matter how dark the consequences.

My Thoughts.

I loved this book and thought it was a great take on Angels.

Charlotte was found abandoned in a hospital waiting room when she was six years old, luckily a E.R nurse Mercy had just become a qualified foster mother and after searching for Charlotte's parents for a year and not finding them she adopted her.

Ten years later and Charlotte has been suffering from something she calls the Need, where she ends up struggling for breathe and in pain and it's while all this is happening she gets a pull to find someone who needs help or is in trouble and Charlotte can see into their future enough to help them with their problem.

Charlotte soon discovers from a family friend that she's an angel a Forgotten (people forget her as soon as she helps them) and she's put on this earth to help people but with each person she helps she loses parts of her skin and it turns to gold she is told that eventually her whole body will turn to gold and her life will be over.

But Charlotte doesn't want to die and her doubts mount up as she comes into contact with a Forgotten who still lives but works for the dark side and she tries to convince Charlotte to do the same.

Charlotte also has a boyfriend Harlin who can't understand why Charlotte keeps on disappearing and doesn't believe she has asthma (her cover for when the Need comes upon her) and he starts to think she's cheating on him.

And the ending of this book definately had me in tears and I really wish I had the next book in the series to go on with straight away I can't wait to find out what happens next.

I loved the concept of this story it was fresh, exciting, sad and a great twist on the angel genre. 

I give this 5/5.

A big thanks to Lara @ Harper Collins Australia.

 

Book Review (43).

Shades of Midnight (Midnight Breed #7)

by Lara Adrian 

Publication: 29th December 2009

Publisher: Dell

Pages: 383

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Age Appropriate: Adult

**Warning May Contain Spoilers From Previous Books In The Series**

In a frozen wilderness steeped in darkness, the lines between good and evil, lover and enemy, are never black or white but drawn in Shades of Midnight.

Something inhuman is stalking the frigid Alaskan wilds, leaving unspeakable carnage in its wake. For bush pilot Alexandra Maguire, the killings stir memories of a horrific event she witnessed as a child and evoke in her the inexplicable sense of otherness she has long felt within herself but never fully understood . . . until a darkly seductive stranger with secrets of his own enters her world.

Sent from Boston on a mission to investigate the savage attacks and stop the slaughter, vampire warrior Kade has his own reasons for returning to the frigid, forbidding place of his birth. Haunted by a secret shame, Kade soon realizes the stunning truth of the threat he faces–a threat that will jeopardize the fragile bond he has formed with the courageous, determined young woman who arouses his deepest passions and most primal hungers. But in bringing Alex into his world of blood and darkness, Kade must confront both his own personal demons and the even greater evil that could destroy all he holds dear.

My Thoughts.

Alexandra 'Alex' is a pilot who delivers food and other necessities to people living far away from any amenities in Alaska it's while making a stop to a family that are one of her regulars that she finds them all dead with their throats ripped out, this brings to mind the murders of her mother and brother both killed in the same way by a vampire right in front of her eyes years ago.

Back in Boston they hear the new and send Kade off to Alaska having been born and lived there for all his life he knows his way around and his father is the darkhaven's leader there, it's not long before Kade and Alex cross pathsand they're instantly attracted to one another, although it's nearly halfway through the book before Kade realises she's a breedmate who has the power to touch someone when they're talking and knows when they're telling the truth or lying.

The Gen One who escaped at the end of the last book appears in Alaska  as does Dragos' operation set up in an old mine.

We also find out that Kade has an identical twin brother who has turned rogue so he has to hunt him down to kill him.

The next book is already set up with Brock meeting his mate towards the end of the book.

Another great one, can't wait for the next.

I give this 5/5. 

Feature And Follow Friday (12).

Q: Go count the number of unread books sitting on your shelf. How many?

Ok so after checking I have a total of 1,087 unread and owned books, that's not including the 18 books I have on pre-order.

City Of Lost Souls Cover Reveal.

I cannot wait for this book I love me some Jace.

I really love the cover too!