by Kay | Jan 19, 2010 | Reviews |
Feast of Fools (Morganville Vampires, Book 4) by Rachel Caine
Amazon US / Amazon UK / BookDepository / LibraryThing / Goodreads
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Pages: 256
SPOILERS for previous books!
Summary: In the town of Morganville, vampires and humans live in relative peace but Claire Danvers has never been convinced – especially with the arrival of Mr Bishop, an ancient, old-school vampire who cares nothing about harmony. What he wants from the town’s living and its dead is unthinkably sinister.
Thoughts: I love the Morganville Vampire series, and while this book is no exception, it wasn’t quite as extraordinary as Midnight Alley. After the shocking revelation in MA of the newest baddy in town – a Mr. Bishop – Claire is unfortunately back in the dark as to what on earth is going on in Morganville. Although it did wonders to build tension – I couldn’t turn those pages fast enough – it also made a lot of the book feel like a placeholder. Although we do get a resolution to the mystery – well, as much a Caine can write a resolution to her Morganville series – I would still recommend having a copy of Lord of Misrule on hand.
Now that I think about it, this book is the Morganville equivalent of Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. Claire, like Harry did, spends the majority of the book utterly confused, then bang – big event – and all becomes clear. Obviously, Caine hardly sat Claire down to explain the verse to her, the way Rowling did to Harry – but the similarity is still there.
On to the great things in this book. Myrinn is as awesome as ever – eccentric, violent, and utterly adorable. Shane and Claire have their relationship is put to the test by the pull of her parents, and the introduction of a new vamp who takes an unfortunate interest in Shane. We also got a teaser as to the strengths that Claire may or may not possess (I’m not being cagey, I honestly don’t know). Lots of great emotional drama – although not quite as much plot as Caine usually manages to get into a Morganville book. Although if compared to other authors, it sure is action-packed!
Bottom line? Not the best book in the series, but enjoyable none-the-less. If you haven’t yet, make sure you get your hands on the Morganville Vampires Series ASAP!
by Kay | Aug 9, 2009 | Reviews |
Betrayed by Kristin Cast, P.C. Cast
Series: House of Night #2
Published by ATOM, St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 400
Genres: Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Source: Purchased myself
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Rating:
Also in this series: Marked, Chosen, TemptedThings seem to be going pretty well for Zoey Redbird. She's settled in at the house of night finishing school and is coming to terms with her incredible new powers. It all seems too good to be true. And guess what?
Someone has been murdering human teenagers and all evidence points to the vampyres at Zoey's school. Which means her first assignment as the leader of the dark daughters is finding out which one of her classmates or teachers is a killer.
Sigh. And she thought her boyfriends (yes, plural) were going to be her biggest problem this year....
Rec for people who love: Vampire Chick-lit, and people who miss their high school days.
Thoughts: Yet again, as with The Dead Girls’ Dance by Rachel Caine, the second book in the series has convinced me to enjoy it! Betrayed made me laugh, made me – surprisingly, even though I sob pretty easily – cry, and, all-in-all got me out to the store to buy the rest of the series.
Admittedly, the writing is almost painfully, er, un-good. Most of the characters are rather simplistic stereotypes, and the Casts remind us of the events of the last book – and at times the last chapter – to distraction. But the writing flows, so reading through the bits you don’t enjoy does not take too long.
In my review for Marked, I complained about the books painful realism. And while the characters are still very much the same as they were in the last book, for some reason I found the same realism refreshing. Having Zoey sit in a Starbucks and talking about Brokeback Mountain, well… it was actually kind of enjoyable.
As for the romance mentioned in the summary, it is very well done. Having Zoey juggling three guys at once I found amazingly acceptable. Instead of sitting through the scenes wondering what these three guys see in her, I instead can understand what she sees in all three. Hell, I might not have done any different in her shoes.
Villain wise, the Casts have really taken it to the next level. Zoey learns to empathise with those she hated, and comes to realise the people she considered allies may not always have her best interest at heart. Hell, the book is called Betrayed, which kinda gives you an idea how it goes!
All in all, a huge improvement over the first in the series, but if you hated Marked you probably still aren’t going to enjoy Betrayed!
by Kay | Jul 15, 2009 | Reviews |
Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella
Published by Bantam Books, Dial
Pages: 448
Source: Purchased myself
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Rating: When twenty-eight-year-old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, she’s in for a big surprise. Her teeth are perfect. Her body is toned. Her handbag is Vuitton. Having survived a car accident—in a Mercedes no less—Lexi has lost a big chunk of her memory, three years to be exact, and she’s about to find out just how much things have changed.
Somehow Lexi went from a twenty-five-year-old working girl to a corporate big shot with a sleek new loft, a personal assistant, a carb-free diet, and a set of glamorous new friends. And who is this gorgeous husband—who also happens to be a multimillionaire? With her mind still stuck three years in reverse, Lexi greets this brave new world determined to be the person she…well, seems to be. That is, until an adorably disheveled architect drops the biggest bombshell of all.
Suddenly Lexi is scrambling to catch her balance. Her new life, it turns out, comes complete with secrets, schemes, and intrigue. How on earth did all this happen? Will she ever remember? And what will happen when she does?
Rec for people who love: Page turners with a good laugh!
Thoughts: This was the first so-called “chick lit” book I have ever read. To be honest, I have always been somewhat skeptical about their quality. But after listening to an interview that Barnes and Noble did with Sophie Kinsella, I had to read something of hers. She was witty, intelligent and extremely British. So stumbling upon her book in a charity shop the same day seemed like fate. However, the summary left a lot to love.
It took about a hundred pages for me to really start liking the book. The main character, Lexi, at first seems painfully typical – the get-pissed-and-pull girl I went to school with. But I quickly realized there was a lot more to her than that, and she turned out to be a funny, bright and fiercely loyal lady.
I read the book in two sittings, which is highly unusual for me, even when I love a book. But I couldn’t help but trying to will Lexi into realizing her new life is not really hers. As if the faster I read, the sooner she would realize.
It is really easy from my point of view, of course, but Sophie Kinsella goes about the realization in a way that stays true to character. Things go from horribly awkward, to just down right horrible for Lexi (I actually cried at one point, which was extremely odd considering no one had died). Just as I was about to call my own life as miserable as Lexi’s…. Kinsella turns the mood around to brightly comic in a half page. It was genius – and it completely turned around my view about the genre.
I am not saying it is literary genius, but it was one hell of a story. Kinsella can spin a tale extremely well, and just because it happens to be a tale about a young, single woman is kinda irrelevant. If you are a fan of chick-lit, I am pretty sure you already have this on your TBR pile. But if you, like me, tend to shy away from anything with a cartoon twentysomething on the cover… well… reconsider. Kinsella spun together a story for pure escapism, and I for one plan to buy more of her tales!
