In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren to show what everyone has been recieving or buying every week.

In My Mailbox (#1)

Sisters Red - Jackson Pearce 

Wings - Aprilynne Pike

Spells - Aprilynne Pike

Glass Houses (The Morganville Vampires #1) - Rachel Caine

The Dead Girls Dance (The Morganville Vampires #2) - Rachel Caine

Kiss of Death (The Morganville Vampires #3) - Rachel Caine

Feast of Fools (The Morganville Vampires #4) - Rachel Caine

Lord of Misrule (The Morganville Vampires #5) - Rachel Caine

Carpe Corus (The Morganville Vampires #6) - Rachel Caine

Fade Out (The Morganville Vampires #7) - Rachel Caine

Kiss of Death (The Morganville Vampires #8) - Rachel Caine

When She Was Bad - Louise Bagshawe

All of these were store bought. The Morganville Vampire books were part of a 3 for £5 offer in 'The Works' which I thought was a complete bargain!

The Reformed Vampire Support Group - Catherine Jinks

The Reformed Vampire Support Group is a YA/ teen novel by Catherine Jinks that was released in paperback on 4th June 2009 and it is 355 pages long.

Nina is 15 years old and lives in Sydney, Australia. She's been 15 ever since 1973. Being a vampire in Australia certainly isn't easy, especially when you aren't the type of vampire that is all the rage at the moment. Nina, along with others who form 'The reformed vampire support group' don't drink humans' blood, they don't go out in the daytime and they are always ill. These vampires have a pretty hard time really, surviving off the blood of Guinea Pigs and taking so many different vitamins just to stay alive...well, as alive as a vampire can be.

When a member of the group, Casimir, is found dead (a pile of ash) in his coffin, the group know that someone is on to them. The only clue left behind is a silver bullet which leads Nina, Dave and Father Ramon on an adventure into the Australian outback. They don't find what the expected though and are drawn into a world of werewolf fighting and some pretty scary men. Finding Casimir's killer isn't looking like it is going to be very easy.

Although I really enjoy reading YA books, most of them are more about romance than anything else so I bought this one because it sounded different to everything else that I have read recently. This is a book that will certainly appeal to younger teenagers as well as older readers, like myself.

It took me 4 tries to really get into the story of this one. Each time I picked it up and read a few pages, I couldn't really see the story going anywhere good so I put it down again for a couple of days. Once I finally got about 3 or 4 chapters in, things started to pick up and everything got a lot more interesting. If you can look past the extremely slow start, then you will be in for a good read.

The characters were the most interesting part of the story because they are what the story is mainly about. Poor Nina has been 15 for a long time and even though she is quite old now, she still looks and acts like a teenager most of the time. I felt really sorry for her as she obviously couldn't have any kind of a normal life and go out and party, let alone have a boyfriend. The only thing she has in common with the support group is that they are all vampires so she often feels out of place with no one to really talk to. The whole story is told by Nina and the way she tells it was witty, funny and interesting. Once the story had gotten started properly, Nina made everything sound quite exciting which kept me interested. I loved her personality and her views on being a vampire were different to say the least.

Nina's mum was by far my favourite character. As an old lady, you would have though she was quite timid and freaked out by what her daughter is but Estelle was quite the opposite. Estelle had balls of steel, a potty mouth and is not afraid of anyone. After all, she was a barmaid for most of her life. Estelle was also a real mum for the most part, worrying about Nina and making sure that she ate properly and took care of herself, giving Estelle two quite different personalities at times.

I loved the inclusion of Reuben, the werewolf and how he was thrown into the story. This aspect of the story is unlike anything I have previously read about werewolves and it made for a very welcome change. Reuben isn't all fury and cuddly though. He's a teen werewolf with more problems and attitude than the vampires so the contrast between the two races was interesting to read about.

Seeing as all of the vampires are technically adults, there is a fair amount of bad language throughout the story. It is only done every now and again and at some of the more exciting parts but it wasn't overdone. This is something to think about though depending on the age of the reader.

The best thing about this book was that it was so different to any other vampire book I have read. Never have I heard of vampires who don't act like typical vampires at all and this was something that really interested me. I love to read something that breaks away from stereotypes and tries to stand out from the other novels being published at the moment. This book had comedy, a little romance, action, excitement and adventure, making it an overall great book.

Book Blogger Hop (#1)

Although I'm very new to blogging, I have been trying to take part in as much as possible. One thing I have found that is amazing is the Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books. I've found so many blogs that I like today and this is only my first week taking part!

This is a fantastic way to get to know some new and existing blogs and gives everyone the chance to discover new writers. Head over to Crazy for Books to take part!

Eternal - Cynthia Leitich Smith

Eternal is a companion book for Tantalize written by Cynthia Leitich Smith. Eternal was released on 7th December 2009 and is 320 pages long. Currently available on Amazon for £4.49.

CLASSIFIED ADS: WANTED Personal assistant to Her Royal Highness. Duties: Whatever is asked, without hesitation, including but not limited to secretarial / administrative, household, defence, blood donation, driving, companionship, prey disposal, and love slavery. At last, Miranda is the life of the party: all she had to do was die. Elevated and adopted by none other than the reigning King of the Mantle of Dracul, Miranda goes from high school theatre wannabe to glamorous royal fiend overnight. Meanwhile, Zachary, her reckless and adoring guardian angel, demoted to human guise as the princess’s personal assistant, must try to save his girl’s soul before all hell arrives, quite literally, on their castle doorstep. In alternating points of view, vampire Miranda and angel Zachary navigate a cut-throat eternal aristocracy as they play out a dangerous love story for the ages. (Taken from Amazon.co.uk)

The story is told from two different point of views, both Miranda's and Zachary's. This is something I enjoy in a book of this genre because there is usually so much going on you never see the whole picture from only one person. Even though each chapter states who we are following, it would have been easy enough to distinguish each character and they talk and act in completely different ways. What I think made this work so well in this case, was that each character both have completely different journeys to get to being in the castle together. I would have hated to miss one side of the story.

I read a fair amount of fantasy novels but none have been as gruesome as this one. Even when dealing with vampires, the act of drinking blood never seems that graphic but here we get to experience beheading and other different ways to kill people. I didn't think this would be something I would end up liking but it made the whole thing seem a lot more real instead of tip toeing around the fact that vampires do kill people and drink their blood.

One of the biggest problems with this book is character development. Neither Zachary or Miranda actually seem to get anywhere or change up until the very end and even that was rushed. While I liked Zachary a lot, I failed to feel the same for Miranda. The only characters that I could picture in my head were Zachary and his angel friend Josh. This is because the author doesn't really describe any of the others much and some not at all. I would have loved to have been able to picture Miranda's 'father' as he was in the book but instead, I had a cheesy picture of Dracula which wasn't the same.

Smith tends to put more effort into describing the surroundings of our main characters more than the characters themselves. As Eternal seems to be in a darker place than most books of this genre, I felt like the descriptions could have been much better and more detailed. Certain parts of the vampire castle are supposed to extremely luxurious and others dark, damp and scary but they just weren't described enough to give me chills and feel like I was there.

I think I am making this book sound extremely bad but really, it was OK. I wouldn't go as far as saying amazing like I have for some others I have read recently but it is certainly readable. Smith is showing more promise in each book and while I feel that this could have been amazing had someone else write it, I am looking forward to the next instalment because I think Smith is finally going to find her place by then.

Waiting On Wednesday

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme that is hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine to highlight books that are yet to be released but highly anticipated.

Radiance - Alyson Noel (Release date 31st August 2010)

Riley Bloom left her sister, Ever, in the world of the living and crossed the bridge into the afterlife—a place called Here, where time is always Now. Riley and her dog, Buttercup, have been reunited with her parents and are just settling into a nice, relaxing death when she's summoned before The Council. They let her in on a secret—the afterlife isn't just an eternity of leisure; Riley has to work. She's been assigned a job, Soul Catcher, and a teacher, Bodhi, a curious boy she can't quite figure out.

Riley, Bodhi, and Buttercup return to earth for her first assignment, a Radiant Boy who's been haunting a castle in England for centuries. Many Soul Catchers have tried to get him to cross the bridge and failed. But he's never met Riley...

(Taken from the Radiance website).

Radiance is a spin off from the Immortals series. I love that series so far and cannot wait to see what Alyson Noel has in store for Riley.

Never Bite A Boy On The First Date - Tamara Summers

Never bite a boy on the first date is a 2010 teen novel by Tamara Summers. It was released on March 4th and is 270 pages long.

Kira used to be called Phoebe until she was killed in a car crash then turned into a vampire. Being a 16 year old vampire isn't all that fun though as Kira soon found out. Not having been turned for very long, Kira started dating Zach and the two were inseparable. So inseparable that when he learns that she is a vampire, he asks her to turn him so they can be together forever. When she doesn't agree, Zach near enough kills himself so Kira doesn't have much of a choice to turn him. Now she is stuck with him.

Having turning Zach, Kira and her vampire family have had to move to Massachusetts. Just when she thought things were going to be normal again, it seems that there is another vampire in town and he has killed the most popular high school jock. Kira's family instantly assume it was her because of what happened with Zach but she swears that it wasn't. Not wanting to face their punishment, Kira is on a mission to find out who the real killer is but there are three suspects. Daniel, Milo and Rowan. Problem is, they are all pretty hot and Kira can't decide who to trust. All she knows is that there is something weird about all of them.

To be fair, this book is very much for teenagers but I couldn't help but love it anyway. Kira acts and talk exactly how you would expect from a teenager but she was so funny with it. Unlike other vampire novels, she doesn't instantly become more wiser and grown up. She was turned aged 16 and she is stuck that way in both mind and body. She makes jokes and puns about being a vampire which was something I really liked. It was quite funny that she would make fun of herself or realise how bad the puns she was using really were. It was things like that that gave the story a more light-hearted feel throughout.

I loved how Kira explained that 'if you bite it you buy it' as explained by her vampire mother. Fairly reasonable I would say. If only Kira had actually listened properly though because she ends up stuck with Zach who is now the crazy ex boyfriend who wont leave her alone. Hopefully she has learnt her lesson.

The three boys, Daniel, Milo and Rowan were good and interesting characters that could have been a lot better with some more development but I understand that teenagers can sometimes have a short attention span so that could be the reason behind the length of the book. I would have really liked to have gotten to know each of the boys a bit better before the book ended but that wasn't to be. Love triangles are very common in these kinds of books now, especially after Twilight but this is the first where there was a love square and it made for an interesting change because the boys were so different from each other.

I don't really like the whole murder mystery aspect of these books because they can be too drawn out and take away from the parts of the story that I really like. This time though I really enjoyed this aspect of the story and I think a big part of that was down to how it was told. Even right up until the last minute although some of the characters are ruled out, I still couldn't figure out who was the killer. The twist was a good one and I was glad that it wasn't completely predictable.

As the book is quite short, there is a lot missing from the story. The characters lack real development and the ending is extremely rushed. It seemed as though something clicked in Kira's head about the investigation and just when she realised what was going on, everything was over. I would have liked for the ending to be drawn out a little more and to have been given more closure about what had happened.

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side - Beth Fantaskey

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side is a teen fiction novel by Beth Fantaskey and it was released on 18th January 2010 in paper back. The book is 351 pages long.
Jessica is really looking forward to her senior year, especially since one of the hottest guys in school has been paying her some attention over the summer. This happiness doesn't last long though because a dark, mysterious, Romanian teenager, Lucius, shows up and seems to be extremely interested in her. When Jessica tells her mum about the creepy guy, she demands to know who and where he is, obviously knowing something about what is happening. After her mum invites Lucius over for dinner, Jessica is less than impressed but is assured that everything will be explained.

Jessica was adopted when her birth parents in Romania were in trouble and was previously called Anastasia. This, Jessica already knows but Lucius informs her that she in fact a vampire princess and they were betrothed at a very young age. The marriage is apparently a huge deal back in Romania and it will cause a war if it doesn't happen but Jessica is having a hard time believing any of this, especially any of the vampire parts.

I really liked Jessica. It isn't very often that I immediately like the heroine but there was nothing really that I disliked about her. She is actually the most sensible character that I have discovered in a book of this genre so far. She is very into anything that can be proven, especially maths, so the idea of vampires really makes her laugh. For a long time, even knowing her really family's background and heritage, she can't believe in vampires at all, not even for a second. Jessica doesn't like Lucius from the very start and is determined to make him see sense but that isn't exactly easy he lives in the garage. I loved how strong she was to show Lucius that he didn't need to fight her battles. Although it was quite obvious that she would eventually fall for him, she didn't lose her best attributes in the process.

Lucius for me was a little too fake at times. At the beginning of the story, he is so obviously different and is not used to American culture which makes him quite funny at times, especially in the letters he writes to his uncle. Although he reiterates how bad American society is, he changes and fits in much quicker and better than I had expected him to. Towards the end, he seems to lose most of the things that I loved about him as he acted like a lot of the other guys in the story. His quirks and mannerisms were what made him so likable. Overall though, he was an interesting character that brought a lot of excitement and passion to the story.

The author manages to incorporate a couple of really good lessons into the story without overpowering the main plot. They are actually quite subtle and I only really realised them after I had finished the book. It is really great that a book like this can try to teach young girls to be happy with their bodies and not aspire to be a size zero. This, as well as waiting to have sex with the right person were two things that really stood out to me in a good way.

I don't really agree with the title being what it is. The book isn't a guide to dating at all and the story isn't about that at all really. Lucius gives Jessica a guide about vampires at one point but that doesn't really have anything to do with the title. Although the title is what initially grabbed my attention, I was left a little disappointed when this wasn't what the story was about.

The story itself was quite exciting, with something going on pretty much all of the time. It is extremely fast paced which kept me interested the whole way through. I really liked the way different characters were brought in at different points to break up the monotony of just Jessica and Lucius. Their relationship certainly isn't smooth sailing and this was an aspect that I really enjoyed. There is a part about three quarters that makes you really wonder about how the story will end and I didn't see the ending coming after that. The twist was written extremely well and because of this, it was one of my favourite parts.

I don't really think that this is your average vampire story compared to others around at the minute but in a really good way. This one was so much better than a lot of the stuff that I have read recently. The vampire aspect isn't totally in your face so I would think that a lot more people could be into this book.