Chicagoland Vampires and other Book Reviews

I absolutely love the Chicagoland Vampire books by Chloe Neill which include Some Girls Bite, Friday Night Bites, and the soon-to-be released Twice Bitten. Neill created an interesting and diverse world in which her robust characters thrive. The stories center around a masters student named Merit who, after being attacked and left for dead by a rogue vampire, is turned vampire to escape death by Ethan Sullivan, head of the Cadogan house. Merit turns out to be a powerful vampire, but she gets caught up in a new world of vampire politics and intrigue. Very well written. I definitely recommend these books.

I recently finished re-reading Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore. He's so much fun to read! His nutty fictional San Francisco is full of vampires, a homeless man who's declared himself The Emperor of San Francisco, and a crazy group of guys who work the night shift at the local supermarket, who spend a lot of their time bowling with frozen turkeys and water skiing on the back of the floor washing machine. I definitely recommend all of Christopher Moore's books.

I made my way through a few of my Kindle freebies as well. Demonfire by Kate Douglas started off with demon-possessed garden gnomes who eat rabbits and kill people. It was bizarre enough to hold my attention but I never would have paid money for this. Winter's Passage by Julie Kagawa was a short story that was clearly part of a series that I haven't read. The story was easy to follow but I hate not starting from the beginning of a story. It was well written but not interesting enough for me to be reading the rest of the series. I read a couple of pieces of crap that aren't even worth mentioning.

Reviews for Infinity, Hush Hush, and More

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick is the story of a fallen angel who wants to become human. Unfortunately, the only way he can do this is by killing the girl he falls in love with. This is a YA book with a good story and good writing. I absolutely applaud YA authors who don't dumb their writing down just because they're targeting a younger audience. I definitely recommend this one.

Infinity, the first book in the Chronicles of Nick, is a YA spin-off series of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series. This will be a 12 or 13 book series that follows Nick Gautier through his teen-age years, and culminating to his own book in the Dark Hunter series. Already things are different for Nick than what we know occurred in his life in the Dark Hunter stories. I'm hoping (for Nick's sake) that these changes in his history will effect a different (happier) outcome for him as an adult. Good writing, good story, good character development. If you like to read YA then you should give this one a try.

Another YA book I read was Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help by Douglas Anthony Cooper. I got it as a free download on my Kindle, and I'm so glad I did! This was a wonderful and ridiculous story that had me laughing all the way through it. Milrose is a teenager who can see all the ghosts of the students who have died in his high school. His teachers have noticed him talking to "air" and decide to get him "Help." Very cleverly written. Definitely pick this one up too.

Last night I finished Born of Night, the first book in Sherrilyn Kenyon's League series. I think this was the first book she ever got published, and it kind of shows. While I like the story and the characters, the actual writing lacked any subtlety and the plot plodded along at a slow pace due to redundant situations that didn't move the story forward. It's not bad. I plan to read the other two books in this series, but I can't recommend it without a disclaimer.

I caught a few movies last weekend as well. Did You Hear About the Morgans starring Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. However, there's no way around SJP's horribly flat acting. The 24th Day starring James Marsden and Scott Speedman was a little weird. It seems like it was adapted from a one act play. The Objective is about a special ops team in Afghanistan who go on a secret special mission only to discover aliens. Yeah...you can pretty much skip all three of these.

Pile 'o Reviews

*sigh* I let this pile up again just like I promised myself I wouldn't. Here we go...

I read Once Bitten and Twice Dead by Kalayna Price. Once Bitten was a Kindle freebie somewhere along the way which is why I decided to read these at all. The first one was just ok; it was clearly the author's first book. There was vast improvement in writing for the second book. Not 'must-reads' to recommend but entertaining nonetheless.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is a young adult werewolf book. I really liked this one! There's an innocence and sweetness about it because it's YA. It's very well written. I absolutely recommend this one to anyone who likes YA books.

Staked by JF Lewis was a little slow at the beginning for me because our protagonist was a little too unsympathetic at first. But it eventually picked up and I enjoyed reading it. I definitely recommend this one if you're looking for something funny to read.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer is her latest Twilight add-on. I'm quite sick of her repackaging Twilight over and over again. I wish she'd write something else. Having said that, I'd recommend this novella to any fan of the Twilight series. Her writing has improved by leaps and bounds since her first book. Even though we knew how this one was going to end (it ties in to Eclipse), I still found it enjoyable. Now please write something else, Ms. Meyer.

The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne is just a fun, quick little read. I've read her first two books, and I like that she has the same cast of characters that she works with. It gives the characters a little more depth.

The movie MacGruber was SO horrible that we walked out of the theater after a half hour. The good thing is that we went 'theater hopping' and snuck into a viewing of Letters to Juliet, which turned out to be a cute little movie. It's completely predictable but it's well made.