Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith (audio)

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

When Abraham Lincoln was nine years old, his mother died from an ailment called the "milk sickness." Only later did he learn that his mother's deadly affliction was actually the work of a local vampire, seeking to collect on Abe's father's unfortunate debts.

When the truth became known to the young Abraham Lincoln, he wrote in his journal: henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become learned in all things—a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose."

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for reuniting the North with the South and abolishing slavery from our country, no one has ever understood his valiant fight for what it really was. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time—all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War, and uncovering the massive role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

My thoughts:
I loved this book!  I wasn't sure going into it if I would enjoy it or not, but I really did.  I love how the author took real facts and then told Lincoln's life story with a twist.  I am hoping that the non-vampire facts were true, I don't know all the dates and people who were a part of his life, but I have to say this might be a way to get reluctant readers or students who are having trouble memorizing dates and names to learn them in an innovative way!

At the start we meet the reluctant biographer and find out how he came to have journals and records about Abraham Lincoln.  Who gave them to him and for what purpose he was allowed to read and review these items.  From there we get the story of Abe's life and how vampires made their mark on both his life personally and on the country as a whole.  How slavery was perpetuated as a way to keep an easy food supply for vampires and how embedded they were in all forms of government and politics.

Abe comes to life as a hunter.  Some real details such as how be became a lawyer, got involved in politics, married and had children are there to hold the new construct together so the vampire element can be added in.  After finishing the book I commented to my husband that we should rent the movie.  I'd like to see how they developed it all for the screen.  Movies never really seem to live up to my expectations, but I plan to rent it anyway.

I enjoyed the audio for this book.  Sometimes the reader that is chosen doesn't complement the story, but this time I think they really got it right!  I am still struggling through a different audio book because I don't enjoy the woman who is providing the narration, but that was not the case this time at all!

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9781455510177
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 4/3/2012
• Edition description: Media Tie-In Edition
• Pages: 384

Meet the Author

More by this Author

• Unholy Night
• How to Survive a Horror Movie: All the Skills to Dodge the Kills

 

Seth Grahame-Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. In addition to adapting the screenplay for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Seth also wrote Tim Burton's latest film, Dark Shadows. He lives in Los Angeles.

Definitely Dead (Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Series #6) by Charlaine Harris

The Barnes & Noble ReviewThis entry in Charlaine Harris's genre-blending Southern Vampire series -- an amalgam of mystery, dark fantasy, and paranormal romance -- is easily the most revealing and thematically pivotal volume to date. In the saga's sixth installment, Definitely Dead, telepathic Louisiana barmaid Sookie Stackhouse finds out jaw-dropping information about her first love, 130-something vampire Bill Compton, as well as equally astonishing insights into her own ancestry.

After her only cousin, Hadley, is murdered by one of the undead, Sookie travels to New Orleans to close out the young woman's apartment and collect her things. The unsavory job gets complicated quickly; Hadley was the "honeybun" of the bisexual vampire Queen of Louisiana, the seemingly ageless bloodsucker Sophie-Anne Leclerq. The queen has recently married another powerful sovereign in an attempt to forge a formidable alliance, and tensions in the supernatural community are running high. But when Sookie and her new love interest, a were-tiger named Quinn, are inexplicably kidnapped, the mind-reading waitress must unravel the mysterious circumstances of her cousin's murder before she ends up dead as well…

My thoughts:
I am sure this has been pointed out by many readers, but the thing I am always really struck by is how different these books are than the series.  So many details are changed and I wonder why.  I know TrueBlood just says it is based on the books, but why change so much?  If the story worked well in the book and sold well, wouldn't it follow that people would be interested in seeing that come to the screen?

That fact aside, I had a little trouble getting into this book, but once I was in I really enjoyed it.  I have the next two books to read and plan to read them soon while these details are still pretty fresh in my mind.  I am glad to see Sookie moving on in her dating life.  Sookie's cousin Hadley who was a vampire and the queens consort has met the true death and has left everything to Sookie as she was holding some sort of grudge against Jason.  Sookie travels to New Orleans to deal with the apartment and belongings and to make her required appearance with the queen.  Sookie gets a lot more than she bargained for in the apartment and gets pulled into some intrigue with the queen and her new husband, the King of Louisiana.  There is lots of action, lots of blood, plenty of vampires, witches, Weres and other were beings.Sookie makes a new witch friend in Hadley's landlord.

These books are a fun escape from reality.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780441014910
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
• Publication date: 3/27/2007
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition description: Reprint
• Pages: 352
• Series:Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Series , #6

Undead and Unstable by MaryJanice Davidson (Betsy Taylor Series #11)

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

“If you’re fans of Sookie Stackhouse and Anita Blake, don’t miss Betsy Taylor. She rocks” (The Best Reviews)—and she’s back once again as a vampire queen who finds herself an unlucky (but fashionable) passenger on the road to damnation…

Betsy’s heartbroken over her friend Marc’s death, but at least his sacrifice should change the future—her future­—for the better. But it’s not as if Betsy’s next few hundred years will be perfect. After all, her half-sister Laura is the AntiChrist, Laura’s mother is Satan, and family gatherings will always be more than a little awkward.

What’s really bothering Betsy is that ever since she and Laura returned from visiting her mom in Hell, Laura’s been acting increasingly peculiar. Maybe it’s Laura’s new job offer: as Satan’s replacement down under. Unfortunately, the position comes at a damnable price: killing Betsy, her own flesh-and-blood.

Over Betsy’s dead body. And for that matter Marc’s, too, since he’s not quite as buried as everyone thought. Now a war has been waged—one that’s going to take sibling rivalry to a whole new level, and a dimension where only one sister can survive.

My thoughts:
This book starts out with a recapping of the previous 10 books which I found helpful as it has been quite a while since I read some of them.  It was nice to be up to date as I am still unsure if I managed to read all of them, I think I may have missed one in there somewhere.  So I felt up to date when I started the novel.

Betsy is her usual sarcastic, selfish self.  Since coming back from her whirlwind tour of the past and future, the timeline she knew and loved has been altered.  Detective Nick Berry is now Dick Berry and no longer hates her,  her best friend Jessica is pregnant, her roommate Marc has killed himself so he does not end up like the Marc Thing that followed Betsy back from the frozen future, and the devil has allowed Antonia the werewolf, not Antonia the stepmother, back from Hell. 

I did find myself wondering if, at some point, things would be reversed to the old timeline or if this was going to continue to be the present.  Then, as events occur that had not occurred the last time around according to the Betsy from the past, how was this going to change what was to be in the future.  I usually love the idea of time travel, but the going back and forth to hell and the past and present made me feel a bit dizzy at times.  Betsy is a fun vampire to listen to, there isn't really any of the scary wanting to eat people vibe, she is like a comedic vampire. 

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780425247570
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
• Publication date: 6/5/2012
• Pages: 336
• Sales rank: 23,631
• Series:Betsy Taylor Series , #11

Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins(Hex Hall series #2)

Overview

Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch.

That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.

Turns out, Sophie’s a demon, one of only two in the world—the other being her father. What’s worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a risky procedure that will either destroy her powers forever — or kill her.

But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new housemates? They’re demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Archer to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?

My thoughts:
This was one of my Mother's Day presents.  My husband asked what I wanted this year and I decided I wanted books.  I even picked them out myself so there were no surprises, I got exactly what I wanted!  I read book one of this series recently and really liked Sophie.  Her character is easy to relate to and likable.  She knew, or thought she knew, that she was a witch for years.  Her mother had her moving around a lot and her dad was not in the picture anymore.  In book one, after a spell goes terribly wrong, she is sentences to juvenile detention for Prodigium(supernaturals) and goes to a boarding school on an island off of Georgia.  Book one ends with her finding out that she is a Demon, not a dark witch as she thought, and having to kill her great grandmother who was raised from the underworld by a coven of dark witches at the school who thought they could control her.

Now Sophie on having her magic removed, but first she has to spend the summer with her father who happens to be the council leader for the Prodigium council in England.  As she gets to know her father and more about the history of Prodigium and Demons, plus meets to other teenagers who are also demons who can't remember anything about how they came to be demons on what their past was like, her plans start to waver.  Throw in the arranged future marriage that is in the plans for her and Cal, one of her best friends, and the fact that the guy she thinks she does love is working for the enemy, and she has an awful lot on her plate and distracting her from what is going on around her.

Many things are not as they seem on the surface, and things fall apart in a big way.  When I got to the end of this book I wanted to know so badly what would happen next that I went online and bought the third book on my Kindle so I didn't have to stop reading!  I think this is a good mix of likable characters, believable emotions, traitorous villains and supernatural elements.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9781423121312
• Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
• Publication date: 3/1/2011
• Pages: 368
• Age range: 11 - 17 Years
• Series:Hex Hall Series , #2

Hex Hall (Hex Hall Series #1) by Rachel Hawkins

Overview

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father-an elusive European warlock-only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.
My thoughts:
This was on my TBR list for awhile and I had it on my wishlist on paperbackswap.com.  I had my turn a couple weeks ago.  This was a really enjoyable read.  I actually have book two waiting on my Kindle now as a Mother's Day gift.  It is waiting until I finish a few of my current reads so I can get it started.

I liked Sophie and the magical world she lives in.  She reminded me a bit of Rachel Morgan in Kim Harrison's series.  A witch who gets into trouble with her powers even when she is trying to do the right thing.  It also called to mind Jenifer Estep's YA series about the boarding school.  Imagine how hard it is to fit in when you are dealing, not only with the normal teenage angst, but also some added in powers and issues and friction from other types of witches and other supernaturals?

Sophie was a real seeming character, it was easy to see her as a flesh and blood person.  It was a little harder with the supermodel looking witches who try to get her to join their coven, they seemed a bit more cookie cutter like, but still believable as a clique you might meet in high school.  I am really looking forward to jumping into the next book!

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9781423121398
• Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
• Publication date: 2/1/2011
• Pages: 352

The Hollows: New Fiction, Facts, Maps, Murders, and More in the World of Rachel Morgan by Kim Harrison

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison has won legions of fans with her sexy supernatural novels featuring bounty-hunting witch Rachel Morgan. And now comes a unique look inside her beloved Hollows series that no fan should miss. . . . The Hollows Insider

In the Hollows, the supernatural Inderlanders rule, and humanity must abide by their conventions, or else.

To survive among vampires, witches, Weres, gargoyles, trolls, fairies, and banshees—to say nothing of demons—humanity needs a guide. And now, written by Kim Harrison herself, here is an insider’s look at the supernatural world of the Hollows, from an overarching new story to character profiles, maps, spell guides, charm recipes, secret correspondence from the elusive Trent Kalamack, and much more.

My thoughts:
This was a really interesting compilation of different things that creates a background and a frame for the books in the Rachel Morgan series.  It is written as if a reporter from the paper is looking into Rachel after a spell on a bus accidentally leaves him bald.  Parts of it are his journal entries, others are pages from the newspaper, files from both the FIB and I.S., recipe books, spell books, notes, memos between different characters and more.  The parts I enjoyed the most were Devon Crossman's journal entries and how his need to get to the bottom of things and past the cover-ups he perceived were a part of both the government and the law enforcement agencies was frustrating him.  The reader is able to watch his articles as they are censored and his hard drive wiped out.  It also reveals some behind the scenes actions by different characters that I either have already forgotten about or that were not revealed before now.  It is a very heavy book weight wise.  My complaint is that it was hard to hold as bedtime reading, it feels like a textbook.  Some of the sections were a bit dry too as they were written to be like pages from a manual or textbook, so they were this way on purpose, but some of the pages lost my interest and I skipped them like the recipes and some of the spells.  If you have read the series and want more on Rachel I would recommend this.  It starts at the beginning of the series and goes through the last book I read, so it covers a good deal of time and investigative work by the imaginary reporter.  Also some of the photos were sent in by readers, I recall Kim Harrison doing contests on her web site for readers to send in photos that would fit into different categories and some of those were selected to be a part of the book.  This was one of my birthday books in October; it just took me a while to get around to reading all of it.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780061974335
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 10/25/2011
Pages: 320
Series: Rachel Morgan Series

Twilight: The Graphic Novel Volume 2 by Stephenie Meyer Art by Young Kim

Overview

Having uncovered the dark secret of her enigmatic classmate, Edward Cullen, Bella Swan embraces her feelings for him, trusting Edward to keep her safe despite the risks. When a rival clan of vampires makes its way into Forks, though, the danger to Bella has never been more real. Will she make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the people dearest to her?

The second volume of Twilight: The Graphic Novel completes the visual adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's worldwide bestselling debut novel and is a must-have for any collector's library.

My thoughts:

This was one of my splurge books last week, I thought it would be fun to read it before going to see the latest movie.  At one point I thought I would reread all the books, and at some point I might, but it was a good way to get in the mood for the movie.  I forgot how much better the books can be than the movies for these.  I wasn't sure how I felt about all the graphic novels that were coming out to go with books, but I am enjoying reading the same stories in a different medium.  I think it adds something new to the story.

This is the second half of the first book, Twilight.  The first half was in volume 1.  It is a nice quick read and the illustrations add to the text making it a fun way to review in a short period of time.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780316133197
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Publication date: 10/11/2011
Edition description: Graphic novel
Pages: 240
Age range: 12 - 17 Years
Series Title: Twilight Graphic 

The Lost Saint by Bree Despain

Book description from Amazon.com:
The non-stop sequel to The Dark Divine delivers an even hotter romance and more thrilling action than Bree Despain's first novel. Grace Divine made the ultimate sacrifice to cure Daniel Kalbi. She gave her soul to the wolf to save him and lost her beloved mother. When Grace receives a haunting phone call from Jude, she knows what she must do. She must become a Hound of Heaven. Desperate to find Jude, Grace befriends Talbot - a newcomer to town who promises her that he can help her be a hero. But as the two grow closer, the wolf grows in Grace, and her relationship with Daniel begins to crumble. Unaware of the dark path she is walking, Grace becomes prideful in her new abilities - not realizing that an old enemy has returned and deadly trap is about to be sprung. Readers, ravenous for more Grace and Daniel, will be itching to sink their teeth into The Lost Saint.

My thoughts:
I bought this book last year when our local Border's was going out of business.  I thought I would immediately remember The Dark Divine, but didn't feel like I did so I put the book to the side with the intention that I was going to find and reread the first one.  That never happened and the other day I was inspired to pick it up again.  It read so fast and was so full of action!  Part of the first one came back to me, but even without knowing everything this was an enjoyable stand alone novel. 

Grace is getting frustrated by the long absences of her father as he searches for her missing brother Jude who has succumbed to the wolf infection, her mother who has become a zombie in her quest to find her son, and her boyfriend who seems to no longer want to help her come to grips with the powers she now has.  Her best friend hasn't been speaking to her for ten months and everyone at school is whispering behind her back and with her new super hearing she can hear what they have to say about her.  Things change when she and her friend April are rescued at a local gaming bar by Talbot, a new guy in town, and the religion teacher at school quits making way for a new teacher who is different than any teacher they have had before!

At times I had trouble following the different species of supernatural origin, but I could see Grace growing stronger and embracing her powers in her quest to find Jude and return him to ehr family.  This was a well written book that seems to lend itself well to another book in the series.  It s hows how we can be blinded by our course of action and miss things along the way and how it can be hard to know who to trust.


Product Details

Reading level: Ages 12 and up
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: EgmontUSA (December 28, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1606840584
ISBN-13: 978-1606840580

Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

Overview from Barnes and Noble When Sookie's brother Jason's eyes start to change, she knows he's about to turn into a were-panther for the first time. But her concern becomes cold fear when a sniper sets his deadly sights on the local changeling population-and Jason's new panther brethren suspect he may be the shooter. Now, Sookie has until the next full moon to find out who's behind the attacks, unless the killer decides to find her first.

My thoughts:
I read this at the beach last week.  It was the third time I've picked it up but somehow I never got around to finishing it.  It was a little weird reading this one at the same time as I am watching season four of True Blood on HBO because in the TV series Jason is not turning into a were-panther.  While the show is based on the books, they really do change a lot of details.

This one had all the elements you expect from the series, Sookie and her feelings for vampires and her ability to hear thoughts, shape shifters in danger from a sniper set on taking them out one by one, werewolves and their pack business and a few fairies thrown in for good measure.

I wonder if the issues with picking a new pack leader will be covered next season on the TV series and if it will be as graphic as it is in the book. I'm going to have to look for book 6 at the library or online because I would like to read the rest of them before they are covered on TV so I can experience them in my own way, not comparing them to what is happening on the screen.

Details
•Pub. Date: April 2006
•Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
•Format: Mass Market Paperback , 320pp
•Series: Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Series #5
•ISBN-13: 9780441013333
•ISBN: 0441013333

Blood Work by Kim Harrison

Overview from Barnes and Noble:
When Ivy met Rachel, the result wasn’t exactly love at first sight. Sparks flew as the living vampire and the stubborn witch learned what it meant to be partners. Now Kim Harrison, the acclaimed author of Pale Demon and Black Magic Sanction, turns back the clock to tell the tale—in an original full-color graphic novel.


Hot-as-hell, tough-as-nails detective Ivy Tamwood has been demoted from homicide down to lowly street-crime detail. As if rousting trolls and policing pixies instead of catching killers wasn’t bad enough, she’s also been saddled with a newbie partner who’s an earth witch. It’s enough to make any living vampire bare her fangs. But when a coven of murderous witches begins preying on werewolves, Rachel Morgan quickly proves she’s a good witch who knows how to be a badass.

Together, Ivy and Rachel hit the mean streets to deal swift justice to the evil element among Cincinnati’s supernatural set. But there’s more to their partnership than they realize—and more blood and black magic in their future than they bargained for.

My thoughts:
This was actually my original splurge book for my vacation, but the hardcover graphic novel was just too pretty to take on the beach with me so it had to wait until I returned for its chance to be read.  I discovered the Rachel Morgan series a few years ago and read through all the ones available in a pretty short period of time.  I have to admit, as I've said in reviews of two or three of the other books, when one of the main characters was killed off I almost stopped reading the series.  I recall I was pregnant at the time and was shocked that he was really dead.  Plenty of characters die, but it was so unexpected to me that I was shocked.  In this book, a prequel to the series, he is still alive and has yet to even meet Rachel, so it was nice to see him but I miss their dynamic.

I saw some complaints about this book online.  Readers who didn't like the graphic novel nature, who felt it didn't really tell a fleshed out story and that it was just an excuse to make more money.  I disagree, I liked that Harrison was telling a brand new story with the same characters instead of retelling or reinacting a current story as a graphic novel.  I am fine with books like that as well, I enjoyed Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter manga books or Diana Gabaldon's Exile, but it was a nice change for the whole story to be new.  I also liked how Ivy got a bigger build up of her character, we get to see just how much her association with Piscary has warped and made her who she is and how much she is unhappy with the way she is.  Ivy is always present in the other stories, but I feel like we as readers got to gain a better understanding of her from this.

Another neat feature was how the sketches Harrison got from the artists were shown along with her comments of approval or of changes that need to make.  I imagine it is hard to get the vision from the author to the illustrator and took a lot of work and perserverence on both sides.  I will be looking forward to the second graphic novel that is in the works.

Details
•Pub. Date: July 2011
•Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
•Format: Hardcover , 176pp
•Series: Rachel Morgan Series
•ISBN-13: 9780345521019
•ISBN: 0345521013

Biography from Barnes and Noble:

Bestselling paranormal fantasy author Kim Harrison went all the way through school with nary a thought of becoming a writer. A biology major in college, she took only the required English courses needed to graduate. So when the writing bug hit her later in life, she found herself at a real disadvantage with grammar, spelling, and other basic weapons in the scribbler's arsenal. However, her love of books was her saving grace. Always a voracious reader, Harrison instinctively recognized the role of plot, pacing, and character development in good storytelling. She set about writing with great enthusiasm and plugged away for the better part of decade, until she was able to bring her skills up to par.

Harrison's debut novel grew out of frustration with a growing pile of rejection notices. In an attempt to get publishers' attention, she set out to craft something deliberately weird and edgy. She conceived a motley cast of vampires, werewolves, pixies, and witches, including a sexy bounty hunter named Rachel Morgan, and threw them together in a short story. Then, her agent introduced her to editor Diana Gill, and together they refined and expanded Harrison's idea into a full length novel.

Published in 2004, Dead Witch Walking became a bestseller, launched a blockbuster series, and catapulted Harrison into a pantheon of paranormal superstars that includes Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Christine Feehan, and Sherrilyn Kenyon. As if to validate her inclusion in these ranks, Harrison's stories have also been included in several bestselling paranormal collections.

Undead and Undermined by MaryJanice Davidson

Overview:

All-new in the New York Times bestselling drop-dead funny series.

Vampire Queen Betsy Taylor thought she couldn't die. So what's she doing in the morgue? It could have something to do with a time- traveling trip she made, and a foe with a wicked agenda that could finally be the real death of Betsy-if she's not careful.

My thoughts:

When I started this book my first thought was, "I think I missed some of the books in this series".  Then I read the review I wrote last summer for book 9 and I had noticed the same thing then.  I guess my memory is only good up to a certain point because I never looked into read the missing books.  Partially because I already know what the outcome will be based on where the characters are now and partially because I just forgot.

The beginning of this book states that it is book three of a trilogy within the series.  So while it is Betsy's tenth book the next book will be book eleven and also book three of the trilogy, which is such a mouthful it makes me think of her whole quandary with time travel.

Betsy and Laura return from time traveling to the past and the future to find that their travels have changed things in the current present.  They had thought since they were always in the past that maybe everything would be fine, but there are changes.  Jessica is now pregnant, Nick's name is now Dick and he was never bitten so he doesn't hate Betsy and future Mark has come back with them from the future.  Adventures ensue that involve more time travel to hell, more vehicle crashes, a morgue, some deaths, some coming back from death and shoes missing and changed.

In the beginning of the series I loved Betsy and her vain shallowness, her sarcasm and her loyalty.  Most of the time I still feel that way, but now always.  Sometimes I've had enough of the shoes and sometimes I wish she could focus a little more so the story could move a bit faster, but usually I still like her.  It is starting to seem as though each time she tries to save someone or fix something she thinks is broken she is also making a bigger mess of things and in her attempt to fix she may be creating the actual mistakes she thinks she is trying to mend.

When will Laura tell her what she knows about the Book of the Dead?  She has tried and we know from book 9.  How do events come together to bring the future she saw in 1000 years and can that be prevented?  Is it really her doing?

Product Details

Hardcover: 304 pages

Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1 edition (July 5, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0425241270

ISBN-13: 978-0425241271

Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

Synopsis

Condemned and shunned for black magic, Rachel Morgan has three days to get to the annual witches’ conference and clear her name, or be trapped in the demonic ever-after . . . forever after.

But a witch, an elf, a living vampire, and a pixy in one car going across the country? Talk about a recipe for certain disaster, even without being the targets for assassination.

For after centuries of torment, a fearsome demon walks in the sunlight—freed at last to slay the innocent and devour their souls. But his ultimate goal is Rachel Morgan, and in the fight for survival that follows, even embracing her own demonic nature may not be enough to save her.


My thoughts:
I've mentioned this before with this series, for some reason I really related to the relationship between Rachel and Kisten and when he died I almost had to give the series up.  I had a hard time with the last few books because a part of me felt that with his death the series had ended.  This book brought me back around.  It sounds so silly in print, that I would be so upset by the death of a character, but for some reason it really affected me which is a tribute to Harrison's writing, that I was able to feel so deeply for a character written onto the page.  I have wondered for a bit where she was going with Rachel being a demon and again, this book revealed where she is going and a lot more.

This is book nine in the series and I have read them all.  When I first discovered the series I read all the books in order and then as new books have come out I have read them too.  Sometimes I feel like I have forgotten some of who is who and what has happened.  Part of why I love discovering series that have been around for a while is that I can read all the books in order and then everything is clear and read sequentially so there are no confusions about characters.

In this installment Rachel's trip to the west coast is complicated by the fact that she cannot fly, she is detained when she gets to the airport and finds that she will not be allowed to fly for her meeting with the coven but must drive across the country to get there in time.  Added to that, Trent wishes to drive with them across the country so he can go on an elf quest.  Bis, her resident gargoyle at the church, has started waking up during the day and calling her when he feels Rachel tapping a ley line, and Jenks and Ivy are also along for the ride.  Along the way a day walking demon is freed, some destruction occurs, Rachel comes to know more about herself and her abilities, and Jenk's is kidnapped by a group of pixies.  The book is full of action and, while long, utilizes the entirety to tell the story.

I wasn't sure how I would feel about the way Harrison wrapped up this installment, but I like it and feel it will add to the next book in the series.  At the bottom of this review I included links to my reviews for books 7 and 8.  Book 7 was one of the first I reviewed when I started my blog!

Product Details

Pub. Date: February 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Format: Hardcover , 439pp
Series: Rachel Morgan Series , #9
ISBN-13: 9780061138065
ISBN: 0061138061

White Witch, Black Curse Book #7
Black Magic Sanction Book #8

Succubi Like It Hot by Jill Myles (Succubus Diaries Book 2)

Synopsis from Paperbackswap.com:
NOBODY SAID SUCKING WAS EASY. — With a hot new figure, her dream job as an archaeologist, and "two" gorgeous boyfriends to scratch her seductive Itch -- an angel and a vampire -- Jackie Brighton is totally getting the hang of life as a succubus. Then she accidentally knocks the pizza guy unconscious with her touch. Great -- she's "cursed." After striking a deal to get the curse lifted by a crafty demon, Jackie and her best friend Remy take a road trip to deliver a cryptic message to the nation's oldest succubus. Unfortunately, neither of her jealous lovers is talking to Jackie right now, and due to the curse, she's desperate to get her Itch scratched very soon. Their journey gets weirder with every mile -- demonic possession, a charming stalker, a cryptic warning -- and when they get to New Orleans, Jackie discovers a dangerous catch to her supernatural bargain. Someone wants her dead -- again. Can a brainy vixen in a miniskirt outsmart the forces of evil?

My thoughts:
I read the first book in this series last year as a reviewer for Pocket Books and I found it to be a fun read. I've meant to read the second one for a while now, I borrowed it from my sister-in-law months ago but just got around to reading it now. I found the second book to be just as much fun. It is fast paced, with elements of both humor and danger. Jackie is still getting the hang of being an immortal succubus but has started to see things happen for her in the archeology career she has always craved. Then she is cursed and goes on a road trip to find a cure and help which meets with all sorts of roadblocks and detours along the way.

I like Jackie, a formerly mousy and overweight woman who found herself transformed in a matter of days to someone who is attractive to all men and draws attention just by being in the room. In the first book she was very excited about finally being beautiful and desirable, but in book two she is starting to see that being seen only for your beauty gets old quick. The draw she had to her two boyfriends, who are also her masters in that she would not have been made were it not for the two of them, is well done. It is hard to say who would be the better choice for her. They both have pros and cons, such as the forced 12 hour hibernation either during the day or at night depending on if it is Zane the vampire or Noah the serim. It is easy to see that she loves them both and they both love her. Her friend and fellow succubus Remy brings in a lot of the laughs until she is possessed again.

Product Details:
ISBN-13: 9781416572831
ISBN-10: 141657283X
Publication Date: 1/26/2010
Pages: 368
Publisher: Pocket
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback

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

Product Details
Pub. Date: January 2010
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format: Paperback , 354pp
ISBN-13: 9780547259406
ISBN: 0547259409

Synopsis
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:

This was a really fun book to read. I had a really hard time putting it down and it was nice to find out that there is going to be a sequel coming out sometime this year. That said I do agree with some reviews I've seen that there really wasn't a lot of actual dating going on between Jessica and Lucius. Tension and moments, but not actual dates, but title aside it was a very compelling book.

Imagine waking up during your senior year and finding out that you aren't who you thought you were. Jessica knows she was adopted and knows her birth name, but as she discovers her birth families background in Romania she is confronted by surprise after surprise. How could her parents think they were vampires? Does she really need to honor an almost two decade old pact that she must marry a Vladescu prince? Where is her choice in the matter?

High school life seemed believable. The class bully, the football player, the cheerleader no one ever said no to. They may be partial stereotypes, but they were brought to life and seemed like much more than caricatures. The only thing that threw me was Jessica's best friends name. Sometimes she is Mindy, then Min and also Melinda. I can see the names going together but how many people have two nicknames? At first I thought it was a mistake in editing, but since it kept going throughout I think the author just choose to have two nicknames for her.

Jessica's growing confidence in herself and transformation from being self-conscious of her curves to ready to have a presence in the world was a good lesson for young adult readers. Not everyone needs to be a size zero to be attractive. Also good was the way Fantaskey addressed Jessica straightening her hair and then coming to embrace her natural curls. So many times women especially try to change to fit the current fashion instead of becoming comfortable and happy with themselves and working on a style that works with their body type or hair type.

Seeing Jessica change over time from the beginning of the novel to the end made her journey along the way believable and compelling. I will be looking for the sequel to see what happens for Lucius and Jessica.

Undead and Unfinished by MaryJanice Davidson

Product DetailsPub. Date: July 2010
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Format: Hardcover, 320pp
Series: Betsy Taylor Series, #9
ISBN-13: 9780425234358
ISBN: 0425234355

SynopsisVampire Queen Betsy Taylor returns in the ninth novel in the New York Times bestselling series. Vampire Queen Betsy Taylor is having a tough time getting through the Book of the Dead-until the Devil strikes a bargain. She offers Betsy a chance to finish the cursed (literally!) thing, and finally discover all its mysteries. There's just one catch... Betsy and her half-sister Laura have to go to Hell long enough for Laura to embrace her dark heritage (after a rebellious youth of charity work) and finally make nice with her mother, aka Lucifer. That means interacting with their family's past. In doing so, they're impacting the future in ways they never anticipated. Of course that's what Mother wanted all along. Damn her.

My thoughts:

This week I felt like I hit the library jackpot. When I walked by the new shelf there were two books that I had been wanting to read just sitting there waiting to be checked out with no need to request and wait. I decided to read this one first. As usual it was a quick, funny read. I realized as I started that I must have not read the eighth book in the series because the events that had happened prior to the start of this one weren't ones I knew about. I guess I'll have to look for that one soon.

Most of this book takes place between Laura and Betsey as they travel through time so that Laura can learn to use her powers to travel in all dimensions so she can eventually take over for her mother, the devil, during her anticipated retirement. Through their travel they realize that what they are doing is messing with their own time line but that they always were there so the time line has always been interfered with. Betsy is as usual, she is sarcastic and self involved but is starting to recognize more and more that she is this way. One of her visits takes her to see herself in the future which opens her eyes to ways she would like to change.

This is a good summer book. I just wish I had read the book that came before it first, but with a library book I didn't really have the luxury of waiting to read it. I wonder how much longer Davidson will continue the series. I enjoyed her series about Fred the Mermaid but I believe she has ended that one already. I'm just not sure how much is left for her to do at this point.

Gentlemen Prefer Succubi by Jill Myles

From the back cover:
Jackie Brighton woke up in a Dumpster this morning, and her day has only gotten weirder. Her familiar B-cups have somehow become double Ds, her sex drive is insatiable, and apparently she had her fi rst one-night stand ever...with a fallen angel. All she remembers is gorgeous Noah's oddly hypnotic blue eyes...and then a dark stranger whose bite transformed her into an immortal siren with a sexy Itch. With help from Noah, Jackie begins to adapt to her new lifestyle -- until she accidentally sends Noah into the deadly clutches of the vampire queen and lands herself in a fi erce battle for an ancient halo with the queen's wickedly hot righthand man. Who just happens to be the vampire who originally bit her. How's a girl supposed to save the world when the enemy's so hard to resist?

My thoughts:
I received Gentlemen Prefer Succubi as part of Pocket Books Science Fiction Blog Tour. This is the first book by Jill Myles in a series about Jackie Brighton. Jackie is such a fun character and reminded me of other characters from series that I enjoy reading. She had some characteristics of Queen Betsey in MaryJanice Davidson’s Undead series, some of Rachel Morgan from Kim Harrison’s witch series and even some of Stephanie Plum from Janet Evanovich’s number series. She was likeable, sarcastic, and a fish out of water who keeps ending up in situations beyond her understanding or control.

What attracted me to this book was the fallen angel idea. This fall I read Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick which also features a fallen angel and I was interested to see another authors take on the idea. I can’t recall ever reading about succubi before and wasn’t sure what that meant. The succubi part of the novel made it racier than what I usually read. This might not be a book for everyone, I know I have friends who don’t care for books with too much passion. I took it to read at my daughters ballet class and was actually embarrassed at one point hoping no one was looking over my shoulder at it. That said a lot of it was just sexual tension which really added to the novel. In the authors letter she thanks many people and then comments that she plans to go to her parents house and rip out all the sex scenes. A lot of them are clustered at the beginning of the book and part of me wondered what would be left if she removed them all, but then I saw that there was just a lot of it at the beginning but not so much later on.

Jackie meets a vampire when she is out at a bar who drains a lot of her blood and then leaves her where a fallen angel hangs out. The combination of the loss of blood and being intimate with the serim (or fallen angel) changes her into a succubi. As a succubi she has a very appealing figure, wonderful hair, and is beautiful and attractive to all men. She can eat whatever she wants and doesn’t need to sleep anymore. Plus she is now immortal. On the downside, she needs to have sex every other day. Especially in January when so many of us have made new year’s resolutions I am sure many people have wondered how much they would be willing to trade to be thin and beautiful, to have the perfect figure and live forever, and tempting as that train of thought is, I’m not sure we would trade it with some of the other factors involved.

I am used to thinking about angels as being all good, but can anyone, even someone who should be divine, be all good? Does desire to sin go to all beings or just humans?

While I found both of Jackie’s love interests to be alluring, I have to admit that I found a favorite and it wasn’t who I thought it would be. Zane grabbed my heart in this novel! I am so glad that I had an introduction to this author. The beginning of her next novel is included in the back and I have already added it to my TBR list!

"Dark Slayer" by Christine Feehan

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
How this book came to me: borrowed from my sister in law

Product Details
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1 edition (September 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0425229734
ISBN-13: 978-0425229736

Synopsis from Amazon.com

Even new readers daunted by 40 pages of appendixes and a two-page family tree will love the tender romance in the 20th installment of Feehan's Carpathians series. Benign blood-drinking Carpathians turn into evil vampires if they fail to find their destined life mates. Broken and left for dead after a family betrayal, Ivory Malinov gradually heals, becoming a loner and dedicated vampire slayer. Razvan's evil grandfather, the mage Xavier, forced him to commit unspeakable deeds against fellow Carpathians. Ivory discovers Razvan near death, and after realizing they are life mates, she nurses him back to health and they plot to combine forces and defeat Xavier. The slow-to-trust Ivory fights her growing feelings for Razvan, whose self-hatred juxtaposes brilliantly with his innate gentle nature. Fans looking for a departure from Feehan's usual alpha male heroes will enjoy this lengthy but powerful tale.

My thoughts:
I think I have read most if not all of the stories in Feehan's Dark series. I was lucky enough to read the first ones all in order and in a row so at that point it was easy to keep track of the characters. Now I am starting to mix up who is who and what makes each of them special. I appreciate the family tree mapping out the relationships at the beginning of the novel, but the community of Carpathians is so large now that at I stopped referring to it and just went with the flow. At the end of the last novel a few more female characters were introduced and with this one some ancient Carpathian male hunters were brought in so my guess is they will be featured in the next few novels. Each novel usually centers around one male and one female character who become lifemates and goes through not just their relationship but also whatever outside forces are coming against them, either vampires or mage, who want to destroy them.

It took a few starts for me to get into this story. The two main characters were both thought to be either dead or traitors to their people for years, centuries even, so their reappearance was kind of jarring. Ivory Malinov had been cut into pieces by vampires and scattered over the ground but did not die. Wolves put her bones all together and using Mother Earth's help she knit herself back together. I had some trouble with that whole concept, but once I got past it I enjoyed the story. At times I felt it was a bit repetitive how Feehan kept reminding us that Ivory was a loner and didn't trust easily. Razvan had truly seemed evil in the other books he was in so to see him as having been possessed and having had his body used by dark magic at first felt forced but then he started to seem real. As I was reading I was wondering how much further Feehan will be able to go with this series. If she is now resurrecting characters has it already run its course? I used to really look forward to the next book but this time I wasn't as excited about reading it. I felt a bit less excited for the last one too. I wonder if it is hard to let go of a series for an author if there is a large readership? Would if feel like you were letting your readers down? Do publishers pressure authors to keep going? Or does Feehan have an ultimate goal for the series that she is working towards? I know I will keep reading any future books that come out, I just wonder if the series will continue indefinitely and if it should.

"The Dark Reunion" by L.J. Smith

My rating: 4 out 4
Where I acquired the book: borrowed from a friend

Synopsis from Amazon.com:
"The Final Conflict...The Last Deadly Kiss
Elena
Now she rises from the dead to recreate the powerful vampire trio.

Stefan
Summoned by Elena, he keeps a promise to her and fights the most terrifying evil he's ever faced.

Damon
Joining the brother he once called enemy, Damon battles this new horror with strength, cunning, and deadly charm. "


My thoughts:
SPOILER ALERT- if you haven't read this series and plan to you might want to skip my thoughts on this installment.

When the last story ended and Elena was dead and Stefan and Damon left town I kind of wondered what could possibly happen next. I didn't see how the series would go on without Elena, though I did like how Bonnie took over as the diary writer. I know this as fiction the author can do whatever she likes, but it feels like each of the stories adds a new level of bizarreness (if that is even a word) to the series. I was able to take Damon and Stefan as vampires, and although I was surprised when Katherine returned in the last book I was able to take that in stride as well. But then to add in werewolves and a vampire who is an Old One which sounds so much like Meyer's Cold Ones. I know Meyer's books were published a decade later so I am in no way saying these stories were influenced by them but I wonder if Meyer may have read and been influenced by these. Then Elena is able to speak from beyond the grave because she died too young and had too much living left to do, Fell's Church has a lot of psychic energy due to a lot of early deaths by Civil War soldiers and it is a magnet for the supernatural, and Tyler's family has a dormant werewolf gene that can be activated by killing. Things just kind of started to spin out of control to me, almost as if the author didn't want to let go of the series so she had to find some new way to captivate her readers. I almost wondered if she had originally planned to end it after the third book, since everything was wrapped up, and then due to publisher or reader urging decided to add on. Maybe not, perhaps this was always where she was going. Bringing someone back from the dead just felt like a cheap shot to get to keep going with the storyline though. I did enjoy the book, and the previous three, and it definitely kept me guessing. I need to borrow a copy of the last two books to see where it goes. Will Elena be the same as she was before now that she is back? What about Tyler, how will being a vampire change him? Since they all graduated what will become of them, will the last stories take place over the summer of at college? How in the world is Elena going to explain to Aunt Judith how she is alive again or does she plan to disappear and start over somewhere else?

"The Fury" by L.J. Smith

My rating 4 out of 5
Where I acquired the book: Borrowed from a friend

Product Description from Amazon.com and back cover of book:
"Elena: transformed, the golden girl has become what she once feared and desired.

Stefan: tormented by losing Elena, he's determined to end his feud with Damon once and for all—whatever the cost. But slowly he begins to realize that his brother is not his only enemy.

Damon: at last, he possesses Elena. But will his thirst for revenge against Stefan poison his triumph? Or can they come together to face one final battle?

Collected here in one edition are the third and fourth volumes of The Vampire Diaries, a riveting conclusion to the tale of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them. "

My thoughts:
This review is just for "The Fury" which is book three in the "Vampire Diaries" series. This series continues to surprise me. SPOILER ALERT I did not expect Elena to be turned into a vampire. I know it is the logical outcome of spending time with vampires, but when it happened in book two I was surprised. I kind of put the book down in shock at that point. Then the conclusion of this one was full of more surprises. It turns out I was totally wrong about who the Other Power was. Part of me hopes it is just because I started the book, then put it down for a few weeks and then picked yesterday to finish. Did I miss clues because I didn't read it all at once? But I think the author may have just done a really good job of concealing the Other Powers identity while giving small clues along the way. i was glad to discover who it was who was speaking through Bonnie when she was in the trance state. My big question at the end was how the series could go on if one of the main characters is dead and the other two are leaving town. How would there be a need to continue the Vampire Diaries. I read the first chapter or two of the next book and kind of see where it may be going. I think this is well written and keeps the reader guessing. Things are not as obvious as they may seem. One thing that continues to throw me is how different it is than the TV series the CW is running. I guess the TV series took the general idea and went in their own direction with it. It will be interesting to see how that continues to play out and what other changes will be made to the original story.

"The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle" by L.J. Smith

From back cover:

My rating: 4 out of 5
Where the book came from: borrowed from a neighbor

"Elena: the golden girl, the leader, the one who can have any boy she wants.

Stefan: brooding and mysterious, he seems to be the only one who can resist Elena, even as he struggles to protect her from the horrors that haunt his past.

Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him. Determined to have Elena, he'd kill to possess her.

Collected here in one volume for the first time, volumes one and two of The Vampire Diaries, the tale of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them."

My thoughts:
I finished the second story in the series, "The Struggle" yesterday but didn't have a chance to record any thoughts. I'm not quite sure how to go about doing so without giving spoilers to readers who plan to read the books but haven't read them yet. That said, if you dislike spoilers this is a review to skip.

I can see why these stories would appeal to young adult readers, and high school girls in particular, who are able to consider meeting the man they will spend their life with in high school. Not the most realistic, but a common fantasy. (At this point I feel like I need to mention that I actually did marry my high school boyfriend, but not until after we had broken up and had a bunch of life experiences on our own. We got back together towards the end of college.) Elena seems so dead set on being with Stefan forever even knowing that he is a vampire and his forever is different than hers. She does not seem to entertain thoughts of becoming like him, just marrying him and living happily ever after. I feel pretty confident in my prediction of who is the third power in Fell's Church, but that may be because it was made too obvious. I do have some questions about Stefan's landlady and her behavior.

As I was reading a continued distraction for me is the difference in how the characters are described in the book versus the TV series. It shouldn't matter, but it is distracting. I was caught off guard by the ending without revealing how the story ended.