A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

On the evening of Sofia Claremont's seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake.

A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.

She is kidnapped to an island where the sun is eternally forbidden to shine.
An island uncharted by any map and ruled by the most powerful vampire coven on the planet. She wakes here as a slave, a captive in chains.

Sofia's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn when she is the one selected out of hundreds of girls to join the harem of Derek Novak, the dark royal Prince.

Despite his addiction to power and obsessive thirst for her blood, Sofia soon realizes that the safest place on the island is within his quarters, and she must do all within her power to win him over if she is to survive even one more night.

Will she succeed? ...or is she destined to the same fate that all other girls have met at the hands of the Novaks?

Pic and description from Goodreads.com
 

My Review

      I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

   There have been so many vampire books lately and like a lot of people I have become a huge fan.  Unfortunately this book did not end up being that great.  Not that it is bad, just not wonderful, and with all the competition out there vampire books have to be pretty great to compete.

   I did not like the story line very much.  The vampires in this story are more like a gang of slave traffickers than a coven of scary vampires.  Their whole society is dependent on them kidnapping young beautiful people to fill their harems and provide whatever other services they need.  That is just not my cup of tea.  When the heroin, Sophia, is first taken she is almost raped by one of the vampires.  Ok, I know that vampires are bad guys and that rape is a very real thing, but I really don’t like reading about it and I don’t think it belongs anywhere in YA books.

   Another thing that bothered me is that the vampires lived on a hidden island complete with a crazy tree top village where they all lived.  To me this sounds more like a fairy/elf type set up then anywhere vampires would live.

   All that being said there were some good things about the book.  I did like the overall writing of the book.  The author did a great job with the character development and with her ability to draw you in to their stories.  Derek, the leaders of the coven, is a very complex character and is not at all what you would expect for a vampire prince.  He kind of goes back and forth with his humanity and for some reason Sophia is able to reach that side of him in a way no one else ever has.  I also liked Sophia’s character.  She is very feisty and she stands up to the vampires very courageously even when she is desperately scared.  She forms a very special bond with Derek and you can feel the love develop between the two of them throughout the story.  Then there is Lucas, Derek’s evil brother, and boy did the author do a great job in creating a truly believable, truly evil character.  He is one twisted person with some deep seeded issues. 

   Really the great characters were the only redeeming quality of this book.  In fact I did like the relationship between Sophia and Derek so much that I am thinking about overlooking the other stuff and reading the second book just to find out if they can make it work and steer around the mess that is Lucas.  What can I say?  I am a sucker for a good, believable romance story.

Parent's Guide:  There is some swearing throughout the book.  The young humans that are kidnapped are used as slaves, including sexually, but there is nothing explicit.  There is a murder in the book that is a bit brutal and very disturbing.

The Gatekeeper's Challenge by Eva Pohler

Ten agonizing months have gone by since Therese faced off against her parents’ murderer at Mount Olympus, and she suspects Thanatos’s absence is meant to send her a message: go on with your life. She tries to return Pete’s affections even though her heart aches for the god of death, but when Than shows up to take her hamster’s soul, she becomes infuriated when he says he’s “been busy.” In cahoots with her new friend, who's gotten in with the Demon Druggies at school, Therese takes a drug that simulates a near-death experience, planning to tell Than off so she can have closure and move on, but things go very, very wrong.

Eventually she learns Than has been busy searching for a way to make her a god, and he’s found it, but it requires her to complete a set of impossible challenges designed by Hades, who hopes to see her fail.

 Pic and description are from Goodreads.com

My Review

     I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

   Mrs. Pohler has done it again!  While I did not like it quite as much as the first book, The Gatekeeper’s Challenge is fantastic.  This book continues right where The Gatekeeper’s Sons left off.  Than has been forced to return to the Underworld to resume his duties as death.  Therese remains on earth and feels abandoned by Than.  She ends up going to extreme lengths to try to see Than and the consequences are tragic.  As you read you get caught up in her struggle to be with the one person that she loves and long for love to conquer all.

   Therese is once again made to interact with the Gods and Goddesses and her life is subject to their whims. It is amazing to see how strong and committed Therese is to Than.  She is willing to go to extreme lengths to prove that she is able to be with Than forever and in the end she makes the ultimate sacrifice to be with him.   

    In addition to the mythological characters introduced in the first book there are also some new and interesting characters in this book.  The writing is so creatively done that all of these mythological characters fit naturally in to the story and you end up learning so much Greek mythology, but without feeling like you are being forced to read a boring textbook.  If I had found stories like this one when I was younger I would have loved learning about Greek mythology.

   This book has an absolutely crazy ending that will leave you shaking your head.  It is a very intense ending and is definitely not a scene for younger readers.  Once again Than and Therese show how determined they are to be together.  It is so frustrating that the Gods are so determined to keep them apart.  I cannot wait to read book three to figure out how Than and Therese will deal with the latest twist in their lives.   

Parents Guide:  There is an episode of drug use.  It is relevant to the story and is not done in a way that glorifies drugs but shows the dangers of their use.  There is also the death of a character that is tragic and may be upsetting to sensitive readers.  There is a scene in which Therese's dog, Clifford, is traumatically injured.  It is a bit heart wrenching and gory.  It may be a little tough for pet lovers to read.

The Nightmare Affair Giveaway

Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli’s dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.


Pic and book description are from Goodreads.com


Have you seen this new book yet?!  It sounds amazing and I would love to win a copy.  One of the blogs that I follow is giving us all a chance to win a copy and I just had to share.  Just go one over to Read it in Houston and enter for your chance to win.  Good luck!

The Dragon's Call

In a war-torn world, a careless act of destruction wakes a creature of myth and legend - a dragon. Mankind unites to battle for survival, but when dragons enter the fray in human form... humans lose.
Three decades later, Cecily lives in an enclave with her father and brother. Ignorant of life before the war, she placidly obeys the restrictions imposed by dragonkind.
Stifled by court life, Derek, heir of the Dragon Queen, commits a petty crime. To avoid punishment and chronic boredom, he escapes to the enclave. His arrival sparks increased tension when he meets Cecily. She realizes the limitations on her freedom, and Derek discovers his life is built on a lie. Their forbidden friendship threatens to splinter the separation between their people, but something more dangerous occurs.
A mysterious killer has kidnapped Cecily's mother - and seems to be stalking Cecily. Derek and Cecily must defy the rules of their society to find and stop the murderer before Cecily is next.

Pic and description from Goodreads.com

My Review

    *I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

   I loved this book!  I found it to be refreshing and a unique spin on a story about dragons.  The author tells the story in such a way that the dragons are much more relatable and not just fire breathing monsters that just want to kill humans.

   In this story dragons have the ability to take human form and have integrated themselves in to human society as the ruling class.  I have never before read a book where dragons were able to take human form and I immediately loved the idea.  Even though the dragons appear human on the outside does not mean they act human.  They are able to put people in to a trance using what is referred to as ‘The Call’ and that is why they are able to rule over the humans so easily.  They are far more advanced than humans in every subject imaginable and look at humans kind of like we look at animal, uneducated and far below us in intelligence and pretty much everything else. 

   For some strange reason the Dragon Prince, Derek, has decided he wants to attend a human high school.  He has never been like most dragons and does not look down on humans.  He just sees them as different then dragons and he wants to really observe them and get to know them outside of the dragon run areas.  In these areas humans act  as complete lackeys, for self-preservation reasons of course, but still acting nothing like how they do away from dragons.  I loved reading the story when it is told from his perspective.  It is funny to see him trying to fit in when he is so alien to the human teenagers.   In fact one of my favorite parts is when he tries to smile, because that is what humans do to set each other at ease.  He opens his mouth widely in a grin and then he can't understand why the humans suddenly become more scared of him after he does it.  Gee…can’t be those crazy sharp dragon teeth can it?!

  Derek is such a great character.  He really struggles to be a good person and he wants to be a good ruler.  When he falls in love with Cecily, one of the human girl’s at the high school, life for both of them gets very complicated.  They are both caught up in the problems between humans and dragons, not to mention the fact that despite looking alike they come from two very different species.  Life gets even more complicated when Derek’s brother and competition for the throne, Sahak, finds out about Cecily.  Sahak is evil and ruthless and will stop at nothing to inherit the throne.

   Throughout the book there are also diary entries interspersed in the story that describe the war that was fought between dragons and humans and how the dragons were able to seize power.  These diary entries lend a lot of depth to the story, especially after it is revealed who the author is. 

   The ending of this story is beautiful but of course leaves many questions unanswered so that we can’t wait to get hold of the second book.  Overall this story is wonderfully written and will make you believe in destiny and true love all over again.

Parents Guide:  There is quite a bit of mild language throughout the book.

Kekaju and the Hidden Swamp

A mother that disappeared without a trace, a sudden tragic death and then being forcibly uprooted from your home. That is what Zach, a thirteen year old boy endures when a ghostly girl kills his father. Being strong willed, Zach is determined not to leave his home in New Orleans until supernatural events occur that convince him to move in with his great aunt who lives on the grounds of a haunted plantation. It is there that Zach encounters a Cajun boy that never grows old and a creature that changes his life forever. Parallel worlds of wicked reptiles, animals, ghouls, angels and zombies form a supernatural mix that thrust Zach in the forefront of a battle between good and evil.

Pic and description taken from Goodreads.com

My Review

       *I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

   This is a unique and fantastical middle reader story.  The book begins tragically with Zach’s father dying on his 13^th birthday, when a strange girl pushes him in to the path of a trolley and then disappears.  Immediately strange things start to happen to Zach, like seeing ghosts and hearing voices telling him he needs to go and live with his strange aunt out in the country.  Zach is sure that life in the Louisiana countryside is going to be so boring but he soon finds out how wrong he is.

   One day Zach goes in search of hidden pirate treasure in the swamp and finds Kikaju instead.  He is a nutria, not a rat like everyone seems to think, and the prince of a hidden world.  An evil crocodile has stolen a magic stone from Kikaju’s father and imprisoned him.  Now it is up to Kikaju to find a way to get it back and fix all the horrible things that the crocodile has done to the land.  With the help of Zach and a whole cast of crazy characters Kikaju sets out to save his world.  During his adventure you meet some ghosts, a whole slew of talking animals and one crazy, scary cat lady, just to name a  few of the strange people in the story.  Throw in a lot of magic and some good old voodoo and you have a great story that kids will love.

  While the book is fun for kids I do have to say that I was not as draw in to the book as an adult as I have been with other children's stories.  There are a lot of times that the story seems to jump around a bit too much and I kept wishing for a little more depth to the story.  I just kept feeling that if the author had taken the time to add just a little more detail to things such as the characters stories or to explain more about the world that Kekaju came from it would have made the story so much better.  I also had a hard time with the language in the book.  I am assuming that it is supposed to represent a sort of Cajun/Bayou type dialect but since I have never been to Louisiana I can only guess that this is really how they talk there.  I just made some of the dialog hard to follow for this Westerner.  All that being said, most kids don't care about this sort of stuff and since that is who the book was written for, all that matters is that it is an excellent children's book.

     

Parents guide:  If you have sensitive children you may want to preview the book first.  The crocodile in the book chomps people in half and has their tongues ripped out, etc., and while it is not greatly descriptive it may still be a little intense for some kids.