Vampire Blues by Stephany Simmons

Description:


Lian and Figg are still recovering from events that almost destroyed their lives, but when a good friend comes to them with a serious problem, they can't turn him away. Soon, Lian and Figg are neck-deep in local vampire politics and framed for a massacre they had little to do with. On top of that, the local werewolf pack is sniffing around, looking for favors.


My Review:

Vampire Blues by Stephany Simmons

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Vampires, Werewolves, and Ghosts, Oh My! In the second installment in Ms. Simmons’ series, poor Figg and Lian just seem to be trying to get completely on their feet (and remodeling the pub into a bar) after the zombie attack when a hunter is attacked by a werewolf, with the threat of him becoming one. Then poor Carl is being harassed by vampires, and the werewolves really need to get involved because of the hunter. To top it all off, another vampire shows up seeking help for his stalker in a mini van.


If things couldn’t get any worse, Figg and Lian are trying to figure out what they mean to each other. The question is, will the vampires, werewolves, witches, sorcerers, hunters, and all the ghosts in between will back off long enough for them to think.


Ever read a book, and go “Damn! It ended, and now I have to wait for the next one!”? Well, then this is going to be one of those books. I was so sad, irritated, frustrated, and a bit peeved that it ended and that I now have to wait for the next book to come out… Because it was THAT good.


Personally, I want to grow up just like Figg, especially after reading this book. Not only does she look killer in a pair of impossible heels, she is killer herself. She fights with several vampires, with and without weapons, faces some werewolves and several other shape shifting or “mythical” creatures, all the while as she creates new friends and enemies along the way. Again, I must know where she gets her “Mary Poppins’” purse, because I so desperately need one.


Lian is now starting to grow on me. Before, he seemed a bit unattainable. Now, he is showing his human side, one that is more than willing to strip Figg down to make sure no one (specifically some weres) can claim her. I think in some ways he is realizing his need and desire for Figg, and he is doing it a whole lot faster than she is.


Again, Carl and Boyd are a hoot, though I wish there had been a few more Boyd conversations as I find the 1970’s Gay Ghost to be absolutely hilarious. Plus, we get to meet some new characters that do add some hilarity to the whole mix.


I really liked Skip, and the unusualness of him being a vampire. You normally think of cute/sexy, “Please Mr. Vampire, take my blood and whatever else you want” kind of vampire. Well, he is so not that. Rather, he is a nerdy, pudgy vampire that seems to warrant sympathy rather than lust. Actually, I found Ms. Simmons’ whole vampire myth spin to be refreshing in a lot of ways.


The great thing about this book is that there was fighting, plus a bit of a mystery, and a nice twist in the story line. You can’t help but try and figure out what is going on. Plus the nice happy ending for Figg and Lian was great. There was even bit of a nice sex scene, which was a nice surprise. Though, I think my favorite part of the whole thing was when Lian had to cover Figg with his scent. Can’t say much beyond that, but definitely the funniest, most frustrating part of the whole book!


Overall, I was very pleased with this book and am now DYING for the next one. I hope I don’t have to wait too long on that. Highly recommend.




Happy Reading!


Cana

Flesh and Blood by Kristen Painter

Description:


Those born into the comarré life produced blood in rich, pure, powerful abundance... 

With the Ring of Sorrows still missing, and the covenant between othernaturals and mortals broken, Chrysabelle and Malkolm’s problems are just beginning. Chrysabelle still owes Malkolm for his help, but fulfilling that debt means returning to Corvinestri, the hidden vampire city where neither is welcome.


My Review:

Flesh and Blood by Kristen Painter

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A lot has happened since the trip to Corvinstri. Chrysabelle feels a lot of guilt for not solving Mal’s curse, and Mal and Doc are both still struggling with the loss of Fi. But Tatiana is still after the Ring of Sorrows, and Chrysabelle. And to top it all off, the Kubai Mata have come out of the pages of fairy tales to fight off the vampires, whether they are good or bad. Will they all be able to survive the trials that they must face to protect the ones they love?
If I though the first novel was dark, this one just got darker. Here we get a lot more background on characters like Doc and Fi. Plus we get to know new characters like Kubai Mata member, Creek. He has been charged to get the ring of sorrow, and to protect humanity from the vampires that lurk in the shadow.
Mal’s character changes so much through the first book to the second book. He is willing to sacrifice himself for Chrysabelle, and he struggles with the developing feelings he has for her. He knows that he is no good for her, but he can’t resist. The whole knight in rusted armor seems to come out of him.
Better yet are the feelings that Chrysabelle struggles with in regards to Mal and Creek. The contrast between Mal and Creek, even though they both have a questionable past, is amazingly played out. Both men feel that they are unworthy of her, and you can’t honestly decide which one would be better for Chrysabelle. Though I will say that what she does for Mal, leads me to think she should really go for him!
There is a great big twist towards the end that will have you wondering about a whole lot that you probably never would have. Definitely makes you want to read the next book.
Overall, this is a great read, and you can bet that you will be on the edge of your seat during some of the action scenes. Highly Recommend!



Happy Reading!


Cana

The Ghost in the Crystal by Matt Posner

Description

Your NEW favorite magic school is New York City's School of the Ages. Ghosts and evil spirits -- elementals -- magical duels -- teen romance -- time travel -- real places in New York City -- ultimate tragedy. I am a mixed-race teen from Queens who discovers magic is real, introducing me to a new world of adventure and loss. My struggle to rid myself of an ancient heretic who has possessed me will drive me and my friends to journey to ancient Alexandria -- and a terrible sacrifice. Kids and adults won't stop reading ... The Ghost in the Crystal. I am Simon Magus, and I approve this message.

My Review

The Ghost in the Crystal by Matt Posner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Simon Magus is a young magician at the School of the Ages in New York. But magic school is not what he was expecting. After being haunted by a spirit at the school, he must travel to Ancient Alexandria to help the spirit and himself.


If you enjoyed Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and other YA books based on reality and fantasy in the real world, then this book might interest you.


I will admit it. When I first started reading this book, I kept expecting HP to pop around the corner or Percy to come running through. I mean there were things about the book that were very HP-like and PJ- like. Thankfully, there were enough differences that it didn’t take long before I forgot to compare this to HP or PJ. The few things that do match up with HP and PJ is the realistic feel of the magic being used/seen through the novel, though I enjoyed how Mr. Posner changed how magic could happen. It isn’t just with a spell and a wand, many times it can happen so much more easily and unplanned. It is similar to PJ, in that most of the novel takes place in NY, but it isn’t so similar that I was really bothered by it.


This book does have a great storyline and a good flow to it, though there are occasional lagging parts that make you want to skip ahead without pushing through the writing. It is an overall easy read, though the occasional grammatical errors, punctuation issues, and wording of the novel can bog down the overly critical.


Some people might have a problem with this book and how religion plays a role in the book. Even the rivalry between Simon and Yakov seems based a bit on religion, and that can make some people uncomfortable. Some people just can’t imagine magic and God being in the same book, but just remember other great novels like the Chronicles of Narnia and the Dragon Keeper Chronicles include God and magic. So on that part, I do encourage readers to keep an open mind about that.


Overall, this is a good book, and I do recommend it for a magical read.




Happy Reading!


Cana

Blood Rights by Kristen Painter

DESCRIPTION:

The lacy gold mapped her entire body. A finely-wrought filigree of stars, vines, flowers, butterflies, ancient symbols and words ran from her feet, up her legs, over her narrow waist, spanned her chest and finished down her arms to the tips of her fingers. 

Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle’s body bears the telltale marks of a comarré—a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world…and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks. 

Now Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign.

MY REVIEW:

Blood Rights by Kristen Painter

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Chrysabelle is a comarre’, a special race of humans that feed vampire nobles. When her patron is murdered, she is forced to run for her life and freedom into the world of normal humans. There she meets Malkolm, an outcast to the vampire world, and then she tries to kill him.
It is only afterwards that she discovers that he is the only vampire that can help her. As she struggles to survive in a world she isn’t use to, and as Malkolm tries to fight the curse that prevents him from ever rejoining the vampire world, can they survive the chaos that they will have to face to save their worlds?


This is an AMAZING book! And you know it is good when you get it from the publisher, read it, and immediately go and buy yourself the first book, the second book, and pray for the 3rd book to come out FASTER! I loved a lot about Ms. Painter’s beautiful mythology about vampires, ghosts, shifters, and the comarre’. This book isn’t a light read, both in genre and subject matter. The comarre’ are specially bred humans that are almost like medieval serfs or even special vampire courtesans to the vampirical lords. They have no rights, and are constantly watched. The vampires are split between the nobles and the fringe, and the nobles can shift their appearance between vampire demon face and human faces.


I love Chrysabelle and Malkolm as a whole. Chrysabelle’s character is a beautiful combination of innocence and wisdom. At 115 years of age, she has never been around humans that weren’t comarre’, and thus when she enters the human world, it is a huge adjustment of people touching her, and not understanding the way of the comarre’ (there aren’t any in the human world). She has so much strength, but a huge weakness for her is when she doesn’t bleed herself. She has to, just to prevent “blood poisoning”.
Malkolm is a tortured soul. As a human he was an executioner, but then a vampire turned him. He killed his sire, and has been cursed ever since. Worse yet, a second curse was placed upon him, and every time he kills someone he carries their name and their ghost with him.


Other characters that seem to add to it all are Fi and Doc. Fi is the first and only ghost that haunts Malkolm, and Doc is a cursed shifter that turns into a house cat instead of a leopard. The romance between them is a beautiful bright spot amongst the death and violence of this book. I love how Fi, even though Malkolm murdered her, she still does what she can to help him. Also the strength of Fi as she deals with her own torturous death as well as the constant torture that Malkolm has every day.


Overall, this book is has the beautiful combination darkness and lightness, the joy of life and the sorrow of death. I am definitely looking forward to reading the other books in this series.


**This book might not be appropriate for all readers. Though there are no sex scenes, there are frequent murders/deaths, and some of the scenes might be a bit disturbing for some people.**




Happy Reading!


Cana

One Grave at a Time by Jeaniene Frost

Description

The grave is one wrong step away.

Having narrowly averted an (under)world war, Cat Crawfield wants nothing more than a little downtime with her vampire husband, Bones. Unfortunately, her gift from New Orleans' voodoo queen just keeps on giving--leading to a personal favor that sends them into battle once again, this time against a villainous spirit. 

Centuries ago, Heinrich Kramer was a witch hunter. Now, every All Hallows Eve, he takes physical form to torture innocent women before burning them alive. This year, however, a determined Cat and Bones must risk all to send him back to the other side of eternity--forever. But how do you kill a killer who's already long dead?

My Review

One Grave at a Time by Jeaniene Frost

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just when things looked like they were finally becoming “normal”, Cat and Bones are off on another adventure. After being asked to help a ghost seeking revenge, a crazed, sexist, murdering ghost becomes the next target for Cat and Bones. But will they survive through Halloween when this ghost is out for blood?
This novel picks up right where This Side of the Grave (the last book) leaves off. Trying to figure out why Don is a ghost, having some free time, and waiting on the “gift” that Majestic gave Cat to finally wear off. But we then get to meet some new (sometimes irritating and idiotic) people.
As usual, I love Ms. Frost’s take on history. Using Heinrich Kramer and his book Malleus Maleficarum as the basis for this novel was a great twist. He was already a misinformed man, but Ms. Frost made him thoroughly insane and possessed by his bigotry and sexism.
Cat and Bones have a better, deeper relationship, though it is tried again with their fewer times to be alone. I also think that because of the partially slower pace of the book we do have a better chance to see this relationship become better.
I enjoyed getting to see Cat’s powers better displayed in this novel. She can fly (though her landings are still pretty bad), she still absorbs the powers from the vamps she feeds from, and if she is going to be able to learn to control the mind reading gifts she gets from Bones.
I do like that we are still wondering about Don (like is he going to move on to the other side? Is the reason he is still there because of the new head of his old team? And so many more), is Elisabeth going to move on or is there a certain ghost that is keeping her earth-bound, and finally what other “gifts” is Cat going to learn about?
Overall, I think this book was wonderful, and I hated that it ended. I am looking forward to the next in this series (no matter the spin off!).
**Adult scenes involved. Not appropriate for all readers.**


Happy Reading!


Cana