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

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




What a great book. So much better than what I was expecting, if I must be honest. I was thinking a cutesy High School Vampire book. And it sort of was, but there were elements of seriousness about it as well. I was expecting chapter headers like, "lesson 1 - yadda yadda yadda." Instead what I got was chapters that ran together even on the same page, which made it even more impossible to put the book down - because I never really felt like I was at a good ending point. I rely way to heavily on chapters. :)I really enjoyed Jessica and Lucius' transformations throughout the book. Lucius comes to Pennsylvania (haha, typical Vampire setting I'd say) stiff and cordial and a bit weird really, but watching him move from that to a normal teenager is great. It makes the ending chapters a little hard for me though. I didn't like the move back into Vampire royalty with avenges. But it did make for a good book. Jessica (Antanasia) was also a great character. She was your typical, and logical teenager. I enjoyed watching her move into her role as well. I love Lucius' description of teenagers at school:"Although I sometimes secretly envy their ability to empty their minds completely for a full fifty minutes, reanimating only at the sound of the bell, like Pavlov's dogs. At which point they bark and yip about the hallways until classes start again." Yup, that's pretty much how I remember it too.Beth Fantaskey did a great job with the love story as well. Just enough to make your heart pound, but not too much that you wonder just why this book is for young adults. I look forward to more books by Beth!

View all my reviews >>

Book Review: Linger - Maggie Stiefvater

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Linger surprised me I think. The thing is, before I added this audiobook to my iPod, I just came off a Maggie Stiefvater reading spree anyway - I just completed Lament and Ballad, and while I liked them, enjoyed them even, I didn't love them. I found both really melancholy, which isn't my favorite type of book. I think I also had forgotten the feel of Shiver and how much I enjoyed it.

So as I was saying, I was surprised by Linger. The words are like poetry, Maggie paints a picture of everything through her words, and it wasn't too much. There are some books where the picture is painted, and painted, and painted and...well, you get it. I did feel at times the story line was moving slow, but at the same time not. Really, it's hard to explain exactly what I mean. I will say, that the suspense of the book didn't catch hold of me until it was almost at it's end, at which time I was scoffing at every little distraction that came my way. I will also say that I am the master at figuring out the foreshadowing....and that's ALL I'll say, because elaborating will ruin the book!

This is definitely a fantasy/scifi/romance (Supernatural Romance...that should be a genre I think) readers' perfect pick!

View all my reviews >>

The Search - Nora Roberts

The Search by Nora Roberts

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It is pretty safe to say I'm a big fan of Nora Roberts. It's kind of funny though, because her books follow the same basic pattern, but I always love the characters she writes, and their trades.

In The Search Fiona is a Dog Trainer, ultimately for search and rescue dogs. I really enjoyed the aspect of this the book and the way Nora Roberts goes into detail on how Fiona trains the dogs and what a big part of her life they are. Fiona is fun an witty. I just recently finished Angel Falls and I'm very happy that Fiona was a stronger person than Reece. Reece was okay, but I got tired of her pretty quickly. I LOVED Simon, almost as much as I love Luke Callahan from Honest Illusions. He was so perfectly calm and sarcastic about everything. He has his moments of passion, and when he does, whether it be because of love or anger, he was always wonderful. I laughed at him out loud while at work more than once.

What I WAS expecting, and what didn't happen was an ending sort of similar to The Black Hills which I guess would have been sort of repetitive and predictable (especially since I was predicting it), but I loved the ending of that book that I guess I was rooting for it.

I listed to this via audio book, and must give props to the narrator, Tanya Eby. She was fantastic! The moment Simon said, "I love you," had my heart dropping out, which is kind of funny since it was right in the middle of a fight. I love good audio readers, and I guess Tanya would end up on my "like" list.

View all my reviews >>