BOOK REVIEW: BLOOD GAMBLE BY MELISSA F. OLSON

Title: Blood Gamble

Author: Melissa F. Olson
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Published on: July 25, 2017 by 47North

If there is one city that Scarlett Bernard hates, it’s Las Vegas. But when the cardinal vampire of Los Angeles convinces her to go investigate a new vampire-themed stage show, Scarlett quickly finds herself shoulder-deep in sequins, slot machines, and Old World intrigue.

The show’s creators are vampire celebrities Arthur and Lucy Holmwood, who once inspired characters from the original Dracula. Now, however, they have no qualms about announcing their true status to the human world, endangering the secrecy of the Old World and Scarlett’s mission to keep it hidden.

But before she can begin untangling the Holmwoods’ motives, Scarlett also discovers that their new production has attracted more than just fans: Las Vegas’s many vampires are suddenly disappearing, and rumors are flying that actual vampire hunters may have followed Arthur and Lucy to town.

Now, without her allies, her bargest, or her frequent partner Jesse Cruz, Scarlett must navigate a new underworld of secrets and murders in a city where nothing is ever as it seems. And the stakes have never been higher.

By now, Scarlett Bernard should need no introduction. Blood Gamble is book five in her series, and eight overall in the Old World Chronology. In this book, Scarlett finds herself trying to solve a problem unlike any she’s ever faced before. The timing isn’t great, as Scarlett broke up with her werewolf boyfriend Eli at the end of Midnight Curse. They both realized they had changed so much over the years. Scarlett and Eli were no longer right for each other. The two still remain good friends. And at least, Scarlett has her old roommate Molly (a vampire) back in her life.

The past four books in Scarlett’s series all took place in Los Angeles. Now, the new case brings with it a change of scenery. Dashiell, the cardinal vampire of LA, is the one who tasks Scarlett with looking into an issue. There’s a vampire-related show, Demeter, being performed in Las Vegas. Dashiell wants to make sure it doesn’t expose the Old World. Scarlett is reluctant to go at first, as she really doesn’t like Las Vegas. With a little…encouragement from Dashiell, Scarlett has no choice but to relent. She’ll just be a scout anyway. The case doesn’t appear like it’ll be as big as Scarlett’s previous ones.

BOOK REVIEW: THE GIRL UNLEASHED BY JUDITH BERENS

Title: The Girl Unleashed

Author: Judith Berens

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Published on: August 3, 2019 by LMBPN Publishing

No matter the century, being a teenage vampire is hard when there’s no one around to teach you how to be cool, date and lift a car out of the way without getting caught.

 

Vickie has grown into a rockstar vampire with her powers, but she can still cause harm. Not a good way to stay hidden when everyone has the number to TMZ and a camera in their pocket. Selfie with the teenage vampire anyone?

Social media can bite worse than a vampire’s fangs.

That’s not her only problem. The Circle may be gone, but a government agency is looking into supernatural activity and everything points at Vickie. Big brother is not happy.

To make matters worse, Alexis and Vickie clash over misunderstandings and Vickie’s desire for more independence. Can the girls get past their disagreements and work together as a family?

Vicki’s danger meter is going off and she can sense a threat to her new family.

Can Vicki right some wrongs and make up with Alexis before she finds herself in an even worse situation?

Find out in The Girl Unleashed.

Book five in the Last Vampire series marks a turning point. Protagonist Vickie Hewitt managed to take out a threat that loomed over her throughout four books. As a vampire, there was a group of people bent on killing her. That she is just fourteen and harmless did not stop them. The group, known as the Slayer Circle, caught up to Vickie at last. With the help of a surprising ally, Vickie managed to kill the Circle members. It was a thrilling fight, though it felt a little underwhelming to me. With how menacing the Circle sounded, their defeat felt a little too easy. 

Now that the Circle is gone, Vickie can go back to leading as normal a life as she can. As the last vampire, she’s alone in the world. Luckily, Craig Watson and his daughter Alexis have been there for her since she woke up. Vickie has adjusted well to living as a high school student. She’s a star athlete now (competing in cross country) and has a boyfriend, Eric. He’s one of Alexis’s longtime friends who developed a crush on Vickie soon after they first met. Their relationship is going really well. Vickie’s clueless about dating in the twenty-first century, though. She comes from a time where parents married their children off at fourteen. I kid you not!

BOOK REVIEW: MIDNIGHT CURSE BY MELISSA F. OLSON

Title: Midnight Curse

Author: Melissa F. Olson
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Published on: February 7, 2017 by 47North

Scarlett Bernard is used to cleaning up messes. As a human who cancels out any magic around her, Scarlett’s job is to keep the supernatural world hidden—at any cost.

But on the eve of the Vampire Trials, a two-day tribunal that allows the otherworldly community to air their grievances, Scarlett receives a blood-soaked message from Molly, her estranged former roommate. Molly, a vampire, had been living with twelve human college students…and in one terrible night, she slaughtered them all.

Scarlett believes Molly’s been set up, but no one else in the Old World agrees with her. Meanwhile, the true perpetrator is determined to make sure Molly goes on trial for the massacre—and the penalty is death.

With less than two days to prove her friend’s innocence, Scarlett calls on former LAPD detective Jesse Cruz to help her dig into Molly’s past. But no one—Molly included—wants Scarlett and Jesse to bring the terrible truth to light.

The original protagonist of the Old World Chronology, Scarlett Bernard, is back for another adventure. This is an urban fantasy that takes place in contemporary LA. Scarlett is a null, a human capable of negating magic around her. She last appeared in Hunter’s Trail. Midnight Curse takes place after the Boundary Magic trilogy, set in the same world. It’s not necessary to read those books beforehand, though.

Three years have elapsed since Scarlett’s last big case. She’s still working as a crime scene cleaner for the vampire, witch, and werewolf factions. Scarlett is also in a relationship with Eli, the beta of the werewolf pack. Things appear to be going great with them. Scarlett also still has the bargest whose loyalty she won in Hunter’s Trail. For those who don’t know, a bargest is a huge dog magically endowed with immense strength and endurance. Dashiell, the cardinal vampire of LA, charged Scarlett with looking after the bargest, whom she named Shadow.

BOOK REVIEW: SIEGE AND STORM BY LEIGH BARDUGO

Title: Siege and Storm

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Published on: June 4, 2013 by Henry Holt and Co.

Enter the Grishaverse with Book Two of the Shadow and Bone Trilogy by the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Alina Starkov’s power has grown, but not without a price. She is the Sun Summoner—hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Shadow Fold. But she and Mal can’t outrun their enemies for long.

The Darkling is more determined than ever to claim Alina’s magic and use it to take the Ravkan throne. With nowhere else to turn, Alina enlists the help of an infamous privateer and sets out to lead the Grisha army.

But as the truth of Alina’s destiny unfolds, she slips deeper into the Darkling’s deadly game of forbidden magic, and further away from her humanity. To save her country, Alina will have to choose between her power and the love she thought would always be her shelter. No victory can come without sacrifice—and only she can face the oncoming storm.

After the shocking ending in Shadow and Bone, the Grisha trilogy continues with Siege and Storm. The main protagonist is Alina Starkov, who lives in the fictional kingdom of Ravka. She and her best friend, Malyen “Mal” Oretsev, are on the run. In the previous book, Alina learned that she’s a Grisha, a human with special powers. In her case, Alina can control and generate sunlight. This earned her the name of Sun Summoner. Ravka is partially divided by a dark magical barrier called the Shadow Fold. Alina is the only Grisha alive who could be capable of destroying it.

Alina spent most of the first book training with Ravka’s Second Army, the Grisha. She was also under the protection of their leader, who calls himself the Darkling. He seemed to want to help Alina develop her power enough to destroy the Fold. The two started growing close, seeming to be on the way to become a couple. To Alina’s shock, the Darkling stole control of her power (temporarily) and used it to extend the Fold. This revealed the Darkling as the series’s main antagonist. It turns out he’s also the Black Heretic, the ancient Grisha responsible for creating the Fold in the first place.

BOOK REVIEW: THE GIRL IN PLAIN SIGHT BY JUDITH BERENS

Title: The Girl in Plain Sight

Author: Judith Berens

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Published on: July 15, 2019

New semester. New classes. New challenges. Can a 400-year-old teenage vampire learn to control her powers enough to manage the halls of public school? And not bite anyone of course…

Vickie is making friends with a new girl, someone Alexis doesn’t trust. Alexis is starting a romance with Will, and Vickie smells trouble. Are the girls worried about the wrong things or can they help each other out?

But new world, new problems. The girls end up on social media, and Vickie has been warned not to talk about vampires, but will she listen? Let’s hope she doesn’t overshare with her new friend trying to impress her with a few vampire tricks.

But Dad has a way to get the girls to focus. Vickie and Alexis have to get jobs if they want money to spend on hanging out with friends.

It’s all so normal until… it isn’t…

The family’s attention is divided until the Circle shows up at the house. It’s going to take a team effort to survive. Has Vicki made enough allies to stand next to her and fight? One wrong move and the Circle will finally kill the Last Vampire.

Join the battle in the halls of high school and the deadly streets with The Girl in Plain Sight.

 

It’s the start of Vickie Hewitt’s second semester at Clear Lake High. She’s a fourteen-year-old vampire who woke up after four hundred years asleep. Craig Watson and his daughter Alexis found Vickie during their trip to Austria. Months later, Vickie has assimilated to the modern world really well. Thanks to Alexis’s guidance, Vickie has managed to blend in among society. She likes her new life, even if her parents aren’t there for her anymore. They (along with all other vampires) were killed by a group called the Slayer Circle.

On the subject of the Circle, they are still around. Yes, it’s been four centuries and the group continues to operate. They believed they’d eliminated all vampires from the world. Only, they found out there’s a vampire living in Milwaukee. After a bit of investigation, the Circle has discovered Vickie. They’ve been keeping an eye to see how much of a danger she is. But Vickie’s living as a regular teenage girl. She hasn’t hurt anyone…at least not out of malice. All Vickie wants is to live her life and be left alone. Unfortunately, the Circle have other ideas.

THE TOP 10 BOOKS I READ IN 2023

Good morning, folks! It’s time again for my annual list of the 10 best books that I read. This year was my most prolific yet. I’ve finished 84 books as of the time I’m writing this post. It could increase slightly, but I’m pretty much done for the year. And though I read so many books, there weren’t that many to choose from to pick my top 10. It seems the…likability of the books I read this year wasn’t as high as usual. Despite that, there were still plenty of books that I greatly enjoyed.

One of my picks this year was a huge surprise. This book was so good I added it to this list at the very last minute. Usually, December is a wind-down month for me; I either read less books or pick only books that I’ve read before. But this last-minute book is part of a series I didn’t want to postpone until next year. And boy, was that a good choice. The book is Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson. It was absolutely earth-shattering in my opinion. I liked it so much I couldn’t not include it in this list. And it damn near beat all my other picks. Here’s the full list:

BOOK REVIEW: SHADOW AND BONE BY LEIGH BARDUGO

Title: Shadow and Bone

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Published on: May 7, 2013 by Square Fish

Discover the adventure that started it all and meet Alina, Mal, and the Darkling in Shadow and Bone from #1 bestselling author, Leigh Bardugo.

Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold―a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashes dormant magic not even she knew she possessed.

Now Alina will enter a lavish world of royalty and intrigue as she trains with the Grisha, her country’s magical military elite―and falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes Alina can summon a force capable of destroying the Shadow Fold and reuniting their war-ravaged country, but only if she can master her untamed gift.

As the threat to the kingdom mounts and Alina unlocks the secrets of her past, she will make a dangerous discovery that could threaten all she loves and the very future of a nation.

Welcome to Ravka . . . a world of science and superstition where nothing is what it seems.

I’ve come across this book a few times, yet hadn’t got around to reading it. I didn’t think I was missing much. Boy, was I wrong. Shadow and Bone turned out to be a lot more entertaining than I expected. It’s part of the Grishaverse, which is about as popular as Harry Potter or the Twilight novels. The protagonist is Alina Starkov, a mapmaker who lives in the fictional kingdom of Ravka. She’s seventeen and has been working for the Army for about a year. Alina’s childhood best friend, Malyen “Mal” Oretsev, is also in the Army. He’s a tracker rather than a mapmaker.

There’s something that has afflicted the land of Ravka for generations. It’s called the Shadow Fold, a sort of dark magical sea infested with monsters. One day, Alina and her regiment must cross the Fold and get to the other side. They use skiffs for this purpose. Among the crew are several Grisha, the elite members of the Second Army. The Grisha have special powers. Some of them have control over wind, which is how they propel the skiffs. Others have control over fire, which provides light and protection.

BOOK REVIEW: A COURT OF SILVER FLAMES BY SARAH J. MAAS

Title: A Court of Silver Flames

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Fantasy, romance

Published on: February 16, 2021 by Bloomsbury Publishing

Sarah J. Maas's sexy, richly imagined series continues with the journey of Feyre's fiery sister, Nesta.

Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she's struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can't seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it.

The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre's Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta's orbit. But her temper isn't the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.

Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.

Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance-and healing-in each other's arms.

 

After three books with Feyre and Rhysand as protagonists (the “bridge” novel not included), A Court of Silver Flames puts the spotlight on two former supporting characters. One is Nesta Archeron, Feyre’s older sister. She used to be human, until the King of Hybern forcibly turned her into High Fae. Nesta is the kind of person you don’t want to cross, and she got her revenge in the end. But the war had a considerable toll on Nesta. Everyone suffered heavy losses, though Nesta took hers really hard. She now spends her days drowning her sorrows and ignoring the pain that threatens to consume her.

When Nesta goes too far one night, Feyre and Rhysand decide they’ve had enough. The two inform Nesta that she will either train with Cassian--the general of Rhysand’s Illyrian army-- or be exiled to the human lands. The latter would not be a pleasant option. Humans still aren’t on good terms with the Fae even though Prythian was on their side in the war against Hybern. If Nesta returned to the human lands, she’d have nowhere to stay because no one would want her. In the end, Nesta has no choice but to move to the House of Wind. There’s one detail: only those who can fly or winnow can easily access it. Anyone else has to walk ten thousand steps up and down the mountain.

BOOK REVIEW: THE GIRL WITH A SECRET BY JUDITH BERENS

Title: The Girl With A Secret

Author: Judith Berens

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Published on: June 26, 2019 by LMBPN Publishing

Vickie’s a 400-year-old teenage vampire in a suburban public school. Combine that with vampire strength and speed, mix in typical teenage impulse control and trouble follows.

Her new dad, Craig and adopted sister, Alexis are having trouble helping Vickie keep her identity under wraps – especially as classmates realize there’s something different about her.

Is time running out? Reports of a Last Vampire are getting back to the centuries old Circle. Dedicated to hunting down vampires, they are getting closer to tracking her down.

Her vampire senses are on high alert and she senses the impending danger to her family, if she doesn’t get distracted...

Can Vickie handle dating, homework, boys, and hanging out like an average teen, and protect her new family?

Will she be able to deal with the threat by herself or will it take a family effort? Will everyone survive… this time?

 

The books in this series are rather short, so I’m going through them quickly. This is the third entry in the Last Vampire series. The main character is Victoria “Vickie” Hewitt. She’s a fourteen-year-old vampire from Austria. Craig and Alexis, a small American family, found Vickie there and decided to bring her with them. She had no one else left in the world after sleeping for centuries. Vickie and Alexis are now almost as close as sisters. They attend the same private school, Clear Lake. It’s been a few weeks since Vickie enrolled. She’s made a few new friends so far.

Despite being at Clear Lake for a short time, Vickie’s already made an impression. She has her first-ever crush on a boy, Eric. Vickie has no experience dating, but she wants to see where things could go between her and Eric. He’s a cross country runner, so Vickie decides to join the girls’ team. She figures it’ll allow them to spend more time together. Vickie will have to control her powers, though. She’s much faster than anyone. Given Vickie’s struggle to rein in her nature, I was surprised Craig and Alexis let her join cross country. At least Alexis is there for most of the meets to keep an eye on Vickie.

BOOK REVIEW: A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN BY SARAH J. MAAS

Title: A Court of Wings and Ruin
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Fantasy, romance
Published on: May 2, 2017 by Bloomsbury Publishing

 

The epic third novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas.

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin's actions and learn what she can about the invading king threatening to bring her land to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit. One slip could bring doom not only for Feyre, but for everything-and everyone-she holds dear.

As war bears down upon them all, Feyre endeavors to take her place amongst the High Fae of the land, balancing her struggle to master her powers-both magical and political-and her love for her court and family. Amidst these struggles, Feyre and Rhysand must decide whom to trust amongst the cunning and lethal High Lords, and hunt for allies in unexpected places.

In this thrilling third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series from Sarah J. Maas, the fate of Feyre's world is at stake as armies grapple for power over the one thing that could destroy it.

The story of Feyre Archeron continues in A Court of Wings and Ruin. This is the third entry in the series. It picks up the story not long after the ending of the previous book. And it was quite an ending. Feyre and her friends had their first confrontation with the series’ main antagonist. He’s known only as the King of Hybern. Feyre saved her group just narrowly. This was thanks to her special powers. Feyre unwittingly acquired them after the seven High Lords of Prythian revived her in book one. She was human then, but now she is High Fae.

There is a change that happened “off-screen”. To recap a little, Feyre has been living in the Night Court for a while. She fell in love with Rhysand, the High Lord of Night. Feyre not only accepted his love, but became his equal: the High Lady of the Night Court. This was significant, as the continent of Prythian has never had a High Lady before. Feyre hides her new status during the beginning of this book, as she embarks on a personal mission. This involves pretending that Rhysand brainwashed her (most of Prythian thinks he’s sort of a bad guy).

FAVORITE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS FROM BOOKS, PART 2

Good morning! Today I’m publishing the second part of a post I wrote almost three years ago. In it, I listed some of my favorite characters from the books that I’ve read. I re-uploaded the post recently because the images embedded in it were lost. I didn’t alter any of the text, but it did give me the opportunity to pick better “casting choices” for some of the characters. I’m not a big movie buff, so I don’t know as many actors as some people do, but I still fancy imagining who could play certain characters.

In the three years since I first uploaded that post, I’ve read a lot of books. Inevitably, I’ve met new characters who I ended up liking or admiring. A few are from very popular series that I hadn’t had a chance to read yet. Like with the previous post, this list is in no particular order. Here it goes:

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BOOK REVIEW: THE GIRL IN THE BACK ROW BY JUDITH BERENS

Title: The Girl In the Back Row
Author: Judith Berens
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Published on: June 4, 2019 by LMBPN Publishing

High school means classes, making friends, hanging out, cutting classes… and keeping your fangs to yourself. Watch out world, this teen’s bite is worse than her bark.

Welcome to public school Vampire teen. Keep an eye out for the ones who would rather put you back in a box, but this time forever.

Vicki is getting a crash course in teenage life, if she can just keep her true nature hidden.

Her new dad is still dealing with the loss of his wife and finding a new job. Now he’s got a 400-year-old teenager who can push over a car. Good luck setting a curfew.

Fortunately, she wants to make new friends more than mayhem. Too bad others aren’t going to make that so easy.

There’s a dark force looking for the last vampire, and all those paranormal powers are going to come in handy to keep herself and her new little family safe.

But how do you master your inner vampire when there’s no one left to teach you and suburbia just isn’t ready to find out, not everybody who gets put in a box stays there?

Can Vicki blend in and be a typical teenage girl? Will she be able fight the urge to use her smarts and speed?

Join Craig, Alexis and Vicki on the next part of their adventure, as they adjust to living with each other and keeping Vicki’s true nature a secret.

After reading The Girl Behind the Wall, I thought it was good enough to continue the series. It was a bit of a short read, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t entertaining. This sequel continues the story of Victoria Brommer. She’s a fourteen-year-old vampire who was in a deep sleep for 400 years. Victoria’s parents hid her in their castle in Austria to protect her from an evil group. Four centuries later, Craig and his daughter Alexis stumbled upon Victoria. They realized what she was right away. It took a few weeks for Craig and Alexis to warm up to Victoria. The two bring her back to the United States with them.

For safety reasons, Victoria now goes by Vickie Hewitt. Craig managed to enroll her at Clear Lake, the same private high school Alexis goes to. It wasn’t hard for Vickie to pass the entrance tests. Vampires in this series can learn stuff extremely fast. Vickie also doesn’t drink blood; her diet is just like a human’s. There does exist a vampire race that sucks blood, called Sanguinaries. It appears there are none left, though. Vickie is perhaps the only survivor of a crusade that claimed her parents’ lives. The evil group, known as the Slayer Circle, sought to eradicate all vampires. They are confident their mission was accomplished…for now.

BOOK REVIEW: A COURT OF MIST AND FURY BY SARAH J. MAAS

Title: A Court of Mist and Fury
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Fantasy, romance
Published on: May 3, 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing

 

The seductive and stunning #1 New York Times bestselling sequel to Sarah J. Maas's spellbinding A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she's now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.

As her marriage to Tamlin approaches, Feyre's hollowness and nightmares consume her. She finds herself split into two different people: one who upholds her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court, and one who lives out her life in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While Feyre navigates a dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms. She might just be the key to stopping it, but only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future-and the future of a world in turmoil.

Bestselling author Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her dazzling, sexy, action-packed series to new heights.

  

If a second read of A Court of Thorns and Roses made me like it better, then this sequel finished the job of making me a fan of the series. Now I see why it has such an ardent fan base. A Court of Mist and Fury picks things up shortly after the first book’s ending. Feyre Archeron is the main character. She’s a human girl who was compelled to enter Prythian, the fairy realm, after a fateful evening. There, she fell for Tamlin, the High Lord of the Spring Court. This romance gave Feyre the courage to stop Amarantha, a wicked and powerful fairy princess. Feyre ends up getting killed, though. Fortunately, the seven High Lords of Prythian brought her back as thanks for saving their land.

Feyre is now a High Fae, and is living in the Spring Court. Tamlin and his people are rebuilding after the damage wrought by the war. However, their court isn’t the only thing that’s damaged. Feyre’s experience Under the Mountain (Amarantha’s base) broke her. Saving Prythian cost her way more than just her life. Feyre is now living with guilt, and it doesn’t help that Tamlin smothers her with protection. He doesn’t want to lose Feyre again, and goes to great lengths for it.

BOOK REVIEW: THE GIRL BEHIND THE WALL BY JUDITH BERENS

Title: The Girl Behind the Wall
Author: Judith Berens
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Published on: May 13, 2019 by LMBPN Publishing

Would you adopt a 400-year-old teenager? How about one with fangs?

Vicki was put into a deep sleep and has no clue centuries have passed. That is, until she’s accidentally woken up by a father and daughter on a vacation.

Cars? Cell phones? What’s an Instagram? How can Craig and Alexis explain the world?

No one said educating a teenage vampire would be easy.

First they have to figure out how to get her back to the United States without anyone figuring out she’s not quite human. Public school should be interesting.

Cheerleading tryouts, driving lessons, unreal power and fangs?

You try telling her no. She’s a new kind of modern-day teenager. But for Alexis, she’s just a new sister… with bite.

Join Vicki, Craig, and Alexis on a journey that will change their lives - in The Girl Behind the Wall.

 

 

Vampire fantasy is among my favorite supernatural fiction. I find them (and fairies) intriguing. When I read the synopsis for this book, I looked forward to reading it. The premise is compelling to me: a girl who suddenly wakes up after four hundred years. That she’s a vampire made it more interesting. She’s Victoria, a fourteen-year-old living in Austria whose parents put her in a deep sleep. They sought to hide her from some unknown danger. It appears Victoria’s parents met their demise, so she got stuck in stasis in her castle for centuries. Finally, a pair of tourists stumble into Victoria by chance.

The other protagonists are Craig and Alexis. They went on an impromptu trip to Austria after Craig’s wife (Alexis’s mother) died of cancer. The two wanted to check out for a little while before facing the rest of their lives. Craig and Alexis are renting the castle where Victoria remains hidden. One day, Alexis finds a clue that leads her to a section of the castle no one knows exists. After much cajoling, Alexis convinces her father to see what’s inside that hidden section. To their dismay, they discover a coffin…and inside is Victoria, looking exactly the same as she did in the early sixteen hundreds.

BOOK REVIEW: A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES BY SARAH J. MAAS

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Fantasy, romance

Published on: May 5, 2015 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price ...

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

 

Before I started reading this book, I had a few doubts about it. I’d read some reviews (as I do with some of the books I get) and they were divisive. I’m not completely swayed by critiques, though. That lots of people didn’t like a particular novel doesn’t mean I won’t like it. So I decided to read A Court of Thorns and Roses, looking forward to seeing who I’d agree with. The main character is Feyre. She’s nineteen and lives in a cottage with her father and two sisters. They are desperately poor, so Feyre must hunt to provide for them all. This has made her skilled with a bow. Feyre is also kind of an old-soul, and the most resilient of her sisters.

The setting of ACOTAR is a fantastical land where fairies exist. Long ago, there was a war between them and humans. After it ended, the fairies isolated themselves, claiming a huge chunk of the territory. Humans settled for a small portion of the south. The land is a country-sized island, and the fairy section is known as Prythian. This surprised me a little bit. I’d thought the fairies would live in a separate realm/dimension. Instead they live in the same physical world as humans.

BOOK REVIEW: CITY OF GLASS BY CASSANDRA CLARE

Title: City of Glass

Author: Cassandra Clare

Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Published on: February 14, 2009 by Margaret K. McElderry Books

Love is a mortal sin, and the secrets of the past are deadly. Plunge into the third installment in the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series and “prepare to be hooked” (Entertainment Weekly).

To save her mother’s life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters—never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.

As Clary uncovers more about her family’s past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he’s willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City—whatever the cost?

Love is a mortal sin and the secrets of the past prove deadly as Clary and Jace face down Valentine in the third installment of bestselling series the Mortal Instruments.

 

Clary Fairchild and her friends return for another adventure in this third Mortal Instruments novel. This time, the story changes setting to Idris, the secret home country of the Shadowhunters. The previous two books were all set in New York. I like that the book finally introduces Idris. Clary wants to go there to find a certain warlock, Ragnor Fell. He knows how to wake up Jocelyn, her mother, from a self-induced magical sleep. For some reason, though, Jace doesn’t want Clary anywhere near Idris. He goes to great lengths to discourage her. I wondered what his deal was.

Jace decides to pull a fast one and get to Idris earlier than planned. The Institute is attacked at just that moment, though. A horde of Forsaken ambush the Shadowhunters. They manage to kill one of them and wound Simon before the group can Portal away. Clary is furious when she learns Jace and the others went away. Never mind that the Forsaken almost killed them all. Clary really doesn’t like being left behind. In a rash move, she uses her special rune power to open a new Portal. Luke only just manages to catch Clary when she goes through.

MY TOP 10 READS OF 2022

 

Good morning! It's once again time to share the books I enjoyed reading the most this year. And in 2022, there were a lot of books to pick from. So far I've read over 70 books, which I track with The StoryGraph. That's pretty much the same as the number of books I finished in 2021. I ended up selecting just 10 books as always, which makes for tough decisions.

This is also the second year in which I've exclusively used The StoryGraph instead of Goodreads. I moved over because the latter remained static the entire decade I used it. It was also quite bloated and didn't have a handful of features I consider must-haves. Rating books in fractions of a star is the biggest advantage The StoryGraph has, in my opinion. I can also see reading statistics, which tells me I read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi this year. Anyway, here are the books I ended up selecting:

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BOOK REVIEW: BOUNDARY HAUNTED BY MELISSA F. OLSON

Title: Boundary Haunted

Author: Melissa F. Olson

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Published on: December 3, 2019 by 47North

Months after her battles in Wyoming, Allison “Lex” Luther is still struggling with the aftereffects of the psychic attack she suffered—and with the new developments in her own magic.

Then Lex’s boss, the cardinal vampire of Colorado, passes along a strange request from her counterpart in Atlanta. Hundreds of Civil War spirits have abruptly vanished in Beau Calhoun’s territory, and he wants Lex to figure out why. In exchange, Beau can help her understand boundary magic, which runs in his family line as well.

Despite her trepidation, Lex journeys to the Deep South, where she discovers that ghosts are everywhere…and that her host’s intentions are more complicated than he promised. It seems his teenage descendant is being hunted, and both Beau and Lex fear the young woman’s boundary blood may have made her a target.

With Atlanta’s history looming over her every move, Lex will have to face Beau’s ghosts—and her own—to prevent a boundary magic attack she never dreamed possible.

 

 

Here it is: the fifth (and hopefully not last) book in the Boundary Magic series. It takes place in Melissa F. Olson’s Old World stories. Boundary witch Allison “Lex” Luther is back for another adventure. This time it’s not Maven—her boss and the cardinal vampire of Colorado—who gives her an assignment. Lex is surprised to hear someone has requested her assistance. Maven got a call from Abner Calhoun, the cardinal vampire of Atlanta. He wants Lex to help him sort out a problem with ghosts in his city. Lex is apprehensive at first, though. In the previous book, she suffered a terrible psychic attack done with wraiths—the most wicked kind of ghosts. Since then, Lex has had a sort of phobia of them. Understandably, Lex isn't in a hurry to go to one of the most haunted cities in the country.

Lex hasn't told anyone about her issue, though. She mostly agrees to go to Atlanta to help Maven. The latter's been working to set up a countrywide government for the Old World. If Lex convinces Calhoun to lend his support, Maven's project will be one step closer to becoming reality. In preparation for this, Maven's also been teaching Lex about Old World politics. Calhoun is known for being rather...eccentric. Lex thinks Maven has a low opinion of him, but the latter denies this, claiming Calhoun's just unusual. The guy did earn a funny nickname, because he turned four of his buddies and dubbed them the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

BOOK REVIEW: CITY OF ASHES BY CASSANDRA CLARE

Title: City of Ashes

Author: Cassandra Clare

Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Published on: March 14, 2009 by Margaret K. McElderry Books

 Is love worth betraying everything? Plunge into the second adventure in the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series and “prepare to be hooked” (Entertainment Weekly).

Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go -- especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil—and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings—and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City's Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

While City of Bones didn’t blow me away, it was more than compelling enough for me to continue with the series. I like the characters, especially since I already watched Shadowhunters. Now that City of Ashes doesn’t have to keep worldbuilding as much, things speed up noticeably. The protagonist, Clary Fray, is still hovering between two worlds. She’s lived as a mundane (a regular human) until she was already fifteen. Clary had no idea that she was a Shadowhunter because of her mother, Jocelyn. The latter fled the Shadow World over a decade ago and didn’t want anything more to do with it.

Clary isn’t a full-blown Shadowhunter yet. She’s been living with Luke Garroway, an old friend of Jocelyn’s whom she loves like an uncle. Luke recently let Clary know that he’s a werewolf. He has his own pack as well (which he took command of to protect Clary). Clary also has a best friend, Simon Lewis. They’re dating now, but taking things slow. Simon has been in love with Clary for years, which shocked her. Clary loves him, of course, but as a friend. She wonders if she can learn to love him the way she loves a certain blond guy.

 

BOOK REVIEW: CITY OF BONES BY CASSANDRA CLARE

Title: City of Bones

Author: Cassandra Clare

Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Published on: May 27, 2007 by Margaret K. McElderry Books

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air.

It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk.

Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...

It’s 2021, and I’m barely getting started with this series. I’ve seen the movie and the Shadowhunters TV show, so I’m no stranger to the Shadow World. City of Bones turned out to be more different than I expected, though. I knew they cut stuff for the show, as they inevitably do in live-action adaptations. It's just that I didn't think they would remove as many elements from the book as they did. This makes me feel that the show will seem quite rushed if I watch it again.

For the uninitiated, the protagonist is Clarissa “Clary” Fray. She’s a fifteen-year-old redheaded girl from Brooklyn. Clary lives in an apartment with her mother, Jocelyn. We meet Clary when she visits a club, Pandemonium, with her best friend Simon Lewis. He’s your chess club type of geek and member of a yet-unnamed band. Simon normally doesn’t do clubs, but he puts up because of Clary. It’s apparent from the start how much they mean to each other. Soon, it starts to become obvious Simon has romantic feelings for Clary. She is totally oblivious to this.