Alice's Review: A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

Released: 14th December 2012
Paperback: 147 pages
Price: $6.50
Publisher: Self-published
Source: Review copy
Genre: Young adult, paranormal romance
Series: No series title
Series Order:
1. A Shade of Vampire
2. TBA
Summary:

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?

My Rating:

My Opinion: I have an embarrassing secret to admit! I'm kind of really into the whole damsel-in-distress thing where the girl gets captured and needs a hero to save her. I'm a sucker for those and was obviously keen to read this book when I read the blurb. What I first noticed was that the PDF is only 90 pages long and the paperback 147 pages. This means that there's not much room for character development.

Sofia is 17 years old, has been abandoned by both her parents and has been diagnosed with a whole host of mental disorders. She's basically super-aware of her surroundings and this is later explained as something called latent inhibition (LI) and that Sofia is special because to handle being so aware of the world all the time, a person needs to have a high IQ and is usually a creative genius. I'm at war about my feelings on this: obviously the heroine needs to be someone who stands out and Sofia's LI is a creative way to establish that, but I don't like how Sofia's LI has been given so much attention, as this screams 'special snowflake' to me. I do commend Bella Forrest for writing about LI though, I've never heard of it before.

Because the book (novella?) is so short, there isn't much time for romance, character or plot development. Basically, what's established is that Sofia is given to Derek and they fall for each other; Derek has some sort of big prophecy to fulfil; Derek's brother Lucas is evil.

The one thing that I felt had been given enough time to develop is the mystery of Derek's prophecy. Lucas was the textbook evil brother/villain: jealousy-fuelled and wanting Sofia for himself. The love between Derek and Sofia seemed to spring up out of nowhere. I did like how it's described that around Derek, Sofia feels most at home. I personally think that Sofia and Derek don't have much more than friendship going on between them. Sofia herself was nothing special either and I felt very 'meh' about her.

I did like the plot (I am a sucker for DIDs) but I do feel that it needs more fleshing out and more words. Everything happens too quickly and because of this, I felt no real connection to the story or characters, the latter of which I wasn't given enough time to get to know. The ending included making Sofia and Derek's relationship official and Derek's sister Vivienne talking more about the mysterious events ahead. After reading this book and giving it some thought, I was under-whelmed by it. I didn't think there was anything that made this book stand out from the hundreds of other vampire books on the shelf.

My verdict: The blurb promised a good plot and a strong heroine but it fell flat for me as the book was greatly disadvantaged by its short length and lack of any sort of real development of characters and plot.

Alice's Review: House of Night Series

Released: 2007
Publisher: St. Martin's
Genre: Young adult, paranormal romance
Series: House of Night
Series Order:
1. Marked
2. Betrayed
3. Chosen
4. Untamed
5. Hunted
6. Tempted
7. Burned
8. Awakened
9. Destined
10. Hidden

My Rating:

My Opinion: Let me start off by saying that a few years ago, when I was younger and more naive, I actually thought these books were good. And then I re-read them. The sheer amount of slut-shaming, girl jealousy, pop culture references and stupidity that is present in these books makes me really want to ask the authors how they could come up with it. I guess two minds are better than one...? I really don't want to write a review completely trashing these books, but I just have to talk about all the bad things in this series so you guys will know what you're getting into if you pick these up.

HoN is a series about a teenage girl named Zoey who gets marked to be a vampyre (notice the New Age-y spelling) and then goes to vampyre finishing school (aka the House of Night in Tulsa, Oklahoma, aka Why Not Somewhere Cooler Like Chicago or New York?) in the hopes of not dying before she transitions to be a full vampyre. Vampyres and fledglings are identified by the marks they sport of their foreheads: a sapphire outline of a crescent moon for fledglings, a filled in crescent moon and markings around the top half of the face for vampyres. Their goddess Nyx must be trolling them because it's cool in theory but when you actually imagine someone with markings (all different, some vamps have swirls, others have squiggles, etc, some of them form shapes like horses) like that, it's not that cool.

So the slut-shaming and girl-jealousy I mentioned. There are so many instances where Zoey either thinks girls who have any sort of sexual experience are sluts or calls another girl names because she actually possesses redeemable qualities (unlike Zoey) that it got to the point where I wondered how anyone could stand this girl. She is such a hypocrite! Zoey goes on and on about how terrible girls who like ro want sex are and then goes on with her three boyfriends and barely acknowledges the fact that she is, in fact, one of those girls she kept on insulting. Why do guys even like this girl? So far, I've gotten up to the 8th book and I still barely see why Zoey has practically her whole town beating down her door in order to hook up with her. The only semi-interesting thing about her is that she's some sort of super fledgling and is supposed to save the world from the evil vamps. Couldn't Nyx have given that mantle so some girl who isn't a hypocritical brat??

Each book has an abnormal number of pop culture references. The trendiest celebrities, popular TV shows, 'nerdy' references of comics and Star Wars (HA!), that sort of stuff. A reason I really don't like authors sticking heaps of pop culture references in their books is because five years down the track, most people won't even get the references and it will leave the scratching their heads. I DON'T NEED TO KNOW HOW SASSY PROJECT RUNWAY IS. (that is all.)

The books can't ALL be bad, can they? Well, no. In Awakened, two of the most annoying characters die and I swear to God I had like a mini party. Also, Aphrodite. Aphrodite starts off being this bitch and then turns into my favourite character. God, I love this girl. She and her super adorable relationship with Darius is what gets me through these books. Aphrodite is the one character who has actual depth and has evolved as the series goes on. She's also really hilarious and snarky. What's not to love? But apart from these two things, HoN is really not worth the read. All of the characters are one dimensional and clichéd and these books consist of Zoey being a bitch and all this drama being usually caused by her or something to DO with her.

My verdict: I realise I just spent thirty minutes writing a terrible review of this series, but in all honesty, there's not much more to write about than all the reasons I didn't like these books. I've listed the only redeemable factors that have kept me reading, so that's something, right?

Alice's Review: Where I Belong by Gwendolyn Heasley

Paperback: 256 pages
Price: AUD$17.95
ISBN: 9780061978845
Released: 23rd June 2011(Aus)
Publisher: HarperCollins
Author's Website: http://www.gwendolynheasley.com/
Obtained: Bought
Genre: YA
Summary: Meet Corrinne. She's living every girl's dream in New York City--shopping sprees at Barneys, open access to the best clubs and parties, and her own horse at the country club. Her perfect life is perfectly on track. At least it was. . . . 

When Corrinne's father is laid off, her world suddenly falls apart. Instead of heading to boarding school, she's stripped of her credit cards and shipped off to the boonies of Texas to live with her grandparents. On her own in a big public school and forced to take a job shovelling manure, Corrinne is determined to get back to the life she's supposed to be living. She doesn't care who she stomps on in the process. But when Corrinne makes an unlikely friend and discovers a total hottie at work, she begins to wonder if her life B.R.--before the recession--was as perfect as it seemed.

My Rating: 

Beware, there are a few spoilers in this review. Read at your own peril.

My Opinion: I thought this book would be completely different. The cover, for example, led me to believe this would be a cute girl gets cute cowboy type of story. I mean look at that gorgeous cover. How could I not buy this book hoping to be totally engrossed and love the story? It wasn't a love story. Not even close.

Corrinne is basically one of those clichéd rich-bitches from Gossip Girl: shallow, uncaring and pompous. She includes this letter in the beginning going on about how much she's changed and how mean she used to be and blah blah blah. Right. I just wanted to get on to the love story that never happened. Corrinne annoyed me. Something else annoyed me too: the use of 'I am'. Do you know anyone in this world who says 'I am' instead of 'I'm'? Like, no one in this book says 'I'm', it's always 'I am' and it got so damn annoying. And 'you are' instead of 'you're'. Ugh!! Why didn't the editor pick up this totally annoying mistake? I got so sick of reading I am not ready, I am going out, I am sorry and etc.

Those of you who wanted a sweet little love story to pick up your day will not get it. I considered just DNFing this book but I read some reviews on Good Reads about the ending and just decided to plough through it to see what kind of ending it would have. I finished the book twenty minutes ago and I barely even remember the ending; shows how much I was into this book, huh?

The only redeemable characters were Corrinne's grandparents, brother Tripp (who names their kid Tripp?), Corrinne's lovely friend Kitsy and her boyfriend, Hands. I really liked Hands, he seemed like a great guy even though he wasn't really featured a lot. That hottie from work turned out to be a major jerk and Corrinne ended up going for this guy named Bubby in the last two pages. Bubby is the guy who constantly made fun of her, by the way.

I guess a lot of people like the story about the reformed diva but this wasn't my cup of tea. I much prefer a love story and this had great potential to be a love story about a reformed diva, which, truthfully, is an awesome concept, especially if you love cowboys, which I do. 

My verdict: If not for Kitsy and Corrinne's adorable brother, this book would have been a DNF. The characters alone-- excluding Corrinne and her friend Waverly-- made me give this book a two-star rating instead of a one-star. Don't spend money on this book, just borrow it from the library.

Alice's Review: The Shadow of Tiamat by Sean Poindexter

Paperback: 342 pages
Price: AUD$29.99
ISBN: 9781937254193
Released: 1st December 2011
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press
Author's Website: http://www.seanpoindexter.com/
Obtained: Author review copy
Genre: Adult, urban fantasy
Series: Dragon's Blood Chronicles
Book Order:
1. The Shadow of Tiamat
2. The Will of the Darkest One (TBA)

Summary: On a dark Ozark highway, two souls meet in tragedy and find their lives are connected to things bigger than them both. Megan Crunk, a social worker from Joplin, uncovers vampires preying on a small community. That same day, she meets Garrett, a fascinating stranger who is clearly more than he seems. But, as Meg slowly learns, so is she...

Garrett Terago is an ancient dragon, and until now, content with the secluded Ozark mountains. Disguised as a human, but rarely paying them heed, until he meets Megan. He offers her love and protection from the vampires but can he keep her safe from his own kind?

War looms between the dragons. Some long for a time lost to prehistory, when they were worshipped as gods, masters of the world. Somehow, Garrett is instrumental to their plans and Megan is in their way.

My Rating: 

My Opinion: This is an urban fantasy novel with dragons, vampires and whatnot. It has a romantic element to it (the two protagonists fall in love and etc) and that element wasn't to my tastes. Most of you guys are females, right? (I assume because it would be slightly embarrassing for a guy to be browsing a site called The Book Faery.) I know a lot of us are guilty at balking at reading a romance written by a male, which is why some male writers of romance often use acronyms or pseudonyms.

I wasn't sure if I really wanted to read this book because of that, but I did because hello, dragons. I love dragons. (For those who love dragons, check out Katie MacAlister's books. Her dragon series are Aisling Grey, Silver Dragons and Light Dragons. All books are romance and full of laughs.) I must say, the dragons in this book are quite cool and I did like the parts with dragons in them.

The first chapter starts off with Garrett telling Megan that he is a dragon after she asks him if he's a vampire. This was way out of context and, in my opinion, should have been in the middle of the book when she actually confronts him. It felt like the chapter has been taken out of where it should have been and placed at the beginning for no logical reason. I did like Megan's character because she's strong, independent and resourceful. What I found annoying was her 'natural pessimism' because she was sure everyone would be thinking badly of her and her actions all the time. Sheesh, calm down, girl.

What put me off was the romance. I admit to thinking female writers write better romance than men and this book still has me firmly hanging onto that thought. I can't pinpoint it, but there was something off about the way Mr Poindexter wrote the romance. I can't put my finger on it, but I just didn't like it. Also, did there need to be girl-on-girl scenes? Really, Mr Poindexter? Very classy.

This book does have sex scenes in them, but I just skipped them. I wasn't in the mood for reading sex so I just avoided it. Plus, it would have felt weird, being written by a man, since this book was in third person but did focus a bit on the girl's thoughts and feelings. Just... not my cup of tea. Truthfully, this book was almost a DNF for me. I just couldn't get very much into it. Plus, talk about a freaking cliffhanger ending! It was stupid how the entire second half of the book talked about how Megan was different (as in, a paranormal creature) but didn't reveal WHAT she was at the end.

My verdict: Sure, if you like dragons, overly described naked females and action, this book is for you. I had a hard time getting into it because of several turn-offs, but I can admit that others without my prejudices will enjoy it. Just not, you know, me.