{Review} Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Title: Blue Bloods
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: YA Fiction
Publisher: Hyperion (May 2006)
Paperback: 302 pages
                                                ISBN: 9781423101260
                                    Source: Library Book
                                    Available on: Amazon
Rating: 4/5

Plot: 17/20
Setting: 17/20
Writing:15/20
Characters: 15/20
Creativity: 17/20

Total: 81/20 = 4 out of 5 stars

Description on GoodReads:

"When the Mayflower set sail in 1620, it carried on board the men and women who would shape America: Miles Standish; John Alden; Constance Hopkins. But some among the Pilgrims were not pure of heart; they were not escaping religious persecution. Indeed, they were not even human. They were vampires.The vampires assimilated quickly into the New World. Rising to levels of enormous power, wealth, and influence, they were the celebrated blue bloods of American society. The Blue Bloods vowed that their immortal status would remain a closely guarded secret. And they kept that secret for centuries.
But now, in New York City, the secret is seeping out. Schuyler Van Alen is a sophomore at a prestigious private school. Suddenly, when she turns fifteen, there is a visible mosaic of blue veins on her arm. She starts to crave raw food and she is having flashbacks to ancient times. Then a girl from her school is found dead... drained of all her blood. Schuyler doesn't know what to think.
Could those vampire legends really be true? Steeped in vampire lore and set against the heady backdrop of the rich, young, and powerful in the heart of New York City, Blue Bloods will be devoured by Melissa de la Cruz's legion fans."

Plot: Good: This book has fallen angels, vampires and history. To me, this was like a red flag for an amazing book. Bad: Be prepared to get a little annoyed by the awkward pace of the story. In some chapters Melissa  will drag the story and focus on how the jeans look on Schuyler. On other chapters she will speed by and drop all the major twists.

Setting: I like how she incorporates 1620 America into the story. New York is also a great setting for the rest of the story. Where else would Blue Bloods live? :)

Writing: I don't like all the focus on brands and "Gossip Girlesque" style of the story. This wardrobe centric style of writing may work for some but not for me. I also didn't really like the fact that it is narrated by 3 different people, (Mimi, Bliss and Schuyler) but it was bearable.

Characters: I don't like Mimi at all and Bliss sounds so weak minded to me. The only one I kind of like is Schuyler but I need to learn more about her. So far, I am not in-love with any of the characters

Creativity: I like how this book brought together angels and vampires.

Extras

Cover Art: The cover leaves it clear that this book is about Vampires. I like the pearls on the bitten girl's neck she could be any of the blue blood children that attend Duschesne.

Romance: Jack and Schuyler have their moments. Just like any other YA fiction, they can't explain why they love each other they just do.

Overall: I recommend this book if you like reading books with the above mentioned elements (fallen angels, vampires, and history) and if you can read a few pages describing how amazing a pair of jeans look.

View all my reviews

{Review} Captivate (Need #2)

Captivate by Carrie Jones

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Title: Captivate
Author: Carrie Jones
Genre: YA Fiction
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books (December 2010)
                                  Hardcover: 304 pages
                                  ISBN: 9781599905235
                                  Source: Library Book
                                  Available on: Amazon
Rating: 3 of 5

Description on GoodReads: 

Zara and her friends knew they hadn't solved the pixie problem for good. Far from it. The king's needs grow deeper every day he's stuck in captivity, while his control over his people gets weaker. It's made him vulnerable. And now there's a new king in town. 
A turf war is imminent, since the new pixie king, Astley, is moving in quickly. Nick nearly killed him in the woods on day one, but Zara came to his rescue. Astley swears that he and Zara are destined to be together, that he's one of the good guys. Nick isn't buying it, though Zara isn't as sure -- despite herself, she wants to trust the new king. But it's a lot more than her relationship with Nick that is at stake. It's her life -- and his.

Review:

In the continuation of Need we expect more lovey moments between Nick and Zara. This books delivers with the love moments but has a strange ending. I liked this book but it left me with a lot of questions and left me wanting to read the 3rd book. I guess as part of a series this is a good book but as a stand alone it is not.

I am sure (or at least hoping) that the next book leaves me without this empty feeling.

View all my reviews

{Review:} The Dark Divine

Title: The Dark Divine
Author: Bree Despain
Genre: YA Fiction
Publisher: Egmont USA (Dec 2009)
Hardcover: 372
ISBN: 9781606841549
Source: Library
Available on: Amazon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Description on GoodReads:

Grace Divine—daughter of the local pastor—always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared and her brother Jude came home covered in his own blood.

Now that Daniel's returned, Grace must choose between her growing attraction to him and her loyalty to her brother.

As Grace gets closer to Daniel, she learns the truth about that mysterious night and how to save the ones she loves, but it might cost her the one thing she cherishes most: her soul.

Review:

This book has all the basic paranormal romance, a bad boy, an innocent girl, a mystery, everyone telling the girl to stay away from the boy and things that go bump in the night. You pretty much get what you expect. This is not necessarily bad since as you can tell from my blog I love reading this genre.

I recommend reading this book if you enjoy this type of books but in case you don't and just want to know what this one is about here goes my little summary.

Summary: *SPOILER ALERT*

We are first introduced to 16 year old Grace Divine, the daughter of a pastor and an aspiring artist. Her her 17 year old brother Jude. They are role-model teens. They volunteer at different charities and are always happy to help their community.

Grace then comes across Daniel, her childhood crush, (This is where we meet the guy that comes and changes her perfect world) in her art class as he takes her drawing and ask for a kiss in exchange for her drawing. She later goes home and mentions that she saw Daniel and her family gets upset and her brother makes her promise that she will not speak to Daniel again. We learn from Gracie that Daniel grew up with them and used to be Jude's best friend. Yet, something happened a few years ago that caused Jude to go home covered in his own blood and Daniel to disappear mysteriously. Her family won't speak about what happened between them.

Grace (like us) is interested in finding the reason for Daniel's disappearance.

She goes on a date with a nice guy from school but her date is cut short when her car malfunctions and leaves them stranded in a dangerous neighborhood. He leaves Gracie and goes and asks for help. She then is scared by loud noises and is rescued by Daniel who comes and fixes her car. Daniel tells Grace that he came back to town because he wants to go to art school and needs to take the A.P art class at Grace's school to get accepted but gets kicked out his first day because of his attitude. Grace's sharing his dream takes it upon herself to help him and gets him back into the class.

A family friend dies and her disfigured body is found by Jude. It appears that the old woman died of a cold but her body was found and mauled by some type of animal. Distraught by the occurrence and filled with questions Grace leaves on a motorcycle with Daniel. They end up in the Garden of Angels. Where he tells her some story about angel and a faithful person. At this point some may be thinking he is a fallen angel but then how would you explain the animal like attack on the corpse. Grace invites him to her families Thanksgiving festivities. At the Thanksgiving meal Grace's little brother disappears and Daniel and her go looking for him into the woods. This is where he shows his super strength and speed. Daniel runs holding the baby and Grace on his back. He tells her that he is a Hound of Heaven. These are creatures created by God that have animal like attributes to help them in they job of defending humans from demons. Yet, after a talk with her brother and a Google search she finds out that he is instead a Dogs of Death. In other-words, the hounds of heaven fell from grace and are now possessed by the spirit of a demon werewolf that controls them and makes them kill the person they love the most. There is some lack of trust and confusion between Grace and Daniel. Specially since she learns that the reason Daniel dissapeared was because he attacked Jude when they were younger by accident.

In between the love shared by Grace and Daniel, we also learn that the only way to save Daniel's soul is to be staved in the heart by the person he loves the most. After a few other lost people, Jude decides to hunt down Daniel and end their troubles. It turns out that Daniel contaminated Jude when they were younger and if Jude kills Daniel he will be turned into a monster.

tun, tun, tun, tun; TUN, TUN, TUN, TUN ... To end the story Grace stabs Daniel in his wolf form but not before she is bitten by her brother. She does an act of love because by killing Daniel she seals the deal and will be possessed by the werewolf. She is willing to lose her soul to save Daniel's. This means a lot to her who is very religious and righteous the whole book. Yet, it turns out that since it was an act of love Daniel is saved but becomes human and since she is a good person she might not become evil. Her brother is distraught by the news that he is a wolf and leaves his family. Daniel and Grace decide to stay together use her new powers for good.

So as we can see it is a normal paranormal romance novel. It wasn't my favorite due to its lack of twist and originality but I still can't wait to see what happens next.

View all my reviews >>

{Review:} Radiant Shadows

Title: Radiant Shadows
Author: Melissa Marr
Genre: YA Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins (April 2010)
ISBN: 9780061659249
Source: Library
Available on: Amazon

My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Description on GoodReads:

Hunger for nourishment.
Hunger for touch.
Hunger to belong.
Half-human and half-faery, Ani is driven by her hungers.
Those same appetites also attract powerful enemies and uncertain allies, including Devlin. He was created as an assassin and is brother to the faeries' coolly logical High Queen and to her chaotic twin, the embodiment of War. Devlin wants to keep Ani safe from his sisters, knowing that if he fails, he will be the instrument of Ani's death.
Ani isn't one to be guarded while others fight battles for her, though. She has the courage to protect herself and the ability to alter Devlin's plans—and his life. The two are drawn together, each with reason to fear the other and to fear for one another. But as they grow closer, a larger threat imperils the whole of Faerie. Will saving the faery realm mean losing each other?
Alluring romance, heart-stopping danger, and sinister intrigue combine in the penultimate volume of Melissa Marr's New York Times bestselling Wicked Lovely series.

Review:

Not my favorite book of the Wicked Lovely series yet I did enjoy it and was happy to enter Melissa Marr's faerie world again. Radiant Shadows, in my opinion, is not as dark as Ink Exchange. If you are looking for more Keenan, Aislinn and Donia, don't bother with this book. We get a little Seth but he plays a secondary role and there isn't any of Aislinn and Seth love story. This is a great companion book but left me kind of empty and with more questions than answers.

View all my reviews >>

{Review:} Dark Lover by J.R Ward

Title: Dark Lover
Author: J.R Ward
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Signet (Sept 2005)
Paperback: 416 pages
ISBN: 9780451216953
Source: Library
Available on: Amazon

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Description on GoodReads:

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going war going on between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Yet none of them relishes killing their enemies more than Wrath, the leader of the Black Dagger Brotherhood... 

The only purebred vampire left on the planet, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who murdered his parents centuries ago. But when one of his most trusted fighters is killed - orphaning a half-breed daughter unaware of her heritage or her fate - Wrath must usher the beautiful female into the world of the undead... 

Racked by a restlessness in her body that wasn't there, Beth Randall is helpless against the dangerously sexy man who comes at night with shadows in his eyes. His tales of brotherhood and blood frighten her. But his touch ignites a dawning hunger that threatens to consume them both...    

Review:

This is the first book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. It is a great book from beginning to end. Wrath "Blind King" is the last purebred vampire left and also the leader of the Brotherhood. He agrees to help Beth with her transition and falls in love with her.

J.R. Ward does a great job in developing the setting and characters in this series. At times she is a little too descriptive in the love scenes for my taste yet I like the characters so it is bearable.

I highly recommend this series if you like vampires and romance.

View all my reviews >>

{Review} A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Title: A Reliable Wife
Author: Robert Goolrick
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Publisher: Algonquin Books (April 2009)
                                  Hardcover: 291 pages
                                  ISBN: 9781565129771
                                  Source: Library Book
                                  Available on: Amazon

Rating: 4/5

Plot: 17/20
Setting: 17/20
Writing: 18/20
Characters: 19/20
Creativity: 15/20

Total: 86/100 = of 5 stars

Description from GoodReads:

"Abandoning her worldly life, traveling to a remote Wisconsin town in the dead of winter, trusting her future to a man she had never met - such was Catherine Land's new beginning. But there was an ending in sight as well, an ending that would redeem the treachery ahead, justify the sacrifice, and allow her to start over yet again. That was her plan." "For Ralph Truitt, the wealthy businessman who had advertised for "a reliable wife," this was also to be a new beginning. Years of solitude, denial, and remorse would be erased, and Catherine Land, whoever she might be, would be the vessel of his desires, the keeper of his secrets, the means to recover what was lost. That was his plan." Set just after the turn of the twentieth century, A Reliable Wife is the story of these two people, each plagued by a heart filled with anger and guilt, each with a destiny in mind. But neither anticipates what develops between them - the pent-up longings that Catherine discovers in this enigmatic man and the depth of her own emotional response; the joy Ralph experiences in giving Catherine the luxuries she has never known, his growing need for her, and a desire that he thought was long buried."

Plot: Good: A story of passion, murder, madness that is a joy to read. A psychological driven tale with predictable twist and turns but non the less entertaining.

Setting: 1907, wintry Wisconsin was a good setting for this story.

Writing: Good: I loved the Gothic feel of this novel. Bad: It had too much of an erotic undertone for my taste.

Characters: Good: Ralph is a perverted, lusty, lonely man and Catherine is a manipulative, and murderous woman. Yet, despite the fact that they are both liars, I couldn't help wanting them to be happy and together. Bad: I would have liked a little more elaboration on the crazy citizens of the town.

Creativity: Not the most original story but still a good read.

EXTRAS

Cover Art: I read the Hardcover, with the snowy trees cover and didn't like it. However, the paperback cover I saw later was amazing. I think that the faceless women in the red dress standing on the snow with a train in the background gives a wonderful preview of what the book is about.

Romance: It is not your average good girl meets prince charming, it's more like Wuthering Heights.

Overall: A good book for lovers of Gothic literature you just have to get over the author constantly thinking about sex.

View all my reviews

{Review:} Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Title: Perfect Chemistry
Author: Simone Elkeles
Genre: YA Fiction
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers (Jan 2008)
Hardcover: 360 pages
ISBN: 9780802798220
Source: Library
Available on: Amazon


My Rating: 3 out of 5

Description on GoodReads:

When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for—her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more. 
In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart

Review:

I decided to read this book because I kept seeing it at Borders. I really like that the story is set in Chicago, IL. It was interesting to see how the author depicted the different cultures. I don't completely agree with the Mexican American depiction but some of it was entertaining. The ending was a little cheesy but overall the book was a good summer read.

View all my reviews