Older Readers

Night Prince Series (Vlad and Leila) by Jeaniene Frost

 in Adult / Book Reviews / Books / Older Readers by

So I never would have really picked up these books but I saw it on some random stand and of course the attractive guy on the cover pulled me in and I just had to get it, and it was also cheap. But, the book I got turned out to be a later one in the series, so of course I had to get the first book and then read the entire series.

I’ll definitely give the series credit, while it wasn’t as good as the Guild Hunters Series it was pretty decent and I’ll give it that. The female protagonist wasn’t terribly wimpy but she did have her feminine moments which was fine with me. I mean, she was dating Vlad the Impaler .

There was character development as you saw Leila change as she was introduced to the supernatural world but you also saw the effect that she had on her lover, Vlad. He slowly started to get soft and as the story progressed he changed, though I’m not saying how, you gotta read to find out (mwahaha). But the changes weren’t for the worst and the story still kept its pace. This is a small series but it is part of a larger series known as Night Huntress Universe (click here to see reading order and books.) But I hadn’t read any of the books in the suggested reading order and I didn’t have any difficulties, though I will be trying to read the other books in the series as it looks quite interesting.

The book, as it is by definition, is considered more erotica than romance, so the sex did have moments of being slightly graphic so I recommend this book for 18 and older. There were a few times where crude language was used to describe body parts and I don’t really like that as much though it wasn’t used too much so it didn’t detract from the overall book.

One thing which I honestly didn’t like about the book was that it was written in first person. I don’t know what it is about it, but I really dislike reading books in first person. Third person just seems to show so much more and while it is a little less personal as you don’t get to necessarily hear thoughts, you get to see so much more going on. Now, some people like first person because it is easier to get into one of the characters head, but my mind is very overactive so I have no issue slipping into characters heads and seeing things from their perspectives. I find it harder to do so when in first person because you are channeled in one direction while in third person you are open to go any direction that you choose to. But that is just my personal opinion and even though I’m not one for first person, I still did enjoy this read.

Yes, there was violence in this book as they are vampires and his name is Vlad the Impaler but it wasn’t as gruesome, in my opinion, as the Guild Hunter Series, thought there were a few moments where what was implied wasn’t that nice. I will also say that there was talk of rape a few times in the book but nothing serious. Just putting it there as I know for some if that is a theme in the book, people highly dislike it. I’m not one for those kinds of themes either, but I’ll just say that it wasn’t what you thought it was. And I’ll leave it at that.

Also, the man on the cover of the books is supposed to be Vlad. I’m sorry, but I pictured Vlad so differently and while the cover did draw me in, I was going for a more elegant vampire, though, it still worked.

Overall I did enjoy the book and read the 3 books in just over 3 days. Yes, I know I have no life. I do recommend that you read it and let me know what you think, but yes, this is for mature audiences.

Get book 1 here!

Book 2 can be found here!

Book 3 is over here!

Enjoy and happy reading!

Inferno by Dan Brown

 in Adventure / Book Reviews / Books / Older Readers by

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. 

Inferno by Dan Brown

From my Instagram

 

Summary

“Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon awakens in an Italian hospital, disoriented and with no recollection of the past thirty-six hours, including the origin of the macabre object hidden in his belongings. With a relentless female assassin trailing them through Florence, he and his resourceful doctor, Sienna Brooks, are forced to flee. Embarking on a harrowing journey, they must unravel a series of codes, which are the work of a brilliant scientist whose obsession with the end of the world is matched only by his passion for one of the most influential masterpieces ever written, Dante Alighieri’s The Inferno.

Dan Brown has raised the bar yet again, combining classical Italian art, history, and literature with cutting-edge science in this sumptuously entertaining thriller.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

This book was amazingly well done and SO scary. Not terror scary but because all the facts and scientific pieces of information are true, so that makes it way scarier to think about.

I just wanted to start off with the quote from the beginning of the book.

“The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.”

Now, I am not 100% sure who said this comment but it seems like it was Dante Alighieri, but don’t quote me on that because it seems like there is a lot of discrepancies about who said it. But I really like this quote but I agree with it. Now there are many sides to every issue and to state that those who don’t pick a side or don’t have a say, essentially not caring, have a special place in hell.

Now, this book obviously has a lot of backlash online when you google it because it is a historic book, taking real things, places, and people, and using them in a novel so people like to rip these books apart and say how horrible it was and inaccurate it was. First off, this is a novel! You can’t quote it in a thesis or a research paper as even though it has facts, it is still a fictional piece and can’t be counted as a credible source. People seem to like to ignore this fact and say how inaccurate it was, and it partially annoys me, but you will always have those trolls whose main purpose is to rip others apart.

But with that aside, I honestly loved this book. It did take me much longer to read than a regular Dan Brown, just because I found the topic at hand quite stressful and also because I’ve been very busy so didn’t get to sit down and read as much. But I finally finished it in a 7 hour-long car drive, and am so glad that I read it. It was exciting, presented interesting ideas, and scared the living crap out of me because of some of the ideas presented.

For characters, each character changed throughout the novel. Some you thought were good and turned out to be bad but then were good-ish, then there were bad guys who were actually good….I mean serious confusion going on but it all was straightened out in the end, per usual.

The main character, Robert Langdon has been in some of his other novels so seeing him work on this type of case is nice because you get to see character development over longer periods of time which is a nice change.

Overall I do recommend this book. It’s a classical Dan Brown and if you like his other novels, then you are sure to like this one as well.

Happy reading and let me know what you think!

Dangerous Territory: An Alpha Ops novella by Emmy Curtis

 in Adventure / Book Reviews / Books / Older Readers by

Summary

“A SEXY STRANGER
Flirting with danger is reporter Grace Grainger’s modus operandi. But she’s learned the hard way not to grow attached to the soldiers she’s embedded with in Afghanistan. To escape from her pain and loneliness, she fantasizes about the hot night she spent with a gorgeous stranger three years before in D.C. Grace never thought she’d see him again-let alone need him to rescue her . . .
AN EXPLOSIVE NIGHT
Air Force Master Sergeant Josh Travers knows journalists are nothing but trouble. So when he has to risk the lives of his team to save some reporter who’s been separated from her patrol, he’s not happy-until he recognizes her stunning eyes and delicious curves. Josh has never wanted a woman like he wants Grace. Even in an Afghan cave with a sandstorm and enemy troops closing in, he can’t deny the desire. This might be the end for both of them-or one hell of a beginning.”

-B&N.com

Review

This book was honestly adorable. It was a short story, only about 115 pages on my iPad and $0.99 from the iBook store. It was about 30,000 words which is below the aim for NaNoWriMo so it was a really fast read. It had a cute relationship, adding the explosive location of Afghanistan and in the middle of a war.

Like hot damn. Who gets it on in the middle of a battle field in a cave at night with Taliban just outside the mouth of your cave. These two characters; JT and Grace.

There was some nice character development and yes I would have loved more, but you have to remember that this was a novella, not a novel. Novella’s of series, in case people don’t know (as I didn’t used to), usually take minor characters and use them in a side story, or use the same ideas as the main series but take it on a different track. Also novellas are usually much, much shorter.

But overall, this was a cute and sweet story. The sex wasn’t graphic and there really wasn’t any crude language used. A few f-bombs and regular cursing but no seriously vulgar language which is a nice change.

I will definitely be checking out more of Emmy Curstis’ books as I ‘d love to see what she can do. I recommend this book for ages 17 and up as it is a mature theme but it’s an easy read as I said. Do check it out though!

So until next time my lovelies. Happy reading!

Favorite Quotes

“Good. My name is T.S, and I will be your rescuer today.”

“Well, soldier, is that a night-vision scope in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?”

 

The Light Between Oceans (A Novel) by M.L. Stedmad

 in Book Reviews / Books / Older Readers by

Summary

“After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as a lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock. To this isolated island, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up carrying a dead man and a living baby. In. M.L. Stedman’s mesmerizing novel we, we are seduced into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God,” and we are swept into their story.”

-From the back cover

Review

I shall start off by saying that this was a book I would have never read but it was the required book for my school so I didn’t really have a choice. And honestly, I really disliked this book.

It was so damn depressing and on such a sad topic.

I mean come on, you can tell in the summary that it’s going to be sad – miscarriages and a stillbirth.

My school couldn’t have chosen a happier book? -.-

Anyway. The story was pretty good but it was really convoluted. Chapters were broken up into sections and some sections would be in different people points of view and it going confusing fast as to who was speaking and when that actually happened because it would jump between times and such. That annoys me when it does that without telling you when it actually is happening clearly because then you get confused and such.

As I said the story line was quite depressing and with a child being taken from someone (can’t say what exactly as it’s in the story later on) you get extremely stressed over what is occurring and I really dislike that in books. If its sci-fi or action its fine, but not in  a book like this that is based in reality.

There really isn’t a lot to say in this book as there was no character development that I was able to see, and overall I just really didn’t like the book.

I know that many people would be interested in something like this, but personally I wouldn’t recommend it.

But if you have read it and have a different view on it, let me know what you think about it.

Until then, happy reading.

“Sex in Books: My Pet Peeves!”

 in Fun / Interesting / Older Readers by

Now this post you HAVE to check out, but view discretion is advised! Bad language used.

As an older teen, about to leave the YA years, we branch out to romance novels (well girls do). Romance is a very GENERAL title. You have the regular mushy stuff which is harmless where the guy meets the girl, they fall in love, buy a house, and then happily ever after. But then you have a specific genre, mostly for adults, titled erotica. Unfortunately it seems that most books in Barnes and Nobles romance section…classify as this.

Ya’ know, what does it take to get a decent romance novel around here?

It’s just sex, sex, sex. And very graphic sex at that. Not saying all the writing is bad, but readers usually want something MORE than that.

And Nereyda @Mostly YA Book Obsessed went on a rant about this and kudos to her. I have had the same issues and annoyances that she has had due to reading erotica…sorry, “romance” novels, and I am so glad that she voiced them. I thought it was just me! Thank god I’m not the only one that wants something more than just “getting it on” with the typical firefighter or soldier.

So have a look-see at her rant (once again, viewer discretion is advised!) and let me know if you believe the same thing that I do. And while you’re at it, check her blog out because, honestly, I love it and am so happy I stumbled across it.

So comments? Thoughts? Opinions? We can’t be the only two who get annoyed by this. Let me know.

Until next time, happy reading!