vampires

A Bargain in Silver (Solis Invicti Book I) by Josie Jaffrey

 in Book Reviews / Books / Fantasy / Older Readers / Young Adult by

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Summary

“After an attack by the infected, Emmy is rescued by a stranger who introduces her to the world of the Silver. Desperate to escape subjugation and confused by her attraction to him, she gathers what remains of her surrogate family and plans to make a break for freedom.  But she can’t hide from him for long.

Despite her efforts to resist, she is drawn further into the intrigues of the mysterious Silver through the agency of their ruler, but an attempt on her life soon makes it clear that he is unable to protect her from the political machinations of his race. As the connection between them deepens she must choose between her desire and her will to rebel, but how can she trust his intentions when everyone is after her blood?”

–From her website

Review

So Josie reached out to me over this book, asking me to review book one, and I have to say I absolutely loved it. It’s a romance book with like this love triangle kind of thing going on.

It was a romance book but it is not classified as erotic due to the fact that the fact that the sex scenes were not graphic. So you didn’t really need to worry about the love scenes being detailed, which was nice. It was more of a tension kind of thing.

One thing I really liked is that the fact that Emmy, the female protagonist, is a strong female lead. As you all should know, I LOVE strong female leads. Women who fight and aren’t afraid to state their opinion and go against the crowd and stand up to others. Emmy was definitely that. I mean come on, she stood up to vampires…um, sorry, I mean Silvers. That is awesome and I give her props for that. So automatically this book got a positive view for me.

I really liked the idea as well that there were Weepers (bad vampires) and the Silvers (who were the good guys). It’s interesting to think that the vampires would be split into two groups. Aristocrats and then everyone else. And the humans just being stuck there, or the few humans who were left, not that there were many. I have never come across this kind of idea before. I’ve come across good and bad vampires in books, but this was more like zombies versus vampires as the Weepers were like a plague and infected vampires and the Silvers were the ones who needed to deal with them.

The book had a lot more going on than romance as there was some type of political stuff going on. It was post-apocalyptic so it was based in a New World Order, and that kind of idea was quite interesting. In other books that are set after a kind of apocalypse, it is a free for all and everyone needs to fend for themselves or that the humans are scrambling to get some form of government. In this, after the apocalypse, the Silvers were waiting for the world to be in turmoil so that they would be able to come forward and take control, and use the humans as cattle. But it was definitely an interesting perspective of how it occurred.

My only complaint was that the set up to the post-apocalypse was kind of fast. In only a handful of pages, the world that everyone knew had come to the end and the vampires were in charge. I would have liked if it took a little more and if there was a little bit more of a war or something, but that was really my only complaint about it. A little bit more of a set up.

But this is a series so maybe something is explained later in the other books.

Overall I really did enjoy it and recommend that it’s given a read. It is short. Only about 250 pages or so, so it is not that big of a read and won’t take too long at all. I read it in about 2 days.

Click here to purchase it.

And happy reading!

Lover Awakened: The Third Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward

 in Adult / Book Reviews / Books / Series by
Book cover Lover Awakened by J R Ward

Lover Awakened by J R Ward

Summary

“A former blood slave, the vampire Zsadist still bears the scars from a past filled with suffering and humiliation. Renowned for his unquenchable fury and sinister deeds, he is a savage feared by humans and vampires alike. Anger is his only companion and terror his only passion—until he rescues a beautiful female from the evil Lessening Society.

Bella is instantly entranced by the seething power Zsadist possesses. But even as their desire for each other begins to overtake them, Zsadist’s thirst for vengeance against Bella’s tormentors drives him to the brink of madness. Now Bella must help her lover overcome the wounds of his tortured past and find a future with her….”

-From Amazon.com

Review

Once again…it’s another fangirl moment. I absolutely loved the book it was SOOOOO good. But you have no idea how many times I just wanted to smack Zsadist because he was sometimes so stupid! I mean it was obvious that Bella loved him through the entire book and you know about it from the book before; it was no surprise. But Z seemed to be completely oblivious and wanted to completely block her out.

This is one of the moment you just wanted to reach into the book and smack the character; yet if you smacked Z it wouldn’t end well. Most likely you’d be beaten within an inch of your life.

There was some serious character development in this book and one huge punch to the gut later on which I cannot say…but I’m still reeling from it. I had to read it a few times to make sure that I had read what happened correctly and then wanted to throw the book across the room….

Yes, it was one of those moments.

Once again, I read this book in a few days. It only took longer because I’ve finally started school and have something called school work…that foreign stuff which takes up all your spare minutes.

J.R. Ward is really good at describing her characters by not necessarily stating exactly what they look like but by the type of personality they have and she lets your mind do the rest. She says what they ware, maybe some characteristics, such as Z’s scar, and then their size, but then just says how they carry themselves. Wrath has this air or authority and terror about him while Z is just soul-less. Then your mind just gets to go off and make up who it wants which is nice.

Overall I just really recommend this series. I’m totally in love but I’m going to have to wait a little while to get the next one as I need to concentrate on school books and ‘substantial classic literature’. Time to bring out a little Socrates for now xD

So let me know what you think of this series and until next time, Happy Reading!

Lover Eternal: The Second Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward

 in Adult / Book Reviews / Books / Fiction / Series by

Summary

“Within the brotherhood, Rhage is the vampire with the strongest appetites. He’s the best fighter, the quickest to act on his impulses, and the most voracious lover—for inside him burns a ferocious curse cast by the Scribe Virgin. Possessed by this dark side, Rhage fears the times when his inner dragon is unleashed, making him a danger to everyone around him.

Mary Luce, a survivor of many hardships, is unwittingly thrown into the vampire world and reliant on Rhage’s protection. With a life-threatening curse of her own, Mary is not looking for love. Her faith in miracles was lost years ago. But when Rhage’s intense animal attraction turns into something more emotional, he knows that he must make Mary his alone. And while their enemies close in, Mary fights desperately to gain life eternal with the one she loves…”

-From Amazon.com

Review

I can’t even. I’m totally in love with this series and this one just carried it on perfectly. I thought the entire series was going to be focusing on Wrath but now I find out that some of the books focus on just one character and how they open up and find true love.

This was about Rhage, one of the Brothers, and how he found the woman who would be with him forever. Rhage has this curse from the Scribe Virgin that turns him into this monster when he looses control and the only way for him to calm it down is to kill (but only to a level because severe anger causes the beast to get free) or to have a lot of sex. He goes through women really fast until he meets Mary whom he falls in love with and the romance ensues.

There is the whole side where Rhage doesn’t want to hurt Mary because of the creature but like hot-damn. xDDD Mary is one stubborn woman.

Once again the romance scenes in this book were not crude but written in a style that was, essentially, quite respectful. I hate when the crude words of body parts are used…it just sometimes annoys me quite a lot so I loved how this series is written.

I will say that I did read this book in a day; all 441 pages. I loved it so much.

The first book, Dark Lover, and this one are similar in the sense of what the characters go through. The women start off the same and then grow to find out what their lovers really are and both women are extremely strong mentality wise. As I have stated before, I hate when the women are made to look weak, but in this they aren’t. Mary had a sickness and even through all of that she still pushed through and protected a male who was definitely able to protect himself.

The series does have this primal quality to it because the Brotherhood is made up of men who are killers and are animals at the heart. They call their lovers leelan which means ‘dearest one’ while they are in a conversation with their lover or friends, but other times the female is referred to more as a mate and quite a few assertive times where the male blatantly says ‘You’re/She is mine!” Then sometimes a massive fight ensues xD. Come on! Who doesn’t want really big, good-looking men willing to fight to the death for you?!

Overall though this series is amazing. There is some serious character development. You saw in the first book that Wrath opened up to his lover, and in this one Rhage opened up to his as well. The next book in the series shows Zsadist opening up, which is definitely interesting as he is almost soul-less.

I should be finishing the next book soon and I hope that I will be able to get an interview with J.W. Ward because she is one of my favorite authors currently.

So happy reading and let me know what you think of the series if you read it!

Dark Lover: The First Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward

 in Book Reviews / Books / Series by

Summary

“The only purebred vampire left on the planet and the leader of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who killed his parents centuries ago. But when his most trusted fighter is killed—orphaning a half-breed daughter unaware of her heritage or her fate—Wrath must put down his dagger and usher the beautiful female into another world.

Racked by a restlessness in her body that wasn’t there before, Beth Randall is helpless against the dangerously sexy man who comes to her at night with shadows in his eyes. His tales of the Brotherhood and blood frighten her. Yet his touch ignites a dawning new hunger—one that threatens to consume them both….”

-From Amazon.com

Review

Okay….brace for serious fangirling.

THIS BOOK WAS TOTALLY AWESOME. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG! I CAN’T EVEN! LIKE YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH I’M IN LOVE. This and Nalini Singh’s series are definitely my favorites!

This and the Guild Hunters series are so similar in so many ways. The writing styles aren’t the same, but the fuzzy feeling I get in my tummy is….Oh…wait….that’s with most romance novels xD

Anyway. This story had badass guys, kick-ass women, and a really good story. There are 9 books in the series and one insiders guide and the next two in the series are on their way…and I’m dying to read them (update: reading the next one now and almost done xD).

The romance in this series wasn’t explicit or anything like that. They didn’t use really any crude words and it was all pretty gentle unlike some other things I’ve read in the past. Honestly there isn’t tons to say about this book and its series because it’s just so good and I’m literally in love and there are 9 books.

One thing that I do like is that the author has created another world completely. In the beginning of each book is a few pages with definitions of words that you may need to know for the book; definitions of words that relate to the vampiric culture in this particular series and I always love when they do that. You have the generic idea of vampires, then you have the Twilight vampires, Dracula vampires, Van Helsing vampires, and then you have vampires from books that are based off these types of creatures. In romance books they usually make them more sexy and deadly…not sparkly. So I love the vampires in this series and also in Singh’s as they use the same idea.

In addition to this I LOVE the character names and how they twist their spelling. Wrath is Wrath; can’t really go wrong there. But then you have Zsadist, Thorment, Phury, Rhage (I believe there is another or two but I can’t remember their names right now x.x) I really liked that because you still have those really bad-ass names with this awesome spelling.

Anyway, if you like romance, then this is definitely a book for you. It’s obviously supernatural and I know that some people don’t like it, but this doesn’t have a serious supernatural feel to it. The vampires are mostly human except for a few things that they can do and drinking blood is not common in the novel; in fact it’s extremely rare which is nice.

So enjoy and happy reading!

 

Twilight – Movie Review

 in Books-to-Movie / Fantasy / Movies by

Starring

Kristen Stewart – Bella Swan
Robert Patterson – Edward Cullen
Billy Burke – Charlie Swan

Summary

Bella Swan has just moved to the town of overcast, rainy Forks from sunny and warm Phoenix. She did not think she was going to like her life there until she went to school and saw the Cullen’s. Edward was the one she liked the best. But the Cullen’s kept to themselves. Edward was in some of her classes but he seemed to think there was something wrong with her and so he disappeared from school for a few days. When he comes back he is back to normal. Bella realizes that there is something odd with him and his family. They don’t go out in the sun. They hardly eat. Edwards eyes change. He is extremely fast. He stopped a moving van with his hand. And his skin is cold. Vampire. What else. But when another group of vampires come to the area, Bella’s life is put in danger since she is friends with Edward. Thus the story of boy protecting girl, vampire protecting human begins. But will they be able to keep Bella safe? And if not, what will happen to her?

Review

I actually have to say that I liked this movie. I had watched the trailer and it looked kind of violent but it was not as violent as I would have thought. There was a big fight scene in the end which is pretty graphic. A man gets his head torn off. Bella gets bitten by a vampire and is writhing on the floor in pain. There are some funny lines also. I really like how the characters were portrayed. Edward had all the facial expressions. Bella is not sure of herself around him. Then Dr. and Mrs. Cullen were sweet. Jasper was trying not to eat anyone. Alice was as kind as she was in the book. And the rest of the family was just as they were described. I read the book once but watched the movie twice. There is not too much violence except that fight in the end and that is really it.

This next bit is from CommonSenseMedia.org

VIOLENCE: A lot of the violence is implied: There are fast shots of vampires right before they kill their prey (both human and animal). A group of guys follows Bella down a dark alley and starts harassing her; Edward threatens them. A predatory vampire tries to kill Bella. There’s a bloody, vicious fight between an evil vampire and the Cullens. Bella is seriously hurt and ends up in the hospital. Charlie, a sheriff, has weapons, including a shotgun.

SEX: As in the book, Bella and Edward have an intensely romantic (though overall fairly chaste) relationship. They stare and gaze at each other lovingly and share some passionate embraces and a couple of kisses, including one make-out session that takes place on a bed while Bella’s in her underwear. Other couples flirt, hold hands, and swoon at each other.

Those are the only things. But to see everything that CommonSenseMedia.org says click here.