Books 24 - 35
Book # 24: Darkness Everlasting by Alexandra Ivy.
Gee, Alexandra Ivy, do ya think that might be a pen name? :p
Yet another trashy vampire romance novel, purchased in desperation from Walgreen's. It was one of the less horrible ones, I guess, though mostly unremarkable. Darcy Smith, (no relation to Dr. Smith or Sarah Jane Smith) is our cute, pixieish heroine thrown head first into the world of the supernatural by Styx, our very sexy king of the Vampires. But she is also pursued by the werewolves, being a genetically modified wolf herself, for breeding purposed. Styx would also like to breed with her, but in an entirely different, very sexy sort of way.
Long story short, good guy vampire has satisfying, hot sexes with genetically modified werewolf chick, they fall in love. He does stupid man things, she runs away, finally meets her family (the wolves) and discovers her mother is a bitch in every sense of the world. Good guy vampire, and genetically modified wolf-girl fall in love, have more hot sexes, and live happily ever after.
Book # 25: On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God: Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison.
This is one of the books that Tino periodically picks up, thinking it looks like the type of thing that I might enjoy (which is usually is) and always turns up right when I am frantically searching around the apartment for something to read that I haven't already read 10 times, much like that extra pack of cigarettes that you forgot you had until you are out and really in the midst of a terrible nic-fit. This book was exactly what I wanted at the time, something to further wash the frustrating taste of Coming of Age in Mississippi out of my mouth, and something different from the usual trashy vampire romance.
For the Anglophile in me this is a perfect British novel. It is a Bridget Jones diary mashed up with a Traveling Pants coming of age, with a good amount of Clueless slang thrown in, complete with a glossary in the back. Gems such as aggers defined as "Agony. Like I said, no one has the time to say whole words so aggers is short for agony. The unusually irritating among you might point out that aggers is actually longer than agony. My answer to that is-- haven't you got something else to do besides count letters?" and nuddy-pants: "Quite literally nude-colored pants, and you know what nude-colored pants are? They are no pants. So if you are in your nuddy-pants you are in your no pants, i.e., you are naked." abound with playful regularity.
Georgia is, of course, 14, and completely head over heels with Robbie, the Sex God. They have had make outs, pretty intense make outs, and now she is completely in aggers waiting for him to call. To make matters worse, her family might be moving to New Zealand, which, having moved from Colorado to New York at that age, is a catastrophe I can completely identify with.
But as any coming of age story, there is a lot of drama, a lot of funny parts, a lot of ploys to get the Sex God to not think of her like a little kid, lots of agonizing about body parts, typical teenage stuff.
It was a cute, brief read. It took me less than a day to read it, and was a fantastic diversion for a day off. Complete beach reading. And then while you are at the beach, you can think to yourself, "Ha! It is raining and grey in England right now, and here I am at the beach!"
Book # 26: The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton.
I know I have complained about Laurell Hamilton's books before, but I was desperate and in the airport, and just picked up something to read on the plane.
In high school I read the first Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novel. I enjoyed it, (Guilty Pleasures) it was an interesting take on the sympathetic vampire, told by a vampire hunter... a very conflicted vampire hunter, which makes for an interesting twist.
14 Anita Blake novels later (which I have read here and there) these book are much less enjoyable to read. As it turns out there is such a thing a too much sex with too many supernatural partners. Lately, the plots of these books are interspersed with so many sexual partners it is hard to keep them all straight. The really annoying part is that all the men in Anita's life feel the need to be emotional, whining bastards before and after sex. "Why did you have sex with him and not me? Whine, whine, blah, blah." It really takes the fun out of the trashy vampire romance novel.
If I wanted to deal with whiny, over-emotional men, I could just go to work.
This latest novel is slightly better than the few previous ones. I think they made it a whole 100 pages of plot without the sex, and the whining, hurt feelings, and walking on egg shells that follows. That's pretty good for the Hamilton books lately.
Still the plot has gotten too twisted for casual pick-one-up-in-the-airport type reading. Anita now has 6 or 7 permanent boyfriends. Two vampires, a werewolf, a were-leopard, a were-rat, and some other supernatural critters. And while they are all gorgeous, they are all very very emotional and in need of constant coddling. Despite the time and pages all this emotional drama takes up, there was still some interesting plot going on.
The Blake crew is being attacked from the outside by a very powerful force. The Harlequin are a group of vampire so scary that the rest of that vampire community is sworn to secrecy about their existence. They are supposed to be impartial, the judge, jury and especially executioners of the vampire race, but as it turns out, they are bent on territory domination, specifically, the Blake crew's territory of St. Louis.
It is up to Anita and her friends to stop the Harlequin. They do, and love conquers all for almost everyone. And, finally, all the whining is finished for a while. Until the next book, which I may or may not pick up, depending on how bored I am and how much real life whining I have to deal with at the time.
Book # 27: Twin of Ice by Jude Deveraux.
Surprisingly, I had never read this book before, and y'all know hat a huge fan I am of Jude's books. This is one of her earlier works, but every bit as wonderful as they all are.
Taking place in Chandler, Colorado, in 1892, it is the romance of Houston and Kane. Houston is very much a lady, she went to the finest finishing schools and always strived to learn to be the perfect wife for her gentlemanly, doctor fiancee, Lee. But Lee, which she always "loved" him, never quite did it for her in the bedroom area. She is left feeling as if she is frigid, the Ice Princess that Lee calls her when she doesn't respond to his advances.
This all changes one night when she and her twin sister change places. Blair goes in Houston's place, with Lee, to the Governor's Dinner party, and Houston takes an unexpected invitation to see the inside of the amazing house of the rich recluse (Kane). Kane asks Houston to marry him (for he wants to be married to a real lady) and Blair and Lee do it. So much for Houston and Lee's engagement.
Through much clashing of wills, a little public humiliation and trying to make a gentelman out of a stable boy, Houston finds herself getting married to Kane. Like all romance books, there is much friction before you get to the happily ever after bit, but Jude has a way of making all of it very cute and interesting.
There was one point in the book that I found very interesing. Somewhere in the courtship and getting used to one another with Kane, Houston realizes that it isn't how much you have in common that makes a suitable match, but the interesting bits are the times you come in conflict, and how you deal with that. Very wise, Ms. Deveraux, very wise.
Book #28: Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.
I know this is a young adult book, but it is way more interesting than any young adult books that were out when I was a teenager. And I have to say, I devoured this book. I whipped through the 500 pages in less than 24 hours, the likes of which I have not done since the last Harry Potter book came out. Unlike Harry Potter, I did not have all the time to myself, and going to the grocery store and running errands felt like a painful seperation. All I really wanted to do was read this book.
It was a refreshing change from the other trashy vampire romance books that I read. No sex, (of course, can't have teenagers doing THAT) but the entrie book was all antici.......pation. Cold noses being rubbed along warm jaw-lines, and kisses so good that our mortal heroine actually forgets to breathe and faints.
Though there are many fantastic aspects to this novel, one of the best is that our heroine isn't burdened by all the emotional baggage and bullshit that often plague the characters in adult vampire novels. When she figures out that Edward is a vampire, she is not terribly concerned, she loves him with the conviction and strenght of a teenage first love. Whatever obtsticals may pop up along the way, she has the conviction of someone who still believes that True Love is the most powerful thing in the world. That is refreshing to cynical, old me.
I highly, highly reccommend this one... it was fantastic.
Book #29: Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay.
I discovered Dexter the TV show months ago, and devoured it. I think I watched both seasons in the space of 2 days. (I'm a little bit of an extremeist.) So, while trolling around in Barnes and Noble, looking for new things to read, I came across the books. I was excited, for if the TV show was so fantastic, the books will be even better!
Unfortunately this is one of those rare instances where the adaptation surpasses it's source material. The book felt rushed, and was missing many of the deeper emotional aspects the show added in. It took less time to read the book than it did to watch the season based off it. This is not to say that there weren't cute moments. The author has a penchant for alliterations, and there are some hilarious one-liners. But all in all, it was a dissapointment.
I don't think I will be buying the other books in the series (though I might pick them up at the library), but I am biting my nails with anticipation for the third season to come out.
Book #30: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
This is one of the books that I have been meaning to read forever. Even my very strange boss, Chris, has told me I need to read this. (This was fast on the heels of a discussion on mental illness, mine in particular, and I think I reminded him of Marvin the Paranoid Android.)
Did you know that Douglas Adams used to write for Doctor Who when Tom Baker was the Doctor? I didn't either. But Neil Gaiman did, and I am sure he had written about it in his blog at some time or another. There were little simularities, things that were his Hitchhiker's that still show up in Doctor Who. And that made me giggle with geeky delight.
It was a most enjoyable book, full of dry British humor, which I eat up like pancakes. And it made me realize that I should probably check out more of Neil's reccomendations to his fans, that I just might enjoy them immensely. It also made me realize that I have become quite the Science Fiction geek, (which was a genre that I shuned in my youth) and I wonder when that happened.
But, if you have not read it, (though I know most of you have) go, get it, run fast!
Book #31: Damien by Jacquelyn Frank.
Yet another trashy vampire romance book. One about the king of the vampires and the princess of the weres. I picked it up because it has my boyfriend's name on it... though misspelled. Eh.
Books #32 - 35:
The Acceidental Vampire
Vampires Are Forever
Vampire, Inturrupted
Bite Me If You Can
By Lynsay Sands
All trashy vampire romance books. Mostly unremarkable, but amusing none the less.
And I think I am now all caught up with my book log. I might have missed something in there somewhere, but I think that is all of them.
Princess, I just went to the library yesterday, so I will have different, interesting books to review next week. :)
Gee, Alexandra Ivy, do ya think that might be a pen name? :p
Yet another trashy vampire romance novel, purchased in desperation from Walgreen's. It was one of the less horrible ones, I guess, though mostly unremarkable. Darcy Smith, (no relation to Dr. Smith or Sarah Jane Smith) is our cute, pixieish heroine thrown head first into the world of the supernatural by Styx, our very sexy king of the Vampires. But she is also pursued by the werewolves, being a genetically modified wolf herself, for breeding purposed. Styx would also like to breed with her, but in an entirely different, very sexy sort of way.
Long story short, good guy vampire has satisfying, hot sexes with genetically modified werewolf chick, they fall in love. He does stupid man things, she runs away, finally meets her family (the wolves) and discovers her mother is a bitch in every sense of the world. Good guy vampire, and genetically modified wolf-girl fall in love, have more hot sexes, and live happily ever after.
Book # 25: On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God: Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison.
This is one of the books that Tino periodically picks up, thinking it looks like the type of thing that I might enjoy (which is usually is) and always turns up right when I am frantically searching around the apartment for something to read that I haven't already read 10 times, much like that extra pack of cigarettes that you forgot you had until you are out and really in the midst of a terrible nic-fit. This book was exactly what I wanted at the time, something to further wash the frustrating taste of Coming of Age in Mississippi out of my mouth, and something different from the usual trashy vampire romance.
For the Anglophile in me this is a perfect British novel. It is a Bridget Jones diary mashed up with a Traveling Pants coming of age, with a good amount of Clueless slang thrown in, complete with a glossary in the back. Gems such as aggers defined as "Agony. Like I said, no one has the time to say whole words so aggers is short for agony. The unusually irritating among you might point out that aggers is actually longer than agony. My answer to that is-- haven't you got something else to do besides count letters?" and nuddy-pants: "Quite literally nude-colored pants, and you know what nude-colored pants are? They are no pants. So if you are in your nuddy-pants you are in your no pants, i.e., you are naked." abound with playful regularity.
Georgia is, of course, 14, and completely head over heels with Robbie, the Sex God. They have had make outs, pretty intense make outs, and now she is completely in aggers waiting for him to call. To make matters worse, her family might be moving to New Zealand, which, having moved from Colorado to New York at that age, is a catastrophe I can completely identify with.
But as any coming of age story, there is a lot of drama, a lot of funny parts, a lot of ploys to get the Sex God to not think of her like a little kid, lots of agonizing about body parts, typical teenage stuff.
It was a cute, brief read. It took me less than a day to read it, and was a fantastic diversion for a day off. Complete beach reading. And then while you are at the beach, you can think to yourself, "Ha! It is raining and grey in England right now, and here I am at the beach!"
Book # 26: The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton.
I know I have complained about Laurell Hamilton's books before, but I was desperate and in the airport, and just picked up something to read on the plane.
In high school I read the first Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novel. I enjoyed it, (Guilty Pleasures) it was an interesting take on the sympathetic vampire, told by a vampire hunter... a very conflicted vampire hunter, which makes for an interesting twist.
14 Anita Blake novels later (which I have read here and there) these book are much less enjoyable to read. As it turns out there is such a thing a too much sex with too many supernatural partners. Lately, the plots of these books are interspersed with so many sexual partners it is hard to keep them all straight. The really annoying part is that all the men in Anita's life feel the need to be emotional, whining bastards before and after sex. "Why did you have sex with him and not me? Whine, whine, blah, blah." It really takes the fun out of the trashy vampire romance novel.
If I wanted to deal with whiny, over-emotional men, I could just go to work.
This latest novel is slightly better than the few previous ones. I think they made it a whole 100 pages of plot without the sex, and the whining, hurt feelings, and walking on egg shells that follows. That's pretty good for the Hamilton books lately.
Still the plot has gotten too twisted for casual pick-one-up-in-the-airport type reading. Anita now has 6 or 7 permanent boyfriends. Two vampires, a werewolf, a were-leopard, a were-rat, and some other supernatural critters. And while they are all gorgeous, they are all very very emotional and in need of constant coddling. Despite the time and pages all this emotional drama takes up, there was still some interesting plot going on.
The Blake crew is being attacked from the outside by a very powerful force. The Harlequin are a group of vampire so scary that the rest of that vampire community is sworn to secrecy about their existence. They are supposed to be impartial, the judge, jury and especially executioners of the vampire race, but as it turns out, they are bent on territory domination, specifically, the Blake crew's territory of St. Louis.
It is up to Anita and her friends to stop the Harlequin. They do, and love conquers all for almost everyone. And, finally, all the whining is finished for a while. Until the next book, which I may or may not pick up, depending on how bored I am and how much real life whining I have to deal with at the time.
Book # 27: Twin of Ice by Jude Deveraux.
Surprisingly, I had never read this book before, and y'all know hat a huge fan I am of Jude's books. This is one of her earlier works, but every bit as wonderful as they all are.
Taking place in Chandler, Colorado, in 1892, it is the romance of Houston and Kane. Houston is very much a lady, she went to the finest finishing schools and always strived to learn to be the perfect wife for her gentlemanly, doctor fiancee, Lee. But Lee, which she always "loved" him, never quite did it for her in the bedroom area. She is left feeling as if she is frigid, the Ice Princess that Lee calls her when she doesn't respond to his advances.
This all changes one night when she and her twin sister change places. Blair goes in Houston's place, with Lee, to the Governor's Dinner party, and Houston takes an unexpected invitation to see the inside of the amazing house of the rich recluse (Kane). Kane asks Houston to marry him (for he wants to be married to a real lady) and Blair and Lee do it. So much for Houston and Lee's engagement.
Through much clashing of wills, a little public humiliation and trying to make a gentelman out of a stable boy, Houston finds herself getting married to Kane. Like all romance books, there is much friction before you get to the happily ever after bit, but Jude has a way of making all of it very cute and interesting.
There was one point in the book that I found very interesing. Somewhere in the courtship and getting used to one another with Kane, Houston realizes that it isn't how much you have in common that makes a suitable match, but the interesting bits are the times you come in conflict, and how you deal with that. Very wise, Ms. Deveraux, very wise.
Book #28: Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.
I know this is a young adult book, but it is way more interesting than any young adult books that were out when I was a teenager. And I have to say, I devoured this book. I whipped through the 500 pages in less than 24 hours, the likes of which I have not done since the last Harry Potter book came out. Unlike Harry Potter, I did not have all the time to myself, and going to the grocery store and running errands felt like a painful seperation. All I really wanted to do was read this book.
It was a refreshing change from the other trashy vampire romance books that I read. No sex, (of course, can't have teenagers doing THAT) but the entrie book was all antici.......pation. Cold noses being rubbed along warm jaw-lines, and kisses so good that our mortal heroine actually forgets to breathe and faints.
Though there are many fantastic aspects to this novel, one of the best is that our heroine isn't burdened by all the emotional baggage and bullshit that often plague the characters in adult vampire novels. When she figures out that Edward is a vampire, she is not terribly concerned, she loves him with the conviction and strenght of a teenage first love. Whatever obtsticals may pop up along the way, she has the conviction of someone who still believes that True Love is the most powerful thing in the world. That is refreshing to cynical, old me.
I highly, highly reccommend this one... it was fantastic.
Book #29: Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay.
I discovered Dexter the TV show months ago, and devoured it. I think I watched both seasons in the space of 2 days. (I'm a little bit of an extremeist.) So, while trolling around in Barnes and Noble, looking for new things to read, I came across the books. I was excited, for if the TV show was so fantastic, the books will be even better!
Unfortunately this is one of those rare instances where the adaptation surpasses it's source material. The book felt rushed, and was missing many of the deeper emotional aspects the show added in. It took less time to read the book than it did to watch the season based off it. This is not to say that there weren't cute moments. The author has a penchant for alliterations, and there are some hilarious one-liners. But all in all, it was a dissapointment.
I don't think I will be buying the other books in the series (though I might pick them up at the library), but I am biting my nails with anticipation for the third season to come out.
Book #30: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
This is one of the books that I have been meaning to read forever. Even my very strange boss, Chris, has told me I need to read this. (This was fast on the heels of a discussion on mental illness, mine in particular, and I think I reminded him of Marvin the Paranoid Android.)
Did you know that Douglas Adams used to write for Doctor Who when Tom Baker was the Doctor? I didn't either. But Neil Gaiman did, and I am sure he had written about it in his blog at some time or another. There were little simularities, things that were his Hitchhiker's that still show up in Doctor Who. And that made me giggle with geeky delight.
It was a most enjoyable book, full of dry British humor, which I eat up like pancakes. And it made me realize that I should probably check out more of Neil's reccomendations to his fans, that I just might enjoy them immensely. It also made me realize that I have become quite the Science Fiction geek, (which was a genre that I shuned in my youth) and I wonder when that happened.
But, if you have not read it, (though I know most of you have) go, get it, run fast!
Book #31: Damien by Jacquelyn Frank.
Yet another trashy vampire romance book. One about the king of the vampires and the princess of the weres. I picked it up because it has my boyfriend's name on it... though misspelled. Eh.
Books #32 - 35:
The Acceidental Vampire
Vampires Are Forever
Vampire, Inturrupted
Bite Me If You Can
By Lynsay Sands
All trashy vampire romance books. Mostly unremarkable, but amusing none the less.
And I think I am now all caught up with my book log. I might have missed something in there somewhere, but I think that is all of them.
Princess, I just went to the library yesterday, so I will have different, interesting books to review next week. :)