Book: Life After Theft by Aprilynne Pike

Published April 2013 by HarperCollins|226 pages

Where I Got It: I own the e-book

Series: Life After Theft #1

Genre: YA Paranormal/Ghosts

Aprilynne Pike, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Wings series, shines in this stand-alone novel that offers a humorous twist on ghosts and is perfect for fans of Ally Carter, Rachel Hawkins, and Kiersten White.

Kimberlee Schaffer may be drop-dead gorgeous…but she also dropped dead last year. Now she needs Jeff’s help with her unfinished business, and she’s not taking no for an answer. When she was alive, Kimberlee wasn’t just a mean girl; she was also a complete kleptomaniac. So if Jeff wants to avoid being haunted until graduation, he’ll have to help her return all of the stolen items. But Jeff soon discovers that it’s much easier to steal something than it is to bring it back.

Paying for your mistakes takes on a whole new meaning in this hauntingly clever twist on The Scarlet Pimpernel.

I’ve been a huge fan of Aprilynne Pike ever since I read her Wings series, and I knew it was finally time to pick up Life After Theft!

I liked it, and Kimberlee is definitely sarcastic, which I thought added some really interesting but funny moments between her and Jeff.  I really liked Jeff, and Kimberlee was pretty unlikeable, especially in contrast to Sera. Especially once we start learning more about Kimberlee when she was alive, and that made me like her even less. I didn’t mind not liking her, though, with Sera, we see how much Sera tried to change, while Kimberlee seemed to be stuck and unable to move past anything…not just in death, but in life too.  Kimberlee is pretty selfish, and I think she does start to realize how wrong her past actions were, but it was a little too late.

Jeff really was the perfect person to see Kimberlee, though.  He’s new in town, and he doesn’t know Kimberlee, and he’s such a good guy that he was willing to help return all of the stuff she stole.  It is interesting that he’s the only one who would see her, and it does sort of make me wonder why he could see her when no one else could.  Him being new probably has a lot to do with, but now that I think about it, I wonder if there are other reasons for it was him, and no one else.

I also kind of wish we saw more of Kimberlee’s perspective.  I’m not the biggest fan of dual narration, but I think it could have worked really well in this book.  Still, even though Kimberlee was a character I didn’t like, and even though she did some pretty horrible things, she was still an interesting character, and maybe seeing at least a chapter or two from her perspective would have changed how I saw her.  Or maybe not, but either way, I wouldn’t have minded that at all.

As a re-telling of The Scarlet Pimpernel…I’ve never read it, and I have no idea what it’s about, but I have heard of it. So, I don’t know if that’s why I liked it, and didn’t love it, and if it would have made a difference in how I felt about the characters, or if I still would have felt the same way about the book.  And I obviously can’t speak to how it is as a re-telling.

3 stars.  I liked it, especially the characters and how witty some of them were.

Book: The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan

Published June 2009 by HarperCollins|373 pages

Where I Got It: I own the e-book

Series: The Strain #1

Genre: Adult Apocalyptic/Thriller/Vampires

A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Ephraim “Eph” Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.

In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing.

So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save his city – a city that includes his wife and son – before it is too late.

I’ve wanted to read The Strain for a while, and finally picked it up a few weeks ago.  It was a pretty interesting book, and I liked the idea of the book a lot.  Vampires by way of a virus isn’t a new idea (Julie Kagawa’s Blood Of Eden trilogy comes to mind), but I liked seeing it as it happened and as the CDC tries to figure out what’s going on.

I did like The Strain, and I know at one point, it was a t.v. show- I have no idea if it’s still airing, but either way, the entire time I was reading it, I kept thinking about how it would be a great t.v. show.  It really was written like it was meant to be on t.v., and I’m not sure if it’s because the book was written with the intention of eventually being adapted for t.v., or if it’s something that, because of what it’s about, would be great to watch.

It was hard to put down, though, and I found I really liked Abraham Setrakian.  The other characters…not so much, but since it’s been a few weeks since I’ve read the book, Abraham is the only character I actually remember.  I think I vaguely remember a nanny from Haiti, and I vaguely remember her being really interesting, and wanting to know more about her story, but other than that, I couldn’t tell you about any of the other characters if my life depended on it.

3 stars.  I did like The Strain, and it was definitely a page-turner that would be really interesting to watch. Most of the characters didn’t stick with me, but I did like the premise of the book, and the vampires were definitely horrible and creepy.