Book: Fade Out by Rachel Caine

Published November 2009|Published by Signet Books|191 Pages|Purchased for my Nook

Series: Yes, Morganville Vampires #7

Genre: YA: Paranormal-Vampires

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Rachel Caine’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Without the evil vampire Bishop ruling over the town of Morganville, the resident vampires have made major concessions to the human population. With their newfound freedoms, Claire Danvers and her friends are almost starting to feel comfortable again.

Now Claire can actually concentrate on her studies, and her friend Eve joins the local theatre company. But when one of Eve’s castmates goes missing after starting work on a short documentary, Eve suspects the worst. Claire and Eve soon realize that this film project, whose subject is the vampires themselves, is a whole lot bigger and way more dangerous than anyone suspected.

I cannot put this series down!  Things seem normal in Morganville, which doesn’t last very long.  I mean, we are talking about Morganville, after all.  There isn’t a lot of action in Fade Out, but we do see a lot more of Ada, who gets reset and then dies.  I thought Ada was a great character, with how she wanted to destroy Morganville.  I don’t blame her, with how she became the machine that keeps it running.  You can’t help but wonder how Morganville is going to change with Ada being down and Claire and Myrnin needing to find a new way to keep things going.

I didn’t like Kim, and while her idea of exposing Morganville was kind of brilliant, I half expected her to try to break up Shane and Claire, which would not be cool.  At all.  I wasn’t surprised that Michael had to make a choice between the vampires and Claire, Eve, and Shane.  I’m also not surprised that Eve is finally dealing with Michael as a vampire and that he’s different now.

We also see Amelie mourning over Sam, and not being on top of things as the founder of Morganville…until Oliver suggests that he act as regent while she deals with her grief.  This, of course, snaps Amelie out of her grieving, because she doesn’t want to hand things over to Oliver.  We do get a little more of their background, and their relationship.

The humans in Morganville have a lot more rights, which is nice.  And Shane, Eve and Claire having Neutral status in Morganville (which is very rare, as less than 10 people have had Neutral status) was something I wasn’t expecting.  I’m not completely sure why Amelie would change Claire’s status to Neutral, and it makes me feel like she has something in store for Claire.

Final thoughts: I love how consistent this series is- Caine keeps building on each book, and things flow so naturally.  It’s not one of my favorite books, but it does feel like the turning point in the series.  Things are definitely changing in Morganville, and Caine does a great job at keeping you interested while wrapping up loose ends and bringing in new mysteries.  It gets 4 stars.

Book: Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase

Published January 2008|Published by Harper Collins|239 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Series? Yes, Fallen Women #1

Genre: Adult/Historical Romance

Check it out at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Loretta Chase’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: James Cordier is all blue blood and entirely dangerous. He’s a master of disguise, a brilliant thief, a first-class lover–all for King and Country–and, by gad, he’s “so” weary of it. His last mission is to “acquire” a packet of incriminating letters from one notorious woman. Then he can return to London and meet sweet-natured heiresses–not adventuresses and fallen women.

Francesca Bonnard has weathered heartbreak, scorn, and scandal. She’s independent, happy, and “definitely” fallen; and she’s learned that “gentlemen” are more trouble than they’re worth. She can also see that her wildly attractive new neighbor is bad news.

But as bad as James is, there are others far worse also searching for Francesca’s letters. And suddenly nothing is simple–especially the nearly incendiary chemistry between the two most jaded, sinful souls in Europe. And just as suddenly, risking everything may be worth the prize.

I am slowly becoming a fan of Loretta Chase.  Your Scandalous ways was so fun to read!

I have to say, Francesca was hilarious, and she was a lot more witty than I expected.  I LOVED Francesca and James together, and they really are well-matched.  I thought Venice was a great setting for the book, and it made it seem fun and exotic- and you got a great sense of what Venice was like during the 1800’s.  Plus, I loved the random historical references throughout the novel.  She does a great job at weaving in history and Italian.

What’s interesting about Francesca and James is that were okay on their own, but great when they were together.  Seriously, it’s a shame that they couldn’t be together in every single scene.

I wasn’t expecting so much action, and there’s a lot more going on than just romance.  There’s quite a bit of intrigue, and quite a bit of adventure.  I was pleasantly surprised that a lot of the characters were fun to read and all had their own personalities.  Like, I love that Francesca becomes a well-paid courtesan in Venice after getting divorced.  And she completely owns that, which is also pretty cool.  And James as a spy sent to get letters from Francesca but getting distracted by her beauty?  Certainly interesting, but also very predictable.

Final thoughts: I’m just annoyed that it took me so long to read it, because it really was fun to read.  I definitely need to read more Loretta Chase, and more romance in general.  Your Scandalous Ways gets 5 stars- I couldn’t help but love it.

Book: Ill Wind by Rachel Caine

Published December 2003|Published by Penguin Group|352 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Part of a series? Yes, Weather Wardens #1

Genre: Adult: Paranormal/Fantasy

Find out more at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Rachel Caine’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: First in the new Weather Warden series… 

Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden. Usually, all it takes is a wave of her hand to tame the most violent weather. But now, she’s trying to outrun another kind of storm: accusations of corruption and murder. So, she’s resorting to the very human tactic of running for her life… 

Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful warden known. Unfortunately, he’s stolen not one but three bottles of Djinn-making him the most wanted man on earth. Still, she’s racing hard to find him-before the bad weather closes in fast…

I am such a big Rachel Caine fan, and after reading most of the Outcast Season series, I knew I had to read Ill Wind, the first book in her Weather Warden series.  I really liked it, and it’s a series I’m really looking forward to reading.

I love the idea of a secret agency that helps out Mother Earth by making the weather not so bad, and having mad skills with the elements.  I love the idea of weather wardens, and the idea that the weather (mostly storms) would be a lot worse without them to guide the weather.  I also love what she did with the dijinn and their connection to the wardens.  They definitely have a life of their own, and the dijinns in Ill Wind (and Outcast season) are definitely interesting.

Some of the descriptions of the weather went over my head, but it definitely made Ill Wind really interesting, and it really added to the book.  I also liked the flashbacks, because we got to see how Joanne became a Weather Warden and her relationships with some of the other wardens.  I also liked seeing them because we learn about why she’s on the run and in the situation she’s in.  We do start off right in the middle of things, which was great things got going really fast.

I wasn’t expecting that ending, but Caine is great at writing endings I don’t expect.  I liked the characters, and there’s definitely a lot of potential for the characters.  I really loved all the relationships between the characters, and how connected the wardens seem to be.  The world was pretty familiar because of the Outcast Season series, so it’s nice to get the background for that series.

As much as I love Rachel Caine, Ill Wind wasn’t quite up to the standard she set with Outcast Season and Morganville Vampires.  But I think it’ll get better as the series progresses.  I really did enjoy it, and it was a fun read.

Final thoughts: I loved what Caine did with the weather and all the mythology and magic surrounding the magic and structure of the Wardens.  I enjoyed it- not as much as the Morganville Vampires and Outcast Season- but it was a fun, easy, quick read. It gets 4 stars.

Book: Carpe Corpus by Rachel Caine

Published June 2009|Published by Signet Books|195 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Series: Yes, Morganville Vampires #6

Genre: YA/Paranormal- Vampires

Find out more at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Rachel Caine’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: In the small college town of Morganville, vampires and humans lived in (relative) peace-until all the rules got rewritten when the evil vampire Bishop arrived, looking for the lost book of vampire secrets. He’s kept a death grip on the town ever since. Now an underground resistance is brewing, and in order to contain it, Bishop must go to even greater lengths. He vows to obliterate the town and all its inhabitants-the living and the undead. Claire Danvers and her friends are the only ones who stand in his way. But even if they defeat Bishop, will the vampires ever be content to go back to the old rules, after having such a taste of power?

Carpe Corpus…I really liked it, but not as much as the other books in the series.  So, Claire is one of Bishop’s minions, people think she’s a traitor, Eve won’t really talk to her, and Shane is in jail with her dad.  We see Michael the most (after Claire, of course), and seeing him under Bishop’s control was interesting.  Even if it did turn out that he wasn’t really under Bishop’s control.

It really looks like Amelie has disappeared, but Amelie is really trying to get people out of Morganville and working on a way to defeat Bishop.  I really liked Myrnin and how unpredictable he is- even when it seems like he’s gone all evil, he usually has something up his sleeve, and isn’t as bad as you’d think.  And Ada!  Ada is what keeps Morganville going, and I like how she doesn’t want to take directions from Claire but has to, because Myrnin said to.  I’m intrigued by Ada, and I hope we see more of her in the books to come.  Overall, the characters are great, and I love how they just keep dealing with what was going on.

And Sam!  Oh my god, I wasn’t expecting that.  At all.  I’m just going to leave it at that.

Remember that sexual tension I mentioned in my review for Lord Of Misrule?  Well, Claire is now seventeen, which means Claire and Shane’s relationship gets really interesting.  Part of me was all, “it’s about time” but the other part of me was hoping Caine would drag it out a little more.

As much as I love this series, there was just something off about it.  I can’t quite put my finger on it…but…I don’t know.  There’s just something about this one that didn’t sit quite right.  I mean, a lot of loose ends did get wrapped up, but there are definitely more that were created, so we’ll see what happens with that.

Final thoughts: I didn’t love it, but I still really enjoyed Carpe Corpus.  We see a lot of resolution, but we also get a glimpse of where things are headed.  It gets a 4 out of 5.

Book: Lord Of Misrule by Rachel Caine

Published December 2008|Published by Signet Book|193 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Series?  Yes, Morganville Vampires #5

Genre: YA/Paranormal- Vampires

Find out more at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Rachel Caine’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: In the college town of Morganville, vampires and humans coexist in (relatively) bloodless harmony. Then comes Bishop, the master vampire who threatens to abolish all order, revive the forces of the evil dead, and let chaos rule. But Bishop isn’t the only threat. Violent black cyclone clouds hover, promising a storm of devastating proportions as student Claire Danvers and her friends prepare to defend Morganville against elements both natural and unnatural.

The more books in this series I read, the more I love it!  Lord Of Misrule is definitely my favorite so far, and it’s definitely action-packed.  I so wish these books were longer because they’re so hard to put down!

We get introduced to a few more characters in Lord Of Misrule, and I really liked Hannah.  Myrnin gets more and more interesting, and I can’t wait to see what Caine does with him in the rest of the series.  I thought a lot of the characters were really interesting, and while seeing them separated was really weird, I also liked seeing them have to deal with the events of the novel without each other.  Everyone is still them, but I think Claire is changing the most out of all of them.  She could have kicked Monica when she was down, but she didn’t, which really shows a lot of maturity.  Then again, Claire is pretty mature to begin with, so I’m not sure how much it really says about her.

Claire and Shane’s relationship gets a lot more interesting- he’s insistent on keeping the promise he made to not sleep with her.  He does, however, tell her that he loves her, which is an improvement.  There is quite a bit of sexual tension between them in this one, which isn’t that big of a surprise.  Will they or won’t they?

I have to say, that ending was…oh my god!  Not what I was expecting.  AT ALL.  It was frustrating, but it really made you want to pick up the next book immediately.  Things really change with this book, and Morganville is not going to be the same when the fighting is over.  Things are definitely going to hell in a handbasket, and you see a lot of destruction plus a crazy storm.

It really does some like Caine knows where everything is going with this series.  The cliffhanger thing is starting to get a little old, but I still want to keep reading, regardless of all the cliffhangers.  This is such a fun series to read, and Lord Of Misrule doesn’t disappoint.  I love that Caine just keeps building on the series and that we learn a little bit more with each book.

Final thoughts: I’m not sure what I can say about Lord Of Misrule that I haven’t already said.  It’s definitely my favorite and the most action-packed book in the series so far.  It gets a 5 out of 5.

Book: Possess by Gretchen McNeil

Published August 2011|Published by Balzer + Bray|243 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Series? No (but there seem to be rumors of a sequel)

Genre: YA/Paranormal- Demons

Find out more at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Gretchen McNeil’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her mom, by the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out the voices are demons – and Bridget has the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from. 

Terrified to tell people about her new power, Bridget confides in a local priest who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession. But just as she is starting to come to terms with her new power, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the demons’ plan before someone close to her winds up dead – or worse, the human vessel of a demon king.

I really liked Possess.  I thought the whole exorcism thing was a really interesting, and also pretty unique as far as Watchers and angels and demons go.

I loved the history behind the Nephilim and the fallen angels- having Bridget go to Catholic school and being trained by a Monsignor who works at her school really made it a lot more believable.  All that history made it a lot more interesting to me, because you get a sense of the history behind everything.

I liked Bridget as a character, and I liked seeing her try to deal with everything that she learns.  And Father Santos was also pretty interesting- I loved the connection he had to her dad, and that he was a good guy.  I liked the relationship Bridget had with her brother Sammy- she seems like a great older sister.

Something that seemed a little out of place was Bridget’s friend Peter.  He definitely had a crush on her, but by the end of the book, he just got a little too weird.  He seemed like this quiet, shy guy, and then all of a sudden, he’s freaking out because she goes to Winter Formal with someone else?  His death seemed randomly thrown in, like McNeil wanted a connection to the death of Bridget’s dad.  It wasn’t really explained, so it felt like it was just there.

Also, it was really easy to figure out who the bad guy was, so it wasn’t as suspenseful as I expected.  But while it was predictable, it was an enjoyable kind of predictable.

Final thoughts: Basically, I really liked Possess.  It’s definitely a good Halloween read, and I loved that exorcisms/banishments were really important, and more importantly, you get a sense of history and ritual while not being hit over the head with it.  The thing with Peter seemed really random, but overall, Possess was a very enjoyable read.  It gets 4 stars.

Book: Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Published May 2012|Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|320 Pages|Purchased for my Nook

Part of a series?  No

Genre: YA/Fantasy

Check it out at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Alethea Kontis

Goodreads.com Summary: It isn’t easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past—and hers?

I’m not sure what to think about Enchanted.  I love that it’s based on that poem about the days of the week.  But it’s also a very strange re-telling of that poem, and it’s all over the place.  There were elements of Cinderella, The Frog Prince and Jack And The Beanstalk thrown in too.  It just felt all over the place, and I’m not quite sure if the story was supposed to be happy, dark and twisted or something else?  There were so many different things going on, and none of them really worked well together.

There were a few things introduced that could have been interesting, if they were explored more.  Like Sunday’s brother Jack, or the relationship between the King and Sorrow, or even the relationship between the King and his first two wives, and why he killed to remain immortal.  I wanted to know more about Sunday and the frog/prince…when he was a frog, of course.

I’m not sure about the whole family being magical- it just felt too random, and was just another thing that didn’t quite fit.  Plus…all the fairy tales were pretty inconsistent.  Sometimes, Kontis went with the fairy tales (as she did with the frog prince) but other times, she went against it (like the princess and the pea).

I did like the descriptions, and it was a pretty easy read, even if it was a little confusing and convoluted at times.

Final thoughts: There was too much going on in Enchanted.  I liked that you saw a lot of fairy tales, but overall, that just took away from the novel because you were never really sure where it was going.  It was just okay, so it gets a 2 out of 5.

Book: Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

Published December 2011|Published by Philomel Books|336 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Part Of A Series? Yes

Genre: YA/Paranormal

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Mary Lindsey’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: A thrilling debut story of death, love, destiny and danger

Lenzi hears voices and has visions – gravestones, floods, a boy with steel gray eyes. Her boyfriend, Zak, can’t help, and everything keeps getting louder and more intense. Then Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, who reveals that she’s a reincarnated Speaker – someone who can talk to and help lost souls – and that he has been her Protector for centuries.

Now Lenzi must choose between her life with Zak and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. But time is running out: a malevolent spirit is out to destroy Lenzi, and he will kill her if she doesn’t make a decision soon.

Shattered Souls was really interesting.  And I really liked it!

I’m still not sure about this reincarnating souls trend, especially if the person doesn’t remember their past lives, but I thought it was really well-done in Shattered Souls.  Especially when you learn why she can’t remember anything!

I thought Lenzi was an interesting character, but I’m still not sure if I like her or not.  Interesting as she was, I just couldn’t completely connect with her.  Alden and Smith were also interesting, as were Maddi and Race, and I liked seeing the relationships between all the characters.

I think seeing more of Lenzi’s previous life as Rose would have been helpful, because it came up a lot, especially in reference to how different she was.  I know that her starting over and seeing Alden through fresh eyes was kind of the point, I wish her past was explored a little more.

I thought the whole Speaker/Protector/Hindered aspect of the book was super-interesting.  A girl who can speak to the dead, who need to move on?  Definitely an interesting take on ghosts, and I really enjoyed it how she can speak to the dead and help them move on and that she has someone to make sure everything goes okay when she does resolutions.  I love what she did with ghosts- she did something interesting but they were still what we know and love about ghosts.

Final thoughts: Shattered Souls was really interesting, and I can’t wait to learn more about this world.  I thought the idea of speakers and protectors was different and reincarnation to keep things running smoothly was also interesting.  Shattered Souls gets a 4 out of 5.