Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead (Spoiler Free)

Two races of vampires walk our world. One, the Moroi, are alive and wield elemental magical. The other, the Strigoi, are undead and evil-feeding on the innocent to survive. Rose Hathaway-a half-vampire with poor impulse control-is training to be a bodyguard for a Moroi princess. Learning to decapitate and stake is hard enough, but Rose's real danger may lie in an illicit romance with one of her instructors...

My Rating: 3.9/5 Stars
Genre: Paranormal (Vampires), Romance, Young Adult

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton

" My name is Anita Blake. Vampires call me The Executioner. What I call them isn't repeatable.Ever since the Supreme Court granted the undead equal rights, most people think vampires are just ordinary folks with fangs. I know better. I've seen their victims. I carry the scars... But now a serial killer is murdering vampires -- and the most powerful bloodsucker in town wants me to find the killer. "

Description of the Berkley Trade edition:

Published over ten years ago by Ace, Guilty Pleasures marked the debut of a series that was destined to grow from cult favorite to a major New York Times bestseller. Now, for long-time Anita Blake junkies and newfound fans, Guilty Pleasures makes its trade paperback debut. Readers will learn how Anita Blake started raising the dead-and killing the undead. And how she met Jean Claude, the master vampire destined to become not only her biggest nemesis, but her greatest lover...



My Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Genre:Urban Fantasy, Paranormal (Zombies, Necromancers, Vampires), Romance


Paperback, 272 pages 
Published October 1st 1993 by Ace Books

Shadow and Bone (The Grisha #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee. 

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. 

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart. 

 Shadow and Bone is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy.

My Rating: 3.8/5
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal (Magic)
Read from November 2 to 8, 2014



Hardcover, 358 pages 
Published June 5th 2012 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Fallen (Fallen #1) by Lauren Kate with SPOILERS

What if the person you were meant to be with could never be yours? 

17-year-old Lucinda falls in love with a gorgeous, intelligent boy, Daniel, at her new school, the grim, foreboding Sword & Cross . . . only to find out that Daniel is a fallen angel, and that they have spent lifetimes finding and losing one another as good & evil forces plot to keep them apart. 

 Get ready to fall . . .

My Rating: 1.5/5
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal (Angels)
Read sometime in 2010 



Hardcover, 1st Edition, 452 pages 
Published December 8th 2009 by Delacorte Press (first published 2009)

The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1) by Michele Hodkin

Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through she can fall in love.

She's wrong.

Paperback, 452 pages

Published October 23rd 2012 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (first published September 27th 2011)

Personal Rating: 1/5
Genres: Young-Adult, Paranormal
Order online in Alibris


MY REVIEW:



Well, first of all, i was in deep thought rating this book. There were some little parts of it that were thrilling, but that was it. Starting with the good qualities

1) The parts that are meant to "scary", "terrify" or "trouble" the reader did make my hair stand up. 

2) Then, there are little twists in the plot i really liked. 

3) Promising theme and artwork on the cover. I was mistaken by judging this book from its beautiful cover. 

Moving on to the main body of this review. My main complaints are:

1) Difficulty to decipher the meaning of some of the dialogues. Period. I found that really annoying, it made me wonder if the american readers got easily through that part - because as an excellent speaker of british english, i lost the gist of it. 

2) What's going on with high-school drama these last After-Twilight years? I can see many resemblances, which upsets me. I personally think that Meyer's story did influence many others to become fans, readers and writers of the paranormal. But, not many do have the story-telling abilities of Stephenie Meyer. 

3) And then again, this book almost made me lose my interest with the pages spend on endless tell-tales of love and hate, between "him" and "her". Hey, hasn't anyone told you that this guy is spineless? It seemed like our hero had a taste for inadequate girls with lack of manners. We are lucky he didn't lick the soles of her shoes. 

4) Many parts of the story-line where not smoothly combined. I got the impression of someone who was in a hurry to finish a book, and just smashed in every pretty idea she had in her mind. 

Overall? It's a shame. I would not complain about the plot, or the guy's character if not for the last complaint i listed above. Sorry guys :) Hope we don't share the same point of view and you liked it/will like it if you read it.

Darkest Powers by Kelley Armstrong (Series Review)

The  Summoning (Darkest Powers #1)

My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost - and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a "special home" for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? it's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House...before its skeletons come back to haunt me.

Hardcover, 390 pages
Published July 1st 2008 by HarperCollins
Personal Rating: 4/5 

Genres: Young-Adult, Paranormal
Order online in Alibris

The Awakaning (Darkest Powers #2)

Chloe Saunders is on the run

and raising hell. Literally. 

Chloe Saunders is not your average supernatural teenager. Genetically altered at birth by a sinister team of scientists, she can barely control her terrifying powers. Now the team that created her has decided it's time to end the experiment. Permanently.

Now Chloe is running for her life along with a charming sorcerer, a troubled werewolf and a temperamental young witch. Together they have a chance for freedom - but can Chloe trust her new friends?

Hardcover, 360 pages
Published April 28th 2009 by HarperCollins
Personal Rating: 5/5
Genres: Young-Adult, Paranormal
Order online in Alibris

The Reckoning (Darkest Powers #3)

Chloe Saunders is fifteen and would love to be normal. Unfortunately, Chloe happens to be a genetically engineered necromancer who can raise the dead without even trying. She and her equally gifted (or should that be 'cursed'?) friends are now running for their lives from the evil corporation that created them.

As if that's not enough, Chloe is struggling with her feelings for Simon, a sweet-tempered sorcerer, and his brother Derek, a not so sweet-tempered werewolf. And she has a horrible feeling she's leaning towards the werewolf...

Definitely not normal.




Paperback, 391 pages
Published April 12th 2011 by HarperCollins
Personal Rating: 4/5
Genres: Young-Adult, Paranormal
order online in Alibris

TOTAL SERIES RATING: 4.3/5

... AND THE REVIEW :)

Hello there :) 

First of all, i have to say that this review belongs to the "Darkest Powers" series as a whole, as i could not judge the books as seperate individuals - the series has a strong feeling of continuity. But, as i didn't want to upset anyone, i marked the spoilers throughout the review. 

Starting off with the negatives:

1) This series lacks of depth of language and descriptions. Well, don't mistake that line as crazy off-road expectations but, the way it is right now, i had to put my galloping imagination into work so that i would fill in the gaps. And yet, the same boring words and expressions, into my face day after day. 

2) I wouldn't place it at the "Yound-Adult" range. I coped with it because in the age of 19, i still fancy bedtime stories. It probably should be addressed as "teen fantasy fiction", as it is absolutely suitable for readers who are in their early-mid teens.

... And moving to my fave part :)

1) Personally, i distaste the group of books which contains Twilight,  Hush, Hush and  Fallen. And probably that's why i stick with Darkest Powers and  The Mortal Instruments. I like it when the heroine is a quick thinker, who knows how to overcome obstacles even if she has her moments of self pity and hard self-critic. Yes, our journey starts with a rich, self centered and i-am-the-good-girl Chloe, but in the end, she shows us and finally admits that she changed. Still the rich girl, but her aims benefit the team, and when her beloved ones are in danger, she flashes some claws. 


[SPOILER]

2) Our Chloe does not fall for Mr Charming, who in our case, goes by Simon. Instead, she falls for the most unlikely choice: The not-so-pretty, moody and rude Derek. And its not the classic crap of "Love at first Sight" thing. At first, he ignored her. (as Derek confirms in Darkest Powers Bonus Pack 1 ). The feeling was almost mutual because she almost hated him. But, love knocked their door ONLY when they had faced their biggest problems together, and entirely accepted each other. Makes me think of Beauty and the Beast, and that's what makes me feel that this relationship is incompetent.

[END OF SPOILER]