Book Reviews

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

If you are a fan of young adult, romance, action packed syfy books then you will love Vampire Academy. This a six book series, the first book was released in 2007 with the series concluding in 2010. There is a spin off series called Bloodlines but the main characters are different.

This book focus on Rosemarie "Rose" Hathaway's character. Also her best friend Vasilisa "Lissa" Dragomir character and other friends along the way but all told in Rose's way. The book starts out with Rose and Lissa on the run for two years after they ran away from their school St. Vladimir. Now their school isn't just any ordinary school. This is a school for Dhampir's and Moroi's... I know you are probably going, what? huh? what that heck is that? Here's the scoop,

Dhampir's- not human fully and not vampire fully, they are a mix. One vampire parents and one human parent. They act as guardians to the Moroi's.
Moroi's- full vampires.

Rose is a Dhampir and Lissa is a Moroi. Once they are found and taken back to the school, they get into a somewhat normal routine. They take their normal class and Rose also takes her guardian class. The man who captured them Dimitri Belikov becomes Rose's instructor. Lissa forms a bond with another classmate Christian Ozera which soon becomes romantic and Rose begins to have feelings for Dimitri. The book then has other plots but mainly follows these relationship as they form, dissolve and find a way to piece back together.

Good news if you love these books, they are in the process of making them into a movie. Not sure if each book will be a movie or if they combine or what the plan is. All I know so far is that the movie they are working on now is called "Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters". Zoey Deutch is playing Rose, Lucy Fry is playing Lissa and Danila Kozlovsky (a Russian actor) is playing Dimitri. No other casting has taken place yet. The film has a tentative date release for February 14, 2014. Filiming is suppose to start at the end of May.

Let me know your thoughts!


Bared to You by Sylvia Day

Anyone who is a fan of Fifty Shades of Grey, then you must read Bared to You by Sylvia Day.

Is this book similar to 50 Shade of Grey... yes. Is this book different than 50 Shades of Grey... yes. The concept of the erotic romance story line is there but the story of the characters is different. Like in 50 Shades of Grey, the book is from a young adult girls point of view. This book centers around Eva Tramell journey as she starts a new job at Cross Industries at the Crossfire building. Little does she know that boss/owner of the building is who she will soon be falling head over heels for (a PG-13 meaning). Gideon Cross is the boss/owner if many buildings in New York and is a "very attractive young man" who happens to be single. Eva bumps into him the day before she actually starts work, because she wanted to time out her walk to work every morning. They have a conversation full of sexual tension before they part ways. This is the base for the start of the book.

The part of this book that is different from 50 Shades of Grey is that BOTH of these characters come from a damaged childhood. Eva and Gideon are survivors of sexual childhood abuse. At the end of book two we still are not completely sure about Gideon's past but Eva was abuse by her older step-brother. This book is about two damaged adults trying to find a way to love themselves and still be in a functional sexual relationship. It's a twisted tale of love but you do see how these two really care about each other and want to become better for one another throughout the series.

There are two books released so far, Bared to You and Reflected in You and the third book in the series is set to release June 4th- that book is titled Entwined with You. If you are a fan of 50 Shades then I don't think you will be disappointed. If you have already read the book let me know your thoughts.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

The last series I read was 'Divergent' by Veronica Roth, released in 2011. 

This is three book series with book three set to release in October of 2013. Divergent is the title of the first book and 'Insurgent' is the second title. The third book is still untitled. 

The series is narrated by Beatrice 'Tris' Prior, described as a 16 year old short, youthful looking and moderately attractive girl, with wide, blue eyes and blonde hair that falls to the small of her back.

The plot:

      From the brink of apocalypse, humanity has reorganized itself into five factions, each of which uphold and live by a single core value. Those who believe society fell apart because of greed formed the faction of Abnegation (the Selfless), sworn off of practices considered self-indulgent and pledged to act selflessly. Those who believe the collapse was due to ignorance pledged themselves to the Erudite (the Intelligent), sworn to a never-ending path of complete knowledge acquisition. Those who feel that human duplicity wreaked havoc in the world took the banner of Candor (the Honest), pledging to always speak their minds and the truth. Those who feel that aggression was the root of society’s collapse became the members of Amity (the Peaceful), taking the mantle of peace at all costs. And finally, those who feel that the root of all their problems stemmed from cowardice formed the tribe of the Dauntless (the Brave), the faction of the courageous and strong.

Beatrice is born into Abnegation and also has a brother named Caleb. The book starts out with the two siblings having to pick of the five fractions they want to be a part of for the rest of their lives. Within the first few chapters decisions are made and the core of the book starts. They basically go through a "rush" phase and it weeds out other 16 year old trying to become part of the fraction since there is only 10 opening spots. These phases include learning to fight, brain simulations and of course a final test (which happens to be another simulation). 

Without giving to much away, the title of the book becomes a very important part of what the book is about. A love story emerges between Beatrice and Tobias 'Four' Eaton, that will drive you crazy between the two books so far. Sad losses that have a similar feeling that Hunger Games leaves you with. As started, similar to Hunger Games with a different twist, but all in all this book is five stars!

The good news is if you are a fan of this series then you will be happy to hear that the film rights have been bought and a film is in the early stages of production. According to reports, Summit Entertainment has bought the rights, Neil Burger (Limitless) will direct and Shailene Woodley (Secret Life of an American Teenager) will star as Beatrice. Numerous guys have been linked to the role of Four including Alexander Ludwig (Hunger Games) and Colton Haynes (Teen Wolf). Colton Haynes would win my vote any day.. but that could be because we share a birthday or maybe he is just good to look at also... who's to say.