Moonlight

Dark Guardian #1: Moonlight by Rachel Hawthorne

Kayla returns to the park where her parents were killed when she was a child to face her past and discovers she is not really the ordinary teen she thought. Great beginning of a new series. I look forward to book #2 Full Moon. Interesting, the author lives in a town just northeast of me.

My Soul to Lose

My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent

Everyone I know seemed to be reading this short story. I had it on my Kindle, so I gave it a try. I really liked the story, but it leaves you wanting more. Since I assume this is a teaser for a new series, I'm sure that was the intention, but I would have preferred a story that had a definite end. Kaylee sees shadows around people who are going to die soon. This causes her to have panic, screaming attacks that causes her to wind up in a mental facility. There seem to be some other patients there that understand her problem, but of course none of the adults do.

The Dark Devine

The Dark Devine by Bree Despain

I really hope that the first book I finished this year is an indication of how my year of reading will go. This was an awesome book.

Grace Devine is the daughter of a minister. On the surface, their family is just what they appear to be, happy, caring and loving, not only to each other, but to the world at large. But as families often do, they harbor a secret. One that no one will let Grace in on. The family next door is troubled. Grace and her brother Jude's childhood playmate, Daniel, is abused and eventually comes to live with her family. Then one night, Jude comes home covered in his own blood, Daniel disappears and no one will tell Grace what really happened. A few years later, Daniel returns. Her father tries to help him, her mother and brother refuse to even speak of him, and Grace finds herself falling in love with him. Then mysterious things begin to happen all over the neighborhood. People are turning up dead with what appear to be animal bite marks all over them. Jude blames Daniel, Daniel remains silent. What really did happen the night Daniel disappeared all those years ago? Why won't anyone tell her?

The Van Alen Legacy

Blue Bloods #4: The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz

I really like this series a lot more than Meyer's "Twilight". This latest installment starts a little slow, but the ending is a page turner. By the last 100 pages, it was very hard to lay it down. Fast paced and action packed, the excitment was non-stop. Some new surprises and twists to the story have me looking very forward to the next installment. I hope it come soon!

Immortals #2: Blue Moon

Immortals #2: Blue Moon by Alyson Noel (Kindle Edition)

Should I do it? Should I not do it? Geezzzz I get tired of hearing the teen girls in teen novels repeat this over and over. But aside from that, this was good, fast paced second in a series novel. It leaves a big, big cliff hanger at the end and you wonder what will happen between Ever and Damen. I hope the next installment isn't so long in coming that I forget the story line, lol.

House of Night #4: Untamed

House of Night #4: Untamed by PC & Kristin Cast
Unabridged - Audible download on my Kindle

This was the first time I listened to any of this series on audio and it was the first time I've ever listened to on my Kindle.

This story just keeps getting better and better. This one left you with quite a bit of a cliff hanger. I have the next installment on my Kindle so I don't have to wait to get it to begin listening, which is great!

Listening to an audible download on the Kindle is not bad. It was easy to download and the sound is great. The Kindle goes to sleep screen at some point, so you can't pause as easily as I'd like. You have to slide the turn on and then press pause a couple of times before it works. It works on my "line in" in my car just like my iPOD, but again, it's hard to pause or turn off in a hurry.

Immortals #1: Evermore

The Immortals #1: Evermore by Alyson Noel

I really, really liked this one, so much that I have already bought book number two for my Kindle. Ever's family was killed in a car accident. She should have died too, but she didn't. Now she hears other people's thoughts and see their auras, she can read entire books by placing her hand on them, and can see and talk to her little sister who is a ghost. Then Damen comes to her school. She can't hear his thoughts, but he seems to hear hers and he sees her little sister too. Excellent beginning for this new series. I am looking forward to reading more.

Her Wiccan, Wiccan Ways

Her Wiccan, Wiccan Ways by Traci Hall

I really liked this one and want to read more in the series. Rhiannon has special psychic powers that can turn violent when she is too upset and that caused a bit of trouble in her old neighborhood. Her parents moved to the country so that she would have a fresh start and a chance to be a bit more normal. But upon arriving at their new country house, Rhiannon finds it already occupied by a ghost that she can sense and talk to.

China Garden

China Garden by Liz Berry

When I was in my teens, I began reading Gothic novels. Actually, it was more like devour Gothic novels. Shortly after reading the first couple of chapters, I knew I had found a new one. More modern than the poor girl finding a job at a haunted mansion and falling in love with the tall, dark, handsome heir to the castle, this book had all the elements of a good Gothic. Secrets, mysteries, mazes, the heir that she can't stand at first but is nevertheless irresistibly drawn to - great book. I enjoyed every page.

Septimus Heap #4: Queste

Septimus Heap #4: Queste by Angie Sage

I love this series and Queste was just as exciting and entertaining as the other three. Septimus and Princess Jenna can really get themselves into some fixes. In this installment, Septimus is tricked into taking the Questing stone and Jenna is determined to get Snorri and Nick back to the right time and place.

The Awakening

Darkest Power #2: The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

I won a copy of this from Amberkatze's contests. Kelley graciouly sent me an autographed copy along with a nice note and a couple of bookmarks from the series.

This is one of my favorite teen paranormal series. It still has me guessing on who are the good guys and who are the bad. Chloe and her band of rebels have escaped from the experiment and are on the run. At the same time, they are finding themselves more powerful and one has become a full fledged werewolf.

Midnight Predator

Midnight Predator by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Awesome read. Two rival mercenaries are hired for a suicide mission into vampire territory. There Turquoise once again meets up with the vampire who killed her family and made her a slave. She escaped from him once, now she lives to destroy him. An amazing book for an author who was 18 when this one was published.

Blood & Chocolate

Blood & Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
Unabridged on 7CDs

Was there a story to this one? If so, I either I never heard it or there was so nothing to it that I missed it. So glad I got this one from the library and didn't invest my own money in it.

Vampire Academy

Vampire Academy #1: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

A very, very slow start. The book referred back to prior events so often that I thought I was wrong and this was the second book in the series rather than the first. The story was original and very good until the cutting began. Seriously, do writers think books don't influence teenage girls? They don't think that impressionable teengirls won't think "I'm depressed, maybe if I cut myself like such-in-so in my favorite book, I'll feel better." Kids are really susceptible to things like that, much more so than adults. At least it was only a couple of times and it appears to have ended, but still, I don't think I'd recommend this one to any teenaged girls I know. Since I'm an adult and won't go off and cut myself next time I'm depressed, I will give the next book in the series a try. Like I said earlier, it was a bit different and I did like the basic story. It left a few loose ends to that promise to make the next book a good read.

Hermit Thrush Sings

The Hermit Thrush Sings by Susan Butler
Unabridged on 5 Cassettes

Overall a nice listen-to audio. The state of Maine (now known as Mainard) has suffered a holocaust and the few survivors are under the rule of tyrant. The people are considered to be no better than animals and are taught untruths. A small band of rebels has surfaced and Leora's sister, long thought dead, appears to be one of the leaders. Leora has a webbed hand that allows her to paint the future. Her hand is kept a secret by her foster family because it is a sign of deformity and if known would cause her family embarrassment and it would send Leora to the insititute. After helping a prisoner escape, Leora is forced to fee herself.

Singer of All Songs

Chanters of Tremaris #1: Singer of All Songs by Kate Constable

Unabridged on 5 cassettes

I really liked this teen fantasy. Calwyn is a chanter of the north who chants to make ice. Her land is surrounded by a high wall of ice that she helps to make and maintain. One day she finds a man inside the walls. He has a broken foot and claims to have flown over the wall. Excellent story. I have ordered the second book from Amazon. I hope it gets here soon :)

Everworld

Everworld Books 1 & 2 by KA Applegate

A friend sent me the entire 12 volume set of this so I could read from start to finish. She was that certain I would like it. She was right. It gets confusing sometimes with all the different gods sprinkled thoughout the story, but it is holding my attention. I'm already half way through the third book.

Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Unabridged 7 CDs

Great story about a boy who was raised in a graveyard by the ghosts that are buried there. The boy's family was murdered when he was a baby and he escaped by toddling out of the house at just the right time. His real parents were buried elsewhere, but the residents of the graveyard he wondered into keep him safe from the man who still hunts for him. Listed for ages 9 to 12, I wonder about the violence at the beginning of the story, but overall, a good listen. Neil Gaiman does the reading and he had a good voice for it.

Tantalize & Many Bloody Returns

Many Bloody Returns by Various



I usually think short story collections are ok. Nothing great, just an entertaining way to pass the time. I usually wind up skipping several stories per book, but this time I read and enjoyed each one. Charlaine Harris' Dracula Night was a fun Sookie. Twilight (not to be confused with the Meyer book of the same name) by Kelley Armstrong was a great story. The Wish by Carolyn Haines & Vampire Hours by Elaine Viets had good plot twists. Several stories were downright funny. I really liked this one.




Tantalize by Cynthia Leitch Smith
Unabridged 5CDs

I originally won this one in a BookObsessed swap and then found the audio at the library. The reader was fine, but I found the story lacking. Just another teen-vampire thing. Nothing outside the ordinary or particulary exciting.

Chosen

House of Night #3: Chosen by PC and Kristin Cast

Book 3 of a series that has not disappointed me too much yet. Zoey is getting herself into serious boyfriend trouble, unable to break the imprint with the human Heath and unable to resist the adult vampire Loren. Erik is caught in the middle and bails. Her friends trust is slipping and her dependence upon her once enemy, Aphrodite is growing. Can't wait to read book four, but will need to get my hands on a copy first, lol.