Alice In Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Publisher’s summary: She won't rest until she's sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that's all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real.

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn't careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies.

My take: Alice in Zombieland is the first book in a long time that I got me so super excited I just had to talk to someone about it! In fact, it was so much fun that I’m super excited that Through the Zombie Glass will be coming out next month…and I want to read it now!

In the beginning of the book, I was trying to wrap my brain around how this story could possibly be about zombies because it’s an Urban Fantasy story and, in the beginning, there’s not a single zombie. So I started wondering if there was going to be a big zombie outbreak somewhere in the book, but nope…not even close…it’s something totally different. And even though it took me just a little bit to figure out exactly what’s happening with this version of the zombie genre, I like how Gena Showalter created an Urban Fantasy book with zombies. Yep, I said it right! It stays Urban Fantasy, so no all-of-a-sudden outbreak. You’ll have to read it to get it…I’m not spoiling.

I really liked Ali’s character and I felt really bad for her because of her horrifying loss in the beginning of the book. Then there is the friend she meets right after the tragedy, and I think that character (sorry I’m suck with names) might just be my favorite character in the entire book. Ali’s grandparents were hilarious when they were constantly misusing slang words while trying to connect and be on the same level as Ali, and I just loved them for it. The best part is when they give “the talk” to the guy picking Ali up for the night. I couldn’t help myself from laughing out loud. But, best of all, is Cole! Oh….Cole! Hawt, bad boy…gotta love him.

Of course, there are some horrifying things that happen near the end of the book that were really sad, but I absolutely loved the way the book ended and, like I said before, I’m dying to read Through the Zombie Glass. It needs to happen, like ASAP!

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dannard

Publisher’s Summary: There's something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia. . . . Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about.

Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she's just read in the newspaper:

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor . . . from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she'll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including the maddeningly stubborn yet handsome Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

My Take: The moment I saw the cover of Something Strange and Deadly and read the summary, I was more than eager to read this book. So the moment I got a copy in mail, I was more than eager to pick it up and start reading it right away. And now that I’ve read Something Strange and Deadly, I have to say that I’m in between liking it, and really liking it.

In the very beginning of this book there is a pretty awesome scene that has Eleanor (the protagonist) coming face-to-face for the first time with one of the Dead…and it delivers a mysterious message to her. Dun, dun, duhhhhn!!! (LOL…that sounded better in my head than after I typed it out!) And, at that moment, I was really intrigued by the story. But beginning almost right after that scene I had a really hard time getting into this book. I tried to rack my brain as to why I was struggling so much while reading this story. At first, I thought it was maybe just the time-era when the story was written. But then I realized that I love a lot of books written in the era of the 19th century. So now I’m left here thinking that maybe I was just feeling like I was reading a book without any paranormal elements to it. I guess the Dead and the ghosts that actually were in the story, weren’t in it enough for me…even though “they” are what this story is all about. Does that even make sense? Otherwise, the story was really good! There were a couple twists that I put together pretty quickly, but there was one twist that totally caught me by surprise!

As for the characters, I really like Eleanor! She is a really good protagonist, especially coming from that era in time. There’s also a character named Jie, who’s introduced a little bit later in the book who was probably one of my faves! Best of all, Daniel is an awesome love interest! Mysterious, smart, dangerous…I could go on and on!

So, basically, in Something Strange and Deadly you can find an awesome female protagonist in the 19th century era, a hottie boy who is off limits, with zombies and ghosts added into the mix! Does that sound like something you want to read?

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Publisher’s Summary: In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

My take: What can I say? I am absolutely pissed off with this book. And I think the ending pissed me off the worst!

I actually loved how the book started. Something tragic happens that turns Mary’s (the main character’s) already strange world upside down. After this horrific incident, Mary has nowhere to turn and is forced to live with a bunch of strange, secretive women…the Sisters who control Mary’s village and who force Mary to become one of them. Mary’s brother really pissed me off when all this happened, and I thought, “How could someone be so cruel?” But her brother wasn’t the only one who pissed me off. Almost everyone Mary loves or considers a friend just abandoned her to this horrible fate…including Harry (who was supposed to “claim” Mary to be his wife)…Travis (Harry’s brother) who was the boy she always had a crush on…her best friend Cas…and, of course, her brother Jed! How could they ALL do that to her?

In the beginning, I was totally rooting for Mary and I actually liked her character. She is determined to leave the town to get to the ocean that she only knows about from the stories that have been passed down from generations within her family (no one else even believes the ocean actually exists!) This obsession with seeing the ocean had me hoping that Mary would actually reach it before the end of the book.

HOWEVER, as the story progressed, her obsession with reaching the ocean ends up really pissing me off! I came to realize that she is more obsessed with this dang ocean than she is with the still living people who love her! I’m now wondering if that’s why everyone abandoned her in the first place to a fate with the Sisters…they already knew what I now think…that Mary is truly and unbelievably selfish!!!

I liked the world that was created with the Unconsecrated (what we would call Zombies); physically separated by fences from the village that Mary lives in. I liked picturing the Unconsecrated constantly trying to break through the gates surrounding the village; imagining their cruel, tortured moans; and visualizing how their bones would break from pulling on the fences and how their faces were easily distorted by just a kick to the face! There is this one really crazy part in the story where an infant Unconsecrated is discovered, and I was thinking, “Who could come up with a story like this?”

I wouldn’t say that there were a whole lot of slow moments in the book because I was intrigued enough to keep reading and I actually really learned to like both Harry and Travis. I think Harry is my favorite character because he was probably the least serious character given the life they had to live and the hopeless situation they were faced with.

But I was so pissed off with the ending of the book that, in my mind, I came up with an ending that would have totally rocked!!! And no, it isn’t necessarily a happy ending. But it made me realize that the story had a whole lot more potential, and I think I could have said I would have really liked it…IF it ended differently!

Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer

Publisher's Summary: The third and final installment of the international bestselling Nightshade trilogy!

Calla has always welcomed war. But now that the final battle is upon her, there's more at stake than fighting. There's saving Ren, even if it incurs Shay's wrath. There's keeping Ansel safe, even if he's been branded a traitor. There's proving herself as the pack's alpha, facing unnamable horrors, and ridding the world of the Keepers' magic once and for all. And then there's deciding what to do when the war ends. If Calla makes it out alive, that is. In this remarkable final installment of the Nightshade trilogy, international bestselling author Andrea Cremer crafts a dynamic novel with twists and turns that will keep you breathless until its final pages.

My Take: First of all I have to say that the last book to the Nightshade trilogy was Fan-Freakin-Tastic!!! There are soooo many things I loved about Bloodrose…well not just Bloodrose, the WHOLE series! I’ve read other wolf books before and the majority of them I thought were just…Meh! But I have a serious obsession with the Nightshade series and I’ve had this passion right from the very beginning. It is so bad that I was majorly determined to get my hands on an ARC of Wolfsbane and then on an ARC of Bloodrose. And my determination paid off nicely. In Bloodrose, the only time I was thinking, “What? Seriously? Is that supposed to be a happily-ever-after???”…was at the VERY end of the book! It’s literally the last few pages. And it’s not an exaggeration that I was thinking, “Huh?” And then I was doing several checks to see if maybe there is an alternate ending. You know?! Like how some movies have a Director’s Cut and Theatrical Version? Well, I want an alternate ending!!! Please??? You will have to read it to find out what I’m saying! And no, I'm not talking about the Ren vs. Shay thingy! So, when you read it, come back and talk with me about it…cause I’m determined to find out what others think.

Bloodrose started right where Wolfsbane left off where Calla and Adne go to try and rescue Ren. So right from the very beginning, the story moves very quickly and there is something continuously going on every minute. There is hardly a moment for Calla to sit and think things over…let alone shower and sleep. They have a mission to destroy the evil Keepers right? What comes first, taking a shower or destroying the Keepers? Personally, I’d pick slaughtering Emile…just saying.

While reading this one I just KNEW that based off of what happened in Wolfsbane, and then with them heading to a war in Bloodrose, they were destined to have tragedy. So while reading I kept thinking about all the characters and how much I grew attached to them. And I REALLY grew attached to each-and-every character, particularly in this book!!! So I kept thinking, “Who could I let go without being unbearably heartbroken?” Oh-My-Gosh!!! There is not a single character that I could spare! Now that I think about it, I couldn’t even pinpoint my favorite character! How could you not love a book that has more than a few characters that you admire? Well, just as I thought, there is a horrifying tragedy…and it had me bawling so bad that my shirt was soaked in tears.

I can’t decide which book I like best in the trilogy because I love them all equally in different ways, but overall, Bloodrose was written perfectly to end the series...even with it leaving me perplexed by the end! I can hardly wait to see what everyone else thinks!

And for all you other obsessive Nightshade fans...I know you are reading this because you want to know who Calla ends up with! Well, I'm not giving any spoilers so you will have to read it and find out for yourself!

Goodbye and farewell, Nightshade…you will be missed!

>

Received review copy from an extremely kind guy with Penguin at the NCIBA Trade Show!

Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins

Summary:  Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch.

That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.

Turns out, Sophie’s a demon, one of only two in the world—the other being her father. What’s worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will destroy her powers.

But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new friends? They’re demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Archer to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?


My Take: Whoa! That was one big bang of an ending. It was also an awfully amazing cliffhanger and I am SERIOUSLY craving for more. I can't even go to bed right now because my mind is still reeling. The ending pretty much felt like a major explosion of fireworks! You know, when you are watching the finale at the end of a firework show and it is so crazy that you almost feel like you can't handle it? Yeah, that is how it made me feel! I can still feel the high.

If you haven't read Hex Hall, then I want to warn you that there will be some spoilers of Hex Hall in this review.

Literally, right after I finished Hex Hall I picked up Demonglass. I was determined to find out if she was really going to have her powers stripped and what the heck happened with Archer! What a twist! Were Archer's feelings for Sophie real or was it an assignment?

Sophie's father takes Sophie, Jenna and Cal with him back to London. Ahhhh Cal...I ♥ him! And I am thrilled he is featured more in this book. But even though he is a hunk and I have the major hots for him, I found that one particular part in the book made him a little bit of a wuss. Seriously? He has this amazing power to heal and his obsession is to heal plants? There is a part in the book where he is holding a plant gingerly in his hands after trying to teach Sophie how to heal it and after the pot holding the plant broke. I'm sitting here thinking, "If you’ve got this amazing gift, wouldn't you be hanging out in some Prodigium hospital to cure some magical creatures? Why the heck are you so freakin' obsessed with plants? " But other than that, Cal is totally hot!

I loved in this book how truly powerful Sophie is and can be. I don't want to give up too much, but it was fabulous and the ending had some more freakin' crazy twists! I was thinking, "Where the heck is this heading?!?" And I am still thinking that!

I have only had this happen with one other book, but right before the crazy ending, I was thinking about how I would rate Demonglass. At that point I thought I would be giving it only 4 stars . . . but after THAT ending...I HAD to give it 5 stars! I highly recommend this series.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Goodreads Summary: When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gas lit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by--and torn between--two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.



My Take: I am once again brought back into the fabulous fantasy world of another terrific novel created by Cassandra Clare. How does she do it? Where does she come up with these characters and story ideas? And, how does she create such a detailed plot picture (without being too mind-numbingly detailed); a plot that draws you so intimately into the story?

This book for me was extremely dark. It starts out with the main character, Tessa, being disturbingly imprisoned and tortured by two awful Downworlder (Warlock) women known as the "Dark Sisters." Aside from being imprisoned, part of Tessa's torture involves the Dark Sisters giving Tessa a personal item from someone and torturing Tessa into shape-shifting into whomever the item belongs to. Shape-shifting is something Tessa never even knew she was capable of doing, but the Dark Sisters force her to shift, sometimes a dozen times a day, which is an extremely painful, agonizing, exhausting and debilitating process for Tessa. And, the only thing keeping Tessa from giving up all hope and fighting for her life is the knowledge that they have also imprisoned her brother and he will only be let free if she does the Dark Sister's bidding. And her brother is the only living family she has left!

I was immediately sucked in!

One thing in particular that I really liked about this book was that I got to see the point-of-view and true feelings of someone who is not a Shadowhunter. And, I got to see and finally understand why so many Downworlders despise Shadowhunters.

Cassandra Clare did really well keeping the storyline and descriptions in the Steampunk era, including the worldly descriptions, the characters' personalities, even the politics about how people are treated in that era, especially women.

After reading Cassandra Clare’s books; I always tend to check out her website to read through some of her descriptions and FAQ’s. Her website is http://cassandraclare.com/cms/home.

I found the characters she created in this book fascinating in their own unique way. I ended up really liking, disliking or despising each character. Check out Cassandra Clare’s character descriptions here: Infernal Characters.

This book was intense, action-packed, magical, horrific and mind-boggling all at once. When reading any book written by Cassandra, it is not possible to just fast read through parts of the book. If you do, you will likely miss something that is essential in the current or later books. And even though I was really into Cassandra's Shadowhunter dream, this is a sizable book of vivid detail that would normally take me 4 days to read, but I devoured this book in 2 nights. And it was delicious!

I would highly recommend that you read Cassandra’s books in the order of publication. For example: Mortal Instruments City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, Infernal Devices Clockwork Angel and then Mortal Instruments City of Fallen Angels, but it is not necessary.  (The first 3 are linked to my review of the books).

This book left me really pondering about Cassandra’s Warlocks. How is a Warlock created? If Magnus hasn’t aged in several hundred years, did he stop aging when he was made a Warlock? Are Warlocks born or created? I can’t wait to have all my questions answered! That is what makes this whole series so fun and exciting!

So if you haven’t joined the amazing Shadowhunter world, come join now! Have fun and don’t always expect a happy ending.




Buy on BN.com Here:
Clockwork Angel (Nook Book)
Clockwork Angel (Harcover)
By on Amazon Here:
Clockwork Angel (Hardcover)
Clockwork Angel (Kindle Edition)

View all my reviews

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton

Goodreads Summary:  Anita Blake may be small and young, but vampires call her the Executioner. Anita is a necromancer and vampire hunter in a time when vampires are protected by law—as long as they don't get too nasty. Now someone's killing innocent vampires and Anita agrees—with a bit of vampiric arm-twisting—to help figure out who and why. 

My Take:  Anita Blake is a Vampire Hunter and her job is to raise the dead (zombies). She is caught in a sticky situation when she goes out with some friends to a Vampire Club for her friend’s bachelorette party.
Trust is a luxury Anita can't afford when her allies aren't human. The city's most powerful vampire, Nikolaos, is 1,000 years old and looks like a 10-year-old girl. The second most powerful vampire, Jean-Claude, is interested in more than just Anita's professional talents, but the feisty necromancer isn't playing along—yet. This popular series has a wild energy and humor, and some very appealing characters—both dead and alive.

While there, the Master Vampire blackmails her into working for her. The book is a journey that Anita takes trying to find who is killing all the vampires in town.

Strange Angels by Lilith Saintcrow

Summary: Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called “the touch.” (Comes in handy when you’re traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.)

Then her dad turns up dead—but still walking—and Dru knows she’s next. Even worse, she’s got two guys hungry for her affections, and they’re not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever—or whoever— is hunting her?






My Take: This book is more of a thriller. I like the change in reading about "Zombies" "Suckers or nosferatu" "djamphir (part sucker part human)" "Werwulf or Wulfen or Loup-garou". The book is pretty intense throughout the whole book.

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Goodreads Summary: To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters -- never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.

As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadow-hunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadow-hunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her new found powers to help save the Glass City -- whatever the cost?

Love is a mortal sin and the secrets of the past prove deadly as Clary and Jace face down Valentine in the final installment of the New York Times bestselling trilogy The Mortal Instruments.

My Take: Loved it! Amazing! I am beyond happy of how this book ended. I wish I could live in Idris!

I am swaying between 4 and 5 stars. This book made the whole series so worth it!

The details in these books are so vivid, everything from beauty to grotesque and from magical to horror. Other books I have read, I can be a little flexible on how the characters look but with this series I have a very vivid picture of each character (they are all really **HOT** in their own unique way).

Cassandra Clare’s imagination is so amazing. Do you want a book that has vampires, werewolves, faeries, warlocks, angels, demons and forsaken? This is the series for you.

I now have a deep attachment to all of the characters, specifically Clary, Jace, Simon, Izzy, Alec, even Maia and Magnus. I love reading about how each character evolves in just a few weeks.

Cassandra Clare had to have had a very big picture of how this series would play out. When there is something that happens in the book that you would think is not relevant, you find later plays a big role in the books…and I don’t think she is done.

She does have an ending to all three books, so you can give yourself a break between books.

I have to own this series because I would really like to read them again.

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Goodreads Summary: A murderer is loose in New York City ...

... and the victims are Downworlder children. Clary Fray and her fellow Shadowhunters have a strong suspicion that Valentine, Clary's father, may be behind the killings. But if he is the murderer, then what's his true motive? To make matters worse, the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, has been stolen, and the mysterious Inquisitor has arrived to investigate, with his eyes vigilantly targeted on Clary's brother, Jace.

Clary will need to face some terrifying demons and even more terrifying family decisions. No one said that the life of a Shadowhunter would be easy.

My Take: It is hard for me to explain how I feel about these books. Cassandra Clare is a VERY creative and descriptive writer. It just makes my stomach turn when she describes how gory and smelly the demons are.

The first book had mainly Clary's POV, the daughter of a demon hunter (shadow hunter), but this book has POV's of other shadow hunters, a werewolf and a vampire. She also introduces beautiful AND not so pretty faeries in this book.

You learn in the first book that Clary's mother kept her in the dark of the real world. After her mother is taken by the father she thought was dead, her mom is now in a coma. She now is experiencing a dark world she never knew existed and is learning things about herself in an intense journey.

Clary's father Valentine is the perfect evil villain. He is charming and conniving. At some point I even question myself if he is the one that is evil.

I originally gave the last book 3 stars, only because I was disappointed in something that is revealed at the end. I now think that the twists are part of what makes these books so good, even if you are weirded out by it. I am still hoping that what is revealed in the first book is not really true (another twist).