Burned

Burned is the latest book in the House of Night series by mother-daughter writing team P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast. From the inside cover flap.~

Things have turned black at the House of Night. Zoey Redbird’s soul has shattered. With everything she’s ever stood for falling apart, and a broken heart making her want to stay in the Otherworld forever, Zoey’s fading fast. It’s seeming more and more doubtful that she will be able to pull herself back together in time to rejoin her friends and set the world to rights. As the only living person who can reach her, Stark must find a way to get to her. But how? He will have to die to do so, the Vampyre High Council stipulates. And then Zoey will give up for sure. There are only seven days left.

Enter BFF Stevie Rae. She wants to help Z, but she has massive problems of her own. The rogue Red Fledglings are acting up, and this time not even Stevie Rae can protect them from the consequences. Her kinda boyfriend, Dallas, is sweet but too nosy for his own good. The truth is, Stevie Rae’s hiding a secret that might be the key to getting Zoey home-but it also threatens to explode her whole world.

In the middle of the whole mess is Aphrodite:ex-Fledgling, trust-fund baby, total hag from Hell (and proud of it). She’s always been blessed (if you can call it that) with visions that can reveal the future, but now it seems that Nyx has decided to speak through her with the goddess’s own voice, whether Aphrodite wants it or not. Aphrodite’s loyalty can swing a lot of different ways, but right now Zoey’s fate hangs in the balance.

Three girls…playing with fire…if they don’t watch out, everyone will get Burned.

The House of Night series is one of my favorite YA vampire series on the market right now. Burned was good, but not my favorite one in the series. I really think it’s because we didn’t get to see Zoey as much in this book. Once her soul was shattered, she wasn’t the Zoey Redbird I’d come to love in the series. I did enjoy Aphrodite finally stepping up in a take-charge role. I think the biggest thing I disliked about the book was Stevie Rae and her lies. I’ve always liked Stevie Rae and as she lied over and over to her friends and her Red Fledglings, I lost some respect for her. She is supposed to be the first High Priestess of the Red Fledglings, yet she seemed a bit selfish in this book. I’m fine with her being imprinted with Rephaim, a Raven Mocker. I just don’t feel that she is honoring Nyx by not being honest with her friends about Rephaim.

I’ll continue to read this series, as I want to see what becomes of Zoey and her friends. I’m hoping my concerns and questions are answered in the next House of Night book. Awakened is set to be released either at the end of December 2010 or the first week of January 2011.

Tempted

Tempted is book 6 in the amazing House of Night series by mother-daughter team PC Cast & Kristin Cast. From the back cover.~

Dark secrets and unspoken suspicions come between Zoey and Stevie Rae, putting their friendship-and the House of Night at risk.

After Zoey Redbird and her gang have banished Kalona and Neferet from Tulsa, you’d think that they’d catch a break. But with Zoey and her sexy warrior Stark both recovering from a brush with death, and the fledglings struggling to deal with the fallout from Neferet’s reign of terror, a break is just not in the forecast. Zoey is haunted by her confusing yet elemental connection with A-ya, the ancient Cherokee maiden who was the only human able to tempt Kalona’s body and soul. How will A-ya’s pull on her affect Zoey’s ability to resist the dangerously seductive immortal?

Meanwhile, Stevie Rae, with her super red-vamp powers, always thought she could handle the stuff she’s been keeping from her BFF. But the mysterious, threatening force lurking in the tunnels under the Tulsa Depot is spreading. Stevie Rae won’t confide where she’s been and what she’s doing, and Zoey is beginning to wonder just how much she can trust the person she always thought would have her back.

Will their choices destroy them and will darkness consume the House of Night?

I really love the House of Night series. Zoey is a great character and I love her friends and how they interact with one another. I will say that I had waited way too long between reading Hunted and Tempted and I won’t make that mistake again with the series. I enjoyed Tempted, but felt it moved a little slower than other books in the series. I also didn’t love how both Zoey and Stevie Rae both were keeping secrets from each other. Once again, Zoey had a multitude of boys all seeking her favors. I really love that even with all her power as a high priestess, she is just like any other teenage girl with it comes to boys. The ending of Tempted really set things up to change majorly for not only the House of Night, but Zoey and her friends in many ways. I already have Burned, the next book in the series, on my bookshelf and plan to read it very soon.

Blue Bloods

Blue Bloods is the first book in her Blue Bloods series by Melissa De la Cruz. From the back cover.~

Schuyler Van Alen has never fit in at Duchesne, her prestigious New York City private school. She prefers baggy, vintage clothes to the Prada and pearls worn by her classmates. But when she turns fifteen, Schuyler’s life changes dramatically. The death of a popular schoolmate haunts her in unexpected ways. And strangest of all, Jack Force, the most popular boy in school, is showing a sudden interest in her.

Once an outcast, Schuyler is thrust into Manhattan’s most exclusive social circle. Its members are the powerful, the wealthy, and-as Schuyler soon discovers-the unhuman. They are Blue Bloods, an ancient group of vampires, and for centuries they’ve been invincible. Now something is preying on this elite group, and Schuyler wants to find out the truth. But is she the most vulnerable of them all?

I really enjoy reading YA books, and especially books about vampires. Some of my favorite series are the House of Night, Morganville Vampires, the Twilight saga, and the Vampire Academy. I would now add Blue Bloods to this list of series I love.

I loved Schuyler and her best friends Oliver and Dylan. I even liked the mean girl character Mimi Force, her new friend Bliss and Mimi's twin brother Jack. Just like in an other high school on earth, you have your various levels of clicks. At Duchesne, Mimi would be the queen bee of the school, while Schuyler and her friends are a little bit like misfits. While Mimi and Jack know they are among an elite group of vampires, Bliss and Schuyler are in the dark until they are asked to join a super secret society. When a member of the elite is found murdered, Schuyler and her friends start to look into the history of the Blue Bloods to find out if this has happened before. What follows brings new friendships to Schuyler's life, answers to come questions about her past, and more questions for her future and the future of her friends.

Melissa De la Cruz gives the readers a wonderful group of characters with a very strong story in Blue Bloods. I already have the next book in the series, Masquerade in my TBR pile, thanks to my niece loaning me her copy.

**Disclaimer** I bought Blue Bloods with my own money.

Shadow Kiss

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead is the third book in her popular Vampire Academy series. From the back cover.~

WHAT IF FOLLOWING HER HEART MEANS ROSE COULD LOSE HER BEST FRIEND FOREVER?

Rose Hathaway knows it is forbidden to love another guardian. Her best friend, Lissa-the last Dragomier princess-must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to gorgeous Dimitri Belikov, some rules are meant to be broken.

But since making her first Strigoi kills, Rose hasn’t been feeling right. Something dark has begun to grow in her mind, and ghostly shadows warn of a terrible evil drawing nearer to the Academy’s iron gates. An now that Lissa and Rose’s sworn enemy, Victor Daskov, is on trial for his freedom, tensions in the Moroi world are higher than ever.

Lying to Lissa about Dimitri is one thing, but suddenly there’s way more than friendship at stake. The immortal undead are on the prowl, and they want vengeance for the lives that Rose has stolen. In a heart-stopping battle to rival her worst nightmare, Rose will have to choose between life, love, and the two people who matter most…but will her choice mean that only one can survive?

I love the Vampire Academy series and Shadow Kiss is another winner in the series. Rose is hands-down my favorite character in the series. She is such a strong person, and will do anything to protect her friend Lissa, even give up the one guy she is totally in love with. Dimitri and Rose have been fighting their attraction for one another from the beginning. Both will be Lissa's guardians once Lissa and Rose graduate from the Academy and they must always put Lissa's welfare first. I really try not one to post spoilers, so I will only say that everything changes with Shadow Kiss. I can't wait to see how the choices made in Shadow Kiss will help each of the main characters grow and change.

Blood Promise is the next book in the Vampire Academy series and it was released at the end of August. Luckily, I already have it sitting on my TBR bookshelf.

**Disclaimer** I bought this book myself.

Carpe Corpus

Carpe Corpus is the sixth book in the Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine. From the back cover.~

Welcome to Morganville, Texas. Don’t stay out after dark.

In the small college town of Morganville, vampires and humans lived in (relative) peace – until all the rules got rewritten when 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 her way. But even if they defeat Bishop, will the vampires be content to go back to the old rules after having had such a taste of power?

Carpe Corpus is another winner in the Morganville Vampire series. Claire and her friends just trying to survive since Bishop took over Morganville, Texas. Bishop is running the city of Morganville as a dictator. The vampires pretty much have free reign to do what they want to do, while the humans are just trying to make it through each day. Claire and her friends must once again work behind the scenes to keep everyone in Morganville safe. Of course to all work together, they must first find a way to break Shane out of jail. They must also make up with Eve, since she is so angry with everyone for their allegiance to Bishop, or at least their appearance of an allegiance to Bishop.

I've love the Morganville Vampires series since I read the very first book. I look forward to more books in this series. Fade Out is the seventh book in this series, and is scheduled for release on November 3, 2009.