Vampyre Kisses

Title: Vampyre Kisses
Author: Elizabeth J. Kolodziej
Genre: Paranormal, romance
Source: A free copy of the e-book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Werewolves and vampires have settled into a comfortable, long standing, loathing of each other. Witches, while real, are no longer living. Right?  This is the general basis of the novel, Vampyre Kisses. There is quite a bit of intrigue and action, but it's very light on the romance....but that's not really a problem. Ms. Kolodziej tells an interesting tale.






What I like:
1. Oran. He's the pet / magical flying beast. He's a tinier than tiny kitten with wings. He's awesome! I want one.

2. There is just the right mix of tensions between the werewolf beau and the vampire suitor.
While the romance plays a very minimal part in the story, the character development of the main characters is crucial. These two boys need to know how to play well together, but it just wouldn't be the same without some of that delicious rivalry.

What I dislike:

1. The mythology is distracting. There is Christianity, there is paganism, there is Wiccanism, there is Hinduism, and even the Greek and Roman pantheons pop up...yet it's all jumbled and mixed up. More than half of the characters are named after well-known "people" with equally well-known mythos. But that's not what we are given. We are given confusion. For example: Within this novel Vampires are a descendant of Cain. Okay, not an issue...this isn't a first. But....only it's not Cain...it's Kane and while the author makes it very clear she is talking about Cain from the Christian Bible...his name is spelled incorrectly and the reason for his downfall is completely incorrect.**  This is a peeve of mine. I don't mind authors taking an existing mythos and shaping it or changing little bits to make it their own....this story, however, is just chock full of mixed up, mashed up, myths and legends.

2. There are silly grammar and content errors throughout the book. I have a reasonable tolerance for mistakes of this kind. No one is perfect. Maybe the author intended that word/sentence/phrase to be read differently than I did? However, I was caught stumbling over things like "I'd had had..." repeatedly though out the book. (BTW, I'd is equal to I had...so that makes three hads in a row) There were also some minor content things such as, blood coming from scars. Scars are a healing process. Blood comes from newly opened wounds. It's alright to use that word. Even if a scar is cut open, the blood is still coming from the wounded scar...it's a wound.



Overall:  I like the story. It was a fast and enjoyable read, but I was so distracted by the mythology mash-ups and the mistakes that I can't say it is a great read. I do, however, thank Ms. Kolodziej, for allowing me to read her novel.

** Since posting this review, I have had a conversation with the author. She was very gracious but wanted to point out that my example was incorrect. She hadn't intended for Kane to be the biblical Cain. This makes a bit of the story more easy to understand. I must have been reading that bit into the text.

However, I do still feel that the mythologies are confusing, and inconsistent within themselves. Maybe by the next installment things will be cleared up.**

The Iron Queen

Title: The Iron Queen
Author: Julie Kagawa
Genre: YA, fantasy
Source: Netgalley.com

There is not much more I can say beyond, I adore these novels! Ms. Kagawa has created a world that combines classic, well-known fairies with new and wonderful ones. In the center of it all is a girl. A human girl who is neither a loner, an outcast, nor a doormat. Megan Chase is smart, strong, caring, and determined to take care of those she loves...human and fey.

Her romance with the Winter Prince, Ash is taken to a heartwarming...and heartbreaking new level.

She rebuilds her relationship with Puck.

And on a personal note, IronHorse is quickly becoming my favorite character.

Challenge Wrap-up

As you can see from my side bar, I didn't finish a single reading challenge I took on. I did a lot of reading this past year. GoodReads is showing me at 60+ books. Which is actually kind of amazing as I was mostly reading at night for short spans of time, before bed. However, I didn't actually get in any books that would fit into the challenge categories. Sad.

Technically, I could fudge it and say I completed the fantasy category as many of the books I read are by definition fantasy, but I think it would be a stretch. Just because it has fairies doesn't automatically make it fantasy. So I'm saying no to that one.


Plans for the future? I am not going to take on any new challenges this year. I will be keeping my Gilmore Girls and TBR buttons up. They will mostly be a reminder to me as I plan on reading novels from my own book shelves. My husband and I collect books. Our bedroom is lined with shelves over flowing with books. We have decided that we need to start weeding through these books and then pass them on. Which means reading them first. So we are challenging each other to read off our shelves. Which is convienent as many of the books on my TBR and the Gilmore Girls list are already on my shelves. Yay!

Wildthorn

Title: Wildthorn
Author: Jane Eagland
Genre: YA, Historical
Source: E-book from Netgalley.com

This book took me completely by surprise. I had requested it without knowing much about it. I loved the corset on the cover and that imagery combined with my penchant for only hearing about paranormal novels lately, helped me to convince myself that this was a steampunk novel of some sort. I was very wrong! In reality, this is a novel about blossoming sexuality and self awareness. This is a story about a girl living in a time when being individual meant you would likely be convicted as insane. This is a story about a family who just doesn't function. While the material is much more serious than paranormals, it was a good read. I was engrossed in the story the entire way!

Christmas Gifts

Merry Christmas!

I hope your holiday was joyous and filled with all the tasty treats and heartfelt gifts you could ever want. Did Santa get you what you asked for?   My stocking was filled with presents for my husband and I to share...mostly video games and movies. This is good! But there was one present that was just for me....from my Book Blogger Holiday Swap friend, Sam from Parenthetical.net

Samantha sent me a package packed with all this fun stuff. There was a card with a cute lil robot envelope, three book plates, a place holder, some chocolate, and a pretty wrapped present (it's hard to see in this picture, but under all the other goodies is the wrapped package).

Here's an up close of the chocolate that she sent me. Her note said that this was made just down the street from her home, which just makes it better in my book. I love locally made things - even if they aren't my local. :) Plus, chocolate!

This is the card. The robot from the envelope was also on the card. So cute! This is quite possibly my favorite card this year.

The present itself contained these two novels. The Good Neighbors is a hard back graphic novel. I'm interested to get into it. I've read other books by Holly Black and have enjoyed them.  Then there is The Knife of Never Letting Go. This book comes with a personal recommendation from Sam, which just makes this novel all the more interesting. These books jumped to the top of my to-be-read pile. I'm so excited about receiving them. 

Samantha, thank you for wonderful presents!

Is it December already?

Oh hi! Bet you thought I had completely forgotten about you. I didn't. I promise. I've been thinking about you quite a lot, but the world has just been too busy for me to find time to blog. But I have been reading and a whole boat load of other things I want to share with you.

First, I posted about this during November, but I have an update. I attempted NaNoWriMo for a second time this year. It was quite scary as I didn't have any real ideas until the weekend before....and even those were just pictures on a poster board. But, it seems that the collage worked.

 

And I'm still not actually finished. I hit the 50,000 required words, but I"m not at the end of my story. My plan is to pick it back up during Christmas break....see if I can finish it.

Oh! Also, I want to mention the book blogger  holiday swap...

I've already mailed out my gift.....I hope the receiver enjoys it!  And I received my package...It's sitting under the tree, tempting me with it's colorful paper and cards. I really want to give into temptation and open it, but I'm going to be good and restrain myself...Christmas isn't that far away! I'll share pictures with you when I've opened it.

And then reviews.....I have a pile of them to get through, an ebook, a YA novel or two, and a few romances...some are from November...some from Dec. It will be busy on this here blog. :)

How's December looking for you?

No Posts in November

I'm not dead. I swear. I'm participating in NaNoWriMo. Every extra moment I have is spent busily trying to get to my 50,000 word goal. I have been reading as well. Surprisingly, I've managed to get through three books, even with the writing. There will be posts / reviews when the month is over.

How about you? What have you been busy with?