2 Bloggers 1 Series - Alliance Vampires

 

It took us a while, but Vamptember have Stormi and I the extra push to pick up the next novel in the Alliance Vampire series by Shannon Drake (aka: Heather Graham).  So read on for my thoughts and then hop over to Stormi's at Storm Reads for hers.

 

TITLE: When Darkness Falls (Alliance Vampires #2)

AUTHOR: Shannon Drake (aka Heather Graham)

PUBLISHER: Zebra

PUBLISHING DATE: October 1, 2000

PAGES: 432   

SOURCE: Own

FROM GOODREADS: WHEN DARKNESS FALLS... 

In a windswept Scottish cemetery, Jade MacGregor's carefree vacation abroad is marred by a seemingly random tragedy. A year later, back home on a shadowy French Quarter street, she glimpses an oddly familiar face. Coincidence--or something far more disturbing? 

AND TERROR TAKES HOLD... 

Surrounded by her friends and engrossed in her work, Jade should feel secure. But somebody is dogging her every move. Somebody who knows what she saw on that long ago afternoon. Somebody who will try to rescue her from the evil that is waiting to destroy her. 

INNOCENCE DIES...

MY THOUGHTS: I must have purchased a really old Kindle copy when I was looking for this book (for some reason, none of my Libby cards had access to it) because it was full of typos and punctuation errors, and I found it often pulling me out of the story. However, all that aside, once I did manage to focus on the plot and not the small details (although is proper editing a small detail?) I really liked it.

Jade was visiting Scotland a year before the majority of the book happened, doing research for one of her books.  While on a tour, she and several other people are led to a dark cemetery and an incident happens which ends in major bloodshed and dismemberment for some of the other tourists, and almost death for Jade.  She is basically saved by a mysterious dark man and when she comes to, has a hard time grasping what actually occurred.  Fast forward a year and similar killing sprees are happening in the US.  However, upon closer look, the victims are people who survived the Scotland incident.  Jade keeps having dreams about the man who saved her and soon her shows up in New Orleans and introduces her to a world she never thought existed, one of vampires and ancient vampire history. Can he save her before it's too late?

I won't lie, Jade kind of grated my nerves.  She made some stupid decisions and even when faced with the fact that the man she was falling in love with was a centuries old vampire, refused to believe what was staring her in the face.  I also didn't like that Jade had a perfectly good cop boyfriend who she cheated on with Lucien, her vampire love interest.  On top of that, while he on his deathbed with a mysterious illness.  Yet I did love Lucien, who played a major role in book one, and I did enjoy learning more about his history and seeing him finally fall in love and find a mate.  We get to see the main characters from book one quite a bit which I enjoyed, and I found Jade's family and friend group interesting as well.  

Overall, I'm glad I continued on with this series and would probably have given this a higher rating if it wasn't for the issues I mentioned regarding editing and Jade's cheating.  If you like vampires or enjoy Heather Graham and have never picked up this series, it might be something you want to consider.

MY RATING: 3 PAWS

Feed Your TBR - The Whisperwood Legacy

 

Can't Wait Wednesday, which I have adapted to better suit my blog as "Feed Your TBR" is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

May 27, 2025

FROM GOODREADS: Knives Out meets The Hazel Wood in this twisty contemporary fantasy about an amusement park shrouded in dark secrets—and the family desperate to inherit it at any cost.

Welcome to Whisperwood, a sprawling theme park nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, where thrilling rides and picture-perfect scenery bring cult-classic fairy tales to life. Or at least they did until eighteen months ago, when the family matriarch, Virginia Strauss, suddenly shut Whisperwood’s gates and the beloved park was left to wither away along with the family’s dwindling fortune.
 
For seventeen-year-old Frankie Strauss, Whisperwood's closure has been a blessing in disguise. After seeing three generations of wealth’s corrupting influence, she is more than ready to shed the Strauss-family's gilded handcuffs.
 
But when Virginia goes missing, Frankie realizes that her family might be guilty of something much worse than mere dysfunction. With the help of the mysterious and handsome groundskeeper, Jem, Frankie sifts through a web of near truths and outright lies, uncovering a reality where nothing is as it seems, and fairy tales aren’t just real—they’re deadly.

WHY I CAN'T WAIT: So, I admit it was the cover that initially caught my attention.  And while I am a bit concerned this is YA, it is tagged as horror and does mention a decrepit theme park so that sold me.

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK????

So, I Could Be Convinced to Adopt Lucy

 

TITLE: Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles #2)

AUTHOR: T.J. Klune

PUBLISHER: Tor

PUBLISHING DATE: September 10, 2024

PAGES: 416   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything. 

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one. 

He’s the master of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.

Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there’s the island’s sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children. 

But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve. 

And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart. 

Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story. 

MY THOUGHTS: I adored the first book in this duology so it was safe to say that the one book which could put a pause on my September vampire reads, it would be this one.  I grabbed it from my library when I saw a physical copy sitting on the "New Releases" shelf last Saturday and immediately dove in.  

Beyond the Sea picks up after the events in the first book.  Arthur, Linus and the children are still living on the island, but Arthur has been summoned to testify in front of DICOMY and he is finally ready to tell the story about all the abuse he faced as a youth. Arthur soon learns that DICOMY has ulterior motives and in fact, they are sending someone to the island to inspect the orphanage as they fear Arthur is filling the children with unreasonable hopes and dreams - that despite their magical and physical differences, they can be just as "normal" as everyone else.  But seriously, why be normal when you can be special?

What follows is a tale on unacceptable world views, love, pranks, and important messages all disguised in a fairy tale manner that Klune seems to have perfected with these two books.  All my favorite children were present, including 7-year-old Lucy, the antichrist and a new child, David, the yeti.  David is new to the island and is trying to find a place to belong. The lessons he learns from Arthur and the rest of the island inhabitants are ones all children should be taught, and Arthur and Linus want nothing more for this "monster" to feel he belongs. 

I love the found family trope and to be honest, it may have been "The House in the Cerulean Sea" which opened my eyes to that.  If you loved the first one, reading this one is a no-brainer.  And if you haven't started this duology, what are you waiting for?  Prepare to fall in love and enter a magical world where being extraordinary is much better than being ordinary.  

MY RATING: 5 PAWS

2 Bloggers 1 Series - Summer Knight (The Dresden Files #4)

 

Another month, another Dresden Files book.  This one really picked up for me after the last one and I might have been one of my faves so far.  Read on for my thoughts and then hop over to Stormi's at Storm Reads to see what she has to say.

 

TITLE: Summer Knight

AUTHOR: Jim Butcher

PUBLISHER: Dutton/Signet/span>

PUBLISHING DATE: May 31, 2003

PAGES: 446   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: Ever since his girlfriend left town to deal with her newly acquired taste for blood, Harry Dresden has been down and out in Chicago. He can't pay his rent. He's alienating his friends. He can't even recall the last time he took a shower. 

The only professional wizard in the phone book has become a desperate man. 

And just when it seems things can't get any worse, in saunters the Winter Queen of Faerie. She has an offer Harry can't refuse if he wants to free himself of the supernatural hold his faerie godmother has over him--and hopefully end his run of bad luck. All he has to do is find out who murdered the Summer Queen's right-hand man, the Summer Knight, and clear the Winter Queen's name. 

It seems simple enough, but Harry knows better than to get caught in the middle of faerie politics. Until he finds out that the fate of the entire world rests on his solving this case. No pressure or anything...

MY THOUGHTS: I'm not big fan of fae in books.  I like them well enough but there has to be something else in the book grabbing my attention for me to enjoy the book overall.  Luckily, Butcher seems to have that format down pat.

Once again, the book opens up with Harry is a big load of trouble.  This is par for the course with Harry so I'm thinking I might be repeating that sentence a lot as I progress with my series read.  Harry is still reeling from what happened to his girlfriend in the last book and the vampires which appeared in Grave Peril have a bounty on Harry's head.  Harry's fairy godmother, who basically "owns" Harry should he ever land in the Nevernever has sold her interest in him to Mab, the Queen of Winter Fairies.  Mab needs Harry's help finding out who killed the Summer Knight because all fingers are pointing at her.  In addition, the young lady Harry grew up with and died years ago shows up very undead and Harry spends the whole book wanting to help her while struggling with how much he can actually trust her.  Throw in a bunch of other fairies, the young gang of werewolves led by Billy from book two, and the Council, who always wants to put Harry out of commission, and you have a wonderful installation to the series. 

I think I recall Stormi telling me I would probably love Toot the fairy and she wasn't wrong.  He and Billy were my favorite characters in this book besides Harry.  I'm glad to see the werewolves reappear and it was a nice change of pace to have Murphy, the detective from the Chicago Supernatural Division, show up to assist Harry.  I missed her in the last book.  If you love urban fantasy, they definitely give this series a chance.

MY RATING: 4 PAWS

Feed Your TBR - Scuttle

 

Can't Wait Wednesday, which I have adapted to better suit my blog as "Feed Your TBR" is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

October 8, 2024

FROM GOODREADS: A brand-new horror novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author, for fans of Stephen King, Catriona Ward and Chuck Wendig. Your worst nightmare is about to come true…

When an overnight camping trip in the woods on Halloween night goes wrong, and a girl ends up dead with what looks like animal wounds, the whole neighborhood is shocked.

How did it happen?

And more importantly what was it that killed her?

Carrie meets The Cabin in the Woods in this terrifying Halloween horror novel!

WHY I CAN'T WAIT:  Spooky season is in full swing here at Booker T's Farm.  This one takes place during Halloween and Carrie meets Cabin in the Woods?  Not sure how those two concepts mesh but really want to find out!

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK???

Can Fandom's Be Bad for Your Health?

 

TITLE: Fang Fiction

AUTHOR: Kate Stayman-London

PUBLISHER: Dial Press Trade Paperbacj/span>

PUBLISHING DATE: October 1, 2024

PAGES: 400   

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: Tess Rosenbloom is no stranger to the dark. An assault survivor and grad school dropout, she spends her nights managing a chic Brooklyn hotel and her days curled up with her favorite vampire novels, Blood Feud. Tess even dabbles in online conspiracies that Blood Feud is real—it’s fun to hunt for clues! But deep down, Tess doesn’t believe vampires actually exist… 

Until one walks through her door. 

It turns out Blood Feud is real, and the sexy villain of the novels is trapped. Eager to escape her life, Tess agrees to help rescue him, and soon she’s in a fantasia of lavish palaces and enchanted forests, on a secret island where the sun never shines and she’s surrounded by deadly vampires—and against her better judgment, she’s falling in love with one of them. (And unbeknownst to Tess, her estranged best friend is having a sapphic affair with a beautiful vampire of her own back in New York.) 

Visiting the world of your favorite story is any fan’s dream, but will Tess be able to outrun the demons of her past (and vampires of her present) before it becomes a nightmare? In this darkly glamorous rom-com, Tess will find out whether it’s worth risking her neck—and her heart—for a chance to reclaim her future.

MY THOUGHTS: So, let's get my trivial thoughts out of the way.  I don't think this cover does this book any favors.  It kind of gives of rom com vibes which this book really isn't, and it doesn't give off urban fantasy vibes, which this book kind of it and it definitely doesn't adequately portray all the trauma and trigger warnings the book might evoke.  For the record, I don't rely on trigger warnings, but I know some people do and the author does address them early on before the story starts.  And last but not least, why is the blood black?  I don't get it, and someone please do this author a favor and do a cover redesign stat!

Good thing I really loved what was INSIDE the cover.  Tess is the night manager at a fancy hotel in her town.  She was once a grad school literature student, but when something happens which she shared with no one, including her best friend and roommate, she suddenly moves out without any warning or explanation.  Tess still loves reading though and has totally immersed herself in the Blood Feud series (think Twilight for the next generation). Blood Feud has a whole fandom and even a podcast where people speculate about the mysterious author's identity and whether or not it is based on actual events.  Spoiler alert (not really) - it is.  Something happens and Tess find herself sent to the Blood Feud world to deliver a message.  She ends up getting stuck there and finds out quickly not all vampires are nice, romantic and sparkly.  Will she be able to finally overcome some of her past trauma and will her old roommate be able to bring her back to the "real world?"

This book was some serious fun.  I loved Tess with all her flaws and trauma and enjoyed the "lore" surrounding the whole "is it real, or isn't it?" Blood Feud fandom. Tess runs into some real bad vampires, and it was fun to see the author didn't strictly rely on the romantic sparkly kind of vamps.  Tess meets some truly interesting characters along the way and exhibits a lot of character growth and self-discovery as the book progresses.  The ending was exciting and satisfying, and I wouldn't mind seeing a companion book sometime in the future. 

If you love vampires and enjoy seeing them in their real element and not just light and fluffy, then please give this book a chance. It was a perfect addition to my #Vamptember reads.

MY RATING: 4 PAWS

2 Bloggers 1 Book - My Vampire Vs. Your Werewolf

 

To celebrate Vamptember, Stormi and I decided to buddy read a new Middle Grade book that just released.  She loves MG books, and I enjoy them from time to time so the timing of this one was perfect.  So read on to see my thoughts and the hop over to Stormi's at Storm Reads to see hers.

 

TITLE: My Vampire Vs. Your Werewolf

AUTHOR: Paul Tobin

PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury Children's Books

PUBLISHING DATE: September 3, 2024

PAGES: 272   

SOURCE: Own Library

FROM GOODREADS: Gabe and Hayden have a vampire.Joon and Tradd have a werewolf.And they're going to fight.

After modern society pushed monsters into hiding, the Crafters Guild formed - an organization of humans and other creatures intent on creating community amongst these exiled beings and combating the decline in monster mental health. Their solution? A no-holds-barred clash of the titans, where two monsters can fight it out with no limits. With young coaches like Gabe, Hayden, Joon, and Tradd to guide them, the monsters must prepare for a battle that will test their strengths, smarts, and special abilities. But it's just a friendly competition-nothing could possibly go wrong…right? 

My Vampire vs. Your Werewolf is the first in an epic horror series from bestselling author Paul Tobin featuring all your favorite monsters--from mummies and ghosts, to dragons and zombies, and witches and warlocks--daring to answer the Who would win in a fight?

MY THOUGHTS: I'm not really sure I know how I feel about this book.  Being middle grade it was a fairly quick read, and it features my two favorite supernatural entities so it should have been something I loved.  However, that didn't turn out to be quite the case.

So, we have two sets of youngest who are all no older than ten.  Two are teamed together to locate a vampire and the other two, a werewolf.  The book starts with the kids finding their creatures and explains a bit about how they use medallions to control them.  Once located, they are moved to another location where they plan to have their monsters battle each other.  I will say that once the battle started, the book picked up and it actually encompassed the last 1/3 of the book so if you like action, there is plenty of that.  The team that wins the battle gets to keep their medallions and when you collect three, you earn the wish of your choice.  These wishes are mentioned periodically and some of the kids have very concrete desires, but I don't know that they were fleshed out enough.

I had three major issues with this book.  First of all, the author portrayed these kids at 10 going on 40.  They did things way beyond an average 10-year-olds capacity and I had to keep reminding myself of their ages.  Second, the author style of writing also didn't fit a MG book.  He used words and concepts I just couldn't see a middle-grader understanding.  And finally, there wasn't enough backstory, and it took me at least the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the book to figure out what was going on.

The action and the fact that we have a creepy vampire, and a fun werewolf named Redd really saved this one in the end.  I don't know if I will continue the series but for the most part, I am glad I gave this one a chance and it was a fun buddy read.

MY RATING: 3 PAWS