The Brotherhood by Dawn Thompson

Favorite Lines: “Screaming at the top of her voice,she tore the yards of gauze curtain draped over the sleigh bed, and threw it over the advancing man. Then, screaming again in multiple spasms, she raced through the door she’d left flung wide- right into the cold, wet arms of Joss Hyde-White.” (p. 56)

Joss Hyde-White is the child of vampires, but all that means for him is that he can turn into a wolf and get fangs when he feels threatened or aroused. Searching for answers about what he is, he leaves London.

On the night of a snowstorm he stumbles across a carriage with five people inside and only one of the five still alive. He takes the survivor, Cora, to his home to recover and before he knows it all the things that go bump in the night are arriving at his door.

This is book two in Ms. Thompson’s Blood Moon series. It’s a gothic, paranormal romance. It reminds me of the original Dracula in many ways. The vampires are capable of turning into wolves and the method for killing vampires is the same. It’s the same time period (I think) and the tone of the book feels the same. I got an ‘old’ feeling when I read The Brotherhood. Kinda like this is classic writing or a traditional romance set in a traditional gothic setting.

Ms. Thompson is offering a glimpse of the first chapter and book three, The Ravening, was released in January of 2008.

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La Vida Vampire by Nancy Haddock

Favorite Lines:”As for drawbacks to the vampire life, extended daylight savings time could be a bummer if I was in the sun too long.” (p. 1 e-ARC)

Francesca Marinelli was entombed for 200 years before a woman renovating a house found her. She immediately began adjusting to the modern world and that meant taking a job, to avoid boredom. While guiding a ghost tour, she meets several odd people- characters worthy of her favorite mystery authors- and soon finds herself embroiled within a ‘whodunit’ when one of the tourists is murdered.

Cesca knows that to avoid being put down like a rabid dog she must clear herself and with the help of ex-slayer Deke Saber, and she begins exploring her vampire skills because without them she just might not survive to live La Vida Vampire.

Off Subject

I’m going off subject with this post, but oh my God! Don’t let your five year old watch Sergei Prokofiev‘s Peter and the Wolf. My daughter just about had a break down when the wolf ate Peter’s duck. (I screamed, then laughed.) There’s also a part where a soldier throws Peter in a trash can and points a gun at him. Definitely not young child material. The wolf also almost gets Peter early on.

Free book

Looking for an e-book to read, but to broke to buy one? Look no further. Cliff Burns has posted about a book he’s been working on and has offered a PDF of it. Just go to his blog and click the link.

The Darkest Kiss by Keri Arthur

Favorite Lines: “He pressed me back against the wet, cool tiles, his mouth hungry against mine, the heat of him flowing around me, through me, burning my skin, and contrasting sharply with the coolness seeping from the tiles.” (p. 244 ARC)

In Embraced by Darkness Riley lost hope of a life with her werewolf lover, Kellin. In The Darkest Kiss, she shows trauma from the emotional blow, but can’t focus on healing as there are two psychotic killers on the loose.

High society whores and well-to-do men are being killed. The women are caught unawares and are consumed, while the men are killed during sex. The first man was a shapeshifter politician, placing the murder in the Directorate’s hand, thus right up Riley’s alley. The other victims include human men and women; one of the many strange parts of the crimes, is the absence of ghosts.

The other killer seems to randomly be stalking and killing men. The killer smells like a vampire, but is able to strike in the daylight. He tortures the men leaving them shredded and the only connection seems to be their friend Ben, a former stripper.

There is very little evidence to go on, but the path takes Riley to many creatures she never knew existed, a possible ally (or foe), and Quinn, a lover from her recent past.

13 lines from Babylon Babies by Maurice G. Dantec

I haven’t read the book yet, but I’m going to post the first sentence from the first 13 chapters of Babylon Babies.

• So living was an incredible experience, where the most beautiful day of your entire existence could be your last, where sleeping with death guaranteed seeing the next morning, and where a few golden rules were constant.
• Night was the best time to kill.
•  It was fucking hot.
• The Wallabies were roughing up the Springboks on her screen, and Marie Zorn didn’t give a fuck.
• Things had gotten worse on the other side of the Tekes River.
• Romanenko’s eyes stayed fixed on Toorop whose eyes were fixed on him in return.
• Marie Zorn watched the storm break over the city nestled beneath the window in the metal-framed rocking chair.
• Marie got up because some strange lights were igniting the sky.
• The event was configured in the entity called Joe-Jane’s memory in the shape of a brutal variation of internal flows.
• The moon was red about Mont-Royal.
• Rebecca went into the bathroom and got into the tub.
• Romanenko didn’t stop staring at the screen.
• “Quite frankly, Mister Gorsky, there’s no cause for alarm.”

Who bought Elijah?

I picked up Elijah by Jacquelyn Frank about a month and a half ago, but just opened it. Can somebody tell me what page number their books starts with? Mine begins on page 8 with the line “Elijah fell to his knees, clutching his chest…” I just want to make sure that this is right before I continue reading.

Have you seen?

Has anyone seen the Blog Book? It is so cool. I’d love to hear from someone who has done it. I think it’d be a great way to preserve your posts and look back at your thoughts years from now, when software has evolved and the ability to see what you’ve done now is gone.

I’ve downloaded the software and am going to play around with it.

Midnight Rising by Lara Adrian

Favorite Lines: “She smiled a bit sadly as she watched the two of them embrace. But then she gave a slow nod to Dylan and gradually faded away.” (p.155 e-ARC)

Rio was betrayed by by his wife. In an attempt to protect him she took away his reason for living and almost killed him. Then in Midnight Awakening, Rio stayed behind the Order, in the Czech Republic, in order to destroy a cave where a dark evil slept, but months later the cave is still standing and Dylan Alexander walks in.

Dylan’s mom was dying, so she took time away from her tabloid job to travel her mom’s dream vacation with her mother’s friends. She began the vacation knowing she better return with a great story or consider herself fired, so when a ghostly apparition beckons her towards the entrance of a cave, she eventually follows.

Rio knew that he had to finish his mission and that meant searching out the strange woman who photographed the cave. It was vital that the information be contained or the vampire world would be exposed to humans. It isn’t until later that he discovers Dylan is a breedmate, one of the rare human women capable of procreating with the alien species, and the only woman for him.

13 series and authors I read as a pre-teen

I’ve been reading since I was 4. I began reading my mom’s romance novels at 10. By the time I was a pre-teen I was ravenous for literature, almost anything. During that time, I read 13 of the following:

1. Nancy Drew Files by Carolyn Keene (It was my goal in life to have all of them at one point.)
2. White Squaw by E.J. Hunter (I only read a few of these.)
3. White Indian by Donald C. Porter (See a theme starting here?)
4. Wagons West by Dana F. Ross (Read all of them at one time.)
5. Everything written by Victoria Holt
6. The Hardy Boys by Franklin Dixon
7. Little House on the Prairie
8. Apache by William James
9. The books were the teens are dying or their parents have died.
10. Chose your own Adventure
11. Stagecoach by Hank Mitchum
12. The Gunsmith by J.R. Roberts
13. S.E. Hinton’s books: especially the Outsiders