Book Review: Alterant

Alterant by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love

Alterant by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love is part of the Belador series.  While this series shares some similarities to Kenyon's Dark-Hunter Series it is a lot more different.  If you aren't a big fan of romance, this might be a good series to look into.  Also this series differs because instead of concentrating on just one character and their story line, it follows the story line of four different people who are tied together.

Now Alterant is the second release in the series and I suggest that you start with the first story because there were a lot of references of past problems that these characters came across.  Now you don't have to read the first story, but I do think it would help.

The story starts off when Evalle Kincade, who is an alterant and belador, is called to a tribunal to find missing alterants.  Alterants are these creatures who turn into monsters and are hunted.  Evalle is different because she's also a belador, who is a group of people trying to protect the human race.

The similarities that this series shares with the Dark-Hunter series is the use of mythology.  But in this series the mythology seems to be more specific with Celtic mythology.  While there is use of other deities from other pantheons, a lot of the terms and usage is of Celtic origin.

While in the story there is romantic connections and references, there wasn't a whole lot of hook up.  In fact there was only one, and it was in a dream so I don't think that counts.

From this book I get the feel that this series will be more a long the lines of Science Fiction and Fantasy.  I think because Kenyon wrote this story with another author it had another feeling and vibe that none of Kenyon's other's books have.

I enjoyed reading the series, it was a different switch from other Sherrilyn Kenyon books that I have read.  Because I'm such a geek, I enjoyed reading this book because it had been a while since I've read a book like this.

Rating:
4.5 out of 5

On Deck:
Jennifer Government by Max Barry
Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber  by Adele Lang

Book Review: Escape From Cabriz

Escape From Cabriz by Linda Lael Miller

This is a romance story published in 1990 so it isn't current.  And it's also part of a series by the publisher Silhouette called Desire (they're like a Harlequin series).  It's short only 180 pages and doesn't have much meat, so it is the ultimate brain duster.

The story starts off when Kristin Meyer's is suppose to be marrying the Prince of Cabriz but she starts to regret her rash decision.  The country of Cabriz is in political turmoil and a war is about the break out.  Once Kristin realizes that she's making a mistake and any childhood affections that she had for the Prince are no longer there, it seems to be hopeless for her.  But enter hunky hero Zachary Harmon, who is there to rescue her and stir desire and feelings that they both have buried for each other.

Now while you don't take much from the story, it was surprisingly detailed.  Now I tried to do a little research for Cabriz and in the book it's a small Asian country, but what I found is that it is a small city in Portugal.  Miller gave the reader enough information so that you could figure out the area and culture of this setting without overloading the reader with too much information.  If Miller hadn't does any background you probably would have jumped to conclusions and like me, assumed that it was somewhere in South America.

Another thing that I liked about this story is that the two characters Zachary and Kristin share a long history, so it isn't a sudden whirlwind romance that starts, it's something that was built long before the story even takes place.  So essentially this story starts with them rebuilding their trust and relationship.

Like I said this is good for your average, romance story.  It's a basic brain duster, mind fluffer.  So when reading this just take it for what it is and don't expect it to become something for deep thought.  Books likes these are what you perceive of them and because I am a lover of romance I thought it was good.

Rating:

2.5 out of 5

On Deck:

Alterant by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Jennifer Government by Max Barry

Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber by Adele Lang

Bakers Dozen 3

So this one was hard for me decide, mainly because I love everything that this author writes.  But I decided it wouldn't be fair if I put on this list 'Anything by Sherrilyn Kenyon.'

So I picked Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon.  The reason I picked this book instead of some of her other ones is because of the lead female character Bride was described as a full figured woman.  I don't mean a size 10 either, no Sherrilyn Kenyon wrote a character who is a size 18 and is beautiful and makes the hunky Vane's head turn and drool.  So many romance writers don't go there when it comes to women and their figure and Kenyon made it so all women of different shapes and sizes can be happy with their body in these books.

Now the story itself is another instalment of the Dark-Hunter series and I believe it was one of the earlier releases (I think it was the 5th or 6th one) of this series, but it is the first full novel for the Were-Hunter series.  The character Vane did make an appearance in a previous Hunter series book, so it was very pleasing to read his story.

I think another reason why I picked this story is because Kenyon wrote more about the Were-Hunter's and their mythology and history that binds this race to the Greek Gods.  As a sucker for mythology this was a nice change up from a lot of the stories that I had been reading at the time.  I was starting to slowly get into romance after reading nothing but one author so it was a nice change.  I believe I started reading the Dark-Hunter series when I was 16-years-old.

Even though all of Sherrilyn Kenyon's stories (except for her Chronicles of Nick series) have love scenes, they aren't saturating the whole story.  I love how all of the characters are written and I especially love the characters Bride and Vane, they do get mentioned in some of Kenyon's later novels so its kind of like you get to keep in-touch with a long lost friend.

I couldn't do this list without a Sherrilyn Kenyon novel and even though it was kind of hard to pick just one, I decided on Night Play mainly based on the character Bride because despite her "size" she was beautiful and strong and everyone wants a really hunky man by her side regardless of appearance.

Book Review: Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James

So this story was one of the ones that I probably would have never had read if it had not been for hype and  suggestion by friends.  And it isn't because I thought the story was going to bad, but that I have so many book that I should be reading instead of buying.  But of course I bought the book anyway.

Fifty Shades of Grey is in the erotica genre of fiction, but it boarders on romance.  Now I have read several erotica novels before, but this was a little different.

The story basically starts when Anastasia Steele has to go and interview rich, hunky, business man, Christian Grey for her college newspaper.  She makes an impression and Christian pursues her for a relationship, but he doesn't want the typical relationship, no he wants her to be his submissive.  And for those of you don't know what S&M is, google it.  Because I honestly don't know the complex nature of these relationships.  And I feel that the author didn't really explain them well either.

Now if this story was a stand alone, I honestly don't think I'd pick up another book from this author.  Mainly because most of the story is the main female character's inner dialogue and it was at times hard to follow.  But because E L James hasn't told Christian's story, I want to keep reading, because through out the whole novel he's pretty much cryptic of why he is the way he is.

In the end, I was ok with this book.  I don't think it was spectacular, nor to I think it is really in the erotica genre, because other then a couple of spankings and being tied up a couple of times, the rest of the love scenes (I use the word love loosely), were along the same as any other romance novel I've read.  I still plan on picking up the two following sequels eventually just because I want to know what is Christian Grey's issue.

Also interesting factoid that I picked up from wikipedia (yeah I honestly don't know if this would be true but I thought it was interesting to share) but this story was actually originally written as a Twilight fan fiction on fanfiction.net but the author took it down because some felt it was too graphic so she then posted it on her personal website before taking it down to edit and turn it into an actual fiction.  And people tell me that writing fan fiction is a waste of time.... hahahah.

Rating:
3 out of 5

On Deck:
Escape from Cabriz by Linda Lael Miller
Alterant by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Jennifer Government by Max Barry
Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber by Adele Lang

Baker's Dozen 2

So I'm back with another installment of my baker's dozen

Demon in my View by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes is on this list because it was kind of a first for me.  And just as a word of warning, a lot of the books on this list aren't necessarily fantastic literary giants, but are first for me so they have a lasting impression.  This book is one of those.

This book was one of the books that I read after I had gotten burned out on V.C. Andrews books, and this was also my very first young adult novel that I had ever read.  Actually no it wasn't.  In the Forest of the Night by the same author was actually the first book that I had ever read in this genre, but this one has more of a lasting impression that the first one.

Now the book itself is only about 170 pages so it wasn't a very long book, but I was fourteen when I read this book.  I think what first interested me into reading this book was that I saw some review or snippet about the book and I read that the author wrote her first book when she was 14 and this one when she was 16, and because I was close to that age and at the time had dreams of being a published author I thought 'I need to read this.'  And I'm glad I did.  After reading probably 20 or so V.C. Andrews books, I was kind of burnt out of reading the same thing.  This was completely different than anything that I have ever read before so it helped renew my love for reading when I was younger.

This book is about Vampires, yes, people wrote about vampires in the young adult section long before Twilight, and this held a little bit of romance but not too much that as a young teen I would have been grossed out.  Atwater-Rhodes wrote her vampire tales in the classic idea of the breed, their violent, search for blood and are the ultimate apex predator.  But she also wrote about how they are essentially a family and they wish to keep their secrets hidden.  They can go out in sunlight, go to church, aren't terrified of garlic (though the smell is very pungent to their keen sense of smell.)  But I liked how the author wrote out the whole history and family in such a small book.  And looking back at it as an adult now, I'm very impressed that she wrote so beautifully at such a young age.

Now I mentioned that there was a bit of romance in the story but it wasn't over blown, and that it true, essentially what happens is that Jessica is human and Aubrey is vampire (sound familiar huh?).  But Aubrey has every intention of killing Jessica because she is a published author and wrote a story about Aubrey without realizing that it is true.  But in the end they fall in love and become mates, and Jessica becomes a vampire.  But I think what pulled me into the story wasn't the love it was how detailed the author was about who the character Jessica was, how she came to be, what her past was, how she was tied into the vampire book from birth.

This is a stand-alone book, but the character Aubrey has a brief appearance in In the Forest of the Night but you never hear from the characters again in any of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes following vampire books (now I've read that she has released more books that are kind of sequel's to some of her other vampire books so maybe she will have more on this couples story) so she ends the book in a way that you aren't left guessing what's going to happen to the characters.  You get the feel that their going to be ok.

Although this book is relatively simple and easy to read I had to put this on my list simply because it was a first for me.  It was my first young adult novel that I had ever read and it was also my first vampire themed book that I read.

Baker's Dozen

Hey everyone, so I decided to do a series of reviews that I'm going to call Baker's Dozen where I'm going to talk about my favorite 13 books that I have read.  Now while I have read a lot of books there are those books that I always find myself gravitating towards to re-read over and over again.  So let's start this off.

P.S. these books are not in any particular order in which are my favorite.  I can't number them.

Baker's Dozen 1: My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews

My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews is considered a Gothic novel.  Now V.C. Andrews was one of the first author's that I started to read at a very young age.  I remember in middle school, I would eat lunch away from the cafeteria just so I could read these books in peace before I had to go to band class.  Out of all of the V.C. Andrew books that I have read, My Sweet Audrina is special.  Out of all of Andrew's books, this is her only stand-alone book, all of Andrews other books are a part of a series.  Also this is actually one of the few books that Andrews actually wrote and completed while she was alive.

The author V.C. Andrews died in 1986, and after her death, members of her family saw all of the story ideas, plot and partial ideas she had and decided to hire a ghost writer, Andrew Neiderman, to finish the novels.

My Sweet Audrina follows the character Audrina Adair from the age of nine into her adulthood.  Her whole life is basically based on a lie where she is told she was named after her older sister, whom she shares her name with, and is living in her shadow.  The "better" Audrina died at the tender age of nine, as a result of a brutal rape by a group of boys she went to school with.  Because Audrina grows up with the constant fear of boys and is sheltered by her father from the outside world, she lacks certain growth and development that a normal child would have (this is a constant theme with many of Andrews books, where the main characters have something traumatic in their life that is a road block.)  Also the character goes through many tragedies, the loss of a mother, finding out that her father isn't who she thought he was and taking care of a young sister with down-syndrome.

As an adult, Audrina marries and tries to find normalcy with being an adult but finds that too much of her past blocks her from blossoming as a women.  And let me tell you, there is a lot of drama and twists and turns in this book.

I first read this book when I was 14-years-old and find myself re-reading it.  As an adult I find different facts and details that as a teenager I frankly didn't pick up upon.  Now as I've gotten older and I have to be honest, I haven't read a V.C. Andrews book for almost 5 years.  To me the newer books have lost their magic, I don't know if maybe the details on how Andrews wanted to write the books aren't as in depth since she died 26 years ago, so their are more of what the ghost writer wants.  If you ever pick up a V.C. Andrews book, My Sweet Audrina is the one that I would suggest, it's classic Andrews writing with the Gothic tones throughout the book.  Plus because this isn't in a series you don't have to worry about being lost in the book.  While there are several V.C. Andrews books that I love this is my ultimate favorite and that is why this is part of my Baker's Dozen list.