Kisses From Hell Anthology

Title: Kisses From Hell
Authors: Kristin Cast, Richelle Mead, Kelley Armstrong, Alyson Noel & Francesca Lia Block
Format: Paperback, 272 pages.

From a fugitive vampire forced to trust a boy who might work for the group bent on destroying her to the legendary romance of two immortals whose love compels them to risk everything, this heart-pounding collection brings new meaning to the words "love you forever." Whether you're into romances that are dark and moody or light and fun, these stories will quench that insatiable thirst for enchanting tales of the beautiful undead.

Rating: 4 stars ★★★★
My Thoughts: Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to readers that are fans of these authors, the series these stories tie into, or just vampire stories / anthologies in general.

"Sunshine" by Richelle Mead: *squeeeeeeee* This was such an adorable love story. It was so heartwarming and entertaining. A story about being forced into a semi-arranged relationship due to social status, but rebelling from expectation and pursuing true love. It fits in with extremely well with the Vampire Academy series (which I am also addicted to), telling readers the story of how Lissa's parents met for the first time.

"Hunting Kat" by Kelley Armstrong: Loved it. The story and romance was really cute. I liked the premise of the Edison Group and their experiment to create genetically modified vampires, it's something new and intriguing that I've never seen before. Very creative, and the main characters were instantly likeable. I'm not sure how/which series this fits into, but I can't wait to find out! I have some of Armstrong's novels in my TBR pile.

"Lilith" by Francesca Lia Block: Whoa. This story was much darker and creepier than all the others, to the point that I almost felt like it didn't fit in with the rest of the anthology. It was pretty out there, and at times read a little like erotica/smut, which threw me off a little bit. The ending was really eerie and twilight-zone-esque. It wasn't my favorite story but it was interesting.

"Bring Me to Life" by Alyson Noel: I didn't think I was going to like this story, because I wasn't really a fan of her Evermore series, which this story is supposed to tie into, but I actually didn't hate it. It was a little cliché, but not a bad story. It reminded me a little bit of Lauren Kate's Fallen, both have aspects of reincarnation and searching for long-lost love, so if you enjoyed that I think you would enjoy this too.

"Above" by Kristen Cast: I couldn't finish this one due to the avant-garde way it was written. The entire story reads/is formatted like poetry, in a sort of free-form prose (similar to what I've seen in some works by Ellen Hopkins). It just personally wasn't for me; I don't enjoy that style of writing unless I'm reading short poetry.

Warnings: murder, violence, allusions to sex

Cover Musings: I think it's pretty and I like it, but it doesn't really represent the vampire theme. To be honest, I thought the stories had a general paranormal theme up until I started reading them and noticed they were *all* about vampires .....then I took a look at the back cover of the book and, of course, the very first line says: "This irresistible collection features stories of love amid vampires by five of today's hottest authors." Oops, my bad. *facepalm*

Black Dagger Brotherhood Books 1&2

I've recently started reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by J.R. Ward. Instead of doing a separate review for each book, I decided I'd do a group post with mini reviews for the both of them.

"In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going on between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race"

Each book in the series highlights one main character, a member of the Brotherhood...

Title: Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood #1)
Source: Purchased; paperback 416 pages
Challenges: Vampires; 2011 Blogger Recommendation

The only purebred vampire left on earth, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who murdered his parents centuries ago. But, when one of his most trusted fighters is killed-leaving his half-breed daughter unaware of his existence or her fate-Wrath must usher her into the world of the undead-a world of sensuality beyond her wildest dreams. 

My Rating: 4 stars ★★★★
My Thoughts: Let me start off my saying these vampires are nothing like those of the Twilight Saga. Ward creates a interesting world that stands out from its competition thanks to details such as the Brotherhood, the Lessening Society, and The Scribe Virgin.

I liked this book, but I just didn't love it. As far as paranormal romance goes, I thought it was definitely worth the read. The plot line is intense, and super interesting, and the Brothers are just drool-worthy. The one thing that tended to bother me was the spelling of the Brothers' names: Phury, Rhage, Tohrment, Vishous, etc...

Title: Lover Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood #2)
Source: Purchased; paperback 464 pages
Challenges: Vampires

Within the brotherhood, Rhage is the vampire with the strongest appetite. He's the best fighter, the quickest to act on his impulses, and the most voracious lover-for inside him burns a ferocious curse cast by the Scribe Virgin. 

Possessed by this dark side, Rhage fears the times when his inner dragon is unleashed, making him a danger to everyone around him. When Mary Luce is unwittingly thrown into the vampire world, she must rely on Rhage's protection. Knowing that Mary feels the same intense animal attraction, Rhage must make her his alone...

My Rating: 4 stars ★★★★
My Thoughts: I enjoyed this second book exponentially more than the first book. I absolutely loved Mary and Rhage's character development and quickly found myself rooting for them to end up happily together! It was extremely interesting to learn all the details of Rhage's "inner dragon" that we only get a glimpse of in Dark Lover. I would definitely recommend this serious to lovers of PR, and I definitely see what all the hype is about now!

Warnings: adult books; mature content: sex & violence

Cover Musings: I don't think the covers are ah-mazing, but I like the monochromatic color scheme on each cover and the fact that they all go together well as a series

Next in Series: Lover Awakened

Teaser Tuesday #10

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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Title: The Poison Eaters and Other Stories
Author: Holly Black

"It took eighty-eight days for the venom to sweat out a person's pores. She had only thirty-seven to go. Thirty-seven days to stay so drunk that she could ignore the buzz in her head that made her want to bite, rend, devour."

-from The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward

Title: Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood #3) 
Author: J.R. Ward  
Source: Purchased; eBook 464 pages
Challenges: Vampires

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going on between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Even within the vampire brotherhood, Zsadist is feared. Still bearing the scars from a tortured past, he is renowned for his unquenchable fury. Anger is his only companion, and terror is his only passion-until he rescues a beautiful female from the evil Lessening Society. 

My Rating: 5 stars ★★★★★
My Thoughts: I LOVED this book!!! It's funny - I knew I was going to love this - before I even read it! I couldn't even wait to go to the bookstore and buy it; I downloaded it for my NOOK about twenty minutes after finishing Lover Eternal... I also finished the book less than 24hrs after that. What a page-turner!!

Zsadist is by far my favorite Brother of them all; I think that's because he's such a complex, dynamic character. It was heart-warming (and also heart-wrenching) to watch him struggle and transform from the black-eyed, soulless, terrifying warrior into a protective, kind, loving man. I also loved that this novel was much less myopic than Dark Lover was - it has many of sub-plots and deep characterization of all the main characters, as opposed to solely focusing on the protagonist.

The one thing I didn't like that much about this novel was some of the prose when Zsadist has his flashbacks into the past. It tended to get a tad bit too cheesy-typical-romance-novel-y.

Definitely my favorite book in the series so far! <3 I would surely recommend it to fans of adult PR / vampire books.

Warnings: adult (not YA); mature content: sex & violence

Cover Musings: I don't think any of the BDB covers are ah-mazing, but I like the monochromatic color scheme on each cover and the fact that they all go together well as a series

Previous in Series: Lover Eternal
Next in Series: Lover Revealed

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Title: Blood Bound 

(Mercy Thompson Series #2)

Author: Patricia Briggs

Source: Library; Paperback 292 pages

Interest: series; Vampire Challenge; 50 States Challenge; Shifters Challenge

Official Blurb:

Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places-and in dark ones. And now she owes one of them a favor. Since she can shapeshift at will, she agrees to act as some extra muscle when her vampire friend Stefan goes to deliver a message to another of his kind. But this new vampire is hardly ordinary-and neither is the demon inside of him.

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My Rating: 5 stars ★★★★★

My Thoughts: 

I’ll admit that after reading Moon Called, I was a little bit skeptical about the series. I thought it was good, but not as great as everyone made it seem. Though I was nervous that the series had been over-hyped, I decided not to make the rash decision to dismiss the series completely - & I’m so happy that I gave Blood Bound a go; it was pretty awesome!

This book brings meaning to the words action-packed: the major conflict arises right in first chapter, and doesn’t get resolved until the last few pages. I also enjoyed the element of mystery that played a huge part in the book; I love books that make me try and figure out things along with the protagonist, but I hate when it’s too predictable. Luckily, this book wasn’t predictable at all, and kept me guessing the whole time! I can’t wait to read the next one.

      

Also, on a side note: if there were “teams” for this series, I’d totally be Team Adam! I hope his and Mercy’s relationship evolves more in the next book *crosses fingers*

 

Previous in Series: Moon Called

Next in Series: Iron Kissed

Books Like This: Rachel Vincent's Shifters Series

Kiss Me Deadly - Review

Title: Kiss Me Deadly
Author: Michele Hauf
Official Blurb:
Death cocktail is what the vampires call a witch's blood. It's poisonous--a drop will destroy a vampire within minutes. Nikolaus Drake is the rare vampire who has survived his first taste. Now he's on the hunt for the witch who almost brought him to his demise--Ravin Crosse.
A witch who spends her nights hunting vampire tribes, Ravin has three obligations to fulfill to set her soul free. One of those obligations--crafting a love spell--twists her world upside down when Nikolaus draws the spell from her veins. Natural enemies rarely make the best bedfellows--but is it possible their intentions are really, truly the same? Can Nikolaus's tribal loyalty survive if he surrenders to desires far darker than his own?

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My Rating: 3/5 stars ★★★

My Review: I definitely enjoyed Hauf's added twist to the "typical" vampire story: witches' blood as being poisonous to vampires; however, I thought the beginning of the book lacked action ....it was a little too generic romance novel-y for my taste (in the sense that it was almost completely sex scenes, Ravin and Nikolaus were the only characters for several chapters, and the setting was almost entirely in Ravin's house.). As the book progressed, the plot did get more complex, and overall I would recommend the book for those who like paranormal romance.
        Apparently this is the second book in a series, which I did not realize until after I finished reading it (I received this one as a free e-book for my nook), but I didn't find that I was confused or missing information that might have been in the first book.

Warnings: sex/adult content; violence

Books like this: Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Dark Hunter series)