Dark Prince, Christine Feehan

OK, try not to let the cover get you down. It's a pretty decent book 1.

Book 1's have a hard time right? A lot they need to get done. You've got to set up the characters, the general plot of the series. The feel/tenor of the series.

It's a lot of work.

This paranormal romance does a fairly decent job.

It's not exceptional. I can't lie. It's good. (There's lots of sex, FYI.) But it's got a really interesting take on the vampire legend.

See, there's a race called the Carpathians. They're an immortal race. They exist on blood, but they never kill their food. They actually think the idea of killing something and eating it's meat like we do is repulsive and barbaric. They are sensitive to light, but the whole garlic thing seems to be just a random myth. And they are definitely not dead, though they do appear that way when they're asleep. And their connected to the earth, so sleeping covered in dirt (aka buried), heals them.

So, is it just misunderstanding that created the vampires we know?

Nope. Not exactly.

Criminal, Karin Slaughter

O. M. G!!

This was fantastic!

We finally get to learn more about Will's past.

So, Will and Sara are still going strong. Unfortunately, he spirals into despair when he finds out his father was released from prison.

We know is father killed his mother, but not much else.

Actually, there's another reason this is an awesome book: not only do we learn more about Will's past, we learn more about Amanda's.

Now, in Fallen, Faith's mom tells Will that Amanda is more like his mom that he thinks. As soon as she said that, I figured Amanda had found him when he was a baby. Still, now we get to see the whole story play out.

So, as much as I love that we learn about Will's origins, I love that we get to see young an naive Amanda.

Yes, Amanda was naive. Sheltered even.

Beyond Reach, Karin Slaughter

Ok, kids, we're doing this one a little differently.

I give a general spoiler warning in the blog intro/description, but I still try to be conscientious of what I give away. I only usually call them out in my reviews if they're pretty obvious and I'm being facetious.

However, as I also say in my review, these aren't meant to be a synopsis of the book, but I do have to give some sort of run down in order to make the parts I want to talk about make sense.

But, in order to discuss this amazeballs book honestly, I need to reveal a huge spoiler.

Which brings me to the different part. Normally, I put the page break in mostly for space and try to place it where it makes you want to read the rest of the review. Because of this major spoiler, I'm placing the break after this intro.

This really was a great book (with and without spoilers), and I absolutely would tell you to read this and the whole Grant County series (in order). But, if you're not like me and a major spoiler ruins it for you, makes you want to not read something, do yourself a favor: Read this book, then come back and read my review.

If not....keep reading....if you dare...

Kisscut, Karin Slaughter

Grant County continues...And everyone needs freakin' therapy.

This one was so sad. It starts with the death of a young girl, at Jeffery's hands. She's pointing a gun at a boy a bit older than her and threatening to shoot him. Jeffery has no other choice. Still it tears him up and he constantly second guesses himself for the rest of the book.

As you meet the kids who knew the girl, Jenny, you start to realize there is something seriously wrong. Especially after meeting her intended victim, Mark.

There's this one part that is so reminiscent of the recent Steubenville horrors, that is gives you chills. Heartbreaking. And this predates Steubenville by a lot.

Sara is still dancing around Jeffery. They're actually planning on having dinner when Jenny threatens Mark. Well, actually, Jeffery leaves Sara to answer a page and she goes into the bathroom where she finds a murdered infant - someone gave birth and immediately killed the baby. Sara had seen Jenny come out of the bathroom and, after seeing if it's possible to save the baby, goes after her. She finds the standoff and sees Jeffery give in to his only choice.

 Jeffery needs to see someone to deal with his actions, and they need couples therapy if they're going to make this second chance work. Sara can't let go of Jeffery's affair/one night stand. She can't let it go and he can't keep apologizing.

Lena is obviously still struggling with her rape and kidnapping. She's back on the job with the caveat that she see a therapist, which she conveniently "hasn't done yet." I really hope she does. These kinds of stories always talk about therapy and how the characters need it, but never actually have their characters do it. Then the character manages to just pull themselves out. It's really annoying. That's not how it works for 98% of the population. People need help! Therapy doesn't make you weak or crazy.

Except the Queen, Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder

I love this.

It's really good. And really different from the way I think most fantasy is structured.

The main characters are Sparrow and Robin, but unlike most fantasies, it's all told from the point of view of two sisters who stumble into Sparrow and Robins life.

Let me back up here...

Serena and Meteora are sisters and fairies. The catch the Queen in a *ahem* compromising position - she's gettin' busy with a mortal. The manage to keep the secret for a while, but eventually Meteora spills the beans. By accident, sure, but she's always struggled with keeping it a secret anyway.

The Queen finds out who "sullied" her name, and banishes the sisters to the mortal world. Serena to NYC and Meteora to Milwaukee. Their journeys bring them in contact with the main characters. Serena meets Robin while his band is playing in the park. Meteora lives in Baba Yaga's house with Sparrow.

Sparrow is an emo chick who's had a really rough life. She only vaguely remembers her mother and her father was abusive in every sense of the word. She's been on the run ever since - she knows she's different.

Robin is (obviously) a musician. Unfortunately for him, he knows exactly who his parents are. He loved him mom, who was raped and destroyed by this father, Red Cap. If you're unfamiliar with Red Cap, he kills innocents and soaks his cap in their blood, making it a red cap. He's part of the Unseelie Court. Robin isn't, he's not deemed worthy. His father treats him as a dog. Literally.

The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova

"...The Historian is the story of a young woman plunged into a labyrinth where the secrets of her family's past connect to an inconceivable evil: the dark fifteenth-century reign of Vlad the Impaler and a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive through the ages. The search for the truth becomes an adventure of monumental proportions, taking us from monasteries and dusty libraries to the capitals of Eastern Europe..."

Nothing in that said "vampires" and "Dracula" to me.

I mean, yes, I know Vlad the Impaler is the...inspiration, let's say, for Dracula, but nothing there indicated that's the route she was going. To me. Now, had I read the quoted blurbs, I wouldn't have been surprised when vampires made their appearance, but I never do. It's not like they're going to put ones that say the book sucks, or could be written better. So, I don't bother.

So, yeah, vampires.

The Wolf Gift, Anne Rice

I always feel like I should be more excited after an Anne Rice than I am. It's not that that I dislike her books; I just don't feel drawn to them. And it seems like I really should! I love all that supernatural stuff – vampires and the like. Somehow, the reality just never lives up to my expectation.

Now, I don't claim to be a Rice aficionado, definitely not. I've read The Witching Hour, the first book in the Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy. Frankly, I was not a fan – clearly, since I didn't read the other two. I always planned on reading the others. In fact, I think Lasher is on my Goodreads list. See, it's always been in the plan. Although, a friend of mine has read all of them and says the first was the best by far. Not exactly the kind of comment to get you to read the others, huh? Especially if, like me, you didn't really like the first one. I should clarify that I liked most of it. It's just that by the end I was incredibly irritated with the characters. I don't even remember all that much why (it's been several years), I just remember the feeling of irritation.

I have liked a couple of her more recent books though. If you're a fan, you know that Rice has recently gone through a transition of sorts. She was raised Catholic, but for much of her life had a crisis of faith, let's say.  Recently (in the past few years), she has rediscovered her faith. I'm obviously paraphrasing and if you want to know more about it, I'm sure you can find articles, interviews, or even a blog by the woman herself. As part of this, or due to this, or as homage to this, she wrote books about the life of Jesus. I found these to be very good books and would recommend them to anyone, even if you're not particularly religious. Maybe that's because my expectations were so different from what I'd expected from her other books. (As a side note, this expectation works against Rice as well. I tried to get my mom to read the Jesus books – she was having none of that!)

I don't even really enjoy the movies I've seen based on her work. Again, I always feel like I'm missing some secret that makes it so exciting to so many others.

Anyway, my point is that I never feel as good about her books as I feel like I should. I mean, she's the master of this kind of book, right?! So, I should love them! And yet… 

Omen Machine, Terry Goodkind

I've been trying to figure out what to say about this book. As I thought, and struggled, I realized the only way to explain how and why I was disappointed in this book was to explain why I enjoyed the old series so much.

So, Goodkind wrote the Sword of Truth series, the last of which came out in 2003. The series follows Richard and Kahlan, and assorted other characters, as they fight to save the world. It's kind of an interpretation of the King Arthur legend.

As I've said before, characters can make or break a plot, and these made it. Richard is kind hearted, smart, curious, and...almost guileless  That's not to say he was some fool, he can deceive when necessary, he just prefers honesty. It fits his role as the Seeker of Truth and the weapon that goes with that role, the Sword of Truth. Kahlan is similar: smart, powerful (no really, not only does she rule, but she has a wicked magic power), and definitely kind hearted. While she definitely needs saving on occasion, the role of damsel in distress she plays in this book just doesn't suit her.

There are other characters that make the story fantastic. Zedd, Richard's grandfather, cranky old man, and mischievous wizard. Nicci, a bad guy, who turns good when she truly sees and understands Richard. Cara, Nathan...and so on.

And that's one of the downfalls of this book, I think. Goodkind seems to forget who they really are. This book starts one day after the finale in Confessor. Let me repeat: one. day. Now, the Confessor has a few of it's own issues. The ending feels a bit...forced. Some have called it a cop-out. I don't know if it's that, but it certainly seemed anticlimactic. But then, the next day, the characters are almost completely different. There is one scene where the old Kahlan seems apparent. A woman tries to kill her, a poor attempt, because she doesn't want Kahlan to suffer the horrible death the woman saw in a vision. She's already killed her children for the same reason. Kahlan uses her power and questions the woman. She is regal and powerful and cold. She knows who and what she is, and will use it when necessary; yet she mourns the children who needlessly died.

The plot has it's merits. Angry and misguided rulers, prophecy, a malevolent force out to rule the world, and a mysterious machine. If you ignore some of the missteps, the general plan of the story works. It's the details that hurt it. I've already talked about the character issues. It also feels slow. Scenes that should take one chapter, takes five. Richard in particular seems a bit slow. He finds he can talk to the machine, and waits about 100 pages to actually ask the machine questions. Seems very un-Richard like.

My other issue is with the purpose. Sword of Truth definitely ended. This book says "A Richard and Kahlan Novel" on the cover, indicating this is a new adventure. Yet, as I said, it's only one day later. It seems to be the start of a new series - the bad guy is definitely still lurking - but it starts with hardly a breath for the characters. Are we starting a new saga? Did Goodkind decide that Confessor wasn't really the end? Or maybe it never was and it was a misunderstanding with the readers? The blurb for Confessor calls it the "concluding novel," so I don't see how.

I will read the next book, The Third Kingdom, because I hope it will improve. As far as this book...well, if you're a fan, give it a shot. Hopefully, you'll disagree with me. If you're not a fan, then you should be starting with Wizard's First Rule anyway. I would recommend the original series, so have at it! As far as this one goes. Well, it's just a bit.....limp.

Omen Machine, Terry Goodkind

The Harlequin, Laurell K. Hamilton

This one was much more along the lines of what I'd come to expect from the series. There's a new big bad in town, and Anita and company have to deal with it.

The Harlequin are the police of the vampire world - a completely neutral (supposedly) entity from the Vampire Council. They've come to town bearing white masks. White means they're there to observe, red means pain, black is death. Anita and Jean-Claude just get white, yet someone keeps messing with them – enhancing emotions to the point of being out of control. It gets to the point where Richard tries to turn Anita into a wolf, almost kills JC and gets himself mortally wounded in the process. Anita manages to save them all, of course.

I had really hoped this near death experience would help Richard…and maybe it does to an extent. When Anita and the gang first hear the Harlequin are in town, they call everyone in. Richard has to cancel a date and ends up actually acting like a lycanthrope and sleeps, naked, with Anita, Micah and Nathaniel. No sex. Let's be clear. I mean literally sleeps. He even helps protect Anita while they sleep from Mommie Dearest, the mother of all vampires. He also tries to accept Micah by trying to check with him before volunteering to feed the ardeur. Anita tries by going to Richard first when she sees him again and sitting with him on the couch. Unfortunately, this is right before the bad guys start messing with him and he almost kills them all.