Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, 3) by Richelle Mead

*****
Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, 3) by Richelle Mead

This book, the third in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead, ended very sadly...

Rose has been feeling more and more dark and depressed ever since her friend Mason died while he, Rose, Eddie, Christian and Mia were trying to escape their kidnappers. Rose had managed to get them all out and was facing the two Strigoi herself but Mason came back for her and got killed in the fight.

Rose managed to slay the Strigoi captors and now bears the molnija tattoos, but nothing can take away the pain of his death. Worse, Rose fears she's going crazy when she begins to see Mason's ghost around campus.

Rose had a theory or two about why that was happening. And Adrian and Christian seem to have a few theories about her many violent outbursts lately. They surmise that with her bond to Lissa and being shadow kissed that she is able to pull the darkness away from Lissa.

More trouble comes when the Strigoi attack the school leaving several Moroi and dhampir dead and many more captured. Rose helps the other guardians (including Dimitri) come up with a plan of offense to get the kidnapped back.

I can't tell you how it ends; I don't want to spoil it. But it is well worth reading even if it did make me terribly depressed. I have a theory about what will (hopefully!) happen in the fourth book that will put things to rights and I can't wait until it comes out to see if I'm right.

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

*****
Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

I loved this book! There's something very satisfying about this book that borders on fairytale but pulls back before getting too out of hand.

Creel is a girl from a small town that is orphaned and goes to live with her aunt and uncle who are also very poor. Her aunt (who is not quite all there in the head) comes up with the idea to give her to the local dragon so that a rich lord's son will rescue her and take them home to his grand house etc etc.

This doesn't sit well with Creel, who is a practical girl. Once she meets the dragon (she gets over her fear fairly quickly considering the circumstances) she asks him to just let her have a piece of his hoard and she'll stop the oncoming son (bent on slaying the dragon) and be on her way without any further trouble.

That's when things get amusing. I believe the dragon says something along the lines of "What would you want a pair of my shoes for?" in a surprised grumpy/exasperated voice. So Creel gets her first lesson in dragons. Not all dragons like gold or gems. The dragon she first meets collects shoes and he eventually lets her take one pair even though he was NOT keen on giving her the pair she eventually took. The next dragon she meets collects stained glass and one very silly dragon collects dogs...

But Creel couldn't always stay with the dragons, despite her friend Shardas being very nice to her while she stayed with him. So she heads to the capitol to try to find a job embroidering clothing. She gets a job finally but barely survives a harrowing day where she gets yelled at by a princess for almost stepping on her dog, nearly arrested by a guard for being out after curfew and rescued by a prince who has been the only one to give her a kind word all day.

The story plot continues as delicate and complicated as the patterns Creel embroiders and doesn't lose an ounce of humor (or cuteness) along the way. I was ecstatic to learn that she'd made a sequel as well even though this first one ended well enough. I like Creel and Luka and Shardas well enough that I want to continue knowing what happens to them.

Frostbite (Vampire Academy, 2) by Richelle Mead

*****
Frostbite (Vampire Academy, 2) by Richelle Mead

I think I liked this second one better than the first! The story continues pretty much right where we left off with Rose and Lissa. Rose is still trying to catch up in her guardian training with Dimitri (made only slightly awkward by the events that happened at the end of the last book) and Lissa is working with a teacher specially to help her train and find out what the magic of Spirit will mean for her.

The real action starts when Rose and Dimitri take a little drive (5 hours) so that Rose can take her Qualifier exam as a guardian. When they arrive at the house where the legendary guardian lives they find that the entire Moroi royal family that lived there as well as their guardians have been murdered by the Strigoi and that humans possibly had a hand in helping them take down the magical wards guarding the house.

All the sudden things are different in the vampire world - parents of students come to the Academy for Christmas and with it comes their guardians as well (including Rose's mother, the legendary Janine Hathaway). The entire school is taken to spend the Christmas holiday at a huge ski resort in Idaho so that they can pool their guardians for protection. Lissa is spending more and more time with her boyfriend Christian and Rose is having a difficult time of thinking about anybody but Dimitri even though she's been trying to move past them with her friend Mason.

Nothing is ever easy for Rose but she does learn and grow a great deal more in this book than in the last. She's reckless and headstrong but has her friend's best interests at heart and she's a really terrific character.

He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt & Liz Tuccillo

****
He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt & Liz Tuccillo

I'm not sure that I needed to read this book, but I'm glad I did anyway. Both Greg and Liz have that air of 'been there, done that' and it is refreshing to get a guy's point-of-view.

The situations presented are ones that crop up in real life and the advice he gives to each situation is sound (and sometimes silly). Greg will make little snarky comments that are not just amusing but true. Even when you're getting depressed about your chances of finding a decent man he throws in some optimistic and self-conscious boosting comment that makes you feel hopeful again.

I also enjoyed the 'workbook' sections. I liked having another opportunity to get out my crayons ^_^

The Becoming (The Anna Strong Chronicles) by Jeanne C. Stein

***

The Becoming (The Anna Strong Chronicles) by Jeanne C. Stein

Anna Strong is just your typical teacher-turned-bounty hunter that chases down bail skippers when one of the skips gives Anna and her partner the slip. After leaving her partner (David) unconscious in an alley the skip comes back to brutalize Anna and leaves her for dead. A day or two later (after being seriously sedated at the hospital) Anna gets better and completely loses her reflection. Shocker.

But nothing is ever too easy and once Anna finds out about her new undead status her house burns down and her partner, David, gets kidnapped. Anna is counciled by her new vampire 'Family' to just let it go - that since David is mortal he no longer really matters. Anna is convinced his kidnapping is her fault and takes all necessary steps to find him. This leads her to question her instincts and the many of the people that she knows.

The plot is okay. Nothing too far out of line here. I was a tad weirded out by how easily she accepted the idea of sex with a strange vampire but hey, who am I to judge? Those bits were even glossed over... There also seemed to be no motive given for the villain. Was he just bad? There is absolutely no backstory on him - making him very shallow and Anna is very nearly as bad.

There does seem to be an effort to expand the plot near the end where one of the vampires says something about the villain being right, that Anna is 'the One' which is so cliche ... And the worst thing is that Anna doesn't even pick up on it.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Read

****
Vampire Academy by Richelle Read

There were several things that I really liked about this book.

I liked that Lissa and Rose were friends despite their differences (or because of them). There was a whole opposites attract thing in their friendship that makes all of Rose's assertions that she is guarding Lissa for the continued good of their kind seem like just an excuse for her to be near her friend.

I liked that each girl had her own set of problems that both girls could face on their own if they had to, but with the friendship of the other the problems pare down to something mangeable.

I liked that the past helped shape their future and that neither girl really ran from the past but mostly accepted it. Rose's research into the life of St. Vladmir was interesting and it showed that Rose was continuing to grow up and take her duties seriously.

I liked that Rose wasn't put down for liking Dmitri even though he is older than her and a mentor. I liked that Lissa liked Christian despite him being unpopular at the academy. I'm interested to see where both relationships go because although Lissa and Christian's relationship can go forward there are several pitfalls for Rose and Dmitri: age, job & the fact they're both dhampir...

I'm looking forward to the next one. ^_^

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

*****
Graceling by Kristin Cashore

I absolutely loved this book and was terribly disappointed that since it was the author's debut novel and had only just come out in October that there was nothing else by Kristin Cashore for me to read.

I really enjoyed the characters in this novel and much of the action was really driven by them. Katsa is the king's niece and a Graceling, one who is very skilled in one thing. When Katsa was young she unintentionally killed a cousin of hers and was marked with the Grace of killing. She is unhappy with the distinction the Grace gives her and sought for many years to train herself and keep her Grace under control. Katsa is a character that while self-assured of herself in some ways is desperately unsure of herself in others. Like so many other heroines in popular YA books right now Katsa is afraid of the power within herself and of changing the status quo. Despite that Katsa is unhappy with her status of court bully and seeks to change things outside of her sphere with the Council.

It's on one of the missions for the Council that Katsa meets Po, a prince from the island kingdom of Lienid and a Graceling himself. Po tells her that his Grace lies in fighting - any of the hand-to-hand combats. Katsa has been basically undefeatable as a fighter for many years and enjoys the chance to use her skills to their fullest against him. It is an unlikely start, but theirs becomes a true friendship that weathers a multitude of trials.

Politics play a huge role in this novel (rather like in the Poison Study books by Maria Snyder or Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith) but augment the novel by forcing the characters to move faster, take leaps and create bonds. The politics of the Seven Kingdoms are what drive the characters to take action.

I can't wait to see what's next from this author.

Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle

*****
Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle

I thoroughly enjoyed this book as it is very much similar to the book 'Sorcery & Cecelia' by Sterverner & Wrede.

Persephone & Penelope Leland are twins and gifted in magic. This book mostly focuses on Persephone or Persey for short. Persey is definitely a more diligent study than her sister mostly thanks to their governess Miss Allardyce or Miss Ally as the girls call her. Preparing for their first season is harrowing work especially when Ally is kidnapped and Persey and Pen have no idea where she's been taken. To make matters more troublesome for Persey, Lord Lochinvar Seton, has grown into quite a distinguished and handsome young man - a fair bit different from the boy who would chase them with frogs in his hands when they were all very much younger.

Persey is a bit perplexed about how to deal with this handsome young man and gets rather tongue-tied when he is near. Add to that trying to save Ally, ruining the plot of Sir John who is trying to take regency over Princess Victoria, and not ruining their evening gowns and you've got a fairly complicated plot. There are a number of difficult problems for the Leland girls to overcome but they tackle them mostly head-on. It is a good growing up story as well as a lesson in that things don't always turn out the way you would think or expect them to. It is very uplifting and at times was downright humorous. I'm looking forward to the next Leland sisters book.

Night Life by Caitlin Kittredge

**
Night Life by Caitlin Kittredge

Eh, this was not the novel I was hoping it to be. Luna Wilder and all her antics seemed very much thrown about and rushed into. Understandably with Luna being a werewolf we should expect some unpredictability and agression but that seemed to be par for this character no matter what time of the month it happens to be. As a cop she rushes unthinkingly into dangerous situations without heed to herself or others (like her sister, her boss, or her friend Dmitri).

Luna is repeatedly fired - at first for just being a smartmouth but then for getting too close to the truth (although I'm still not quite sure how that happened). As she blunders her way through the investigation she repeatedly accuses (and arrests) her suspects even though she has minimal basis for the arrest.

It seems only due to luck and the friends and acquaintances she has managed not to scare off that she is able to save the day. Both Luna and her alpha werewolf 'friend,' Dmitri, are unlikeable as heroes.

Oh and the plot... Ukrainian illegal immigrant women (mostly prostitutes) are being killed in a ritual of death to release a demon and the DA, his assistant and his son are all in on it. Frankly I feel worst for the women who had to rely on Luna to keep them safe...

Breath by Donna Jo Napoli

**
Breath by Donna Jo Napoli

*Spoiler's below*

I was a tad disturbed by this book. I know that all fairy tales aren't happily ever afters but I was still hoping for some optimistic twist near the end.

Instead I found that every possible thing that could go wrong did. The story is tragic starting with the fact that the main character Salz (basically 'Salt') has cystic fibrosis a disease that makes it difficult for a person to breathe due to mucus accumulating in their lungs. That he survived into his teenage years during the medieval times is practically a miracle.

This affliction is not so bad in comparison to the rest of the plot but it makes the sorrows heaped upon Salz seem even more unbearable. Salz lives in the German hamlet of Hameln and during the spring the countryside suffered a rainy spring followed by a summer of dying livestock and an infestation of rats. Strange behavior by the townsfolk followed by disturbing symptoms makes the residents of Hameln think the rats are responsible for the disease. But despicable as the rats are, they are not spreading the plague. Desperate to relieve themselves of the disease the townsfolk seek out an end to the rats. At one point Salz is accused of witchcraft but manages to save himself. Eventually Salz recalls the strange piper that called the forest animals to him one day in the woods and somehow convinces the town to find this piper to lead away the rats. Thus the rest of the story is familiar. The piper is unpaid and leads the town's children (the only remaining healthy members) away leaving only Salz behind as he could not catch up due to his CF affliction.

As I stated before I kept hoping for some glimmer of hope but the story kept seeking out darker and sadder plotpoints. Salz's grandmother dies under a scythe meant for him and the little sister he had adopted and truly loved is taken from him by the piper. The illustrations on the front of the copy I read are disturbing at best and the naked death they display is a bit disturbing just like the story within.