Wolves at the Gate

Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3) Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard, Georges Jeanty and Jo Chen.

Buffy left TV after Season 7, but Season 8 (and 9, and soon, 10) exist in comic form.


Weird vamps that can shift into fog and werewolves attack the slayers and steal the scythe. The Scooby gang quickly figure either Dracula’s behind it or someone’s stolen his powers.

I like this one because it takes the slayers to Japan and it involves lots of werewolves Also, DRACULA. I love Dracula and Xander together--they are hilarious. A very unlikely Bromance. That works really well. Plus, some interesting developments on Buffy’s love life and Dawn puts her giantness to good use.

It doesn’t really advance the overall plot arc, but it’s a really fun diversion. (Seriously, the banter between Xander and Dracula alone makes it more than worth it.)

Book Provided by... my local library

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Overbite

Overbite Meg Cabot

it's been 6 months since the action at the end of Insatiable. Meena and Alairic are just collegues. Lucien has completely disappeared. Meena's on to a theory that Lucien can still be good but Lucien has found the Minetta stream under Manhattan and is drawing evil power from it. He's been too weak, but he feels it's time to full embrace his title of Prince of Darkness. Meena's can't deal with all of that right now though, because a rising star new priest has arrived from South America and the politics and policies of the Palatine Guard are about to explode in a major way.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as Insatiable-- not as much sexual tension (which Cabot tends to do really well) and not as much of Meena using her gift of death prediction, or as much of the supporting cast. It's also just a lot shorter--it focused mainly on one plot and I missed some of the side stuff that could have been fleshed out more. THAT SAID, I still really did like it. It was a nice end to the story (I don't think there will be anymore) and I liked the working in of the Minetta Stream (a real thing!) and the book of days. It just all seemed a bit... rushed. I almost wish that she would have stretched the story out more, added some more major battles and made it a trilogy.

Book Provided by... my wallet

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Bloody Valentine

Bloody Valentine Melissa de la Cruz

Taking place after Misguided Angel and before October's Lost in Time, this is another one of the short in-between books, like Keys to the Repository, but better.

Unlike Keys to the Repository, this book doesn't have a lot of background information that fans already know. This is rather a collection of short stories that give deep backstory or move the action forward.

We have one set in New York that shows Oliver's life without Schuyler and gives us a glimpse of de la Cruz's adult summer release Witches of East End. We get the story of Allegra and Charles in high school and the beginning of Allegra's relationship with Schuyler's father. AND! AND! AND! Schuyler and Jack are planning their bonding ceremony, if they can escape all the Venators chasing them!

I loved Schuyler and Jack's story, because I just love Schuyler in general, but I found Allegra's story much more fascinating. We got part of her back story in Misguided Angel and now we're getting even more (with hints back to "what happened in Florence") and I like these clues coming together that I feel are going to add up to something big, but we're still missing some big pieces of the puzzle.

It's a great book for fans to hold us over until October. I like how much this one adds, not only to the Blue Bloods universe, but also to the immediate story arc. In many series, in-between books like this can be filler material that fans will enjoy anyway, because they're fans, but they really aren't important to the overall series. This one is. There are clues and plot points that are going to have huge repercussions in the series, so pick it up!

Also, stop by tomorrow when I'll be interviewing Melissa de la Cruz herself!

Book Provided by... the publicist, for blog tour.

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Misguided Angel

Misguided AngelMelissa de la Cruz

The plot has now split, so this gets a little Lord of the Rings-y with the first part of the book focusing on one plot line with some of our characters and the next part focusing on a different plot line with some other characters. And yes, I just compared Lord of the Rings with Blue Bloods. I meant only in structure. There are no orcs here.

The first part of the book gives us the next installment in the lives of Jack and Schuyler. After being offered the Countess's protection, they discover she's still in league with the Morningstar. Her protection, while luxe, is a prison. They escape to continue the Van Alen work of securing the gates, only to be chased across Italy by Venators. Lots of daring escapes and shaky alliances as the pair try to save the world and themselves.

The second third focuses on Mimi, who is now acting Regent and finding herself in way over her head. She finds a video of a vampire teen being held hostage and being threatened with black fire, which will destroy blue blood forever. Mimi must try to find the culprit, save the girl, and disguise the videos as teaser trailers for a new movie. Not to mention school.

The last part of the book focuses on Deming Chen, a Chinese blue blood and Venator who comes in to help Mimi catch the culprit as more vampires go missing and are threatened.

Through it all, we get snippets of vampire life in Florence in 1482 and something about to go horribly wrong. This part isn't totally fleshed out, but you can tell it will be big later.

Overall, I really liked this one. I liked the sweetness of the first part (let's face it, I just really like Schuyler) but I really got into the second and third part. I loved seeing a different side of Mimi and getting more of her inner voice. I think she grew a lot as a character and was given much more depth as she struggled with real responsibility and leadership instead of her vacuous life as an over privileged vampire brat/jilted lover. I also liked the introduction of Deming.* I think it's interesting how Deming is the spirit of Kuan Yin, the Angel of Mercy and her twin, Dehue, is Xi Wangmu, the Angel of Immortality. Until now, the mythology of the series has been very Miltonian and Christian. Kuan Yin (also spelled Guanyin) is from the Buddhist tradition-- she's the Bodhisattva of compassion. Xi Wangmu is the Chinese Queen Mother of the West (usually used in Daoist tradition, but she actually predates Daoism). She's the Goddess of Immortality and is in charge of the Peach Garden (where the peaches make you immortal. I now have a desire to track down a college reading I hadd on the Peach Garden. So this is a shift in the world we've seen so far. I get to interview de la Cruz in a few weeks and will be asking her about this!)

Overall, I really liked this book-- it's one of the best so far. I like that even though it's still exciting and moves very quickly, plot-wise, we get more character development and growth, which I appreciated. BUT! I really missed Bliss. I know she's getting her own spin-off series now, but... :(


*Ok, she showed up for a few paragraphs in Masquerade, but she's actually a character now! I wonder if we'll see more of her and get to meet her twin?

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Keys to the Repository

Keys to the Repository Melissa de la Cruz

This is a Blue Bloods novel, but not part of the current story arc. However, it fits between The Van Alen Legacy and Misguided Angel if you want to beware of spoilers (and there are some.)

In it, we get repository files on our main characters. A lot of this information is review for fans of the series, but I could see it being useful for readers who don't have a memory for character detail like I do. One thing that was fun in these files was the redacted information (and guessing why it had been redacted) and some of the notes in the files from the scribes to each other.

Interspersed in these files are stories that fit into the regular Blue Bloods story arc. Many are "missing scenes"-- how Schuyler and Jack first started their clandestine meetings and how the ended, where Dylan went after fleeing New York, and more of the conversation between Mimi and Kingsley at the bar in The Van Alen Legacy. There is also a story about Bliss and how she first meets up with the Hounds of Hell (we'll FINALLY get this series in April!)

There is a lot of character and plot recap that was a bit boring as I tend to remember small details from stories (but where I put me keys? Who knows?!) BUT, I did really like the short stories that helped flesh out the story and characters and their relationships. Fans will skip portions of this, but looooooooooove the other parts.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Fat Vampire

Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of Age Story Adam Rex

I really wanted to like this. I liked the premise-- fat geek boy gets turned into a vampire against his will, doesn't have awesome super powers, and will be overweight and 15 for all eternity. To top it off, a basic cable show that is about to be canceled (despite the fact it has a huge cult following) is tracking Doug in an effort to boost ratings.

There was a lot of great homage to geek culture and being a theater kid that I enjoyed.

But... right when it was about to take off, Doug starts getting some human blood (instead of the cows he had been drinking from) and turns into a giant jerk and the book takes this weird turn that... ugh. I was enjoying it fairly well-- Doug was annoying but overall pretty sympathetic and then, BAM! it was like when Jacob turned into a werewolf and became just as bad as Edward. As I told Dan, it wasn't bad enough to just stop reading, but it wasn't good enough to hold my interest for more than 20 pages at a time. And it was supposed to be funny, and trying to be funny, but wasn't that funny.

The parts focusing on Vampire Hunters, the cable show hunting Doug, were the only parts I tended to find humorous.

There were also a lot of threads that never turned into anything, but took up a lot of pages. Sejal is the Indian exchange student that Doug has a crush on. Sejal also has "The Google" which is a disease that is somehow different than severe internet addiction, but how, I never fully understood. But when she tells people she has "The Google" they visibly recoil. This is supposed to be related to some character development in how she learns to live in the real world, except that's never developed very well and everything would have worked a lot better if she were just plain addicted to the internet.

One thing that really annoyed the hell out of my as a reader was Doug's never-ending use of the word "gay" as a pejorative. While I'm sure this is entirely realistic language for teen boys with self-esteem issues that they cover with insults and bravado, page after page of reading it just really turned me off. Doug gets a second of slight redemption when he sticks up for a vampire who Doug thinks is being targeted for being gay but... it doesn't really go anywhere. Also, based on some of Doug's comments about fictional gay characters, I couldn't decide if Doug trying to save the gay vampire from a perceived hate crime was an attempt to show that Doug in a positive light, or if it was just meta. And all the new vampires are turned into vampires by a guy (not the same guy, but a guy) but they all say it was a young, hottt girl. Because they don't want their undeath to be too gay. Part of me understands the issues surrounding teens and sexual identity and comfort in that, but that whole thread... didn't add much. There's also a subtle moment when a friend of a friend (and probably the friend's date) storms off after a long tirade of Doug calling everything gay, but no one ever really puts two-and-two together. Doug sure as hell doesn't. And while I do appreciate realistic dialogue, page after page after page after page got tiresome and annoying. Much the way I'm sure some readers feel about over-use of the f-word. I'm not going to say the book shouldn't have done it, because I think it's realistic that Doug uses language in that way. I do, however, wish that we lived in a society where it wouldn't be realistic. Also, surely at least one of the theater kids that Doug and Jay have started hanging out with, even though the theater kids were too cool for them, would have called him out on it? One points out that one member of the group might be a lesbian but no one ever calls Doug on his shit. It was just so overdone and there was the subtle moment where Doug's homophobic comments makes someone uncomfortable enough to leave, that I thought it was going to some redemptive moment, because otherwise, what was the point? I keep wondering if this, like "The Google," was trying to make a point and go somewhere that just ended up fizzling.

In the end, I was rooting for the vampire hunters to get something right and deal with Doug in order to put everyone out of their misery.

The book held a lot of promise, and has been getting great reviews, but didn't work for me in several ways, on several levels.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Insatiable

Insatiable Meg Cabot

Here's all you really need to know about this book-- it has nuns kicking more vampire ass than Buffy. Seriously. NUNS KICKING VAMPIRE ASS. What more do you need in a book?*

Meena can see when people are going to die. It's a gift/curse she's dealt with for awhile. She's also having a horrible week-- she just got passed over for the head writer job at the soap opera she writes dialogue for. If that weren't bad enough, Shoshona, her work nemesis got it (and somehow managed to purchase the $5,000 Mark Jacobs tote Meena's been lusting after for a very long time.) Even worse? Shoshona is demanding that they work in a vampire storyline, just like their rival show. Meena is SO SICK of this vampire craze. When did we decide that vampires weren't misogynistic monsters and instead objects we should give ourselves to?

Lucien Antonescu is the Prince of Darkness and head of all vampires. He's also dead sexy and on his way to New York, because some vampires have gotten out of control and are killing people again, and dumping their bodies in Manhattan's parks.

Alaric Wulf is a member of the Palatine Guard, the Pope's demon-killing force. After what a den of vampires did to his demon-slayer partner in Berlin, he's hell-bent** on revenge.

When Meena falls for Lucien and then Alaric tells her that vampires are real?

Yeah, she's about to be caught in the middle of a war featuring fighting vampire factions and the forces sworn to destroy all of them.

SERIOUSLY. Nuns go from baking yummy cookies one minute to water balloons filled with holy water and staking vamps the next. What more do you need?!

Definitely for adults (When Lucien bites Meena, it's not on the neck.) But I do love Meg Cabot. Her vampires, while some are definitely sexy and bad boys you could see someone falling for, are not nice guys. Even the good guy is kinda creepy (and at the end, really creepy. I started singing Police in my head.) Meena's not passive and tries not to fall for the vampire thing everyone else seems to be falling for these days. In the end, a very enjoyable vampire book that takes us back to what vampires used to be--villains that were hard to resist, which made them that much more dangerous.

Did I mention the vampire slaying nuns?

*We need more nuns in literature and books that do more than whack your knuckles with a ruler.

**pun totally intended.

Book Provided by... the author, for review consideration

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Still Sucks to Me

Still Sucks to Be Me: The All-true Confessions of Mina Smith, Teen Vampire Kimberly Pauley

Mina's back! She's all vampire, and she's all pissed. There were a few things her parents and the vampire council left out-- like she'd be faking her own death and moving pronto. To a small town in Louisiana.

And then George decides to go to Brazil to visit his parents.

Mina's life is falling apart. All she has for a support network is a jock who can't understand why she doesn't want to date him, and another teen vampire who may or may not be totally evil.

And then when Raven shows back up and is trying to kill Serena? Well, it kinda sucks being a vampire.

So much fun, just like the original, Sucks to Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe). One of the reasons I liked the first one was because you could take out all the vampire stuff and it would still be a good book. This depends more on the vampire-action, as it's heavily into the politics, drama, and history of vampires. But! There's still a good story of new girl moves to town and tries to fit in and misses the life she left behind.

We still get vampire myths and truths and cute drawings before every chapter, as well as lists as to why it sucks to be Mina. How can you not love this voice?

I have to say that flying is a totally different experience as a vampire than as a regular person. Basically, you're sitting in this flimsy seat that you could crush with your bare hands, listening to all these creaks and pops and other scary noises that the people around you can't hear. And the worst part? You can also hear every conversation goin on in the whole plane including

a) the pilot and copilot arguing about some reality TV show and apparently not paying any attention whatsoever to the plane
...
It's really kind of nerve-racking. I mean, if the plane goes down due to a couple of bonehead pilots who can't agree on whether the blonde with the long les or the brunette with the big butt should win the grand prize or not on some stupid TV show, I'll probabyl die a flaming death along with everyone else. I don't think even a vampire can survive a drop of 30,000 feet. Pretty sure, anyway. It definitely wasn't in the brochure. (p34-35, quoted from the ARC, so it may be different in the actual book.)

Mina goes through some definite culture shock/adjustment and initially I was irked because it sounded like it was one big "everyone in the rural south is a hick with a truck and country music. Country music sucks!" but as Mina gets to know people, her initial impressions wear off. But I did laugh when the Louisiana vampires call vampires who drink animal blood (Mina and her family aren't strict no-people drinkers, but tend to go for animal over human) "pig swiggers" and the muttered "damn Cullenist" comment at the blood bar? Made me snort coffee out my nose. Which kinda hurt.

Anyway, if you liked the first one, this one is just as good, if not better.

And if you haven't read these yet, what are you waiting for? 

Book Provided by... the publisher, for review consideration

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Blue Bloods: The Van Alen Legacy

BEWARE! This is a review of the 4th book in a series. There are not spoilers for this book, but there might be spoilers for previous books in the series. 'Tis the nature of the beast. All you need to know is that this series is awesome, as is this installment.

The Van Alen Legacy Melissa de la Cruz

The Conclave blames Schuyler for Lawrence's death, so she's on the run with Oliver. Bliss is in seclusion, trying to fight the visitor in her mind. Mimi's a Venator, looking for the truth. Jack's just looking for Schuyler.

Oh Hello! Just when we think we're going to get some answers, de la Cruz just throws more questions at us! And apparently, a spin-off series to be starting soon.

What I loved most about this was that she works in the recession. For a bunch of wealthy vampires who live off returns on investments, the stock market crash hits them, and hits them hard. Things must be scaled down, which goes over oh-so-well with the more spoiled among them.

BUT! While Melissa de la Cruz keeps me asking questions, I do get to ask her a few directly. My interview will be posted later today! Look for it!

Book Provided by... a publicist, for review consideration.

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Blue Bloods: Revelations

BEWARE! This is a review of the 3rd book in a series. There are not spoilers for this book, but there might be spoilers for previous books in the series. 'Tis the nature of the beast. All you need to know is that this series is awesome, as is this installment.

Revelations Melissa de la Cruz

Lawrence may be the new Regis, but Schuyler is stuck living with the Forces, where Jack won't even acknowledge her existence. Meanwhile, underneath a mountain in Rio de Janeiro, at Corcavado, a monster is stirring, a monster that must be stopped.

And in Corcavado, all will be revealed and our big questions will be answered, but we'll be left with ones we hadn't even thought of yet...

I can't say too much without giving things away and none of it would make sense if you haven't read the series, but I love this series. The quality of writing (and difficulty!) remains much higher than one expects of such things, which makes it that much more addictive and wonderful.

Vampire war is coming, and in de la Cruz's vampire-verse, this probably means a battle between good and evil, Heaven and Hell. It's starting to heat up.

I'll have an interview with Melissa de la Cruz about Blue Bloods up tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

And then Buffy staked Edward. The End.

Today I bring you three (THREE) books about vampires that aren't at all scary, except for maybe in their views on love, women, and relationships.

Sucks to Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe) Kimberly Pauley

Mina (yes, named after the character in Dracula) is experiencing a crisis of epic proportions:

1. Prom is just around the corner and she hasn't even had time to think about it.
2. She turns into a tongue-tied idiot whenever she sees a cute guy, especially her crush.
3. What is up with all this English homework?!
4. She has to take really boring vampire classes to decide if she wants to be a vampire.

Yeah, a vampire. Her parents are vampires. And now she has to decide if she wants to be one, too. And she has to decide soon, because she didn't have enough on her plate already. It also soon becomes apparent that the decision is even trickier and stickier than she thought it would be.

First of all, it's just plain funny. Everything from Mina's voice to the beginning of every chapter that had a vampire myth, the truth, and a cute/funny little doodle drawing to illustrate it. Second of all, this would still be a pretty workable book if you cut the vampire stuff-- there's a lot more going on than regular vampire knowledge. Also, a lot of talk about Dracula, because they're reading it in English class. I love how Mina wants to stand up for vampire rights. The romantic sub-plot is entirely predictable, but I like that it involved more than two guys.

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side Beth Fantaskey

At his first day as an exchange student in her high school, Lucius dumps a lot of Jessica. First off, he’s a vampire and she’s a vampire princess and they’ve been betrothed since birth. It’s time for them to get married, move back to Romania, and rule the vampires. But, until then, he’s going to live in her barn. What makes it worse is that her parents seem to know all about this! She always knew she was adopted from Eastern Europe, but vampires? They don’t even exist!

A fun romantic comedy that gets heated up by the hott boy next door and the meaner than mean cheerleader. Plus, possible vampire war. Lucius was a little too moody and tortured for my tastes, but Jessica could stand up to it, and did. I can handle controlling male leads if the girl is willing to give him a reality check. And Jessica was.

Got Fangs? Katie Maxwell

Fran's mother is a bonafide witch. Her best friend is 400-odd years old (she's related to vampires) and Fran is stuck traveling around Europe in the Goth Faire where everyone can use their freaky talents, because her dad got remarried and wanted 6 months alone with his new trophy wife.

Fran also thinks she's a freak, because she can read your memories and emotions just by touching you with her bare hands. She tends to wear gloves.

And then Imogen's brother shows up, and he really is a vamp. And he says Fran is his "Beloved" and can save his soul. Yeah, right. She's not buying it, but why does he have to be so cute? And why is her mother so determined to get her to appreciate her "gift" to the point where she's blackmailed into solving a mystery.

Funny and light, I really enjoyed this one and want to read more of Maxwell's works, especially her more realistic fiction like The Year My Life Went Down The Loo.

Hour 48

Hours Read: 19.5
Books Read: 8 whole books, 1/2 of two other books, so 9.
Pages Read: 2055

Well, I didn't get in 20 hours, but that's ok! I had fun. I'm currently halfway through Geek Charming by Robin Palmer. I'm at my parents until Tuesday, and given that all three of us have spent the after noon curled up in chairs, drinking coffee and reading, I'll get a lot more done in the next few days! Also, I reviewed 12 books (including the the two below) so that's good. As part of the Summer Reading Blitz, I'm trying to read 30 books in June. As of Friday night, I had only read 2, so I was a little behind schedule, but now I've read 11, so I'm a little ahead of schedule. Yay!

Anyway, I'm now seeing how many people cross the finish line over at MotherReader, as I said I'd donate $1 to Bridget Zinn for everyone who finished the challenge. Plus, another $1 for everyone who read at least 20 hours, but I'll have to wait a few days for that!

Anyway, the last full book I finished today was Masquerade, which is the second Blue Bloods novel, but I should review the first Blue Bloods novel first, right? Right.

Blue Bloods Melissa de la Cruz

So, I knew this was Gossip Girl + Vampires. What I didn't know is that is was really good.

Blue Bloods is well written-- I'm guessing it has a super-high lexile score and works in a lot of different things-- it's not just about vampires, but also about the founding of Plymouth Colony, what really happened at Roanoke, and the Illuminati. And a murder mystery (something can actually kill vampires? Really?) Plus the usual rich mean kid high school drama of love and backstrabbing, fabulous clothes and awesome parties.

It sucked me in and held me. If you've at all toyed with reading this series, toy no more and pick it up. A very pleasant surprise.

Masquerade Melissa de la Cruz

So, this whole plot of who-can-kill vampires is continuing and getting worse. There's a new Blue Blood in town, and he's into all sorts of mischief that doesn't make things look good for him, or for Mimi Force. Jack continues to be drawn to Schuyler, as it turns out he was to her mom. Schuyler's half-blood status is mucking about with her transformation. Also, a lot more of the Angel lore that ties into the history of vampires, as according to de la Cruz.

If you liked the first, you'll like the second. The third is out (but even though it's been out since October, there's a still a waiting list at the library! The fourth then comes out this October...)