Stranger Than Fiction

Call me an idiot, call me stupid, call me any bad name you want, if there's one thing you can't call me it's Inconsistent. By now, I've grown accustomed to investing more time in series when I said I'd be stopping at book one. The Mercy Falls Trilogy I set myself to believe, would be the exception. I can't tell you the exact moment I decided to pick up Linger By Maggie Stiefvater but I can tell you WHY I fell back in. See, Maggie Stiefvater has talent as a writer. I enjoyed how Shiver was written, not so much the story itself and one day I was looking through series on Goodreads in search of something fluffy to read and lo and behold I found Shiver. Indulging myself, I lingered on the reviews and reminisced on some of the more problematic details of the story. While Shiver wasn't as bad as some other YA paranormal, it wasn't anything to sing home about. It was boring. I've read reviews on the other two books a few years ago and saw some pretty mixed feelings. So while I was sifting through Mercy Falls reviews, I saw Maggie Stiefvater had another book coming out.... for the Mercy Falls series... after she said she was DONE with the Mercy Falls series. Apparently it's something fans have been begging for, a story about some guy named Cole and Isabel, a secondary character in Shiver. I felt... annoyed, peeved. Why does this happen every time? Why is it so trendy to write trilogies and then revisit it with another trilogy a year or two afterwards? Whether it's the fact authors can't let go of their characters or all for the money Sinner is not why I'm here. Well, actually it kind of is, because if I'm to understand why Sinner is in the works, I'm going to have to read Linger.

So lets get some of the Con's out of the way.

Grace and Sam are still the most boring couple ever. They spend more time in blissful almost marriage then any couple I've ever seen in real life or fiction. this was one of the problems I had in Shiver. Sam's family was being hunted, Jack Culpepper was running amok and Sam and Grace are Eskimo kissing in the loft above the bookstore. This continues into the squeal, even as Grace is falling ill and Mr. Culpepper making plans against the wolves, Sam makes spending time with Grace paramount instead of getting to the root of the problems. Rarely does he ask if Grace is feeling well. It's book two, 8 months into their relationship and the two are still honeymooning without much thought to the outside world.

Really though, aside from much of the books problems being bogged down by that relationship, I felt Linger was a vast improvement to it's predecessor.

In some aspects Sam and Grace did get better, and it was a nice change to see Grace act more like a teenager then a nesting woman. The conflict with her parents was realistic to boot.

I didn't think the drastic change her parents took in Linger would be handled well, that they would be made out to be the villains and while they were vilified to some extent, I feel by having them drive the couple apart, it allowed the two to awaken to a few things. You also can't tell me that her parents were completely ignorant to their entire relationship. Maybe I'm forming too much of my own head canon here, but I'd like to believe her parents were being lenient about having him over so much because she was a good kid and when she woke up screaming that one night, regardless of sickness, it didn't look so good with Sam in bed beside her. Many of the scenes involving Grace and her parents read like a perfectly normal child and parent problem. I'm disappointed that the parents weren't a little more fleshed out in book one.

Then there's the two reasons that brought me to picking up Linger and I'll just lump them together here. Cole and Isabel. They struggle through mutual attraction and the demons that haunt them and the played off each other well. When the wolf science didn't apply to Cole, he sat down and started to think about it.... something I felt that Sam should have been doing instead of playing husband. With Isabel's help they came up with some 'Crap Science' to explain away the original Crap Science and did so in a way that didn't break the characters or the mythos, but added to it like it should have.

The ending was to be expected and I liked it. It makes me look forward to book three Forever Long story short, I wish I read Linger years ago as I feel like it patches the problems in Shiver and I hope that Forever cements them into place. Thank you, Maggie Stiefvater.

Divergent Triolgy, By Veronica Roth

Normally I don't do reviews on single books in a series unless I feel something strongly towards it. At some point, I was going to do a review for each book in the trilogy, but after giving this series a week to sit whatever I have to say can be put on all three as a whole story.

The Divergent Trilogy? While not bad, per say, rather... over hyped. The Divergent Trilogy is often compared to The Hunger Games, often said to be better than the Hunger Games. There was a 200,000 copy first run by Harper Collins. A facebook campaign where you could find the faction you belong to... Amity (peace), Abnegation (selflessness), Candor (honesty), Erudite (intelligence) and Dauntless (bravery). This book was pushed hard and eventually got itself a movie. So why did I give each book under three stars? Did I really hate it that much because of the hype? No. Regardless of how hard they were selling this series, I didn't loathe it the same way I loathe House of Night By the Casts. Unlike that series though, I felt like it had nothing memorable about it. The characters were rather boring, often scaled down to their one faction attribute... unless the character was divergent, of course, then there was always wiggle room.

The Romance: Was rather dull. Tobias and Tris were often on par with Sam and Grace from The Mercy Falls Trilogy with their love. Quite boring, quite bland and repetitive. One of them was being unfaithful to promises that were made and they'd be back at square one with their relationship. They didn't make much progress by book three either, but in the end they make love before they go their separate ways and at least Tris didn't have to die a virgin.

Side Characters: I never got into or understood the side characters, most of the ones that were showing signs of development were killed off. Trust me, its slim pickings with who survives by the end of book 3.

In Short:
Divergent: Felt like one long training montage.
Insurgent: Served as nothing more than a bridge between books.
Alligent: The scales don't seem tipped either way in regards to the ending being 'bad' or 'good'.

Overall, mediocre read, doesn't live up to the hype.

So it's fairly evident by the fact that I've read all the Witches War Books (getting to Captive) that I'm committed to take off and am willing to go the distance with this series no matter how bad it gets. I was never fond of the first trilogy. All three landed three stars and under, this also includes the novella's put out between books. Despite not having written reviews for Rift and Rise, you might notice that both have landed 4 stars. I feel like in both novels, Andrea Cremer upped her game to the point where I felt the duo-logy redeemed most of the mess from the previous books. Both filled the missing holes from the trilogy without being a mess of info dump every single chapter. That being said, Snakeroot only hit two stars for me.

With Calla out of the picture, Andrea Cremer seems to have abandoned the first person narrative something I liked about the duology and Snakeroot. Getting to see how things play out through the eyes of a few others seems to make Andrea's world wider. We get to see how Sabine is adjusting to Searcher life with out it feeling like a text book lesson. Other narrators include; Connor, Sarah, Logan and Adne, the latter two who we spend the most time with. Adne fills in most of the Searchers side of the story, while Logan is leading the Keepers.

So why two stars? First off, I felt cheated by the first chapter. A while ago, after Bloodrose was done, Andrea Cremer wrote a little novella called Aftermath which finishes up the series nicely. I gave that one two stars because at the time of me reading it, I found out about Snakeroot. It has the main cast of Searchers doing clean up at the Bosque Mar estate, visiting the wolves and Adne seeing the ghost of Ren. If Cremer left it at that, things would have been different for me. However, after spending $3 on that novella believing that Andrea Cremer was finally putting the Witches War to bed, only to have it be a near word for word replica of Snakeroots Chapter One, it felt like a cheap move. Why not just save it as a chapter spoiler for the release of Snakeroot?

Honestly, while stronger than the first trilogy, I also don't feel that this is anything above two stars. The book leaves us in a cliff hanger for what appears to be another trilogy.

While it's defiantly a more tolerable telling of Twilight, it's still Twilight.

The art is beautiful though and it got the point faster in half the pages that the original text did. I don't know though, maybe it's just the movie rubbing off on me, but did anyone else feel like the side characters were a little too 'White Washed'?

Only 2 stars though, because it's still Twilight.

I'm done. Rubbish.

Betrayed

Let’s start off with a refresher: drugs and sex are still bad. Doing drugs means you're dirty, to be sexually active means you're a slut.Before we jump back into 'House of Night' let me just say that Zoey gives us WAY to much 'refresher' in 'Betrayed'.

When a character we've met last book walks in, Zoey launches into an introduction based on what that character did in the last book.

We open to parent’s day at House of Night where we meet her bigoted 'Step Loser' and mom who doesn't love her and they pretty much exit stage left again shortly after getting into a verbal fight with Neferet. Now with her parents gone, it's all about Zoey and her cool new substitute mother, Neferet, who seems to become more and shiftier as the novel progresses.

As the new priestess in training, Zoey must commit to creating a new image for the 'Dark Daughters and Sons' and much of the novel surrounds this. Sometimes you'll see her hanging out with her friends, but most of the time she's planning for 'Dark Daughters' or sneaking around campus.

Honestly, like in 'Marked', not a lot happens in 'Betrayed'. It's mostly just two large plots, in this case it's with the 'Dark Daughters' and a couple missing teens with a few sub plots that will be picked up in future books I reckon. There's a romantic sub plot with Loren, but it's really only two times that they have heavy flirting. Zoey has developed a further imprint with Heath after drinking his blood for a second time, this secures his safety later on the book as he too is napped and Zoey finds him via their bond.

'House of Night' is heavy in foreshadow and blatantly shows us a lot of stuff before it happens. In 'Marked' we're introduced to the concept of the '1 in 10' survival rate and get to witness the death of one character off screen and one on screen. In 'Betrayed', we watch as

Stevie Rae becomes increasingly ill. Zoey chalks this up to her friend being stressed for her, but with what's been sent our way for two novels, it's not hard to see what's happening to Stevie Rae. When she bites the dust, Zoey seems to be the only one who's surprised. I'll wrap this up quickly as the ending is kind of lack luster for me and I saw most of it coming a mile away. Heath is kidnapped and Zoey finds him underground with their telepathic bond through imprinting, she finds Stevie Rae amongst a bunch of other 'Dead' fledglings, Neferet erases Heath and Zoey's memories and the two wake up on the street outside the building where Zoey found Heath. Neferet gives her a nice little 'A Challenger Appears' moment, more or less. It's no surprise that Zoey gets her memories restored and reveals her tattooed back to Neferet with a 'Challenge Accepted' speech.

Up for Discussion:

Zoey Redbird appears to be more 'Understanding'. Whenever her friends bring up Aphrodite in conversation, they're quite likely to toss out 'Slut', 'Dirty', 'Nasty' and 'Ho'. Zoey, on the other hand, is a lot quicker to say 'I don't know you guys... She's still nasty as fuck, but let’s give her some credit'. Her friends seem to have become more antagonistic towards Aphrodite, becoming no better than Aphrodite and her old friends. This does include Zoey herself, but she's a bit more likely to stand up for Aphrodite when she deems it fair.I know that Zoey SAW Aphrodite’s parents giving her shit, and then Neferet giving her shit, but when relating both incidents to her friends, they shrug. Well, hell, we all have issues, but her friends seem like the biggest group of twats that ever graced any sort of high school setting, going as far as to remind Zoey that 'Hey, your parents are mean to you, you're all right... well, that and your special.' That's what I feel it always comes down too, just how special Zoey is. Zoey, who's more 'advanced' in the fledgling race seems to gain a new understanding of those around her and I can bet that in later books, this becomes something of a Vampyre power. Empath of sorts? Zoey is the ONLY one who wants to include Aphrodite to some degree and I feel this is a vast improvement over 'Marked' Zoey. I like it when two 'enemies' can work together and get the job done and become sorta friends in the end. It's only been a month and it feels like the two girls are just melting into the roles. Though, she still acts more of a bitch towards Aphrodite every now and again.There's also Zoey's little dilemma of 'Which Guy Will She Choose?' Heath has cleaned up his act in this book. I sort of get this as he was scared shitless in 'Marked' during the final show down, but it still doesn't change the fact he's an asshole who willingly cheated on Zoey despite the two never really being 'together' during that time. Again, this is where Zoey's new 'more understanding' nature steers her wrong. I can get behind her wanting to forgive Heath, but it wasn't just 'Stank Ho Kayla' who caused their falling out, it is as Zoey keeps telling us 'Heath likes to drink, do drugs and party.' She reminds us that she's not attracted to people who do drugs and party excessively. That, folks, was their falling out. No 'ex best friend' came between them, that happened well after Zoey decided she didn't want to be with Heath if he continued the lifestyle he was on. It's just plain irritating that she keeps going back and forth between 'We're not together because of the drugs and partying' and 'We're not together because of my Ex Best Friend'. But since he's quit those things, he's an eligible bachelor, let’s not forget he gave up 'Nasty Kayla'.

With Erik, whose gone most of 'Betrayed', we don't get to see a lot of one on one action, but if I had to choose one guy for Zoey to Endgame with, it'd be him. He's the least knob headed out of the two possible candidates and seems like a decent human being/fledgling. He even mentioned to Zoey that if she wanted to make them work, she'd have to put the past in the past which in this case that would be the exes. Like I said, he seems like a level headed individual and patient when dealing with Zoey. Best guy to endgame with.

I almost don't WANT to include the final bachelor because he just DOESN'T seem to be part of the whole love whathaveyou-angle. Not yet anyways, still have many more books to stomp through. Loren is the poetry teacher, looks to be 20-something and makes Zoey feel like a woman with his touches and free rhymes. We get two events with him, one where he touches her face in the library, the second behind the school where he asks to see her tattoo's and proclaims her his muse. Personally, I feel it's nothing to sing home about, even if it was flirting.

Somewhere in between the banter with her friends and planning for the Dark Daughters meeting we have a couple of Zoey's old party friends go missing which kicks off a sub plot of bringing Heath back into the picture. In town, Zoey and Heath have a nice meeting and things go off really well to the point where I thought 'Hey, maybe Zoey isn't such a dick with guys hearts after all.' Heath wiggles his eyebrows, Zoey drinks his blood and the two become imprinted on a whole new level. More on that later.

I'd like to think that her attraction to three guys has softened her attitude towards Aphrodite, helping her realize that attraction, lust and making out don't make you a slut. That and Aphrodite has proven herself to be far more trustworthy then the girls own friends. Which is something that bothers me really. Zoey never hesitates to say that she doesn't want to gossip about her personal life with the Twins and Damien, yet Aphrodite is usually the first person she asks when Stevie Rae isn't around. I can easily be told that 'Neferet can read everyone’s mind except for Aphrodite and Zoey, she's protecting her friends!' For me it's mostly about the level of trust she's putting on someone who she's had a recent falling out with, she doesn't have to share anything with anyone and that includes Aphrodite. One of my personal nit-picks about the writing style is how, as the reader, I'm not allowed to draw my own conclusion about the character. For example, I'm not allowed to see Aphrodite as a girl with troubles or a total slut on my own, I need Zoey to witness an event and then tell me 'That makes her a total Hag From Hell.' Her friends will chime in with 'Yeah, totes, what a slut!'. As much as I like to root for the main character, I can't help but feel a little bad for Aphrodite and the treatment these characters are giving her. While she does cop a bad attitude, surely there's always the 'Walk Away' option. The whole 'We encourage our students to work things out on their own' doesn't cut it most of the time, regardless if the older vamps know what’s going on. Sometimes it takes the moderation of a teacher or a parent or a neutral party to help set matters straight. All we get from this 'sort this out amongst yourselves children' is the girls and boys choosing sides and calling each other names. Not confronting a teacher about being bullied because of fear is one thing, but not calling for help because the teachers EXPECT you to do it on your own just makes for lazy writing and encourages the next generation that you should start growing up at a young age. On a grander scheme, It also enforces and perpetuates the 'absent parent syndrome' we see in so much YA lit today.

We get a little more of Zoey's self-absorption when Stevie Rae starts to fall ill. After reading a book and a half of this series with massive foreshadowing, it's not hard to know why Stevie Rae is so sick. FOr two days, Zoey makes mental note that 'Stevie Rae looks tired.' 'Stevie Rae looks sick.' even going as far to say on ritual night 'Stevie Rae is stressed for me.' While I wouldn't doubt Stevie Rae being a true friend, we've been given the fact sheets on a fledgling rejecting the change. Stevie Rae saw it twice and Zoey witnessed it once. I'd like to chalk it up to teens having the 'We're unstoppable!' mentality, but when Stevie Rae kicks the can, I'm not the slightest bit surprised or shocked.


As the end approaches, we're shown that it's Aphrodite who makes the most character development out of ANY character, with the exception of Zoey 'Mary Sue' Redbird. Though it's almost insulting to Zoey's friends when she shields them from the truth in favor of asking Aphrodite for advice. Right now, the other characters just seem so flat and stereotypical that I can't make any sort of judgement on them that doesn't include me saying 'they're a bunch of self-absorbed entitled twats whose only purpose is to pat Zoey on the ass when she does well.'

Boyfriend Count: 2 + 1 crush
Heath: Now that he's clean, he's back in the game.
Erik: Gone for most the novel, comes back just in time.
Loren: I use crush because it was just flirtation mostly.

Tattoo Count: 4 New: Back
Crescent outline: Appears at school.
Filled in Crescent: Receives later that day at Grandmas
Facial: Appears during Halloween ritual.
Shoulders: Appears during Halloween ritual.
Back: After saving Heath from the underground.

THIS REVIEW HAS SPOILERS AND CONSTANT COMPARISONS TO THE TWILIGHT SAGA. I ALSO DON'T THINK THE SEX IS HOT IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM. THIS IS THE BLANDEST PIECE OF EROTICA THAT'S EVER GRACED MY PRESENCE. UPON FINISHING IT, I WANTED TO CONSUME MY FACE. EGADS.

"A hundred images dance through my mind: The Ipad, the gliding, flying to see me, all his actions, his possessiveness, one hundred thousand dollars for a dance. Is this love? And hearing it from this woman, having her confirm it for me, is frankly, unwelcome. I'd rather hear it from him. My heart constricts. He feels unworthy? Why?"
-Ana Steele, On Love


Let’s not delude ourselves, there is no quality in Fifty Shades, so instead of trying to pretty this review up, I'll just lay it down on the table and meet it with the same quality in review. Most of this is just rough notes, but I feel as if it gets the point across nicely.

Fifty Shades Darker has a set schedule after Ana and Christian hook up. It's so mundane and it's like reading someone’s list of things they need to get done that day.

Very little happens in between aside from copious amounts of describing how rich Christian is, Ana's thoughts are always questions. Christian always gets jealous of Ana and Ana always hates on Christians Ex Subs.

Why the fuck don’t they consider getting a damned restraining order on Leila is beyond me. It makes me actually suspend belief for Twilight when they don't seek help when Bella is being trailed by Victoria. At least there they had the super-secret world of the supernatural behind them.

Without fail, I always think about rapper 50 cent when she calls him Fifty.

To our shock, Christian has a manila envelope in his filing cabinet with her name on it. In it, is a copy of her birth certificate, a list of hard limits, social security number, resume, employment records and god knows what else. Most likely a calendar with heart stickers on it marking off the days she was on her period.

Just before he reveals the envelope, he admits he transferred a few thousand dollars to her bank account.

"How do you know my account number?" She asks

"I know everything about you, Ana." He replies.

One thing that peeved off to no end about the Twilight Saga was Bella's constant whispering. She WHISPERED everything and if she wasn't whispering, she was murmuring or muttering. PROUNOUNCE SOME WORDS! Everyone has the hots for this guy, I swear during the bar scene after one of her first days at work, Christian Grey turned at least 10 guys gay and made all the women drop their panties.

We get this gem of a line:

"I glance up at Jack who is mentally assessing the fine specimen of manhood in front of him."

And:

"I glance at Claire, who is, of course staring, open mouthed and with frankly carnal appreciation at Christian."

He also buys the company she works for to 'keep her safe'.

I can't stress enough how ANNOYING it is that she can't keep herself from asking herself these questions at the end of every thought. She doubts herself SO much.

Ana is constantly uppity about his ex subs. I can get the jealousy, but wondering 'what the fuck this woman wants?'

Speaking of which, the woman on woman hate in this book is astounding.

Quite frankly, I don't understand Leila. She knew he didn't want the commitment and she HAD moved on until she saw the pictures in the magazine. She goes into crazy stalker mode and winds up finding Ana and confronts he with a 'I don't get it, what do you have that I don't?'

This comes from a woman, who has moved on from Christian, who hasn't been around for the last two years, has GOTTEN MARRIED and has BEEN MARRIED for two years. She winds up cutting her wrist in front of Christian and his oldest sub.

"... I don't want the police involved. Leila needs help, not police intervention and I don't want them here. We just have to double our efforts to find her."

It's revealed that Leila's husband has washed his hands of her. It takes her roughly 2 or 3 days to slide the downwards spiral going from stalker to downright nuts, at one point breaking into Christians house to holding Ana gun point. Stop me at any time and tell me at what point would you get the police involved.

Mrs. Robinson threatens Ana at a party, telling her she nearly killed the man with loneliness. Ana points the 'and you're a pedophile who fucked him up.'

Calling her Troll Bitch? How about acting your age, Ana.

Oh and the dance bidding. So all the other girls go for 1000, 2000 dollars... keep in mind these guys are filthy rich. For some reason, starting bid for Ana starts at 10 000 grand, what the hell?

The whole party seems to serve as an 'Oh, I can totally see the difference in Christian, don't worry your pretty little head, he loves you.'

Then I nearly split my head on this:

"Dr. Green is coming to sort you out...."
"Dr. Greene?" I halt.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I hate condoms," He says quietly.
"It's my body," I mutter, annoyed that he hadn't asked me.
"It's mine, too," He whispers.
I gaze up at him as various guests pass by, ignoring us.
He looks so earnest. Yes, my body is his... HE KNOWS IT BETTER THAN I DO.

*Slams head on desk*

Okay, some other points of interest:
When she thinks: WHY CAN'T I TAKE A LITTLE MORE PAIN FOR MY MAN?
Ana flushes WAY to much like the Red Room of Pain.
I feel as if I'm reading the same sex scene over and over and over. No really. By the end she seems like she's dominant and controlling Christian but she's rehearsed the damn scene so much for the past week the girl has finally memorized her lines.

There is SO much more I could pry into, this is just a small fraction of what I could rip into and I could have done it far worse or better depending on how you look at it. Fifty Shades Darker is FAR WORSE than Fifty Shades of Grey, at least in FSoG we had a little variety in the sex. I honestly stopped paying attention by page 200, skimming most of it as it just kept repeating itself like a damned broken record.

Bitches, I'm out.

Warning: May be a few spoilers for 'The Almost Moon' and 'The Lovely Bones'. I'll keep this short with minimal comparisons towards Alice Sebold's books because I'm sure most of us are sick of those comparisons anyways.

There's only really two things I want to bring up, since I can't say I loved nor hated this book, I feel like there's nothing to sing home about in either regard.

If there's anything that can be said for Sebold's writing is that, for me, it feels like a fresh slap to the face. Let me explain; Sebold writes about rape, murder, suicide and doesn't try to sugar coat it. It's often hard to digest and is usually delivered in hard stinging blows. She's often unapologetic for it. She describes the body of Helen's mother with such crude detail, like rubbery thighs and nipples that nearly touch the ground to a passage about her mothers genitalia and it's that detail that stays with you after the story is through. Her characters don't get the happy ending you thought they would have. In "The Lovely Bones" the killer doesn't get caught, doesn't go to jail. Instead, is offed by an icicle. Despite the ending being ambiguous in "The Almost Moon", there's telltale signs that Helen may have second thoughts about running away from her problems. Sebold could have easily had Mr. Harvey turn himself in, had Susie live forever happy in her heaven and pulled the Salmon family back together in utter bliss. She could have had the police buy Helen's story right on the spot and let the grieving daughter get off scot free. My point is Alice Sebold isn't afraid to have her characters suffer and that's something I both love and hate about her writing. Yes, we'd all love to see the characters win in the end, but it isn't always going to end beautifully.

Something I didn't particularly like was Helen's treatment of BOTH her parents. Her cruelty towards her mother was more evident as she spent far more time with her mentally ill mother then she did with her just as mentally ill father. It's revealed that her father would disappear for days, weeks, sometimes even months at a time. The times he'd disappear for a few days, he was often on business trips, but would hit up the house he grew up in catering to a family he made out of wooden planks. It's brushed upon him spending 90 days in a mental hospital. He reveals this to Helen after bringing her to his house with the ornamental family. Instead of calling her father out on his bullshit, having a small argument within his house, the two leave with a promise to discuss his hospital visit. Helen later says she never had the heart to ask him. She blames him for leaving with her mother and later blames her mother for his suicide. She never fails to find a way to blame most things on her mother including the divorce with her husband, Jake, to a somewhat strained relationship with her own daughters particularly her eldest Emily. I wouldn't chalk this up to writing style as much as it is a massive character fail. I wasn't to fond of how shallow Helen was most of the time.

I can't say I hated this book, I liked it less then 'The Lovely Bones' that's for sure. I also can't say I loved it. Certain things will surely stick out in my mind and I might even rec it to a few people who liked Sebold's older work.

Ah, general curiousity, how you get the better of me.

I tried to put the whole 'plagerism scene' to the side, ignore the similarites between Jace and 'Fanon' Draco, wanted to look past glaring mistakes and obvious plot points and prediticable twists. I wanted to look at this book as someone who knew nothing about cassandra Clare, her invovlment in so much drama but you know what? I just couldn't.

I could write a review on the things I felt were wrong, however, I feel as if taking a shot or two at 'City of Bones' would be akin to just beating the dead horse so to speak. Not only that, but so many people could and have done it better.

Personally I got bored. Never have I read a book where I'd read four pages and perfer to let my mind wander, take a nap, often just let the book slide out of my hands and snooze for a couple of hours. It just never held my interest. I hear that The Mortal Instruments picks up in the second book, however, I'll be giving this series a rest after it let me catch up on some much needed sleep. Maybe I'll just listen to the audio book instead.

Meh.

Where do I begin, how about with a little help from the HoN web page: The 'House of Night' Series follows teenager Zoey Redbird who gets marked and undergoes the 'Change' from Human to Vampyre. She leaves her family, her friends and 'normal' high school to attend a boarding school with other fledglings. While attending the House of Night, she makes new friends and forges a new life for herself as she discovers, a little hesitantly at first, her awesome powers.

'Marked' begins Zoey Redbirds journey (and ours for that matter) into a seductive darkness. We're introduced to her best friend Kayla, her 'alcoholic sorta ex-boyfriend' Heath and an undead... dead... Vampyre who marks her and takes off, never to be heard from again. Lo and behold, when Zoey gets up off her rear, her best friend Kayla is staring at her rather repulsively. Zoey has been marked with an outline of a sapphire colored crescent moon placed on her forehead. She's now a fledgling Vampyre and is rapidly becoming sick from exposure to the sun. After some nasty words from her sorta ex-boyfriends friends, Zoey goes home where she exchanges some nasty words with the family who she swears doesn't love her and leaves with haste to visit her grandma.

Now. The set up to the story is a little weak for me but otherwise an okay start. We meet our heroine and her nature but when she stumbles onto her Grandma's lavender farm, she trips and falls and winds up knocked out where things.... get turned upside down. In Zoey's unconscious state We meet Nyx, a vampyre Goddess, who tells our Zoey she's special, kisses the girls forehead and this folks, is where the story stumbles a lot for me. I should note that one of the most interesting parts of the 'House of Night' series is the female dominated religion that the Vampyres hold dear. From what I understand, it's like Wicca, just with blood drinking. I felt like this is one of the stronger selling points of this book for me.

When Zoey awakens, she's in the nurses’ station in House of Night, her Grandma by her side along with High Priestess Neferet who will become her new mentor. Remember that crescent moon on her forehead? It's been filled in. Another interesting point to 'House of Night' are the tattoo like markings a Vampyre gets as he or she progresses. Most don't seem to get there’s until late in their schooling or they complete the change after the schooling is finished. Interesting concept indeed as this marks our blood suckers quite clearly. Zoey has gotten these marks quite early. She seems the only one at her school in first year to have something beyond the crescent outline.

I'm not going to beat around the bush as it's not that deep an exploration to find any sort of deep plot in 'Marked'. 'Marked' serves its purpose of setting things up. We're introduced to how the school works, classes, Vampyres and slut shaming. Quite frankly, 'Marked' is about how much better Zoey is at everything then her new rival, Aphrodite. There doesn't seem to be much more then introduction to her new friends and how much they hate the school tramp and they go on and on about how much of a 'ho bitch' she is. That, sirs and ma’ams, takes up a large chunk of what 'Marked' is about. Sure, we get that awkward moment between Zoey, Heath and Kayla where the latter two try to break Zoey out and it's revealed that Kayla is a 'stank ho' for stealing Zoey's boyfriend. Zoey inherits a cat. Zoey is reminded over and over that's she's unique and continues to race through Vampyre puberty. At the end of the novel she saves her sort of ex-boyfriend from flesh starved ghosts, causing her to gain more tattoos across her face and she inherits the 'Dark Daughters' group and becomes the top of the food chain of the 'House of Night'. The end.

So, let's discuss some points of interest.


First off, Zoey Redbird is the biggest hypocrite in YA literature in a pool of paranormal that I've read recently. I can only suspend disbelief about teenagers having fluctuating opinions for so long before it just becomes stupidly insane. She goes from wondering if Vampyres have emos, nerds, jocks and seeing the only good coming from being one is that she gets to miss a geometry test to suddenly thinking how weak and jerky 'normal' humans are the next day. Her thoughts put in brackets are useless for a book written in First Person. We're in her head for the WHOLE duration, we see this world through HER EYES, we don't need any personal thoughts put off to the side when we're already getting ALL her personal thoughts.


I don't get a very good depiction of her 'Before Life', so I personally felt no sympathy towards her woes about her step father, who she lovingly refers to as Step-Loser. The first interaction we get between them is him coming home and shunning her for becoming a Vampyre. For me, it's not so much about him being heavily religious, a fact she hates him ever so much for, and being afraid of his step daughter. Aside from this one encounter, the only other reason for her hate is that he took all of her mother’s attention. On top of that, she doesn't seem to like anybody she 'trusts'. She hates her 'blonde bimbo sister' and 'troll brother', she seems to detest her friends constant 'K Babble', she hates her would-be-boyfriend and his friends. The only person she gets along with, and doesn't judge with venom, is her Grandmother who claims that all the awesome Cherokee blood in her bypassed a generation and was all given to Zoey. She claims it was all a matter of time before Zoey changed and serves as nothing more than to make her granddaughter feel like a special and unique snowflake, giving her the attentions she so rightfully deserves. On one hand, I like the fact that she is part native as it should play off well with her step fathers own beliefs and build up more of a connection to spiritual realms and why she would be able to harness her powers of the elements. On the other hand, I felt that the whole Native American aspect was lost, being nothing more than to make Zoey more exotic looking and unique.

She thinks very highly of herself. She judges others for having sex and doing drugs and constantly reminds others she does neither. She feels like a slut for even thinking about kissing two boys she finds attractive.

Zoey has a lot of opinions about her age group.

You're a slut/freak/not normal if:
You're Blonde
Have sex
Have an eating disorder
Are thin
Are a cheerleader
You've used drugs
You are attracted to more than one guy

I understand that Kristin Casts role in writing these books with her mother is to make the teenagers sound more 'authentic' but it comes across as being written BY a teenager, not FOR a teenager. Yes, teenagers can be judgemental as all bloody hell, they often ridicule their peers for personal gain or popularity and can be nasty creatures sometimes. Zoey keeps reminding us that she takes the UPPER MOST ROAD and is far and beyond her simple high school peers who only think about sex, drugs and rock and roll. She comes across as hypocritical when she bashes others for relationship woes, having and enjoying sex and looking down on girls who pursue 'girly' hobbies when she often participates in all of the above.

The Human Hate in this book is just as bad as the slut shaming. I get it, creatures like Vampires and Werewolves and the fey can be incredibly strong, have loads of stamina and are largely seen as long living or immortal. This does NOT mean that they are without their own set of problems. Vampires, for example, have bloodlust and have issues with the sun depending on the lore the author uses. Zoey walks into the school yard and notices how attractive ALL the vampires are who have filled in moons. Zoey mentions that all the latest celebrities are Vampyre and all the humans are jealous of them. The Faith enjoy their work but won't associate with the Vampyres and then she says "Hello-Hypocrites much?" This is uttered by a girl who spent the first 20 pages of the novel mentally falling apart at the thought of being something so different. Zoey is one of those kids who longs to be different and strives to be the same.

Zoey has this infatuation with hair, it's always the first thing she notices. Seems to have a particular hate for blondes and mentions constantly how attractive blondes seem to be. Aphrodite is a bitch, Erin is amazingly attractive, and Lenobia is blonde, thin and looks like she COULD be a bitch. Zoey takes note that a lot of the Blondes attended the school are extremely good looking. Dark haired girls/women are exotically beautiful like herself.

On top of this, she constantly points out physical flaws in people. Elliot is ugly and because of this, would make a bad vampyre. Aphrodite is a skank who has no class and looks like Sarah Jessica Parker and Zoey doesn't hesitate to point out her dislike for the actresses’ appearance. She points out the chubbiness of one girl, how large Stevie Rae's ass looks in ropper jeans and reminds us how skinny girls can't compare to women with meat on their bones.


In fact, lets touch on that. Recent months have given us this 'Real Women have curves' movement and while I'm grateful for this being someone who is overweight, I feel shamed and appalled that no one preaches about all bodies being acceptable and beautiful. If you're skinny, Zoey Redbird looks down on you as a bitch.


Her usage of the word Boobie. I've worked with a 21 year old who couldn't say 'Vagina' to save her life, she'd turn red, her eyes would wonder and she'd say 'Down There' instead. Saying 'Breasts' was pretty much the same thing, 'Boobie' became the norm for her. Which is cool, I guess, so it's realistic to me that Zoey would have a juvenile way of saying these words. She talks about the crests on the clothing over the BREAST of garments but she'll revert back to using Boobie a paragraph later. She'll brandish the word Diarrhea but use Poopie as a replacement later on. This may have been put in to portray Zoey as more innocent, but she acts far from it. She has a very nasty attitude.

Mary Sue is a term I feel that gets tossed around a lot, often at heroines that I think wouldn't count as one. Zoey Redbird, however, hits every single mark so far.

-Receiving powers long before milestones
Her mark gets filled in, she's hearing pulses, and she’s enjoying the taste of blood.
-The Best of Everything
-Teachers and friends are constantly reminding her she's unique.
-Gains new tattoos by the end of the book.

While I dislike making comparisons to other YA heroes and heroines, let’s put Zoey up against Harry for a moment. Harry Potter was constantly reminded of his greatness throughout seven books, spanning seven years. Even though he does great things, he doubts himself up until the last book seven years after starting his wizard schooling. While he shows great courage, he has this 'ordinary kid' aspect to him.

Zoey, on the other hand, is handed a new or extraordinary power every other chapter. She gets her mark filled in, Nyx marks her special, she enjoys blood, and she gets affinities for all the elements and even imprints. Things that usually don't happen for a few years. She isn't given a chance to grow into these powers, they're all just placed on her on one day.

Once again, there’s a VERY hypocritical standard to alcohol usage in 'Marked'. Zoey is very critical of people who drink. Zoey will launch into these tangents about how gross drinking is and I suppose YES, sometimes people do let alcohol get the better of them.

The ridiculous double standard is that it's made a known fact that Vampyre's can't get 'drunk', wine is served with dinner. Wine is also served with Dark Daughter meetings, wine is served to both teachers and students alike. Not finding those who drink attractive is one thing, but finding them unattractive and doing it yourself is an entirely different thing all together. It's called 'Hypocritical'. I don't care if Vampyres can't get drunk, it's the same as saying 'People who give blowjobs are sluts, I'll tell you more once I'm off my sorta boyfriends.... ANYWAYS.'

I can't seem to get over how I can't form an honest opinion on my own without Zoey Redbird repeating her own opinions over and over. I can't think of Aphrodite as anything more than a slut, I have to think of her step father as a total loser.

Character Round Up:
I like how PC Cast tried for a more authentic angle of learning teenagers by hiring her daughter on as her 'gopher' of sorts. Zoey Redbird reads exactly like a teenager. Speaking from a first person narrative, I got 300 pages of the most inane teen speak I've read EVER in any Young Adult book. Zoey Redbird is so 'Teenager' that it's almost laughable, it makes for an almost hilarious read. It doesn't sit well with me when she's clearly acting 'teenager' yet all the adults that surround are saying how grown up she is. When you add that with how hypocritical Zoey Redbird is the results are doubled.

At this point, I feel like I can't touch upon any of the other characters. Her friends and family from her old life aren't there for that long, her friends from House of Night are pretty one dimensional and the 'Mean Girls' crowd serves nothing more than to give the new girl trouble. We'll see how this pans out in future books.


Boyfriend Count: 2
Heath: Though it's on again, off again mostly.
Erik: It's been made OFFICIAL by students.

Tattoo Count: 3
Crescent outline: Appears at school.
Filled in Crescent: Receives later that day at Grandmas
Facial: Appears during Halloween ritual.
Shoulders: Appears during Halloween ritual.

Congrats, Zoey! You've received a few years’ worth of Tattoo's in a matter of days. I'm going to assume that this is the pace that's going to be set for House of Night: Zoey will gain new pieces of tattoo every novel, which is fine, but the novels will take place a week or two apart. If you give a self-entitled teen immortality, they're bound to fuck it up somehow. Like covering their immortal bodies with Tattoos.

I wonder how much longer House of Night will keep up with this time frame. The time between 'Marked' and 'Betrayed' was one month, another month passed between 'Betrayed' and 'Chosen'. It's been 2 days since the events of 'Chosen' and we're shown that Zoey's friends still haven't forgiven her. In the horse stall, she mutters to herself that all her friends were being so judgemental. Keep the 'Judgemental' part in mind for later.

They're totally shafting her with every conversation starter when Aphrodite stumbles in latched onto Daruis' arm and it's like we're back in anyone of the previous novels all over again. Her tattoo is back and The Twins rip into her instantly with the same things they've repeated over and over for the last 3 books. What's awesome though, about this scene is how Aphrodite takes a seat anyways and throws back some pretty witty remarks without stooping to using words like 'Ho', 'Hag' and 'slut'.

The next few chapters are filler; James Stark is introduced, Stevie Rae returns with her Earth affinity and proclaims herself leader of the Red Fledglings, Nix Assures Aphrodite that she still loves her. Wouldn't you know? Her friends finally forgive her, I'll add to this later.

Things cool down after the highest of all priestess' strolls into school and nullifies Neferet's war plans and shoves her to the side. Stark and Zoey have 'a moment' out on the fields and he dies in her arms. This triggers her emotions and she winds up mourning him like a lover more so than anything else. We get this weird chapter where Damien and Jack fall deeper into their stereotype and the twins do nothing more than the usual 'Aphrodite's a slut and OHHAI CUTE BOI!!!'

It's in this chapter that Aphrodite proves to be more caring towards Zoey than Zoey's own friends. I didn't get many good 'bff vibes' from her group. They seem to be place holders for all the Dark Daughters meetings, but with Zoey being able to call all the elements by herself, I find myself being bored with Shaunee, Erin and Damien’s role in the book. I think I'd find the 'House of Night' series more interesting if Aphrodite, Zoey and Stevie Rae had this tight knit threesome thing going on instead of this forced cardboard cut-out I'm spoon fed by the authors.

'Untamed' marks the 'beginning' of the overall 'story' of the 'House of Night' series as we're quickly introduced to a prophecy, ravens and a Cherokee demi God named Kalona. Personally, I feel that the middle of this book felt a little 'talky' to me and perhaps this is why it took me so long to read. The characters spend a lot of time on a singular experience, whether it be the death of a friend, the reappearance of one or when Aphrodite has a vision. We spend a lot of time gathering the 'Nerd Herd', filling them in and then having them decide to act like things are business as usual so that Neferet wouldn't catch on. Sometimes I feel it'd just be easier to cut out the Twins, Damien and Jack as they just lead to so much 'filler' that just seems so unneeded. That fight would have been a good reason to have them out of the way and safe, but they were quickly written back in with a vision and a half told story. Much of the bulk could have been cut back.

The ending happened in quick succession and wasn't at all that bad. It almost made up for the slowness of the middle chunk of this book. I was ready to haul it in with this series but that ending has honestly made me want to continue with this story. We leave off with a cliff-hanger. Zoey calls the Nun-Grandma-Sitter, Heath and her parents and tells them to get underground just before heading underground herself.


Discussion?

One thing I do like about 'Untamed' is how NONE of the former boyfriends were so quick to forgive Zoey. Sometimes their reactions were a little harsh, but I'm glad that they didn't come back with open arms the second she apologized. It was a nice touch considering a lot of YA novels have the boyfriend coming back into the girls life quite easily, no resistance is met.

On the topic of forgiveness, her friends forgave her way to fast. I know it's 'for their safety' that they weren’t in the 'know', but they were just as misinformed and just as used as the boyfriends were and it leaves me wondering why they were so quick to to leap back on the Zoey band wagon. Granted, Zoey has been spending most of her time with Aphrodite and even at 4 books in, Aphrodite has more character development then Zoey's three bffs. Damien, Shaunee and Erin just seem to be there to fill time when needed. Demons attack? Summon help from Damien to channel air to blow them away. However, when you can control ALL the elements, why do you need your friend’s ability to do the same thing. I rarely see the others use their powers outside of Zoey's circles or whenever Zoey needs them. Aside from Steve Rae's exploring her Earth Powers, the other three just seem to laze around waiting for Zoey to cry 'Avengers Assemble'.

Zoey brings up the 'Can't believe I'm not a virgin' topic way too much.

Character Rundown

Damien: 'They're gay. My friends and I, along with anyone who's not utterly judgemental are cool with that.' P.8, 'Untamed'.

A quote from Zoey a few pages after saying her friends are judgemental.

Right after Stark dies, Aphrodite proves to be the better friend. She makes sure that Zoey is bathed, clothed and fed after Starks death while Damien and Jack comfort Starks dog and the twins babble on about another beautiful loss. I'm torn between who would make a better friend, a rapist who's shown more depth and character growth in the past 4 books or 3 stereotypes that are shallow and vapid with each new twist and do nothing more than ass pat Zoey when she does well.

Neferet acts more like a teenager then an adult, no wonder the older vamps encourage the next generation to figure things out on their own. Their leader can't seem to keep it together long enough to make a mature plan. Instead she stoops to scheming behind her students backs.

Boyfriend Count: 0
For a while, I thought Zoey would be adding Stark to that list, but he dies shortly after his arrival and is used against them in the end. Heath shafts Zoey, Erik humiliates Zoey multiple times and no other boys fill the role of boyfriend for the duration of 'Untamed'. Mrs. and Ms. Cast, I applaud you for this decision and how it was handled despite how cruel the boys had seemed, they were hurt and it felt justified.

Tattoo Count: 5 New: 0
Crescent outline: Appears at school.
Filled in Crescent: Receives later that day at Grandmas
Facial: Appears during Halloween ritual.
Shoulders: Appears during Halloween ritual.
Back: After saving Heath from the underground.
Waist: Acquires after saving Stevie Rae.

Could it be that Zoey's powers have tapered off? Maybe just for 'Untamed' but it's a nice break from Zoey inheriting ALL the powers.

Paranormalcy

Part of the Next Gen Paranormal craze where the heroine is tough, smart and fends for herself, 'Paranormalcy' by Kiersten White was recommended to me shortly after I read 'FireLight' by Sophie Jordan, both books being from the same vein, so to speak. Before I dive into the review, let me get this out of the way.

Sometimes I feel like these Next Generation of paranormal heroines have been just as bad to me as their passive, push over, abuse taking predecessors. All to often, the new generation is just as self absorbed and just as whiny only with the label of 'Bad Ass' taped across their foreheads. Characters like Calla and Jacinda from 'NightShade' and 'Firelight' respectively can easily be lumped into this category. Both considered to be independent and fierce, but when it comes down to the bareness of their character, they fall just as hard as characters like Bella and Nora from 'Twilight' and 'Hush Hush'. For me, these characters fall when they fall in love. But I digress, moving on.

As I've said, 'Paranormalcy' was next on the list after 'Firelight' and I've seen the two compared much on the same level as Twilight and Shiver were viewed, same shit different pile. If one story wasn't quite your taste, walk down the road and knock on the next door, you'll find your match there. I went into 'Paranormalcy' expecting a mediocre effort on the Kiersten's part, being her first novel and all. A lot of the authors I've read in the last two years who have popped their publishing cherry have all had the same mediocre feel. For me, 'Paranormalcy' was different, it was actually fun.

Characters of Interest:

Evie
Our heroine. We first meet her tazing a vampire in a cemetery and reading him his rights on behalf of IPCA and that's where I expected it to fall apart. You know what? I enjoyed her character too much. She cried, a lot, but she has so much spunk, so much character that most of her crying fits evoked empathy. She has friends who she doesn't look down upon, who aren't bitchy, who aren't push overs and she actually enjoys the company of. It's revealed that she's a level 7 paranormal, on of the higher end paranormal in her world and many readers cried 'MarySue' at this point. Because a hot, strong, girly girl with paranormal powers = 'MarySue' now a days just as much as plain, weak, tomboy with no paranormal powers = 'MarySue', but whatev's YMMV. I enjoyed the peppiness of her character and If good luck was tilted her way I wouldn't account it as her being a MarySue who demands everything go her way. The short of it, Evie didn't bother the ever living piss out of me.

Leth
Jesus Christ, a bad boy who's actually 'Bad'. He stalks Evie, forces things on her and twists her to suit his master plan and he pulls it all off parading around with a cane. He's an ex of Evie, a faerie, good looking but his character becomes so twisted in the end it's delicious. He's a jerk, but he's doing his job.

The Love Triangle
Leth is Evie's Ex and stays that way for the WHOLE novel. There wasn't any back and forth between Leth and Lend for Evie, she knew what and whom she wanted. While it was obvious who Evie was going to end up with in the end, she wasn't tearing the clothes off of the other two members in the love triangle.

The End
This book wasn't perfect, I found that the last third of the book was just too 'Perfect Haze' for a book that was relatively action packed for the first two thirds. Evie going to school and living with Lend seemed like filler until Evie's confrontation with Vivian. I can excuse the plot hole's because there's a sequel on the way and I hear that a lot of (my personal) questions are going to be answered.

I expected to come out of with a new book to fill out my one - two star category, but found a book with reasonably believable characters, an intriguing story and a sequel I'm looking forward to.

A mediocre read. Having so many narrators shook me off the ball too often. Plays into human emotions. I'm finished with this book.

A couple things about this book that I've learned; there never really was a 'love triangle' and I still and will always prefer Ren to Shay, a million times to one.
******


So I broke my own promise from my 'NightShade' Review and bought it's sequal 'WolfsBane'last week because the Library had no copies, Coles was having a sale and I'm passing the book on to another reader when I'm done. Not such a big waste right? Aside from my time, not much.

The cover: Once again, I'll admit to the enticing covers that litter YA paranormal these days. There's been a lot of back and forth between the cover that 'Wolfsbane' originally held and the cover that was used. The original followed suit with the 'Nightshade' cover... the one I own had the lavender, lillies and close up of the left side of Calla's face. If you've read 'Nightshade' you'll know what I mean. 'Wolfsbane' held a similar green, sporty looking Calla, cool and tough, ready to bite yours and your mothers face off. The end result was Calla crouched down in front of a full moon, gazing needingly down towards you, her prey. It's been argued that Calla was a bit of a tease in 'Nightshade' so the cover seems to be an accurate portrayal of that part of her character. Needless to say, with the new cover for 'Wolfsbane' came a revamp for 'Nightshade', a wolf superimposed over Calla's face, with a single golden eye meeting up, shot from the side.

The Plot: Lets forget for a moment that I wasn't that fond of 'Nightshade' because even though I wasn't, 'Wolfbane' was marginally better, not by a landslide, but I didn't find it as grating on my nerves. The purple prose wasn't as bad, the teenagers talked like teenagers.... but so did the adults... and once again, the lore, the stories and even some of the characters grew on me. There were only two major story turning events, getting to know the Searchers and Operation: Save my Pack. Other then that, nothing really happens. If anything, 'Wolfsbane' functions as nothing more then a link between books, it could have even been spared by seperating it between 'Nightshade' and the third 'Blood Rose'. That's neither here nor there though, and just my opinion, so it can be disregarded. I won't count the ending as being totally relevent to the events of 'Wolfsbane' because it ends with a cliffhanger. I'll be nice, no spoilers.

Characters: Would it be criminal of me to admit that I was rather fond of the Searchers? Their relationships seemed legit, their friendships sweet, their bonds solid. I guess it serves to show us how fisked up the Gaurdians and Keepers are and I think that's also why I don't like the Searchers. They just seem too good to be true, they didn't play God and were allowed to keep their powers.

Once again, I have nothing but anomosity towards Shay. I don't think I've hated a fictional character more then I do Shay. He's a jerk, not even one with a heart of gold, a charater trope I like. He pulls Calla way from her world, her pack and even though it was ultimatly the right thing to do, I still thought he was a jerk. Why? 40 pages in, when Calla down right refuses to give him her goodies because she's thinking what a bitch she is for leaving her pack (including Ren), he storms out of the room when she refuses to give him Ren's ring. I've established in my 'Nightshade' Review, that I've always perfered Ren. He had moments where I'd like to break his jaw, but that's siginifcantlly less damage then what i'd like to do to Shay. Calla has and will always see Ren as friend, she mentions that many times in the book, that even though things didn't work out, she'd still like to have the man in her life. I'll even cut Shay some slack, if my current significant other was pining for his/her ex the way Calla is, I'd be miffed too. Rememeber though, that it's a very TIGHT slack, Shay has only known Calla for maybe three weeks... and they've been together for less then half that. Calla is fresh out of the relationship with Ren and I don't blame her for thinking about him as much as she does, he was suppose to be her mate.

There's even some backstory that wants us to root for Ren even if he's not with Calla in the end. I'd also like to add the part where Shay didn't want Calla to go back for her pack, a dick move on Shay's part. Ultimately though, we're suppose to accept Shay as the new male Alpha, along with the pack. Hell, Bryn and Sabine do, we the readers will as well amirite? I still feel like Calla was given an easy pass at being the alpha by being with Shay. Not to mention, I still don't feel ANY love between the two.

I think that's about it for 'Wolfsbane'. There just wasn't enough for me to grab onto to make a worth while review.

Nightshade

Lets start with the cover, shall we? It's nothing short of gorgeous. I love the shades of purple and the lilies, white with magenta. Calla's shocking orange/yellow eye contrast nicely to all the purple. The cover shimmers too. It's a nice change from from the white on black with red painting across most YA paranormal covers these days.

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The book starts off introducing us to Calla, a female Alpha 'Guardian' wolf from the NightShade pack whose protecting a human from a grizzly bear. The boy is bleeding out behind her as she growls and snaps at the predator and with the help of her second, Bryn, the bear is warded off and disaster is avoided. knowing that by letting the boy live, it would mean certain death if the pack's 'Keepers' found out. Fortunately, her and Bryn oath to secrecy and Calla vows to put it all behind her. She has more important things to look forward too, like her future union with sexy Alpha Ren Laroche from the neighboring pack, Bane. The union's been in the works since the two were 5 so it's nothing new to Calla and she knows no different.

We're explained of pack dynamics, Guardians serve witches known as 'Keepers'. This generation of Guardians and Keepers attend school together with the humans and neither class associates with humans. Wolves on one side of the cafeteria (split into Bane pack and Nightshade pack at separate tables), witches on the other and humans sandwiched in the middle. For the sake of the union at the end of the month, Ren suggests fuzing their pack of friends together a little early because that's what will happen anyway. Both Ren and Calla have been reminded by their keeper leaders that they should be ready to commit and they want to know neither will stray.

Enter Shay, the boy Calla saved over the weekend, now a new student attending their school and new to the rules.

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Things I liked

I can't tell you how much I loved the beginning of this book, abet it's predictability. You can tell that the boy she saved will eventually turn up later but you can sense the urgency of not wanting her superiors finding out what she did. Even as Alpha Female, Calla and her second, Bryn, know too well that the Nightshade Keeper would not hesitate to make an example out of her. The first few chapters are a wonderful setup

I like the concept of two Alpha's being in a relationship. It had potential and most of the time, I enjoyed Ren's protectiveness over Calla. Aside from a few moments of jerkiness, I saw Ren as the better option.


-
Things I didn't like

It should be dearly noted that Ren is somewhat of a womanizer and has had more then his fair share of the girls at school. While Ren is allowed to his pick of girls, Calla must stay pure until the union. In fact, the school nurse corners her in the bathroom and reminds her about this after seeing Calla with Shay.

Shay and Calla's whole relationship. It quite plainly set up Ren as being the jealous jerk we're not supposed to like. I didn't care to much for Shay's prying, he assumed it was a situation that Calla could easily walk away from. He embedded himself so deep into Calla's life for 300 pages until a major confrontation with Ren left Shay finally saying he didn't want to come between Ren and Calla. The pacing bothers me. It follows the fast love trend in so many YA's these days. I get no intensity of love and longing from them. Whenever they get close or intimate, it tore me from the story and left me shaking my head in confusion as to what just happened. It bothered me that she would be sitting on Ren's lap one night and the next day she's seeking out a private place to lock lips with Shay.

Not to mention, when Union Day does come, Calla goes off to save Shay. There's a scene where they run back to Shay's uncle's house (the last place they should go really) and Shay has to help her out of her dress to change into more practical clothes for running away in. He has time to remark how she's not wearing a bra, has time to run his hands up her sides, get very suggestive with everything still happening around them. The scene was enough to break me out of the story, it just seemed so misplaced.

With Ren acting as Alpha male, Calla's Alpha Female status is pretty much wiped out. While she's still an Alpha, her word isn't as strong as Ren's. Shay pretty much acts as a beta type, which would clearly set Calla up as being dominant. I thought the concept of two Alpha's being together far more intriguing IF Ren and Calla stood on equal grounds. Even though I was suppose to be rooting for Shay, I found myself leading towards Ren in that aspect. I would have loved to see Calla fight for her Alpha status and succeed, instead of being handed a free pass with Shay.

Personally, her Alpha status could have been removed and the book wouldn't have suffered. It felt like a slap to the face when her mother told her 'That's the way it is, deal with it.' after the Bane's Alpha started to hit on Calla's mother during a visit. If there's no benefits from being a female Alpha, it shouldn't have been wrote in. Her mother even got abusive with her, slapping Calla across the face when she questioned her mothers actions.

Calla clearly states her beliefs, her motives, who she is, but is changed without so much as a 'whatevs'. She's a tomboy, but her mom wants her to be more feminine. She has a fit when she sees her mother rummaging through her closet, replacing clothes, but within pages she's wearing skirts, dresses and corsets with minimal complaint. The transition doesn't seem to bother her much outside of the argument with her mother. She fears the outcome of being caught for saving a human to eventually turning Shay into a wolf, two very strict no-no's. her thinking process during these events aren't very thoughtful for someone who shows concern for the rules and she wasn't set up for breaking them. Every time she breaks a rule, she has a moment where she clearly states it's wrong, she doesn't want to get caught, she'll die if she does. She's afraid to do so, yet when she does, there's not much guilt she goes through.

I really want to touch upon the love triangle that is Ren/Calla/Shay, but frankly since this is the first book out of a series, I can't say much about it but it's one of the most painful triangles I've read. Shay's part in the love triangle seems forced. Whenever Shay leads Calla astray I think to myself 'she should have just stayed with Ren.' Then I remember Ren's 'Bad Boy' image. I cringe at the thought of Calla being with either guy, really. However, as I've said, it's the first book, for all we know Calla could end up alone.

I wanted to give this book a 2, but settled for a three because this book did keep me entertained. I'll most likely seek out the second book when it comes out in a few weeks, but instead of buying it, I'll be saving my money and getting it through the library.

The Draki species is original, an idea I truly loved. The first chapter of this book was a fantastic set up. The main character was a fantastic display of a strong, independent woman, her world breath taking, her people nothing short of extraordinary.

It had me hooked right up until her trying to cover up some incriminating evidence against who she really was.

Personally, I thought her relationship with Will was a little to back and forth for my tastes and I didn't care too much for the scene where she opens up completely about her people to him. If it were drawn out a little more, I'd be more accepting to it, but I don't think the scene did their relationship justice. That's most likely why it took me so long getting through this book, despite me listening to the audio book.

I'm giving this book three stars because, much like Nightshade by Andrea Cremer, it was a good start with loads of potential and I'd like to see where Sophie can take her characters.