The Morganville Vampires: Feast of Fools by Rachel Caine

Synopsis:
The wait is over. dig into the feast... In the town of Morganville, vampires and humans live in relative peace. Student Claire Danvers has never been convinced, though—especially with the arrival of Mr. Bishop, an ancient, old-school vampire who cares nothing about harmony. What he wants from the town’s living and its dead is unthinkably sinister. It’s only at a formal ball, attended by vampires and their human dates, that Claire realizes the elaborately evil trap he’s set for Morganville.

My Review:
I liked it! The stakes are raised (no pun intended) when Claire’s parents move to town into one of the Founder’s Houses not knowing what they were getting into. Amelie’s father Mr. Bishop, who is even more scary and evil than Amelie and Oliver put together, comes to town and tips the balance of power and brings chaos to the vampires and humans of Morganville. I love the relationship between Shane and Claire because they understand each other and know how to find humor in crazy and terrifying times. I liked that Michael is finally getting to return to his previous life by getting a chance to play music again out in public and the romance between him and Eve continues to grow. We finally find out more about the experiments Myrnin and Claire have been conducting to try and find a cure for the disease the vampires are dying from. All I can say is thank goodness I don’t have to wait for the next book to come out because I’m eager to find out how Claire and her friends will get out of the next sticky situation!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling (Re-Reading)

Synopsis:
It's the pivotal fourth novel in the seven-part tale of Harry Potter's training as a wizard and his coming of age. Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup with Hermione, Ron, and the Weasleys. He wants to dream about Cho Chang, his crush (and maybe do more than dream). He wants to find out about the mysterious event that's supposed to take place at Hogwarts this year, an event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn't happened for a hundred years. He wants to be a normal, fourteen-year-old wizard. Unfortunately for Harry Potter, he's not normal — even by wizarding standards.

And in his case, different can be deadly.

My Review:
Wonderful! This might be one of my favorite books of the series because I love that we are introduced to other wizarding schools which expands Harry Potter’s world and made me realize how much more it is like our own. It never occurred to me that there might be other countries with their own secrets about magic. I thought the Triwizard Tournament and the tasks were very interesting and showcased J. K. Rowling’s creativity in the ways Harry had to solve riddles or figure out how to solve each task. I also totally forgot how Winky the House-elf played such a huge part in helping Barty Crouch Jr succeed in bringing Voldemort back to power so this was a great refresher. This is also the first book where we are confronted with death in a more personal sense because we get to know Cedric Digory and then he is killed in cold blood. It makes for a much more scary and intense story when Harry has to duel the dark lord knowing this time he really could die and everyone he loves is in danger as well since Voldemort has come back to physical form. As always I can’t wait for the stories to continue to unfold as we journey deeper into Harry Potter’s world.

The Morganville Vampires: Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine

Synopsis:
Claire Danvers's college town may be run by vampires but a truce between the living and the dead made things relatively safe. For a while. Now people are turning up dead, a psycho is stalking her, and an ancient bloodsucker has proposed private mentoring. To what end, Claire will find out. And it's giving night school a whole new meaning.

My Review:
Yet another exciting adventure in the Morganville Vampire series! Claire makes a bargain for the safety of her friends and their lives by signing herself to Amelie, the vampire queen so to speak. Claire may not understand how much she has sacrificed herself to make this bargain but she does it anyway hoping the vampires are as good as their word. It gets crazy scary when Eve’s brother Jason returns to town and threatens to make Claire and her friend’s lives a living hell.

This one gets more into the reason as to why the vampires are in Morganville and why they are mysteriously dying off. I think the introduction of the character Myrnin makes for an interesting plot twist because Claire becomes more intertwined in the vampires’ secrets and in this way not only gains power but one more reason for the vampires to want her gone. Claire continues to amaze me with her compassion towards those that would seek to hurt her or use her for personal gain. We could say she is naive but I think she sees people and vampires alike beyond the front the put on to the would and sees a soul worth knowing and caring for underneath. Can’t wait to read the next one!

The Morganville Vampires: The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine

Synopsis:
Claire has her share of challenges. Like being a genius in a school that favors beauty over brains; homicidal girls in her dorm, and finding out that her college town is overrun with the living dead. On the up side, she has a new boyfriend with a vampire-hunting dad. But when a local fraternity throws the Dead Girls' Dance, hell is really going to break loose.

My Review:
I really liked this book! The intensity, drama, fear factor, and romance increased. New villains come to town in the form of Shane’s crazy biker father and his father’s gang. I thought the vampires were bad until the biker gang started wreaking havoc all over Morganville making the town more dangerous than ever for Claire and her friends. We also learn more about the politics of humans and vampires living and working together and we learn that their connection and what you thought was good and evil is not all black and white. Michael makes a decision that changes him and his relationship with his friends forever and could destroy him in the end. Claire again tries to do everything in her power to save her friends from becoming pawns in the vampire’s game and it nearly cost her everything. I can’t wait to see how all of this plays out!

The Morganville Vampires: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

Synopsis:
Welcome to Morganville, Texas. Just don't stay out after dark. College freshman Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation, where the popular girls never let her forget just where she ranks in the school's social scene: somewhere less than zero. When Claire heads off-campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don't show many signs of life. But they'll have Claire's back when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood.

My Review:
It was good. I really had not heard of this series until I saw the combined volume of the first two books at the book store. Then I went home and read some reviews and decided to give it a shot. I was taken aback at first by how physically violent the vampires were. When Claire was pushed down the stairs, knives were drawn, and punches were thrown, I knew this was a different kind of vampire novel and I knew Claire was a different kind of heroine. She is not sitting there waiting to be rescued by some super strong paranormal being, she is taking risk and is in the fight for her life as well. She is also very smart and does not take orders from anyone unless she understands why. These vampires in my mind are more typical since they are scary, dark, and downright evil. I really like the other characters too and they add a nice support for Claire and her adventures in Morganville. This one ended with a cliff hanger so luckily I only had to flip a few pages to start on the next book. I am glad I made the decision to buy books 3 and 4 as well because they are fast and easy reads and I can tell I am going to whip right through them.

The Eternal Ones by Kristen Miller

Synopsis:
Haven Moore can't control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother's house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.

In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves before all is lost and the cycle begins again.

My Review:
I enjoyed this one! This is only the second series of books I have read that include the subject of reincarnation, the other being the ”Fallen” series by Lauren Kate although reincarnation is much more prevalent in this one. It is an interesting subject to write about simply because there are so many ways to spin, twist, and turn out stories about character’s past lives. I liked that Miller was not afraid to use many different controversial subjects all in one book such as beliefs, religion, and homosexuality. The suspense kept me turning the pages and I thought it was eerie enough to be scary in places. Miller does a great job describing a scene, so much so that I felt like I was there in New York walking the busy streets or feeling the sun on my face as I overlook an Italian city.

The pacing was good yet it drove me crazy at the same time. What I mean is I am glad Miller did not rush through the mystery and allowed Haven to discover only bits and pieces of the puzzle throughout the book but I hate that Haven was so quick to accuse Iain, her supposed lover, of being guilty of all these crimes and lies. Although her reaction was realistic and a few were founded in truth, I would have thought she would have a little more faith in Iain and it makes me wonder why he puts up with her. I wanted there to me more to Haven besides the fact that she is a talented seamstress. I wanted her to stand up to people in school about Leah Frizzle and her best friend Beau but it seems like she just ran away from the conflict. Hopefully in the next book we will she her characters develop a lot more. Either way it was a good read since I am looking forward to the sequel and hoping I won’t have to wait too long.

Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt

Synopsis:
There are two sides to every breakup. This is Jordan and Courtney, totally in love. Sure, they were an unlikely high school couple. But they clicked; it worked. They're even going to the same college, and driving cross-country together for orientation. Then Jordan dumps Courtney for a girl he met on the Internet. It's too late to change plans, so the road trip is on. Courtney's heartbroken, but figures she can tough it out for a few days. La la la-this is Courtney pretending not to care. But in a strange twist, Jordan cares, a lot. Turns out, he's got a secret or two that he's not telling Courtney. And it has everything to do with why they broke up, why they can't get back together, and how, in spite of it all, this couple is destined for each other.

My Review:
I liked it. Lauren Barnholdt gave a very realistic illustration of how guys and girls behave through their thoughts, words, and actions. In many parts of the book I laughed out loud because of the absurdity of the situation because there were many things Courtney thought that matched my thoughts exactly. I enjoyed having the two different POVs between Courtney and Jordan which allows the reader to experience both sides of the story because as we know there always is one. There was a fair amount of the F-word thrown around in the dialogue (no more than what normal teenage boys use) which I am just stating so people that are offended by that can be warned ahead of time. I must say I hate how this book ended. Although it ended in a pretty realistic way (which is fine by me) I just wish there had been more so we could find out more about what happened and the status of the characters relationships. All in all it was a fast and easy read and I would be willing to read more books by this author in the future.