(lots of spoilers)

Oh, Laurell, how could you disappoint me so?

I'm a long time Anita Blake fan - admittedly her earlier ones more so than the last 10. Her series got so BAD for a while there, and the last few gave me hope again. And then this one... I have no words to express how I feel about this book.

First of all - opening with a ballet scene? Really? I mean, Anita doesn't like to dance, so sure, start with a ballet scene. What did that have to do with anything?? Except to talk about how a little kid likes Anita so much... that's just creepy & sad.

Lots of repeating info - I realize every book in every series does this, but LKH just seems like she takes this to new heights.

And once again - way, way too many characters that you can't keep up with (or care about, or even want to care about), too much kinky sex (and new levels of sex), no plot... no real action (other than said sex)... and of course, the death of a character that COULD have made future books interesting. I personally didn't like Haven... but he was what Anita needed, what LKH needed to make this series interesting again.

I received this book for Christmas last year, and started it right away. And struggled to get into it. Piers Anthony was my favorite author as a kid/teen/young adult, and the Incarnations series has been a favorite of mine for years. I was thrilled when this book came out, and was even happier when I finally got my hands on a copy.

That being said... the book was just disappointing. In my mind, there are a lot of reasons for that. A lot of it was just rehashed from earlier Incarnation books, a lot of it was just weird things that really didn't make much sense, a lot of it was sex every 4 pages (not always terribly graphic sex, and Anthony always did have a lot of sex in his books, but this book was to the extreme). A lot of it was the overly complicated time lines, that seemed to exist just to stretch out the book & make it longer.

All in all... I have to say, I had to force myself to finish reading the book, and I did so only my skimming most of the second half. Normally I keep any Anthony books on my shelves as a permanent fixture, but this one I'll list on my paperbackbookswap.com account.

I actually have read this book a couple of times, and most recently last year. I'm trying to post reviews for books I've read & enjoyed in the past.

Because of the tv shows, I decided I wanted to reread the series & catch up on the books I hadn't read yet. The first book in this series is still one of my all-time favorite books, ever. Fantasy & a big, fat, long book starting a series? This makes my heart beat a little faster :).

Anyways, this is one of those books that start slow. There's a lot of character development in the first half. I enjoy the whole history aspect of the book & how it ties together at the end. I love the Sisters. I'm sick of Kahlan whining uncharacteristically, and after rereading this book, I remembered that that was why I gave up on the series the first time.

I love Queen Betsy. I think she's my favorite vampire, though I admit, I don't have a shoe obsession like she does. The jokes are a little lacking in this book, but it's a very fast read, it has a great tempo, and leads up to a great ending (though it's definitely a little rushed).

I loved this book. I'm an avid Tudor history geek, but I admit I don't know a lot about Kat, and I was absolutely thrilled to get to know her better. The book is wonderfully well written, very well paced, shares details without being overwhelming, and does a wonderful job melding historical fact with a fictional story.

An intriguing story, set in the future, where everyone is connected all of the time. This is the premise behind Awaken. You meet Madeline right away, and are instantly drawn into her digital life. It's very scary, because you can see the world becoming this sometime soon - a world where why go for a walk on the beach, when you can take a virtual walk in your own home? Why go to a bookstore for a book group, when you can go online? Why go to school, when there is DS (digital school)?



Overall, it's an interesting book, though the plot develops a little too slow for my preferences. I definitely see this as a book that everyone needs to read, especially teenagers who already spend too much time "plugged in".

Though I am not at all Catholic, I wanted to read this book about a young, conflicted Catholic girl because my husband is very much an adult, conflicted, Catholic male. The main character in "Saint Training" is a sixth grader who starts the book wanted to become a nun, goes to a Catholic school, and helps take care of her large family. It's a short book, filled with all the heartbreak any kid goes through. I read it in one sitting, and my heart aches for Mary Clare & what she goes through with her family, from her confusion with religion, to liking boys & struggling to help with family responsibilities while trying to be a kid. I think anyone who was raised a Catholic should read this book!

I loved this book!

This was the first time reading a book by Susan Scott, and it won't be my last. I am a huge fan of history, especially British history, but I admit I don't know a lot about this particular time period, so I don't know how historically accurate any of this book actually was. I've heard of Barbara Palmer, the infamous whore of Babylon, of course, but had no idea anything about her.

The book was very well written, very well paced, and I think touched upon the "adult" nature of Barbara & the king's relationship very well, without being over-the-top graphic, a balance that I personally prefer. There were times when I would have liked to have heard more about the historical events going on, but since the book was about *Barbara* and not the time period, I do understand why the author chose to write the book the way she did. All in all, a very good, engrossing book, that I managed to finish in just a few days.

I received a review hard cover copy of this book for free.

This is a cute book - nine mysteries of history, solved with modern day forensics. Being a history geek, even as a kid, I loved this book! I've watched a few TV shows that are pretty similar - you are presented with a historical mystery, and then modern science & technology attempts to solve it (such as DNA solving the mystery of Anna Anderson, who claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov).

There are wonderful photos & color drawings on each and every page. The book is illustrated by Michael Wandelmaier, and he does a great job of drawing things like mummies in a realistic manner, but not a scary one. Each mystery is explained in a straight forward manner, and the science terms are explained as you go along, much simplified so that a kid would be able to understand it. I think the book is written in such a way that you want to learn more, go out & read more about the subject - which I think is a fabulous thing in a children's book.

I both loved & hated this book.

The characters are incredibly one dimensional, very flat, and for the most part, you can't like any of them. I loved the premise - the main character, Meena, is psychic & knows when people are going to die, and she ends up meeting up with the Prince of Darkness. I loved the little bits tying in history & real places. I did like the pop culture references, though I wish there weren't quite so many of them. There is some attempts at humor throughout the book, though the jokes were mainly as flat as the characters.

All of that being said, I couldn't put the book down & read the book pretty quickly, lugging my library hardcover copy back & forth to work every day just so I could read a few minutes every day at lunch time. I wish I had realized that there is an intended sequel, because the book was very much written like it was setting you up for a sequel but that drove me nuts at the time because I didn't know that. I felt like there were all these open storylines. And the book leaves you with a cliffhanger which made me so mad I threw the book across the room (sorry, library).

Will I read the sequel? yes, probably. I'm addicted to vampire books of all kinds, even the badly written ones. Will I be impatiently waiting for it to come out? Probably not. Will I pay money for the sequel? No, probably not, I'll wait for a library copy. But I will recommend this book to other vampire lovers, especially other modern-day vampire lovers.