***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***
You can also find this review on my blog
Melissa De La Cruz is widely known as the author of the Blue Bloods (BB) Series about witty, well off teenage vampires who are trying to keep the balance between good and evil while trying to find and understand love. Bloody Valentine isn’t exactly a novella, but a mix of three short stories that spun off of the Blue Bloods Series.

I haven’t read a Blue Bloods book in two or three years and in this case I think it is best to read the first five novels in the series before reading Bloody Valentine, which picks up right where Misguided Angel (the fifth BB book) left off. Thankfully, I have what I would call an above average memory, and I was able to remember most of the story from the previous novels as Bloody Valentine went on.

Bloody Valentine begins with Oliver, who was Schuyler’s human familiar. Being a vampires human familiar can be all fine and dandy unless your vampire leaves you, in which case your blood is poisoned and the pain of their loss is only intensified. As Oliver finds out the only way to cure his blood and his heartache is to stop loving Schuyler, and with the help of a friendly witch he is able to move on without forgetting or regretting the friendship that will forever bond him and Schuyler. This section of Bloody Valentine ended pretty abruptly (actually now that I think about it they all ended abruptly) and I was waiting for Cruz to go back and finish his story, but as the book went on I realized that was the full extent of Oliver’s tale. If you’re a true fan of Oliver you’ll appreciate this part of the book and who knows, maybe it will come up in future BB books.

After Oliver’s story comes Allegra’s, Schuyler’s mother. This short story goes back to when Allegra was a teenager in high school and how Allegra met Schuyler’s father. It was a cute high school sweetheart, perfect couple story, until it ended. To say the ending threw me off is an understatement. Cruz ends this section of Bloody Valentine by leaving the reader with the impression that Allegra chooses to stay with her ‘twin brother’ (it’s not incest I promise) and never speak to Ben (Schuyler’s would be father) ever again. Okay, so if that was really the case, how was Schuyler born? Allegra obviously goes back to Ben, so I guess Cruz is saving that part of the story for another time.

The last story in this book was my favorite, and perhaps that has something to do with the fact that it is a story about Schuyler and Jack, the main characters of the BB series. When I first heard about Bloody Valentine, I admittedly only wanted it so I could find out what happened with Jack and Schuyler before I had to wait for the next BB book to come out (which is out by the way, I’m just a little behind). This story did not disappoint. The love between Jack and Schuyler is almost palpable through the pages and reading about their bonding made me swoon. I’m so happy for these characters and even though, all who attended the bonding are about to face impending doom in the next novel, Cruz wrote it in a way that you just don’t care. All that mattered was their love for each other, no matter how short lived their happiness would be.

Do I wish the stories were longer? Yes, but that just proves that Cruz has already set an amazing foundation for her characters and that I’m actually engrossed in their lives and their stories. Hopefully more of my questions have been answered in Lost In Time (novel six of BB series). Guess I should add it to my reading list!

***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***
You can also find this review on my blog
You may know P.C. and Kristin Cast as the author’s of The House Of Night Series and many of their other projects, but more recently they’ve begun releasing novellas based off of the HON books. The first novella released was Dragon’s Oath which I haven’t read and I’m not that extremely interested in. Lenobia however, was a character that I adored from the start. I loved that her affinity had to do with horses (animals just pull at my heartstrings) and I love the fact that she is a total bad ass when it comes to helping Zoey.

Don’t feel like you have to read all 9 of the current HON books in order to understand what is going on in Lenobia’s Vow. This book takes the reader back to the year 1788 where as the HON books are written as present day 2000 something.

The first few chapters of this book were a little confusing, but I think that’s because I’m so used to the HON style and I’m used to knowing immediately who all the characters are and what’s going on but once I got my bearings the book was rather enjoyable. It is an extremely quick read and if you want something that isn’t that thought provoking or just a little snippet into a characters background then you’ll enjoy this book. I also think the fact that I know Lenobia’s character role in the HON books helps me to appreciate her background story and it will be refreshing to go back to the series armed with this knowledge about her. Until the last chapter this book is very different from the House of Night books which are all about vampires, drama, power struggles, good versus evil, and all out war. Lenobia’s Vow is a simple human love story about a girl trying to find a better life in America, and the majority of the book takes place on the ship that brings Lenobia from France to New Orleans. The book demonstrates the struggles of being a bastard child and the harsh reality of racial inequality and ignorance that was prevalent during that time. Spaced sporadically about the book are hints at magic or unexplained powers and also of the Goddess Nyx, which are subtle enough that only an avid HON fan would notice.

For what it is I am very pleased with the book. It was relaxing to read and I would recommend it to any House of Night fan who has a few hours to spare or who wants a little background info on an important secondary character. But please, P.C. and Kristin Cast, stop writing so many novellas and finish the series!!! I hate waiting a whole YEAR for the next release of a House Of Night novel. Write the novellas after you’ve finished the series, that’s when I’ll miss it and actually want to read all of the novellas. Don’t get me wrong you guys are amazing, but seriously…series > novella.

***SPOILER ALERT***
You can also find this review on my blog
Before I get any further into the review I should note that this is the last book in the series that began with Eragon. If you haven’t read Eragon, Eldest, or Brisingr STOP READING THIS REVIEW NOW and go pick up one of those books, you will not regret it.

Where do I even begin to explain or form a review on Inheritance. I guess I should first start by saying that this is the last book in the Eragon series, however Christopher Paolini openly admits that he plans on writing several more books from the land of Alagaesia but those won’t be in the works for an undetermined amount of time. Along with Harry Potter, this is a series I grew up reading. I read Eragon when I was in 7th grade, and just finished Inheritance the summer approaching my Junior year in college. Not only did I grow up with this series, but so did the author and his characters.

Out of all of them I think Eragon has had the biggest transformation and the depth of his character in this book is astounding. Regardless of my feelings towards Eragon, there is a compelling force so strong that even while he was evil, Murtagh was and will forever be my favorite character of this series. I attempted to make a list from favorite to less than favorite the night I finished this book and this is what I came up with…Murtagh, Saphira, Roran, Eragon, Arya, Nasuada, Brom, Orik, and Elva. Of course there are way more characters in this series and I was particularly fond of Roran’s spellcaster friend Carn so it was sad to see him go. Happily all of my other favorites (aside from Brom who technically is not in Inheritance unless you count the time when Eragon visits his grave) lived and did not die in the many battles to gain the Empire or the fight to best Galbatorix.

Each character has something I deeply admire about them and I’d be here all night if I began to rant about each one but I will say this, in his next book, whenever he writes it, Arya and Eragon and Murtagh and Nasuada better freakin see each other again. That’s the least I can ask for right?! I mean come on I was rooting for Eragon and Arya from day one and I began to give up hope in Eldest when she smashes his painting of her and then I had hope again in Brisingr when she goes to find Eragon after he defeats the Ra’zac, and finally in Inheritance when Eragon and Arya meet after the green dragon egg hatches for her I thought YES! FINALLY! Now Arya has no reason not to be with Eragon. However destiny chose to intervene and Paolini holds true to the prophecy he wrote in the first novel. Sigh, a girl can dream.

This book, more so than the others, had many profound moments. These moments made me stop and think about what kind of person I am and what I would be willing to do were the situation on my shoulders. Eragon and Saphira’s choice to try and find the Vault of Souls while leaving his family and his people behind and knowing that they may never come back showed their immense amount of bravery and a sense to do whatever it takes to set things right. Another profound moment is the way Eragon, with of course the help of Murtagh, Arya, Saphira, Thorn, and Elva, defeats Galbatorix. I’ve got to be honest I never really believed they would be able to overthrow Galbatorix until I read it on the page. I was imagining them fighting to the death, and dying honorably, but I never envisioned Murtagh and Eragon actually working together (even though I always wished in my heart that that would indeed happen) and that Eragon, with the help of the Eldunari, would make a spell that didn’t kill Galbatorix, but it made him understand all the crimes he had committed and to feel the pain from all those whose lives he had ruined. That was such a powerful moment, that emotion and guilt is stronger than any physical or magical weapon, says a lot about who we are as people and as a human race.

Many questions get answered in this book and yet, with each answered question there seems to be two or three unanswered questions that arise because of it. I think the ending was beautiful, poetic, sad, and necessary. If I was writing the ending I would’ve made Eragon somehow end up with Arya, but Paolini did right by his characters and he allowed them to each follow their destinies whole heartedly.

Somehow I’ve managed to turn this review into a gibbering nonsense about character’s and feelings and emotions and nothing about the battles. This book, despite its immense size, length, and amount of content was probably one of my quickest reads. There was never a dull moment and every page I turned I was faced with gory but brilliantly staged battles with swords, hammers, fire breathing dragons and magic, ambushes, kidnappings, torture, unexplainable events and wildly imaginative creatures that could be only lurking in the wondrous lands of Alagaesia. I find myself discussing this book at length with all my guy friends and wishing I had an imagination as great as Paolini’s so that I could reenact the fight scenes myself.

After reading this book I find myself looking at the real world around me in a different way. Every creature, tree, bug, dog, human or otherwise somehow seems different. This was a magnificent end to a collection of work by Christopher Paolini and I look forward to reading whatever he comes up with next.