Jessica Packwood thinks she is just a normal teenage girl trying to get through high school but things change when Lucius Vladescu shows up as a foreign exchange student.He knows her birth name, which no one knows except for her adoptive parents and her best friend Mindy, and insists that he and Jessica are to be married. Both Lucius and Jessica’s parents try to explain to her that she is really a Romanian vampire princess and that her birth parents had arranged her marriage since birth. Of course Jessica thinks they are insane but there is no way to avoid Lucius when he is living above her garage and going to her school.

Jessica is all about logic and doesn’t believe in anything that can’t be explained so when she gets all of this information thrown at her she can’t help but think that it is a joke. In Jessica’s mind it has to be a joke or it means her parents and their new foreign exchange student are absolutely crazy. I actually like that about Jessica. Any sane person would probably think the same thing. After a while though I couldn’t help but think “Come on! How much more proof do you need? Totally in denial”. Besides the whole vampire princess thing Jessica was very much just a normal teenager. She went to school, had her best friend (Mindy), her crush (Jake), and school bullies that liked to pick on her. I also loved her birth name. I think Anatasia is a pretty and different name.

I really liked Jessica’s parents. They adopted Jessica and brought her to the United States when she was a baby. Jessica’s birth parents were killed by a mob because they were vampires. Jessica’s parents knew about the marriage pact when they adopted her but didn’t talk about it before because Jessica was never ready to talk about her birth parents. The Packwoods were a little different than what I am used to but they were nice and they cared about their daughter as well as Lucius.

Now I could write so much about Lucius. Lucius was spoiled, entitled, forward, a pain in the ass, and full of himself. I know he doesn’t sound so great but he could also be polite and chivalrous. He drove me nuts and most of the time i wanted to punch or shake him but I couldn’t help but love him. He had a hard upbringing, whether he admits it or not, and he grew up learning to to be obedient and follow orders no matter the cost.

Lucius and Jessica both drove me nuts. They both had their moments where I felt like they were complete idiots. I wanted to yell at them at times and then other times they frustrated me so badly I just wanted to walk away from the book. There were also some things in the book that i felt might have been unnecessary and other things I wish they would have focused more on. For example the guide that is mentioned in the title wasn’t talked about as much as I thought it could have been. There were also a couple of time I was a little confused as to what was happening or how they got to where they were.

Like I said this book pretty much drove me nuts. It made me impatient and angry at times. It also made me sad but it also made me smile. The characters drove me crazy but I couldn’t help but love them. There were things that I felt could have been improved but it didn’t keep me from enjoying the story. I know some of the things I mentioned might be a deal breaker for some people that read the book but I found that it wasn’t too hard for me to look past. Even though there were some things I didn’t particularly like I loved the book as a whole and have to give it 5 hearts.

*Review originally posted on Pages Of Forbidden Love

*Some Spoilers if you have not read or finished the Vampire Academy Series

I just have to say thank goodness for spin-offs! I read The Vampire Academy series over winter break and I loved it. I was so sad to finish the last book. I was just not ready for it to end just yet but then I found that Richelle Mead wrote a spin-off (Bloodlines) and I just about jumped for joy. Vampire Academy ended with so many things still open so I was very excited to start this series.

The last thing Sydney wants is to look like she is super close with Vampires, especially after getting in trouble for helping clear Rose’s name in the last Vampire Academy book, but in order to keep her sister free from the Alchemists control she gets the job to watch over Jill. Not all the Moroi are happy to see her sister Lissa as queen and after an attack Jill is sent into hiding to protect her life and Lissa’s crown.

Thinking that they will be safer some place sunny the girls are sent to a private school (Amberwood Prep) in Palm Springs where they must pretend that they are sisters. Sydney’s job is to watch out for Jill and make sure she gets to her feedings. Sounds easy enough but Keith Darnell, a slime ball from Sydney’s past, makes things difficult for her. He is considered her superior and anything bad he says about her can cost her the job.

It is bad enough that people want to kill Jill. She really doesn’t need the added pressure of starting a new school. Especially a human school where it is evident that she is very different from everyone else. She has to hide that she is Moroi and she can’t use her magic. Poor Jill has the hardest time settling in. Everyone else tries to make things easier for her but then she just feels like she has even less control of her life.

Of course they aren’t going to send Jill off to Palm Springs on her own with just Sydney to protect her. Eddie Castile is Jill’s guardian and also must attend classes at Amberwood Prep as their brother. I was so glad to read that Eddie was going to be in this series. He always takes his job seriously and he is extremely protective of Jill.

Sydney, Jill, and Eddie are not the only old character from Vampire Academy. Bloodlines also brings back… wait for it… ADRIAN! I freaking love Adrian and he is probably one of the main reasons I didn’t want Vampire Academy to end. He got the short end of the straw at the end of that series so I am glad to see him back. I really hope his story ends well by the time this series is over.

Moving to Palm Springs also brings new characters. There was Clarence the Moroi that has offered his feeders services and houses Adrian. Lee is Clarence’s son. He attends college in LA but is around a lot and hangs out with everyone else. Their new private school also brings in a whole new group of characters.

Bloodlines created new secrets and new threats. Palm Springs was supposed to be the best place to go to be free of dangerous Moroi and Strigoi but mysterious deaths, missing students, questionable tattoos and regular high school mean girls are cause for more worry.

I think this was a good start to the series. You get to know old characters a little better and get an introduction on how those characters are going to interact with each other throughout the series. New characters were also introduced and I just know they are going to make things even more interesting. There wasn’t a lot of romance going on but the book wasn’t devoid of flirting so I see some major potential. Overall I think Bloodlines was a good introduction to what I hope will be another amazing series. I cannot wait for the Golden Lily to come out in June. It is too far away.

*Originally posted on Pages Of Forbidden Love

I’m not sure how to write this review without giving a million spoilers but I am going to try my best. I just I hope I can still give the book justice.

Someone Else’s Life starts off after Rosie’s mother has already passed away because of Huntington’s disease. Rosie left school and lost her boyfriend to be her mother’s (Trudie) caregiver so she saw firsthand what the disease could do. It's not hard to guess that Rosie is in a bad place. It is hard enough losing your only parent but now Rosie also has to worry about having the disease too. She has a 50% chance of carrying the gene or does she? When Sarah, a family friend and Trudie’s midwife, sees how hard Rosie is struggling she knows it is time to come clean. Trudie wasn’t he biological mother. Now Rosie is adamant on finding her biological mother and she decides to use her ex to help her. Her need to find her birth mother unburies a lot more secrets and surprises making Rosie have to stop and wonder if any of it was a good idea.

I loved this book from the beginning to end. Already being told right in the summary that Trudie isn’t her mother you would think reading it wouldn’t be a shocker but it was still crazy to read. This book was filled with so many twists and turns. Just when I thought Rosie couldn’t get into a more complicated situation she did. It was all very emotional too.

I felt like I could really feel what Rosie was going through even though I have never been in a situation like hers. She went through a lot and even though she was about to give up a couples times she still ended up pulling through. I really liked her. She knew what she wanted and she did everything she could to get it even when she wasn’t being supported.

Which brings me to Andy. Yes, there is some romance in this book :). There were times when I felt Andy could have been more supportive, even when he was a making some sense, but then he would make up for it so I went from being mad at him to loving him and back and forth again a couple times. Since you get to read a little about their past and then them in the present it made me really happy that they were getting a chance to figure things out. Let’s just say there breakup wasn’t so simple.

I wish I could say so much more but then I would spoil everything and that’s not fair. I can say I think this was an amazing book. It was an emotional read that didn’t stop surprising me even up to the very end. I loved it and hope you can enjoy it as much as I did.

*Originally posted on Pages Of Forbidden Love

First of all poor girl! Rae’s parents died when she was very young. All she knows is that there was a fire and she survived. Since that horrible day she has lived with her uncle. Her uncle moved her to the United States (New York to be exact) right after she moved in with him so it has been years since she has been to Britain. When she gets an acceptance letter to Guilder Boarding School in England her uncle can’t send her off fast enough. Rae hasn’t even heard of this school and she can’t understand why he would want her to go after he was the one that wanted to leave and go to New York. Switching schools can be a hard transition and Rae soon finds she has more to deal with than any other average new girl.

“Molly stared Rae up and down.”You’re Rae Kerrigan? I pictured someone totally different You’re not scary at all!”

Rae has no idea what she is walking into. She is in a new place, her uncle never told her anything before leaving (which I have to say was really shitty on his part), and the students of the school know more about her past than she does. Guilder isn’t a normal boarding school. It’s students will have or already have powers that begin to emerge and grow starting on their sixteenth birthday. Once they turn sixteen a tatu shows up inside their arm (boys) and on their lower back (girls). Rae doesn’t know any of this and although this surprises her roommate Molly it also gets Molly to start filling in the blanks for both Rae and the reader. I liked that I got to learn about everything just as Rae was learning. Also, with this introduction into the tatu’s and the school you get to know some of the secondary characters.

Molly was great, always full of energy and talking about something (either about getting her tatu or boys). She ended up being a good friend to Rae. The second I met Devon I knew he was going to be the love interest in this story. Their first meeting was really cute but throughout the story I just felt like he was a big stick in the mud and I wished she didn’t like him so much. He was nice guy, he was honest, and of course good looking but was a tad boring (yawn). I do have to admit they had a couple cute moments though, moments that made me go awww… Rae had quite a few guys to choose from though and if it was me I would have preferred either Julian or Riley. All the guys in this book were big flirts. It was the first year that Guilder allowed girls into the school so it was bound to happen. Oh and to make things worse people with tatu’s are not supposed to be together (makes a lot of sense that they would decide to put hormone ridden adolescents together after all, right? Not the best thinking on the schools part).

This rule brings me to one of the most important parts of this story, Rae’s parents, her past, and the source of all of what Rae goes through while at Guilder. Rae’s parents both had tatu’s (gasp! lol) and because of this the school wants to keep a close eye on Rae. This is the first time this happens and the fact that her father wasn’t a great guy puts a lot of the tatu community on edge. People distrust Rae. They fear her and some even want her gone. People whispered behind her back, she got dirty looks, and even an anonymous letter telling her to leave. I felt like this was really messed up and unwarranted. Rae knew nothing of her past and she was just a teenage girl she didn’t deserve to be treated that way. I am glad she had friends to be there for her.

Rae was great to read about. She said what she thought (most of the time) and she was funny even with everything going on in her life. I liked reading about the tatu’s the most. Each character had different abilities and it would be awesome to have them all. When Rae gets her tatu it is unlike anybody else’s and it sounds pretty amazing. This first book in the series was all about Rae finding out who she is and coming into her new tatu. She learned a lot and uncovered many things from her past but I am sure there is still much more hidden just waiting to be unburied. I look forward to reading the next one when it comes out.

*Originally posted on Pages Of Forbidden Love

Janie Grey didn’t choose to be a Seeker but that is what she is. She was born to be one just like her mother was once a Seeker. Her mom just gets to be her mom now and Janie currently has the job title until further notice. Abraham, a family friend and a previous Seeker, has trained her well for the job. She knows what to do and all the rules that come with being a Seeker but when Kai Sterdam comes into her life changes take place that get Janie to question how she should do things and who to trust.

I love books where the main character can kick ass and although it felt like Janie needed a lot of extra help at times she could still do a lot of fighting. One thing I found interesting was that she had asthma yet she has this job where she has to exert herself on a daily basis. She didn’t let that hold her back though. Like I said she did need a lot of assistance at times and Kai was there to be her helping hand. He is someone Janie was born to destroy but she finds he smells differently than the others and that he has human like qualities she is drawn to him and wants to know why and what he is. This is information he isn’t willing to share but Janie quickly, very quickly, falls for him. I can understand why she would fall for him but I think how strongly she felt for him happened too fast and I wasn’t really able to connect with their relationship fully. It didn’t feel completely real to me.

There was a lot of different things in this book. There were Vampires, witches, demons, and day children. For a while I was confused on who was who and what was going on between the different gangs. Once I could figure it out a little better they were interesting to read about. They were different than what I have read in other stories and I enjoyed that. There were similarities with other stories but its not like that is the first time this has happened. Buffy the Vampire Slayer had to be what it reminded me of the most. I loved Buffy though so I didn’t mind and it was even mentioned in the book once. Another thing that was a let down was how obvious a thing or two were and how easily Janie accepted a couple things. The ending made up for this though because although I felt like I already knew everything that was going to happen I was surprised at the end. This really helped me like the book more than I was thinking I would because I like when a book can surprise me, if it can surprise me more than once than I love it. I wasn’t able to love this but I did enjoy reading it and I am willing to continue the series (#2 Dark Return out November 2012).

*Originally posted on Pages Of Forbidden Love

Before starting this book the most I have watched or read about Valkyries was in an episode of Charmed I watched years ago. This was all pretty much a new concept for me. I’ve never read a book about this so I didn’t have any preconceived expectations. It was great learning about a whole new group of mythology and after reading this I would love to read more books about Valkyries.

The prologue really grabbed me and got me excited to read further. It started out in the past at an archeological dig site in Sweden and it me asking “well, whats next!”. From the past it pulled me right into a very sad present. Bryn (I just love that name) is at her best friends (Joshua) funeral trying to pay her respects and say goodbye. Bryn knew he was going to die. Since she was little she could see a glow in some people but it wasn’t until recently that she knew what it meant and she still didn’t know what to do about it. It can’t be easy knowing the people closest to you are going to die and you can’t do anything about it. Bryn already has a lot to deal with so the fact that a lot of the town hates her for surviving the car crash Joshua died in doesn’t help. The youth and even some of the adult were really mean to Bryn when she was also grieving a loss and needed support. She did have her foster mother Ms. Custer to care about her though so she wasn’t totally alone.

With so much to deal with already Aidan Lee enters into Bryn’s life. He is their new foster. From the moment he shows up on his motorcycle Bryn find him attractive. In no time she claims she doesn’t like him, becomes secretly jealous, and feeling form. I don’t really have much to say about Aidan and Bryn’s relationship because again I couldn’t find a connection with them. I don’t know why (I might be broken or something lol) but I haven’t found a couple I really love in a while. Although I couldn’t connect with them Aidan did play a huge role in the story. It is a book in his possession that opens Bryn up to the possibility that she could be something else.

This book causes many issues and then things begin to get really interesting. Bryn begins to learn about who she really is. We are taken to a new place full of mystery. There were so many things I didn’t know about and it was exciting to learn about it. About a third way into the book I was totally sucked in. The story was full of descriptions and overall awesomeness. So much goes on. Bryn has to deal with a big change while so many things are thrown at her almost at once and there are people who wish she didn’t exist anymore. Then throw in an impossible journey and you got one stressful and crazy life. Bryn does her best to shine through it all though. She wasn’t a total bad ass (yet) but she tried her best and for the most part she came out strong (which is amazing considering).

Overall, I think this was a really great read. I loved learning about a new world and with how descriptive things were it felt like I could really see what was going on. It was an exciting read and it was easy to get sucked in. The ending leaves some questions so I will definitely be reading the next one some time after it comes out.