Book Review: Neferet’s Curse – P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Neferet’s Curse  –P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

 

The White City, 1893:  In turn-of-the-century Chicago, with the World’s Fair bringing bustle and excitement to her home city, sixteen-year-old Emily Wheiler should be reveling in her youthful beauty and the excitement around her.  But her whole life changed when her mother died, leaving her to be Lady of Wheiler House.  Her father, a powerful bank president, is at the center of an important social hub for the booming young city, and he need Emily to do everything her mother would have – to be a good hostess and make sure the mansion runs smoothly.

As Emily uneasily tries to replace her mother, she also longs for more…for love and a life of her own.  When a handsome young man notices her at one of her father’s parties, it seems that her hopes may finally be coming true.  Until her father forbids her to see him – or any other man – and starts revealing a darkly violent side that even he can’t understand.

At last, afraid for her life and with nowhere to turn, Emily is Marked by a vampire and brought to the Chicago House of Night, where she begins a magickal new life that should allow the wounds from her past to heal.  But as she gains strength, and a powerful new name, she carries a dark need to wreak vengeance on the man she trusted most.

3/5 stars (liked it)

This story is about when Neferet was a 16-year-old human and her name was Emily.  Her mother dies in childbirth and she is left to take care of the house and her father.  Her father is not very kind to her.  The book was a quick read.  I feel like I understand Neferet a little more and also having just finished reading Revealed I feel like I really know her.

Book Review: Revealed – P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Revealed – P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

 

Drastically altered after her fall at the end of Hidden, Neferet is not more dangerous than ever—and her quest for vengeance will wreak havoc on humans, as well as Zoey and her friends.  Chaos is loosed in Tulsa and the House of Night is blamed.  Can Zoey stop Neferet in time to keep her anger from escalating to full-on war?  Or will someone else have to step in to take the fall?

2/5 stars (it was ok)

I feel like this series should have ended a couple of books ago.  Seems like things are just dragging out.  This book is told from several points of view, Neferet, Aphrodite, Zoey & Kalona.  Since Neferet is immortal she is not dead but comes back.  But really she doesn’t do much in this book.  Seems like this one is just a set-up for the next book.  If I hadn’t read 10 other books already I probably wouldn’t have read this one.  I really do home the next book is the final book.  I am more than ready to be done with this series.

Book Review: Hemlock Grove – Brian McGreevy

Hemlock Grove – Brian McGreevy

 

The body of a young girl is found mangled and murdered in the woods of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania, in the shadow of the abandoned Godfrey Steel Mill.  A manhunt ensues—though the authorities aren’t sure if it’s a man they should be looking for.

                     

Some suspect an escapee from the White Tower, a foreboding biotech facility owned by the Godfrey family—their personal fortune and the local economy having moved on from Pittsburgh steel-where, if rumors are true, biological experiments of the most unethical kind take place.  Others turn to Peter Rumancek, a Gypsy trailer-trash kid who has told impressionable high school classmates that he’s a werewolf.  Or perhaps it’s Roman, the son of the late JR Godfrey, who rules the adolescent social scene with the casual arrogance of a cold-blooded aristocrat, his superior status unquestioned despite his decidedly freakish sister, Shelley, whose monstrous medical conditions belie a sweet intelligence, and his otherworldly control freak of a mother, Olivia.

At once a riveting mystery and fascinating revelation of the grotesque and the darkness in us all,  Hemlock Grove has the architecture and energy to become a classic in its own right—and Brian McGreevy the talent and ambition to enthrall us for years to come.

3/5 stars (liked it)

This book was actually pretty good.  My sister-in-law told me I needed to watch the Netflix show Hemlock Grove and when I looked into it I found out it’s based on a book.  So of course I needed to read the book first.  This book follows the adults as well as the teenagers.  There are some interesting characters in this book such as the whole Godfrey family (Norman, Olivia, Letha, Shelley & Roman) and the Rumancek family (pretty much Peter).  Someone or something is killing in Hemlock Grove.  Of course everyone thinks it’s Peter since everyone believes he’s a werewolf.  Peter and Roman (who is not quite normal) team up to find out who is killing.  The killer actually surprised me.  Great writing and I love the cover.

Book Review: Dreamland – Sarah Dessen

Dreamland – SarahDessen

Ever since she started going out with Rogerson Biscoe, Caitlin seems to have fallen into a semiconscious dreamland where nothing is quite real.  Rogerson is different from anyone Caitlin has ever known.  He’s magnetic.  He’s compelling.  He’s dangerous.  Being with him makes Caitlin forget about everything else—her missing sister, her withdrawn mother, her lackluster life.  But what happens when being with Rogerson becomes a larger problem than being without him?

3/5 stars (liked it)

This is my first book that I have every read by Sarah Dessen.  I always hear how great her books are and I am not disappointed.  This book took a very unexpected turn.  This story is about Cailtin and how her life changes so much after her sister Cassandra runs away from home at the age of 19.  Even though Cassandra is not in the book, she is a huge presence  in Cailtin’s life.  Caitlin uses a journal she has to “write” to Cassandra about what is going on with her life.  Overall an easy read and a good book.

Book Club: Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat, Pray, Love –Elizabeth Gilbert

In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want—husband, country home, successful career—but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion.  This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place.  Following a divorce and a crushing depression, Gilbert sets out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.

3/5 stars (liked it)

This book is divided into three parts.  Her fist stop is in Italy.  After she tells you the reasons she went on this year-long journey you meet many interesting people in Italy.  Just reading about all the things she ate made me really want to go there.  Her next stop was in India, where she practiced a lot of meditation and yoga.  Actually sounded really relaxing and calming there.  Last place she visited was the island of Bali in Indonesia.  This is where she met a medicine man in a previous journey there and he’s the one that told her she would come back to study with him.  This last part was the most interesting to me.  She meets the Medicine Man, a Healer Woman and a Brazilian hottie.  I like that at the very end she gives us a little update on what happened.  I felt at times this book dragged a lot and gave me too much history of places and backgrounds on people.  Overall interesting book.

Our Next book:  The Night Strangers - Chris Bohjalian