The final book in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, called Breaking Dawn, is different in the fact that it’s divided into three parts. The first part of the vampire book begins with the long anticipated and awaited marriage of Edward and Bella. The happy couple go off on a romantic honeymoon to a very private and secluded island on the Brazilian coast. Of course, nothing ever happens like Bella and Edward expect. Two weeks after their nuptials, Bella figures out that she’s pregnant. Not only that, but the baby is developing faster than any normal baby would. Carlisle is contacted, confirms the pregnancy, and the couple head back to Forks, where Edward wants Bella to abort the child because he’s afraid she’s in danger. Bella, feeling a strong connection with the baby, refuses to do it and goes ahead with the pregnancy.
Part Two of Breaking Dawn is written from the point of view of Jacob Black. The news has gotten around that Bella is pregnant and that the baby is not exactly normal, since the pregnancy is progressing rapidly. His wolf pack decides that they need to kill both the child and Bella and get rid of any risk that it may pose. Jacob, despite the fact that he hates that she married Edward, decides he doesn’t like this idea and forms his own pack with Seth and Leah Clearwater. When Bella gives birth, the baby injures her badly, breaking bones and causing her to lose a lot of blood, since she is still human. Edward knows that the only thing he can do is to change her, so he injects the venom right into her heart and makes her a vampire. Complicating things further, Jacob is there when the baby is born and imprints on her immediately, meaning that Renesmee is his soul mate.
Part Three of Breaking Dawn goes back to Bella’s point of view. She’s very busy now, considering she’s a new mom with a super baby and a vampire to boot. Things get worse when Renesmee is thought to be a child who was turned into a vampire, which is something that is frowned upon by the Volturi. After a meddling vampire named Irina tells the Volturi this, they decide that both Renesmee and the whole Cullen clan need to be destroyed. Facing certain doom unless they do something, the Cullens rally other vampire clans from around the globe and ask them to witness for Renesmee. After confronted with evidence that Renesmee isn’t a human child that was turned into a vampire, the Volturi carry out the immediate execution of Irina. They would have killed Renesmee as well if it hadn’t been for Jasper and Alice, who had located another vampire just like her. The Volturi back off and the happy little family is able to live happily ever after, a great ending to an enthralling series.
I predict that the Twilight Saga will become a classic vampire book, especially among the young adult crowd. Get Breaking Dawn, the last book in the vampire series.
The third of the Twilight books in the series, Eclipse is a book that pretty much picks up where New Moon ended. Bella is facing the end of her high school years and graduation, and the fact that she is going to be leaving the town of Forks for good. The story that everyone is hearing is that she’s going to college, when the truth is that she plans to become immortal like Edward.
If you are someone who loves the drama and angst of love triangles, you are going to absolutely love Eclipse, because Bella is town between two men that would do just about anything for her.
First, there’s Jacob – her friend, her confidant, and a guy who she only thought of as the cute little boy next door until he turned into a big fluffy fur ball who sprouted mega muscles along with fur and fangs. Jacob worships her and would do just about anything for her, and in a perfect world they probably would have been together.
Then there’s Edward, the man of her dreams. He’s gorgeous, he’s hot, and he’s never going to grow old. How perfect is that? As soon as he gives her the ultimate love bite they can stay teenagers and live happily ever after.
Making this love triangle more complicated than it already is is the fact that Edward and Jacob hate one another. And we’re not just talking about the fact that they are both hot for her bod. We’re talking about an ancient war that has been going on for centuries. You see, werewolves and vampires are mortal enemies, and usually they try and kill one another.
So what is it that makes these mortal enemies not exactly kiss and make up but simply put aside their differences? Nothing more than the fact that there’s another big bad bloodsucker on the horizon that made a bunch of new vampires to terrorize Forks. You guessed it. Victoria’s back with a vengeance and she is not happy. So these two creatures that everyone thought didn’t exist decide to join forces to rid Forks of these unspeakable horrors. Unfortunately, while the battle ensues and Bella, Edward, and Jacob hide out, Jacob accidentally overhears that Bella and Edward are engaged and that she’s going to become a vampire. He throws a fit, threatens to join the fight and get himself killed(hmm, kind of sounds like Edward going to the Volturi, doesn’t it?), and to appease him, Bella kisses him. She then realizes that she loves him as well. After a few more complications, the battle ends and the result is that poor Jacob goes running off with his tail between his legs.
Despite all the teenage angst and the love triangle, this was really a good book with a good plot. It moved along well and it holds the reader’s attention like the other two Twilight books. It’s definitely one of the Twilight books that is worth reading and one that keeps you guessing til the end. It’s one of the Twilight books that a lot of teenagers can identify with.
Eclipse is now ON SALE at Amazon for less than 6 dollars!
New Moon picks up where the Twilight movie left off. It’s Bella’s birthday, and much to her chagrin, both her dad and her absentee mother have gone out and bought gifts that she had told them not to. Not only that, but the whole Cullen clan decide to throw her this elaborate birthday party with much too expensive gifts, and, the best surprise gift of all, almost getting killed. Danger prone Bella cuts her finger on the wrapping paper, causing it to bleed, and igniting the blood lust in Jasper. While his siblings calm Jasper and stop him from killing Bella, Carlisle tends to Bella’s arm, which she cut when she fell.
Fast forward a couple of days and it finds Edward telling Bella that the clan is leaving because it’s much too dangerous for them to be there. Edward walks away, Bella lays down on the ground and basically waits for death to come. Death doesn’t come but Sam, one of the guys from La Push, finds her and brings her home.
After finding out that Edward and the other Cullens are gone for good, Bella falls into a deep depression. She simply exists and her father decides it’s time to send her back to her mother. That snaps her out of it, and after an experience with a biker guy she finds that she can actually see and hear(or so she thinks) Edward when she’s in danger, she decides that she needs to start being adventurous so that she can see the love of her life all the time.
So during the next few months, Bella has a really full schedule. She reignites her relationship with Jacob and stands by his side while he rebuilds a couple of motorcycles that were destined for the junkyard, she learns to ride one of them, and finds out that not only are there vampires in the area but there are also werewolves. In fact, her friend Jacob, who is looking better and better now that Edward isn’t here, is one. She also discovers that there is a vampire who is seriously ticked off and wants her dead because Edward killed mate. Since Edward is stuck on Bella, Victoria figures its only fair that she get to kill Bella. Laurent, who is also a part of Victoria’s clan, almost finishes her off but the werewolves from La Push do him in first.
While the wolves are out tracking down Victoria, Bella decides she wants to see her love again and decides that cliff diving is the way to do it. She takes a flying leap off the cliff, almost drowns but Jacob rescues her, and everything should be fine.
But thanks to another person’s death, a ill timed phone call, and a mixed up message that got to the wrong person, Edward is under the impression that Bella is dead and decides to do the only sensible thing – head for Italy to royally tick off the Volturi, a group of vampires that stick to the old ways and don’t want any human to know they exist.
Alice comes to find Bella, they race to Italy in time to stop Edward from making a serious mistake, and the Volturi let them go on the condition that Bella is made a vampire.
This Twilight movie was much better than the first Twilight movie in my opinion. The CGI effects were great, as was the action and the horror. By now you can probably watch the movie at one of those dollar theaters which is a good deal since movies are so expensive!
Here are the new vampire books that have a March publication date. I’m really excited about these books because they include some great entries from some of my favorite authors like Chris Marie Green, Mario Acevedo and L.A. Banks.
Here we go!
Deep In The Woods by Chris Marie Green
With the female master of the London Underground in her hands, stuntwoman-turnedvampire hunter Dawn Madison must fight off her followers, a vicious pack of undead teenage girls who put the vamps Dawn had to deal with in Los Angeles to shame . . .
Werewolf Smackdown by Mario Acevedo
A sure-to-be-bloody civil war is brewing between rival werewolf factions, and private investigator Felix Gomez will do anything he can to make sure it doesn’t explode into a vicious battle that engulfs all creatures, living and dead. Between that, the sudden reappearance of an ex-girlfriend, and a gang of other vampires trying to take off his head, this is one rumble that Gomez, a fanged detective extraordinaire, may find hard to handle.
and Falling, Fly by Skyler White
In a dark and seedy underground of burned-out rock stars and angels-turned- vampires, a revolutionary neuroscientist and a fallen angel must put medicine against mythology in an attempt to erase their tortured pasts…but at what price?
Olivia, vampire and fallen angel of desire, is hopeless…and damned. Since the fall from Eden, she has hungered for love, but fed only on desire. Dominic O’Shaughnessy is a neuroscientist plagued by impossible visions. When his research and her despair collide at L’Otel Mathillide-a subterranean hell of beauty, demons, and dreams-rationalist and angel unite in a clash of desire and damnation that threatens to destroy them both.
Key To Justice by Talia Gryphon
Psychologist to the paranormal Gillian Key has a new patient. He is a vampire who calls himself Csangal, but he is also a creature hiding his true motives-and his true identity: Dracula.
Death Blows by D.D. Barant
FBI profiler Jace Valchek was pulled into this parallel realm to hunt for Aristotle Stoker, a human serial killer who preys on vampires and werewolves. Now she works for the National Security Agency of the Unnatural States of America - and her boss is a vampire.
At a bizarre crime scene, Jace finds a bloodsucker murdered by magic, fried to the bone and dressed in the costume of the comic book hero the Flash - a character who isn’t supposed to exist here. Comic books have been outlawed for their powers, including crossover spells like the one that transported Jace to this world. Soon, she’s following a trail of dead bodies into the sinister underworld of black-market comics - where a deranged madman gives new meaning to the term “super-villain” . . .
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
When Abraham Lincoln was nine years old, his mother died from an ailment called the “milk sickness.” Only later did he learn that his mother’s deadly affliction was actually the work of a local vampire, seeking to collect on Abe’s father’s unfortunate debts.
Using The Journal of Abraham Lincoln as a guide, the true life story of our great president is reconstructed for the first time—all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War, and uncovering the massive role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.
Never Cry Werewolf by L.A. Banks
The last fight between the werewolf clans spilled onto the streets of New Orleans—and now the whole city’s on red alert. Martial law has gone into effect. Mediums, ghost hunters, and other supernatural pundits have taken over the media, swarming the Big Easy to expose the hard truth about lycanthropes. And to make matters worse, a beastly killer is clawing up humans…
Secret government operative Sasha Trudeau doesn’t like what she’s seeing—a series of brutal and bloody slayings that appear to be wolf-like attacks. It might be the work of a copy cat killer - a vampire or fae. But while Sasha races to find suspects and motives, the panic level is rising—and the city’s human population is clamoring for an all-out wolf hunt . . .
The Black Dagger Brotherhood is a sexy and dangerous series that had me from the first hello. The brothers are warrior vampires with an attitude living in present day New York City. They are constantly at war with their nemesis, Omega and his army of minions that do his bidding. Omega’s bidding is usually killing the Black Daggers.
In this vampire book, the fifth in the series, Vishous is injured. The mighty warrior is taken to the hospital where the good doctor, Jane cares for him. It is apparent that Vishous or V is instantly attracted to his caretaker. This shouldn’t be unusual except that the book clearly insinuates that V is in love with his best friend and Black Dagger Brother, Butch. Drama! The new attraction only enhances the appeal of V. I want to know him and understand him and I surely want to keep reading.
Jane is swept away to the secret complex of the warriors so she can further care for her patient. She is increasingly suspicious that V is not human but cannot deny her attraction to him. The story further entangles when we discover that V is destined to marry the Chosen and create a new breed of warriors. How can he follow the path previously carved out for him when his heart demands that he mate with the human doctor?
The road to love is never paved and the romance of V and Jane is thrown off its bumpy course time and time again. V must follow his destiny and that most definitely does not include the doctor. Everyone is against them.
New characters are introduced in this vampire book but the focus rightly remains on the two lovers intertwined in their forbidden affair. Their sensuality steams up the pages with a passion that is practically tangible. Are you a romance fan? How about a vampire book fan? Regardless of the genre you prefer this new installment in the already hot Black Dagger series will pull you in and drag you under its sexy spell. Readers will be simultaneously sorry to see the story end and eager to read the next book, Lover Enshrined!
In the mood for unrequited vampire love, torture, and a vicious battle to destroy an entire race? Then pick up J.R. Ward’s Lover Revealed, the fourth book in the author’s Black Dagger Brotherhood vampire romance series. The tale of the Brotherhood, an elite group of vampire warriors, continues as they fight for survival against slayers determined to eliminate the entire race.
The six testosterone-fueled vampires with huge libidos that make up the Brotherhood are constantly fighting to save their civilian vampire counterparts from the lessers, bound to an evil master called The Omega and determined to stop at nothing to carry out his orders. The only human to ever be made privy to the inner workings of the Brotherhood, Butch O’Neal is a tough ex-homicide detective who helps the vamps with their investigations from time to time but longs for more.
He’s also hopelessly in love with the blue-blooded vampire Marissa, although the potential romance has never come to fruition. His love was revealed in the first book in the series, Dark Lover, although a misunderstanding tore them apart.
After saving a vampire civilian from the lessers one night, Butch is captured by the enemies and tortured mercilessly. After The Omega realizes that Butch is not about to reveal the Brotherhood’s secrets, he cuts him and places some of his own evil inside, hoping that it will spread and destroy the rest of the vampires.
But Vishous, Butch’s friend and vampire roommate, finds him and is able to cut most of the evil out of him. He’s still dying, however, and Vishous calls upon Marissa to come to his aid. In her haste, she forgets to protect herself, and she and Butch end up being quarantined together. As Butch begins to get better, the two make peace with the past and begin to build their relationship.
Ward’s aptitude for writing erotic love scenes comes into play here, while also making clear to the reader that the two have genuine affection for one another.
An interesting twist in Lover Revealed involves Vishous and his growing romantic feelings for Butch. While the two have always been close friends, this new affection is confusing to Vishous and makes for a unique love triangle.
This vampire romance book is a great read, more erotic and romantic than previous installments, and fans of the series will not be disappointed by this latest adventure into the dark world of the Brotherhood. Get Lover Revealed at your favorite bookstore.
Also, check out the next installment in J.R. Ward’s vampire romance books series, Lover Unbound!
The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles by Ray Rhamey is a fun, quirky and entertaining read that gives you a “behind-the-paws” story from a cat’s perspective. Meet Patches, your average (is any cat really just average?) every-day cat, out in the graveyard, checking things out, looking for mice to torture. When two hands emerge from a grave, grab him and start slurping at his neck, Patches thinks his nine lives are up - but they’re not, because now Patches is craving blood . . . and he’s got to have it now!
Realizing that his bloodlust will not let him go back to his former caretaker, or “associate” as Patches calls humans, he’s determined to track down the owner to that pair of hands that changed him forever. When he finds her he learns that her name is Meg and that she was involuntarily turned as well. Turns out she loves kitties and actually knows how to properly hold a cat - all of which endears Patches to her and makes him think she just might make a good associate after all. Now, the two of them have to figure out how to survive in this new world.
Fortunately, there’s a support group around called the American Vampire Association (AVA for short). Apparently, vampires have been around a while but they’ve kept to themselves and thus, humans don’t know they exist. Meg thinks this is no way to live an eternal life and as I read the book, I have to agree. Imagine having to always work the midnight shift and not having any access government services – yet, you have to pay taxes!
Meg, a smart girl, decides to run for city council and bring vampires out of the closet so she can gain them some basic rights. But as the established power base in the vampire world, the AVA is not too happy with Meg’s stance. Meg learns that they’ll stop at nothing to guarantee her silence.
So begins the trials and tribulations of Patches and Meg. They have quite a few adventures together as they try to avoid the AVA and a particularly determined fundamentalist mob.
Because author Ray Rhamey lays out the story from the cat’s perspective, it gives you an objective insight into how we humans behave toward those that we consider different. There were quite a few parallels to be drawn from the vampire’s fight for equal rights and justice to the fight against discrimination that occurs in today’s world.
In addition to being an incredibly fun story to read, I found The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles to be very cleverly written as well. You have to give props to Rhamey for providing such an original and unique entry in the vampire book genre. As I was reading the book I envisioned a whole series of books that document the adventures of Patches and Meg - doesn’t that have a good ring to it?
I recommend this book to all fantasy readers, in particular, ones looking for a refreshing take on the vampire craze. And as for you cat lover’s out there - haven’t you always wanted to know what your kitty really thinks?
The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles is available from online bookstores like Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Imagine the enjoyment that an avid vampire novel reader feels when they find a vampire romance book that is not only a a good, fun read but also one of a series. Well, this is what I found when I read Happy Hour at Casa Dracula by Marta Acosta. The story centers around Milagro De Los Santos, a highly educated but ‘out of steady work’ literature major. She’s been working as a literary consultant for rich families but she’s unhappy that she’s not writing the types of things that she wants to write and, even though her life is fine, she feels like something is missing. When one of her clients invites her to a book signing party – which would normally not be a problem – she arrives to find that the author is the man who deserted her so many years before in college, Sebastian Beckett-Witherspoon.
Of course, Sebastian will not leave her alone and he proceeds to belittle her until running away is her only option. I am sure I would have done the same thing, the only difference being - if it happened to me, there would not be an incredibly handsome man wanting to whisk me away just outside the door. It’s a jilted girl’s dream come true. Milagro cannot explain why she goes with this strange man, Oswald Krakatoa, but he is undoubtedly the most handsome man she has ever seen. And, for some reason, when she is with him, she forgets all about her humiliating moments with Sebastian. Apparently, Oswald feels the same way about her, because as soon as they are alone, they cannot get enough of each other. Their first kiss rekindles feelings she has not felt for years – but, just as the going gets good, Sebastian runs into the room to stop them. This ill timed interruption turns their passionate kiss into a fall to the floor for both of them with cut lips. Her humiliation complete, Milagro runs off to lick her wounds and spends the next few days feeling sicker than a dog. And craving raw meat.
This story has one twist after another. Thankfully Oswald realizes what has happened and saves her in the nick of time from her ex to take her away to his secluded country ranch where the rest of his family awaits. It seems Milagro is going through a transformation that takes time; sweet Oswald is determined to make sure she is alright.
Happy Hour at Casa Dracula is a fun, upbeat novel and Milagro is an incredible character that reminded me of youthful wishes I used to have. She’s beautiful, but insecure enough to make her sympathetic without being too irritating. She’s witty, strong, and vulnerable all at the same time. There are sexy scenes in this fantasy book but they are handled well and the dialogue is really funny. And since it’s a series, I’m eagerly waiting to go buy the next installment - there are two more now available in the series!
Here are all of the books in the Casa Dracula series:
#1: Happy Hour at Casa Dracula
#2: Midnight Brunch
