Vampire Academy (Book 1) by Richelle Meade

Synopsis

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place

where vampires are  educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger. .

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

Review

We meet Rose the fiery guardian of Lissa a vampire princess as they’re caught after 2 years on the run from St Vladimir’s Academy. Rose and Lissa ran away to protect Lissa after the a rough period in school, and had no intention of going back. We also meet Dimitri the tough badass guardian who comes to feature through out the book, he is tall, dark and devastatingly handsome and Rose couldn’t help but notice ! Once back at the academy they receive a dressing down from the head teacher and staff who want to expel Rose from the school who as lissa’s guardian should have known better than running away.

The story is light and well written and has a thread running through it which attempts to make Lissa feel like she’s mentally unstable. What I liked about this was the incredible way the author manages to hide the final twist until the end of the book and I would never have guessed who the culprits were. It is a well written book, with some great characters which I look forward to finding about as I read the other books in the series.

Overall this is teen fiction, but I would suggest it is more for the younger teens or someone who’s not sure about the genre and wants an easy book to read. I liked the book and enjoyed it even though I’m not a teen anymore, and would recommend it. If you saw the film or the bad reviews it had, ignore those and read the book instead!!

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New Review soon

Just starting my current review on Vampire Academy, come back soon

Jason (Anita Blake Series ) by Laurell K Hamilton

Synopsis

"Enjoying pain with your pleasure is something you either get, or you don't. If you get it, then you don't really need it explained, because you know how good it feels, and if you don't get it then no amount of talking is going to convince you it makes sense."

But sometimes you have to explain the unexplainable, especially if the love of your life needs to understand, or she'll leave you. Jason Schuyler is one of Anita Blake's best friends and favorite werewolves, with benefits. J.J. is his lady love, an old flame from childhood who dances at one of the top ballet companies in New York. She's accomplished, beautiful, and she's crazy about him, too. Neither of them wants to be monogamous, so what could go wrong?

J.J. is enthusiastically bisexual, with an emphasis on the female side of things. She plans to keep sleeping with women, because Jason can't meet that need, just like she can't meet Jason's need for rough sex and bondage. J.J. doesn't understand why Jason isn’t content to go elsewhere for a need she can’t fulfil, so Jason asks Anita to help him explain.

Anita is having her own relationship growing pains with her only female lover ever, Jade. Jason suggests that J.J. might be able to help Anita with her girl problem, while she helps him with his kinky explanations. With some encouragement from a few other lovers in Anita's life she reluctantly agrees, and J. J. makes plans to fly into town for an experience that none of them will ever forget.

Review

This is the long awaited next short novella in the Anita Blake vampire hunter series. I love this series of books, and I was really looking forward to the next instalment. As is usual for Laurell her novella’s are based on one character in the series, that she want’s to develop further. This book focuses on Anita, Jason, JJ and Nathaniel particularly Jason and JJ’s relationship or more specifically their sexual relationship. Also the book left a few tantalising threads that can be developed further down the line, for example will Jason relocate to New York and will JJ kick her girlfriend “to the Curb”.

Some Anita Blake fans will not be happy with this book as it focus’s on sex and same sex relationships and is way too much for some readers (just look at the reviews on Amazon & Goodreads for example) but the blurb for the book makes it clear what the focus is to help readers be aware of what their going to be reading. Personally this isn’t an issue for me, as I find the way the author writes about it, ensures it isn’t just sex for gratuitous purposes. Within the sexual storylines the characters grow and develop and relationships alter. The best thing about a novella though, is that you can miss out reading it if you don’t like the sex, & it wont ruin the next book for you, all you’ll miss out on is the further development of Jason and JJ’s characters.

I would recommend any Anita Blake fan to read the book (as long as their no prude), if you don’t like the sex then don’t read it. For new readers looking for a new series of books to read, then don’t read this, I would suggest you start with the first book Guilty Pleasures. New readers really need to know where Anita comes from and how she comes to the current novella, to fully enjoy the Anita Blake experience.

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