Competition Winner!

Time to announce the winner of the contest!

I got Emily to help me decide, and we both agreed on the same person:

Llehn!

We loved the acrostic she wrote. Llehn, I'll be posting the books to you this week - sorry for the delay!

Night's Cold Kiss, by Tracey O'Hara

I'm a little bit behind on my reviews, folks, so I'm hoping to get a lot of them up for you over the next couple of weeks. I'm also going to add a couple more things to the site - review criteria, etc.

I'd read several reviews for this book before it came out, so I was so pleased to find a copy of my own when I was in Canada. Here's what the back cover says:

For centuries war raged between the humans and Aeternus vampires - until courageous efforts on both sides forged a fragile peace. But the rogue Necrodreniacs will never be controlled - addicted as they are to the death-high... and bloody chaos.

Since witnessing the murder of her mother, Antoinette Petrescu has burned with fiery hatred for the vampire race, even for Christian Laroque, the noble, dangerously handsome Aeternus who rescued her. Now an elite Venator, Antoinette must reluctantly accept Christian's help to achieve her vengeance - even as he plots to use the beautiful, unsuspecting warrior as bait to draw out the bloodthirsty dreniacs.

As you all should've guessed by now, I'm a big fan of vampire romance stories, so you won't be surprised that I liked this book.

This story has a great opening chapter - readers are pulled straight into Antoinette's daily life, as she stalks then fights with one of the evil Necrodrenics, or just dreniacs for short. It's clear she's good at her job of hunting them. We also meet Christian, who is watching the lair Antoinette is about to attack. He's passingly curious about her, and fate soon leads them to be working together. The two are very different, and sparks fly immediately - despite the fact that they are working towards the same goal, they have very different motivations.

To start with, I didn't really like Antoinette as a person - she's very prejudiced against vampires, and, even if she thinks she has good reason for it, I hate prejudice. Christian and his friends soon make her reconsider, though, and her initial resentment of Christian turns to a passion that makes for some quite interesting situations.

This is essentially a murder mystery. They know who the bad guy is - it's tracking him that's the problem, and working out where the other bits and pieces fit in to the story. Just as big a part of the story, though (if not more) is the relationship between Christian and Antoinette. While it was a bit predictable that they would get together, I didn't mind that - I like that in these books, it's why I read them, so it wasn't an issue for me. It annoyed me a bit how much Antoinette fought against the relationship. She gets angry too quickly, and still lets her rage and prejudice get in the way.

I liked the relationship Antoinette formed with Viktor, Christian's best friend - they get quite close, and she lets herself be normal with him, and enjoys his company. I wished she could give that easy acceptance to Christian, too.

The story was very enjoyable, but there was something about the writing that just got to me a little bit. Something about it just didn't quite seem to click for me, but it wasn't anywhere near enough for me to put the book down, and I'll definitely be picking up the sequel when it comes out. The book stands very well on it's own, so I'm curious about what will happen in the next book. There is a lot of unsettlement in the politics of Antoinette's world, so I'm hoping to read more about that, and see what becomes of some of their organisations after the revelations and events in NCK.

A good book for paranormal romance fans, although it is quite a dark story, I would definitely recommend this book. I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Ailsa's review policy (and other things)

Reviewing Books:

I'm happy to review most genres of books, although my favourites are urban fantasy, paranormal romance, fantasy, contemporary romance or historical. If it has some supernatural element to it, I will often be interested. I'm also very happy to read mystery stories. For the most up-to-date idea of what I'm reading, have a look at what I've reviewed recently, or my wish list on amazon (here). I accept both print and e-books, but print will be prioritised. I'm getting pickier just now about what I review, because I prefer to talk about books I've loved than books that just hit me as 'meh'. I've got a lot of books I've been buying for myself which I'm excited about, and I don't want to feel pressured to review other things over those ones. As I say above, I'm much more likely to be interested in something similar to those on my wishlist or what I've review recently.

Things I’ll try and talk about in a review:

Characters (whether they change over the book or not – they should); Plot (If it’s interesting, if it’s realistic in the world the author has built); Beginning (how quickly it gets going); Ending (how effective it is.)

Other Things That I Think Make a Good Book:

Characters: As I mentioned above, characters should change over a book. Sometimes this is more noticeable with a series, but there should always be something that’s clearly different at the end compared to the start.

If I care about the characters, that’s another good thing.

Beginning: Something that starts quickly, and gets me hooked quickly.

Ending: Are the main questions answered? I don’t mind a few things being left loose, but too many, and it’s not ok unless there’s a sequel.

Dialogue: If it seems natural, realistic.

Romance elements: Don’t make it happen too fast. I’m ok with a little bit of this, but I’m getting kind of fed up with it now.

Please note that a book can meet all of these criteria and I still won’t like it. The biggest thing that makes up a book review is opinion. Sometimes I hate books that meet these points, sometimes I love books that have nothing in common with the above list.

How I grade, on our 1-10 star system:

10/10 = absolutely fantastic, it ticks all the boxes for me, I’ll read it again and again, and take it to a desert island with me

5/10 = It was ok, but could have been a lot better. Didn’t really pull me in.

1/10 = Did not finish

Our Review Policies

Ailsa's review policy:
I'm happy to review most genres of books, although my favourites are urban fantasy, paranormal romance, fantasy and historical romance. If it has some supernatural element to it, I will often be interested. For the most up-to-date idea of what I'm reading, have a look at what I've reviewed recently, or my wish list on amazon (here). I accept both print and e-books, but print will be prioritised. Contact me at ailsa (dot) floyd (at) yahoo (dot) com 

Emily's Review Policy & Grading system

Charlaine Harris - Dead until Dark

So as a graduation treat i bought a load of books, one of which was Charlaine Harris' omnibus edition of her Sookie Stackhouse series. I opened the page of 'dead until dark' this morning and have just read the first book! Brilliant and such a fun read. Definitely a guilty pleasure to read. Although i imagine everyone in the entire universe has read these books already - i highly recommend them to all, especially vampire fans.

My only thing is the back said 'move over bella. sookie stackhouse is here' - its really really important to remember (especially twilight fans who believe this series is a twilight knockoff) that these books were published 2001 and have won awards etc. so my recommendation to twilight fans is don't go in judging the book - sit back, relax and enjoy the ride because this books is 'fun' and such a great read!

In My Mailbox 4: double edition!

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.

So, last week I was too busy, and the week before I only had one book, so there are a lot of books this week.

So, books I got in the past couple of weeks!

Definitely Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries #6) by Charlaine Harris - bought from my local bookshop

The Lion of Sennet (Second Sons #1) by Jennifer Fallon - from BookMooch

Lord of Shadows (Second Sons #3) by Jennifer Fallon - from BookMooch

Swallowing Darkness (Merry #7?) by Laurell K Hamilton - bought from Waterstones

Pride (Faythe #3) by Rachel Vincent - bought from Waterstones

Evermore by Alyson Noel - won from My Favourite Books

Cry Mercy by Toni Andrews - from BookMooch

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire - from BookMooch

Phew! Loads of great books there, I've had a great time reading this week. What about the rest of you? Get anything cool? What was your favourite?

Contest Reminder!

Just a reminder folks that today is the last day to enter our competition for One Foot in the Grave & Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost! We still only have a few entries, so you've a good chance of wining! Just get your entry in by midnight GMT tonight. All details here: contest info