The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening Book Review

The Awakening by L.J. Smith

From Goodreads: A Love Triangle of Unspeakable Horror...Elena
Searching for the ultimate thrill, she vowed to have Stefan.

Stefan
Haunted by his tragic past, he struggled to resist her passion.

Damon
Driven by revenge, he hunted the brother who betrayed him.

The terrifying story of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.

My thoughts:

I LOVE the TV series The Vampire Diaries.  I didn't think I would like it, but it has very good writers who are never predictable.  Plus, the characters are funny and relatable...and it has hot men.  But, I digress... 

 Because I liked the show so much, I thought I would give the book a try.  Well, the book was awful.  It was published originally in 1991, and so I imagine it was written in the late 80s.  It felt to me like what stereotypical Young Adult genre book would have been like back then. Elena is a spoiled-rich blonde and the queen of the school.  Literally, she calls herself the queen of the school to others, and only wants Stefan because he is the only boy to ever not look at her when he passes her in the hall.  This sparks her interest in Stefan.  It was very immature and petty.  Caroline has been reduced to a petty rival who wants to be queen, and thus tries to date Stefan first to embarrass Elena and assert her dominance. There was no sympathy for Elena, and no connection on my part.  To be truthful, I don't even know if you could take my review to heart because I skipped over large chunks of the book because I didn't like the characters, and I don't really like Stefan (in the TV series).  Sorry *blushing*, but I'm a Delena fan all the way. Maybe I'm just biased, but I did enjoy one scene between Damon and Elena because Elena actually stood her ground with Damon, and you can just tell they have chemistry.  But seriously, all shipping aside, the book felt like it could have had potential, but fell flat due to the unrelatable characters.  

The Twelve Clues of Christmas Review

The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen

From Goodreads: On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me—well, actually, my true love, Darcy O’Mara, is spending a feliz navidad tramping around South America. Meanwhile, Mummy is holed up in a tiny village called Tiddleton-under-Lovey with that droll Noel Coward! And I’m snowed in at Castle Rannoch with my bumbling brother, Binky, and sourpuss sister-in-law, Fig. 

So it’s a miracle when I contrive to land a position as hostess to a posh holiday party in Tiddleton. The village is like something out of A Christmas Carol! But no sooner have I arrived than a neighborhood nuisance, a fellow named Freddie falls out of a tree, dead…. Dickensian, indeed.

Freddie’s merely a stocking stuffer. On my second day in town, another so-called accident turns up another mincemeat pie—and yet another on my third. The village is buzzing that a recent prison break could have something to do with it… that, or a long-standing witch’s curse. I’m not so sure. But after Darcy shows up beneath the mistletoe, anything could be possible in this wicked wonderland.

My Thoughts:

First, I have to say that I started reading Rhys Bowen about a year ago, and I really enjoy her writing. I will recommend this series to people who like light-hearted, comical mysteries.  I have not read any other works from this author but I do know she has other series. This is the sixth book of Her Royal Spyness Mysteries.  The main character, Georgiana, is a woman who is in line for the English throne but far removed (35th in line as of this book). I think it's the fact that she does have royal English blood makes her fascinating, but also being that she is so far removed from the throne makes Georgiana relatable to everyday people.  This series takes place in the 1930s, so it has a nice historical flare to it.  I, personally, enjoy a good historical novel now and then and it's interesting to learn about different times than our own. The reason I love this series so much is because there is a little bit of everything: mystery, romance, and humor.  Georgie, as she is sometimes called, is a quirky girl with some flare.  She doesn't seem to take herself too seriously, always living on the edge of poverty, despite being royal. Her family expects her to marry a royal prince by now, and so they have cut off her funds.  This leads Georgie to make all sorts of interesting decisions that sometimes get her into trouble, and always involves a murder mystery. 

In this installment, Georgiana takes a position as a hostess in order to get away from her awful sister-in-law and her family in Scotland over the Christmas season.  At the very best, she hopes that her Christmas will be bearable, but gets a whole lot more than she bargains for! Overall, I enjoyed this book and as always the author's prose makes me laugh out loud at some points.  The mystery was actually hard to figure out, and I enjoyed that.  At some parts the book dragged, but I do know that every year I look forward to a new release in this series.  Read this book if you want to laugh :) 

Finally I'm Back

After a brief six month hiatus of running this book blog, I can finally say that my finals and classes are done for good!! All I have left to do is my externship and graduation in May.  Sigh* Such a relief. I barely had time to breathe, let alone any hobbies I might have once enjoyed. Now that my classes are done, and it's Christmas break, I can finally start reading all the "to be read" books on my Goodreads list. First trip to the Library today since forever and these are what I'm intending on picking up:

A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires #1) by Rachel Caine


Wooo I'm off !!