Great Reads

I haven't posted about anything I've read for ages, but I really have to say I'm loving Kresley Cole's 'A Hunger Like No Other.' The characters are so different - well unless we're generalizing I will say the hero (Lachlain) is tortured. The heroine (Emmaline) is totally NOT kick-ass (yes, you heard right! Though I love kick ass, on this occasion her fear is skilfully woven through the storyline). I think what I like the most about this book is that Emmaline doesn't want to be with Lachlain, while he most definitely wants to be with her. Makes for some great conflict. (5 stars)

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A mythic warrior who'll stop at nothing to possess her....
After enduring years of torture from the vampire horde, Lachlain MacRieve, leader of the Lykae Clan, is enraged to find the predestined mate he's waited millennia for is a vampire. Or partly one. This Emmaline is a small, ethereal half Valkyrie/half vampire, who somehow begins to soothe the fury burning within him.
A vampire captured by her wildest fantasy....
Sheltered Emmaline Troy finally sets out to uncover the truth about her deceased parents - until a powerful Lykae claims her as his mate and forces her back to his ancestral Scottish castle. There, her fear of the Lykae - and their notorious dark desires - ebbs as he begins a slow, wicked seduction to sate her own dark cravings.
An all-consuming desire....
Yet when an ancient evil from her past resurfaces, will their desire deepen into a love that can bring a proud warrior to his knees and turn a gentle beauty into the fighter she was born to be?

Although I had the Charlaine Harris series of books well before the DVD's, I've watched 3 seasons of True Blood before deciding to begin my reading marathon and starting with book 1: Dead Until Dark.  It's made me realize (at least so far) how true to the books True Blood has stayed, but I am kind of wishing I'd read first and then watched the DVD's. It does make for some interesting research though. (3.5 stars)

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Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much - not because she's not pretty - she's a very cute bubbly blonde - or not interested in a social life. She really is...but Sookie's got a bit of a disability. She can read minds.And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill: he's tall, he's dark and he's handsome - and Sookie can't 'hear' a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she'sbeen waiting all her life for. But Bill has a disability of his own: he's fussy about his food, he doesn't like suntans, and he's never around during the day....Yep, Bill's a vampire.
Worse than that, he hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, with a reputation for trouble - of the murderous kind. And then one of Sookie's colleagues at the bar is killed, and it's beginning to look like Sookie might be the next victim.... 

 This is book 8 in JR Ward's, Black Dagger Brotherhood. She's an incredible writer and I couldn't wait to read John Matthew's pov. I really enjoyed it, but I have to say I found her earlier books more romantic and these later ones much darker. Not sure why, but I found myself enjoying the romance better. Totally adored Dark Lover, still one of my all time favorite reads. Still, an amazing book by an amazing author (4 stars)

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In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there’s a deadly war raging between vampires and their slayers. And there exists a secret band of brothers like no other - vampire warriors, defenders of their race…John Matthew has been through his vampire transition and taken to the life of the Brotherhood with a vengeance, but he still can’t shake the nightmare of his past and is unsure of his future as a warrior hero. He’s made a promise to honour the Brotherhood and their fight with the slayers at all costs, until the love of his life is kidnapped and he is forced to make a choice that could change his life and the Brotherhood’s forever.