Vampyres of Hollywood by Adrienne Barbeau and Michael Scott

A collaboration of two very talented authors, Adrienne Barbeau and Michael Scott, Vampyres of Hollywood brings us mystery, suspense, and quite a bit of horror.

The famous scream queen of Hollywood, Ovsanna Moore, is stunning, talented, and besides starring in several blockbuster horror films (and a few that went straight to DVD) she also runs her own production company. Oh, and she's also a 500 year old vampire who is also the CEO of the Hollywood Vampyres. So when three extremely gruesome deaths occur within two weeks in Hollywood, and all the victims can be tied to her, Osvanna has a serious problem. Especially since two of the victims were vampires.

Peter King is a Beverly Hills Police Detective who has already had his 15 minutes of fame. While he is talented at his job and knows a lot about the city he loves, he is unaware of the supernatural beings that flock to the city- and that a large majority of them also appear on screen. Assigned to the murders that were done by the killer, dubbed the "Cinema Slayer" by the media, King meets with Osvanna and the two join together to find the killer as they both have something to gain from solving these murders. Osvanna must protect her vampire legacy and production company while King simply wants to keep his beloved Beverly Hills murder free.

This novel is very cleverly done. Alternating chapters are told from Osvanna's point of view and then Peter's point of view. This keeps the suspense rolling as we see much more of the supernatural world during Osvanna's chapters and then the view of the murder mystery from Peter who sees it without the supernatural elements. The story is set in modern day Hollywood and the throwbacks to current shows, actors, and media stories are entertaining. I also love that the group of Vampyres of Hollywood are all famous actors, they give you hints as to who they are throughout the book, not really telling you their names until the end. Does anyone else think that Buster Keaton and Kirk Douglas could have been Vampires?

One warning I will give is that this book is in fact a horror novel. The murder scenes are extremely descriptive and gruesome, not for the faint of heart. The end battle scene, while incredibly entertaining and worthy of a blockbuster horror movie, is full of over the top violence and carnage, all described in detail. These scenes definitely make this a horror novel. That being said, the writing style of this book is excellent, the tone has definite changes as you alternate between the two main characters. The details of life in Hollywood as a star are realistic and exciting. The novel is quick paced with lots of Hollywood glamour, behind-the-scenes secrets, creepy undead creatures, and bloodthirsty back stabbing characters. Overall a great read and a story to lose yourself in!

Curse the Dawn by Karen Chance

In her fourth installment in the Take A Chance Series, Curse the Dawn, we once again find Cassie Palmer in a complicated mess that of course is not her fault. Although that really depends on who you ask. If you ask her, it definitely wasn't her fault.

Our favorite clairvoyant, recently turned Pythia, and official mate of Head Vampire Mircea is now facing her newly acquired job that she has had no training for, thanks to Agnes the previous Pythia, who left us suddenly in the last book. After an attempt to track Agnes down in the past by using her new skills as Pythia, Cassie realizes that she is on her own and must figure things out solo, all the while trying to stay alive as several parties are still wanting her dead.

While the Circle is still refusing to accept Cassie as Pythia, the Vampire Consul is working together (kinda) to create a case to the Circle that will allow them to make Cassie's position official. While Mircea is off attempting to make this happen, Cassie continually finds herself in dangerous and exciting situations as she runs from the people who want her dead; the Circle's Mages, rogue vampires, the self styled God Apollo (who incidentally is also the source of her power) and one very offended magical fashion designer. We also get to go with her as she rescues friends in need, attempts to ditch her Vampire bodyguards, and learns more about the ones she thought she could trust.

This was an excellent addition to this series! I was excited to see the author add new characters (there are a ton in this book) and bring back ones from the past. The plot was just as twisted and suspenseful as the last ones, and there were some great scenes with intense battles (a battle with flying ships in an alternate reality in downtown Vegas where the ships and people get thrown between the actual Vegas the alternate one, awesome!) and some great car chases on the mystical portal highways with a very agitated and larger than life Apollo chasing them!

A great series for those of you who are not afraid of science fiction, for these books explore a wide variety of elements; alternate worlds, time travel, demons, magic, and even a few things that I'm still not sure what they are. In addition to the romance lovers out there, you will find quite a bit of steamy scenes in here!

Finally, one of my favorite parts of these books in general is they are laugh out loud funny! Cassie is a clumsy, smart mouthed girl, who have the times ends of saving things by a series of unlucky and lucky accidents. If you are new to the series and want to read more about all the books, check out the descriptions from the author's website here.

The New Kid by Temple Matthews

Temple Matthews, a screenwriter of family focused TV shows and movies, introduces us to Will Hunter in his new novel, The New Kid . Will Hunter appears to be just another normal sixteen year old boy who's parents just can't seem to live in one place for too long. Transferring between five different schools within two years all over the country, Will has perfected the art of being the new kid in his high school and blending into the masses, drawing as little attention to himself as possible, so he can focus on his mission, which is in fact, demon hunting. Will is a third generation demon hunter, and like his father and grandfather before him, shares his secret with no one, not even his mother. However, this time around his routine starts to change, he finds himself letting people in on his world, the shy geek named Rudy, and the vibrant and strong Natalie, who ends up being a love interest as well for Will, and having a twin sister who was one of many teens in the area who have disappeared.

During the story we find out that Will's father was kidnapped in front of Will by a very large demon when Will was eight years old and was still unaware of his father's alter ego. Before his father was taken, he gave Will a coded book that he instructed was not to be opened until his thirteenth birthday. Young Will followed the instructions, and on his thirteenth birthday, everything changed. Will learned about his destiny and as puberty rolled in, found himself with new qualities such as supercharged hearing and strength, time bending speed, and a heightened sixth sense of intuition. Learning all he needed to know from the book left by his father, Will secretly trained and outfitted himself with all the tools necessary to successfully fight demons. Manipulating several elements in his life through the money he cleverly earned by creating and building the best selling video game Demonhunter, Will is able to move his mother and stepfather around the country to where ever he finds demon energy gathering. In this book we join him right after he has just moved to his fifth location, Harrisburg, Washington, in his hunt for the Dark Lord aka, the Devil.

When I encountered this book at Borders, I took it to be a story that was similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a supercharged teen hunting the evil paranormals in secret while trying to maintain a normal appearance in high school. Complete with the two sidekicks, Natalie and Rudy, and the oblivious mother, April. While the storyline was fairly cookie cutter, the strong and independent Will quickly grabbed me from the beginning and kept me reading. His morals shone through in his day to day fight between good and evil, his love for his mother, captive father, and friends being a fairly family oriented theme throughout the story and consistent with Matthews past works. Another fantastic element were the fight scenes, all written out step by step so you could really see Will in action, I feel the author was strong in his abilities to write these, perhaps due to the fact that he is a screenwriter. I also really enjoyed the author's descriptions of the "demonteens", innocents who succumbed to the Devil for material needs and became evil, you could just feel the hate and despair coming off the pages.

While I did enjoy the storyline and the characters, the writing style left some lingering doubts on whether I should recommend this book or not. At times it was very childish, some of the phrases outdated and over the top. Matthews also utilizes the third party narrator method which was lost on me at times. There were also crucial pieces to the plot that Matthews chose to reveal later in the story rather than earlier, that made things a little too unbelievable at times. For example Will constantly has excess amounts of money and extremely high tech equipment throughout the book, however we don't discover the source of his income until about halfway through. Will also has the ability to somehow design and build all these elite demon hunting tools yet the author never explains how Will has the skill and knowledge to achieve this.

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoyed the stories of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who read Young Adult Fiction, and who are looking for a fast and entertaining read. Just don't let the writing style throw you, the story really is much better than the writing eludes too. As of yet there have been no announcements for a sequel to this book, while it would be a great first book of a series, it also does a fairly good job of tying up all the story lines making it a solid stand alone novel. It is also a Borders exclusive and can only be purchased at Borders or Waldenbooks.

Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill

Author Chloe Neill introduces us to her Chicagoland Vampires Series with her debut novel Some Girls Bite, featuring newly turned vampire, now ex-graduate student, Merit, who is learning to deal with her newly undead status in the city of Chicago where humans were recently made aware of the vampires existence.

Our main character goes by her last name only, Merit, and is a very likable, kick ass, heroine. Due to circumstances surrounding her change, we quickly discover she is not like other newly turned vampires, and has the strength and skill of a much older vampire. In the beginning Merit tends to complain a lot, as she is now vampire she must give up all her plans for the future; graduate school and a career as a teacher. She vows to punish the vampire who changed her, even though part of her readily admits that he saved her life. After some confrontational scenes with the vampire Ethan Sullivan, we learn that he is a 400 year old vampire and head of his household, the Cadogan House, which is one of twelve vampire houses in the US. We also find out that there is a magnet like attraction between Ethan and Merit, one which she readily fights and he attempts to take advantage of, this storyline proves to be an intriguing unrequited romance throughout the story.

Merit is the daughter of Joshua Merit, a self made man in the new money category who cares very little for his rebellious daughter who refuses to cower to his whims in exchange for her inheritance. Merit's grandfather, retired cop and a man with little needs, is Merit's true parent and confidant, and ends up being a fairly crucial component in the story and more aware of his surroundings than Merit ever could have imagined. Also alongside Merit is her best friend and roommate, Mallory, who at first appears to be the necessary sidekick character, there to help Merit understand her new life as a vampire and fill in the blanks for us readers who are also learning what it means to be a vampire in Neill's world, something which Mallory readily studied and researched once the announcement was made that vampires are in fact real. As the story develops we find out that Mallory has other qualities as well that will prove to be attributes that will keep her busy in Merit's new life and make her crucial to future books. Catcher is a man met through Merit's grandfather, an attractive guy who has some paranormal qualities about him. When Merit first meets him there's an implication that he may be a romantic interest, however this is quickly changed as we find he is meant for Mallory. This match gives both of them a bigger storyline than I initially thought they would have.

This book has many elements to it, since it is the first book in a series, it spends quite a bit of time setting the scene and explaining the characters, and does so in a way that is captivating and exciting. There is family drama, jealous vampires, romance, and great fight scenes. Another large component of the book is mystery. The reason that Merit was turned in the first place was due to the fact that she was attacked and nearly killed, Ethan simply had to turn her in order to save her. After her change we find out someone is still trying to kill her. This angle gives way to the main plot of the story which I found to be hooking, and it kept me reading well into the night.

Overall I actually really enjoyed this book. The cover and title gave it a look that screamed young adult genre to me, however after reading the cover I discovered it was in the paranormal romance genre. Merit was a strong character with some funny lines and entertaining mood swings, holding my attention as she fought with the life she thought she would have, and her new life that she didn't ask for but now has to succumb too. The lead male vampire character, Ethan Sullivan, was alluring and mysterious even though his old style mannerisms were frustrating at times. I'm still not sure how I feel about him as the leading romantic interest, but am definitely excited to see how he plays out in the sequel. One really great quality of this book were the fight scenes, the author did a amazing job of describing them, and I found them much more entertaining than action scenes I have read in other series.

I would recommend this book to readers who love following paranormal series, who are fans of YA paranormal books, and who love a book that has a female heroine learning to fill her too big shoes. I am looking forward to the continuation of the series in Friday Night Bites the second book in Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Vampire Series, scheduled to come out in early October of 2009.

Hello all! I am new to the world of blogging but feel I have things to share and feel this may be the perfect way. Basically, my number one passion is reading. I will read anything and everything and always pass along good books to good friends. Lately I have heard from many that I am their go to person when looking for a reading suggestion. So much in fact, I thought I'd start suggesting to more people. While I do read all genres, I have been following the trend in paranormal reading and have read just about every series out there! While I am still figuring out how to do the blogging thing, I plan on getting a list of all the books I have read online for people to view, and update my blog with my views on my latest reads. If there is a book that you are wondering about reading or curious as to what you should read, leave a comment, I'll see what I can do for you! Also, please leave suggestions on great books to read, I am always looking for my next great read! Thanks!