The End of the World: Sometime

Ah, it's been longer than I had wanted! I neglected to post on Thursday until today! Well, this post isn't going to excite you much. I am only here to say that the last book in the series I have been blogging on is comin out this year, most likely. L.J. Smith's Strange Fate is the last book in the Night World series. A wonderful series by the same author of The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle.

The release date is unknown, but it will be sometime this year, according to many sources. L.J. is not yet finished with the book, but it's supposed to be a very long book. One of the characters is a guy named Kierlin, but i'm not sure what the book is about, other then the conclusion to the end of the world ordeal that the last book was about. I'll keep you guys updated as I learn information.

This is the Amazon.com link to the Fan Guide for the Night World series.
Click here!

The Seach For the Wild Power Pt. 3

As the last full book in the Night World series, I expected Book 3 to be good; even the nest so far. My expectations have been blown, and I am completely intoxicated by the mystery surrounding the searches for the wild powers. The last novel in Book 3, Witchlight, is not the best book, but a really good one. It follows a team of night people from Circle Daybreak as the search for the Witch Child, a legendary witch who will unite the witches and shape shifters for the coming of the end of the world.

The leader of this team is Raksha Keller, only known by her last name, a shape shifting panther. She is cool and always calm, and she works extremely hard to shield her emotions. Nissa is a vampire, only eighteen, but very strong. She is the getaway driver, and she is an almanac of information. Winnie is a witch whose main defense orange witch energy, but she doesn't pack quite as much of a blow as the others. The team has been assigned but circle daybreak, and the rest of the witches after they seceded from the Night World, to find the Witch child.

Her name is Iliana, and they find her in the mall, shopping with her friends. Iliana is unaware of her witch heritage, and is intrigued when a guy comes up and talks to her in the mall. This guy, turns out to be a shape shifter working for the vampires to destroy the world. He is a dragon. Dragons have been sleeping in the earth for thousands of years after the witches took control of the world. There is only one family left in the world that descends from a dragon, and they are the 'king' and 'queen' of the shape shifters. Keller realizes that this just complicated things a little.

After a fight to save Iliana in the mall, Keller and her team plus a strange boy who tried to help her, get Iliana to a safe place. The boy stopped Keller from killing the dragon, because it would've killed her, too. At first, Keller is furious, but she calms down once Iliana is taken to safety. They are met by Grandma Harman, the Crone of all the witches. She greets Iliana as her own great grandniece, and tells her of her connection to the end of the world. She is supposed to marry the son of the first house of shape shifters, the prince if you will, and unite them against the vampires.  This is something Iliana is not up for.

The twist of this little meeting is when they find out who Galen really is. But, soon after they decide what to do, they are attacked by the dragon and his evil posse. As Keller fights to save Iliana, Grandma Harman and Galen, she is crushed under the falling building. It’s not the end for her; there isn’t protection for the three important night people, though, after the house falls. Keller will have to fight the dragon and all of its forms in order to fend him off and keep Iliana safe for her duty to be fulfilled.

RED’S ALL STAR REVIEW: for the last book out in the series, I give a slid 3 ½ out of 5. The drama is incredible and I love the fight scene. There isn’t as much suspense, which may have contributed to why it wasn’t my favorite, but it was very good.

MASS APPEAL: Readers for slight mystery, action and drama who don’t mind a background filled with supernatural creatures and the ‘end of the world’ drama will enjoy this book, and this series. Go back and read the whole series if you haven’t already.  

 Click here! for Book 3 in the Night World series.(Amazon.com)

The Search For the Wild Power Pt. 2

                In the last novel, Huntress, L.J. Smith created a setting with suspense, thrills and supernatural drama galore. But, in the next book of the Night World series, Smith takes the fight against the end of the world to a medieval time frame. No, we aren’t going back in time, only to a secret Night World castle in the mountains of Washington. In Black Dawn, there is a secret place only known to Night World people where they still embrace the medieval way of life, including the enslavement of humans.

                Maggie Neely is shocked when the police tell her that her brother is missing. She immediately knows it has something to do with his girlfriend, Sylvia Weald. When she goes to see Sylvia, she leans that Sylvia’s a witch and did something to her brother. When she pushes Sylvia too far, she is knocked out and awakes in the mountains having been sold into slavery to the night people. In the course of one night, Maggie’s life is changed forever.

                She wakes up in a locked cart with three other girls. Jeanne is a red-head, and it shows in her personality. She has been a slave for years and has been captured after escaping, again. She thinks of herself only, because that’s how it is in the castle with the night people. P.J. is a young girl, ten I think, and she is just very scared. She is constantly being toted around by the other girls. The last girl is unconscious. She is called Cady, and she is taken care of by Maggie because Jeanne wanted to leave her behind.

                As they create a plan and escape together, Maggie takes off with Cady. But, they are quickly tracked by the slave trader, Gavin and Bern. But, just as they are about to be taken, a blue lightning bolt strikes and kills Bern, and sends Gavin running off. The blue lightning comes from a boy about Maggie’s age. The Wild Power of the vampires, Prince Delos Redfern. Yes, he’s the prince of the castle. Despite saying that he didn’t save her, he helps her over and over, giving them water and sending a search party away.

                Even Delos can’t deny that he understands Maggie, and her point of view on what goes on in the castle. It takes a while to get him to admit it, and even more time to convince others to join their side, but somehow Maggie, who is the prophesized Deliverer of the Slaves, changes the minds of the more important people in the story. But, it may be too late to save Delos, the Slaves and herself. She’ll have to find the strength somehow.

RED’S ALLSTAR REVIEW: 3 ¾ out of 5. There is less action than huntress, but I love the scenes between Maggie and Delos. The struggle he has of staying away from her when she’s trying to pull him in. He’s so stubborn, it’s incredible. I loved it!

MASS APPEAL: Less action, more drama. More romance, same amount, if not more, suspense. Entertaining without getting too intense or romantic. Another great supernatural thriller from Smith. 

 Click here! for Book 3 in the Night World series.(Amazon.com)

The Search For the Wild Power Pt. 1

And so, the quest begins . . . If you read book 2 of L.J. Smith's Night World series, which i'm sure you did, you would know that four wild powers are rising up and will help prevent the end of the modern world. Any one dies or refuses to help, and darkness triumphs. But, the witch circle, Circle Daybreak, is trying to get the wild powers on their side to help save the humans from extinction and the strong vampires race is trying to kill them.

In the opening chapter, we see the main character in the first novel of Book 3, Huntress, Jez Redfern hunting humans with her San Fransisco gang of vampires. But Jez realizes a secret that is so dark, it could kill her and her entire family. Jez Redfern is half-human. A half-breed has never been created before, and in the eyes of her former vampire family, she is a freak; vermin who needs to be killed. This sudden realization makes her go into hiding.

One year later, Jez is living with her mother's human family, undetected. She breaks all the rules and is on the verge of being kicked out when Hugh Davis, a human and wakened old soul, comes to her from Circle Daybreak. They want her to go back to her gang, which she left behind, and find out what they know about the wild powers. Jez agrees to do it, despite Hugh's plees otherwise, and the next day she ditches her cousin Claire at school and goes to her old gang's new leader.

The new leader, Morgead Blackthorn, is ruthless, rude and hates humans. Or so Jez thinks when she comes back. But they find a connection that brings them closer, especially when their lives are put in danger. Morgead has also filmed the blue fire of the wild power in San Fransisco, but they don't know who it is. Jez thinks she finds out when she, Hugh and Claire get into major trouble at the train station.

There are similarities between the foretold wild power and Jez's friends. Hugh and Claire are both seventeen, like the wild power. They were at or saw all the scenes where the power's blue fire was displayed, and they are both human, which one wild power is supposed to be. Things get pretty hectic when the vampires get involved and Jez tells Morgead she's human and when they all get kidnapped. It's a crazy and wild ride and I loved every second.

RED' S ALL STAR REVIEW: 4 out of 5 stars right off thre bat in this book! I have a feeling this is going to be one very good book. Possibly the best in the series so far? I hope so.

MASS APPEAL: This book is for supernatural fans who enjoy intense action scenes frequently and a good suspense about who the wild power really is. You will be surprised.

 Click here! for Book 3 in the Night World series.

Battle of the Souls

                There are so many things that I could say about L.J. Smith’s writing. Author of The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle and my personal favorite, the Night World series, she has a unique talent to tell stories of the supernatural. Speaking of the Night World series, I am almost halfway through my blog series on it. The next novel in Book 2 is Soulmate, and based on the title, I bet you can guess what it’s about. Yes, it’s about two people with connections to the Night World who find each other as soulmates.

                Thierry Descourdes is a Lord of the Night World. Being the second made vampire in history has had its perks for Thierry, a large mansion in Las Vegas, a flock of bodyguards and enough resources to find anyone on earth.  But there is only one he wants to find. He has looked for her for each generation since they first met thousands of years ago. His soulmate. He never even learned her name the first time they met, but he said he find her.

                In a small town in Montana, Hannah Snow walks into a therapy sessions unaware of what will happen. The first time, she is almost attacked by a werewolf, and the next time she goes to therapy, she finds herself under hypnosis. Under this, she sees her first life when her name was Hana of the Three Rivers and when she first saw the boy with the soft eyes that her tribe called a demon. When she tried to set him free, and thought she would never see him again.

                But, they were destined to meet again someday. When Thierry shows up on Hannah’s doorstep, Hannah remembers the truth about what he is, a vampire, what he is to her, her soulmate, and what he’s done to her. Apparently he’s a killer. The boy with the lost brown eyes has killed her in a=all her lives before she turns seventeen. What scares Hannah is that her birthday is in a few days. Her seventeenth birthday.

                Hannah’s situation gets dangerous and complicated as her relationship with Thierry and a strange woman named Maya increase. With the visions of her past haunting her dreams and her therapy sessions, Hannah recalls the real truth bit by bit. But it may be too late when she pieces it all together. Well-written again from L.J. Smith, and a classic tale of the battle between good and evil in one girl’s life.

RED’S ALL STAR REVIEW: 4 out of 5. Best of Book 2 in my opinion. Not too much action, a bit at the end and various parts in the middle, but a ton on mystery and suspense.

MASS APPEAL: Supernatural, mystery and suspense thriller book seekers will love, especially those with a love for reincarnated cave princesses or blood thirsty vampires. But please, read the whole series before you start this book, or it won’t make much sense. 

Buy Book 2 on Amazon. Click here!

You Can't Choose To Be A Monster

We have so many stories about the Vampire in modern society. Many things fascinate us about them, whether it’s super strength or their senses or, most likely, immortality. There is so much that appeals about being a vampire. But, some people don't believe in this, and some even reject this. These people are vampire hunters, and the next novel in L.J. Smith's Night World series, The Chosen, is about a vampire hunter.

Rashel Jordan's mother was killed in front of her by a vampire when she was just a kid. Ever since she has vowed to kill vampires wherever she is. She has bounced around in the foster system, going from family to family who don't really care about her. Her real family is a group of vampire hunters in her current city, Boston. She is famous in the Northeast for her kills, earning her the nickname Rashel the Cat. The Cat is known by Night people and feared by many.

Quinn is the opposite of Rashel. Quinn is one of, if not the, most feared vampire in the entire Night World. He is ruthless, hates humans and night people, and he has no mercy. His eyes are described as black with a gaze of ice that could strike you dead by just looking at them. He was turned in the sixteen hundreds by Hunter Redfern, and serves as his only male heir. He has come back to Boston, his original town, and has no idea what he'll get into.

Rashel is out hunting one night with her pack. They run into a few vampires, which are easily taken care of by Rashel. One is taken back to their basement and chained up with wooden stocks. That vampire turns out to be Quinn. They pack wants to torture him for information, but Rashel just wants to kill him and get it over with. She goes down there and gets ready to dispatch him, but as she's ready, he wakes up.

Staring up at her telling her to kill him does something to Rashel. She doesn't want to kill him. Everything in her tells her to, but as she talks more to him, she wants to kill him less. But, Quinn's tells her that if she doesn't kill him, he'll kill her. Rashel can tell that he completely means it. This is only the first few chapters, and it keeps getting better. By now, you should be familiar with the things that happen in this book. And a lot of things happen.

RED'S ALL STAR REVIEW: 3 3/4 stars out of 5. A lot of action, some of everything else mixed in as well. There are such lovable characters, like Rashel because she's strong and unafraid, and Quinn because he's so damaged and tries to be so tough.

MASS APPEAL: Same as the others, but more action thrills and less romance. 

Buy Book 2 on Amazon. Click here!

When Angels Go Dark

So far, in the best-selling series by L.J. Smith, author of the Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle, we have seen a dying human girl turned into a vampire, three renegade vampire princesses solve a murder and two witch cousins in a deadly fight over a human boy.  In the next book in the Night World series by L.J. Smith, the action and violence are ramped up a bit. The first novel in the second book is called Dark Angel, and for good reason. The main character Gillian is in for quite an experience in the first chapter.

Gillian, while walking home from school, hears a kid crying in the woods. Gillian, a caring person by nature, goes in to try and find this kid and help them. But, instead of a kid, Gillian finds an icy cold creek and by accident, she slips in. Being the middle of winter, Gillian in frozen by the water and slowly starts to fade away. In the woods that day, Gillian Lennox dies. But, she doesn’t quite get to the other side, and an angel comes and sweeps her back to earth.

Angel, a young boy who only Gillian can see, is her guardian angel and is there to protect her and help her through her problems. Angel seems to be the only one to understand her, making her popular at school and giving her confidence. But, he’s not the only one that understands Gillian, her neighbor and crush for years, David Blackburn seems to as well. But, David has a girlfriend and Tanya isn’t about to let David go.

Angel tells Gillian to go and see Tanya, which she does, and they talk about David. Gillian gets Tanya to reveal that she was cheating on David and that she started rumors about Gillian. What she doesn’t expect is that David is right there and hears everything. David also heard Gillian give Tanya a second chance to be good to David, without her saying anything to him. David loves how sweet Gillian is, and now that he and Tanya are done, he can be with her.

But, Tanya is furious at Gillian. She blames her for the breakup and is willing to destroy David and Gillian’s lives in order to pay them back. But, Angel has a plan to save Gillian and David, but it involves magic, dangerous magic that could be harmful to Tanya. It’s scary what Tanya has in mind, to an extent. She is hell-bent on completely ruining David’s life and she doesn’t care about it. The end isn’t as climactic as some of the others. There is no fight scene or anything, but it’s a great story with great characters.

RED’S ALL STAR REVIEW: 3 out of 5 stars. I am an action junkie, myself, so I like a good fight scene or two. There wasn’t any fight scene, but there was a lot of drama and attempts at emotional sympathy for the main characters. I liked the book, but it wasn’t my favorite, but brownie points for a happy ending.

MASS APPEAL: There aren’t vampires or werewolves really, just three witches and a lot of humans, but it’s still good. The witchcraft is extremely exciting in this book compared to Spellbinder where it was all love potions.

Buy Book 2 on Amazon. Click here!

A Master of Spells

There are many things in L.J. Smith’s series, Night World that would appeal to modern teens. It has gorgeous vampires and thrilling fight scenes (more so later on) and, for the girls, some romance. But, my favorite thing about the series aren’t the vampires or the romance scenes, it’s the witches. The next novel in the series is Book 1’s Spellbinder, which takes place in the heat of Las Vegas and surrounds a family of witch royalty.

The Harman witches are treated like royalty, at least. Their name, meaning Hearth-woman, makes them a direct female descendant from the greatest witch of all time, Hellewise Hearth-Woman. The Crone of the witches is a Harman witch, and her two granddaughters are the last to Harman girls left alive. Blaise and Thea Harman, who we met briefly in Secret Vampire, are back, have grown up like sisters. Even though they are cousins, they both lost their parents and have lived together forever it seems like.

The reason they are is Las Vegas is because they are in trouble. They have been expelled from their old school because Blaise did something bad, and Thea stood by her. This is their last chance to be good or they’ll be sent to the convent, a place that no one seems to like even thinking of. The witches believe that if their grandma, and the crone of witches, can’t straighten them up, no one ever will. But, Blaise hasn’t learned her lesson yet, and she’s ready for destruction again.

What Blaise loves is making human boys fall madly in love with her via charms and spells that she illegally creates, and then destroying their lives. Thea doesn’t want Blaise to keep doing it, especially when Blaise sets her eyes on Eric Ross, a sweet boy who saved Thea’s life on her first day and with who she has a strange connection. Blaise gives Thea the choice of standing aside and letting Blaise work her magic, or doing some magic on Eric herself.

For Eric’s own safety, Thea pretends to follow in Blaise’s footsteps, even going to Homecoming with him. But it turns out a disaster, and when they go somewhere more private, sparks start to fly. But it’s too dangerous for Thea and Eric, and if Blaise finds out about her and Eric, he’s dead. This is a thriller with a lot of emotional highs and lows. So many things just go wrong that you want to go crazy, but it gets better in the end, somehow.

RED’S ALL STAR REVIEW: 4 out of 5 stars. Personally, my favorite out of the three novels in the first book, but it is also written with clear details. I feel I can relate to it more and therefore I enjoyed it more.

MASS APPEAL: Same as before, but more romance and more scary gory detail, especially when you get to talking about Randy, Kevin and Suzanne. There is action, there is romance, there is supernatural feats. This one will be enjoyed. Guarantee. 

Get Book 1 on Amazon. Click here!

The Darkness Within

                As you may have noticed, my 'Non-fiction Saturday' was non-existent yesterday, and for good reason. I have mentioned I am working on a major series right now, and I won't resume the Saturday blogs until I am finished. I am working on L.J. Smith's Night World series, book 1 at the present time. The second novel in book 1 is called Daughters of Darkness, and for good reason.

                Three teens that are part of the most important vampire family in the Night World have run away from the Convent. They are not welcomed by a few stupid guys in town; they come to their new home to find their great-aunt has been staked, and some of her animals, mutilated. The girls are worried that something doesn't want them there, but they want to know who killed Aunt Opal.

                The three girls are Rowan, 19, Kestrel, 17, and Jade, 16, Redfern. Each of them has an extremely different personality. Rowan is smart, gentle and wise. She always knows what to say to make the situation more comfortable. Kestrel is sharp, wild and Fierce with the mind of a true Night person. Jade, however, is sweet and charming and she loves animals, even though she drinks their blood.

                The other main character is Mary-Lynnette Carter, a seventeen year old girl in the small town of Briar creek, where the sisters move into. Mary-Lynnette is suspicious of the girls at first, and while snooping on them with her brother Mark, who's in love with Jade, they catch the girls while they are feeding in the woods. There are only three choices for the Redfern girls: kill Mary-Lynnette and Mark, which Jade doesn't want, make them forget everything, which Rowan knows can’t happen, or do a blood-tie ceremony so they have to keep the secret of the sisters.

                While all of this is happening, Ash Redfern, their brother who you may recognize from the first novel, has been assigned to find them and bring them back. The only problem is that Mary-Lynnette has already met Ash, and it didn't go well; maybe too well. What happens in the woods, unfortunately, doesn't stay in the woods, but it becomes a deadly alignment that fuels a fire with s rouge night person with a malicious idea for the Redfern family and Mary-Lynnette.

RED'S ALL STAR REVIEW: 3 1/2 stars out of 5. I liked this one better because it had a mystery aspect and a catch-a-killer mentality that I enjoyed. Whereas the first novel was more a two way drama of right and wrong, this is a thrilling tale of how deadly the night world and all the members are.

MASS APPEAL: Same as the first novel; supernatural book fans, any fans of the Vampire Diaries, also by the wonderful L.J. Smith, or any mystery book fans who don't mind some fang action. 

Buy book 1 on Amazon, Click here!

Creatures of the Night

First off, Happy New Year!! Now, to the books: About two years ago, a new show came on the WB that seemed to put the teenage community at buzz. The series was The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith. Unfortunately, I am not going to blog about the series now, however, when reading the books along with watching the series faithfully, I realized what a wonderful author L.J. Smith is. So, I came to reading more of her material, and that is what I am going to be blogging on for the next two weeks or more.

The series I am looking at in particular is the Night World series, where a secret society of vampires, shape shifters and witches hide from humans. In Book 1 of the series, there are three separate novels which I will blog about separately. So the first story in the Night World series is called Secret Vampire. In this story, a sixteen year old girl named Poppy North wakes up on the first day of summer vacation to learn that she has a terminal cancer.

She and her best friend, James Rasmussen, look into the options for treatment, and discover that there really aren’t any. But, there is a way for Poppy to live, but it means she has to leave everything behind. You see, James is a vampire; more specifically he is lamia, who are vampires that are born and can grow up. James can turn Poppy into a vampire and cure her, but she would have to leave everything and she would be sixteen forever.

What Poppy doesn’t realize at first is the danger of this. Not only could she die in the process, but turning humans into vampires in illegal in the Night World, and the penalty for it is death to both people. So, even if Poppy makes it through, she would have to run and fight forever as well. It is also strictly illegal for any Night people to fall in love or marry a human, so James cannot use that as an excuse for turning her, even if it might be true . . .

This is a great vampire story, of course, now that our great nation is so obsessed with them. The trio of Poppy, James and Phillip, Poppy’s twin brother, create a huge mess of hatred and friendship before they realize what’s important. Add in James’ crazy cousin Ash Redfern, and you have quite a lot of trouble, but it ends up well. One thing I love about this series is that the characters bleed into the other books, so you are likely to see James, Poppy and Ash again in another book.

RED’S ALL STAR RATING: 3 out of 5 stars.

MASS APPEAL: Supernatural lovers will die for this book (no pun intended). Where a lot of other authors fall short in actual writing ability by covering up with crazy stories, L.J. Smith stands out by not sucking (again, not intended) at all. You’re really going to sink your teeth into this one (wow . . . really?). Sorry, can’t help myself.

This is the link to Amazon for Book 1: Click here!