Book 48-Draculas by J.A Konrath, Blake Crouch,Jeff Strand and F. Paul Wilson

Wow...that's all I have to say. Wow! This book was freaking amazing!!! An absolute smorgasbord of blood, guts and all out mayhem. What a change from the usual horror novel writing.

Draculas was the effort of 4 horror novelists: My personal favorite J.A Konrath, along Jeff Strand, Blake Crouch and F. Paul Wilson. These 4 put together create a masterpiece of a vampire book. We aren't in Forks Washington anymore people, there are no sparkly vampires here. No! We are in the Blessed Crucifixion hospital, where it all begins.

Mortimer Moorecook, a retired wall street tycoon, is dieing of cancer. He is a millionaire with money to spare, and he hears of a strange skull found in a Romanian farmers field. The skull has baffled researchers and the rumor is that it is a vampire skull. Mortimer is trying to beat death, and pays millions to have the skull shipped to him. He hires Shanna an anthropologist to look at the skull and tell him if it is in fact a vampire skull.

The day comes that Mortimers investment comes to his home via Fed Ex. Shanna and him are looking at the skull and trying to figure out if it is a fake. Mortimer takes the skull and clamps it on his neck...and all freaking hell breaks loose.

The book doesn't have all that much in depth to it. It's not going to give you some life long lesson to live by (besides stay the heck away from people with REALLY big sharp teeth), but it will churn your guts, and make you wince. The introduction states "If you are easily disturbed, have a weak stomach, or are prone to nightmares, stop reading right now. There are no sexy teen hearthrobs herein"

You have been warned.

Now come on, who wouldn't want to read a book with those words in the introduction?!?!

I can't say enough about how super the gore factor is in this book. It's is all about the blood, brain matter, balloon animals made out of intestines (SWWEEET!!) and an 8 month old fetus chewing it's way out of it's mothers belly (I will say it again SWWEEET!!!).

You can download the first few chapter here via amazon: http://www.amazon.com/DRACULAS-Chapters-Upcoming-Release-ebook/dp/B0042ANZBU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AZC9TZ4UC9CFC&s=digital-text&qid=1286642937&sr=1-2. This is a teaser trailer for the book. Or you can purchase the entire book (which I so recommend) here: http://www.amazon.com/DRACULAS-Novel-Terror-ebook/dp/B0042AMD2M

If you haven't been made all "froofy poofy" by nice vampires like Edward Cullen, and can handle a whole lot of blood and guts (or if you're like me and relish in it) then Draculas is the book for you to read. I can see it becoming a classic in vampire literature.

Here's to you J.A Konrath, Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand and F. Paul Wilson!!! You have brought the scare factor back to the vampire!

I have no idea what my next book will be...I think I'm going to sit and wallow in the greatness of Draculas.

Book 47-The Hearts Filthy Lesson by Sheldon L'Henaff

Ok first of all I have to say this book is by a co-worker friend of mine. Sheldon is part of the team where I work here in Edmonton Ab. He has been working on his writing career for a few years now and published his first novel "Drowned World" a year or so ago.

The books he writes are not my usual literature choice, but to be a supportive friend I am always asking him if he has anything new...and I have to admit his books interest me. Yes they are works of fiction, but they have such a "real life" kind of aspect to them, that you can't help but continue to read.

The Hearts Filthy Lesson is a book about two best friends Dutch and Eli. They are both homosexual young men working in the call centre of Go! Credit. The story reads basically like a month in the life of these two. The good, the bad, and yes...the very ugly.

Dutch and Eli are two individuals that are an unlikely pair, kind of like oil and water. Eli is an absolute dirt bag, having sex with anything that moves pretty much, and living on meth, cocaine, and ketamine. The best words I can use for Eli are "morally bankrupt" as one of the characters in the book state. Eli, doesn't care what he does, or who he hurts as long as he is satisfied both sexually and personally. Dutch is a quiet individual who also is addicted to ketamine, cocaine and meth, but he is able to hold himself together, and is a decent human being, but he is in love with Eli.

I don't know what drew me to not stop reading this book. I couldn't put it down. I told Sheldon it must have been morbid curiosity (there are quite a few gay sex scenes in the book) or maybe it was just my NEED to see something really NASTY happen to Eli. Honestly you can't help but hate the guy, and really feel for Dutch.

This book has not been released as of yet, but I recommend everyone to go and pick it up (unless you suffer from homophobia), it really is an enjoyable read.

My next book will be Draculas by J.A Konrath. I am just dieing to get home from work so I can download it!

Book 46-Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

The blog "Reading Teens"rave review of Beautiful Creatures gave me the push to pick up this book on my Kobo. I had seen the book many times at the bookstore, Wal Mart and the grocery store and always thought "Damn I need to pick that up, it looks good." So after reading the review on Reading Teen, I decided I would venture to Wal Mart to pick the book up. Alas, there we no copies..which really ticked me off, as I had been there 20 times before and had seen it! So I turned to the Kobo store, where they are never out of stock! :)

Beautiful Creatures takes place in the small town of Gatlin, Texas where everything is the same day in and day out. Until, Lena Duchannes, niece of the town recluse, comes to live. Everyone is against her, and finds her weird, with her crazy clothes, and strange jewelry. But Ethan Wate is having dreams about Lena where she is calling to him to save her. He sees her hand pass by him, as they both fall into an abyss. After these dreams Ethan feels a need to "know" Lena and figure out the truth of why he is dreaming about her.

This book has a nice supernatural twist to it, that has broken away from the usual vampire craze. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE vampires (c'mon who can resist Damon Salvatore?), but this book brought in witchcraft, incubuses, and other otherworldly delights. The book really didn't appeal to me at the beginning, but as you read you are sucked into the town of Gatlin, and are forced to root for Lena and Ethan in their quest.

The second book in the series (I have always been a sucker for the series) Beautiful Darkness comes out very soon, and I think it will be the next one for my Kobo.

Book 45-Linger By Maggie Stiefvater

Linger is the second book of Maggie Stiefvaters series dealing with teen life and werewolves. This book was an intriguing read with a slow and steady pace in the writing. The writing was enough to keep you interested, but not overwhelm you. I actually found myself wanting to read this book...I just had to know what was happening with Sam and Grace, the two main characters in the story.

I really can't tell you to much about this story as it is a series, and if I say to much it will not only spoil this book, but the first one as well! All I can tell you is Grace is getting sick, and only Sam can help her, but everyone is against the relationship they have created.

I am not a lover of teen urban fantasy, but I do find I am becoming a slight fan (who doesn't love a vampire or a werewolf, when they're portrayed as amazingly hot males??). It's nice to break away from the usual blood and guts I wallow in, to sit back and take it easy with a simple read that can really pull at your heartstrings (almost cried at the end of this one).

I am now reading Beautiful Creatures, which was recommended by the authors of the Reading Teen blog (which I follow as I have teens and young readers in the house. Plus it gives me some good reads for the future).

Till next time!

Book 44-Wicked Lovely Melissa Marr

Wicked Lovely was a suggestion from my BF Dawn who absolutely loved the book. Me, I enjoyed the book, but I am not a faery fanatic so it took quite a while to give me the push to continue to read.

Wicked Lovely introduces you to Aislinn who sees faeries. Not the pretty kind you see in artwork but dark, and sometimes nasty faeries. She lives with the rules provided by her Grams (who also sees faerys) #3 Don't stare at invisible faeries #2 Don't speak to invisible faeries and #1 Don't ever attract their attention. Aislinn follows these rules to the letter, until Keenan shows up.

Keenan is the future Summer King, who is looking for his Queen. Keenan has been searching for centuries for the one girl who will break the Winter Queen, Beira's curse over faerykind and humanity. Beira is also Keenan's mother....who is fighting against Keenan to keep her "throne".

When Keenan finds Aislinn, he is determined to make her his Queen, and take his rightful place as Summer King, but Aislinn is fighting him at every turn. Aislinn fears the faeries, and refuses to have anything to do with them.

Now, I need to reiterate that I am not a faery lover, nor do I enjoy stories of unicorns, and happy fluffy bunnies...I am more of a vampire, zombie and all out gore girl...but honestly I enjoyed this book once it got over Aislinn pissing and moaning about how every faery seemed to be around her and her friend Seth (who I must admit, I grew to love quite a bit).

When Aislinn finally gets a backbone and is able to stand up to the faerys things seem to pick up and run much smoother. Now is when you can actually start to enjoy the book and have that desire to not put it down, because you WANT to know what happens.

All in all, it was a good story, and I most likely will read the second book, (like I said it does eventually grab you). Honestly I do want to know what happens in the story!

The book I am reading now is Linger, the second in the Shiver series.

Books 42 & 43

Well after a weekend of family fun in Calgary Ab I was able to finish off Serial Uncut by J.A Konrath, Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch along with Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

I can`t say to much about Serial...it was an interesting ebook, with lots of gore and violence, but it felt like it went nowhere. There were moments of the Holy Crap! feeling, not because of the gore, but of the twists and turns in the novel. Most of the time I had to go back and double check that I was following the story. The story eventually winds up fairly nicely with a sort of cliffhanger.

It wasn`t the best novel by Konrath andor Kilborn, but who wouldn't be impressed with a quote in the foreword like this one:

Warning: This horror novella begins where others end, and leaves nothing to the imagination. You probably can't handle it. Go read Twilight instead...

Book 43 was The Hunger Games. I was a little unsure of reading this book, as it is not my usual reading material. But after being told by my BF that the book was amazing and well written I decided to grab it for my Kobo. I am not disappointed.

Hunger Games is a story about Katniss Everdeen a 16 year old girl living in what is regarded as District 12. And area of her home country Panem, where people fight for survival everyday. Katniss is accustomed to sneaking under "the fence" and hunting to feed her mother and younger sister.

Once a year The Reaping takes place, where one boy and one girl from each district 1-12. No one is safe from The Reaping, anyone between the ages of 12-18, rich or poor are thrown into a large glass ball and one name is picked from the boys and one from the girls. These two are called tributes, and are forced to play The Hunger Games...where only one of the 24 tributes (total from all districts) can survive and win.

Katniss is forced into the games, when her younger sister is picked. She runs to the front of the crowd and volunteers to take her sister Prims place, even though the thought of never coming home scares Katniss to death. Katniss is forced to play The Hunger Gamea, and fight to survive.

This book was amazing! I couldn't put it down. The story pulls you in and takes one hell of a hold on your mind, and heart. You want to see Katniss win, and struggle with her through the book. Go and pick it up if you haven't yet! Yes it's a young adult novel, but it reads just like many adult novels I have read. There is no teen angst or froofy poofy little girls running around who are boy crazy. It's an all out fight to survive.

Still deciding what my next novel will be...I'll keep you posted. :)

Book 41-Disturb by J.A Konrath

Hello everyone! Today I am here to introduce you to a new drug called N-Som! This drug will allow you to stay up for days on end! It will increase your endurance in many ways, and allow you to rarely sleep, while still maintaining your normal life. Sounds like a dream come true doesn't it?!

Um..yeah...no...

So is the setting for Disturb, it's a story about Manny & David, two test subjects for the new drug N-Som. They feel great, look great and are doing better than ever on the tests...until people start dieing. Not just dieing, but being shot, butchered, hung from trees...and so on and so forth. The nice little "non drowsy" world the makers of N-Som are hoping to produce is slowly falling through the cracks.

Seriously, this book didn't really do much for me. It seemed kind of hollow...I guess is the best word...it was shiny and pretty on the outside, but really there was nothing deep down in the middle. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it, kind of like a person would enjoy a Robin Cook novel (which I am REALLY not a fan of). You have the medical aspect, with the scientific aspect, and throw in some blood and guts, a chivalrous man hero, and sort of fragile female, and of course the big bad guy.

I love Konraths work, but this one just seemed kind of "un-konrathlike". Maybe I'm just so used to reading his other persona, Jack Kilborn....who is all about the gore and blood...Yup...thats what I like!

So the next book is Serial by J.A. Konrath, Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch. I am about half way through this book and am LOVING it!! If anything please pick up this book ( in e book format only) for the foreword. I have never laughed so hard in my life!

Till next time!