BOOK REVIEW: MIDNIGHT PREDATOR 

Author: Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Genre: Young Adult, Supernatural, Vampires

Rating: ★★★★★

“He kissed her. He kissed her slowly, unhurried, as if he could stay all day and not miss a beat. At the same time he was demanding, deepening the kiss before she knew what was going on. Gentle he was not, but the aggressive edge of his kisses was like the sweet rush of adrenaline so dear to a fighter.”

Turquoise Draka is a hunter and one of the strongest on her guild. She was cold and fearless when killing her prey. But once, a long time ago, she was just a typical teenage girl, until a vampire killed her whole family and made her his slave. When she was able to get away from him, she vowed that she will no longer become prey. But she had no choice but to confront her past when an unknown client hired her to kill Jeshikah, one of the cruelest vampires in history. To do this, she must enter Midnight, a vampire realm, as a human slave. Here she had the chance to get involve with Jaguar, the owner of Midnight, one of Jeshikah’s fledglings. Trust is something she had thrown long ago, but as she got closer to Jaguar, who keeps on helping her and protecting her against the vampire who took away her innocence, she began to give her trust to him…

Remember when I reviewed Shattered Mirror and I mentioned that I was a little uncomfortable because it has romance on it? Well, in Midnight Predator, I never felt any discomfort. In fact, out of all the books on A Den Of Shadows series, I can say that this last installment is my favorite. The story was darker, the action more intense and the characters more complicated yet more lovable. There is also a touch of romance, but it was more fluid, more subtle and emotionally sensual than on the previous book.

Before, I also thought that among Atwater– Rhodes’ vampires, Aubrey (Demon In My View) will always be my favorite. But I was wrong when I fell in love with Jaguar. Jaguar was a powerful vampire, but unlike most of his kind, he was kinder in treating humans. He still craved for human blood, but he doesn’t kill his prey. He was also compassionate, a characteristic very rare to a vampire with Jeshikah’s bloodline. I believe that Jaguar and Turquoise were really mean for each other. I love the chemistry between them that I can feel their attraction to each other even when they were apart.

This is a wonderful book for me. My only issue here is that I think the ending was too abrupt. I wish to see how Jaguar and Turquoise will end up together. Instead the ending was too focused on how Turquoise finally able to kill the vampire who she loathed so much. It was too open ended for me. But I believe that many readers will prefer it that way. It’s just that I love Jaguar and Turquoise too much that I don’t want it to end.

In fact, I don’t want A Den Of Shadows series to end. There were still too many interesting characters that I want to know more of.  I still want to read about Atwater-Rhodes’ world. While reading this series, I became an instant avid fan of her. I was never a fan of vampire stories, but because of her, of her wonderful writing, of her fantastic and realistic world creation, I became attached to vampires like Aubrey and Jaguar. And I know this is not her last book I will ever read.

manga hunt. i adore this manga but i was only able to read it online. So when i found this two volumes i immediately bought it! now i have to look for the other six volumes.

help me?

:)

april reads

BOOK REVIEW: SHATTERED MIRROR 

Author: Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Genre: Young Adult, Supernatural, Romance

Rating: ★★★★☆

“We have forever. I’ll see you again.”

As the third installment of A Den Of Shadows series, I was taken aback when I found out that this has an element of romance on it. I have nothing against romance - in fact I love reading romance - but not on a vampire book. In fact, the reason why I got hooked to In The Forests Of The Night was because there was no hint of romance on it. Sure Demon In My View has a tiny bit element of romance but it was still okay for me. So I was really bothered and doubtful if I will like Shattered Mirror.

 This is the story of Sarah Vida and Christopher Ravena, who to the casual observer looks like normal high school students. But the truth was Christopher is a vampire while Sarah is a witch and a hunter. For generations, their family lines have always been enemies. But it didn’t stop them from getting closer to each other. But Sarah decided to stop their deepening friendship before her family does something drastic as to kill Christopher. Besides, she must focus all her energy in hunting down Nikolas, one of the most reviled vampires ever, who had killed her ancestor. But a revelation got the two of them tangled to each other once again, as Sarah discovered Christopher’s connection to Nikolas. Suddenly, she realized that the world is not all what her mother and her family taught her. That there are more to these vampires than the Vida clan made it sound to be.

I admit I was a little uncomfortable as I read this. Since, I find Christopher too cheesy while he was pursuing Sarah at the beginning of the book. But when I got past the chapters when Christopher doesn’t know that Sarah was a hunter, it became exciting for me. It was revealed that Christopher is not really a weak vampire and that he had a dark past that made him what he was and I learned to love him. I also like Sarah because despite of her difficulties in trying to prove herself to her mother, she remained strong willed.  And at the end, when she was faced with a circumstance that will make her clan disown her, her principles remained intact.  She was admirable.

But what I like most about Shattered Mirror is how Atwater–Rhodes was able to redeem Nikolas’ character. At first, Nikolas was known as a sadist and merciless vampire. But as the story goes, I learned that he was not as bad as he tried to portray himself. That he was just a very dedicated protector to the people who matters to him. In the end, I got too engrossed to the book that I wished Nikolas has a story of his own.

So, despite my little discomfort, I still want to recommend this book to anyone. I am sure many young adult readers who have a fetish for vampire romance will enjoy this book. Don’t expect too much romance though. Either way, this is still a must read book.

FINDING THE RIGHT BOOK 

When it comes to books, one of the raves nowadays are Young Adult books. But unfortunately, it is hard for me to like books from this genre. Especially real-life young adult books. The only books I liked before were The Perks Of Being A Wallflower and Flipped. After that, my quest for that genre has always been a failure.

Until I found this:

And I fell in love. Totally, irrevocably in love.

I bought my copy September last year and one of my regrets was that it took me months before i picked it up from my shelf to read. Because when I did, i never put it down again until I was done reading it. And till now, I still have a hang over over this book.

This is the synopsis of the book from goodreads:

And as streams of light fan out behind the darkened sun like the wings of a butterfly, I realize that I never saw real beauty until now.

At Moon Shadow, an isolated campground, thousands have gathered to catch a glimpse of a rare and extraordinary total eclipse of the sun. It’s also were three lives are about to be changed forever:

Ally likes the simple things in life—labyrinths, star-gazing, and comet-hunting. Her home, the Moon Shadow campground, is a part of who she is, and she refuses to imagine it any other way.

Popular and gorgeous (everybody says so), Bree is a future homecoming queen for sure. Bree wears her beauty like a suit of armor. But what is she trying to hide?

Overweight and awkward, jack is used to spending a lot of time alone. But when opportunity knocks, he finds himself in situations he never would have imagined and making friends in the most unexpected situations.

Told from three distinct voices and perspectives, Wendy Mass weaves an intricate and compelling story about strangers coming together, unlikely friendships, and finding one’s place in the universe

THINGS I LIKE ABOUT EVERY SOUL A STAR:

It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling while i was reading it.

The characters are likable and relatable (although I’m not sure if this is proper English).

The book is about stars, meteorites, sun, moon etc and it brought me back to the time when my dream was to become an astronomer.

The book is about dreams and finding one’s place on earth.

It was written in a way that makes me teary even if it doesn’t really have so much drama.

It is very informative. Even now, I can still rave about all the information i learned about astronomy from this book.

I wish I could find another book that will make me giddy like this again. :)

MARCH READS

the book i read while in the air (my airplane book companion)

first classic i finished reading this year. at least nine more to go. :)

FEBRUARY READS…. 

And I know it’s only in my mind
That I’m talking to myself and not to him
And although I know that he is blind
Still I say, there’s a way for us

di naman obvious na favorite ko si eponine? >_<

JANUARY READS….

Bought this book yesterday. Rare find at booksale. I was so thrilled when I saw this. :)