Jenn's Review: Stolen Nights

Summary: A new year is beginning at Wickham Boarding School. A new chance at life, at reversing the evil in my past. But nothing is ever as simple it seems...

Last year, the love of my life died performing a ritual to fulfill my one wish and make me human. And now I’ve performed the same ritual for my friend Vicken – and survived. Why am I here, back safe on Wickham campus?

The strong magic I used in the ritual did more than just make Vicken human. It drew someone to Lover’s Bay who does not belong here. She wants the ritual. Then she wants me dead. And she will take down any and everyone in my life to get what she wants.

As if that weren’t enough, the ritual has also summoned the anger of the Aeris, the four elements and most fundamental powers on earth. They have a surprise and an unbearable punishment for me – like stepping into the sun for the first time, only to be put into a cage. And now I have to make an impossible choice – between love or life, yearning or having, present or past…~blurb 

Review: I have been waiting for Stolen Nights since I closed the cover on Infinite Days three years ago.  Infinite Days was the novel that made me fall in love with vampires again. Needless to say, Stolen Nights  had a lot to live up too. Did it meet my expectations? Not in the least. It exceeded my expectations and completely blew me away.

It is rare anymore that I read just for the love of reading... one of the downfalls of blogging about books is constantly analyzing as I go, but I was so enthralled with Rebecca Maizel's story that I lost myself in it. Her storytelling is masterful and I had no idea where she was taking me; any theories I may have had were blown out of the water in the first few chapters. There was foreshadowing I zeroed in on, then promptly forgot until it resurfaced later in the story.  That's not to say there weren't a couple rough patches and things I wanted explained in greater depth, but they were easily forgiven. I expect more will be revealed in the third and final novel.  Honestly, there were many things about Lenah's world I want to know more about just in exposition, purely for my own edification  (I want to know more about Aeris and the Hollow Ones.)  Ms. Maizel has created a world I can't help but want to know everything about.

It was very different meeting characters that the I had previously only known through Lenah's memories. Ms. Maizel's vampires aren't all sweet and sparkly; they're vicious.  However, their ruthlessness is not who they are it's a product of what they are so it was also incredible to see Vicken as a human.  It was amazing how quickly relationships changed and how easy it was to accept them.  I love the way Ms. Maizel weaves character exploration into her stories.  I love her concept of the Irish Anam Cara, soul mates, too; it was just breathtaking.

I really don't want to spoil the story by going much further, but things are actually wrapped up fairly neatly by the end of the novel ...until the last mind melting chapter.  So now, once again, I must patiently await the next book in the series.

Final Take:  5/5

Stolen Nights is due out  January 29, 2013.  Thank you to St. Martin's Press for my ARC of this novel.

 

Jenn's List: Top Books of 2010

As 2010 draws to a close, the time has come for us girls to tell you our favorite books of the year.  As I look over my read list, I'm pleased to see I've been reading more this year ~not as much as when I had a lunch hour before I became a stay-at-home-mom, but steadily increasing as my daughter is older and more independent.


ASLEEP by Wendy Raven McNair:  This is the first book in a trilogy by a self-published author and it's an amazing series so far.  It's YA super hero story with a strong, female, African-American hero.  (Review) AWAKE, the second book in the trilogy, is also tops on my list. (Review) Again I cannot recommend this series enough.  You really must read it!

The Liar's Lullaby by Meg Gardiner:  This is the third book in her Jo Beckett series. In this installment, forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett is called on to do a psychological autopsy of a country singing diva to determine murder, suicide, or conspiracy.  (Review)  If you love thrillers, you must try her books.  (China Lake is the first book in her Evan Delaney series and The Dirty Secrets Club is the first book in the Jo Beckett series.)

This Must Be The Place by Kate Racculia: A sixteen-year-old, un-mailed postcard launches a story of uncovering, recovery, and self-discovery in this debut novel.  I don't usually read contemporary fiction, but I loved this one! (Review)

Columbine by Dave Cullen:  This was my non-fiction read of the year.  It's an incredible case study of an horrific event that changed the face of education. (Review)

The Girl Who Chased The Moon by Sarah Addison Allen:  A little food and a little magic, there is really no one who compares to Sarah Addison Allen. (Review) All her books are hard-cover-must-haves for me and I anxiously await her March 2011 book, The Peach Keeper.  

Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen: This is in the middle of the Rizzoli & Isles series, that the new TNT show is based on. I loved this book and the TV show, so I think I'm going to have to go back and read this thriller series from the beginning! (Review)

Virals by Kathy Reichs: This is forensic anthropologist Reichs' new YA series. It's an updated Nancy Drew with a paranormal twist. If you like her books but find them a little heavy, this is like reading Reichs-lite! (Review)

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel: I was a little "vamped" out, but this book made me fall in love with vampires all over again. I can't wait for the next book in the series due out in June 2011! (Review)

In the Woods by Tana French: This was a great case study in how are experiences impact our per eption and shape our future. I adored the rich detail and will be reading more from French this year, I hope.  (Review)

The Icing on the Cupcake by Jennifer Ross: I don't often enjoy a book where the protagonist starts off as unlikeable, but this was so well done, that I couldn't help but learn to love her as Ansley found her way in the world.  (Review)

I am excited about a new year of reading (yes, I'm nerdy, but we knew that,) and I hope that Roof Beam Reader's 2011 TBR Challenge will help me get to more books this year.

Wishing you a happy, healthy New Year filled with good books.
Happy Reading!

~Jenn

Jenn's Review: Infinite Days

Summary:  "Throughout all my histories, I found no one I loved more than you...no one."

Those were some of Rhode's last words to me. The last time he would pronounce his love. The last time I would see his face.

It was the first time in 592 years I could take a breath. Lay in the sun. Taste.

Rhode sacrificed himself so I, Lenah Beaudonte, could be human again. So I could stop the blood lust.

I never expected to fall in love with someone else that wasn't Rhode.

But Justin was...daring. Exciting. More beautiful than I could dream.

I never expected to be sixteen again...then again, I never expected my past to come back and haunt me...



Review:  To tell the truth, I've been a little vampired-out so it took me a while to get around to reading this.  I shouldn't have waited; I adore this book!  Rebecca Maizel brings a fresh and fascinating take on vampires.

The story begins after Lenah's human transformation with well chosen flashbacks to her vampire life. It's a difficult style of storytelling (it can get so mired and bogged down), but Ms. Maizel pulls it off beautifully.  This way we experience Lenah from two perspectives, as the terrifying Vampire Queen, and as a teenager dumped in the wrong century.  The reader is taken along as Lenah grows and adapts to life in the twenty first century.  Lenah is endearing as she becomes human and her Vampire instincts begin to fade.

But the coven is looking for her, and what chance does a mere mortal stand against a vicious set of Vampires?  How do you protect your friends let alone yourself?

Ms. Maizel has created some fascinating vampires too. I am enthralled with Rhode, both his unusual vampiric nature and his ultimate sacrifice. Suleen is another vampire drifting in and out of the story, that I can't wait to learn more about. I have read some criticism for her characters being underdeveloped, and I think it's unfounded.  One of the caveats of writing in the first person, is that you only get to see the story from one person's point of view, the narrator.  Ms. Maizel has brilliantly given us two points of view through the narrator, and I think asking for more is a bit much.  Yes, some things are left to the imagination, but the readers perspective of each character changes as Lenah's does.  It is subtly, but cleverly accomplished.

This book is an enchanting twist on an, albeit, overrun subject. Rebecca Maizel made me fall in love with Vampires again.  I didn't think that was possible.  I anxiously await the second installment of the Vampire Queen series, Stolen Nights, due out June 22, 2011.

Final Take: 4.5/5.0