Midnight Breeds Series: Kiss of Midnight

Kiss of Midnight is the first book in the Midnight Breeds series. It's also my first book by Lara Adrian. I actually really enjoyed this book and I'm really looking forward to the next installments in the series. Let me give you a quick breakdown of what the series looks to be about:

Vampires of the Breed have been living in secret among the human race for centuries. The Breed are pretty reliant on the human race for survival. Not only do they take blood from humans, but certain human females are genetically compatible in terms of baby making. These ladies are referred to as Breedmates. The term is pretty much self-explanatory. See, due to some kind of genetic mutation within the vampire race, there are only male vampires. That's why the Breedmates are so important. Without them, the Breed would go into extinction. So, with the exception of these few women, most humans carry on unaware of the Breed's existence. The vampires generally live peaceably with humans, except for a few who turn Rogue. Rogues are vampires who suffer from a disease called Bloodlust. Again, pretty self-explanatory. These Rouges are crazy. They kill indiscriminately and their actions threaten the entire Breed. 

This is where the Order comes in. These guys hunt down the Rogues before they can do too much damage and expose the entire vampire race to human scrutiny.
So far, this is the basic gist of the story. Kiss of Midnight is set in Boston, where we meet the gentlemen of the Order. Quick rundown of the guys. 

First, we have Rio. He is a super hot Spaniard who lives with his mate, Eva, in the compound. He's got this whole sophisticated, sex-god thing going on. 

Next, we have Dante. He is a super hot Italian. Dante prefers his leathers to anything too fancy-schmancy. He likes-no, loves- the ladies, and they love him right back. He also loves to fight, so whenever the Rogues are causing trouble, he is there looking for some action.

Third, we have Nikolai. He is a super hot Russian. Niko was born during the Cold War, which might explain his penchant for weaponry of any kind. Guns, bombs, you name it, he likes it.

  Then we have Gideon. He's the resident techie and he loves computers and gadgets. He's happily mated to the lovely Savannah. These two are nauseatingly happy with each other.

Tegan is the fifth member of the Order and he isn't what anyone would call a "people person". He's aloof, cold and distant. He's a very mysterious character. Not much is revealed to the reader, except that he has serious beef with the leader of the Order.

That leader would be Lucan. He is the very definition of the stoic, fearless leader. He and Tegan go way back. They're both Gen One vampires, meaning that they were the first vampires to be born to human females. This also means that they're super strong, and all kinds of badass. 

Kiss of Midnight tells the story of Lucan and Gabrielle. While Lucan is in charge of saving the world, Gabrielle is a photographer. Lucan has some serious commitment issues. He has no interest in finding a Breedmate just so he can follow her around like a lovesick puppy. Gabrielle isn't looking for anything either. She's always felt a little... cut off from everyone else. Her mother abandoned her when she was just a baby, and the woman was later institutionalised. So, Gabrielle's always had this fear that maybe one day she'd go crazy, just like her birth mother. And when she witnesses a murder that no one else saw, and with there being no evidence that the murder even took place, it seems to Gabrielle that what she's always feared is starting to happen. 

Turns out this was a murder committed by Rogues and Gabrielle was not supposed to see what happened, let alone take pictures at the scene. This is where Lucan comes in. He needs to make sure Gabrielle doesn't go around telling the whole world what she saw. Obviously, things progress from there.

I really liked this book. I won't lie though, I thought Ms Adrian could have spent a little more time on the action with the bad guys. I know this is a romance, so it's supposed to be about the romance. But I thought that both the Order and Gabrielle should have spent more time kicking ass. 

I liked Lucan, but he was just a little too serious for my tastes. I liked Gabrielle too. She wasn't completely helpless and she called Lucan out when he was being full of crap. I thought the end was a little bit rushed whereas the middle kinda dragged. It wasn't a bad kind of drag, it was maybe just lacking a teeny tiny bit of oomph. But I am seriously looking forward to the next book in the series, Kiss of Crimson. It's Dante's book and I just know it's going to be epic. Because, as I mentioned just now, Dante is hot and he likes to fight and f...  

Fallen Angels Series: Rapture

Have I mentioned lately how much I absolutely adore J.R Ward? Well, you're going to hear all about my love for the WARDen now. 

Rapture is book 4 in the Fallen Angels series. In case you don't know what the series is about, let me quickly break it down for you. It's basically about the whole good versus evil thing that will eventually determine the fate of the entire world. Seven souls are hovering between choosing to be either good or evil, and it's up to Jim Heron to influence these people and help them make the right choice. Jim is being helped by two angels, Adrian and Eddie. Jim is being hindered by a psychotic demon named Devina. 

So in this installment of the series, the score is 2:1 to the good guys. Plus Devina is being punished because the concept of playing by the rules is completely beyond her. The soul in play is someone we met in both Covet and Crave. Matthias was a Bad Man. He was head of XOps (a sort of military group that carried out political hits for the US) and he didn't care who he hurt. It turned out that Matthias was the soul in need of saving in Crave, not Isaac Rothe. However, as a result of some misunderstanding on Jim's part, Matthias was lost and Devina won. Devina didn't get to keep Matthias for very long though. For being a lying, cheating, good-for-nothing she was penalised and Matthias was given a second chance.

I don't know whether the WARDen had a soft spot for Matthias or if he was a fan favourite, but I'm really glad he got his chance at redemption. I had thought that nobody in this series could top Isaac in sheer awww....-ness (I imagine Isaac to be kinda like a young Matthew McConaughey), but Matthias did it. He's had a really rough life and he lives with both the physical and mental scars. And the physical scars are really horrendous. Matthias once intentionally stepped on a landmine and as a result his lower body is badly scarred and he needs to use a cane to get around. Obviously this is a huge blow to his pride, seeing as how Matthias is a big, strong, manly man. But he seems to have accepted his injuries and the limitations that come with them. Until he meets Mels.

Mels Carmichael is a reporter. She moved back into her parents house after her father died with the idea of being a "pillar of strength" for her mom. Sadly, this didn't happen. Mels' life just sort of stalled out. She's frustrated by her job, uneasy living with a mother she doesn't have much in common with. She's stuck waiting for life to happen. And then, after she hits some poor stranger with her car, it does. 

Things progress pretty quickly from there and within a few days Mels and Matthias are thinking in terms of I-love-yous. But Shakespeare had it right and speed bumps for these two come in the form of Devina with poor, long-suffering Jim trying to smooth things over. 

I just want to talk about the characters quickly. 

I loved Matthias. I just wanted to give the poor guy a hug. Amnesia Matthias was much nicer than XOps Matthias. He just seemed more cuddly in general. Still badass though. His stint in hell did him some good.

I liked Mels well enough. I don't know how well I'll remember her in two or three books time, but I really liked how solid she was for Matthias. 

Jim and Adrian are having adjustment issues. Eddie was killed by Devina's minions and this has left them a lot out of sorts. Jim and Adrian tend to... well, they struggle to see eye to eye and Eddie usually played referee when the fists used to go flying. Adrian has now lost his best friend and Jim has to try to keep the poor guy on track as well as save the world. Adrian isn't the only one struggling with death. Jim is still hugely preoccupied with the young woman Cecilia Barton, who was sacrificed by Devina to protect her magic mirror. Devina taunting him about it at every available opportunity is not helping matters either. 

Lastly, we have Devina. She is quite obviously evil and psychotic and horrible and sadistic and all those other things. But she's also funny as hell. Please don't judge me, but I have to be honest: I love Devina. I don't know how the WARDen does it, but she's managed to create a villain that you can almost relate to. Devina has a debilitating OCD (she's a hoarder) and she sees a psychologist for it. She goes to the salon to get her hair done. She wants to look pretty for the guy she likes (Jim, much to his disgust) and she doesn't get why he doesn't like her. If she weren't such an evil, crazy bitch, I would totally be rooting for her.

Let me share some of my favourite bits form Rapture:

This is when Mels' boss, aptly name Dick, is hitting on her.

What she was clear on was that with a jawline more ham sandwich than Jon Hamm, the man had no objective reason to believe the answer to any woman's problems was in his pants. 

This is from Jim's perspective when Matthias ends up asking him for help.

And yet no matter how much his brain cramped, it looked like pigs could fly, there was a snowball in Hell, and somewhere across town, a twelve-year-old dog was learning to drive a goddamn car. 

Jim and Adrian are having a fight because Adrian can be an irresponsible pig when he's got time (but it's okay. I forgive him. And you will too). Jim hits Adrian in the penalty area. 

Motherfucker was going to sing the high notes like Justin-cocksucking-Timberlake for a while.

And then for Devina related fun, read chapter 31.

So, in conclusion, I just want to tell you that if you haven't started reading this series you really should. It isn't quite as good as the Black Dagger Brotherhood, but it does serve to tide me over until Lover at Last comes out next year.

Have a good Monday everybody! 

Nightwalkers Series: Gideon

Gideon is book 2 in the Nightwalkers series by Jacquelyn Frank. This book was better and worse than Jacob. Better because there was far less of Bella. We saw more of the characters I actually did like, like Noah and Elijah. We also met new characters like Damien, the vampire, and Siena, the lycanthrope. Each seem to have some potential for the next books in the series. The story wasn't too horrible.

Let me talk about the things that irritated me. Firstly, Gideon reminded me a little of Gregori from Christine Feehan's Dark Series. So there were times where I wanted to reach into the book and slap him (Gideon, not Gregori, in this case). Second, Legna struck me as... a little forgettable. With the previous book, I'm probably going to remember the story better because Bella pissed me off so badly. But with Legna... she was a little on the lackluster side of things. Thirdly, there was still too much Bella. I know she's a big deal in this world but I don't care. She's still annoying. My final issue is more with the writing than the actual story. I didn't mention it with Jacob but Ms Frank kinda writes funny. It's very... flowery. It takes a lot of getting used to. She also uses really super big words. I had to consult a dictionary a bunch of times. I was honestly thinking that she was making some of those words up. Also, I found some of Ms Frank's descriptions unintentionally hilarious. Like one description of Gideon had me in gales of laughter. I know she was trying to show that Gideon is old school, but it just struck me as ridiculous.

Gideon and Magdelegna met eight years ago and some sparks flew between the two of them. Ashamed of his behaviour, Gideon went on a self-imposed exile. But, with the crap hitting the fan in Jacob, Gideon was forced to reintegrate himself into demon society. Magdelegna is the king's baby sister, so she's lived a pretty sheltered life up until Bella came and turned things upside down. Gideon starts a few weeks after Jacob ended and shows that Magdelegna is struggling to cope with her ordeal of Samhain night. She's feeling all cut off and withdrawn and... crap. 

This brings me to my problem with Gideon (the book, not the actual guy). I know this sounds really awful but I can't actually remember what happened. I finished this book last Sunday but, with the exams, I didn't have time to give a review. And now I genuinely can't remember what the heck happened or how it ended. 

I think this is the main problem with this series. The first characters introduced don't have much oomph. Which is a pity because I imagine a bunch of people would abandon this series out of boredom. 

It isn't a bad series, it's just forgettable.

Nightwalkers Series: Jacob

Jacob is book 1 in Jacquelyn Frank's Nightwalker series. I had mixed feelings about this book. The story itself wasn't bad, but I had a bit of a problem with the characters. The, ahem, "heroine" got on my nerves. A lot. 

The story is about Jacob the Enforcer and Bella the Helpless Ninny. Jacob is a demon and his job is to enforce demon laws. The main thing Jacob has to do is to keep any demons from engaging in hanky-panky with humans. Demons are so tremendously strong that a human would not survive the ordeal. Jacob's job gets even more difficult during the Samhain and Beltane moons, where demons are basically ruled by their baser urges and start running after humans left, right and centre. But then the unthinkable happens: he starts wanting the forbidden too. 

Enter Bella.

Bella is a book worm. She's a librarian so, "naturally", there isn't a whole lot of excitement in her life.They meet while she's leaning out of a window star-gazing. Then while they're having their little tete-a-tete, Bella falls out the window. She wasn't pushed. She wasn't backing a way from a bad guy. She didn't even trip. She was just leaning too far out of the damn window. And then Jacob catches her. And to do so he kinda had to float himself up to a height where she wouldn't be too badly hurt by his grabbing her. And she doesn't notice that while he's holding on to her that they're floating 10 feet in the air. Now, I don't know the conversion from feet to metres, but I do know that 10 feet is effing high! How can you not notice? I know us book worms have a rep for being less than observant but this is ridiculous. 

And the asinine behaviour doesn't stop there. After Jacob uses Bella as a divining rod to find a rogue demon, Bella simply passes out from the ordeal of seeing a demon (sounded a little like those demons you'd find on Scooby Doo, if I'm honest). Jacob takes her to his place, strips her and gives her his shirt to wear. When Bella wakes up she seems to be unconcerned about several things that I'm sure a normal person would be more than a little freaked out by. Firstly, she is in a strange man's house. No one has any idea where she is. Secondly, she is only wearing his shirt. That's it. She's parading around like this in front of a complete stranger. A final complaint about Bella (I swear I'll stop after this) is that she cries. About everything. I kinda wanted to get in the book so that I could give her something to cry about.

To be fair, Bella did get a little less useless as the book progressed but by the time she pulled her head out of her butt, I had decided that I didn't like her. I might have liked her more if we had been given a bit of insight into her character before the window incident. Just some indication that something that stupid was not in character for her. 

I didn't hate all the characters though. Jacob was okay. I really like Noah, the Demon King, and Elijah, the demon's sort of military commander.

This book was nice in that it was just something to read, but I'm not going to be waiting anxiously to see what happens next. 

Shaede Assassin Series: Shaedes of Gray

I was less than impressed with Amanda Bonilla. Not because I didn't like the book. I loved the book. It completely broke the awesome scale. But that bloody woman had me biting my nails! I stopped doing that when I was in grade 7. Eight years worth of restraint and maturity down the tubes in the space it took me to read one book!

Moving on now... Wow. This book was so good! I'm noticing a trend in my reading lately: I love them all. But this one was super awesome. I loved the characters (or loved to hate them), there was suspense, there was action, there was some romance on the side. All completely epic. 

So let me tell you about the lead. Darian is the leading lady and she's a wee bit... prickly. Yes, I think prickly is a good word for her. Darian is a Shaede and she also happens to be an assassin, which you could probably get from the name of the series. Shaedes are kinda humanish, and they have the power to sort of... evaporate? I don't know how else to describe it. I imagine them to become shadows like the Dementors did in the Harry Potter movies. So they become shadow which, given Darian's profession, is a plus. I really liked Darian. She's a strong heroine who has been through the wringer. She's about one hundred years old and she's become used to relying on herself. This is because, one way or another, the people in her life have let her down. Her parents couldn't wait to marry her off to any random, well-to-do stranger. This well-to-do stranger, Henry, was an abusive asshole who beat her. The abuse only stopped when this Shaede, Azriel, saved her. They did the couple thing for twenty odd years until he bailed on her without a word. Darian had assumed that he was dead because there was no way he would have left her otherwise... right?

So, given all the crap that Daian's been through, it's no wonder she has trust issues. In fact, there is only one exception to her "trust no one" rule. And that is Tyler.

What a wonderful man. I adored him! He was so patient, and sweet, and kind. Even when Darian was being a prickly pain in the butt. He was always there for her when she needed him, even when she didn't realise she needed him. Also, Tyler isn't an average Joe. You want to guess what he is? C'mon, guess. Have you guessed yet? Alright, I'll tell you. He's a genie. How awesome is that?!?!

Next we have the mysterious Xander Peck, the king of the Shaedes. I actually liked him, despite the fact that he was all kinds of arrogant. He is super fine but too charming. I didn't trust him. Not even a little. Xander has hired Darian to carry out a hit for him but he doesn't think her skills are quite where they need to be (So why didn't he hire someone with the skills he needed? You'll have to see).This is where his brother, Raif, comes in.

Despite Xander being all swoon-worthy, I liked Raif more. Raif is awesome! He acts as Darian's trainer. Because while Darian is fully capable of kicking some serious ass, she needs to be a hundred times better than what she already is. They both seem determined not to like each other but eventually become  (grudging) friends.

Azriel is a jackass. I took great pleasure when Darian handed the ass whuppin' he so badly deserved. 

I liked Delilah, the Oracle. She seemed way helpless but that couldn't be further from the truth. 

This book was a hundred different kinds of awesome! It went from really good to super awesome towards the end. Expect humour, action and some serious twists and turns.

Best. Night. Ever.

Sorry that I've been so scarce everybody! I'm going to be writing on Saturday and Tuesday so I've been studying.

But I have to tell you about the sheer epicness that was Linkin Park, before you don't care anymore. 

Firstly, the waiting was agony! I am really not the patient sort so this just sucked privates. My cousin, her hubby and I went the park and ride route. It wasn't hugely exciting or anything but it was better than actually being stuck in the traffic. At one point it looked like it was going to rain and it did for a little while, while we were on the bus. But then it cleared right up and, man, I did a little dance of joy when I saw the sun come out. 

We left Menlyn at about 3ish and arrived at around 5. I just want to warn anyone going to FNB Stadium: do not, I repeat DO NOT, eat the food outside the stadium. We were starving by the time we got there, so we grabbed the first thing we saw. Don't do this! It is nasty.

After we recovered from the horror of what we were told was a hotdog, we went into the stadium. There were so many people! I think most of Gauteng's emo population was there. And let me tell you something: emo boys are CUTE! Some sexy, buff guy had taken his shirt off for some or other reason and I nearly tripped over my own tongue. 

Moving on... 

The lines for t-shirts and the like were crazy long. Word to the wise: if you want to buy something, get there early. Seriously, the queue was halfway back to Pretoria. 

Eventually, after what felt like forever, the Kongos came on. They were pretty good. We had a "surprise" guest in the form of Jack Parow. I had heard that he appeared in Cape Town but I didn't think they'd have him on again.

Then, at long last, Linkin Park rocked up. I don't have words for how amazing they were. I think you had to be there to fully understand... 

The band opened up with "A Place For My Head" and it just kept getting better. I tell you, it gave me chills to hear the crowd singing along. When Linkin Park started playing "In The End", the crowd went absolutely insane. It was a beautiful thing. They played some of their new stuff but most of it was their old stuff. Honourable mentions for "Points Of Authority", "Numb", "What I've Done", "Waiting For The End" and "Papercut". The rest escape me right now, but every song performed was phenomenal. They had so much energy and passion, and it was contagious. The band finished with the rip-roaring awesomeness that is "One Step Closer". Afterwards it was, like, who are the Kongos? 

Linkin Park was amazing. 

I need them to come back. I'm already suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

Linkin Park SA

Two days left everybody! I am so freakin' excited, I keep doing this happy little dance whenever I think about it. I've been getting a few odd looks from these random strangers but, baby, I don't care!!! I saw people on Twitter who went to the Cape Town show are saying that the band was A-MA-ZING! 

On a more serious note, I just want to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the people who got hurt at last night's concert. From what I've heard on the news, 20 people were injured and one person even died. I would have been inconsolable if that were me...

Here's hoping that everything goes smoothly at Saturday night's concert. Just want to post a video or two of the songs I'm most looking forward to seeing Linkin Park perform.

"One Step Closer" off of their Hybrid Theory album.

"Crawling", again off of their Hybrid Theory album.

"Numb" off of their Meteora. 

"What I've Done" off  Minutes to Midnight.

"Burning in the Skies" off of A Thousand Suns.

Okay, this is a lot more than "a video or two". Oh well. Hoping to see you all on Saturday night! It's going to be so much fun!

Leaping Hearts

I really liked this story. It was so... nice! Don't pull that face. I happen to like nice things.

Leaping Hearts tells us the story of A.J. Sutherland and Devlin McCloud. A.J. is a talented young equestrian who has just bought herself a horse named Sabbath. Now, this wouldn't have been a problem if this horse didn't have such a bad attitude. Sabbath throws his riders, won't let blacksmiths anywhere near him, and he hates the water. For obvious reasons, this is the last horse anyone with a lick of sense would buy to compete with. But A.J. sees a whole lot of potential in Sabbath and she wants to take him to the Qualifier, a really big deal in the equestrian world, in two months time. 

But A.J hits a speed bump. She lives at home, involved in the racing aspect of the family-run stables. A.J.'s stepbrother runs the financial side of Sutherland Stables and he refuses to let her bring that crazy horse onto the premises. A.J. then decides that if her horse isn't welcome then she isn't staying at home either. Sabbath isn't an impulse buy for A.J.; he's her chance to prove herself. But it's going to be kinda hard to do that with nowhere to live and nowhere to train.

Enter Devlin McCloud. Devlin is a hugely reclusive former equestrian champion. After his nasty fall and his horse having to be put down as a result, he's been avoiding the equestrian scene entirely. He and A.J. had met at the auction where A.J. bought Sabbath so, after leaving home, A.J. turns to Devlin for help. Initially, Devlin is not so keen on the idea. He is totally jonesing for A.J. and given the temperamental nature of the horse, this can prove dangerous if he's going to be training her. But A.J. won't take no for an answer, which is how she ends up sleeping on Devlin's couch at night and him being her trainer during the day. 

This book is written by Jessica Bird who is otherwise known as the magnificent, awe-inspiring J.R Ward. Those of you who are familiar with the WARDen will probably have read her Black Dagger Brotherhood series, or her more recent Fallen Angels series. This book is nothing like either of these series. There is next to no swearing, the sex is the fade to black type, and there is no actual action. But it was still really good! After having read Shadowfever, this book acted like a palate cleanser. It was light, there were no major twists and turns, and the couple knew that they liked each other right from the start. So long as you don't expect any of the stuff typical of J.R Ward's better known works, you won't be disappointed with this book. 

So if you're looking for a light read that won't give you a headache trying to keep up, give Leaping Hearts a try.