Title: Blessed (Tantalize #3)
Author: Cynthia Leitich Smith
Published: October, 2011 by Walker Books
Pages: 454
Rating:  
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Quincie P. Morris, teen restaurateur and neophyte vampire, is in the fight of her life. Even as she adjusts to her new appetites, she must clear her best friend and true love, the hybrid-werewolf, of murder charges; thwart the ambitions of Bradley Sanguini, the seductive vampire-chef who ‘blessed’ her; and, keep her dead parents’ restaurant up and running. She hires a more homespun chef and adds the preternaturally beautiful Zachary to her waiting staff. But with hundreds of new vampires on the rise and Bradley off assuming the powers of Dracula Prime, Zachary soon reveals his true nature – and a flaming sword – and they hit the road to staunch the bloodshed before it’s too late. Even if they save the world, will there be time left to salvage Quincie’s soul?

Final Thoughts:
Things really turned around for me with this instalment, the first two weren’t exactly books I’d rave about, so I was surprised when I actually enjoyed almost the entirety of Blessed. The extended page count helped with the development and the pacing—generally the plotting just felt better put together. I’d probably like the series a lot more if I had started with this one, but then I would have missed out on all of the character backstory. I really liked the culmination of the two different casts and the change in Quincie’s persona. She still has the restaurant at heart, but she’s got bigger problems to worry about than organising menus and hiring staff.

Title: Eternal (Tantalize #2)
Author: Cynthia Leitich Smith
Published: December, 2009 by Walker Books
Pages: 306
Rating:  
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At last, Miranda is the life of the party: all she had to do was die. Elevated and adopted by none other than the reigning King of the Mantle of Dracul, Miranda goes from high-school theater wannabe to glamorous royal fiend overnight. Meanwhile, her reckless and adoring guardian angel, Zachary, demoted to human guise as the princess’s personal assistant, has his work cut out for him trying to save his girl’s soul and plan the Master’s fast-approaching Death Day gala. In alternating points of view, Miranda and Zachary navigate a cut-throat eternal aristocracy as they play out a dangerous and darkly hilarious love story for the ages.

Final Thoughts:
Apparently this book is set before Tantalize, and so, the entire restaurant-operating ensemble is nowhere to be seen. It reads more like a companion, set in the same world, but in a different city. Unlike the previous book, which focussed on the workings of a restaurant, Eternal delves right into the paranormal. A vampire kingdom full of aristocracy, human servants and dungeons gave this book an entirely different feel. While this one still suffered from some of the same problems as the last one, I found the alternating perspectives gave a better insight into the characters. Plus mixing vampires and angels, how could I resist.

Title: Forbidden (The Demon Trappers #2)
Author: Jana Oliver
Published: September, 2011 by Pan Macmillan
Thanks: Pan Macmillan, AU
Pages: 416
Rating:  
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Riley’s beginning to think being a demon trapper isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Her dad’s been stolen by a necromancer, her boyfriend’s gone all weird and she’s getting warm and fuzzy feelings for someone who’s seriously bad news. It’s tempting to give it all up and try to be normal, but that’s not an option. Because the demons have plans for Riley. And they’re not the only ones.

Final Thoughts:
While the first book introduced lots of world building, this one felt scaled back in that regard. The dystopian-esque setting takes the backseat to Riley’s love life and the trust issues surrounding her after the events of Forsaken. I liked the romantic focus, but when there’s a love square (yes – she has three potential love interests) you end up spreading things a little thinly with some of them. The final quarter of the book does pack some serious punch though, so if you can stick around until then it’ll probably hook you enough to come back for book three.

Title: Embrace (Violet Eden Chapters #1)
Author: Jessica Shirvington
Published: October, 2010 by Hachette Australia
Pages: 382
Rating:  
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All Violet wants is to be with Lincoln. But he has a secret so great it could tear them apart.

Then there’s Phoenix. He’s intense and enigmatic, but always there for her.

Caught up in a battle between dark and light – where angels seek vengeance and humans are warriors – Violet must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice. And who to trust…

The wrong choice could cost not only her life, but her destiny.

Final Thoughts:
It’s obvious from the blurb that there’s a love triangle on the way. I usually love these, but this one not so much. It was heavily weighted to one side, and for me it wasn’t the side I wanted. There’s lots of build up to one relationship and then bam, you’re shoved into the other one. I realised there was a need to develop the second pairing, but the way it was done came across somewhat jarring considering the strength of her feelings towards the first guy. Now with that said, I actually did love this book. The plotting is very well thought out, with lots of depth to the angel lore that is sometimes lacking in others of the genre. Everything comes together well, with lots of tension and revelations. It renewed things enough that I can forgive the romantic detour.

Title: Silence (Hush, Hush #3)
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Published: October, 2011 by Simon & Schuster
Thanks: Simon & Schuster, AU
Pages: 438
Rating:  
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The noise between Patch and Nora is gone. They’ve overcome the secrets riddled in Patch’s dark past…bridged two irreconcilable worlds…faced heart-wrenching tests of betrayal, loyalty and trust…and all for a love that will transcend the boundary between heaven and earth. Armed with nothing but their absolute faith in one another, Patch and Nora enter a desperate fight to stop a villain who holds the power to shatter everything they’ve worked for—and their love—forever.

Final Thoughts:
If you read the blurb and then go into this, you’ll probably be very confused. ‘The noise between Patch and Nora is gone.’ If by noise, they meant complete knowledge of Patch, then yes, the noise is gone. Nora has amnesia leading back to before the events of Hush, Hush, leaving her with no knowledge of fallen angels or her hot, but often bumpy, romance. While making Nora a clean slate was an interesting route to take the story down, I felt like it took up too much of the book. But with that said, I did love the rekindling experienced. Who gets to find their once-in-a-lifetime love twice?

Title: Passion (Fallen #3)
Author: Lauren Kate
Published: June, 2011 by Delacorte Press
Pages: 420
Rating:  
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Luce would die for Daniel.

And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn’t need to be that way. . . .

Luce is certain that something—or someone—in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime . . . going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel . . . and finally unlock the key to making their love last.

Cam and the legions of angels and Outcasts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as Daniel. He chases Luce through their shared pasts, terrified of what might happen if she rewrites history.

Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames . . . forever.

Final Thoughts:
This is the book that ups the stakes, changing the series from one filled with high school angst to a time-traveling, epic love story. Okay, so that might sound a bit cheesy, but really, the route Passion takes was a lot more enjoyable for me than the first two books. I enjoyed the prison-like boarding school in Fallen, but when Torment virtually retconned itself, starting Luce all alone at another new school, that’s when I got annoyed. Thankfully, this time around, there are no schools or the politics that go along with them in sight.

Title: Torment (Fallen #2)
Author: Lauren Kate
Published: September, 2010 by Delacorte Press
Pages: 452
Rating:  
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Hell on earth.

That’s what it’s like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel.
It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts—immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students: Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.

At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn’t told her everything. He’s hiding something—something dangerous.

Final Thoughts:
This isn’t the book I was expecting. Rather than following on from the action-packed plot that we finally got to in the final quarter of Fallen, here we’re thrown into a new school, new characters and Luce. That’s it. Everyone else from the first book is gone, so it’s like starting over again. Only this time, it’s on the complete opposite extreme. Shoreline, possibly named after the cliff edged beach the school borders, is nothing like Luce’s old school. Gone are all the prison-like qualities of Sword and Cross, replaced by laptops with free wi-fi for all and extravagant breakfasts on the terrace.