Title: The Hunt (The Hunt #1)
Author: Andrew Fukuda
Published: May, 2012 by Simon & Schuster
Thanks: Simon & Schuster, AU
Pages: 293
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Against all odds, 17-year-old Gene has survived in a world where humans have been eaten to near extinction by the general population. The only remaining humans, or hepers as they are known, are housed in domes on the savannah and studied at the nearby Heper Institute. Every decade there is a government sponsored hunt. When Gene is selected to be one of the combatants he must learn the art of the hunt but also elude his fellow competitors whose suspicions about his true nature are growing.

Final Thoughts:
I didn’t expect to love this—the sticker on the front said I would, but I was sceptical. With everyone jumping on the dystopian bandwagon, there’s so much out there, plots overlapping, making it all fairly unoriginal. Adding in vampires—or at least, vampire-esque people—I’d be remiss not to say that I wasn’t going into it with the biggest of expectations. But somehow, The Hunt snagged me—I could hardly put this one down! It was like Rachel Caine and Suzanne Collins had gotten together, leaving behind this little baby Fukuda in their wake. With such descriptive creativity, and a perpetual fear of dismemberment, he had me scratching my own wrists, but for completely different reasons.

Title: City Of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Published: May, 2012 by Simon & Schuster
Pages: 534
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

The demon Lilith has been destroyed and Jace has been freed from her captivity. But when the Shadowhunters arrive to rescue him, they find only blood and broken glass. Not only is the boy Clary loves missing–but so is the boy she hates, Sebastian, the son of her father Valentine: a son determined to succeed where their father failed, and bring the Shadowhunters to their knees.

No magic the Clave can summon can locate either boy, but Jace cannot stay away—not from Clary. When they meet again Clary discovers the horror Lilith’s dying magic has wrought—Jace is no longer the boy she loved. He and Sebastian are now bound to each other, and Jace has become what he most feared: a true servant of Valentine’s evil. The Clave is determined to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. Will the Shadowhunters hesitate to kill one of their own?

Final Thoughts:
This book just went on and on. Don’t get me wrong—it was definitely a solid four stars, but it did have me constantly checking if I was getting any closer to the end. I think a nice, thin book is in order to cleanse the palette after the ten plus hours I spent lying on the couch today, clutching my hardcover of City Of Lost Souls. I found improvements in this instalment over the previous incarnate, the second half of the series finally forming a distinctive plot with some actual tension. However, I found the overuse of alternating point of views detracted from my enjoyment. With over ten different perspectives, they seemed to be used more to create suspense by jarring us out of situations just as they were getting interesting, rather than to give extra insight into these other characters.

Title: Vlad The Paler
Author: Malthea
Published: December, 2011 by Dreamspinner Press
Thanks: Dreamspinner Press via NetGalley
Pages: 220
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

When half-Korean sci fi-fantasy gamer nerd Cyrus Gae goes out clubbing on his first night of vacation, he’s not expecting to be bitten by a vampire. Not in Florida, the land of sunshine and Mickey Mouse. He’s not exactly averse to being a creature of the night, but he’s righteously pissed off about the vampire’s cavalier eat-and-run attitude. Determined to track down Troy, the bloodsucker who turned him, Cyrus takes the name Vlad and begins a search that will take him to leather bars, vampire dens, and cyber cafés.

As Cyrus hunts the elusive vampire, he meets Logon, the hipster/geek love of his afterlife; Vinnie, his Girl Friday the 13th; and even an intersexual voodoo queen, while learning that being a supernatural bad-ass isn’t quite what he imagined. In fact, hardly anything is what it seems, and Vlad finds himself in the middle of an intrigue involving Florida’s master vampire—who isn’t thrilled about Vlad’s sudden appearance in his domain. With powerful forces aligning against Vlad, he’ll have no choice but to become the hero he never wanted to be if he wants to keep his beloved Logon safe.

Final Thoughts:
This is the weirdest book I’ve read. I liked the premise, but the execution was just very out of left field. It kind of feels like some of the fan fiction I’ve read in a way. It has that tendency to break the fourth wall at every opportunity, like the main character is giving a tour while he’s running around looking for a rogue vampire. The characters were fun, very quirky, but a little unhinged. There was definitely a heavy case of instaluv going on, with the two main characters professing their love countless times throughout the duration of the book. Oh, and for those that are interested—there was plenty of sex.

Title: Ink
Author: Isabelle Rowan
Published: December, 2011 by Dreamspinner Press
Thanks: Dreamspinner Press via NetGalley
Pages: 225
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Roman centurion Dominic drew his last human breath during the time of Hadrian. In the centuries since, he’s seen much of the world change around him, but the vampire finds himself held captive in Melbourne, Australia, by his fascination with young, passionate, fun-loving, and alive tattoo artist Michael Chapman. Unable to resist the lure of Michael’s beauty, Dominic finds himself entering the parlor to get a tattoo he knows will fade.

The attraction he feels only grows, and despite Dominic’s extreme reluctance to get involved with a human, he and Michael form a bond—a connection that all too soon attracts the attention of a dark specter from Dominic’s bloody past. Soon, a dangerous game of cat and mouse threatens not only the budding romance, but also their humanity.

Final Thoughts:
This one left me feeling a little mixed as to whether I liked it or not. There were moments where I couldn’t get enough of Michael and Dominic’s growing relationship, and other times when I wished something would hurry up and happen. I enjoyed the first half a lot more than the second half of the book. The introduction of Dominic’s psycho ex, and maker, took the book off course, becoming more focussed on the past than on the interesting changes going on in the present. The Australian setting was a welcome change, providing enough of a description without becoming lost in the words.

Title: Diabolical (Tantalize #4)
Author: Cynthia Leitich Smith
Published: January, 2012 by Candlewick Press
Thanks: Candlewick Press via NetGalley
Pages: 368
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Prepare for a hell of a ride as Cynthia Leitich Smith calls on characters from her previous novels – and conjures up new ones – for a climactic showdown.

When “slipped” angel Zachary and his werewolf pal, Kieren, arrive under suspicious circumstances to a mysterious New England boarding school, they quickly find themselves in a hellish lockdown with an intriguing assortment of secretive, hand-picked students. Plagued by demon dogs, hallucinatory wall décor, a sadistic instructor, and a legendary fire-breathing monster, will they somehow manage to escape? Or will the devil have his due? Best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith unites heroes from the previous three novels in the Tantalize Series – including Zachary’s girl, Miranda, and Kieren’s love, Quincie – along with a fascinating cast of all-new characters for a suspenseful, action-packed clash between the forces of heaven and hell.

Final Thoughts:
I’ve stuck with this series because I like to finish things once I start them, but I just don’t think these books are for me. I enjoyed Blessed more than the first two, but something about Diabolical just didn’t work for me. I’m not quite sure why the books in this series are alternating between present and past tense, but this one is written in present. There were also a lot of POV switches back and forth between three of the characters. Ditching the vampire plots for a demonic boarding school during this book did bring some interesting moments, but unfortunately, the romance took a back seat to the hellish game of survivor the characters were trapped in.

Title: Being Human (Being Human #1)
Author: Patricia Lynne
Published: September, 2011
Thanks: Patricia Lynne
Pages: 284
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository // Amazon // Smashwords

For Tommy, there is only one thing he needs to do: survive.

Only surviving isn’t that easy. The hunt for blood can be tricky when humans know to fear the night. Desire sits on the edge of his mind, urging him to become the monster humans think he is. Vampire Forces, a special branch of police, is determined to turn every vampire to ash. Tommy included.

The only human Tommy can trust is his twin brother. A bond connects them, and with Danny’s help, Tommy starts to understand the human world he struggles to survive in. He’ll learn what friendships means and feel the sting of betrayal, find that sometimes the worst monsters are very human, and come to understand that family means more than blood.

Tommy just wants to survive and he knows what he needs to do. But with the number of humans that mean more to him than a meal growing, he’ll learn there’s more to life than simple survival. He’ll discover being human doesn’t mean being a human.

Final Thoughts:
Why can’t I find a nice, boring book that won’t wrench apart my insides? This is the third one in the past week. I can’t handle it. Stop writing amazing books people. With that said, I can’t believe I took so long to get around to this one. With the simple, yet eerily awesome dark cover begging me to open it up and read, I have to wonder what the hell was wrong with me. I shouldn’t have kept Tommy waiting. There were so many times that my eyes teared up leaving me blinking away the blurry vision so I could keep reading, that I lost count. Being Human took me through so many emotions—both good and bad—there was just simply no way to put it down. It’s what I loved about it. There were never moments where I felt like nothing was happening. The staggered insight into Tommy’s life after being turned was just too riveting.

Title: Blessed (Tantalize #3)
Author: Cynthia Leitich Smith
Published: October, 2011 by Walker Books
Pages: 454
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

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.