Title: Evernight (Evernight #1)
Author: Claudia Gray
Published: February, 2009 by HarperTeen
Pages: 327
Rating:  
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Bianca’s been uprooted from her small hometown and enrolled at Evernight Academy, an eerie Gothic boarding school where the students are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn’t fit in.

Then she meets Lucas. He’s not the “Evernight type” either, and he likes it that way. Lucas ignores the rules, stands up to the snobs, and warns Bianca to be careful—even when it comes to caring about him.

“I couldn’t stand it if they took it out on you,” he tells Bianca, “and eventually they would.”

But the connection between Bianca and Lucas can’t be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart . . . and to make Bianca question everything she’s ever believed.

Final Thoughts:
A slow start to another vampire boarding school series. Stick around through the first half and it picks up the pace. There’s lots of romantic angst, but plenty of the good stuff to balance it out. Not as much vampy-ness as I would have liked, but I’m guessing that’s what book two is for.

Title: Winter’s Shadow (Winter’s Shadow #1)
Author: M.J. Hearle
Published: June, 2011 by Pan Macmillan
Pages: 424
Rating:  
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Blake Duchamp…

He’s all that Winter Adams can think of. Ever since their fateful meeting at Pilgrim’s Lament. Ever since he looked at her with those emerald eyes. Ever since he saved her life.

But Blake isn’t all that he seems. There is a strangeness about him, something dark and otherworldly. Something dangerous. In his attic is a secret he would kill to defend, but Winter seems to have a special ability to make him forget his duty. And he is her only protection against the gathering darkness. The only problem is, to protect Winter, Blake must risk exposing her to an even greater danger. Himself.

Final Thoughts:
Keep yourself chained to the bed, well maybe avoid the chains or you can’t turn the pages. An addictively adorable romance, intertwined with a whole lot of creepy shadows and way too many cats.

Title: The Demon’s Surrender (The Demon’s Lexicon #3)
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Published: June, 2011 by Simon and Schuster
Pages: 383
Rating:  
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The Goblin Market has always been the centre of Sin’s world. She’s a dancer and a performer, secure in her place. But now the Market is at war with the magicians, and Sin’s place is in danger. Keeping secrets from the market she loves, struggling with a friend who has become a rival, Sin is thrown together with the Ryves brothers, Nick and Alan – whom she’s always despised. But Alan has been marked by a magician, to be tortured as the magician pleases, and as Sin watches Alan struggle to protect the brother he loves, she begins to see both brothers in a new light. But how far will brother go to save brother – and what will it cost them all?

Final Thoughts:
A full on rollercoaster of emotions. I was left in tears as I turned the final page. This is definitely a five star read. If you haven’t read The Demon’s Lexicon yet, where have you been? Get on to that now, as these books are so laden with twists that my review may spoil the start of the series for you.

Title: The Secret To Lying
Author: Todd Mitchell
Published: June, 2010 by Candlewick Press
Pages: 329
Rating:  
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James was the guy no one noticed — just another fifteen-year-old in a small town. So when he gets into an academy for gifted students, he decides to leave his boring past behind. In a boarding school full of nerds and geeks, being cool is easy. All it takes is a few harmless pranks to invent a new James: fighter, rebel, punk. Everyone’s impressed, except for the mysterious ghost44, an IM presence who sees through his new identity. But James is riding high, playing pranks and hooking up with luscious Jessica Keen. There’s just one thing awry: he’s starting to have vivid dreams of being a demon-hunting warrior, a thrill that is spilling over into dangerous and self-destructive acts while he’s awake. As he’s drawn deeper into his real-life lies and his dream-world conquests, James begins to wonder: What’s the price for being the coolest guy around?

Final Thoughts:
A book about how not to be yourself, and why that’s a problem. There are plenty of bits that are sure to crack you up, but if you’re looking for a light, fun read, this isn’t it.

Title: Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely #1)
Author: Melissa Marr
Published: June, 2007 by HarperCollins
Pages: 328
Rating:  
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All teenagers have problems, but few of them can match those of Aislinn, who has the power to see faeries. Quite understandably, she wishes that she could share her friends’ obliviousness and tries hard to avoid these invisible intruders. But one faery in particular refuses to leave her alone. Keenan the Summer King is convinced beyond all reasoning that Aislinn is the queen he has been seeking for nine centuries. What’s a 21st-century girl to do when she’s stalked by a suitor nobody else can see?

Final Thoughts:
A hot, yet aggravating faerie king, a scheming faerie queen, an exceedingly adorable best friend and a tough human girl, born with the Sight. Add all of that together and you have an enthusiasticly fun, romantic read.

Title: Captivate (Need #2)
Author: Carrie Jones
Published: January, 2010 by Bloomsbury
Pages: 273
Rating:  
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Zara and her friends thought they’d solved the pixie problem. And they did — sort of. The pixies are all locked away, deep in the woods. But the king’s needs grow stronger each day that he is in captivity, while his control over his people weakens. And it’s enough to draw a new king into town. Astley claims he is different. He claims there are pixies who can live peacefully with humans, that it doesn’t have to be all violence and nastiness all the time. Zara wants to believe him . . . until Astley also claims that she is fated to be his queen.

Final Thoughts:
Zara hasn’t changed, she’s still rushing into bad situations without thinking. We get to see a new side to the pixies as more come to town searching for Zara. Not as creepy as the first book, and still plenty of romance. Definitely read this if you loved Need.

Title: Hearts At Stake (Drake Chronicles #1)
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Published: December, 2009 by Walker Books
Pages: 248
Rating:  
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On Solange’s sixteenth birthday, she is going to wake up dead. As if that’s not bad enough, she also has to outwit her seven overprotective older brothers, avoid the politics involved with being the only daughter born to an ancient vampire dynasty, and elude Kieran Black—agent of an anti-vampire league who is searching for his father’s killer and is intent on staking Solange and her entire family. Luckily she has her own secret weapon—her human best friend Lucy—who is willing to defend Solange’s right to a normal life, whether she’s being smothered by her well-intentioned brothers or abducted by a power-hungry queen. Two unlikely alliances are formed in a race to save Solange’s eternal life—Lucy and Solange’s brother Nicholas, and Solange and Kieran Black—in a dual romance that is guaranteed to jump start any romance-lover’s heart. Even fans of the genre who’ve seen it all will find a fresh read with kick-butt characters and family dynamics that ring true for all brothers and sisters—vampire or otherwise.

Final Thoughts:
Also released as My Love Lies Bleeding in AUS/UK. Nothing ground-breakingly new to the genre, but it has plenty of action, scheming and hot vamp boys if you’re interested in a quick read.