Faerie Lord

Two years after almost bringing the Faeries of the Night and the Faeries of the Light to a Civil War Faerie Lord finds Henry moving on with his life in the Analogue World. Kicking himself for turning down Blue he heads back to Mr. Fogarty's house to return Hodge and finds a middle aged Pyrgus searching for him. A plague causing victims to age rapidly has swept both Nighters and Lighters in the Faerie Realm and Mr. Fogarty is among the ill. Henry must travel back to the Faerie Realm to convince Mr. Fogarty to return to the Analogue World where the disease becomes dormant before it kills him. Now Henry and Blue must discover the source of the plague and put an end to it before all of Faerie is destroyed.

The conclusion to the Faerie War Chronicles is quite an interesting chapter in the tale. Herbie Brennan brings closure to about every aspect of the series, including the fate of Henry and Blue's relationship. This book focuses mainly on Henry and his quest to find courage and save Blue despite feeling less than worthy for the Queen of Faerie and Demon. Along the way Henry meets a boy who shows him what bravery and friendship really mean. Blue must decide what is more important to her, the Faerie Realm or Henry. No longer is she the young, inexperienced ruler, yet there are still some in the Realm who think she is.

Quite a satisfactory ending to a fantastic journey!

Blue Bloods

Of course, you know I can't get enough of vampires.

Melissa de la Cruz's Blue Bloods series takes us into a different world of vampires and immortality. How different, you ask? Well, these vampires are not humans who have been bitten and turned....no siree. These blue blooded vampires were once angels who followed Lucifer. Now cursed to spend eternity in the Mortal World, the Blue Bloods spend their time (and money) trying to make the world a beautiful place so they can earn their place back in Heaven, or Paradise, or whatever it is. Among the 'regular angels' we find Michael and Gabrielle. They chose to come to the Mortal World with their kind and were not cast out in sin. Therefore, they are the Untainted.

While the new take on vampires is refreshing, Melissa de la Cruz's writing is not. The first three books could easily have been one book if she spent less time talking about the clothes everyone's wearing and concentrated more on the character development and story. She tends to drag everything out so there seems to be no conclusion to anything. To top it off, the characters are not at all likeable! They're either snotty, wishy-washy, or just plain dumb.

Of course, Schuyler Van Alen doesn't fit into the exclusive little world that she lives in. Maybe it's because of the way she spells her name? Anyway....always an outcast, Schuyler suddenly finds herself part of the Blue Blood society yet still on the outskirts. Harboring a crush on the most popular (and one of the most powerful) vampires, Jack Force, Schuyler becomes the target of Mimi's, Jack's twin and bonded soulmate, wrath. With her faithful human Conduit, Oliver, at her side she alone must find a way to stop the powerful Silver Bloods who threaten the very exsistence of the Blue Bloods all while mending her broken heart. Corny? Yes. Will I continue to read the series? Of course!

The Faerie Path

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Anita was just a normal sixteen-year-old when she was pulled through from the Mortal World into the Faerie World. In Faerie World she finds for 500 years the land has seen little happiness. Since she disappeared mysteriously from the Faerie World her mother, Queen Titania drowned in a tragic boating accident. Her father, King Oberon could take no more grief and plunged the land in enternal darkness. When his youngest daughter returns the people of the land rejoice and sunshine spills across the lands.

But Anita cannot remember any of her life in the Faerie World and longs to return to London where she's sure her parents are frantically searching for her. She must choose who needs her more, the people of Faerie World or the ones she left behind in the Mortal World.

And so begins the tale of Tania, Faerie Princess in The Faerie Path by Frewin Jones. Of course, I love me some young adult fantasy and the story is interesting and fraught with possibilites. The writing isn't quite as sophisticated as Suzanne Collins or Cinda Williams Chima, but Frewin paints an intriguing faerie world where the paintings move and respond to feelings and animals communicate with those who have the gift. The book feels quite as if it was written for a 16 year old (which of course, it is), but I think the series is delightful in itself to continue on.

Ruler of the Realm

Ruler of the Realm is the 3rd book in Herbie Brennan's Faerie Wars series. Blue, now Queen of the Lighters finds herself on the brink of a civil war between the Faeries of the Light & the Faeries of the Dark. Blue is clever, brave and fair, but she is just a 16 year old Faerie who is struggling with grief, stress and a huge crush on her human friend Henry. Meanwhile, Henry seems to have been abducted by aliens while walking home from his father's apartment (after walking in on his Dad's new girlfriend getting out of the shower) and can't remember days in which he disappeared without a trace.

Definitely the most exciting in the series thus far. Blue is a wonderful character! The series benefited greatly when the focus shifted from Pyrgus, the reluctant Crown Prince, to Blue. Despite the fact that Blue is the younger of the two she is much more mature and responsible than her emotion driven brother. Her thoughts are always for the betterment of the Realm whereas Pyrgus wants the perks, but not the responsibilities that come with being an Emperor.

There are many characters to follow, but Brennan does so in a way that eases you into each chapter so you're not left confused and wondering. The glossary at the end of each book helps the reader understand a little better the Faerie-speak without forcing Brennan to spend so much time explaining everything.

The book ends with a definite cliff hanger of sorts so it's off to the Faerie Lord, possibly the last in the series, I go!

The Girl Who Played with Fire

After waiting only a week I scored big time when I got notification that my request for Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played with Fire was ready for me to pick up. I thought for sure, after the success of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I would have to wait months.


Immediately I dug in and discovered the reading world is quite unfortunate to have lost Stieg Larsson. The Girl Who Played with Fire starts out much quicker than Dragon Tattoo did. I found myself quite lost in the beginning of Dragon Tattoo as Larsson went into detail the financial world to set the stage for Blomkvist's trial and conviction. With Fire, there wasn't any of that, he just dove right into the story.


The Girl Who Played with Fire starts off about two years after The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We find Lisbeth has been abroad, traveling with her seemingly endless amounts of money she aquired in the previous novel. There is a short story line that ends up going nowhere except to show the type of personality Lisbeth has. She returns to Sweden and unsure of what to do with herself begins to make moves to start a new life. However, a name from her past opens up a long buried desire for revenge and she finds herself a wanted murder suspect, hunted by the police, the criminals and friends alike.


The book leaves with a conclusion, but if I wasn't already aware there would be another book I would have been very upset! While the beginning might have been quite long and drawn out once the story gets going I wasn't able to put the book down until the very end. I'm thrilled that there is a third book due out, but quite saddened that The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest will be the last of the adventures of Mikael Blomkvist & Lisbeth Salander.

I'm a Gleek

I absolutely ADORE Glee. If I could create my own TV show it would be exactly this show. The cast is phenomenally talented, but I can't get enough of Lea Michele.

Lea made her Broadway debut at the tender age of 8 when she was picked from an open audition to play young Cosette in Les Miserables and she's been working ever since. Her biggest success was originating the role of Wendella in Spring Awakening for which she won a Drama Desk award in 2007.

Looking like a mini Idina Menzel (a role model of Lea's) she's got the voice to match. It's such a joy to listen to her sing! I thought her duet with Cory Monteith was the best thing I'd ever heard (and the reason I knew I'd be watching the rest of the series), but then last night she belted out her version of Rhianna's Take a Bow and I was blown away. She made that song her own.

The episodes just don't come around fast enough! I love that there's several songs to an episode! I can't wait until the soundtracks come out. Emma and I will be singing along!

Guilty Pleasures

Guilty Pleasures (aka my new book series obsession) by Laurell K. Hamilton is the first in a series of 17 introducing Anita Blake to the world.

Anita Blake is a very busy 24 year old! Besides holding a regular job as an Animator (a Necromancer) she's also a consultant for the St. Louis PD's RPIT departmant, or Regional Preternatural Investgation Team, and a vampire hunter. In a day and age where vampires, weres and other mythical beings are given rights are treated as every other human being Anita lives in quite a progressive time. Similar to True Blood (I haven't read that series yet, just watched the show) vampires are split between those who wish to go 'mainstream' and those who just want to do what they want to.

There's no explanation why Anita has such a dislike for vampires or why she went into the vampire hunting business to begin with. Quite like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she's not just knowledgeable about vampires, but also ghouls and the were-people, but unlike Buffy she admits her fears, she's not always tough. She has emotion that you never saw with Buffy. Yet still, it is much darker than Buffy. I found myself jumping at random sounds around the house while reading this book in broad daylight!

All in all, throughout this first book Anita is a likeable, quite human, superheroine. We'll see if the series holds up, but I don't have many doubts about that!