Zombies are the New Vampires

Generation Dead- Daniel Waters

Okay, so basically, I’m kind of sick of every book out there being about vampires right now. I mean, I love ‘em too. Don’t get me wrong on that. But the issue is that it’s the same story every time. Human falls for a girl/guy who thirsts for the humans blood, but is conflicted, because the vampire doesn’t wish to hurt the human. Uh huh. I’ve read that one before. It always ends the same.

So, I discovered Daniel Waters one day when browsing all of these vampire fics at Chapters. I’ve never really been BIG on the zombie thing, but this one felt like maybe it would be different. Okay, I’ll admit, the story line was similar. Phoebe, an alive girl, finds herself falling for Tommy, a dead kid. And you’re thinking, “Of course she does.” But Waters did something different…

So first off, there’s a strange phenomenon happening over the States. Teenagers (and only teenagers) who have died have started coming back to life. But they’re different from who they used to be. They’re called the ‘living impaired.’ Of course, at high school and around the community, many living people are having a hard time adjusting to this. But when living Phoebe suddenly starts spending time with dead Tommy, things get a little bit weird.

I don’t really want to say a whole lot else, because it gives away a lot of the story, but it really was an excellent book. I read three quarters of it in one day. It was really original and clever.

If you’re sick of vampires too and want something still a little supernatural, try it out!

A Love Story

The Time Traveler’s Wife- Audrey Niffenegger

I JUST finished reading this about ten minutes ago. It was absolutely beautifully written. I won’t really regale the entire plot line, because it’s such a popular thing out there right now. As it goes, Henry meets Clare when he is 28 and she is 20, but Clare has known Henry since she was six years old…

I’ll admit, for the early part of the book, I had problems really understanding what was happening to Henry. Although it is never completely explained in the novel why Henry had developed this genetic quirk, Niffenegger creates a genetic anomaly that causes Henry to travel through time to different places ever since he was a young boy. The love story between Clare and Henry is beautiful, if not extremely odd. Clare is tested her entire life with her devotion to a man who disappears all the time, leaving her no way of understanding where he could possibly be. And never once does she think of changing her life, because she knows that her entire being revolves around Henry. Even when she meets him, she realizes that this is not yet the Henry that she has always known and love, and realizes that she must persevere to be with the man that she desperately loves.

It really is a phenomenal novel, extremely smooth and heartbreaking to read. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for something original.

Big Girls Don’t Cry

Certain Girls- Jennifer Weiner

This is actually the sequel to another novel by Weiner, titled Good in Bed. In this novel, it is nearly thirteen years since Cannie Shapiro has given birth to her daughter, Joy. Joy, now nearly a teenager, has started to question some things about her life and has decided that she hates her mother. She longs to understand why her parents are not together, why everyone refers to her father as simply her “Bruce” and why she doesn’t know her maternal grandfather. One day, she decides to read her mothers book Big Girls Don’t Cry, which was published when she was a baby. Upon reading it, Joy discovers that many of the things she thought she knew about her life were false.

In Cannie’s story, she is struggling to deal with the fact that her perfect, sweet, loving daughter is now pushing her away, that her husband is asking for another baby (causing her to go surrogate shopping) and that her publishing company is desperate for another novel. Everything stable in Cannie’s life is now falling apart, and she and Joy must work together to put it back right.

I can’t lie, I absolutely love Weiner’s writing. She’s funny, brutally honest, and creates a protagonist that is always so willing to accept her own faults. I finished this book at 230 in the morning, without realizing that I had stayed up so late reading it. It was absolutely beautiful and heart-wrencing.

Creative, but confusing

Breaktime- Aidan Chambers

I first discovered Aidan Chambers when I used to go to the Peterborough Public Library after school. I used to read A LOT in high school before bed (that has slowly dwindled now that university rolled around). I have read two or three Chambers novels and each time have been deeply intrigued by his technique of story telling.

In Breaktime, Chambers writes about a boy named Ditto who is struggling to find out who he is. Ditto is a student who becomes engrossed with his teacher’s lectures around works of fiction. Seeing this and finding it ridiculous, Morgan creates a charge against literature and challenges Ditto to disprove it. At home, Ditto is at odds with his father, always getting into fights with him and upsetting his mother. When his father takes ill with a heart attack and must be hospitalized, Ditto accepts Morgan’s challenge and decides to write his own piece of ‘fiction’ about the events of a week in his life. During that week, Ditto decides to take a camping trip and meets two guys who he gets into trouble with. During this trip he also invites up a girl that he was known from school to visit him, hoping to lose his virginity to her. Ditto’s challenge is to have Morgan accept his explanation of literature.

So, I won’t lie, I got a little confused at what EXACTLY was going on throughout the book. But I will say, it was very good once I got my thoughts all sorted out. Chambers still writes a novel that is insanely creative and does not cease to entertain.

The Vampire Bandwagon

Night World Volume 1- L. J. Smith

I’m a little late getting to this one, but I have been busy pretending to be a good nursing student. It wasn’t going very well…

Okay, so I actually purchased this book in around January under a friend’s recommendation. I have not had the time to get around to it, but during a week-long visit to a cottage in Haliburton at the beginning of the month, I decided that it was time to give it a chance. I won’t lie, it was slightly addicting.

Smith’s stories all revolve around a supernatural sort-of secret society called the Night World. It consists of vampires, witches, shapeshifters and werewolves who live amongst humans but are forced to keep themselves secret. The Night World has only two rules: don’t let a human find out about the Night World and never, ever fall in love with a human.

I’m sure you can guess that each story involves someone breaking that rule.

In Secret Vampire, Poppy has discovered that she has a very deadly form of cancer at a very young age. Devastated by this news, she turns to her best friend James for support, only James has been hiding a secret from her since they first met. James can help Poppy live forever, but it would involve breaking rules with deadly consequences.

In Daughters of Darkness, a trio of vampire sisters leave their coven to live a quiet life in a small town, away from the ancient rules that force them to remain seen, but silent, only to discover that something horrible has happened. Their brother Ash is sent to find them and return them to the coven, only to discover that his sisters have made a friend that he can’t seem to get out of his mind.

In Spellbinder, cousins Thea and Blaze have been kicked out of yet another school and are sent to live with their grandmother. Thea is determined to keep her magic hidden and begs Blaze to do the same. But when a human boy starts paying attention to Thea that could put her into grave danger, Blaze decides that it’s time to step in and work her magic.

All in all, my descriptions of these books have made them sound extremely cheesy and ridiculous. Predictable, yadda, yadda. But to be honest? I wasn’t disappointed at all. Since the vampire thing is so popular nowadays that just about everyone is writing that genre or trying to stick with dark fantasy, Smith’s tales have all of the right elements. Forbidden loves, secret abilities… I mean, what’s not to love?

Honestly? I would highly recommend them to anyone who is seeking for a book in that genre. I found each story entertaining and delicious to gobble up while lounging on a dock in the beautiful summer sunshine.

Go for it.

“I love you.” “I know.”

Revelations: A Blue Blood Novel- Melissa de la Cruz

This is the third book in de la Cruz’s series about an ancient race of vampires living in Manhattan. I know, I know,yet another teen vampire cult novel. But it’s reall not like that. I have to commend de la Cruz for taking a genre and making it her own. I have read a lot of vampire novels in my past, and I find that hers are the most intriguing take.

In this novel, everyone is fresh from the trial in Venice as the Conclave tries to track down the Silver Blood that has been preying on the Blue Bloods. Schuyler Van Alen finds herself torn between her responsibilities to understanding her heritage and becoming a Blue Blood, and also her heart. Mimi, recognizing her brother’s interest in Schuyler, decides that it’s time that the twins take their rightful place, side by side, bound to each other. All the while, something omnious is occuring to all of the Blue Bloods, something that will effect every single one of them.

Kudos, Melissa de la Cruz.

Kudos.

When I meet a viking

Living Dead in Dallas- Charlaine Harris

I love Sookie Stackhouse. She is probably the funniest thing to read because she is so deeply Southern. This book is the second in the Sooke Stackhouse series that inspired the HBO series TrueBlood. In this novel, Sookie is asked to help out a nest of vampires in Dallas to locate one of their ‘brothers’ who has gone missing. Because of her special gift and her deal with vampire Eric, Sookie is sent to Dallas for another one of her insane and dangerous missions.

Another gem of a novel by Harris. Sookie’s adventures are always super entertaining and absolutely insane to read. The appearance of Eric the vampire in most of the novel has made everything so much more satisfying.

Here’s hoping that this book is an indication of how amazing the second season of TrueBlood is going to be!

Plug this into your iTunes

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist- Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Okay, so I’m sure that a bunch of you have seen the movie with Kat Dennings and Michael Cera (both of whom were quite perfect in their roles). And if you are a huge fan of the movie, you likely thought, “Hmm, I wonder if the book is just as good.”

Well, it is.

But it is DEFINITELY not the same.

I mean, the concepts are definitely there. But the story line? It’s much different.

Nick and Norah is a novel about two nearly-college age kids going out to lower Manhattan to listen to obscure Indie bands. After his band’s performance, Nick, fresh from a broken heart by his ex-girlfriend Tris, approaches Norah to ask her if she’ll be his girlfriend for five minutes. Norah responds to this by grabbing Nick and tugging him down to meet her. This kiss ends up inspiring a night of growing up, getting over sucky past relationships, and finding someone that you just might want to share a bunch of wild adventures with.

Although it does sound very similar to the movie, reading it was much different. I got sort of hooked to it when I was supposed to be working and kind of forgot where I was for a little while. I’ve read another novel by Cohn and Levithan before (thanks to BP knowing that birthday presents consisting of a new book are ALWAYS the best idea) and I find that their style of writing is so unique and grabbing. Another fantastic read.

That age-old story of “Girl loses memory, girl wants life back”

Remember Me?- Sophie Kinsella

Some of you may recognize the author’s name from the Confession of a Shopaholic books. This is a stand-alone novel that follows the story of twenty-five-year-old Lexi Smart who is fairly unsatisfied with her life. She has bad teeth, bad hair, a crap wardrobe, and a crap job to go along with it. Pissed at being stood up by her pseudo-boyfriend “Loser Dave”, Lexi runs to hail a cab in the pouring rain and ends up slipping. When she wakes up, it’s three years later and everything about her has changed. She’s toned with glossy hair and perfect teeth. She’s married to a wealthy, seemingly-perfect man and is astounded by how wonderful her life seems to have turned out for her. Though of course, things are not always as they seem.

Although I do feel like I have read this story numerous times before, it was a very entertaining, light-hearted read. I am the kind of person who has to close emotional books sometimes because I just can’t handle that much sadness at the moment. This was not one of those books. Kinsella takes a classic storyline and makes it fun and enjoyable to read. Definitely worth picking up.

Dirty little secrets

Take a Chance on Me- Gossip Girl: The Carlyles

Again, another one of those little series that I read because I need some sort of guilty pleasure sometimes. Now that the classic Gossip Girl characters such as Nate, Serena and Blair have gone off to college, a new cast of characters is rising on the Upper East Side. This book is this third of the series, where Owen has just stolen his best friend’s girlfriend Rhys from him, Baby has run off to Madrid to try and find out who she is, and Avery has risen and fallen hard on the social ladder at her school. Owen and Kelsey’s relationship quickly heats up, but Owen starts to wonder if it was all worth losing his best friend for. Baby is forced into therapy for missing so much school, and learns her problems might be related to issues with her father. And Avery starts to realize that the magazine world just isn’t what she thought it was cracked up to be.

Definitely worthy of reading, when it comes to the requirement of a guilty pleasure.