Book Review: Stargazer

Title: Stargazer
Series: Evernight (Book 2)
Author: Claudia Gray
Published: March 2009

Evernight Academy: an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all—vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them.

But Bianca fell in love with Lucas—a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school.

Although they may be separated, Bianca and Lucas will not give each other up. She will risk anything for the chance to see him again, even if it means coming face-to-face with the vampire hunters of Black Cross—or deceiving the powerful vampires of Evernight. Bianca's secrets will force her to live a life of lies.

Yet Bianca isn't the only one keeping secrets. When Evernight is attacked by an evil force that seems to target her, she discovers the truth she thought she knew is only the beginning...

My Review:
Can Bianca and Lucas' secret realationship survive the distance and the human/vampire problems? Or will Bianca give into temptation when she's forced to spend time with the nice and present vampire Baltazar?

In this book Bianca's relationships to both Lucas and her parents are placed under high pressure. Are they strong enough to survive?
Bianca is also dealing with her increased blood lust, and trying to find out why certain humans are allowed into Evernight. There were a lot of sub-plots and mysteries going on at the same time, but it was never confusing - just fun.

If you have read my review of Evernight, the first book in the series, you might remember that I disliked the plot twist midway through the book. This book had a small twist too, but one I was expecting so it didn't bug me at all ;)

In this book we were presented to a new threat, the wraiths. I loved the mythology behind those, and the well-written and vivid scenes about them.

The ending was very dramatic, and I loved the way this story took. It's going to be fun to read about the next part of Bianca's life!

Favorite sentence:
“Lucas, didn’t anyone tell you the emergency number isn’t to alert us to
your booty calls?”

Rating: 4 of 5

Goodreads|Book Depository

Previous books in this series:
Evernight

Contests around the Blogosphere (Week 17)

1. Win The Secret Year, The Forest of Hands and Teeth & As You Wish @ Rachel Bateman's blog
Ends April 30th, so hurry up!

2. Pick your genre giveaway @ Ex Libris
Ends May 2nd.

3. Win Hex Hall @ Daisy Chain Book Reviews!
Contest ends May 3rd.

4. Win The Last Olympian @ Imagination in Focus
Ends May 3rd.

5. 100 Followers Giveaway @ Bewitched Bookworms
Win books, jewelry, make-up and more! Ends May 3rd.

6. Win a signed ARC of Sing Me To Sleep @ Books Obsession
Ends May 5th.

7. And don't forget that tomorrow (April 30) is Blogmania day! One day full of contests :)

Waiting on Wednesday (4/28)

Titel: Endless Summer

Series: Boys Next Door #2
Author: Jennifer Echols
Release Date: May 25

Lori should have known better than to date a pirate. After finally getting together and going out on their first real date, only Lori and Adam could manage to fall asleep—and wake up seven hours past Lori’s curfew. Their parents forbid them to see each other. So Lori takes it upon herself to date boys scarier than Adam until her dad gives in.

But Adam won’t play along. He’s afraid Lori might fall for these scary boys. And when she goes out with the scariest boy of all—Adam’s own brother and her ex-crush—even the threat of being sent away to military school can’t keep Adam from swashbuckling his way back into Lori’s heart.

Can this forbidden love stay afloat, or will it sink in the watery deep? Endless Summer is the sequel to Boys Next Door, which I loved! If you're looking for great romantic comedies, you should read Jennifer's books! And don't worry if you haven't read Boys Next Door, this book contains both books!

Mini Reviews (V)

* Mini Reviews of non-vampire books I've read lately.


The Naughty List - Suzanne Young
My expectations on this book were very high, sadly I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. I didn't connect with the characters at all. Tessa, the main character, was described as 'always perky, always purrrfect'. In my opinion she was a bit too perky, priss and clinging. Her relationship with her boyfriend, Aiden, was very physical and seemed very cozy. I couldn't see any sparks between them though! I instantly depreated Christian, the new boy in town. He fell in love with Tessa the minute he saw her and immediately started to tuch her (inappropriately) , and suck up to her. Eww, he was a cloying person! If I would have reviewed this book midway through it, it would have gotten a lower score. BUT I liked the way the story turned around and I loved the ending - it was like taken from a high school movie (and those who know me, know that I loove high school movies!). So the ending saved the rating to: 3.5 of 5



Breathing - Cheryl Renee Herbsman
Breathing is about Savannah, a 15 year old girl suffering from asthma. When she meets Jackson she's convinced that he is her true love and soul mate. They sneak around her mama's strict rules and hang out together. Savannah is convinced that her asthma has improved since she met Jackson, and that it will be worse once he leaves her. So when Jackson is called away to help his family, Savannah has no choice than to learn to breath on her own - both literally and figuratively.
This story is set in Savannah, and written from Savannah's PoW. It is therefore written in a Southern dialect - which I found a bit hard to read. Savannah was a bit immature and insecure, but she was only 15 so that might be reasonable. I still think that she acted a bit childish from time to time. Read this one if you like books set in the south, or books about first love/summer love. You might like it, I had a hard time finishing it.
Rating: 2 of 5


The Espressologist - Kristina Springer
What's your drink of choice? 17-year-old barista Jane Turner has this theory that you can tell a lot about a person by their regular coffee drink. Jane starts hooking up some of her friends based on their coffee orders - and it's a success! Soon everyone knows about Jane's 'Espressology' and wants her to find their perfect matches. But why does it feel so strange to watch her best friend, Em, and the cute Cam dating? She was the one who set them up after all! Shouldn't she be happy for them?
The Espressologist was a cute, but somewhat predictable read. The idea of 'Espressology' was very clever and original, and I'm curious to see if it works in real life! I wonder what Jane would say about a Vanilla Bean drinker. . .
Rating: 3.75 of 5

You can now find all mini reviews here!

Vampire of the Week

I know, I know, I haven't done a Vampire of the Week post in ages! But, after weeks of waiting it's finally time again. And which vampire is better to kick off the re-launch of VoW than:

Drusilla!

Drusilla is known from both Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel. "Dru" grew up in London, England with her parents and two sisters. For her whole life, Dru had been able to foretelling the future, along with other physic abilities. She didn't see her talents as a gift though, no she believed it to be an evil affliction, and therefor entered a nunnery to cleanse herself.
In 1860, Angel, who by the time still was Angelus, met Drusilla. He sensed her purity and her potential for sainthood, and became obsessed with destroying her. He tortured and killed Drusilla's entire family, along with everyone else she was close to. And he made Drusilla watch him do it, then he turned her. No wonder she turned insane. . .

As a vampire Drusilla still has her foretelling abilities, along with the ability of being able to hypnotize people. Her temper changes from one minute to the next. When she's happy she is laughing and dancing, and singing to herself. She loves to torture and kill humans, and to watch other people do it.

Why does Drusilla deserve to be the Vampire of the Week?

Well, she is such a great character! She's mad, funny and talks the funniest way. She is also an incredible quote machine! Take a look at some of her best sayings:

To her doll: "Miss Edith speaks out of turn. She's a bad example and will have no cakes today."

"The King of Cups expects a picnic. But it's not his birthday."

"It's not nice to change a game mid-play, Spike. You've taken my chair and the music hasn't stopped."

"Didn't like the barkeeper. Mm...can't get his eyes off my fingers."

"Run and Catch. Run and catch. The lamb is caught in the blackberry patch.



Drusilla is played by Juliet Landau.



Sources:
IMDb
Wikipedia

To see previous Vampires of the Week, click here.