Bloodlines

Richelle Mead

Publisher: The Penguin Group

Publish Date: August 31, 2011

Format: Hardcover

Series: Bloodlines

"The greatest changes in history have come because people were able to shake off what others told them to do.”

At the end of the Vampire Academy series, there is a law revealed that no monarch can take the throne without having at least one family member.  This is a problem for Vasilissa Dragomir who is the last of her line, until her sister Jillian is found.  Now, the problem is that in order for Lissa to remain the Queen, Jill has to remain safe and alive.  This is where the Alchemists come in.  They have always protected the human against the Strigoi and Moroi.  In this book, they have the task of keeping Jill safe in order to prevent a civil war uprising amongst the Moroi.

This entails enrolling at Amberwood, going to high school as a senior and sharing a dorm room with Jill.  There are some of the old characters from the Vampire Academy series in this novel.  Adrian Ivashkov, Sydney Melrose and Eddie Castille all have important parts to play in this book.

I thought this book was well written.  It has a good blend of the Vampire Academy series, which I loved, in with this new plot in Bloodlines. This is not a book that is predictable and is hard to put down once you start it.

The first book in Richelle Mead's brand-new teen fiction series - set in the same world as Vampire Academy.

When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California. But at their new school, the drama is only just beginning.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Bloodlines explores all the friendship, romance, battles and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive - this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone's out for blood.

*Seeing the characters I remember from the Vampire Academy series in this book.

*The change that Sydney goes through.

*The fact that you don't need the background of what happened in the Vampire Academy series to understand this book.  What you need to know is explained nicely for you.

*Sydney’s nicknames.  Different people have different names for her.

*Lee - He just seems like a weird character full of contradictions. 

*Keith - He is so full of himself.

*The fact that Eddie feels he wouldn't ever have a chance with Jill.

So, we made the deal, and I, Sydney Melrose, became the proud owner of a brown station wagon.  I named it Latte, hoping my love of coffee would soon transfer to the car.

Girl in the Arena

Lise Haines

Publisher: Bloomsbury Teens

Publish Date: Already Out

Format: Hardcover

Series: None

They became too powerful to live among us.

Too self-concerened, too visionary, too blind.

– Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides

Lyn is the product of her mother, Allison and her father, who was a gladiator in the Gladiator Sports Association (GSA).  She has had a total of seven gladiator fathers.  The gladiator bylaws say you can have no more than seven gladiator husbands and Allison has reached that number.  There are even rules that say who you can associate with after your seventh husband.  

No woman is allowed marital congress with more than seven gladiators, Bylaw 116.  And Gladiator Sport Association Widows, GSAWs, are not permitted to fraternize with common men, Bylaw 118.

Lyn’s current father, Tommy, is in a competition against another gladiator, Uber.  Before the match, Lyn gives Tommy her dowry bracelet for good luck.  When Tommy is killed in the competition, Uber picks up Lyn’s dowry bracelet.  

No man is allowed to hold your dowry bracelet, except your father.  If a man holds your dowry bracelet he’s required, according to GSA law, to marry you, Bylaw 87.

The Gladiator Competitions are all about publicity and making the news.  Nothing makes better headlines than that of Lyn having to marry Uber, her father’s killer.  This is troubling to Lyn because she had never wanted to marry into Glad culture.  She never wanted to be like her mother.  The GSA puts so many restrictions on what they can and cannot because they are the family of a Gladiator.  Lyn will try anything to get out of marrying Uber, but what will this cost her?

I liked that in this book, a whole new world was developed and put in a time frame that we could better understand.  

If I were Allison, I’d be halfway down the stairs by now, trying to breathe life back into him, into his guts, his heart.  But Allison sits there like the ambulance on the other side of the gates with its motor running, lights on.  Waiting for the officials.  Waiting for nothing.  What do you wait for after death? Sixty thousand expressions of waiting all around us.

It’s a fight to the death—on live TV—when a gladiator’s daughter steps into the arena

Lyn is a neo-gladiator’s daughter, through and through.  Her mother has made a career out of marrying into the high-profile world of televised blood sport, and the rules of the Gladiator Sports Association are second nature to their family.  Always lend ineffable confidence to the gladiator.  Remind him constantly of his victories. And most importantly: Never leave the stadium when your father is dying. The rules help the family survive, but rules—and the GSA—can also turn against you. When a gifted young fighter kills Lyn’s seventh father, he also captures Lyn’s dowry bracelet, which means she must marry him... For fans of The Hunger Games and Fight Club, Lise Haines’ debut novel is a mesmerizing look at a world addicted to violence—a modern world that’s disturbingly easy to imagine.

Like an ancient Roman column, the gladiator’s daughter is an essential support, holding up the structure of the Glad family, Bylaw 82.

I once asked Allison, when she recited this to me, if she I was more Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian.  She didn’t think I was all that funny.

*That Lyn is independent and takes care of her family.

*The predictions that Lyn’s brother, Thad, makes.

*How you really get sucked into the story and the emotions the characters feel.

*Uber

*All the bylaws and the power that the GSA has.

So it looks like we’re in the Kali Yuga, right now, he said.  – The dark age.  That’s what they call it, not me.

–The dark age.  Nothing would shock.

He leaned near my shoulder, eager for me to read the entry aloud so we could talk about it.

I pushed the finely chopped carrots aside and read to him.

Rulers will become unreasonable: they will levy taxes unfairly.  Rulers will no longer see it their duty to promote spirituality or to protect their subjects: they will become a danger to the world.  Avarice and wrath will be common, men will openly display animosity toward each other.  People will have thoughts of murder for no justification, and they will see nothing wrong with that mind-set.  Family murders will also occur.  People will see those are helpless as easy target and remove everything from them.  Men with false reputation of learning will teach the Truth and the old will betray the senselessness of the young, and the young will betray the dotage of the old.  People will not trust a single person iun the world, not even their immediate family.  Even husband and wife will find contempt in each other.  It is believed that sin will increase exponentially, whilst virtue will fade and cease to flourish.  Alongside death and famine being everywhere, men will have lustful thought and so will women.  People will without reason destroy trees and gardens.  There will be no respect for animals, and also meat eating will start.  People will become addicted to intoxicating drinks.  Men will find their jobs stressful and will go to retreats to escape their work.  Teachers will no longer be respected and their students will attempt to injure them.

Follow Friday

Q. If you could write yourself a part in a book, what book would it be and what role would you play in that book?

I'm not sure I know how to answer that.  I am more scientific in nature and I guess I would like to have something that deals with the sciences.  I read so many books, I should be able to pinpoint it more, but there is just too much to work with and my imagination isn't really that great.  That is why I READ books and not WRITE them.  ;)

Personal Demons

Lisa Desrochers

Publisher: Tor Books

Publish Date: Already out

Version: Paperback book
Series: Personal Demons

I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  Except him.  He’s wrong.  Everything about him is wrong.  I can’t think or even breathe very well when he’s around.  But I want him around.  I know – I’m losing it.  But there’s something about him.  This weird, dark,  magnetic energy, and even though he scares me a little – okay, a lot – it’s like I can’t stay away.

Frannie Cavanaugh is just trying to make it through high school.   Then two new guys arrive at her school – Luc and Gabe.  Both of them want her to spend her time with them.  What Frannie doesn’t know is that she has special talents and attracted the attention of both Heaven and Hell, who both want to tag her soul for themselves.

Luc wants her soul for Hell.  He tries to get Frannie to sin so her soul can be tagged.  Having grown up in a strong Catholic family (her name IS Mary Francis, after all), makes things a little difficult for Luc at first.  He has to try tactics that he hasn’t had to in a while.   Time is of the essence as King Lucifer himself, has an interest in Frannie and the tagging of her soul.  If Luc cannot complete this job, other demons will be sent to finish it for him.

Gabe wants Frannie’s soul for Heaven.  He has to block Luc’s attempts to get her to sin and help her to accomplish the things which will tag her for Heaven.  But those aren’t easy tasks.

If there’s a Hell on Earth, it’s high school.

This book was easy for me to get into.  I never thought the battle between good and evil would be this good or this entertaining.  Even though there were parts of this book that I didn’t like, this is still a series that I want to keep reading.

I can’t breathe. Then I remind myself that I don’t have to.

Frannie Cavanaugh is a good Catholic girl with a bit of a wicked streak. She has spent years keeping everyone at a distance---even her closest friends---and it seems as if her senior year is going to be more of the same . . . until Luc Cain enrolls in her class. No one knows where he came from, but Frannie can’t seem to stay away from him.

What she doesn’t know is that Luc is on a mission. He’s been sent from Hell itself to claim Frannie’s soul. It should be easy---all he has to do is get her to sin, and Luc is as tempting as they come. Frannie doesn’t stand a chance. But he has to work fast, because if the infernals are after her, the celestials can’t be far behind. And sure enough, it’s not long before the angel Gabriel shows up, willing to do anything to keep Luc from getting what he came for. It isn’t long before they find themselves fighting for more than just Frannie’s soul.

But if Luc fails, there will be Hell to pay . . . for all of them.

I’m not sure which would scare her more: “I really want to get you into bed” or “I’m trying to tag your soul for Hell.” Both true.  But, under all of that, there’s more – something deeper that pulls at my insides and makes it hard to think anytime I’m with her.  Something I can’t even begin to define or articulate.

*That even though Frannie has grown up in this super-religious household, she still has her faults and these make her real.

*The way the authors uses the Biblical names to represent the characters throughout the book.

*Luc’s transformation

*Frannie’s transformation

*They sent only Gabe to tag her for Heaven and four demons throughout the book (including Luc) to tag her for Hell.

About thirty minutes in, I realize why I’ve always avoided these graduation ceremonies like a plague of rats.

Just when I’m convinced that after seven millennia I’m going to die right here of boredom, they start calling names and our row stands.

*The Demons – other than Luc.  I know that sounds cliché, but their personalities in this book were less than appealing.  Maybe that was the point…

*There is no Gabe point of view.  Even though he didn’t have a huge part in this book, it would’ve been nice to know what he was thinking instead of a 3^rd party version of him.

*There was a bigger emphasis of getting Frannie to sin and what she had to do to be tagged for Hell instead of what she needed to do to be tagged for Heaven.

There’s no crying in baseball and no love in Hell.  It’s just the rules.  You could say it’s against our religion, more or less.

 I liked this Spanish version of the cover. 

“With seven thousand year of job experience, you should be able to find something.”

He cracks a smile.  “I don’t think there are too many openings in damning souls to Hell.”

Luc Cain was born and raised in Hell, but he isn’t feeling as demonic as usual lately—thanks to Frannie Cavanaugh and the unique power she never realized she had. But you can’t desert Hell without consequences, and suddenly Frannie and Luc find themselves targeted by the same demons who used to be Luc’s allies.

Left with few options, Frannie and Luc accept the protection of Heaven and one of its most powerful angels, Gabe. Unfortunately, Luc isn’t the only one affected by Frannie, and it isn’t long before Gabe realizes that being around her is too…tempting. Rather than risk losing his wings, he leaves Frannie and Luc under the protection of her recently-acquired guardian angel.

Which would be fine, but Gabe is barely out the door before an assortment of demons appears—and they’re not leaving without dragging Luc back to Hell with them. Hell won’t give up and Heaven won’t give in. Frannie’s guardian exercises all the power he has to keep them away, but the demons are willing to hurt anyone close to Frannie in order to get what they want. It will take everything she has and then some to stay out of Hell’s grasp.

And not everyone will get out of it alive.