Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead - Book Review

“No. If I let myself love you, I won’t throw myself in front of her. I’ll throw myself in front of you.” -Dimitri Belikov

What would you do if your best friend had the power to heal you from the brink of death? Would you tell the proper authorities, or run away from the most heavily guarded place you know and risk the anonymity of the outside world to protect her from being exploited by those who may try to take advantage of her? This is exactly what Rose Hathaway had to decide on when she received disturbing news from a teacher at St. Vladimir’s Academy (fondly known as Vampire Academy by its students). So what did she do? The only logical thing she could do:

Break out.

This story takes place after they have been living in the real world for some time, and how they are found and whisked back to the Academy, where they find that their troubles are only just beginning, and not just in the form of petty high school drama. It is one event after another, things that make both Rose and her best friend Lissa cringe in disgust and realize that maybe they were safer outside the Academy’s iron gate. But will they be able to figure out who is after Lissa, and why, before it’s too late?

This has got to be one of the best vampire book series I have ever read. Not only does Mead completely give us a whole new look on vampires and what we know about them, but she brings a completely new species to the mix in the form of Dhampirs. The main character Rose is one such Dhamphir, and she is training to become Lissa’s guardian come graduation. But since she missed out on so much while they were away, the only way for her to catch up and graduate on time would be to have extra training sessions with the Russian God Dimitri Belikov. Now there’s a story all on its own that is enough to make you want to read the book, and it doesn’t take away from the main issue: Lissa is being hunted and it is up to Rose to protect her.

This is Book One of the Vampire Academy series, and I know that there are only going to be more dangers headed their way. I can’t wait to read them all.

Rated: 5/5 Stars

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger. . . .

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

Synopsis provided by GoodReads.

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson - Book Review

I’d grown up practically worshipping the Reckoners, all the while loathing the Epics. Discovering that Prof was both … it had been like discovering that Santa Claus was secretly a Nazi. - David

The world is not the same as it used to be. Years ago, Calamity happened. What that means exactly, some still don’t know to this day. All we do know, is that with Calamity came the birth of strange beings with powers called Epics, and some of them were out for blood. But with coming of the Epics came something that could help turn the tide, help those who who still had some humanity left in them find a way to fight back. Those were the Reckoners, and they would do whatever they could to hold back the Epic plague, and bring peace back to Earth.

This book is the second in The Reckoners trilogy, and while I wish I had read the first book before I read this, I wasn’t completely lost going through it. That is very important to me when I read a book series out of order, especially if I don’t realize it until it’s too late. In this case, I read this book as part of a GoodReads buddy read, so I didn’t have much time to read the first book before this one started. It’s okay though, and I definitely don’t regret it.

David, the protagonist in the story, is one that I found very amusing and very frustrating at the same time. I didn’t realize it until much later on in the book that he really wasn’t that much older than I expected. In fact, he’s actually younger than I am, which was probably why I thought that some of his thought processes seemed almost juvenile. But his track record has proven to the world that he is very capable at doing his job, which to him is killing Epics. Throughout the book, he realizes that things aren’t always black and white, and his belief is tested even more than it was in the first book.

This book was one of the most amazing stories I have ever read. I couldn’t believe that I had never heard of this series before, but then again I know that there are so many books out there that I haven’t heard of yet, that are just waiting for me to explore their worlds. Firefight is action packed, tells an amazing story, and just really changes the way you think when it comes to the special things people can do, and the darkness that can consume them because of it.

Rated: 5/5 Stars 

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

From the #1 "New York Times" bestselling author of Words of Radiance coauthor of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and creator of the internationally bestselling Mistborn Trilogy, Brandon Sanderson presents the second book in the Reckoners series: Firefight, the sequel to the #1 bestseller Steelheart.

They told David it was impossible--that even the Reckoners had never killed a High Epic. Yet, Steelheart--invincible, immortal, unconquerable--is dead. And he died by David's hand. 

Eliminating Steelheart was supposed to make life more simple. Instead, it only made David realize he has questions. Big ones. And there's no one in Newcago who can give him the answers he needs. 

Babylon Restored, the old borough of Manhattan, has possibilities, though. Ruled by the mysterious High Epic, Regalia, David is sure Babylon Restored will lead him to what he needs to find. And while entering another city oppressed by a High Epic despot is a gamble, David's willing to risk it. Because killing Steelheart left a hole in David's heart. A hole where his thirst for vengeance once lived. Somehow, he filled that hole with another Epic--Firefight. And he's willing to go on a quest darker, and more dangerous even, than the fight against Steelheart to find her, and to get his answers.

Synopsis provided by GoodReads. 

Unfortunates by Lillian Graves

Seventeen-year-old Vanessa is about to get a new life—whether she wants one or not. With a best friend keeping a crazy big secret from her and her parents rubbing their perfect high school love story in her rocky relationship's face, she doesn't have any more cares to give. So when Adam, a ghost who calls himself an Unfortunate, tells her she is his Match - the one who can help him earn his second chance at life by committing random acts of kindness – she nearly blows a fuse. 

No, scratch that. It shot straight off. I mean, why help a ghost who may just be in her head? What was in it for her?

After the denial and resistance pass, Vanessa begins to realize not all of arrangement is against her favor. There is something rather cute about Adam and maybe, just maybe, if he is telling the truth and she brings him back to life, he could be her new date to prom.

But can her selfish ways live up to his expectations?

Synopsis provided by GoodReads.

Discussion on Love Letters to the Dead

1. Do you think some people would rather numb themselves to the pain they are feeling because they don't know how to make it stop, or because they don't want to get in trouble?
2. How would you feel if you knew your sister was slowly going down the wrong path, but didn't do anything to stop her?
3. If you could write to any dead person/celebrity/author, who would you write to and why?
4. Would you do anything to make sure that someone who looks up to you believed that you were invincible, just to make sure that they would always love and trust you?

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira - Book Review

I wish you could tell me where you are now. I mean, I know you're dead, but I think there must be something in a human being that can't just disappear. It's dark out. You're out there. Somewhere, somewhere. I'd like to let you in. - Laurel, p. 10

 Losing a family member, especially one that you are close to, can be the worst feeling in the world.  Imagine losing your best friend, your sister, and watching her die. This is exactly what happens with the main character Laurel, and the death of her sister May rocks her entire world. She ends up transferring schools, trying to make herself into a different person where nobody will ever know about her sister and the fact that May is dead.

Throughout the book, we see if this plan of Laurel's actually works, through her own words. Since it all started as an English assignment - write a letter to a dead person - Laurel ends up using this assignment as a grieving mechanism, even if she doesn't realize it yet. Her choices of dead people to write to seem to revolve around her memories of May. The more the letters come, however, Laurel eventually makes her own memories and opinions about the people she writes to that don't always involve her sister.

Laurel does end up going through some character growth in the book, and while it does seem to take a while to happen, it eventually happens. Unfortunately, she is also a difficult character to fully relate to, and there were more times than one where I would get extremely frustrated with her thoughts and actions. Maybe it was because she was just being a teenager that was experimenting, or going through a rebellious stage, or maybe something else entirely. It just bothered me, because it seemed like she was doing it to herself, or letting herself be the victim of such actions.

It is important for those who do read this book to understand that you should never allow yourself to be victimized, and if something happens that makes you feel uncomfortable or violated, you need to talk to an authority figure and someone who can help you make those actions stop. Out of the entire book, this is the message that I feel needed to be stressed the most, and it was only mentioned at the very end.

Rated: 4/5 Stars

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person.

Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to the dead—to people like Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, Amelia Earhart, and Amy Winehouse—though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating the choppy waters of new friendships, learning to live with her splintering family, falling in love for the first time, and, most important, trying to grieve for May. But how do you mourn for someone you haven't forgiven?

It's not until Laurel has written the truth about what happened to herself that she can finally accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was—lovely and amazing and deeply flawed—can she truly start to discover her own path.

In a voice that's as lyrical and as true as a favorite song, Ava Dellaira writes about one girl's journey through life's challenges with a haunting and often heartbreaking beauty. 

Synopsis provided by GoodReads.