Carmilla

One of my best friends in this world told me that I should read this book that I would be able to find it in any local bookstore and I did. I wasn't even looking for it, just one day, while looking for new books, it was right there, new cover, new publication.

Carmilla was written by Joseph Sheridan de Fanu and published in the magazine The Dark Blue in 1872! Yes, it is an old story!

So, I believe that reviews can go for new books but also for old ones. In that way we all get to know about everything and make our lives a bit more interesting.

Well, eventhough it is old, this short story ( more like a tale) is amazing. When you look at the date it was published you can't help to admire the writing and how the story perfectly fits today's vampire's books. The style makes you want to devour it and you will once you have it in your hands.

One thing is for sure, you need to know that once you are set on reading it you have to have in mind that it is an old story and that it is more like a short story than a whole book. I did not know what I was getting myself into and began reading it and was getting kind of bored until I did a bit of research and appreciated it from what it is: A classic.

The book gives us the story of Laura a girl that lives isolated in a castle with the only company of her father and her servants. One day a misterious girl, Carmilla, comes home for an unexpected visit and a different kind of life.

It is intriguing and despite it's time the main characters are women! It is full of suspense and thrilling emotions. There's no romance and it sure won't involve highschool love but it is a most in the vampire literature.

Have a Fangtastic Tale!

Blue Bloods & Masquerade (Blue Bloods Series)

I got to this book after I had read a lot about them and then I found them at my local bookstore. That was something to celebrate so I got them both. I do not regret it! I'm going to give the review of the first 2 books on the series because I read them almost one after the other.

Blue Bloods is the first of a series of 4 books written by Melissa de la Cruz and published in 2007.

Schuyler Van Alen lives in New York and attends to an exclusive school with a bunch of rich kids and socialites. The story begins when a girl from her school dies in a very exclusive club, a girl that hangs out with the popular crowd like Jack and Mimi Force. Schuyler finds out later that even though she does not hang out with that especial crowd, she belongs with them whether she likes it or not. Soon she'll find out that an evil force is attacking people around her and that no one will believe her but her dear friend Oliver.

This book is really cool, you can tell that the author knows about the social life in NY and everything that surrounds it. The characters are well defined and the mythology is different from every other vampire mythology you have ever read. It is interesting and intriguing. Schuyler is a girl that you actually get to like and understand. I usually found myself shivering at the creepy relationship between Jack and Mimi. And of course you will all be rooting for Schuyler and Jack. You will find yourself a bit dissapointed at the end of the book because it won't give you a closure to the story, far from it. It leaves us with a bunch of questions and with the obvious idea that the story had just begun and is far from the happy ending we are all looking for. That is why I immediately read the next book.


Masquerade is the second book in the Blue Bloods series and it was published in 2007.

In this book we begin where we left off in the last one. Nothing interesting had happened between one book and the other and the action begins immediately. You will read the book so quickly that you won't even notice that the ending is a few pages away. In here we will find Schuyler being as shy as she was in the first book but her vampire powers are developing in an interesting way and we start wondering how important she is going to be in the vampire world. The evil force she believes is attacking the vampires is striking again and she will do everything to make everyone see that it is true.

This book ends the same way as the first one. With a little bit more of closure but still it makes you want to keep on reading because this series doesn't have a self-contained story in each book. It is a whole, uninterrupted story that you won't be able to stop reading because you will realize that this is a story split into 4 books. So, without one you won't be able to read the next one!!

I highly recommend them because even if you feel like nothing is happening or that the plot is a bit slow you will realize, as you close the book, that you want to know more. That you just can't leave it there and you need to run to get it.

So, in the end, go get these books! They are different and interesting and girly and with a mythology that sets them apart from the rest of the vampires.

Have a Fangtastic Tale!

True Blood-Season 3- Episode 4

Last week there was no episode and I kinda missed it! But then again, I was a bit scared about what they were going to give us now. Week after week we've seen Bill with a bloody mouth, eating werewolves chunks or being raped by Lorena (ewwwwwwwwwwwww). We've seen Eric doing everything mentioned above BUT doing Lorena. And lots of blood.

This episode began as we see Sookie healing Alicide's wounds and then receives a call from Bill that acting like an asshole tells her that he does not want to be found and that he had just 'Made love' to Lorena, if that's what you can call it. Sookie cries her eyes out. The truth is that I found her crying a bit funny, I do not know if it was intended to be funny but for me it was. Alcide, being the gentleman he is, comforts her and she lets him.

Lorena tells Bill, while fixing her neck, that that was the best sex she has ever had in years (or centuries?). Bill replies by saying that at least one of them enjoyed it because it was horrible for him. I'm pretty sure it was horrible for many of us.

That very night Eric daydreams about sleeping with Sookie while watching a pole dancer. We've all seen this coming. Besides wanting to get it on with her he has feelings for her.

The next morning Sookie decides that she wants to look for Bill. Alcide calls her 'a doormat'. I really like Alcide on the book and in the series seems to be the same. However, he does not want to get involved anymore and tells her that she is on her own. Later that day, Alcide's sister gets to her place ( I do not know how) to give her a not-permanent make over so she can blend in at the were's bar. While she is doing that, Sookie gets to her thoughts and realize that Alcide's ex is having an intiation party (instead of an engagement one) to the nazi wolves, that very night.
With that, and looking all punk rock and so not believable, Sookie gets Alcide on board for the clubing night.

Bill gives out information about the Queen and Eric selling V in exchange of the permission to kill Lorena. Seems that the permission was granted but not before they went out to get something to eat and Bill was in charge to get the food. Seems that the food was coming from a strip club and Bill had to look for someone that wouldn't be missed. I did not get the point of the scene.

While Bill was getting something to eat the King said he had something to attend to and he dissapeared leaving Lorena alone. Seems that the King had to go to the were's bar to be part of the initiation of Alicide's ex. As Alcide and Sookie stare at the scene in front of them they see how the King opens up his wrist and fills shot glasses with it. What? Yeah the King himself is the one that provides the wolves with blood. He does not allow Alcide's ex to drink blood because then her 'mark' won't last. After the king leaves they mark Alcide's ex just like you would brand a horse, which is gross and just then the new boyfriend shift into wolf and licks her wound. I gotta admitt that I was afraid that the wolf was going to hump the girl. I really dont know what to expect about the series anymore. I was relieved as the wolf jumped into a speaker and start howling. Just as he did that, every man in the bar changed into a wolf. Including Alcide that, with eyes of Michael Jackson in Thriller, screams to Sookie to run.

Franklin gets info from Tara, who has already been bitten, and that is all glamoured. Then he gets her to the King's place and we have no freaking idea why that is. At least he is not having sex with her anymore, that was gross.

Jason insists on becoming a cop and has blackmailed Andy into making him one without undergoing the training and exams. Lafayette is still selling V with Eric's help. Eric gets busted in his own club while Pam get's tortured. Jessica works at Merlotte's now and Arlene is still pregnant (with Renee's kid? I do not think is the evil spawn any more). Sam's family is a bunch of drunks that have nowhere to go and have made of his parking lot a trailer park. Being the stupid fool he is, Sam is getting them a place to stay while 'they get back on their feet'. We all know that won't happen.

The Episode was less disturbing that the one before but now I can see that this season is all about what they can do to make us puke! I'm wondering when the hell is Lorena going to die, because I hate her. Sookie is turning into the stupid gal sometimes I hate in the books. And Bill is getting less cute by the season. Maybe it is that I like Eric more now and Alicide too, but I'm not liking Bill that much.

This Episode was kind of messy. And I will give a 7 out of 10! Still I will keep watching because it has very good things and some gross ones that make me wonder what's going to happen next.

Have a Fangtastic Tale!

Let Me In - Movie

This movie is a re-make from the Swedish movie "Let The Right One In" based on the book written by John Ajvide Lindqvist.

The Swedish version of the movie it's amazing. It is wicked and cute. And now it is coming in the U.S version that seems to have an upgrade on action and thriller. I highly recommend to watch the Swedish version before getting to the re-make because it is really good. I haven't read the book but I think it is pretty much the same as the movie.

I'll leave you with both trailers so you can see the differences in both versions and I will highly recommend you to watch Let The Right One In before getting to Let Me In.

A bit trivia: The title on the Swedish version refers to Morrissey's song "Let the Right One Slip In" and to the fact that according to vampire mythology they can't go into a house without being invited.

Frostbite & Shadowkiss (Vampire Academy Series)

Remember I said the story got me interested and looking forward to it? Ok, now it's turning into an obsession! So I read the second and third book back to back. So that's why I'm going to do things a bit different and will give a review of both books.

The story in Frostbite is all about royals being attacked by Strigoi ( by this point I totally get the mythology and the names of the vampires and non vampires). And this book takes us through the caos and fear of everyone hiding from the Strigoi and finding ways to protect them . We still have the frustration of the not-possible but very real love between Rose and Dimitri. We have some new characters introduced in this book and you can't help but feel attracted and intrigued by Adrian and love/hate Tasha and feel weird about Rose's mother.

The book is really good and it involves you emotionally and you find yourself going through the pages waiting for something to happen between Rose and Dimitri. This book is so much better than the first one and ends with an emotional cliffhanger and that is the reason why I went straight to the third book. I just couldn't wait.

When I got to Shadowkiss I found a different Rose, a more mature and grown up Rose but not a less impulsive one. I won't say why because that would just ruin the previous book. We find that being Lissa's guardian is taking a toll on her and she is having a hard time finding out what is real and what is not. The story takes us through another Strigoi attack and the dark mood in which she is finding herself more and more.

As I said, every book gets better than the one before that. Now, I am debating on going on with the series because as good as it is Shadowkiss shook me up emotionally! I'm a 29 year old married woman and when I finished this book I found myself crying! I couldn't believe it. I was crying and I did not want to read the next books because Richelle Mead made me invest so much emotion into the characters that I was very, very shaken. Now, a few days later, I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe I could read the fourth book and see how I feel little by little. I gotta admit to myself that I haven't been so shaken since Dumbledore died in Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince.

I gotta say that when I was done with the first book I did not think much of the series. I just liked it. When I finished the second book I was very much involved with the characters and rooting for Rose and Dimitri. When I was done with the third book I was in tears and considering this series one of my favorites. Maybe in my Top 5 of series.

Despite me suffering on the 3rd book I do encourage everyone that has not read the books to do that. Read them, get involved in the series. It is amazing how you find yourself loving the books little by little until it surprises you when you find out that you were more involved that you knew.

Go, get the books and enjoy.

Have a Fangtastic Tale!

A Hunger Like No Other (Immortasl After Dark Series)

Well I got to this book because a Twitter follower asked me to review it so I went on to do some research and since there is no way I could get those books in Mexico I had to get it in pdf. AGAIN. We are a little book deprived over here! Anyway, here I go.

This book is the second in a series of 10 books ( the 10th coming up this August). Published in 2006 and written by Kresley Cole. I am going straight to the second book because the first one is a short tale that makes a small introduction to the mythology. However, after reading the first one, I can guarantee you that you could easily skip it and go for the second without missing a thing.

The story begins as Emmaline Troy is in Paris desperately searching for her parents' story. She is half Vampire (father's side) and half Valkyrie (mother's side) and raised by Valkyrie. She feels inadecuate in a world where vampires are enemies. As she is in a coffee shop wondering if she should just give up, a man comes up to her and remembering her aunt's advice she runs away. She knows everything about mythical creatures, however, she has never seen one besides her Valkyrie family.

Lachlain MacRieve has been locked up by vampires in the catacombs for 150 years. Condemned to burn over and over again. Since he is a Lykae, he is immortal so, he can not die. When he is about to burn to death once again he catches a scent that makes his heart skip a beat. He knows she is her mate. Lykae find only on mate in their whole existance and they have to claim them as their own to live their lives together without anyone harming them. When he catches her scent he gets free from the restrains that had held him for 15 decades, losing a leg in the process, just to get to her. When he finally finds her, he realizes that her mate has got fangs. She is a vampire, his one and only enemy.

I gotta say that this book was a bit too difficult to read. First the mythology is not well explained from the beginning so you have to read very carefully so you can understand. Then, the sexual part of the story is just too much. The fact that everything revolves around sex the first 100 pages is just too much. It comes a time when there's no sex involved (shocker) and you get to realize that the plot is not so bad. The love story is nice and even got me smiling once or twice but then it only last like 10 pages. I think that this book is another example of how the plot was just an excuse to write sex scenes. I'm not against sex scenes in books or anything, I just think that if you are going to write one it has to be completely justified because you could totally fall into the cheap books section. Plus, the sex is way too graphic and I believe that this lady, Kresley Cole, has some S&M fetish and rough sex, really I do. By the way, Lachlain has to be very well endowed, OBVIOUSLY. I'm sorry this is just not my cup of tea.

All in all I did not like the book, the writting is too messy. It is all over the place. It is narrated in third person so it is difficult to know which point of view are we reading and the love scenes, where the couple is finally happy and in love, are not written with as much effort as the sex scenes.

One good thing is that the mythology is rich and has every character developed. I just think that Cole fails at describing it. I think that she got herself a mythology bigger than the story itself and did not know how to merge them in one book without leaving aside the main characters.

Needless to say this is not a book for kids. I would not even give this book to teenagers. Seriously.

If you like well written stories, with developed character. Stories that make you think. This is not a book for you. If you like stories with lots, LOTS, of sex and little action and love scenes. Then this is a book for you.

Have a Fangtastic Tale!

Vampire Academy 1 (Vampire Academy Series)

I found this book when I was searching for something to read on-line. It seemed that it was everywhere and i thought I had to read it. The sad thing was that I couldn't find it in Mexico. English or Spanish there is no version in here. So, I got the pdf version and on I went. I was scared that I was going to find a book like the others I've been reading. Entertaining but not my cup of tea.
Well, it did not dissapoint me. I was into the book and now, the series.

Vampire Academy is the first of 6 books ( the 6th coming out on December 2010 and the last of the series). Written by Richelle Mead and published in 2007.

The book tells us the story of Rose and Lissa. Two girls that ran away from an academy that trains Moroi, Vampires that are alive and not sensitive to the sun, and Damphir, guardians to the Moroi that are half human and half vampire. They get caught by the guardians of the Academy and taken back to school. The most important thing in the book, and the real adventure, is to find out why did the girls ran away from school.

The story is narrated by Rose. However, we do get to have sympathy for Lissa through a bond that both Moroi (Lissa) and Damphir (Rose) have developed and that allows Rose to know everything about Lissa's feelings.

There's a problem with the story; it does not explains the difference between Moroi, Damphir and Strigoi and it takes a while to get used to it. However, once you are past that the story goes smoothly and of course you get into an amazing impossible love story between Rose and her mentor Dimitri.

This first book will leave you hooked and waiting for more because it really does not give you enough. The most amazing thing on the story is that you get to read a vampire book that does not involve vampire main characters and you still get all the rush of the world. There's a lot of action and magic involved and what makes it more amazing is that even though there is love story it does not rule the whole adventure.

I recommend the book, but I highly recommend the series because it will definately develope in a huge interest in any vampire fiction lover.

Have a Fangtastic Tale!

Update on Vampire Kisses

I read the second book. It is horrible! Do not, I repeat, do not attempt on reading them if you are over 12 years old.
I did not like it, you won't like it! Wander around the blog and catch a better option.

Have a Fangtastic Tale!

Vampire Kisses 1 (Vampire Kisses Series)

I did not buy this book. I got the pdf because you can not find in Mexico and because I've seen it everywhere. So, I decided to get it.

Vampire Kisses 1 is the first in a series of 7 books (coming up the 8th) written by Ellen Schreiber and publish on 2003.

The book begins telling us the story of Raven's childhood. She was born from hippie love between her parents and grew up in a hippie environment and with an early obsession with vampires. As the years went by and her parents became a responsible couple they changed into a normal family with the excepcion of Raven Madison. She never changed, she always kept her obsession with vampires and as she became a teenager she decided her outfits would consist of variable shades of black.

Raven is an outcast in a town that she calls Dullsville and has one friend, Becky. She be-friended her because she is the one that protects her. When a new family comes in town and the rumours of the family being vampires Raven found a reason to go through her days. She actually believes in vampires. She gets into this family's world when she meets Alexander, a 17 year old kid that lives in the "haunted" mansion in town and is part of this weird family.

This book is weird. It begins with Raven's childhood wich is colorful. I mean it was nice reading the childhood description. I found it a bit funny since we got to see that through a child's perspective. However, once we got into the 16 year old life things went downhill.

At times, Raven reminded me of Roxy in "A Girl's Guide to Vampires" and if you have read my review you'll understand that's not a good thing. Not remotely close. Raven is a well planned character, but is the only one. The rest of the characters are just there for the sake of the story but not developed in any sense.

Raven believing in vampires was a bit too much and her stalking Alexander was childish, immature and utterly boring. Most of the part of the story was unnecessary since all we wanted to know was if Alexander was a vampire and it was kind of obvious he was.

The story ends with a horrible cliffhanger that makes you wonder what was the whole point of the whole book. This first book feels like just the prologue of the whole series for me. I haven't read the other books but that's just the way it felt to me.

Now, if you look closer to Schreiber's series you will realize that her target audience is pre-teens and that's just what I told my husband once I was over with the book. If you want your 11-12 year old kid to start reading give them this book. It is short, it has romance, teen related subjects and it might just get them into books.

If you are not 12 years old, do not read the book. I will read the second book because, like I said, I just read the Prologue to some story that might, or might not, get interesting on the long road. The truth is that I just want to know a bit more about Alexander who seemed like a cool vampire and we got to read about him in like 4 pages. So, I'll sit down and I'm sure that in 2 hours I'll be done and will decide if the series is worth reading or not.

Have a Fangtastic Tale!

Eclipse-The Movie

The moment we were all waiting for is finally here! Eclipse is on theaters and we all obviously rushed to the movie theaters everywhere! Eclipse premiered in Mexico on July 1st at 12:01 am. I did not get tickets for that show, however, I was in my seat next morning at 10:30 am. The earliest show I could found. I thought in that way there wouldn't be too much people and I would enjoy the movie even more. Well, I did enjoy the movie but there were a lot of people. Mostly females. I won't say girls or women because there were females of all ages.

My husband went with me and we were there waiting for the movie to begin and we would see 13 year old girls, 18 year old teens and ladies my age ( ha). But for the first time in my life I saw a big group of Twi-moms!!! I was so excited, they sat next to my husband and I kept watching them. I just wanted to see their reaction at the movie. I know I react like a little girl and I was wondering how a mom would react to it. I felt very good with myself, I wasn't acting like a little girl at the sight of Edward. Twi-moms were excited and they would giggle and even argue about Jacob and Edward. Seemed we had some Team Edward and Team Jacob moms.

The most unusual charecter in the movie theater was a guy that was dressed in a suit and sat next to me, by himself. I thought he was waiting for someone, but no. He seemed all excited with the action scenes and I even heard him groan a couple of times.

Anyway, on to the movie. I liked it! I thought it was amazing. At the beginning I just couldn't get used to the scenes of the book being cut but then I finally got the idea and I flowed with it. In the first scene we get to see Edward and Bella on the meadow, all in love and acting like any young couple. I love the Meadow scenes, I love Edward ( have I mentioned that?).

Like I said, I felt that the first part of the movie went too fast. In the book we were used to Bella attempting several times to run away from Edward's watch and meet Jacob in a detailed way. However, really, how would you put a 600 pages book into two hours of movie. I immediately got the idea and enjoyed the scenes.

I think the movie was absolutely well directed and produced. In terms of production it's the best of the three movies, in terms of story it is not. But then again, Eclipse has never been my favorite book, too much history and stories, not enough love scenes ( he he. See? giggling like a little girl).

My favorite scenes:

Meadow scenes: just because the meadow means a lot and usually we have a view into Edward's and Bella's relationship when they are all alone, not even Charlie sleeping next door.

Edward proposing to Bella: I felt my heart melting at every single word that came out of his mouth! My husband was next to me and still I was melting on the seat. I'm pretty sure I said something, can't remember.
Charlie's sex talk with Bella: It was so much better than in the book. I loved it! It was perfect and hilarious.
The training scenes: Amazing! We can see that they have enough budget now! I loved it.

The fight scene: Amazing as well, it is full with adrenaline and here's where the lonely guy next to me would be seating at the edge of his seat. When Bella cuts her arm he groaned.

Jasper: Yeah, I loved Jasper in this movie. He talks! Ha Ha! He has a nice voice when he is focused and serious! And we got to see Jasper and Alice kissing. So sweet!
The tent scene: That has always been one of my favorites in the book and I loved it in the movie. Not too far from what I imagined while reading it.

Bree's final scene: They did not make us suffer too much over her now that we all came to know her more. I felt really bad for her once I read the book.

What I thought it was missing:

More Jacob as a werewolf scenes with Bella: In the book Bella has a great relationship with Jacob as a werewolf. And we only get to see it one time in the whole movie. I would've love to have more of those.
The old Victoria: I was used to Victoria in the first movies. It was difficult for me to get used to it.

What made me react:
Bella asking Jacob to kiss her: Never liked it in the book, did not liked it in the movie. I wanted to close my eyes but how could I miss something like that? So, I watched and react.

All the body parts and Victoria's head: Ew. It wasn't too much but I'd never imagined that part while reading. So when I got to see that I reacted by just saying: Ew!

Edward: He always makes me react! Can't help it!

Jacob saying Edward is not that perfect: My answer to that was "He is" I said it outloud in the theater.
Maria asking Jasper to suck someone's blood: It was in spanish and what she said and how she said it was gross. That got another Ew out of me.

All in all, I loved the movie! It was amazing! I think it was great! They did the best to show everything that happens in the book and made us feel all excited about it. Now, we will be going back to watch the movie (I know I will, I know most of you will) and appreciate it even more.

I'm just glad that we have still two more movies to come and the best is yet to come! I know we all are waiting for some scenes ( ahem! Feathers!) and we will all be waiting for them!!

Have a Fangtastic Tale!

Twilight- The Movie

We've all read the book. We love it and we all sigh at the thought of Edward Cullen. Well, at least those of us on Team Edward. And when the movie was out we all ran to the movie theaters, several times. I liked the movie, the truth is that the movie was not a huge production or very well done. The movie was amazing because we got to see the people we've been reading about breathing, or not breathing, and walking and being almost real. It is amazing when Edward walks through Forks School cafeteria. We can't help but sigh and smile. We lived for that moment while waiting for the movie and watching the trailer over and over.

The cast was chosen perfectly. Alice is everything we read about, Emmet is just like Stephenie wrote and I think Edward and Bella were perfect too. The only one I had an objection with was Rosalie. In the books Rosalie is like a super model and Nicky Reed is a bit far from it but she works, she plays the part very well.

My favorite scene on the movie is probably the one where Bella finally lets Edward know that she knows he is a vampire. "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb…" " What a stupid lamb" "What a sick, masochistic lion". Yeah, right there, my heart melt. The baseball scene is very good and having Muse on the soundtrack couldn't have been any better.

I remember I went around promoting the movie. Asking everyone to go see it but first read the book because it is sooooo good. Some people decided they were going to skip the book and go directly to the movie. They hated the movie, they did not like it. I always said, do not watch the movie if you have not read the book.

The book is a thousand times better than the movie. The movie was made for those who are deeply in love with the book. The movie by itself might seem only as a low budget vampire movie. And it was, a low budget movie but the truth is that the movie is only a companion for the book. The movie brought to life the characters of the book and that's the reason why we all love it.

Robert Pattinson is a great Edward, he is always in pain and we all feel so sorry for him. Stewart is a great Bella, she is just as awkward as Bella is. Charlie is a bit more funny in the movie but I like that a lot.

There's not much that can be said about the movie, we all have seen it. All we are left with are our feelings, how we lived it and why we love it! I love it because it gave the chance to see my favorite book brought to life and the chance to re-live it everytime I want just by popping my dvd on a player.

All in all, Twilight is amazing because the story is amazing becasue we all get to fall in love everytime we watch it, because it never gets old, because we all know what it is all about.

Have a Fangtastic Tale

True Blood-Season 3-Episode 3

Here we go. A pretty weird, disturbing, icky episode that has been talked about a little bit more than the others. Lets talk about it.

The episode begins as we see Sookie shooting a gun to a Werewolf. The scene is in slow motion, you can see the bullet in the air going directly to the wolf but.... Eric gets in the middle. The were has all the information to know where's Bill. The were turns into human, a naked human, at the sight of vampire blood and Eric goes for it. The were runs away, Sookie shoots him in the leg and Eric gets him. Sookie reads fragments of his thoughts and then we see Eric biting the were's neck. As I've said before, there is nothing like a man with bloody mouth and a chunk of werewolf in his mouth. Sookie and Eric bury the were and seems that Eric just won't wipe the blood from his mouth, I'm pretty sure he does not do it because he feels too sexy with dried blood on him.

There's a scene of Bill going back to his wife right after Lorena turns him. It is heart breaking because he goes back to the time when his kids died. He cries over his son's body and when he turns around there's blood all over his face. His wife screams, shouts and asks him if he is the devil. In the end Lorena makes him erase his wife's mind and he goes to bury his son. That's sad.
By the way, we see Bill's face with blood smeared all over. I think this episode is the one where most smeared blood have ever been. Gross.

We see that Lorena has been rolled over a carpet to kept her from burning and is a bit offended at Bill's actions. Moment of the scene: Lorena been rolled over a carpet and the King saying "there, there". Loved it! Since Bill has been dreaming about the last time he saw his family and how Lorena told him that the best thing he could do for the humans he loves is to stay away from them. He swears his loyalty to the King of Mississippi as long as he stays away from Sookie.

Sookie arranges a funeral for Eggs and Tara shows up. She asks her to come back home because she misses her and she needs someone to housesit while she goes to Jackson to find Bill. She got that snippet of information from the naked werewolf that Eric bit. Tara accepts.

Jessica is worried because the body she has been worrying about is gone and asks for Pam's advice again. Pam, who is quite busy with a lady friend, asks her why the hell is she worried about it being missing if that was she wanted in the first place. Duh! However, later we come to realize that the the body was missing because the weird vampire that has been in the house looking for some information got rid of it as a favor. In exchange for that he asks Jessica for a little information about Bill and Sookie.

Sam's family goes to Merlotte's and get drunk, Sam ask them to leave and later he finds his brother going through Sam's stuff in the office. Lafayette is asked by Eric to keep on selling V. And Jason has that dream of becoming a cop but he keeps on seeing gun shots on everyone's forehead. Really, Jason should go to therapy!

Oh yeah! Alcide finally shows up! Eric sends him to take Sookie to a weres club where she could find out something about Bill. The club scene was rushed, I think. But we got the point. Sookie was attacked by the werewolf that had info on Bill. Alcide fights with the man, he finds out his ex is getting married with the pack leader and Sookie feels sorry for him. The point is... Alcide is finally on the picture and that makes me happy.

Now on to the disturbing scenes of the episode. Pam's and her lady friend. That's ok I guess. The usual but then there's the scene of Tara having sex with Franklin, the weird vampire that is stalking Bill and that was turned on when Tara kicked some strangers ass'. That was disturbing. Why? Because, first no one should ever have sex with Tara or at least they shouldn't show it. Second, it was gross. That eye rolling, moaning like an animal thing was pretty gross! I did not like it at all. I'd already had enough with Eric's mouth filled with werewolf chunks.

And then.......Bill and Lorena. There's too much in there to be upset about. Lorena knows that Bill pledge his loyalty to the King of Mississippi to keep Sookie safe. Bill gets really really angry and bites Lorena's neck. She gets all turned on and asks, demands and screams to Bill to make love to her. Here's where things get HORRIBLE. He gets to the activity. He humps her with a face that tells us that he is not enjoying it but he keeps doing it. He then... breaks Lorena's neck and twists it so she is facing back. When they open the scene we have a disturbing image of Bill humping Lorena while her head is all twisted and she is bleeding through her mouth. Kind of a Doggy-style situation without being really doggy style. If there had been a sex scene on the Exorcist, it would've been something like this. DISTURBING. When Bill is done she gets to tell him that she loves him. Bill screams his head off, not literally that would've been possible but just too much in the too much scene, in pain, in sadness, in rage. He suffers. End of the scene and episode.

Now, this could've been angry sex but in my opinion Lorena definately raped Bill. I mean she has a lot of power over him and he did what she asked him to. He felt so bad that he breaks her neck, in that way he wouldn't have to see her face while humping her. Like I said. DISTURBING.

I've read some people that they thought it was too much and they do not feel like watching the True Blood series again. Or some people comparing it to the rape scene on 'The Hills Have Eyes'. I do not find too much in the sense of not watching it again and no, it does not come close to the rape scene on ' The Hills Have Eyes' that is one movie that I will never watch again. I think it was disturbing and made you feel the pain that Bill was feeling. I think that the sex scene was beyond anyone's imagination and just for that we have to give credit to the screenwriters.

I also believe that we won't be seeing this kind of scenes regularly because then it would get boring and they wouldn't have anything to surprise us with. It was weird and a bit agressive but still it is an interesting scene that had us all talking about. So, yes I will keep on watching.

The rest of the episode was ok. I mean anything that you liked or not goes out the window when you get to that last scene. So, what's the point of talking about it right?.

I give a 9 out of 10 in this episode just because it was different and made us stare in shock at the T.V. screens long after it was over.

Have a Fangtastic Tale.

Beautiful Creatures (The Caster Chronicles)

As the title of this blog indicates I will, usually and mostly, talk about Fangs stories, vampires stories. However, I do read Tales. Fantasy tales, where the universe is interesting and well developed. I found Beautiful Creatures just recently while looking for some new books to read. The cover seemed interesting and the synopsis was too. I did not buy it right away until I did a bit of research and I found out it is one of the best books of the year. That's when I went back to the bookstore and got myself a copy.

Beautiful Creatures is the first of the four books that The Caster Chronicles are suppose to be (Beautiful Darkness out in october and 2 other books confirmed for the next 2 years). Written by Kami García and Margaret Stohl and published on 2008.

Ethan Wate is a normal teenager boy that lives in Gatlin. A small town, too small for him, with citizens that live accordingly to values, religion and honoring their ancestors. He is bored of the place where he is living in and to make matters worst he lost his mother on an accident. All he wants to do is to finish highschool and run out of there.

However, Ethan's been having weird nightmares for months. In his nightmares he tries to save a girl from going into an abyss of darkness and everytime he wakes up sweaing, dirt all over his bed and smelling of lemon and thyme. Despite his nightmares he leads a pretty normal life. He is popular at school, is part of the basketball team and has a best friend, Link, who has been with him since they were in kindergarden.

All this changes when a new girl comes to town. Lena Duchannes, the niece of Macon Ravenwood, the weird old guy who never comes out of his house and kids tell stories about. Lena puts Ethan's perspective on life upside down. She changes his world and Ethan knows there's something about her that is different from everyone he knows. He likes that, he likes her, he knows her.

The book gives us an amazing story with amazing characters. It is different because for the first time in a while, a fantasy book lets us fall in love through the eyes of a boy and we get to experience these two amazing 16 year old characters falling in love. Lena and Ethan were written in a way that you can actually believe that you are living the life of a teenager. They have thoughts and dreams like every other 16 year old. They are believable.

The story is written just the way I love. The characters developed in an amazing way, one by one. They all have a reason to exist and they all have backgrounds. The story is well founded by history and the history is the perfect excuse to build the beginning of a love story. However, the love story is not an excuse to build the plot of the whole story. It is a whole, without the plot there is no love story, without love story there is no plot.

I could not be happier with the outcome of this book. It is an amazing work of art all around, you can tell that the authors put their minds and time to it and we thank them for that because there's nothing like a book with well sustained words.

If you are the kind of person that love books that demand your attention, your mind and your wit, this book is for you. It is not a light nor a short book. Even though the characters are teenagers you do need to pay attention to the book, it is not a quick read but it is an intense, interesting, intriguing and amazing read.

I highly recommend this book. It is a must in the fantasy genre.

Have a Fangtastic Tale.

Twilight (The Twilight Saga)

Twilight, oh, Twilight! What can we say about it that haven't been said? There's no reason for me to make a full review of it. All I will do is to talk about it, what Twilight is for me and what I think about the book.

Twilight is the first of 5 books in The Twilight Saga ( Including The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner). Written by Stephenie Meyer and published on 2005.

I am one of those lucky girls in Mexico that got to own a copy in English and with the original cover, not the movie cover. I also am one of those lucky girls that got to read the full saga before the movie was out. I am one of the millions of fans of Twilight.

Twilight came to me at a time when me and my husband were completely broke. We had just gotten a job as copywriters for a vitamin company on-line. Our job consisted on translating and adjusting the facts about vitamin and suplements on the site. So, when you go on line to buy vitamins, remember me, might be something I did. My husband talked to me about Twilight, knowing my obsession with vampires, and I immediately got my mind set to read the book. The movie was months away and I was determined to read the whole saga before the movie came out.

Once I started I couldn't stop. I was addicted. Since we just had one computer back then I had to wake up early, drove to my mom's, and work on her computer. I would leave the book at home because I knew that if I had it anywhere near me I wouldn't resist the temptation and would read at least a few pages. I would listen to "Decode" all day long and I would actually feel withdrawals. Twilight withdrawals. I would come back home running and the first thing I would do was to pick up my book and read. I was completely devoted to it.

I've dedicated a lot of time to think why is this book so popular between women all ages and here is what I've come up to. Teenagers love it because they still believe in the perfect love story where they find themselves submerged into a relationship that is so consuming that they won't be able to fight it. Young adults find amazing the fact that the book describes the perfect man because they are in a stage of their lives where switching boyfriends or objects of affection is normal and have not find the perfect man, yet. Older, married women (like myself) find it amazing because it let us re-live the romance that once we lived. The amazing feeling of falling deeply in love. The feeling of the first kiss with that someone, the feeling of young and true love.

Besides the warm feeling that Twilight gave me, I think is a well written book. If you look deep into it you won't find one character that is not developed in a deep way. How deep is each character depends on the importance of it but still they are all around characters that won't leave with much questions un-answered.

It has action, love, mystery and there is no way you will read it and not react at everything that happens. I remember that while reading it I used to feel quite stupid because I would find myself smiling at the book whenever I was reading a sweet scene. I would close the book and look around. Whenever I share this with some other Twilight fan I find that everyone had this kind of reaction. Feeling stupidly drawn to Edward and happlily drunk of love. As if one was Bella.

Twilight has a vampire world that is different, it is fun, it is lovely but it also has the tortured part of every vampire book. The feeling of damnation of one's soul, the feeling of living an eternity being a monster.

Twilight saved me from depression, saved me from thinking too much about being broke and having a horrible job that I didn't like. Twilight gave me happiness and obsession over something that was my own. My own version of Edward and Bella, my own little universe where I could run to and forget about real life.

Meyer did an amazing job when she wrote Twilight. She knew exactly how to take the vampire myth and change it into something every single women in this world would love.

Even though my introduction to vampires came from Rice's vampires. My favorite vampire book, my favorite book period, is Twilight. I've read it 5 times already and every time I got that warm feeling in my heart. .Whenever I am looking for a book review the first thing that I would look for is that person's review on Twilight, then I know if we are in the same page or if we might not have the same point of view.

There is no much I could say about Twilight. We already know everything about it. All I can say is that it is amazing and whoever has not read it should run into a bookstore right now. You might not get the original cover anymore but it will be worthwhile.

Have a Fangtastic Tale.

A Girl's Guide to Vampires (Dark Ones Series)

I stumbled across this book as I was searching for something to read. The title got my attention and I read a couple reviews with no spoilers. Most of them said that it was a no brainer but entertaining. So, I got the pdf for it because I decided that I was not going to waste money on it and there's no spanish nor english version in Mexico.

A Girl's Guide to Vampires is the first of 7 books on the Dark Ones Series. Written by Katie MacAllister and published on 2003.

I'm going to do things a little bit different this time. I won't talk about the plot or the story, I am going straight to the review because I actually HATED this book. There are so many reasons why that I don't even know where to begin. First, I couldn't really understand what was going on on the story because the jumps between scenarios weren't really clear. The characters were completely underdeveloped.

Joyful, yes Joyful, the main character narrates the story. We do not know much about her, we do not know her exact age ( I think she is 24 years old because that is the age of her best friend and they've known each other from kinder garten), we do not know where she works, we do not know anything about her family, background or how she looks. We get to know that she is more on the chubby side somewhere in the book when the main male character carries her to her room after she passes out after having a vision sent to her by a vampire. She says something about how she is to heavy to be carried and of course the stud replies by saying that she is just perfect.

Roxy, her best friend and side kick, is a virgin obsessed with sex who is a huge fan of some vampires series and truly believes that they exist. That's why they go to the Czech Republic, to find vampires. Of course, Joy does not believe in them.

Raphael is the main male character, he is mysterious, he is extremely handsome, he is strong, he likes Joyful from the first time he sees her and decides that he is going to marry her because one of his family's traditions is that the men in the family know the woman they are going to marry at first sight. Oh yeah! He is incredibly well endowed, he only uses extra-large condoms. How about that? Ms. MacAlister must think that we, the girls, are looking for a man with a big... part and that's what she gave us.

Christian, the vampire of the story, happens to be the author of the books Roxy is obsessed with and is completely in love with Joyful. He thinks she is his Beloved and he is who sends all those visions to Joy. To let her know that he has marked her.

It took me so much to read this book, I was really trying to get through it. I'm not the type of person who closes a book without giving it a chance so I fought to get to the end of it. I truly felt that I was reading a fan fiction written by a 16 year old. The writing was horrible and the plot did not make sense. I found myself jumping long parragraphs until I would find some dialogue because I knew I wouldn't lose anything in between.

It is not funny, even though MacAlister really tries, is boring and some jokes made me roll my eyes. Actuall, I found some jokes horrible like Joy talking about mother advice during sex. I just think bringing your mother up during sex is gross. My humble opinion.

Roxy gave me a headache and to me is one of the most annoying characters I have ever read in my entire life. Joyful is a diva that suddenly, in the middle of a Gothfair, she is the object of desire of every man in sight. There are fights between guys over her, there are fights between girls over their men who are drooling over Joy and in the end she ends up wit Raphael. She ends up with a human! MacAlister wrote a vampire story only to leave the heroine paired up with a human.

Even though the story seems to be the first fan fiction written by a 14 year old, a bad one, the sex scenes do not apply to that age. I think that the sex scenes were more developed than the characters and the plot. Seems that the plot was an excuse to write the sex scenes. So, I do not recomend this reading for young kids. Actually, I do not recomend this book to anyone but especially for kids.

In the end this book gets a -2 in the scale 0-10. I wouldn't waste one dime on it and probably shouldn't you. I still think that maybe, jut maybe, since it was MacAlister's first novel it is a really bad one and the next ones might just improve. I mean it is a series of 7 books and the 8th one is on it's way ( this november). So, I might download the second book give it a shot through the first pages and if it seems to be the same thing as this one delete it and never, ever, go anywhere near this series.

Have a Fangtastic Tale

True Blood- Season 3- Episode 2

As always I only get to see True Blood one or two days late. The Season will premiere this Sunday in Mexico. So let's get straight to what brought us here today: New Episode.

The Episode begins with Bill all bloody, blood on his face, on his clothes on his hands and chewing a were's ear. Lovely, just the way I like men (ha!). He is about to get into a fight with the last Were when a vampire on a horse comes to his rescue. "Your Majesty" he says and here is where we all understand this is Mississippi's King. The King takes him to his castle, not before shooting a were right in the head for drinking Bill's blood, and shows him around inviting him for dinner. Seems that the king has the plan of marrying Louisiana's Queen, even though she has refused. He also wants to make Bill sheriff of Area 2. The most impressive thing about this interchange of words is the menu. Amazing red gelatto and blood soup with rose petals. Didn't your mouths water? Ha! Seems Lorena is back, and somehow Bill finds a way to set her on fire.

Sookie is still looking for Bill and show's Eric what she knows. Bill was kidnapped by Werewolves and Eric simply denies everything. Sookie does not buy it. Highlight of the scene: Pam inviting Jessica to go stare themselves in the mirror at the ladies bathroom. Priceless. Sookie gets home, Jason is there and he is still messed up because he killed Eggs. Another priceless moment, Sookie says she is waiting for Bill to appear on the door and say: Soooookieeeeee. Oh! I laughed at the moment, my compliments to the screenwriters.

Eric drops for a visit and tells Sookie that the weres are coming fo her. They are interested in her and tells her what he really knows about them. They are Nazi Werewolves (What?) and he has had a long relationship with them for a while. He tells her that he does not care for Bill but he owes her for Godric and wants to help her. We all see the feeling in his eyes, he cares about her. Suddenly we see Eric demanding an invitation to Sookie's house and then a Werewolf comes towards them. Sookie shoots a gun.

Tara didn't die, she met a new vampire and Lafayette's crazy mother. The new vampire gets all turned on when Tara kicks some stranger's ass'. Said vampire seems to be looking for Sookie. Weird. Sam finds his family, talks to them. Mom and brother are shifters and he takes a run with his brother, who is a pitbull and can shift into an owl (??) whenever he wants. Arlene is pregnant, I still think she is carrying the Evil's Spawn. Oh yeah, Jason helps Andy Bellefleur to catch a drug dealer while drunk.

Like in the first episode I think they are dealing with so many characters. They did not kill Tara and to make things worse, they brought a new vampire that I have no idea who is. The whole episode left loose ends everywhere. Did Lorena really burned? Is Sam's brother being capable to shift to any form interesting? Who the hell is this new vampire? Will Jason Stackhouse become a Police?

The truth is that they have to start developing or underdeveloping the characters (like they did with Eggs) so we can have an episode where everything makes sense instead of quick views into everyone's lives. Another true statement, from me, is that I am getting into Eric more and more with each passing minute. I kinda like him :).

I'm not enjoying the parallel stories, the one's that do not involve Sookie, Bill and Eric. Period. There is too much happening at the same time and just when you are getting the point of the scene they change it into something else. I feel like I'm being pulled from one side to another when all they could do is dedicate a whole episode to explain Bill's whereabouts, or to explain Sam's family or to explain those weird flashbacks Eric has.

And is Alcide showing up any time soon? I like him too.

All in all I give, again, an 8 out of 10 and slightly dissapointed in the character development. We'll see what the season holds for us. But hey, we all can be happy since there has been already confirmed the fourth season. I hope they get rid of some people by then.

Have a Fangtastic Tale.

Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress Series)

Halfway to the Grave fell into my hands just recently. I was on the bookstore looking for some new vampire related books and I found this one. It was in spanish and I highly doubted about getting it. I had 3 or 4 books on my hands and did not know which one to pick. I asked my husband to pick the book for me, in that way I wouldn't feel so bad by leaving the other 3 poor books behind. He chose Halfway to the Grave.

Halfway to the Grave is the first of four books in the Night Huntress series. Written by Jeaniene Forst and Published on 2007.

Catherine Crawfield is a small town girl that lives with her mother and grandparents in a sort of barnhouse. She is 22 years old and the most interesting thing about her is her nature. She is a half-breed human. She is vampire on her father's side and human on her mother's. Her mother was raped by a vampire and all she was left with as a souvenir was a half-breed daughter. Needless to say, Catherine's mother hates vampires and think they are demon-like creatures. Because of that, and her miserable life, Catherine devotes her nights to chase vampires down, with silver and wood blades ,and kill them. Her M.O. is to walk into a bar, drink as much gin-tonic as she possible, since alcohol does not have effect on her, and then pretend she is a drunk horny girl that would go home with anyone that offers, usually she waits for a vampire's invitation before going getting into someone's car. That's when she kills them. Through all that, her mother encourages her and applauds every time she comes home covered in vampire blood.

The book begins as Cat is pulled aside by a police officer because of a broken tail light. She gets nervous because in the back of her truck there is a dead vampire she needs cut into pieces and dump somewhere in the fields. She manages to leave by claiming she was coming home from a "date".

One of those nights, when she went club hunting, she met a misterious vampire that refused to accept her advances. She found him different and sort of charismatic. Since he rejects her she decides to kill some other vampire but the next night she comes back looking for that interesting vampire that refused her. Sort of "the one who got away". This time he does accepts her moves and on they go in her car. As she is about to kill him he knocks her out and takes her to a cave where he makes his home. As they go into a heated fight Bones, as the vampire introduces himself, gives Cat two options. Either she becomes his partner in crime and kills all the vampires he is looking for or she dies. Obviously, Cat decides that helping him might not be so bad if she gets to slay a few vampires on her way.

They become partners and she begins her training. Even though she is fast, and her eyes turn green when she is excited and she can distinguish between vampires and humans, she is not capable to fight the old vampires Bones is after. So, Cat gets into boot camp mode where Bones kicks her ass every other day until she is good enough to fight old and faster vampires. This boot camp includes fighting, running and a dirty talk course where she is not allowed to blush.

Once they are ready to fight together the hunting begins and with that the story that will lead us through a love story where the half vampire and the vampire fall in love.

The book is no work of art. It is borderline vampire erotica and at times I think it is self indulgent. However, it gives you something to kill your time with ( no pun intended) and gets you hooked up with the story line.

I'm no Buffy fan, I gotta admit that. However, if you are, then you will love this book. It mixes the whole human-vampire-ghost world with a bit of action and a lot of sex. If you love Buffy then you might become fan of Cat Raven in no time. If you love Buffy go get this book and get hooked, you won't regret it.

Bones is an amazing character that will get women all hooked up on the series and as trashy as the sex scenes may get the love story is nice. It makes you laugh at times and sometimes just smile. You can't help but root for Bones and sometimes you want to choke Cat and definately you always want to choke Cat's mother.

As I looked at the cover and read the summary I found something very interesting: Frost's picture. And that's when the self indulgence made sense to me. Cat Raven is Jeaniene Frost. And as I've said before, I think authors often write their heroines the way they want or wish they could be. In this case, I have no doubt in my mind that Frost wrote Cat Raven with herself in mind.

In my opinion this book shouldn't be anywhere near kids under 15 years old. I found the dirty talk class a bit too much for pre-teens and the sex sceens too much for them as well. That does not mean I do not like the book, I just think that there are books for all ages and this books should be directed to adults that want a bit more of sexy action in the story.

The book is entertaining and the truth is that I am looking forward to read the next one. Despite the holes in the story and the way Frost rushes into it, I think this book is one of those you read in a superficial kind of mode. A book that won't need much of your attention and won't make you wonder about life. A book that will take you away into a world that does not make much sense but will make you blush and laugh at times.

Have a Fangtastic Tale

The Historian

I came across a copy of The Historian in 2006. My mother had talked to me about the book. She is part of a book club and they had just recently read it. My mother knowing my obsession with vampires talked to me about it and I was excited about reading a book with a "serious" story about the beginning of vampires or at least Dracula!. When my birthday came that year she gave me as a copy of the book as a gift. I was still in school but during the mornings I used to work so that day I took it to work with me and then I did not stop.

The Historian is Elizabeth Kostova's novel. It was published on 2005.

The story begins in Amsterdam 1972. The narrator, whose name is never known, finds between her father's books a fancy notebook-like book with a dragon carved on the front. She asked her father, Paul, about it and he begans telling her the story of the book and where it took him back when he was about to graduate in the 1950´s. Turns out that Paul was a scholar that dedicated his time to study the origins of Dracula. The narrator becomes obsessed with this story and begins her own research on the subject until she finds a series of letters directed to her and where her father lets her know that he is going away to get her mother back. The narrator decides that she is going to follow his father and help him found her mother.

The letters that the narrator finds, and reads through her journey in search of her parents, take us to Istambul, Rumania and Bulgary. The secrets that the leters behold are amazing and terrifying at the same time. We get to read about Vlad Tepes' story and the reason why everyone thinks he became in what we all have come to know as Dracula.

As the narrator travels across Eastern Europe the story develops trhough the letters that Paul has left for her. Through her journey the narrator is able to find love and her identity. At the end of her journey she finds out that she does have to save her mother from her number one enemy, which brings an amazing end to the novel that Kostova has provided us with.

The book in my opinion is amazing, you can imagine every single landscape, you can taste every beverage and wine they taste. You are trapped in Eastern Europe and at times you do not want to leave. The suspense takes over you to the point that you might feel the need to look around to make sure no vampire is lurking on you. The book is amazing and is written in a way that only someone that had dedicated years to the research could have accomplished.

If you like vampires, the teen self centered ones, the scary ones, the ones that stand sunlight, the ones that can't, the ones that are evil and the ones that fall in love, then you should read this book because it brings you and understanding of the myth and the reason why we all are here reading, writing and daydreaming about vampires.

Have a Fangtastic Tale

Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse Series)

I wasn't really inspired on picking up Charlaine Harris' books for a while. I would look at them, the cover wouldn't really appeal to me and then I would put it back on the shelf. It wasn't until my husband encouraged me to watch the True Blood T.V. series that I decided to pick up a copy. I did not want to watch the series not knowing the book at first. That's me, usually I would like to read the book before watching a movie or a T.V. show. So, that is how I got my first Sookie related book.

Dead Until Dark is the first of 10 books based on the life of Sookie Stackhouse. Written by Charlaine Harris and published on 2004.(One can't help but wonder how the hell does this woman manages to write so many books in such a short period of time)

Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress that works at a local bar in the town of Bon Temps. She lives with her grandmother since her parents passed when she was 8 years old. She seems a common girl in a common and simple small town. However, Sookie does have an unusual talent that sets her apart from the people she knows. She reads minds, something that she wishes she wouldn't be able to do. Instead of helping her, this gift, usually gets her in trouble because she knows more than she wishes to know.

She lives in a world where vampires are "accepted" by the society which means that they have revealed their existance to the humans and began the process to fight for equal civil rights since the Japanese invented sinthetic blood therefore they do not need human blood anymore.

The story begins when Sookie gets to attend her first vampire costumer: Bill Compton. Soon she learns, after saving his life from a local couple of junkies, that the only minds she can't listen and/or read are the ones of the vampires. Obviously, she falls in love with him because she could be herself around him and not walk on eggshells trying not to listen to anyone's mind.

While Sookie and Bill are busy falling in love and fighting against those who disagree on their relationship, a bunch of local women die. All eyes seem to focus on Bill, the new vampire in town. However, the police's eyes seem to turn to Jason Stackhouse, Sookie's brother, whose "ladies man" fame and previous relationships with the victims make them believe he might have done it.

The book takes us through Sookies atttempts to clear her brother's and boyfriend's innocence and Sookie's attempts to fight off her love for Bill. It seems that for her dating a vampire is too much and quite often she needs time to digest ( he he) whatever happens in Bill's world.

My take on the book is simple. It is an entertaining book that gives you a few laughs and lets you find some interesting characters that will become more interesting as the series develops. For me it is easy to read, to understand and to like. Sookie's mind is gentle, straightforward and at times naïve. It makes you see the world through a telepath's eyes and makes you fall in love with her world.

I usually find myself a little bit more into Sookie's world than Sookie itself. Sookie is not an ordinary girl, even though she keeps on trying to make everyone believe she is the girl next door. I think Harris in the attempt of creating a character that would make all women empathize with, built a girl that sometimes I get to dislike.

Sookie describes herself as: "I'm blond and blue-eyed and twenty-five, and my legs are strong and my bosom is substantial, and I have a waspy waistline. I look good in the warm-weather waitress outfit Sam picked for us: black shorts, white T, white socks, black Nikes". That instantly lets us know that every single male character will have a crush on her and every single vampire she meets will want to get in her pants.

In my opinion authors usually write the main character according to everything they ever wanted to be, it might be that Harris always wanted to be that stunning girl with a twist. There is always a twist: you are the chosen one, you have a talent, you are an outcast,etc..

The truth is that Sookie might get you to roll your eyes from time to time but the book gives you a whole lot of entertainment and a good time.

From my point of view, this is not a book for kids or pre-teens since it might get a bit too sexual and well, I wouldn't like my 10 or 12 year old kid reading about sex among vampires or mortals.

So, I give a thumb up to this book for young adult readers that like vampires written in a more adult way.

Have a Fangtastic Tale

Marked (House of Night Series)

I got around reading Marked thanks to my husband. I was bored, trying to find something to read, something mind stimulating or at least entertaining. You see, as much as I love my job I tend to get the need to have some creative stimulation. Weird, I know. Anyway I was working at my old office, my husband got there when I was getting ready to leave and out of his backpack came Marked. I got excited because I then had something to read, something new. Bad thing, it was in spanish. You see, we didn't get Marked in english until several months later so he had to get it in spanish. I've read the Charlaine Harris series in spanish before so we thought, no big deal.

Marked is written by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast. It was published on 2008 and it is the first of now 7 books.

The Marked story is simple and not so simple. It is simple when you try to tell what it is about. It is about a girl, Zoey, in whose world vampires are chosen by higher authorities (or a goddess) to become a vampire. When a teenager is chosen to become a vampire they either survive the change they have to go through and become a real vampire or they die. Through this process they have to move to a school in their "district" or state (I'm embarrassed to say I do not know that tiny detail) where they go through the process of becoming a vampire or not. These schools are called The House of Night. Zoey goes to The House of Night in Tulsa.

Zoey becomes friends with the outcasts of the school and soon you can see that she had been chosen by Nyx (their goddess) to be a special vampire. The book takes you through the first months of Zoey's life as a soon to be vampire. The classes she takes, the friends she has made, the difficulties with her family rejecting her, except for grandma Redbird, and finding out that the popular crowd is the where the Dark Daughters can be found.

This is the part where talking about it is not so simple. The Dark Daughters is a group of important and popular girls that perform some kind of ritual to thank Nyx for their lives. The whole ritual, thanking Nyx and calling in the elements to help the vampires is a bit too much for me to talk. It gets easier to read about it in the book than explaining them.

Anyway, Zoey soon finds out that the leader of the Dark Daughters, Aphrodite (not her real , name you are allowed to choose your name once you enter The House of Night), is up to something weird and she decides that she has to save, not the world, but his housemates.

Of course there's a teen love story in here. Zoey likes this guy, Eric Night, but he belongs to her now enemy Aphrodite and these brings a new log to the fire of hatred between the girls.

Do I like it? I can't give you that answer. The thing is that reading Zoey in spanish made me hate her! I couldn't stand her, I felt she was like a bimbo girl and that the teenager language was forced into the book in order to make it current and fun for girl's around Zoey's age. When I finished the book I put it aside and decided that I wasn't particularly interested on the series.

Months later I found Betrayed in paperback english version and since I had nothing to read I decided to give it a try. Turns out that Zoey in english is quite acceptable and more enjoyable than in spanish. I still think that sometimes the teenage lifestyle is forced into the book but not as bad as it was in spanish. I got interested in the series of books and now I've read almost all of them. ( I still need to get some of the last ones in english, I will not read Zoey in spanish never again)

So, in short, you might like Marked in english. I did not like the experience at all and wouldn't read the book again but if you do not like Marked that much I do recomend to wait for the next books since Marked is just the intro to a world of entertaining and weird vampires. Gotta admit that the Casts' vampires are different but just as interesting as any other vampire ( I mean the Cullens' sparkle in the sun!!!).

This story won't give you any intellectual stimulation and won't give you much to think about, except when you come to the part of Nyx's rituals and the spiritual part. You have to pay a bit of attention to it all. Maybe that is just me since the whole candle lighting, calling the earth and offer a prayer thing has never attracted me in a book.

In the end you get an entertaining book that might get you hooked into the series.

Have a Fangtastic Tale

True Blood 3rd Season Premiere

Yes, obviously, I do watch True Blood. I'm not obsessed with it but I find it quite interesting and entertaining. In Mexico the new season won´t premiere until the 27th so my husband, as the pleasing husband he is, has the task to download the episodes and then burn it on a DVD-R and then I can keep up with my favorite series. So, yesterday (Monday) I got to watch the first episode on this season. I was expecting to see what I read on Club Dead (Charlaine Harris book) but by now I should know that I shouldn't expect to see what I read.

Anyway, last season we were left with the shock of Bill being missing after a rather stupid Sookie left him hanging with a marriage proposal. So, in this season we pick up things exactly where we were left. Sookie trying to explain to a cop how she left Bill at the table waiting for an answer and how he is missing. The cop refuses to file a missing person report.

Meanwhile, we see how Jason Stackhouse fled Eggs' murder scene (that always makes me laugh, eggs, ha ha!) and Bellefleur takes the responsability. Tara is in a zombie-like state of shock and everyone gives their account and declarations of the scene. Bellefleur recomends Jason to get some tail and Jason does so. He can't do it because as always Jason sees gun marks on the girls forehead. Why is Jason always having these visions when he is about to get laid? I begin to think he has a real problem.

Sookie seeks Jessica's help in case she sees Bill and Jessica is more worried about Hoyt, who left some flowers, and the guy she semi-killed and then tried to help by feeding him her blood. Too bad he was already dead by the time that happened.

Of course, a True Blood episode wouldn't be a True Blood episode if we did not have some nudity and sex scene. Sookie walks in Eric having some fang-banger sex with a dancer from the club, a session that suposedly had lasted some 6 hours ( uh? I get it he is a vampire but her? How could she endure 6 hours hanging by those chains?). Sookie demands Eric to find Bill and Eric is worried that someone is going to find out that he is the responsible vampire for the V traffic that had being going on in Bont Temps.

Jessica receives Bill's calling, who is somewhere in Mississipi feeding off an old lady who thought he was Stanley, and takes Sookie to the place she thought Bill was calling out to her. They find Bill's car all wrecked and find out that his kidnappers are werewolves. And then the episode ends with Bill about to get in a fight with a bunch of werewolves.

Oh, yeah, by the way, Sam is looking for his family, Tara tries to kill herself, her mother is trying to hook up with the Reverend and Arlene seems to be pregnant ( did she get pregnant on the orgy they had last season?)

My take on the episode? Well I have to admit that I missed Bill's legendary ( maybe) Sookieeeeeeeeeeeeeee ( you all have noticed, right?). But all in all I think it is a good start. We have a glimpse of what the season will be: Werewolves Vs. Vampires. We get to see that Eric and the Queen ( who I loooooooooooooove) will be very much involved in a dealing kind of war. And that maybe Arlene is having the evil's child (that's my guess).

What I do not like? I think too much happened on the first episode. Everyone's business was revealed and all we wanted to know is who had Bill and how would Eric intervine on this specific case. I just hope that they were trying to fix the lose ends they left last season and that next episodes we'll be watching some episodes dedicated entirely to Bill, Soookieeeeeeeeee, Eric and the Werewolves. I think that by now they have too many characters and they do not what to do with them. In the books you do not have so many characters developed so deeply as we have in the series and now that the Weres are about to go in they'll have more. So, I think they will kill Tara and I think that Jason eventually will be over his trauma during sex.

The characters I'm looking forward to see more are: Alcide, The Queen, Eric and obviously Sookie and Bill.

We'll see. So far I'll give an 8 out of 10 for the first episode.

Have a Fangtastic Tale

Interview with the Vampire.

Interview with the Vampire is the first book out of Rice's Vampire Chronicles. It was published in 1976 , the copy I own was published on 1988 but I read it until 1993 0r 1994. As I said before I like it because it was the very first vampire book I ever read and well here it goes.

The book is basically a vampire (Louis) giving an interview (duh!). The vampire and the interviewer are locked up in a San Francisco room ( not Louis room "Just a room" he says) and as Louis begins to tell his story the boy ( as he refers to) begins to believe that he is a vampire and by the time you are on the 6th or 10th page the boy has already bought it all. Louis' story begins on 1791 as he gets into a full detailed story from his pre-vamp days to the late 70´s San Francisco he is living in by the time he gives the interview. He tells the story of how his maker, Lestat, showed him the beauty of the dark gift ond how Louis (continously) rejects his new vampire nature. The way Louis lived through his first centuries and how he came to get used to be the monster he thinks he is.

The story, in my opinion, is not as good as other of Rice's stories. However, it has an amazing way to wrap you into it's atmosphere and take you to each and every single one of the places where the vampires travel to. You can taste, smell and sometimes even feel the surroundings. It can get almost too detailed for some but it is part of the experience of seeing through the vampires eyes. The awe on everything that surrounds them and the passionate way they feel about everything. Life, music, blood, outfits. Everything has a passionate point of view.

The first time I read it I remember how sad I felt for Louis as I re-read the story I get to a point when I feel like screaming "Stop Whining, Louis" but the truth is that this book gives you, through Louis, an amazing insight of his own personality and makes you believe what an asshole Lestat is.

There are awkward moments on the book like the relationship between Louis and Claudia, a 5 year old illegaly made vampire child, that for some might scream Pedophile!! and the relationship Armand tries to start with Louis which might seem like an homosexual relationship. The truth is that after reading other books from the Chronicles you get to realize, at least I did, that it wasn't anything like that. It's just that Anne Rice's vampires admire, above all things, beauty. The beauty that the Rice's vampires behold is different from any other vampire character I've ever read. They found everything beautiful and when they get to find something that intrigues them for their beauty they usually feel drawn to that. In the end it is all pure love through the eyes of a vampire.

If you are the type of person that likes a book written in a more serious way that the vampire books we all read today (which I love!) and also like a bit of sarcasm ( provided by our own Lestat). This is a book that you should read. If you like the dark kind of literature where everything is tortured and drama-like, where love is the tortured kind of love and the friendship is the complicated kind of friendship and where there is always something missing in life. Then, this is a book you should read.

The truth is that Interview with the Vampire is dense but it is the foreplay to a whole world of fantasy and dark humor that brings on the next series of books. The truth is that if you love vampires this is a book that you must read.

Have a Fangtastic Tale