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

Anne Rice's Chronicles

I've decided to start the review/rant/comment on the books of Anne Rice, the one's I've read and like. Why? Because there's where my love for vampires began. I got to admit that the books are actually difficult to read, sometimes to understand. I loved them because as a young girl I was easily impressed by the idea of a world where vampires lived among humans but as the years went by I found some characters deeply insightful.

For many people it is difficult to understand why my favorite Character is Lestat but it is usually because they haven't read past the first book or worst seen the movie. The truth is that Lestat de Lioncourt is a very deep character, his take on life is quite dark but still hopeful. He is always hoping to find a reason to enjoy his dark gift.

I live in a country where 16 years ago it was difficult to find books, at least the books I like to read. I always loved to read dark more adult like books (First non-school book at age 9: The Picture of Dorian Grey) and preferably in English. So, it took me years and years to find the Vampire Chronicles in english.

By the time I got around to get a copy of Lestat the Vampire I was already 20 years old and going through a post-adolescent depression. As I read Lestat's story I found myself agreeing with his rants about life and its meaning, I found myself wrapped around his dark, emotional state of mind. I found that state of mind very similar to the one I was experiencing at the time.

Queen of the Damned was with me in another stage of my life where escaping to a world of fiction, of king and queens, to ancient egypt and, of course, Lestat brought me a better understanding of the world I was living in. The real world.

And then, The Tale of the Body Thief came into my life in a moment where love and sadness were a constant (yeah, I sound very emoish. I'm emo in housewife disguise). The Tale of the Body Thief is my favorite book out of all the ones I've read in the Chronicles. Lestat showed me that, once again, we were very similar to an extent. Lestat fell in love and while I read his own experience with a relationship that could not happen, I was going through my own experience with love and life. Lestat was my confident and The Tale of the Body Thief was my shelter.

The Vampire Chronicles are very important to me. I love them with a passion and even thought, re-reading them is sometimes hard becasue my state of mind is not alwasy dark I owe them a lot because they were my companions through several stages of my life where I was looking for empathy and I found that in Lestat.

That is the reason why my next entry will probably be Interview with the Vampire. It will be from my own point of view but it will be fun and deep and I might even make fun of my teenage self because as I re-read the books I found certain things that back in the day made me wonder and now that I am less.... naive, let's say, I get to understand. So we have a date with Lestat and Louis next time. How about that?

Have a Fangtastic Tale

The Beginning of Fangs and Tales

For a while I've been looking for a creative outlet. I've been going through several possiblities with my husband's help. A personal blog, writing my own novel or simply learning a new craft to fill my creative hole. While thinking about what I would be good at and would satisfy my needs I realized that besides psychology the only other thing I am really good at is reading and talking about vampire related books. That is why I decided that my creative outlet would be to write about vampire books that I read and love.

My relationship with vampires began when I was around 13 or 14 years old when I first read Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. Then the movie came and then I start devouring everything there was about Rice's vampires. I loved seeing life through vampires eyes, the way human life seems so precious and interesting to them. The way humans, besides being snacks, seem amazing creatures who went through life without appreciating it.

I became attached to each and everyone of the characters and then I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop reading about vampires, looking for amazing stories of vampires that revolved around tragedy and love. Love for life, love for humans, love for lust and blood.

I have been a "fang lover" for almost 16 years and to this day I never thought that writting about that would be a good thing. But today I decided that I would do it.

This blog will be dedicated to write about the books I've loved for years, books I discover and books I think might be a good option to read. I will write about the stories, the characters, the movies or T.V series inspired by them. But most of all I will try to pass on the excitement that reading this stories have given me.

Have a Fangtastic Tale.