YA

Review: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Bloodlines #1

bloodlines -richelle meadI wasn’t free of my past, not yet.

Sydney’s blood is special. That’s because she’s an alchemist – one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets – and human lives. But the last encounter Sydney had with vampires got her in deep trouble with the other alchemists. And now with her allegiences in question, her future is on the line.

When Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, at first she thinks she’s still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. But what unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir – the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir – is in mortal danger, and the Moroi must send her into hiding. To avoid a civil war, Sydney is called upon to act as Jill’s guardian and protector, posing as her roommate in the unlikeliest of places: a human boarding school in Palm Springs, California. The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathizing with vampires. And now she has to live with one.

The Moroi court believe Jill and Sydney will be safe at Amberwood Prep, but threats, distractions, and forbidden romance lurk both outside – and within – the school grounds. Now that they’re in hiding, the drama is only just beginning.

3.5 Drink Me Potions

Sydney is unlike a lot of protagonists I have the pleasure of following around in a long series. She’s brilliantly smart, yet tries to dumb her knowledge down when it seems to bother people around her, and attentive to what others need. She truly cares for people, which is the root cause of her problems.

Because vampires, even half-vampires, are not technically considered “people” to the Alchemists.

It’s forbidden to even like them, let alone associate with them, yet her job forces her to live with them. Of course, she doesn’t fight or argue with her superiors about any of the things they demand of her. She sounds like a mighty pushover, but that’s because she was raised that way by a tyrant for a father.

This story could simply be another human falling for the charms of a vampire. But, to be honest, that is remotely nothing like what Bloodlines is about. It’s about honour and duty and finding that thin balance between caring for her charge, a vampire princess, while maintaining a professional distance. In fact, there really is NO romance in this story for Sydney. It’s strange as most stories seem to love the romance angle, but it doesn’t really take in the first installment of the series. And it works even better that way.

There are so many things happening in the plot. From dealing with the craziness of human high school while watching over a bunch of vampires in hiding, to Alchemist-like tattoos surfacing on humans and dealing with the ever-annoying Alchemist co-worker of hers, Sydney has WAY too much on her plate to consider romance into it. There’s definitely plenty of intrigue and mystery going on that needs to be solved to keep a reader happily reading.

Also, the characters are all a wonderful group. Besides Sydney, each and every vampire “family” member she’s taking care of has such unique personalities. Adrian’s laidback and the typical party boy but there are moments where I really wonder what his true story is. Given, I haven’t read a ton of the the Vampire Academy series yet, so there may be more to him there. Eddie, a dhampir, is charming and protective. Jill can be stubborn sometimes, but she learns to work it out with her new situation. If it’s so easy for me to love them, you can see why it’s so easy for Sydney to as well.

I could go on about this story, but that’d be way too long of a review. I love the idea of the Alchemist group. It’s so unique and fascinating, intermingling their stories with the vampires. A group of humans dedicated to keeping the vampires a secret from humans for their safety? Totally cool and can go in so many ways. Especially ’cause they consider vampires as unnatural and…well, evil. Let’s just say I can’t wait to finish this series (thankfully they’re all out now), and see where all the foundation and groundwork Mead put in goes. I couldn’t stop reading. Finished it in one day.

By the way, that ending? Didn’t quite see the culprit coming. Although I really should have what with all the mysteries I read. That’s a big compliment.

Overall Recommendation:
Although the vampire genre has really been overdone by this point, this new series following Sydney, an Alchemist, is a far cry from anything I’ve seen yet. Mixed heavily with the chaos of having to protecting a vampire princess from harm while keeping her distance from them, both physically and emotionally, is already hard, but add in a mysterious Alchemist-tattooing parlour and human manifestations of magic, Sydney really has it coming for her. There are so many problems she has face, although the hardest ones are the ones dealing with the fundamental Alchemist teachings she now sees in a different light. Balancing her duty with her genuine care for these “unholy creatures” is definitely gonna come back and bite her. Richelle Mead’s newer series may very well be more exciting than the Vampire Academy series.

adult

Review: Home in Time for Christmas by Heather Graham

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

home in time for christmas -heather grahamCenturies ago, by a scaffold in Manhattan, rose petals drifted gently to the ground……like snow on a wintry Massachusetts night. Melody Tarleton is driving home for Christmas when a man–clad in Revolutionary War-era costume–appears out of nowhere, right in the path of her car. Shaken, she takes in the injured stranger, listening with concern to Jake Mallory’s fantastic claim that he’s a Patriot soldier, sentenced to death by British authorities. The last thing he remembers is the tug of the noose.

Safe at her parents’ house, Melody concocts a story to explain the handsome holiday guest with the courtly manners, strange clothes and nasty bump on the head. Mark, her close friend who wishes he were more, is skeptical and her family is fascinated–though not half so fascinated as Melody herself. Jake is passionate, charming and utterly unlike anyone she’s ever met. Can he really be who he claims? And can a man from the distant past be the future she truly longs for?

With the aid of enchanted petals, ancient potions and the peculiar magic of the season, Melody and Jake embark on an unimaginable Christmas adventure–and discover a love that transcends time.

3 Drink Me Potions

Obviously, magic has a huge hand in this story, although the setting is based in the “real” world. But who doesn’t love a certain unexplainable event in a contemporary romance?

Uh, well I wouldn’t, if the situation had been handled better. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jake. He’s so…intrigued by everything that has transpired since his time in the Revolutionary War. Yet these things like electronics, a washroom INDOORS, and the idea of more wars occurring since his War never fazed him. He took in stride. He’s by far one of the more enjoyable things that happened to this book.

The only other thing I loved was the rest of Melody’s family. From her brother Keith, who also took Jake’s arrival into this world in stride, to her eccentric parents, they made one particularly hilarious group to read about. I mean, come on, Keith thought the best way to teach Jake about all the things that has happened in the past 3 centuries was through movies based on all the different wars in that time period?

And her mother was eccentric to the core, with a fusion Wiccan/Catholic belief system. I guess you can say she’s open-minded? Which is good, given that Jake should be dead and 300+ years old. I swear, she never even batted an eyelash at the fact that he was in modern time. And her father? He was brilliant, but wanted to be some crazy inventor.

I will say, Home in Time for Christmas had its heartfelt moments. Jake was trying to get back to his time to be with his adopted sister, while feeling something for Melody. But obviously, that would be a rather strange situation if he didn’t just head back, right?

The ending was wrapped up too nicely, although the extra epilogue set years later was a nice touch. I’m not sure how I felt about it, although I guess things turned out okay for everyone. Just, how does that not change the course of history? Aren’t all those time travelling stories based on the ONE theme that any minor change could alter the current reality as the characters knew it? ‘Cause, boy, was there a change in history from Jake’s movements.

Plus, might I add, that once Melody’s family realized how to send Jake back, they kept botching it up?! Like, people kept moving back and forth in time to the point it was getting ridiculous. Good thing they happen to have like 4 different chances to do so before the time portal or whatever closed. Honestly, some of this “magical” stuff was a little too far-fetched for me to stomach.

All in all, it wasn’t terrible to read. Like I said, the characters were all rather amusing to read about. The plot could really use some major tweaking, but I was satisfactorily distracted with it enough for one afternoon when I would’ve rather done anything but work. So maybe that wasn’t too high of a compliment, but it was a decent story.

Overall Recommendation:
Far from realistic albeit set in a realistic world, this was my first Heather Graham book. Characters were delightfully eccentric and amusing to satisfy a boring afternoon of nothing else to do. The plot held too many further questions to ponder about, like say, changing history from having Jake come to the present day. But those could be looked aside, right? I guess that would depend on you…and perhaps the mood of the moment in which the story is being read.

adult

Review: Some Kind of Wonderful by Debbie Macomber

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

some kind of wonderful -debbie macomberBeautiful inside and out, New York socialite Judy Lovin values family over fortune and fame. So when her father’s business collapses and his most powerful enemy offers to help — in exchange for Judy’s company — she agrees to join John McFarland on his remote Caribbean island. It isn’t long before she discovers that John’s far from the beast he seems to be!

3 Drink Me Potions

Some Kind of Wonderful was a modern retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast tale. However, it just didn’t satisfy very well in comparison to the Macomber’s work with her Cinderella retelling in Cindy and the Prince.

The “Beast”, John McFarland, was truly horrible to get along with half the time. This made liking him and seeing his “love” for Judy as a little far-fetched at times. Maybe he tolerated her because she was “nice” and all, but falling in love? I just didn’t feel the chemistry very well.

It also didn’t help make matters any better as I didn’t particularly love the protagonist. Sure, she’s kind and sweet to children, tolerant of John and truly cared for her family enough to do what was needed, aka a huge sacrifice on her part. But, even with all these attributes, she was…two-dimensional. She didn’t feel very real to me. Maybe because she was too perfect? I don’t know. But this story has left me with a strange taste after finishing it.

Overall Recommendation:
Although a rather quick read, possibly because it was a little too short to gather much momentum, this modern retelling was by far lackluster, even given a second read. It doesn’t get better, and the unbelievability of such characters made it hard to fathom the depth of their “love” for each other by the end of the story. Just take it at face value in trying to maintain some of the dynamics seen in the classic Beauty and the Beast, and maybe that would be enough to help digest this.