Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1) by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl Penguin Books (Feb 2010) | Kindle, 577 pages Paranormal YA BECS: With the movie being released shortly and a lot of hype surrounding Beautiful Creatures, for me this book was a must-read, as I have to finish the book before I can possibly watch the movie. A paranormal romance between a mortal and a witch set in America’s deep south, where voodoo reigns was enough to capture my interest. The writing grabbed my attention quickly and the build up…
Gilded (The St Croix Chronicles #1) by Karina Cooper Avon (Dec 2012) | Paperback, 384 pages Steampunk GEMMA: Having anxiously waited for Gilded, I can honestly say that it was well worth it. Cooper has once again expertly managed to weave a story that takes you down one path, only to pull the rug out from under you on the second last chapter. What is really clever is the fact that you are so wrapped up in the main plot of Cherry investigating the deaths of the numerous Professors as part…
TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN PART 2 (2012) DIRECTOR: Bill Condon STARRING: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelle, Ashley Green GENRE: Paranormal, Drama CERT: 12A REVIEWERS: Gemma & Laura ** Warning: Contains Spoilers ** GEMMA I went to the cinema at a slight disadvantage to Laura. Having not seen the previous movie nor having read any the books apart from the first one, my review is based purely on from a movie review point of view. The fact that I hadn’t seen part 1 should have meant that I was at…
Sacrificial Magic (Downside Ghosts #4) by Stacia Kane | Harper Voyager (May 2012) Paperback, 403 pages | Urban Fantasy LAURA: It was with eager anticipation that I opened my copy of Sacrificial Magic I’d read all three in the series back to back last year, my love of the series growing with each book. Chess and Terrible are such unorthodox characters, that each time I enter their lives I want to applaud Kane on her guts to be different and her vivid characterisation. Maybe I was just too excited to pick…
ALL TOGETHER DEAD (Sookie Stackhouse #7) by Charlaine Harris PUBLISHER: Gollancz RELEASE DATE: 2009 PAPERBACK: 323 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse has her hands full dealing with every sort of undead and paranormal creature imaginable. And after being betrayed by her longtime vampire love, Sookie must not only deal with a new man in her life—the shapeshifter Quinn—but also contend with the long-planned vampire summit. The summit is a tense situation. The vampire queen of Louisiana is in a precarious position, her power base weakened by…
MAGIC MIKE (2012) DIRECTOR: Steven Soderbergh STARRING: Matthew McConaughey, Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer, Adam Rodriguez GENRE: Drama, Comedy CERT: 15 REVIEWERS: Gemma & Vickie GEMMA When the trailer came out for MAGIC MIKE, I literally got giddy at the thought of going to see it. Half naked males, gyrating across the screen? Sign me up! My calendar had the day’s struck off till it was opening. So did I think the film was worth the hype? Did the trailer give an accurate taster to the film?…
DEFINITELY DEAD (Sookie Stackhouse #6) by Charlaine Harris PUBLISHER: Gollancz RELEASE DATE: 2009 PAPERBACK: 324 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy As a person with so few living relatives, Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse really hated to lose one. But she never guessed that it would be her cousin Hadley—a consort of the Vampire Queen of New Orleans. After all, technically speaking, Hadley was already dead. And now, as unexpected heir to Hadley’s estate, Sookie discovers the inheritance definitely comes with a risk. Someone doesn’t want Sookie looking too deeply into Hadley’s…
DEAD TO THE WORLD (Sookie Stackhouse #4) by Charlaine Harris PUBLISHER: Gollancz RELEASE DATE: 2009 PAPERBACK: 321 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy Sookie comes to the rescue of a naked, amnesiac vampire – and ends up in the middle of a war between witches, werewolves and vampires! Sookie Stackhouse is a small-town cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She’s pretty. She does her job well. She keeps to herself – she has only a few close friends, because not everyone appreciates Sookie’s gift: she can read minds. That’s not exactly every man’s…
ROYAL STREET (Sentinels of New Orleans #1) by Suzanne Johnson PUBLISHER: Tor RELEASE DATE: April 2012 FORMAT: Advance Reader Copy, 336 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco’s job involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. DJ’s boss and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard tasked with protecting the city from anyone or anything that might slip over from the preternatural beyond. Then Hurricane Katrina hammers New Orleans’ fragile levees, unleashing…
CLUB DEAD (Sookie Stackhouse #3) by Charlaine Harris PUBLISHER: Gollancz (UK) | Ace (US) RELEASE DATE: 2009 (UK) | 2003 (US) FORMAT: Paperback, 274 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy Sookie Stackhouse always found it difficult to date – she’s cute, but not many guys are comfortable with her mind-reading abilities. But vampires have no problems with Sookie’s talent – she can’t pick up much of anything from the undead. But there’s only one vampire Sookie Stackhouse is involved with – at least voluntarily – right now, and that’s Bill. But recently…
LIVING DEAD IN DALLAS (Sookie Stackhouse #2) by Charlaine Harris PUBLISHER: Gollancz RELEASE DATE: 2009 FORMAT: Paperback, 279 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy Waiting tables, sweeping floors, reading minds and solving mysteries for the undead. It’s all in a day’s work for Sookie… Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is on a streak of real bad luck. First, her co-worker gets murdered and no one seems to care. Then Sookie is attacked – and poisoned – late one night by some weird and apparently mythical beast. She only survives because the local vampires roll…
DEAD UNTIL DARK (Sookie Stackhouse #1) by Charlaine Harris PUBLISHER: Gollancz RELEASE DATE: 2009 FORMAT: Paperback, 312 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy Sookie Stackhouse is a small time cocktail waitress in small town Louisiana. She’s quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn’t get out much – not because she’s not pretty – she’s a very cute bubbly blonde – or not interested in a social life. She really is… but Sookie’s got a bit of a disability. She can read minds. And that doesn’t make her too dateable. And then along comes…
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor Hodder (Sept 2011) | Hardback, 420 pages Paranormal Romance | Urban Fantasy CAROLYN: There has been quite a lot of buzz about Daughter of Smoke and Bone so I’ve really been looking forward to reading this one. The Otherworld Taylor has created, named Elsewhere, is mysterious and intriguing and the characters are imaginative and fun. The angels are frightening but beautiful and the Chimaera strange and complex, and Karou is a fabulous heroine. As I read through each chapter, Daughter of Smoke and Bone…
