The winner is …

Booketta

Congratulations! I have sent you an email. A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who entered. Look out for more giveaways coming soon.

Merry meet, fledgling.  I trust this guide will serve you well…

Every vampyre fledgling who arrives at the House of Night receives a copy of The Fledgling Handbook 101, and now, fans can have one, too.

Inside you’ll find original stories, the complete vampyre history, inside info into rituals, vamp biology, and the Change, and much more.

As somone who is new to the House of Night series, I really enjoyed this book. So far,  I’ve read the first two books in the series and The Fledgling Handbook provides a deeper insight into the mythology and history of the House of Night and its vampyre occupants.

Beautifully illustrated, The Fledgling Handbook includes sections covering the class emblems worn by House of Night pupils and their history; Vampyre biology covering the process of being marked and becoming a vampyre; rituals, elementology and Vampyre history. The Fledgling Handbook is given to all new entrants to the House of Night and there are sections to make your own notes and for the reader to fill in – great fun!

I think this is a book that will appeal to readers at any stage of the series and is a beautiful acompanyment to the novels. It is quite short at only 157 pages and I wonder if those who have read all of the books released so far (eight in total to date) may find that it doesn’t add much detail to the plot but I’d say it is a must read for fans and readers like me who are just discovering the series.

4/5

You can find out more about the House of Night at: http://www.houseofnightseries.co.uk/

Giveaway!

I have a shiny new copy of the first book in the House of Night series, Marked to give away to one lucky reader. To enter, just leave a comment in the box below and I’ll draw a name using random.org after the closing date. This giveaway is UK only and will close at midnight on Sunday 3rd April. Good luck!

When sixteen-year-old Zoey gets Marked as a fledgling vampire she must join the House of Night school where she will train to become an adult vampire. That is, if she makes it through the Change. But Zoe is no ordinary fledgling. She has been chosen as special by the Goddess Nyx and discovers her amazing new power to conjure the elements: earth, air, fire, water and spirit. When Zoey discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school’s most elite group, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look within herself to embrace her destiny – with a little help from her new vampire friends.

After last week’s Angel themed prizes, I’m following up with a Vampire themed giveaway and I think I’ve excelled myself this time. This is the last of my pre-Christmas giveaways and the prize pack consists of…

House of Night t-shirt (size small)

The Fury and The Reunion (Books 3 & 4 of The Vampire Diaries)

Vampire Diaries – The Return: Nightfall

Vampire Academy sampler

Short Second Life of Bree Tanner poster

To win all of this, leave me a comment in the box below and I’ll draw a name at random after the closing date. This giveaway is UK only and will close at midnight on Thursday 16th December. I will try to get the goodies to you before Christmas but depending on the weather and postal service, this might not be possible.

Good luck!

Cover crush – anyone for seconds?!

Secrets (The Ivy)

Rina Onur, collaborator on The Ivy series posted the cover for the second book in the series today. I loved The Ivy and can’t wait to get my hands on book two and am loving the purple cover! Secrets will be released in May 2011 and picks up where The Ivy ended.

Gregory or Clint? Clint or Gregory? Matt, anyone? And what is Lexi up to . . . exactly? When we last saw Callie Andrews, she was caught on the horns of a dilemma. Lexi was threatening to expose all of her safely guarded, deeply buried secrets from high school, and Callie had just hooked up with bad-boy Gregory—despite the fact that she had a perfect (sort of) boyfriend and her BFF Vanessa had claimed (sort of) Gregory as her own. Yow. Entertaining, hilarious, addictive, scandalous, sexy, and smart, The Ivy series is an insider’s look at freshman life at Harvard University. This isn’t high school anymore!

Wolfsbane (Nightshade)

Andrea Cremer, author of Nightshade posted the cover for the second book in the series, Wolfsbane, on her blog at the end of last week and it is gorgeous! Nightshade isn’t out until December over here in the UK but it’s been getting rave reviews so far. Looks like a very exciting new series to follow.

House of Night website revamped!

The UK House of Night Website has had a makeover with lots of fab new links and features to try out. It’s definitely worth a look: http://www.houseofnightseries.co.uk/

In My Mailbox is hosted by the Story Siren to highlight books bought, borrowed or received each week and is a great way to find lots of new ideas for books to read.

Two for me this week  – I’m working hard at keeping the ‘to read’ pile down

For Review

Dream Machine by Will Davis

This one was sent to me by Bloomsbury and sounds just the thing for fans of the X Factor!

Thousands of wannabes are auditioning to be part of mega-girlband Purrfect in a new reality TV series. Among them are ice-queen Louise, who thinks she’s got god on her side, foulmouthed Joni, desperate to hide the fact that she’s got a baby, mousy teen Ella, obsessed with her stepmother’s boyfriend, and cocky Riana, a stripper with a naughty penchant for coke. Each one is determined to be the new Purrfect girl. But as the show progresses it seems someone has a very different sort of agenda in mind – someone who’s not afraid for things to get deadly.

Bought

The Fledgling Handbook by P.C. Cast with Kim Doner

I’ve been looking forward to this being released and was very excited when Amazon emailed to say it would be dispatching early. I’ve already had a quick look through it and it’s a gorgeous book!

Merry meet, fledgling. I trust this guide will serve you well…

Every vampyre fledgling who arrives at the House of Night receives a copy of The Fledgling Handbook 101, and now, fans can have one, too, with this gorgeous must-have edition. Inside you’ll find original stories, the complete vampyre history, inside info into rituals, vamp biology, and the Change, and much more.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else got.

(From the UK House of Night website) It seems that (un)life is going pretty well for Zoey Redbird. She’s settled in at the House of Night finishing school and is coming to terms with the vast powers the vampyre goddess, Nyx, has given her. She even has a boyfriend … or two. Best of all, Zoey finally feels she has found somewhere she belongs. Then the unthinkable happens.

Human teenagers are being killed, and all the evidence points to the vampyres at Zoey’s school. While danger stalks the humans from Zoey’s past life, she begins to realise that the very powers that made her so unique might also threaten those she loves. Then, when she needs her new friends the most, death strikes the House of Night. Zoey finds herself facing a betrayal that could break her heart and jeopardise the very fabric of her world.

Spoiler alert! I try to keep spoilers to a minimum in my reviews but as this is the second book in the series, you might not want to read on if you haven’t read the first.

Betrayed picks up just after the end of  Marked with Zoey Redbird still in her first month as a pupil at the House of Night.  All is going well with Zoey getting to grips with life as a fledgling vampyre and her new powers and responsibilities until a human teenager (a footballer from Zoey’s old high school) goes missing and is later found dead very near to the House of Night. As a second teenager goes missing, Zoey’s intuition, coupled with some very strange and ghostly encounters tells her that there is more to this than a drunk teenager wandering off and being attacked by animals. She just has to work out what!

I was pleased that this book carried the story straight on from Marked and as I was reading them one after the other, they really flowed into each other. There were a number of ‘mysteries’ left at the end of Marked and in Betrayed, these are developed in more depth although we still don’t have the full answers at the end of the book – a very clever ploy by the authors as it definitely made me want to keep reading the series!

As you would expect, Zoey’s new friends are all back for Betrayed and we get to learn a bit more about the main supporting characters; Stevie-Rae, Damien and The Twins. There are also a couple of excellent new characters and Zoey’s love life is almost as much a focus of the book as her attempts to work out what is happening to the missing teenagers with three (yes three) guys vying for her attention!

As I’ve said previously, I really like the way that the story combines elements of the everyday and magical and mythical. I also like the way that these books address real issues like falling out with family members, love and relationships and dealing with loss and grief. Although the first book touched on the topic of loss and death, this book goes into more depth and I thought the topic was treated very sensitively.

The pace of the book was just as gripping as the first in the series and I’m looking forward to reading the third, Chosen, soon.

5/5

You can find out more about the House of Night series at: http://www.houseofnightseries.co.uk/

As regular readers will know, I imposed a book buying ban on myself for most of September and I have been very good but the result has been a very full wishlist for October.

I’ve whittled it down to six books that I really, really want that are released next month and here they are:

Angel by L.A. Weatherly
Released 1st October
Published by Usborne
Website: http://www.usborne.com/angel/

I’ve been hearing so many good things about this book that I’m now dying to read it!

Willow knows she’s different from other girls. And not just because she loves tinkering around with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into people’s futures, know their dreams, their hopes and their regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where she gets this power from…

But Alex does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows Willow’s secret and is on a mission to stop her. The dark forces within Willow make her dangerous – and irresistible. In spite of himself, Alex finds he is falling in love with his sworn enemy.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Released 4th October
Published by Bloomsbury
Website: http://www.jenniferdonnelly.com/

I thought ‘A Gathering Light’ by Jennifer was brilliant and her new book sounds just as good.

Andi lives in New York and is dealing with the emotional turmoil of her younger brother’s accidental death. Alex lives in Paris and is a maid to the royal family as the French Revolution rages. They’re both struggling with their responsibilities and their places in the world. When Andi is sent to Paris to get her out of the trouble she’s so easily enveloped by in New York, their two stories collide, and Andi finds a way to reconcile herself not only to her past but also to her future. This is a wonderful and evocative portrait of lives torn apart by grief and mended by love.

The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman
Released 14th October
Published by Simon and Schuster (Pocket Books)
Website: http://www.christmascookieclub.com/thenovel.html

I absolutely love Christmas and each year I like to have a collection of Christmassy reads to take me through December and this book sounds like it will do the trick!

What would we do without one another? It was a statement, not a question. Each of us knew the answer for herself. Every year on the first Monday of December, Marnie and her twelve closest girlfriends gather with batches of beautifully wrapped homemade cookies. Everyone has to bring a dish and a bottle of wine and, as they eat, they take turns telling the story of the cookies they have baked. Stories that, somehow, are always emblematic of the year that has just passed. This year, the stories are especially important. Marnie’s oldest daughter has a risky pregnancy. Will she find out tonight how that story will end? Jeannie’s father is having an affair with her best friend. Who else knew about the betrayal? Rosie’s husband doesn’t want children, but can she live with his decision? Each woman, each friend has a story to tell. The Cookie Club is about the passion and hopefulness of a new romance, the betrayal and disillusionment some relationships bring, the joys and fears of motherhood, and above all, it’s a celebration of the friendships between women.

The Birthday Party by Veronica Henry
Released 21st October
Published by Orion
Website: http://www.veronicahenry.co.uk/

Veronica Henry’s last book, The Beach Hut was one of my favourite books of the summer so I’m really looking forward to reading her new one.

Delilah Rafferty has lived out her tempestuous marriage to hell-raiser Raf in the full glare of the media spotlight. Now, from the luxurious comfort of her beautiful kitchen, Delilah is planning her birthday party, a night that will see a star-studded gathering of friends and family celebrate in traditional Rafferty style. But she has more on her mind than just invitations… Raf has been offered a part in a movie he can’t refuse. But will that mean he’ll succumb to the temptations he’s struggled so hard to resist for the last ten years – beautiful women and too much wine? And Delilah’s three daughters, Coco, Violet and Tyger, are building careers of their own, only too aware that the press are waiting for them to slip up. For although the Rafferty girls might look like angels, they are only human. As with all families, there are secrets and rivalries bubbling away, and on one gloriously starry night, it’s all going to come spilling out This is your invitation to a birthday party of the year…

Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz
Released 26th October
Published by Atom
Website: http://www.atombooks.net/

This is the fifth book in the Blue Bloods series and I’m seriously addicted to the adventures of Schuyler and the gang so very excited about this one!

After inheriting the complicated Van Alen Legacy, Schuyler fled to Florence with Jack, risking both of their lives for love. The two of them embark on the mission Schuyler was destined to complete: to find and protect the remaining five gates that guard Earth from Lucifer, Prince of Hell and lord of the Silver Bloods. As the Blue Blood coven weakens yet further, fate leads Schuyler closer to a terrifying crossroads?and a choice that will determine the destiny of all vampires.

The Fledgling Handbook (House of Night) by P.C. Cast and Kim Doner
Released 26th October
Published by Atom
Website: http://www.houseofnightseries.co.uk/

I’ve now read the first two books in the House of Night series and this sounds like the perfect accompaniment as the series progresses.

Merry meet, fledgling. I trust this guide will serve you well…Every vampyre fledgling who arrives at the House of Night receives a copy of The Fledgling Handbook 101, and now, fans can have one, too, with this gorgeous must-have edition. Inside you’ll find original stories, the complete vampyre history, inside info into rituals, vamp biology, and the Change, and much more.

So that’s my shortlist – what are you looking forward to reading in October?

When sixteen-year-old Zoey gets Marked as a fledgling vampire she must join the House of Night school where she will train to become an adult vampire. That is, if she makes it through the Change. But Zoe is no ordinary fledgling. She has been chosen as special by the Goddess Nyx and discovers her amazing new power to conjure the elements: earth, air, fire, water and spirit. When Zoey discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school’s most elite group, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look within herself to embrace her destiny – with a little help from her new vampire friends.

Marked is the first book in the House of Night series and it really took me by surprise. I’ve had six of the House of Night series sitting on my bookshelf for a couple of months now, having bought them in a BOGOF offer from Waterstones but I kept putting off reading them. Having read quite a lot of chick lit in the last month, I wanted something a bit darker so grabbed ‘Marked’ off the pile to take away with me last weekend. I settled down on the train and after only a couple of pages, I was hooked!

Marked tells the story of Zoey Redbird as she is ‘marked’ by a Tracker, meaning that she is a Fledgling vampyre and must join the House of Night – a boarding school where fledglings are trained to become adult vampyres.  The story starts straight into the action as Zoey is visited at her High School and marked by the Tracker and is very fast paced – I literally did not want to put it down! We learn that Vampires and Humans coexist in the modern world but that Vampires prefer the night as sunlight makes them uncomfortable (but not sparkly!).  Each vampyre gets a ‘Mark’ which denotes their status and as they progress towards adulthood, the marks become more filled in and they acquire other tattoo-like markings on their faces and bodies.

I love school based stories, so the book appealed to me on that level and I really enjoyed the mix of the normal (dorms, friendships, lessons such as drama and references to current TV shows) and the magical, mysterious and mythical at the House of Night.  I also loved that this book is all about strong women/girls – Vampires in the House of Night series worship the Goddess Nyx and although there are male characters, it is the females who tend to have the special powers or ‘afinities’ granted by the Goddess.

Marked only actually covers the first couple of weeks of Zoey’s experiences at the House of Night but I liked this as I felt that I really was there with Zoey as she discovered the House of Night and what it means to be a vampyre. The fact that not all fledglings make it to be adult vampires and that a fledgling can die at any time adds an interesting twist to the plot.

Zoey soon makes friends … and enemies. I thought the character mix was very good and Zoey’s new friends felt very realistic and varied – I love Zoey’s roommate Stevie Rae and the things she comes out with. It doesn’t take long for Zoey to realise that she is something a little bit different, even in the Vampyre world and for the drama to really get going. There are lots of smaller mysteries hinted at throughout the book and although the book  doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, I had enough questions to launch straight into book two.

I found this a hugely enjoyable read and am so pleased that I have the rest of the series so far waiting for me on the bookshelf. One note of caution, there is adult language and content in the book so it is not suitable for younger readers (my copy actually came with a warning sticker and it is printed on the back).

And finally, a little bit of praise for Atom (the UK publisher); I chose to buy the editions of these books with the with the coloured page edges and loved the fact that my book had bright pink page edges – a brilliant idea

5/5

You can find out more about the House of Night series at: http://www.houseofnightseries.co.uk/