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Jenny had procrastinated all week, not meaning to but it seemed that she couldn’t find the time to plan the party for her boyfriend, Tom’s birthday this weekend. Her first intent was to have a swimming party but since the cold front, she had to come up with another idea. She thought that a game would be fun with the seven of them but it couldn’t be monopoly or anything. It had to be daring and intriguing. While walking to the store she was being followed. At first she didn’t think nothing of it but after a block or so of being shadowed, she grew apprehensive. When she got to the store that was closed down, she was almost panicked. A mural on a wall seemed to come to life and a store called More Games appeared. Going into it was the only option unless she wanted those guys that were following her to get her. Once inside, she looked around amazed. Inside there were weird games, ancient games, and games that she never even heard of. A boy that seemed like a gothic/pretty boy listening to acid rock turned off his music and asked her what she wanted. It seemed he could read her mind, after she got her breath and asked for a game. She didn’t want just any game. Her friend Dee was very daring, a black belt in kung fu, and wanted danger. Her boyfriend, Tom, was everything. He was the sport nut but also an all around great guy. Her cousin Zach, was into non reality. Her friend Summer was the shy, needy type that was taken care of by the rest of the group. Then there is Michael and Audrey. Michael was a renowned coward that was picked on by everyone. Audrey was dating Michael because with him she didn’t have to be fake and he made her laugh. She was the newest member of their group and had to have the best of the best. She was raised all over until her dad retired. Now besides the jealous factor of Dee and Audrey, she was one of the group.

As for the game, it was in a white box and Jenny wasn’t sure that everything was going to work out for the party. She decided that she would check it out after she got everything else organized but that didn’t work out either. When she got home Dee and Audrey were in the kitchen cooking a meal for the party. She took off to get dressed and then everyone showed up.

The game turned out to be a paper house that they cut up and put together. Once they had to swear that this game was real, they woke up inside the paper house. They had to draw their worst nightmare and fight the shadow man. That is all I can tell you without giving anything else away.

You really ought to check this book out. I wasn’t expecting to have such fun with this story. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of L J Smith but I wasn’t figuring such an suspenseful and imaginative story. A great read for many people.

]]> http://www.read-that.com/fantasy_books/l-j-smiththe-forbidden-game/feed 27 http://www.read-that.com/fantasy_books/l-j-smithnight-world-no-3 http://www.read-that.com/fantasy_books/l-j-smithnight-world-no-3#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 04:39:35 +0000 chanchan http://www.read-that.com/?p=633 Continue reading →]]> Huntress – Black Dawn – Witchlight

Huntress

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The prophecies read:

One from the land of kings long forgotten;

One from the hearth which still holds the spark;

One from the Day World where two eyes are watching;

One from the twilight to be one with the dark.

With Circle Daybreak, a group of Night Worlders who have broken the only law there is, falling in love with a human, try desperately to find these Wild Powers before the Redferns do, and everyone is trying to get a piece of mind by bargaining with these people. Life as a Night Worlder is in chaos. It doesn’t matter if you’re a vampire, werewolf, or witch.

Journey with Jez and Morgead. Jez seems to have been a result of a vampire-human hybrid.  She watched her mother die by vampires and with her father mortally wounded, he was able to take Jez to her Uncle Bracken’s house to be raised. She had to leave. Her Uncle had the idea of her going to her mother’s family as an orphan. It wasn’t working and she didn’t fit in at all. Once leaving Morgead and the gang, Jez has been refraining from blood and trying to make amends for what she had done before. With no one knowing who or what she is except her best friend, an old soul named Hugh. Hugh has been discussing the prophecy with Jez and they have found out that one of the wild powers was found by Morgead. If anyone else got a hold of these wild powers and destroyed them then the vampires would rule the earth. They are already growing in power. The soulmate principle is back. After learning all this, Jez knew that she had to find this kid. While going back to Morgead and the gang was a death sentence, she still had to try. If he found out that she was half human, he would want to kill her and without her drinking blood, her powers are slim to none.

Will Morgead find out about Jez? What is going to happen once the wild power is found? Can Jez keep the wild power from being destroyed? Read on to adventure with Night World characters and take a ride in their shoes for awhile. I promise you won’t regret it.

Black Dawn

Maggie woke up in her room by her mother screaming downstairs. It had to be a mistake about her brother being dead. She refused to believe it. His girlfriend, Sylvia said that they were climbing and he made a mistake. Maggie ran upstairs and grabbed her shoes, not bothering to change her mismatched socks or change out of her flowered pajama top, and followed Sylvia to get some answers about Miles, her brother. If Maggie was anything it was stubborn. She refused to believe that he was dead and she wouldn’t see him anymore. What Maggie found in Sylvia’s apartment wasn’t what she expected. After finally getting her chance to ask some questions about Miles, she realized that Sylvia was a witch and had drugged her. Maggie woke up in a horse drawn cart with 3 other girls. One of the girls was already a slave, who had escaped once already. They were on their way to a castle called Black Dawn to be enslaved to Night Worlders who were part of the darker realm. It seems that these rogues were keeping a wild power to themselves. A vampire wild power at that. Maggie saw what power the Prince had first hand when he saved her from one of the shapeshifters. When she touched him, in order to thank him, everything went hazy.

Maggie couldn’t let all the abuse to these slaves continue. When Aradia gets better, she tells them why she was there. She is the Maiden of the Witches and wanted to recruit him to help save the witches and the humans instead of siding with the vampires and attempting to destroy the world. They were running out of time. What will the Prince decide? You have to read to find out.

Witchlight

Keller is a shapeshifter. She works for Circle Daybreak. She feels that she owes them since they took her in as an infant. Her mother left her in a box when she was in half leopard half human form. Those from Circle Daybreak took her in and saved her from humans. Her job was to find the lost witch who had the wild power. She was paired up with Nessa, a vampire, and Winnie, a witch, and Galen, the son of the Head Shapeshifters. Keller and her gang have some trouble at the mall while trying to confront the wild power. They weren’t the only ones trying to recruit her. They even had a dragon. Of course Keller didn’t know he was a dragon until after the fact but at least she was going out and taking him with her. That was when Galen stepped up and kept her from killing him. When Galen found out what he was, he wasn’t sorry. He was only looking out for Keller.

When she is safely in their safe house, Keller lets loose why she is there. Of course, the girl thinks that they are all crazy and told them that there was no way she was the lost witch or wild power. Even after talking the the Witch Crone, she wasn’t convinced. The witches had an agreement with the shapeshifters to marry into each other by Galen marrying Illian, the wild power. That is going to cause problems since Galen is the soulmate of Keller. What is going to happen with Illian? Is she the lost witch child? Is she the wild power everyone has been looking for? What will Keller do about Galen?

You have got to read this book. Everyone comes together to get the wild powers and with the soulmate principle in effect, things are really getting crazy. Everyone is after the powers of the prophecy. This story and all its characters are great to read about. I love this story and can’t wait for the next one. I give the author two thumbs up for sure.

]]> http://www.read-that.com/fantasy_books/l-j-smithnight-world-no-3/feed 0 http://www.read-that.com/fantasy_books/l-j-smithnight-world-no-2 http://www.read-that.com/fantasy_books/l-j-smithnight-world-no-2#comments Sun, 14 Mar 2010 03:58:13 +0000 chanchan http://www.read-that.com/?p=628 Continue reading →]]> Dark Angel – The Chosen – Soulmate

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Let’s start with the first, Dark Angel. Gillian wasn’t popular and while walking home, she was feeling sorry for herself. Her best friend, Amy, just got a boyfriend and seemed to forget to give her a ride home. Of course the only boy that Gillian was interested in was David. Gillian always kept to herself and was tongue tied when it come to boys. On her walk home, her whole life changed. She thought she heard a child crying. She didn’t want to go into the woods with all the snow and everything being cold and wet but she couldn’t leave a child out in that kind of weather alone and crying, so off she went. She kept going further in and further in but she couldn’t seem to find anyone. Once she heard the creek, she thought that maybe the little girl fell in and went to check it out. She had to get closer and closer in order to see well enough and then she fell in. The water was icy cold and she knew that she wasn’t going to make it out alive but her brain made her push away from the current and grab a hold of anything to stay afloat. Once she was back on the edge, she forced her frozen body to get out and walk to get help. Her body shut down and she gave up. When she had her out of body experience, she was given a choice to stay or go back and make a difference. On her way back, an angel followed her and taught her many ways to stand out and be popular and to get the guy of her dreams. Is her guardian angel all he’s cracked out to be? Will Gillian’s popularity be all she’s dreamed of?

The Chosen was one of my favorites. Rachel had a really traumatic experience when she was little. She lost her mother and her little brother to a vampire. She didn’t know what he was doing but she didn’t want him to hurt her, so she ran back to the playground and when he wouldn’t go away so she could relax, she screamed. She made the vow that all vampires must die. She has looked for the one that took her family but hasn’t been able to kill him yet. She isn’t giving up hope though. All her life she has trained and trained and all she did was hunt vampires. When her fellow vampire hunters and her run into Quinn, she can’t figure out why he is getting to her. She has never hesitated until him. While letting him go, she lost respect from her friends and seemed to lose herself.  When she meets up with him again, she has vowed to kill him but she needs to get into this warehouse full of girls being kidnapped and sent to a vampire coven. She wanted the chance to kill a whole coven. What happens when Rachel and Quinn meet again? Quinn was told by someone he respected that when he meets his soulmate it was going to hurt him and that someone was right. Quinn felt like his insides were melting. He always tried to be cold and separated but with Rachel around, he couldn’t.

Soulmate was really great. Hannah is very beautiful if it wasn’t for the birthmark that goes across her cheek (which has a meaning that I’m not telling). She thinks that she’s going crazy. She even goes to a shrink. Hannah shows him all the notes that she wrote but didn’t remember writing. Of course they were non sense. Some were telling her to remember and some were about her upcoming 17th birthday. While talking and trying to explain how she feels anxious about someone or something watching her, the doorbell rings. When the shrink gets up to answer the door, a werewolf jumps into the window. While trying to save herself, another werewolf jumps in and starts defending Hannah. With all that, Hannah knows that something is going on. It seems that the Lord of the Night World is her soulmate but she doesn’t understand since there is another that isn’t going to let her live past her birthday. When Thierry heard from his wolf that she had been found, he rushed to her and wanted to explain what is going on. It seems that Hannah is an old soul that is reincarnated over and over. It also seems that Thierry kills her every time. The only thing that she can’t understand is how wonderful she feels when he’s around. When everything comes back to her and she remembers, she knows that he was the one who betrayed her. What will come of Hannah? Will Thierry have his soulmate back?

I loved this whole book. All three stories in one. I was worried when I first picked up this series because they were about different people until the characters lives became meshed. I was hooked then. The characters are realistic enough that it doesn’t take anything at all to join the Night World. I have to admit that I burnt a few suppers when I read this. I didn’t want to put it down. After the second time I read it, it was even more interesting. I can’t wait to delve into another series of Night World. Let’s hope that there will be many more.

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Secret Vampire

Poppy didn’t think she was going to die so early. She just had an ongoing pain in her gut. She didn’t want to alarm anyone so she told her family that it was getting better. She didn’t have a choice about going to the doctor after doubling over in pain in front of her mom. Her best friend and the man she was going to marry someday (except he didn’t know it yet) was very concerned as well but he wasn’t allowed to show it. When Poppy found out that she had inoperable cancer, James told her the truth about him. It was the only way to save her. He was going to turn her into a vampire like him. The only problem was that the Night World had only two rules and if broken, those people involved were given a death sentence. James didn’t care. He broke the first rule by falling in love with a human, so he broke the second and told Poppy all about the Night World. He wanted her to know that they wouldn’t be able to stick around since she would be changed illegally. Many things happen before her change and after that keep you guessing. I really enjoyed this story.

Daughters of Darkness

I was a little worried when I started reading this one. I wasn’t anymore when I realized that they are intertwined. Ash is in the first story and his three sisters are in this story. Three renegade vampires leave the Night World to try their luck at hunting and being free. They were tired of the rules given by The Elders. When they made it to the town that their Aunt lived, she had mysteriously been killed. Once the neighbor girl and boy realize who they are and that they didn’t kill their aunt, they all become fast friends. Mark actually fall head over heels for the youngest sister, Jade. They decide to take a blood oath so their secret of the Night World would remain safe. When Ash comes to take his sisters back, the last thing he wanted was to be a soulmate with a human. With nothing to do about it, they all decide to figure out why things were happening and by who. Really gets interesting. I enjoyed this story as well.

Spellbinder

Once knowing that these books are together in some way or another, I looked for similarities. In this story, two witches are starting a new school and living with the last relative that will have them. Blaise is more like Aphrodite when it comes to the men in her life. She destroys them after she gets what she wants from them. Which is the reason they keep getting kicked out of school and shipped around to relatives. After meeting Eric at school the first time, Thea, knowing the rules of the Night World, tried to stay away from him. The soulmate principle works on its own. Many trying moments happen for these girls and for Eric too. Finally giving into Eric and realizing that she couldn’t let go of him, Thea decided that she couldn’t live without him but he had to know the truth. Of course he didn’t care.

I loved this book so much that I went out and bought the other two in the series. I first read LJ Smith when she wrote the Vampire Diaries and just loved the style of her writing. I wasn’t disappointed when I read these either. I don’t think you will either.

Elena is torn between two brothers who are both alluring vampires and so is she. This tale begins with the first and second story compiled together to bring Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle. The second book consists of The Fury and Dark Reunion. This is the third installment of the Vampire Diaries.

After sacrificing herself to save Stefan and Damon, Elena has suffered greatly until something supernatural brings her a great gift. Alas Elena Gilbert is alive again. She is no longer a vampire but still is more than human.She has been reborn again. She can read Stefan’s mind and talk to his mind only when he is taking blood from her, but she can’t talk. Her friends have been kept away by Stefan because he’s not sure if what is happening will be uncomfortable for her. He knows that her body is the same but her mind is child-like. Her learning abilities are fast paced. She knows how she feels about him and after he takes some blood from her, he knows too. Stefan wants a life together with Elena but Damon is thinking of power and wants her to rule with him. The gift that was given to Elena is good but also has a bad part. Other vampires are attracted to the powers within her and now she will have to fight her biggest fight against the darkness and try and save her friends and those of Fell’s Church.

I figured that after the second book that she couldn’t top it. I was wrong. This plot was absolutely brilliant. I admit, I was sceptic about how she could come back and have all those problems after being born again, but Smith really pulled it off. I was mesmerized with this book. I had to devour it in a day since I couldn’t put it down. How Stefan loves her so much had me in tears when she read her diary after he was gone. I still liked Damon and couldn’t figure out why, well just why. I won’t take that away from you. Such a wonderful book that will leave you breathless.

The Fury – Dark Reunion

This is the third and fourth volumes of the Vampire Diaries. The beginning of the series is The Awakening and The Struggle.

Elena has become what she feared and what she secretly desired. She wanted to be with Stefan forever. Submitting to Damon and Stefan’s exchange of blood turned her after the fatally accident. A human only turns into a vampire if there is enough blood exchanged and then that person has to die and come back. That was how Elena turned into a vampire. The one thing she didn’t want was to be in love with Damon instead of Stefan. She didn’t at first recognize her love for Stefan at all. Damon and Stefan agreed that Elena was in shock and needed blood to get back to normal, for a vampire. They decided that after she was better then she could make the choice between them.After being stuck in someone’s attic waiting she was able to read her diary and the feelings for Stefan came back to her full force. Also coming back to her were her friends and family that she could never see again or can she?

The problem is that this Other Power is destroying Fell’s Church and those in it. That Other Power is responsible for Elena’s supposed death and many other things that Damon was being accused of. Elena with her new power, Stefan, her love, Damon, Stefan’s brother, and their friends, Meredith, Bonnie, and a newfound friend of Alaric need to destroy that which is unknown. Join Smith into Vampire Diaries once again to see how they figure out what is going on and how to deal with it.

This one is even better than the last. I have read many, many books and still this story stays with me. I have grown to ove these characters and the things they have to overcome are miraculous. I can’t decide who I like better, Stefan or Damon, so it is wonderful to read about Elena being torn between them both. The plot is thicker than in the first part of the series and well worth the time. I also love the twist at the ending of this book. I was taken by surprise so much that I started over and read it again as soon as the last page was done. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t miss anything. I do recommend this whole series to anyone who wants to enjoy a little mystery plus fantasy. Great Read!

Kaitlyn Fairchild is different. She looks the same as others except her strange eyes. Kait’s eyes were a smoky blue, and at the outside of each iris, as well as in the middle, were darker rings. She was known as the witch around the little town she lived. Of course that isn’t all that’s different about Kait. She also has the itch to draw and when she draws those  pictures, they come true. Usually too late to do anything. Kait doesn’t know how it comes on or when but it always comes true afterwards. If she could only makes sense of it and learn how to control it, she would feel better about this curse.

After a trip to the Principal’s Office, Kait’s purpose in life changed by a lady known as Joyce Piper. Joyce came before for a “vision screening” which was a talent search to say the least. She was looking for talented physics. That is what Kait is. Her talent is a gift not a curse if she learned how to control the drawings. Asking Kait to go to school in California with 4 other physics and a full scholarship to any college was too hard to resist.

Kait found 4 others in this Institute as students. Lewis Chao is from San Fransisco and has psychokinesis, mind over matter. Anna Eva Whiteraven is a lovely girl with an expression of serenity always on her face. She can talk to animals. Rob Kessler can channel energy and heal you with it. Not only that but he is golden. Kait feels that she could fit in here with these three until she meets the last of the group. A boy so different than the others. Dark eyes and pale skin and an attitude to go with it. Gabriel Wolfe was a bad boy coming from where ever the charges are pending. He is a strong telepath.

Living together takes a turn, when suspicions arise as to why they are at the Institute. Then all 5 get into a web of sorts when an experiment goes haywire linking their minds together. Now Kait is being torn between two irresistable guys. The link starts to tear at their sanity and their lives. What will happen next?

L J Smith is known as the Bestselling Author of the Night World Series. She proves her worth as a writer then as well as now. This story is easy to read and understand but also captures your attention. You’re in touch easily with each character and keep the pages turning just dying to know what happens next. Excellent book!!


Dark Visions: The Strange Power; The Possessed; The Passion