Thursday, May 29, 2008

Happy Hour at Casa Dracula

Happy Hour at Casa Dracula by Marta Acosta

Milagro graduated from college with a degree that doesn’t help her get employed. She wants to write but has had little success. She basically works as a book reviewer for rich people. One of these rich ladies decides to have a book reception for one of Milagro’s former college friends (and one time lover) – which she isn’t too thrilled about.

Mil ends up meeting a kind and flamboyant waiter and a “fabulous” man named Oswald who invites her to his hotel for drinks. After a passionate kiss, blood is exchanged. She becomes deathly ill for several days; all the while Sebastian and the flamboyant waiter have been trying to hunt her down.

After weird cravings for blood, being kidnapped by a crazy political group and being rescued by Oswald’s cousin – the waiter, she becomes a house guest/prisoner so that she can be protected.

Milagro is a feisty, sarcastic, and hard-headed Latina stuck in a world of snotty rich white people who constantly look down on her. She must learn to cope with a group of people she doesn’t know, Oswald’s fiancĂ©, her contracted “condition,” and a crazy political group bent on extinguishing “vampires.”

This book was an entertaining read. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series. Mil can be a little bit annoying sometimes, but overall I enjoyed her sarcastic responses. A plus for me was that I didn’t have to read through descriptions of anyone’s manhood. She meets a few steamy fellas, but sexual encounters are written about in detail. The books were pretty funny too.

My one main complaint: the last 3 pages wrapped everything up in a nice little happy package… everything turned out PERFECT with only 3 pages to go.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A Girl's Guide to Vampires by Katie Macalister

So as I wait for Dracula, Camilla, and The Vampyre to arrive, I had to continue reading – and little was left in my book bag besides some frilly stuff. So The Girl’s Guide to Vampires is what I read.

This book unfortunately, was sitting on my nightstand for about a week. In two days I got through about 4 pages. I finally committed myself to read it. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Joy and her best friend Roxy embark on an adventure to the Czech Republic to look for Roxy’s favorite author who writes vampire romance novels. Joy reads the books too, but she doesn’t believe that these vampires actually exist; unlike Roxy. Roxy is bent on finding a “dark one” and Joy sullenly agrees to attend a Halloween Goth fair with her.

Of course, along the journey they meet a few handsome men, some creepy, some who think they are vampires, and maybe one who actually is. They get themselves in to some trouble and try to solve a mystery or two along the way.

The first thirty pages or so I found Joy to be quite hilarious. She is witty and sarcastic and is skeptical about vampires existing and her friend being able to help them find the love of their lives through the power of “the goddess” even though she sometimes reads rune stones as a hobby. I laughed out loud quite a bit.

I was also quite pleased to find that her ideal man was a mix of the best assets of Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, and Oded Fehr. These three men have been key players in my fantasy and was quite surprised that someone else would group these guys together as well. But then again, who can resist the charming and sexy characters of Darcy, Snape, and the Magi from the Mummy? I’ve loved them all.

I plan on reading the next books in the series, but I was a little bit annoyed by some of the plot and characters. The biggest thing that turned me off was Roxy’s constant talk about “the dark ones” and the 7 acts of bonding together the dark one and his beloved. I was kind of embarrassed for her and she rambled on about it to strangers. And although the “throbbing member” talk wasn’t as detailed and riddled throughout the book as most romances, I could have done without the description of how big the guy’s “copulation organ” (quoted from a hilarious spam email I received the other day, not the book) or just how sexually compatible they are together.

The book doesn’t end on a completely happy note and I am curious as to what happens with some of the characters in the next two.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Dear Thief,

To the second person who broke into my car within a week,,

How are you today? I assume that you are now the proud owner of an emergency car kit and a stack of random vampire books from various positions in their series. Yes, I had not repaired the little broken window in the backseat, but was it really worth going through my car again?Perhaps you were not the one who broke into my poor car the first time, perhaps you just saw the opportunity and said "what the heck? What do I have to lose?"

I suppose you did not find anything in my glove compartment or my center consol; with a broken window I figured I shouldn't keep any of my valuable in there. Maybe if you were smart enough (or conniving enough) you could possibly try and steal my identity with the assortment of paperwork jammed into the small space. But no, you decided to steal my bag of books... you might be able to get a few bucks for each of them, considering they are all the newer books in their series, but the resale of popular fiction isn't too high.

You did take advantage of the opportunity to go through my trunk though. I will miss that car kit. I am sure someday in the near future I will need my jumper cables, or the little miracle called "liquid wrench" and I will be out of luck. I hope you have fun playing with that flare though. I have one question that confuses me: why didn't you close my trunk all the way? It looked closed, but as I drove down the street I looked in my rearview mirror to see nothing but the white hood of my car. Why not close it all the way?

What is a bit funny to me, however, is that you missed the actual "big ticket items." Those 3 science books in my trunk are probably worth more than the stereo that was stolen in the first place. You are probably uneducated and do not realize how much text book companies are gouging poor students, but if you were to steal something and had opportunity to resale on the internet, those books would have been a better steal than the half dozen vampire books. Also, you missed something very valuable, to which I am quite thankful; my ATM card that had fallen out of my pocket some time last week. The little piece of plastic money was halfway underneath my seat, accompanying the various pens and items that had been thrown out of the center divider. Glad you didn't find that one!

So, second person who broke into my car within a week, perhaps you are the tweaker lady who lives behind me, or you are no druggie at all, perhaps you are a someone who was just too curious for their own good; I hope you enjoy what was left of my car kit (a ratty case, jumper cables, liquid wrench, and a flare). I also hope you enjoy books 4 and 6 of the Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series, book 3 of Stephanie Myer's Twilight Saga, book 3 of Jennifer Rardin's Jaz Parks books, and book 3 of Jennifer Armintrout's Blood Ties Series. These books were pretty good when read in order, I bet they will be awesome by themselves.

Happy reading and don't burn yourself on that flare!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Some people are just jerks... and I had nothing to do with it

Sooo this weekend my car was broken into (for the 3rd time!). Of course they took my cd player. Luckily they only broke my small back window and didn't take anything else. The crazy thing is, I got home at about 3 am.

So, let's list all the things that have happened to my car that I have not had a thing to do with:

  • My hubcaps were stolen (they were stock, cheap hubcaps)
  • The basketball hoop fell onto my hood (left a nasty deep gash in the side and scraped the front)
  • My dear brother's friend drove the front right side into a gate (no light cover on there now)
  • I have fire damage (the apartments/cars across from mine were on fire. My back right side is melted - but the light still works!)
  • There has been a hit and run twice (I have a good size dent on the right back side, and a good scrap on the bottom left. I was in the car for the second one! Some old lady who couldn't drive hit me. Then waved and drove off).
  • Then lets add my cd player being taken for the 3rd time!

I mean really people. I am now driving around a battered poor little car. I need a new one.

Drumroll Please......

From Dead to Worse was released today! I came in to work a little late so I could stop by the bookstore and buy it when they opened. Can't wait to get home and read it!

Updates on upcoming release dates for books I am waiting for:
Blood Noir - Anita Blake Book 16 - May 27th
All Soul's Night - Blood Ties Book 4 - June 1st
Midnight Alley - Morganville Vampires Book 4 - June 3rd
Bitten To Death - Jaz Parks Book 4 - August 12th
Breaking Dawn - Twilight Saga Book 4 - August 2nd (I may not read this and just have someone tell me what happens).