Scandal

Scandal: Private book 11
by Kate Brian

After her terrifying Carribean vacation, Reed can't wait to get back to campus and resume her normal life of classes, shopping trips with the Billings Girls, and late-night gossip sessions. But when she arrives at Easton, she gets the shock of a lifetime.

Billings House is gone.

The administration has razed the scandal-rocked dorm and separated the Billings Girls. Outraged, Reed takes immediate action, turning Billings into a secret literary society - with a whole new set of rules. Eleven spots are open to any girl strong enough to endure the initiation. Every girl on campus wants in, and it's up to Reed to pick the best and brightest. And only the strongest will survive...

Okay, so I am totally addicted to this series. I practically drool when the new book comes out...every time! There is just something compelling about trying to figure out exactly how much disaster Reed can survive. The girl has been drugged, almost killed multiple times, backstabbed by best friends...and she keeps coming back for more! Plus she goes through boys like they're candy.

I know, I know...not great morals to be putting out there as examples, but I just can't help but devour these and as an adult, I don't have to worry about being able to discern that what I read in a book is not always the right behaviour to emulate! This is a series to pass on to girls who like Gossip Girl (though I didn't, hated the books, but LOVE the TV series).

What I loved about this particular entry into the series was that Reed took back the "Billings" label and made it her own. She stands up for what she believes in and takes the Billings Girls back to their roots as an organization made up of smart, loyal, nice, and brave women...not just the girls on campus who are connected (like a cashmere mafia!). Unfortunately, this doens't seem to work out...

Holding my breath already for Vanished in November.

I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It

I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It
by Adam Selzer

Eighteen-year-old Algonquin "Alley" Rhodes lives in a town where post-humans have officially "come out of the coffin" and are now participating in normal society. Alley isn't into the whole post-human thing, thinking all vampires are just brooding, self-absorbed jerks, until the night she goes to the Cage to review a local band and falls for the "real goth" guest vocalist. For the first time ever, pale skin and black clothing are exactly what Alley finds hot!

When she and Doug start dating, Alley falls so hard she misses some key signs that there may be more going on with Doug than just an emo trend. He doesn't seem to change clothes, he smells a little funny, and he can't hold lengthy conversations. Finally, she gets clued in...Doug is the real deal...not just goth, he's a ZOMBIE!!

Alley knows that she needs to break up with Doug, but just can't seem to do it. Even with his "quirks," Doug is the most interesting guy Alley's been with...ever. Unfortunately, the vampire counselor at Alley's school thinks that if she's going to date Doug she's gonna have to go all the way and convert. Is Alley willing to die for her date?

This is a funny little gem of a book! It is full of snarky human, societal commentary, romance, teenage horomones, and yes, even zombie horror. What I loved most about this book was the realism amidst the paranormal horror. Alley is told she'll have to "convert" (a.k.a. die!) to continue seeing Doug and she goes online to do research. Finding sites and chat rooms devoted to people in human/post-human relationships, Alley uses first hand accounts and plans for their futures to help her decide what she should do. It was eerie how close Selzer was able to make some of those conversations sound like ones that teens have about other topics...

I don't want to ruin anything because I want people to read this book!! It's only 177 pages, so it took me about 2 hours to read, and I laughed A LOT! I think it ends very realistically...Selzer did a great job.

Fired Up

Fired Up: Book One of the Dreamlight Trilogy
by Jayne Ann Krentz

More than three centuries ago, Nicholas Winters irrevocably altered his genetic makeup in an obsession fueled competition with alchemist and Arcane Society founder Sylvester Jones. Driven to control their psychic abilities, each man's decision has reverberated throughout the family line, rewarding some with powers beyond their wildest dreams, and cursing others to a life filled with madness and hallucinations.

Jack Winters, descendant of Nicholas, has been experiencing nightmares and blackouts-just the beginning, he believes-of the manifestation of the Winters family curse. The legend says that he must find the Burning Lamp or risk turning into a monster. But he can't do it alone; he needs the help of a woman with the gift to read the lamp's dreamlight.

Jack is convinced that private investigator Chloe Harper is that woman. Her talents for finding objects and accessing dream energy are what will save him, but their sudden and powerful sexual pull threatens to overwhelm them both. Danger surrounds them, and it doesn't take long for Chloe to pick up the trail of the missing lamp. And as they draw closer to the lamp, the raw power that dwells within it threatens to sweep them into a hurricane of psychic force.

An excellent addition to the Arcane Society series. Jack and Chloe had great chemistry and I love this start to the particular Dreamlight trilogy. I cannot wait to see which characters the next two books in the trilogy feature. Fallon Jones has been a side character in several previous books in the series and I hope that he might be the main character in the third book.

My favorite part of the Arcane Society series overall is that there are three different types of Arcane books. Amanda Quick, the historical fiction pseudonym that Krentz adopts, puts out the books set in the Victorian era that give the Society's origins. Jayne Ann Krentz puts out the contemporary Society books. Jayne Castle, another Krentz pseudonym, puts out novels set in the future in a space colony. The books are being published simultaneously and I am amazed that Krentz can keep track of three worlds that are dependent upon one another.

I know this series is not YA, but this is one of my guilty pleasure adult series and I thought I would share! Can't wait for book two, Burning Lamp.