The Girl on Fire Ignites

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire has survived the Hunger Games. As victors, she and Peeta are the stars of the show. All begins wrong when President Snow shows up at her home in District 12 and threatens everyone that she loves. She will soon start the victory tour and if she plays the audience right, then she'll save the ones she loves, if not then torture and death are immanent. Once the tour is over she wonders if she has played her part correctly, but is quickly derailed by more turns. Will she survive the impending doom that lays before her or is she just another piece of the Games?

Catching Fire is a great second novel. There are twists and turns that will surprise the reader at every level. I love that Collins has surprises at every level. I have no idea where the story is leading and then here comes a turn of events that I didn't see coming. It's very intriguing. Catching Fire will keep you on your toes and keep you reading until the last page. Even when the last page comes, you can't wait until the next book.

There are a couple of ideas that I’m excited to see come through in the third installment. I won’t go on until the series is over.

Somehow I was distracted after I read Catching Fire the first time. I never wrote my blog. As I anxiously awaited the release of the third book, Mockingjay, I thought that this would be a great time to reread this series that I liked so much. As I reread every word, the feelings of the first time came back to me very unexpectedly. I just assumed that I would read and go on, but there were a lot of details that I had forgotten in the Hunger Games and Catching Fire. It got me all fired up about reading Mockingjay. Now, a year later, here I am writing my blog and I still don't know what to say about the book. I've already given too much information in my summary and I don't want to give up any more details, so I'll just leave you saying, read this book. It is one of the best series I've read, ever.

Let me know what you think about this series. Leave me a comment.

The Kitchen's on FIRE!

Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

Since Sookie Stackhouse found her brother Jason in a shed bitten all over his body by a werepanther, she knew that the change was coming. Jason has a pretty good outlook on his coming future, more than most Weres Sookie knows. Everything is going pretty well in Bon Temps until a sniper decides to focus his murderous attention on the dual natured in the small community. Sookie not only has to worry about her brother becoming a victim of the sniper, but she also knows that Jason’s fellow werepanther’s think that the shooter is him. She has to settle the score before the next full moon or his brethren may be after him too.

A few big changes take place in this book, one being Jason, another is Sookie’s house is caught on fire. While she’s sleeping in it, by someone she doesn’t know, and drama as always with the vamps and weres. Another is Eric. He can’t remember his time that he spent with Sookie and she refuses to tell him about his little confession that he wanted to stay with her forever. I can relate to this, if the man said he wanted to quit his life and start anew with me and couldn’t remember it, I think I would wait it out and see what would unfold. Dead as a Doornail also gives a big intro to the relationship with Quinn the Weretiger. I enjoyed Quinn it puts another dynamic into what Sookie’s looking for in a relationship, gives some character to what she may be missing with the vamps.

Largely I can’t remember what happens between the books. This series is not something that will blow your mind or even give you a minor head ache from thinking. They are purely entertainment. If you are looking for a series that blows your mind, you’ve come to the wrong place, but if you want a fun series that keeps you entertained, enjoy!

I am so TEAM ERIC!

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

I have to ask what you would do… if you saw a man running down the road in his bathing suit. So, what would you do? I have to be honest, I would punch on the gas so hard that rocks would probably fly in his face, but Sookie, kind hearted Sookie, stopped to find that it was no man at all, but it was Eric the vampire. He not only was running naked down her road, but he also has no memory of how he got there or even who he is. Without his memory of who he is, he’s a much kinder, gentler Eric. Quickly they realize that whoever took his memory wants to do more than that to him, they want to take his life. As Sookie investigates into what happened to Eric she is continually drawn into the world of the supernatural. Witches, vampires, and werewolves may have to battle it out in order for Eric to get his life back, but is that what Sookie wants? This new Eric is so different from his normal self and she wants this sensitive Eric to stick around.

When I first borrowed this entire book series from a couple of friends of mine, I noticed after I read the first few books that the forth book had a blonde vampire on the cover, I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. After all I was no Bill fan, but I also hate change, but I was pleasantly surprised by the change that takes place in this book. This is my favorite of the entire series. This book is the hinge book. Everything changes after Sookie catches Bill in the act of being unfaithful to her in Club Dead, now things change even more. With Sookie baby-sitting Eric, it’s easy for her to forget her disdain for the vampire and free her emotions and open up her heart to someone she never expected.

Something that I’m enjoying about the books is that when you think that the danger is over there is probably going to be at least one or more horrible things that’s going to happen after that. Of course anything that happens at the end of a book is not the end of that subject, it will be revisited in a later book.

So, what did you think? Did you like the change of characters? Are you on Team Bill or Team Eric?

Fakers, Posers, and the Living Dead

Passing Strange by Daniel Waters

Karen DeSonne has passed as normal her whole life, even though she was just that, “passing.” She never has been a normal girl, not even when she was alive. Even though she has had to “live” with the consequences of her actions, she seems to never learn from them. Here she is a differently biotic being and making the same mistakes as before she killed herself. The only problem is now she is the only zombie that can help her other dead friends. The undead have been forced into hiding and the only way to get them out of their hole is to find the person that really has been doing all the horrible things that the zombie’s are being blamed for. New regulations have the zombies in hiding and it is up to Karen to figure out who is framing them, even if that means dating the biggest anti-zombie zealot Pete Martinsburg. She will have to unravel what’s going on before it’s forever too late.

I have been looking forward to this book for a long time. I wrote down the day that it was going to come out and that morning I went straight to Books A Million to pick up my copy. I was excited to see what was going on with the characters that I had gotten to know through Generation Dead and Kiss of Life. But my main feeling after finishing Passing Strange was disappointment. I just wasn’t as involved in Karen’s story as I was in Phoebe’s. Changing main characters within a series is a risky idea, and I’m not sure that he should have taken that risk. I know exactly why Waters did it, it’s because there was no action with Phoebe, all the action was with the dead, not the living, but somehow it did not translate into the third book as well as I would have liked.

The ending of this book sucked, it all of a sudden became a story to her lost love, her lesbian best friend, WTH??? It just got weird and I didn’t like the change that it made. If he wanted it to be like that, make the entire series like that, a story to Monica, but you can’t just change all of the rules at the end of the book, I want a refund!

Waters also needs to reconsider his editor. I found multiple typing errors in the book. I remember finding them in the other book as well. If a mistake was brought to my attention in my first book, I could possibly forgive it and hope that it has multiple printings so I could rewrite, but in my second? I would fire him so fast his head would spin. If I was an editor, I would read the book I was getting paid for at least 3 times. But, if an author is editing it himself, I think that is very unwise, there is no way you are going to find what another set of eyes will. Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine, I’ll get over it.

So, what did you think, have you read this series? What are your thoughts? Thanks for reading, leave a comment!

Finally Werewolves come into the picture...

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

Bill has gone missing. He’s in another state and Eric thinks he knows where he is at and he’s not vacationing, he’s in trouble. Next thing Sookie knows, she’s off to Jackson Mississippi to investigate her missing vampire at the supernatural’s only bar called Club Dead. When she finally does find Bill it’s going to change their relationship forever.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the new character of Alcide Herveaux, the sexy werewolf. He was a rock when Sookie was in a lot of pain and needed a friend. Even though nothing happened between them, this is the beginning of a great relationship between Sookie and the Were’s. This book also introduces a lot of new information about the vampire world that Sookie had no idea existed. Of course Eric is not a very large role in this 3rd book, but he’s still charming and helps Sookie out even though she didn’t know she needed it. What I enjoyed about this book is the dynamic of Sookie’s relationships are changing.

Road Trip to the Big D

Living Dead in Dallas by: Charlaine Harris

In the second installment of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, Sookie has a brush with death as a creature sends a message to Eric Northman, the vampire bar owner of Fangtasia in Shreveport. She is torn to pieces by this monster and to save her life, the vampires, including Bill and Eric, have to suck the poison out of her blood stream before it kills her. Because they did this great service to her, she now owes them. There has been a vampire in their nest go missing. Eric sends Bill and Sookie to Dallas to read the human minds around the situation so that they can find the missing vamp. Also, back home in Bon Temps, one of her co-workers winds up dead and no one seems to care about who the murderer is and maybe who is next. With some crazy twist and turns, Sookie is in some crazy trouble while she’s in Dallas and then when she comes back home as well.

I enjoyed Living Dead in Dallas. There were some more introductions to not just new vampires, but new creatures as well. Sookie has quickly realized that her comfortable world where she was the freak, is not as normal as she once thought.

We get to know Eric a lot more. We were introduced to him briefly in Dead Until Dark, but within this installment we get to know his character a little better. Eric is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters. He is drawn to Sookie, I can’t tell if there is something about her that draws her to him or if he just wants her because he can’t have her. I love his sarcasm, and whit. He says things to Sookie that I just can’t believe, but he keeps me laughing. There are a couple of great scenes with him at the end of the book that are great! There is one great Love triangle beginning to take place right before my eyes.