Gale Reads: Psy-Changeling Series Book 1-7 by Nalini Singh

I have been on a reading marathon all March. It's been quite some time since I had the urge to read & read so I rode it. I started the popular Psy-Changeling Series by Nalini Singh, the same author of one of my fave Guild Hunter Series. The first book is published in 2006 & the 13th book will be out on June 2014. I have finished reading 7 books & 2 novellas. I am currently halfway in of book 8 Bonds of Justice. I only have time to read during my MRT ride to the office in the morning & an hour or 2 at night before I sleep (if I'm not too tired) so it's taking me quite a few days before I finish 1 book. It's frustrating sometimes because I want to read them continuously hehe.


GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Shapeshifters, Romance
SERIES STATUS: On-going, 12 already out  

COVER TALK:
I'm not actually fond of the cover. No offense meant but I personally prefer my books to have ambiguous or mysterious covers without the face of the cast. I really enjoy imaging the face & built for each them so I hope they can release some new covers. Luckily, I'm reading this series on my tablet so I don't get to see the covers that much hehe. Please please Nalini, do release new covers like the one in the Guild Hunter series.. 

MY REVIEW:

I really love Nalini Singh! I can't believe I just started reading this series this month. I should've started it a long time ago! I love how each & every character is unique in some way from the others even though they should have the "same traits" because they came in the same group/pack. I also liked how each book is connected with each other but still separate at the same time. You can actually see hints & glimpses of the lives that previous (& even future) characters had as time goes by. It's like this series is one big story then each main character was given a book to tell their own story. Even the connecting people outside of the packs are given their own stories like how Max Shannon (the Dark River pack human police friend) was given his own book so that it can connect the dots & tell the story from the side of the Psy. 

I am so in love with all the characters but Lucas & Sascha is still my fave because if theirs is not good, I wouldn't read the 2nd book, then the 3rd & so on. 

I have decided to cluster this series for review because I felt like they should be viewed as a whole story instead of separate. Although you can definitely read any of it without reading the others (I tried jumping to the 10th book hehe), I would suggest you go & invest some time to read it from book 1 so that you can appreciate the wonderful world building & can follow the story as smoothly as possible.

OVER-ALL RATING: 5/5

This is really a page-turner & if only I have all the time in the world, I can definitely finish 1 book per day. No negatives for this series yet and I hope it won't end any time soon coz I would love to read the story of their kids too :)


Thanks for dropping by!

Gale Reads: Chosen at Nightfall by CC Hunter (Shadow Falls Series #5)

Happy Tuesday! It's been raining again these last few days and I think a typhoon will come again soon. Since I can't go out, I stayed at home and read a book from my To-Read List.

The last installment for the Shadow Falls Series by CC Hunter has already been released last April 2013. I have reviewed the first 4 books so you can read those first if you're new to the story :)

Book 1-3

Book 4

Chosen At Nightfall is the end about the story of Kylie Galen, a chameleon teenager who had struggled in learning who she really is. Kylie thought she was just a normal teenager dealing with a broken family and psychiatric problems (she sees ghosts) until she got enrolled at Shadow Falls Academy and learned about her supernatural capabilities. After accepting the fact that she is a supernatural being, she then struggled in finding out which specie she belongs to because her brain pattern is very unique and it changes frequently. Book 4, Whispers at Moonrise, solved her identity question and it ended with a big question mark about her decision to stay with her clan and also who she really wants between Derek and Lucas.

My thoughts:
I loved Chosen At Nightfall! It's the perfect ending for this series because it solved all the conflicts of Kylie and had a happy ending. CC Hunter proved true that she can really write Young Adult stories that involves different kinds of love and relationships while still incorporating lessons for teenagers. She was also able to insert the importance of self preservation and safe sex throughout the series. I didn't like her initial approach of "sex is bad and gross" because I thought it's over the top, but after reading book 5, I get to understand that she wants to show a more realistic view about the topic. She wants her readers to see how Kylie and the gang developed and mature not only physically but also on their beliefs and actions. For me, the way CC Hunter ended the story is commendable because she created a balance between the different species and also between family and friends. She also showed how teens can become independent and decide for their own while still respecting their family especially their parents. 

RATING: 4.5/5

Chosen At Nightfall is a great final installment for a good series. I have seen a lot of series that ended badly but CC Hunter were able to keep the quality until the last book which made me really happy and content. I gave this 4.5/5 rating because the author could have made this story a little longer or more detailed. The last 1/3 of the story felt a little rushed and she could have placed some more details and importance about the problem solving process instead of just saying this is what we did and this is the result, everyone is happy. But aside from that, I am glad it does have a happy ending for everyone :)



OVER-ALL RATING FOR THE SHADOW FALLS SERIES: 5/5

I am so in love with this series! It has a fresh approach wherein the author incorporated the popular groups of supernaturals and created a boarding school for them to interact with each other like in Xmen. If you love paranormal stories, you will definitely love this because it have vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, faeries, witches and warlocks, and even chameleons who have a little of everything, all in one story. This also have a lot of lessons that will benefit teenagers because a lot of the conflicts involved were the problems encountered by teens like divorce/infidelity, long distance relationship between friends and family, unsupportive parents, breakups, jealousy, friendship, being the odd man/unique in class, and dealing with authority figures like teachers and family. I recommend this to anyone and I believe even kids can read it as it doesn't have romance involved so parents can relax.

FYI: According to CC Hunter, she will start a spinoff series where the vampire friend of Kylie, Della Tsang, would be the main character! I will definitely read that because I would still be able to see the rest of the gang even if they are just glimpses. Also Della is really fun and seeing the Shadow Falls Academy through her eyes would be amazing!


Thank you for dropping by and I hope you all have a great week ahead!

Gale Reads: Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

Hello everyone! I really miss blogging so much. I can't believe I've been MIA for almost 3 months (again!) as I didn't expect that I'll be so busy and tired during my training at work. Anyway, it is finished and I'm back!

As I had some free time to read, I decided to pick up the last installment of the Sookie Stackhouse Series (True Blood) by Charlaine Harris which was released last May 2013. I have been following this book series since last year and I am planning on buying all the books for my collection as I have just read this series via ebook format and I would love to have them in a printed format so that I can re-read them anytime I want plus it's nice to look at on my bookcase haha :)

COVER TALK:  4/5 
 
I love that it looks like a cartoon and the choice of colors the artist have used. I also think that all the elements on the drawing signified the characters that had a great impact on Sookie's life all throughout the 13 books like Quinn the weretiger, Alcide the werewolf, Sam the Collie and the Bats to signify the vampires.  Even the tomatoes and flowers signified something so every part of this drawing symbolizes the highlights of the story.

When I do buy the complete series, I will get all of the books in this version of the cover because I loved this cover compared to the True Blood version. I really don't like faces of actors on books because they didn't look like what I had in mind hehe :)




MY THOUGHTS:

Sookie is a telepathic barmaid at the Merlotte Bar at Bon Temps, Louisiana and is living in a time wherein vampires, were-species, shapeshifters, faeries and witches are open to the public about who they are. Sookie had been living in the center of the supernatural world as she had been romantically involved with the vampires (Bill and Eric), the weres (Alcide and Quinn) and a shapeshifter (Sam). She's also connected to the Supe world through her family (her grandfather and cousins are fae and her brother is a werepanther) and friends (Pam is a vampire, Amelia is a witch, Mr. Cataliades and Diana are half demons). Personally, I really enjoyed reading this series and I am really looking forward on how Harris will end the story since there's still a lot of uncertainty in the previous book.

This is the last book of this series so I have been expecting a lot from the author to wrap everything up with a nice little bow on top. The story about Sookie Stackhouse's life have been going for a decade already and I really think it is time to end it. It have been so interesting too that even HBO decided to make a TV adaptation on it and it also became popular. I do believe the TV series True Blood is still ongoing right now and it did have a following although I am not part of those people as I hated it.

I liked that everyone had a happy ending and all the conflicts did get answered. Harris did a good job in the writing department, as always, because I have hardly found any error in the story telling and her kind of writing style (which I loved) is still there. It was still a page turner as I have been really curious on what will happen next as Harris is very fond of putting so many twist and turns on a story.


RATING: 3/5

I would have given this a higher rating but the previous books (specifically books 1-9) are way way better compared to this. There's no element of excitement anymore which I don't know why I felt that way even though there's a lot of things happening in the story. Maybe I just got bored in the story or I lacked the enthusiasm because I knew from the beginning of the book who she will end up with. If you want to see the details why I gave this book a 3/5 rating, then read on.

*SPOILER ALERT*

OVER-ALL RATING FOR THE WHOLE SERIES (13 books): 4/5

I have read book 1-10 consecutively, then books 11-12 a few months after and book 13 after a few months again. 

When I read book 1-10, I was so engrossed to the series that I finished all 10 books so fast! I think I've read it in less than 2 weeks, roughly 1 story per day. The way the story progressed and changed made it a page turner and I really enjoyed being part of Sookie's life. There have been no dull moments for me while reading and the way Charlaine Harris build a character make you love them even more even though they are not the main characters. If you want to read my detailed review on books 1-10, click here.

I got afraid to read books 11 and 12 because of the mixed reviews it received so it took me awhile before I read them. I even forgot to make a review of those two here when I did finished reading them. All I can say is that they were less interesting than the first 10. It felt like Harris just made them out of pressure to make the story longer, somewhat like a filler. The story went crazy especially in book 12 wherein Eric got weirder and weirder.

Now, book 13 came and it went downhill even more. I really hoped that she can revive the story but I was so disappointed. After all the emotional building for Eric and Sookie's relationship, they will just go their separate ways and easily forget their "undying love" for each other. They have been through a lot and have came out of those scratched and injured but still alive and in-love.

I really don't know why Harris made Sookie end up with Sam. They never had a romantic relationship in all those 12 books. Sure, they have known each other for the longest time and Sam have the hots for her, but their relationship is really platonic and is always on the backseat of whoever is the current boyfriend of Sookie. If only Harris made it clear since book 1 (or even in the middle) that they like each other or that there's a chance of them romantically loving each other secretly without them knowing, I wouldn't have a problem. BUT they don't have anything between them aside for loyalty and friendship all those years so it's quite a shock when they did end up together at the very last leg of the series. 

I'm also quite sad that Harris made Eric so bad in the last 3 books. Is love for a  vampire that shallow? Is that what Harris wants to show in this series? That everyone should stick with their own kind and be safe and content? 

I don't know the answer anymore to all the questions in my head about this series. I should have stopped reading in book 10 because now I am not sure if I still loved this series or not just because the last 3 books became soupy in content. I'm still giving the whole series a 4/5 rating because the first 10 books are great and I did enjoyed those.


Thank you for dropping by!

Gale Reads: Whisphers at Moonrise (Shadow Falls #4) by C.C. Hunter

Finally! I was able to get my hands on a copy of Whispers At Moonrise-- the fourth book in the Shadow Falls Series by C.C. Hunter. 

I have waited a long time for this book because the cliff hanger in Book 3 was so bad haha. If you want to read my book review on the first 3 books in the series, click here.

TITLE: Whispers at Moonrise
AUTHOR: C.C. Hunter
GENRE: Young Adult, Love Story, Paranormal (Werewolves, Vampires, Shapeshifters, Witches, Fae)
SERIES: Shadow Falls Series
SYNOPSIS: (from Goodreads)
Even at a camp for supernatural teens, Kylie Galen has never been normal. Not only can she see ghosts, but she doesn’t seem to belong to any one species—she exhibits traits from them all. As Kylie struggles to unlock the secrets of her identity, she begins to worry that Lucas will never be able to accept her for what she is, and what she isn’t…a werewolf.  With his pack standing in their way, Kylie finds herself turning more and more to Derek, the only person in her life who’s willing to accept the impossible.

As if life isn’t hard enough, she starts getting visits from the ghost of Holiday, her closest confidante.  Trouble is, Holiday isn’t dead…not yet anyway.  Now Kylie must race to save one of her own from an unseen danger before it’s too late—all while trying to stop her relationship with Lucas from slipping away forever.   In a world of constant confusion, there’s only one thing Kylie knows for sure.  Change is inevitable and all things must come to an end…maybe even her time at Shadow Falls.


COVER TALK:
The cover is still good but I liked the first ones better. This cover shows Kylie inside the gates of the cemetery and it signifies a lot about the troubles Kylie is experiencing at her life. The colors and tones of the book cover is so dark and mysterious that it reflects her feelings perfectly.

On the side note, I believe this series will consist of 5 books and the conclusion will be Chosen At Nightfall  that will go out next year April 2013. So long... Well at least there's already a book cover for it and it's gorgeous! :)

MY REVIEW:
I am in love with this series! C.C. Hunter is a really great story teller. The smooth flow of her stories from one book to the next in this series is awesome. I liked that this series feels like it's one whole book just divided into 5 and the ending of each feels like it's just a chapter ending. I can't believe I'll get so frustrated in waiting for this 4th installment because the cliffhanger of book 3, Taken at Dusk, that I've read last July is kinda out there and it really made me reach for the next one haha. Luckily, this series comes out every 6 months and not once a year like the others, if not, I don't know how I will handle the suspense of waiting to know what happens next in Kylie Galen's life and Shadow Falls Camp :)

Whispers at Moonrise is a little different from the previous 3 because this one feels like it is complete even though I know there is another one coming. Complete, meaning, all the raised conflicts from all 4 are handled already except for the 2 which will be talked about in the last installment, Chosen at Nightfall. This did not end with an irritating cliff hanger so I am quite happy although I still can't wait for April to come so I can read the next one.

There's a lot of surprising revelations in this book and it answered a lot of questions. It also has a lot of twists especially in the love triangle department between Kylie, Lucas and Derek. Personally, I'm a Lucas Team just because theirs is a long term love affair wherein they have known each other since they were kids and they both are in love...and they have a lot of conflicts too. Derek is a good match too but I guess he will be the boring choice and I think they are better of as friends who understand each other a lot. I would hate to see Kylie and Derek ending up as a couple because I believe their good relationship will change once that happens.

I also enjoyed reading about Kylie's friends who have found their partners already and are really happy. Socks is also happy now because of what Kylie did accidentally. I always enjoy the girl bonding scenes because their thoughts and dialogues really reflected how teenagers think. I really salute C.C. Hunter for making everything realistic.

[Spoiler alert]

The conflicts I'm talking about are 1) Who will Kylie choose between Derek and Lucas once she gets back, 2) Will she be able to master her traits as a Chameleon so she can go back to Shadow Falls and lastly 3) What will the FRU do next to get Kylie. 

I'm also curious how she will adapt in her new world full of people like her and also how her relationship with her grandfather will develop. I really believe it would be really interesting to know how she will try to learn everything as fast as she could just so she can go back to her friends and family at Shadow Falls.

Book 5 will definitely be an interesting read and I'm hoping it would be a a great conclusion to the series.


OVER-ALL RATING: 5/5

I love this book! Everything is detailed and there's no hanging conflicts that can give problems to the next book. I really can't find any fault with this one. Definitely a good read.


Thanks for dropping by!

Gale Reads: Shadow Falls Series #1-3

Happy Friday everyone! I'm back with another book review for my fellow bookworms. I am on a reading roll and I can't stop so I was able to finish another set of books (well, e-books to be exact). For my readers who prefer reading beauty finds and product reviews, I'll be back this weekend, so don't worry. I have a few items on my stash that I haven't reviewed yet. I have been testing them for months now so I know it's time to give my verdict on them. But for now, I'll be reviewing the first 3 books of C.C. Hunter's Shadow Falls Series ^_^

Genre: Paranormal, Love story, Young Adult, Adventure?

Author: C. C. Hunter

Books in the series: 5 titles (#1-3 are out, #4 will be out on October 2012, #5 on 2013)

Synopsis:

Kylie Galen is a 16-year-old girl who was sent by her mom to the Shadow Falls Camp because of her "attention-seeking" actions. 

To the outside world, Shadow Falls Camp is just an ordinary camp for troubled teens but you can't be so wrong. It is an institution that caters and gives guidance to all supernaturals like vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, fairies and witches. 

This series follows how Kylie's world changed during that summer inside the camp where she tries to find her heritage, learns her powers and how to deal with all the supernatural things happening in her life.

COVER TALK: 

I just realized that I forgot to do a cover talk in my last Gale Reads so I'll just edit that post and you can come check it out again here (Violet Eden) if you are interested.

The cover of these 3 books are great in my opinion.They really fit the plot of the story because it has that mysterious feel to it. I really liked the mix of black, gray, blue, red and purple. It makes an illusion of creepiness and magic at the same time.

I also love the fact that you can't really see the face of the girl on the picture...It's really a pet-peeve of mine coz I hate it when books have faces of real people as book covers coz it destroys the image of the character created by my mind.

I am giving these 3 books 4.5/5 for the covers ^_^

MY REVIEW:

Let's now go for the actual book. I was actually intrigued on the plot of this series when I saw it at Goodreads so I decided to get myself a copy of the first book, Born at Midnight, in e-book form so I can check it out. I had this e-book for 2 months now before I started reading it early this week. And I was really so happy and hooked on what I read that I downloaded the other 2 books that night before I slept coz I really wanted to follow the story.

C. C. Hunter really made a good job in this series. I can't believe this is her debut book coz it is so good. The idea of creating a world that caters to all supernatural is not totally unique but what made it special is because it is set in a teaching institution and it's full of teenage supernaturals. I really enjoyed reading about vampires drinking blood on a glass, werewolves turning into wolves during full moon, faeries having magical powers, shapeshifters changing to any form and witches casting spells everywhere. She really created a good balance of each character and it made me feel like it is inside an Xmen school ^_^

The story is really catching and a page turner. When I finished the 3rd book, Taken at Dusk, I got a little irritated coz I won't be able to read the next on anytime soon. I hope October arrives fast so I can read what happened to Kylie after the appearance of her dad.

The only gripe I have with this series is that there are times when the story becomes slow and then fast. The books are also connected, like, whatever happened on the last page of Born At Midnight (#1) is where Awake At Dawn (#2) will start and so on.. And it is bad because I hate cliff hangers -- it made me want to reach for the next book haha.. it means less sleep for me.

OVER-ALL RATING: 4.5/5

I really love this series and I will definitely get myself a hard copy when it get available locally. I haven't seen these books yet at Powerbooks (just like a lot of the books I've reviewed before) but I hope they just don't have it in stock and I can just walk in and buy it when I already have storage for new books.

RECOMMENDED TO:

- This is perfect for all ages especially for teenagers coz it shows morals and guidance without being preachy. I love the bits of advices it has throughout the books for young adults regarding the things that goes on in their lives like love, sex, friends, etc.

- For those who love reading about paranormals

- For those who want to feel young again ^_^

I'll end this with a sneak peek on the cover of Whispers at Moonrise book #4 of Shadow Falls Series.

Thanks for dropping by! See you this weekend for my product review ^_^

Gale Reads: Kate Daniels Series (#1-5) by Ilona Andrews

Happy Monday everyone! You might be wondering why I had gone underground again this past week so I will tell you a secret. Here are some of the reasons why I usually disappears for a couple of days: (1) super busy at work (2) personal problems/ a relative is visiting and we're always out, (3) I am busy watching a drama and I've decided to do a marathon run or (4) I am reading a series of books and I can't stop until I'm finished with everything. For this past week, it's been reason #4. I have been reading a lot lately because my sister let me borrowed her IPAD 2 and it's so easy to read my ebooks using that instead of my Ipod Touch. I really wish I could have an ebook reader soon coz it is lighter than and Ipad and less stressful for the eye plus a longer battery life.

This week, I have finished a very famous series called Kate Daniels. It is written by Ilona Andrews (which is actually a pen name for 2 people...a husband and wife tandem. They are writing 2 series at the moment: Kate Daniels and On Edge.) The Kate Daniels Series currently have 5 books under it and a couple of novellas...It is still ongoing and it is said that book 6 will come out in 2013.

Genre: Dystopian, Paranormal, Fantasy

Status of Series: On-going

Author: Ilona Andrews

   

Summary from Ilona Andrews Website:

The world has suffered a magic apocalypse. We pushed the technological progress too far, and now magic returned with a vengeance. It comes in waves, without warning, and vanishes as suddenly as it appears. When magic is up, planes drop out of the sky, cars stall, electricity dies. When magic is down, guns work and spells fail.

It’s a volatile, screwed-up world. Magic feeds on technology, gnawing down on skyscrappers until most of them topple and fall, leaving only skeletal husks behind. Monsters prowl the ruined streets, werebears and werehyenas stalk their prey; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst of knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds.

MY REVIEW:

COVER TALK:  I'm not that fond of the covers. I think it's a little tacky and have not done justice to the content. I would have liked it better if the illustration itself was drawn beautifully but these just looks sloppy to me. Also, I think having the lion out of the picture would be better and just focused on the drawing of Kate just like what Nalini Sighn did on her Guild Hunter Series. So I am giving 2/5 stars for the covers.

STORY:

This series is really awesome! I can't put it down and I had this feeling that I needed to read everything in one seating. I read one title per night so I ended up sleeping just a couple of hours this last week so that I can finish this. It's really a page turner and I can't help myself but be sucked into the world of Kate Daniels. I even sometimes dream about being one of the characters in the story hehe ^_^

I super duper love the lead character Kate Daniels. She's one tough cookie to break. She's a trained killer, very smart, learns through her mistakes, loyal, honest, has a very witty mouth and had a very strong will to fight for something she believes in. She's also very powerful because of her magic and skills. I also love the fact that she's not a whiny love-crossed heroine. Oh, I'm really so happy that being in her mind doesn't consist of pinning for her love life. Actually, it even made me wish there's a lot more Curran interaction in the story because I won't categorize this series as a romance novel as it lacks a romantic angle.

The whole series evolves around Kate's fights against the different forces in her world who plans to wreak havoc in their lives in Atlanta. There's a lot of ass kicking, sword wielding and magic powers involved. The way Andrews wrote the scenes is really awesome because I was able to picture everything in my head clearly as if I was there and watching it like an spectator. I applaud Ilona Andrews for being able to use different mythology (Greek, Norwegian, Latin, etc), history, and a lot of magical being (witches, shammans, etc) and melding them together to create a world full of magic and knowledge. 

Having novellas every now and then is fun coz I could read about certain characters from Kate Daniel's world and also reading about Curran's point of view even though they are short are nice.

I really hoped they showed a lot of love and interaction between Curran and Kate because this book needs more loving between them. Curran is rarely on the events and it would be nicer if I could feel a connection that they love each other.

OVER-ALL RATING: 4.5 out of 5

I definitely recommend this book! There's never a dull moment and it is full of twists and turns so you'll be kept on your toes every time. I can't wait for book 6 to be released but it is stated in Goodreads that the expected release would be on 2013...Waah, it's too far!

RECOMMENDED FOR: Readers who like action-packed stories and kick-ass female heroine. Readers who loves dystopian, fantasy and paranormal genre and wants to experience a world full of magical creatures and powers.

Will I buy these books in the bookstore? Definitely! I am planning on going to Powerbooks to get my hands on the paperbacks version because I want to be able to reread them again in book form. As I've said, reading a physical book is way better than reading an electronic version and it's easier to go back to the parts I wanted to read again.

What about you? Have you read this series already? If yes, are you excited for the next installment too? Share your opinions in the comment section below...I would love to hear from you.

Till next time, bye! ^_^

Gale Reads: The Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlainne Harris

This series is very very popular because it has an HBO TV Series called True Blood. Now, I have only watched maybe 3 or 4 episodes of it since I can't seem to get the timing right on the schedule and I prefer reading a book than watching. I'm also not a fan of watching English dramas so it doesn't attract my attention at all.

Now, I contemplated a lot if I wanted to read the whole Sookie Stackhouse Novels by Charlainne Harris. This series garnered a very high rating among book bloggers and youtubers..You'll also always see this on the Top 10 lists of books on different websites.

I'm a bit on the fence to read it even though I love vampire novels because I was able to read Twilight Saga first and I thought it's just a copy of that (Vampires and shape-shifters..ring a bell?)...and I was so wrong! They are totally different stories and also, this series were published first before the Twilight Saga so it can't be the same, right? ^_^


GENRE: paranormal, romance

HIGHLIGHT CHARACTERS: Vampires, Shape-shifters, Witches

TITLES OF THE BOOKS IN THE SERIES:
Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead to the World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
All Together Dead
From Dead to Worse
Dead and Gone
Dead in the Family
Dead Reckoning
Deadlocked --coming soon May 2012
Dead Ever After --coming May2013
A Touch of Dead --Compilation of short stories about Sookie Stackhouse.


BRIEF SUMMARY:
Two years prior, vampires exposed themselves to the world after Japanese scientists invented a synthetic blood product called True Blood. The vampires proclaimed that they can now live with humans because the True Blood is enough to sustain them physiologically and won't need to kill humans anymore in order to survive.

Sookie Stackhouse is a bar waitress in Bon Temps, Louisiana. She is also a telepath. She considers her telepathic powers as a curse until she met Bill Compton, a vampire. She evolved from being a common human to becoming a major magnet for supernatural beings and the conflicts that puts her life in jeopardy most of the time.

In this series, we will follow the story of Sookie Stackhouse as she tries to survive in a world totally different from what she know of before all these chaos started.


COVER TALK:
At present, this series already has 2 types of book covers.

The first covers are the ones with cartoon drawings. You'll think these are children's book if you based it on the cover but once you read it, you'll know that it's for adult reading only. I love how simple they look but each drawing has a real meaning behind it and they definitely symbolizes the story per book.

The re-released cover versions are the ones with the True Blood actors in the front. They are all black and white in color with a pop of red while the actors show a sexy pose related to the TV show.

They also released 3 omnibus version wherein it contains the same cover but they placed 3 book titles per omnibus. I've seen them on the bookstore and they are huge and thick. It looks like an encyclopedia haha ^_^ but it does saves space and will definitely save you time to search the titles for all of the books in the series.

I personally love the original covers a lot more than the TV Series adaptation. I really don't like books with actors as the cover model coz it gets old for me and the novelty usually wears off quite fast then I'll be so irked when I see the covers hehe. I am still on the process of looking for a box set that's available locally. I really loved the original cartoony covers alot :)


MY THOUGHTS ON THE SERIES:

This series contains 13 titles all in all. The 12th will be released this May 2012 and the last installment would be on May 2013. I haven't read the 11th book yet coz I don't have it so I'll just be giving my review on the first 10 books of the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series :)

This series is so great! I regret that I didn't started reading it until early this year. Although I think it is for the best because I was able to read all 10 books continuously and I don't need to wait for the next installment haha ...I read all 10 books in 2 weeks (roughly one book every day) because I can't seem to put the story down. It is really a page turner and every chapter has something exciting going on.

Charlainne Harris is a great writer. She was able to create a very realistic world where vampires and humans and other magical creatures exists together. I love how she describes the setting and the characteristics of each characters because it made them more real. There is also character development as the story moves on. They learn from their mistakes and they mature. Also, the way she introduces new character is flawless and not forced. It made the transition from one book to another very smoothly. I also love the fact that even though there are a lot of books in this series, you can still enjoy each of them individually because they contain different stories.

I want to also give credit to Harris for being able to mesh vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, fairies, witches, etc very nicely. There's no feeling of having too much and I ended up guessing and thinking which magical creature will erupt next hehe.

Now, for the negatives. It's very hard to think of what I don't like in the story but I think there's only one. I hate it when Sookie starts feeling all gooey inside when there's a new hot guy around and she allows them to kiss her or something. I mean, she is supposedly in love so she should not be so fickle about that. But that's just me hehe. I guess for her it's different...she just started liking guys late because she can't hear these supernatural guys clearly and she can enjoy their company more than humans.

I can't wait to read the last 3 books of this series. I'm very excited to know which guy Sookie will end up with. I hope it's Quinn coz they are perfect. I don't want her to end up with the vampires.


OVER-ALL RATINGS: 4.5/5. Love this series! This is definitely one of my favorite vampire series of all time :)

WILL I BUY THE WHOLE SERIES? Definitely. I am already looking for a box set for the first 10 books. Then I'll get the other ones too. Definitely worth having it in your collection.

WHO WILL YOU RECOMMEND THIS TO? This is really for mature readers only and I won't suggest this for teenagers because this is a romance novel and there are a lot of romance involved, if you know what I mean. The story actually involves a lot of sexual innuendos and romance so it might not be for conservative folks who have never tried reading romance novels yet.


Have you read this series yet? If not, do so! Even if you don't like paranormal, you'll definitely love it for the adventure and romantic side of it. Charlainne Harris is really a great story teller. Never a dull moment with this books ^_^