This is Book 1 of Vampire Academy and with the same title.

Summary from the Author’s Website: Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with an unbreakable bond to the earth’s magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest and most dangerous vampires–the ones who never die.

The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa’s best friend, makes her a Dhampir; she is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making her one of them.

After two years of illicit freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir’s Academy, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. Rose will continue her Dhampir education. Lissa will go back to being Queen of the elite Moroi social scene. And both girls will resume breaking hearts.

Fear made Lissa and Rose run away from St. Vladimir’s–but their world is fraught with danger both inside and out of the Academy’s iron gates. Here, the cutthroat ranks of the Moroi perform unspeakable rituals and their secretive nature and love of the night creates an enigmatic world full of social complexities. Rose and Lissa must navigate through this dangerous world, confront the temptation of forbidden romance, and never once let their guard down, lest the Strigoi make Lissa one of them forever…

The story’s quite good – but it’s more like paranormal-action-chicklit because it didn’t dwell as much as it should on the romance between Rose and Dimitri. His name isn’t even mentioned in the summary so that’s quite telling. She could be following the footsteps of Sherrilyn Kenyon or the Anita Blake series of Hamilton. Or maybe Aisling Gray?

Mead was great in creating a new and enthralling vampire setting. Her female lead is fun, too, and the male lead is absolutely adorable.

Rating: 8.5 / 10

As far as I know, Dodd’s primary genre is historical romances so it’s interesting to see her enter a new one – contemporary paranormal romances. Well, this isn’t really her first paranormal, but it is the first of it I’ve read from her. The characters, however, are reassuringly familiar. Personally, I think her jump to another bandwagon was successful. The love scenes are still plentiful and with the same level of sensuality. Truly reminds me of Stephanie Laurens’.

Summary: Ann describes herself as tall, gangly, and awkward. She’s also the PA to Jasha Wilder, head of a thriving wine company, and the man she’s infatuated with for so many years. And then she sees him turn into a wolf. He sees her, chases and has gloriously rough sex with her. What next?

I can’t say it’s my favorite paranormal romance. Shapeshifters just aren’t my cup of tea. But I love the chemistry between them and that, among all things, is really what makes this book a pageturner.

This is book number SIX in the Undead / Betsy series. The series is all about the misadventures of Elizabeth “Betsy” Taylor when she fulfilled the prophecy from the Book of the Dead and which made her the Vampire Queen and consort to the Vampire King Eric Sinclair.

Summary: Her support group is gone. It’s the first time that we see Betsy having to function by herself. Tina, the King’s beautiful blond sidekick, is stuck in Europe, unable to help Betsy. Tina relays her fears to Betsy about Eric being gone…for good. Like, really gone…for good. Marc is out at the Cayman Islands, frolicking with his new man-toy, completely unaware of what’s happening. Jessica’s still dying from cancer. Laura, the Devil’s daughter, is showing off her true colors and they’re red and green. Her father and stepmother are dead. Antonia, the girl-wolf who can’t really turn and with clairvoyant powers, together with her laconic vampire partner Garrett, were also gone and the Wyndhams, her former pack, were worried.

Betsy’s all alone. Can she handle it?

I knew she could, but I was afraid that more would die before she’d find her inner strength. Thank God the book satisfied all my secret wishes – but again, I wanted more of Sinclair! Although, to be fair, the plot made that impossible.

The story’s very fast-paced. I mean, I know most of her books are like that, but this one’s faster than usual. But great job! This made the few 2D characters in the series more 3D. I really like what she revealed about Laura. I mean, it’s shitty, but you gotta realize, there’s no other way but for Laura to think and be like that.

I’m definitely looking forward to the next one!

This is one of the 14 short stories found in Everything’s Eventual. The author’s introduction for it was nice and real – every horror writer, he says, should at least write a story about the Ghostly Room in a Hotel / Inn just once. That’s not verbatim, but it’s quite accurate. And like I said, true. Isn’t it? I was planning to watch the movie first, but since I wasn’t able to catch it in theaters, I just moved on to reading it.

1408 – try adding up the numbers – is a room in the 14th (but it’s really the 13th floor, isn’t it?) floor that Mr. Olin, the hotel manager (played by Samuel L. Jackson in the movie) does his best to keep vacant. In fact, the last paying guest of the room was back in 1978. And now, Mr. Olin has more than his hands full trying to discourage Mike Enslin (played by John Cusack) from occupying 1408.

The story’s enough to make you keep the lights on if you’re reading it at night and even chill you a bit at daytime. Expect the usual attack of ghastly images that King is known for – with his typical touch of sexuality. Expect plain talk – again, typical of King. Everything happens in one room – no change of locations necessary – but you’ll still be scared.