So a little behind again. I've got 5 books to report on now. 'The Chocolate Lovers' Club' by Carole Matthews, 'The Jane Austen Book Club' by Karen Joy Fowler, and the first three books from the Blue Blood series by Melissa de la Cruz : 'Blue Bloods,' 'Masquerade,' and 'Revelations.' All were books worth my time in their own right. Lets start from the first shall we?
First off I'm a bargain shopper... most of the time. I found 'The Chocolate Lovers' Club' on the bargain table at Barnes and Noble and couldn't resist for 2 reasons. 1: it was on sale. 2: it was about chocolate and I'm a self-proclaimed chocoholic. This book hit a sweet spot for me because I like books by the talented British female authors. Don't get me wrong, the talented British male authors are good too but you have to have some solidarity, right? This book followed those lines. It's about these four very different women who use a favorite chocolate haunt to satisfy a craving for chocolate, friendship, and escape from the everyday stressors of life. These women can pack away the chocolate too (women after my own heart, let me tell ya) and there are even a few guys in this book who are just as dedicated to the love of chocolate as these four women are. This book is a roller coaster. You have infidelity, theft, gambling, champagne, shenanigans, drama, and of course CHOCOLATE. All in all a good read.
Next on the list is 'The Jane Austen Book Club.' This book also shows one thing being a coping tool. This time it's the voice and lessons of Jane Austen to be found in her books. There is love and loss in this book as well. Every person should get themselves acquainted with Jane Austen and this is a nice way to get the toes wet with just a bit of modern entertainment. There were also exerts from each of Austen's book and explanations found at the end of the book to help people along with some of the notions being slung around by the characters of the book. I enjoyed this one greatly. It made me want to dive in head-long into the complete works of Austen.
Next I started working on the new vampire series. We've grown up with the folklore of vampires, heard the stories, ever variation. This one I vaguely remember hearing and I like it the best so far. I know, I know I say that all the time but hey, when you read new stuff it's bound to be trumped. This series is based on the theory that vampires are fallen angels. And they are the good guys. It's about time they become the good guys right? Sure you need blood for a life force and all but so do humans, so why can't they be good guys? Anyway, this group of vampires are reincarnated all the time to keep Lucifer and his follower AKA Silver bloods (the bad vampires that follow the lines of the more stereotypical vampire) at bay. These Blue Blood vampires are responsible for the major accomplishments in the world, according to this series. For example, the Met and the Blood Bank (go figure). Each time that they are reincarnated they live out regular lives until they hit puberty (everything goes down hill at puberty) and then they start to transition and obtain their memories from past lives. By the time that they are 21 the transition is complete.
Now while the task of keeping Lucifer at bay is important it is also sort of why they are "stuck" on earth and were expelled from heaven. Lucifer is supposed to be the original fallen angel and was kicked out of heaven along with a bunch of others who followed him while he was in the heavens. Well the Blue Bloods thought that was ridiculous and decided to take him out and atone for their sins and make it back to paradise, thus the major accomplishments for the Red Bloods (humans) of the world. The only thing I didn't like about the book, but I can also understand why it's portrayed this way, as a vampire notion, is that humans are thought to be useless and would basically parish without the Blue Bloods around. At least that is the attitude of most. There are some Red Bloods who help Blue Bloods, sort of as protection and guidance, they are the conduits. Anyway, this series is shaping up well if you like vampire books.
Hope you enjoy!
