Hi, there! Welcome to my now monthly Authors of my Heart ❤ section! As last week we had a manga author, today we will have a book author 🙂 Who? L. J. Smith!
I haven’t read as many books from her as I’d like, but this is the brilliant mind behind the creation of Damon Salvatore. It was necessary to bring her to this section asap!
I’ve met L. J. Smith on 2009, when The Vampire Diaries was brought to Brazil and the tv show was beginning. I’ve devoured all volumes like crazy, already madly in love with Damon, and then I started to watch the show and I was struck for life.
I’ve bought the first volume of the Night World series compilation on the same year, but as I have a problem with physically big books, I postponed reading it until last December. Oh boy, I didn’t know what I was missing. Then, I decided that Smith was an auto-buy author, as I’m in love with her writing style ❤
The Vampire Diaries series has captured the hearts and imaginations of hundreds of thousands of fans-and the new CW show that it inspired promises to introduce millions more to the chills, thrills and star-crossed love that has captivated so many readers. In The Awakening, the first volume of this bestselling series, Elena Gilbert is a golden girl used to getting anything that she wants, particularly when it comes to attracting guys. That is until she meets handsome, haunted Stefan, who struggles to resist her because of his dark secret: Stefan is a vampire. Stefan is torn by guilt from his past and living with the threat of his dark, dangerous vampire brother, Damon s return. Soon Elena finds herself in a love triangle between two vampire brothers and it could turn deadly.
Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters — they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World.
In Secret Vampire, Poppy thought the summer would last forever. Then she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Now Poppy’s only hope for survival is James, her friend and secret love. A vampire in the Night World, James can make Poppy immortal. But first they both must risk everything to go against the laws of Night World.
Fugitives from Night World, three vampire sisters leave their isolated home to live among humans in Daughters of Darkness. Their brother, Ash, is sent to bring the girls back, but he falls in love with their beautiful friend.
Two witch cousins fight over their high school crush. It’s a battle between black magic and white magic in Spellbinder.
All three books on this volume are already reviewed. Just click on the links bellow to go there 😀
I know this post is uncommonly short for this section, but I had to include Smith asap, haha! Thanks for reading 🙂 Are you a fan of L. J. Smith’s books??
Good day to you! Our day starts with Top 10 Tuesday 😀 This meme is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish and as if I wasn’t a rebel before, now I reached a whole new level, haha! Besides choosing to show you guys my 10 favorite covers within my 2015 reads, I also made it 18 covers because it was IMPOSSIBLE to narrow this down, haha!
Lest’s go:
Venom, from Kristin Middleton
The Gentleman and The Lamplighter, from Summer Devon
Hi, there! Good afternoon, hope you’re having a great Saturday 🙂 Saturday is book tag day here on the blog and my adorable friend Kim, from The Spines Breaker, tagged me on The Characters Book Tag! 😀 Thank you, Kim! I love all the tags you do, haha! Don’t forget to check out her blog, is amazing!! ❤
You can check the reviews for most books mentioned on this post by clicking on their respective titles. Except for The Crown, in which the link leads you to a nightmarish book cover.
Who is the best kick-ass character?
All time? DAMON SALVATORE. ALWAYS. FOREVER. In case you live in another dimension and don’t know who I’m talking about, he is from The Vampire Diaries series 🙂
I can’t even with this man.
Which character do you most dislike?
Hmm… That’s a tough one. I think I’ll have to go with Bella Swan, from Twilight. I just hate her so much, haha!
If you could date any fictional character, who would it be and why?
I hate to sound repetitive, but it will always be Damon.
If you could change a character in any way, what would it be?
I would change Clara’s denseness on Shearwater, Part One, from Derek Murphy (a.k.a. D. S. Murphy). Honestly, that girl drove me nuts until she found out she was a freaking mermaid, haha!
What character made all the wrong choices and didn’t add anything to the book?
Eadlyn. I apologize to all the fans of The Heir, but I hated Eadlyn too much, haha!
Besides, the cover for The Crown is giving me nightmares.
Which character was the best villain whom you love to hate?
What is your favorite fictional romantic relationship?
I also hate to sound repetitive here, but my favorite couple ever will always be Max and Tristan, from All In With The Duke ❤ Or they shall be until Ava March outdoes herself again, haha!
What character did you think was the strongest?
From my recent reads, I’d say Whyborne, from Widdershins. He faced many fears in the book and resisted many temptations. He is a true hero ❤
Best protagonist?
I didn’t finish the book yet, but I already have a new chosen one: Integrity, from Gifted Thief. HONESTLY, THIS GIRL.
I am in love. Review to come real soon, as I’m almost finished, haha! [UPDATE: review here!]
Hi, there! It’s Saturday and I couldn’t be happier! Besides eating my uncle’s famous barbecue today, this means that I’m going home tomorrow! Yay ❤
Today’s tag I saw at my friend Kim’s blog, The Spines Breaker. She didn’t tag me, but I liked this tag a lot and decided to do anyway 😀
Phase 1 – Initial Attraction: A book that you bought because of the cover?
The Awakening (Darkest Powers #2), by Kelley Armstrong. The hardcover volume was 7 dollars when I found it and I couldn’t resist, haha! Only later at home, I saw it was the second volume of the series and had to buy the ebook for the first one, haha!
Phase 2 – First Impressions: A book that you got because of the summary?
Angel Time (The Songs of the Seraphim #1), by Anne Rice. I found it highly interesting 😀 Let’s see if it will meet my expectations, as my last book from Anne Rice was a huge fiasco.
Phase 3 – Sweet Talk: A book with great writing?
The Night World series, from L. J. Smith. Seriously, I love this woman’s writing style! You can check my reviews for books one, two and three 😀
Phase 4 – First Date: A first book of a series which made you want to pick up the rest of the series?
Cemetery Tours, from Jacqueline E. Smith! It was so good and the end had such a cliffhanger that I almost cried in relief because I already had all three published books with me, haha!
Phase 5 – Late Night Phone Calls: A book that kept you up all night?
My last one was Shearwater, from dear Derek Murphy ❤ Such a wonderful book!
Phase 6 – Always on my mind: A book you could not stop thinking about?
Fangirl, from Rainbow Rowell. Even now, it still fills my head, as I’m dying to read Carry On!
Phase 7 – Getting Physical: A book which you love the way it feels?
Widdershins, from Jordan L. Hawk. All the feels, all over the place, haha!
Phase 8 – Meeting the parents: A book which you would recommend to your family and friends?
Pride and Prejudice, from marvelous Jane Austen. So far, I convinced 4 people including my mom to read it, haha!
Phase 9 – Thinking about the future: A book or series you know you will re read many times in the future?
All In With The Duke, from my loved Ava March. I can’t breath without this book in my life, seriously.
That’s it! Thanks for reading 😀 If you find this tag as fun as I did, don’t hesitate on doing it! You can say that I tagged you 😉
Hello once again! To finish off my Night World volume one book, I’m presenting you with the review to Spellbinder, third book in the series of brilliant L. J. Smith!
from my Instgram – and, btw, this is my little Lady ❤
The Story
Thea and Blaise grew up like sisters, but the girls were different as day and night. While Thea was peaceful and an animal healer, Blaise was a first’class trouble maker and boys killer. Almost literally.
After being expelled five times from different schools, Thea is determinated to make Blaise behave and allow both of them to finish their studies. The problem is that Blaise is not cooperating and can’t wait to play with her new human toys, as she seems the non-magical people.
Things get worse when she targets Eric, the only boy that ever made Thea’s heart beat in a different rhythm. In order to protect Eric, Thea must pretend that she is interested in charming him and make him fall in love with her, just like Blaise would do. No harm done, no witch laws broke.
The only problem was that Thea had already fallen for him.
The Analysis
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂
I’m still flabbergasted that it took me so long to grab this series to read. It has been sitting on my TBR shelf for at least four years now, I’m so ashamed. AND IT IS SO DARN GOOD, OMG! I thought I wouldn’t enjoy this book as much as I did the others because I had hatted Blaise from her quick cameo from Secret Vampire, haha! But, as almost all of Smith’s villains, I fell in love with her spirit and wicked ways, oops! Another big 5 stars book ❤
The narrative was third person type once again, but differently from the other two books, the only point of view we get is Thea’s. I like best when we can switch POVs, despite loving Thea with all my heart – something quite unusual for me, but I shall get there, haha! I would have loved to see a bit of the story through Blaise’s or Eric’s eyes, but I guess both would lose a little of their essential mysterious natures, haha! And Thea sees both characters as enigmatics, each on their own way, so I understand the decision of making this only about how Thea saw things. Still, one can dream, right? 😉
Anyway, to the plot we go. This is the most elaborated one in the series so far and I honestly didn’t know how things would end until they got there. I read 2/3 of the book in one night because of my state of anxiety over what could happen next, haha! I still don’t think that it was something out of this world and the first climax was quite obvious, but oh, I swear that the second made it up for everything! I was bouncing in my chair as I read, almost biting all my nails and pulling my hair, lol. It involved me and worked for me ❤
The characters were a blast. I dare say that character’s building is Smith’s speciallity, as she makes us to fall in love even with the most awful types! =O
It happened with Ash in both Secret Vampire and Daughters of Darkness, Kestrel in DoD, Blaise in Spellbinder, Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries… OMG, woman! I already usually love the villains, no need to support my obssessions, haha! LOL
But as it went in Spellbinder, I was spechless when realized that I loved Thea, the sweet and naïve young adult protagonist of the story. I usually get bored with good girls, but she was so real and nice that I just felt like being her friend. Just like Blaise and Dani, Thea’s friend from the school and witch sister. My heart was tore, as I didn’t know if I cheered for Thea or Blaise to get what they wanted. I had never felt like this towards a protagonist and an antagonist: I always pick a side. I was a mess while reading, as the only thing that I knew for certain was that Eric made the cut for my infamous bookish boyfriend list, haha!
And there is Blaise. She was awesome, I wish I could grow up and be just like her, seriously. She’s fearless and wild, beautiful to the point of pain (literally if you are a boy, be prepared) and very mature despite her bad taste for plays and tricks. Besides, she can craft anything like no one in the world. I would have loved to see myself her jewelry ❤ And the most amazing thing in all of this is that her craft is a human ability – the itens that she made could have magic powers thanks to the pieces that she used, but the designs weren’t humanly impossible.
Then I think about my secret talents.
Now that you all know what I can do, let’s talk about Eric. At first, I thought him too sweet, too much. But them, as Thea (cof and us cof) realizes that he feels confortable around her to be himself, a self that he displays to no one else, it makes sense the sweetness and all things that a seventeen year old boy usually is not. The weird thing is that I feel like Thea, Blaise and Eric are more suited to college life than high school life, in a matter of scenarios, haha! I don’t know, I can’t imagine them so young. I guess it’s because of their maturity, which is not at all a bad thing 🙂
A point that I noticed in the Night World series is the lack of romantic interactions between characters despite their love for each other. In this matter, Secret Vampire was the book with more romantic scenes, in the sense of the flesh. And still, we had no sheets action (which is not necessary a bad thing). I guess I’m just amazed how Smith was able to create and maintein a fantastic book series without resourcing to sex to involve her readers. Even on a supernatural romantic focused series. She proves my point that you DON’T NEED SEX to tell a beautiful love story. Hell, you barely need a kiss, as it was the case with Daughters of Darkness. Astonishing! *—–*
Okay, sorry. Let’s go back, haha!
Overall, this is another perfect young adult book with a supernatural romance and witches. If you like at least one of these elements, you just need to read this book. No, I’m lying. YOU HAVE TO READ THIS SERIES BECAUSE IT IS PERFECT!
That’s it, haha! Thanks for reading and bearing with my fangirling, haha! Now I have the most dificult job ever: finding volumes 2 and 3 of Night World novels…
Rowan, Kestrel, and Jade know that they are taking a path of no return when they flee their home. The three sisters are well aware of all the risks and sacrifices involved, but anything in the human world is better than to live in an eternal bubble without any real living.
What they didn’t expect was to have a nosy neighbor.
Mary-Lynnette is a loner, a creature of the night. The stars are her best friends, along with her brother Mark. Or so she thought, until meeting her three new and inhumanly beautiful neighbors. The girls seem to be nice enough despite all oddities surrounding their family, but can Mary-Lynnette handle with their older brother…?
Ash knew he was doomed in the moment he laid eyes on Mary-Lynnette. Once, he had heard from a cousin how he would fall hard for his soul mate, but never believed in such crap. He was a man in a mission and Mary-Lynnette couldn’t be related to his difficulties in taking his sisters back home.
Or could she?
The Analysis
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂
OMG, WHY DID I TAKE SO DAMN LONG TO READ THIS SERIES?! IT’S EVEN BETTER THAN THE VAMPIRE DIARIES! (Just don’t tell this to television guys, they will screw this up, haha!). I loved everything aspect of this book and can’t wait to finish Spellbinder, the next book 🙂 Ash was perfection since Secret Vampire, but in this one is where I fell hard for him… *sighs in pure love* I’ll try to do a good job here, but it is so damn difficult when all I feel like doing is fangirling non-stop about Ash, haha!
Ahem.
The narrative was my favorite one: third person with alternating points of view. I wish there were more parts under Ash’s POV, but I understand that not knowing much about him it’s part of his charm. Putting more parts under his view would have bared him too much for the reader and all, haha! But one can dream, right? 😉
The plot wasn’t overly complicated and quite predictable, but there is a little twist in the end that caught me off guard and this was awesome ❤ I don’t really mind simple plots as long as they are well executed and hold my attention while I read. I can even know how it all will end, but I always get curious to see how the outcome shall arrive, haha! My point? There is no lost trip for me, haha!
The characters are the high point in this book. Rowan, Kestrel and Jade are unique and each represent a type of person: Rowan is gentle and naïve despite being the oldest; Kestrel is ruthless and savage; and Jade is dreamy and brave. They complement each other in such a perfect way! Mark was also a pleasant enough character and I really liked Jeremy despite everything. And, of course, there is their older brother Ash, but never fear, I’ll get to him. I really liked Mary-Lynnette. She was such a strong heroine for a Young Adult book but without losing her teenager spirit. I could have never made her final decision on the end of the book and I will admire her for this till the world ends.
Sorry, I had to insert this here, haha!
Now, let’s go to Ash. Oh, Ash. He is the lost cousin of Damon Salvatore, I assure you. The difference between them is that Damon is actually a pretty nice guy trying to fool people into believing that he is a demon and Ash is actually a demon trying to fool people into believing that he is a pretty nice guy, haha! 😉 Mary-Lynnette described him as a royal cat with ever-changing eye colors and this is the most accurate description ever. Ash has his own pace for everything (cof except when it comes to Mary-Lynnette cof) and never has a permanent eye color – not even in his full vampire form. The strange thing about him is that he is both intelligent and not stubborn at all. He sees something that he is doing wrong and he promptly fixes it instead of insisting that he is right. Not many males have this blessed ability, haha!
I really think that L. J. Smith rocked in the Night World series so far and dare to say that those books are a must-read if you love Y&A, romance, Vampires, Witches, Werewolves and really cool humans, haha!
That’s it! Thanks for reading this review and I hope to finish Spellbinder soon, haha! Have you read the Night World series?
Hello, again! I know I am a little late to do this, but better late than never, haha! January is going to be insane for me, as my younger cousin is going to be here until Sunday and next week I may start a course – more info as my life goes, haha!
But I’m blabbering, let’s do this:
December Wrap Up
I’m very proud of my reading month! I’ve read 11 books!! =O I’m still wondering how I did it, so I can repeat the dose this month, haha!
Book of Opera, from Arthur Jacobs and Stanley Sadie
The Other Side of Midnight, from Sidney Sheldon
The Devil’s Advocate, from Morris West
Vixen 03, from Clive Cussler
The Name of the Rose, from Umberto Eco
Lie Down With Lions, Ken Follett
An illustrated guide to Dresden
Amar se Aprende Amando, from Carlos Drummond de Andrade
Antologia Poética, from Vinicius de Moraes
Antologia Poética, from Carlos Drummond de Andrade
Dona Flor e seus Dois Maridos, from Jorge Amado
Tieta do Agreste, from Jorge Amado
Tenda dos Milagres, from Jorge Amado
A Moreninha, from Joaquim Manuel de Macedo
I know, I know. So many books, haha! I can explain 🙂 14 of my won books were at my uncle’s place, waiting for death. Yeah. So I won a cattle with lots of books and selected the ones that seemed promising 🙂 I wish I could have saved all books that were there, but there were some destroyed ones by the time, others that I knew for being a bore and some that weren’t my thing at all… Anyway, at least I could save some of them, haha!
Freebies that I got this month
Anywhere But Here (The Starborn Ascension Book 1), from Jason D. Morrow
Beyond Secret Worlds: Ten Stories of Paranormal Fantasy and Romance
The Ducal Gift and The Christmas Carriage, from Grace Burrowes
Soar (The Empire Chronicles Book 1), from Alyssa Rose Ivy
Hidden (Dragonlands Book 1), from Megg Jensen
Aloha Texas (Aloha #1), from Chris Keniston
Binarius: Episode I (The Binarius Series Book 1), from Kendra McMahan
Globalização, Mídia e Ética, from Erasmo de Freitas Nuzzi and Clovis de Barros Filho
Good morning, nice first Monday of the year to you! By the time this post goes live, I’ll be with my younger cousin sightseeing my city, so I can’t wait to show him all the hot spots and good food ❤
Geez, I’ve been awfully personal lately, sorry lol
Anyway, the year is new, but my participation at my sweet friend Audrey’s meme Match Made in Mondays is not 😀 She’s from the Forwards and Bookwords, go check her out if you like funny book reviews ❤
Today’s theme is:
New year, new me! THIS CHARACTER + a better personality (What character had a personality that made you cringe and wish that they were different? What character was it, and how would you change them?)
I’m back to I don’t know, haha! I have never thought about it… But I think I’ll go with Jeremy Lovett, from the Night World series, by L. J. Smith. He appears on the second book, Daughters of Night 🙂
I can’t say why I would change his personality without reveling huge spoilers, but trust me. He needs a change of heart. Simple like that!
If I got you interested in the Night World series, you can check my review for book one (Secret Vampire) and the review for Daughters of Darkness is coming soon! [I’ll update this post when available <3]
That’s it, haha! Thank you for reading and sorry I couldn’t elaborate more on Jeremy’s, oops!
Good night and hello again! I’m sorry for the weird timing of my posts lately, it’s just that I’m at my uncle’s place and I don’t have my own computer, haha! I had left some programed posts, but apparently, not enough, oops! Now I’m depending of the good will of my relatives to have a computer – so far, my older cousin and my dad, for that matter. This post is being written from my dad’s laptop, thanks, dad!
Poppy was a regular sixteen-year-old girl that found out about a pancreas cancer on her first day of vacation from high school. As the disease was in a terminal instance, there was nothing that the medicals or anybody could do for Poppy.
Anybody human, that is.
James, Poppy’s childhood best friend, is a vampire. He can save her and make all the pain go away. But can Poppy accept him for who he truly is and leave the world that she has always known behind?
Can Poppy survive the Night World?
The Analysis
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂
I had the mass-market paperback edition with the three first books in one for a while now, but only this year I brought myself to read it. And you know what? THIS BOOK WAS AWESOME! I’ve read it on Christmas, literally. I began it on the morning of December 25th and finished it at night, haha! But I don’t know why I was hesitant to read it, as I love The Vampire Diaries books and Night World follows a very similar style of writing and interpersonal relationships between characters. Mysteries of life, right? Haha! Five stars with pride!
As I’ve read The Vampire Diaries in high school (a re-read is in order in 2016), and on a translated version into my native language, I didn’t remember how fluid and nice was Smith’s narrative. It was a good surprise, as my Night World collection is in English. Smith did the narrative in my favorite way: third person with alternating points of view between Poppy, James and Phil, Poppy’s twin brother. AWESOME. BRILLIANT. I LOVED IT.
Ahem. Ok, I’m under control again.
The plot wasn’t simple, but not that complex either. There were some mysteries, some uncertainties and twists, it was cool. The end was predictable, but in a good way, in my opinion. I hate books with unhappy endings, judge me, haha! This childhood friendship that grows into something more plus the supernatural element worked very well for me and if you like those two elements combined in a romance, just read Secret Vampire ❤
The characters were a blast. But who is surprised, as this is the same mind that brought us this:
(if you are new here, just to clarify: I obssess over three general things in life: books, Ava March and Damon Salvatore, LOL)
But back to character’s analysis. I loved Poppy! I usually hate female heroines from young adult books, but she surprised me due to the reality of her situation: a) she dealt in a very realistic way with her cancer discovery even before she learned about James condition; b) she didn’t suffer of instantaneous love, James grew up with her, so their connection made sense and it was very cute; c) she was a strong woman with the worries of a teenager, so she had her moments of bravery and then broke down because of silly things. I could see my 16 year old self in Poppy and that was very nice, haha!
Now, the boys. OH, THE BOYS. I love Smith’s boys, haha! I fell in love with James and his je ne se qua air in scene one and he only made me love him more in the end, haha! He and Poppy had the best dialogues ever, I laughed hard in several parts. They just had this connection, I guess. I also liked Phil, Poppy’s brother. He could be a little dense at times, but sounded so cool and beautiful, haha! I wouldn’t mind dating him at all. And there is Ash. I wanted to hit him with a hard rock while I kissed him. Does this even makes sense? Hahaha!
Ash’s personality reminded me a lot of Damon’s, only that he fools people into believing that he is actually nice, while Damon takes the other way around. I can’t wait to see more of Ash and his schemes on Daughters of Darkness, the second book in the Night World series and my current read. Well, one of my current reads, haha!
Bonus point: besides the boys, that are hotness all over in the book, I thought that Smith’s way of portraying cancer was awesome. Even with the supernatural element on it, the theme is not spoken of lightly, as a mere excuse for the vampire romance. I loved it 🙂
That’s it, thanks for reading! I loved reading and reviewing this book, haha! Have you already read Night World?
Hi, there! Good morning and Happy Friday! Friday is always happy, but okay, haha!
I’ve got exciting news! (cof not really if you follow me at Instagram cof) I’m going to be participating of the #12daysofbooksmas2 readathon! 😀 I was invited in by my lovely friend @thepagemistress and this will rock!
from @thepagemistress Instagram account!
Here we have the rules:
Read a book with red or green on the cover
Read about book that’s on your end of the year tbr
Read a book that takes place during the holiday season
Read a sequel
Re-read a favorite book
Read a book with a movie adaptation (and watch the movie)
Read a total of 1,200 pages!
This is going on from December 11th-22nd
This readathon has also a photo challenge, but I’ll only do it at my Instagram account, so follow me there if you want to see what I’m about, haha!
Cemetery Tours series, from Jacqueline E. Smith (514 pages, both books that I own. Talked about it here and, besides being my currently-reading, this is my sequel of the list!)
Emma, from Jane Austen (currently-reading, my red book and book with a holiday season, haha!)
I know I am being too hopeful, but it’s my chance to knock my tbr pile of December for good, haha! Let’s see how I go! Oh, and I know there’s no signalized book with movie adaptation, I didn’t decide yet which one I’ll be reading, haha! Oops 🙂
That’s all about the readathon, for now! I’ll make another post about this when it’s over, talking about how it was my first readathon ever! ❤ Thanks again for inviting me, Lindsey, and thanks to you, that is reading the blog 😀
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The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange 