Dana Fredsti

Hey All,
On her website, Dana Fredsti describes herself as a 'novelist and screenwriter, B-movie actress (okay, C movie actress), zombie aficionado, exotic and domestic feline advocate, swordfighter, wine lover and beach glass junkie.' Perhaps she is or isn't, but her Plague Town novel, which I recently read, was very similar to the type of movies she acts in.
Hopefully, her other books are better. Speaking of which, here they are:

Ashley Parker Novels:
Plague Town (1)
Plague Nation (2)
Plague World (3)

Others:
Murder for Hire: The Peruvian Pigeon
Hell on Heels

She also has a psudonym, Inara LaVey, who writes erotica.

Dana Fredsti's website can be found here: http://danafredsti.com/home.html

Astarte

Plague Town

Hello everyone.

An Ashley Parker novel, Plague Town is the story of (who would have guessed?) Ashley Parker, a twenty-nine year old university student. Dana Fredsti's book is the equiavlent of a shoot-'em-up movie, with zombies thrown in.
There is a whole lot of 'I'm a normal person' that ends up in a government military position because, once again, who would have guessed, Ashley is immune to the zombie bites. In another totally-unseen plot twist, the hot jerk she met at the beginning of the book ends up being her boyfriend by the end since her previous boyfriend inconviently got eaten by zombies. Furthermore, the great big revelation at the end of the book -how the zombies started this time- could be worked out in the first three chapters. The second great big revelation comes about two thirds of the way through the book, and that you could have figured out by chapter 5. I was kind of hoping for a more mature character, considering her age, but Ashley reacts, sadly, like your average lame 'heroine' (read, I'm the main female character, but there are always men coming to save me) in current YA reads. Her only redeeming action as a character came with the cats (if you read the book, you'll understand)
A terrible plot, and it's never going to win literature awards, but it's ok as a quick entertaining read, much like a made-for-TV shoot-'em-up movie.

2 stars

Astarte

Christian Schoon

So, that awesome book I just recently reviewed, Zenn Scarlett? Well, here's a bit about the author, Christian Schoon.

According to something-beautiful.org who managed to score an interview with Christian Schoon, a large inspiration to his writing is all the animals he takes in for the many rescue and animal welfare groups he's part of. Most interesting thing on his bio (at least in my opinion) is the year he spent in Sweden as a foreign exchange student, which may seem normal to some, but Sweden sounds like a really cool (no pun intended) place :)
His debut novel, Zenn Scarlett, will be availble for download and purchase from May 7th. It's really fantastic, so go read it

Books:
Zenn Scarlett

His blog: http://www.christianschoon.com/

I have a feeling we'll see great things in the future from this author.

Happy Reading,
Astarte

Science Fiction

Love Science Fiction? You've come to the right place, because right here is every Sci-Fi book I've reviewed.

Zenn Scarlett

Happy Reading,
Astarte

Zenn Scarlett

Hello all!

First off, may I just say I LOVED this book. It was amazing. And as Christian Schoon's debut work, it's certainly nothing to sneeze at.

Zenn Scarlett, a seventeen-year-old girl, lives on Mars in a religious cloister. Currently training to become an exoveterinarian (pretty much a vet for aliens - typically very large or very dangerous aliens) she has three tests to pass before she can go onto the next part of her training. With the cloister facing possible shutdown, due to the townspeople's attitudes towards aliens, and suspected sabotage, will she be able to pass her tests to get one step closer to her dreams? And will the mind-melds she keeps having with the animals help or hinder her?

So, off to my review now. I've already said I loved it, but I'll say it again. I Loved It. This books was just the right amount of weird, with excellent descriptions of the all the aliens, so you can actually picture them perfectly. Upside of this, it makes for some amazing mental pictures whilst you're reading. Downside, I really, really want a rikkaset (a animal about the size of a cat, with violet tiger stripes and a cream body, a ringed tail, lynx ears, and big golden eyes. Rikkasets can also turn invisible and are as smart as chimps. Zenn's one, Katie, is learning sign language) odds are though, I won't get one :(
Zenn herself is a pretty great main character too. From the very beginning she is exceptional from those around her. She's possibly one of the youngest trainee exoveterinarians ever, she's training in a time when it's not popular to be an exo, as there is so much bad feeling towards aliens on Mars, she's dealing with the stresses of study for her exams (a huge workload, as you can imagine) along with her wierd mind-thing and sabotage of the cloister. And yet, she doesn't break down at any time, she just does what needs doing. Some might say that Schoon hasn't made her 'realistic' but I loved her. And her confusion was pretty clearly shown when she started thinking about Liam, a cute boy from town who seems to be pretty helpful whenever Zenn is concerned.

Now that you're all desperate to read it, it will be released on May 7th by Strange Chemistry, so you should definately all go buy it, or harass your local librarian until you get it. It really is worth it.

With the cliff-hanging ending I'm hankering for the next one in the series, which unfortunately does not as yet have a release date.

This book gets a 5.9 stars out of 5

Happy Reading (which if you read this book, you really will get)
Astarte

Gallagher Girls Series

Yet another series by Ally Carter, this one is about an exclusive girls' school: The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. At this prestigious education facility, the girls learn the basic necessecities for their future careers: languages, history, hand-to-hand combat, all things they'll need to know when they graduate as spies.
Follow Cammie, Bex, Liz and Macey as they complete their training, despite the distractions from boys:
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You (1)
Cross My Heart And Hope To Spy (2)
Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover (3)
Only the Good Spy Young (4)
Out of Sight, Out of Time (5)
Double Crossed (5.5)
Gallagher Girls Website: http://gallaghergirls.com/index.php

Enjoy,
Astarte

Heist Society Series

Good mornig everyone!

This series is about Katarina Bishop, the daughter of a con man with skills of her own. Her team of teenage crooks include her cousin Gabrielle, the Bagshaw brothers, Simon and Hale. Each with their own talents they 'acquire' things and give them back to their rightful owners.
Written by the talented Ally Carter, there is a tie-in with the Gallagher Girls series at Double Crossed.

Heist Society (1)
Uncommon Criminals (2)
Double Crossed (2.5)
Perfect Scoundrels (3)

Happy Reading,
Astarte

Ally Carter

Ally Carter is the author of two Young Adult series, Heist Society and Gallagher Girls. As well as this she has also has two adult books.

 

Heist Society:
Heist Society (1)
Uncommon Criminals (2)
Double Crossed (2.5)
Perfect Scoundrels (3)

Gallagher Girls:
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You (1)
Cross My Heart And Hope To Spy (2)
Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover (3)
Only the Good Spy Young (4)
Out of Sight, Out of Time (5)
Double Crossed (5.5)

Cheating at Solitaire:
Cheating at Solitaire (1)
Learing to Play Gin (2)

Ally Carter's website: http://allycarter.com/

Happy Reading,
Astarte

Double Crossed

Hi,
This time it's about Double Crossed, a novel by Ally Carter that that combines both the Heist Society series and her other young adult series, Gallagher Girls. Both W.W. Hale the Fifth and Macey McHenry are at an exclusive charity ball, being bored out of their minds, when suddenly there's a hostage situation. Will her spy skills and his crminal knowledge be enough to save the day, or will the Calloway Canary diamond be stolen?

I liked the way the two series were woven together in this book. It showed both the strengths and weaknesses in their different fields and how the two different skill sets can complement each other. I think Kat's blubbering about Hale was kinda cute too :)

This gets a solid 4.2 stars

Happy Reading,
Astarte

Perfect Scoundrels

Hey Everyone!

Sorry I haven't blogged for a bit. Life got pretty hectic. Anywho, today is all about Miss Ally Carter's thrid novel in the Heist Society series: Perfect Scoundrels.

Kat Bishop is pretty happy. Hale is her boyfriend (finally), she's far happier with her restealing jobs, and her team is one of the best, filled with teenage geniuses. But in the middle of an operation, Hale leaves. Turns out his grandmother (the only member of his family he actually liked) has died... and willed the multi-national Hale Industries to him. Is this an elaborate con? And how can Kat save the company and keep Hale?

I found this book ok... I thought the Hale-Kat relationship swings were too often, and the reasons for them forgiving each other and getting back together each time not really fleshed out enough. Same also for Hale. We're told he's sad, and people are worried about him, but we don't get a lot of descriptions on it. I did like the end result though, it seemed a lot more life-like than the usual impossible thing to break into/con people to believe ending. Not sure what was up with the Niagra Falls and Uncle Eddie...

3.5 stars

Happy reading all,
Astarte

Dark Guardian Series

Good what-ever-time-it-is-where-you-are all!

The Dark Guardian Series is (at the moment) four novels depicting teenage werewolves and their relationships. Each book focusses on a different couple, and also has one challenge that affects the whole pack as well. Written by Rachel Hawthorne, the characters are believable and the werewolf lore is interesting (I particularily like the reason why girls transistion before boys) and different from other books in this genre.

Moonlight (1)
Full Moon (2)
Dark of the Moon (3)
Shadow of the Moon (4)

Keep reading,
Astarte

Rachel Hawthorne

Hello, fellow book-devourers!

Rachel Hawthorne is a young adult and adult writer who was born in England, but moved to Texas later.
Her book include:

Dark Guardian Novels:
Moonlight (1)
Full Moon (2)
Dark of the Moon (3)
Shadow of the Moon (4)

Love Stories: Year Abroad Novels
London: Kit & Robin (1)
Paris: Alex & Dana (2)
Rome: Antonio & Carrie (3)

Others:
The Boyfriend League
Thrill Ride
Love on the Lifts
Caribbean Cruising
Snowed In
Labor of Love
Suite Dreams
Island Girls
Nick & the Nerd
The Older Guy
The Crocodile Who Was Afraid of the Water
Trust Me (First Kisses 1)

Psudonyms: Lorraine Heath and Jade Parker

Her website: http://rachelhawthorne.net/

Many witty ripostes,
Astarte

Moonlight

Hello, fellow book-devourers!

A Dark Guardian Novel, Moonlight, penned by Rachel Hawthorne, was recent;y devoured by myself. The basic storyline is that Kayla, an adopted child who's parents died in the forest that she's come to work as a guide in. She's attracted to the mysterious Lucas, who is the leader of the sherpas, as they call themselves. As they lead a research team into the middle of the national forest where they hope to find proof of werewolves, strange things start happening that jeopardises those in the party. Then there is the beautiful wolf who comes to Kayla at night. What does it all mean, and will these researchers really find werewolves in the park?

When I picked up this book, I was kind of hoping the main characters would be over 25, simply because this usually mean sit has more in the book than the main challenge that must be overcome and relationship building. Well, it's about teenagers, and there is plenty of tension between the two main characters, Kayla and Lucas, and the second half of the book is mainly about solving the problem. There is some work done to set up for the sequels, but not a whole lot, and parts that should have gotten more attention, such as the bear-wolf fight and when Lucas deals with his brother, were let down by the half-a-page descriptions.

Good ideas, but could have been written better
2 stars

Happy Reading,
Astarte

Charmfall

Hello, fellow book-devourers!

Book 3 in Chloe Neill's series the Dark Elite finally managed to get off my to-read shelf and into my currently reading one (I love Goodreads).
Lily Parker, an Adept with firespell is all psyched up to go to the school dance with her werewolf boyfriend. There hasn't been a lot of activity lately from the Reapers, so the only thing on her mind is her dress. Then, when an attack happens at the school, Lily's powers are gone. Who's taken all the powers of the Chicago Dark Elite, and why? And can Sebastian be trusted to help?

This book was engrossing enough to pull me away from the daily worries, but not so much that I had to finish it before I did anything else. The relationships here are done really well, much better than the first two books (in my opinion) There's the tension between Lily and Jason when the Sebastian issue is brought into the open is really good, and seems true to the characters. I also like what happens with Veronica. Either she subconsciously knows that she owes Lily, or Nicu is just a good influence (I know, we're all laughing) but she seems a whole lot nicer in this book. As a character, I think she's got a whole lot of potential, particualrily when we learn why Nicu is drawn to her.

According to Chloe Neill's website, there are 'no current plans for a fourth book.' I think the series still had a way to go, but maybe she'll come back to it later :)

Many witty ripostes,
Astarte

Children

Hello, fellow book-devourers!

Generally, these books will be for the 8-13 age group. They do have chapters and aren't picture books. Just so you know.

Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code

Many witty ripostes,
Astarte