One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Product Description

You can run from the grave, but you can't hide . . .
Half-vampire Cat Crawfield is now Special Agent Cat Crawfield, working for the government to rid the world of the rogue undead. She's still using everything Bones, her sexy and dangerous ex, taught her, but when Cat is targeted for assassination, the only man who can help her is the vampire she left behind.
Being around him awakens all her emotions, from the adrenaline kick of slaying vamps side by side to the reckless passion that consumed them. But a price on her head—wanted: dead or half-alive—means her survival depends on teaming up with Bones. And no matter how hard she tries to keep things professional between them, she'll find that desire lasts forever . . . and that Bones won't let her get away again.

Half Way to the Grave by

Product Description

Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father—the one responsible for ruining her mother's life. Then she's captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unholy partnership.
In exchange for finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She's amazed she doesn't end up as his dinner—are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn't have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her newfound status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers. Now Cat will have to choose a side . . . and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Product Description: When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?
To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs. Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life-first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse-seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed... forever?

First lines: No one is staring at you, I promised myself. No one is staring at you. No one is staring at you. But, because I couldn't lie convincingly even to myself, I had to check

My thoughts: I liked this one much more than I liked Eclipse. I liked that Bella grew up and the teenage whining stopped, at least after the wedding. I found it irritating when Bella kept whining about the great car Edward got for her. It was also irritating for her to keep whining about having to marry the love of her life. I just couldn't understand that. Generally I am a fan of the Happy Ending. I got that here. But it was not without disappointment along the way. The book could have been tightened up, it was way too long, made that with stuff that added nothing to the plot. Some of the character's personalities changed in mid-stride and became people I barely recognized. Well, enough. I'm glad I read this series after all the talk about it. It was fun escapism.

Quote: "It was not going to be the end of the world. Just the end of the Cullens. The end of Edward, the end of me. I preferred it that way – the last part anyway. I would not live without Edward again; if he was leaving this world, then I would be right behind him."

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

About the book: Readers captivated by Twilight and New Moon will eagerly devour Eclipse, the much anticipated third book in Stephenie Meyer's riveting vampire love saga. As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob --- knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

First line: I ran my fingers across the page, feeling the dents where he had pressed the pen to the paper so hard that it had nearly broken through.


My thoughts: I'll have to say that Bella is even more annoying in this book, if that is possible. Edward comes off as a conrol freak and Jacob has a moment as a sexual predator. I didn't even like Charlie in this one much. At 600+ pages there was plenty of time for Bella to whine about stuff, demand her way then change her mind. The danger to everyone was just a short aside to all the posturing. I know this seems very negative and most of you who read will have loved this book. Sorry. I listened to this and if I had been reading it I would have done a LOT of skimming. I would have enjoyed it a lot more is it had been tightened up and some of the angst taken out. With that said, I have to see what happens so I'll be listening to Breaking Dawn next.

Rating:


Quote: "The worst part is that I saw the whole thing -- our whole life. And I want it bad, Jake, I want it all. I want to stay right here and never move. I want to love you and make you happy. And I can't, and it's killing me." (This is Bella talking to Jacob.)

Blood Memories by Barb Hendee

Book Blurb: Eleisha Clevon has the face of a teen angel, but she is no angel. Unlike most vampires, she doesn’t like to kill, but self-preservation comes first.
When an old friend destroys himself by walking into sunlight right in front of her, Eleisha is shocked. And what she finds afterwards points to how very sick of his existence her friend had become—piling drained corpses in the basement and keeping records of other vampires’ real names and addresses. That’s a problem. Because now, there are policemen on the case: two very special humans with some gifts of their own. They know who Eleisha is, and, even more dangerous, what she is.

First line: I was with Edward the day he killed himself.

My thoughts: I was already a fan of Hendee's co-authored Noble Dead series about a dhampir. Blood Memories is the first book in The Vampire Memories series and is set in modern times. I thought the vampire lore unique. Eleisha was created to care for William and that is what she did for 100 years. She knew little of life and nothing of other vampires outside of Edward. I felt it was a sort of vampire coming of age story as I watched her learn and grow, become stronger. The flashbacks added a lot to the story as I learned about the characters pasts and about them as people. This story was short at 243 pages and moved right along. The ending, of course, left the story wide open for the next story in the series. If you like vampire stories you'll like this one.

Quote:
As a child, Eleisha discovered that the most worthwhile talent a little bastard kitchen wench can achieve is invisibility. the less the cooks saw her, the safer and healthier she remained.

My rating:

Links:
books
Vampire Memories
Barb Hendee

A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris

Product Description: Every Sookie Stackhouse short story ever written-in one special volume-from the New York Times bestselling author. New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris has re-imagined the supernatural world with her "spunky" (Tampa Tribune) Southern Vampire novels starring telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse. Now, for the first time, here is every Sookie Stackhouse short story ever written-together in one volume. Stories include "Fairy Dust," "One Word Answer," "Dracula Night," "Lucky," and "Giftwrap."

Quote: Bubba the Vampire and I were raking up clippings from my newly trimmed bushes about midnight when the long black car pulled up.

Why this book you might ask: I'm a fan of the series.

My thoughts: As I've said before I'm not into short stories much, but I wanted to read these since I like this series. The 5 stories were:
"Fairy Dust" In which Sookie is asked to help find a murderer.
"Dracula Night" Eric Northman is a frantic fanboy? Well he is hoping that Dracula will visit his party this year.
"One Word Answer" The begining of the story about the death of Sookie's Cousin Hadley.
"Lucky" Can luck be used up? Read and see.
"Gift Wrap" Sookie is alone at Christmas but it turns out to be one of the best.

The only problem I found was that the stories were short (HAHA) and there weren't enough of them.

Links:
Charlaine Harris Interview

Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Ace (October 6, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0441017835