My Love Lies Bleeding by Alyxandra Harvey

Series: Drake Chronicles 1
Genre: YA Fantasy 
Copyright: January 2010
Pages: 256
Book Source: Review copy courtesy of Allen & Unwin

The Drakes are rather different to your usual neighbours. They are vampires and some of the members of the family date back to the twelfth century. One of the children, Solange, is the only born female vampire known and, as such, she poses a direct threat to the vampire queen. Her best friend Lucy is human, and when Solange is kidnapped Lucy and Solange's brother, Nicholas, set out to save her. Lucy soon discovers that she would like to be more than just friends with Nicholas. But how does one go about dating a vampire? Meanwhile, Solange finds an unlikely ally in Kieran, a vampire slayer on the hunt for his father's killer.

My Love Lies Bleeding (Hearts At Stake in the U.S) was a quick, fun read. Quirky characters, a close friendship, action aplenty, a smattering of romance, original vampire lore, hilarious banter and sarcastic comebacks made for a clean, entertaining YA read.

Solange is prophesied to take the throne of the vampire queen (much to her disgust) but first she must go through the bloodchange, the life threatening transition from human to vampire. With seven over-protective brothers, a kick-ass mother and a fierce best friend watching her back, how hard can it be?

Solange and Lucy share equal billing in My Love Lies Bleeding but for me, fiesty, funny Lucy steals the spotlight. Chapters alternate in first person between the two best friends and in my opinion this really worked. I've always liked the alternating viewpoints style of writing; when done well it gives added perspective and a real feel for the characters' personalities, so kudos to Alyxandra Harvey for pulling this off. The romance between Lucy & Nicholas and Solange & Kieran is sweet and funny, the tension simmers but it stays quite innocent making this a great read for the younger teen.

The original take on vampire lore was something else I really enjoyed; The Host, Hounds and the evil Hel Blar, and what's a vampire tale without vampire hunters? Bring on the Helios Ra. It did take me a while to get all the names and affiliations straight in my head but it definitely made things interesting.

At only 256 pages a little more detail would have made this one a lot more satisfying, a bit like potato chips really; 'moreish' but not very filling. As I happen to love potato chips I'm keen to read the next installment in the Drake Chronicles due for release 1st July 2010. Blood Feud is Logan's story (one of Solange's brothers) but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll also see more of Solange and Lucy and their love interests.

For more cool info vist The Drake Chronicles website  and to find out more about Alyx, visit her live journal.

Thanks to Jess from Allen & Unwin Australia for this review copy.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

A weekly event hosted by Sheila from One Persons Journey Through a World Of Books to discuss your reading week ~ the books you've read and those you plan on reading in the coming week.

An emotional and busy week with appointments, our new puppy Bella, the 2nd anniversary of my mothers death and the usual family chaos. I did manage to finish one book and I'm almost half way through The Reckoning and really enjoying it. Unfortunately I wasn't as successful with my review backlog, and I'm laying the blame for that on the run in I had with a cockroach on steroids, check out this post if you feel like a giggle at my expense - Teddyree vs Super Roach. Ok I confess, I've just been busy and incredibly unmotivated and slack so in the hope of breaking the review drought, I've scheduled 2 reviews this week, even though they're not actually done. If a post pops up with nothing on it, other than a cover picture you'll know that this tact failed miserably. LOL wish me luck :-)

Thanks to all the friends who left lovely omments on mum's anniversary and to Christina from Reading Thru The Night who cracked me up with her comment. I'm undecided, based on the Great Cockroach Caper should I stick with Teddyree or adopt Christina's suggestion Wonder Woman of Insecticide?

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Completed Last Week:

STARGAZER by Claudia Gray

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This Week's Reading List:

THE RECKONING by Kelley Armstrong - page 156 (ooh it's good)

NEED by Carrie Jones

THE MIDWIFE'S TALE by Gretchen Moran Laskas

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Reviews scheduled for this week:

MY LOVE LIES BLEEDING by Alyxandra Harvey

STARGAZER by Claudia Gray

Mum & The Mutant Cockroach

What you may ask does my mum have to do with a mutant cockroach? Well not much, apart from timing. It has been 2 years today since my mum passed away from Melanoma (make sure you have skin checks people) and I miss her everyday. I woke in the wee hours with a fright, wondering if I'd had a nightmare but eventually worked out that weird scratching noises had disturbed my sleep. Turning on the light with apprehension (actually sheer terror ... what if it's a mouse?) to be greeted by a cockroach on steroids doesn't top my list of fun things to do. I kid you not, this hideous thing was a cross between a cockroach and a cow or maybe a dinosaur ... cockroaches are descendents of dinosaurs (aren't they?)

Unfortunately it took as long as a dinosaur to die too! When my initial attempts to pulverise the roach's head failed (I don't move real fast at 4am) I used enough Mortein to achieve "death by drowning" as opposed to insecticide poisoning. Don't be fooled though, roaches are malicious and sneaky, they 'play' dead. When I summoned the courage to dispose of the corpse, super roach wiggled its legs and sprang back to life, Eww creepy! An entire can of Mortein later and ta-da mission accomplished; the fact that I now have Mortein dripping off walls and furniture is irrelevant!

Note to self: stock up on mortein just in case this thing has a family. Ughh!

Note to mum: divine intervention would be nice or serious therapy may be in order LOL.

Weary, teary and traumatised by a cockroach ;-) not the ideal start to mum's anniversary but with best friend Alaine keeping me company the day improved, and Alaine's vanilla slices helped. They were mum's favourites and top my fave list too. We had a lovely day scrapbooking, and I completed the layout of mum below which will hopefully become an album of memories. I love these photos of mum feeding an echidna at Australia Zoo. Love you & miss you mum xx

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

A weekly event hosted by Sheila from One Persons Journey Through a World Of Books to discuss your reading week ~ the books you've read and those you plan on reading in the coming week.

Even though I didn't get much reading, reviewing or blog visiting done last week I wanted to share some good news... a new addition to our family. This is Bella, the little girl we adopted from the RSPCA. With all the heartache in our home of late, Bella with her sweet nature has brought a smile to my son Callum's face and some much needed joy to our whole family.

Wednesday is the 2nd anniversary of my mum's death, and I still miss her terribly. Alaine and I are going to spend the day scrapbooking, and no doubt chatting and laughing which is always nice and I'm hoping to make a start on an album in memory of mum. Of course I hope to get a little more reading done this week but we'll just have to wait and see :-)
Have a wonderful week everyone!

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Just the one review last week, click on the title to see my thoughts on:

YOUR FAMILY CONSTITUTION by Scott Gale

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This Week's Reading List: same as last week :-)

STARGAZER by Claudia Gray - page 202

THE RECKONING by Kelley Armstrong

THE MIDWIFE'S TALE by Gretchen Moran Laskas

Your Family Constitution by Scott Gale

Genre: Non-Fiction
Copyright: 2009
Pages: 128
Book Source: Review copy courtesy of Phenix & Phenix Publicists

Just in time… a formerly stressed-out dad’s perspective provides a common-sense playbook to reach family harmony. As today’s parents cope with scores of competing obligations and responsibilities, raising kids with good core values is an extreme challenge. Combine this perpetual struggle with the effects of technological distractions, societal lack of discipline, and failures to communicate, and it is not hard to understand why so many parents throw up their hands in defeat and accept mere survival.

Author Scott Gale refused to settle for chaos. Instead, he designed a powerful tool that allowed him to alleviate family challenges through the thoughtful application of clarity, consistency and commitment (the “3Cs”). Your Family Constitution tells his story and provides a step-by-step process that parents can follow to balance schedules and produce time they never before had, improve family communication, relieve pent-up frustration, and wrap healthy boundaries around core values; applying rewards, consequences and accountability standards to maintain them.

Having read numerous parenting books and used a number of systems, strategies and techniques with varying degrees of success when my children were growing up I was very interested to see whether Your Family Constitution brought anything new to the table ... and surprisingly it did. Sharing his family's experience with refreshing honesty and humour, and some very funny cartoons, Scott Gale details the makings of the family system that brought order to his chaotic family life.

Your Family Constitution is no quick-fix, and kudos to Scott Gale for not making it out as such. Defining and implementing your own family constitution takes time and effort; an ability to self analyse, a period of family observation, and willingness of the entire family to make a commitment to the process. It involves each member of the family; adult and child contributing ideas and opinions about family and individual goals, values, issues, boundaries, rewards and consequences but while everyone is entitled to their say, parents retain ultimate authority. The 3 C's mentioned in Your Family Constitution; clarity, consistency and commitment are a mainstay in many parenting handbooks I've read but this was the first that used these and other strategies to involve and validate all members of the family.

If your enjoyment of 'family' is overshadowed by stress, if you're experiencing difficulties balancing the family/parenting/work scenario, or if you feel like your household is chaos personified then you'll benefit from reading Your Family Constitution, no matter the age of your children. Actually this guidebook should be recommended reading for all parents but ideally it would be best implemented in families with young school age children through to teens. I did think that I may have missed the boat with this one as my boys are 18 and 16 but I found plenty of ideas relevant to my own family dynamics. This is a really good guidebook for bringing harmony to the battle zone and joy back to family time, yes it involves hard work, but anything worthwhile is worth working for. As Scott Gale states "replicate my process, rather than my content... Find the recipe that works best for your household."

Scott Gale has an informative website with additional tools, templates and resources to help you design your own family constitution.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

A weekly event hosted by Sheila from One Persons Journey Through a World Of Books to discuss your reading week ~ the books you've read and those you plan on reading in the coming week. It's nice to be back participating in Sheila's Monday meme, I've really missed you all. I'm still feeling a bit fragile but all in all it has been a better week. Each week, as life gets a little more sorted, I'm trying to get back in the swing of reviewing and blog visiting ~ I'm back on the bike so to speak but feel like I still need my training wheels on :-)

Click on the title to see my review for:

COLD JUSTICE by Katherine Howell - 5 stars

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Completed Last Week:

SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUT by Beth Hoffman - loved this one

MY LOVE LIES BLEEDING by Alyxandra Harvey - a fun read

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This Week's Reading List:

 

STARGAZER by Claudia Gray - page 22

THE RECKONING by Kelley Armstrong

THE MIDWIFE'S TALE by Gretchen Moran Laskas

then I think

NEED by Carrie Jones


Happy reading everyone :-)

Cold Justice by Katherine Howell

Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Copyright: Feb 2010
Pages: 329
Book Source: Library borrow

A teenage girl stumbles across the body of her classmate, Tim Pieters, hidden amongst the bushes. His family is devastated, the killer is never found.

Eighteen years later, political pressure sees the murder investigation reopened. Detective Ella Marconi tracks down Georgie Riley, the student who found the body, and who is now a paramedic. Georgie seems to be telling the truth, so then why does Ella receive an anonymous phone call insisting that Georgie knows more? And is it mere coincidence that her ambulance partner, Freya, also went to the same high school?

Katherine Howell has done it again and brilliantly. Cold Justice is a compelling, multi-layered read that combines "all that is good" from this author. Howell's attention to detail is once again, meticulous. The sights, smells, sounds and emotions of the paramedic scene are visceral, the next best thing to actually being there. When an author writes what she knows and a reader feels like a participant rather than an observer, I think it's safe to say the author has done her job superbly! 

I don't know how Katherine Howell ties the many threads of this finely crafted suspense into a cohesive and engrossing story that remains realistic but I guess I don't have to know; my job is to hang on tight and enjoy the ride. Detective Ella Marconi (from Howell's previous novels, Frantic & Darkest Hour) returns again in Cold Justice and is assigned a cold case, the unsolved murder of Tim Pieters and what follows is an insighful look at police procedure and the paramedic environment. We get an intimate view of the personal and work lives of Ella & paramedics Georgie and Freya and feel the pain of a family haunted by tragedy. With red herrings thrown in to keep the suspense high and the reader off balance this is one thrilling read! 

Aussie author Katherine Howell is on my official auto-read list so I was excited to learn her next book Violent Exposure, the fourth in the Detective Ella Marconi series, is due for release in December 2010. To find out more about this author and her work visit her website.

Click on the titles to see my reviews of Katherine's previous works FRANTIC (2007) & DARKEST HOUR (2008)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

A weekly event hosted by Sheila from One Persons Journey Through a World Of Books to discuss your reading week ~ the books you've read and those you plan on reading in the coming week. It's nice to finally feel able to participate in Sheila's Monday meme, I've missed everyone and can't wait to blog visit. Apologies for the lengthy post but I havent responded to many of the personal emails I've received and appreciated so I just wanted to give a little update on how we're travelling.

We are all struggling to move through the grieving process and rebuild our lives while so much is up in the air but it's just one step at a time, one day at a time. Complications from my surgery have unfortunately continued but I guess that's understandable with the stress we have been under. Property settlement is progressing slowly and counselling is helping. Fortunately my psychologist has now found someone for my youngest son to talk to as he is finding the abandonment very difficult to deal with. The boys and I had an eventful Easter at Dad's place, my sister and her family were also there to help Dad get the house ready to put on the market. Our Saturday night of packing came to an abrupt and scary end with fire crews and ambulances tending a fire which started in a faulty exhaust fan, ignited ceiling insulation and resulted in a burnt-out bathroom and my sister and I being hospitalised for smoke inhalation. After oxygen, nebulisers, blood gases, and chest xrays we got the all clear for release Easter Sunday morning, much to everyone's relief. Not the Easter we were expecting but Easter Sunday was certainly a time for thankfulness...
Leaving Dad and our family home on Sunday afternoon was very emotional, it's probably the last time we will stay in our childhood home, and of course saying goodbye to an era of memories re-freshened the grief and pain of mum's passing. A lot to deal with.

To the friends I've made all over the world, I just wanted to say thankyou from the bottom of my heart for your concern, love, hugs, comments and emails over the last few months, I can't begin to tell you how much your support has meant to me. I've read every single message with tears in my eyes but it's all part of the healing process and it helps knowing I'm not alone in this journey. Please bare with me while I find my bloggy legs, I've only just begun reviewing again but hope to start blog visiting and commenting again soon.

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Click on the title to see reviews for:

HOUSE RULES by Jodi Picoult - 4.5 stars

MR DARCY BROKE MY HEART by Beth Pattillo - 5 stars

BURN by Ted Dekker & Erin Healy - 3.5 stars

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This Week's Reading List:

SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUT by Beth Hoffman (audiobook) - chapter 9

MY LOVE LIES BLEEDING by Alyxandra Harvey - page  105

STARGAZER by Claudia Gray

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Reviews scheduled for this week:

COLD JUSTICE by Katherine Howell

OUR FAMILY CONSTITUTION by Scott Gale

Mr Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo

Genre: General Fiction
Copyright: 2010
Pages: 272
Book Source: ARC courtesy of Phenix & Phenix

Synopsis: Claire Prescott is a sensible woman who believes in facts and figures, not fairy tales. But when she agrees to present a paper to a summer symposium at Oxford on her ailing sister's behalf, Claire finds herself thrown into an adventure with a gaggle of Jane Austen-loving women all on the lookout for their Mr. Darcy. Claire isn't looking for Mr. Anyone. She's been dating Neil -- a nice if a bit negligent -- sports fanatic. But when a tall, dark and dashing stranger crosses her path, will the staid Claire suddenly discover her inner romantic heroine? Her chance meeting with a mysterious woman who claims to have an early version of Austen's Pride and Prejudice -- in which Lizzie ends up with someone other than Fitzwilliam Darcy -- leads to an astounding discovery about the venerated author's own struggle to find the right hero for Lizzie Bennett. Neil's unexpected arrival in Oxford complicates Claire's journey to finding her own romantic lead. Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart is the story of a woman who finds that love isn't logical and that a true hero can appear in the most unexpected of places.

Review: Being a fan of all things "Austen" I was so excited when Teddyree asked me to review her copy of Mr Darcy Broke My Heart. I started it immediately and couldn't put it down. It's a fantastic story told in many different ways and the intrigue kept the pages turning. For me the bonus was the story within the story.

Firstly there is Claire's story. Her parents where killed in an accident when she was young and left her with a sister to raise. The only problem is that like lots of parents she doesn't know when to stop and her 'help' is often perceived as interference. She is in her 30's, has lost her job and has a boyfriend that is more interested in sport then her. Her sister sends her half way around the world to England for a Jane Austen conference because she has complications with her pregnancy and had to present a paper that Claire will do on her behalf.

Whilst there she gets caught up in a secret society, The Formidables and comes into possession of the original Pride and Prejudice manuscript called First Impressions. The fun part is that the reader gets to read this original version along with Claire and I have to say I loved it even though it was fiction. This story is about keeping secrets and who you can trust with those secrets. The characters are fresh and fun and I loved them all for the different dimensions they added to the story.

There are so many books on the market at the moment that have some element of Jane Austen in them and if like me, you enjoy your share then you will love this book. I can't recommend it highly enough even to those that have enjoyed watching Jane Austen movies. It is a quick, entertaining read that will keep you guessing. I have to say that Mr Darcy Broke My Heart is one of my favourite reads this year!

About the author: Beth Pattillo is the author of a number of books the most recent being, 2 Jane Austen novels; Jane Austen Ruined My Life (Feb 2009) and Mr Darcy Broke My Heart (Feb 2010) & 2 Sweetgum books; The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society (May 2008) & The Sweetgum Ladies Knit For Love (June 2009.) Visit Beth Pattillo's website and blog to find out more about this talented author and her work.

Due to my cancer diagnosis, surgery & ongoing complications, Mr Darcy Broke My Heart was read and reviewed by Alaine Queen of Happy Endings. Heartfelt thanks Alaine, this sounds wonderful.