Pick up a Ghoulishly Good Book!

Looking for a scare? Or can't get enough vampires, zombies, and other witchcraft stories!? Here are some of my favorites:


Favorite Vampire books:

• Blood of Eden series by Julie Kagawa
• House of Night series by P.C. Cast 
• at least the first few books.....
• Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz
• Vampire Diaries series by L.J. Smith
• another series that started off well enough...
• Tantalize series by Cynthia Leitich Smith
• LOVE this series (it also has some werewolves too)
• Den of Shadows series by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
• Peeps series by Scott Westerfeld
• Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
• and the sequel - Jessica Rules the Dark Side!
• Chronicles of Nick series by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Zombies:

• White Rabbit Chronicles (series) by Gena Showalter
• World War Z by Max Brooks
• The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
• The Riser Saga (series) by Becca C. Smith
• Revenants series by Amy Plum
• Gone With the Respiration series by Lia Habel
• Generation Dead series by Daniel Waters
• I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked it by Adam Selzer
• The Enemy series by Charlie Higson
• Zombies vs Unicorns by Holly Black
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth series by Carrie Ryan

Werewolves:

• Deviants series by Jeff Sampson
• Fateful by Claudia Gray
• Fairytale Retellings (series) by Jackson Pearce

Demons:

• Ruined by Jus Accardo

Horror:

• In the Shadows by Kiersten White & Jim Di Bartolo
• (Don't You) Forget About Me by Kate Karyus Quinn

Paranormal:

• Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore
• Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore
• The Lynburn Legacy series by Sarah Rees Brennan
• Falling Under series by Gwen Hayes
• Paranormalcy series by Kiersten White
• Strange Angels series by Lili St. Crow
• Night World series by L.J. Smith
• liked this series much better than her Vampire Diaries series....
• Dead Is... series by Marlene Perez
• The Soul Seekers series by Alyson Noel
• The Immortals series by Alyson Noel
• Unearthly series by Cynthia Hand
• The Violet Eden Chapters (series) by Jessica Shirvington
• I enjoyed the first books in this series
• Shade series by Jeri Smith-Ready
• A Need So Beautiful series by Suzanne Young
• Misfit by Jon Skovron
• Possess by Gretchen McNeil
• The Hollow series by Jessica Verday
• Kiss Me Deadly: 13 Tales of Paranormal Love by Trisha Telep
• Enthralled by Melissa Marr & Kelley Armstrong
• Dark Visions by L.J. Smith
• Gemma Doyle series by Libba Bray
• Ghost of a Chance by Laura Peyton Roberts
• The Haunting by Joan Lowery Nixon
• Premonitions by Jude Watson
• The Forbidden Game by L.J. Smith
• Maggie Quinn: Girl Vs. Evil series by Rosemary Clement-Moore
• The Splendor Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore
• The Eternal Ones series by Kirsten Miller
• Such Sweet Sorrow by Jenny Trout

What are your favorite spooky books to read this fall?

Evil Librarian

by Michelle Knudsen

ISBN: 978076366083
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Date: September 9th 2014
Number of Pages: 352
Source: Local Library
Goodreads Summary: #EvilLibrarian He’s young. He’s hot. He’s also evil. He’s . . . the librarian.

When Cynthia Rothschild’s best friend, Annie, falls head over heels for the new high-school librarian, Cyn can totally see why. He’s really young and super cute and thinks Annie would make an excellent library monitor. But after meeting Mr. Gabriel, Cyn realizes something isn’t quite right. Maybe it’s the creepy look in the librarian’s eyes, or the weird feeling Cyn gets whenever she’s around him. Before long Cyn realizes that Mr. Gabriel is, in fact . . . a demon. Now, in addition to saving the school musical from technical disaster and trying not to make a fool of herself with her own hopeless crush, Cyn has to save her best friend from the clutches of the evil librarian, who also seems to be slowly sucking the life force out of the entire student body!

My Rating:  

Not the best book I've read in awhile. The main character, Cyn, has a crush on a guy named Ryan and her level of obsession with him is kind of freaky....

"I think if I ever touched him I'd just dissolve into a little pool of liquid bliss on the floor..." - Evil Librarian, 2 

She gets a little sidetracked when her best friend Annie finds an obsession of her own - the new librarian, Mr. Gabriel.  Cyn knows something is off about him and she turns out to be right:

"The tables have been cleared away against the bookselves, and a giant and disturbing shape has been drawn in chalk on the floor. Its unpleasant lines and angles form a kind of frame around the librarian, who seems to have sprouted large black bat-like wings. Also, long twisty black horns of some kind are now spiraling out of the top of his head."- Evil Librarian, 74 

Yeah, the new librarian is a demon who is slowly sucking the souls out of the student body and killing people whenever Cyn "gets in his way." (He knows that Cyn knows what he is and he can't use his demon powers on her because she is some sort of "super-roach" in his world....) He also wants to take Annie away to the Demon world where she will become his bride after he wins the battle to become the next Demon King.

Let's add to the weirdness and have Cyn be a techie for the high school production of Sweeney Todd (you might know this story from the movie starring Johnny Depp).  Don't worry about the cast Cyn, demons love this show and won't kill anyone until after. Uh ok??

And who does Cyn happen to pair up with and become her partner in destroying this demon? Of course, her crush (whom she has never spoken to prior to this)! She goes back and forth between being focused on coming up with a plan to deal with Mr. Gabriel and having these super weird moments where her body can't seem to stay away from Ryan:

"Let us go to him, they implore me. Release us to chase our destiny! My legs are a bit melodramatic, but I hear what they are saying. I could throw him down and take a big juicy bite of his absolute deliciousness." - Evil Librarian, 6

Seriously - this is one weird book. I liked the basic concept but the execution was done poorly. 

Vampires of Manhattan: The New Blue Bloods Coven

by Melissa de la Cruz

Series: Book #1 The Vampires of Manhattan
ISBN: 9781401324711
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Publication Date: September 1st 2014
Number of Pages: 240
Source: Local Library
Goodreads
I do not like the summary posted on Goodreads, so instead I linked the book's Goodreads page above and below I am copying what is written on the book jacket:

In a city that never sleeps, an evil has awakened...

It's been ten years since the Blue Bloods vampires vanquished Lucifer, and the Coven has enjoyed relative peace and prosperity under their ardent new leader, Oliver Hazard-Perry.

That is, until Hell's Bells start ringing.

Pentagrams are appearing all over New York City and Oliver can't help but fear their ominous presence. These harbingers of doom are bringing back memories of the Great War, but this time, no one is letting the warning signs go unnoticed.

Then a human teenager is found murdered in the subway tunnels under the city with a pentagram drawn in blood above her body, and the vampire secret police suspect the unthinkable: she was killed by one of their own, a horrifying breach of their code. Venator Ara Scott believes this could only point to a conspiracy designed to unravel the victory they fought so hard to win, and she'll do anything to stop it.

Meanwhile, Mimi Martin is learning the hard way that Hell doesn't necessarily make for a hot marriage. After leaving her husband behind to trade fire and brimstone for Chardonnay and Broadway, she's finding that life without Kingsley might be its own kind of inferno. Plus, there's that incessant ringing in her ears...

And Oliver is not willing to let anything get in the way of being officially crowned Regis at the newly revived Four Hundred Ball. This is his chance to give himself fully to the community he's sworn to protect, and to officially devote himself to his human familiar, Finn Chase. Perception, though, does not always lead to reality.

Living between Heaven and Hell, love and death, life and blood...

Welcome to the new Blue Bloods Coven.

My Rating:

That summary is practically as long as the book - just kidding! But at 250 pages, this is a very fast read! I am classifying it as New Adult, though my library has seen fit to place it in our YA collection. This is for older and more mature teens only in my opinion.

Thought this series was over? How could we think that? There are already two spin-offs to this world, it gets confusing a bit. We have the witches (The Beauchamp Family series) and the wolves (Wolf Pact). So let's just continue on shall we?

Oliver has become the Regent of the Coven, Schuyler & Jack have cut themselves off from everyone to live life as viticulturists (aka vineyard owners) and Mimi is *GASP* working! 

"Sometimes, Oliver also wondered how much he had lost when he gained his immortality. His sense of humor, for one; he hadn't laughed in a long time. He never used to take anything seriously - money and position least of all. But now he was Regent of the Coven, and he had no time for childish games, and there was little trace of the sarcastic teenager he had been." - Vampires of Manhattan, 13

We are introduced to a new character, Ara Scott, and see the development of other characters we know from the previous series. There are multiple points of view (which worked for this book) and we also have the plot split into "present" and "five weeks earlier."

This was an intriguing story, I liked the inventiveness of this new "evil plot" and how it came about. Completely blown away by the revealing of the "bad guy" - he/she seemed so sweet!

All of our "main" known characters from the previous series (Oliver, Mimi...) are thirty years old and it is a little odd to read. Ara is *I think* 24 years old, so it is a little better - but yeah, characters age-wise, this book can't be regarded as a teen novel. The storyline deals with teenagers dying, so this is the connection to the YA world.

"Vampires of Manhattan is a continuation but also a new beginning. New coven. New rules. New danger. Same fabulous city of New York." - Melissa de la Cruz 

 If you are eager to continue the Blue Bloods story, this book is for you. There is sexual content and some graphic details surrounding some of the bloody deaths. The main characters are in their mid-20s to 30s. It is a fast-paced read without a whole lot of depth.

There will be a sequel, as the ending is a cliff-hanger!

Cruel Beauty

By Rosamund Hodge

ISBN: 9780062224735
Publisher: Balzar + Bray
Publication Date: January 28th 2014
Number of Pages: 352
Source: Local Library

Goodreads Summary: Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.
With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

My Rating:  

By now you can probably tell that I really enjoy fairy tale re-tellings.... I just can't help myself! This one takes a twist on the story of Beauty & the Beast. 

Nyx is our beauty in this story and her father made a deal with the Gentle Lord (a demon) to marry her off to him in exchange for the birth of her and her twin sister, Astraia. Her father did this to make his wife happy, as she had been unable to conceive. However, the deal just specified the birth of a child (or children in this case) but didn't guarantee the life of the mother - you guess it, she died in childbirth. This "deal with the devil" reminds me of Rumpelstiltskin, as does the fact that Ignifex is not his real name and if Nyx can guess his name, she doesn't die. 

Lucky Nyx is born first and thus must be the sacrificial lamb. She is the spitting image of her father, which somehow justifies her being the one to atone for his sin. Astraia, however, is the epitome of their mother and has lived a sheltered, innocent life. The sisters' relationship is strained at times since Nyx is torn between the hate she feels towards her sister for being the lucky one and the sisterly love she should feel. 

"There was ice in my lungs and in my heart. I was floating, I was swept away, and out of the cold I spoke to her in a voice as soft as snow, the gentle and obedient voice that I had used to consent to every order that Father and Aunt Telomache ever gave me, every order they would never give Astraia because they actually loved her...

'The truth is, Mother died because of you, and now I have to die for your sake too. And neither one of us will ever forgive you.'" - Cruel Beauty, 30-31

I didn't like the character of Astraia, she was too little miss perfect and naive. I also didn't like her at the end of the book when she is her alter ego. 

Nyx is married off to Ignifex with a statue of a demon as his proxy. She travels up to his castle and prepares herself to meet this demon and to kill him. This is the only way to save her people from the demons that plague their city. 

Little did she know that it would be harder to kill her husband then she originally thought. She struggles through this whole book with the concept of love & hate and what her duty should be. I loved the interactions between Nyx, Ignifex and his "shadow" known as Shade. Don't worry, this isn't the typical YA love triangle we all have come to know (and me personally, hate). I fell in love with Ignifex right along with Nyx:

"The stories were right that called him 'the sweet-faced calamity.' for he had one of the most beautiful faces I had ever seen...If he had been human, I might have taken him for a gentleman. But his eyes had crimson irises with cat-slit pupils." - Cruel Beauty, 51

"He had seen me, in all my ugliness, and never hated me; and in that moment, nothing else mattered." - Cruel Beauty, 236

I did have my suspicions about Shade and I turned out to be right. J 

The twisted ending that solved the issues surrounding Ignifex and the curse upon the kingdom did seem a bit confusing and far-fetched in my mind but hey, they figured it out and we get our happy ending, so it can be forgiven.

Hodge mixes in the mythology of the gods and Hermeticism, a religious and philosophical tradition that includes magic and alchemy. We mainly see the interaction of the four elements: earth, wind, fire, and water in a magical sense in this book.

This is a fast-paced book that reads quickly and has the elements of mystery and intrigue mixed in with romance and a touch of horror. 

Overall, a wonderful re-telling that fans of such works will enjoy. 

Ruined

I received an ARC (advanced reader copy) of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Also, this book is currently only available in ebook format. I am awaiting a reply as to when it will be released as a hard copy book. 

By Jus Accardo

Series: Book #1 The Eternal Balance
ISBN: 97816226621848
Publisher: Entangled: Embrace
Publication Date: December 30th 2013
Number of Pages: 325
Source: ebook (ARC)
Goodreads Summary: Hell is looking for a way to break loose...Jax lost the genetic lottery. Descended from Cain, the world's first murderer, he's plagued by a curse that demands violence in exchange for his happiness. He left everything behind, including the girl he loved, but thriving on the pain of others is lonely… And it's killing him.After a series of heartbreaking losses, Samantha put rubber to pavement and headed for college as fast as her clunker could carry her. But she can't outrun her problems. When an attack at school drives her back home, she's thrown into the path of a past—and a guy—she's been trying to forget.

Sam strains Jax's control over his darkness, but running isn't an option this time. Someone—or, something—followed her home from school: a ruthless monster with a twisted plan centuries in the making. Forced together to survive, and fighting an attraction that could destroy them both, Jax and Sam must stop a killer bent on revenge.

My Rating:  

This is book #1 in a new series featuring demons. We have twin brothers, Jax and Chase who are total opposites and not very close. The problem with their relationship stems from long ago - they are the descendants of Cain & Abel (biblical brothers; Cain became jealous of Abel and killed him). Because of this, Cain's descendants that are born with a "tainted" soul have to bear the burden of sharing their body with a demon. This demon hates Jax's brother and taunts Jax with images of killing Chase. The only way Jax can deal with the hate of the demon is to stay away from Chase and "feed" the demon with violence.

I enjoyed how different and unique this story is. We have the paranormal aspect of demons and we also have sort of a twist on the old story of Cain and Abel. 

I don't want to give anything away, but I will say there are many surprises to this story. I was hooked and could not stop reading it until the end.

I did not give a higher rating to this book because I did have a problem with the relationship between Samantha & Jax. There was a good background story to them and his reasons for leaving her behind are legit. I don't like the idea or portrayal of this "all-consuming, obsessive" love between them. Doesn't feel true to life when we have that type of love. I am classifying this book in the New Adult category, as the characters are older (18) and it does have some racy scenes (as one of the emotions demons can feed off of is lust). 

I will probably pick up the next book to continue the story and see how it turns out. I do find that 3 books may be too much, as it sounds like the story could be wrapped up in just one other book.