House of Night

Well, I didn't exactly read just one book for my first in my 2012 Reading Challenge, instead I read four! One of my friends in America had the books and figured they'd be fun for me to read so she posted them to me! Now I have the pleasure of posting them back!

Following in the vein of the Twilight books, these books are all about vampires. Teenage vampires. Angst! I admit they are also really aimed at the teenage market, but for light entertainment, they do the job.

Zoey Redbird is a fledgling vampire. In these books, it can take 3-4 years to turn into a vampire, but during this process they must reside at the House of Night otherwise they will die. Here they learn all about becoming a vampire and the history surrounding them, the many rituals they undertake and that not everyone succeeds in making the change. All the while, they have the delight of teenage hormones, angst and deadly villains to deal with. A piece of cake!

Like I said, these aren't exactly a challenging read, but they are entertaining. There are currently 10 books in the series and a Fledgling Handbook. I whizzed through the books in no time and definitely recommend them as good books to read when sick or on a long journey. The time will fly!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Why? I have to confess these books (for adults) are mainly drivel, but like I said, they are very entertaining and are certainly a decent way to pass the time. You can't help but get drawn into them and I may still yet attempt to read the remaining books. The authors (a mother-daughter team) have tried to weave in some lessons for teenagers in a cool, more likely to accept from a book than your mother kind of way. The best way to describe these books? Fun. Simple as.

Please check out my new 2012 reading challenge!


I'd love it if you would all participate and let me know of any other challenges out there that I could participate in!


Here's to a fabulous 2012 filled with lots of amazing books!

Merry Christmas everyone from Book Bug!

I hope Santa brought you all lots of excellent books to read!

Here's to a book filled wonderful 2012!

The Lost Daughter

This the first book I've read by the author Diane Chamberlain and I have to confess I was slightly disappointed. A friend recommended this to me as the author has been compared to Jodi Picoult who is one of my favourite adult authors. Alas, for me anyway, she didn't quite match up. I did enjoy the book ok, it just didn't have enough pace for me basically.
This is the story of a young girl who gets mixed up with a boy who ultimately uses her in his plan to try and have his sister freed from jail. The plan is to take the Governor's wife hostage, demanding the release of his sister for the Governor's wife, however things don't go to plan. The Governor's wife is pregnant and while CeeCee is looking after her, she goes into labour and dies, leaving a daughter behind. A daughter CeeCee ultimately ends up raising as her own.
Twenty years later, Tim, CeeCee's boyfriend at the time of the abduction, is arrested for the murder of the Governor's wife and her unborn child. CeeCee is torn apart with guilt and although she knows she could lose her "daughter" and family, she confesses all, with surprising consequences for everyone involved.
The story mainly revolves around CeeCee but we also get a glimpse into her daughter's life and what it has become and how it has done so based on the mother-daughter relationship; a relationship which has been created through the secret life CeeCee has had to create but where her love for her daughter was always the one main constant truth.


Rating: 3 out of 5
Why? The pace of the book was a little too slow for me. I felt it could have been a lot punchier.I also felt the author could have explored the relationship between the daughter and CeeCee more, this really only got going towards the end of the book. I personally felt the book could have been more polished as the plot line was definitely an attention grabber, I just didn't feel it kept mine at all times.

How do you like my new look?

My new blog look came about by complete accident when I stupidly hit the wrong button on the design page and then couldn't figure out how to undo it!! So I pretty  much had to start all over again. It's pretty similar to before except I've now added in a few colours to match my book bug logo!
I hope you all like it, but I would definitely love to hear if you have other ideas. While I see lots of great things on other people's blogs, I generally don't know how to recreate them on my own, for example combining my logo with the blog name, when I do it the way blogspot tells you to, it doesn't blend but squishes into a corner! Maybe I need to start some webdesign classes! 
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