Love & Romance Books - Page 6

Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives, Volume II (Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives)

Ellen Schreiber

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Cliche in a Cliched-Land 2 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Cliche: 1. a phrase, expression, or idea that has been overused to the point of losing its intended force or novelty, especially when at some time it was considered distinctively forceful or novel.

2. most vampire-induced romance novels

Don't get me wrong, I love dark fantasy as much as the next person but vampire romance novels like Twilight and now Vampire Kisses often make me question why I enjoyed the genre in the first place. It seems now that every starting author feels the need to create a story that involves the stock characters of one sexy male vampire and one slightly emo girl and you got yourself hundreds of squealing fangirls who will buy your book and tell you "OMG! I LURVES THESE CHARA!" over and over again.

But let's move on to the actual book. Vampire Kisses is a manga version of a book in the same vein of dark fantasy wher girl meets hot creature of the night and stuff happens of that nature. The story is overdone and I think the timing for it is fairly bad considering how popular the Twilight series is right now and how every fan of that series is going to say this is a direct copy or love is to death.

On the plus side the art is actually very nice but you have to ignore the fact that you are reading the same vampire induced haze over and over again when you could be reading Twilight instead and quit beating around the bush already. Or read one of the many fancomics OF Twilight floating in the ether on deviantART or Photobucket or some other image based website.

I think my biggest problem with a cliche is that its not that hard to write a unique vampire story. Example: how about the vampire accidentically sucks on the blood of another vampire and is now changing into a horrible monster and only the human girl can help him? OR, the human girl needs to break a curse on her from a witch or something and the vampire helps and they fall in love. There. I just wrote an entire series with marketing capabilities.

But maybe I'm being too harsh. Maybe I should just open up myself to Vampire Kisses and embrace it. But when I do this, I just realize what I've known before - its not horrible. But its NOT GOOD. It brings nothing to the table. It takes nothing. Its boring but if you fear change thats just fine. I say skip it and go read something worthwhile. Like Biezenghast or Serenity Rose if you want to feel perky and goth.

In short: C- Try to not look at it too hard. You may go blind.

Editorial Review:

Who says dating a vampire is easy? Raven's nocturnal romance with her immortal love, Alexander, is definitely dicey, but even more so with Alexander's meddling half-vamp cousin in town. Claude and his sketchy gang are on the hunt for a stash of blood-filled vials that can turn them into pure vampires. With an old family feud casting a shadow on the search, they'll do anything to get their hands on the vials. Raven and Alexander must swiftly mastermind a plan to outwit them, but will the very lure of the vials create more risk for Raven than she could ever imagine? And deepen her own quandary about the possibility of becoming a vampire?

Bloom

Elizabeth Scott

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

amazing 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Iread this book in 3 hours, it was so good! i never wanted to put it down, it had the best story to it. now im trying to find more books like thiss!

Discovering who you are 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Imagine that your boyfriend is popular, drop dead gorgeous, crazy about you, athletic and wanted by every girl in high school. This is the relationship that Lauren has with Dave. Seems like she should be happy, right? Wrong. She's not. She's in the "perfect" relationship (so everyone thinks), but yet she feels so far from perfect and certainly not happy. In fact, she feels like a fake.

World History is the class she wants to get out of, however it's also where her story finally begins. As a new semester starts, Lauren dreads her World History class. It starts to get interesting when the teacher assigns seating in alphabetical order. Across from her is Evan Kirkland. The son of her father's former live-in boyfriend; a relationship that ended very badly.

As Lauren's feelings grow for Evan, she realizes everything she is missing with her boyfriend Dave. She struggles with keeping up appearances, lying to her best friend, Katie, and understanding these new feelings that Evan has stirred up. Lauren's mom left the family when she was young and her father has been in and out of numerous relationships. Now, he's hardly a presence in Lauren's life. This is also an impact on the triangle of Lauren/Dave/Evan.

Overall, I liked this book. Katie and Dave were good supporting characters, however I wanted to know more about their lives. Bloom is a good story about young love, trying to fit in struggling with doing what is expected of you, and discovering who you really are.

Editorial Review:

There's a difference between falling and letting go.

Lauren has a good life: decent grades, great friends, and a boyfriend every girl lusts after. So why is she so unhappy?

It takes the arrival of Evan Kirkland for Lauren to figure out the answer: She's been holding back. She's been denying herself a bunch of things (like sex) because staying with her loyal and gorgeous boyfriend, Dave, is the "right" thing to do. After all, who would give up the perfect boyfriend?

But as Dave starts talking more and more about their life together, planning a future Lauren simply can't see herself in -- and as Lauren's craving for Evan, and moreover, who she is with Evan becomes all the more fierce -- Lauren realizes she needs to make a choice...before one is made for her.

Darkness Before Dawn

Sharon M. Draper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Fantastic!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is continuation of Tears of a Tiger. Keisha was Andy's girlfriend and now left with rest of her friends Ronda, Tyrone, BJ, Gerald, and Leon to survive without out their two friends Andy and Rob, who both died. Now in her senior year Keisha is selected class president and is having the best year. The principal's 23-year-old son is the new track coach and he has his eye on Keisha. Slowly Keisha begins to find comfort in 23-year-old Jonathan and starts going out with him. Soon the relationship takes a wrong turns when Jonathan takes Keisha to his apartment and tries to rape and kill her with his jack knife.
Sharon M. Draper is the greatest well-known writer that I know. I love his style of writing and how she brings her characters to live. Every book she ever made is great and I can't wait til she makes more.

Editorial Review:

Has Keisha found happiness at last?

In her senior year, things are finally looking a little brighter for Keisha. Still haunted by the suicide of her ex-boyfriend, Andy, she finds comfort in the attentions of the new track coach, twenty-three-year-old Jonathan Hathaway, the principal's son. How can Keisha not be swept off her feet by a tall, dark, handsome "lemon drop wrapped in licorice" who treats her like a woman, not a girl?

But suddenly this intoxicating relationship takes a frightening turn, and Keisha is once again plunged into the darkness she's fought so hard to escape. Will Keisha ever be able to find her way back into the light?

Vampire Kisses 3: Vampireville (Vampire Kisses)

Ellen Schreiber

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

do you like romance....and vampires???? 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Let's be real here ladies, there are a number of us out there who have curly toes when it comes to fantasies about vampire men. It is that silk way they have about themselves; that velvet touch, that "euro-trash" suave that tickles our .....um, hearts. But not all of this type of literature is suitable for all women to read. Ladies under the age of 18, High School ladies, need to get their warm on too. And this is a perfect series for them, and not childish. Tell me, do you wear black and red over the kee stockings, black eyeliner, black eyeshadow, black clothing. Are you the 'odd one' in your school. This speaks to this too. She is the little goul girl, shunned by most of the people around her. This series is aimed at the unique. the little goth girls of the universe, the ones with art in their hearts, and expanded minds; and without explicit sex, just some sweet kisses, and a bit of cuddling.
There are four in this series. Try the first one. And if you hate it, you can always resell it on amazon. You might find it will have a treasured place on your shelf. :E

Editorial Review:

Can Raven stop Dullsville from becoming Vampireville?

For goth-girl Raven, dating her dream boyfriend is complicated, especially because Alexander's secret means they can only meet at night. And now they must be extra wary, with Alexander's archrival, Jagger, creeping around town. Then Jagger's exquisitely pale sister Luna also surfaces—and seems to have her sights on Raven's own longtime nemesis.

Raven and Alexander must begin a terrifying hunt for Jagger and Luna's secret hideout. Can they drive them away before Dullsville is eternally threatened by these menaces from the Underworld?

Impossible

Nancy Werlin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Hooked by the description 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I loved the description of this book. An ancient curse by an Elf King, a teenage pregnancy and three impossible tasks that must be completed to break the curse or go insane. However, I was disappointed with the book. The book is really about the pregnancy of the main character Lucy and her relationships with her mother, step-parents, and childhood friend, Zach. I kept waiting for an adventure and there really was none. The tasks really don't enter the story until about midway through and even then they are just a backdrop to Lucy's relationships. This book was just o.k. for me.

Editorial Review:

Lucy has nine months to break an ancient curse in order to save both herself and her unborn daughter.

Inspired by the ballad “Scarborough Fair,” this riveting novel combines suspense, fantasy, and romance for an intensely page-turning and masterfully original tale.

Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that the women of her family have been cursed through the generations, forced to attempt three seemingly impossible tasks or to fall into madness upon their child’s birth. But Lucy is the first girl who won’t be alone as she tackles the list. She has her fiercely protective foster parents and her childhood friend Zach beside her. Do they have love and strength enough to overcome an age-old evil?

Perfect You

Elizabeth Scott

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Charming, humorous, and utterly satisfying 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Elizabeth Scott's second novel is just as poignant and addictive to read as her well-reviewed debut, BLOOM --- perhaps even more so. In the year since BLOOM's publication, Scott has clearly honed her skills, crafting a tighter story that fluently captures the anxieties of talking to (let alone trusting) a first crush, the self-deprecation and anguish of losing a best friend, and the bemusement that comes with having to parent...your parents.

But what does all of this have to do with vitamins?

It all started when Kate's father quit his job at a prestigious software company because his desk had broken in half. He figured it was a sign. Not even a month later, he cashed in his retirement fund to purchase boxes full of infomercial vitamins called "Perfect You." His plan? To buy a booth at the mall and sell them to anyone who would take the bait --- with Kate's help, of course.

So instead of going to parties with her friends and cheering for her boyfriend on the basketball team, Kate is stuck trying to hide her mortification when her father wears his B-Buzz vitamin bee costume during her shift, or worse yet, when he gets thrown out of the Sports Shack for pushing vitamins on their customers. But wait. Kate doesn't have a boyfriend. Nor does she have any friends aside from the three Jennifers who are so busy competing to be each other's best friend that they barely notice her.

Granted, Kate's life hadn't always been so terrible. Prior to her sophomore year, she spent every waking second with her best friend, Anna, who never seemed to care what anyone else thought --- at least not until hunky Sam, the boy Anna had been in love with for forever, called her a "wide load."

After that, everything changed. Anna came back from her summer in Maine, determined to be a different person. She was blonde, 70 pounds thinner and suddenly popular, which, of course, meant No More Kate. So for the first few months of 10th grade, Kate spends every day alone --- that is, until Sam's cute friend, Will, kisses her behind the dumpsters at the mall.

In the chapters that follow, Kate bumbles through a series of crushing setbacks (Anna delivers one too many blows to her dwindling self-worth, her parents separate due to her father's seemingly endless mid-life crisis, Will asks her out on a date --- to humiliate her?) before ultimately crumbling in defeat.

But, as those who liked Scott's first novel are aware, Kate's story is far from over despite the trauma she has endured, and readers will breeze through the last few chapters with genuine pleasure.

PERFECT YOU has just the right combination of humor, charm and weight to satisfy old fans and win over new ones. Its rich characters --- especially haughty but wise Grandma --- are brimming with quirky idiosyncrasies meant to both irritate and please. Like in BLOOM, Scott navigates familial dysfunction and teen melodrama with aplomb, and teens will eat up what develops when Kate and Will finally "get real" at the end.

--- Reviewed by Alexis Burling

Editorial Review:

Kate Brown's life has gone downhill fast. Her father has quit his job to sell vitamins at the mall, and Kate is forced to work with him. Her best friend has become popular, and now she acts like Kate's invisible.

And then there's Will. Gorgeous, unattainable Will, whom Kate acts like she can't stand even though she can't stop thinking about him. When Will starts acting interested, Kate hates herself for wanting him when she's sure she's just his latest conquest.

Kate figures that the only way things will ever stop hurting so much is if she keeps to herself and stops caring about anyone or anything. What she doesn't realize is that while life may not always be perfect, good things can happen -- but only if she lets them....

A Walk to Remember

Nicholas Sparks

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1300 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the prologue to his latest novel, Nicholas Sparks makes the rather presumptuous pledge "first you will smile, and then you will cry," but sure enough, he delivers the goods. With his calculated ability to throw your heart around like a yo-yo (try out his earlier Message in the Bottle or The Notebook if you really want to stick it to yourself), Sparks pulls us back to the perfect innocence of a first love.

In 1958 Landon Carter is a shallow but well-meaning teenager who spends most of his time hanging out with his friends and trying hard to ignore the impending responsibilities of adulthood. Then Landon gets roped into acting the lead in the Christmas play opposite the most renowned goody two-shoes in town: Jamie Sullivan. Against his best intentions and the taunts of his buddies, Landon finds himself falling for Jamie and learning some central lessons in life.

Like John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, Sparks maintains a delicate and rarely seen balance of humor and sentiment. While the plot may not be the most original, this boy-makes-good tearjerker will certainly reel in the fans. Look for a movie starring beautiful people or, better yet, snuggle under the covers with your tissues nearby and let your inner sap run wild. --Nancy R.E. O'Brien

To Catch A Pirate

Jade Parker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Cute, Piraty Fun 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Annalisa Townsend and her father are glad to be departing England for the Caribbean. They need to move on from the recent death of Annalisa's mother, and what better place to do it than the little known Caribbean island of Mourning, which King George has assigned governorship of to Annalisa's father. But on the voyage over, their ship is set upon be pirates, and Annalisa is discovered in her hiding place in the hold. However, in exchange for letting Annalisa keep her necklace, a reminder of her dead mother, pirate James Sterling steals her ring and a kiss. A year later, Annalisa has a forged letter of marque to help her hunt down James Sterling. She wants to take back her father's treasure and restore his good name. But Annalisa is not entirely prepared for what James might steal from her this time--her heart.

I found To Catch a Pirate to be an adorable pirate romance story. The plot was a bit reminiscent of Pirates of the Caribbean, but I mean that in the best possible way. The love and danger on stormy seas, hidden treasure, and sword fighting really drew me in. I also liked how these fictional characters had encounters with a real pirate, Black Bart Roberts. The main characters were rather well developed, especially Annalisa. She is a strong minded and somewhat stubborn young woman who knows what she wants and will do almost anything to get it. Sterling battles with his whole good pirate/bad pirate persona, which is interesting; however, sometimes when it seems he's entirely on one side, he'll do something completely surprising. Some of the pirate encounters may seem unrealistic, especially because of the lack of loss of life, but it serves its purpose of simulating the dangers and excitement associated with piracy.

If you're looking for a unique romance story, To Catch a Pirate should be high on your life. Besides, who can resist a pirate story?

Editorial Review:

Once caught, it’s harder still to let a pirate go

When Annalisa Townsend’s ship is set upon by pirates in search of her father’s treasure, one of the crew, James Sterling, discovers her in the hold. When he moves to take her necklace, she begs him not to, as it is all she has left of her mother. He accepts a kiss in exchange for the necklace. “A fair trade, m’lady,” he tells her afterward, before disappearing.

A year later, with a forged letter of marque, Annalisa is intent on hunting down the wretched James Sterling and reclaiming her father’s treasure from him. But now she’s in danger of him stealing something far more vulnerable this time: her heart.

Pretty Little Liars #4: Unbelievable (Pretty Little Liars)

Sara Shepard

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Behind Rosewood's grand façades, where the air smells like apples and Chanel No. 5 and infinity pools sparkle in landscaped backyards, nothing is as it seems. It was here, back in seventh grade, that five best friends shared everything—Seven jeans, MAC makeup, and their deepest, darkest secrets. For Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily, it was a dream come true . . . until Alison, the most beautiful of them all, suddenly vanished.

Now someone named A has turned their charmed lives into a living nightmare. Emily has been shipped off to her hyper-conservative cousins in Iowa. Aria is stuck living with her dad and his home-wrecker girlfriend. And Spencer fears she had something to do with Alison's murder. But Hanna's fate is far worse than all of that—she's clinging to life in the hospital, because she knew too much.

With A's threats turning dangerous and Ali's killer still on the loose, the girls must uncover the truth—about A, about Ali, and about what happened to Hanna—before they become A's next victims. But as they unravel Rosewood's mysteries and secrets, will it bring an end to the horror . . . or is this just the beginning?

The Secret Circle: The Initiation and The Captive Part I (The Secret Circle)

L. J. Smith

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

L.J. Smith has done it again! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

i didnt hesitate to buy since i am a fan of her books. she never dissapoints that's for sure. i loved Cassie's character and she got her emotions perfect. It sucks to be the new kid, she made all the choices (wrog or right) that anyoe in her position would have made. Adam reminded me (in a weird way of a more relaxed Edward from Twilight) but i was confussed if this was a republished book or new entirely. but either way it was awesome. i couldnt help but like Nick, i htink he was my fav boy character, yeah i liked Adam but there's something about Nick that i dunno.....anyway the book is great i would recomend it to anyone who loves a good story with twist. :)

Editorial Review:

The circle's power has lured her home

Forced to move from sunny California to gloomy New England, Cassie longs for her old life. Even so, she feels a strange kinship to a terrifying group of teens who seem to rule her school. Initiated into the coven of witches that's controlled New Salem for hundreds of years, she's drawn into the Secret Circle, a thrill that's both intoxicating and deadly. But when she falls for the mysterious and intriguing Adam, Cassie must choose whether to resist temptation or risk dark forces to get what she wants—even if it means that one wrong move could ultimately destroy her.