Dead Ice
An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel
by Laurell K. Hamilton
Publisher: Berkley
Pub. Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-0425255711
Pages: 576
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:
 
Do you remember a time when you could buy several books for $1.00 when joining a book club? Well, I do! It was a great way to be introduced to many exciting new authors. I recall buying a huge book by Laurell K. Hamilton that had two or three titles in one. They were the first few entries in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. At the time, I was a huge of fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so anything with vampires in it caught my attention. To find out, the author lives in my home state of Missouri, so I quickly became a fan of her works.

Dead Ice is the 24th installment (Yes, I said wrote that correctly! The 24th!) and once again centers on U.S. Marshall Anita Blake, a vampire executioner that has the ability to raise the dead. Despite her job, she is now engaged to the master vampire Jean-Claude.

The FBI recruits Anita to help them with a major zombie problem as it seem someone is making zombie porn! While this isn't the creepiest thing that Anita has seen before, something really bothers her about this case - the female zombies still have their souls attached.

Click on the cover art to buy the book!

Last fall was definitely a little chaotic with me falling behind on a few reviews. I thought I had gotten caught up on everything, but lo and behold, I happened to come across two books I forgotten to read and review - Bound by Night and Chained by Night. Both books are part of The Moon Bound Clan Vampires series and are written by Larissa Ione. Therefore since the weekend was a cold and icy, I squeezed in time for some much needed reading.

Bound by Night (Pocket Books; 978-1476700175; 400 pages) is set in a world where vampires are slaves to humans that is until an uprising occurs, resulting in the death of many humans. Nicole Martin was just eight-years-old when her entire family was murdered in front of her. Barely surviving, Nicole devotes her live to finding a cure to vampirism, but her feelings kinda change when she starts to fall for a vampire from her past - Riker.

Riker is part of the renegade vampire MoonBound Clan and seeks out to avenge his kind that were once enslaved by the Martin family by kidnapping Nicole, but his plans forrevenge change when he falls in love with her.

Teen Wolf: Season 3 - Part 2
Starring: Colton Haynes, Tyler Posey, Dylan O'Brien
Studio: MTV / MGM
Release Date: June 17, 2014
Retail: $29.98
ASIN: B00JF5G8WU
Running Time: 528 minutes
Rating: Not Rated

Review: 

Arriving on DVD last week is MTV's Teen Wolf: Season 3 - Part 2, featuring 12 exciting episodes from the second half of season three. There is only one special feature on three-disc set, titled Following the Pack: The Fans of Teen Wolf.

Loosely based on the 1985 comedy of the same name that starred Michael J. Fox, the series takes a darker and more serial-drama type approach, while still leaving bits of humor here and there. The series is set in the small town of Beacon Hills and centers on a teenager Scott McCall (played by Tyler Posey), who is bitten by a werewolf and must somehow handle his new-found lycanthropy, which comes with many supernatural strengths and powers.

The second half of season three centers on Scott, Stiles and Allison experiencing weird hallucinations that is caused by their temporary deaths in the first half of the season. To make things worse, Scott is still struggling with becoming a True Alpha. Meanwhile, a new student named Kira might be the link behind the supernatural force attacking them.

The episodes on the three-disc set are:

The Descent
Book Three of the Taker Trilogy
By Alma Katsu
Publisher: Gallery Books
Pub. Date: January 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1451651829
Pages: 352
Buy Links: Paperback, Kindle

Review:

I haven't been more exciting about reading a book than I have been with The Descent; book three of The Taker Trilogy. There was almost a year and a half gap between the second (The Reckoning) and the third book, The Descent, so I was patiently waiting on pins and needles for the release, which finally arrived back in January. Gallery Books kindly sent me a free copy to read and review, but, sadly, a few other books arrived before The Descent did; therefore it sat in the TBR pile longer than I wanted it to. I finally got around to reading it in late February.

There are have not been many books that have grabbed a hold of me within the first few pages, leaving the characters still in my mind years later. Alma Katsu has created a beautiful trilogy full of love, revenge, sacrifice and redemption. There has been an overload of vampire and werewolves books over the years and Alma Katsu gives us a refreshing supernatural love story without blood-sucking demons or shape-shifters.

The Taker Trilogy centers on Lanore "Lanny" McIlvrae, who fell in love with the charming, rich and older, Jonathan St. Andrew, at a young age during the 1800s. After becoming pregnant, her family sends her away to Boston to have the baby (which results in a miscarriage), but within minutes of arriving in Boston she meets the charming Adair, whom forever changes her life, introducing her to a world of immortality.

Wolfblood: Season One
Studio: New Video Group
Release Date: December 31, 2013
Retail:$19.95
ASIN: B00F1BFZXA
Running Time: 5 hours 38 minutes
Rating: NR

Review:

Arriving tomorrow on DVD is the fantasy/supernatural British television series Wolfblood: Season One, featuring thirteen exciting episodes. The half-hour series aired on CBBC in 2012 and will return next year for a third season. It premiered in United States back in October on the Disney Channel.

Wolfblood centers on 14-year-old Maddy Smith, who is living with her parents in  Northumbria, Stoneybridge. Maddy and her parents are keeping a dark, dark secret - they are wolfbloods (werewolves)! It hasn't been easy keeping the family secret from her best-friends, Shannon Kelly and Thomas (Tom) Okanawe, especially when her first transformation is approaching.

Her world is turned upside down when a new student, Rhydian, arrives at Bradlington High. Maddy instantly suspects he is one of her kind. She quickly learns that he is living with his new foster parents and that he is a wolfblood, possibly a distant cousin. Her parents help him settle in his new environment and help him understand about his heritage.

Life in Stoneybridge isn't easy for Maddy and Rhydian, as their friend Shannon is hunting the 'beast' that terrified her as a child. She is determined to catch a picture of the 'beast' that roams the forest. To make matter worse, a beast-hunter arrives in town looking for a werewolf and Rhydian's relatives track him down.