Review: Last Breath by Rachel Caine

Last Breath (Morganville Vampires, #11) by Rachel Caine
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Publication date: October 28th, 2011
Number of pages: 447 pgs
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

The brand-new novel in the “intriguing world” (Darque Reviews) of Rachel Caine’s New York Times bestselling Morganville Vampires series!

With her boss preoccupied researching the Founder Houses in Morganville, student Claire Danvers is left to her own devices when she learns that three vampires have vanished without a trace. She soon discovers that the last person seen with one of the missing vampires is someone new to town—a mysterious individual named Magnus. After an uneasy encounter with Morganville’s latest resident, Claire is certain Magnus isn’t merely human. But is he a vampire—or something else entirely?

Oh boy. Just when you begin to think you can't be surprised by anything from this series, Rachel Caine just ups the anty.
Did it ever occur to you as to why Amelie chose Morganville? And especially way out in Texas? Do vampires have any weaknesses or if there are anyone or anything they are afraid of.
The answer to those questions come to light in this book, as we begin to dig deeper into their history and you do understand certain aspects and actions involving Amelie.

When a messenger comes to the entrance of Morganville with a note for Amelie, and with Myrnin scared as well.. that is the number one sign of trouble.
When vampires are freaked out by something.. you know it has to be something big.
From that point onwards we get introduced to a new series that roams on earth. They are bigger, badder and more deadly than our vampires ever have been.

I liked the alternate POVs, especially Amelie's because it's not often that we get to see what she is thinking. And I am loving more and more the relationship between her and Oliver, as there is a moment in the book that will make you swoon. It did me, and I was like.. It's about time.

There is more focus than ever on Eve and Michael as they try to figure out a way to get married.
Marriage between humans and vampires are practically forbidden after an incident that happened many years ago, in which it did not end well for either of them, and for the town as well.
And while, I can understand why they don't wish for another repeat of it, the vampires do have to understand that it is their choice, and while Michael may be under Amelie's control, but he is still his own person. He has his own opinions and should be able to do as he pleases, and be with and marry whom he wants. It should be nobody else's business but he and Eve.
But when is anything easy in this town? Never.

Shane and Claire go through a bit of a turmoil, but the love they have for one another is stronger than anything they have ever faced before. And it will be the one thing that gets them through it all.
I really hope that by the time everything is all over, I want Claire to go to MIT (I was very heartbroken when she told the guy in the last book that she couldn't go) and they can be somewhere that isn't run by vampires, and try to live a happy and normal-like life for once.

Rating: 5/5

Review: Bite Club by Rachel Caine

Bite Club (Morganville Vampires, #10) by Rachel Caine
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Publication date: May 2nd, 2011
Number of pages: 422 pgs
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

After discovering that vampires populate her town, college student Claire Danvers knows that the undead just want to live their lives. But someone else wants them to get ready to rumble.

There's a new extreme sport getting picked up on the Internet: bare- knuckle fights pitting captured vampires against each other-or humans. Tracking the remote signal leads Claire to discover that what started as an online brawl will soon threaten everyone in Morganville...

This book starts out with an excited Shane when he finds out there is going to be a new gym opening up in Morganville. A fighting one, which is just what he has always wanted.
But things aren't as they seem, and why one would think it would be normal when it is run by vampires.. and vampires always seem to have a motive to everything they do no matter how nice they might be to you.

When Shane starts to train at this new gym he starts to gain a new attitude and that gets him into a difficult situation when he gets the attention of one of the vampires.
He really gets the hard stick in this book, but I did like how we for the first time, got to hear his POV which was nice to hear. It was interesting to see hos thoughts about the events during the course of this book.

There is a surprise visitor back in town, which is not good news for anyone. And this person's return has an impact on everything that is happening.
Michael and Claire go through some interesting changes in their relationship, and so do Claire and Shane.
When Claire gets a surprising offer for something she has always wanted, she knows she has to decide what she wants to do. And it's not an easy choice to make.

Meanwhile, Claire and Myrnin are still the only two who still know of Frank Collins new existance a secret. But you know what they say about secrets? They are bound to come out sooner or later.

I look forward to reading Last Breath, and then I will finally be up to date on this series. It's so amazing, more than most get credit for.

Rating: 4.5/5

 

Review: Ghost Town by Rachel Caine

Ghost Town (Morganville Vampires, #9) by Rachel Caine
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Publication date: October 26th, 2010
Number of pages: 336 pgs
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

While developing a new system to maintain Morganville's defenses, student Claire Danvers discovers a way to amplify vampire mental powers. Through this, she's able to re-establish the field around this vampire-infested Texas college town that protects it from outsiders.

But the new upgrades have an unexpected consequence: people inside the town begin to slowly forget who they are-even the vampires. Soon, the town's little memory problem has turned into a full-on epidemic. Now Claire needs to figure out a way to pull the plug on her experiment- before she forgets how to save Morganville...

Watch a Video

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In the ninth installment, Claire tries to discover a way to fix the machine that builds a barrier between the town and the outsiders.
But in doing so, it's not the people outside Morganville whom are forgetting, but rather the people inside. Michael, Shane and others start to forget certain things and they seem to think it's back 3 years ago, long before Claire even came to town.
It's also the vampires who seem to be losing track of time as well.
Given this new deveopment, Claire knows it's up to her, since she is the only one not from Morganville to try fix this problem.

Things start to become out of control between Oliver and Amelie as they battle for power of the town, and interesting things and confessions start to be revealed about their relationship.
Oliver is also not affected since he was not around 3 years ago, so the brain control is not affecting him, just like Claire.. but that doesn't mean she can rely on him to help her through this.

Things were a little different in this book, especially when those closest to Claire don't seem to remember who she is, and so she has to therefore get them to remember a different way, or show them something that is real.
She no longer has her parents to rely on, now they are out of town so that her father could get well again.. so she only has herself to depend on and to be the strong one when her friends can't help her on this journey.

A lot of books tend to get worse as they go on, but somehow, Rachel Caine brings something fresh to these characters in every book and so they just keep getting better.

I kinda.. am hoping something happens between Amelie and Oliver.. I am starting to ship those two, especially after one scene between them in this book. It sure brings up some interesting questions that's for sure.

Rating: 5/5

 

Review: Kiss of Death by Rachel Caine

Kiss of Death (Morganville Vampires, #8) by Rachel Caine
Publisher: Penguin Australia
publication date: May 3rd, 2010
Number of pages: 348 pgs
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

Claire Danvers has a few things on her mind. First of all there is the laundry, which is now an unfortunate shade of pink. Then there is her boyfriend, Shane, who is never too far from her thoughts. Finally there is her best friend Eve’s relationship problems. As if life as a student wasn’t complicated enough, Claire just happens to be studying in Morganville. A town run by vampires.

Trouble seems to follow Claire and her friends like a shadow and tonight is no exception to the rule. They must find the most difficult documents for a vampire to acquire; people passes that will allow “bad ass” Morley and his friends to leave Morganville. But it’s proving incredibly difficult, and with the odds seemingly stacked against them, the biggest question of all is...

Will they survive?

When Claire and her friends get permission to leave Morganville for a period to travel over to Dallas they couldn't be more happier.
It might not have been the passes they were after, considering Claire had made a deal with Morley to get him and his friends passes to leave the town, but instead she has been given some but just for Michael, Claire, Shane and herself for Michael's recording opportunity.

There is one catch though. Oliver happens to be their chapperone much to their dismay.
Things don't go as planned, especialy when they end up stranded in a small town where things aren't as they seem.

What begins out as what was meant to be a fun trip turns into something so terrifying they'll start to wonder where things went wrong.

It was definitely a nice and different thing to see them out of Morganville for a few days, even though what happens.. is just as bad as the things that happen in Morganville, lol
But I was glad in the end, they did eventually make it to Dallas and even amongst all the danger and horrific events that happened they were able to salvage at least a small part of the trip to do something nice for themselves. Even if it didn't last long. Better late than never, right?

Rating: 5/5

Review: Fade Out by Rachel Caine

Fade Out (Morganville Vampires, #7) by Rachel Caine
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Publication date: January 11th, 2010
Number of pages: 345 pgs
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

Without the evil vampire Bishop ruling over the town of Morganville, the resident vampires have made major concessions to the human population. With their newfound freedom, Claire Danvers and her friends are almost starting to feel comfortable again...

Now Claire can actually concentrate on her studies, and her friend Eve joins the local theatre company. But when one of Eve’s castmates goes missing after starting work on a short documentary, Eve suspects the worst. Claire and Eve soon realise that this film project, featuring the vampires themselves, is a whole lot bigger—and way more dangerous—than anyone suspected..

With Bishop gone from the scene, Claire and her friends can finally relax as the town and it's people come to grips with the losses and the wreckage that was done when Bishop reigned.
When Eve starts screaming, first instinct would be is that something is wrong. But not in this case. It was more of an excited scream.

When Eve gets a lead role in Morganville's upcoming play, which she has been wanting to do for years she couldn't be happier. Well, except for the fact that Oliver is playing opposite her. Talk about worst nightmare ever.

When Kim, an old friend/acquaintance of Eve's and Claire starts to feel like she is being replace in Eve's life and then adding to the misery is the discovery that not only does she know Shane, her boyfriend, but also they hooked up once.
But when she suddenly goes missing, the gang have to find what's going on and get to the bottom of it.
What they discover about Kim and about what she is really doing will make you wonder how she isn't dead already.
But that's not the only thing they have to worry about. Adam, Myrnin's machine is out to get Claire who seems to think she is trying to steal him from her, and so she has to eliminate Claire from the equation.

I like it when they all work together to solve the problems this town seem to have in each book LOL.
I also really like seeing Amelie and Oliver working together, even though they are both leaders in their own right, so it doesn't always pan out. I think they are more similar than they think, they just go about things differently.

Rating: 4.5/5

Review: Carpe Corpus by Rachel Caine

Carpe Corpus (Morganville Vampires, #6) by Rachel Caine
Publisher: Penguin Australia
publication date: December 10th, 2009
number of pages: 356 pgs
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

In the small college town of Morganville, vampires and humans lived in (relative) peace—until all the rules got rewritten when the evil vampire Bishop arrived, looking for the lost book of vampire secrets. He’s kept a death grip on the town ever since. Now an underground resistance is brewing, and in order to contain it, Bishop must go to even greater lengths.

He vows to obliterate the town and all its inhabitants—the living and the undead. Claire Danvers and her friends are the only ones who stand in his way. But even if they defeat Bishop, will the vampires ever be content to go back to the old rules, after having such a taste of power?

This book opens up with everything gone to smack. Like basically everything.
Claire well has been working for the enemy, and she basically has to choice. None of them do at this point.
Amelie has gone missing. And everyone seems to blame Claire because she is the one good person who is meant to be on the good side, not the bad one.

Shane is locked up with his father, again. I know, this seems to be becoming a habit, doesn't it?
Everything seems to have changed for just about everyone in Morganville, and until they can find a way to get rid of Bishop that seems to be the way it will stay.

When Amelie does turn up, Claire gets a surprise of her life to learn something startling that things just might be more interesting than she originally thought. Just maybe... there is a way to get Bishop out of the way.

I really enjoyed this book. It was full of action and suspense. I like that Claire had interactions with many people. From Amelie, to Oliver to her friends and new people included.

There was finally a conclusion to the Bishop situation, finally and I was so glad. He is one character I really hated, but I guess that was the purpose. I do live villians, and just just people pretending to be a villian. 

Rating: 5/5

Review: Lord of Misrule by Rachel Caine

Lord of Misrule (Morganville Vampires, #5) by Rachel Caine
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Publication date: June 10th, 2009
Number of pages: 352 pgs
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

Morganville. Texas. Just south of normal.

In the college town of Morganville, vampires and humans coexist in (relatively) bloodless harmony. Then comes Bishop, a master vampire who threatens to abolish all order, revive the forces of the evil dead, and let chaos rule. But Bishop isn’t the only threat.

Violent black clouds promise a storm of devastating proportions. As student Claire Danvers and her friends prepare to defend Morganville against the elements—both natural and unnatural—the unexpected happens: Morganville’s vampires begin to vanish one by one. Discovering why leads Claire to one last choice: swear allegiance to Bishop... or die.

After the horrible outcome the feat brought in, Feast of Fools, Claire and her friends, and everyone else NOT on Bishop's side tries to find some way out of this mess. But that seems unlikely when Bishop seems to gain more followers than originally thought.
But things turn from bad to worse, and Claire might find herself that she doesn't have choice but do something drastic.

I felt this was an awesome book. Action packed to the max, and there was always something going on. The villians were still the villians, but in this book you just want them, especially Bishop and his followers to die a timely death like STAT.
Claire finds herself having to step up to the plate, and after a mass deception, she starts to wonder who in this town, apart from her friends can she really trust. She probably should have known even the vampires on the good sides shouldn't be trusted, but sometimes you do have to choose a lesser evil.

The ending was a dozy, and I couldn't believe myself what was happening. There will always be consequences for such actions, even if you do make such decisions for the right reasons. Sometimes, there is no good way to something like this.

Just when you thought you knew how things were going --- think again.

Rating: 5/5

Review: Feast of Fools by Rachel Caine

Feast of Fools (Morganville Vampires, #4) by Rachel Caine

Publisher: Penguin Australia
Publication date: February 23rd, 2009
Number of pages: 367 pgs
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

The wait is over. dig into the feast...

In the town of Morganville, vampires and humans live in relative peace. Student Claire Danvers has never been convinced, though, especially with the arrival of Mr. Bishop, an ancient, old-school vampire who cares nothing about harmony. What he wants from the town's living and its dead is unthinkably sinister. It's only at a formal ball, attended by vampires and their human dates, that Claire realizes the elaborately evil trap he's set for Morganville.

Just when Claire thought things were getting back to normal in comes in Mr. Bishop, Amelie's father. Who makes oliver and Amelie put together like kittens. It seems he might want revenge of some kind from something Amelie had done to him in the past, and now he wants to take over the town.
Everyone seem to be scared of him, and for good reason. Bishop is gaining followers more and more, and Claire and her friends hope that the good side will win, but things aren't looking well.

There is a big ball for Bishop's homecoming and everyone, well mostly everyone is invited. It will be the event of the year, but things don't go as planned.
Bishop seems to always be one step ahead, and what happens will surprise you.

I loved this book. Things keep getting better and better as the series goes on, and the story is fresh. I loved the developing relationship between Shane and Claire, and then the friendship between Claire and Eve and Shane and Michael. We don't always get to see a lot of Michael and Eve, it's probably because since these books are in Claire's POV, so if they aren't in scenes with her, we won't see it. Ah, the downside to having 1st POV. But what we do get to see is that they do love each other, and would do anything to protect one another.

Rating: 5/5

Review: Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine

Midnight Alley (Morganville Vampires, #3) by Rachel Caine
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Publication date: September 5th, 2008
Number of pages: 384 pgs
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

Morganville's such a nice place to live ... And die. If you don't mind that sort of thing.
When Claire Danvers learnt that her college town was run by vampires, she did what any intelligent, self-preserving student would do: she applied for a transfer and stocked up on garlic. The transfer is no longer an option, but the garlic may come in handy.
Now Claire has pledged herself to Amelie, the most powerful vampire in town. The protection her contract secures does little to reassure her friends. All of a sudden people are turning up dead, a stalker resurfaces from Claire's past, and an ancient bloodsucker extends a chilling invitation for private lessons in his secluded home.

In the third installment of Rachel Caine's best selling series, comes a new adventure for Claire and her friends that they are not likely to forget.
They will have to deal with more than they think they can handle, romance, vampires and murders.
 
With the deal that Claire made with Amelie, she might soon regret that when she finds herself at Amelie's beck and call.
What Amelie asks of Claire, she'll start to wonder if she can come through, because if she doesn't.. then it might mean the end of not just her life, but of the lives of her friends also.

When girls start to go missing, and then turn up dead -- the first thing they think is a vampire attack, but when that gets ruled out, a mystery person from Eve's past turns up and the answer seems pretty obvious.

Shane is still having a hard time dealing with the fact that his best friend is now a vampire, but by each passing day it's something he slowly comes to accept.

Claire gets stronger after every book. She may be young, but she learns from her experiences and mistakes. Her romance with Shane also keeps her grounded, and soon she'll be a force nobody can go against.
The group of these friends are unlike anyone else. if the residents of Morganville start to underestimate them, they'll soon be sorry.

This was another great installment in this thrilling series.  Props to Rachel.

Rating: 4.5/5

 

Review: The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine

The Dead Girls' Dance (Morganville Vampires, #2) by Rachel Caine
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Publication date:  April 7th, 2008
Number of pages: 380 pgs
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

Good news, girls: your dates are here!

Claire Danvers has had her share of challenges - like being a genius in a school that favours beauty over brains, dealing with the homicidal girls in her dorm and, above all, finding out that her college town is overrun with blood-sucking fiends. On the plus side, so far Claire and her friends have managed to survive getting on the wrong side of some Morganville VIPs . . . Vampire Important Persons. But their temporary peace is in danger of collapsing, thanks to the arrival of her new boyfriend's scary father and his vampire-fighting supporters.

Bad news, girls: they're dead.

The story to Rachel Caine's second installment to the Morganville Vampires series picks right up where Glass Houses left off.
Shane father has arrived back in town determined to get rid of all the vampires that he can for revenge of the death of his wife and daughter. But things don't go according to plan.
When a death of a vampire occurs, Shane's father's friends get accused and then Shane gets involved in the mess forcing Amelie to make a harsh decision concerning his fate.
The question is, is he innocent or guilty. Claire believes he has done nothing wrong so she goes to extreme lengths to protect him and her friends and to set him free of the charges he has been accused of.

Claire also receives an offer of protection, not just for herself, but also for her friends.
Michael also finds himself in a situation when he makes a drastic choice that will change his whole life, and one that will have consequences on his relationships with his friends, especially Shane.

The relationships between Shane and Claire, also Michael and Eve begin to evolve and progress. You even start to understand Eve a little more as you get information on her family.

This was a great book and looking forward to see how things progress for the rest of the series. 

Rating: 5/5

Review: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires, #1) by Rachel Caine
Publisher: Penguin Austtalia
Publication date: May 26th, 2008
Number of pages: 348 pgs
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

From the author of the popular Weather Warden series comes the debut of an exciting new series set in Morganville, Texas, where you would be well advised to avoid being out after dark.

College freshman Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation. When Claire heads off-campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don't show many signs of life, but they'll have Claire's back when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood. Will she be able to face the town's terror or will she drown like everyone else?

In the first novel of Rachel Caine's YA series comes, Glass Houses it begin sixteen year old, college freshman, Claire Davers. After having graduated early from high school and because her parents wouldn't let her move too far away from home at such a young age, Claire starts at the university in Morganville, Texas.
But this town, and this college is much different than everywhere else in the country. This town is populated and run by vampires.
Yes. Believe or not. It's true.
Claire hasn't had the best experience in Morganville.She gets beat up by the Queen B. The bitchy girl of the school and fears for her life if she comes back.
Everything starts to change when she moves into an off campus house with two guys and a girl who begin to help her see the town differently than she ever felt possible.

This was a really great start to the series. There was lots of action, a potential romance, or two and a mystery which you want to know more of.

The characters: Claire. While she might just think she was some small, innocent and naive young teenager who is over her head, and while in the beginning you might be right. But as the book gears toward the end, Claire becomes such a strong young woman who will go deep into trouble if it means doing what is right.
She adores her friends and will do anything to them, and won't back down to her enemies even if it means it could end up costing her life.

Shane, Michael and Eve: Who doesn't love these three? I loved Shane right away, and his growing friendship/relationship with Claire. I love the progress these two had. While we might have thought his concern over her was just to do with his sister and being protective of her like that, but the more they got to know each other.. things changed, into something else.
Michael and Eve. Such great characters, and while we don't see them as much as we might have liked, it's enough to come to adore them. Michael has a secret that he is keeping from them all, and Eve.. for a goth chic who is an outsider in the town, she is not afraid of anything.. or almost anything.

The villians.. end up not being who you might think. I love the mystery and intrigue in the book and really looking forward to book 2, especially on the cliffhanger at the end.

Rating: 5/5

 

Review: Fall of Night (Morganville Vampires #14) by Rachel Caine

Fall of Night (Morganville Vampires #14) by Rachel Caine
Publisher: Penguin
Publication date: April 24th, 2013
Number of pages: 350
Format: E-format via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

Thanks to its unique combination of human and vampire residents, Morganville, Texas, is a small college town with big-time problems. When student Claire Danvers gets the chance to experience life on the outside, she takes it. But Morganville isn’t the only town with vampire trouble...

Claire never thought she’d leave Morganville, but when she gets accepted into the graduate program at MIT, she can’t pass up the opportunity. Saying good-bye to her friends is bittersweet, especially since things are still raw and unsettled between Claire and her boyfriend, Shane.

Her new life at MIT is scary and exciting, but Morganville is never really far from Claire’s mind. Enrolled in a special advanced study program with Professor Irene Anderson, a former Morganville native, Claire is able to work on her machine, which is designed to cancel the mental abilities of vampires.

But when she begins testing her machine on live subjects, things quickly spiral out of control, and Claire starts to wonder whether leaving Morganville was the last mistake she’ll ever make...

What happens now that Claire has finally left Morganville to do the one thing she has always wanted to do?

In the fourteenth novel in this series, Rachel Caine does not stop at anything. If you think things had been becoming boring, then think again because this novel begins a new journey for our beloved characters.
Claire arrives at MIT to start a new journey for herself, to be able to see what else there is out there outside Morganville, but she soon discovers the true meaning of what Home is to her, and it may not be what she thought it was.

Claire's life at MIT starts to become a little out of control, she might start to reconsider leaving her friends, her boyfriend and Morganville after all.

This installment felt like a breath of fresh air when we see Claire in a new environment, a place outside of vampires and into a life she has always thought she wanted. But she may discover what she thought she wanted, and what is true could be two very different things.
But her life back in Morganville is not always lost on her when someone from her not so distant past comes along, keeping an eye on her.
This novel is full of adventure, excitement and realizations that your home will always be where your heart is.
We also get to see how things are going back in Morganville with our multiple POVs that continue in this book.

By the end of this, you can feel things might be starting to wrap up for an ending that I can see just on the horizon.

Rachel Caine has surprised me time and time again, and I look forward to the next novel.

Rating:  4.5 / 5

Review: Bitter Blood (Morganville Vampires #13) by Rachel Caine

Bitter Blood (Morganville Vampires #13) by Rachel Caine
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication date: October 24th, 2012
Number of pages: 544
Format: Paperback
Buy: Amazon | The Book Depository
Add to Goodreads

Thanks to the eradication of the parasitic creatures known as the draug, the vampires of Morganville have been freed of their usual constraints. With the vampires indulging their every whim, the town’s human population is determined to hold on to their lives by taking up arms. But college student Claire Danvers isn’t about to take sides, considering she has ties to both the humans and the vampires.

To make matters worse, a television show comes to Morganville looking for ghosts, just as vampire and human politics collide. Now, Claire and her friends have to figure out how to keep the peace without ending up on the nightly news… or worse

In the thirteenth book of Rachel's series, you can feel it's slowly winding down. That doesn't make it less exciting or interesting though, as she somehow manages to keep each book fresh within the story scope.

This book, like some of the previous ones have a couple of different POVS.  This book is unlike the others we have read. Things have changed between Claire and Amelie. Even Amelie and Oliver.. and many other relationships.
The stakes are raised, and things are even more intense now that Michael and Eve have gotten married, which was against all the laws there are. 

Along with the action, as there is plenty of that, this book is more focused on the relationships of our core characters. We have Michael and Eve, as they go through the typical things of a married couple, less alone a marriage between a vampire and a human. Claire and Shane seem to have their own share of problems, and issues they have to deal with... and then we have Oliver and Amelie. That relationship is always something  I wanted to see, even though they were always in competition of one another, and in this book... we get a glimpse of how they feel about one another.

I really felt bad for Oliver at a point in this book. It seems almost everyone was being used in one way or another. Oliver, Amelie and then our beloved characters as well. Manipulation by someone they can't control or stop. I think both Amelie and Oliver are very similar, and maybe that was what have bonded them together over the centuries they have known one another.

The ending of this book... opens up a new beginning, and I can see the light of the end, I think. It was a ending which I probably thought wouldn't happen until the end. I look forward to see what happens now. It kind of brings a whole new range of options for the characters.

Verdict: 4.5/5

Jen's review of "Black Dawn" by Rachel Caine

Black Dawn (Morganville Vampires #12) by Rachel Caine
Publication date: May 1st, 2012
Publisher: Penguin
Number of pages: 512
Format: Paperback
Add to Goodreads
Description: With its eclectic mix of vampire and human citizens, Morganville, Texas, has always been a risky place to call home. But with the invasion of the vampire’s deadliest enemy, Morganville isn’t just in danger—it’s dying…
 Ever since the draug—mysterious creatures that prey on vampires—took over Morganville, the lives of student Claire Danvers and her friends have been thrown into turmoil. Most of the town’s residents have evacuated, but Claire, Shane, Eve and Michael have chosen to stay and fight.Using the city’s water system to spread, the draug have rapidly multiplied. Things in Morganville look grim, especially since vampire Amelie—the town founder—has been infected by the master draug’s bite.

Now, if Claire and her friends don’t figure out how to cure Amelie and defeat the draug, it looks like Morganville will become little more than a ghost town…

Its amazing to think about this being the 12th book in the series, and yet, the story is as refreshing as it was from that very first page of Glass Houses. I don't know how Rachel does it. Its simply amazing. I could not praise her enough and how she has managed to keep the story fresh throughout all this time. 

In Last Breath, we were introduced to the one thing the vampires were most afraid of. The thing even humans were afraid of. The Draug.
The Draug are something in which seems impossible to stop, and yet life-threatening. They are a species that run through water, so imagine how difficult it would be to know when you are up against one, or even many. How would you know if you were infected by one? Or even how to go about stopping it? You can't... and that is the very thing Claire and her friends try to overcome in this book.

Claire, Shane, Michael and Eve find themselves joining forces with the vampires to get rid of the Draug. After Amelie gets sick, they are on a race against time to fix this mess before its too late.
But before that happens, their own have problems. Not only do Eve and Michael have some issues between them they need to work out, but Shane goes through something himself that involves the Draug.
This is an exciting installment to this series, and loved every moment of it.

Recent previous books we have had different POVs, rather than just Claire's, and this book follows that trend. We get Michael, Even and Shane's different POVs througout this book, along with our normal protagonist, Claire.
Its nice to see others and their thoughts and experiences as they go through their journeys which the plot takes them on. A new experience that we don't see very often. To get in the head of our other main characters, to see what they see, and feel what they feel.

Rating: 5 out of 5

In My Mailbox #5

In My Mailbox is a weekly blog post hosted by Kirsti over at The Story Siren and inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

Not much these week only these two:
 

   

These are titles which I purchased this past weekend.

Black Dawn (Morganville Vampires #12) by Rachel Caine
Until I Die by Amy Plum