Posts Tagged "YA Vampire Fiction"

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?

As Michael and Eve make preparations for their wedding, certain undead members of the Morganville community begin making all kinds of noise objecting to the idea. Everyone seems to have an opinion on why Michael and Eve shouldn’t get married – except the couple themselves. Even Shane and Claire express concern. Michael is a vampire; Eve is human. A lifelong predatory union such as that is bound to end in tragedy, right? At least, that’s what the history books show. Eve wonders … could her relationship with Michael go down in history as the first human/vampire relationship to really make it?

In Bite Club we saw Shane and Claire face all kinds of adversity. Shane let Claire down – repeatedly – and both of them still have wounds to heal from that experience, but Last Breath opens showing Shane and Claire more in love, stronger than they’ve ever been before. It’s obvious they’re meant to be together, through thick and thin, the good and the bad, the ugly and the beautiful – but what about in death? Last Breath sees Shane and Claire face the ultimate challenge – the biggest one they’re likely to encounter ever.

Meanwhile, outside the Glass House, Morganville is in a state of disarray. Vampires are going missing and something has spooked Amelie out of her mind. She’s packing up the vampires and planning a mass exodus out of Morganville. It looks like the humans will finally have their town back.

Or will they?

If I know Amelia – and I think by now I do – leaving the humans to their own devices is not something she’s particularly known for. She says they’re leaving and allowing the humans to reclaim the town, but is that really what’s going on? Would she really leave a bunch of humans behind untouched, uncontrolled? Not very likely.

And Claire and Shane know it. Complacency, happiness, contentment – these are things that Shane and Claire will never get to experience. Not while they’re living in Morganville, anyway. In an epic battle – more epic than anything Morganville has ever seen – the Glass House gang will join the vampires, again, in the fight for their very lives.

Last Breath threw many curve balls that I never saw coming. Predictable is not a word I would choose to describe this series. Just when you think Caine can’t possibly develop this world any further, she does. Just when you think these characters have grown as much as they possibly can, Caine manages to mould them into even more dynamic, even greater characters. I never get tired of reading these books. With Last Breath Caine delivers one of the most thrilling cliffhangers to date, and as always, I’m now anxiously awaiting the arrival of the next chapter in this awesome series.

Pages: 335

Publication date: November 2011

Publisher: New American Library

Challenge: N/A

Rating: :

Teaser Quote:

Oliver stalked forward toward … Toward Myrnin, in his thick black coat, who was holding Shane against the alley’s other wall with his right hand, and drawing back with his left, claws catching the light in sharp angles. He hesitated as he spotted Oliver, and froze as he saw Claire’s shuddering form.

“No,” he whispered, the signaled a stare at Oliver. “Damn you! She shouldn’t have to see this!”

The second novel in Lili St Crow’s Strange Angels series, Betrayals, is set to debut on the New York Times Children’s Paperback Bestseller List at number five on December 6, 2009.

Congratulations to Lili! Betrayals is a truly compelling read, and we’re happy to announce that we’re featuring it as our Book of the Month for December!

Yep, you heard right folks, Richelle Mead’s popular Vampire Academy series is now officially banned in Texas. While the novel has only been banned in one school district, we here at yaReads find this rather astonishing.

Vampire Academy is the second most challenged/banned book in Texas this year. Want to learn more, or read Richelle’s personal thoughts on this? Click here.

Morganville Vampire fans, check this out. We’ve got an official title and cover for the eight book in the series, due out April 2010.

Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you Kiss of Death:

Here at yaReads, we’re loving this. What about you guys?

Richelle Mead is the author of the ever popular Vampire Academy series. The much anticipated fourth book in the series, Blood Promise, is scheduled for release on August 25 for Americans and August 26 for Australians. As a bit of a teaser, Richelle was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions about herself, and her beloved vampire series to get you ready for Blood Promise. Fear no, there are no spoilers in this interview, so sit back, grab a cuppa, and enjoy the show…

The age difference between Dimitri and Rose is quite big, why/how did you decide to make Rose’s love interest a much older man?

Well, it’s not that big a difference!  Questions like this are hard to answer because my response is usually “because it felt right.”   That’s just the way their story needed to be told.  When I started conceiving the characters and the world, it just came together that Rose and her instructor would fall for each other.  And of course, it adds the dangerous and forbidden element that we all love.

Lissa and Rose are an unlikely match, personality wise. If they weren’t bonded, do you think they’d be friends?

Absolutely!  They actually were friends years before the bond existed.  I think it’s a pretty common phenomenon (the friendship, not the bond!).  Sometimes we need to be around people who have different traits to complement our own, and I’ve had a lot of teens write me and say their friendships are just like Lissa and Rose’s.

The Vampire Academy world has three ‘types’ of vampires. Why/how did you decide to separate the good, evil and half breeds into three separate races?

This is actually a concept found in Romanian folklore.  I loved the idea of it, especially since it was so different from the usual images of vampires that are out there.  So, I used pieces of that myth as the basis for my world and then built my story around it.

All throughout the VA series, there have been references to Russian language and culture, especially in Blood Promise. Do you have any familial ties or previous interest/experience with all things Russian?

I actually have no connections whatsoever to Russian or Romanian culture—and struggle when people ask me to pronounce some of the VA terms!  I chose to have both cultures influence the VA world because those regions have such fantastic vampire stories in their folklore.  So, it seemed natural that Eastern Europe would be where a lot of my vampires came from.  Without having visited, I have to do a lot of research to make things work!  I read a lot and am lucky enough to know people who speak the languages.

Do you name your books, or does your publisher have some input, too?

They definitely have input.  In fact, I’d say the relationship in selecting titles is 50/50.  We can’t go forward until we have a title we all like, and Shadow Kiss is notorious for having taken months.  So, we end up constantly swapping suggestions back and forth, and every time, one hits that gets us all excited.

How easy/hard was your rise to publication success?

Publication is never easy for anyone.  There are so many variables that affect success: book quality, promotion, timing, and a lot of luck!  Any of these can have their own degree of difficulty.  Mine were mixed, which is typical of most authors.

Before the Vampire Academy books were released, you wrote adult fiction (and still do). What prompted your move into the YA genre?

I had some extra time (if only I did now!) and wanted to start a new project.  Since I was a teacher then, someone suggested YA, and I thought it sounded like a lot of fun.  I was also interested in it was because it was so different from my adult books, and writers always looking for new ways to experiment with their creativity!

What is your fave book?

I have a few faves, but let’s go with The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing?

I do a lot of mundane things like reading and watching TV.  I also occasionally try my hand at gardening (with varying results) and have been dabbling in genealogy recently.  Probably one of my very favourite things is socializing with friends, which gets tough to fit in with books always being due!

For you, what is the best and worst things about being a writer?

The best part is that I absolutely love it, which is so important because even the most wonderful jobs will have hard, stressful, hair-pulling days.  It’s hard to get through those days if you aren’t passionate about your work, and I definitely am.  I love my characters, their worlds, and their stories. The hardest part is that the job rests on me.  I don’t work for anyone.  I sell my books to my publishers, and then it’s up to me to make sure I finish them.  So, this job requires a lot of discipline and time management to go with the romance and glamour.  It’s up to me to make sure I’m putting in the time and giving the books the attention they deserve.  It can be very stressful sometimes!

Stay tuned for our review of Blood Promise coming your way on the day of release!