'Rapture' A Novel of the Fallen Angels #4 by J.R. Ward

 Received from the Publisher 

From the BLURB:

Mels Carmichael, reporter for the Caldwell Courier Journal, gets the shock of her life when a man stumbles in front of her car outside the local cemetery. After the accident, his amnesia is just the kind of mystery she likes to solve, but she soon discovers they're over their heads with his past. Over their heads with passion, too...

As shadows walk the line between reality and another realm and her lover's memory begins to come back, the two of them learn that nothing is truly dead and buried. Especially when you're trapped in a no-holds-barred war between angels and demons. With a soul on the line and Mels' heart at risk, what in heaven - or in hell - will it take to save them both?

** This review contains spoilers of all previous books in the ‘Fallen Angels’ series **

The odds are in their favour, but Jim Heron and his last remaining angelic aid, Adrian, are still fighting hard in the war against Good and Evil.

This time the soul in question belongs to Jim’s old XOps boss, the pathologically cruel Matthias who was a previously lost cause.

Matthias is back from hell and upon his return he’s involved in a car accident with Caldwell Courier journalist Mels Carmichael. Mels can’t forget about the John Doe she hit with her car and when the limping, scarred man admits to her that he has amnesia, he also asks for her help in finding who he is. Mels finds that she cannot refuse him, and it’s not just her guilty conscience pushing her to stay close to Matthias . . .

Meanwhile, evil beauty Devina is still rampaging mad that Jim duped her in the last souls round, and her payback will involve poking at the open-wound that is Jim’s little lost, virginal soul, Sissy. . .

‘Rapture’ is the fourth book in J.R. Ward’s ‘Fallen Angels’ series.

I swear, this fourth book in the ‘Fallen Angels’ series feels like a giant step back . . . which is such a shame after the four-star glory of third book, ‘Envy’. I have not been an easy fan of this series, but I will admit that the books had been getting progressively better from the lacklustre two-star first book ‘Covet’, each new book gaining a one-star improvement. But here we are with ‘Rapture’ and we’re backtracking. It was a mixture of slow plot, a too quick romance and the Warden yet again dragging her pen on the slow-as-molasses developing plot of Sissy and Jim that really put me off this book.

First of all, it felt like the Warden was not-so-subtly reminding fans of the ‘Fallen Angels’ timeline throughout this book. I marked the four odd times that characters alluded to the series timeline – from ‘Covet’ through to ‘Rapture’ – revealing that there has been only a span of about two weeks. A couple of weeks. That’s it. The Warden mentions it when Mels and Matthias investigate the electrocution/shooting death of Jim Heron – the fact that he has been dead for a little over two weeks. Now, I think part of the reason that the Warden made it a point to put a mark on the ‘Fallen Angels’ timeline is to reveal the real urgency in the Heaven vs Hell competition. This urgency is actually part of the reason I have never really enjoyed the romances in the ‘Fallen Angels’ series – because they are very quick; Jim and Devina are fighting tooth and nail for these lost souls, and that urgency translates to all of the romances in which the men need the love of a good woman to save their soul.

Luckily the Warden has shied away from out-right ‘love at first sight’ clichés, but it has been a close thing. With Matthias and Mels, for example, he feels a stirring for her when she comes to visit him in hospital – but it’s more seeing her head-strong journalist self that really turns him on. But, all in all, the quick-fire romances have never really worked for me and that’s again true with Matthias and Mels. Never mind that following the same tropes in every single book is growing a wee bit old – lost guy’s soul needs to find his one true love to get a win for heaven. Slight yawn. Bigger yawn in ‘Rapture’ because Matthias and Mels’s physical relationship has strong echoes of Rehvenge and Ehlena’s romance in ‘Lover Avenged’ – particularly because battle wounds have made Matthias impotent (and where Rehv was a bad-ass nightclub owner/drug dealer, Matthias was a bad-ass XOps leader). The scene in which Matthias and Mels find ways around sex without penetration read like déjà-vu for the same exchange in ‘Lover Avenged’.

Jim cleared his throat. Twice. “Ah, you’re back because we need you to make the right choice this time.”
“Choice?”
“At the crossroads.” Jim prayed he was going to make some sense. “You’re, ah, you’re going to come to a moment where you need to choose, and if you don’t want to go back where you were, you have to pick the righteous path, not . . .  what you’re used to.”
“So it’s true? About Heaven and Hell?”
“And you’ve got a second chance.”
“Why?”
“The devil cheats.”

Part of the reason I’m actually really impatient for Sissy to hurry the heck up and get a bigger role in this series is because I like the build-up for her and Heron. Whereas all the other romance focuses in the series have followed the lost soul’s romances, and have been very quick developments, Jim and Sissy’s potential romance is the only one that has roots going back to book one and a bit of history behind it. But we’re in book four now, and Jim’s occasional slip-ups of “his girl, Sissy” are quickly becoming not quite enough to keep me on the hooks with this romance. And I’m also becoming concerned that the Warden is writing Sissy into a Mary-Sue type of role, a girl who can do no wrong who, we are always reminded, was a beautiful blonde-virgin-smart girl before Devina killed her. Jim is building her up waaaaaay too much, and as a result Jim’s holier-than-thou thoughts of her are off-putting to the reader. It may have helped if the Warden had given us the occasional POV chapters from Sissy? – yes, she is stuck in a wall of souls, but maybe if we were there with her, experiencing the horror or reading how she’s keeping herself psychologically strong, then we’d be a bit more sympathetic towards her. As it is? I really feel like ‘Rapture’ should have been the book in which Sissy steps into the spotlight, because as of this book the romance I was looking forward to is rapidly losing my interest and patience.

Another reason I think the Warden mentioned the two-week timeline is to remind us that it wasn’t all that long ago that Jim Heron was getting down and dirty with Devina in ‘Covet’ . . . because there is quite a big focus in this book, on Devina’s growing infatuation with Jim. Actually, there’s also a growing focus on Devina as a multifaceted villain, complete with OCD quirks and job pressures. I’m not so sure how I feel about this; on the one hand, I always love a bad guy with shades of grey. But on the other hand, I have been enjoying Devina’s truly heinous self . . . and I’m not entirely certain that the Warden won’t continue to give Devina more emotional depth, and possibly push her towards Jim. I really, really hope not. Because that’s creepy. Although, I think it may help to throw a spanner in the Sissy/Jim romance if Devina is in a viable love triangle with them – and I'd be interested to see how it plays out, if Jim (the veritable balance in this whole game) has to choose between the evil Devina, and the innocent Sissy.

All in all, I think this series is going a little wonky. We’re four books in now, and Sissy is still being alluded to as the ultimate Mary-Sue, we’ve been reading the same guy-needs-true-love-to-make-a-win-for-heaven storyline and Devina has only just started to become more multifaceted. *Sigh*. I’m struggling with this series, I really am.

2/5

'This is Not a Test' by Courtney Summers

From the BLURB:

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

“This is not a test. Listen closely. This is not a test.”

Sloane Price was meant to escape a very different horror story, before she found herself in the middle of another one. She thought her life couldn’t get any worse than it has been these last six months – six months since her sister, Lily, left without her. Six months being her father’s only target. Six months wondering how Lily could do that to her, just leave. Just like that.

And then they came. People with grey-clouded eyes, mottled skin, slathering mouths. They do not die. They just keep coming.

Seven days later, Sloane is holed up in Cortege High with a cast of misfit survivors.

Harrison is only fifteen and new to the town of Cortege – he cries all the time. Grace is beautiful and compassionate, just as Sloane remembers from the brief time when they were childhood friends. Grace’s twin brother, Trace, has a hot temper and he is not accepting the fact that their parents are dead. Cary Chen was a no-hope stoner in school, but has proven himself a skilled survivalist since the world changed around them. Rhys was famous at school – he was an impossibly cool senior, always seen smoking with a bevy of beautiful girls. And then there’s Sloane … who carries a note in her pocket and a dark wish in her heart.

 “This is not a test. Listen closely. This is not a test.”

‘This is Not a Test’ is the new young adult novel by Courtney Summers. The novel was released in June this year, and I am woefully late in singing its praises.

I should start by saying I was aware of Courtney Summers before this book came out. I read ‘Cracked Up To Be’ back in 2009 and was blown away by it – by this infectiously interesting but unsettling teen book. I made a promise to myself then to read more of Summers’s work, so I’m ashamed to say that I’ve only just fulfilled that promise with ‘This is Not a Test’.

This is a zombie novel. But you must dispel any misconceptions you have about zombie novels before you start reading Courtney Summers’s take. Right from chapter one, even before any flesh-eating undead have lumbered onto the page, readers will quickly cotton onto the fact that our protagonist, Sloane Price, is already living a horror story of a very different nature. Her father has endless rules, one of the biggest being that she cannot leave the house with visible bruises. So she stays home, until they heal, and then he can give her fresh ones. Sloane must also eat everything on her plate before she can leave the table. She does not have friends. She does not talk back to her father. And she desperately wants to kill herself.

Sloane had a very different plan originally, one that included running away with her older sister Lily … but then Lily left without her. When we meet her, Sloane thinks she is at the brink of her life – she can go no further. And then a slathering, limping, mottle-skinned woman crashes through their front window, and Sloane’s horror story changes.

The novel then skips ahead to seven days later. The town of Cortege is burning, and six students may very well be all that is left. They have made a fortress of their High School, and now they wait. And wait. And wait.

Courtney Summer’s novel stings. That’s the first word that comes to mind with this very raw, very brutal but starkly beautiful and original novel. It stings, a little. She writes an incredible balance between Sloane’s personal struggles and dark memories, playing out against a high-octane thrill-ride that’s heart palpitating and scary. She’s also written an intense and fascinating novel about human nature, as these six teenagers come to terms with a crumbling world and their battle for survival.

But Sloane is really the stand out of this novel. She is a most curious character, and it’s a sort of chicken and egg debate as to whether she’s interesting because of the zombie storyline, or in spite of it? For starters, the zombie-apocalypse forces Sloane into a survivalist situation – which is darkly ironic when all she wants to do is die. At one point she muses about her suicidal wish that she’s already dead, she’s just waiting for her body to catch up. Oh! See what I mean about ‘this novel stings’? It’s those sorts of precise little gems that Summers pops into your head and makes you mull over – no matter how uncomfortable the question, you admire her for even asking it.

Sloane also offers an odd dichotomy for readers – because on the one hand, we’re rooting for her – we like her, we feel sorry for her and we know she deserves a better life than the one she has been dealt (even before the zombies came to town). The clash comes because while readers are hoping that Sloane survives in this post-apocalyptic world, Sloane herself doesn’t want to live. We’re barracking for a character who has given up on herself – so we’re just waiting for her to catch up and realize what we, as readers, figured out very early on – that she’s a survivor, and stronger than she could ever imagine. And she deserves to live.

I just love the simple brilliance of a horror story within a horror story. And how often the zombie/suicide storyline crosses over and blurs. The day-to-day of surviving when the world is crumbling, versus the day-to-day of surviving when you are crumbling;

The thing no one tells you about surviving, about the mere act of holding out, is how many hours are nothing because nothing happens.

Of course, this is still a zombie novel. Courtney Summers never forgets that, and certainly never lets readers forget it. But before you claim fatigue with the undead that seem to be over-populating bookshelves at the moment, I would implore you to read ‘This is not a Test’ for a beautifully different zombie-horror story. Summers stills asks sharp end-of-the-world questions;

It’s a while before she opens it and when she does, I glimpse cutouts of actors and musicians taped to the door and I wonder what they’re doing now, if they’re dead. I wonder if they’ve saved all the celebrities. When this is over, society will need entertainment to get past it. We’ll make movies about it, hundreds of movies, and in every one of them, we’ll be the heroes and the love interests and best friends and winners and we’ll watch these movies until we are so far removed from our own history, we’ll forget how it really felt to be here.

‘This is Not a Test’ is a scary, scary book. The undead are only ever just outside the High School doors and a succession of plot twists and OH-MY-GOD curveballs will have you holding the book in a sweaty-handed death-grip. As fascinating as Sloane’s inner turmoils are, Summers is equally brilliant at the action and base horror. Cortege High becomes ‘Lord of the Flies’ when there are power-struggles amongst the three boys and the undead start pounding on the doors.

‘This is Not a Test’ stings, just a little. It’s unsettling and thought-provoking, beautifully crafted with equal-parts human story and horror story. I must send out a big ‘thank you’ to Adele Walsh, for recommending me this book. And now I must read every single book in Courtney Summers’s back list. She’s one to watch, you mark my words.

5/5

Interivew with Paddy O'Reilly, author of 'The Fine Color of Rust'

  

 •

So, I recently read and loved Paddy O'Reilly's novel 'The Fine Color of Rust'. I loved it so much (snorted my way through it, in fact) that the first person I hand-balled it to was my grandma, who always trusts my reading recommendations. 

Now, my grandma is in her 80's and been having some problems with her eyes - so had to go in for surgery. I checked up on her the other week, and she's doing fine but her eyes are recovering and between the surgery and eye-drops she can't read as much as she normally does (which is, all the time). She's finding this particularly frustrating because she has been reading O'Reilly's 'The Fine Color of Rust' and enjoying the heck out of it! ... That should give you some idea of how wonderful this book was, that my grandma is effectively saying; "Cataracts be damned! I want to read more about Loretta and Gunapan!"

Of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to interview the author, especially since I've been a big fan of her short stories for a while now. 

Without further adieu, I give you - P.A. (Paddy) O'Reilly!

•

Q: You have found such great success as a short-story writer. You won the coveted ‘The Age’ short story competition in 2002, and your 2007 short story collection received critical acclaim. But did people always expect you to ‘progress’ to novels? As though short stories were just something to cut your teeth on?

You obviously know about this. So many people talk that way, even novelists who should know better. But anyone who loves the short story, as a writer or a reader or both, knows that the form is entirely different. No one asks poets if they are practising to write short stories. Some poets do write short stories. Some write novels. Some novelists write stories. But each form is unique. Each form makes different demands on the writer and the reader. Each deserves respect for what it is and what it can do. Sorry about the rave but you've touched a tender spot. I still write short stories and I still love the form. I wish more people read them. They are jewels!
 

Q: How long did it take you to write ‘The Fine Colour of Rust’, from first idea to final manuscript?

Do you mean in word-writing hours or looking out the window hours or living hours? Counting living and looking out the window, toilet cleaning, breaks for short story writing and other writing, and the times where I thought, what the hell am I doing, this isn't the kind of stuff I write, and abandoned it for a while, probably about three years. Every time I start a new writing project I think, this time I'm going to work straight through and do it in one go, but I never can.
 

 

Q: Are you a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’ - that is, do you meticulously plot your novel before writing, or do you ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ and let the story evolve naturally?

As you can probably tell from the answer above, plotting only makes me anxious. I can barely plot out what I have to do in a day. That said, once my story has evolved naturally, it's a complete shambles. So plotting for me comes in the editing stage, once I'm confident I know what the book or story is about or at least where I think it's headed. The editing process involves taking a clear-eyed look at what I have and sometimes smashing it up in order to arrive at a functioning plot.
 

Q: And on the topic of plotting and pantsing – does your writing rhythm/routine change a great deal between short stories and novels? What writing quirks are swapped and changed depending on the length of your story?

I don't think it does. The process is anarchic whatever I'm writing. There are times when I look at what's on the screen and think, who on earth wrote that? Somehow things get written. I have a superstition that if I examine it all too closely, it will become a chore. Not that writing is always fun. It's often an arduous challenge, but never a chore.
 

 

Q: I’ve read that ‘The Fine Colour of Rust’ was born out of a short story you wrote. What made you want to spend more time with Loretta and Gunapan, and do you have other short stories you’d like to expand?

I couldn't get Loretta's voice out of my head. Still can't. That is the only time I've ever had a story evolve into a larger work. When I was writing the novel, I kept going back to the story and finding things in there that told me more about Loretta and Norm. The story contained the essence of the novel. I think my other stories are much more quintessentially short stories, that they briefly open a door on a life – from which the reader can extrapolate a world.
 

Q: I loved the town of Gunapan, and especially its residents. You write such pin-point-accurate characterisation, and I saw a lot of people from my life reflected in the characters. Sometimes it was little things, like the grade-three teacher who always says “At the end of the day.” Where do you find your characters? Were some of the Gunapan natives people you’ve met in your life and you were just hording them for this story? Have family or friends told you they see themselves in your stories?

Nothing comes from nowhere. I never deliberately base a character on a person, yet when I look at my work of course I can see quirks and idiosyncrasies, patterns of speech and even lines of dialogue that have seeped into the stories from my interactions with and observations of people in real life. It's astounding when you're writing how things float up and emerge in the writing, things you didn't know you knew. There's a certain level of observation you need to have as a writer, and whether it's conscious or not, you absorb the flavours of people.
 

 

Q: I loved the note about ‘sabi’, a Japanese word “which connotes the simple beauty of worn and imperfect and impermanent things.” When did you first hear about sabi?

A long time ago I lived in Japan and worked as a copywriter and translator. The aesthetics of Japan have such wonderful contrasts: there is wabi and sabi, which we all recognise as the aesthetic of the pottery, the zen gardens, the wooden implements, the use of space and so on. Then there's Hello Kitty!
 

Q: I was pretty much laughing out loud for the entire 280-odd pages of this novel. I wonder if you write to make yourself laugh, or do you have readers along the way who act as your laugh-o-meter gauge?

I didn't start out to write a funny book. It was Loretta, the character, who had the funny lines. She made me laugh, and all I was doing as I wrote was trying to keep the Loretta voice true. I love people who can raise a laugh in the face of adversity – it's such a strong Australian trait. And it's probably terrible to admit it but after all this time, when I do readings of the book, I still find the lines funny.
 

 

Q: I have noticed that the ‘chook lit’ genre has exploded in Australia, a spin on the traditional ‘chick lit’ that focuses on romances in the rural Australian outback. Those novels are fun and can be enjoyable, but I felt like ‘The Fine Colour of Rust’ was far more truthful about the ‘glamorous’ outback lifestyle – writing it, warts and all. How do you feel about the emerging ‘chook lit’ phenomenon? What do you think Loretta would have to say about it (y’know, if she wasn’t a fictional character)?

One reviewer described The Fine Colour of Rust as a 'tongue--in-cheek anti-romance' which made me laugh. As a reader, I like to be surprised and challenged, and they say you should write what you want to read. So I guess I was always going to write against expectations. I think the romance genre and its various branches, of which rural romance seems to be the latest, provide a reassuring reading experience for their audience. But although I was writing a novel with commercial appeal, I did want to play around, subvert the conventions, and it wasn't too difficult since Loretta is hardly your average romantic heroine. I honestly cannot imagine Loretta trying to ride a horse or rope a steer. (Mind you, it does suggest some great comic images. Hmm.)
 

Q: Favourite author(s) of all time?

I cannot answer this or the next question because all time isn't done yet and there is so much to read. I hope I have many hundreds of favourites ahead of me.

Q: Favourite book(s)?

Q: What advice do you have for budding young writers?

Read, write, read, write and have a life as well. Reading will help both your life and your writing.

'The Angel' The Original Sinners #2 by Tiffany Reisz

 Received from the Publisher 

From the BLURB:

No safe word can protect the heart...

Infamous erotica author and accomplished dominatrix Nora Sutherlin is doing something utterly out of character: hiding. While her longtime lover, Søren–whose fetishes, if exposed, would be his ruin–is under scrutiny pending a major promotion, Nora’s lying low and away from temptation in the lap of luxury.

Her host, the wealthy and uninhibited Griffin Fiske, is thrilled to have Nora stay at his country estate, especially once he meets her traveling companion. Young, inexperienced and angelically beautiful, Michael has become Nora’s protégé, and this summer with Griffin is going to be his training, where the hazing never ends.

But while her flesh is willing, Nora’s mind is wandering. To thoughts of Søren, her master, under investigation by a journalist with an ax to grind. And to another man from Nora’s past, whose hold on her is less bruising, but whose secrets are no less painful. It’s a summer that will prove the old adage: love hurts.

Following the events of ‘The Siren’, Nora Sutherlin has returned to her old master and first love, Søren. But to fly home to him she had to give up her old intern and would-be-lover, Wesley. Now Nora finds herself in the midst of a potential scandal concerning her beloved priest. Søren is up for a promotion, and someone has made an anonymous tip to war-zone journalist, Suzanne Kanter, that there’s a conflict of interest . . . remembering her own familial wounds regarding a corrupt priest, Suzanne takes it upon herself to unearth Father Sterns’s deepest, darkest secrets.

Meanwhile infamous erotica writer, Nora Sutherlin, is taking it upon herself to hide away in the country with her dearest friend, trust fund darling and occasional lover, Griffin Fiske. Hiding goes against her very nature, but to keep Søren safe and divert attention away from him, Nora will do anything she has to. But two months away from her home and master will not lessen Søren’s hold, and he has one more command to make of Nora before she leaves . . . he asks that she take Michael Dimir with her, the young man Nora introduced to their lifestyle one year ago. Michael was saved the moment Søren realized what he was and his sexual impulses, but the young man still battles with his tyrannical father, his own disgust in himself and a deep yearning to belong to someone.

In two months away from home all of these original sinners will face battles within themselves and against each another.

‘The Angel’ is the second novel in Tiffany Reisz’s ‘Original Sinners’ dark erotica series.

I so enjoyed Reisz’s first outing with ‘The Siren’ that I had quite high-hopes for her follow-up, and if I’m 100% honest, I didn’t know if she could meet them. Well, I’ve got to give major props to Reisz because not only did she exceed my expectations with this second book, but she has made me utterly anxious for third (but, pretty please, not final!) book in the series ‘The Prince’, which is due for release in November.

‘The Angel’ picks up pretty much where ‘The Siren’ left off, give or take a few months. Nora is happily ensconced in her relationship with Søren once again, though her beloved master and priest is concerned that Nora has been ignoring calls from her old intern (and unrequited lover) Wesley. Seventeen-year-old Michael is just as introverted as ever, despite his erotic introduction to the BDSM world courtesy of Ms. Sutherlin – Michael may have found solace in his like-minded fetishist, but he is still cowed by his oppressive father and his own insecurities about who he is and what he desires. Meanwhile, Kingsley Edge has had a break-in at his office, and someone has stolen a single, secret-filled, file … Nora’s. At the same time, an unexpected twist in a church promotion has Father Stearns (‘Søren’) up for promotion and under journalistic scrutiny when war-reporter Suzanne Kanter is anonymously tipped to follow his trail. Nora and Michael, both being the potential biggest scandal stories attached to Søren, agree to a two-month sojourn in the country at the lavish estate of Griffin Fiske, 8th Circle regular, Nora’s friend (sometime bed-mate) and generally despised by Søren.

Also circling these characters’ stories is Wesley, back home in Kentucky and unsuccessfully trying to forget about Nora Sutherlin and what she’s doing (and who she’s doing it with) since they parted ways. Zachary Easton is also a phone call away for Nora, as he’s back in England and trying for a baby with his wife, Grace, but still offering input into Nora’s latest novel and romantic catastrophes.

Early on in the novel Nora recounts for Michael a bit of wisdom passed on to her by the infamous Kingsley Edge, who said: “Fetishes . . . they’re the pet you feed or the beast that eats you.” I think that’s a lovely idiom for the ‘Original Sinners’ series in general, but especially for this mid-way book.

‘The Siren’ was such a fantastic introductory book, not just to the ‘Original Sinners’ universe, but to erotica and BDSM in general. I felt like Tiffany Resiz presented some wonderful, insightful arguments regarding the misrepresentation of erotica (often thought of as ‘smut’ or ‘porn’ etc) and without really pressing on the reader to take a side for or against fetishism and BDSM, but at least asking us to think on human nature and the arguments of ‘to each their own’. Well, ‘The Angel’ feels like Reisz is carrying on that message of exploring acceptance, as we delve into some characters’ dark pasts and current struggles.

Søren was very much an unknown element in ‘The Siren’, and all the more intimidating for how characters spoke about and around him, but readers were given very little page-time with his pervading presence. That’s all turned on its head in ‘Angel’, and Søren actually takes up quite a lot of the book’s spotlight. It’s wonderful that readers are now ‘in’ on the Søren story, because reading about journalist Suzanne Kanter’s investigations into him put us in a most curious, sympathetic position. It’s easy to see how so much of Søren’s life and secrets could be horribly, damnably misconstrued from Kanter’s probing. And where once I’m sure a few readers were disgusted by the thought of Søren (based on Wesley’s dislike and Nora’s curious recollections) we are now in a position to be almost defending him. It’s a great little alliance Reisz has formed for the reader, and a great way for those of us (even readers who adamantly disliked Søren and thought him a vile leading man for Nora) to see a different side and rethink our judgements. Søren is also pieced together because in her unearthing, Suzanne Kanter finds the terrible truth of Søren’s past … and it is awful, perhaps especially because it’s so coloured in grey. I will give nothing away, save to say Reisz has added layers and colours to Søren that, even if you don’t find him a fulfilling romantic interest, any reader will surely find him a complex and tough character to admire.

But on the subject of Søren and romance … I appreciated and was surprised at how much ‘The Angel’ is an examination of Søren and Nora’s love. And even though these two are separated (again) in this book, their love definitely shines through. It’s a conundrum, when readers know the degrading, harming foundation of their sexual relationship (and there is a confronting scene very early on which won’t sit well with many readers) but to then read about how their relationship is still very much about love and romance? That was interesting, and again a way that Reisz was expanding the characters and readers misinterpretations about the BDSM world.

When Father Stearns started counselling him after his suicide attempt, Michael finally worked up the courage to ask him about Nora, who Father S called Eleanor. For some reason the first question that came out was, “Is she pretty?”
Father Stearns answered, “Michael, Eleanor is without a doubt the most beautiful woman who has ever or will ever live. If you could take a night time thunderstorm and turn it into a woman, you would have a very good idea what she looks like. And a fairly good idea how she behaves as well,” he’d said and smiled.

On the subject of unconventional romances, a wonderful focus in ‘The Angel’ is on Michael and his growing infatuation with dominant, Grififn Fiske. Griffin is an ex-addict, playboy, trust-fund baby, despised by Søren but beloved of Nora. When Michael lays eyes on Griffin he has a whole new set of internal conundrums – having recently reconciled his sub-tendencies, to then realize he’s also attracted to men? ‘The Angel’ is a book of upheaval for both Michael and Griffin, and it was so interesting to read their coming together (and, again, very romantic).

I feel like I should also stress that while Reisz’s writing may come across as dripping in noir erotica, she is a writer of many shades and she is funny. The same way that Nora Sutherlin is both a seductress and a comic-wit, Tiffany Reisz can write an uncomfortably violent sex scene one moment, and then write a funny turn-around laden with pop-culture references. Like this scene, in which Nora says what we’re all thinking about Søren;

“Yes, sir?” she said when Michael lay safely out of earshot. “How are you, little one?” came Søren’s voice over the line.
“Lonely for a certain six-foot-four blond Scandinavian guy I know.”
Griffin started to go back into Michael’s room and Nora barred the closed door with her body.
“Anyone I know?” Søren asked.
“Alexander Skarsgård.” Griffin feinted to the right before attempting to duck under her arm. She raised her leg and braced it on the door frame to block him.
“I’m afraid I’m not familiar with the gentleman.”
“He’s a Swedish vampire. Anyway, how are you, sir?”

Wesley is on the perimeter for most of this book, but towards the end his role in upcoming third book, ‘The Prince’, becomes apparent and he’s partly the reason I am now left desperate for that third instalment. But as I said, I am now hoping the ‘Original Sinners’ won’t be over with just three books. Reisz’s characters, their struggles (both internal, and with each other) are so compelling and ever growing with endless storytelling possibilities … and the fact that I’m saying that about an erotica series should let people know Tiffany Reisz does not write your typical, run-of-the-mill, empty sex, no substance erotica novels. She is in a league all of her own, and if ‘The Siren’ and ‘The Angel’ are any indication, ‘The Prince’ is going to be one hell of a third act!

5/5

Interview with Dianne Touchell, author of 'Creepy and Maud'

 •

I have a new author that I want everyone to know about ...

Her name is Dianne Touchell, she wrote the fantastically quirky/lovely debut YA novel 'Creepy & Maud' and the below interview will give you some idea of how utterly cool she is.

Now I want everyone to run out and get their hands on a copy of 'Creepy & Maud' because it's beyond impressive.

•

Q: How were you first published, agent or slush pile?

Slush Pile.  Popped that baby in a post bag and mailed it in.
 

Q: How long did it take you to write ‘Creepy & Maud’, from first idea to final manuscript?

12 months to write (don’t you just hate the day job?) and then 3 and a half weeks in editing with the incomparable Amanda Curtin.
 

Q: Are you a plotter or a ‘pantser’? – That is, do you meticulously plot your novel before writing, or do you ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ and let the story evolve naturally?

Oh pantser, pantser!!  Plot is so limiting.  If I had a plot in mind my characters would soon slap me into shape and take it where they want to anyway.  I have an idea  of “story” but the way that story ultimately unfolds is often different from my original imagining, and always related to character development.
 

Q: Where do story ideas generally start for you? Do you first think of the character, theme, ending? Or is it just a free-fall?

I’ve been keeping notebooks since I was a child.  I watch people and I eaves drop.  I’m a dull dinner guest because I’m often listening to the fight happening two tables over rather than attending to you.  People are funny and scary and elaborate and awful and wonderful.  A phrase overheard in a supermarket queue can set me off on a character idea.  So character comes first.  What would this person do in that situation?  How far would this person go to manipulate events to avoid that situation?  And then the character begins to manipulate me.  It’s a free-fall thing.  Basically, I just listen to the voices....
 

Q: How did decide to have one of your protagonists nick-named 'Creepy'? It's so unusual - but makes for a great title!

I needed a name that gave credence to the voyeuristic side of his nature at the same time as acknowledging the extent to which he is misunderstood and overlooked.  A name which recognized his eccentricity and isolation (as seen by peers and teachers alike) and yet made the reader warm to him.  If you live on the fringes you’re often seen as peculiar.  Creepy embraces the weird and borderline.  And that’s a good thing.  So to be creepy, I hope, becomes acceptable.  We’re all creepy in one way or another – we just get better at hiding it as grown ups.
 

Q: You've had a really eclectic life, it seems. Working as a nightclub singer and bookseller - how have your real-life experiences informed your writing?

Oh, you forgot fish and chip shop counter girl.  I’ve also been a cellist in an orchestra and cleaned other people’s houses.  EVERYTHING informs my writing.   Life informs my writing.  I’ve never been afraid of taking risks.  Sometimes good things happen and sometimes bad things happen, and it’s all material.  And if you take no risks, fuck all happens.
 

Q: I’ve been calling ‘Creepy & Maud’ a suburban love story (with heavy doses of quirk). Do you think this is a ‘love story’? Considering there are characters around Creepy & Maud (namely, their parents) who are decidedly unromantic and set a bad love-life example.

Oh yes, I set out to write a love story.  And I believe that’s what it is.  We all fall in love surrounded by bad examples.  Whether that bad example is two parents constantly goading each other or two parents happily in love after 50 years.  It’s about expectation.  Example is a detrimental thing whatever way you slice it because all example is a set up.  It takes away an element of personal judgment.  “I recognize this so this is what I expect”.  We come into all relationships loaded with stuff formed, like fat zygotes, by expectation.  If I did not come into this relationship with the expectation of my partner hating me in ten years time, how would I behave differently?  If I did not come into this relationship with the expectation of my partner worshiping me until the day they die, how would I behave differently? Example is a shackle we are all bound by.   I hope Creepy and Maud are dysfunctional enough to find their own way. 

Q: I loved the quotes that Creepy trades with Maud – everything from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to Oscar Wilde. Did you have to go hunting for these quotes, and find ones to suit the scene – or are these just a few of your very favourite’s that you wanted to include in some way?

As I’ve read throughout the years I’ve jotted down things that moved me, or made me laugh.  I’m always writing down things I overhear or quotes from other writers.  I’m a great scribbler in books too and I *whispers* turn down the corners of pages.  Sometimes I read something and remember that someone else wrote or said something related to it.  That’s sort of what happened here.  As the story progressed I also wanted to give some indication of the universality of these individual problems and emotions being experienced by Creepy and Maud.  Not to diminish their experience but to validate it – to show that others have felt these ways and survived, even with some good humour in tact.  And yes, some of the quotes are some of my favourites.
 

Q: You’re a very perceptive writer, and a few little things really captured the current teen experience for me. For instance, you mention that the popular girl group at school is currently all wrapped up in Pandora charm bracelets … YES! I wonder, are you a big people-watcher, and if so where do you get your best eavesdropped material from?

I am a big people watcher.  (Some guy in a bar thinks I’m coming onto him by staring and I’m actually lost in my own world working out the best way to describe the odd little speech impediment he’s got).  I’d much rather watch and listen to people than interact with them, most of the time, because people are most honest when unaware of being observed.  There is no “best” place to eavesdrop – the gas station, the street, the pub, the workplace – I’m just sort of tuned in all the time.  Although I do like a queue (if it’s not for food – don’t do so well when I’m hungry) – people are very raw in queues because we are naturally impatient and queues make people feel exposed.  I’ll get people chatting in queues just to listen to people with absolutely nothing in common interact.  And a lot of couples fight in queues. 
  

Q: Maud has a very interesting disorder called Trichotillomania – which means she derives pleasure from, and is compelled to pull her hair out. What made you think of this disorder for one of your characters, and how did you research?

I wanted an obsessive compulsive disorder that was hard to hide.  That was so visual it confronted everyone it came into contact with.  I also wanted something that makes people question what true beauty is.  Women’s hair is very important to them (except when you’re middle aged and it starts springing up on your bloody chin).  And it’s doubly important to Maud because it is where she both derives her pleasure and relieves her anxiety.  Yet I doubt anyone who has read the book would question her beauty.  I had read about Trichotillomania years ago, and jotted down some notes about it, but my best research is actually documented in the novel.  I tried it.  Just a little bit, like Creepy does.  I discovered that it takes commitment to pull out your own hair! Of course I am without the benefit of compulsion to steer me through the pain of it.  But if I could feel nothing I believe I might enjoy feeling the “something” other than the nothing.  Pain tells you you’re alive, even if you believe you are an island.
 

Q: There’s something very sophisticated about ‘Creepy & Maud’. You have written two very articulate and perceptive young people – and both seem to have more rational minds than most of the people around them. Did you always intend for them to be young-adult characters? Did you know from the beginning that you were writing a young adult novel?

I knew from the very beginning that this was going to be a young adult novel.  I also believe that young adults, teenagers, in that very raw, angst filled stage of high emotion and discovering identity, are extremely perceptive and that we, grown-ups, forget about that as we get older.  We were them.  There is a complexity and creativity to young adult interaction with the world that we too often mistakenly label as self-centeredness and bloody-mindedness.  In spite of the extremes of young adult behavior, perhaps because of these extremes, I believe we should be very careful about invalidating their observations and judgments about the world around them.  Young adults are perceptive and they can be very articulate.  It’s not their fault that if grown-ups find them visually or emotionally disturbing we discount everything that comes out their mouths and hearts. Of course I’m not going to attempt a deep and meaningful with the little criminal-in-waiting harassing old ladies in the supermarket car park.  I’m just going to slap him upside the head.  Then talk to him.
 

Q: Favourite book(s) of all time

Oh, so unfair.  Too many to mention but I’ll have a crack if you don’t carve it in stone.

Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
Nobody Owns the Moon – Tohby Riddle
The Beauty Myth – Naomi Woolf
We Need To Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
The Hour I First Believed – Wally Lamb
Happy as Larry – Scot Gardner 

Q: Favourite author(s)?

See disclaimer above...

A.S. Byatt
John Wyndham
Jane Austen
Antonia Fraser
John Fowles
Wilkie Collins
 

Q: What advice do you have for budding young writers?

Just write.  Write all the time.  Whenever you have a chance.  Carry a notebook.  Become a jotter and a scribbler.  And read.  Then read some more.
 

Q: What are you working on now? And when can we expect your next novel to hit the shelves?

Does doing something monstrous make you a monster?  How long and how hard do you have to pay for diabolical errors in judgment in young adulthood?  Watch this space...

'Spark' Elementals #2 by Brigid Kemmerer

 Received from the Publisher 

From the BLURB:

Gabriel Merrick plays with fire. Literally.

Sometimes he can even control it. And sometimes he can’t. Like the fire that killed his parents.

Gabriel has always had his brothers to rely on, especially his twin, Nick. But when an arsonist starts wreaking havoc on their town, all the signs point to Gabriel. Only he’s not doing it.

More than Gabriel’s pride is at stake -- this could cost him his family, maybe his life. And no one seems to hear him. Except a shy sophomore named Layne, a brainiac who dresses in turtlenecks and jeans and keeps him totally off balance. Layne understands family problems, and she understands secrets. She has a few of her own.

Gabriel can’t let her guess about his brothers, about his abilities, about the danger that’s right at his heels. But there are some risks he can’t help taking.

The fuse is lit…

Gabriel Merrick is not a bad person … he just seems that way when compared to his saintly twin brother, Nick. Admittedly, Gabriel didn't make life easy on his older brother, Michael, after their parents died and he became their legal guardian... but he was a child then, and he's really trying now. But, try as he might, Gabriel Merrick can't seem to get away from himself. He's failing math without his twin's 'switcheroo' help. He's picking fights with his brother's girlfriend, and becoming friend's with his youngest brother, Chris's, romantic rival, Hunter. Maybe it's simply in Gabriel's volatile nature to be a screw-up, what with having fire as his element and all...

But Gabriel is determined to be better. Nick is planning for the future, so if Gabriel wants to catch-up with his brainiac twin then he'd better kick himself into gear. First up is the math problem - for which he has plain-jane nerd, Layne, to help him. A girl he has never paid much attention to, Layne catches Gabriel's attention when she helps him out of a sticky situation with nothing to gain herself... and when he meets her deaf younger brother, who is being tormented at school, Gabriel's soft-spot grows.  

The next thing Gabriel needs to get under control won't be as easy as X equals Y. He wants better control over his fire element - and to do that, he'll need Hunter's help and some practice. 

But when an unknown arsonist goes on a rampage across town, targeting the houses of Gabriel's classmates, all fingers inevitably point to him... 

'Spark' is the second book in Brigid Kemmerer's wonderful new paranormal YA series, 'Elementals'. 

Brigid Kemmerer  hooked me on her new 'Elementals' world when she introduced the Merrick brothers in first book, 'Storm'. Four brothers connected to earth, wind, fire and water, whose magic killed their parents and turned an entire town against them. Kemmerer's first book was addictive reading, and I'm happy to report that her second novel is another one to obsess over.

'Spark' concerns the first of the Merrick twins, the most volatile and hot-tempered 'bad' twin, Gabriel. When we met him in 'Storm' Gabriel came across as a vain, play-boy with a chip on his shoulder. He seemed to be in a constant feud with guardian and oldest brother, Michael, and 'Storm's' protagonist, Becca, mentioned the reputation Gabriel had with 'loving and leaving' the ladies. So, of course, I found him the most interesting of the Merrick brothers - particularly when we learnt that he had the every apt element of fire.

I'm happy to report that Gabriel's jack-ass behaviour from 'Storm' keeps up in 'Spark', and he doesn't have an instant turn-around the moment he starts to fall for geeky-girl, Layne. When the book begins Gabriel is, seemingly, his usual self - his eye is easily strayed to the hot cheerleaders, and his quick-temper erupts yet again and continues to find a target in brother Michael, and Nick's new maybe-sorta girlfriend. And, ironically, it takes a long time for readers to warm up to Gabriel... which I actually liked. Kemmerer followed through with her set-up of Gabriel as the 'bad' brother, the prickliest and hardest to like, with a bad-boy appeal that's on the verge of tipping into disgust. I liked that Gabriel was an anti-hero in this young adult novel, because it just meant that as readers we had more layers to peel back. And Kemmerer does, to an extent, delve into Gabriel's reasons for being the way he is. Their parents' death scarred all the Merrick brothers, but Gabriel appeared to be the one who acted out the most (and for good reason). He has been carrying a stone around his neck for many years now, and it's only with the recent slew of arson attacks that he's able to start picking at old wounds and reconciling with his past. 

I did admit that in 'Storm' I wasn't overly keen on female protagonist, Becca. Well, I'm glad to say that in 'Spark' Kemmerer has written a wonderful female counterpart to Gabriel's fiery-temper, in self-proclaimed nerd and turtleneck-wearer, Layne. Whereas I couldn't really see why two boys (Chris and Hunter) were fighting over Becca in 'Storm', I can definitely see Layne's appeal to Gabriel in 'Spark'. No, she's not a beautiful teenage cheerleader living the American dream. Layne is scarred and gawky, uncomfortable in her own skin and unsure of herself. She's good at math and bad at flirting, and Gabriel Merrick makes her nervous, then mad and then a little bit smitten.... It might seem like you've heard this all before - beautiful boy turns girl-next-door into bombshell, but Kemmerer only takes the old cliché so far before she spins it on its head. Layne is no wilting flower, once you get to know her. And Gabriel is more complex than he first appears. These two, together, were an interesting and dynamic couple who had me cheering for them on the page! 

She scowled out at the parking lot. “So is this like your place?”
“My place?”
“Where you bring girls.”
“Yes. I bring girls to this run-down parking lot all the time.” He gestured with his cup. “I have a sign-up sheet nailed to that tree. Now that you mention it,” – he glanced at his watch – “we should probably wrap this up.” 
Her eyes were intense, challenging, fixed on his. “Do you have a five-minute limit before you start getting mean?”
“I don’t know, Layne. Do you have a five-minute limit before you start getting defensive?”
She clamped her mouth and turned to face the darkness.

As I predicted in 'Storm', the actual 'Elementals' world grows bit by bit in this second novel. The Merrick brothers (and their female affiliates, by association) are not safe - their powers make them dangerous, and people are scared of them. I am really loving Kemmerer's world-building in this series. I wouldn't say it's the focus - I think the Merrick brothers are very much front-and-centre as the main draw-cards - but I am slowly getting a sense of this world, and finding my footing in it as a reader (just as Becca and Layne are) and I like that. The heart of 'Elementals' definitely lies in the Merrick brothers (yes, yes; they're smokin' hot!), in their connection, sad past and uncertain future. Everything else can take its time being established, but the brothers are the driving force and I like that human connection takes precedence over supernatural hoopla in Kemmerer's series. 

5/5 

‘The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires’ Half Moon Hollow #2 by Molly Harper

From the BLURB:

Iris Scanlon, Half-Moon Hollow’s only daytime vampire concierge, knows more about the undead than she’d like. Running all their daylight errands—from letting in the plumber to picking up some chilled O neg—gives her a look at the not-so-glamorous side of vampire life. Her rules are strict; relationships with vamps are strictly business, not friendship—and certainly not anything else. But then she finds her newest client, Cal, poisoned on his kitchen floor, and only Iris can help.

Cal - who would be devastatingly sexy, if Iris allowed herself to think that way - offers Iris a hefty fee for hiding him at her place until he figures out who wants him permanently dead. Even though he’s imperious, unfriendly and doesn't seem to understand the difference between "employee" and "servant," Iris agrees, and finds herself breaking more and more of her own rules to help him - particularly those concerning nudity.

Turns out what her quiet little life needed was some intrigue & romance—in the form of her very own stray vampire.

Iris Scanlon likes her life to be organized, clean and managed. It comes after a life of curveballs – like her parent’s sudden death, and becoming her younger sister, Gigi’s, sole guardian. So in all things, Iris prefers organization over chaos . . . Which is how she fell into her current business, Beeline. It’s all about management and arranging other people’s lives for them; vampire’s lives, to be more precise.

Iris is a personal daytime assistant to all of Half Moon Hollow’s vampires – she takes care of those pesky labourers who insist working daylight hours, and delivers bloody snacks. Then there’s the occasional oddball request, like dietary condom requirements. But those are as curvy a curveball as Iris can handle these days, thank you very much. That is until she, literally, stumbles across Cletus 'Cal' Calix, passed out and poisoned on his own kitchen floor.

As it would turn out, Cal is a vampire who specializes in finding and figuring things out. He has been called to Half Moon Hollow to investigate a slew of incidences in which humans have been attacked by otherwise friendly vampires. Cal was suspecting poisoned blood so, lo and behold!, when he finds himself poisoned he knows he’s on the right track . . .  unfortunately, advertising his near-undeath experience (and rescue by Ms. Scanlon) would be the quickest way to derail his investigation.

So Cal comes up with a plan. A plan to stay with Iris Scanlon, lying low at the (very) humble home she shares with little sis, Gigi. While there he’ll continue conducting his investigations, in secret, and with minimal distractions (like some pesky villain trying to kill him). The one thing Cal didn’t exactly count on was Iris becoming a very pesky, pretty, and perfectly delicious distraction. . .

‘The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires’ is the second book in Molly Harper’s ‘Half Moon Hollow series’, a spin-off of her ‘Jane Jameson’ series.

Oh, wow. What a shock. Molly Harper has written yet another brilliant and hilarious chuckle-fest of epically awesome proportions. Colour me surprised . . . Or, not, sine I decided about six books ago that Molly Harper could do no wrong and was physically incapable of writing anything subpar. ‘The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires’ is just another notch in Harper’s continually impressive comedy belt.

Iris Scanlon is a familiar face, to those who are making the trek from ‘Jane Jameson’. She was the wedding coordinator who helped tone down Jane’s matrimonial farce from horror-story to love-story in ‘Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbours’. And she was mentioned in the first ‘Half Moon Hollow’ spin-off ‘Driving Mr. Dead’, Miranda Puckett worked as chauffeur for Iris’s Beeline company. So Iris is long overdue for her page-time, and let me tell you she was well worth the wait. . .

Iris is a really interesting character and old before her time. She’s had to grow up fast, since her parents died leaving her little sister, Gigi, in her care. She doesn’t have a lot of time for things like fun, relationships or relaxation. Her Beeline business is barely breaking even, and even though Gigi is her top priority, university fees are creeping ever closer. So when Cal proposes the ludicrously dangerous proposition that he hide out in her home, along with the lucrative offer of monetary compensation, she agrees, but only begrudgingly.

Iris and Cal were fantastic together. He’s very much a stone-faced, no-nonsense investigative vampire. In fact, he was a Spartan in another life (or, as Iris likes to think of it, his life was like the movie ‘300’ – complete with flattering diaper-wear). Iris, on the other hand, while very straight-laced and organized, is also a chocolate-hording, pop-culture referencing tour-de-force. She’s hilarious, and when paired with Cal’s straight-guy they get a fantastic routine going and some wonderful repartee. They’re especially interesting because, while Iris works for them, she hasn’t ever really spent a lot of time in the company of vampires. She’s inordinately fascinated by Cal’s many stories of years gone by;

“You’re telling me that the guy who wrote the Iliad is a vampire?”
“Yes, and he has been writing all these years. He makes a very nice living out in Los Angeles, working on television shows.”
“If you tell me that Homer wrote for Two and a Half Men, I will throw myself out of that window.”
He chuckled. But I noticed that he did not answer.

Funny as they are, Cal and Iris’s laughs are only matched by their heat. These two are adorable; an unlikely, opposites attract can’t-deny-this-feeling-any-longer relationship that’s seriously hot when it gets going.

Iris and her sister, Gigi, are the other laugh-riot of this novel. They’re a nice change from the other sister relationship Molly Harper writes, between Jane and Jenny – who have battled about everything from Jane’s vampirism to who gets their grandma’s estate once she dies. Iris and Gigi only have each other left, so they have come to treasure one another and create this great amalgamation of a sisterly relationship that’s sometimes parental but mostly about them being best friends. And they share some of the best scenes in the whole novel, like the following debate about Iris’s unhealthy, blind obsession with Gerard Butler;

“I have an inappropriate loyalty to Gerard Butler,” I grumbled, shutting the door behind us.
“OK, but did you have to buy it on DVD?” Gigi chuckled.
“It was a Christmas gift. Uncle Clark grabs the DVD with the silliest cover and wraps it,” I shot back, climbing into the driver’s seat of the Dorkmobile. “I am willing to admit that Gerard Butler has single-handedly murdered the romantic comedy.”
Gigi snickered. “Gerard Butler took the romantic comedy to an orgy, accidentally strangled it during an air game, panicked, and dumped its body in the woods.”
I stared at her, gobsmacked. “That may be the funniest thing I've ever heard –” I spluttered. “How the hell do you even know what an air game is?”
Gigi preened. “Just because you put the parental locks on HBO doesn’t mean I can’t get around them.”

Ohhhhhh, Molly Harper. I have such a literary crush on this gal, and with every new book I just fall a little more in love. ‘The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires’ continues the love-fest.

5/5