Themed Reading Challenge Wrap-Up

Many thanks to Wendy for hosting the challenge! I think this was the challenge that spurred me on to join others this year, especially the Triple 8, as it's all about themed lists.

The challenge was to read at least four books about a single theme. My theme was vampire fiction.

The Books
Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz
Real Vampires Have Curves by Gerry Bartlett
Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

1. What things did you enjoy the most about this challenge?
I really liked that you could pick your own theme and that it could be anything under the sun. It was quite funny going through my TBR list - I'd never have predicted that I'd have enough vampire books to make up a whole theme! But apparently all those Buffy and Angel DVDs have been at work in the book-choosing part of my brain. I also liked that it was flexible - though I decided to just read 4 books, I liked that you could have read more.

2. Favourite book?
Bloodsucking Fiends - it was so hilarious and bizarre.

3. Least favourite book?
Real Vampires Have Curves - it had too much repetition and was too Harlequin-ish for me.

4. Would you do this one again if it were offered next year?
Yes!!

5. Anything you'd change about the challenge?
No, I think everything was great!

Review: Tantalize

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
3 stars


Reasons for reading: the cover and the title; vampire theme for Triple 8 and Themed Challenges

Book description: "Quincie Morris has never felt more alone. Her parents are dead, and her hybrid-werewolf first love is threatening to embark on a rite of passage that will separate them forever. Then, as she and her uncle are about to unveil their hot vampire-themed restaurant, a brutal murder leaves them scrambling for a chef. Can Quincie transform their new hire into a culinary Dark Lord before opening night? Can he wow the crowd in his fake fangs, cheap cape, and red contact lenses — or is there more to this earnest face than meets the eye? As human and preternatural forces clash, a deadly love triangle forms, and the line between predator and prey begins to blur."

My thoughts: I don't quite know how I feel about this one. I liked the vampire restaurant aspect, but a lot of the book felt a bit odd to me. It's set in what appears to be present-day Austin, TX but vampires and "were-people" seem to be facts of daily life, though they're certainly not popular. And apparently there are all kinds of were-creatures, including were-armadillos, which I thought was an utter hoot.

Throughout the book, I wanted to scream at Quincie, "He's a vampire!!!" (It' s not a spoiler, it's completely obvious.) Overall, though, she's a pretty cool character, with her dedication to the family restaurant, her red cowboy boots and her dependence on her datebook, which she's named Frank. And there are a few suprises along the way and the take on vampirism (it seems to be transmitted like a virus) is interesting. But, like the sweetbreads and other alarming things the chef serves up, it went down fine but left me feeling a bit off. But I'd say if you like YA vampire lit, give it a go, it's a fairly quick read and definitely has something to offer.

Review: Real Vampires Have Curves

Real Vampires Have Curves by Gerry Bartlett
2.5 stars

Reasons for reading: thought it would be fun to mix chick lit with vampire lit; Triple 8 Challenge

Book description:

What—did you think all vamps were pale, thin and brooding? Don’t I wish.

Me, I just happened to be bloating when a sexy Scotsman sank his teeth into me, so here I am, eternally “full-figured.” On the plus side, Glory St. Claire can rock a corset like nobody’s business. Oh, and as for Angus Jeremiah Campbell III, aka Jeremy Blade? We’ve been on and off again for centuries, currently off. After a couple hundred years we sure know how to press each other’s hot buttons—in good ways and bad.

The whole never-aging thing means that a girl’s gotta keep moving, and I’m headed for Austin and a new business venture: Vintage Vamp’s Emporium. After all, I love cute clothes, and I am an antique. Only problem is, there’s a billionaire techno-freak vampire hunter on the loose. Blade’s in total he-vampire mode, and orders me to move in so he can “protect” me. But I’m sick of the not-so-little woman thing. It’s time for this vamp to explore her own powers . . .

My thoughts: I really wanted to like this one more than I did - look how cute the cover is! But it was, as Randy Jackson would say to an American Idol hopeful, just a'ight for me.

My main problem was the large amount of repetition. Worse, everything being repeated was really irksome. Every chapter Glory had to remind the reader that:

1) She really wants to be independent, you know. She doesn't need Blade to protect her. Yeah, she knows she has his magical guard dog and that he's always rushing to her rescue, but she doesn't need him or anything.

2) She and Blade have been having really hot sex for centuries. And it's still hot.

3) Vamps have a lot of really cool powers that she never bothered to learn, like shape-shifting. And she hates it when other vamps read her mind, but she can't be bothered to learn how to block them. And when she finally does decide to learn them (because her "life" is at stake - pardon the pun) she has to remind the reader that she's working on learning what she didn't learn centuries ago.

4) She's fat.

Hello, I have been reading the book. I managed to grasp all these facts the first time they were mentioned. If you thought maybe it was beyond me, a second time would've been okay. But not over and over and over.

Glory came off as pretty pathetic, combining the worst traits of the worst characters in bad chick lit. Two hot vampire guys are lusting after her and all she can think about is her jiggly butt. She could do all kinds of amazing, powerful things, but she just never bothered to learn. She wants to be independent but rather than having managed to make or save any money over the centuries, she has to live hand to mouth until she finally opens the shop. Now, I did admire her for wanting to make her dream come true and I thought the shop was cool, but hearing her tell everyone how independent she is while sexy uber-vamp Damian finds her the location of her shop/apartment, his sister Florence moves in with her, and Blade soon moves to Austin to look after her, it starts to ring a bit false. I'd have had a much easier time of it if she admitted she loved Blade and, while not wanting to live in his castle and play the meek Scottish lass, she still enjoyed that he looked after her. She does redeem herself a bit in the end by finally using her powers, so I suppose she's grown, but it wasn't quite enough to make up for the litany of lameness.

And I guess I wasn't expecting it to be so Harlequin romancey - the vampire sex, complete with biting and mind-reading, kinda creeped me out.

Review: Bloodsucking Fiends

Bloodsucking Fiends: a love story by Christopher Moore
4.5 stars

Summary (from the back cover): Jody never asked to become a vampire. But when she wakes up under an alleyDumpster with a badly burned arm, an aching neck, superhuman strength, and a distinctly Nosferatuan thirst, she realizes the decision has been made for her. Making the transition from the nine-to-five grind to an eternity of nocturnal prowlings is going to take some doing, however, and that's where C. Thomas Flood fits in. A would-be Kerouac from Incontinence, Indiana, Tommy (to his friends) is biding his time night-clerking and frozen-turkey bowling in a San Francisco Safeway. But that all changes when a beautiful undead redhead walks through the door. . .
First line: "Sundown painted purple across the great Pyramid while the Emperor enjoyed a steaming whiz against a dumpster in the alley below."

My thoughts: I read You Suck, the sequel to this book, last year, without knowing it was the second book. I loved it, anyway, but it makes a lot more sense now that I've read Bloodsucking Fiends. And I found it as wonderfully bizarre and hilarious as You Suck!

There are just so many funny things in this book. Tommy trying to learn about women by reading Cosmo stands out - every answer in the Cosmo quiz on trying to get your boyfriend to please you in bed involves hitting him on the head with a your bedside lamp. His research on vampires by reading everything from Bram Stoker to Anne Rice leads him to conduct all kinds of unfortunate tests on Jody (no amount of standing on a chair and trying to imagine herself with wings will turn her into a bat, for example). The Emperor is actually a homeless man with two dogs who is actually well-respected by most people in the City and believes he is indeed its Emperor (and also the Protector of Mexico). He's most likely crazy, but he's also very wise. The Animals - Tommy's night clerk buddies - get up to all kinds of antics at the Safeway after midnight.

There's also a crime story element, which I didn't work quite as well for me. Two detectives suspect Jody and Tommy of killing people when it's actually the ancient vampire who turned Jody (well, most of the time). That part didn't really grab me in the second book, either. But there had to be some conflict, of course, it wouldn't be much of a story if Jody just stayed safe in their trendy loft all day and did good works at night.

I would definitely recommend reading these 2 in order for anyone who likes an offbeat laugh. I plan to read a lot more Moore, myself.

Review: Blue Bloods

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz
3.5 stars

Summary: When the Mayflower set sail in 1620, it carried on board the men and women who would shape America: Miles Standish; John Alden; Constance Hopkins. But some among the Pilgrims were not pure of heart; they were not escaping religious persecution. Indeed, they were not even human. They were vampires.The vampires assimilated quickly into the New World. Rising to levels of enormous power, wealth, and influence, they were the celebrated blue bloods of American society. The Blue Bloods vowed that their immortal status would remain a closely guarded secret. And they kept that secret for centuries. But now, in New York City, the secret is seeping out. Schuyler Van Alen is a sophomore at a prestigious private school. Suddenly, when she turns fifteen, there is a visible mosaic of blue veins on her arm. She starts to crave raw foodand she is having flashbacks to ancient times. Then a girl from her school is found dead . . . drained of all her blood. Schuyler doesnt know what to think. Could those vampire legends really be true?

My thoughts: I've been meaning to read this one since it came out. I'm so behind - bad YA librarian! My first impression was that it was Gossip Girl with vampires, and basically it was - lots of fashion name-dropping, swanky NYC locations, beautiful young people... But it was also a creative vampire story. De la Cruz plays with the old legends - "Blue Bloods" are fallen angels, there are only 400 souls that keep getting reincarnated, they don't kill humans, just perform a sexy, sacred ritual to ensure they have blood to drink... And the whole thing is run by The Committee, which is disguised as a charity committee that basically runs the city. I really liked this bit of tongue-in-cheekness about high society blue bloods actually being Blue Bloods - it explained the hierarchy of high society quite well, really.

The Mayflower connection is brought in through flashbacks and pages from Catherine Carver's diary. Someone not too familiar with US history (like me) might have a bit of a problem with this, but it's fairly well explained. It's actually a tricky way to slip in a history lesson - I'm sure if I hadn't known about the Roanoke colony, I'd be researching it to find out what happened.

I'm glad I finally read this one. It was a good, quick read with an intriguing premise. I think I'll be checking out the sequel, Masquerade.

Themed Reading Challenge

Arg, I've gone and gotten myself into another one! But it's not til next year and they're all on my TBR list, anyway. Thanks to Wendy for thinking of it!

When I was putting my TBR list into LibraryThing, I noticed some trends, so this one was easy to pick for. Before I started finally watching Buffy and Angel on DVD, I probably wouldn't have considered myself a vampire fan, but apparently they've opened my mind, since I have 8 vamp books on the TBR list.

So, my theme is: Vampire fiction

1. Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
2. Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz
3. Real Vampires Have Curves by Gerry Bartlett
4. Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith