Horror Books

In my opinion, THIS should have been the book to make Stephenie Meyer the "phenomenon" she is today. For one thing, the writing is miles from Twilight. The plot and characters were also a lot more complex and I felt that you really got a feel for each of them. This story was so touching and sweet. It was hard to put down (that's high praise coming from someone who's not a huge reader), and even when I did I thought about it randomly through the day. This is a type of book that will never leave you. 5 Stars.

The Host is a fun twist on an old premise: invasion of the body snatchers. The world has been invaded by migratory aliens, known as souls, who use the bodies of humans to become corporeal. The consequence is that the human soul who formerly occupied the body is shoved aside and silenced forever, with the exception of one human soul named Melanie who is putting up a fight. Wanderer, the alien soul who is inhabiting Melanie's body, rather than finding a way to silence Melanie forever chooses to do something that has never been done among its society: Wanderer listens to Melanie's voice and defects from the alien society. What ensues is a long journey that has the potential to change the face of humanity -- again -- forever.

The Host is a engrossing story that is ostensibly about aliens and humans but is really about relationships between souls. Occasionally trite, it manages to not be too overwrought.

I enjoyed the take on aliens and the people resisting them. I did find Wanda to passive and nice and she annoyed me. But overall I found it a good story and found myself looking for extra time to read.

This book was so incredible. I wasn't sure about it at first because I'm not too big on sci-fi but since Meyer is such an incredible writer, I had to read it and I'm so glad I did. She is such an incredible writer and I don't think anyone could have pulled off a plot like this besides her. I recommend this book to anyone!

It took some time for me to get into this book. It may be because I am not use to wrapping my head around alien stories, but I felt I had to give this one a try since I loved the Twilight series so much. I wasn't disappointed in the end. It was worth my time and I found out that I can enjoy stories about all different types of characters.

After reading many of the other reviews, I was all set to be disappointed in 'From Dead To Worse'. I wasn't. I found this book to be as rich and as fascinating as the seven previous installations. If you are reading these books for their contribution to the world of literature, you will find yourself disappointed every time. If, however, you can let yourself relax and enjoy a good story, then you won't be let down.

Between the Were war and the vampire coup, this book has a lot of action. The double Bellefleur wedding is a little tedious, but an unexpected exchange with Bill and the introduction of a few new supes makes it bearable.

As a Quinn-hater, I was pleased to see him neatly disposed of as a love interest in this book. I don't think we've seen the last of him (or the rest of his crazy family) but I suspect that when he reappears in a later book, it will be unpleasant for Sookie.

Bill (yuck) makes several very short appearances, as he attempts to win back Sookie's regard. (She should have let him burn up in the sun!) Eric has a revelation, but I was disappointed that it didn't clarify their relationship. The vampire world in general takes some major blows over the course of this narrative, the result of which is yet to be seen.
Sookie gets some new info about her family, particularly her grandmother and Hadley. She also suffers a major betrayal/disappointment at the hands of Jason, which leaves them somewhat estranged. (Wow, it sure is a good thing she found out that she has other relatives, huh?)

I'm not trying to give the whole story away, but I hope these tidbits have enticed you to give this book a chance. If you've stuck it out with Sookie et al so far, you should enjoy this leg of the journey too. I can't wait to find out what happens next!

This series has lost everything that pulled me into it. This book was all over the place and felt as if it was rushed to be published. The author went from a great supernatural series with a touch of romance to a romance series with a touch of supernatural. All CH seems to be doing with her last few books is to drag out Sookie's love life over many books so she can make more money from from people waiting to see Sookie in love again. She could easily write a good supernatural book and have Sookie in love (still with issues) and have great adventures exploring the supernatural world around her. This book is the worst. I am not buying the next one. The author has lost her touch and some of her fans.

I can't get enough of this series. It's one of the best I have read so far. I don't want to give away too much, but I will summarize. Bottom line, you won't be disappointed.

The vampires are dealing with the aftermatch of the Vampire Summit and reorganizing themselves. With the queen badly injured in the hotel fire, her partner dead and then recovering from the afternatch of hurricane Katrina, it leaves them very vunerable for a takeover. In vampire politics, there are always things that come up unexpectedly.

In this book, we do get more of a showing from Bill and it's nice to see him back. The story between Eric and Sookie moves along and you really start to see a softer, even more likeable Eric. (if that's possible as I also loved his "bad boy" personna in the previous books equally as much). Eric also gets enlightened on something that's been bugging him for the last several books, though I think we'll hear even more on that topic in future books. (at least I hope we do.)

Sookie has more attempts made on her life and finds herself in the middle of some stuff going on with the weres and shifters as well as the stuff going on with the vampires.

She also meets 2 relatives that she did not know she had, and has a couple of friends (who are witches) staying at her house.

The past 3 installments have focused more and more on shifters, were's, fairies and witches and I would like to see a little less of them and more of the vamps. Even with that statement, it's still a 5 star read....my 5 star reads are books that I would read more than once. (most of the books in this series fit that criteria, though book 4 is still my favorite.)

I loved the first three Sookie Stackhouse books but felt the series bogged down and started wandering aimlessly for awhile. Book 7 got things going again but Book 8, From Dead to Worse, truly felt like Charlaine Harris is back on top of her game. The plot was interesting, the characters continue to develop in surprising and satisfying ways, and Sookie's life gets ever more interesting. Glad to be looking forward to the new installment again!

I truly enjoyed the first four books in this series, then slowly things began to change and each of the next three just didn't hold my interest quite as much. Sookie is almost killed, Sookie is in a deadly battle, Sookie gets beat up and so on and so on and then always comes back for more. I keep wondering where the humor went and of course, the sex! In Book 8, where did the plot go? Book 8 should have been called "How many characters can you jam into one book without telling a story?"
I'm sure I will buy Book 9 because Ms. Harris is a talented writer but I will be praying that Sookie gets to enjoy life just a little so we can enjoy it with her.

The story itself is great, so much promise... the book though... The writing is fairly bad, even for a young adult book. The characters are obnoxious and inaccurate depictions of high school kids. The dialog is often unbelievable. The timeline is ridiculous. There is a reason that Harry Potter spanned several years and the Twilight series nearly 2 (or 3?). It's hard to believe that THAT much horrible, unbelievable, crazy stuff happens in a month (I'm speaking to the whole series, not just this book). Also, most young adult books try to avoid dropping the eff word and being overly explicit with sex scenes. While, as an adult, I was a little disappointed when the Edward and Bella's scene got glossed over -- I would have been suprised if it had been presented as it is in this series. If you're a parent who is uptight about those sorts of things, skip over this series and find another.

Overall... an OK series. I wouldn't read it again, but I'm upset that I'll never get that time back either.

Just wanted people to know that Neferet means Evil and it probaly has something to do with the second book "Betrayed"

I really enjoyed this book. I finished it in one sitting. It is very well written, but for YA adult kind of explicit. I loved the Twilight series and picked this series up to kind of find something new to read instead of reading the twilight saga over and over. :) I plan on picking up book 2 tonight.

This book is horrible. The characters are annoying and the writing style is sub par. Elements of Harry Potter, Twilight, and Wicked are very apparent throughout the entire book. There were many times that I had to put the book down in utter frustration from the obvious rip offs. This is very unoriginal and an obvious ploy to make money off of the young adult fiction crowd. I only finished the book to see if it got better, which it didn't. The vulgar language was completely unnecessary, as well as most of the parenthetical statements. Pop culture references make the story even more cheesy. I cannot even believe this book got published.

This book should not be listed under juvenile/teen listing. The sexual references were completely unecessary for the story line and actually put me off in reading it. I loved the message of the book but the sexual inuendo and reference was completely out of place and distracted from the story. My husband bought the book for my almost 13 year old because it was on the shelf next to the Twilight series. I read it after her and was horrified by what she had read without my knowing so I have to go into damage repair mode. I am by no means a prude - I love Nora Roberts and others - but this CRAP is completely not needed for teens and pre-teens today; they get bombarded enough without having it in books marketed for their age range. I'm extremely disappointed in the Mother/Daughter team that put this together and will have CAST on my list of never buy and never recommend. Too bad!

The most action-packed book of the series-interesting histories of the Cullen family and Jacob's tribe members.

I love all of her books, this one is also a great read for many different reasons. I know other reviews in the past had a hard time warming up to Bella. I really liked her in the first two because she was young so I cut her a bit of slack with being indecisive and just not really knowing what was going on. In this book I feel like the maturity difference between Edward,Jacob(who's even younger than her) and Bella was a bit much. They seem so much older and self sacrificing and she just comes off acting very childishly. I guess I just wish she would man up a bit. It seems like every time she tries to be all self sacrificing and "brave" it's really just to admittedly manipulate one of the two guys. I guess we're just supposed to accept that she's just so freak'n great (even though she's kinda winey, and not that pretty) that the world revolves around here. Besides my problems with Bella this is a wonderful book and I can't wait to get into the 4th one to see how everything gets tied up. All of the other Characters are great, and Bella's not that bad I guess I just can't really identity with her.

The book was written well, but as other reviewers have stated this book is NOT for the middle aged man. This book seems more suited for teenage women. So I gave it a 4 star because the writing was hoever impressive.

I absolutely loved this book and of course, the entire series! They were absolutely incredible and I NEVER got to a point in the book that I didn't want to read more.

I love all the books and the author definatly got better at each book. Have recommended to friends and family and have loved them as well. Even though we do not fall into the "designed" graphic of teens, we are more like the author, and since she wrote it for herself I guess we fall into her graphic. Looking forward to the movie, looks like it may stick to the book close.

CHOSEN
P.C. CAST & KRISTIN CAST
Paranormal YA

Rating: 4 Enchantments

The third book in the House of Night series, CHOSEN picks up shortly after `Betrayed'. Dealing with the secrets she has to hide from her friends, knowing that any knowledge of Stevie Ray's condition could put them, not too mentions Stevie Ray, in jeopardy, Zoey decides the safest thing for all involved is to keep the secret to herself...and Aphrodite. But that's not the only thing she has to deal with. Heath is still desperate to maintain their relationship, Erik is her vampyre boyfriend and Poet Laureat Lorne Blake is making her contemplate having three boyfriends at once.

My biggest issue with CHOSEN was it felt like there was a good portion of the book that was a rehash of back story and that had me skimming sections to get past what I already knew. However, there are more than enough unexpected twists and jaw dropping turns that kept me glued to the story. The conflict between Neferet and Zoey deepens, almost hitting a crescendo with a startling discovery of just what exactly the high priestess is willing to do to destroy Zoey. Aphrodite becomes a frenemy of sorts to Zoey, something the group just can't understand with their limited knowledge of what is actually going on.

I love the dynamic between Zoey and Aphrodite, the friendship that seems to be forming between them or at least a very unlikely alliance. Now that Aphrodite is on Neferet's bad side, the two girls have some common ground, including the fact that they're the only two at the House of Night whose minds she can't read.

Look for UNTAMED, the fourth book in this great series to release September 2008.

Lisa
Enchanting Reviews
August 2008

I loved this book, altho it defiantly left you craving more. I cant wait for the next book to be released, seems like it can never be too soon.

If you like vampire stories, this series rocks. Right on up there with the Twilight Series. Maybe not quite as good, but great reading. Highly recommended. Not just for teenagers. Good reading for older folks, too.

I picked up this series because I have started to like more "paranormal" series vs. reading just stand alone novels and I have to tell you that I wasn't sure if I was liking the series with just book one-up until the middle to end of the book. That was when I realized that it was pretty cool. It took a while to get used to Zoey's (the main character) narrative but by this book (book 3) you feel like you know her and aren't suprised by anything that comes out of her mouth. This book picks up where the 2nd one leaves off: Zoey is the leader of the Dark Daughters and is imprinted with Heath her "ex" human boyfriend, dating Erik Night one of the most handsome and popular students at the House of Night, and is being flirted with by the mysterious and handsome poet Loren, which is a teacher at her school. Suddenly not only does Zoey have to deal with her bloodlust issues and dating 3 guys at once - she has to come to terms with the realization that her best friend - who is now the Undead dead - needs her help or her soul will be lost to darkness forever and that humans are stalking vampires and murdering them - causing the vampires at and students at the House of Night to become uneasy with humans being so close to them. This book was really good (the best of the 3 out so far) and I can't wait for more to come!!

It just feel wrong. The way the Cast write the story with all the typos, annoying. About the 3 guys interested in Zoey, why? She is a Mary Sue and her calling herself a "ho" after three books calling Aprhodite a "ho". She's just so hypocrite. Zoey is a flat Character and this series lost their way.

As someone who loves zombie movies I thought this book was really entertaining.

However, I do wish I had borrowed it from the library instead of buying it. It's not the type of book that I think anyone but the hardcore zombie fan would really enjoy reading more than once. Your millage may vary.

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks is amazing. It has humor, but is totally serious the entire length of the book. I feel that if a Zombie Outbreak happens anytime soon I will be better prepared having read mentioned book. A must for Zombie, Horror, and Survival fanatics!!!

If you are looking for humor you will not find any jokes in this book, it reads EXACTLY like a survival guide for zombie attacks. The concept alone is where you draw humor.

Just be careful if you take this on a flight, it has pictures of guns and such and I was getting weird looks.

A great book;written in a instructional manual style. Everyone I know who has seen or read the book loves it. The recored attacks throughout history at the end of the book is also entertaining. I also have WW Z and I am waiting for his new book to come out.World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie WarThe Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks

Ok. even though you might not be able to practically put the skills learned in this book on a resume (unless you are applying at capcom) it is a very well written book. From a tactical stand point, many of the described survival and evasion techniques make sense and are very well thought out. Even if the zombies do not attack, learning the skills listed in the manual will acctually be good for you. Though the more 'practical' skills are not described all the way through, it is still a great read for any zombie fan out there.

The book is written as a historical documentary of the war against the zombies, AKA World War Z. It is made up of perhaps 125-150 stories, each focusing on a particular individual. Thruout the individual tales, the larger narrative becomes clear, but because of the manner in which it is told it conveys a sense of realness I've never experienced in any zombie book or movie.

There are numerous individual stories which would make for quite a good movie, but by focusing on some many people of different ages, backgrounds, careers and opinions, it avoids the typical cliches that all zombie movies are forced by design to include. I think this would make an excellent movie but only if it is filmed as a documentary. As I read the book, I was reminded in particular of of the documentaries we've seen in the past few years about 9/11. Some of them have focused on the plane which crashed in PA and the fight of the passengers with the hijackers, but most focus on the day as a whole. The better ones do more then then rehash what happened, with recreations of the terrorists in hotels in Paterson, NJ, they let people tell what they saw, how they felt, and they reacted. It's more about what happened to all of us, then what happened onboard those planes or inside the twin towers.

This is why this book is so successful. Rather then focus on the specific details, we learn how it affected people personally. I would gladly pay $10 to see this movie.

The oral history format enhances the suspense, drama and story. A great zombie novel.

For a book with they "silly" premise of a zombie uprising threatening all of humanity, the stories contained within are poignant, touching, and most important believable.

The book was so engrossing, I purchased it and had it completely read in a single weekend.

It's hard to describe the emotions this book stirred up. Anger, remorse, pride, all of these things. And joy at discovering someone making a daring escape. Sorrow when learning that the person being interviewed has lost a bit of his or her mind because of what they've been through.

I didn't know what to expect when I purchased this book. Not really. I have had the Zombie Survival Guide for a while. When I bought it, it was in the "humor" section. "World War Z" took the tongue-in-cheek approach from that book and turned it on its head, taking itself completely seriously and *pulling it off!*

Only a few bits of data truly date the story (such as Fidel Castro being around at the end of the war).

The audio-book will be my next purchase. I've heard the few clips from the website and I feel that will give the story even more impact.

This book makes you see how the war against the living dead was seen on several fronts. Highly recommended, a must have.

WWZ is the first piece of zombie anything that actually scared me! It's not just the horrifying way the Zeds are described, but the collapse of society that sends a realistically chilling shudder through you. A must have for any fan of horror!

This was my first "Odd" book by Koontz, but I enjoyed it just the same. Dean was able to capture my imagination and weave a rich story that was so colorful, yet somewhat dark that kept me turning the pages. Dean knows how to really make characters come to life and ones that can touch your life, which is what he did so magically in this story. Throughout this story I could almost feel the damp ocean air as "Odd" won you over.

As usual Dean does it again with Odd. As with all Dean Koontz stories you're captured right from the first page. Because it's an Odd series you already know you are hooked even before you opened the book. So for all of us Dean and Odd fans just sit back and read yourself into another great book. Live Odd's life and when you are done, sit back and try and figure out what goes on in Dean's mind. Boy he must be weird to live with. Aren't we glad!

I agree with the readers who said this was not the Odd the know and love. This book was so unlike the the Odd character. The gunning down of terrorists ... it seemed like I was reading about a Special Ops agent. As far as Annamaria ... If Koontz wasn't going to give even a hint of what her character was about he should have left her out unil he was ready to do so. So for that reason I found her character just plan annoying and silly. Hutch was great and a couple other characters. But I should have passed on this "Odd" adventure.

This book was disappointing from the beginning. Odd Thomas has apparantly been kidnapped and replaced by someone pretenting to be him. His sense of humor, self, and morals are very unlike the previous Oddie - and I won't even bring up the gun. The characters were hard to like and one of the main ones - completely annoying. I am not even sure that Dean Kootnz wrote this book - the writing style is so different. My advice, if you love Odd Thomas - skip this book and wait for the next one. Maybe Mr. Koontz will snap out of the "fog" that he was in while writing this one.

Another great addition to the Odd Thomas series. The same witty humor, intellect and light suspense that I've come to love with this infamous character. As with the previous books, Odd Hours can be considered a stand alone book, yet I highly recommend starting at the first in the series to fully grasp the 'id' of this character.