Review: Let It Bleed by Jeri Smith-Ready

WVMP Radio, Book 3.5
Book 1: Wicked Game review
Book 2: Bad to the Bone review
Book 3: Bring on the Night review

Tags: urban fantasy, vampires

Summary

Ciara’s attempts to deal with her new life as a vampire aren’t easy, especially when her fiancé Shane’s unstable vampire DJ coworker Jim “accidentally” kills two humans who turn out to be Ciara’s cousins. Things get more complicated—and intriguing—when several more members of Ciara’s Traveler family come to town to look into their relatives’ disappearance…and bring some shocking revelations about Ciara’s anti-holy blood.

Review

In an unprecedented move, Jeri Smith-Ready publishes an essential piece of her WVMP Radio series in an e-book novella format. Longtime fans of this urban fantasy series, including me, have been eagerly awaiting LET IT BLEED. The verdict? While a refreshing dip back into the WVMP Radio world, LET IT BLEED’s novella length does make it feel a bit rushed and incomplete.

As ever, Ciara’s witty narration carries readers’ enjoyment of the story, but—and this may just be me—I wonder if the series may be suffering from the literary equivalent of the “Moonlighting” curse—that is, now that the main characters have gotten together and are getting married and all that, some of the tension that drew me through earlier installments of this series is gone. LET IT BLEED expands Ciara’s story to include more troubling conflicts and revelations, but it feels a little bare in some places, as if the story is trying to juggle too many of these conflicts, revelations, and sideplots, with the result that the pacing is uneven and the resolution abrupt. I would’ve liked LET IT BLEED to be longer, so as to give space for the plots involving Jim and Ciara’s family to be given more space to develop.

LET IT BLEED was a complete story structurally, but I didn’t have the same emotional investment in it as I had with earlier installments. Still, I am no less a fan of the series, and excitedly look forward to the final book, Lust for Life. There are, in my opinion, few protagonists who can compare to Ciara for paranormal resourcefulness and wit, and I’d follow her through anything to the ends of the earth…or the end of the series, since that seems more likely.

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Let It Bleed is currently available as a free download on Jeri Smith-Ready's website. It's an essential part of the series, so don't miss out!

Waiting on Wednesday (97): The Sequel Edition

There are so many sequels I'm anticipating that I think it's better off if I just put them all here, in one WoW post!

All summaries from Goodreads. And, uh, I suppose you might not want to read them if you haven't read the first books yet:

We'll Always Have Summer (Summer, Book 3) by Jenny Han

It's been two years since Conrad told Belly to go with Jeremiah. She and Jeremiah have been inseparable ever since, even attending the same college-- only, their relationship hasn't exactly been the happily ever after Belly had hoped it would be. And when Jeremiah makes the worst mistake a boy can make, Belly is forced to question what she thought was true love. Does she really have a future with Jeremiah? Has she ever gotten over Conrad? It's time for Belly to decide, once and for all, who has her heart forever.

The love triangle between Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah is to die for. Seriously. It is incredibly well written and I have no idea how it'll all turn out, since I love both boys. Can a happy ending exist for all three beloved characters? We'll find out soon enough!

We'll Always Have Summer will be published in hardcover by Simon & Schuster on April 26, 2011.

Eona: The Last Dragoneye by Alison Goodman

Eon has been revealed as Eona, the first female Dragoneye in hundreds of years. Along with fellow rebels Ryko and Lady Dela, she is on the run from High Lord Sethon's army. The renegades are on a quest for the black folio, stolen by the drug-riddled Dillon; they must also find Kygo, the young Pearl Emperor, who needs Eona's power and the black folio if he is to wrest back his throne from the selfstyled "Emperor" Sethon. Through it all, Eona must come to terms with her new Dragoneye identity and power--and learn to bear the anguish of the ten dragons whose Dragoneyes were murdered. As they focus their power through her, she becomes a dangerous conduit for their plans. . . .

Eona, with its pulse-pounding drama and romance, its unforgettable fight scenes, and its surprises, is the conclusion to an epic only Alison Goodman could create.

The first book, Eon, bowled me over, first with how incredible a world Alison Goodman had built, and then by how much it reminds me of timeless fantasy classics written by greats such as Robin McKinley, Gail Carson Levine, Tamora Pierce, and Sherwood Smith. If any of those authors appealed to you, then get thee a copy of the first book immediately!

Eona will be published in hardcover from Viking Juvenile on April 19, 2011.

Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready

Aura’s life is anything but easy. Her boyfriend, Logan, died, and his slides between ghost and shade have left her reeling. Aura knows he needs her now more than ever. She loves Logan, but she can’t deny her connection with the totally supportive, totally gorgeous Zachary. And she’s not sure that she wants to.

Logan and Zachary will fight to be the one by her side, but Aura needs them both to uncover the mystery of her past—the mystery of the Shift.

As Aura’s search uncovers new truths, she must decide whom to trust with her secrets…and her heart.

Well, that synopsis made the series sound like another ditzy little ditty in the paranormal romance department... but Shift is so much more than that. Beautifully strong characterization and world-building--how does Jeri do it?--will lead you an ardent fan of her writing. Maybe the publishing gods will be kind and gift me with an ARC somehow, somewhere...?

Shift will be published in hardcover from Simon Pulse on May 3, 2011.

Author Interview + Giveaway with Jeri Smith-Ready!

I am delighted to share with you today the conversational interview I had with one of my favorite authors, Jeri Smith-Ready, author of the adult urban fantasy WVMP Radio series (which I have been featuring on my blog this week) and the YA paranormal book Shade. Jeri suggested we text-chat over Skype the other week, and what resulted was a flowing conversation that covered numerous aspects of the WVMP Radio series, Shade, music, and much more.

I've condensed the interview into a readable format that won't take up half your afternoon: the speakers are in bold, and the questions I ask are bolded too, so you can follow it more easily. I promise there are no spoilers, only tidbits that I hope will intrigue you to pick up the series (so that you, too, can get to The Thing That Happens and freak out with me, hehe). And be sure to stick around at the end for a unique giveaway opportunity!

Interview with Jeri Smith-Ready

Steph Su: Hi Jeri, and welcome to Steph Su Reads!

Jeri Smith-Ready: Hi, Steph! So...what did you think of the Thing That Happens?

SS: Well.... first reaction, as soon as I began to think that might be a possibility: OH MY GOD!!!! *runs around the room screaming and freaking out* Initially it took me completely by surprise, but on second thought maybe it was rather inevitable, lol

JSR: LOL. I had it planned from the very beginning, since about 20 minutes after I had the idea for the series. It's why there are 5 books planned.

SS: Along those lines then, will The Thing That Happens affect the love triangle?

JSR: You mean with David, Ciara, and Shane? That's pretty much over. She's got enough to deal with in LET IT BLEED to worry about David. I think I've played that storyline/tension out as much as it'll stand. Plus, there are plenty of other guys to feel weird about besides him. ;-)

It's funny, in each book, the love triangle was much more prominent (and she was much closer to David) in the first drafts than in the final versions. Part of me really wanted to explore those possibilities (Ciara and David), but I always realized that it wasn't right. Besides, I could NEVER hurt Shane that way. I tried, and it made me literally nauseous, so I knew that was my body/psyche telling me it was wrong.

SS: Do you have a favorite vamp DJ by any chance?

JSR: oooh, VERY tough question. I assume you mean besides Shane?

SS: Yes. Otherwise it would be too easy. :)

JSR: I really love all of them in different ways. Writing their "turning tales" (which can be found on my website) has made me grow closer to each of them. But if I were told, you can write one novel about one of the other 5 DJs, it would probably be...Jim. I think Jim had some VERY interesting adventures w/his coven back in the 70s.

SS: Yes, Jim! Did he turn out as you expected/planned?

JSR: Jim is much darker than I originally imagined the hippie vampire would be. I think he's not a real hippie--he just liked the trappings of it so he could get sex and drugs. He's more into the dark psychedelic stuff. The Doors, some of the British Invasion, etc. Jim's arc, as you can begin to see in BOTN, is particularly dark, and a little bit sad. He's going insane.

SS: Any other tiny little things you might be able to share about the rest of the series?

JSR: Sure! In LET IT BLEED we get to meet some more of Ciara's Traveler cousins. She learns more about what her anti-holy blood means. And another ghost from her past shows up, just to make things interesting. In LIB she's really reaching for redemption--but since she's Ciara, she does it in a rather twisted way. ;-) Oh, and she goes to therapy!

SS: lol, Summer 2011 can't come soon enough! Now, I think your world-building is unmatched by any other author. How do you do it?

JSR: I like to keep my urban fantasies as realistic and as grounded in the human experience as possible. So I think about those things, how vampires would really survive in our society. My SHADE editor pointed out that it's the little things like music and clothes and food choices that help the reader swallow really big impossible things like ghosts or vampires.

SS: I remember writing in my SHADE review that I loved how you were able to do the same thorough world-building for both your YA and adult audiences without anything lost in the process. But were some things different, though, in writing SHADE than the WVMP series?

JSR: In SHADE, the world-building is much more intense, because the whole society knows about ghosts, even those who can't see them. It's probably my most science fictional book to date. I need to think about how that reality would affect every aspect of society, but always be careful not to overwhelm readers with anything that isn't relevant to the characters. A 16-year-old girl just wouldn't care about, I don't know, how ghosts affect monetary policy or whatever.

But w/each successive book, it can get more complex, until one's brain really, really hurts. Right now I'm editing SHIFT and trying to figure out, OK, how big is this phenomenon? How big does it need to be?

SS: How do you manage to keep track of all the world-building?

JSR: I pretty much keep it in my head. I take notes when I'm doing research. But I always reread the novels and keep them close at hand when writing the sequels. Because I might think I included a world-building detail, but it actually got cut out in edits. I'm still waiting for someone to write the Companion Books to my novels, LOL!

abcnews.go.com

SS: I think this may require a similar amount of mental functions on your part: how in the world do you find and compile the playlists/chapter titles for the WVMP books?

JSR: The playlists come out of the story itself, songs that are mentioned in the text, although after doing a full "soundtrack" for SHADE, I added a few songs to the BRING ON THE NIGHT playlist to flesh it out, to areas of the books that didn't have music but definitely needed musical comment.

For the chapter titles, I keep a document with a list of songs, categorized by decade. I note which ones I've used in previous books. Sometimes I'll be listening to the radio and go, "THAT would be a great chapter title." But the chapter titles are the very last thing I add to the books.

SS: I'm very impressed at your range of music. Are they from your personal collection, or do you have to go out there to find a song that best fits the moment in the book?

JSR: Hee. Often they are from my own personal collection. They might even be from the music I was listening to when I wrote the book. For instance, during BOTN I listened to The Verve and A Place to Bury Strangers, so they both made it in. I find "BitterSweet Symphony" to be a really uplifting song (though bittersweet, ha), so it made a good final tune for Shane to play for Ciara at the end. Here's the link for the playlists: http://jerismithready.com/books/wicked-game/music/

SS: I have 2 more questions related to music. The first is about Ciara's theme song, “Ciara” by Luka Bloom. I often find that I can't stop listening to that song, it's just so simply amazing. Which came first, the song or the name?

JSR: The song, actually. I always loved that song, and thought at one point I'd name my kid that. But I realized it would be mean, because outside of Ireland everyone would mispronounce it. But the moment I thought of the series, I said, Oh, and her name will be Ciara. And everyone will mispronounce it.

Oh, and can I just say that I added to the playlist a beautiful song to one particular scene in BOTN: "The Book of Love" by the Magnetic Fields. It is 100% unsentimental, just like Ciara, and yet it always makes me cry. I couldn't come up with actual lyrics for Shane to play for Ciara.

SS: lol, that was my second question: if you had come up with the tune and lyrics for Shane's song for Ciara.

JSR: No, I'm not a songwriter. I don't think I could've captured the moment with the beauty it deserved, so I could only describe it. Same with Logan's song in SHADE. Because I'm not a musician or a music scholar, I can only write about the way music makes me feel. Which maybe makes it more accessible to most readers than it would if I were a musician. BUT in SHIFT I have to write some lyrics for a song Logan has written, called "Shade." But it's not completely a love song, so I'm not too intimidated.

That's a lie. I'm totally intimidated.

I do think that "The Book of Love," while it doesn't follow the thematic description of Shane's proposal song in the book, really reflects their relationship well.

SS: Anything you’d like to add before we finish?

JSR: Yes. For those wanting a li'l more WVMP (or at least the vampires), I have a short story in the ETERNAL: MORE LOVE STORIES WITH BITE anthology coming out in December. It's a collection of YA vamp stories and mine features one of Ciara's young Traveler cousins, trying to escape the future her stepdaddy is trying to impose on her. The character, Cass, will appear in LET IT BLEED, so the story is a bit of a lead-in to that, though it definitely can be read on its own or not at all.

SS: Well, thank you SO much for doing this! I can't wait to share it with others. :)

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Giveaway Info

Well, if that wasn't fun, I don't know what is. Thank you, Jeri, for stopping by! Now, because I love this series so much, one lucky winner is going to get a set of all three WVMP books currently out--AND, since I'm going to see Jeri Smith-Ready at the PAYA Festival next weekend, I'll get them signed!

To enter, please read the interview and comment on this post with something relevant either to the interview or to my reviews of Wicked Game, Bad to the Bone, or Bring on the Night. (The reviews are spoiler-free, promise!) I am the judge of whether something is relevant or not, so a comment like, "Wow, this sure sounds interesting, I'm going to check it out, thanks!" won't cut it: tell me why you're interested in it. Also leave an email address so I can contact you.

Extra entries:
+1 for following me on Twitter (@stephxsu); leave your Twitter username
+1 for following Jeri on Twitter (@jsmithready); leave your Twitter username
+1 for tweeting about this interview and giveaway; leave a link
+1 for linking to this giveaway elsewhere (sidebar, blog post, etc.); leave a link

This giveaway is open internationally and ends Friday, September 3, 2010. Good luck!

Review: Bring on the Night by Jeri Smith-Ready

WVMP Radio, Book 3
Reviewed: Wicked Game (Book 1), Bad to the Bone (Book 2)
Note: spoiler-free zone!

Tags: urban fantasy, vampires, zombies, necromancy

Summary

It’s been three years since ex-con artist Ciara Griffin’s last adventure with the undead. In that time she’s managed to almost complete college and stay with her vampire DJ boyfriend, the preternaturally hot Shane McAllister. But trouble never leaves Ciara alone for long. In fulfilling her obligation to the Control, Ciara stumbles across the existence of zombies, which point to malignant necromantic activity. But her biggest problems aren’t from beyond the graveyard, when something threatens to take all that she loves about her life away from her forever.

Review

BRING ON THE NIGHT is the third of five planned books in the stellar WVMP Radio series, and it is clearly a turning point. Needless to say, it is impossible to be specific about anything that happened in this book without there being spoilers. In the interest of NOT being that person that messes up your reading experience, then, I will instead focus on how BRING ON THE NIGHT is yet another example of Jeri Smith-Ready’s world-building and characterization talent.

You would think that two people as in love as Ciara and Shane are with each other would get boring after a while, but this standout couple proves us wrong again and again. What makes Ciara and Shane consistently interesting is their deeply rooted differences—specifically, their faith, or the lack thereof. Shane’s struggle with the morality of vampirism as a result of his Catholic upbringing brings to mind other vampires’ famous moral conflicts (Edward Cullen, anyone?). It results in us occasionally wanting to just swat him upside the head and tell him to lighten up, you’re killing the mood—but damn, this boy is just completely and utterly adorable, the perfect guy to counterbalance Ciara’s recklessness and skepticism. And did I mention that he’s a talented musician as well?

The central plot pertaining to the zombies feels a little far-fetched at times, but mostly because they all play second fiddle to The Thing That Happens that I can’t tell you about. Still, it doesn’t take too much for us to adjust our knowledge of Ciara’s world to accommodate zombies and whatever else Jeri might want to throw at us next. That’s the beauty of her books: from the beginning, she weaves a world so complete that it begins to take on a life of its own, allowing us readers to stretch it as needed for us to believe in it. The strongest structures aren’t necessarily the most rigid: they’re the ones with just enough give and flexibility to absorb any shocks and new material.

BRING ON THE NIGHT marks a big change for Ciara, Shane, and all the other characters whom we’ve come to love. I’ll definitely be waiting to see what happens to them next!

Writing: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5


Pocket Books / July 27, 2010 / Mass-Market Paperback / 416pp. / $7.99

ARC sent by author and publisher.

Review: Bad to the Bone by Jeri Smith-Ready

WVMP Radio, Book 2
Reviewed: Wicked Game (Book 1)

Tags: urban fantasy, vampires, music, radio

Summary

Con-artist-turned-radio-station-publicist Ciara Griffin broke the boundaries when she came up with the theme to disguise the station’s vampire DJs as vampire DJs—out in the public. The audience loves their vampire personas, but Ciara works hard to make sure no one knows that they’re really vampires.

With the holiday season looming, WVMP is attacked by a religious fanatic group illegally tapping into their frequency and broadcasting anti-vampire diatribes. With the aid of Shane, her beloved though definitely OCD vampire DJ boyfriend; David, her brooding but undeniably sexy coworker; and some old and new friends, including a lovable vampire dog, Ciara delves into the workings of a radical group determined to rid the world of vampires.

Review

Author extraordinaire Jeri Smith-Ready set the urban fantasy bar high with the first book in her WVMP Radio series, Wicked Game. BAD TO THE BONE, however, continues right where Wicked Game’s excellence left off, propelling me once more into a engrossing world of vampires, mystery, memorable characters and relationship troubles.

In my review of Wicked Game I talked about the appreciatively multidimensional protagonist and vampires. Now, I wish to talk about other characters and the plot. BAD TO THE BONE contains an enviably colorful cast of characters that stand out due to their eccentricities and wonderfully unique quirks. In this installment we also get to see a deeper and necessarily darker side to Shane and Ciara’s relationship. A relationship between two such fundamentally different people—one a vampire, one a human; one neurotically methodical though determinedly devoted, the other more of a “think now do later” girl—is bound to have its problems. What will become of Shane and Ciara? I like that BAD TO THE BONE strews some doubts and insecurities into their relationship: this makes it much more realistic and beloved to me than a perfect relationship.

Jeri Smith-Ready has a way of constructing a world that’s so expansive, yet so complete, that you can either miss it all from being completely absorbed in it, or be in awe of her writing talents. (Or you can be both. Just, you know, not at the same time.) It seems to me that the books in this series usually take a while before finally getting into the action and the meat; that is because the beginning of the book is usually setting up the unusual circumstances that will be the grounds of conflict. While the main plot arc may be oftentimes buried in other, more interesting, albeit side-plots, I never felt confused or frustrated. I always just wanted more, more, more!

WVMP Radio is, in my opinion, one of the best urban fantasy series out there. Endearingly complex characters, a fully realized world, and the potential for future stories make sure that I’ll be glued to this series for hopefully years to come. Don’t miss out if you think this might be your type of book!

Similar Authors
Charlaine Harris
Ilona Andrews

Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5


Pocket Books / Feb. 2010 (reprint) / Mass-Market Paperback / 432pp. / $7.99

Copy bought.

It's WVMP Radio Mini-Week!

Bring on the Night, the third book in Jeri Smith-Ready's fantastic WVMP Radio urban fantasy series, released on July 27 and marks a turning point in this 5-book series. To celebrate one of my favorite series of all time, I worked with Jeri to present a mini-week of celebration of sorts (par-tay)! There will be reviews (spoiler-free, as that is the way I roll), an interview with Jeri, and finally a giveaway. I hope you will join me in learning more about one of the smartest, wittiest, and most entertaining UF series out there for the rest of this week!

To get you started, here's my review of Wicked Game that I posted back in February, in which I describe the book as:

Calling all fans of smoldering romance, sassy heroines, and badass vampires: this brilliant series by Jeri Smith-Ready is sure to make your year! Not since Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series have I read a vampire book that’s so hot, funny, intelligent, and well written... Fans of the HBO hit show True Blood will LOVE Jeri Smith-Ready’s vampires... Suffice it to say that it is highly unlikely that a more well researched, smart, and supremely enjoyable paranormal read is currently out there.

Yeah. Suffice it to say that that's the kind of gushing in reviews that I can do for my favorite books.

Review of Book Two: Bad to the Bone coming soon!

  

Review: Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

Tags: YA, paranormal, ghosts, love triangle, conspiracy, death, music

Summary

Despite being born in an international “post-Shift” generation that can see and hear ghosts, Aura’s life is pretty good, for she and her boyfriend, musician Logan, are madly in love. But then the happiest day of Logan’s life ends in his sudden and tragic death, and he returns as a ghost. That’s when the real problems begin.

Aura still loves Logan with all her heart and is not ready to move on, but what sort of future can she have with a ghost? It would be better for Logan to move on when he is at peace instead of sticking around and running the risk of turning irreversibly into a Shade, a frightening malevolent spirit. And there’s also Zachary, the cute and devoted Scottish exchange student, who holds a huge secret that might unravel everything Aura knows of ghosts, and her suspicions of his and her role in the creation of the Shift.

Review

Some adult authors’ attempts to write a YA novel end disastrously, with dumbed-down characters, childish writing, and overdramatization. Thankfully, Jeri Smith-Ready is not one of them. With SHADE, Jeri proves that her smart writing transcends age boundaries, and that she is capable of creating incredibly detailed worlds of tension, action, mystery, and romance.

Aura is a wonderfully strong and passionate heroine. She is not afraid to talk back and speak her mind, much to the delight of readers who love themselves a great big dose of flirtacious verbal jousting. It is this passion, her temper and self-confidence and desires, that make her torn romantic feelings so believable. Love triangles are difficult to write well, but Jeri Smith-Ready makes it look easy. Zach’s assertiveness (and accent—come on, let’s admit it, how can you not think of Oliver Wood when reading this book?) is hot, and so is his determination to help Aura, even when she doesn’t realize she wants his help. And one would think that a dead person is static, but Logan’s character actually grows more and more well-rounded as the story progresses in his ghost state.

But even the best of love triangles alone won’t make a book truly great, which is why the complexity of the world in SHADE is so astonishing and admirable. Jeri Smith-Ready deftly weaves together details to portray for us an urban fantasy world that could easily be our own. The Shift, the presence of the ghosts, the Shades, the disturbingly powerful government division in charge of regulating paranormal activity, the mystery involving real-life enigmas—all of these are written into the book in a way that doesn’t make them glaringly obvious, with a neon arrow next to them saying, “LOOK HERE IMPORTANT WORLD-BUILDING POINT”; instead, we easily and gladly accept the unique things about Aura’s world as fact, and never have to question their presence and placement in the story.

SHADE has a great balance between the larger, political plot involving the “ghost police” and possible ramifications of revelations of the Shift, and the more personal sentimental emotional plot of Logan’s death and Aura’s torn romantic feelings between the two guys. For an oversaturated YA paranormal market, I doubt you can find a smarter, snappier book, and for a smart read, it’s exhilaratingly entertaining. If you’re a fan of paranormal lit, love triangles, and/or stories with a dash of political conspiracy and larger-world stakes, you absolutely cannot miss this one. Your brain will thank you.

Similar Authors
Richelle Mead
Kelley Armstrong

Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5


Cover discussion: 2.5 out of 5 - I love the covers, but I am NOT a fan of the arm sticking awkwardly into the page. Hello?! What is up with that? And yeah, yeah, I know that when you unfold the dust jacket you get the full image of the girl... but still. Awkward.

Simon Pulse / May 4, 2010 / Hardcover / 309pp. / $17.99

ARC received from publisher.

Oh man, I should've sounded a LOT more enthusiastic in my review. Just putting it up makes me wish I could reread it!

Awesomesauce Trailers

Wow. Thanks for the astounding response to my previous post! It's heartening to see that so many of us have noticed and want the same things in contemporary YA. And I know that authors are definitely taking note! Maybe those editors who purportedly recommend that their authors kill off parents or "beautify" their acned characters will think twice about their decision to perpetuate YA tropes that we readers note and are tired of.

On a far lighter note, I am going to share with you some cool trailers that some kind publicists have alerted me to. The first is one for Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready, a paranormal YA coming out from Simon Pulse on May 4--omigoodness that's a week from today!



I'm in the middle of reading this fabulously well-written book right now (would read more but it's dark now and this book is seriously creeping me out cuz I'm a wimp), and what can I say? Jeri is no adult urban fantasy author "dumbing down" her writing for the YA genre. The characters are three-dimensional and non-cliched, the world-building is full, the major plot conflict is steadily growing but the pace is not plodding, and I'm going to have to stop here because I don't want to expend all the phrases I want to use in my review. Needless to say, awesomesauce.

The next is for Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson, also coming out from Simon Pulse later in May:



I haven't started this book yet, but it came in the same shiny silver-foiled package as Shade, which by the transitive/proximity property must mean that it is awesome too, no? Also, the background music is so...well, would "rad" be an acceptable way of describing it?

The last is Part One of a series of teaser clips for the fifth book in Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series, Spirit Bound. I love this series incredibly much, but I haven't read the fourth book yet, so I'm shielding myself from this teaser trailer and instead providing you a link to its Youtube page. Check it out! (I accidentally peaked, and the quote that came up was just...whoa. Brought back the VA magic for me.)

Now, morning, can you come so I can return to reading Shade without my fear of ghosts?

Review: Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready

WVMP Radio, Book 1

Tags: paranormal, romance, vampires, music, radio

Rating: 4.5 out of 5


Summary

In order to put her con artist days behind her, twenty-something-year-old Ciara Griffin takes a marketing internship at the local radio station. She soon discovers, however, that the DJs are all vampires! Vampires are trapped in the time at which they died and so need to be immersed in the culture of that particular era in order to stay sane. Unfortunately, the owner of the struggling radio station is considering selling it to the generically commercial Skywave megacorporation, which would mean the end of “life” for the vampires.

Ciara comes up with the bold and daring idea of “outing” the vampire DJs to increase the station’s revenue. After all, no one is going to truly believe that the DJs are vampires—it will just make a great marketing ploy. Ciara’s idea is a success, and she even begins to get close to one of the vampire DJs, the hot and sensitive Shane McAllister.

There are some vampires, however, who don’t like what Ciara has done to WVMP and the safe anonymity of the vampires…

Review

Calling all fans of smoldering romance, sassy heroines, and badass vampires: this brilliant series by Jeri Smith-Ready is sure to make your year! Not since Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series have I read a vampire book that’s so hot, funny, intelligent, and well written.

If you like your protagonists bold and witty, look no further than Ciara Griffin. Her irreverent narration makes WICKED GAME a nonstop entertaining and mindblowing read. Ciara is a remarkably well-developed heroine: not only is she an original thinker who exudes appeal in the here and now, she also has a tender family history that is almost always subconsciously at odds with the woman she has turned herself into after her complicated childhood. This balance of present-day confidence and psychoanalytical complexities ensures that readers will never tire of learning about Ciara and following her around.

Fans of the HBO hit show True Blood will LOVE Jeri Smith-Ready’s vampires. No more are they impeccably perfect and sparkly. These vampires are dangerous: the risks that Ciara takes on with her job and romantic pursuits are almost deliciously tangible. At the same time, the vampires are also flawed, neurotic in their compulsions and need of staying connected with their era. It is this weakness, this humanity in these vampires that make them appealing and all the more “realistic” to paranormal fans. I don’t think I speak only for myself when I say that I’m bored by perfect paranormal creatures and naively “innocent” romances between humans and supernaturals. Toss in a hint of danger—that lethal combination of supernatural superstrength and human vulnerabilities—and you really crank the heat up in the romance and action departments.

I could say more about the sexy but not offensively purely erotic romance, or the complex vampire bad guys, or the phenomenally brilliant writing, or the number of times I cracked up reading the dialogue or evidence of Ciara’s con artist background—but I think I’ll leave off here. Suffice it to say that it is highly unlikely that a more well researched, smart, and supremely enjoyable paranormal read is currently out there. Jeri Smith-Ready has sated my demands for excellence in this genre, and has left me wanting much more from Ciara and her unforgettable vampires.

Similar Authors
Richelle Mead
Diana Peterfreund
Charlaine Harris

Writing: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5


Cover discussion: 2.5 out of 5 - As far as covers go, it's not that exciting. But this style is typical of many paranormal romances, and it's what's inside that counts!

Simon & Schuster / March 2009 (reprint) / Mass Market Paperback / 432pp. / $7.99

This copy was not provided for me by the author or publisher.

Waiting on Wednesday (40)

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

When Aura's boyfriend dies a most untimely death, she is forced to reconsider her relationship with the living and the dead alike. [from Jeri's website]

WICKED GAME and Aspect of Crow trilogy author Jeri Smith-Ready's first teen fiction GENERATION GHOST, following a 16 year-old girl on a quest to uncover why everyone her age and younger can see ghosts — and her struggle to cope with her boyfriend's passing when he haunts her regularly, to Annette Pollert at Simon Pulse, at auction, in a two-book deal, by Ginger Clark at Curtis Brown (World English). [from the Publishers Weekly Dec. 2008 deal announcement]

I provided these two snippets because I think the two of them together provide a better idea of what Shade is going to be about. I have heard nothing but good things about Jeri's adult series, which starts with Wicked Game (which I have on my TBR mountain), so I'm really excited about her debut YA novel! Occasionally you just need a good old-fashioned paranormal ghost story with a twist of doomed romance...

Oh, check out the full jacket wrap image:

What do you guys think? I'm not sure how crazy I am about the way it divides into the front cover, spine, and back cover. I mean, the front cover image looks a little...bland, with hardly any of the model appearing on it. Oh well. I'm in it for the story, anyway!

Shade will be published by Simon Pulse in hardcover on May 18, 2010.

What are you guys waiting on, on this day so close to Thanksgiving??