Marcia Lynn McClure

I had to take a break from reading so many new books and feeling overwhelmed a bit since there are so many books out there that I need to read. I found myself rushing through each book I read in order to finish it and see how it ends. Reading had started to lose it's enjoyment and sort of become a job. It also had become harder to find time to read since I've spent the last couple weeks fighting the kids colds and applying for teaching jobs for Blake. I'm just a little tired to thinking and doing anything. So I've fallen back on re-reading a few of Marcia Lynn McClure's romance novels. They are short and quit easy to read. You can finish a book in 2-3 days easily and that is just reading a couple hours each night. I do not like all of her books, but there are a few that I do find enjoyable and honestly lighten my spirit a bit and are able to help me escape from life for a bit. Blake makes fun of any romantic works and finds the writing too simple and cheesy. But seriously, who can't resist a decent romance book that helps remind you to simply slow down a bit and enjoy life? So if you haven't read any of her books yet I would recommend the following since they are my favorite.

The Pirate Ruse

Crimson Frost

Saphyre Snow

The Prairie Prince

The Visions of Ransom Lake

Shackles of Honor

House of Night by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

This series is a good story, but there is a little too much swearing and sexual situations. I can understand a little about the sexual content. When vampires bite someone it is pleasurable for both parties so it has to be included a bit, but the language just seems a little too overboard, especially with the last couple of books. I have read 7 books out of this series and know there is at least one more book and possibly even more. Once again I have to comment that series need to be kept to a few books and not be dragged out so much. This last book I read, Burned, definately was not that exciting or anything. I think part of it is due to getting bored of the series since I read it straight through and wanting it to end at this point. I hope Awakened is the last book.

So a little information about this series. Humans live in a world where they know about vampires. Vampires are not made necessarily by the vampires, but are made from humans who are marked with a crescent moon on their head during high school age. Once you are marked you must leave immediately and start attending the House of Night vampire school or else you die. Unfortunately, you still might die if your body rejects the change. You either are tranformed from a Fledgling into a Vampire, or you one day just up and die because your body rejects it. Zoey is our main character that is marked and of course she does not have the normal fledgling experience. She imprints with her human ex-boyfriend when she finds herself eating his blood which is not suppose to happen. She also learns she has a gift of being able to control all 5 elements of the world, earth, fire, water, air, and spirit. Most vampires are not even able to control one, but Zoey for some reason can control all of them. She soon finds herself having to deal with adult vampire issues that fledglings don't start to encounter until their 6th level or so.

Anyway, so Zoey is learning about vampire life and overall storyline for the books is her mentor, Neferet, abandons Nyx, their diety, and starts to accept Darkness and creates 'red fledglings' out of students that die. One of these students is Zoey's best friend who she has to save. New vampires and humans are made and they must work together to defeat a fallen immortal, Kalona, that is brought back to the earth by Neferet. They have power to blind most of the vampires and so Zoey and her friends must find a way to destroy Neferet and trap Kalona from staying on earth. Like most vampire type books, sounds a little crazy, but it works.

List of Books:

Marked

Betrayed

Chosen

Untamed

Hunted

Tempted

Burned

Awakened