Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Synopsis:

After two years on the run, best friends Rose, half-human/half-vampire, and Lissa, a mortal vampire princess, are caught and returned to St. Vladimir's Academy. Up until then, Rose had kept Lissa safe from her enemies; school, however, brings both girls additional challenges and responsibilities. Rose is training to become Lissa's guardian - one to protect her from the Strigoi (undead vampires who are immortal and have no humanity). Lissa is in line to take over for Queen Tatiana queen of the vampires. Lissa is the only member left of her royal family line. Rose deals with her new trainer - Dimitri who was the one who captured them to bring them back to the Academy. She struggles with growing adoration for him as well as getting back into the swing of things at school. How they handle peer pressure, nasty gossip, new relationships, and anonymous threats may mean life or death. Likable narrator Rose hides doubts about her friend behind a tough exterior; orphan Lissa, while coping with difficult emotional issues such as depression and survivor's guilt after her whole family dies, uses her emerging gifts for good. The take on vampires in this book is unique and Rose is an extremely likeable character. You want to go on her life's journey with her....let's face it, you want to be her, even with all the stuff she has to go through. She is a strong personality and a strong fighter. Is Rose strong enough to protect Lissa from the Strigoi...and from herself?

Review: 10 out of 10.

Love this series. It was a toss up between this one and House of Night. They both have different view points on vampires and both of the main characters are extremely likable, but I may have to go with this one. Mead's absorbing, debut YA novel, the first in a new series, blends intricately detailed fantasy with a contemporary setting, teen-relevant issues, and a diverse, if sometimes sterotyped, cast of supporting characters (cute puppy dog red headed boy who likes Rose, who SPOILERS 'gasp' dies in front of her). Occasional steamy sex and a scattering of vulgar language demand mature readers, but teens able to handle the edgy elements will speed through this vamp story and anticipate the next installment. Love, love, love it. It makes me sad that there is only one book left that won't be here for a little while...

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Synopsis:
The story is told through the eyes of 16 year old Evie (short for Evelyn), who has worked with an international agency aiming to register and control " paranormals" since she was 8. Paranormals range from vampires to werewolves to hags and faeries. She knows her life isn't normal (after all, her best friend is a mermaid and her ex-boyfirend is a psycho faerie), and longs for the things she sees on her favorite high-school soap opera Easton Hieghts. When a mysterious shape-shifter named Lend breaks into the agency, Evie's world is turned upside down as she slowly realizes just how far from normal her life really is. Lend makes Evie realize that she too is a paranormal - she is a level 7 paranormal. The highest level she has ever met is level 6 (faeries). The level depends on how rare and useful a paranormal is. As she begins to fall for Lend who is imprisoned by the agency she works for, another being begins to kill paranormals. When the killer breaks into the agency (also where Evie lives), she and Lend escape and she is forced to free her ex-boyfriend from his binding contract with the agency. Evie and Lend go back to Lend's house where she learns from his parents and rogue paranormals that the agency she works for isn't what she thought it was. Evie learns what she is and who the villain is, but the girl who is killing paranormals is closer to Evie than she could've expected. Will she be able to take her down without going over to the darkside herself?

Review: 9 out of 10.
White writes with great flair and her plot is a breath of fresh air in an often stale paranormal young adult market. Evie's story is both funny and heartbreaking, full of great moments guaranteed to bring a smile to your face (such as when she gets excited over the prospect of seeing a locker at Lend's high school for the first time). I loved the story line with Evie working for an agency that 'tags and bags' paranormals and her journey of self discovery. Paranormalcy is the first in a trilogy, and I for one can't wait to see what White will produce next.

Betrayed (House of Night Book 2) by P.C. and Kristin Cast

Synopsis (spoilers):


In this second installment of the popular series, Zoey Redbird has now taken over as leader of the Dark Daughters and as High Priestess in training now that the goddess has gifted her with the affinity to invoke 5 elements – wind, air, water, earth and spirit. In the beginning of the book, it’s Parents Night. Her mother and stepfather come to visit and are appalled at how she has changed, even though Neferet tells them it is because of the goddess Nyx and that she has been gifted. Her stepfather leaves and basically tells her she is cut out of the family. Her mother follows him out, not disagreeing. At least she still has her grandma.


Zoey decides to change the way the Dark Daughters has been run in the past. She comes up with a prefect system (in which she is the head prefect). Damien, Erin, Shaunee, Stevie Rae, and Zoey’s new boyfriend Erik Night will all be prefect members as well as one of Aphrodite’s inner circle (still to be named). Aphrodite has fallen out of favor with Neferet (High Priestess of House of Night and Zoey’s mentor), as well as with her friends. A new kid enters the school – Jack Twist. He is Erik’s new roommate and Zoey instantly takes him under her wing. A romantic spark flares between Jack and Damien.


Neferet tells Zoey that she believes that Nyx (the goddess of Night that vampyres worship) has withdrawn her gift to Aphrodite – her ability to have visions that predict terrible events). However, when Aphrodite has a vision of Zoey’s grandmother dying as a bridge she is driving on collapses, she starts to think Nyx has not withdrawn Aphrodite’s gift. Zoey calls her grandmother and tells her to stay put and calls in a fake bomb threat on the bridge, when it is discovered that the driver of the barge that Aphrodite had seen crash into the bridge had a heart attack, Zoey knows Aphrodite’s vision was a true one. If she hadn’t stopped it, the heart attack would’ve caused the driver to steer into the bridge, killing all on board the boat and the drivers on the bridge.


Zoey begins to get an off feeling where Neferet is concerned. Not only is she being very harsh to Aphrodite and refusing to acknowledge her visions, but she announces Zoey’s new plan to run the Dark Daughters as her own idea. One night she also sees Elliott – a fledgling who had died a couple of weeks ago during the change. He has red eyes and smells of decay. He is near the east wall with Neferet and they are arguing. She lets him drink her blood. Zoey is confused and disgusted by this. Something isn’t right…


Zoey goes out into town to clear her head after she hears that two of Heath’s friends from a rival high school have gone missing – Chris and Brad. Chris’ body has been found – he died due to multiple lacerations and blood loss. Detectives have questioned Zoey since she had known Chris through Heath. They also want to talk to Loren Blake (he is a vampyre poet laureate – one of the first in hundreds of years and is part-time professor at the House of Night). Neferet tells them he is away cheering on students taking place in a Shakespearian monologue competition in London (which Erik takes first place in). Zoey knows that is false as she had seen him earlier that day. She wonders why Neferet lied. Zoey thinks the police believe vampyres might have something to do with it even though they have a pact with humans that they will never take their blood unwillingly. While she is out she runs into Heath. He offers his blood to her, even cutting himself to entice her. She cannot help herself and drinks from him. This solidifies their Imprint.


Amidst planning the new direction of the Dark Daughters, Zoey runs into Loren Blake. He is very young for a vampyre and extremely handsome. They flirt and she cannot believe how womanly and special he makes her feel. They meet again by the wall and he asks to see her tattoos. She pulls her shirt down to show him and is surprised at how he makes her feel. Her confusion over the now multiple guys in her life plagues her.


While casting her first circle in front of her peers, Zoey learns that Nyx has gifted her friends with the affinity of each element they have helped her call in previous circles. Shaunee has the affinity for fire, Erin for water, Stevie Rae for earth, and although Nyx rarely gifts men with an affinity for anything other than a physical affinity, he has blessed him with the affinity for air. As they finish casting their first circle, Stevie Rae becomes ill, coughing up blood. Her body is rejecting the change. Zoey goes to her and cradles her in her arms as her best friend dies.


Zoey and her friends try to go on without Stevie Rae. Zoey is heartbroken. Neferet gives her a vial of liquid to drink to keep nightmares away, however she runs into Aphrodite who tells her not to drink it. When her roommate and best friend Venus died, Aphrodite took it and it made her feel funny. She forgot mostly about Venus and it even took away her visions temporarily. Zoey doesn’t take it and has a dream about the smelly red eyed kids who had died. Stevie Rae is now their new leader and they take Heath. When she wakes up the next morning the news tells her that Heath is missing. She knows it wasn’t just a dream. She admits to Erik about her Imprint with Heath, but tells him that she still cares about him and wants to be with him. He is understanding and tells her he wants to be with her too.


While at the stables trying to mentally locate Heat, Aphrodite appears and tells Zoey to take Persephone (the horse she frequently grooms for her equestrian class) to find Heath. If Zoey looks deep inside, she knows she can find him. Zoey wonders if Aphrodite has changed. They’re definitely not friends, but they are not the enemies they once were.


Zoey does indeed find him. He is in the tunnels that run under Tulsa that were made during Prohibition. She rescues him from the red kids who are evil vampyres who care about nothing but feeding. They hadn’t killed Heath yet because his blood has been tainted by his imprint with Zoey. Zoey sees that Stevie Rae is in fact one of them. She has changed but Zoey knows she can save her. Heath and Zoey escape but right before they get out Stevie Rae finds her and asks Zoey to kill her. Zoey refuses. Stevie Rae tells her Neferet is responsible for this new batch of fledglings who have died and now changed into evil beings. Zoey tells her to use her affinity for earth to stay strong. She won’t forget about her and promises to come back for her. Stevie Rae agrees to wait for her.


Zoey calls one of the detectives that has shown her kindness (his twin sister became a vampyre). She tells him she found Heath and he tells her he’s on his way. Using the elements to escape has made Zoey weak. She runs into Neferet and tries to pretend to be thrilled and relieved that she found them. Neferet erases their memory. While passed out Nyx tells Zoey that the elements can restore her memory. On the way back to House of Night with Detective Marx, Zoey keeps trying to remember what happened, but a pain in her head blocks it. When she is right outside the wall to the school she tells Marx to pull over. She remembers what Nyx told her. She gets out and uses the elements to restore her memory and a searing pain spreads down her back. She doesn’t tell the detective what she remembers, but asks him to trust her. She gets back to the House of Night where her friends welcome her, as well as Neferet. Zoey subtly lets Neferet knows her memory is back and Neferet whispers a threat to her. Zoey loudly asks Neferet to look at her back and pulls her shirt up. All her friends gasp. She has more tattoos from Nyx all down her back that match the ones from her face, neck and shoulders. Neferet is speechless. Zoey goes to fake-hug Neferet and whispers to her that she knows everything and that this isn’t over.






Review (spoilers): 10 out of 10.


I love this series. With each book Zoey becomes stronger and more sure of herself. The death of Stevie Rae has made me tear up both times I have read this book. The writers do an awesome job of making you feel as if you have lost your best friend too. Although the men in Zoey’s life continue to grow, you feel as torn between them as Zoey does. The writer also makes you feel torn about Aphrodite. As horrid as she was in Marked, she becomes slightly more likable in this book. You want to hate her for her past transgressions, but you hold hope that she is starting to turn over a new leaf. While sometimes these books seem a bit too teenager-ish, the writers immerse you in Zoey’s life. You feel her love, pain, and confusion. I love this series and I always can’t wait to read more of it!

Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast

Synopsis (spoilers):


Zoey Montgomery is walking through the hall of her high school with her best friend Kayla, when she sees a man standing by her locker. She instantly realizes he is a Tracker – an undead vampyre who ‘marks’ humans to become vampyre fledglings. A human is ‘marked’ if their junk DNA is undergoing a transformation which will bring about the ‘change’. Vampyres aren’t made from the myths of our time – no sucking each other’s blood and having to die with their blood in your system. In actuality, it’s like a disease. You get sick (which Zoey already was) violent coughing and runny nose. Once you are marked by the Tracker you must go to the House of Night – a school for vampyre fledgelings, if not, the sickness will consume you and you will die. If you do go to the school, one of two things can happen – you will make the ‘change’ into a full vampyre, or your body will reject the change and you’ll die.

Zoey is marked with an outline of a crescent moon on her forehead – the mark that new vampyre fledglings are given. After fighting with her religious stepfather (an elder of the People of Faith) and her mother who has become a zombie that is completely devoted to him – even over her children, she sneaks off to her grandmother’s house. She faints and her spirit meets Nyx – the goddess of the vampyres. She kisses her on the forehead and when she wakes she’s at the House of Night – and her mark is colored in, something that is unseen in vampyre fledglings and only happens to adult vampyres when they make the change. Her grandmother has brought her here. Her grandmother and Zoey are extremely close. They share their love of their Cherokee heritage, and Zoey’s grandma is very kind and accepting, and her only saving grace since her mother remarried.

The House of Night becomes the home Zoey hasn’t had in three years since her mother remarried. Neferet – High Priestess of the House of Night (think principal of a high school) becomes her mentor and mother-figure. Neferet understands her home life. When she was young, her mother died and her father abused her. When she changed, she escaped that life and started her new one. She has an affinity for cats (can hear their thoughts), can heal, and has strong intuition. Cats are also a big staple at the school – they roam free and choose their owner.

Zoey becomes best friends with her roommate Stevie Rae – a huge country girl who’s super sweet and loyal,, as well as Stevie Rae’s friends Erin, Shaunee, and Damien. Zoey realizes her friendship with Kayla was superficial, these are real friends. Her non-boyfriend Heath comes to visit her one night and she accidentally tastes his blood. She discovers she has bloodlust – something that usually doesn’t happen until you’re a 6th year student (she’s only a 3rd year). She also ends up imprinting with him. He becomes obsessed with her and wants to be with her all the time. She desires his blood more than anyone’s. She meets a boy – Erik Night, who is her arch enemy’s ex-boyfriend and they quickly take a liking to each other, much to his ex-girlfriend’s annoyance – her name is Aphrodite. Aphrodite is a mean, hateful girl who has visions of the future. Zoey has learned she keeps her visions from Neferet (the High Priestess) unless someone notices she has a vision, something that leads to the death of others. Aphrodite also runs the Dark Daughters – a private club for students.

While at the school, two people she knows do not survive the change. One dies right in front of her. While outside, she sees both of them at separate times. They smell like decay and have red eyes and look awful. She believes she is seeing their ghost, until her cat Nala scratches one of them and draws foul smelling blood.

Zoey soon discovers she has an affinity for the 5 elements – something no vampyre or vampyre fledgling has ever had. The most even a High Priestess has ever had has been for 4 elements. Zoey can invoke air, water, earth, fire and spirit with the help of Damien, Shaunee, Erin and Stevie Rae. With the help of her new friends, she overthrows Aphrodite and by Neferet’s orders takes over as leader of the Dark Daughters and High Priestess in training. She also walks away with a new mark – an intricate weaving of sapphire blue tattoos that lead out from her mark and flow over her brow line. She also has intricate tattoos over her neck and all down her back.

Review: 10 out of 10

I loved the first book of this series. It is one of my favorite vampire series. Sometimes it's hard to read knowing how southern some of the characters are (like Stevie Rae) but Zoey is a strong girl who overcomes a religious jerk of a stepfather and the woman her mother has become since marrying him and takes on a change that will completely alter her reality and life as she knows it. Her friends at the school are very likable and you instantly take her side against Aphrodite. If you like vampire books, I highly recommend this series. It takes a different look at how vampires are 'made' and follows a very lovable girl named Zoey through her new life.

The Forbidden Game by L.J. Smith – Part 2: The Chase

Synopsis (spoilers): 

The second part opens with a boy named Gordie Wilson. He is hunting in the woods. He starts to see shadows and hears noises in the trees. Something jumps out at him and his heart stops before it can even sink its teeth into him.
Cut to Jenny. She is in the bathroom at school. A girl comes up to her saying Slug and P.C. didn’t kill her friend Summer. Slug & P.C. are the boys who at the end of book 1 stole the game and who had been following Jenny. She starts crying, saying she hates Jenny and she can prove that Slug & P.C. didn’t kill Summer. She runs out before Jenny can ask how. The payphone outside the bathroom is ringing. She picks it up. Static and “a….ish…shhhh”. Gibberish. She hangs up.
She tries to gather all her friends to tell them about the girl from the bathroom. Tom hasn’t been in school. She flashes back to them telling the police about Summer being missing. They didn’t believe the truth of course, so they finally said they couldn’t be sure that’s what actually happened. So an ongoing search team has been looking for Summer.
Brian Dettlinger, football star and senior, walks up to Jenny and asks her to prom. She declines – she’s with Tom. Cut to Tom’s point of view. He’s been watching Jenny. He thinks about how she’s changed since Julian and how he’s sure she has feelings for him, even if she can’t admit it.
Jenny and Audrey go to help out putting up posters all over town of Summer to get information (even though they know what happened to her). They see kids playing a game of lambs and monsters. Lambs go and hide, monsters try to find you, if the monster tags a lamb, the lamb goes to the monster lair until another lamb comes to let you out. One of them is Jenny’s little brother Joey, the other is Cam – Summer’s little brother. She tells them to be on the lookout for a cardboard house (but to not touch it) and described the girl from the bathroom, saying they were looking for both and to let them know if they saw either by telling her they found it and she’d know what they meant.
As they’re leaving, Audrey and Jenny are being chased by a shadow animal, Tom jumps from the bushes and saves them. Later they see a dog, figures that’s what it was and they overreacted. Audrey drives herself home and Jenny goes with Tom. He brings up her connection to Julian again, saying he’s been avoiding her because he just knows he will lose her to him. He says she’s changed. She tells him if she’s not the same person maybe they should break up. He doesn’t object. Once she’s home she gets another phone call “Ahh…issht”. Jenny thinks they’re saying “Vanished”. After she’s gone to bed she receives yet another phone call. This time she realizes it’s not “Vanished” but “Famished”. She remembers the hungry eyes of the Shadow Men from her grandfather’s closet.
Jenny tells her friends she thinks Tom and her broke up. Audrey suggests she accept Brian’s invitation to the senior prom after all to make Tom realize he could really lose her, and she will find a date and go with her. Everyone starts to have dreams and imagine they are being stalked by the Creeper (snake) and the Lurker (wolf). In computer class, Jenny freaks out when she feels something slithering up her leg, Audrey has a dream of a wolf licking the back of her neck and when she wakes her neck is wet, Dee and Michael both have similar experiences. Michael rationalizes that it was their imagination. Tom is still not in school. Cut to Tom’s POV. He’s in the forest where Gordie Wilson disappeared. He finds black muck, when he scrapes it up realizes it’s dark red, not black.
Jenny runs into Cam who tells her he’s found the girl from the bathroom. Jenny and Dee track her down and after some convincing, she shows them a place her, Slug, and P.C. used to go. The dollhouse is there, but it’s ruined. It looks like it has exploded from the inside. Jenny breaks the news to the girl Angela that her friends are dead. The ring, however, is nowhere to be found.
Jenny goes to prom with Brian, even though guilt over the fact that she doesn’t care for him the way he seems to care for her and over hurting Tom when he found out she was going with him was gnawing at her. While at the masquerade dance she is asked to dance by a boy. She does and soon realizes it is Julian. He reminds her that she’s sworn to be his and she can’t help a part of her that is still drawn to him. He slips the ring back on her finger, she knows it will not come off now. He admits to taking Gordie as he stumbled upon the Creeper and Lurker. He offers her another game because genies like to gamble. If Jenny wins, she is free of her promise to be with him always. She accepts. She had assumed the game would be between them, but no – it is the original players of the game – including her friends. The game? Lambs and Monsters. On his side the Creeper and the Lurker, on her side – her friends. If she finds them before he gets them all, they’re free, if not he keeps them. He mentions little Red Riding Hood. Audrey has copper hair. He’s after Audrey first.
Audrey is in the woods outside of the hotel the prom is in with her date. He gets knocked out and she hears growling behind her. She runs and sees a hole in front of her, but it’s too late. Luckily, Tom has been watching them again. He grabs her as she’s about to fall in the hole. Audrey is safe.
They gather all the friends and go to Michael’s apartment. Jenny tells them all about the new game. She offers to save them again by actually going to Julian willingly this time. They tell her no, they will play. Jenny gets a clue in her cracker jack about who will be first. “In the midst of a word she was trying to say, in the midst of her laughter and glee, she had softly and suddenly vanished away – for the snake was a Boojum you see.” Audrey starts to pick up empty soda cans and goes into the kitchen talking away. Mid-sentence she stops, and everyone runs in. Audrey is gone. They decide they need to find Julian’s home base in order to ‘set the lambs free’. It must be a place like the game store – somewhere that is between worlds.
They all tell their parents they are sleeping over each other’s houses so they can all stay at Michael’s and keep an eye on each other. Only Zach’s parents won’t let him. He’s been gone too much. Jenny and Zach talk about imagery. How a picture of a pipe, is not actually a pipe – it’s just an image of a pipe. So they have to leave him. While at Michael’s Jenny has a dream. Julian is in it. She gets a new riddle that points her to Zach. They go to check on him the next morning. He’s gone, in his place is the paper doll he had made when they started the original game.
They go see Dee’s grandmother. She tells them the story of Ibis the prince of darkness and genies who took this boy. The girls who loved him dived into a river of fire (the fire burned her of course, but it didn’t kill her) then she swam in a river of water and then stumbled through a river of snakes to save him.
The next clue Jenny figures out is about Dee. Although she puts up a fight and is with Michael, Dee is taken as well. Just Jenny, Tom, and Michael are left. Julian visits Jenny’s dream again. She asks for a hint about the base. His hint – “you can find your friends behind a door.” Jenny asks “have I been though it?” “Yes and No.” Jenny has no idea. She wakes up and finds a new clue. The clue is “Pas de lieu Rhone que nous.” Michael and Jenny look it up in French while Tom sleeps. It doesn’t make sense. Jenny sounds it out. It’s English – “Paddle your own canoe!” Yes! She’s figured it out and they’re still all together. She looks over, Tom’s sleeping bag is just pillows.
Cut to Tom’s POV. He’s in the forest and has taken Michael’s father’s shot gun. He deduces that the black/dark red gunk he found is blood from the Lurker. That means you can kill them. He is attacked by both and manages to kill them both, but not before the snake bites him.
Jenny reaches the forest. In the river is Tom’s paper doll. He’s gone. She and Michael goes back to his place. Michael is freaking out, doesn’t even want to go to the bathroom alone. They go up and Jenny’s talking to him outside the door, he flushes the toilet and it keeps flushing. She opens the door – Michael is gone, his paper doll in his place.
Jenny figures out where the home base is. When she was talking to Zach she had seen a portrait of a door. She reaches for the knob and it’s solid. She found it. She jumps in, avoiding Julian who has been chasing her since he realized she figured out where the base was. All her friends are waiting for her. She has won. She’s free from her promise. The ring comes off. Julian has one more surprise. He sets a fire around the door. One so powerful they can’t cross it. Again – the door is open, they just have to get through it. So Julian hasn’t broken any rules.
Jenny remembers the story Dee’s grandmother told about the girl going through the obstacles. Mind over matter. She convinces them all to go through the fire but not to think about it. They all hold hands, but she loses Zach when he trips at the last minute. Everyone else makes it through the door. It is still open. She wants to go back in, but Tom won’t let her. He goes in instead. And the door closes behind him. A message is left behind on the door – I have your friends with me in the shadow world. If you want them – come on a treasure hunt. If you lose, it’s the devil to pay.”
Jenny has another game to play…

The Forbidden Game Part 3 – The Kill - coming soon…

Review: 5 out of 10. Okay. This is getting a little redundant. Her friends are still in mortal danger, she has to figure out how to get out of Julian’s game and getting past his trickery. She does it, but oh he still has something she wants. So here we go again. And I have to say her friends are pretty stupid. They all refused to believe that anything was after them, convincing themselves it was their imagination, even after everything they had been through. And even though Tom going off to kill the Creeper and the Lurker was beneficial (they had 2 less opponents to deal with), all I could think when he snuck out was wow you’re asking for it. Jenny is also stupid to keep agreeing to his games. Obviously he’s going to put a twist on things. In my opinion this middle book was a little annoying because it was more of the same of the first book. And I still don’t know why amazon readers love Julian. Here’s to hoping the 3rd book will make the first two worth it.

Synopsis/Review for The Forbidden Game - Part 1: The Hunter

Synopsis for The Forbidden Game – The Hunter (spoilers):


Jenny Thornton buys this game (without even looking at it) from a cute guy at this game store that just appeared out of nowhere while she’s running away from two guys who are following her. All of her friends gather around to play this game – Audrey (newest member of the group, fashionista, army brat – her dad just retired to this town), Dee (African goddess with a warrior attitude – fierce personality with a black belt in kung-fu), Michael (sarcastic teddy bear who’s dating Audrey), Summer (tiny girl with blonde hair and dimples), Zach (Jenny’s artsy photographer cousin), and Tom (Jenny’s jock boyfriend who she worships, though he can sometimes be snappy and doesn’t always consider her feelings first). The game begins – it is a paper doll house with paper dolls they draw to look like themselves. They swear an oath to play the game of their own free will and that the game is real. Turns out it IS real. They end up in the house. They invoked a rune (a mystical letter of the ancient alphabet that allows others to walk between worlds). Julian (the boy who sold Jenny the game) is in love with Jenny (love at first sight) and devised this game in what he calls the Shadow World – if she makes it to the top before sunrise they are free. If not, she stays with him forever. One warning though, if you get hurt or die in the dream, it happens for real…oh and one of her friends won’t make it.

Tom freaks out, saying things are crawling all over him but no one else can see it. He disappears, as do Jenny’s other friends. They are scattered throughout the house. Jenny takes off after them. First up is Dee. Her nightmare is that aliens kidnap her and perform experiments on her. Jenny and her escape and find Audrey. Her nightmare is that she is sacrificed to the male elf race. Dee and Jenny are along for the ride. Audrey overcomes her nightmare and they realize for every nightmare, the time is an hour later than it was when the nightmare began. Next, it’s on to Michael’s nightmare (Audrey, Dee, and Jenny are in it too). Michael’s nightmare has leaves and moss coming out of his skin. He’s afraid he’ll turn into a plant. They help him overcome it and next is Summer. Her nightmare is about her messy room. Her grandmother told her things would start living in it. So giant cockroaches and maggots and creepy crawly things start to come out of all the garbage and piles of stuff in her room and Summer starts to freak out. Jenny sees the exit door has appeared out of nowhere (as it does with everyone’s nightmare once they overcome it) and she tries to get everybody out. However, Summer is too freaked out. She’s frozen in place and can’t stop screaming. Dee forces Jenny out of the room before the door disappears, but they’re forced to leave Summer behind. She is the casualty of the game. They become separated and Jenny finds Zach. His nightmare is a man in hunters gear is hunting him with a bow and arrow. They run and Jenny finally tells Zach he just has to take his mask off so he can overcome the nightmare. He does, there’s no one there and the clothes crumple to the ground. They get out and find Audrey, Michael, and Dee. They split up to cover each end of the hallway. Jenny is alone. She finds a door. It’s time for her nightmare.

Jenny could never remember the nightmare when she woke up, she just knew it had something to do with being at her grandfather’s house. She’s a little girl at the top of the stairs to the basement. It’s her Grandpa Everson’s basement. Even though the door is usually locked, it wasn’t this time. As a curious little girl, she starts to explore. There are books and notes all over the basement on runes. One was Nauthiz, a backward leaning X with one stroke longer than the other. It was used for containment and drawn on the closet door. Jenny opens the door. There are millions of eyes looking back at her. Older Jenny realizes they are all Shadow Men and her grandfather is a sorcerer. She sees Julian’s blue eyes in the midst of them all too. They call to her. They want her. Jenny’s grandfather bursts in and pushes her aside. But now that they’ve seen Jenny, they want her. He tries to contain them again by shouting Nauthiz! and tracing the X but it doesn’t work this time. He offers for them to take him instead. They do. Jenny learns that Julian is a genie of sorts. After he is gone Dee, Audrey, Michael and Zach find her in her nightmare and show her the door has appeared. She hesitates and Dee and Audrey work together to get her to go. Dee and Audrey are much closer now. They all leave. Jenny tells them the story of her nightmare, Zach is surprised, he tells her everyone thought their grandpa had hurt her and felt so bad about it he ran off.

Finally, they’ve made it to the top. It’s almost dawn. Tom is there and he’s chained up. Julian has been showing him everything (except when Julian was with Jenny trying to trick and entice her to stay with him) through a magic mirror. Julian appears. He opens the door for them to go back to their world, but The Creeper (a shadow snake) and the Lurker (a shadow wolf) is blocking them in. Jenny said it’s not fair, they beat the game. Julian tells her he promised to open the door. It’s open, they just have to get around the snake and wolf. Jenny bargains with him. If he lets her friends go, she will stay with him willingly. It’s an offer he can’t refuse. He gives her a ring – in the inside it is inscribed All I refuse & thee I chuse. They swear oaths to bind them together forever and he slips the ring on her finger. Her friends refuse to leave without her. She and Julian go off to another room to be alone together. She brings him into a closet and they start to kiss. He says he is afraid of closets since her grandfather trapped him years ago. She tells him she’ll give him better memories of it. As they kiss, she manages to vault him behind her into the closet. She slams the door shut, yells “Nauthiz!” and makes the X with her finger. It works, she doesn’t hear a sound from Julian. He’s contained. Jenny runs back to her friends and they all jump through the door just as the sun is rising. They did it – they won. Well all except for Summer, who is gone. How do they explain that to her parents? The police? Although it’s been a long night, Jenny knows she is now a stronger person than she was.

Tom admits to her his nightmare was twofold – rats (which he thought was crawling all over him in the beginning of the game) and losing Jenny. He knows he’s taken her for granted and then tells her he loves her. She says it back. He notices she still has the ring on. She takes it off, throws the paper dollhouse and all the paper figures along with the ring back into the box and tapes it up, leaving it on the table. They go to the kitchen to call the police when they return the box is gone.

Part one closes from the point of view of the two men who had been following Jenny at the beginning of the book. They took the game from Jenny’s house. They followed her home and finally got the nerve to break in and get the game they couldn’t get out of their heads. They open it.



END OF PART 1. PART 2 – THE CHASE. Coming Soon.



Review of Part 1 – The Hunt:

6 out of 10. Okay I admit when I started this book I was like wtf. This is weird. Some of the nightmares were kind of stupid too (Michael’s about becoming a tree – what was that about?). Also, I read reviews for this book on amazon and everyone was like oh I love Julian! Ok I don’t see why – though I’m hoping that’ll come later on. Sure he’s sweet (to Jenny) and madly in love with her (though love at first sight that strong? Ummm sure..) but he’s evil – he let a nightmare kill one of her best friends and put them all through hell. But there was also something very compelling. It made you want to keep reading. Julian does have this suave quality about him. Although there are definitely some weird parts to this book, overall it wasn’t too bad of a read. L.J. Smith could've made the book half of what it was without all the description of everything, but I guess when you're creating a book about another world it has to be somewhat descriptive.

Welcome

Hello there fellow book lovers! Thanks to a brilliant idea from my best friend, I have designed this blog to review and write a synopsis of the books I read. I read a lot of fiction and fantasy books. My synopses do include spoilers, so if you do read this blog, keep that in mind if you would rather read the actual book yourself. I will rate the book on a ten point scale (ten being the best, and one the worst). If a book scores a 5 or higher, I will write a synopsis - it's more of a summary so it's like you've read the book, but a much shorter version (think cliff notes). The longer the book, the longer the synopsis. If I rate a book lower than 5 but you would like me to post a synopsis on the book, please post a comment and I will do my best to accommodate. I hope you enjoy! Happy reading!