Anna Karenina Read Along

 The Kindle Edition is FREE on Amazon . Grab it so you can read along too! You DO NOT have to be a blogger to participate.
Start Up Post/Announcement Post – Now through July 1
 1st Post – July 7
 2nd Post – July 14
 3rd Post – July 21
 4th - July 28
 Final Review – July 31

I will be reading the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky. Tragedy unfolds as Anna rejects her passionless marriage and must endure the hypocrisies of society. Set against a vast and richly textured canvas of nineteenth-century Russia, the novel's seven major characters create a dynamic imbalance, playing out the contrasts of city and country life and all the variations on love and family happiness. While previous versions have softened the robust, and sometimes shocking, quality of Tolstoy's writing, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have produced a translation true to his powerful voice. This award-winning team's authoritative edition also includes an illuminating introduction and explanatory notes. Beautiful, vigorous, and eminently readable, this Anna Karenina will be the definitive text for generations to come. "Pevear and Volokhonsky are at once scrupulous translators and vivid stylists of English, and their superb rendering allows us, as perhaps never before, to grasp the palpability of Tolstoy's 'characters, acts, situations.'" (James Wood, The New Yorker)

Fairy Metal Thunder (Songs of Magic, #1)

Fairy Metal Thunder by J.L. Bryan
My rating: 5 of 5 skulls
Kindle Edition, 196 pages
Published September 16th 2011 by JLBryanbooks.com

What an incredibly fun fairytale! J.L Bryan is brilliant! ♥

Jason, Erin, Dred, and Mick aka Mitch are members of a band called Assorted Zebras. Jasons adorable little sister Katie is scared of monsters. One night when he's babysitting Katie, she sees a monster go into their parents room. Turns out to be a goblin [Grizlemor]....who is stealing their mom's jewelry! OMG!

Jason follows this 'little goblin thief' all the way back to another realm through a portal in Mrs. Dullahans yard, to a land of faeries and Elves and little assorted creatures such as Unicorns. This is where Jason hears magical fairy music and steals some musical instruments belonging to 4 otherworlders. Aiode.....Rhodia ....and two others.

There is a law in fairy realms that requires many years of education before you can play the magical instruments, I guess because in the wrong hands it could be dangerous, but more to the point, Queen Mab doesn't like it when these instruments are lost especially to the humans. The four otherworlders will suffer the Queen's wrath if they don't find their instruments soon, so they hire out some Elf with a long-ass name and a unicorn called Buttercup to sniff the whereabouts of the magical instruments out .

Meanwhile the Assorted Zebras are playing new gigs and becoming popular at the expense of the otherworlders loss and suffering . However there is a lot of humor in this tale like Jason getting a job a McSlawburgers where nobody likes the slaw

It was amazing!

View all my reviews

Kindle Edition only .99 

The Vengeance of the Vampire Bride

The Vengeance of the Vampire Bride by Rhiannon Frater

Kindle Edition
Published September 22nd, 2011
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lady Glynis Wright sought revenge for her families slaughter at the hands of Vlad Dracula, but the plan was never revealed as to how she was going to do that save for killing those who betrayed her and her family. When she arrived at the Palace of Lady Dosza, she was welcome and was safe there. At the same time, she was given warnings not to do anything rash and to lay low for awhile until further notice. The reason being there was a Vampire War happening between two Houses: The House of Bataar and The House of Ilcana and her brother.

This lasted for months, and a lot had happened to the Countess of Dracula. She acquired a new progeny Laura, and she waited a long time to be reunited with her lover Ignatius who was in Vienna with his Mistress who happened to be The Ruler of Vampires even though there was no such hierarchy in vampire law. Still, she was the One all vampires honored. Even Count Dracula and Ignatius were this woman's progeny, yet she is still a mystery. Anyway, all the Countess ever wanted was to be free from Vlad Dracula and his enslavement and she became Lady Glynis Wright of her own House in the end, and what an ending it was!

I really enjoyed this story even when it seemed to drag on, but I'm glad I finished reading it because it was incredible, and I look forward to another installment which Rhianna hoped to give us some time in 2012? I will definitely be waiting for the 3rd installment.

Yours Truly
JB

View all my reviews

reVamped to even look more impressive!

The Tale Of The Vampire Bride

The Tale Of The Vampire Bride by Rhiannon Frater

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This little gem puts Twilight to shame. I must admit that Vlad's abuse of Glynis was terrible to read, but I persevered their rocky relationship and was relieved after he takes her to Buda. That's when it gets better. Glynis seemed more happy and content there, Vlad mellows out a bit, and it is where she meets Ignatius whom she loves, but besides Vlad's wrath, she encounters a Dhampir, Gregor, and a group of Vampire Hunters in that town. They are responsible for burning down Dracula's Estate in Buda(pest) and killing all his servants save for Magda and her son.

Glynis returns with Vlad to the Castle where she lost her parents and sister and soul. The same castle where she was transformed into a vampire and all the unspeakable horrors there. Oh yes her brother was supposed to help Count Dracula get to England where he'd plan to live with his wife Glynis and live a somewhat mortal life.

Vlad aka Dracula is a very cruel and evil Master. It was the way he treated Glynis that got to me. That shit stresses me out.

I found the journal overall amazing.

View all my reviews

reVamped looks even more awesome!

The Immortal Rules

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From living in the Fringe to being Turned into a vampire to living in exile and journeying with a bunch of strangers looking for Eden to finding out the truth about Rabidism which has made the whole world unsafe for humans and vampires alike I am actually surprised Allison is still alive. She lets herself fall for Lucas and is determined to see his tiny human band get to Eden. I really hoped she would see her Sire Kanin again but he does not appear a second time, and in the end, we are left wondering if the world would ever be cured of the awful disease that turns vampires into Rabids.

View all my reviews