Movies With Fang and Magical Men

Books and Babbles is a fun post where I can share anything about books, and just babble on. Or, even babble about movies, hot topics, whatever strikes my fancy.
Daybreakers has enough fang for any vampire lover.  It just depends on what type of vampire lover you are.  If your a horror fan this is totally up your ally.  If you prefer vampires that sparkle this movie is not for you.  However, if you’re a vampire fan that doesn’t mind to walk the line for your beloved genre this is good.  It has original plot where the world gets a vampiric disease and everyone is turning vampire.  Humans are scarce and that’s what the Vampires feed on.  If they don’t get enough blood they turn into brainless monsters.  For the humans that have still some how managed to stay that way, life is terrible.  Constantly on the run until your caught, then nothing else matters.  Your put under and harvested for blood until you die.  
This was an edgy movie with a fantastic ending and a very unique cure for vampire disease.  If you like vampire horror, or don’t mind walking the line for your love of vampires really check it out!  Give it: 5/5

This next vampire movie, The Vampires Apprentice is glitter fan approve.  It’s a nice little jaunt into humorous vampirism.  This movie is based on the Series Cirque de Freaks, while I’ve never read it other fans say the movie stay pretty true to the book.  Just not as well paced.  Personally I think this movie did the best it could with what it had.  The movie was advertised for theatres briefly then out the door and on the shelves before any potential viewers even new it was there.  This movie was pushed out there as a dud. 
Vampire fans will find it amusing, even if the pacing is off with all the info that is crammed in.  The cast are all fine actors, and boy are they big names!  Two vampire factions duking it out, breaking up a friendship as prophetic events start to ruin a 100 years of peace.  Everything is wrapped up nicely in this movie, but they’re still ambiguous enough to say “We’ve got more where this comes from.”  This is after all based on a series of books.  Give it: 4/5

Now for magical men.
First up is Percy from Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  I was never interested in the books, and I’m still not.  The movie was a nice splice of Greek mythology and modern myths.  I felt the movie was really good and you don’t need to read the book to get it.  After all who doesn’t want to watch the children of gods battle it out in modern life? Give it: 5/5

The Prince of Persia features our second magical man, Prince Dustan.  Of course he only has magic powers when he has a blade that can turn back time. (Unless you call one heck of a nice bod to render females into drooling pools a power. Ah-hem.)  Personally I felt this movie was a bit of a let down.  It was like the director was riding on his former glory from Pirates of the Caribbean. Relaying on action, here’s a little plot, and lot’s of different ways to have the leading lady in very sexy clothes.
That’s not to say this movie isn’t fun.  There are moments when pieces of awesome humor come up, and the action is so over the top it’s awesome. So feel free to enjoy. Give it: 3/5

On another note if you haven’t watched Letters from Juliet. Really you need to.  Sure it’s predictable, but it’s one of those classic chick films.  You know the ones you secretly love.  Give it: 4/5

Have you seen any of these movies?  What did you think?

Sunday Sweets and a Review Note

I get to show of my goodies for the week! Sunday Sweets I also like to tell you where I found them, what kind of deals are up for grabs. Occasionally I'll even try a different method of buying books to see if it's faster and cheaper somewhere else. (This post also follows The Story Sirens' weekly meme, In My Mailbox.)
At the moment I'm a poor college student so you might not see this post every Sunday. If it's not there, that means the book gods have frowned upon me.
Got some awesome goodies this week. All purchased with Border 33% coupons, gotta love the coupons.

After reading The Better Part of Darkness, and loving every bit of it, I decided there was know way I couldn’t get it.  For my review of the 1st book, click here.

After many great reviews about Mind Games, I couldn’t talk myself out of getting this one.

 

This was one of those books.  I was searching for a different book, when suddenly my eyes were drawn to the cover.  It was love at first sight. I didn’t bother reading the description on the back.  After reading the first couple of pages there was no turning back.  Safe to say I’ll be reading this one right after Thurman’s Nightlife.
Review Note:
On another note, I’ll be reviewing some books that I’ve read before 2010.  I said I eventually would.  Don’t worry about me not being able to give fair reviews to books I read that long ago.  Most of them have been reread numerous times by myself.  Plus I have a great memory for books.  I may not recall where I’ve left my keys, but by gosh I remember what I read.
I just thought it would be better to have the reviews for the first books before I read and review books later on in the series.  If I don’t recall much about a particular book I won’t review it until after a good reread.
However, I’ll still keep up with my current reviews as well.

Debut: Lip's Don't Lie

As a reader I always want the download on what's going on with authors. Do they have new books coming out, hows their latest tour going, anything juicy! So, I decided to bring the news to my readers. I'm lurking around all of those author blogs anyway, might as well do something productive.

Well, it's finally here. I'm so giddy and hopeful about this post. It's been a crazed obsession for me, trying to make sure I got all of the good authors newsletters and blog feed up. Honestly it was way past time. Sifting through author site after author site wasn't healthy. So with out further babble, here it is!


Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angel  is debuting at #1 on the New York Times children's best seller list!

Ann Aguirre just sold two more Corine Solomon books. Devil's Punch (book 4) and Bloody Maria (book 5) are scheduled to be released April 2012 and 2013.  Those are some hot names, let's hope the covers are just as hot.

Deborah Cook is coming out with a YA Dragonfire series. No titles or expected dates posted.

Diana Pharaoh Francis sold book three and four of her Horngate Witches series to Pocket Books. Book three is Shadow city, "the apocalypse of magic has destroyed most of humanity and magical creatures of every stripe are crawling out of the woodwork to take back the world. Horngate is the only independent covenstead that remains. Vastly outpowered, they fight to survive against both human and magical enemies. If only their friends weren't trying to kill them too.…"


Carrie Vaughn can no longer ignore the persistent emails from her fans asking, "Is there going to be a sequel to VOICES OF DRAGONS?"

Yes! So rejoice fans there's a sequel in the making. Bad news is that she's working on her latest kitty book first. So really it's nothing but good news!

Becca Fitzpatrick has been avoiding the question, "Will there be a third book in the Hush, Hush series?" Well finally she's got the answer and it's a yes. After sending a daring proposal for book 3 that she thought would not go over well with her editor (of course her editor went crazy), she got the OK.  So Tempest is on it's way, she's only the third of the way through yet so not much to be said. However here's what she can say:

. . . it's shaping up to be all kinds of things I love: Twisty-turny, full of suspense, a little creepy, and most of all, there are some pretty electric scenes between Patch and Nora.

It's supposedly due Fall of 2011. Becca's not sure if this will be the last in the series, nothings certain.  See the authors full post here.


Aprilynne Pike releases the name of book three in the Wings series, Illusions. Apparently the name picking for the series was really tough. Using season names was a first choice, Spring, Summer, ext. but vetoed as not catchy enough.  Some of the spoof names are pretty great. Flower Girl, Petalwings, Roots, and Venus Boy Trap.

Check out her full post here.


Karen Chance is sharing some sample chapters of Hunt the Moon, the fifth Cassie Palmer novel. It's like torture reading it, knowing it's still going to be a long wait. If you'd like to torture yourself too, click here.

Chloe Neil's latest cover! Isn't she a beauty.

Now I will leave you on a more somber note.  Lot's of authors had really beautiful 9-11 posts this week, but Meg Cabot's post really hit me. Pretty much I was clutching my Kleenex box and crying a river. Really, you need to read this.

Hope you enjoyed the first of what I hope is a beautiful feature. Let me know what you didn't like about the post or liked?  What would you like more for this feature? Give me your feedback.

Book Blogger Hop and the Weekly Overview

To jion in the fun just click on the image above.

In honor of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, let's take time this week to honor our favorite book bloggers and why we love them!

There are a lot of great blogs out there, but I think I will focus on the one blog that I stop by every day.





Abigial always has the lates book covers, reviews, and her post are just fun. Conidering it's all about Urban Fantasy I'm there. If you haven't seen it yet you need to check it out.

The other key blogs I follow are on my Left Sidebar feel free to check them out.

Weekly Overview:

• Sunday Sweets shows off some very nice purchases.
• 5/5 review for the Better Part of Darkness, check it out here.
• This weeks Books and Babbles is UF vs PNR, check out who came on top!
• Wednesday Wishes features a change of cover for a continuing series, and a new male UF author I've found.

Heads up everyone! Friday (09/17/10) is my big debut for my NEW feature Lips Don't Lie. Everything is going smoothly and I've got some good gossip!  So don't miss it.

Wednesday Wishes

Hunting for books is one of my favorite things. Finding a new title is my equevliant of "getting rich." Whether the titles been around for a while, brand spanking new, or just not that common Wednesday Wishes is here for me to share them with you.


Blood Spells (Final Prophecy #5) by Jessica Andersen

Mayan lore and modern science warn that 12/21/2012 will bring a global cataclysm. Dark forces stand poised to crush mankind. The only hope rests with a secret group of modern magic-wielders called the Nightkeepers. But as Patience White-Eagle and her husband, Brandt, team up as a mated warrior pair, they will face a deadly threat that will test their powers-and their love...

Wow! I love the fact that there's a woman on this book. It's just been one shirtless guy after the next!  It feels like when your in the car and you stick your head out the window to watch the lines go by. By the time you get your head back up to look at the scenery you're thinking to yourself, "Thank god! A tree!"

The Fixer (Lawson the Fixer, book 1) by Jon F. Merz

Meet Lawson: vampire by birth, Fixer by trade. His mission: preserve the secret existence of vampires by any means necessary. There's just one problem - his oldest enemy Cosgrove is back, killing humans and threatening to unleash an ancient unholy evil. Can Lawson stop Cosgrove and still adhere to the very laws he protects by not falling in love with a beautiful human assassin named Talya?

Just found out about this series, and may I say I am really excited!  I remember when it was so hard to find female writers in fantasy, especially with strong female leads.   Now, in UF it's hard to find male authors, and male leads!

Heads up everyone! Friday is my big debut for my NEW feature Lips Don't Lie. Everything is going smoothly and I've got some good gossip!  So don't miss it.

Urban Fantasy vs. Paranormal Romance

There has been a lot a buzz around the book community lately about which sub genre is better, Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Romance. Some even went as far as to say that they were one in the same. If you're part of any Urban Fantasy or PNR groups over in goodreads, the topic has come up. What's the difference between the two, why is one better then the other.

 

First up, I'll lay it out that if I had to choose it would be UF. I'm a long time fan, and it has everything I look for in a good read. Still, I love my paranormal romance too.

 

After skimming a lot of the group chats that I participate in, certain traits popped up when trying to distinguish the two.

 

PNR:

1. Lacks plot a majority of the time and focuses on the couple.
2. High amounts of explicate sex scenes.
3. The couples get a happy ending.

 

UF:

1. Takes more focus on one character and world building.
2. Sex scenes are rare, and usually not detailed too much.
3. Happy endings are not guaranteed, and most relationships unresolved.

 

Now I'm not saying that some PNR don't have great plots, the Night Huntress series by Jeanine Frost, Richelle Mead's Georgina Kinciad books are a few that rock the plot world. It's true that I've also read a few UF books where I thought to myself this is so PNR. So it is agreed upon that those rules listed above do not make them unanimous across the board. There all always exceptions and this is just a generalization.

 

Besides great plots, questionable endings, and well thought out worlds, there is one thing that I love about UF. Sexual tension.

 

The more PNR I read, the more I realize that it's rare to find sexual tension, especially good sexual tension. PNR are pretty much all about tumbling into bed, so why is it that I feel this way? Simple, PNR is too easy. It almost seems by the end of Chapter 1 the characters are getting it on.

 

Even if huge transgressions take place, sex is still on the table. The couples are willing to forgive and get laid, or stay angry for a while ans still get laid. Where in UF, the characters grow. Relationships fight and struggle, which makes me feel more emotionally invested in the relationship.

 

Strong female leads tend to stay strong in UF books. Giving me more moments where I'm shouting out, "Heck yes!" to the latest ass kicking. Some of the PNR books I've read have strong leading ladies who know how to fight, but end up needing to get rescued again and again by the man. It's almost like the woman becomes dumber, just to feed that old age damsel in distress crap. Personally when I read about a strong female making some lame mistake and needing a rescue, I'm to busy yelling for being stupid. No, "Heck y!" moments here.

 

The Black Brother Hood series by J.R. Ward is a good example of this, all of the females are damsels and the women in the society are basically stuck in a world where women's rights aren't even a blimp on the radar. The one strong female lead is protrade so masculine that she gets referred to as guy a lot.

 

LethalLovely~When There's Nothing Left To Burn states:

 

I completely agree, Shera. Look at the BDB series for instance. I know I'm gonna get some crap for this but every single woman heroine in that series has little to no backbone & the one woman who DOES take care of her business is portrayed as masculine to the extreme. I like the series but I hate the message it seems to be giving that you can't be a strong, independent woman & still keep your femininity.

 

After posting my thoughts on many of the discussion boards, the opinions came up mostly unanimous with mine. PNR fans who were just being introduced to UF agreed that they liked the fact that there was more plot, and unanimously agreed that the world building was better. UF fans agreed that they enjoyed the happy endings and hot sex scenes were nice, but their hearts belong to UF.

 

What do you think? Do you prefer Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Romance?

 

Review: The Better Part of Darkeness by Kelly Gay

The Better Part of Darkness (Charlie Madigan, book 1) by Kelly Gay

Divorced mother of one, Charlie Madigan, lives in a world where the beings of heaven and hell exist among us, and they aren't the things of Sunday school lessons and Hallmark figurines. In the years since the Revelation, they've become our co-workers, neighbors, and fellow citizens.


Charlie works for ITF (Integration Task Force). It's her job to see that the continued integration of our new "friends" goes smoothly and everyone obeys the law, but when a new off-world drug is released in Underground Atlanta, her daughter is targeted, and her ex-husband makes a fateful bargain to win her back, there's nothing in heaven or earth (or hell for that matter) that Charlie won't do to set things right.
Thoughts:

The Better Part of Darkness was huge talk around the book sphere last year when it made it's debut. When its sequel, The Darkest Edge of Dawn, came out this year even more praise started to pour in. Clearly it was a no brainer to finally read my copy of The Better Part of Darkness. Let's say I am not disappointed, I'm practically whispering sweet nothings to this book.

Dark gritty, with one heck of a kick booty heroine, what's not to love. Sure I'll confess I had some doubts about my kick-booty heroine being a single, divorced, mother. Those factors usually turn me off immediately, especially when combined. Gay pulls it of smoothly, creating such an emotional connection between me and Charlie. I don't have kids, nor am I married or have been married. So riding along with Charlie was like going into the Twilight Zone. The love between Charlie and her kid is simply beautiful. When Charlie's life is spinning off into Danger Land I felt even more concerned for what was happening.

The ex-husband was another mind blowing part of this book for me. When reading it always seems like the ex is either a cheating jerk, dead (not quite an ex then), stupid, or simply wanted to be with someone who wasn't so kick-booty awesome. That's it, we hate the husband let's have few mouthy scenes and move on. The relationship between Charlie and her ex, blew me away. Sure the guy cheated, but the circumstances left a lot up in the air. Charlie still loved him, and ex was just too likable not to love. Even though I hate cheaters (that's putting it way too mild) I found my self cheering him on occasionally. So when events unfold I was on a roller coaster ride of tears, hope, and determination.

Charlie herself is a really great character. She's so real I want her to be my awesome friend. The kind that would hurt (if not kill) the people you hurt you. Charlie balances her life as a cop who deals with nasty other world creatures and her family life really well. So you get nice mushy emotions and hard butt police woman in one. The character growth in this book is also another treat, after all who could possibly think that a in control super mommy like her would need it?

Hank is a siren whose voice isn't the only thing seductive about him. He balances Charlie out as her partner in crime, mouthing off along with her. Personally I would have loved more page time with him, he's impossible to ignore. Hank reminds me of the strong, brave, gentleman that every women is looking for.

Other characters here are well worth investing in. Especially a relationship between Charlie's flower power sister (emphasis on powers) and a yummy Mage. I half breed Jinn, she was fierce but clearly vulnerable. Jinn are creatures from a different plan, kind of like hell, they're a warrior breed with a serious self worship issue. Let's just say that halfbreeds are not safe things to be.

The world Gay has created has me jumping up in down in glee. Earth is trying to balance out the discovery of two other worlds that creatures from legend live, and have been coming to earth throughout history. Elysia heaven-like where nicer monsters live and hell-like Charbydon where the eviler and darker monsters reside. Besides Sirens, Jinns, and Mages there are even more supernatural creatures happening. Hellhounds, angelic-like Adoni, Goblins, Revenants (read to find out), and so much more. This is a world that is every Urban Fantasy readers wet dream.

One thing that really stopped me from jumping on The Better Part of Darkness train, is that there are some complaints that it is slow. Personally I thought that the action was coming in a rush, the mysteries of Charlie's dark new life after she died and came back were perfectly paced. Gay gives the reader enough time to get a hold on all the characters and get a connection with the world that most authors glaze over.

Bottom Line:

This is a hard core entry into the Urban Fantasy genre. If you have doubts about reading a book about a single mom with an ex, don't worry this is good stuff. The Better Part of Darkness is sweeping away readers with a edgy world, featuring fantastic creatures and characters. This alternate supernatural Atlanta is definitely going to be one of my new favorite Urban Fantasy places to visit. There's a lot I'm not going over in this review, all of it good, put this one at the top of your TBR pile.

Sexual Content:

Some serious sexual tension. (Whew, hot!)

5/5- Fabulous, a beautiful obsession.