The Bursting Bookshelf

Hello everyone! Sorry I've been gone for the last little while, I've been uber busy lately. But I'm back for a new In My Mailbox! In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren. This week I got:




There you have it! So what did you guys get?

Hey guys, I would just like to show you a brand new cover for a book that I'm pretty excited for!

Title: Dark Visions (The Strange Power, The Possessed, The Passion)
Author: LJ Smith
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release: September 3, 2009
Rating: 5/5
Pages: 730
Series: Dark Visions Series
Synopsis:
GIFTED AND CURSED

Kaitlyn Fairchild has always felt like an outsider. Her haunting eyes and prophetic drawings have earned her a reputation as a witch. But Kait's not a witch: she's psychic. Tired of being shunned, Kait accepts an invitation to attend the Zetes Institute, where she can study with other psychic teens and have a fresh start.

As Kaitlyn learns to hone her abilities with four other gifted students, she starts to discover the intensity of her power - and the joy of having true friends. But those friendships quickly become complicated when Kait finds herself torn between two irresistible guys. Rob is a healer - kind and gentle, he's surrounded by good energy, while Gabriel is aggressive and mysterious - a telepath concealing his true nature.

Together, Rob and Gabriel's opposing forces start to threaten the group's stability, and when an experiment traps the five teens in a psychic link - a link that threatens their sanity and their lives - Kaitlyn must decide who to trust and who to love...

Review:
First off, if you've ever read an LJ Smith book, you know how great her writing is. And The Dark Visions series is no exception. When you start the book you meet Kaitlyn Fairchild who has be isolated, as those around her consider her a freak, but things take a turn when she's told that there are others like her and that the Zetes Institue can help her harness her powers: little does she know that things are about to take a turn for the ugly. Through out this fast paced book, you are introduced to Kaitlyn's psychic peers who, like her, have been written off as freaks. As the book(s) progress though, there is a lot of romance and action: two of my favorite things in books. The books also explore a lot of different settings that are real and vividly described. Also Dark Visions is very similar to Kelley Armstrong's Darkest Powers Series, and I would recommend Dark Visions to any Darkest Powers fan.

Overall this book earns a well deserved 5/5 for great writing, value (as you get the whole series in a fantastic bind up), and being a altogether great read that leaves you hoping for a sequel.

PS: What do you guys think of the short-ish review? Please let me know if you like this short or the longer reviews.

Title: Shadow Souls
Author: LJ Smith
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release: March 1, 2010
Rating: 4/5
Pages: 599
Series: Vampire Diaries: The Return #1
Synopsis:
On the run . . .
Elena Gilbert's love, the vampire Stefan Salvatore, has been captured and imprisoned by demonic spirits who are wreaking havoc in Fell's Church. While her friends Bonnie and Meredith explore the evil that has taken over their town, Elena goes in search of Stefan.
In order to find him, she entrusts her life to Stefan's brother, Damon Salvatore, the handsome but deadly vampire who wants Elena, body and soul. Along with her childhood friend Matt, they set out for the slums of the Dark Dimension, where Stefan is being held captive. It is rumored to be a world where vampires and demons roam free, but humans must live enslaved to their supernatural masters. . . .
Elena will stop at nothing to free Stefan. Yet with each passing day the tension between Elena and Damon grows, and she is faced with a terrible decision: Which brother does she really want?
Back in Fell's Church, Bonnie and Meredith have made some dire discoveries. They hastily try to follow Elena and warn her—only to be caught up in Elena's most dangerous adventure yet.

Review:
I got this book only a little while ago, aka a really unusual amount of time after it's release date for me. Usually when a book comes out, I'll have it in the first month at least, but this one I had it several months later. So when I finally got it I read it for a while but then got to a slow part and put it down for a while. After I read a few other books, I got back to Shadow Souls and I then got to where I was 42 pages from the end and stopped again for like three weeks. Then I eventually finished the last 42 pages and here we are.

Now for me, this book is actually somewhere in between a 3.5 and a 4/5 for me. The reasons for my feelings on shadow souls is this: the writing and story telling. Now don't get me wrong! It wasn't horrible or anything, my problems with the writing and the storytelling is that they feel so different from how LJ usually writes. The style in this book is just not my taste as it's very odd. I have no specific example of it, but I just didn't particularly enjoy the writing style in this book. Though it might have something to do with the fact that I'm just so used to the differences in the TV show vs. the books that I tend to like the TV show better than the books. The story was just a little odd in this book as she jumps from kitsunes to vampires to demons and such. Though I do enjoy a little variety in creatures, all the different ones used in Shadow Souls were an odd mash-up that took me a while to digest, but once I had gotten used to the idea, it wasn't that bad.

The way I now picture the characters of The Vampire Diaries books now utterly revolves around who plays who in the TV series. When I read Damon, I picture Ian Somerhalder. When I read Elena, I see Nina Dobrev even though LJ was very clear that Elena was actually blond. Oh well. But the characters I have found that they have stayed steady throughout all the books in the series. The traits in the characters have progressed and grown but the bases stay the same. And what I mean by that is they didn't become totally different characters throughout all the books which was nice.

The covers of the Vampire Diaries books, for me, are kind of bland. I mean don't get me wrong, they're not all that bad either, but they just don't jump out at me. When I walk into a bookstore or if I'm shopping online, the book I always reach for first is the one with the beautiful, lively, crazy or just plain cool cover. That's my opinion, and I don't know whether other people are like me, but that's how I feel.

Overall, this book did win me over in the end I now I can't wait to read the conclusion to The Return Trilogy and later yet, the new series as well (the new Vampire Diaries Series that LJ just announced).

This week I chose LJ Smith for New In The World Of...

As a big fan of hers, I check her website/ blog regularly and saw that she recently announced how she is planning but has yet to start writing, a sequel for both The Forbidden Game and The Dark Visions Trilogies. YES! If you've read them, you're probably yearning for more just like me.

Until next week,

Title: The Forbidden Game (The Hunter, The Killer, The Chase)
Author: LJ Smith
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release: June 8, 2010 (Bind Up)
Rating: 4.5/5
Pages: 750
Series: The Forbidden Game Trilogy (Contains all three)
Synopsis: (Only for The Hunter)
Jenny Thornton wanted the perfect game for her perfect boyfriend's birthday party. And the nondescript hole-in-the-wall shop manned by an unnervingly handsome blue-eyed boy seemed to carry just the right thing: 'The Game'.
To win, the players' paper avatars must race through a constructed cardboard house. Each room contains a 'nightmare'; conquering the nightmare is the only way out.
'The Game' is fun at first. That is, until Jenny and her friends get sucked inside the house to find the blue-eyed boy waiting for them. His name is Julian, and he is a demonic Shadow Man. Now, Jenny and her friends must play the game for real. They must find their way out of the cardboard house by morning, or they'll be stuck in the Shadow World forever...

Review:
I got this one just because it had LJ Smith's name on it (Did you know her full name is Lisa Jane Smith?). That's pretty much how I got this one. Little did I know that it had just released a week before and it was her new bind up of some old books. They turned out to be some sort of good books.

I really enjoyed the characters in this story. And the whole time I was crushing on Julian. Even though he was trying to trap Jenny into being with him forever and he almost killed her friends several times, I still really liked him. A lot. Even though I still really liked Tom too. I love how LJ can make you fall in love with any character she writes. I just loved all the characters in this book! They just kept growing with the stories. I love how LJ is able to create these amazing characters in such a short time. Another of my favorites was Summer. She was so clueless and naive. It was a huge contrast to any other character in the book. I don't know why, but I really liked Summer's character.

The world that LJ creates in this book is amazing. If you were to pick up any one book of LJ's you would find completely different worlds in each. If you picked up Night World and Dark Visions, you wouldn't guess that the same author wrote them. LJ creates a new world for each of her book that is specifically tailored to each plot and cast of characters. Doing this makes for a great read every time that you can always expect from LJ. This book was no exception. It was a universe that you could escape to whenever you chose to. You could just get away and live a whole different life alongside the characters.

The only downfall to this book was the slow spots. At some points in between the action I just had to take a break from the book because it got so slow. At one point in the second story in this bind up, I actually stopped reading for a week and a half. I eventually kept going and got through that spot and ended up really enjoying this book. It just took a little determination to get through this book at times.

My favorite aspect of this book was the first Game. All the games that Julian played with them were great to read about, but my personal favorite was the first one. the first one was new and you didn't know what to expect and it was all on Julian's turf. Which made it great because I really thought that deep down Julian was sweet and just wanted to be loved but at the same time he was totally BA.

Overall, this book was great. I loved all of it except for the sticky slow parts that crept up every now and again. Except for those it was a great reading experience and I would recommend this book to anyone. That's why it gets a 4.5/5.

AHHH! I just read this on Electrifying Reviews.

From Vampiresite.net

The CW is developing a series based on another book series fromVampire Diaries author L.J. Smith – and TVD consulting producers Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, who also are writing the upcoming “Plan B,” are involved.

The new project, Secret Circle, is about a California teen who moves to her mom’s hometown of New Salem and learns that she is a witch.

Vulture originally released the news about the development. The series, if it happens, will have a pilot script from Andrew Miller, who will also be executive producer.

OMG! This would be amazing! They have done such a good job on Vampire Diaries, even with all the changes, they just made it better! I would definatly tune in for this one. There's nothing really like this on TV right now anyway.

Happy Halloween,
The Bursting Bookshelf

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event held by Jill over at Breaking The Spine! It's all about those books you just can't wait for and are counting down the days till they come out. This week mine is a day late but I decided to do it anyway even though I'm late. I'll give you one guess as to what it is.

                               Strange Fate
                                  LJ Smith

This is a book I've been waiting for since I finished the third bind up of Night World. I am just dying to read the ending but this but has just been delayed like a million times. I just wished that it would come already! Unfortunately, I won't give a release date her because it keeps changing and currently it's saying 2012, but often deates set that far a head don't stay out there, they get changed to a closer date, so here's to hoping it comes out faster. 

Title: Night World Volume 3
Author: LJ Smith
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release: April 7, 2009
Rating: 4.5/5
Series: Night World Series
Synopsis:

Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters -- they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World.
The apocalypse is drawing near. But four Wild Powers can save the world from the impending doom. Circle Daybreak, an underground organization with both Night World and human members, is searching for the four who can stop the darkness.
A vampire hunter -- who is half vampire -- stalks her own kind to protect humans in Huntress.
In Black Dawn, Maggie stumbles upon an old Night World kingdom where the ruling vampire prince is both an enemy and an ally.
And Circle Daybreak hires Keller, a shapeshifting panther, to guard a new Wild Power in Witchlight. But when Keller falls in love with the Wild Power's soulmate, her love could destroy everything....

Review:

This was, by far, the best book in the series so far. It may have had the same awful cover style, but it had the best stories inside. I personally loved all the books in the bind-up and thought 'Wow I can't wait for Strange Fate to come out!'. Well guess what? I still am. But that's not the point.The point is I adore how LJ is able to right off the bat grab your attention and have you feel for the characters fast. LJ is just amazing in that way because she literally weaves her own universe that's completely unique to her books but it's not mistakable with any other books, though it's not too far off base from the real world that we live in.

All three novels in this book focus around one of four Wild Powers. I know, no my math isn't way off, there's stilll one book yet to come out in either 2011 or 2012 (before the end of the world ;) don't worry!). The focus on the apocalypse and the Wild Powers gives the books something the other volumes don't have. It give them another layer to the story making them less repetitive but still with that love story vibe to them.

Overall the whole series so far is great if you don't really watch the details of the writing as much as you just read to enjoy. So for my style of reading, this was the perfect conclusion to a great series including practically all my favorite paranormal elements in books.

Title: Night World Volume 2
Author: LJ Smith
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release: November 8, 2008
Rating: 4/5
Series: Night World Series
Synopsis:


Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters -- they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World.In Dark Angel, Gillian is saved from drowning by her guardian angel. Only visible to Gillian, Angel will fulfill her heart's every desire. But when Angel starts making strange and sinister requests, Gillian must question who he truly is and where he came from.
Armed with a wooden stake, martial arts, and the will to resist a vampire's mind control, Rashel struggles to avenge her mother's death in The Chosen. Then she meets Quinn, her soulmate, who is part of the world she has vowed to destroy.
Hannah receives notes warning her of incredible danger in Soulmate. But if death is her destiny, is the Lord of the Night World's love strong enough to save her?

Review:

Yes. I read this one too. And before I start I'd just like to say I've read the third one too and I will be reviewing that one too. OK, now for the review. As I said before, I really don't like these covers but after reading the first book in the series I just had to read this one. I mean HAD to. I was/am in love with these books. They portrayed exactly what I wanted in a book at the time. Paranormal romance, a little action, and most importantly, a storyline that actually moves *cough* unlike Twilight *cough*.

At the time they were perfect for me. And at the time I really didn't have an eye for detail. I thought 'These stories are just flawless. Why can't all books be like this?'. Well looking back, it's a good thing I didn't get my wish cause if I did, all books would be fairly repetitive. Don't get me wrong, I love htese books but by the time you get to the second book of the same thing, it gets boring.

All and all I love these books anyways and I highly recomend you read the books especially if you're jus getting serious with reading and you have nothing to read. They are a great starting point and don't be daunted by their length, because it's like you're reading three books, but you paid for one :).