Retro Friday (12) - Lover Eternal by J. R. Ward

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc. Everyone is welcome to join in at any time! 

This week I chose Lover Eternal, the second book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.


At First Sight: Rhage is a member of the elite fighting group The Black Dagger Brotherhood, and he and his brothers are the warriors of their race - they are all vampires - and while all of them are extraordinary in their own way; Rhage stands out in his own ways. First, he's movie star handsome, second he's the best at hand to hand combat, and third he's inhabited by a Beast that comes out whenever he gets worked up. 


The Beast is his punishment for pissing off the deity that rules over the race, it's something that literally comes out of inside of him and rarely knows friend from foe, always causing a lot of damage and leaving him useless for a few days afterward - he usually has lots of sex and fights a lot to work off his excess of energy and stress and prevent the Beast from coming out. 

One time he was recuperating from a visit from the beast, Rhage was wandering the mansion where he lives with the rest of the brotherhood and came across a human named Mary. He doesn't know why she's there, but he's immediately attracted to her, even if he can't see her properly and mostly is just enchanted by the sound of her voice, and from that moment on, Rhage will stop at nothing to be with her, no matter what if he has to go against the brotherhood, that she might be sick, that she might not be his destiny.

Mary was just trying to deal with the possibility of being sick again - she beat cancer once before -and was doing a favor to her friend and neighbor Bella - who is also a vampire, though Mary doesn't know it - when Rhage happened to find her. She doesn't want a relationship, she's okay being alone, but Rhage won't take no for an answer.

Second Glance: I think pretty much everyone has heard of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by now, and this one is my favorite. My favorite brother and my favorite book. I don't know what is it about Rhage but I've always liked him best, I think that in some ways, because he's the youngest in the brotherhood (at this point), he's also the most fun, the most 'lighthearted', and at the same time he's pretty intense. 

Rhage goes after Mary with complete determination, even when Mary rebuffs him. I loved him right away. 

Mary was a bit harder at times, she was really not looking for a guy and she can't believe Rhage likes her since he's gorgeous and she's pretty much average looking, and has a few scars all over because of the medical procedures she has gone through. She's a tough girl but she's also very caring underneath, and I think Rhage needed just that. 

Now there are a lot of sub plots going on here - I just focused on the romantic pair - and it can be a little mind-bogging. There are scenes with the lessers (the vampires' enemies), and the beginnings of Bell and Z's story (which takes center stage in Lover Awakened), and John Mathew shows up for the first time too. Over all, I think the universe was still quite manageable at this point so I didn't mind it.

Bottom Line: As I said, Rhage is my favorite and I love re-reading this book. There is no logic to it, just the way it is.

Favorite Quote: "You can be a real pain in the ass, you know that? No impulse control but totally single minded." - Tohr about Rhage.

2011 Movie Madness Challenge - Round up 2

Hello everyone!!

So,  Kylie (of the Talking Tea Cup) are trying to do more regular roundups for the 2011 Movie Madness Challenge- this month, the list is up at her site, but this is mine.

And now, unto the Roundup!

You can see my complete list by clicking on the tab marked 2011 Movies/TV

Movies watched so far: 78

Movies in April: 24

Favorite Movie(s) so far*: Easy A, Morning Glory, The King's Speech, HOP,

Worse Movie(s) so far: Valentine's Day and Center Stage 2, A Good Year

Really want to see in the upcoming months: Something Borrowed, Jane Eyre, Chalet Girl (if it ever makes it to my country!), and Harry Potter of course!

What about you?

Add your link with your Round Up post (it can be done on Facebook, your blog, live journal, etc) to the Mr. Linky or just leave it in the comments.

Hope you're having fun, and remember is never too late to join.

Book Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

At First Sight: Mia seems to have it all: loving parents, an adorable younger brother, a best friend and a hot musician boyfriend, and she might be going to Julliard next fall as she is a remarkable cello player in her own right. 

But on a day like any other, when a light snow fall cancels school and work just to turn into a nice morning a few minutes afterward, Mia and her family decide to make a day of it: go visit friends, shop a little and top the day with a visit to her grandparents.

Only that they never made it that far. One second Mia was falling asleep in the car and the next she was standing in the middle of the highway staring at what's left of her family's car... and of her family. Looking as the paramedics come to take her to the hospital and hitching a ride with them. Looking, and waiting... trying to decide if she should stay or not.

Second Glance: First, let me say that I can't believe it took me so long to read  If I Stay. I was a fool. I had heard so many good things about it but was reluctant to read it -as it usually happens with me.  If I Stay is a story that sucks you right from the start; it took me just a few pages to connect with Mia and her family. 

The story takes place over  a period of 24 hours (which I didn't know at first) and it has an amazing pace and flow. Mia both relates what's happening and we learn what's happening to her family as she does; and she also tells a series of flashbacks about her life, her best friend Kim, her boyfriend Adam and her family - I adored her family, they were so loving and together  even with their many differences- but it all makes sense, the flash backs flow from the stuff that's happening 'in real time', and keep moving the story forward, showing just how hard Mia's decision is. 

Kim, Adam and Mia's grandparents were amazing, they felt so very real in their emotions and their reactions and I could see how much Mia loved them and how they loved her too.

Bottom Line: If I Stay made me cry - a lot - and ache, yet there were times when I smiled at this loving group of people -and in a non-cliched way it made it the sadness and loss hit your harder. I love this book, is going into the shelve of honor and I can't wait to read it's sequel Where She Went.

Favorite Quote: "I have a feeling that once you live through something like this, you become a little bit invincible."

Book Review: Princess for Hire by Lindsay Leavitt

At First Sight: Desi is 14 and stuck having the worst job ever - working for Pets Charming is a never ending string of undignified tasks such as being Gladys the Groundhog, scooping manure at a parade or taking a turn sitting on a dunk tank - and the rest of her life is not much better. Her Dad is all about 'work ethic' and won't let her quit her job, her Mom is a former beauty queen who now runs a Charm School - which Desi flunked -and dotes on Desi's baby sister. 

So, when after a particularly bad day, Desi is reading the wanted adds on the paper, hopeful to find a new job, she sees a strange add urging her to call for Meredith if she thinks she has what it takes to be a Princess For Hire. 

Figuring it's worth a shot, Desi calls for Meredith and gets sucked into the world of substitute princesses. See, for centuries and centuries, Meredith's agency has devoted itself to use magic to 'substitute' royalty while the real royals run about and have their little escapades. And Desi is their newest talent.

Standing in for a royal sounds glamorous, right? but Desi is about to find out that nothing is ever what it seems.

Second Glance: I got Princess for Hire close to a year ago - I won it from Free Book Friday Teens!, first time EVER that I had won anything - but my cousin sort of had it in her possession for a long time so I only got to read it now.

I quite adored this book, it was cute and sweet and full of magic. I really liked Desi and her struggles both as a sub and in life in general - her crush is dating her nemesis and she feels invisible more often than not - and how she goes about coping with what life throws at her. There is a core to her feelings that I found quite real, and I actually liked a lot of the characters in the book - specially two of the princesses Desi subs for. 

I had some problems with Meredith in the beginning, but Smalls@Small Review told me to stick to her and I have to admit that, in the end, Meredith did come through, and I hope they explore more of her story in the next books. 

Now, much as I liked this book -and I did like it from the start - it took me about two weeks to finish it, not because there was anything wrong with it but because at the beginning it was very easy to put down. I enjoyed it a lot while I was reading but it was very episodic and easy to put down once each adventure ended, but once I sat down to finish it, I read about two thirds of the novel in just two hours.

Bottom Line: I do love Desi and her world, I loved Princess for Hire and I can't wait to read the next book The Royal Treatment (which comes out on May 3rd). This book very much reads like a sweet, Disney movie and it's a nice, sweet treat.

Favorite Quote: "Exhausted, I found some pajamas and crawled into bed, thinking about how in every fairy tale, the heroine's problems melt away when she becomes a princess - everyone sees how special she is and loves her. None of the stories was about a chubby, lonely princess who played the French horn into a tape recorder in her duck-filled bedroom. Or about the chubby princess's substitute, for that matter.

Maybe that's what made them fairy tales.

Real life is never how you dreamed it."

3/4

At The Movies: HOP

E.B. has always known that someday he'll be the next Easter Bunny - that's what happens when your dad is the Big Bunny himself! -  but, deep down, he has always known that what he really wants to be is a drummer in a rock and roll band. And so, on the eve before he was supposed to become the new Easter Bunny, E.B. runs away to the land where dreams come true: Hollywood.

After wandering for a while - and trying to gain access to the Play Boy Mansion (as he's both a bunny and really sexy) - E.B. meets Fred, an out of work and out of luck human who gets stuck taking care of E.B. while trying to keep his life from becoming even a bigger mess.

Fred has never really known what he wants to do with his life, and his family has grown tired of waiting for him to leave the nest, though his sister Sam does try to help him; and it's while doing her a favor -and gaining a place to stay in the process - that he runs into E.B. (literally).

Meanwhile, at Easter Island - HQ of the whole Easter Operation - the clock is ticking as Easter is just a few days away and E.B.'s dad is going crazy both worried about his son and his responsibilities as the Easter Bunny, while his second in command Carlos is trying to stage an uprising against the rule of the bunny.

Okay, I'm aware I just said Easter and bunny a bunch of times but gosh, I really adored this movie. Granted I'm a fluffist and I love all things bunny - I got my bunny ears and about fifteen plushie bunnies to prove it! - but I had such a great time watching this movie, I even liked Russel Brand -who voices E.B. - and I generally don't like it. Hugh Laurie and Hank Azaria as E.B.'s dad and Carlos, respectively, were awesome too.

The animation was cute and really good, and I nearly went into sugar overload when I saw the candy factory. And the humans -mostly Fred and his Family - where so funny. I loved James Marsden and Kaley Cuoco and how they played brother and sister.

Do I think HOP is the movie everyone is waiting for? nope. But it's a fun, family movie. So I give it a B

 

Added the trailer in case you hadn't see it.