The Handsel Witches by Ryan J Hamshaw

 

Synopsis From Goodreads:

Four months after the defeat of the Dark Friars, Liam O'Connor is finally finding some balance in life. He's juggling college, his friends, and his role as a Keeper of the Crossing. But that balance is about to break, and his friends’ safety is on the line.

Tariq Ashar is trying to make his new relationship with Liam work while dealing with old secrets tied to Lucas Martindale, the obnoxious and unpredictable grandson of the Head of the Guild. When Lucas’ troubled past comes back to haunt him, it pulls Tariq and Liam into danger, putting everything at risk.

Meanwhile, a new enemy is rising in Sarumbourne, driven by anger and revenge. As darkness spreads through the city, the Keepers must fight to protect it - or lose what they’ve sworn to defend.

Do you have those books that, no matter the genre, become comfort reads almost immediately? The kind where, a paragraph or two in, you know you’re safe. You can set the rest of the world aside and just sink into the story as the words unfold on the page. I have far too many of those to list, but to give you an idea, they include The Last Herald Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, and the A Matter of Time series by Mary Calmes—along with, honestly, most of her books. I’m also pretty sure the Keepers of the Crossing series by Ryan J Hamshaw has officially joined that group.

I’m not ready to say I’m a full-on YA reader yet, but I might be getting there. Or at least I’m becoming a fan of a very specific flavor of YA: a little dark, a little queer, and a whole lot of fun. I don’t know why it still surprises me how good some YA authors are at building immersive worlds and filling them with characters I don’t just enjoy reading about, but actually come to care about. That happened to me years ago with Rotters by Daniel Kraus, and again earlier this year with The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass (a review I swear I’ll write eventually). Both pulled me into worlds I never wanted to leave. The world Ryan J. Hamshaw has created in the Keepers of the Crossing series fits right in with those.

What really surprised me was how The Dark Friars pulled me in… and then The Handsel Witches went and did it all over again. I honestly think I enjoyed this second book even more than the first. The stakes are higher this time around, especially when it comes to the people Liam loves most. The action is more intense, and the vampire fight alone is worth every moment spent in this version of Sarumbourne. 

But as much as I enjoyed the story itself, that’s not the reason I know I’ll be rereading this series for years. That credit goes to Liam, Tariq, Jack, Lily, and the rest of the cast (including Lucas). These are characters the author clearly loves, and that affection comes through on the page. There’s an intentionality to how they’re written that makes this series feel like a comfort read, even when things get dark. They’re flawed, insecure, hopeful, and constantly growing into themselves—and I’m more than happy to keep spending time with them as they do.

The Dark Friars by Ryan J Hamshaw

 

Synopsis From Goodreads:

For Seventeen-year-old Liam O’Connor, nightmares become reality when he dreams of a fellow student's murder. Eager to uncover the truth, Liam and his friends investigate, revealing hidden secrets about his identity.

Targeted by the menacing Dark Friars, Liam is saved by the enigmatic Tariq, who introduces him to a supernatural world where good and evil battle in the shadows.

Can Liam juggle college, family, friendships, and desires while bearing the heavy responsibilities of his newfound destiny?

Against the picturesque cathedral city of Sarumbourne, the looming threat of the Dark Friars intensifies, and Liam's normal life shatters amid the chaos.

To be perfectly honest, this synopsis bores me to tears and gives the reader absolutely no clue how fantastic this book actually is. At least, it was for me. Not a single second was wasted. I was hooked from the first few sentences as we get dropped right into Liam’s nightmarishly violent dream. I was so sucked in that the second I finished, I bought a copy—even though it’s on Kindle Unlimited—and then bought the second book a few minutes later. I had zero self-control.

I don’t read a ton of YA. I think I read one or two last year, maybe the same this year. I’m only mentioning this because I don’t have a huge backlog to compare The Dark Friars to, but I can say I enjoyed it as much as my favorite YA of all time, Rotters by Daniel Kraus—just for completely different reasons. Liam, his friends Lily and Jack, Tariq, and the rest of the Keepers and Guild members pulled me straight into a world of immensee magic and the fight between those trying to protect it and those who want to twist it for their own nefarious means.

In a not-small way, The Dark Friars reminds me of my favorite TV show of all time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So much so that I’m giving in and breaking out the bullet points, though I still wish I could get away with using a giant Venn diagram.

• Like Buffy, Liam gets hit with immense power after the violent death of his predecessor. Unlike Buffy, Liam was forced to dream about that violent death for days.

• Buffy becomes the Slayer. Liam becomes the newest Keeper—one of six guardians protecting Sarumbourne from every manner of magical nightmare: shapeshifters, vampires, demons, and, of course, the Dark Friars.

• Buffy has the Watchers Council. Liam and the other Keepers have The Guild.

• Buffy has Willow and Xander. Liam has Lily and Jack—and honestly, I’d trade Xander for Jack in half a heartbeat. Jack is sooooo much better.

• Buffy has Angel. Liam has Tariq, and I’m already confident that Liam and Tariq are going to have a far healthier go of things.

That’s not to say the world the author has created feels derivative, because it absolutely doesn’t. This world stands entirely on its own and feels fully realized—a feat that can be difficult to pull off in the first book of a series. I could follow the paths of Craythorn Forest and Grovely Wood. The campus of Sarumbourne College is as real to me as my own. And I desperately want to wander the halls and rooms of The Seven Angels for myself. I think I would like it there.

All I know is that there better be a third, fourth, fifth, and twelfth book soon. Especially if they all have these gorgeous covers.

Horseman by Christina Henry

 

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Everyone in Sleepy Hollow knows about the Horseman, but no one really believes in him. Not even Ben Van Brunt's grandfather, Brom Bones, who was there when it was said the Horseman chased the upstart Crane out of town. Brom says that's just legend, the village gossips talking.

More than thirty years after those storied events, the village is a quiet place. Fourteen-year-old Ben loves to play Sleepy Hollow boys, reenacting the events Brom once lived through. But then Ben and a friend stumble across the headless body of a child in the woods near the village, and the sinister discovery makes Ben question everything the adults in Sleepy Hollow have ever said. Could the Horseman be real after all? Or does something even more sinister stalk the woods?

This review has taken me longer to write than I expected—and not because I didn’t absolutely adore the book (I did). It’s not that I wasn’t fascinated by the characters either; they’re still living rent-free in my soul. I hope I made that clear when I chose Brom Bones for a Favorite Fictional Character post. It’s also not because Christina Henry didn’t craft one of the most unputdownable books I’ve held in a long time. I honestly read until I was too damn tired to keep my eyes open.

What I’ve struggled with is how to review this book without spoiling anything. The plot points I most want you to discover for yourselves are so tightly woven into the fabric of the story that discussing them at all would give something away. And that would be, to borrow a phrase, a crying shame.

What I can say is that this is Ben’s story, and at fourteen, he commands it in a way that many adults can’t manage. He’s not perfect—he makes bad decisions, often because he has the emotional and mental maturity of a typical kid his age—but he’s also a young man who knows who he is and how he fits into the world around him. He's one of those rare young characters I can't help but look up to. 

I also want to briefly touch on how impressed I am with the author’s ability to build upon an existing classic while making it completely her own—without compromising the original material or making it feel small or dated. Horseman feels like a natural continuation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow—a continuation I hope you’ll read for yourself.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt

 

It’s not often that I change my mind about a character, but a book I finished last night has me seeing Brom Bones in a whole new light. Within twenty minutes of reading the last page, I found myself rewatching The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, and I honestly think Ichabod got what he deserved. Brom did what he had to do to protect Katrina—and his own heart—from that gold-digging schoolmaster.

Now, I’ll admit, I haven’t actually read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving yet, but I plan to fix that soon. The book that sent me down this rabbit hole was Horseman by Christina Henry. I haven’t written my full review yet, but it’s coming—so keep an eye out.

If you’re not too familiar with Brom, he’s basically the local hero of Sleepy Hollow, this quiet little village that doesn’t get many outsiders. Then along comes Ichabod Crane—the awkward, lanky schoolmaster with a bottomless appetite—who somehow decides he’s going to win over Katrina Van Tassel, the local beauty and daughter of the richest farmer in town.

Naturally, that doesn’t sit well with Brom, who’s been in love with Katrina since they were kids. And while he knows Katrina is just using Ichabod to make him jealous, he decides to make sure Ichabod gets the message loud and clear. Maybe scaring a man half to death was a bit much—but honestly, I can’t say I blame him.

In Horseman, which takes place a few decades after his run-in with Ichabod, Brom is older, a grandfather now, but still completely in love with Katrina. His family is everything to him. He’s still got that same temper and swagger, but it’s mellowed with age. I don’t want to say too much yet—I’m saving that for the review—but I really hope you’ll check out Horseman and maybe, like me, find yourself looking at Brom Bones in a whole new way.

Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

 

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Fade to Black is the newest ghost hunting reality TV show. Led by husband-and-wife team Matt and Claire Kirklin, it features a dedicated crew of ghost hunting experts. 

Episode 13 takes them to every ghost hunters holy grail: the Paranormal Research Foundation. This crumbling, derelict mansion holds secrets and clues about bizarre experiments that took place their in the 1970s. It's undoubtedly haunted, and Matt hopes to use scientific techniques and high-tech gear to prove it.

But as the house begins to slowly reveal itself to the crew, proof of an afterlife might not be everything Matt dreamed of. 

I’ve been in love with found footage horror ever since I first saw The Blair Witch Project back in 1999. Since then, I’ve watched everything from the movies that show the genre at its best—like Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum, The Taking of Deborah Logan, and Hell House LLC—to the ones that make me roll my eyes, like Apollo 18 and Classroom 6. Truthfully, even when they’re bad, I almost always have so much fun watching them.

So when I first heard about Episode Thirteen, I was a tad bit skeptical. How could a movie genre I love so much possibly translate to the page? But here’s the funny thing—it’s the book’s flaws that made me love it even more. Those rough edges, that slightly chaotic structure… they gave the story the same immersive, jittery energy that makes found footage films so addictive.

If you’ve seen even a few of the more popular found footage movies, you already know the formula: a group of people make terrible choices, the camera keeps rolling, and eventually someone finds their footage because—well, no one made it out alive. And yes, the book follows that tradition in terms of the body count. But unlike a lot of movies in the genre, I didn’t find everyone annoying. In fact, I grew really fond of Matt and Jake. By the end, they’d joined the short list of horror characters who genuinely broke my heart—right up there with the narrator from Security by Gina Wohlsdorf.

The story unfolds through journal entries, emails, text messages, video transcripts, and interviews, which perfectly captures that chaotic found footage rhythm. One moment it’s frantic and terrifying; the next, it slows to a crawl, letting the dread seep in. It was those journal entries that really got me, though—they made Matt and Jake feel so real that I couldn’t help rooting for them, even knowing it wouldn’t end well.

By the time I reached the final pages, I was completely wrecked. Episode Thirteen nails everything I love about the genre: the tension, the intimacy, the creeping feeling that I shouldn’t be reading what I’m reading.

If you’re a horror fan, especially one who loves the found footage style with all its chaos and nerve-shredding suspense, this is one book you absolutely need to read.

Ten of the Sexiest Screen Vampires, Volume 7

 

Halloween has, over the years, crept past Christmas to claim the title of my favorite holiday. There’s just something magical about October: the nights grow cooler (even if the days are still too darn warm), the leaves shift into fiery shades, and my already horror-loving heart gets to revel in all things spooky. Because of that, I’ve decided to resurrect some of my old Halloween traditions here on the blog. And what better place to start than with the return of my annual list of sexy vampires? If you missed my earlier posts rising from the crypt, you can revisit the lists from 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.

Without further ado, I give you ten damn sexy vampires who’d love nothing more than to sink their teeth into you.

The Men

Vlad Dracula as played by Luke Evans in Dracula Untold (2014). Not going to lie, Luke Evans is just about the hottest man on the planet, and I would let his version of Dracula do just about anything to me. 

Louis de Pointe du Lac as played by Jacob Anderson in AMC's Interview with the Vampire. He's broody, emotional, and from all accounts a hell of a kisser. Brad Pitt's version as already appeared on these lists, but I think this version runs laps around him. 

Remmick as played by Jack O'Connell in Sinners (2025). Between his Irish accent and singing like a dream, Remmick is a catch. He's looking for a family, and he might just decide you'd fit right in. 

Edward Dalton as played by Ethan Hawke in Daybreakers (2009). Smart and sexy is always a winning combination. 

Raphael Santiago as played by David Castro in the TV show Shadowhunters. A religious family man to his core, Raphael loves with a conviction few others posses. It helps that he's hot too. 

The Women

The Girl as played by Sheila Vand in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014). An avenging angel who won't tolerate men mistreating women, The Girl is both gorgeous and deadly. Side note, if you've never seen this movie, do so. 

Mary as played by Hailee Steinfeld in Sinners (2025). Mary is walking contradiction of emotions, both vindictive and loving, Mary is just wanting to be loved by a man who will stay. Isn't that what we all want? 

Darla as played by Julie Benz from the TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Darla has the soul of a demon, but loves hard despite it. And she's smoking hot.

Lucy Weston as played by Frances Dade in Dracula (1931). As kind as she was beautiful, Lucy caught the eye of Count Dracula, and she was never the same again. 

Marya Zaleska as played by Gloria Holden in Dracula's Daughter (1936). Regal in manner Countess Zaleska commands attention, and she gets it. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Agatha Harkness

I’ll admit upfront: I know very little about the comic book version of Agatha Harkness. What I do know is that she’s a witch from Salem, she had a close connection to the Scarlet Witch, and at one point served as Franklin Richards’ nanny. Over the years she has played both hero and villain, but that’s the extent of my comic knowledge.

This post, then, is about the MCU’s Agatha, brought to life by the magnificent Kathryn Hahn. If you haven’t watched WandaVision or Agatha All Along, consider this my plea: go watch them. Both series are outstanding, in large part because of Hahn’s performance and the unique energy she brings to the character.

Agatha is one of those rare characters who delights in being wicked. She relishes every diabolical moment. Yet, beneath the snark and scheming, there’s the suggestion of a heart that longs for something better. That complexity shines especially in Agatha All Along, a show I enjoyed so much I watched it twice back-to-back. Hahn layers the performance with subtle glimpses of regret, enough to suggest there’s far more to Agatha than she allows the world sees. She is capable of love and devotion, particularly in her relationships with her son and with Billy, though she keeps that tenderness hidden behind walls of barbed-wire steel.

I won’t spoil the details of either series or the ways Agatha’s past shapes her wickedness. Instead, I’ll simply say this: she is the most entertaining “villain” the MCU has given us. I can’t wait to see where Hahn takes her next — and until then, I may just give Agatha All Along a third watch.

Binge Watch --- Supernatural

I probably watch too much TV. Actually, I know I watch too much TV. I've been this way since I was a kid, sitting on the living room floor glued to Saturday morning cartoons. Believe it or not, there was a few years where I stopped watching TV, cold turkey. I was religiously watching Grimm, Supernatural and a few other shows at the time and for whatever reason, I just stopped. I never saw Doctor McDreamy die. I never saw Rick and company leave the prison. And I damn well never saw Crowley sacrifice himself.

This year has been a year for binging, getting caught up on the shows I never finished. I've already knocked out Grimm and Bones, because that was another show I never finished, and I just finished Supernatural on my birthday, this past Friday. For those not familiar with the show, Supernatural lasted for 15 season. That means I just finished binging 327 episodes of one of the greatest TV shows of all time. 

My favorite TV show of all time is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I will be binging before the new Hulu series starts, so it should come as no surprise that I loved Supernatural from the moment it hit our television screens in 2005 on what was the WB Network. From the moment Dean showed up on Sam's doorstep telling him that their father was MIA on a hunting trip, I was hooked. Here was a show that had two hot guys fighting monsters, this was tailor-made for me to love it. Now, if that was all the show was about, I probably would have gotten bored at some point. Instead, this is a show about family and what a family does to support each other, no matter what that family looks like. It's a show about two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, who would literally die for the other. Most of all, it's a show that transcended genres. 

This time around, I found myself siding with Dean more than I did my first time. Honestly, Sam could be fricking whiny and annoying at times, the way a younger brother should be. I also remembered how much I wanted "Bloodlines" to have worked as a spinoff, which never happened. And speaking of spinoffs, the fact that "Wayward Sisters" never happened has me seeing red. I want more Jody, Donna, Claire, Alex, and Patience. I feel robbed now. 

As I was watching, I wanted to live in the Men of Letters Bunker, I wanted to hang out with Rowena (my favorite character from the show), I wanted to drive Baby, and I wanted to eat pie with Dean. I wanted to go out on hunts with them. Most of all, I want to see Dean and Castiel reunited. I want that confession to mean something. 

If you've never watched the show, you should. If it's been a while, give it a rewatch. I promise you won't be disappointed. 

The Haunting of Timber Manor by F.E. Feeley, Jr.

Synopsis From Publisher:

While recovering form the recent loss of his parents, Daniel Donnelly receives a phone call from his estranged aunt, who turns over control of the family fortune and estate, Timber Manor.  Though his father seemed guarded about his past, Daniel's need for family and curiosity compel him to visit. 

Located in a secluded area of the Northwest, Timber Manor has grown silent over the years.  Her halls sit empty and a thin layer of dust adorns the sheet-covered furniture.  When Daniel arrives to begin repairs, strange things happen.  Nightmares haunt his dreams.  Memories not his own disturb his waking hours.  Alive with the tragedies of the past, Timber Manor threatens to tear Daniel apart. 

Sheriff Hale Davis grew up working on the manor grounds.  Seeing Daniel struggle, he vows to protect the young man who captured his heart, and help him solve the mystery behind the haunting and confront the past - not only to save Daniel's life, but to save his family, whose very souls hang int he balance. 

You guys know I love a good Gothic, haunted house story.  There is nothing like getting lost in an house that plays with your head, forcing you to see things that aren't there, turning you into a blithering cry baby, huddled in the corner of the smallest closet you can find. Timber Manor is as devious and mind warping as Hill House, and almost as violent and blood thirsty as Belasco House.  It's a house full of the most damming family secrets.  They are the kind of secrets that slither through time, wrapping the present inhabitants in a shroud of despair and death.  It's the kind of house that I've always wanted to live in, but I've never been sure if I would have the spine needed to do so.

Daniel is one of those guys, that as soon as they appear on the page/screen, you instantly love them. He is the guy you want to root for, the guys you pray survives until the end of the movie.  In Hale, he finds the perfect partner, someone to love and watch over him, and the guy who will protect him from the buried past roaring back through time.

The author did a freaking fantastic job at framing his story, creating a fully realized world that wasn't hard to picture in my head. This is one of those books that I would do almost anything to see adapted to the big screen.  The entire time I was reading it, every single page appeared in celluloid glory in my head.  I'm pretty sure my wishes here won't ever be realized, but a boy could dream.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Endora

I have no idea if I'm ever going to have a mother-in-law.  I'm turning forty this year, and I've been single for over 12 years now.  I'm not willing to say the marriage train has completely left the station at this point, but it definitely wants to get the hell out of town.  For whatever reason, I've always pictured myself getting along with a future mother-in-law, but not in best friends, or even a motherly sort of way.  I've always been more inclined to the idea that any future mother-in-law, would be a little more feisty.  She would be a little out there, have a wicked tongue on her, be able to throw down with the best of them, but still be able to support and love when it's needed.  Sort of like Darrin Stephen's mother-in-law, Endora, in one of the best television comedies of all time, Bewitched.  Hopefully, my version of Endora would actually like me a little bit better.

I always wondered if Darrin knew who his mother-in-law was going to be, if he still would have proposed to Samantha.  The hopeless romantic in me, would assume that he'd have no problems popping the question, but the pragmatic side of me, knows he would have had his doubts.  Endora is the ultimate overbearing and disdainful mother-in-law.  She decries her daughter marrying the man, doesn't think much of him, but can give him a begrudged compliment every once in a while.  She has an acid tongue on her, and refuses to call him by his real name, Durwood being one of her favorites. It can't have been easy for Darrin, and often times, he would lose his temper, though that never got him very far.  Throw in the whole immortal witch thing, and it's amazing that he never had to commit himself.

Despite all that, I think Endora had a heart of gold when it came to her family.  She would have done anything for her daughter, and once Tabitha was born, she was snared all over again.  She could even be counted on to help Darrin out, even if it was with more vinegar than honey.  I'm not even sure I really bought the whole, I don't like him shtick to begin with.  I think it was in her nature to be contradictory, and after a while, the disdainful attitude, could be mistaken for fondness, albeit an odd form of affection.  She was a woman all her own, and even if her portrayer, Agnes Moorehead, never really warmed to her, I absolutely adored her.

I'm still holding onto the idea of having a mother-in-law someday, I'm just hoping that she is able to get my name right. 

Prince Lestat by Anne Rice

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Old vampires, roused from deep slumber in the earth, are doing the bidding of a Voice commanding that they indiscriminately burn their kin in cities across the globe, from Paris to Mumbai, Hong Kong to San Francisco.  Left with little time to spare, a host of familiar characters, including Louis de Pointe du Lac, Armand, and even the vampire Lestat, must embark on a journey to discover who - or what - is driving his mysterious being. 

Right from the get-go, I'm going to say exactly what I thought of this one.  I'm not in love with the book itself, but I'm once again in love with Lestat.  I can't rightly remember the last time I picked up any of the Vampire Chronicles books, though I know it was before I started blogging, as I felt myself losing interest in them long ago.  For whatever reason, I picked this one up from the store, Target to be specific, and once I finally got started on it, I was hard pressed to put it down.

I found myself getting lost in the character of Lestat, a character I fell in love with at an early age.  There were a few books, Memnoch the Devil comes to mind, where while I didn't care for the plot all that much, the character kept me engaged and reading.  With Prince Lestat, a book I never though would even be written, that love came back tenfold, and the storytelling, while not on par with the first few books in the series, seems to have returned some of the luster to the series, at least for me. At times it felt a bit jumbled, and a ton of new characters were introduced, but none of it seemed to bog down the story.  It was nice to see the return of some of my favorite characters like Gabrielle and Daniel, and catch up on some of the smaller characters from the series, like Flavius and Bianca.

The author, who has always been good at characterization, has given me new character to love, though none will hold a place in my heart the way Lestat and Louis do.  A previously unnamed character, Antoine, may be up there for me now, but I would want to see more of him.

If another Vampire Chronicles book is forthcoming, I know I will be quicker to read it now that I'm back under Lestat's spell.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Out of the Madhouse by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Werewolves, Trolls, Sea Monsters, Rain of toads, Skyquakes.  Sunnydale is being besieged by dark forces.  But even with Buffy providing her unique style of damage control while Giles is hospitalized out of town, it's more than one Slayer can handle - especially since the abominations are coming from a centuries-old portal through time and space. 

Somehow, the hell-hole must be found and corked at it's source.  For Buffy, Angel, and the rest of her gang, that means a road trip to Boston where an ailing Gatekeeper resides over a supernatural mansion that has been, until recently holding the world's  worst monsters at bay.  Once there, Buffy discovers the catastrophic truth: the magical structure houses thousands of rooms, all of which are doorways to limbo's "ghost roads," and all of which may bring her face-to-face with the most nefarious forces in hell and on earth - forces bent on horrific plans far worse than the Slayer ever imagined. 

You guys know that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite show of all time, so it should come as no surprise that I loved the tie in books that were being published while the show was on the air.  I stayed away from the novelization of actual episodes, and loved the books that were original story lines.  I used to own at least twenty of the, but a few moves ago,  I had to make a decision to let them go.  I owned too many books, of course I still do, so I'm not sure what I was thinking.  Over the years, I've only managed to repurchase three of them, the three books that comprised The Gatekeeper Trilogy.

There were a ton of authors that tackled the Buffyverse, but Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder were the two that, for me at least, seemed to actual the actual feel of the show the best.  When they got together and wrote this trilogy, I was in seventh heaven.  I always thought if they ever made a movie based of the books, this was the way to go.

The first book, Out of the Madhouse, introduces us to a whole other dimension of strangeness.  Much like The High House by James Stoddard, the Gatekeeper in this trilogy oversees a supernatural prison, that form the outside, looks like a grand Boston mansion.  Locked in it's rooms are ghouls, shapeshifters, ghosts, and monsters straight out of legend; among them, Springheel Jack, the Leviathan, and the Mary Celeste.  It's also home to the family that has been charged with keeping the world safe from them.  They have managed to accrue a few helpful tools to help them with their charge; the Spear of Longinus and the Cauldron of Bran the Blessed.  The current Gatekeeper is weakening, and his heir has been kidnapped by a cabal of sorcerers, bent on allowing chaos to reign free over the earth.

Sunnydale, because it sits on a Hellmouth, has been dealing with the side affects of the house failing. The residents are starting to escape from the house, even if for a short amount of time, and the Hellmouth draws them in, allowing them to run amok.   Buffy and her friends, after some serious research, travel to Boston to figure out what's going on.  Upon their arrival, they quickly agree to help the Gatekeeper get back the heir, and the best television tie-in of all time is born.

The Hunger by Whitley Strieber

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Miriam Blaylock, rich and beautiful, lives life to the fullest - a house in Manhattan's exclusive Sutton Place, a husband she adores, priceless antiques, magnificent roses.  But then John Blaylock, like all Miriam's past lovers, suddenly beings to age.  Almost overnight, his body reveals the truth: he is nearly two hundred years old!

Fearing the terrible isolation of eternity Miriam stalks a new lover.  She is Sarah Roberts, a brilliant young sleep researcher who has discovered the blood factor that controls aging and thus may possess the secret of immortality.  Miriam desperately wants Sarah, for herself and for her knowledge.  But to win her, Miriam must destroy Sarah's love for Dr. Tom Haver, who learns that his enemy is like no other woman who has ever lived... now or forever 

You know the old adage that the book is always better than the movie?  This is one of those times where it comes really damn close to being false.  I fell in love with the movie adaptation of The Hunger the first time I saw it.  It stars the gorgeous Catherine Deneuve as Miriam Blaylock, David Bowie as John Blaylock, and Susan Sarandon as Dr. Sarah Roberts.  T he movie is about as sexy and horrifying as a movie can be.  The tension, of all kinds, oozes off the screen, all of which can be attributed to the way Catherine Deneuve embodied the character of Miriam Blaylock.  It's a beautiful movie to watch, and my love for it, is what kept me putting the book off for as long as I did.  I didn't want to fall in love with the book, and have a movie I love, suddenly start paling in comparison.

I finally picked a hardcover edition up at a used bookstore for about $5.  It still took me a few months before I was willing to read it, but once I did, I fell in love with Miriam all over again.  The sensuality of her character, which is nailed by Catherine Deneuve, is a bit subtler here, but just as effective.  This is still a story about lust and love, and how those two things can become so twisted and blurred, that it's hard to tell them apart.  It has vampiric wrappings, and after Lestat de Lioncourt, she is about the sexiest vampire to ever be dreamed up.  She is not afraid to draw blood and to use violent means to get what she wants.  But outside of that, and sort of hidden among the obsession, is a story about a woman who is trying to find a home.  More than anything Miriam Blaylock wants that forever home, just in her case it would really be for forever.

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Young, beautiful, and successful, Elena Michaels seems to have it all.  Her happy, organized life follows a predictable pattern: filing stories for her job as a journalist, working out at the gym, living with her architect boyfriends, and lunching with her girlfriends form the office.  And once a week, in the dead of night, she streaks though a downtown ravine, naked and furred, tearing at the throats of her animal prey. 

Elena Michael is a werewolf.

The man who made her one has been left behind, but his dark legacy has not.  And though Elena struggles to maintain the normal life she's worked so hard to create, she cannot resist the call of the eleite pack of werewolves from her past.  Her feral instincts will lead her back to them and into a desperate war for survival that will test her own understand of who, and what, she is.

Do you ever think about a series you used to love, but for whatever reason, it lost it's appeal?  If you don't, no sweat, I do enough thinking about it for everyone.  I'm one of those that feels a strong guilt about it.  Now I'm not beating my chest and flogging myself, but I do feel more than a tad bit of remorse.

 I can't tell you how many series I have gotten into over the years, then completely lost interest in.  For the most part it happened preblogging more than it does now, and I have no clue as to why.  Most of the series I've lost interest in would be classified as urban fantasy, and that may have an overly large role in it.  It didn't take long for me to get bored with all the vampires, werewolves, wizards, and demons living in a modern world, so the books they inhabited didn't appeal to me for very long.   There are a few that I still read when a new book comes out, but for the most part, I flirted for a while, then dropped them faster than you could say Lestat.  One series that lasted for a few books before getting the cold shoulder was Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series, of which, Bitten is the first book.

Oddly, even though I gave up on the series, I still love this book, and I hadn't read it since I started blogging.  For whatever reason, I picked it up last week, and a few hours later, I was turning the last page.  It didn't take long for me to fall right back in love with Elena, Clay, Jeremy, and all the rest of the Pack.  I'm not really sure what the author had going on in this one, and Stolen the second book in the series, but the writing is so much better, and the characters are fully fleshed out in a way I can't say about some of the later books.  I really wish she had stuck with this first set of characters, instead of going off and getting the rest of the supernatural races involved.

In Elena and Clay, you have the perfect couple.  They love each, can't live with out each other, but they have both made some horrible decisions, putting so much tension into their relationship, it pulsates off the page.  When the book opens, they haven't been in the same state for over a year, and their reintroduction doesn't go smoothly.  If it wasn't for the dangerous situation they were having to deal with, and the rest of the Pack members acting as a buffer, that tension made have become too implosive, harming the reading in the process.

The writing in the first few books, and in Bitten specifically, is so tight, so put together, it's hard to find any flaws in it.  Armstrong keeps the narrative moving at a natural pace, allowing the characters and the events to set the tone.  She doesn't force them into convoluted interactions, or behaviors that go against who they are.   It's a perfect blend of style, characterization, and storytelling.  But most importantly, it's a book that has a permanent home of my bookshelves, even if it's extended family was served with eviction papers.

Scavenger Hunt by Christopher Pike

Synopsis From Back Cover:

School was almost over.  A secretive club on campus had organized a scavenger hunt for the entire senior class.  In small groups, and with the help of cleverly planted clues, the kids are led throughout the city, and then deep into the nighttime desert.  The sponsoring club has promised a wonderful prize for the first group to reach the goal of the hunt.

But for Carl Timmons, a troubled young man who has recently lost his best friend, the hunt will become a nightmare. Led astray by his love for a strangely beautiful girl, he will wander far from the other, and back into a haunted past, where the line between the living and the dead is blurred and broken.

The other day I was wanting something easy, quick, and fun to read, but I didn't feel like hunting something down in a bookstore or browsing through the NOOK store.  So I went to the greatest resource every bibliophile has, my own bookcases.  To tell you the truth, I almost forgot I owned this book, especially since I was never a huge Christopher Pike fan.  I think this is the only book of his I've owned, let along kept all these years later.

It's probably been at least ten years since I've picked it up, and it was exactly what I was needing at the time.  It had been long enough that I forgot some of pertinent details of the plot and found myself engaged from the get go.  I still really enjoyed Carl and his friends, and the journey they were forced to undertake was suspenseful enough to keep me interested.

If you are familiar with Christopher Pike's books, and a lot of you should be, you know he was good at plotting, and was decent at character development.  I think Scavenger Hunt is one of his best, and I know I'll be picking it up again sometime in the far future.

Angel Souls And Devil Hearts by Christopher Golden

Synopsis From Back Cover:

The Gospel of Shadows has been lost, and the existence of vampires has been revealed.  Peter Octavian is trapped in Hell, but he has given his allies a mission - to discover the secret origin of vampires.

Once they were legend.  but now the entire world knows the truth about their nature, their powers... and their weaknesses.  Everything they have fought for centuries to hold on to, including their mortal loves, is in danger.  For human prejudice can be the most powerful evil of all.

The war has begun...

I can't believe it's been a little over four years ago that I first reread the first book in this series, Of Saints and Shadows.  I'm not really sure why it's taken me this long to get around to rereading the second book, Angel Souls and Devil Hearts, but I hope it doesn't take me that long to reread the third book.  I read the first four books of this series when they first came out, and I fell in love with them.  When Christopher Golden decided to continue on with it, they reissued the the first four books of the series, and I decided to read them again since I really didn't remember everything that happened in them.  And since I really want to read what has happened after the fourth book ended, I need to get my ass in gear, read the next two books, then I can delve into the new material.

One aspect of this book, and of this series as a whole, that I did forget, is how perilous these characters lives are.  None of them are safe, even the ones you think will never die, will die.  It's always a little disconcerting to realize an author is willing to kill off any character they want, regardless of how much you like them, or how used you got to having them around.  The body count in this one is rather staggering at times, and for the most part, a lot of them are characters I truly liked.  Characters who shouldn't die do, and for the most, I loved so many of them.  Even the first vampire of them all, who is introduced in this book, loses his life.  John Courage is one of the characters who makes a grand entrance, makes a huge impact, imparts an even bigger secret, and then goes away.  If you want in on that secret, pay attention to his initials.  Let's just say that it's an interesting take on the origins of the vampire race.

The Twelve by Justin Cronin

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

In the present day, as the man-made apocalypse unfolds, three strangers navigate the chaos.  Lila, a doctor and an expectant mother, is so shattered by the spread of violence and infection that she continues to plan for her child's arrival even as society dissolves around her.  Kittridge, know to the world as "Last Stand in Denver," has been forced to flee his stronghold and is now on the road, dodging the infected, armed but alone and well aware that a tank of gas will get him only so far.  April is a teenager fighting to guide her little brother safely through a landscape of death and ruin. These three will learn that they have not been fully abandoned - and that in connection lies hope, even on the darkest of nights.

One hundred years in the future, Amy and the others fight on for humankind's salvation... unaware that the rules have changed.  The enemy has evolved, and a dark new order has arisen with a vision of the future infinitely more horrifying than man's extinction.  If the Twelve are to fall, one of those united to vanquish them will have to pay the ultimate price.

It's been a little over three years since I read the previous book in this series, The Passage, and lord only know when I will get to the third book, The City of Mirrors.  It's not even out yet, it comes out later this year, but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to fit it in anytime soon.  It won't be through lack of desire, because I really do want to read the final chapter on this story.  It's more of the fact that while I loved The Passage, I didn't love The Twelve.  I like it well enough, I'm still enjoying the characters, but I didn't feel that invested in this one, at least at the level I had with the previous book.

I'm even willing to admit that part of it may be my fault.  I may have waited too long in between books, which forced me to feel as if I was playing catch-up for a bit.  I was having to remind myself of who some of the characters were, at least in terms of the relationships between them.  Once I was able to get that all sorted out in my head, I was actually able to relax and enjoy the story.

The rest of the issues I had though, while still personal to me, had more to do with the story, than they did anything else.  I've always had an issue with authors who introduce strong "hero" characters, only to have them killed off half way through the book.  It happened with Brad Wolgast in The Passage, and it happened with Bernard Kittridge in The Twelve.  Both are men that I grew rather fond of, almost from the start, only to have them cut down mid story.  They are noble characters, and in my opinion, they deserved more than what they got.  Especially since they died, doing almost the exact same thing, protecting a child.

And that brings me back to the biggest bone of contention I had with this book, the way Brad Wolgast was brought back in this book.  I understood the point of it.  I even understood the "nobility" of what his role was in this book, but that doesn't mean I like it.  Given the sacrifice he made in the previous book, I think it was a discredit to the man, for him to become what he was.  I understand that for the end of this book to work the way it did, and for Amy to develop into the woman she needed to be, that Brad had to play the role he did.  He had to be what he was, I just wish that weren't the case.

As far as Peter, Alicia, Sara, Michael, Amy, Hollis, and Greer goes, I still love them.  They have all changed so much since the previous book, which is to be expected.  From what I can tell, the books take place five years apart, and for the most part, the friends have gone there own way.  They all meet up for the end though, and it's nice to have them all back together.  They are joined by a couple of new friends, Eustace and Nina.  I wasn't sure what I thought of them at first, but by the end, I really liked them.

There are a lot of changes in store for the characters, at least that's what is implied by the end of this book, so I'm looking forward to seeing the directions they continue to go in.  I'm curious to see how it all ends, how the new characters introduced in this book change along with the old characters, and whether or not humanity ultimately survives the viral plague, though I'm pretty sure I already know that answer to that one.

Darkness Falls - 2003

Synopsis From Back Cover:

As a young boy, Kyle claimed to have seen the tooth fairy.  He also claimed that she tried to kill him.

Now over twelve years later, Kyle has left the town that never believed him.  He has also left behind the two people who though he was telling the truth, his childhood girlfriend Caitlin and her younger brother.  And when evil again emerges in Darkness Falls, Kyle must return to do battle with the winged creature of doom he saw that night so many years ago.  Because evil is back with a vengeance.  And it's not leaving without Caitlin's brother.

I love a good horror movie, there is no wrong time of year to watch them, and for some reason, I tend to like them even more in the winter.  I'm not sure if the shorter days and longer nights, allows me to get in the mood, or if I just like a good scare, either way, I love horror movies.

I first saw Darkness Falls in the theater when it came out in 2003.  I'm a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer Fan, and I tended to follow the careers of it's main stars, years after the show ended.  When I saw that Emma Caulfield, who played Anya Jenkins, had a new movie coming out, I jumped at the chance to watch it.  It also had two really hot guys in it, Chaney Kley as Kyle, and Sullivan Stapleton as Matt Henry.  On a sad side note, Chaney Kley died from sleep apnea in 2007.

I'm not going to say this movie is horror genius, cause it's not.  What it is, is a solid scary movie, that doesn't rely on a bunch of gore or blood, for those seat jumping moments.  The acting is solid, if not all that memorable, but there really isn't a weak performance in the entire film.  Emma Caulfield is spectacular, as are Chaney Kley and Lee Cromie as young Michael, Caitlin's brother.  Sullivan Stapleton is pretty good too, but he could have been horrible, and I still would have liked looking at him on screen.

As far as the plot goes, innocent woman is condemned for the murder of two children, burned at the stake, and promises revenge.  Come to find out, the children weren't dead, so she was condemned for no reason.  Before her unfortunate demise, she was the neighborhood tooth fairy, exchanging teeth for a coin or two.  When she was disfigured in a house fire, she was forced to wear a porcelain mask, which in turn, turned her into the town pariah.  Why that would be, I never understood, but that's a horror movie plot for you. For whatever reason, when those kids disappeared, she was the logical choice of a culprit, and the rest is history.

She spends the next several decades, haunting her town, and when children lose their last baby tooth, she is on them like nobody's business.  If anyone looks upon her, she will kill them as painfully as possible.  It's what happened to Kyle's mother the night he lost his last tooth, and it's what may happen to Michael if it can't be stopped.

Sleepy Hollow: Children of the Revolution by Keith R. A. DeCandido

Synopsis From Back Cover:

It's a cold day in Sleepy Hollow, and Ichabod visits Patriots Park for a moment of peace.  Instead, he receives a disturbing vision from his wife, Katrina, in which she delivers a cryptic but urgent message: he must retrieve the Congressional Cross that he was awarded by the Second Continental Congress for bravery in action.  There's just one problem: Ichabod was killed before he ever received the medal, and he is not sure where it might be.  Together, Ichabod and Abbie set out to uncover the mystery of the cross and it's connection to George Washington and his secret war against the demon hordes.  They soon learn that a coven of witches is also seeking the cross in order to resurrect their leader, Serilda, who was burned at the stake during the Revolutionary War.  Now they must locate the cross before the coven can bring back Serilda to exact her fatal revenge on Sleepy Hollow.

It's not often that I even take an interest in reading a television tie-in.  Most of you know that I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I own all seven seasons on DVD, and I watch them all at least once a year.  For a while, I was devouring the tie in books as well, especially those written by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder.  For the most part I loved them, though there were a few misses.  I've, in the past, even been able to get into a few Torchwood books, and have reviewed a few of them on the blog; The House that Jack Built by Guy Adams, Bay of the Dead by Mark Morris, and Something in the Water by Trevor Baxendale.  Now I've been in love with the show Sleepy Hollow since it debuted last year, so when I was given a chance to review a tie-in book, I was on board.

I was expecting to fall in love with the book as well, and while I can't say I disliked it, I'm pretty sure I didn't love it either.  I'm not sure what the show has that didn't translate into book form, at least not this particular book, but there was something missing for me.  I think part of it was trying to take Ichabod's accent and speech patterns, and putting it on paper.  They just don't come across the same way they do if you are hearing them.  It's all well and good for an author to point out that a character is being sarcastic or if they are being a little slow on understanding modern vernacular, those things just work better when you can actually hear what is going on.  I think another part of it may be that the chemistry between Ichabod and Abbie works better on screen.

The other issue I tend to have, and it was the same problem I had with the Buffy books that didn't work for me, is when an author tries to work the book around certain episodes of the show.  It makes the whole thing feel a bit disjointed and odd, and is an extra story is being forced in there, where it really doesn't belong.  Television tie-ins, at least for me, work best when they take the basic structure of the show, and go from there.  They don't try to force the book into a certain timeline dictated by the parent show.  Yeah they are in the same universe, but they tend to be separate from what's going on on screen  I want to be able to truly get into the books, even if I've never seen the show.  I'm just hoping that if I pick up another Sleepy Hollow tie-in, that it will work for me, better than this one did.

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books, for this review.

The Ten Sexiest Vampires On Film, Take 6

I know I've been rather M.I.A. on the blog this month, but work has been kicking my ass.  Just to give you an example, in a span of five days, I worked 65 hours.  I'm exhausted.

Regardless or how tired I am, there was one post I knew I had to do before the month was over. There was no way I was going to let this year go by, and not do my annual list of the sexiest vampires to grace the screen.  Over the last six years, it's become one of my Halloween traditions.  

For those of you who haven't been keeping score over the years, please visit the lists I did for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.  Now that we got that out of the way, how about we feast our eyes on some gorgeous vamps.

THE MEN

Michael Corvin, as played by Scott Speedman in Underworld and Underworld: Evolution.  Half vampire, half lycan, and all man, Michael Corvin isn't someone you would want to mess with.

Marcus Van Sciver, as played by Neil Jackson in Blade: The Series.  Ruthlessness and drop dead gorgeous, makes a winning combination for Marcus in all his dealing.

Brother Silus, as played by Dougray Scott in Perfect Creature.  Born into a society where vampires are born to human mothers, Brother Silas is to be respected and feared, especially when dealing with a rogue.

Richard Wirth, as played by Michael Fassbender in Blood Creek.  I have to admit Richard is one hot vampire, but I think I'd be running the other way if this Nazi monster came towards me.

Steven Grlscz, as played by Jude Law in The Wisdom of Crocodiles.  All he wants is love, it's not his fault that they keep dying on him.

THE WOMEN

Erika, as played by Sophia Myles in Underworld.  Beautiful and seductive, and yet unable to get the man she wanted.

Sasha, as played by Brigid Brannagh in Kindred: The Embraced.  Looked over by the Ventrue Prince of the city, turned by a Brujah thug, and in love with a Gangrel Primogen, Sasha has divided loyalties.  Too bad she's not even sure where her ultimate loyalty belongs.

Katrina, as played by Sheryl Lee in Vampires.  It's always amazing to me how many women of the night, actually get turned into the real deal.

Regine Dandridge, as played by Julie Carmen in Fright Night 2.  Bent on revenge for the death of her brother, Regine isn't shy about using her feminine wiles to reach her goal.

Clara, as played by Gemma Arterton in Byzantium.  She wanted to be left alone to care for her daughter, it's a shame she has to keep killing those who get in her way.