[Book Review] Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice

This is the story of Louis, as told in his own words, of his journey through mortal and immortal life. Louis recounts how he became a vampire at the hands of the radiant and sinister Lestat and how he became indoctrinated, unwillingly, into the vampire way of life. His story ebbs and flows through the streets of New Orleans, defining crucial moments such as his discovery of the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside. Yet, he makes Claudia a vampire, trapping her womanly passion, will, and intelligence inside the body of a small child. Louis and Claudia form a seemingly unbreakable alliance and even "settle down" for a while in the opulent French Quarter. Louis remembers Claudia's struggle to understand herself and the hatred they both have for Lestat that sends them halfway across the world to seek others of their kind. Louis and Claudia are desperate to find somewhere they belong, to find others who understand, and someone who knows what and why they are.

Louis and Claudia travel Europe, eventually coming to Paris and the ragingly successful Theatre des Vampires - a theatre of vampires pretending to be mortals pretending to be vampires. Here they meet the magnetic and ethereal Armand, who brings them into a whole society of vampires. But Louis and Claudia find that finding others like themselves provides no easy answers and in fact presents dangers they scarcely imagined.

[Book Review] The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown's gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black. 

[Book Review] Fortress of Blood by L.D. Goffigan

Fortress of Blood is the second book in the Mina Murray series by L.D. Goffigan. In the first book, The Beast of London (click to read my non-spoiler review), Mina's fiance Jonathan Harker has been abducted by vampires and Mina decides without hesitation to travel to Transylvania to rescue him. Now in Fortress of Blood, Mina and her crew have figured out where Jonathan is being kept and are squaring up for a rescue mission. Mina learns more about her family, their secrets, and even herself.

[Book Review] The Beast of London by L.D. Goffigan

The Beast of London is a Dracula retelling and the first book of the Mina Murray series. Mina Murray has once lived an adventurous life, but after a tragedy that happened in Transylvania, she moved to London. She is now a school teacher and she is engaged to Johnathan Harker. Mina loves Johnathan, but is struggling to fit into the upper class London society. Suddenly her past comes into her present life when Johnathan is taken by vampires and Mina will do whatever it takes to rescue him.