google-site-verification: google935433b691795853.html KRISTY BERRIDGE: 2012-03-04

Saturday 10 March 2012

Book Review: Judgement of Souls by Margarita Felices

Judgement of Souls follows the story of Rachel, one of the Kindred, or 'vampire' for us main-streamers. Treading the lines of familiarity she is a blood drinker - fast, strong, and naturally adverse to any and all confrontations with daylight. Rachel defines what we have mostly come to expect from this genre, a strong female lead, determined, and of course, sexy.
Introducing Daniel, night club owner and mortal. He is thrown into Rachel's world by chance, their first encounter spilling over into an attraction unshakable and clearly predisposed to fail. Their rapid relationship is soon tested by sour roommates, ex-lovers, murder, and a constant barrage of lies. Rachel must hide what she truly is from Daniel, but unfortunately secrets can be dangerous, and chance is often predetermined by fate.
Death finds Daniel's nearest and dearest, forcing him to uncover the secrets of his past, question his loyalties to the girl he's only just met (Rachel), and weigh the value of his life against what he considers to be right. Embarking on what soon appears to be the remnants of a treasure hunt, Daniel is paired with more Supernatural elements than he can poke a stick at. Swallowing what logic dictates, he decides that avenging death and protecting the girl he has fallen in love with seems to be the best way to compensate for his lackluster skills as a mere mortal.
For me Judgement of Souls was an enjoyable read. Admittedly I did find a lot of the initial interaction between Rachel and Daniel forced and semi-unbelievable. Not to mention the interaction with some of the incessantly questioning housemates wary of Rachel's hidden agenda somewhat unnecessary and at times, lengthy in its irrelevance to the story. Unfortunately there was also a lot of 'typos' within the novel, almost one every few pages which was quite often distracting.
With that being said, as author's we all make little mistakes like this and I was not going to let that stop me from enjoying the written word.
On the up and up, the language and dialogue between the characters was quite good, and the imagery was just enough to give you detail and layout without inducing yawns. I was held captivated by moments of history, the description of ancient relics, and of course, the tie between the Knight's Templars and the origins of vampires, the book of Cain, and the church's perceptions. It was very clear that the author had done her research and was passionate about it.
The highlight?
The violence! From about ten chapters out, this book got really exciting. At this point romance was pushed to the side, enemy lines were drawn, and the vampires got their vamp on! Vivid imagery was created here and no boring bits were permitted to let the mind wander. Sword fights, decapitation, torn jugulars, and fiery deaths were on the agenda. From this point on I could not put the book down. The author allowed every sequence to flow together, she concentrated on the important information, took the reader on a journey, and finished the whole novel off with a bang.
Or should I say a fang?
Anyway, I'm going to give this book three out of five stars and wish the author much encouragement for future endeavours.


Synopsis: Judgment of souls is a Gothic horror in which a naive pure-blood vampire is tossed into the mortal world. Rachel meets Daniel, a nightclub owner and his group of friends and after Daniel's best friend is Murdered by Max, becomes embroiled in the search. Rachel tries to fight off her feelings for Daniel, even siding with her vampire friend Arun to think again about Daniel's involvement, but he's her love and she's going to protect him, no matter what.

Friday 9 March 2012

Follow Friday #23

Happy Friday everyone!
Yes, it’s that time of week again where bloggers unite to participate in the Follow Friday venture. The idea behind #FF is to promote traffic to your own blog, make new friends with other like-minded bloggers and discuss new and interesting topics each week.
Participating is simple. First you need to follow my blog because I’m totally awesome, then you can follow me on Twitter @kristyberridge (actually you don’t have to do this, it’s wishful thinking), but do follow my blog or assassins will get you …
Then you must follow our illustrious hosts Rachel of http://www.parajunkee.com/ and Alison of http://www.alisoncanread.com/ If you want more details on how to enter your own blog in the follow and hop, all directions are on their webpages
Now, once you’ve followed, check out my answer to this week’s questions and don’t forget to leave a comment so I can do the right thing and follow you back!

This week's Question: Have you ever looked at a Book's cover and thought, THIS IS GOING TO BE HORRIBLE! But, was instead pleasantly surprised? Show us the cover and tell us about the book.

Answer: Karen's Chance's entire Cassandra Palmer series! I grabbed the books because Booktopia was having a great special and I thought, why not, but I honestly didn't hold high hopes.
Boy was I wrong! This is one of my favourite series. It's full of action, intrigue, supernaturals, magic and enough sexual tension to drive me crazy. I've loved this series from beginning to end - I just hope it doesn't literally end!


Tuesday 6 March 2012

Book Review: Breathless by Scott Prussing

I must admit that I was excited to read 'Breathless', the first book in the 'Blue Fire Saga' by author Scott Prussing. For one, it's YA/vampire literature which is my absolute favourite genre to read. Two, the cover art is particularly enticing. And three, author Scott Prussing was doing a giveaway at the time, so I picked this book up for a steal! (Many thanks to a generous author)
Breathless follows the story of Leesa - blonde, blue-eyed and decidedly fragile, she is the victim of flailing parental responsibility and the mysterious circumstances surrounding her brother Bradley's disappearance. Having to deal with her mother's unsubstantiated claims of being bitten by a one-fanged vampire all her life, and now pressed with the expectations of college life and finding her brother, Leesa has a lot on her plate. Fraternities, new friends, intriguing strangers, compelling professors, and of course a love interest out of this world, Leesa soon discovers that perhaps nothing is as it seems.
Introducing Rave, a mysterious outsider who has secrets of his own, secrets inexplicably tied to Leesa's own recent misfortunes. Naturally falling head over heels for Rave is all part of expectations. He is sweet, kind, alluring, and born with abilities designed to hunt and kill vampires - the very creatures Leesa seeks to both avoid and question in regards to her family's woes. But naturally with every hero there is also a nemesis of sorts. Stefan, a vampire with an agenda of his own is drawn into Leesa's world, their meetings built on the promise of excitement, intrigue and almost certain death. Rave warns Leesa to keep her distance from Stefan, but in the end danger is a laughable concept when the fate of her brother's life is literally left balanced within her grasp.
I found Breathless to be an effortlessly descriptive novel. Every location and scene was drafted with care and attention to detail, and the language in question was well measured and distributed with intent. The story line itself was a novel concept, and I did enjoy the book overall, however, there were moments when I  felt the story was overly frivolous and losing focus on the more pressing issues that the novel began with. 
With that being said I was drawn by the moments of action, the educational talks between Leesa and her professor in the studies of vampirism, and most definitely - Stefan himself. Unfortunately for me there just wasn't enough of him contained within these pages. (I like the bad boys!) And although I knew Rave was tagged as the 'good guy' is this novel, I wanted to see more of the 'bad guys', as friction between rivaling characters builds a level of excitement that I often search for within this genre.
On the upside, despite Rave and Leesa's overly sugary exchanges and the sometimes ordinary tangents of college parties and friendship struggles, Breathless provided moments of great clarity. It was in this clarity that I could finally understand the relationship between Leesa and her brother, the purpose behind the hunters and the vampires, and of course, the author's passion for this genre.
Overall I liked Breathless and believe that the the author's literary passion is evident. I rate this book three out of five stars.


Kristy :)