google-site-verification: google935433b691795853.html KRISTY BERRIDGE: 2012-02-12

Saturday 18 February 2012

Book Review: The Deadliest Bite by Jennifer Rardin

Sadly this is the last book in the Jaz Park's series by Jennifer Rardin. It has been a long journey with eight books in total - all of them full of suspense, action and believe it or not, side splitting humour. I will be saddened never to turn the pages of this author's words again, Jennifer Rardin having died on September 20th 2010.
The deadliest bite culminates the adventures of Jaz Parks, a fiery red head and CIA agent intricately bound to her vampire partner Vayl, the world's deadliest assassin led by personal agenda and supernatural instincts. The two of them together are explosive, sexual tension runs high, and additional characters with interesting skill sets mark the scenes and subplots with plenty of hilarity, violence and all round ... fun.
Although this book and others in this series are burning with action and non stop agenda, I found myself smiling just about every few pages. I had plenty of laugh out loud moments, thanks to the very talented and witty writing style of the author who managed to make sarcasm and down right silliness seem endlessly amusing. I was also just as entangled in the more serious moments within the novel, although at times, admittedly I did grow impatient with some of the inner dialogue. The main character, Jaz, seemed to have a party of people that lived within her head. It wasn't confusing, just sometimes a distraction from the main flow of text that I felt almost obliged to skip over to keep the story moving forward.
Rather than spill the entire guts of the last novel's plot lines, I thought I'd post the synopsis for perusal. The reason being is that I didn't want to ruin the context of all the stories if you haven't read any of the books from this series before. And yes, unfortunately this is not a series that you can pick up half way through and catch on. You need to start at the beginning to fully understand all the characters, the progress in relationships, and the twists and turns that ultimately lead Jaz and Vayl on missions across the globe and into the underworld.
I give this particular book four out of five stars - an all round great intelligent read with enough content to keep me laughing for days.

"I have two choices. Carve Brude's name into Hell's bile-encrusted gates or lose my soul"
After an assassination attempt on Vayl, I find myself pulled into a tangle web that takes the gang to Romania. So how will I save a ghost, rescue a demon, and cheat the Great Taker out of a soul he's slavering for while defeating my nastiest foe yet so that Vayl can, at last, cherish a few precious years with his sons?
With careful planning, major violence, and one (hopefully) final trip to hell.


Anyway, Happy weekend, hope you get into this series as much as I did.

Kristy :)

Friday 17 February 2012

Follow Friday #20

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 presented by Beefcakes and Babes is: I like unique names for characters and am looking forward to coming up with some when I start writing. What's the most unique character name you've come across?

Answer: I agree with Beefcakes and Babes answer of 'Renesmee' from Breaking Dawn. I mean I love those books, but I distinctly remember reading this name, sounding it out, putting the book down in my lap when I figured out the combination, and then bursting out laughing. It is literally the lamest name on the planet, and believe it or not, I've actually met a guy called Wayne Kerr.
For me personally, I recently read a great little series by PC Cast which I absolutely adore, but the male lead's name was Clan Fintan - absolutely ridiculous if I do say so. And, due to said stupid name, I found it really difficult to take him seriously. The fact that he was also half horse had absolutely nothing to do with it ...

Anyway, happy Friday and happy reading!

Kristy ;)

Tuesday 14 February 2012

The NEW - My Favourite Things ...

Hey Everyone! So, I posted earlier in the week about the fact I'd watched a recent episode of Glee with the song 'Favourite Things' being toted in a Christmas special. (See blog below or click this link) Naturally, I deemed it my duty to deconstruct the song and shamelessly blog about the boorish items of interest within the lyrics. I have to be honest, I've always liked the song, there's something very warm and comforting about it and I mean the intent no disrespect, but after really breaking down the 'Favourite Things', I was left reeling, wondering if I was the only one who thought girls in white dresses and warm woolen mittens were lame.

So, although I appreciate this well worn classic and respect that the items in this song gave people the warm fuzzies back before electricity could do it for them, I thought I'd re-invent the wheel, re-write the song in accordance with more modern aspirations of desire.
I warn you now, it won't be hit. In fact, I can already see my mother rolling her eyes and shaking her head at me, but I'm going to do it anyway. So here goes.
(PS, you must sing it while you're reading it, if for no other reason than to look and sound like a total idiot to those around you.)
Yep, good times.

Chocolate ganaches in over-portioned sizes,
Lipstick that tastes good and won't give you hives,
Large Tiffany boxes filled with sparklies,
These are a few of my favourite things.

Black Audi's and Beamers parked in my driveway,
Books about vampires, werewolves and spiders,
A lawn mower man that tends my hedging,
These are a few of my favourite things.

A husband that loves me despite all my bitching,
Straighteners and curlers that fix my hair quickly,
A pair of great Levi's that make my ass sing,
These are a few of my favorite things.

When my boss bites,
When my cash thins,
When I'm feeling sad.
I simply remember my favourite things,
And then I don't feel, so bad ...

Okay, so that's the gist of it. Try not to love it so much that you start singing it at work and miraculously get me a record deal with Sony. That would just be embarrassing. But, for those of you like me that still find themselves smiling at the end of the song despite the cream ponies and weird German Strudle - here's the original.
Have a good one,

Kristy :)