Evernight by Claudia Gray was provided to me as part of the Amazon Vine program.

Evernight is a teen drama about a girl named Bianca.  Her parent's are teachers, and have landed jobs at an exclusive boarding school named Evernight Academy.  Most of the kids there are perfect: smart, attractive, world travelers, and very clique-ish.  Bianca doesn't fit in, until she meets Lucas.  Lucas has issues, but Bianca loves him, even over another boy he seems better in every way.

The first half of this book seems like your typical teen novel.  Trouble fitting in.  Back stabbing kids.  The works.  And then it takes a serious turn.  I liked the book after the turn, but I was a little frustrated in the secrets which were kept.  The second half of the book is full of action and intrigue, and a few smaller twists along the way.

You definitely want to think of this as a modern fantasy book.  I will watching for Stargazer (the sequel) when it comes out next year.

I read the hardcover edition.  The dust jacket was pretty normal (if you like red) but the cover itself had a wonderfully embossed Evernight title.

This is a review of an Advance Reading Copy of Ted Bell's Tsar provided to me as part of the Amazon Vine program.

The tagline for the novel is "A Triller."  At its core, its a spy novel, with a little bit of future tech thrown in for good measure.  This book isn't deep or involved like a Clancy novel, or even as fast paced as a Vince Flynn novel.  I liked the story, and I liked the main character Alex Hawke.  The hero wins, and the bad guy gets it in the end.  That said, the end is quite disappointing, although probably necessary if Bell is to use Hawke in future novel.

My biggest complaint with this book is the detail.  There are certain sections which are well written and detailed, but other parts were barely glossed over, as though the author needed it for the story, but had no interest in writing them.

Overall this is a book which was ok to spend time with, but easily let me put it down, and I really had little desire to finish.

I recently finished reading The Last Apprentice: Wrath of the Bloodeye by Joseph Delany.  The edition I read is an "Uncorrected Proof Not for Sale" provided to me via the Amazon Vine Program.

This is an early teen fantasy book, however it has a few deviations from the standard fantasy formula.  I found the book to be quite enjoyable, and it ends with you wanting the next in the series to come out.  I'm considering purchasing the first four books in the series.

I found the main characters to have some interesting humanness to them, and each has character flaws.  Tom Ward, The Last Apprentice, temporarily leaves his master to learn from another Spook, a fighter against dark things.  His new temporary master has a drinking problem, with a streak of violence.  Along the way you meet some characters, both good and evil.  I especially liked the deviation from the standard monsters.

I also found the lessons in the story to be good ones, and even though I think the target audience would learn from them, Mr. Delany didn't beat the reader over the head with them.

Even though this book doesn't stand up to the quality of a J.K. Rowling or Christopher Paolini book, I found it to be an enjoyable read, and would recommend it to any fantasy lover.

A couple of weeks ago, Amazon sent me an email offering me a membership in their new Vine program.  Basically, it's a program where Amazon sends you products (free of charge) in exchange for reviews.  They claim I'm one of their most valued customer reviewers (I've done three.)  I do rate items a bunch, because one of the biggest values I get from Amazon is their recommendations, both on individual product pages (the What do Customers Ultimately Buy section) and in the recommendations for you section.

Their terms of service for the Vine program are interesting.  Each month you get to select a product from their list of items available for review.  They send it to you free of charge, in exchange for your review.  You must review three out of every four items before requesting new items.  You are encouraged to post your reviews on non-commercial sites, however are restricted from posting them on commercial sites.

I'll be posting my reviews here, as well as on Amazon's site.  When I post it here (if I remember) it will be linked using an Amazon Affiliate link, with the proceeds going to Homeless & Orphaned Pets Endeavor.