Black Dagger Brotherhood

Patricia is guest-blogging

I have always been a big fan of vampire novels.  I faithfully read the Lestat series by Anne Rice, was reading Sookie Stakehouse's adventures before they were turned into a TV series (True Blood) and have even read the Twilight series, but my favourite are the Black Dagger Brotherhood novels, by J.R. Ward.

When I started reading book blogs, a couple of years ago, I was constantly coming across references to the vampires of the Black Dagger Brotherhood (BDB for the fans). Avid fans refer to this series as 'crack'.  There are blogs and facebook pages devoted to BDB where fans dissect each book, their favourite brother and discuss which actors they would like to see playing the different characters if the series was ever transferred to movies. So I decided to see what the fuss was about and bought the first novel 'Dark Lover'.  I started it reading it one evening and I have to admit that I did not get much sleep that night.  I was hooked.  I immediately rushed out to buy the rest of the series, which I devoured and avidly await each new addition.

The novels focus on the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a group of 'highly trained vampire warriors who protect their species against the Lessening Society.  As a result of selective breeding within the race, the Brothers possess immense physical and mental strength, as well as rapid healing capabilities.'  Each novel focuses on one warrior and his mate against the backdrop of their ongoing war with the Lessening society, an 'order of slayers convened by the Omega for the purpose of eradicating the vampire species', and vampire politics.  The mythology is very straightforward and easy to follow, unlike some other paranormal romances where elaborate timelines and background notes are sometimes necessary to follow the books.

One for the money

Patricia is guest-blogging

Last weekend the latest Katherine Heigl movie opened in American cinemas. 'One for the money' is based on the first book focusing on the misadventures of Stephanie Plum a female bounty hunter by Janet Evanovich. Eighteen books have been published in this popular series so far.In 'One for the money' Stephanie has divorced her cheating husband and has been laid off from her job as a lingerie buyer. She has no income and when faced with the prospect of moving back in with her parents she takes a job with her cousin Vinnie who owns a bail bond office. She applies for a post as a clerk but when she finds that the position has already been filled she becomes an 'apprehension agent'. Her first job is to find Joe Morelli, a vice cop suspected of murder, with whom she has a 'history' and is the local bad boy. Stephanie has no clue how to find and apprehend him and stumbles from one hilarious situation to another but through sheer luck and determination she 'gets her man'. She is surrounded by a series of colourful characters which include her matchmaking mother, gun crazy grandmother, a fellow bounty hunter named Ranger.

The books are written in the first person and Stephanie's view on life, her family and friends are very honest and often laugh out funny :

'There are some men who enter a woman's life and screw it up forever. Joseph Morelli did this to me – not forever, but periodically'.

'Two years ago, when Grandpa Mazar's fat-clogged arteries sent him to the big pork roast in the sky, Grandma Mazur had moved in with my parents and had never moved out. My father accepted this with a combination of Old-World stoicism and tactless mutterings.'

I have to admit that I read the first three books of the series in a row : 'One for the money', 'Two for the dough' and 'Three to get deadly' but by the third book I was tired of the uniformity of the books. This does not often happen to me since when I find an author or series of books I like, I tend to devour every single book I can get my hands on. I am not saying that the books are bad or not well written, I just found that they have to be read in dollops and I intend to go back to this series every once in while.

Now to get back to the movie. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the movie since a number of people have said that Katherine Heigl was not who they imagined playing Stephanie Plum and Joe Morelli has been changed from an Italian American to an Irish American as he is being played by Jason O'Mara (from the US version of Life on Mars and Terra Nova). Daniel Sunjata has been cast as Ranger and viewers of Grey's Anatomy will recognise him as the good looking nurse who catches a certain doctor's eye and I predict that he will be 'one to watch'. I have seen the trailer of the movie and despite the controversies mentioned above it seems to be quite faithful to the book. The reviews of the movie have not been flattering but I will definitely be watching it to see how it compares to the book and to see the great Debbie Reynolds as Grandma Mazar.

The Hunger Games Trilogy

Patricia is guest-blogging

The Hunger Games Trilogy is a Young Adult series written by Suzanne Collins.  The books in the series are 'The Hunger Games', 'Catching Fire' and 'Mockingjay'.  When first published, they were compared to the 'Twilight' series,  but the only things they have in common are that they were written for young adults and include a love triangle involving the heroine and the two boys in her life.

The books are set in a distant future where North America, now known as Panem, has been divided into thirteen sectors each specialising in a specific trade or industry.  Following an unsuccessful rebellion against the Capitol, each district has to supply one girl and one boy every year to take part in the Hunger Games.  These games are literally a televised fight to the death.  The heroine is Katniss Everdeen from District 12, who volunteers for the games when her younger sister is picked in the lottery which chooses the participants. She is sent to the capitol with Peeta Mellark, the baker's son and asks Gale, her childhood friend and hunting companion, to look after her family in her absence.  The book vividly describes the preparation and training before the games begin and introduces a number of colourful secondary characters such as Haymitch, a drunk who is the only living winner from the 12th district.  There are some very visual descriptions of the clothes they wear, the weapons they use, the games and the choices the competitors make to survive at any cost even if it means killing their friends.   

Suzanne Collins has said that she got the idea for the books while watching reality tv.  She paints a harsh world where people are subjugated and starving and teenagers do everything they can to win and survive.  I had to constantly remind myself that the targeted audience were young adults. The leaders are corrupt and brutal, particularly in their methods to keep the districts under control. 'Catching fire' and 'Mockingjay' delve deeper into the politics of Panem and are just as riveting as the first book.  

The books are being adapted into film with the first movie scheduled to be released in March 2012.  Jennifer Lawrence has been cast as Katniss, while Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth have been cast as Peeta and Gale. The movies, like the books, are being hyped as the next big thing since Twilight and the production company has already been generating a lot of buzz in the media releasing pictures of the cast and production news on a regular basis.  A number of websites have also been commenting whether a movie revolving around a game were teenagers kill each other is suitable for the targeted audience.   I, on the other hand, am curious to see how they will bring the imagery of Suzanne Collins to the big screen, her descriptions are so good that I already have a visual image in my mind of the clothes worn (in particular the fire dress of Katniss) and various scenes of the book such as the opening ceremony of the games.  I will definitely be queuing up at the cinema to judge for myself when the movie is released. 

Steampunk

Patricia is guest-blogging

As an avid reader of all types of romantic novels - historical, chicklit, paranormal - I have recently been introduced to a new type: Steampunk. I had never heard of this genre so I decided to look up the meaning in Wikipedia where it is described as "a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.  Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United States—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology, or futuristic innovations as Victorians might have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc". Having read this, I realised that I had in fact been introduced to this world on TV with series such as 'The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr' and to a lesser extent with one of my favourite series, the brilliant 'Firefly'.

My introduction to Steampunk romance was with 2 novels from the Iron Seas series by Meljean Brook: The Iron Duke and Heart of Steel.  Meljean Brook creates a completely new universe where the Mongolian Empire under Genghis Khan has invaded large areas of Asia, Europe and Africa. This is an alternative universe where Leonardo da Vinci created war machines to fight of the invading Mongolian Horde, humans are infected with a nanovirus that turns them into zombies and used as an invading force, while other humans use nanoviruses to help them combat diseases or have artificial limbs implanted to carry out specialised professions.  I am not going through this whole new alternative universe here, Brook describes it brilliantly in her website, but what really impressed me is the amount of detail she goes into creating this world. 

The Iron Duke is a romance with a murder mystery thrown in and centers around Rhys Traharean (The Iron Duke) a pirate who has helped liberate England from the Horde and Detective Inspector Mina Wentworth who are thrown together when a naked body is found dead on the grounds of the Iron Duke's mansion.  The story is foremost a love story between these two very strong personalities who clash at every turn but it also provides insight into the politics of this world while they try to find out who this body is and why it was dumped in the Iron Duke's garden.  A large number of supporting characters are introduced including Mina's family and old comrade in arms of the Iron Duke.  Two of these characters are the central characters in the second novel of the series Heart of Steel.

Heart of Steel is equally enjoyable.  Archimedes Fox reminded me of a young Indian Jones since he is a Treasure Hunter who smuggles himself into areas which have been invaded by the Horde in order to look for artifacts created before the invasion and then sells them to the highest bidder.  His love interest is Yasmeen, the captain of the airship 'Lady Corsair'.  They journey all over Europe and Africa looking for a sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. 

After reading these two books, I am not surprised to have seen them pop up on a number of Best of 2011 lists!