Book Review: The Vampire's Promise (Deadly Offer #1) by Caroline B. Cooney

(Click image to take you to Goodreads)

Format: E-ARC

Publishers: Open Road Young Readers

Published: 22nd January 2013

Pages: 192

Genre: YA, Paranormal

Main Characters: Althea

Date Read: 12th February - 14th February 2013

Rating Given:

Warning: This book had a different name (The Cheerleader) which wasn't even the first in the series so I found it hard to find the information on the book so if any of the above information is wrong I apologise.

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

Cheerleaders are beautiful, popular and exciting - girls that Althea longs to be. But Althea is nobody - she gets no phone calls, shares no laughter and has no friends. Then one day she meets him, a vampire who offers to make her a cheerleader in exchange for a simple bargain.
 

While looking through the books on Netgalley I came across this book which I thought sounded interesting which it was it just wasn't as good as what I thought it would be.

The cover I think looks a little menacing but after looking through Goodreads and finding there was another cover which I thought looked better.

I found this book to be a bit shallow which made me not want to continue reading but the more I kept reading the more I found I couldn't stop reading it. I think the reason why I found it so addicting was that it was different to the other vampire books that I have read before. I didn't find anything believable as everything that Althea was experiencing was from what the vampire did which made me not trust anything that happened but there was times when I wanted to believe it. I would say there was a bit of romance but again it wasn't believable which was a shame as I thought they could have made a cute couple. I didn't really like the ending as I felt everything was left up in the air and even though this is a part of a series I don't think the next book will follow with Althea. I do think there is a message in the book though with the main message being be careful of what you wish as you just might get it.

Even though there was a few characters the only person we really got to know was Althea who at the beginning I didn't really like as she was far too shallow and changed her mind as soon as she got what she thought she wanted. It wasn't until the end when she grew on me as she seemed to have acquired a backbone by then. The only other person we kind of got to know was The Vampire as he was the one that made an offer to Althea that she couldn't refuse but I did think he was manipulative but that seems to be his nature preying on the vulnerable. The other characters where just apart of the manipulation so I couldn't say whether they where nice or not.

Overall it was an addicting book that made me want to find out what was going to happen next but I just wish is was more believable.

Book Review: Gift

Gift by Andrea J. Buchanan

Format: e-arc
Publishers: Open Road Media
Published: 27th March 2012
Pages: N/A
Main Characters: Daisy, Danielle, Vivi, Kevin
Date Started: 2nd April 2012
Date Finished: 5th April 2012
Rating Given: ***

Netgalley:
High school sophomore Daisy Jones is just trying to get by unnoticed. It doesn't help that she's the new girl at school, lives in a trailer park, and doesn't even own a cell phone. But there's a good reason for all that: Daisy has a secret, unpredictable power-one only her best friend, Danielle, knows about. Despite her "gift" (or is it a curse?), Daisy's doing a good job of fitting in-and a cute senior named Kevin even seems interested in her! But when Daisy tries to help Vivi, a mysterious classmate in a crisis, she soon discovers that her new friend has a secret of her own. Now Daisy and her friends must deal with chilling dreams and messages from the beyond. Can Daisy channel the power she's always tried to hide-before it's too late? Extra features include:

• A short graphic novel illustrated by Alexis Seabrook, telling Vivi's story
• Danielle's journal, revealing her deepest thoughts

I stumbled across this book whilst looking what to request on Netgalley and it sounded like an interesting book. Although I wasn't a huge fan of the cover (usually what attracts my attention on netgalley) I requested it anyway and I am glad I did.

There was always something going on in this book all though not all of it was understandable. For most of the book I wasn't sure whether I actually believed what was going on as it seemed more like little children with an overactive imagination. Don't get me wrong I do read a lot of books like this and I love them but this one just seemed too unbelievable like they was just making it up for the attention.

There was times when I was really into the book that I didn't want to stop reading it as I just wanted to find out what was going to happen next and to see if any of it was true.

The characters was alright but I just couldn't get attached to them so I didn't care what was happening to them. I can't even remember how old they was supposed to be they seemed to act like 12 year old but I think they was supposed to be older. They all seemed nice enough most of the time but there was times when they was being mean to each other but by the end I found out the reason and understood.

I really loved the ending it seemed to be just that the end which I like in a book as I don't like lose ends especially if they are supposed to be stand alone books which this one is.

There was also some extra bits that I thought was a great addition to the story as we were able to see what the other characters was thinking and even going through where as the rest was from Daisy's point of view. Also there was some illustrations which I though was beautifully done and gave me a more vivid picture of what was going on.