The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2) by Julie Kagawa

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Allison Sekemoto has vowed to rescue her creator, Kanin, who is being held hostage and tortured by the psychotic vampire Sarren. The call of blood leads her back to the beginning—New Covington and the Fringe, and a vampire prince who wants her dead yet may become her wary ally.

Even as Allie faces shocking revelations and heartbreak like she’s never known, a new strain of the Red Lung virus that decimated humanity is rising to threaten human and vampire alike.

I’ll just say it right now – I’ve become a bit tired of dystopian novels lately.  Not that they aren’t good stories but rather I've just been so worn out by tem.  As much as I love my reading escapes, escaping to a grim world where vampires are atop the food chain, humans are an endangered species and no one dares live on the surface, is not been my cup of tea lately. That is unless it’s Julie Kagawa.

I thought I’d have a harder time than I did getting back into Allison’s world but that wasn’t an issue at all. While the main plotline is that of Allison rescuing her creator, Kanin and also looking for a cure for the virus, the more compelling part for me was her constant inner debate about whether she should fully embrace her vampire nature or find a way to keep the human part of her intact. That was repeated throughout the book and though it could have been tedious, it drives home the message that she is indeed struggling to find her place.

Kanin is a fantastic mentor for her, a kind father figure (yes I used those words to describe a master vampire) who reminds her over and over that yes, she is a vampire but she has the choice to decide what kind of a vampire to be. Jackyl, the annoying menace from the previous book, toys with her conflicted emotions about life as a vampire and her unappetizing sympathies for humans aka bloodbags.  Complicating her life is the boy she left behind, Zeke. Her feelings for him help keep her humanity intact but she admits they could also destroy her.

All that happens during her downtime that consists of walking/running through underground mazes otherwise it’s undesirable encounters with infected humans, a major standoff with a psychotic, vengeful vampire and an errand for a not quite as psychotic, vengeful vampire. Seriously, those hits comes fast and furious that when she finally gets a chance to breathe and experience a very mundane pleasure that we take for granted, I thought "thank god because that girl can't catch a break!". 

The Eternity Cure delivers on action and a few tiny twists here and there to throw you off course as you enjoy the crazy journey.  And Allie is the perfect kick ass heroine you want to take you through it.

~ Bel

Confessions of a Vampire's Girlfriend by Katie MacAlister

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From Author’s Website:

GOT FANGS?
Originally published January 2005

All sixteen-year-old Francesca Ghetti wants to do is have a normal life where she’s one of the crowd, blending in so no one will know just how much of a freak she is. Dragged to Europe by her mother to join GothFaire, a travelling band of psychics, magicians, and assorted other oddities, Fran has to cope with not only the normal angst of always being a fish out of water, but also with her own fate as a psychometrist.

Enter one Moravian Dark One (referred to by most people as vampires) named Benedikt who claims Fran is the key to redeeming his soul, a mysterious horse who seems to have an involved past, an immortal friend who remembers what Mozart was like, and a demonologist who thinks he’s Elvis, and you can understand why Fran despairs of ever fitting in.

CIRCUS OF THE DARNED
Originally published January 2006

I’ve given up all hope of having a normal life. As if things weren’t freaky enough traveling around Europe with a group of witches, mediums, and magicians who make up my home-away-from-home (aka the GothFaire), now I also have to cope with a mysterious man who wants to steal my horse, and a time-travel counselor who insists I’m Cleopatra reincarnated.

I just want to go on a date with Benedikt, but when your boyfriend’s a vampire, nothing is easy. Not only is Ben keeping secrets from me, but somehow, I raised an entire battlefield of warring Viking ghosts–all of whom refuse to be sent back.

And I thought all I had to worry about was what to wear on my date…

The Bad:

The problem with having two short novels or novellas means that Ben and Fran’s story felt unfinished.  I know their story continues in Katie’s adult book, In the Company of Vampires, but I was really enjoying the YA stories. 

The Good:

This shouldn’t come as a surprise given Katie MacAlister’s prolific sales and writing, but she is a fantastic writer.  Confessions is Fran’s coming of age story.  She begins to accept herself, freaky abilities and all, but also to accept those around her and their freaky abilities.  Most of all Fran finds her place, not just in the circus, but with Ben.  Like her Dark Ones series and the dragon series, Confessions of a Vampire’s Girlfriend is compelling, funny and impossible to put down.  You kind find out more about Katie and her books, www.katiemacalister.com. 

~Shel