Amazon Vine Update + A Wonderful Vampire Dream

A Wonderful Vampire Dream 

I had the most wonderful dream last night. I was a carefree college student, and I was on a trip to a small city I didn't know very well, looking for a hotel to stay in. As I drove down the city's main street looking for a decent hotel, I saw a small pool of water (a large puddle or a small pond) and two men standing - leaning against a wall and a tree - a short distance away. I was vaguely afraid of them. When I looked down in the pool of water, I saw the reflection of a woman in the second-floor window of a house across an alley from the pool. I inferred that this woman was the lover of one of the two men, and this made me vaguely jealous. 

I chose a motel. Once inside my room, I don't think I was able to lock the door, or at least lock it to my satisfaction. The two men were outside my room and I manually held the white wooden double door shut to keep them out. They wanted me to let them in. Eventually, I felt compelled to let them in. I realized at least one of them was a vampire. He looked looked like Robert Pattinson (but not as Edward Cullen - there was no sparkling). 

Photo by Eva Rinaldi, 2012. Creative Commons license.

That part sounds vaguely menacing and not very wonderful, but the next part was what I really enjoyed. The vampire sat on the bed with me, and I noticed how beautiful his hands were. I told him so. After that, I wasn't afraid of the two strangers anymore.

I went into an adjoining room, where some other college students I knew were playing a card game at a big table. I sat in on the card game, and the two men also joined us. With all the conversation going on, we all got to know each other better. That was when the vampire told me he thought I, Erin, would be much happier as an immortal. I became very excited that he was going to change me.

I don't remember all of the details of what happened next, except that the vampire, his friend, and I were joyriding in the back of a convertible that someone else was driving. Whatever else we did, it was something frivolous and essentially innocent fun, and I loved the worry-free feeling of it all, as well as being excited that I was going to become a vampire. When I woke up, I just wanted to go back into the dream reality. 

I may have been thinking about Twilight a little bit before bed, thanks to seeing this on Pinterest. 

See? It's like the Twilight cover, only with Finnick Odair sugarcubes. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was a hot thing in social media yesterday because the second official trailer is out now. But we still have to wait until November 22 to see the movie. 

Amazon Vine Update

Last Thursday was Amazon Vine Day 1 for the month of July 2013, and both of the free items I chose were books. They came in the mail yesterday. 

One was the latest Dead Is novel (paranormal, young adult mystery) by Marlene Perez, called Dead Is Just a Dream. Like the classic Nightmare on Elm Street horror films, it's about teenagers who die in their sleep. 

Its official release date is September 3, but you can preorder now. 

The second book is Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink. This is a nonfiction book (Fink is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist as well as a physician) about Memorial Medical Center, a New Orleans hospital inside the flooded zone during Hurricane Katrina. 

Again, the book is not available until September (the 10th), but you can preorder now. 

I'm 109 pages in, and it's so sad. I just read a passage in which a doctor has told a nurse that the hospital is out of oxygen tanks and she had to let an elderly patient die, but that information was wrong--the hospital did, in fact, still have oxygen. That devastating experience the nurse had of having the old man die in her arms could have been avoided. 

This is the problem with nonfiction - reality is heartbreaking. Now do you see why I want to live in a dream? 

https://amzn.to/4cBthfu

Review ~ Dead Is a Battlefield by Marlene Perez

This book marks the beginning of the Jessica Walsh era - Jessica takes over as heroine of the Dead Is series from Daisy Giordano. Psychic Daisy and her sisters are the Walsh's next door neighbors, and Daisy's boyfriend Ryan is the best friend of Jessica's older brother Sean. Jessica doesn't have psychic powers, but she does have a strange new tattoo that just appears without the use of needles. She learns she's a virago, a supernatural warrior-woman destined to guard her hometown of Nightshade, California.

I wondered if I would like this series as much with Jessica in charge as I did with Daisy. I did, pretty much. The ending was a little rushed, but I imagine some of the confusion will be further cleared up in the next volume, Dead Is a Killer Tune.

While battling an outbreak of a strange infection and an even stranger ant farm, Jessica develops a crush on the new lead singer of local band Side Effects May Vary: her fellow Nightshade High student Dominic Gray. But Dominic seems to have a split personality when it comes to Jessica; sometimes he seems into her, and sometimes he's all over Selena Silvertongue. What's up with Dominic? Will Jessica survive the danger - and Flo's virago workouts - long enough to find out?

Dead Is a Killer Tune is due out September 4, 2012.

When I read Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, the Maroon 5 song "She Will Be Loved" ("Beauty queen of only 18...") kept getting stuck in my head. I couldn't read this book without repeatedly singing "Love is a Battlefied" by Pat Benatar.



Fortunately, I like this song. It reminds me of when I was a little girl in the '80s. In She's a Rebel, Gillian G. Gaar wrote, "Female performers rarely experienced the attacks that groups like N.W.A., 2 Live Crew, or Judas Priest did, though their work was scrutinized by organizations like the PMRC, who, in analyzing sexism on MTV, gave Pat Benatar's 'Love Is a Battlefield' video a negative rating, citing: 'one performer fights with her ornery parents then leaves home to become a hooker.'"

I purchased Dead Is a Battlefield at my brick-and-mortar Barnes and Noble and was not compensated for this review in any way.

Marlene Perez's stylish Dead Is series could be the cure for HP withdrawal

As I write this, the final Harry Potter film is making its debut on the big screen. J.K. Rowling’s books have been with us since 1997, and the film series based on them has stretched out over the past decade. It’s amazing to see how the films’ young actors have grown up before our eyes. Who would have guessed little Emma Watson would grow up to be so stylish?

Before you go into young adult fantasy series withdrawal, check out the Dead Is series by Marlene Perez. The books follow California high school student Daisy Giordano. Her mother is psychic and her two older sisters, Poppy and Rose, also have paranormal gifts. Daisy’s powers are developing, and it’s a good thing, because their hometown of Nightshade is full of paranormal residents. Even the jukebox at Slim’s Diner seems to be haunted.

Each of Marlene Perez’s characters also has her own sense of style. Here’s a quickie guide to some random fashion moments (both formal and everyday) in the Dead Is series, and a few hints on how you can copy the looks.

The book: Dead Is the New Black
The look: Rocker Chick
Quote: “She wore a naughty nurse’s uniform paired with leopard-print tights, six-inch white plastic heels, and a towering hot pink hairdo that was obviously a wig.”
Sexy Evil Nurse Costume, $27.66 - http://www.costumecraze.com/SA393.html
Leopard-print Tights, $10.40 - http://www.gojane.com/52302-stuff-leopard-print-tights.html
6” White Plastic Heels, $38.95 - http://www.funkypair.com/6inchexoticdancerplatformshoes1.aspx
Hot pink beehive wig, $39.95, http://bgalwigs.ecrater.com/p/12345307/hot-pink-beehive-spitcurl-wig

Source: bgalwigs.ecrater.com via Erin on Pinterest

The book: Dead Is a State of Mind
The look: Daisy’s Perfect Prom Dress
Quote: “Samantha and Poppy both found their dresses, but everything I tried on was either too tight, too short, or too revealing. An hour later, I spotted it. It was strapless, pale gold with a beaded bodice and skirt, and much more sophisticated than anything I’d tried on before.”
Pale Gold Strapless Taffeta Gown: http://www.romolloy.com/dress23.html

Source: idresslove.com via Violetta on Pinterest

The book: Dead Is So Last Year
The look: Indie Librarian
Quote: “At the diner, I went back to the kitchen, but there was a stranger there with Slim. She was a short, curvy young woman with horn-rimmed glasses and blond hair, which was dyed with purple stripes.”
Oakley Women’s Horn-Rimmed Glasses, $195 - http://www.framesdirect.com/1/1/50553-oakley-women-pendant-2-0-12-483-brown-horn-eyeglasses.html
Hair dye in deep purple, joyride, pimpin’ purple, plum, purple smoke or wildflower, $12.99 each - http://www.goodgoth.com/hairdye.htm

The book: Dead Is Just a Rumor
The look: Pure Vintage
Quote: “It was midnight blue, with a square bodice and an ivory satin underskirt. There were little silk flowers at the waist and ivory embroidery at the wrists and hem.”
1930s Style Midnight Blue Gown, $130 - http://www.bluevelvetvintage.com/midnight-blue-classic-30s-style-hollywood-glamour-gown.html

Source: bluevelvetvintage.com via Erin on Pinterest

The book: Dead Is Not an Option
The look: Casual Fridays
Quote: “She was wearing a skirt and a T-shirt with cut-off sleeves. Today’s tee read, PLEASE DON’T FEED THE DEMONS.”
Corduroy Short Skirt, $39.50 - http://www.victoriassecret.com/ss/Satellite?ProductID=1265530833613&c=Page&cid=1308310593787&pagename=vsdWrapper
“For a Minute There You Bored Me to Death” T-shirt, $8.50 - http://www.badideatshirts.com/FOR-A-MINUTE-THERE-YOU-BORED-ME-TO-DEATH-FUNNY-T-SHIRTWHITE-INK--P658.aspx

You don't have to dress up (or down) to enjoy Perez's novel series. If you like mysteries with a paranormal twist, solved by an intelligent teenage heroine and shaken with a generous dash of high school drama, the series is for you.

Image Attribution:
Emma Watson photo by Chris Marra - Creative Commons license
Nurse costume photo by Brian K - Creative Commons license
Purple hair photo by Charles Johnson - Creative Commons license
Other images via Pinterest

Need more fashion? Check out the couture collection - and daily deals - for men, women, children and the home at MYHABIT.

The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group - Review

I haven't read Catherine Jinks' previous book in the series, The Reformed Vampire Support Group, so I came to this series fresh. I don't think it made much of a difference. The 13-year-old narrator, Toby, doesn't know what's going on when he wakes up in the hospital after having been found in the dingo pen on a wildlife preserve. Not knowing what happened in the first book allowed me to figure things out at about the same time Toby did, though Jinks does drop lots of hints that Toby's new friends, especially Nina, might be vampires.

The title tells us two things: there will be a werewolf, and the werewolf will be abused. The book starts out in a somewhat light-hearted tone, with many references to Toby's perfectly ordinary suburban Australian life and the pranks he and his friends like to pull. Then, about 170 pages in, Toby gets kidnapped, and the story starts to get very bleak. If Toby were a little younger, more sensitive or more vulnerable, some of the things that happen to him might be horrible. But, with his maybe-werewolf DNA, Toby is just tough and resilient enough to emerge triumphant.

The middle section of the book is of the dark action-adventure variety, and there's a hefty dose of paranormal intervention towards the end. The last chapters imply that if there is a third book in the series, it's likely to involve zombies. The more menacing tone makes it a different class of YA paranormal from the breezy paranormals of Marlene Perez's Dead Is series, but it should appeal to young horror fans.

I received an ARC of The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group through the Amazon Vine program. I was not otherwise compensated for this review.