Vampire Academy - Blood Promise - Richelle Mead - Review

Book: Vampire Academy: Blood promise

Author: Richelle Mead

Publisher: Puffin Books

ISBN: 9780141331867

Rating: A-

How far will Rose go to keep a promise? The recent Strigoi attack at St. Vladimir's Academy was the deadliest ever in the school's history, claiming the lives of many. Even worse, the Strigoi took some of their victims with them - including Dimitri. He'd rather die than be one of them, and now Rose must abandon her best friend, Lissa - the one she has sworn to protect no matter what - and keep the promise Dimitri begged her to make long ago. But with everything at stake, how can she possibly destroy the person she loves most?

Blood Promise didn’t live up to Shadow Kiss. It was very different to be away from the academy whilst reading, but it was good. I... I’m really stuck for words on this; I don’t know what to say. I think there wasn’t too much effort in this book and was only written as a bridge between Shadow kiss, and Spirit Bound. Definitely the worst book in the series, so far. Positively I was happy when I thought Dimitri had died, but as we know – I was wrong. The Leech survived.

Lissa... wasn’t really involved in the story, neither was the academy hence the name Vampire Academy. Richelle tried writing from the perspective of both Lissa and Rose, and too be honest from the little of Lissa’s life I read about it was more interesting than Rose’s. Positively I liked the ending with the big fight and Lissa being compelled to commit suicide.  I like the fact that it introduces lots of memories of Dimitri and Rose, but some of them were just page fillers.                    

I mean yeah it was sort of good but to be honest the 5 stars I gave it on GD was only because I <3 the rest of the series. Like I said, not much to say about this and yeah, I was disappointed. 

Reckless Tour - Cornelia Funke - Event

On Saturday 2nd of October 2010, i had the honor of going to see Cornelia Funke on the Reckless tour where I manage to get some book signed, which you can see here. It was great, and really interesting, she's such a nice woman, and I'm so happy that I had this opportunity. If she ever comes back to UK I will definitely see her again.

In my mailbox #4

Okay, So technically this isn't in my mailbox - but I needed somewhere to show the Cornelia Funke books that I got signed so here they are.

 Comparison View

Side View

Reckless signed page

Inkheart signed page 

 Inkheart front view

Reckless front view

Reckless - Cornelia Funke - UK v US Cover

UK                                                                                                               US/GERMAN

Seeing as I have just read this and it is Reckless Day, I thought I'd compare covers.

I'm not sure with these two, as they are both amazing covers. The UK Portrays the golden goyle eye better, but the US portrays the jade skin better. For me this is a toughie so it all comes down to the fonts. The UK title font wins me over straight away, including the fact that it is foil. But then I love the frame around the US. For mr it's a draw but if I had to pick I would pick the UK. When I met cornelia she said to her they draw but is she had to pick she would pick US.

Reckless - Cornelia Funke - Review

Book: Reckless

Author: Cornelia Funke

Publisher: Chicken House

ISBN: 9781905294855

Rating: A★                                                               For the first time in his life, Jacob Reckless is afraid. For years he's stolen across to another world. A dark enchanted place he's loved for its treasure, secrets and dangers. Until now. Will, his younger brother, has followed him with terrible consequences: The boy will turn to beast; the girl he loves will break her hert and chaos will rule forever, unless Jacob can spin a fairytale to save them ...

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED RECKLESS. I CAN'T EVEN PUT IT INTO WORDS.THE BOOK WAS SO AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC, I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN.I have to admit this is one of the best books I've read it a long time. I love the idea, of the fairy tale world. It's different, to the fairy tale modern rewrite craze. Reckless is an amazing book, and I have already devoured it twice. I can't wait to the next two in the series. Of course I was lucky enough to meet Cornelia Funke and have my first edition signed, and boy am I glad. The book just blew me away.

Some people were saying that the book is not for kids as the the characters are adults, but when I went to the reckless tour and listened to Cornelia she clearly stated, 'A lot of people say that if it's a children's book it must have children, but dustfinger was not a child but became one of the best loved characters, so as you will see Jacob and Will are both adults but all the more reason to love them.' Yet again she was so right. The description in the book was amazing, and I felt it got better throughout the book Cornelia has such a unique way of telling a story it's almost as if you're there. Obviously as she was helped by Lionel Wrigam in creating the book, so she has said that in a couple of years time it will become a film. 

Surprisingly my favorite character was not Jacob, but Fox. She had a nice, funny, quirky personality, who cared deeply about Jacob, and let the Jealousy get the better of her when he drank the Lark's water. Another thing I luurved so much was the illustrations. Cornelia is an amazing artist, and I loved all her illustrations. Unfortunately Cornelia said that not all of the Illustrations were included in the UK edition, unlike the US, German etc., so I would have liked to have seen them but, I guess I should be happy that they included any of her illustrations. 

The characters were very easy to get to know, and sometimes you would forget that they weren't even real. You befriended them quickly and easily. The dark fairy sounded interesting, and the jade goyle (Will) was cool, but I'm glad he got changed back. I'm seriously hyped to see what happens in the next book, because Jacob is paying with his life.


The novel itself is curious, dark and has a fairy tale combination of many. The danger started with the Tailor, which I was so creeped out at. Thank goodness he's dead, he was such a sick person, I loved this child eating witches house. It was clever how nearly anything you touched or ate would have a consequence. Like the Larks Water. That was awesome, and so funny reading about Fox getting jealous. And the watermen, and Lorelie (i think you spell it like that)


The book overall is a fantastic novel, and should become a modern fairy tale, just as Beastly has. The book is fantastic and definitely five stars.

Reckless - Cornelia Funke - Trailer

Angelology - Danielle Trussoni - Review

Book: Angelology
Author: Danielle Trussoni
Publisher: Michael Joseph
ISBN: 9780718155582
Rating: A+


The Nephilim were on the earth in those days Genesis 6:4. When Sister Evangeline finds mysterious correspondence between Mother Innocenta of the Saint Rose Convent and legendary philanthropist Abigail Rockefeller, it confirms Angels walked among us - and their descendants, the cruel Nephilim, still do. Indeed, the Nephilim are hunting for artefacts concealed by Abigail Rockefeller during the Second World War - objects that will ultimately allow them to enslave mankind - and have so far been prevented from reaching their apocalyptic goal by one, clandestine organisation: The Angelology Society. And if the Angelologists are to stand any chance of winning this new battle in the ages-old war, they must find the artefacts first. But their fate rests in the hands of innocent Sister Evangeline, who holds the key to unlocking Abigail Rockefeller's hiding places ...and whose own destiny may yet find her prey to the terrifying Nephilim army, with horrifying consequences for humanity.

Angelology took me a good hundred pages to get into. I felt I was hanging with this book because I’d heard so much about it. One minute there would be five chapters that were boring and focusing on Evangeline and the next minute you’d have one chapter which was good and had a lot of action, and then you’d expect more and it would just go back to boring.

“I felt I was hanging with this book”

The book in a sense was well thought out and the plot was clever, but the only reason it was as thick as it was is because it is filled with unnecessary details that just bore you. Of course if there were to be a sequel where these details somehow gained an importance then that would be great, but if it wasn’t for these details the book would be the size of twilight.

My favourite parts were definitely the finding, creating and destroying of the lyre, and the second expedition. They were tense, and had the right amount of actions. The obvious part was that Angela was Percival and Gabriella’s baby. The characters were not as close to you as they are in some other books as I think Danielle tried to portray the characters in an outsider’s point of view, so that changed my view on how I thought about the characters. My favourite character was definitely Gabriella. She had something dark and dangerous about her, and she was most definitely exiting. She grew to be a very valued character and when she was killed it came as a sort of surprise that she didn’t put up a fight.

The grammar was good, although the odd word or two was misspelt, I think. I have to admit the book is epic, but more of a modern classic than a new cool YA read. The Lyre. That’s what the whole book is about, it all focuses on the lyre. As long as the Lyre is hidden the Nephilim (Human, Angel Hybrid) cannot take dominion over the world. The book isn’t at all complex as it looks from the thickness, but it is a slow read because the boring details just slow you down. The book is though worth a full five stars, and I guarantee will become a modern classic.