Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Title: Infinity (Chronicles of Nick #1)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Reviewer: Karen Pellett
Genre: Young Adult (a bit of every genre)
Rating:Love
Alerts/Warnings: Moderate Swearing, Moderate Violence
Premise: "Streetwise, tough, and savvy, Nick and his quick sarcasm are the stuff of legend... until the night when his best friends try to kill him. Saved by a mysterious warrior, Nick is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters: immortal vampire slayers who risk everything to save humanity. With his fellow students turning into flesh-eating zombies, how can he stop them... without getting grounded by his mom?" (King County Library System)
Opinions: Oh my goodness gracious me!!!!! Greek gods meet fantasy & sci-fi, where Zombies meet Werewolves and Demons everything else under the sun.  I have several friends who are huge fans of Sherrilyn Kenyon, but I hadn't had the chance to read anything yet. Then I met Ms. Kenyon while working at a booth where she was signing at FanX in Salt Lake a few months ago. Let me tell you, she is beautiful inside and out. I had thought Ms. Kenyon wrote romance with a fantasy twist. Granted, this is the only book of hers I've read so far, but I now know why there was an even mix of men and women waiting in line, eager to meet their favorite author.

All I have to gauge is by this book and my opinion is that Ms. Sherrilyn Kenyon does a briliant job of writing to all genders in a genre mash-up for the ages. The characters were multi-dimensional, creative, and fascinating. I especially recommend listening to the audio version of the book where the narrator does an exquisite job of covering many many voices. Nick by far is a favorite of mine (which is good because he is the main point of view character), but Simi and Bubba are close seconds. But what really makes the book for me is the voice. Some books read very vanilla to me even if the plot is engaging. But the author's voice and her knowledge and love for all things Southern shines through in glorious fashion. The voice is utterly undeniable and is what makes the story come a live. The voice is what makes a cast of so many varied characters and backgrounds meld so perfectly together.

Note: The only reason I could not give this book the rating of Fabulous is because of the level of violence and language. So I recommend that parents read the book first to gauge better if your children our ready for this read.

Dissension by Adrienne Monson

This book is scheduled for release February 23, 2013.  This review is based off of an advanced reader's copy of the book.

Title: Dissension (Blood Inheritance Trilogy #1)
Author: Adrienne Monson
Reviewer: Karen
Genre: Adult Vampire
Rating: Love-ish (I'll explain below)
Alerts/Warnings: Violence and Sensuality associated to Vampiric Behavior
Premise: "Fists are pumping, bodies gyrating, sweat dripping—booming music drowns out all other noise in the dark club. Leisha, dressed in skimpy, revealing clothes, eyes her victim. As soon as he sets eyes on her, she knows he's hers. He becomes excited as despicable thoughts of murder run through his mind, all readable by Leisha's abnormal senses. After a bit of small talk, they are soon both out the door, Leisha pushed against the wall. The man pulls out a knife, ready to cut up this beautiful woman. Leisha smiles as she deflects the knife and bites into his neck, sucking every ounce of life from this abominable man.

It wasn't always this way.

Leisha was once a loving mother with an ideal family. Though this was over two thousand years ago, Leisha still holds that time dear to her heart. But for now, she must focus on trying to escape the eternal and bloody war between her kind—the Vampires—and the Immortals, an undying race sworn to destroy her people. Soon, Leisha finds herself captured by the government only to be saved by a young and mysterious human girl. What entails is the beginning of a long and torturous journey as Leisha and her new found friend run for their lives while searching for the one thing that can end it all—the prophecy child."

Opinions: I am not one to read books about vampires, werewolves, monsters, etc for the most part (unless they are highly tame).  They give me nightmares.  I do not have the sentimentality, gumption, um....not sure the right word that I am looking for, to submit myself to such violence.  But I know Adrienne. So I read her book.  I LOVED it!!!! All of it, except the vampire parts.  Just kidding, sort of.  The "vampire" parts still creeped me out and just might give me nightmares, but not being an aficionado of vampire novels I cannot provide you with a comparison of those sections to like-minded books. 

Let me just say that I think the overall story is captivating, fascinating, and imaginative.  I love so many of the characters we are introduced to in this first novel of the Blood Inheritance Trilogy. My favorite, by far, is Samantha, the teenager who falls into the world of vampires when she meets Leisha (who is my all-time second favorite character).  I love quite a few others (but cannot divulge them as it will give away some of the plot) and there are a plethora that give me the downright creeps, but since that is the intention, then I think Adrienne does a fantastic job of it.  The tension of this novel kept me intrigued, and I enjoyed the pacing.

There are several suggestive sensual comments and suggestive violations on the part of some of the lesser altruistic vampires, but still not overly done.  They did make me uncomfortable, but again I am highly sensitive to books of such nature. So I will leave it up to you as to whether or not you are comfortable with them or not. So to sum up, I think this is a great story if you are into and can handle vampire stories.  As for me, I intend to snuggle up to my husband and put in a kids movie and hope I don't have nightmares tonight.