Desires of the Dead

"Desires of the Dead" (Body Finder Series #2)
by Kimberly Derting
Hardcover: 368 pages
Published: HarperCollins (February 15, 2011)

Description:
The missing dead call to Violet.  They want to be found.


Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered--and the matching imprint that clings to their killers.  Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.


As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession.  Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed.  And with Jay spending more and more time with this new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong.  But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger.

This book is the second in the Body Finder series.  The first book, "Body Finder" introduces us to Violet and her ability to find dead bodies and their killers.  She can find dead animals as well as dead people, so she never knows what she'll find when their pull calls her to them.  The first book also puts her in the path of a serial killer and almost gets herself and Jay killed in the process.

This second book, "Desires of the Dead" picks up where the first one left off.  Jay and Violet are now a romantic couple instead of just friends and they enjoy spending every free moment together.  As with any teen relationships there are ups and downs and arguments between them.  Violet continues to explore her ability in finding bodies, and finds a little boy that had been missing for weeks.  Video surveillance caught her at the scene, and tipped off the FBI.  They try and discover her secret just as she's entangled in a mess of her own (again).  She's still trying to figure out all the aspects of her body finding ability, but decides to let others in on her secret.  She wants to help others get the closure they need.

This book is a really enjoyable read and moves along quickly.  I like her writing style and hope that there are more in this series.  I'm not sure if there will be as this one has a good ending.  I'll have to wait and see, I guess.

Throat

"Throat" by R.A. Nelson
Hardcover: 464 pages
Published: Knopf Books for Young Readers (January 25, 2011)

Book Description:
R.A. Nelson takes us on a supernatural thrill ride, a modern day vampire story set on a NASA base and filled with space-and-science intrigue.  Seventeen-year-old Emma feels cursed by her epilepsy-until the lost night.  She's shocked to wake up in the hospital one morning, weak from blood loss.  When her memories begin to return, she pieces together that it was a man-a monster-who attacked her: a vampire named Wirtz.  And it was her very condition that saved her: a grand mal seizure interrupted Wirtz and left Emma with all the amazing powers of a vampire-heightened senses, rapid speed-but no need to drink blood.  Is Emma now a half-vampire girl?  One thing soon becomes clear: the vampire Wirtz is fierce and merciless, feared even by his own kind, and won't leave a job undone.

I, unfortunately, didn't finish this book.  I only read about 212 pages and had to stop.  I was bored by the lack of intrigue and thought the storyline was cheesy.  After having read many other vampire books, this one, although different, was not as good as it could have been.  I really wanted to like it, too.  It started out good, but then dragged on and on.  Her love story with Sagan was dumb and made me feel like she was just using him.  She would blow off his comments about work and science saying how stupid and boring she found them.  Boyfriend material this does not make.  Also, how can a seventeen-year-old girl just suddenly leave home and know how to take care of herself without any help?  She suddenly had vast knowledge overnight?  These kinds of things made the book cheesy.  Oh, well.  On to the next book.

If You Are Tired of Vampires...

If you are tired of vampire books, then try this one out:

"Firelight" by Sophie Jordan
Hardcover: 323 pages
Published: Harper Teen (September 7, 2010)

I give this one 5 stars!

The next book in this series is "Vanish" (due out in September 2011)

My Favorite Vampire Books

"House of Night" series by P.C. Cast (lots of magic along with vampires in a high school setting...series starts out strong, but fizzles with the latest books)

"Blue Blood" series by Melissa de la Cruz (preppy and wealthy high school vampires with the odd girl out setting)

"Evernight Academy" series by Claudia Gray (a love story in a special high school mixed with vampires and humans)

"Twilight" series by Stephenie Meyer (you should all know this one by now)

My Favorite Zombie Series

Numbers

"Numbers" by Rachel Ward (#1 in series)
Hardcover: 325 pages
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic Inc. (February 1, 2020)

Book Description:
Whenever Jem meets someone new, no matter who, as soon as she looks into their eyes, a number pops into her head.  That number is a date: the date they will die.

Burdened with such an awful awareness, Jem avoids relationships.  Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance.  But while they're waiting to ride the Eye Ferris Wheel, Jem notices that all the other tourists in line flash the same number.  Today's number.  Today's date.  Terrorists are going to attack London.  Jem's world is about to explode!

This book was really good and believable.  I imagine there are people out there that have this ability and choose not to face up to it or ignore it.  Anyway, I really like this book.

You really are just getting to know the characters when the ferris wheel incident happens, and then the books takes on a different turn.  Because Jem can see everyone's death date, there are some inevitable moments in the story.  You'll find yourself wishing differently, but it's going to happen.

This is the first book in this series, the second one "The Chaos" having just been released.  I'm waiting for that one to read.  The ending of "Numbers" leads me to believe that "The Chaos" will also be a good book.  I'll just have to wait and see.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hello everyone!  I apologize for the delay in my review of the book "Numbers".  My time has been crazy lately.  I'm almost at the end, and the book is great so far!  The review should be a good one.

I wore green today like the good Irish girl that I am.  Hope you had a great one!