Ghost Town (The Morganville Vampires) by Rachel Caine

Well, I have finally finished reading all the books from this series that I can get my hands on. There is one more on hold at the library, and I think the author has another one coming out in November. I was really captivated by this series, especially the earlier books. I love Claire - she is brainy and attractive, has a devoted hunky boyfriend, has parents that love her immensely, and she is crucial to keeping Morganville running. Much of the time the cards are in her hands, even though her life is constantly being threatened. She has way too many close calls...

Caine has artfully created a world in which vampires and humans live together, but under forced and regulated (mostly) conditions. Humans are free to roam during the day, but once dusk arrives they shut themselves in for fear of the vampires who roam at night. Each human citizen pays taxes, but not in the form of money. Instead, each person must donate blood once a month at the blood bank, and that blood becomes meal replacements for the vampires. But there are always some less-than-cautious humans who allow themselves to be bitten, and it usually works out o.k., except when a vampire can't stop. Many people hate living in Morganville, but unfortunately can't leave due to the town's strict border control and mind-altering effects. Those that do leave never come back, except for Claire's boyfriend Shane and his father who seek to avenge relatives' deaths. What will happen when the system breaks down and Claire is commissioned to help fix it? And what if things go terribly wrong once the machine is up and running? Who will save the town from Myrnin's psychotic grasp?

Just when I thought she couldn't possibly come up with any more unique ideas to keep the series going, I was surprised! Each book presents a new, seemingly impossible problem that Claire somehow is needed to help with.

As a devoted Twilight fan, I highly recommend this series as a contender at least, but maybe better? It's just different, so hard to compare. A quick, entertaining read of adventure, action, risk, love, and survival.

Something Borrowed (plus others by Emily Giffin)

I'm kind of cheating here because I didn't actually read the book. However, I just watched the movie on my day off (thank you Rosh Hashanah!). I have been putting off watching the movie because the book is on my to-read list and I like to read the book first. But last night I was standing at the Red Box by our house and this was the only movie that appealed to me so I rented it. I've read a couple of Emily Giffin's books: Love the One You're With and The Heart of the Matter. I liked the first but not the latter. Not really, anyway. Both books entertained the themes of disloyalty and infidelity, but for whatever reason Love the One You're With had more redemptive qualities. The Heart of the Matter left me feeling agitated and sad. Quick rundown: the main characters are Tessa and Nick, who live a comfortable life with their children in a nice neighborhood. Nick is a surgeon who begins to go through some sort of mid-life crisis (in my opinion). Basically, he forgets who he is and blames it all on his wife. He enters into an affair with a single mother whose child has been badly injured in an accident. He eventually confesses to his wife what he's done and begs for forgiveness. At first she tells him to get out, but then later decides to forgive him. While this might make her seem weak to some people, I actually saw her as brave. She had been deeply hurt and betrayed by the man that she loved and she tried everything she could think of to make him happy. He was a surgeon that was hardly home, and instead of putting forth effort into maintaining a relationship with the woman he fell in love with he ran away to another woman. So when he begged for forgiveness and she eventually granted it, I perceived her character as strong enough to realize that even though people (especially men) make very stupid mistakes sometimes it doesn't mean they don't deserve a second chance. If she had decided to hold onto her anger she would have only hurt herself more. We don't always have it all together, and sometimes we need others to see our strengths over our faults. She loved him, and I believe that she let her unconditional love for him allow her forgiveness and acceptance. It takes a strong woman to do what she did.

Now onto Something Borrowed. I enjoyed the movie. Rachel and Dex were likable, and Ethan was a strong supporting character who helped Rachel to realize the truth. Once she gained a better sense of who she was and who she wanted to be, she was able to tell Dex that the ball was in his court and that she wasn't going to sit around and be second-in-line. There is this theme of cheating that continues to present itself in Emily Giffin's stories, but it seems that she uses it to test her chracters and push them to realize who they are and who they want to be. And that's what life is: a constant test to help us decide who we are and who we want to be.

I'm looking for Something Blue next - any reviews?

Heaven is for Real

I'll begin by mentioning that I didn't need a book to tell me that Heaven is real. I know it's real. But I requested this book from the library months ago because of a couple reasons. It was on the New York Times Bestseller list for like, ever, AND more than one person recommended it to me. So it arrived and I read it, rather quickly in fact. It is a fast read.

For those of you that haven't heard of this book, here's the gist. A pastor and his family, who live in Nebraska, had a run of misfortune. Just when they thought things had turned a corner, their young son got very ill and needed an emergency appendectomy. All of his internal organs were toxic and he needed additional surgery after the appendectomy to further clean out the toxins. The young boy was practically on his death bed, but then miraculously recovered. This part I believed.

Not long after his release from the hospital, the young boy indicated to his parents through a series of comments that he had been to Heaven, had seen God, conversed with Jesus, and met dead relatives. The boy was four, but it took the family YEARS to find out about his "trip" to Heaven during the appendectomy. I absolutely believe the boy had this spiritual experience because I have had the blessing of knowing someone who had a similar meeting with Jesus as a young child. I believe that Jesus comes to people in their times of need, especially children who are quick to believe, unlike most adults. Children's hearts are pure and innocent and they radiate love, which makes them more receptive to spiritual "visits" and guidance.

What bothered me about this book was the preachy tone, the frequent use of scripture references to validate the young boy's spiritual story, and the author's (father's) assumption that the boy had no prior knowledge of things the boy referenced about Heaven. The father is a pastor and I just cannot believe that the family's home did not center around God, Jesus, and other scriptural references. And I didn't understand why the family waited so long to get information from the boy about this rare and important "visit". The book seems like a ploy to get money (which they have no doubt accomplished) and try to save all the non-believers.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I wanted it to speak to me and reveal things that would help me on my own life journey. But it really didn't. I am joyful that this young boy had such an awesome spiritual experience that he was able to share with his family and the world. I just wish there had been more details about that, and less of the evangelical preachiness.

But read it. It may speak differently to you.

THE REALLY COOL THING about this book is the reference to a young prodigy named Akiane. She is a Lithuanian-American born to atheist parents, and she began having spiritual visions as a four year old. This piqued my interested because she wasn't raised in a spiritual or religious home, yet she had visions of heaven and angels and, believe it or not, Jesus. She was featured on CNN and Oprah, specifically because of what she did with her visions. She is a prodigy painter and has created masterful paintings of her visions. One of these depicts Jesus as she claims to have seen him, which if you read the book mentioned above, you will learn that the parents of young Colton tried numerous times to find pictures of Jesus and have Colton confirm that's what Jesus looks like. The only picture Colton said "yes" to was the one that this young girl Akiane painted. Click on the link belowto get to the picture, and please take some time to browse her other paintings. Keep in mind she was a child (8 years old) when she painted Jesus, which to me looks like professional quality.

http://www.akiane.com/store/

Scroll down to Age 8 and it's the second painting in, titled "Prince of Peace"

Let me know what you think after you look at these photos!