Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

I will admit that I decided to read this based solely on the title. I stumbled across this gem in the library early last week and couldn't resist it. I expected it to be a lot cheesier but it turned out to be a fantastic read. I managed to get through it one night (thanks in part to insomnia as well as simply wanting to know what happens), which isn't too common for me since I tend to only be able to read a little bit at a time due to time constraints.

I discovered early on that the location is Lancaster County, PA. I live kind of close to there, which made it feel special. The author is from this area too, so it felt like finding a new friend.

After all the buzz about Twilight* which has Bella fall madly in love with Edward almost immediately, it was a breath of fresh air to find a teen vampire romance with a stubborn, smart female lead. I found Lucius to be far more enjoyable and likeable as well. That's not to say that neither Jessica nor Lucius made me angry at times. But I really liked the characters. And I probably would have fallen for Lucius, flaws and all.

I did not expect the twists and turns in this one, and was pleasantly surprised by them. I laughed, I teared up a bit, and had a great time reading this overall. When I finished, I immediately looked up Beth Fantaskey to find out that she does not have any other novels just yet. However, sometime in the future Jekyl Loves Hyde will be released and I am so excited for that day.

* I read all of the Twilight saga and enjoyed it, but I found myself yelling at both Bella and Edward (out loud sometimes) fairly frequently.

Ann Rinaldi, Or Give Me Death

My amazing friend Laura reminded me of Ann Rinaldi's books. I didn't remember which ones we read back in middle school and I couldn't remember if I liked her stories or not, so I decided to do a search online. Turns out, I LOVED reading her novels. So while I was at the library early last week, I picked up Or Give Me Death and I read it in one night. It's amazing how much I loved this little story about Patrick Henry's family. It was an easy read and perfect for a hot summer night just trying to get some rest.

Also, I appear to be on a young adult and vampire kick. I find it quite amusing.

One more to GOAL

I am currently one book away from reaching my goal of 40 books for 2009. It looks like I'm on track to read between 60 and 70 books this year. I'm exceptionally impressed with myself, because I thought this was an insane number of books to read in one year and still manage to have a social life. Well, I have been proven wrong yet again. But I'm rather happy with it. I have a huge to be read list (about 800 books on my library list, plus three bookcases), and I'm excited to be making my way through it all.

Audio books have been so fun this year. I had planned to listen to 6 books this year. But I'm pretty sure I'm in the double digits now. I'm learning which types of books I like to listen to versus which ones I prefer to read on paper.