Stolen Night by Rebecca Maizel [REVIEW]

TITLE: Stolen Night (Vampire Queen #2)
AUTHOR: Rebecca Maizel
PUBLISHER: Macmillam Children's Books
PUB DATE (UK EDITION): Jul 5 2012

Summary from Goodreads:

"Lenah Beaudonte should be dead. But having sacrificed herself to save another, she finds herself awakening with strange powers that are neither vampire nor human—and a new enemy on her trail. In her vampire life, Lenah had thought that being human was all she ever wanted; but the human heart suffers pain, heartbreak and loss.

With her new powers growing and the dark force of the Nex after her soul, Lenah faces a choice: between the mortal love of gorgeous Justin, whose passion fed her human soul, and taking a different path to become the mistress of her own destiny, wherever that may lead..."

Rating:

Vampire queen, Lenah Beaudonte once yearned to be human again. With Rhode’s help, she finally got the chance. Rhode’s sacrifice enabled her to experience the life she miss out back a hundred years ago, when Rhode claimed her and turned her into a vampire. But everything comes with a price...

In the events of Infinite Days, Lenah sacrifices herself to turn one of her strongest vampires, Vicken, back into a human. Just like what Rhode did. Expecting the ritual would be the end of her, Lenah is surprised to find herself alive – and human again, once more. This occurrence made her think that if she survived this, then so did Rhode. Maybe. But where is he?

When Rhode finally makes his appearance, Lenah is torn between Justin, the boy who had reminded her of what it feels like to be human, and Rhode, who has loved her all these years, vampire or not.

But things are more complicated than she realizes... a new vampire queen is at large, more powerful than Lenah once was. And the Aeris, beings that are the essence of nature itself, have appeared to warn Lenah of something more...

Book Haul [11]

I haven't thought of a name for a weekly meme of book hauls so let's just go with what's posted above.

For now, I'll call this the "Whatever it's called" Book Haul. It's only temporary, I swear. I just haven't thought of a clever name for it. So this is pretty much just like In My Mailbox by the Story Siren, This Week In Books by Pop Culture Junkie, and Stacking the Shelves by Tynga's Reviews and all the other titles with the similar concept here and there. This is a weekly post showcasing the books you received for the given week, either bought online or from a physical bookstore, borrowed from the library or from a friend, received for review or won from a giveaway, etc.

Hi there! Happy sunday to you all! 

Here's what I got for this week. I'm also including those that I got last week as well:

BOUGHT:

- P R I N T  H A U L -

ENCLAVE by Ann Aguirre (read)
THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS by Rae Carson
STOLEN NIGHT by Rebecca Maizel
INTERIM GODDESS OF LOVE by Mina V. Esguerra (read and reviewed)

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Read Because Of Another Blogger

Top Ten Tuesday

Hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

Top Ten Books I Read Because of Another Blogger

    

    

1. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

          - Found this from numerous blogs giving it high ratings; and since Faeries are one of my weaknesses, I just had to read it.

2. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

          - I saw it on one of my friends on GoodReads and when I managed to find a copy at a nearby bookstore, I read it greedily.

3. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

          - I first caught sight of it from Kristi of The Story Siren. I fell in love with the entire series since then.

4. XVI by Julia Karr

          - Maria of Bookchilla: Reading is the Ultimate Aphrodisiac and a friend of mine from Goodreads put this on her TBR, and so did I.

5. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

          - I didn't bother to check this book out when I saw tons of copies of it on every bookstore I go to. But entering The Young Adult Book Club and other GoodReads groups that have a ton of girls giggling and ogling over Jace made me want to see what the fuss was all about.

6. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

          - There was a rave about this book all over the net so I decided to check it out too.

7. Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

          - The same with Wicked Lovely, I saw this on Kristi's site. Basically, her blog was the first one I followed so most of the books I started reading were those that I saw there.

8. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

          - It had gone viral... and I got infected.

9. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

          - Definitely eye-catching so I understand why I saw it all over different blogs, sadly it didn't capture my heart.

10. Matched by Ally Condie

          - This had positive feedback from my Goodreads friends so I decided to read it too. I'm still bummed that I didn't feel the same about it as they did.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Sequels I'm Dying to Read

Top Ten Tuesday

Hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

Top Ten Sequels I'm Dying to Read

    

    

1. Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer

     - I can't wait to see how the Nightshade series ends!

2. Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale

     - I loved the first book, Austenland; and I love Shannon Hale so, yeah I can't wait to get to read this.

3. Stolen Nights by Rebecca Maizel

     - I felt sad about how Infinite Days ended so I really want to see how it would continue with this second installment.

4. Eona by Alison Goodman

     - I devoured Eon so of course I'm eager to read Eona. I'm just waiting for the paperback to be released since I bought the paperback copy of Eon. I want my books to match.

5. Fever by Lauren DeStefano

     - I'm eager to see the continuation of Rhine's story.

6. Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton

     - Not loving the cover but I totally dig this series.

7. Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

     - Major cliff-hanger on Unearthly! I badly want to know the answers to all the questions piled in at the ending of the first book.

8. Truth by Julia Karr

     - Now that Nina's marked with the XVI tattoo, she's in for more challenges than she has already faced. Can't wait for that!

9. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

     - Something tells me I'm in for more adventure.

10. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

     - Yes, this has been on my previous top ten but I really am eager to read this. I get so giddy thinking about it! 

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

        

Infinite Days
(Vampire Queen #1)
by Rebecca Maizel

Summary from Goodreads:

"'Throughout all my histories, I found no one I loved more than you...no one.'

Those were some of Rhode's last words to me. The last time he would pronounce his love. The last time I would see his face.

It was the first time in 592 years I could take a breath. Lay in the sun. Taste.

Rhode sacrificed himself so I, Lenah Beaudonte, could be human again. So I could stop the blood lust. 
I never expected to fall in love with someone else that wasn't Rhode.
But Justin was...daring. Exciting. More beautiful than I could dream.

I never expected to be sixteen again...then again, I never expected my past to come back and haunt me..."

Rating:

After reading the Twilight Saga, I have turned away from vampire books. C’mon, am I the only one who felt that whenever I’m in a bookstore, every corner I turn there’s a vampire/werewolf-themed book? It’s nice to have options but seriously, the vampire-hype’s getting on my nerves. No offense meant, but they all sounded the same to me, so I decided to take a break from those books.

However, when I read the synopsis of Infinite Days, I was amazed: a vampire dreaming of becoming human again? Well, that’s definitely new to my eyes.

Anyway, I was glad that I set aside my decision to put off reading vampire books because this was a very interesting book.

When I started reading through Infinite Days it was a little too slow for my taste. Also, I had a hard time understanding Lenah’s personality, but that all changed as the story progressed.

This book offers a lot of surprises. I loved that it broke away from never ending story of alluring-romantic-vampires-falling-for-humans formula. The vampires in this tale are ruthless, numb and feral. They feel nothing and care for blood and blood alone, and humans are like mere ants that they can crush whenever they wish to.

I also loved that Lenah, despite being the protagonist, was not the goody two-shoes kind of girl. She’s spoiled, selfish and mean. When she was the vampire queen, she takes joy in making humans suffer and claims what she wants, when she wants it.

When she turned human again, a hundred years has passed by and thus technology has developed beyond her imagination. I was shocked to find myself understanding her confusion and ignorance with regards to this generation’s innovations. I wanted to jump into the book and help her out. I can’t believe I actually bought that! Let’s face it; the idea sounds kind of pretentious. So, kudos to Maizel for pulling that off!

I also like that although Lenah is on the verge of adapting to her new life being a teenager again, I get to see a glimpse of her life as vampire. The flashbacks were vivid and you will see how different Lenah is as human with who she was when she was the vampire queen. Seeing her regret her wickedness and how badly she wanted to take back what she’d done was very admirable. 

Of course, there are minimal flaws to this book. I didn’t buy the whole Justin and Tony rivalry towards Lenah. Tony didn’t seem like a distinct opponent and Justin was just, well… Justin. There wasn’t much to tell about him so I didn’t know who to route for. I also didn’t appreciate him eyeing Lenah even when he had a girlfriend. Yes, the girlfriend may be a bitch but that was way off game, if you ask me. I also would’ve wanted to see more of Rhode because he sounded really interesting but I understanding his role in this.

Another thing I question is the “Three Piece,” they’re sort of like the mean girls in the school or something. I don’t get why they had to be there in the first place. With or without them, the story would go on so they kind of felt insignificant. But still, these things didn’t bother me that much and I enjoyed this book very much.

I’m definitely reading the next book, Stolen Nights.

In My Mailbox [2]

IN MY MAILBOX [2]

hosted by The Story Siren

Forgive my absence from last week's IMM. I've been busy with a lot of things that I wasn't able to grab anything new from the bookstore. So anyway, here's what I got this week. I didn't get much since I haven't finished my last pile of books 2 weeks ago. 

Winter's Child: A Retelling of "The Snow Queen" by Cameron Dokey

XVI by Julia Karr

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner

So what did you guys get this week? ^_^