Sci Fi and Fantasy

I picked up Hotel Ruby when we wandered around the YA section of the library last month. The title and description sounded appealing — and I like horror but haven’t read a lot of it lately.

This wasn’t great, but it wasn’t horrible, either. I can’t decided if I liked the ending or not, at least it wasn’t an altogether happy ending. Heck, I’m not sure I liked the premise or not.

And, interestingly — it looks like this book got a new name in the paperback version, it’s Hotel for the Lost? (or maybe it’s a US vs Canadian version thing? I’m not sure but it’s interesting… the new name is possibly a better name for the book. I just hope people who read one version don’t buy the other version thinking it’s a sequel or a different book. I assumed it was a sequel at first.)

I stumbled into A Shade of Vampire because I was looking for another series written by this author and realized that there seems to be some sort of “cultish” following of this series so I thought, what the heck… while I’m waiting for the book I really want (that has four holds ahead of me) I’ll grab the first book in this vampire series and see what the fuss is.

The fuss is that it’s exactly the kind of vampire series a Twilight lover would enjoy. Meaning, I ENJOYED IT. I don’t care who rolls their eyes (TW) and judges me for it. I absolutely enjoyed it and I’d read another (though I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t read all 40+ books that may or may not be in this series.)

PS… it looks like this sucker is self-published, too? Or pay to publish? I don’t know but I’m fascinated by the following and the lack of a big name publisher. The power of the internet is at work here. It just is. (Yea, I’m going to go reserve the second book in the series, now. Judge away. I DON’T CARE! lol)

I decided another Holly Black book was in order and went with vampires… The Coldest Girl in Coldtown and while I still prefer her faerie books, I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

Interesting characters, Gavriel’s insanity was a nice change for a vampire “hero.” The bloggers and vloggers and video feeds creating a weird connection between Coldtowns and the rest of the world was an interesting concept, too. I could see that happening. Absolutely.