Sweet Valley High Confidential, 10 years later...

I'm sorry, but this post could JUST.NOT.WAIT. 

I can still remember tracing my fingers over the spine of every single Sweet Valley High book on my bookshelf while dreaming up new ways to earn money so I could buy the next one in the series. Ahhhh.  Those were the good old days.

So how in the world did I miss that the author of the original series, Francine Pascal, had released Sweet Valley High Confidential, 10 Years Later....??  Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield are back?  Clearly I have not been spending near enough time surfing the web for useless information as I should be.  I owe it to the nine followers of this blog to know these things, don't you think?  Here is where I insert my shameless plug to click that little "Follow" button on the right toolbar.  (It makes us happy, so go ahead).  You wouldn't want to miss any more exciting book news, would you?

And yes, I bought the book and have started reading it.  And yes, it will be my next review.  And yes, I am probably going to reread all of my Sweet Valley High's now.

This Side of the Grave: A Night Huntress by Jeaniene Frost

Carrie says:

I like vampire stories, but I'm not, necessarily, a fan of vampires.  In some of my favorite stories (Joss Whedon and Buffy, I'm looking right at you) vampires are evil and must be destroyed.  In some of my other favorites stories (Hi, there, Charlaine Harris and Sookie Stackhouse), vampires are contributing members of society.   It's probably more of a case of me liking a strong fantasy story with a good mythology and engaging characters than a general preference for vampires.  (No mystery why Twilight left me cold and more than a little nauseous, then.)

Having said that, when a vampire story is done right, it's so lovely.  (Super sigh.) I do love me a really good vampire story, and Jeaniene Frost always provides.  I was first drawn to Night Huntress series because the main vampire reminds me (A LOT) of Spike from Buffy and Angel fame.  I came for the resemblance, but I stayed for Bones' own merit.  Well, his merit, his looks, his accent, his powers and the bootie-kickin' company he keeps. 

This Side of the Grave is the fifth Night Huntress book, and there are two other spin-offs from the main series.  I recommend them all.  What did I say I liked?  Oh, yeah,  a strong fantasy story with a good mythology and engaging characters.  Frost delivers.  She also delivers humor and steamy romance.  One of the nice things about this being the fifth book in a series is that the characters have grown.  Cat, the Night Huntress herself, or the Red Reaper as the vampire community calls her, has gone off half-cocked in the past.  She's managed to learn a lesson or two on the way, so the reader doesn't need to suffer through her repeating her mistakes ad nauseum.

This time Cat and Bones and Company are battling a ghoul mastermind that was introduced in earlier books.  I don't think it requires a spoiler alert if I tell you that the good guys (and girls and ghouls and ghosts) win the day.

Here's what Amazon says.

Reviews of Tina Fey's book

I read The New York Times review of Tina Fey's book, and it sounded like something that should be shared.

Here's the link. Here's the link to the review from Time as well. They like her. They really, really like her.

It looks like Sarah Vowell and Tina Fey will be two of the first books I buy when my Lenten sacrifice has ended.