If Dracula was my BFF Part 3

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Hello bookworms

What are you up to? Happy Monday! *evil laugh* Ok, ok, let's continue with our post.

Monday morning, 5:00 AM

Anila is reading, while happily drinking her cappuccino. Her best friend Dracula decided to pay her a visit, before going to his coffin.

Dracula: What do you think you are doing? You better have an explanation for this!

Anila: Good morning to you too!

Dracula: Do not tell me good morning! I have to go to sleep, but before I do, I want you to explain me this.

*shows Anila her review of “’Salem’s Lot”*

Anila: Explain you what? That is my review.

Dracula: Your review? What are these words about Kurt? He is so frightening? Who is you best friend then? Kurt Barlow? I hate him. He wants to be like me. What a cheap imitation of a great vampire lord.

Anila: Stop acting like a child, ok? He is quite frightening.

Dracula: I don’t know you anymore.

Anila: Come on! Look at him. He is bone chilling.

Dracula: I am seriously reconsidering our friendship.

Anila: When will you get over the fact that Vampira chose him instead of you?

Dracula: Why are we friends anyways?

Anila: Because we hate everyone.

Dracula: You're right.

Creatures mentioned here:

The vampire lord Kurt Barlow from Stephen King’s “’Salem’s Lot”

Vampira – character created by Maila Nurmi

By the way, here’s my review of “’Salem’s Lot” ;)

Have a great day!

Happy Scary Reading!

Best Vampire Books

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Hello bookworms

Happy Monday! Haha! I am so evil!

If you don’t know about my obsession with vampires, then I guess you are new here.

My greatest achievement is being Dracula’s #1 fan.

Anyways, here is my take on “ Best Vampire Books”. Please note that this is my opinion.

Manitou Blood by Graham Masterton

I love this book, because it features ancient Romanian legends about strigoi (vampires). I just love legends. We have an apocalyptic theme, vampire apocalypse to be more exact, unique vampires traveling through mirrors (as if mirrors alone weren’t enough creepy), a group of different people fighting the vampires (it gives me a Draculesk vibe… Yes, I invented that word right now), and BAM! Such an awesome book! Some scenes are incredibly scary, and bone chilling.

(Goodreads)

The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith

I know what you are thinking.  This is like Twilight! But, it is not! I have read both “Twilight”, and “The Vampire Diaries”. Guess what? They are not the same. Do not be fooled by the TV show. (A lot of people love the TV show, but I haven’t watched it.)

In this book we have vampires surviving the daylight thanks to  a special stone, we have some really scary scenes, and the mystery basically eats you alive.

(Goodreads)

Blood Games by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

This novel was set in Nero’s Rome. It is a historical horror novel. What else do you want? You have “The Gladiator” and “Dracula” mashed together. Super scary, and super dramatic! This book was a present from my sister. She saw it in a book market, and the moment she read the words “horror”, “vampire”, “Rome”, she bought that book for me.

(Goodreads)

The Thirst Series by Christopher Pike

Where was I before these series? In what world was I living before discovering Pike? I always blame Roberta (from Offbeat YA) for presenting me to his books. Real talk though, I want to thank her now. Pike’s books are like the world’s wonders carved in words. Sita is not just a badass vampire girl. She is the badass vampire girl. She is the real deal!

(Goodreads)

'Salem’s  Lot  by Stephen King

It is Stephen King we are talking about! While reading this book, I swear, there were moments, where I closed it, and I looked around to make sure I was in my room, not in the creepy cellar. I recommend this to Dracula’s fans.

(Goodreads)

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Duh! My love for this book has gone so far, that before going to bed, I open “Dracula” in a random page, and I read it. This was what I used to do with the “Harry Potter” series. That’s how much I love these books.

(Goodreads)

Have a great day!

Happy Scary Reading!

Thirst No.2 by Christopher Pike Review

Hello Bookworms,

It’s been a while since I have done a review of a book purchased by me. These kinds of reviews are so laid back. It’s like talking with your best friend about the book you both love. When I am reviewing books for book tours, I have to be strict. But here, oh I can fangirl as much as I want. Please let me welcome you to:

The “Thirst Vol.2” Review Fangirling (Thank you again Roberta for making me buy almost all his books, LOL. You will have to repay me now, haha. Not kidding!)

For the first volume review click here.

Title: Thirst No.2

Author: Christopher Pike

Blurb: What Alisa has desired for five thousand years has finally come true—she is once again human. But now she is defenseless, vulnerable, and for the first time in centuries, emotional. As she attempts to reconcile her actions as a vampire with her new connection to humanity, she begins to understand the weight of life and death decisions. Can Alisa resolve her past and build a new identity,

Summer Reads: Flober, Shekspeare, Woolf, Poe, King

Hello bookworms J

What have you been reading these hot days?

Currently I am busy with “Creature Feature”, and I am getting even more excited with this project. Now that I finished school, I have a lot of free time. I think “Creature Feature” is going to be terrific, but visiting old ruins and talking to strangers about old scary creatures, surely is something weird. Anyways it’s me, who we are talking about, so I don’t mind. Actually when I asked someone “What do you think ‘gogol’ (a certain creature) looks like?”, the response was “Like you!”. I was absolutely mad. I nearly killed that person. “How dare you compare me to that creature? I thought I made it obvious I prefer vampires.”

Anyways, I want to share with you my summer TBR list.  I have divided the books in groups.

Summer Reads Gr.1 “Books I want to read or re-read.”

These are books I bought recently, or I want to re-read them.

“12 Years A Slave” by Solomon Northup

 I haven’t watched the movie yet, and I don’t plan on watching it, because first I want to read the book. I bought this in the airport, so it was quite expensive. {Language: English}

“The Shining” by Stephen King

 This was one of my favorite books I had to read during “Spring into Horror Challenge” Since I read it too fast, I want to enjoy it again. Actually there’s no excuse, I just want to read it again. Got any problem with that, huh? {Language: English}

“Mjegulla e Tiranes” by Ismail Kadare

Dun, dun, dun… this is Romance. Yes, I started reading romance. Actually, this is the first book one of my favorite writers ever wrote (he usually writes about Albanian history and politics) This book talks about his romance story when he was young. Though I am reading this because first, there’s an interview of him in the book, second I want to know how his writing style was back then, and third I have almost all of his books, so I don’t want to miss anything {Language: Albanian (my native language)}

“L’ultimi Vampiri”  and “Il sangue di Manitou” are two horror books I bought in Italy for only 1 euro each. 

{Language: Italian}

Summer Reads Gr.2 “Books I have to read for school” Albanian Edition

Our literature teacher gave us a list of books we have to read during summer. I read most of these (though I may re-read them), for example “Macbeth” by Shakespeare (I mean hello, this is a book about a person who kills everyone)

“Madame Bovari” Flober

“Vargjet e lira” “Ne velat e qytetit te veriut” Migjeni (Famous Albanian poet and writer)

“The castle” “General of the dead army” Ismail Kadare

“Eugene Onegin” Alexander Pushkin

“Lulet e veres” Naim Frasheri (another Albanian writer)

“Hamlet”; “Macbeth”;  “King Lear” Shakespeare

{Language: Albanian}

Summer Reads Gr.3 “Books I have to read for school” English Edition

My English teacher HATES horror, that’s why I was a bit surprised she mentioned Poe’s Black Cat and Woolf’s Haunted House, but I know who made her put these books (evil laugh)

“The Chapel” Josef Essberger

“A Haunted House” Virginia Woolf

“The Black Cat” Edgar Allan Poe

“The Winepress” Jossef Essberger

“The Metro” Jossef Essberger

“Araby” James Joyce

{Language: English}

Summer Reads Gr.4 “Books for Review”

Summer Reads Gr.5 “Any Pike book I want to read”

So, this is it. I organized some “Reading Days” where I will be  reading all day.  I think all these books are great, and surely I will practice my foreign languages.

What about you?

What is your summer list?

Have a great day!

Happy Scary Reading!

Thirst No.1 by Christopher Pike Review

 Title: Thirst

Author: Christopher Pike

Blurb: At five thousand years old, the vampire Alisa thought she was smart enough to stay out of trouble. But when her creator returns to hunt her, she must protect herself by befriending Ray, the boy who may be her only chance at finding her maker. When she begins to fall in love with Ray, all of a sudden there is more at stake than her own life. Originally published in 1994, this series netted more than 500,000 copies as individual titles and later as bind-ups. This hot new repackage will revive the series for today’s teen.

Links: Amazon / Goodreads

Review:

As you may already know, I am a big fan of vampires. From books, to TV shows, movies, videogames and comics, I have always been in the “vampire zone”. Therefore, I must say I was more than shocked to hear that there was a certain vampire heroine, and I knew nothing about her. While scrolling stalking Offbeat YA  (link here), I found out about a certain Christopher Pike. It didn’t take long, and somehow I managed to purchase the first volume of “Thirst” which includes the old “Last Vampire”, “Black Blood” and “Red Dice” volumes. Here is my first Pike review (and now I can imagine Roberta from Offbeat YA, standing behind the computer with a tissue in her hand, merely holding her tears, as she reads my review, feeling so proud of me, thinking “I made her addicted to Pike, just like myself”)

Let’s jump to the review, shall we?

The book shows us the story of Sita, an ancient female vampire. What’s special about Sita, is that she isn’t like the usual vampire stereotypes. She doesn’t feel sorry about herself, like these vegetarian vampires nowadays, but she isn’t that thrilled to be a vampire either. Sita doesn’t need a hero to save her (You go, girl!), but in the same time she isn’t the most powerful creature either. Pike did a great job creating this character, since she is very realistic. Every obstacle she has to face, transforms in a certain experience that shapes her personality. We see a lot of personality development through the book. Sita bases her thoughts on her experiences. She is an expert when it comes to creatures, both humans and vampires. The story is supposed to be YA, though I must warn you that this book really takes some rides on the horror side from time to time.

One of the reasons I love this book, is because here we have a realistic female lead, who doesn’t need any heroes to save her, and considering the time this book was written, I think this is quiet an achievement for the society.

Second, Pike is one of the strangest, weirdest and most unique authors I have ever read (and trust me, I read weird books). He has that talent to make you not only read the story, but feel it too. As you progress with the book, you will find yourself feeling pain for every scar Sita takes.

Since I read this book, I have started talking about it, because “Thirst” is the perfect example of what I mean with “Horror/Paranormal books teach us much more than the ‘normal’ ones”

This book treats a lot of teenage problems, and it gives you a new perception of life and death.

I give this book 5 black cats! Absolutely terrifying!

~An interesting fact is that Pike was born November 12, while I’m born November 17. I think my weirdness can be explained now. It may be a horoscope thing. 

~For more information about Pike's books, please check Roberta's blog in the section Christopher Pike room. This is the link.

Have a great day

Happy Scary Reading!

New Book Addiction: Christopher Pike and his "Thirst" series

Hello Bookworms,

Ok, so it’s official, I have a new addiction, the “Thirst” series also known as “The Last Vampire”. Thanks to Roberta and her awesome blog , I found out there is an old vampire series written by a certain Christopher Pike. At first I was like “What? There are vampire books I haven’t read yet? Oh my God! I have to read them immediately!”

But, you see, finding old books isn’t that easy. While bookstores are full of vampire romance, I search for bloodthirsty monsters. Last time I went in Rome, I searched for the book, but I had no luck at all. And there is nothing I want more, than something I can’t have. I had lost hope, just when a lovely lady commented on my blog, saying that I should search for “Thirst” not “The Last Vampire”, since the book’s title had changed. Using internet I found the book! Yes! Finally!

I will post a review soon!

But first I want to talk about Christopher Pike. He is known as the Stephen King of YA ( and I love Stephen King)

I don’t read much Young Adult, I am all about horror! But Pike's books are special, while reading his words I can feel goose bumps. The most mysterious part is that no one knows much about this writer. He was like a ghost. There aren’t any interviews or anything. I just read “Thirst No.1”, but soon I will continue exploring all his books. I want to continue reading “The Last Vampire Series”, also I want to try “Remember Me” and “Whisper of Death”.

I know these books are old, but actually I feel quite happy I can read them. Isn’t it awesome, how I am reading these books and feeling the same emotions another teenager has felt in the 80- 90’s?

But now, I can’t stay here rambling about his books, I have to write a book analysis for school. I have to analyze the “romance” genre. Oh God!

Have a wonderful day!