Night World One
Secret Vampire - Daughters of Darkness - Spellbinder
L.J. Smith

Spellbinder has officially been crossed off the list and Night World One is complete. Considering my distaste for the forbidden, albeit soul mate, love portrayed in each of the three novels, the last seemed to finally be setting up a much more promising storyline for any and all characters involved in the Night World.

Despite that, I am still going to move away from the Night World and return to it after a much needed break. There is only so much YA paranormal love drama you can take before your teeth start to rot with it. I've always personally been drawn to vampires (the sheer size of my own canines has led to many vampire jokes) and has resulted in them appearing in my work, but now, lately, I can't bring myself to even mention the vamps anymore. Sure, this all started long ago with shows like Buffy, and even before that, Dracula himself, but recently, with Twilight, True Blood and now, L.J. Smith's Vampire Diaries becoming a show, it's like beating a dead horse ... or falling back into the 90s. Either way.

The moral of the story is, everything tastes really great until you overcook it.

That, and, I'm finding lately even though I know I am reading about vampires, witches or werewolves, who are supposed to be paranormal super beings, I still cannot see them as more than regular human characters in each novel. Oh, you drink blood in your spare time? Sure. That's normal.

That's all beside the point, though.

I finished Daughters of Darkness a few days ago and stepped into Spellbinder territory. Needless to say, Daughters continued in much the same way and ended rather plainly. Even at the end of the book, I was still having trouble feeling any sort of empathy or sympathy for the characters. The connection just isn't there. At all.

Regardless, the book surprised me with one empathetic quote:

"I don't even know who I am anymore, she remembered with a sort of fatalistic gloom. I have the feeling I'm about to surprise myself." (p. 442)

I consistently fall victim to the cliche character who is trying to sort out who and what they are in the world. I suppose, on a large scale, that's all any of us is trying to do on a day to day basis, but it seems so contrived to spew this kind of garbage about how relateable it is. Of course it is. That fact is a no brainer.

Spellbinder has been relatively more enjoyable, only because I find I enjoy how much more mischievous the characters are. The happy-go-lucky, romantic, all for love characters were so boring and flat. Now, there seems to be a little more colour.

Either way, I'm taking a break once Spellbinder is done and diving into something else temporarily. I don't think I can handle nine books in one sitting. It's like eating too much chocolate cake. No, wait. That's a bad example. There can never be too much chocolate cake.

God. I wish I had some chocolate cake right now.

I haven't been running on the treadmill as much in the last week or so which has resulted in my reading far less than normal. Apparently, the treadmill is the only place I am able to read large chunks of a novel, uninterrupted, whilst not feeling as if I am wasting time not doing something else.

... That's kind of terrible actually. I miss the days of last summer when I would sit around reading all afternoon, not worrying at all that I should be doing something else, because quite frankly, there was time to do that something else then.

I digress.

I'm about halfway through Daughters of Darkness right now and it seems that, the more I get into it, the more I cringe every other page or so. It just feels so... I don't want to say unrealistic, because, come on, we're dealing with vampires, witches, shape shifters and what have you, but it's something about the whole soul mate issue that drives me nuts.

In talking with the friend of mine who originally told me about how much she loved these books, she mentioned how much she adored them as a teenager, but wasn't sure how much she'd love them now. I can understand that. I'm beginning to realise that if I were 13, I would probably love each and every word on each and every page. As an adult however, they're making me roll my eyes.

The basic premise in every story seems to be an issue of soul mates meeting each other, amidst a plethora of other things going on to cause conflict. The soul mates always immediately know that they've met their other half by the sheer power and energy they feel when they see each other and/or touch. In Daughters of Darkness, two characters absolutely despite each other but cannot deny the energy they feel when they touch each other -- the girl actually kicks the boy repeatedly because of the emotions he stirs within her, and she doesn't understand why, at first.

Two other characters fall madly in love with each other in what feels like two seconds. The character development is poor at best because I feel absolutely nothing for the characters. I do not empathize with the dangers of their relationships possibly coming to end because of external trouble, nor do I believe their love to begin with.

If I were 13, perhaps I would. The fact of the matter is, sometimes, young adult novels strike gold with audiences of all ages and sometimes, they're written perfectly for their age bracket. I'm not going to not finish the series, but at the same time, reading seven more feels like a chore.

... My friend said it would get better. I am holding her to that.

I have an incredible addiction to the Sims 2. Back in the good, old days of the original Sims, I would lose track of precious life minutes as they passed me by in a flurry of virtual happiness. One year, my mum bought me the Hot Date expansion pack for Christmas and it's safe to say that despite how slowly my computer ran the software, I persevered and lost a good chunk of that holiday to that game.

Things haven't really changed much. Sure, I've grown older, and arguably wiser, but not quite wise enough to stop wasting days on playing computerized versions of my real friends. Everyone has a vice, and mine seems to be the Sims.

A friend of mine came over on Sunday afternoon and I excitedly rattled off the happenings of my town. I was a disheveled, haven't-showered-in-a-couple-of-days mess. Despite all of this, he looked at me and said with a laugh, "You know, it's been a long time since we've seen that sparkle in your eye. That special kind of sparkle that only the Sims can bring out you."

It was a joke, and he was blatantly mocking me, but it was oh so sadly true.

Regardless, the moral of the story is, outside of work and attempting to get some sort of number of productive things accomplished, I've been playing the Sims. By the time I finally crawled into bed last night, my brain scolded me for wasting 48 perfectly good hours on ... well ... nothing. Or, if you prefer the argument I used with my co-workers earlier today: I did a lot. I raised four children, two of which who have now started University. I have experienced a number of career tracks ranging from journalist to nurse. I have lived in small, one bedroom homes and upgraded to ones with four. I have gardened. I had a dog, as well as a cat. I met the Grim Reaper. Lightning struck the tree behind my house - multiple times.

... I clearly just want an excuse to further talk about my problem.

It's a shame this whole rant is in no way related to the only quote I have so far made note of in the Night World series:

"Sometimes she was filled with so much awe and-and-and-and longing-that she thought she might break to pieces." (p. 273)

Then again, does longing to play the Sims count?
Or, longing to live life normally again? How about living life in general?

Oh, screw it, I get to do more in virtual reality. It's like being Barbie. One day I'm a doctor, and the next, I'm cruising the town in my Pink Convertible.

*possible spoilers*

I couldn't believe this cover when I googled it just now. This is quite possibly the best (read: most terrible) book artwork I have ever seen! If it was possible for books to be B-Side like a movie, this would definitely be dancing on the borderline.

Or, perhaps, I am being unnecessarily mean.

Seriously, though, if you've seen the re-released covers for the Night World series by L.J. Smith, you'll notice that they're a lot sleeker and minimalistic in comparison. They're also 3 books in one, but that's beside the point.

I picked up the entire series, based on a friend of mine raving about the books - she had read them years ago and absolutely loved them. At the time of her raving, however, she couldn't remember the titles, much to her dismay. Then, by some strange coincidence, we walked into a bookstore and there sat the re-release copies near the front entrance. It was really quite strange.

Regardless, I finished Secret Vampire today, and even though I am going to plow through the remaining eight books, I'm kind of unimpressed. Perhaps my disappointment will be isolated to Secret Vampire and the other books will shine - time will tell.

The problem I had, and I really can't blame the book for this since it came first, was just how much it felt like I was reading a dated copy of Twilight. Many of the same plot elements are seen in Secret Vampire as in Twilight, and I'm finding it hard to think it was merely a coincidence.

- James = Edward
- Poppy = Bella
- Vampire loves human
- Vampire loving human is bad
- Elders ensure vampire way of life is being adhered to, and will kill those who are not playing by the rules (Volturi anyone?)
- James is very protective of Poppy, obsessively so (erm, Edward?)
- Poppy has telepathic abilities, similar to those of Bella
- Poppy quickly masters her new vampire abilities, faster than anyone else (Breaking Dawn)
- Ash, cousin to James, shows up towards the end of the novel to provide the much needed conflict and resolution (rogue vampires showing up at the end of Twilight out of nowhere)
- James being one of the rogue vampires in Twilight

I could be reading too much into it, but if I were a detective, I'd assume that Ms. Meyers used Ms. Smith's Secret Vampire as a spring board for telling and creating Edward and Bella's story. I'm probably off my rocker. That's most likely the reality.

The book was a quick and pleasant read. The dialogue felt awkward at times, but I find that's the case in most novels. Catching the truest form of conversation in novels is tough, since it tends to be used as a means of moving a story forward, when, really, in day to day life, our conversations don't exactly move our lives forward in any big way. Sometimes. Not always.

The pace was ultra quick, to the point where I wish Smith would have slowed down and really worked her way through the details. It would have been great to see the characters developed further, or some more time injected into certain parts. Things seemed to happen too fast, with one thing happening after the other with no break in between.

Overall, enjoyable in a mediocre way. I'm hoping for a bit more polish in Daughters of Darkness.