Series in Review: Kitty Norville by Carrie Vaughn

Series are a tricky thing. I have series that I love as a whole, but an individual book within the series did not impress me.  So I am not always sure that reviewing the individual books is fair to the author's vision. However, I do not want to postpone all of my reviews of the books within a series until the end. With those thoughts in mind I decided to start Series In Review. In these postings, I will be looking at more than one book in the series or if possible the entire series at one time.
_____________________________________________________
**This review may contain spoilers for some of the books in the series**

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Books Reviewed from this Series: Kitty and The Midnight Hour and Kitty Goes to Washington
Author Info: Goodreads | Website
Rating: 4 stars
Borrowed these books from my friend.

In A Nutshell:
My friend has been raving about this series--and after reading the first two books I am totally on her side.  Carrie Vaughn has created a wonderful world full of interesting characters who keep a vice grip on my attention. 

Review:
Quite by accident Kitty Norville started a late night radio show that gives voice to the creatures that go bump in the night.  Vampires, werewolves, and people who want to be vampires or werewolves call in to tell their story.  Kitty can handle their calls with humor, wit, and honesty--an honesty built on experience.  Kitty is a werewolf who has been trying to live a "normal" life and build her career while dealing with the aspects of being a werewolf.

In Kitty, Carrie Vaughn has created a character who is an interesting mixture of vulnerability and strength.  She is new to being a werewolf and still learning how to do it, particularly the pack part of it.  She is intelligent.  The more she learns about herself, about being a werewolf, about the world she is now a part of--the stronger she becomes as a person and the more interesting she becomes as a character.  She has an honest, open style that allows her to tell it like it is--on her show, when she is talking about the urges that the Wolf awakes in her, even when she talks about the process of shifting into a werewolf.  After reading these two books, I will never look at my dog's actions the same way again.

In these books, Carrie Vaughn kept me on the edge of my seat until the last second.  Each book had a scene where my jaw literally dropped (and where I honestly wanted to text my friend and say WTF!).  Carrie Vaughn does not pull her punches.  She will take away characters that we love, she will force Kitty into uncomfortable situations, she will keep us up until the wee hours of the morning turning the pages.

But it is late now--I am going to dial in my radio.  Maybe I will find The Midnight Hour broadcast to tune into?

Recommendations:
After reading these two books, I cannot wait to start the next book in the series:


I also did not realize when I started this series, that this is the same Carrie Vaughn who wrote another book I have been wanting to read for a while:

TBR Intervention (10)

Overall--I feel like I set very ambitious goals for last week, so I am calling this week a success even though I am not done with everything.

Last Week

I am 2/3 of the way done with this one.  I have been finding many of the same problems I find with a lot of second books in series--it drags a lot more than the first one did.  But in talking with my friend we learn a lot from this book that is very important in later books and we meet a lot of people who are important in later books.  So in other word it is very important as the series continues.  So I have been working through it, and now that I am in the last 100 pages I can feel it starting to pick up quite a bit!


I finished this one--and I loved it.  Well maybe love is not the right word.  I struggle with describing how I feel about Ellen Hopkins books--they are so well written but it is hard to say "love" with the topics that she covers.  They are gritty, dark, and hard.  But it affected me.  I felt it deeply as I finished it.  More to come in my review.


This one I can say I finished and I loved without hesitation! Although I do not necessarily think it was my favorite Sarah Dessen book--I did love it. I loved Ruby and Nate.  Review to come.

This Week

My first fail of the week is destined to be my first success next week!  I am going to start Fat Vampire as soon as I finish Kitty Goes To Washington.  I cannot read two fantasy books (both of which have a different vampire world created) at the same time.  But this one is going to be next--I promise!

And from the library (and coming due this week--eek!):

This is Ellen Hopkins first adult novel--and I have been so excited to read it.  I am very optimistic that the style that makes her so accessible and honest in YA will do wonders in an adult novel!

Summary (from Amazon):
THREE FEMALE FRIENDS FACE MIDLIFE CRISES IN A NO-HOLDS-BARRED EXPLORATION OF SEX, MARRIAGE, AND THE FRAGILITY OF LIFE.

Holly: Filled with regret for being a stay-athome mom, she sheds sixty pounds and loses herself in the world of extramarital sex. Will it bring the fulfillment she is searching for?

Andrea: A single mom and avowed celibate, she watches her friend Holly’s meltdown with a mixture of concern and contempt. Holly is throwing away what Andrea has spent her whole life searching for—a committed relationship with a decent guy. So what if Andrea picks up Holly’s castaway husband?

Marissa: She has more than her fair share of challenges—a gay, rebellious teenage son, a terminally ill daughter, and a husband who buries himself in his work rather than face the facts.

As one woman’s marriage unravels, another’s rekindles. As one woman’s family comes apart at the seams, another’s reconfigures into something bigger and better. In this story of connections and disconnections, one woman’s up is another one’s down, and all of them will learn the meaning of friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness.

Unflinchingly honest, emotionally powerful, surprisingly erotic, Triangles is the ultimate page-turner. Hopkins’s gorgeous, expertly honed poetic verse perfectly captures the inner lives of her characters. Sometimes it happens like that. Sometimes you just get lost.Get lost in the world of Triangles, where the lives of three unforgettable women intersect, and where there are no easy answers.

And because we all know that I cannot go anywhere without a book on my ipod, my audiobook this week is:

Although--I am listening to the unabridged version! I think that is very important to note.

Summary (from Amazon):
Finding wealthy Elaine Boldt seems like a quickie case to Kinsey Millhone. The flashy widow was last seen wearing a $12,000 lynx coat, leaving her condo in Santa Teresa for her condo in Boca Raton. But somewhere in between, she vanished. Kinsey's case goes from puzzling to sinister when a house is torched, an apartment is burgled of worthless papers, the lynx coat comes back without Elaine, and her bridge partner is found dead. Soon Kinsey's clues begin to form a capital M -- not for missing, but for murder: and plenty of it.

Winner of the 1985 Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Award and the 1985 Anthony Award for Best Novel.

What are you reading this week?

TBR Intervention (9)

Last Week

I am calling last week a "so-so" success.  I got a lot of reading done (success), but I did not get a lot of the TBR Intervention reading done (fail):

I finished it!  I loved it!  My review is up. 

I am almost done--close enough that I think I will be done by the end of the day.  I love it!!  I have been recommending this book to everyone I know--particularly those with kids 8-13 years old.  Review coming soon.

This is my epic fail--because I have not even started this book.  And with my giveaway--I need to read the books before I give them away!  So this one is going back on my TBR pile for a while.

This Week

My new supervisor has been recommending the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn.  I read the first one this week--and now I have to read the next one this week (absolutely have to know what happens next!):

Summary (from back cover):
Werewolves Do It Better

The country's only celebrity werewolf, late-night radio host Kitty Norville prefers to be heard, not seen.  But when she's invite to testify at a Senate hearing on behalf of supernaturals, her face gets plastered on national TV.  Kitty's been in hot water before, but jumping into the D.C. underworld brings a new set of problems.  And a new set of friends and enemies, including the vampire mistress of the the city; an uber-hot Brazilian were-jaguar; and a paranoid, Bible-thumping senator who wants to expose Kitty as a monster.  Kitty quickly learns that in this city of dirty politicians and backstabbing pundits, everyone's itching for a fight.

Adam Rex is coming to my favorite local bookstore (changing hands) so I am going to start my giveaway reading with:

Summary (from back cover):
Doug Lee is undead quite by accident--attacked by a desperate vampire, he finds himself cursed with being fat and fifteen forever.  When he has no luck finding some goth chick with a vampire fetish, he resorts to sucking the blood of cows under cover of the night.  But it's just not the same.

Then he meets the new Indian exchange student and falls for her--hard.  Yeah, he wants to bite her, but also wants to prove himself to her.  But like the laws of life, love, and high school, the laws of vampire existence are complicated--it's not as easy as study Dracula.  Especially when the start of Vampire Hunters is hot on your trail in an attempt to boost ratings...

Searing, hilarious, and always unexpected, Fat Vampire is a satirical tour de force from one of the most original writers of fiction today.

I also had a few books I have been waiting for at the library--and of course they have all come at once.  So I have to get them done before they are due.  For this week I am focusing on finishing:

Summary (from inside flap):
Crank. Glass. Ice.  Crystal.  Whatever you call it, it's all the same; a monster.  And once it's got hold of you, this monster will never let you go.

Kristina thinks she can control it.  Now with a baby to care for, she's determined to be the one deciding when and how much, the one calling the shots.  But the monster is too strong, and before she knows it, Kristina is back in its grips.  She needs the monster to keep going, to face the pressures of day-to-day life.  She needs it to feel alive.

Once again the monster takes over Kristina's life and she will do anything for it, including giving up the one person who gives her the unconditional love she craves--her baby.

The sequel to Crank, this is the continuing story of Kristina and her descent back to hell.  Told in verse, it's a harrowing and disturbing look at addiction and the damage that it inflicts.

I read Crank and it affected me--it's hard for me to say that I loved it because it is not a story to love.  But it will always stick with me.  

And of course I have to be listening to a book.  This week I think I am going to focus on listening to: 

Summary (from Amazon):
“Ruby, where is your mother?”

Ruby knows that the game is up. For the past few months, she’s been on her own in the yellow house, managing somehow, knowing that her mother will probably never return.

That’s how she comes to live with Cora, the sister she hasn’t seen in ten years, and Cora’s husband Jamie, whose down-to-earth demeanor makes it hard for Ruby to believe he founded the most popular networking Web site around. A luxurious house, fancy private school, a new wardrobe, the promise of college and a future—it’s a dream come true. So why is Ruby such a reluctant Cinderella, wary and defensive? And why is Nate, the genial boy next door with some secrets of his own, unable to accept the help that Ruby is just learning to give?

It feels like I have been away from Sarah Dessen too long!
 
What books do you plan to read this week?  Have you read the books I am planning?  What did you think?