Title: iDrakula
Author: Bekka Black

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire (October 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402244657
• ISBN-13: 978-1402244650

SUMMARY:

The classic vampire story that started it all gets new life for a generation of connected teens

18-year-old Jonathan Harker is diagnosed with a rare blood disorder after visiting a Romanian Count. His girlfriend Mina and a pre-med student named Van Helsing team up to investigate the source of the disease. The teenagers discover a horrifying truth: the Count is a vampire. The harrowing events unfold through emails, text messages, web pages, Twitter feeds, and instant messaging-the natural modernization of Bram Stoker’s original Dracula, which was written in letters, diary entries, and news clippings.

MY THOUGHTS:

This is a book that can easily be finished within a few hours, if not less.  The concept peaked my interest since it is geared towards the technology that teens and adults are all addicted to now.  I was curious to see how the author was going to take a well known story and adapt it to this concept.

While the cover was amazing and the summary intriguing, the book lost its connection with the reader with all of the simple text and emails.  We basically get the bones of the story with no real meat attached.  I didn’t enjoy the execution of the book and I felt cheated in the story.  Since there was no real story introduced, we didn’t get the connection with the characters that you normally get with a story filled with dialogue and description. If the author could have given us some chapters of real story in between the emails and text, then this would have made the story more enjoyable and more plausible.

While the computer age of technology might be intriguing in some plots, with this story I felt that it held the book back from being something more.

MY RATING:

DATING MR. DECEMBER
Author: Phillipa Ashley
Source: Sourcebooks
* I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (November 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402241429
• ISBN-13: 978-1402241420

SUMMARY:

When a nice girl asks twelve men to get naked, it’s sure to cause a scandal…

Emma Tremayne leaves her high-powered PR job and moves to the Lake District looking for peace, quiet-and celibacy. So perhaps it’s not the best idea when, in the spirit of “community-mindedness,” she agrees to help the local mountain rescue team fund raise by putting together a “tasteful” nude calendar. Especially since quite a lot of the community seems to mind what she’s up to-including the tall, dark and handsome Mr. December, Will Tennant, who appears to have gotten the wrong impression about Emma’s intentions. So how does she convince him that he’s more than just the flavor of the month?

MY THOUGHTS:

 I didn’t know that this book had been previously published in the UK and even had a Lifetime movie made based on it called 12 Men of Christmas. It was a delightful surprise to find out since I enjoyed the book and had the pleasure of featuring a guest post by the author just a few days ago.

Emma Tremayne starts the story off by trying to convince the local mountain rescue team to do a fund raiser featuring the men in a nude calendar.  While most of the crew is ready to give it a go, Will Tennant does not approve of the idea.  Since he is outnumbered in the vote, he eventually agrees to go ahead for the project and is cast as Mr. December.

Emma definitely has to work hard with her PR skills in getting this calendar going. After discovering her boyfriend cheating on her, she is looking for a fresh start and she thinks this calendar is just the thing her career needs.  She doesn’t want to get involved in another relationship and especially not with Will.  He also doesn’t want a relationship, but neither can fight the attraction between the two.

If you are in the mood for a fun and sexy Christmas read, then this is the book for you.  The only thing that didn’t appeal to me was some of the wording.  Granted, this book is based in the UK, so the dialogue is a little different than what I am use to.  After I got over that hurdle though, the book was a pure enjoyment!  I loved Will and Emma.  My only hope is that the author will give each man a story of their own in future books!

MY RATING: