Hearts at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey

Title: Hearts at Stake
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Pages: 248
Publisher: Walker and Company
Source: Katie's Blog Session @ CO Teen Literature Conference





Back of Book Summary:
      Solange Drake always knew she was destined to become a vampire queen. And as the only female vampire ever born, not made, she is surrounded by danger on all sides- from vampire suitors who want to join with her lineage to bounty hunters who are set on destroying her and her family. When she is kidnapped, it's up to her older brother Nicholas and her human best friend, Lucy, to save her. But can Lucy save herself form Nicholas, who tempts her with every look? And what will be Solange's own fate if she surrenders her heart to the vampire hunter helping her survive the deadly intrigue a the royal court?
    Let the Drake family be your guide into a secret vampire society full of epic battles, Gothic seduction, undead drama, and wicked humor.

 My Review:
Characters:
    There are way to many characters to keep straight in this novel. Solagne's own family is huge. There are 7 protective brothers- of which only one truly stands out among the others. The parents and aunts and uncles seem to blend together. In addition to the direct family there too many enemies to keep straight. The number of suitors, the different types rogue vampires, the vampire hunters, and the current ruling court are so numerous that it is hard to distinguish who the real enemy is. Even among this mass of characters there were four that stood out. I like Lucy (Lucky) a lot. She Solagne's human friend who is immune, for the most part, to the vampire powers. She is fun and humorous and she stands out among the mass of other characters. Nicholas, I also like. He is Solange's only brother who stands out amongst the other 6. He a gorgeous, annoying, protective vampire who can be two things at once- a ferocious warrior and a gentle boyfriend. Solange is okay- though not my favorite character. There is something about her, I can't quite put my finger on it, but I don't like the way Harvey developed her character. The last character worth mentioning is Kieran, the bounty hunter who decides that Solange is worth saving. He is one that you just find intriguing because of his dark conflicted nature due to his grief over the death of his father.
     Other than these four characters, there are some minor characters that you can manage to keep straight if you really concentrate.

Plot/Conflict/Theme:
     I enjoyed the premise of the the novel itself, however, there was too much going on too quickly to be able to enjoy the novel. The romantic development between Lucy and Nicholas occurred extremely fast with little romantic indications. The same type of quick and dirty development went into the rest of the story. There were attacks and battles left and right, with no clear understanding of who or what the Drake family was actually battling. In the final battle of the book, there were so many changes and attempted plot twists that it was next to impossible to follow. This book moved like the Vampires- so quickly that it was all a blur.
    I think that the intention for all of the battles was an attempt to create a action packed novel that never let the reader rest, but instead the author created a confusing jumble of quickly moving vicious vampires and a helpless human battling about their political standing.

Quality of Writing:
     The writing was average. I was neither impressed or disappointed in the quality of writing produced by Harvey. The descriptions of the brothers, and the Lucy's family were interesting and well developed, but other than those incidents, there was nothing that caught my attention.

Rating:
Book: L for Lacking 
Cover: A for Average

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Title:Along for the Ride
Author: Sarah Dessen
Pages: 383
Publisher: Speak
Source: Barnes and Noble Book Store, Denver


 




Back of Book Summary:
      Ever since her parents' divorce, Auden has been unable to sleep. She's built a routine that gets her through each night; but when the opportunity comes for her to spend her summer at the beach with her father and his new family, she jumps at the chance to brak out of her rut.
     Life at the beach proves more challenging that Auden expects. In addition to trying to figure out how she fits into her father's new life, she also has to navigate the girls at work with their gossip and friendship and crushes. And then there's Eli, a fellow insomniac who becomes her nocturnal tour guide. With an endless supply of long summer nights between then, almost anything can happen. 

 My Review:
Characters:
     Sarah Dessen does a nice job developing different characters in her novel. I enjoyed Auden and her complexities immensely. Auden's spunky, socially awkward way was endearing and had me rooting for her all the way.  I also enjoyed the other characters that Ms. Dessen painstakingly developed from Eli and his tortured brooding sexiness to Jake and his tough guy exterior. Heidi with her independent will to survive as a new mother alone to Robert, Auden's selfish author father. Each character fit into the plot flawlessly.
   The one thing that I did struggle with in this novel was the age of the characters. I couldn't quite figure out how old they were because of the reckless abandon with which they conquered their town. There was a lot of drinking and clubbing and late night adventures. I wasn't sure if they were mostly college aged or if they were high school. Either way- This minor flaw in the character development is my only complaint.

Plot/Conflict/Theme:
     While I like the character's extremely well, I was disappointed a little in the plot. I was expecting something more than the canned romance story. Girl leaves home. Girl meets boy. Boy and Girl bond. Girl messes up. Girl proves she is sorry. Boy and Girl get back together again. This type of plot is too cliche for me to rave about the novel and give it a solid I for Incredible rating. Though Sarah Dessen does provide the readers with a unique setting and some interesting elements. (Like the trouble that is brewing between Auden's stepmom and her dad, and the growing fondness Auden has for her grumpy new infant sister, affectionately nicknamed Isby) There was a potential to draw deeper into these elements to create a more unique plot. For instance, I think delving into the world of cycling or further developing Auden's Quest that Dessen loosely threads through the novel would have strengthened the novel more if it had become a more focal part of the novel.

Quality of Writing:
     I enjoyed the quality of writing that Sarah Dessen produced in her novel. There were some clever word plays and enjoyable descriptions that lead the reader to really picture this small beach town that had managed to completely upset Auden's traditional way of life.

Favorite Line: Auden and Eli are discussing her 'quest' to retrieve her lost childhood years.

"There were endless ways to spend your days, I know that , none of them right or wrong. But given the chance for a real do-over, another way around, who would say no? Not me. Not then. Call it crazy or just chicken salad. But within reason, or even without it, I was in too" (Dessen 178).

  Rating:
Book: B for Basically Brilliant
Cover: B for Basically Brilliant