Review: Vampires, Banshees and Angels

Vampires, Banshees and Angels contained four previews for: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa, My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent, Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen and The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross. The sneak peeks were longer than those given on the internet and gave me a good idea of what the characters are like and where the storyline will go. I have already read The Immortal Rules and The Girl in the Steel Corset, two fantastic books that I loved very much, because of this I was very excited to see what My Soul to Take and Dark Kiss is about seeing as they are grouped together.


My Soul to Take had a very intriguing beginning, showing Kaylee as a normal teenage girl who has a crush on the popular guy who wears through girls faster than his clothes. At a club she sees a girl she's never seen before and has a strange 'dark' feeling about her. Soon she starts screaming her head off and reveals that she thinks the girl she saw was going to die. A heartstopping beginning to My Soul to Take, this preview made me hungry for the whole book. I will definitely go read My Soul to Take.


Dark Kiss is a fascinating story so far, Sam is just another girl with a huge crush on someone older and unobtainable, until he gives her a breathtaking kiss. Literally. Stephen is two years older than Sam, he's a sexy, popular guy that has girls kneeling at his feet. After he kisses Sam, she faints. One minute later she wakes up and finds herself starving, walking with her friend she searches for food and finds that all the guys around seem to have a sudden romantic interest in her (including her best friend's ex), as if she suddenly became beautiful and irresistible. This little teaser leaves me dying to see what Sam has become and whether or not what she was craving was food or something else. I can't wait to read the full book.


I have read the Immortal Rules before this and the sneak peak from the Immortal Rules is the longest. My review of The Immortal Rules can tell you more about this book and my feelings on it, but in case you don't want to go read that, I have to say that I absolutely loved this book and its full of amazing action and magnificent guys. Reading this sneak peak has me desperate to re-read the whole book again, Kagawa is a fabulous writer whose books I absolutely love.


I read the Girl in the Steel Corset a while ago but the preview helped me remember what happened in the book. Finley is a good girl with a dark side, she is literally two different people in one body. When Lord Felix attacks her, her dark side comes out to play and she may just have murdered a man. Duke Griffin, a wealthy yet very unusual man accompanied by a small group of even more unusual people, finds Finley and helps her. The theme of Steampunk is very interesting to read and also very creative.This preview has made me wish to re-read the Girl in the Steel Corset as I had read it a long, long time ago. However I can tell you that this book is a very enjoyable read and something very special.


Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin who sent me this lovely collection of previews.

Review: The Girl in the Clockwork Collar

Book Two of the Steampunk Chronicles (therefore containing spoilers for the previous book)


In New York City, 1897, life has never been more thrilling - or dangerous. 

Sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne and her "straynge band of mysfits" have journeyed from London to America to rescue their friend Jasper, hauled off by bounty hunters. But Jasper is in the clutches of a devious former friend demanding a trade-the dangerous device Jasper stole from him...for the life of the girl Jasper loves. 

One false move from Jasper and the strange clockwork collar around Mei's neck tightens. And tightens.


It has been a long time since the first book and before starting this one, I had to search among the many reviews online to find one willing to spoil the first book for me so that I would know what happened. Despite my trying to find out everything, none of the reviews gave everything away (which I desperately wanted) so I started the book a little clueless and somewhat cautious. I was glad it didn't take to long for me to remember almost everything important that happened in the first book and then I started to thoroughly get into this one.

This book takes off at the end of the last one, when Jasper was arrested by the 'police' for a murder charge. Griffin, Finley, Sam and Emily travel to America in hopes of finding their friend innocent and to take him back to England. I loved all the characters in this book but I sorely missed Jack Dandy who didn't bother to appear but for two lines where Griffin is jealous. I feel in love with Jasper more and more throughout the book, as well as Miss Emily and Miss Finley. Mei as the new girl didn't even try to win my love, I mostly wanted to punch her from beginning to end but there were moments when I went 'Okay I'll punch you later since I kinda feel for you right now'.

As a girl that loves mystery, adventure and action, I loved this book only to a point. The action Cross provided well and I enjoyed very much. The mystery wasn't a mystery at all since it was exactly what I thought would happen with no twists or surprises, the bad guys the good guys were all in plain sight without a single doubt of who is on whose side. This may be due to The Queen of Attolia, which is full of exciting and intriguing mysteries all through the book which I read just before this that my mind was so quick to solve the mysteries that it didn't seem like a mystery at all. However despite this I loved this book and enjoyed reading it very, very much. 

The main thing pulling me through the book was my love for Jasper and Finley, they are wonderful and exciting characters that this book developed really well. The writing style of Cross was also enjoyable to read, going from one character's POV to another's. I loved the Steampunk theme of this book with the wonderful gadgets and interesting costumes. If there is a next book, I would love to see more of Dandy and the dark side of Finley, as well as to see what happens to Jasper now.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars