Divergent by Veronica Roth

Who are you? Are you honest? Are you intelligent? Are you courageous? Are you selfless? Are you peaceful? Or do you find you fit into multiple of these? Then you are DIVERGENT.

Divergent is set in a futuristic Chicago setting. We meet Beatrice Prior, whom is a member of the Abnegation (the selfless). She and her brother are 16 and getting ready to choose whether to continue on living their lives as an Abnegate or transfer to a new faction. They feel this heavy weight upon them as they are forced to choose between being who they really are, leaving their family behind or to stay,continuing on living their lives, unfulfilled.

Veronica Roth creates a believable futuristic society that has divided into factions of their beliefs. Beatrice "Tris", is a underdog to cheer for and Ms. Roth gets her readers rallying behind "Tris" for better or for worse. Through the trials "Tris" must face, the readers want to keep her safe, but at the same time we want her to grow stronger and push through this and prove to everyone how strong she is. As games of intrigue (Kristen Britain reference ;p) are being played in the background, we are unaware of them until it is nearly too late. Ms. Roth keeps her readers on the edge of their eyes. She gives her readers everything we could hope for; strong family bonds, surprises, intrigue, action, and romance. I put this book and the books of hers to follow, in category with Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy, Ally Condie's Matched, and Lois Lowry's The Giver. This is definitely a book to pick up and read. I could not put this one down. At 487 pages long, it only took me 9 hours to read. AMAZING! 5/5 Stars!!!

Dark Prince by Christine Feehan

This is the first book in the dark series by Christine Feehan. Most of the books in this series can be read as stand alone books. Yet, I do NOT recommend that. I read most of them out of order and once I realized there was a order to them, I tried to keep to it and it made understanding the underlying large plot from book to book easier. This book I could not finish unfortunatly due to the fact that I had already read ahead in the series and did not find this couple as compelling to read about even though they are one of the most important couples involved in this series. I will say that Mikhail and Raven are a couragous couple that start the awakening for these wonderful Carpathian men, whom all who read these books seceretly...more maybe not so secretly...long for in real life. lol. There is just something strangly swoonifying about these "good" vampires. lol. This series is a long series of 20 stories. I say stories because a couple of them are short stories and not complete books, though do not skip those short stories thinking them unimportant. Some of those are my favorite of the entire series. I highly recommend reading this series of books and so highly recommend starting at the first book. If Mikhail is not your flavor, I'm sure one of the many other Carpathian men will steal your heart or your sensuality. ;) This book ins 314 pages long in paper back format and most paper backs will also have to Dark Descent story at the end of it. Dark Descent is a must read. :) Visit Christine Feehan's website. She has 2 or 3 other series of books she puts out as well. www.christinefeehan.com