Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries. The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature

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Publication Date: Originally published 1847
Publisher: Norton and Company
ISBN:  0393978893
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Classic/Gothic/Supernatural
Source: Bookshelf
Lootability: *****

The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

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Publication Date: February 27th, 2007
Publisher: Hyperion
ISBN:  0786839171
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Epic Fantasy/Adventure/Supernatural
Source: Library
Lootability: ****

Before he knew about the Roses, 16-year-old Jack lived an unremarkable life in the small Ohio town of Trinity. Only the medicine he has to take daily and the thick scar above his heart set him apart from the other high-schoolers. Then one day Jack skips his medicine. Suddenly, he is stronger, fiercer, and more confident than ever before. And it feels great until he loses control of his own strength and nearly kills another player during soccer team tryouts. Soon, Jack learns the startling truth about himself: He is Weirlind; part of an underground society of magical people who live among us. At the head of this magical society sit the feuding houses of the Red Rose and the White Rose, whose power is determined by playing The Game. A magical tournament in which each house sponsors a warrior to fight to the death, The winning house ruling the Weir. As if his bizarre magical heritage isn't enough, Jack finds out that he s not just another member of Weirlind, he's one of the last of the warriors at a time when both houses are scouting for a player. Jack's performance on the soccer field has alerted the entire magical community to the fact that he's in Trinity. And until one of the houses is declared Jack's official sponsor, they'll stop at nothing to get Jack to fight for them.

Meridian by Amber Kizer

Half-human, half-angel, Meridian Sozu has a dark responsibility.
Sixteen-year-old Meridian has been surrounded by death ever since she can remember. As a child, insects, mice, and salamanders would burrow into her bedclothes and die. At her elementary school, she was blamed for a classmate’s tragic accident. And on her sixteenth birthday, a car crashes in front of her family home—and Meridian’s body explodes in pain. 
Before she can fully recover, Meridian is told that she’s a danger to her family and hustled off to her great-aunt’s house in Revelation, Colorado. It’s there that she learns that she is a Fenestra—the half-angel, half-human link between the living and the dead. But Meridian and her sworn protector and love, Tens, face great danger from the Aternocti, a band of dark forces who capture vulnerable souls on the brink of death and cause chaos.

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Publication Date: August 11, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Books 
ISBN:  0385736681
Original Language: English
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Adventure/Supernatural/Romance
Source: Library
Buy the Book: Amazon
Lootability: There's room but keep looking.

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

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Publication Date: September 1st, 2010
Publisher: HarperTeen
ISBN: 0061985848
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal/Supernatural
Source: My bookshelf
Lootability: ***

Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie’s always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.
Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

Could White have made her main character, Evie, anymore pink and sparkly in her new paranormal novel for YAs, Paranormalcy? For a girl separated from other teens, brought up surrounded by vampires, mermaids and other scary supernatural critters, she is the stereotype of a teenage girl. If she were a comic character her speech bubbles would be pink and glittery.

What I Liked: White produced an interesting view of paranormal creatures and methods for their containment. For example, Vampires are tagged with a leg tracker that will dose them with a lethal amount of holy water if they feast on human blood.
The International Paranormal Containment Agency is the ruthless guiding hand of the world's paranormals, determined to keep them under control by any means necessary.

What I Didn't Like: Evie was Vampire Hunter Barbie. The girl took down a vampire (cool, right?) with a pink rhinestone covered taser. Shouldn't there be some kind of OH&S rule about impairing the quality of your weapon? You know, maintain the dignity and usability of your weapon?
Her taser - cleverly and creatively named Tasie - is the perfect example of her creepy Barbie ways (what with matching her knee high high heeled boots and zebra print dress...)
But mostly the problem with Evie is a a problem that thrives in YA literature. A few morons once said, "OMG, like, OMG, seriously?" a few too many times and have tainted an entire generation. I'm not sure if its an American thing but I've been there, I have friends who live there and no one seemed to be a completely hollow headed moron with a speech impediment.
So here's a call out to all YA authors, please stop portraying all teenagers as mindless chimps in pink pumps.

#RantOver

Reading primarily YA novels, it gets annoying to see every character being based on stereotypes and I've taken that frustration out on my rating of this book. However, Evie does have some redeeming qualities, when she isn't muttering inanities or flashing her rhinestones (seriously though, am I the only one who fines rhinestones completely hideous?), that make her an easily likable protagonist. I would be her friend if she'd let me train the Barbie out of her.

Raiding Bookshelves Rating

Cover Conversations: I want to live in that dress forever and always (see I do like some pink!). The cover model looks poised and elegant, if only every other mention of fashion hadn't been so...

Illuminate by Aimee Agresti

Haven Terra is a brainy, shy high school outcast. But everything begins to change when she turns sixteen. Along with her best friend Dante and their quiet and brilliant classmate Lance, she is awarded a prestigious internship in the big city— Chicago—and is sent to live and work at a swanky and stylish hotel under the watchful eyes of a group of gorgeous and shockingly young-looking strangers: powerful and alluring hotel owner Aurelia Brown; her second-in-command, the dashing Lucian Grove; and their stunning but aloof staff of glamazons called The Outfit.As Haven begins falling for Lucian, she discovers that these beautiful people are not quite what they seem. With the help of a mysterious book, she uncovers a network of secret passageways from the hotel’s jazz-age past that leads her to the heart of the evil agenda of Aurelia and company: they’re in the business of buying souls. Will they succeed in wooing Haven to join them in their recruitment efforts, or will she be able to thwart this devilish set’s plans to take the souls of her classmates on prom night at the hotel?

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Publication Date: March 6th, 2012
Publisher: Harcourt's Children Books
ISBN:  0547626142
Original Language: English
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Supernatural/Thriller/Romance
Source: From the publisher via NetGalley
Buy the Book: Amazon
Lootability: Grab it and go!

Blog Tour: Falling In Between by Devon Ashley

Finally! A private conversation. And all I had to do was throw myself off a cliff, drown in a pond in my undies and let him put his hands on my breasts to bring me back to life. Yay me! (yeah, that’s sarcasm) 
Yep, that pretty much sums up the most craptastic night of Jenna Baker’s life. She drowns after jumping off a cliff, meets a hotty named Chance in the pearlescent in-between and is brought back to life by her soon-to-be boyfriend Robert. 
Just when things start to move forward with Robert, the guy she'd been crushing on for a year now, in walks the man of her dreams – literally. Chance suddenly appears in her dream every time she closes her eyes. So it's Robert by day and Chance by night. One in the real world and one in the dream world. What could possibly go wrong? 
Absolutely nothing – until she comes face to face with the guy she met in the in-between, and realizes her romantic rendezvous with Chance may be more than just her imagination. 

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Publication Date: February 14th, 2012
Publisher: Indie Publishing
Country: USA
ISBN13: 9781466388901
Original Language: English
Age Group: Young Adult (Mature content included)
Genre: Romance/Supernatural
Source: Devon Ashley
Lootability: Grab it and go!

Steam and Sorcery by Cindy Spencer Pape

Sir Merrick Hadrian hunts monsters, both human and supernatural. A Knight of the Order of the Round Table, his use of magick and the technologies of steam power have made him both respected and feared. But his considerable skills are useless in the face of his greatest challenge, guardianship of five unusual children. At a loss, Merrick enlists the aid of a governess. 
Miss Caroline Bristol is reluctant to work for a bachelor but she needs a position, and these former street children touch her heart. While she tends to break any mechanical device she touches, it never occurs to her that she might be something more than human. All she knows is that Merrick is the most dangerously attractive man she's ever met—and out of reach for a mere governess. 
When conspiracy threatens to blur the distinction between humans and monsters, Caroline and Merrick must join forces, and the fate of humanity hinges upon their combined skills of steam and sorcery...

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Publication Date: March 7th, 2011

Publisher: Carina PressCountry: United States of AmericaISBN: N/AOriginal Language: EnglishAge Group: Young AdultGenre: Supernatural/Paranormal, Romance, Mystery, SteampunkSource: ARC recieved through NetGalley (a long time ago).Buy the Book: AmazonLootability: Grab it and go

Halflings by Heather Burch

After being inexplicably targeted by an evil intent on harming her at any cost, seventeen-year-old Nikki finds herself under the watchful guardianship of three mysterious young men who call themselves halflings. Sworn to defend her, misfits Mace, Raven, and Vine battle to keep Nikki safe while hiding their deepest secret—and the wings that come with.  

A growing attraction between Nikki and two of her protectors presents a whole other danger. While she risks a broken heart, Mace and Raven could lose everything, including their souls. As the mysteries behind the boys’ powers, as well as her role in a scientist’s dark plan, unfold, Nikki is faced with choices that will affect the future of an entire race of heavenly beings, as well as the precarious equilibrium of the earthly world. 

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Publication Date: 1st February, 2012Publisher: Zondervan PublishingCountry: United States of AmericaISBN: 9780310728184Original Language: EnglishAge Group: Young AdultGenre: Supernatural/Paranormal, Romance, MysterySource: ARC recieved through NetGalleyBuy the Book: AmazonLootability: Grab it and go

April Book of the Month: A Discovery of Witches

Alright! Alright! I admit it! I'm been slack over the last few weeks. Between uni, work, volunteering and interning I haven't had the slightest inclination to blog. I have continued reading though, so have no fear, I will reach my intended goal for the year.

Moving on to the much delayed, and much enjoyed April BotM! I picked this up in passing, without really understanding what I had my hands on. Like most avid readers/ book bloggers, I have the writers bug and I love picking up encyclopaedia's. I have a shelf and a half full now and I pick up more all the time. So when I grabbed this book, I didn't actually read the blurb properly and just chucked it in my pile. Lucky I did or I might have missed one of the best supernatural books I have ever read.

A Discover of Witches by Deborah Harkness

A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together. 
Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop   unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell. 
Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.

Keep watching for my review and I'm sorry I'm so far behind!

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

#33 of 200

Original Language: English
Publisher: Egmont USA
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: December 22, 2009
ISBN: 9781606840573
Page Count: 372

Grace Divine, daughter of the local pastor, always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared, the night she found her brother Jude collapsed on the porch, covered in his own blood, but she has no idea what a truly monstrous secret that night held.
The memories her family has tried to bury resurface when Daniel returns, three years later, and enrolls in Grace and Jude's high school.
Despite promising Jude she'll stay away, Grace cannot deny her attraction to Daniel's shocking artistic abilities, his way of getting her to look at the world from new angles, and the strange, hungry glint in his eyes.
The closer Grace gets to Daniel, the more she jeopardizes her life, as her actions stir resentment in Jude and drive him to embrace the ancient evil Daniel unleashed that horrific night.
Grace must discover the truth behind the boy's dark secret...and the cure that can save the ones she loves.
But she may have to lay down the ultimate sacrifice to do it--her soul.

The Dark Divine is the debut novel of Bree Despain, and the beginning of a new series of the same name. Grace Divine, daughter of the local Pastor, happily contributes to society while focusing on her art. She was living quite happily, especially when she is asked out by a cute Senior, until Daniel returns and shakes everything up.

No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong

#28 of 200

Original Language: English
Publisher: Random House of Canada
Country: Canada
Publication Date: 2007
ISBN: 0307355764
Page Count: 352

In her acclaimed Women of the Otherworld series, bestselling author Kelley Armstrong creates a present day in which humans unwittingly coexist with werewolves, witches, and other supernatural beings. Now, in this spellbinding new novel, a beautiful necromancer who can see ghosts must come to terms with her power—and with an evil she never thought possible. It’s the most anticipated reality television event of the season: three spiritualists gathered together in one house to raise the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. For celebrity medium Jaime Vegas, it is to be her swan song—one last publicity blast for a celebrity on the wrong side of forty. But unlike her colleagues, who are more show than substance, Jaime is the real thing. Reluctant to upstage her fellow spiritualists, Jaime tries to suppress her talents, as she has done her entire life. But there is something lurking in the maze of gardens behind the house: a spirit without a voice. And it won’t let go until somehow Jaime hears its terrible story. For the first time in her life, Jaime Vegas understands what humans mean when they say they are haunted. Distraught, Jaime looks to fellow supernatural Jeremy Danvers for help. As the touches and whispers from the garden grow more frantic, Jaime and Jeremy embark on an investigation into a Los Angeles underworld of black magic and ritual sacrifice. When events culminate in a psychic showdown, Jaime must use the darkest power she has to defeat a shocking enemy—one whose malicious force comes from the last realm she expected… . In a world whose surface resembles our own, Kelley Armstrong delivers a stunning alternate reality, one where beings of the imagination live, love, and fight a never-ending battle between good and evil.

Kelley Armstrong continues her Women of the Otherworld series in book seven:No Humans Involved. Celebrity necromancer Jamie Vegas is working on a documentary where she and several other celebrity mediums are trying to raise the spirit of Marilyn Monroe.

Haunted by Kelley Armstrong

#25 of 200

Original Language: English
Publisher: Spectra
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2005
ISBN: 0553587080
Page Count: 528

Eve Levine — half-demon, black witch and devoted mother — has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can’t be killed again — which comes in handy when you’ve made as many enemies as Eve. Yes, the afterlife isn’t too bad — all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter, Savannah, and she’ll be happy. But fate — or more exactly, the Fates — have other plans. Eve owes them a favor, and they’ve just called it in. An evil spirit called the Nix has escaped from hell. She feeds on chaos and death, and is very good at persuading people to kill for her. The Fates want Eve to hunt her down before she does any more damage, but the Nix is a dangerous enemy — previous hunters have been driven insane in the process. As if that’s not problem enough, the only way to stop her is with an angel’s sword. And Eve is no angel… .

Haunted is the fifth Women of the Otherworld novel by Kelley Armstrong and features a new character. Eve Levine is more than the Mother of, Paige Winterbourne’s ward, Savannah, she is a half demon, dark witch ghost. Complicated? Just wait. Eve owes a big favour to the Fates for saving Paige and Lucas in Industrial Magic, and may have to give up everything she loves to do it.

Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong

#24 of 200

Original Language: English
Publisher: Viking Press
Country: United States
Publication Date: 2004
ISBN: 1-84149-340-6
Page Count: 528

Meet the smart, sexy — supernatural — women of the otherworld. This is not your mother’s coven… Kelley Armstrong returns with the eagerly awaited follow-up to Dime Store Magic . Paige Winterbourne, a headstrong young woman haunted by a dark legacy, is now put to the ultimate test as she fights to save innocents from the most insidious evil of all.… In the aftermath of her mother’s murder, Paige broke with the elite, ultraconservative American Coven of Witches. Now her goal is to start a new Coven for a new generation. But while Paige pitches her vision to uptight thirty-something witches in business suits, a more urgent matter commands her attention. Someone is murdering the teenage offspring of the underworld’s most influential Cabals — a circle of families that makes the mob look like amateurs. And none is more powerful than the Cortez Cabal, a faction Paige is intimately acquainted with. Lucas Cortez, the rebel son and unwilling heir, is none other than her boyfriend. But love isn’t blind, and Paige has her eyes wide open as she is drawn into a hunt for an unnatural-born killer. Pitted against shamans, demons, and goons, it’s a battle chilling enough to make a wild young woman grow up in a hurry. If she gets the chance.

Industrial Magic is the second Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Other Worldseries to be narrated by Paige Winterbourne. As the fourth instalment, Industrial Magic begins three years after the events of Bitten, and less than a year after Dimestore Magic.

Dimestore Magic by Kelley Armstrong

#23 of 200

Original Language: English
Publisher: Random House Canada
Country: Canada
Publication Date: 2004
ISBN: 0679312951
Page Count: 368

From one of today’s most original writers comes the mesmerizing tale of an exceptional young woman caught up in an otherworldly realm where some will stop at nothing to get what they want. Paige Winterbourne was always either too young or too rebellious to succeed her mother as leader of one of the world’s most powerful elite organizations—the American Coven of Witches. Now that she is twenty-three and her mother is dead, the Elders can no longer deny her. But even Paige’s wildest antics can’t hold a candle to those of her new charge—an orphan who is all too willing to use her budding powers for evil…and evil is all too willing to claim her. For this girl is being pursued by a dark faction of the supernatural underworld. They are a vicious group who will do anything to woo the young, malleable, and extremely powerful neophyte, including commit murder—and frame Paige for the crime. It’s an initiation into adulthood, womanhood, and the brutal side of magic that Paige will have to do everything within her power to make sure they both survive.

Dimestore Magic is Kelley Armstrong’s third novel, in The Women of the Otherworld series, and the first not to be narrated by female werewolf Elena Michaels. Instead, Witch and Coven leader of the North American group, Paige Winterbourne is the protagonist. Dimestore Magic follows the gruelling trials Paige must endure in order to keep her ward, Savannah Levine, daughter of half demon and dark witch Eve Levine.

Need by Carrie Jones

#10 of 200

Original Language: English
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Country: United States
Publication Date: December 23, 2008
ISBN: 1599903385
Page Count: 320

Zara collects phobias the way other high school girls collect lipsticks. 

Little wonder, since life’s been pretty rough so far. 

Her father left, her stepfather just died, and her mother’s pretty much checked out. 

Now Zara’s living with her grandmother in sleepy, cold Maine so that she stays “safe.” 

Zara doesn’t think she’s in danger; she thinks her mother can’t deal. 

Wrong...

Turns out that guy she sees everywhere, the one leaving trails of gold glitter, isn’t a figment of her imagination. 

He’s a pixie—and not the cute, lovable kind with wings. 

He’s the kind who has dreadful, uncontrollable needs. 

And he’s trailing Zara. 

Carrie Jones’ Need is aiding the effort to provide Young Adult Readers with new forms of supernatural, and romantic, fiction. Zara White is depressed after the death of her Step-Dad, the only Father she has ever known. Her Mother doesn’t know how to handle her and sends her to live with her Step Grandmother in cold, wintry Maine.