Vivian+Vande+Velde

Companions of The Night Title: Companions of the Night Author: Vivian Vande Velde When Kerry’s mother dies, Kerry is left to care for her brother and father, so when her little brother Ian tells her that he left his bear in the laundromat, Kerry can’t say no. When she arrives at the laundromat, she hears voices coming from outside, so she hides behind the desk. She sees the owner of the laundromat and a couple of his accomplices enter the laundromat, dragging a normal beat up seventeen year old boy. When the men find Kerry hiding behind the desk they tell her that the boy is a real vampire. The boy says that they are crazy, and that his name is Ethan and not to believe a word they say. Kerry helps him escape from the men in the laundromat, not knowing that this could be the biggest mistake she ever made in her entire life. Then, a couple of days later, Kerry’s family is kidnapped, and on her wall is written We have your family, vampire ! Everything that is happening to Kerry seems to be tied back to Ethan, and she is forced to believe that he is a vampire. With this`knowlage, she makes a deal with him, if he helps her find her family, then she will help him revenge Regina’s (his vampire girlfriend) death. Ethan agrees, and they begin their journey. Will Kerry find her family, or is she doomed to bitten and die?

This book was a good balance of action and romance. On a scale from one to ten, I’d give it a seven. It may have been a good story line, but it became confusing and the end was not as good as I had hoped. I would not recommend this book to anyone under eleven because it is confusing and a little wierd, but if you really like books about vampires and romance, this book is worth it. Author: Vivian Vande Velde Books Read: __There is a Dead Person Following My Sister Around, Companions of the Night, Remembering Raquel, and Magic Can Be Murder__ This review is basically written for my audience who are the readers.

Nola and her mother have spent their lives trying to hide the fact that they are witches. However, something always happens that makes people suspicious. Nola has grown used to a life in which she can never tell the truth, and must always be prepared to run at a moment's notice. It doesn't help that her mother hears voices, and thinks there's a baby living near by, or that Nola, even though she knows she shouldn't, just can't resist the temptation to work spells. She's especially addicted to shadowform magic, where a person's hair dropped into water produces images of what the person is doing right at that moment. By accident, Nola leaves an active shadowform spell behind in the basement of an inn. She realizes she must go back and get rid of it. Unfortunately, this is more complicated than it seems, because a murder has just taken place at the inn, and she and her mother may be suspects. Nola decides to disguise herself by magic, which soon gets her into even more trouble. The person whose appearance she's borrowed is also a suspect. Now she must find a way to maintain her disguise, get rid of the shadowform spell, and relieve the suspicions of Lord Galvin, the disconcertingly attractive young man sent to investigate the murder. All without betraying her true identity, or the secret of her witchcraft. From my opinion __Murder Can Be Magic__ is really fun to read and has a lot of suspense. The book helps the reader understand how the character’s life is. Vivian Vande velde wrote this book in the sense to show readers the life a person would have with the difficulties and complications if they had a keep a secret about their life. In my opinion she did that very well in this reading. Nola's story is rather dark, with more of a focus on the ugly side of human nature, and the fearful thoughts that lead people to do harm to others. The consequences of Nola's decision to take on a disguise, which took her into more trouble, are very amusing. Kind-hearted and resourceful, believable in her frustration with her life of lies and her desire to stop running and settle down, Nola is an appealing heroine. Even though I dislike Vivian Vande Velde’s books this one was actually good and fun to read.

__Magic Can Be Murder__ was actually fun to read because its mostly a mystery with a bit of a witchy twist and just a touch of happily-ever-after romance thrown in. It’s a fairly simple and straight-forward story of two women barely scraping by in life, moving from place to place trying to hide natural witch talents and those talents are both a boon and a burden in the story. I loved the authors use of scrying and glamour ¼ both served to move the story along without having to put in too much explanation, plus both abilities also provide humor in what might quickly become a tedious and depressing tale. I would recommend __Magic Can Be Murder__ because its an entertaining fantasy for anybody, but since the story is complex yet simply told, it is particularly better for young adults. The story is very nicely told and it keeps the reader wanting to read more. It’s a simple but, cute story.

Title: Heir Apparent Author: Vivian Vande Valde Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt # of Pages: 336 Copyright: © 2002 by Vivian Vande Valde

If you want to know what it feels like to be trapped in a virtual reality game, and you like the sense of urgency, Heir Apparent is the book for you. The book is a typical Valde book, where the main character has a mediocre or normal life and their lives are changed for the better or worse by a magical encounter. It is about a girl named Giannine who turned fourteen and got a gift certificate for her birthday from her father. She then somehow gets trapped in the game and must figure a way out by fighting magical creatures and learning from her past mistakes before she actually dies in real life.

I thought this book was decent considering the fact that most of her books drags on painfully or they are extremely boring. Out of all her books that I read, this was the best one. It tries to create a feeling of a fantasy adventure game kind of world and it also has a feel of urgency and caution. There is also a wide variety of characters that keep the story alive. In the story she dies a lot of times and she gets really frustrated because of it. This shows how she tries to learn from her mistakes and tries to be more cautious the next time around and the characters are mostly magical creatures ranging from trolls, witches, dragons and some are medieval characters like knights and kings. This story has a life of its own and it could have been a little bit better but everything has its flaws. I would mostly recommend this book to teens, who are around the age of 12-14. If you want a fantasy adventure which does not drag on forever or get boring, you should consider reading Heir Apparent.