CRYPTIC CRAVINGS AND IMMORTAL HEARTS by Ellen Schreiber-REVIEW

Raven and the other teens in Dullsville are excited about a new club opening up in their town. Jagger has decided to open up The Crypt in Dullsville. It will be the happening place since Jagger knows how to market such projects with his ownership in The Coffin Club.

What Raven and Alexander are afraid of is that Jagger will open The Crypt up to other vampires. Alexander has managed to live in Dullsville without bringing too much attention to himself. If other vampires relocate to Dullsville then that could not only put Alexander in danger, but also the humans of Dullsville could be in danger.

Their solution to the problem? Open the club to only mortals and a select few vampires. But will Jagger stick with this plan or does he have a  more "nefarious" agenda?

My first pet-peeve of the book is that word "nefarious". In my opinion it was used WAY TOO MUCH throughout the book. Everyone had "nefarious" agendas going on and it almost became comical to me. It was like the author just found this new word and had to sprinkle it throughout the whole book. The next peeve was the phrase, "My true love" or "My one true love" that Raven kept using to describe Alexander. UGH! Again, overuse of a word or phrase. I've really become disappointed in this series. I used to enjoy it, but now it seems just a bit too juvenile and silly and maybe even a bit like a Twilight wannabe. It even seems that the author is trying for that triangle since Trevor seems to be becoming less hated by Raven. Another overuse of a word when Raven refers to Trevor is "my nemesis". There is one more book in the series and YES, I am going to read it just to say that I finished it out!


 IMMORTAL HEARTS:

Alexander's sister Stormy is in Dullsville for a visit. Raven spends a lot of time worrying about how Stormy will feel about her. She prepares a room in the mansion for Stormy and manages to make a good impression. Stormy also hits it off with Raven's brother Billy and his friend Henry. More and more humans are becoming part of the vampire's secret. Trevor is still Raven's nemesis even though she has sentimental feelings for him. Jagger and Luna are still trying to hatch a scheme to break up Raven and Alexander. And of course Raven can't wait to be turned into a vampire by Alexander.

I am so happy I am done with this series! These last two books have totally disappointed me. The writing was choppy and the characters immature and silly. Sentences were repetitive and some didn't even make sense. An example, "His lips were always as tender as imaginable"(pg. 129). HUH? What does that mean? At least in Immortal Hearts there was not one "nefarious" used and I only noticed "my true love" or "my one true love" a couple of times. A question I have is WHERE ARE THE PARENTS? Raven is out all hours of the night. She parties at The Crypt which doesn't seem to have any adult supervision. Raven seems to be more of a middle schooler than a high school junior. I'm definitely ready to move on to something else.

One thing that I have always appreciated about the Vampire Kisses novels has been the fact that they are clean reads. Little to no cursing and no sex. Raven does like to cuddle with Alexander in his coffin, but there have never been any sexual references.