A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole
By · Comments
Title: A Hunger Like No Other (Immortals After Dark, Book 1)
Author: Kresley Cole
Pages: 384
Genre: Paranormal Romance / Vampire Romance
A Hunger Like No Other is the first book in Kresley Cole’s hugely successful Immortals After Dark series, which is now already onto its 12th book. Lachlain MacRieve, the leader of the Lykae Clan of werewolves, has been imprisoned and tortured by vampires under the city of Paris for more than a century. He’s been slowly going crazy in captivity, but is spurred to escape when he scents the female who will be his mate on the Paris streets. But when he finally finds Emmaline, he’s disgusted to find out that she’s a half-vampire – but he can’t help being drawn to her. Emmaline is a hybrid vampire/Valkyrie who’s been coddled and over-protected, and has travelled to Paris in order to spread her wings. Emma the Timid, as she’s known back home in Louisiana, is in for more than she expected when she is abducted by a semi-deranged werewolf and pursued by the Paris vampires. Lachlain drags her off to his ancestral home in Scotland to keep her safe… and finds himself trying to win her over despite his earlier desire to punish her for the torture that he endured at the hands of other vampires.
True Blood Season 5: Single Sookie, Alpha Alcide?
By · Comments
Sookie and Alcide in True Blood
Although the next season of True Blood won’t make an appearance on our television screens until Summer this year, the cast and crew have slowly been revealing little tidbits about what’s going to happen in Season 5. As always, there’s plenty of speculation about Sookie’s love-life. When we left Sookie at the end of Season 4, she had declared herself single, and sworn off Eric and Bill… and it doesn’t look like she’s going to be spending a lot of time with the two vampires either!
In an interview with TV Guide, Alexander Skarsgard, who plays the scrumptious Eric, reveals that Sookie’s “feelings are still there for both Eric and Bill… the attraction is still there, but they’re preoccupied, and so is she.” So it looks like we won’t be seeing Eric and Bill getting it on with Sookie. Instead, the two, who used to perpetually be at each other’s throats, are more likely to spend time working closely with each other in Season 5, as they try and deal with the fallout from killing Nan Flanagan in the Season 4 finale. Plus of course, it looks like Russell Edgington’s baaack (in one form or another), and Eric and Bill will have to deal with that too!
In the meantime, another hunky male in True Blood is going to be showing his alpha chops a lot more. Joe Manganiello declared that his character Alcide won’t be “taking anyone’s s**t anymore… Now you’re going to see an Alcide who’s going to slam you up against the wall and do his thing.” Oooh, I love a forceful alpha male. What’s more, Alcide may be using some of that forcefulness on Sookie herself. Manganiello teased that there’ll be many scenes and run-ins between Sookie and Alcide that “make you really nervous”.
For those of us who watch True Blood for the… hmmm… scenery, then you’ll also be pleased to know that Manganiello revealed that Season 5 will be just as risqué as before, with lots of “hot-chick werewolves and badass dudes” to keep you entertained. Hmmmm… nice!
True Blood Season 5 will be back on HBO in Summer 2012.
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
By · Comments
Title: Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood Book 1)
Author: Charlaine Harris
Pages: 327
Genre: Vampire Mystery / Vampire Romance
The True Blood series has given the Sookie Stackhouse books renewed popularity, although truthfully, Charlaine Harris’ excellent series was selling like hotcakes even before it was adapted for the small screen. Dead Until Dark, the first book in the Southern Vampire series, is where it all began. In Dead Until Dark, Harris introduces us to the charming Sookie. She’s a cocktail waitress in a small Lousiana town. She’s just an ordinary gal – except for her “disability”. Sookie can read minds – and isn’t too pleased with the special skill. She’s bombarded by others’ thoughts all the time, and always knows what others think of her. In Sookie’s world, vampires no longer need to prey on humans for sustenance. The ability to produce synthetic blood has allowed vampires to emerge from the shadows and become a legal minority. You can imagine Sookie’s delight when she gets together with the vampire Bill and discovers that she can’t read his mind. He’s the perfect boyfriend since unlike all her previous partners, she’ll never hear his thoughts (flattering or unflattering) about her. But amid her bliss, a number of vampire groupies are murdered, and Sookie has to use her “disability” to solve the mystery. Dead Until Dark is a high-quality, tightly-plotted book, and a worthy debut for this popular series. Harris’ fun writing style brings out the humor and horror in the Southern Vampire world, and you’ll be enamored with her cast of charming characters. Once you’ve read this, I guarantee you’ll want to read the rest of the series!
Kristin Bauer Crying Foul Over Fowl Treatment
By · Comments
Kristin Bauer, best known for her role as Pam in the True Blood series, is up in arms against fast-food giant McDonald’s. The Wisconsin native is known as an animal rights activist, and earlier this year, championed the cause of Tony, a Siberian-Bengal tiger who had been cooped up at a Louisiana truck stop for the past ten years.
This time, Bauer is crying foul over the cruel treatment of hens that produce eggs for popular McDonald’s breakfast staple, the Egg McMuffin. A video of Sparboe Farms facilities in Iowa, Minnesota, and Colorado filmed by an undercover investigator for Mercy for Animals showed that the egg-producing hens were jam-packed into tiny wire cages for their entire lives, with no room to spread their wings or even move around. Dead hens were simply left in the cages to decompose.
Spurred by the public backlash after Mercy for Animals investigation was featured on Good Morning America and 20/20, McDonald’s dropped Sparboe Farms in mid-November 2011. However, the inhumane practices at the Sparboe Farms facilities appear to continue unabated. Bauer, together with celebrities Ryan Gosling, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Deschanel, Alicia Silverstone, Maria Menounos, Kristin Bauer, Ed Begley, Jr., Wendie Malick, Bryan Adams and Steve-O are doing their part to make sure that the cruelty against the caged hens remains in the spotlight.
Earlier this week, the group of concerned celebrities fired off a letter to McDonald’s, calling on the firm to ensure that it purchased eggs only from suppliers which treated their hens in a humane manner. Pointing out that McDonald’s was the largest egg buyer in the United States, their letter said that the fast-food chain “has the power – and the moral responsibility – to ensure that the eggs in its Egg McMuffins don’t come from rotten egg suppliers.”
