Book Review: Afterlife by Claudia Gray

Make sure to check out my review of Hourglass HERE and my interview with Claudia Gray HERE. 

Title: Afterlife (Evernight #4)

Author: Claudia Gray

Details: ARC, published in hardback 368 pgs.

Published: March 8th, 2011 by HarperTeen

isbn: 0061284424 (ISBN13: 9780061284427)

Reading Level: Young Adult

Source: HarperTeen, for review purposes

Description: Do not read if you haven't read the previous books!

The fourth book in this electrifying vampire series has all the romance, suspense, and page-turning drama that have made Claudia Gray’s Evernight books runaway successes.

Having become what they feared most, Bianca and Lucas face a terrifying new reality. They must return to Evernight Academy, Lucas as a vampire and Bianca as a wraith. But Lucas is haunted by demons, both personal and supernatural. Bianca must help him fight the evil inside him, combat the forces determined to drive them apart—and find the power to claim her destiny at last.

Readers have fallen in love with Bianca and Lucas, and they will be thrilled to read this exciting conclusion to their romantic adventure.

My Thoughts:

It's almost surreal that Bianca and Lucas' adventure is over.  And what a ride it was!  I think back to the first book and I never would have ever predicted this outcome!  Claudia Gray took us on a wild ride where we never knew where things would go.  Bianca and Lucas went through some tough times but their love for each other persevered.  

This book picks up exactly where Hourglass left off.  I fortunately was able to read them back to back, but I can imagine those that had to wait a full year are chomping at the bit to find out what happens!  Well, the major stuff went down already.  You now know what Bianca is, and are waiting to see how things go with Lucas.  Lucas and Bianca have a lot of issues in this one that they have to work through.  Not so much relationship wise with each other, but coming to accept who and what they are.  This book is also about finding out what the heck Mrs. Bethany is planning with all the ghosts she's collected, and trust me, you'll not see this conclusion coming!  

It was kind of sad for me in the beginning as far as how much Bianca and Lucas have changed.  They can't even try to be the 'people' they once were, but they have to work through what they can be.  Find out more about what they can do to be the best they can be.  

I flew through this book pretty quickly as I was excited to see what kind of conclusion they would have and wow!  What a crazy end!  I wasn't sure what I thought of it but after a few hours of it resonating I think I can say I'm happy with it.  It's all so strange that it's almost hard to wrap your head around but that's what's cool about it.  Claudia Gray has created a story that is so crazy and implausible but yet she makes us believe it.  

Find Claudia Gray

Website | Twitter

 Disclosure: I received this book free of charge for review purposes.  I was not paid or influenced in any way and all opinions expressed are my own.

Winner of Hourglass and Afterlife

The winner, selected using random.org, of Hourglass and Afterlife by Claudia Gray is...

Bailey from IB Book Blogging!

She's been contacted and has 48 hours to respond.  

Thanks to everyone who read and commented on the interview with Claudia Gray, it's always awesome to get those comments and I really appreciate those who took the time to do that.  But thanks to ALL 133 people who entered to win.  Hope you'll all go out and buy it now!  

My Favorite Things Event Announcement!

*Thank you Lori at Pure Imagination for the button*

<center><a href="http://www.candacesbookblog.com/2011/03/my-favorite-things-event-announcement.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Candaces Book Blog" src=" http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n504/mybookishways/Candace/favoritethingsbutton1.jpg "/></a></center> Hello my lovely readers!  I hope that the winter hasn't treated you too badly, but if it has then I have an announcement to perk you up!  Last year in June I did a Favorite Things Event where I spotlighted some of my favorite books and authors (and a few other things) and did a lot of giveaway's in celebration of my birthday.  It was a lot of fun and was my first venture into planning an event alone.  This year I have a co-host!  And it's going to be bigger (MUCH bigger!) and better then last year!  Kristin from My Bookish Ways wanted to do an event with me and I suggested this one since I was planning on doing it again.  Well, she's been awesome!  She jumped right in and started on the planning.  This year the event is running from May 23rd to July 1st.  BUT we're getting such a great response from authors and publishers that we may have to extend it! 

Now the Event has begun and you can find the full schedule of events and giveaways HERE.

Tentative Schedule :

May 23rd-27  Steampunk
May 30th- June 17th Paranormal, Urban fantasy, Fantasy and Horror.  Because so many of those genre's blend together we've decided to just do them together.
June 20th- 24th Historical Fiction
June 27th-July 1st Dystopia

So what are we doing, exactly?  Well, we've spoken with authors, publishers, agents... you know, all those awesome book people, and we have  interviews, guest posts and giveaways planned.  We'll also be doing reviews of books that fit the genre's we're featuring.

And We Want YOU:

We're looking for a few people to do guest posts about the different genre's we're spotlighting.  We would like to have a few book lover's give their thoughts on why they may love that genre.

We are also hoping to get a few people to sponsor giveaways for the international folks.  We're getting a lot of books for giveaway, but if the authors or pubs aren't mailing them, we are and the costs are way too high to ship those books around the world.  We are trying to come up with some different ways we can have some international giveaways included.  If your interested in sponsoring one let me know.  candace_redinger(at)yahoo(dot)com

If you are interested in sponsoring a giveaway you could do it with a guest post and we would link to your blog (or whatever site you would like).  If you don't want to do a guest post then I will be making it clear with the giveaway who is sponsoring it and it will link to your blog, or if you don't have a blog then wherever you would like. 

Do you have a website or etsy you would like featured?  We'd be happy to have you!  Remember we are being genre specific so your item would need to fit the theme.  If you have an etsy and make jewelry then you would want to make sure your jewelry fit one of the themes listed above (just an example).  Please contact me if you have questions or are interested. candace_redinger(at)yahoo(dot)com

We're doing teasers of the some of the books and items we'll be spotlighting.  Be sure to keep an eye open for more of these.  I'll also keep this post up to date with all the goings on of the event.  Closer to the time we'll be listing the features and giveaways on this post.  So be sure to grab the button (image at top of post) and check back!  For now here is just a small (very small!) teaser of some of the books we'll be spotlighting.  Want more of a teaser?  Kristin posted one too!  Head over and check her teaser out as well.  See?  Some AWESOME books, huh?!