The President's Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth

From Goodreads:

The ultimate secret. The ultimate agent. Nathaniel Cade returns. 

For 140 years, Nathaniel Cade has been the President's Vampire, sworn to protect and serve his country. Cade's existence is the most closely guarded of White House secrets: a superhuman covert agent who is the last line of defense against nightmare scenarios that ordinary citizens only dream of. 

When a new outbreak of an ancient evil-one that he has seen before- comes to light, Cade and his human handler, Zach Barrows, must track down its source. To "protect and serve" often means settling old scores and confronting new betrayals . . . as only a centuries-old predator can.

This is the second installment of Nathaniel Cade, the vampire in the service of the white house. The first was Blood Oath and I did review it HERE. Within this story Cade is again fighting the otherworldly forces of evil but I felt it was much more politically based than the first and a lot more involved in conspiracy theories. In this way the author deals with area 51 and even, ironically, to Bin Laden which is the opening sequence. Now before you think that the last part could already make this book outdated, think again... it actually keeps it eerily up to date.

In this book a covert agency is experimenting with an unusual virus which transforms people into a mindless eating and killing creature. The agency is so covert, even those who have high clearance do not know who is involved with this agency. It is no secret that parts of Blackwater were incorporated as well as the images we have of the men in black. These arrogant and self-righteous people become a bigger threat than the one's we know of; or are they? Perhaps they have been involved in those other operations all along. I also find it interesting that the president is based on our current president (if you don't believe me... check the book trailer and listen to the president's voice at the end...).

Part history, part political, and part imagination (yep, that's a lot of parts!) all come together to make a world that you could actually believe might just happen. *checks under the bed for lizard-like monsters* It is a fun and thrilling ride. I suppose my only criticism is that we actually get less Cade in this book than the first. I really want to get to know him and you don't know any more about him in this book than from what you learned in the first. I did get to know Zach a bit better and, in fact, liked him a whole lot more. I also enjoyed the character of Bell (one of the baddies) and some of the secondary characters even if we only knew them for a chapter.

It is a fun political vampire/monster book and I give it 4 stars. I believe you can read this as a stand alone, but I think you should start with the first to really get to know Cade.

I received this ARC from Putnam and Goodreads First Reads Program and no compensation for my review was given.

My Book Boyfriend

My book boyfriend this week is Dare MacIntosh from When you Dare by Lori Foster (relax Missie... for some odd reason they are different people.... sorta... lol). Review to come shortly. Oh he is so sweet, compassionate, possessive (in a good way), kind, kick-ass, alpha male who loves his women strong, hates to see women hurt, smexy as hell, his "girls" are too sweet even if they drool on him (2 labs... hee hee), and is caring. Hm... I need me a real one.. ;)

Oh look... we caught him  just getting out of the shower after a workout. Darn... have to shoo you all out of here... bye!

Um...*looks distracted* oh yea... what is in your harem this week?

*runs back to the shower area*

No Hope for Gomez by Graham Parke

From Goodreads:

It's the age-old tale: Boy meets girl. Boy stalks girl. Girl already has a stalker.Boy becomes her stalker-stalker. 

We've seen it all before, many times, but this time it's different. If only slightly. When Gomez Porter becomes a test subject in an experimental drug trial, he is asked to keep track of any strange experiences through a blog. What Gomez isn't ready for, is so many of his experiences suddenly seeming strange; the antiques dealer trying to buy his old tax papers, his neighbor boiling salamanders on his balcony at midnight, the super sexy lab assistant who falls for him but is unable to express herself in terms outside the realm of science. But when one of the trial participants turns up dead and another goes missing, Gomez begins to fear for his life. No longer sure who he can trust and which of his experiences are real and which merely drug induced illusions, he decides it's time to go underground and work out a devious plan. 

Now, years later, his blogs have been recovered from a defunct server. For the first time we can find out firsthand what happened to Gomez as he takes us on a wild ride of discovery.

The book is told through a series of blog posts which end up as a sort of stream of consciousness writing. Whatever runs through Gomez's thoughts end up on his blog. He starts his blog as a part of a medical trial for extra cash. In it we find Gomez trying to piece together what happened to a fellow trial participant when he ends up dead. As he pieces together what is odd about this man's death, he finds himself attracted to the researcher in charge of the study. As the blog continues you wonder if anything is related at all. However, like all mysteries... things finally come together even if they didn't add up in the way Gomez expected them.

This definitely is a different type of book. No, despite the author's claims it may not make you more beautiful nor cure all ills, but it is entertaining and I did laugh. The relationships here are odd, but interesting. I'm still trying to figure out what his neighbor actually does for a living... *scratches head* Hmm.. But, if you are looking for a different type of read this summer, I do suggest this book. It's short, and definitely different. :) I give it 3 stars.

I was given this book by the author and no compensation for my review was given.

I also understand he is having a summer raffle at his website:

Additionally, several lucky readers will win a prize. I'm raffling off a Kindle, an iPod Nano 8GB, and five exclusive spin-off paperback novels that are not available elsewhere!

All you have to do to have a "Summer of Gomez", is get the book from any store and forward your receipt to nohopeforgomez@gmail.com. (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Amazon CA,Amazon UK, Amazon DE)

Every purchase counts as an entry so increase your chances by stocking up on some extremely cool birthday presents ;) Points towards additional entries are gained by getting your friends to join in, and tweeting/blogging/face-booking (is that a verb?) about the Summer of Gomez.

 

Winner!

The winner of:

is...

Brenda! (confirmed)

Didn't win? You can still get a copy of the great poetry at Amazon.com!

Dreaming in Darkness

In Stitches by Anthony Youn, MD

From Goodreads:

Scrubs meets David Sedaris in this hilarious fish-out-of-water memoir about a young Korean-American nerd turned renowned plastic surgeon. 

Dr. Tony Youn grew up one of two Asian-American kids in a small town where diversity was uncommon. Too tall and too thin, he wore thick Coke-bottle glasses, braces, Hannibal Lecter headgear, and had a protruding jaw that one day began to grow, expanding to an unthinkable, monstrous size. After high school graduation, while other seniors partied at the beach or explored Europe, Youn lay strapped in an oral surgeon’s chair where he underwent a life-changing jaw reconstruction. Ironically, it was this brutal makeover that led him to his life’s calling, and he continued on to endure the four horrific, hilarious, sex-starved, and tension-filled years that eventually earned him an M.D. Offering a window into a side of medicine that most people never see, Youn shares his bumpy journey from a shy, skinny, awkward nerd into a renowned and successful plastic surgeon.  

Now, Youn is the media’s go-to plastic surgeon. He appears regularly on The Rachael Ray Show, and his blog, Celebrity Cosmetic Surgery, is widely read and the most popular blog by a plastic surgeon in the country. But it was a long road to success, and In Stitches recounts Dr. Youn’s misfit adolescence and his four tumultuous years in medical school with striking wit, heart, and humility.  

For anyone who has ever experienced the awkward teenage years, who has struggled to find his or her way in college, who has been worried that their “calling” would never come, who wants to believe that their doctor really cares, or is just ready for a read that will make you laugh and cry at the same time, this book is for you.

Ever wonder why your doctor became... well, a doctor? This is a memoir of Tony Youn, MD and how and why he became a doctor of plastic surgery. He starts the memoir at 2 days old where his father, a "baby doctor" declares that he will become a doctor as well. Even though his mother admonishes him to at least wait until the second week of life to declare his son's profession, she knows that his father will not be denied. So, Tony grows up with the knowledge that he will be a doctor no matter what since he is loathe to disappoint his father. As he grows he also feels awkward as a teen and has his real first brush with what corrective surgery can do for a person. The person is Tony and he has his overgrown jaw broken twice so he could look more normal. The mantra of teenage-dom.

Of course we follow him though college and finally to his residency. Along the way we see epiphanies in which he finds that he really does want to be a doctor and why. This is also where the humor for me really picks up. When a disfigured child is brought into the NICU he is fascinated with how the plastic surgeon thinks and what he believes he can change for the child. This starts Tony on his way to becoming the surgeon he wants to be. It also becomes very surreal in some ways because of all the different doctors and administrators he encounters.

I give this book 3 1/2 stars. If you ever thought of becoming a doctor... or like me... knows someone who wants to be one (she will get this book from me), I think this is a great memoir to give them. I think they will connect to it even more than I did.

I was given this book from the publisher, Simon & Schuster and no compensation for my review was given.