Sorry for the lack of updates, to those few who actually check my blog often. ;)

I updated my cover art page for last month and this month's covers. I knocked all my November covers out early since I had a few days off. I may have one more to do this month, but the form hasn't made it back to me from the author yet.

Nothing major going on to talk about. Hopefully I can get it together and blog more often. :)

About ten years ago I was a Junior in high school. I came upon L.J. Smith’s The Vampire Diaries in a Books A Million store and bought all four novels with lunch money I had saved up by not buying lunch and not having an allowance or a job.  I read them within a week, and hunted down every other book Ms. Smith had written. I had to special order The Secret Circle because the store didn’t carry them anymore. But I remember I read the whole trilogy one weekend. I loved to hate Faye, I laughed out loud at the antics of the Henderson twins, and I developed a crush on one Nick Armstrong. The Outsider, the underdog compared to “perfect” Adam (whom I find incredibly boring), and the bad boy who secretly has a heart of gold.


When the CW announced that The Secret Circle would be airing in the fall, on the same night as The Vampire Diaries, I felt a thrilling dose of nostalgia. I am thinking to myself, “what year is this again? I’m not seventeen anymore…but two of the book series that I loved from back then are being adapted and on back to back?!” I knew it wouldn’t follow the books exactly, as The Vampire Diaries doesn’t. And The Vampire Diaries is one of the very rare occasions where the changes help rather than hinder the story/adaption and it becomes more enjoyable. Even though I was very dissatisfied that the Henderson twins and most of the original coven of The Secret Circle (seven girls, five boys) didn’t make the final cut, and completely underwhelmed that out of all the characters taken away a new one was added in, I was willing to hold my tongue and reserve judgment until I saw the show, because I complained about the changed to The Vampire Diaries and I actually like what they have done there (for the most part).

Well, it has been, what? Five episodes now? While some changes I don’t mind, some of the changes leave me a little taken aback. I mean, it is easy to see why the New Salem/Original Salem roots storyline isn’t involved as The Vampire Diaries used Salem witches as THEIR witch back story (despite the fact that Bonnie was descended of Celtic Druids, but whatever), and I am still hoping that Black John will make an appearance sometime before I die or at least get a mention, as the first Klaus name dropping in season 2 of The Vampire Diaries was a wonderful fan moment. But I really do not know if I can bring myself to continue watching The Secret Circle due to the early and uncalled for death of Nick Armstrong.

I don’t care if the “show” storyline benefits from it. I don’t care if he’s not as important as Cassie or Adam or even Faye, because, let’s face it…those are the main characters. Diana is more expendable than those three, especially since she is not quite like her book counterpart. But in my honest opinion, the only important characters were the five that made the cut, minus Melissa who I could give a rat’s ass about due to the fact that she wasn’t in the books, serves no real purpose in the show thus far other than to send a demon into Nick and get him killed because of it. That doesn’t make me like her any more. Now I resent the fact that she is still alive when she never existed in the books.

I feel like killing Nick is a slap in the face to every single reader who was anticipating this series. In my opinion, this would be the same as killing Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries. Or even Eric Northman on True Blood. You just don’t do it. You can’t replace him with a cheap imitation because (most) fans of the books won’t accept it. They will be thinking, “well, sure, he’s great an all…but I’d rather have Nick Armstrong back.” As an additional slap in the face, judging by the summaries of the next few episodes, Nick’s brother is going to become interested in Cassie and make both Adam and Faye jealous. I don’t understand why it became essential to kill off Nick, and then bring in a non-book character in order to fulfill the Nick role. I am almost glad my beloved Henderson twins didn’t make the cut, because surely one or both of them would have died before long, too, just because they aren’t required to have eye-sex with Cassie almost every episode like Adam has to. Because, despite the fact he and Cassie are soul mates, Adam's love of a girl who is NOT his girl friend is totally a trait I find attractive in a guy. (not)

I really wanted to write a totally scathing letter with a cuss word every other word, but I couldn’t bring myself to it. I am above it, but I cannot let my unhappiness go unheard. If you were going for tears with that episode, writers and producers, you didn’t get them. Instead I sat there physically shaking with fury. I was quite literally livid by the time the credits rolled. I honestly do not know if I can even bring myself to continue watching the show because I am that upset. I hope killing him off was worth it, because I am sure there are several other very unhappy fans of the books right now. I wish you the best with the run of the show, but I don’t know if I can enjoy it any longer.

Thanks for ruining my enjoyment of the show within the first few episodes.

Sincerely,

Victoria

P.S. Please do not EVER try to adapt The Forbidden Game, Dark Visions, or Night World. Just leave them alone. Thanks.

The Reseph art I did the other night was started at about one AM, finished around four AM. It was dark and cloudy all day yesterday, so when the sunlight hit it today, as I have it making my computer all pretty, I noticed there was a small sliver of the original background clinging to his shoulder like an annoying little leech. I have fixed it, aslo managed to get the glow around the side of his head lessened too from where I lightened his hair. So here is the new one, with a full screen version for those who don't have a wide monitor yet (or want it for your phone wallpaper mwa ha ha) Sorry about that! I blame four AM everything-looks-awesome-with-these-eyes-in-the-dark-itis.




also, the cover art on both pages are being updated as I hit publish, so by the time you see this....it will probably be done. LOL ;)

Wow, it has been about a month since I updated this blog. LOL I am so bad at this. But anywho..

I have come to the conclusion that I have developed a type in reference to my literary boyfriends. Which are many. I live vicariously through my literary love interests. And though I haven't crossed the line of using white out and a pen to change the heroines' names to VICTORIA just yet...one day....I can feel it. hahaha

Spoilers Ahoy, maties!

We all know how much I LOVE my V'luce. (V'lane aka Cruce. Ergo: V'luce) Love him. I love him so much that Karen Marie Moning has even signed several books (and my V'lane poster) with "V'lane is MINE!" to remind me. The only character I think I have been THAT obsessed with before is Julian from L.J. Smith's The Forbidden Game. Who is also the antagonist in that series, but I LOOOOOOOOOOVE Julian. I would say I haven't cried so much in my life in regards to the way TFG ended with Julian, but then....you didn't see or hear me when I finished Shadowfever. It was not cute, people. I had a stuffy nose for nearly a whole day after all those tears.

But then I started to think about it. My favorite characters are usually the hot blonds (sometimes even if they are jackasses), the vikings...unless they are too outrageously evil (the movie Pathfinder, though Ghost, the protag was originally a viking. Karl Urban. YUM), or secondary characters. I love secondary characters. Since a young age, watching She-Ra, my favorite character was her friend Frosta. Not a dude, no...but she was macking on He-Man...who was blond. I wanted to BE her.

So to get back on point...lately I have notices a trend of my favorite characters being evilish. Sure some are destined for redemption, others doomed to pay for their transgressions and others so ambiguous that you just don't know if they will ever get free of their icy prison. And it isn't just in books!

Exhibit A...my bad bad bad boy loves

1. Julian - The Forbidden Game. (LJ Smith) So in love with a human mortal he can't have, he tricks her and her friends into playing a game with him to try to win her for himself.

2. V'lane/Cruce. The Fever Series. (Karen Marie Moning) Marry me. Seriously. Break free of your prison, come out of the book, I will be your princess! Screw Mac!!!!! (um...as in get over her, don't literally do that since you are in trouble for literally do that anyway) ;)

3. Lothaire. Immortals After Dark (Kresley Cole). I knew from the first book I wanted to lick that blond, sexy vampire. The Enemy of Old gets his own book, and breaks the savvy title trend by having a book named for him alone. I need that book. You don't even know....

4. Reseph. Lords of Deliverance. (Larissa Ione). My newest obsession. He is SO EVIL right now. So evil!!!!! I don't know if it is because I just know he's going to have his own book which makes me justify it, or if I was seduced by the blond hair and blue eyes (I am easy that way. I try to deny it, but alas...) I don't know. Only one book into the series and I am already making 3 AM wallpapers after finding a blond knight on fotolia when downloading some images for cover art. (click below to get the full size wallpaper, I even left room on the side for icons. Because I am OCD about not having them cover the actual image...I'm so weird.)


4. Jareth. Labyrinth (movie). very similar to the Forbidden Game in storyline, Jareth falls for a mortal and tries to make her win her own freedom. David Bowie never looked so good. Though I do get highly amused by the crotch shots in that movie.

5. Erik, the Phantom. Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux/Susan Kay/Andrew Lloyd Webber) While he's not sexy...unless he's played by Gerard Butler....I LOVE him. He's crazy, he's murderous...but he just wants to be love. He's so well characterized you can't help but feel sympathy for him. The novel Phantom by Susan Kay tells his life story from birth till death. One of the BEST. BOOKS. EVER. WRITTEN. You will cry the entire way through. And if you don't cry in several parts of that book, you are not human. It's that simple. LOL

6.Stephen Bonnet. Outlander. (Diana Gabaldon). I am probably the ONLY fan of Stephen Bonnet. it's not that he's blond, though that may have helped him a bit. He's a HORRIBLE person and totally deserved his death. However, he is such a three dimensional character that I still mourn the loss of him in the books. Despite it all, he did give Briana the gemstone at the end of Drums when he thought she was carrying his baby (I am a bit fuzzy on events forgive me, it has been a while), and he had a hard life. When he dies the in the ONE way that terrifies him, I cried for him.

7. Damon Salvatore. The Vampire Diaries (LJ Smith/ TV) He's so unpredictable. While I love all of LJ Smith's early novels (not a fan of her Return trilogy), The Vampire Diaries had a lot of unlikable characters in it. Elena was such a snooty bitch, so it was really hard to relate to her or like her. You would think someone that could be evil one second, and calm and civil the next, like Damon, wouldn't be so likable. I retain that those books wouldn't have been interesting at all without him. Even on the show he's a villain one minute, and the antihero the next.

8. Eric Northman. Sookie Stackhouse novels/True Blood. (Charlaine Harris/TV) He starts off antagonistic in the books and becomes the leading man in the last half. The show likes to keep him the antagonist...and I am not even going to go there because it will result in calling Alan Ball a lot of un-nice names.

9. Sam Winchester. Supernatural (TV). usually my fave on the shows I watch would be more like Dean; however, I have been team Sam since the beginning. That was before I realized he was going to be evilish every other season or what not. *sigh* And now my other fave, Castiel, has gone evil too. What is with me!

10. Spike. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel. (tv). I found Angel boring, overly dramatic and, while hot, brought the tone of the show down to sad most of the time...it got better on his own show, though not by a lot. Spike, on the otherhand, was FUN. Hilarious, hot, and a scene stealer. And strangely, Evil Spike is still my favorite. He hit a patch of Angel-like seriousiness that while I enjoyed him being redeemed, just wasn't as fun as when he was evil.

So, in short, I apparently like the Bad in my Bad Boys more than I thought. And here endeth my random mumblings.

So after a releated conversation on facebook, without anything better to do with my Sunday afternoon I found myself five pages deep in Cruce. Not that I mind, I do loooooove him. But LOL I guess I am NEVER going to be done coming to his defense. MAJOR Fever series spoilers ahead if you found this on accident. I call this essay:




Rarely does an antagonist really make you think twice about all that he has done. Sure, it has happened in other stories, but in reference to Cruce of Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series, there is a gray area of ambiguity that remains in his wake. This area can be taken either way in many instances, and most readers believe the rapes of Aoibheal and MacKayla Lane leave Cruce a closed case that can never find redemption. To some extent I agree; rape is NEVER justified and is a terrible act of selfishness and violence. However, the point of this article is not to focus on the mechanics, motivations, or morality of the rapes, but to analyze the character of Cruce and expose him for who and what he is. As far as redemption goes, Cruce may be able to achieve it, but he is really going to have to work for it.


There is no denying, at the end of Shadowfever, that Cruce is an antithesis of himself: he is revealed to be both incredibly brilliant, but hovering on the cusp of complete insanity. He makes it to his end game, absorbs the Sinsar Dubh and is just moments away of completing all he set out to do a million or so years before. But because he could never drink from the Cauldron of forgetting to escape the threat of insanity, his final moments reveal him not so much as the glorious Unseelie prince who defies everyone to free a wrongly imprisoned race of beings and escapes prosecution for merely existing, but as a mad man who seeks complete and utter control as well as the destruction of anyone who stands in his path.

In a way, Cruce could be a heroic character if certain situations could have been avoided. There is an obvious undertone of the civil rights movement in the series. The Dark Fae were killed and imprisoned for merely being different than the Light Fae, for instance. But freeing the Unseelie was only half of what Cruce is after, he also wants ALL the Fae to be free of the Compact made with the human race, which would, in turn, make the human race victims to the Fae and making the hero of an act of prejudice the dictator in another one. However, as the books go on, his views on humans begin to change. He even works with them closely to keep them safe, fights alongside the protagonists, and is quite infatuated with one human in particular. There is a lot of hope for him to change his views, until the end of Shadowfever.

Though the change is sudden, his whole personality shifts when he drops the V’lane glamour and fully becomes Cruce. Even his dialogue changes from the arrogant, flowy, long sentences used as V’lane to shorter, choppier sentences that are blunt and to the point. For example, the first time we meet V’lane in Darkfever, this is what he says:

“'It is nothing I do, sidhe-seer,’ it said. ‘It is what I am. I am every erotic dream you’ve ever had and a thousand more you’ve never thought of. I am sex that will turn you inside out and burn you down to ashes.’ It smiled. ‘And if I choose, I can make you whole again.” (Darkfever, 154)

He's very articulate and chooses his worrds in order to assure the best impact. That being said, this is  the kind of dialogue we get after he drops the V'lane glamour:

“‘They would have killed you. They had never had a human woman. Darroc underestimated their ardor.’” (Shadowfever, 571)

The sentences are very straightforward and defensive. The short, simplistic sentences continue on as Mac pushes to find out why he would take part in the rape at the end of Faefever.

“‘I desired you. You refused me. I wearied of your protests. You wanted me. You thought about it. You were not even there. What difference?’” (Shadowfever, 571)

Again, there is little feeling involved in what Cruce has to say. He appears to not be concerned about how Mac may feel about what he is saying. He is not even giving her the curtesy of putting thought into what he is saying. He says it point blank, knowing all the while it hurts Mac to hear it. Like a machine gun shooting several bullets per second, the short sentences are driven home in a rat, tat, tat, tat quick fashion.

While the whole scene reads out as though, in the presence of the Unseelie King, Cruce is a disobedient child who is merely acting out because daddy just showed up to take the T-bird away, there is more to it. The father-child issue is too obvious and Cruce allows it to be in the forefront to divert the attention away from what lies underneath it. The main reason why he goes from the character we think we know to an almost unrecognizable one in the blink of an eye is summed up into two words: MacKayla Lane.

Cruce has the series of events all set up from the very beginning. He takes over V’lane’s persona and establishes Aoibheal as, first, his concubine, then a Fae princess, then as the Queen. By his own admission, “‘I encouraged where encouragement was useful’” (Shadowfever, 570) He molds Darroc into the perfect scapegoat and diversionary tactic. Cruce ensures that while everyone is watching the Lord Master free the Unseelie, tear the walls down, and hunt the Sinsar Dubh, he can place himself on the chess board and continue moving the pawns around unnoticed. However, he does not consider the fact he would develop feelings for one of the chess pieces on his game board. Inevitably, his feelings for Mac both save and destroy him.

Over the course of the series, as V’lane, he begins to soften towards Mac and form and unlikely “friendship” with the human. He desires her, but he even somewhat respects her wishes and “mutes” his Death-By-Sex mojo on her in order to make her feel more comfortable in his presence. At the same time, while Mac never fully trusts V’lane, she considers him an ally. On several occasions, Mac is even glad to see him; will smile at his appearance or run to greet him. What makes the situation so tragic when she runs to greet the false “V’lane” at the end of Faefever is that instead of saving her from his brethren, Cruce betrays her by participating in the act as well.

His participation is purely selfish. He shows up in the middle of the act, after Mac already begins to turn Pri-ya. His participation in this scene does benefit her in the end, though, and that is because he gives her the elixir that makes her just Fae enough to survive what is being done to her. Does it justify the act? No. But, as a result, Cruce’s elixir saves her life several other times in the series and allows her to be able to live forever alongside Jericho Barrons.

Cruce’s presence is contrasting to the other three princes for several reasons. One being that he is gentle where the others have not had sex for over a million years. Mac states he is the most terrifying of all because of his gentle caresses, but also because she cannot see who it is. Since Mac’s mind was already mostly gone at this point, her fear is moist likely due to the fact that instinctively she knows the person being gentle with her is more than likely someone she knows, and that is why they remain hidden. It is important that Cruce used his true form in this scene; he does not rape Mac in the form of V’lane. V’lane is the handsome, golden prince who lives to obey the command of his queen, or Mac. Cruce answers to nobody, and nothing is going to keep him from what he wants. He takes Mac as himself, but remains hidden still. Not only because no one is aware Cruce is still alive, but because he is not ready for Mac to know him as Cruce despite of what he is doing to her.

The most ambiguous of his actions is in what he plans to do with Mac after the rape has ended. He hovers around as though he is going to allow Darroc to use her in the Pri-ya state to track the book. Yet, he allows Dani to take Mac away when, if he is the shadowy figure that was able to get in her way as it appears he is. He allows Mac’s ally to take her rather than her enemy, all the while he cannot act himself without showing his hand and revealing himself as Cruce. He is furious when the wards keeping Unseelie out of the abbey go down and Jericho Barrons has already taken Mac away. Not only was he willing to be the one to “save” Mac, but he also lost out on a chance to track with Mac’s complete obedience to only him. Because he cared enough to let Dani have Mac rather than Darroc, he made path to the end game more difficult.

When he finally sees Mac again, he apologizes for the sake of his brethren:

“’A thousand apologies could not atone for the harm my brethren were permitted to inflict upon you. It sickens me that you were—‘He broke off, bowing his head even more deeply, as if he couldn’t bring himself to go on.” (Dreamfever, 67).

His head is bowed, he is avoiding all eye contact, and he is not only apologizing for the other princes but for himself. He cannot bring himself to say what it was that happened to her. Not sure if one could go as far to say this is his showing shame for what he did, so much as knowing he took part in hurting her, not being able to admit he took part in it, and knowing humans have a tendency for forgiving over time. Maybe he hoped this would help her, but the fact he bowed at all in her presence showed some respect is there, despite everything that has happened prior to this scene. And is one of many instances that show Cruce cares about what Mac thinks of him.

The moment in which this is really driven home is when Cruce is about to drop his V’lane glamour for good:

“’Still you wear V’lane’s face. What do you fear?’ the king said.

‘I fear nothing.’ But his gaze lingered on me a long moment. ‘I fight for my race, MacKayla. I have since I was born. He would conceal us in shame and condemn us to a half life. Remember that. There are reasons for all I have done.’” (Shadowfever, 570)

Even here, his dialogue begins to get choppy and defensive as the switch is about to occur. After this moment, his attitude makes him uncaring about what he has done or is willing to do. However, his in this instance it is almost as though he is pleading with Mac to remember that he did everything for a reason. He takes a long glance at her, as though remembering her at this moment, before she can grow to truly hate him. At this point she is afraid of him and confused by the turn of events, but it is not until he becomes Cruce that she truly begins to hate him. He is almost begging her to keep what he is saying in this scene in mind as the next one begins to unfold.

In order to make my next point, we must look at how Cruce’s hate for the Unseelie King stems from both the neglect of the king’s full attention or concern and a lack of an understanding of emotions. Because of the Unseelie King’s love of the concubine, Aoibheal, the king does not devote himself to the Unseelie he created and does not really concern himself with what happens to them. Because Cruce does not understand why the king loves this mortal woman more than his own children, the anger continues to build up until, when sentenced to death for merely existing, it overcomes Cruce so completely that it becomes his life’s mission to free his brethren and take his father’s crown; to start over with the Unseelie with a different approach. Cruce believes that by loving a mortal and having no concern for the Fae makes the Unseelie King weak and undeserving of the power he wields. After taking the concubine away from the king and utilizing her as a pawn in Seelie affairs, he becomes comfortable in the V’lane glamour he set in place. He lives the lives of two beings. He is Cruce, calculating, efficient, and struggling to not become a victim of circumstance like the rest of the Unseelie. But he is also V’lane, seemingly loyal to his race, a leader and ,unlike his Unseelie brothers, free.

When he meets Mac and begins to get to know her, he begins to understand what the Unseelie King felt for the concubine. Following in similar footsteps, he alters Mac to where she cannot die, not just because she is useful but because he cares for her. Afterwards, when it results in her becoming stronger and able to see him in his truest form, he begins hoping to take her to be his princess, telling her “’You are queenly in your own right” (Dreamfever, 69). As he hopes to become the future king of the Fae, she would become his queen. Which makes the dual meaning of the following exchange really interesting:

“’Maybe the fourth was you, V’lane. How do I know it wasn’t?’

My skin frosted. When I shivered, crystals of ice fell in a small snowstorm to the sidewalk. ‘I was with my queen.’” (Dreamfever, 73).

To an extent, he was. He was with the woman he would have as his queen during that scene. And when previously she comments that between the queen and herself, she was the expendable one to him, it can be regarded as though he meant the Mac that existed then was expendable in order to find the book. While Jericho Barrons believes the elixir was given to Mac to keep her Pri-ya forever, it does not make a lot of sense to believe Cruce would not have cured her of being Pri-ya after having the book in his possession; he was too proud of her ability to view a Fae in its true form to be satisfied with an empty shell for his queen.

As Cruce began to disregard using Mac for the Sinsar Dubh and planning to keep her for his own, it becomes apparent that his downfall is that he cared for Mac too much. His V’lane glamour allowed him the freedom to care for her. But as Cruce, caring for her would make him weak. One of the themes in the Fever series, especially in Shadowfever, is duality. And Cruce versus V’lane is one of the major examples of duality at work in the series. For example, he even refers to himself as separate entities after it becomes clear he is one and the same:

“’I wanted you to accept me as I was, but—how is it you say?—my reputation preceded me. Others filled your head with lies about Cruce, I endeavored to correct them, open your eyes.’” (Shadowfever, 569)

As long as he is in V’lane’s form, he cannot fully accept himself as Cruce. Whether it is denying his presence in the rape, keeping his existence secret or even making a simple statement about himself, there is definitely a rift between both personalities. Maybe it is because he hasn’t drunk from the Cauldron and is becoming unhinged, or maybe it is because V’lane has become a shield for Cruce. He can do anything in the name of his cause and fall back on the fact that, as V’lane, he has never done those things since V’lane lives to serve Aoibheal. He’s lived a life behind a mask, and now that it is time to take the mask off, what lies underneath may not be overly recognizable to even himself.

To elaborate, the personality shift from V’lane to Cruce can be closely connected to his feelings for Mac. He tells her all he has done is for a reason, then he changes form and does not sugar coat anything else he says. Whereas, as V’lane, he wanted her to want him as he is, as Cruce he seems to want her to hate him. He cannot admit to himself or the Unseelie King he has feelings for a human when he is telling the king he did what he did because the king loved the concubine. He has ultimately trapped himself with a double standard. Had he not cared for Mac, he could have made her Pri-ya at any time and used her to get the book as he ultimately set out to do in Darkfever when he offered her his cuff after trying to seduce her and learning she had a stronger will than he expected.

Cruce would have found a way to get the Sinsar Dubh eventually, but because he develops feelings for Mac, he is trapped within himself. Taking away the freedom the V’lane glamour allowed Cruce forces him into the corner he created for himself by believing that feelings made one too weak to be the king of the Fae. While Cruce may not have been locked away in the Unseelie Prison, he was still a prisoner of his own design. First, he was locked away in the form of a Seelie Prince to keep his existence unknown, and afterwards it becomes represented by the fact that he is now frozen in all his glory beneath the abbey. Should he ever be let out, he will not truly be free until he can stop living for a cause and start living for himself.

Hello, my name is Victoria Miller, and I am a Moning Maniac. If you think this is a fanbase of tweens and teens, you're in the wrong place. While some teens do read the books, I wouldn't recommend allowing anyone under the age of 18 to do so due to adult content, eroticism, and all that other good stuff you get with an R rating on television and in the movies.

Based on the fact so many articles have been published in relation to Variety's announcement of Dreamworks purchasing the the rights to make feature films based on the five book series (which is one continuous story split into five parts, not a book with four sequels, FYI.) it seems as though the lack of knowledge in the non-book communities has caused a trend of misinformation. While it is an epic story, comparing the series to Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games is unfair in that, while those young adult series are all great in their own right, and Harry Potter is, well, it's Harry Potter...., the Fever series is an adult urban fantasy that has little to do with any of the aforementioned teen franchises.

I am going to take this opportunity to enlighten those who are unfamiliar with the story without giving away too much. Probably my favorite thing about this series (aside from my infamous literary love affair with V'lane) is Karen Marie Moning's use of foreshadowing. The major things may or may not be obvious as you read it and think "oh yeah, back when ____happened...," but if you re-read the books you will find you knew something, or something was referenced, from the very beginning. Even from the prologue of the first book. So, avoiding spoiling the really good stuff, this is what you need to know:

The story is told through the eyes of MacKayla Lane. Raised in  the fictional town of Ashford, Georgia, Mac begins her story appearing to be a blond "Barbie" type who cares little for much outside of glamour, boys...and fast cars.  By the end of the last book we will find Mac has changed so much in so little time that you almost feel sad she had to mature so fast in the ways she was forced to do so (but don't worry, the character development is done VERY well)...if that made sense...my eyes just crossed re-reading that sentence. When her sister Alina is murdered in Ireland, Mac's only clue to what happened is left in a cell phone voice mail. Mac travels to Dublin to solve the murder herself (and seek revenge on Alina's killer) when the investigators close the case.

Upon her arrival, Mac runs into a enigmatic bookstore owner, Jericho Barrons, at  Barrons Books and Baubles. Not only does he have the information to help her locate (and learn about) the Sinsar Dubh, an evil book of dark magic created over a million years ago by the Unseelie King himself that is responsible for a slew of violent murders and suicides across Dublin, but Barrons also informs Mac that she is a Sidhe-seer; someone who can see through Fae glamour and, in Mac's case, have other extraordinary gifts.

Together they hunt for OOPs (Fae Objects of Power), which leads to Mac's possession of one of the only two weapons known to be able to kill the Fae: The Spear of Destiny. As Mac learns more about her heritage, upon learning she and her sister were adopted, Mac meets other Sidhe-seers, including  Dani (the ONLY teenage character in the books and is too feckin' awesome to be censored into a PG movie) who has superspeed and other enhanced senses, and often wields the other weapon: The Sword of Light. Together they kick so much Faery ass that they eventually lose count.
Mac is  not the only person who is seeking the Sinsar Dubh. Barrons wants it for his own reasons, but he isn't one to share secrets willingly. Then there is V'lane, sent, he says, by the Seelie Queen to use the book to restore the falling walls between the Fae and Human realms. He's lethally seductive, so much so that sex with him could turn a woman "Pri-ya" (someone so addicted to Fae sex that it becomes their only function) or could kill them from the pleasure of it. Then there is Darroc, the Lord Master. A former Fae (who's fall is witnessed in The Immortal Highlander, by Karen Marie Moning. Part of the Highlander romance series which introduced the Fae and preceded Charlaine Harris' introduction of fae into the Sookie Stackhouse (TrueBlood)  novels; I am looking at you those people about to compare those Fae to Karen's! Don't do it!) who seeks to free the Unseelie from their prison and make the Fae gods among the humans. Christian MacKeltar, part of a highland clan of Druids who seek to keep the walls from falling and forcing Fae and Human realms to collide. And the Sidhe-seers, who may have actually been the reason the book has gone missing in the first place.

Over the course of the books, Mac learns more about the history of the Tuatha De Danann, the beautiful, elitist Seelie and the abominations known as the Unseelie. She must battle the Shades: creatures of no physical form that dwell in true darkness and cannot enter the light. They instantly devour anything living, leaving only a dried up husk behind. Royal Hunters: Dragon-like creatures that look like the classic depiction of the devil, and were responsible for hunting and slaugtering the sidhe-seers before the compact between Man and Fae existed. The Gray Man, an Unseelie so ugly that he steals the beauty of others, leaving them either rotting away or dead when he is through. Malluce, born the son of a wealthy family and claiming to be a real life vampire, but appearances are often deceiving. (please note...Malluce is a very MINOR character with only a small pivotal role in two of the books)

Throughout her journey, Mac steals from Irish mobsters, is tortured and brutalized, lost within the Fae realms, has really, really epic sex, loses everything and more than she thought she had to lose, and may or may not be the key to saving the world from a slightly insane being seeking the ultimate power: the Sinsar Dubh.

And if that isn't enough to keep you glued to your chair while reading, there is always the mystery of Barrons and the eight others like him; what are they? How did they get that way? What is Barrons up to? What the hell does Ryodan look like anyway? What is V'lane or Darroc or the Sidhe-Seers really up to for that matter? Who is responsible for Alina's murder? What happens to Mac in her darkest hour? Who does Mac find herself responsible for killing? What the K'Vruck is a K'Vruck? What happens if she presses IYD (If You're Dying) on the phone Barrons gave her?And finally, just where is the elusive Unseelie King whose book is the cause of everything that is going on?

Want to find out? Catch the fever!

Book 1: Darkfever
Book 2: Bloodfever
Book 3: Faefever
Book 4: Dreamfever
Book 5: Shadowfever

visit karen's message boards at her website for in dept book discussions and more: http://www.karenmoning.com/

Like the fever series, don't miss the two official soundtracks
BloodRush and Shadowsong

and last but not least, please keep major spoilers out of the comments should you reply so those who have yet to read can enjoy the fun of finding out on their own. Thank you!

Around the time of Faefever's release there was a lot of buzz around 20th Century Fox buying the rights to the Fever series. The release on it read pretty great...aside from saying Mac was a teenage girl.  However, Fox never went through and the rights eventually went back to Karen to resell to another studio. At FeverCon in 2010, when asked about it, Karen stated that she was more protective of the series now than she was then and would only sign on the dotted line if she knew the series was going to be done correctly. Well, it appears something is likely to happen now as Dreamworks Studio released an artcile in Vanity (read  it here) stated that Dreamworks has the rights to the movie franchise, which is fantastic. Though they are using the hype around the Harry Potter, Twilight and Hunger Games franchises as a basis to compare it to...Hopefully, this does not mean they are going to gear the series towards a teenage audience, as it is an adult themed series and watering it down for teens would diminish the quality considerablly.

However, I have faith that more Fever in my life can only be better than no more Fever in my life, and a real-life V'lane (if blond) will be the best thing since sliced bread for this Moning Maniac. Here's hoping the project gets a greenlight and goes on to cause more audiences to catch the fever! Congratulations Karen! We all know you're a star, and now it is time Hollywood catches on too!

While waiting for more information, fans are taking to Facebook and Twitter and sharing the news. #FeverMovie on Twitter is the tag currently in use. And some people (I admit to nothing) have already tweeted to Kristen Bell and Katie Cassidy about audtioning for Mac, and Joe Manganiello about Barrons and Ian Somerhalder for Christian or the Dreamy-Eyed Guy. And visited Eric Etebari's Facebook page as well as he is the inspiration behind Jericho Barrons.


On Twitter:
Eric Etebari: @EricEtebari
Kristen Bell: @IMKristenBell
Katie Cassidy: @MzKatieCassidy
Joe Manganiello: @joemanganiello
Ian Somerhalder: @iansomerhalder

When I was a little girl, any time I was in water (be it the ocean, the pool, or the bathtub) I was a mermaid. When Disney's The Little Mermaid came out, this increased my inner desire to be this beautiful creature that could see and breath under water. I always thought, hey...that would be so freaking cool.

I was wandering through Books-a-Million (as I often do) when the cover for this book, Siren's Call, Book 1 of the Dark Tides series by Devyn Quinn caught my eye. Even before becoming a cover artist, I have the tendency to impulse buy something that has just down right gorgeous artwork. (I found Virginia Kantra's Children of the Sea novels through their artwork, and I spent a small fortune importing used copies of the original UK Pointe Horror collection covers of the original printing of LJ Smith's The Forbidden Game because their covers were gorgeous) Anyway.... The cover was pretty and I impulsed bought without even reading the description. (I do that when hot blond men grace covers too. It is like a surprise sometimes what the book is actually about. Keeps it interesting.) So...Based on the title I naturally assumed the heroine was a Greek Siren. To keep with the surprise, I didn't read the synopsis before starting to read and the first bit kinda went along with that them....then ta da! The heroine is a mermaid!

While Mermaids are in a lot of folklore and here or there in stories I read or in movies I watch, I hadn't actually read any of the "mermaid" romances. There are a good bit, but they aren't taking up as much of the shelf space as say...vampires or werewolves. 

As for the story itself, I felt I could relate to the heroine at several points of the book. She has a personality that is similar to mine. I have the tendency to push people away when they try to get close to me because I can't handle the attention properly and she had the same reflex...God, I didn't know I was that annoying! LMAO. Anyway, I liked the hero too....he was just too "nice" for me to LOVE him. And I am not just saying that because he isn't blond. I would have prefered a bit more of an alpha male, but it wouldn't have worked with her personality very well and he would have pushed her away in his forwardness within the first 20 pages.


Now...slight spoilers ahead, but will refrain from anything major.

The book starts off with the basic paranormal premise: Guy likes girl, she is mutually attracted. One is paranormal. The other figures it out. They deal. They hump. They wake up the next morning all shades of WTF and they deal with that. Enter the antagonist: the evil, super hot blond ex. (Why do they bad apples always have to be blond lately. I object!!!!)

Midway through the book it goes from relationship drama, thank god because I was wondering if it was nearly 400 pages of relationship drama or if something supernatural was going to occur to stir trouble. I got my wish, but it wasn't anything like I thought would happen. At all! Evil Blond Ex is an archaeologist who is using his knowledge of the Mer to seek fame and fortune by looking for historical fact to prove their existence without actually outing the heroine and her family in the process. While he is a loathsome character, he is vastly entertaining and supposedly very attractive so I did enjoy most of his page time.

When they embark on their journey into the Mediterranean sea, it goes from simple paranormal romance to more action/adventure and I think I really really got into it at that point. Things of course do not go smoothly and FINALLY events occur that  bring about a story arc to continue through the books other than the fact the heroine has two mermaid sisters. I just ordered a copy of book two, Siren's Surrender. I am looking forward to seeing how things progress. Book three comes out Feb 7, 2012.

And for those wondering about the Sexiness factor. There's a lot of chemistry between the two characters, but the romance is more sweet and intimate than lust bunny humpage every 5 minutes. While it would have been nice to see more intimate scenes between the characters, it got weird there when Blond Hunk of No Good came back into the picture, but I don't think it took away from the characters or the story any.

Added NINE new covers to the blog and updated the links since I kept putting it off till there were a whole lot. LOL. I would love to stay and go off on a random tangent but I have to work on edits now and clean the apartment. Till next time!

Two months of Melrose Place (old and new) on the Netflix instant queue streaming through my xbox and here I am....Kinda sad I finished, and kinda wishing they never did the reboot at all.

One of the few shows FOX has ever kept on the air that I actually enjoyed, even though I technically wasn't supposed to be watching it when my mom and stepdad were. Melrose Place lasted 7 seasons, ending in 1999 I believe. I was in elementary school when it first aired but I still watched. I didn't know what was going on half the time but many things stayed in the back of my mind that I remembered as I rewatched for the first time since the original airing of the show: Michael and Jane as the apartment managers, Allison's roommate bailing and her getting Billy to pay half the rent before starting a romance that never quite gets to flourish, Sydney stirring everything up through blackmail and many other things, Jo and Jake, Jake owning Shooters, Amanda Woodward arriving as the queen bitch who is out to make everyone's life a living hell, Kimberly's crazy antics and more.

My favorite characters then remain my favorite now. Sydney Andrews is a character most hated or loved to hate, but I adored her. She messed up everything, did everything wrong, fell into every bad situation possible from hooking to stripping to being murdered. She came onto the show in season 1 as a recurring character, Jane's sister, and later became a regular until the end of season five when she was killed on the night of her wedding while taking wedding photos before the reception. While the show was still worth watching in the final 2 seasons, without Sydney it was a little less fun...even if they brought in Lexi Sterling to later being the slutty redhead in her place.

Also departing in season 5 was Jake Hanson, played by the very handsome Grant Show. He dated just about every female lead on the show in his five seasons and was one of the few who actually received an HEA ending to his run when his ex and his son he only found out about a few seasons prior come back into his life.

It is hard to say if it is the crazy situations such as the antics of Kimberly, Michael, Sydney, Lexi or Taylor that kept the show so addicting, or maybe it was the relationships such as Amanda and Peter--whose chemistry was off the charts when they first met and were on and off again throughout the series since season 3. So much so that they fake their own deaths in the season finale to escape both of their bad situations and start over fresh in a tropical paradise. *sigh* So romantic. Or maybe it was the characters themselves, more so than their antics. I know any scene that put Peter, Michael, and Sydney in the same place at the same time had me laughing uncontrollably. Peter's sarcasm, Michael's idiotic schemes, and Sydney's presence alone made for fun dialogue and enjoyable TV.

The way the show ended was pretty much a fitting ending full of hope for the characters we had come to love. Peter and Amanda escaped the law and were together finally without anything to get in their way, Kyle and Jane were together and very much in love despite the fact that Jane was carrying Michael's baby and Kyle knew it. Michael got all of Peter's money and was once again chief of staff at Whilshire Memorial, Megan and Ryan were married and reunited with Ryan's daughter. And Lexi was, well...she was probably wishing she could steal Amanda's ability to go out with a bang.

Then the reboot comes along eleven years later and ruins several storylines either by continuity errors and dismissal. The only characters to come back to the show in the reboot were Amanda, Sydney, Michael, Jane and Jo. There were odes to past characters, Michael kept a computer file on past tenants such as Allison and the others. However, the building underwent quite the renovation from the ground up. Plausible, I guess...but it didn't even get that remodeled after Kimberly blew half of it up. No word on HOW Sydney came to owning the building or how soon Lexi sold it after everyone but her got their HEA (or so we thought) in the original finale.

Sydney Andrews died in season 5 of the original series. Samantha was fighting for control of the car from her convict father when they ran her over. It may have been bought that Michael really did fake her death for her, and she had supposedly spent time in jail because of it, but there are soooo many issues that make it not plausible.
-Sydney tells Michael in the flashback where he fakes her death that it was done by someone in her past that will kill her husband if she stays "alive." First of all, it was a freak accident and what connection did she have with someone that escaped from jail for Sam not Syd? AND She finally found love with a man who loved her for her as she was. It is ridiculous that Sydney would allow that to die over such a phony pile of garbage they cooked up to get her back. And then her husband, Craig, couldn't handle life in LA without Sydney with him and killed himself holding the watch she engraved to him as a wedding gift. It makes his whole story arc after the accident meaningless. Not to mention they bring her back to life to make her an alcoholic (which she claims started after her first marriage --to Michael, and she was not much of a drinker on the show after that marriage that I could recall having just watched it prior to the reboot, and a drug addict...which seemed weird for her as she didn't even touch the drugs Kimberly prescribed to her except to drug her sister with them.) and then they kill her in the first episode. I was SO disappointed to see my favorite character brought back to be murdered once again.
-Jane's return has no mention of what happened with Kyle or her baby. Um? hello?

Sorry about the lack of activity on the cyber end of things. Last weekend I moved (again!) and now that I am settling into the change I have time for the fun stuff again. Moved out of my late grandparents' house and into a one bedroom apartment with Bagheera in tow. Added some new covers to the cover art page, and finishing up a 2 month spree of Melrose Place viewing through my netflix account. Will have probably a lenghty post about that later this week. It's been a while since seeing the original, and as I watched it through my elementary and middle school years, some things stuck in my mind while others did not. I am doing a quick rewatch of the reboot that aired on CW 2009-2010 for 18 episodes before being canceled before I post. I think I have 16 episodes left.... :)

As you can see, Bagheera has dubbed the couch as her throne in the new place. Her former throne, the scratching post, is in front of the bedroom window. She feels her royal subjects (mostly me) need to SEE HER at all times though...

7 random facts:

-I have never been able to tolerate the taste/textrure of fruit (other than in juices and some pastries) since seeing Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as a child. Maybe it is psychological, who knows.

-I am allergic to wasps.

- All it takes to make me happy is a good book, a cup of hot cocoa and a cozy place to enjoy both.

-I can edit for everyone except for myself. I never see my own typos and mishaps until they are made public.

-I had a gold fish that lived for five years named Sawyer. He (though I suspect he was really a she. I don't know) was named after the character from LOST.

-My obsession with everything Norse began with LJ Smith's The Forbidden Game, which I read in high school.

-My friends and I learned the Elder Futhark and which modern letters they represent and used to pass notes in 11th and 12th grade using them as a way to keep others from knowing what we talked.

Passing the award on to:

Eve Langlais
Ricki Jill Treleaven
Hailey Edwards
Sandra Sookoo
Mia Suarez
Jordy Albert

I don't quite follow that many blogs at the moment so I don't have a full ten.

I am almost done in my massive marathon re-watching of Buffy and Angel. I finished season 7 of Buffy two days ago and am midway through the final season of Angel. I also read volumes 1-7 of the Buffy season 8 comics (the final volume isn't out in the one volume format until the summer, so I don't have the end of that story just yet) but as I sit here watching how Angel completely sold out in his final season, and how volume 7 of the Buffy comics (which is the official continuation of the story, for those who do not know) is a giant WTF on the grounds of 1. not making sense, 2. being really silly and 3. not making sense...I mourn all the things that made me fall in love with these characters in the first place.

Don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE Buffyverse fan. Just seeing it all over again for the first time in at least 5-6 years brings up all the good and all the bad at the same time. And since I don't have many friends who know the shows as well as I do, I feel this is the best outlet to let it out a bit.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The show was a reimaging of the story brought to us in the movie of the same name. Only the show did it better. It used fighting monsters as a theme of getting through life in high school, and it was entertaining as hell. While Angel's spinoff was a more mature setting in the same universe of storytelling, it never quite had the same appeal as Buffy. Perhaps it is because Angel isn't allowed to be perfectly happy, where as Buffy tries to find happiness in a life of feeling alone even when she is surrounded by people. I am not sure exactly, but if I could choose to watch reruns of Buffy or Angel, Buffy will win out nearly every time.

Pros of BtVS
1. The characters. I liked nearly every character. Nearly. We'll talk about the one I didn't care for later. While the feel of the show changes a bit once they blow up the high school, most of my favorite characters are more predominate in the later years of the show: Spike, Anya, Andrew.
2. The emotion. Nearly anytime Willow cries it rips your heart out. Oz leaving was perhaps one of the hardest episodes for me to get though, though Joyce and Tara's deaths follow almost immediately in my mind as the saddest moments. Anya's being left at the alter. Spike's sacrifice. Xander trying to find Anya as they leave the school building in the final scenes of the show and passing by her not knowing. Xander's telling Dawn she's extraordinary because she gets through it all without superpowers to help her. The list goes on and on.
3. Recurring Characters. Everyone loves when characters return to shows. Back when Spike wasn't a series regular, any episode with him in it was so much more fun to watch than the others, IMO. Drusilla always made it interesting as well. Once Harmony became a vampire she became SO much more interesting and entertaining. Obnoxious, very...but the Harmony/Xander chick fight is good stuff. Super nerds as the villains was amusing, and I enjoyed the episodes with them (minus Warren whom I hated from the beginning of his existence on the show). The ending of "Lessons" in season 7 in which the First appears as a major villain from each season still leaves me with a bit of fangirlish awe.

The Cons
1. Suspension of disbelief only goes so far. It may be my editorness into play but seriously. The town of Sunnydale is constantly referred to as small, nothing there, etc. The only fun place to go is apparently The Bronze....however, Sunnydale has its own airport, mall, museum, zoo, college, medieval Dracula castle and I am sure I am leaving something out. Not only that, but in some episodes Buffy can super jump...in others not so much. Angel can break through heavy doors and other things, but can;t break a tiny padlock on a chain link door. Spike is rendered into a wheelchair when an organ falls on him, yet is beaten by a goddess, thrown off a very high tower among other horrible things and is perfectly fine in a day or few after. Um... yeah. I can't help but notice these things.
2. Riley Finn and the Initiative. At first neither were so bad. In fact, I found Riley utterly adorable...at first until after the episode, "Hush." Then that whole storyline became highly irritating with the Frankenstein monster Adam and evil professor and Riley's insecurities in having a girlfriend stronger than he was. I was SO happy when he finally left the show. Angel and Riley's departures only made me like the show more.
3. Downer Buffy. We have Angel to be all sad and moody all the time, while I do enjoy season 6 of Buffy, her attitude in that one (which is understandable) drives me insane. It takes her an entire season to snap out of it. But truth be told, she had been in that funk since her mother died. She finally got more normal Buffy like and then the potentials started arriving in season 7 and we were back to moody Buffy again. Made me really miss seasons 1-3.
4. "Hell's Bells." There are a good handful of singled out episodes I hate for being really dumb (Beer Bad, for example) but I think one of the worst decisions made in this series was to have Xander and Anya break up on their wedding day. It is so upsetting and was it really all that necessary to make Anya a demon again? I don't see it being all too relevant. They found a few things to do with it, but alas....

Angel

The spinnoff follows Angel after he leaves Sunnydale because he can't be with Buffy because it risks him being evil again and it is holding her back. He reunites with Cordelia, the shallow popular girl from Sunnydale High, and later Wesley, formerly the replacement watcher for both Buffy and Faith. Eventually their little gang gets more members and after 2 seasons of several random storylines and few actual arcs, they get a very strong third season followed by a terrible fourth season, which, in my opinion, ruined the whole show, and concluded with a fifth season that was cancelled after it opened up several storylines without enough time to tie them up.


The Pros
1. Angel himself was usually more enjoyable than when he was on Buffy. There are the die hard Buffy/Angel fans...but they bored me to tears together.
2. Cordelia became such a strong character. Those who hated her on Buffy came to love her on Angel. She found a purpose and, like with every character on the show, sought redemption in her own way. I think Cordelia was one of the few who actually found it. Before they ruined the character...I'll get back to that shortly.
3. Illyria. Was such an interesting character. It brought more of the mythology of that world to light with the demons that walked the earth prior to the evolution of man. It also was incredibly sad to see Fred die, but at the same time the possibilities that character introduced were endless. This is one of the few reasons I was sad to see the show go...that and the fact that there were no other shows to carry on the legacy of the Buffyverse in Angel's absence.

Cons
1. The ruination of Cordelia Chase. season 1-3 built the character up, made her a wonderful woman and a beloved character. Then season 4 arrived. What. The. F***. I get that Charisma Carpenter got pregnant and they needed to work the babeh belly into the script but I can't figure out what the hell happened! It's not so much the fact that she went evil because she wasn't actually herself the entire season. (The exception being "Spin the Bottle" which was very nostalgic to see former Cordelia and Wesley characters again) but her whole presence on the show changed. Almost any scene she was in felt like it was a really bad soap opera. She was either standing or sitting in the foreground or background spouting drama drama drama. One minute "oh, Connor, I want you even though I am practically your mother." The next, "I can't be with you, Connor. It's wrong." blah blah. It was horribly painfully boring, overly dramatic, and exhausting bad. We get her back for one episode in season 5 and then she dies.
2. The ruination of Connor. Even before Angel came out I had a bit of a teenaged crush on Vincent Karthesier. Imagine my happiness of him being on a show I watched. It was really hard to like the character when Cordelia but-not-really-Cordelia the soap opera fake was constantly changing his mind about how to act. The character could have been great. However, he was never given the chance to become a likable character. Which is a real shame. Season 5's few appearances was starting to finally make it to where we could like him, but it was too late because the show was at its end.
3. Selling out. Wolfram and Hart was the villain. Angel's nemesis. So....they all go and work for them? Yeah, I get the inside the belly of the beast scenario and all...but it never felt like the same show once they transferred over. Adding Spike and Harmony helped make the show more fun where as Season 4 was the fun killing monster season of death, but even that couldn't quite same. Partly because the lead female, Cordelia, was gone. They kill off the supporting female, Fred and we are left with a superficial vampire chick, a demon who is a complete mystery, and a backstabbing liaison biotch who was never likable in the first place to fill the female character roles. And I am just going to pretend Angel didn't attempt a relationship with Nina the werewolf because that was just trying too hard to give him normalcy despite the fact that the show had jumped ship at the end of season 3 and hanging on into season five was merely a desperate attempt to keep the Buffyverse alive and well.

Buffy Season 8 Comics.

At least 2 years after Buffy ends as things with characters that were on Angel clash with the season 5 storyline otherwise. For one, Harmony is now a reality tv star which makes the world hate slayers. And, major spoilers ahead for the other reasons I will get to if you continue reading. Please remember, I have not read volume 8 yet so I don't know what happens after volume 7: Twilight

Pros:
1. The storyline continues and they are given the ability to do a little more than a TV budget would allow (Willow, and at one point Buffy, can fly).
2. We find out that Buffy never was in Rome dating the Immortal. That was a decoy disguised as Buffy (another one went underground as Buffy) in a ruse thought up by Andrew, who was stationed there. Because they knew attempts would be made on her life. I like this because I hated the idea that she had moved on from Spike that quickly to another vampire. (notice how I don't care if she moved on from Angel)
3. Warren and Amy are back, together, as villains. Firstly, eww. Second Amy had followed Dark Willow into the woods and saved Warren from dying from shock and was able to use her power as a kinda skin to keep him from dying and being in pain. However, she is dating him and he has no skin. eew. eew. eww. Also, it explained when Amy cursed Willow to become Warren in season 7, Willow was really becoming Warren. A mystical version of the Buffy/Faith body switch except Willow was never going into another body. It was a nice detailed touch.
4. Seeing old characters like Oz, Ethan Rayne, and in the one shot dream sequence...Joyce and Cordelia (in a way to see the Buffy Animated Series artwork and story since the cartoon never was picked up by a network)
5. Xander and Dracula guy-bonding. LOL! Also Xander's wishing to be called Nick Fury amused me.

Cons
1. The errors. Warren makes a reference to something that was The First pretending to be Warren, not Warren himself....however, they later corrected that with Amy pointing it out and Warren saying something like he was just messing with Andrew when he said it. Among other small things. Like WTF happened to Riley's wife. He's in it but she is never mentioned (and he is no longer scarred)
2. Dark Willow will apparently come back, stay alive for 2 centuries without aging, but be out of magic when buffy visits the future and has to kill her. It seemed to me like a silly story conjured up in a reason to bring the Fray storyline back into play. The cover of that volume had dark willow on the cover, so the surprise villain was given away (as it was on the Twilight volume) and they way willow was using magic and flying around was WAY worse than how she was using it prior to becoming evil the first time yet it was all la la la until Buffy went to the future and saw that.
3. Buffy's girl on girl experimentation. Okay, yeah. I get it. In comic form you can do whatever you want with the characters. It just seemed out of character for Buffy, and it was just awkward. However, the dream sequence with Angel and Spike making out was freaking hilarious...esp. with Caleb marrying Buffy to skinless Warren.
4. The Twilight storyline in general. So....this masked guy named Twilight has Amy, Warren and the US military working for him. He has people carving his symbol in their skin and attacking slayers. But....it is Angel. Not Angelus, but Angel. Because the universe wants to reward Buffy for sharing her power and it allows them to have sex (which shoots them into their own dimension to create however they want and be together without consequence). Um..... Look at that shark pit they just jumped over there...
5. Dawn. WTF. They are doing all these erotic covers with Dawn and now her and Xander are in love, but wait for it...when Buffy figures it out she tries to confess her love for Xander which he doesn't buy at all.

Now I hear there is a line of Angel comics that follow the majorly cliffhangery ending of Angel but I am not sure I want to read them or not.... Haven't heard anything about them opinionwise. However, I did find a clip of the Buffy animated series which, humorously, follows the storyline in the comic dream sequence in which Buffy wakes up in the cartoon (the highschool years of Buffy with Dawn included).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNHqkadJ_5Y&feature=player_embedded

Thank you for letting me rant a bit. I feel like my inner geek has been released. LOL