The stories ended when I got used to the characters. But I'm getting used to the quick endings that leave you curious about what will happen next. I'm hoping to see the characters from these three books in future books and see what has happened to them. I hope the next book it isn't another story about soul-mates and forbidden love.

L.J. Smith has made an interesting world, which has certain laws that apply to vampires, witches, and werewolves. It is a mysterious world that makes you want to learn more about it.


SECRET VAMPIRE - 4/5: Hooked from the very first sentence
"It was on the first day of summer vacation that Poppy found out she was going to die." (5)

Poppy North goes to El Camino High with her friend James that she has known since kindergarten. Poppy is in love with James, but he never has returned her feelings. Poppy is diagnosed with cancer, just when she thought that she would make the most of her summer with James.

James Rasmussen is a handsome vampire with hidden secrets. He is a lamia, a born vampire, that is subject to the laws of the Night World...


DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS - 4/5: Interesting story, but too many characters
"And what if that happened to you-if you found somebody and you were soulmates with them and you didn't want to be?" (377)

It was a difficult story to get into, perhaps because there were so many characters. The story seemed to be enclosed around a box, it felt like it was lacking a real world, even though there were many main characters; perhaps it was because it took place during the summer.


Mary-Lynnette is a human, who's interested in astronomy and star-gazing, and who has often spoken to and helped out an old, crazy neighbour named Mrs. Burdock. She is told that Mrs. Burdock's three nieces are coming to live with her: Rowan, Kestrel, and Jade.

Mary-Lynnette's younger brother, Mark, does not have a girlfriend, which Mary-Lynnette finds odd, and wishes on Jupiter that he finds one; perhaps one of Mrs. Burdock's nieces would be good for him. He's going to be in junior high after the summer is over and he is shy. Even Mary-Lynnette doesn't have a boyfriend, although there is one boy that interests her, Jeremy. She thinks all good-looking boys are lacking in intelligence.

Rowan, Kestrel, and Jade are vampires trying to escape from the Night World's laws, and the old, traditional way of life. They don't want to get married to a person of their father's choice. They wait for their Aunt Opal Burdock to come pick them up, but their aunt doesn't show up. In the end, they try to hitch a ride to their aunt's house. There, they find an unrecognisable body in a pile of clothes-their aunt's dead body.

After the nieces had moved in, there has been no sign of their aunt. One night Mary-Lynnette sees the sisters carrying a large black sack and burying it in the yard. Mary-Lynnette thinks the three sisters have murdered their aunt.

That's when Ash shows up, the brother of the sisters. He irritates Mary-Lynnette so much. He wants to decide who his sisters should talk to, what they should do. But there's something about him, that handsome jerk, something that sends sparks flying throughout her body.

When Mary-Lynnette finally convinces Mark, who has become quite fond of Jade, to help investigate, they discover a secret. Who has killed Mrs. Burdock? And why does Mary-Lynnette get that weird feeling when she is around Ash, even though she detests him?


SPELLBINDER - 4.5/5: So far, the most exciting book in the series
Two cousins, Thea and Blaise Harman, are witches, but not pure witches, they have a bit of vampire blood in them and are related to James and Ash, vampires from the previous two books. Thea and Blaise have been sent from one relative to the next because they keep getting expelled from school. Now they are living with their Grandma Harman in Las Vegas.

The first day of school, Thea sees a group of students around a snake, poking it, some shouting to kill it. She is afraid for the snake, and then she sees it getting ready to strike. She tries to merge their minds together, and just when she's getting it to calm down, a boy named Eric Ross sends her flying to the side.

Eric gets bitten by the snake, but he tells all the students that the snake didn't bite. Thea takes her cousin Blaise's necklace, and she and Eric carry the snake into the bushes. There, she looks at Eric's leg and heals it with the stone on the necklace, then pretends that he was just imagining he got bitten. She feels some sort of odd connection with him. Why was he willing to risk his life for the snake? When Eric shows his interest for, she tells him that she doesn't want to see him again.

But what is she to do if her cousin Blaise starts to show interest in Eric? Blaise-the same cousin that has turned boys crazy for her with the use of magic. And what if Thea's spell goes wrong and she releases a terrible spirit into the world?

4/5