Currently, we are participating in a blog tour for the book The Last Confession of the Vampire Judas Iscariot by David Vermont. This is the first installment in the series of posts. Please welcome David Vermont to the blog!

David Vermont Talks about Making Vampires Evil Again
All readers wonder where authors get their story ideas. David Vermont, author of The Last Confession of the Vampire Judas Iscariot admits that it was the storyof Judas as a vampire that kept invading his thoughts.


David: "I was halfway through my first attempt on a different book when the story of
Judas as a vampire kept invading thoughts. At first I resisted, what if I got halfway
through Judas and then couldn't finish? Then I would have two books half done
and nothing to show for it. I put aside my other book and began writing The Last
Confession of the Vampire Judas Iscariot. It was the best decision I made.
In The Last Confession of the Vampire Judas Iscariot, I try to present theology in an
interesting way through the narrative. I think there is a lot to be said about theology
using fiction. Theology is the deepest of studies, especially if you challenge the
reader with hard theology, not the wishy-washy feel good theology of modernism."




Good v. Evil
"I love discussing good v. evil, faith v. works, and symbol v. sacrament, etc. I think
people should talk about God and the things that surround him. If money were no
object, I would definitely give the book away, in the hope of starting more of these
conversations and creating the buzz needed to sell more books.
The Last Confession of The Vampire Judas Iscariot is a novel that follows Judas the
betrayer of Jesus. After Judas commits suicide he is raised from the dead by the
devil. However, since the devil cannot do true miracles Judas is not truly alive but
he’s not dead either, he is undead – a vampire. Judas becomes the devils apostle
and works for him down through history. He leads many lives to help bring the
devil’s plans to fruition. You see Judas in ancient Rome, medieval Europe and Nazi
Germany. The man part of the novel takes place in modern day New York City when
Judas meets and confronts a former Catholic priest."


Making Vampires Evil Again
"I wrote the book because I wanted to make vampires evil again. In today’s modern
mythology only beautiful people become vampires and it’s not a punishment for
embracing evil but a reward for being cool. Freed from pain, suffering, disease,
old age and death today's vampire characters live the best human lives – the lives
we would all want to live. They have plenty of time to get rich, learn music, art
and history. They have loving friends and families and life is an endless party. In
contrast, when today’s stories show evil vampires they lose all humanity. They
become grotesque animals that cannot control their thirst for blood. They are little
more than animals that are mowed down by the stories hero who, almost always, is
seeking revenge for a great injustice done to him by the vampires. I wanted to write
a book about what a truly evil vampire would look like. An evil but also broken figure
who had a plan and used his supernatural ability to accomplish it."

About The Last Confession of Judas Iscariot 

Of all the people who ever lived, surely Judas Iscariot, history’s most notorious
betrayer, must be in hell. Or maybe not. After watching the crucifixion of Jesus,
Judas despairs over what he has done and fumes that the Messiah he put his trust in
has turned out to be just another pretender like all the rest. The toxic mix of emotions is
too much for him to bear and Judas commits suicide by hanging himself. He is
restored to life by the Devil and made into a vampire apostle. The Devil teaches
Judas to manipulate men and history. He becomes a king, a general, a teacher and a
blacksmith, whatever is needed to effect the outcome of history and move it towards
the goal of his new master. Each time he is ready to move on to his next incarnation
he must drink the blood of an innocent victim to be restored to his youthful vigor.
But despite his many powers and abilities Judas knows there is one thing
he desires and cannot have. Finally Judas meets a laicized priest, Raymond Breviary,
and tries to steal from him what he was denied two thousand years before.

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About David Vermont

Born and raised in New York City, David B. Vermont now lives in Alexandria, VA with
his wife and four kids. An attorney and accomplished litigator at one of Washington D.C.’s
top law firms, he began writing about religion when he was asked to author a series of articles
explaining the Catholic faith on the popular blog 52 Prayers.  He now writes regularly about
his faith as the leader of an online Bible study group. The Last Confession of The Vampire Judas Iscariot is his first foray into fiction.

His website is: davidvermont.com

Super Saver Saturday Book Edition (Canada): #2

Super Saver Saturday Book Edition (Canada), is a meme that we created that will display a different book each post, that you can get for an amazing deal. 

This week's deal is...

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

                                                     

 

  Ever since I found out about this book, I've always wanted to read it, but never got to, and I still haven't. Even though none of us have read 'Dorothy Must Die' (yet), y'all can beat us to it, and with this deal, you can own it for a lower price too!



  Currently on the Indigo/Chapters website, you can get this 432-paged hardcover for only $10.99, instead of the normal, in-store price of $21.99. The bad thing, is that I don't know when this amazing deal ends, so I recommend y'all to go order it right now!

   If you still can't make up your mind on whether you should even just read this, here's the synopsis (from Goodreads) to possibly help you out in this decision...

Synopsis:

"I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still the yellow brick road, though—but even that's crumbling.

What happened?

Dorothy. They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I've been trained to fight.

And I have a mission:

Remove the Tin Woodman's heart.

Steal the Scarecrow's brain.

Take the Lion's courage.

Then and only then—Dorothy must die!"

~

   Once again,  you can purchase this book for only $10.99 on the Indigo website (for a hardcover...like, what? :o) for a limited amount of time only! 

Click HERE to visit Indigo.ca

Blog Tour: Destiny and Synchrony

Shiz... this review is late :( Ok anyways, over the past couple of weeks I have been reading 2 books called Destiny and Synchrony, they are the first two books in a series by Cindy Ray Hale.

I am going to write two reviews, the second will be posted a day after the first. 

What is this book about?

Destiny Clark is an average teenage girl, save that she can't wear short sleeves, date outside of her community and can't drink caffeine, like NO STARBUCKS! I guess she's not that normal then... So let me start again.

Destiny Clark is a teenage girl that can't drink coffee, wear short sleeves or date outside of her church. 

In this modern day Romeo and Juliet story, Destiny Clark falls in love with her bother's ex-BFF, Isaac. Sure, so far the story looks pretty normal right, except for Destiny that is. But look again. Destiny Clark is Mormon and Isaac is Baptist. Mormons can't date outside of their church, so this romance seems to be doomed from the start. Or is it. Read this rollercoaster of book, through romantic trysts and failures.

RATING: 4/5
My thoughts?

The characters in this novel were a little, shall we say, unbelievable, both in the good way and the bad way. Like, some of the characters, mainly the minor characters, were more believable, take for example Destiny, she's the main focus of this story, and let me tell you, I have neither met nor read about anyone as indecisive as she is, but I suppose that's the point of the book. But that is besides the point. Some of the minor characters were indeed much more thought out and realistic like Preston for example, I can believe his story, that he loves Destiny so much that he is willing to fight for her in that way. Kinda chivalrous if you ask me. I did like most of the characters so the flaw in Destiny's character was overlooked, kinda.

The plot for this book is pretty good, the pacing can be a little boring at times, but overall it was okay. The weird thing about the plot is again that this novel wouldn't really happen, I have some friends that are Mormon and they are quite strict and their doctrine allows little space for bending the rules. But love is probably the whole point of this novel, that love can overcome any challenge, it makes the plot kinda cheesy but cute at the same time. Cute in the sense of teenage love that is.

The plot for this book however has been used a thousand times before hand. The internal struggle between the one you want, and the one you should want. But what's awesome is that Cindy managed to make it so that the whole plot seems to be recreated. Instead of having love as the deciding factor, she weighs in religion, morale, friendship, parents etc. This made it a whirlwind experience to read and in the end made me love it. I myself would pick Isaac though, the risky choice, but the right choice. But y'all can decide for yourselves....

There is a tour wide giveaway for the blog tour of Synchrony. These are the prizes you can win: - A $25 Amazon Gift Card (INTL), and a Destiny Swag Pack which includes: a signed copy of Destiny, a signed copy of Synchrony, a Destiny bookmark, a Destiny magnet, a Destiny keychain, and a Synchrony keychain. - An ecopy of My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris and a swag pack - A Camp Boyfriend swag pack by JK Rock - An ecopy of Definitely, Maybe in Love by Ophelia London. For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bout of Books: Update #2

      

Final Results

Hello, y'all! The Bout of Books challenge is officially over! But 

unfortunately, we did not reach our goal of 20 books. So we're 

a bit upset about that. 

Total Books Completed

Jasper:

1. All He Wants (by C.C. Gibbs) 

2. Thirteen Reasons Why (by Jay Asher)

YanLin

1.The One (by Kiera Cass) 

2.Thirteen Reasons Why (by Jay Asher) 

Manali

1.Elegy (by Tara Hudson) 

2.Under the Never Sky (Veronica Rossi)

3.The One (by Kiera Cass)

Total Count: 7 books

So we're really sad that we didn't our goal of 20 books.  Actually, we were supposed to read about 7 books per person, but instead we read 7 books altogether. So since we didn't reach our goal, we promise to try harder next time the Bout of Books comes around.

-The team at The Last Page at Midnight

Bout of Books 10: Challenge #7 - Retitle Your Current Read

I was really excited to do this challenge actually. I have read so many books where I found that the title had nothing to do with the actual book. It just so turns out that my current read, If I Stay, could use a little work in the title department as well. There's really no "If" in the book, she knows, we know, everyone knows from the start of the time she is standing over her body that she wants to stay, so there really is no point to the "If." If I were the author I would name it...

*drum roll please*

+1 for my awesome Photoshop skills :D

(Left: Actual Cover, Right: Retitled)

Bout of Books 10: Update #1

Update #1:

So, as y'all know, we've been participating in the Bout of Books 10. The thing you don't know, is how we've been doing. We all (somewhat) had a rough start with this, mainly because of homework, but we've started catching up, and we plan on getting a lot of reading done during the weekend.

~Our Progress~

Jasper:

1. All He Wants (by C.C. Gibbs) *COMPLETED*

2. Thirteen Reasons Why (by Jay Asher) *Currently on page 137*

YanLin:

1.The One (by Kiera Cass) *COMPLETED*

2.Thirteen Reasons Why (by Jay Asher) *Currently on page 141*

Manali:

1.Elegy (by Tara Hudson) *COMPLETED*

2.Under the Never Sky (Veronica Rossi) *COMPLETED*

3.The One (by Kiera Cass) *COMPLETED*

4. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (by Charles Yu) *Currently on page 103*

Bout of Books 10: Challenge #5 - Rainbow Book Challenge

Rainbows of Books
So today we decided to do a challenge in Bout of Books 10! We were really excited to do this one actually, and if I do say so myself, our rainbows are beautiful. Just in case the colours are a little weird, the lists are below...

JASPER'S
Black: Clockwork Angel
Violet: Children of the Lamp: The Cobra King of Kathmandu
Purple: Jane Eyre
Blue: Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune
Green: The Maze Runner
Yellow: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
Orange: The Call of the Wild
Red: Paper Towns
White: Edith's War


YANLIN'S
Black: The Goddess Test
Violet: Underworld
Purple: The Rising
Blue: The Fault in Our Stars
Green: Insurgent
Yellow: Sea of Monsters
Orange: City of Fallen Angels
Red: Werewolves
White: The One

Hereafter by Tara Hudson (Manali's Review)

Hereafter by Tara Hudson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*WARNING SPOILERS*

This book was actually pretty good. Mostly, I found it good because it was unique. I'd never read a book before this, that had told the book in the perspective of a ghost. And ghosts were a completely different thing than traditional ghosts. They're a completely different idea of ghosts.

Synopsis of the book:

Can there truly be love after death?

Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she's dead. With no recollection of her past life—or her actual death—she's trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.

Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their new found happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever.

The best thing about this book, aside from the idea, was that it was not in the least bit confusing. Well, it wasn't to me. Which I'm really happy about. I hate those books that are so confusing. They like, jump all over the place, and you can't even follow the story. But this book made sense for the most part.

Onto the next thing, the characters. The character development was pretty good. Half the time, the main character, Amelia, was only trying to figure herself out, and trying to figure out her relationship with Joshua. Also, Ruth was written in very well. And she actually did scare me, but I liked her anyways. And Eli, though he was the bad guy, I felt sorry for him. I especially like the books which make me care for the characters. The emotions conveyed through the characters were also good. As in, they were conveyed pretty well. Amelia's confusion, Joshua's love, Ruth's hate, Eli's jealousy of sorts. Then of course, there's Jillian, who is so stubborn, and innocent. And I like her, because the book made me care about her.

Next, the plot. The plot was also pretty good. It was a clear plot, and Amelia's story, the story of her death, was conveyed nicely. The plot by itself was a clever idea, and then the character's personalities enhanced it even more. Mostly though, I really enjoyed the new take on the ghost world. Like how ghosts only have the two senses, sight and hearing. The way hell and demons were represented. And of course, there's the sweet love story (which I have to admit got annoying after a while, but still).

The writing wasn't immature, which is a problem I've had with a lot of books. The book was well paced--conveyed the right emotions at the right times and went the right speed at most times.

So for the most part, this was an excellent read, and I really liked it. I rate this book 4.5-5 stars.

-Mannytee

View all my reviews