Tag: series

Reviews of the Night Fall Series Books 10 and 12

The Night Fall series is a series of 12 books aimed at young adults written by different authors.  I recently listened to two of the series on audiobook and I am sharing my reviews for both The Prank and The Late Bus today:

The Prank
Series: Night Fall #12
Author: Ashley Rae Harris
Published: August 1, 2011

Audiobook

Reviewed By: Jessica
Date Read: June 25, 2020
Jessica’s Rating: 2 stars

Book Description:

Pranks make Jordan nervous. But when a group of popular kids invites her along on a series of practical jokes, she doesn’t turn them down. As the pranks begin to go horribly wrong, Jordan and her crush, Charlie, work to discover the cause of the accidents. Is the spirit of a prank victim who died twenty years earlier to blame? And can Jordan stop the final prank, or will the haunting continue?

Jessica’s Review:

I was waiting for another audiobook to arrive and saw this was available and also a short one, right around two hours. It is part of a series that seemed reminiscent of the R.L. Stine Fear Street book series I absolutely loved as a teen. But it did not deliver for me.

First, it takes place in high school, and yes, I do enjoy YA books, but the teen drama was too much for me in this.  There is a reason you may not want to go back to high school and this book showed it.  

Jordan doesn’t like pranks but then the ‘popular kids’ invite her to come join with them. She doesn’t at first but then gets pulled in because they used an item of hers and left it at a location. Then things begin to get out of hand.  Quite honestly, I don’t even remember the ending and even though it is a short audiobook, I will not go back to it as I did not really even care about the teens.   It just tries to give a lesson for teens to not prank others or face consequences.  

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

The Late Bus
Series: Night Fall #10
Author: Rick Jasper

Published:  August 1, 2011
Audiobook

Reviewed By: Jessica
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Date Read: June 26, 2020

Book Description:

Lamar takes the late bus home from school after practice each day. After the bus’s beloved driver passes away, Lamar begins to see strange things–demonic figures, preparing to attack the bus. Soon he learns the demons are after Mr. Rumble, the freaky new bus driver. Can Lamar rescue his fellow passengers, or will Rumble’s past come back to destroy them all?

Jessica’s Review:

The Late Bus is the second audiobook in the Night Fall series I listened to. This one was much better than The Prank.  This one was a 45 minute audiobook, but Warning Warning: We have a problem Libby App: This is only part of the story!  If you look on Amazon, it says the book is 116 pages.  116 pages cannot be read in 45 minutes!  Also when I started the beginning of the audiobook, the narration began with chapter 10. So we are missing the first half of the book. This is very unfortunate as I enjoyed this one.  It is not ‘scary’ but a mystery. I don’t think it would be scary to ‘younger readers’ either. I was invested in the story  and really enjoyed the ending and if I had gotten the whole story, I am sure I would have given it 4 stars. You can’t really review something when you don’t have the whole story, but being I enjoyed it, I tried to review it the best I could.

I am far from the target audience for these two books, I don’t think I would listen to the others in the Night Fall series based on these two books, but if I had the chance to read the whole book of The Late Bus I would. I would like to get the whole story.  I hope if I ever re-read some of  the Fear Street series I hope they hold up well for adult readers as they did for teen readers  all those years ago.

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

Serafina and the Seven Stars

Kim has really enjoyed the Serafina series by Robert Beatty and just finished the fourth in the series! Here is listing of the series:

  1. Serafina and the Black Cloak
  2. Serafina and the Twisted Staff
  3. Serafina and the Splintered Heart (Kim’s review is here).
  4. Serafina and the Seven Stars

Author: Robert Beatty
Published: July 9, 2019
352 Pages

Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 4 Stars

Book Description:

Serafina and Braeden make an epic return in the hotly anticipated fourth installment of Robert Beatty’s #1 New York Times best-selling Serafina series. Serafina, the Guardian of Biltmore Estate, has won battle after battle against the dark forces encroaching on her home. Now, tranquility has returned to Biltmore. Serafina doesn’t trust it. She patrols the grounds night and day, hardly sleeping, uncertain of her place after her best friend Braeden Vanderbilt’s departure for boarding school in New York.

When Mr. Vanderbilt, the kind master of Biltmore, asks Serafina to move upstairs into one of the house’s grandest rooms, she’s sure it’s to keep an eye on the guests who have arrived for the estate’s annual hunt.

But as Serafina investigates, she becomes more and more unsettled by what Biltmore has become-a place haunted by nameless terrors where no dark corridor is safe. Even worse, she begins to doubt her own senses. Is Braeden really hundreds of miles away, or did he return to Biltmore for one strange night before vanishing? Is the bond between them truly broken or is it stronger than ever?

Then Serafina witnesses a crime that turns her world upside down. How can all that once seemed good and worthy of protection now be evil? And how can she guard those around her when she can’t even be sure of the truth of her own heart?

Serafina and the Seven Stars marks the return of a heroine like no other, as master storyteller Robert Beatty weaves his darkest, most astonishing tale yet.

Kim’s Review:

Serafina is growing up and she’s doing it fast! I decided to re-read the other three books before Seven Stars came out and I once again was caught up in the world of the Vanderbilts at Biltmore in Asheville. I was reminded of all that had happened before with the Black Cloak and Twisted Staff and the Old Man of the Mountains. I went back to seeing what good friends book characters can be and the lessons to be learned.

Seven Stars was written in the same spirit as the rest of the series, but boy howdy is it dark! Serafina isn’t the little girl who just keeps Biltmore clear of rats anymore. She’s becoming a teenager who has the weight of the world on her shoulders. It was almost depressing reading the first half of the book when Serafina was just lost and in some ways, useless. And if you didn’t think it could get anymore evil or malevolent than Uriah, well then you’d be wrong.

I had a little trouble putting all the pieces of the story together, even by the end, but I still understood enough to appreciate the brilliance of it all. I would even say that this might not be for the younger kids, just because of all the darkness! But I really enjoyed it and I can’t wait to see what happens next with Serafina and Braeden! An excellent story!

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

Kim was also able to attend the Launch Party for Seven Stars and meet Robert Beatty again!  

**Be sure to go to Jessica’s Reading Room on Facebook as we will be giving away some swag Kim picked up from the launch! This will only be for those of you in the USA.**

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