BOOK ONE:
Aurora Sky by Nikki Jefford
(Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter #1)
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Synopsis:
Her blood is toxic to vampires.
If there is one thing eighteen-year-old Aurora Sky wants, it's to get off the iceberg she calls home. Being kissed before she graduates wouldn't hurt either.
Then a near-fatal car wreck changes everything. Government agents step in and save Aurora's life in exchange for her services as a vampire hunter in Alaska. Basically she's a glorified chew toy. All thanks to her rare blood type, which sends a vampire into temporary paralysis right before she has to finish the job...by hand.
Now Aurora's only friends are groupies of the undead and the only boy she can think about may very well be a vampire.
(Mature YA/New Adult series. Contains mild language, violence, sexual situations . . . and blood sucking.)
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17061189-aurora-sky
Purchase:
--Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Aurora-Sky-Vampire-Nikki-Jefford-ebook/dp/B00AEGD5XY/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=
--Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/aurora-sky-nikki-jefford/1113946626?ean=2940044354777
BOOK TWO:
Northern Bites by Nikki Jefford
(Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter #2)Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Synopsis:
Love bites.
Probation sucks.
Thanks to Dante’s recklessness, Aurora is now partners with Valerie: the redheaded, backstabbing vixen.
Dante is in full flirt mode. Fane’s tactics are more ruthless. Something carnal has awakened in Aurora and neither boy is helping tame her cravings.
When a member of the unit’s team is found dead, Aurora and Valerie are sent after a vampire in Sitka, but Aurora suspects the killer’s much closer to home.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18683426-northern-bites
Purchase:
--Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Northern-Bites-Aurora-Sky-Vampire-ebook/dp/B00E7G0210/ref=la_B00792AE5I_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385958949&sr=1-6
--B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/northern-bites-nikki-jefford/1116282396?ean=2940148694861
----
AUTHOR BIO
Nikki Jefford is a third generation Alaskan who found paradise in the not-so-tropical San Juan Islands (Wash.) where she is once more neighbors with Canada in a town without a single traffic light. She loves fictional bad boys and heroines who kick butt.
When she's not reading, writing, working, or out on a nature walk, she's out riding her Suzuki DRZ400SM.
AURORA SKY: VAMPIRE HUNTER --- Unlike the other well-known teen/young adult vampire series, Nikki Jefford's protagonist is no powder puff. As far as I can tell, the way Aurora becomes a vampire hunter is completely unique.
In the last year of high school, Aurora is looking forward to the upcoming year when she will be far away at Notre Dame -- away from her home, from her parents, and the city of Fairbanks, Alaska. What Aurora hates most is the cold and the long, long winters. Then the unforeseen even occurs and changes her whole life. All of her life's plans are out the window! Not only has her life plans gone to shreds, but Aurora has been changed as well - both physically and mentally. She doesn't accept these changes very well in the beginning -- who would? Eventually, she does accept the inevitability. There is no escaping her, her mother has signed the contract agreeing to it in order to save Aurora's life. Either that or she would have lost her daughter, Aurora, forever.
Soon, Aurora is assigned her first training test, something she found utterly atrocious, which she passes exceedingly well, although she never would have imagined herself able to have accomplished it. She learns things about the world she lives in; the things that she, and billions of others in the world, thought to be fiction are actually the truth. She is disconcerted to find just how many things she thought she knew are utterly wrong.
A story about vampires cannot go without having that sexy, gloomy, handsome, brooding guy and so this tale has one, too, in the name of Fane. A young man in her gym class who is always wearing balck, with a voluptuous girlfriend whom he is always sucking face with. Aurora finds him odd and mysterious at first. With her being the goody two shoes, she figured there is no way she would ever come in contact with the bad boy. That is until, of course, her life-altering accident. Aurora's anger at this abrupt change in her life has made her bold enough that she is no longer hesitant to speak to Fane...nor Scott, the school's head jock whom she has crushed on forever.
These changes in her affects not only Aurora, but also her home life with her parents as well. Her change in attitude causes her jackass father to skip out on them. Her father was already distancing himself for reasons unknown, but Aurora's attitude seems to be the last staraw. He skips town leaving a note that he doesn't know when he'll be back. What a jerk! Through it all though, Aurora's mom stands by her and is there to fully give support while dealing with her own heartache - pains of being left by her husband and by what her darling child is going through. With this steadfast encouragement from her mother, Aurora begins her training. With the allotment of time and the assistance of her mentor, Dante, Aurora gradually accepts and lives her new reality. Complexities come when she learns that Fane is in fact a vampire. Difficult to accept and denying it all the while, the facts are all pointing toward the truth, but her heart refuses to allow her to accept it as she is now deeply absorbed in him.
Nikki Jefford does a wonderful job at capturing teen angst. The prose is relatable, the characters real, and the competition if you like over who gets the boy comes across as honest. It gets the reader involved with all of these and more. My only contention would probably have to do with the cover. It just doesn't do Aurora justice in my opinion and therefore kinda messes with the image I was forming in my head. lol Yeah yeah...I know, I'm in the minority of those who prefer faceless covers.
BOOK TWO REVIEW: Adding this in a couple days later. My apologies. I had book one finished and reviewed, but I had computer issues and my review wasn't posted INTO blogger yet. It was on my computer. Oy. Apologies, my readers!
Aurora is confused about everything in her life at this moment. Since the accident, nothing has been the same and now she reminisces about her quite, boring, and nothing special life she used to have. Be careful what you wish for, they say, but this new life isn't ANYTHING like she dreamed.
Valerie, her fellow associate and recruit, tricks Aurora into breaking off with Fane. She learns later, and Melcher, her group's boss, knows all about Fane and he's not going to be "offing" him any time soon either because, as Melcher tells her later, he can be a great asset as an informant - having lived centuries and having knowledge of many vampires.
Aurora is feeling disturbed about Mike, the boy who has had a crush on her and followed her to the Marcus' party at the "palace" and ended up dead. Also unsettling her is the agent Cristi's untimely, shocking death. Aurora wants to know what happened, wants to know in more depth than the explanations Melcher has been giving her which just don't fit or make sense.
Meanwhile, Dante's, her mentor, friend, and colleague, expedition has turned up much information, a total "jackpot!" as Dante says. Aurora isn't sure how she feels about Dante, although as her mom and grandma have said, he is the ideal boyfriend for her. Better looking than Brad Pitt with a great build, intelligence, and wicked sense of humor -- he's a dreamboat. To top it off, he's infatuated with her, trying hard to win her affections even as she discourages him. Aurora realizes how he's the only one who is able to get her out of her funk and grey, moody clouds, too. Dante is...perfect. The perfect man for any girl. Unlike Fane, who has made her tearful more than once, Dante makes her smile. Aurora is feeling lost and messed up (and I'm mentally urging her to go with Dante lol).
Aurora's grandmother's arrival helps to lift Aurora's mom out of her depressed funk that has lasted since the news of her divorce from her father, the schmuck who left them. She learns he had been having an affair for the past two years. There wasn't a single late night work requirement nor for him to be out of the state for months at a time. The grandmother's wild and crazy outgoing ways are just the balm the mother needed, influencing her in a positive way. At least on Aurora's homefront, all is well.
This is how the second book unfolds. Aurora realizes that she can not turn her life back, that she must accept and deal with her new reality and do the best with what she's got. However, she does make one resolultion, one caveat to her new acceptance: do not trust anyone, especially her team leader, Melcher, and his "Special recruiter" Jared, a vampire from several centuries back who just happens to be a psychotic killer. Aurora is certain Jared killed Cristi, although she can't seem to ascertain for what reasons. These suspicions along with other discoveries, make Aurora think that Jared had a hand in her accident and subsequent "recruitment." Special recruiter indeed. As with the first book, the pacing is perfect. Entertaining and fun to read, you can't put it down as you NEED to know what happens next. Jefford does an excellent job of keeping you in suspence with timely releases of information. I will definitely be continuing Aurora's saga and finding out...WHAT NEXT.
In the last year of high school, Aurora is looking forward to the upcoming year when she will be far away at Notre Dame -- away from her home, from her parents, and the city of Fairbanks, Alaska. What Aurora hates most is the cold and the long, long winters. Then the unforeseen even occurs and changes her whole life. All of her life's plans are out the window! Not only has her life plans gone to shreds, but Aurora has been changed as well - both physically and mentally. She doesn't accept these changes very well in the beginning -- who would? Eventually, she does accept the inevitability. There is no escaping her, her mother has signed the contract agreeing to it in order to save Aurora's life. Either that or she would have lost her daughter, Aurora, forever.
Soon, Aurora is assigned her first training test, something she found utterly atrocious, which she passes exceedingly well, although she never would have imagined herself able to have accomplished it. She learns things about the world she lives in; the things that she, and billions of others in the world, thought to be fiction are actually the truth. She is disconcerted to find just how many things she thought she knew are utterly wrong.
A story about vampires cannot go without having that sexy, gloomy, handsome, brooding guy and so this tale has one, too, in the name of Fane. A young man in her gym class who is always wearing balck, with a voluptuous girlfriend whom he is always sucking face with. Aurora finds him odd and mysterious at first. With her being the goody two shoes, she figured there is no way she would ever come in contact with the bad boy. That is until, of course, her life-altering accident. Aurora's anger at this abrupt change in her life has made her bold enough that she is no longer hesitant to speak to Fane...nor Scott, the school's head jock whom she has crushed on forever.
These changes in her affects not only Aurora, but also her home life with her parents as well. Her change in attitude causes her jackass father to skip out on them. Her father was already distancing himself for reasons unknown, but Aurora's attitude seems to be the last staraw. He skips town leaving a note that he doesn't know when he'll be back. What a jerk! Through it all though, Aurora's mom stands by her and is there to fully give support while dealing with her own heartache - pains of being left by her husband and by what her darling child is going through. With this steadfast encouragement from her mother, Aurora begins her training. With the allotment of time and the assistance of her mentor, Dante, Aurora gradually accepts and lives her new reality. Complexities come when she learns that Fane is in fact a vampire. Difficult to accept and denying it all the while, the facts are all pointing toward the truth, but her heart refuses to allow her to accept it as she is now deeply absorbed in him.
Nikki Jefford does a wonderful job at capturing teen angst. The prose is relatable, the characters real, and the competition if you like over who gets the boy comes across as honest. It gets the reader involved with all of these and more. My only contention would probably have to do with the cover. It just doesn't do Aurora justice in my opinion and therefore kinda messes with the image I was forming in my head. lol Yeah yeah...I know, I'm in the minority of those who prefer faceless covers.
BOOK TWO REVIEW: Adding this in a couple days later. My apologies. I had book one finished and reviewed, but I had computer issues and my review wasn't posted INTO blogger yet. It was on my computer. Oy. Apologies, my readers!
Aurora is confused about everything in her life at this moment. Since the accident, nothing has been the same and now she reminisces about her quite, boring, and nothing special life she used to have. Be careful what you wish for, they say, but this new life isn't ANYTHING like she dreamed.
Valerie, her fellow associate and recruit, tricks Aurora into breaking off with Fane. She learns later, and Melcher, her group's boss, knows all about Fane and he's not going to be "offing" him any time soon either because, as Melcher tells her later, he can be a great asset as an informant - having lived centuries and having knowledge of many vampires.
Aurora is feeling disturbed about Mike, the boy who has had a crush on her and followed her to the Marcus' party at the "palace" and ended up dead. Also unsettling her is the agent Cristi's untimely, shocking death. Aurora wants to know what happened, wants to know in more depth than the explanations Melcher has been giving her which just don't fit or make sense.
Meanwhile, Dante's, her mentor, friend, and colleague, expedition has turned up much information, a total "jackpot!" as Dante says. Aurora isn't sure how she feels about Dante, although as her mom and grandma have said, he is the ideal boyfriend for her. Better looking than Brad Pitt with a great build, intelligence, and wicked sense of humor -- he's a dreamboat. To top it off, he's infatuated with her, trying hard to win her affections even as she discourages him. Aurora realizes how he's the only one who is able to get her out of her funk and grey, moody clouds, too. Dante is...perfect. The perfect man for any girl. Unlike Fane, who has made her tearful more than once, Dante makes her smile. Aurora is feeling lost and messed up (and I'm mentally urging her to go with Dante lol).
Aurora's grandmother's arrival helps to lift Aurora's mom out of her depressed funk that has lasted since the news of her divorce from her father, the schmuck who left them. She learns he had been having an affair for the past two years. There wasn't a single late night work requirement nor for him to be out of the state for months at a time. The grandmother's wild and crazy outgoing ways are just the balm the mother needed, influencing her in a positive way. At least on Aurora's homefront, all is well.
This is how the second book unfolds. Aurora realizes that she can not turn her life back, that she must accept and deal with her new reality and do the best with what she's got. However, she does make one resolultion, one caveat to her new acceptance: do not trust anyone, especially her team leader, Melcher, and his "Special recruiter" Jared, a vampire from several centuries back who just happens to be a psychotic killer. Aurora is certain Jared killed Cristi, although she can't seem to ascertain for what reasons. These suspicions along with other discoveries, make Aurora think that Jared had a hand in her accident and subsequent "recruitment." Special recruiter indeed. As with the first book, the pacing is perfect. Entertaining and fun to read, you can't put it down as you NEED to know what happens next. Jefford does an excellent job of keeping you in suspence with timely releases of information. I will definitely be continuing Aurora's saga and finding out...WHAT NEXT.
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