Looking for a good book?

I just started the House of Night series. The author is PC Cast (and her daughter Kristin). The name I knew her as was Ms. Bond, and she was my Creative Writing teacher at Broken Arrow's South Intermediate High School. (Also where my mother taught Intro to Law for about 20 years)

I just finished the first book, Marked, and I was hooked. It is a good book, targeted to young adults, much like Twilight. It is very much a mix between Harry Potter and Twilight, with the main character being sent off to Vampyre Finishing School after being marked with the vampyre symbol of a crescent moon on her forehead. She is deemed special because her crescent moon is filled in instead of just an outline like vampyre fledglings usually are.

The book is darker than Twilight and, at times, unnecessarily crass in my opinion, but the story is good. I was hooked and just bought the next 2 books in the series.

This was my first experience reading a book that was authored by someone I know. It is surreal to read a book that is set in my hometown, specifically in my high school, with teachers referenced that I actually had in high school. It is also strange that I can hear Bond's "voice" on every page. I can hear her sarcasm and disdain for men. I can hear her "what teens should and shouldn't do" speeches that I remember her going off about in class. She was that teacher who thought she was so in touch with us, but really she was only in touch with the popular kids. The rest of us, she didn't have a clue about. To be honest, she wasn't my favorite teacher, and actually laughed at some of the things I wrote as she was reading them (anonymously) to the class. I loved writing in my youth and she killed it a little for me.

That being said, she is a talented authoress herself and the series is good so far. I think she has excellent timing because right now the in thing is all things Twilight and vampyre-related so she'll get a lot of fans who are looking to capture the Twilight moment all over again. I wouldn't be surprised if we see these books out in movies soon, too. Well done, Bond!