"Marked" by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Series: House of Night #1
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Format: Audiobook
Publication: May 1, 2007 by St. Martin's Griffin
Cover Rating: 4/5 Stars
Links: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Book Depo

From Goodreads: After a Vampire Tracker Marks her with a crescent moon on her forehead, 16-year-old Zoey Redbird enters the House of Night and learns that she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess Nyx and has affinities for all five elements: Air, Fire Water, Earth and Spirit. But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers. When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school’s most elite club, is mis-using her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny – with a little help from her new vampyre friends (or Nerd Herd, as Aphrodite calls them).


My Thoughts: Are you guys ready for the major rant that's about to take place? Yes? Okay, good. Because I'm about to go nuclear.

What. The. Hell. Did I just listen to? Why is this series so popular? Did this just happen right after the Twilight craze hit and new YA fans were still trying to discover good young-adult fiction? I just don't get it.

Zoey, our beautiful, naive, and cliched heroine, is one of the most judgmental characters I have ever had the misfortune of reading about. Every other chapter the girl is slut-shaming or simply being an uptight snot. You kiss someone in the hall? Oh, mega slut move. You find yourself attracted to the hot, older, vampire fledgling? Better get your head on straight before you turn into an insta-slut. Really, she may possibly be my most hated character. Ever.

But it's not just Zoey that has my panties in a wad. It's the writing as a whole. It comes off as immature and mega cheesed. The dialogue reads like a bad 80's teen mall flick. And the poor sideline characters? They're boxed into tight labels and never once seen as anything other than that flat, one-sided view. You have your token evil Queen Bee and her band of followers, your hot mysterious love interest, then you of course get your gay guy friend and nerdy, slightly cowardice new best-friend/ bunk mate. Nothing about these characters carried any originality or depth whats so ever.

The only positive thing I can say about this book was that it at least had the potential to be interesting and different from other YA vampire novels out there. Too bad it didn't live up to it. Oh, and the narrator for the audiobook- Edwina Wren- did a pretty amazing job of keeping me at least half-way interested in the story. I would definitely love to listen to her again, but with better material, please.

Bottom Line: I would never recommend this book to anyone, ever. Period. Skip it and go for something more substantial like Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series. So much better.

My Rating: 1/5 Stars