Conjuring Raine

Title: Lassiter, Maya.  Conjuring Raine.  Waking Dreams Press, 2010.  Print.

Overview:  Raine has known Joshua all of her life.  He shows up for an hour, a day, and then disappears for months and sometimes years.  For most of Raine's life Joshua has managed to remain elusive and mysterious.  Then, one night, Raine gets drawn into what Joshua does for a living and draws the attention of people who want her hurt.  Now Joshua must protect her while keeping his distance to keep her safe from the demon that's been taking over his body since the day he became a vampire.  The only problem is that Raine doesn't want distance, she wants to get to know this man that she's known all her life without really knowing him.

Critical Analysis:  I read this book as soon as I finished Toby Streams The Universe.  It wasn't until I posted the last two reviews that I realized I'd never posted this one.  While the story of Conjuring Raine is completely different from Toby Streams The Universe it's just as interesting.  The book goes back and forth from Raine's point of view to Joshua's, not only dealing with the present but with their pasts as well.  Through flashbacks you learn not only about Raine and Joshua's past encounters but also who Joshua was before he was a vampire and how he became one.  Another interesting aspect to the story is Joshua's demon, a thing that manifests itself in black veins that grow to cover more and more of Joshua's body as it takes over more control.  The demon speaks to Raine while Joshua sleeps, striking up a bargain with her.  Joshua's past and Raine's present become intertwined in twists and turns that are an intricate as they are surprising.  There's also a great cast of more minor characters including Joshua's best friend and a ruling body of vampires that see over all vampire affairs.

Book Recommendations With Similar Themes:

1. Sunshine by Robin McKinley.  The Voodoo Wars are over and Rae "Sunshine" Seddon thinks she'll be safe visiting her family's abandoned lakeside cabin, a place she wants to go to clear her head.  Unfortunately, that's where a group of vampires find and abduct her to use as bait.  Chained in a room with a starved vampire named Constantine she befriends him and makes an escape but their journey is far from over.  As she fights the vampires who abducted both her and Constantine she learns about her own magical abilities, abilities her grandmother tried to teach her when she was young.

Toby Streams The Universe

Title: Lassiter, Maya.  Toby Streams the Universe.  Waking Dreams Press, 2011.  Print.

Overview: Toby Hay, like his father, grandfather, and a large majority of the Hays that came before him, is psychic.  Like his father, grandfather, and all the other psychic Hays he's slowly losing his mind to the visions.  The most popular way for the Hays to make the visions stop and end the ride into insanity is suicide.  Afraid that he himself is starting to crack, Toby prepares for the worst.  That is until a voice in his head tells him there's another way and that insanity and suicide isn't the only option.

Critical Analysis: The first thing that comes to mind about this book is the imagery.  Along with being able to pick things out of people's minds Toby sees things, like the mermaid protectors swimming around his new neighbor with her own dark past.  The way the author describes what's going on to Toby and the things Toby is seeing paints an extremely vivid picture.  Not only do you get to see what Toby sees, but you get to live what he's living.  I found myself fascinated with the author's way of describing it all.  Besides Toby's journey we also see what the other generations of psychic Hays endured in the Family Histories, entries added to a journal chronicling each person's descent into madness.  Through them Toby learns about the past generations as he's learning about himself.  From stonings to being hanged as witches to multiple suicides the reader also gets to see how the others handled what's happening to Toby and how they were treated by the people around them. And, for once, I didn't see the end coming so it came as a great surprise.  At times the characters can be annoying - Lara's extremely hot and cold, and Maddie can come off as a petulant child - but it's what makes them interesting.

I will say that as soon as I finished reading this book I immediately bought Maya Lassiter's other books, eager to see more of what she has to offer.  I have a feeling I won't be disappointed.