When I met Rachel Caine....again!

If you've read my blog at all before, then there's a very high chance that you've heard me express my love and adoration for the Morganville Vampire series by Rachel Caine. As well as the MV series, Rachel has written a multitude of books that I have devoured and loved almost equally. Morganville will always hold a special place in my heart though. I even have a (VERY slight) personal connection. Myrnin, an insane yet loveable vampire, hales from none other than Conwy, North Wales - just like me.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Rachel twice before but have only managed to get a handful of books signed due to time constraints and huge queues. This time was so different though, and so wonderful and lovely! We browsed the shelves of Waterstones for a while where my enabling boyfriend bought me copes of All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven and Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider :) After a bit too much browsing, I noticed a whole bunch of people taking their seats so we had to rush over. Thankfully, my as above wonderful boyfriend took charge of getting my stuff together so I could run over in time! All the signing events that i've attended before have been rush jobs. Queue, put books in front of author, sign, leave. This was a whole different experience for me and I loved it!

Rachel began by telling us a lot about herself, her aliases, how she got started etc. I did know most of it as I'm a bit of a Rachel-stalker but it was nice hearing it from herself. She then held a Q&A which again, I really enjoyed. I was even brave enough to ask my own question - Rachel loves Myrnin & Shane the most too! It was such a relaxed atmosphere and though it was extremely girl-heavy there was a wonderful mix of ages. Following this, we were treated to a reading! Rachel read a chunk of the short story Vexed, featuring Myrnin and Oliver. Is there anything better than hearing a story read by the person who created it? You get a real sense of the intention and meaning behind the words.

Once the reading was finished, we began the queuing to get our books signed. This was the part I was most nervous about. For once it wasn't even because I was nervous to meet her; it was the sheer amount of books that i'd brought with me to get signed. 16 in total. The staff at Waterstones and Rachel were actually so nice about it. I had to queue three times but it was absolutely worth it. As is typical, we had a chat about my name (it tends to be what gets me noticed most often!) and lots of other random things. We were also given goody bags which I may still be fangirling about. The bag itself is a red tote with Midnight Bites on it :)

Though I never have much trouble picking up a book and reading it - the whole experience reminded me of just how much I love to read and how much a part of me it is. We are so lucky that we get to meet the people behind the words and actually learn from them. Rachel was so open and honest about writing and publishing. I'm sure there were more than a couple of people who left the building that night, inspired and ready to write.

Me though? I'm not a writer. I just love to be immersed in the worlds and imaginations of others. So with that, keep an eye out on my upcoming review of Midnight Bites. I've been so looking forward to the day I could return to Morganville and it's finally here.

Brianna Reviews // Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine

Published: 2014

Publisher: Allison and Busby

Format: Paperback

Synopsis: In the Houses of Montague and Capulet, there is only one goal: power. The boys are born to fight and die for honor and—if they survive—marry for influence and money, not love. The girls are assets, to be spent wisely. Their wishes are of no import. Their fates are written on the day they are born. Benvolio Montague, cousin to Romeo, knows all this. He expects to die for his cousin, for his house, but a spark of rebellion still lives inside him. At night, he is the Prince of Shadows, the greatest thief in Verona—and he risks all as he steals from House Capulet. In doing so, he sets eyes on convent-bound Rosaline, and a terrible curse begins that will claim the lives of many in Verona…

…And will rewrite all their fates, forever

I have to admit Prince of Shadows was not the top of my to read list. I’d started reading a different book and I have a rather short attention span, which doesn’t help with reading;  if a book or plot doesn’t have be hooked if find it very difficult to make my way through a book, so I realised a while ago that it is better for me and the book in question to abandon it if I’m only at the start. The problem was that I knew I didn’t want to read what I was reading but I didn’t know what I did want to read, I copied Caragh’s post-it in a jar technique, and Prince of Shadows is what came out. And honestly I didn’t have high hopes, I love Morganville and the way it’s written. But as my colleague said when she saw Prince of Shadows “It doesn’t look like the sort of book you would read”. I have (despite never actually reading or seeing the play) always hated Romeo and Juliet. I read the first page and I was hooked, I couldn’t put it down!

I’m not sure if my lack of knowledge of Romeo and Juliet was a good thing or a bad thing – it led to at least one embarrassing incident (I had no idea that Romeo was in love with Rosaline first).But it does also mean that I have nothing really to compare it to, not that it matters much because Prince of Shadows is the story of Benvolio Montague, and also I feel of Mercutio, less so of Romeo although obviously he is there.

Rachel Caine managed to take a time period, culture, language and partly subject matter, that I have no real desire to read and made me unable to put it down, I’d read another 10 if she wrote them.  The dialogue is not Shakespearean but I’d say it was of the period, which normally I just don’t have the patience riddles and people not straight forwardly saying what they mean, it frustrates and confuses me and back to the attention span I lose interest and understanding by the of the sentence; but not with Prince of Shadows. It helps that this book has plenty of action, and keeps moving there is always something happening or about to happen.

I fell a little bit in love with both Mercutio and Benvolio within the prologue.  It felt like I had been friends with Mercutio for years… and I think I hate Rachel Caine a little for that, this is a book based on one of Shakespeare’s tragedies being emotionally attached to one of the characters is not really advisable and I spent a fair bit of the book in tears for Mercutio (If I’m being brutally honest I’m crying just reviewing it – although I did just finish it). I also really liked Balthasar, Rosaline and Benvolio’s mother. Rosaline mainly because she doesn’t think being a woman should stop her from using a sword or climbing a wall, and also because she sees the feud and the bloodshed for what it is – unnecessary and pointless, and she never really considers that the fact Benvolio is a Montague should be a reason for her to hate him, she judges him on who he is not who his family is.

I don’t want to say too much more and risk spoiling the bits which are not already widely known to everyone but me. But I loved everything about Prince of Shadows, even if it broke my heart.