Awakened (House of Night Book 8) - Vampire Fantasy Novel for Teens & Young Adults - Perfect for Fantasy Lovers & Nighttime Reading

[Summary: overall an excellent read, despite some nitpicky shortcomings.]These books are rather a guilty pleasure for me- there is a lot of very woolly plotwork going on at times, but I still enjoy them. However, this last book was much better than the previous ones have been. First of all, the authors seem to have gotten into the swing of switching personalities between chapters. The first time they did this, it was distracting and interrupted the flow of the story, but it was a much stronger plot device in this book. I also liked the fact that several loose ends that had been dangling around were tied up to make way for new conflicts. This book didn't feel so much like a filler as some of the others have. The final quarter of the book was the strongest part, and had me absolutely hooked. Finishing this was an absolute joy, even after I realized that it WASN'T the last book in the series, as I had originally thought.**WARNING- HERE BE SPOILERS!**In order to nitpick, I'm going to ruin some major plot points for you if you haven't read this book yet. Do not read this part unless you've already finished the book. I do have a problem with the fact that the plotline does tend to meander a bit with this series. I thought this book brought the story back to earth very well, but it seems to be going off on a tangent again. I feel like P.C. Cast wrote herself into a corner a few times during previous books, and since the climax of this book had absolutely nothing to do with any of Aphrodite's prophecies, I feel like they were false foreshadowing. I'm also not sure why Heath is being reintroduced, although I can sort of see where it came from. I was, however, extremely annoyed at the fact that Jack's death seemed not to serve any purpose that couldn't have been served some other way. Also, Kalona seems to have disappeared up his own backside. I hope this is explained further in the next book, because his grand exodus into the sky rather left me scratching my head. I was, however, intrigued (and delighted) by Cast's solution to the Stevie Rae/Rephaim issue, and I am looking forward to hearing more of their story. I also hope that she will continue the thread of story she introduced about the Isle of Skye House of Night being re-opened. Details like that seem to have slipped through the cracks in previous books.Overall, this book was a wonderful read despite its small flaws, and I would highly recommend it to fans of the series- especially to those who were growing frustrated with the characters or plotline. I promise you won't be disappointed!