Book Review: Being Nikki

TITLE: Being Nikki
PART IN SERIES: Book two of three in the Airhead trilogy
AUTHOR: Meg Cabot
PUBLISHED: 2009
GENRE: Young adult, trilogy, chick-lit
PREMISE: Em is still stuck in a super model's body and her problems are piling higher then ever. Then it turns out that accident, may not have been an accident after all.
MY REVIEW: I realize that this is not a literary masterpiece or a work of genius but I don't care, I adored it just as much as I adore all Meg Cabot's books. I admit I was skeptical of the airhead series because it sounded really kooky (a brain transplant? Really?) so I didn't read the first book till about the time the second book came out. I read it and ended up loving every minute of it. Yes, it is classic Cabot-fare: plain girl in love with male best friend? Check. Underlying feminist messages? Check. Slightly kooky female best friends? Check. Slightly predictable ending for avid readers of Cabots? Check. Cabot has a formula for her books. She knows what her readers expect from her and knows what works for her. But unlike other certain formula writers (I'm looking at you Nicolas Sparks) she does twist it up every so often or take things like brain transplants that shouldn't work and makes it work so well that you BUY IT (I for one am convinced a brain transplant was done to Princess Diana and she's now in some regular person's body having the time of her life). So I'm sorry literary snobs, I will defend Cabot to the end and always reccomend her work even if it's maybe not the greatest ever written.
Anyway, as I've said Being Nikki is classic Cabot. We have poor Em who is dealing with repurcussions of her body being in a super models, there's a mystery surrounding Stark and what happened to Nikki exactly, and many revelations that make me eager to read the third book that just came out but with my OCDness concerning books I own, will be waiting till it comes out in paperback so I have a set of three paperbacks and not two paperbacks with one hardback. Yes, I'm wierd. Highly reccomend to all Cabot fans.
WHO SHOULD READ: Cabot fans, if you've read the first book, chick-lit readers
MY RATING: Four out of Five models.

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Book Review: Dead and Gone (may contain spoilers)

TITLE: Dead and Gone
PART IN SERIES: Book nine in the Sookie Stackhouse series
AUTHOR: Charlene Harris
GENRE: Adult, series, vampires, mystery, paranormal, chick-lit
PREMISE: Sookie and her cohorts at Bon Temps are at it again. Now, shifters are finally revealing themselves, a horrible crime is commited, and there's a fairy war and Sookie is smack dab in the middle of it.
MY REVIEW: Wow. Is it wierd that I was slightly exhausted after reading this? Seriously, I was almost as tired as Sookie felt because all of the stuff going on. So major plot points are: Sookie is sort of/kind of/I don't know married to Eric through trickery (she naturally doesn't appreciate it and I don't blame her for that). The werewolf/shifters finally reveal themselves to the world, including Sam causing Arlene to quit (I couldn't stand her, even before she became a bigot, so for me getting rid of her was no great loss). Crystal is murdered and left crucified at the bar (I couldn't stand her so this is no great loss either but it was a horrible way to go). Niall turns out to be a prince with lots of enemies and those enemies are not only after Sookie, it turns out they are the ones responsible for her parents death (this is solved all in the book and probably is the reason for the exhausted feeling. Seriously, quickest war in history anyone?).
Minor/subplot rundown: Eric and Sookie end up doing the nasty (it's really hot, naturally), we get some of Eric's backstory (turns out he was married before and was evidently a good husband up until she died...who knew? Did anyone else get brain damage trying to picture him as a Dad though? A viking dad, no less?), Octavia leaves (kind of bummed, I liked her), Jason goes through quite a lot in this book (I hope that maybe it'll make him change for the better, Sookie's tell-off did start a little of that already though I was pleased to see) and Arlene ends up being a real b#tch in this and I hope this is the last we see of her (oh, I was hoping for Sookie to slap her in that one scene but the tell-off was well done so I wasn't too disappointed).
So I'm finally all caught up with this series! I just need to read Touch of Dead and then I have to wait till the next book comes out in May. I can't wait for it. Oh, and reading this, I still feel like Harris is leading us up to a Sam/Sookie hook up. But maybe I'm wrong, who knows? Anything is possible in this series, Harris likes yanking our chains I think.
WHO SHOULD READ: if you're still into the series this far in
MY RATING: Still Three and a half out of Five vamps, as much as I get into these I know it's not the greatest out there...it does make for great guilty pleasure reading though.

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Book Review: Betrayed

TITLE: Betrayed
PART IN SERIES: Book 2 in the House of Night series
AUTHOR: P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
PUBLISHED: 2007
GENRE: Young adult, series, vampires, drama
PREMISE: Zoey is settling into life at House of Night. She is dealing with her new role as leader of the Dark Daughters, her old boyfriend Heath, a hot teacher, and the feeling that Neferet may not be what she seems...
MY REVIEW: My feelings about this series are very split. On one hand, there are a few things I enjoy about it. The banter between the friends is fun, there are some funny lines, and there is some intriguing things going on here. I was even sort of surprised about what happened in the end. The series is good enough that if I see the next book in the library, I'll check it out.
However, it's got a LOT of flaws and is not good enough that I consider buying it or say that it's a must read. One of the flaws is Zoey. I'm sorry, this character is such a Mary Sue it is not funny. She's also not a Mary Sue that I even like. I don't hate Zoey (she does have some good qualities) but she annoys me to much to actually like her. The so-called "teen speak" is very annoying too. Tell me, have any of you in your teen days ever called anyone a hag? No? Me neither. Then there's the boy hopping. Seriously, one page Zoey is gushing about how gorgeous Eric is, the next she's saying OMG this teacher guy is the most gorgeous guy I've ever seen! Seriously, what the heck? Then there's the blatant stereotyping going on, the general bashing of Christianity (I'm a Christian myself and am not a fan of the church but please, not all Christians are like Zoey's parents like this series makes us out to be), and just several other general what the heck moments that make it hard for me to really enjoy this series or say it's a fantastic book. But for vampire fans, particularly of the Twilight persuasion, I can see how they could love it. Me, I'm mostly continuing this series for lulz. Oh, and in case any of you House of Night fans have been living under a rock, the seventh book, Burned, comes out Wednesday.
WHO SHOULD READ: Twilight fans, those who liked the first book, vampire fans
MY RATING: Still three out of five vampyre marks

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Book Review: Vampire Academy 1

TITLE: Vampire Academy
PART IN SERIES: Book 1 in the Vampire Academy series
AUTHOR: Richelle Mead
PUBLISHED: 2007
GENRE: Young adult, series, vampires, romance, chick-lit
PREMISE: Rose and Lissa are bonded Moroi and guardian and best friends. The two are pulled back into the Vampire Academy against their will and now are struggling to find their place in it.
MY REVIEW: Okay, I was highly skeptical of this series because I kept thinking "another vampire school series? Really?" But now I acknowledge that I was wrong and am now officially a fan of this series. I can't help it, despite the cliche premise this book is very refreshing. One-kick butt female who cares about something other then a dangerous guy. Granted there's still plenty of romance but for once that's not the main focus and the girls kick just as much butt as the guys. Well...Rose does anyway. Two-no rushed romance. FINALLY, a vampire book where the guy and girl don't look at each other and go "oh wow, this is my true love" and have little complications getting and staying together. The romance in both Rose and Lissa's relationships is wonderfully carried out and believeable and I will say this: I love Christian. Dimitri is hot too (and I also adored Mason) but Christian was my favorite.
Three-None of the characters are Mary-Sue/Gary-Stued out. These characters have flaws and PERSONALITY. You may not particularly like them (Lissa got annoying occasionally and even Rose had her moments) but they were characters. Some of the minor ones could have been fleshed out a bit more (I would have liked to know more about Mason but maybe that comes later in the series). There's also plot, actual surprises (it didn't start dawning on me what was happening till about the same time it started dawning on Rose), and again: a plot other then romance.
So in other words: I loved this. Great characters, interesting story, and a refreshing take on the overdone vampire school premise. Well done Mead, I can't wait to read the second book now. I also would like to know: why couldn't THIS have been made into a tv series or movie? Seriously this would be awesome to see on screen. Get on that Hollywood. You're missing out on some cash cow gold here. Assuming you don't ruin it like you do with all the other books you bring to screen.
WHO SHOULD READ: vampire fans, House of Night fans, Twilight fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five Moroi

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Book Review:Dead and Worse (may contain spoilers)

TITLE: Dead and Worse
PART IN SERIES: Book 8 in the Sookie Stackhouse series
AUTHOR: Charlaine Harris
GENRE: Adult, series, vampires, paranormal, mystery, chick-lit
PREMISE: Sookie Stackhouse is back and is still dealing with vampires, werewolves, and so on.
MY REVIEW: Like all the Sookie books this one moves along so quickly that you sort of blink and you'll miss the plot developements. There were so many tied up and started that I can't even begin to count them all. But the major ones are: there's ar werewolf war that ends with Alcide in charge, a hostile vampire takeover, and a relative makes himself known to Sookie.
There's also a lot of minor subplots as involving Jason and his wife (saw that one coming a mile away and good for Sookie for finally telling her brother off), Sandra Pelt returning and generally making a nuisance of herself(not so pleased with this one, I'm very tired of the Pelts; even more so then Sookie is and does anyone else find it really convenient that Sandra's parents died all of a sudden? I'm thinking brake tampering how about you?), the end of Quinn and Sookie's...I guess you can call it a relationship (saw this coming too, and I honestly think Sookie was right to end it before it bagan because it was obvious that it wouldn't go far and sooner or later Eric's blood bond would have reared its head), Bob stops being a cat, and we get to meet Amelia's father and her teacher (her father sucks, but Octavia is kind of cool). We get more of Eric and Pam (yay), Bill is just sort of there (really, why is he even in Bon Temps still?) and we get Sam (as much as I like Eric I really think Harris is going to end the series with Sookie and Sam getting together, at least that's what I hope since she has said Sookie isn't going to end up with a vampire and Eric...is a vampire so that sadly leaves him out of the running...unless she changes her mind or something happens to Eric between now and the end of this series and she's faking us out...evil woman). Wow, one more book to go in this series and then I'm completely caught up till the tenth book comes out! Yay! Well...two if you count Touch of Dead...
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the book series who are still reading it, True Blood fans, Twilight fans
MY RATING: Still Three and a half out of Five vampires

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Book Blogger Hop! Friday, April 23rd

I've finally decided to join in on the Book Blogger Hop:

It's Friday! Time for another Book Blogger HOP!!
This is for ALL BOOK BLOGGERS (NEW AND OLD) and READERS! Let's make some new friends and have fun! It's FRIDAY!!!
To learn more go here. If you are a fellow book hopper welcome! Feel free to friend or comment.

Book Review: Nobody's Prize

TITLE: Nobody's Prize
PART IN SERIES: Book 2 of 2 so far in Helen of Troy series (I hope there's a third!)
AUTHOR: Esther Friesner
PUBLISHED: 2008
GENRE: Young adult, series, historical fiction, adventure
PREMISE: Helen of Troy from Nobody's Princess is back and is now sailing with Jason and the Argonauts disguised as a boy.
MY REVIEW: I adored this book just as much as I did Nobody's Princess. Here, Helen travels with Jason and the Argonauts, meets up with Medea, Theseus, and has just as many adventures as in the last book. I admit, there wasn't much character growth but you know what? You're too busy enjoying the book to really care, and even if Helen doesn't grow much, Milo certainly does.
Sadly, it looks like this may be the last book in the series. I really want Esther's version of the Trojan War. Because I bet she would come up with a clever way to explain it from Helen's point of view. Because now I'm really interested in hearing about the war from this Helen's point of view. Maybe we can send Friesner a petition to write more? Or I could just settle for the one she's started about Nefertiti (I'm excited to read this one too, but I confess I don't know as much about Nefertiti as I do about greek myths).
WHO SHOULD READ: those who read and liked the first book, greek mythology buffs
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five greek legends

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Book Review: Evernight

TITLE: Evernight
PART IN SERIES: First in the Evernight series
AUTHOR: Claudia Gray
PUBLISHED: 2008
GENRE: Young adult, series, vampires, romance,
PREMISE: Bianca is not thrilled about going to her new school. But she meets a guy who isn't thrilled with it either and maybe it's not so bad...
MY REVIEW: Note to Stephanie Meyer-THIS is how you do Romeo and Juliet vampire style. I will admit I was very skeptical of this series. In the beginning it starts off with all the usual young adult cliches: misunderstood girl starting at new school, dangerous guy, possible love triangle yadda yadda. While there are a few cliches in this, the author then takes a shift in the middle and puts her own spin on stuff and then you're devouring it and can't wait to read the rest.
I will not give the twist away for those that have not read this series, so I really can't go into plot developement and what not. I will say however, that it's a little bogged down by being too similar to other vampire books (Twilight, House of Night, various others). I hope in the rest of the series Gray starts to make the series more her own. But despite some of the flaws I enjoyed this book and am greatly looking forward to the rest of it. Also, don't kill me Evernight fans but am I the only one who preferred Balthazar over Lucas? Sorry, Lucas is okay don't get me wrong, but I just liked Balthazar more.
WHO SHOULD READ: vampire book fans, Twilight fans, House of Night fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five vampires

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WWW Wednesdays

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions:

* What are you currently reading?
* What did you recently finish reading?
* What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?
Sookie Stackhouse Book 8: From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris (on my Kindle)
Nobody's Prize by Esther Friesner (my in my purse book)
Evernight series Book 1: Evernight by Claudia Gray (my at home book)

What did you recently finish reading?
This past week I've finished and reviewed:
Harper Connely series Book 1: Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris
Sookie Stackhouse Book 7: All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
Never Cry Werewolf by Heather Davis
Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception by Maggie Stiefvater
Knight and Rogue series Book 2: Rogue's Home by Hilari Bell
Gilda Joyce Book 3: The Ghost Sonata by Jennifer Allison

What do you think you'll be reading next?
All my current library books and the one I just bought:
House of Night Book 2: Betrayed by P.C.Cast and Kristin Cast
The Luxe series Book 1: The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
The Faerie Path by Frewin Jones
Vampire Academy Book 1 by Richelle Mead
Percy Jackson Book 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

Book Review: The Ghost Sonata

TITLE: The Ghost Sonata
PART IN SERIES: Book Three in the Gilda Joyce series
AUTHOR: Jennifer Allison
PUBLISHED: 2007
GENRE: Childrens, series, mystery, paranormal
PREMISE: Wacky Gilda Joyce is back and is off to London with her best friend Wendy to help with her music compitition. When strange stuff starts happening, Gilda starts investigating.
MY REVIEW: Like the previous Gilda books the main reason to read this book is Gilda's character. She's fun, wierd, and always entertaining. It was also nice that in this one we get more of Wendy Choy, Gilda's best friend and she was a good foil for Gilda's wackiness.
Also in this, Gilda gets a romance...sort of...okay she kisses someone. Not exactly a romance (you have to read to find out what I'm talking about) but it was nice to see. I also enjoyed the music compitition aspect of it. For those who have been musicians it will be very relateable and even those who haven't can probably relate to the pressure that these kid's parents put them under. So...like the previous books, it's an enjoyable mystery series for kids and older as well.
WHO SHOULD READ: Nancy Drew fans, Harriet the Spy fans, paranormal book fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five of wacky hats

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Book Review: Rogue's Home

TITLE: Rogue's Home
PART IN SERIES: Second book in Knight and Rogue series
AUTHOR: Hilari Bell
GENRE: Young adult, series, fantasy, mystery
PREMISE: Michael and Fisk are back and this time it's Fisk's family that needs his help.
MY REVIEW: I loved this sequel just as much as The Last Knight so kudos to Bell for that (because I adored The Last Knight). In this one, we get to learn more about Fisk's background and see his family and how he ended up becoming a Rogue (or at least what set him on the path to becoming one...Bell doesn't give all of it away ;is still dying to know who Jack Bannister is;).
The mystery is more complicated then this one then the last book. Michael also goes through something that changes him. Won't say what. But all in all, if you loved the first one, you'll get into this one just as much.
WHO SHOULD READ: those who've read and liked the first book
MY RATING: Four out of Five knights

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Book Review: Lament

TITLE: Lament-The Faerie Queen's Deception
PART IN SERIES: Book 1 of 2 so far
AUTHOR: Maggie Stiefvater
PUBLISHED: 2009
GENRE: Young adult, faeries, fantasy, romance
PREMISE: At a music compition Dierdre meets Luke who turns her world upside down. Soon she's in a battle with the faerie queen for not only his soul but her best friend as well.
MY REVIEW: I was fairly skeptical of this book at first. I've heard many comparisons of Stiefvater's writing to Meyers and we all know how I feel about Meyer ;) But I actually think she's a lot better even if she is guilty of using the occasional theosaurus word. While this book did have a lot of scenarios that were similar to other books (Twilight, Mortal Instruments, and Wicked Lovely to name a few) I found myself getting into it and really enjoying it.
I liked Dierdre. I adored James. The two of them interacting plus Dierdre's family dynamics (I loved Granna and was bummed that she died) was part of the charm of this book. I admit I'm a little lukewarm about Luke (no pun intended) but mostly because I didn't get much sense of his personality and I felt that he and Dierdre's romance was rather rushed. I do wish more time had been spent on that, but other then those few qualms this book was rather good. I cannot wait for the sequel which apparently is going to have more of James (yay!) and I think I'm now going to buy Shiver now.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Wicked Lovely, Twilight fans, faerie book junkies, you like romances
MY RATING: Four out of Five harps

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Book Review: Never Cry Werewolf

TITLE: Never Cry Werewolf
PART IN SERIES: Stand alone novel
AUTHOR: Heather Davis
PUBLISHED: 2009
GENRE: Young adult, romance, werewolves,
PREMISE: Shelby gets sent to brat camp and meets a guy with a dangerous secret.
MY REVIEW: For something that was apparently supposed to be a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood...this had nothing in common with that tale other then there's a wolf involved. That, combined with a predictable plot and lackluster characters just made this book a miss for me. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. This is one of those books you read and then completely forget about a few books later. It's just not that interesting.
It also doesn't help that there a hell of a lot of annoying characters in this book, stereotypes up the wahzoo, and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of character growth. The author did TRY I'll give her that. Unfortunately due to book length and hurrying of the plot, it fell flat. So just all in all, a uninteresting book.
WHO SHOULD READ:...werewolf fans I guess...
MY RATING: Two and a half out of five wolves

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Book Review: All Together Dead

TITLE: All Together Dead
PART IN SERIES: Book 7 in the Sookie Stackhouse Series
AUTHOR: Charlaine Harris
GENRE: Adult, vampires, fantasy, mystery, romance, chick-lit, series
PREMISE: Sookie Stackhouse is back and this time she's headed to a vampire summit to be a witness in a vampire trial.
MY REVIEW: Compared to the last book, this one was much better organized. Definitely Dead had the problem of being a book that was trying to tie up loose ends and being transitional. Now, we can finally move on to more stuff. I found this one interesting because we got a glimpse of how vampires do justice. There was also more vampire politics and we got the return of Barry the Bellhop who turns out to be even more of a flirt then Jason. Yeah, I know.
As with all the Sookie books, there are a string of events, hot sex (this time with Quinn), and Sookie dealing with vampires. Her relationship with Eric gets more complicated (I know you're probably like it wasn't complicated already? But it actually does) and Bill...is just there. I have to say I kind of am getting over the Bill storyline now. I hope Harris wraps this one up and doesn't drag it on for books like she did with the Pelt storyline.
So all in all, same old Sookie book. If you've gotten this far in the series you've probably already decided if these books are for you or not. Me? I'm still addicted and still don't know why.
WHO SHOULD READ: vampire fans, True Blood fans, if you've read the rest of the previous books
MY RATING: Still Three and a half out of Five vampires

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Book to Movie Review: How to Train Your Dragon

MOVIE: How to Train Your Dragon
SOME OF THE ACTORS (voices in this case): Gerard Butler, America Ferrara
GENRE: animated, fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: Hiccup is a hopeless viking in every way imaginable (even his father is embarressed by him). Then he somehow manages to befriend a dragon and discovers there's more to these creatures that his tribe has been fighting then they all think.
MY REVIEW: Okay, confession. I've never read the book. But in my defense I totally plan too and honestly had never even HEARD of this book till now. I don't have kids so it's not a surprise that I'm not as in the know about children's fiction. But that didn't stop me from wanting to see this because a) It's Dreamworks and they do awesome movies (usually), and b) DRAGONS. I have a weakness for dragons I admit. Plus it just looked fun.
I was not disappointed. I actually will go as far to say this movie is a contender for best animated film of the year (especially if those dumb looking animated films that were previewed are anything to go by...) assuming that Toy Story 3 is actually not every bit as awesome as it looks (doubtful ;bows to Pixar;) and that Rapunzel sucks storyline wise (I've only seen the concept art and while it looks gorgeous I'm not sure about the story because seriously Rapunzel=most boring princess in my book so I'm not sure how Disney is going to manage making that work). But anyway, this movie is awesome.
The animation is GORGEOUS. I saw the non-3D version too, just to give you an idea. The story is great too. Yes, it's a little of the same spiel in fantasy: average kid not good at anything finds his place yadda yadda. But still, Dreamworks made it different and sweet. The thing that made this for me was Hiccup though. He was ADORABLE. I adored his sarcasm and basically his whole character. Then the scenes with him and Toothless just added to that. Toothless was a character in himself too, despite never having one word of dialogue. Although oddly enough, he kept reminding me of my cat...The supporting characters were also a hoot. I loved the twins. Don't know why, just did. Oh, and soundtrack junkies: GET THE SOUNDTRACK. The music is just as gorgeous as the movie. It's another one I'm nominating for Oscar season.
So all in all, a fantastic movie. Encourage everyone to see. Will definitely be adding this one to the dvd collection ;)
WHO SHOULD SEE: everyone
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five dragons

Book Review: Grave Sight

TITLE: Grave Sight
PART IN SERIES: Book 1 of the Harper Connely series
AUTHOR: Charlaine Harris
GENRE: Adult, mystery, paranormal, series
PUBLISHED: 2005
PREMISE: Harper Connely has a gift (if one can call it that): she cannot only find dead bodies, but she can see how that person died. While it comes in handy with paying the bills, it doesn't neccessarily make her popular as evidenced when she and her brother come to a small town to help a woman find her missing daughter's body.
MY REVIEW: I'll be honest, I didn't really care for this book. I didn't hate it. I actually found the mystery part of it to be great and it really did keep me guessing which is saying something on Harris's part. However, I didn't get into this as much as I got into the Southern Vampire series.
I know, it's not good to compare series and I didn't. But my attachment to the characters in this was not nearly the attachment I have to Sookie. In the Southern Vampire books I read mostly because I'm interested in the characters. I want to find out about what Sookie's up too and hope everything works out for her. While I did emphasize with Harper, I wasn't as nearly as attached to her as I am with Sookie. I mostly kept reading to find out who did it because I seriously had no clue till Harper did. But now that I know...I just don't think I'll be interested in picking up the rest of the books.
So it's not a terrible book...it just wasn't my thing. But if you're in for a paranormal mystery then it's perfect. Harris does a great job setting up a complicated cast of characters and it makes for a great whodunit. Maybe Shakespeare's Landlord will be more my thing then this. So I'll be looking into the Lily Bard series next. If I don't like that, then I'll just stick with Southern Vampires.
WHO SHOULD READ: paranormal mystery fans, Charlaine Harris fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five ghosts

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Book Review: The Naming

TITLE: The Naming
PART IN SERIES: First in the Books of Pelinor series
AUTHOR: Alison Croggan
PUBLISHED: 2002
GENRE: Young adult, fantasy, series
PREMISE: Young Maeran is a slave who is discovered by a bard. She learns she has magic and is whisked off from her life to a dangerous adventure.
MY REVIEW: I'm not sure why I couldn't get into this book. It's not bad per say...I do actually think the author did an excellent job of creating a unique fantasy world. But that's the problem. The world it's set in is about the only unique thing about it.
The rest of it is predictable as hell if you read fantasy books on a regular basis (which I do), and the characters...lack. Maerad, while likable, is pretty much a Mary Sue or one dimensional character. There wasn't much sense of her personality in the book and I got mighty tired of people going "oh my this girl has unusual gifts!" every other chapter.
It wasn't totally horrible...it was just that I've read books like it before and I didn't care enough about the characters to want to pick up the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: fantasy fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five bards

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Book Review: Inkdeath

TITLE: Inkdeath
PART IN SERIES: Book 3 of Inkheart Trilogy
AUTHOR: Cornelia Funke
PUBLISHED: 2008
GENRE: Childrens, Trilogy, Fantasy
PREMISE: Meggie and her family are still trapped in Inkheart and are dealing with murderous royals, bringing back Dustfinger, and trying to figure out their place in this world that was once just a book.
MY REVIEW: Funke's writing is not for everyone as likewise, not everyone is crazy about Inkheart. I for one though, loved this trilogy even though I was maybe not particularly crazy with some of the things happening. It was still satisfying and had fun characters (words do not describe how much I adore Elinor) and is a very memorable book.
I know some people have issues with how Funke ended the trilogy, namely with what happened with Meggie and Farid. I for one, found it believeable. Plus, it was pretty obvious the relationship wasn't going to last anyway. There were issues between the two long before Doria showed up and book three really just shed light on why they wouldn't last. Mo also maybe not acted in the best of manner but the poor guy had a lot of stuff riding on him that was not his doing (I'm looking at you Fenoglio) but he grew as a character, as did Meggie (looking at the difference between the Meggie in this book and the Meggie in book 1 really illustrates how much she's grown), and Resa. Plus the writer managed to tie up all the story lines. I for one am satisfied with the ending.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the first two books, fantasy fans, booklovers (seriously, this trilogy is like dedicated to us)
MY RATING: Four out of Five old books

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Random Book Chat: The Baby-Sitters Club

If you are like me and were a tween in that wierd time period of the late eighties and early nineties then chances are you've read the Baby-Sitters Club. Don't be ashamed, I have too. I will even admit to being a huge fan back in the day. The BSC is one of the first major book series that I fangirled over HARD. I went on a quest to buy all the books, I had the paraphanalia, the guide book, the stationary, I even had a friend that I made in YMCA camp where our bond was based soley on the fact that the two of us loved the series and we both agreed that Claudia was the coolest. Friendship was much simplier back then.
So yeah, that embarressing secret aside, I have a fondness for the books. Nowadays I realize that the series was actually pretty laughable and very cheesy in terms of plot and writing and there are many many MANY flaws to it. But that doesn't stop me from being excited over the news that Scholastic is revamping the books. Am I thrilled that it's going to be modernized? No, not really. I also loathe the new covers they're giving it. But I am sort of excited that maybe there'll be a new craze and we will get new stuff for it (I want more stationary, Scholastic, hint hint) and that maybe now tween girls will start reading the books actually AIMED at them. I'm sorry I think the major reason that all of sudden we are getting ten year old girls into stuff like Twilight (yeah, scary, I know) is that they don't have books for that age bracket anymore, or at least books aimed for GIRLS at that age bracket. The boys have plenty of stuff like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, Last Apprentice and so much more. Girls however...kind of get nothing except for like those novelizations of Disney Channel shows...whoopee. Or they just deal with the books aimed at the boys (which isn't bad per say because some of those are good, but still...). So they do what I did and go on to the YA even though maybe it's not appropriate for them yet. So I'm hoping that the BSC will take off again and that there will be a relaunch of books like it for girls in the 9-12 market to read and have something more relateable.
What really has me curious though is that Ann M. Martin has written a prequel to the series to celebrate the relaunch. It's about the summer before the girls found the BSC. Is it sad that I really really want to read this? I'm sure it won't reveal anything new or startling about the series or characterizations, but still...it's a new BSC book and there hasn't been a new one in print in like ten years...Amazon has it up for order here. To wait for paperback or not to wait for paperback...my inner tween is saying buy it now. What about you guys? Excited about this? Loathe the idea? Hoping for a BSC craze like I am? What say you? Or do you even care?

Library Loot-April 5th to the 19th

Here is some of the loot from the library I snagged on Monday. Expect reviews soon:

Knight and Rogue 2: Rogue's Home by Hilari Bell-I just found out there's a third one in this series coming out tomorrow! No, I am not squeeing...too hard.

The First Book of Pellinor: The Naming by Allison Croggon.-I've been hearing good things about this book. I hope it's worth the page count...cause yeesh.

Inkheart Trilogy Book 3: Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke.-I'm tired of waiting for it to come out in paperback. I need to know what happens!

Harper Connelly Book 1: Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris.-Having enjoyed the Sookie Stackhouse series I've decided to give her other two books a try. I was hoping for Shakespeares Landlord as well (from Lily Bard who makes a cameo appearance in the Sookie books) but sadly, they did not have it.

Book Review: Darkest Powers 2

TITLE: The Awakening
PART IN SERIES: Book 2 of 3 in the Darkest Powers trilogy
AUTHOR: Kelley Armstrong
PUBLISHED: 2009
GENRE: Young adult, Urban Fantasy, trilogy
PREMISE: In the second book of Darkest Powers, Chloe is on the run with Simon, Derek, and Tori.
MY REVIEW: Second books are tricky things in trilogys. Some can be good but most lag because they are mostly used to set up the story for the conclusion. Luckily, The Awakening is one of the really good second books. Armstrong doesn't let it lag and has character growth as well as plot growth.
I was pleasantly surprised by the turnaround of Tori for instance. After the first book, I figured she would be resident bitch queen and we would probably get nothing more from her character. But Armstrong managed to not only make her part of the story but actually give her depth and let us see that maybe she isn't the best of people but she has issues too and by the end of the book I actually kind of liked her. I don't love her but I do find her funny at times and she made a lot of good points about Chloe and how the two boys treated her. A lot of the points she made forced Chloe to take a look at herself as well.
As for the love triangle bit...I'm not actually sure there IS one now. I honestly think Simon sees Chloe as a sister, he just hasn't realized it yet and vice versa with Chloe. But I have high hopes for Derek and Chloe. I'm on that ship all the way. All in all an exciting book that keeps you guessing and I can't wait to find out what happens in the next book which I believe comes out either end of April or beginning of May.
WHO SHOULD READ: Kelley Armstrong fans, if you liked the first book, urban fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five ghosts

FOR THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES:
12 by 12 in April
One Hundred Plus Books
YA Challenge

Teaser Tuesday...

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser for Darkest Powers Book 2: The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong:

"And, as of tomorrow, we are getting a Wii."
"Really?"
"Yep. I said, 'People, if I'm helping you with this study of yours, I need a little love in return. And a GameCube ain't gonna cut it.'"

From The Awakening, page 28

What are You reading Mondays-April 5th

This is a weekly meme hosted by One Person's Journey Through a World of Books telling people what we are reading this week.

Last week I finished and reviewed the following:
Nightlight: A Parody by the Harvard Lampoon
Monster Blood Tattoo Book 1: Foundling by D.M. Cornish
Airman by Eoin Colfer
Percy Jackson Book 3: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

Currently I am reading:
The Darkest Powers Trilogy Book 2: The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong
Sookie Stackhouse Book 7: All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

I will definitely be reading these next:
Gilda Joyce Series Book 3: The Ghost Sonata by Jennifer Allison
Knight and Rogue: Rogue's Home by Hilari Bell
Pellinor Series Book 1: The Naming by Allison Croggon
Inkheart Trilogy Book Three: Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
Harper Connelly Book 1: Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris

Book Reiview: Percy Jackson Book 3

TITLE: The Titan's Curse
PART IN SERIES: Book Three in Percy Jackson and the Olympians series
AUTHOR: Rick Riordan
PUBLISHED: 2007
GENRE: Childrens, adventure, series
PREMISE: Percy Jackson and friends return, this time to help rescue the goddess Artemis.
MY REVIEW: Still in love with this series. I admit that perhaps Riordan could devote more time to character developement and the writing is pretty average but still, this series is what it is: fun.
One of the reasons I keep reading this series is to learn how the gods are in Riordan's world. He never disappoints in coming up with clever ways to incorporate the myths in with the modern world. I adored Apollo in this one and watching him and Artemis interact was a hoot. Another thing I like is that in between the humor, he manages to sneak in great points about greek mythology as well as keep up with the plot. The main point he makes in this one is: the greek heroes were not perfect themselves and in some cases were complete asses. Theseus is a prime example. I also liked how he gave some backstory and even showed stuff like Annabeth's parent. I'm also looking forward to Rachel's involvement. She cracked me up in the small time she was there and I can't wait to see more of her (having read the sneak peek in my book I know she shows up in the fourth and this pleases me to no end).
WHO SHOULD READ: those who read and loved the first two, boys, fans of greek mythology, fans of adventure series
MY RATING: Four out of Five greek heroes

FOR THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES:
12 by 12 in April
One Hundred Plus Books
Finish that Series

In My Mailbox-April 4rth

This is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. Here is what I have gotten this week (all purchases):

Darkest Powers Trilogy Book 2: The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

Gilda Joyce series Book 3: The Ghost Sonata by Jennifer Allison

Sookie Stackhouse Book 7: All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris.

Will also be getting to the library on Monday so there will hopefully be some good loot coming from that.

Book Review: Airman

TITLE: Airman
PART IN SERIES: Standalone novel
AUTHOR: Eoin Colfer
PUBLISHED 2008
GENRE: Young adult, adventure
PREMISE: Young Conor is a brilliant scientist who is accused of murder and thrown in jail. His only hope of escape is through means of flight.
MY REVIEW: I don't know why but for some reason I just can't get into Eoin Colfer's books. His writing isn't bad or anything it just doesn't do it for me. Maybe it's because I'm not his target audience, I don't know. I just know that I'm not as enamored with his books as other people seem to be. I thought perhaps that maybe it was just Artemis Fowl that I couldn't get into and so decided to give this one a try but it seems that it's the author. Oh well.
One of my issues is that his writing is kind of bland. He does a lot of telling and not showing and I have a thing about that. I do think however, that Airman would make an excellent movie. Preferably with Miyazaki animating it (hint hint, Studio Ghibli). So while this book isn't to my particular taste, I do think others may enjoy it more, particularly teenage boys.
WHO SHOULD READ: Artemis Fowl fans, teenage boys who like adventure books
MY RATING: Three out of five flying machines

FOR THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES:
12 by 12 in April
One Hundred Plus Books
YA Challenge
Support Your Local Library

Book Review: Monster Blood Tattoo

TITLE: Foundling
PART IN SERIES: Monster Blood Tattoo series, Book 1
AUTHOR: D. M. Cornish
PUBLISHED: 2006
GENRE: Young adult, fantasy, series, adventure
PREMISE: A orphan boy gets thrown into the world of monsters when he gets offered a job as a lamplighter.
MY REVIEW: For a young adult book, this book was rather childishly written. The writer did a lot of telling instead of showing, there were illustrations and there was even a huge glossary of stuff in the back. While I do appreciate the attention to detail (and the illustrations were really good) I think it was a little bit of an overkill.
I also wish the author had taken more time to develop characters because I really have no sense of who Rossamund was aside from the fact that he detested his name and thought ill of people who commented on his name. Beyond that, I maybe get the sense that he's brave. Amen. Considering the whole book is coming from his point of view, I would think the author would have done more with his character. I also didn't really get what the whole point of this series was. I'm assuming things are explained further in the second but I wasn't made to care enough about the main character to really want to pick up the second book.
So I do think it was an intriguing idea, the author just got caught up in giving details (and details, and details) and neglected plot and character. I also think this was probably supposed to be a children's book and got classifed wrong but that could be just me. Action/Adventure fantasy type fans will probably be really pleased with this though.
WHO SHOULD READ: adventure fans, boys who liked Artemis Fowl and whatnot
MY RATING: Three out of Five monsters

FOR THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES:
One Hundred Plus Books
YA Challenge
Support Your Local Library

April New Releases

Here are some books being released this month (or released in paparback) that I'm excited about or that some of you may be interested in reading/checking out and would like to mark your calenders about. This symbol (!) means I'm excited about this and you can expect a review on it eventually in this blog:
Young Royals: The Bad Queen-Rules and Instructions for Marie Antoinette by Carolyn Meyer. Hardcover, out April 2nd
Young Wizards 9: A Wizard of Mars by Diane Duane. Hardcover, out April 12th. (!)
The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy. Hardcover, out April 13th.(!)
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. Paperback version out April 13th
Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act 1 by Lisa Mantchev. Paperback version out April 13th (!)
Brisinger by Christopher Paolini. Paperback version, out April 13th (I'm assuming some people still read this series)
Wicked Lovely 4: Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr. Hardcover out April 20th.(!)
Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman. Hardcover, out April 26th.(!)
Century series Book 1: Ring of Fire by Pierdominico Baccalario. Out in paperback April 27th.
The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan. Out in paperback April 27th
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George. Paperback version out April 27th
The Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel Book 3: The Sorceress by Michael Scott. Paperback version out April 27th.(!)
Also many graphic novels and manga as always including next volume of Tsubasa by CLAMP and a graphic novel version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Book Review: Nightlight

TITLE: Nightlight: A Parody
PART IN SERIES: Standalone book
AUTHOR: The Harvard Lampoon
PUBLISHED: 2009
GENRE: Young adult, humor, parody
PREMISE: It's a parody of Twilight, that pretty much says it all.
MY REVIEW: Well, I'll be honest, it's not great literature. But it's a parody. Expecting parodys to be fantastic works of art is like asking soap operas not to be corny and overdramatic. Some of the jokes are kind of lame, but others are hilarious and most are just kind of snort worthy and there to make your eyes roll which is what all parodys are like to some extent (seriously, watch Scary Movie sometime...there are some lame jokes in that thing but there is also some hysterical stuff going on).
But this does do what parodys are meant to do: point out the ridiculousness of the subject it is making fun of. With Twilight...well the jokes pretty much write themselves with that series. Not only do they have fun with the characters, the writers have fun with how Meyer writes as well and I for one loved it. Twilight fans may or may not be appreciative of this (it would probably depend on the Twilight fan and how much of a sense of humor they have about the series) and anti-Twilighters such as myself will probably get a huge kick out of it.
WHO SHOULD READ: Twilight fans who don't mind their books being made fun of, anti-Twilight fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of five eaten apples

FOR THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGE:
12 by 12 in March
One Hundred Plus Books
YA Challenge