Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

oh I love happy accidents.

I often put my name on the longest hold list on the library - just for fun.  This was one of those.  While I waited through 400 something other people to read it I went on reading just about everything else.  I had never heard of Cassadra Clare or of the Mortal Instruments.  However, during my several month wait a friend introduced me to City of Bones and I finished the series quickly.  

The Infernal Devices are prequels to the Mortal Instruments and just when I was hungry for more shadowhunting my name came up!!!!  See... happy accident!  Clockwork Angel is my favorite so far!!!  Maybe because it was set 130 years ago and I kind of like that era, or maybe because I was already hooked.  When first reading I wondered which series would have been better to have read first.  I've decided it really doesn't matter.  Each alludes to the other but not in a way that depends on one another.  I am dying for the next one to come out.  There are so many secrets still left to be discovered!

First Line: The demon exploded in a shower of ichor and guts.

Summary: Magic is dangerous--but love is more dangerous still.
When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.
Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.
Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by--and torn between--two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

The Infernal devices

Book #1 Clockwork Angel 2010

Book #2 Clockwork Prince 2011

Book #3 Clockwork Princess 2012

The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld

I'm diggin' this author. Another book without a language issue.  I mean yeah - it was kinda weird, but I like weird.  The cover was a bit of a turn off for me, but it actually embraces the book in a nutshell.  I already have the next book ready for me to dig into so happy reading to me!

First Line: The halls of Bixby high school were always hideously bright on the first day of school.

Summary:

Nobody is safe in the secret hour.

Strange things happen at midnight in the town of Bixby, Oklahoma.

Time freezes.

Nobody moves.

For one secret hour each night, the town belongs to the dark creatures that haunt the shadows. Only a small group of people know about the secret hour -- only they are free to move about the midnight time.

These people call themselves Midnighters. Each one has a different power that is strongest at midnight: Seer, Mindcaster, Acrobat, Polymath. For years the Midnighters and the dark creatures have shared the secret hour, uneasily avoiding one another. All that changes when the new girl with an unmistakable midnight aura appears at Bixby High School.

Jessica Day is not an outsider like the other Midnighters. She acts perfectly normal in every way. But it soon becomes clear that the dark creatures sense a hidden power in Jessica . . . and they're determined to stop her before she can use it.

Midnighters Series

Book #1 The Secret Hour 2004

Book #2 Touching Darkness 2005

Book #3 Blue Moon 2005

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

It's a tiny little book that packs a big punch! From halfway through I finished it in one sitting.  I love books with a twist like this one!  It had a lot of folk lore and mythology, several stories within a story that reminded me a tiny bit of Arabian nights.

 First Line:  I didn't know how long I had been in the king's prison.

Summary:

"I can steal anything."

After Gen's bragging lands him in the king's prison, the chances of escape look slim. Then the king's scholar, the magus, needs the thief's skill for a seemingly impossible task — to steal a hidden treasure from another land.

To the magus, Gen is just a tool. But Gen is a trickster and a survivor with a plan of his own.

The Queen's Thief Series

Book #1 The Thief 1996

Book #2 The Queen of Attolia 2000

Book #3 The King of Attolia 2006

Book #4 A Conspiracy of Kings 2010

Book #5 Untitled 

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

★★★★★

Great Book!  I don't know why I am just now finding out about it, seriously sometimes I really live under a rock.  It has futuristic technology of Hunger Games but without the violence.  And NO language issues!!!!  It's a book I could comfortably recommend for my 13-yr-old niece without reservation. I have a schedule that means I can only read small bits at a time and then have to put the book down at the most random times - so I was constantly looking forward to picking it back up again.  When the book ended I had the same feeling of 'wanting to get back to it' days after it was over.  I cannot wait to get the next book and satisfy my craving!

First Line: The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit.

Summary:

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license –– for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there. But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world –– and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

Uglies Series

Book #1 Uglies 2005

Book #2 Pretties 2005

Book #3 Specials 2006

Book #4  Extras 2007

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer

I am a big Twilight fan (well the books anyway) so when these little extras drift in that offer another perspective from lesser characters I eat drink it up! 

First Line: The newspaper headline glared at me from a little metal vending machine: SEATTLE UNDER SIEGE - DEATH TOLL RISES AGAIN.

Summary:

Bree Tanner can barely remember life before she had uncannily powerful senses, superhuman reflexes and unstoppable physical strength. Life before she had a relentless thirst for blood... life before she became a vampire.
All Bree knows is that living with her fellow newborns has few certainties and even fewer rules: watch your back, don't draw attention to yourself and, above all, make it home by sunrise or die. What she doesn't know: her time as an immortal is quickly running out.
Then Bree finds an unexpected friend in Diego, a newborn just as curious as Bree about their mysterious creator, whom they know only as "her". As they come to realize that the newborns are pawns in a game larger than anything they could have imagined, Bree and Diego must choose sides and decide whom to trust. But when everything you know about vampires is based on a lie, how do you find the truth?

Twilight Series

Book #1 Twilight 2005

Book #2 New Moon 2006

Book #2.1 New Moon Extra- Edward and Rosalie 2006

Book #3 Eclipse 2007

Book #3.5 The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner 2010

Book #4 Breaking Dawn 2008

Book #5 Midnight Sun

 

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

First Line: The cold snap of the previous week was over: the sun was shining brightly as clary hurried across Luke's dusty front yard, the hood of her jacket up to keep hr hair from blowing across her face.

Summary:
"To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters -- never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadow-hunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadow-hunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her new found powers to help save the Glass City -- whatever the cost?
Love is a mortal sin and the secrets of the past prove deadly as Clary and Jace face down Valentine in the final installment of the New York Times bestselling trilogy The Mortal Instruments."

Clare may have intended for this to be the last book of her trilogy but I am glad she decided to do three more.  Things do get nicely wrapped up so if she stirs things up too much and doesn't fix it again by the end I'm gonna be upset.  I can't say much more because the fun of this series is unraveling all of its layers of SECRETS!!!

The Mortal Instruments

Book One: City of Bones March 27, 2007

Book Two: City of Ashes March 25, 2008

Book Three: City of Glass March 24, 2009

Book Four: City of Fallen Angels expected April 5, 2011

Book Five: City of Lost Souls expected May 2012

Book Six: City of Heavenly Fire expected September 2013

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

First Line: The formidable glass-and steel structure rose from its position on the Front Street like a glittering needle threading the sky.

Summary: 

"Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go -- especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil -- and also her father.To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings -- and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?
In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City's Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation."

Ackkkk! I don't want to ruin anything...

I loved it and I really really loved that my friend let my borrow her 'edited' copy! So much better :)

I finished it and had to start the next book right away (so now they are kind of blended together in my mind...)

The Mortal Instruments

Book One: City of Bones March 27, 2007

Book Two: City of Ashes March 25, 2008

Book Three: City of Glass March 24, 2009

Book Four: City of Fallen Angels expected April 5, 2011

Book Five: City of Lost Souls expected May 2012

Book Six: City of Heavenly Fire expected September 2013

Need by Carrie Jones

 Didn't see that one coming :)

I loved it from the first page.

It's like an East Coast Twilight but without any Vampires

First Line: Everybody has fears, right?

Summary:
"Zara White suspects there’s a freaky guy semi-stalking her. She’s also obsessed with phobias. And it’s true, she hasn’t exactly been herself since her stepfather died. But exiling her to shivery Maine to live with her grandmother? That seems a bit extreme. The move is supposed to help her stay sane . . . but Zara’s pretty sure her mom just can’t deal with her right now.
She couldn’t be more wrong. Turns out the semi-stalker is not a figment of Zara’s overactive imagination. In fact, he’s still following her, leaving behind an eerie trail of gold dust. There’s something not right—not human—in this sleepy Maine town, and all signs point to Zara.
In this creepy, compelling breakout novel, Carrie Jones delivers romance, suspense, and a creature you never thought you’d have to fear."

This may seem weird but my favorite thing about the book was that every chapter was named after a different phobia.  I thought it was really clever.  And in a nostalgic high school-y kind of way it reminded me of my favorite English teacher Ms. Smith who was kind of quirky and had a lesson on arachibutyrophobia: fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth (and other phobias, but I never forgot that one) since that lesson phobias have always reminded me of sophomore English!  Total high school drama, mean stuck up girl, jock guy, first love and lots of making out (last part not so much my high school drama). It was scary at times, deliciously scary haha!  really I'm not sure what drew me to it, but I really loved the whole thing - call me crazy.

I do wonder though if there is a phobia name for 'fear of swearing.' 
This book wouldn't help at all with curing me of that :(

Need Series

Book #1 Need December 23 2008

Book #2 Captivate January 5 2010

Book #3 Entice December 7 2010

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

I liked it even more than the first book!

The Iron King began a bit too Alice in Wonderland for me, and as I was reading The Iron Daughter, Queen Mab, ruler of the Winter realm was like White Witch of Narnia deja'vu (only more like the book than the movie - you know stunningly beautiful not, umm well, just not like the movie) and then when the wars began I kept having Lord of the Rings flashbacks!

SOOO when I read this praise:

"The Iron King has the...enchantment, imagination and adventure of...Alice in Wonderland, Narnia and The Lord of the Rings, but with lots more romance." -Justine magazine 

dingdingdingding bells went off! Great minds think alike!

First Line: The Iron King stood before me, magnificent in his beauty, silver hair whipping about like an unruly waterfall.

Summary:

"Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the ...more Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron Fey, iron-bound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her. Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's alone in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart."

I'll admit that the ending threw me. I don't know what I expected to happen but not really THAT!
The beginning was a tad redundant, it reviewed the first book maybe a little too much - but of course I read them only weeks apart not months or years - so it's good she goes back over some of the details.  My heart was torn in two with the whole love triangle. LOVE Ash, love puck - what to do?  I have a love/hate thing with love triangles! I loved Meghan discovering and embracing her powers - she is one tough half fey, half human teenage chick!  

Iron Fey Series

Book 1: The Iron King, released February 1, 2010

Book 1.5: Winter's Passage, released June 1, 2010

Book 2: The Iron Daughter, released August 1, 2010

Book 3: The Iron Queen, to be released February 1, 2011

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

My name finally came up on the library hold list for this book.  It had been so long since I reserved it I couldn't remember who recommended it, or where I may have found it or why I wanted to read it, or what it might even be about.  I've been in a fantasy rut lately and I was getting a bit bored with it so when I saw the cover art and read the first line introducing Violet Ambrose I shuddered a little bit.  I was not ready for another fairy book.  But do not fear it's not fantasy at all, but it's not normal either.  So I guess then it's considered paranormal - but she doesn't move items with her mind or fly or anything psycho, so I am categorizing it YA Fiction, boring enough?

First Line: Violet Ambrose wandered away from the safety of her father as she listened to the harmony of sounds weaving delicately around her.

Summary:

"Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself."

Two late{ish} nights and I had it finished.  But the suspense, mystery, and scare factor combined with my crazy pregnancy hormones made for some really interesting/disturbing dreams last night.  Good thing I can't remember them anymore. I loved the back and forth plot between discovering she loves Jay (vice-versa) and the murder mystery.  Just when the suspense is maxed, it switches back to Jay and Vi and you can breath for a minute and forget their danger - then when their making out gets too blech/annoying it switches back to the hunt for a murderer, or his hunt for them.  Brilliant!  I found the ending satisfying, and was surprised to see this was Derting's first novel.  Good stuff!  

But of course my last (only) bit of critique you had to see coming... 

I don't like swearing: not in books, not in joking, not in anger, not even by drunken sailors.

(among other things I was fortunate enough to be shielded from in high school)

BUT especially NOT in YA reads, seriously peeps...

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

What a rush! 

There were so many twists and turns in this book, I didn't know who to trust, or what to believe!

Definitely unnerving to be so unsettled and yet - WHAT AN ADRENALINE BOOST!

oh yeah, and the mother of all love triangles!

 

First Line: "You've got  to be kidding me," the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest.

Summary:
"When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Clary knows she should call the police, but it's hard to explain a murder when the body disappears into thin air and the murderers are invisible to everyone but Clary.
Equally startled by her ability to see them, the murderers explain themselves as Shadowhunters: a secret tribe of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Within twenty-four hours, Clary's mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque demon.
But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...."

City of Bones offered it all, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, Wizards, Mermaids, Demons, Shadow Hunters, basically any and all things fanatical.  

The 'Muggles' of Harry Potter are referred to as 'Mundanes' by Clare, but just the same they are surrounded by things they cannot see through the glamour or even imagine in their wildest dreams.  My husband flipped through the book and said "hey I'm in here!"  No, not as a demon or vampire but as the VILLAIN - Valentine!  He asked if that's why I liked this book so much and maybe it is.  There was a lot to like about this book and what little there was to NOT like (such as my biggest pet peeve - swearing) it wasn't so much an issue because I borrowed the book from a friend who had "edited" it.  Ahhhh! so much better.  

Best part: it's the first of a series!!! WAHOOO - I LOVE books in a series, yeah baby :)

I do have a question to those who have read it though...

How do YOU pronounce Jace?  

...And do you think I could convince hubs to name baby girl Jocelyn instead of Jolee?

The Mortal Instruments

Book One: City of Bones March 27, 2007

Book Two: City of Ashes March 25, 2008

Book Three: City of Glass March 24, 2009

Book Four: City of Fallen Angels expected April 5, 2011

Book Five: City of Lost Souls expected May 2012

Book Six: City of Heavenly Fire expected September 2013

 

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

First Line: Ten years ago, on my sixth birthday, my father disappeared.

Meghan begins her sixteenth birthday wanting what any other teen girl wants: her drivers license, to be noticed by the cutest boy in school and respect from her parents (oh, and a cell phone).  Her life focuses very quickly on what is important when she gets home from school that day with her mom lying in a pool of blood and her four year old brother kidnapped by creatures from the nevernever.  She acts fast following her "not as he appears" best friend Robbie into another world and an adventure that will leave her permanently changed.  

I struggled getting into this book, it was just too 'Alice in Wonderland' for me.  I never really 'got' or liked Alice in Wonderland, not sure why. 

ANYWAY...  Things really pick up and when 'Alice in Wonderland' collides into 'Transformers' meets 'World of Warcraft' - it became a bit more my mythical style - lol.

The imagination of Julie Kagawa is insane - in the best way possible.  Her attention to detail, the explanation of the surroundings both familiar and extreme, Her description of both the characters and the land made me think that this would make an awesome movie.  I could see the landscape sprawling out before me as Maghan was discovering it for the first time herself.  Stinkin cool!

There where sporatic swear words tossed in that I HATED.  Really I have issues with swearing - especially in Young Adult books.  It wasn't super extreme, but I really could have done without it.

Overall I did end up loving the book, I am excited to read the next one and if you are a fantasy lover I definitely recommend it.

 

Iron Fey Series

Book 1: The Iron King, released February 1, 2010

Book 1.5: Winter's Passage, released June 1, 2010

Book 2: The Iron Daughter, released August 1, 2010

Book 3: The Iron Queen, to be released February 1, 2011

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

First Line: Han Alister squatted next to the steaming mud spring, praying that the thermal crust would hold his weight.

Han (Cuffs) Alister is trying to recover from a life on the streets.  Having turned around his criminal life as Street Lord of the Raggers, he now has to work extra hard for his meager yet honest earnings doing whatever he can to survive.  Life just gets an extra boost of crazy when he runs into some underage wizards and takes their curious and magical amulet to save his friends life.  The story line crosses between his tale and that of the young Princess Raisa, until inevitably, their paths cross.

This medieval story is filled with heroism, danger, deception, survival, romance, hope, tradition, magic, good and evil.  

I loved it from the very beginning and can't wait for the sequel!

Seven Realms Series

The Demon King released October 13, 2009

The Exiled Queen to be released September 28, 2010

The Gray Wolfe Throne expected release October 2011

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

I pretty much loved this book.  

Kind of a guilty pleasure filled with silly high school romance and danger, 

so what's not to love?!?!

I am a sucker for Young Adult romances and for books in a series and this hits both.

First Line: Grace! You have got to see the new guy.

Grace Divine is the pastors daughter, and the so called 'new guy' isn't that new.  He's Daniel, the boy next door, Grace's first love, and now he's back.  The curious and stressful circumstances under which he left the first time have only concentrated and grew during his 3 year absence.  Jude, Grace's older brother and Daniel's former best friend is as cold and uninviting as ever with unbelievable accusations about Daniel, but they aren't without warrant.  There is something dark and wrong about Daniel, but he's not the only one with a secret.

I really don't get the cover...

Sure she goes to the prom with a purple sash covering her white dress and purple toe nail polish to match, but is it an important enough detail to make it the cover?  And what happened to the dress?

The Dark Divine Series

The Dark Divine released Dec 22, 2009

The Lost Saint expected release Dec 28, 2010

Heist Society by Ally Carter

Not really my favorite style of book.  It took a bit for me to get into, but it ended well.  Kind of a fun teenage version of Ocean 11 meets the DaVinci code.   Really clean and adventuresome, a book I could recommend to my pre-teen niece.

Dust jacket summary

"When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own–scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected. Soon, Kat’s friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat’s father isn’t just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help. For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it’s a spectacularly impossible job? She’s got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in history–or at least her family’s (very crooked) history."

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I made it!

It took me 2+ weeks to read it, yikes!  But really, that's more normal than it used to be since I have been managing 'lights out' closer to 10:30pm than 2:30am - go me!  

My only real objection to the book is that it is categorized Young Adult.  I guess I could see it as a high school English assignment. I traipsed through Crime and Punishment, Lord of the Flies, Tess of the d'Urberville, Jane Eyre and more in my Senior year, but then again, I wouldn't consider them 'Young Adult' either, but I guess they could be.  Honestly, I don't know.  Maybe I'm not giving the 'YA' group enough credit, or maybe in the ten years since I was in high school I have digressed.  

No matter, here I sit at 28, just having read an excellent, albeit hard to categorize novel!

The prologue had me stumped.  I almost cast it aside as 'not the book for me.'  Clearly the narrator was Death, which fascinated me to no end!  Maybe for that reason alone I continued reading, but I had NO IDEA what he was talking about...  A lot about colors, and the sky, and collecting souls.  The book started for me a couple of chapters in, somewhere around the time Liesel arrives at her new home on Himmel Street.  Of course by then she has already lost her brother and mother and has stolen her first book, so what do I know?

 

First Line: First the colors.

my First Line: Whoever named Himmel Street certainly had a healthy sense of irony.

Set in Nazi Germany 1939-mid forties, nine-year-old Liesel Meminger loses her communist parents to Hitler, her brother to Death, and her illiteracy to words and begins life again with the Hubermanns in Molching.  She is haunted by nightmares and bed-wetting and in the dark morning hours while her sheets dry, she is taught to read by her foster Papa.  The first book she read was also the first book that she stole, The Grave Diggers Handbook.   

The Book Thief is about words:  about Liesel learning to read one word at a time; about Hitler using words to take over his world; about words being burned in Nazi fires, and words being saved from the fire by a thief.  Liesel discovers that because of all of these reasons she both loves and hates words.

The story is both heart-warming and heart-breaking.  It's inspiring to read of Germans during such a dangerous time, begrudgingly doing their mandatory 'Heil Hitlers,' hesitating to display the colors of the Nazi flag, muttering disrespect under their breath about their Führer, being whipped for sneaking a crust of bread to a prisoner headed to a consecration camp, and sacrificing everything to hide a Jew.

While reading my mind kept swimming with stories, plots, and situations from my only other sources of information about Nazi Germany, World War II, and the Holocaust: The Sound of Music, A Beautiful Mind, The Hiding Place, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story. I'm sad, I know.  History was always my weakest subject and at the bottom of my interests list (along with current events and anything political really). I'm doomed.  Good thing I enjoy reading so that once in awhile a book like this can sneak it's way into my fun and floofy mindless reads and really make me stop and think.

Spells by Aprilynne Pike

 

First Line: Laurel stood in front of the cabin, scanning the tree line, her throat constricting in a rush of nerves.

It's been a year since Laurel found out she was a faerie.  She has returned to Avalon for a summer of training, the first she can remember.  She feels devastatingly behind her classmates, but is continually being reassured that all things considering she is catching on faster than anyone could  have hoped.  Her love triangle only intensifies as she straddles the fence between her human life and her faerie life.  She unintentionally, but still selfishly strings both David and Tamani along.  Most of her relationships are strained by now - especially the one between her and her mom.  Laurel feels ignored and unloved by her once thoughtful and caring mother.  Her mother feels unneeded and nervous, direct result of finding out the heritage of her adopted daughter.  The threat of trolls is a constant  cloud over Laurels life and once they make their appearance it brings with it even more stress.  

This action packed, young adult, fantasy thriller ends like it started, with lots of questions and most definitely at the edge of a cliff.

Wings Series

Wings released May 5, 2009

Spells released May 4, 2010

Enchantments expected release April 2011

Illusions expected release 2012

Wings by Aprilynne Pike

I enjoyed having this laid-back read after my last one!  
It's light, entertaining, and creative.

Oh! and it really made me crave home-jarred peaches and garden fresh veggies - good thing I was covered! 

First Line: Laurel's shoes flipped a cheerful rhythm that defied her dark mood.

Laurel is in a new school, in a new town; but it's more than that.  At 15-yrs-old this is her first time in a public school, ever!  She notices how differently she looks, how differently she eats and struggles to fit in.  She is befriended by the likable and easy-going David and even through beginning resistance they become good friends.  Just as she is feeling comfortable and getting into the routine of things she discovers a lump on her back.  Life really gets interesting when the lump blossoms and she is left with a wing like flower growing out of her back.  She embarks on a journey of self-discovery, budding romances, and of heroics.  Saving her dying father, her family estate, and the gateway to Avalon.

Wings Series

Wings released May 5, 2009

Spells released May 4, 2010

Enchantments expected release April 2011

Illusions expected release 2012

Mockingjay Countdown

Mockingjay, the final book in The Hunger Games Trilogy is being released August 24, 2010!

JUST ONE MONTH AWAY!!!

We are just a little bit excited :)

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

I tried to pace myself - honestly I did.  But I finished this page turner at 10:00 last night.  And wouldn't you know it, the library was closed today - sad!  This being my second time through I was often frustrated when Katniss just wasn't getting it- grrrrr.  You'll be glad to know I have since forgiven her!  I absolutely love the title for this book, it captures the mood of the districts completely as well as The Hunger Games trilogy itself - if anything has caught fire this has!

First line: I clasp the flask between my hands even though the warmth from the tea has long since leached into the frozen air.

Katniss Everdeen's life can never really return to normal even though she has beat the odds and returned home victor from the Capitol's Hunger Games.  It's not just the nightmares, but the strained relationships, constant recognition, lack of privacy, and threats from the capitol.  She is a prisoner in her own body, even her own agency stripped from her - something she could still find away to live with, but then - a death sentence.  She has sparked something though.  The girl on fire has given hope to the too long oppressed people of Panem and whether she intended it or not, it is catching fire.