City of Bones

By Cassandra Clare

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. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing—not even a smear of blood—to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundane like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know…

 

So, with the impending movie, and having watched the trailer, and having had some friends tell me I must read this series, I decided to start.  My initial thought was: Why are they making a movie out of this book when there are so many other amazing titles out there? It’s really just a re-hash of what’s popular at the moment with a few interesting twists.  Basically it’s about a girl who finds out she has ‘the sight’ and has to rescue her mother from the villain, all the while meeting a gorgeous guy (why can’t he be ugly for once?) and feeling an inexplicable attraction. There are vampires, werewolves, monsters, and hunters.  This book is entertaining and I plugged away and finished it pretty fast, that being said, I was left sorta confused as to how I felt about it. I liked the werewolf part, but I’m strangely partial to wolves. I thought the relationship between Jace and Clary was a little weird and random.  She thinks he’s a jerk, but all I could see was that he was abrupt. It kinda made her look like a dunce, but hey, I’ll admit that people are stupid when they like someone else.  All in all, I’ll probably eventually read the other books, but I admit, I had to sneak a peek on the internet to find out one certain fact if I continued the series…so yes I actually spoiled it for myself.  If you’ve read these, you know what I’m talking about.

 

I give it a 3 out of 5 because it was average for what’s hot right now.

Here's the Trailer for the movie that comes out this summer.

20,000 Days and Counting

By Robert D. Smith

The day for change is today and it’s more simple than you realize.

 Most people sleepwalk through day-to-day life, passively letting time slip away. Unfortunately, the only thing that can usually wake people up to the intensity of life is impending death. But what if you didn’t have to be that way? 20,000 days presents breathtakingly simple strategies and concepts that, once applied, will enable readers to be 100% present and intentional with every passing minute of every day, for the rest of their lives.

The book is designed to be read in under an hour and the effect is immediate. Within each segment are tactics for mastering control of your life; principles such as:

·         Motivation is a myth

·         You only have two choices, yes and no

·         How to conquer rejection forever

·         How BECOMING the problem with SOLVE all your problems

·         Three sentences that will change your life immediately

 These timeless principles apply to everyone from the pending graduate to the seasoned business professional; from the time-starved parent to the weary pastor to the restless entrepreneur.

 On the 20,000^th day of his life, the author sent an email that inspired and reminded a group of people of all ages to live in the moment. This group now includes you.

 

 So, true to the boast, I read this book in one sitting in about an hour and a half. It was pretty awesome, and I still go back to all the stuff I highlighted. It gives a lot of insight into the way we think the walls we get stuck in front of by simply focusing on the wrong things. One of my favorite parts of the book was the story he told about a young man who held onto this motto: No reatreats. No Reserves. No Regrets. This book is filled with little precious gems of wisdom, perfect for the start of any new goal or resolution. I’d recommend it to those people who have a hard time feeling successful, or wanting to change.  It’s a great self-help like book, but more about attitude and happiness.

 

I give it a 4 out of 5 Because it gave me some awesome epiphanies.

The Name of the Star

By Maureen Johnson

 The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it’s the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper in the autumn of 1888.

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man the police now believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was with her at the time, didn’t notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

 So I was obsessed with ghost stories as a kid, and this book was like going back to those times. I really enjoyed the tone and the story of this novel, which can dip into the darker themes at time (it is a book about Jack the Ripper).  I appreciated the history of Jack-the-Ripper with the map in the front with the area of White Chapel, it helped ground me. Also, having the protagonist from the U.S. going to London helped me get a feel for London in much the same way I would if I went, being from the U.S. myself. I enjoyed Rory’s point of view of living in London and the way people were the same and different from what she expected. There were plenty of funny moments that lightened an otherwise potentially dark book. I really enjoyed the mystery and the paranormal element and look forward to the next book, hoping it will keep the same tone, light, fantastical, and a little edgy.

I give it a 3.5 out of 5 but it’s really closer to 4!

What Came From the Stars

By Gary D. Schmidt

The peaceful civilization of Valorim is under siege…It’s about to fall to the dark Lord Mondus. In a panic, a few heroes bind all their world’s beauty into one precious necklace and send it across the cosmos, hurling past a trillion lighted stars…all the way into the lunch box of sixth-grader Tommy Pepper of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Tommy puts it on, and soon he starts doodling pictures of the twin suns of Valorim and hearing strange music. But at first, he is too preoccupied to notice; his mother died recently, and his sister isn’t speaking, and his father is fighting a real-estate agency to keep their home. But when strange minions of Lord Mondus begin ransacking Plymouth, Tommy realizes he must protect his family from villains more dangerous than a vengeful realtor and her bus-stop-bully daughter. Gary D. Schmidt masterfully presents the epic story of a family trying to redefine itself in the wake of tragedy.

 

So…this was an interesting turn for this author, and while at first I was wondering about his choice of fantasy interwoven with real-life, I think I got it by halfway through the book.  Part of this book is the perspective of the different Valorim on the far away planet, and another part is in the much easier to understand perspective of Tommy Pepper.  At the beginning of the novel there was so much name dropping of alien people that I couldn’t tell left from right and wondered how a seasoned writer could make that mistake, and as I kept reading it kept niggling at me, but then I realized that this book really isn’t about the Valorim…it’s about Tommy and everything that happens with the Valorim, the monsters, the necklace, is a way to tell a story about loss and love and family. After I realized that, I also began to understand how cool it was that Mr. Schmidt tried this. Using the fantastical to approach well-known themes and problems is a great technique, and I enjoyed the book a lot more once I was focusing on what I knew I was supposed to. It’s actually a really symbolic book with a lot of poetic pieces to it. He’s a really talented author, and I’d recommend this to anybody who likes his other books. Nice job.

 

I give it a 3.8 out of 5 because of the beautiful tone and imagery and the underlying message.

Daughter of the Goddess

By Rita J. Webb

The Heart.

The God of Love seeks a bride who is pure in heart and full of life—full of soul. Instead of a woman, he finds a child with laughter in her heart. Waiting for her to grow up, he befriends her, pretending to be nothing more than a blue-eyed boy with wild, tangled hair.

 The Soul.

Left on the temple doorstep, a young girl turns the lives of the priestesses upside down…until one summer before her eighteenth birthday, a traveling oracle tells her she is to marry a stranger in a foreign land.

The Nightmare.

An ancient demon—half man, half snake—wants to destroy anything the gods love. When she was a child, he haunted her dreams, but now he stalks her across the countryside. If he catches her, he’ll devour her.

 

 

This was a fun find on my kindle that turned out much better than I expected.  It has a lot of the tone of classical mythology, I got stuck in paralleling it to the Greek pantheon, but strangely I got a lot of Christian themes within the book as I read. It was a sweet read, and I really connected with Peaches on a lot of levels.  This is a love story, but it’s also a story about good and evil and the power one person has to change everything in their own life and the lives of the people they love.  I’d highly recommend it if you enjoy mythology and fairy tale. It can be compared to certain Christian themes, but I see them because I’m Christian, so even if you aren’t you can still really enjoy this book.

 

I give it a 3.9 out of 5- it’s almost a 4 but not quite!

Chasing Lincoln's Killer

By James L. Swanson

Based on rare archival material, obscure trial manuscripts, and interviews with relatives of the conspirators and the manhunters, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer is a fast-paced thriller about the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth: a wild twelve-day chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia.

 

This is actually a pretty cool read. It’s a book about the events of the assassination of Lincoln, a hot topic right now in media for some reason, and the ensuing manhunt for John Wilkes Booth.  It’s the kid version of the New York Bestseller by the same author, called “Manhunt”, but I really like the young adult version (it’s a lot shorter). Not that I don’t like the long versions, but it can get kind of hard to get through after the first few hundred pages. It has lots of interesting pictures of Booth and the other conspirators, maps, and interesting information I never knew. It’s great for the kid (or adult) that enjoys his history and especially likes Mr. Lincoln.

 

I give it a 3.5 out of 5 Mostly for preference, I don’t usually read this sort of thing, but if you do, I’d give it more like a 4.

Sleeping Beauty

By Jenni James

The sleeping girl has no idea she is asleep.

After Aleyna witnessed the cruel deaths of her family, she was put to sleep by Ezralon the unicorn. He has been keeping her safe, hidden in the forest, until her true prince could come and rescue her.

While Aleyna is protected in the forest, her spirit walks the halls of her ruined, deserted castle in a dream-like existence, believing everything is still perfect. However, she is halted in this state—almost as if time were frozen—until the prince awakens her.

Prince Darien of Lybrooke Court loves a challenge as much as the next man, but believes it will be a fool’s errand to rescue a ghost who is already dead! He’s convinced no one could have survived sleeping thirty years, so what is the point of rescuing a girl who is quite content to haunt on her own?

Of course, if Darien wasn’t so afraid of ghouls, this whole thing could be much easier to fathom…

I was stoked to read this book after reading Jenni James’s “Beauty and the Beast”, and the fact that the hero was afraid of his damsel? How awesome! But, sadly, I was let down. Darien had a bad case of love at first sight, and overcame his fear in the blink of an eye. I was disappointed, hoping for a little more development. It was still enjoyable and sweet, and it’s a great twist on the fairy tale, but I still prefer Cameron Dokey’s “Beauty Sleep” for Sleeping Beauty retelling.

I give it a 3 out of 5 for an average entertaining read.