"The Agency: A Spy in the House" by Y. S. Lee

Insurance fraud.
Sunken ships.
Guilt money.
A ransacked office.
There was at least one more missing detail...

Mary Lang is a preteen girl living in the streets of Victorian era London. She picks pockets and breaks into houses to survive, until she is caught and sentenced to hang.
When she is miraculously rescued from the gallows and sent to Miss Scrimshaw's Academy for Girls, it's a new life. A life away from the crime and theivery she left behind. It's a new chance to be independent- a rare thing in Victorian era Britain.
But when Mary, now going with the last name of Quinn, finds herself yearning for more, she is hired by the headmistresses of the academy to work for The Agency- a top secret detective agency exclusively for women agents.
Mary's thrilled to be working for The Agency, and even more thrilled when she recieves her first assignment. Posing as a hired companion, she's to assist a more experienced agent in investigating missing ships containing smuggled items. But not all is as it seems in the household, and no one is who they appear to be.

Just before he caught her, she had a moment of sick premonition. It had been the same way the first time- the last time- she'd been caught. A flash of dread, of knowing. And then it happened.

I picked this book up from the library because I'm fascinated by the Victorian era. I decided that it looked interesting, took it home, and read it in what would amount to about 24 hours. It's a pretty fast read, particularly once you get more than halfway into it.

The interesting thing about this book is not just that the characters are amazing, but that it seems like an incredibly realistic portrayal of Victorian era London. The jacket says that the author completed her PhD in Victorian literature and culture, and studied London. You can definitely tell this while reading the book- she includes many details that make the backdrop of this book to be exciting and foreign- and yet utterly realistic.

The characters are also quite amazing- Particularly James and Mary (the main characters), who happen to have some of the most wonderfully witty lines that I've read for a while.
However, although I enjoy the characters, I find the plot to be a little meandering and it has a slightly confusing end in my opinion. There were several times when I had to go back and reread as section because I didn't quite catch what was going on. Several times also near the end things just seem to go a little too good for the characters, with Mary's mysterious instincts. I also didn't particularly like the end- it was a little abrupt and it made me a little sad.
Despite this, I consider it to be a good book and if I see more from this series, I will be getting them from the library.

"City of Orphans" by Avi

"The streets of 1893 New York are full of life: crowded, filthy, dangerous. If you are a newsboy like thirteen-year- old Maks Geless, you need to watch out for Bruno, leader of the Plug Ugly Gang whose shadowy, sinister boss is plotting to take control of all the newsies on the lower East Side. With Bruno’s boys in fierce pursuit, Maks discovers Willa, a strange girl who lives alone in an alley. It is she, stick in hand, who fights off the Plug Uglies--but further dangers await. Maks must find a way to free his sister Emma from The Tombs, the city jail where she has been imprisoned for stealing a watch at the glamorous new Waldorf Hotel. Maks, believing her innocent, has only four days to prove it. Fortunately, there is Bartleby Donck, the eccentric lawyer (among other employments) to guide Maks and Willa in the art of detection. Against a backdrop alive with the sights and sounds of tenement New York, Maks, as boy detective, must confront a teeming world of wealth and crime, while struggling against powerful forces threatening new immigrants and the fabric of family love."-goodreads

I haven't read a really good middle-grade in quite a while (aside that I'm currently re-reading "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" at a snail like pace to go along with Pottermore). I don't read middle-grade very often, but when I do I usually enjoy it (well, actually, specifically, I've said it before and I'll say it again: I enjoy any kind of book, as long is it's good, to me. That's the obvious requirement, and that's all.) "City of Orphans" fulfilled the good book requirement as well as the 'good middle-grade since I haven't read one in a while' requirement.


I really liked Maks, the main character. Throughout the novel, he deals with a whole lot of problems amicably but realistically. He experienced set backs and not everything went as planned, and that seems to happen too much especially in middle-grade. It wasn't a complete fairy tale. Willa was pretty epic too, tough girl who's also sensitive (which has been done a million times, but still). While I thought the characters were likable, I 
didn't necessarily think they had as much depth as I would have liked... 

The overall plot was good, well paced, a mystery that kept you reading to find out who the crook was, and when I did find out I was pretty sad for -insert character here-. I also liked that between the writing and the few illustrations scattered through out I felt the book come to life-- which is really important for the middle grade genre, I think (but any genre for the most part!)! The voice is quite important too and I thought that was also great. The bottom line: A great historical, stand-alone, middle-grade novel!

Thank you Simon&Schuster for the opportunity to review this book, readers, as usual it in no way affected my opinion!

"Plague" (Gone, #4) by Michael Grant

*As usual with sequel reviews, the description is spoiler-y, so I haven’t included it. The below review may reveal minor spoilers about the previous two books. YOU ARE WARNED.*

I love this series, I do.  I can’t wait for Fear (April 2012) and Light to come out so I can finally find out the fate of our beloved characters… but (sadly, there‘s a ‘but‘)… Plague. Oh dear. It still had action, it still had different perspectives, and there was still unexpected twists and turns with the punch of a broad cast of characters-- my favorite parts of the series so far, but Plague was a bit of a let down. It wasn’t *bad*. It just wasn’t what I expected, either. At some point in Plague, I’m not sure how far in I was, I started feeling like I was reading about a soap-opera or some other sometimes overly dramatic situation set in a dystopian/post-apocalyptic world (inside a dome!)… Too dramatic at times. And Sam’s self-pity and erratic behavior plus a very selfish attitude kept propping up all over the place and I can’t say I like Sam much anymore which is disappointing as I loved him in Gone and Hunger and somewhat in Lies (by the way, I don’t mean loved like, OMG SWOON IT’S EDWARD CULLEN, which I’m seriously not like, by the way, but I thought Sam was a fantastic character). It didn’t feel like a filler book for me or anything like that, there were still new developments and few things resolved, which is fortunate because I would have absolutely hated that.

ALSO, major warning: KILLER CLIFF-HANGER. Fear doesn’t come out until April. That kills me. I think I’m traumatized by the wait, because I was able to read the first four so close together as they’ve been released for a while. Seriously, the cliff-hanger has launched me into a (hopefully short) stand-alone/completed series only kind of mood so I don’t have to see one of those for a while. But the point of a cliffhanger is to make you want more and be excited for the next book, which I definitely am, so I guess it’s effective!

Bottom line: This book in the Gone series just didn‘t resonate with me, but I still can’t wait for the next one, which I hope I like more.

"Nevermore" by Kelly Creagh

"At once an homage to one of America's greatest writers and a page-turning psychological mystery that is equal parts horror, humor, and romance, NEVERMORE is the story of Varen -- a Poe-fan and goth -- and Isobel -- a cheerleader and unlikely heroine. When a Lit. project pairs the two together, Isobel finds herself steadily swept into Varen's world, one that he has created in his notebook and in his mind, one where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life. Isobel slowly learns that dreams can be much more powerful than she'd ever expected, and that pain and despair come in all sorts of shades. As labels of "goth" and "cheerleader" fade away, she sees more in Varen than a tall, pale outcast, and a consuming romance is braced against the ever-clearer horror that the most terrifying realities are those within our own minds.
When Isobel has a single chance to rescue Varen from the shadows of his own nightmares, will she be able to save him -- and herself?"-goodreads

I am a Poe enthusiast! I have been meaning to read this book for quite a while because of that. Several people recommended this book to me because I like the Edgar Allan Poe stuff I've read, as in, really like it! Thus, I was extremely excited to read Nevermore. I was not disappointed by the Poe element at all-- there were quotes, it was a totally gothic book, they talked about Poe, the project was on Poe, and you know, it turned out everything had more to do with Poe than it seemed. *queue the spooky music*

This is a very LONG book. It's over 500 pages. That doesn't deter me, I don't care about the length of a book as long as it's a good book. This was a good book. It wasn't the BEST BOOK EVER (which I kind of hoped it would be...). It was a good book. I do think it could've been shorter--I felt like it spent a lot of time building up to what was going to happen, and then when stuff actually started happening, it felt kind of rushed (which might've just been the contrast of the pace moving rather slowly and then all of  a sudden we were getting places, figuring things out, etc...).

I liked Varen as a character... I wasn't a huge fan of Isabel. She kind of reminded me of a certain other Bella that is part of a popular YA series... and not in a very good way. That and I just never really connected with her as a character, I never really felt any sympathy or otherwise for her.

I did like how the story unfolded, the Poe element, and the writing was gothic and beautiful. It was awesomely psychological and creepy. I'll definitely be picking up the sequel when it comes out next year (I thought it was supposed to be a stand-alone, but BAM, CLIFFHANGER.) but it just wasn't overall my thing. But if you enjoy gothic types of books, Edgar Allan Poe, paranormal, and aren't afraid of a big book-- give it a try, you might think it's the best book ever. :)

"Those That Wake" by Jesse Karp

March 21st, 2011
"New York City’s spirit has been crushed. People walk the streets with their heads down, withdrawing from one another and into the cold comfort of technology. Teenagers Mal and Laura have grown up in this reality. They’ve never met. Seemingly, they never will. But on the same day Mal learns his brother has disappeared, Laura discovers her parents have forgotten her. Both begin a search for their families that leads them to the same truth: someone or something has wiped the teens from the memories of every person they have ever known. Thrown together, Mal and Laura must find common ground as they attempt to reclaim their pasts." -goodreads

This book was another interesting dystopia (can you tell that Dystopias are definitely the next vampire craze? and also that I kind of love them?). This one, rather then being directly dictated what to do by a force like The Capitol in The Hunger Games or the society in Matched, the residents of New York are kind of letting themselves be controlled by their technology. That concept was a bit frightening, probably because people really can be like that- absorbed by their smartphones or the television when the people and interactions you should be involved with are right in front of you. I've experienced people doing things like that, just as I probably have before. So some of the elements in Those That Wake really weren't that far off.

What else? The book is rather dark and grim, the tone especially, all the way through (almost gothic!). I've read reviews from people that didn't like this and thought it took away from the book and while I agree that it was a bit of a tedious tone, the entire time, I also realize that's how the story was. It wasn't happy and exciting, it was suspenseful and grim. I liked the main characters (Mal and Laura). I enjoyed the story over all. 

ARC through program at my awesome library. Thank you!

"Cryer's Cross" by Lisa McMann

"The small town of Cryer's Cross is rocked by tragedy when an unassuming freshman disappears without a trace. Kendall Fletcher wasn't that friendly with the missing girl, but the angst wreaks havoc on her OCD-addled brain.

When a second student goes missing-someone close to Kendall's heart- the community is in an uproar. Caught in a downward spiral of fear and anxiety, Kendall's not sure she can hold it together. When she she starts hearing voices of the missing, calling out to her and pleading for help, she fears she's losing her grip on reality. But when she finds messages scratched in a desk at school-messages that could only be from the missing student who used to sit there-Kendall decides that crazy or not, she'd never forgive herself if she didn't act on her suspicions.

Something's not right in Cryer's Cross-and Kendall's about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried." -The back of the ARC

This book was so creepy and suspenseful. Very intense stuff here. It was really good though. I especially liked Kendall, and I thought it was really interesting getting this kind of story from the perspective of a character who suffers from OCD. The book is also written in present tense, which I don't always enjoy, but I think it really worked for this book. I also find that sometimes when things are written in present tense, especially character's thoughts, I find it to seem kind of confusing. At times, I thought that about this book, but I thought it worked, because it seemed to further indicate the state of Kendall's mind, especially dealing with the disappearances. I also really liked the setting, the small town, all that. This was a really awesome scary book. If you're into scary books, with intensity and major suspense, with a brilliant conclusion; then "Cryer's Cross" is for you! I give it four and half stars!

If you would like to find out more about "Cryer's Cross", then go to the website on Simon&Schuster, and Lisa McMann's website.

Thank you to Simon Pulse, Simon & Schuster publishing for the ARC/review copy, and giving me the chance to review this book. 
Note to readers: Review copies provided by the publisher/author do not influence my reviews whatsoever, these are my REAL OPINIONS! 

The Falconer's Knot by Mary Hoffman

'What a lout!' whispered Sister Veronica. 'You'd think a man who can afford clothes and a horse like that would have better manners.'
It was not the sort of thing that nuns were supposed to say and Chiara was delighted to discover that Sister Veronica had this human side.
When Silvano, a sixteen year old noble, is suspected for a murder he did not commit, his father immediately sends him off to Giardinetto, to find safety in a monastery, until they can prove his innocence. There Silvano finds many things- friendship, love, and adventure- but not safety.

Chiara is under the protection of her brother. Her brother who cannot afford a dowry for her. So he sends her off to Giarinetto- to the home of the Poor Clares, to become a nun.
While she's there, Chiara meets Silvano, who's pretending to be a novice. She immediately sees through his disguise, and finds him to be a kindred spirit.

When people start dying, Silvano knows that he has to find the killer, before he is allowed to go home. But, at a home of the religious, who would kill another?

Then she saw with a shock that this corpse was the drunken man who had laughed at her and Sister Veronica on the road the day before. Chiara felt again how fragile life was, how a vigorous man could be snuffed out in an instant. The thought made her shudder.

The synopsis I provided for this book doesn't do it justice. There are so many interesting story lines, so many different plots and characters, that I think it'd be fairly impossible for me to list them in a timely manner.
On a whole, I enjoyed this book. It was fairly obvious to me who was the killer, and how everything was going to end up, but I enjoyed it anyway. The historical detail was very fascinating, and there was just enough romance to make it appeal in that area, as well. :)
I'd give this book four stars.

As the Minister General performed the committal, he looked around the graveyard and Bonsignore could tell he was thinking it too cramped for the needs of a house that was going to have a murder every week or so.

The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters

But I had looked, and I knew the sight would haunt my dreams: Abd el Atti, hanging from the roofbeam of his own shop, swaying to and fro like some winged monster of the night.

Amelia Peabody Emerson is a archeologist. She's eccentric, interesting, and also a detective to boot.
Therefore, when she and her husband- Radcliffe Emerson- and her son- Ramses- go to Egypt to excavate during the summer, it shouldn't be surprising that mystery comes to her.
A mysterious papyrus scrap- sold to Amelia, albeit reluctantly- causes the seller, Abd el Atti to be murdered. What follows can only be described as chaotic. While digging, several attempted (and sometimes successful) burglaries occur, a death, two mysterious fires, and the regular excavation. Amelia is determined to figure out who is behind the burglaries and murders, but with local unease, a precocious ("Catastrophically precocious" As Amelia says.) son who has a habit of getting into trouble, a husband who likes to be disagreeable, and a servant who's distractingly in love, can she manage it?
"De criminal was about to steal my pectoral," Ramses replied. "It is MINE. I found it."
"But, my dear boy, it was horribly dangerous," Emerson exclaimed. "YOu cannot go about demanding your rightful property from thieves; they are not amenable to such appeals."
"It was not dangerous," Ramses said serenely. "I knew you and Mama would not allow de men to harm me."
My mother gave me this book to read. I am attending a murder mystery party set during the Victorian era, in Egypt. (In fact, I am an archeologist, lol). She said it would help set the mood, that it was funny ( that it would increase my vocabulary (that it failed in, since I didn't look any of the words up in the dictionary), and that I would love Ramses. (that I did.) What she failed to mention is how stinking long this book is. Usually it would take me a couple of days to finish a book of this length. but for some reason, this one took me over a week. Huh. In fact, it has earned the descriptive nickname, "The Never Ending Book." (not to be confused with the never ending story.)
Despite it's length, however, it was a very interesting book, and I learned a lot. It was well written, and the ending was completely unexpected.
Besides this, it was chock full of awesome quotes. I narrowed the quotes down to four, which is one more than I usually include in book reviews. But since the fourth is so awesome, I will post it here."To bring her to Mrs. Emerson, of course," John replied, his eyes widening. Emerson subsided with a curse. "Of course. Everyone brings everything to Mrs. Emerson. Lions, mummy cases, miscellaneous young ladies-" I'd give it about three stars.
The old woman's cacodemonic laughter broke out again. She began to shuffle her feet in a grotesque dance of triumph. "I knew the honored sitt would not let an old woman be robbed. The wisdom of the prophet is yours, great lady. Accept an old woman's blessing. May you have many sons- many, many sons..."
The idea was so appalling I think I turned pale.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

If man has two sides- a good side and an evil side- then is it possible to separate them to create a single personality? That is the question that is faced in Robert Louis Stevenson’s book The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Dr. Jekyll is a respectable, honorable man. Mr. Hyde is a disgusting, evil person. “[The] few who could describe him differed widely, as common observers will. Only on one point were they agreed; and that was the haunting sense of unexpressed deformity with which the fugitive impressed his beholders.” as Stevenson writes.

The book is narrated by an old friend of Dr. Jekyll’s, a lawyer named Mr. Utterson. Over the course of the few years covered in the book, Mr. Utterson discovers the disturbing secret behind Mr. Hyde.

In The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, I think the author is trying to express the idea that all people have a capacity for both extreme good and extreme evil, as expressed in this passage. “If each, I told myself, could but be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil.”

One part of this book that I found particularly interesting was the characters. Each and every character was developed, interesting, and original, whether or not they remained throughout the entire book, like Mr. Utterson, or appeared only in two paragraphs, such as this landlady. “An ivory-faced and silvery-haired old woman opened the door. She had an evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy; but her manners were excellent.” The characters each had their own strengths, weaknesses, and goals. Even without a good plot, the characters alone would have convinced me to read the book.

This book was very interesting to me, as it raised questions that I think a lot of people have thought of before. What if you could separate the parts of your personality? What would life be like then? What challenges would you face? Rewards? Dangers? Would it be a good thing? Or like in this book, an extremely dangerous thing? Or both?

Thanks in part to the questions, part to the interesting plot twists, and in part again to the characters, this book has to be one of my favorite reads. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy dark gothic novels.

"The House of Dead Maids" by Claire B. Dunkle

"The House of Dead Maids" is a short 'prelude' to the classic literary novel "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte. If you want a reason to get into "Wuthering Heights" or have already read it and enjoyed it, this is a good book for you. However, if you have no interest in the old English type of writing style and the gothic elements with that type of story, you might not like it. I already read "Wuthering Heights" for my literature class last year, so I knew what they were talking about and enjoyed it fairly well!

Tabby has no parents and no family that she knows of. She has always been an orphan so long as she can remember. She has worked at various places, helping to be housekeeper and such, and is now finally at a knitting school where she's learned to knit well, when someone named Miss Winter comes to collect her. Tabby has been bought by this Miss Winter woman, from being at the school. She ends up at "Seldom House" where she finds that she's going to be the maid of a young boy; by various names. When she's taking care of the little boy -and when she's not- she finds herself haunted by a girl spirit that seems to be an old maid of the house. Soon, her and 'himself, heathen git' in their explorations of the house discover the dark house's very dark secret.

This book was alright. It was pretty sure which (a rare case) I found myself kind of glad about. It's written in an old english style like "Wuthering Heights" and is filled with Gothic era elements and the like. It's a complicated to story, and some might think it's a sophisticated type of book. I give it 3 stars ***. And also: the cover is creepy.

Dirty Laundry by Daniel Ehrenhaft

I'm sort of a corny TV and movie addict in general. I am a dork.
Self professed "dork" (not really) Carli is an actress. She's been assigned a role as a "Sheila Smith" in a new TV show, about girls who live in a boarding school. But Carli doesn't know what boarding school is like. Why would she? She's never gone to one, never wished to go to one. Which is why she is assigned to Winchester School of the Arts. Winchester is the "laundromat" for students- it's where all the other schools send their dirty laundry. The kids who were expelled. The delinquents. Everyone there is there for a reason. Most of them have stories. Like Fun (who is REALLY Fellini Udall Newport, but hates his name, for good reason). Fun was expelled from Winchester. His father wants him to graduate high school, though. His father is the director of the show that Carli has been cast in. And Carli "Sheila" needs someone to show her the ropes of the school, to make sure that she actually figures out how to be Sheila. And everything is just hunky dory until Carli gets there, and finds out that a girl, one of the only "normal" people there, Darcy, has disappeared. In one of her shame spirals, Carli decides to find Darcy. The mystery pulls together people who Carli never thought she'd meet, much less be friends with, and brings a whole new understanding to all of their lives.
Which brings me back to the series: My character is not a dork. Her name is Sheila Smith, by far the worst of the bunch: the shcemer who won't let anyone stand in her way, the queen bee, the foul seductress... place every standard Mean Girl stereotype here then triple it. (Yikes!) But the problem is...
I am a dork.
This is another one of those fluffy girly spy mysteries. Like "I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You" and "My Fair Godmother" (although that isn't a spy book, the characters seem pretty similar) and, (although I haven't done a review on them) the "Spy Goddess" books. I liked this book, though. It was interesting, I liked the characters, and the mystery was intriguing. The ending is completely bizarre, but somehow the author seems to make it work. very odd. but anyway, I'd give this book four stars.
"You think this is humorous?"
The color drained from my face. "No, I...I don't know. Headmaster Stanton sounds like a Muppet." It was the first thing that popped into my head. "Or someone who's just breathed in, like, a big balloon of helium. Doesn't he?"
For some reason this struck Fun as funny. He started laughing. He laughed so hard that Stanton stopped talking. He laughed so hard that every single kid in the dining hall turned to look at us, standing in the entranceway- the last four students to arrive on the tragic opening day of the new Winchester school year.

Down the Rabbit Hole, An Echo Falls Mystery -Peter Abraham

Down the Rabbit Hole is a mystery/thrilling book depicting the a time in the life of a 13 year old named Ingrid. The story starts as she tries out of a play with the community theater's production of Alice and Wonderland, as she loves to act. She also likes to play soccer... These two things are the events at which time everything begins to go wrong. A local murder mystery arises, and Ingrid cannot get it out of her mind. It makes no sense! Matters are made worse with suspicion, and a small fact... She left her soccer cleats at the victim's home... What will she do?

I thought that the books was good and it was exciting. There were lots of twists and turns, and it was a thrill of a book. It had lots of great elements to a story including: romance, mystery, scare, thrill, shock, intensity, fun, and it was easy to relate to most of the time. It had a lot of good qualities. The only thing I didn't really like is that some things... well, some was predictable. The others were that the end was awful, in my personal opinion, I think it was a really cruddy setup for a sequel. Which exhists, but it was one of those books that was great, but no- I don't want to read another. The characters were interesting but I didn't like the way things were laid out sometimes, and I also thought that at times the could make things tedious OCCASIONALLY with some unneccesary long descriptions, and then I felt when it mattered, I needed a better picture -a better description.

All in all, I thought it was a good book, and I think most kids/teens (whatever) and 12&up could easily enjoy this book. 4 stars!

Endymion Spring by Mathew Skelton

Endymion Spring is a book about the adventure that surrounds Blake and his sister, Duck, when he is in Oxford, from America, while she is working at the library. They explore the library, and Blake, finds an odd book. The book is not odd, because it is old, worn, or with an odd title, "Endymion Spring" because, there are plenty of those at the Oxford library. It is odd because as he flips through the pages, it seems to be the case that all the pages, made with beautiful paper, are completely blank. And not blank, like the type for a journal or something, but completely emptily blank. After that, all sorts of odd things happen, and he tries to solve the mystery of the blank book. It is also not catalogued at the library. The book is gone when he comes back, and all sorts of weird things follow.

There is also the side story, taking place in Mainz, explaining who Endymion Spring is and exposing how this book and its extraordinary abilities came to be... and you'll have to read the book to learn more. :P

Okay, Bookworms. READ THE BOOK! I was surprised to find that this is one of the best books I've read in a while. For me, it ranks right up there with Harry Potter and Maximum Ride. And most of my favorite books are series, and this isn't. It's a very intriguing, different, and well written story, and I love it. I rate it 4 1/2 or maybe even 5 stars. Wow, huh? I really only had one major quip with the book and that was the fact that it never stated how old Blake and Duck were, although the stories lead me to believe they were around 13 and 10 or 11. I also didn't like that it never stated where they were from, I don't believe, but it is hinted and all but said that they were from the United States. There are some other lacking details from the story as well, like their physical features. All of this left a lot up to the imagination though and your point of perspective, so it wasn't that bad. Missing details like that though, are one of my pet peeves.

So, when you read this book, help yourself answer the question and imagine what it would be like, to find the first and/or the last book, and have them in your hands. Deep concept! :P :P

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The City of Ember is the first book in the Ember series. It depicts the story of a City called Ember, where instead of a sky with the sun they have a sky full of lights. They are entirely closed in from any outside world that may or may not exhist. As far as they know, the 'darkness', the unknown, unlit, area beyond the boundaries is all there is, no more civilization to be seen. The city is fully stocked, with all the food and things they need, and other things can be grown. At least, that's the way it was. Now, Lina, the lead character, and her current time of her world, is starting to suffer the fact that their storerooms aren't endless, among other things, and her whole world could change as she knows it, among the light outages and other such things. They have lots of things, but nowhere near what we do. (such as most plants, animals, technologies, and even the knowledge that we have.) To find out what happens you will just have to read this great book!

I loved it. I would rate it 4 stars! Maybe 4 1/2. It's a very good read! I highly recommend it. :):):) It is also a great discussion type of book. What would you do in the situations that come up with the city? What would you do if you didn't have these things that you do now? It's just interesting to think about.
I think it would be good for anyone like, 10&up to read. :) It doesn't matter too much though. :)

Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse by Kaleb Nation

"Bran Hambric" by Kaleb Nation is a relatively new fantasy book to come to the scene. It is about a boy, named Bran, living in a town called Dunce that has 3 rules: No Mages, No gnomes, and absolutely no Etceteras. Does that sound odd to you? Yes. But if you get past that, haha, it's a very good book! Bran is a boy who is living with the Wilomas's, a family who he only belongs to by accident, and is reffered to as 'the accident'. How? Apparently, in their town, there is a law of finders keepers, even when it comes to children. So, when Sewey Wilomas stumbled across a small boy with nothing but a note that bared his name, "Bran Hambric" he was then to be taken care of by the Wilomas's.
The rules of the town is that there is no magic or gnomes, or anything that could be considered an etcetera after listing those. Is that insignificant? Maybe it seems so, but later on, not.
Anyway, back to Bran. Bran doesn't know who his parents were, or what they were like. He knows that his mother left him for someone else to find. She could be dead. He has no idea. He doesn't know what any of his family was like, and apparently Sewey searched far and wide and found no relations. Read this story of what Bran finds out about that, and the mysteries of the town, the gnomes, the mages, and what the heck the Farfield Curse is.

I thought this book was very good. I think anyone who read and enjoyed Harry Potter will like this book, and it kind of reminded me of it. I think anyone 9&up can read and enjoy it as well! It is a good fantasy, with a nice sense of humor. It is kind of a new twist on books involving magic and stuff as it revolves around the modern world, just with some different rules.
I rate it 4 stars! So... Read it! :)
Bye bookworms! -Cat.

Owl in Love by Patrice Kindl

Owl in Love is a story about a girl who is an Owl by night (or whenever she wants to be) and a 14 year old girl by day. Her features and clothes are old, so is her home, and some of her values. The way she treats people isn't bad, just careful, as she doesn't really know how. She has no friends. She is the weird girl, though no one knows anything near her story. She has her parent's, who are human. She is somehow miracly a wereowl as she calls herself. Owl is her name too, though no one can even begin to realize how, say, ironic that is. Nothing but her oversized eyes and pale sand skin can give it a clue. What will happen with her 'crush' on her science teacher? More of an infatuation, thanks to her owl blood. What will happen when she finally makes a friend? What will she do about Houle, the boy she has seen as an owl, taken a liking too, and tried to figure out, and take care of?

I loved this book! It's way better then it sounds. It's rather underappreciated if you ask me. I rate it 4 stars! It's kind of short at only 212 pages, but no less pleasing. It left me wanting more, just as any good book does, and lead the time to pass quickly. The story begins fairly fast moving, so it isn't hard to get into. It is well written as well, flowing nicely, those words on the pages are a reflection of a deep, odd, and unknown story to the unknowning reader who hardly knew they were picking up a book about a weirdo who turns into an owl. So, read it! :) :)
I recommend this for ages 12&up for some scary elements and mild language. I also have a feeling that mainly only girls will enjoy this, even in the adventurous manner it has.

Gilda Joyce series by Jennifer Allison

There are currently four books in the Gilda Joyce series: Gilda Joyce and the Psychic Investigator, Gilda Joyce and the Ladies of the Lake, Gilda Joyce and the Ghost Sonata, and Gilda Joyce and the Dead Drop. I have read all four books and loved them immensely. Gilda Joyce is a thirteen year-old (14 in later books) girl who likes investigating the paranormal and feels she is a "phychic investigator" These books are mysteries and ghost stories at the same time. Although the "Gilda Joyce" series is very funny and clever I would only recommend reading the books if you are 12 or older due to slight PG rated content and language.

Later,

Robin

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Book 1. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson is a normal boy. Or at least somewhat. He has ADHD and learning problems, and he gets expelled from school every year, though he really is a good boy. He never knew that all of those problems were deeper. And they didn't lead to anything that anyone could guess either. Is Percy really a 'half-blood' of olympian origin? Is he just a weirdo? Can he fit in at camp? How long will his stay be at his new favorite place, camp? and if it leads to it, can he save the world from a war of the gods.

What I thought: I thought it was really good. 4 stars. An interesting and intriguing story. Some of the elements of the story are kind of predictable or old, yet other parts of the story, the result, and everything else is completely unexpected and mysterious. It is very good. I recommend it to anyone that likes books such as Charlie Bone, Harry Potter, Spiderwick, Series of Unfortunate Events and more, as well as anyone who appreciates mythology.

Daniel X: Watch The Skies by James Patterson & Ned Rust

In this near to brand new, highly anticipated sequel to the original Daniel X book, "Daniel X" by James Patterson &Micheal Ledwidge, another intriguing view of the world from a somewhat superhuman person being the main character, Aliens taking over the world, aliens exhisting, and life as a good alien although appearing human life form is depicted as intriguing (like I said), rather then cheesy or dorky, and the whole alien thing sounds.

Summary/Description: Daniel X is a boy who wants revenge, and he is going to go up and down the "list" to find and hunt every bad alien there is, leading up to the big alien, the prey, number uno, who killed his parents when he was younger. He has plenty of powers to fight them with, whether he is teleporting himself, transforming himself (or others), making things appear (such as the pack of friends that help him), or something as simple and innocent as playing music in his head. Will he succeed in hunting and destroying Number 5 on his way up to the number 1? Will he live to tell the tale? You'll have to read this one to find out.

I thought this book was pretty great, though I think I liked the first better. I rate it 4 stars! As dumb as the descriptions may sound, it's a great story, with many elements of adventure and surprise. Obviously, you should read the first book first, which is also a great book. Have fun reading. :)

Raven's Gate by Anthony Horowitz

I read this book, because I heard about it after I read the Alex Rider series, and the Horrowitz Horror books. It is a great adventurous book, and I give it 4 stars. I recommend it to anyone who liked Alex Rider. :)

Description/Summary: Mathew Freeman 'matt' is a juvenile delinquent. But it didn't start that way. He was just another 8 year old when his parents died, and he went to live with his Aunt. He didn't like it at all, but who would? The only person that seemed to be nice to him was his new friend Kelvin, and they got involved in some crime. Little did they know that their next crime would start such weird things. After breaking into a warehouse and they get caught, Matt will have to go to another home far away as part of the LEAF project. His new guardian seems pretty crazy, but what he thinks is only the half of it...
...and you're going to have to read it to find out more. I need to go get the sequel, like, now. (Evil Star)