Friday, April 29, 2011

Review: If I Stay

Today's review is of:  If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I would have to say that this is one of the best books I have read so far this year.  Author Gayle Forman has hit a nerve within me that has made me take a good, hard look at my life and reevaluate how I see  things.


After being in a terrible car accident where she looses both of her parents and her younger brother, Mia finds herself wandering the hospital in an out of body experience.  As she watches her grandparents and friends visit her body she must ruminate on what she has lost, and try to piece together what she still has in her life that makes it worth living.  With her grandfather telling her it is alright to let go, and her boyfriend telling her not to leave, the choice is that much more difficult.

This book made me laugh and made me cry.  Way to go Gayle!!


5 out of 5 stars!!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Review: Etheral (Celestra Series Book 1)

Today's review is on Etheral (Celestra Series Book 1) by Addison Moore

Skyla Messenger's life is turned upside down when she moves from L.A. to Paragon Island just a year after her father dies in a horrible car accident.  Living with her new step-brother, step-sister, and jerk of a step-father in a house that is said to be haunted is no picnic for Skyla, what with being sent to the psych ward for her erratic and strange behavior.  There is however one ray of shining hope, Logan Oliver.

Turns out Logan is an angel like her, and so is his cousin Gage; who tells her that they will be married some day.  But how can that be when there are horrific creatures after her trying to kill her?  Is Gage right?  Is she destined to be with Logan or him?  Will they prevail over the other factions of angel's that want her dead?  I guess we will have to wait for the next book to find out.

This story is well written and enjoyable.


3 out of 5 stars from this reviewer.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Book Review: Desires of the Dead

Today's review is of Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting

This book is the second installment by Kimberly Derting's story of Violet Ambrose; a local teen who can sense the dead, and her best friend turned boy friend Jay.


Those that have been killed through violence are sending messages to Violet that only she can hear, like a lighthouse beakon.

In this book she finds the body of a young boy and suspects that the sister of Jay's new friend Mike may be the one who killed him.

Now that her and Jay are a couple, she doesn't know how to approach the subject with him.  She use to be able to tell him anything.  Can she still do that without risking their new romance?  Is she already loosing him?  Is his friendship with Mike pulling them apart?

Stress is abound for Violet as someone seems to be stalking her.  She's getting mysterious notes and someone goes so far as to put a dead cat where she can find it, and now the FBI are asking questions.


A little romance, a little suspense, and a little horror.  What YA can resist such a story?

5 out of 5 stars

Monday, April 25, 2011

Book Review: City of Fallen Angels

Today's Review is of City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

The entire collection of the Mortal Instruments saga focuses on the lives of the Shadowhunters; the fallen, and the Downworlders; vampires, werewolves, fay, demon's and the like.

In this 424 page installment, though Clary and Jace can now finally be together, Jace begins to pull away from her with no apparent reason.  Her best friend Simon can't even help because he has his own problems at the moment; dating a fellow Shadowhunter and a Werewolf at the same time, and having to decide which vampire coven to align with.  Not to mention that he is now homeless.

Add a motherly demon and Sebastian back from the dead, and the drama is never ending.

Cassandra Clare has created yet another page turner, keeping readers on the edge of their seat to see what happens next.  Will there be another installment?  This reader certainly hopes so.

5 out of 5 stars!!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Book Review #2

Today's review is on Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland

This book was the winner of The Theodore Geisel Best Book of the Year Award, the San Diego Book Prize for Best Mainstream Novel, and the Story Teller of the Year Award as well as being nominated for a Booksense Book of the Year Award.

This book is a lovely narrative following the journey of a stolen Vermeer painting.  The story is unique in that it actually starts at the end of the tale and continues by looking back in time through WWII to the moment the artist gets his inspiration.

As the painting moves from owner to owner secrets are revealed to how we see what is beautiful in life and what is truly important.

Though it was not the most enjoyable book to read, I found that I needed to see it through to the end.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Book Review

My first book review is for Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

What started as dream screenplay for actor Gene Kelly, Bradbury wrote an 80 page, unpublished tale of a strange, traveling carnival.  Though the actor loved the tale, funds were sparse and the screenplay was left to collect dust until 1983 when Disney picked it up and put it to film under it's current title.

The 289 page book is an extraordinary example of writing that any aspiring or current author should strive for.  His use of words pulls you in and helps the reader to see, smell, and feel the world and people of the Cooger & Dark Pandemonium Shadow Show as well as the inhabitants of Green Town, Illinois.

This is a story of two curious 13 year old boys; born just minutes apart, who discover the satanic nature of the carnival that came to town late one evening, and learn the lesson of the saying "be careful what you wish for". 

In the words of the Disney character Hades in the movie Hercules (1997), "Two thumbs way up!"

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Today's Challenges

Good morning everyone.  Today will be spent working on my review's of the books I have read so far and posting them here on my new blog, so check back soon and check back often.