Vampire Academy Books (ALL 6) By Richelle Mead

Review in 20 Words or Less:

Rosa set out to protect Vampire Princess Lissa.  Story of their journey through academy and after. Fun and flirty books...


Rating:

3.5 out of 5 Vampire Bites

A Little More on the Books:

If you liked Twilight, then you will like these books.  I read a book a day for about a week.  The first book was difficult to get into and I only read it because I brought it on vacation.  After that, the books got better and better.  By the end, I couldn't put them down.  Overall, they are easy reads and just plain fun.  They are action packed and with a few good love triangles...


Books Include:
Vampire Academy
Frostbite
Shadow Kiss
Blood Promise
Spirit Bound
Last Sacrifice

Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Book Review in 20 Words or Less:

Symbolist Langen is drawn into mysterious death of Saundiere.  Leads him on quest for the Holy Grail.  Good mystery novel.




Rating:

3 out of 5 Holy Grails

Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins

Review in 20 Words or Less:

Katniss fights the rebellion against Panem.  Peeta, captured by capitol, looses his memory.  So much fighting!


Rating:

2 out of 5 Mockingjays

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Review in 20 Words or Less:

Katniss returns home to find out rebellion has started.  Peeta and Katniss return to the 75th Hungers Games.  Games begin!



Rating:

4 out of 5 Burning Arrows

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Review in 20 Words or Less:

Katniss participates in a brutal fight to the death among 23 other competitors.  Katniss and Peeta work together to survive.

More on the Book:

Katniss lives in a future world where North America no longer exists.  In it's place a new kingdom has arisen called Capitol which is made of 12 different districts.  Every year two competitors from the ages of 12 - 18 are selected from each district to fight to the death in the Hunger Games.  This year, Katniss' younger sister, Prim, is selected and Katniss volunteers in her place.  Peeta, the local baker's son, is also selected from her district.  Peeta and Katniss form an alliance to defeat the Hunger Games.

I have heard this book was good, and it really was excellent.  I started at it at 9 PM last night and finished it before 9 AM this morning.  I really enjoyed the plot and a little love story thrown in there as well.  I can't wait to read the next one!

Rating:

5 out of 5 Arrows

Safe Haven by Nicholas Spars

Review in 20 Words or Less:

Katie is hiding from her past, ends up in small town falling for widowed store owner. Typical Nicholas Sparks book.

More on the Book:

Katie is running away from her past, and ends in the small town of Southport, North Carolina.  Here she begins to have a fresh start.  She starts working at Ivan's Restaurant and settles into a small run down cottage.  She meets Alex, a local widowed store owner, who shows Katie how to love.  That's all I will say on the plot.  It was really good with twists and I always enjoy a good Nicholas Sparks book.

Rating:

4.2 out of 5 Beach Shells

Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Review in 20 Words or Less:

Teenager Emerson sees dead people.  Mysterious hunk Michael also has special powers and has come to her rescue.  Amazing book!

More on the Book:

Emerson Cole is a 17 year old girl who sees people of the past that no one else can see.  They are not exactly ghosts, and she has difficulty distinguishing between who is dead and who is alive.  This makes being a normal teenager almost impossible.  Emerson lives with her older brother after her parents were killed in a bus accident.  He tries his best to help her by hiring super cutie Michael (who has secrets of his own).  Together, Emerson and Michael, set out to fix the wrongs of the past.

This was a great book. A little birdie told me that it's going to be the first in a series.  It was a great twist on the typical time traveling romances (which I do love).   BEWARE:  This is a youth adult novel.  At times, the lingo and wording can be a little much.  Just prepare yourself!

Rating:

5 out of 5 ghosts

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris (Book 11)

Review in 20 Words or Less:

Surprise!  Sookie is in danger.  Sookie and Eric plan to kill Victor as she discovers secrets about her fairy past.

More on the Book:

The book opens with Sookie working at Merlotte's as someone sets fire to the restaurant.  Everything is going up in smoke, and of course, Eric is only concerned with Sookie's health.  Sookie learns a little more about her fairy past and her biological grandfather, Fintan.  Also, Victor is just antagonizing Eric in every way possible, opening a club in town, a restaurant to compete with Merlotte's, and finally, Eric and Sookie decide to take action!

Typically, I absolutely love the Sookie Stackhouse series.  It takes me a couple of days to read each book.  They are excellent beach reads (fun, nothing serious, take your mind off things).  Book 10 dragged a little as I read it.  I thought a lot of parts of the book were stretching it... come on... Sookie shooting fairies with water guns filled with lemon juice?!?!?  Book 11 was even worse.  It took me a month to read it.  It really dragged in the middle.  I am honestly questioning if I am going to read book 12 (last in the series).  BUT I JUST LOVE TRUE BLOOD SO MUCH!

Rating:

3.5 out of 5 stakes

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Review in 20 Words or Less:

Story of three women: two African American maids and one Caucasian woman during segregation.  Description of intertwined lives. Very moving!

More on the Book:

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time.  It's the story of three woman: Ablieen, an elder African American maid who tragically lost her only son, Minny, an African American woman maid who has a problem keeping her mouth shut infront of her white bosses, and Skeeter, a Caucasian woman living in a typical southern Mississippi home. At different points in the book, each woman tells her story from her own point of view.  They are looking to educate society by publishing an anonymous book telling the story of southern living from the point of the African American housekeeper.

It's so interesting to see the relationship these women share.  This truly is an outstanding book.  I whole heartily recommend it :)

Rating:

5 out of 5 Maids

Goodnight Tweetheart by Teresa Medeiros

Review in 20 Words or Less:

One time wonder author, Abigail, meets mysterious quick-witted man on Twitter.  Relationship blossoms.

More on the Book:

Abigail Donovan is an author who had once big hit.  Her book was recognized by Oprah's Book Club, and it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.  She is currently stuck on chapter 5 of her new novel when her publisher suggests that she creates a Twitter account to try to keep the interest of her fans.  On twitter, Abigail meets this mysterious man, Mark Baynard.  The book consists mostly of flirty tweets between the two main characters.  

I hate admidt that I really enjoyed the book.  From the second I looked at the cover, I knew it was a "girly girl book".  I usually say I hate these books, but end of loving them.  This was a really good book.  I just wish there weren't so many pop culture references (I got a little lost....).  I also wish the ending was a little more elaborated.  I just want to hear about what happened!  Overall,  would recommend this book to a friend :)

Rating:

4.4 out of 5 Tweets

The Disapparation of James by Anne Ursu

Review in 20 Words or Less:

5 year old James mysteriously disappears at the circus, story of how family copes with the loss, really good book.

More on the Book:

There is not much more to say.  Five year old James disappears while chosen to go on stage at the circus.  He doesn't reappear at the end of the act.  The book focuses on the family's loss of their child’s strange and unexplainable vanishing act and their personal struggle during the days that follow without James.  It sounds like a very depressing book, but I found it interesting, and I read the entire book in one sitting.  The author does a great job of creating the setting, the flashbacks and flash-forward’s.  I really enjoyed it, and I am not one of those people who like to cry during a book (well sometimes during a good love story...)  I  was really surprised to see that not more people read this book on Amazon and rated it.  I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Rating:

5 out of 5 Circus Clowns

Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson

Review in 20 Words or Less:

Man falls for movie star from the past, travels back in time to win her love. All in his head?

More about the Book:

Richard Collier is a man with a fatal brain tumor who is diagnosed with a few months to live.  He decides to leave his home and see some of the world before he dies.  He happens upon the old Grand Hotel, and decides to stay the night.  While touring the hotel, he finds himself drawn to a picture of a movie star, Elise McKenna, from the late 1890s.  Through a series a coincidences (or maybe not), Richard decides he is destined to travel back to 1886 to be with Elise.

I honestly expected more from this book. After all, the author also has written I am Legend, and What Dreams May Come.   I found this book extremely hard to get into and it took me 3 weeks to read it!  (I usually read a book in a day or two.)  I found the method of time travel a stretch (I know.... isn't all time travel a stretch?) and I just couldn't get into the characters.  It was difficult to try to understand Richard's obsession with Elise, if anything, it just seemed kind of creepy.  However, I did enjoy the thought pervoking ending that kept me guessing....

Rating:

2.8 out of 5 Movie Stars

Lightning by Dean Koontz

Review in 20 Words or Less:

Woman continually saved throughout her life by mysterious stranger who never ages.  Interesting time travel plot, poor character development.

More about the Book:

Laura Shane is continually rescued by a stranger throughout her life starting with the day she was born.  The stranger only appears when lightning is heard or seen.  Her stranger, Stefan, never ages and she considers him her "guardian angel".  Through time travel, Stefan moves forward in time at critical parts of Laura's life.  Then one day, other time travelers arrive and are out to kill Stefan, Laura, and her child.

This book had an interesting plot.  The first 200 pages were very difficult to put down.  However, I never truly felt connected to any of the characters in the book (especially Laura's son OR Stefan! And Stefan is a main character!)  It was an interesting read for a rainy day :)

Rating:
4.1 out of 5 Lightning Bolts

  

A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux

Review in 20 Words or Less:

Heartbroken, stranded, woman prays for knight to save her.  Man travels ahead 400 years to her rescue.  Cute love story.

More Thoughts on the Book:

Dougless, an American woman (despite her name!), travels to England with her terrible boyfriend and his spoiled daughter.  After a fight, Douglass's boyfriend leaves her stranded and penniless in the countryside of England.  She stumbles into a church and prays on the grave of Nicholas Standford for someone to come rescue her from her life.  She prays for a "Knight and Shining Armor" :)  Out of no where, Nicholas Standford, who was awaiting execution in the year 1564,  travels forward in time 400 years.  Together, Dougless and Nicholas are set on a mission to find out who framed Nicholas in the past.

This story was a bit corny, but I truly loved every minute of it.  I slowly learned to love Nicholas for all his fault (mostly sleeping around before he met the main character), and found the characters very likable in the book.  I really enjoyed reading about life in the 1500s.  It was a typical historical romance novel.  What can I say, I loved it :)


Rating:
4.8 out of 5 English Teas

The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott

Review in 20 Words or Less:

France after Napoleon was captured.  Daniel, young naturalist, falls in love with a wanted woman.  Great setting, so-so love story.

More Thoughts on the Book:

The book takes place just after Napoleon leaves France.  The author does a fantastic job describing the setting of the city of Paris after Nepoleon's time.  Daniel, a young medial student, travels to Paris on an internship at Culvier's Jardin where he is to help write and research part of Culvier's novel on birds.  Daniel has his fossils stolen while riding in a carriage by an older woman at night.  Daniel runs into the woman later in who returns some of his stolen fossils as well as his letter of introduction to the famous Culvier.  Daniel starts a love affair with this thief, Lucienne.

Throughout the book, there is discussion of Lamark's theory of evolution.  As a biologist, I found this part most interesting.  The early theories on evolution were instantly rejected as it contradicted the Bible.  The best part of the book was the dialog between the two main characters about the idea of species evolving.  As far as the main characters go, I personally feel they were not well developed in the book.  I could not understand the love affair between Lucienne and Daniel.  Lucienne was at least 20 years older than Daniel and I felt no real connection to either character.  That part was utterly disappointing.

Rating:
3 out of 5 Scones