Anna Dressed in Blood

Anna Dressed in Blood is the first book in Kendare Blake's Anna series (although there are only two books so far, so it may remain a duology, I'm not sure).  

Theseus Cassio (Cas for short) is not a typical teenage boy, by any definition of the word "typical."  He has taken over the family business - dispatching murderous ghosts from off this earthly plane.  This work has the family move frequently from place to place, all over the world, wherever the latest legitimate tip sends them; this time, they've followed a tip to Thunder Bay, Ontario, where Cas intends to find and "kill" the ghost known as Anna Dressed in Blood, a teenage girl who was found murdered in the 1950s, and whose ghost has been busy literally ripping apart  anyone unfortunate enough to set foot in her house since.

For Cas, this case feels different from the start, and his instinct proves true when Anna turns out to be unlike any ghost he's yet encountered.  Will he be able to finish the job he came here to do?

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I got this book back when it was new and making its initial rounds in the book blog community, but I only just got around to reading it; the premise and the cover art really drew me in.  I enjoy paranormal fiction and ghosts, so this seemed right up my alley.  For the most part, it didn't totally disappoint.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I am back from the longest hiatus ever, and the first book I'd like to share about is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Seth Grahame-Smith (and, of course, our friend Jane Austen).  I'm pleased for this to be the first book I review coming back, as it's one I truly enjoyed.  

A mysterious plague has befallen the nation, so rather than the Napoleonic Wars, the country is battling against the rising dead; the sisters Bennet are trained (and well proficient) in the deadly arts, and although they studied in China rather than the more fashionable Japan, their prowess is nigh incomparable, and they are tasked with the defense of their home at Longbourn and the surrounding neighborhood - until such time as they each marry, as upon taking a nuptial vow, their duty will shift from crown to husband.

I don't think this book needs much more introduction or explanation of the premise than that, since it has been made into a movie, so let's just get right to it, shall we?  As with Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, when I originally bought this book, I wasn't sure whether I'd be going into it with mixed feelings or what, but after having read that, I went into this with much more enthusiasm from the start.  Even though the two novels have different authors, they have a very similar feel, and both Grahame-Smith and Winters have done an equally commendable job of weaving the new elements in with the original stories in a way that makes these books hold their own:  you don't need to have read the original works to understand or appreciate these as stand-alone novels (although I highly recommend that you do read Austen's, because she was a treasure and her collective work is a gift).  

Her Dear & Loving Husband

Her Dear & Loving Husband, by Meredith Allard, is the first in her Loving Husband trilogy.  After a recent divorce, Sarah Alexander has moved to Salem, Massachusetts.  If she thought the quaint seaside town with all its historic charm would quiet her recurring dreams and night terrors, however, she was very much mistaken - moving to Salem seems to have had the opposite effect, in fact.  

Through a colleague at the library, Sarah meets James Wentworth, a professor at the college, and her resemblance to his late wife causes him to feel drawn to her.  James is hiding a secret which keeps him disconnected from engaging in any kind of a real social life and has kept him from being settled in any one place for very long.  His attachment to Sarah is powerful enough to potentially disrupt the quiet life he's built for himself, but there are questions which need to be answered:  is James attracted to Sarah, or is it her resemblance to his beloved wife which attracts him to her?  And if it IS Sarah he is attracted to, will his secret threaten any romance between them?

With a meddling reporter buzzing around asking questions about James, his secret might come out whether he's ready for Sarah to know it or not - but if exposed to the whole world, James fears a new mass hysteria and hunt will ensue.

A Cast of Stones

A Cast of Stones by Patrick W. Carr is both his first novel and the first book in The Staff & The Sword trilogy.  It is an epic fantasy set in a world where the church is second only to the king, though seemingly not by much.  Errol Stone, the village drunkard, is paid handsomely by a church messenger to deliver a package to Pater Martin, a priest who lives outside the village, on the other side of some challenging terrain.  Errol knows the way like the back of his hand, but surefooted as he is, he runs into trouble when he realizes he is being followed by a man in black who apparently wants him dead.  He makes it to the cabin, but only just barely.  This would only be the first in a long string of instances where he likely wishes he had never volunteered to deliver that package, because he ends up becoming a reluctant member of a small party setting out for the city of Erinon - the seat of both the kingdom and the church - and his life is never truly his again.

A Time to Kill

John Grisham's first novel, A Time to Kill, is a courtroom drama set in 1980s Clanton, Mississippi.  A 10-year-old girl is raped and left for dead by two men, who are subsequently arrested for the crime.  The father, Vietnam veteran Carl Lee Hailey, acquires an M-16 and kills them both as they exit the courthouse after their hearing.  This seems pretty cut and dry:  except it becomes a huge controversy in the small town, because Carl Lee and his daughter are black, and the two men are white.  These days, most people I think would either think "so?" or else would not admit to having a prejudice, but this is a small Southern town with a mostly white population, and being that it is the 1980s, the Civil Rights Movement really wasn't all that long ago.  So there is a strong racial overtone to the issue, and this sets the stage for the rest of the book, especially when Carl Lee's trial makes national news, and the KKK gets involved.

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I'll be honest with you guys.  Courtroom drama and legal thrillers are not really my thing.  Sure, I am studying criminal justice as a minor, but my concentration is in forensics:  I'm more interested in the investigation and laboratory analysis side of things, not so much the hanging-around-in-a-courthouse-and-meeting-with-lawyers side of things.  So if this book had not been assigned for the criminal justice class I've been taking this summer, I would probably not have ever bothered to pick this up.  It was my first time reading Grisham, and may well be the last.  I know he is a best-selling author, but this just was not for me.  I haven't seen the movie adaptation, so maybe adding a live-action element makes the story more compelling, but as far as the book goes, I was actually pretty bored through about 99% of it.

Craving

Craving by Kristina Meister, the first in her Apocalyptic series, is a sort of urban fantasy detective novel with a heavy philosophical bent.  Lilith Pierce flies from her home in California to make her estranged sister Eva's final arrangements after getting the call that Eva has committed suicide.  When she goes back to the station the next day to collect Eva's body, however, it turns out the last few days were a vision --- they never actually happened.  Eva once told Lilith that "everything means something," and with that in mind, she is convinced that there is more to her sister's death than meets the eye.  With the help of her sister's shelves of handwritten journals and a soon-to-be-retired police detective, Lilith begins to investigate Eva's life, and with every step, she finds herself becoming more and more directly involved in the mysterious underworld Eva left behind.

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Sorry for the crazy delay in getting this review up, everyone!  School and things have been keeping me occupied and blogging got a little shunted to the side for a while, but I am back!  This might be running a little more slowly for a while, but I hated being on my unexpected hiatus, and I hope to not be inactive for such a long time again.

Anyway, so I finished Craving quite a while ago, but sitting here and thinking about it to write this has brought the story and the character pretty easily to the front of my mind again.  The philosophy/spiritualism is a little on the heavy side for some, I think, so it would certainly not be everyone's cup of tea; it wasn't preachy exactly, but if you're looking for more of a "mindless" read to just kick back and get through, I don't think I'd recommend this one.

That being said, I rather enjoyed Craving, in part because it ended up being very different from what I'd expected.  Based on the sisters' names and on the title, I thought this would be a Judeo-Christian morals in disguise kind of thing - Eva and Lilith?  Yeah.  Not very subtle, or so I thought.  But most of the philosophy in the book centers around Buddhism, which is something I honestly don't know too much about, so if anything is inaccurate, I wouldn't know.  It all sounded very well-researched to me, so either way, it made for some fairly rich storytelling.  The vampire element was interesting and because of the nature of the rest of the plot, Meister has given the reader an "unconventional" take on that niche that might be at least a little more palatable to vampire "purists" than the sparkling variety presented by Meyers in the Twilight saga.

Mockingjay

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, as I am sure at least most of you know, is the final installment of the widely popular Hunger Games trilogy.  It picks up a little bit after the final events in Catching Fire, so we've got a little catching up to do with Katniss as to what the heck is going on.  Probably you already had a clue, though, because it's not entirely difficult to figure at least most of that business out.  She's managed to survive the arena again, but the reality of what is going on in the districts and in the Capitol is overwhelming at best.  The pattern continues that every decision she makes, thought-out or not, seems to result in torture or loss of life, but the rebels want her to become the public face and voice of the revolution.  Do the potential benefits of this outweigh the certain consequences it will have on the prisoners of the Capitol?  Or will she just end up doing more damage than actual good?  Will the districts succeed in overthrowing the Capitol, or will things just end up worse for everyone than before?

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I was originally reading something else for my non-school book, but I got kind of bored with that, what with its Wall Street-central plot, so when Mockingjay finally came in the mail, I decided to go ahead and read this one instead (although I did re-read the first two in the trilogy before starting on it...you know you would have done the same).  Anyway, I got through this book very quickly, as I did the others.  Collins has a true talent for writing a hell of a page-turner, and I think it is to her credit that she manages to write a story that appeals so deeply to so many people, without having any sex in the plot.  I mean, okay, there is some pretty obvious sexual tension, but I'm talking about some sexytimes action scenes.  I'm pretty grateful for that, actually, because I'm sure that would have made Katniss about a million times more confused about her conflicted feelings for Gale and Peeta, and I had enough vicarious anxiety to deal with, without all that nonsense.

As for regular ol' action, though, there is plenty of that to go around, especially toward the end.  This kind of book is difficult to write a review of partly for that reason - I would hate to be less vague and inadvertently include spoilers, but trust me when I say that shit is going down all over the place here.  Having read the book finally, I'm more excited to see how they'll present it all in the film adaptation - it is sure to be pretty visually dynamic.  

I am also NOT looking forward to the film adaptation, though, because I spent the entire last third of the book yelling OHMYGOD and weeping like a small, emotionally disturbed child.  I finished the book late last night (early this morning?) and I am still not entirely sure how I feel about how it all ended.  I appreciate that Collins provided a more realistic end to things, since it is not what I'd call the Happiest Ever After, but it's still satisfying on some level, albeit a smidge unsettling in a way.  See?  Still not 100% how I feel about it all, except to say that it was a hell of a way to wrap things up.  

Mockingjay ended up being my least favorite of the trilogy, but that in no way means I didn't like it.  I still think they're all phenomenal, and a great contribution to the dystopian sub-genre.  Just, you know, if you're a total sap like me, maybe read it with a box of tissues handy or something, and not in the middle of the night if you live with someone who is a light sleeper, since you might wake them up with all the crying-out in shock and disbelief.

ISBN:

9781407109374

ASIN:
B003XF1XOQ

Publisher:
Scholastic Press

Series Info:  What came before this book?  What's next?

The Hunger Games

- The Hunger Games (Book 1)

- Catching Fire (Book 2)

* Mockingjay (Book 3)

Film Adaptations:
Mockingjay:  Part 1
Mockingjay: Part 2

See what others are saying about it, or buy it now:

Amazon
Better World Books

The Innocent Mage

Karen Miller's fantasy duology, Kingmaker, Kingbreaker, begins with The Innocent Mage; Asher is a humble fisherman's son, the youngest of several, and the unspoken favorite.  His father is getting old, however, his health and spirits never quite the same since his wife's death.  Asher vowed to himself that he would leave their village of Restharven and make his way inland to the city; there, he would find a way to make a fortune.  The idea being that after one year, he would return home to purchase a new boat for himself and his father, and have enough left over for his father to live the rest of his days in comfort.

What Asher doesn't know is that someone is expecting him.

Asher is Olken, the native race of Lur.  Simple country folk, who became peasants and servants to the kingdom that was established with the arrival of the refugee Doranen people.  The Doranen are a race of powerful magicians who fled their home on the other side of the mountains and their leader, Barl, created a magical wall along the mountains and along a newly created reef along the coast, a ward surrounding the new kingdom from the outside world and the danger of her former beloved, Morgan.  The wall is held firmly in place by the subtle, natural magic of the Olken people, along with the fabrication of inland weather patterns by herself.  The creation of the wall is her undoing, however, and the task of maintaining the protection of the wall falls to her successors; ever since those times, each king's heir has had the additional title of Weather-Worker.  And as the centuries went by, the Doranen magic being blatant and strong, it became forgotten that the Olken possessed a magic of their own.

Forgotten by all, except for those members of a small secret society, and the seer, Jervale's Heir.  It is this seer who has had visions of Asher in connection with the prophecy of the Innocent Mage and the Final Days.   It becomes even more clear to her that he is the one they've been waiting for, when by chance, Asher is offered a position at the palace stables by Prince Gar.  All the signs seem to be falling into place.

Asher is surly and more than a little rough around the edges, though, and while his unapologetic honesty earns him the respect of the prince, it also may earn him some enemies.  As the year passes, Dathne becomes uncertain with the waiting whether she was correct in interpreting her visions of him.

Breed

Breed by Chase Novak (pseudonym for Scott Spencer) starts out with the reader meeting Alex and Leslie Twisden, a wealthy Manhattan couple, madly in a very Happily Ever After, devil-may-care kind of love.  They live on the Upper East Side, in a beautiful town house that has been in Alex's family for generations.  Alex is a well-known, highly successful lawyer, and Leslie has a respected position as an editor of children's books.  Their life together is perfect, except for one thing:  they want a child.  They want a child badly, especially Alex; he is a bit older than Leslie and considers adoption a very last resort, if it's to be an option at all.  He's old-fashioned and wants a proper heir; he wants to continue the Twisden line, and that means leaving a genetic legacy.  Money is no object, but while it can purchase every known treatment at every possible clinic with every fertility specialist they can find, no amount can guarantee that Leslie will conceive.  

Just when they're about ready to give up on trying to get pregnant, they hear about a doctor in Slovenia who has nearly a 100% success rate with his fertility treatment.  They've never heard of this man before, and they know nothing about what the actual treatment entails, but they are desperate.  When they get to the doctor's office, the place is questionable and the doctor himself seems like a madman, but they go through with the painful procedure anyway, and sure enough, it works.  It works so well, in fact, that Leslie becomes pregnant with twins.

Ten years later, the side effects of the treatment have taken a tremendous toll on both Alex and Leslie, and they've closed themselves off from the outside world, for the most part.  They take turns walking the children to and from school each day, but beyond that, life is spent in secret.  So secret, in fact, that much of what goes on in their once-luxurious home is a mystery even to the twins.  Adam and Alice are smart, though, and have long since realized that there is something very "off" about the way they live and the way their parents behave.  For one thing, they don't quite understand why they need to be locked in their rooms at night.

Adam's been spying on his parents, though, by listening to them at night through their old baby monitor, and what he hears makes him more and more uneasy.  Slowly, he begins to fear for both his and his sister's lives, and one night, they run away.  Finally out in the world, the twins begin to learn the very terrifying answers to both the questions they've asked and those they've been afraid to ask.  Their situation, they find, is worse than they could ever have imagined, and the most horrifying truth of all is that there may not be anything they can do to escape it.

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake is a truly lovely debut novel from Jenny Wingfield.  We're in a small rural community in mid-1950s Arkansas; every year, the Moses family has their reunion at John and Calla's home.  It was tradition.  And every year, Samuel Lake would drop off his wife, Willadee Moses, and their three children.  He couldn't stay himself, because every year he had to attend a convention where all the Methodist ministers would find out where they would be preaching, and therefore, whether they would have to move.  The Lake family moved a lot, because Samuel had his own way of doing things that didn't quite meet eye-to-eye with the church and his congregations.

This summer, though, everything begins to change, and not always for the better.  Samuel has faith that God's plan is at work underneath all the apparent misfortune, but that doesn't make it any easier when things gradually start to go from bad to interesting, back to bad, and then about as bad as you might think it could possibly get.

A lot of the focus of the story is around Swan, the Samuel and Willadee's spunky 11-year-old daughter.  Her brothers, Noble and Bienville, are endearing in their own ways as well.  Noble is only 12, and still plays with his brother and sister in their extremely imaginative and enthusiastic games of make-believe, but he is also beginning to think about being a man.  Bienville is a reader with a scientific kind of curiosity.

I could go on and on about every character in the novel, to be honest (Just Plain Honest, not Moses Honest), because I really felt that I had a good sense of each one.  And those I didn't know as well, I wanted to.  I didn't feel that any of them where caricatures; they are all complex, which brings them to life in a way that makes them seem very real.  My favorites, though, would have to be Swan and her uncle, Toy Moses.  I probably fell a little bit in love with him, actually, which maybe is a little weird.  But so what.  As for Swan, I sincerely hope that if I ever have a daughter, she would be just like this little girl.  She's a good-hearted child with a lot of spirit.  She's just not enough of a handful to be what I would consider "naughty" or bratty, but she's enough of a handful that you know she will grow to be a strong, independent, confident woman one day.

Catching Fire

I know that at this point, it is probably unnecessary to explain anything about Suzanne Collins' amazing dystopian Hunger Games series.  I reviewed the first book earlier this year, so that I would have read it before seeing the movie.  I knew before I had even finished the first chapter that I was hooked and needed to start trying to get my hands on a copy of the second in the trilogy, Catching Fire.  I had received my copy of The Hunger Games in a giveaway, and I needed to get the UK edition of the sequels, so that they would match on my bookshelf.  Yeah, yeah...picky, I know, but so what?  I like the covers better anyway.  It was sold out on The Book Depository, but I couldn't wait any longer for them to email me about it being restocked, so I ended up finding it on Better World Books.  It came in the mail last week, and I could not wait to read it - I know those of you who have read it already understand.

I stayed up almost all night rereading the first book, and I started reading Catching Fire earlier today.  And I did not stop until just a little while ago, when I had finished.

Even those of you who have not read the books or seen the movie of the first book likely know that Katniss survived the Games, since you know...there are two books after that first one.  It's no secret anyway, since anyone can pick up the sequels and figure that out from the cover blurbs.  Their final act in the Games which secured their co-victory - something without precedent - has been seen as one of open defiance.  The Girl on Fire may have ignited a spirit of rebellion in the districts and become the symbol of a coming revolution.  But the smoking patch of rubble that was once District 13 makes it very clear what lengths the Capitol is willing to go to, to put a stop to things, and the game they must now play against President Snow may prove to be much more dangerous than the Hunger Games itself ever was.

Catching Fire, just like its predecessor, is absolutely amazing.  The entire series so far is thrilling; Collins writes in such a way that it is very easy to become immersed in the world she has created in Panem:  to visualize the surroundings as if you were there yourself, to find yourself crying with and for characters at emotional moments, to find yourself holding your breath for several pages before finally sighing with relief or gasping and/or yelling out of something else entirely, be it anger, disbelief, or surprise.  There is every bit as much suspense and action as in The Hunger Games - arguably more, even, and the stakes are much higher now that the citizens of all the districts are potentially involved, affected by whatever move is made.  This time, it isn't just about killing or out-living 23 other people.  It's about Prim.  Rue's family.  Gale.  Peeta. Her mother.  Everyone.

The Call of Earth

Orson Scott Card's The Call of Earth is the second installment in his Homecoming Saga.  The direct sequel to The Memory of Earth, this one picks up pretty much right where that one left off.  Basilica, the "women's city" is still reeling somewhat from the events that have taken place and upon hearing of its current vulnerability, the powerful Gorayni general "Moozh" sees a distinct strategic advantage for himself.  He has a true gift in his way with words and manner, and in no time he has abandoned his post and started out for Basilica with a thousand of the Gorayni soldiers under his command.

Meanwhile, Wetchik and his sons continue to try and make sense enough of the Oversoul's messages to them, to be able to truly act.  Within the city's walls, the Lady Rasa and her gifted and insightful nieces, Luet and her sister Hushidh, attempt the same.  Time seems to be running out, however, and the abilities and intent of the Oversoul starts to be questioned.  Is the manipulative general a part of the Oversoul's plans, or is he a bigger threat than he seems?  Does the Oversoul even really know what it's doing?  Is it merely a flawed creation of equally flawed humans, or are they right to put their trust and faith in its will, and continue down the path on which they've now begun?  Whatever they decide, there may be no going back, and whatever their choice, the fate of their beloved city as well as their own lives will likely be greatly affected.

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I remember feeling that The Memory of Earth began rather slowly, but The Call of Earth started at a good pace which was maintained throughout the whole book.  There is just as much intrigue, if not more, in this book than in the first, which I appreciated, and while the religious theme of the series is still quite strong, I still didn't find it to be overbearing or preachy.  The main characters are not necessarily blind followers of the Oversoul, and faith is questioned and put to the test.  More than anything, I think of this more as an interesting story of a social engineering project that may be either near to or at the end of its effectiveness.

It's Time: Writing on the Wall

Pavel Kostin's It's Time is a somewhat philosophical novel set in contemporary urban Russia.  Max is a young man working as a night watchman who doesn't do much besides work and hang out around the city with his friends, a small group of street artists.  At the book's opening, Max is sitting on the edge of the roof on a tall building - there seems to be a sort of panic below him on the street, but Max is rather calm.  He isn't up on the roof alone, either; a strange and beautiful young woman who calls herself "Lady F" appears near him and they chat.  After this, she shows up throughout the story at the most random moments.  Mysterious and a little cryptic.  Max and his friends contemplate life, the future, and art, and Max tags along as his friends tag the walls of the city.  Every blank wall is a potential canvas, and the city is their gallery.  

This might sound so far like some kind of pretentious hipster philosophy, a beatnik novel for this generation.  When I read the synopsis on LibraryThing (I received the book through their Early Reviewers program), I kind of expected some sort of modern day Russian La Bohème.  That isn't quite what I got, though.  Honestly, the very beginning was a bit slow.  Boring, almost.  It took me a little while before I really got into it.  

And then things get more and more weird, and the rest of the book had me questioning at every turn whether what was happening was real or whether Max was hallucinating.  Lady F keeps showing up and the questions just pile on until at a certain point, I couldn't put the book down until I'd finished it and found out what in the heck was going on.  Things ended up getting very strange, yes, but also rather interesting.  Much like with Julie Cross's Tempest, I'm unsure just how much I can even say without ruining some twist in Max's story.  The philosophical discussions and comments in the book are worth considering as well; some of them are quite poignant, sometimes so much so that they made me stop and really think for a moment, not about the story exactly, but about what was just said and how it does or does not seem to really apply to my own life and my own experience.

Sparks

Sparks is the stunning sequel to Laura Bickle's Embers, an urban fantasy duology (which I hope will turn into a full-on series).  By day, Anya Kalinczyk is an arson investigator for the Detroit Fire Department; by night, she investigates the paranormal with the Detroit Area Ghost Researchers.  Anya is somewhat reluctant to associate herself with the DAGR, partly because she's unsure whether she would still have a job if word got out, but also because she struggles with her role in the group:  disposal.  If DAGR were the Ghostbusters, Anya would be their Proton Pack.

Anya is a Lantern - a kind of medium who has a special connection with the element of fire and control of sorts over its destructive powers.  As a medium, she can see and interact with ghosts, but as a Lantern, she also has the ability to destroy them by essentially sucking them into herself like some kind of heartburn-inducing ectoplasm smoothie.  It isn't something she enjoys doing.  You can imagine this Lantern business can get pretty dangerous, but that ain't nothin' but a thang when you've also got the companionship and protection of an elemental familiar; Sparky, Anya's salamander, has been with her ever since she can remember.  He might be mischievous like a puppy who enjoys making "short" (heh) work of various electrical devices, but he's also a fierce and loyal guardian.

In Sparks, the DFD is confronted with a series of puzzling cases of what appears to be spontaneous combustion.  What's especially troubling about these cases is that Anya can sense old magick at each of the scenes; she suspects they are linked to Hope Solomon, who heads a shady organization in the city called "Miracles for the Masses."  Trying to get enough evidence that isn't paranormal in nature could be a problem, however, and the body count is rising.

Puppet

Puppet by Eva Wiseman is a young adult novel based on actual events and a real trial.  In a small Hungarian village in 1882, 14-year-old Julie's friend Esther goes missing.  She was last seen when on an errand for her cruel mistress, and blame is quick to be placed on the community's Jewish population.  Fear and hatred run wild as accusations are made:  it is believed that some of the Jewish men lured Esther into the synagogue and murdered her, slitting her throat and collecting her blood to be used in a Passover ritual.  This awful lie was firmly believed, and is known as the Blood Libel.  The accusations are taken very seriously, and some of the Jews are arrested.  Among them, two children, the Scharf brothers.  Sam is too young to be taken seriously as a material witness in court, so pressure is placed on his older brother Morris to confess (I'm sure you can guess the physical nature of this pressure) and he is coached to testify against the accused.

Julie is swept up in the arrests and the trial when she is sent by her abusive father to work as housekeeper at the jail, then is given a position as the scullery maid at the prison in the city.  She used to play with Morris as a child, and she isn't so sure the Jews are as evil and murderous as everyone says they are; but if they didn't kill her friend, what did happen to Esther?  As the trial progresses, Julie is pulled in deeper, and must make a choice between doing what she feels is right and doing what is safe.

When I read The Last Song by Wiseman, I was impressed with her ability to fictionalize such awful and tragic historical events in a way that is engrossing without trivializing them.  I was just as captivated with Puppet.  This book won multiple awards, and it's not hard to see why; I read the majority of this book in one night.  I've always had a sort of morbid fascination with the historical persecution of the Jewish people (you can probably blame my fifth grade teacher for assigning Lois Lowry's Number the Stars, which quickly became one of my all-time favorite books).  So for me, knowing that the events and the people in this book are very real (with the exception, I believe, of Julie and her family) really made Puppet that much more interesting, and that much more impossible to put down once I'd gotten into it.

The Invasion

The Invasion is the first book in K.A. Applegate's Animorphs series.  Jake and his friends Cassie, Marco, Rachel, and Tobias are cutting through an abandoned construction site on their way home from the mall one evening when they see a bright light in the sky that appears to be getting closer...it doesn't take long for them to realize that the light is actually a spaceship.  The ship lands and the kids get a message of warning from the dying alien who was piloting it; the people of Earth are in danger.  Another alien race is working on enslaving people by controlling their minds and bodies.  Until help comes, Jake and his friends may have to try and fight the invasion.  To help them, the alien gives them all a gift:  the ability to morph into any animal after acquiring its DNA sequence by touching it.  When the kids start realizing just how many people are already under the alien control, it hits them just how in over their heads they might be.

These books were right up there with Baby-Sitters Club and Goosebumps when I was a kid; come Book Fair time, Animorphs were certainly at the top of the Want List.  There is something very appealing about having the power to change into any animal at will, and to do so in order to fight for the human race would be pretty awesome.  Reading it again as an adult, I realize how cheesy the writing is, but I imagine it isn't so easy to write in the voice of a pre-teen or teenager in a way that might be believable enough to keep the target audience invested in the characters - especially when the way kids talk changes so much over the years.  

The characters so far are pretty one-dimensional, but there are a lot of books in the series, so there is plenty of room for development where that is concerned.  There are things these kids deal with, though, that are definitely not fluffy and childish.  Marco and Tobias don't have the easiest home lives, and the rest of them are about to have to grow up a lot more pretty soon here if they plan to survive the coming war until the Andalites arrive to fight the Controllers.

Spin

Spin by Catherine McKenzie is a novel about 30-year-old Kate Sandford, a struggling music journalist in the  big city.  She freelances for small publications, writing about local bands.  Half her friends are still in college and think she's a 25-year-old graduate student, and they spend an awful lot of time partying.  Her best friend from home is on the opposite end of the spectrum - responsible and successful working hard in her career at a bank.    Things seem like they might actually be on the up for Kate, though, when she lands an interview for a position at her dream job:  writing for an edgy music magazine, The Line.  She completely tanks it, though, when she goes out to celebrate the interview and her birthday the night before, and shows up late and still drunk.  

So it's a huge surprise when Kate gets a call asking her to come back for another opportunity - and if she does well with this, she just may be able to get the job she applied for after all.  The assignment?  Going undercover at a rehab facility to get the dirt on Amber Sheppard, the celebrity It Girl of the moment, whose latest exploits have her the focus of every gossip source.  It's not The Line, but the tabloid is published from the same office, and the promise of another shot at her Dream Job is too good to pass up.  All she has to do is make it through the program with Amber, then deliver a juicy article afterward.

Things get complicated, though, when Amber becomes a person to Kate...a friend, actually...rather than just some messed up celebrity brat, and frustrating when friends and family don't seem surprised that she would be in rehab.  Then there is the further complication of Henry.  She needs to decide, and soon, whether her dream job at The Line is worth putting her new friendship (and possible blooming romance) on the line.

The Hobbit

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is undoubtedly one of the classics of the fantasy genre; it's the sort of book that adults can enjoy, but that I could very much picture myself reading to my kids before bed (if I had kids).  Yes, of course, there are battles and such (what self-respecting fantasy novel is not going to have any battles?), but I'd say it's relatively tame, and probably wouldn't traumatize your children.

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit from a well-respected line, with a bit of an adventurous streak through his mother's side (the Took line).  For the most part, hobbits are very simple, quiet folk who mind their own business and keep to themselves and are quite content just sitting around eating and smoking pipes and eating and having some tea and eating and sleeping.  And eating.  Hobbits who go off on adventures of any kind are marked as deviants, because why in the world would any sane person want to go risking their life out in the world where you can't just sit around eating and drinking tea and sleeping most of the day?  

So that's why, when the wizard Gandalf shows up at Bilbo's door to recruit him for a quest, he shuts that conversation down pretty quick, though because he is a hobbit, it doesn't do to be impolite, and he ends up inviting Gandalf to come on back for tea sometime.  Gandalf accepts this invitation, but extends it to thirteen dwarfs (or rather, dwarves, and Tolkien gives an explanation for his use of the -ves plural ending).  You can imagine how surprised and irritated Bilbo was when all these strangers started showing up, and then he finds out it's because he is going to be a part of this adventure whether he likes it or not (which he doesn't).  Especially since this little quest is headed by Thorin Oakenshield, descendant of a dwarf king of old, whose mountain fortress and mounds of treasure have for some time now been in the possession of the dragon Smaug.  Bilbo is expected to come along as the group's burglar, assisting them in the reclaiming of their rightful property by traveling all the way to the Lonely Mountain (which is quite some distance beyond the Misty Mountains, which are not exactly a stone's throw away either) and slaying the dragon.

It had been a long time since I've read The Hobbit, and since I'd apparently forgotten some of the details, it was a thoroughly enjoyable re-read.  At first, I thought "wow, okay, so Gandalf is kind of a dick," what with the devious way he roped Bilbo into going on this little quest with Thorin and his kinsmen.  The dwarfs were none too pleased about it, either, because...a hobbit?  Really, Gandalf?  What the fuck good is a timid little hobbit going to be, especially when all he does is worry about his handkerchiefs and his meals-between-meals and sitting in his armchair by the fire.  But Gandalf gets all kinds of cryptic like he can see into the future or some shit, and insists that they will be pretty glad of Bilbo when all is said and done.  I guess Gandalf is usually a pretty legit kind of guy, since they want to trust his judgment on this, and they set off.

Sophie and the Rising Sun

Sophie and the Rising Sun by Augusta Trobaugh is a short, sweet, and simple romantic novel taking place during World War II.  Part of the story is being told by Miss Anne, a kind and quietly unconventional woman; she doesn't know all the details, however, so the rest is filled in for us.  The story is of Sophie, a woman raised by her strict mother and aunts, and whose only real indiscretion being her love for a young man who never returned from the Great War.  Then there is Mr Oto, a first-generation American who was sent from California to New York with funds to bring back a relative who had come over from Japan.  He loses the money, but too ashamed to face his family, he makes his way south, where he ends up in the small town of Salty Creek, Georgia.  Mr Oto is a soft-spoken and respectful gentleman, and soon becomes friends with Miss Anne, who has hired him as her gardener.  Every day as he works in the flowerbeds, he sees Sophie walk by the house, and it is not long before he is completely infatuated with her.  The two grow very close over time, as they meet every Sunday in the same spot by the river to paint.  

Things change very quickly, though, when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor.  Everyone in town except Miss Anne and Sophie have been under the assumption that he is Chinese, but they know it likely won't be long before the growing anger toward the Japanese causes them to react anyway.  He is already not the most well-liked individual, what with being colored in the pre-Civil Rights South, and Miss Anne fears for his safety.  She makes a plan to hide him, and makes up a story that he's gone to Canada to be with his family.  The lies weigh heavily on her, and Mr Oto wonders whether he will see Sophie again.

Moonburn

Moonburn by Alisa Sheckley is the sequel to The Better To Hold You; Abra's gotten pretty used to her new lycanthropic lifestyle by now, and is sort-of-happily living with Red, the shapeshifting ginger redneck.  Still living in the house nearby are her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Hunter, and Magda - the Romanian researcher of Unwolves he left her for, who, incidentally, is also the one responsible for Hunter (and so, in turn, Abra) with the lycanthropy virus.  Abra doesn't really seem to mind being a werewolf so much, though, and enjoys working at a small veterinary practice with her former instructor, Malachy.

There are obvious downsides to being a werewolf, though; normally, Abra is just sensitive to the phases of the moon, which she keeps careful track of.  Lately, though, she has been finding it more difficult to control the change, which seems to be trying to happen well before the moon is even full.  That isn't the extent of the strangeness, though - everyone seems to know things about her condition that she isn't aware of, and Red appears to be deliberately keeping information from her.  This is not at all helpful, because she is currently finding it extremely difficult to retain some sense of control over her purely animal instincts, and has become an object of lust for every man and dog that crosses her path, which doesn't exactly help with the strain in her relationship with Red.

What's more, this turns out to be a very inopportune time for these kinds of problems in her personal life.  The small, backwoods town she lives in, Northside, is a sort of paranormal hub where the veil between the physical and the liminal worlds is particularly thin.  A new housing development is being constructed at the mountain, right in the ancient roaming grounds of the manitou - powerful spirits that were recognized by the American Indians who were native to the area, but were forgotten for the most part, over time.  Well, now they are awake and kind of pissed.  Kind of REALLY pissed.  One in particular, taking the forms of a bear/Québécois lumberjack, has come to town to fuck up everybody's day.

First off, I rather enjoyed The Better To Hold You, and likewise, I also enjoyed Moonburn.  I think I enjoyed the former just a little bit better overall, though, if I had to pick one over the other.  Don't get me wrong, this one is certainly not lacking for action of any kind, but it was sometimes almost a little too much.  But I also have a tendency to gag myself and roll my eyes at any tale of The Beautiful Girl Who Doesn't Realize That She's Beautiful Even When Every Boy Wants Her And Is Embarrassingly Obvious About It.  I do like Abra, though. She's not typical as far as heroines of urban fantasy novels go - she doesn't really kick that much ass, and more often than not, she has a tendency to want to shy away.  That makes her feel more like a real person to me, since let's face it - not everyone is some leather-clad, ass-kicking dynamo who seems to live for the moments when danger dares to present itself to her.  Some of us will do what we have to, but would really rather be home in our pajamas doing a whole lot of nothing.  The latter is more Abra's style.  She is a pretty simple lady (you know, apart from the whole werewolf thing) and I can relate to that.