Update Time - Hour 6

It's halfway through hour 6 of Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon.  I have finished 2 books to far (yeah!)  I would be into book three by now, but I had to take a break to shower and do some dishes.  Here's what I've done so far:

Page Count: 469
Books Read: 2
Book titles:
*Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
*Someday's Dreams, Volume 1

I always love to read a Harry Potter book or two during the readathons, because I am super familiar with them, and can get through them pretty quickly.  A few things I love about The Chamber of Secrets:

*When Dobby dropped the pudding on Aunt Petunia's pristine kitchen
*When Lockhart is trying to run away, and Harry and Ron force him into the Chamber.
*When Fawkes catches on fire and Harry thinks it's his fault.
*When Fawkes comes into the chamber with the sorting hat, and Harry is able to get the Sword of Gryffindor
*When Dumbledore was re-instated as the headmaster
*When Lucius Malfoy was sacked as one of the governors of the school

I could go on and on, but those are some of the highlights.

This was my first time reading Someday's Dreams.  I like the magical aspect of it and I think it was a good thing to read right after a Harry Potter book.  I'll have to put the rest of the series on my reading list!

Next up I am going to read Lips Touch Three Times.

Getting to Know Me!

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? - I am in northwest Minnesota - the town of Moorhead!

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? - I am really looking forward to reading The Cuckoo's Calling.  I love J.K Rowling, and I think it's great to see her expand her writing horizons.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? - My big bowl of popcorn I'm going to make tonight! 

4) Tell us a little something about yourself! - In addition to reading, I also love to knit, crochet and make things out of paper!  Also, I love romantic comedies, vegan food, and the color purple! 

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? - It's been a while since I've done a read-a-thon.  I think the thing I will do differently during this one is to visit more readers blogs, and also make sure that I am changing my reading positions more so I don't fall asleep halfway through!

Good Morning, Read-A-Thon!

Now, just imagine the title of this blog post being drawn out like the way Robin Williams shouted out his well know line, "Good Morning, Viet Nam!"  I'm excited!

I thought I would shoot off a quick blog post as I start reading.  I've got my breakfast and my morning cup of coffee!  I'm ready to go!

I'll be starting with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - always a good read-a-thon book in my opinion!

I did also decide to check out some manga for when I get tired or want something quick to read!  I got:

*Suki: A Like Story, Volume 1

*Honey Mustard, Volumes 1-2

*Someday's Dreamers, Volume 1

Now - off to read!

Dorothy Must Die - Danielle Page

SPOILER ALERT: This blog post does have a few spoilers, so if you decide you want to read this book and don't want to know what happens, save this review for later.

One day, while I was browsing around Barnes and Noble, I saw this book sitting on the shelf.  It looked intriguing.  I love just about anything that puts an alternative spin on the land of Oz.  The premise of the book is that, as stated on the cover, Dorothy Must Die.  Sounds pretty straightforward, right?  Here's the thing, though- the story never actually gets to the point where Dorothy dies.  That's right - in a book dedicated to the death of Dorothy, Dorothy.  Never.  Dies.  

The story opens with Amy Gumm being sucked up into a tornado and dropped in Oz.  Her mom is out at the bar when this happens, and arrives home to nothing because their trailer got sucked into the tornado as well.  So, Amy is now in the land of Oz, which is completely different than the Oz depicted in The Wizard of.  The villages have all basically been destroyed, now only inhabited by a few munchkins that could be considered rogue.  They don't want any part of Dorothy's Oz. 

As many of you might remember, Ozma eventually became the ruler of Oz (since she was the rightful princess after all.)  In Dorothy Must Die, the story is that Dorothy came back to Oz because, after the first time, she missed the magic.  She became corrupt (as many are likely to do when exposed to magic or powers they are unfamiliar with) and used her magic to sort of enslave Ozma and make Ozma more of a figurehead.  Dorothy then stole a bunch of magic from other areas of Oz, which is why Oz is suffering so much.  We discover throughout the novel that the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and the Lion have all been corrupted as well because of the gifts they received from the Wizard.  

So, now, there is a small group of people who are dedicated to bringing down Dorothy and restoring Oz.  Amy meets these people by happenstance when she is rescued from prison by Mombi.  Mombi brings Amy to a cave where Amy meets:

*Glamora: Glinda's wicked twin sister

*Nox: A young boy who assigned to teach Amy how to fight. 

*Gert: An old witch who can read minds

The people that Amy meets imply that they have one month to get Amy ready to fight and kill Dorothy.  They tell Amy that she is basically their only hope for taking down Dorothy, because like Dorothy, Amy is from Kansas.  So, Amy has one month to learn some manners for meeting royalty and to learn some mad fighting skills so she can kill Dorothy.

Here's the thing: This novel starts off with a great idea, and quickly falls into a mediocre story with weak writing.  The premise is quickly lost when, after a twenty-eight chapters, we readers still haven't actually met Dorothy.  We have no idea where she is.  There is no move to actually kill her.  The entire novel revolves around just training Amy.  Training.  That's it.  Even though the title of the novel is Dorothy must Die, and the back of the novel cover says "Then: Dorothy Must Die," and the last sentence of the novel is "Dorothy was going to die."  

The entire novel is just setup to the big event - that never actually happens!  I mean, if you are going to write a book titled Dorothy Must Die - let's have less setup and more of Dorothy actually dying!  I found the whole thing to be poorly written and executed, and I am not sure that I will continue with the rest of the series, because I was just so disappointed.  Surely, there are better books I can spend my time on!

Read-A-Thon Time

This Saturday, April 25, it is once again time for Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon.  In case you've never heard of this event - it occurs twice a year in April and October.  This is not my first read-a-thon, but it is the first one I have done since 2013.  I love these events, but as I get older (hahahaha) I find it more and more difficult to stay awake for 24 hours straight.

Anyway, I plan on just having fun, and if I stay up all night, yeah, and if not, I will just read as late as I can!

I have been thinking for a few days about what I want to read during the event!  This is always a challenge.  I usually pick a few books I've read before, and some I haven't read yet but have been wanting to read!

This time a round my list includes:

*Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
*Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
*Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian (Never Read)
*Lips Touch Three Times (Never Read)
*Twilight
*The Cuckoo's Calling (Never Read)

I am going to add some manga to the list as well (for when I get tired or it's late at night!)  I'll let you know which manga I choose :)

The Land of Stories - The Wishing Spell: Chris Colfer

I had heard about The Land of Stories series from a local librarian.  Her daughter loves the books, and since I love books that have magical things in them, I thought they sounded cool.  So, I checked out The Wishing Spell and started reading it.  I was only 100 pages in when I realized that the book is not all it's cracked up to be.

These books are written by Chris Colfer, the kid who played Kurt on Glee.  Now, I think Colfer is a good singer, and a decent actor, but I don't think he has the skills to write good stories.

Let me give a little background about the book.  The two main characters are Alex and Conner Bailey, twin 11 year old kids who are about to celebrate their 12th birthday.  About a year before the novel starts, their dad died in a car accident, leaving Conner, Alex and their mom behind.  Their father's mom travels a lot for in her retirement (supposedly to help people) and so they only see her a few times a year.  She surprises them the day before their twelfth birthday by showing up at their house with tons of food, and a bunch of birthday presents.

One of the birthday presents that grandma gives to Alex is a book of fairy tales called The Land of Stories.  The book contains stories from a "make-believe" land.  The fairy tales are about people like Snow White, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and other popular fairy tale characters.  In a twist, the book comes "alive," humming and glowing at various times throughout the days after Alex receives it.  One day in class, the book starts humming.  Alex freaks out and asks to be excused to the bathroom, bringing her backpack with her.  She sets the book on the sink, looking at it.  Conner barges in on her, and later that evening at home, they get sucked into the book.

Throughout their time in the book, they meet many different fairy tale characters, who all live in a land separated into different kingdoms.  Alex and Conner discover that in order to get home, they must solve something called the wishing spell.  In order to complete the spell, they need items from several different places throughout the Land of Stories.  I won't give away everything that happens - so without further ado, let's talk about what I thought about the book.

I found the writing in the novel to be clunky and awkward.  There were many times throughout the book where I almost felt like I was just stumbling over the sentences and paragraphs.  The book was also not nearly as descriptive as it should have been, especially for a kids book.

A few examples of some of the clunky writing and poor descriptions are:

Pg. 1: The dungeon was a miserable place.  Light was scarce and flickered from the torches bolted to the stone walls.  Foul smelling water dripped inside from the moat circling the palace above.

Pg. 3: She journeyed through a longer, darker hallway where a series of bars and barriers were raised and then lowered after she walked past them.

Pg. 29: It was a lovely home, painted blue with white trim, and had several windows.  The front yard was landscaped to perfection; it had just the right amount of grass, patches of colorful flowers, and a large oak tree ideal for climbing.  (There has got to be a better way to describe what their old house and yard looked like.  How much is the right amount of grass?  What types of flowers are in the yard?)

Pg. 35: The Bailey's house was cozy but cluttered.  They had more furniture than they had room for, and none of it matched the house because it was never intended to.  Even though they had lived here more than half a year, unpacked boxes were still lined up against the walls.

Pg. 222: "What's the game plan for tonight?" Conner said.  "It'll be the first time we'll ever be breaking and entering anywhere, so I'm extra anxious."  (Really, Conner?  Are you extra anxious?  Perhaps this should be SHOWN to the reader instead of told.)

Pg. 412: They were so exhausted that they slept until mid-afternoon the next day.  It was strange for them to sleep apart from each other.  Alex and Conner both woke up ever hour or so, each looking for the other, and had to remind themselves where they were and that they were finally safe.  (Okay, so are they so tired that they sleep well, or are they so anxious that they keep waking up?!)

This book was also littered with examples of writing that should not be included in a book written for 10 to 12 year olds.  Some examples:

Pg. 13: "The only exposure to the tales some children acquire are versions bastardized by film companies."

Pg. 300: "Wooo!  It's so cold, I think we might be twin sisters now," he said through rattling teeth.


These are just some of the things that make the book hard to read and more appropriate for older readers.  (Of course, that's my opinion.  Parents should decide for themselves if they think this book is okay for their kids to read.)  I think that the occasional swear word in a book written for teens 15 and older is alright.  In a book for 10 to 12 year olds, there shouldn't be any adult language.  Also, there should be more description in the book, because it really helps the story come alive and can make it easier to imagine what the Land of Stories looks like.

Colfer needed a better editor for the novel as well.  It could have helped him get the book cleaned up so that it was better written.  I know everyone thinks that Colfer is golden because he can sing, and is an alright actor, but that doesn't mean he's a good writer as well.

If I were to give this book a letter grade, it would get a D.  I don't know if I'll make it through the rest of the series.

Book Talk: The Theory of Everything - J.J. Johnson

I recently finished reading The Theory of Everything, by J.J. Johnson.  I can't help but wonder how Johnson chose the title for her work - as it is the same name of a movie about scientist Stephen Hawking.  This fact kept making me think of Hawking every time I looked at the book cover.

Anyway, this book was a YA novel about a young woman learning to heal from the death of her best friend.  Sarah, the main character, lost her best friend Jamie during a freak accident in their school gymnasium.  Even though it has only been a year since Jamie died, everyone keeps acting like they expect Sarah to be "over it."  They treat her like there is something seriously wrong with her because just didn't put it behind her right after it happened.

Throughout the novel, Sarah gets almost hit by a deer in her school gym (because the deer broke through a window), gets bit by her no-vicious rescue dog Ruby, finds said deer in a shed (where Ruby starts chewing on it), works at a tree farm, makes up with Jamie's twin brother Emmett, works at a tree farm, and becomes friends with Rosemary. 

Although not technically poorly written, I feel like this book was missing something.  It just seemed to wander though the events of Sarah's life without having much of a plot to speak of.  Sure, some of the events in the novel were interesting, but they would have been even more interesting had their been more of a structure to the book.

Also, I felt like there was no real resolution to certain things at the end.  Sarah and her boyfriend Stenn got in a huge fight the night they were supposed to have sex for the first time, and he maybe broke up with her.  Sarah spent all of about three pages wondering if Stenn had actually broken up with her, and that was all we heard about it.  For the rest of the book.  The only thing that really did get taken care of was Sarah finally telling Emmett *how* Jamie died in the gym that day.  (Nope, not giving it away!)

Overall, if I were going to give this book I grade, it would be a C-.  Well-written, but needs better direction.

Just One Night - Elle Casey

I don't know how many of you have heard of Elle Casey, but you need to go read some of her books.  (And by some, I mean all of them!)

Just One Night is a serial romance that Elle Casey published last year.  The premise of the serial novel is that Jennifer, a recently dumped real estate agent, is looking for one night of harmless, no strings attached fun.  She wants to hook up with a random man, have sex, and never see him again.  What she doesn't figure into the plan is that she will actually like the guy she meets.

In Part One, Jennifer sends out her advertisement, against the advise of her friend Mia.  William's secretary finds the ad and takes it upon herself to clip it and give it to William.  At first, William doesn't want to respond to the advertisement.  He figures there is no way that Jennifer could possibly be serious about not wanting a one night thing.  He finally changes his mind, calling Jennifer and inviting her to a charity event for breast cancer that he attends annually.

Part Two opens with Jennifer feeling bad about herself because it has been a week since her one night fling with William and she got attached to him.  So, she is sitting in her apartment, drowning her sorrows with orange juice, when her best friend Mia comes over, convincing Jennifer to come to one of Mia's work events.  When they arrive at the event, Jennifer is surprised that Mia's clients are William and his brother.  Mia and Jennifer end up at a club with William and Edward, where Jennifer and William have sex in a dark hallway.

Part Three involves Jennifer's ex, Hank, coming to work at Jennifer's realtor company as the new broker.  He brings his new girlfriend along as the receptionist (new girlfriend being the one that Hank cheated on Jennifer with).  Jennifer quits, then realizes the is totally screwed without that job (because I guess she can't be an independent realtor).  Mia convinces Jennifer to call William and propose a working situation together since William is a broker.  When Jennifer arrives at Willliams office, she meets Ingrid (who owns the building, AND the night club where Jennifer and William did it).  Ingrid and Jennifer both arrive at Williams office at the same time - Jennifer for the presentation and Ingrid to try and convince William to go on a date with her (because she already made dinner reservations without asking him first).  Well, William turns Ingrid away, of course, and after the not presentation with Jennifer, they end up having sex in a conference room chair.

Part Four starts getting all manner of ridiculous in it.  Edward breaks into Ingrid's office at the club, attempting to steal a thumb drive (which is a sort of USB drive).  Ms. Meechum, William's assistant, proves to be rather useful when she hacks into Ingrid's computer and erases the sex video from Ingrid's hard drive.  Ingrid convinces Jennifer to leave the conference room and cancel her date with William (by lying and implying that Ingrid and William are in a serious relationship).  Then, when Jennifer gets home, she runs into Hank, who has been waiting outside her apartment building.  He follows her into her apartment even after she tells him to leave (which is really creepy) then sits there talking to her like he didn't cheat on her and like they are best friends. After he leaves, Mia comes over, talking to Jennifer about William.  Then William shows up to talk to Jennifer.  She tells him, in spite of her attraction to him, that need their thing to have just been one night.  So, William leaves, and Jennifer has another break down.

Part Five opens with a discussion between Mia and Jennifer regarding William's having quit his fathers company.  In an interesting turn of events, William ends up moving in with Jennifer, and they promise to keep the relationship purely platonic (yeah right)!  Over the course of part five, William and Jennifer get things really rolling on the business they've started together.  Of course, things are still weird with Ingrid, the woman who thinks she's all that and the bag of chips.  I don't want to give everything away, but let's just say there's a huge fight you don't want to miss.

Part Six - the final part of the series - gets even more crazy.  It starts with Jennifer waking up in the hospital, which surprises her.  While there, she gets the surprise of her life.  (Nope, I'm not telling!)  The events of this part go pretty quickly, AND there's a wedding. 

So, here's a little rundown of the characters:
Jennifer - the main character and the one who wants the one night stand.
William - a British business owner who responds to Jennifer's ad (via his secretary)
Mia - Jennifer's crass, secretive, well meaning best friend. 
Ms. Meechum - William's severely ditsy receptionist.
Edward - William's cad brother
Frank - William's father.  About as much of a player as Edward is.
Ingrid - Business owner and landlord.  Trying unsuccessfully to snag William.

Overall, the series was okay.  The writing is decent, and the characters are all distinct from each other.  There were some moments where I laughed really hard.  There were definitely some surprising moments in the series, which is always good.  I do think that Ms. Meechum was one character who was almost over the top ridiculous, though.  She was portrayed as being incredibly daft and stupid.  I highly doubt that someone who is as productive as she is at work could really be that dumb and ditsy.

I found myself genuinely sick of Ingrid by the end of part three.  Her relentless blackmailing of William and her refusal to listen when people tell her no made me want to hunt her down and punch her in the face.

This was my first dip into reading serial fiction, and it was interesting.  I would give this a solid B overall.

Book Talk - Evil Librarian

 ***SPOILER ALERT*** You know me, I always give away some spoilers in my book reviews.  So, as always, if you do not want to know what happens, save this review for later.  If you don't mind knowing a few things that happen in the book, read on!

My most current read, Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudsen, is something so amazing I can barely put my feelings about it into words.  But I will try.  Written for young adults, I would say the novel is most appropriate for kids age 15 and older.  I will try to keep my giveaways about what happens in this book to a minimum, but as I said above, there will be a few spoilers.

The novel is set in an unidentified city, which I like to imagine is Chicago.  The primary location is the high school that main character Cynthia Rothchild and her friends attend – called Central High School.  The novel opens on Annie and Cyn sitting in Italian class, Cyn staring at the object of her affection, one Ryan Halsey.  After their Italian class ends, Annie, of course, gives Cyn hell for her lust towards Ryan, claiming emphatically that Cyn should basically bite the bullet and talk to him.  Later that day, Annie ends up in the library, where she meets Mr. Gabriel, the new librarian.  She is instantly smitten with him, which Cyn claims to understand but really doesn’t, especially after meeting him. 

Almost immediately, Cyn is aware that Mr. Gabriel has something wrong with him, but she can’t quite figure out what.  It is not until he touches her arm that she begins to suspect that he is a demon and has done something suspicious to Annie.  The next couple chapters bring about some major changes in the lives of Annie, Cyn and Ryan.  For one, Ryan and Cyn actually start talking to each other, regularly and much to the delight of Cyn's two other friends Diane and Leticia.  Also, after a crash collision in the hallway, Cyn assures herself that she is definitely in lust with Ryan.  This is what also solidifies their new friendship.  

Like a day after they start talking, Cyn tells Ryan her thoughts about Mr. Gabriel.  When they go to the library together later to find Annie, Cyn's assumptions are found to be true.  (I won't give away to many details on this aspect - let's just say there are wings involved.)  Once Ryan and Cyn realize they are right about Mr. Gabriel, this leads to a whole lot of planning on their part and murder on Mr. Gabriels' part.  

In order to get rid of Mr. Gabriel and save Annie, Cyn and Ryan visit a shop that specializes in demonic stuff and witch craft.  They get some special lights, a few other magic things and end up in the library on a Sunday.  The trip turns into a disaster because of shop owner Aaron, who is in the know about the demon world (because he has a demon mistress.) 

After the failed attempt at saving Annie, a whole shit storm of stuff is opened up.  There are more demons allowed in the school on a pretty regular basis, some more people die, and Ryan and Cyn and the rest of their theater friends pull of a stellar production of Sweeney Todd all while being threatened by Mr. Gabriel and new principal Mr. Kingston.  

Now, I know I said I didn't want to give too much away in this blog post, so now, instead of talking about what happens in the book, I am going to talk about how much I love this book.  A few things that you should know:

1. None of the characters are described in any way.  It is all very vague.  I know that seems weird, but it totally works.  I love that the author chose to do that because it allows us readers to picture the characters anyway we want.  We can imagine them looking any way, and I think that is really nice.  It totally works in this novel.

2.  There is no indication of where this novel takes place.  All I can assume is that it takes place in a largish city in the USA.  I am pretending that it takes place in Chicago, because that seems like a pretty artsy fun place.

So, some things that I loved about this book:

* Theater - As a theater nerd, I can totally relate to the love for theater that these kids have.  I think it is nice that the author included some theater stuff in her novel.  Especially some Sweeney Todd stuff.  Awesome!

*Libraries - Okay, it's no secret that I love books, libraries and librarians.  That is why the main premise of this book being about an evil librarian is so cool to me.  Michelle Knudsen could not have picked a better subject for the novel.  At all.

* The Cover - I absolutely loved the cover of this book.  I know that sounds cheesy, but I just feel like the cover really fit the story.

* The writing style and speed - I loved the humor in the book and the fact that each character was defined and well rounded.  I think the author did a really good job of fitting everything in well even though the novel only takes place over a matter of like two months.  There is a lot that happens in the novels' time frame and the author does a really great job of getting in what she needed to get in.

* The characters - Like I said, I really loved the characters in this book.  I really got the impression that each character was their own person with a unique personality.  That was fantastic!

* The occasional swearing - Yes, this is a young adult novel written for older teens.  But, unlike so many other young adult authors, Knudsen is aware that teenagers sometimes swear, so she's not afraid to have her characters drop the occasional F-Bomb.  I think that's another thing that makes this novel feel so real and well rounded.

* The romantic angle - I think the interest between Ryan and Cyn was obvious without being overwhelming.  I really like that it was apparent that they were attracted to each other, but that it didn't over power the story.  Sometimes, love can be the underlying theme and still be great, as was the case with this novel.

Overall, I absolutely loved this novel.  *I* would recommend it to teens age 15 and older, but if you are a parent who wants to read it first and determine if it's appropriate for your child, go ahead.   I would give the novel an A all the way.

Now, as I said, the author didn't really describe her characters much.  So, I imagined what they characters would look like if this book were made into a movie.  These are the characters I picked out actors for:

 China Anne McClain – Annie: China's personality and attitude seem like the perfect fit to be Annie.  Spunk, happiness and just the right amount of fuck off to get it right.

Chloe Moretz – Cyn: When I saw Dark Shadows, I fell in love with Chloe Moretz.  She has enough spunk and a ton of talent, and I think that she would make the perfect Cyn!

  Principal Kingston - I really couldn't decide who I thought would make a better Principal Kingston.  Both Jesse L. Martin and Sam Waterston have the ability to pull it off and make the character absolutely amazing.

Logan Lerman – Ryan Halsey

Beyonce – Demoness

Aaron

Mr. Gabriel - I think with Danny Pino's attitude and youthful face, he is the perfect Mr. Gabriel

Leticia - Selena Gomez: With her perkiness and bubbly attitude, Selena Gomez is the perfect Leticia

 Mr. De Luca - Stanley Tucc: I can literally not think of a better person to be Signor De Luca.  Stanley Tucci is amazing and so talented that he could easily pull it off.

Book Talk - The Queen of Zombie Hearts

***Spoiler Alert***

You know me, I always like to talk about things that happen in the book.  So, if you haven't read the book yet and want to be surprised, wait to read this review.  However, if you don't mind a few spoilers, read on!

I *just* finished reading The Queen of Zombie Hearts, the third and final book in The White Rabbit Chronicles, by Gena Showalter.  It was published this year, so I feel like I am actually on top of things, since I haven't been reading a lot of books in the year they are published!

In case you haven't read the first two books in the series (Alice in Zombieland and Through the Zombie Glass) let's refresh your memory of who the characters are:

-Alice Bell: the main female character, the one around whom these stories are based
-Cole Holland: Ali's apparently super hot boyfriend
-Kat: Ali's best friend

And the minor-ish yet still important characters:
-Frosty
-Reeve
-Mr. Holland
-Nana
-Emma
-Mr. Ankh
-Bronx
-Veronica
-Mackenzie

Characters that appear only in this book:
-Juliana
-Camilla
-River
-Mrs. Smith
-Chase


The book opens on Ali, Mackenzie and Kat sitting at Choco Loco, a chocolate store where they hang out sometimes.  While there, three boys start giving them the eye.  The boys send over these things called mousse shooters, which the girls love.  While they are pretending to flirt with the boys and get Mackenzie some love, Frosty shows up to hang all over Kat.  Even though the two fight all the time, they've been together for a while.  Ali asks where Cole is, and when she's told that he is at a tattoo parlor they often go to, she leaves to see him.  He's not there as promised, but Ali decides to get two new tattoo's while she's there.

When Ali leaves, she goes home and finds Cole at the house.  They start making out - Ali trying to convince Cole to have sex with her already - and then gunshots start going off everywhere.  Ali and Cole try to get out of the room to find out what's happening, but Cole gets shot through the shoulder.  This leads to Ali and Cole searching for their friends because the are told that there has been an attack on every slayer (by Anima) in an attempt to end the slayers.

Throughout the rest of the night they find out that four of their friends are dead and one is missing.  The next day, they have a meeting to try and figure out how they are going to find Justin - the still missing friend.  They are told he is at an Anima warehouse, but when they go to find him, the warehouse is empty sans a bunch of old, collared zombies in the basement.  They fight the zombies - ashing them all.  In the process, they find out that Ali has a new special ability - she can use her arms and lift all the zombies up in the air to get them out of the way of slayers, thus making them easier to ash.

Now, here's the trippy part - Ali gains this power from a woman named Helen.  Helen is what the slayers call a witness.  A Witness is a zombie that has been turned into a spirit and can talk to the living and, in some cases, help them.  But, Helen is not your ordinary witness.  She was a former ally to Anima and, in a real twist, is also Ali's birth mother.  Phillip - Ali's dad - was dating Helen before he met her cousin, who he later ended up marrying.  When he broke up with Helen to date Ali's "mom," Helen was already pregnant with Ali - who we learn was originally named Samantha (nicknamed Sami.)

Ali was forced by Helen to undergo all sorts of tests held by Anima.  Helen was responsible for the death of Cole's mother, as well.  When Ali was 5, Helen brought her to Phillip, finally telling him that Ali was his daughter.  Phillip took Ali in, renaming her Alice Bell.  Phillip and his wife raised Alice as their own, all the while knowing that she was not her "mothers" daughter.  Before Ali went to live with her family, Helen performed a memory wipe, covering her memories prior to age 5.

Ali is the only slayer who can see Helen now, and Helen makes it obvious that she doesn't want anyone else to see her.  When Cole hears about Ali being able to see Helen and talk to her, he gets very upset and forbids Ali from talking to Helen again.  Ali doesn't listen, of course, and it leads to a lot of mistrust between Cole and Ali, who both hurt each other because of the lack of faith they have in each other.  They realize after fighting about it major that they do trust each other after all and are willing to put Helen to the side, but it takes Ali almost dying to realize it.

And speaking of Ali almost dying, let's talk about Camilla and Juliana.  Juliana is Veronica's younger sister.  Camilla is River's sister.  Now, a little story about Camilla and River - Cole's gang meets them when they are trying to fight Anima.  They go to River's house, Ali fights some zombies in a pit in the ground, and Camilla realizes she has total lady wood for Cole.  It doesn't matter to Camilla that Cole is with Ali and very obviously in love with her.  Camilla wants Cole to herself.  So, she devises this plan to get Ali drugged and kidnapped by Anima.  Anima had originally wanted to trade Ali for Justin, but all of Ali's friends said no, not going to happen.  So they came up with another plan.  They were going to try and trick Anima so that they could get Justin back and keep Ali.  But, then when Ali and Cole were fighting, he told her to make the switch.  He realized how stupid that was later, and they went back to their original plan.  So, they came up with a plan to get Justin and screw Anima, but while they were doing that, Camilla was planning  a way to trick and drug Ali so that Anima could take Ali and Camilla could have Cole all to herself.

While they were at the warehouse trying to fight zombies, Anima was waiting outside.  Camilla told Ali that they had Kat.  Ali, being a very protective best friend, rushed out, only to be hit by Anima and almost dragged away, all while being drugged.  Ali managed to reconnect her body and spirit, then ran back inside, telling Cole, River and everyone else what had happened.  Camilla fessed up to what she did, begrudgingly, and River held a gun to her chest and told her he was going to kill her.  Ali could have had every reason to let River kill Camilla, but instead she tells River that she can wipe Camilla's memory.  This is exactly what she does, which leads to Camilla not remembering anything about who she is or what she's done.

After Camilla's memory has been wiped and everything at the warehouse is sorted out, everyone splits for their own places.  Ali and Cole spend the night in Cole's room, him healing Ali through the night with his fire.  Just as things seem like they are looking up, Ali notices that Helen is outside and two Hazmats are trying to close in on her and take her.  Apparently they think Helen is a flesh and bones human, not spirit.  As Ali is watching this, there are exploding noises all over the house.  Ali and Cole run from their room to find that bombs are exploding and destroying the Ankh's house.

Ali and Cole make it outside in time, where they find some of their friends waiting.  They start searching for people who are missing, and find Mr. Ankh dead.  They keep searching for Kat, who they eventually find buried under a pile of rubble from the explosions.  She dies shortly after being found.  Ali is immensely crushed by this death and without even telling anyone, she walks away from the wreckage, surrenders herself to Anima and meets the infamous Mrs. Smith.  Ali gets taken to an Anima facility, where she finally finds Justin.  She gets locked in a cage next to his, but is somehow able to open the cage and free Justin.  He leaves to find his friends and Ali locks herself back in her cage.

While in this testing facility, Mrs. Smith - first name Rebecca - wipes Ali's memories so that she believes she is still Sami.  Ali is used as a test for zombies over and over again.  The zombies are put in a cage with her, where they bite her and are turned into witnesses.  This goes on and on until finally Cole and friends break into this facility and find Ali.  They are able to free her and wipe Mrs. Smith's memory.  Cole and his gang spend time trying to recover Ali and get her memories back.  The cover on her mind finally breaks when she and Cole are in her room, and he refuses to leave.  He is touching her, kissing her, trying to be with her and her cover breaks.  The next day, at Kat's funeral/celebration of life, Ali sees Kat and Emma's spirits and is finally able to gain some closure.

Now, overall, I think this is a great book.  I think that each character was really well-rounded and distinct.  They each had their own personalities and attitudes.  This book was definitely much, much better than the first book in the series (which was still good!)  I loved the tension between Ali, Camilla and Juliana.  I loved watching Ali develop her relationship with Cole and get to know who she really was.  I especially loved that when Juliana admitted that she and Camilla had put the bombs in the house to try and kill Ali so that Camilla could really get to Cole, Cole kicked Juliana and Veronica to the curb and told them never to come back.

BUT, there was one thing that bothered me - Cole kept acting like he was in control of Ali and kept threatening to spank her if she didn't listen to him.  This just about ruined the book for me.  My thoughts are - no man should ever be in control of the woman he is dating or even threaten to hit her in any way, shape or form.  There is no reason for a man to act like that towards a woman.  That aspect of this book could have easily been removed entirely (and in fact should have been.)  Other than that, I say give the book a read - Gena Showalter doesn't disappoint.

Book Talk - Septimus Heap: Magyk

 ***SPOILER ALERT***

If you think you might want to read this book, but don't want to know ANY spoilers, then save the reading of this review for later.  If you don't mind a few spoilers: read on!

So, I told you I was reading the Septimus Heap books.  Well, I finished the first book in the series - Magyk - so let's talk about it.  The series was written by Angie Sage, who, I must say, has a way with words.

The story opens with Silas Heap, the father of the Heap family, walking home to the Heap room in the Ramblings.  His wife, Sarah, has just given birth to their seventh son, Septimus.  On his way through the woods, Silas sees a bundle lying on the ground.  Picking it up, he realizes it is a baby, roughly the same age as their new baby.  Silas decides to take the baby home, but not before being confronted by ExtraOrdinary Wizard Marcia Overstrand, who tells him he must never tell anyone he has this baby.

When Silas returns home, he is met by the nanny sweeping out of the house with Septimus.  Silas is told that Septimus has died unexpectedly.  He and his family have no reason to believe otherwise because, as it appears to them, he is dead.  Over the years, the family learns to cope with the loss of Septimus and also raises the found baby as one of their own. 

When the book comes to the current year, Jenna - the found baby - is 11.  The Heaps and their noisy room are in full swing of learning and being boys.  Everyone adores Jenna and takes care of her splendidly.  On her 11th birthday, however, it is found out that she is the long lost Princess.  Marcia Overstrand has known this all along, and has arrived to tell the heaps that Jenna has been recognized and now the Assassin, obviously, wants her killed just as her mother was many years ago.

Marcia, in an effort to help save Jenna, takes Jenna to her room in the wizards tower.  When they arrive at the tower, they find a young boy about Jenna's age collapsed and freezing outside.  He is called, we later find out, Boy 412.  Jenna and Marcia bring the boy inside to warm him up.  While there, Silas and Nicko arrive, and everyone finds out that DomDaniel, former ExtraOrdinary Wizard and current Necromancer, is on his way.  They escape by riding down the rubbish chute, where they are almost discovered by several different people. 

Eventually, Marcia, Jenna, Silas, Nicko and Boy 412 end up at the Heap's Aunt Zelda's house.  This is not before outwitting the Hunter - who has been charged with finding them and killing Jenna.  They use many methods to outwit the Hunter, including an almost impenetrable fog and a mirror spell of their own boat.  Once they arrive at the Marsh, the group meets the Boggart, who leads them up to Aunt Zelda's home.  For a while, they are safe.

Throughout the rest of the novel, there are many things that happen that should be known for future reference in the other books:

* Three of the younger Heap Boys attend a witches party in the woods with their father and end up going wild and living in the woods. 
* Boy 412's true identity is revealed
* Simon Heap, the oldest child in the family, becomes jealous at the revelation of who boy 412 is and also at the fact that boy 412 is named the apprentice to Marcia Overstrand.  Simon had been under the impression that he was going to be named Marcia's apprentice.


There are just a few things about this book that were of a bother to me:

1. Jenna finds a rock and names him Petroc Trelawney.  Rang of Harry Potter to me.
2. This story also has a Boggart.  This one is different than the ones in Harry Potter, but still.  I feel the author could have used a different name.
3. I personally felt it was blaringly obvious who Boy 412 was.

Overall, however,  this is a great book filled with magic, mystery and lots of fun!  Kids and adults alike are sure to enjoy the entire series.

Bookish - We are Water

For my book club, I recently finished We are Water by Wally Lamb.  I had read another one of his books a while ago called She's Come Undone, and I loved it.  That was not the case with We Are Water. 

The book opens with this long chapter about a painter named Josephus Jones, who ends up dying through something that is suspicious at best.  His paintings are rudimentary at best, and are painstakingly described by the owner of a gallery that Jones had been in contact with over the years.  The chapter has no point other than to let the reader know that the current owners of a certain house are living in the property once inhabited by the narrator of the first chapter, and that Jones lived in the guest house there.

Moving on to the real part of the story, we meet Annie Oh and her husband Frances.  Annie was the product of a rough childhood, with a mother and sister who died in a flood when Annie was young.  Annie was then left to the care of her alcoholic father and sexually abusive cousin, but got put into foster care as a teen.  Frances was raised by a single mother whose partner left her.  When his mother sought out Frances's paternal grandfather, the grandfather was left with no doubt that Frances was his son's child, and as a result, helped pay for Frances to attend university when he was older.

Each chapter switches between Annie and Frances.  There is a whole lot of ranting and frustration in Frances's chapters because his now ex-wife is marrying a woman.  For what it's worth, I find Viveca to be a real pain in the ass.  She has no idea how to truly care about anyone other than herself and I honestly can't figure out why Annie would ever have wanted to marry her in the first place.  There is a lot of talk from Annie about how she disagrees with Viveca on many thing (which sounds like a recipe for a big fat breakup to me.)  Then there are some ramblings into the past that tell us a bit more about where Annie and Frances came from.

The little we learn about Frances and Annie's children are: The two daughters love Viveca, and the son thinks his mother and Viv are going to hell because they are two women getting married and he's become a right wing nut who believes that is wrong.  They are not a focus in the story though. 

After part one, there is a completely pointless part two, where we hear from some characters who are not necessary to the story and do nothing to move along this completely plotless book.  Then, part three brings us back, sort of, to more of Annie and Frances, as well as some other characters who don't matter at all to the story, especially since they are only mentioned in the last 1/3 of the book.

Save your time and read something else. This book gets a D, and that's just because I know how much effort it takes to write a book, even if people hate it.

Books on the Shelf

It's been a while since I've shared what I am reading.  I think it's about time I do that.  (That also means that I am going to have a slew of book reviews coming up!  I hope you're ready!!)

Septimus Heap - Magyk by Angie Sage - This book was recommended by a friend.  Her two sons are reading it and she thought it was something I would enjoy since I love Harry Potter.  I have read a couple chapters so far, and she was right - it's awesome!  I can already tell that I am going to have to read the entire series.

We are Water - Wally Lamb - This is a book club pick, and so far I am really having trouble getting into it.  It's not as interesting as I thought it would be.

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - I admit, I have been stuck on this book for a while.  Normally, I read through Dickens pretty fast, but this one is killing me.

Wicked - Gregory Maguire - This is actually a re-read.  I read this book once in college, because a friend thought I would like it.  And I did!  I am reading it again, because it is just so amazing!

Game of Thrones - George RR Martin  - This is another one that's been taking me a while, because it is just so thick.  But I am absolutely loving it.  GRRM has a way with words that doesn't disappoint.