Book Review - Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An deadly plague is quickly spreading across Earth. While scientists are searching for a cure, many are also searching for a Lunar Princess who was thought to be murdered in a fire as a small child. Hopes rest with this mythic Princess to save Earth from the evil Lunar Queen.
Cinder is a cyborg whose guardian (or stepmother) forces to work as a mechanic in New Bejing's marketplace. One day, a disguised Prince Kai comes to her shop asking for her assitance in repairing an outdated android. Cinder can tell that there is more importance to this droid than the Prince is letting on. She promises to repair the droid as quickly as possible with the giddy knowledge that she will be able to see the handsome Prince again.


I was really looking forward to this one and I was not disappointed. While there are many elements of the classic Cinderella story, there is more to this novel than just a "cinderella story". The novel deals with political intrigue and divisions of social classes as well as a growing love story between a Prince and a grimy commoner. I am looking forward to the next installment of The Lunar Chronicles!



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Hi, Plus My Favorite Teen Book from 2011

Hi, Karen invited me to join the blog because I greedily took Roddy Doyle's new book, A Greyhound of a Girl, from her stash of galleys of not-yet-published books, and she said I could read it if I review it. I will, promise, before it comes out in May.

I write for the blog on the library homepage, too, so please visit. I will give you just one link to a post there--it's for my favorite teen book of 2011, Catherynne M. Valente's The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. I think it's a book for all ages, really, one of those books that will take you back to when you were very young and you never knew what marvelous things you might find when you opened a book.

It's not a massively detailed fantasy like Harry Potter is, but a quirky sort of unlikely story with unforgettable characters (a woman made of soap fragments! an orange lantern that speaks in beautiful golden letters!) and a heartbreakingly difficult adventure for the heroine. If you like classic works of fantasy like the Oz series (not just The Wizard of Oz movie), you'll like it.

Cross My Heart Book Review

Cross My Heart by Sasha Gould

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Laura thinks that she is being rescued from her monontonous life at the convent when her father summons her back home. She is shocked to hear that her beloved olders sister is dead and that Laura is now expected to marry her sister's much older and lecherous fiance to save the family's fortune. Laura is invited to join Venice's secret society of women with the promise that The Segreta will keep the marriage from happening. But, Laura soon learns that she can trust no one.

I was really looking forward to this. Lately, I've been drawn to historical novels that showcase strong women and I thought this would fit the bill. I flew through the first half, wondering how Laura was going to get out of her marriage and how her sister really died. But, then the story became way too much of a soap opera for me: people weren't who they said they were, people came back from the dead and others just went insane. It was a little too dramatic for 250 pages.

Release Date: March 13, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Format: Advanced Reader's Copy
Source: Baker and Taylor
Challenge: 2012 Debut Author Challenge



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Because It's Not Going Away . . .

Ebooks are here to stay folks. In our library system alone, ebook circulation has gone up over 500% in the past year. I can't really even wrap my head around that number. At some point, the rate of increase will not be quite so dramatic, but it is obvious to those of us in the book world that ebooks need to be embraced by publishers, book sellers, and libraries if we want to remain viable.
Not only does the electronic format need to be embraced, but a whole new way of thinking about how authors interact with readers needs to be embraced as well. Enter Coliloquy.

Coliloquy is a digital publisher of active fiction, specializing in reader engagement and serial storytelling. We leverage advances in technology to create groundbreaking new forms of digital fiction. Available now for Amazon Kindle.
Reading and writing. Re-imagined.

Check it out, this could be the next big thing!

After Hours Movie Night

In honor of Friday the 13th, there is a selection of scary movies for this weeks movie night:




Exorcism of Emily Rose



Drag Me to Hell



Haunting in Connecticut

The Others

Be sure to vote on the poll for what to watch!

Book Review - What Happened to Goodbye?

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Because Mclain moves from town-to-town with her father every few months, she has made a habit of reinventing herself with every new move, never allowing anyone to truly know who she is. But, the latest move begins differently when she introduces herself with her real name and her carefully built walls of protection begin to crumble.

Another classic Sarah Dessen. The supporting characters are just as interesting as the main character and because so, the novel has a lot of depth to it. The focus is not soley on one person, but spread out over the whole cast of characters, just like real life.



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Book Review - Born Wicked

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I like a good realistic witch story (does that even make sense?).

Spotswood's alternate hsitory of the late 1880's New England was very intriguing. She used some real events for inspiration (Salem witch trials)but played them out in her own way (New England became very oppressive of women while other parts of the world (Dubai) developed into very progressive states.

The main character, Cate Cahill, struggles with the promise that she made to her mother on her mother's deathbed that Cate will help protect the fact that she and her sisters are all witches from The Brotherhood. The Brotherhood has cracked down on witchcraft by abducting any female suspected of witchcraft. Some of the girls/women are returned emotionally and physically damaged while some never return at all. Cate is coming of age where she must decide to either marry or join The Sisterhood (the less powerful female version of The Brotherhood).

This is the first in a series and while I was a little disappointed that although witchcraft is supposed to be a big taboo, the secret is really not so much of a secret, I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next to the Cahill witches.



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