A Wizard For Christmas (A Protector Series novella)

This book was read as an Advance Reading Copy (ARC) provided for free by the publisher.

Book: A Wizard for Christmas (part of the Protector series)

Author: DorothyMcFalls

Rating: PG (slight violence - a creature attacks a woman and there a couple dead bodies but they aren't described in detail - just that they are dead)

Bookshelves: 2012, Chicago, fantasy, fiction, paranormal romance, romance, USA, wizard

Begun: December 6, 2012

Finished: December 7, 2012

Media Type: ebook (read on Kindle)

Setting: present day Chicago, Illinois (USA)

Characters: Holly, Hadrian

Synopsis: Holly was an orphan who grew up to be a loner. When her friends ask her about her Christmas plans, Holly lies and says that she’s going to her family’s home where all sorts of fun things happen (like a cousin who keeps the memory of her dead “uncle” Burl Ives alive by singing Christmas songs to the family). But a strange … stranger keeps popping up in her neighborhood. Hadrian is a Protector and knows that Holly is not what she thinks she is. She’s really a wizard, or, as they call themselves, a Protector. And Hadrian knows that to defeat the big baddie on the lose killing innocent mortal Chicagoans Holly will have to learn the truth and start to trust someone other than herself.

Review: I was not a huge fan of this novella. In the beginning of the novel, I found Holly to be a dynamic character and that her interactions with the mysterious Hadrian were intriguing. But, the author fell flat creating a completely three dimensional world with Hadrian and Holly at the center.  Very quickly, Holly became the kind of heroine that I despise: insular; never listening to anyone else (especially those with more experience that can help her); and one that runs away from problems (both real life and perceived problems). She spends more than 3/4^th of the books hating Hadrian and running from him and then in the last few pages (when the ultimate confrontation occurs), she totally flips her stance on the matter. Magic played a very, very small role in the novella and was discussed only as a cursory item (which is strange since the title is A Wizard for Christmas).

In my opinion, this book gets:

3 out of 5 stars (fair - could be better/could be worse)

The Darkest Secret (Lords of the Underworld series #7)

Book: The Darkest Secret (Lords of the Underworld #7)

Author: Gena Showalter

Bookshelves: 2011, Budapest (Hungary), demons, fantasy, fiction, romance, paranormal romance, the Underworld,

Begun: August 1, 2011

Finished: August 2, 2011

Media Type: paperback (personal copy - later donated to the Grafton Public Library)

Setting: present day Budapest (Hungary) and the Underworld (aka Hell)

Characters: Amun, Haidee, Paris, Strider, William, The Lords of the Underworld,

Review: Amun was dragged from Hell, literally, kicking and screaming.

Keeper of the demon of secrets, Amun must remain mute or he will divulge all the secrets of those around him. As Secrets, Amun picked up some extra demons when he went into the Underworld and now he’s carrying those around with him too. Locked by himself in a cell and then his bedroom, Amun is literally waiting to die. The angels have decided that they will kill him if he doesn’t start to get better soon.

Bring in the Hunter Haidee, Strider is stricken to see his best friend in so much torment. Leaving Haidee in a locked bedroom adjacent to Amun’s Strider goes to check in with the rest of his Lord friends, of which Torin seems to be the only one around.

When she awakes from her drugged stupor (the only way to get the blood thirsty and vicious hunter back to the Lord’s mansion), Haidee hears Amun mentally calling for help. She fights her way through the wall, literally (she finds a closed off doorway between their two bedrooms).

Thinking that Amun is a former lover of hers, Haidee cozies up to him. Like salve on a burn Amun’s demons retreat and he is able to heal slightly while Haidee holds him in her sleep.

Sparks rage between the two and secret abound (no pun intended!). Haidee isn’t all human. She’s been reborn many many times but always forgets the “good” things about her former lives.

Will Amun help her or kill her once he finds out that she was the one who killed Baden?

Awards: none

Recommended by: Kim

Recommend to: Sherrilyn Kenyon fans, paranormal romance fans.

Beastly

Book: Beastly

Author: Alex Flinn

Bookshelves: 2011, fantasy, fiction, for teens, New York City, New York City, paranormal romance, romance, USA

Begun: March 15, 2011

Finished: March 17, 2011

Media Type: paperback (larger sized)

Setting: present day New York City, present day upstate New York

Characters: Linda "Lindy" Owens, Kyle Kingsbury (aka Adrian), Will Fratalli, The Witch (aka Kendra Hilfert), Magda, Rob Kingsbury

Review: I picked up Beastly because the movie was being released and I decided that I should read the book (at the time I really, really wanted to see the movie too – since reading the book, I think I will wait for the DVD to come out and then go get it for free at the library). The story is … well the plot, at least, in its most basic form, is a good thing. Think: an updated Beauty and Beast.

And what little girl didn’t love the story behind the Disney classic.

In this reworking of the fairytale, we open the book to an online chatroom transcript where the moderator’s name is Mr. Anderson (all I could think was Hugo Weaving playing Agent Smith from The Matrix asking Keanu Reeves (Neo/Mr. Anderson) saying “You hear that Mr. Anderson?... That is the sound of inevitability... It is the sound of your death... Goodbye, Mr. Anderson...”). Maybe others missed it but “Mr. Anderson,” is a not so cleaverly veiled reference to Hans Christian Anderson who authored many (if not most) of the fairytales that are still so popular today! In the chatroom we meet the little mermaid, a bear, and the frog (the prince who was turned into a frog) … and a beast who proceeds to tell us his story.

Kyle Kingsbury was the most popular person at his private prep school. But inside, he’s kind of messed up. His mother left his father and him without, really, any good reason when he was pretty young. His father, Rob Kingsbury is a self-loving and beauty obsessed anchorman. He doesn’t have that much time for Kyle other than to make sure he’s not getting into that much trouble.

Kyle, who is a shoe in for Prom King, plays a trick on the goth chick in his English class, Kendra Hilfert, by asking her to the dance even though Kyle is actually taking the “cool girl,” who becomes ticked at Kyle for getting her a “simple, common” white rose for her corsage instead of the exotic orchid she wanted. When they get to the dance, Kyle hands the offending rose to a “scholarship” girl who is manning the ticket desk. This simple act of making the girl’s day with the flower is the only thing that saves him from what is about to happen.

When Kendra realizes that Kyle has an ugly heart as she suspects and has been playing her for a fool, she reveals that she is actually a beautiful witch. She transforms Kyle into a beastly visage to match his heart. But, because he was kind to the “scholarship girl,” the Witch gives Kyle a chance to redeem himself. He is given two years to get someone to fall in love him.

He figures that this will never happen. He thinks he’s gross because he’s covered with fur, disfigured, and has claws. He’s basically an amalgamation of a bear, dog, man and gorilla. When the doctors can’t cure him of his physical deformities, his father gets him a five story apartment away from his apartment in Manhattan. Kyle realizes that his father can’t stand to look at him and has shunted him out of his life. Magda, the family’s maid, goes with him and his father pays for a blind tutor to become his companion and teacher.

Slowly over the course of the first year, Kyle comes out of his self imposed prison, changes his name from Kyle (which means “handsome”) to Adrian (which means “the dark one”), and builds a greenhouse where he begins to grow roses of all sizes, colors and types. One night, he catches a robber who broke into the greenhouse intent on stealing things in the house for drug money. The robber bargains his daughter for payment (of not being turned over to the authorities). His daughter is Linda (“Lindy) Owens who it is revealed is the “scholarship girl” from the dance.

Could she be the girl to break the curse? How could anyone see though the horrific exterior to see what’s within Adrian’s heart? And is that heart worth seeing?

To break the curse, make Lindy love him, and return to his “normal” life, Kyle/Adrian only got months left …

Awards:

• ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
• VOYA Editor’s Choice
• IRA/CBC Young Adults’ Choice
• New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
• Texas Lone Star Reading List
• Detroit Public Library Author Day Award
• Utah Beehive Award Master List
• Missouri Gateway Award Master List
• Volunteer State Book Award Master List
• Nevada Young Readers Award Master List
• South Dakota Young Adult Book Award Master List
• New Hampshire Isinglass Award Master List
• Woozles (Canada) Teen Battle of the Books list

Recommended by: myself after seeing a commercial for the movie which was released in Feb. 2011

Recommend to: Twilight saga fans, fans of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Kate U. (my friend)

Tiger's Curse (Tiger Saga #1)

Book: The Tiger’s Curse

Author: Colleen Houck

Bookshelves: 2011, curse, fantasy, fiction, India, romance, Oregon, paranormal romance, tiger, USA, were-creature

Begun: March 11, 2011

Finished: March 14, 2011

Media Type: hardcover

Setting: 17th century India, present day Oregon (USA), and present day India

Characters: Kelsey Hayes, Prince Dhiren (Ren), Mr. Kadam, Indian goddess Durga,

Review: When I started reading Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck, I was pretty sure it was going to be ... well ... boring. I had seen the book in the hands of a couple of my students and in the front section of the Barnes and Noble I frequent, but I wasn't sold on the book.

I had, also, heard that this was originally published online as a free book (or was it as a Podcast? I honestly don't remember).

Anyways, I started reading it and thought: Oh damn, it's set in Oregon. This is going to be another Twilight-esque knock off. Well, come to find out, Houck was inspired by Twilight to the point that she began writing this series of books. And unfortunately, the main female and male characters will remind you WHOLE HEARTEDLY of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. (And I, personally, think the world has had enough of these characters and their incarnations!!!)

I was pleasantly surprised when I got into the story. The writing is mediocre (at best) but Colleen Houck does a pretty good job of weaving a lot of information (there is soooooooo much info dumping) into the plot. The problem for me was that the writing off set the whole "good plot" she had going on.

The story goes like this: Kelsey lost her parents a while back to an accident. She's in foster care. To pay for junior college in the fall, she goes to a temp agency (she's not yet 18 ... how many temp agencies take 17 year olds?) to get a job for the summer. They send her out to a circus that is going through town who needs help (her foster parents don't even bat an eye at the fact that the circus expects her to sleep there for the two weeks she'll be working with them). Slowly, she develops a bond with the white tiger in the circus. A man, Mr. Kadam, comes and buys the tiger and wants to take him back to a nature preserve in India. He wants Kelsey to help him. Kelsey agrees to fly half way around the world ... and, apparently, that too is ok with her foster parents because they let her go.

Surprise of surprises, Kelsey finds out that her white tiger buddy is really a 17th century Indian prince, Dhiren, who had a curse placed upon him (and his brother). Mayhem ... long long drawn out mayhem ... and dialog written with a tin ear (shame on you Houck ... ensues. Houck tried to teach us about the Indian goddess Durga but the writing and the repeated usage of the main characters names in the dialog (i.e. “Mr. Kadam, do you think … (next line) “No Kelsey, …” (next line) “But, Mr. Kadam …”) take away from the plot.

There is a cliff hanger at the end which prompts readers to get the second book.

Will I read it? Probably with the caveat that I understand this is not a novel of epic/mythic proportions, that this is just a book to pass some time with ... not to call "literature."

Awards: Next Generation Indie Book Awards (2010)

Recommended by:

Recommend to: Twilight series fans

Dark Viking (Viking II series #10)

Book: Dark Viking (Viking II series #10)

Author: Sandra Hill

Bookshelves: 2011, fantasy, fiction, historical romance, romance, Sandra Hill, time traveler, Vikings, Vikings II series

Begun: February 16, 2011

Finished: February 21, 2011

Media Type: book (paperback)

Setting: present day Coronado, California (USA) and 10th century Norstead (Norway)

Characters: Rita Sawyer, Steven of Norstead, Lady Thora, Sigge, and Oslac

Review: Rita Sawyer, experience and sought after stunt woman in Hollywood, is approached by two of the Navy SEALs’ finest and is encouraged to join the ranks of a newly formed class of WEALS (Women on Earth, Air, Land and Sea – the female equivalent of the SEALs. She readily accepts when she learns of the sign on bonus that will allow her to pay off her mother’s daunting medical bills (that piled up before her death).

Rita is on a training mission in California one day when her boat (and her world) is turned upside down with a knock on her head. She awakens to 10^th century Norstead and Steven and his friend Oslac calling her a mermaid. They bring her back to the keep and cage her (basically because they think she is a sea beastie and then accuse her of being a spy of one of the pirates in the area).

Steven leaves Norstead for some time and Rita breaks free of her cage. She meets up with Sigge who her aunts have sent to help Rita. Her aunts … the witches … who brought Rita back to Norstead to bring Steven out of his funk.

The usual happens. Rita brightens up Stevens’s day. Steven falls for her. They have sex. She gets pregnant and tries to go back to her time because she thinks Steven will leave her for his betrothed.

While I generally love Sandra Hill, I just didn’t find this book as exciting as others she’s written. Maybe it’s time to stop writing the Viking I and Viking II series for a while and come back to them later? Not a bad read. Just not her best.

Awards: none

Recommended by: personal find

Recommend to: Nora Roberts’ fans, romance fans, time travel fans, historical romance fans, history fans

The Opal Deception (Artemis Fowl #4)

Book: The Opal Deception (Artemis Fowl #4)

Author: Eoin Colfer

Bookshelves: 2011, Berlin (Germany), dwarves, fairies, fantasy, fiction, Ireland, leprechaun, reread

Begun: February 17, 2011

Finished: February 19, 2011

Media Type: audiobook (downloaded from library online catalog and listened to on iPod Touch)

Setting: present day Ireland (outside of Dublin), Berlin (Germany) and Haven (underground land where the People live)

Characters: Artemis Fowl, II, Domovoi Butler, Holly Short, Commander Julius Root, Foaly, Mulch Diggums, Opal Koboi, Mervall Brill, Descant Brill

Review: (Spoilers for book # 2 (The Opal Deception) & # 3 (The Eternity Code) ahead): After more than a year in a self induced coma, Opal Koboi, the mastermind behind the events in The Opal Deception, has hatched a new plan. Awakening with the help of the Brill Brothers (Mervall and Descant, pixie twins who are something of a celebrity themselves (pixie twins being something of an extreme rarity)), Opal will destroy those officers and humans who helped to capture her the last time.

This list includes: Foaly, Holly Short, Julius Root, Artemis and Butler.

So when Foaly realizes that a goblin, who was apprehended during the B’wa Kell Goblin Rebellion round up, has snuck his way out of prison, Holly and Julius go into a tunnel (one of the magma flair tunnels) to get him. Only to come up against a mesmered creature.

A mesmered creature who is being controlled by Opal Koboi. As part of her devious plan, all the LEP’s sound recordings can’t work around the goblin and the computer screen that is attached to his chest. To top it off, she’s got technology working for her that will not allow the video recording to see her face on the computer screen, just a fuzzy blur where the picture should be.

And then all hell breaks loose. Somehow, the screen that was around the goblin detaches from him and attaches to Julius. This is when they are informed that it is a bomb. Opal tricks Holly into shooting at the screen (by telling her there is a sweet spot on the device that will save Julius). So now, it looks like Holly has shot her commanding officer. And when the bomb does blow up, Julius Root, Holly’s mentor and father figure, is killed. His last words were “live well.”

Holly takes off in her LEP suit and wings heading for Berlin where Artemis and Butler are in their Berlin hotel room after stealing a painting called the Fairy Thief.

Artemis has been obsessed with the artist who painted this pictures works for almost a year or so. He isn’t sure why he likes the idea of fantastical creatures (not remember his own friends who are members of the eight families of the People since Foaly had to mind wipe him and Butler after the John Spiro incident). Holly has to get to him before the BioBomb Opal hide inside the tube where the painting rest goes off.

It takes a lot (and some help from Mulch Diggums) but Holly convinces Butler and Artemis to help her clear her name and capture the rouge pixie whose plan for total world domination includes exposing Haven City to the humans who she plans to join up with (as a “human child” since having her ears rounded and a pituitary gland implanted.)

Can the friends save Haven and the world … again?

Awards: none

Recommended by: don’t remember

Recommend to: Harry Potter fans, Bartimaeus Trilogy fans, anyone who likes fantasy or faires etc, 9 year olds and up (read by themselves) and 9 and under (read to them)

The Eternity Code (Artemis Fowl #3)

Book: The Eternity Code (Artemis Fowl #3)

Author: Eoin Colfer

Bookshelves: 2011, Chicago (USA), dwarves, fairies, fantasy, fiction, Ireland, leprechaun, reread

Begun: February 15, 2011

Finished: February 16, 2011

Media Type: audiobook (downloaded from library online catalog and listened to on iPod Touch)

Setting: present day Ireland (outside of Dublin), Chicago (USA) and Haven (underground land where the People live)

Characters: Artemis Fowl, II, Domovoi Butler, Holly Short, Commander Julius Root, Foaly, Mulch Diggums, John Spiro, Juliet Bulter, Arno Blunt

Review: (Spoilers for book # 2 (The Arctic Incident) ahead) Artemis Fowl is back with another money making/world dominating scheme in The Eternity Code.

After two previous adventures with the People and their advanced technology (thanks to Foaly, the centaur), Artemis has gathered a bunch of equipment which never should have fallen into Mudman hands. Cannibalizing parts from LEP helmets and other items, Artemis creates the C Cube, a highly advanced and complicated “computer.”

In London, Artemis and Bulter meet with John Spiro, a shady American businessman who has made his money in technology, and his bodyguard, Arno Blunt, a New Zealander, at a small bistro. Artemis wants to blackmail Spiro into paying him 1 metric ton of gold to keep the C Cube and its technology off the market for one year, giving Spiro enough time to liquidate stocks in his own company before the C Cube’s release, which will ultimately bring down Spiro’s business.

Spiro, known for his ties to the Chicago mob and other shifty dealings, turns the tables on Artemis and Bulter when EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE BISTRO turns out to be working for him (Artemis finds this out when they all draw guns on them). Spiro leaves the restaurant with the stolen C Cube.

But Artemis has something else up his sleeve … a percussion grenade, which knocks out most of the assassins in the bistro. Still reeling, Butler goes into the kitchen to check out the people who were back there and to make sure that threat was neutralized. That’s when Blunt shows his face and attempts to kill Artemis.

Butler jumps in front of his charge (what he calls his principle) and takes a bullet meant for the teen. Laying dying, Butler clips Blunt in the temple with a bullet (knocking him out but not killing him). Unfortunately, Bulter is not so lucky. He knows the shot he took for Artemis is a mortal one and we see a very poignant moment between Artemis and his best friend/father figure as Butler dies.

But Artemis, being the boy genius that he is, will not accept Butler’s death and puts a plan into action; a plan that involves the bistro’s fish freezer, a cryogenics lab, and our dear friend Holly Short.

Artemis must save Butler and his C Cube from a corrupt businessman. Is there nothing the team of Holly and Artemis can’t do?

Great book. We see more of Artemis’s humanity as he delves into his psyche post-father-recovery. His father has been changed by his time in captivity and gold isn’t the only thing that is important to him anymore (much to Artemis’s consternation!). Great book!

Awards: British Book Award, WH Smith Award

Recommended by: don’t remember

Recommend to: Harry Potter fans, Bartimaeus Trilogy fans, anyone who likes fantasy or faires etc, 9 year olds and up (read by themselves) and 9 and under (read to them)

The Arctic Incident (Artemis Fowl #2)

Book: The Arctic Incident (Artemis Fowl #2)

Author: Eoin Colfer

Bookshelves: 2011, dwarves, fairies, fantasy, fiction, Ireland, leprechaun, reread

Begun: February 1, 2011

Finished: February 1, 2011

Media Type: audiobook (downloaded from library online catalog and listened to on iPod Touch)

Setting: present day Ireland (outside of Dublin), Russia (Kola Pennisula) and Haven (underground land where the People live)

Characters: Artemis Fowl, II, Domovoi Butler, Holly Short, Commander Julius Root, Foaly, Mulch Diggums, Angeline Fowl, Artemis Fowl, Sr., Opal Koboi, Captain Trouble Kelp, The B'wa Kell, Briar Cudgeon

Review: (Spoilers for book #1 (Artemis Fowl) ahead) Artemis Fowl, the second, is back again and up to all of his old shenanigans!

Artemis, bolstered by his success with kidnapping Captain Holly Short and getting his hands on the LEP’s officer ransom fund (gold), is back at the private boarding school he attends. He’s in the middle of a “therapy” session with the school’s psychologist (who we all know Artemis is smarter than), when he receives a message from Butler that his father has contacted Fowl Manor (in a roundabout way).

An email with video has been sent to Artemis showing Russians holding his father (Artemis’s father has been missing for more than 2 years since his boat was destroyed off the Kola Pennisula in Russia’s northwest). He has been held all that time by the Russian Mafiya.

In the mean time, Holly Short has been reassigned for some time to another unit patrolling customs because of her involvement in the Artemis Fowl kidnapping. Everything is fine until one stake out. Holly and her partner (Captain Trouble Kelp) come across members of the Goblin Triad, The B’wa Kell, who have been smuggling mudman (human) batteries into the Lower Elements.

After almost getting killed, Holly (with Foaly and Root’s help) realize that the B’wa Kell is scheming and that something bad is about to go down. What they need is Artemis Fowl’s help.

Artemis needs the People’s help just as much as they need him. How can he get his father back without them?

Working together, Artemis and Holly fight two battles, a goblin rebellion in Haven City (for which Holly and Foaly are being framed) and gangster thugs in Russia.

Anti-hero tendencies are changing and Artemis is learning that sometimes there is a reward in helping others and not just looking out for number 1.

Awards: Book Magazine Best Book of the Year 2002

Recommended by: don’t remember

Recommend to: Harry Potter fans, Bartimaeus Trilogy fans, anyone who likes fantasy or faires etc, 9 year olds and up (read by themselves) and 9 and under (read to them)

Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl #1)

Book: Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl #1)

Author: Eoin Colfer

Bookshelves: 2011, dwarves, fairies, fantasy, fiction, Ireland, leprechaun, reread

Begun: January 27, 2011

Finished: January 28, 2011

Media Type: audiobook (downloaded from library online catalog and listened to on iPod Touch)

Setting: present day Ireland and Haven (underground land where the People live)

Characters: Artemis Fowl, II, Domovoi Butler, Holly Short, Commander Julius Root, Foaly, Mulch Diggums, Juliet Butler, Angeline Fowl, Artemis Fowl, Sr.

Review: Sometimes there’s something to be said when you are the smartest person of your generation. A mastermind, some might say. A criminal mastermind. Kidnapping, hostage negotiation, beating the best technical minds in the world … all at twelve.

Artemis Fowl, the second, is the genius son of Angeline and Artemis Fowl who reside outside of Dublin, Ireland in Fowl Manor. Artemis is trailed by his ever vigilante and protective body guard, Butler. Butler, early 40s, is highly skilled and trained (having trained with Madame Ko, the best martial arts and body guard teacher in the world).

Artemis is a sad character at the beginning of the book. We know that his father was taken hostage by the Russian Mafia off the Kola Penisula, while conducting some nefarious business transactions, and his mother has gone slowly insane from missing him. Artemis is basically alone save Butler.

In the absence of parental figures (Butler is not a parental figure because he goes alone with the boy genius’s plans and, most of the time, assists him!), Artemis has taken the family motto to heart: Aurum Potestas Est (Gold is power).

His latest scheme seems farfected on paper but brilliant in practice. After lengthy research, Artemis believes that, yes, there are fairies and other fantastical creatures living amongst us (or underground in this case) and that he can separate them from some of their riches. After tricking a fairy to give up her Book (the rule book which all magical creatures must live by), Artemis lays a trap and captures himself a fairy who has come above ground to complete the Ritual (which will allow her to regain her used up magic – something the fairies must do whenever they use up their supply of magic by taking an acorn from one location and planting it far away where an oak grows at a river bend).

And who do Artemis and Bulter catch? Fairy Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon squad.

A member of the Lower Elements Police Recon Squad (LEPrecon), Holly is held for ransom (gold). Her supervisor/mentor, Julius Root, does all he can to get the first female LEPrecon officer back. With the help of tunneling dward/thief, Mulch Digums, and technical savant, Foaly (the centaur), it might be possible that Artemis will not win this time … or will he?

Great read. Anyone who likes Harry Potter or the Bartimaeus Trilogy has to give Artemis Fowl a try! Worth it!

Awards: Massachusetts Children's Book Award (2003), Blue Hen Book Award for Chapter Book (2003), Garden State Teen Book Award for Fiction (Grades 6-8) (2004), Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award for Intermediate (2004)

Recommended by: don’t remember

Recommend to: Harry Potter fans, Bartimaeus Trilogy fans, anyone who likes fantasy or faires etc, 9 year olds and up (read by themselves) and 9 and under (read to them)

Inkdeath (Inkheart Trilogy #3)

Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Inkdeath picks up from where Inkspell leaves off.

Meggie, Mo, Resa, and Farid are still stuck in the word created by the book Inkheart. Fenoglio isn't writing anymore but Orpheus is, and mostly, for his own profit.

Mo/The Bluejay is still playing the Robinhood-esque character and saving the day for the downtrodden peasants of Umbra who are starving to death under the Adderhead's brother-in-law, The Milksop's, rule. And then the Piper shows up and tricks the children into the castle.

What's a hero to do? Ink a deal with Death itself. And is Death ticked at Mo. In Inkspell, Mo bound the Adderhead a book while he was in the Castle of Night which would give him immortal life. BUT he soaked every tenth page in water and now the book is rotting ... and so is the Adderhead. Death still doesn't appreciate Mo taking life and death into his own hands.

How can a hero like Mo, who is the Bluejay but isn't, who is a bookbinder but isn't, save the InkWorld, Resa, Meggie and his friend Dustfinger from the wicked Adderhead, The Piper, Orpheus, and Death?

With the help of his friends ... that's how.

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Fear The Darkness (Dark-Hunter series #17)

Fear the Darkness by Sherrilyn Kenyon

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
A fantastic short story from Kenyon that can be found on her website. A must read for Kenyon fans!

View all my reviews.

Book: Hot & Heavy (Viking II series #5)

Hot & Heavy by Sandra Hill

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I've gotta say. I think that this book, so far, is my absolute favorite of Sandra Hill's books. It reads fast and beautifully. The emotion, the love, the sex, are all there and in the perfect quantity. The plot is believable and well executed.

Ian MacLean is as hardassed as they come. Leader of a SEAL team, Ian takes it in spades when something dangerous has to be done, like entering a cave in enemy territory. But what he finds there will knock his socks off.

Madrene Ogladottir is the last of her family alive. Alone he defended her homestead of Norsestead until Steinhold took her prisoner and threatened to kill off all of her holders. He sells her into the harems of the Arab lands when she refuses to wed him. One day, two years later, she finds herself in a horrible sandstorm one minute and a cave shelter the next.


Ian wanders upon a woman, smelling to high heaven and looking like Phyllis Dyller. What is she doing in the middle of the desert? And why does Ian feel like he knows her already?

View all my reviews.

Book: Hot Spell (Breed Series #6)

Hot Spell by Emma Holly

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Tarek wants Lyra. He doesn't know why. He doesn't really care. But can this human, petite and so ... normal, have feelings for an abomination?

She works as an accountant. She makes coffee. And she bakes bread when she's stressed. How could a nobody virgin like Lyra have anything to offer the gorgeous Tarek Jordan who moved in next door six months ago?

When Lyra is attacked all hell breaks loose and we will see how far a little Mating Heat can take these two.

View all my reviews.

Book: Lady & The Vamp (Immortality Bites series #3)

Lady & the Vamp by Michelle Rowen

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Michelle Rowen outdid herself this time. The third (and best so far) installment of the Immortality Bites series) has Janie (mercenary extraordinaire) and Quinn (long time hunter, first time vampire) meeting up, again.

Both searching for the same fabled item, The Eye, the two are drawn into three different messed up character's bids for world domination and/or power of one sort or another.

Janie's still got the hots for Quinn (her older brother's best friend growing up). When they were 12 and 17 ... he was a god. Now that they are 25 and 30 ... well Janie still thinks he looks like a Greek God but the Boss of The Company wants him dead.


Quinn thinks Janie's grown up ... and grown up very very well. What's a hungry vamp to do with such a tasty morsel hanging around?

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Book: Realm of the Gods (Immortals series #4)

The Realms of the Gods by Tamora Pierce

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
In the mythical land of Tortall, Daine's story continues as she and Numair, her sage and teacher, are sucked into the Realm of the Gods by the Badger God. She knows she must get back to the world in which she was born or she can't help the Queen, King Jonathan or the King's Champion, Alana.

What's a girl to do?

Fighting, kicking and clawing (pun completely intended) her way to the top Daine finds herself and love in this last of the Immortals series. Can Daine over come Chaos and help the world to continue spinning? If she's got the grit!

Good ending to a good series. I didn't like this series as much as Pierce's Lionness series (about Alana) but I still enjoyed it!

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Book: Ghost of a Chance (Karma Marx Series #1)

Ghost of a Chance by Kate Marsh

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
Karma Marx is half-human, half-polter but 100 percent in control of the situation. After dealing with her philandering husband for just long enough, she makes a deal with him, Spider, to grant her a divorce. Her side of the bargain is that she has to help him clean (exorcise the ghosts and other paranormal beings from) his newest investment which is the most haunted house in all of the Olympic Pennisula.

But Karma is sick of banishing spirits to the otherside. She's begun taking them in and sheltering them. But if it means she can get rid of her husband, she's willing to take on the job.

Out of nowhere, Pixie shows up. The Otherside's equivalent of foster care needs Karma (and Spider - only because he "agreed" to help foster) to take care of the teenager.

With Pixie, Karma heads out to the house to do the cleaning. There she meets Adam, the resident polter and the other spirits that live in the house: Antonio and Jules (two spirits who we assume are together - once they refer to themselves as domestic partners) and Amanita (a unicorn).

After sometime fighting with Adam about who owns the house (Spider bought it out from under Adam in a very very shading deal), Spider and his business partner Meredith show up. Angered beyond belief, Adam seals the house (a kind of otherside lockdown).

After confessing that he, Spider, and his partner Meredith were the ones who raped and murdered Karma's fifteen year old cousin, Bethany, Spider is found in the basement ... dead.

Who killed him? Who is this woman Savanagh who seems to know more about the otherside beings than she lets on? And what part do Adam and Karma play in all this?

Slow at times but I might be willing to pick up a second book (if there is one) in this series.

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Book: Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox (Artemis Fowl Series #6)

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another stellar visit into the world of Artemis Fowl (teenage genius) and Holly Short (captian of the L.E.P.).

Back from the place where time doesn't exist (where he saved Number 1 - a warlock), three years has gone by but Artemis (and Holly) both find that they are the same as when they left on their last journey. Artemis has two new (twin) 2 year old brothers.

But, Angeline Fowl is sick. Deathly ill. And it's because of magic. She has been infected with a plague like illness that struck down fairies in the past but now is virtually unheard of. Cure? lemur brain fluid.

Problem? Artemis (his 10 year old self) had the last lemur killed 8 years ago. Answer? GO BACK IN TIME!

Artemis and Holly get closer in this novel and you can see the bonds between the pair get stronger. Artemis's nasty criminal mind is becoming more moral in his old age and he's realizing what it really means to have friends and family.

I'm anticipating another novel in this series. I hope it comes out soon.


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