“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs

Three Stars

Jacob Portman grew up listening to his grandfather’s stories of the orphanage he grew up in where the children had unique abilities and everyone was haunted by mysterious monsters. He even had the pictures to prove it.

As Jacob gets older he begins to side believe his parents that his grandfather’s stories aren’t literal, rather metaphors for his experiences as a young Jewish orphan in Europe during World War II, and that the pictures are simply trick photography. Even though this is the more logical answer, Jacob is never able to completely stop believing his grandfather.

After his grandfather is murdered, Jacob is reeling from his death and the mysterious  clues he left behind. Jacob’s search for the truth leads him on a journey across the Atlantic Ocean, to the isolated British island and the mysterious orphanage where his grandfather grew up. The closer Jacob gets to the truth about the past, the more he feels someone, or something, is getting closer to him.

The cover of this book sold me with its dark, haunting picture that doesn’t give up all of its secrets at first glance. The description pulled me in further with the promise of a story set in a dark old manor house, hiding an even darker family secret.

I was all set and excited for a hauntingly gothic tale, brought to life by curious old photographs. Unfortunately that’s not quite what I got.

The story is unique and creative, and it’s obvious the author put a lot of work into compiling the photographs and building a world around them. It’s just not the world I thought I was going to get.

The story starts out well enough, a mysterious family secret, an untimely death, a search for the truth. Then the story drifts from the main plot and a lot of new characters are introduced leaving the reader a little lost and wondering what is going on. But things come back together towards the end with a few nice surprises thrown in.

I was really expecting an almost Bronte-esque gothic novel, set in the far reaches of England, and that’s just not really what this is. The book is much more YA fantasy that I anticipated, and there are several places where I felt like Riggs was trying too hard to fit random pictures into the story by adding more and more characters histories, slowing the whole story down and completely losing momentum.

Honestly, I had begun to lose interest about halfway through and was a little upset about feeling misled as to what the book actually was. But then Riggs began to redeem the story by refocusing on the main plot, pulling things back together, and introducing some intriguing concepts.

My main complaints with the book are that I was never fully captured by the story, and while the pictures were entertaining, I felt that a lot of them were forced into the story detracting from the plot. I also had issues with the adults and how Riggs portrayed them, it was like they had to be there but rather than have to deal with how parents would actually behave, Riggs just wrote them off to get them out of the way. Especially at the end.

But the end of the book saved it for me and I enjoying it more than I thought I would. I think had my expectations been more in line with what the book actually is I would have enjoyed the whole thing even more. The plot is still very unique and a fun new addition to the YA fantasy world. 

I will be interested to see what Riggs comes up with next.

"Revelations" by Melissa De La Cruz

Two Stars

Things have changed within the Coven. Lawrence Van Alen has taken over as leader, Mimi Force is a full member, and the Warden’s are keeping secrets.

Things have also changed in Schuyler Van Alen’s personal life as well. She is forced to live in the Force townhome with her secret crush, Jack, and her nemesis, Mimi. She has a new ally in Bliss, an old friend has returned, Dylan, and just might be losing her oldest friend and Conduit, Oliver, after forever altering their relationship by making him her human familiar.

When as ancient place of power is endangered, threatening the release of an ancient evil, everyone will reveal who they really are and people’s true allegiances will be shown.

Is it bad when I finish a book and can’t really remember what happened? Yes. Yes, it is.

This is the third book in the Blue Bloods series and I think the story would have been more powerful if these first three books had been condensed into one slightly longer book, instead of three individual ones.

There are three more books but I’m not sure if I can take any more of the plot going basically nowhere until the last few pages. Even then it only takes a few steps forward.

I have also decided that I like Mimi a whole lot more than Schuyler, who acts like a selfish spoiled brat. Mimi is also selfish and spoiled, but at least she’s open about it and doesn’t run around pretending to be the morally superior while betraying anyone who actually did care about her.

I guess I’m supposed to buy into this whole forbidden love story with Schuyler and Jack but I don’t like it. Schuyler is being a total be-autch to Oliver, whom she forever binds to herself knowing that he already loves her, even though she knows she doesn’t feel that way. And Jack is in love with Schuyler’s mother! It’s weird. They can just run off and deserve each other. I think Mimi can do better.

This series is going on the “Ehh, maybe later shelf.” I have no real desire to see what happens, except maybe to Mimi, who is kind of awesome. It’s not a horrible series, it’s just that I don’t like the main character and it moves too slow for me. So maybe I’ll pick it back up once I get through all of the other books currently sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read.

That reminds me, I need to renew most of those before I start getting some late fees!

And the winner is ...

KIM!

Sorry for the late announcement. Busy, busy weekend.

But congratulations Kim! See, it pays to get your friends to enter. :)

And thanks to everyone else for entering and reading, and keep checking in for more fun stuff!

Give Away!!!

I love books (obviously). I especially love owning books. Maybe one day I will post a picture of my overflowing bookshelves, but I'd have to clean them up first so don't hold your breath.

I want to share the happiness my messy bookshelves bring to me with all of you so I'm giving away another SIGNED book, which are the best kind.

I attended a signing by Leif Enger and managed to snag an extra signed copy of "So Young, Brave, and Handsome", which I am giving to one of you!

Leif, Me, and my friend Carla

The only reason I'm giving this book away is because Leif 'signed' my copy on my Kindle. How, you may ask? No, no Sharpies were involved. I had him type a note on the title page and took a picture to verify.

'Signing' my Kindle

He thought it was pretty funny and now when you open his book on my Kindle you see a note that says:

"my first kindle signing ... the new world has arrived! Leif Enger"

That's right, his FIRST Kindle signing. I'm sure I am permanently in his memory now. :)

If you would like to be entered to win, sign up to follow my blog and leave me a little note in the comments. If you already follow me, then just go ahead leave a note. I would love to hear what all of you are currently reading, if you need a little inspiration in your note. And again, you will get an extra entry for everyone that you get to sign up to follow me, just have them mention you in their post.

That's it. You have until midnight on Thursday, Aug. 11, and winners will be announced on Friday, Aug. 12. Sorry it's not a full week, but I have a family reunion this weekend so I'll be gone to that.

Thanks for stopping by and Good Luck!

"So Brave, Young, and Handsome" by Leif Enger

Four Stars

This is not the story of Monte Becket.

Monte Becket is still riding high on the success of his debut and best-selling novel, Martin Bligh. It is the story of a young cowboy and his adventures in the Wild West. Problem is, Monte is a postal worker in the Midwest and has never had a proper adventure in his life. He is now in the middle of writing his seventh novel, unfortunately numbers two through six were never finished. He has run out of ideas and is beginning to worry that he will never finish a book again.

But this is not the story of Monte Becket.

This is when Glendon Hale enters his life. Glendon is a mysterious elderly man who lives alone upriver, building boats. Monte and Glendon form an odd friendship that leads to an invitation for Monte to join Glendon on a cross-country adventure to right past wrongs and make amends for things in his past.

As they travel, Monte becomes an observer and semi-willing participant in a story of lost loves, robbery, bandits, pursuing lawmen, fruit trees, and a lone elephant wandering the plains of Oklahoma. As they travel Monte learns that the lines between good and bad, right and wrong aren’t always as clear as one would think, and that men often walk both sides of the line no matter which side they claim to belong to.

I liked this book, it was very ‘real’. As I said, this isn’t Monte’s story really, it’s Glendon’s. And Monte is just observing the second half of a story that he doesn’t really know the beginning of. Monte pieces the entire story and its characters together along the way, learning more about human character and ultimately himself.

No one has super powers or anything beyond ordinary human abilities, although one character believes that he does, and everyone acts and reacts just as any person would to their circumstances. The story is about ‘real’ people and moves along at an according pace. Sometimes things get a little exciting and speed up, other times it’s just a long drive in the car. It sets a nice pace early on and keeps you reading.

This is one of those books that I liked as I read, but I like it even more after finishing and thinking back on it. It truly is a great American Novel and an enjoyable read.

"Masquerade" by Melissa De La Cruz

Two Stars

Mimi Force is throwing a party, THE party of the year. It’s the hottest ticket in town and all of the details are top secret. The only way in is to receive the coveted text message moments before the party begins. That, and you have to be a vampire.

Schuyler doesn’t trust The Committee or believe their story that the dreaded Silver Bloods are only a legend. She and her best friend Oliver have traveled to Venice in search of her grandfather who went into a self-imposed banishment after the last reports of Silver Blood encounters, centuries before. He is the key to finding and defeating the Silver Bloods once and for all.

But that’s not her only problem. There is the upcoming annual 400 Grand Gala that she must attend and the social pressure getting an invite to Mimi’s exclusive Masquerade after-party. Then there’s the boys. Jack Force, Schuyler’s long-time crush who alternates between kissing and ignoring her. And things with Oliver have been getting weird and she’s considering a move that would make it even weirder forever. And to top it all off The Committee has just placed the life of her arch-nemesis, Mimi Force, in her hands. With everything going on Schuyler has pushed herself so far beyond her limits, she may not survive.

I’m losing interest in this series. When I finished I had to sit and really think “Now, what was it about? What happened?” It’s a lot of hanging out, then suddenly something huge happens at the end. The only problem is you know how it’s going to end, you know there is no real threat to the character, so it’s hard to buy into and not feel like they just needed something to happen.

I'm going to keep going but I just feel like nothing really happens or progresses in this book. It's the same conflict as the first book but doesn't do much to move that story any further than the first book. I was worried after the first book because I really liked it and wasn't sure how it would progress. Here's hoping book three picks it up a bit.

"Wicked Appetite" by Janet Evanovich

Four Stars

There are seven ancient stones, each one representing one of the Seven Deadly Sins. No one knows when they were created or by who. But it is known that they hold great power. Treasure hunters have sought them for centuries, and now it is rumored that all seven stones have found their way to Salem, MA.

Elizabeth "Lizzy" Tucker has settled nicely into her new life in Salem. She has a new old house (recently inherited from her Aunt Ophelia) and a fantastic new job as the pastry chef at the local bakery, her specialty being cupcakes.Yep, everything is great, until a guy named Diesel, a one-eyed ninja cat, and an offensive monkey all move in to her house.

The monkey and the cat are okay, but Lizzy has no idea what to think of Diesel. He says he's there to protect her from his cousin, Gerwulf Grimoire, a seriously scary guy with the power to burn skin with his touch, who is searching for the stones and needs Lizzy to find them. Now Lizzy doesn't know what to fear more, the strange effect the stones have over her or the exciting effect of Diesel.

I read this book because I love Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, and I loved it! I keep wanting to use the words "cute" and "fun" to describe this book and, when it comes down to it, that's what it is. It's surprisingly PG-13, with a lot of "What the heck?" and "Geeze Louise"'s going on. I am not opposed to sex in books, but it was kind of cool to read one with some sexual tension but nothing more.

The actual plot moves a little slow but it's so quirky and unexpected that you don't mind. There's a good guy and a bad guy but they don't fit the typical molds or act exactly as you would expect them to. Everything about this book is just a little casual and a lot of fun.

This book only deals with one of the stones and sets itself up to be a very entertaining series that I look forward to following.

Highly recommended as a great summer read.