“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.

“Blue Bloods” by Melissa De La Cruz

Three Stars

Schuyler (pronounced Skyler) Van Alan has never fit in with the other students at her elite private school in the heart of Manhattan. While the other students live lives of power, privilege, and money, Schuyler’s once prominent family has fallen from both fortune and grace within New York’s elite society. But none of this has really bothered her. She has her two best friends, Oliver and Dylan, and together they’re making it through high school just fine.

Until the day it all changes. After one of their classmates is found dead, the most popular boy in school, Jack Force, begins to pay attention to Schuyler. Then she receives an invitation to join The Committee, the most prestigious youth committee in all of Manhattan, open only to the children of the oldest, richest and most influential families of New York City. Schuyler’s grandmother insists she join and it is at the first meeting where she learns the truth. She, and everyone else on The Committee, are vampires. And if this isn’t enough to deal with, something evil has returned and is hunting them all down.

Schuyler must find the truth about her family’s past and find out what is hunting all the young vampires in the city before it finds her, all while trying to balance new and old friendships and make it through high school.

I had fun reading this book. The story is a fresh take on vampires and so seems to fit with the elite lifestyles of the wealthy of New York City. It’s clever and entertaining and a fairly quick read. I enjoyed all of the characters, both good and bad, and the history of vampires that she has created. Melissa has created a mythology for vampires that is so logical it’s effortless to accept and slide in to. The characters are developed and believable and you can’t help but like them, even when you jealously want to hate them. The back story is obviously well thought and planned out because she does an amazing job of piecing it all slowly together as the story progresses, revealing bit by bit at a time, until it finally all comes together in the end making sense.

“Blue Bloods” is the first in a series and I’ve already picked up several from the library to continue the story. I’m excited to learn more about the history of vampires and that of the characters themselves. I hope that their histories will piece together and connect in fun ways.

I do worry a little that this series will drag on too long and loose it’s best qualities. There are seven books in the series and I’m worried that the plots and content and going to wear thin. But who knows, maybe it will be great. I followed other series well beyond seven books and maybe this one will surprise me.

"Something Borrowed" by Emily Giffin

Two Stars

Rachel has spent her entire life playing the good-girl sidekick to her best friend Darcy, who leads a perfect life. Darcy has it all looks, an awesome PR job, a fancy New York apartment, and the ideal fiancé, Dex, whom Rachel happens to be in love with. While Rachel has always worked hard and played it safe earning a small studio New York apartment, a job as an over-worked associate at a large firm, and a non-existent love life.

This is how life just is and always has been for these BFF’s, until the night before Rachel’s thirtieth birthday.

After the surprise birthday party Darcy threw for her, Rachel sleeps with Dex. At first she thinks it was a drunken mistake, then Dex confesses that he has feelings for her. As the wedding date gets closer, Rachel is faced with the moral dilemma of whether or not to put her personal wants ahead of her life-long friendship.

I didn’t really like this book. It was well written, the characters were believable, and the plot was not very predictable. I just hated everyone in it. They were all morally corrupt, self-centered jerks.

Rachel is whiny and jealous of Darcy, but happy to follow along and enjoy the benefits of their friendship. She thinks she morally superior, smarter, and basically a better person than Darcy. But she spends the whole book betraying, lying, and plotting against her supposed best and oldest friend.

Dex is a scumbag for cheating on his fiancé whom he has been with for seven years. I couldn’t understand why Rachel would want to be with someone who would behave like that. If they’ll do it with ya, they’ll do it to ya, girl. Way to pick a winner, good luck with that one!

The end tries to balance things out and, I’m assuming, make Rachel and Dex look less awful, but I just don’t care. You can’t justify your behavior based on someone else’s, especially when you find out about theirs after the fact. You’re choices show who you are and Rachel is a lying cheat. Sorry, it is what it is.

The book is getting two stars because I didn’t hate it, it’s not that it’s a bad book, on the contrary the book is technically sound. It moves along quickly and the characters are very real. It’s just that I did not like the people in it and don’t really want to spend more time with them because they’re all jerks.

"Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand

Four Stars

Unbroken is the true story of Louie Zamperini. A young juvenile delinquent who became a US Olympic runner, competed in the 1936 games in Germany where he met Hitler, trained to be the first to run a 4-minute mile, enlisted after Pearl Harbor, and became a War Hero.

While flying a rescue mission, Zamperini’s own plane crashed, leaving him adrift in the middle of the shark infested Pacific Ocean with his friend and pilot, Russell “Phil” Phillips. They must now find a way to survive with no food, no water, no real hope of rescue, and only the ever-aggressive sharks to escort them as they drift deeper and deeper into enemy waters. But the true fear is if they do manage to find land, who and what fate will be waiting there for them.

This guy really did have an unbelievably amazing life. Seriously, he is the reason they invented the saying “You can’t make this stuff up.” Being introduced to Hitler, surviving a plane crash, jumping sharks, 40-foot waves, and so much more that I don’t want to give away. And, probably one of the most amazing points for me, he’s still alive today!

I was able to put the book down, I didn’t have to tear myself away, but it definitely kept me reading and I finished quickly. Louie’s ability to not only survive, but maintain his humanity and sense of self, while faced with the darkest side of the human soul is truly awe-inspiring.

Hillenbrand has done an absolutely thorough job of compiling every detail of Louie’s story, including pictures and facts along the way, and presents it in such a way that you don’t even notice her. You are alone with Louie every step of his story, which I think is the sign of a very skilled researcher and author. However, there is one comment towards the end, not related to Louie but to Russell Phillips, that made me think “Well Laura, didn’t you just do the same thing?” (you’ll probably know it when you get there, but if not I’ll be happy to discuss with you if you’d like) and sort of made me not like her in an oddly confusing way. Maybe I need to work that odd issue out a little more.

This is an amazing read. It is a scary representation of the darkness people are capable of and an inspiring story of survival at the same time. I really enjoyed reading something about the Pacific side of WWII, instead of the German and European side. I recommend this not only because of Louie’s amazing story but also as a very educational piece on the experiences of soldiers in the Pacific Ocean during World War II.

"Jane Bites Back" by Michael Thomas Ford

Three Stars

Jane Austen is not dead, but in fact a vampire. She has spent the last 200 years watching her popularity rise and her books fly off the shelf, without ever receiving a royalty check. She cringes as people rush to her small bookstore in upstate New York to buy the latest unauthorized sequel, spin-off, retelling, or companion novel to her books, and shudders to hear both readers and authors misinterpret her characters and their motives.  And to make the sting even worse, the novel she wrote just before she ‘died’ has been rejected by publishers 116 times.

She lives alone with her cat in order to keep anyone from getting too close and finding out what and who she really is. But things become complicated when Jane is suddenly pulled back into the spotlight and must find a way to enjoy it without letting her true past be discovered.

I read this book on a recommendation and it was actually quite fun. Jane is easy to relate to and her frustrations with her life and the book world are believable and understandable. There are a lot of literary references thrown in, which at first were fun but the joke wore thin pretty quickly. Jane finds herself in some rather funny situations and there are a couple of plot twists that made me laugh (even though I’m not sure that they were supposed to be all that funny).

This book was headed for four stars until the end, where it set itself up to be a series. The idea is cute, and the irony of it being a Jane Austen spin-off about Jane Austen mad about all of the spin-offs works for one book, but not as a series. Once the set up was introduced I sort of soured on the whole thing, mainly because the irony is lost once it becomes a series.

So go ahead and read this book if you would like a good laugh and to hang out with a rather believable Jane. It was fun, I just can’t enjoy it the same without the irony of what it was as a stand-alone novel.

"The Vampire Diaries" by L. J. Smith

Three Stars

Another TV show that I (am a little embarrassed to admit) enjoy.

Elena Gilbert, her aunt, and younger sister have all just returned from a summer in Paris after the tragic death of her parents. On the first day of school she sees the new student, handsome and mysterious Stefan Salvatore, and decides that she will have him.

Elena is the perfect high school girl, pretty, popular, cheerleader, so she cannot understand why Stefan insists on ignoring and avoiding her at every opportunity. None of her usual plans work until she throws herself into serious danger during Prom and Stefan is the one who saves her. After that they become inseparable and Elena learns Stefan’s secret – he’s a vampire.

But this is only part of Stefan’s story. Elena becomes more frightened of, yet drawn to Stefan other secrets are revealed. Including the fact that Elena is an exact copy of Stefan’s first love Katherine, who died tragically and also happened to be the vampire that changed him. There’s also the problem of his brother Damon. Stefan and Damon were both in love with Katherine. She changed them both into vampires, and after her death they tried to kill each other then never spoke again. Problem is, Damon has decided that Elena is good enough of a reason for a family reunion.

This book was fun. It is a lot different from the TV show and I think the show is better. Truthfully, if I didn’t like the show I probably would not have liked the book very much. Elena is really a brat and not very likable at times, but it works because that’s how the author presents her and who she’s supposed to be.

This book is really just a set up for the series so I don’t know how closely or completely differently the show’s storyline is from the other books. The show is kind of stupid but fun at the same time, so that’s all I’m hoping for from this series

"The Apothecaries Daughter" by Julie Klassen

One Star

Lily Haswell and her younger brother, Charlie, have been raised by their father, the local apothecary, ever since her mother left them three years before. Women are not allowed to be apothecaries, yet Lily learns everything about the trade by helping her father run the store after her mother’s abandonment.

Everything in Lily’s life changes when her rich aunt and uncle arrive from London hoping to take Charlie back with them since they have no children. However, Charlie, who suffered brain damage during birth, is not what they had hoped so they ask Lily to come instead. Lily, who had always dreamed of travel and adventure, leaves her family and spends the next two years in London, enjoying the season and looking for a husband.

When an urgent message is received from Lily’s old friend, begging her to return and help her family, Lily reluctantly leaves London mid-season only to find herself surrounded by three eligible suitors in her home town. She must decide between which man she loves and which life she wishes to lead, all while working to heal her father and save the family business.

I didn’t really like this book. I downloaded it to my Kindle because it was free and am quite happy that I did not pay for it. It wasn’t horrible, but I just didn’t really like it. It’s almost two completely separate stories, her life at home and her life in London, that I felt the author tried too hard to combine for conflict at the end.

And Lily is really kind of a brat when she returns. She acts like she knows everything and is better than her old friends and, this really bugged me, she took her brother, who is mentally disabled, away from a job that he found, loved, and thrived at, so that he could come home and work in her family’s garden. I think she did it because the job was at the big manor house outside of town and she felt it was demeaning to her family to have her brother be a servant.

And all the while there is a little too much information about the apothecaries vs. doctor controversy of that time.

It was all just a little to formulaic and predictable to me.

"Deja Dead" by Kathy Reichs

Three Stars

I love the TV show BONES. It’s a great show, mostly because of the supporting characters, which is also why I still have MAJOR issues with what they did to Zack. Fix it writers – FIX. IT.

Since I love the show the obvious next step for me was to read the books on which it is based. I decided to start at the beginning with “Deja Dead”, the first of Kathy Reich’s Temperance Brennan novels. I knew going in that the books were very different than the show and that the main characters shared very little in common other than their name and profession. So I began to read expecting it to be different from the show but still enjoyable. Sadly, I was a bit disappointed.

In this book Brennan comes off as obnoxious and annoying. She keeps interfering with the investigation of the murders she is working on in ways that I am absolutely sure would end in destroying a case for any prosecutor and set a killer free. Then she is so offended and confused as to why this upsets the cops and investigators. She is so mad that they keep telling her to back off and yet I’m sure she wouldn’t be too happy to find them in her lab performing an autopsy or messing with her bones.

Her behavior is also completely opposite of how a logical, science-minded person would behave. A serial killer has singled her out on two occasions and left a severed head in her backyard and her response is to not call the police then follow a prostitute through the wrong side of town, hiding in dark alleys inhabited by rats and drunken hobos, hoping to stumble across her main suspect. It just becomes hard to understand her and buy in to her behavior.

And then there is the implied relationship with Detective Andrew Ryan. The foreshadowing of this relationship is a bit obvious and feels very forced.

Overall, the characters and their motives come across forced and a bit stereotypical. The one great thing about the book was the murder cases they are trying to solve. I did enjoy how every clue seemed to lead nowhere and have nothing to do with anything else until the very end where Reichs brings it all back and ties it together with one obvious yet almost invisible link.

“Deja Dead” is getting three starts but I’m not giving up on this series. Kathy Reichs is still publishing Brennan novels so I assume that they get better. I think most of the things I didn’t like come more from this being the first book than it just being a bad series. The mystery aspect of the books is great, the character development just needs work.

I’ll go back probably not in order, and hopefully I will come to like these characters and this series as much as I do its TV counterpart.