The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

The Iron King (Iron Fey #1)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Rating: * * * 1/2

Reviewed on 1/30/2010

Reading level: Young Adult

Paperback: 368 pages

Publisher: Harlequin; Original edition (February 1, 2010)

ISBN-13: 978-0373210084

"MEGHAN CHASE HAS A SECRET DESTINY— ONE SHE COULD NEVER HAVE IMAGINED… Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan’s life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school…or at home. When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change. But she could never have guessed the truth—that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she’ll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face…and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart." I went into this book expecting to really love it. Instead, I liked it a lot. I loved the descriptive powers of Kagawa as she took me away to Faeryland and I immediately fell in love with the snarky cat, Grimalkin.  Unfortunately, he stole the whole show.  I was not totally sold on Meghan as a character and really didn't connected with her. This may be because it is a YA book but generally I love them as much as the adult driven fiction. I loved the action and adventure in the story much more than the romance. I especially loved Kagawa's explanation of why and who the Iron King was. Another interesting character or characters i should say, were the "packrats". I can see them playing a much bigger role in upcoming books. Even though I had no problem laying this book down each night, I look forward to the upcoming sequels.  While I can recommend this book to cat lovers for the rest of you get it at the library and wait on the next book in this series. The Iron Fey Series 1. Iron King 2. The Iron Daughter

The Summoning (Darkest Powers, Bk 1) By: Kelley Armstrong

 The Summoning (Darkest Powers, Bk 1)

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Rating   * * * * 1/2

Review Date 4/2009

Reading level: Young Adult

Paperback: 416 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins; Reprint edition (March 31, 2009)

ISBN-13: 978-0061450549

"My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again. All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost - and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a "special home" for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? It's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House ... before its skeletons come back to haunt me."

This was a great YA and I can't wait to read the rest of the series. It moved at a very fast pace and will keep you reading long after you should have gone to bed.
At this time TeenHarper.com is offering it as a free read on their site so try it and you may find yourself doing what I did, purchasing a copy so I would have it to reread when the rest of the series came out.

Darkest Powers Series

1. The Summoning   3/2009

2. The Awakening     4/2009

3. The Reckoning      4/2010

http://browseinside.harperteen.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061662690Link to free read. 

My Soul to Save By:Rachel Vincent

My Soul to Save(Soul Screamers #2)

Author: Rachel Vincent

Rating * * * 

12/29/2009

Reading level: Young Adult

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin; Original edition (December 29, 2009)
• ISBN-13: 978-0373210046

"When Kaylee Cavanaugh screams, someone dies.

So when teen pop star Eden croaks onstage and Kaylee doesn't wail, she knows something is dead wrong. She can't cry for someone who has no soul.
 The last thing Kaylee needs right now is to be skipping school, breaking her dad's ironclad curfew and putting her too-hot-to-be-real boyfriend's loyalty to the test. But starry-eyed teens are trading their souls: a flickering lifetime of fame and fortune in exchange for eternity in the Netherworld--a consequence they can't possibly understand.
 Kaylee can't let that happen, even if trying to save their souls means putting her own at risk..."

While, the second book wasn't as easy a read as the first, it definitely gives you a better idea of the Netherworld and Bean Sidhe World. The relationship between Kaylee and Nash is progressing at a moderate rate and is definitely quite believable. I had to work much harder at reading this book and finishing it. For some reason it didn't flow as easily. I had no problem laying it down after only a few chapters of reading. The first book refused to allow you to put it down. This series still has a long way to go yet and I'll definitely buy and read the third book. However, if it doesn't jell better in the next book, due out in June. I'll move on.

Soul Screamers

1. My Soul to Lose (7-2009)

2. My Soul to Take (8-2009)

3. My Soul to Save (12-2009)

4. My Soul to Keep (6-2010)

Witness in Death (In Death, Bk 10) By J. D. Robb

Witness in Death (In Death, Bk 10)

Author: J. D. Robb

Book Type: Paperback

Rating: * * * * *

Review Date: 11/2/2008

"When Lieutenant Eve Dallas attends the opening performance of Witness for the Prosecution, with her husband, Roarke, she and the rest of the audience become witnesses to a real murder. Someone in the theatre had switched the prop knife used in the play with a real knife, so when actor Richard Draco is stabbed on stage, he really dies.
Eve takes on the case, and it soon becomes obvious that the killer has to be someone involved with the play. As Eve begins interviewing her suspects, she learns that everyone who knew him hated Richard Draco, and that every actor on stage with him had a motive for murder.
The case takes a unexpected turn when a stage hand hangs himself in the theatre, leaving a suicide note confessing to the murder. Eve doesn't believe that the man killed himself, but thinks that he knew who the killer was and was attempting to blackmail that person. She begins digging even deeper into the motives of the actors of the play. Along the way learns some startling and disturbing information about Richard Draco's relationships with a few of his colleagues, and eventually figures out who the murder is. Eve then sets up her own "performance" at the theatre to get a confession out of the killer."




Another excellent book about Eve Dallas. 
What can I say, I loved it and I hope 
there are dozens more to come.

Wideacre By Philippa Gregory

                    Wideacre

         Author: Philippa Gregory

          Book Type: Paperback

           Rating:* *

            Review Date: 8/19/2008

•             Paperback: 656 pages
•             Publisher: Touchstone (July 2, 2003)
•             ISBN-13: 978-0743249294

"Beatrice Lacey, as strong-minded as she is 
beautiful, refuses to conform to the social 
customs of her time. Destined to lose her 
family name and beloved Wideacre estate 
once she is wed, Beatrice will use any 
means necessary to protect her ancestral
 heritage. Seduction, betrayal, even murder
 -- Beatrice's passion is without apology or 
conscience. "She is a Lacey of Wideacre,"
 her father warns, "and whatever she does, 
however she behaves, will always be fitting."
 Yet even as Beatrice's scheming seems 
about to yield her dream, she is haunted 
by the one living person who knows the
 extent of her plans...and her capacity for evil."
Generally, I have fallen in love with most of 
Gregory's stories about Henry VIII's wives so I 
guess I was expecting too much from this 
series of books. Although, the book was okay, 
it definitely was not as good as her books on 
the royal family or even the gardeners of the 
royal family. I just never got really got hooked
 on the story of Beatrice, even though she was
 certainly an unusual character. She came off
 pretty much as a spoiled bitch and it was hard 
to find any sympathy for her. Everything that
 happened to her was brought on by her own 
selfish acts. Even though I am going to try to
 read the other two books in this series, I 
intend to wait awhile and see if they are better
 after an absence of Gregory's writing.

Wideacre
1. Wideacre (1987)
2. The Favoured Child (1989)
3. Meridon (1990)

Whistling In the Dark By Lesley Kagen

Whistling In the Dark

Author: Lesley Kagen

Book Type: Paperback

Rating: * * * *

Review Date: 1/19/2009

"It was the summer on Vliet Street when we all started locking our doors...

Sally O'Malley made a promise to her daddy before he died. She swore she'd look after her sister, Troo. Keep her safe. But like her Granny always said-actions speak louder than words. Now, during the summer of 1959, the girls' mother is hospitalized, their stepfather has abandoned them for a six pack, and their big sister, Nell, is too busy making out with her boyfriend to notice that Sally and Troo are on the Loose. And so is a murderer and molester.
Highly imaginative Sally is pretty sure of two things. Who the killer is. And that she's next on his list. Now she has no choice but to protect herself and Troo as best she can, relying on her own courage and the kindness of her neighbors."
Absolutely loved this book.It will keep you guessing till the end, which you hope you never get to. Once I picked it up unable to stop reading it.

Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, Bk 1) By Richelle Mead

Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, Bk 1)

Author: Richelle Mead

Book Type: Library Binding

Rating:* * * *

Review Date: 10/12/2009

"St. Vladimir's Academy isn't just any boarding school--it's a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They've been on the run, but now they're being dragged back to St. Vladimir's--the very place where they're most in danger. . . .
Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy's ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi--the world's fiercest and most dangerous vampires--make Lissa one of them forever."


An  exciting new series for YA's that will keep you reading book after book. I was lucky enough to have the first three books in this series and read them back to back. Even though I finished one at midnight, I started the next one right then as I just had to know what happened next. It was fascinating to see Rose mature and become an adult as her life progressed in ways that she both anticipated and never expected. The action in the books progressed to endings that were both satisfying and twisted. I am going out right now to get the rest of this series.

Vampire Academy

1. Vampire Academy (2007)

2. Frostbite (2008)

3. Shadow Kiss (2008)

4. Blood Promise (2009)

5. Spirit Bound (2009)

Untamed (House of Night, Bk 4) By Kristin Cast, P. C. Cast

Untamed (House of Night, Bk 4)
Author: Kristin Cast, P. C. Cast
Book Type: Paperback

Rating:* * * * * 

Review Date: 3/15/2009

"Life sucks when your friends are pissed at you. Just ask Zoey Redbird - she's become an expert on suckiness. In one week she has gone from having three boyfriends to having none, and from having a close group of friends who trusted and supported her, to being an outcast. Speaking of friends, the only two Zoey has left are undead and unMarked. And Neferet has declared war on humans, which Zoey knows in her heart is wrong. But will anyone listen to her? Zoey's adventures at vampyre finishing school take a wild and dangerous turn as loyalties are tested, shocking true intentions come to light, and an ancient evil is awakened in PC and Kristin Cast's spellbinding fourth House of Night novel."


If you have read the three books leading up to this one, you will be delighted and overwhelmed at how awesome the fourth one is. I love the pace of the "House of Night" series. It is New Years Eve and even though only months have lapsed since the beginning of the first book, everything is happening fast and furious. I won't give away any of the details but it was great. Off to read book 5 "Hunted"

House of Night (with Kristin Cast)

1. Marked (2007)

2. Betrayed (2007)

3. Chosen (2008)

4. Untamed (2008)

5. Hunted (2009)

6. Tempted (2009)

7. Burned (2010)

The Time Traveler's Wife By Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler's Wife
Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Book Type: Paperback

Rating* * * * *

Review Date: 6/16/2009

"This extraordinary, magical novel is the story of Clare and Henry who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. His disappearances are spontaneous and his experiences are alternately harrowing and amusing. The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare's passionate love for each other with grace and humour. Their struggle to lead normal lives in the face of a force they can neither prevent nor control is intensely moving and entirely unforgettable." 
I absolutely loved this book. Even though I read nearly 5 years ago, it still remains in my mind. My daughter brought it on a family beach trip and once I picked it up we fought over who was going to read it. My daughter in law also read it this week and she gave it to her mom and sister to read. Needless to say we all loved it. While sometimes a love story, I laughed and cried numerous times through out the book. I only hope that the movie will be half as good as the book was. I look forward to rereading it as soon as I see the movie.

Testimony: A Novel By Anita Shreve

Testimony: A Novel
Author: Anita Shreve
Book Type: Hardcover

Rating:* * * *1/2

Review Date: 5/30/2009

Parents of kids in high school and college need to read this story.You will never feel the same way about letting your teen out of your sight. I read it in less than 24 hours. At first I didn't like the style of the writing but it did give you a better feel for the characters. At once(being from NC)my first thought was of the Duke University scandal.Were the innocent boys, that were on the lacrosse team,lives ruined through no fault of their own simply because they were on that team?
The acts of an unthinking,unfeeling 14 year old girl sends shock waves through this private school and community, effecting so many. She never felt SHE had done anything wrong. The boys simply because of their age bore all the pain and humiliation while she basically walks away untouched. Alcohol can cause so much pain and and possibly death, even if the drinker doesn't get behind the wheel of a car.