The Turning:What Curiosity Kills by Helen Ellis

Title: The Turning:What Curosity Kills
Author: Helen Ellis
Genre: YA
Rating:* * * *
Publishers Date: 5/01/2010
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks
ISBN: 1402238614
FTC Disclosure: Bought

"Nobody can know your secret.

Nobody can know your power.
But if nobody knows who you are to begin with...what's stopping you?
I whisper, "What's so special about me all of a sudden?"
Nick says, "The Turning."
Mary feels different, but can't explain why. The fainting, the strange cravings...and worse, the things she's noticed about her body.
Mary doesn't know where to turn. If she tells her parents or her sister, she'll risk losing everything. She has no other family, no way of knowing if what she's going through is normal. Everyone she's ever known and loved could reject her..."
Humm, where to start? Well, first of all I throughly loved the storyline.  I read shifter books all the time but turing into a cat, just a regular housecat, not the normal turning. I both started and finished this book in a matter of hours. That was both a plus and a minus. Yes, I know it's a YA so they don't do the long drawn out angsty stories but it could have used just a bit more. I also loved that the whole book took place in like 48 hours. It was fast paced and that I loved. It dealt with the feelings of adopted kids who deep in their hearts still feel that they are waiting for the other shoe to drop and then they'll be kicked back to the curb where they belong. It dealt with the love of sisters who on the surface picked and snitched on each other, but will fight to the death for each other. I loved the humor that Ellis used to show the differences in the sisters, it reminded me a bit of PC Cast's "House of Night", white girl goes ghetto. All in all, I found "The Turning" to be a fast paced, riviting, fun read. It wasn't great but I throughly enjoyed it and I'll definitely be checking out book 2.

Turning
1. What Curiosity Kills (2010)

Berenstain Bears News

Just got a newsletter from the Bears and had to pass it on along with a pic of their new book that is a must for this years trip to the beach. Although my kids have long outgrown the Berenstain Bears I continue to add to my collection of Berenstain Bears books as I have one granddaughter and a niece that love them as much as I do.

Berenstain Bears News May 2010 Actual Facts About Rain There are drops of water  in the clouds. There are very, very small. When they gt together, they get big enough to that's rain. When just a few drops fall, a drizzle is what you get. A drizzle isn't much.... You don't get very wet. When more drops fall, a shower is what you get. A shower makes you very wet. When millions of drops pour down a downpour is what you get. A downpour makes you SOAKING wet. After the rain, sometimes a rainbow is what you get. A rainbow is worth all that wet.

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It's summer vacation, and the Berenstain Bears are off to the seashore for sun and fun. There is so much to do—swimming, fishing, building sand castles, browsing through the general store, eating delicious dinners at Gull Island CafÉ, and visiting Gull Island Museum. Each glorious sunrise heralds a new adventure! This is the ultimate beach read for Berenstain Bears fans

Blackwolf's Redemption by Sandra Marton

Title: Blackwolf’s Redemption

Author: Sandra Marton

Genre: Romance

Rating: * * 1/2

Review Date: 5/10/2010

Paperback: 183 pages

Publisher: Harlequin (May 1, 2010)

ISBN: 0373129173

FTC Disclosure: Bought

 Jesse Blackwolf - uncompromising, determined and an undeniable success. He has no desire to deal with the outspoken bundle of femininity he's found trespassing on his land!

When Sienna Cummings awakes to find herself pressed against a muscled chest, she's shocked and stunned! Where is she? Who is this man who holds her so possessively with passion glinting in his eyes? It's more than confusion that makes Sienna's heart beat faster - she suspects his untamed wildness hides something that maybe only she can set free..

I originally bought this book because it was a time travel romance. Technically, it was but boy was I disappointed.  While the differences from 1975 and 2010 were mentioned, that was about it. Where was the bewilderment and questioning that time travel was possible?  What we got was the typical 1970’s, I am the man in charge, I’m always right! Let me beat my chest here a bit! In the past, I’ve read many books by Marton and loved them but this one hit a sour note with me and never recovered. 

Title: Catch of a Lifetime

Author: Judi Fennell

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Rating: * * * 1/2

Review Date: 5/16/2010

Paperback: 357 pages

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (January 5, 2010)

ISBN: 1402224281

FTC Disclosure: Won this copy in a contest by the author

Mermaid Angel Tritone escapes a shark by jumping into single dad Logan Hardington's fishing boat. All his young son Michael wants for his birthday is a mermaid, and if his dad will only play his cards right, now he'll have one…

Angel wants to give Michael his most beloved birthday gift (a real live mermaid) while also getting to know his father and getting him to help her in her mission to stop humans from destroying the oceans. Logan has never met a woman who cared as much about the same things he does, and she's never met a man who understood her deepest commitment to humanity and nature. When an enemy of conservation shows up and tries to kill Angel, Logan has to choose between continuing the life he's known, or following the woman he loves to the bottom of the ocean…

While I generally, will not read books out of order in a series, I did not have a hard time keeping up with what was going on. Fennell introduced us to a world that had me humming the theme song from the Little Mermaid much of the time. This was a light romance that was fun and kept me flipping the pages until the very end. I thoroughly enjoyed the interaction of Michael and his Dad. You found yourself wanting to pick Michael up and just give him a big old hug. Fennell’s mer-person world was fascinating and I can’t wait to get books 1 & 2 so that I know all the back-story. This was a fun, quick read and had me wishing for the sand at my feet and a long cold glass of tea in my hand.

Mermaids

In Over Her Head (2009)
Wild Blue Under (2009)
Catch of a Lifetime (2010)

The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay

Title: The Better Part of Darkness

Author: Kelly Gay

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Rating:* * * 1/2

Review Date: 5/16/2010

Paperback:  394   pages

Publisher: Pocket Books (Nov 24, 2010)

ISBN: 1439109656

FTC Disclosure: Won a copy in a contest

Divorced mother of one, Charlie Madigan, lives in a world where the beings of heaven and hell exist among us, and they aren't the things of Sunday school lessons and Hallmark figurines. In the years since the Revelation, they've become our co-workers, neighbors, and fellow citizens. Charlie works for ITF (Integration Task Force). 

It's her job to see that the continued integration of our new "friends" goes smoothly and everyone obeys the law, but when a new off-world drug is released in Underground Atlanta, her daughter is targeted, and her ex-husband makes a fateful bargain to win her back, there's nothing in heaven or earth (or hell for that matter) that Charlie won't do to set things right. An electrifying debut urban fantasy introducing Charlie Madigan -- the epitome of the modern kick-butt heroine (Jenna Black)!

I’ve got to say, this book lived up to my expectations and then some. I loved Charlie, first as a kick-ass heroine and secondly as a great mom. Yeah, she had to go out every day and do her part (and then some) in saving the world but she never forgot that she was a mom and had a daughter that needed her too. I mean just because she had died and came back from the dead (and no, not as a zombie) she didn’t treat her life as expendable. I just loved the scene where she tried to convince her daughter (and herself) that she would be better off behind a desk. It reminded me a bit of Rick Castle and the way his daughter handles him. It was nice to see that the acorn didn’t fall far from the tree. I image in a few more years that daughter dearest will be out there kicking some alien butt on her own. I loved the world that Gay created but often felt a little lost in the complexity of the characters. As this was the first book in the series, I expect things to even out with book 2.

Charlie Madigan
1. The Better Part of Darkness (2009)
2. The Darkest Edge of Dawn (2010)

Flirting With Forever by Gwyn Cready

Title: Flirting With Forever

Author: Gwyn Cready

Genre: Romance

Rating:* * * 1/2

Review Date: 5/15/10

Paperback: 415  pages

Publisher: Pocket Books (Mar 30,2010)

ISBN: 1439107246

FTC Disclosure: Received free copy from publisher

This entertaining and lively time-travel romance opens with a bewildering mass of details involving time-jump accountants, incongruity spikes, and the afterlife, but the introduction of sexy art historian Campbell Stratford gets the story moving smoothly. When Cam tumbles through time and finds herself in the late 17th century, a time agent is dispatched to stop her from using artist Peter Lely as a source for scandalous biographies of his contemporaries. Cready (Seducing Mr. Darcy) includes compelling details about art and painting as Peter explains how to paint a leaf and later, following Cam back to her own time, reverently explores a book of 20th-century artworks. As Peter struggles with memories of his dead wife—whom Cam greatly resembles—and Cam's cheating ex-boyfriend breaks her heart again, their passion and quarrels combine in a compelling romance that will leave readers breathless.

While this was the first Gwyn Cready book I’d read, it won’t be the last. I love romance and this is romance at its finest. Misunderstandings, wicked step-sister, ex-boyfriends, humor, sex, it had it all. And best of all was the time travel. Ingenious, simply ingenious. I’m never visit Amazon again without thinking of this book and wondering “what if ?” The historical period, along with the artists from the 17^th century had me racing to the computer after laying the book down with a sigh, to check out Peter Lely’s portraits. I can't wait to read Cready's other time travel romances. And oh, don't you just love those zebra print shoes?

Books I've Bought, Swapped or Won for the Week of 5/7