It's Monday What Are You Reading?

This meme is hosted by Shiela at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books, and I want to give credit where credit is due so I want to let you know I heard about it through Bookworming in the 21st Century. The point is basically to share what you've reading, what you're reading and what you think you're going to read.

Read This Week:
The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy
Dark Life by Kat Falls
Suzi Clue: The Prom Queen Curse by Michelle Kehm

Currently Reading:
Mansfield Park and Mummies: Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses, True Love, and Other Dire Delights by Vera Nazarian and Jane Austen
Bloodhound (Beka Cooper, #2) by Tamora Pierce
Birds of Prey by Chuck Dixon

To Be Read:
A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn

Slaves to the Empowered: Volumes of Lagéyan Lore (Volume 1) by Jeremiah Cain

The library stuff just keeps coming. These are the last two library books (and a couple of graphic novels, but we shall see what happens with those). Slaves of the Empowered I have been waiting for since last Halloween. I requested it for my library after the author posted about his book to a group I belong to on goodreads and I can't wait to read it. Bloodhound I am reading for a challenge over at Tempting Persephone called Pursuing the Lioness. My original plan was to read the first books she wrote about Tortall the Lioness Quartet, but then I found the Beka Cooper series which even though they were written recently actually go back even further then the Lioness books so I started with them instead.

I did read less then usual this week, but I think that means I might actually be able to get up all my reviews this week. I will probably be posting my Suzie Clue review later tonight or tomorrow morning. I hope everyone had as much fun I did. What are you reading this week?

The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy

Jess Parker has moved around from high school to high school and town to town her entire life. Now settled down in her mother's hometown for good she is having a hard time fitting in after having been an outsider for so long, until she is invited to join a secret society called The Cinderella Society. Now she is involved in a fued between the Cindy's and the Wicked's and she's not sure she isn't in over her head.

There is so much more going on in this book then meets the eye, and I don't just mean plot wise. This book is probably one of the greatest girl power, to thine own self be true type books I have ever read, without being preachy about it. I felt very girl power reading it and using a left over flyer from the local roller derby team, the Long Island Roller Rebels. The Cinderella Society is all about learning to be yourself, how to be comfortable in your own skin and knowing your strenghts and weaknesses. They call all this a makeover but truthfully I almost felt like it was misnamed because it's not about changing yourself but being your best you if that makes sense.

The Cindy's are all about balance and everyone getting their fair say, while thier counterparts, the Wickeds are all about gaining power over others. Evverything doesn't fall right into place once Jess enters the secret society; she continues to make mistakes and grow and spends a lot of time thinking about how to handle things when her opinions differ from the Cindy's. All in all I really enjoyed it and hate that I need to wait until next summer to find out what happens next. I do have one little gripe though; the author put a ton of pop culture references in the text such as current movies and music. While right now this isn't an issue, I think the book is good enough to stay popular for a long time, but the cultural references may date the book and turn kids off later. I hope I am wrong though cause it is a really great read.

Dark Life by Kat Falls

Ty lives in an underwater colony that was formed after the earth started to fall apart. He meets a Gemma, a topsider searching for her brother and decided to help her. Ty is also dealing with his life and trying to be normal struggling against problems with the government and dealing with his own self.

I typed out this whole review and lost now I am retyping and I just know this one wont be as good, so I apologize in advance. Ty is an incredible character and was extremely likable and easy to relate too. His sister Zoe is also a great character and I kind of wish we saw more of her in the book. The way people live in the colony makes people grow up very quickly so Ty is extremely mature but like most teenagers still a little bit lost when it comes to figuring himself out, although his situation is probably a little bit stranger then most.

We don't get a lot of information about what living up above is like. Just little scraps here and there and most of it is extremely negative. However the descriptions of sea life, both animal and how the people in the colony live are just incredible. They sound amazing and gorgeous, and just incredibly smart.

Although this is not exactly the kind of dystopia we are used to seeing, mainly because the people from the colony live so separate from the colony that the day to day life seems quite normal. It is only the large deprivations that the government infringes on the colony that are seen. This definitely could has strong themes and ideas of how much power a government should have both over it's people and it's colonies.

It's Monday What Are You Reading?

This meme is hosted by Shiela at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books, and I want to give credit where credit is due so I want to let you know I heard about it through Bookworming in the 21st Century. The point is basically to share what you've reading, what you're reading and what you think you're going to read.

Read This Week:
White Cat (Curse Workers, #1)by Holly Black
The Reckoning (Darkest Powers, #3)by Kelley Armstrong
Burnout by Rebecca Donner, Inaki Miranda
Festering Romance by Renee Lott
The Color of Earth (Color Trilogy, #1)by Kim Dong Hwa
Birds of Prey, vol. 7: Dead of Winter by Gail Simone, Nicola Scott, Doug Hazelwood
Huntress: Year One by Ivory Madison, Art Thibert, Cliff Richards, Norm Rapmund
Black Jack, Volume 5 by Osamu Tezuka
Emma, Volume 2 by Kaoru Mori, Sheldon Drzka
Phoenix, Volume 2: Future by Osamu Tezuka
Marvel Divas TPB by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Tonci Zonjic

Currently Reading:
Mansfield Park and Mummies: Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses, True Love, and Other Dire Delights by Vera Nazarian and Jane Austen

To Be Read:
Bloodhound (Beka Cooper, #2) by Tamora Pierce
The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy
Dark Life by Kat Falls
A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn

I have been sick hence my skipping posting last week and my high graphic novel content this past week. Somehow I always feel like the addition of pictures to words makes it even easier to understand what's going on and easy to follow when I am sick.

The Reckoning (Darkest Powers, #3) by Kelley Armstrong

Tori and her friends are in hiding from the Edison Group, the people who performed genetic experiments on them to make their powers easier to control but instead made them almost completely uncontrollable. They hope that they will soon be heading back to rescue the rest of their friends, but right now nothing is as it seems.

Even though the characters are in a holding pattern for much of this book, there is enough going on between the characters and within their own heads to make it feel like it's moving along. All romances are also sorted out at the end, although it's really dragged out til the last minute. Chloe is not as wishy washy as she was in previous books which also made me happy. Her self confidence is beginning to grow and she starts standing up for herself more, which makes her a much more likable character.

I was so excited that the series was finally going to be finished, but I have to say that in that respect I am a tiny bit disappointed. While this was just as well written and exciting as the others, it doesn't feel like the end of the series. Yes their immediate adventure was over, but it definitely felt like the story could continue and I am disappointed that it is being billed a trilogy making this one the last one. I hope that they decide to make more of these because the premise of the series is interesting, and it would make me happy.

White Cat (Curse Workers, #1) by Holly Black

Cassel is the only normal person in his entire caster family. Because of that he's constantly being left out of the loop in his crooked caster family. Although he guesses he's not that different, cause he did kill his best friend Lila. But now he's older, in boarding school and pretending to be normal. Until he sleepwalks his way to the roof. Now everything has changed and Cassel needs to figure out what's really going on with his family.

Cassel is a great character. And the word he lives in mirrors our own, except for there being people with magical abilities. I think how close their world is to ours will make this a good beginner fantasy for teens. I liked the twists and turns that the plot took and I was extremely glad for the relationships Cassel developed, with both friends and family, regardless of how they were developed. Even though Cassel is a con artist, at heart he does appear to be a good person, which is what makes him an enjoyable character. This was a great beginning for this series. It's story was self contained enough to keep you from being frustrated but there is also enough to keep the series going. All in all I really loved it and I hope other people love it as much as I did.

Another Faust by Daniel & Dina Nayeri

I wanted to read this book cause I loved the cover and the title sounded interesting. I love new takes on old tales, whether it's high literature or fairy tales. But this was kind of a strange book. It was easy to get into but I had to take a break in the middle so I could read the new Sookie Stackhouse because of library due dates and that made it hard to get back into.

Five unhappy children are whisked away from their homes in the middle of the night at the age of ten. They are all given special powers as part of their deals with their governess or in order to entice them into making deals. The powers threw me off a little. Since I had never read Faust and only knew the basic tale I couldn't figure out exactly how the stories were connected, but by the end I think I figured it out. We watch the children go through a year at one of the most prestigious high schools in New York as they try to use their powers to get what they want. In the end the children must each decide for themselves how they want to live their lives.

I found the parts regarding the governesses life at the beginning of each chapter and occasionally tucked into a chapter, very interesting. The authors had her interacting with famous figures so that readers could see how futures can be affected. I also really liked all of the interesting ideas regarding language. While this book is probably not for everyone (the ending is a little ambiguous and I know some people really hate that) if you do choose to read it there is definitely a strong "be careful what you wish for" theme.

Foiled by Jane Yolen

Aliera doesn't fit in at school. She's just a little bit too different to fit into any of the cliques. But she has fencing and her cousin so she's still pretty happy. Then Avery Castle shows up, he's gorgeous and nice and he seems to be interested in her. Is there more then meets the eye to Avery?

I liked this graphic novel although I felt a little disappointed about how quickly it was over. This one was a ton of set up and very little plot moving forward type stuff. I feel like that happens a lot when a novel writer writes a graphic novel series. It does have it's own self contained story that is an extremely cute take on the frog prince (kind of if you think about it and stretch the bounds of the story.) It was a fun story and I loved the illustrations and the integration of black and white and color. The story looks like it's going to be an interesting one and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Cameron Smith is a sixteen year old focused on being a slacker, and doing as little as possible. There is nothing really wrong with his home life, he just feels overlooked and has decided to exploit that for all it's worth. Everything changes when he contracts Creutzfeldt-Jacob or “Mad Cow” Disease and Dulcie, a punk rock angel, tells him that if he finds Dr.X he can be cured and he can save the world.

This book has a really great road trip adventure story that focuses on the importance of living life, without being overly heavy and trying to beat the reader over the head with a message. The author makes sure that Cameron gets a chance to experience everything, both the good things and the bad, without dwelling on Cameron’s disease. The adventure that Cameron and Gonzo go on is all about parallel dimensions and possible time travel, but the reader isn’t bombarded with a bunch of technical science terminology so that even those that are not really into science fiction can enjoy this work.

I totally understand why this book was selected for this years Printz Award. This is a book that I think could really grab someone who isn't necessarily a reader. It's a phenomenal adventure story that has a great deal of depth.

It's Monday What Are You Reading?

This meme is hosted by Shiela at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books, and I want to give credit where credit is due so I want to let you know I heard about it through Bookworming in the 21st Century. The point is basically to share what you've reading, what you're reading and what you think you're going to read.

Read This Week:
Bite Me (Love Story, #3)by Christopher Moore
The Naughty List (The Naughty List, #1)by Suzanne Young
Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin
Yakitate!! Japan, Volume 2 (Yakitate!! Japan)by Takashi Hashiguchi
Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse, #10) by Charlaine Harris
Metropolis by Osamu Tezuka
Phoenix, Volume 1: Dawn by Osamu Tezuka

Currently Reading:
Another Faust by Daniel Nayeri, Dina Nayeri

Up Next:
Bloodhound (Beka Cooper, #2) by Tamora Pierce
Mansfield Park and Mummies: Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses, True Love, and Other Dire Delights by Vera Nazarian and Jane Austen
White Cat (Curse Workers, #1)by Holly Black
Black Jack, Volume 4 by Osamu Tezuka
Dororo, Volume 1 by Osamu Tezuka
Radiant Shadows (Wicked Lovely, #4)by Melissa Marr
The Reckoning (Darkest Powers, #3)by Kelley Armstrong
Foiled by Jane Yolen, Mike Cavallaro
The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy

It happened again, stuff that I ordered months ago just came in on interlibrary loan. But hopefully this is the last of it and I will get all caught up. Looking at the last few Monday posts I am noticing that I read a lot of manga and graphic novels...maybe I should start some kind of feature. Are features fun? Any suggestions? Or is there some kind of graphic novel meme that I could be participating in? How was your reading week?

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

I was so excited to get the new Sookie Stackhouse novel and while it was good and I did like it, I felt like it was slower then previous books. This volume seemed to focus on Sookie getting her life back into some semblence of order and there was a lot of emphasis on her living her day to day life; gaining a new roommate in the form of Claude and working on recovering her body physically from the torture she experienced in the last book. Even Sookie felt the lack of action, frequently complaining that she felt lonely and bored.

The mysteries weren't solved until the last couple of pages (which is good cause I was getting soooo close to the end I was afraid that they were going to carry over into the next book). We also get a lot of interesting background on both Bill and Eric and their makers, which I always love, and a really great couple of chapters dealing with Sookie and her nephew trying to figure out how to teach him to deal with his powers. A lot of this book felt like everyone was still in a holding pattern, like the author hadn't really decided what direction certain parts of the story were going to go in. Hopefully the next book will be a little bit more dynamic the way previous books have been.(As it has to becuase there were a few unresolved problems.)

Naughty List by Suzanne Young

The cheerleaders at Washington High School are more then just cheerleaders. They are an elite team of spies who have their own detective agency the Society of Smitten Kittens. SOS checks out guys for girls who are afraid they are being cheated on, and if the guys a cheater he gets his very own spot on the Naughty List. When Tessa the captain of the squad and head of SOS gets a text annonymously accusing her boyfriend Aiden of cheating, her perfect life starts to show some cracks.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I should have because it was so much more then I expected it be (I know this sounds weird but I will explain). I loved the premise and I thought it was such a cute idea and that it would be a light fluffy read, which is what I was looking for when I started it. But as I read the book I realized that this was not going to be a piece of light fluff, there was some serious character development and mental issues at play here. Which normally I would love because there is nothing better then finding out something is better then you expected but you know how sometimes you just want something that is a quick and dirty fun read? That's what I was in the mood for.

While the spying story is a little incredulous and definitely has some fun aspects to it, what was really interesting in this book and what I wasn't expecting was getting to watch Tessa develop. Tessa has been trying to be perfect and in this book you see the beginning of her desire to become a well developed person. Unfortunately because it's a series (or at least has a sequel) the development doesn't fully flesh out before the story ends. I hope this trend continues in the next book in the series.

Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin

I saw this book forever ago in a store and loved the cover. I was recently reminded of it somehow and it was one of my last requests from the library before I decided to cut myself off. I read this whole book this morning while waiting online at the dmv to register my car. It was so interesting that it really made the whole trip go by much much faster, so I decided to share it.

Sophie thinks she is losing her mind, seeing an ice cream truck and having horrible nightmares where she wakes up with bruises that make her wonder what's really going on. Kenny thinks he's losing it to, hearing and experiencing weird feelings, static and mysterious computer code. What does it all mean?

This book kind of reminds me of the Matrix (I'm afraid to explain why cause it might be a spoiler so if you care about things like that skip the end of this run on sentence) because of the Virtuality and the multiple realities where people experience the best the world has to offer. It was kind of neat and much like the Matrix I think this one needs multiple readings to understand everything that's going on.

The other thing I loved about this book is that in most dystopia type books you see the after affects of whatever changed the world. In this case you kind of get to see how a dystopia is starting. You are reading about the corruption of an idea that has the possibility to change the world for the better or for the worse, depending on how it's being used and the decisions these few people make in how the idea is used. I think that is what makes this a really interesting read.

Bite Me (Love Story, #3) by Christopher Moore

In what looks like the final entry of the Love Story series, Chet the vampire cat has become something of a problem, attacking both other cats and people, Jody and Flood are bronzed this time and Elijah's other fledglings return to the city to clean up his mess.

This is my favorite of all of the Love Story books (granted it's been a while since I read the first two, fortunately Abby spends the first couple of pages catching us up on the past two books via her blog.) This one was just as silly and irreverant as the first two, but it also has a few more serious and kind moments that I really enjoyed and that kept it from getting too rediculous.

I loved Abby's blog updates and I know that considering the time when the first book takes place blogs and texting are a little out of place but I loved it anyway. The only thing that really threw me about this book was that the book would jump from character to character and when it jumped character it also seemed to jump time sometimes and I couldn't figure out if things were happening the next day or earlier the same day. But I really liked how the ending worked out and was very happy, I hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I did.

It's Monday What Are You Reading?

This meme is hosted by Shiela at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books, and I want to give credit where credit is due so I want to let you know I heard about it through Bookworming in the 21st Century. The point is basically to share what you've reading, what you're reading and what you think you're going to read.

Read This Week:
The Sorcerer King (Faerie Path, #3)by Frewin Jones
The Dead-Tossed Waves (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, #2)by Carrie Ryan
Stitches by David Small
Heist Society by Ally Carter
Children of the Sea, Volume 2 by Daisuke Igarashi
Buddha Volume 1: Kapilavastu (Buddha)by Osamu Tezuka
Rampant (Killer Unicorns, #1)by Diana Peterfreund

Currently Reading:
Bite Me (Love Story, #3)by Christopher Moore
It Must've Been Something I Ate: The Return of the Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten (I am actually not sure that I am going to finish this one right now; more on that later.)

Up Next:
Bloodhound (Beka Cooper, #2) by Tamora Pierce
Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin
Another Faust by Daniel Nayeri, Dina Nayeri
The Naughty List (The Naughty List, #1) by Suzanne Young

So these are what remains of the forty library books I had out last week. I came home from work on Monday and got rid of everything that wasn't a book I had been waiting for to be released or on a hold list for forever and this is pretty much what I was left with. My plan is to finish these last few books. (I haven't actually decided on the Steingarten book, I was thinking of sharing this with my honey which is why it hasn't gone back even though it doesn't fit the criteria outlined above.) My request list at the library has been whittled down to books that have not been released yet (which will hopefully keep me from being slammed all at once.)

After I finish these last few books my plan is to begin reading the stuff I own. I have all these great arcs I got at work, stuff I bought at ICon (my local science fiction/fantasy convention) plus stuff I bought at a crazy shopping trip to the Strand on Thursday and at my local comic book shop Saturday (Free Comic Book day, woo hoo) and things friends have loaned me. I hope I can at least catch up with myself and try not to get as much stuff out of the library for a while. Wish me luck.

Rampant by Diana Peter

Unicorns are not the light happy creatures we think they are, they are dangerous man eating beasts and after 150 years of supposed extinction they have suddenly reappeared in the world. Only virgins descended from Alexander the Great can hunt unicorns but very few people remember this, but Astrid's mother does and she is shipping Astrid off to Unicorn hunter training camp.

At first I couldn't get into this book because I was so incredibly turned off by what happened to Astrid with Brandt and Kaitlyn. However once Astrid got to Rome and Phil showed up I was entranced. I loved watching Astrid develop as a person and Phil was a ray of sunshine in amid a bunch of heavy, troubled characters. For me Phil was what this book needed to keep from getting too dark and it is a very dark book. But Phil wasn't all light and sunshine, she had darkness too keeping her from being the obnoxious peppy character.

***Possible Spoiler***Trying to avoid spoilers so I am going to be as general as possible, but feel free to skip this paragraph about my big gripe.
There was one issue regarding sex and rape that I wish had been clarified by the author. This is a book for teens and I felt the author should have made it clear that the second someone says no, it is rape. While she did do a good job handling the mixed feelings that people experience, there should have been a more solid clarification that it wasn't that certain characters felt it was rape and others didn't. As soon as the character said no, it was date rape.
***End possible spoiler***

I feel this story could end here and doesn't really need any sequels since all of the major villains appear to be vanquished and the only real loose ends involve a minor character I wasn't really thrilled with to begin with. However I am extremely curious about where the story is going to go since it is clearly being labeled as a series.

Stitches by David Small

Stitches is a memoir of David Small's life revolving around his cancer and his family's extreme dysfunction. This was such a great graphic novel and I really want to do it justice in a review but I don't know if I know enough to describe what I liked about it, but here I go.

The main body of the memoir starts when David is young and goes until high school with periodic skips in time, and a brief period of his adulthood. The slightly messy art style fits the tone of the story; almost like you can feel how the craziness he was experiencing was affecting his mentality through the illustrations. I also felt that the expressiveness of the illustrations and the dialogue selections helped me understand his feelings, without needing him to spell them out with thought bubbles. He also gives the reader brief sections at the end so you can find out what happened to various members of his family and how he straightened his life out. While this was all obviously a very painful time in his life and generally a dark memoir I really think it's a worthwhile read.

I hope I gave this book justice and other people give it a try.