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<![CDATA[Dani added 'Dandelion Fire']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64530589
to: Dandelion Fire (The 100 Cupboards, Book 2)byN.D. Wilson bookshelves: july-reads
~ by N.D. Wilson
Sequel to 100 Cupboards
Ages: 8+
Henry York sleeps in the attic of his aunt and uncle's house. It's small and sparse, but it's home. It also has 100 cupboards on the wall, each leading to a different land.
But his parents have returned from their trip and are planning on collecting him soon. This event spurs Henry into slipping into a cupboard so that he can find his real parents. Unbeknownst to him, an ancient evil is stirring and the powers of Endor are awakening. While Henry moves from world to world in search of his past, the witch of Endor is unfurling her power and swallowing all life in her way.
After being imprisoned by the Faeren, he escapes and is able to find his family. But just as he finds them, he must return to the world he has lived in his whole life. If he is to save his family and his world, he must find and return an ancient relic his great-great-grandfather stole long ago. And even then, it may be too late.
What I loved: Everything! N.D. Wilson has an amazing ability with words. The story was wonderful and engaging, and the words were lush and beautiful. He weaves humor into beautiful descriptions seamlessly. The opening paragraph alone hooked me. I'm a sucker for humor. I also liked that Henry wasn't alone in all of this, that his real family loved him and fights alongside him, and that every action has a cost.
The only thing that drove me batty was his cousin Henrietta. At times I wanted to bop her on the head for the decisions she made. I think that out of all the characters, she was the one I liked the least. Sometimes she comes off as very selfish and self-centered, but I guess that just makes her human.
It does get a little scary at times (this said from a wimp's POV), but nothing too terrible.
All in all, I give this five stars.
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<![CDATA[Dani added 'Paralysed']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64210895
to: Paralysed (Paperback)bySherry Ashworth bookshelves: july-reads
YA
Simon and Schuster
Best friends Simon and Danny are rather different from each other. Danny prefers lazing around to playing football and keeping in shape as Simon does. Nevertheless, they are good friends, and enjoy hanging out with other friends, including Simon's girlfriend Emma. However, an accident at a football match which Simon shouldn't have been playing at leaves Simon paralysed.
The story follows the ups and downs of Simon's new life. It's Danny's story of how he changes his life around from being a complete lazy so-and-so, with the threat of getting kicked out of school, to someone who seizes the moment and makes an effort in life for someone other than thimself. It's Emma's story of that fateful day, all the emotion of seeing a person she loves change forever.
There isn't anything I'd want to change about this story. The three points of view all have a distinct voice. On an emotional level I could relate to all the pain, suffering and tough decisions that needed to be made. I kept yelling at Danny for not trying so hard at school - slacking on schoolwork is beyond my comprehension. I admired Emma for sticking by Simon, even when her heart wasn't in it. And Simon's courage not to give up, his determination to accept the less pleasant aspects of his new life had me reaching for the tissues a lot.
There's mention of taking a personal relationship further, and I think there might be the odd curse, but for a YA book its not bad on the content level.
I it a 5 out of 5
Check out Sherry's reason for writing paralysed. It explains how she got all the emotions spot on.
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<![CDATA[Dani added 'The Aware']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62381407
to: The Aware (The Isles of Glory)byGlenda Larke bookshelves: july-reads
Adult. Some innuendo and mention of past sexual relationship.
The Aware is the first in The Isles of Glory trilogy by Australian fantasy author Glenda Larke. It tells the story of Blaze Halfbreed, citizenless in a world where citizenship is everything, abandoned by her parents as an infant, despised for her half-breed status, hired by the Sylvtalents as a spy-come-assassin-come-protector - for she is one of the Aware, one of the few people in the world who can actually see magic, and is thereby immune to its effects.
That's why she's the one who's sent to track down a Circasian slave who's much more than she seems, and why she's the one who sees the foul red dunmagic spilling across the floor of the inn where she's staying in the pirate settlement on Gorthan Spit. And why she's the one who everybody wants - dead, or alive.
First Impressions
Hmm. The first half a chapter didn't immediately grab me; it wasn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn't fast-paced or action-packed. It's been a while since I've read slower books, and I put this one down after a few pages.
HOWEVER.
Once I picked it up again, I couldn't put it down. This is a GREAT book that develops wonderfully, with a nice complex plot, character growth, action scenes - and even an explosion ;) I've been telling people it's like a slower paced Magic Lost, Trouble Found.
Pros
Great main character with voice and attitude, set in a very rich, rounded world. You can sense that there is so much more to both the world and the story than what you're shown in this first book. The story is framed by letters, and is 'told' as a transcript of conversations between a 'native' and an anthropologist - and although in the beginning the anthropologist's letters leave you kinda thinking, "Huh?", by the end they leave you insatiably curious as to the why and wherefore behind the anthropologist's mission. This is not only a fun romp through a shiny fantasy world, it's rich and meaningful too.
Cons
The slow beginning. It's not intensely action-packed, so it might not be for everyone. And there is a bit of innuendo - though I don't think it's enough to prevent the more tender readers involved in this blog from reading ;)
For Women Only is for women only for a reason - because everything it contains, guys already know inside and out. This is a book on the psychology of men, born from the research Shaunti set out to conduct for one of her fiction novels. Backed up by professional surveys and statistical data, this books presents How Guys Think 101 written especially for women.
First Impressions
Wow. When I walked into the bookstore, I had absolutely zero intention of walking out with yet-another-book-on-relationships. But something about the cover of this one grabbed me, so I grabbed it - and flicking through the pages, I was immediately intrigued both by the author's clear, chatty voice, and the sheer wow-factor of the information she presents.
High Points
Er, everything? The book is broken down into six sections, touching on what Shaunti felt were the six most important attitudes and beliefs men have that women don't usually understand. It's a light, quick read in a chatty and informal style, but backed by rigourous statistical data at the same time. Shaunti provides contrasts and comparisons between male and female ways of thinking and approaching things that make it dead easy to comprehend.
Low Points
This is not a personal low point for me, but this is a Christian book. If you're not an easily-offended non-Christian, it should be fine: there's no theology, or prescriptive directives, or anything like that. Just the occasional mention, and an awareness that the writer herself is coming from a Christian point of view.
This is definitely a five-star book. Out of all the relationship books I've ever read - a lot, since my dad is big on them ;) - this is one of the top four.
Usefulness
In my reviews, non-fiction books get an extra rating - how useful they are to those of use writing fiction. This book gets a high usefulness rating - maybe 9 out of 10. Sure, I adore this book because of how much it resonates with me, but it is also the best resource I have so far come across to help women writers who struggle to get into the head of a male character. As an utter perfectionist, I would love to be able to write my characters so that readers couldn't tell whether I was male or female because both male and female characters were so real, so true, so convincing... And I believe this book is going to make a serious dent in the Things I Need To Learn in order to be able to write like that.
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<![CDATA[Dani added 'Promises in Death']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60569951
to: Promises in Death (In Death #28)byJ.D. Robb bookshelves: june-reads
Age - 18+ (language, violence and sex)
Life has changed a lot by 2061 according to J. D. Robb. Planets and moons have been colonized and technology has advanced by leaps and bounds. Two things haven't changed though - crime continues to run rampant through New York City and cops still lay their lives on the line to keep that crime in check.
Lieutenant Eve Dallas is the quintessential cop; she lives and breathes the job. So when fellow officer, Detective Amaryllis Coltraine, is killed in her own apartment building, with her own weapon, Eve takes it very personally.
Together with her husband Roarke (a reformed criminal), her partner Detective Peabody, Medical Examiner Li Morris (who was also Coltraine's lover), and several other members of her team, Eve digs into Coltraine's past, finding connections and coincidences she can't ignore. Such as Coltraine's former lover, Alex Ricker - son of notorious criminal Max Ricker, who was taken down the year before by Eve and Roarke.
From New York to Atlanta to Vegas to the Omega Penal Colony, Eve and her team hunt the killer. The mystery follows the many twists, turns and surprises common in Robb's work.
Promises In Death was as engrossing and enjoyable a read as all the previous In Death books. Robb has an amazing talent for bringing her characters to life, and the twisted mind (in a good way!) needed to think like both a cop and a criminal that brings such realism to her stories.
Grade - 4 1/2 smoking guns
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<![CDATA[Dani added 'Relentless']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60101343
to: Relentless (The Lost Fleet, Book 5)byJack Campbell bookshelves: june-reads
Target Audience: Breathing sapients over age 10
Warnings: Battle descriptions and allusions to sexual encounters
Plot: You really need to start with Dauntless and read the full series to understand all the layers of this book, but I'll try to sum up real quick.
Against all odds Jack "Black Jack" Geary has taken the beaten Alliance fleet and not only survived attacks from various outside groups but internal rebellion. In RELENTLESS the political struggle finally comes to the fore and the traitor is revealed, but not before s/he manages to take out some well-loved characters.
Running low on supplies, morale, and time the Lost Fleet stumbles home, and right into the middle of another epic battle.
For those who read Dauntless you'll recall Geary lost his grand-nephew in the opening chapters (no real spoiler there), and this penultimate battle reunites him with his last living relative. But it isn't the end, for Geary, or his fleet. Because they're being pursued by an enemy they can't let into their space and the only option left is to turn around and head back into enemy territory.
What I Loved: The fine-tuned balance between Geary wanting the fleet to survive, and his understanding that any survival would be bittersweet. Everyone he knows is dead. His home is gone. He has no life waiting for him. Any victory for the fleet costs him personal happiness.
It will also cost Geary power, and possibly friends.
The author balances this out very well.
What I didn't Like: The next book doesn't come out until 2010!!!!
Really, I'm almost tempted to tell a new reader to wait for the full set to come out because the series really is better read in one go. Wait for it to all come out, buy all the books, and then take a week off of life to read from beginning to end.
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<![CDATA[Dani added 'Lover Avenged']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59929291
to: Lover Avenged (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #7)byJ.R. Ward bookshelves: june-reads
Not for those under 18
Rehvenge, son of Rempoon, is not the kind of boy a girl takes home to meet her daddy. Club owner, drug dealer, pimp - very much like an old fashioned mobster with a mohawk. But Ehlena doesn’t know any of that when she gets involved with him.
Nor does she realize that he isn’t your ordinary, everyday vampire. He’s only half vampire. The other half is sympath - a race that is more as psychic vampire than anything else. He still must drink blood and eat food, but he also feeds off of strong emotions when his sympath nature asserts itself. And to avoid deportation to the secluded colony where all sympaths must live, he must pass himself off to the world as a regular vamp.
To keep that side of his nature in check, Rehv resorts to prescription drugs, which is where he and Ehlena meet. She is a nurse at the vampire clinic whose family has fallen onto rough times.
Their journey to happiness (it is a romance after all) is fraught with danger - domestic abuse, theft, unemployment, attempted assassination plots, explosions. At times it feels like they’ll never work their problems out and get their Happily Ever After.
J. R. Ward is such an amazing writer. And this latest novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood does not disappoint. The reader is immediately drawn into the vampires’ world, and doesn’t leave it for even a second until the book is done.
The only thing I disliked about this book is the same thing I’ve disliked about the previous 6 - the swearing. It really tends to go overboard. And for those of you who don’t like sex in your romance novels, you won’t want to read this one.
"Look me in the eye," is something John Robinson grew up hearing. He was constantly told that he would end up as a criminal, him having shifty eyes and all, and what did he have to hide?
Unfortunately for John, Asperger's Syndrome wasn't widely known when he was growing up. In his time, the only autism that was "seen" was the extreme cases, the ones that were locked away in worlds of their own, that couldn't function in society at all.
I was drawn to this book for a few reasons. The first being that I loved the cover and the title. The second, that my own little Superman has been diagnosed with autism and I wanted to learn more from the humanistic standpoint.
This book chronicles his life as an undiagnosed Aspergian. There are some very painful moments, but his wit and humor kept me glued to my seat--excuse the cliche--and I finished it in nearly one sitting. He explains how he thought, how he saw the world, and how the world saw him. He states that some have said that people with Asperger's (or autism) have no desire to interact socially with others. He corrects this way of thinking. He wanted to interact, would loved to have been accepted, but didn't know how. He eventually quit trying because he couldn't take any more rejections from the children he was trying to make friends with.
His life took some wild curves and turns, and it wasn't until he was in his 40s that he was diagnosed with Asperger's. His life was unbelievable, but completely human at the same time. And something he's learned since writing this book and doing book tours is that it's a common thing for humans to yearn for acceptance, even as they feel rejection. And no one is immune.
I loved the humor. My favorite part was when he was determined to make friends with Chuckie. He decided that to introduce himself, he would pet her on the head. His reasoning is that dogs liked it, it's how they made friends, and that he liked it. It calmed him down and soothed him when his mom would rub his head and arm at night. Her reaction wasn't quite what he was going for. She smacked him. Undeterred, but confused, he decided to try again, this time with a stick. His reasoning was that if she couldn't reach him, she couldn't smack him. Unfortunately, the teacher didn't see it that way. >.<
There is a bit of language, and his life addresses some serious issues: abuse (family), mental illnesses, alcholism, drugs (he made guitars for KISS) and all the things that go with traveling with rock stars, bullying, and dropping out of school. The paperback is a revised version that he pruposefully cleaned up the language for because he knew there might be younger people reading his book.
My only quibble was that it ended. I loved the book and hope he writes more in the future.
My favorite line: "It's not a disease. It doesn't need curing. It's just how you are."
At the age of thirteen, Otto Malpense ran his orphanage with skilled precision. He had just saved it from being closed down, and felt as though all was well and right in the world.
And then he woke one morning, not in his bed, but in an airplane. He had been kidnapped, but why? All he knew was that he had to get back to his old life. He'd worked too hard to let it slip through his fingers now.
But his captors had other plans. It seemed that Otto had been enrolled in H.I.V.E. where the running motto is "Do unto others." It is here that the criminal masterminds of the future are trained and educated. Joining up with three others, they make it their prime objective to escape the headmaster Dr. Nero, and return to their normal lives.
But then, their lives had never been normal to begin with. Otto was orphaned at a young age, but he has the ability to read books in a matter of seconds and retain everything he's read. He also has an affinity for numbers. His friend Wing is a deadly ninja at the age of fourteen. Shelby made headlines as a jewelry thief no one could catch, and Laura is a computer genius.
Like it or not, they're enrolled, and leaving is not an option. But Otto and his friends aren't the average students either. They're all determined to do what has never been done before: to break out of H.I.V.E.
I really enjoyed this story. It was interesting to learn more about the characters, and how they deal with the cards life has dealt them. I enjoyed watching their friendships grow as they realized they couldn't break out of H.I.V.E. alone. Otto, Wing, Shelby, and Laura are all very independent, but they pool their resources and talents in an act of cooperation (and desperation) the school has never seen.
The only thing I'd change are a few swearwords in the book, other than that, I really enjoyed this one.
My favorite line is spoken by Dr. Nero as he tries to save the school from a carnivorous science experiment gone wrong: "It's always the bald ones." (Trust me, this makes a lot more sense in context, but I don't want to give away parts of the ending.)