Shadowhunters versus Demon Horde

My Rating: 5/5

Review: This sequel to City of Bones was like an exhilarating ride at and amusement park. Jace and Clary are so heartbreaking and intense. The action was endless. I couldn't even make myself put the book down during the last few chapters. There are a few big changes that will rock you. By the end of the book I was left with many questions. Are Clary and Jace really brother and sister? What did the Inquisitor whisper in Jace's ear? What happened to Valentine? How will Clary wake her mother up? How does Clary's mom really feel about Luke? What will the Clave want to do with Clary now? I am absolutely chomping at the bit to read the next book!

Book Description: As readers of series starter City of Bones already know, teenager Clary Fray is a Shadowhunter, a demon slayer who has the gift of spotting Downworlder werewolves, vampires, and faeries. She is also an adolescent in an abnormally dysfunctional family: Her mom is in a magically induced coma and her father is probably insane and undoubtedly evil. All of which places Clary in situations that would challenge even the most talented average American girl.

Out of the Ocean Comes Death

My Rating: 4/5

Review: Very good book. Even better than the first one. The intensity was so much stronger, and the story moved along faster.

Book Description: Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

Holmes and His Lovely Apprentice

My Rating: 4/5

Review: I absolutely detest long chapters and thick paragraphs. Despite that, however, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the repartee between Holmes and Mary. I liked getting the background story of how they met, and how Holmes became her mentor. The mysteries they solved together and how that solved them was quite good fun. I will definitely be reading more Laurie R. King books, long chapters and thick paragraphs or not.

Book Description: Long retired, Sherlock Holmes quietly pursues his study of honeybee behavior on the Sussex Downs. He never imagines he would encounter anyone whose intellect matched his own, much less an audacious teenage girl with a penchant for detection. Miss Mary Russell becomes Holmes' pupil and quickly hones her talent for deduction, disguises and danger. But when an elusive villain enters the picture, their partnership is put to a real test.

That Funny Quimby Girl

My Rating: 4/5

Review: Ramona is such a fun character to read about. She always gets into one mess or another, and I never fail to laugh out loud at least once while reading. My son and I love these books.

Book Description: From the first day of third grade, when Ramona Quimby meets her eventual nemesis Yard Ape, life moves on at its usual wild pace--usual for the boisterous Ramona, that is. Soon she is accidentally squashing a raw egg into her hair at the school cafeteria, being forced to play Uncle Rat with her annoying young neighbor, and, worst of all, throwing up in her classroom. The responsibilities of an 8-year-old are sometimes daunting, especially in a family that is trying to squeak by while the father goes back to school. But Ramona is full of too much vim and vigor to ever be down for long.

Story Behind a Painting

My Rating: 4/5

Review: This was much like reading a classic novel, and I thouroughly enjoyed it. Greit was almost unlikeable with her saucy outlook at times, but I couldn't resist her spunk. I liked that she didn't always just let people walk all over her, especially bratty children. I also liked getting a glimpse of what it may have been like in a painter's world. It made me want to see Vermeer's works. I will definitely be checking out other books by Tracy Chevalier.

Book Description: History and fiction merge seamlessly in Tracy Chevalier's luminous novel about artistic vision and sensual awakening. Through the eyes of sixteen-year-old Griet, the world of 1660s Holland comes dazzlingly alive in this richly imagined portrait of the young woman who inspired one of Vermeer's most celebrated paintings.

Zombies, Zombies, Everywhere!

My Rating: 4/5

Review: The first three words that come to mind after finishing this book are dark, tragic, and beautiful. I was intrigued by Mary's world from beginning to end. There is so much tragedy in this poor girl's life that one could not help but feel for her. Yet, she is incredibly brave, and has such a deep unyielding faith in the stories her mother use to tell her of the world beyond their village. There is an ocean to find, a place where they can be safe from the unconsecrated, as the zombies are called. She dreams of it, becomes obsessed with it even. When a mysterious woman comes to their village one night, everything changes. Events soon hurl Mary and the people she cares about out beyond the village into the Forest of Hands and Teeth. I was gripping the book so tight during the last few chapters, I may have left a dent in the pages. I'm anxiously awaiting the next book in this series to become available at my library.

Book Description: In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

Save the Wolves!

Book Quote: "There is no better taste than this: someone else's laughter in your mouth."

My Rating: 4/5

Review: Grace and Sam are two young lovers who only want to be together. There's just a few things standing in their way. One, Grace's parents don't approve of their relationship (even though they were pretty much non-parents before Sam came into her life). Two, Grace just so happened to turn into a wolf at the end of the last book. Sam, of course, was cured, so that pretty much puts a damper on the spending any time together thing. Three, just about everyone in Mercy Falls thinks that Sam has killed Grace. Four, Isabel Culpepper's father wants every wolf in Mercy Falls dead. He's still pretty bitter with the death of his only son. Understandable? Yes. Absolutely necessary? No. To top everything off, a certain female has turned up dead, mutilated by a very nasty werewolf that was never really in her right mind to begin with. There's plenty of suspense and intensity here, but there were plenty of horriblt drawn out chapters that kept me from getting completely drawn into the story, as well. Grace and Sam are two very endearing characters, however, so I could never give their story any less than four stars.

Book Description: In Maggie Stiefvater's SHIVER, Grace and Sam found each other. In LINGER, they fought to be together. Now, in FOREVER, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in.