Lock & Key

I saw this book at Target, and immediately put it on the waiting list at the library. I thought it looked and sounded interesting.

I wasn't disappointed. Some Young Adult fiction can really be uninteresting, with all of the watered down stores, but some is just incredible and deserves a genre of their own. This is one of the later.

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen tells of Ruby. A seventeen year old girl who has been abandoned by her dead beat mother and is trying to live on her own in the rented house she's been left in. She just wants to stick it out until she's eighteen where she can then legally be on her own.

Of course, that doesn't work out. The owners of the house find her living alone and turn her into social services, where she eventually ends up living with her older sister who she hasn't seen in 10 years.

Ruby has lots of emotional issues throughout the book, trust and asking for help being two of the main ones. She does learn a lot of new things about herself along her journey and makes new friendships. In the end she helps someone just as she's been helped.

I really thought the emotions and theme in this story were right on par and I'm going to look for more books by this author to read.

Brooklyn Bridge

Title: Brooklyn Bridge
Author: Karen Hesse
Series: None
Genre: Juvenile Fiction


I love New York City. I find the Brooklyn Bridge to be absolutely beautiful and when I came across this book, I felt that I had to read it.

Karen Hesse tells the story of Joseph Michtom, a young Jewish Immigrant who lives in Brooklyn with his family in the early 1900s. They originally owned a candy store, but due to a cartoon of Theodore Roosevelt, they decided to start making cloth bears, teddy bears. The Michtom's are the real family that started to make teddy bears, although the story that surrounds them otherwise is fiction.

We learn of the difficulties of the time and the family has a special connection with the Brooklyn Bridge.

I thought the story was enjoyable to read, however every few chapters there would be a chapter in italics and it would tell a short story (although they all came together) or the people living below the bridge and how they got there. These, I didn't like. I ended up reading just the chapters that were not italicized. Perhaps I missed some of the story, but overall I think the story did just find without the italicized chapters that didn't connect (well until the last one) anyway.

Cindy Ella

Title: Cindy Ella
Author: Robin Palmer
Series: None
Genre: Young Adult


I had to read this book because it's similar to Cinderella. I felt that the story was nothing special. It was very similar to the Cinderella Story movies (1 & 2). A Cinderella based on Instant Messaging and what not. You know the type. Needless to say, I'm glad I'm done with it and wouldn't read it again. It was just not that great and I already had low expectations.

Battle of the Labyrinth

Title: Battle of the Labyrinth
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Book 4)
Genre: Juvenile Fiction



Book #4 in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is Battle of the Labyrinth. As with each of the other books in the series it begins with Percy and his new school. Following set pattern, something happens to get him basically kicked out of school and he flees to Camp Half Blood.

This is the book of Annabeth's quest. She, Percy, Tyson and Grover must enter the Labyrinth, a maze that is below most of the continent (and perhaps then some) where time is skewed. They must battle through new monsters and *gasp* ask a mere mortal for help.

Near the end of this book Kronos is reborn into a body and starts to come after them. They manage to deter him for the time being and I can imagine that the battle to end all will be the fifth and final book of the series, The Last Olympian, due out May 5th.

I am awaiting it anxiously to find the end of our hero Percy's story.

The Titans Curse'

Title: The Titan's Curse
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Book 3)
Genre: Juvenile Fiction



As mentioned in the previous post, I couldn't stop following Percy in his adventures. I finished the third book, The Titan's Curse the same day as the second. Needless to say, I'm already into the fourth.

Percy, Annabeth and Thalia help Grover find 2 new half bloods, Nico and Bianca. They also meet the Hunters who are led by the Goddess Artemis. Apollo arrives and the crew rides in his sun chariot (a flashy sports car that turns into a bus), but not before Annabeth goes missing.

They get to camp and hear a prophecy saying that five of them must make the journey and rescue both Annabeth and Artemis. Thalia and Grover are chosen as the two campers to go on the adventure, but Percy also joins them later.

This is the time when the Titan Lord Kronas is at his closest to being able to rise and take over. Percy and friends must deal with this to the largest extreme so far.

The Sea of Monsters

Title: The Sea of Monsters
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Book 2)
Genre: Juvenile Fiction



The Second Installment of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians is The Sea of Monsters. It didn't disappoint and I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first one. I think this is fast becoming a favorite series of mine and I just wish there was going to be more than 5 books in it.

Upon looking at the cover, initially and throughout reading the story I am amazed at how much is shown, although you'd never know. When checking it out half way through I notice things that I hadn't noticed during the first glance before I started reading it.

Percy meets a homeless boy, Tyson, who is taken in as a charity case at his current private school. Percy is his only friend and often gets picked on because of it. Monsters attack Percy's school and he and Tyson run away to Camp Half Blood with the help of Annabeth and Grover. When they get there everything is crazy. The enchanted tree that helps keep the camp safe is dying and the borders are relaxed. Chiron has been dismissed and nothing is the way it should be. Of course it is up to Percy to save the day yet again.

We meet several new gods this time including Hermes.

The minute I put this book down I picked up the third and started reading it. They truely are an engaging and wonderful story that is hard to leave alone.

Look Me in the Eye

Title:Look Me in the Eye
Author: John Elder Robison
Series: None
Genre: Non-Fiction




I passed this book at Target and the title and cover drew me in. I read the back and knew it was right up my alley.

Look Me in the Eye is the memoir of John Elder Robison. His brother has written other books such as Running with Scissors. John Elder (as he is mostly called) has Aspergers, which wasn't diagnosed until he was in his forties. The story follows his life and all the struggles he went through.

One interaction that I love throughout the book is that of John Elder (JE) and his little brother (Given name Chris, later changed to Augusten) One of JE's quirks is that he names people/places instead of calling them by their given name. He originally calls Chris/Augusten Snort when is a baby and as a small child he calls him Varmint. There are some touching passages between the two early in life, such as when JE teaches him to walk.

JE's parents have a rocky life, his Mom ending up in a mental hospital for a while and his father an abusive drunk. This in combination of his struggles from his social short comings leads him to have a rough childhood.

I felt the story was touching and a wonderful insight into the way that Aspergarians think. I do feel, however, that each chapter could almost be read individually because sometimes thier chronological order is a bit off. Characters would be refered to that I didn't remember reading about yet. There was a time when one chapter he was married to his first wife, the next chapter to his second, and the third chapter he talks about divorcing the first and marrying the second. It was just a bit off.

Guilty Pleasures

Title: Guilty Pleasures
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Series: Anita Blake Vampire Hunter (Book 1)
Genre: Paranormal



My latest read, Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton is the first in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. It was an interesting read, and by interesting I mean it had an odd kinky sexual vibe to it.

It follows Anita Blake, who raises the dead for a living. She also works with the police, hunts down and kills vampires. In this book Vampires have been recognized to exist. And not only vampires but also wereanimals (rats, wolves, ect.), ghouls and other creatures of the night.

There has been a killing spree of vampires and the oldest vampire in the city (a whopping 1,000+ years old) "hires" Anita to find out who's doing it. It's not nearly as simple as it sounds and I felt like I was running around a bit crazed the whole time. There are "freaks" people who like to be bitten/blood sucked/sexually used by vampires. To me it just seemed like the story was going to turn into some all out sexual encounter. It didn't, there weren't even any steamy scenes. The one thing I did enjoy was the relationship between Anita and Jean Claude. I wouldn't say it was a bad book, it just had a different vibe to me.

Not entirely sure I want to read any more into the series, although I'll probably try at least the next book, apparently it's suppose to get even better.