The Rivers of Zadaa

Title: The Rivers of Zadaa
Author: D.J. MacHale
Series: Pendragon (Book 6)
Genre: Young Adult



Even though I think that Black Water is a turning point for the Pendragon series, I feel like The Rivers of Zadaa take it a bit farther. We learn new things about just about every main character, and even some of the more minor ones.

The territory of Zadaa is Loor's territory. There are two different "races." The Batu who live above ground and the Rokador, who live below ground and control the water. There is a drought and the two groups are brewing for a war. Sounds like Saint Dane to me!

Bed of Roses

Title: Bed of Roses
Author: Nora Roberts
Series: Bride Quartet (Book 2)
Genre: Romance



Emma is the florist for Vows. She is a hopeless romantic and wants it all. Her big dream is to have a moonlight dance in a garden with the man she loves.

Jack has been around the family for years. As one Parker's brother's best friend he knows all the girls and is almost like a brother, except to Emma. Jack is an architect and has a few issues with people invading his space. He goes through girlfriends quickly, but still seems like a nice guy.

During a wedding at Vows, Jack takes a leap and kisses Emma. The two have been yearning for each other all of these years and a romance breaks out between the two of them. It's an interesting pairing when Emma wants it all and Jack wants to keep her at a distance. Eventually this comes to a head and the two have a major fight and "breakup."

The book couldn't end this way, so eventually after everyone has calmed down they reunite and Emma gets her Happily Ever After

This book definitely brought out the hopeless romantic in me. It had me dreaming these amazing dreams where I was being whisked away to far away places (Stowe, Vermont) and having incredibly romantic vacations (Here). I've never been there before, but always have wanted to go and those pictures stayed in my mind and came to life.

Aside from that, the book was decent enough. I don't remember enough about the previous book to remember if it was better or the same. Sometime there would be paragraph long descriptions of the flowers, which makes sense that's what she does. But I cannot picture many of the flowers that were used. I also felt like maybe Emma was to simple of a Character. I noticed this when talking about her above, I really didn't know what to say about her.

Still a good book, and Nora Roberts remains a favorite.

I am very excited about the next book. It revolves around Laurel, who is the Pastry Chef for Vows. I love cake and would love to make wonderful cakes. I really would like to go to Culinary School. This makes me wait for those paragraph long descriptions of cakes :) Unfortunately, it looks to be released May 2010. This may be a long 6 months.

Dragon Kiss

Title: Dragon Kiss
Author: E.D. Baker
Series: The Tales of the Frog Princess (Book 7)
Genre: Juvenile Fiction



In Dragon Princess Millie met Audun, an Ice Dragon. After she rescued him and went with her family back to Greater Greenwald, Audun cannot stop thinking about her. He knows that to truly be happy together, he needs to also know how to turn into a human, so he goes and sees the Ice Dragon King.

The Ice Dragon King sends him on several dangerous missions so Audun can prove himself before he is taught how to turn into a human. Eventually he learns how and returns to Millie, who is also in love with him. The two help Millie's family in a battle for their kingdom.

Books for younger children are often repetitive. From the highly repetitive books for the youngest of babies to apparently this book. Each mission was similar and he was given a different object to take with him on each mission. I suppose the book was merely okay.

The Dragon Princess

Title: The Dragon Princess
Author: E.D. Baker
Series: The Tales of the Frog Princess (Book 6)
Genre: Juvenile Fiction



Before I ever started this blog I read the first 5 books from the Tales of the Frog Princess. In those we followed a frog princess on her quest for her prince. Later in the books we followed the Frog Princess's aunt and saw her find her man as well. Now things have gone along some and we meet Millie, the Frog Princess's daughter.

Millie has a bit of a problem whenever she gets angry she turns into a Dragon. She then needs to calm down before she can return back to human. Everyone in her kingdom knows about this, but outside of her kingdom less people know. One set of her grandparents who live to the north invite the family to their kingdom for Millie's Birthday. They don't know about Millie turning into a dragon until she gets angry at her grandmother and does so right in front of her.

This upsets Millie and makes her think harder about learning to control it then ever before. She asks advice of another witch that is at her party and is given the name of the Blue Witch who lives in the way North. So starts Millie's journey with her friends to meet the Blue Witch and learn to control her strange power.

I don't remember if I thought this about all of the books, but I did find them to drag a little. There seemed to be many small things happening, but the plot didn't really catch me until the last few chapters when they had almost found the Blue Witch. Could be because it's Juvenile Fiction and just written at a different level then I anticipated and expect from all books even juvenile fiction.

That said, I have every intention of reading the next book, Dragon's Kiss.

Frostbitten

Title: Frostbitten
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Women of the Otherworld (Book 10)
Genre: Paranormal



We again are following Clay and Elena, this time out into the Alaskan Wilderness where they are dealing with some new Mutt problems. Surprisingly, there seems to be more to it then they imagined.

We meet a new type of shifter, that for some reason has me imagining the Wild Things from the new Where the Wild Things Are move. Not that I've seen anything more than the commercials, but they still were what I imagined.

We learn more about Elena and her past. She was raped as a foster child and that played a fairly big part in the story, which I wasn't too much of a fan of.

Overall, another good addition to the Women of the Otherworld Series. In my opinion, however, this one had the least amount of other supernaturals in it and could probably be read as a stand alone book.

Tempt Me At Twilight

Title: Tempt Me At Twilight
Author: Lisa Kleypas
Series: Hathaway Series (Book 3)
Genre: Romance



I was mistaken. I thought that the third book of the series was going to be about Leo and Catherine Marks. However, it was about Poppy one of the younger sisters.

Poppy has set her sights on Michael and Michael also appears to love Poppy. The two are having somewhat of a secret courtship because Michael's father would not approve. Michael's father does indeed find out and Michael drops Poppy as fast as he possibly can. While she is sad other prospects quickly come about.

Harry is a wealthy hotel owner who wants Poppy no matter the cost. They get married quickly without the two even feeling much affection for each other. Harry must learn to love.

Black Water

Title: Black Water
Author: D.J. MacHale
Series: Pendragon (Book 5)
Series: Young Adult



I think of this book as the beginning of something different for the Pendragon Series. I feel like all the books leading up to this one are fun and pretty self contained. This book change the series and what comes next.

Eelong is a different sort of territory. For one, the quigs are humans and the Traveler is basically a Panther. All humans, gars, are repressed and basically treated worse then animals. Bobby has a hard time fitting in with this of course. There is the ever popular turning point that can throw the territory into chaos. I think this book was the most filled with surprises.

As Saint Dane says, "The rules have changed."

The Reality Bug

Title: The Reality Bug
Author: D.J. MacHale
Series: Pendragon (Book 4)
Genre: Young Adult



Veelox!

Veelox reminds me of a thought I use to have when I was younger. I use to wish that you could have a contraption at the end of your bed where you could both program what you would dream about and record what you dream. Sometime I have such wonderful dreams that I wish to go back relive them or check for more detail. This is almost what Veelox is like.

On Veelox there LifeLight. This is an area where people get hooked up to machines and can actually "live" what they are thinking about. The problem with this is no one wants to live real life anymore. Bobby meets Aja the Traveler from Veelox and her acolyte. Bobby gets to learn first hand what LifeLight is like. Aja thinks she has the perfect solution - a bug/virus that will make everyone's jump (dream) less perfect and more realistic. Her hope is that people will start to come out of LifeLight when the perfection is gone.

Unfortunately, Saint Dane has his hands in things and not everything goes to plan...

The Never War

Title: The Never War
Author: D.J. MacHale
Series: Pendragon (Book 3)
Genre: Young Adult



The third installment of the Pendragon series has us taking the flume to First Earth. First Earth is Earth in the 1930s. We meet Gunny, the First Earth traveler while Bobby and Spader get acquainted with First Earth. Gunny works at the Manhattan Tower Hotel - so Bobby and Spader are staying there and pretending to be Bell Boys while checking out Max Rose - the Top Gangster.

The three Travelers are toying with the time right before WWII breaks out. There are Nazis and many other historically relevant items/people/happenings. The three need to quickly determine what the turning point is (as usual) and stop Saint Dane!

The Lost City of Faar

Title: The Lost City of Faar
Author: D.J. MacHale
Series: Pendragon (Book 2)
Genre: Young Adult



At the end of The Merchant of Death Saint Dane took the flume off to Cloral. Uncle Press and Bobby had no choice but to follow him, while Loor went off to her own territory.

Cloral is my personal favorite territory and with it one of my favorite Travelers, Spader. I think that this may also be D.J. MacHale's favorite territory because when I met him and he signed my book, he signed it Hobey Ho! Which is a phrase that is used often by Spader and in Cloral. It's also Uncle Press's favorite territory.

Cloral is a world that has no dry land. It is all water and the different cities and whatnot are created on floating barges. They have the most advanced and awesome technologies that revolve around water. I just love this place :)

Of course Saint Dane is trying to tip Cloral during it's time of chaos. He is helping to poison the underwater crops that the world depends on for food. To stop him Uncle Press, Bobby and Spader follow clues left by Spader's Dad to find an ancient city that is thought to only be a myth.

The Merchant of Death

Title: The Merchant of Death
Author: D.J. MacHale
Series: Pendragon (Book 1)
Genre: Young Adult



The Pendragon series is another of my ultimate favorite book series. If you haven't read it - you should. It's a fantasy series that in my mind surpasses even Harry Potter...by a lot.

Bobby Pendragon is going about his normal 14 year old business, getting ready to win the championship at his basketball team, having a first kiss with a girl he's had a crush on forever and then his Uncle Press shows up.

Uncle Press convinces Bobby that he needs his help, for what he doesn't say. The two take off and jump into a flume because they are Travelers. They take off to a Territory with scary Bear like quigs. Bobby needs help to save the Milago from the Bedoowan. Sound confusing?

A whole world (well several) come alive in D.J. MacHales writing. Each of the 10 books visits a different Territory where Bobby had to save it at it's critical turning point. I waited and waited for the 10th book to come out and bought it the morning it did. Of course at that point I was reading so many different series that I had gotten from the library that I didn't have time to read it properly. Now that I do, I'm starting with Book 1 and reading through to the end. I read the books several years ago and I want to be fresh when I read 10. It's always interesting to go back and read books that are early on in a series. I keep picking up new information or innuendos that I never did the first time around.

Next up, one of my favorite territories, Cloral!

The Darkest Whisper

Title: The Darkest Whisper
Author: Gena Showalter
Series: Lords of the Underworld (Book 4)
Genre: Paranormal Romance




I read the first 3 books in the series about a year ago, and they blew me away. There are very few books that as soon as I finish reading at the library I feel the need to drive to the bookstore and buy. This series was one of them, possibly the only one I've ever felt that way towards.

Darkest Whisper was the first book that we got the chance to follow one of the Lords of the Underworld who was part of the second group of them. They had split at one time into two groups because of a difference in beliefs, they are now back together.

Sabin is the keeper of Doubt. His demon, obviously, plants doubt into people's minds until they just can't handle it anymore. This leads him to having a hard time holding onto a girlfriend. They eventually all kill themselves because they're so full of doubt. But Sabin has met his match!

Gwendolyn the Timid, whose is part Harpy. The two make an interesting match as they learn each other's quirks and following on the path to finding the relics to lead them to Pandora's box.

Usually when I read a series I feel super connected to the first book's characters and the rest are okay, but not as wonderful. I cannot stress enough how much I've enjoyed every book in this series. I'm anxious to read book 5 - Aeron, the Keeper of Wrath.

Revelations

Title: Revelations
Author: Melissa De La Cruz
Series: Blue Blood (Book 3)
Genre: Young Adult



When we meet back up with Schuyler, she is living at the Force household, where Jack is ignoring her, Mimi is making her life hell, and Oliver is forbidden to see her. Things are starting to go sour in Rio and her grandfather is sent down there to investigate.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this installment. You think you know something and then the world is turned upside down and you don't.

I am anxiously awaiting book 4, The Van Alen Legacy, which is released the first week of October. Looks like a promising continuation to a series that keeps you guessing.

The Palace of Laughter

Title: The Palace of Laughter
Author: Jon Berkeley
Series: The Wednesday Tales No. 1
Genre: Juvenile Fiction


Miles Wednesday is an orphan. He ran away from the orphanage and now lives in a barrel under a tree. On day a circus comes into town, and he speaks with a tiger. The next day he sneaks into the circus and learns there is no tiger at this circus. He does, however, meet Little. Little is a Song Angel who is being forced to work for the circus. Miles helps her escape and the two take off on an adventure to find the Palace of Laughter where Little's friend is.

The Palace of Laughter is part of the Julie Andrews Collection. Yes, the Julie Andrews we all know and love and not just someone with the same name :). The Julie Andrews Collection encompasses books for young readers of all ages taht nurture the imagination and celebrate a sense of wonder.

I am sad to say that I did not finish (DNF) this book. I tried, but even now when I'm 300 pages in, I don't want to invest the time and effort to read the last 100 pages to find out what happens to Miles and Little.

When I first started reading it I thought it seemed a little Harry Potteresque. Example: He's an orphan who lives in the barrel under the tree. It to me was very reminiscent of the cupboard under the stairs. Unfortunately, it's not good in the way that Harry Potter is. I think if I can't get through it and I can read most anything, then I wonder how any child is expected to read this book? I just felt it slow moving to the point where I didn't feel that the plot was moving along at all.

It has gotten 12 reviews and an average of 5 stars on Amazon, what am I missing? One reviewer remarked, "By the time I reached the gangs of children that reminded me of nothing so much as "The Warriors" meets "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome", I was skeptical" This is where I've pretty much ended, perhaps I needed to read farther into it.

There are 2 more books currently in the series, The Tiger's Egg and The Lightening Key (both of which are on my bookshelf waiting). For me I think I'll stop here.

Living With the Dead

Title: Living With the Dead
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Women of the Otherworld (Book 9)
Genre: Paranormal



Robyn, a friend of Hopes, is in a low place. Her husband has recently been murdered. He saw a woman who had a flat tire on the side of the road and got out to help her. When she saw a large black man carrying a tire iron (to change said tire) she freaked out and shot him. Now Robyn is living in LA and working as PR rep for a celebutante, Portia Kane. Portia is also shot and murdered, Robyn being the #1 suspect.

She didn't do it, but it leads her to be immersed in the world of the supernatural, which she had no idea existed. Her goal being to clear her name with the help of Hope and Karl.

Now early on in the book I had a really hard time. Where Personal Demon was told from 2 points of view Living with the Dead was told from at least 5, 4 of them being new characters. This made it extremely difficult. I also had issues with so many new characters being thrown at me that were all main players in combination with the multiple points of view.

Since the book is about clairvoyants, it is almost paralleled in the story telling from multiple views, but initially when I was trying to learn everyone, I was having a difficult time of it. I believe that's what took me so long to finish it.

Up next - Frostbitten, book 10. Back to Elena and hopefully less points of view.

Dreamfever

Title: Dreamfever
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Series: Fever (Book 4)
Genre: Paranormal


I think the book gods are frowning on me. Lately I haven't been getting a whole lot of hours at any of my jobs, but the week that Dreamfever came out all of a sudden I didn't have a spare minute to read. But I FINALLY finished!

What to say about the book - I was fantastic. Just as good as the others in the series. Of course the battle between Fae and Human continues. Mac learns a little more about the prophecy. She worries about who to trust, and we meet some new characters. Aside from this, I feel like saying too much more would give it away.

I read on another blog that the cliffhanger at the end was crazy. I figured it couldn't be any worse then the cliffhanger at the end of Faefever. I was right - I don't think the cliffhanger was as crazy, however it is a good one. I cannot help but wonder who it is.

Wherever I read that Dreamfever would have some parts from Barrons POV, they were sorely mistaken. Sometimes the book is told from Dani's point of view, but never Barrons.

Personal Demon

Title: Personal Demon
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Women of the Otherworld (Book 8)
Genre: Paranormal Romance



Well, things haven't worked out in regards to Dreamfever the way I wanted, so I had some extra time to read another book first.

Personal Demon immerses the reader back into the world of the paranormal that we've been getting to know. This book was told by both Hope (a Chaos Half-Demon) and Lucas (Paiges Husband, a Cabal, a sorcerer).

Lucas' father wants Hope to infiltrate a gang that is plotting something against the Cabal. She goes undercover as a rich half demon named Faith. She gets to know the gang, and even starts to have somewhat of a relationship with Jaz (who for most of the book I just loved). She thinks that she is learning about them when a wrench is thrown into her plans.

Her "ex-boyfriend" if you want to call him that, Karl. Karl is a werewolf and has just joined the Pack. They've always had some sort of a relationship, although usually more friendly with sexual vibes. The two took it too far one night and have been slightly on the outs since. Of course Karl is just dealing with inner issues that he seems to have.

The two are investigating the gang when things start to go severely downhill. Jaz and another gang member are kidnapped, Lucas' brothers are being murdered and no one seems to know who's doing it.

I've enjoyed this series so much throughout it. You would think that by changing the narrator, that the series wouldn't be as spectacular - but it is fantastic. The only thing I didn't enjoy was that this story was told by both Hope and Lucas. While reading I really had to make sure that I paid attention to what the name of the chapter was, otherwise I was confused on who was speaking. I understand why it had to be from both sides, but one person would have been much better.

Overall, a positive addition to the series - next up Book 9, and as far as is currently written in the series. Although Book 10 - Frostbitten is released October 2009.

Faefever

Title: Faefever
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Series: Fever (Book 3)
Genre: Paranormal



Mac gets darker as the series continues, but needs to in order to stay alive. In Faefever she realizes that she has been putting her eggs all in one basket (so to speak). She starts trying to branch out and enlist the help of as many people as she can to keep alive. She doesn't trust them all, but works with them.

The walls between Fae and Humans are crumbling and all hell breaks loose. The ending of this book to me was a real cliff hanger.

I accomplished my goal and finished this book tonight to be ready for Dreamfever tomorrow. While rereading these books the past week I kept thinking about how I've heard that Dreamfever is told from Barron's point of view. I tried to make guesses about how that's going to go and I really hope that we learn a little more about him because his character is so mysterious.

Bloodfever

Title: Bloodfever
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Series: Fever (Book 2)
Genre: Paranormal (Romance?)



Mac's story continues. She looks for more OOP, she pisses off more bad guys and things get bad. She now has an inspector that is following her every move and dragging her off to the police station for questioning. She almost dies. She has some searing kisses with Barrons. She continues the hunt for the dark book.

Another reread for me in preparation of Dreamfever's release tomorrow. I have 1 day to get through Faefever (and go to work) before the release tomorrow. My goal is to finish Faefever tonight, go to bed and pick up Dreamfever tomorrow morning (hopefully before work).

I felt that the story between the two books is seamless, although sometimes I feel as if I can't exactly tell you what has happened, because it seems as if nothing really has. Or it has, but is somewhat of a spoiler. So I'll leave my poor explaination of the story as is and instead think ahead to Faefever, where I remember the ending is insane. What perfect timing for the end of a book.

No Humans Involved

Title: No Humans Involved
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Women of the Otherworld (Book 7)
Genre: Paranormal Romance



For this installment of the Women of the Otherworld, we follow Jaime the necromancer. This time she is chosen to be part of a reality TV show where she and two others will talk to the ghost of Marilyn Monroe and figure out who killed her. It seems like an easy enough job until Jaime notices odd things.

Whenever she goes in the garden she can feel spirits who will touch her and poke her. She cannot see them and cannot talk to the, which for her is odd. She figures out that these 6 spirits are children. She becomes determined to help them cross over. This seems to be a problem, however, because she doesn't know why they are the way they are. This sets the scene for the mystery in the book.

Another large portion of this story is devoted to Jeremy and Jaime. The two have always liked each other and in this book finally hook up. To me it seemed a little odd for Jeremy to be getting down and dirty when he is portrayed as such a gentleman and well controlled man. It seemed like he was the type who would never have sex.

I find that as the series continues and I get to know more and more about the characters Kelley Armstrong has created, I want to read more. This seems to be a bit out of the ordinary. It truly is a good series if it can keep me wanting more 7 books later. Only two more books that are currently released. Book # 10: Frostbitten comes out October 2009. This seems like it's going to be released at the perfect time.