The Girl Who Could Fly

The Girl Who Could Fly

by Victoria Forester

Piper's parents come from a long line of practical people.  If it always worked before, why change it?

When Piper was born, she was already an impractical baby.  Her parents had long since given up on having children before she was conceived, so her birth was a bit abnormal and caused a lot of talk around town.

Shortly after she was born, she began to float.  She was bumping the ceiling before she crawled on the floor.  She also had ideas and thoughts that were far from practical, and she wasn't ashamed to share them.

Her parents kept her at home (except for church) in order to protect her and keep them all from becoming the talk of the town gossip.

However, when Piper figured out how to control her floating and actually fly with purpose, there wasn't much her parents could do to keep it from becoming headline news.

Now Piper has been offered the chance to go to a private school and meet children just like her.

Could it be too good to be true?

Final thoughts:  The author quote on the cover was written by Stephenie Meyer and describes this book as "the oddest/sweetest mix of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men."  That seems pretty accurate.  For the most part, it's a slow, rambling story of a country bumpkin with an extraordinary ability and a few moments of action.  The action itself sometimes seems written as if there should be some images to go with it.  It's very relaxed except for hyper moments of action that speed up for a few pages and then slow right back down again.  Cute, but definitely meant for upper elementary students.

Rating: 4/5

Once a Witch

Once a Witch

by Carolyn MacCullough

When Tamsin was born, her grandmother declared that she would become the most powerful witch in the family and should would be a beacon for the family.  But when she turned eight, she had still never performed a spell or done any apparent magic.

It seemed that she had no Talent.  

Her grandmother was wrong.

Now Tamsin does everything she can to avoid her family and their Talents.  She's even headed off to a boarding school to try and have a "normal" life.

However, things all change when Tamsin comes home to help with the family store.  A professor enters and mistakes her for her extremely powerful sister.  He commissions her to find a family relic that he claims had been stolen from his ancestors.

With the help of her childhood friend, Gabriel (who also happens to be extremely cute), Tamsin is determined to prove that even without her own Talent, she can still be important to the family.

But will she really be able to help?  Or will she destroy everything she's been raised to know about her world?

Final thoughts:  Yet another book that had a cool idea, but it never really grabbed me.  And it's another trilogy.  I'm really starting to wonder how long the publishers will continue to push this trend of spreading out perfectly good single novel ideas into long trilogies that don't really need/deserve it.

Rating: 3/5

Angel Burn

Angel Burn

by L.A. Weatherly

Angels are real.

They have wings.  They glow with a kind of heavenly light.  They fly.  And when they touch you, you feel blissed out and blessed.

What angels don't tell you when they touch you is that they are feeding on your soul.  They suck away your life force and leave behind disease and destruction.

If you've been touched by an angel, you don't have long to live and what life you do have may not be that great.

Alex knows this.  He's hunted angels since his mother was killed by one when he was five.  At 17, he's one of the best angel assassins out there and he knows it.  When he's called to kill Willow Fields, it's just another hunt to him.

Until he see her...

She's like nothing he's ever seen before. She's both human and angel, a combination never thought possible before.

And she's on the most wanted list of the angels out there because it's been predicted that she will lead to the destruction of all angels.

Can Alex figure out what's going on and keep Willow alive long enough to stop the coming invasion?

Final thoughts:  Eh.  I've read better. I've read worse.  Weatherly's writing needs a bit of help.  It's all tell instead of show.  "I hate him"  "I hate her"  "Wow! I love him"  "Strange! I love her"  It's also got a bit of Twilight in it with the girl volunteering to put herself in harm's way for the greater good and the guy ordering her not to and telling her he'll die without her.  Could be better.  I'm not eagerly anticipating the second book (of yet ANOTHER trilogy).  I may read it. I may not.  So... eh.

Rating: 3/5

Book Blogger Hop

Book Blogger Hop

I've been missing these because I've been slow to read new stuff recently and didn't want to have week after week of hop links and nothing new.  I HAVE been re-reading books from my teen years, but reviewing those seems wrong since I'm very biased about them.

For more information about the hop, go HERE.

So the question of the week...

“What is the one ARC you would love to get your hands on right now?”

Honestly, if I could get my hands on Chloe Neill's new Chicagoland book or Rachel Vincent's next Soul Screamers book, I'd be in heaven.  Waiting for them is torture!  Plus I may need to re-read them all if I have to wait much longer, which means even less time to read original new stuff.