Beautiful Music for Ugly Children

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children

by Kirstin Cronn-Mills

Gabe may have been born a girl, but he's always been a boy at heart.

A lover of music spanning the decades and inspired by a DJ neighbor with a collection to rival that of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Gabe is on a quest to finish high school and finally be able to be the boy he feels he was always meant to be.

He starts his journey with a midnight radio show on a local station called "Beautiful Music for Ugly Children".

On his quest, he inspires people, gives them hope, leads them to crazy acts of bravery around the town, and he finally finds people who may actually accept him for who, and what, he is.

But no journey in life is without its potholes, and Gabe has a rough rode ahead.

Final thoughts: Immediately upon starting this book, I thought of a few students I've met over the years who could use a book like this.  It's realistic and gritty with moments of intense hate and real love.  Gabe's life changes aren't easy for everyone around him to accept, and even he struggles with the practical side of things, though he never even once thinks he might be wrong.  He's always known that though he was born with female parts, he's a male through and through.  His struggles are the struggles of many in the LGBTQ community, not just the transgenders, but it's good that trans teens finally have something to which they can read and relate.  It's not perfect, but it's a good start.

Rating: 4/5

Taking Back Forever

Taking Back Forever

by Karen Amanda Hooper

(Book #2 of the Kindrily series starts immediately after Grasping at Eternity with NO review of previous plot points, so if you haven't read the first one, you'll be really confused with this one.)

Maryah finally believes what the people around her have been telling her; she's the reincarnation of Mary, the leader of the family who "erased" her memory after her last life.

However, she's still unable to control her abilities and help her family as much as she wishes.  She's especially frustrated that she can't help her friend, Harmony, find her soulmate.

When it comes to light that Harmony's soulmate is not only alive, but the murderer of Maryah's family, the need to find him and find out what happened becomes even more important.

Now Maryah must fight to find her memories and regain control of her abilities, while Harmony must find her soulmate, but neither realize how much danger they have put their family in yet.

Final thoughts: It was interesting to finally read the second book of a trilogy that didn't spend the first few chapters in review of the previous book.  The relationships are becoming stronger, though the magic sometimes seems out of place.  Maryah's new knowledge of her past is fascinating and I love learning about her lives with her.  Harmony's voice is interesting, but I missed Nate's side of things.  The book ends fairly calmly unless you read past Hooper's warning and read the first section of the third book.  GOOD story coming there.

Rating: 4/5

Fifth Grave Past the Light

Fifth Grave Past the Light

by Darynda Jones

Reyes Farrow, Son of Satan, is now Charley's new neighbor and Charley doesn't really mind at all.

In fact, it's kind of handy since her own apartment has been overrun by dead blondes, none of whom will talk to her to explain what's going on.

As the one and only Grim Reaper walking the planet right now, it makes sense that they've come to her, but they're not really helping her help them find peace.

Between the dead blondes, an arsonist burning down old buildings, a cheating husband, a woman who appeared dead and then wasn't, and a prediction of a few deaths of people she loves, Charley's got a LOT on her plate.

Final thoughts: I LOVE Charley!!!  She and Reyes are awesome and this book had more of them together, yet still not enough.  If I had any issue with this book, it was in the setting up of the end of the series (which, let's face it, could still be a dozen books away as long as Charley and Reyes get more time together).  There was time spent bringing in and/or mentioning characters from previous books for just a few moments and then forgetting them again.  It felt like Jones was just trying to make sure we remembered everyone as she gets ready to bring them all together.  However, it's still Charley and it's still quirky fun.

Rating: 4/5

Grasping at Eternity

Grasping at Eternity

by Karen Amanda Hooper

Maryah Woodsen is a fairly typical teen.  She's got parents who often say the wrong thing and a twin brother who tries to keep the peace, but teases his sister relentlessly.

Her life is pretty good.

Until the screaming starts.

After weeks recovering in the hospital, Maryah is moved across the country to her godmother's home.

There, she meets a family who take her in immediately and seem to love her with almost no hesitation.  The only person who seems to actively avoid her is Nathan, her godmother's son.

But Nathan is avoiding her for a reason.

It turns out that the entire family are kindrily, a kind of family that reincarnates and finds each other over and over again.  The only condition to them being together is that they keep their memories from one life to the next and never "erase" between lives.

And Maryah did just that.  She erased after her last life and no one understands why, least of all her soulmate for the last five centuries, Nathan.

Now Maryah and her new family have to find a way to work together because something is coming, and it's possible that Maryah's the key to it all.

Final thoughts: This is a nice, new, original story that I really liked.  The whole idea of the reincarnation of soulmates and keeping or erasing memories is fascinating.  My only real issue was with Hooper trying to explain the Elements and how those Elements gave supernatural powers to each of the members of the kindrily.  It felt a little forced.  However, that doesn't stop the coolness factor of the story itself.  I'm looking forward to the second book.

Rating: 4/5

Click to Subscribe

Click to Subscribe

by L.M. Augustine

Sam Green (a.k.a. West Ryder) has a thriving and popular vlog and on online romance with one of his subscribers (Harper) who posts comments at 2:02 p.m. every day on the dot.

West Ryder (a.k.a. Sam Green) has a crappy home life, especially after his mother died in car accident caused by his alcoholic father.  His only two joys are his alternate identity's vlog and his best friend, Cat.

When Sam and Harper agree to finally meet up in person, it's a Catfish moment as West realizes that Harper is really his best friend, Cat, who fell in love with him years before and has only now been able to confess it.

Now West and Cat must navigate this new layer of their relationship, while West must also deal with his father's alcoholism and the constant reminders of the loss of his mother.

Final thoughts: Meh. West and Cat have a cool friendship, but the "witty repartee" gets really annoying really quickly.  There are also a number of consistency errors with things like West mentioning that he works at Starbucks to help pay the bills, but then he's NEVER there and even meets his Catfish at an unremarkable coffee house somewhere else.  All he does is go to school, go home, vlog, do homework, rinse, repeat, so when does he go to this nightly job that he mentions ONCE?  The lack of closure at the end regarding his relationship with his father is frustrating, too.  However, the relationship between West and Cat feels as real and as chaotic as any typical high school budding romance.

Rating: 3/5

Reading Personality Quiz

The Relentless Reader posted on Book Bloggers International and she included a link to a personality quiz.  I took the quiz and I am a...

Serial Reader

"You may read a lot or a little, but either way you're a publisher's dream, because once you discover a favorite writer you stick with him/her through thick and thin and eagerly await the next in the series; but even you need to discover some new blood from time to time!"

Yup!  That sounds about right.  Without NetGalley, I might never try new authors, especially now that my local bookstores are all shut down and I don't have time to go out to others for serious browsing time.

Skinwalker

Skinwalker

by Faith Hunter

Jane Yellowrock is the best vamp hunter there is because she's got a secret; she's a skinwalker.  With a tiny bit of DNA, she can shift into any creature, big or small.  That means that she can track any vamp through any territory.

But Jane's no ordinary skinwalker.  She's got an even bigger secret.  The Beast lurks in her, speaks to her, gives her advice, and sometimes takes over.

How the Beast got in her is something Jane has never known.  All she knows is that she walked out of the forest years ago, was told at the time that she was 12 years old, and had to learn how to be human.

Now she's in New Orleans, hired to take down a rogue vamp who's killing vamps and humans around the city.  If she can provide proof of the kill within 10 days, she stands to make quite a bit of cash.  But tracking the vamp is harder than she thought and the whole hunt is complicated by a couple very sexy humans and a beyond sexy vamp.  

They're all interested and interesting, but they're a distraction she can't afford.

Final thoughts: This was recommended by Amazon because of my penchant for supernatural urban lit.  Unfortunately, it's not a good fit.  I didn't like the changing voices of Jane and The Beast.  There was far too much time spent on describing everything from buildings, to clothes, to her shifting, to how she took her many, many showers.  Jane also had a habit of giving people nicknames and then shifting between calling the characters by name and then by nickname. It made the large cast even more confusing.  The story itself was a little winding and strange.  It was OK, but I have no need to read the next one.

Rating: 2/5

The Boyfriend App

The Boyfriend App

by Katie Sise

Two years after Audrey McCarthy's father died in a freak accident on the job, Audrey is barely getting by in the high school social scene.  She's a hacker with a small group of friends and she's on the enemy list of her former BFF.

Now an opportunity comes for a $200k scholarship, if only should could use her amazing programming and hacking skills to come up with the best phone app.

After years of being ignored by guys, while pining after a few, Audrey comes up with the perfect plan: the boyfriend app.  With a few clicks and a few survey questions, girls can get a notification whenever her perfect match is within 100 yards of her.

The first few matches seem perfect, but can she get it to last long enough to make it the most popular app of the contest? 

Final thoughts: The first half of this book is really good.  I enjoyed Audrey and her friends.  The problems come when the author decides she has to go into tons of details about hacking and programming.  It kind of goes on and on.  The second half becomes a mess with mystery, intrigue, and computer espionage.  It gets messy and strange.  Mix in the highly questionable choices about the direction of the app and it's just all weird.

Rating: 3/5

Skin

Skin 

by Donna Jo Napoli 

When Sep stares into the mirror the morning of the first day of school, something's different. 

Her lips are now completely white. 

 Then a spot appears on her hand. 

Another shows up on her chest. 

And more keep appearing over the next few weeks. 

She's diagnosed with vitiligo, an incurable disease that causes the skin pigmentation to change, permanently, to white. It's unpredictable, but not contagious, and Sep will have to learn to live with it forever. 

Before it spreads so far that she has to admit to everyone around her what's going on, Sep is determined to get the most out of life and the new guy who just started taking an interest in her. 

Can she find a way to have it all before it all is taken away?

Final thoughts:  This one has me confused.  There is so much good to this story and it could be a real help to people who find themselves in similar situations, but there are too many problems.  The first, of course, is the sexual situation issue.  It's a natural progression to the story, but Napoli really didn't need to describe it in detail.  It takes the book from a good middle school book to upper high school with just a few pages.  The second issue is Sep's compulsion to spend page after page describing facts she's discovered about salmon and Vishnu and other scientific and philosophic things that come up in her life.  Finally, Joshua's nice and all, but the ending seemed odd.  While more realistic than many books, it felt unfinished.

Rating: 3/5

Book Blogger Hop

What is your favorite trilogy (series)?

Ack!  So many from which to choose!

My current fave is the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones.  But there's also The Grave Witch series by Kalayna Price and the Chicagoland Vampires by Chloe Neill.  And, of course, there's also the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs.

Right now, I'm on an urban supernatural kick, and those tend to be long-running series books rather than just trilogies.  There are some really good dystopian series though, like The Hunger Games, Divergent, Across the Universe, Matched, and more.

The Mind Readers

The Mind Readers

by Lori Brighton

All her life, Cameron has had to hide her ability to read minds.  Every time someone even suspects she might be talented, her grandmother moves them somewhere else.  She's always had to live with the fear that "they" are coming to get her and she must stay away from them.

After a murder in her current small town, Cam realizes that she can do some good by stopping the murderer before he strikes again.  Helping to push her on is the new, mysterious Lewis, a cute new student who just showed up and seems to know more about her than anyone else.

Lewis has a few secrets of his own, and when he shows Cameron that there are others who understand her and can help her control her abilities, Cam knows this is an opportunity that she can't ignore.

But just because she has found people who know what she's going through, that doesn't mean she can trust them.

Final thoughts: Ok. Not fabulous.  I get that Cam's going through some major stuff, but she comes off really naive and kind of whiny.  Too many things never added up in the story and other things were so obviously wrong that you're shocked that Cam can't see it.  ::SPOILER:: If Aaron can erase memories, why not just erase Cam's memories of the world outside his camp and keep her around? He seems manipulative enough that he'd be willing to do anything to keep her around, not just let her go.::END SPOILER::

Rating: 3/5

Demonic Dora

Demonic Dora

by Claire Chilton

After years of dealing with her televangelist father and former stripper/born-again mother, Dora has gotten tired of the constant Bible thumping.  Now that she's finally got the missing ingredient, she can summon a demon, do some damage, and get the heck out of town.

Unfortunately, the demon she summoned is a teenage boy who can't seem to get spells right, but does seem to have the hots for Dora.  After nearly getting burned at the stake by her own parents, Dora and her demon take a portal to Hell to hide out.

But Hell isn't everything Dora thought it was and it's going to take everything she has (and a few things that she doesn't) to survive.

Final thoughts:  This is completely schizophrenic.  The writing style feels like it's meant for middle school, but the foul language and constant references to sex are meant for an older audience.  The plot itself is full of holes (and HUGE time/location jumps with no warning), as it goes from comedy, to romance, to mystery as if imitating a fly in a room; it zooms all over with no consistent path or pattern.  It's got some decent moments, but it's really not very good and I didn't even care about the cliffhanger.

Rating: 2/5

Jane Austen Goes to Hollywood

Jane Austen Goes to Hollywood

by Abby McDonald

The Weston patriarch has died shortly after he left his first family and started a new family with a stuck up, petty, selfish woman.  While Mr. Weston had worked hard to take care of his first family, he hadn't put anything in writing, so with his death comes the complete loss of funds for his ex-wife and two daughters.  The new wife even sells the first family's home out from under them.

Now Valerie, Hallie, and Grace Weston must leave San Francisco and head down to Los Angeles to live in the guest house of a wealthy cousin and his young wife.  Not only must they leave their home, they must leave behind all they've ever known.

Valerie sinks herself into her art, while Hallie works to be in the in-crowd in order to make it in Hollywood.  As they live in their own worlds, the more pragmatic younger sister, Grace, works to simply get through the day-to-day work of finishing high school and maintaining a part-time job.

For the sisters, life and love loom large.

Final thoughts: This is a retelling of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and really seems to keep a little too tightly to the story.  While the author doesn't really use the original names much, she drops them around the story to the point where it's distracting.  Hallie's whining gets frustrating at times, but it's tempered by the alternating points of view between her and Grace.  I wish the relationships had been a little more fleshed out, with less talking about their talks and more actual talks.  However, it's a nice little story with some good moments.

Rating: 3/5

45 Pounds (More or Less)

45 Pounds (More or Less)

by K.A. Barson

At 16 years old, Ann doesn't remember a time when she hasn't struggled with her weight.

All of the other women in her family look fantastic and thin, while she fights to fit into something other than baggy pants and t-shirts.

When her aunt announces that she's getting married in just a few short months and Ann is going to be in the wedding party, Ann knows she's got to lose 45 pounds in order to feel confident among the beauties in her family.

On her journey, she tries fad diets, "incentive" clothing, bargaining with herself (just one more donut and I'll be good tomorrow), and so much more.

Can she find herself among all the words of wisdom, help, and hate that surround an overweight girl?

Final thoughts: Ann's struggles are realistic, if a little repetitive.  She sometimes comes off a little whiny, but the overall message is good.  Tricks don't work. Fads don't work. Fat doesn't magically come off. People who are overweight aren't necessarily lazy or pigs; they are just regular people who don't really know how to balance food and fitness.  There are other messages about the dangers of being thin, too.  How are we affecting our future generations with our constant messages about being skinny?

Rating: 3/5

Dead Silence

Dead Silence

by Kimberly Derting

Violet has been drawn back into the group whose leader has threatened her family.  Whether she wants to help or not, she's got to protect those she loves and she's got to follow the echoes of the dead.

Following echoes can be a little difficult now, though, since she's got an echo of her own.  Ever since she accidentally killed her kidnapper while escaping, Violet has had to hear an incessant music box melody droning over and over in her head.  

She's never free of it.  

It never stops.

But neither do murders.

Violent deaths are everywhere and Violet can't help but try to put the dead to rest.

When someone she loves is put in danger, Violet must risk everything to protect her.

Final thoughts: Ok.  That's it.  I may be done with this series.  Violet isn't strong anymore. Her grandmother's journals seem really convenient and solve a few problems, while also introducing new mysteries.  Jay isn't as awesome; in fact, he's one-dimensional and kind of annoying.  The team is barely seen except when needed.  And I was just disappointed.  It was just okay.  It wasn't fantastic and it wasn't awful.  (Btw, the official book trailer from HarperTeen doesn't really fit the book.)

Rating: 3/5

Frankenstein

Frankenstein

by Mary Shelley

When Robert Walton decides to head to the Arctic to challenge himself and go on an adventure, little did he know that he'd meet someone whose life adventure far surpasses his own.

Just hours after seeing one giant man pass by the ship, then stranded in the ice, another man appears, sick, tired, and on a journey to destroy his greatest creation.

That man is Victor Frankenstein and his quest is destroy the monster he made.

He tells Walton his tale, both as a warning and prayer.

Final thoughts: It's an iconic book with that rare female author of her day writing a "man's" story.  Unfortunately, it's annoying.  It's a story within a story within a story and every single narrator has more than one moment where he says something to the effect of, "I know I'm talking a lot, but... " and then keeps on talking. Walton is re-telling the story of Victor, who at one point re-tells the story of the monster.  There are a few brief moments of feeling sorry for the monster, but he keeps turning it around and becoming a whiny pain in the butt.  And Victor isn't great, either.  Gothic, maybe.  Good, not really.

Rating: 2/5

With All My Soul

With All My Soul

by Rachel Vincent

Time may march on but Kaylee never has to worry about that for herself. As a bean sidhe, she was already looking at a very long life. Now, as an undead, she is looking at immortality as a collector of souls. She's also looking at immortality with her reaper boyfriend who happens to look kinda hot both in and out of any clothes.

Unfortunately, it's not all fun and forever young for Kaylee since the avarice demon is still after her and will do pretty much anything to get her.

Couple that with her best friend now being in a new body (with her own new supernatural powers to boot), her best friend's sister being impregnated with her murderer's incubus, soul-free baby, and the demons of envy and vanity coming for her and her friends, and Kaylee still has a long list of tasks to cross off her "to-do" list.

All that is bad enough, but when she discovers that Avari has taken someone she loves, she may have to lose everything to save him.

Final thoughts: Solid ending to the story, though a little forced. Wrath's sudden appearance in the story and how his character is used is a little deus ex machina, as if Vincent couldn't figure out how to end it without sending in a kind of cavalry to save the day... kind of. The last few chapters felt rushed and strange. However, it's still a good read and I don't have too many objections except that the Thane story thread is mentioned a couple of times, but never closed. 

Rating: 4/5

My Ex from Hell

My Ex from Hell

by Tellulah Darling

Sophie Bloom only remembers living with her adoptive mom followed by being sent to boarding school and meeting her two best friends.

Except for being the obvious bully target of the popular group (probably because of her snarky attitude and smart mouth), her life is actually pretty good.

She's even got a plan of revenge against her worst tormentor that should be foolproof... until she meets HIM.

Sophie goes from not being interested in anyone to being completely addicted to Kai. 

And then they kiss.  

And then Sophie's world is forever changed.

It turns out that she's no regular girl.  She's the human reincarnation of the murdered Persephone.  Kai is the son of Hades and her sometime lover.  One of her besties is Prometheus.  She's suddenly got a few god-like powers.  And, oh yeah! both Hades and Zeus want her, if only to kill her and stop her from stopping their plans.

What's an ex-goddess to do?

Final thoughts: Fairly decent read, though there were a few times I had to go back and re-read because things went so fast they became unclear.  Action moments were extremely detailed and a little long, while a few other moments could have been detailed a bit more.  Nice enough that I'll happily read the sequel (of yet another trilogy).

Rating: 4/5

Bloodspell

Bloodspell

by Amalie Howard

After Victoria's parents died in a car wreck, she went to live with her "aunt" Holly.  Life has been pretty normal for her since then, if you count being an outcast as "normal".

On her 17th birthday, everything changes.

When Victoria's blood changes from bright red to nearly black, the spell that has been in her family for generations finally comes to her.  She inherits the curse that gives her great power and slowly destroys her at the same time.

When she moves to a new town to get away from the rumors about her, she meets Christian Devereaux, a boy who is more than he appears.

Why she's drawn to him, she doesn't know.  What he knows about her could be her end.

Final thoughts:  Ugh! Awful!  It's so blatantly a Twilight rip-off with the added issue of witches, fairies, etc... And yet, Howard seems to be constantly screaming "THIS ISN'T TWILIGHT!" Victoria has a nickname (Tori). She's in love with a vampire. They are deeply in love, but can't be together because it's too dangerous for them. There's a second guy who seems to believe that Tori is meant to be his and his alone.  He and Christian hate each other on sight and it only gets more powerful between them.  There's Angie who can see what people are and knows it will affect the future if they know what she knows.  There are fairies who "sparkle", and it's like an in-joke with a whole, "See! It's NOT Twilight!" vibe.  The writing is horrendous and choppy.  The dialogue is forced.  None of the relationships are believable.  Too many things happen on the fly like, hey! she's a witch!  Hey! There's a prophecy about her that no one mentioned before!  Let's have him go to Paris... oops! No. He needs to be back in the states.  But now they both need to go to Paris.  No.  They need to be back in the states.  I love you and want to be with you forever! We can make this work!  Nope!  Too dangerous.  We'll never it make it work.  We really should be together! We can make this work; I know we can!  No.  We can't do it.  

It's a freakin' yo-yo of bad ideas and poor follow-through.  

Avoid.

Rating: 1/5

Frost Burned

Frost Burned

by Patricia Briggs

The honeymoon is over and Mercy Thompson is now Mercy Hauptman, mate of the Alpha.  He's one of the strongest Alphas out there and she now shares his power.

She also shares his daughter as she is now her stepmother, which means she shares those duties as well, including protecting her from all harm.

And harm has come their way.

In fact, all but one of the members of the Pack has been captured, including Mercy's new husband, and all signs point to the abductors coming after her and her new stepdaughter.

In addition, she finds out that all of their phones, and the phones of those who are considered allies, have been tapped, so calling for help is out.

Now Mercy must find a way to save her new family, all of them, whether they like her or not.

Final thoughts:  Much better than the last one, though still with some flaws.  Great to see Mercy at her best.  While I loved seeing a few things from Adam's point of view, it felt like Briggs was desperate to convey some story features and couldn't figure out how to do it with Mercy, so she's added him to the story, but only where absolutely necessary.  Essentially, his chapters felt out of place and forced.  Otherwise, still pretty darn good.

Rating: 4/5

Oh. My. Gods.

Oh. My. Gods.

by Tera Lynn Childs

For years, it's been just Phoebe and her mother.  After the freak accident that killed her father when she was just a child, Phoebe's adjusted to life without him.  In fact, she's on track to having the best senior year ever!

USC has already expressed interest in giving her a scholarship the following year.  Her best friends are with her and have gotten her over her rotten ex.  And her final race is her best yet.

Things are looking magical.

Until her mother comes back from a trip to Greece with a new fiancé and an order to move.

Phoebe's on her way to Greece to live at her new stepdad's house, whether she wants to go or not.

It's bad enough that she's got to move to the other side of the planet, away from her friends and extended family.  It's worse that she's got to take courses so different from what she knows that a B-average will be difficult to maintain.  It's still worse that she's now related by marriage to one of the meanest girls ever born.

But the worst part of all is that her new school is filled with the descendents of Greek gods.  Every single student, including her evil stepsister, has a god for an ancestor... except her.

Thank goodness Phoebe can run because she'll need that talent more than ever.

Final thoughts: Fun cotton candy book.  There's nothing here that's a brain drain.  Phoebe's fun and the world that Childs has created is realistic enough.  There are a few awkward moments and a few things that didn't work perfectly, but it was definitely a decent read.  Sadly for me, I had heard about this book because I read the preview for the sequel, which gave away one of the twists from this book, so I spent much of the book looking for the twist to occur; but that was not the book's failing and it's still worth the read.

Rating: 4/5

Going Vintage

Going Vintage

by Lindsey Leavitt

Even though Mallory just moved to town about two years ago, she's already set in her high school ranking.  She's the girlfriend of one of the hottest guys in school, so she's got an identity and hundreds of "friends" on her Friendspace account (think MySpace merged with Facebook).

After an intense make-out session at her BF's house, she goes onto his computer to write his philosophy paper, only to find his Friendspace account open and a virtual "wife" who is a complete stranger to Mallory.

Is it cheating if it's only online?

Hell YES!

While Mallory is recovering from the ultimate betrayal, she comes across a list her grandma made in 1962.

        Junior Year: Back to School Resolution.

             1. Run for Pep Squad secretary

             2. Host a fancy dinner party/soiree

             3. Sew a dress for homecoming

             4. Find a steady

             5. Do something dangerous

This list is simple.  This list is powerful.  This list is exactly what Mallory needs.

In order to make this list authentic, Mallory immerses herself in a tech-free environment.  No more cell phone. No more computer. No more digital anything.  And definitely no more Friendspace.

Now she has just a couple of weeks to finish the entire list, while dealing with the real world ramifications of an online smear campaign.

Final thoughts:  This is a cotton candy book.  It's light and fun, but you have to let some concerns go as you read to really enjoy it.  There are far too many things that line up for Mallory, as well as go wrong.  It's just a bit much to see all of this happening in the space of about two weeks.  Some of the things are just a little out of the realm of believability, but are still interesting to read.  Mallory's voice was really true to that of a high school junior, sometimes annoyingly so.  However, the overall story is a decent one and one that many people will be able to relate to.

One annoying thing, from this Librarian's point of view, is Mallory's research project.  Because she's sworn off technology, she has to write her report the old-fashioned way, which includes researching in the Library (YEAH!), but then she procrastinates too long, gets bored and frustrated, so she sneaks onto a computer, copy/pastes from different articles, changes a few sentences "so the words are my own", prints the paper, and submits it.  The author just endorsed plagiarism??  We already have a HUGE problem with students doing this every day and the author just put it in a book?  I know she's going for reality, but this is just frustrating.

Rating: 4/5

The Shadow Society

The Shadow Society

by Marie Rutkoski

Darcy Jones was left at a fire station when she was just five years old with no idea who she was or how she'd gotten there.

Eleven years and far too many foster homes later, Darcy has finally found a town, a foster mother, and a school that she's been able to stay with for more than a year.  But just when she seems to be getting everything on track, she finds herself drawn to a boy who seems to know more about her than she's ever known about herself.

He knows where she comes from.  

He knows what she is.  

He knows what she's capable of.

And he knows how to hurt her.

Will she be able to find out who she is and what she can do before everything she has worked so hard for is taken away from her forever?

Final thoughts:  It's another supernatural book with a clueless, but powerful heroine, and a hunky, dangerous boy.  This is a decent read and it has its moments, but some of the things that happen are just too unbelievable and the love triangle/quadrangle/whatever is predictable.

Rating: 3/5

The Goddess Inheritance

The Goddess Inheritance 

by Aimee Carter 

Nine months after she was kidnapped by the queen of the gods, Kate Winters finally gives birth to the son that only a few even knew existed. 

Now she must find a way to get him back to his father, free herself in the process, and stop the most Titan to ever walk the Earth from getting free and destroying everything she loves and has sworn to protect.

Final thoughts:  Such a disappointment!  This one just doesn't live up to all the other books in the series.  I had high expectations walking into this one and just didn't get much from it.  Kate was whining and indecisive, seeming to have lost all her gumption from the first books.  The story shifts around far too quickly and moments are pushed through rather than savored.  The ending felt like a set-up for the next series Carter might be planning, rather than a true, meaningful end.  So very sad.

Rating: 3/5 (and only because the rest of the books helped this one)

House Rules

House Rules

by Chloe Neill

Even though she's been a vampire for less than a year, Merit has probably seen more, done more, and dealt with more problems than most other vamps combined.  

She's saved Chicago, and the vamps within its limits, multiple times, with the help of her boyfriend and House Master, Ethan, her partner in the secret vamp group, Jonah, and a number of other supernaturals and vampires everywhere.

Now, in the middle of the Cadogan House's most dangerous undertaking (separating from the Greenwich Presidium, the vampire governing agency), suddenly vampires are being murdered.

Once again, Merit has to track down a killer and save her House even as the House takes on its biggest challenge.

Final thoughts:  Yet another winner from Neill!  Now that Merit and Ethan seem to have finally gotten through most of their problems (but not all, as evidenced by a major issue in the book), the books can focus on other characters and mysteries.  I'm not sure how much more the story can stretch, though, and I really hope she doesn't push this too far and ruin what's been going so well so far.

Rating: 4/5