The Good Neighbors

Naomi Bates came and spoke at our Inservice this week. She had so many fun and exciting things to talk about - some of them book titles, some of them technology updates. She was amazing!

One of the titles she mentioned was Holly Black & Ted Naifeh's graphic novel (reads like a comic) titled, Kin (The Good Neighbors, Book One).

I picked it up on Friday. It was easy to read and I found it pretty interesting. If you've read Holly Black before, then you know she is into faeries and alternate worlds. Paired with Naifeh's art, readers will be taken to a new dimension!

Rue's mom is missing. She overheard her mother and her father fighting - possibly over another woman - after the fight, her mother was gone.

More than that is troubling Rue, however. Since her mother left, she feels like there is more than meets the eye to the world at large. If she looks closely at things, she can't help but notice that they aren't quite right. Creatures disguised a humans? That can't be right.

When her father is arrested for killing one of his college students, Rue is forced to face the truth. Something in her world is wrong. A strange grandfather appears and wants to take her "home". His assistant only speaks in confounding riddles that make no sense. Her friends want to help her solve the mystery of the murdered girl....all of these things collide to form the first part of what is sure to be an intriguing series!!

This was a good recommendation that I am now passing on!!
Give it a try.

For more info, visit the author's site by clicking here!

Feathered

Feathered by Laura Kasischke is timely - something literally taken right out of the headlines!
Three girls leave on a trip to Cancun, all with different expectations about what is going to happen. They have all been brought up with very different parents, some overly cautious, all loving and concerned. They are perfect, happy, teenage girls who just want to enjoy themselves and can't imagine anything dark and dangerous.

Terror comes from the least likely suspects, however, and two of the girls find themselves trapped in a quagmire of date rape drugs and kidnapping while in a foreign country. Each girl has to react to a different type of situation, making decisions that will forever change their lives.

Told from alternating perspectives, readers will find themselves quickly and easily drawn into the culture and folklore of Mexico paralleled with the horrors faced by these high school seniors.

It is scary, it is realistic, and it is moving.

Click here to read a excerpt!! It's worth it!

Daughter of the Flames

When I got Daughter of the Flames by Zoe Marriott in the mail, I thought the cover looked interesting. I gave the flap a little read, and it wasn’t made up of the things that I usually like in a book.

I am so glad that I tried it out.

I enjoyed the heck out of the ideas that Marriot presented.

Our heroine, Zira has been raised in the Ruan faith. She has been taught to believe in God, the mother. She has been trained to fight like a stealthy assassin. She is intelligent. She would have been beautiful, but she was caught in a fire when she was little and her face was burned.

There is more to Zira’s story than meets the eye, however.

See, the fire that she was burned in was the fire that killed the Royal Family, a family in which she was the princess. When she was burned, a nanny whisked her away to safety among the Ruan people. Zira was raised never knowing that she was actually Zahira…the queen.

What a conundrum.

Now a series of events have brought her to the doorstep of her Uncle, the man responsible for the dangerous and heartbreaking fire. Zahira must find a way to outsmart King Abheron and lead her people to safety and peace.

There are, of course, some twisty sub-plots along the way that add flavor.

Marriott lays some nice groundwork for her story and I thought she did a good job of writing thoughtful characters. Like all books, there were minor flaws, but nothing you couldn’t overcome while reading for the greater good of the story.

It has my stamp of approval!

The Hanging Woods

On his website Scott Loring Sanders claims to love puzzles. His latest book, The Hanging Woods, mimics that love by presenting readers with clues, stories, notes...all pieces of a large picture that you can't clearly see until the end. However, when everything fits together and you have that "ah-ha!" moment, you can't help but appreciate a good puzzle yourself.

Walter, Mothball, and Jimmy are all friends. They even become blood brothers. But when the pranks they pull on each other turn mean and go too far, who will stand up for what is right?

This book has some bizarre elements. There are some inferences that you must draw, there are some situations that seem really grotesque. It is not a quick and easy ready. In fact, I had a hard time identifying with the main character and his "problems". However, it is still a story full of intrigue and right down until the last page, Sanders has you guessing - stuck is his tangled web, unable to get out, with no idea what is coming next.

See for yourself: read chapter one by clicking here!