Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

A book that was made into a movie.

This book was given to me last year for All Hallow's Read by my mother. As I had already read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies she thought that I would enjoy this one as well from the same author. I have to say, it was an interesting read. But in all honesty not really my cup of tea.

Presented as a biography by a man (Seth Grahame-Smith) after he was given the real, secret, journals of Abraham Lincoln by a mysterious man named Henry along with a bundle of letters, all speaking of the untold half of history surrounding this former President. Smith proposes that the truth of Abraham's life was surrounded by vampires from the time he saw his father consorting with one which lead to his mother's death through his years of hunting the creatures until he led the Union to defying them as the vampires fought to keep slavery going as their meal ticket. I'll not give you much more, but I will say that vampires are thick in every aspect of Lincoln's life.

While I find Lincoln an incredible man in history, rereading his story in this new way was a tad on the boring side. But mainly that is because the author so seamlessly (in nearly every event) inserts the creatures into Lincoln's life. In almost every event of the man's life I could easily believe vampires were involved, with the exception of only a few events where I was rolling my eyes because, come on, of course we are going to say that was a vampire thing. So I must say the book is well written, I'll give it that. And I was able to breeze through it as an entertaining read. I just don't think I would ever pick it up to read it again. Maybe I wouldn't be too quick to recommend it to others.

But, hey, that's just my opinion. Give it a read if it's up your alley. Tell me what you think about it!

The 5th Wave

A book with a number in the title.

I picked this book up at the 2014 Texas Teen Book Festival, and it's a signed copy at that! I am sure the only thing that kept me from reading it right away, since it sounded like an awesome read. I could hit myself for not picking it up sooner!

The Earth is invaded by aliens! But no one sees a single one. From the moment the mothership appears in orbit above the Earth, humans are left in waiting for what the visitors will do. With each new wave of the aliens' attack humans are shocked, unprepared for the way their enemy chooses to strike, and the numbers of the dead increase with astonishing speed.
Cassie, the first narrator of the story, is left in fear that she may be the last person on the planet, but still determined to keep the promise she made to her younger brother that she would find him.
Zombie, his nickname and you're not getting his real name or it would ruin the surprise, is another narrator telling the story of a teenager near death turned into a soldier.
Others are followed through third person story telling alternating with these two first person view points; others like Sammy, Cassie's brother, and a Silencer sent to kill her. But don't worry, Yancy does an incredible job of weaving the voices together in a way that just works.

This books is just awesome. Yancy is a great writer, able to tell a story from a teenage girl's point of view in a way I am a little envious of. Then he manages to make you laugh at the most random moments, and isn't that how the end of the world needs to be, laughing in the face of hopelessness? He, also manages to take a theme that may seem over-worked, Cassie has a ton of references to alien invasions to think about on her journey, and puts a spin on it that is still fairly new! The humans were not expecting what happened! And they are in no way prepared for the 5th wave!

I recommend everyone give this book a chance! I am recommending it to my mom, husband, and son as soon as I get done with this post! And the minute I can get my hands on the second book, The Infinite Sea, you can bet I will be quick with a new post! All the praise possible to Rick Yancy for this amazing story!

EDIT:

We took our son to see the movie, as an Us and J day. Both my husband and I had read it, but I think it is just a little too advanced for our nine year old son, but we thought the movie would really interest him. Well, he loved it. He is so ready for the next one to come out and was asking about the book, which now sits on his shelf for when he is ready to tackle it. What did we think?

It was amazing! There were very few differences between the book and movie, little things that you notice but mostly can live without. Although, I have to say that for the next half hour all my husband could talk about was how upset he was that they hadn't included the bomb they used. My one flaw had to do with Evan Walker, something I won't relate to you, but it made me a little sad that they changed it, even though I could completely understand why. And the casting! Oh the cast was just about perfect for each character, especially Vosch!

All in all it was a great movie made after a great book! Take the time to enjoy both!

Five: Out Of The Dark

A book with magic.

This was one of the books I picked up at the 2014 Texas Teen Book Festival, and immediately from the description on the back of the book I thought it sounded like a cross between Supernatural and maybe Teen Wolf (keep in mind I have never seen Teen Wolf). Yeah, it was kinda like that.

The book is narrated by Paige, a sixteen year old runaway who left home when her parents discovered her magical abilities and tried to send her off to some treatment facility to get rid of the evil spirits obviously possessing her. Paige feels a strange pull to Seattle where she finds Jonathan hiding out in the Underground, she is overjoyed the cute boy has abilities, too. They are soon joined by Alec, Halli, and Seth, making them a ragtag, magical Scooby gang, except none of them can go near a computer due to their magic.  When Jonathan is turned into a warewolf and Seth finds a case at a local high school, the gang is thrown maybe a little more than they can handle. Paige tells the story of how they worked to protect others while she tried to figure out how to protect themselves.

I will say the story is rather interesting. It has a fairly interesting plot with quiet a few wrenches thrown into their gears that promises a lot more to come in the future for this brave lot. However, the execution isn't the best.

Maybe it's because it is written in first person, know that I am not a fan, but the style of the book kept bothering me. Not only is Paige a teenager, like most kids she is incredibly self-centered, and it's not until near the end that she finally starts to consider what it must be like for Jonathan to be a monster rather than how it all affected her. Even then it was only for a brief moment before the pity party settled back around her and she seemed to be looking for a cure for nearly selfish reasons! I am not Paige's biggest fan.
Writing in first person became a problem also because of the writer. Anderson randomly threw big words into the mix that really pulled me out of the zone. Sure I used a ton of big words as a teen, I knew kids that loved to impress others with big words. I get that it is possible. However, here it felt more like Anderson got tired of using the word "said" too often, picked up a thesaurus, and picked a word at random to put in the space left. It caused hitches in my reading.

I just couldn't help but think through most of reading this book that it would be better suited for my 9 year old son. I believe the main reason Anderson felt it was better suited for young adults was because the characters where in their teens and once Jonathan is turned into a warewolf they use the word lust a few times. So I am going to hand this book to my son, see if he wants to read it in a year or two, and leave it at that. Normally with young adult, even teen marketed books, I am able to recommend it to readers of nearly all ages, that is not the case here. This one I recommend for the younger crowd, strictly teens. But give it a chance if you are in that group, it is an interesting story line that promises more to come.

Everything, Everything

A book published this year.

Madeline Whittier has SCID (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency) which means besically that she is allergic to the world. She lives with her mother, thankfully a doctor, inside a vacuum sealed home, only visited by her nurse and the occasional tutor willing to go through a thorough medical background check, physical, and an hour long decontamination before even stepping foot in the house. She has lived like this since she was diagnosed at five months old, only a month after her father and brother were killed by a truck driver. It's just her and her mom, studying through online tutors, and books. Lots of books.
The day Olly and his family move in next door is the beginning of the end for Madeline. Starting with a few long distance antics over a stone bundt cake, soon the new neighbors are emailing back and forth to get to know one another. It's enough. Until it isn't. Soon Madeline wants so much more from the world than she has been given. "Wanting just leads to more wanting. There is no end to desire."

I loved this book. I loved the way it was formatted, with little charts, drawings, inserts, one line chapters, all of it. It is the book of an eighteen year old, and the way Yoon decided to write it is wonderful. I enjoyed the characters even though Olly is just a little too perfect. I think I found Madeline a little more awesome than most. And I loved the story. There may have been a little cheesy, but there were perfects moments throughout that just made it wonderful.

I think this book was great. I recommend everyone give it a chance. And I am deffinetely going to be looking out for more of Nicola Yoon's books!

The Bone Garden

A mystery or thriller.

The Bone Garden is both a mystery and thriller revolving around the West End Reaper of Boston in 1830 and a skeleton found in a woman's backyard in present day Boston. Most of the story takes place in 1830 Boston, at a time when women were dying in childbirth (or soon after) and a vicious killer was on the prowl in the West End. It follows young Rose Connelly as she struggles to keep her niece safe from numerous people trying to find her for various reasons, and Norris Marshall as he tries to rise above his farming background to become a doctor while most of Boston sees him as a killer. Their story is unraveled through the letters of Oliver Wendell Holmes to the original occupant of a house now owned by a very curious Julia Hamill looking for the truth behind the body she unearthed in her garden. While Julia may not have been my most favorite person, her determination to find out the story of the bones she discovered made her a little more interesting. Although I have to side with old Henry when he finally complements her in saying "Look who grew a spine." Young Rose on the other hand is an instant favorite as she struggles to do what is best for her niece after her sister's passing, even as she fells in love she keeps a level head when it comes to protecting young Meggie.

I must say, I don't think this book can really be considered a "Maura Isles" book since the ME makes only two, very brief appearances in the present day story, and even then it is to hand the scene off to someone else. And while her name is what drew me to the book int he first place, the story did not let me down in keeping me interested. I will simply have to look for another of Gerritsen's books while my favorite ME and Detective combo!

While I am not normally a fan of mystery, this book helped pull me a little deeper into the genre. The ups and down and twists and turns in this story are many. I had just as much trouble trying to figure out who to trust as young Rose with Gerritsen effectively throwing me for loops with each new chapter. But then that kept me turning the page, now didn't it. Such an incredibly well written tale about love and death that had me frustrated with so many people and rooting so hard for the few worthy ones. I will say that her portrayal of the medical scene in the US at the time is what will effectively give me more nightmares than the West End Reaper as Gerritsen did a great job of painting a portrait of the past to tell her story in. I think she did a lovely job of weaving in just enough history to make the story that much more believable. 

I really loo forward to reading more of Gerritsen's work and encourage everyone to pick up this book!

The Treatment

A book with a love triangle.

I was so incredibly happy upon getting home from vacation, where I read The Program, to find that I had in fact bought The Treatment the weekend before leaving home; along with about 20 others so that's how I forgot.

I was so excited to pick it up and start immediately, even though I was scared it would have me crying and too eager to finish for my own good. I was so right. I finished the book in one day, but managed to contain most of the tears by frantically turning the pages.

This book begins almost immediately after the first one ends. We find Sloane and James in an abandoned parking lot just across the border and having been unable to meet up with their friends. We later find out what happened to those friends, along with the safe house they were originally heading for. The Program is closing in on them. What follows is a roller coaster of a chase where The Program gets a lot to close for comfort, Sloane and James are forced out of their comfort zones and thrown for trust loops, and of course Realm has to return just to through a psychopathic monkey wrench into everyone's plans. This last reason is why I choose this book to fill the "love triangle" list item, because at times that aspect seemed more important than the actual chase.

I did have a few issues with this book, parts that were disappointing after the almost flawless nature of the first book, but I was able to overlook them to keep reading the book, far too interested and invested in the story to slow down. However, I will say that the ending was a small bit of a let down after the crazy roller coaster that was Sloane's life before, during, and after The Program. And like I said, the focus at times seemed to be more on the relationships of the characters than on the drastic nature of what The Program wants to do to those characters if it gets its hands on them. This leads to the characters making some pretty stupid decisions that only luck gets them out of, but hey, it's fiction.

It doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend it, because I so do! I believe firmly the book was worth it's flaws. I was, after all, impressed with James attitude change over the course of the novel. Although Sloane does nothing to help her boyfriend with his trust issues, she does see the error of her ways just in time for James to come back to make everything better. Sort of. And wow is Realm not the guy everyone thought, but then I must say, I never really liked him anyway.


I look forward to picking up the last book in the series, a prequel I am told, The Remedy, as soon as I can. I would love to find out how this all started, things so bad that parents would willingly let their children be "erased" to simply keep them alive. This series did bring up some very interesting questions. Would you be willing to have your child's memories, things that possibly make them who they are, to be taken from them just so they stay alive? At what point is it more humane to let them kill themselves over us killing their souls? How desperate would you be?

I would love your take on these books, if you have read them. I would really recommend that you give them a chance if you haven't! Young is one hell of a writer.

Spirit Animals Book #1: Wild Born

A book by an author you've never read before.

Jareth found this new book in the school library and got so excited by the fact that not only was it an AR book, but it also has a code to play an online game based on the story. So I decided to start reading it in the car on our way to Florida, got a little bit in here and there when his begging for a chapter at the end of a long day at Disney had finally worn on me, and we managed to finish the book just an hour from home on the return trip. The only thing was, he wasn't the only one begging me to keep reading. My husband also got caught up in the story and was eager to hear the story. Now we are all interested in picking up the next book in the series to find out where the story is going, what challenges will be thrown in front of the young characters, and what will happen to the world in which they live as the great beasts are pulled into the fray.

If you have children, I highly recommend that you take a chance with this book. Our school has it listed as almost a fifth grade reading level, but Jareth is having no trouble keeping up with it and he is only in the third grade, so I say take the challenge and read it with them to enjoy the story yourself!