Undead and Uneasy by Mary Janice Davidson

Rating 4 out of 5

Another great brain candy read. The undead series are a guilty pleasure. They are light and fluffy romantic fantasy that are quick to get through. Which I really needed , after struggling through Plain Truth. This is another book however where I do not want to reveal to much so will keep the review simple.

In book number six, Betsy is finally getting married after having a year that went from bad to worse starting with her death and subsequent rising from said death as a Vampire Queen. She thinks that she deserves the wedding of her dreams. Even if white does make her look awful. Things start getting weird however when her friends all start to vanish leaving her alone to decide on the wedding dress.

Mary Janice Davidson has a really good sense of humour which had me chortling right through the book.

Even though Betsy is a tiny bit shallow and vain she is always good for a laugh and still manages to inspire empathy from the reader. This book is pretty much Betsy on her own as her friends have disappeared. This was a good development character wise for Betsy as I think from memory, this was the first time she really solved the problem/mystery on her own. Also she now seems a little more resigned to her fate and role as the Vampire Queen.

“There are three things wrong with that card” the king if the vampires told me. “One, my love for you is not anything like ‘shimmering amber waves of summer wheat.’ Two , my love for you has nothing to do with adorable, fluffy cartoon rabbits. Three....”And he sighed here. “Rabbits do not sparkle.”

There was a cameo appearance from the Wyndham werewolves which star in their own book series (which I must confess I have not read). The first scene that dealt with these guys absolutely cracked me up.

It will be interesting how the series progresses from here. There were two major developments, one was Betsy’s power and the other was well not saying it’s a secret.

Plain Truth by Jodi Piccoult

Rating 1 out of 5

I don’t know what it was about this book but I just could not get into it. I pretty much struggled to half way through and then threw in the towel.

The story its self was interesting. An Amish girl accused of neonaticide and protests her innocence, plus the lawyer her defends her who is struggling with a mid life crises of her own.
This story was really slow going. By the middle of the book the trial had not yet even started. I didn’t care much for the characters either and Elli the lawyer I found downright annoying.

The most interesting thing going for the book and the reason I kept reading even after I began the dreaded thoughts “I should stop”, was the detail that did go into the Amish life. It is clear Jodi Piccoult did very thorough homework. It was great having that insight into the Amish community.

I will try another Jodi Piccoult book. Even her fans have hinted that perhaps this is not her best.

Wednesday Funnies 29 April 09

Hi all and welcome to the inaugural Wednesday Funnies Meme. I was feeling pretty low this week due to work and needed something to perk me up. I stumbled on some funny photos and thought I would share them with everyone.

I could not find a meme for funnies in general anywhere so if you know of one please tell me (I found one but the blogger is no longer blogging).

The concept is simple post something you found funny during the week and share with your blogging buddies. I am happy for anyone who would like to participate to post a link to their own post here.

This week I have taken my funnies from Flickr which is a website I am completely addicted to (well another website of the many) and instantly perks me up with the amazing and often funny pictures I see there. I hope you enjoy the below pictures as much as I did. Happy Wednesday!

Bo In The White House Playing With His Friend Brian Mosteller a White House Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations; attempts to protect his shoes as he plays with the Obama family dog "Bo" in the Cabinet Room at the White House April 21, 2009. The Offical White House Photostream on Flickr by Pete Souza

Warning Food May Contain Ewoks

"It's bad enough that Billy had to keep an eye out for cats, hawks and territorial squirrels. The last thing he needed was grief from an Ewok" Photo by Powerpig on Flickr.

Teaser Tuesday : 28 April 09

Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Should be Reading asks you to:

• Grab your current read
• Let the book fall open to a random page
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Do NOT post anything that could spoil the plot of the book!

I have just started this book so I will quote from the very first page.

"The creature drove its body again and again into the glass, unable to understand why the air had suddenly become impossible to move through, desperately searching for some way out."

Triskellion by Will Peterson Page Prologue (there was no number honest)

The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts

Rating: 4 out of 5

Synopsis: The Pagan Stone had stood for hundreds of years, long before three boys gathered around it to spill their blood in a bond of brotherhood, unwittingly releasing a force bent on destruction ...Gage Turner has been running from his past for a long time. The son of an abusive drunk, his childhood in the small town of Hawkins Hollow was tough - his only solace his friendship with Fox O'Dell and Caleb Hawkins. But, aged ten, the boys unleashed evil on their town: every seven years murder and mayhem reign, and each cycle is more extreme than the last. Now Gage has returned home to help his friends save Hawkins Hollow, but a lifetime as a loner has made him wary of emotional ties. And who can make plans for the future when their present is so uncertain? For unless they find a way to use the Pagan Stone against the demonic force, everything they know and love will be destroyed.

Review: This was probably the best book out of the three. The story is told from Gage and Cybils perspective. The romance side of it was played down or did not get as much page time as the other romances in their respective books. I suspect this was because the other story threads needed to be tied together.

I found both Gage and Cybil to be more interesting characters out of the six. Either one of them is who I would want on my demon ass kicking team. The demon Twisse seems to come after them with a particular vengeance. Some pretty nasty things happen to the whole gang as well as the town. Twisse is at his pre-release strongest and is flexing his muscles.

There was more action and horror as the story began to gather speed and race towards the end. And what an end, it was a pretty spectacular ending. I don’t want to give to much away so I wont say anymore.

“Did he mean me or Jenny Mullendore was a slut?” Joanne wondered “Because honestly, I don’t see how she has time for slut activities with those two preschoolers of hers. Me, I’ve got lots of time.”

One thing that annoyed me through out the series was the occasional random change of perceptive of a paragraph or two then switching back. It bugged me but didn’t stop me from reading the series.

That is probably my biggest criticism and it was not that bad. If you like romance/horror or Nora Roberts definitely give the series a try.

Monday's At The Movies

This week we saw a cheapie movie at the cinemas and lots of DVDs. We also started watching Paul Blart Mall Cop and it was so bad we gave up after 15 minutes.

Fast and Furious (4)
It is what you would expect it to be. An action packed, testosterone filled ,car chasy movie. There are no Oscar award winning performances here and thats fine it doesn't pretend to be anything else. I actually enjoyed this film probably because I was expecting it to be pretty awful (it is the 4th movie in the franchise). Not a lot more to say about the movie really other then Paul Walker and Vin Diesel do not get their tops off at all and lets face it they are the only reason girls go to see this film.

Valkeyrie

In short boring. Which disappointed me because this is such an interesting story about the only really major coordinated attempt to assassinate Hitler during his reign. There are also some really good actors in the film like Terrance Stamp and Kenneth Brennagh (some might argue Tom Cruise but I wont put him in that category).

So I am not really sure why I didn't engage in this film, we watched most of it but then got bored and went and saw Fast and Furious 4. I suppose one thing was the other actors I felt did not get enough screen time, it was hard to work up any real empathy when they only got 5 minutes screen time (not quite that bad but near enough) and the actors I dont think were really utilized fully. As for the plot I never got the sense how precarious the situation was for the conspirators.

In the end I didnt really care what happened to them which is probably what killed it for me as I do know what a fascinating story the actual event was.

Bedtime Stories
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I thought this was just going to be another Adam Sandler movie being well Adam Sandler. But I think combining with Disney and making more of a family film (plus not having Sandler direct or write the screenplay) actually made this a pretty decent film.

The story is about a man who babysits his niece and nephew and to entertain them he tells them stories. However he soon relaises that the fun friendly stories told at bedtime are coming true.

There are no suprises here its Disney, enough said really. There are all the cliches and the compulsory happy ending but it was the humour that sold it. Actually to be honest Bugsy the Guinea Pig was the favorite. For an animated rodent that couldn't speak it stole the show.

Defiance
Set in the eastern regions of German Nazi-occupied Poland (now western Belarus) during World War II, it is the tale of four brothers from Poland who escaped Nazi persecution by living in a nearby large forrest. Eventually they fought back and rescued fellow Jews.

This film is based on the adaptation of Nechama Tec's Defiance: The Bielski Partisans which is the brothers story.

What a fantasic film. This was evertyhing Valkeryie should have been. It had action, heart ache, happiness, humour, and sorrow. Great script writing and directing and extremely well cast actors. We were cheering for the brothers right up to the end. I was rivited by the story and would now like to get my hands on the book.

What I think this movie did best was show just what human nature is like in trying conditions. Even the good guys have bad moments. I could not even begin to comprehend what they had to go through and the decisions the brothers had to make as leaders of the forrest village.

I would really recomened this film to anyone.

This meme is hosted by A Novel Menagerie

Princeps' Fury (Codex Alera Series Book 5) by Jim Butcher

Rating 5 out of 5

This is another book hard to review without giving the whole series away. I do not have reviews for the previous four books as I read them pre-blog. Needless to say I loved the series from the minute I started with Furies of Calderon. I was really excited when this book came out but had to wait for the Aust. Dollar to go back up so I could order it from Amazon, then once ordered it took the slow boat via China to get here. The day it got here was a happy day for me (literally I giggled like a tickle me elmo, except I wasn't cute and furry).

Princeps' Fury is the fifth book in the Aleara series and continues the story of Tavi. In Princeps' Fury we follow Tavi across the ocean back to the Canim homeland to help them fight the Vord. Meanwhile Gaius Sextus is rallying the lords of Aleara to fight a growing menace from the lands they call the Waste.

" The icemen fought with savage ferocity, each of them possessed of far more strength than a man - but not more then enraged High Lord, drawing power from the stones of the land itself."

I am probably a smidgen biased when it comes to this book, well anything really by Jim Butcher. I love Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden and Alera series it would take a lot for me to dislike anything Butcher writes. This book is just as action packed and humorous as the other books Butcher writes. I didn’t for a minute feel like Butcher dropped the ball with this book and I just kept turning the pages and managed to devour this book in a night. This series is not a serious epic fantasy novel.

Tavi, Kitai and Max were as always my favorite. I do not think there was much character development as in previous books for these three. But Tavi got to really flex his muscles as a leader and his innate ability for strategic thinking and forward planning. We also got to learn more about the Icemen and Vord which was really interesting. I hope in the next book the Icemen get explored a little further as their story sounds fascinating.

Isana and Amara did not annoy me as much as in previous books. Isana in particular stopped doing the “oh woe is me, Gaius Sextus is an evil bastard and the cause of all my problems” routine, well almost nearly, it did slip in a smidgen.

I would definitely recommend this book but only after reading the first four books. This is not a series you can pick up and read in any order. Each book flows into the other and you would not be able to keep up if you don’t read it in order (plus it would spoil it for you).

In short this book is freaking awesome!!!!

Extra Stuff
Irisih at Ticket to Anywhere also has a review here

If you would like to read a preview click here

Friday Fill-Ins: 24 April 2009

Janet is the Host of Friday Fill Ins. My responses are in green.

And...here we go!

1. Apparently there's some sort of invention called a spoon for eating ice cream.

2. After the rain there is a sunny day.

3. 2009 has been an interesting year so far.

4. And that was it.

5. For too long I've been eying off the rocky road in the fridge. Tonight it gets eaten.

6. I am not obsessed with chocolate; I am not!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to catching up on tv shows, tomorrow my plans include garden nursery shopping and Sunday, I want to completely relax!

Splash & Lemonade Stand Award

Wow I managed to acquire two new awards the Splash and Lemonade Stand award. Plus Kaye at Pudgy Penguin Perusals and Rebecca at Im Lost in Books gave me another One Lovely Blog Award.I really am thankful to everyone who has issued me awards.

I would like to thank all my regular followers and the ad hoc followers that have supported me since starting my blog. I like to think my "reviewing" technique has improved since I started in January. Trying to find the right reviewing style that suits me has been fun and I thank everyone who has provided me with feedback on my reviews as they really help me know if I am on the right track.

Splash Award
Thank you to Teddy at The Eclectic Reader who awarded this to me. Please check out her blog.

The Rules:
1) Put the logo on your blog. 2) Nominate up to 9 blogs which allure, amuse, bewitch, impress or inspire you. 3) Be sure to link to your nominees within your post. 4) Let them know that they have been splashed by commenting on their blog. 5) Remember to link to the person from whom your received your Splash award. 6) Have F~U~N

Well I nominate the following blogs for amusing me and aspiring me.

Irish at Ticket to Anywhere
David at From my Bookshelf
Wendy at Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Kaye at J-Kaye Book Blog
Sally at Books & Musings from Downunder

Lemonade Stand
Thank you to Harvee at Book Bird Dog who nominated me for this award. Please swing past her blog and check it out.

Here are the rules:
1) Put the Lemonade Award logo on your blog or post. 2) Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great attitude or gratitude. 3) Link to your nominees within your post. 4) Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.5) Share the love and link to the person from whom you received your award.

For this award I will again go with the theme of new (or semi new) blogs and blogging friends I have discovered which I think are pretty darn good.

Annie at Reading Writing Ranting
Staci at Life in the Thumb
Rebecca at Im Lost in Books
Teddy at The Eclectic Reader
Wrighty at Wrighty Reads

The Hollow by Nora Roberts

Rating 4 out of 5

"In the small village of Hawkins Hollow, three best friends who share the same birthday sneak off into the woods for a sleepover the evening before turning 10. But a night of pre-pubescent celebration turns into a night of horror as their blood brother oath unleashes a three-hundred year curse. Twenty-one years later, Fox O'Dell and his friends have seen their town plagued by a week of unexplainable evil events two more times - every seven years. With the clock winding down on the third set of seven years, someone else has taken an interest in the town's folklore. A boutique manager from New York, Layla Darnell was drawn to Hawkins Hollow for reasons she can't explain - but the recent attacks on her life make it clear that it is personal. And though Fox tries to keep his professional distance, his interests in Layla have become personal too.”

It is hard now to review this book after reading the whole series. The Hollow is the second book in the Sign of Seven trilogy and tells the story of Fox and Layala. The story picks up where Blood Brother finishes.

The demon is growing stronger and making a more concerted effort to thwart the Scooby gang. But life goes on and they continue to live their lives. Layla being at a loose end and in a financial bind gets a job working for Fox as his office administrator.

The romance between Fox and Layla was no real surprise. However some more pieces of the puzzle fall into place and set the scene for the final book Pagan Stone.

"Though the kiss was soft, though it was slow, she felt the impact from the top of her head to the soles of her feet."

Now looking at this book in its place amongst the three I believe it and book one could have been combined. I felt the first two books focused on the romance between the two characters and the last book focused more on the story.

I enjoyed the book and it was a good introduction into the horror genre which to be honest I am not a huge fan of.

Teaser Tuesday : 21 April 09

Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Should Be Reading asks you to:

• Grab your current read
• Let the book fall open to a random page
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Do NOT post anything that could spoil the plot of the book!

" Graduation day at Penn State was like nothing Katie had ever seen - a pageant of colour, punctuated by silver flashes of cameras that instinctively made her start."

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult Page 97

Monday's At The Movies

This week there were no movies at the cinema I wanted to fork out dollars for. We did however gets some DVDs of movies we haven't seen.

Twilight
I finally caved and decided to see what the fuss was all about. Strangely I was actually hoping to like this movie and then it would give me an excuse to read the book. But that did not happen. This movie was boring.

Firstly the directing was not fantastic. Some scenes felt like they still needed to be edited, they just lacked oomph of any kind. The swirly choppy camera work in the forest (when Bella tells Edward she knows what he is) made me feel ill from dizziness.

The characters were awkward and the interaction was not particularly engaging. I did not like Bella much she was to gloomy and boring. The vampires were the most interesting but the least explored. The actors were quite well cast though, and they all did a decent job.

But what was with Bella being so pale? is she like that in the book? we thought she was a vampire as well at first or dying of some nasty illness.

I guess put simply I was bored by this movie. It didn’t really inspire anything in me and I was glad to hear a couple of work mates say they thought the movie was boring too (and one said not much like the book. Will take his word on that).

Marley & Me

I thought there was little hope for this movie. I loved the book and I am not a fan of movies based on books (especially when I have already read said book). A lot of the time they end up nothing like the book and leave me massively disappointed.

Marley & Me I thought did a pretty good job of balancing the need to follow the book and the need to keep audiences watching. There were some things added and some things taken out, and other parts lightly skimmed over (like the miscarriage and the post natal depression) but I can understand why the directors did what they did. Also one of the biggest pluses for me was despite noticing the differences I didn’t care I could enjoy the movie for what it was.

It was funny and sad and captured the essence of the book. The focus was more on Marley’s interaction with the Grogans rather than John Grogans inputs on life. And even though I KNEW what was going to happen I was still a blubbery quivering mess by the end of the film.

Slumdog Millionaire
Wow is all I can say about this movie. It was recommended by the other half’s mother and it was there so we got it. I was engrossed almost from word go.

Slumdog Millionaire is an amazingly clever film that tells its story in a unique and fascinating way.I loved how it wove the story of a boy growing up in the slums to the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. If you haven’t seen the film I won’t say more than that so I don’t ruin it.

The actors are really well cast and the script for the movie is intricate without being to clever. The director also did a good job with this film. The cinematography was also brilliant and beautiful. Everything about this movie just clicked for me.

I have not read the book so can not compare the two. But if it is anything like the movie I imagine it would be an amazing book.

This movie certainly deserved the 8 oscars it won including best movie. I loved it.

This meme is hosted by A Novel Menagerie

The Eclectic Reader Book Contest

The Eclectic Readeris hosting a world wide contest to win The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. While she has yet to review the book she has said it was "poignant and very moving novel". After reading Mutiny on the Bounty earlier in the year by the same author I have no doubt that The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas will be just as wonderful to read.

To read her review (coming shortly) and enter the contest simply click on over to her website The Eclectic Reader.

Good luck for anyone who enters!

Contest closes April 28.

Friday Fill-Ins: 17 April 2009

Janet is the Host of Friday Fill Ins. My responses are in green.

And...here we go!

1. Join me in a tale of adventure and daring do.

2. Put a little randomness in your day! Keep em guessing!

3. Happiness is watching someone do something really stupid. Or even better getting hurt in a comical non fatal way.

4. I was at work and confused.

5. I'm waiting for the aliens to reveal themselves....they are out there.

6. Chocolate is hard to resist.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to doing nothing, tomorrow my plans include visiting the beautician to get waxed and Sunday, I want to do more nothing!

Epic Rat Blog Book Contest

Epic rat is hosting a world wide contest to win The Trouble with Demons by Lisa Shearin. However that is not all folks! not only will she be giving away this book that she rated 4 out of 5 but also the three proceeding books that also have personalised book plates.


To read her review and enter the contest simply click on over to her website The Epic Rat.

Good luck for anyone who enters!

Contest closes April 28.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Rating 4 out of 5

Mercy Thompson is a mechanic that runs a small auto shop specialising in VWs. She lives nearby in a small caravan on a plot of land with her cat Medea. Mercy seems like an ordinary person just trying to make a living however she is a walker, someone who can shape shift, and turns into a coyote at will. Her neighbour just happens to be a werewolf (and very spunky). Her former boss is a goblin and she is currently working on a VW that belongs to a vampire. Mercy’s life is far from simple and is only going to get more complicated when she takes in a stray werewolf called Mac.

This is the first book in the Mercy Thompson series (I couldn’t find anywhere a snazzier title to the series so I went with the obvious). This is a good light hearted chick lit, mystery, supernatural fare. I never know what genre these sorts of books technically fall into; maybe I can make one up something like Cosy Supernatural Chick? No? Ok wont give up my day job anytime soon then.

What really captured my interest the most was the folk lore that Patrica Briggs introduces into this series, I think it is very clever. She divides the “magical” entities into European Faye (eg vampires, werewolves, goblins etc) and the indigenous magical beings to North America (a walker being one of those). I really like the way she introduced the idea of colonization for the magical community and how it affected the indigenous magical community. I thought the concept really clever and hopefully Briggs will expand on that over the course of the series.

“I don’t know why I expected everything to be the same. After all , I’d changed a good deal in the years since I’d last been there. I should have expected Aspen creek would have changed, too. I didn’t have to like it”

A fun read with lots of action and romantic comedy with two werewolf fella’s fighting for Mercy’s affection. If you like this kind of genre you wont be disappointed with this book.

I have not read Patrica Briggs other series but I will keep an eye out for them now.

Tuesday Teaser: 14 April 2009

Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Should Be Reading asks you to:

• Grab your current read
• Let the book fall open to a random page
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Do NOT post anything that could spoil the plot of the book!

" The dream woke him at dawn, and that was a pisser. Gage knew it would be useless to find sleep again with images of burning blood in his brain"

The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts Page 7

Monday's At The Movies

Well I am back to watching movies at the cinema on cheapie Tuesdays. The local cinemas deal of $9 movies when you book online ended at the end of March. Oh well it was good while it lasted and saw a tone of films at the cinemas I might have otherwised passed on.

Monsters vs Aliens

When a meteorite from outer space hits a young California girl named Susan Murphy and turns her into a giant monster, she is taken to a secret government compound where she meets a ragtag group of monsters also rounded up over the years. As a last resort, under the guidance of General W.R. Monger, on a desperate order from The President, the motley crew of Monsters is called into action to combat the aliens and save the world from imminent destruction!

Well before I get started I should make it known I love animated films. If it is animated I am there with bells on, so not sure how balanced my review will be.

Now on to the review, put simply I LOVED this film. It was so much fun. The animation is awesome, the voice actors are well cast, the script is kinda standard to these family films but still good, and finally it is funny. I was able to pick the voices of Hugh Laurie and Reece Witherspoon but completely missed Kiefer Sutherland. Fun Fact for the Aussies reading this, David Koch lent his voice to an Aussie Newsreader.

My partner and I were not the only ones who liked the film either. When we saw the film there were a lot of kiddies in the audience (school holidays and we went to a day session) and they were absolutely laughing themselves stupid.

Blob and Missing Link were my favorite characters who had me laughing myself stupid too.

If you have the opportunity to see this film in 3D which I believe is only in selected IMAX cinemas, I recommend seeing it in 3D. There were a couple of scenes in the normal movie you could tell were done specifically for the 3D audience and would have looked amazing. This did not ruin the film for the normal cinemas but when those scenes occoured I thought "that would have been really cool in 3D".

Anyone with kids should definately see this at the cinemas or if your an animated movie nut like me just go anyway.

This meme is hosted by A Novel Menagerie

Friday Fill-Ins: 10 April 2009

Janet is the Host of Friday Fill Ins. My responses are in green.

And...here we go!

1. Anonymous...is really my kitty....bad kitty.

2. The Easter Bunny is a robot in disguise.

3. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, and be rewarded by an extra long weekend this weekend yippee!

4. Flowers are what I look forward to most about Spring.

5. Who needs therapy when there is chocolate and pizza in the world?

6. Chocolate Easter Eggs MUST go into the Easter Basket!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to doing nothing, tomorrow my plans include fixing the pool and starting the garden renovation and Sunday, I want to eat lots of chocolate!

Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull

Rating: 5 out of 5

I currently have a personal ban on library books while I worked on Mt TBR however when Rise of the Evening Star came in I dropped everything and disappeared into the books depths with a contented sigh. I loved the first book in the Fablehaven series, which I read before I started blogging so I do not have a review here. However if you wish to read a review from my bookshelf has a great review here and is the reason I picked up Fablehaven in the first place.

In the second book Kendra and Seth return to Fablehaven to help their Grandparents over summer break. The sanctuary which is for magical beings is under threat from the secret organisation The Evening Star.

I devoured this book in 24 hours; I just could not put it down. It just sucked me in like the first book did. There is a wonderful humour infused through the book and the action is fast past and exciting. I especially like the mythology developed in the world of Fablehaven.

"Kendra ran to the side of the pool. By the time she arrived Seth was boosting himself out of the water, hair and clothes dripping. “That was the freakiest, awesomest, moment of my life!” Seth declared. “But next time, let me take off my shoes ” "

This series is really interesting and the characters of Kendra and Seth are very well developed and believable. We get to learn more about the world of Fablehaven, and the people who protect the other sanctuaries around the world.

I don’t want to say too much and give the story away as this is a series and certain elements and plots are brought over from book one.

Definitely worth a read if you like Young Adult books that deal with magic and adventure.

Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts

Rating: 4 out of 5

To be honest I was not sure what expect with this book. Mum assured me it was not some silly girly romance thing which I was convinced that was all Nora Roberts wrote. Well I surprised myself it was not just a girly romance, and I enjoyed it.

Blood Brothers is a curious mixture of everthing. It really did cover everything there was action, romance, humour, horror, thriller and a dash of mystery. All of this blends together to form an interesting book. I liked the pacing of this book and the development of the story even if there were a couple of obvious plot developments (well to me they were obvious).

The character Quinn was enjoyable to read and my favourite. She is vivacious, witty and a can-do attitude. Her job is pretty cool as well reporting paranormal weirdness in small picturesque towns.

“It slithered across the glossy oak planks of the floor, leaving a hideous trail of bloody ooze behind it. At first she thought snake, then slug, then could barely think at all as she watched it slide up the legs of a table where an attractive young couple were enjoying cocktails by candle light.”

The only problem I had was the occasional switch of perspective. It seemed a little jarring and I did not really see the point of switching mid narrative and then back again, nothing was really gained story telling wise at least not that I could see. However the story was well paced and interesting enough to over look the occasional switch in perspective.

Onwards to read book two which seems to continue the story from the character Fox’s perspective.

Tuesday Teaser: 7 April 2009

Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Should Be Reading asks you to:

• Grab your current read
• Let the book fall open to a random page
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Do NOT post anything that could spoil the plot of the book!

" 'I killed a werewolf at my garage,' I said then hung up. To Mac's raised eyebrows i said ' That will get a faster reaction then spending twenty minutes explaining. Come on , you and I need to get the body off the street before someone spots it'. "

Moon Called by Patricia BriggsPage 31

Zombie Chicken Award

WOW big thanks to Wrighty's Reads who would not let a horde of zombie chickens keep her from reading my blog. Wrighty very kindly bestowed this honor on me and Im happy to accept, I mean who wouldn't be, what a fantastic award pic. As that famous add goes "I'm loving it". You will be pleased to know no actual zombie chickens were hurt during the making of this award.

The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words.

As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all...

It would be a very stupid zombie chicken who tried to stop me from reading the blogs of these fantastic people:

Terri at Reading,Writing and Retirement
Irish at Ticket to Anywhere
Sally at Books and Musings from Downunder
Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Laura at Musings

Fried Eggs with Chopsticks by Polly Evans

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5

Fried Eggs with Chopsticks is the tale of Polly Evans travelling around China for two months using only public/local means of transport. She braves massages in Beijing, public buses on remote dirt tracks, Donkey’s in Sichuan, Bears in southern China and being constantly lost in translation.

China is a place that both fascinates me and horrifies me. I have heard many amazing and downright scary stories from friends who have traveled in China. So I was very eager to read this when mum said she had a week left before it was due back at the library and I jumped at the opportunity.

As usual Polly manages to convey a warmth and humor about the country she is traveling in and the people she was meeting, even when Polly seemed to struggle. She really did seem to find this trip difficult after awhile and it was probably from the isolation and constant struggle to communicate in this strange land. Even ordering a meal involved her walking around a restaurant with the waitress in tow pointing to other patrons dishes to convey what she wanted to order.

It was easy to see in her writing in “On a hoof and a prayer” that she had loved every minute of the trip. Similarly Evans emotions were out for show in Fried Eggs with Chopsticks, you could clearly feel her despair and growing depression as she travelled deeper within China. I was very impressed though she never seemed to blame the Chinese for her troubles, she instead focused inwards and spoke of her turmoil and frustration over being unable to communicate more effectively.

“My fellow passengers snored and snorted creating an extraordinary symphony of rattling, roaring, moaning and groaning. The man in the bunk opposite was doing a good imitation of a slowly expiring farmyard animal”.

There were some hysterically funny moments and moments that I am amazed didn’t make her crack sooner, as I know I would have been a frazzled mess (I would have taken one look at the toilet she had gone to and canceled the rest of the trip).

A great read if you like travel stories and even better if you are planning a trip to China (I am looking at you Irish).

For a bit of fun Polly has a website http://www.pollyevans.com/ which has picture galleries of her trips. I really love this idea as you can see the places she travelled through. Her latest book looks great and is something I really want to do if I ever make it to snow!

Friday Fill-Ins: 3 April 2009

Janet is the Host of Friday Fill Ins. My responses are in green.

And...here we go!

1. Angel or not, I will still hunt out the chocolate Easter bunnies on Easter Sunday....those bunnies are going down!

2. I just cant shake it, shake it any way you want me.

3. As my mother used to say, you're full of worms (actually cant recall mum using a you're full of phrase).

4. I will crave anything chocolate after I'm done working out or doing something strenuous.

5. Even in the most crowded of rooms I will probably walk into the table.

6. Friday 13 is a day fraught with peril.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to enjoying a nice sun set and pizza dinner, tomorrow my plans include cleaning and seeing Monsters vs Aliens movie (my reward for cleaning) and Sunday, I want to read naturally!

One Lovely Blog Award

Kaye from J.Kaye's Book Blog has been generous to award me with the One Lovely Blog Award.

This is my 2nd award and I am terribly excited by it. A little sad really but I'll take my win's where I get them as they are few and far between (lotto god's hello? I'm still here waiting patiently for your benevolence).

Kaye has a wonderful system of giving awards to new blogs she has discovered and I am going to stick with this spirit and award the One Lovely Blog Award to new blogs and blogging friends I have discovered.

Please check out their blogs if you haven't already.

Wrighty's Reads
Buzz Bout Books & More
Julie's Jewels
Books and Cooks
A Novel Menagerie

Congratulations everyone.