Kiss Of Life (Generation Dead #2)

*Spoilers......and overall uninteresting if you haven't read Generation Dead*
After Adam is killed by Pete, a zombie hater, he returns to life.  Phoebe  feels love and guilt that Adam died saving her.  Since Adam is techincally still walking around, Pete was not convicted of murder.  Phoebe spends a lot of time with Adam since she was told that love brings the undead back faster.  Adam struggles with simple movement and speech.  The rights of the undead are being tried.  Groups are out to see the zombies returned to complete death or to do scientific research on them.

I could go on and on but the book really wasn't as good as the first one.  I was excited to pick this book up to see what happened with the zombie love triangle between Phoebe and Adam and Tommy.  I wish I had only checked it out from the library instead of purchasing it.  It took forever for the book to go anywhere.  Not until the very end is there very much action but it felt unfinished.  I hate second books that are merely a bridge to book three.

I will definitely read the next book in the series, "Passing Strange", because it has one of the better characters, Karen, a zombie sometimes passing as human.  By the end of the book we are unsure what has happened to her.  I have the feeling that there will be loose ends even as the series wraps up.  I also have suspicions about what will happen next and will be glad to have everything explained.

Rating 3 Meh.......
Rating PG 13 Death, zombies, murder, torture, language.

Life As We Knew It (Last Survivors #1)

If you have ever needed external motivation to beef up your food storage......here it is.  It heightened my naturally high anxiety level to 'frantic'.  I plan to begin stock piling wood, asprin, batteries, fuel, canned fruit and veggies, and canned chicken, like nobody's business.  And I am beginning to think that my vaulted ceiling was a mistake.  It won't hold in enough heat when the ash comes.  I'm getting ahead of myself.....

Teenager Miranda is your run of the mill girl.  She worries about blog stalking her Olympic crush. She's a little shallow. She wants less homework and worries about her changing friendships.  Then a once a life time meteor collision with the moon goes from block party atmosphere to apocalyptic.  The moon is pushed closer to the Earth causing it's gravitation to spur one natural disaster after another.  No longer is Miranda worried about which sport to play or the fact that she is growing apart from her childhood friends.  Survival is at the forefront.  Sacrifice, starvation, desolation, and death quickly take the place of free spirited American life.  Miranda captures it all in journal entries.

This is a superb work of post-apocalyptic fiction.  It is so believeable that you can't decide whether to keep reading or start hoarding.  It is very simply written and a tad slow at the beginning.  The simplicity makes it scarier on one hand.  The sense of desperation and grueling day to day survival is vivid.  And then sometimes I felt like the simplicity also took away.  I didn't get the sense of urgency that I think would exist during a crisis.  That took it down a point for me.  Also, I am now realizing......hello! Where was your weapon stock pile? How were they going to defend their wood, asprin, and canned chicken for Pete's sake. That part is so unrealistic I can't believe I forgot it was one of the point deductors. And I just have to put in my 2 cents....I realize the author can write any old thing she wants and if I were to author a book I could splatter my opinions everywhere....but I didn't like the Conservative slamming, from President bashing (which granted I would do if the President in the book I wrote were a so Liberal he was suffocating) to making Christians look like Kool-Aid sipping nut jobs. I think I may have been more forgiving if this book wasn't aimed at a younger audience. Just my opinion.



Rating 4
Rating PG 13  Crisis situations, death, destruction, scarey situations, talk of promiscuity.

Spirit Bound (A Vampire Academy Novel #5)

If I haven't mentioned before.....I really hate the pictures on these books.  The people are not that hot and they are too old. 
Well, somehow I have submerged myself right into another love triangle.  I fall for it every time but I am getting REALLY tired of it.  Dimitri is still Strigoi and still alive after Rose failed to kill him.  She has returned to the Academy in time to graduate and become a guardian.  During this time she has promised Adrian to give a fair shot to a relationship with him.  The whole cast of gradutates go to court to await their new stations in life.
Rose has hatched a plan to use Lissa's spirit magic to somehow change Dimitri from Strigoi back to dhampir.  She needs information from the one person claiming to have already worked this magic.  This includes breaking an enemy out of a secure Moroi prison.
There are lots of side stories.  The book was entertaining as usual but by the time I reached the surprise ending and realized that this was NOT going to end the series I was.......perturbed to say the least.  I don't know how much more I can take of Rose not being settled in a relationship.  I want her to be with both Adrian and Dimitri......this seems to be a running theme in my life, er well, my literary life. 
The side stories were good.  The romance went up a notch.  The mysterious ending left me intruguied but praying that the next book will put an end to it all.  And finally, getting a little sick of the love triangle angle.

Rating 4  I will fully admit this is due to the emotion I felt over Dimitri, the gladness I felt over Rose and Adrian hooking up, and the intriguing ending.
Rating R  Very strong language for teen fiction including multiple uses of the F word, sexual situations, smoking, alcohol consumption by teens, contraception.

Not My Daughter

Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky

Three bright, college bound teens make a pact to become pregnant and have babies.  News of the pact is quickly leaked by one of the friends.  The community's anger and disappointment is soon turned on one of the mothers......also the principal of the highschool.  The mother having been pregnant herself at seventeen but still making a successful life.

The story drew me in when I wondered, 'What the heck were they thinking?"  And then......pft, what they were thinking was never really explained.  The girls decided after a summer of babysitting that they, as mature 17 year old girls, could be better mothers than the ones they worked for.  Also it seemed so fun to have something of your own.  I would like to offer up that a kitten would have been a better choice.

The book had its points.  The mothers did question their culpability in the situation, wondering if they had parented wrong.  And as far as the book describes, they probably didn't, but it is a question asked by most parents.  It was just a foolish pact between the girls.  Once the gossip mill started there were some hard times.  It described fairly well what it can be like in a small town where your business is everyone elses.  The maturity of the girls seemed to be on target.  They were ridiculous fools.  And even though Delinsky showed this........I was still more than irked.  The girls were idiots.  They never had a good reason for doing something SO life changing.  Beyond the passing mention of adoption or abortion, the options were never really given any creedence.  The main teen Lily said more than once that she didn't want the father in the picture because she wanted the baby to be 'hers'.  It made me so violently angry that I wanted to poke her in the eye.  So self centered and immature I wanted the community to rip her to shreds.  By the end.....probably the worst part........the whole package is tied up in a snappy little bow.  The babies are all born healthy.  All of the parents accept the babies and their daughters.  The girls live at home and get taken care of by their parents.  I'm not saying that that situation isn't probably true to life at times......I just didn't like it.

Rating 2  Okay, I wanted somewhere in the book to have better options or to show the struggle.....or to at least show someone with enough maturity to say 'hey what's best for the poor baby?'. 
Rating PG 13 Teen pregnancy, subject of abortion, sex between an unmarried adult couple, teen sex

Dramarama

Dramarama by E. Lockhart

Two teens from small town Ohio dream of making it big on stage.  Demi is gay and black and determined to leave small town forever.....leave behind what small town expects him to be and what his parents grit their teeth and bear.  Sadye (Sarah) can't wait to leave behind being a nobody, that nobody understands.  So the two bestfriends audition for summer drama camp. 

Once they make it to Wildewood Academy; one of them sees their dreams quickly coming to fruition while the other realizes that though their love for the arts makes their heart beat, they might not have what it takes to be the big star. 

There's lots of love, laughter, singing, dancing, and a strain on true friendship.  If you have not had much experience with musicals or theater, you may struggle with the references to the multitude of productions spoken about.  At the end the author leaves a list of movies and a playlist that the characters like.

Rating 3  Loved the musical and theater parts.  Sweet book about owning who you are and making it work.  Worth a quick read.

Rating PG 13  Underage drinking, homosexuality, sexual references.

Shadowland

Shadowland (Immortals #3) by Alyson Noel

*Spoiler in here, if you can really spoil this book.
Ever and Damen are unable to solidify their eternal bond because Ever added her blood to the elixer that saved Damen.  Now, if their bodily fluids mix, their immortal souls willl perish and be sent to Shadowland.  Ever wants more than anything to rectify the situation.  Damen at first decides that this is all because of bad karma that he caused by being so self centered for 600 years. 
Ever tries to persuade the elusive Roman to give her the information she needs.  Roman in turn tells her she will have to pay the price (which Ever imagines is probably sex, but turns out to be saving her friend Haven from death by having to decide if Haven becomes immortal or dies). Damen decides to dress like he shops at Wal-mart and ride the bus in order to turn his karma around.  Pointlessness.....upon pointlessness.
Ever gets a job at a psychic shop.  The owner, Jude, turns out to be a major player in their immortal game.  It seems that we now find Jude has followed Ever throughout her lives and that he may have also been her boyfriend/lover.  Damen thinks that because he has persued Ever throughout time, that he has actually negated her agency to choose and now leaves her to spend time with Jude and decide once and for all whom she wants to be with.  In the mean time, he cares for two twin witches that left Summerland in the last book, and have now lost their magik.
The whole book was like an after-thought/segue (and not a smooth one) to book #4.

Rating 3   I can connect with the whole I wish we weren't damned to hell if we touch each other......meh, okay, that's horrible.  But the rest of the story was blah.  Ever's friendships are dull and shallow.  Ever and Damen can't do anything but wish they were together.  The whole Jude ordeal may have been interesting if we were ever given anymore information than 'he followed her through every life'. 
Rating PG........honestly I can't remember....they can't do more than kiss with a magic forcefield between them so it couldn't have gotten too bad.

Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4)

Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4) by Richelle Mead

Spoilers.........
Book #3 ends with Dimitri becoming Strigoi and Rose running off from the Academy to end his life.

Rose has taken off to Siberia in hopes of tracking Dimitri back to his hometown.  She promised to kill him if he ever became one of the undead.  She meets up with Sydney, an alchemist.  This is a new twist in the VA books.  An alchemist is a human that is like your basic 'men in black'.  They clean up after Strigoi have been killed.  Syndey is able to lead Rose to Dimitri's family.
Rose quickly learns that Dimitri's mother and sisters have no idea of his death.  She is obligated to come clean with the terrible events that she hasn't yet come to grips with.  The family comes to love Rose and treat her like Dimitri's widow.  They do not know that Rose has come to kill him.
Eventually Dimitri finds that Rose has come to hunt him down.  He takes her to an estate in Siberia.  She is held captive.  Dimitri tries to convince her that he is the same but better as a Stigoi and that Rose she allow him to turn (he calls it awaken) her so that they can be together.  During her captivity, Dimitri drinks from Rose and she becomes addicted to the vampire endorphins. 
During her travels, Rose meets another bonded pair, like Lissa and herself.  The woman is a spirit user and is able to help Rose learn more about Spirit and healing.  As she is away from the academy, Lissa finds another friend in Avery, the new headmaster's daughter.  The deeper their friendship grows, the stranger and more dangerous Lissa begins to act. 
It all comes to a head, when Rose must decide to become Strigoi or die.  She searches for some clue that Dimitri is still himself and still in love with her.  When she realizes that this isn't true, she knows she must kill him and return to Lissa before Avery kills Lissa.

The more I read about Rose, the more I like her.  She reminds me a little of myself.  I'm not totally into the whole bondmate thing though.  I still don't find myself really feeling for Lissa.  I was more interested in the to kill or not to kill your soulmate issue.  I guess I'm not really like Rose........she was able to descern if there was any real Dimitri left in the Strigoi Dimitri.  I would have taken one look, seen the man I loved and probably did whatever he wanted.  This book did contain more Rose/Dimitri and less Lissa, so even though there was no happy ending, it was a likeable book.

Rating 4   Love me some Dimitri.
Rating PG 13  Sensualality, swearing, danger, fighting, drug use (vampire endorphin), crack whores (blood whores but the same general idea)

Uglies

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

In the future world that Tally lives in, everyone becomes pretty.  At age sixteen all of the Uglies (genetically normal without help of cosmetic surgery) get their chance under the knife and ta da......Pretty.  Science has determined what is attractive to the eye.  Once you are gorgeous, you move to the Pretty side of town, where you basically party till you drop.
Tally's sixteenth birthday is upon her.  Just as Tally is about to receive the surgery she has been dying for, when she meets Shay.  Shay is another Ugly that teaches Tally there is another way than Pretty.  Tally runs away from the only society that she ever knew existed.  She enters a world where people are genuine.  Tally learns that turning Pretty might be more than skin deep.......it could also alter who you are.

Loved the idea of this book.  It did take me forever and a day to read because I've been tied up.  I can't decide if it was the speed with which I read it or that it was actually just meh.  It was a little lack luster for me.  It could have been seriously meaty, but somehow I felt nothing for the characters.  The traveling parts were boring.  This book is a trilogy and if I get around to it I might read the next two.  I wanted it to be awesome and it just wasn't. 

Rating 3
Rating PG  Very clean book considering the target audience is creamed with sex lately.  I think there may have been a few kisses and a knock on the head.

Blue is for Nightmares

Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Stacey has been having nightmares of something horrible happening to her roomate, Drea.  Even worse for Stacey is that the nightmares are accompanied by bed wetting.  Stacey uses the spells handed down to her by her grandmother to help make the nightmares clearer.  At the same time, Stacey is falling for Drea's old boyfriend. 
The teens aattend a boarding school.  There is very little adult interaction with the kids.  The story was fun and fast to read, but lacked any depth.  By the end, it really fell flat for me.  I didn't think the reason for Drea being threatened, and for the nightmares, held a lot of water.  There were no adults or authority figures to help or guide, which seemed a little off.  Also I felt like some of the language was strong for the target audience.

Rating 3 Fun fluff
Rating PG 13 Language and sexual situatuions

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Mary lives in the Forest of Hands and Teeth.  She lives in a village within the confine of fences that keep her and her village safe from the Unconsecrated.  The Unconsecrated have overtaken everything since the Return.  Mary wonders if there is anything outside of the forest, if there is anyone left.
Mary's mother has tempted her with stories of the ocean and now she cannot rest.  Nothing can satisfy her desire to see what is beyond the forest.......to make it to the salty ocean.  Even the love of one boy, the exquisitely haunting desire for another, the mysterious threats of the Sisterhood, or the danger of becoming Unconsecrated herself, nothing is enough to stop her need to go beyond.

I finished this book very quickly, but I am still haunted by the acute pain left by Travis (Mary's love).  Travis is betrothed to Cass, Mary's bestfriend.  He is also the brother of Harry, Mary's betrothed.  Although the book is about zombies that have come about by a virus at some point in the future, it still has the feeling of being in the past.  Between the fear for their lives and the desire for something Mary can't have, the book was gripping, and tore at my heart.

Book quotes that I LOVE.....
Mary says....."Tonight my body pulses with awareness as I kneel by his bed, our fingers intertwined.  We've been sharing each other's breath for what seems like weeks now even though it's only been a few moments.  It's as if there is infinity between our lips and we will never actually touch.  Like math, where dividing by half can last for eternity."

"Suddenly he doesn't feel like my friend but like something more and I have to force myself to remember that he is not mine to desire."    (ugh.......so painful!)

"In the last few days I had already begun to imagine what Travis's and my children would look like, how their tiny hands would curl around my finger.  I had already dreamed an entire life between Travis and me.  And now that was the only life that we would ever lead together-the one in my dreams."

"It is not about surviving.  It should be about love.  When you know love.. that's what makes this life worth it.  When you live with it every day.  Wake up with it, hold on to it during the thunder and after a nightmare.  When love is your refuge from the death that surrounds us all and when it fills you so tight that you can't express it."

Rating 5  This was a good book.  It may not be super fantastic but it still left me feeling it after more than one day so.......I have to give it credit.
Rating PG  It's totally clean despite the desire thick enough to cut with a knife.  The zombies (Unconsecrated) are trying to kill everyone, so the threat is a little scary.

Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy #3)

Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy #3) by Richelle Mead

Book three gets even darker for Rose.  She realizes that she might be taking some of the dark feelings that are conjured in Lissa when she uses magic.  It is nearing graduation and Rose is sent out to do her field test.  Instead of guarding Lissa, she ends up being Christian's guard (Lissa's social misfit boyfriend).  Rose's anger begins to get the best of her.  To make matters worse she starts seeing ghosts.  Having made her first Strigoi kills have only made her closer to the world of the dead.
When a huge group of Strigoi attack the Academy, Rose is faced with losing what she has waited so long for (or at least it felt like it) ....Dimitri.
I loved this book just as much as book two.  Rose has more depth and the psychological toll that it takes to put someone else's needs before your own.....always....is delved into.  Her friendships with other characters and her mother, play a larger role this time around.  And of course the romantic tension keeps building. Very bitter sweet.
Rating 4  Still not top notch lit. but I really did go for the wanting what you can't have aspect.
Rating R teen sex, alcoholism, violence, tense and scary.

Frostbite (Vampire Academy #2)

Frostbite (Vampire Academy #2) by Richelle Mead

Rose and Dimitri come upon a Strigoi attack, the likes of which are never seen.  The attack sets off book two in this series.  Guardian are being brought in to reinforce the Academy over winter break.  Rose's estranged mother Janine (a famous guardian) appears on campus in time to set Rose off, just as the whole vampire culture is being shaken.  The Moroi are faced with deciding if they want to uphold tradition and let the guardians keep them safe, or should they learn to use their magic and help defend themselves?
Rose has little tolerance for what appears to be Janine's haughty ways and lack of maternal instinct.  Rose also has to face the fact that she can't have Dimitri and she should start looking for love elsewhere.  She begins seeing Mason, a close friend.  Mason and a group of other friends decide not to wait for the Strigoi to come to them.....they run away from the posh resort in Idaho, where Moroi families have gathered for safety.  Rose, of course, feels she must rescue them.
Rose seemed to come into her own in this book.  I admit liking this book better than the first one.  Rose's love life picked up, she became palatable, and the other characters rounded out better.  It turned out to be very entertaining and I immediately picked up book #3.
Rating 4  Not serious high quality literature, but still fun.
Rating R Swearing, violence, alcoholism, sexual aspects.

The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Thomas wakes up in what seems to be a dark elevator.  All he knows is that his name is Thomas.  Every other important memory has been wiped.  When 'the Box' finally opens Thomas is pulled out by a group of boys.  They live in the Glade and are surrounded by the Maze.  They hope someday to be able to escape if they can find their way through the Maze.  The group is completely cut off from the rest of society with no recollection of their lives before the Glade.  Each night the walls in the Maze move and doors close between the Maze and the Glade, protecting the boys from grotesque and hideous beasts.
Thomas is confused and getting hardly any information from the Gladers when the Box arrives again........this time containing a girl.  The girl seems to be in a coma but they do learn from her that she will be the last Glader and that she is there to trigger the Ending.
The bright group of boys begin to realize that the Maze may be unsolvable.
This book seemed a bit like Hunger Games/Lord of the Flies......(the author states that he came up with the idea from two of his favorite books Enders Game and Lord of the Flies) but much more civilized.  The book was creative and the main character developed enough despite not knowing anything about himself, that it was a fun and fast read.  The Maze Runner is the first book in a trilogy.   By the end, I couldn't even guess where the next book will go.  So exciting!

Rating 4.5  Loved it.
Rating PG  The beasts are gross and do leave carnage upon their attack.  The boys have some of their own words which I guess could be considered swear words....but they aren't. 

Vampire Academy

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Rose is a dhampir.  She is half human, half vampire.  She is the guardian to Lissa, a Moroi or living vampire.  Rose protects royal Lissa from the Strigoi or vampires that are dead and have no magic.  Rose and Lissa have a psychic bond.  They attend an academy hidden in the forests of Montana.  The academy is for dhampir and Moroi. 

Rose and Lissa begin the book as escapees from the academy.  They are found by guardians and and forced to return.  Rose is taken under the wing of Dimitri.  He is a guardian in his early twenties that will also help protect Lissa and train Rose.

Rose and Lissa fled the academy when they realized Lissa had special powers that might endanger her.  Upon their return, they work hard to make their way back into the 'crowd' yet still keep secret their psychic bond and the healing powers that will make Lissa a target.

Rose has a strong personality which is sometimes very immature (which I guess makes sense considering the book is written for teens).  Sometimes I really liked that she didn't take any garbage and then sometimes it became old.  Lissa didn't seem deeply developed as a character. It kind of felt like a void there......she just sort of.......existed. There was back story which if told would have made a stronger book.  The setting and the author's version of vampirism made it worth reading  as pleasant entertainment.

Rating 3.5

Rating R  The book was very sexual for a teen audience, under age drinking, self mutilation, language.

Shiver

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Grace meets 'her wolf' when at the age of eleven she is attacked by a wolf pack in her backyard.  After being dragged into the woods, all she remembers is the unmistakable yellow eyes of 'her wolf'.
Years later, her parents' lives revolve around each other and Grace is left to her own devices.  She waits yearly for the winter when she knows her wolf will be out in the woods watching her.  It is fall and the wolves have attacked Jack, a classmate of Grace's.  The men go out to cleanse the woods of the deadly animals.  Grace finds Same bleeding from a bullet wound on the deck of her home.  She instantly recognizes the eyes of the wolf she has loved for years.
Sam and Grace are inseparable from that moment on.  Luckily her parents are mentally out to lunch and never notice that a teenage boy has moved into their daughter's room.
Sam knows that as a wolf ages, he or she will eventually stop changing into a human.  He feels that this is his last season as a human.  Sam and Grace have finally found each other and it seems that Sam's human life span may be over.
Very Twilightesque.........fantastic writing in comparison yet I didn't feel the fierce depth of emotion that I felt for Edward and Bella.  Seems sadder and moves faster.  The parents are idiots in this book.  (Charlie is not an idiot......just a single father duped by a very quiet vampire.  Plus Charlie is a cop and thus beyond reproach.)
Rating 4  Great writing yet something was missing in there.
Rating PG 13 Grace and Sam sleep in the same bed immediately which was fine with me but considering this is a teen novel......not so great.  Grace and Sam eventually do more than sleep together......fulfilling for me of course but not too cool when its geared for teens. This part is alluded to and not graphic.  Just another good book my daughter can't read until she is 21...:)

Beastly

Beastly by Alex Flinn

I love fairytale retellings!  Beastly is a Beauty And The Beast from the viewpoint of the Beast.

Kyle is a rich fifteen year old attending a private school in NYC.  His father anchors the news and his mother left them when Kyle was little. 

Kyle is one of the biggest jerks I have ever read about.  He has an entitled outlook on life.  He cares only for appearance.  Kyle decides to play a prank on a new girl at school because he thinks she is ugly and probably not rich.  He asks her to homecoming.  Then he stands her up.  When he returns home after a night of partying and sex (at the age of fifteen) the girl/witch is waiting for him.  The witch tells Kyle that she is going to make his outside match his inside and before he knows it, he is a beast.  He is given two years to find a girl that will fall in love with him and kiss him despite his appearance.

This could have been a great book.  It is based on one of my favorite fairytales.  Instead it was teen smut.  I don't care if anyone thinks that it should be normal for a CHILD in ninth grade to have various sex partners, shack ups, their own limo, alchohol and all name brand clothing.  It isn't normal and shouldn't be portrayed that way.
The book would have been more credible had it contained characters that were at least in their twenties.  What does a child know about true love, having a woman in his bed, etc..........   Uh, nothing.
Each section of the book was prefaced with a chat room session.  It was lame.  I can see that it may have appealed to a very young teen, but it will really date the book in about no time.

And if we are lucky...............they just might make this trash heap into a movie.  I hope the screen writer does a better job than the author.

Rating 2  I will admit that even though this book should not be read by a young teen and therefore is really geared to NOBODY......I was still marginally entertained.
Rating R Teen sex.........young teen.

Crashed

Crashed (Skinned trilogy #2) by Robin Wasserman

In the follow up to Skinned, Lia Kahn has left the home of her former family and is living in a compound/mansion with other mechs. Rights of the mechs' are in question as the Brotherhood become more vocal about how dangerous this new breed of people may be. When Lia's former friend Auden begins speaking out for the Brotherhood against the mechs, Lia is devastated.

Even though she has had no contact with her family in months, when things get tough, they pull through for her.

While living in the compound and trying to figure out or forget what she has become, Lia finally lets someone get close to her. She gets to know Riley.

Although I love the 'idea' of these books, I felt like this one was pretty flat. It took about three hundred pages to feel like I had finally reached the heart of the book. Before that there was too much emotional turmoil........you know the kind.........where you just keep rehashing something you can't seem to get over.

I was glad to see Lia finally have a friend. She felt much more angry in this book and I wasn't going for it.

I did however like learning more about the society after the big wars, and how the caste system had placed people in cities, corp-towns or rich suburbs.

Rating 2.5 I did like the book. It just took a lot of time to cover little ground.

Rating R For language, sex, some homosexuality, drug use (even though it was more like a download, you still understood that it was drug use).

Night World Vol. 1

Night World Vol. 1 by L.J. Smith

This book contains three books; Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, and Spellbinder.

Secret Vampire has a good premise; Poppy finds out that she is dying of pancreatic cancer and doesn't have long to live. She has a male best friend, James, that she has always had feelings for, feelings he has never returned. Now that she is dying she finds the reason he has been so aloof is because he is a vampire and member of the Night World. A world that she is never supposed to know about. James decides to turn Poppy into a vampire even though it is against the law of the Night World. He and Poppy are soul mates and they decide to chance the wrath of the Night World rather than be apart.

Daughters of Darkness
Three vampire sisters, Rowan, Kestrel, and Jade, run away from their vampire hometown. They move to a small town on the west coast where they can live without having their lives run by the elder vampires. This is where Jade and her brother Ash meet their soul mates. Unfortunately, their soul mates are human.

Spellbinder
Thea is a teenage witch. She has just moved to Las Vegas with her cousin/sister Blaise to live with their grandmother. Grandmother is an old Crone, one of the witch leaders. The two girls have moved from place to place because of Blaise's misuse of magic with human boys. Now Thea falls head over heels for a human boy. She thinks they are soulmates. Blaise wants to kill him in order to save Thea from being discovered and killed by the Night World for breaking the law.

The books were teen entertainment. The first book probably had the best idea behind it. After that it was kind of like watching daytime soaps.

Rating 2.5 I didn't hate it. I was far from loving it. Not intense enough.
Rating PG Killing, murder

Sprout by Dale Peck

Sprout is a teen in small town Kansas. His mother is dead. His dad is an alcoholic. He dyes his hair green. He is gay.

Sprout's life begins really changing when one teacher sees his writing potential. She spends a summer coaching him to enter a writing contest. She learns a lot about Sprout. She also falls in love with his quirky alcoholic father. Sprout realizes through his writing that he wants to delve deeper into his sexuality. He has been having a relationship for four years with a boy known to everyone else as a heterosexual and as Sprout's enemy. Then a new boy (Ty) shows up at school. Sprout realizes he wants a boyfriend. He and Ty have a harrowing relationship based on many of their past personal issues.

This book was sweet, random, quirky, sarcastic and eye opening. Sprout broke my little heart in two. I completely fell for him and his struggles.

Rating 3.5 Smart, sweet book. Dopey use of things like BTW. I know.....fits the whole teen thing but still dorky.
Rating R sex, gay sex, swearing, child abuse, alcoholism, death

City Of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments Book Two)

City of Ashes Mortal Instruments Book Two by Cassandra Clare

Clary's mother is still in a magical coma. Luke her Shadowhunter/werewolf father by association is looking after her. Her bio dad, the evil Valentine is on the loose and looking to make a demonic army. Simon, her best friend is still crushing on her and is now in mortal peril by association. Jace and Clary have a twisted and fascinating connection that I can't get over.

I wasn't sure Book Two was going to live up to Book One. Many times book two (movie two) is a vehicle to get to book three, but in this case I think this book held its own. The relationships between Clary and Jace, and Clary and Simon are killing me. There are twists that I didn't see coming. And I still feel like the author has lots of surprises to come. I am wildly suspicious about one turn of events and spend much of my reading time looking for clues to prove my suspicions correct. As soon as I finished this book I picked up the next one. I don't think I want them to be over.

The biting humor is fantastic!

Rating 5 I may have liked this book even more than book one.

Rating PG 13 Demonic violence, sexuality, homosexuality, inference of incestuous relationships. This all sounds pretty severe when I put it down like that........but I don't think it's that terrible. On the other hand I have a high tolerance and tend to downplay things that other people (people with higher standards) get upset over.