Blood Red Road

     I must admit, when I started this book, I didn't think I could finish it. There are NO quotation marks and that is a pet peeve of mine. It is also written in dialect, also not appealing to me in YA novels. But, since the author is visiting our school in a couple of weeks, I decided to finish it. And boy am I glad I did. What a GREAT book. I loved the main characters, Saba and Jack. It had a great storyline, action, romance, adventure and a crow named Nero that saves the day and can play dice. It had a Hunger Games feel to it in places and there was never a dull moment. All those things make it a great read for young adult readers, if they can figure out the quotation mark thing. But maybe that doesn't bother other people. Saba is a strong female character who can take care of herself and goes on a journey of discovery while trying to save her twin brother Lugh. On the way, she is kidnapped, forced to cage fight to the death, loses her little sister and meets a warrior-thief named Jack. Jack teaches Saba what it means to have friends and how to love family. Of course the fact that he has dreamy silver eyes doesn't hurt the situation at all. Jack holds a firm place in that top ten list of my favorite fiction boys and Saba is a character I would like to read more about. Will there be a sequel? Just one of the questions I have for Moira Young when she comes to school. Give Blood Red Road a try and I guarantee you will find something to like about it. Quotation marks or not. Happy Reading my friends.

Fury

     Have you ever done something you regret? Hurt a friend, lied to your boyfriend, gossiped about classmates? What if someone was watching and knew your deepest secrets? And what if they decided you needed to be punished? Emily and Chase are about to find out what happens when the Furies notice you. They each have done something not so nice and are facing the consequences of their actions. It starts when they each notice three mysterious girls following them. What do the girls want, and why do they keep turning up wherever they go? Can they make up for what they have done wrong? Can they stop the Furies from exacting revenge? Emily finds out the cost of her betrayal, and it is more than she can bare when her best friend JD is dragged into her mess. She has to decide if she is willing to give up everything and tie herself to the Furies forever in order to save him, or will she let him die? Elizabeth Miles has started what will be an interesting series. It's different  to see main characters with such flaws and serious consequences.This author will be at our school next month with two other authors, Becca Fitzpatrick and Moira Young. Looking forward to hearing her speak and adding her book to my autographed books collection. I enjoyed this story, though the end left me a little sad and anxious for the next book. I'm reading  Blood Red Road now, by Moira Young and am LOVING it. It is very similar to Hunger Games so far. Gonna get back to my book now- Happy Reading Y'all!

Shadowcry by Jenna Burtenshaw

Kate has lived a simple life working in her families bookstore with her Uncle Artemis and friend Edgar. One day the wardens show up to gather able bodied men to fight the war but they are also looking for someone. As Kate is hiding in the basement, she brings a blackbird back to life. This is just the sign the watchers are looking for and Kate is taken away to the Fume as one of the Skilled- a person who can walk between the veil of life and death. Silas, the most frightening warden of them all, wants her for something too. He wants her to kill him. He has been cursed with living a soulless life as a tool for the evil Da'ru. Kate has only one goal- to save her uncle and Edgar. She will do whatever it takes to accomplish this task, even if it means helping Da'ru.  This book was okay, not one of my favorites. Silas could really be an interesting character and I would like to learn more about him. Kate was courageous, Edgar was a loyal friend and Uncle Artemis was a bit of a nincompoop. All and all, I look for a little more intrigue and suspense in my books and this was only skimming the surface of this.  Waiting for a new box of books to come- hopefully Shelter will be among them. I also have to read two books by our upcoming visiting authors. Can't wait for October 7th when the ladies will be at RMMS sharing their great books. In the meantime- happy reading my friends.

Ashes, Ashes... we all fall DEAD!

     Lately I have been reading end of the world type books. Is this because there is a new supply of them, is it because the world is going to end in 2012 according to the Aztecs or Mayans, is it because boys love end of the world books and boys are harder to motivate to read? I don't know- but Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari was a good read. In this world, smallpox has wiped out most of the population and Lucy finds herself alone in New York amidst the rubble of the natural disasters that have been striking the what is left of the world. As she is out hunting for something to eat, a pack of feral dogs chases her, eager to catch and kill her. Lucky for her, Aidan is watching from up a tree and reaches out his hand to her in the nick of time. She hasn't spoken to another human in a long time and she has a hard time trusting this brave, infuriating boy. When her camp is destroyed by a tidal wave, she goes off in search of his settlement and reluctantly joins them. When Seekers come and kidnap some members of the settlement, Lucy and Aidan set out to save them. What they don't know is that the Doctors who kidnapped the kids really want Lucy- because her blood may be the cure to smallpox. There is lots of great description of the destroyed city and of course a love triangle emerges. Love conquers all, right? Even an apocalyptic world of smallpox. I give this a thumbs up. Happy reading my friends.

The Maze Runner

As our school librarian said to me last week- you haven't read this YET? Well, I can now say I have. Maze Runner is about a boy named Thomas who wakes up in a box. As he is lifted out, he is greeted by a community of boys who have no idea how they got there in the Glades- and this ain't Florida my friends. The community is surrounded be a GIGANTIC maze that the boys have to try and solve. Only the runners are allowed to be in the maze and Thomas is sure he wants to be a runner, in fact, he remembers he once was a runner. When an accident happens and Thomas finds himself in the maze after dark, he realizes that he has been there before and even worse, others seem to know this too and hate him. When a girl shows up in the box, all heck breaks loose and he has a weird connection to her- they can communicate in their minds. She has somehow triggered "the ending". And when the city walls don't close and the sun doesn't come out, and the Grievers come looking for one victim a night, Thomas knows he has to do something. Only one problem, it looks like a suicide mission. This was an okay book, I think my students would really like it, and I may read the sequel- The Scorch Trials eventually. I am eagerly awaiting the release of my FAVORITE adult authors' first YA book next week. I'll let you know how that goes. In the meantime, look out for Grievers, and keep searching for the solution to the maze.

The Enemy

What would happen if everyone over the age of 16 suddenly got a disease? What if that disease turned them into mindless zombies? What if all they wanted to do was kill and eat you? Where do you hide, how do you find food and how do you defend yourself? A group of kids in London have to figure all this out or die trying. When a mysterious kid shows up and tells them that they could find safety across town, Maxie and Arryn find it hard to believe. But the zombies are getting closer, and food is running low, so they make the choice to make a run for this promised land- which just happens to be Buckingham Palace where a few zombies of the royal family are being held captive. On their journey they meet up with other groups of kids and some are lost along the way. Buckingham palace is run by a kid named David and it seems too good to be true. So of course , it is too good to be true. Can Maxie convince the others that something is wrong, can Sam survive on his own, and why is there one zombie who all of a sudden seems to be able to think and plan? This was a great read by Charlie Higson who also wrote the young James Bond series. It was a well- written and entertaining book that I couldn't put down. I have the prequel on my shelf and will pick it up soon and see what happens before... just hope that zombie disease doesn't strike me before I have the chance. Happy reading!

Steampunk Anyone? The Girl in the Steel Corset

I've been hearing about Steampunk for years. This is my first journey into this world. And I must say, I really enjoyed it. Steampunk is when you take machinery etc. that is modern and put it into a time period where it didn't exist. This novel takes place in Victorian England and involves a Duke and his friends. They are fighting  "The Machinist", an evil mastemind who figures out how to make automatons (robots) come to life. Griffin is the Duke who runs the show along with his friends Emily, the genius, Jasper, the American cowboy, Sam, half man, half metal and new addition,  Finley, who just might have the real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as her father. Each of these characters has a power that comes from some mysterious Organites that their now deceased parents had found. As these friends try to figure out who they can trust, they are called on to save Queen Victoria during her Jubilee. To add intrigue to the mix, Finley finds herself not only drawn to dreamy Griffin, but to the nefarious Jack Dandy- who may not be as nefarious as he seems. This book ended with a cliffhanger that will bring the gang to New York City to help one of their own. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and the only reason it took me so long to read is that school is back in session. Pick this one up if you want to try some Steampunk! And if you really like the idea of robots... I read a great adult novel called Robocalypse that documents the year that computers take over the world. Scary.