rasl, vol 1 through 3

rasl: the drift
rasl: the fire of st. george
rasl: romance at the speed of light
jeff smith
graphic novel/scifi
cartoon books
published 2008, 2010, 2011

Cartoon Books proudly presents Jeff Smith's new adventure series, RASL - a stark, sci-fi series about a dimension-jumping art thief, a man unplugged from the world who races through space and time searching for his next big score - and trying to escape his past. In this first of three graphic novels, Rasl faces an assassin's bullet and stumbles across a mystery that not only threatens to expose his own illicit activities, but could also uncover one of the world's most dangerous and sought after secrets!

Just not my thing.

After reading the entire Bone series this was....disappointing.  The art just wasn't as rich and detailed as Bone and it wasn't really all that exciting to look at.  And I just wasn't into the subject matter.  Maybe because Tesla played such a big part and there was SO MUCH EXPLAING I just couldn't get into it.  Not that I don't think Tesla is cool, but Odd Apocalypse was all about Tesla too and I'm just a little burnt out at this point.

I'm not sure if I'll read the last one.  I got these three at the same time from the library and they don't have the fourth so I'm probably not going to go out searching for it.  Just....not my thing.

bad island

bad island
doug tennapel
graphic novel/ya/scifi
graphix
published 2011

Something on this island is up to no good . . .

When Reese is forced to go on a boating trip with his family, the last thing he expects is to be shipwrecked on an island-especially one teeming with weird plants and animals. But what starts out as simply a bad vacation turns into a terrible one, as the castaways must find a way to escape while dodging the island's dangerous inhabitants. With few resources and a mysterious entity on the hunt, each secret unlocked could save them . . . or spell their doom. One thing Reese knows for sure: This is one Bad Island.

Much of this story depends heavily on the graphics, which are beautiful!  Everything was happening so fast, there was so much to take it and I wanted to madly flip through the pages to find out what happened next, but I was captivated by artwork.  

The story itself was suspenseful and exhilarating.  I could see this easily turned into some sort of mini series or movie.  There felt like there was so much more that was left unexplored, unexplained although the story didn't feel incomplete.

A true family story, everyone working together, learning to trust each other and no one being treated as if they were the weaker one.  It was thrilling!

ghostopolis

ghostopolis
doug tennapel
graphic novels/ya/supernatural
graphix
published 2010

A page-turning adventure of a boy's journey to the land of ghosts and back.

Imagine Garth Hale's surprise when he's accidentally zapped to the spirit world by Frank Gallows, a washed-out ghost wrangler. Suddenly Garth finds he has powers the ghosts don't have, and he's stuck in a world run by the evil ruler of Ghostopolis, who would use Garth's newfound abilities to rule the ghostly kingdom. When Garth meets Cecil, his grandfather's ghost, the two search for a way to get Garth back home, and nearly lose hope until Frank Gallows shows up to fix his mistake.

Definitely a page turner.  Fun, creepy in a kid friendly way.  I thought it would be sad and it was a bit, but it was much more interesting and sweet than I thought it would be!

marshmallows for breakfast

marshmallows for breakfast
dorothy koomson
fiction
bantam dell
published 2007

How do you explain those unexpected moments of love?...When Kendra Tamale returns to England from Australia she rents a room from Kyle, a separated father of two, and begins a new job. She's looking forward to a fresh start and a simple life.

Kyle's six-year-old twins, Summer and Jaxon, have other ideas and quickly adopt Kendra as their new mother - mainly because she lets them eat marshmallows for breakfast. Kendra eventually becomes a part of their lives, even though she's hiding a painful secret that makes her keep everyone - especially children - at arm's length.
 
Then Kendra bumps into the man who shares her awful secret, and everything falls apart: she can't sleep, she can't eat, she's suspended from work, and the kids are taken away by their mother. The only way to fix things is to confess to the terrible mistake she made all those years ago. But that's something she swore never to do...


There are sometimes books that I buy that sit on my shelves forever.  I don't read them.  Something else comes along first and since I own these books I don't have to read them right away.  Finally, I pick one up and read it and kick myself for having waited so long to get to it.

Marshmallows for Breakfast is one of those.

My sister-in-law gave me My Best Friend's Girl years ago.  It was Dorothy Koomson's first US release and it tore me in half.  I think I cried through most of the book.  Marshmallows for Breakfast was different, but no less stunning.  There was so much going on and it felt like it happened so quickly.  It was a constant series of gut punches.  And you thought you knew what was happening, but you didn't.

Koomson writes the most realistically flawed and perfect characters.  There is something you can instantly relate to in everyone.  They become friends, people you know or wish you did know.  Their hurt, their joys, their fears are absorbed into you and you are better for it.  There were times when I found myself touching the words on the page wishing I could comfort Kendie or Summer or Ashlyn or someone, anyone.

I didn't cry like I did when I read My Best Friend's Girl.  This book was happier, even with the sad parts.  But I loved it just as much I think.  These aren't romance novels, though they deal with love.  There is always something more in them.  Something that aches.  They aren't just about loss or grief or terror, they are just about people and the choices they make and how they live with those choices.

There is no way that I can't read all of her books now.  After the first book I went online and found that despite her having written 5 books at the time only My Best Friend's Girl and Marshmallows for Breakfast were available for purchase in the US.  I fear I must now stalk the interwebs until I can find them all!

half-blood

half-blood
covenant series #1
jennifer armentrout
ya/fiction/supernatural
spencer hill press
published 2011

The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi—pure-bloods—have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals—well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures.

Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:

Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden.

Unfortunately, she’s crushing hard on the pure-blooded Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn’t her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

Sooooooo.....I got to page 18 and almost put it down for good.  I found myself constantly rechecking the front cover.  Was I reading a Vampire Academy book without knowing it?  It was really hard to stomach the blatant rip off this book was.  I thought I couldn't possibly be the only one who thought that the similarities between Armentrout's fictional world and Richelle Mead's were one too many.  On Goodreads the reviews were about the same.  Some even claiming this couldn't be legal, but there were a couple that claimed while the book bore stunning similarities at some point Armentrout branches off into her own world and it was actually really good.

There were very few good reviews for the book from people I suspect read the Vampire Academy series, but the few there encouraged me to read on so I did.

If I had never read the Vampire Academy series I probably would have loved this book, but the fact remains that I did and so I struggled with Half-Blood.  Alex is Rose.  Plain and simple.  You could insert each into the other's book and there would be no difference.  Both half-bloods ran away from their respective academies (where they were training to become some sort of assassin) and lived in the mortal world until the guardians catch up to them and bring them back to the school.  There they are judged to be hopeless, too far behind in their training so they will be sent off until one guardian volunteers to train them personally on their own time.  That guardian is also the person that Alex/Rose is in lust for and completely forbidden.  Aidan is Dimitri.  Plain and simple.  Even the Daimons/Strigoi are strangely alike.  They were always solitary hunters until recently they began hunting in groups!

And at some point she does begin to branch off into her own story.  Alex is special, unlike the other half-bloods (although, Rose too was special being shadow-kissed and unnaturally bonded to Lissa - which now that I think about it is VERY much the same as Seth & Alex) and she has a great purpose.  But before all this really needs to be dealt with she must do something she never thought she would have to do.

Armentrout can write a good book, but a book that is so steeply based in someone else's world it's hard to judge.  Half-bloods, pures, Daimons, Strigoi, mastering the elements, Aidan, Dimitri, Alex, Rose, Caleb, Mason.....there were just too many.  I probably won't read the rest of the series, though I won't say I definitely won't, but reading the synopsis for the next book in the series I still find it too much like the plot from another Vampire Academy book and that's just disappointing.

gregor the overlander

gregor the overlander
the underland chronicles #1
suzanne collins
fiction/ya/fantasy
scholastic, inc.
published 2003

When Gregor falls through a grate in the laundry room of his apartment building, he hurtles into the dark Underland, where spiders, rats, cockroaches coexist uneasily with humans. This world is on the brink of war, and Gregor's arrival is no accident. A prophecy foretells that Gregor has a role to play in the Underland's uncertain future. Gregor wants no part of it -- until he realizes it's the only way to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance. Reluctantly, Gregor embarks on a dangerous adventure that will change both him and the Underland forever.

When my friend told me that she loved this series more than she loved The Hunger Games I was doubtful.  Actually, I thought she was just plain crazy.  But I thought I should try these books out nonetheless.  I remember looking them up after I read Catching Fire and was waiting impatiently for Mockingjay to come out.  But they seemed not my style and so I didn't look too hard for them.

Boy was I missing out.  I can imagine being a young kid and loving these books.  There is adventure, it's scary, Gregor is brave and he loves his family fiercely.  There is sacrifice and treachery.  It has all the elements any good book should have, but it's not so much that you wouldn't want your kid to read it.

I think what struck the chord in me was Boots.  I just loved her to pieces and I ached that she was homesick or that Gregor was terrified to leave her or take her with him on his journey.  I loved how he took care of her and I was genuinely sad when sacrifices were made in her name.  She is the embodiment of any child at that age.  Trusting, sweet, honest and loving.  She was, as Gregor put it once, the ultimate secret weapon.

I didn't think I would love this book as much as I did so I didn't line up the next from the library and now, as I get ready to go to sleep, I am kicking myself!

tick tock

tick tock
michael bennett #4
james patterson & michael ledwidge
fiction/suspense/thriller
little, brown & co.
published 2011

A bomb set in one of New York's busiest places is discovered before it explodes. But relief turns to terror when the police realize it is just a warning of greater devastation to come. The city calls on Detective Michael Bennett, pulling him away from a seaside vacation with his ten adopted children and their beloved nanny, Mary Catherine--leaving his entire family open to attack. Bennett enlists the help of a former colleague, FBI Agent Beth Peters. His affection for Beth grows into attraction and then something stronger, and his relationship with Mary Catherine takes an unexpected turn. Another horrifying crime leads Bennett to a shocking discovery that exposes the killer's pattern--and the earth-shattering enormity of his plan.

Despite having become disillusioned with James Patterson I continue to read his books.  More out of habit than any sort of excitement or anticipation.  However, since the first in this series I've enjoyed the Michael Bennett books.  I still continue to love Alex Cross, although the last few I read not as much as I used to.  Still, they're always a good read for me.

Now, fourth in this series we find Michael & his family on a beach vacation battling Westie bullies and catching some rays.  Michael's slow flirtation with Mary Catherine (the 'nanny') is starting to boil up a little more and life is pretty good for the Bennett clan.  But when someone leaves a bomb at the New York City Library it looks like this cop's vacation is about over.

The bad guy is your standard Patterson bad guy.  Crazy and lethal, the perfect killing machine.  Nothing really new and exciting there, but there are a few twists and turns that make it more interesting than boring.  And I have to say, I loved the ending.  It was good, I mean, good in an unexpected way.  At first I thought maybe it was a cop out (har har), but it fit the environment so perfectly.  I will admit that coming near the end I had a sneaking suspicion it would end similar to the way it did, yet I was surprised nonetheless.

And if I'm being perfectly honest I felt that the bad guy was a little too easy to find....but that's just me.

So I'm a happy camper with Michael Bennett's latest adventures.  Which is good considering I have the next one, I, Michael Bennett sitting on the shelf waiting for me.