gregor & the curse of the warmbloods

gregor & the curse of the warmbloods
gregor the overlander series #3
suzanne collins
fiction/ya/fantasy/adventure
scholastic
published 2006

Book Two left off with Gregor reading the Prophecy of Blood: a prophecy that calls for Gregor and Boots to return to the Underland to help ward off a plague. But this time, Gregor's mother refuses to let Gregor return to the Underland ...until the rat Ripred assures the family that Gregor and Boots are needed only for a short meeting, which the crawlers will attend only if their "princess" Boots is present. Gregor's mom finally relents, but on the condition that she go with them so they aren't out of her sight. When they arrive in the subterranean city, the plague is spreading--and it has claimed one of his closest companions. Only then does Gregor start to understand how the illness plays with the fate of all warmblooded creatures, but this still doesn't give him the answers on how too stop it. As the search continues, time starts running out.

Just like the Harry Potter series you begin to notice Gregor & his books maturing.  With Gregor & the Curse of the Warmbloods we find more heartbreak, more death.

Collins has never shied away from death.  It seems someone has died in every book so far, but sometimes there are things worse than death, especially in a children's book.  But she handles things with care and dignity and that underlying moral that one should find when reading books like this.

Gregor's mother gets her experience in the Underlands.  And I can't say more without spoiling so much that there is to spoil in this installment.  It is easy to see that Gregor is so much more grown up now than he was just months ago in Gregor the Overlander!

impossible

impossible
nancy werlin
ya/fantasy
dial books
published 2008

Lucy has nine months to break an ancient curse in order to save both herself and her unborn daughter.

Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that the women of her family have been cursed through the generations, forced to attempt three seemingly impossible tasks or to fall into madness upon their child’s birth. But Lucy is the first girl who won’t be alone as she tackles the list. She has her fiercely protective foster parents and her childhood friend Zach beside her. Do they have love and strength enough to overcome an age-old evil?

My second Nancy Werlin book and like the first, I'm not sure how I feel about it.  I alternated between loving it and hating it I suppose.  Lucy is interesting.  She's sweet, loving and .... logical.  Somehow that makes her quite unbelievable as a teenage character. 

I was intrigued right away and since I was reading this at the same time as Extraordinary, I found myself enjoying these characters more than Phobe and Mallory.  But there are similarities in the things I didn't like about both although still I just can't put my finger on it.  At times the writing irked me, situations seemed completely implausible which is unfair because it's a fairy tale!

The riddles were intriguing.  I loved Lucy's relationship with Soledad & Leo, even her relationship with Miranda pulled at my heartstrings.  It's a nice turn from the usual YA novels where the teen turns her back on her parents (especially foster parents) and depends only on a best friend and a boy.  Lucy most definitely has a strong relationship with her best friend Sarah and comes to depend on Zach for his strength and love, but she loves and respects her foster parents fiercely and it was refreshing.

So I just can't understand why I didn't absolutely love this book, but I didn't.  That being said, I can say if someone asked me if they should read it I'd say give it a try.

the web

the web
alex delaware series #10
jonathan kellerman
suspense/psychological thriller
bantam books
published 1996

Three months in paradise, all expenses paid. It's an invitation Dr. Alex Delaware cannot refuse. Revered scientist Dr. Woodrow Wilson Moreland has invited Alex to a remote Pacific island to help him organize his papers for publication.

Yet the pleasures of sea and sand are quickly eclipsed by the disturbing presence of Dr. Moreland himself. The bizarre seemingly unrelated cases he chooses to share, including the recent murder of a young woman, lead Alex to wonder what the good doctor is trying to tell him -- and what the real motive for inviting him to the island is. But when Alex discovers the shocking truth, it is too late to stem the tide of violence that threatens innocent and guilty alike on this lovely lost island.

For some reason I am unable to fully explain this book held my attention much better than the previous 9 Alex Delaware novels.  One of my biggest dislikes, really there are very few, is Kellerman's habit of describing whatever route Alex drives when he has to go somewhere.  Being on an island that is 7 square miles and only about 1 mile of that accessible he wasn't really able to do that.  So maybe that's it!

Nonetheless, I was captivated by the story.  There was this mystery and in hindsight maybe lots of clues, but I didn't see it coming.  I had very little expectations for this book, actually thought it would be boring so maybe that helped too.  Moreland was strange and yet charming.  Beyond him there wasn't much more to most of the other characters.  An instant dislike for Creedman, but that was obvious.

Or maybe it was that there was more involvement from Robin.  I genuinely like Robin.  She seems to subtly make everything more interesting!

extraordinary

extraordinary
nancy werlin
ya/supernatural
dial books
published 2010

Phoebe finds herself drawn to Mallory, the strange and secretive new girl at school. Soon the two become as close as sisters . . . until Mallory’s magnetic older brother, Ryland, appears. Ryland has an immediate, exciting hold on Phoebe — but a dangerous hold, for she begins to question her feelings about her best friend and, worse, about herself. Soon she’ll discover the shocking, fantastical truth about Ryland and Mallory, and about an age-old debt they expect Phoebe to pay. Will she be strong enough to resist? Will she be special enough to save herself? 

This was a strange read for me.  On one hand I felt like it was amazingly magical yet steeped quite heavily in real life, but on the other I couldn't quite love the characters enough to care for their fate.

Phoebe is born into a family of exceptional people, or at least to a mother who is exceptional and despite her extraordinary ancestors, she feels that at any moment she will be revealed to be less than.  And ultimately, this is what dooms her.

Of course, we don't really believe in faeries.  We might, a little, but we don't truly expect to find them walking among us.  But somehow, Nancy Werlin's tale of faerie treachery is scarily real.  Mallory and Ryland's job is to systematically break Phoebe down until she admits to herself and to anyone else that she is ordinary.  That she is nothing.  Mallory tries to accomplish this by betraying a friendship years in the making.  Ryland's methods are much more effective and scarily familiar.  He uses love, or at least the desire to be loved.

The perfect example of a mentally abusive boyfriend Ryland demeans her, affectionately calls her 'stupid' and ridicules her while keeping his voice smooth and alluring.  Of course, Phoebe falls for it as so many other women have.  And I think this is why I couldn't fully love the book.  Yes, Werlin does a wonderful job at telling the story.  The scenes were vivid, the characters seemingly well thought out, but the ease at which Ryland breaks Phoebe down left a bitter taste in my mouth.  That she so quickly falls for it, for everything, was disappointing.

But then there is this moment when the book changes and I found myself unwilling to put it down.  Isn't that what we want in a book?  Still, even in the end I found myself wanting for something so I can't say I fully enjoyed the book, but it did whet my appetite enough that I will look forward to coming across more of Werlin's novels.

born in ice

born in ice
concannon sisters trilogy #2
nora roberts
fiction/romance
jove
published 1995

Brianna Concannon is a woman with a rare gift for creating a home, and she makes use of this talent by running a bed-and-breakfast in a picturesque corner of Ireland. Mystery writer Grayson Thane is an American who grew up in an orphanage and has spent his life alone. A restless wanderer with a painful past, Grayson arrives at Blackthorn Cottage intent only on soaking up the Irish atmosphere and writing his next novel, but he finds far more than he bargained for. The beautiful, calm Brianna soothes his disquiet soul, and in her Grayson finds the home he hadn't realized he needed. Brianna knows that by falling for him, she risks her heart, already bruised and scarred by a young love who left her at the altar. But the yearning to let the American melt the ice around her cold exterior is irresistible. Unless Grayson can let go of his past to forge a future with her, Brianna may have gambled her heart in vain. 

It doesn't matter that I read these books years ago.  I still get caught up in them.  I found myself staying up late into the night because I didn't want to put the book down.  Even though I knew what would happen, at least the sum of it, I didn't want to stop in the middle.  I don't remember exactly what my teenaged self thought of the details of the book, I just remember loving it.

This time I'm older, and a mother so maybe my perspective is different.  I find I have a harder time than Brianna forgiving her mother.  I think that maybe I'm more like Maggie. Prone to emotional outbursts and able to hold a grudge, but I have to admit that the few times she's shown she does love her daughters have melted my resolve a bit.

The books also rekindle my desire to visit Ireland.  Especially here, with Grayson describing the landscape for his novel, we're rich with descriptives!  How could you not want to stay at Blackthorn and drink in the history?

Roberts ability to spin a tale and draw you in has never been as apparent as it is here.  I think in her trilogies or quartets she shines best, able to continue to flesh out her characters.  They become even more realistic, you're invested even more into their lives.  I mean come on, she makes housework sound thrilling!

annabel

annabel
delirium series #2.5
lauren oliver
harper collins
published 2012

Lena Halloway's mother, Annabel, supposedly committed suicide when Lena was only six years old. That's the lie that Lena grew up believing, but the truth is very different. As a rebellious teenager, Annabel ran away from home and straight into the man she knew she was destined to marry. The world was different then—the regulations not as stringent, the cure only a decade old. Fast forward to the present, and Annabel is consigned to a dirty prison cell, where she nurtures her hope of escape and scratches one word over and over into the walls: Love.
But Annabel, like Lena, is a fighter. Through chapters that alternate between her past and present, Annabel reveals the story behind her failed cures, her marriage, the births of her children, her imprisonment, and, ultimately, her daring escape.

I generally don't write reviews on short stories or novellas because they're mostly just teasers without much to them, but Annabel was something I had been wanting without even knowing it.

Lena's mother has always been a ghost.  All we knew about her was that the cure didn't work on her and she killed herself because of it.  We find out later that she didn't commit suicide, but was imprisoned instead.  Later still we learn of yet another fate for Lena's mother.  And despite Lena's longing and curiosity we know very little of who Annabel really was.

This story attempts to bring Annabel closer to the surface for us and while it does give us a better glimpse of who she was it's hardly enough.  Annabel is a strong and rich character.  There is so much more to tell!  I think she would be well served with a book of her own, but I assume that because these are YA books we'll never really see that come to fruition.

We see Lena in her, although Annabel's rebellion is much more calculated.  Lena ran because she fell in love.  Annabel ran because she knew better.

dark magick

dark magick
sweep series #4
cate tiernan
ya/supernatural/romance
speak
published 2007

Morgan inherited a talent for witchcraft from her parents, and now she is the holder of her mother's Wiccan tools: a green silk robe, an ivory-handled knife, silver bowls, a cauldron, and a long carved wand. The tools are awesome in their power, and Morgan's boyfriend Cal wants to see them, perhaps to seize power for himself. "We are muirn beatha dans, and we will always be together," he reminds Morgan, and she wonders if this is really true. Loyalty to Cal has led her to use her powers in ways that feel wrong. Is Cal the one she is destined to be with? Does she have a choice? Hunter, a member of the Wiccan High Council, says she does. But what is Hunter after? Who should Morgan believe?

This girls idiocy knows no bounds it seems.

When she goes to Practical Magick and David asks her who she can trust and she replies that she can trust herself.  Her own instincts told her to run when Cal mentioned people who wanted to meet her.  Her own instincts told her to get out of his secret room because the vibrations were bad, yet she thinks Hunter is 'misguided'.  Any information anyone gives her she takes as they just don't know even though they've been witches their whole lives and she's been one for a couple of months.  She's an idiot.  During the chapter where she meets with David and Hunter I thought, finally, she's going to get her shit together....but no.

But truly, the line that made me laugh out loud was when she said, 'I'd always thought of Jenna as being kind of needy and dependent on Matt.'  That is a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black.

Awful things happen and the entire time I couldn't help but think that if she'd just listened to her instincts she would have avoided this whole mess and still have found out all about her birth mother & father.  I just can't feel sorry for her, or think she's brave or smart because she's none of those things.

But now, because of all of this revelation business I'll have to keep reading so I know what happens.....*sigh*