On Magic Glass

I really like Maria V. Snyder's imagination...

She can create a world and make you believe you are there, that you are friends with the characters and know the families and countryside...

The Glass Series continues where the Poison series leaves off 

with some of the same characters

Opal Cowan, the sister of the glass blower in the Poison series, is the main character in this series. 
She is also a glass-blower who has magical abilities. 

In the first book she is called to aid the Stormdancers, a magical people who calm storms, when their glass orbs are sabotaged. 

 

 Storm Glass

In the second, she has become a pawn of the governments, with her special talents being held hostage.  She has to choose her path and find truth.

 Sea Glass

In the last book, Spy Glass, Opal is without her magic, and has to reinvent herself and her place in society.  

 Spy Glass

Very compelling characters. 

Fun reads!

Some sexy stuff and violence so probably for 9th grade up.

Zombie Love

"This is the way the world ends - not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door."

OK.
So I did it.  I read the book I said I wouldn't read.
And it was ok.  Just OK mind you.  I'm not a horror movie fan (or scary book fan for that matter.)
Hollowland was the only book I'd not read by Amanda Hocking (so far) so I thought I'd give it a shot.
 
Your typical apocalyptic zombie story (like those crazy movie my brother always loves) we have a world infected with a deadly virus that turns people into flesh-eating monsters.  Also we have those who have to run and hide from the zombies.   Remy, our teenage heroine, is searching for her little brother Max, who was taken by the military to an unknown "safe" location.  She teams up with a rock-star, a few other normal citizens, and some end-of-days cult members on her quest.
Love and Sacrifice (and lots of gore.) 
Everything you want and expect from a zombie story, I guess!

Study this Series

Yelena, a young girl sentenced to death for murder is given the chance to live, 

and in the palace no less...

The catch?

She must be the food taster for the Commander of Ixia whose last food taster was 

not 

so 

successful. 

Faced with a rebellion and certain death if she leaves the commander's palace, Yelena is torn and tossed by the fates.  

The story continues in Magic Study.

Here we find our heroine finding out her identity and her potential as a magician.  Her search for her lost family takes her on a perilous journey.  There are some wonderful characters in this novel. 

In the last book of the triology, Fire Study, Yelena is struggling with her enormous powers.  Her internal struggles continue as she also works to avoid a revolution and find a murderer.  Conflicts abound in this one.

Maria V. Snyder is a wonderful story-teller.  I thought her writing style was intelligent, yet fun and easy to read.  A great combination of fantasy, science-fiction, and romance.  These stories remind me a lot of The Black Magician Trilogy books (but steamier.)

I look forward to reading more of Snyder's work! 

Enchanted Hot Chocolate

This was an "enchanting" novel...
The authors use an interesting format...
They actually wrote letters to each other using an identities of cousins Cecilia and Kate, girls from an alternate reality (Victorian England with a magical twist.)  Think Charlotte Bronte or Jane Austen meets Harry Potter...  At first, the format was confusing to me, but by four or five letters I got into it and really did enjoy it. 

 

An intelligent story with smart female characters,

AND

it has three of my favorite things in it

English period romance,

Magical/Sci-Fi,

and especially hot chocolate!

Patricia C. Wrede, one of the authors has a new book out called The Thirteenth Child which looks to be another interesting read.

On String Theory and Fairy Tales

I sometimes like to read a fiction and no-fiction book simultaneously just to mix it up.  It was funny because I started a book on string theory called The Elegant Universe, and then got The Lost Gate, a book I'd been waiting on from Orson Scott Card.  You wouldn't think it but they really compliment each other!

Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game, Lost Boys) is one of my absolute favorite authors. He has such a fantastic imagination it makes anything he writes so much fun to read. The Lost Gate was no exception.  Who else could take almost every myth and tale the world has known and explain them in a scientific yet magical way that makes sense?

The sons and daughters of the North clan all have some sort of magical powers, except for Danny. With no apparent magic in him his family treats him as an outcast, a servant, a dog. He is always fearful that someone will tire of him and kill him.
When mean cousins push him to the brink, he discovers that maybe he does have some magic in him. But what he discovers only makes things worse and life becomes even more complicated for Danny North.
Alternate worlds, myths that are actually realities, physics and fairy tales combine. 

I must admit, I found myself getting lost at times in this novel, but it did come together in the end to make a delightful read.   Not a book for kids, with adulterous relationships,  murder,  and just some scary stuff.  I want to know more about what happens to Danny, Wad, and the others. Not sure if he's planning a sequel but I'd like it.

Academy 7

Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund

I have to start by saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover."
In this case the cover is very Harlequin romancey, and the book is NOT.
Much more of a sci-fi thriller with some romance thrown in (although nothing major and suitable for even younger teens-not too mushy for the guys.)
Aerin is a young girl who has been through more tortures in her young life to mention.  Saved from her decrepit space-ship at the last possible moment, she finds a world she didn't even know existed.  Equality?  Fairness?  Freedom?
Enrolled in the prestigious Academy 7, a starting point for future leaders, she soon finds out there is so much she doesn't know.  She excels in her studies, being the top of the class in all but debate where Dane, the son of a powerful Alliance leader, talks circles around her.   After time they form a relationship, Aerin's first friendship.  Full of space ships, beautiful imagery, and high tech escapades. 
I am anxious for the next book so I can find out what happens next to these interesting characters. 

Down in the Dark (Life)

It's not often I enjoy a book this much.  In Dark Life, Kat Falls really gets the ocean, the beauty and awe of nature.  This futuristic "what will happen to life after global warming hits us full force" novel finds land so precious that people go undersea to farm and find a new life.  The main character is a young boy who was born under the ocean on his family's farm on the sea floor.   His special gifts he keeps hidden until a strange new "Topsider" girl comes looking for her brother.  Outlaws, pioneers, bandits, dolphins, giant squid, houses shaped like jellyfish, all combine to make a fantastic tale.  Even though this is a book mainly for tween to teens I can't wait for the next installment Rip Tide, due out May 2011! 

Invasive Procedures

I adore Orson Scott Card.  I think that he's one of the most imaginative authors of our time.  Invasive Procedures, a joint effort by him and Aaron Johnston was exciting.  I don't usually like thrillers, but this definitely was.  In this story a geneticist goes a bit bonkers and creates a religion of sorts with him, of course, as the fearless leader.  He has the ability to change a person's DNA to make them stronger, healthier, and cure genetic diseases by injecting them with a virus designed just for them.  Exciting and scary!  A good summer read.