Book 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Katniss Everdeen, has survived 2 hunger games, her home has been destroyed, Peeta has been captured by the capitol, and any survivors of district 12 are now housed in district 13 (yes, it really is there!).  As if that wasn’t enough, now the rebels of district 13 want to use her the way the capitol did.  The rebels need a symbol of the revolution who can rally the people of all the districts.  Everything about the rebellion depends on Katniss.  But can she be the Mockingjay they want her to be?  And the bigger question…Can Peeta be saved?  And the BIGGEST question…Who will Katniss choose, Peeta or Gale?

Just got the book today around noon and finished it at 8:30 p.m. (I even read it while cooking diner and doing the laundry).   I had it pre-ordered and had to wait for it to be delivered!  I’m never doing that again.  What can I say about Mockingjay without spoiling it?  Let’s just say OMG!!!!! WOW!!!! Non-stop read!  Great conclusion to the trilogy!   If you haven’t read these books then you MUST!!!!!   Even my Dad has read these and is waiting for my copy to be sent to him so he can read it.  Suzanne Collins Rocks!!!!!  And FYI she is going to be in Naperville in October!!!  Yeah!

Katarina (Kat) was born into a family of thieves, but she has been trying to have a normal life.  She stole herself a place in the Colgan Boarding School only to lose it after being framed for a theft she did not commit (stealing the Dean’s car and turning it into a fountain). Then soon after being expelled she discovers her father is in a heap of trouble.  Not from Interpol, but from an eccentric billionaire who believes that he stole 5 priceless (Nazi Contraband) paintings from his home (which happens to have a security system that is next to impossible to crack. not to mention the house has a moat!).   When the billionaire confronts Kat and gives her father 13 days to give back his paintings and Kat’s father says he didn’t do it, Kat has to find the paintings and give them back or Dad has seen the last of his days.  With no adults willing to go up against the real thief who stole the paintings the teens of the family take on the job to save Kat’s dad!

So very cool!  I think I like this better then her Galliger Girls Series, and I love them.  Even with my busy schedule I finished this book in 3 days.  I read before bed for an hour, when I woke up for 2 hours, on my lunch hour, and while waiting to see the Scott Pilgrim movie.  There are only two girl thieves in this book and a swarm of guys.  I think Kat is a great character (and Hale is way better/cuter/hotter/…insert proper word here… then Edawrd Cullen in all his stalker-like tendencies. True he’s a thief, but he’s honest about it).  Bring on book 2 and I will be at the store the first day to buy myself a copy!  It is so very much worth the read!

Book 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Read Book 1 first, Evermore.

Ever and Damen are immortal soul mates.  Damen has searched the world over looking for Ever and he finally has her and she is now immortal like him.  But, when the new kid from England shows up everything that was good is now bad.  The school cliques have been absolved and Damen is only thinking about hot a girl looks and the next party he can throw, that is when he’s not thinking about his new stalker, Ever!  With Damen acting weird and no one else to turn to Ever goes to the psychic from her Halloween party.  Can Ever get her Damen back and restore the school to its normal self?  How will she be able to find the answers to the immortal juice if Damen never taught her how to make it and if he is no longer drinking it will he survive?

At the end of book 1 I was happy.  It was a great stand alone book.  Now after reading book 2 I’m upset because now I have another series I have to read.  Book 2 is left hanging in a way that means there has to be a book 3.  Book 2 is great, but you really need to read book 1 in order to understand parts of book 2.  I can’t wait to see how Ever is  going to fix things in book 3.

Book 3… Do not read this unless you have read The Awakening and The Summoning!

Chloe (a sup-ed-up necromancer) is on the run from the Eddison Group with a werewolf (Derek), a warlock (Simon), and a sup-ed-up witch (Tori).  All were genetically modified so that their powers wouldn’t have the restraints of the normal supernaturals.  In this the 3rd book, Chloe and the others have finally gotten into a situation where there are adults who they can trust and who want to help them.  Or so they think.  With an older necromancer who is going to teach her the basics, Chloe thinks she will finally get to understand something about her powers.  But when the other necromance makes Chloe conjure in a graveyard even after the protests of both Chloe and Tori…all kinds of trouble erupts.  

SPOILERS!!!!!!!

I really liked the first two books of this escape story turned love story, but this one left me wanting.  I was waiting for a really awesome ending of the trilogy.  I was waiting for the unexpected…but, I was left with the predictable “…and they lived happily ever after” type of ending.  I loved that Derek finally got to change into his wolfy self and that Chloe finally uses her powers to protect herself instead of just fear them, but I was left thinking this third (and final) book should have had more in it.    Then I learned that there is a book 4!!!!!  The Gathering is set to come out in April 2011. Really this is book 1 of a 2nd series with different kids who have also got messed with by the Eddison Group, but Chloe and the others will be back in this series towards the end, or so Armstrong says on her site: http://www.darkestpowers.com/the-gathering/ 

Every summer Belly, her brother, and their mom spend the summer at their mom’s best friend’s beach house with her and her two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah.  Belly has always had a crush on Conrad, but has always been like a little sister to the two brothers.  The summer she turns 16 everything is different.  It used to be that she was always getting left out of the fun the boys had.  Now that she’s 16 all the boys are looking at her, even the other boys in town.  She is ready for a summer of fun, but Conrad is acting up and Jeremiah is acting weird.  Something is up with the two boys and it’s not just that this is the summer that she turned pretty. 

Seriously this book reminds me of a mix of Sarah Dessen and Lurlene McDaniel.  The only down side was that it kept skipping through time, back and forth and back again.  While listening to this on playaway I had trouble keeping track of which summer it was.  The book was really incredible and I enjoyed it a lot.  It was sad close to the end, but instead of a love triangle it was more of a love square. 

check out the authors site! http://www.dearjennyhan.com/

Ever Bloom is the only survivor of a car accident that took the lives of her mother, father, sister, and their dog.  Since the accident she has been living with her aunt and going to a new school.  All her old friends have stopped talking to her and she has become a very different girl then who she was before the accident.  She sees auras, can read minds, and if she touches someone she knows everything about them.  Studying is no longer necessary.  She just knows, and if she tells anyone they will think she’s crazy, so instead she blasts music on an ipod and wears clothes that hide her from the world.  But, when she meets Damen her life gets turned upside down yet again.  When he touches her the world is blank, she can no longer hear the inner voices of everyone in the room.

When I first started this one I thought it was far too much like Twilight and that there would be a vampire.  I was actually surprized by who Damen was.  It was a good book that made me smile, even if I thought that at times the characters where a bit flat in places.  I must now read book 2!  My thanks to the teens who told me to read it!

Book 2!!! It comes after Evil Genius. Cadell is back and in hiding without a country to call his own because Prosper English wont claim him as his son.  So Cadell lives in foster care with two other “troubled” kids.  One of which never gets in trouble for the damage he causes Cadell.  Being followed by undercover police officers (who wont give him a ride) and only being allowed to be on the computer for a short time each day (and if he isn’t there to use it during his allotted time he looses it), Cadell is not happy.  When an opportunity for alternate living conditions with unlimited computer access opens up, with a bonus of living with Sonja, Cadell jumps in to the Genius Squad.  But, with people looking for him and the cops watching him and Prosper still out there, Cadell is worried. 

These are fun books to listen to…until you get to the number code and then listening to the audio can get annoying, but the books are great.  And this one leaves it open for a 3rd book.  If you like books about smart kids who could take over the world (if they want to) then this author is great!

This is book 4!!!!! Spoiler Alert!!!!!

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Ken can hear dead people and they always talk to him at the most inappropriate times.  Amanda is a body snatcher and only recently was in Ken’s.  Each is special and each are in the Special Class at school for kids like them who have special abilities.  The entire class of 9 has been warned that there are people who would like to use them for their abilities and so far they have overcome a lot by working together.  When Ken gets a message in his locker about a SEANCE he and Amanda decide to go check it out.  When Amanda feels sorry for a woman trying to contact her mother she ends up becoming the woman and Ken becomes obsessed with helping a small boy who’s family desperately needs money since his father died.  Between trying to help the boy and dealing with his dead best friend’s old girlfriend Ken has enough to do.  Amanda wants to show everyone in class that her power in not worthless and then a perfect opportunity just happens to open up when she accidentally body snatches at the SEANCE.

Book 4.  The teens in these books are mostly in grade 9. Each book is a quick read that is never dull.  In this one I was glad that I got to find out about the first time Ken heard someone from the other side.  I am hooked on this series and normally finish one of these books in a day.

Gabry’s mother, Mary, keeps her safe from the Mudo that wash up on the beach and from the secrets of her past. But when some of the teens climb over the Barrier for a midnight stroll, Gabry is invited to come along, and all hell breaks loose.

Gabry is devestated that everything has fallen apart after everything just seemed to be going right in her life. A new found love and an even closer friendship are ripped from her as secrets are revealed and Gabry must face the terrifying Forest of her mother’s past.

This was a very intense and satisfying read. There was so much action, I just tore through it and before I knew it I was reading the acknowledgements!!! This is a MUST read.

Sam/Jack had grown up with Old Bill, his stepfather, telling him what a no-good, womanizing, selfish creep his father, James Keagan, was. Why, because Sam had Tourette’s syndrome and Bill can’t accept that from his adopted son. After graduation, Sam is befriended by George, an old friend of his dad. George calls Sam Jack, because that’s his original name. When George dies, Jack is sent on a cross country trip to Jerk, California. It gets complicated when Naomi decides to go with Jack. Along the way Jack tries to sort out who he is, learn who his father was, his feelings for Naomi, and just where he fits in. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Except for “Old Bill” all of the characters seem to learn and grow. But even “Old Bill” is believable. One of my favorite parts is when Naomi learns how to milk a cow.’ “They just yank on this thing and milk comes out.” She [Naomi] scowls at Mary. “But now they’re content giggling at me, aren’t you?”’ A nice summer read.