Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Reading Level: Young Adult
(4 out of 5)

If you haven't read Ms. Mead's Vampire Academy series then please read them. You don't want to start Bloodlines without having read the VA series. I wouldn't say you would be lost but you would be feeling left out. Even having read the other books I was scratching my head a few times trying to place a few of the characters and other bits of information. But I was excited to be thrown back into this world and learn more about some of my favorite characters like Adrian and Sydney. You even see Rose a little bit in the beginning.

Sydney is an Alchemist. Alchemists are a group of humans that try and keep the vampires a secret from the rest of the human population. You first meet Sydney in the VA series when she is helping Rose. Later in that series she gets herself in hot water with the Alchemists when she helps Rose break out of jail and find Jill who is the half sister of Lissa the newly appointed Moroi Queen. In Bloodlines you find Sydney being awakened in the middle of the night. At first she thinks she is finally going to be punished and sent to a rehabilitation center for her part in helping Rose but that's not the case. She soon finds out that Jill has been attacked and they are sending her and few others to a boarding school in Palm Springs, California to put her in hiding and that Sydney will be her roommate. While Sydney's view of the vampires has changed a little since spending time with she doesn't want the Alchemist's to think she is sympathizing with them and now she has to live with one.

Spoilers Ahead Don't keep reading if you don't want to be spoiled!

Ms. Mead put some twists and turns into this novel. I didn't see the spirit bond with Jill and Adrian. I knew something more was going on with Lee. I just couldn't quite put my finger on it. I think it's sweet that Eddie has a crush on Jill. I wonder how that will play out in the rest of the series. I wonder who Ms. Mead has in store for Sydney. She needs a boy in her life. She needs a little fun in her life. The one thing I don't like about Sydney is she is so anal and rigid. She is so afraid of the unknown but it seems like her controlled world is going to be shook up. I think she will tap into some magic like her teacher suggested. I think there might be something between her and Adrian but both are pretty adamant about vampires and humans not dating so I'm not sure about that one. I can' wait for the next book it's coming out next May and is called, The Golden Lily. Ms. Mead you did not disappoint.

4 Blondes by Candace Bushnell

Reading Level: Adult

This is the second book I've read by acclaimed author Candace Bushnell, and I
must admit, it was not as good as the first. "4 Blondes" does not have the
cohesiveness and complexity of "One Fifth Avenue," which I read last week.
These 4 vignettes about different female characters are not tied together in any
way (except supposedly by hair color), and are a little like reading 4 short stories
by the same author.

The chapter headings are all hair-color terms: Nice N'Easy, Highlights, Platinum
and Single Process. And while using these terms as story separators is creative,
that is where the magic ends. The first vignette involves a character named
Janey Wilcox, who is the most interesting of the four. I wish Bushnell had written
the whole book about her, but I guess she felt that that story line just petered out.
The other vignettes cover Bushnell's usual targets - ambitious female models or
journalists who are on the prowl for men. Nothing new there. Most disappointing
for me - one couple in this book, James and Winnie Dieke, are absolutely the
same characters who appear in "One Fifth Avenue." In that book, however, they
are James and Mindy Gooch, but they have the same jobs (writer and journalist),
and the same relationship (unhappily married with one chile) to each other. It's as
though Bushnell has plagiarized her own characters. How creative is that?

There are some twists and turns, some expected, some bizarre, and each
character has a different voice, but all the characters are forgettable. Unlike "One
Fifth Avenue," this work seems tired and forced, as if Bushnell needed to provide
her publisher with something on a deadline, but COUldn't be bothered to make it
something worthwhile. I have two more Bushnell books on my "To Read" list for
the summer - and I'm sincerely hoping they are back to the high level of talent
she exhibited in "One Fifth Avenue." "4 Blondes" is a disappointing read - the
type of a book you take on vacation and leave on the hotel nightstand when
you're done because it's just not good enough to bring back home.

Submitted by Gerti

Shade and Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready

Reading Level: Young Adult
(4 out of 5)

Aura has something special planned for her boyfriend's birthday's but before she can give it to him he dies. He's gone, well sort of. Lie everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and talk to ghosts. This mysterious ability had always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she could undo it. But not with Logan's violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Dead Logan is almost as real as alive Logan used to be. Almost.

It doesn't help that Aura's new friend Zachary is so understanding and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit. As Aura's relationships with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura's heart and clues to the secret of the Shift.


Reading Level: Young Adult
(4 out of 5)

Trying to move on after a loved one dies is hard enough but how do you move on when the one that died hasn't moved on. At the end of Shade Logan tries to move on and ends up becoming a Shade. A shade is a spirit that turns dark. Shift starts up with Aura trying to bring Logan back into being a spirit. Which she succeeds. Aura has to face facts. Logan is dead. It's hard having a ghost boyfriend. She's torn between moving on with Zachary and still helping Logan to move on from this world.

This was a great sequel. You learn a lot more to do with the Shift and Aura's mom. I had boy whiplash for a little while though when Dylan got thrown into the mix. I could actually see Aura with him. I'm very fickle at times. Zach shouldn't have went to prom with someone else. But I'm glad she got back on track with Zach.

The third book Shine comes out next May. I can't wait!

One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell

Reading Level: Adult

This is the first book I've ever read by acclaimed author Candace Bushnell. I
knew that she wrote "Sex and the City," and of course knew about the television
series and the movies, but never found them very interesting. This book, on the
other hand, is a revelation to me.

The premise of the book is that there is a magical building, One Fifth Avenue,
and how the lives of the tenants there are interwoven, even if they don't like each
other very much. In that way, it follows in the traditions of great American books
like Winesburg, Ohio, and Peyton Place. The residents of this actual historical
edifice in New York City, however, are fresh and fascinating. The building
contains matrons of NY society, as well as seductive social climbers, which
makes the read a scintillating mix of sex and social studies.

The main characters include Mrs. Louise Houghton, who I suppose is modeled
on Mrs. Brooke Astor, as she is an ancient lady with the best apartment (3
stories, including a ballroom) in the building. As such, her place is the envy of the
other tenants, which include her good friend Enid Merle (a gossip columnist), her
nephew Philip OaKland (a screenwriter), and his far-too-young-for-him
researcher/girlfriend Lola Fabrikant, who is pushing for a marriage proposal since
her parents have lost all their money trying to keep her in the lifestyle to which
she wants to become accustomed. Also a resident is famous actress Schiffer
Diamond, who is an old flame of Philips, and who is far more human (and age
appropriate for him) than his new squeeze. Mrs. Houghton's death sets off a
chain reaction that brings in new tenants, Paul and Annalisa Rice, who are
hedge-fund billionaires, just the type who think that their money (even though it's
new) can buy them anything they want. Because of his endless resources and
arrogance, Paul makes an enemy of the head of the condo association, Mindy
Gooch, whose husband James is also a writer, but one who hasn't produced
much in the past few years, which relegates them to living in what was once the
building's luggage storage rooms. Class struggles among the super rich? You betcha.

There are twists and turns, some expected, some bizarre, and characters who
are unforgettably well drawn. This is the kind of book you stay up later than your
bedtime reading, just so you can see what happens next to the people you love,
and the one's you hate. Whether or not you like New York, this book is a
rollicking good time, filled with pithy one-liners that you'll want to write down so
you can reuse them at your next social gathering. Worth every minute spent
reading it. .. Can't wait to read more by Bushnell.

Submitted by Gerti

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Reading Level: Adult
(4 out of 5)

My husband has been badgering me to read this series for months now. He listened to all but the last one on audio CD and loved them. He said that James Marsters rocked as the narrator for the first eleven books. The twelfth book will be read by the guy who played Lex Luther's dad on Smallville. I only know this because my husband tells me.

I dragged my feet not because I didn't think I would like Mr. Butcher's Dresden Files books but because I thought that I would. I didn't want to get sucked into another series. It's too late now. I have been sucked in. Even though I don't have to wait for book two to be published I have to wait for it to be returned to the library. I'm waiting eagerly. It gives my husband and I something to talk about.

I enjoyed the TV show but they are different. I think I like them equally. I like Bianca in the TV show better than I do in the book so far.

Anyway in Storm Front you meet Harry Dresden. He is a wizard. That is how he makes his living. He doesn't do parties but he will help you find your missing keys. He works with the police on occasion as a special consultant for the cases that are weird. You can't help but like Harry. He has a sense of humor. I like that in a man. Not ten pages into the story he gets called in to consult for a double homicide. Jennifer Stanton and Tommy Tomm's hearts exploded right out of their bodies. It takes a whole lot of dark magic to accomplish that. When Harry starts sticking his nose where it doesn't belong bad stuff starts happening to him. I think the the quote on the book explains it the best, "Magic and wizardry meet hard-boiled detective fiction...a whole lot of fun."-SF Site.

A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young

Reading Level: Young Adult
(4 out of 5)

From a young age Charlotte has felt a need to help people. Not just an ordinary I need to feed the children but an overpowering need that takes over her body and overcomes her until she helps someone, usually a stranger. As she gets older the need is growing. It used to only come once in a while now it is coming on once every few days. If she tries to fight it the pain she feels is unbearable. Her best friend thinks she is physic while her boyfriend thinks she is cheating on him. But Charlotte soon finds out she is an Angel. One of the Forgotten that is on earth to help people until her time is up and she returns to where she came from.

Charlotte as much as she likes helping people she doesn't want to be forgotten by the people who love her. She doesn't want to leave the people who love her. She has a choice. Either stay on the path of good or choose a darker path.

The second book to this series called A Want So Wicked will be out sometime next year. Just another book to add to my list of many that I'm looking forward to.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Reading Level: Adult
(4 out of 5)

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Skeeter is home from college and ready to start a career as a writer but it's 1962 in Jackson Mississippi and her mother won't be happy until a ring is on her finger. The one person Skeeter would find solace in, her maid Constantine, is gone. No one will tell her where she went.

Aibileen is a maid for Skeeter's best friend Elizabeth and she is raising her seventeenth white child. Since the death of her own beloved son a bitter seed has grown inside her. She loves the little girl she is raising but she knows that both of their hearts might get broken.

Then there is Minny. Minny is one of the finest cooks in Mississippi but she has a sharp tongue and can't hold a job. She's been fired from as many jobs as babies Aibileen has raised . When she gets let go from yet another job she gets hired by a women so new to the town she doesn't know Minny well enough to know her reputation. Minny's new employer has secrets of her own.

When Skeeter decides to write a book about the Help she goes to Aibileen first. Aibileen agrees after refusing a few times but she wants her story to be heard and then later Minny agrees as well. Farther down the road several other maids come forward as well. At that time during that climate it was very brave of them to come forward and share their stories. Many of them were heartwarming and not unpleasant. Skeeter's friend Hilly was quite unpleasant. I didn't like her very much. People let her have too much power over them and should have stood up to her. Hilly and I would not have been friends.

This book made me laugh, tear up, and really made me think. It was a fantastic read. The only thing that would have made it better was if I would have gotten a little more closure with the characters. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie.