Over the past few years, I fell in love with the Percy Jackson novels by Rick Riordan. This year I have eagerly awaited the next installment in that world, The Lost Hero. In this beginning of a new series, we follow Jason, Piper, and Leo as they come to Camp Half-Blood and begin a new quest. Jason doesn’t know he is or where he comes from. Up until the moment he met Piper and Leo, he has lost all of his memories. Piper can talk anybody into anything–which has gotten her into all kinds of trouble. Leo likes to build things and has dark secrets in his past. Can these three take on an all new baddie, the king of the giants, rescue Piper’s dad from certain death, and free the queen of the gods, Hera, from imprisonment?

This book was engaging from the very beginning. The hero we all know and love, Percy Jackson, is missing. Annabeth, his girlfriend, sets out to find him and happens upon these three demigods–Piper, Jason, and Leo–and no one knows what to make of the situation. Jason is a strong lead character, reminiscent of Percy, but with more initial courage and stamina. He’s lost his memory, but as the reader, we can tell there is something about him that isn’t quite right. Leo brings comedy to this book, much as Grover did in the first series. For me, Piper was the everyman, the person I connected most with in the series. She was unsure, sometimes cautious, but honorable and extremely protective of her friends. Where Annabeth was abrasive at times, Piper was easier to understand.

Suspense is built up right away in this book, and you immediately have questions. Since this is a series, many of the questions are not answered in this book. I enjoyed the battle scenes, and all of the puzzles the demigods had to figure out. Riordan weaves the plot well, tying up the ends and bringing the story together into a dramatic climax where of course, there is a lot of fighting and bloodshed. I missed the presence of the gods in this book, but I suspect that they will be appearing in subsequent novels in larger roles. Anyone that enjoyed the Percy Jackson novels will enjoy these books–perhaps even more so!

4Q, 5P, M/J

Hardback copy purchased from Amazon.com.

For More: The Heroes of Olympus series site!

Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich

Janet Evanovich, author of the Stephanie Plum series of books, begins a new series starring Diesel, a minor character from the Plum novels, with Wicked Appetite. This novel, and most of Evanovich’s, have great cross-over appeal for older teens. I find them to be extremely funny, and quick-reads, great for college students and adults alike.

Diesel is a hot Unmentionable, meaning he has specific, most would say, magical, powers that others don’t have. Elizabeth–Lizzy–Tucker is an outstanding baker that’s just moved to Salem, Massachusetts. When Diesel pops into her life and demands he needs her help in locating 7 magical stones (all based on the 7 deadly sins) or else the world will “go to hell,” Lizzy finds herself in quite the mess, figuratively and literally. Toss in a cat with a glass eye, a monkey named Carl, and a maybe-witch named Glo, and you have a hilarity-filled, detail-packed, traditional Evanovich adventure.

Fans of the Stephanie Plum series will enjoy this new set of books based around Diesel and Lizzy. Her sense of humor shines through, and as usual, at least for me, you’ll be laughing out loud. Despite the outlandishness of the concept (stones based on the 7 deadly sins with magical powers?) and the people (a vampire-like dude named Wulf?) the story, and characters, are lovable and believable. Lizzy is a more sensible Stephanie Plum, with less accident proneness, and Diesel is an extra-hot version of Joe Morelli, perhaps with a little bit more niceness, but an equal amount of sexual prowess. This was a quick read, and you’ll find yourself pounding through the pages, driven by the suspense, action, humor, and relationships. I would say this is a great start to a new series, and I can’t wait for more!

4Q, 3P, A/YA

Hardback copy purchased from Amazon.com.

For More: Check out Evanovich’s Wicked Appetite Website!

That’s not to say I didn’t thoroughly enjoy the housekeepers in both of these stories, especially Amma in Beautiful Creatures! I wanted an Amma all of my own! Dorothea, the housekeeper in Hush, Hush wasn’t really around much, but she seemed like a great lady. But back to Amma, the coolest housekeeper of all time. I mean, the woman was some sort of tarot-card reading wisewoman. As I read, I pictured her as Dr. Miranda Bailey from Grey’s Anatomy. Short and adorable, but tough and powerful.

Amma?

I can’t remember if she was actually described in the novel, but she’ll always be Miranda Bailey to me! I’m anxiously awaiting Beautiful Darkness to see what’s up with Lena and Ethan after the events in the first book!

But back to Hush, Hush! I get that Patch is hot, bad-boy, super-muscular, dripping with desire, steamy hot. But then I see his name and it’s like someone popped the Elmo balloon I got for my birthday. Patch–what should be a cute nickname continuously reminds me of Patch Adams, that movie with Robin Williams as a doctor that liked to dress as a clown. Very un-hot. So I’m having trouble creating this mental image of Patch, but hopefully once we discover his real name I can rectify that situation.

So, those are a few random thoughts I had on those two books. I didn’t really feel like writing any more reviews this week, but I did want to share these two, as well as how awesome I thought they were!

Captivate by Carrie Jones

Zara and her friends knew they hadn’t solved the pixie problem for good. Far from it—the king’s control over his pixies gets weaker every day. So when a new, younger pixie king shows up, there is war in the air. The new king, Astley, claims he’s not evil. Zara believes him, but Nick—not so much. Then Astley tells Zara she is fated to be his queen, and suddenly the stakes get even higher. [Summary from the Need website]

I really enjoy this series! Probably because I absolutely adore the relationship between Zara and Nick and also their relationship with their best friends, Issie and Devyn. Pixies, werewolves, shape shifters, and more! This book combines all of my favorite types of supernatural creatures into one book. This type of a book makes sense to me–if you’re going to have pixies exist, why not shape shifters? I wouldn’t be surprised if vampires or zombies or something else show up in the next book! And yes, there will be more! This book ends on quite the cliffhanger. You’ll be anxiously awaiting the next one! Captivate is an exciting, quick read. At first glance, it seems similar to so many other fantasy novels out there (Wicked Lovely, Shiver, etc.) but Jones manages to make this story completely unique and her own, with a suspenseful plot that will keep you on edge. Each of the characters continue to grow in this book, as the reader discovers more and more about each character’s past, and as the character’s grow and change.

If you regularly read my blog, you’ll notice I often comment on characters, character development, realism, etc.–this is a particular area of interest to me, and I enjoy when an author can give me fun characters that are believable.

Anyways, for fans of fantasy, fans of pixies, fans of the supernatural, I recommend this series!

Purchased from Amazon.com!

For More: Check out Carrie Jones’ website!

Gone by Lisa McMann

Janie thought she knew what her future held. And she thought she’d made her peace with it. But she can’t handle dragging Cabel down with her.

She knows he will stay with her, despite what she sees in his dreams. He’s amazing. And she’s a train wreck. Janie sees only one way to give him the life he deserves–she has to disappear. And it’s going to kill them both.

Then a stranger enters her life–and everything unravels. The future Janie once faced now has an ominous twist, and her choices are more dire than she’d ever thought possible. She alone must decide between the lesser of two evils. And time is running out… [Summary from Lisa McMann's website]

Gone is the third book in the Wake trilogy by Lisa McMann. Janie is faced with the toughest choice she’ll ever have to make: give up walking in other people’s dreams and live a life of isolation, or continue her life as she is now, but lose her sight and use of her hands eventually.

Gone is written in the same way as the two previous books, short segments of time in Janie’s life. The format is unique, quick to read, but very realistic. It reminds me of the diary format that is sometimes common in YA lit. McMann doesn’t shy away from tough or awkward situations and realistic language. There are no happy endings but gritty, real events that happen. The characters in Gone feel very real and confront the situations in the book as real people would. All three of these books are quick to read, but they take awhile to absorb, to think about.

I’m sad to see this series end, but looking forward to whatever McMann comes up with next. You’ll definitely want to check out the first two books in the series, Wake and Fade before reading Gone.

Purchased from Amazon.com!

For More: Check out Lisa McMann’s website!

This Wednesday I am waiting on Insatiable by Meg Cabot. What can I say? It’s Meg Cabot, whom I adore, and it’s a vampire book! I can’t wait to read this, as I’m sure it will be amazingly adorable and hilarious.

Insatiable
Release date: June 8, 2010

Summary (from Meg Cabot’s Website):

A modern sequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Sick of hearing about vampires? So is Meena Harper.

But her boss is making her write about them anyway, even though Meena doesn’t believe in them.

Not that Meena isn’t familiar with the supernatural. See, Meena Harper knows how you’re going to die (not that you’re going to believe her. No one ever does).

But not even Meena’s precognition can prepare her for what happens when she meets — then makes the mistake of falling in love with — Lucien Antonescu, a modern-day prince with a bit of a dark side…a dark side a lot of people, like an ancient society of vampire-hunters, would prefer to see him dead for.

The problem is, Lucien’s already dead. Maybe that’s why he’s the first guy Meena’s ever met that she could see herself having a future with. See, while Meena’s always been able to see everyone else’s future, she’s never been able look into her own.

And while Lucien seems like everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, he might turn out to be more like a nightmare.

Now might be a good time for Meena to start learning to predict her own future…

If she even has one.

After escaping from Evernight Academy, the vampire boarding school where they met, Bianca and Lucas seek refuge with Black Cross, an elite group of vampire hunters. Bianca must hide her supernatural heritage or risk certain death at their hands. But when Black Cross captures her friend–the vampire Balthazar–all her secrets threaten to come out.

Soon, Bianca and Lucas have orchestrated Balthazar’s escape and are on the run, pursued not only by Black Cross, but by the powerful leaders of Evernight. Yet no matter how far they run, Bianca can’t escape her destiny.

Bianca has always believed their love could survive anything–but can it survive what’s to come?

Synposis from claudiagray.com, release date March 9, 2010

Hourglass is the best yet in Claudia Gray’s Evernight series. In Stargazer, we left Bianca and Lucas with Black Cross, under lockdown, and on the alert for an attack by Mrs. Bethany and her growing clan of vampires. In Hourglass, Bianca and Lucas are still stuck with Black Cross, with time slowing running out as they hope to plan their escape. As time moves forward, Bianca’s situation becomes more desperate as her need for blood grows stronger and others grow suspicious about her past. After escaping from Black Cross, Bianca and Lucas go into hiding, looking forward to finally having their “happy-ever-after”–but it couldn’t be that easy, right? A host of old friends and enemies return, and complications make their situation even more dire as the two star-crossed lovers fight for their lives and fight to remain together.

Hourglass is intensely fast-paced and extremely suspenseful. Bianca and Lucas continue to grow as characters, and Lucas shows a great deal of depth and emotion in this novel. I couldn’t put this down once I picked it up! The whole book makes you feel as if you are racing towards an awesome, yet terrifying conclusion. But yet, there is one more novel in this series (Afterlife), and I am not looking forward to waiting for that!

Hourglass is a much more adult novel, darker than the previous two in the series. Fans of the series will love the things we continue to discover about all of our favorite characters, yet they’ll be shocked by the betrayals, unexpected discoveries, and the quick conclusion.

ARC received from the author–thank you!

For More: Check out Claudia Gray’s web site!

A few of my favorites!

• Middle-Grade Fiction: Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. I haven’t read this book yet, but am looking forward to it. Anderson is one of my favorite authors, plus, I will be seeing her speak at the Virginia Hamilton Conference in April!
• Fantasy and Science Fiction (YA): Fire by Kristin Cashore. Love, love, love this book! Can’t wait for the 3rd book in this series, Bitterblue.

The first book I finished is The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughren. I hadn’t heard of this book or author before selecting it for my class. The White Darkness was the 2008 Printz award winner, but the book was actually published several years ago. This is the type of book I haven’t read in quite some time–a mixture of adventure, realism, with a younger protagonist, and a lot of symbolism reaching out and grabbing the reader. The story reminds me of The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig with the extreme situations the characters are placed in, as well as the general flow and telling of the story. I also feel as if this book will remain as The Endless Steppe has: timeless and intriguing to generations today and in the future.

Now on to the plot: The story follows 14-year-old Sym, a young girl that lives in England with her mother and good friend of the family, Uncle Victor. Immediately, you are also introduced to another major player in Sym’s life, Titus Oates, someone that many would call her “imaginary friend.” Titus has been with Sym ever since her father died–but who is he? Titus was an explorer, a member of the British Navy, in the early 1900s, that helped to front an expedition to the South Pole. Unfortunately, he never made it to his destination, and he and his team died in Antarctica. Sym has had an obsession with Antarctica (“The Ice”) ever since she was young, an addiction fostered by her uncle and his own passion for that continent. As you can probably tell, Sym hasn’t had the easiest time of it growing up: she’s extremely shy, suffers from hearing loss, and also suffered a lack of love from her own father, who eventually died of a debilitating disease of the mind. She has few friends and rarely comes out of her shell of protection she’s built around her self.

In The White Darkness, Sym and Uncle Victor travel to Antarctica on her dream trip–all she’s ever wanted to do, all she’s ever planned for, all her world encompasses. While there, the real reason behind the trip enfolds, along with a great deal of deceit, suspense, adventure, danger, madness, fantasy, and a whole lot of ice and snow. Sym finds herself in the middle of the great ice continent with her uncle and several companions and begins to finally test the truths she’s always believed in. The ultimate goal: survival, but once your whole world has fallen and collapsed beneath you, what point is there to keep moving on? Sym finds herself, through the help of Titus, to be stronger and more resilient than she ever could have believed, and at the end of the book, she has a much brighter future in front of her.

This is a book that many audiences would enjoy, which is why I imagine it was selected for the Printz award. It is great for younger readers–despite a slight smattering of foul language, the book is clean and enticing for younger readers that enjoy adventure and suspense. Older readers will also enjoy the book, as they will be able to understand the underlying symbolism of “the white darkness” and the other beautifully haunting allegories McCaughren has staged throughout.

For More: Check out McCaughren’s personal web site!