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The Good Neighbors Book One: Kin Review

Posted on November 6, 2009April 14, 2014 by Cindy

TITLE: The Good Neighbors-Book One: Kin
AUTHOR: Holly Black
ILLUSTRATOR: Ted Naifeh
PUB DATE: October 1, 2008 (Hardcover) October 1, 2009 (Trade)

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Rue Silver is about to discover that her life isn’t at all what it appears to be. She returns home one day to find her mother missing — and her father blamed for her disappearance. Did he commit murder? Or is there another truth beneath it all?

As she did so masterfully in The Spiderwick Chronicles and her novels Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside, Holly Black creates a mysterious, dark world full of threat, romance, and illusion this time matched by the amazing imagination of graphic artist Ted Naifeh.

MY THOUGHTS:

This is the first time I have ever read a graphic novel. The closest I have ever come to this was comic books when I was a kid. I know that is nothing like this but after reading The Good Neighbors I have to say that I think I have found another genre of books that I am interested in reading and discovering.

I really enjoyed reading book one. It was a quick read (117 pages) and the illustrations were amazing. Even though the cover is in color the illustrations in the book are done in black and white.

Looking at Rue you realize she is a regular teenager (on the outside). She lives at home with her parents (her dad is a professor and her mother is your typical stay at home mom), goes to school, doesn’t have a care in the world,

“I don’t sweat stuff. Worrying just gives you wrinkle lines or stress hives or
an acid stomach you can’t soothe with a whole box of Tums.”

and dates Dale, the lead singer of a rock band. When they aren’t in school Rue, Dale, her friend Lucy and Justin, Lucy’s boyfriend have a weekend tradition of spending their time drinking coffee and then breaking into abandoned buildings that have a history and taking pictures.

She puts on a brave face and lets everyone things nothing bothers her, but then suddenly when her mother up and goes missing for three weeks Rue can’t handle it and begins to crack. Rue has always been different and could never really explain it but thinks she is loosing her mind. Rue sees and hears things. At first they use to be just be out of the corner of her eye, but lately Rue has noticed it happening more and more and right out in the open. Is she imaging things or is it really happening?

On the night they are out breaking into a building they go up to the roof and spot police cars at Rue’s house apparently one of her father’s college students has been found dead and the Police believe Rue’s dad killed her.

When her dad is arrest Amanda, who is a family friend offers to stays with her while her father is in custody. She tells Rue that everything will be okay. Rue knows that everything won’t be okay and she is determined to find out the truth about everything. She soon discovers that in uncovering the truth that it will change her whole world as she knows it.

Is Rue’s dad really a killer? What will Rue do when she discovers that her whole life isn’t what she thought it would be?

This book was provided for review by myself. I bought this book when I heard Holly Black was coming to town.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

What Matters Most Review

Posted on November 6, 2009April 14, 2014 by Cindy

TITLE: Diary of a Teenage Girl: What Matters Most (Maya #3)
AUTHOR: Melody Carlson

PUB DATE: September 2009

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Maya’s Green Tip for the Day: Recycled fashion is one of the most fun ways to go green. A pair of jeans could be transformed into a denim skirt. A sweater into a vest. A bunch of old ties into a dress. A blanket into a poncho. Accessorize it in new way–with beads, buttons, appliqués, buckles, stencils, or ribbons…your imagination is only the limit. (65 words)

Sixteen-year-old Maya Stark has a lot to sort through. She could graduate from high school early if she wants to. She’s considering it, especially when popular cheerleader Vanessa Hartman decides to make her life miserable–and Maya’s ex-boyfriend Dominic gets the wrong idea about everything.

To complicate matters even more, Maya’s mother will be released from prison soon, and she’ll want Maya to live with her again. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. And when Maya plays her dad’s old acoustic guitar in front of an audience, she discovers talents and opportunities she never expected. Faced with new options, Maya must choose between a “normal” life and a glamorous one. Ultimately, she has to figure out what matters most.

YOU CAN BUY THE BOOK HERE:
http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781601421197

MY THOUGHTS:

This is book three in the Maya series and the last in the Diary of a Teenage Girl series. I have to admit that its only been the Maya ones I have read so far but I really want to read the other books in this series. The other books are based on the characters of Caitlin, Chloe and Kim which all coincidentally are mentioned in the Maya series. You don’t have to read those previous books to read the Maya series.

Once again Maya brought her recycling tips at the end of the chapters which I thought were really interesting. It seems like we are always trying to reuse or recycle which is good and we really need to do start and become more aware of what we use and throw away.

Here are three website links that are mentioned in the book:
www.idealbite.com
www.epa.gov ( U.S Environmental Protection Agency)
http://environment.about.com

Maya is sixteen years old and is still living with her uncle. Her dad is still in Europe on tour and her mother is just about to be released from prison. Maya has a lot on her plate and it only gets worse when she has to decide if she wants to wait to graduate or graduate in the summer. She isn’t sure what to but when things get a little stressful with Vanessa making her life miserable she begins to think graduating early might be the solution to the problem. Then if that isn’t enough she has the chance of a life time to be in a band when she discovers that she does have a talent for music. What will her father think of this?

Maya’s mother gets released for prison and is already telling Maya that she owes her. Maya wants nothing to do with her mother and tells her so. Thinking she is okay with that Maya quickly discovers that her mother is in town and begins to panic. How will Maya cope with her mother around?

Maya has alot of choices to make and can she prove to everyone she is capable and old enough to do it all?

I really enjoyed reading this series and looking forward to future books by Melody Carlson.

This book was provided for review by Waterbrook Multnomah.

The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide Book 1

Posted on November 5, 2009April 14, 2014 by Cindy

TITLE: The Spiderwick Chronicles: Book 1 The Field Guide
AUTHORS: Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi (author/illustrator)
PUB DATE: May 2003

ABOUT THE BOOK:
The first book in a beautifully produced series of five, The Field Guide sets up the story of the Grace children–13-year-old Mallory and 9-year-old twins Jared and Simon–who with their mother move into the dilapidated Spiderwick Estate only to quickly find themselves sucked into a dark and fascinating world of faeries.

Superficially, the Spiderwick Chronicles smack of Lemony Snicket, with its “true story” setup and breathless warnings (“Go away/close the book/put it down/do not look”). But Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black owe no one for the intensely absorbing world they’ve created. Black certainly showed fey promise in her slightly freaky debut and DiTerlizzi has weird cred to spare, from his zany Jimmy Zangwow to countless credits for the Magic: The Gathering card game.

MY THOUGHTS:

I have to admit that I have never heard of Holly Black until I heard she was coming to town on November 4th to the Chapters in Pointe Claire for a three author book signing. She is coming with Scott Westerfeld and Cassandra Clare.

With that being said I went to Chapters to see if I could find her books that I could buy and get her to sign. I managed to pick up The Good Neighbors book 1 and 2 (my reviews are to come tomorrow and Saturday). I also picked up Tithe and that review will be coming up soon.

I have to admit that I really enjoyed this book and I am sure Michael will to as its almost in his age group. I ended up reading this in one sitting as it was a quick read (107 pages). I loved the illustrations that accompanied the book. Tony DiTerlizzi did the illustrations for the book. They added to the story I find.

This is book one in a five book series.

The book opens up with Jared, his twin brother Simon, older sister Mallory and mother Helen moving into his great aunt Lucinda’s dilapidated Victorian mansion. Their father has recently left the family. We also find out that for the very first time Jared got into serious trouble at school he broke another kids nose.

I loved how Jared describes the house upon seeing it for the first time:

“like a dozen shacks had been piled on top of one another”

Its not long that they are in the house when funny things start to happen. Such as strange noises coming from behind the wall. They think its a a squirrel. When they rip the wall apart the think they have found a squirrels nest. Still hearing the noise from what they think is a squirrel the kids continue to look around. The kids quickly discover that the house has a dumbwaiter. Jared climbs in that Mallory controls the cables. Jared discovers of a hidden library.

During the night both Mallory and Simon come under attack their mother quickly jumps to the conclusion that Jared is behind the pranks and believes that Jared is still angry and acting out because the father left.

Jared has to enlist the aid of his siblings if he is going to reveal their mystery attacker who may not be human… or animal and prove to everyone that he isn’t behind the attacks on his sister and brother.

Who and what could it be? Will Jared uncover the truth?

I am really looking forward to picking up the other books in this series as I am sure Michael would love them and I will to

This book was provided for review by myself. I bought this book because Holly Black is coming to town and I wanted to get it signed by her.

Medina Hill Review and Tour & Give Away

Posted on November 3, 2009April 14, 2014 by Cindy

PUB DATE: October 13 2009

This is day two of the Medina Hill/Tundra Book Tour.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
In the grimy London of 1935, eleven-year-old Dominic Walker has lost his voice. His mother is sick and his father’s unemployed. Rescue comes in the form of his Uncle Roo, who arrives to take him and his young sister, Marlo, to Cornwall. There, in a boarding house populated by eccentric residents, Marlo, who keeps a death grip on her copy of The New Art of Cooking, and Dominic, armed with Incredible Adventures for Boys: Colonel Lawrence and the Revolt in the Desert, find a way of life unlike any they have known. Dominic’s passion for Lawrence of Arabia is tested when he finds himself embroiled in a village uprising against a band of travelers who face expulsion. In defending the vulnerable, Dominic learns what it truly means to have a voice.

Trilby Kent brilliantly handles a far-off time and place to present a story of up-to-the-minute relevance.

MY THOUGHTS:
I love discovering new authors especially debut authors and Trilby Kent fits right into this category. This is her debut YA novel. She is from Toronto but currently resides in London, England.

I have to admit that when I picked the book up to read I discovered that it was a historical fiction book which really hasn’t been a genre of interest for me but I admit I was pleasantly surprised once I began to read it. The book takes place in England in the 1930s.

Medina Hill is about two siblings, a brother (Dominic) and sister (Marlo) and their summer vacation at their Uncle Roo’s in Cornwall. Their uncle suggests that the kids go with him to Cornwall so that their mother can rest since she is sick and their father will be working and there is no one there to take care of them.

I enjoyed reading about Marlo she is a quirky girl. She uses her mothers cookbook to distract herself because her mother is very sick. Although she never cooks anything from the cookbook right away she reads it.

Dominic is very nervous around people he doesn’t know and that is evident in the book because whenever someone speaks to him he clams up. Nothing can make him speak in their presence. Even with some people that he does know he is still very nervous around them, I wonder why?

While they are waiting for the train to come Dominic and Uncle Roo walk around and stumble upon a bookstore. Its there that Dominic picks up Incredible Adventures for Boys: Colonel Lawrence and the Revolt in the Desert. Its not until he is at his uncle’s that he starts to read the book.

At their uncle’s boarding house they quickly discover that the group of people living there are all quite unique and different. There is Otto, Reverend Cleary and Birdie. Dominic quickly discovers that there is a connection between the Reverend and the book he is reading. Will be able to figure out what the Reverend knows?

There is alot of characters and alot going on in this book and I thought it was too bad that the other characters couldn’t have been explored more. I would have loved to know their story and why they were there.

I have to admit it was nice to see that Dominic made the connection with Sancha and that relationship was explored. It was nice to see that he felt comfortable around her to speak finally. He stepped out of his comfort zone to help her out in the end which was really nice.

Over all I was really impressed and looking forward to reading more by Trilby in the future.

I have to say that I really liked the cover of the book with the picture of the boy sitting on a suitcase and then the picture at the bottom that is in all black of a traveling family.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Trilby Kent was born in Toronto, Ontario, and grew up in cities on both sides of the Atlantic. After completing degrees at Oxford University and The London School of Economics, she worked in the rare books department at a prominent auction house before turning to writing feature articles for publication in Europe and North America. She now lives in London, England. Medina Hill is Trilby Kent’s first novel.

These blogs are on the tour schedule today:
Kerry from http://www.shelfelf.wordpress.com
Melissa from http://www.librarianbyday.blogspot.com
Melanie from http://www.melanies–musings.blogspot.com
Lauren from http://www.laurenscrammedbookshelf.blogspot.com

CONTEST TIME:
If this book sounds interesting and you would like the chance to win a copy I have been given the opportunity to give away 1 book to one of my lucky readers. Please note that you must have a valid mailing address. Sorry NO PO Boxes. Make sure when you comment that you leave your email address so that I have a way to contact you should you be a winner.

Thanks to Sylvia for asking me to read and review this book and for allowing me to be a part of the first ever Tundra Book Tour. Looking forward to being a part of future Tundra Book Tours.

This book was provided for review by Tundra Books.

After The Moment Review

Posted on October 22, 2009April 14, 2014 by Cindy

PUB DATE: May 2009

PUBLISHER: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

ABOUT THE BOOK:

After the Moment is a novel about boys, love, and violence. Leigh Hunter and Maia Morland meet at a dinner party four years after their high school romance ended in bloodshed, legal charges, and parental meddling. During the party, Leigh remembers how and why he fell in love with Maia, who liked to describe herself as an anorexic, self-cutting “train-wreck”. The novel explores how love transforms us, and how failing to meet its complicated demands helps to shape the adults both Leigh and Maia become.

MY THOUGHTS:

This is the first time I have heard of Garret Freymann-Weyr and read any of her books.

After the moment is about a person’s first love. We all remember our first love and its always a special relationship that we hold deep in our hearts.

Its also about perseverance, strength and loyalty, but also of betrayal, pain, and disappointment.
When I first picked up After the Moment I thought it was a girl story but quickly realized that it was about a guy, Leigh. I have to admit as I was reading it I kept picturing Leigh as a girl and that had to do with the spelling of the name.

Leigh is your typical perfect guy if there is such a thing. He is attractive, athletic, smart, and selfless. A girls dream guy to say the least. He is leading the good life and things are going great he is looking forward to senior year, his girlfriend Astra, and what the future might hold for him beyond high school.

Leigh is your typical teenager who worries about finding a summer job that would look good on his college applications, where to apply and other things.

Things are good until one day something tragic happens to make Leigh question his life.

It was nice to read Leigh being total unselfish and turning his back on his life to be there and help his little sister, Millie out. Even though it meant moving to live with her and leaving his life behind in New York. He wants to be there for Millie and to help her cope and get over her loss.

Leigh’s plan is to take care of Millie and be loyal to his girlfriend back home but that doesn’t happen as he begins to fall in love with the sweet and a little bit odd Maia Morland. Maia’s life is basically a train wreck waiting to happen. She is dealing with an eating disorder, a father who is in jail and a few other issues.

I enjoyed reading the book and I have to send a big thank you to TLC tours for allowing me to be a part of this tour and for introducing me to a new author. I am looking forward to reading her other books,

This book was provided for review by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

The Summoning Review

Posted on October 8, 2009April 14, 2014 by Cindy

PUB DATE: July 2008

ABOUT THE BOOK:

After years of frequent moves following her mother’s death, Chloe Saunders’s life is finally settling down. She is attending art school, pursuing her dreams of becoming a director, making friends, meeting boys. Her biggest concern is that she’s not developing as fast as her friends are. But when puberty does hit, it brings more than hormone surges. Chloe starts seeing ghosts–everywhere, demanding her attention. After she suffers a breakdown, her devoted aunt Lauren gets her into a highly recommended group home.

At first, Lyle House seems a pretty okay place, except for Chloe’s small problem of fearing she might be facing a lifetime of mental illness. But as she gradually gets to know the other kids at the home–charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek, obnoxious Tori, and Rae, who has a “thing” for fire–Chloe begins to realize that there is something that binds them all together, and it isn’t your usual “problem kid” behaviour. And together they discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home either.

MT THOUGHTS:
This is the first book in the Darkest Power trilogy. Book 3 The Reckoning is scheduled to be released May, 2010. I am so excited to read it and hoping it will answer a few questions that I have about the series. This is also Kelley’s first Young Adult novel. She is well known for her adult fantasy books.

When I was on twitter one day Random House Canada was doing a give away of Kelley’s first book Bitten and I was lucky enough to win it. I admitted to the rep that I have never read anything by Kelley before but I would love to. I love to discover new authors.

I quickly discovered that Kelley is a Canadian author (she lives in Southern Ontario) and I was really excited to read her book after discovering that. Then I discovered that Kelley would be coming to my local Chapters October 8th for a book signing (reading and a Q&A also) for her lastest book Frostbitten. So I rushed out to buy The Summoning in hopes of getting it signed as Bitten was already signed. (Check tomorrow for photos and info from the signing)

The Summoning is not like her adult books. There is more of a magical element to it with a twist in it. I would recommend this book to any young adult because there is no sex and what violence there is its toned down for the purpose of it being a YA book.

I was really surprised when I started to read the book at how fast I was sucked into it. As I was reading it I realized that I was having a hard time to put it down. I ended up reading this over a two day span. The first day I stayed up late reading it and thankfully the next day M. was sick so he stayed home from school and I was able to finish reading it.

The whole book had me sitting on the edge of me seat. (I love books like that.) Wondering what was going to happen and then when I got to the end I was like OMG (okay thats not really what I said but you know what I mean.) it can’t end like that! Major cliff hanger. (Just a note if you are going to read it then I suggest you buy/get book two The Awakening at the same time.)

The Summoning is told in first person by a 15 year old girl named Chloe. In the first part of the book we discover that Chloe sees ghosts. At first she thinks she is loosing her mind and when one day at school she seems a ghost she freaks out. She fights off the teachers who are trying to help her. She is carted off to the hospital where her aunt Lauren gets her into The Lyle House so that they can help her get better.

Its at Lyle House where the drs diagnose Chloe with schizophrenia. (Having a family member with schizophrenia I am so what familiar with it and I didn’t know that they saw ghosts I just thought it was people/images) So Chloe is given medication to control it but she still sees ghosts.

Lyle House also has other teens that are similar to Chloe and are labelled with mental health problems. They all know they don’t have mental health problems but something else. Unsure of what it is exactly. Some feel that if they take the medication it will make them better.

Derek, one of the kids in with Chloe convinces her she is in danger and that she should escape with his brother Simon so that they can look for his dad. His dad will know what to do. Chloe and Derek manage to leave one night to scope it out and to plan. When the weekend approaches Derek informs them that they need to leave that night.

When they are set to go Derek goes missing and Chloe stays back to look for him and when she finds him she is surprised at what she sees but not shocked. Will Chloe and Derek be able to leave before they are caught?

On the run the leave Lyle House and run to the factories that are close by. As they are leaving the factory Chloe cuts herself on broken glass. When the girls and boys must separate to throw the employees of their trails. Rae manages to convince Chloe she needs medical attention so they leave when its save to go to aunt Lauren’s.

When they get to her aunts Chloe realizes who she can and can’t trust and is shocked to discover the one person she thought she could trust in facts betrays her.

While I was looking around for images of the book I discovered this one. I personally like the top cover better.

This book was provided for review by myself. I bought this book to read and review.

Thanksgiving at The Inn Review

Posted on October 5, 2009April 14, 2014 by Cindy

PUB DATE: October 1, 2009

Thanks to Harrison at Bancroft Press for sending me this finished book to read and review for Cindy’s Love of Books. Thank You.

Thanksgiving at the Inn is a story about three generations of Heath Wellingtons. Heath Wellington III is a boy who is basically having a really hard life for a kid. His mother has left the family, his father is an alcoholic and is trying to get his book published but all he gets is rejection letters. Then to top it off Heath gets suspended from school because they think he cheated and the worse thing is that his father believes the school. From my perception Heath II (Heath’s father) basically is a mean dad who could care less about this son. Its pretty evident in the book the way Heath is treated by his dad.

Then one day his father gets word that Senior (his dad) has died. Junior (Heath’s dad) and Heath prepare to go to the funeral. Heath has no memory of his grandfather and he feels bad about it.

His father and Heath go visit the lawyer and they discover they stand to inherit the whole estate which makes Junior extremely happy and basically in his head has the money spent until the lawyer burst the bubble and tells him that there is a catch to the deal and if he doesn’t go through with it everything will be lost. What could this catch possible be?

One of the catches is that they have to stay for three months managing Seniors bed and breakfast inn called Sleeping Inn which is located in Massachusett’s. This is the home that Junior grew up in and hasn’t been back there in eight years.

Being back, Junior discovers how hard it is to be there because every where he turns he hears praises for Senior. Mean while Heath is having a hard time too because he can’t remember his grandfather.

At Sleeping Inn there is a quirky bunch of people staying there such as:

–Winsted (Preacher) He is a old man from Jamaica. With a colorful past that will shock the reader. Apart from Heath he was my favorite character. I loved reading his conversations I could almost hear him speaking when I was reading it. Loved the way he spoke.

-Mrs Farrel is a elderly lady who appears to be giving away her late husbands fortune. Apparently before he died he scammed his employees and took their money and put it in an off shore account. Did you she really discover this money or is she hoping to one day?

– Sally (Mustang Sally) is the big muscle guy covered in tattoos. He is a grease monkey who is working trying to get enough money to get his father’s garage back up and running. Heath discovers that Sally is really an children’s author/illustrator that does something that surprises Heath.

A few other characters in the book that weren’t mentioned alot was Carter who is a Harvard Grad and a news junkie. Then there is Savannah who we discover was Junior’s high school sweetheart. She has a daughter who has autism.

I enjoyed reading the book and couldn’t help but wish that Heath would get a Thanksgiving that he could be thankful for. I was happy when push came to shove and Heath stood up to his father. The father needed a wake up call and it was Heath that gave it too him. It took a near fatal accident to wake Junior up to make him appreciate what was near and dear to him and what should matter more to him then himself.