Angels

I read this book years ago, probably when it first came out, and I'm not sure what made me want to read it again, but I did.

It's the story of Maggie, who has always been the goody-goody in the family, so everyone is a bit surprised (as is she) to find out that her hubby cheated on her. So she goes on vacation (from Ireland) to L.A. to stay with her friend Emily. While there, she tries to live a little, do things she wouldn't normally do. It was a decent book, a bit long. The part were her family comes for a vacation to see her in L.A. could've been left out.

After reading this, I know that I never want to live in L.A. It's a dog eat dog town and I wouldn't last a week.

Seventh Heaven

My mom found this book when we were at the library book sale and said that she liked the author and said I should read it. She wrote the book Practical Magic, which was made into a movie, so I thought that maybe it would be magical like that.

But it wasn't. Not really. The description implies that when Nora Silk comes to town, that every one's lives change. I suspected this meant that maybe she was a witch and helped them better their lives, but really, and bunch of things that kind of disturbed me happen. People die, people run away from their families, people get divorces. It takes place in 1959/1960, and my only image for that time is Leave It To Beaver episodes, it always seems like everyone is nice and innocent. But they aren't, so I was a little disappointed. Plus there are to many characters and I got confused.

In other words, I did not like this book. There's nothing heavenly about it.

The Sea of Monsters

This was the second book in the series, and like the first one, there is non-stop action. Percy and his friends are always being attacked by monsters. I wasn't aware that there were that many monsters out there.

In this book, Percy and his pals are on the quest to find the Golden Fleece, which they need to get in order to save the camp they stay at for their kind. Of course they go through many challenges while on their quest. It's called The Sea of Monsters for a reason.

What I like about these books is that it teaches people about gods and monsters and all that jazz. I take notes to look up some of the things that are written about in the book. Like, what exactly does a Hippocampus look like? Or is that just something he made up.

While reading it, I decided that it's like the Harry Potter books sort of, but instead of witches and wizards, there's Gods and Goddess's. So if you are a Harry Potter fan or a fan of the movie Clash of The Titans, you might like this series.

But in my own personal opinion, I still think Harry Potter is better. The books are just to long.

The Girl Who Chased The Moon

I loved the other two books by this author, so I was eager to read her latest book. And like the other two it was very magical and hard to put down. I don't know if I would say that it was as good as the others, because everyone has a secret, and it takes forever for the reader to find out what they are. Kind of annoyed me a little bit.

It's the story of teenager Emily who moves in with her grandfather (who's a giant)when her mother dies. She goes back to the town her mother grew up in and finds out that while her mom was popular, she is very much disliked there. She becomes friends with Julia who went to school with her mom and who has her own little secret. Emily becomes friends with Win, who's uncle dated Emily's mom, but then something happened to the uncle and everyone blamed the mom for it, thus, most of the people in town dislike Emily at first, and Win's father doesn't want Win to see her. But you can't tell two teens who are smitten with each other what to do. Win also has a secret. His is actually pretty good.

There's a friendly giant, a bedroom where the wallpaper changes on its on, and a lights that run around the woods at night. Very good book and very hard to put down. The way it ends suggests that there may be a sequel someday and I would love to read it.

The Careful Use of Compliments

I really don't know why this series is in the Mystery section. There really isn't often a mystery in the book. It's a simple novel about Isabel who is a philosopher, and really just questions everyday life. I like these books because they make you think.

This is the 4th book in the series and in this one, Isabel has given birth to Charlie, who she had with younger man Jamie. Isabel finds out that she is getting fired from her job as editor at a Philosophy Review magazine, and also get curious about a painting that she wanted to buy. The artist is suppose to be dead, but her feelings tell her otherwise. After talking to a few people, so uncovers the truth.Just to warn you, for you new readers, these books to not have much action to them. So if that's what excites you, this might not be for you. Like I said, it's a simple, thought provoking book.

Flirting With Forever

I'm not really a fan of romance novels, but I was in the mood to read a cheesy one. Not a super cheesy one where the people get busy in every chapter and there's a photo of a half naked guy on the cover, but something more tasteful. Sadly, I was kind of embarrassed to be hanging out in the romance section, but whatever. I picked this one because I liked the cover and because it's a mix between present time and 1673, which at the time sounded interesting, but it confused me a little.

Cam works at an art museum and from what I can tell she is suppose to be writing a book about an artist, but isn't getting very far, so she tries to buy a book on him from Amazon, but when clicks the link for the book she is transported back to 1673 where she meets Peter Lely who is also an artist. One thing leads to another and the two of them get busy. Don't expect any graphic sex scenes. The author just likes to use the words 'breasts' 'nipple' and 'plow'. How romantic. Afterwards, Peter realizes that she is there to get info on Van Dyck so he gives her a BS story, and when she gets back to present time she writes it in her book, only to find out that it's fake. So she decides to write a book about Peter. He finds out about this and time travels to her and tries to stop her. Then it just because messy. They both like each other, but he can't stay because he's from the past and screwing up the future.

Honestly, I didn't really like this book, but it was a quick read that it made me want to stick with it. It's all about painters, which I have no interest in, so maybe if that is your thing, you'd enjoy it more. Mostly it sounds like something a single lady who lives with cats how isn't getting any lovin' would write.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

I guess I didn't really know what to expect going into this book, mostly I just wanted to know what all the hype was about and why a movie was made out of it. Now that I think about it, that's how I got started on Harry Potter. No matter how interesting this book was, Harry Potter is way better.

Percy (really, who names their kid that?) is not your normal teenage boy. He always seems to get himself in trouble. One day when he gets kicked out of school again, him and his mother take a trip to a cabin, but once there, all the secrets of all the strange things that have been going on start to get answered. Percy finds out that his dad is a God. So he goes to a camp where there are other kids who have a parent who is a God or Goddess. Then Percy gets chosen to go on a quest to get Zeus's lightning bolt, which is rumored to have been stolen by Hedes. So Percy and his two friends go across country to find the bolt, meeting some more gods and monsters on the way. I kind of felt like the author wrote it so that he could teach kids about Greek Gods and Monsters. I found myself looking up names that were mentioned in the book. Since there's only 5 books in the series, I think I might give them a try.

And one of these days I'll go see the movie.

Evermore

If you hated Twilight (like me) then this is a good book for you. Yes, it kind of has that same feel for it, cute (says the book), different guy shows up at school and starts hanging out the odd girl out. But instead of being moody like Bella, Ever is pretty interesting. After her family is killed in a car accident, she gets psychic powers, can see people's auras, read minds, stuff like that. And she hates it. While it might be cool for a while, having to listen to everything someone is think would get annoying. Then she meets Damen, and can't get any reading on him. At first you are going to think he's a vampire, but he's not. He's immortal, which is apparently something different. Of course he and Ever fall in love, but she is dealing with other teenager stuff, like a friend who gets mixed with the wrong crowd, and her dead little she who she can see and talk to. Definitely an interesting book.

I thought about checking out the second one, but people on B&N.com gave it bad reviews, so maybe I'll pass.

The Tail of Emily Windsnap

I was in a reading funk and was browsing around Barnes & Noble and someone had misplaced this book. The cover caught my eye, because its purple and green and pretty. And even after I found out it was a kids book, it seemed interesting and different enough that I wanted to read it.

12 year old Emily is really excited to be taking swimming lessons, because her mother never let her before, but as soon as she hits the water, her legs start to feel funny and before she knows it, she has a mermaid tail. That's not something that normally happens. So she get curious to find out why she is a mermaid. With the help of a fellow mermaid that she befriends, they find out the story of Emily's parents. Her mom a human, her dad a mermaid, who got thrown into mermaid jail for falling in love with a human. Of course, being a kids book, there is a happy ending.

I don't know if I really recommend this for adults, but if you have a child around the age of 12, they might like it. Who doesn't wonder what it would be like to be a mermaid?