Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce

Author: Tamora Pierce

Release Date: April 14, 2009

Category: Fantasy

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Rebekah “Beka” Cooper is now a Dog, a fully qualified member of Provost’s Guard, which is basically the police force in Corus, the capital of Tortall. Beka is a natural at Dog work, she’s observant and persistent, but her magical traits set her apart from the rest, she has the ability to gain information from the spirits that attach themselves to pigeons and the dust and dirt that swirl on the ground called dust spinners. These skills along with the help from the company she keeps make Beka a skilled Dog.

Beka has been a Dog for five months at this point, and her fourth partner has just decided to leave her, which sends her back to her (amusing) training Dogs, Tunstall and Goodwin. One her first day back with Tunstall and Goodwin, they learn of counterfeit silver coins being used throughout Corus, which begins their investigation on the subject. On the second day, the merchants raise their prices in order to cover their losses, which cause a riot in the Lower City. During the riot, Tunstall is injured and in trying to get him to safety, they meet a group of men from a security caravan, who turn out to be quite useful to them.

After the riots, it’s found that the counterfeit coins are being brought in by gamblers from Port Caynn and the Port Caynn Dogs don’t seem to be doing anything about it. With Tunstall on bed rest, Cooper and Goodwin are sent undercover to Port Caynn to try and locate where these fake coins are coming from and who is sending them out into the mainstream. Beka and Goodwin must explore the deep world of gambling and find the root of the problem, in a strange city.

Along the way, Beka sees Dale Rowan, a bank courier that sometimes works on the caravan, whim she met in the riot. Dale becomes more than just someone to help the women learn about the gambling places, and the eating houses that could help aid them, he becomes someone Beka really begins to like. He is handsome, buys her fine gifts, and becomes a bedmate for her, all in a matter of days. There is just enough romance that you almost want to root for him, but personally I am still rooting for her and Rosto, the Rogue of Corus.

With the help of the adorable Achoo, Beka’s new scent hound, Slapper, a hilarious pigeon that carries the voices of the dead, and their new friends from the riots, they have just the in they need to get their investigation started. Things finally start falling into place when Goodwin goes to Corus to report what they have so far. Once Goodwin is gone, things come together rather quickly for young Beka, and it is up to her alone, to keep it all from blowing up before help arrives. And it is up to Achoo to teach Beka that there is more to finding a criminal than the chase, and sometimes you have to sniff them out of their hiding place.

I love this story! It’s told very well, everything you read is written through Beka’s journal and despite the length of the book, the entire story covers just under three weeks. I didn’t read Terrier, the first book in the trilogy, but Bloodhound seems to stand on its own, with only a slight temporary confusion. Some of the terminology is quite different, but there is a dictionary in the back, along with a few other things that are quite helpful when it comes to keeping things straight. The cast of characters are quite colorful, and very interesting, particularly when Dogs, mages, thieves, and the Rogue not only live in the same lodgings, but also dine frequently together and intertwine themselves in each others lives as they do. It’s easy to see that despite what they all do for a living, they all care and respect each other as friends.

There are some aspects of the story that could become a little much for younger readers and I think I should state that Beka may only be 16 or 17, but in her time, that is classified as an adult. She deals in adult situations, there is crime, gambling, adult relationships, and violence, but nothing is told in explicit detail or anything like that. This is a story that I could totally recommend for almost anyone, male or female, teenager or adult. Either way, it is a good story and I for one, am waiting for the next book, Mastiff.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Before I get started, I just want to let you guys know that I’m going to be experimenting with my review format a bit, see what works, what doesn’t, etc. Let me know what you guys think!

Author: John Green
Release Date: September 21, 2006
Category: Contemporary
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Ever wanted to know how long a relationship would last? Who would break up with who? Have a way to figure out if beginning the relationship in the first place is even worth the trouble? Receive all those answers by plugging in a few factors into a mathematical theorem, sounds simple enough to me, and to Colin Singleton. Colin is a new high school graduate, a soon-to-be-ex child prodigy, and this theorem, the theorem that could potentially make him a genius, is the problem he is facing.

You see, Colin has a problem. Colin falls in love very easily. That wouldn't be such a bad thing if it wasn't for the fact that all his "loves" have been named Katherine (exactly 19 of them). Each of those Katherines have broken up with him for whatever reason; and after the love of his life (Katherine XIX) leaves him in a terribly bad place he decides to use that to his advantage. He tries to make himself a genius by coming up with the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, to not only make himself known for something, but to also figure out why all nineteen Katherines have dumped him.

As a distraction, Colin and his best friend Hassan set out on a road trip to nowhere, in The Hearse (Colin's car). Seeing a sign for the grave of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the boys head to Gutshot, Tennessee; a small town, where they happen upon Lindsey Lee Wells, a girl who is nothing like any Katherine has been for Colin. She reads celebrity rag magazines, her friends, her boyfriend (also named Colin, aptly dubbed T.O.C. aka The Other Colin), and her wealthy mother Hollis, who offers the boys a place to stay. The palace-sized home on top of the hill being more than just large and full of interesting things, but it's also a shade of pink only rivaled by a bottle of Pepto Bismol.

Hollis hires the boys to accompany Lindsey with getting an oral history of Gutshot, which means visiting everyone that works in the factory (which produces tampon strings, just so you know), the people too old to work, and the people so old to work they are in the old folks home. Colin also decides his "Eureka" moment is finishing the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, but what he doesn't count on is better than finishing any theorem. He not only finds himself, but that there are some things (i.e. chance, memory recollection, the unpredictability of matters of the heart) that can't be solved in a theorem, math, or science. Some things have to be lived, and we follow these three through their adventures, learning to be somebody, mattering as a person without being world-famous, and just growing up.

There are so many things about this book that I love! Upon meeting Lindsey's friends, the boys immediately came up with amusing acronyms for them (J.A.T.T. aka Jeans Are Too Tight, hehe). As someone who lives in Tennessee, I still couldn't help giggle every time Gutshot was mentioned. The footnotes! I forgot how fun those could be! The characters are quirky, and there is the ability to relate to them in a sense, and real. And the book taught me things I didn't know! Just for amusement, here are five things I didn't know before reading An Abundance of Katherines:

1. Nikola Telsa loved...pigeons (yea, I know)...and had the original electricity idea, not Thomas Eddison.
2. Looking at it from a scientific point of view, there is no proof that drinking eight glasses of water will do a darn thing for your health.
3. William Taft was not only the fattest president, but got stuck in a bath tub one time (hehehe, so funny)
4. Abligurition is an actual word, that I can't pronounce, but means "the spending of too much money on food."
5. Not only is there a World's Largest Crucifix, but it is in Kentucky.

This is one of the few books that I would recommend to everyone! Don't worry about all the math, there are footnotes and graphics to explain it all. This is a book that guys and girls alike can enjoy!

Update!

I am still in the process of reading Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce. I'm quite behind on my usual reading schedule, because not only have things been crazy here at home, but my allergies have been miserable! They have never been this bad before! Anyone else had that problem this year?

But anyways, I am going to my aunt's lake house for the weekend and since it is nice and quiet up there, hopefully I will be able to get some MAJOR reading done! I hope. I just wanted to let you guys know that I haven't forgotten about you or anything! hehe.

I also wanted to give an extra special "THANK YOU" to Fantastic Book Review for her "5 Star Review" contest, in which I won a copy of The Forest of Hands and Teeth! YaY!

Must get some sleep now, since it's 2:30 AM and I have to be up early to do some things around the house and pack my stuff before I leave at 1 tomorrow, ARGH! lol. Hope to be farther along in a few days! Bye guys! XOXO!

I hate when this happens!

So at the end of last summer, I stopped at a yard sale (a great place to pick up books cheap) and I bought a whole stack of books from Christine Freehan's Dark Secrets series. I've had plenty of other stuff to read and whatnot the past few months, but today I decided to see which ones of the series I had, hoping that I could start reading them soon.

Well I went on Wikipedia, to get a list of her books in order and boy was I surprised to find that there are 19 books in the series, so far! Number 20 comes out in September. But anyways, back to my point. My plan to begin reading was largely derailed quit quickly...

I not only have 8 out of the 19, but they aren't even in order! Gah! lol. These are the one's I have:
Dark Desire (2)
Dark Magic (4)
Dark Fire (6)
Dark Legend (8)
Dark Guardian (9)
Dark Destiny (13)
Dark Secret (15)
Dark Demon (16)

You guys would not believe the look on my face when I realized, not only do I not have the books in order, but that I didn't even have half of them! Don't you just hate when that happens?

I hate reading books out of order, I always feel like I've missed something by not reading the first book. But right now I am reading Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce and I didn't read Terrier. I'm still in the first couple of chapters, but I get it for the most part. I just think I missed out on some back story and some details by not reading Terrier. But it's for a review, so I can't really put it off and go find, buy, and read Terrier at the moment, so I am just going to read Bloodhound and be happy! :)

Well anyways, now that I have officailly ranted a bit, I want to pose a question to you guys!

Do you prefer to read books in series order, or does that not make a difference?

The Fold by An Na

Author: An Na
Release Date: April 10, 2008

Category: Contemporary
My Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Summary: The Fold by An Na is the story of Joyce Park and her struggle with self image, love, and family. The last day of her junior year Joyce finds the courage to ask her mega-crush, John Ford Kang, to sign her yearbook. He does sign, but he signs it too the wrong girl, causing Joyce to question herself and if she will ever be beautiful enough to be noticed by John Ford Kang. Already being the middle child with the sister, Helen, which she is always being compared too and never lives up to that expectation, and the boy, Joyce has trouble trying to keep her head above water at home. Just when her questioning begins, her plastic-surgery-crazed aunt hits the lottery and decides to help each member of the family better themselves. Offering Joyce the chance to get The Fold, a surgery to alter her Asian eyes, Joyce is then sent into a tailspin trying to decide if she wants the surgery or not. Helen can’t believe she would even consider it, her best friend Gina can’t believe she wouldn’t jump at the chance for free surgery, and Joyce hates pain. But the only thing she knows is that she wants John Ford Kang to notice her, to be her boyfriend, no matter what it takes to do so. The question becomes, would she consider surgery without knowing for sure that he will notice her? Or will she make him notice her for who she is?

Review: It was a little hard to get into at first, but after the first couple of chapters it was a pretty good story. It’s something I wish I had read in high school, because almost every high school-er goes through the “would he notice me if I was prettier?” kind of situation. The stories all coincide with one another and eventually all make sense; there is the semi-shocking, but kind of obvious twist with her sister Helen, Gina’s part in everything, the boy next door (literally), the boy of her dreams (there was always that one guy), and the mean girl (we all knew those). And yes, every time they talked about John Ford Kang, they either said the entire name or called him JFK, neither of which I particularly cared for. The ending seemed a bit unsatisfying, at least to me, but overall the story was a good one to tell. Although I did never figure out exactly with “The Fold” was, or how it changed someone’s face, but that’s just me (and yes, I did check Wikipedia, but I still have no idea the difference)!

Perpetual Check by Rich Wallace

Author: Rich Wallace
Release Date: February 2009

Category: Contemporary
My Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

Summary: Perpetual Check by Rich Wallace is about two brothers, Zeke and Randy Mansfield, and their relationship with not just each other, but also their father. Zeke is a high school senior, a good soccer player, and a natural chess player that started beating his father at the age of six. Zeke can beat almost anybody, except his little brother. Randy on the other hand is a high school freshman, he’s a little pudgy with a haircut paralleling a Cub Scout, he likes to make up words, and he’s a chess whiz that beats his brother nine times out of ten. But this time, tension runs high since both Zeke and Randy have qualified for a major high school regional championship. If the boys bring everything they’ve got and play their best, then it could quite possibly sit one against the other. Their father is there from the beginning, putting more pressure on the boys, coaching from the sidelines and intimidating everyone until they break or try too hard. Now it’s time to see who wins, who loses, and who is loyal.

Review: This wasn’t the best book, but it wasn’t the worst either. Knowledge of chess would have been really helpful, because it can get a little confusing when they are talking about the pieces and the moves if you don’t know anything about chess. Each chapter goes back and forth between perspectives, starting with Zeke. That can also be confusing at first, since you have to continue reading the chapter to know who is talking; but later their personalities show through enough to recognize who is “speaking.” There are some conflicts between the brothers that seem trivial, but then you remember they are brothers and it’s understandable. It’s an extremely quick read, something that can be read in one sitting, seeing as it is only 112 pages. I usually like reading from a male perspective, but this is just not a book with much character development or really story. I can’t say I would recommend this to most people, I would recommend this for someone younger, male, and into chess; but probably not most females.

In the Meantime by Robin Lippincott

Author: Robin Lippincott

Release Date: September 2008

Category: General Fiction

My Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Summary: Kathryn, Luke, and Starling met at the ages of 5 and 6 in the early 1930s; and became inseparable from that moment on. From elementary to early high school they attend the same schools and are constantly at one of their houses, usually Starling’s. But as they get older, so do the cruelties and insults from people that don’t understand them or their friendship, and so Starling and his family move across town, away from the hostility expressed by some of the more aggressive high school bullies. They continue their friendship regardless of the distance that is, until something happens between Luke and Starling that causes a separation between the two and Kathryn is left in the middle, and left to mend the boys’ friendship. We follow the three from a small Midwestern town, to New York City where they hope to follow their dreams, and then we follow Kathryn to Boston. We see Luke turn into a successful publisher and bachelor for life, Starling a struggling actor and then a worse fate, and Kathryn a student, then a married woman and adulterer.

Review: In the beginning the book can be a little hard to read, but once you get past the first 30 or so pages, it becomes interesting, relatable, and totally engrossing. This is a story that follows about 70 or so years through some of the hardest times in history, but ending only days before September 11, 2001. I believe the author did that for a reason also; it seems despite the wars and the depression and the like, these three characters lives were fairly innocent and continuing on would have left them a lot less innocent. There is a chapter where you see three similar friends in Hiroshima, and you also see the outcome of those friends when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and I should give a warning that this chapter is disturbing and detailed. This is definitely not a story for everyone, but it is a good read; it puts things into perspective at times and can really make you think and I think anytime a book makes you think, that’s a good thing.