Friday, October 21, 2016

Reawakened by Colleen Houck

This book is a great read for those of us that like the mythology of Egypt as well as adventure.  Lily seemed to "fall" for the Egyptian prince that has risen extremely quickly, which I found just a tad irritating. But, this did not stop me from enjoying this story as they make their way to Egypt and try to stop Seth, the god of chaos from rising and taking over the world.  The author did a great job creating a very vivid picture of Egypt. If you enjoy this book, you may want to try another by this author. She wrote the series: Tiger's Curse, which we have in the library. 

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

The One Thing by Marci Lyn Curtis and Gold Fish by Nat Luurtsema

Oh my goodness I really enjoyed both of these books.  Both were short and totally delightful.

The One Thing is about Maggie.  Maggie looses her sight when she gets meningitis. But, then, she meets Ben and, amazingly, she can see him. The fact that Maggie can see Ben is the focus of this story. Maggie and Ben are fantastic characters, they complement each other very well.  Maggie is angry and sarcastic and kind of mean, at times.  Ben is ever the optimist. He is generous and funny. You will like this book if you like books about overcoming difficulties.







Gold Fish is laugh out loud funny.  I really, honestly, laughed right out loud in several places.  Lou (Louise Brown) is hoping to be an olympic swimmer, but her hopes are dashed when she does poorly at the time trials.  Her friend, however, makes it to the High Performance Training Camp.  Lou isn't quite sure what to do with herself without her friend and without swimming.  Just like Maggie, in the story above, Lou has a pretty sarcastic sense of humor.  She decides to help a group of boys try out for a tv show doing underwater dancing and the results are pretty funny.




Monday, October 3, 2016

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

What a heart wrenching book!  This is by the author of Between Shades of Gray, which I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED.  If you like historical fiction, than Ruta Sepetys is the author for you! This one tells the story of 4 people all affected in different ways by WW II.  All are making their way to the coast as they try to board ships to safety and freedom.  As the refugees make their way, their lives converge.  This tells the tragic story of the worst tragedy in maritime history: the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff ship.  You MUST read the author's notes after this book, she is such a thorough researcher that these notes are so informative!  I now will probably look for a nonfiction book about this topic to learn more about it.