Wizard's Daughter by Catherine Coulter

Since he was young, Nicholas Vail has had strange dreams about a girl he has never met. His family says she is their debt, put upon the family after the life of a sailor was saved by a strange wizard, and that one of them will meet her and have to pay the debt. At a party in London he sees her, even though she is a woman and not a little girl anymore. When they fall in love both are left wondering what the debt is and how he will have to pay it. A mysterious book that her brother found may hold the key to their fate.

This book was highly mediocre. The writing was dull and slow, making it hard to stay focused on the story for a long period of time. The characters were not very fleshed out and there was a feeling that the author assumed you had read basically the same sort of tale often enough that there was no need to explain or describe anything. I was also bothered by the "magic solves any problems (including plot holes)" attitude; I like some method and structure to my magic.

It was a mildly interesting read, and probably a good choice for a day when you aren't in the mood for a serious book.

3 Stars

Emme

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

Lestat is now a famous rock star, but his life started back before the French Revolution. This vampire has lived a wild, rampant life and vampiric death no matter the age. He has never been content with staying in one place and has travelled around the world, collecting riches and connections as he went.

This sequel to Interview With the Vampire far outshines the original. The decade between them gave Rice the ability to actually write something that didn't sound like hyped-up melodrama written by a teenager who has never read classic vampire fiction. She also gained the skills to create an interesting character, who is not clearly "good" or "bad" and is frequently full of contradictions. Lestat is greedy but charming, immature yet knowledgeable, thick as a brick while being clever, but somehow it all rings true.

The writing is still wobbly and simple at times. Rice seems very fond of overusing "exotic" words to try and make her vampires exciting. (A technique which takes away from them instead.)

4 Stars

Emme

April Shadows by V.C. Andrews

April wishes she was more like her sister: tough, tall and athletic. Instead April is shy, short and overweight despite her attempts to be otherwise. Brenda doesn't seem very affected by their father's cruelty towards the family, but it hurts April and seems to be breaking their mother's heart. April doesn't know what to do, or if there is anything she can do to try and help keep their family from shattering.

This was a mildly entertaining novel and a page-turner, but very forgettable. The writing was not bad, just blah and uninspiring. The characters and scenarios all felt stiff and overused, they became uninteresting after a while. This is probably a good book for some distracted reading when you don't want to have something too fascinating.

3 Stars

Emme

Sips of Blood by Mary Ann Mitchell

Every family has it's issues, and the Sades just a bit more so because they are vampires. Grandma Marie works as a dominatrix, sneaking sips of her client's blood; Liliana works in a morgue and drinks the blood of people already killed by other means; and Louis Sade himself still tries to live like a classic vampire in a mansion, hunting on the streets and seducing his victims.

Not a particularly interesting book, and although the characters have promise, they never quite achieve a high enough level of life (or un-life) and personality to hold the reader's interest. The author also couldn't seem to decide if she was writing a story about classically evil vampires or the now-popular nice vamps, meaning it feels scattered and the reader is left scratching their head, trying to figure out what the author is trying to accomplish. The writing is dull and is hard to follow due to convoluted sentence structure.

1 Star

Emme

MeruPuri: Vol. 1 by Matsuri Hino

Airi is a diligent high school student who is addicted to romance shows and books. All she really wants in life is to marry the perfect guy and have a beautiful house when she grows up. But her life is turned upside-down when she loses a mirror passed down through her family. By the time she locates it, a little boy from a magical kingdom has appeared and claims the mirror is a portal between her land and his. Not sure that she believes him, she takes him home and that is when things get weird!

Although low on plot and high on melodrama, this sweet Shōjo manga was fun to read. The art is solid, for the most part, and some of the costumes look awfully tempting. If I thought I could persuade my little brother to cosplay as Aram (the magical kid) I would totally make his little outfit. The character design is well done, making folks who are related look alike, but not so alike that it is hard to tell who they are.

Fans of Shōjo, and particularly of Hino's newer series, Vampire Knight, will want to give this short series a try.

3 Stars

Emme

Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul by Various Authors

This book is one of my favorites. It is a collection of 101 stories about changes, choices and growing up that are written by kids from the ages of 9-13. The stories in the book are divided into eleven different categories. A touching story that I liked, called "The Last Runner," is in the "Overcoming Obstacles" category. It's about a crippled man who ran in a marathon. The amazing thing is that he kept running even after all the other runners finished ahead of him. I was inspired by his persistence, because he kept running even though it was hard for him.

5 Stars

Elizabeth

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter does not know his true identity, has not a clue how his parents died, and does not know what lies in his future. All he knows is that he is stuck with his awful aunt and uncle, and their fat son Dudley. This book is so good that it’s hard to put it down.

5 Stars

When Harry started his second year at Hogwarts, with his future as a wizard fully realized, what he didn’t realize is how much trouble a supposedly mythical Chamber of Secrets could cause. With his best friends Ron and Hermione at his side, and the dastardly Malfoy biasing the entire school against him, Harry has only two questions: Who opened the Chamber of Secret 50 years ago, and who opened it this year…?

5 Stars

Harry Potter is back at Hogwarts for his third year. He's in danger once again. The criminal, Sirius Black, has escaped from the wizard prison called Azkaban. Rumors have been told that Sirius Black is trying to find Harry and kill him. Except this is not what happens at the end of the book. You will rush through these pages to find out what happens at the surprise ending!

5 Stars

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson isn’t your average 12-year-old boy. He is half-god. In this book, Percy goes on a big quest to find Zeus’ lightning bolt, and realizes that it’s not hard to be tricked by a god. This book is filled with so much action it’s hard not to love it.

5 Stars

Elizabeth

Percy Jackson is an ordinary teenage boy - or so he thinks - until his life is changed by a series of events in which Percy ends up killing one of Hades', the God of the underworld, Furies with a bronze word that sprouts out of a pen. Will he survive the ultimate challenge and save mankind from a war between his father Poseidon, and Zeus? Find out read the book.

5 Stars

Rory