Neuromancer, by William Gibson

Case is living a hard and fast life. He runs drugs, arms and any
other illegal thing. He doesn't care if he gets caught and doesn't
care if he dies. He doesn't care about much. Then one day he
comes home to find a leather-clad, gun-wielding girl with
knives under her nails and glasses permanently attached to her
eyes sitting in his house. Her boss has a mission for him, and
she is here to make sure he can't refuse.

I found this book very interesting, but a wee bit too fast paced. I
would have liked a few more details on many things, rather then
skipping on to the next happening. The writing was great and
the characters were fresh and engaging.
4 stars,
Emme

The Devil Inside, by Jenny Black

Morgan is an exorcist, she removes demons who have taken over
unwilling hosts. She is one of the best, and almost never fails. After
a particularly nasty job, in which the demon almost beat her in the
fight for the host, Morgan heads home. On night she sleepwalks
and writes a note. The note is from a demon that has gotten inside
her. Morgan now has to face her worst fear... sharing her body.

Average book. Not too boring, but not fascinating either.
Characters felt a bit stereotyped. Plot, not overly engaging.
3 stars
Emme

The Girls Take Over, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Eddie is the first girl to try out for the baseball team, something
which was always Jake's "thing." Caroline is determined to
become class spelling champion, while Wally struggles to beat
her. Irritated with the girls for doing things they are good at, the
Hatford boys challenge the girls to a bottle race. Whoever's
bottle goes the farthest wins, and gets to be king or queen for a
day.

An entertaining book for children, but I think I am quite too old
for it anymore. I found it highly fun when I was a little girl, but it
seems simplistic and flat to me now. I would recommend it to
the tween group.
4 stars,
emme

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

Asking me why I like this book is crazy, because the answer would be WAY to long. There are so many likable things about it.
The Book Thief is about a girl living around the time of the holocaust, but as oppose to other books about that time period, it isn't completely centered on the hard time everyone is having. Instead, it is about her, her foster parents, and her best friend Rudy. You see glimpses of the sad world around her when they home a Jew in their basement and the whole family has to keep a giant secret. Through it all, the mother is just as mean but funny, the father is just as loving, and Rudy is just as amazing.
The Book Thief made me laugh, made me think, and made me cry so much I couldn't see the page, . It has the best Voice a book could ever have, and is written from a surprising viewpoint.
Markus Zusak is a complete genius, and anyone who has read this book would agree.
5 stars

Claimed by Shadow, by Karen Chance

Cassandra Palmer is heir to title of Pythia, the world's strongest
clairvoyant. Normally the heir would be trained from birth, but
Cassie isn't exactly normal. Being raised by vampires and living
on the run have turned Cassie into someone on the fringes of
every kind of society, not to mention that the whole being
clairvoyant and seeing ghosts isn't exactly helpful if you want to
blend in. Even worse she discovers that a powerful vampire put a
spell on her to warn off any would be suiters and that a rouge
wanna-be Pythia is trying to kill her. She has to try and take out
the girl who is after her, while carefully avoiding any contact
with men that the spell thinks may be a threat.

Karen Chance's first book was quite good, with only minor
problems; this one is much better. Chance keeps the fab
characters and interesting, high speed plot but fixes her pacing
problems and her writing flows much more smoothly. I was
delighted that I was correct and the author just needed to work
through the kinks to write a brilliant story.

5 stas,
Emme

The Lady Grace Mysteries: Assassin, by Patricia Finney

ady Grace is one of Queen Elizabeth's Maids of Honor. She is a
bit of a wild child for this time period; she runs down stairs, is
often scolded for being overly loud, and her best friends are a
tumbler and laundry maid. But when Sir Gerald, one of her
suiters, is stabbed to death after a ball where she announces her
intention to marry Sir Robert fingers begin to point. And most of
them are pointed at her husband to be. Grace decides to try and
solve the murder so that he can go free.

This book is written as Grace's Daybook (diary.) The author is
clearly comfortable with this format which is very nice, and
although I found the writing a bit more simple then I like, it is
probably because this is a children's book. I recommend this
book to historical fiction fans.

4 stars,
Emme

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley

Eleven year old Flavia de Luce is a beginning chemist with a
particular fondness for poisons. Her family seems pretty normal:
two older sisters, one book obsessed and other obsessed with
herself, one dead mother and a kind if absent-minded father.
But when a dead bird turns up on their doorstep with a postage
stamp attached to its beak and shortly later Flavia discovers a
dead man in her garden, it becomes clear that her family has
dark secrets Flavia had no idea existed.

This mystery completely sucked me in. The protagonist is clever
and yet still seems like a child, not an adult in a child's body
which is what seems to happen a lot in mystery's where the
investigator is a young person. I liked the writing style and the
voice of Flavia rang very true to a intelligent child's way of
seeing the world as neither an adult sees it or a child who
doesn't pay as close attention to their world.
5 stars,
Emme

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, by Gregory Maguire

We are all familiar with the story of Cinderella. We know what
happened, or so we think. But what about the stepsisters? Who
were they and what did they think about Cinderella? How did
they end up as Cinderella's stepsisters? Were they really evil?
This book attempts to show the story from a different light.

I thought this book would be very good. It has many excellent
reviews and sounds like a fascinating plot. I was sorely
disappointed. The writing dragged and was not very interesting.
The characters were underdeveloped and flat. I was having to
force myself to finish it. I don't recommend this book.
1 star

Skellig, by David Almond

i think it is a realy good book and i really recomend it to others and once you have read the first chapter you really want to read on.
Becky
5 stars,

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, by Ally Carter

This is the first book in the Gallagher Girls series. Cammie Morgan is the daughter of the headmistress of the Gallagher Acadamey for Exceptional Young Women. Their school isn't what it is made out to be (a boarding school for rich girls) it's actually a top secret, all girl spy school. Cammie meets Josh when a mission for one of her classes brings her to Roseville, Virginia. She falls in love with him, but how can she see him more if she has to stay on the school property? Cammie and her friends break a lot of rules for Josh...is he really worth it?? What will he do when he figures out that Cammie is lying to him to keep her cover? Oh, and what about Macey McHenry? Is she really cut out to be a spy? Will she ever learn to be nice? This book was so good that I read it in a day!
5 stars,
Anna

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, by Ally Carter

This is the first book in the Gallagher Girls series. Cammie Morgan is the daughter of the headmistress of the Gallagher Acadamey for Exceptional Young Women. Their school isn't what it is made out to be (a boarding school for rich girls) it's actually a top secret, all girl spy school. Cammie meets Josh when a mission for one of her classes brings her to Roseville, Virginia. She falls in love with him, but how can she see him more if she has to stay on the school property? Cammie and her friends break a lot of rules for Josh...is he really worth it?? What will he do when he figures out that Cammie is lying to him to keep her cover? Oh, and what about Macey McHenry? Is she really cut out to be a spy? Will she ever learn to be nice? This book was so good that I read it in a day!

5 stars,

Anna

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, by Ally Carter

This is the second book in the Gallagher Girls series. I found it to be just as thrilling and good as the first. Cammie's mom isn't acting normal. Cammie's spy instincts kick in. She knows something is up but doesn't quite know what. Cammie spies on her mom and figures out that there is another school of spies! It's a all boys spy school! Cammie is on another mission for a class and she meets one of the boys. Are they better then the Gallagher Girls? Little does she know that the mission won't be the only time she sees Zach....
5 stars,Anna

The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

Robert Langdon, a Havard professor doing a lecture tour, is
woken in the middle of the night by the police. The curator of
the Louvre has been murdered the night that Langdon was
suppose to meet him. The police suspect Langdon, but he is
innocent. Helped by Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist, he tries to
solve the murder and clear his name.

I had been meaning to read this book for a long time, so when I
saw it at a book sale this past spring I bought it. It was one of
the heaviest books I got, so it was in the bottom of the bag of
books I bought and I only just got around to reading it a few
days ago.

It was really good! The writing was clever and I loved the
interesting puzzles and riddles. The characters were interesting
and felt quite real. I recommend the movie too if you liked this
book!
5 stars,
Emme

Buffy theVampire Slayer: Blackout, by Keith R.A. DeCandido

Instead of focusing on Buffy, this book mostly follows Nikki, a
vampire slayer in NYC during the '70's. New York City is vamp
heaven, crowed people living in poor housing plus some of their
kills are thought to be the work of the serial killer, Son of Sam.
Nikki fights crime and kills vamps while trying to keep her son
safe. But when Spike comes to town after a fight with Drusilla he
has only one thing on his mind, killing the Slayer.

This is a really good book, the only Buffy book I have read so far
that is five star. DeCandido is a great author, and he totally
"gets" the characters. Spike's character in particular is truly dead
on. DeCandido did a great job taking the character of Nikki, who
we only see briefly in the series, and making an entire book
about her.

5 stars emme