A Grimm Warning - Chris Colfer

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series.

It's not just the wonderful spin on 

favourite fairy tale characters

but it's also the well crafted characters

and story line.

A Grimm Warning

does not disappoint.

Alex Bailey now lives in The Land of Stories.

She's training to one day become

the Fairy Godmother

and taking over for her grandmother. 

Meanwhile, 

her twin, Connor,

goes on a school trip to Germany

to hear the unpublished story

by the Brother's Grimm

that was found in a time capsule.

Soon the twins find themselves on another adventure.

This time, 

they are trying to protect the land

from a 200 year old French Revolution Army.

Now, 

the last two books

have that lovely fairy tale ending.

You know,

happily ever after.

And when you pick up the next book

you feel like you're back with some old friends

and hearing their latest adventure.

But this time,

this time,

oh my!

Colfer leaves you hanging!

Yes, he leaves us with a cliffhanger.

An OMG-did-that-just-happen

cliffhanger.

And I have no idea

when he'll publish the next installment!

Yikes!!!

Blood Genesis - Tessa Dawn

I have loved this series

since the beginning.

So when I heard there was a 

prequel

I had to read it!

This did not disappoint!

Blood Genesis

gives a glimpse into the origins

of the Blood Curse.

We learn more about the brothers,

Jadon and Jaegar,

the patriarchs of these great vampire houses.

It's a story about 

Timaos and Jessinia

and their sacrifice.

If you haven't started this series yet,

this is a good,

short,

introduction!

The Sisters Grimm - Michael Buckley

I have a love for fairy tales.

So when a parent at school

told me about this series

I had to give it a try.

It is lovely!!!

Sabrina and Daphne's parents

mysteriously disappeared.

They have spent the last year

floating between foster families.

Then, 

they are told their grandmother wants them to go

live with her.

This surprises the sisters,

as they were told their grandmother was dead.

So Sabrina and Daphne meet 

their eccentric grandmother,

Granny Relda.

She informs them,

that they are descendants of the famous

Brothers Grimm

and that all these fairy tale characters

actually exist.

Not only do they exist,

but it's part of the Grimm's family job

to keep them in line.

Soon, 

the girls find themselves on an adventure.

There's a giant on the loose,

and he's kidnapped Granny Relda.

The mayor (Prince Charming)

acts awfully suspicious.

With the help of Jack

(as in and the Beanstalk)

and Puck

(yes Shakespear)

the girls are out to

save their grandmother!

Seventh Grave & No Body - Darynda Jones

It took me a long time 

to gobble this one.

But it was not due to the book,

but that I was uber busy.

A flight home from Dubai

gave me the time I needed 

to catch up with Charley, Reyes,

Cookie and the gang.

The fun stuff included:

Cookie and Ubie are a couple.

And a cute one.

Osh, aka The Dealer

is a fun and intriguing new character.

I can't wait to see more of him.

Reyes pushes Charley to learn

more about her powers.

And then there's Jessica.

Dead, but not gone.

Will she continue to be a pest?

This time around,

Charley has to deal with a bunch of people

disappearing,

leaving behind suicide notes.

But they didn't write the notes.

She looks for a grave robber,

deals with the Twelve Hell Hounds

and learns the Vatican has been spying on her.

Oh, and then there's her dad.

He's gone missing.

Yes, 

life with Charley is never boring!

Gotta love that girl! 

Awaking - Madeline Freeman

This book is a hard one

to review.

I really enjoyed it.

But there were times I got frustrated.

It's almost like there was something missing.

Something lacking.

I loved the characters

and the storyline,

I even felt the pace was great.

But something...

something was missing. 

Morgan Abbey is about to begin

her senior year. 

She has always had the ability

to read palms. 

She's even started a little side business.

A few weeks into the end of summer,

she meets a stranger who tells her

she's The One.

He also claims to know her mother

who disappeared 10 years ago.

Morgan is suddenly thrown into a world

she never knew existed.

She learns she is a part of a secret society,

called The Veneret

who have special powers.

They now live in hiding and she's viewed as the One

to save them.

I liked Morgan. 

She's an outcast,

her father was arrested for killing her mother.

Her mother disappeared,

no body was ever found.

She discovers her hobby as a psychic 

isn't just fun and games,

that she has a talent.

She also discovers she's developing new powers.

There's a love triangle,

of sorts.

First we meet Corbin.

Morgan's best friend has a serious crush on him.

Morgan attempts a reading on him

and suddenly opens him up to powers.

Then there's the barista, Lucas.

Again,

after a reading, 

he learns he has powers too.

And let's not forget Kellen.

The mysterious stranger who introduces Morgan

and her friends to the Veneret.

But is he a decent guy?

Or the villain? 

The Shadows - Megan Chance

I love going on vacation

with a Kindle full of books.

We were away this past week

and had no internet network.

I grabbed my iPad to find something to read.

But without internet,

I couldn't check what some of the books

were about.

That meant taking a risk.

And this turned out to be a great one!

The Fianna are a legendary group 

of ancient Irish warriors.

They have been asleep for over 2,000 years

but have now been summoned to help

the Irish fight the British.

Yet, they do not know who summoned them

and start to look for the veleda.

Patrick Devlin,

is a New Yorker of Irish descendant.

Having spent the last 3 years in Ireland

trying to help the cause,

he comes back determined to call the Fianna

for help.

He's passionate about Ireland

and Grace.

Grace Knox is about to turn 17.

Her family,

once wealthy,

have lost everything.

If she married a rich man,

her family can be saved. 

Grace's grandmother has told her the folktales

of the Fianna and Fomorians.

But she believes it's just stories.

Suddenly,

Grace finds herself in the middle of a battle.

The ancient tribes of Fianna and Fomorians

need her as the veleda.

She is also torn between Patrick

and Diarmid,

a Fianna,

whom she finds herself drawn too.

I've always loved mythology.

But have never looked at Irish myths.

I think it's high time I do!

Breeders - Ashley Quigley

In Breeders

we meet Ariet.

She lives in a new world.

One isolated from disease and war.

Her daily life,

follows a simple routine.

Each morning,

everyone has a brief medical examination.

One day,

what seems like a routine medical exam

everything is thrown upside down.

Ariet is drugged

and taken away from her family.

She is told she is the carrier of a unique gene

and therefor she is to become a breeder.

Her family will be told she died of an illness.

Ariet learns,

that not only is she a breeder

but her mate has been chosen for her.

She is given a few weeks to get to know her mate,

and then she is expected to start the breeding.

However, 

if the child does not carry the desired gene,

her pregnancy

and possibly her herself 

will be terminated. 

The concept of the book was fabulous

however,

it felt rushed.

Her relationship with Mason

doesn't really develop.

Do they have feelings for one another

or not?

We learn his parents were terminated

but never learn why.

At the end,

Mason's friend Thor

meets his grandfather.

And then we're at the epilogue.

Really?

Just cut us off like that?

So I don't know.

Did I love the book?

No.

But I did enjoy it.

That counts,

right?

Sixth Grave on the Edge - Darynda Jones

Oh Charley!

How I love you!

Sixth Grave on the Edge

has our favourite Grimm Reaper 

on a new adventure. 

She has a dead naked man

riding in her car. 

(He's a departed.)

She's learning,

or trying to learn,

more about Mr Wong,

the departed hanging out in the corner of her living room.

Her newest client wants her to help get his soul back.

Yes his soul.

He sold it to a demon,

but now wants it back.

Which means she now has to deal

with this demon

tricking people out of their souls.

Oh, 

and then there's the scared girl

who was abused.

Charley wants to find out what happened.

Yes Charley has her plate full.

On top of all this,

she has Reyes' proposal to answer,

she's looking into the 'kidnapping' of him 

as a child.

Oh, she's also conspired with Cookie

to make her uncle jealous.

And in the end,

well,

in the end,

Charley leaves us with an 

OMG!!

Immortal - J.R. Ward

And another series comes to an end.

Immortal is the final installment in 

The Fallen Angels series.

And what an ending it was.

I'll admit,

I cried a little at the end.

So far, 

Jim, our fallen angel

is loosing to

Devina, our evil devil,

2:3.

He would have been up one,

but he exchanged a win in a previous book.

So now, 

there are 2 souls left.

If Devina wins the next round,

Hell wins.

But who is this soul?

Will Jim be focused?

He lost the last round,

as he could not focus on the "game".

His mind was focused on Sissy.

Even Nigel was disappointed in him.

Immortal begins with Jim deciding he needs to get

Nigel back.

He decides he must enter Purgatory.

The first half of the book 

you wonder who the soul is.

We all know Jim will be the last soul.

Jim spends the first half of the book

getting Nigel back,

working out his feelings for Sissy

and controlling his anger against Devina.

And even after he wins,

he's too focused on winning

and beating Devina

to realise there is another soul in play.

But really,

it's the last book with Jim.

Did you ever have any doubt he'd win?

Writer's Workshop - Books

October is National Book Month, 

tell us about the best book you've read so far this year. 

For the last couple of years,

I've challenged myself to read a certain number of books.

The challenge, 

and keeping track of the books

are all on Goodreads. 

So for MamaKat's prompt,

I decided to take a look at the 

26 books I've read so far.

Now really,

I'm suppose to choose the best

book from these?

Yikes!

Not sure if I can.

The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

is a children's book

that I could not put down. 

Phoenix by Dawn Rae Miller,

was the end of an amazing YA trilogy.

And this one did not disappoint. 

Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin

is the last book I read.

It's one I probably would never had read

had it not been recommended.

And I loved it!

I was chatting with a mate the other day,

commenting how I had a lot of reading to do

as it appears all the authors have chosen

October as the month

to release their new book.

In case you're looking for something to read

here are some great ones to look out for.

Baking Cakes in Kigali - Gaile Parkin

OMG! I loved this book!

Angel Tungaraza is a Tanzanian.

She now lives in Kigali, Rwanda

with her husband

and their 5 grandchildren.

In Angel's kitchen,

she bakes cakes

and listens to the stories of her clients.

A mate of mine recommended this book.

She loved it.

I loved it.

And then I noticed on Goodreads

that not many people loved it
as much as we did.
And that got me thinking
about the different reasons
I found the book endearing.
It was the stories
that Angle shared.
I found myself laughing out loud
at different parts.
And one reason I laughed so much
were these are things I could see happening here
in Dar.

Here, listen to the following story.
A baby is named Goodenough.
When asked why,
the reply is simply
"They really wanted a boy.
But a girl is good enough."
How many of you are shocked?
How many of you laughed?
How many of you can't stop laughing?
I'm the third.
Even now I'm still laughing!

Fifth Grave Past the Light - Darynda Jones

I love Charley.

I believe,

if she were real,

we'd be awesome mates.

We both love coffee

and we both love Reyes.

I think

Fifth Grave Past the Light

is my favorite one to date.

Here,

our favorite Grimm Reaper

discovers her apartment is filling up

with dead blond women.

Twenty-seven women 

to be exact.

Charley needs to figure out

where these women are buried

and who killed them.

Oh, 

and let's not forget the arsonist.

Yes, 

someone has been burning down vacant lots.

Charley suspects she knows who it is

but can she prove it?

Then there's the husband

of a client.

She wants Charley to prove her husband is cheating.

The husband isn't too happy with Charley.

Yes our dear friend

gets into a lot of trouble.

But we'd never take Charley

any other way!

The Taking - Kimberly Derting

The idea behind this story

has potential

to be great.

Kyra and her dad

are driving home from her softball game.

They're talking about college

and they disagree.

Kyra gets out of the car,

to protest.

Suddenly she sees a white light

and hear her dad scream.

She wakes up behind a dumpster

still wearing the clothes from the day before.

She heads home,

but it's not her home.

It would seem,

she's been gone for 5 years.

A lot happened in 5 years.

Her father,

who saw the light,

is believed to be crazy.

Her parents divorced

and her mum not only remarried,

but also has a new child.

Her best friend is now dating her boyfriend.

And her boyfriend's 12 year old brother,

is now 17 and gorgeous.

But here's the thing,

Kyra doesn't seem to interested

in learning what happened to her.

Whether she remembers the light 

or not,

she doesn't support her father.

She's upset over,

rightly so,

about "the husband" and "brother"

but never really deals with it.

And when things do start getting interesting,

it ends.

Granted,

you'll probably learn more in the next book,

but do you really want to wait?

And do you really care?

The Truth About Lord Stoneville - Sabrina Jeffries

For a few years now,

my dear friend,

Sarah,

has been raving about

Sabrina Jefferies.

So, 

I asked Sarah to recommend a book.

It was high time

I discovered first hand

what the fuss was all about.

This is a historical romance.

A period piece.

A lovely read.

Oliver Sharpe

and his siblings

live a life with no rules,

or morals

and Grand Hetty will take it no longer.

She has given all her grandchildren

an ultimatum.

Marry within a year,

or be disinherited.

Well, 

Oliver will not be told what to do.

So he sets off to the brothel

to hire a woman to pretend to be his 

love.

This will surely shut Grandmother up.

But then he meets

Maria Butterfield.

A young American

who made the journey to England

to find her missing fiancee.

Oliver strikes a deal,

she pretends to be her fiancee

and in return,

he'll help her find her beloved.

But things don't always go as planned.

Thank you Sarah,

for introducing me to a great read.

Dark Places - Gillian Flynn

I am probably one of the few people

who did not like

Gone Girl.

So when I saw

Dark Places

in the bookstore this summer,

I kept on walking.

Then, 

I stopped and picked it up.

Then, 

I read the back over.

And then, 

I bought it!

And I don't regret it!

When Libby Day was 7 years old,

her mother and two sisters were murdered.

She testified against her 15 year old brother,

Ben,

and he was sentenced to jail.

Now, 

25 years later,

Libby is approached by a group called

The Kill Club.

They believe that Ben is innocent

and want her to help prove it.

Unlike many mysteries,

where half way through I

think I know who did it,

here I really wasn't sure.

The story jumps from the day of the murders

to present day.

Flynn gives you glimpses 

into what was going on

on the day of the murder

with everyone in the family,

and allows you to make your own conclusions.

The Giver - Lois Lowry

I am not entirely sure,

how it is possible,

that I have never read

The Giver.

I'm serious.

Isn't this book on like

every middle school reading list?

And yet,

I never read it.

I don't believe I was ever interested

in reading it either.

But then the last couple weeks,

I keep seeing a preview

for the movie.

(Yeah, it's a movie now)

And it looks pretty good.

But since books are always better,

I had to read it.

And I'm glad!

I really enjoyed this. 

I'm even ok with the

what-happened-to-them

ending.

And now, 

I look forward to the movie.

Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop - Patrick Allen

A lot of what I've been reading recently

is about reading.

I've noticed the last few books 

I've read

talk about getting students to choose

their own reading materials. 

In Zambia,

I met a teacher 

that did not have reading groups

but instead conferred with her students.

Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop

follows this premise.

Allen shares his experiences

as he improved his ability to conference

one-on-one with his students.

He spends some time explaining his purpose

or philosophy for conferring. 

He provides examples and strategies. 

What I really loved,

was how he related a lot of his thinking

to developing students' metacognition. 

The strategies and routines he sets up

help students become better

readers, writers and thinkers.

Now, 

the challenge lies,

in getting schools and teachers to see the benefit

in conferences over the 

group sessions where students

are not reading for themselves.

Kiss of Midnight - Lara Adrian

I've had this book

on my TBR list

for quite sometime.

But I never got around to reading it,

until now.

And once again,

I'm wondering why I waited.

So, the storyline here,

is eerily similar

to my beloved

Black Dagger Brotherhood series,

and for the most part,

I'm ok with that.

There are others out there

who call it a blatant rip off.

Lucan is a vampire.

A Breed vampire.

A Gen One vampire.

He is the leader and his quest is to destroy their enemies,

namely the Rogue vampires. 

Gabrielle is a photographer.

She's never felt like she belonged anywhere.

One night,

Gabrielle witnesses a grueling murder

and her life spins out of control.

She's introduced to the world of vampires

and meets Lucan.

Just like the Brotherhood,

the Breed protect one another.

They fight the evil us mere humans

cannot see.

And when they bond,

they are mated for life.

Despite the similarities,

this is one series I shall continue with.

And I won't wait as long to read the next one.

The Enchantress Returns - Chris Colfer

Last month,

I read and fell in love with 

The Wishing Spell.

Chris Colfer

did an amazing job

of bringing fairy tales to life.

So,

of course,

I had to get the second book in

The Land of Stories.

In The Enchantress Returns

the evil enchantress,

the one that cursed Sleeping Beauty

is back.

And she wants revenge!

Part of her plan

is to kidnap the granddaughter

of the Fairy Godmother. 

However,

she ends up kidnapping Charlotte,

Connor and Alex's mother instead. 

Now the twins must find their way back

into the Land of Stories

and find a way to save their mother.

Colfer brings up our favourite characters

from the first book.

Red Riding Hood is still as shallow as ever!

But he also introduces us to new ones,

and gives them their own stories.

Have you ever wondered why Cinderella's

stepmother was so mean?

Maybe she was just misunderstood?

Wonder why the name Beauty

is used twice?

I mean,

there's Beauty

from Beauty and the Beast

and then there's 

Sleeping Beauty.

Hmmmm.....

could they be related?

Once again,

I was transported into a land of stories

and loved Connor and Alex's adventures. 

The App Generation - Howard Gardner & Katie Davis

I really enjoyed this book.

It wasn't filled with any 

ah-ha moments

and really wasn't anything new.

And to be honest,

there were times it got quite dry.

However, 

the idea and thoughts behind

this made me think

about how I treat 

Facebook and other apps.

Gardner and Davis look at how 

the digital era affects teens

in three areas;

identity, intimacy and imgaination.

They do not say apps are bad,

but show how we've changed with apps,

how today's generation 

is different through apps.

A great example is the idea of 

getting lost.

I remember being lost.

Trying to figure out where I was.

But today,

my iPhone guides me.

Last year,

I had a unit on migration.

With my Grade 2 students,

we discussed what was important to take with us

when we moved.

Photographs were not something

my students thought of,

since they were all on their phones.

But I digress.

The App Generation 

is a good read.

There's no new ideas

but it does make you

think about how our lives have changed.