The Thought Spot

Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones is a story with a bit of dystopia, mystery and sci-fi wrapped into one! Fun characters and snappy dialogue make Illusive an entertaining read. Powers received from a vaccination changed a small percentage of the population. These changed people are choosing to help the government or help themselves by becoming criminals. I like how the author reveals Ciere’s past; a little at a time. The suspense builds up continually and the unpredictability kept me on my toes. I am looking forward to Deceptive, the second book in this series!

The UVU Veteran Success Center along with UVU’s Art & Design Department helped bring the World War I front alive again with their commemorative book, The Western Front, 100 Years Later.

I have read this book as part of my 2016 Reading Challenge – a book that your child recommends to you.  My daughter works at UVU and attended the Veteran Success Center event and received The Western Front, 100 Years Later.

This beautiful book is made in remembrance of World War I Veterans and it gives the reader an education on the war and its battles.  I did not know much about WWI, but by reading The Western Front, I learned that 450 French soldiers fought off 10,000 German soldiers for six days and the small resistance never broke!  I am touched by several stories included in this book.  The French school children learning American History and honoring American soldiers; the story of the amazing pigeon soldier of 1918, Cher Ami; and the story behind the poem, In Flanders Fields.  

I am also very impressed with all that Utah Valley University strives to celebrate!

Reborn by C.C. Hunter is a spin-off series of the Shadow Falls books. The fun characters from the Shadow Falls series are back in the new After Dark books, plus a few new characters have been added. Della is still spunky, but she is trying to tone it down and be kinder to others. The book begins when Della becomes heartbroken after visiting her family. They send Della back to Shadow Falls after her father thinks he catches her sneaking a bottle out of his liquor cabinet. She was actually looking for photos of his family that he has hidden in the cabinet. C.C. Hunter placed a mystery within this supernatural story, just as she has in her other books and it adds another level of interest. I would have given this book five stars, but it makes me sad to see typographical errors in published books. There aren’t a lot of errors, but enough to knock the rating down.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini as an audiobook? Wonderful! Gerard Doyle narrates dramatically and manages to produce unique voices for each character. The beginning of the Inheritance Cycle series brings true fantasy to life and deserves another shot at becoming a movie. In a time ripe with Harry Potter, the Eragon movie promotions boasted that Eragon has a sword and Harry has a wand. This put a damper on the whole movie for me because Eragon is not an arrogant character and I happen to like both the Inheritance books and the Harry Potter books. Maybe someday Christopher Paolini can have another go at the film industry and complete the entire Inheritance series! I highly recommend this audiobook and I hope the rest of the series is read by Gerard Doyle also, so I can enjoy it just as much as I did the reading of Eragon.

Death Coming Up the Hill by Chris Crowe took my breath away! So much history packed into a 197 page book! The history flowed through the story seamlessly and cohesively. The Haiku format brought interest and simplicity to the layout.  I highly recommend this book to all historical fiction readers.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the arc of The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle! Cara and her family (her mother, ex-step brother Sam and her sister Alice) suffer annually from an extreme bout of accident proneness. While looking through her entire photo collection, she sees Elsie in each of the pictures. Elsie is a mysterious and quiet girl Cara has known throughout her lifetime. Cara’s best friend Bea has a knack for tarot cards and other supernatural talents. The story has a British feel – smoking outside of the school, tea, Irish class – which gives it more interest to American readers.

Spoiler Alert: After reading other reviews on The Accident Season, I feel the need to point out that the main focus of the story is not on Cara and Sam’s relationship or even on the awful stepfather, but on the entire strangeness of events happening, now and in the past, to Cara’s family members, seperately and as a group. The mom explains Elsie towards the end of the story, even though she doesn’t want to believe it herself.

The Thief of Lies by Brenda Drake is a magnificent read. Thank you Entangled Publishing for the copy of The Thief of Lies! First of all, I love the cover and the story concept. Another plus, the young woman on the cover actually matches the description of Gia that Brenda Drake describes in the book! Sometimes that is a rare thing. The matter of fact descriptions throughout the story are entertaining and informative and help with the world building. On page 146, the description of Veronique’s dress made me laugh out loud. Gia has an enjoyable love interest, but she frustrates me when she jumps to conclusions about Arik instead of thinking of how he feels, but I suppose that is human nature. Gia has found out how complicated her life, past and present, is and how much more complicated it is going to become as she deals with mysterious and vivid dreams and the truth unfolds. There’s a lot going on in this book, but it’s all cohesive and flowing. Every time I think I have grasped all of the details, something else slams into me, such as Gia’s betrothed. This 378 page book packs a big punch!

I would be happy if the Library Jumpers series contained eight books, one book per year of Gia’s Sentinel duty or even six books total and have a book for each Chiavi (key) that needs to be found. Oh the amazing and wonderful possibilities!

Thanks to NetGalley and HMH for Young Readers for the arc of Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor! This is a marvelous book about Hope and time-travel. Hope loses her mother during an earthquake and then many years later, Hope travels to Scotland to visit relatives and to hopefully learn more about her mother. Once Hope is in Scotland, the adventures begin. The mystery surrounding Hope and the smoothly flowing writing make Into the Dim a treat to read. Once I began reading this book, I had a very difficult time pulling myself away from this magical time-traveling story with its dynamic characters and wonderful writing. Several times, the descriptions felt so real that I actually caught myself holding my breath – especially through the claustrophobic parts. The book held surprises and suspense; I love it and want to read the sequel now!

I have debated my rating of Truthwitch by Susan Dennard for a few days now. I give it 3.5 stars. Reading Truthwitch is like learning a new language for the first few chapters. There are several different types of “witches”, each with a unique power, but I feel that more explanation is needed for these powers and the world of the book. I am also saddened by the errors. For example, shears and sheers are used on the same page to describe the same pair of scissors and on page 222, putting is spelled “puting”. Too many similar words occur throughout the story with not much explanation of their meanings. The one that bothered me the most is on page 401, when Cahr Awen is mentioned (I think this is a cool concept of power) and Carawen (which is some vow). Now that I am done complaining, I will talk about what I did like. I thought the chapter when Merik and Safi danced was just plain fun and the suspense kept me interested in reading to the end. The intense ending brought cliffhangers to all of the characters and I am interested to learn more about Iseult and Aeduan! Hopefully the sequel will bring these characters and their world more to life!