Colin Fischer
By Ashley Edward Miller and Zach Stentz
****
"Solving crime, one facial expression at a time."
Colin Fischer is a young man entering his freshman year of high school. Colin has Asperger's syndrome, which is a high functioning form of autism. He is a brilliant student, excelling in many subjects, but he needs a chart to recognize facial expressions. He's very interested in how things work and why people do the things they do - he even keeps a journal of all his findings, with the plan to further investigate everything. Sherlock Holmes is a hero to him and he finds peace jumping on a trampoline.
Because Colin is so different, he tends to get bullied. In fact, he gets swirlied by his most constant bully, Wayne, on the first day of school. But then something happens early in the school year that Wayne is blamed for, but Colin knows for a fact that Wayne didn't do it. He just has to figure out who did it: to investigate the crime like Sherlock would.
This was a fantastic book. Despite some of the events that take place, the book maintains a light tone. It's a fun who-dun-it that touches on important subject matter, and also teaches the reader, without getting to dark or preachy. I really enjoyed reading this and highly recommend it to teen AND adult readers, cuz it's awesome!
In this week's episode, Meg and I discuss books where librarians are major characters and libraries are main settings. I doubt you'd be surprised to learn that we kinda love any book that shows library love. Meg discusses one of Charlaine Harris's other series, the Aurora Teagarden series, about a librarian whose true crimes book club finds themselves in the middle of a true crime. I discuss Librynth, a fantasy story of a girl trying to save her world's library (and thus knowledge) from the Eradicants.
Join us next time as we discuss technology-themed books!
“So why did I think about her every second? Why was I so much happier the minute I saw her? I felt like maybe I knew the answer, but how could I be sure? I didn't know, and I didn't have any way to find out.
Guys don't talk about stuff like that. We just lie under the pile of bricks.”
Beautiful Creatures is lovely gothic romance, the kind that keeps you wondering what is going on with beautifully eerie elements, a historic mystery, and a heavy dose of magic. The story follows Ethan Wate, a teenage boy from a small southern town called Gatlin. It's the kind of place you never leave and anything new is suspicious. Ethan has wanted to get out for years, and now that his mom has died and his dad has been lost to grief, he's more ready to leave Gatlin than ever.
Then Lena Duchannes came to town.
Lena has come to live with family, a family that is not welcome in town due to their strange ways, and Lena isn't welcomed, either. Strange things begin to happen around Lena, and the Mean Girls go on the attack. Ethan, though, is mesmerized by Lena, and doesn't care what the small-minded bullies say. As they grow closer together, solving the mystery of Lena's family and her 16th birthday becomes increasingly urgent, because that's the day that everything will change.
Beautiful Creatures is a book you'll want to burrow into. The story is intriguing and I had to fight the urge to flip to the end to see what happens (or read the description of the next book in the series). It was unique in that it was a romance written from the male point of view - the story was Ethan's and you read it through his eyes. This is the first book in a series of at least four (#4 came out within the last few months) and will be coming to a theater near you this February. I can't wait to see how this Southern Gothic looks on the big screen. I hope it does this lovely book justice. The book is always better, but it's a crime when the movie utterly fails the book. (But Emma Thompson is in this movie, and that woman can do no wrong, so I'm not worried.)
In honor of one of our favorite holidays (and our favorite food: pie), Meg and I have compiled a list of the books we're thankful for. They are many and varied. Once you've checked out our video, see the blog post below for all of the books I talked about and see Meg's blog for her favorites!
First, I'm thankful for Michelle Sagara's Chronicles of Elantraseries. She is my second favorite fantasy author and this is my second favorite fantasy series EVER. She's created a fully realized world and a heroine that you want to stand up and cheer for! Though it's an adult book, it's a great teen crossover read, too. She's also written a very cool YA book, the first in a new series, called Silence.
Which leads me to my #1 all time favorite fantasy author and series of all time: J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Tolkien is the master of his craft and, in my opinion, the father of all fantasy. He is magic, and I can't wait to see the new Hobbit movies. Thus, I'm also thankful for Peter Jackson.
I'm thankful for adult author Sarah Addison Allen for her beautifully written magical realism books.
I'm extremely thankful to any author who DOESN'T kill the loveable dog, horse, owl, or other sweet beastie just for something silly like plot progression or character growth. I'm looking at you J.K.
I'm thankful for Ally Carter and her super-fun Gallagher Girls novels. The series is about a secret school for girls who learn to be spies. To find out what I really think, check out my review of book 4: Only the Good Spy Young.
I'm thankful for Sarah Rees Brennan and GinaDamico for ruining my life with their amazing books. These books are full of humor, snark, and heartbreak. They are mustache-twirling authors who like to cause their reader's pain - and I loved every second of it! These books hurt so good!
I'm incredibly thankful for Jasper Fforde and his amazeballs Thursday Next series and for entering the YA genre with The Last Dragonslayer. I finished that book in two days and it was SPECTACULAR! No one writes like Mr. Fforde! His books are incredibly clever, witty, magical, and fantastical! I heart every well-chosen word!
Finally, I'm thankful for Gail Carriger - she's one of my all-time favorite authors, a Master of Steampunk and creator of the amazing adult series The Parasol Protectorate. I'm beyond excited that she's starting the new Finishing School series for YA and that Etiquette and Espionage, the first book in the series, comes out this February! I need it in my hands NOW!
Hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving and may you eat your weight in pumpkin pie!
Kami is a teenager living in a small English village called Sorry-in-the-Vale (the English really know how to name their villages...just sayin'). The village is a little quirky, as most small towns are, but Kami is sure it has any number of secrets, and as an enterprising young journalist she's determined to sniff them all out. Kami knows about secrets: she's had a special friend since she was a baby, one who is only a voice in Kami's head. When she was little, everyone thought he was just her imaginary friend. As she got older, she learned to keep his continued existence to herself. But she was closer to the voice than anyone else in the world, and she wouldn't give him up for all the psychologists in the world.
When the Lynburns come back to the village, the secrets begin to come to light. Kami finds herself in the middle of the greatest secret of all - one from which she may not live to tell.
Unspoken is an AMAZING novel! It starts out full of witty banter and quick dialogue. The characters are fun and lovable. Kami's BFF is one of the most gorgeous girls in school who pretty much hates everyone, but loves naps. Along the way, Kami befriends Holly, a girl who's popular with the boys, but not so much with the girls. Jared and Ash are the Lynburn cousins coming home to Sorry-in-the-Vale for the first time. Though they are strikingly similar in looks, Jared is clearly the bad boy to Ash's angel. As the book goes on, it fully embraces the gothic mystery and the tone turns from light and upbeat to dark and mysterious. And in the midst of all this, Kami's mysterious voice turns out to belong to a real boy, and this awakens all kinds of pain and confusion for the two of them.
This book has it all and I loved every moment of it. I turned the last page stricken that it was going to take way too long until the next book was published - I want it in my hands NOW! I can't recommend this book highly enough. Seriously, I just want to hug it and carry it around with me everywhere!
If you'd like a little taste of the book's awesomeness, check out Sarah Rees Brennan's book trailer:
A story where words are not only mightier than the sword, but they are also capable of blowing up a building.
At the onset of puberty, Elianne discovers words like tattoos forming on her arms and legs. Then all hell breaks loose - children are being murdered and found with these same marks in the fief of Nightshade - her home - a rough, lawless, wrong-side-of-the-river place. Seven years after she escaped from Nightshade and found a home in the grand city of Elantra, Elianne, now called Kaylin Neya, finds that history is repeating itself.
This fantasy story, the first in the Chronicles of Elantra series, takes place in a beautifully described world with strange races and many problems. Kaylin is a Hawk, one of the three branches of service in the Halls of Law, in which she is part of the police force for the city. She is sent back into the heart of Nightshade to investigate the resurgence of these murders with former friend and current enemy, Severn. With the help of a Dragon lord and the Lord of Nightshade (a Barrani, an immortal, elf-like race, who are as arrogant and cold as they are beautiful), Kaylin must learn about the ancient language that makes up the marks on her body and the powers they give her in order to fight the evil that's searching for her.
While much of this story is made up of the fantastic, at its heart is the trauma of Kaylin's youth and how she struggles to overcome it. She is forced to face the past before she can move on to the present concerns. This story envelops the reader in its fantasy world, but what I found most compelling is Sagara's depiction of words and names and the power they can hold. In this place that power is tangible; it can both save a life and bring down walls (both figuratively and literally).
This book is generally considered an adult title, but it has excellent YA cross-over potential. Kaylin is probably about 20 in this story. Her abilities and training make her more capable than her age would suggest, yet her past and attitude tend to make her act younger than her age. This book would be accessible and appropriate for teens who have a love for fantasy. I highly recommend it!
“Pet the cat dude," says Sam. "She brought you a present. She wants you to tell her how badass she is."
"You are a tiny tiny killing machine." Daneca coos.
"What's she doing?" I ask.
"Purring!" says Daneca. She sounds delighted. "Good kitty. Who's an amazing killing machine? That's right. You are! You are a brutal brutal tiny lion! Yes, you are.”
In Cassel's world, some people can do magic and some people can't, but everyone knows it exists. But the majority of the non-magic users fear people who do magic, so magic is outlawed. Therefore, the magic users tend to band together in organized magic groups, and since magic is outlawed, these groups participate in organized crime. In other words, a magic mafia.
That's right - a magic mafia!
So Cassel's family are all magic practitioners and are connected to a major crime family. Cassel, though, (if I may steal a term from Harry Potter) is a squib - the only non-magic person in a magic family of con artists. His mother is in prison, his brother is interning at a law firm trying to get her out, and his other brother is an enforcer for the mafia don's heir apparent. Cassel's grandfather does the dirtiest work of all - his touch can bring death.
In this world, all magic is used through the power of touch; everyone wears gloves to keep from getting "cursed." But for every magic touch the magic wielder uses, he or she get's a whiplash-type effect. So if you are a memory worker, you lose your own memories. If you can kill someone with a touch, a part of your body dies (Cassel's grandfather is missing many fingers). So magic wielding isn't all fun and games, but Cassel still feels like the black sheep in the family because he doesn't have a gift.
To make matters worse, he killed his best friend.
The story follows Cassel as he tries to make a normal life for himself, but is finding that hard to do with his last memory of his best friend, his confusion about why he killed her, and other major family issues. And considering the fact that his best friend is the Don's only child and Cassel's family is keeping the secret that Cassel killed her, the issues are vast and troublesome. The story has a lot of twists and turns, but it is an engaging urban fantasy mystery. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes an edgier read with a supernatural twist!
I first mentioned this book in our Meg-A-Rae Very Special Magical Episode. Check it out!
In this episode of Meg-A-Rae, Meg and I discuss October and all things Spooktacular! This is the second episode in our Spooktastic October Series - all month long we'll be talking about ghosts, the paranormal, magic, and anything we consider scary!
Here we talk about Mysteries and live one of our own! What's that maid doing to my tea?!? Meg talks about our Mega-Awesome Mystery Dinner that will be happening this weekend! Woohoo! Then we talk about mysteries: I review Storm Front (Dresden Files #1), by Jim Butcher, an adult mystery series about private detective and magic wielder Harry Dresden as he tries to solve a missing person's case and a mysterious murder. I then review A Spy in the House (The Agency #1), by Y.S. Lee, about a girl who becomes a spy in 1800s England. Meg reviews Real Murders (Aurora Teagarden #1), by Charlaine Harris. Harris is the author of the Sookie Stackhouse series (aka True Blood), but this series doesn't have any vampires or werewolves, but there are librarians and plenty of MURDER!!!
Annnnnnd thennnn - shenanigans.
Don't worry, guys, I'm ok! For proof, you'll see me hale and hearty in our next episode: A Very Special Magical Episode! (Spoiler Alert: Meg is MAGICAL!!!)
"Mary!" She spun about. "What is it?" "Stay out of wardrobes!"
This book opens with Mary Lang on trial for theft. It's the mid-1800's England, and despite her young age and fairly minor crime, Mary is sentenced to hang. Instead of meeting that fate, though, she is rescued by a woman who runs a school for girls. This school provides an education for girls who wouldn't receive it otherwise, girls with no money and no hopes for a good future. They teach the girls skills that they'll need to provide for themselves in a world that treats women like property. Mary accepts this woman's offer to attend the school, and we jump several years into the future where she's now 17, has changed her last name to Quinn, and teaches at the school. However, she doesn't feel fulfilled by this role, she wants more, and the woman who saved her has a new offer. And this is where our story really begins.
Mary becomes a spy for The Agency, a sort of private-detective, under-cover operation run by women and employing women. Mary is hired as a lady's companion in the house of a suspected smuggler. She is supposed to keep an eye on things and make herself available to the real agent who has already been installed in the household, but of course, Mary can't keep from investigating. In the process, she meets a young man who's also investigating the family, and they decide to work together.
A Spy in the House is a great title for anyone who is looking for a historical mystery. I recently had a teen ask me that very question - this title would have been a perfect fit. However, we didn't have it in our collection at the time; I borrowed this from my local library system to test it out and see if my library should get it. And we did! We now have all three books in the series in our collection!
I really enjoyed this book; it was a great palate cleanser for the heart-break of The Hunger Games, and I sped through it. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series: The Body at the Tower.
Team Human
By Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan
****
“Also, vampires don't eat food. You never get to eat chocolate again. Ever. I'd rather die.”
Mel lives in New Whitby, a town founded by vampires. But Mel isn't a vampire, doesn't know any vampires, and has no desire to change either. And then a vampire comes to her school, dressed in a ridiculous astronaut-type suit to keep off the sun, and her BFF promptly falls in love with him. And once Cathy makes up her mind about something, she's not going to change it...not that Mel won't fight tooth and nail to break them up.
Mel is a great character - she loves her friends and will do anything for them. She believes she's the caretaker of their little group and is determined to set all things to rights (not considering that she may, in fact, be in the wrong). She's snarky and strong, and in the end, supports her friends and realizes that she can't make choices for them.
I really enjoyed this book. It's got mystery, snark, relationship issues, and great friendships. I highly recommend it!
"How do you tell the difference between real people and time ripples?" "You mean besides punching them in the stomach?" I blushed, not because I'd hit him, but because I was thinking about his abs.
Before I begin with my review, please take a moment to admire the awesomeness of that cover. She's walking on the wall, very close to landing on the floor. Both beautiful and a bit creepy.
Now to the story. Emerson is a girl getting ready to go back to her old high school for her senior year. She spent the last few years at a boarding school in another state. She also spent some of that time committed to a mental institution. Around the time she was 13, Em started to see dead people. Shortly after that, her parents died. Shortly after that, she yelled at a guy who took her seat in the cafeteria, only to realize that she was the only one who could see him.
Jump forward a few years later and Emerson gets a visit from the Hourglass Institute; her brother hired them to try to help her through these "visions." But instead of getting some quack doctor or crazy shaman, a young man shows up and tells her the visions are real...and they mean she's a time traveler. And he needs her help to right a wrong from the past.
I loved this book. It's a really cool take on the time-traveler genre. Emerson has a snarky sense of humor, which I love, and the writing is fast paced. There's action, mystery, and a romance - a great read for anyone who enjoys the paranormal genre. Also a great choice for anyone who likes a book where the characters have a sort of super power. We also have the sequel, Timepiece, and I can't wait to get my hands on it!
It was like a nightmare, but there was no waking up. When the night began, Nora had two best friends and an embarrassingly storybook one true love. When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands and an echoing scream that stopped only when the tranquilizers pierced her veins and left her in the merciful dark.
But the next morning, it was all still true: Chris was dead. His girlfriend Adriane, Nora's best friend, was catatonic. And Max, Nora's sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also—according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone—a murderer.
Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora follows the trail of blood, no matter where it leads. It ultimately brings her to the ancient streets of Prague, where she is drawn into a dark web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all driven by a mad desire to possess something that might not even exist. For buried in a centuries-old manuscript is the secret to ultimate knowledge and communion with the divine; it is said that he who controls the Lumen Dei controls the world. Unbeknownst to her, Nora now holds the crucial key to unlocking its secrets. Her night of blood is just one piece in a puzzle that spans continents and centuries. Solving it may be the only way she can save her own life.
From Me:
The Book of Blood and Shadow is like two books in one: first, you have Nora and her friends, their lives, how they deal with school and relationships. Then you have a mad dash through the streets of Prague searching for mysterious clues to an ancient puzzle, which once solved, can give a glimpse into the divine.
Nora's past involves a tragedy that she keeps to herself. Her parents are lost in themselves, leaving Nora as an afterthought. Nora, a bit of a Latin prodigy, was admitted to a prestigious school on the other side of town, disconnected enough from her world that no one knows about her past. There she becomes best friends with Chris and his girlfriend, Adriane. Fast forward to Nora's senior year, where she is interning at the local university where Chris is attending, and they both assist a professor in translating and transcribing 400 year old Latin texts, along with Chris's roommate, Max. They're attempting to break a code that has puzzled the best mathematicians and code breakers for four centuries. Nora finds the key to breaking the code, and the wrong people notice, leading to the death of her best friend. To avenge Chris's murder and clear Max's name, Nora and Adriane head to Prague, where the Latin texts were originally written. There, they stumble through clues that lead to an unexpected ending.
The first half of the book feels like a typical real-life-issues young adult novel. The characters struggle through evolving relationships, family issues, and the question of their future. You get to know them and connect to them, the whole time knowing that one of them will shortly die while another is blamed for that murder. The first page opens with these bombshells, quickly followed by a flash-back that leads up to this big moment. After that, we get to the mystery in Prague, where Nora and Adriane search for Max and hide from more than one secret society that wants to hinder or hurt them.
The mystery and historical portions of the story were fascinating. Wasserman does a great job of describing a scene and really getting you attached to the characters. The only thing I wasn't terribly fond of was the religion angle; at times it felt like Wasserman was getting a bit heavy handed with the atheism, while at other times she provided an interesting focus on historical and current Judaism and the mysticism tied to the ancient relic they were searching for in Prague. Like The Da Vinci Code and The Golden Compass, the religious aspect of the book could potentially turn off readers.
I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who loves a good mystery or treasure hunt. Wasserman included a lot of real historical information about Prague, plus the impossible code they were trying to break is actually real - and still unbroken; this will appeal to historical fiction fans. It was great learning about a part of the world and a part of history that I wasn't familiar with, that of Prague during the Renaissance. The Book of Blood and Shadow is a very cool book and a great read.
The first in a new format of books targeted to tweens and teens, The Veritas Project: Hangman's Curse will keep readers enthralled. Frank Peretti introduces Nate Springfield, his wife Sarah, and their twin children Elijah and Elisha, who are part of the Veritas Project team. This group travels the country aiding the FBI and other organizations in breaking drug rings and solving mysteries. In Hangman's Curse, the family goes undercover at a small town high school - where a mysterious curse has turned several of the star football players into raving lunatics who can only be tied to their hospital beds while doctors are baffled by their symptoms. Elijah and Elisha must befriend the various cliques at school, and help their parents solve the mystery of Abel Frye (a name the sick kids mutter in their delirium).
This story could have come straight from the headlines about many schools around the country and will lead kids and young adults to an understanding of peer pressure and the pain that comes from being different. It is a riveting message on the wounded spirit that teens will never forget.
Savannah's Review:
Hello,
my name is Savannah Harris and I am going to be writing a review for a book
called The Hangman’s Curse by Frank Peretti.In this review I will explain my thoughts
about the book and why.First of all, I
want to clearly state that I fell in love with this book from the moment I
started the first chapter.I started
reading at 1:32 pm and finished it at 6:00 pm that same evening.When I started I blocked out every other
noise and sound in my house and fell into a sort of “trance” that nobody could
break me out of until I had finished.I
also noticed that this book was Christian-based which made me like it even
more.I felt like the author did a good
job with a balance of Christian theme and a mix of mystery, adventure, and
otherworldly beings.I found that I could
relate to the female character Elisha because she is very brave, strong in her
beliefs, and if she thinks that something is wrong she will do her best to make
it right. Overall it was a great book that I highly recommend and I look
forward to reading the rest of the series.
