The Intruders by E.E. Richardson

After the last book that promised to be thrilling and suspenseful let me down (Creatures of the Night), I hesitantly began another spine chilling novel. This one, though, did not let me down. In fact, I couldn't put the book down and was delightfully satisfied with this novel.

Joel, his sister Cassie, and his mother have just moved into a creepy torn-up house with his soon-to-be stepfather and two stepbrothers (Damon and Tim). Joel doesn't mind the transition, he kind of likes the boys. Cassie, on the other hand, fights it with all her might, blaming strange occurrences on Damon when he claims to be innocent. Joel, though, isn't convinced that Damon or Cassie had anything to do with some odd things that happen at the new house. He's having hallucinations involving blood and nightmares about being chased throughout the house. To make matters worse, Tim also has these dreams and when Joel gets trapped in a cupboard after the same thing happened to Tim and feels an icy hand gripping his leg, he begins to think that they're not alone in this new home. Soon the four kids are convinced that ghosts live among them; ghosts that are desperate for something to happen. They then struggle to survive and discover the truth behind the house they moved into.

It's been a while since I've read a truly suspenseful novel and I think that this novel fit the bill. The book had a steady flow of suspense from what Joel will see when he senses a presence to the creepy chanting of a prayer in a moment of fear and the threat when the ghosts make contact. The ultimate climax was fast paced and visually dynamic as the storm rages inside and the pieces fall into place. While the novel doesn't have an "Oh my gosh!" surprise, it does offer a few revelations that make you wonder why you didn't think of that before. My only complaint, if I have to give one, is that I had a hard time picturing the kids in the book. There was a comment in the second chapter where it is implied that Joel's family is black and the step family isn't, but to me the characters were almost faceless. I had no real sense of their age. Did this hurt the novel? Not really but it might have helped a little bit more.

I enjoyed the novel. It was a quick read, steadily paced thrills, and just an overall great read. I wasn't let down in my expectations of suspense.
MMK

Princess of the Midnight Ball By: Jessica Day George

This novel is fantasy at it's peak. It actually is a fairy tale that covers danger, and romance. Princess Rose is the eldest of twelve sisters condemned to dance nightly for the wicked King UnderStone in his Palace deep within the earth.
Rose meets Galen, a young soldier turned gardener with an eye for adventure, and a personality that is much like, Rose's. Galen is attracted to Rose, and their relationship start to grow. Even though Galen is a commoner, he attempt to court Rose by presenting a gorgeous rose to the Princess first of all. Then Galen knows the predicament of Rose, and sisters, and promises to plan a method of liberating Rose, and the sisters. The nightly trips to the underworld to dance with the son's of the King Under Stone. The King matches the Prince's with his sons who are Prince's. Every night close to midnight, Rose, and the sisters arrive for the underground Ball. which they must dance til dawn. It is very tiring, and not enjoyable to the Princess's.
Galen knows magic somewhat, and is able to travel, and follow the Pincess's without being seen. Before you arrive at King UnderStone's Palace you must cross by boat a Lake, and you walk to a gate that is gorgeous, & it is the only way to get to King UnderStone's Palace. The next problem King Gregor and the Princess's had was that the Church claimed that the family was involved in magic . The Bishop of the Church arrive at King Gregor's Palace, and tried to excommunicate all.
It was a schock! for the entire family. It meant no Christian burials, no Church marriages. But this was cleared up finally.

The book goes into details, but you need to read the novel. It was very unusual novel for me, but fascinating at the same time

The Problem with Paradise By:Lesley Dahl

This novel was available as a good summer read in the Y.A. section of the Library. The cover of the novel and the title of the actual novel caught my eye.

The plot of the novel was very informative, and interesting. It had to do with some Islands in the Caribbean Ocean called Eleutra Islands, which is a chain of small Islands. Many people miss out on their beauty, and peaceful environment. Hotels are few, but the beaches are white sand with many shells. To stay a couple of days on these Islands you must rent a bungalow, or a chalet. You must provide your own provisions from the local store. For example food, bedding, and clothes naturally.
In this novel we meet a new Mother, and two brothers, and an older daughter, and of course the Dad is a scientist. Casey is the daughter of the family. Their Dad is trying to save the sea turtles that are constantly stuck in the fisherman's nets. It is a very delicate task, which they are able to complete .
The teen daughter is very happy to find a a young teen who is single called Jonah, on the Island.
Unfortunately, everybody on the small Tortuga Island are going to be hit by a hurricane that is roaring to hit the Island. Fortunately,the chalet had a basement, so the teenage girl, the two brothers had a few supplies that helped them while they took cover in the small basement until
the storm was over. The young brother broke his arm,so his sister made a sling. The sister figures she needs a ride in a boat to the Island, where there is a clinic. Everything works out.
I liked the novel very much, and recommend the read as being exciting, as well as interesting to any teen.
LRD 8/6/09

Mister Monday (Keys to the Kingdom #1) Nix

Nix writes exciting unusual stories whether they are as complex as Sabriel and its companions or Keys to the Kingdom. I suspect that Lemony Snicket readers would enjoy this series. Arthur becomes the rightful heir to the lower realm when Mister Monday is tricked into letting him have the lesser key which is really a minute hand. The lower realm is apparently the lower levels of a very large magical old house. Weirdways (roads of varying sizes, shape, direction) appear and disappear at random. Inhabitants can be hurt but apparently not killed. Their injured parts regenerate eventually. Stairways can appear by imagining them. All is in chaos as Mister Monday is into power, lots of steam baths, decadence, not leadership. Its about time someone put things to rights and Monday's assistant seems to have seen to that. Arthur must obtain the greater key from Monday, combine it with the lesser key and set the intent of the will (which is a small green frog) into action. Monday has unleashed a plague on Arthur's realm in an attempt to get the lesser key back from him. It threatens to kill almost everyone. If Arthur can obtain the greater key, set the kingdom to order he will also be able to stop the plague. There are seven parts of the total will and only one has escaped from its prison. There are seven days of the week. There are seven sometimes wacky, sometimes tense adventures in this series. Read all seven. JDW 8/4/09

Death from the Skies by Phil Plait

If you believe the world will end in 2012, if you believe in Asteroid impacts, Alien attacks or any of 10 or more possible earth ending events, read this book. Plait is a respected astronomer and writer who won't exactly ease all your fears, well maybe a little, but he will explain in easy to understand terms how such events could go down ...and how soon in the future one could occur.
Great reading for anyone with an interest in science. JDW 8/2/09

Marcelo in the Real World by Stork

Marcelo is about to begin the summer before his last year in a special school for kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders. He seems to be high functioning Asperger's Syndrome. Like other books with main characters with autism Marcelo explains his view of things as compared with the real world view for the reader. Marcelo expects to spend his summer helping at the school's stable where he tends horses in the riding therapy program. He has become good enough and independent enough that he has been promised a job when he graduates next year. Marcelo's father however, believes he should be working in the real world and should go to high school in a real public high school in the fall. He and his father work out a bargain. Marcelo successfully completes a summer internship at his father's law office and his father will let him complete high school at his beloved special school and take the stable job. While at the law office, Marcelo gets tangled up in a struggle over right, wrong and morally good actions, which lead him to damage the image of his father's office, when he discovers that information had been withheld from a case. He makes an incredibly tough, just decision which causes him to lose much though not his sense of whats right and changes his future perhaps forever. Wonderful story. Should be enjoyed by folks who enjoyed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. JDW 8/2/09

Before, After, and Somebody in Between by Garsee

Readers of Han Nolan's Born Blue, Mary Pearson's Room on Lorelei Street and Helen Frost's Keesha's Place may like this book. A teen aged girl in very difficult circumstances might survive and thrive in spite of it all. Martha is the daughter of an alcoholic mother who has been in rehab more than once and relapsed each time. She always gets out hooked to some guy who is determined to stay straight with her. The guy may or may not be a good male role model for Martha. Wayne, one such guy mom went to rehab with, relapsed with, went back to after another trip to rehab was somewhat violent, physically abusive and encouraged mom to ditch Martha. He moved Martha and her mom into a two flat with him in a tough neighborhood where white girls were few and far between and drug dealing and violence common. Martha connects with a boy her age who lives upstairs and longs to be a scientist some day. They study together, they take care of his younger somewhat neglected brother together til tragedy strikes one day. Money missing from an older brother's stash was intended for members of his gang. They shoot up the house when the money turns up missing and the younger brother is killed. Martha, is hysterical, she stole some of the money perhaps the shooting and baby's death is her fault. She is taken to the hospital where the abuse is discovered and a tough as nail yet compassionate social worker is assigned to the case. Martha is left home alone by her relapsed mom, is discovered alone by the social worker, put in foster care in a less than ideal setting, ends up in a fairy tale foster home she cannot stay in. Returns home to her mom now with a different man. Mom relapses, returns to the abusive Wayne who kicks Martha out permanently. Friendless and homeless Martha turns to the social worker she had previously fought as her only hope.There is no certain future for Martha here, but perhaps there is hope.

Y: the Last Man by Brian Vaugh

Y: the Last Man is a comic book (graphic novel) series that is definitely for mature audiences and not what you normally think of with comic books. There are no superpowers or superheros and none of the frames are meant to have you rolling in your seats laughing. True there's action, but this one is a little bit more serious than you'd expect when wandering through the comic book section.

The story revolves around a plague that wiped out all of the men and male animals, except for two : Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand. On their journey to make sense of what happens and to reunite with Yorick's girlfriend who is on another continent, he picks up a bodyguard from the Culper Ring known as 355 and Dr. Allison Mann who hopes to clone Yorick and bring back the male population. Along the way they face opposition from two main groups - The Daughters of the Amazon desperate to destroy anything related to man, and the Israelis who want to capture Yorick in order to create war and therefore peace (I didn't really understand their motivation). Through a series of ten graphic novels and four years, Yorick and his group travel the world and run into an interesting set of characters, some friendly and others quite dangerous. The fate of the world rests in their hands and they'll do anything and everything to make sure Yorick stays alive.

As I said, this novel is definitely for mature audience. Not only does it have language issues (the F word is a favorite among the characters) but there are large amounts of violence (I think that a major battle and death happens in just about every novel) but nudity (male and female). The story also has it's complex moments that might be over the heads of certain reader. I still have no clue who/what the Culper Ring is. They might have explained it 50+ times, but it still doesn't make much sense and I'm still a bit fuzzy on the Israeli's motivation. Now I have to admit that I didn't read the first book but there was a nice synopsis in the second book, so I knew the gist of things. Maybe that would explain more and drive home the necessity of reading them all. The first few books had the synopsis but that ended around book four or five. Either way, I made it through the book and really began to feel for all of the character. Each one has its charm and you can't help but feel their desperation, pain, love, and hope.

This graphic novel series is really interesting in how it interprets the world without men. It's definitely eye opening to see the impact that they have on the world but, at the same time, I wonder if the reaction of women is a little askew. I highly doubt it would end up as violent as this novel depicts, but, then again, that wouldn't make a compelling story now would it? Now I'm not a graphic novel person, at all, but this one held my interest. I really don't think that it will appeal to younger audiences but older readers who like graphic novels but want a little bit more meat to the story would find this enthralling.
MMK