THE DEADLY SISTER by Eliot Schefer

Abby Goodwin discovers the body of Jefferson Andrews in a ravine with his head bashed in along with her sister Maya's cell phone.  Maya is off somewhere in a drug induced stupor.  Maya's stuff is no Andrews car.  Its all circumstantial but it sure looks like Maya is the killer.  Abby secrets Maya off to grandma to hide from the police with the help of her sort of best friend.  Abby seems to be sort of trying to find out who really murdered Andrews but only sort of.  She talks with his weird younger brother. She goes to Medusa's Den which is a combination tattoo parlor and hub of drug trafficking.
Not only was Jefferson Andrews star of the school football team he was a dealer and was dating several popular and unpopular girls at the same time.  There are small inconsistencies and the ineffective way she looks for the killer and the fact that Abby first hides her sister then lures her out in the open that says something is not quite right.  Its very slight.  Eventually we find out that Abby is a very unreliable narrator and perhaps worse.  I felt more confused than intrigued.  For a mystery, it just never gets too compelling, just sort of ho hum.  There are definitely better mysteries out there.
That's just my say though.  Joyce 10/12/12

Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

James Patterson is adding to his young adult repertoire with a new series about a teen detective. I was excited about this series because I enjoy an adult series that he also writes with Maxine Paetro, although I was somewhat disappointed in this novel.

Tandy Angel is a unique person who is often times described as robotic given her lack of emotions and extreme smarts. Her parents have just been murdered in their locked penthouse, which makes everyone in the apartment a suspect, including Tandy, her two brothers, and her mother's assistant. She decides that it is up to her to determine who killed her parents, even if the truth is that she's responsible. As her investigation gets underway - she's not shy about accusing anyone - she begins to learn shocking truths about her parents and what they had planned for their children.

To say this family is strange would be an understatement. When I first started the novel I thought that Tandy has Asperger Sydrome, but soon it became clear that her behavior was a product of her parents' creating. A number of discoveries uncover a deep plot around her parents that is both intriguing and disturbing. This book is clearly the start of a series as there are a lot of questions left unanswered. In some ways that's good, but in other ways it's very frustrating. Tandy - the narrator - leaves a lot of holes in her past, some of them eventually being revealed, but there were a lot of situations where it became "that's a story for another time" and it became annoying. The narrator directly communicates with the reader and at times felt awkward and ultimately left me on the fence about this novel.

The story itself is a good story, especially because you don't have any clear suspects or even clues, so it can be anyone and that keeps you guessing. However, I'd personally rather keep the guessing to the mystery rather than guessing about the character who constantly reveals stuff about herself but in tiny doses. True, part of that is her character and how even she has holes about her past, but sometimes you just want answers. There is definitely enough questions to warrant someone picking up the next book to hopefully get closure.
MMK

The Kill Order - James Dashner

Before the maze and before WICKED there was the flares.  The sun has scorched the earth leaving people either dead or infected with madness.  Those who are infected will eventually die.  Some have survived the madness, but one day the bergs come.  The people on the bergs shoot darts with a virus that will kill the remaining people.  Many people die with in a day or two of being shot by the darts.  Mark, Alec, Trina, Lana, and a few other people make it out of their village alive.  Mark and Alec take down a berg, and via a pad they find out where the bergs are coming from.  They decide to make their way to the berg home base.  They come across another village where in the middle of all the corpses is a little girl, who appears to be immune to the virus.  As they make camp in the forest, Mark and Alec scout ahead and come into contact with a group of survivors from the little girl's village.  They are captured when their fate is about to be decided more darts fly through the air killing most of group.  There is also a forest fire, which forces Trina, Lana, and the little girl to flee.  Mark and Alec track them to the berg command center, fearing that they have been captured.  They get trapped on a berg where they discover what the Post-Flares Coalition has in store for the rest of the human population. 

I'm glad James Dashner did a prequel to the Maze Runner series.  There were a few questions going through my head when I was reading Maze Runner and the other two books.  The Kill Order gives you insight into what the world was like before WICKED formed, and before Thomas when into the maze.  It also introduces us to the virus that would become the Flare.  If you are a fan of the Maze Runner series this is a must read. 

T.B. 10/9/12

Scorch - Gina Damico

After Zara took Lex's power to damn souls, Lex has spent the summer with her Uncle Mort picking up a few new Junior reapers.  When they come back to Croak the Juniors welcome Lex back, everyone else on the other hand treats her like a pariah. Norwood and Heloise have been turning most of the town against the Juniors, and more specifically against Lex and Mort.  Zara has been damning souls left and right over the last few months, and shows no signs of slowing down.  Lex tries to go about her life normally as much as possible.  She uncovers a mystery about a cabin in the woods beyond the River Styks.  It supposedly holds the Wrong Book, which holds horrors from a grim called Grotton.  Lex has the bone key, but the cabin is hidden behind an invisible barrier.  During a catch the flag type game played by the grim's after Halloween to let off some steam, there is an explosion at the fountain in the square.  Many grims are injured and a few die.  Everyone thinks it was Zara who attacked them, which is partly true.  A few weeks later during Thanksgiving Lex's parents come to visit.  All the Juniors are at Uncle Mort's having dinner, along with Lex's parents. Zara comes attacking once again.  In the battle Lex accidently damns the soul of Corpp, the owner of the local bar, who had come to warn them Zara was on her way.  Diggs undamns the soul and sends it to the afterlife.  When most of the town comes for the Juniors, Uncle Mort and the rest of them go on the run.  They scythe to the desert outside of DeMyse, another Grimsphere like Croak.  The leader of DeMyse, LeRoy, is an old friend of Uncle Mort.  They stay there till past the new year, then Zara comes attacking once again.  She is demanding Lex give her the bone key and the Wrong Book.  Uncle Mort decides that it is time to go back to Croak if they are going to have any chance to beat Zara. 

I enjoyed Scorch just as much as Croak.  Both books have really good stories with characters you care about.  The action is fast paced.  Once you think you know what will happen next, the author throws a curve ball and takes the plot in another direction.  I eagerly await book 3 whenever it comes out. 

T.B. 10/2/12

La Probabilidad Estadistica del Amor a Primera Vista - Jennifer E. Smith

Haley Sullivan, una chica de dicisiete años, esta esperando el siguiente avion para Londres, ya que a perdido su vuelo original. No esta de acuerdo de hacer este viaje pero su mama lo a casi decidido por ella. Haley a pasado por un periodo de estres ya que su padres se han divorciado y ahora ella esta haciendo este viaje para ir a la boda de su padre con su futura esposa, Charlotte. Haley se imagina lo peor de Charlotte, no la conose, ya que como pudo haber aceptado matrimonio de un tipo casado y con hija. Su padre fue a vivir a Londres por trabajo, es professor universitario, de un dia para otro, Haley se entera de su futuro matrimonio.
Durante su espera en el aeropuerto Haley conose a un chico, Oliver, este se le hacerca porque observo que Haley necesitaba ayuda. Despues de varios eventos estos deciden comer algo juntos, cuando es tiempo de abordar se dan cueta que estan asignados a sentarse en la misma fila ella en el 18A y el en el 18C. Al final se sientan juntos, durante el viaje se conosen mas, Oliver es originalmente de Londres y le cuenta todo sobre la cuidad, igual sobre su vida.
Cuando llegan a Londres Haley a quedado impactada por este chico, y ahora no puede creer que no lo volvera a ver.
Haley ahora no puede creer que ira un evento con el que no esta de acuerdo y no vera mas a este ser humano que la dejado flechada. Durande su estacia en Londres Haley se llega a dar cuenta que Charlotte no es la mujer por la que ella pensaba, y se muesta madura en reconoser que ahora de esta madera su padre es feliz y igual su madre con su nueva vida y amor actual. Pero no puede creer que no volvera a ver a Oliver.
Pero cosas del destino ocurre una serie de eventos y vulve a tropesarse con Oliver se da cuenta que es este a quien le debe todo su nuevo ver a la vida y no puede creer que todo esto haiga ocurrido en menos de veinticuatro horas!

En lo personal este libro me encanto y nos habre los hojos a nuevas posibilidades y nunca hablar antes de conoser a las personas. Y que el destino puede ser caprichoso y puede abrir muchas puertas a nuevos retos en esta vida.

LD/RPA 9/11/2012

The Rifle - Gary Paulsen

This book as the title says it is about a weapon, a rifle. Paulsen introduce us to Cornus McManus a gunsmith in the 1760's, very humble, very dedicated and in love with his fiancee. We learn about Cornus's life and what made him create such a tremendous gun. As the book moves along we follow the rifle's life trayectory. This book is a very short novel maybe around one-hundred pages but Paulsen did a wonderful job describing the weapon, describing the gunsmisth feeling towards the weapon. He goes into detail why the weapon is so unique, gives exact description about the accuracy of the gun.
Unfortunately Cornus had to sell his beloved  rifle in order to afford getting married. John Byam is the next owner and carries the weapon into battle with the redcoats. Then the gun is passed down to generations being lost in an attic for years then rediscovered and sold in an antique store. All in all Harv, a mechanic, is the actual onwer of the rifle. Is Christmas eve 1994, and Harv has placed the rifle in fire place mantel. He is poking the fireplace and a spark ignites the rifle making it go off. The bullet goes out the window and hits the neighbor, Richard, who is fixing a light on the Christmas tree.
Personally I really like the book, to me was all about timing of life. How events occur because life, karma or whatever the individual believes in, has already been  placed there for a certain cause.
RPA

The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

The Book of Tomorrow is an adult novel with young adult appeal given the teenage narrator. While the book starts out slow, eventually a mystery develops and sucks you in.

Tamara's life is turned upside down when her father commits suicide. Now she and her mother have lost everything and have to leave Dublin and head to the country to live with her odd aunt and uncle. Tamara is bored and sulky but eventually meets a traveling library where she discovers an odd locked book. When she finally opens it, she discovers that it's a blank diary. Deciding to finally write in it, she opens the book again and sees that she has already written in it - which is impossible. This diary seems to tell her what is going to happen tomorrow. When what is written actually comes true, Tamara uses it to her advantage to try and change the things she doesn't want to happen. In the meantime, her mother is withering away under a depression that Tamara doesn't feel is right and is desperate to help despite the opposition from her aunt. And her intrigue in some castle ruins leads to a mystery that will blow her mind even more so than a diary that can tell the future.

I struggled to get into this novel because at first it didn't read like a story in the sense that Tamara was telling me everything I needed to know before the story really felt like it started. Once things got going, though, and you were living in the moment with the narrator, things got more interesting. Slowly the mystery started to develop and suspicions began that became really interesting. Even without the diary predicting the future, it's a good story as Tamara's curiosity leads her to discover new things about the people and the world around her. It was nice to see her character change and develop into a better person because she was somewhat of a brat at the beginning. She's not perfect come the end, but definitely more likable.

This book is worth sticking out the slow beginning. I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would.
MMK

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

Adult author Jodi Picoult enters the world of Young Adult literature with a novel that she wrote with her daughter. It is completely different than what the author has written before but is just as enjoyable.
 
This novel starts in the fairy tale world of a book called Between the Lines, about a young prince who goes on a journey to rescue a princess. In the next chapter, however, you learn that the world inside the fairy tale is real and all of the characters are actors forced to repeat the story every time the book opens. The Prince, Oliver, is desperate to escape the world he feels trapped inside. On the outside world is the reader Delilah, who has fallen in love with a book because she feels connected to Oliver. One day she notices something different in the illustration and suddenly Oliver is communicating with Delilah. Together they try to come up with a plan to help Oliver escape from the book so that they can be together. Will it work? Or will Oliver be forced to live his life on repeat.
 
This is a unique and clever story that was enjoyable to read. It was nicely paced with a steady roller coaster of hope and then let down as the pair came up with plan after plan. I liked the illustrations throughout the story and how it intermingled the fairy tale with the current story of Oliver and Delilah. It was also nice to have different chapters from the two different points of view. My only complaint is that I'm a little confused on how it all works out in the end. I wish it was explained a little bit more and that we got to see more clearly how all of the pieces fit together. Otherwise it was a really enjoyable book.
 
I've been a fan of Jodi Picoult for a long time and this book was a nice change. Although it does not sound like her other books, that gives it an authentic feel that she really did write this with her daughter. It was a great story and well worth the read, especially if you ever considered what happens to the characters of your favorite book when you read the last page.
MMK