I was so excited for this book to come out! I pre-ordered it off of Amazon and it came out October 2...pretty sure I was done it on October 4 (only because I didn't get it until the 3rd). This is the fourth book in the Shadow Falls series that I have recently read, by C.C. Hunter.
In this book, Kylie has just discovered what type of supernatural she really is - a chameleon. Which means that she exhibits traits from all types of supernatural species. She is slowly beginning to understand what it means to be a chameleon, but worries that Lucas will never be able to accept her for who she is, and what she isn't - a werewolf. Derek is as caring a friend as ever and she finds herself leaning on him more often that she should.
If Kylie wasn't already confused enough, she starts getting visits from the ghost of Holiday (the camp director and her closest confidante) - the only problem is, Holiday isn't dead...not yet. Now Kylie must discover what that ghost wants and if there is any way she can save her friend from dieing for real. In all the confusion, Kylie realises that one thing is inevitable - change, and the fact that all things must come to an end...maybe even her time at Shadow Falls.
This book was great! Another fast paced adventure for Kylie and her friends at Shadow Falls. Many things change in this book, and sadly Kylie must say goodbye to some amazing friends as she tries to discover who and what she is. Can't wait for the next book, but sad that I will have to wait until Spring 2013 for it :(
Every now and then I take a look at iBooks and see if I can find a free book that catches my eye. I also check it for books that I find on Amazon that might be much cheaper. Well this month I found two! I read them both last week and they were pretty good for costing me a total of $3 between the two :)
The first book I read is called "Easy" by Tammara Webber. This book is about a girl named Jacqueline who followed her longtime boyfriend Kennedy to the college of his choice. She never saw a breakup coming and after two weeks of hiding in her dorm room she wakes up to realise that she is now single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, stalked by her ex-boyfriend's frat brother, and failing a class for the first time in her life!
She receives Landon's email address from her econ professor (the class that she is now failing) and he begins tutoring her through a series of helpful, but also flirtatious emails. She begins to think that she really would like to meet Landon, but their schedules never match up. Meanwhile, a cute guy, Lucas, that she had not previously noticed in her econ class becomes her own personal saviour one night after a frat party. She becomes equally interested in Lucas, an artist who asks her if he can sketch her one night. She begins to fall for Lucas, but is thrown for a loop when her relationships with Landon and Lucas collide. Now she must figure out who she can trust while trying to avoid her stalker and deal with her feelings toward her ex when he suddenly comes back into the picture.
The second book I read is called, "The Rock Star's Daughter" by Caitlyn Duffy. This book is about 15 year old Taylor Beauforte, the daughter of rock star Chase Atwood, lead singer in the band Pound. She has only met her dad twice in her entire life and only knows about him from what she sees on MTV and in magazines. He pays for her to go to the Treadwell Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts.
Taylor has just come home for the summer, when her hard-partying mom, Dawn dies and Taylor's world is turned upside down. She is now going to be joining her father and his new wife and child on his band's summer U.S. tour. Taylor is still grieving for the loss of her mother, trying to figure out who her dad really is (the supportive authority, or a liar and cheat), dealing with her new step mother Jill, and deciding what it means to be the daughter of a famous rock star. She finds herself in many new situations that the old Taylor would never have let herself get into and longs for her old, simple life of books and her violin. Will she ever fit into her father's world?
"The Lost Hero" is the first book in the "Hero's of Olympus" series written by Rick Riordan, a second series that ties into his first series, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians". In this book, we meet some new characters - Jason, Leo, and Piper. Jason finds himself on a school bus not remembering anything about his life - who he is, where he's from, and what he is doing on that bus. Luckily enough, he meets his friends Leo and Piper who seem to know him and tell him that he has been at the Wilderness School for troubled teens with them for the past few months - oh and that they are on a field trip to the Grand Canyon.
While on their field trip strange things happen. The group is attacked by a wind spirit and is saved when a girl and boy arrive on a chariot being pulled by Pegasus. So strange, but Jason, Leo, and Piper are brought to Camp Half-Blood where they are filled in that they are in fact demi-gods. All of this seems familiar to Jason, like he already knew that about himself, but he can't remember why. Leo and Piper are surprised by this information, but are quickly claimed by their godly parents. Jason discovers that he has already been claimed by his parent at some point in the past, but again can't remember when that was - he does remember that he is a son of Jupiter (or Zeus in Greek terms).
Not long after arriving at Camp Half-Blood, Jason is given a prophecy and must go on a quest. He decides to bring Piper and Leo with him, even though it seems as though they will never make it back alive. Piper and Leo are dealing with secrets of their own - Piper father has been kidnapped by a giant who wants to eat him and Leo has a special power that he doesn't want anyone finding out about.
Will the three heroes make it through the quest to save Hera and stop a giant from rising? Let's hope so! I really enjoyed this book - it is just a fun and exciting as the Percy Jackson series was. Reading this book introduced many new gods, as well as their Roman counterparts. All very interesting and I honestly think that I learn more about Greek mythology from reading these books that I did in the Greek mythology class I took in university, haha! Looking forward to reading the next couple books in this series.
This is it! I set a goal to read 50 books this year and wow - I didn't think that I would achieve it by October! Now I am just going to see how many I can complete by the end of this year...should be interesting to see how many I can read :) Any who, books 49, 50 and 51 are from a new series I started - The Shadow Falls novels by C. C. Hunter.
The first book in the series is called "Born at Midnight" and follows a girl named Kylie Galen who finds herself at the wrong party one night which just happens to change her life forever. He mother (with the advice from her therapist) forces Kylie to go the Shadow Falls Camp - a summer camp for troubled teens. Upon arriving Kylie realises that these teens aren't exactly troubled they way she was thinking. Instead she finds out that her fellow campers are actually vampires, werewolves, fae, witches, and shapeshifters who are there to learn to control their abilities and be able to blend into the human world.
Kylie doesn't believe that she belongs in this camp - she certainly isn't any of those things! All of the campers as well as the camp's director insist that she does belong and that she will figure out who and what exactly she is in time. They only thing that Kylie knows for certain is that she can see a ghost and she doesn't like it. In this book Kylie tries to figure out what she is and what it is her ghostly friend needs from her. She also has to deal with her feelings toward to boys in the camp - Derek, an extremely hot fae and Lucas, a werewolf who Kylie knows from her past. The summer is shaping up to be very interesting indeed!
In book two, "Awake at Dawn", Kylie meets a new ghost who insists that someone she loves will die if Kylie doesn't help her and now she must figure out just who the person is that she is supposed to save. Meanwhile, Kylie is still trying to figure out what she is and it is getting more confusing each day. She is beginning to develop new powers that don't exactly make sense and make it harder to figure out what exactly she is. Kylie is also dealing with her growing feelings toward Derek who is pushing for them to become more than friends and this situation is only complicated more upon the return of Lucas. Who will she pick, what is she, and who is it she loves that is going to die if she doesn't figure it out? This is a little much for one 16 year old girl!
In the third book, "Taken at Dusk", Kylie is getting closer to figuring out what she is, the truth about her real family, and who she is meant to be with. She is visited by yet another ghost with a message for her "someone lives and someone dies". The only problem is that this ghost can't remember anything from her life, which doesn't exactly help Kylie figure out what the message means. Kylie is trying to figure out the ghost's message as quickly as possible and in doing so finally figures out the truth about what she is! The only problem - what she is is nothing she would have even considered. Now she is left to sort out what it means and what exactly she is capable of.
Can't wait until the next book in this series - which I should hopefully be getting in the next week! I really like this series, it always keeps me guessing! Kylie can be a bit dramatic with all of her problems, but the storyline in each book fast paced and is bound to leave the reader wanting more.
After a month hiatus in August from our book club, we are back on for September with a great choice by Bonnie! I had this book on my to read list for awhile so I was really excited when she picked it. The book that we read is called "Little Princes" by Conor Grennan. This is a true story about Conor's journey through Nepal in search of its lost children.
The story starts when Conor decides to quit his job in order to take a year travelling the world. Before he begins his as he calls it "selfish part" of the trip, Conor decides to do some humanitarian work at an orphanage called the "Little Princes Children's Home" in Nepal. It is here that he meets an amazing group of young boys who change his life. He soon realises that these boys are not orphans at all - child traffickers promised their families that their children would be protected from the civil war in Nepal, taken care of and sent to school - all for an a large fee. The traffickers would then abandon the children far from home in Nepal's capitol city, Kathmandu.
Once learning the truth about the children's past, Conor decides to set out on a journey to reunite the children with their parents. Before he goes, he must overcome many obstacles - setting up a foundation that will fund his journey, open a new orphanage for other children who he rescues from a notorious child trafficker, and figuring out a way to make it through the remote parts of Nepal which is just finishing a civil war. Conor is somehow able to overcome all of these obstacles, find many of the children's parents, open his very own orphanage, and somewhere through his journey manage to meet the love of his life.
This story was eye opening. I did not know anything about this situation in Nepal and was shocked at how resilient the orphaned children were. Conor did a truly amazing thing for these kids and continues to do so today. I am proud to say that by purchasing this book, some of the proceeds have gone to the Next Generation Nepal children's home - a great way to spend $13!
In this book, Kylie has just discovered what type of supernatural she really is - a chameleon. Which means that she exhibits traits from all types of supernatural species. She is slowly beginning to understand what it means to be a chameleon, but worries that Lucas will never be able to accept her for who she is, and what she isn't - a werewolf. Derek is as caring a friend as ever and she finds herself leaning on him more often that she should.
