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Write a detailed review on a book of your choice. It must be at least 500 words long and cover as many aspects as you can from the book.

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My special daughter sent from my special dad in heaven
I will love you forever dad...I miss you more than words can say

Dark Embrace: Brenda Joyce

Part one of the Rose Triology

In Dark Embrace, Brie, a computer nerd with intentions on not letting love or romance interfere in her life like her cousins and mother did, suddenly wakes to pain in her chest. Although she has experienced this as child, seeing as she was an Empathy, the pain shocked her as she sees the man she loves, but there is a catch. He was born over five hundred years ago, killed the innocence, and blamed the Gods for his son’s death. Aware of what it means, she finds herself out on the dangerous streets of New York City after hours. Soon as she heads for her boss, Nick, she is trapped by a cult of Witch Burning Teens. Desperate to get away, she sends out a cry of help, to the one she loves, unaware of what she is doing.

Adain, who swore to never save an innocence ever again, replies to the call, leaping threw time. Seeing what is going on, he kills the teens. After what happen, Brie runs, hoping to get away from the wolf she sees, not know it’s Adain. When she thought he was gone, she is surprised to find him in her house, naked. Even though she fantasized about him for a year already, she hasn’t known he has thought about her. But with his plan is foiled, he takes her hostage, back to 1502, a month before his death by hanging for treason towards the king. After what was sixty two years for him, his father returns, with full intentions on killing him and his new lover.

In their dreams, he captures them, making them do things they would never do. Killing each other only to wake to find the marks. As Adain and Brie move further north, they grow closer and closer until his father decides to attack in the middle of daylight, causing her to break her spine. Adain, part demon and god, uses his white powers to safe her, even though he never used them as much after the fate of his son. Forced with a decision, Adain risks his life, his love, and his kingdom to safe his son’s soul. After finding out Adian’s father was controlling people with his demon powers, he decided enough was enough. He spent his last night with Brie, who he swore he didn’t love, but he was lying to stop heart ache end himself and her, which he failed.

After letting himself be captured, Nick somehow, comes back into the past with her cousin Sam, who intends on killing everyone involved until she learns her best friend and sister are both there, who end up going into the past years later or years before. Nick kidnaps her, leaving her heart broken and threaten her, until she agrees Adain is better off dead. But she can’t help the feeling of loneness and escapes Nick, going to the castle which are the ruins of her dead lover from five hundred years ago. The castle she spent her last night with him was ruined, but his grave was not. She cursed the God’s for destroying the only thing the Highland Scottish Warrior ever loved besides her and his son.

But back in 1500’s Scotland, Adian’s body sways in the wind as he welcomes death, hearing Brie and his son’s voices over and over again, haunting him. Finally, after what seems like hours, his neck breaks and his dies slowly. He hears his brother, sister-in-law, best friends, and his wolf clan beg for him to use him powers, but he doesn’t, knowing he will never see Brie again.

But in modern day Scotland, Brie’s heart becomes more broken after she encounters someone who looks familiar. Finding out who he was, she is heart broken, disappointed and scared. Adian’s son was never dead, but alive and well, begging for his father to find his soul and bring it back to earth, but he failed to do so. Brie beginnings to threaten him, demanding he take her back. After a while, he takes her back with anger and hate flowing threw him. Brie realizes she is to late, demanding he go back further. But before he does, Adian’s heart start beating again and he sees his son, demanding whoever is playing the trick to stop. But soon, his son starts to fade away, and he screams out where he is. With the help his Brie and her cousin, Tammy, they bring Adain back.

He goes to his son, bringing his soul back. His father dies with the child’s return. He didn’t think Adain would find him and he died. Brie and Adain go back to his castle in Scotland, refusing to let each other go, spending the night together. The next day, he proposes to her and she remains in the past with Adain and her step son, making sure Nick and Sam doesn’t try to make her come back, even though she knew they wouldn’t.

(yeah not so good...but it took alot of time to get it right. yeah adn the book it like loads better then what i put it.)

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--Riddlers ♥

HAUNTED MANSION ||History of Magic|| Muggle Studies||SPS|| Transfiguration

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

Odd Thomas is the 20 year old hero of the self titled book. His name is not the oddest thing about him. He can see dead people. They don’t speak to him, but they seek his help, and sometimes they seek his companionship. As in the case of Elvis, who’s ghost showed up one day in the small town of Pico Mundo, California. It is here that Odd makes his home, working as a fry cook, saving up to marry the girl of his dreams, Stormy Llewellyn. They both believe they are destined to be together forever, having won a card proclaiming this from a Fortune Telling machine.

The book begins with Odd encountering the ghost of young Penny. He is saddened to realize that she is no longer alive, sadder still when he realizes that her killer is a casual friend of his from school. But Odd doesn’t just see the dead, he does something about it. He helps apprehend Penny’s killer with the help of his close friend, Chief Porter. When you see the dead and catch their killers, it’s good to have a cop on your side. The Chief does what he can to keep Odd’s secret gift from others.

Odd is the narrator of the story, and in him Dean Koontz has found the perfect voice. I have read many of Koontz’s novels, but it is his Odd Thomas books that stand out. The author has the ability to be brilliant (read Intensity if you are looking for a book to keep you on the edge of your seat) coupled with the ability to be mundane (don’t read The Funhouse). Odd is probably my favorite character of all time, ever, of any book I’ve read- and I’m including Mr. Darcy and Harry Potter in this.

Although there are now three sequels, one manga prequel, and webisodes following Odd’s adventures, the first book is what sets up the character that will make you want to follow him anywhere. Odd tells his story as an “unreliable narrator”, mostly at the urging of his unusually large friend, Little Ozzie, owner of Terrible Chester, an unusually long living feline. Through his relationships with Little Ozzie, Chief Porter, Stormy and the owner of the diner where her flips pancakes, Teri, Odd is reflected back. It is clear that they love him dearly.

As Odd struggles to keep his life as simple as possible, he is plagued with prophetic dreams of impending doom coming to Pico Mundo. A moldy looking stranger shows up at the diner, followed by several bodachs. Bodachs are what Odd calls the slithering dark shades that tend to show up in full force anytime there are significant loss of life. For instance, a bodach will forgo a simple murder, but they are all over a ten car pile up. Odd realizes that mold man and his dream of death and destruction are related.

Odd sets out to stop the dream from coming true, but to do so he must first confront his own past. Despite the love he has found with Stormy, the friendship and family ties he has forged with Teri and Little Ozzie, Odd must seek out his troubled parents. In his mother’s dark and twisty mind lays a clue to the unfolding riddle.

Odd Thomas is special young man, struggling to keep his small corner of the world safe for those he loves, and those he feels responsible for. In his quest, he finds both redemption and lost, both joy and heartbreak. I hope you give this book a chance! There is an innocence to Odd, and despite what he goes through, the things he sees, he still carries with him the light of hope. I’m not alone in my Odd love, he even has his own myspace account. XD

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@ Midnight Book Girl

When I'm 80 years old and sitting in my rocking chair, I'll be reading Harry Potter. And my family will say to me, “After all this time?”
And I will say, “Always.”

City of Secrets by Mary Hoffman.

The fourth and newest installment of Mary Hoffman’s Stravaganza Sequence, City of Stars follows the preceding three books in true Stravaganti style which follows the trials and lessons that the book’s current main character, Matt (or Matteo) undertakes when he discovers that he has travelled beyond the realms of sleep to a whole other reality: a parallel universe set more than four hundred years ago in Italy. Or, as it is called in that universe, Talia.

The Stravaganza books all follow the same idea – teenagers from our century in Britain who are unhappy in life, whether because of disability, illness or feeling the outcast, and find their talisman which in turn gives them the taste of a different life which helps them grow and learn and feel happiness and contentment once they have completed a life-changing task set for them by fate.

Matt, from present-day London, finds a book which intrigues him. Though he has severe dyslexia he purchases the book, which turns out to be a ‘magical’ talisman that transports him to its place of origin – Talia. Matt’s task proves elusive, but as the story unfolds the deeper plans and the machinations laid down by the book’s protagonists, we soon see that Matt’s presence in Talia is sorely needed – new anti-magic laws, the rivals of the Stravaganti, the di Chimichi, and their plans threaten to thwart the good intentions of the Stravaganti.

The story follows the arc of several different plots which all twine together in the same end at the final climax of the story. As all the books proved to be, City of Stars was an intriguing tale set in this fictional – and yet not fictional – place where magic is real but called ‘science’ and the people prove that humans are the same, no matter what universe or time you come from.

City of Stars is not focused on a true Italian city as the others were – City of Masks set in our Venice, City of Flowers in Florence – but had the really enchanting elements of the truly antique occupations of printing presses and archaic operation theatres, where people were still getting a better grasp of the functions of the human body.

Of course, despite these fantastically engaging features, the book proved somewhat more haphazard and chopped than the others. It may be that the time elapsed between reading this book and the others has changed the way in which it was received by this reader, but the characters proved too many – all the different observations and points of view were disorientating and too chaotic, and somewhat took away from the overall plot and story.

Having read the previous books numerous times, favourite characters had been established. By using these characters not only as main characters of the storyline, but also using their point of view to help the story along was too much of a distraction and also an empty promise. It seemed as though such a thing could have been avoided, rather than being subjected to the displeasure of seeing that the next page contained the events occurring around someone completely different.

But other than these minor disagreeable points, the book was enjoyable, and well met after such a long period without a new sequel to devour. The old, well loved characters were still in the story, and there were plots from the old books followed up on which were happy things to see. Definitely worth reading if a fan of the works, if not, I suggest starting on City of Masks – it is the first book, and by far the best.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

This book is has a very interesting twist in standard vampire stories, where a human befriends a vampire. Bella the decides its in her best interest for her mom and new step father to move to Forks; a wet damp place where she never expected to be living with her father. Upon entering the Forks High School she meets several students, some were kind and generous well others seemed a bit different.Her father Charlie gave her a new truck which was several years old; it was a welcome gift for moving to Forks. She meets a boy named Edward in class; he seemed a bit off with his black eyes and angered face. Bella thought she did something wrong and decided to stay away from him, unfortunately she couldn’t stop staring at him across the lunch table. It was as if they wandered his way, as his did the same. Edward sat with his siblings, the Cullen’s.

Edward and the Cullen’s liked to disappear for days at a time. When one day Edward returns and something inside of him changed. He became friendly, and it startled Bella. She didn’t quite understand why he was being nice to her after he tried to switch classes and wouldn’t talk to her. Later on Bella heard a story from Jacob a family friend and she learns that Edward and the Cullen’s are Vampires. Edward showed Bella some powers that he had, like running with her on his back. He was also able to control himself and give her a well needed kiss.The Cullen’s welcomed Bella as if she was one of their siblings, and she got invited to a Baseball game. This game was nothing like it sounded, it was Vampire Baseball, and can only be played in a thunderstorm. Alice a Cullen can see things that are going to happen, or are happening; and she sees visitors entering their area. James was one of the new Vampire visitors and he wanted to snack on Bella. Edward protected her, and quickly took her way to safety.

Alice and Jasper took her way from Forks, by her lying to Charlie and quickly trying to escape from James. Along the way she gets a phone call from her mother, it was however James and quickly explains she needs to leave Alice or else he will kill her mother. After careful planning Bella leaves Alice and Jasper and makes it to a dance studio a place where James told her to meet. Once she gets there she realizes that James lied and used a video tape of her mother’s voice. He then attacks her, and breaks her leg, well Edward rushes in. Once he enters the Cullen’s follow and kill James. Bella taken to a hospital; where her mother visits as well as Edward. She later returns back to Forks with her new boyfriend Edward. Afterwards, Edward promised to protect her and stay with her for her safety. He later takes her to prom and she never thought she could ever feel this way. Bella and Edward talked about their future together as a couple.

"Der Schwarm" - Frank Schätzing

As mysterious incidents start to happen all over the world, nobody wants to acknowledge the obvious - in one way or another, they are all connected to the oceans. Sudden disappearances of unimportant fishermen pose as the beginning of a series of events, which lead up to catastrophes all over the planet.
A small group of people from countries all across the globe find themselves involved in what seems to be a rebellion of the sea, and they respectively search for information on the strange things they are directly facing. Only a worsening threat to the human race brings them together in the same place, and finally all of them combine their quests surrounded by the enemy, an ocean, on a huge military ship; an unlikely cooperation under the command of the USA. But some things aren't what they seem to be, and the riot of the water isn't the only danger...

I recently read this book after it spent half a year untouched in my bookshelf, and in all honesty I would like to kick myself for abandoning it as long. Once having gotten past the first three chapters I was enthralled and all but dove into the world of Leon Anawak, Sigur Johanson, Gerhard Bohrmann and all the other characters that have different relations to the oceans. What unites them is fear of the upraising threat yet the strong will to destroy it and save humanity - whatever it is.

Throughout the course of the plot, the reader is introduced to the biological background and happenings as well as the relationships and bonds forming between the unusual numbers of protagonists. Zoologist Leon and scientific journalist Karen are confused by the growing attraction between them on the USS Independence, middle-aged Sigur thinks about his life and whom to seduce next, and somehow all characters have enough depth and background to be believable and interesting, without ever being described in too much detail.

Of special interest to me was Lieutenant General Judith Li, friend and advisor [some would say maipulator] of the President. There is something to her as the leader of the whole ship mission, and just the general way she holds herself and thinks of others on the ship, that makes her interesting. Of course what exactly she thinks isn't what the scientifics at her command expect, so what will it all come down to with this unpredictable and fascinating woman?

I'd write a lot more on this magnificent peace of work, but I would recommend it as a great read to everyone and would hate to ruin the suspense further than I might already have done. Let me say something about Schätzing's writing style instead: the biological facts woven into the story are scientifically correct from what I know, he's spent several years on research, and still he manages to explain everything in a way that had me, a seventeen-year-old girl who dropped biology altogether, understanding it. As a matter of fact, my interest in the subject has been sparked again and as soon as I've got some money, I'll buy a second book: "Nachrichten aus einem unbekannten Universum" by the same author is a more factual work in which he piles the unneeded fact from research together to the story of the maritime evolution.

At least the story is also available in English by now, entitled "The Swarm", and listen to me when I say go and get it, and then read it! Personally, I've detested everything but free time to read for the week it took me to read it, because I was never able to put the book down. Congratulations on your so far most successful book, Frank, and I can't wait for the movie to be published - Christmas season of 2010 is still quite a long time, however.

New Moon: By Stephanie Meyer

New Moon is the second book in the Twilight saga. We have watched in the previous book as Bella Swan moved to rainy Forks from sunny Phoenix, and settled in to Forks High School. Unknown to most of the towns residents, a coven of 7 “vegetarian” vampires – who don’t drink human blood, live up the road, and go to the local school. Bella falls in love with the seemingly youngest of the male vampires, Edward Cullen, but she gets a taste of just how dangerous being associated with vampires can be after having a run in with one of the many vampire nomads, James and his partner Victoria- who is now on a track for revenge after the Cullen’s killed James.

We join Forks again after the summer holidays, and Bella’s birthday is looming. For most people birthdays are fun affairs, but for Bella, it’s hardly great, as she becomes officially a year older than her boyfriend, Edward, who is stuck at 17 forever. Alice, Edward’s adopted sister, throws Bella a birthday party she will never forget, for all the wrong reasons.

As Bella opens one of her presents, she gains a paper cut. This would not be a problem, if she wasn’t in the company of vampires. Jasper, the newest member of the coven, and the one with the most problems abstaining from human blood leaps for Bella, while Edward fights to protect her life. Jasper pounces, sending both Edward and Bella into a crystal table. As Bella’s blood spreads, six ravenous vampires fight to control themselves.

Carlisle, the leader of the coven, and the eldest, keeps his clam and cleans Bella up, using his medical training. He describes how he changed Edward, and why he trained as a doctor after his own transformation. Edward is not happy putting Bella in trouble like this, and over the next few days,, he distances himself, while telling Bella Jasper and Alice are taking a break, explaining why they aren’t at school.

Eventually, Edward tells Bella outright that he and his family are leaving Forks and Bella behind. Bella is heartbroken and she can hardly live or breathe properly any more. During this book, we see how she tries to live without Edward, and instead stumbles upon other supposedly mythical creature- werewolves. We get to see how she and her wolf friends cope with the change.

I like Stephanie Meyers writing style, as the saga is written from Bella’s point of view, and it makes it a lot more personal, and the empathy/sympathy bond between the reader and Bella is amazingly strong, as we go through the rollercoaster of emotions, surprises and horrors. I feel that maybe Breaking Dawn has a better view of the story, because we get to see some of the story from a humans view, then a werewolves, and then we finally get to see the world from inside a vampires head. As the Twilight film is currently in cinemas, and New Moon is about to start production, there won’t be long to wait before we see it on the Big Screen!

You have all received your 100 points! Great reviews!

Also, violet, you get the bonus for completing 10 badges! Congrats!

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Something Wicca This Way Comes!

Sam, you rock!

(Sorry to do this after you've just awarded 75, but this one means only four more until thirty, as you mentioned :D)

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

While writing The Host, Stephenie Meyer moved out of Forks to get into her first adult novel. The Host, like the Twilight series, features the paranormal, but in a starkly different way. While Twilight deals with teenage romance and vampires, the characters of The Host have love as well, but find it in what I think is an even more unique way than vampires, werewolves, and humans.

In The Host, Earth has been taken over by a population known as “souls.” These souls travel across the universe, exploring new worlds and inhabiting them as they go. Souls are implanted into their hosts, whatever organism is chosen for the planet, and take over the body. The peaceful souls then live a live out on the planet, and when their host body is near to death, are taken out. They can then choose to be placed into another host from the same planet or move on to another world.

The Host follows the story of Wanderer, a soul that has lived on many more planets than the average soul. She ends up on Earth and is chosen to be implanted into one of the human resistors. Instead of allowing the souls to take over like on other planets they have overtaken, humans have been fighting back. There are pockets of resistors that are hard to find, but when mistakes are made, individuals are captured and souls are implanted. Wanderer is implanted into a young woman, Melanie, who had been on the run with her younger brother, Jamie, for years. Just weeks before being captured, the two runaways had met Jared, another survivor. The Seekers, the police force of the souls, want to find Jamie and Jared, who they think will lead them to even more stray humans.

Usually when a soul is implanted into a host, the host’s spirit leaves immediately, leaving the soul free to control the body. But when Wanderer is implanted into Melanie’s body, she is met with resistance. Even weeks after implantation, Melanie hasn’t ceased to exist. She talks to Wanderer scarcely, but is always there, an observer and critique. Wanderer is supposed to dig into Melanie’s memories and uncover the whereabouts of Jamie and Jared and any other humans. But Melanie blocks her, and she is unable to find much of anything. A Seeker is assigned to her to monitor her progress, and although Wanderer is like the other peaceful souls, she is repulsed by this anomalous soul. The Seeker is a foul, repugnant woman, and eventually Wanderer has had enough.

She agrees to go visit a Healer to talk about what to do about Melanie, and naturally the Seeker wants to accompany her. The Seeker chooses to take a plane while Wanderer prefers to drive, and they agree to meet at the healing facility. On the way, Wanderer has time to think about what she really wants, what would be best for herself and Melanie. During her time on Earth, she and Melanie have formed a bond, and she doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her. On the drive she decides to follow Melanie into the wild to find Jared and her brother.

In the heat of the south, this is an unwise decision. Without proper provisions, any trained hiker would fall prey to nature. But Melanie knows what she’s doing. Wanderer stops by a gas station to purchase water and other supplies, and they drive to the end of the road.

Wanderer isn’t used to such conditions, and ends up surrendering partly to Melanie in order to stay alive. Melanie eagerly takes control of her limbs to push them farther than Wanderer could, but even with the quick pace, more days are spent in the desert than she had planned for. Provisions run out and exhaustion sets in. Melanie is following a map her Uncle Jeb had carved into a photo album years ago, and she realizes that it really must have just been his craziness and that it meant nothing. One day, they fall, and don’t rise.

That night, they are awoken by a figure Melanie thought she’d never see again: Uncle Jeb. He gives them water and they are able to sleep soundly once more. The following morning, they are met with quite a sight. Jeb is back, but with him comes a number of fighters, survivors. The party wants to kill Wanderer, knowing what she is, but Jeb forces them to take her into the cave system they were hiding in.

Jared and Jamie had made it into the caves earlier, and when Melanie sees Jared, things turn towards the worst. Melanie and Jared had loved one another, and seeing Melanie’s body with a soul inside of it killed him. He won’t let the others kill her, but doesn’t want her alive either. Conflicted, he decides to protect her from the others by hiding her away. Her fate is in his hands, and he doesn’t have any better idea.

Wanderer and Melanie are kept in a cramped bowl-like crevice in a low tunnel. Wanderer doesn’t dare tell him that Melanie is still there, knowing it would sound like a lie and mean death. Jared sits watch, and their days are only interrupted by the bringing of food a few times a day or angry people wanting the soul dead. They spend days in the darkness, but eventually Jeb has Jared go on a raid to replenish their provisions. This means freedom for Wanderer.

Jeb keeps her at his side throughout the next few days as he begins to involve her in the community. She finally meets Jamie, who is at first cautious but then happy to have his sister back. Ian and Doc, two other survivors, decide to trust Jeb’s judgment and appoint themselves as her bodyguards. Over time, Jeb is able to leave her alone and find no hostility with the inhabitants of the cave. Wanderer begins to fit in with live in the caves, enjoying herself more than she had on any other planet.

But then, Jared and the men he took with on the raid return. They see how Wanderer is accepted and cannot believe with it. Jared seems ready to take her life…

And this is all of the spoiler I’m giving you!

This book is amazing, and it contains all of the elements one could want in a story. It’s a story of edge-of-your-seat action, heart wrenching romance, and finding one’s place in the world. Through The Host, readers see how she has improved as a writer as they follow the twists and turns of this fantastic story. It’s one I recommend to those who have and haven’t read the Twilight series, and that can be appreciated by those of any age.

You have received your 100 points!

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Something Wicca This Way Comes!

Sam, you rock!

The Boy in Stripped Pyjamas John Boyne

This book is set in World War Two. It depicts the heart-wrenching truths of War and friendship. Having read the book twice, I know it well. It tells the story from the point of view of a young, nine-year old boy, Bruno, the son of a German solider who is very high up in the army and therefor has been granted certain powers by Hitler. Bruno lived in a lovely, gigantic house, and he had three friends and a happy life in Berlin with his mum, dad and sister...having a great life where they were. Grandmother and Grandfather would come over every Christmas to celebrate. Grandmother, Bruno, and his sister, Gretal, would put on plays, and Grandmother always said brother would make a great actor when he grew up, but Bruno always aspired to be an explorer....

Bruno is having a happy life...until, that is, his father gets a new job...as Commandant of a concentration camp, although Bruno has no idea what this is. They have to move house, and the camp in just miles from where they live in a large house that has very little to explore. He is blissfully unaware of the fact that his father is head of the most notoriously feared work camps in the world, Auschwitz (Bruno thinks it's call 'Outwith,' and has no idea what goes on in there...thinking it is just a farm).

Bruno is sadened greatly to have left his friends in Berlin, and they no longer live anywhere near his grandparents. He has to make his own fun. Bruno does this at the start by reading adventure books, but soon, he gets increasingly bored, and goes on a little investigating of his own. He has a tire swing made for him by Pavel, on of the workers in the camp. Bruno is very quizzing about it...asking questions like, "Are there animals on the farm." Bruno's mother, who is furious when she hears that Bruno has been talking to the Jew, is thankful later to Pavel when he bandages Bruno's leg after falling off his swing.

Bruno finds it even harder still to make friends when he starts being homeschooled. A tutor, Heir List, comes to the house, to teach he and his sister, about what is happening in the war. Gretal immediately become intriged by what she learns, and disgards all her childish doll, favouring to put up war commersial posters up in her room, depicting that she is being sucked in by the lies of the German race who just want a perfect, Jewless, Aryan race.

Bruno finds it more interesting around the back of the house, where he can slip through the window of the shed and out into the forest and make the long journey to the camp. He walks along the fence of the camp, in search of something of interest...and he finds it...in the form of a jewish lad around the same age as him, Shamuel. Shamuel is like no child brother has ever seen. His head has been shaven, like everyone else on the 'farm'...along with a dirty pair of stripped pyjamas. Shamuel and Bruno talk almost every day, and as they become friends, Bruno become a more giving young lad. He brings the starving young Jewish boy food almost every time they meet...whenever he can smuggle it. Bruno and Shamuel find comfort in knowing they are true friends by holding hands through the barbed wire fence...

Bruno's mother, meanwhile, discovers what actually happens in the camps...she had not realised before that the Jews are not just made to work in the camp...she learns that they never come out of the camp alive. She learns this when she smells a horrible smell off the smoke coming from the camp, and one of the guards informs her by accident what happens. She, hysterically, tells he husband she does not agree, and that she wants to go back to Berlin... but Bruno's grandmother has been killed long before this in a bombing in Berlin, so it can be said that they can't go back to live there...so where can they go...
And Bruno doesn't want to leave Shamuel, especially when Shamuels dad goes missing...

Bruno wants to help his new best friend to find his dad, so they make a plan. Shamuel smuggles a pair of stripped pyjamas out to Bruno, as well as a hat to hide his hair. Bruno puts them on, and then digs under the fence to help Shamuel try to find his dad. What he sees in the camp is far from a farm...and far from the nice place his dad told him it was. He is terrified by how the people in it looks, and how they are made to work and live in such cramped and unsanitary conditions. He eventually wants to go back home, but remembers his promise to Shamuel to help find his dad, so he stays, though he is more scared than ever. Bruno and Shamuel end up getting caught up in a crowd of Jews...who think they are heading for a shower...but their fate does not involve cleanliness...

The Jews, and Bruno, are all lead right to the gas chamber, stripped of there pyjamas, and gased...Bruno and Shamuel die holding each other hand. Bruno's father later realises what has happened when he realises Bruno is missing and goes out looking for him. All he finds are his sons cloths...lying beside a hole dug under barbed wire fencing...and the smell of burning flesh in the air...

This book illustrates the sad, horrific truth of what truely was the Holocost...and that nothing like tht will ever happen again (Hopefully) not in this day and age.

Well done! You have received your 100 points plus your Badge!

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Something Wicca This Way Comes!

Sam, you rock!

Marked (A house of night novel) – P.C. and Kristen Cast

Marked is the first book in the house of night series written by mother and daughter, P.C. and Kristen Cast. The series follows a girl named Zoey Heffer, who changes her last name to Redbrird (for obvious reasons who wants the last name Heffer?), who is marked by the tracker and becomes a vampire fledging. In this series vampires aren’t created by being bitten but by being chosen, by a Goddess named Nyx. When chosen the new vampire fledglings have the outline of a half moon crescent upon their forehead which becomes filled in when they complete the change. Whilst Zoey struggles with her move to the House of Night, the vampire school, she also discovers that the goddess has blessed her with extraordinary powers.

Okay these books are actually really good even though, in my opinion, the first book lacks the spark which is needed to grip a reader. The House of Night also reminds me of an American version of Hogwarts, for vampires, so it has a nice homely feeling for me. The best part of the book is that Zoey appears to be a normal girl she’s not an irritating Mary-Sue or someone who’s stupidly pretty she completely normal and very scared about moving to this new school. It enables the reader to feel more connected to the character as the majority of us would feel the same in Zoey’s situation. In addition to that the characters she makes friends with seem to have a real personality, many series which need a large amount of characters for the novel to seem realistic seem to give many of the characters 2D personalities but in Marked you can really feel a depth to the other characters. Although the indepth description of the characters is good the same can’t be said for some parts of the novel. ‘Cherokee’ rituals are often mentioned but without an explanation as to what Cherokee actually is so I had to google the answer for myself, which sadly, is a very annoying thing to have to do when reading a book because I started to assume that the Cherokee was part of the vampire world and not the human world. Although the author doesn’t go into description about Cherokee rituals, after finding out what it is, I felt that it gave Zoey a lot more personality and background.

Both authors make the novel more humours and comfortable with their relaxed and teenage tone to the book but sometimes the American zipadeedooda can become confusing and you may have to re-read over a few lines several times to understand what they actually mean. In addition to that they treat you like you have a short term memory span and continuously repeat a description for a certain word (unfortunately this does not stop through the rest of the series either).

Overall it’s a good book but one of the worst first novels for a series I’ve ever read (the rest of the series is 10x better that the first one) if you can plough through this one and make it onto the more interesting and developed novels in the series you’ll find it picks up a lot more. To me it feels as though it’s a stepping stone for the real series to begin.

4/10 (Yes I’m harsh and yes I do like this book).

*Please note that the series heavily slants Christianity, especially the People of Faith, so if you find it offensive I suggest you don’t read this book, or any others in the series, because the insults to Christianity don’t stop.

Extremely well done polly! You have received your 100 points plus your Badge!

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Something Wicca This Way Comes!

Sam, you rock!

Anne Of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Anne Shirley is a bubbly, talkative, very imaginative child, native to Nova Scotia, orphaned at the age of merely three months old after both her parents die of typhoid fever. Her entire childhood is marked by rejection and disdain as she goes from one household to the other to serve as a precocious nanny for the several children of both women who adopt her, until she's sent to a poor orphanage, filled with more kids than can be cared for. It is when she reaches the age of eleven years old that her life change. Back in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert are slowly but surely aging. None of them ever married and without child, they've taken care of Green Gables most of their lives, but now Matthew is getting old, and help might be needed. They send word of their decision to adopt a little boy, young enough to be raised properly but old enough to do chores, so to relieve shy, hardworking Matthew of a few of his responsibilities. But what a surprise the latter find when, upon driving to the train station, it is not a boy he finds, but a fiery redheaded, freckled, pale little thing of eleven. Knowing he simply can't leave her there - and too bashful to announce to this hopeful little maiden that the home she thinks to have finally found is not really to be hers - he brings her back to Green Gables to let Marilla announce the dilemna they find themselves in.

At first, it is categorical - Anne (which must be spelt with an 'e') must be sent back to the orphanage. She is of no use to them. A serie of following events, however, bring Marilla to the realization that maybe it is her duty to adopt the little girl and give her a good upbringing, especially after hearing of her pathetic childhood - and how the only friends she has had are her reflection in a glass pannel, whom she pretended to be a little girl named Katie, and her own echo, another child named Violetta - learning of her practically heathen ways and finding that Anne might be given to a cranky, harsh neighbor, mother of several children, rather than returned to the orphanage if she does not take her. Added to the fact that Matthew has taken a strong liking to the bright child, and that she herself is starting to find a certain fascination in her ways of being so different from any other little girl they've ever come across in Avonlea, the decision to keep the child is made, and there begins Anne's life at Green Gables.

One thing is made certain in the very first week of Anne's stay - her temper matches her hair, and she has a real talent for getting herself into scrapes, helped along by her overactive imagination and her lack of knowing what is proper or not in this kind of a town, having never received an upbringing. As for getting into trouble, she seems to be finding the most creative ways to do so, from dyeing her hair green to smashing a slate over a boy in school after he calls her 'carrot', along with make believes gone wrong - such as pretending the small path leading from her house to her best friend's goes through a haunted wood where lies a white lady that wails and wrings her hands as she walks through the night, and the ghost of a murdered child who creeps up to you and lay his cold fingers on your hand. But through it all, Anne is found to be a smart child, with a knack for making friends among children her age as well as adults whom she admires greatly, such as the reverend's wife Mrs. Allen, or her adored teacher Miss Stacy. Through this book, which tells the beginning of this little girl's adventures as she grows older (first book of a series of eight), Anne will learn many lessons of friendship, love and forgiveness, with always a spark of humor and a touch of sweetness.

I personally adore this book. I grew up watching the tv adaptation with Megan Follows, and at the age of twelve read the series for the first time. At fifteen, I bought it, and from that moment on, I've read the whole of the eight books at least twice a year. It's a nice, loveable series that goes through lighter and tougher times and subjects (the eight book of the series, focused on Anne's youngest daughter, takes place during WWI), with beautiful, descriptive writing. For anyone who like not only reading, but literature.

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