IRISES by Francisco X. Stork-REVIEW

As Mary and Kate's mother lays in a vegetative state once again the girls are faced with tragedy. Their minister father has now passed away and they are left with decisions too difficult for them to face.

Mary is an artist, but once her mother's accident happened the light has gone out of her paintings. Mary has devoted her life to taking care of her mother. Now she must give up her extra art class after school in order to be more available to care for her mother.

Kate has always dreamed of going to college at Stanford and becoming a doctor. It was her mother's dream for her, and her constant secret for the past several years. Now that dream is about to be realized but with the death of her father Kate is confused about her responsibilities.

Irises was an engaging story. Mary and Kate's struggles with what to do once their father dies kept me turning the pages because I wanted to find out how things turned out. There were so many other issues in the book though that I couldn't give it a better rating. I didn't care for the new minister(Andy) and his goal of some day being the head of a more affluent church. His willingness to allow Kate in his apartment with the idea that things may lead to a sexual encounter was just wrong. His preaching of love and faith without actual guidance of how to gain those things showed that he had no business being a preacher. The girls' father even though he had been a minister for years had led his family with rules and antiquated ideas rather than teaching them about faith. So I guess that the author's portrayal of the religious figures left a dis-satisfied taste in my mouth. Even with that I found empathy for both Mary and Kate's characters. Both struggling with what has happened in their lives, having to face giving up dreams, relationships that have turned disappointing, and the ultimate decision of what to do about their mother all were written to be very believable. Definitely not a waste of time to read this book!

CURVEBALL THE YEAR I LOST MY GRIP by Jordan Sonnenblick-REVIEW

Peter and his best friend AJ are the best baseball pitchers for their team. Their pitching skills are going to take them far. When Peter is pitching, AJ is catching then when AJ pitches then Peter is catching. They are quite a duo. That is until Peter messes up his arm and is told he can no longer pitch~EVER.

This does not seem to be Peter's year. Not only can he no longer pitch, but he is also starting his freshman year of high school. Also, there seems to be something disturbing going on with his Grampa. Peter's Grampa is a famous photographer. He has taught Pete everything he knows about cameras and taking the perfect picture. When his Grampa seems to miss the most perfect shot of all and then up and gives Pete all of his equipment Pete knows there is something terrible going on. His Grampa also seems to be frequently forgetting things.

Pete's mother insists that he enroll in an introductory photography class. Since he can no longer play baseball then she feels he needs to be in a "club" of some sort. Pete meets Angelika in class. They are soon put together as partners and things start to look up for Pete. Even though Pete has always told his best friend AJ everything he somehow can not bring himself to tell AJ about not being able to pitch again. The only one he really talks to about that is Angelika. She encourages him to not only be honest to AJ about his arm, but also to talk to his parents about what is going on with his Grampa.

Once again I love the emotions that Jordan Sonnenblick explores in his stories! Peter's relationship with his Grampa is so special and you feel for him as he watches his Grandfather fade into the world of Alzheimer disease. You feel for Pete in his awkward 9th grade self wondering what he is going to do with his life now that he can't play baseball. You admire AJ and Angelika for being Peter's best friends and helping him through his emotions. I have to say that once again Jordan Sonnenblick was able to bring a smile and tear to my eye in Curveball The Year I Lost My Grip.

ALL THESE THINGS I'VE DONE by Gabrielle Zevin-REVIEW

The year is 2083 and chocolate and caffeine are illegal. Anya Balanchine is the daughter of a now dead crime boss. Anya is determined to keep herself, her sister and brother and grandmother separated from her family's notorious connection. Having seen her father killed right in front of her she wants nothing to do with the family business.

For all intents and purposes Anya at 16 is the head of her little family. Her grandmother is dying, her brother has not been "right" since he was in an accident that killed their mother, and her sister is only 13. When some Balanchine chocolate ends up poisoning Anya's ex-boyfriend, she finds herself in trouble with the law and her family in the media spotlight.


Amidst all of this Anya meets Win,  the new guy at school, and is attracted to him until she finds out who his father is. With ambitions to become the next DA Win's father asks Anya to stay away from his son. It wouldn't look good for him in an election if his son was dating a crime boss's daughter.

Win and Anya begin secretly dating and soon fall in love with each other. Will their love be able to withstand her family name and his father's ambition?

All These Things is the first book in a series. I found the characters very believable but wasn't attached enough to them to continue on in the series. The storyline plodded along and I found myself getting distracted by other things. I guess it just wasn't the story for me.


Language Content=There was some offensive language that this reader did not appreciate. But I have to say also that the author did not overuse the offensive language either.

Sexual Content=Anya has made a promise to God to be a "good girl" which means that she has promised not to have sex before she is married. She struggles with this temptation throughout the story especially when her relationship with Win heats up. Sex is mentioned only in relation to her struggle, nothing graphic.

Violence Content=Some, but nothing graphic or offensive to this reader.

I'LL BE THERE by Holly Goldberg Sloan-REVIEW

The day that Emily is mortified in front of her whole church by singing a horrible rendition of "I'll Be There", is the day that Sam walks into her life.

Sam and his brother Riddle were taken away from their mother 10 years earlier by their father. Sam's last year of school was when he was in second grade. They have never lived in the same place for long because their father is a thief and when things get too hot for him he takes off.

Sam likes to visit churches. Even though he is not religious he likes to go. The morning that Emily sings he knows that it isn't good, but it is like she is singing to him. Telling him that she will be there for him. 

Sam has always been the caretaker for Riddle. When introduced to Emily's family her mother instantly sees that something is not right with Riddle. Being a nurse she is able to have him checked out and finds that he has asthma. For the first time in years Riddle is able to breathe. Being cared for for the first time in their lives the boys become attached to Emily and her family.

The boys' father finds out that they have been making friends and it is once again time for them to leave a city. But this time the voices are telling him that he would be better off without the boys. Driving them to a remote mountain wilderness sets off a string of harrowing experiences for both boys. Will they be able to survive and make it back to Emily and her family?

I was engaged in the characters. I felt the story was very believable. The problem I had with it was the insertion of irrelevant material. Such as the thoughts of a bear in the mountain. Or the wrapping up the story with little back stories of everyone that the boys had come in contact with. The book was almost 400 pages long and I thought that it drug in spots. By the time I got about 3/4 of the way through I was skimming pages just to hurry it up. For the most part though the story was good and like I said, the characters were engaging.

ROT & RUIN AND DUST & DECAY by Jonathan Maberry-REVIEW

Tom and Benny Imura survived First Night when the world as they knew it turned upside down. Where the dead became reanimated. They lost their parents that night.


Mountainside is their home now. A town surrounded by fences to keep the zombies away. Benny is now 14 and has to choose a job in order to keep receiving his full rations. Tom earns a living as a bounty hunter. He goes out into the Rot & Ruin to find people's family members and put them to death permanently.

Benny loves to hang out with Charlie Pink-Eye and his hoodlum friend The Motorcity Hammer. He loves to hear their stories of how they kill zoms out in the Rot & Ruin. In Benny's mind compared to Charlie and Hammer his brother Tom is a coward.

As time has finally run out for Benny to find a job he agrees to go with Tom out into the Ruin to see what the "family business" is really like. What he learns is that Tom doesn't just randomly kill zombies. He teaches Benny that each zombie used to be a REAL person, a member of a family and deserves that respect. Tom "quiets" the zombies he is sent out to find. He reads them a letter from their family member and he then quiets them so they are no longer roaming around as zombies. It gives closure to the family member. This confuses Benny as he has a strong hate for the zombies and after all of Charlie's and Hammer's stories he has never thought of them as being real people.

Benny finds that not all bounty hunters are as compassionate as his brother Tom. In fact he hears about a place that some of the bounty hunters take innocent children to and make them fight zombies. When Benny happens to get a collector card of the "Lost Girl" one day he finds that this is a "mythical" girl that is supposedly out in the Ruin who may know some of the dealings of the bounty hunters.

As a storm rages over the city and the fence fails Benny finds out to what lengths these bounty hunters will go to protect their interest in the gaming park. Benny and Tom go out into the Ruin to rescue Benny's friend Nix and to find the Lost Girl who may be able to show them where the games take place. What happens while out in the Ruin is horrible and will change their lives forever.

Oh my goodness! Why have I waited so long to read this book? It was soooo good! Really though I'm glad I waited because I have my copy of Rot & Ruin and the sequel Dust & Decay autographed by Jonathan Maberry. Dust & Decay comes out in August but I snagged an ARC copy at the TLA conference I went to. Yay me! Anyway, this was such a good book. I had to close it several times because I couldn't take the suspense, but then I would have to open it and read on to find out what happens! Even though this is a zombie book I was more interested in the human relationships that were going on. Excellent read!

Benny just turned fifteen. In his world that means he must find a job in order to continue receiving his rations. The problem is, Benny can’t find a job he likes. He and his best friend, Chong, waited too long to get one and all the easy jobs are gone. What’s left aren’t very appealing. He’s tried being a locksmith, a fence tester, a fence technician, a carpet coat salesman, a pit thrower, a crank generator repairman, a spotter, a bottler, and an erosion artist. It seems like the only option left is to join the family business.


Benny’s brother, Tom, is one of the most respected and successful zombie killers. The problem is, Benny doesn’t know why people think Tom’s that great. He’s never seen Tom do anything especially exciting or impressive – in fact, he’s actually turned away from violence, which makes Benny think Tom’s a coward. Tom is nothing like the totally cool Zombie Killers like Charlie Pink-Eye and Motor City Hammer. Benny has never intended to do what Tom does. He’s always said no every time Tom asked him to become his apprentice. But, his lack of success in any other job has left him no choice.

Benny learns a lot while out in the Rot & Ruin with Tom. He learns about his own past, what it is that Tom really does, and what separates man from monster. Benny’s outlook on life completely changes as he begins to realize there might be more to life than just his small town of Mountainside.

ROT & RUIN is a perfect choice for readers who enjoyed THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH. Both books take place in a small town of survivors surrounded by fences that keep the zombies out. ROT & RUIN is set in a time when people still remember what happened when the zombies started rising, so the reader gets some first-hand accounts of First Night (the night the world changed). ROT & RUIN also gives us some of the blood and gore that we sometimes want in a zombie novel.

Jonathan Maberry did an excellent job developing the characters and creating an interesting setting. The reader can get lost in Benny’s world. ROT & RUIN gets the Stay Awake Award because I couldn’t put it down. In fact, I stayed up to 3:30 A.M. one night to finish. This story caused me to cringe, gasp, chuckle, and cry. Absolutely amazing!

For 7 months Tom has been training Benny, Lilah, Nix, and Chong how to survive in the Rot & Ruin. Preparing them for their trek east in search of the jet they all saw fly over them months before. Nix cannot wait to leave all of her memories behind. Lilah cannot wait to feel freedom outside of the fences. Chong is only going for an overnight camping trip to further his training and of course to be with Lilah for a little while longer.


Once in the Rot & Ruin though things do not go the way they planned. Things seem to be happening in the Ruin that indicate that Gameland is once again up and running. While checking out a dead body they encounter Preacher Jack. A man whose title doesn't match his evil countenance.

When they all become separated things go from bad to worse. Not only struggling against the living dead, they are also having to contend with an evilness in humans that they never thought possible.

Once again Jonathan Mayberry has kept me on the edge of my seat! There were times in the story that I would get so stressed out that I had to set the book down for a while! This is an ARC copy that I received at TXLA in April. Jonathan Mayberry was kind enough to autograph it for me. It comes out in stores in August of 2011. I cannot wait for the next book in the series!

Benny made it back from the Rot & Ruin only to start training with his brother, Tom, to leave again. After seeing the airplane fly over, Benny, Nix, Lilah, and Tom have been anxious to find out where it was going. Could there be civilization beyond the Rot & Ruin?


Every day Tom trains Benny, Nix, Lilah, and Chong. He prepares them to fight the Zoms they are sure to encounter on their long trek across the dangerous country. Everyone has different feeling about leaving home. Benny isn’t sure he wants to leave FOREVER, but is willing to in order to be with Nix. Nix, who has nothing left is desperate to leave behind all the bad memories. Lilah just wants to feel freedom and live outside the fences again. Tom decides he has to leave since his countless pleas to the town leader’s to build up defenses have fallen on deaf ears. Chong, without the permission of his parents, is staying behind.

Tom plans an overnight trip to help the kids practice living beyond the fences. Chong is given permission to accompany his friends for this short adventure which gives him more time to spend with Lilah.

The overnight outing doesn’t go as planned and the kids are separated from each other and Tom. Evidence points to the possibility that Gameland is up and running again and even worse, could Charlie Pink Eye still be alive?

DUST & DECAY is filled with danger and excitement, love and hatred. It keeps the reader engaged from the first page. The horrors the characters live through is heartbreaking. This is a zombie book that will bring you to tears.


Julie agrees to meet Karin halfway on these two books. While I totally enjoyed both of these books and think that they are very appropriate for most readers there are some disturbing images in them.

UNDER THE GREEN HILL by Laura L. Sullivan-REVIEW

The Morgan children, Rowan, Meg, Priscilla(Silly for short), and James are sent to live with relatives in England to escape the fever in the States. They are looking forward to exploring the house with many rooms and the countryside around them.

What they discover is a land of fairies. Shortly after arriving they find themselves in the midst of preparations for the fairy war. Every 7th year the Midsummer War takes place. The Seelie Court and the Host meet under the Green Hill to do battle. They choose one human from each side to fight to the death. The fairy queen is so beautiful that she has put a spell on Rowan who pledges to fight for her.

Meg is distraught and determined to find a way to save her brother from fighting in the war. What will be the outcome of this most interesting Midsummer War?

I enjoyed this story very much! It was entertaining and exciting to read. Meg’s desire to save her brother at any cost was heart-warming. The writing was descriptive and beautiful. And I loved the cover!!

SKINNED by Robin Wasserman-REVIEW

Lia shouldn’t have been in the car in the first place. By doing a favor for her sister, she has changed her life forever. A one in a million chance. The navigation system in her car malfunctioned and she crashed head on with another car. Her body broken – her skin burning, Lia waited for help. Unfortunately, her body didn’t survive the trauma of the accident. However, her brain remained in tact.


Lia wakes up several weeks later to find that she is alive. She has been downloaded into a new body. A body that isn’t flesh and blood, but circuits and wires covered by synthetic “skin.” Lia doesn’t want to be a skinner, a mech-head, a freak. She’d rather be dead. Instead she has to go through the indignity of learning the most basic of activities all over again.

Eventually, Lia returns to school only to find that the people she depended on most aren’t as receptive to her as she’d hoped. Companionship comes from an unexpected person. Lia doesn’t want to admit she isn’t the same as she was before the accident. She refuses to believe she is only doing what the computer is programmed to do.

Lia meets a group of radical mech-heads that force her to confront her situation. Is it dangerous for her to live amongst people acting as if she is exactly like everyone else? Is she causing the people she cares about the most more harm than good?

SKINNED by Robin Wasserman is a spell-binding, futuristic story filled with issues of medical ethics, family dynamics, and loss. If you enjoyed the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld, you’ll enjoy SKINNED. The story is powerful and keeps you hooked until the end. I was excited to see that SKINNED is the first book in a planned trilogy. I desperately want to see what happens next in Lia’s complicated existence. Robin Wasserman’s website includes cool downloads based on the book like desktop wallpaper, screen savers, and avatars. Go check it out.

PIES AND PREJUDICE by Heather Vogel Frederick-REVIEW

This time around the Mother-Daughter Book Club explore Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It is the perfect time for them to do this with Emma and her family living in England(right in the middle of Jane Austen country) for a year. Emma and her mom are able to participate in the book club via the internet.



Cassidy, still the perpetual tomboy has a full plate. She plays hockey for a Division I girls league, She starts a club for little girls called “Chicks with Sticks” to train them how to become ice hockey players, and then as a favor to Mrs. Bergson(who was able to get her time on the ice for Chicks with Sticks) she agrees to practice ice dancing with Tristan(whose family have house-swapped with Emma’s family). Sparks fly between Tristan and Cassidy from the time they meet.


Megan loves fashion. She notices everyone’s fashion faux pas and so decides that she will start a blog that she entitles Fashionista Jane going along with the theme of Jane Austen. The blog ultimately gets the girls into trouble, but it is fun and snarky!


Jess also has a lot going on in her life. She is feeling stressed about not having a career goal in mind when all of the other girls seem to know what they would like to do with their lives. She thinks that she would love to do something with music, she has the opportunity to nurse a wounded fox back to health and as always Emma’s brother Darcy can always make her heart pound. Will Darcy ever notice her, or will he always see her as just one of his sister’s friends?


The girls put together a business of baking pies and other treats in an effort to raise money to bring Emma home for a visit during spring break. They name their business “Pies and Prejudice” and it becomes quite successful. Of course not everything is all roses in the story. The girls have a new nemesis and new struggles throughout the year. It is fun to see how relationships develop and how supportive they are of each other. This is turning out to be one of my favorite series!