Abu-Jaber writes about my native hometown of Syracuse, New York in this spellbinding mystery. Lena Dawson, a quiet fingerprint examiner, finds herself enmeshed in a slew of cases involving babies that had been presumed to be SIDS victims. Lena’s intuition tells her that these cases share too many commonalities to be unrelated or accidental. As she investigates, she finds herself embroiled deep into a complex mystery and must explore her own past to find the answer in this chilling case.
Fans of forensic or court dramas should enjoy this quick page-turner.
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Rating: 
An eternity of reflecting one’s misery back on oneself, as it turns out, gets quite dull. Really, it’s torturous. You can’t change anything at this point, it’s all been said and done. And the thanklessness of it…well. It’s just more than Kiriel can deal with. So what if he’s breaking all the rules? He deserves a vacation. And the body he slipped into…well, it was about to die anyway.
After eternity as a spirit, the physical realm is quite something. In fact, Kiriel is giving the Creator props at every turn. Color! Wind! It’s all just incredible. Of course, learning to be human whilst being supervised is more than a little awkward, so his first order of business is to remove himself from the company of Shaun’s best friend and head home for some solitude.
After getting caught essentially making out with a t-shirt, spending a couple of hours in the bathroom, and overhauling Shaun’s appearance, Kiriel thinks he’s getting the hang of this physical thing. Each new experience is incredible. Like ketchup. Oh does he love ketchup! Ingenious.
But he has bigger issues at hand. Better experiences he wants to try to get to before someone notices and his trip comes to an end. Only at this point does he realize his choice of someone generally unnoticed may not have been the best. These are not the boys who…get on well with girls. But he can try!
Speaking is his biggest issue really. It’s a bit hard to remember to try to talk like an uninterested, unenlightened teenage boy when you know pretty much everything. Eager to try to make an impact while he can, Kiriel decides to give some advice to a bully, who he knows he’ll see in Hell if things don’t change. But apparently attempting to counsel a bully on his fears of inadequacy in public is not the best idea.
After a few days as Shaun, Kiriel’s curiosity is starting to wear off. The novelty is wearing off. Being human is hopelessly futile. Shaun has disappeared, and no one has noticed, aside from his cat. It’s horribly depressing. And the changes he’s begun, being nicer to Jason, well, he won’t be here to carry through on that. So what’s the point, really?
Still. It’s been fun. And you can learn things while physical that you just wouldn’t otherwise. So it wasn’t all pointless. And maybe he will leave a mark after he’s gone. Maybe it’s not all futile.
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I was first introduced to Dexter in a trailer for the series coming to Showtime. Sadly, that is not a channel included in my cable lineup, and I had to wait until I could Netflix it to check it out. But it was well worth the wait. It may be one of my all-time favorites ever. And the idea of a lovable Sociopathic Serial-Murder….well who could not be intrigued by that?
Knowing the Dexter, Season 1 was based on Darkly Dreaming Dexter, I was very curious to check out the book and see how it might vary. I love the show Bones, for example, but have never read Kathy Reichs. My mother has read all the books, and hated the show, because they apparently changed just about everything. So I was pleased to work my way through Darkly Dreaming Dexter and find not so many changes. Or changes that at least held true to the stories and characters, making it easy for the show fans to love the books, and vice versa.
With Dexter already set in my head as Michael C. Hall, there were a few times where I felt as if the book version wasn’t holding up. But only a few moments. And they may just stem from the fact that every first book comes with a few of those moments. Every book period may come with them.
But he was still the same darkly twisted good bad guy. Silently ridding the world of evil men at set intervals. Always carefully. Except for that once.
The character development was not as much as in the TV show, but had I not seen it I wouldn’t know that, so it couldn’t have bothered me. And since I have seen it, and did know, it didn’t bother me.
It’s very hard to do Dexter real justice, as he’s very much something you have to experience. Yeah, there’s some gore, but even the squeamish will likely take to him. Because even Dexter doesn’t really like gore.
Any mystery fan should definitely enjoy this series, and I think any great story fan will as well.
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Rating: 
For the first time in my reading of this series, I had a hard time getting through the book. I’m not really sure whether it was me, or the story. More than the others it felt a bit out of left field, even though it wasn’t.
Following up the previous tale, The Most High Academe has died, Quint is training to be a Knight Academic, sponsored by the Professor of Light, and Maris is in Undertown, in the “care” of her uncle.
Plots abound throughout the school, as the weather turns more and more wintry and hopeless. Every mission to the Deepwoods in search of Stormphrax fails; some before they’ve even left the city. Sky Scholars grow paranoid and start seeking out and destroying any hint of Earth scholarship. Meanwhile, it’s exactly that they need. And only by accident does anyone realize it.
While a battle broils in the city, Quint and his friends, and Maris, take to the skies with their last hope. An ancient idea that has to save the day.
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August 20th, 2007
10:32 am
Book Review, Harry Potter Read-Alikes, Series, Staff Favorites
adventure, artemis, death/loss, family, fantasy, greek mythology, juvenile ficiton, magic, monsters, olympians, percy jackson, titans, ya fiction
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The action is non-stop in this installment of the series, right from the get-go. Percy, Annabeth and Thalia are on their way to Maine to answer Grover’s call for help. Unsure of what they’re walking into, they don’t have much of a plan, which leaves them without much to go on when the first people they encounter are a couple of the school administrators.
After managing to squeak by that sticky situation, the kids are undone again as the monster-in-residence at the school makes off with the half-breeds Grover found. Percy goes after them alone, unable to find any of his friends, and lands himself in yet another bad spot. The gang arrives to help him out just in time to realize it’s all a trap. Only some completely unforeseen assistance gets them out of the jam, but not without losses.
The group arrives back at camp only to prepare to leave again on a mission, ultimately, to save the world. Their friend-turned enemy Luke has gotten himself in with the wrong crowd, and a plot to overthrow the Olympians is under way. Three Hunters and two campers are chosen to go after the goddess Artemis, who needs to be at the meeting on the solstice or all hell will break loose. Percy, unwilling to be left behind, follows along unbeknown to the rest, unwilling to sit idle while he has a friend in trouble.
As foretold by as prophecy before the group departed, they suffer loss along the way, and obstacles at every turn. Will they succeed in their quest, or will Kronos awake and the Titans be restored?
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Sequel to Blue Bloods, this is a title I’d been waiting for awhile. And in no way did it disappoint.
Schuyler, off in Italy searching for her grandfather with best friend Ollie, is missing school, and all the preparations for the Four Hundred Ball. And the even more exclusive party Mimi Force has decided to throw afterwards. With Cordelia dead, Schuyler is pretty much alone in the world, and growing desperate that her search has led her nowhere. Even worse…when she does finally find what she’s looking for, it leaves her only more disappointed.
Back in NYC, rumors of the Silver Bloods still abound, and still the Committee claims there’s no need to worry. Only when they lose one of their own do they sit up and take notice.
Schuyler’s grandfather, ashamed at the words she’d left him with in Venice, has come home. He alone believed in the Silver Bloods, and took steps to train Schuyler against an attack. When the attack comes, he moves for a vote of new leadership of the Committee. In the meantime, he’s embroiled in a personal battle–the battle for custody of Schuyler. With Cordelia gone, Charles Force has petitioned the court for custody of Schuyler. Schuyler wants none of it.
There’s no lack of tension in this story, between the mystery, the danger, the love triangle, and the subplots. Blue Bloods fans will be well pleased, and left hanging, looking forward to what’s next.
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Our story picks up not that long after Lulu’s first adventures into girl detectivism, which I haven’t read, at the beginning of summer, which Lulu is really hoping will be just plain fun. It doesn’t take very long for her wishes to prove futile.
While out with best pal Daisy, they stumble upon some surprising, and not quite welcome, news in their favorite gossip column. Lulu’s mother is in town shooting a movie. Their relationship, as you may have guessed, is strained at best. Lulu’s parents got divorced when she was young, as her dad, it so happened, was gay. Lulu now lives with he and his partner, Theo. Her mother left Halo City and was essentially never heard from again. So naturally heads right off for the shoot to find out why Isabelle hadn’t told her she was in town. Which meant she was standing up her best friend turned boyfriend, Charlie.
After gaining access to the set, then finding her way to her mother’s trailer with the help of none other than the famous Lisa Lincoln, Lulu concludes that Isabelle seems a little off. But she still invites her for pastries later that night, half expecting her not show. If only that made it easier when she really didn’t.
The expected turns mystery rather quickly, however, when Isabelle’s agent tells her Isabelle is on vacation and Lisa Lincoln shows up at her apartment to tell her her mother is, in fact, missing. Lulu is sure there’s something amiss, after checking out Isabelle’s now vacant room, and seeing the two imposter maids who arrive while she and Lisa are inside, but her mind takes a different turn from most. Lulu is sure her mother is the bad guy.
The police aren’t interested, seeing as there’s that whole “vacation” deal. But after Isabelle shows her face on national television during the Halo Awards, where she and group of blondes in masks accost Lisa Lincoln as she’s about to give an acceptance speech, they get interested. I should also note, Lisa Lincoln was on national tv with Lulu’s boyfriend, and she doesn’t know how to take that one at all.
Lulu’s next order of business after this ordeal is to talk to Lisa. She thinks she might know something about Isabelle that the rest of them don’t and can’t figure out. Lisa’s bodyguard has different ideas, which leads to Lulu taking a tumble and Daisy pulling out the Icelandic Kickboxing. And Charlie opening the door to see what’s going on. For Lulu, this is going exactly how she wouldn’t want it. But she does get some information.
She also gets a frantic call from her mother, as they’re leaving, about a kidnapping. Realizing the same horn she heard over the phone is now coming closer, she hops onto her borrowed Vespa, Daisy in town, and takes off after the SUV that comes speeding around the corner. Sadly, she doesn’t actually know how to drive a Vespa, and their pursuit ends with a crash in the park.
And the fun doesn’t end there. Lulu has a few more fiery hoops to jump through before all is said and done.
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Paski Archuleta is absolutely certain her father has lost his mind. He went to LA for talks–there’s interest in making his popular comic Squeegee Man into a movie. He came back an entirely different person. New clothes, shades, teeth, attitude, vocabulary, and diet. She has no idea what to think. But she doesn’t have long to ponder it either, since there’s an even bigger bombshell in all this. They’re moving. The movie is going to happen, and he needs to be there to work on it ASAP. As in, now.
Leaving Taos does not thrill Paski in the least. Her dad sees adventure, Paski sees disaster. New Mexico, California is not. Although upon arriving she realizes they might have more in common than she first thought. In scenery at any rate. Which is pretty much where it ends.
In Cali, all drivers appear to be maniacs. All cars are luxury. All roads are 6 lanes. All buildings are humongous.
As first order of business, Paski takes off on her bike to check out her new school. In a fit of pride she can’t help, she takes the direct route down–straight down the hill–to show off her biking skills, since it’s the one thing she can really do.
And she get immediate notice. From the perfect guy.
The next morning, she gets some more notice. Of the bad kind. And she knows, without being told, that the car full of laughing girls are the girls. Worse, the head girl seems to have a thing with her perfect guy.
In general, she finds her fellow students shocking, and her teachers more so, and the parents the most. They tend to look younger than their children.
Her first party turns into a near death experience, and the drama and craziness doesn’t really slow down from there. This is war, pretty much. And she doesn’t intend to lose.
This is one of the best coming-of-age/finding-self stories I’ve read in awhile. Paski finds out the hard way that ignoring her insticts and truest self can only cause harm, and that things really do happen for a reason, even if that reason is long in showing itself. There really are perfect boys, and girls can be too cruel to comprehend.
But she sticks to her guns, navigates through the minefield, and finds herself in a place she never would have expected to be.
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Edward Tulane lived the life of a spoiled rabbit–but he didn’t know it. He knew he was gorgeous, that he had fine clothes and his own pocket watch, set by him every day when his owner, Abilene, left for school. Pellegrina, her grandmother, spoke to Edward as an equal, as did Abilene, but her parents, he felt, were condescending. He didn’t like being thought of as a mere toy, regardless of whether it was true or not.
One night, not long before they’re to leave on an ocean voyage, Pellegrina tells Edward and Abilene a story. It’s a story of a princess who loves no one, and ends up turned into a boar and eaten. Edward doesn’t get it. He also doesn’t understand why Pellegrina, when she tucks him in, tells him “you disappoint me.”
When, during their ocean voyage, Edward finds himself thrown overboard, he has plenty of time at the bottom of the ocean to think things through.
After finally making it out of the ocean, Edward passes from home to home, family to family, spending time as a girl rabbit, a hobo, a scarecrow, and a puppet. Eventually, he finds himself in a shop on a shelf with dolls, after major repair-work. It’s enough to make him unlearn everything his adventures had taught him. But thanks to the words of an ancient, cracked doll, on her way out the door to another new life, Edward rebounds.
This was a really great book, with excellent lessons on love, friendship, family, and perhaps a little humility. I expect to be buying it for my own collection.
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Gabriel is dying. Only 20, he feels too young to go, and is torn at time between wanting it simpley to be over, and wanting to stay. He spends his days in bed, remembering his past, the childhood that led him to where he is.
Gabriel had a lonely life. His parents were known as “kooksville,” and seemed to want little to do with their children. Vernon, Gabriel’s older brother, was an invalid, who tired his mother constantly. Gabriel was left worried about him at all times, until the fateful day that took him from them.
Gabriel’s only friend, a wild boy called Finnigan, is a secret. They’ve sworn a pact–Gabriel will be all things good, Finnigan all things bad. Not long after, the town starts falling victim to fires. Not until it’s been years, with the crimes unsolved, does Finnigan relent, claiming it doesn’t matter anymore.
Gabriel’s other companion comes as a surprise. His father is talked into adopting a dog. Surrender. But Surrender spends too much time with Finnigan, and begins to run wild. Eventually, a local farmer shows up claiming he shot him while he was attacking his goats. Gabriel’s father assures him that if they find the dog wounded, it will be finished. Gabriel runs away, unable to bear the thought of having to kill his pet.
His last ray of hope comes in the form of Evangeline. Not a friend in public or school, but kind enough to him on their walks and in their random meetings. Fleeting as they are, to him they seem eternal. When Finnigan demands he give her up, he becomes distraught. He races to her house, where a party is in full-swing, to warn her.
When the party sounds begin to falter he becomes agitated and frightened, sure it’s Finnigan come for her. Imagine his shock when he finds his mother standing framed in Evangeline’s doorway, come to take him home.
There is little in the past to comfort him, as he remembers. He spends his time hoping futilely that she will come. She never does.
His final visit with Finnigan is where the whole truth comes out, and is largely what left me, when all was said and done, wondering what had just happened.
Confusion aside, this was a really good read. Probably not best suited to younger readers, but highly recommended.
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