Monster High

I would like to say that I had first gotten this as an ARC from Little, Brown and Company.

Monster High, written by Lisi Harrison, alternates between our two main characters, Melody and Frankie. Both girls are starting out at a new school, both like a boy in their new school, and both just want the world to accept them for who they are, the big difference is that Frankie is the great granddaughter of Frankenstein and her parents sewed her together about 15 days ago. Frankie soon discovers that there are more like her, great-grandchildren of famous monsters such as Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Frankie and her new friends all live in hiding, donning disguises so they can live among the "normies." As much as Frankie wants to show the world just what she is, her life and the lives of all her friends and family would be in danger if she did. Melanie is a "normie" who moved to Frankie's town with her family who is obsessed with symmetry and perfection. She starts to fall for the boy next door, who seems to be just a little strange at times...

I found this book to be a fun read, always trying to guess what famous monster Frankie's friends are related to. The ending was somewhat of a disappointment with it leaving me with a cliffhanger and the next book not already out. Other than that, excellent book, and I think teens will really enjoy it.

Oops

So it has been quite a while since I last wrote anything period.... So for now, here is a list of books that I am currently reading and hopefully there will be reviews posted about items soon.
*Fallen by Lauren Kate
*Monster High by Lisi Harrison


*sigh* So many books, so little time. I think it would be ideal if I actually got paid to sit around reading books and telling you all what I think of them, but that is not to be... The working world awaits...
Bis Bald,
~Jessi~

Mockingjay

An excellent ending to an amazing trilogy. This slightly darker novel takes Katniss into District 13 where she heals from the latest Hunger Games. Her body has healed, however her mind is still in disarray. Labeled "mentally disoriented" she is given some leeway, however the president of 13 is getting impatient on Katniss's decision on whether or not she will become the Mockingjay. With her home destroyed, Peeta captured by the capitol, and everyone looking to her for guidance Katniss must make a decision that may cost the lives of her friends and family.

Birth of a Killer by Darren Shan

I recieved this book as an ARC from "Little Brown books for Young Readers"

Birth of a Killer by Darren Shan tells the tale of Larten Crepsley, a young boy who is living in awful conditions, has to fight for his food, and has a horrible sorry excuse for a person as a foreman. One day at work, his foreman goes too far with his beatings and kills one of the few people Larten cares for. At that moment, something snaps in Larten and he kills his foreman sending him on the run for his life. He is not running long before he meets up with Seba, a vampire who takes Larten under his wing making him his assistant, changing Larten's life forever.

Birth of a Killer is a prequel to Shan's "Cirque Du Freak" series, so fans of the series may recognize some of the characters that made appearances in this book (Larten, Mr. Tall, etc...). One aspect of the book I wish the author elaborated more on was the details of the life of an assistant -the chapters would skip years if not decades of the boys life with little detail of his position of assistant. Now I will admit I had not read the series before, so those details could have been laid out in an earlier book.

I found the book to be entertaining at parts, good enough to finish, but not so much that I had to finish it in one night.

Dead in the Family

Dead in the family is Charlain Harris' tenth Sookie Stackhouse novel. This time round Sookie is recovering from the Fae War that killed so many of her friends including her fairy godmother and cousin Claudine. Trouble is brewing with Eric's maker and brother coming to town, and to make matters worse a dead body ends up on her land.
Once again, Harris fails to impress me with her characters. I distinctly recall a fight where death is immediate and all Sookie can say is 'Don't kill Claude he's my family and I don't have much of that left.' I could not feel the terror that Sookie should have been feeling, I felt like a bystander which is not the reading experience I want. But I will continue to read her books even if the emotional connection to the characters are flatter than Stanley.

Cry of the Icemark review

Cry of the Icemark is the story of young Thirrin, a warrior princess to the land of Icemark. Shortly after her 14th birthday, she is officially made heir to the throne in the case of her father's death. Soon after, an army from the south begins to invade north towards Icemark hoping to overtake the small land and claim it as its own. After her father's brave death in battle Thirrin is then faced with the large responsibility of Queen. Knowing she cannot defeat the invading army she reaches out to the most unlikely sources for allies involving the Wolf-folk, the King and Queen of the Vampires, and the Snow Leopards.
This book has the coming of age quality that one would look for in a young adult novel, Thirrin tends to be very unsure of herself at times stating that she hopes people don't notice that she's making this up as she goes. Along with Thirrin is a Warlock who is her age, her Royal Advisor, and must face his decision of turning to the light or the dark. I found the battle scenes quite vivid, and the tension between technology and the unknown thought-provoking. Overall, I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it either.

My Fair Lazy

Jen Lancaster does it again, creating a piece of work that leaves us laughing so hard we almost pee our pants *and some of you actually did, but that will just be between us ;-)* We take a journey with Jen in her effort to get "cultured" reading her take on various plays some even including n-a-k-e-d people, her attempts of eating the world, and the hunt for a house. Some of my favorite chapters include RATINMYHOUSE! and of course the Thundercats. With her snarky wit, her footnotes, and her partners in crime, Jen Lancaster is a must read for everyone who loves to laugh.

Yup...

Well, it's official... as of May 9th, 2010 I graduated with my Masters Degree in Library Science.. yay me!

My life through Dewey

For those who are librarians or even frequent library users, you will be familiar with the Dewey system and therefore will understand this entry. Others.... well you can try and research it, but it is probably not worth the trouble. I'm just telling you a little about myself...

My name is Jessi (929.44), I was born in April (133.52). I work in a (020) and have two pets, Cassie (636.7) and Millie (595.7). My hobbies include (635), (004), (011.73), and trying to (641) I also love to (910.2). I drive a (629.28722). I studied (371) at (378.73). I studied 7 years in (433.2421). I am not very good at (796) or (641. 5). My guilty pleasure is (791) gossip. I really need to have a better (613.25) and do more (613.7). Currently my greatest worry is never (618.2) because I am having issues with (618.11) and my (612.62) is messed up. I love (792) and really like (813-818). I am absolutely useless at (646.72). And am currently trying to (748.94) because we just recently (728).

This is me, my life through Dewey.... It's random and sporadic, but it's me. I came up with this entry last night, and couldn't stop thinking about it. Ha ha it's like a librarian mad lib :)
Bis Bald
Jessi

School, Lancaster, and Hamilton

So I just finished 2 summer classes Management and Electronic Materials for kids. I got an A- in Management and a 93.25% in Electronic Materials which apparently equals out to.... a B+! I sometimes wonder in what world does a 93% equal a B+? *rolls eyes*
Now I'm in the Youth Services class which is pretty awesome already. There are only like 4 people in my class so it's going to be real fun! The teacher (Beth) is super awesome *Yes, I said super* She's really excited about what she does, which makes class much more fun... I've had classes where the professor doesn't really care about what they do, and you can tell it...
I'm done with my degree in May, so the end is in sight.
It's been a while since I did a book review, so here is one for ya, it's even non-fiction.

Jen Lancaster "Pretty In Plaid"

This is Jen's 4 memoir, in this book she describes her life using her fashion as the time line, with items such as the Girl Scout Uniform to the golden sorority Lavaliere, Jen keeps you laughing non-stop. I have a special place in my heart for Jen because she lived in Huntington, the hometown I am from. She also went to Purdue, so I look for the familiar places she talks about in her books(Harry's Chocolate Shop). Although I did find it funny that she referred to it as "Cow Town" because there are a lot of farmers in my community. Jen does not disappoint in this book, in fact she is getting better and better the more she writes.

Let's do one more, this one will be fiction.

Laurell K. Hamilton "Skin Trade"

Anita finds herself in Las Vegas in this book, looking for the psycho super strong serial killer vampire that she was after in a previous book. With her lovers back at St. Lewis, Anita fights to control her audre, gain the respect of the men on the LVPD, and keep her wear-animals *particularly the wear-tigers* under control. I will say right now that this is different than the books she has been putting out lately. The biggest is the sex, what feels like for the past 5 books she has written there were very discriptive sex scenes where you have to skip pages at a time to get to the actual plot; this is not the case in this novel. You actually get to read about the plot as opposed to the other stuff. Many of the main characters are sitting this book out, you don't hear from Richard at all, and you only get to hear Jean-Claude talk to Anita on the phone. An old favorite that comes up is Edward, and the unfortunate appearance of the very creepy Olaf. This was a very good book, and it reminds me of Hamilton's earlier Anita Blake novels, which is a wonderful thing.

-JB-