Avalon High

I cannot begin to tell you how much I enjoyed reading this book. First of all, I loved the King Arthur tale that was woven into this story. How Will is really reincarnated as King Arthur and Ellie is well I won't tell you that, it would ruin everything. The secrets behind the characters in this story is amazing. I absolutely love how Meg Cabot built this story keeping the tale of King Arthur true and the story's pace going well along with it too. It just matched perfectly, and instead of giving the story a sad or some other type of ending. She gave a good one and one that went well with the story too.
Will keeps true to personality of King Arthur. He is a valedictorian, Quarterback of the football team, and well loved by his family and peers. He lives the perfect life. Not only that, he is extremely kind and thoughtful, but Will's life is turned  upside when Ellie enters Avalon High. He finds himself being able to talk to Ellie more often than he ever did. He is able to see how he doesn't want to do the things his father is wanting him to do. He is able to look more closely at life and deal with his problems well too. Will finds himself unable to keep away from Ellie. He is able to talk to her about things he can't share with others. Will is unlike the others, yet so much like them that its scary.
I cannot begin to tell you how much you should read this book now. This is one book that you will finish in a day if you love romantic, medieval mixed with the modern world type of stories. Also the film doesn't even hold a grain against the book. The book is 101% better than the movie. Avalon High is going to give you a high that will leave you floating on top of cloud nine.

Generation Dead

I cried at the end of this book. I cried heavily. I couldn't stop either. The fact that Adam said I love you just before he passed away (and then came back to life) got me all worked up.

It was a pretty typical story with the jocks being all airhead and stuffy with one slight difference. Adam who is a part of the football team. He was different because he loved Phoebe who is a goth, and not many football players go for girls like Phoebe. Phoebe is pale who loves anything related to death, sorrow, and darkness. What gets interesting is that Adam has the hots for her. He is always with her. This story at the end brings Phoebe and Adam together with sadness and death. Both characters are interesting in their own ways and you would have to read the book to get a more in depth look at the relationship between Phoebe and Adam.

Death plays a deep role in the book. The fact that the death of Adam might bring Adam and Phoebe together plays a huge role towards the end of the book, but it leaves us hanging at the end. We will have to read Kiss of Life to see what happens to Adam and Phoebe. This story is interesting because love is bringing certain teenagers back from the dead. They aren't quite living but they aren't dead either. As these teenagers are coming back to life, there are some people who oppose the idea that the dead are coming back to life. This issue leads to some unrest. These people who come back from the dead live their undead lives either being hated or loved. Some are getting burned and dying the second time and those that die the second time remain dead(I don't want to give too much away because then it would defeat the purpose of reading the book).  The author, Daniel Waters, writes a story that gets deep inside our souls and helps us ask ourselves what death really means. Does death mean a new beginning or is it the end of everything?

Emily the Strange: Stranger and Stranger

Emily is real strange. She's a girl who loves darkness, spying, cats, writing in her diary, coding, skateboarding, and playing her guitar. It's kind of strange combination of hobbies for a girl like Emilie. She is anything but boring. Maybe anti-social, but not boring. She doesn't like humans. Real strange for a human right? Emily is really clever for her age.  Maybe too clever for her age. To manage a cloning, duplication as the book worded, on her own and not to mention making her golem is something. Boy, she really can be dangerous and a handful. I found the character interesting and spunky especially for her age. At first, I was blown away with the character. I thought, "wow, what a girl. I kind of wish I was like her." Well not the black wearing, boring, skateboarding kind, but the keep away from humans kind, but then again life would be boring without people, right? Then when the duplication experiment succeeds, she finds her evil twin too much to handle. Then she starts living in a sewer in fear that her evil twin would kill her and that is the evil twins intention anyways, but that threw me off the rocker. I lost a little interest once she started to cower out of fear. I found that the real Emily should have come up with a clever plan to get herself out of this one instead of hiding. I understand that the hiding thing is important, but it lasted too long in the book. I was kind of expecting more, but in the end I was happy that she was able to get rid of the evil twin and move away since she had caused a lot of trouble in the new town already. Overall the character did bring everything to a good ending, so I'm happy.

I found the plot half way through the book boring because I wanted the real Emily to come up with a good plan instead of hiding from her evil twin. I expected more from this story since Emily was interesting. The beginning was great. I loved knowing everything about Emily and wished I could do some of the things she could do, but the plot became too boring for after she runs away from her evil twin. The hiding thing lasted way too long, and that made the plot slow down alittle, but then it picked up after Venus Fang Fang started to train so I wasn't too disinterested in the story. Nevertheless, the plot does need work in the book, but it ended well so I don't have too many complaints.

This book is worth reading because Emily, the real Emily, will leave you with more than just her evil twin. This book will leave you awestruck, laughing and pondering way after you are done with Emily the Strange Stranger and Stranger. Perhaps, you might walk away with wanting to be a skateboarding, black wearing, trap making, diary writing, and guitar playing Emily the Strange.

Isabel taking Wing

Isabel shows us that taking wing isn't always about stepping outside of the boundaries but taking responsibility especially when people need it the most. She reminds us that anyone can do anything. You don't have to worry about whether you're a boy or a girl. Freedom and adventure is something anyone can have whether you're a boy or a girl. 

Isabel grows up with an older sister, a younger sister, a couple of maids, and a father. Isabel did not like living the life of a girl. She did not like staying at home, sewing(forgot what term the book used), and doing the household choirs. Isabel dreamed of freedom and adventure. She wanted to go out and do the things boys do, so one day she goes to the Theatre with one of the maids she had befriended. Isabel becomes awestruck with acting and the Theatre. She daydreams about being on stage. But when her father hears about her late night adventures, he sends her off to live with her aunt, Aunt de Vere, who is her mother's sister. On her way, she gets robbed and the driver is killed. She's left alone in the forest. Then there in the forest she discovers the actors from the Theatre, so she travels with them. There she finds out that the life of acting is not her life, so she goes back home. The actors drop her off at her Aunt De Vere's mansion. And the surprising thing is that becomes very happy. There she learns about the uses of herbs and how a girls life doesn't have to about sewing and choirs. It can be more fulfilling and she also learns just how much strength female's can have.

Annie Dalton writes a splendid novel about a girl living in the late sixteenth century and how they lived their lives. She recreates the desire that the girls from that century might have had and puts all those desires into Isabel. A girl who wants a little bit more freedom and a desire to her life to the fullest without worrying about the fact that she is a girl. Annie Dalton creates a character that takes wing and brings everyone along for a ride.

Hush!

Rarely do I ever find a book where I enjoy it part of the way and get bored half way through, then get excited towards the end. Those excitement waves in books takes the readers on a roller coaster ride where the readers stops somewhere where in the middle and falls flat on their rears. The reader looks around and asks, what just happened? This is one of those books. The author takes the reader on an excitement roller coaster ride and she drops them off somewhere. That's how I felt when I finished the book.
This book starts out with Melkorka at her home in Eire. She is an Irish princess who thus far has lead a life of luxury and happiness. Her parents had given her and her sisters the happiness most children in her time didn't get. Then one day when her father hears that they are going to be attacked by Vikings, he sends Melkorka and her younger sister, Bridget, off to a place of safety but on their way the the sisters gets kidnapped. This begins Melkorka's life of silence and the ordeals she has to go through to survive on her own.
I found her writing enriching and wholesome. Some of the images and references she makes to her being pregnant was wonderful. She also makes nice references to how her being hush has actually gotten her far in life, and led her to leading a nice adventure in life where things could have been worse for her if she had talked, but since she remained quiet things turned out well for her. Her being quiet and beautiful lead her to being loved by a nice man who then, in the authors note, made her become his slave because his wife did not approve of their relationship. Things got worse for her when he heard her talking too, but I won't say too much since I don't know who has read this book, but the information is available online.
Melkorka's silence and obedience leads her to having a comfortable life as a slave. She also has a good heart and the ability to show her goodness through her good nature.We learn that there are times when we should be silent. It is not good to be silent all the time, but it should be incorporated in life. Donna Jo Napoli writes a book where she teaches the readers that 'Silence is Golden.'

Into the Woods

Somehow twisting up fairy tales into a whole new braid never gets old especially when the braid involves a mixture of Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Hansel and Gretel, A bit of the Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White. Lyn Gardner writes a fictional story with action, mystery, a little bit of romance, and adventure leaving the readers thinking what other fairy tales does the author have in store for them when they are reading the book. Lyn Gardner takes the fairy tales and blends them together into a fictional story that readers will not say, “not another fairy tale”

The story opens up with the Storm, middle sister, and Aurora, older sister, living with their parents and enjoying a semi-happy life. Aurora does most of the housework since their mother really never does anything but sleep, look at herself in the mirror, and eat chocolate truffles in bed. Zella, mother, is truly a neglectful mother. She has never been a mother to her children. Their father is always studying and going out on expeditions. The girls mother dies during labor leaving the family behind with another girl. She also leaves Storm with a pipe saying, “Look after it, Storm...It’s not a trinket. Whatever you do, don’t let it fall into the wrong hands.” After their mother passed away, the girls father never changed. He still went about his routine and never thought to look once at his daughters. The girls asked him one day what they should name their baby sister and he said name her anything. Never giving what he said a thought, the girls named their baby sister, Anything. Soon their father embarks on another expedition leaving the three girls behind by themselves. For some time, things went smoothly. Everything was great and Any was growing up fine too, but one day Dr. DeWilde enters Eden End, their home, and he’s not here to be their guardian. He’s here for the Pipe. The pipe that Storm’s mother told her to not let it fall into anyone’s hands. This starts the adventure with more fairy tales and also we start asking ourselves just how sweet and safe our home is.

Storm is a brave and tenacious girl who loves being outdoors and staying active. She is completely unlike her sister, Aurora. Aurora loves to stay home, cook and clean. And Any is a brilliant child. She taught herself how to read before Aurora could teach her. Aurora is constantly challenged in the story. She has to constantly step outside of her comfort zone if she wants to save Any and bring her back from Dr. DeWilde. Storm, on the other hand, has to take the lead and do the dangerous things, but she doesn’t mind it because it makes her feel important. It seems like the roles are switched when the adventure begins. Storm takes the lead many times and Aurora sits back; even though, Aurora is the older sister and should be taking the lead. Nevertheless, the bonds between the sisters get stronger once they realize just how important their relationship is with each other.

Storm and Aurora are plunged into one dangerous thing after another. Lyn Gardner also writes vivid descriptions to create the whole picture while keeping the writing style simple yet challenging with the length of the book for the children. She adds dimensions to the plot and a brilliant twist at the end of the story. The author shows us how important the bond between sisters are especially when no guardian is present in their lives.

Into the Woods stays true to its name. The girls are plunged into the woods after Dr. DeWilde who shows up at Eden End. Lyn Gardner writes an action, adventure novel giving the fairy tales a twist that will have the readers reading well into the night.

Wish I knew!

I have a question for you all. Does anyone read my blog? If you do, let me know what you think about it and how you feel about it at Chandkatukda85@gmail.com. This will give me motivation as to whether I should write more frequently knowing I have readers.


P.S. Please don't say I should write regardless of whether I have readers or not. I say this its because I want to know whose reading my blog and what you think of it.