Twilight: Graphic Novel Style

I'm kinda getting really excited about this! I like the fact that Edward and Bella do not look exactly like Kristen Stewart & Rob Pattinson. And I like the fact that Stephenie is highly involved. I was wondering what she's been up to...

To read my reviews of other graphic novels, click the "graphic novels" tag below.

The Lightning Thief Trailer

The first trailer for The Lightning Thief is here! What do you think?

Mortal Instruments Trilogy

Alysa here! A good friend of mine has been raving about a trilogy by Cassandra Clare. I've heard the author's name, and asked Jenni to do a guest review of the series for us. Jenni and I are both avid Twilight and Harry Potter fans, if you couldn't tell...

When I started to read City of Bones, I had no idea how intense the series was going to be. I read all three books in a matter of days because I couldn't put any of them down. There’s a part of me that wishes I would’ve read this series as each book was published, so I could wait and let the adrenaline coursing through my body ebb a bit. But, then there’s an even bigger part of me that’s glad I didn’t have to wait between each book as it would’ve been torture, even more so than waiting for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or Breaking Dawn.

The Mortal Instruments trilogy (consisting of City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass) is a young adult urban fantasy set in New York City. The Shadowhunters use runes to give them power to keep the world safe by defeating downworlders--non-humans or non-Shadowhunters. Mundanes, or humans, can't see Shadowhunters. However, one evening, Clary's thrown into the Shadowhunter world when she witnesses what she thinks is a murder. That same evening, she's attacked by a demon when she returns home to find that her mother has disappeared. She must enlist the help of Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks like an angel and acts a lot like a stuck up jerk, to find her mother.

Each book was just as intense as the previous one. However, I think the stories became more intense as I went along because I knew the characters and I was more interested in what happened to them. The feelings the characters were going through along with the intense situations occurring around them made each book so action-packed that I felt like I needed an inhaler to help slow down my breathing and a sedative to relax my nerves.

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to explain the intensity of this series to people who ask me what the books are about and this is what I’ve come up with. Imagine the frustration with the love triangle situation in Eclipse and add in the suspense and edge-of-your-seat feeling from the last three Harry Potter books, or even The Hunger Games. Unlike the Twilight Saga or Harry Potter, the books don’t deal with just one of those situations at a time; they deal with both intense situations throughout the entire series and it just escalates with each one! I was literally captivated by the story within the first chapter of each book.

City of Glass is probably the best ending to a series I’ve ever read. The story or ending didn’t feel contrived. It didn’t feel like it was forced to go a particular way to meet the author’s expectations. The characters grew and they still acted like I expected them too. Most of the conflict was resolved, but some of it was left open for future possibilities. The ending wasn’t too fluffy or over-the-top, yet it left me feeling satisfied. I’m very pleased with how things turned out and I can’t wait to read the stories again in the future.

Wow! It sounds intense! I've never needed an inhaler in my life, but I'll be ready when I pick these up, Jenni! Thanks for the review. Anybody else already read these?

The Actor and the Housewife

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

Mormon housewife Becky Jack is happily married and pregnant with her fourth when, on a trip to California, she meets him. Felix Callahan. That dreamboat, that heartthrob, that irresistible star who played the lead in her favorite girls-night movie. They don't hit it off right away, but as their encounters become more frequent everyone wonders what roles Felix and Becky will play in each others' lives.

I don't want to say too much, but I loved this one. It is indubitably Shannon Hale's best so far. And I REALLY like her other stuff. But this one is just more. More than I thought it would be, more funny, more heart-wrenching, more thought-provoking, more romantic.

It would be fantastic for a book club. Tons of interesting discussions to be had here. Highly recommended.

The Keeper of the Bees

The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter

No, this isn't the one you've probably heard about. The one that is so popular with "bees" in the title right now is The Secret Life of Bees. The Keeper of the Bees, on the other hand, was written in 1925.

The book follows Jamie Louis Macfarlane -- a wounded serviceman who finds his way on a grand adventure that makes him a better man and brings hope and love back into his life. Strong Christian themes run through the book, which isn't a surprise considering the time in which it was written. And it was an interesting study for me to see all of the ways that political correctness has changed in the last hundred years.

More than that, though, Keeper of the Bees is superbly written. It's so eloquent that even the boring parts were riveting to me. I found myself thinking, "I can't stop now, he's looking around the house!" So when things really pick up, when there's action, I couldn't stop for anything.

I found it shelved in the Juvenile section of my library, and am a bit mystified. Sure, there is no objectionable material in it; but, noawadays books are often shelved by the protagonist's age, and Jamie is a full grown man. He does have a great relationship with the Little Scout, but the story is certainly Jamie's. Anyway, I highly recommend this one.

Pendragon: The Soldiers of Halla

Post by Ashley
My husband and I both finished reading this one. Unlike him, however, I've actually read the whole series---all ten books of it. He just read the ninth and then this one, the tenth. But we were agreed on our general impressions of the book: Cool concept, some holes here and there, really confusing and basically disappointing epilogue, but generally a fun read.

The series follows the adventures of Bobby Pendragon, a kid who's told when he's twelve that he's a Traveler, an individual chosen from his planet to try to maintain the balance in Halla---basically the universe. He travels through flumes (something like wormholes) from territory to territory (world to world), trying to foil the evil mastermind plots of one Saint Dane, a bad guy bent on causing all of the territories (ten in all) to collapse into chaos and thereby bring about the downfall of all of Halla. He does this by exploiting the worst propensities of mankind---pride, violence, greed, hatred, envy, etc. So Bobby and his team of Travelers, of whom he becomes the leader, along with his two best friends from his youth, Courtney and Mark, form the heroic team who combine their efforts in this final book to bring about the complete downfall of Saint Dane and the restoration of peace to Halla.

There were some unexpected twists and turns in the book, which was fun. That's something D. J. MacHale is good at---twisting the plot in directions you didn't expect. The problem is, you come to anticipate that there will be a twist. A bad thing? Possibly. I wish the series had been condensed a bit. Some of the books seemed a bit superfluous. A semi-important thing happens in each book that leads toward the ending, but I think some of those could have been doubled up and the series shortened. I was about ready for it to be finished around book 7, but since I'd already gotten that far, I had to keep reading to the end of the series. Book 8 was particularly hard to slog through. Anyway. They are generally fun books, and I'd recommend them to youngish teenage boys and girls. I'm kinda glad the series is done now, though. On to the next!

Hey, what's going on?

My posts have been fewer and farther between recently -- mainly due to the death of the morning nap. Yes, the toddler (he's so not a baby anymore...) is changing things up around here.

I'm in the middle of a couple of books -- Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A collection of Zen and pre-Zen writings; and The Bee Keeper by Gene Stratton-Porter. I'm liking them both, and I'll surely review them, but it may be a while yet.

image from hilarious post here.