Catching Fire; The Hunger Games- By Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire is the next book from the series The Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta have survived the Hunger Games but now they are in even more danger. Districts are whispering rebellion and a huge surprise is coming on the Hunger Games Quarter Quell, one that can decides if a rebellion is truly starting. Escapees of districts carry the signature of Katniss, her pin that she entered the arena with. My favorite part is when Katniss discovers the escapees in the forest and how she helps them and gives them her food. 

Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex- By Eoin Colfer

Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex is when Artemis Fowl discovers he wants to save the world from global warming. But this is stopped when one of Foaly's space probes comes back to Earth to destroy one of the Fairies major cities, Atlantis. The fairies need Artemis's help but Artemis has attracted one of the fairy peoples diseases, Atlantis Complex. Hundreds of fairies will drown if the space probe isn't stopped, my favorite part is when Artemis awakens and how he rambles of secret birthmarks and magic rocks.

Max; Maximum Ride-By James Patterson

The book Max is when Max's mother gets kidnapped to a particular ransom, stop saving the world. In their mission to save Dr Martinez, the flock join the navy and go swimming thousands of meters under water. James Patterson has definitely kept the story alive with this new twist and how Angel starts becoming less angelic then her name stats. My favorite part is when Max discovers a new power with Fang and how that small power almost made some human friends have heart attacks.

The Final Warning; Maximum Ride-By James Patterson

The Final Warning is when Max and the flock set out to start Max's mission, saving the world. Starting in Antarctica where they help some scientists with their research about Global Warming but a powerful ex-experiment learns about the flock and plans a auction in the middle of a hurricane. James Patterson is starting to weave a moral in to the book which is in a way lessening my enjoyment of the book. My favorite part is when Max and the flock are fed just before the auction and how they react to what is on their plates. :)

Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports; Maximum Ride- By James Patterson

Saving the World and other Extreme Sports is when Max and the flock is captured by The School but one of them is missing. In the escape from The School, Max invites Ari to escape with them. This doesn't go unnoticed by the rest of the flock, Fang gets angry and forces the flock to split in half. They go their separate ways, Max Saving the World and Fang recruiting an army. Max gets into trouble and finds out who her mother is and she is not happy. James Patterson twists the plot in unexpected ways, my favorite part is when Max gets told who her mother is and how she reacts to this information.

Angel Experiment; Maximum Ride- By James Patterson

The Angel Experiment is about 6 special kids and their fight against their creators. Max is the main charactor and her flock consisting of 5 other special kids, they have a secret that makes them 98% human and 2% bird. They have wings and their on the run against Erasers (half mutant, bloodthirsty wolves) and the whitecoats. When Angel is kidnapped Max and the rest of the flock set of to their birth place 'the School'. Its a great book where obviously James Patterson has done his research and it shows anything can happen. My favorite part is when Max gets the Voice in her head and how everyone thinks that she has gone nuts!

Review: The Sisters Grimm #3- The Problem Child by Michael Buckley

I found this book to be an extremely interesting one by Michael Buckley, he seems to be doing a similar thing to J.K Rowling who made the characters and problems progress with the age of the readers they were attracting. The Problem Child showed the scary side to fairy tales ad I found it quite daring for Buckley to raise the issues of mental health in a children's book, but he is able to talk about it appropriately and sensitively.

Sabriana is still struggling to come to terms with losing their parents and is trying to escape with her sister from their Grandmothers world which is full of peculiar and terrifying characters. Reading this book made me laugh, gasp and shout out loud like other of Michael Buckley's books.


I think Buckley is a magnificent writer who is able to re-invent fairy tale characters and tell an unbelievably captivating story about a family struggling to reunite which causes many complications, many of which arise when they try harder to hold onto each other.


I love how Buckley is trying to give the Grimm family the happily ever after their looking for, which is something everybody is able to relate to.

Review: The Sisters Grimm #2- The Unusual Suspects by Michael Buckley

Michael Buckley was able to make the sequel better then his first! This book was full of intense scenes and action packed moments that either made laugh till me belly ached or hide my head under the covers in horror.

I love how Buckley took his time to make each character unique and have many qualities and characteristics that people can relate to, such as it is understandable for Sabrina, [the protagonist] to be angry and frustrated over how helpless she feels to rescue her parents.

I like how Buckley is able to incorporate lessons about not judging another person, in this case Everafters, because they are different from you. Buckley does not go overboard on his "don't-judge-a-person-by-their-cover" lesson but rather subtly adds it in, making it something readers stop and think about after finishing the book.

An annoying thing about Buckley's writing is that ALL of his books end in cliffhangers, making waiting for his next book to come out miserable but then again I guess from my growing obsession with this series shows what a brilliant writer Michael Buckley is and how he is able to reach children and young adults.

Review: The Sisters Grimm #1- The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley

I love the plot of this series by Michael Buckley, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, who are famous for their fairy tales: Hansel and Gretel, Rupunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella, Snow White and many more. The brothers ancestors are in control of a town occupied by fairy tale characters, from fairy tales such as the Brothers Grimm's, Hans Christian Andersen's, Lewis Carroll's, L. Frank Baum's, Rudyard Kipling's and many more. 


In this magical series fairy tale characters, who prefer to be called "Everafters" used to coexist with humans, but since then they have been exiled to a small town in America. The Grimm family is still around, monitoring the Everafters and suspicious crimes in the area, only when the Grimm family leave will the town's curse be lifted and the Everafters can escape...

Of course this sounds totally bogus to the recently orphaned siblings Sabrina and her younger sister Daphne, when they are sent to live with their unusual grandmother whom the girls were told had died years ago. This and her Grandmother's crazy stories causes  Sabrina to go against Granny Grimm declaring her as a fraud and a lunatic. 

It is confusing because Buckley seems to be jumping from children to Young Adult genre, this creates scenes that seem out of place, some characters even seeming vicious, especially when Buckley seems to be avoiding writing about violence. Buckley seems uncertain of his audience and his own style-which changes throughout the narrative making it at time frustrating to read and enjoy. 


Overall, the story reads more like a setup for future books rather than an actual story that can stand alone, making the sisters' future adventures more enjoyable to read.

Review: The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Although this book is not fast paced or logical it is able to make readers stop and think about many things, which I thought was due to mostly the brilliant writing by Audrey Niffenegger. This is a book that leaves you constantly thinking about many different scenes in the book for days after you've finished the book. This book has many unique and different ideas that it was an incredible read and something out of the ordinary it left me holding my breathe till I was blue in the face for many scenes.


The book is basically about a man, Henry who involuntarily time travels, he is never aware when this will occur but when it does he is drawn towards significant events and people who will come into his life. This book tells a very complicated love story and is able to not fall for the cheesy unrealistic scenes and lines that many other romantic books have. It tells a story of a deep enduring love that comes across so much hardship and heartache and is able to show both sides of what is going on for the couple and how Henry's condition severely affects their relationship. Overall I found the novel to be powerful and capturing, a novel that I don't think I'll ever be able to forget.

The Red Queen (The Cousins' War #2) by Philippa Gregory

The Red Queen is the lead up to the Tutor dynasty, it follows Margaret Beaufort the Countess of Richmond, who was the mother of Henry VII. Margaret is a huge believer in god and would pray night and day if her mother would allow it, she even develops "saint knees" [hard scuffed knees from kneeling to pray a lot.] 

Margaret was convinced from since she was a child that she was chosen by God to do great things, like Joan of Arc. When she is forced to marry a man twice her age when she was 14 she bears her only child, Henry Tudor. After the difficult birth that went for three days she was unable to conceive another child. After having her son she became convinced that God had granted her the destiny to put her son on the throne. 

I immensely enjoy this novel, Gregory made quite an achievement in this novel by taking an unlikable character and able to give the audience mixed feelings or sympathy and hatred. ret is depicted as a fiend who does everything but cackle, "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!" I found this an entertaining and amusing read about a woman who's been somewhat neglected in historical fiction.  

Artemis Fowl and the Opal Deception- By Eoin Colfer

Artemis, Butler and Juliet all have had their memories of the fairies wiped from their minds in the last book. But it was best with their memories with them, Opal a Evil Genius has escaped and has started her revenge on all of the creatures that helped with her capture in her last evil plot. Its a great book but Eoin Colfer is slowly changing Artemis, with this you want to read the next book. My favorite part is when Opal escaped but how she was to clever for her own good and how she was happy to be taken away from the LEP.

Review: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (Gallagher Girls #2) by Ally Carter

Cammie is back and gets into even more mischief in the sequel to I'd Tell You I Love You, bur Then I'd Have to Kill You, it has a similar plot with boy trouble but is still light and a great chic-lit book! I liked how in this book Ally Carter introduces a boys school of spies and makes them socially interact with the girls, catching them all off guard since they have limited contact with boys. 


In this book the Gallagher Academy, is hosting a visit from a covert training center for boys. Soon after the boys' arrival, though, everything goes dangerously wrong a series of security breaches are discovered at the academy. Worse yet, Cammie is being blamed for the penetration. With the school's top-secret status at risk, the Gallagher Girls have to work quickly to save their beloved school. An annoying thing about this book is that I guessed pretty much all of the events before hand, so yes this book is predictable but still a worthy read!

Review: Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot

Weird thing about this trilogy is that I read them backwards starting from the 3rd, trust me it was not intentional but I read the third one a few years back and I started retracing my steps of this story to the very beginning. Even though Meg Cabot uses the basic plot of a small town girl, who is a recent gradate, has recently lost quite a bit of weight and falls in love with a guy over seas who turns out to be quite a jerk.

I love how the character didn't stay in one place the whole time, they moved from their small town to England, to France [it turns out to be quite an interesting trip!] Although I found this book [trilogy in total] completely predictable, Lizzie [the main character] as you can tell from the title really can not keep her mouth shut, she is not called Lizzie Broadcasting System LBS, for nothing. Although this book seems far away from reality with it's obnoxious characters, it at times is quirky and humorous, a good book to read when you can not be bothered getting fully into a novel and understanding it since the plot inevitable. Although some people might find this mushy and completly predictabled plot entertaining I how ever found it not exciting but at times humorous. 

Review: The Gallagher Girls I'd Tell You I Love You, bur Then I'd Have to Kill You: Book 1# by Ally Carter

"I'd Tell You I Love You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You" is a fun and light book about a school for female spies. I love the idea behind the book and was really excited to get started on it and entertained me with many chuckles. I love how this book showed girls to be strong and independent, which is not something that I come across a lot in YA books, one of the aspects which made me continue to read this series. While at times I loved Cammie [main character] other times I just wanted to shake her for being so silly but through the book her character does develop. At times the book did drag but overall it is a light and funny book which had a lot of girl power behind it!


The book follows Cammie Morgan how is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, which claims to be a school for geniuses but it's really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in several different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl. This book follows Cammie who can never let this boy know who she really is and seems to be able to endanger herself and friends all the way!

Review: Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover by Ally Carter

Unlike the beginning of the other two Gallagher Girl books the danger is right at the beginning, the girls and all under a lot of pressure and don't seem to rely on each other as much. While the first two books are light and funny it all a sudden becomes serious what these girls are being trained to do, the dangers that they will have to face. Cammie has to face a brutal reality at the beginning, in which she realises what a life as a spy will mean, the dangers she will have to face and more. The third book in the Gallagher Girl series is dark, urgent and has no more playful cute moments between Zach and Cammie, where serious questions need to be asked between all the girls and the fact they have to all realise that they will always be in danger, they are spies.


I have to admit, these books are not epic like Harry Potter by J.K Rowling, or as romantic as The Notebook or as interesting as The Lord of the Rings but they have there own appeal, a mean of escape from a girls boring every day life [something I'm sure everyone can relate to.] They are a worthy read though and I would definitely recommend them!

Review: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

I read Inkheart a few years ago and didn't think much of it but I decided to re-read it again and I still don't think much of it. It was a nice story, about a girl [Meggie] who's father repairs books and who's mother disappeared nine years ago. After a mysterious visitor shows up at their house, Meggie finds out that her father has a secret, he can read characters out of books. Nine years ago he was reading aloud and read a terrible villian out of the book and at the same time read Meggie's mother into the book. A rule: if something is read out then into this world then something must be given back in replacement.  In the story Meggie and her father try to defeat the villian and  get her mother back. 


I thought it was a wonderful idea, really creative and new but it wasn't particularly well accomplished. What really irked me was the lack of character development, I didn't feel like I really knew the characters. For such a long novel I would of expected a fantastic description of everything but sadly most of it is left to the imagination. I honestly felt like the novel dragged. It needed to move more quickly and have more action. It had a fantastic ending that left me wanting to read the next one but I am not looking forward to another excruciating long novel that is extremely slow paced.