Big Read - Finished 100! - Heather

Well dear reader, I finished my 100 books in September. Yay! Now it was the summer and I will confess to reading very trashy books (my opinion) in the summer, so I won't bore you with those. I will show you some of the less trashy books;)

The Last Free Cat by Jon Blake
This is a young adult book, I did not like it.




Unusual Creatures by Michael Hearst
With humor and flair, Michael Hearst introduces the reader to a wealth of extraordinary lifeforms in this nonfiction book. Which animal can be found at the top of Mt Everest, 10,000 feet under the sea, and in your backyard? Which animal poops cubes? Which animal can disguise itself as a giant crab? These fascinating facts and hundreds more await intrepid readers, amateur zoologists, and anyone who has ever laughed at a funny-looking animal.
Lots of interesting info.

Mage in Black by Jaye Wells
The sequel to Red-Headed Stepchild from USA Today Bestselling author Jaye Wells... Sabina Kane doesn't have the best track record when it comes to family. After all, her own grandmother, the leader of the vampire race, just tried to kill her. When she arrives in New York to meet the mage side of her family, the reunion takes the fun out of dysfunctional. On top of that, the Hekate Council wants to use her as a pawn in the brewing war against the vampires. Her mission will take her into the bowels of New York's Black Light district, entangles her in mage politics, and challenges her beliefs about the race she was raised to distrust. And Sabina thought vampires were bloodthirsty.
Book 2 in the series, I don't think I'll read anymore of them.

Reboot by Amy Tintera
In this fast-paced dystopian thrill ride, perfect for fans of The Hunger Games, Legend, and Divergent, a seventeen-year-old girl returns from death as a Reboot and is trained as an elite crime-fighting soldier . . . until she is given an order she refuses to obey. Wren Connolly died five years ago, only to Reboot after 178 minutes. Now she is one of the deadliest Reboots around . . . unlike her newest trainee, Callum 22, who is practically still human. As Wren tries to teach Callum how to be a soldier, his hopeful smile works its way past her defenses. Unfortunately, Callum's big heart also makes him a liability, and Wren is ordered to eliminate him. To save Callum, Wren will have to risk it all. Wren's captivating voice and unlikely romance with Callum will keep readers glued to the page in Amy Tintera's high-stakes alternate reality.
Young Adult novel, has a sequel coming out in May of 2014. Worth a read.

Looking for Alaska by John Green
 Miles "Pudge" Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave "the Great Perhaps" even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . . After. Nothing is ever the same.
Another young adult novel, it got a lot of press. Meh!

Predator's Gold by Philip Reeve
Tom and Hester are in danger. Pursued by the grim aviators of the Green Storm, they stumble onto the ice city of Anchorage just in time. But Anchorage is not a safe refuge: devastated by plague and haunted by thieves or ghosts, the city is barely lurching along. And savage Huntsmen are closing in. Surrounded by danger, Tom and Hester struggle as jealousy threatens to destroy them and the city. In a desperate bid for survival, the young ruler of Anchorage sets a course for the Dead Continent: America.
Book 2 of 4, young adult novel. It has an interesting premise, worth a read.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
"Remarkable, not-to-be-missed-under-any-circumstances."#151; Entertainment Weekly (Grade A) The Passage meets Ender's Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey. After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the un lucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one. Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up. "Wildly entertaining . . . I couldn't turn the pages fast enough."#151;Justin Cronin, The New York Times Book Review "A modern sci-fi masterpiece . . . should do for aliens what Twilight did for vampires."#151;USAToday.com
Another young adult book, there is also a sequel coming out for this book. I enjoyed it, give it a try.

House of Secrets by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini
Hailed as "a breakneck, jam-packed roller coaster of an adventure" by J. K. Rowling, this New York Times bestseller is the first installment in the explosive tween fantasy series by famed Hollywood director Chris Columbus (of Harry Potter fame) and bestselling author Ned Vizzini (It's Kind of a Funny Story). Siblings Brendan, Eleanor, and Cordelia Walker once had everything they could ever want. But everything changed when Dr. Walker lost his job. Now the family must relocate to an old Victorian house, formerly the home of occult novelist Denver Kristoff--a house that simultaneously feels creepy and too good to be true. By the time the Walkers realize that one of their neighbors has sinister plans for them, they're banished to a primeval forest way off the grid. Bloodthirsty medieval warriors patrol the woods around them, supernatural pirates roam the neighboring seas, and a power-hungry queen rules the land. To survive, the siblings will have to be braver than they ever thought possible--and to fight against their darkest impulses. The key may lie in their own connection to the secret Kristoff legacy. But as they unravel that legacy, they'll discover that it's not just their family that's in danger . . . it's the entire world.
Another young adult book- In my opinion don't waste your time.

Pulse by Patrick Carman
Fans of action-packed sci-fi thrillers such as I Am Number Four and The Maze Runner will love bestselling author Patrick Carman's Pulse, with its epic action scenes and memorable love story. In the year 2051, Faith Daniels discovers that she can move objects with her mind. This telekinetic ability is called a "pulse," and her mysterious classmate, Dylan Gilmore, has the talent, too. In riveting action scenes, Faith demonstrates her ability to use her pulse against a group of telekinesis masters who are so powerful they can flatten their enemies by uprooting streetlights and throwing boulders. But even with her unusual talent, the mind--and the heart - can be difficult to control. If Faith wants to join forces with Dylan and save the world, she'll have to harness the power of both.
Young adult novel, there will definitely be a sequel. I'm not sure where the series is going to go. I liked it, give it a try.

Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith
A wonderful new stand-alone novel from the internationally beloved and bestselling Alexander McCall Smith: a story that explores the nature of love--and trains--through a series of intertwined romantic tales. The rocking of the train car, the sound of its wheels on the rails...there's something special about this form of travel that makes for easy conversation. Which is just what happens to the 4 strangers who meet in Trains and Lovers . As they travel by rail from Edinburgh to London, they entertain one another with tales of how trains have changed their lives. A young, keen-eyed Scotsman recounts how he turned a friendship with a young woman co-worker into a romance by spotting an anachronistic train in an 18th-century painting. An Australian woman shares how her parents fell in love and spent their life together running a railroad siding in the remote Australian Outback. A middle-aged American arts patron sees 2 young men saying goodbye in the station and recalls his youthful crush on another man. And a young Englishman describes how exiting his train at the wrong station allowed him to meet an intriguing woman whom he impulsively invited to dinner--and into his life. Here is Alexander McCall Smith at his most enchanting.
I read everything the Alex writes. 

The Heist by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From Janet Evanovich, #1 bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum novels, and Lee Goldberg, bestselling author and television writer for Monk, comes the first adventure in an electrifying new series featuring an FBI agent who always gets her man, and a fearless con artist who lives for the chase. FBI Special Agent Kate O'Hare is known for her fierce dedication and discipline on the job, chasing down the world's most wanted criminals and putting them behind bars. Her boss thinks she is tenacious and ambitious; her friends think she is tough, stubborn, and maybe even a bit obsessed. And while Kate has made quite a name for herself for the past five years the only name she's cared about is Nicolas Fox--an international crook she wants in more ways than one. Audacious, handsome, and dangerously charming, Nicolas Fox is a natural con man, notorious for running elaborate scams on very high-profile people. At first he did it for the money. Now he does it for the thrill. He knows that the FBI has been hot on his trail--particularly Kate O'Hare, who has been watching his every move. For Nick, there's no greater rush than being pursued by a beautiful woman . . . even one who aims to lock him up. But just when it seems that Nicolas Fox has been captured for good, he pulls off his greatest con of all: He convinces the FBI to offer him a job, working side by side with Special Agent Kate O'Hare. Problem is, teaming up to stop a corrupt investment banker who's hiding on a private island in Indonesia is going to test O'Hare's patience and Fox's skill. Not to mention the skills of their ragtag team made up of flamboyant actors, wanted wheelmen, and Kate's dad. High-speed chases, pirates, and Toblerone bars are all in a day's work . . . if O'Hare and Fox don't kill each other first. Praise for The Heist " The Heist is the perfect title to carry on a trip to the beach. The laugh out loud humor that readers expect from Evanovich is in full force, and Goldberg's crafty and elaborate writing is prominent. . . . Everyone will be eager for the next book in the series." --Associated Press "The action is fast-paced and the writing is first-rate, making The Heist an excellent choice for vacation reading." --Huntington News
This is the start of a new series, it definitely did not have the sparkle that the Stephanie Plum series has.

The Last Word by Lisa Lutz
"The Last Word" is Raymond Chandler meets "Arrested Development." Zany, witty, and full of dark surprises, Lisa Lutz's novel is pure fun and Izzy Spellman, PI, tops the list of 'Fictional Characters I'd Like to Meet for a Bourbon.'" Gillian Flynn, "New York Times" bestselling author of "Gone Girl " The sixth installment of the critically acclaimed, "New York Times" bestselling, Edgar- and Macavity-nominated and Alex Award-winning series by Lisa Lutz, finds our intrepid heroine of the series, Isabel Spellman, PI, at a crossroads. Izzy is used to being followed, extorted, and questioned all occupational hazards of working at her family s firm, Spellman Investigations. Her little sister, Rae, once tailed Izzy for weeks on end to discover the identity of Izzy s boyfriend. Her mother, Olivia, once blackmailed Izzy with photo-graphic evidence of Prom Night 1994. It seemed that Spellman vigilance would dis-sipate after Izzy was fired for breaching client confidentiality, but then Izzy avenged her dismissal by staging a hostile takeover of the company. She should have known better than to think she could put such she-nanigans behind her. In "The Last Word," Izzy s troubles are just beginning. After her takeover of Spellman Investigations, her employees are the fur-thest thing from collegial...and Izzy finds herself struggling to pay the bills. But when she is accused of embezzling from a former client, the ridiculously wealthy Mr. Slayter, the stakes become immense. If Izzy gets indicted, she could lose her PI license and the Spellman family s livelihood, not to mention her own freedom. Is this the end of Izzy Spellman, PI? "The Last Word" is, hands down, the most powerful book in the bestselling, award-nominated Spellman series.
So Sad, the end of the series. Tears and wailing ensued.

Affliction by Laurell K Hamilton
Some zombies are raised. Others must be put down. Just ask Anita Blake. Before now, she would have considered them merely off-putting, never dangerous. Before now, she had never heard of any of them causing human beings to perish in agony. But that's all changed. Micah's estranged father lies dying, rotting away inside from some strange ailment that has his doctors whispering about "zombie disease." Anita makes her living off of zombies--but these aren't the kind she knows so well. These creatures hunt in daylight, and are as fast and strong as vampires. If they bite you, you become just like them. And round and round it goes... Where will it stop? Even Anita Blake doesn't know.
Book number 500 (or it just seems that way). Anita doesn't seem so strong in this one but there is a lot of group action going on.

Doll Bones by Holly Black
A doll that may be haunted leads three friends on a thrilling adventure in this delightfully creepy novel from the "New York Times "bestselling cocreator of the Spiderwick Chronicles. Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they ve been playing one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her. But they are in middle school now. Zach s father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach quits the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she s been having dreams about the Queen and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave. Zach and Alice and Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen s ghost to rest. But nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something more sinister? And if there really is a ghost, will it let them go now that it has them in its clutches?
Juvenile book this time, I liked it but I'm not sure about it's appeal to the younger dudes.

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . . Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell. Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everythingâe"her family, her futureâe"to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter. With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart. From the New York Times bestselling author of Peaches comes a magical and bewitching story of the romance between a fearless heroine and the boy who wouldn't grow up.
Young adult- very good retelling of parts of Peter Pan.

The Arrivals by Melissa Marr
The Arrivals is the second novel for adults by internationally bestselling author Melissa Marr. Chloe walks into a bar and blows five years of sobriety. When she wakes, she finds herself in an unfamiliar world, The Wasteland. She discovers people from all times and places have also arrived there: Kitty and Jack, a brother and sister from the Wild West; Edgar, a prohibition bootlegger; Francis, a one-time hippie; Melody, a mentally unbalanced 1950s housewife; and Hector, a former carnival artist. None know why they arrived there--or if there is way out of a world populated by monsters and filled with corruption. Just as she did in Graveminder, Marr has created a vivid fantasy world that will enthrall. Melissa Marrs The Arrivals is a thoroughly original and wildly imagined tale about making choices in a life where death is unpredictable and often temporary.
Too many loopholes that didn't add up!

Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris
We don't have this book in the library system. It is part of a series. I found them all very enjoyable. You'll have to buy them or put in a request to buy here at the library.








Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire
Another book not in the system. It is a part of a series: October Daye. Fantasy, fae. It is very good. I like Seanan McGuire's writing, worth the read.








The Ocean at the end of the lane by Neil Gaiman
A major new work from "a writer to make readers rejoice" (Minneapolis Star Tribune)e"a moving story of memory, magic, and survival Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettiee"magical, comforting, wise beyond her years "promised to protect him, no matter what. A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.
Ok, I thought it was a bit of a let down.

How the light gets in by Louise Penny
Chief Inspector Gamache returns to Three Pines in the stunning new novel in Louise Penny's award-winning, New York Times bestselling seriesThe #1 New York Times Best Seller "There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard CohenChristmas is approaching, and in Quebec it's a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of blazing hearths. But shadows are falling on the usually festive season for Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Most of his best agents have left the Homicide Department, his old friend and lieutenant Jean-Guy Beauvoir hasn't spoken to him in months, and hostile forces are lining up against him. When Gamache receives a message from Myrna Landers that a longtime friend has failed to arrive for Christmas in the village of Three Pines, he welcomes the chance to get away from the city. Mystified by Myrna's reluctance to reveal her friend's name, Gamache soon discovers the missing woman was once one of the most famous people not just in North America, but in the world, and now goes unrecognized by virtually everyone except the mad, brilliant poet Ruth Zardo.As events come to a head, Gamache is drawn ever deeper into the world of Three Pines. Increasingly, he is not only investigating the disappearance of Myrna's friend but also seeking a safe place for himself and his still-loyal colleagues. Is there peace to be found even in Three Pines, and at what cost to Gamache and the people he holds dear? How the Light Gets In is the ninth Chief Inspector Gamache Novel from Louise Penny.
Very good, tied up all the loose ends so is there more? and where will it go?

The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson
The third book in Rae Carsons award-winning The Girl of Fire and Thorns fantasy trilogy. Elisa, the seventeen-year-old sorcerer-queen, will travel into an unknown enemys realm to win back her true love, save her kingdom, and uncover the final secrets of her destiny. Veronica Roth called The Girl of Fire and Thorns "intense, unique . . . definitely recommended." Perfect for fans of Tamora Pierce and George R. R. Martins style of sweeping and deeply satisfying epic fantasy, the third and final book in the trilogy takes the young queen on a journey more dangerous than any she has faced before. Elisa will stand before the gate of the enemy. And she must rise up as champion--even to those who have hated her--or her kingdom will fall. Full of sorcery, adventure, sizzling romance, and secrets that challenge everything she believes, this is a bold and powerful conclusion to an extraordinary trilogy. As USAToday.com proclaimed, "Rae Carson has proved shes a master and has shaken up the YA genre."
The end of the trilogy. I thought it was good, not the typical characters.


Well, I hope I haven't bored you to death. How is your reading going? 
Still 3 months left in the challenge!