Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, Beth Fantaskey, Harcourt, 351 pages

(Oct. 27)This book was nothing like I expected. I’m not sure why I thought it was going to be more of a slap-stick comedy. (Really, no clue) but it was actually deep, and there was so much that was dark about it.

Don’t get me wrong there were some fun bits but it was mostly a really well developed story. I finished it in a day, it was that good. I wanted to know what was going to happen next and was really agitated when I had to lay it down for a bit.

The story is written in Jessica’s voice but every so often we get to hear Lucius through his letters to his Uncle. Lucius is acting as a foreign exchange student from Romania (which I am, Romanian, not an exchange student) just so he can get close to her.

The premise was an excellent one, and although there were a handful of secondary characters they all stood out from each other. I thought Jess’s best friend Mindy was funny with her magazine reading and continuous calling out of Jessica’s feelings towards Lucius. I was actually saddened when they had a bit of a falling out.

It seems the saying, “don’t know what you got till it’s gone” kind of applies to this situation, and I do believe I got teary eyed during some parts of the book when Faith Crosse became more involved in the story line.

Lucius was mysterious and yet I felt connected to his character. I was sad when he was, snarky when he was. I really felt a pull towards him.

And Jessica, I loved watching her grow, grow into the person she was all along but didn’t know it. I think that’s how so many of us feel in life, not just when we are teens. We all grow and evolve and it was beautiful to see that happen with her.

I highly recommend this book, I think you will gobble it up pretty quickly as well. I’m anticipating what will come next from this author.

Lucius snorted again. “Is that what you want out of life? Nice? Must everything be nice?”

“Nice is...nice,” I protested.

Lucius shook his head. “Oh, Antanasia. I could show you things so far beyond nice, they’d spin your lovely head.”

When I hesitated, a look of annoyance crossed his aristocratic face, and he shook the pen at me. “You do recognize a pen, right? This is a familiar tool, yes?”

The Hourglass Door, Lisa Mangum, Shadow Mountain, 398 pages

(Oct. 23) I have to say I’m surprised that I haven’t seen more about this book.

I know that I read it a little later than most but it is amazing!

The concept of the story is mind-boggling. I read somewhere that a reviewer didn’t think this story was unique (I’m paraphrasing) and I could not disagree more. I think that once the story starts to fall into place and you start understanding what exactly is happening that you will be blown away as well.

The prologue is what hooked me. I wish I could share it with you here but it’s 6 pages long, but here is a snippet because I’m sure it will intrigue you...

He counts the days he lived before coming to this place-how many days in seventeen years? How many years in a lifetime?

It’s hardest to keep track of the time. Without light, without variation, all the days blend into one seamless stretch of now. He longs for teh uncertainty of the future.

The light hurts his eyes. The unexpected bustling of activity beyond the bars rattles through his ears like chains. He dares a glance, wills his eyes to focus.

Two guards run past his cell. One more trails behind them, a blanket clutched in his fist.

He knows he shouldn’t be interested, shouldn’t be curious. It will only make things worse, distract him from his counting. But he can’t help himself. He stands on his toes, pressing his face to the cold bars.

And then he sees her. All the numbers run out of his head like sand through a sieve. All the images in his eyes fade until he can see only her. His heart beats in uncountable rhythms.

Now tell me honestly that you are uninterested...didn’t think so...

I thought the story was well told, it was mysterious and romantic, kind of like Dante, the Italian exchange student that Abby, the main character, is struggling not to fall for.

There were many twists and turns and I loved, Loved, LOVED what you find out about The Door, later in the book. To me that was just so stinking clever of Lisa. Really truly imaginative.

I thought the characters, even secondary ones, were well written, the story kept me guessing all the way through to the end and I am usually able to pick up on the foreshadowing in most stories I read. But not this one. I went back and skimmed through it to find some quotes and fell upon some hints that I totally didn’t catch.

All in all I think this is an amazing story, I think you should run out and buy a copy, now, run.

I am really excited about The Golden Spiral, which is the second book in the series. It’s set to be released early May of 2010. So read this before then, I promise you’ll want to continue with these characters.

One more thing that I really liked about this book, the prologue wasn’t even touched upon in this book. I’m assuming it will be explored in the next two, (I’m pretty sure it’s a trilogy) but as mentioned in a previous post I’m annoyed with prologues that tell you everything about the story before you even open to page 1.

Well done Lisa! Kudo’s to you. I am waiting with baited breath.

And now, since I gave you that snippet of the prologue, I’m not going to add any quotes down here.

Rampant, Diana Peterfreund, Harper Teen, 402 pages

(Oct. 22) Wow! Where to start?

What an intricate tale. There was a lot to digest, so it took me longer than normal to read this book. But it wasn’t for lack of desire.

I think there was a lot of information that we, as readers, needed to get before the story could really take off but once we had that information, boy did it!

The story was original, the premise pretty amazing and once I went to Diana’s website and read up on the history of unicorns I was blown away by it.

I really like Astrid and Phil, the cousins were more like sisters, a little bickering but when it came down to it extremely protective.

Of course I liked any time Giovanni was in the picture, never really liked Seth, but had a feeling about Neil.

I hated, passionately, Astrid’s mother, even in the end, she didn’t redeem herself to me.

The other hunter’s were so diverse. It was nice to see.

I can’t say much more because I don’t want to ruin it for you if you haven’t read it yet, but once you get past the first 100 pages or so you’ll be sucked in.

Go get a copy.

And now a couple passages from the book...

Melissande nodded. “In my family, they say that Alexander’s military power was due to Bucephalus. That he planned his strategy with the unicorn, carried on conversations with it. That’s why he couldn’t conquer anymore after Bucephalus was gone.”

“A talking unicorn?” Cory said skeptically. “I think that’s a tad unrealistic.”

I let out a bark of laughter. That was the unrealistic part?

“I should be extra careful around here, though,” he said. “Someone from teh program could catch us.” He kept his voice low when he spoke to me, and occasionally broke into Italian when teh door to the restaurant opened.

“Ferrari, espresso, Dolce e Gabbana, biscotti, fettuccini,” I said one time in response.

He burst out laughing.

My Soul To Take, Rachel Vincent, Harlequin Teen, 279 Pages

(Oct 9) Okay, wow. This was totally not what I was expecting. Not sure what I was expecting but this story was above them. My expectations, I mean.

I thought the set up for the story was great. Without giving too much away, hopefully, I liked the...what’s the word...it’s not a twist, but it’s...how she does what she does. I guess that’s the best way I can say it. Sorry if it doesn’t make sense. I just don’t want to ruin it for you.

I like Kaylee alright as far as main characters go. I liked Nash as well, but I think I enjoyed Tod and Nash’s banter the most out of all the characters and interactions.

This is going to be short because I want to say too much.

The story was great, the plot was awesome. I didn’t see the ending coming the way it did. So in my estimation this is an awesome story and I can’t wait till the next one, My Soul To Save, comes out in 2010. I’ll definitely be picking it up.

My one, problem, I guess, with the book is I don’t feel like the cover does the story justice. It doesn’t really give you a proper idea of what the book is about. It’s cool! But just to me it doesn’t do it justice. I do like the fact that if you look close enough the swirls around her are actually the word “take” over and over and overlapping. Pretty cool.

Quote time...

“What’s wrong?” Nash demanded, stepping closer to me now, heedless of the glass and the wet floor. “Do you have seizures?”

“No. I...Have you seen the news this morning?”

He chuckled hoarsely. “I haven’t even seen the floor yet this morning.” Nash yawned, and springs creaked over the line. He was still in bed.