Lockdown

The second book in Traci Hunter Abramson's Saint Squad series. This book could either be read alone or you could read it in order. Lockdown is a fast paced novel that follows Riley Palmetta, a survivor of the Virginia Tech Massacre.

After that horrible day that countinues to haunt her, Riley is assigned to work with a team of Navy SEALS to try and prevent something like the massacre from ever happening again. This means creating a week long conference in which law enforcement officers are taught what to do in a hostage situation.

It is through this team of Navy SEALS that Riley meets Tristan Crowther, a SEAL who's dealing with his own share of problems. Mainly his mother, the general, who abandoned him during his childhood.

The two start a tentative relationship that quickly becomes much more serious as they're thrust into situations of peril and danger. What started as a simple week of training local law enforcement, uncovers deadly plots that are taking place around them.

Traci Hunter Abramson is an amazing author that manages to pull you into the emotions and personalities of the characters. They all become real and exciting to you.

The story was based on a true event and at times it was scary and kind of disturbing to listen to what happened and to see how people could influence you. It was also kind of disturbing at times as they discussed the motivations behind how people reach a point in which they can do horrible things to others.

Overall it was a great book and I deffinately plan to read the other books that Traci Hunter Abramson comes out with. I look forward to reading more about the Saint Squad.

Runner

Runner by Carl Deuker is a fast paced and intense book. Chance Taylor has to think about that things that people our age NEVER have to think about. How will I pay for food? Who is going to pay the electricity bill? Is there enough money for moorage fee? These are questions that Chance has to think about every single day.

Chance has had a pretty hard life. His parents got a divorce and while he was living with his mother, one day she just disappeared. Chance's only choice was to live with his father. His dad wasn't the kind of dad an ordinary kid had. He was drunk every minute of every day. He smoked and he didn't have a job. When his dad did have a job, it was never stable and he usually got fired two days after he was hired. Chance also had to have a job to support him and his dad. He worked as a dish washer at Ray's Restaurant. He didn't get paid much and he had to work a long shift. As Chance was walking around the marina a fat guy randomly came up to him and offered him this job that gave him $200 a week. Of course Chance took it. This job was running to a big oak tree and "stretching" while looking around in the rocks nearby to find mysterious packages. When he found the packages he would put them in a backpack and run back to the boat and shower and put the packages in his locker and the fat guy would pick them up without anyone knowing. This went on for a few months and everything was going great. Until a girl at school, Melissa, discovered what he was doing and was curious. Chance didn't even know what was in the packages and so whenever Melissa asked what was in them...he never had an answer. Things were starting to get difficult when Chance started being followed and the packages had the same similarities as plastic explosives. One night Chance was wondering how the packages got there and who delivered them. Chance discovered that he was part of a smuggling ring. Now he was in big trouble.

To find out what happens to Chance, you'll have to read Runner. It's really good. I loved it. But it does have bad language. So watch out.

A-

Stormbreaker Book Review

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz is an intense real-life fiction novel. The story takes place in the UK, fourteen year-old M16 agent Alex Rider (how he became an agent at 14 is beyond me!) is challenged with the task of stopping a man from destroying all of Britain with the click of a button! ....But how?

As the story begins fourteen year-old Alex Rider is living a normal life in the Ol' UK when he hears about the death of his uncle/adopted parent, Ian rider. The police said that Ian rider was killed in a car accident, but Alex knew that Ian was a safe man and always wore his seatbelt (like everyone should). When Alex goes into investigation he finds his uncles car with crystal clear evidence that Ian Rider had been murdered. Later, he is kidnapped and wakes up in the M16 HQ, where he is told that his uncle had been training him to be a spy. They put him through training and assign him the mission of hunting down a very suspicious man: Herod Sayle. Herod has an evil plan to kill off all of Britain using his Stormbreaker computers. Alex goes through all sorts of obstacles and adventures to find out exactly what Herod is up to, and even more action when the plan is unraveled!

This book is slow in the beginning but so is almost every action book so once you get into it enough, it's non-stop action and suspense! I could not put this book down; I read it every chance I got! This book and most books in the series stress the possibilities and dangers of terrorism, and how some people just want to watch others burn. This book made me wonder more about terrorism and I started to think how far some people are willing to go to make others suffer so then I started freaking out.

I give Stormbreaker an A, it is an amazing book, trust me, if you're into this kind of genre: read this book, you will not want to put it down!

The Throne of Fire

Rick Riordan's The Throne of Fire is a great sequel to the Red Pyramid. The story continues to follow Egyptian mythology and it begins when Carter and Sadie Cane take us back in time. They explain that the world is about to end because Apophis, the god of Chaos, is about to escape from his prison and since they are magicians they must stop him from succeeding. To do this they must awaken Ra, the god of the sun, in five days or he will escape and the world will end. On this quest Sadie and Carter travel to London, Egypt, and New York. The whole way they kick gods' and monsters butts.

Throughout the book an underlying theme is evident. It is never doubt yourself. For example Sadie, while trying to open a hidden door, starts to get discouraged and starts thinking that she won't accomplish anything. Because of this she wasn't able to do anything for about an hour. This of course wasted a huge amount of time and when you only have five days to rescue the world from complete obliteration you can't waste any time.

This book is especially for those that enjoy adventurous books, but I would recommend reading the first book in this series. It was a great book so I would give it an A. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this book.

Sybil

Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber is the amazing true story of a girl, named Sybil, who has Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). Throughout the book, Sybil suffers extreme childhood abuse, which causes her to separate into SIXTEEN different personalities. She often forgets days or weeks at a time, but after her grandma died, she couldn't remember anything from third grade all the way to fifth grade. The reason she couldn't remember anything was because Peggy Lou (one of her personalities) took over for Sybil because Sybil was mad she couldn't attend the funeral, and Peggy Lou is the personality that deals with anger. There is another Peggy, but she's Peggy Ann and she deals with fear. Then there are also Mike and Sid, who are boys and help Sybil deal with the things that men would normally do, there's Vicky, who "lives" the exact opposite life that Sybil did. These are only a few of Sybil's other selves, but you're gonna have to read the book if you want to find out the others. :)

Throughout the book, you hear some of the therapy sessions that Dr. Wilbur had with Sybil. As their sessions continue, you discover many horrible things about Sybil's childhood. First of all, her mom was schizophrenic, which should have been bad enough by itself, but Sybil's dad left it up to the mom to take care of Sybil. Sybil's mother consistently physically, sexually, and physically abused Sybil. Chaining her to a piano at times and just flat out hitting her at other times. One time she even went far enough to show Sybil what it felt like to be dead. To do this, she shoved Sybil in a trunk and suffocated her with cotton and towels until Sybil passed out. Her dad never noticed, and if he did, he never did anything to stop these awful events. Many of these events caused Sybil to separate herself in order to deal with the pain of the almost daily abuse from her mother.

Sybil did not love her mom, in fact she hated her, but there was one person she did love, and that was her grandmother. Sybil's grandmother was always nice to Sybil, and even took care of her at times. Then her grandmother died. And her parents wouldn't even let her go to the funeral. Sybil attended the burial, but at the end, she became someone else because she was mad. Peggy Lou to be exact. Peggy L. had control of Sybil for almost two whole years. Until Sybil was healed, she had no memories of those two years. She couldn't even do simple multiplication.

While Peggy L. took over for two years, I believe that Sybil had three main identities. These are Vicky, Peggy Lou, and Peggy Ann. Vicky takes over when Sybil feels that her life is too much to handle. Vicky is not an only child, unlike Sybil, and she has caring parents, so it makes sense that Vicky would take over when Sybil needed a break from her hard life. Peggy Lou takes over when Sybil feels extreme anger. Peggy Ann deals with Sybil's fears. When Sybil gets very frightened, Peggy Ann takes over, cries (which Sybil doesn't do because the other personalities do it for her), and then gets angry and deals with the problem.

I'm still trying to decide if this book is one of my favorites or not. It uses a lot of big, psychiatry words, but other than that, it is pretty easy to understand. The only reason it wouldn't be one of my favorites is because of all the abuse I read about in that book. I never knew a mother was capable of such awful acts of child abuse. Other than that though this is a seriously great and interesting book.

I would NOT NOT NOT NOT suggest this book to anyone who has a weak stomach, or anyone that really doesn't care for hearing the detailed description of Sybil's sexual abuse. Grade:A+

The Sunflower

The Sunflower, by Richard Paul Evans is an awesome book, and the coolest thing about it is that it's a true story! In this book the main character, Christine, is ditched at the alter and her best friend Jessica signs them both up to go to Peru on a humanitarian trip; without telling Christine beforehand, of course. So, they go to Peru, and start their trip at an old Hacienda converted to an orphanage. It's called The Sunflower, hence the name. Anyway, Christine meets this person, named Paul, who is running the orphanage and they fall in love. Then through a series of rather unfortunate events Paul ends up leading Christine's group through the rain forest.
This book is all about trust and how when love is right, it always works out, kind of cheesy right? Anyway, it is very well written and is very clean, nothing bad at all. At some parts I was nervous that it was about to get bad, but it never did. Other than being morally clean it had an amazing plot that can't be matched.
I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind romance, loves adventure and likes to learn about foreign cultures. The Sunflower includes encounters with savage tribes in the rain forest and creepy incidences with wild animals, such as spiders, snakes, crocodiles and much, much more.
I came across this book by a recommendation from my Aunt, I was a little reluctant to read it; because of the general type of books she reads, but it turned out great anyways. Overall I loved this book, and for that and many more reasons, I give The Sunflower an A.

Tattoo Book Review

Tattoo by Jennifer Barnes is an amusing book. With its magical accessories and its mystical fairies, this book is definitely fiction. The character we follow in this story is Bailey Morgan, a teenage girl with three best friends- Delia, the Queen of Fashion; Annabelle, the smartest person that Bailey's ever met; and Zo, Annabelle's cousin who is obsessed with food. Zo is the kind of girl who absolutely hates malls and anything to do with fashion. She'll do anything for her. All of them will. Their friendship is tested as they find out shocking truths behind some of the most ordinary of objects.
When Delia suggests to go to the mall to look for dresses for an upcoming school dance, they pass a booth swelling with accessories that would look just perfect with their dresses. Once they reach the booth, the woman working the little kiosk gives them exactly what they're looking for. Except for Bailey. The old woman, who calls herself Morgan, tells Bailey that she has to pick her own accessory. Bailey ends up choosing some temporary tattoos, feeling an odd feeling rush through her as she picks them up, then later on when they apply the tattoos.
As time moves forward, the girls start to notice odd things- first, Annabelle (or A-belle) has a weird habit of hearing others thoughts and being able to put hers into their minds. She can even make them think certain things if she wants to.
Delia, on the other hand, can transform an object into whatever she wants just by thinking it. This comes in handy later on, obviously.
Zo has the ability to the the near future, while Bailey can make fires out of nothing using her mind. She also gets these weird voices in her head, giving her cryptic riddles and warnings.
They use these powers to save the lives of people who are getting their life forces and souls sucked out of them by an unexpected foe. As they come to learn the importance of the powers they've been given, they also learn of the upcoming apocalypse that is going to take place unless they put an end to it. This book definitely includes adventure and thrill!
Upon reading this book, I found it very interesting. It included information about many dead languages all brought together to create one, mind boggling world. This is one of those books that has mysteries within it that nag at the back of your mind- then BAM! You figure it out, and it is so fascinating to learn and even more interesting given that it is not at all what you were expecting. This book made me think, but also made me daydream. While there was depth to it, it did have a romantic streak to it, which I think we all enjoy.
This book had an interesting affect on me. It made me look at the world with new eyes, making me question things I never noticed before. It is so entrancing!
Even though I think that this book is fantastic, there were some things I would have changed. The climax wasn't as big as I would have liked it to be. One thing I especially didn't like was that the "hero" of the book didn't even attack the enemy- one of her friends had to because Bailey was struck dumb on the ground. That had no appeal to me. Another thing that would have made the book better was making the love/crush part have a bigger role. Granted it was refreshing to not have a book with sappy vampires and love all over the place, but the crush was briefly mentioned and played around with- I'm not even sure of the point of bringing him into the story.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to someone. While it had it's downs, it was still engaging and was a fun read. Overall, I liked the book very much. Good job, Barnes! Looking forward to the sequel! A-