The Mysterious Benedict Society

 

 The Mysterious Benedict Society follows the adventures of four young orphans who each have their own spectacular and rather unique talents. Reynie is an incredibly intellectual teenager who is treated as an outcast at his orphanage. Kate ran away from her orphanage when she was very young to join the circus. When she turned twelve, she left to go on her own journey. She is incredibly athletic and resourceful. Sticky ran away from his parents as they were exploiting him for money, as he would win a countless number of geography bees, spelling bees, science events, etc. And Constance is a poetic, grumpy, stubborn, and quite unpleasant cuss, with the maturity level of a three year old. Not much is known about her past.

 All of these kids are selected after a grueling examination, with completely random questions about interesting but one hundred percent useless knowledge, applicable to almost nowhere in every day life, which is why it was so difficult. After another set of exams, the four eventually meet Mr Benedict, whom they have never heard of. He sends them on a mission to uncover a plot of pure evil at the  Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, or L.I.V.E. The miraculous undertaking will put their very lives on the line in order to save all of humanity.

 I absolutely loved this book, like so much. There are also little puzzles and brain teasers that you can solve with the characters, and they're really hard, almost like trying to pass ten sphinxes at once. My OCD mind and I were completely pissed when I couldn't figure them out, as they're really complex. I also really enjoyed the plot, almost none of it was stuff I was expecting. Although the main conflict is a little bit far fetched for when the book takes place (2007), it still would be possible in a not too distant future, which is scary to think about. Overall I give this book an A+.

Nancy Drew the demon in River Height

Nancy drew by Stefan Petruch

This book is about this young girl name Nancy Drew who is known as a great detective  in the there small town River Heights. Nancy friends Ethan and Nathan are filming the in river height  when a mysterious demon ghost appears in  river heights Nancy has to start a investigation.Soon after the starts she starts the investigation her two friends Ethan and Nathan have gone missing . After they go missing she goes to investigate the place they were filming with her two friend Bees and Liz .While checking for clues they come across a bear which then starts to chasing Nancy get chased into a tree.After that a object shaped like a man starts chasing all if them out of the woods until they got to the car where then a car pulls up and a man gets out his name Mr.Angle and now he own the minding shafts in River heights.He  then ask the girl if they want a ride to town they say yes he drops the girls off at police office. after they left the police office nancy want to go and investigate at Nathan and Ethan dorm room  but there she  finds  nothing but there roommate that tell her he has not seen them in 2 day so on the drive back to river heights she runs out of gas.She tries to call her friend but there is no reception were she is stuck at.So she see a light coming out of the woods so she goes to check it out little does the know that two men are following her.Finally she see that they are following and she began to run but the falls and they catch her and takes her to a minding shaft and drops her in the shaft were she finds her friend that were missing.

This was a good book if you like mystery . It was a very interesting and very suspenseful and had a lot of good details and more.   

And Then There Were None

     And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. And Then There Were none is a great book if you enjoy murder mysteries. I'll start of with a summary. Keep in mind though at the beginning of the book it gives you a poem to read it's called, "Ten Little Soldier Boys." Anyway, 10 strangers are called to Solider Island by a mysterious host by the name of U.N Owen. When all 10 guest arrive the host is not there! The evening starts off like a normal night until an unusual record accuses all of them of murder! Then a guest chokes and dies before the group of people! Everyone is scared and frightened so they go to bed to shake off the creepy feeling and decide to get help in the morning. 

     The only problem though in the morning another guest doesn't wake up and is found dead. The group then realizes that this isn't a coincidence but a murder on the loose following the Ten Little Soldiers Poem. However, there is no one else on the island except the group that came...only meaning one thing...that the murder is one of them!

     This book was extremely well written. Especially the end just blows your mind! This book makes you think a lot about what these positions these people are in and it also makes you think about the mystery behind this book.  I think Agatha Christie was trying to tell the reader that justice or fairness will soon catch up to you. Also saying that it is important to be a good person. Overall it is written well and is awesome how the author connected the book to the poem.   
     The beginning of this book was a slight confusing but cleared up and got really good! I would recommend this book to anyone who likes murder mystery, mystery and suspense but, some people might find this book creepy! In Conclusion I give this book an A+!

Baked Alaska by: Josi S. Kilpack

      This book is a culinary mystery by Josi Kilpack. It's the last book in the series so far there are 8 books before it. The main character a lady named Sadie Hoffmiller. She is usually the one to discover the murder or mystery then she goes on through out the book helping solve it. To help her solve it is her boyfriend Pete and sometimes her kids Breanna and Shawn. 

        Sadie and the rest of her family decide to go on a relaxing five day cruise to get away from all the stress they have been through lately. Sadie and her daughter arrive first and start getting settled in by going to the buffet. When Sadie's son Shawn and her boyfriend Pete arrive she hugs Pete but then goes to find Shawn. When she finally finds him he is talking with a lady that she doesn't know. Shawn seemed upset so she got his attention and they continued on their way. Sadie could not stop thinking about this lady. Sadie wanted to know who that lady was and tried following her but lost her when she got distracted. Sadie ends up buying the picture of the lady that was taken when they got on the ship. Later that evening when Sadie and Pete were walking back to their rooms they see the lady lying in a pool chair. They think she's asleep but when they check on her she barely has a pulse. This is just the start to the most chaotic cruise.

          This is a great book and I would recommend reading it. I would recommend reading the books before it 1st.  You like mysteries you will most likely very much enjoy this book. Although you may think it is for an older audience and kind of weird. You will come to find that you very much enjoy it and want to keep reading more. A

The Mysterious Benedict Society

     The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart. When Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance, take a series of puzzling tests, they are soon drawn together. The four meet Mr. Benedict who is in charge of these mysterious tests. Mr. Benedict has two "helpers" called number two and Rhonda, along with a security guard called Milligan. Mr. Benedict has asked for their help in a secret mission, because only kids can do it. These four kids are being sent to a learning institution to stop and find out about mysterious messages being sent through any from of radio and T.V making agents disappear! At the institute the kids endure many fun challenges, hard tests, Mr. Curtain (creator of institute), scary and mysterious clues, and also the waiting room. This book is very entertaining and puzzling, this book can leave you thinking for a while. Not only is it puzzling but very eye opening or shocking! When reading this book you shouldn't try to guess a head because, you are probably wrong. It's hard to predict! I think the author in this book is trying to interest you in not watching T.V and get yourself going on adventures. This author is very creative in writing this book. I would give this book an A-only because at some parts it seems slow but overall it is a great book and I would think the next book is also going to be like this one mysterious, adventurous, and puzzling! I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who likes adventures and mysteries!

     

Shade

by Jeri Smith-Read

Aura Lives in a world full of death. After an event called the shift children born after it could see, hear and talk to ghosts. They're called post-shifters and kids born even a minute before are called pre-shifters. When Aura's boyfriend Logan dies on his birthday she is glad for the first time that she is a post-shifter. Her and Logan sort of pick up where they left off except he can't touch her...at all. 

Aura has been trying to figure out the mystery of the shift her whole life. What caused it? How did it happen? She may have found some of those answers when she meets Zachary, a pre-shifter that holds some of the biggest keys to unlocking the mystery of the shift. She befriends him but things get interesting when they become a little more then friends.

Shade is a good book with a compelling story and interesting characters. I would give this book 3 stars. It was a lot more romance then I expected. I wish it had stuck more to the ghost and mystery of the book instead of the love triangle. Also it was extremely predictable. Other then that it was a good book. It did not, if your wondering, break into my top 20 book list though.It wasn't that good.

This book can relate to girls who have ever broken up with a guy but still had feeling for him. Even though they never actually break up. Also It relates to people who have lost loved ones because she lost her mom. Pretty normal teen stuff for the rest of the book. Except for the ghosts.

I would not recommend this book to you if you do not like romance. Otherwise...all yours!

And Then There Were None.

Have you ever played the game Clue? "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie reminded me of that game. It is a classic murder mystery that is very suspenseful. The whole time you are trying to guess who the murderer is and only the people that have died are above suspicion.

A group of 10 strangers are brought to an enclosed island mansion by someone who is unknown to them all. Once they arrive they all get accused of murder by their unknown host. Then, one by one, they start to get murdered. At first everyone thought that their must be someone hiding on the island, but they soon discover there is nowhere for some one to hide.Therefore, the murder must be one of them and only the people that are dead can be ruled out as the murderer.

"And Then There Were None" was a GREAT book. I kept guessing throughout the whole book and never figured it out! I literally stayed up at night going through the facts to try and figure out who it was. Not only did I think that the book was fantastic, but I thought that the book had a really clever plot. The way that Agatha Christie wrote this book was magical.This book easily takes the #1 spot on my list of favorite books.
A+++

13 Reasons Why

"13 Reasons Why" is a creepy book in a weird kind of way.
It would suck to know that one of the kids you liked in school died, and sent you a tape saying that you are one of 13 people who made them kill themselves.
Well, in this suspense book a teenage boy named Clay Jensen got what he never expected, a box addressed to him. And what was in this box, well, it was 13 tapes. He had no idea who sent those tapes, and why.
What he discovered about these tapes was amazing. He not only discovered that these tapes are sent by Hannah Baker who killed herself two weekes earlier, but he was one reason why she committed suicide.
Clay also got a map which had stars on them, and each star represented a place that Hannah had been to which gave her memories. Some of those places gave Hannah bad memories, but others were good.
There were 13 tapes addressed to 13 people including Clay himself. In order to find why he is one of those people, Clay must listen to the tapes until Hannah talks about him, but he also must continue to listen. He discovers shocking secrets that he did not know about until then.
Just listening to Hannah's voice breaks his heart and also knowing that he could have saved Hannah from committing suicide, breaks is heart even more. It is sure a challenge for him.
After listening to the tapes, Clay has to fight another challenge, going back to school, and seeing those other 13 people on the tapes.
If you are keen on reading this book you will have to know that it does have scenes in the book that is inappropriate for some readers. Other than that have a good time reading and make sure you atleast read half the book, you will regret it if you don't.

Save Me By: Lisa Scottoline

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline is an amazing realistic fiction and mystery book.  It is a book that I would recommend to everyone.  It may sound like a girl's book but I think that boys would also enjoy it.

In this book, the main character, Melly, has a birthmark on her cheek and many of the kids in her class tease her because of it.  When Melly and her family move to Reesburgh, the bullying continues.  One day, Amanda Gigot was teasing Melly by smearing jelly on her cheek.  Melly ran and locked herself in the handicapped bathroom.  Melly's mother, Rose McKenna, a volunteer lunch mom, goes and asks Amanda why she was teasing Melly.  Moments later, the cafeteria explodes into flames.  Rose is knocked unconcious.  When she awakens, she is faced with the choice of saving her own daughter or saving teh three girls in front of her. 

In a flash, Rose grabbed Amanda and her two friends and escorts them to the teacher at the door that leads to the playground.  Then, she runs back inside the cafeteria to save Melly.  The bathroom door is locked so Rose has to be creative in order to find a way inside.  She finally gets inside, grabs Melly adn runs outside in search of medical help.  When she arrives at the hospital, she learns that Amanda was never accounted for in her class and that Amanda's mother was planning to sue her.  Throughout the rest of the book, Rose is trying to prove that she did take care of Amanda before her own daughter and eventually solves a murder mystery.

This book is definitely a page-turner.  I absolutely loved it.  It was a really quick read and was a lot of fun to read.  I think that the author did an amazing job at portraying the character's feelings, emotions, and personality.  Just to let you know, this book ends in a way that leads you to think that there would be a second book.  It kind of leaves you hanging.  Before reading this book, I would have never thought taht someone would actually balme another person for harming a child when really that put their own child at risk while they saved the other child(ren).

Like I said, I absolutely loved this novel.  I would recommend it to anyone who likes realistic fiction, murder mystery, and thriller stories.  I would rate this book an A+.

Fly Trap

     Mosca Mye's adventures are full of twists and turns, battles and diplomatic fights. Action and adventure, mystery and suspense fill every nook and cranny. Truly a spectacular story, one of my favorite books by far. Seriously, it seems that you come to the end of the book, just to find that there's more to be had.
     Mosca was born with something that no one achieved easily; the ability to read. She was a quiet girl, who like to hid and listen in on people with her guardian goose Saracen. After she found and followed the sometimes-loyal companion Eponymous Clent, and burned down her uncle's mill, her life spiraled into a life of running, hiding, and the occasional rescuing of cities and people.
     This is the second book of the series, and the reason that I'm writing a review is because I read the first book so many times. The second book was released not a long time ago, but the first book was out a long time ago. Hardinge is a wonderful author, and... I just noticed that I say that lot of authors are amazing or wonderful. Well, it just so happens that they are! I'd always give this book, and the first book an A+!

Ranger's Apprentice and The Burning Bridge John Flanagan

The Ranger's Apprentice is a fun book but not quite a challenging read. (I guess that could be a good or bad thing.) I thought this was a pretty cool book, however it was not one of my favorites. This is a fictional book that takes place in medieval times. This is the second in the series of ten.

In the first book Will was chosen to be the apprentice to the ranger Halt. In the last book Will defeated Morgarath's two assassins. The book ended with war being declared between Will's country, Araluen, and the outcast Morgarath.Morgarath was banished to the mountains of rain and night several years ago and since then has been creating an army of Warlags: Bear-like creatures with low intelligence but an uncanny ability to fight.

Now preparing for the war Will has accepted a small, simple quest. His job, along side another ranger and a warrior named Horace, is to deliver a message to the land of Celtica, the city next to Will's home Redmont. The task should be completed easily, however when the threesome arrive in the city of Celtica they are astonished to find the city abandoned. Now it's up to Will to find the cause why the city was abandoned and possibly give his country the upper-hand in the war. It will take a lot of dangerous spying, fighting and skill to possibly save his life and possibly save his country.

This book brings up several good points, however I think the main message to take away from this book is trust and forgiveness. Several times in this book Will has to trust his companion Horace the warrior. First, Will had to forgive Horace for the wrong he had done earlier that year, then he had to continually trust Horace with his life. Just like Will forgives and forgets what Horace had done to upset him, can learn to better forgive and be a better friend.

This was a good, well written book and all in all I enjoyed it. At the beginning of the book it starts out slow, like most books, but as I got into it, the book really intrigued me and I wanted to keep reading. This was definitely an improvement from the last book. I liked this book and I will definitely read the next book. This book deserves a A-       

  

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

This was a good book, not amazing, but it wasn't bad. The one downer is that it was really hard to follow. Its a mystery, and it uses all these big words, and London slang, so its kind of hard to understand whats going on. It has a good ending, and after you read the ending, the book makes more sense, which is how it is with most mystery boks, but like I said, this book was especially hard to follow.

This book is told in first person by John Utterson, as he investigates the case of his old friend, Dr. Jekyll and the strange Mr. Hyde. While walking with his friend Richard Enfield, Utterson learns about a strange man named Mr. Hyde. Richard told a story about how Mr. Hyde trampled a little girl, disappeared around a street corner, and came back and paid her relatives with a check signed by Dr. Jekyll. Really weird. Also, Dr. Jekyll recently changed his will so that Mr. Hyde was the heir to everything he owned, instead of his good friend, Mr. Utterson. This makes Utterson very concerned. When he shares his concerns with Dr. Jekyll he won't tell him anything, which makes him more suspicious and he investigates more.

This was a great mystery book because it keeps you guessing the whole way through. One of the obvious themes in the story is SPOILER ALERT SPOLIER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALER SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT how people can have a split personality. Dr. Jekyll was good vs evil, two completely contradicting personalities. People have a lot of different personalities depending on who they are with. Utterson, who was his best friend for so long, was completely unaware of his alter ego. That is why the quote is so true, "You never know what someone is like until you walk in their shoes for a day." (Author unknown)

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

What is the thing that many authors like to write about these days? Vampires, writing about vampires is very common. The bad thing about this is that most of the vampire books are all alike. It really begins to irritate me. I'm sure others feel the same way. So, when I picked up Peeps I figured it would be just like all of the other vampire books. However, I was wrong. Peeps was very different then any other vampire book I've ever read.

Peeps is a story following a character named Cal. Cal happens to be an unlucky carrier of a disease. However, this disease is not like any other disease in the universe. This disease happens when a parasite gets into your body. This parasite causes you to act like a vampire. You start eating people, hiding from light, and hating everything you used to love. People who know about this disease call people who have it peeps, not vampires. Oddly, like I mentioned before Cal is only a carrier. Meaning he can give others the disease, but he doesn't have the symptoms. Well, he does have some symptoms. Like, he has the ability to see, and hear far greater then any regular human. He also has super strength. So, as you can tell this disease can be a problem.

Cal does have an interesting job though. He works for a secret program that try to control the disease. Cal gets the pleasure of going after all of his past girlfriends who caught the disease from him. And I'm pretty sure going after your vampire ex girlfriends is no fun. But it's his job to go after them so they stop going around eating everyone. He has caught every past infected girlfriend. So, now his job is to catch the person who gave him the disease. Morgan, but it's almost as if she has fallen of of the face of the planet. So, basically it follows him trying to catch a vampire killer. Along the way, he falls in love with a human named Lace. But nothing is what Cal thinks it is. The disease is spreading everywhere. And it's up to him to save the world.

This book is really awesome! I enjoyed it a lot. It was nearly impossible for me to put it down. I would suggest anyone read it! Well, most people. There was a lot of inappropriate stuff in it. Mostly language, but also other stuff that others would feel very offended reading. So, I advise you to read with caution. I didn't really like some of the stuff in it. But, I was able to overlook it and enjoy it anyway. There is one thing that really bugged me about the book though. It ended right at a climax. And when I picked up the sequel, there was totally different characters. So that kind of ticked me off. Other than that, I adored it!

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans

This spectacular fiction book is written by Richard Paul Evans. Richard Paul Evans has written

many books that include: Miles to Go, The Road to Grace and obviously Micheal Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25. Just to let you know, this book is not yet a series as the author is still writing the next book.

This book all starts out with an average kid whose name is Micheal Vey. If you define average as a middle schooler who gets beat up a lot and has some weird "disease", then, under that definition, Micheal is an average kid. But, when you talk about all of the other characteristics that Micheal has, then Micheal isn't as normal as you would think. That weird "disease" that Micheal has is something called Tourette's syndrome. Tourette's syndrome makes you blink non-stop and produce weird gulping noises when you are anxious. Another characteristic that might alter the entire story just a little tiny bit is Micheal's super powers. No, Micheal can't fly, shoot lasers from his eyes, or see through lead. But, Micheal can do something even cooler...Micheal can shoot electricity from the tips of his fingers. Micheal thought that he was the only one of his kind until he met Taylor Ridley. Taylor Ridley, a cheerleader and one of Micheal's friends, can mess around with your brain by sending it electric signals. When Micheal, Taylor, and Ostin (Micheal's BFF who is smartical) "dig deeper" they discover that there are other kids with similar powers. When they make this great discovery, they find out that someone, or something, is hunting them down. After Micheal's mother is kidnapped, Micheal will have to rely on his wits, unique power, and friends to overcome the hunters, free his mother, and save the others.

This book is the only one of its kind with all of its' action, mysteriousness, and the right amount of love. In this rather awesome book the author expresses many of his opinions. One of the opinions that I agree with is that though the outside appearance might, at times, not be as pleasant, it is what is on the inside that counts. I will admit that if I were going to the same middle school as Micheal, I would totally have judged him the wrong way. I would not have known that Micheal had special powers and I would only think that he was an outsider who was beat up a lot and had some weird "disease". The author demonstrates this opinion by how Micheal met Taylor. Taylor had the same thought as I did but, Taylor did a little digging and found out that Micheal had Tourette's syndrome and that he had special powers. After reading this epic book, my opinions have changed about judging people and from now on, I will be looking for what is on the inside instead of what is on the outside.

One of the best lines from this sentence is the following:

"If you passed by me walking home from school you probably wouldn't even notice me. That's because I'm just a kid like you. I go to school like you. I get bullied like you. Unlike you, I live in Idaho. Don't ask me what state Idaho is in-news flash- Idaho is a state. The fact that most people don't know where Idaho is, is exactly why my mother and I moved here-so people wouldn't find us. But that's part of my story."

(Micheal Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25. Page 5.)

This just shows how funny this book is and proves my point pretty good.

If you are a potential reader, then you better pay attention to the really small details. These small details might seem small at first but, will grow larger and larger until you realize it and figure it out yourself. Because this book made me stay up until 3 in the morning because I was so addicted to it, I gave this book an A+.

Alex Rider: Point Blank

Point Blanc is an academy that is located in an area in the French Alps that is only accessible by helicopter. Creepy right? It is an academy for rich boys whose parents think that their sons aren't responsible enough. Seems real enough. Rich people do weird things like that. The thing is that two rich men have died mysteriously, both of which have had students at the academy. The English MI6 think that this could be worth investigating. The problem is that only and actual boy could be used as a spy. So, they call in Alex Rider. Alex was just an average British teenager until his uncle died. Then Alex discovered through his own investigation that his uncle was actually a spy. When the MI6 find out that he has discovered them, they made him a spy at once. He has already gone on one mission for them, and showed a great amount of skill as he saved many lives. Alex Rider then has to enroll in the academy as a student to find out what is actually going on at Point Blanc.

This sci-fi book called Point Blank was written by Anthony Horowitz and is the second book in the Alex Rider series. I thought that this was a very entertaining and interesting book. It had a lot of action and suspense that made me keep reading until I finished the book. It's a bit like a James Bond movie, except instead of James Bond being the main character, this book has Alex Rider. It even doesn't have any romance!

One of the opinions that the author puts in this book is that Rich teenagers are irresponsible. I do not agree with this. Yes I can see why he would think that, but then you have some rich teenagers that are extremely responsible. Some examples of these are young artists like Scotty McCreery and Taylor Swift. Both of them are pretty rich and are still really responsible. They know who they are and are focused on their lives, not on their money like the author suggests.

In the series called Artemis Fowl, Artemis is a highly intelligent teenager who is extremely smart, but at the same time extremely rich. He is smarter than almost every human being in the world and even one of the richest. Eoin Colfer presented this idea in accordance with my own thoughts on the subject. Eoin's opinion is completely different than Anothony's on this subject, and Eoin's book shows his point of view. I think that he even proves it in his book better than Anothony.

I may not agree with one of Anothony Horowitz's opinion, but I do not think that this is the reason that he wrote the book, and it certainly isn't the reason I read the book. The reason I did like this book so much though is because of how interesting it was. I mean Point Blank, what an interesting and awesome title. The book also had much of the action that I am always looking for in a book. This book and series is well worth reading, but make sure you start reading it when you have a lot of free time.A

The Complete Sherlock Holmes Volume 1

I recently read The Complete Sherlock Holmes Volume 1 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The genre of this book (I must say, if you don't know the genre of a Sherlock Holmes book, something is seriously wrong.) is obviously mystery. For those of you who don't know, Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant detective who has yet to have a case in which he couldn't solve. His close and only friend, John Watson accompanies him on most of his mysteries.

            As for a summary of the book, seeing as it is a collection of books, I will give a basic outline of his methods of solving his mysteries. To begin, if there's one thing that Holmes is best known for, it's his deductive reasoning. Upon a single glance, Holmes is able to completely read you. In the story A study in Scarlet when Holmes first meets Watson, he is able to tell he came from Afghanistan, simply by the way he greeted him, and his physical appearance.

Though Holmes may be the most intelligent man to ever of lived, it is very interesting to know that any information that he is not using in a case, he doesn't bother to learn. I.e. Holmes didn't know, and didn't want to know, that the Earth rotated around the sun. What really astonished me about this was the fact that Doyle was able to show such realism to his character. It's almost amazing to think that Doyle could show that Holmes was still human in a sense. Doyle didn't make him a mindless robot that knows everything, he showed that no human, no matter how brilliant, could know and understand everything.

            No matter who you are these books will make you feel stupid. One of the most distinctive traits about Holmes is that he ALWAYS makes thing seem so obvious, no matter how complicated they actually are. When Holmes unravels the mystery, I almost always would say: “Aw! How did I not notice that!?!” Though one the other hand, you almost feel smarter, as if you’ve learned from reading these books. I defiantly feel more intelligent after reading a story of Doyle’s.

            All in all, no matter which story you read, you will be in for a treat. Doyle’s style of writing makes it so easy to get sucked into a book. Also, because they’re short stories, the story becomes exciting almost instantly. A+

Of Grace and Chocolate By: Krista Lynn Jensen

Of Grace and Chocolate by: Krista Lynn Jensen is an amazing LDS fiction novel that includes mystery and a little bit of romance. This book teaches the importance of family and safety. In order to understand my summary, you need to know that Jill's younger sister has been a drug user since high school. You also need to know that Jill's mother died of an infected liver caused by alcohol.

Jill Parrish is an author and editor at a local publishing company. One day, an old friend, who Jill hasn't seen since her trip to Costa Rica in high school, tries to get her attention by stealing her cell phone and her car keys. However, Jill is anything but impressed but this will not be the last time she sees Scott Gentry over the next few days. That night, Jill's long lost sister, Evie, arrives at Jill's apartment asking for Jill to take care of her and her baby girl, Shiloh. Evie makes Jill promise that Shiloh is safe with Jill. The next morning, Jill wakes up and hears Shiloh crying. When Jill goes to get her, she realizes that Evie is gone. Jill was immediately panicked and called her singles ward bishop and the police.

Her bishop and his wife arrive with plenty of baby supplies and began taking care of Shiloh while Jill is talking to the police. The police begin to search for Shiloh's mother. Jill begins to relax and have fun with Shiloh. The next day, when Jill returns home from church, someone has broken into her home and destroyed it. Over the next few days, Jill gets to know her bishop's family and Scott Gentry at her bishop's cabin on the beach. However, the person who broke into her apartment continues to search for her. He tells her that he wants to get back at Evie. Eventually, He is captured by the police without hurting anybody. However, Jill never returning Shiloh to Evie.

This book shows exactly how drugs and alcohol can tear a family apart and hurt relationships. This is through Evie's story. She ran away to be with another drug addict who Caused her many griefs and gave her a child. This is also shown through Jill's mother. Because her mother chose to drink alcohol, she passed away of liver disease. Before reading this book, I didn't realize how damaging drugs were to families.

This book also talks about the principles of the LDS church. They appear often in this book so if you don't know them but are wanting to read this book, you may want to learn at least the basic principles and facts.

This book was an amazing novel that I could not put down. This book was a quick read and is very suspenseful. If you are going to read it, I would recommend reading it when you have a lot of free time for reading because once you put it down in a suspenseful part,you can't wait to pick it back up. I would rate this book an A+.

Envy- Greg Olsen

       This story tells of the death of a girl called Katelyn, and the mystery of her death. The story is told by a narrator from multiple points of view. There are two twin sisters, Hayley and Taylor, who seek the truth behind a once close friends untimely death. The 15 year old girl's struggle to untangle the truth from the web of lies spun by the wicked Starla. Starla is the girl who "rules" the local high school, and she has more than a few secrets of her own. Secrets that she would do anything to protect.
     While Starla is busy keeping maintaing her popularity, the twins are busy trying to figure out the real cause of Katelyn's death. The coroner may have pronounced Katelyn's death an accident, Hayley and Taylor have a feeling that it was much more, and they intend to find out exactly what happened. What they don't know is that by unraveling what happened on the night of Katelyn's death, will also unravel the secrets that have been kept about themselves. For instance, the crash they survived while in girl scouts.
     There was once an accident that nobody in town wants to talk about. Four girls and an innocent bus driver died. Hayley, Taylor, and Katelyn's mother are the only survivors after Katelyn's death. A nosy reporter, Moira, wants to do a news article on the ten year anniversary of the accident. However, not a single soul in the town of port gamble will talk to her about it. Moira decides that some digging is required. What she uncovers is dangerous, and she should have left it alone. But she didn't.
By the end of the mystery, the twins discover more about themselves than what they had originally set out to do. While they solve the mystery of Katelyn's death, Secrets are told, prying and spying done, and new secrets sealed and shut.
     This book is based upon the story of a young girl who commit suicide because she was cyber-bullied. When two teenage girls created a fake myspace profile and began to make the girl believe the fake boy loved her, only to bring her down in the end. The girl who thought a boy was in love with her eventually commit suicide. The two girls were arrested but because cyber-bullying laws are fairly new the case was benched until further notice.
      This book brings up the big issue of cyber-bullying. It talks about how what began as a simple games can spiral out of control. What one person finds funny, or joking can be what another person sees as painful and mean. Just one comment can send someone into a downward spiral. A few negative or sarcastic comments can send someone over the edge, or cause a suicide.
      There is also a running theme of revenge in this book. Olsen tells of revenge at its worst. In this book the things the characters do for revenge are plain crazy. The lies and deception that ensues because of one little slip up or dressing weird or even simply saying the wrong thing. In the book you get to see revenge after revenge gotten. Olsen shows through his writing that revenge will never be an acceptable answer to a conflict, ever.
     I rate this book an A+. It was an amazing book. The twists in the plot kept me guessing. This is one mystery that I just couldn't figure out. There was always something going on and the big ideas of the story were easy to find and easy to relate to. This book was written fairly recently and has a lot of pop culture references. The references make the book more relatable, and entertaining. A few warnings that go along with this book. There are many inappropriate themes. Swearing does not occur often but there is some in the book. I recommend this read to anyone who enjoys suspense and mystery.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter is having yet another horrible summer with the Dursleys. This year however he had something to look forward to. Before he goes to Hogwarts again, he gets to go with his best friend Ron to the Quidditch World Cup. Quidditch is a wizard sport and is Harry’s favorite thing to do in the world. At the World Cup, Harry had a great time but strange things started happening as well. After the game was over, Death Eaters started chaos to about one hundred thousand wizards. They were attacking the wizard’s tents and a muggle family that was in charge of the camp area. Muggles are people that don’t know anything about magic. Also, someone cast Voldemort’s Dark Mark into the air letting everyone know that he is still alive and is becoming more powerful.

Later on at Hogwarts, Dumbledore tells the school some shocking news. The Triwizard tournament would be held at Hogwarts this year. One person from the three wizard school is chosen by the Goblet of Fire to face three difficult tasks. In order for the Goblet of Fire to choose you, you must be a sixth year or older and must enter your name into the goblet. The Goble of Fire will choose the most worthy person who put their name in. Judges later on tell the winner of the entire tournament.

When the drawing came the Goblet of Fire chose Viktor Krum from Durmstrang, Fleur Delecour from Beauxbatons, and Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts. In the middle of when all the students from the three schools were cheering for their champion, something very unexpected happened, the Goblet of Fire let out another name which glowed Harry Potter.

Harry had no idea how his name was drawn. He hadn’t even entered his name into the Goblet of Fire! Nobody believed him and people were actually getting mad at him for trying to be the hero once again. Even Ron stopped talking to him. Harry and Hermione figured out that somebody must have put his name in for him so he would die during the dangerous tasks. Many champions have died in the years past. Now Harry has to face all the attention (once again) and try not to die doing the tasks.

This is probably one of the best books I’ve read so far in this series! Even though it was 734 pages, it never got boring and kept me turning page after page. Like all of the books before this one, there is a ton of suspense that keeps you nervous and alert. If you haven’t read this series yet, you are missing out on so much! I would definitely read the first few books before reading this one. I would recommend this book to anyone!

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

Do you ever wish that you could escape from your life? Escape into a whole other world? Well, this book has a whole other world alright. This book is a total adventure book. It shows how going into a new world might be like. Adventures are all around us. However, this adventure is unique in so many ways. But what if you were in a whole new world, and you couldn't escape?

Gregor is a typical eleven-year-old. Except for the fact that his dad disappeared when he was young. Most of the people around said that he must have ran away with some woman. Gregor and his mom have both sworn that his father wouldn't have done that to them. Since his dad left, Gregor has had to babysit his little sister Boots quite often. He didn't really mind until he learned that he couldn't go to summer camp. His mom really wanted him to be able to go. But she had to work a lot since his dad left. So here he was babysitting his little sister and crazy grandmother. Don't get upset though, his life is about to change!

While he was doing laundry, Gregor's two-year-old sister Boots disappeared! He heard his sister's giggle from behind a open vent behind the washer. He crawled through the vent only to start falling down a dark tunnel. Boots was not far below him. It seemed as if he and his sister had been falling for hours. It seemed as if this tunnel never stopped! But sooner or later you have to run into something, right?

Finally, they hit the ground. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt at all! They began looking around the tunnel, but the only thing there was them, and a group of gigantic cockroaches. I know what you might be thinking, gigantic cockroaches? But, it's true. I told you this book was unique. Anyways, the cockroaches turn out to be nice. They lead them to a stadium. In that stadium, the bleachers are filled with what look like humans. Except they have incredibly pale skin, and silver hair. They meet an ignorant queen named Luxa, and a nice old man named Vikus.

This place kind of seems like a dream come true. But, it's not Gregor soon learns that he can't go. Also, he learns that there have been other regular humans just like them. However, they have all died. Vikus tells them that their world is a very dangerous place for overlanders. Overlander is what the odd humans call normal humans. Why is the new world so dangerous? What happened to his father? Did his father come here?

This book, like I said is very adventurous. For the most part, it keeps me hooked the entire time. There were moments where I thought it could be more interesting. Overall, I really liked it. It is by the same author as the Hunger Games. So, you know it is worth reading. I would defiantly suggest this book to anyone. No matter who you are, you will love it. Even though there are parts that could be more interesting, it doesn't mean that this book isn't wonderful. I really enjoyed reading it. At first, I was a little skeptical if I would like it or not. But this book surprised me on how much I ended up liking it.