Fiction Addict

Genre: Suspense / Mystery

Publisher: Penguin

Publication Date: October 2011

Reviewed By Jen Roman

Tom and Abby have a wonderful life: good jobs, good friends, and a wonderful family that includes their twelve-year-old daughter, Caitlin. All of this shatters when Caitlin is abducted while walking the dog. Tom starts a relentless campaign to find her, and Abby turns to the church, and more specifically, Pastor Chris, to deal with the pain. Four years later, Abby insists that they hold a memorial service to help them move on with their lives. Within days of the service, a young stripper contacts them with information about their daughter: Caitlin may still be alive.

Sure enough, Caitlin is found and reunited with her parents, but all is not well. She refuses to tell what happened to her and where she was, and even tries to escape and go back to where she was. She remains sullen and withdrawn, which makes her parents wonder if it is better to have her back home with them. Eventually, Tom and Abby find out what Caitlin has been doing for the past four years and why Caitlin has been acting so withdrawn.

Cemetery Girl is one of the saddest stories I have read in a long time. The story is engaging and tugs at the reader’s heartstrings immediately. After reading the story, I did some research and found out that Caitlin’s behavior is not uncommon to children who have been abducted, and Tom and Abby’s marital troubles are also common as they try to deal with a terrible tragedy. Tom blames himself, and Abby turns to religion.

While neither of these things is bad, they spend so much time trying to heal themselves that their marriage dissolves. Abby wants to move on, and Tom sees that as abandoning their child. Tom wants to keep Caitlin’s room the way it was the day she left, and Abby sees this as not accepting reality. I can’t imagine being in such a situation and feel genuine pain for people who have to deal with it. Bell manages to entertain while giving people a glimpse into how life is for people who have to live with a child being abducted. While interesting, it certainly is uncomfortable. The story is fast-paced and compelling, but the ending is not uplifting. People expecting a happy ending will be sorely disappointed.

Readers must decide if they want to read a story that is difficult to stomach. While it does not explicitly describe anything, it implies that there was a sexual relationship between Caitlin and her abductor. Earlier, the witness describes a sexual situation between Caitlin and a man in a seedy bar. There is also a smattering of profanity. If readers are able to handle the adult situations, they should be touched by Cemetery Girl.

Artist Kirk DouPonce chats with Josh Olds to give us a behind the scenes look at book cover design.

Kirk DouPonce of DogEared Design has been designing and illustrating book covers for the past 15 years. During those years he’s gotten to work for some of the biggest (and smallest) publishing houses in the US and the UK. His work has graced the covers of books by authors such as Frank Peretti, Ted Dekker, Steven James, Karen Kingsbury, Brandilyn Collins, John MacArthur, and Max Lucado. Kirk lives in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado with his wife and four children.

You can view his portfolio at DogEaredDesign.com

This interview can be downloaded from iTunes or streamed below:

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Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Publication Date: November 2011

Reviewed by Shaun Stevenson

Deep in the middle of the forest, way beyond any normal highways, is a place called Fort Eden. It’s a place where those with deep fears – who have come to the very end of themselves and can’t live another day – can go to find peace. But only seven are allowed. And Will Besting has been chosen. His psychiatrist believes that if Will can just get through the treatment, he can be cured of the fears stopping him from living a normal, teenage life. But Will soon discovers that the treatments seem to be harming each of them. And then Will discovers a place where he can hide. But how long can he go before the caretakers of Fort Eden find him? And what dark secrets will he discover? His only hope is to escape before his turn to be “cured” can come.

Patrick Carman has really hit the sweet spot. Dark Eden is a top-notch under-the-skin sort of thriller. Carman isn’t a stranger to writing scary stories – his Skeleton Creek books, as well as 3:15 Season One: Things That Go Bump In The Night, show that Carman can crank out stuff that will make your skin crawl. But Dark Eden takes it to another level:  a subtle, yet disturbing story about what truly makes us afraid.

Will Besting is a very interesting, underdog sort who has a deathly fear along with the other six teens sent to Fort Eden. Only he manages to escape from the Fort and is frantically trying to unravel the mystery of the place, along with dealing with the fear that keeps trying to eat him alive. Will’s odd conversations with others and himself really are unnerving and leave the reader in one sense deeply disturbed, and yet wanting Will to survive Fort Eden and figure it out.

The storyline is superb, and Carman takes us on his typical twisting ride, leaving the reader gasping near the end. He really manages to quietly weave the characters and plot together in a way that keeps us moving, and yet reflecting on the ideas of fear. A quiet sort of action persists throughout as Will continually tries to stay hidden and merely survive. The story moves pretty quickly, up to the final few moments. There are only a couple of minor, unanswered questions by the end, but nothing that will leave the reader hurting for the answers.

There is some violence and truly disturbing moments – one of them forcing me to put the book down because I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep afterwards. The different fears of the teens are things that many people face in their lives, and it was a definite mystery to discover which teen feared what.

Along with the book, there’s a downloadable app that can take readers deeper into the story with videos, audio segments, and maps. The audio and video are typical of Carman’s high-quality videos done for Skeleton Creek or the Trackers series. Teens who are more reluctant readers will love this different way of interacting with the story.

Fans of more complicated psychological-type thrillers will love Dark Eden, and the strange, twisting route it takes to the very end. It’s the sort of book to read on a dark night, when fear is at its highest. Maybe you’ll beat Fort Eden and make it through to the morning… or maybe you won’t.

Review copy provided by the Amazon Vine Program.

Genre: Children’s

Publisher: Candlewick

Publication Date: July 2011

Reviewed by Jaci Miller 

King Hugo suffers from a swollen head. He lets everyone in the land know how marvelous he thinks he is. But when this tiny king accidentally insults a sorceress, his head grows even bigger. Literally. Every time he proclaims his superiority, his noggin balloons a bit more in size. Will King Hugo ever learn his lesson? And will he ever fit back into the castle?

In the style of Shel Silverstein, this cautionary tale blended with fairy tale traits will leave children smirking at the pompous king. Van Dusen’s gouache illustrations bring to mind caricatures and highlight the absurdity of Hugo’s situation. A sort of glow effect painted around many of the characters provides a cartoonish, animated film-type feel to the pictures.

The rhymes work well, with only a rare bump in rhythm, but children will unlikely catch this occurrence. The ending, where the sorceress falls for the repentant ruler, feels a little contrived, but again, children will be so delighted with the outrageous situations and playful illustrations that they probably won’t mind.

Good fun, with a solid message to boot.

Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Publication Date: September 2011

Reviewed by Shaun Stevenson

Scary stories can be a lot of fun – especially when they’re coming from the mind of Patrick Carman, author of the wildly popular Skeleton Creek books. And with 3:15 Season One, Carman delivers another spooky, multimedia piece of work that will leave readers gasping and pulling the covers up and over their heads.

Containing nine stand-alone stories and one tie-in to the Skeleton Creek books, Things That Go Bump in the Night boasts a good variety of scares. Each story begins with a passcode to enter on the 3:15 website, where readers can first hear an audio introduction to each story. The introductions are told by a man known as Paul Chandler, who has mysterious secrets of his own to hide away. After each intro, readers dive into the book to find out more of the story. And finally, as they finish reading, they log back onto the website and enter a second passcode that will unlock a video to finish the story.

The creepy introductions do well to set up the mood and perhaps a burning question, and then the written parts add to the general feel. But the scariest part of these stories is definitely the videos, which had me jumping multiple times and checking over my shoulder. I was wondering how the acting and production of each video would be, and I was pleasantly surprised. The actors and actresses do a good job portraying their characters, and even the small spattering of special effects are well done. A couple of times, it seemed like little details from the videos and the book didn’t always match up – such as a certain piece of clothing Carman described characters wearing. But otherwise, the videos fit very well with the format and leave things pretty chilling.

The ten stories are pretty varied, some taking place in the past such as “Buried Treasure” – the story of a boy living in the 1940′s, who ends up letting his greed get the better of him. Some of the stories were downright frightening, and ending up being my favorites, such as “The Lift” – a story about a teen who goes snowboarding and never comes back from the mountain. The atmosphere created in the audio introduction and throughout the written part definitely left me jumping out of my skin during the final moments of the video. Other tales don’t come off quite as well, and I found myself shrugging through them as just being slightly disturbing. One of the best payoffs and frights is in the final story “Night on the Dredge,” which is related to the Skeleton Creek books. The final film is very frightening, and had me reaching over to turn on the lights before I did anything else.

Carman’s writing is top notch as usual, and he uses the written parts of each story to set up fairly creepy tales. One of his best here is in the story “Heart of Stone,” in which Carman writes about a young girl who builds a strange obsession over checking to see if the gargoyle on her family’s high rise building is still there each night. The slow build up of the girl’s obsessive behavior added to the overall tone.

Fans of horror type-story collections such as Anthony Horowitz’s Bloody Horowitz or The Complete Horowitz Horror will have a lot of fun with these slightly lighter tales. The multimedia format works well to engage reluctant readers, who can work well with the video, audio and written parts of each story. Hopefully, 3:15 Season Two will be along shortly to give more scares and make all of us wonder just what those bumps in the night really are.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Genre: Suspense

Publisher: New Hope

Publication Date: September 2011

Reviewed by Jaci Miller 

Enslaved in the sex trade for nearly ten years, Mara’s daily life is filled with brutality inflicted on her by her clients, Enforcer and Jefe (the boss).

Jonathan, a high school senior destined for Bible college, is more focused on earning enough money to keep his car running than he is on the horrors in his own neighborhood. That is, until he delivers a pizza to a hotel and encounters a half-naked girl fleeing from one of the rooms. The awareness of a sex trade in America comes crashing around him.

Deliver Me from Evil by Kathi Macias is the first in the Freedom series and one of those books that reviewers long to recommend. For its addressing of social justice issues, for the love that has been so evidently poured into the pages, for the good it could do in society. However, the book has a problem. Jonathan’s family feels stilted and one-sided. Their lives and discussions revolve around sex trafficking and little else. It feels as if this is all the family thinks about. They come across as boring, perfect Christians, a big no-no. This reviewer found herself hurrying through the sections about Jonathan and his family to reach the far more compelling stories told through the eyes of the trafficking victims.

These scenes drove home the reality of prostitution rings and offered insight into how such things can happen. And it is here that Kathi Macias shines. She manages to convey the atrocities inflicted without being graphic. The numbness of the seasoned “prostitutes” is especially well-conveyed.

Macias manages to give a face to countless unknown victims, and although flawed in style, the book should be read for awareness’ sake.

Review copy provided by publisher. 

Genre: Children’s

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Publication Date: August 2010

Reviewed by Shaun Stevenson

When the world is threatened by the Dread Foe, only twelve kids can save us. And only Mack MacAvoy can lead them to victory. Hopefully. If he doesn’t get beat up by the school bullies first. But Mack will face many more dangers than a fist pummeling his jaw: The evil Pale Queen is trying to rise once again, and Mack is only one of twelve who can speak a magical language and defeat her. Mack will have to find the other eleven kids, and figure out how to destroy her forever. Otherwise… he’ll end up being dinner to one of the Pale Queen’s evil creations.

Michael Grant drops down an age group to the magical world of middle-grade novels, and begins a new series: The Magnificent 12. Book one, The Call, starts things off on an interesting foot. Grant definitely is playing a humor card here – trying to make things fun along the way with some quirky middle school-type humor. Some of the laughs come off well, but some don’t quite make it. It was still a fun read and Grant pulls off the action scenes very well. Even the main character, Mack, is fairly likable. But even putting all that aside, the quirky humor style didn’t always work for me.

The plot is interesting enough: Mack ends up being one of twelve kids who can speak a magic language. And he’s contacted by a three-thousand year old guy who pushes him onto his quest to defeat the Pale Queen, who is pretty evil. The story switches back and forth between present day and “a really, really long time ago” following the story of the old man when he was twelve years old. The switches are often, and a little bit jarring at first, but after a few chapters, the alternating storyline becomes easier to follow.

One thing that Grant has done right and very well is the action. Whenever an action scene begins, Grant really shines through – keeping things moving and very slick. Strange monsters abound and are constantly attacking Mack and his friends. And some of the creatures Grant has come up with are truly terrifying. The nice thing is Grant doesn’t get Mack into trouble and get him out very easily. There’s a good level of danger the whole way through that keeps the reader pretty engaged. From fights in the school bathroom to dangling twenty thousand feet in the air to the rugged Outback, Mack faces more than any typical pre-teen could handle.

The Call doesn’t always take itself seriously. When it does, it shines. When the humor begins to take over and Grant delivers joke after joke, things go a little sideways. Middle grade readers will probably love the puns and funny moments, while getting a pretty solid story that promises to be a fairly decent middle-grade fantasy series.

Book provided by the Amazon Vine Program.

Genre: Detective Mystery

Publisher: LL Publications

Publication Date: April 2011

Reviewed by Chrystal Dorsey

Peg Herring’s novel, The Dead Detective Agency, is the first case in The Dead Detective Mystery Series. Herring writes a stimulating, though somewhat improbable, detective novel in The Dead Detective Agency. Meaning that some of the characters are supposedly dead and the others are seemingly serving as their hosts. And yet, other scenes are somewhat reminiscent of a Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mystery. And as in the amateur sleuth mysteries, this 261-page detective mystery has some twists and turns that will keep readers guessing right until the end.

The main character, Tori Van Camp, is a vibrant carefree young secretary, who wakes one morning on a luxurious cruise ship, where she is offered anything she may desire, including: food, clothes, recreation, and the companionship of congenial people.  The problem is, Tori has no memory of booking a cruise.  But what she does have a vivid recollection of is being shot in the chest at point blank range.

With the help of the stunningly handsome Mike and the unnervingly serene Nancy, Tori soon learns the purpose of her voyage.  Still, she is haunted by the image of the gun, the crack of the shot, and the malevolent face of the shooter.

Tori is determined to find out who wanted her dead and why? And to do so, she enlists the help of Seamus, and eccentric but somewhat shrewd detective. Together they embark on an investigation. Death is all around, the future is uncertain, and if Tori doesn’t act quickly, two people she cares about are the prime candidates for murder.

The Dead Detective Agency is not only a story of a young woman in search of her killer and the reason for her brutal death, but its also a story of the struggle to find some sort of solace as it relates to the afterlife.  Author, Pat Herring touches upon what may occur after death in such a pleasant yet humorous way, with a sprinkle of Christian faith as reassurance, one can’t help but be more accepting and less fearful of the eternal life she writes of.

I initially thought this book was going to be a cutesy story geared toward the less than avid reader, but, I must say I was pleasantly surprised to discover through my journey that, The Dead Detective Agency will not only appeal to the garden-variety reader or the teenage reader, but will be of interest to intermediate and young adult readers alike – as well as those with discerning taste for “detective” mysteries.

This is the first book by Peg Herring I have had the pleasure of reviewing. I look forward to the next case of The Dead Detective Mystery Series: Dead for the Money coming soon from LL-Publications.

Peg Herring lives in Michigan and writes both historical and contemporary mysteries. When not reading or writing, Peg loves travel and directing choral music.
Review copy provided by publisher.

Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: June 2011
Reviewed by P.J. Coldren

It’s winter, well March, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (aka The UP), and it’s cold and snowy.  This is not at all unusual.  What is unusual is Chief Roy Maven, from the Soo, is in Paradise at the Glasgow Inn asking private eye Alex McKnight to do him a really big favor.  One would sooner expect pigs to fly.  Alex and Maven got off on the wrong foot many years ago, and things haven’t improved.  Yet here he is, asking Alex to do something for him.

What he wants is unusual, over and above the unusualness of the asking itself.  His old partner wants somebody, a private eye, to look into his son’s death.  His son committed suicide in Misery Bay, up near Michigan Tech.  No note.  No clue.  Nada.  The local police have ended their investigation.  Charles Raznewiski isn’t buying it.  These cases never end well, as both Maven and McKnight know.

This case is no exception.  McKnight does do this favor for Maven.  Initially, his feeling is that the local police were right.  His instinct tells him otherwise.  His instinct is correct.  Somebody kills Raznewiski, Sr.  Alex begins to look back a little bit.  There is a pattern here.  Other suicides of young people, followed by the murders of their parents.  Somebody, somewhere, is not a happy camper.

McKnight and Maven work together on this case.  It’s not an easy fit for either of them.  The solution, when they figure everything out, is bizarre but not outside the realm of possibility.

Hamilton has written another marvelous book about McKnight and his cases.  McKnight’s character continues to grow, book after book.  The setting is awesome and awful.  The plot is right up there with anything Hamilton has done in the past.  Hamilton is vastly underrated by people who only read writers like Patterson and Grafton.  If you haven’t read anything by Hamilton, start with A Cold Day in Paradise and work your way to Misery Bay.  It’s a journey well worth taking.

Caveat Emptor: Minimal language issues, graphic depictions of the results of violence

Genre: Children’s / Young Adult

Publisher: Hyperion Book CH

Publication Date: October 2011

Reviewed by Shaun Stevenson

Percy Jackson has no idea who he is. Where he has come from. What has happened the past sixteen years of his life. All he knows is that an unnamed force keeps drawing him south. Drawing him to a place where Roman demigods – children of the Roman gods and humans – train for battle against any foe that might threaten Camp Jupiter. Percy arrives, and soon finds himself thrown in with the outcasts:  a bumbling would-be soldier named Frank, and a mysterious, and somewhat deadly girl named Hazel. And now, the three of them have to embark on a quest to save Camp Jupiter from the evil threatening to erase Rome’s mark from history forever. The only problem is the mission is suicidal. All of them – Percy, Frank, and Hazel – have been destined to die.

Rick Riordan’s return to the world of Percy Jackson and the Olympian gods is a very welcome one. Riordan knows exactly what he’s doing as he leads Percy through danger after danger. Long gone are the days of random Greek monsters cropping up to fill in the action. Riordan uses every encounter for a reason – to build up the quite complicated characters, or to deliver some devastating plot twists. With The Son of Neptune, book two in the Heroes of Olympus, Riordan definitely delivers more of his trademark myth and mystery.

Once again, Riordan splits up the chapters between his three lead characters – each chapter from one of their points of view. And unlike with The Lost Hero, where I found myself slightly annoyed (wanting to get back to my favorite character), in this book, it seemed to work much more seamlessly. All three characters are highly enjoyable, and fun to follow along as they deal with their own demons of the past. Read the rest of this entry »

Genre: Drama
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: 2011
Reviewed by Chrystal Dorsey

Lisa See is the New York Times bestselling author of Shanghai Girls, Peony in Love, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (which has been adapted into a film), Flower Net (an Edgar Award nominee), The Interior, and Dragon Bones, as well as the acclaimed memoir On Gold Mountain. The Organization of Chinese American Women named her the 2001 National Woman of the Year.

In her most powerful novel yet, Lisa See returns to the timeless themes of mother love, romantic love, and love of country. She continues the story of sisters Pearl and May from Shanghai Girls, and Pearl’s strong-willed nineteen-year-old daughter, Joy.  Dreams of Joy provides a glimpse of the cold, cruel damage to the humanity of people that was caused by war and the Communist regime in China in the late 1950s.  In this segment the return to Shanghai shows the Paris of Asia, may have been lost forever.

Acclaimed for her richly drawn characters and vivid storytelling, Lisa See once again renders a family challenged by tragedy and time, yet ultimately united by the resilience of love.

Dreams of Joy is the sequel to Shanghai Girls which revisits sisters Pearl and May and the continued development of their relationship while telling the story of Joy, a Chinese-American at the time of the inception of Mao’s “Great Leap Forward“.  It is an epic historical drama with strong characterization and authenticity – the reader is taken on an emotional journey to China and into the lives of the Chin family.  Joy is an idealistic and naive college-student hell-bent on helping China’s “Great Leap Forward”.  However, what Joy finds is not the communist paradise she thought she wanted to be a part of;  Instead, what she finds is that her commune is more or less a refugee camp – her marriage and life in the countryside are so deeply disturbing and the “Great Leap Forward” is an actual  “Great Leap Into Famine”.   Some may consider this to be a beautiful coming of age story, while others may view it as a story of a hardheaded teen defying her mother and trying to escape the guilt of her step-father’s suicide, while at the same time trying to process the newly uncovered family secret of her parentage that has scattered her emotionally and placed a wedge of anger between her mother, aunt and herself.

The adventure, if one can call it that, begins after naïve Joy flees to China to seek out her biological father – the artist Z.G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love. Devastated by Joy’s flight and terrified for her safety, Pearl is determined to save her daughter, no matter what the personal cost.  Against better judgment, Pearl leaves the comforts of L.A. on a quest to find Joy; once there she confronts old demons and challenges as she tries to reunite with Joy.  Added to the stress of trying to locate her daughter is the realization of the perils of the new China – including not being allowed basic freedoms of wearing a bra, sending and receiving mail, possession of her own passport, or even worst, not being allowed to leave China once there.

This story is permeated with the most vivid descriptions of sights, sounds and smells that transport the reader to a time and place where no one in their right mind would willingly want to go - yet, one will find themselves eagerly leaping forward through the story, to discover the moral fabric of China’s society as it unravels, with the abuse of its people, which sometimes resorted to cannibalism.  Readers will find themselves transfixed and perhaps emotionally invested, as old, new and restored relationships are woven within the dangers of this sage.  Not only fear for the safety of the main characters, but will root for their survival, but will Joy, Pearl and May survive the devastation of China’s new regime or will they perish along with millions of others?

Sometimes you come across a book that touches your heart, whether through a moving story-line, a narrative so beautifully heartbreaking it smothers you emotionally or a character or characters so absorbing you can’t quite put the book down – Lisa See’s Dreams of Joy is one such book.

This is a must read and highly recommended for anyone who wants to be vividly transported historically back in time – Lee allows readers to explore the details of the Maoist era (1958-1962) without restoring to dull dry statistical facts, as she unleashes a story about the worst catastrophe in China’s history, and one of the worst anywhere; but at the same time provides a story about the love, loyalty, devotion and strength of a family.

Review copy provided by publisher.

Genre: Children’s / Young Adult

Publisher: Aladdin

Publication Date: March 2011

Reviewed by Shaun Stevenson

I love discovering new authors. Ones who write well and keep me highly entertained are a huge plus. And Brandon Mull definitely delivers with his newest book, Beyonders: A World Without Heroes. There’s plenty of action. Plenty of humor. And some genuinely great villains and plot twists that make reading Mull’s work downright enjoyable.

Jason Walker thought life was pretty boring. Just going from school to home to baseball and back. But then he falls through a portal inside the mouth of a hippo and ends up in another world: Lyrian. It’s a place filled with danger and mysterious creatures – but that doesn’t even begin to describe Jason’s problems. When he accidentally stumbles onto the biggest secret in Lyrian, it’s up to him to band together with a handful of characters to stop the last and most evil wizard, Maldor, who rules over the land. And now Maldor is after Jason. But in order to defeat the Emperor, sacrifices must be made, friends might be lost, and everything Jason ever believed will be challenged until he can answer the question: will he choose to be a hero?

This was my first Mull book, and I must say I was very excited with it. A World Without Heroes sounded extremely interesting to me, and I’m glad I picked it up and started reading. The beginning does move a little more slowly than a typical middle-grade / YA novel might, but once this book gets rolling around chapter two, Mull gives us a ride that just does not stop. His action scenes run through very smoothly and Mull has dreamed up great solutions to get his characters out of danger’s way — at least for a little while. It was definitely hard to guess what might happen, and that made reading this first volume of the Beyonders series even better.

One of my favorite things about A World Without Heroes is just how dire and horrible things go for Jason and his friend Rachel, who face endless danger from nearly the beginning pages. And Mull has given us an utterly evil villain in Maldor, the Emperor of Lyrian – who always seems to be one step ahead, always anticipating their moves, always within killing reach through a spy or a loyal servant. I love when characters are constantly thrown into hopelessness and there really seems to be no way out. Mull delivers multiple dark moments, but saves the darkest for the end of the book putting an incredible twist onto the whole story. From giant crabs to devious puzzles and traps, Jason and Rachel must face it all. Mull manages to weave things together so well that small moments from early on become important later. There is a bit of gore splattered throughout, but nothing too outrageous or out of place.

Jason’s personal journey is interesting as well. His entire life has been utter boredom up until this point. And as he grows throughout the novel he has to choose: will he end up being a hero? Or will he succumb to the easier ways out? Soon he has to question what he really wants out of life: possible death at the hands of Maldor or living to see his family again. The side characters also make this novel downright fun: Ferrin — the loyal guide, Jasher — the noble warrior, Malar — the talking head, and many others. Mull uses these characters to bring in humor — and a lot of great plot twists.

Nothing is ever as it seems in the world of Lyrian – and nothing can surprise quite so much as Mull’s Beyonders. He stays away from many fantasy-novel cliches, or manages to twist them enough to make them his own. Fans of epic fantasy stories with humor, danger, and the unexpected will definitely enjoy A World Without Heroes.

Genre: Mystery, Romance

Publisher: Multnomah Books

Publication Date: July 2011

Reviewed by Elizabeth Olmedo 

Carrie Carter owns a small café in Seaside, New Jersey. Every morning the object of her unrequited love comes in for breakfast. However, Greg Barnes is too consumed by the horrible tragedy that took the life of his wife and children three years earlier to notice the woman who serves his coffee.

Carrie’s dishwasher is murdered and shortly after her waitress disappears, Greg’s ex-cop instincts kick into full-gear plunging him into Carrie’s world. For the first time since the loss of his family, Greg’s heart is in danger of letting someone in. But Carrie has a past of her own and the recent incidents are bringing them back to the forefront. While trying to uncover the mystery and hopefully save the missing girl, Greg and Carrie must fight their own personal wars if they hope to move beyond their pain.

With summer giving way to autumn, some of us aren’t quite ready to say goodbye to the long, sunny days. Shadows on the Sand is just the book to help readers hold on a little longer as Gayle Roper vividly brings to life late summer days by the seaside. In this mystery, the author explores the scary reality of cults. While a topic like cult-life could easily push a story to the heavy side, the novel is anything but that. Using romance and a great setting, Roper balances out the novel, delivering a light and easy-to-read mystery. I recommend Shadows on the Sand to anyone looking for a nice mystery/romance. Roper will take you on a trip to the seaside without ever leaving your chair.

Genre: Suspense

Publisher: Cascada Productions

Publication Date: October 15, 2011

Reviewed by Lori Twitchell

Amanda James is content in her life. She works at the Getty Museum and she has been making inroads in her career that have placed her squarely in the line of vision of some of the most prominent archaeologists in her field. When she receives a phone call from Italy asking her to come to a dig site, it doesn’t take her long to say yes. Ironically, the same night that she’s slated to leave California, she receives another job offer for a prominent position in Japan. Though it’s puzzling to receive both of these incredible offers in one day, Amanda chooses to stick with the job in Italy.

Once there, she discovers that she’s the only one who is able to solve the puzzle that will allow the doors to open, but she’s also the only one who can fit through the narrow opening to get to the doors. Within minutes, Amanda has solved the puzzle, opened the doors, and found herself in the center of an amazing room full of antiquities. Unfortunately, a misstep causes the doors to close behind her and she loses communication with the rest of her team. Now Amanda is trapped. Or is she? While waiting for her team to get to her, Amanda does some exploring of her own and suddenly she finds herself a witness to centuries and centuries of history.

Read the rest of this entry »

Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Plume
Publication Date: May 31, 2011
Reviewed by Chrystal Dorsey

Missing Persons is the debut of an edgy, exciting new Kate Conway Mystery series featuring a funny, but cynical television producer turned amateur sleuth.  In the oddest chapter of her life, Kate navigates a sometimes dangerous path of lost love, bad television, unsolved cases, and her husband’s girlfriend, who keeps getting in the damn way.

Crime TV producer, Kate Conway has a pretty simple job. Gain the trust of unsuspecting interviewees to extract the true story and capture it all on camera – ideally, while they cry on cue. However, Kate finds herself on the other side of the line of questioning after she gets a call from her soon-to-be ex-husband’s lover, Vera Bingham who informs her that Frank, collapsed after playing basketball and was rushed to St. Anthony’s Hospital, where Frank dies from a heart attack. But an autopsy shows Frank had excessive amounts of digitalis in his body; And the two women in his life -Kate and Vera – are the prime suspects. To make matters worse – Frank’s grieving mistress suddenly wants to become Kate’s new best friend.

As the investigation into Frank’s death heats up, Kate throws herself into her work on a new television program Missing Persons. Her first assignment is the story of Theresa Moretti, a seemingly angelic young woman who disappeared a year earlier. Except, Theresa may not be as innocent as everyone thinks. Interviews with Theresa’s ex-boyfriend, her disinterested “best” friend, and an attractive, but amoral, local politician, lead Kate to believe she’s being lied to about the real Theresa. Although, All Kate wants is a clichéd story and twenty-two minutes of footage to take her mind off her own messy life, but when two cases appear to overlap, she begins digging into the case herself; but Kate needs to work fast before another body turns up – and it just may very well be her own.

Missing Persons is a mystery with surprising depth and smart, hip, snappy dialogue. Kate is a sharp, cynical, person who makes mistakes and learns from them – she grows and changes as the story progresses. The Kate Conway series is certain to become a favorite with mystery fans; and I, like many readers, look forward to seeing what O’Donohue does with the main character going forward.

Review copy provided by publisher.

Genre: Children’s

Publisher: Knopf

Publication Date: August 2011

Reviewed by Jaci Miller

The winter doldrums have hit the animals at the zoo—all but the young hippo and the baby kangaroo. The pair bounce, hip-hopping and toe-tapping around the zoo, and eventually the other animals join in. “Let’s put on a ZooZical,” says the hippo, and the zoo creatures all leap to combine their talents in a musical production.

Rollicking rhymes and clever variations on popular songs (“Oh, my darling porcupine,” “For he’s a jolly gorilla,” etc.) pepper ZooZical by Judy Sierra.

The gouache on gessoed wood technique provides a textural feel, almost like canvas, to the illustrations. Illustrator Marc Brown has created lively and vivid creatures with priceless expressions. From joy to dismay, from fatigue to fear, the range of animal emotions is amusing and enchanting.

The book is a follow-up to Sierra’s Wild about Books, which readers may also be interested in (a librarian accidentally drives a bookmobile into the zoo).

ZooZical is pure fun.

Genre: Children’s

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Publication Date: July 2011

Reviewed by Jaci Miller

Wiener Dog’s cushy life with Granny has become stale. He craves adventure. So he sets out into the wide world, joins a wolf pack and begins a new life! But is life as Wiener Wolf all its cracked up to be?

Rich illustrations in earthy tones stand out as the true highlight of Wiener Wolf by Jeff Crosby. Something almost Brothers Grimm in nature permeates the pictures, drawing the reader in. The textures and depth of shades, especially in the woodlands scenes, captivate.

The text, however, lacks the magic of an artisan wordsmith. The language is adequate to convey the story but lacks the lyricism and beauty found in the best picture books.

The story itself is delightful as Wiener Dog treks through an adventure of finding his roots in the woods. Crosby makes fun comparisons between Wiener Dog’s old water dish and his new (a stream in the woods) as well as his old squeaky toys and the new ones (playful young wolf pups).

One scene about which readers should be forewarned: a pack of snarling wolves chases a deer and while nothing is shown of the deer’s capture, very sensitive children could be bothered by the concept.

Amazing illustrations, average language. This would be ideal for young animal fans or for dachshund owners.

Genre: Children’s

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Publication Date: June 2011

Reviewed by Shaun Stevenson

There are few books that really enchant me, but Jenny Nimmo’s Chronicles of the Red King: The Secret Kingdom is one of them. It truly felt like a throwback to an early 1900s fantasy story for children. Nimmo delivers it all: danger, excitement, adventure, and of course with her trademark style
and charm.

When the Secret Kingdom is attacked by the evil Viridees, Prince Timoken and his sister Zobayda have to escape. Lord Degal of the Viridees is after Timoken’s moon cloak — a magical web that would allow Lord Degal to rule everything. Timoken and Zobayda know that they must find a place they can finally call home — safe from the Viridees. But along the way, there is danger around every stone and tree. And Lord Degal is not the enemy Timoken needs to fear most. Someone else is after the cloak — someone who will stop at absolutely nothing to get it.

Growing up, I read a lot of old-time fantasy novels, such as The Wizard of Oz, or the Raggedy Ann and
Andy stories. Those books held a certain charm that was so hard to find anywhere else. I didn’t think
I’d ever run across another book quite like those old stories until I came across The Secret Kingdom.
Nimmo has managed to infuse such magic into the story telling here. Timoken and his sister travel
through adventure after adventure — meeting strange creatures, evil monsters, and magical animals.
And of course, one can hardly pass up the lovable, yet gruff, camel Gabar, who joins their adventures.

The language Nimmo uses in her writing here is downright amazing. This ends up being one of those
books you want to read out loud — just so you can hear the sentences come together. It’s definitely the
perfect bedtime story — reading one part of Timoken’s adventure each night.

Timoken is such an innocent character, at once brave, and yet longing to settle down in a place he can
call home. His journey is wonderful to follow, and I found myself turning page after page, just wanting
to see what happened next. The ending leaves you with that gentle ache for another story — as any good
fantasy book should do.

This book connects to Nimmo’s Children of the Red King series, and the prologue does contain a few
spoilers if a new reader has not read those books. The actual story about Timoken could be read by
anyone, however. It’s possible for readers to even skip over the prologue and start chapter one without
missing a beat. For fans of Charlie Bone, The Secret Kingdom fills in details of the Red King: who he
is and where he really came from.

I’m glad the Chronicles of the Red King have only just begun. After an astounding first entry, I’m
excited to see where Nimmo takes us next. The Secret Kingdom is great for fantasy fans and anyone
who longs to re-connect with those nights reading as a young child when a book really was magic and
could take you anywhere.

Genre: Children’s

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Publication Date: July 2011

Reviewed by Jaci Miller 

Hornbooks and Inkwells by Verla Kay follows two 18^th century brothers through the school year, from fall through winter to spring. Harkening back to a time when quills were used for writing and Teacher’s word was law, this book reveals the fascinating details of colonial life in a one-room schoolhouse, and simultaneously demonstrates how children never really change. Homework struggles, recess and even mischief maintain their places in the school day.

Kay’s short verse in quatrains flows eloquently through the pages and communicates clearly, in a minimum of words, exactly what is happening in the story. This excellence of brevity in verse is Kay’s trademark, as is her gift for revealing nuanced portraits of American history.

Filled with tidbits of historical and sensory detail (“Hard clay marbles, click, clack, click!”), history springs to life with this book. John Paul’s struggles to read and write will also resonate with children. John Paul’s story line also adds a note of tension as we wonder whether he will accomplish his goal as the seasons pass.

S.D. Schindler’s watercolor and gouache illustrations demonstrate, in an open and approachable manner, the stark beauty of colonial life.

Readers will relish discerning the similarities and differences between their own schools and the brothers’ historical one. Note from the author is included.