The Crown

I was surprised that this book existed. I read the one previous...The Heir. And from my memory it ended in a way I thought the story was done but I must have remembered wrong! It was interesting because I remember her falling for one guy then in this book she falls for someone else. It was obvious who it would be, but I didnt like that they hardly spent any time together or talking really. To me the love story didn't seem real. I liked seeing Eadlyn's character grow, but I felt disappointed in the ending of this book. There are also details shared at the end of the book about old characters that I thought were totally unnecessary to the story and almost felt like it was totally made up on the fly to make it all more meaningful or something? This story is pretty clean, I think I would want to talk to my teenagers about the details shared at the end and maybe even throughout the book when Eadlyn realizes who she is falling for...and if she was making correct choices trying to hide it, etc. I read this book in a day or two so it was a quick enjoyable read (until the last little bit) but  again I was left feeling really disappointed with the ending and even a little mad at the author for her choice of ending. Ha!

Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem

I grabbed this book not remembering that I had read it before. After a couple of chapters I realized I had read this book previously but since I was enjoying it again and couldn't remember the ending exactly I kept reading!  I originally found this book because the author is my friend's sister! My friend Sharee had a Mary Kay party at her house because her sister Melissa Lemon had just started selling it, so I met her before she was an author!
I really liked the story and I love retellings of fairy tales. At times it felt like it needed a little more editing or something...it didn't quite flow right but I loved reading the book and did so quickly. I also love that it is clean so I would let a teenager read it with no qualms. She has another book published and one coming soon...go check her books out!

The Siren

I could not put this book down! It was definitely a teenage love story which are always unrealistic. Nevertheless I really enjoyed it and the different complication of her being a mythical Siren owing 100 years to the ocean and he being a human.  I read it in a day which shows you how much I couldn't put it down! If you want a fun easy read, check this one out! There is a little bit of innuendo but nothing at all in detail, I would be okay with my teenagers (if I had any) reading this book.

Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker

 I loved this book!  The beginning was so interesting and fascinating.  I thought it was so interesting to read this during an election year and comparing this year's election with one long gone by. I thought the beginning of this book was great, in the middle it started to feel really slow and drug on.  I had a hard time wanting to keep reading but then in the end it gets really interesting again and I loved the ending so, so much.  I have always loved Abraham Lincoln and reading this book made me love him even more. Elizabeth Keckley was a real person and bought her freedom and moved to Washington where she began sewing dresses for the women there.  She became Mrs. Lincoln's "modiste" (which includes so much more than just sewing her dresses) and was a good friend to her. It was heartbreaking to learn all of the history of Mary Todd Lincoln and there were some scandals that happened because of some of her poor choices. Elizabeth always supported her and tried to help her.  When she wrote a memoir of her life, there were some things that happened (according to this novel, which I don't know if it is all true) that caused Mrs. Lincoln to push Elizabeth away as a friend.  I thought this was the most heartbreaking thing of all...she wrote it trying to help Mrs. Lincoln and instead caused even more problems.  The end told of how Elizabeth tried so many times to reconcile the friendship with Mrs. Lincoln but ultimately Mrs. Lincoln died before she could.  The end was filled with hope though.  I loved that she realized her legacy was so much more than just the dresses she had sewn or who she had sewn them for but was a sum total of all the things she had done and even how she had paved the way for other African Americans.  The last sentence reads "she was ready to lay down her burdens and rest, and perhaps to find in heaven the reunion and reconciliation that had eluded her on earth." I loved that so, so much!  I have come to the realization lately that dying won't be a bad thing...not that I want to die!  But I will be so happy to be reunited with those I love who are in heaven. I also have been learning the importance of our relationships with people.  It is one of the only things that can last and we can take with us when we die. They are so important, one of the great commandments is to "love they neighbor as theyself" and how awful would it be to not treat people well and then to see them after this life and have regrets. Anyway I really enjoyed many aspects of this book, learning a little more about politics which I know almost nothing about, learning more about Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln and all the historical aspects that were in this book.  Also the inspirational message I felt it conveyed.  This is not an action book by any means, so if you're looking for that this wouldn't be the book for you, but I highly recommend it!

The Night Garden

This book was a quick easy read but I didn't feel like I loved it when I really wanted to.  It was interesting and different from other things I've read.  It includes a bit of fantasy that never really makes sense to me.  Olivia becomes "poisonous" after growing a garden with her father of poison plants.  This in turn makes her drive everyone away for fear of hurting them with her touch. Her teenage love comes back after years and they still love each other but she doesn't want to hurt him so she tries to push him away again. He has been in an accident and can't physically feel anything anymore. There are a couple of sexual scenes which don't go into a lot of detail but it still was more than I wanted to read.  This is an adult book, not for teenagers in my opinion.
Anyway I think it would be a good book club discussion and even includes some great questions in the back, but I feel like I need to think about it more to decide if I really like it.  There is a theme of temptation and touch.  How important is touch?  Can you have a relationship without it? I feel like Olivia was so afraid she just pushed everyone away when if she had been open they could have been closer and understanding and found ways to get around her toxic touch. I felt like this book everyone was hiding something...hiding the poisonous touch, hiding that the "saving gene" skipped them, hiding the fact that you caused your daughter to be this way...and all the hiding made everyone miserable for years. I did like the ending which seemed hopeful and old hurts were resolved.
Sorry this is a disjointed review but overall I enjoyed reading this book.  I didn't love it like I had hoped and was frustrated with some of the decisions of the characters...they all need to learn how to talk to each other!!

Forged

Okay...I'll grudgingly admit.... I guess I liked this book.  There was a lot of fighting and a lot of dying and I still don't like the way the love interest went.  I liked it a whole lot better than the second book Frozen but not as much as Taken. But all that aside, I really liked how everyone started to recognize the corruption in their leadership and started to work together to stop the fighting and get rid of the corrupt leader. It was hard for them to really trust each other...but they did.
It makes me think of our leaders today and how unfortunately a lot of leaders in our country are corrupt but people don't seem to notice or they don't care?  I don't understand it. This book gives me hope that maybe someday things won't have to be corrupt, that people will wake up and all work together to take back the freedoms we should all have that mean political leaders won't get away with committing crimes.

The Girl with Glass Feet

I was really disappointed with this book.  My husband teaches LDS seminary and one of his students had this book at the seminary building one day during lunch.  So I just assumed a good little LDS young woman would be reading a good clean book and I went home and put it on hold at the library!  I am really surprised that she was reading this book.  It is an adult book.  I would not let my children read it...honestly I'm disappointed in myself that I finished reading it. I kept thinking it would get better though. It is full of bad language, including multiple, multiple uses of the F word (at least it seemed that way to me!  I try to avoid it though).  Sexual innuendo as well as just sex talked about casually. Broken families and marriages and it was just kind of awful. It reminded me a lot of Neil Gaiman books: dark, weird fantasy.
So there are mythical winged creatures who live in St. Hauda's Land and upon visiting Ida encounters one and is now slowing turning to glass.  The search for the cure is on...but unfortunately is not found.  She meets Midas and the two unlikely matched somehow fall in love...probably because time is so short between them. It really bothers me that Midas hates his dad so much, he is preoccupied with his hatred of his dad.  And in the end he doesn't resolve that, he just throws it away and lets it go.  He never finds out the reason his dad acted the way he did was because his heart was turned to glass. His mother who had an affair I guess? with a strange man doesn't get back together with that man.  Another man who was obsessed with Ida's mother ends up being miserable and it just...nothing happy happens in this book.  Except maybe Midas becomes more capable of showing love?  I did not like this book. I don't recommend it. In case you are considering this read...I say skip it!  Unless you don't mind the f word and dark books. I didn't like how this book made me feel which should have been my first clue that I shouldn't read it. Can I tell you enough that I don't like this book? Just...don't read it.

The Girl with the Glass Bird

I read this book completely randomly.  I didn't know anything about it, but had been looking for a different book that a student of my husband's was reading and came across this one in my search. It looked interesting so I put it on hold at the library.  I really enjoyed this book!  It reminded me of my Nancy Drew reading days as a young girl. An orphan girl Edie lives with her grandmother who has gone blind...when that is discovered her grandmother is put into an elderly home and she is given to the care of her aunt and three horrible cousins who are not disciplined and constantly torment her.  It happens that another young girl the same age is at a boarding school and constantly losing her things...but then they show up again.  At school people think she is making it up and but her father believes her when she says things are missing but mysteriously show up again.  He wants someone to be a "spy" and figure out what is going on with his daughter so Edie is chosen as the spy. What follows is an incredible coming of age story and discovering who you are, while saving the day as well.  I loved the mystery part of this story and really the only complaint that I had was that it is a modern setting...but you wouldn't guess that at all.  There are a couple of weird references to cell phones but to me it doesn't fit at all.  I think it should have been set in the early 1900s instead of modern day.  I think there were a couple of mild swear words but I would be okay with my tween daughter (if I had one) reading this.

Frozen

Frozen is the second book in the Taken series.  I did not like this book anywhere near as much as the first book.  This book introduces the concept of "forgeries" where a person can be copied and be almost exactly like the original person with their memories and feelings but have like a computer program ingrained in their brain that leaves them loyal to the enemy known as Frank. Also there is more of the love triangle which just makes me mad.  How can you love someone for so long and then suddenly just throw them away because of another pretty face who throughout the whole book he is saying how he just fights with the new girl and they pretty much bring out the worst in each other. I feel like Emma brings out the best in him and Bree does not but she doesn't try to correct him ever so I guess she is more "accepting" because of that?  Whatever real relationships need to have elements of both and he never really gave the relationship with Emma a chance!  Anyway it really bothers me and this book just wasn't as interesting to me as the first...but I'm still going to read the last book to find out how it all ends!  I'm hoping maybe the love triangle can be resolved in a way that will make me happy. Ha. :)

Taken

This book sucked me in right away.  It is about a small, seemingly poor community completely surrounded by a wall where the boys are taken or "heisted" at age 18.  Anyone who crosses the wall has their burned body returned to the village the next day. The book opens on the day of Blaine Weathersby's heist.  The main character is Gray Weathersby, Blaine's younger brother born exactly one year apart.  He finds a secret letter in his home after his brother is heisted and wants to find answers to what is going on in his community.  He teams up with his long time secret crush Emma to find answers and they decide to take the chance to cross the wall.  Luckily for Gray he and Emma become very close in the process.  After they cross the wall...it quickly goes downhill in my opinion.  Obviously much more is going on with this community behind the wall.  But maybe the thing that bothers me the most it that there is a love triangle.  The first half of the book is all about how much Gray loves and wants Emma and has for years since he was 6 years old .and how he can't believe she is finally starting to return his affection.  So it really bothers me that the first girl he meets after being separated from Emma he is attracted to and he gets confused.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised in a teen book, but as a married woman...it really bothers me.  Still a fun read, the mystery was cool but once it's over...it just isn't quite as interesting. I still couldn't put this book down though even after all the secrets are revealed.  Good summer read!

The Fault in our Stars

I don't even know how I feel about this book.  It was underwhelming.  I felt like it had great potential to be really inspiring but it didn't reach it. There was a lot of angst in this book...whether because the main characters are terminally ill or because they are teenagers I'm not really sure...but I didn't appreciate all the swearing and such.  The love story part of this book felt fake to me somehow, almost like they were more concerned with not dying virgins than actually loving each other?  I don't know.  The lack of parental guidance bothered me...letting dating teenagers go on an overseas trip where they spend a lot of time alone doesn't bother anyone else?  It was interesting though. If there was more belief in something beyond themselves I think this book could have been really great and inspiring...but for me it fell short. My favorite part was where they go to the Anne Frank house and watch this video where Anne's father talks about how he feels like parents don't really know their children...I liked that because it made me feel like I want to make sure I take the time to really know my children. But overall there were no tears shed and I wouldn't recommend this book.

The Jewel

I started reading this book and right away it felt like a mix of The Hunger Games, and The Selection.  But with this weird twist that instead of being chosen as a possible princess, or a tribute...you are chosen as a surrogate mother. Because of that, at first this book was just weird to me.  But then it got interesting.  All of the girls who become surrogates have this magical ability called augury where they can change things...it costs them physically, but they can change the color and shape of things and can make things grow.  This enables them to be the perfect surrogate mothers for the rich people who for some reason can't have their own children. But the surrogates are treated as property, they are given a rank on how well they did in their augury training and talents they have and then sold in auctions to the highest bidder.  After being sold, they are kind of treated as a pet...put on leashes when going on, dressed up and shown off to all the others to flaunt their surrogate being the very best.
As Violet is sold we start to learn of the hidden cruelty and backstabbing among the royalty.  She finds an ally and also (of course!) develops a forbidden romance with someone who sees her as herself...and not just as property or the surrogate. Overall I enjoyed the book and couldn't put it down!  It definitely has a cliff-hanger ending and I was so disappointed the next book isn't out yet!

The Phoenix Files #3: Mutation

One thing that is a little bit confusing for me with this series is that each new book (so far) is told from the point of view of a different character.  The second book was really confusing to me until sometime by the end of the first chapter I figured it out.  I wish these books gave some sort of sign ahead of time about that.  Oh well.  This one was from the point of view of the female main character: Jordan.  This book has been my least favorite of this series so far. Unless there have been Australian swear words that I don't know, this one contained the first swear word...and that was disappointing to me.  There was also more violence and the bad guys are taking more drastic actions.  While I would be fine with my kids reading the first and second book in this series, I think this one is a little more mature.  Anyway I still enjoy the series and want to know how it ends, but it sure seems like things keep getting worse and more people are dying because of the evilness (is that even a word?) of the "villians."  There is a lot of confusing things going on too that I hope will be explained as the series goes on.

The Phoenix Files: Contact

I couldn't wait to read this book!  It was just as exciting as the first one for me.  Maybe even more so, because now the three friends sneak into even higher security places...and they get caught. After barely making it out alive, I'm quite baffled as to how they are going to be able to do anything to save the world now...

The BFG

Sophie wakes up one night and peeks out the window to see a giant across the street!  She is then taken and learns about the world of giants. I just finished reading this book to my boys and it was such a fun book to read!  A little terrifying as there are humongous giants who eat people! The first chapter they were both a little scared, but in the end they loved pretending to be the BFG and even learned to talk like him which was so funny to me.  I had never heard of this book before this summer but thoroughly enjoyed reading it! Even if I hadn't been reading it to my boys I would have enjoyed this book. It goes to show that no matter how little (or big) you are, you can make a difference!

The Phoenix Files: Arrival

This is another book I read because of signing up as an Usborne consultant.  My first thought on learning Luke moves to Phoenix was Phoenix Arizona but this book is from Australia...the author is from there, it is set there, was published there.  It was interesting because there were a couple words I'm not familiar with that must be Australian words.  It talked about seeing kangaroos...so weird to me!  But the Australian aspect was fun.
It starts off by telling us Luke's parents are recently divorced and his mom takes a job in this middle of nowhere new town called Phoenix.  They arrive and find out there are no cars, (everyone rides bikes instead) the phone service is down, and the internet doesn't work. Luke quickly feels trapped and isolated and everything about the town seems off somehow.
He makes a couple friends and receives a strange message that the world is ending in 100 days for everyone outside of Phoenix.  This book is mostly about their trying to figure out if this message is for real and once they decide that it is they want to get outside the town and warn someone or try to get some help.  It was a great suspenseful read.  There were two violent scenes in the book that I'm not sure I would want my younger kids to read...I kind of skimmed over them since I don't like violence.  I don't think it was too awful, but I wouldn't let kids younger than 12ish read it. I thoroughly enjoyed it though and can't wait for the next one!

Splintered

I was at girls camp a few weeks ago and one of the girls talked about this book and how much she loved it...so when I got back I looked it up and put it on hold at the library right away!
I really enjoyed this book although it reminded me a little of Twilight with the weird over the top teenage romance.  It is clean but there are kissing scenes that I think are a little too descriptive if you were younger than 12-13. What I really loved was the fairytale part of this story, how Allie comes to know herself through this book and knows/remembers Wonderland.  Some of it was really bizarre but it was really interesting to me to see the twist on Alice in Wonderland.  Overall I loved it!  Definitely a great summer read.

What Alice Forgot

This book was recommend to me by a friend, and I was warned there was language, however I was under the impression it was used by Alice who wakes up in the gym having forgotten all the memories from the last 10 years of her life. But I don't actually remember her using bad language except in her thoughts remembering other people using it towards her and wondering why, etc.  There are quite a few f-bombs and especially right upfront in the beginning.  This almost turned me off from reading it.  I read a couple of chapters and then wasn't going to finish it because of all the language!  However, over the course of the week I discovered some friends of ours had gotten divorced in the past couple of months.  This was such a shock to me and left me feeling so sad that for some reason I was drawn to this book again and other than trying to avoid the bad language, I really enjoyed this book.  It left me thinking about who I am, and what my decisions lead me to become, and if I'm becoming who I want to be.

Alice wakes up in the gym after falling off her bike in spin class and believes herself to be 10 years younger newly married and expecting her first child.  So imagine her shock to find out she is turning 40, has three children (none of whom she can remember) and is divorcing her beloved husband Nick!  They had bought an old home with plans to fix it up...and she goes home to find out all the things they had planned for their home have been done!  Now she has a beautiful home, has gained some fashion sense, lost weight, eats healthy, and is busy, busy, busy!  She finds out she doesn't seem to like who she become 10 years later, having lost touch big time with her family, friends, neighbors, and even her husband.
She longs to get back together with Nick, who reassures her when she gets her memory back, she won't want that anymore. Through the course of the book she questions and wonders what drew them apart, only to find out it wasn't just one thing but maybe a whole bunch of little things. She told her personal trainer that her marriage was failing because of lack of sleep. I also noticed it seemed to be the things they noticed.  They started focusing on the negative instead of the positive, joyful things...so that was all they could see until they turned that into disgust for each other that was reflected in how they spoke to each other, how they looked at each other.  It made me think of how I treat my husband?  Do I belittle him for not doing things right when he helps around the house or with the boys?  Do I thank him for things he does?
I thought of our friends who got divorced...if they could have gone back in time 10 years and seen themselves now through that perspective, would they still have chosen what they did? Would their younger selves fought harder?  Our marriages and our families are the most important things in this life.  Nothing from this life can go with us after we die, except for the things we have learned...and our families if we have kept our covenants.  This book made me think of a song I love, particularly the lyrics "Will my life become a legacy of the things that matter most to me?  Will my fire of faith burn bright as I grow old?  And will I want to be the person I've become, when all is said and done?"

The final verse of that song says "When all is said and done when my eyes can finally see, will I glory in the sweet release and will mercy fill my soul with peace, will I kneel in wonder at the Savior's feet?  will I hear him say 'well done' when he sees who I've become, will I live with him when all is said and done?"
My favorite scripture is Moroni 7:48...it talks about when Christ comes again  that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure.

That is one of the things I want most--to be like Him.  This book made me think about how I am doing that.  It's not just a grandiose idea, it is a reality in everything I think and say and do every day I am becoming more like him or father away. I want to like who I am because I am becoming more like Jesus Christ and drawing others to me, not pushing them away because of selfish desires. 

My Mother's Secret

My Mother's Secret by J.L. Witterick was another very quick read but very different from the last one.  This one was based on real people who lived in Poland during WWII.  The mother and daughter hide two Jewish families as well as a German officer who doesn't want to fight.  It has five parts to the story, each told by the perspective of someone different in the story starting out with the daughter who with her mother hides everyone.  I enjoyed seeing how all of these people were intertwined beyond just the fact they were living on the same farm especially because none of those in hiding knew of anyone else in hiding. I loved reading about people who were good and even in dangerous circumstances were able and willing to help others who would have not survived otherwise. There were heartaches and joys and I was left wondering how I would measure up. Would I do the right thing even if my life as well as those I loved were on the line? How often do I turn away and not do a good thing because it is inconvenient or hard?  I think this is a great book for older children and teens wanting to learn more about the Holocaust but not wanting anything graphic. This little book was filled with love for others and I highly recommend it.

Conspiracy 365

Almost two months ago I signed up as an Usborne books consultant and so I wanted to read some of the teen books just to know what they were like when I recommend books for people.  This was the first one I got from the library and I was excited to read it!  This book was action packed right from the get-go.  For me it was unbelievably action packed.  But it kept me reading and wanting to know what the mystery is!  On New Year's Eve Cal Ormund gets a strange warning from a drunk right before the paramedics take the drunk away.  He is told he needs to hide for a year because people will be trying to kill him.  His father had died months earlier and been unable to share a secret that was worth a lot of money.  He is left with drawings done by his father as clues to this secret and is being chased by multiple people asking him about the secret.  He has multiple near death experiences and by the end is on the run because everyone believes he shot his uncle and hurt his sister.  The cliff hanger ending will leave you needing to know how he escapes from this last attempt on his life...as obviously it doesn't work since it is the first book in the series.    Not believable at all but it was a fun, very quick read!