Zombies Vs. Unicorns

Zombies Vs. Unicorns
By Holly Black, Justine Labalestier, et al
From Goodreads:

It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths—for good and evil—of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

Midnight Thoughts:


Of course you probably already realize that I'm Team Zombie.  Midnight Book Girls aren't known for frolicking with the horned ones unless they're devils, but because of the awesome writing abilities of all of these writers, I have to say I don't mind unicorns.  In fact, I'd love to a miniature zombie unicorn.  I can honestly say that I enjoyed all of the stories (yes, even the unicorn ones) and it was awesome to read the introductions by Holly Black and Justine Labalestier before each story.  All the stories were imaginative, and often off the wall.  In "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (which I knew would be good because the author had the good taste to name the story after a Joy Division song) you have a male zombie in love with a non-zombie male, and it wasn't the only story to feature main characters that were gay or lesbian, but it never feels forced or made to feel like a big deal.  Meg Cabot made me laugh with "Princess Pretty Pants", and yes, you guessed correctly, it was a Team Unicorn story.  And of course my girl Maureen Johnson had her story "Children of the Revolution" which could totally be showing on Fear Net right now (no surprise that Johnson's Team Zombie).  Overall there were a lot a great stories, and even the ones I didn't love were readable.  Plus, it's hard to find "Z" books for all of you taking the A-Z challenge!

Zombies Vs. Unicorns gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

What paranormal creatures would you like to see battle it out?  I wouldn't mind reading about Witches Vs. Vampires, or Werewolves vs. Mermaids.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon Review

You know how you can just read one book by an author and know that they will have a forever place in your heart?  Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen was that type of book for me, and so far she's been living up to the spot she earned in my heart from her first book.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon
by Sarah Addison Allen
From Goodreads:

In her latest enchanting novel, New York Times bestselling author Sarah Addison Allen invites you to a quirky little Southern town with more magic than a full Carolina moon. Here two very different women discover how to find their place in the world…no matter how out of place they feel.

Emily Benedict came to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. For instance, why did Dulcie Shelby leave her hometown so suddenly? Why did she vow never to return? But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew—a reclusive, real-life gentle giant—she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life.

Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor bakes hope in the form of cakes.

Everyone in Mullaby adores Julia Winterson’s cakes. She offers them to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth and in the hope of bringing back the love she fears she’s lost forever. In Julia, Emily may have found a link to her mother’s past. But why is everyone trying to discourage Emily’s growing relationship with the handsome and mysterious son of Mullaby’s most prominent family? Emily came to Mullaby to get answers, but all she’s found so far are more questions.

Is there really a ghost dancing in her backyard? Can a cake really bring back a lost love?
In this town of lovable misfits, maybe the right answer is the one that just feels…different.

My Thoughts: Magical!  Sarah Addison Allen is magical, made of magic, I bet she even sneezes out fairy dust.  I loved Win Coffey and really liked the mystery behind his family.  I did feel that The Girl Who Chased the Moon was more YA than adult, and the ending came just a little too abruptly and was left a little too unfinished, but I just adored Mullaby.  Allen can give inanimate characters life, and she is spectacular with breathing life into a small southern town.  Once again, women and friendship looms large in Allen's books, and I liked the friendship that brewed between Emily and Julia.  While Emily is a bit uncomplicated, Julia is filled to the brim with character.  Is it as good as Garden Spells or The Sugar Queen?  No, but it's still a lovely read by an author I always look forward to reading.


The Girl Who Chased the Moon gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

It might be a little high for what it was, but I just can't rate a Sarah Addison Allen book anything lower!

The Golden Acorn Review

The Golden Acorn
by Catherine Cooper
From Goodreads:

When Jack Brenin finds a golden acorn lying in the grass, little does he know that it is the beginning of a thrilling and magical adventure. Just an ordinary boy, Jack has been chosen for a hugely important task, and enters a world he believed only existed in legend. Full of twists and turns, talking ravens and mischievous Spriggans, 'The Golden Acorn' is a hugely entertaining and exciting tale from a very talented new author. Your kids will love it, and so will you! This brilliant story deservedly won the Brit Writers' Awards 2010 for unpublished writers and has now been published by Infinite Ideas.

My Thoughts: This book was an impulse buy, but it got me back into occasionally reading a Middle Grade book.  It reminded me of how much I loved The House With The Clock In Its Wall growing up (mostly because Jack is a bit like Louis, just a normal kid), and The Golden Acorn certainly has the kind of magic and adventure that I think kids would be drawn to. I am interested enough to purchase the next book as soon as I finished this (which was last year, and no, I haven't read the sequel yet, but I will!), so it was definitely worth my time to download the free copy from Amazon when they were offering it. I do want to pick up a print copy simply because the cover is so lovely!  Honestly the picture is not doing it justice!  I would share this book with my youngest nieces and nephew, and I think it'd make a great book to read out loud to your kids!  Or heck, if you just like Middle Grade books that contain a touch of magic.  


The Golden Acorn gets a Midnight Book Rating of: 

The Girl In The Green Raincoat Review

The Girl in the Green Raincoat 
by Laura Lippman
From Goodreads:

In the third trimester of her pregnancy, Baltimore private investigator Tess Monaghan is under doctor's orders to remain immobile. Bored and restless, reduced to watching the world go by outside her window, she takes small comfort in the mundane events she observes . . . like the young woman in a green raincoat who walks her dog at the same time every day. Then one day the dog is running free and its owner is nowhere to be seen. Certain that something is terribly wrong, and incapable of leaving well enough alone, Tess is determined to get to the bottom of the dog walker's abrupt disappearance, even if she must do so from her own bedroom. But her inquisitiveness is about to fling open a dangerous Pandora's box of past crimes and troubling deaths . . . and she's not only putting her own life in jeopardy but also her unborn child's.
Previously serialized in the New York Times, and now published in book form for the very first time, The Girl in the Green Raincoat is a masterful Hitchcockian thriller from one of the very best in the business: multiple award-winner Laura Lippman.

My Thoughts: This is my first Lippman novel, and despite the fact that this is a book that is part of a series I haven't read, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the characters were interesting, often fun and quirky, and I was equally curious about the girl in the green raincoat. Although there were some plot twists I saw coming, I didn't have everything figured out, and what I did expect still made for a great read. I plan on reading more Lippman novels in the future. And I'll be buying my own copy of this book because I adore the cover!  It was also a nice treat to read a book completely out of order, as this is book #11 in the Tess Monaghan series but my very first.  I didn't feel lost or left out, and felt an immediate connection to the characters.  Makes for a great rainy day read, and it's short enough to be a good addition to any Readathon pile. 
  
Speaking of Readathon, Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon is coming up soon!  I need to start working on my own pile o'books!

The Girl in the Green Raincoat gets a Midnight Book Rating of:  

Any series you crashed into the middle of?

The Tachyon Web Review

The Tachyon Web
by Christopher Pike
From Goodreads:

Originally published in 1986, this long out-of-print book has been frequently requested by Pike fans. It is the story of five young thrill-seekers who take a stolen spaceship out for a joy ride and blast beyond the Tachyon Web--the iron boundary that barred mankind from the worlds beyond. There they find danger, excitement and heartstopping adventure. And, on a strange alien world, one of them also finds love

My Thoughts: I think it's the only Pike book from the 80's and 90's that I haven't already read (and that includes the one Cheerleader series book he wrote early in his career!). Although I never read his middle school books.

I'm a HUGE Pike fan, but I prefer his thrillers to his science fiction books- of which this was his first.. I'm not much of a science fiction fan, most that I have read for pleasure have been more sci-fi fantasy then pure science fiction. But because Pike is the author that he is, I was able to enjoy the characters and the drama of deep space adventure.

Eric goes along with his friends on a dangerous space run, they're already breaking the rules by not having the owner of the ship on board, but Eric's friends Shrem and Sammy are planning on breaking even more rules. They're going to jump the Tachyon Web.

I'll admit, I'm bad with the science fiction parts of the book. Maybe that's why it works for me? This book was written in the 80's so I'm not sure how some of the science has withstood the test of time, or how unrealistic it may seem to sci fi aficionados. So, while I was impressed with some of the plot details, I'm not sure someone with a more sophisticated knowledge of, oh, let's say how the blender works, would enjoy it as much.

I liked the romance and usual teenage angst. I would have liked to see even more of what made some of the minor characters tic- Cleo and Sammy in particular. I liked the ending, it's a little happier than some of Pike's later science fiction-y books like See You Later. Pike has a thing for downer endings, something which reading R.L. Stine did not prepare me for.  What, the main character doesn't end up happy, or even alive?  I appreciate it now, because few YA authors back then wrote without some major fluff.

Overall I enjoyed it, but when it comes to Pike I prefer Final Friends or Chain Letter (the first one, not the second). Will I still read everything he ever writes? Yup. I can't help it, I'm a fan for life.

The Tachyon Web gets a Midnight Book Rating of: 

Murder is Binding

Murder is Binding
by Lorna Barrett
From Goodreads:

When she moved to Stoneham, city slicker Tricia Miles met nothing but friendly faces. And when she opened her mystery bookstore, she met friendly competition. But when she finds Doris Gleason dead in her own cookbook store, killed by a carving knife, the atmosphere seems more cutthroat than cordial. Someone wanted to get their hands on the rare cookbook that Doris had recently purchased-and the locals think that someone is Tricia. To clear her name, Tricia will have to take a page out of one of her own mysteries-and hunt down someone who isn't killing by the book.

 My Thoughts: First off, I want to live and work in Stoneham.  I love the concept of a whole street full of specialty book stores, it makes for an interesting setting, and let's face it, an ideal town for book lovers which are the majority of the reading audience.  In a weird way I actually liked the sister of the main character better than the mc.  Actually, the secondary characters were wonderfully quirky and interesting, but Tricia's okay too.  I also like that the secondary characters actually support Tricia going all Nancy Drew on the murder mystery, it's a nice touch, and better than the "No, leave it to the police!".  I know my friends would help lead me, rather than letting rational, logical thinking interfere.  I do want to continue with the series, but I'm not in a huge rush.  Just a great cozy for lovers of mysteries or cozies.

Murder is Binding gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

Mr. Monster and I Don't Want To Kill You Reviews.

Mr. Monster (John Cleaver #2)
by Dan Wells
From Goodreads:

I killed a demon. I don’t know if it was really, technically a demon, but I do know that he was some kind of monster, with fangs and claws and the whole bit, and he killed a lot of people. So I killed him. I think it was the right thing to do. At least the killing stopped.
Well, it stopped for a while.
In I Am Not a Serial Killer, John Wayne Cleaver saved his town from a murderer even more appalling than the serial killers he obsessively studies.

But it turns out even demons have friends, and the disappearance of one has brought another to Clayton County. Soon there are new victims for John to work on at the mortuary and a new mystery to solve. But John has tasted death, and the dark nature he used as a weapon---the terrifying persona he calls “Mr. Monster”---might now be using him.

No one in Clayton is safe unless John can vanquish two nightmarish adversaries: the unknown demon he must hunt and the inner demon he can never escape.

In this sequel to his brilliant debut, Dan Wells ups the ante with a thriller that is just as gripping and even more intense. He apologizes in advance for the nightmares.

My Thoughts:  John Cleaver became one of my favorite characters the moment I read I Am Not A Serial Killer.  He's like a teen version of Dexter, but with demons.  I like that John struggles so much with his nature, especially after the events of the first book.  He's had a taste of what he's dreamed about, and now with the possibility of a relationship with a girl he likes, his own personal demons are becoming just as dangerous as the one he destroyed in the first book.  I remember being really surprised by the supernatural turn the series took in the first book, but actually it works really well.  Mr. Monster isn't quite as engrossing as the first book, but its still such a unique and interesting concept and it makes a great read.  I am a fan, Dan Wells!

Mr. Monster gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

I Don't Want To Kill You
by Dan Wells
From Goodreads:

 John Cleaver has called a demon—literally called it, on the phone, and challenged it to a fight. He’s faced two of the monsters already, barely escaping with his life, and now he’s done running; he’s taking the fight to them. But as he wades through his town’s darkest secrets, searching for any sign of who the demon might be, one thing becomes all too clear: in a game of cat and mouse with a supernatural killer, the human is always the mouse.

In I Am Not a Serial Killer we watched a budding sociopath break every rule he had to save his town from evil. In Mr. Monster we held our breath as he fought madly with himself, struggling to stay in control. Now John Cleaver has mastered his twisted talents and embraced his role as a killer of killers. I Don’t Want to Kill You brings his story to a thundering climax of suspicion, mayhem, and death.

It’s time to punish the guilty.

And in a town full of secrets, everyone is guilty of something

My Thoughts: I loved this 3rd book, despite some really sad, er, situations for characters I liked. John grows as a character, which was nice and realistic. I'm really interested to see where this series is going, even more so than before. The creativity behind the different demons John has had to confront is very clever. I don't think John Cleaver is your text-book sociopath, because he is maturing and becoming an anti-hero.  I know I've compared this to Dexter or the Hannibal Lector series, but here is a serial killer you can root for (although, I guess John's really a serial demon-killer so far). I Don't Want To Kill You has been my favorite book in the series so far, which is rare in a third book.  It's fast paced where book 2 was slow, and John has truly gotten better with age.  I cannot recommend this series enough, at least to all my friendly readers that like a little, okay a lot, of gore and violence and sympathetic serial (demon) killers.  Dan Wells is officially going on my favorite authors list!

I Don't Want To Kill You gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

 So run, skip, drive, hitch a ride and get the first book, I Am Not A Serial Killer, and enjoy!

 

Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent Review

Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent
by  Anthony Rapp
From Goodreads:

Anthony Rapp captures the passion and grit unique to the theatre world as he recounts his life-changing experience in the original cast of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent.
Anthony had a special feeling about Jonathan Larson's rock musical from his first audition, so he was thrilled when he landed a starring role as the filmmaker Mark Cohen. With his mom's cancer in remission and a reason to quit his newly acquired job at Starbucks, his life was looking up.
When Rent opened to thunderous acclaim off Broadway, Rapp and his fellow cast members knew that something truly extraordinary had taken shape. But even as friends and family were celebrating the show's success, they were also mourning Jonathan Larson's sudden death from an aortic aneurysm. By the time Rent made its triumphant jump to Broadway, Larson had posthumously won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize. When Anthony's mom began to lose her battle with cancer, he struggled to balance the demands of life in the theatre with his responsibility to his family. Here, Anthony recounts the show's magnificent success and his overwhelming loss. He also shares his first experiences discovering his sexuality, the tension it created with his mother, and his struggle into adulthood to gain her acceptance.
Variously marked by fledgling love and devastating loss, piercing frustration and powerful enlightenment, Without You charts the course of Rapp's exhilarating journey with the cast and crew of Rent as well as the intimacies of his personal life behind the curtain.

My Thoughts: I do not read many biographies, but I have to ask myself why after finishing Without You. It was a really great read, at times funny, a lot of sadness, sometimes uplifting, sometimes infuriating, but always honest. Anthony Rapp shares his mother's illness and ultimate death during the time he started with the musical Rent. Anthony is a complicated person, sometimes completely caring and unselfish, but at other times selfish and self-absorbed. He presents both sides of himself, revealing the hidden thoughts felt when someone you love is dying. Having lost my father to a prolonged illness, I was able to relate to some of this feelings- there are times you just want peace and release for your loved one, but when the moment of death actually comes you find yourself taking back the wish. Rapp deals with some uncomfortable subjects in this book- there is family abuse (his grandmother's a piece of work), his bisexuality and the resulting difficulty connecting to his family, and there is one scene of violence with a boyfriend that had me wondering if Rapp had done that to a girlfriend if his friends and cast mates would have been so understanding. This is not the same boy that played Darryl Coopersmith in Adventures in Babysitting, but it is the man that plays Mark in Rent. Rapp is neurotic, funny and heartbreaking. The look behind the scenes at the beginning of Rent were wonderful to read as a fan. And the fact that he was friends with Andy Dick, and that Dick's parents were the ones that outed Rapp to his mom was funny. I might have to watch both Adventures in Babysitting and Rent tonight... but it's all good since I already own them both! Thanks to my friend, Courtney for lending me this book.:)

Without You gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

Stolen Review

Stolen: A letter to my captor
by Lucy Christopher
From Goodreads:

Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back? The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don't exist - almost.

My Thoughts: Very interesting premise, and I liked how the Australian landscape acted like a character. The ending is satisfying without being neatly, and unrealistically, tied up. I was expecting more violence on the part of the kidnapper, but the creepiness of his history with Gemma was an unexpected bonus. And although I said the ending was fairly realistic, I found the character of Ty not to be.  I found his treatment of Gemma too... old-fashioned?  I find it hard to believe that someone who be mentally unfit enough to kidnap someone to make them love them, and someone who is physically capable of, erm, "relations", would be okay being friends.  Saying that, I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed it as much if Christopher had written the story the way I thought it would go. I also like the butterfly on the cover, a bit of a nod to The Collector by John Fowles.


 Stolen by Lucy Christopher gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The Not So Sweet Valley Review

Sweet Valley Confidential: 10 Years Later
by Francine Pascal
From Goodreads:

Ten years after graduating from Sweet Valley High, the Wakefield twins have had a falling-out of epic proportions. When Jessica commits a complete and utter betrayal, Elizabeth flees to New York to escape the pain and immerse herself in her lifelong dream of becoming a journalist.

Jessica remains in California, dealing with the fallout of her heart-wrenching choices. She has a career she loves and lots of old friends, but misses her sister, her oldest friend. With Jessica as her enemy, Sweet Valley is no longer the idyllic town of their youth.

Jessica longs for forgiveness, but Elizabeth can't forget her twin's duplicity. She decides the only way to heal her broken heart is to get revenge. Always the "good" twin, Elizabeth is now about to turn the tables...

My Thoughts: I was so excited about this book, I really was.  Growing up, I read so many of the Sweet Valley High books, learned so many lessons from the twins and friend's mistakes, and fell in love with Sweet Valley.  But I have to say this book disappointed me so much.  Some characters were just completely ruined for me (really, Pascal, Winston Egbert grows up to be a jerk!), Elizabeth was whiny, Todd was bland as ever, and Jessica was no where near as sparkly as usual.  Stephen and Cara, a couple I adored in the series, whole past was trashed, although I understand that Pascal wanted to make Sweet Valley a little more PC.  I get that, but I wish the characters could have kept the personalities I once loved.  The saving grace, for me at least, was Bruce Patman.  I actually adored him in this book, although at times in the series I disliked him.  Bruce in this book is the only character that appears to actually have matured, and it reminded me of his love for Regina.  The writing is pretty sub-par so I'm not sure exactly who the intended target audience is supposed to be, most YA books are better written and I'm pretty sure that most people buying Sweet Valley Confidential are former 80's tweens like me.  I just expected so much better.  It just felt like Pascal was trying too hard to go all Gossip Girl on this, but even in the Gossip Girl books the characters are more likable.  So can I recommend this book?  Not really.  But honestly, the bad reviews wouldn't have kept me from reading this book.  And I will give Pascal credit for giving me a brief glimpse of Jeffrey French, who in my opinion was Eliabeth's best match and not that lame-ass Todd Wilkins and his "coffee colored eyes".  Yeah, I'm bitter.

Sweet Valley Confidential: 10 Years Later gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

 Let's just hope they leave the Babysitter's Club alone!

Prey Review

Prey 
by Lurlene McDaniel
From Goodreads:

A teacher is supposed to impart a love of learning and a thirst for knowledge. It’s a bit different with Ms. Lori Settles. All the kids are talking about how hot she is–and she is especially interested in Ryan Piccoli. When she starts giving Ryan extra attention, he’s feeling more than happy–at first. He’s used to being the class clown, but really he’s a loner. One day after school, the friendship with Lori Settles goes farther than he ever expected. She’s his teacher. She’s at least twice his age. Intimacy with a teacher is wrong, yet it feels so good in every way. Soon, Lori is making demands and Ryan begins to feel overwhelmed, but Ryan refuses to even admit anything is going on. Something immoral is going on and before too long the choices made will change lives forever.

My Thoughts: Really short read about a young boy who gets sexually involved with his teacher. Ryan's no Pacey from Dawson's Creek, and Lori is far more realistically portrayed as a predator than Pacey's teacher-lover. She likes her boys young, she's got a messed up history, and Ryan is much more a victim than he thinks. Ryan's friend Honey is your average teenager with a crush and she is by far the easiest person to deal with. I think the book could have been so much better had it explored some of the issues that it merely mentioned- in particular the double standard between adult men having sex with teen girls compared to adult women having sex with teen boys. There were things in the end that happened too quickly and easily, and most of the parents were portrayed as clueless when it came to their children's feelings and activities... but maybe that's more realistic than I'm giving credit to. Overall it was a fast paced book, and while there is lots of sex, most of it's "off screen" and not shown. Towards the end, more is learned about Ryan and Lori, but there's still much left unexplored. I thought the topic was interesting and completely relevant to today's society, I just wish it had been a little more fleshed out.  Honestly, I picked up this book simply because it was so different from Lurlene McDaniel's teens with cancer books that I read as a teen.


Prey gets a Midnight Book Rating of: 

A Slaying in the Suburbs Review

A Slaying in the Suburbs
by Steve Miller and Andrea Billups
From Goodreads:

To their suburban Detroit neighbors, Stephen and Tara Grant were happy as could be. But their marriage, plagued by resentment and extramarital affairs, was held together only by their children. Until the night Stephen snapped, strangled and dismembered his wife, then disposed of her body piece by piece in the very park his children played in.

My Thoughts: I used to read quite a bit of true crime back in the day. I know, you're shocked.  Now I mostly just read true crime when Ann Rule releases a new book (I love her!).  A Slaying in the Suburbs is very interesting book based on a horrible crime. I was a little taken aback at the authors' obvious dislike for Alicia, Tara Grant's sister, and the blame they place on the victim of the crime, Tara Grant. I realize that not every murder victim is a saint, but I felt that the book was slightly skewed in Stephen Grant's favor and suspect that the reason behind this is that Alicia Grant and the rest of Tara's family weren't as willing to talk to Miller and Billup.The truly bizarre behavior displayed by Steve Grant during the weeks after murdering his wife was by far the most interesting parts of the book. I don't know that the trial was covered as thoroughly as if could have been, and the writing was a little uneven in places.  At times it also felt like Miller and Billups had an ax to grind with Alicia Grant, and were overly critical of her, which made the book uncomfortable to read at times.  Of course, the gruesome treatment of Tara Grant's remains was more than uncomfortable to read about, but at least her killer was caught and her family was able to see the murderer brought to trial.  A Slaying in the Suburbs was actually a past book club read for me, and it made for an okay discussion.  But I won't be picking up any more books by Steve Miller or Andrea Billups.

A Slaying in Suburbs gets a Midnight Book Rating of: 

The Peach Keeper

The Peach Keeper 
by Sarah Addison Allen
From Goodreads:

It’s the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruin generations ago. The Blue Ridge Madam—built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather during Walls of Water’s heyday, and once the town’s grandest home—has stood for years as a lonely monument to misfortune and scandal. And Willa herself has long strived to build a life beyond the brooding Jackson family shadow. No easy task in a town shaped by years of tradition and the well-marked boundaries of the haves and have-nots.

But Willa has lately learned that an old classmate—socialite do-gooder Paxton Osgood—of the very prominent Osgood family, has restored the Blue Ridge Madam to her former glory, with plans to open a top-flight inn. Maybe, at last, the troubled past can be laid to rest while something new and wonderful rises from its ashes. But what rises instead is a skeleton, found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, and certain to drag up dire consequences along with it.

For the bones—those of charismatic traveling salesman Tucker Devlin, who worked his dark charms on Walls of Water seventy-five years ago—are not all that lay hidden out of sight and mind. Long-kept secrets surrounding the troubling remains have also come to light, seemingly heralded by a spate of sudden strange occurrences throughout the town.

Now, thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the dangerous passions and tragic betrayals that once bound their families—and uncover truths of the long-dead that have transcended time and defied the grave to touch the hearts and souls of the living.

My Thoughts: Loved this book! The only thing that would have made this book better is if there had been  more detail from Georgie and Agatha's time, and a little more Devlin, but still it's a fantastic, up all night read!  Allen's books are truly magical, she does, after all, write "magical realism".  While I personally like The Girl Who Chased the Moon, I know other readers didn't feel it measured up to Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen.  The Peach Keeper is closer to the first two books than TGWCtM.  I have loved Sarah Addison Allen's writing from her very first novel, and now that she has four books under her belt I can officially claim her as one of my favorite all time writers.  When I give books as gifts, she is one of the authors I love to introduce people to.   So... how long until her next book?

Another reason to love this book- Willa's assistant, Rachel, and her ability to tell things about people through their coffee orders.  

The Peach Keeper gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

Juliet Review

Juliet 
by Anne Fortier
From Goodreads:

Twenty-five-year-old Julie Jacobs is heartbroken over the death of her beloved Aunt Rose. But the shock goes even deeper when she learns that the woman who has been like a mother to her has left her entire estate to Julie’s twin sister. The only thing Julie receives is a key—one carried by her mother on the day she herself died—to a safety-deposit box in Siena, Italy.
   
This key sends Julie on a journey that will change her life forever—a journey into the troubled past of her ancestor Giulietta Tolomei. In 1340, still reeling from the slaughter of her parents, Giulietta was smuggled into Siena, where she met a young man named Romeo. Their ill-fated love turned medieval Siena upside-down and went on to inspire generations of poets and artists, the story reaching its pinnacle in Shakespeare’s famous tragedy. 
   
But six centuries have a way of catching up to the present, and Julie gradually begins to discover that here, in this ancient city, the past and present are hard to tell apart. The deeper she delves into the history of Romeo and Giulietta, and the closer she gets to the treasure they allegedly left behind, the greater the danger surrounding her—superstitions, ancient hostilities, and personal vendettas. As Julie crosses paths with the descendants of the families involved in the unforgettable blood feud, she begins to fear that the notorious curse—“A plague on both your houses!”—is still at work, and that she is destined to be its next target. Only someone like Romeo, it seems, could save her from this dreaded fate, but his story ended long ago. Or did it?
   
From Anne Fortier comes a sweeping, beautifully written novel of intrigue and identity, of love and legacy, as a young woman discovers that her own fate is irrevocably tied—for better or worse—to literature’s greatest star-crossed lovers.

My Thoughts: I really loved this book, but then I've been a fan of the Romeo and Juliet since high school. This was a great, mysterious and intriguing look at the origins of the play, and the love that inspired it. I don't know if this book is for everyone, but if you liked The Historian or Discovery of Witches, then you'll probably like this book. And if you don't already have your passport up to date, then you'll want to get it before you pick up Juliet, as Siena, Italy is described in great detail. Just don't go with any anti-war protestors like Julie did on her first visit!
  
Juliet gets a Midnight Book Rating of: 

What The Night Knows

What the Night Knows
by Dean Koontz
From Goodreads:

In the late summer of a long ago year, a killer arrived in a small city. His name was Alton Turner Blackwood, and in the space of a few months he brutally murdered four families. His savage spree ended only when he himself was killed by the last survivor of the last family, a fourteen-year-old boy.

Half a continent away and two decades later, someone is murdering families again, recreating in detail Blackwood’s crimes. Homicide detective John Calvino is certain that his own family—his wife and three children—will be targets in the fourth crime, just as his parents and sisters were victims on that distant night when he was fourteen and killed their slayer.

As a detective, John is a man of reason who deals in cold facts. But an extraordinary experience convinces him that sometimes death is not a one-way journey, that sometimes the dead return.

Here is ghost story like no other you have read. In the Calvinos, Dean Koontz brings to life a family that might be your own, in a war for their survival against an adversary more malevolent than any he has yet created, with their own home the battleground. Of all his acclaimed novels, none exceeds What the Night Knows in power, in chilling suspense, and in sheer mesmerizing storytelling.

My Thoughts: A little darker than some of his more recent books, What the Night Knows is still full of what Koontz does best- precocious kids and magical dogs, although the dog's part is small. What the Night Knows is about John, who lost his entire family to a serial killer. Before 14 year old John kills Alton Turner Blackwood, the killer makes a promise to return some day when John has kids. Flash forward 20 years, and John is meeting with Billy, a 14 year old with choir boy looks who just blew away his entire family, his crimes and words echoing Alton Turner Blackwood. Now John, his wife and his 3 adorable moppets, sorry, children, are in danger, as are other innocent families.

There were lots of things I liked about this book, but they are also things that might turn people off of it. First the kids, they are all pretty perfect and speak like tiny adults, it's not very realistic buy hey, they are home schooled. Like most Koontz books, this is about a struggle against good and evil, and it is clear what side Koontz is rooting for, and although this book is about a truly heinous serial killer there is still an underlying faith. There are also lots of extra characters, most are not the cute, harmless friends and neighbors one sees in other Koontz books, as these are people who walk the darker side of the streets, but the reader is given a glimpse into their minds, and they are known.

Koontz's writing full on Odd Thomas, and I think it would almost be better to listen to the audio version of this book. There are whole passages that would come alive if read out loud, but otherwise feels a bit cumbersome at times as you're reading. And although you get to read Alton Turner Brown's journal, I still don't know why he picked whole families to kill, or why no one in the Calvino house talks of the haunted feeling the house acquires upon Blackwood's return.

Overall it was a Koontz win for me. It is very violent, maybe more violent than I've come to expect from Koontz, but he stays away from Richard Laymon territory. There's always hope in Dean Koontz books, yes there will be death and despair, but there's still the hope that good can defeat evil.

What the Night Knows gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

Blood and Chocolate Review

Blood and Chocolate Review
By Annette Curtis Klause
From Goodreads:

Vivian Gandillon relishes the change, the sweet, fierce ache that carries her from girl to wolf. At sixteen, she is beautiful and strong, and all the young wolves are on her tail. But Vivian still grieves for her dead father; her pack remains leaderless and in disarray, and she feels lost in the suburbs of Maryland. She longs for a normal life. But what is normal for a werewolf?
Then Vivian falls in love with a human, a meat-boy. Aiden is kind and gentle, a welcome relief from the squabbling pack. He's fascinated by magic, and Vivian longs to reveal herself to him. Surely he would understand her and delight in the wonder of her dual nature, not fear her as an ordinary human would.
Vivian's divided loyalties are strained further when a brutal murder threatens to expose the pack. Moving between two worlds, she does not seem to belong in either. What is she really—human or beast? Which tastes sweeter—blood or chocolate?

My Thoughts:  I've been meaning to read this book for years, and I actually saw the movie when it came out, although the plot in the book is fairly different from what I remember about the movie.  I liked Vivian as a character- she's not insecure, she's not whimpy, and she's not a victim waiting for the right boy to save her like so many other heroines of YA.  The struggles Vivian faced were handled well, and her pack dynamic was very interesting.  Normally I don't particularly care for werewolves, but this past year I seem to be enjoying them more and more (the Shiver series, the Lonely Werewolf books).  Vivian's mom is a piece of work, though, and the romance with Aiden definitely does not follow YA teen formula.  All this works for me.  Plus for a 1990's YA book, there's lots of smexy smex going on, which is a bit surprising.  Of course, the 1990's books I was reading as teen were the early 90's and dominated by R.L. Stine (no sex), Christopher Pike (some sex but all older teens) and L.J. Smith (hinted sex, but all off screen and just the "bad girls").  By the time Blood and Chocolate came out I was already in college (and I use "in college" loosely, as I was there, but not really there, as in "not really in class". Which might be why I have a book blog instead of owning a book store- education, people!  Take it seriously!)  So, back to the book, it was good.  I liked it, even though I have as much in common with Vivian as I do a supermodel (which is NOTHING, not even the same species).

Blood and Chocolate gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The Last Little Blue Envelope Review (in which I give much love to Maureen Johnson)

The Last Little Blue Envelope
by Maureen Johnson
From Goodreads:

Ginny Blackstone thought that the biggest adventure of her life was behind her. She spent last summer traveling around Europe, following the tasks her aunt Peg laid out in a series of letters before she died. When someone stole Ginny's backpack—and the last little blue envelope inside—she resigned herself to never knowing how it was supposed to end.
Months later, a mysterious boy contacts Ginny from London, saying he's found her bag. Finally, Ginny can finish what she started. But instead of ending her journey, the last letter starts a new adventure—one filled with old friends, new loves, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Ginny finds she must hold on to her wits . . . and her heart. This time, there are no instructions.

My Thoughts: There are few sequels that are better than the original novels, but it seems that every Maureen Johnson book I read is suddenly my all time favorite! Maureen is an amazingly funny writer, I was underlining quotes like crazy- the one dig at Nicolas Sparks was a particular favorite. New characters Ellis and Oliver were wonderful additions. Ginny really matured as a character and was far less passive this time around.  Her European adventures from the first book have given her some confidence, and I went from liking the first book to loving the second book. I always know I'm going to laugh when I pick up one of Johnson's books, and that's a great thing to be able to depend upon.


I hope for further adventures starring Ginny, and I now realize that I must read all of Johnson's books. I follow her on twitter (she's hilarious) and the same wit and silliness are evident in her writing. The Last Little Blue Envelope was a fantastic up-all-night kind of read, and just like Aunt Peg's letter, I don't want an ending!

The Last Little Blue Envelope gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

You, and by you I mean all of you reading this, all of you not reading this, and all of you who actively block me from your lives, need Maureen Johnson in your life.  If I could kidnap her, clone her and give her as a Christmas gift I would.  But until the technology catches up with my diabolical mind, I'll just have to settle with telling you that you must read her books.  You must.  Right now.  Okay, maybe after a few minutes if you need to grab a bite to eat or check her out on twitter.

11/22/63 Review

11/22/63
By Stephen King
From Goodreads:

 On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Stephen King's heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination-a thousand page tour de force.

Following his massively successful novel Under the Dome, King sweeps readers back in time to another moment-a real life moment-when everything went wrong: the JFK assassination. And he introduces readers to a character who has the power to change the course of history.

Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students-a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning's father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk.

Not much later, Jake's friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane-and insanely possible-mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake's new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake's life-a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.

A tribute to a simpler era and a devastating exercise in escalating suspense, 11/22/63 is Stephen King at his epic best.

My Thoughts: Is there any topic, any era that Stephen King can't bring to life? I don't think so either. I loved how he brought the late 50's and early 60's to life- yes, certain aspects of life back then were simpler, but King also reminds us that 10 cent gallons of milk come with racism, sexism and choking cigarette smoke. Sure you could leave your doors unlock, but you also stayed with your husband after he beat you. Yes, you could pick up hitchhikers without getting your throat slashed, but it was best not to be caught talking about equal rights for women. I recently watched a 1964 movie called "Kisses For My President" about the first female president having to handle her husband's pride while also trying to be the leader of the free world. Then she gets pregnant and, of course, steps down as president, and her husband tells her "You know, darling, it took 40 million women to get you in the White House but only one man to get you out." It's supposed to be a chuckle moment, and indeed the wife, former Madame President, just smiles instead of decking him. Because that's how it was in the Land of Ago- as Stephen King calls it. Of course a communist would have had a better chance of getting elected as President in 1964 than a woman, but the movie is a comedy.

Back to the book: I am astounded by the thought and research this book required of King and his helpers. He first came up with the idea in the 70's but I'm glad he waited. The idea that changing one big act in the past could change the course of our future is thrilling. Because while I don't buy into the whole Kennedy fairytale, I do think his assassination ended whatever innocence our country still had back then. And the idea that if Kennedy hadn't died then maybe Martin Luther King, Jr and Bobby Kennedy would have lived too, that maybe John Lennon would have been somewhere else, that Vietnam wouldn't have happened... life is based on so many chances and decisions that it just boggles the mind.

But in King's time travel tale, the past isn't that easy to change, because it doesn't want to be changed. It's not as simple as walking up to Lee Harvey Oswald and slipping some arsenic in his soda. And the main character, Jake, wants to make sure that Oswald really is the killer. I have always believed that he was the lone shooter, but there have been so many conspiracy theories it's hard not to have some doubts. Would you want to go back in time to shoot a man that might not even be guilty and still have Kennedy assassinated by some shadowy group? And if you are able to change the past, what kind of future are you going back to?

11/22/63 is a brilliant novel, it's not quite The Stand or It for me, but it's still a thrilling read. I am thankful to whatever muse is wielding the whip to keep King writing, because I don't know if I want to live in a world that isn't graced with his imagination.

I often say that I'd love to live inside Stephen King's mind, but that's not exactly true.  I just want to be able to visit once and awhile.  Although there's lots to like about 11/22/63, the best part of me was seeing Bev and Richie from It.  They make a quick cameo as Jake heads to 1958's Derry to stop a brutal murder.  I've been blessed with amazing friends, but part of me will always feel a part of the Loser's Club with Stuttering Bill, Bev, Beep-beep Richie, Stan, Ben, Mike and Eddie ("This is battery acid, you slime!").   I wish there was a Stephen King amusement park, where you could explore the sewers of Derry, take the Cujo car ride, a dance at Carrie's prom- just be sure to leave before she's crowned Prom Queen!  Seriously, how is this not already in production?

Quotes:

“I had been hobbled, perhaps even crippled by a pervasive internet society I had come to depend on and take for granted... hit enter and let Google, that twenty-first century Big Brother, take care of the rest.

In the Derry of 1958, the most up-to-date computers were the size of small housing developments, and the local paper was no help. What did that leave? I remembered a sociology prof I’d had in college - a sarcastic old bastard - who used to say, When all else fails, give up and go to the library.”

 “On that gray street, with the smell of industrial smokes in the air and the afternoon bleeding away to evening, downtown Derry looked only marginally more charming than a dead hooker in a church pew.”
 
“Like all sweet dreams, it will be brief, but brevity makes sweetness, doesn't it?”

 “The past is obdurate.” 

 11/22/63 gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

Because, really, if King can't give me a Midnight Read than who can?  Happy readings!

Life Is But A Dream Review

Life is but a Dream
by Brian James
From Goodreads:

 Sabrina, an artist, is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and her parents check her into the Wellness Center. There she meets Alec, who is convinced it's the world that's crazy, not the two of them. They are meant to be together; they are special. But when Alec starts to convince Sabrina that her treatment will wipe out everything that makes her creative, she worries that she'll lose hold of her dreams and herself. Should she listen to her doctor? Her decision may have fatal consequences.

My Thoughts:  I was really surprised when I learned that the author of this book had also written Zombie Blondes, and I enjoyed both books although they are very different.

Life is but a Dream deals with mental illness.  Unlike The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, and various other YA where the heroine's mental illness is really some ability to see the dead, see fairies or some other variety of psychic powers, Life is but a Dream is about schizophrenia.  Sabrina is a teenager who has recently been committed to a mental health hospital, and the story takes place in both the present and the past.

I wasn't so sure I was going to like this book, we kind of got off to a bad start.  At first the writing style, with all the dialogue in italics instead of proper quotation, got on my nerves.  But the more I got into the story the more I realized that it all kind of fit.  It gave a sense of unreality to the dialogue, which fit Sabrina's state of mind. 

My favorite part of the book is how the author explains Sabrina's schizophrenia, because I've never understood before why someone with that diagnosis would ever want to go off their meds.  I really sympathized with Sabrina wanting back some of the beauty that her illness provided, and understood that, as the medication was working, how she could rationalize that she could get the good back without the bad. 

In the hospital Sabrina meets Alec, who is there because it was one way for his rich daddy to get him out of some trouble with his school.  There's an immediate attraction and Sabrina thinks she's met someone that really understands her.  Alec is the one that encourages her to go off her meds, but only because he can't comprehend the magnitude of her illness.  Along with Alec, and Sabrina herself, we watch as she spirals out of control.

This is not a pretty book, there is no magical cure for schizophrenia although it can be managed with medication.  It is a profound look at the realities of mental illness and it's hard not to feel for Sabrina.  She's so lost and confused, unable to understand why it was cute for her to believe in fairies when she was a child, but how it just makes people uncomfortable now that she's a teen, how the pictures she used to share with people no longer make them smile but instead make them look at her with fear. How she goes from special good to special bad.  Brian James does a fantastic job getting inside Sabrina's mind, so much so that I could understand why she did some of the things she did.  Honestly, it's a little terrifying to realize how easy it was to see things from Sabrina's point of view.

I realize that I've been going on and on about how realistic Sabrina's battle with schizophrenia was, but while I'm familiar with bi-polar and borderline personality order, depression, anxiety and cognitive impairment, I've never known anyone that is living with schizophrenia.  I'd really like to know if it's a fair portrayal, but even if it's not, James doesn't exploit the illness so much as he shows how common it can be. 

I've said the book isn't pretty, and it's not.  It made me cry a little, it made my heart hurt for people like Sabrina that might not have family to take care of them, but it's a good book.  Just no puppies and rainbows here.

Life is but a Dream gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

*I read this book through Around The World ARC tours, but all opinions, snark and wit are my own and were not influenced by receiving (briefly at least since it's a tour and the point is to send it on to the next blogger) a copy of the book.

Dirty Secret Review

Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother's Compulsive Hoarding
by Jessie Sholl
From Goodreads:

To be the child of a compulsive hoarder is to live in a permanent state of unease. Because if my mother is one of those crazy junk-house people, then what does that make me?When her divorced mother was diagnosed with cancer, New York City writer Jessie Sholl returned to her hometown of Minneapolis to help her prepare for her upcoming surgery and get her affairs in order. While a daunting task for any adult dealing with an aging parent, it’s compounded for Sholl by one lifelong, complex, and confounding truth: her mother is a compulsive hoarder. Dirty Secret is a daughter’s powerful memoir of confronting her mother’s disorder, of searching for the normalcy that was never hers as a child, and, finally, cleaning out the clutter of her mother’s home in the hopes of salvaging the true heart of their relationship—before it’s too late.
Growing up, young Jessie knew her mother wasn’t like other mothers: chronically disorganized, she might forgo picking Jessie up from kindergarten to spend the afternoon thrift store shopping. Now, tracing the downward spiral in her mother’s hoarding behavior to the death of a long-time boyfriend, she bravely wades into a pathological sea of stuff: broken appliances, moldy cowboy boots, twenty identical pairs of graying bargain-bin sneakers, abandoned arts and crafts, newspapers, magazines, a dresser drawer crammed with discarded eyeglasses, shovelfuls of junk mail . . . the things that become a hoarder’s “treasures.” With candor, wit, and not a drop of sentimentality, Jessie Sholl explores the many personal and psychological ramifications of hoarding while telling an unforgettable mother-daughter tale.

My Thoughts: I was really excited to read this book, because while I enjoy the show Hoarders, fitting a whole lifetime of hoarding and its affect on a family can't really be done in an hour. The parts of the book where Sholl talks about her mother, their relationship, and the condition her mom's house and mind are by far the best parts. Not so much author's various health struggles and her need to call her Mom and Dad "my mom" and "my dad" all the time (it might not sound annoying, but trust me, if you read the book you will understand). Her anger at "Mean Lesbian Neighbor" and the unfortunate renter that sublets the author's NY apartment make it difficult to feel empathy for Sholl. At times she is a champion for hoarders, bringing attention to a problem that seems to be growing in our world and the mental illness behind it. But despite knowing her mom's history and current mental status, Sholl is often sharp tongued and impatient with her. Of course, I imagine it's a lot easier to have patience with a hoarder you don't know than the one that plants rubber snakes everywhere to freak you out and gives you scabies that just won't go away. I admire Sholl for her honesty, hoarding isn't a mental illness that you can just take a little blue pill for and the author gives lots of information on hoarding behavior. I just wanted more about her mother's illness and struggle and less about repetitive motion strain and troubles with renters.  Although I found the hoarding issues interesting, I didn't particularly like Sholl herself, which took away some of my enjoyment of this book.  

Dirty Secret gets a Midnight Book Rating of: