Alexis' Book Blog

Betrayed

Book # 2 of the House of Night Series

Authors: P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Year Published: 2007

Stars: 4/5

Synopsis:

Zoey has been at the House of Night for about one month when this book begins. This the second book in the series, the first book details how she gets to the House of Nights, what it actually is and we are introduced to her friends. In this novel, Zoey, our protagonist, gets betrayed (hence the title) by someone very close to her. But who? Is it one of her four best friends, Shaunee, Erin, Stevie Rae or Damien? Or is it one of the three men who are love interests of Zoey, Heath, Loren or Erik? Someone is killing humans outside of the House of Night and all signs point to a vampyre at the House of Night. It is up to Zoey to figure who is doing this, and she must elicit the help of someone she never thought she would.

Why I liked it:

First and foremost this book is a sequel and in the movie world a sequel always means it is worse than the original (with exceptions to Empire Strikes Back, the second Godfather and maybe Terminator 2). Not the case for this book. Although I have not officially reviewed the first book, I have read it, and I enjoyed this book more. Zoey is a likable heroine, much more likable than Bella from Twilight. Zoey makes mistakes, owns them and moves on. Her sidekicks create a fun environment when the action lags, leaving me entertained and not bored or annoyed that there is a lull in the story. Damien is my favorite of her sidekicks and he reminds me of Piggy in Lord of the Flies…he is the voice of reason. Which makes me like the series even more, because (although it is a fantasy/vampire book) it is more believable.

Second, and spoiler alert, one of main characters dies…at least for now. What drives me crazy about most movies and even books is that the main characters could have 100 bullets shot at them from point-blank-range and they just happen to come out of it unscathed….come on people! When a focal character dies, it may be sad, but it makes the story much more interesting.

Third, both Cast’s are good writers. I am not an expert literary critic, but I love that I can pick up the book and read sentences, paragraphs and chapters that flow nicely. It’s like the opposite of Stephen King. I love Stephen King, but when I read his books I have to be 100% awake. It has to be like 1pm, after 2 cups of coffee and then I can read his novels. They are great literary works, but sometimes it is just hard to follow. Anyway, back to Betrayed. The book is well-written, flows nicely, and is interesting… sounds like a triple threat to me .

What I didn’t like:

There is one thing I do not like about the story, and since it is a semi-big piece of the story, I removed a star. I cannot stand Heath. Heath is Zoey’s human exish-boyfriend and he bugs the shit out of me. I understand it’s just a book but whenever he enters the scene I read faster until I reach the next scene…without him. I also understand that some characters are written to be annoying, but I do not think that was the Cast’s goal with Heath’s character…I just hate him. He is a football jock…strike 1. He acts like a total moron in every scene…strike 2. And he is simply not a vampire…strike 3. Sorry Heath, you’re out!

Little Known Fact:

P.C. Cast, the mother, served in the United States Air Force for a few years and attributes her non-procrastination skills to the Air Force’s instillation of discipline.

Fun Fact:

The House of Night has a movie deal. Not sure how many are on the books, but the first is scheduled to come out in 2011.

The Wheel on the School

by Meindert DeJong

Pictures by Maurice Sendak

1955 Newbery Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Children’s Literature

Ages 10 & Up

Review by Sandra Miller-Louden

I started this book with a prejudice against it.  First was the title—what did it mean?  Second, I’ve been reading Newbery Gold winners since 2004 at a steady pace and found some to be outstanding, others mediocre and still others definitely not for children, but rather aimed at librarians who cast the deciding votes as to which book receives the Gold.  And while no particular era has a stranglehold on the “outstanding, mediocre or not-for-children” designations, books written in certain decades have definite characteristics peculiar to that decade.

The Wheel on the School, written in 1954, is told in third person, not in today’s more “hip” first person.  It has chapters and chapter titles which immediately tends to date it (although which personally I find to be charming).  Children are part of a two-parent home, where father works as a fisherman and mother tends the home.  The teacher is treated with respect and, in turn, treats his students with fairness, yet with discipline.  And while the children take a huge role in defining and solving problems, they are still guided by adults.  They are not more “in touch” than adults and do not, at the end of the day, miraculously solve all situations that their parents or teachers were too jaded, preoccupied or clueless to understand, define or do anything about.  This slant is definitely at odds with today’s focus.

By Chapter 3 of The Wheel on the School, I was hooked, however and stayed that way until I finished it.  The premise is simple:  When something seems impossibly impossible, that’s the time to believe it just must happen—and so it will.  In this story, the “impossibly impossible” is having storks return to the fishing village of Shora in Holland (today’s Netherlands).  Lina, one of six school-age children in the tiny village, starts it all when she writes an essay for school that asks why there are no storks in Shora.  Her teacher encourages the class (consisting of Lina and five boys) to find out for themselves. Through talking with their parents and neighbors, they find out that besides having no trees (except for a cherry tree in the yard of a scary man named Janus) where a stork would feel protected, the village also only has steeply-pitched, pointed roofs where the storks cannot find space to nest.  They’re told that placing a wagon wheel on each roof would give storks a flat, comfortable place to nest.

Armed with this information, their teacher then sends them out to find a wagon wheel and advises them to “look for a wagon wheel where one is and where one isn’t; where one could be and where one couldn’t possibly be.”

And so they do.  And as they do, they discover many things along the way.  Lina talks to an old woman in the village and understands for the first time, the way the village used to be. Two of her classmates, twins Pier and Dirk, encounter Janus in his wheelchair and find out he’s not as mean as everyone thinks.  Above all, the children are finding out about determination, disappointment, working together and not always believing everything that’s in print.  These and other subtle themes are gently woven throughout the text—simultaneously a page turner loaded with adventure combined with a poignant, simple story capable of reminding us that dreams can become reality.  If ever there were a book tailor-made for a movie, this is it.  I’m stunned no one has stepped forward to make it.

If you have children in your life who are not natural readers, read this book to them.  If you don’t, read this book anyway.  You won’t be sorry.

Shutter Island

Author: Dennis Lehane

Year Published: 2003

Stars: 5/5

Synopsis:

In September of 1954, U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule travel to Shutter Island, off the coast of Boston, to investigate the disappearance of a woman named Rachel Solando. Ashecliffe, the facility where Rachel Solando resides, is both a mental hospital and prison. When Teddy and Chuck begin to investigate they quickly realize everyone on the island is lying to them. Each time Chuck and Teddy find an answer, they end up with more questions. Through means I cannot reveal without spoiling the novel, Teddy and Chuck realize they may never leave this island and must rely on each other in order to survive. The ending of this story is one that is almost impossible to guess… Who is Rachel Solando and can they solve her disappearance? Will they leave the island or be stuck there forever?

Why I liked it:

This book is just  very well-written. Probably pretty obvious since I gave it 5 stars. There are two excellent scenes in this story, not including the ending (which is also amazing, but I cannot ruin it for you ). The first scene is about 60 pages in, Teddy and Chuck are engaged in comical banter about how they are not receiving any actual support from the Ashecliffe Staff. In the last line of the chapter Chuck turns to Teddy and says “Joking aside… starting to get nervous here”.  That line sent chills up my back because for the first time, the character validated my own thought of ‘what the heck is going on on this island’.

The second scene occurs in a mausoleum when Chuck and Teddy are attempting to ‘ride-out’ the hurricane. Teddy reveals (small spoiler alert) that he is not solely on the island to solve Rachel Solando’s disappearance.  There is someone on this island Teddy needs/wants to find. That conversation not only reveals more of Teddy’s character, but also sets the mood for the entire novel. Now only a fourth grader would fail to infer from the synopsis on the back of the book or even the cover that the book is mysterious, but Teddy and Chuck’s conversation sets the bar of eeriness throughout the novel.

Overall, I loved the book because the ending is shocking and original. Although I haven’t read thousands of books, I have read enough to know this book is original.  

What I didn’t like:

I only have one qualm with the book, the 1950′s acronyms and syntax. It is understandable that Lehane would create dialogue that is reminiscent of the 1950′s because that is when the novel takes place; however, some of the phrases are hard to decipher without context clues. For example, Teddy knows Dr. Cawley has ties to the OSS. I had no idea what the OSS was. Turns out the OSS was the first version of the CIA, but I am willing to bet most people do not know that. The majority of readers today were not raised in the 1950′s and I can only remember so much from my high school history classes. Footnotes or an appendix with definitions would have been appreciated. While the book has a few more of these acronyms, the majority of text is easy to follow.

Little Known Fact:

The book is divided into 4 days (pretty evenly). In an interview Lehane stated he finished the Day 4 section very quickly because he was having nightmares about the storyline and context of the book.

Fun Fact:

Lehane has written several episodes for HBO’s ‘The Wire’.

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Jamaica Inn

By Daphne du Maurier

Recommended Reading Age:  15 & Up

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By Sandra Miller-Louden

            “The coaches avoided Jamaica Inn, hidden in the harsh Cornish moors not far from the coast, for its name was evil…”  Yes, there’s enough evil to go around in Jamaica Inn, Daphne du Maurier’s dark romance written in 1935 and set on the Cornish coast, in southwest England.

            The year is 1815.  Young Mary Yellen,  journeying to Jamaica Inn to join her Aunt Patience and her Aunt’s husband, Joss Merlyn, the landlord of the inn, is immediately filled with apprehension at the sight of the desolate, bleak moors surrounding her new home.  Once there, she senses the evil swirling around her and knows Merlyn is involved in something wicked.  Her aunt, once a beautiful lively woman, has been reduced to a sniveling servant, instantly obeying Merlyn’s every command.

            Determined to stay at Jamaica Inn until she can spirit her aunt away from the evil Merlyn, she settles into an uneasy existence,  walking the moors by day, locking herself in her room at night.   One day, an unexpected visitor comes by the inn and Mary soon finds out he is none other than Jem Merlyn, Joss’s brother.  She is  immediately torn between her ambivalent feelings toward Jem—attracted to him because he is handsome, yet hating him because she sees in his looks and personality, traces of her uncle.

            The ambivalence—this constant pulling in opposite directions—is an important thread running throughout Jamaica Inn.  Mary hates what her Aunt Patience has become and scorns the quivering, meek woman;  yet understands why she married and was originally attracted to Joss Merlyn, just as she, Mary, is pulled toward Jem.  When the evil that her uncle commits is finally revealed to her and she is forced to witness his crimes, the revelation comes at dawn on Christmas Day—a day that’s supposed to be one of peace and hope.   The Vicar of the nearby town of Altarnun, who Mary turns to as confidante and friend seems to her to have a hidden side, at once fascinating, yet horrible and mysterious.

            There are many different stories, as well, contained in Jamaica Inn.    It is a literary forerunner of today’s romance novel.  It is a mystery, skillfully and intricately plotted.  Above all, though, Jamaica Inn, is a story of the sea. Daphne du Maurier understands the sea and vividly describes it.

            The inn itself, Jamaica Inn, still stands today between the towns of Bodmin and Launceston in the West Country of England and is open for dining and overnight stays. (www.jamaicainn.co.uk).  It was the inspiration for du Maurier’s novel and retains much of its original flavor and atmosphere.

            Jamaica Inn, the novel,  is available in paperback through Avon Books or as a library bound edition through Buccaneer Books.  Two films were made from the novel; the first in 1939 directed by Alfred Hitchcock and the second in 1985 starring Jane Seymour.  Both are available on either tape or DVD.

            Daphne du Maurier wrote many gothic novels, among them Rebecca (also directed by Alfred Hitchcock), My Cousin Rachel and Frenchmen’s Creek, all of which were made into successful movies. The Birds (yet another Hitchcock film) is based on a short story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier.

Dead Until Dark

Book # 1 of the Southern Vampire Series

Author: Charlaine Harris

Year Published: 2001

Stars: 5/5

Synopsis:

When we enter the novel, vampires are already known to the world. The novel takes place two years after vampires went public in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sookie Stackhouse, the heroine, is a telepath and works at a bar called Merlotte’s. She meets Bill, a vampire, and finds to her delight that she cannot read his mind. They begin to date off and on. Her boss, Sam, confesses his feelings for her and they date as well. The love story follows along with a series of murders that have been occurring in Bon Temps. With three murders committed, the police grow more suspicious of Jason, Sookie’s brother…and we learn Sookie is the next intended target. We meet Eric, Arlene, Pam, Rene and Hoyt in the first novel as well and these characters provide supporting roles for the main characters. Cliffhanger: Who is the murderer and what will happen in Sookie’s love triangle?????

Why I liked it:

I am a huge fan of character development and you have to love Sookie. While sometimes her actions may seem a little out of the ordinary, we have to remember she is a telepath and not a ‘normal’ person. For example (spoiler alert), when Sookie finds her grandmother dead she has a relatively normal conversation with Bill before calling the police. Not sure that would be my reaction? Bud and Andy, the police detectives, are extremely well-developed and even though they act as antagonists throughout the story, you can’t help but love them. P am and Eric add dry humor to almost every situation which leaves me wanting them in more scenes. Basically, this book is well-written, exciting and has awesome character development.

What I didn’t like:

Not enough of Eric. For anyone who has read more than one Sookie book, you know what I mean .

Little Known Fact:

Charlaine Harris has written three other series featuring  heroines Lily Bard, Aurora Teagarden and Harper Connelly. Are they as good as the Sookie Stackhouse series? I have no idea, but since I love Sookie I’ll give the other girls a shot….after  I finish this series.

Fun Fact:

I read this book on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in October 2009. Listening to the ocean and getting bit my mosquitoes I read a pretty darn good book.

Welcome to my book blog! Anyone who knows me knows that I love books. This blog is designed to provide book reviews for my friends, family and anyone who happens to stumble upon this site. Most people do not have time to research which book they should read next, so the goal of this site is to help people decide what is worth reading and what is worth passing on. Unlike professional book reviewers who have incentives to review specific books, the books I choose are random. And unlike professional book reviewers my opinion is better . I hope you enjoy the site!

Upcoming Reviews:

1. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

2. Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

3. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

4. Intensity by Dean Koontz