The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

Title: The Lace Reader

Author: Brunonia Barry

Publisher: William Morrow 2009

Genre: Mystery; Paranormal

Pages: 416

Rating:  5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Witches and Witchcraft; Mount TBR; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: I own it

Every gift has a price . . . every piece of lace has a secret.

Towner Whitney, the self-confessed unreliable narrator, hails from a family of Salem women who can read the future in the patterns in lace, and who have guarded a history of secrets going back generations. Now the disappearance of two women is bringing Towner back home to Salem—and is bringing to light the shocking truth about the death of her twin sister.

This book has been sitting on my shelves for awhile now.  I finally brought it down to read and I am so glad I did.  To be completely honest, I was not sucked in right away.  The story is a slow build.  We only get bits and pieces of the past and why it matters.  And yet, I knew there would be some amazing if I just kept reading.  Towner is an interesting character.  I don't necessarily relate to her, but she intrigues me.  In fact, all of the women in the novel were intriguing.  I feel like the male characters weren't as fleshed out at the women, but it's a nice change of pace from male centric novels.  I loved the mystery of the story.  I love the way everything came together in the mind, even if it wasn't what I thought was going to happen.  I loved the atmosphere of Salem.  The town seemed almost like another character in the story.  Overall, this was such a joy to read.

The Watsons by Jane Austen

Title: The Watsons

Author: Jane Austen

Genre: Classics

Pages: 88

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Jane Austen; Mount TBR; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: iPad read

Mr. Watson is a widowed clergyman with two sons and four daughters. The youngest daughter, Emma, has been brought up by a wealthy aunt and is consequently better educated and more refined than her sisters. But when her aunt contracts a foolish second marriage, Emma is obliged to return to her father's house. There she is chagrined by the crude and reckless husband-hunting of two of her twenty-something sisters.

Another unfinished piece from Jane Austen.  I was more intrigued by this piece than Lady Susan or Love and Friendship, but it's still sorely lacking (and not because of it's unfinished state).  The piece just doesn't have the same wit and critique that her six finished works do.  I did grow to enjoy the interplay between Emma and Penelope.  Such fun characters!  If only they were a bit more developed.

Love and Friendship by Jane Austen

Title: Love and Friendship

Author: Jane Austen

Genre: Classics

Pages: 64

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Jane Austen; Mount TBR; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: iPad read

From Wikipedia:

Love and Freindship [sic] is a juvenile story by Jane Austen, dated 1790. From the age of eleven until she was eighteen, Jane Austen wrote her tales in three notebooks. The notebooks still exist – one in the Bodleian Library; the other two in the British Museum. They include among others Love and Freindship, written when Jane was fourteen, and The History of England, when she was fifteen.  Written in epistolary form, like her later unpublished novella, Lady Susan, Love and Freindship is thought to be one of the tales she wrote for the amusement of her family; it was dedicated to her cousin Eliza de Feuillide, "La Comtesse de Feuillide". The installments, written as letters from the heroine Laura, to Marianne, the daughter of her friend Isabel, may have come about as nightly readings by the young Jane in the Austen home. Love and Freindship (the misspelling is one of many in the story) is clearly a parody of romantic novels Austen read as a child. This is clear even from the subtitle, "Deceived in Freindship and Betrayed in Love", which completely undercuts the title.

An interesting bit of writing from my favorite author.  Right away you can tell that this was written very early on in her life.  There's a sense of immaturity about the characters and the plot.  But we do get a little of the wit and social criticism that are so prevalent in her later works.  I wouldn't say that I really enjoyed this volume, but I did appreciate discovering another piece of Austen's writing.

100 Days in Deadland by Rachel Aukes

Title: 100 Days in Deadland (Deadland Saga #1)

Author: Rachel Aukes

Publisher: Surprisingly Adequate Publishing 2013

Genre: Zombies

Pages: 450

Rating:  4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Zombies; Mount TBR; 52 Books -- W46; Bingo -- 4 from 2013; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: Free Kindle Read

A journey through Dante's Inferno with a shambling twist.

The world ended on a Thursday. In one day, the world succumbed to a pestilence that decimated the living. In its place rose a new species: vicious, gruesome, wandering zombies with an insatiable hunger for the living. There is no government. No shelter. No hope. Still in her twenties, Cash has watched her friends die, only to walk again. An office worker with few survival skills, she joins up with Clutch, a grizzled Army veteran with PTSD. Together, they flee the city and struggle through the nine circles of hell, with nothing but Clutch's military experience and Cash's determination to live. As they fight to survive in the zombie inferno, they quickly discover that nowhere is safe from the undead...or the living.

I started this book mainly because I needed another break from The Count of Monte Cristo.  Plus, it was on my iPad which meant I could read during night feedings.  To my surprise, I really enjoyed the book.  It's a good fast paced zombie thriller with interesting characters.  I really loved Cash and Clutch and Jase.  The zombies were scary and the human villains even scarier.  I loved the progression of the plot and even how it ended.  There's a nontraditional ending, but it completely fits with the story and the situation.  I love that we don't get a cliche.  My only complaint is the "romance" between the two main characters.   I had hoped that the author wouldn't go there, but she did.  For the most part, it wasn't a huge turnoff.  Although the sex scene seemed very out of place with the rest of the novel.  I think that couldn't have been edited out and nothing would be lost.  Overall, I really enjoyed this free ebook.  I might even pick up (and even pay) for the next book releasing this coming year.

Deadland Saga (DNFed series)

• 1. 100 Days in Deadland
• 2. Deadland's Harvest (2014)
• 3. TBD

Saving Wishes by G.J. Walker-Smith

Title: Saving Wishes (The Wishes #1)

Author: G.J. Walker-Smith

Publisher: Amazon Digital 2013

Genre: New Adult

Pages: 370

Rating:  3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Eclectic -- New Adult; Mount TBR; Bingo -- 4 from 2013 releases; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: Free Kindle read

For Charli Blake, being seventeen is a tough gig. She's been branded a troublemaker, her reputation is in tatters and she's stuck in Pipers Cove, a speck of a town on the coast of Tasmania. Thankfully, it's temporary. Her lifelong dream of traveling the world is just months away from becoming reality. All she has to do is ride out the last few months of high school, which is easier said than done thanks to a trio of mean girls known as The Beautifuls. When Adam Décarie arrives in town, all the way from New York, life takes an unexpected turn. His arrival sets off a chain of events that alters her life forever, convincing her of one thing. Fate brought him to her. Saving Wishes is the story of a girl who doesn't quite fit the life she's living, and the boy who helps her realise why.

This isn't a bad book, but it isn't a good one either.  I am completely neutral when it came to this novel.  I liked the premise and storyline.  I liked the idea of having Charli find out what she wants from life.  I even liked the idea of Adam helping her do it.  But I didn't really liked how it was executed.  I felt like we spent way too much time reiterating how Charli always flees and her various defense mechanisms.  It become all too repetitive.  I kept waiting for the real story to get moving, but it just kept dragging and dragging.  I finished it, but probably only because I have been reading it during the middle of the night feedings and didn't want to switch books.  Overall, I'm just "meh" about this book.

The Wishes (DNFed series)

• #1 Saving Wishes
• #2 Second Hearts
• #2.5 Sand Jewels
• #3 Storm Shells
• #4 Secret North
• #4.5 Silver Dawn
• #5 Star Promise

The Billionaire Wins the Game by Melody Anne

Title: The Billionaire Wins the Game (Billionaire Bachelors #1)

Author: Melody Anne

Publisher: Gossamer 2011

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 205

Rating: 1/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Romance; Monthly Key Word -- November; Mount TBR; 52 Books -- W45; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: I own it

Joseph Anderson has decided it's time for his three successful sons to find brides. Joseph wants grandchildren to fill his mansion, and he wants them immediately. His eldest son, Lucas, is successful in all areas of his life, except love, and Joseph begins matchmaking. He finds Amy Harper and deems her the perfect daughter-in-law. He just needs to get her and Lucas to both realize they're made for each other.

Lucas Anderson is wealthy, sexy, and stubborn. He has no desire to have any woman enter his life, causing chaos, or using his family's name. Many women have tried, and he's been successful in finding out who they are beneath their false smiles.

Amy Harper was raised in tragic circumstances and doesn't like pampered, rich men who have been handed everything with a silver spoon. She spent years finishing her education and then received a job with the Anderson Corporation. She instantly doesn't like her incredibly sexy boss, who is arrogant and thinks every woman should fall at his feet.

I picked this up to take a fun romance break from the epic that is The Count of Monte Cristo.  Unfortunately, what I got was a poorly written tromp through every romance cliche and stereotype I know of.  We get the over-bearing, macho, pig-headed male lead who's very experienced in bed.  We get the cautious and yet willful and pig-headed female lead who's a virgin.  We get meddling parents.  We get instant attraction. We get lies and omissions. We get misunderstandings that could clear everything up in five seconds.  We get an accidental pregnancy.  We get a forced shotgun marriage that the female lead resists but submits quickly.  We get a 180 degree change in attitude without ever discussing anything.  And finally we get a happily-ever-after.  Ugh!  Too much crap shoved into one short book.  Plus, it is badly written with changes in scenes, narrators, and action with little or no warning.  I had to reread many paragraphs just to figure out what the hell was going on. I thought about DNFing the book many times and yet I finished it for some reason.  I blame the sleep deprivation.

Billionaire Bachelors (DNFed series)

• 1. The Billionaire Wins the Game
• 2. The Billionaire's Dance
• 3. The Billionaire Falls
• 4. The Billionaire's Marriage Proposal
• 5. Blackmailing the Billionaire
• 6. Runaway Heiress
• 7. The Billionaire's Final Stand

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Title: Middlesex

Author: Jeffrey Eugenides

Publisher: Picador 2002

Genre: Literature

Pages: 544

Rating:  4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Historical Fiction; Mount TBR; Book Bingo - 4 from everyone but me; 52 Books - W44; Rory Gilmore; 1001 Books; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: iPad Read (Book Club Selection)

"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver’s license...records my first name simply as Cal."

So begins the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City, and the race riots of l967, before they move out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.  Middlesex is the winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

This has been on my TBR list for years, but I've always been scared to dive in.  The subject matter is extremely serious.  How do we approach the subject of intersex?  Overall, I think Eugenides does a great job approaching the topic from a unique angle.  Cal is an intriguing character and narrator.  I found those the parts about Cal's life to be fascinating.  The first half of the book focusing on Desdemona and Lefty and Milton and Tessie dragged a bit.  The first half was difficult to connect to.  Because of my reluctance to dive completely into the book, I knocked off a star.

Rose of Fire by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Title: Rose of Fire (Cemetery of Forgotten Books #0.5)

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Publisher: HarperCollins 2012

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 20

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Paranormal -- Dragons; Mount TBR; 52 Books -- Week 43; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: I own it!

Set at the time of the Spanish Inquisition in the fifteenth century, "Rose of Fire" tells the story of the origins of the mysterious labyrinthine library, the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, which lies at the heart of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's novels The Shadow of the Wind, The Angel's Game, and now The Prisoner of Heaven.

This is a super short story and I wish it was longer.  But it includes the same beautiful language from Zafon.  Plus we get a bit of insight into how the Cemetery of Forgotten Books came to be. Zafon crafts a fantastical story to that's more outright fantasy than the books in the series, but I always suspected that the Cemetery had a fantastical origin.  Nice little free story to get me ready to read the latest book The Prisoner of Heaven.

Cemetery of Forgotten Books

• 0.5 The Rose of Fire
• 1. The Shadow of the Wind
• 2. The Angel's Game
• 3. The Prisoner of Heaven

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Title: The Angel's Game (Cemetery of Forgotten Books #2)

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Publisher: Anchor 2010

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 544

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Sub-Genre -- Historical Mystery; Mount TBR; Dusty Bookshelf; Fall into Reading; 52 Books -- W42

How I Got It: I own it!

In this powerful, labyrinthian thriller, David Martín is a pulp fiction writer struggling to stay afloat. Holed up in a haunting abandoned mansion in the heart of Barcelona, he furiously taps out story after story, becoming increasingly desperate and frustrated. Thus, when he is approached by a mysterious publisher offering a book deal that seems almost too good to be real, David leaps at the chance. But as he begins the work, and after a visit to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, he realizes that there is a connection between his book and the shadows that surround his dilapidated home and that the publisher may be hiding a few troubling secrets of his own. Once again, Ruiz Zafón takes us into a dark, gothic Barcelona and creates a breathtaking tale of intrigue, romance, and tragedy

The next amazing book in Zafon's series focusing on his love of literature.  Just like the first book, this one starts out normal.  We assume that the story will progress and the main character will continue on his journey to write the great pieces of literature he has always wanted. And then things start to get weird.  I love the little bits of weird.  Zafon crafts an intriguing mystery that you don't even realize until you're halfway through the book.  It's a great mystery, full of deceitful characters and a city that seems like a character unto itself.  It took me forever to read this book due to have a baby in the middle of it, but I enjoyed every page of it.  I can't wait to pick up the third book in the series, but first I am going to read the prequel.

Cemetery of Forgotten Books

• 0.5 The Rose of Fire
• 1. The Shadow of the Wind
• 2. The Angel's Game
• 3. The Prisoner of Heaven

Lady Susan by Jane Austen

Title: Lady Susan

Author: Jane Austen

Genre: Classic 1805

Pages: 95

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Jane Austen; ebook; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: iPad read

The early epistolary novel LADY SUSAN depicts an unscrupulous coquette, toying with the affections of several men.

Right away, I could tell that this was a very early work for Austen.  It has glimmers of wit and critique of society, but doesn't live up to her six finished novels.  Instead of a main character we can follow through the trials and tribulations of society, we get Lady Susan.  She is thoroughly unlikable.  Therefore, I didn't care if things worked out for her at all.  Having a likable main character helps Austen navigate the rest of society.  This early novel just doesn't reach the bar.

Iron's Prophecy by Julie Kagawa

Title: Iron's Prophecy (Iron Fey #4.5)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Publisher: Harlequin Teen 2012

Genre: Paranormal - Fey

Pages: 66

Rating:  4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Paranormal - Fey; Mount TBR; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: iPad Read

Meghan Chase is finally getting used to being the Iron Queen, ruler of the Iron Fey. Her life may be strange, but with former Winter prince Ash by her side at last, she wouldn't have it any other way.

But when they travel to the Summer and Winter courts' gathering for Elysium, the oracle from Meghan's past returns with a dire prophecy: "What you carry will either unite the courts, or it will destroy them."

Now Meghan faces a devastating choice that may determine the future of all fey—and her and Ash's unborn child…

Picked this one up as a free Kindle book to continue the Iron Fey series.  I wasn't hugely fond of The Iron Knight, but felt like I wanted to continue Meghan Chase's story. This was a nice wrap-up to the cliffhanger after Ash won a human soul.  But it did leave me wanting more.  I may just have to read The Lost Prince now...

The Iron Fey

• #1 The Iron King
• #1.5 Winter’s Passage
• #2 The Iron Daughter
• #3 The Iron Queen
• #3.5 Summer’s Crossing
• #4 The Iron Knight
• #4.5 Iron’s Prophecy
• #5 The Lost Prince
• #6 The Iron Traitor
• #7 The Iron Warrior

The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman

Title: The World is Flat 3.0

Author: Thomas Friedman

Publisher: Picador 2007

Genre: Nonfiction -- Economics, Business

Pages: 660

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nerdy Nonfiction -- Business; Mount TBR; Book Bingo -- 3 rereads; Nonfiction Adventure; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: I own it!

"One mark of a great book is that it makes you see things in a new way, and Mr. Friedman certainly succeeds in that goal," the Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz wrote inThe New York Times reviewing The World Is Flat in 2005. In this new edition, Thomas L. Friedman includes fresh stories and insights to help us understand the flattening of the world. Weaving new information into his overall thesis, and answering the questions he has been most frequently asked by parents across the country, this third edition also includes two new chapters--on how to be a political activist and social entrepreneur in a flat world; and on the more troubling question of how to manage our reputations and privacy in a world where we are all becoming publishers and public figures.

I read the original edition of this book way back when it was released.  That particular volume was given to a departing foreign exchange student.  When I went to replace the copy, I picked up the 3rd edition and it proceeded to sit on my shelves and in boxes for years.  I finally decided to read this edition.

Overall, I have to say that I've enjoyed both editions of this book that I've read.  I have to say that Friedman's basic premise is fairly simplistic.  Yet, I understand how people have misconstrued his concept of the flattening of the world.  He doesn't actually mean that the world is equalizing, but that opportunities are becoming more accessible to people across the world.  I find it very interesting to trace the progression of societies and globalization.  Interesting reads, but I warn you that it's fairly dense.  For the record, here's Friedman's list of 10 global flatteners:

• #1: Collapse of the Berlin Wall
• #2: Netscape
• #3: Workflow software
• #4: Uploading
• #5: Outsourcing
• #6: Offshoring
• #7: Supply-chaining
• #8: Insourcing
• #9: Informing (Google and other search engines are the prime example)
• #10: "The Steroids" (Wireless, Voice over Internet, and file sharing)

Her Ladyship's Companion by Evangeline Collins

Title: Her Ladyship's Companion

Author: Evangeline Collins

Publisher: Berkley 2009

Genre: Historical Romance

Pages: 330

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Romance; Mount TBR; 52 Books -- W41; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: I own it

Condemned to a loveless marriage, Lady Isabella Stirling indulges herself by taking a lover. But even though she knows Gideon Rosedale's passion was for sale, she's fallen in love with him.

All through the 300 pages of this novel, I kept waiting for something more.  It wasn't bad, but it just deliver me any more than a stereotypical bodice-ripper style romance.  The characters started out interesting, but over the course of the plot, I just didn't like them any more.  Isabella's desperation for Gideon started to grate on my nerves.  She started out so strong and ended up the damsel in distress.  I just grew tired of her.  Making Lord Stirling and Lady Isabella's brothers such caricature villains made the novel even more predictable.  The sex scenes were generously sprinkled every few pages and overall were decent.  But the ending...  I think the ending was why I really knocked this one down to 3 stars.  The ending and resolution was completely deus ex machina and I just couldn't take it all.  Coincidences and perfect timing are the only ways to reconcile the ending.  To me it just felt faked and forced.  I couldn't get completely behind it.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Title: Anansi Boys

Author: Neil Gaiman

Publisher: William Morrow 2005

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 416

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Neil Gaiman; Mount TBR; Blogger Recommendations; Fall into Reading; Bingo -- 4 from everyone but me; Fantasy Project

How I Got It: iPad read

When Fat Charlie's dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie "Fat Charlie." Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can't shake that name, one of the many embarrassing "gifts" his father bestowed -- before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie's life.

Mr. Nancy left Fat Charlie things. Things like the tall, good-looking stranger who appears on Charlie's doorstep, who appears to be the brother he never knew. A brother as different from Charlie as night is from day, a brother who's going to show Charlie how to lighten up and have a little fun ... just like Dear Old Dad. And all of a sudden, life starts getting very interesting for Fat Charlie.

Because, you see, Charlie's dad wasn't just any dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion, able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, and baffle the devil. Some said he could cheat even Death himself.

Overall, I really liked this novel, but it wasn't quite on par with Neverwhere or The Ocean at the End of the Lane.  I think it had to do with the fact that I could never truly get behind Fat Charlie.  Sure, he's gotten a bit of the short end of the stick in terms of his childhood and family, but the fact that he continues to be a sad sack throughout the novel bugged me a bit.  While I don't like Spider's actions, I could completely understand why he did certain things.  He was predictable, he was interesting, he was almost charming.  I found myself wanting to read more about Spider's journey than Charlie's.  For that reason, I took this one down a star.  Don't get me wrong, it's still a great Gaiman story.  It has the interesting little fantastical twists.  It has wonderfully constructed sentences.  The narrator (even not being first person) connects to the reader.  I really enjoyed this one, just not quite as much as some of Gaiman's other works.

Total Eclipse by Rachel Caine

Title: Total Eclipse (Weather Wardens #9)

Author: Rachel Caine

Publisher: Roc 2010

Genre: Paranormal

Pages: 305

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Seriously Series; Mount TBR; Fall into Reading;

How I Got It: I own it

Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin, her husband, the djinn David, and the Earth herself have been poisoned by a substance that destroys the magic that keeps the world alive. The poison is destabilizing the entire balance of power, bestowing magic upon those who have never had it, and removing it form those who need it. It's just a matter of time before the delicate balance of nature explodes into chaos-and doom.

Holy crap!  What a way to end the series!  I sped through this volume on the edge of my seat.  I couldn't wait to see how Joanne got herself of the end-of-the-world situation she got herself into.  The volume did not disappoint.  Like most of of the books in the series, this one hits the ground running.  The action starts right away and never stops.  I loved that!  We get a whirlwind of activity and yet we still connect to the characters.  I loved seeing some of the side characters reappear, but glad that Caine focused on our main group.  I was even satisfied with the ending and epilogue.  Usually I hate epilogues, but this one was nice.  Overall, I really liked this series.  The middle books meander a bit from the main story arc, but everything gets back on track for a couple of explosive books at the end.

Weather Warden:

1. Ill Wind
2. Heat Stroke
3. Chill Factor
4. Windfall
5. Fire Storm
6. Thin Air
7. Gale Force
8. Cape Storm
9. Total Eclipse

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

Title: Gulliver's Travels

Author: Jonathan Swift

Genre: Classics; Fantasy

Pages: 333

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Classics -- 18th Century; Mount TBR; Dusty Bookshelf; Book to Movie; 1001 Books; Fall into Reading; Fantasy Project

How I Got It: I own it

Jonathan Swift's satirical novel was first published in 1726, yet it is still valid today. Gulliver's Travels describes the four fantastic voyages of Lemuel Gulliver, a kindly ship's surgeon. Swift portrays him as an observer, a reporter, and a victim of circumstance. His travels take him to Lilliput where he is a giant observing tiny people. In Brobdingnag, the tables are reversed and he is the tiny person in a land of giants where he is exhibited as a curiosity at markets and fairs. The flying island of Laputa is the scene of his next voyage. The people plan and plot as their country lies in ruins. It is a world of illusion and distorted values. The fourth and final voyage takes him to the home of the Houyhnhnms, gentle horses who rule the land. He also encounters Yahoos, filthy bestial creatures who resemble humans.

I can't believe that I've never actually read the entirety of this novel.  Sure, I've read excerpts.  I know most of the storyline.  I've seen multiple television and movie adaptations.  I've also read basically everything else that Swift has written.  But somehow I've never actually read the whole book.  Overall, I would say that I enjoyed the book, but the notes really helped me understand the satirical nature of Swift's writing.  The problem is that Swift wrote this very specific to a time and place.  I love his commentary on the political state of Great Britain. While Gulliver goes on four adventures and meets four basic groups of people, the Lilliputians are still my favorite.  I love how Gulliver finds himself a part of this strange land.  A good book but because of its very specific nature, it's a hard volume to get into for modern audiences.

Movie:

I had hoped to watch the Ted Danson miniseries version of the book, but I couldn't find it anywhere.  Boo! So I settled for the Jack Black version because the library had it in stock and available for loan.  I was very disappointed by this adaptations.  All of the satire is lost with Jack Black's incessant nonsense.  Even the inclusion of Chris O'Dowd and Catherine Tate (two awesome British actors!) could not save the ridiculousness of this movie.  Definitely a disappoint.  Glad I didn't pay for this one at all...

Witches 101 by Melissa de la Cruz

Title: Witches 101: A Witches of East End Primer

Author: Melissa de la Cruz

Publisher: Hyperion 2011

Genre: Paranormal; Witches

Pages: 63

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Witches and Witchcraft; Monthly Key Word - October; ebook; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: iPad read

Almost three million copies of The Blue Bloods series in print, Melissa de la Cruz has now written her first paranormal romance for adults, on sale June 21st. The first in the Beauchamp Series, the book features a brand-new cast of characters, a fascinating and fresh world to discover, and a few surprise appearances from some of the Blue Blood fan favorites. It’s a page-turning, heart-stopping, magical summer read, fraught with love affairs, witchcraft, and an unforgettable battle between good and evil.

But before you read the book, meet the Witches! In this primer, you’ll meet the three Beauchamp women – Joanna, Ingrid, and Freya – learn a little bit about their special powers, and even get some tips so you can cast a few spells of your own.

Hmm... This was a free teaser ebook for the new Witches of East End series.  I was intrigued by the series concept and the appearance of the Beauchamps in the Blue Bloods series.  The ebook itself gives the reader a chapter about each of the Beauchamps.  We are teased with a larger mystery and storyline.  it definitely doesn't stand on its own, but I am fairly interested in reading the series now.  I just kinda wish this was a full story to get us into the series, instead of the opening chapters.

San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats by Mira Grant

Title: San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats (Newsflesh novella)

Author: Mira Grant

Publisher: Orbit 2012

Genre: Zombie

Pages: 120

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Zombies; ebook; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: iPad read

It was the summer of 2014, and the true horrors of the Rising were only just beginning to reveal themselves. Fans from all over the world gathered in San Diego, California for the annual comic book and media convention, planning to forget about the troubling rumors of new diseases and walking dead by immersing themselves in a familiar environment. Over the course of five grueling days and nights, it became clear that the news was very close to home...and that most of the people who picked up their badges would never make it out alive.

Ran across this novella being reviewed on another blogger's site.  I loved the original Newsflesh trilogy, so I had to download this one right away.  And during the FrightFall Readathon seemed like a great time to read a little zombie story.  Those who have read the trilogy know how this story is going to end.  We know all about The Rising.  But the story is written so well that I kept seeing glimpses of hope and survival until the bitter end.  It's a great little short read to introduce you to The Rising or just as an extension of the original trilogy.  Love, love, love!

Newsflesh

• #0.4 Apocalupse Scenario #683: The Box
• #0.5 Countdown
• #0.75 San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats
• #1 Feed
• #2 Deadline
• #3 Blackout
• #3.5 How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea
• #3.6 The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell
• #3.7 Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus
• #4 Rewind

Cape Storm by Rachel Caine

Title: Cape Storm (Weather Wardens #8)

Author: Rachel Caine

Publisher: Roc 2009

Genre: Paranormal

Pages: 308

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Seriously Series; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: I own it

Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin and her new husband, the Djinn David, are running from a malevolent hurricane bent on destroying her. Joined by an army of fellow Wardens and Djinn onboard a hijacked luxury liner, Joanne has lured the storm into furious pursuit. But even their combined magic may not be enough to stop it-nor the power-mad ex-Weather Warden controlling it...

After the whirlwind that was Gale Force, I liked the slightly slower pace of this volume.  I liked getting back to being focused on the main characters of the series.  Instead of attempting to update everyone, we get more Joanne, David, and Lewis.  I really really love Lewis in this volume.  He has taken complete responsibility for the Wardens and for the Earth itself.  I also love the villain in this volume, very over the top and slightly cartoonish, but in a good way.  And I was very excited about where the whole series is going.  I'm very excited to read the last volume in the Weather Wardens series.

Weather Warden:

1. Ill Wind
2. Heat Stroke
3. Chill Factor
4. Windfall
5. Fire Storm
6. Thin Air
7. Gale Force
8. Cape Storm
9. Total Eclipse

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Title: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Author: Neil Gaiman

Publisher: William Morrow 2013

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 181

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Neil Gaiman; Book Bingo -- 4 from 2013; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: Library Loan

A brilliantly imaginative and poignant fairy tale from the modern master of wonder and terror, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is Neil Gaiman’s first new novel for adults since his #1 New York Times bestseller Anansi Boys.

This bewitching and harrowing tale of mystery and survival, and memory and magic, makes the impossible all too real...

I love how all of Gaiman's books and stories start out fairly normal.  You think you're in the world we know.  But then, a few pages or a few chapters in, something happens that is not normal.  Something appears to throw off our balance.  And we find ourselves in a world not quite like ours.  This story is no exception.  The first chapter lulls you into a sense of normalcy and then bam! you're thrown into something completely different.  I loved this little novel about a boy's adventures with "other" things.  Since it is told in flashback, I can even imagine the man sitting beside the pond recollecting long forgotten memories of childhood.  It's such a peaceful and yet disturbing moment.  And as with all Gaiman stories, I could not predict the ending.  I had no idea what was going to happen.  That made the story all the more fascinating and engaging.  Overall, a short but powerful piece.