The Tower Treasure

Nancy Drew is awesome. Female sleuth, solving mysteries, simple reads that can help people get into the genre. Always good times. What goes right alongside Nancy Drew? The Hardy Boys, of course!

I hadn't ever read any of the Hardy Boys books, but had grown to love the characters in Her Interactive's Nancy Drew PC Games. They are great mystery (point and click, for the most part) games starring Nancy with help from her friends with the Hardy Boys as occasional guest stars. They were so fun to play with/as and I found that I loved them as characters. I needed to read these books! So I picked it up for my son and I to read, though HB books for a six year old is maybe too young. *shrugs * I enjoyed it anyway.

The Tower Treasure is the HB's first mystery. It begins with them almost being run off the road when a crazy driver wizzes by a few times. They come to find out that robberies have been happening all over their little town and it seems to be done by the same man. When their friend's car is stolen they start their investigation off seriously to find the missing vehicle. They receive threats, find a few dead ends, get their "gang" to help as well as the police and their detective father. But it isn't only grand theft auto they are worrying about, the Applegate's--a very rich family in town--have also been burgled with jewels and other things missing from the family safe. Mr. Applegate suspects one of his employee's but the HB's are convinced the man is innocent. Can they find the crook? This is a real caper.

It was a nice mystery that I finished in two days. Clean, cut, ironed and pressed all with a sandwich for the road. Done in the late 1920's, it is simple and proper as expected and delivered.

There isn't really anything wrong with the books, especially because they are meant for a younger audience. There is the definite slang of the time: "swell," "rap" (as in knocking on the door which I guess is still technically okay, but who uses "rap" now a days?), "bucks" instead of dollars was considered rude ("not in this house"), and a few other ones I can't think of off the top of my head. It was funny and kind of shocking, though obviously not in a proverse or scared way. Just unexpected, though it was stupid of me not to.

The thing that I didn't like was the portrayal of girls and women here. The friends who are girls  or who are presented here are always shocked and don't do anything. When their father gets arrested and they find out the girls dramatically clutch their throats and their mother faints needing her smelling salts and medicine. Even Mrs. Hardy is depicted as only cooking, constantly making sandwiches, and either worried or proud and the situation calls for it. Part of me, though, was surprised that Mrs. Hardy was around and mentioned. Even in Nancy Drew, Nancy's mom is dead. Though a lot of Mrs. Hardy's time was making sure her boys were fed. I guess that's what mom's do, feed the family, but I know that's not all I do. I wish she was given more of a personality than cook. Very much playing on stereotypes all around. Mom's, fainting girls, hobos, and other stereotypes. Those were very prominent.

Though, many of the characters were very simple, almost flat. There was very little difference between Frank and Joe where they could have been the same person, which was rather disappointing because in the PC games they were very different. This could be that this is the first story and it is a simple mystery focused on the mystery instead of the characters. The same thing could be said for the setting. There was very little description actually given as the story developed.

I'd be interested to read some of the other books, though I might not read then in the publication order. Just to see how far the boys develop.

Good book for younger kids, though maybe not a six year old. Lol.

Enchanter's End Game

The last book in the Belgariad is Enchanter's End Game. This is a very quick paced book that I finished in only a few days.

Garion, Silk, and Belgarath make their way across Gar og Nardak and to Mallorea to defeat Torak at the same time Ce'Nedra, Polgara, and the other Kings of the West march on Mishrak ac Thull to then get their boats to the Eastern Sea so they can take out Mallorean ships full of enemy soldiers. Battles commence and David Eddings' does it pretty well.

Eddings was able to have all of the many characters work well together and have sound endings and battle sequences. People they have met, even way back in Pawn of Prophecy, make appearances and have grown up/stayed the same (as needed).

Although this is the conclusion of the series, it still lets people have their bits of final growth that they need to complete their character arcs. Most of the building has happened in the previous books and so it's able to be more plot based, as opposed to the character and culture driven motives Eddings had in this world exploration--though obviously there was a wider overarching plot throughout.

Enchanter's End Game is very much based on moving armies and fighting battles, which in my opinion is fine because we have very solid characters and now he's letting them do their own thing. He's letting them finish out the story as it is needed to be.

I really like the big final battle with Torak. We know it's coming and we've known it since the beginning, pretty much. And I wasn't disappointed. Eddings set it up so then we understood the trials that Polgara would have--though the curveball that was thrown in caught me off guard the first time even though there was foreshadowing in PoP *wiggles eyebrows* --Torak's intimidation factor was brought and done well, and we got to see how most everyone was needed there. I'm still struggling with Ce'Nedra or Errand's part at the end and what important role she needed to play there... but everyone else made sense and fit well with all of the Prophecy. It was a nice bow without it being "bad." I do also like the good vs evil parallels. It was well done.

I have loved this series since I was in early high school and still very much enjoyed it. This series is a good one for beginning fantasy readers or those who are looking for a simple, light read. It is an older series, published in the 1980's and some may say that it doesn't transition well into the present. I can see why they would say that, but it is still enjoyable. Things happened throughout the series where it could be registered as a cliche or a troupe but it's not because it's from the classic season of fantasy which made the cliche before they were cliches. (I hope that makes sense.)

In the end, I've enjoyed it and am glad I got them. When reading them, keep in mind that they are from an older generation and to come at them as you would to Charles Dickens or Jane Austen or even Tolkien.

Bloodline

This has been the first time in a long time that I've read anything by Covenant Publishing. It is an publishing company associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is a publishing company that focuses on producing clean, engaging stories that are pretty much PG-13. It keep profanity, bedroom scenes, and gore to non-existent which can be nice when readers are wanting simple clean stories.

Bloodlines is about a girl named Skye who, upon arriving home from her flight attendant job--where she got saved by an attractive Scotsman from nearly getting run over, finds that her aunt has gone missing. She receives mysterious notes, emails, and calls to go to a safety deposit box and find the "other two missing pages" otherwise her aunt is going to die. She's gets to the deposit box and finds this ancient piece of paper with Old Latin words that she can't decipher. Over the course of the next hour she gets guns pointed at her, is practically kidnapped herself, and is saved again and again by this Scotsman who often appears out of no where. Upon getting help from an elderly professor, the Scotsman, Professor, and Skye head to France to find one of the "other pages" to help save her aunt. Why are so many people after her? They are all from different organization, so why do they want her? Can she trust this Scotsman who obviously isn't telling the truth to many things and knows more than he's telling? What does she have to do with Robert the Bruce and a King from France?

There were a few things I things that I rather enjoyed about this story. The plot, for the most part, was pretty good. It moved quickly and I did want to see what was going to happen next. There were parts that were very predictable and others that were very dry, but it caught me enough that I continued reading.

I love the cover art. It is beautiful and very eye catching. Cover artist... *two thumbs up* Good job.

I did have some problems with this story though, so much so that my husband told me that all I did was complain and I should pick up a new book. The writing style had much to be desired. I felt like it was something I could have done in high school. It was extremely telling and very little showing. I often felt like I in the story, just watching it from a foggy distance. I mean, we are in Paris and traveling through castles in Scotland! There is so much mood that can be developed here. Skye and Jack's feelings could have bloomed more/less depending on where they were at by using the setting as a trigger, but it wasn't. Just the fact that they were walking through cathedrals and tombs and we got so little descriptions. They could have been floating through space for as much description was given with an occasional table or buttress that was flying around (Pun intended). Ms. Peterson missed a lot of opportunities to really develop the story.

I also had a really hard time with Skye in general. For a good 3/4 of the story her internal monologue was how she doesn't know if she can trust Jack for falling for his dreamy eyes. She couldn't make up her mind, like a pubescent teenager. So intense and so angry, but then she'd turn around and check out his jaw or eyes or something that it gave me a bit of whiplash. Jack almost seemed like a MarySue  where he was good at pretty much everything or knew everyone and was still the kind, compassionate, hot hunk of man meat. I don't know, there didn't seem to be much to him aside from the MarySue skills he could provide. The romance that was supposed to be blooming between them didn't strike me at all. It seemed like Ms. Peterson tried too hard to get them to work, but there was no real chemistry. Like a Florence Nightingale affect because he saved her over and over again. It was rather obnoxious.

For being a historical suspense I was rather upset that there wasn't more flashbacks to history, which is what the cover kind of told me would happen. Instead there was a lot of historical info-dump. It was bad. Important information to the story, but it was dry. I was very disappointed.

The ending was kind of a let down for me too. Not by much, but I still wanted more. She wrapped it up very quickly when I feel like a epilogue wold have been helpful because we don't know what would really happen after. There was a maybe we could do something, but *shrugs* who really knows? I'd like to have a confirmed "this is what happens."

Ugh, I don't know. I don't think I'd read this again. I don't even know if I'd read anything else Ms Peterson is writing. It's just really strange to me that she has written more books, that this isn't her debut novel because that's what this definitely feels like.

Elantris

While Brandon Sanderson is probably my favorite author, Elantris is not my favorite book. Good book, especially towards the end, but not my favorite.

The city of Elantris was once a shining beacon to all the surrounding countries. The walls glowed. The people glowed. They had magnificent powers to heal, to teleport, to do anything it seemed. They were Gods! Until they weren't. Suddenly, one day, Elantris fell. It darkened and the Elantians seemed almost like zombies. Their hearts stopped beating, their hair fell out, their bodies covered with bruise-like abrasions, and they stopped glowing. The Gods fell.

Ten years later, people still enter Elantris but only those who have been touched by the Shoad. Those who would have turned into glowing Elantians now turn into bodies that have died who's minds haven't realized their dead. Prince Raoden wakes up on morning and finds that the Shoad has taken him and he is forced to go to Elantris where the dead walk. Princess Sarene travels from her home country to marry Prince Raoden only to find his funeral happening later that day with her marriage binding and complete. She is married to a dead man she's never met. (Hooray for her.) Hrathen also come to the city just outside Elantris with orders to convert all of the heathen and do so before three months or his home country will come to slaughter them all. Not happy prospects for anyone.

Between political intrigues, survival, and crazy priests the people of Kae have their hands full, whether or not they know it.

I found that buy the end of the book I really like all of the characters. Raoden was the one that got me through the slower parts toward the beginning. Hrathen was a very intriguing character because of the internal battles he ended up fighting and I did enjoy his playing with Sarene in their own verble chess matches.

This book was one where you had to jump into it and start treadding. Brandon is much better at this in Mistborn and is far more quick at it. Some people said that you can maybe skim through the first half and by the time you get to about 55% to 60% really start focusing, and I found that to be pretty much the case.

Especially toward the beginning, I was very confused to the whole bunch of characters that were thrown at me and I wasn't sure who I was supposed to be remembering. They seemed to be just names that flew past my eyes in a blur. It took a good portion of the time to get people fully impressed in my brain or even figure out who they were for the most part. Kiin was easy and Roial easier later on, but many of the others were hard.

I think Elantris, the place, is a very interesting one full of mystery. I think that is why I liked Raoden so much. The people he interacted with and the city itself drew me in very much. The Aeo's were interesting and as we went on they made far more sense, though they were still simple.

I did have some questions toward the end. It is part of the Cosmere so "There is always another secret." If you have more questions, check out coppermind.net and it should help you out a lot. Though Spoilers, you are warned.

This will be one that I'll reread again probably because I missed a lot and it took me forever to actually complete the read. (Life can suck at times.)

Special A

I finally finished another series. Things are finally calming down so I can read again.

That being said, Special A was a very enjoyable series. It was sweet and easy going. Definitely a series to read when needing an easy, light hearted read.

Special A is about a girl who wants to beat a boy. Her whole life she has always come in second place with him being first. In every competition they have, he wins. Grades,  he wins. Sports, he wins. Everything, he wins. He affectionately calls her, "Ms. No. 2." The rest of the series is about her finally realizing that he likes her and that she loves him. There is a mix of other characters, mainly in this SA class, and their romantic relations too.

My biggest critique is the plot. There isn't much of an over arching theme or story over the whole series. There are lots of jumps from this person to that person and their feelings and romantic moments, but it doesn't have a strong plot. Even the idea of constantly wanting to beat Takashima at any challenge is put on the back burner for major portions of the series. There are also plot points that seem very similar to other series that I've read, such as Maid-Sama or Ouran High School Host Club. Wealthy guy and poor girl with class differences, flights across the world to "save" the boy, etc. It seems to be a trend from books published in the later 2000's.

I very much enjoy the characters here. SA has some very different characters than other series I've read. They have a few more jealousies from Takashima and Arika, Hikari is willing to get dirty and can take care of herself as well as look and act feminine, the family unit of the twins and Ryu was sweet, and Tadashi's obnoxious yet still genuine kindness is nice to see. The other side characters have their own personalities which are very much different from one another and others from different series--which I seem to be comparing to a lot. I like them as characters, but there is much character progression or arch to their own stories... It is very much about being/falling in love. They are fun characters to have and make for fun moments, but overall they are kind of flat.

I think I prefer the anime to the manga on this one, which is weird to say. The anime doesn't go as far in the series, but because of that the lack of character development in the manga as well as the basic beginning arch. And that was fine. I was content with it as it ended with a complete story.

I'd read this a book series again if I was wanting something super light that I didn't have to think to much. Enjoyable but not the best.

Garden Spells

After a need for a good, happy book,  I was recommended Garden Spells and wasn't disappointed.

Claire and Sydney never got along as kids. After high school Sydney left and Claire found solace in the old family home with her Grandmother and the somewhat magical garden with an annoying apple tree.  Ten years later, new neighbor moves in next door who won't leave Claire alone and suddenly Sydney is back with a bag full of mysteries and a sweet little girl named Bay.

Old towns have legends and the people in small towns have ways about them, also known as stereotypes.  Nearly everyone in town has a family stereotype and the Waverley's, Claire and Sydney, carry the weird gene. Claire has this uncanny way with food that can make people feel a certain way. Have an awkward conversation? Have some Lemon Verbena in your muffin. Want to see better? Have some Honeysuckle. Etc. Rather smart move for a caterer. But for Sydney, going back to a small town with old faces you'd rather forget is hard, but far safer than where she had been.

I thought it was a good book. Not something I'd recommend to a teenager whereas there are parts toward the end where there is slight descriptive nudity. All sexy times are curtain closed but there are some moments that lead up to it and lots of talk about sex, but nothing descriptive or erotic--thank goodness.   It's slightly beyond the PG-17 range. I most definitely would be blushing if I was reading this at 17, like I did with the Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.

The characters were good, engaging all around and surprisingly the apple tree was one of my favorite characters. Claire and Sydney were fun and well developed as well as the other side characters. All the other characters got their moments and segments of chapters which helped bring the whole story and town community to life. Which makes the story more fun all around.

I enjoyed the book and if I chose to read it again would probably skim past some parts about 3/4 of the way though, but the rest of it was well done and I enjoyed the storyline.

Saint Anything

Saint Anything is a good book and this audiobook has a good reader.

Sydney has always lived in her brother's shadow. When he started doing drugs and getting drunk, her parents had eyes only on Payton and the drama he was dragging their family through. When he ended up hitting a kid with his car after being out drinking, everything changed. And nothing changed. Payton went to jail and everything stayed Payton oriented. Sydney was, as she had been for years, invisible. The good kid. The kid with good grades and always kept her nose clean. Nothing to worry about, so easy to forget.

She then makes the decision to change high schools. She was known as "Payton's sister" never actually Sydney and desperately wanted to not have that stigma. There she finds friends that dissipate the monotony and feels seen for once. Sydney finds that she likes it.

I really liked Sydney and the individuality of all the other characters. It's actually pretty hard to find a good young adult novel with parents being prominent characters that aren't just "my parents" or "the evil bad guys who never want me to have fun" let alone parents who have personalities are individuals with their problems and equal strengths. It's even rarer to find parents in YA novels who actually get along and have each others back. This was nice to see that change where everyone, not just the teens, are real people who have wants and ambitions that go beyond the scope of the plot line of the novel.

The setting that they are in are the same for Sarah Dessen's other novels and characters make appearances from other stories. Seaside Pizzeria makes its appearance in Sarah Dessen novels as well. They are fun little easter eggs that she lays around.

I think one of my favorite things is when the cover and title finally make sense. Those little light bulbs that go one were very pleasing even if one of them took to the end for me to finally get. That was probably my fault. I also very much like it how her books, like this one, come full circle. Practically every loose end is tied and the metaphors she uses work well for the story she is creating. Finding the carousel and the sinkhole and even the thrift stores and valuable things that some people have either lost, given away, or forgotten runs powerfully through the story.

The predictability of the book was kind of sad. I knew what was going to happen long before it did, but it was still satisfying nonetheless.

I love Sarah Dessen's books for the characters and metaphors she uses. They are both always strong. The hopeless romantic in me loves the romance that takes place too. It makes it a fun, enjoyable read, that are often different and give voice to someone who is searching for their own.

Please enjoy.