The Review: The Gifting By K.E. Ganshert

   This novel takes place in a time where things such as the supernatural and the human soul is believed to not exist. Religion is looked down upon, the second amendment is stripped from the constitution, ignorance is no longer acceptable and anyone who is declared mentally ill is locked away, believed to be a burden on society. Tess Eckhart starts to have strange dreams that come to fruition and sees entities that no else seems to notice. Her family, terrified, moves from their home in Florida to California in hopes of Tess getting treated at mental health facility, known for their success and ability to fly under the governments’ radar. Soon after getting settled in their new home, Tess meets a boy, Luka and discovers that they may have much more in common than just being next door neighbors.

   The Gifting has a unique plot and fantastic, diverse characters that grabbed my attention right off the bat. I’ve read books that have taken place in the future but no author has ventured into the paranormal aspect, things that science cannot explain and where knowing current world events is held in the highest regard. I really enjoyed the fact that students in high school are required to take a class called Current Events. America should diffidently incorporate this into the education system. Throughout the book, I was kept on my toes and constantly wondered if Tess was actually seeing entities or if she was truly going crazy. The Gifting shows another possibility of what could happen to society if science was the only belief acceptable in everyday life. The Gifting is absolutely a fantastic read.

   Until Next Time…
   Fiction Book Reviewer

Update

I hope ya'll are enjoying your Friday thus far! Next up for review is K.E Ganshert's novel, The Gifting, taking place in a world where, presumably, anything supernatural simply doesn't exist. Seems to me this book may be my cup of coffee. The review will be up on November 4th at 11am, CDT.

 Until Next Time....
-Fiction Book Reviewer

The Review: The Black Spaniard: Revolution Begins Within by Linda Brown Holt

The Black Spaniard takes place mostly in Vienna, Austria and immerses you in the 18th and 19th century. This historical fiction introduces Luis van Beethoven, a young, dark-skinned, talented pianist  who struggles with not only his own genius but living in a white man's world. The story stays true to Ludwig van Beethoven's slow deterioration of his hearing and this novel takes you into the mind of a gifted musician who slowly loses the ability to hear the one thing he loves the most. Many well-known individuals made an appearance and it was interesting to see how Luis interacted with them throughout the book. The dialog in these pages perfectly fit into the time this story takes place and the musical terminology, impeccable. The Black Spaniard is a wonderful twist to a fiction based on history and the imagery was great. There was one section that stood out to me and I absolutely loved it.

 "His self-confidence, already high, had shot through the roof, and there was no more holding him back than trying to stuff the wild unruly spirits back into Pandora's treasure chest. There was  no thought for tomorrow, and no regard for yesterday."

The Black Spaniard, though fiction, gives a unique insight into one of the most influential people in the Western art music; leading the way from the Classical to the Romantic era.

Until Next Time...
-Fiction Book Reviewer

Update

Good Morning!
On October 7th I will be posting a review on The Black Spaniard: Revolution Begins Within by Linda Brown Holt. Hope yall are enjoying your Friday 🌻

Until Next Time...
-Fiction Book Reviewer

Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

    Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is about a 16 year old, American boy who has grown out of his Polish Grandfather’s fantastic fictions about his life on an island after escaping the Nazis during World War II. Jacob Portman has lived a pretty dull life with the exception of his Grandfather’s more occurring episodes. His dementia has been getting worse and his impossible stories of his childhood in the refugee home started to become real to him. One night Jacob receives a frantic call from Grandpa Portman, asking for a key to his gun safe and how he needed to protect himself. Jacob stopped by his home only to find his grandfather in the woods, close to death and a blackened creature dashing further into the trees. Jacob soon uncovers photos and a letter while he is helping clean out his Grandfathers home. Could there really be an island off the coast of Wales with a house that was more than a refugee children’s home? Could it be possible that the stories about the levitating girl, the boy who housed bees in his body and many more, are true? Jacob sets off to discover the dangerous secrets his grandfather wanted him so desperately to know.

  I loved how Ransom Riggs incorporated actual photos to make this story seem realistic and it adds a whole new dimension of (mainly) creepy. He does a very good job of knowing how much mystery should be held throughout the novel in order to keep a reader on their toes and wanting to know more. The plot is refreshingly different and I wasn’t able to guess what the next turn would be. I would recommend this to those who love fictional stories that give a feeling it could have actually happened and leaves you thinking if there is more to this world than we are aware.

Until Next Time…

~Fiction-Book-Reviewer

Review: Life First by R.J. Crayton

   Life First takes place one hundred years into a post apocalyptic nation. After the pandemics wiped out eighty percent of the world’s population, the new government made a law, Life First. If an individual needed an organ or blood, it was to be given to them. A married pregnant woman is held in the highest regard because she is the giver of life. Children are told through statistics when they should or shouldn’t sacrifice to save others. The citizens have to give blood every two years to maintain a steady blood supply as well as have their blood type logged into a data base if someone was ill or in need of a donation. Kelsey Reed, a woman in her early 20s is marked for a kidney extraction surgery for a man who is in need of one and she seems to be the only match. In the days leading up to the surgery, she stays with her Father, a lead gubernatorial candidate and sitting state senator. The night before the appointment, she makes an attempt to flee with the help of her boyfriend Luke and the man who witnessed her pregnant mother’s death, Dr. Grant. The attempt fails and Kelsey is sent to a holding facility until her trail. There it is revealed she is pregnant and wouldn’t have been able to have the surgery done if she had gone to the appointment. If she is found guilty, not only will her baby will be stripped from her and given to another family but she will also be sentenced to death through donation. Her uterus will be removed and she will be sent to a long term holding until she is matched with someone who is in need of any kind of vital organ. With the help of her father, Luke, Dr. Grand and her Uncle Albert, Kelsey hopes to avoid a guilty verdict.  If not, they will have to put their risky escape plan in motion.

   Life First is a different outlook on the future of a society after an apocalypse claims billions of lives. Rather than focus on the first year or so after the outbreak, RJ Crayton takes the story a century into the future. The prospect of the government taking on a law like Life First after the pandemic is very believable. The author did a fantastic job of making this novel as realistic as possible, that is, until the tail end. I try not to give parts of the ending away but this is a scene that I have to address. If you plan on reading Life First for yourself, stop reading this now. In the last handful of chapters, Kelsey and Luke make a daring escape from the short-term holding facility. They make their way to Kelsey’s apartment. There, Luke invited their small group of family and friends to witness a small wedding ceremony. Kelsey and Luke apparently had enough time to change into a Tux as well as a white dress. This scene seemed so unrealistic and the whole time I’m thinking, “Shouldn’t they be on the run to Peoria?” Good thing this was not the very ending to the book or else that would have ruined it for me. Overall Life First is well written and for the most part, very convincing that something like what happened to Kelsey could very well happen to any one of us.

Until Next Time…

~Fiction-Book-Reviewer  

Review: The Happening by Harvey Yoder

   The Happening retells the unbelievable tragedy that struck an Amish community on the morning of October 2^nd, 2006 and the overwhelming forgiveness from the victim’s families as well as the outpouring of love from around the world. That morning was just another ordinary, beautiful morning in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania as families were readying themselves for the day. The main character, Rebecca Sue is an embodiment of the group of young girls that had survived the Happening as well as changing the names used in the book is a way of preserving the privacy the Amish community wanted. That morning at 10:25 Mr. Roberts rode in a borrowed truck to the small white school house where class was in session. The children ranged from first grade to eighth, twenty-six in total. Mr. Roberts came into the school house with one thing on his mind, to get revenge on God for taking his daughter away from him. An hour later, eleven young girls where shot. Only five survived. Soon an out pour of love and support came rushing to the families of the victims. What was even more astonishing was the forgiveness of the Amish community. Mrs. Roberts and her children reached out to each of the victims’ families, visiting their homes, being greeted with open arms. This tragic event was handled with so much grace and understanding from the community. The people of Nickel Mines had forgiven Roberts but the absence of their loved ones cannot be replaced.

   The author of this novel, Harvey Yoder, did an amazing job of retelling not only of that fateful morning but the love and forgiveness in the aftermath. I’ve read books that share a version of terrible events and the authors would focus the majority of the story about every detail of what had happened. This was a different perspective and included different focal points that I enjoyed. Not only was the event described through a young girl’s eyes but shows an example of tremendous strength within a community. Their faith was unshakable though this time and in doing so, inspiring millions.

   Until Next Time…

~Fiction-Book-Reviewer

Update #40

For the next review I will be reading The Happening: Nickel Mines School Tragedy, written by Harvey Yoder. This book is based on a true even that struck the heart of the community in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. Mr. Yoder tells a story of an Amish school shooting on the morning of October 2nd, 2006. The review will be posted on the 25th of this month.

Until Next Time...

~Fiction-Book-Reviewer

Check out Books on Screen and New York Bestsellers on eCampus  Here!

Review: The Rexwood Murders novel by Barron Jones

The Rexwood Murders novel by Barron Jones is about a group of teenagers being thrown in the middle of fifteen year old vendetta that is finally making itself known. The first opening chapter takes the reader back to October 31^st, 1998 where this close knit community in southern Georgia is about to be put though a horrific tragedy.  A home in the neighborhood of Meadow-Way is hosting a Halloween party.  Inside there is a fight that breaks out between two men, Kirk Jones and Ronald Rosenberg.  A fire starts claiming the home after Kirk’s failed attempted at throwing his drink at Ronald. The home explodes not long after Ronald goes back into the home to try and rescue his family. Years later, this group of teenagers on Halloween night spend a terrifying night in the Rosenberg mansion, chased thorough hallways and discovered tucked away secrets. After some of the characters make it out alive and into their homes, the dark hooded figure’s presence didn’t diminish.  Through notes and text messages, the group is threatened of their secrets coming to light. The teenagers think they know exactly who is harassing them and who attacked them that Halloween night but when they drive by the Rosenberg Mansion, it’s littered with police. One body bag is being wheeled away. In the distance, the black hooded figure is watching. They were wrong.

The Rexwood Murders novel was different in terms of the writing style.  This example will be taken from the book itself;

“They are reaching a door and Austin starts to place his hand on the door knob.”

 In a usual fiction piece that sentence would be written like this, “They reach a door and Austin begins to place his hand on the handle.” I haven’t read a novel written like this before and I honestly didn’t enjoy this style. There were points where I would catch word or phrase repetition within the same two or three sentences. These two sentences are an example.

“…reach the lunchroom before the lines get full, the three finally reach the lunchroom. 

Entering the lunchroom…”

The plot is very good although towards the end it seemed to resemble a popular television series called Pretty Little Liars. This novel started off very strong and original until it was reaching its last couple chapters. I hope there is a slight change in the way this plot seems to be developing if there happens to be a sequel in the future.

  Until Next Time…

      ~Fiction-Book-Reviewer

Update #39

Goodmorning! I wanted to let you know that I am posting my book reviews, sidebar, and updates to my Blogger page as well as my Tumblr page. Please feel free to check it out!
http://fiction-book-reviewer.tumblr.com/

Until Next Time...

Update #38

Up next for review is The Rexwood Murders, written by Barron Jones. The review will be up the 26th of February.

Review: Thicker Than Water by E.L. Rummery

Thicker Than Water takes place in Sydney, Australia where the journey of a Templar, a Witch, and an old soul start to form.  Julien and Isolde first meet when Isolde jumps after a man who had just dived off of a bridge. Julien rushes to the underpass below and is shocked when he realizes he can only see the woman because witches, like him, can see through illusions. Isolde is able to heal the suicidal man as well as herself fairly quickly. Julian and Isolde became fast friends from that day on. Not long after, Isolde is on her way back to her apartment after handing out food to a group of homeless individuals in an alley in Blackwattle when she is attacked by demons. A Templar trained in killing witches and Demons, named Delilah, comes to her rescue. The three of them set out to find who are letting demons pass through from hell and soon come across a demon who possessed the body of someone Isolde use to know. After Delilah and Julien try to kill the demon, Isolde steps in, in hopes of healing him. Instead she somehow binds the demon to the body, making him human. Delilah lies to the demon, convincing him that he cannot harm Isolde without harming himself. They name the demon, Damon, who becomes part of their group and comes to be protective over Isolde.  Throughout the novel, the histories of Julien, Delilah and Isolde are revealed. It becomes clear the tragic secrets they hold from each other are far more intertwined than they could ever know.  

Thicker than Water is one of those books that keep you at the edge of your seat from beginning to jaw dropping end.  I’ve read many books that incorporated the classic supernatural; ghosts, witches, demons, nephilim and vampires. This book has a different twist in this regard by placing the demons to the forefront along with the witches as well as a whole new race, Templars. E.L. Rummery did a great job making the characters as well rounded and real as possible. The twists and turns throughout the novel left no holes and always leading to something bigger. I loved how the back story of Delilah and Julien came together to create an ending that leaves you dumbstruck. I look forward to reading the second installment of The Shadow Acts series. I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a different twist on paranormal, mystery books and would like a fresh, dangerous world to step into.

Until Next Time…

~Fiction-Book-Reviewer

Review: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Speare

The story of The Witch of Blackbird Pond revolves around a young girl named Katherine Tyler, or Kit as she prefers to be called. Kit’s parents met on the Island of Barbados and not long after Kit’s birth, she was orphaned due to a tragic boating accident. From then on she was raised by her loving, wealthy uncle until he too had passed when she is just 16. Since the book takes place in the late 1600s, it is inappropriate for young unmarried girls to believing on their own. Kit purchased passage on The Dolphin set for the Connecticut colony in America where her Aunt is living. While on the voyage, she meets the son of the Captain, Nat, who unbeknownst to her, has stolen her heart. She also meets Jon Holbrook who is traveling to the same colony as Kit, in hopes of being mentored in medicine by the towns’ doctor. She arrives at her Aunts home, where she meets her distant family for the first time. Her cousins, Judith and Mercy Wood greet her with open arms as does her Aunt Rachel. Aunt Rachel’s Husband, Matthew on the other hand is stoic and hesitant towards the surprise visitor. Kit slowly becomes integrated into the family and has a hard time getting use to doing work inside as well as outside the house. It’s not long until Kit is courted by a young man from the small town and starts to learn the hard way on how exactly a woman should behave. Kit meets an older woman who lives by Blackbird Pond who has been branded a witch and soon the two become close friends. The young girl has to hide these visits to the pond and through the shared secrets as well as the similar moral standing; Kit and Mercy grow a unique bond throughout the progression of the novel. Kit also goes through a period of extreme home sickness. She even considers marring into a wealthy family as soon as possible in hopes of receiving a better life then she has now. Kit experiences her first snow fall as well as her first Sunday church service (services were usually held twice a day, not just once), and thrown into the middle of the infamous witch trials. By the end of the book, you can only hope Katharine Tyler gets a happy ending.

 The Witch of Blackbird Pond was a rollercoaster I will never forget. The book was originally published in 1958 and was awarded unanimously, the Newbery Medal in 1959. The forward written by Karen Cushman made an excellent point. This book was written when female characters like “the perky,  fearless Nancy Drew or the wholesome, do-gooding Nan Bobbsey, or pretty and popular Sue Barton, student nurse.” were very popular and some girls found it difficult to feel as if they could relate to these characters easily. “…Kit Tyler was like me, an ordinary girl, scared and lonely, stubborn and independent and a bit rebellious, trying to figure out a new world and make a place for herself in it. Yes, that was me.” Elizabeth Speare did a fantastic job with making each character in the novel well rounded and human. I found myself consistently on my toes and wanting more as I continued reading. I was impressed that the ending did not leave me wanting and although I wished the book hadn’t ended, the conclusion was tied into a neat little bow. I would recommend this novel to a reader who would like to see a strong female role in the forefront of an entire storyline. This book really does take you back in time so if you are a reader who loves to read a novel that integrates key history events; this is diffidently a book you want to add to your shelf.

Until Next Time…
~Fiction-Book-Reviewer    

The review for The Witch of Blackbird Pond is going up tomorrow!

Until Next Time…

Review: Phantoms by Dean Koontz

Phantoms take place in a small off season ski resort village in Snowfield, California. On her way back to her home after picking up her newly orphaned sixteen younger sister, Jenny drives through the oddly deserted town. They arrive at Jenny’s home which doubles as her doctor’s office. In the
kitchen they find her secretary dead on the floor, spotted with bruises that seemed to have been inflicted all at one time. The death must’ve happened quick and caught the woman of guard since her eyes were open; her face frozen as if she died in the middle of a scream. Requesting the help from the military’s Biological Investigations Unit the following morning and having them flown in,
another gruesome discovery is made. One of the victims had written a name on a bathroom mirror, “Timothy Flyte”. In Phantoms, Flyte is famously known for his book, “The Ancient Enemy” in which he shares these mass disappearances and says that the cause of these events was done by an ancient predator.  Some of the mass disappearances he mentions are that of the Mayan population as well as the dinosaur extinction. As the story progresses, Timothy Flyte, Jenny, Lisa, the police and the biologists find that the cause is a creature who is able to mimic anything it consumes, growing in
mass as it does. It resembles a jellified, black mass which has been hibernating under the entire town until recently. It is never revealed how big exactly the mass is but it’s made clear it was big enough to fill caverns under the town as well as fill the entirety of under the town itself. The creature commands other parts of itself to detach in to phantom like creatures, into anything it has
consumed.  Their only hope of getting out of Snowfield alive is to put together a biological weapon to attack the creature’s nucleus, obliterating it’s’ existence.

Phantoms was a book I easily got lost in. There were two different stories going on which had me wondering how these two were going to meet. The main story is about what was going on in Snowfield. The side story was about a man who had killed his wife and son. The side story was a nice
break every now and then when the main story was just starting to drag. At the end of the book, the side story met the main portion seamlessly and found myself not wanting the story to end. The ending tied all the loose ends in a nice little bow and I was happy to not to be let down at the outcome. The creature’s outcome was at first a little lack luster but then again Koontz tried to make this story as realistic as possible. I was impressed when Koontz’s “a note to the reader” reveled that the mass disappearances motioned in the book (The Roanoke Island colony, the deserted Eskimo village of Anjikuni, the vanished Mayan populations, the loss of thousands of Spanish soldiers in 1711, etc.) were true events and that he had really researched the back stories of these events  for his book. One of the chemicals that were used in attempts to kill the phantom creature was called Biosan-4 which was a supposed more stable strain of the first patented microorganism which was to fragile to survive outside of the lab. Although Biosan-4 is fictional, the fragile version is in fact real and scientists have not found a way to make a hardier version like the characters used in this book. I would recommend this book to someone who likes facts integrated into fiction novels as well as a scientific twist on a suspense novel. There are some graphic as well as disturbing scenes. This is a book that is undoubtedly different from most.


Until Next Time…
  ~Fiction-Book-Reviewer

Daughters of the Moon; Goddess of the Night by Lynn Ewing

Daughters of the Moon; Goddess of the Night by Lynn Ewing

Goddess of the night, the first book in the Daughters of the Moon series, takes place in Los Angeles, California. The book kicks off with Vanessa Cleveland, a teenager, walking home alone at one o’clock in the morning from a club, Planet Bang. She has the dreaded feeling that someone is following her. She hears the footsteps getting closer, making her bolt down the street, yelling a Latin prayer, “O Mater Luna, Regina nocis, adiuvo me nunc.”…but she doesn’t know Latin. She ends up making it home without getting in too much trouble with her widowed mother.  The next morning Vanessa and Catty meet up at a dinner called Jonny Rockets (A.N: an odd name for a dinner, kind of reminds me of Team Rocket from Pokémon when I was a seven).             They soon talk about Catty and Vanessa’s abilities. Vanessa can dissolve into micro partials and come back together, although she doesn’t know how to control her ability since she suppresses it as much as she can and pretend to be normal. Catty can time hop, either to the future or past but the most she can do is twenty four hours in either direction. Unlike Vanessa, Catty embraces her ability and practices it all the time. The downside to this is if she repeatedly does time jumps, she makes the day seem slower to the rest of the world and there is the threat that Catty (or/ and whomever she brings with her) may get stuck in Limbo.  Catty has only two memories from before she was six, of a crash and of a fire. Her mother had found Catty walking along the road in the dessert with a moon amulet around her neck and found that Catty had special abilities so she decided not to turn Catty into the authorities but to raise her as her own. Vanessa’s mother and father believe that Vanessa s truly theirs because of the fact that her mother was pregnant, went to the hospital and later took baby Vanessa home. One of the nurses had put a moon amulet on baby Vanessa before handing her to the young couple. Unlike Catty, Vanessa does not have any memories before her time with her parents. Vanessa goes on a few dates with a guy, Michael, but somehow Vanessa can just barely keep her molecules together around him and it gets much worse whenever they are kissing or holding hands, causing her to run off in fear off having her molecules come apart and making her invisible piece by piece. Later on that week, Catty turns up missing and Vanessa can’t help but think she had gotten lost in Limbo. Vanessa meets Serena and Jimena who are also daughters of the moon. They all but kidnap Vanessa and take her to their mentor Maggie. There she learns she not only innately knows Latin but ancient Greek as well. It is also revealed that the Atrox, a dark force that can take any shape, wants to kill her and the rest of the Moon Daughters. They already have one so far…Catty. The tale of the Daughters of the moon is also shared by Maggie,
 ““Maggie smiled. “ When Pandora’s Box was opened, countless evils and sorrows were released into the world. But one last thing to leave the box was hope, the sole comfort for the people during misfortune. Only Selene, the goddess of the moon, saw the demonic creature lurking nearby, sent by the Atrox to devour hope. She took pity on Earth dwellers and gave her Daughters, like guardian angels, to fight the Atrox and perpetuate hope. That is why you are here, Vanessa, to keep hope alive.”

“How?”

“By stopping the Atrox, of course.”

“I’m going to fight the Atrox.”…

“What happens if the Atrox wins?”

“The end of the world as we know it.””

Vanessa rushes home, prepared to tell her mother the truth about herself but decides not to at the very last minute. She sits on the porch and suddenly her molecules are whisked away by the wind, she makes it all the way to Planet Bang were she finally is able to pull her molecules together, landing on the floor, hard. She wakes up to music around her and realizes she’s inside Planet Bang.  She bumps into Stanton and she sees the presence of the Atrox in his eyes as well as his friends, they try to grab her but she makes it out of the club only to run into Michael who accuses her of lying and cheating on him with Stanton, giving Vanessa no room to explain what really happened. The next morning, Vanessa woke up to Michael at the front door.  He apologized for what he had said the night before, drawing his own conclusion that Vanessa must have been walking around looking for Catty. Vanessa’s mother had overheard their conversation. Apparently she didn’t know her daughter’s friend was missing. (A.N: Weird. You would think she would have heard on the news, the newspaper or even people talking around town?) They decided to take the cars and search for Catty around town; Vanessa with Michael and Vanessa’s mother in her own car. Michael and Vanessa walked the streets of Hollywood and checked the homeless shelters but to no avail. Michael had kissed Vanessa only to have her run away, trying to hide her dissolving arm.
 “…I don’t want a girlfriend who runs away from me every time I try to kiss her. All I wanted to do was hold your hand. Maybe you don’t like me the way I like you. It’s okay. We can be friends if that’s all you want.”
That evening Vanessa lets her molecules separate, floating out of her bedroom window, over the city and finally lands near the Hollywood Bowl.  There, she catches Stanton watching her from behind.  He admits that he is a follower of the Atrox and he has Catty. They make arrangements to meet two hours before dawn next Saturday where Stanton will take her to her. After Stanton vanishes, she finds Morgan on the floor almost paralyzed. ““something’s wrong,” Morgan finally said when she stopped crying, “I feel…so….empty.”” Vanessa takes Morgan to her home where she has Maggie come and help cure Morgan. Vanessa tells Maggie about the arrangement she discussed with Stanton but Maggie makes her promise not to go, for it’s a trap to turn her into a follower of the Atrox. Vanessa agreed but that Saturday, dressed in a goddess like fashion, she leaves with Stanton. Finally they arrived at a warehouse like club but just as Maggie had predicted, it was a trap. Instead of trading her powers in exchange for Catty, the four followers tried to grab Vanessa. She dodged their hands and she managed to grab Catty, making both of their molecules separate and glide toward the exit. Vanessa loses her concentration and they became dense, falling to the ground and carried back to the followers. Serena and Jimena show up and use the moon amulets to direct the strobe lights to their eyes. The four girls rush out of the building and drove to Maggie’s apartment. Instead of being angry at Vanessa for disobeying her orders, Maggie smiled, telling her it had been a test, to see if she was willing to risk everything to do what was right. She had passed. The book ends with Vanessa walking over to Michaels the next evening and explained she has something happening in her life and she might not stop acting the way she has been because that’s just the she is. Michael ends up smiling and asked her if she wants to go to Planet Bang with him Tuesday night. She answers yes quickly and without a second thought.  As she walked, the crescent moon raised. She let her molecules separate and flow over the city,
“…She could stay invisible forever. She didn’t completely understand her power, but she was beginning to understand who she was. Goddess, she thought, and her molecules formed a smile before she rode the breeze with arc-shaped leaps, like a dolphin, up and down towards home.”


Goddess of the Night by Lynn Ewing was definitely a book that held my attention. I could tell this was probably aimed to more of a younger teen group with the simplicity of the story. Ms. Ewing could have put more creativity in how the moon amulets were used and give them a more unique name other than “moon amulet”.  I was surprised at the length of the piece. I expected it to be more than 142 pages but it is difficult to tell how long any book is if it’s on an electronic device like my Nook. All in all I would like to read the other books and I would recommend this piece to anyone who like the simplistic portion and does not mind some cheesy words/”actions”. 7/10
~Fiction-Book-Reviewer

The Host

 “The Host”

By Stephenie Meyer

“The Host” opens up with the Healer operating on a young adult host, Melanie. Gently guiding the silver ribbon-like soul into the small incision he had made on the back of the neck of the woman. The healer, Fords Deep Waters, is concerned and hopes that the soul, Wanderer is strong enough to deal with the extremely vivid emotions and find what the Seekers are looking for…..the other few wild humans. As the book moves on in the first couple chapters, we find that Wanderer feels sorry for the humans and is conflicted about having to share her mind and body with a very present Melanie. The Seeker is pushing wanderer to push past the mental walls that Melanie puts up in order to protect her loved ones. Wanderer grows aggravated until one night, Melanie lets a barrier down and Wanderer has one memory in a dream that will cause her to grow silent when the Seeker comes back with more questions. Jared. Melanie’s boyfriend who she met on a night when she went scouting for food for herself and her brother. One day, Wanderer decides to tell the Seeker about Jared but as her feelings toward Jared grow more and more with each passing memory that makes it past Melanie’s wall, she stops talking. The Seeker grows suspicious that perhaps Melanie is still present within the body. Melanie persuades Wanderer to go and try to locate the hideout were her loved ones and other wild humans are, in hopes of trying to let them know that humans can still survive while the alien soul has taken over the body. Easier said than done. After car troubles, they’re forced to walk, hoping to find their destination. Sun burnt, starved, parched and half blistered; Jeb (Melanie’s Uncle) spots them. Jeb is kind to Wanderer but the groups of guys accompanying him are the opposite. Blind folding Wanderer, they take her to the long awaited safe house. Melanie tells Wanderer not to say anything about Melanie’s survival because they’ll think Wanderer is trying to save herself which will push them farther away. Melanie and Wanderer see Jared for the first time in months only to have him hit her in the face….damn. Melanie’s little brother on the other hand is more inviting and is the first to be told by Wanderer that Melanie is still alive. As the story pushes forward, Wanderer is “re-named” Wanda for short, a young man, Ian falls in love with Wanda and finally Melanie and Wanda decide to tell everyone that Melanie is still alive. Shocking everyone and especially Jared. As a result, Wanda helps them with a way to safely take the souls out with harming either one of the living beings. Groups of wild humans catch wind of this and one by one, the souls are sent back to the closest planets. Other souls who want to stay, inhabit the humans that did not survive the initial invasion. When it comes to wanderers turn, she asks the Doctor to let her soul die when she is removed from Melanie’s body. Against Ian, Jeb, the Doctor, and Jamie’s (Melanie’s little brother) protest, she is put under as the last words are traded between Melanie and Wanderer,

“Thank you, Wanda. My sister. I will never forget you.”

“Be happy Mel. Enjoy it all. Appreciate it for me.”

“I will” she promised.

“Bye,” we thought together.

The next chapter, Wanda is confused about the memories she suddenly gets. She finds herself opening her eyes. The doctor reveals to her that the host she had taken hadn’t survived the invasion of the last soul. It was just her. After some convincing and kisses from Ian, Wanderer made her decision.

“I will stay,” I agreed.

The final chapter of The Host; Wanda, Ian, Jared, Melanie and two others go on raid for supplies. They soon ran into other people who they thought were Seekers but happened to just be other humans. They too had a soul in a host body.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who’s gone native.”….

“It’s a strange world,” I murmured, more to myself than to the other native soul.

“The strangest,” he agreed.

This novel was well written but reminded me of the Twilight saga quite a few times. I loved the plot and the creative characters although I think Stephenie could have come up with more interesting names for the Healers, Seekers, and a few others. If simplicity was apart of the souls “culture” maybe she should have made that more prominent. Over all, I love how the Author portrays the inner struggle especially when Melanie was upset when Wanderer kissed Jared and STILL upset if she kissed Ian. I loved when Wanderer told her how confusing Melanie was being about the situation. I’m a sap for love stories and this book was two love stories wrapped in one. Definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes love stories, aliens and doesn’t mind a few similarities to the Twilight saga. 8/10 

Until Next Time...

~Fiction-Book-Reviewer