Apologies x

I'm SO sorry that I haven't posted recently but I've been really busy lately (I went to the USA!). I've got loads of new material so I'll be posting soon!!!

New Material!!

'Heroes of Olympus: Son of Neptune' by Rick Riordan has just arrived yesterday on my doorstep, so I will review it very soon!  I used Amazon, and the service was great. The book came nicely packaged, well protected and was easy to open. I also didn't have to pay a penny in postage, so that was brilliant! I would recommend them for book deliveries.

Just in Case You Don't Know

Just in Case was a real-eye opener for me as far as powerful and haunting books are concerned.  I had read Meg Rosoff's first book, 'How I Live Now' and really enjoyed it since it was a new type of genre that I hadn't explored before. Because it was so good I decided to ask PageWorm Book Club whether we could read Rosoff's next book, 'Just in Case'. It was accepted and became our reader.

'Just in Case', 'odded' me out in many ways. I can't say I particularly liked it either but there were some parts that just completely mystified me. One was the charcters, Peter was very well thought out but I think he lacked personality and structure as far as feelings. The character of Agnes seemed very random to me and her personally morphed as the book went on. The concept of the dog, 'Boy', confused me as I was not sure what his purpose in the book was. After critizing the characters, I felt that Justin's feelings of insecurity were described to the extent that you could feel his pain which I thought was very clever.

The choice of words for the setting of Peter's bedroom were very descriptive and made the room very real in my mind's eye. On a different note, Justin's parents didn't seem to particularly mind about his change of style etc. and turned rather a blind eye.

Overall, I don't think that this book was for me and it made me feel strange whilst reading. I liked the concept of the book but Rosoff did not deliver it in a way that suited me.

Meg Cabot's No Airhead!

I've recently, finished reading the Airhead series. I really enjoyed the series and although some of it was slightly predictable at times, the books were very heart warming. The series was a trilogy, made up of three books, 'Airhead', 'Airhead: Being Nikki' and 'Airhead: Runaway'.I read the first book, a couple years back when I got it out of the library. I was going to read the other books but it was hell to get the second book out, so I gave up.

I came to reading them two days ago when I decided that I needed a hearty romance to read and remembered 'Airhead'. The storyline is about a girl called Em Watts, who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and a super-model called Nikki Howard who happens to also be there, after a freak accident, the two girls find the lives crashed together. Em finds herself discovering things about herself including new feelings about her best friend Christopher. The series is very well written and highlights the possibilities of the future.

I hadn't read any of Meg Cabot's books before but I found her writing style easy to comprehend and empathic. The characters of Em and Lulu were developed very well, although I was slightly disappointed with the ending. In my mind, I wanted the ending to be a bomb shell, and a bomb shell it wasn't. I found the hiring of Felix and Christopher difficult to believe and the argument between Em and her mum surprised me but not pleasantly as I couldn't ignore the fact that it took place in a public place.

All in all the book was very good, despite its down sides.

Captivated by Cloaked

If you haven't read 'Cloaked', you are missing out!! I finished it this morning and have really enjoyed it! This is an absolutely brilliant book, the characters are developed extremely well and the combination of different fairy tales, instead of just one, is genius!

The story is about a boy called Johnny, who works in his family business as a shoe repairer or clobber. His dad left when he was very young and he lives with his mum. The shoe repair shop is situated in a posh hotel in Miami, Florida. One day, a princess arrives and Johnny is thrown in at deep end. She sends him off on a quest and if he completes it he will receive the princess's hand in marriage. A lot for a 16 year old to think about!

Cloaked is a incredible book although I would put a rough age guideline on 13 and above. If you decide to consider reading it you will not regret it!

Spy Dog: 'Copeing' with Super Villains

I read some of the books in the Spy Dog Series, when I was younger and I really enjoyed them. I only read the first three as the others hadn't come out yet. Spy Dog, Spy Dog 2 and Spy Dog Unleashed were brilliant books and kept me entertained, although I finished them quite quickly. Later on, I read Spy Dog Superbrain and Spy Pups Prison Break. These were both equally good, although I do prefer the Spy 'Dog' books but that may be because, those were the first I read and had more sentimental value to me.

Andrew Cope has written these books very well, although because there was a gap of about 3 years between me reading the first three and the other two, I haven't been able to fully appreciate the entire storyline.

Despite this, I still believe that these are good books and deserve the recognition, they have received.

Humphrey According to Me!

Betty G. Birney has delighted readers of all ages with her stories of Humphrey the hamster, on his various adventures. I have personally read all of her main Humphrey books apart from 'More Adventures According to Humphrey'. The best-selling series has started up again in a new mini-series called 'Humphrey's Tiny Tales'. The books include mini Humphrey adventures, with Humphrey's classroom friends such as Heidi Hopper and Miranda Golden.

I would recommend these books for anyone over 7 years of age, as the stories demand a certain amount of knowledge of reading.

Happy Humphrey-ing!!

The Mind of Creative Christie Revealed

Recently, I read a sample of Agatha Christie's autobiography. It was really nice and Agatha has a good way of writing about herself without boasting or overdoing it. This autobiography is also actually written by her instead of ghost-written as many others are these days. I hope to read the rest of the autobiography and delve into the deeps of Agatha's writing talent!

Introducing the AMAZING Alex Flinn

Over the past couple of months, I have started to read books by Alex Flinn.

The first book, I read was called 'Beastly'.

It was about boy called Kyle who has a TV presenter dad and everything going for him. He was also very handsome and this was his downfall. Kyle believed, he was God's gift to this earth and that he could treat anybody however he wanted. He then meets a girl called Kendra. Under circumstances, which I do not wish to give away, she places a curse on him, that he will be ugly until he finds true love's first kiss.

This was an amazing book, the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast retold in a modern setting. I really enjoyed it and after reading it decided, I would read another of Alex Flinn's books.

The second book I read was called 'A Kiss in Time'

The book was very well written and Alex had me gripped again! The book features, Jack, a boy on holiday in Belgium with his friend Travis. Jack and Travis decide to lose the rest of the group and explore. They come across a kingdom trapped in time with all it's occupants sleeping. When the two friends enter the castle, the fun starts and Jack ends up waking a princess.

The way the story is written is really believable (Alex could convince me that fairy tales exist any day) and the characters are extremely well thought out and you could feel a serious empathy for them.

Alex's new book 'Cloaked' came out in February. I haven't read it yet but I do intend to in the future!

A Picture of Worm!

A Simples Life

Recently, I have read A Simples Life which is by my little friend Aleksandr Orlov, the meerkat. It's a sweet little autobiography, with lots of pictures and would probably be quite good as a bedtime story for children. Although, I read it on the Kindle so the pictures were all in black and white. I didn't really mind though.

Overall, if I were to recommend this to anyone, I would recommend it to parents and those who, like me, like a good story with photos about a well known personality.

Aleksandr kept me laughing through out!

Murder, She Wrote & Your Local Library

Being an avid Jessica Fletcher fan, I was delighted to find out that more books were being released! I have loved everything Jessica Fletcher from on TV to her books ever since I was small. I used to rent books from my local library in Wellington and order them online on LibrariesWest. Kids under 16 can order books online for free!

To sign up to your local library click here

Son of Neptune

A release date for The Son of Neptune, by Rick Riordan, has been released and is scheduled for 4th October 2011.

I have personally read the first book 'The Lost Hero' and I couldn't put it down, I read it for 4hrs straight on the first night and again the second. If you liked the 'Percy Jackson' series, you will love this but you don't have to have read the Percy Jackson books to pick it up. I haven't read them and I still enjoyed the book all the same.

I would recommend the book for anyone who likes any type of mythology or classical civilisation.