Radiance

The Bookworm says...maybe. Radiance by Alyson Noël was an okay book. It is the first book in the spinoff series from "Immortal Series" also by Alyson Noël-Evermore is number one in "The Immortals". Riley and Buttercup area cross the bridge, and are starting school There. Riley gets her assignment as Soul Catcher. Her job will be to travel back to earth, and encourage lost souls, like ghosts, to cross the bridge. Her first soul she is assigned is Radiant Boy. There have been many other Soul Catchers that had failed with Radiant Boy. Will Riley succeed. She also must go along with her guide, Bodhi, to watch his mission. Once they both are complete, she is promised a trip to London, and a flying lesson. Will she make it to her lesson? Radiance is the first of a series, and you MUST read the "Immortal" series first. This book was very interesting, and exciting to read. I do not think I will finish the series, because it didn't quite hook me.

Looking For Alaska

The Bookworm says...YES. Looking For Alaska by John Green was fantastic. Just hearing John Greens name should make you go out and buy it. Miles is a nerd, loser, outcast, etc. He decides to restart his life at a boarding high school called Culver Creek. He gets there and meets his roommate Chip, aka The Colonel. The Colonel introduces Miles (who was immediately nicknamed Pudge) to Alaska Young and Takumi Hikohito. They all become best friends. They pull many excellent pranks on The Weekday Warriors- the snobby rich kids that go home on the weekend- and on The Eagle(the principal). After a long night of truth or dare, and hopeless drunk ness, Alaska gets a call. During it she starts to cry and scream. She runs to her car, and has Pudge and The Colonel make a distraction. She leaves and.... Well I'm not going to give away the surprise. This book was by all means wonderful, and seeing as you are still reading this, there is no way you could be buying the book. So stop reading this and go!!

Beautiful Creatures

TheBookworm says...Yes. Beautiful Creatures by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia wasa great book! If I had to put an age recommendation on this book, I would say12+. In the small town of Gatlin, nothing ever changed. No way, no how. But oneday it does. A strangely beautiful girl named Lena Duchannes moves in with thetown shut-in Macon Ravenwood. Strange things start happening with this girl...But right when Ethan Wate sees her, he knows she is the girl from his dream. Hehas been having dreams of a girl who is always just out of reach, and she alwaysfalls through his grip. He wakes up, covered in dirt, as if he were actuallycrawling around the mud, holding on to her. One morning after one of theseepisodes, he finds a new song on his MP3 player. It is titled "SixteenMoons" it goes:

SixteenMoons,

Sixteenyears,

Sixteentimes you dreamed my tears,

Fallingfalling through the years. 

 

Afterthis girl cause a few strange occurrences, Ethan learns she is a Caster, almostlike a witch. He also discovers that on her sixteenth birthday, at midnight,she will be claimed, either dark or light. He is wondering what exactly"dark" is when he encounters Lena's cousin Ridley. She tricks himinto escorting her for dinner at The Ravenwood place. He later learns she is a siren.Ridley creates chaos, and nearly kills Ethan. She shows up again at their schooldance, Accidentally causing Lena to destroy the dance. They school committeehas a trial to get Lena out of their school, but when her uncle Macon starts spilling the school boards dirty little secrets. they agree to let Lena stay. On the night of Lena's sixteenth birthday, shortly before midnight, Ridley reappears, and gets the "popular" girls to throw Lena a surprise party. Lena begs to go, and Macon relents. Is it a trap? Will she still be out when she gets Claimed? Does she have to be Claimed tonight? If you read this book, all of these questions answers will become clear. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes sitting on the edge of their seat, and biting their nails over suspense.

The Fault In Our Stars.

The Bookworm says... ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY 100% YES! Is is my favorite book. Simple as that. The Fault In Our Stars (TFIOS) by John Green was amazing. Heartwarming. Sad. Touching. Call it what you want, it was fabulous. Hazel Grace was diagnosed with stage IV thyroid cancer at age thirteen. She has become depressed, which is a side effect of cancer, which is a side effect of dying. So she joins a support group in the Literal Heart Of Jesus at her local church. One day, her soon to be blind friend Isaac brings his friend Augustus. Augustus has been NEC (no evidence of cancer) for 15 months. He and Hazel Grace are immediately attracted to each other. He says she looks like Natalie Portman in "V for Vendetta". She tells him she has never seen it, and they go to his house to watch it. After the movie, they trade favorite books. Hazels was "An Imperial Affliction" by Peter Van Houten. Augustus' is "The Prince of Dawn". August calls her that night to say he was upset with the ending, as it ends in the middle of a sentence. The next day, they write Peter Van Houten an email. He replies, saying that if they ever find themselves in Amsterdam, pay him a visit. However, you never do know when your Last Good Day will be.This book had me in tears, feeling like these people were my best friends, and I was living this with them. Everyone will love this book. John Green, I applaud you. You did an amazing job

The Lucky One

The Bookworm says... YES!! The Lucky One by Nicolas Sparks was an absolutely stunning book. It was one of those books where you just stop for a minute and... cry. Logan Thibault lived in Colorado. His family wasn't wealthy enough to send him to college, so he enlisted in the marines. He went to Iraq three times. He tried his hand at poker while over-seas, and lost an equivalent to all the money he had made so far in the army. One night, walking back to his tent after a bad loss, he spotted the glossy edge of a photograph peeking out through the dirt. He posted it on a message board, and no one claimed it, so he took it back. His best friend Victor convinced him that it was his good luck charm, and not to let go of it. After surviving many close calls, Logan and Victor decided their time in the army was done. Victor went back to California, and Logan to Colorado. A few months later, they met up for a fishing trip on a small lake. Victor convinced Logan that he owed something to the woman in the picture.  Shortly after, A speedboat crashed into their rowboat, and Victor was dead instantly. Logan walked away unscathed. So Logan set out to find her. He noted the fair in the back of the picture, the boy with the Hampton, NC t-shirt, and the three evergreen trees. Also, the note on the back that said "Keep safe!E". After narrowing down many google searches, he chose Hampton, in Hampton County, North Carolina. He set out the next morning on foot. After about a month, he and his German Shepard Zeus, arrived in Hampton. He flashed the photo around, and managed to find her quickly enough. Her name was Elizabeth. He applied for a job at the kennel she ran and got it. Gradually, they became closer, and closer. He also became close with her son Ben, and came to be aware of her ex husband Keith Clayton. He did not however, tell her about the photograph. He learned that her brother Drake was a marine, and it was his photo that he found. After Keith did some snooping through Thibault's home, he found out about the photo. He told Elizabeth, and she ordered Logan out. Later, after they made up (Or she forgave him for the stalker like behavior) Logan was heading back to the kennel. There was a large rainstorm going on, and the creek in the backyard was swelling, the current rapid. Ben had overheard Elizabeth and Keith fighting, and ran out to his "hideaway" or the tree house his grandfather built him. It was gradually decomposing, and the storm was not helping. Zeus, Logan, Beth, and Keith rushed out. But it was too late. Ben was hanging on to the rope of the bridge, holding for dear life. All but Beth went in after him, as she had injured her ankle. In the end, only three of the four came out alive. The Lucky One was a heartwarming story, and was amazing. I would recommend this book for anyone with time to kill :)

(Note: The Lucky One was made into a movie, starring Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling rated PG-13. I have never seen it, but heard great things!)

Goddess Bootcamp

The Bookworm Says....YES!!!!! Goddess Bootcamp by Tera Lynn Childs was a great book. It is a sequel to Oh My Gods, and they were both excellent. Phoebe Castro is enjoying her summer, before she has to enter level 12. You see, Phoebe lives on a small Greek island of Serfopoula. Se is also the goddess Nikes great grand-daughter. All of the people on the island are part god, maybe not as closely related as Phoebe, but still related. She is beginning training in the morning with her dreamy boyfriend Griffin for the Pythian Games trials. The Pythian Games are like the Olympics, and she has to try out for the team. Phoebe also has troubles controlling her powers. Past incidents include: thinking about the ocean, and making it so her serious stepdad Damian was no longer in his office in a suit, but outside her door in a bathing suit. Damian gets a call from the gods saying she must take a test, and pass it or else... So he makes the only reasonable decision. Phoebe should be sent to Goddess Boot Camp. On the first day of camp, she is horrified when she steps inside. The room is full of 10 year olds. (Phoebe is 17) She thinks it can't get any worse, but then the counselors walk in. Adara Spencer, Griffins ex, and her enemy. Stella Petrolas, her evil stepsister. Then, a ragged, rebel boy named Xander. She struggles through camp, and suspects Griffin of cheating on her with Adara. One day, she is at home with Stella, and the doorbell rings. There is a note to Phoebe with a sequence that her friend identified as a call number for the library. She went to the library, and the book is in the secret collections. This book is about her dads trial at Mt. Olympus that got him killed. The librarian agrees to show her, but the book is missing. Later, Phoebe receives an email about the book, but when she goes to print it, it is blank. She goes to the schools computer geek, and asks him to find the sender. He is unable to, so she does what the email says. "Go to the courtyard at 12:00pm". She goes, and it is Damian. He gets her the book, but she chooses not to read it, afraid of what it says. A few days later at the Pythian Games, something strange happens. She is in third place, and confident because the top 3 get on the team. All of the sudden, a brunette girl shows up in front of her. No matter how hard she tries, she can't catch the lead. When her feet hit the finish line, she is heavily embraced. The brunette was an apparition. That was her test. She passed. And she made the Pythian Games team. This was a great day. I would recommend this book to almost anybody, but especially if you are interested in Greek history. But- I would advise reading Oh My Gods first.

The Graveyard Book

The Bookworm says......Maybe. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman was an okay book. I was reading it for a school assignment, and I'm not sure I would have just picked it up and read it. In The Graveyard Book, a little boy is sleeping, and a man called Jack went into his home and murdered his family. The little boy escaped, and crawled to the graveyard. Next, a ghost couple called The Owens, found him, and decided to protect him. They gave him the gift of the graveyard, and named him Nobody Owens, Bod for short. The reader realizes that this boy is the main character. One day a little girl named Scarlett is visiting the graveyard with her parents. She and Bod run off, and go down into a crypt. While down there, they are visited by The Indigo Man and The Sleer. They escape, but it was close. The next day, Bods guardian Silas leaves, and puts Bod in the care of Miss Lupescu. One night during Miss Lupescu’s stay, some ghouls snatched Bod up and took him to Ghulheim, the ghoul city. Miss Lupescu in the form of a grey dog saves him. When they got home, Bod went back down to visit The Sleer. He steals its brooch, and tries to sell it to an antique shop with the hopes of buying a ghost named Liza a headstone. The worker at the antique shop locks Bod in a back room. The worker calls The Man Jack that murdered Bods family but with the help of Liza the witch ghost, Bod escapes.

Bod gets home to the graveyard, everyone is acting strange. Not talking, just working and cleaning. Whenever he asks them a question or says hello, they sing a song that ends in “Lets all dance the Macabray”. Later on that night, they do just that. They had a great time, and Bod met some living children. This made him decide that he wanted to go to a real school, instead of being taught by Silas. So he does, and immediately sees bullying at its finest. He tries to stop it, and they target him. He outsmarts the bullies, and they vow not to bully again. Bod decides he has run his course at real school, after a run-in with the police. After a few years, there is exciting news. Scarlett has moved back from Scotland! She and Bod are at a local historian, Mr. Frost’s house having tea, and Bod goes to see a letter concerning his parent’s murder. Mr. Frost pulls out a knife, and tries to kill Bod. Mr. Frost is The Man Jack. He and his crew chase Bod and Scarlett back to the graveyard. This is the climax of the book. Scarlett hides with The Sleer, and Bod outsmarts The Man Jacks crew. They lure The Man Jack into the crypt, and resolve the conflict by tricking him into staying with The Sleer forever. All in all, it was a pretty good book. But,it was a little bit frightening, so I wouldn't recommend it for younger children.