Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

So. It's been a week now since I read Mockingjay. Why did I not immediately put up a review? Well, because, I was conflicted and I was thinking about it. And I needed to talk about it with people first. Then think some more. Now a week has gone by and I have not come to conclusion and I'm beginning to think it might be something I'll have to revisit later and THEN I'll come to a conclusion. But that doesn't help you. So here it goes.

Mockingjay, the third and final installment of the kickass Hunger Games series (if you haven't read any of them OMG what have you been DOING with your life?) begins with Katniss in the once thought to no longer exist District 13. District 13 lives a fairly Spartan lifestyle, in both the frugal and the military sense. District 13 is heading the rebellion against the Capital, which by now almost all the districts have joined in. Katniss has not. She drifts around, unfocused, unwilling to help, worrying about what the Capital is doing to Peeta. The leaders of District 13 want her to become the mascot of the rebellion, the Mockingjay. Katniss finally agrees when she realizes that she can agree to be their mascot in exchange for things that she wants, such as Peeta's pardon if the rebellion wins.

A major issue to this plan is that Katniss sucks at being a mascot, so she's sent out into the actual war, with her camera crew following her in the hopes of getting good footage. Katniss as the Mockingjay does inspire people, and the tide turns against the capital. The rebellion is even able to take over the Capital's airwaves and begins broadcasting promos with Katniss on TV. Then Katniss sees Peeta on TV, and he's broken and beaten and sickly, and something else seems strange as well. Katniss completely falls apart, and a rescue mission is sent in. Peeta is saved, along with some of the other victors from the last Hunger Games, but Peeta is very, very changed. Now all Katniss can think about is killing President Snow.

If you haven't read the book. Don't do the jump.

Seattle and Portland

Hello all, I apologize for my absence. I promise that I was off doing blog related activities though. I was off to the other side of the country visiting friends and family. While I did do some non-blog related things like going to a wedding, shopping at farmer's markets, and eating the best sushi of my life; I also read quite a bit and visited some very cool places.

Dark Song by Gail Giles

Guess what? I was wrong! This wasn't a supernatural romance! They sure had me fooled. I was taken in by the cover design and the tag line "She fell prey to the predator's heart." Which, really, could mean anything, but I was in such a supernatural place I automatically assumed it was, like, a werewolf or something. But no! It was just a regular old human predator!

Ames loves her life. She gets along great with her family, goes to a fancy private school, her family's well-off and gives her whatever she wants. She's never had a boyfriend, but she's not that interested right now. Things are pretty good. That all changes when Ames' father loses his job. And it wasn't just that he got laid off. He did something bad. Now family secrets are being revealed and Ames is starting to see her family isn't so perfect after all. But then neither is she.

Ames and her family are forced to leave their wealthy Colorado neighborhood and go all the way to Texas. There Ames meets Marc. Marc is a lot older than Ames, but he loves her. He wants to protect her and would never betray her. But Marc is not what he seems.

It's here!

Mockingjay, the third and final book in "The Hunger Games" series has arrived! I already have my copy and am just waiting until I can go home so I can start reading. It's going to be one of those "I'm sorry, I'm not accepting calls or speaking to anyone. I'm reading." times. Yay! So excited!

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Bethany is an angel who has been sent to Earth, along with her brother, Gabriel, and sister, Ivy, to fight the Dark Forces loose in the world. They have been assigned to the small town of Venus Cove, and in human form they begin their work, helping people to come together for good, and keeping a lookout for the Dark Forces at work. Bethany enrolls in high school and isn't there long before she finds Xavier and the two fall in love. Angels are supposed to care for humans, but not form Earthly attachments as Bethany has done. She and Xavier must fight the fact that at any time Bethany could be called back to heaven, as well as the Dark Forces emerging in an unlikely place.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

I have been listening to Prep on audio book for a few weeks now, I had gotten it when I had to drive down to a family reunion, but the round trip wasn't long enough to finish it (it was an almost 18 hour recording) so it took me a while to get through it. I had some very strong reactions to it, but first, the summary.

Lee Fiora leaves her small town in Indiana for boarding school in New England at the prestigious Ault School. The book follows all four years of Lee's time at Ault, her struggles to feel a part of the school, attempts to be one of them, the conflicts with her family. It's a little hard to summarize, actually, as there wasn't one main plot. It was just her four years at the school and the things that happened to her.

Dead Man's Ransom by Ellis Peters

Do ever just want to read something you know is going to be good? That might mean rereading something that you loved, or reading something by an author you know is consistently good. Maybe you've read a few not that great books in a row and need a break, or just want to go with the familiar. I had one of those moments when I looked at what my next ARC was (I read them in order of the month they come out so I can stay on top of things), and saw the next two looked to be supernatural romances. I needed a break. There was only one thing to do: Brother Cadfael.

The House of Dead Maids by Clare B. Dunkle

Tabby is taken from Ma Hutton's knitting school to serve as a maid at Seldom House, so she thinks. Upon her arrival, she finds there is little for her to do in the big, empty house. She has actually been chosen as a companion to a half wild child with no name. Things are very strange at Seldom House, and become even stranger as Tabby is haunted by the ghost of the maids before her. What happened to them? Is the same fate in store for Tabby?

The Eden Hunter by Skip Horack

Kau is a pygmy tribesmen who has been kidnapped from his home in Africa and sold into slavery, shortly before the war of 1812. After five years as a slave in Mississippi, Kau decides to make the run to freedom, aiming for Florida, still technically under Spanish rule. All Kau wants is to find a forest that reminds him of home, where he can live quietly the rest of his life. Along the way he runs into all kinds of people; Indians, free slaves, Black British soldiers. Although no one owns Kau any longer, no matter who he runs into, he always seems to be a slave in some way.

The Power of Half by Kevin Salwen and Hannah Salwen

Hannah was 14 when, riding in the car with her father, she saw a homeless man on one side of the road and a man in a Mercedes next to them. Struck by this discrepancy, Hannah begins a conversation with her family about her desire to do something, something that would really make a difference. As a family, the Salwens decide to sell their large house, and donate half the money to charity, using the other half to purchase a new place to live. This begins their journey to stop taking and start giving which takes them all the way to Ghana.

The Eternal Ones by Kristen Miller

With a title like the eternal ones, I was expecting another vampire novel and wasn't all that excited about reading it. Then I realized it was by Kirsten Miller, the Kristen Miller, as in the Kristen Miller who wrote the Kiki Strike books, which I loved. Speaking of which, Kristen Miller, when is the next Kiki Strike book coming out? It's been forever since The Empress's Tomb.

So the eternal ones. Haven has been having visions of another life since she was a little girl. She remembers places she's never been and people she's never met and can't shake an unnaturally strong desire to find someone named Ethan who she's sure is in New York. Getting to New York isn't so easy. Haven is now 17 and her small town in Tennessee is convinced she's possessed by a demon. Haven sees a boy on TV and she knows he's Ethan. Haven runs away to New York to find him, and discovers she's remembering a past life, and Iain (the guys she saw on TV) was Ethan, her true love. Maybe. In Haven's past life, both she and Ethan died in a fire and Haven can't remember who set it. Was it Ethan himself? Is Haven destined to live out life after life betrayed by the one she loves?

Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus, inspired by A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard

Christopher Robin has returned to the Hundred Acre Wood! Back from boarding school for the summer, Christopher Robin and all his old friends, plus a new one, enjoy many adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood.

I hadn't read this when it first came out, despite my love for the original Winnie-the-Pooh, because I was skeptical. It's really hard to write a sequel to book that someone else wrote, especially when trying to write in the original person's style, and especially if that original person had a very distinct style and voice in their writing, like Winnie-the-Pooh (or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). So although we had it in my library, I never got around to reading it.

Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

Avery Hood can't remember how her parents died. All she can remember is silver moving at inhuman speed, and then they were dead. Now Avery is living in town with her grandmother who she hasn't spoken to in years. Other families who lived in the woods like Avery's family did are being killed as well. And there's this new boy at school, who Avery is inexplicably drawn to. Is he her true love, or is he responsible for the murders?

The Thin Executioner by Darren Shan

Jebel Rum is the runt of his family, and has been publicly shamed by his father, the much honored executioner of Wadi. Jebel wants to compete in the competition to become the next executioner, but knows he has no chance of winning. Jebel decides to set out on a quest to ask the high god Sabbah Eid for invincibility. The quest will be long and hard and take many months. Not only that, but Jebel must find a slave that will go with him, and then allow himself to be sacrificed to the high god.

Jebel finds Tel Hesani, who is willing to sacrifice his own life in return for his family's freedom, and the two set off. Things do not go as planned.

No and Me by Dephine de Vigan

No and Me isn't actually a new book, but it's new in America. It was written in 2005, but it has now been translated from the French by George Miller and will be available this month.

Lou is only 13, but already she's in high school. Lou feels apart from almost everyone else in her class because she so young, and because she's always thinking. Her thoughts are never quiet. For a class presentation, Lou decides to look at the topic of homelessness. She will follow the journey of a homeless girl, and how she ended up on the street.