Want to read the Odd Thomas Books? Get them at Amazon.com!

This is the first book in the series...just click on the link to purchase!  What a great new feature for my blog!  Each time I post from now on, I will follow with another post with a link to purchase the book.  Happy reading!

Karen

Witch & Wizard, James Patterson (and Gabrielle Charbonnet)

This was an easy, fun read.  I found it in Walmart's book section and even though I told myself I would not purchase anymore books until I got rid of some, I allowed myself to purchase this book and the new Charlaine Harris (HBO's TrueBlood series) book because it was my birthday week (any excuse I can find..lol).  I had heard about this book but couldn't remember what I had heard nor where I had heard it...and as you can see from my other book interests...well witches and wizards (and vampires) are my thing.  So I picked it up.  I read this book in about four or five days...VERY easy book to read.  This book is about a brother and sister who find out they are a wizard and a witch.  How they find out is very quick...and how they learn is kind of odd...things suddenly start happening to them. 

This book sort of starts off in the middle of HUGE changes to the world, and it left me with a lot of questions.  Why didn't the kids know they were in trouble...the parents would have known what was happening in the world of government...why weren't they preparing their kids before the night on which our story starts?  And some of it...well, the kids should have been aware of such huge changes to law and government.  Okay as a teenager I wasn't aware of much political, but there were huge things that happened while I was a teen.  Reagan being shot, Space Shuttle Challenger exploding during launch, Satan taking over as head of the country...these are things I was or would have been aware of in my teen years.  So I'm confused as to why these kids were so in the dark about what was happening.

Also, I think more history would have helped.  Whit had a relationship with a girl...I would have liked to have known more about this relationship so I could have felt more emotion for him as he sort of loses the ability to have this relationship with this girl.  I don't want to give away too much...but I would have liked to have felt sad about that but I wasn't involved enough in their past to feel for them.

Because I bought this in Walmart, there isn't much of a separation between teen/tween books and adult books, and I initially thought this book was geared towards adults...the author being Patterson, the cover, etc.  After reading a chapter or two, I think it is geared more toward early teens.  I don't have an issue with that of course being an avid Harry Potter and Twilight fan...but even those read a bit more maturely than this book.  I think this one was a bit younger.  As I am currently reading Winn Dixie and will be reviewing that book soon, I am not saying I wouldn't have read it had I known it was geared for teens.  There is at least one more book, and possibly more, I haven't looked into this as of yet so I believe I'm caught in yet another series (eeeeeeeeeek not another series!!!!!), and yes, I will read the next one.   I am intrigued enough to want to find out what happens to our young hero and heroine, Whit and Wisty.

So it was missing some information and some history about relationships and family.  I know sometimes reading a teen book from an adult view...well the teens might not feel like those things are missing at all so I don't want to take too much away from the book rating for that.  I tend to ask questions and don't like it when there isn't enough explanation.  I've been told before to use my imagination, and I do to a certain extent...but I don't want to write the story...know what I'm saying?

I did like that the point of view varied.  One chapter would be from Whit's point of view and the next might be from Whit again or it might be from Wisty's point of view.  That was interesting as there was some exciting scenes that were fun to see from both sides...the person seeing and the person experiencing the "event."  Again, don't want to give too much away but just remember FIRE if you do read the book.

Okay...so rating...this is a hard one.

 I think your tween/teen would like it if they like the idea of suddenly finding out he or she is a witch or wizard...and no, this isn't like Harry Potter where these are unloved orphan children.  They have parents and a loving home...but they find out as they are getting into a messy situation...more like take on the world, save the world, save your parents type of heroes.  Wait, I have an idea...for a teen, I would rate this book 4 stars.  I definitely think the teens would like it...but I think even the teens would have some questions (please let me know if anyone out there has a teen that reads this and has an opinion...would LOVE to hear it).

Adult rating...2.5 stars.  Wow, that hurts to say that.  I hate not LOVING a book but I think more information would have made me absolutely LOVE it.  I'm hoping the next one gets better now that I know more. 

I like the points of view changes, I like the magic, I like the villains...The One who is The One seems interesting and I hope we get to know him a bit better in the next book (more missing info).  So there are lots of positives that can be used to build upon this tale.  OHHH and I almost forgot to mention.  James Patterson did not write this alone.  He wrote it with Gabrielle Charbonnet...and the next one looks like he writes with a different co-author so that could make a huge difference!!! We shall see!

Happy Reading!

Brother Odd, Koontz

Very behind in my posts...sorry about that folks! I will have another one or two posts for you later this week as I'm trying to catch up. Yes, call me a slacker, go ahead! So many books, so little time, what can I say? I prefer reading the books to blogging about them. :)




I won't keep you long on this one. As you know I'm reading this series. But will be branching out from Koontz a bit so as to not bore you. I have a Patterson review coming up this week.

Brother Odd is your typical loveable character. With this book comes some really creepy new monsters that will make you think twice about walking in a snowstorm. Evil can envelope anyplace...even a Monastary and you cannot run from yourself and destiny. That's what I took away from this one. One loveable character leaves us in this book...but another one joins our hero...so I think it will be okay. Not my favorite Odd Thomas book but it was fun and there was a surprise or two in between those covers.

I give this one 3.5 stars as I was able to put it down...I wasn't able to put the others down...so this one was a different sort of a read.

One Door Away from Heaven, Koontz

This book is strange to say the least. I liked it...I won't say that I didn't like it...but it wasn't my favorite Koontz book by any means. There are numerous characters and chapter by chapter you are hearing about each of these different characters and eventually they all come together as you know they will as all of them become mobile. The problem is...there is at least one or two characters you forget about because you go 3/4 through the book without hearing about them again. By the time you get back to them...you are like 'oh yeah' that was from this book...hmmmmm. I also remembered certain parts like I had read this book before...so I think I did read it before but didn't remember how it ended or the details...so it wasn't memorable to me at all.

I'll give it three stars because you do want to know what happens in the end...so you keep reading but there are some unanswered questions and it does leave a bit to be desired in the end.

To Suzy Witten

Hi, Suzy,

I am going to be picking up your book this weekend...I hope it's at Barnes & Noble...if not, I'll try Amazon.com.

Thank you for letting me know about it. I am very interested in hearing your side of the tale...graphic is good in my opinion. The Titanic would not have been as effective of a movie if they didn't cause us to realize what those people who went down with the Ship went through. I think we need to 'feel' history in order to really appreciate it. Thank you so much for reading my blog and I'll post about your book as soon as I finish it!

Thank you!

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

The Heretic's Daughter

by Kathleen Kent

When I heard about this book, I was immediately intrigued. I hail from Danvers, Massachusetts which is the original Old Salem Village. I grew up in the area and my mother dragged me around to the Salem Witch Museums and all the shops with their precious polished stones and weird stories of witches and mayhem caused in the 1600's. Of course at the time I had no idea what any of it really meant. It was just the prejudice of the time. Prejudice makes its sickening way into all walks of life somehow, someway. People like to jump on bandwagons as long as the bandwagon directs attention elsewhere. It's better to point fingers than to be pointed at. Martha Carrier begged to differ who is the Mother of our heroine. Perhaps she is the actual heroine of the story though it's not told from her viewpoint. One brave soul in a village of scared townsfolk.

Okay but then I read the back of the book and saw the author lives in Texas. Come on. How can someone from Texas write a story about our heritage? Our ancestors, our history? Well as it turns out, Martha Carrier was actually her ancestor and though she doesn't have the benefit of living where it all took place, she did grow up hearing the stories passed down through generations. That made it okay to read this New England historical based novel by a Texan woman. And I'm glad I gave this small allowance to Kathleen Kent because it is a beautifully written fact based novel. The story is made up...the level of detail makes you feel like it's all truth though and was journaled by Martha Carrier's daughter. This book is allowed a full New Englander approval though because it brought forth those feelings I get whenever I hear the stories of the Witch hunt. Anger at the politicians of the time, anger at the churches, anger at those young girls who took life for granted and didn't see what their crimes were doing to families...even to this day their cries echo through the generations. We all know the guilt of the girls who pointed fingers at others to save themselves. We know the bravery of those that hung so as to not shame themselves or their families by stating they had signed their name in the devil's book. Those girls that did the inital finger pointing and writhing on the ground...those are the girls that have their names in that there devil's book to this day.

Usually I find quotes to mention during my summation but this whole book is worth quoting. We should all live firsthand through this story to know the horrors of prejudice, of rumors, of lies and gossip. It is very sad...for we all know the ending. But we should know their stories as well.

The man who died defending his wife's honor..."more weight." I cringe to think that my English ancestors came over here and acted like this...but we are human...if they didn't screw up that way, they would have screwed up in another way...right? So read the story...it's emotional, though provoking...anger provoking...a great story for a book club. Or a blog...anywhere that you can then download the emotions somewhere else. Thank you, Kathleen for a newer version of the old tales.

A definite read.

The Critical Librarian.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

Shutter Island

by

Dennis Lehane

I'm confused. Sort of. I think I sort of get it though...maybe. Those were my thoughts as I shut the book. I still feel like I have the gist of what happened...but at the same time, there's this little screw turning in my brain amidst these thoughts that don't allow me to grasp the explanation of the ending...so yes, I will be googling it after I finish. I did not want to google it before writing my summation because I wanted to be in the boat (haha, Island...boat, ferry...whateva) with the current readers. I wanted to write as one who has only read the book, not as one who has researched and googled and asked about it. I just shut the book and wanted to write while it was still raw. One direction I do have is to reread the Prologue at the beginning. You will understand a little better. Well maybe not.

I don't think there were any quotes listed in the book that I care to list. It is a definite mind boggling read. Once you get to about the 60th page or thereabouts you are hooked. So bear with the beginning. At the end...you will wish for just one more chapter...but Dennis leaves us there...

Overall, for writing...suspense....storyline, this book receives a good solid 4 stars. I think it starts slowly which makes it hard to get into. I forced myself because I wanted to read before seeing the film. I wonder if the film will cause us to understand further...how well will it follow the storyline? I'm not sure. Mystic River (a book I have not read written by Dennis as well) was based on a true story so I'm not sure the film would have strayed much from the book. Perhaps now that I've been exposed to Dennis' mind, I will have to read some of his other novels.

Great job, Dennis. I loved the read, it was a great ride!

The Critical Librarian