ReadingGrrls Paper Safari

Title: Sabotage by Margaret Peterson Haddix Publisher:  Simon & Schuster 360 pages Genre: YA (historical fiction/adoption/time travel) Synopsis: After helping Chip and Alex survive fifteenth-century London, Jonah and Katherine are summoned to help another missing child, Andrea, face her fate in history. Andrea is really Virginia Dare, from the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Jonah and Katherine are confident in their ability to help Andrea fix history, but when their journey goes dangerously awry, they realize they may be in over their heads: They seem to have landed in the wrong time period. They can’t reach JB for help. Andrea is behaving oddly. And even worse, it appears that someone has deliberately sabotaged their mission…. Review: Another fabulous history lesson.This time Jonah and Katherine are sent back in time with another missing child from history, Andrea (AKA Virginia Dare).  They are sent back to Roanoke Island  where an entire colony of settlers disappeared without

Title: Sent by Margaret Peterson Haddix Publisher: Simon & Schuster 308 pages Genre: Young Adult (Sci Fi / Adoption) Synopsis: Jonah and Chip have just discovered the shocking truth of their pasts: They're famous missing children from history.  Before they can fully comprehend what that means, Jonah and Katherine are zapped back in time along with Chip and another boy, Alex. When they land in the fifteenth century, they learn that Chip is really Edward V, king of England, and Alex is his younger brother Richard, Duke of York. But the thrill of being the king wears off quickly - its no fun being royalty when someone is trying to kill you...especially when that someone is your uncle, the infamous Richard of Gloucester! JB promises that if the kids can set history straight and fix time, he will bring them back to the present day. But how can they possibly return home safely when history claims that Chip and Alex were murdered? Review: The second Book in the Missing Ser

Title: In on it: What adoptive parents would like you to know about adoption by Elizabeth O'Toole Publisher: Fig Press 155 Pages Genre: Adoption Synopsis: This is the adoption book for grandparents and friends, neighbors and colleagues, and aunts and uncles of adoptive families.  Whether you're excited or worried, committed or a bit reluctant, experienced or unfamiliar with adoption, In On It is an informative, friendly and very useful adoption guide for anyone touched by adoption. Review: I tend to just keep all my reviews of adoption books on my work blog, (I work for an adoption agency) particularly if they are non-fiction, but this year I joined an adoption reading challenge so I'm going to be posting some of my reviews here as well. In On It is a great book for families of adoption. This book is smart, thoughtful, and full of humor. Elisabeth O'Toole guides readers through adoption--and all the unique stuff that accompanies parenting in a family with a

Title: Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix Publisher: Simon & Schuster 314 pages Genre: Young Adult ( science fiction/adoption) Synopsis: When Jonah and his best friend, Chip start receiving threatening notes in the mail, they are plunged headfirst into a mystery.  With the help of Jonah's sister, Katherine, they discover that the notes may be connected to the shady circumstances surrounding Jonah and Chip's adoptions.  When they begin to investigate, they find a vast conspiracy that reaches from the far past to the distant future - one that will take them hurtling through time. They don't know who to trust, or which shadowy faction to believe. Can Jonah and Chip discover the secrets of their pasts before the conspiracy catches up to them? Review:  I was really impressed with the way Haddix handled adoption and her use of proper adoption language. Jonah has known he was adopted his whole life, but Chip doesn't discover his adoption until he receives the sim

  Title: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton Publisher: Harper Collins 464 Pages Genre: Young Adult/ supernatural I received an advanced electronic copy of this book through netgalley.com.  It is due to be published February 15, 2011. Synopsis : First there are nightmares. Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her. Then come the memories. When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream. Now she must hunt. Ellie has power that no one can

Apparently the Conan Doyle Estate has hired Anthony Horowitz of the Alex Rider Series to write a new Sherlock Holmes novel.  I'm a little torn on how I feel about this.  On the one hand it will be interesting if he can keep to the spirit of the series and it would be nice to revive Holmes again.  On the other hand why can't we just be satisfied with what was written?  There are so many authors these days who have passed away and yet they still have books being published by ghost writers or their names are now being used as a title...sort of like Robert Ludlum whose latest Bourne books were written by another author (and honestly aren't that good). I completely understand wishing that our favorite authors hadn't gone to the big writers workshop in the sky and I will miss their writing but to give the series to someone else just doesn't seem right to me somehow.  No offense to Anthony Horowitz I'm sure his Holmes novel will be interesting but it can't be t

Title: Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo Publisher: St. Martins Press 336 pages Genre: mystery/thriller Synopsis: Sixteen years ago, a series of brutal murders shattered a peaceful farming community.  A young Amish girl named Kate Burkholder survived the terror of the Slaughterhouse killer....but fled to the safety of the big city. Years later, Kate returns to Painters Mill, Ohio as Chief of Police. She's come to terms with her past - until the first body is discovered in a snowy field. Kate vows to stop the killer before he strikes again. But will she betray both her family and her Amish past - and expose the dark secret that could destroy her? Review:  Kate Burkholder is the Chief of Police of Painters Mill, but she also grew up there on one of the Amish farms.  After surviving a brutal rape at 14 Kate turns her back on her church and decides to go live with the "English" (non-Amish).  After becoming a cop in Columbus Kate finds herself back in Painters

Title: I remember Nothing and other reflections by Nora Ephron Publisher: Knopf 135 pages Genre: Synopsis: These essays cover the gamut of later-life observations (she is 69), from the dourly hilarious title essay about losing her memory, which asserts that her ubiquitous senior moment has now become the requisite Google moment, to several flimsy lists, such as "Twenty-five Things People Have a Shocking Capacity to Be Surprised by Over and Over Again," e.g., "Movies have no political effect whatsoever." Shorts such as the several "I Just Want to Say" pieces feature Ephron's trademark prickly contrariness and are stylistically digestible for the tabloids. Other essays delve into memories of fascinating people she knew, such as the Lillian Hellman of Pentimento, whom she adored until the older woman's egomania rubbed her the wrong way. Review: This book was the January pick for my book club.  I guess after the holidays everyone wanted a li

Title: Crying Blood by Donis Casey Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press 250 pages Genre: Mystery I received this book as an advanced galley from the publisher via netgalley .  This title will be released in February 2011 . Synopsis: In the autumn of 1915 Shaw Tucker’s dog, retrieves an old boot with the bones of a foot inside. Buttercup then leads the hunters to a shallow grave and a skeleton with a bullet hole in the skull. That night, Shaw awakens to see a pair of moccasin-clad legs strolling by his tent flap. After he returns home, Shaw can’t shake the memory of the disembodied legs and the ghostly voice. Someone is following him. A boy, Crying Blood, followed Shaw hoping to find a white haired man who killed his brother. Review: This is the 5th Alafair Tucker mystery but it really can stand on its own.  I haven't read any of the other books in this series so I was a little worried that I would feel lost but after I started reading I actually forgot that there were other boo

Title: Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert Publisher: Penguin Books 395 Pages Genre: Gothic Thriller Synopsis: When Gabriel Blackstone, a computer hacker and information thief, is asked to investigate the disappearance of a friend's stepson, he encounters two extraordinary sisters. Minnaloushe and Morrighan Monk are obsessed with alchemy and the ancient art of Memory, and soon Gabriel is caught up in their complex world, risking his own life. Review: I have been meaning to read this book for a while but after seeing all types of promos for a movie of the same name I thought I should dig it out.  The good news is that I loved the book, the not so good news depending on your point of view is that the movie by the same name is not based on this book!  Oh well it inspired me to read this books so I'll give it credit anyway. Six months from graduating from Oxford Gabriel left without a reason and decided to become a professional thief.  So far its been a very lucrative

I don't want to scare people away and I am by no means turning this into a LGBT only book blog but I do want to shine a light on some of the LGBT lit out there that is worth taking a look at since often times its not mainstream and many people may not have heard of these titles.  The ALA announced the 2011 Stonewall Book Awards on January 10th. The Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award - “Almost Perfect”   written by Brian Katcher and published by Delacourte Press.  Four Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Award Honor Books were named:  “ Will Grayson, Will Grayson,” written by John Green and David Levithan and published by Dutton “Love Drugged,” written by James Klise and published by Flux “Freaks and Revelations,” written by Davida Wills Hurwin and published by Little, Brown Co The Boy in the Dress,” written by David Walliams, illustrated by Quentin Blake and published by Razorbill (Penguin).   The Stonewall Book Awards – Barbara Gittings Literature Award was

Title: Landing by Emma Donoghue Publisher : Harcourt Books 321 Pages Genre: Fiction Synopsis : Sile is a stylish citizen of the new Dublin, a veteran flight attendant who's traveled the world.  Jude is a twenty-five year old archivist, stubbornly attached to the tiny town of Ireland, Ontario, in which she was born and raised.  On her first plane trip, Jude's and Sile's worlds touch and snag. In the course of the next year, their lives, and those of their friends and families, will be drawn into a new, shaky orbit. This sparkling, lively story - with a uniquely twenty-first century twist - explores the age old questions: Does where you live matter more than whom you live with? What would you give up for love, and would you be fool to do so? Review: Sile and Jude live 5000 miles apart and while their meeting may feel a bit contrived their courtship is right out of old times. Although these two have many more modern ways of keeping in touch than just by post. The di

Title: The King of Lies by John Hart Publisher : St Martins Press 367 pages Genre: Mystery Synopsis: Jackson Workman Pickens-known to most as "Work" - mindlessly holds together his disintegrating life; a failing law practice left to him when his father, Ezra, mysteriously disappeared, a distant wife who shares their loveless marriage, and an estranged sister who bore the brunt of their childhood trauma. And then Ezra's body is discovered. Set to inherit his father's fortune, Work becomes a prime suspect. But so does his sister, Jean.  As much as Work's life was overshadowed by his domineering father, Jean's life was nearly destroyed by him. But does that make her capable of vicious murder? Fearing the worst, Work launches his own investigation, crossing paths with a power hungry detective, a string of damning evidence and the ugly rumors that swirl within his small moneyed Southern town. Review: King of Lies is Hart's 1st book.  Its always f

Title : Three Bags Full - A sheep Detective Story by Leonie Swann Publisher: Broadway Books 341 Pages Genre : mystery/comedy Synopsis: On a hillside near the cozy Irish village of Glennkill, the members of the flock gather around their shepherd, George, whose body lies pinned to the ground with a spade.  George has cared for the sheep, reading them a plethora of books every night. The daily exposure to literature has made them far savvier about the workings of the human mind than your average sheep.  Led by Miss Maple, the smartest sheep in Glennkill (and possibly the world), they set out to find George's killer. The A-team of investigators includes Othello, the "bad-boy" black ram; Mopple the Whale, a merino who eats a lot and remembers everything; and Zora, a pensive black-faced ewe with a weakness for abysses.  Joined by other members of the richly talented flock they engage in nightlong discussions about the missions into the village, where they encounter som

The big gay world of publishing...well not really - actually if you went into most of the big chain stores the LGBT section is very small, if it exists at all.  Then there are the independent gay bookstores, which may be hard to find or there is only one 40 minutes away.  Its hard to find good LGBT fiction, and even harder to find it filed under main stream categories, such as mystery fiction, or romance.  Actually this brings to mind the question of why instead of having a separate LGBT section don't they just have a section in the romance isle marked LGBT or in the mystery section? Why does it have to be a separate section all to itself usually stuffed in some corner? Anyway my whole purpose of this post was not to preach but to say that the lambda Literary Award nominees for 2010 have been revealed. You can find a full list of the books in all categories posted on the lambda literary website. Everything from biographies, romance novels, ya books, etc... So few book bloggers

Title: Finding Miracles by Julia Alvarez  Publisher: Laurel Leaf 264 pages Genre: YA Synopsis: In spite of her family's openness, Milly Kaufman has never wanted to talk about her adoption. However, during ninth grade, Pablo Bolívar, a refugee from an unnamed Central American country, joins her class and immediately identifies her as someone who might have come from his family's hometown. Then, her grandmother attempts to make a will that differentiates between her and her siblings. While her mother and father's angry reaction makes the woman back down, their increasingly close relationship with Pablo's family makes it impossible for Milly to stop thinking about the parents who placed her for adoption and the war-torn nation she came from. When that country's dictator is deposed in a democratic election, the Bolívars go home to visit and invite Milly along. There she discovers a world quite different from her Vermont home, an extended family, a boyfriend in

Welcome 2011.  I hope this is a great year for everyone. So I've never really done this before but I thought it would be something to aspire to this next year.  Sort of like resolutions I'm going to set some reading intentions that hopefully I will achieve by the end of the year. Read at least one classic. I have a bunch on my TBR list but I never seem to get to them because there is so many new books out there that I want to read. Read two books that have been on my shelf for over a year. I hate to admit it but I am a book hoarder.  I can't help myself.  I have every intention of reading every book I buy but it doesn't always seem to happen.  Every now and then I will go through the shelves and weed out the ones that seem to have been sitting there for over 2 years and just pass them on.  This year I'm going to make it a point to read at least 2 of these! Discover a new author...what I mean is a new author to me...not necessarily a brand new author.  I have

Title:   Deadly Kisses (Hqn)  by Brenda Joyce Publisher: Harlequin 384 pages Genre: Romance, Mystery This title is due to be released in February 2011.  I received an advanced electronic copy through netgalley.com Synopsis : New York 1902 - Called to the home of her fiancé’s former mistress late one night, Francesca finds her curiosity piqued. But upon arrival, she is shocked to find Daisy Jones’s bloodied body…and even more devastated when the evidence points to one suspect—her fiancé, Calder. Francesca cannot—will not—believe that Calder is capable of such an act. Still, she is unable to shake her instinctive sense that Calder is lying about something. The police are far less inclined to believe his innocence, and Calder is arrested for Daisy’s murder. But Francesca’s heart is not easily swayed…until a life-altering secret is exposed that could destroy their future together. Review:  I finished this on New Years Eve but wasn't capable of writing the review until today