Heart Shaped Box - Joe Hill

Judas Coyne is an aging death metal rock star.  He collects macabre items so when he gets an email offering him the opportunity to purchase his very own ghost he can't resist.  Who could really?  Well after reading this book I can.  He purchases that ghost thinking that it is mostly a hoax.  Wrong!  Now he has a psycho ghost bothering him and as it turns out this ghost came after him personally and won't stop till he is dead.

This was an original idea for a story I thought.  I haven't heard of another story like it, think I will have to check out ebay and see if people actaully try and sell ghosts.  I couldn't put this book down I loved it I will be checking out more books by this author for sure.   This book is definately for adults though.

The Ghosts of Varner Creek - Michael Weems

In the summer of 1909 Solomon Mayfield awakes to find that his mother and sister have left in the night.  He feels certain that his mother wouldn't have left him behind which causes him to think that his father must be somehow involved.  This story takes place at the end of his life where he gets the opportunity to look into the past and see what actually happened that summer long ago.

I loved this book.  This is by the same author who wrote Crossing Borders that I read a few weeks ago.  These are available at smashwords I got mine from Barnes and Noble on my nook for FREE!  Yep you can't beat that a free book and it was so good I would have paid for it even better. 

Sarah's Key - Tatiana De Rosnay

Ok so I am probably one of the last people out there to read this book that being said I can't believe I hadn't read it sooner.

The characters are fictional but it is based upon events that took place during the occupation in France during the summer of 1942.

The night of the great Velodrome d'Hiver roundup (July 16, 1942 in Paris) Sarah locks her younger brother in their favorite hiding place promising she will be back in a little while to get him out.   In  2002 an American journalist trying to write a story on the events of the roundup, stumbles upon Sarah's story.  As she searches for information on Sarah she  stumbles upon her own family secret.

I loved this book.

The Unwanteds - Lisa McMann

A futuristic world where creativity is shunned.  One time a year all thirteen year olds are sorted into three categories wanteds, necessary and unwanteds.  The  unwanteds are any that have shown any artistic, creative or magical abilities.  During the purge Alex and Aaron Stowe identical twins find themselves in two different groups.  Aaron is a wanted and will go on to university where he will forget that he ever even had a brother.  Alex the unwanted will be exterminated. 

This was a great book.

Blackbird House - Alice Hoffman

This is a collection of short stories however all of the stories take place in the same house.  Starting with the original settlers and builders on the land to present day.  It was a fun way to put together stories and some of them were good enough I could have read a whole book about the inhabitants.  If you haven't read Green Witch and Green Angel by the same author I recommend those also.

Crave - Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz

Shay is 16 years old and never led a normal life.  She has a very rare blood disorder that requires regular blood transfusions.  When her stepfather starts her on a new type of transfusion she feels better then she ever has in her life she also starts having visions or dreams. While trying to uncover the secret to the new transfusions she uncovers an even bigger secret. 

Young adult fiction a very quick read there is a sequel out that I am definately going to want to read now since I enjoyed this book.

Forever Neverland by Heather Killough-Walden

A modern day take on Peter Pan after the Darling children have returned later and five years into the future.  The family is struggling to put their lives back together and the children are struggling to forget neverland.  No one believes their stories and things are getting worse as they don't let them go.  Of course the stories are true and just to prove them they all get wisked away again back to Neverland.  But can the children find a way to allow both worlds to survive within them? 

This was a quick read, very good, I enjoyed it very much.  I bought it on my Nook.  There is a sequel coming out, but not until December of 2012 which was the only dissapointing thing about the book.  But I can't wait to read it. 

Child of the Jungle by Sabine Kuegler

The story of Sabine Kuegler who at the age of five went with her family to live with the Fayu in Indonesia.  They were a recently discovered stone age people who were bordering on extinction because of tribal wars.  Sabine along with her parents (linguistic-missionaries), an older sister and younger brother are cut off from civilization and must learn to live with the Fayu.  Later as a teenager she joins western civilization and must learn to find that balance between who she feels she should be because of the her heritage and who she is because of her upbringing. 

The following is my favorite quote from the book and I hope I can remember it.

"It is a real advantage to have grown up in the Fayu culture.  They occasionally still ask my father, "How is Sabine? Is her heart happy?"  They don't ask how big my house is or how many wild boars I own.  Their concern for me has nothing to do with my social standing.  As long as I manage to keep in mind the lessons of the jungle, life goes well.  I learned there that one should enjoy the simple things in life.  That life is not defined by the things you own but rather by the way you spend your time.  I learned from the Fayu that happiness comes from contentment rather thand acquisition.  And for these lessons, I am grateful."

I absolutely loved this book I laughed, cried was shocked and even disgusted at times I can't recommend it enough.  A must read.

Star Jumper Cardboard Genius (book 1) by Frank Asch

Barnes and Noble overview on this book also.

Self-proclaimed genius inventor Alex is convinced that his little brother Jonathan is evil. The kid never shuts up. He's a klutz, and he drools on his pillow when he sleeps. Jonathan's specialty, though, is sticking to Alex like glue -- and sticking his nose into his big brother's business. That's why Alex has to leave Earth and fly so far away that no one will ever be able to find him. Using cardboard, duct tape, old odds and ends and his amazing scientific imagination, Alex builds Star Jumper, a spaceship that will deliver him from his rotten little brother forever! It's a plan only a cardboard genius could ever hope to pull off. But Jonathan has other ideas -- and a secret that ultimately brings forth Alex's most brilliant creation ever! 

I read this book outloud with my boys.  Zach wasn't to interested but did listen and actually took it and finished it after we had finished reading the one night.  I read for 20 minutes and it took 3 days so it was a very quick read.  But we enjoyed it and I was very surprised.  I picked it up from the library strictly for Jacob who ist struggling with wanting to read (he finds it boring can you imagine that) I didn't think it would be something I would really like.  It was actually really cute and pretty good.  There are two more books in the series and they are on the list for us at the library we are looking forward to reading them as well. 

Now You See Me by S. J. Bolton

Since I haven't posted in awhile and have several books to add I am just posting the overview of the book from the Barnes and Noble website.

One night after interviewing a reluctant witness at a London apartment complex, Lacey Flint, a young detective constable, stumbles onto a woman brutally stabbed just moments before in the building’s darkened parking lot. Within twenty-four hours a reporter receives an anonymous letter that points out alarming similarities between the murder and Jack the Ripper’s first murder—a letter that calls out Lacey by name. If it’s real, and they have a killer bent on re-creating London’s bloody past, history shows they have just five days until the next attempt.

No one believes the connections are anything more than a sadistic killer’s game, not even Lacey, whom the killer seems to be taunting specifically. However, as they investigate the details of the case start reminding her more and more of a part of her past she’d rather keep hidden. And the only way to do that is to catch the killer herself.

Fast paced and completely riveting, S. J. Bolton’s Now You See Me is a modern gothic novel that is nothing less than a masterpiece of suspense fiction.

This is easily on of my favorite authors.  I have loved everything that I've read by her so far and after each I have proclaimed this is my favorite so far.  This book didn't dissapoint.  I absolutely loved it.