Book Review: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Title: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
Author: Katherine Howe
Publication Date: June 2009
Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy
Age: Older Teens +
Pages: 384
Series: No
Publisher's website: http://hyperionbooks.com

Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie’s grandmother’s abandoned home near Salem, she can’t refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest--to find out who this woman was and to unearth a rare artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge.

As the pieces of Deliverance’s harrowing story begin to fall into place, Connie is haunted by visions of the long-ago witch trials, and she begins to fear that she is more tied to Salem’s dark past then she could have ever imagined.

Doesn't that sound like the premise of a great book? I thought so too. I have to say, I was disappointed. Before I go into why I was disappointed, let me point out a few things I actually really liked.
The narrative: Chapters alternated between present day and past times. Deliverance Dane lived during the Salem Witch trials of 1692 and the story is pretty detailed. We are also treated to glimpses into the lives of some of her descendants. It totally fits with the story line and I really enjoyed the period setting.
I also really liked the characters - or rather, how they were written. I have some issues with our MC Connie but more on that in a minute. What I did enjoy were the supporting characters - including some, such as Deliverance Dane and Connie's grandmother, who are long dead and gone but still play an integral role in the overall story.

OK...on to my disappointment.

First off, the story itself is very very predictable. There really isn't much suspense but there is the illusion of suspense. For instance - at one point, Connie is researching for Deliverance's Physick book - trying to trace it through history and find out where it is today. She finds something that ultimately leads her to the book. We discover this something along with her and as soon as she finds it - you know. You know where the book is. BUT Connie doesn't seem to know where the book is - even though she read the same thing we did. She has a revelation many chapters later. A big moment for her - a frustrating reading experience for me.
Another thing - the bad guy? I was pretty sure the author wanted us to know he was a bad guy right from the start. I didn't think it's suppose to be a secret but again - the truth is revealed in a climatic scene that left me very unfulfilled.

Something that bothered me on a more personal level was Connie's reactions, assumptions, bigotry and downright ignorance involving modern day witchcraft, or Wicca. I know, she's not real. She's not a real person with actual ideas and thoughts and I'm not saying Katherine Howe believes the things Connie does. BUT here is my issue. Connie is an highly educated, PhD candidate, who is a "Historian of American Colonial Life", who must be able to "illustrate long-dead social, religious, and economic systems down to the slightest detail". She's smart, very smart. And she goes to Harvard, lives in New England and grew up in Concord Mass - just 40 minutes from Salem. AND! She not only has no idea how modern paganism or Wicca operates but she has absolutely no tolerance for modern day pagans practicing their craft in Salem.
It just didn't fit for me. She showed a real disdain for modern pagans - and frankly - it bothered me. I wasn't really digging her from the get go and this just clinched it for me.

One last pet peeve. Modern day? Is 1991. I don't know why (other then fodder for a passing remark on how big and silly cell phones are). It annoyed me. I know it doesn't make any sense, but it did. There really wasn't any reason to have a date set for 'modern day' so again - annoyance.

I know I'm being pretty harsh but it's only because I was soooooo looking forward to reading this book! The premise is such an awesome one! A possible unknown Salem Witch who might have actually been a true cunning woman? Wow! The search for a mysterious magical spell book hidden away ages ago? Count me in! An ambitious story full of unexciting events, plot 'twists' that didn't make a lick of sense, and an ending I could have written myself after chapter 4? blaaaaa! No thank you.

I hate putting a price on a book - any book - good or bad, but I have to say - The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is not worth it's $25.99 price tag in my opinion. Wait for the paperback or check it out of your library. I really hope Katherine Howe writes more. I really did enjoy her writing, even though I didn't enjoy the story. I would gladly pick up another one of her books.

Even though I was disappointed I do encourage others to read this book for themselves. I do this with every book I don't like. I especially like it when someone has totally different opinions then me about a particular book. So! If you do read this book - please let me know what you think! I would love to discuss it!

In Honor Of Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States. (from the ALA website).

The freedom to write and the freedom to read should belong to everyone - whether you agree with someone's beliefs or not. I have always felt this and always will.

In honnor of Banned Book Week I proclaim:

WHEREAS, the freedom to read is essential to our democracy, and reading is among our greatest freedoms; and

WHEREAS, privacy is essential to the exercise of that freedom, and the right to privacy is the right to open inquiry without having the subject of one's interest examined or scrutinized by others; and

WHEREAS, the freedom to read is protected by our Constitution; and

WHEREAS some individuals, groups, and public authorities work to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools, to label "controversial" views, to distribute lists of "objectionable" books or authors, and to purge libraries of materials reflecting the diversity of society; and

WHEREAS, both governmental intimidation and the fear of censorship cause authors who seek to avoid controversy to practice self-censorship, thus limiting our access to new ideas; and

WHEREAS, every silencing of a heresy, every enforcement of an orthodoxy, diminishes the toughness and resilience of American society and leaves it less able to deal with controversy and difference; and

WHEREAS, Americans still favor free enterprise in ideas and expression, and can be trusted to exercise critical judgment, to recognize propaganda and misinformation, and to make their own decisions about what they read and believe, and to exercise the responsibilities that accompany this freedom; and

WHEREAS, intellectual freedom is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture; and

WHEREAS, conformity limits the range and variety of inquiry and expression on which our democracy and our culture depend; and

WHEREAS, the American Library Association's Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year as a reminder to Americans not to take their precious freedom for granted; and

WHEREAS, Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that Red House Books blog celebrates the American Library Association's Banned Books Week, September 26, 2009 to October 3, 2009 and be it further

RESOLVED, that Red House Books blog encourages all libraries and bookstores to acquire and make available materials representative of all the people in our society; and be it further

RESOLVED, that Red House Books blog encourages free people to read freely, now and forever.

Adopted by Red House Books blog
9/27/09

Check out these great links!

ALA Banned Books Week
ALA Free Downloads

In My Mailbox - 9/6/9

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren :)

So, I was visiting family last weekend and didn't get a chance to post my mailbox loot.
What does that mean?
This weeks IMM is HUGE! Woo hoo!
*****
Bought
The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman -- I read a review of this somewhere and it sounded really good.
Jinx by Meg Cabot -- My first Meg Cabot book. I don't know why I have been avoiding her. This one looks interesting.
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter -- 2nd in a series that I bought on sale because I can't resist a sale :) Looking for the first one now.
A Crack in the Line by Michael Lawrence -- 1st in a series that looks amazing.
Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix -- After picking up her Shadow Children series I have been on a Haddix kick.
Found: The Missing Book 1 by Margaret Peterson Haddix -- Antoher Haddix series book and this one was on sale, hehe.
Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix -- A stand alone that looks great!
Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen -- Youth book I got from my daughter's school. Never read Paulsen before and I thought it wasabout time.
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen -- Another Paulsen first for me. For some reason I love the word hatchet :)
*****
Bought from a fellow blogger
Valiant by Holly Black -- 2nd in the series. I can't wait to start it! See my review of Tithe, the first book, here.
Ironside by Holly Black -- 3rd (and final?) in the series.
The Devil’s Kiss (ARC) by Sarwat Chadda -- woo hoo! Been wanting to read this one for a while. I'm giving it away when I'm done so stay tuned!
Switch by Carol Snow -- Ive heard that this books is great! Another first author read for me.
Meridian by Amber Kizer -- Been wanting this since I first heard of it.
The Devouring by Simon Holt -- This looks great. I can't wait to start it. (how many books do you think I can read at once! I can't decide!)
Never Cry Werewolf by Heather Davis -- Another great one!
*****
Bought Used
The Tower Room by Adele Geras -- Total impulse buy but I started it and it's pretty good.
The Vampire Diaries The Fury and Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith -- Ok, so I'm giving in and rereading these. I first read them in the 90s

when they first came out. We'll see how I like them the second time around.
*****
Borrowed (thanks sis!)
Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner -- Started this one and it's more of a dystopian story then I thought it would be. Very interesting so far.
*****
BookMooch
Ghosts I have Been by Richard Peck -- Another one for my Peck collection. I love him and hope to own everything he has ever written at some point.
*****
PaperBackSwap
Pretties by Scott Westerfeld -- I have all three in the series so now I can start reading them :)
White is for Magic by Laurie faria Stolarz -- Just need 'Red' and I'm all set to start this series as well.
*****
Ok - So that's all!
*****
Do you guys like the pictures? It look a long time to get them all looking right (and I'm sure after I actually post some will still be a little wonky :) but I'm a very visual person and love seeing my pretty books looking back at me!
*****
So, What's in your Mailbox?

Book Review: Tithe by Holly Black

Title: Tithe
Author: Holly Black
Publication Date: October 2002
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Age: 14+
Pages: 331
Series: 1st in a series. 2nd: Valiant (2007) and 3rd: Ironside (2009)

Publisher's website: www.SimonSays.com

Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms -- a struggle that could very well mean her death.

(from publisher website)

This book has been out for a while but for some reason I avoided it. When I first discovered it (years after it was written) I'm pretty sure I had had my fill of fairies at the time - having read Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. I had also heard people say how if you read Wicked Lovely first - you wouldn't like Tithe and vice-versa. So! I figured it would be a dud for me and I forgot about it for a while. And then! Well...I don't know why I thought about it again but the point is I did! And I'm glad I did. This book was amazing for me! I really really enjoyed it. It was edgy and witty and portrays faeries in a no nonsense way. They are what they are and Kaye is a part of that life whether she likes it or not.
I really enjoyed the variety of characters - Kaye's crazy mother and overbearing grandmother - Cory, her best friend's gay brother who turns out to be a unlikely friend, of course there is beautiful and dangerous Roiben and The Thiselwitch who I found fascinating.
The first in a series, I'm curious to see where it goes. I have to say, I think I liked Tithe just a bit more then Wicked Lovely. The world of faerie that Black created just appeals to me more. Theirs is a world that exists besides ours but could exist on it's own. I always felt like Marr's fairy world was too dependent on reality - if that makes any sense at all :)
I would recommend this one to anyone who likes a good fairy fantasy story.

Contest: Once A Witch by Carolyn MacCullough

I'm way behind on my review postings but that doesn't mean I can't have a contest while I get a little organized :)

This one is for Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough. The lucky winner will win a brand new copy.

Details:
Contest ends Oct 2nd at 5:00pm EST
Open to those with a US mailing address only (If you are outside of the US and have a friend in the US that I can ship to, please feel free to enter!)
Please include your email address and any extra entries all in one post.

How to enter:
Answer this question - what is the best book you have read so far this year?

Extras entries:
+1 Comment on any of my reviews and let me know (1 extra entry for each comment with a limit of 10)
+1 Become a follower
+2 If you're already a follower
+1 Answer my poll
+2 Post about this contest on your blog (sidebar is fine) and leave me a link

I loved this book (see my review) and can't wait to share the love with someone else :)

Thanks guys for sticking with me...I know I've been a total slacker lately but I hope to change that in the next couple of weeks. You guys rock!

My slackerness...

Ok - so slackerness isn't a word but it's what I feel like I have been doing.
I have a bunch of books to post reviews for and I have a bunch of ideas in my head for new features...and I have some old features I haven't really kept up on.

I want to blog! I really do....but...good news - I got a new, bigger, better, more awesome job....and I still have my old one...and I have a 3 year old....

So! I'm basically typing in my sleep every time I sit down and try to complete a post...

:(

Do you forgive me? I'll post more as soon as I can - things should slow down for me soon!

Wish me luck!

Thank you so much guys for following me. I know there are so many great great blogs out there and I want you to know that every comment I get truly fills me with joy!

I'll be hard at work (even if it's only mentally for a while) trying to make my blog the best little blog it can be!

Awards :)

Great bloggers have given me some great rewards and I am just now getting around to posting them....do they have a total slacker award out there? If so, I nominate - me! :)

Without further ado:

A great big thanks goes out the Kate at The Neverending Shelf for nominating me for The Humane Award

What's it all about ?:
Is to honor certain bloggers that are kindhearted individuals. They regularly take part in my blog and always leave the sweetest comments. If it wasn't for them, my site would just be an ordinary book review blog. Their blogs are also amazing and are tastefully done on a daily basis. This award is to thank them for their growing friendships through the blog world.

I nominate: Kristen from Bookworming in the 21st Century

******************
Thank you thank you to Miranda at Paige Turners for this You Don't Say Award

This award is given to someone who always leaves AWESOME comments. You can count on them to say something about every post. You know they always read your blog!
The “You Don’t Say?” Award is awarded to these special bloggers in hopes that they will pass the award along to their best commenters!"

I nominate: Juju from Tales of Whimsy



******************
Another set of thank yous to Miranda again for this one :)

The Lemonade Award is a feel good award that shows great attitude or gratitude. Put the Lemonade Award logo on your blog or post and nominate some blogs that show great attitude or gratitude.

I nominate: Donna at Bites




******************
From one of the best blog names out there - Orchid from The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia gave me the Me-to-you award. Isn't it cute!

I nominate: Rhiannon Hart

Book Sale search website

Donna over at Bites posted about a great website she heard about.

It's called Book Sale Manager and it's a massive database for used book sales / library sales in your area. Search by state, or by zip code.

Can I tell you how much I love this?! I knew about my city library's major sale but I found a bunch more...my weekends have suddenly been filled with (even more) books!

Check it out and let me know what you think.

In My Mailbox - Sept 13, 2009

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren :)

Only a couple this week but I'm pretty excited about them!


I love Margaret Atwood and this sounded so good! Got it from BookMooch.

"With the same stunning blend of prophecy and social satire she brought to her classic The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood gives us a keenly prescient novel about the future of humanity—and its present." (from paperbackswap)




Started reading this one already and it's goooood!
Can you believe I got this one from BookMooch as well! It just came out a few months ago and it's on a ton of wishlists.

"Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie's grandmother's abandoned home near Salem, she can't refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key secreted within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest to find out who this woman was, and to unearth a rare colonial artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge of herbs and other, stranger things.
As the pieces of Deliverance's harrowing story begin to fall into place, Connie is haunted by visions of the long-ago witch trials, and begins to fear that she is more tied to Salem's dark past then she could have ever imagined." (from paperbackswap.com)

Feeling the Mooch love this week!

What's in your mailbox?

Poll Reminder for Next Contest

Which would you like to win?

I can't decide which book to give away in my next contest and I need your help!

Vote on my poll to your right. The book with the most votes wins! And so can you!

Voting will earn you an extra entry in my upcoming contest - just leave a comment on this post after you vote so I know. Please, only one vote / extra entry per person.

Bonus! Become a follower NOW, before the contest begins, and earn even more chances to win.
Please comment to let me know.

I love sharing the book love :)

Wishlist Wednesday (1) 9/9/9

The great girls over at B.A.M. Book Reviews have been posting Wishlist Wednesdays and since I have tons of books I'm pining for at the moment I thought it would be fun to post my own! Hope you girls don't mind! :)
Here are some I found this past week:

The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb
A supernatural love story set in Imperial Russia.
"There's something not right about you," said Ana. She wasn't teasing him. She was concerned about what she detected behind his eyes. This made Calder's skin tingle. "You're not telling me something."
She was uncanny. Calder silently prayed she could not see how he had broken his Vows and upset her world and his own.
"You're lonely," she told him. "It must be hard to pretend all the time."
He felt a wave of sadness, sudden and deep.
"Don't be afraid," she told him. "Everyone has a secret. I'll keep yours."
Calder is a Fetch, a death escort, the first of his kind to step from Heaven back to Earth.
The first to fall in love with a mortal girl.
But when he climbs backward out of that Death Scene, into the chaos of the Russian Revolution, he tears a wound in the ghost realm where the spirits begin a revolution of their own.
(from paperbackswap.com)

The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones
Mimi Shapiro had a disturbing freshman year at NYU, thanks to a foolish affair with a professor who still haunts her caller ID. So when her artist father, Marc, offers the use of his remote Canadian cottage, she's glad to hop in her Mini Cooper and drive up north. The house is fairy-tale quaint, and the key is hidden right where her dad said it would be, so she's shocked to fi nd someone already living there. Jay, a young musician, who is equally startled to meet Mimi and immediately accuses her of leaving strange and threatening tokens inside: a dead bird, a snakeskin, a cricket sound track embedded in his latest composition. But Mimi has just arrived, so who is responsible? And more alarmingly, what does the intruder want? Part gripping thriller, part family drama, this fast-paced novel plays out in alternating viewpoints, in a pastoral setting that is evocative and eerie a mysterious character in its own right.
(from paperbackswap.com)

Here There be Dragons by James A. Owen

The Imaginarium Geographica
"What is it?" John asked.
The little man blinked and arched an eyebrow.
"It is the world, my boy," he said. "All the world, in ink and blood, vellum and parchment, leather and hide. It is the world, and it is yours to save or lose."
An unusual murder brings together three strangers, John, Jack, and Charles, on a rainy night in London during the first World War. An eccentric little man called
Bert tells them that they are now the caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica -- an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. These lands, Bert claims, can be traveled to in his ship the Indigo Dragon, one of only seven vessels that is able to cross the Frontier between worlds into the Archipelago of Dreams.
Pursued by strange and terrifying creatures, the companions flee London aboard the Dragonship. Traveling to the very realm of the imagination itself, they must learn to overcome their fears and trust in one another if they are to defeat the dark forces that threaten the destiny of two worlds. And in the process, they will share a great adventure filled with clues that lead readers to the surprise revelation of the legendary storytellers these men will one day become.
An extraordinary journey of myth, magic, and mystery, Here, There Be Dragons introduces James A. Owen as a formidable new talent.

Don't those sound great?
What are you wishing for?

Once a Witch website

Hey guys - if you're a fan of Carolyn MacCullough's Once A Witch you should check out this website

It's supper fun!

Once A Witch is available on Amazon (release date is Sept 14th) and you can find my review here.

It's also in the running for my next contest - vote on my poll to the right and earn an extra entry (no matter what book I choose). Just leave a comment here letting me know what you thought of the website (if you visited) and that you voted. 1 extra poll entry per person.

Winner! Ghost Huntress Contest

And the winner of my very first contest is!

Briana from The Book Pixie

I've send you an email :)
Woo hoo!

Thank you so much everyone for making my first contest so wonderful. I had a blast and enjoyed all your comments so so much!

Stay tuned for some more book giveaway love!
Help me decide what book to giveaway next by voting on my poll to the right and earn an extra entry in my next contest! Please leave me a comment after you vote!

In My Mailbox - September 6, 2009

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren :)

This week was pretty good. I bought more books then I should have (what else is new :) but I think I did pretty well considering how many new releases came out this week!

From BookMooch:

• Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville -- Unicorns have always fasinated me and I realized I didn't have any Unicorn books (the horror!). This is Book One of the youth series, The Unicorn Chronicles
  

From PaperBackSwap:

• The Shape-Changer's Wife by Sharon Shinn -- my favorite author by far. Another one I haven't read to add to my collection!
  

Bought secondhand

• Silver is for Secrets by Laurie Faria Stolarz -- 3rd in the Blue is for Nightmares series. I'm collecting these as I can find them and plan on reading them once I have them all :)
  

Bought new

• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins -- Did you think I could resist? Reading it now and LOVING IT!
  
• Among the Barons, Among the Brave, Among the Enemy, Among the Free by Margaret Peterson Haddix -- 4th-7th books in the Shadow Children sequence. I now have all of this series and can't wait to finish. Great youth dystopian story. I think I'll do a review of the entire series once I'm done
  
• Unbound by Kim Harrison, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson and Jocelynn Drake -- I picked this up in the horror section because of these words "...plus New York Times bestselling YA author Melissa Marr with her first adult supernatural thriller..." Can we say awesome?
  
• Masquerade by Melissa De La Cruz -- second in the Blue Bloods series. Couldn't wait to find this one used after reading the first
  

Gifts (from my wonderful partner!)

• Firebirds: An Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction edited by Sharyn November -- another anthology series with some authors I am unfamiliar with.
  
• 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs -- Newest book in my favorite, favorite mystery series. I love Reichs and would recommend her to anyone who loves a good forensic suspense adventure.
  

So, that's my haul - what's in your mailbox?

(no Amazon links this time...getting this done a little later then usual!)
(btw - do you guys like the links or would you rather have a more detailed synopsis?)

Book Review: Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz

When the Mayflower set sail in 1620, it carried on board the men and women who would shape America. But not all the Pilgrims were pure of heart; they were not all escaping religious persecution. Indeed, some were not human: they were vampires. In present-day New York City, Schuyler Van Alen is a sophomore at a prestigious New York private school. On her fifteenth birthday, her veins turn a bright blue and she begins to crave raw meat. Suddenly she is part of an exclusive secret society ruled by The Committee, a group of honored Blue Bloods. One of the popular girls at her school is found dead, and Schuyler decides to find out the secrets of the mysterious Blue Bloods. But is she putting herself in danger?

(Publishers website)

So, I wasn't quite sure how I would like this book since I have pretty much had my full of vampire stories for a while. I was, however, able to snag a used copy and though I would give it a try. I'm glad I did.

Blue Bloods is a vampire story but it's a little different from what you might be used to. There are three main aspects that I really liked. First off - the little amount of romance that does exist, isn't the main focus of the novel and it doesn't over power the story. Secondly - the story itself reads like a mystery. Third, the vampires themselves are different. Immortal - yes - but still very much modern. Oh - and they don't sparkle. AND it's hinted at that they orientated in Egypt which is one of my favorite aspects of Anne Rice's vampires. The characters are very much Manhattan socialites. Again, a different take.

I honestly didn't think I would like this story as much as I did. I could resist - had to buy the second in the series :) Blue Bloods doesn't really end on a cliff hanger but there is still a mystery to solve and a lot more of the story and background to reveal. I can't wait!

Young Adult Urban Fantasy
Ages 12 and up
Hyperion (www.hyperionteens.com)
Published April 2007
1st in a series that includes: Book 2: Masquerade 2007, Book 3: Revelations 2008, Book 4: The Van Alan Legacy 2009
302 pages

Monthy Reads - August 2009

Um, September? Hello!
Didn't Summer just start? You know, the rain stopped (kinda), the weather got warmer (sorta) and it's suppose to be Summer now...right? WRONG!
Bye bye Summer...hopefully Fall will come soon with all it's Fally goodness....changing leaves, apple picking, pumpkins, Halloween and Samhain, cold mornings and warm afternoons, packed away air conditioners and open windows....ahhh....

So! Let's see what I got read this past month. Even before I look I know it's gonna be just about all YA and Youth books...I think I have finally given into the fact that I just love this genre more then others...doesn't mean I don't love a good adult fantasy or sci fi - I still do! It's just that those shelves of beautiful YA books seem to call to me more....

Ok! On with the show!

• A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck
• Wicked Lovely Desert Tales Book 1 Sanctuary by Melissa Marr
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
• Beyond the Grave: 39 Clues Book Four by Jude Watson
• Project 17 by Laurie Faria Stolarz
• Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
• Wake by Lisa McMann
• Ruined by Paula Morris
• The Dark Planet: Atherton book 3 by Patrick Carman
• Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
• 1 short story (SS) from Love is Hell
  
• Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz
• 1 SS from Gothic!
  
• 1 SS from Firebirds Rising
  
• Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
• Among the Impostors by Margaret Peterson Haddix
• Among the Betrayed by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Started in Aug - will finish in September

• Ghost Huntress Book 1 by Marley Gibson
• Impossible by Nancy Werlin
• Tithe by Holly Black
• Wizard of Earthsea book 1 by Ursula K. Le Guin

(links are to blog reviews)

As of now, I'm calling these Monthly Reads posts my own personal meme :)
Feel free to steal it - but let me know! I would LOVE to know what you are reading!!