Author: Holly Black & Cassandra Clare Series: Magisterium #1 Pages: 298 First Published: September 2014 Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy Book Description (from Good Reads):   Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial. Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail. All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him. So he tries his best to do his worst -- and fails at failing. Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future. Thoughts: The characters go gaining on you. The friendship is slow building but you get to care a lot about them.  It is misguiding in a certain aspect, you are following  Call and you start to get the idea he is this guy they all have been waiting for but then no, he is not. Someone else has the power that make him &qu

Author: Karen Rose    Series: Romantic Suspense #10 Pages: 480 First Published: 2009 Genre: Mystery/Thriller, Crime, Romance Book Description (from Good Reads):  Eve Wilson's face was once scarred by a vicious assault. Terrified and ashamed, she escaped to the online realm, where she could choose the face she allowed people to see. Years later, her outer scars faded and inner scars buried, Eve has fought her way back to the real world and is determined to help others do the same. Now a graduate student moonlighting as a bartender, Eve researches the addictive powers of online communities. When her test subjects begin turning up dead as a result of apparent suicides, she doesn't know where to turn. Homicide detective Noah Webster is one of the few people who believe the victims are connected murders. Eve becomes Noah's online guide and realizes that the handsome detective may have secret scars as painful as her own. As Eve and Noah chase a killer who is always one st

 Author: Gillian Flynn Pages: 64 Genre: Short Story, Mystery First Published: June 2014 Book Description (from Good Reads): A canny young woman is struggling to survive by perpetrating various levels of mostly harmless fraud. On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection. However, when the "psychic" visits the eerie Victorian home that has been the source of Susan's terror and grief, she realizes she may not have to pretend to believe in ghosts anymore. Miles, Susan's teenage stepson, doesn't help matters with his disturbing manner and grisly imagination. The three are soon locked in a chilling battle to discover where the evil truly lurks and what, if anything, can be done to escape it. Opinion: So I first picked up this book without knowing

Author: Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga  Pages: 314 Genre: Paranormal Description(from GoodReads):  The zombie plague unleashes its horrors on the suburbs of Atlanta without warning, pitting the living against the dead. Caught in the mass exodus, Lilly Caul struggles to survive in a series of ragtag encampments and improvised shelters. But the Walkers are multiplying. Dogged by their feral hunger for flesh and crippled by fear, Lilly relies on the protection of good Samaritans by seeking refuge in a walled-in town once known as Woodbury, Georgia. At first, Woodbury seems like a perfect sanctuary. Squatters barter services for food, people have roofs over their heads, and the barricade expands, growing stronger every day. Best of all, a mysterious self-proclaimed leader named Philip Blake keeps the citizens in line. But Lilly begins to suspect that all is not as it seems… Blake, who has recently begun to call himself The Governor, has disturbing ideas about law and order. Opin

Author: Cristina Rivera Garza Best attempt at translation: The turicatas will eat you there XD Genre: Magical Realism, illustrated Description (from the back of the book): She visits the land of the sun and stones, of plains and wind, bordering on the road to inspiration: the woman, in the center of the universe, maybe loneliness, moves on, gets lost looking for her origin and fate. IT is a very hard book to describe and make up your mind about.  The writing style is beautiful, the art in it is eye-catching, beautiful yet they can be disturbing and they open the door for plenty of thinking.  I felt it was too short and it is the type of book you want to reread in order to continue exploring the meaning of it. I gave it 3.5 to 4 stars, I am still unable to decide really. I think I might have missed the whole meaning of the story but so need to reread this book at a later date to see if my feelings change or get more defined.

Author: Melissa Albert  Pages: 330 First Published: January 2018 Genre: YA Fantasy Book Descriptions (From Good Reads):  Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.” Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into

Auhtor: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  Pages: 63 Genre: Non-Fiction, Feminism First Published: March 2017 Book Description (from Good Reads):  A few years ago, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie received a letter from a dear friend from childhood, asking her how to raise her baby girl as a feminist. Dear Ijeawele is Adichie's letter of response. Here are fifteen invaluable suggestions--compelling, direct, wryly funny, and perceptive--for how to empower a daughter to become a strong, independent woman. From encouraging her to choose a helicopter, and not only a doll, as a toy if she so desires; having open conversations with her about clothes, makeup, and sexuality; debunking the myth that women are somehow biologically arranged to be in the kitchen making dinner, and that men can "allow" women to have full careers, Dear Ijeawele goes right to the heart of sexual politics in the twenty-first century. It will start a new and urgently needed conversation about what it really means t

Author: Brent Weeks Series: Lightbringer #1 Pages: 629 First Published: 2010 Genre: Fantasy Book Description (from Good Reads):  Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. Yet Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live. When Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart. Characters: 9.0 There are plenty of people who play a big role on the whole even if we mostly follow the Prism Gavin - Dazen, Kip, Karris, and well there are plenty of people. They are all very flushed out, with their good and bad sides, full of secrets and flaws. Very realistic people, fearful yet brave, kind and humble yet brazen and violent, a whole lot of things never saints nor complete monsters, just human beings with

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon Pages: 230 First Published: 1993 Genre: Historical Fiction Book Description (from Good Reads):  It’s wartime, and the Carver family decides to leave the capital where they live and move to a small coastal village where they’ve recently bought a home. But from the minute they cross the threshold, strange things begin to happen. In that mysterious house there still lurks the spirit of Jacob, the previous owners’ son, who died by drowning. With the help of their new friend Roland, Max and Alicia Carver begin to explore the suspicious circumstances of that death and discover the existence of a mysterious being called The Prince of Mist—a diabolical character who has returned from the shadows to collect on a debt from the past. Soon the three friends find themselves caught up in an adventure of sunken ships and an enchanted stone garden, which will change their lives forever. Characters: 8.0 There are very few a characters and there is not much developm

Author: John Green  Pages: 221 Genre: Contemporary First Published: May 2005 Book Description (from Good Reads):  Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .  After. Nothing is ever the same. Characters: 6.5 Mixed feelings, too much like cliches of kids facing freedom for the first time and making poor decisions.  Making pranks that could actually kill people. Underage drinking

Author: Leigh Bardugo Pages: 417 Genre: YA Fantasy First Published: June 2014 Book Description: The nation's fate rests with a broken Sunsummoner, a disgraced tracker and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army. The Darkling rules from his shadow throne while a weakened Alina Starkov recovers from her battle under the dubious protection of the zealots who worship her as a saint. Now their hopes lie with the magic of long ago vanished ancient creature and the chance that an outlaw prince still survives. As her allies and enemies race toward war, only Alina stands between her country and a rising tide of darkness that could destroy the world. To win this fight, she must seize a legend's power- but claiming the Firebird may be her ruin. Characters: 8.5 Alina and Mal keep revolving around one another but their lack of communication and sense of duty is annoying. They are definitely meant to be together, wh must they make it so damned difficult? There ar

Author: Ray Bradbury Pages: 145 Genre: Fantasy Children First Published: January 1972 Book Description (from Good Reads):  A fast-moving, eerie...tale set on Halloween night. Eight costumed boys running to meet their friend Pipkin at the haunted house outside town encounter instead the huge and cadaverous Mr. Moundshroud. As Pipkin scrambles to join them, he is swept away by a dark Something, and Moundshroud leads the boys on the tail of a kite through time and space to search the past for their friend and the meaning of Halloween. This is a very short book that you can finish in a single day. I choose the audiobook because since I started using Scribd I want to get the most out of my subscription. XD It was narrated so well that even if the story is so simple giving us only the reason behind Halloween festivities and the reason why children have the costumes of witches, mummies, ghosts, etc. It is so capturing.  A read that I thought more appropriate for children than adults

Author: Claire North Pages: 417 Genre: Historical Fiction First Published: April 2014 Book Description (from Good Reads): S ome stories cannot be told in just one lifetime. Harry August is on his deathbed. Again.No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message." This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow. Characters: 7.5 Complex people after all they have lived for centuries. Yet they are still frivolous and with god complexes most of them.  August is hard to determine if he's a good person or not, a morally gray character

Accomplished 5/6 Challenges #AYearathon Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol. Accomplished 3/7 Challenges

Author: Neal Shusterman  Pages: 504 Genre: YA Sci-Fi First Published: Jan 2018 Book Description (from Good Reads):  Rowan has gone rogue, and has taken it upon himself to put the Scythedom through a trial by fire. Literally. In the year since Winter Conclave, he has gone off-grid, and has been striking out against corrupt scythes—not only in MidMerica, but across the entire continent. He is a dark folk hero now—“Scythe Lucifer”—a vigilante taking down corrupt scythes in flames. Citra, now a junior scythe under Scythe Curie, sees the corruption and wants to help change it from the inside out, but is thwarted at every turn, and threatened by the “new order” scythes. Realizing she cannot do this alone—or even with the help of Scythe Curie and Faraday, she does the unthinkable, and risks being “deadish” so she can communicate with the Thunderhead—the only being on earth wise enough to solve the dire problems of a perfect world. But will it help solve those problems, or simply watch

Author: Vera Brosgol Pages: 224 First Published: June 2011 Genre: Graphic Novel YA  Book Description (from Good Reads):  Anya could really use a friend. But her new BFF isn't kidding about the "Forever" part. Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who’s been dead for a century. Falling down a well is bad enough, but Anya's normal life might actually be worse. She's embarrassed by her family, self-conscious about her body, and she's pretty much given up on fitting in at school. A new friend—even a ghost—is just what she needs. First impression: I expected this to be a children's book with a little girl having been killed or died then became a ghost or maybe a little girl who becomes friends with a ghost. Very much like the relationship in City of Ghosts between Cassidy and Jacob. I was very wrong. It was a YA book, Anya is not a little kid, she's a hig

Author: Gregg Olsen  Pages: 400 Genre: Mystery, Thriller First Published: 1995 Book Description (from Good Reads):  Hannah Griffin was a girl when tragedy struck. She still remembers the flames reflected against the newly fallen snow and the bodies the police dug up--one of them her mother's. The killer was never found. . .. Twenty years later talented CSI agent Hannah is investigating a case of child abuse when the past comes hurtling back. A killer with unfinished business is on the hunt. And an anonymous message turns Hannah's blood cold: Your Mom called. Characters: 8.0 Hannah is not perfect, she pretends to have it all under control and tries to forget about her past but she is still deeply affected by it. It is not surprising at all. She is too distrustful, of everyone, has no friends and can't even open up to her husband who should be her strength and main support. The husband is at times understanding and at times he's very much all against her and t