Killer Frost - Jennifer Estep

Killer Frost by Jennifer Estep

So I was so positive that there were going to be a dozen more Mythos Academy books.
And I was totally wrong.
Killer Frost is the last one.
But it ended well.
I'm not upset with Jennifer at all.
Sometimes I get very mad at authors for the way they finish books or series'.

Short synopsis:
After returning from another Mythos Academy campus, Gwen's group of friends knows the Reapers aren't just going to lay down and retreat.
Gwen spends the following weeks trying to continue to fulfill the mission that Nike gave her.
Collect certain artifacts that will help aid her and her friends final defeat of Loki.
Gwen's grandmother gets stuck in the middle of a new battle, and after a minor success they know that the final battle is nearing.
The spend only a day preparing the campus for the final battle.
Loki's army is stronger in numbers than Nike and Gwen's but finally Gwen realizes what she has to do to finally kill Loki once and for all.


I am sad that this series is over, but it only means there is now space in my brain for a new series!!

Credit:
Amazon - in case you're into buying
Jennifer Estep - author website

Read on.
Jessica.

Midnight Frost - Jennifer Estep

Midnight Frost by Jennifer Estep

I started reading the Mythos Academy a few years ago when the first book came out.
I fell in love with Gewn's gypsy gift and the premise of the stories.
Set in an almost current time when normal people have no idea that mythological creatures and powers are real and in practice currently.
Gwen has the gift of psychometry,  when she touches something or someone she gets flashes.
The flashes can be of where the object has been, who has touched it, the feeling or intentions of those people.
When she touches people she can see everything about them, past, present, feelings, intentions, ideas.
She tries not to touch people very often as she feels it is a breach of trust.
In previous books you meet Loki, the bad guy of the mythological world.
Gwen finds herself in charge of getting rid of him.
In each of these books, Loki has his minions - Reapers, try to do away with Gwen.

Short synopsis:
After the last debacle with Reapers, Gwen is just trying to take it easy.
This proves hard for her, as her boyfriend has made himself scarce.
A new Reaper attack leave a close friend on the edge of death.
Gwen and her friends must travel across the country to another Mythos Academy campus to retrieve a necessary plant to save their friend.
While on their mission they of course encounter more Reapers.

Each of these books is a step towards the defeat of Loki and I look forward to reading them through that major event.

Credit:
Amazon - in case you're into buying
Jennifer Estep - author website

Read on.
Jessica.

Bystander - James Preller

Bystander by James Preller

 

I picked this one out because of Before You Go. I really liked James Preller's style and that story so I thought, 'read all the James Preller books!'

This one though didn't hit me as hard. 

It is about a very tough and prevalent subject matter. Bullying. 

But I didn't like the main characters reasoning and decision making. 

Preller did do something that I love. 

And that is tying landmarks and places between stories. 

In Before You Go Jude works at Jones Beach Concessions and there are a whole bunch of locations, West End Two and Pier Six. 

Preller talks about the company and those locations in Bystander  

Short synopsis

Eric Hayes is starting a new life with his mom on Long Island.
He's starting a new middle school right smack in the middle.
Being the new seventh grader is hard. The groups and cliques have already formed.
But Griffin Connelly seems to want to be Eric's friend.
Eric quickly realizes Griffin and his friends are bullies.
After a school assembly about bullying, Eric also realizes that he while he isn't a bully, being friends with Griffin and Co. means he is a bystander.
Eric isn't sure how he feels about this, but finds out the hard way, that bullies retaliate.

I honestly didn't like this book, and it's taken me weeks to finish this post.
I can't pinpoint the reason anymore than just Eric's judgement and decision making.
I dreaded the ending, and while it turned out alright, I didn't feel the lesson was strong enough for a YA novel.

Credit:
Amazon - in case you're into buying
James Preller - author website

Read on.
Jessica.

Ask The Passengers - A. S. King

Ask The Passengers by A. S. King

 

So I hate to admit it, but I couldn't finish this book.
I haven't met many books that I wasn't fond of, but this is one of them.
It was such a chore to pick it up and read it.
I always feel that once I start one I have to finish it, so I plow through even when I don't want to.
But I just couldn't do it with this one.

I don't have a short synopsis for you, because I didn't finish.
But I do have this.

Astrid Jones is a high schooler, her mom is an over bearing, over achieving crazy.
She could be part of why I couldn't finish, sometimes, characters irk me so much I can't handle it.
And they live in an over bearing, busy body town, where everyone is judging everyone else.
Astrid has two best friends, Justin and Kristina, and they're both gay.
Astrid has a secret. She thinks she is gay,
But she's not sure, she has Dee, her coworker and real best friend, who is also gay.
She's pretty sure she's in love with Dee.
But Astrid's just not ready to tell anyone that she is (gay or in love that is).
She also talks to passengers on planes flying over head.
And like in a freaky Sci-Fi movie, they can 'hear/feel' her sending love their way.
I think the point of the story will be her figuring out that no one will think less of her if she is gay. But someone else will have to figure that out.

Credit:
Amazon - in case you're into buying
A. S. King - authors website

Read on.
Jessica.

School sucks, but now it's Summerrrr!!!!!

Ohhh Mannnn!

Its been 2.5 months since I've been on here.
I totally suck. Well actually it was school that sucked.

MAJOR.
This semester was ridiculous. My science class killed me.
I haven't read anything lately.
I didn't even end up reading my textbooks really.

So I have a lot to make up for this summer. Starting today hopefully.
I made out a schedule, so I can try to keep on top of what I'm posting,
and how much I'm reading.

I've read a grand-total (drumroll please) of FOUR books this year. 
Whoops. I better get started reading if I'm gonna make that 120 mark by 12.31.

I will be starting book 14 of one of my most favorite series tonight.
Be on the lookout for that post in the next few days.

Until then.

Read on.
Jessica.

Mister Death's Blue-Eyed Girls - Mary Downing Hahn

 

Mister Death's Blue-Eyed Girls by Mary Downing Hahn

I finished this a few days ago, and have been formulating a 'review' in my head since then.

 

This book is insanely intense and very close to home.

Mary Downing Hahn was born and raised in Maryland, within two hours of where I was.

Every place she talks about in the book is something I recognize. That in of itself is kindaaaaa freaky if you ask me.

Darrell actually asked me to read this for him to get feedback for his summer reading program.

When I saw him last, I was only a portion of the way through, but we already had tons to discuss.

This book is based on a series of true events that Downing Hahn experienced and then added some fiction into.

 

I started reading at night and got freaked out by the first chapter, I thought it was going to be a horror/ghost novel, but it's not. As I kept reading I noticed the Maryland references, mainly Ocean City. I actually flipped the book upside down and shook it. Like that would explain why OC was in the book I was reading. :)

 

Short synopsis:

 

July 1956, two girls were killed in a park in broad daylight while walking to school on their last day for the year. Nora, the main character and one of three narrators deals with the deaths, (the two girls were good friends with her best friend) her wavering faith, and coming of age as a good girl.

The second narrator is Buddy, who is accused of killing the girls, his chapters are not as prevalent and are angst filled. The last narrator is the actual killer. And he's creepy as hell. I did not enjoy reading his chapters. I think I would've preferred to not know his opinion, but it does add a lot to the story, it fills in a lot of gaps. That being said, it is not a clean ending by any means.

 

This would have been an easy read had I not been so busy with school and being sick. Although it would've been quicker and easier, it would not have been any less intense.

This is one that gave me chills more than a few times.

I want everyone in Maryland to read this, mainly because it is so rare for us Marylanders to read a book that takes place in our own state.

 

Darrell and I did some research on the actual murders, and even found a few articles from the Baltimore Sun.

In her author's note Downing Hahn explains her connection to the murders, but reading the actual articles, was bone chilling.

What she wrote in the book, actually happened.

 

I keep thinking of more I want to say.....

This book uses these deaths to deal with very real religious issues, thing's that I think kids are still going through today. I think that there are a great number of girls especially that will read this in the next ten or so years and figure out that it's okay to question, to wonder, and to stray, because ultimately, it's your life, not your parents, and you must deal with your own feelings and beliefs.

 

Credit:

Amazon - in case you're into buying

Mary Downing Hahn - author website, that is very outdated

 

Read on.

Jessica.

 

Janie Face to Face - Caroline B. Cooney

Janie Face to Face by Caroline B. Cooney

I just finished this this past week. It might be the only book I read in February. School sucks!!!
I'll make up the 18 books I haven't read yet this summer, don't you worry.

So I have to introduce this book big time!
This is book five in a series that was born the same year I was.
I read them in middle school.

I'm not real sure where to start....

The Face on the Milk Carton, 1990
Janie Johnson, sees her three year old self on a milk carton while eating lunch.
Her real name is Jennie Spring.
She was kidnapped from a mall.
This first book is anxiety ridden, and abrupt.
It chronicles Janie as she finds out, researches, freaks out, double checks, and then confronts her parents about the kidnapping.
There is a logical explination.
(and also there is Reeve, the boy next door.)
The end.

Whatever Happened to Janie?, 1993
Janie/Jennie is forced to go live with her biological parents.
I do not remember as much from this book.
She isn't happy with the Spring's and decides that she has the right to move back with her adoptive parents.
There was never supposed to be a second Janie book.
This book answers much of Caroline B. Cooney's fan mail.

The Voice on the Radio, 1996
The kidnapping is old news.
Janie/Jennie's life is settling back down.
Reeve, the boy next door, is away at college.
And he has a job at the campus radio station.
He is supposed to talk inbetween songs, but he doesn't know what to say.
So he tells the only story he knows. Janie's. And Janie finds out.
He made me mad. I hated him for hurting Janie. (I get pretty caught up sometimes.)
I don't remember ever finishing this one.
There was never supposed to be a third book either. (Do you see a pattern??)

What Janie Found, 2000
Janie/Jennie is living life as best she can.
She decides to speak to Reeve again.
And then her Conneticut father has a stroke.
This leaves Janie to help her mother with the family finances.
As she get their affairs in order, she finds some information that only her and two other people know about.
I don't remember much about this book either, but it's anxiety ridden again. (This poor girl needs some meds)
There wasn't supposed to be a fourth book. (Forrealllll, it says that in the back of the fifth book)

Drum Roll Please!!!!!


Janie Face to Face, 2013
There are two sides to every story.
Janie/Jennie is away at college in New York.
She doesn't use social media. She's had enough media to last her a lifetime.
Her friends do.
Her kidnapper does.
I can't give anything else away. It hasn't even been out on the shelves for a month.

I reallllllly reallly liked it. Especially considering the other three after TFOTMC didn't really do a whole lot for me. I even tried to reread them all before Face to Face came out. Janie was making me anxious. :) It's the perfect ending for the fifth book that wasn't supposed to be written.
If you read it make sure you read the aithors note in the back, she kind of explains why there ended up beng five.

There is also a short story. I will be reading that, as soon as I remember to look for it on the eLibrary.

Credit:
Amazon - in case you're into buying
Caroline B. Cooney - author website

Read A-likes:
What Janie Saw - Caroline B. Cooney (short digital novella)
1-800-WHERE-R-YOU Series - Meg Cabot

Read on.
Jessica.