Await Your Reply tells the story of three strangers and how their lives interconnect in mysterious ways. Miles Cheshire knows he should get on with his life and live it. Yet, he can't help but long to find his brother, Hayden. He searches endlessly to find Hayden. Lucy Lattimore runs away from her hometown in Ohio with her high school teacher. Then, days later, amid discussions of changing identities, Lucy starts to think twice about her decision. Finally, Ryan can't help but believe his whole life is a lie after learning during his sophomore year of college that his dad isn't really his dad. He walks off his college campus and begins a new life.
This book came highly recommended to me from numerous sources so I was quite anxious to read it. I ended up listening to it (it's narrated by Kirby Heyborne). The author does an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing how the stories are going to tie together. I figured out most of the big twist at the end about an hour from the end of the story. But there were pieces that still surprised me. When I was finished listening, I kept thinking about the book and all the little ties and I wanted to actually sit down with a paper copy of the book and see if I could find some of the little clues that may have been hidden in the book. There are books that a reader gets more out of by reading and I think this is one of them. No offense to Kirby Heyborne because he did an excellent job reading. I just think the storyline was a little too complicated to listen to during my daily commute.
I do recommend the book though - just read it, don't listen to it.
This World We Live In is Susan Beth Pfeffer's third book in her The Last Survivors series. This book brings the characters of the first two books together into one place. Miranda's dad returns to her house with his wife, new baby and three strangers (to Miranda - Alex and Julie from the second book, The Dead and the Gone for the rest of us). Life is already near impossible for Miranda and her family before her dad brings the extra mouths to feed. Despite her initial dislike of Alex, Miranda can't help falling in love with him. But can Miranda make the decisions that could change not only her life but also the lives of her family and everyone she loves?
OK, I love these books. Once I start them, I can't stop reading them. I find myself truly vested in these characters. I cry, I laugh, I fear for them. I recommend these books to everybody I know or come in contact with. They're fabulous. Also, they have really beautiful covers.
The Society of the Evening Star is relentlessly pursuing the the hidden artifacts to unlock the demon prison. The Knights of the Dawn are forced to try to recover the artifacts to keep the safe from evil hands. Two have already been found. Kendra discovers the location of a key guarding one of the vaults in Patton Burgess' journals - the dragon sanctuary of Wyrmroost. Retrieving the key is a suicide mission, yet the Knights must attempt to get the key before the Evening Star. Who will survive? And who can be trusted?
These books continue to get better as they go along. I enjoyed have Kendra, Seth and the rest of the gang going somewhere outside of Fablehaven and seeing what the magical world is like outside of Fablehaven. I did feel like a lot of this book was set up for the final book in the series but it was still very good. I definitely didn't suspect one of the twists at the end and I'm still not too sure I'm happy about that!
Book 12 in the 101 Fantasy Challenge.
There's a plague spreading across Fablehaven that is turning creatures of light to dark and the Sorenson's have no clue how to fight it or who they can trust. At the same time, Kendra travels to another secret preserve in a race to recover one of the other hidden artifacts before the Society of the Evening Star gets to it first.
This was the best Fablehaven book so far. As the Sorenson children have matured so have the contents of the books. The creatures get just a little bit darker and the challenges more complex. Mull also brings in some new characters and introduces us to other characters that we've heard about but never met in the story. These aren't the most brilliantly written books and they're not very complex but they are fun, fast reads and the author is very imaginative with his magical creatures. Grip of the Shadow Plague had some very touching scenes in it that I enjoyed a lot. I'm excited to see where this series is going to go - especially since the next book as a big dragon on the front. I love dragons!
Book 11 in the 101 Fantasy Challenge.
Kaylee Cavanaugh is a banshee. That means when someone dies, she screams uncontrollably. So how come when she and her boyfriend, Nash, are at a rock concert and the pop star falls down dead before them, Kaylee doesn't scream? Maybe because the pop star had no soul? Looks like someone is convincing teenagers to sell their souls for fame and fortune and Kaylee is caught in the middle and the only way to get out is to travel to the Netherworld.
I really enjoy this series of books. They're fun, easy to listen to and a bit captivating. The author does a good job of selling her story and making me want to keep listening to it. They're narrated by Amanda Ronconi and she does a wonderful job reading the books. Her voices are convincing and believable and she seems to capture the attitude and voice nuances of teenagers.
Book Ten in the 101 Fantasy Challenge.
Await Your Reply tells the story of three strangers and how their lives interconnect in mysterious ways. Miles Cheshire knows he should get on with his life and live it. Yet, he can't help but long to find his brother, Hayden. He searches endlessly to find Hayden. Lucy Lattimore runs away from her hometown in Ohio with her high school teacher. Then, days later, amid discussions of changing identities, Lucy starts to think twice about her decision. Finally, Ryan can't help but believe his whole life is a lie after learning during his sophomore year of college that his dad isn't really his dad. He walks off his college campus and begins a new life.
