#25 – The Girl Who Chased the Moon

I love Sarah Addison Allen’s books. If you haven’t read any of them I highly recommend them. Each book is about a quirky southern town and is slightly magical. They’re fairly light, easy reads, but they are all enjoyable. And I like each consecutive book better than the last.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon is her third and most recent book, it just came out last week. It’s the story of a teenage girl who, after the death of her mother, goes to live with her grandfather (who stands over 8 feet tall) whom she’s never met. There she learns about that this isn’t any ordinary town. Wallpaper changes to match your mood, people can see the scent of food baking and strange lights move around in her yard at night.

This is my favorite of her books so far (they literally get better with each one). If you’re looking for something light and easy to read with just a hint of magic and romance this is a great choice. And if you like this one, then I highly recommend her earlier books, Garden Spells and Sugar Queen.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

#24 – Heart of the Dragon

If you know me, you probably know I’m a huge fan of the series, Supernatural. This is a book based on the series. It wasn’t great, but the author is certainly improving.

But … he’s still not great. I’m actually looking forward to the next two books more because they are two different authors (although I’ve read one book by the guy writing the next book and I really wasn’t impressed). I think the problem with Keith DeCandido, who has written three of the novels now, is that he tries to hard to be one of us. It’s like the geeky guy in high school trying to fit in with the cool kids. He’s a fan of the show, and he wants other fans to know it so he writes in all this extra stuff to prove how much he knows about the show, but it just doesn’t work. He’s trying too hard.

That said, this was probably the best of the three Supernatural books he’s written so far. I actually kind of liked the flashbacks to the Campbells and John hunting. I think I would have liked it better if he hadn’t kept referring to Castiel as Cass. It sounds like a girl’s name. There’s only one L Dude!

Anyway, if you’re a SPN fan, then you might not hate this book. Like I said, it was an improvement on his earlier novels.

#23 – Full Moon (Dark Guardians #2)

This is another book that I’m reviewing for my friends website, so you’ll have to go there for a more detailed opinion. However I will say that this book wasn’t bad. It certainly wasn’t anything special, and the first book was probably better, but this wasn’t bad. It’s a quick read and it does draw you in enough to want to know what happens.

Full Moon (Dark Guardians #2) by Rachel Hawthorne

#22 – Twilight the Graphic Novel Vol. 1

Don’t judge me.

I was totally against this book when it was announced, but on Monday night as we were getting the Strict on Sale books ready to go out on the floor I started reading through this … I mean, no I wasn’t reading a book the day before it came out … Anyway, it caught my attention.

It’s actually not bad, but if you don’t like graphic novels, don’t bother, you won’t like this. It condenses and changes some things almost as much as the movie, and the dialogue definitely felt rushed and random at times. I definitely got the feeling I wouldn’t have really understood it at all if I hadn’t read through the books … three times.

What I liked most about this though wasn’t even the story itself, I really liked the artist’s interpretation of the story and the artwork itself. At timse it appeared she used actual photographs for the background and drew in the characters and things on top.

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, so if you’re a Twilight fan and a fan of the graphic novel genre you might want to check it out. If you don’t want to pay for it, you can always walk into your local B&N or Borders, grab a copy and a cup of coffee and take a seat, reading it will probably only take an hour or two (that’s all it took me). Not that I promote people spending hours in the cafe, of course.

Twilight the Graphic Novel Vol. 1 by Stephenie Meyer and Young Kim

#21 – Turn Coat (The Dresden Files)

I am in love with Harry Dresden. Seriously, on my list of favorite fictional men he is right up there with Fitzwilliam Darcy. I love Dresden and I love the author who created him, Jim Butcher.

For those who don’t know, Harry Dresden is a wizard. He operates as a PI in Chicago and is the only person listed under “Wizard” in the yellow pages. If you’re a sci-fi fan and haven’t read a Dresden novel yet, you are seriously missing out. Butcher has perfected the art of humor and suspense. Dresden is amazingly written, sharp, witty, everything you would want from a narrator.

To prepare for the next Dresden novel, which comes out April 6 (yay!) I decided to re-read the last one published, which came out in paperback a couple weeks ago. I have officially read every book in this series twice, and I love them every time. In this particular novel Dresden has to help a fellow wizard (whom he has hated most of his life) prove his innocence while trying to unmask a traitor on the White Council (the governing body of wizards).

One great thing about this series is that they literally get better with every book, and I was hooked from the beginning. I can’t really say that this one is my favorite, but it was definitely a gerat book.

Turn Coat (Book 11 of the Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher

#20 – Lord Sunday (Keys to the Kingdom #7)

I started reading the Keys of the Kingdom series by Garth Nix for a children’s lit class when I was in college. I loved the books, they were written for a young audience but also contained allusions to classic tales and literature that children wouldn’t always understand, such as L’Morte de Arthur, The myth of Prometheus, The Ryme of the Ancient Marinere. These allusions are what made me love this series and wait eagerly for each new installment.

Lord Sunday is the last book of the series, and I think Nix did a great job finishing the tale he had begun. I won’t go into specifics in case you haven’t read any part of the series, but Lord Sunday is basically about the final battle and whether or not the main character, Arthur Penhaligon (see the similiarities to Arthur Pendragon?) can save the universe. I think what I liked about the ending of this series is that it wasn’t at all what I expected it would be, and I’m not entirely sure it was a happily ever after, but it was a good ending.

If you like the occasional children’s fantasy novel but haven’t read any of this series I highly recommend it. And now the entire series is published so you won’t have to wait for each one like I did!

Lord Sunday (Keys to the Kingdom series) by Garth Nix

#19 – Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter

I won’t be writing my entire review of this book here, as I am currently working on a review for rambles.Net, but I will say I really enjoyed this book. It was better than I thought it would be and the author did a great job of blending the facts of Abe Lincoln’s life with the fiction. He also managed to make it relevent to today, which I didn’t expect.

I would highly recommend this book to any sci-fi fan, though I will caution anyone with a weak stomach; though it’s not overly gory, the author also doesn’t hesitate to describe some of  the horrible things vampires would do to humans. I do not like gore at all, but this didn’t bother me too much.

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith