The Host

Meyer, Stephanie. The Host. NY: Little Brown and Company, 2008. 619 pages. (Sci-Fi)

The main characters in this book are Melanie, Wanderer, and Ian, and it takes place in the future, at a time when souls have basically taken over the human population. Once the souls capture a human, they would place a soul inside the human body. The soul would then take over the human’s mind as though nothing changed. Melanie is one of the few human not yet captured and taken over, but that all ends the day she is caught by the seekers. When a new soul, Wanderer, is placed inside Melanie, she refuses to let her mind be taken over. Melanie talks to Wanderer’s mind, but she is really unable to control her body. She exists only in Wanderer’s mind.

One day on the way to the healer, Wanderer and Melanie change their course. They then begin a search through the desert to find the man Melanie loves and only exists in their memories. Hoping he is still in control of his mind, they begin looking. Along this journey, Wanderer and Melanie become closer. Will Melanie ever get her body back? Read The Host to find out.
I LOVED this book! It was definitely right up there with the Twilight saga. If you want any type of book at all, I extremely recommend this book. I didn’t find it possible to stop reading it; I doubt you will either.

Reviewed by: DancingPenguins96

Trickster’s Choice

Pierce, Tamora. Trickster’s Choice. NY: Random House, 2003. 403 pages. (Fantasy Series)

Meet Aly: the not quite 16 heroine of Tamora Pierce’s Trickster’s Series. Overshadowed by her father, a spymaster for the kingdom of Tortall, and her mother, legendary defender of the realm and heroine of her own series—The Lioness Quartet—Aly finds herself floating through life, flirting with boys, and learning spy craft from her father. When she runs away from home, Aly must conceal her identity and past when she is captured and sold as a slave in the distant Copper Isles ruled by a ruthless king. Aly finds herself in a household out a favor with the king and is exiled along with them to the farthest reaches of the land. Will Aly find her place as a slave in a strange land or try to fight her way home? Nothing is what it seems in this exciting book by local author Tamora Pierce.

This is a wonderful read, perfect for a rainy day. Aly is a fantastic character to spend your day with as she struggles to find her place and survive in a world where a wrong word can mean death. Although the book is populated by numerous characters from Pierce’s other novels, I didn’t feel that I had to read them to understand Aly or the story. If anything, the bits and pieces you learn about these characters makes you want to explore their stories when you turn the last page of Trickster’s Choice.

Reviewed by: Disreputable Dog

Runaway

Van Draanen, Wendelin. Runaway. NY: Laurel-Leaf, 2006. 276 pages. (General Fiction)

Take a look inside Holly’s world as we travel along in her adventures through her diary. Holly is a foster child living with her horrible foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bender. They abuse her and don’t give her healthy living conditions. So, Holly runs away. Follow along as Holly meets different people throughout her journey to try to find out where she really belongs in the world.

I liked this book. It was a little disturbing, though, to hear about what awful things some foster parents might actually do to children. But, it’s very well detailed. I give it an A-.

Reviewed by: JustGuess :)

The Reptile Room

Snicket, Lemony. The Reptile Room. New York: Harper Collins, 2000. 190 pages. (Adventure Series)

Meet Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. These three children have miserable lives full of unfortunate events. Their house burned down, their parents got killed in the fire, and Count Olaf was trying to get his greedy little hands on the Baudelaire fortune. Now, since their house has burned down, they were going to live with their Uncle Montgomery a very famous and respected herpetologist. He studies snakes and lizards from all across the world. His previous assistant quit, and he has a new assistant, Stephano. When Stephano arrives, Klaus automatically knows it is Count Olaf. What happens next? Read The Reptile Room to find out. I felt that the book was very exciting and once you started reading it you do not want to put it down.

Reviewed by: LT28

Twister Summer

Robert, Willo. Twister Summer. NY: Simon Pulse,1998. 190 pages. (Mystery)

The book I selected was Twisted Summer. It’s about a girl named Cici, who can’t wait for summer to start. She is so excited because she is going to one of her childhood hideouts: Crystal Lake. Little did she know that this summer was going to change her life. She finds out that one girl and two boys died at the camp. These were kids that she had grown up with at this lake. Everyone thought that this one guy killed them, but Cici doesn’t believe that he was the actual guy. So, she started to investigate. Cici has a hard time believing what she has uncovered. The killer could be someone close to her, a friend, maybe even someone in her family! She must be on the right track because she now becomes the murder target!

This book is very interesting. I really enjoyed it. I don’t really have an interest in these types of books but wanted to try it anyways. I usually read books that aren’t really serious. But, I still liked it. I give it a 7 ½ because it’s not really the type of book that I would normally get.

Reviewed by: PradaPanda