Waiting on Wednesday: The Last Dragonslayer

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

(@jasperfforde)

Book #1 - The Last Dragonslayer series

 September 4th 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

In the good old days, magic was indispensable—it could both save a kingdom and clear a clogged drain. But now magic is fading: drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and magic carpets are used for pizza delivery. Fifteen-year-old foundling Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for magicians—but it’s hard to stay in business when magic is drying up. And then the visions start, predicting the death of the world’s last dragon at the hands of an unnamed Dragonslayer. If the visions are true, everything will change for Kazam—and for Jennifer. Because something is coming. Something known as . . . Big Magic.

I love Jasper Fforde's different series: Thurdsday Next, Nursery Crime, and Shades of Grey. All of them. I am so excited to see a YA series for this author!!

Never Eighteen Review & Giveaway

Never Eighteen
Megan Bostic @meganbostic
January 17th 2012 by HMH Children's Books
Goodreads

I had the dream again. The one where I’m running. I don’t know what from or where to, but I’m scared, terrified really.

Austin Parker is never going to see his eighteenth birthday. At the rate he’s going, he probably won’t even see the end of the year. But in the short time he has left there’s one thing he can do: He can try to help the people he loves live—even though he never will.

It’s probably hopeless.

But he has to try.

I'm usually the girl with the dystopian or the paranormal books, but ever since John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, I've become a drawn to the emotional books. Don't ask me why. Nothing in my life at the moment is drawing me to them. It is just that these books are just so good. I'm not usually into books when I know someone is sick, because, really, I know I'm going to end up crying at some point, and I would try to avoid crying in my life if possible. So, I will tell you the truth: I adore this book.

You discover, when you read these emotional books, they have a way of have a way of grabbing you, hooking you, and then, you have read 50 pages without really meaning to do so. I was just glancing at the book as it came across my desk at the library one day and suddenly I was immersed in the story of Austin and his journey on his last "good" weekend with his best friend (and love of his life, even if he hasn't told her), Kaylee, who he gets to drive him around as he takes care of things weighing on his mind. Things like talking to his dead best friend's mother who is still grieving, his grandmother who is still bitter at his mother, the girl from high school who is going off on the wrong course after a extremely tragic occurrence, his father still living apart from his mother, and other people...these things are ripping me apart, and yet, I still read on. With each of these stops he listens to what they have to say and asks them: Why? Why are you living your life this way? Can you change? As a reader, you know Austin doesn't have long to live, and the other characters know it as well. Austin's questions are tiny seeds planted. He asks questions, offers suggestions, and then leaves, hoping change will occur for the better. These seeds are not only planted in the characters but also in the reader...very sneaky Megan Bostic...

Never Eighteen is bittersweet. You, as a the reader, think you know the ending, and to some degree you do. I don't really think that is the purpose of Never Eighteen. To me, the purpose of Never Eighteen is to make you think about how you are living you life. What if? What if you knew you only had so many days left? Would you live them differently? Would you talk to people differently? Tell someone something you had been meaning to tell them for a long time, but never had the courage? Never Eighteen offers the reality death does not discriminate by age. The young die just as the old do. How we chose to use our days is what matters. Can you make a difference? Big or small? Can your life impact one person or many? Never Eighteen, for me, reminds me that you are never too young or old to spread some love and change lives. :)

Lagniappe
So...I really like this book. I think you could tell. I'm going to spread this love around! That's right! This giveaway is international as long as The Book Depository ships to your country. Check here to make sure!




RULES

  ~13 years old or with parents' permission

  ~International

  ~fill out the Rafflecopter below

  ~giveaway runs from June 30 to end of July 6

  ~winner will be notified by email and have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Croak Review

Croak
Gina Damico @ginadamico
March 20th 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure.

He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.

Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her Targets like a natural born Killer.

Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in?

I really enjoyed Croak with its spunky lead character and hilarious humor. Lexington Bartleby is a troublemaker whose parents have reached their limits and decided to ship her off to her uncle's house. They tell her it's for her own good and all that other stuff parents tell a kid hoping they will understand why they have to do what they are doing, but for Lex, it still sucks. She really doesn't want to go to work on a farm for the summer. I don't really blame her!  On the way there, Lex sees the light - no, not the "light" as in the error of her ways - literally the "light." She sees a soul on its way to where ever souls go when they depart the body.  Lex is just a bit freaked out...okay, more than a bit.

She arrives to meet her Uncle Mort and finds out Croak is not your ordinary farming community.  Croak is a town full of reapers, people who help delivers the souls of the recently dead, and Lex is one of them like her Uncle Mort. Uh huh, yep. That's why she's been full of mood swings and the need to punch anyone who looks at her funny. She has been turning into a Grim. Luckily, her uncle heard about it and brought her here for training. With Croak, Damico provides a mystery as Lex and her new partner Driggs are investigating weird deaths - people who shouldn't be dying, but are, and a comedy because they characters are a riot. Did I mention Lex has a twin named Cordy, short for Concord...Lexington and Concord...and their mother is a history teacher.  It's little zingers like this that keep a smile on my face as I read Croak.  I can't wait for Scorch which comes out in September.

Lagniappe
One upcoming appearance:

Saturday, June 23 - Beyond Words: an author panel featuring me, Hilary Graham, Diana Renn, and AC Gaughen
1:00-3:00pm
Tatnuck Bookstore
Westborough, MA