Book Wars (24)

Ingo took the fins last week. Who will win it this week? FIGHT!

The sea is the birthplace of legends.

Nia, a young mermyd of the Bluefin clan, has had one wish all her life -- to be an Avatar in her beloved home of Atlantis. The ten Avatars rule the beautiful and peaceful undersea city alongside the ancient Farworlders, whose magic keeps their world alive. To be an Avatar is an honor and a great responsibility, and Nia dreams of taking her place among the noble ten.

Now, at sixteen, Nia has a chance to see her dream come true. Atlantis is choosing its next Avatar, and Nia knows she is supremely qualified.

But there is something Nia doesn't know -- if she gets her heart's desire, it could mean the end of her treasured world of Atlantis forever. (from librarything.com)

The people of Oak Grove have stopped up the creek that used to run through their town, because they don't like to be anywhere near water. Eli and Trevor McGill, called Eel and Trout for their fish-like quickness, don't fit in at all with their strange fondness for meals of raw tuna and seawater. Their best friend, Martha Glimmer, feels out of place too, heartbroken after her mother's death. Dreaming of escape, the three run away, but a flash flood forces them home again, to think about what would make them truly free and face the truth - that Trout and Eel are the sons of a mermaid. (from librarything.com)

BEA Swag Grab Contest!

My first (of what should be many) BEA contest for the summer! Up for grabs I have 5 swag packs for 5 lucky winners. For first place -

A Vlad Tod tote stuffed with a bunch of fun stuff!

Second place -


A BEA tote filled with some swag-like goodies

Third place -


Even more swag

Fourth place -


Some colorful bookmarks

And fifth place -


Some more bookmarks

Just fill out the form below for your chance to win! Open to US residents only.

The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Mary Downing Hahn

Pub date: September 6, 2010

When twelve-year-old Florence boards the crowded horse-drawn coach in London, she looks forward to a new life with her great uncle and aunt at Crutchfield Hall, an old manor house in the English countryside. Anything will be better, she thinks, than the grim London orphanage where she has lived since her parents' death.

But Florence doesn't expect the ghost of her cousin Sophia, who haunts the cavernous rooms and dimly lit hallways of Crutchfield and concocts a plan to use Florence to help her achieve her murderous goals. Will Florence be able to convince the others in the household of the imminent danger and stop Sophia before it's too late? (from netgalley.com, digital review copy provided by HMH via NetGalley)

This truly is a much more traditional Victorian ghost story and I loved it! While it very much carried a Secret Garden element do it with the sickly brother never coming out of his room, that's pretty much where the similarities end.

Florence is stuck in a conundrum, having left her friends at the orphanage to be alone in an old house with a rather doting uncle and an aunt that hates her, not to mention a cousin she never sees and a dead cousin that won't leave her alone. She has no one to complain to and she can't tell her orphanage friends for fear of them thinking she's ungrateful. So what's she to do? Sophia, her tragically dead cousin, won't leave her alone and no one will speak of the horrible cold corners and whispers and laughter. They say it's all in her imagination although they seem very frightened of it.

While the story didn't have me jumping, it certainly had a creep factor to it and for a moment (or maybe even longer), I didn't know how it was going to end. I hate it when I can see the ending coming and with this book, I certainly couldn't. Not really. Hahn leaves puncture wounds in the plot that round out the whole of the story, but there may be a string or two left behind that someone may have forgotten.

Under Sophia's power no one has the ability to control themselves. She controls anyone she wants; it's a power she's always wanted and almost nearly had in life. Sophia's a nasty piece of work and even with the revelation at the end, it's difficult to sympathize with her, which I think is the point. She is a selfish, horrible little girl that was more than willing to sacrifice others for her own means. Aunt is the same way. How she treats Florence is abhorrent and it's hard to NOT sympathize with the poor girl. Years after living in an orphanage and the first place she can call home has someone belittling her every chance they get. How warm!

Even the secondary characters were full of life for how little they showed on the pages. The groundskeeper with his superstitions and the housemaids with their passive yet adamant defense of Florence; it's an awesome cast of characters. Really Aunt and Sophia balance it all out in their wickedness, creating an atmosphere of not only fear but destitution and loneliness. Plus I brewed up some truly horrible images when it was described how the dead Sophia looked. I couldn't help but think of the drawing on one of the Scary Stories books. You know which one I'm talking about. Truly frightening!

If you're looking for a good spook, definitely pick up The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall. It's an old-fashioned ghost story with a modern edge that'll add more fuel to the 'what happens after we die?' fire, for sure.

Alas, I admit defeat

After the death of my fourth laptop in roughly 6 years, I waved my hands in the air erratically and exclaimed, "fuck it!" I shall not get another one for some time (save for the late birthday gift of a Netbook coming to me in August) lest I spread my computer-killing juju to another device.

Chained in shackles to a desktop computer, I was left in a quandary. Thanks to Kersten Hamilton (Tyger, Tyger), I was introduced to the wiles of NetGalley (of which if you have not perused, I highly recommend you do) wherein I amassed quite a collection of digital review copies to read. While a right pain in the ass to read on a laptop, I could still do it with some measure of comfort from my bed. With this last device's passing, I was stuck with nothing but a desktop and a wooden chair to quickly ease my ass into numbness and my eyes into blindness should I sit myself in front of its screen for extended periods of time.

What to do?

Since its invention I've railed against the teachings of the Kindle. "Give me an old-fashioned book!" I'd yell, for you cannot replicate that new book scent from a digitized screen. Although I'm wont to imagine that Amazon would surely release such a scented candle, only $5 with the purchase of its latest model digi-reader. But now with this collection of digital review copies and no reasonable way to read them, what choice am I left with?

Still, I did not want to go the way of the Kindle, for its price and its rather brutish clunkiness is a bit of a turnoff. So I traversed the wilds of Google for a more suitable match for myself and I must admit, I do believe I've found it amongst the forests of Sony. With its choices and Touch, how could I not be immediately drawn in?

After some decision-making, and consulting other like-minded explorers that had gone before me, I made my choice. The Sony Reader PRS-600 aka Touch was stowed away in my trunks and smuggled back to my abode. Here it is resting after its long journey -


Hopefully we are amenable to each other and this new find doesn't go by the way of its predecessors. Luckily for me, I tend to have better success with these smaller creature than I do their more complex brethren. And hopefully it doesn't wisen to the fact that, still, I treasure those traditional bindings over the intangible step-siblings. Wish me luck.

Added to the Pile + 38

Thanks to the lovelies at HMH, this past week I received The Limit by Kristen Landon. And thanks to the awesome people at Egmont, I got Middleworld: The Jaguar Stones, Book One by J&P Voelkel.


Fourteen-year-old Max Murphy, video-gamer extraordinaire, is furious when his archaeologist parents cancel the family vacation to go on a dig in Central America. But things go from bad to worse when Max is summoned to join them, only to discover that his parents have vanished. With the help of Lola, a fast-talking, quick-thinking Maya girl, Max embarks on a quest to find out just what's going on. Soon Max and Lola are running for their lives in the perilous rainforest, as they unlock ancient secrets, meet mysterious strangers, and begin to understand that, in San Xavier, nothing is ever as it seems.

Fate has delivered a challenge of epic proportions to Max Murphy. But can a teen whose biggest talent is for video games rescue his parents from the Maya Underworld and save himself from the villainous Lords of Death? (book back blurb)


An eighth-grade girl was taken today . . .

With this first sentence, readers are thrust into a fast-paced thriller that doesn't let up for a moment. In a world not too far removed from our own, kids are being taken away to special workhouses if their families exceed the financial debt limit imposed by the government. Thirteen-year-old Matt briefly wonders if he might be next, but he quickly dismisses the thought. After all, his parents are responsible with their spending, right? But after Matt's family unexpectedly goes over the limit, Matt's whisked away to a workhouse where far more serious dangers exist than anyone on the outside realizes - dangers that could change his reality forever. (book back blurb)