Wondrous Strange

Kelley Winslow has left her family home in search of a dream to which all young actresses aspire  to act on the grand stage in New York City.  She finds herself as a understudy in a small theater called Avalon, way off Broadway. And all the actors there are not as they seem.  In a twist of fate, she receives the chance of a life time.  The lead in A Midsummer's Night's Dream.  But things go array, and she finds herself caught in a plot thicker than Shakespeare and far more dangerous.

This book had humor, wit, adventure, and love.  I thought it was a great quick read. If you are looking for a book about faeries and you want something that doesn't take itself too seriously, this book would be it. There was some mild language, but overall, I liked the story line.  The main characters were like-able and you wanted them to succeed.   I would give this book three out of five foxes.

Emily

Spell Bound

Spell Bound

(A Hex Hall Novel #3)

by Rachel Hawkins

Sophia Mercer is in over her head. Hex Hall was the place where her families power was created. Now it has become a battle ground for Sophia, her family and her friends. Will she be-able to overcome the Head Misters and her sister? Will she be able to unbind her powers in time to save those she loves?

Rachel Hawkins wrote one of the best ending books I have read in a trilogy. She wraps everything up and still throws a few curve balls in the end. I give this book 4 foxes out of 5 only because I felt the book could have been a little longer. Also a few people died and I wish they hadn't. 

Camille 

Demon Glass

Demon Glass

  (A Hex Hall Novel #2)

By Rachel Hawkins

Sophia Mercer thought being a teenager was hard enough.  Now after finding out what she really is and how powerful she can be it scares her and gets her looking into "The Removal," a procedure to strip magical powers.  To top it off she has a Vampire friend, Jenna Talbot, a ghost who is haunting her, she is betrothed to Cal, the Hex Halls school grounds care taker, and Archer, who she loves is an Agent for the Eye, who kills magical creatures. Also, her dad is the head of the councilor for magical creatures and wants her to spend the summer in England. 

Again Rachel Hawkins casts a spell binding book that keeps you flipping through the pages madly, while you seek to find out what is going to happen to Sophie and her Friends. 

I give this book four foxes out of five. 

Camille 

Hex Hall

Hex Hall

Rachel Hawkins

“Hex Hall” is a cork-y story about a young girl, Sophia Mercer, who never is able to cast a prefect spell. It definitely brings the saying, “Magic always comes with a price,” to life. Sophie has lived in the human world all her life. Her mother and her move around a lot. But her last move happens after a spell she casts at a school dance goes hey-wire. Hex Hall, a school for troubled magical creatures, becomes her permit home until she turns 18. Here she hopes to fit in with her kind but slowly realizes she is different and she gets tangled up in some dark magic.

I give this book 4 foxes out of 5. The Author, Rachel Hawkins, takes you on a journey of witty dialog and weaves several twists and turns in the book which keeps you guessing on what really is going on at Hex Hall.

I would let age 13 and up read this book. There is few kissing scene and a couple swear words but over all it is fairly clean.

Camille

 The Rook,
 by Daniel O'Malley

I spent two weeks trying my best to like the debut novel of author Daniel O'Malley, titled The Rook.  The premise of this book sounded interesting and exciting.  A woman wakes up with amnesia  surrounded by bodies and her only connection to her life before this event is a note, written by herself, to her self.  Myfanwy Thomas is then thrust knee deep into a strange alternate world the normal's around her can't comprehend.  I thought I would love this book.  It took about three days for me to actually get into this book.  And then I put it down.  Waited a couple of days and started it up again.  

I found this book to be frustrating in a lot of ways.  One, the main character, Myfanwy (sounds like Tiffany with a M) dramatically changes from one page to the next so that you could never really grasp who she was as a person.  One scene she is taking charge and commanding respect from those around her, and the next she is threatening to throw up at the slightest twinge of gore.  And there is gore in this book.  She complains about her clothes, being bland and unnoticeable  and when she wears a revealing dress she spends a lot of time complaining about it!  For someone who has just woken up with no idea who she is, she spends little time worrying about it.  I couldn't stand her as a main character.  

  The idea of a secret agency that takes care of all supernatural going on's in the world so that lowly humans can live their lives in ignorant bliss could be a great book.  However, I couldn't decide if the author took any of his characters seriously.  They were for the most part, silly and unbelievable. I had a hard time believing that any of his characters could run a agency, let alone, a secret one.  They also seemed to lack basic conversational skills.  At any  dramatic scene, the characters could only express their horror, anguish  contempt or anger using only one word, which was used with high frequency in this book.  Using the F word to convey what your characters are feeling in a highly charged moment seems immature.  The author's writing showed some maturity in so much of this book, that the use of this word in particular was jarring to myself as reader and took me out of the scene.  Over all, this book could have been a wondrous romp in the supernatural world, but feel sadly flat.  

I would give this book a two fox rating out of five
Emily