bookshelves of doom

Spell Bound: Hex Hall #3 -- Rachel Hawkins

Man, that cat has appeared on the cover of every one of the Hex Hall books, despite there distinct lack of cat in the series. IT DRIVES ME BANANAS. 

Yes, I realize I should get out more. 

Anyway, Spell Bound. SPOILERS ABOUT THE FIRST TWO ARE A NECESSITY.

At the end of Demonglass, Sophie had finally come to terms with demonic heritage... only to be magically prevented from accessing her own powers. As if that being powerless and being-hunted by the same jerks who bound her powers isn't enough, she gets captured by the Brannicks—specifically the youngest one, which just adds insult to injury—a family whose monster-hunting legacy goes back for decades.

But get this: it turns out that Sophie's mother is a Brannick. 

Which means that so is Sophie. So she's got demons on one side, and demon hunters on the other... which, if she makes it through all of this alive, will make for some HELLISH (<--ho ho ho) family reunions.

Oh, ALSO, she's not sure if any of her friends are even still alive. And IF THEY ARE, she still doesn't know how she's going to deal with that whole in-love-with-dreamy-Archer-the-triple-agent-but-betrothed-to-hottiepants-Cal-the-healer thing.

Like Hex Hall and Demonglass, Spell Bound is energetic, fast-paced, and funny. Sophie continues to by likable and entertaining, and her habit of making terrible, terrible jokes whenever she's nervous never gets old. Neither this installment nor Demonglass ever quite reaches the heights of Hex Hall, but the whole series is still immensely fun, and I LOVE that it's a smart, witty, mostly-boppy paranormal romance peopled with characters that I care about, rather than being ANGSTY and OVER-DRAMATIC and RIFE WITH TRAGEDY and FILLED WITH CHARACTERS I WANT TO SLAP.

La la la la la la la.

SPOILER: I didn't particularly like how the love triangle was resolved—killing off Cal seemed more cop-out than resolution—but that's a pretty small issue, especially since now Elodie can pursue his ghostly hotness for all eternity, and as she's one of the best characters in the whole series, I'm glad that Hawkins gave her a happy ending.

NOW, ON TO SCHOOL SPIRITS, WHICH I'VE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO FOR AGES.

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Previously: Hex Hall, Demonglass.

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Author page.

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Amazon.

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Book source: ILLed through my library.

Book Brahmins: Cecil Castellucci and Sara Varon.

At Shelf Awareness:

Click through for the whole thing, it's adorable.

May 9, 1874: Howard Carter is born.

If you're a fan of Elizabeth Peters, then chances are, you already know Howard Carter.

But, just in case you don't, I shall tell you: he's the archaeologist credited with finding the tomb of King Tutankhamun.

At first, I figured I'd highlight Wrapped, since it's a hugely entertaining Egyptology-themed mystery.

BUT THEN I REMEMBERED The Professor's Daughter. 

And while I enjoyed Wrapped, I LOOOOOOOVED The Professor's Daughter. It's a hugging book. Like, I love it so much that whenever I pick it up, I feel the need to hug it:

Lillian is the daughter of Professor Bowell, the eminent Egyptologist. One day, while the Professor is out, Lillian wants to go to Kensington. As she can't go out unchaperoned, she brings along Imhotep IV. Who is a mummy.

Brief moment for gushing about the adorablosity of it all: How did Sfar and Guibert make Imhotep IV (who, other than a bump for a nose, has no real visible facial features) a wicked hottie? Is it the cigarette holder? The top hat? The spats? Or is it his romantic nature? His melancholy? His tragic background? Whatever it is, it works. I fell in lurve with him by the end of the first page.

SAH-WOON. And obviously, highly, HIGHLY recommended.

Today @KirkusReviews...

...I wrote about Michaela MacColl's Nobody's Secret, which OH MY GOD, I WANTED TO LIKE.

I WANTED TO LIKE IT SO, SO BAD.

Alas and alack, though, sometimes we don't get what we want.

Update on book challenge in Prosser, WA.

From the Tri-City Herald:

The Prosser School Board deadlocked on a vote to remove The Popularity Papers from some of its school libraries Tuesday night. That means a recommendation approved by Superintendent Ray Tolcacher to keep the book remains in place.

But board members did not support Tolcacher's recommendation to keep Dave Pelzer's A Child Called It on book shelves. The board tabled further discussion of what to do with the book when they were unable to reach a consensus.

Previously.

Do you know how Megan Whalen Turner got discovered?

BECAUSE HOLY COW, IT IS AN AWESOME STORY.

From an interview at KidsEBookBestsellers:

I guess Traditional is probably the right word, but it was highly unconventional. I sent two of my short stories to Diana Wynne Jones. Not only was she gracious enough to read them, she recommended I send them to her American editor Susan Hirschman who agreed to publish my collection of short stories, Instead of Three Wishes.

That's as rad as Lyle Lovett crediting Guy Clark for kickstarting his career by talking up his demo tape way back when. MY SHRIVELED LITTLE HEART, IT JUST GREW THREE SIZES.

Links shared on Twitter: May 1-7.

More on the removal of The Perks of Being a Wallflower...

...from eighth-grade classrooms in Glen Ellyn, Illinois:

On Monday, those who spoke on this topic during public comment disagreed with the board's decision. Students said they didn't want their ability to read certain books to be determined by other parents in the district and board members, rather than their own parents. Many also said certain objectionable passages in the book were focused on rather than its overall message.

"This book gave me hope," said Carly Basler, Hadley eighth-grader. "This book inspired me. This book showed me my differences are my strengths."

Last week, some Hadley students demonstrated their support for the book by placing sticky notes with drawings of flowers and quotes from the book on walls in the school, Hadley teachers said. They also started their own petition, which was sent to board members, teachers said.

Previously.

May 8, 1999: The first female cadet graduates from The Citadel.

A teeny bit of background from the LA Times:

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Citadel graduated its first female cadet Saturday, ending a male-only tradition at the military school that stretched more than 150 years before ending as a result of a federal court fight.

Nancy Ruth Mace, a magna cum laude graduate in business administration, received her degree from her father, Emory Mace, the school's commandant of cadets.

In a news conference after the ceremony, she told reporters she does not regard herself "as a pioneer" in ending single-gender education at The Citadel.

While I know there must be other applicable books, the first one that comes to mind is Marie Lu's Legend, since the heroine, June, is also famous for a military first: she's the first one in history to have earned a perfect score on the test that decides the future of every citizen: 

Cinematic action, romance, politics, extremely sketchy medical experiments, some possible Soylent Green-ish doings (<--that one is extremely unlikely, but sicko that I am, I can't help but hope for it), codes, cage fights, and a couple of seriously shocking-ass moments... Legend is fun stuff. I don't know if I totally buy the speed at which June and Day trust each other (especially after [REDACTED]) and for people that should be mega-guarded and focused on life-and-death stuff, they sure do think about the smoochies a whole lot, but that certainly didn't stop me from reading it in one sitting.

Man, I NEED to read Prodigy.

The 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards...

...have been announced.

The YA list is:

Gold: The Immortal Von B. by M. Scott Carter (The RoadRunner Press)

Silver (tie): Bi-Normal, by M.G. Higgins (Saddleback Publishing) and Untraceable: The Nature of Grace series, Book 1, by S.R. Johannes (Coleman & Stott)

Bronze: The Elephant of Surprise, by Brent Hartinger (Buddha Kitty Books)

Click on through for the other categories.

This is my life.

Um, so this is the second snake Lemon has dragged into the house this morning.

(I know this because the first one was way skinnier, and last I checked, it was really, really dead.)

It's now hanging out under the radiator.

I THINK.

Ender's Game trailer.

Errr... if you haven't read the book, this is pretty freaking spoilery:

 

No Star for You!

As I always get a giggle out of Travis Jonker's One Star Review Guess Who posts, I figured I'd swipe the idea and post the occasional one-star Amazon review of a much-lauded YA title.

So, can you guess what book this disappointed reader is reviewing?:

This book is so boring. I felt like I was being forced to read it for school or something. The whole first half of the book is 5 men/youths traveling across mountains, plains, forests, rocks, pebbles, blah blah blah. The author spends WAY too much time describing the mundane things the characters are doing and the boring scenery they are passing. I don't want to read about how many hills they hike up, or how many mountain peaks or 'flat spaces' they can see, or what direction they are traveling. It is so tedious. I don't want to read about how many naps [PROTAGONIST] takes, or how much oatmeal he eats, or how hungry he claims to be.

Just writing about this makes me hate this book even more. [PROTAGONIST] is the most unlikable, whiny character ever. I admit that I didn't finish the book; I wasn't enjoying it at all. I do know what happens at the end, but I feel that the author had no excuse for boring her readers so thoroughly in the first half of the book. I even flipped through the rest of the book and I saw a lot more descriptions of landscapes and food and other boring things.

There are so many better books to read than this one; books that are a joy to read, books that captivate you from beginning to end instead of making you power through pages and pages of boring text like this one does.

Skip it.

Click on through for the answer!

Kickstarter project: The Very Hungry Cthulhupillar.

Click through for the details! 

Fredrick McKissack, 1939-2013.

From the St. Louis Beacon:

But her dream soon became his dream and one of the nation’s most prolific and successful writing teams was born.

They set out to fill the void of missing African-American history and to counter stereotypes of popular children’s books such asThe Story of Little Black Sambo. "These images,” Mr. McKissack said, “last a lifetime.”

Via cynsations, where there is an excellent round-up of remembrances and appreciations.

Image via the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance.