Bibliophile Support Group

Don’t Expect Magic is a YA urban fantasy novel by Kathy McCullough. A dead mom, a move that takes her across the country – away from her lifelong hometown of New Jersey and her best friend that still resides there – and a new guardian in her absentee father. That’s fifteen-year-old Delaney Collins’ new life. If you asked Delaney if she believed in fairy tales she would laugh. Probably something close to a cackle. Problem is, soon after moving in with Dr. Hank (the name her life-coach/author dad is famous under), this comes under question. Her world is turned upside down when she realizes that “life-coach” actually means “fairy godmother”. And, okay, her dad is a guy – so maybe the technical term might be “godfather”, though she quickly christens the ridiculousness as simply “f.g.” – but apparently that doesn’t matter. He’s got the magic, the wand, etc. Plus, the f.g. gene? Apparently it’s hereditary. Delaney, the girl with an anti-social personality, is supposed to make wishes come tr...

Queen Hereafter is a historical fiction novel by Susan Fraser King. Margaret is a young Saxon princess that longs to be a nun. A secret from her father’s death long ago still lies heavy in her heart, and her loyalty and steadfastness to the Church is strong ever since. But when her brother Edgar wages a rebellion against the king of England, a war for the crown he believes is rightfully his, Margaret, her mother, and her sister get caught up in it. The warrior-king of Scotland, Malcolm Canmore, has agreed to aid Edgar in his fight in exchange for Margaret’s hand in marriage. Distraught at losing her primary focus on the Church, Margaret decides to throw herself into being the perfect wife and queen of Scotland. But it is a strange land filled with unfamiliar customs and wildness she is not accustomed to. When a talented Celtic bard named Eva, around Margaret’s age, is brought to court, she finds an unlikely friend – yet Eva has ties to Lady Macbeth, whom is none too friendly with Malc...

Darkness Falls is a YA urban fantasy/paranormal and the second book in the Immortal Beloved trilogy by Cate Tiernan. As Darkness Falls is the second book in a trilogy, it’s obvious this review will contain spoilers of the first book, Immortal Beloved . So, if you haven’t yet read Immortal Beloved (and you really should, it was great), you should instead read my review of Immortal Beloved, which I posted on Friday. If like me, however, you have read Immortal Beloved – read on… Y’all should remember what Immortal Beloved was about (unless you’ve ignored my previous warning about spoilers – if that’s you, what are you doing still reading this???). Nastasya Crowe is over 450 years old and still looks about seventeen. She’s an immortal. And only recently did she realize how utterly pointless and empty her long life has been. Taking up an offer from almost a century ago, she showed up at River’s Edge – a farm/rehab for wayward immortals. She met the gorgeous, golden Reyn who was strangely f...

Immortal Beloved is a YA paranormal fantasy novel in modern times and the first in a trilogy of the same name by Cate Tiernan. Nastasya is immortal. No, really. She’s over four-hundred-years-old. There’s a bunch of immortals out there. The good part of that? She still looks about seventeen-years-old and has all the time in the world to party and see the world. The bad part of it? Eventually it all gets old. Too much pain, too much horror, too many memories to try and forget. But it’s when she sees her best friend for a century commit an atrocious act on a human without blinking an eye and see her other so-called friends either laugh or shrug it off that she realizes she can’t deal with this life anymore. Remembering a moment back in the 1920s when an immortal named River told her to come to her place if she ever wanted to leave her way of life behind, Nastasya finds herself in small town Massachusetts at a safe haven for messed up immortals called River’s Edge. It’s a huge adjustment....

The Vespertine is a YA historical paranormal novel by Saundra Mitchell. Sixteen-year-old Amelia van den Broek has been sent to stay with her cousins in Baltimore by her brother who wants her to have her time in society and find a good, appropriate husband – of which there aren’t many in their small town of Broken Tooth, Maine. It’s 1889 in the summertime and all the pleasantries the city has to offer amaze Amelia and make her feel more like a naïve country girl than ever. But her cousin and companion Zora helps to introduce her to new friends as she begins to enjoy the new gowns, the parties, and the joviality. Though the one young man she feels inexplicably drawn to is not at all acceptable. Then Amelia starts to have visions, amber-colored yet forceful and illusory, at sunset – and what she sees comes true. She’s seeing glimpses of the future. She can’t explain it and she’s doesn’t know why – but once words gets out about it she finds herself more popular than ever. Acquaintances an...

The Fire King is a YA/middlegrade fantasy adventure and the second book in Paul Crilley’s The Invisible Order trilogy. WARNING: If you have not yet read the first Invisible Order novel, Rise of the Darklings , you should avoid this review like the plague. It’s way too awesome to sour with inescapable spoilers, in my opinion. Instead you can read my review of Rise of the Darklings here and go get yourself a copy. Then you can return. I really, really loved Rise of the Darklings – the flavor of Victorian England mixed with a brand new mythology of faeries (most of which were creepy and deceptive) and an epic storyline featuring a smart, resourceful young 12-year-old girl named Emily Snow that really just wanted to make sure she and her brother could eat every night. Excellent plot, characters, etc., and a fantastic cliffhanger end that had The Fire King being one of my most anticipated books on my shelf. And The Fire King met all my expectations! I don’t want to give away too many det...

The Queen of Kentucky is a YA contemporary novel by Alecia Whitaker. Ricki Jo Winstead is entering her freshman year of high school and she’s ready to make some big changes. First to go will be her farm girl name. It’s now the more sophisticated sounding Ericka. Next, she’s focusing on using all the tips from Seventeen magazine to do an overhaul on her look. Nicer, newer clothes and hip hairstyles. Especially if she doesn’t want to keep looking like a young boy – since puberty has (sadly) yet to hit. Finally, Ricki Jo is determined to get herself involved with the “right” friends. This puts her in a good position to flirt with the resident freshman bad boy and start her high school life off right. But along the way, will she overlook her lifelong best friend Luke? Or maybe lose the parts of her she never really meant to change? Ricki Jo Winstead is changing all right… The Queen of Kentucky features a ton of charming personalities (especially that of Ricki Jo and Luke) that jump off t...

Wielder’s Awakening is a fantasy novel by T. B. Christensen and the first in the Wielder Trilogy . Unbeknownst to eighteen-year-old Traven, there is a formidable wielder of magic positioning himself for conquering a people who have forgotten that magic even exists, a King is looking to fight an army and save his kingdom, and a stunning princess is seeking love and adventure with a spirit of determination. All Traven knows is that it’s his first time away from home. He’s traveling to reach a school where his future lies. He’ll become more than just a woodcutter in a small village. His loving grandparents have saved for years to make it so. His previously ridiculous-sounding dreams now feel more reachable. But maybe he was never meant to be a simple woodcutter anyway. And maybe Traven is not meant to go to school either. His fate lies in saving the world… Wielder’s Awakening represents itself as high fantasy, taking place in medieval-like times with an unsuspecting hero in Traven. Unfo...

Highway to Hell is a YA paranormal mystery and the third book in a series called Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil by Rosemary Clement-Moore. Being that this is the third book in a series, I would recommend making sure you’ve read the first two before reading this review and becoming party to some inevitable spoilers from the first books. Instead, read my review of Prom Dates from Hell here and Hell Week here . Oh, you have read the last two Maggie Quinn books? Those of you who are nodding, feel free to continue… It’s Maggie’s first Spring Break while attending college and she is on assignment to be a totally normal freshman and spend it in South Padre Island with her best friend D&D Lisa. That is, if normal means her best friend is a sorceress in training with a bit of a dark past and Maggie herself has weird psychic powers that she has recently used to bring down a sorority that was literally Evil, and before that save her classmates from a not-so-nice demon. Well, she’s trying anyw...

I am happy to tell you that we have a guest today! Let’s welcome author Larry Peterson into our admittedly crazy, bibliophile-world! He’s the author of The Priest and the Peaches . Want to know more about the book? Your wish is my command! Historical fiction novel set in the Bronx in the mid-1960s Take a seven day journey with the five, newly orphaned Peach kids, as they begin their struggle to remain a family while planning their dad's funeral. They find an ally in the local parish priest, Father Tim Sullivan, who tries his best to guide them through the strange, unchartered and turbulent waters of "grown-up world." A story that is sad, funny, and inspiring as it shows how the power of family love and faith can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Mmmm, sounds interesting right? Only thing is it’s an e-book only – but for those of you who have the ability to read those, you can get one for your Kindle here , for your Nook here , for your iBooks here , Smashwords ...

The Copper Room is a YA sci-fi novel, and the latest by Henry Melton. High school senior Jerry thought he was just helping his Uncle Greg with a weird house project to make a bit of extra money… but Uncle Greg is always up to more. The room they’re constructing completely out of copper has properties that can adjust time, making it slower or faster while you’re inside the room. Wow, right? Being the cool guy Uncle Greg is, he acknowledges Jerry’s help (and overwhelming amount of studying he needs as he reaches the homestretch of high school) and lets him use the copper room to give him extra time to do schoolwork. He gets to cram a fifteen hour study marathon into just five minutes of real world time. Which gives him plenty of time to spend more time with his new girlfriend Lil. But when Uncle Greg leaves town for a bit and entrusts the copper room to Jerry, Jerry can’t help but get tempted to reveal the secrets of the room to Lil. He gets her extra studying time – and quality time of...

Blood Sun is a YA action/adventure book featuring Max Gordon by David Gilman. Again, since there are a few serialized elements and plots that could be spoiled from the earlier books, I would suggest you read the first two Max Gordon books – The Devil’s Breath and Ice Claw – before reading Blood Sun . Might suggest you be careful with this review as well… If you’ve read the two previous books, then you’re safe! Please continue: When a former student of Max Gordon’s private boarding school Dartmoor is found dead in the London Underground, shady men come to ask Max questions. Why? Because the boy found dead was carrying an envelope addressed to Max, supposedly holding clues to how his mother actually died years earlier. Only recently has Max begun to question the details surrounding her death – after running across an old family friend during his last escapade in the French Pyrenees who cast doubt on Max’s father’s bravery. Now, Max has become consumed with finding out the truth. And t...

Ice Claw is an action/adventure YA novel by David Gilman, and the second one featuring Max Gordon. Though this is technically the second book in a series, the story is stand-alone – however, I still recommend reading them in order so you can understand and appreciate all the smaller details that work together. So, if you haven’t read it yet – go pick up The Devil’s Breath , which I reviewed on Friday. Max is up high in the freezing French Pyrenees for an Xtreme sporting challenge that he’s participating in. But an ordinary endeavor (as ordinary as Xtreme sports are, that is) soon becomes anything but as Max witnesses the last moments of a mysterious monk who screams out a cryptic message to Max before dying. Based on his own personal honor system, Max is determined to respect the monk’s wishes to pursue this information – as nonsensical as it is. But before he knows it, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a prophecy foretelling a major devastating environmental incident. And he...

The Devil’s Breath is a YA action/adventure novel by David Gilman. Fifteen-year-old Brit Max Gordon was minding his own business, taking a run at his private school Dartmoor, when an attempt was made on his life. It’s violent, sudden, and though Max comes out of it the survivor, rattling. After all, someone tried to kill him. This event leads Max to find out that his father, a mysterious world-traveling ecological protector, is missing. Having been groomed to not sit around and wait for others to find answers, Max takes off on the search himself – clues sending him from London to Namibia, where a disaster of epic proportions may be about to take place – on purpose. Determined to save his father, whom he believes might be held somewhere, Max must utilize the survival skills he has gleaned from his unorthodox school and his enigmatic dad. But he isn’t alone – he gets help along the way by his best friend Sayid, a computer whiz still back at Dartmoor, a South African teen named Kallie, a...

Today I want all of us to give a warm Bibliophile Support Group welcome to Mary Lowry! She is the author of the YA contemporary adventure novel The Earthquake Machine and she is visiting us today with a guest post. First she wants to tell us a bit more about her novel: The Earthquake Machine The book every girl should read, and every girl’s parents hope she’ll never read. The Earthquake Machine tells the story of 14 year-old Rhonda. On the outside, everything looks perfect in Rhonda’s world, but at home Rhonda has to deal with a manipulative father who keeps her mentally ill mother hooked on pharmaceuticals. The only reliable person in Rhonda’s life is her family’s Mexican yardman, Jesús. But when the INS deports Jesús back to his home state of Oaxaca, Rhonda is left alone with her increasingly painful family situation. Determined to find her friend Jésus, Rhonda seizes an opportunity to run away during a camping trip with friends to Big Bend National Park. She swims to the Mexican si...