I lied...

I said I'd ease up on the book reviews but I'm sorry, I can't help myself. I've been so busy for months that I hadn't been able to read for pleasure as much as I'd like and now I'm completely binging on books. I'm sure it will have to come to an end soon but so far I've managed to keep my house relatively clean and kids relatively happy and I have three more books from the library just sitting there waiting for me :)

The Devlin Diary by Christi Phillips
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is Phillip's second book- the first was written in the same style following a present day historian and a past mystery. Ever since I'd read her first I've been anxious to read her next one. I had to wait a few years (mostly because I was waiting for the library to pick it up and then I got distracted and forgot I was waiting for it)but it was well worth the wait! I just finished reading this book in two days. It was written for adults (a deviation from my recent youth genre focus) so the vocabulary was a little more challenging but not at all intimidating- actually quite refreshing. It was so fantastic I did not want to put it down! An intricately woven plot, deep colorful characters reminiscent of Dickens', two intriguing murder mysteries going on at the same time- one in the present and one in the past, as well as two romances. It drove me a little crazy how the author would switch from the story of the present to the past and then back again just when things were getting super interesting or thrilling- I almost wanted to skip ahead a number of times- but it totally made the stories all the more engaging. I was worried in about the last 100 pages or so that the author was taking the story to a conclusion I didn't want- but it was just a trick- so I was very pleased. This could be an excellent movie! I also appreciated the author's note at the end clarifying what details in the book were based on historical fact and what was not- her list of research references was quite impressive. Now I'm anxious to read her next book which is planned to be set in France! Yay!


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Forest Born by Shannon Hale

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A fun, quick read in the same fashion as the other Bayern books. I enjoyed it but it was a little slow going at first and the surprises were not all that surprising. I do like how Hale has taken sub characters from the original book and turned them into the main characters of subsequent books. I can think of lots of books that I'd like to see that done with. Wouldn't it be fun to read a book that's a continuation of the Harry Potter series but all from Hermione Granger's perspective? Brilliant!

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