Misfit by Jon Skovron

This is another egalley I received from Abrams Publishing on Netgalley.com. This book will not be published till August 1st, but it will be on my staff recommendations as soon as it is. The main character is Jael. Jael has never really fit in at any school, but she's moved all her life, almost every two years if not more often, so it hasn't been that big of a deal. She lives with just her father because her mother is dead. Her father is a bitter ex-priest who used to perform exorcisms. Her mother was a demon. So Jael is a half breed. Because of her father's days of being a priest, she has always gone to Catholic schools. Because of being a half breed, her life is in danger from demons who believe in pureblood only, kind of like Voldemort and his hate of mudbloods. But here, it seems that the few half breeds in the past actually could cause problems for demons. Some of them may sound familiar to you, Perseus, and Merlin. The Perseus connection will draw in some Lightning Thief fans I think. So until she's turned 16, and her father gives her a necklace from her mother, Jael doesn't know much about her mother, her father has kept it from her in an effort to save her, as well as out of his feelings of betrayal and sadness of the death of his wife. He tells Jael not to put the necklace on. But even having the necklace, Jael begins to have vivid dreams which are actually flashbacks to the history of her mom and father. And she begins to learn about her past, and what it means to be half demon.

As with all of these types of books, all Jael really wants is to be a normal teen, which she's been unable to do with all the moving they've done throughout her life. She'd finally felt like she was somewhere she fit in, and now it seems she may have to move again to stay alive. I won't give away anymore of the book, except for the first demon she meets, well, let's say you'll really like his character, I did.

I really liked this book. I love the different look at ancient demons and how they weren't necessarily "evil" in what they were doing. I like the change in the view of hell, even how they go so far as to say it is not actually like Dante's version. (That could be because I was unable to get through Dante's Inferno I hated it so much). I really liked the story, liked the characters, and the look back at history. There was even a retake on the story of Samson, and I really liked it! I feel like the story really leaves off for a series of sequels. I don't know if there will be, and I guess the fact that it hasn't even been published means there are no hints about a sequel yet, but I'm hoping for it! I even sent a question to the author on his website asking him about this.

Great book! Read it when it comes out!

Movie Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Wow, I was sooooooooooo disappointed in this movie. And anyone who knows me knows that it takes a lot to really disappoint me. As someone who has almost always read the book before I see the movie, I know that the movies never, or almost never live up to the book. One exception I can think of right now is the Green Mile, which I think they did an awesome job with! But anyway, back to my point. So much was left out of Twilight, I mean if you hadn't read the books, the movie doesn't really let you see how Edward and Bella fall in love. But I still was able to really enjoy seeing Twilight brought to the movie screen.

The Lightning Thief had too much changed and too many important things left out. Maybe it's because I've read this book so many times, because I've read it to like 3 different groups of students. And we answered questions and discussed it, so I know it detail by minute detail. But I feel they left out such important characters, such as Mr. D. (Dionysius), Ares, and Clarisse. Plus, they went to Nashville Tennessee instead of to St. Louis like in the book. And then, Annabeth is supposed to be blonde, not dark haired. And there was no mention of Kronos, the whole "voldemort" bad guy who goes throughout the whole series. (I threw the Voldemort reference in for those critics who called it a cheap copy of Harry Potter, which it SOOOOO is not). And then, Annabeth is supposed to have a crush on Luke, and not believe in Luke as a bad guy so quickly. Plus, there's the whole thing where we're not supposed to know who Percy's dad is right away. Plus, I feel like Percy is supposed to be 12 years old, yet the characters in the movie are all high school age.

If you haven't read the books, go see the movie, it's probably really good in that situation. But if you've read it, and love the books like I do, you might skip it. I'm not even sure how they can do a sequel with all the stuff they left out.

Book Review 12: The Otherworldlies by Jennifer Anne Kogler

Now, let me start off by saying that this was a good enough book. Whenever I picked it up, it was hard to put down, but it did have some issues, or at least it did for me.

First, the cover, the main character is supposed to be only 12 years old, but the girl on the cover looks older to me, so that was a bit misleading. But I guess to sell it to teens, the section it is in our bookstore at, you probably have to do that. The main character is Fern, she has a twin brother named Sam, and an older brother named Eddie. They call their mother the Commander. Well, Fern has some special powers. She talks to the dog, and hears him talk back. She can predict the weather, and hear people from far away, when they're talking about her anyway. And she comes to find out that she is a vampire, or as they call themselves now, otherworldlies.

This book brings in Greek mythology in this. It is in a way that makes me wonder if they read the Lightning Thief before writing this. Another similarity is how the vampires/otherworldlies want to come out to "normals" or humans and live side by side. I've now read about this in the Suck it Up by Brian Meehl I read earlier from this list, as well as it is a big part of the True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse series. Not that it's a bad thing, just very familiar to me right now.

There's a big deal about good and bad vampires and not knowing for sure who is good, and the good guys aren't always out for keeping Fern and her family safe, and not knowing who to trust, but in the end Fern does good and everyone is safe. I also see that it is left open for a sequel, so who knows when we might see another in a series. Why not, it's what everyone else is doing.

Tonight I started My Father's Son by Terri Fields. Should be done with it by tomorrow.

Third time is the Charm

This is my 3rd official blog, and also tonight I saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for the 3rd time. Saw the movie this time on IMAX. I still didn't get to see the preview for The Lightning Thief, which I'm really wanting to see because I loved those books so much.

Convocation was good today, because I never saw the one person who would have made it bad. And, I skipped out of the speeches in the middle and went and got some shopping done at Target. The bad thing is that I forgot to do some balancing in my checkbook, and I think I'm about broke now!! Oh well, what will I do? I need Friday's paycheck so bad. But Friday I need to pay my water bill, so I'll be kind of poor for a week. No cooking next week probably, just will buy what I need for easy lunches.

Only walked 5 miles, just not enough time by the time I got home, figured out my money error and then got to park. Because I needed to take a shower before I met my dad and step-mom at the movies. Tomorrow night I'll miss out on the staff party at Lyn's house because I have a hair appointment at 5. I'm excited for the hair appointment, which is going to have to go on my credit card because I'm broke. So I hope that will be okay. I also have to figure out how to get to Jacque's new salon. I'm going to stay with the same colors, but not sure about the style. I've had so many compliments lately that I'm not sure about cutting it too much.

Last thing to talk about tonight before I go to bed. The celebrex my doctor gave me seemed to be working well last night, today, not so great. I hope it does better tomorrow. Also, the Juice Plus that my brother had told me about had a booth at Convocation. I may try it, again, I'm pretty broke. Okay, almost 11, need to go to bed.