Sweet Annie by Cheryl St. John

Annie Sweetwater has always been different from the rest of her family and friends in the small town of Copper Creek, Colorado. She was born with a bad hip that makes her limp. Her family adores her but also are over protective of her, at times thinking of her as a doll rather than a person.

When she was ten years old, Annie met Luke Carpenter - who had just moved to Copper Creek with his uncle - and he made her two wonderful gifts: took her for a horse ride, and he treated her like a normal girl. Sadly, her parents didn't take well to Luke, and from then on they didn't let Annie have anything to do with Luke, even though they lived in the same town.

Ten years later, Luke owns his own livery, which he build on his own since Annie's father is the town's banker and wasn't inclined to give him a loan; and he hasn't forgotten Annie; in fact, he's more in love than ever. And it is her love for him that will give her the strength to finally claim the 'normal' life she longs for.

Oh, I completely loved this book, it's the first Cheryl St. John book I've read and it was lovely. The way Luke sees Annie for the beautiful person that she is rather than pass judgment on her for her physical imperfections made me fall in love with him as well. And as Annie begins to fight for what she wants made her a great heroine.

Grade:
3/4

Sea Fever by Virginia Kantra

Sea Fever by Virginia Kantra is the second book in her Children of the Sea trilogy, revolving around the Hunter siblings.

Single mother, Regina Barone has mixed feelings when the last eligible man in World's End, Maine gets married: though she's very happy for her friend Cal and his new wife Margred (from Sea Witch) she wonders if she'll ever meet the right man for her.

Dylan Hunter left the island some twenty years earlier, to follow his selkie mother into the sea. He returns to gather information on the doings of the children of the fire - read demons - who are trying to drag the children of the sea - selkies, finfolk - into their war against humans. Meeting Regina was not something he planed for, even though courting her gave him a good excuse to stay in the island without raising too many questions.

But Dylan doesn't do emotion - he's a selkie, he doesn't need to tangle himself with unnecessary human emotions - and Regina, though very attracted to him, has her kid to consider. Plus there is the present danger of a demon running around Word's End, ready to do harm.

Okay, so I enjoyed the first book and I was looking forward reading this one, mostly because I really liked Regina and her family but I had a hard time connecting with Dylan since for the most part he acts like a big baby and is so afraid of 'human emotion' that it gets annoying. The funny part is that Maggie was very similar to Dylan in the first book, and when she finally accepts her love for Caleb it was a "Yay!" moment, but with Dylan it was more of a "Grow up already!" moment.

Grade:

The Bard Academy Series by Cara Lockwood

The Bard Academy Series by Cara Lockwood

After crashing her father's car and putting a few chargers into her step-mother's credit card, Miranda Tate gets sent to the Bard Academy, settled in a small island off the coast of Maine. Beyond the natural annoyance Miranda feels at being sent to what she sees as 'reform school' when the whole thing wasn't even really her fault, there is something very strange about Shipwreck Island, the Bard Academy and it's teachers, not to mention Heathcliff, a guy she meets there and who's Wuthering Heights' Heathcliff come to life.

See, one of the best kept secrets of Bard Academy is that, in reality, it's faculty is made out of famous authors who died untimely deaths (like Virginia Woof, Sylvia Platt, Hemingway, etc.), but now Miranda, her friends Hannah and Samir and her roommate Blade, know the secret and they also find out that Miranda is partially fictional, related to Heathcliff's beloved Cathy in Wuthering Heights.

Okay, I spoiled a little right there. Sorry.

Anyway, as the books progress we find out more about the fictional realm and what the ghostly faculty is capable of for good and bad.

I've been pimping this series ever since I discovered it last year - shortly after the last book, Moby Clique was published - and I absolutely love it. Miranda is a great protagonist funny and smart. And Heathcliff makes one heck of a hero/love interest.

When I picked up the first book I couldn't put it down and less than a day later I was already ordering the other too. And I'm still crazy mad at MTV Books for not putting out more of them even though there is still a ton of story to tell.

So, I'm going to cut it here before I go into one of my MTV Books hate fests.

But before that allow me to completely recommend this series, specially if you're looking for some paranormal/teen book with romantic elements and WITHOUT vampires.

AnimeGirl's Personal Favorite

Book Review: Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Ever since her parents began to fight and got divorced, Auden can't sleep at night, and spends her nights studying and doing what she can to earn academic greatness.

When her new half-sister is born, Auden decides to go visit her father for the summer, arriving at the beach town of Colby, North Carolina, to find her stepmother Heidi struggling with the baby while her father works on finishing his book (something he has been doing for the past 10 years or so).

As Auden stays and starts to bond with her sister, and later even a with Heidi - whom she always thought was a bit of a bimbo - she gets a job in Heidi's store Clementine's and, after a surprise visit from her mother (who is that kind of feminist woman who isn't really all that kind to women in general), Auden begins to bond with the other girls who work at Clementine's: Leah, Esther and Maggie.

But it's Eli, a fellow insomniac, who helps her embark on a quest to finally get all those childhood experiences she missed out while trying to be a little adult for her parents, and kind of teaches her it's never to late, not even to learn how to ride a bike.

Okay, so I'm a Sarah Dessen fan, but this book just didn't finish clicking for me. I never grew to like Auden's parents, and though Eli and Auden spent a lot of time together I wished there was more. And well, lastly, I couldn't entirely buy Auden's friendship with Leah, Esther and Maggie in the way I could, for example, completely believe Macy befriending the Wish Catering crew in The Truth About Forever, or Isabel and Morgan taking Colie under their wing in Keeping the Moon.

Even so, I applaud Sarah's skill because, even with all of those pet peeves, the book is good. It just doesn't happen to be my favorite book by her.

3/4

Catch of the Day by Marcia Evanick

In order to fulfill her life long dream of owning her own restaurant, chef Gwen Fletcher moves to the small town of Misty Harbor, Maine. There she plans to open Catch of the Day... as soon as she can get the building fixed up and clean.

To that effect, Gwen hires carpenter Daniel Creighton, who sets about turning Gwen's dreams for her restaurant a reality, even as they reluctantly fall in love with each other.

In a town where single women are in high demand, Gwen has a bevy of admirers and suitors but none of them capture her interests as Daniel does. Daniel, on the other hand, is still reeling from something that happened some five years ago, when his fiancee left him and he got the scar that now crosses his cheek.

Throw in a couple of hunky viking twins, Daniel's grandfather Jonah and Hunter - a war vet who's finding his groove in the kitchen - and lots of small town charm and you get Catch of the Day. A really enjoyable book, which is not to say that I didn't have a couple of pet peeves with it but, over all, a nice read.

Grade

3/4




PS -this book is the first one in the Misty Harbor/Fletcher Sisters Series, though it can be read on it's own.