Jaemi's Reading

Reviews on this Page: Magic Lessons | Perfect World | Wrecked | Dirt Liar | Girl, 15, Charming but Insane | The Last Cato | No Right Turn
Queen of Cool | you remind me of you | Life Expectancy | Freaks: Alive on the Inside! | Ravens Gate

Reviews on Page 3: Are we There Yet? | Thou Shalt Not Dump the Skater Dude | Tithe | Dragon | Sweetblood | Boy Proof | Storky
The Dark Ground | Witch's Boy | Blue Gold

Magic Lessons, Justine Larbalestier
Magic LessonsReason Cansino has been magiv her whole life, but she's only know magic was real for 8 days. In that time she's moved into Sydney to live with her evil grandmother, her mother's been committed to a "Loony Bin," and she's stepped through a door only to wind up on the other side of the world, in New York City.

And if that's not bad enough, she gets taken in by stories, only to end up in the clutches of her evil Grandfather, who's worse than her Grandmother, who has to come through the door after her to save her.

Once back on the other side, in Sydney, there's a lot to think about. Like how magic means insanity or dying young. Whether to accept lessons from a woman she doesn't trust. The desire to find a way to change things, so that magic doesn't have to be a curse. But it seems there's no time for any of that, as the door begins to take on a life of its own, warping, making horrible noises, spitting out weird little creatures who attack the inhabitants of the house, and eventually, sucking Reason straight through.

Back in New York, Reason is the only one who can actually see what's happening to the door. Which is an impossibly old, and very magic, man, is trying to get through. But she doesn't know why, or whose side he's on. With the help of Jay-Tee's non-magical brother Danny, she investigates on her side, while Jay-Tee, Tom and her Grandmother, Esmerelda, investigate and keep watch on the door from theirs.

Who is this strange half-phantom, half-man? How can he be so old and yet so strong? How can he be related to Reason, Esmerelda, and her Grandfather too? What is the magic he's given each of them? Will it help Reason to find a way to save them all?

Perfect World, Brian James
Perfect WorldIn the world there are many cycles, and sometimes they exist between you and you. The inner commentator never letting you speak, too afraid you'll only mess things up. The outer prtoector, trying to make you less visible, generally only make you more conspicuous. The friends who aren't real, but are better than loneliness. The truths buried in closets, because it's easier for some to pretend they never happened, even if nothing has been the same since, and the damage is still everywhere. Worrying that your haunted past will become your daunting future.

This is Lacie's world.

Her father's dead, he mother hides away in endless work, and Lacie is lost between the cracks of herself and a world in which she doesn't belong. Can't seem to fit in. Can't seem to get it right.

Bit by bit, her best friend's cruelness starts to become more apparent. Forced into agreeing to meet a boy, she soon realizes Benji is just about the only real thing in her life. Except for the ghosts.

Bit by bit, things get harder, and some get easier. Best friend Jenna is lost, but Lacie is found. Her mother begins to slowly come back, she begins to slowly move away. Away from the fake and the meanness she used to emulate. Away toward who she really is, and should be. Away towards Gretchen, returned to town after disappearing for years. Away into a perfect world, in which she does belong.

Wrecked, E.R. Frank
WreckedAnna finds herself in the most unfortunate position of having been on the other side of an accident which killed her brother's girlfriend. And if that weren't bad enough, her best friend Ellen was in the car with her, and suffered sever injuries. But while she was physically least scathed, Anna is the one who cannot readjust.

She doesn't know what to say to her brother. She doesn't know how to get used to the way her mother is treating her. To her dad being somewhat less of a jerk. To her brother's kind but distant treatment of her. Nightmares haunt her nightly. And the mere thought of driving sends her into such a panic attack that she's sure she's dying. And yet...she thinks she's fine.

At Thanksgiving, her Aunt insists she needs therapy. Though originally, against it, her father agrees to let her try. Though she doesn't understand it at first, she's also willing to give it a fair shot. Anything, if it means getting her life back again.

This book takes a good look at the different ways people can be damaged by a tragedy, and the different ways people will choose to cope with that damage. For Anna, a good part of the healing process is simply letting go.

Dirty Liar, Brian James
Dirty LiarBenji sees the world in shades of angel and demon, which makes it, more often than not, a rather scary place. While his father may be less trouble than his mother, less abusive, less of a demon-magnet, in order to live with him Benji had to leave his personal angel, Lacie, behind.

Being in a new school suits him, though, as it's easier to disappear when no one knew you were there to begin with. Being labeled a freak is fine with him. As long as no one takes any notice. As long as no one tries to get close. As long as he can hide inside Dogboy.

But when Benji takes a liking to Rianna Moore, things get a little more complex. She isn't like them, but she travles with the in crowd. They don't really see her, but they certainly know she's there. Which makes Benji a bit less of a shadow. And his feelings make him a bit less dead. And wanting to be near her makes it all a bit less safe.

Eventually, the demons start to show themselves. It turns out they're everywhere, and when you've got your own too...well, they travel with you. No matter how much you might want to leave them behind.

But just because they can follow you, and get inside you, and affect you, doesn't make them you. And this is what Benji has to discover. This is the only real path out.

Of all of James' books, I liked this one the best. Most likely because every time he writes one, they just keep getting better. And while they all come with a bit of a harsh face, there is always a light shining through.

Girl, 15, Charming but Insane, Sue Limb
Girl, 15I ran into this book while setting up one of the lists on the Read Something New page and the title cracked me up, so I went out front and picked it up.

Jess Jordan seems pretty sure of her station in life: she's got a big bum, and no boy will ever notice her because her best friend, Flora, looks like a blonde goddess. Two goddesses, in fact. Venus and Flora. But this is alright by Jess, as she wants nothing to do with boys in that fashion anyway.

She's rather fond of daydreaming away, instead of completing in-class assignments, and has a very vivid and active imagination. She also has quite the crush on Ben Jones. Only when he starts talking to her, she has no idea what to do with herself. In fact, she eventually comes to the conclusion that he's not interested in her at all, and only talks to her in order to get information on his true interest. Flora.

Amidst all this confusion, over some miscommunication, Jess has also had a falling-out with her other best friend, Fred. Every time she wants to make it right, back circumstance intervenes, generally in the form of Ben. When Fred is asked to edit a school newspaper and doesn't ask her to participate it seems things can't get any lower. Until Flora confesses she's left the boy she'd been seeing because she's crazy for someone else. That someone being, not Ben, but Fred.

Suffice it to say Jess has quite the end of a year. And though the task of being the one to feel Fred out for Flora is harsh and unwelcome, she meets it head on. The outcome is most unexpected.

Quick read, full of British humor, good for a lot of laughs.

The Last Cato, Matilde Asensi
The Last CatoIf you like a good puzzle, mystery, or loved The Da Vinci Code, you'll probably enjoy this book. Ottavia Salina is a nun who enjoys a celebrated career working in the Vatican Archives. Her life is a simple and quiet one, until one day she is asked to help decode symbols tattooed on the body of a dead Ethiopian. No one will tell her who he is or what he's done, only that she needs to figure out what the markings on his body mean. It is to be her main priority, and a Swiss Guard Captain, Kaspar Glauser-Röist will be assisting her.

The mystery and unanswered questions are too much for her, and on a visit home, she has a nephew assist her with searching the internet, in the hopes of finding information on her dead man, which she does. Almost more than she wanted to know. She then confronts the captain with her knew knowledge, and finds herself dismissed from her job, and exiled to Ireland. Disheartened, she arrives in Ireland only to find important men waiting to take her to a plane to send her back to Rome.

After this dizzying turn of events, she finds that the Captain had gone to bat for her, insisted she be a part of his time, receieve an apology, and get her job back, before he would go forward with the project set to him by the Vatican. At long last, Dr. Salina gets her answers. Their dead ethiopian stole a piece of the True Cross. It was not the only theft of its kind. The Vatican wants to get to the bottom of these thefts, and to find the people responsible for them. This is the task set to Dr. Salina, the Captain, and eventually, their partner Farag Boswell.

Using Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy as their guide, the three puzzle their way through a series of tests set forth for aspirants wishing to gain membership in the oldest religious order in existence: the Staurfilakes, protectors of the True Cross. Their lives, needless to say, will be changed forever.

No Right Turn, Terry Trueman
No Right TurnAt age 13, Jordan James is home alone with his father when he hears a gunshot. Right away, he knows what's happened. And although his following actions are brave beyond belief, that's not how they stick in his mind. His rendition of events leads him to slowly become invisible. He pushes away all his friends, discontinues dealings with anyone who wants to talk about, or knows about, his father, and by Junior year, is essentially anonymous.

That year, his mother begins dating again. Don, who lives down the street from Jordan and his mom, is the proud owner of a '76 Corvette Stingray. After one ride in the car, Jordan is hooked. He begins regularly stopping by to help Don work on the 'Vette after school. And once he learns the keys are always in it, begins to sneak out at night to borrow it.

One such night, out for a joyride, he comes upon Becka Thorson on the side of the road, needing help. Becka is a "cheerleader goddess," and Jordan can't believe his luck. The minor details that he's lied to her about who he is, and about owning the car, don't seem to matter in contrast to the fact that she likes him. But the lies quickly pile up and things begin to spin out of Jordan's control.

As has to happen, his luck eventually runs out, and he gets caught. But this doesn't turn out to be the disaster he foresaw. And in the end, it's this climax of events that leads Jordan to do what he never could before. Open up, let go, and begin to heal.

Queen of Cool, Cecil Castelluci
Queen of CoolLibby Brin is an IT girl. She's funny, her parties are legendary, and she starts trends, whether she means to or not. And yet, she isn't happy.

Libby is bored. Her friends bring her no comfort or joy. Her parents are going through changes, which travel down the line to make further impacts into the sudden non-sense that is her life.

When Libby signed up for an Internship at the Zoo she was confused, but when her friends razzed her about it she decided to see it through. In the end she gets herself kicked out, only to discover she's come to love the place.

A quick read, full of laughs, and a pretty honest look into the decisions we face as we start to ask the bigger questions in life.
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you remind me of you: a poetry memoir, Eireann Corrigan
you remind me of youThis was the first PUSH book I purchased, and it's been read so many times I own two copies, because the first one is held together with scotch tape.

For some people this would probably be a really sad book, but that's not what I take away from it.

Eireann Corrigan led a fairly priveleged life as a teen: Private School, bent rules. But the other side of that coin was the pressure that came with said life, and the years spent in hospital wards. The struggle to decide to make it in the world.

When her first boyfriend shoots himself and the next drives into a tree, she concludes it must be her.

Through these poems she relates her story. The trials, the triumphs, the small steps and the large, the love and the disillusionment. And the lessons so hardly learned.

Life Expectancy, Dean Koontz
Life ExpectancyJimmy Tock came into the world on a night his family would never forget.

On his deathbed, his Grandfather awoke long enough to predict five terribles dates in the life of his grandson. Pacing between the ICU and Maternity, Rudy Tock had a stressful night, added to by the anger of his Maternity Ward mate, Konrad Beezo. Of course, a murderous clown would be a lot to handle any day of the week.

Despite the odds, the Tock family survives that fateful night at the hospital. What none of them realize is that the echoes of that ordeal will sound throughout their lifetimes, in ways they couldn't imagine.
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Freaks: Alive on the Inside!, Annette Curtis Klause
FreaksAbel Dandy grew up in Faeryland, surrounded by the most unusual people, right down to is legless father and armless mother. To him, oddities were the norm, and it was he, with his own human unoriginality he saw as the lack. While he was a decent knife-thrower, he felt unspecial, surrounded by the inhabitants of the Faeryland show. When the departure of the Siamese twins, and the souring of his dealings with Phoebe the dogfaced girl, Abel grows restless and angry. At night, his dreams are filled with images of an Egyptian beauty, and he knows he'll never find someone like that inside the life he leads.

After a couple of run-ins with local town boys, Abel steals away in the middle of the night, planning to find fortune, and return with money and his own name. Instead, he joins the Marvel Bros. Circus, only to be thrown out when they discover the escaped monkey to be his friend Apollo, Phoebe's brother, who followed him from home. Thinking himself lost, and his friend doomed, he stumbles upon a farmhouse near the tracks, only to meet up with Apollo yet again.

After receiving a job within the house, Abel begins his plan of earning enough money to send Apollo back home, and to take off again on his own in search of a show. But then, much to his surprise, a show comes to him.

While at first excited about the possibility of getting a knife throwing act, it doesn't take Abel long to realize that Dr. Mink is up to no good. Through luck, he learns that Mink planned to sneak away in the night, taking Apollo with him, and manages to weasel himself into the deal as a driver.

Upon meeting up with the rest of Mink's crew, and finding the children locked in their wagon, Abel knows what he has to do. But how can he get away, and save them all too? And what of the mysterious woman still entering his dreams? What does it all mean?

Raven's Gate: Book One of The GateKeepers, Anthony Horowitz
Raven's GateMatt hasn't had the best life. His parents died when he was eight, on their way to a wedding. His mother's half-sister showed up afterwards to claim him (for the money), and had little use for him (once she blew through the cash). He had no friends at school, and so sought out the company of a boy down the way, who was himself a troublemaker, and led Matt nowhere but down the wrong path. When their latest scheme goes awry, Matt is given two options. Imprisonment, or LEAF. Though he doesn't like the look of the woman who's agreed to look after him under the LEAF project, he figures it has to be better than prison, because hey, he can just run away, right?

Wrong.

It doesn't take long for Matt to figure out there's something very wrong with Lesser Malling. And when he's had enough and tries to run away, every road out of the tiny town leads him back to where he began. He meets a man who says he can help, only to find him dead the next morning upon his arrival for their visit. When he returns with the police, the scene has been cleaned up, making it look like just one more troublemaker's stunt.

Everywhere Matt turns, he finds help, followed swiftly by trouble. One by one, anyone who seeks to aid him ends up dead.

After finding a picture of himself at his parents' funeral in his guardian's closet, he knows something sinister is going on, and none of it accidental. Somehow, he manages to escape with a local reporter, only to end up once again back where he began. Wherever he goes, the darkness of Lesser Malling finds him. Because they need him.

The town of Lesser Malling and all its inhabitants live a life of old ways, worshipping dark powers long since run aground. With Matt's "help," they hope to set them free. Long ago, 5 children saved the world. The time has come for them to do so again. With Matt's story, it begins.
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