Christmas Books

 For Christmas I got six fiction books they were;

1. Eliza Rose by Mary Hooper - a brilliant book set in 1670 all about the adventurous life of Eliza Rose as well as about King Charles II and his many mistresses, I will do a post on it soon, I promise.

2. The Foundling by Georgette Heyer

3.Venita by Georgette Heyer

4. Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer

5. The Convienet Marriage by (guess who) Georgette Heyer.

6. Blood Red Snow White - This book is set in 1917 during the Russian Revoulition and about the life of Arthur Ransome (who wrote the Swallows and Amazon books) who lived in Russia at the time.

I also got three non fiction books:

1. Stitch by Cath Kidston - click here to see the review I have done for this book on my Craft blog

2. Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson - click here to see the review I have done this book on my Craft blog.

3. Why Can't Elephants Jump - a fun book full of the questions and answers of daft science questions that have been sent into the Last Word  column of The New Scientist

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A World Away by Pauline Francis

A World Away tells the story of love, separation and being different.

The book is set in Queen Elizabeth the First's era, it starts off with colonists moving to the USA and trying to start their own colony there.They also try to befriend the natives living there. However their plan doesn't go so well and they end up capturing a young girl called Nadie.

So the colonists make the journey back to England and Nadie soon finds herself living with a priest and his sister in Plymouth. The people living there have never seen a black person before and they are at first wary of her, apart from the young blacksmith of the town, Tom.

Tom and Nadie fall in love but it is impossible for them to have a relationship her being black and because she refused to be baptised (believing in her own gods) mean that she could not be married to him.

But then Nadie has the opportunity to go back to her own land and people, she longs to go but she cannot leave Tom, so Tom agrees to come with her. Nadie is at first disrespected by her people for leaving them (not that she had any choice in the matter) but they agree to take her again but not her loved one.

Will Tom and Nadie ever be able to find love?

A World Away is a brilliant novel and a wonderful, gripping story. I give it an eight out of ten!

Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer

OK, sorry that I haven't blogged for ages, again! Recently I have been in love with any Georgette Heyer books; they are light, airy, witty and lovely (if you like historical romances you will love her books). Devil's Cub is probably my favourite yet!

Devil's Cub is the story of the reckless, dashing and young Marquis of Vidal, who is even wilder than his father was. But when he gets into his latest scandal his father makes it clear that he must leave the country. 

So Vidal asks the beautiful but stupid Sophia Challoner if she will run away with him to Paris, however, Sophia's sister, Mary, gets wind of the plot and when the note arrives for Sophia to run Mary goes instead as she is determined for her sister not to end up in ruin. Things don't quite go accordingly to plan as when the Marquis discoverers who Mary really is he drags her of to Paris in her sister's place.

Once in Paris Vidal realises that Mary is not the stupid girl that her sister is but a wise girl who will stand up for herself. The Marquis cannot bring himself to ruin such a girl and so informs her that they must marry. Mary has slowly fallen in love with the Marquis and decides she can't spoil his happiness by marrying him.

Will the Marquis ever fall in love with Mary? This is an excellent and extremely interesting story which is why I am giving it a ten out of ten!

The Other Countess by Eve Edwards

The Other Countess is a wonderful book set in the reign of Queen Elizabeth the First.

Ellie has a meaningless Spanish title, her father is determined to find gold by alchemy but it seems impossible. She has no fortune yet she has fallen in love with the young Earl of Dorset.

Will Lacey is the Earl of Dorset, however his family have no money at all. Will realises that he must marry a woman of great fortune or his family will be in ruins. However, Will is falling in love with Ellie.

Is love greater than gold?

Will Will ever stop hating Ellie for what her father has done to his family (Will's father funded the alchemist and when he was unsuccessful plunged the Lacey's into poverty)? 

Read this excellent book to find out. I really enjoyed this book as I love any historical romances I give it a nine out of ten!

Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer

Friday's child is a wonderful historical comedy romance set in the eighteenth century.

The story begins when Sherry (a Viscount) proposes to the beautiful Isabella, however when she rejects him Sherry is determined to marry the first woman he sees to spite his uncle. If he marries now he will be able to get the family house and fortune straight away instead of waiting for his twenty-fifth birthday.

The first woman he comes across is his old play-mate, Hero. Hero is an orphan living with her horrible cousin Jane and her two daughters. Sherry decides to marry her (he did promise), even more so when he discoverers she will be sent off to become a governess.

So Hero and Sherry escape to London and automatically get married. Hero slowly learns how to live Sherry's extravagant lifestyle and heartily enjoys herself along the way. She becomes great friends with Sherry's own friends; Ferdy Fakenham, George (who is head over heels for Isabella) and Gil Ringwood.

Hero still isn't too sure how a lady behaves and she keeps on embarrassing herself and Sherry throughout the book.

Hero has always loved Sherry but will Sherry ever realise how much he loves her? You'll have to read the book to find out. I loved this book as it was very amusing and a lovely tale; I give it a nine out of ten.

River Secrets by Shannon Hale

This is the third book in the series, The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. Here is my review for the first book and here for the second book.

The first book is told by Princess Anidori/Isi and the second is told by her friend Enna. This third book is about their friend, Razo an animal worker in the Bayern kingdom. Razo has always wanted to be in the King's army, however only City people can, not lowly Forest Borns. So it's a big surprise for Razo when the King asks him to join the army. Nobody respects him as he is not a great fighter like everybody else. Can Razo prove himself? All of his friends are in love, can he find the woman of his dreams? This is a fantastic book for anybody who loves fantasy books! I give it a nine out of ten!

The next book that I am going to review is The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson.

This is a fantastic novel by a great author. It is about an eighteen year old Russian countess (Anna) who is forced to flee her country, leaving all her riches and wonderful life behind her, in 1917. She reaches England with nothing but her old governess, Miss Pinfold aka Pinny, her ill mother and her little brother. Anna understands that there must be something she can do to help and she soon secures herself with a job as a servant for an English aristocratic family. But Anna gradually starts to fall in love with the young earl of the family and as she does so it gets harder and harder for her real identity to remain anything more than a secret.

I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend by Cora Harrison

This is a great book, which was set on a true story about Jane Austen's cousin - Jenny.

In this novel Jenny goes to stay with her cousin, Jane, when they were both in their teenage years. This novel is written like a diary, all about Jenny's worries, her cousin and all of Jane's handsome brothers and also about how Jenny falls in love with a dashing young man for the first time in her life after meeting him unexpectedly. This is a great novel especially if you love anything about the life of Jane Austen. I give this novel a nine out of ten!

Sorry....

I am so sorry that I haven't blogged in ages as I have been reading more, sewing more and cooking more. Sadly, this means that it is harder for me to remember what exactly happened in the books I have been reading. So just for a short while I am going to be writing very brief reviews about the books I have been reading; what they are basically about, what I thought about them etc. So here goes....

Triss by Brian Jacques

Triss is one of the books in the Brian Jacques series called The Redwall Books. This book is telling three stories at once that all link into one another in the end; the story of Triss and her friends escaping slavery of the evil ferrets, the creatures of Redwall Abbey searching for a mysterious place near their Abbey and two creatures that have decided to sail the seas. This is an excellent  and very interesting book. I give it a 9 out of 10.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights is an amazing book by the great author, Emily Bronte of the Bronte sisters. It’s such a shame that she didn’t write more novels as this one was fantastic. I tried to read it about a year ago but got bored of it but now I have no idea how I could think that as it was excellent. For most people, I know, this is a novel that you have read many times, so I hope that if you have never read it you will want to by the end of this review.


This novel was set in 1801 and written in 1847, so obviously some of the language is difficult to understand (especially Joseph’s – the servant – way of speech). This story is about how a man called Mr Lockwood is hoping to buy Thrushcross Grange from Mr Heathcliff and howe he learns all about the story of the people of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.

Mr Lockwood learns some of the story from the young lady - Cathy - of Wuthering Heights diary but mostly from Nelly Dean – the servant of Trushcross Grange and previously Wuthering Heights – who says the whole romance happen before her eyes a couple of years before the book is set.

The story is about the love between Cathy Earnshaw and her orphan adopted brother, Heathcliff. As children the two were play-mates even though Cathy’s elder brother Hindley tries his best to make Heathcliff’s life a living nightmare, just because he is quite below their station.

When the children grow up Cathy rejects Heathcliff of his offer to marry, she wishes to marry him because she loves him so dearly but she knows that she must not marry him because he is so below her. Instead Cathy marries a very rich man, Edgar Linton, who lives in Thrushcross Grange a house near her own.

Mr Heathcliff is determined to have his revenge and to win Cathy back whatever he must do. He torments the servants and inhabitants of Wuthering Heights as he believes it is their faults that Cathy did not love him, even though they had nothing to do with it.

Edgar’s sister soon falls in love with Heathcliff when he comes to visit Cathy and they eventually elope together. So how will this sad and sorry tale end? Will Heathcliff ever get his revenge? Read this fantastic book to find out.

This book is full of revenge, passion, need and greed and it shows the bad and evil side of love and what it can make you do. I think that this is an excellent book and if you haven’t read it, which I very much doubt, I advise going and buying or borrowing one from your local library very soon and find out what you are missing out on! I think that anybody twelve plus could read and enjoy this book. I give it a ten out of ten.

Pirates by Celia Rees

Pirates is a fantastic book by the excellent author, Celia Rees. Full of action, suspense and finding your true love, this an excellent book for girls and boys from about the age 10-11 plus.


This book is about two characters, Nancy Kington, a merchant’s daughter and Minerva Sharpe,a slave.This novel is set in 1724, when pirates and slavery were both common. Nancy had always lived in Bristol, England, and when the book is set she was nearly sixteen. She was secretly promised to a young man called William who worked in the Navy. Meanwhile, at the plantation in Jamaica, Minerva, was living a harsh life as a slave.

One day Nancy’s father (who owned a slave plantation in Jamaica) died leaving Nancy’s future in charge of her older brothers. Nancy soon found herself on one of her father’s ships, bound for Jamaica. On the journey she made some friends with the first mate, Broom, and the ship’s surgeon, Graham. When she finally gets to Jamaica she is sad to leave them but will she ever see them again?

When Nancy got to her father’s plantation, she realised how horrific the conditions the slaves lived in and how they were forced to work or they would get severe punishments. Then she discovers something a lot worse in her opinion at least, her father had left the plantation to her, meaning that the slaves belonged to her and they were all branded with her initials.

Then, Nancy met a slave of about her age - Minerva- and her mother - Phyllis -, who are her personal slaves. They were meant to help her get dressed, make her meals and so on. However, Nancy didn’t believe in slavery so she did everything with Minerva and Phyllis as if they weren’t slaves. The three of them carried on this way until Nancy’s elder brother informs her that she must stop that "behavouir" or there would be bad circumstances for her, Minerva and Phyllis.

On her sixteenth birthday Nancy had to go and visit a man that her brothers and father decided she should marry, a horrible Brazilian man called Bartholome. He gave Nancy a ruby chocker and earrings, that look as if someone has cut her neck and she is bleeding and the earrings look like drops of blood, Phyllis urges her to get rid of them as they are evil and having dark and evil spirits in them, but Nancy secretly keeps them.

Then Nancy has a crime on her hands so she, Minerva, Phyllis and another slave called Thomas, run away to join the maroons (run-away slaves). They live there until one day the pirates come to trade, led by Broom (the first mate of the ship Nancy came on). Broom became a pirate when his ship got captured by them and he joined them eventually becoming captain. Broom, being a just pirate agreed to let Minerva and Nancy join his crew dressed as men as long as the rest of the men agree. So, Nancy and Minerva live the life of piracy befriending the other pirates and going on many adventures.

Can they find their true loves and not be captured by the law? Read this amazing book to find out. I give it 10 out of 10.

Cuckoo in the Nest by Michelle Magorian

This is a fantastic book by the same author who wrote the wonderful novels Goodnight Mister Tom and Back Home.

This book is set in 1946 – 1947. This novel is about how a boy of about seventeen is desperate to become an actor in a real theatre. He used to work in a paper mill with his father until he got sacked, he must get a job as an actor but will anyone take him on?

While Ralph does his best to get the job of an actor he must hide this ambition from his father. Ralph’s father doesn’t approve of the theatre and they already get into enough quarrels without getting into that one – again. It was a struggle for Ralph to get into the theatre every Friday night without his father knowing, never mind this.

Since the theatre isn’t willing to take him on unless his father supplied them with one-hundred pounds and his father would never agree to pay that money, even if they did have it, Ralph must find some other job. He finds one at one lady’s house, as a gardener. Before long Ralph is helping with something to do with her family as well as with her garden. He also makes very good friends with her daughter when she comes to stay.

Ralph still must be as close to the theatre as possible, so he starts to help out every Saturday night clearing the props from the stage after the show. He finds himself falling in love with the assistant stage hand, who unfortunately for him is engaged. Whilst doing this he still tries to get the job as an actor.

So can Ralph keep this up while not letting his argumentative father catch on what is going on? He must also look after his stressed mother, put up with his annoying aunt, whinging cousin, determined to work but still to young brother and his very clever twelve year old sister. Will he ever get a job as an actor? Will anyone ever find out about his love to the Assistant Stagehand? And will he ever get the chance to meet his favourite actor, Basil Duke? Read this amazing book to find out.

This is a truly excellent book and I recommend it to anyone eleven plus. I give it an eight out of ten.

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

Ballet Shoes is a fantastic book by Noel Streatfeild. Noel Streatfeild wrote many children's novels which include: White Boots, Dancing Shoes and Theatre Shoes or Curtain Up as it was originally called as well as many others. However, in my opinion Ballet Shoes is the best of them all as it is heart-warming and a beautiful novel and I read it frequently. It is a story that lasts with you forever.

GENRE

The book does not fall into a certain genre. We could say that it was a novel about learning how to be a theatrical performer. Also trying to live like a family with very little money was interwoven into the story as well as many cases of right and wrong.

PLOT

This story is about three sisters - Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil. They were not sisters by birth but by adoption. Gum (Great Uncle Matthew) was an avid fossil collector until he fell off a mountain and needed to get a wooden leg, meaning that he couldn't collect fossils any longer. But Gum still carried on exploring, coming back occasionally to bring some unusual presents for his grown up great niece - Sylvia Brown - and her old nurse, Nana. These presents weren't exactly what they expected as they were babies who needed help.

However, Gum left, leaving Sylvia and Nana to look after Pauline, Petrova and Posy. Gum put five years worth of money in the bank, but he claimed he wouldn't be gone that long anyway. But Gum did not live up to his word and he was away for much longer than he said he would be, meaning that the money in the bank eventually ran out. As the house they lived in was gigantic, the family decided to ask for boarders. The boarders that came not only brought money but they also pleased everyone. The first were Mr and Mrs Simpson who had a marvellous car - which wasn't that common as the book was set in the 1930s pre-World War II - this excited Petrova as she loved cars and aeroplanes. Then came Theo Dane who brought along her gramophone that the children loved to dance to. The final pair of boarders were two retired female doctors - Doctor Jakes and Doctor Smith, who used to coach people for exams, specializing in literature and mathematics.

Since there was such a little amount of money Pauline and Petrova had to be taken away from their school as it was too expensive. Sylvia attempted to teach them but she didn't really know how and she was terrible at maths - which was incredibly difficult as Petrova was a genius at that particular subject. So the two doctors and Sylvia came to an agreement that the doctors would teach the children themselves. They wanted to do this because even though they liked retirement they missed teaching.

To also help, Theo, who worked at a school that taught children how to act, sing and dance - The Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training - offered the three girls the chance to go to The Academy to help them with their futures. The Academy also let children - once they had reached the age of twelve - to perform on stage and earn money for it. Sylvia did not want the children to go to the The Academy if they were going to earn money, as she thought it was wrong to earn money from an adopted child. However Nana made Sylvia see sense because Pauline and Posy would probably end up on the stage anyway. (Pauline loved to act and Posy's mother was a ballet dancer and Posy had inherited the love and talent for dancing from her).

So the children went to The Academy, Pauline shone out in all of the acting classes and as expected, resulted in appearing on stage for principal parts numerous times. Posy shone out in the dancing classes and was personally coached by the head teacher of The Academy, Madame Fidola, (who was a Russian ballet dancer). Posy was better at dancing than children much older than her and with a lot more experience than her. Petrova, on the other hand, loathed going to The Academy but she didn't dare tell Sylvia in case she upset her and they needed the money so desperately.

To the children Sylvia was not called by her real name but Garnie, this is because Nana thought it was improper for the children to call her Sylvia. So in the end they decided on "Guardian" but as the children were very young when this was decided they could only say "Garnie" so the name was born.

The story in this book is about struggling through as a "family", trying to cope with very little money and acting and dancing. It is also about how loyal sisters can be to each other and that children can be very responsible, even at a young age.

Every birthday or special occasion the Fossil sisters made a vow: "We three Fossils vow to try and put our name in the history books because it is our very own and nobody can say it's because of our grandfathers."

CHARACTERS

The three main characters in this book are Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil.

Pauline

Pauline was the eldest of the three sisters. Gum rescued Pauline when a ship that he was on sank leaving very few survivors. Sylvia decided on the name Pauline as Pauline, like St Paul, was rescued from being drowned.

Pauline showed a talent for being an excellent actress and as soon as she was twelve and could earn money she was getting principal parts in plays.

Pauline was very pretty with blonde hair and blue eyes and she always looked perfect.

Although Pauline was so fantastic at acting, sometimes fame went to her head, thinking that everybody was below her because she had the main part in a play. However she soon learnt her lesson. Pauline learnt a lot about Shakespeare and about how to act from Doctor Jakes.

Petrova

Petrova was the middle child out of the three. Her father and mother were both Russian and Petrova was born there. Unfortunately both of Petrova's parents died when she was a baby, so Gum took her back for Sylvia and Nana to look after.

Petrova was quite plain with dark hair and eyes. Petrova wasn't as pretty as Pauline or Posy and when Nana first saw Petrova she remarked "We'd better hope this one has brains because I can see who's going to be Miss Plain in my nursery." However, Sylvia always thought she looked more interesting than the other two.

Luckily Petrova did have brains and was the cleverest out of the three sisters. She was excellent at mathematics and when Sylvia taught her Petrova was always far ahead of her. Petrova loved cars, aeroplanes or any vehicle and she often understood how they worked.

Petrova was the only sister who detested going to The Academy. This was probably because she had always acted more like a boy than a girl and also because she wasn't any good at dancing, singing or acting. The only thing that Petrova really enjoyed doing was helping at Mr Simpson's garage. She would spend hours there tending to cars.

Posy

Posy was the youngest of the three sisters and also very cheeky. She often spoke before she thought about it and she was often acted spoilt or too ambitious.

Posy's father died when she was a baby and her mother couldn't afford to look after her, so she asked Gum to look after her daughter. She also gave Posy a pair of ballet shoes as she was a dancer herself. Posy was already named by her parents before going into Sylvia and Nana's care.

Posy - just like her mother - was an excellent dancer and she was so fantastic at it that Madame (who was in charge of The Academy) taught Posy everything herself. This was a great honour at The Academy and nobody as young as Posy had ever had this opportunity. Posy often showed off about her ability to dance and this annoyed Pauline and Petrova on many occasions.

SETTING AND ATMOSPHERE

This book is mainly set at Gum's house, Cromwell Road, London and at The Academy.

Gum's house

According to Pauline, Petrova and Posy, Cromwell Road was the longest road in all of London and as they often had to "save the penny and walk" this annoyed them a lot. Gum's house was quite big and was full of the fossils that he collected over the years. Downstairs was reserved for Cook and Clara - the servants. The nursery and the children's bedrooms were where Pauline, Petrova and Posy spent most of the time that they were at home. Nana and Sylvia had their bedrooms and there were individual bedrooms for most of the boarders.

The atmosphere in the house was often quite loud and busy and there was always a few people in the house at a time. The atmosphere of the house was also often quite friendly.

The Academy

The Academy was three buildings all built together to form one in the middle. There was a pupil entrance, a guest entrance and a staff entrance. Even though the book is often set at The Academy we do not learn a lot about what it is like as a setting or the atmosphere. However, in my opinion, I think that The Academy is quite a busy and loud place where something is always going on.

COMMENT

This is a fabulous book and I would recommend it to any girl from about ten or eleven upwards. Noel Streatfeild is a fantastic author and she made me feel like I was best friends with characters in this book. I give it a ten out of ten.

Some books that I have read

Sorry that I haven't blogged in ages......... but I have been busy doing a lot of things so this is just a quick post telling you which books I have read recently and will be reviewing before long.

The books that I have read are:

1. Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
2. The year the gypsies came by Linzi Glass
3. Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
4. Cuckoo in the Nest by Michelle Magorian
5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
6. Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach
   
7. Triss by Brain Jacques
8. The Wind Singer by William Nicholson
9. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson
   
10. The Secret Countess by Eva Ibboston
11. Vedigris Deep Frances Hardinge
    
12. I was Jane Austen's best friend Cora Harrison

I think that I may have forgotten a few books that I have read because I have been reading so many and have been struggling to keep track of them!

Why Shoot a Butler? by Georgette Heyer

Why Shoot a Butler? is a fantastic murder mystery book and I really enjoyed it as it constantly kept me guessing. This book was written in about 1921 so the things that happen and the language is a bit different from today.
The book starts off when the main character, Mr Frank Amberly - who is in his twenties - is going to visit his aunt, uncle and cousin, when he gets lost on the road after taking a "short-cut". He stops for directions when he sees a car with a woman standing outside of it. Inside the car, it turns out, is a dead man, and the woman - Shirley - is carrying a fully loaded gun.

It turns out that the dead man is the butler of Mr Amberly's cousin's - Felicity - best friend's step-brother - Basil Fountain. Basil's uncle died a little while before the book is set leaving everything (including the house with the butler in it) he owned to Basil. However, the dead butler had left behind a lot more money than a butler would normally do.

Can Mr Amberly work out who did it while other murders and crimes are going on. With midnight excursions chasing criminals, balls, break-ins and wills this book is excellent and if you like a good murder mystery you'll love this. I give it a 9 out of 10.

Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse

Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse is the third book in the amazing Percy Jackson series and like all of the other Percy Jackson books it was great.
At the beginning of this book Percy and his friends are trying to persuade some new half bloods (children with one parent who is a Greek god and another who is a mortal) to go to Camp Half Blood. However, disaster strikes for them (again) when Annabeth is captured by a horrible monster. Percy and his friends must save her but can they?

The two new half bloods are brother and sister Bianca and Nico de Angelo. Bianca, serious about looking after her little brother and her reckless brother Nico are at first reluctant to go to Camp but finally they agree.

During the fight in which Annabeth is captured Artemis' - a Greek goddess- female Hunters come to help. Bianca makes the decision of her life to abandon Nico and join the Hunters which means that she can have immortality. Since Artemis pledged never to fall in love with any man, her Hunters have to make the same promise before they join. Zoe - one of the Hunters - and Thalia - Percy's friend hate each other.Can Percy find out why?

Can they save Annabeth? Because Artemis' hunters can't be in contact with males and both Hunters and Half-Bloods have to be on the quest the Hunters don't want any males on the quest, so can Percy persuade them to let him join in?

Ithaka by Adele Geras

This is a fabulous book written by Adele Geras. I really enjoy history and I enjoy historical novels even more so this book really appealed to me.
Ithaka is a story about all of the Ancient Greek woman who are left behind while their husbands are fighting in the Trojan War. It tells about how Penelope - Odysseus' faithful wife - is one of the women waiting behind and how she has waited for ten years for her husband to come back and that she has had no word for him. Everyone - except from Penelope and a few others - are convinced that Odysseus is dead - but are they right? She is guided by Athena - a Greek goddess - to wait for her husband as she struggles to do the right thing.

Her young handmaiden, Klymene, is the real main character and she and Penelope have to try and survive while their beautiful Greek island, Ithaka, is destroyed by the disgusting men who have come to marry Penelope.

Will Odysseus ever come back? Will Klymene find her true love? Will the disgusting suitors ever go away and leave everyone on Ithaka be? Read this amazing book to find out!

I really enjoyed this book and I give it an 8 out of 10. I think that you should really be 11+ before reading this book as it has some bad language and "adult themes".

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

This is the sequel of the amazing book Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief which I reviewed a few posts ago.
It's time for Percy, Annabeth and a Cyclopes called Tyson that went to Percy's school to go back to Camp Half Blood.However the Camp's borders have gone down and monsters are attacking it from all sides. The camp is in uproar.

The Camp got into such a bad state because someone poisoned Thalia's tree. The story about Thalia's tree is that about six years ago three demi-gods with the help of Grover where going to Camp Half Blood. These three demi gods where Annabeth - daughter of Athena- Luke - son of Hermes - and Thalia - daughter of Zeus. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades though had been forbidden to have anymore children with humans. So monsters came to attack the four as they made their way to Camp Half Blood. When the got to Half Blood Hill, they were attacked by such a fierce monster that Thalia gave up her life to save her friends. But before she could die Zeus turned her into a pine tree.

People believe that it was Chiron who poisoned the tree so he has been banished from Camp Half Blood and the activities director who replaced him hates Percy and his friends.

Now that the pine tree has been poisoned the Camp will eventually crumble unless someone finds the Golden Fleece to save the tree and the Camp. The other bad thing is that Grover on his quest to find Pan got kidnapped by a Cyclopes - Polyphemus. Grover pretends that he's a female cyclopes and that he wants to marry Polyphemus. He tells Polyphemus that he will marry him once he has finished the train for his wedding dress he weaves by day and unweaves by night.

Percy, Annabeth and Tyson must save the Camp and Grover before it's to late by saving Grover and the Golden Fleece from the Sea of Monsters aka the Bermuda Triangle. Can they save them and can the prove Chiron's innocence? Read the book to find out!

I really enjoyed reading this book and I give it a 9 out of 10!

Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean

This book is the first ever official sequel of Peter Pan and Wendy. The Lost Boys and Wendy are now all grown up and have left Neverland. But they keep having strange dreams about it. So they decide to go back to Neverland, they catch a fairy called Firefly who tells the worst lies ever.

To make themselves children again, as only children can go to Neverland they all get there children's clothes and dress up in them, this makes them young again. Some problems occur during this process, Slightly doesn't have any children and Tootles only has daughters. So Tootles turns into a girl!

When they reach Neverland everything has changed there are no Lost Boys as Peter turned them all out for becoming adults and he's living in the Wendy House which is now on one of the branches of the tree.

Peter and the Lost Boys who came back decide to go on a quest to find Hook's treasure. A lot of things go wrong on the way -from being attacked by pirates to going to the maze of witches. This is an excellent book and I really enjoyed it. I give it an 8 out of 10.

The Secret of the Sirens by Julia Golding

This is a fantastic book by a great author.
This book is about a girl called Connie who gets sent by her parents to live with her strange aunt in a village called Hescombe. Something is up in the village as sailors are going missing on the sea. Connie's aunt belongs to a society to try and save the people of Hescombe from being killed by going out to sea, or so Connie thinks!

Connie has the amazing ability to talk to all animals and when people in the society pick up on this they get Connie to do a test. It turns out that Connie is a universal so she can talk to all animals and has a special bond with them. But the society isn't what Connie thinks it is, it is actually a Society to help mythological Creatures that live even today. Most people in the society can only communicate with one group of animals however Connie can communicate with them all. Universals are very rare and they are worshiped by the other people in the society.

The sailors dying out at sea are actually hearing sirens - a Greek mythological creature - that sings such beautiful songs that mortals jump out of their boats and into the sea. Can Connie and the Society save the mortals from the sirens or not? Read this fantastic book to find out. I really like this book and give it a 7 out of 10.

Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

I absolutely loved this book, it is amazing and is now my official favourite book ever!
This book is about a boy called Percy Jackson who goes to a school called Yancy Academy. So far in only six years Percy has been expelled from six schools. So when Percy and his school go to a museum about Greek and Roman times things start to go wrong once again.

Mrs Dodds the maths teacher at the school asks Percy if she can talk to Percy in private and when she does she suddenly turns into a Greek monster - a Fury. Percy's best friend Grover and Mr Brunner his Latin teacher come into the room. Mr Brunner tosses Percy a pen and when Percy uncaps the pen it turns into a sword! He "kills" "Mrs Dodds" with the sword however when he goes back to the school, no-one has heard about Mrs Dodds and every one - including Grover- think that he's gone mental.

Then on one of the final days of the school year Percy hears Mr Brunner and Grover talking about him. They are saying that they are worried if they can keep him alive! So Percy knows something strange is happening.

The next strange thing that happens is that Percy's mother - Sally- tells Percy that he must go to a summer camp that Percy's father always wanted Percy to go to. On their way to the Camp with Grover they are attacked by a Minotaur - another Greek monster. They fight the monster but before Percy and Grover can kill the monster the Minotaur kills Percy's mother. Percy and Grover between them kill the monster and they get to the Camp.

Then things get even stranger Grover turns out to be a satyr, half goat half human, Mr Brunner is a centaur called Chiron, the head of the Camp, Mr D is the Greek god Dinousuys and Percy is a demi god which means that he is the son of a god and a human.

Then things go from bad to worse, someone has stolen Zeus lightning bolt and if he doesn't get it back there will be a war between the gods. The really bad thing is that Zeus thinks that it was Percy who stole the lightning bolt.

Percy, Grover and their friend from Camp Half Blood Annabeth must prove Percy's innocence, find the lightning bolt to give back to Zeus in a limited amount of days and retrieve Percy's mother from the underworld.

This is a fantastic book about Percy, Grover and Annabeth on a quest. Can they do the three things they must and get past monsters across the way? Read this book to find out. I loved this book so much I gave it a 10 out of 10.

The Silver Blade by Sally Gardener

This is the sequel to the Red Necklace, they are both great books and I loved them. To see my review of the Red Necklace, it is my last review.
This book is also set in the French Revolution , Sido is now safely in England living with her aunt and uncle, however her father is dead. Everybody believes Count Kallovski to be dead, but is he?

Yann is now saving aristocrats who are going to be sent to the guillotine, with the rest of the people at the theatre he used to work at, the Theatre of the Follies, this theatre is owned by Citizen Aulard, a coward. Yann and Didier save people before they can be sent to the guillotine and those people appear as minor characters in the plays at the theatre before being sent to England.

Yann has earned himself the name of the Silver Blade as one night when he was saving people from a prison he put a small Silver Blade over the bed of one of the people working at the prison. So the police in France are looking for the Silver Blade and whenever someone escapes from the guillotine the public say that the Silver Blade saved them.

Sido and Yan are deeply in love with each other and they communicate with each other by letters. Sido's aunt and uncle think that Yann is a spoilt boy who threw away a chance to go to Cambridge university to go to France and become an actor. They have no idea what Yann really does in France.

From the Theatre all being put in prison for suspicion of being the Silver Blade to Count Kallovski coming back from the dead. This is an excellent story and I give it an 8 out of 10.

The Red Necklace by Sally Gardener

The Red Necklace is a fantastic historical novel set in the French Revolution.
It is about a boy called Yann who is able to read people's minds and throw his voice. Yann works with a magician - called Topolian- and a dwarf- called Tetu. The three of them put on a show where the main magic trick is the Pierrot a puppet which can move, talk and read people's minds. The puppet works as Tetu has the magical power to be able to pull the threads of light, so he can make things move, so that's how the puppet walks. Yann is able to throw his voice from backstage and the audience asks the puppet questions, Yann reads their minds and answers as if he's the puppet.

So when one day Topolian is asked to go and perform at a Marquis house every thing goes wrong. At the party the Marquis throws is the famous Count Kallovski who lets people borrow money in exchange for their deepest darkest secrets that they wouldn't tell anyone.

When Topolian lets it slip that he recognises Count Kallovski, so the Count kills him. He does this as one of the tricks is that Topolian can be shot and that he won't die. However, Count Kallovski tampers with the gun and kills Topolian.

Yann and Tetu have to escape from the house, the Marquis daughter Sido, helps them escape as she hates her father. Yann and Tetu safely escape the house and go back to the theatre.

Sido hates her father as he is an arrogant, rich man. He hates his daughter as she reminds him of his wife who died when Sido was very young. The Marquis detests her as she isn't beautiful - just plain- and because she walks with her limp. Sido rarely sees him as he sends her to convent.

Yann and Tetu have to hide from Count Kalloviski as he wants to kill them. Things get so bad that Yann gets sent to live in England with Sido's aunt and uncle who are very close friends to Tetu's friend.

But when Sido and her father fear the worst and they need to escape France, they contact Mr Toll. Mr Toll is actually very bad and he sends them to prison to die for being aristocrats. Can Yann save Sido who he has found that he is in love with? Read the book to find out.

This is an excellent book and I loved it. I give it an 8 out of 10.

Enna Burning by Shannon Hale

This is the sequel to the book that I reviewed a little while ago called The Goose Girl. If you want to see my review about the Goose Girl it's just a few reviews ago.
This book is about one of the main characters in the previous book called Enna. One day Enna's brother comes home and there's something strange about him. When he suddenly sets fire on Enna and her friend Finn -also from the Goose Girl - everything starts to go wrong. It turns out that her brother has managed to get the power to be able to set fire from things by pulling the heat from living things and redirecting it at someone or something.

Suddenly a kingdom called Tira wants to go to war against Bayern. Enna's brother - who is on the Bayern side - gets permission from the Prince to use his powers to win the battle. Bayern wins the battle because of the fire, but unfortunately Enna's brother sacrifices himself to the fire and dies.

Then Enna finds the piece of paper that gave her brother the power, by reading this piece of paper she gets the power herself. She has an urge to burn everything and even ends up burning her best friend and queen of Bayern, Isi - also from The Goose Girl. Fourtanetly Isi has the power to put it out with the wind which she can control.

Enna goes around setting alight the Tira camps until one day when she gets caught. Will Enna betray her country or worse will she betray her friends - Finn and Razo - which she has known for years. Read this amazing book to find out! I loved this book and give it a 8 out of 10.

Small Steps by Louis Sachar

This is the sequel to the amazing book Holes which I loved so much that I gave it 10 out of 10. See my first few posts to see my review of Holes.
Small Steps is about Armpit and X-Ray once they have left Camp Green Lake. Armpit sets himself a few small steps to try and make himself a better person. These steps are;

1. Graduate High School
2. Get a job
3. Save his money
4. Avoid situations that might turn violent
5. Lose the name Armpit.

So Armpit gets a new job digging trenches - surprise, surprise- and is quite happy with everything. He is making a lot of money, doing well at school, avoiding by violent situations, no-body knows about his previous nickname and he even got to dig trenches for the mayor.

But when X-Ray suddenly turns up things start to go wrong. X-Ray has a plan to make a lot of money he asks Armpit if he can borrow some money and that if he does Armpit can double all of his money in just two weeks, first Armpit is reluctant but finally gives in.

So what X-Ray and Armpit do is buy twelve tickets for the amazing pop star Kaira De Leon from the station selling them and they get them very cheap, they then sell the tickets at a very high price in a newspaper advert.

So can X-Ray and Armpit sell the tickets? From meeting the pop star to nearly getting X-Ray put into jail, this is a very funny story about trust and loyalty. I enjoyed it so give a 8 out of 10.

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

I have read this book and the other Alex Rider books many times and I think that they are absolutely amazing!
Stormbreaker is about a boy called Alex Rider who is about fourteen. He doesn't see much of his uncle - who works in a bank - as his uncle is always going away unexpectedly for work. Alex doesn't have any parents as they died when he was young. So Alex lives with his uncle - Ian Rider- when he's around and his uncle's American house keeper Jack Starbright- although Jack has a boys name she's really a girl.

So when the door bell rings at three in the morning Alex knows that something is wrong, it turns out that his uncle died in a car crash. This isn't good enough for Alex so he goes investigating and goes to a car demolishing garage. He quickly finds his uncle's car and discovers that it hadn't been a car crash but had bullets through it.

Then Alex is asked to go to the Royal and General Bank (where his uncle worked) to see the manager there. He discovers that the Royal and General is not a bank at all but MI6 and that his uncle was a spy.

Next Alex gets sent to a training camp where he gets bullied by the men there and he's called Cub as they don't have any names there. After days of training Alex returns to Alan Blunt - the head of MI6- and Mrs Jones - his deputy- and he is told that he must go on a mission to find out exactly what's up with the Stormbreakers. If Alex refuses Jack will be sent back to America and Alex will have to go to a cruel boarding school.

So Alex is sent to Cornwall. This is where Herod Sayle a very rich business man has made his Stormbreakers, a very expensive computer that really helps as education and makes you feel like you are where ever you are learning about. Herod has decided to give a Stormbreaker to every school in the country for free. MI6 think that he's to good to be true and that somethings up. Can Alex find out exactly what's up and save the country? Read the book to find out.

I really enjoyed this book and give it an 8 out of 10.

Crummy Mummy and Me by Anne Fine

Sorry, I know, I know I haven't blogged in ages but now I'm going to give you all of the books that I have read since the last one to the most recent!

Gina nicely lent me Crummy Mummy and Me as well as Goggle Eyes. This was another great Anne Fine book, so thank you very much Gina! (Sorry I haven't been able to get a decent picture of the book from Gina, i can't find the right book on the Internet, so I'll show you another one that I found.)
Crummy Mummy and Me is about a girl called Minna. She has a very strange family and she doesn't like being the only normal one in the whole family. I mean, I sympathise with Minna her mum has royal blue hair and wears strange clothes such as purple fish net tights. And I thought my mum was bad! Her Mum's punk boyfriend - Crusher Maggot- is nearly just as bad with his strange hair styles. Minna has to look after her little sister, as Crusher and her mum just give the baby cherry ade to drink!

From the TV being stolen to being ill in bed and seeing who's the best nurse. This is a great book with mad things happening every two seconds! I really enjoyed this book and give it a 7 out of 10! Thank you Gina!

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

This an excellent book and both me and my mum loved it! This is the second time I've read but I still loved it.
It is about Princess Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, or Ani for short. When Ani is sixteen her father dies from falling off his horse, Ani discovers that she is not to rule Kildenree after her mother is dead as she has believed for many years. Instead her brother is to rule and she is to travel to Bayern and marry the prince there to make an alliance between the two countries.

Ani a guard and her lady-in-waiting, Selia travel to Bayern so Ani can marry the Prince there. But on the way there Ani and her most faithful guards are attacked by Ani's lady-in-waiting and some of the unfaithful guards. Ani is forced to run away to save her life.

Meanwhile Selia pretends to be Princess Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee and travels to Bayern to marry the Prince. When Ani finally arrives in Bayern she discovers that Selia really has taken her place. Ani decides to go to the King to explain but when she arrives there she loses her courage. Instead she asks for work, the King tells her that she can work as one of the animal workers who look after the King's animals.

Ani gets the place of the Goose Girl. She must hide from everybody as the unfaithful guards are looking for the "Princess' " escaped lady in waiting. As everybody living in Bayern has dark hair and people from Kildenree have blonde hair, Ani must hide her hair.

Ani becomes very close friends with one of the girls, Enna, but to Ani's dismay Enna discovers her secret. Enna promises to tell no-one. Can Ani get her rightful place back on the throne or is she forced to be an animal worker for the rest of her life? Read the book and find out! I loved this book and I give it a 10 out of 10!

Goggle Eyes by Anne Fine

This was one of the books that I was sent by Gina, thank you Gina! Later on I will be doing a post about the other book she sent me, Crummy Mummy and Me, also by Anne Fine.
This is another great book about a girl called Kitty who isn't just the greatest story teller but also has a great experience about her mum's many boyfriends. So when one day a quiet girl called Helen comes in upset to school, Kitty is sent to cheer her up.

Kitty discovers that Helen's mum has found a boyfriend and Helen hates him, as Kitty has a huge experience of this she tells Helen about her mum's most recent boyfriend -who she calls Goggle Eyes. Her mum's boyfriend is a lot older than her mum and he is very rude to everybody. This is a great book about how Goggle Eyes and Kitty are always fighting and how eventually Kitty discovers he isn't to bad after all.

This is a great book and I give it a 7 out of 10. Thank you very much Gina for sending it to me!

Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

This is the third book in the Inkheart series, as probably know I did a post a little while ago about Inkspell the second book. This a fantastic book and I love it!
Inkspell ended sadly with one of the main character's dying - no I'm not saying who, read Inkspell to find out- and another main character saving his life by making a deal with death and dying him self - no I'm not saying who this is either!

The character who died but came back to life again - OK, so this is getting a bit confusing - is determined to get someone to bring the dead character back to life - I'm extremely confused myself now and I've read these books loads of times! So he - that's the only clue your getting- persuades Meggie to read a writer who calls himself Orpheus into the Inkworld to save the dead character by writing a deal with the White Women - the people who bring death.

Mo visits death - but no it's not him that dies - and death tells him that he must destroy the White Book. The White Book is a book that Mo and Meggie made for the Adderhead as they and all of the strolling players were captured and taken to the Adderhead's castle and kept as prisoners. Mo and Meggie together made a book of 500 blank pages that would make the Adder immortal unless three words were written in 'ink, heart, death'. Now death has told Mo that he must destroy the white book otherwise he and Meggie will be killed.

Meggie finds out that she is in love with someone but she doesn't know who - Farid, or one of the robbers, Doria. She also finds out that Fenoligo wrote (while he still lived in the real world) a story about a man called Doria who invents things - just as Doria does in Inkdeath - and that his wife gives him ideas, like a box that plays music, as she comes from a land far away where these type of things are real. Does it sound familiar at all?

Mo becomes a lot more heroic, saving people and often nearly dying. I really recommend reading the first two book before you read this one as it will make a lot more sense if you do! I loved this book and give it a 8 out of 10.

The Ant Colony by Jenny Valentine

This is also a great book and is very exciting and adventurous. As you may or may not know I have also read a book by this author called Finding Violet Park.
This book is about lots of people living in a flat at number 33 Georgiana Street. To Sam the flat is a place to hide from everybody at home, as he has done something that he regrets and he doesn't want anybody to know about it.

To Bohemia it's just a place to be before her mum, Cherry, finds another boyfriend. Bohemia's mum isn't the best mum ever as she doesn't look after daughter and leaves her on her own while she goes out with her most recent boyfriend. The other people in the flats want to help but Bo and Cherry don't want any trouble.

Isabel the old lady with a dog called Doormat who wees every where (I mean the dog not the woman), acts like she owns the place even though she doesn't. She is concerned about Bo's safety when her mother leaves her alone and she's also worried about why Sam won't talk to anyone in his family.

Steve who really owns the flat keeps to himself really and isn't that bothered when Isabel acts like she owns the place. Mick who also lives in the flat doesn't have a big part to play in this novel.

So what will happen to all of them, if you want to know read this great book and you won't be able to stop reading. I give this book a 7 out of 10.