Beyond The Bougainvillea by Dolores Durando

Unforgettable historical fiction novel about a young girl growing up motherless on Dakota farmland, with a drunken father and never ending work and hopelessness. When Marge's father trades her off to a drunken neighbor for acres of farmland Marge's nightmare really begins. After suffering more abuse than she can stand and with the help of a neighboring friend Marge makes her escape, journeying to Los Angeles during the depression. Marge is welcomed into a house of luxury but still sees the stark reality of what the depression has brought to starving farmers across the Midwest. Storytelling at it's best as you feel Marge's embarrassment that she has plenty of food and clothing while seeing starving children and sunken cheeked fathers standing in line for days for one bowl of soup which he takes with him to divide between his whole family. Marge soon learns that things aren't always what they seem though when the happy home that she is staying in is divided when tragedy strikes leaving nothing but bitterness behind. Marge has to learn to make it on her own where jobs and food are scarce. After finding a somewhat friend in a young Native American mother, lost on her own journey through the world, Marge finds courage and a drive to survive. She begins a new life in the wilds of northern California and the building of a new dam on the American River. Will Marge ever find the love she longs for with a Cherokee Engineer, or is she destined to live her life alone? Really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. The author grew up on the Dakota plains 90 years ago and this seems to be her first novel, I hope she writes many more, as she is a wonderful storyteller. This was an advanced readers copy through Netgalley.com from Bell Bridge Books.

Bite Me, Try Me, and Fang Me by Parker Blue

Bite Me is the first book in the Underground Demons series and it's a really fun kickass beginning. Val is a part Succubus demon, part human, and a just turning 18 teenager. She battles and kills the vampires in Texas that prey on humans. After kissing a boy almost kills him she has to learn to keep her succubus side, whom she calls Lola, under tight control using lust power as an advantage in her fights with the vamps. After discovering that their daughter, Val's half sister Jen has been following Val and wants to be just like her, Val's mother and Stepfather kick her out of the house on her 18th birthday. Val hits it lucky when she runs into a part demon hellhound named Fang who is full of attitude and can talk telepathically to her and other demons. She also ends up working for the police and the San Antonio Special Crimes Unit with a really hot partner who doesn't make it easy for Val to hold Lola back. It seems there are MAYBE some good Vampires after all who want to set up blood banks where humans can donate blood to the Vamps to keep them from going after humans for their food. Val discovers there are some vampires that don't like that idea at all because they like toying with their food. They are out to stop the good Vampires which means Val and her team are out to stop them. Even without Val being there her half sister Jen still gets involved with the Vampires. When Val goes to get her out she sees that Jen has been influenced by one of the Vampires, which is against the laws of the good vampires and their leader Alejandro. Val and her trusty hellhound Fang set out, with a little help from her friends, to put a stop to it. Lots of fighting with a little mystery and romance on the side.

Try Me by Parker Blue:
The second in the Underground Demon series. In the second installment Val is being ignored by her partner Dan, even though she thought they had a thing going, he obviously can't handle her demon side. Good thing there is her new friend and hot crush Shade, who is a Shadow Demon and more than willing to teach Val how to control her Succubus demon. Val's part demon father had given her some books when she was a child and Val learns that those books are very powerful. After Val learns that the head of the Demon Underground is a cousin of sorts and that they want to help her she agrees to give them the books, however they are stolen at a party. Now it's up to Val and friends to not only find the books but protect the good Vampires when somebody starts poisoning them with something that makes them go crazy and kill anything in their path.

Fang Me by Parker Blue:
The third book in the Underground Demon series. Val is still looking for the magic books when a man shows up proclaiming to be a keeper and wanting to help them find the books that have his father trapped within them by magic. Val doesn't trust him at all and doesn't understand why all but her trusted dog Fang seems to really like him. Val's team on the police force find out that she is part demon and it doesn't go over well. She keeps looking for the books, all the time with her and Shade getting closer and her family coming closer to accepting her as she is. With more Vampires, Demons, Witches, and Magic, this is another exciting addition to this series. My favorite part of this series is Fang, the part hellhound part attitude rolled up in a little dog body. He's funny, he's always loyal to Val, and he's an important part of the series. If you liked the Twilight series but want something with a little more kick to it, you should give these a try. I can't wait till the next book, these definitely left me wanting more.
You can get these books separately or together in one volume. I read them as an advanced readers copy through Netgalley.com and Bell Bridge Books.

Surviving the Angel of Death by Eva Mozes Kor

This book tells the horrific experiences of Eva and Miriam Mozes during their time in the Nazi concentration camps. Eva and Miriam are only 10 years old when their family is arrested and placed in a cattle car with only room to stand, no food, no water, and barbed wire on the tiny windows. At the end of the train ride they are relieved until they see where they've arrived, the Auschwitz concentration camp. They are immediately ripped from the father, mother, and sisters, never to see them again, separated because they are considered special because they are identical twins. They are to be patients under the care of a Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele, who is experimenting with genetics in order to make the perfect Aryan race. What follows is a terrifying story of starvation, fear, desperation, and hope. One twin is often injected with a disease that will kill them so that when they die the other twin is killed so that they can compare the two. They are given different kinds of drugs to see their affects and to try to change their eye color or to try and change girls to boys. The Twin experiments were horrible and sadly, they were considered the lucky ones. Very intense, very heartbreaking, hard to read, because of the horror of it and knowing that these things really happened. This is one of those books that everybody should read. I got this as an advanced readers copy through netgalley.com from Tanglewood publishing. This is already available in hardback format, the release date for the paperback, is 10/11/2011

The Betrayal of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird

17th century Scotland was not a safe time, nobody knew this better than teenager Maggie Blair. Maggie's parents are both dead and she lives with her grandmother who most people think is strange and walks around talking about the devil and cursing people. The only thing they have that is worth anything is their land and when a wealthy land owner sets his sights on it he sees an easy way to get it. Maggie and her grandmother are soon accused of being witches and made to stand trial in the church. Many of the villagers testify against them because of their dislike for Maggie's grandmother. The land owner has his maid and mistress make up things and testify against them as well. Mostly because of the testimony of the maid, they are sentenced to be hanged and then burned. Maggie escapes with the help of an old family friend. She goes to stay with her Uncle and ends up in even bigger trouble when they arrest him for heresy. Can Maggie save her uncle? And what happens when the maid who testified against her shows up at every turn just to ruin her. Will people ever forget that she was the witch's granddaugther. Very enjoyable, exciting, historical fiction. Great for ages 13 and up. This was an advance readers copy through Netgalley.com from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publishing. Just released in hardcover format.

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander Mcall Smith

This is number 12 in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books. This was another fun read in the series but I was a little disappointed this time around. All the good things were there, the culture, the atmosphere, the Red Bush Tea, but those things weren't concentrated on enough in this outing. I love the fact that Mma Precious Ramotswe is so attached to her white van since I am attached to my jeeps so I understand. The only problem is, we've covered how much she is attached to it in several other books and too much of this book is taken up with her talking about it again. She thinks she sees her old van on the road and spends quite a few pages chasing after it and trying to get it back. Then there is the long awaited wedding between Phuti Radiphuti and Grace Makutsi, and A LOT about wedding shoes, more than I ever cared to know about shoes really. There is a mystery of course, involving cattle being killed and the man being afraid that he will be next. Mma Ramotswe "fixes" it, but doesn't solve the mystery, deciding some mysteries should just be left alone. And don't forget that man stealing hussy, Violet Sephotho, she is running for Parliament now, but won't get very far if Mma Makutsi has anything to say about it. These books are always nice laid back fun reads and the only mysteries I read, but this one just wasn't long enough for me. The van and the shoes shouldn't have taken up so many pages and more pages about Mma Ramotswe and Botswana should have been added. Still, if you're a fan of the series you'll want to read it, to visit with Precious, and have some Red Bush Tea.

A Donkey Reads by Muriel Mandell

This is a very cute Turkish folktale. It's starts out as most folktales do with a poor villager who barely has enough to feed this family. The village has just been captured by the Mongols and when their leader tells everyone they must bring the best thing they have before him as a gift or they will beaten, the poor villager doesn't know what to do. His wife tells him to take their old donkey because it can't even carry the children anymore it is so broken down and old. The Villager takes his poor old donkey in front of the leader and the leader gets very angry at him because his gift is not good enough. He is going to beat the villager until a wiseman steps forward and promises the Mongol leader that he can teach the donkey to read, then he will be worth something. And so the story goes, you get to find out if the wiseman really does teach the donkey to read, and just how he does it. Very cute story that all young children should enjoy. The illustrations are very nice, very classic looking. This was an advance readers copy through Netgalley.com from Star Bright Books.

Aliens on Vacation by Clete Smith

Aliens on Vacation is about a boy, Scrub, who has parents that basically ignore him. They both have to go on business trips during Scrubs summer vacation and decide to ship Scrub across the country to stay with his Grandmother who he's never met. His grandmother owns and operates the Intergalactic Bed and Breakfast. Scrub thinks it's a hangout for Trekkies and people that believe in aliens. He starts thinking things aren't really what they seem when he walks in first thing and reads,
House Rules for a Successful Visit:
1. Leave nothing behind
2. Take nothing with you
3. Dress appropriately
4. Two arms, two legs, one head
5. No harming the natives

He realizes maybe things aren't what they seem. Scrub stays very busy during the summer trying to help his grandmother with the "visitors" and keeping the town Sheriff from shutting the Bed and Breakfast down. Oh and too bad the Sheriff has a really cute daughter, just Scrubs age, who seems to be really nice. All in all Scrub has one heck of a summer, gets to know his grandmother and learns a lot about responsibility, all while having the best summer of his life. At least the most unusual one anyway. --- Great book for kids 10 to 13 or older. Very fun read. This was an advance readers copy through netgalley.com from Disney/Hyperion publishing and is set to be released 5/03/2011

The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel

The Land of the Painted Caves is number 6 in the Earth's Children series which started out with the Clan of the Cave Bear.
I was really looking forward to this book I had read the series over again as soon as I found out number 6 was being released. This series has been 30 years in the making and I loved them so much. Maybe that was reason enough not to get too excited about this one, maybe there was no way it could live up to my expectations. This wasn't a bad book and since this was an advance copy maybe the editors will fix some of the things that weren't really right with it and make it more enjoyable. The main thing is that nothing really ever happens. The advance copy was a 757 pages long trade paper and NOTHING all that exciting happened in all those pages. It was too many repeats of things already covered in the other books. The titles repeated again and again, the tea preparations, the Mothers song, another bunch of renegade men for Ayla to deal with. At least Jondalar does something unexpected but it wasn't a good thing and it made me not like him any more and it ruined that for me. The beginning starts out with Ayla still an acolyte, training to be a Zelandoni (a shaman or medicine woman) they go on a tour of sacred cave sites to see the paintings put there by the ancients. They go from cave to cave, page after page and talk about the different paintings and what they think they all mean. This takes up a good half of the book. Very little happens through the whole thing, in places it was like she thought about writing something and you thought ok something is going to happen now but then she would just stop where she was going and start in about tea or introductions, or how "pleasures" really do make babies. I would liked to have seen less repetition and less about her having to make water and using the night basket, her moon cycles, Wolf taking a dump in the caves, and about her holding her daughter up to make water, it was all WAY unnecessary. I would loved to have read about them trying to start trade meetings with the clan with Ayla using their sign language, finding and raising more horses and showing other people how to train them. I also thought there should have been more about their daughter Jonayla, she's there, but her character just isn't explored enough for you to really get to know her. All in all, if you've read the whole series so far you'll want to read this one just to finish the story but don't be expecting anything much to happen, or for this to be a big wonderful finish. Now I wish she had just finished it with Plains of Passage or Shelter of Stones. If I ever read them again that's where I'm stopping.

Ascension: A Dark Breed Novel by Sable Grace

Ascension is the start of an exciting new paranormal series from a debut author. Kyana is half Vampyre, half Lychen (Vampire, Werewolf) she works for the order, tracking demons that have escaped from hell so she can kill them or capture and return them to hell where they belong. Now all hell has broken lose, literally. Turns out there really are gates of hell and somebody had the key. Demons and all things that go bump in the night have been turned lose into the world and the only thing that can save the humans are the other things that go bump in the night. Kyana and her friends, Haven, a witch, Geoff, a Vampyre, and Ryker a demi god have been assigned that duty. The gods of Olympus (Greek mythology) are trying to save what humans they can and keep them safe while Kyana has been charged with finding the key to relock the gate so no more dark breed can come through, while saving the special "chosen" people that are destined to be gods. The gods of Olympus are slowly losing their power and have been using "chosen" humans to replace themselves. Kyana has her work cut out for her and along with all that, she is falling for Ryker a demi god who has turned her advances down before but who she can't stop thinking about. Ryker turned Kyana down because he is in love with her and wants to be mated to her Lychen side for life. The only problem is that Kyana embraces her Vampyre side and sees sex as a game and nothing more. Now Kyana is starting to fall for Ryker and is wondering whether she should let the Lychen side win and devote herself to only him. Gods, demons, vampyres, dragons, witches, and more, all with a little romance thrown in makes for an exciting read. The ending has a twist that really makes you want to read more of the series. We've all read about vampyres and weres but this throws the gods from the Greek myths in for good measure. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to book 2 in the series. ---- I got an advanced readers copy through Netgalley.com and Harper Collins publishing, it's release date is April 26th.

Spirit Dances by C.E. Murphy

Spirit Dances is number six in the Walker Papers series and WOW what an addition to the series.
If you're not familiar with the Walker Papers series, and you like the Paranormal genre, you should be. These books have everything, Zombies, Wendigos, ghosts, demons, spirit guides, and gods. Joanne Walker, starts out a mechanic for the police department, with a love of classic cars and a Cherokee, Irish heritage. She soon finds out in book one, the spirit world that she had always made fun of and didn't understand, really exists and that she is a major part of it. She learns that she is a shaman and must undergo the training for that, in this world and beyond. She makes many mistakes and is constantly having to come to terms with her past of teen pregnancy, betrayal, and growing up with a single parent. Spirit Dances starts out as every good book should, with action on page one, from start to finish. It doesn't really slow down at all, grabs you from the beginning and doesn't let go. This time Joanne is dealing with a serial killer out for power, missing homeless people, shapeshifters, wolves, a Ghost Dance, and then there's a first "kind of date" with her boss. She also learns she has a new power, if she can just learn to control it and use it, instead of it using her. She has help, as usual, from her friend and partner, Billy Holiday, the male cop with a penchant for wearing evening gowns and high heeled pumps. You also won't believe what happens to Captain Morrison this time when Joanne's magic goes a little astray, he surely won't forgive her for this one, or will he? A wonderful addition to the series, so far they just get better and better. The release date is for March 2011, I got an advanced copy from Netgalley.com and Luna publishing.

Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri

Ghetto Cowboy is a very different book, but also very enjoyable, whether you're a horse lover or just like a good story.
Cole has been getting into trouble for ditching school and is suspended. His mother decides she just can't take it anymore and takes him to live with his dad in Philadelphia, a dad he has never met and knows nothing about. Cole finds a world he is unfamiliar with, a world filled with horses and black cowboys, right in the middle of some of the worst streets in America. He learns that real cowboys weren't exactly as they're portrayed in the movies, real cowboys were mostly black and they had a strict code of honor. Right when Cole begins to understand that code of honor and how important it and his father is to him, he is faced with losing it all. This was a great story, though if you're an animal lover like me be prepared to skip through a page near the beginning dealing with a violent animal death, it was a little too much for me, but the story is very much worth reading after you get through that part. After doing some research I found out that there really are places like these in the inner city, (fletcherstreeturbanridingclub.com ) , places that save retired race horses from slaughter and get kids to choose horses over drugs and gangs. The black cowboy, the horses, and the cowboy code of honor still exists today. Write this title down, it's release date is in early September 2011. it's for ages 10 and up and is something that even adults shouldn't miss out on. I got an advance copy through wonderful, Netgalley.com and Candlewick Press.

Pearl in the Sand by Tessa Afshar

A Christian fiction book about the biblical figure, Rahab. Rahab was sold into prostitution by her father when she was 15 years old. After years of taking lovers Rahab was unhappy with her life and ashamed of how she has lived it. When she learns about the Israelites and that their god doesn't require people to burn and sacrifice their children she starts thinking that this might be the god for her. The Israelites, let by Joshua, have been taking over all the surrounding cities and Rahab thinks that Jericho will be next. She saves two men that Joshua has sent to spy on Jericho with the promise that they will save her and her family when they invade the city. The men are impressed with her faith in God and promise to save her. All of this is in the bible, of course, but this book goes a little further with the story and tells about Rahab and Salmone, a respected leader of Israel, falling in love and trying to start a life together. Salmone has to learn to not just forget Rahabs past but to also forgive it and Rahab has the hardest job of all which is to forgive herself. I really enjoyed this book and think anybody that enjoys Christian fiction or just historical fiction will enjoy it. It is mild in the telling of Rahab when she is a harlot and of the sexual relationship of Rahab and Salmone, so it would be good for younger teens and up as well.

Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon

First off I can say if you loved Harry Potter and then moved on to Twilight and loved that you'll probably love this one as well. When Renee is out with a friend she finds herself being "called" to the middle of a redwood forest where she finds both of her parents dead. Her estranged grandfather comes into her life and takes over, sending her to a special school, Gottfried Academy. There Renee meets Dante a mysterious boy who she is immediately drawn to. The school is special, and very exclusive, with classes in Latin, horticulture, and imaginary math. Renee finds out she is being drawn to dead things, birds, deer, and realizes something isn't right. She also thinks one of the students that died has something to do with her parents since they were all found the same way, dead from heart attacks, with cloth and coins strewn about them. Then there are the upper classmen group who only speak Latin, the fact that when she touches Dante she feels a cold shock, and what's up with all the dead things? A new twist on the zombie stories. Lots of Latin language sections and mythology thrown in. It's like Bella went to Hogwarts with zombies thrown in. Not the best series I've read by far, but not the worst. I'm assuming this will be a series if it does well because it has one of those endings where it could end there or go on.

Fallen by Lauren Kate

This looked like a promising ebook and it started out well with a story of lovers who have fallen in love in many past lives but are destined to never be together. Luce has been sent to reform school after a boy she was dating was killed in an unexplainable fire and she was blamed. She doesn't remember anything that happened. There are two boys at the school that she is immediately attracted to, Cam and Daniel. Cam likes her as well but he's kind of safe and boring and she can't stop thinking about Daniel who is mysterious and sometimes seems like he likes her and other times seems like he hates her. Then there are these mysterious shadows that hover here and there and only Luce seems to be able to see them, but doesn't know what they are. Sorry to say I can't review the whole book because by around page 100 I was so bored I starting reading other things and not going back to it. I know that it is the first in a series and I thought if I couldn't get through this one I won't want to bother reading any more. Maybe if you're a teen and like reading about chaste romance it would be fine and it is a teen book, I just wouldn't recommend it to any adults.

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Opdyke

In My Hands is a truly amazing, if at times gut wrenching, book. Irene is a 17 year old nursing student in Poland in the late 1930s. When the Germans and Russians invade, at the start of WWII, splitting Poland down the middle she is thrown in a horrible situation where most people, let alone a young innocent girl would have given up. She goes through so many horrors, including gang rape from Russian soldiers, where she was almost beaten to death but somehow survives. When the Russians and Germans break the treaty and all out war begins with Poland being pushed and pulled between them she ends up running to the German side to try to find her family only to realize that her nightmare had just started. She watches while Jewish men, women, and children, are shot down in the street and murdered right outside the hotel where she is working for the SS and Gestapo. She decides she is through just watching and doing nothing, even if she is "just a girl", she begins feeding, hiding, and doing anything she can and risking everything she has to help them. This is the true story of an unbelievably courageous woman who put her life at risk every day for other people. This book might be ok for teens to read but I think it is a little too much for under 12 to handle. Too much death and torture, and a horrible scene with a baby that was so bad even Irene couldn't really grasp it after everything she had seen. It leaves you in wonder of how people could still have hope and not give up after all this, and how one young girl could possibly have so much courage.

The Deserter: Bk. 1 in the Alford Series by Paul Almond

The Deserter is about a British Navy officer, Thomas Manning, who always dreamed of a life in the "New World". He jumps ship along the coast, near Canada, and runs for his life to the interior. If he's caught he gets 1000 lashes which of course is a slow death, so he's determined not to get caught. All he wants is freedom and his own land where he can make a farm and have a family. He is captured early on by natives of the Micmac tribe and after a discussion among the elders he is released. He stays long enough with them to realize they are not the "savages" he's always heard them to be but a kind, intelligent, giving people. He falls in love with Little Birch, a beautiful native girl and all his dreams become centered on her and his need to survive in the New World. When the chief sickens, Thomas will have to risk everything, including his life, to save a friend and help the people and woman he has grown to love. This is book one in a series based on the ancestors of the author. I really enjoyed this novel, if you like stories about Native Americans, Mountain Men, or just history in general I think you will enjoy this. Great start of a new series.

Sarah Emma Edmonds Was a Great Pretender by Carrie Jones

Sara Emma Edmonds really was a great pretender. Her father had wanted boys and was very disappointed in Sara because she wasn't one. Sara was treated badly and because of this she spent her childhood pretending to be a boy. She ran away to get away from the abuse of her father and joined the army to fight in the Civil war, still pretending, she joins as a "male" nurse to take care of the soldiers fighting and dieing. When a friend of hers dies she decides she needs to find a way to help the soldiers another way, to keep them from fighting in the first place. She decides to be a spy for the Union Army and pretends to be a male slave, a washer woman and many other people and she becomes good at her job. This is a kids book which touches on something that kids rarely read about in the their history books, that of the role of women in the Civil war as nurses, soldiers, and spies. This would be a great educational, and fascinating book for any kid studying the Civil War or women's studies and great for a teacher or homeschooler wanting a little something extra in their teachings of the Civil War.

Fireflies in December by Jennifer Valent

Just finished reading Fireflies in December. Really good book, and also free on the Nook. It's the story of two teen girls in the old south, one white, one black. Tragedy strikes and the black girl comes to live with her best friend who happens to be white. That simple act, done out of love and kindness starts a roller coaster ride of danger and terror for the whole family when the Klan gets involved. This sort of thing was unheard of at a time filled with segregation and hate, when everybody knew you weren't allowed to "mix colors". This is a teen christian fiction book, it's really good, exciting, and also heart wrenching.

Vampire Voss by Colleen Gleason

Vampire Voss by Colleen Gleason, an upcoming Vampire book. I do love Vampires but I apparently love more action or maybe Scifi than Romance, and this book IS a romance. I'm afraid I was a little bored, it took a while to get off to a start. Voss is a member of the Dracule, vampires who are turned because they or their families make a deal with the devil. Voss goes through the years doing whatever he wants to do, living for himself and caring for nothing but his pleasures. The first time he meets Angelica Woodmoore he has no idea that all of that is about to change. He finds he will give anything to protect her and save her from the upcoming war among the Dracule but it becomes much harder for him to save himself. If you like drawing rooms, regency clothing, and lots of romance then this if for you. Very descriptive of the time and place. If you're into regency romance with a twist then you'll love this book.