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.