Off the Bookshelf: A FAIRY BAD DAY. by Amanda Ashby

I just stocked up on gobs of YA and NG books. Half Price Books had a humongous sale at the fairgrounds last weekend, where everything was $2. A bibliophile's dream! And torture, because how in the world can you look at every single title in two huge interconnected barns, filled with long rows of tables? Impossible. Especially since they restocked every day. While you're looking at the books already on the tables.

So anyway, that was just warning that I'm going to have a lot of YA and NG book reports. If you don't know what YA and NG designations are ... does it really matter? Because a good book is still a good book!

A FAIRY BAD DAY tells the trials and tribulations of Emma, who goes to a special school for the sighted -- meaning those who can see the evil magical denizens of our world. Meaning magical creatures who slipped through the gate from their own world before it was closed and sealed. These kids, at academies all over the world, are trained to hunt and fight and destroy those creatures, to protect the rest of us who aren't sighted. Emma's mother was a legendary dragon-slayer, and since Emma showed an affinity for dragons from childhood, everyone rightly assumes that will be her role.

Not so fast. When the day comes for everyone in her class to get their designations, Emma gets ... fairies. Yeah, little creatures with wings and snarky attitudes who devour Skittles and hang out at the mall, causing mayhem. Emma first gets herself in trouble when she tries to convince the principal that the tests are wrong and she is better suited to fight dragons -- then gets in even more trouble when she sees something really nasty threatening the school and nobody else can see it. When she tries to fight it, everyone thinks she's faking. Can you say "detention" and possibly even "expelled"? Then it gets even worse when she's teamed up with the cute guy who got "her" dragon designation and it's pretty clear -- to her, at least -- that he's embarrassed to be seen with her. The school's golden girl is suddenly a clod and klutz and delusional in the bargain.

Yeah, this was a fun one, and I'm gonna do some searching to find more books by this author. I sure hope she wrote more books about Emma and her gang as they finish training and protect the world from nasty things we can't see.

Off the Bookshelf: ORDINARY MAGIC, by Barbara Satow

Don't you just love watching a friend's kid grow up from newborn through middle school and high school and then graduate and go out into the wide, wonderful, sometimes frightening world?

This is how I feel about ORDINARY MAGIC.

The author is a friend. We met at a Vo-Ed school writing course and when the class ended we kept meeting with a third student from that course and pursued our writing dreams. She was there when I won Writers of the Future and I was there when she was invited to pitch script ideas over the phone to Star Trek: The Next Generation. I got to hear her work through the ideas and then the scenes and the problems and plot turns for ORDINARY MAGIC.

This is fantasy and romance, an adventure, with some humor and a mystery. Just great fun. The essential story line combines a feisty young upperclass woman who runs away from the marriage her penny-pinching bully of a brother-in-law tries to force her into (with a fat lecher), with a duke who's been accused of high treason and is trying to clear his name while preventing his best friend, the king, from making a huge mistake that could hurt the kingdom. Their flight across country, running into trouble, battling evil magic spells and interfering idiots is great fun from first to last.

And even though I knew practically every scene that was going to appear in the book, there were still some surprises, some changes, some characters and developments that all combine to make this a success.

Dang -- I stayed up until 2am reading it. Is that endorsement enough for you? Even more -- I was reading this during Game 3 of the ALCS between the Indians and Blue Jays. Well, yeah, I only read during commercials and when Toronto was batting, but still ....

I happen to be "in the know" that Barbara plans several more books in the adventures of Emma and Wesserick, their friends, their daughter, their country. Do me a favor -- after you read the book, leave comments on Facebook and other places urging (nagging) her to get the other books finished and published. I guarantee you'll want to read them, too.

Off the Bookshelf: ASHES and RISE, by A.C. Williams

Why two books by the same author?

Because they're e-short preludes to the book, NAMELESS.

The two stories are from the viewpoints of two different men on board the ship, Prodigal. Talon, the captain, and Devon, one of the team of bounty hunters.

Yeah, bounty hunters. With a super-tough chick for first mate. The shorts are very short, just detailing some "turning point" moments in the lives of the crew, taking on a new crewman and going after two fugitives to make payroll to pay the bills. Reading them will give you a hint of what is probably going to happen in the book. Might leave you feeling just a little apprehensive, and eager at the same time, with a healthy dose of, "Whoah ... okay ... interesting..."

Someone said, "Think Firefly," when they were talking about the shorts and the full-length book. Yeah, Firefly was gritty, and Serenity was even grittier, darker, messier ... and if you don't know what I'm talking about (what rock have you been living under?), first look up Joss Whedon's filmography, then rent the TV series and the movie -- in that order.

Then seriously consider reading these two shorts and the full-length book, which is in my to-be-read queue on my iPad.

It's a dark, dangerous, filthy, grim world in the future. This band of bounty hunters and their ship have caught my attention.

Spotlight Saturday: BUTTERFLY, The Hunt, Book 3

This month starts another giveaway -- that means you have a chance to win a FREE BOOK from Goodreads -- and from me, of course.

Go to Goodreads and click on the information for giveaways, and look for BUTTERFLY, the 3rd book in the YA fantasy series, THE HUNT.

Who are the Hunt? Children sent from an endangered world in another universe/dimension of reality, to protect them from a despot who wants to command their Talents. Given into the keeping of the Hounds of Hamin, the members of the Hunt have been separated by time as well as distance. They know each other by the scars--rows of teeth marks--on their wrists. Some have been in our world for decades, others have only been here for a few years. They have to find each other--and soon, before more enemies show up to destroy them--and find a way back home to save their world.

Butterfly

Beth considers herself a geek, one of the invisible and awkward in her school, too smart for her own good, part of the Gifted and Talented program. During a summer internship at a government weather station, she notices strange weather patterns. The storms remind her of the ones when she was brought to Earth by the Hounds of Hamin. Remembering that she is a member of the Hunt, Beth sets out to remake herself, to be ready when the gathering of the Hunt occurs.

When she returns to school in the fall, she is a new person, physically and mentally, and she attracts the attention of another member of the Gifted and Talented program: Tommy DiCorsi, supposedly one of the "bad boys" in town. As their friendship grows, and Tommy protects her from trouble and learns about the Hounds and the Hunt, Beth learns he isn't at all what he appears, either. Then another member of the Hunt shows up, and both their lives are changed forever.

ISBN/EAN13: 1922066648 / 9781922066640

Off the Bookshelf: APPRENTICE IN DEATH, by JD Robb

Let me start by putting in a plug for Overdrive, the app that lets me get ebooks from the library! This allows me to indulge in reading new books in series that I love, without breaking my rule (sometimes very hard to keep) that I won't buy new books until I've reduced my to-be-read pile (mountain!) by a decent percentage.

APPRENTICE IN DEATH is chilling, more than many of the books in the In Death series. Why? Because the attitude of the villains are portrayed so clearly in the news every day. The self-righteous, "the world revolves around me and I have the right to punish anyone who doesn't give me what I want" attitude. The people who insist that the world must follow their vision of it, and refuse to take responsibility for their stupid choices. The ones who get angrier and angrier when their choices just make things worse for them.

As the title indicates, the suspect is learning to kill. Or that's the first impression. A teacher skilled in killing, training up a pupil, an apprentice, in the attitude and techniques of death. Until Dallas and her team get inside the lives of the victims, and intended victims, and get access to the killers' plans. Then it's a tossup who's the apprentice and who's the master -- who's the teacher, who's leading, and who's being used as a tool.

Of course, the great character interaction is still a big draw to keep reading, the continuing development of people's lives, the friendships and partnerships, the little clashes between people who work and live together, the growth, the inside jokes. The characters are the best part -- but the police work and the struggle to identify and capture the manifestation of pure, selfish evil makes this another great book in a must-read series.

The scary part is that this scenario is too believable. Let's just hope that there are more smart, dedicated cops out there like Eve Dallas who can track down and stop more selfish, egotistical killers like this pair before more people suffer.