Off the Bookshelf: THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS, by John Connolly

Audiobook
Narrated by Steven Crossley

Ever wish your books -- the really good ones, the faerie tales and adventures in other worlds and stories about magic and "otherness" -- would become real? Ever want to run away from reality and jump into your books, permanently?

David takes shelter from a cruel, cold, confusing world in his books, when he and his father move in with Rose. It's an odd, rundown sort of big old house, with bugs and spooky sounds and shadows. David loves his books, even when they whisper to him and say things he doesn't understand, and they sound kind of angry. He's an unhappy, hurting boy who has lost his mother to cancer, his world darkened by the advent of WWII. Then his life is invaded by Rose, and the baby she has with his father.

When David climbs through a gap in a stone wall, he ends up in a world where faerie tales seem a little familiar, but frighteningly different.  He is chased through a darkening, sad landscape to a castle where the Crooked Man promises all his dreams will come true -- for a price.

Is David willing to pay it? Will he learn from the mistakes of those who went before him before it's too late?

A sad, shadowy kind of book that is fascinating -- and sharply humorous in a dark kind of way. There are books you wish you had written, and others that you know you never could have written, and yet admire all the same. This is one of the latter.

Off the Bookshelf: WUNDERSMITH: THE CALLING OF MORRIGAN CROW, by Jessica Townsend

Audio book
Narrated by Gemma Whelan
Sequel to NEVERMOOR. The Trials of Morrigan Crow

You thought YOU had it bad in school?

Morrigan has made it into the Wundrous Society, but of course, her troubles have only begun. The Elders put restrictions on her education and nobody trusts her because it's been revealed she's a Wundersmith, and the only class she's allowed to take is horrible and her professor hates her. And her unit, the people who are supposed to be her best friends and allies for life all distrust her.

Then there are the people who go missing, and threats against Morrigan's classmates that they blame on her. It wouldn't be so bad, but Jupiter North, her patron and guardian, isn't there when Morrigan needs him most. There's no one who can help her other than Jupiter, and by the time he returns, it might just be too late to do anything to fix the situation.

And of course, the evil Wundersmith, Ezra Squall, is back, interfering with Morrigan's life -- and what's worse, claiming he's helping her.

Lovely romp that was over far too soon. I enjoy returning to magical worlds with interesting characters. I seriously wish I could visit the Hotel Deucalian (sp?). When is the next book coming out? Whenever that is -- it's not soon enough!

Off the Bookshelf: THE MYSTWICK SCHOOL OF MUSICRAFT, by Jessica Khoury

An Audible Original
Narrated by Suzy Jackson

Lovely, fun, not-nearly-long-enough book about a girl who lives for music -- in a world where magic has its roots in music.

Amelia Jones inherited her mother's musical talent and her flute, and her goal is to get into Mystwick and earn the rank of maestro and make magic. She learns the hard way that just because she's the best musician in her town and at her school ... that doesn't necessarily mean she's anywhere near the top when she gets among real musicians.

Especially when her grandmother seems determined to do everything she can to discourage Amelia's musical dreams and get her to have another kind of life -- any kind of life -- because Amelia's mother's death seems to be wrapped up in music and magic gone terribly wrong.

From the day of her disaster audition, when she's running late and burns up her sheet music and makes a judge's hair grow, to getting her acceptance letter and finding out that there's another Amelia Jones who should have gotten that letter, to the trials and tribulations of the first few months at school -- when it sure looks like a  ghost is out to destroy her future -- Amelia learns a lot of hard lessons, and the value of a true friend.

More please? I'm serious -- just when it looks like things are finally looking up for Amelia, and she has some answers, more complications loom on the horizon. I gotta know what happens next!

Off the Bookshelf: VENDETTA IN DEATH, by JD Robb

Part of the In Death futuristic suspense series.

Dallas and Roarke and their family of co-workers and friends return.

This time the nemesis is a woman who has been cheated on and lied to and robbed, and she's out to get her idea of justice against any and seemingly every high-profile man who has done a woman wrong, if she isn't stopped. Rape, mental abuse, cheating, lying, stealing, the list goes on and on. Justification for taking justice into her own hands? Maybe if she'd just gather up the evidence she has and hands it over to authorities -- but she doesn't trust anyone to give justice to the women who have been hurt.

She takes the name Lady Justice, and that was her first mistake -- giving herself the right and the authority to decide what was justice.

Her second mistake was executing her victims in Eve Dallas' town. This clever, resourceful woman of a thousand faces and voices and tricks doesn't know what she's up against when Dallas and her team get on her trail. She even knows Dallas is getting close, but does that slow her or make her move a little more carefully? That's another mistake. But still, it's a race against time to stop her before she takes her next victim.

What can I say? I love the series, the characters, the interaction, the constant growth in relationships. And hurrah, another baby for Mavis and Leonardo.

Off the Bookshelf: I'D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU, by Ally Carter

Audiobook
A Gallagher Girls novel

Narrated by Renee Raudman

What fun! Another romp with Cammie Morgan and the spies-in-training at the all-girls Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women.

The first Audible book in the series was in introduction, Cammie's first few weeks at the academy, dealing with her family heritage and being a legacy. All the pressure of being the headmistress' daughter and figuring out how to fit in actually overrides the totally unique world of learning to be a spy -- starting in 7th grade.

Cammie and her friends/roommates, Liz and Becks, are sophomores. Bad enough the new teacher for Covert Ops is a gorgeous male teacher, but the spoiled daughter of a US Senator somehow manages to get through all the subterfuge and diversion to keep non-spy-talented girls from waltzing through the gates. Worse than that -- this girl gets put in the room with the three pals.

Then during a Covert Ops training, Cammie runs into a local boy, and there's a spark, and she is suddenly torn between her legacy and the allure of a normal and ordinary life. Or at least making this cute boy who likes her think she's a normal, ordinary girl. Learning to speak dozens of languages and kill a man with just an uncooked piece of spaghetti is nothing compared to the hazardous world of high school dating and figuring out boy-speak.

Not just a fun romp, but a delightful return to a familiar world and familiar characters. More, please?

Off the Bookshelf: SYNAPSE, by Steven James

Obtained through Netgalley for review purposes.

RELEASING: October 8.

Master of suspense (and dang good writing conference speaker/teacher) Steven James shows he can thrill and send chills up the spine in the future, too.

There were a lot of reasons to snag this book to read, starting with the fact that I've been in one of his classes, I have a few of his writing books, I've read and made notes on his Writers Digest articles, and my publishing partner fan-girls over him. And yeah, I wanted to see what all the hype was about regarding his fiction.

Deserved!

SYNAPSE is set in the near-future, where Artificials (androids, artificial intelligence, whatever you want to call them)  are evolving and becoming Human enough to make people nervous. They're asking the big questions about life and death and life after death.

Enter Kestrel, a minister who has just lost her child at birth. She's asking questions, but maybe not the right ones. On the way home from the hospital, a terrorist attack occurs in front of her and she jumps in to help, since that is where she is trained. The terrorists are Purists, who are resisting the "rise of the machines," to use Terminator parlance. This brings her to the attention of the authorities, who are investigating. Her background isn't clean, so she's suspect for a while.

Things get even more complicated when her estranged brother sends her a "gift" in the form of Jordan, an advanced-model Artificial. Jordan is asking questions about forgiveness, life-after-death, if he has a soul, and why God allows horrible things to happen ...  Kestrel isn't in the best emotional shape to take on an Artificial in her life -- especially when her parents were murdered by one years ago. She gives Jordan a chance, though, and they change and challenge each other, while getting in the way of the wrong people.

Other reviewers refer to James' stories as a roller coaster ... yeah, but the roller coaster starts slowly, subtly, and you're hooked before the big drops and sharp turns hit. Hang on! Don't bang your head if you get thrown out of your seat. Just when you think you have all the players identified and you know what teams they're working for, the field and the uniforms change.

In some ways, this is a story about attitudes and actions and reactions all around us today, including the brutality, hatred, and fear that arise when people force their vision of the world on everyone who disagrees with them.

So many layers. So many different speeds and textures, all woven together into a complicated picture that I sure hope will have a sequel. Thanks.

Off the Bookshelf: WALK TWO MOONS, by Sharon Creech

Audiobook
Audible

Narrated by Hope Davis

Newberry Award Winner

Sal is a 13-year-old whose life has been entirely uprooted. Two stories interweave as she goes through a journey of the highway and of the heart.

When Sal's mother leaves them, Sal's father moves them from Kentucky to Euclid, Ohio, making her leave behind their farm, their trees, their chickens, their dog -- everything that makes up Sal's world. Sal doesn't want to know about this new relationship between her father and Mrs. Cadaver -- an ominous name in itself. Things get even stranger and confusing when Sal meets the girl who lives next door to Mrs. Cadaver, Phoebe -- who immediately gets Sal wrapped up in her wild, suspicious imagination. Phoebe believes Mrs. Cadaver killed her husband, and there's a lunatic on the loose in the neighborhood, and then there's their bizarre English teach who not only makes them write journals, but then reads entries from their journals out loud, in class.

Phoebe's personal trials mirror Sal's, and Sal relates Phoebe's life on a ride out west with her quirky, adorable grandparents who can't seem to avoid trouble, both funny and dangerous. Little by little, Sal explores the pain of her mother leaving, and why she isn't coming home.

I highly recommend this lovely, warm, sad, thoughtful, entirely too short book about pain and loss and friendship and love.  The narrator makes all the characters come alive. Entirely lovely experience.