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melwilYes, I'm a little behind here. I've read 84 books now, but I'm only up to reviewing 75. Hopefully I'll get some more out of the way in the next day or so.
Book 70: So Mote It Be by Isobel Bird
”The Come to Me Love Spell should be used when you want to attract the attention of someone special” she read. “It will draw love to you and make you irresistible.”
This is the first book in the Circle of Three series. The books are young adult books, exploring the relationships and adventures of three rather different girls who begin exploring Wicca and witchcraft.
As with all first books in any series, this is the book where the characters get together, pushed by circumstance. They also begin to make breaks with their “old lives” as they begin their explorations. Kate, the focus character of this book is the catalyst, after she casts a love spell that (of course) goes terribly wrong. She seeks out the studious Annie and the outlandish Cooper, who she thinks can help her reverse the effects of the spell.
The book is fairly standard young adult, though the inclusion of mentors – the owners of Crone's Corner, the local magic shop - is interesting. The characters aren't quite as cliched as some series, and it was a good enough read to prompt me to pick up another one in the series.
3.5 out of 5
Book 71 - 73: Winging It. Losing the Plot and Flying High by Annie Dalton
Apparently when some people arrive on The Other Side, as my Great Nan used to call it, they take one look and go, “oh, hello, I must have died and gone to heaven!”
But I was only thirteen. It didn't occur to me that I was dead.
This is a strange series of books – in this edition going under the series title of Angel's Unlimited (I've seen another series title for this series that I can't remember at the moment). It has everything that a standard modern girls series has – a spunky main character, her best friend (girl), the boy side kick, a love interest, and the scary but ultimately important authority figure.
The difference here is that the main character is dead. In fact, she is an angel.
The angel's in Annie Dalton's world (including Mel, our main character) serve a number of purposes. One thing young angels can do when they are training is join the history club. Here they get to travel to different times and places, lending help in many different ways. The reader follows Mel and her friends through some of these adventures, picking up just enough of the history to interest – to make the reader want to go out and read more.
The three books travel to different times. In Winging It, Mel heads off to London during the Blitz. In Losing the Plot, she is asked to look after a young man who turns out to be William Shakespeare. In Flying High she travels with the Children's Crusades, before going forward in time.
There are some interesting philosophical questions asked by the books. There is no obvious religion here – Mel answers to the arch angels, but she is also expected to participate in meditation to get things done and to refresh herself. There is no concept of time in this heaven, something which confuses Mel, and which may be explored in future books. And as well as angels like Mel, who were alive and then died, there are pure angels, who were never alive at all.
My one big quibble would be the lack of help Mel was given during the first book – I don't think explanation of where she was from another character would have harmed the story.
All in all a really interesting series – especially with regards to the history aspect.
Winging It – 4 out of 5
Losing the Plot – 3.5 out of 5
Flying High – 4 out of 5
Book 74: Here Today by Ann M. Martin
In 1963, Ellie's mother, Doris Day Dingman, was crowned the Bosetti Beauty at Mr. Bosetti's supermarket. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and the Dingman's began to fall apart.
This is another post Baby-Sitter's Club book from Ann M Martin, and like A Corner of the Universe, it's a thoughtful, quiet and reflective read. Eleanor Roosevelt Dingman is the main character, a scruffy girl from Witch Tree Lane, entering the sixth grade in the middle of 1963. Her mother is a frustrated starlet, so eager to see her name in lights somewhere that she neglects, and later abandons her family, running away to the stages of New York.
Ellie ends up running her family, while also acting as the unofficial leader of the Witch Tree Lane kids. No one on Witch Tree Lane is considered 'proper' – Selena Majors lives with her illegitimate child; the Lauchaires are foreign; the Levins are bohemian and Jewish; and at the end of the street live the elderly female couple who look after the tree the lane is named for, as well as acting as parents and grandparents for all the children on the street.
The lane seems to be cursed – mail boxes are destroyed and messages painted onto fences and driveways. The children are considered outcasts at school – Ellie and her friend Holly are seriously physically bullied. And then Doris leaves.
Martin has always dealt with 'issues' in her books – from losing a parent in With You and Without You to divorce and diabetes in the Baby-Sitter's Club books. In both Here Today and A Corner of the Universe the issues are set against a historical backdrop – where things are hidden and tucked away, rather than being openly discussed. In some ways this lends a rosy haze to the book, but in other ways it makes the story more disturbing – there is a level of abuse that we would be aghast at today.
The book is very well written and the characters are layered and interesting. I enjoyed it fully, and look forward to more young adult books by Martin.
A 4.5 out 0f 5
Book 75: Lauren: Seeing Stars by Jennie Walters
”We're so alike . . . you could be my kid sister!”
Hmm. Yes. Young girl goes to the taping of a music show with a group of friends. She's spotted by the starlet who wants her to appear in her latest video shoot, because the young girl looks just like the starlet!
Blah, blah, starlet is mean, blah blah . . . yeah. Not the world's best read.
A 2.5 out of 5
Book 70: So Mote It Be by Isobel Bird
”The Come to Me Love Spell should be used when you want to attract the attention of someone special” she read. “It will draw love to you and make you irresistible.”
This is the first book in the Circle of Three series. The books are young adult books, exploring the relationships and adventures of three rather different girls who begin exploring Wicca and witchcraft.
As with all first books in any series, this is the book where the characters get together, pushed by circumstance. They also begin to make breaks with their “old lives” as they begin their explorations. Kate, the focus character of this book is the catalyst, after she casts a love spell that (of course) goes terribly wrong. She seeks out the studious Annie and the outlandish Cooper, who she thinks can help her reverse the effects of the spell.
The book is fairly standard young adult, though the inclusion of mentors – the owners of Crone's Corner, the local magic shop - is interesting. The characters aren't quite as cliched as some series, and it was a good enough read to prompt me to pick up another one in the series.
3.5 out of 5
Book 71 - 73: Winging It. Losing the Plot and Flying High by Annie Dalton
Apparently when some people arrive on The Other Side, as my Great Nan used to call it, they take one look and go, “oh, hello, I must have died and gone to heaven!”
But I was only thirteen. It didn't occur to me that I was dead.
This is a strange series of books – in this edition going under the series title of Angel's Unlimited (I've seen another series title for this series that I can't remember at the moment). It has everything that a standard modern girls series has – a spunky main character, her best friend (girl), the boy side kick, a love interest, and the scary but ultimately important authority figure.
The difference here is that the main character is dead. In fact, she is an angel.
The angel's in Annie Dalton's world (including Mel, our main character) serve a number of purposes. One thing young angels can do when they are training is join the history club. Here they get to travel to different times and places, lending help in many different ways. The reader follows Mel and her friends through some of these adventures, picking up just enough of the history to interest – to make the reader want to go out and read more.
The three books travel to different times. In Winging It, Mel heads off to London during the Blitz. In Losing the Plot, she is asked to look after a young man who turns out to be William Shakespeare. In Flying High she travels with the Children's Crusades, before going forward in time.
There are some interesting philosophical questions asked by the books. There is no obvious religion here – Mel answers to the arch angels, but she is also expected to participate in meditation to get things done and to refresh herself. There is no concept of time in this heaven, something which confuses Mel, and which may be explored in future books. And as well as angels like Mel, who were alive and then died, there are pure angels, who were never alive at all.
My one big quibble would be the lack of help Mel was given during the first book – I don't think explanation of where she was from another character would have harmed the story.
All in all a really interesting series – especially with regards to the history aspect.
Winging It – 4 out of 5
Losing the Plot – 3.5 out of 5
Flying High – 4 out of 5
Book 74: Here Today by Ann M. Martin
In 1963, Ellie's mother, Doris Day Dingman, was crowned the Bosetti Beauty at Mr. Bosetti's supermarket. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and the Dingman's began to fall apart.
This is another post Baby-Sitter's Club book from Ann M Martin, and like A Corner of the Universe, it's a thoughtful, quiet and reflective read. Eleanor Roosevelt Dingman is the main character, a scruffy girl from Witch Tree Lane, entering the sixth grade in the middle of 1963. Her mother is a frustrated starlet, so eager to see her name in lights somewhere that she neglects, and later abandons her family, running away to the stages of New York.
Ellie ends up running her family, while also acting as the unofficial leader of the Witch Tree Lane kids. No one on Witch Tree Lane is considered 'proper' – Selena Majors lives with her illegitimate child; the Lauchaires are foreign; the Levins are bohemian and Jewish; and at the end of the street live the elderly female couple who look after the tree the lane is named for, as well as acting as parents and grandparents for all the children on the street.
The lane seems to be cursed – mail boxes are destroyed and messages painted onto fences and driveways. The children are considered outcasts at school – Ellie and her friend Holly are seriously physically bullied. And then Doris leaves.
Martin has always dealt with 'issues' in her books – from losing a parent in With You and Without You to divorce and diabetes in the Baby-Sitter's Club books. In both Here Today and A Corner of the Universe the issues are set against a historical backdrop – where things are hidden and tucked away, rather than being openly discussed. In some ways this lends a rosy haze to the book, but in other ways it makes the story more disturbing – there is a level of abuse that we would be aghast at today.
The book is very well written and the characters are layered and interesting. I enjoyed it fully, and look forward to more young adult books by Martin.
A 4.5 out 0f 5
Book 75: Lauren: Seeing Stars by Jennie Walters
”We're so alike . . . you could be my kid sister!”
Hmm. Yes. Young girl goes to the taping of a music show with a group of friends. She's spotted by the starlet who wants her to appear in her latest video shoot, because the young girl looks just like the starlet!
Blah, blah, starlet is mean, blah blah . . . yeah. Not the world's best read.
A 2.5 out of 5
