Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Jacket: "In a world where people born with an extreme skill - called a Grace - are feared and exploited, Katsa carries the burden of a skill even she despises; the Grace of killing.  She lives under the command of her uncle Randa, King of the Middluns, and is expected to execute his dirty work, punishing and torturing who displeases him.

When she first meets Prince Po, who is Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.

She never expects to become Po's friend.

She never expects to learn  new truth about her own Grace - or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone."

This is a remarkable debut novel for Kristin Cashore. Once I picked it up I was transported to the world of the seven kingdoms and did not want to leave. 

This is a novel for young adults. If you read to middle-schoolers you may want to jump over the few sex bits - just a warning. Then again, "Gossip Girl" is far, far worse.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

This was seriously a page-turner. Bella is finally getting everything she wanted, but is it worth the price? Jump into Breaking Dawn and follow Bella into the next phase of her eternal journey.


I really do enjoy discussing the series with friends, family and fellow aficionados. I'm always surprised by the range of readers it has attracted and I look forward to the film adaptation. I hope it lives up to the hype.

Official Website:

Click here to read Entertainment Weekly's exclusive preview of the first chapter of Breaking Dawn.

October 9, 2008: The final trailer for Twilight the movie is now available to view. You can watch the HD version at the MySpace.com Trailer Park or the regular version in the widget at TwilightTheMovie.com. Also, we added another new movie poster to the movie page. Enjoy the trailer.

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Once you start you WILL NOT be able to put this book down. I promise.

I really enjoyed this fresh and modern take on one of the most well-known fairy tales. Disney got nothing one this one! Check it out.


Wikipedia: "Flinn's newest book, Beastly, is a break from Flinn's usual realistic style, in that it is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in modern-day New York City. In Beastly,, 16-year-old Kyle Kingsbury angers a witchy girl in his class and is surprised when she turns him into a beast. He must find true love in two years to break the spell . . . and unfortunately, MySpace doesn't work. When a robber stumbles into his garden Kyle offers him a deal; He won't report him to the police if the robber brings Kyle his daughter. According to the author's note in the back of the book, Flinn researched many versions of the Beauty and the Beast story in writing her book. Many of these are playfully alluded to in portions of the book, particularly the chat room transcripts in which the character of Kyle talks to other teens who have been transformed into creatures.

The novel has been optioned by CBS Films for a movie which could be released as early as winter, 2009."

eclipse by stephenie meyer

This series only gets better. It was worth aggravating the CTS lugging around this hefty tome! Now I know why one thousand teenagers showed up to her last event. This is like a Jane Austen novel ... with young vampires.

Keep on the lookout for Book 4 later this summer.

Official Website:

"BELLA?"

Edward's soft voice came from behind me. I turned to see him spring lightly up the porch steps, his hair windblown from running. He pulled me into his arms at once, just like he had in the parking lot, and kissed me again.

This kiss frightened me. There was too much tension, too strong an edge to the way his lips crushed mine—like he was afraid we had only so much time left to us.

* * *

As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob—knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

new moon

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

"Shoot," I muttered when the paper sliced my finger; I pulled it out to examine the damage. A single drop of blood oozed from the tiny cut.

It all happened very quickly then.

Edward threw himself at me, flinging me back across the table...

I tumbled down to the floor by the piano, with my arms thrown out instinctively to catch my fall, into the jagged shards of glass. I felt the searing, stinging pain that ran from my wrist to the crease inside my elbow.

Dazed and disoriented, I looked up from the bright red blood pulsing out of my arm—into the fevered eyes of the six suddenly ravenous vampires.

****
Site: "For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella could ever have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning...

Legions of readers entranced by the New York Times bestseller Twilight are hungry for the continuing story of star-crossed lovers, Bella and Edward. In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural twist. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality."

This series just keeps getting better and better - Bean

twilight

I devoured this nearly 500-page novel my first two days on vacation. Now I'm off to Borders for the sequel (even though I already have it at home!)

Amazon.com: "Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. 'Be very still,' he whispered, as if I wasn't already frozen. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. Then abruptly, but very gently, he rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat."

As Shakespeare knew, love burns high when thwarted by obstacles. In Twilight, an exquisite fantasy by Stephenie Meyer, readers discover a pair of lovers who are supremely star-crossed. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she arouses in him, because--he's a vampire. At any moment, the intensity of their passion could drive him to kill her, and he agonizes over the danger. But, Bella would rather be dead than part from Edward, so she risks her life to stay near him, and the novel burns with the erotic tension of their dangerous and necessarily chaste relationship.

Meyer has achieved quite a feat by making this scenario completely human and believable. She begins with a familiar YA premise (the new kid in school), and lulls us into thinking this will be just another realistic young adult novel. Bella has come to the small town of Forks on the gloomy Olympic Peninsula to be with her father. At school, she wonders about a group of five remarkably beautiful teens, who sit together in the cafeteria but never eat. As she grows to know, and then love, Edward, she learns their secret. They are all rescued vampires, part of a family headed by saintly Carlisle, who has inspired them to renounce human prey. For Edward's sake they welcome Bella, but when a roving group of tracker vampires fixates on her, the family is drawn into a desperate pursuit to protect the fragile human in their midst. The precision and delicacy of Meyer's writing lifts this wonderful novel beyond the limitations of the horror genre to a place among the best of YA fiction." (Ages 12 and up) --Patty Campbell

Wikipedia: "Twilight is being adapted into a film by Summit Entertainment. The film is being directed by Catherine Hardwicke and stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as protagonists Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen. It is set to be released on December 12, 2008."