Another Review: The Gift by Andrea J. Buchanan

The Gift by Andrea J. Buchanan

A librarian’s review

Spoiler Alert**

The Gift is a paranormal story about three friends who begin to have encounters with a ghost who calls himself Patrick.  At the same time, two of the friends begin having the same dream about previous lives.  They learn that all three of them were friends in a past life.  The dreams are violent and scary, but drive the story forward.  The main character, Daisy, has special electrical powers and has learned to control them throughout her life.  The second character, Vivi is a shell of a girl who has had contact with Patrick since she was a child.  The third friend is Danielle, and she doesn’t really have any powers or ghostly contacts.  This makes her jealous and leads to problems between her and her friends.  Daisy has a love interest named Kevin who also has issues, but his are more normal, epilepsy.   The ghost, Patrick, is able to feed off Daisy’s electrical energy and allows him to possess one of the girls.  He wants to possess Vivi, since he’s been grooming her for her entire life, but Danielle is so jealous that she makes an easier and stronger target so he ends up possessing her.   Long story short, the girls find out that the ghost was actually murdered during their past lives and he’s there to take his revenge on Daisy who killed him in his previous life.   I won’t tell you more about how it ends, but it’s a decent read.  I enjoyed the book and it kept my attention from the beginning.  There were parts of the book that were predictable, but that didn’t ruin it.  The only part I had a bit of a problem with was at the end when Kevin was suddenly able to communicate telepathically with Daisy.  I wish the author would have explained that part a little more.   This one will be popular and will circulate well.  I’ll be ordering it for my library and, as for a rating, I would give it a 3.5. 

This is not a Test by Courtney Summers - another review

Wow! This one is so creepy and is such a great story. It’s very dark, very suspenseful, and has some unexpected twists. The main character, for starters, is going to kill herself, and then the end of the world happens. Sloane Price is physically and mentally abused by her father and is planning to end her life that very day. She’s getting ready to leave for school when there’s a commotion outside. Her father goes to see what’s going on and zombies tear through her front door and windows. They come after her and her father and he tells her to run and fights them off, but is overwhelmed. She runs and ends up in her high school as the sixth in a group of ragtag teens who, until that day wouldn’t have had the time for each other. They barricade themselves in and wait for help to come. The teens who end up inside the school do not like each other. The only teens there who don’t hate each other are a set of twins who in turn hate another one of the teens because they feel it’s his fault for the death of their parents. Sloane continues to think about killing herself, but she can’t figure out a way to do it without putting the others in harm’s way, so she waits. After weeks of being in the school and fighting with each other, someone new arrives, but it isn’t help. It’s a teacher they once had. He’s almost dead, but he’s not a zombie, at least not that they can tell, and from there things get worse.

This is not a Test is action packed and never slows down. It grabs readers from the first page when the zombies break through the glass in Sloane’s house and she runs from her father. It was not very predictable at all, and I hope there will be a sequel. This one is a great addition to any collection.

Starters by Lissa Price, another review

Starters is a futuristic novel in which the world only has kids, teens, and senior citizens. The Starters are the kids and teens, and the enders are the senior citizens. The government developed a vaccine for a particular kind of germ warfare that would probably be used on their people. There weren’t enough vaccines for everyone so they started with the weak. They vaccinated the young and the old first and left the others until last. Before the others could be vaccinated however, the bomb goes off and wipes out anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated, which is pretty much any adult between the ages of 18 and 70. In Starters, we meet Callie and her little brother Tyler. They are both on the run and squatting in houses that have been abandoned. There are two choices for ‘unclaimed’ children such as Callie and Tyler, who have no living family: they can live on the streets, or if they are caught they are institutionalized and used as slaves, though they aren’t called that. They never have enough to eat, never get enough clean water and Tyler, who had health problems before the bomb, is getting worse.

Callie is sixteen and hears about a new procedure that guarantees fast money with no consequences. She leaves Tyler with her best friend Michael and goes to check it out. It’s called Prime Destinations and it is a way for the very old senior citizens to ‘rent’ the bodies of the teens and use them for a period of time to have fun. They offer Callie lots of money and initially, she refuses. When she returns to her brother, his illness has gotten worse and that night their safe house is raided by the wardens. They barely escape. This pushes Callie to accept the offer at Prime Destinations. To begin with, things go smoothly and it seems that Callie will be finished and have her money soon. Then Callie finds out that she has to let someone live in her body for an extended period of time, a month, and Callie balks at the idea. Prime Destinations has her signed contract and she’s trapped and forced into it. After a couple of weeks into the rental there’s a problem. Callie wakes up, in her own body, even though she’s supposed to still be unconscious and the ‘renter’ is supposed to be in control; from there things get complicated.

There are assassination attempts, political intrigue, murder, suspense, mystery, romance, and much more. Prime Destinations has plans for the Starters and for Callie. Starters was impossible to put down and if I could have read it in one sitting I would have. This one is going to be very popular and I think it’ll be a great series. It ended on a huge cliff hanger, and I can’t wait for the next one. This one is a 5 out of 5 and all public libraries should get it.

Trancendence

Transcendence by C.J. Omololu
A librarian’s book review

Transcendence started out like a light chick-lit romance type read, but quickly became much more complicated. In Transcendence, the main character, Cole, finds that she has very strong deja vu and sometimes blacks out with flashbacks when she goes certain places. While on vacation with her family, Cole blacks out at the Tower of London and has an incredibly strong flashback where she sees herself beheaded. A guard is called to her aid and the guard’s son, Griffin, is given the duty of helping her to a café to make sure she is alright. Griffin and Cole are immediately attracted to each other, but Cole doesn’t understand why. Eventually, this bomb shell is answered later in the book. Griffin lives in the same town as Cole and they continue to see each other after her vacation. Cole discovers that both she and Griffin are ‘Ahket’ which means they can see past lives they have lived and can remember them. Cole finds out that there are good and bad Ahket in the world and in one of her past lives she may have caused a rogue ahket to hate her. Cole is a strong character, but flawed, and Griffin is almost too good to be true. The characters in Transcendence were very well thought out and had great depth. I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down after the first few chapters . It’s a very quick read. There is a great mystery at the heart of the book and even though it is a little predictable, it is still a great read. Transcendence leaves you on a bit of a cliff-hanger to lead into the next book in the series. I’m curious to see where this one ends up. I will be ordering it for my library for sure.

Star Fighters 1: Alien Attack!

Another review!

Star Fighters 1: Alien Attack by Max Chase
Star Fighters was the first book I’ve read in a long time that was for a younger audience. It is geared toward ages 7-10 and it is perfect for that age. It was a great little read, but ended too abruptly for my taste. I understand it was because the audience is so young, and also to bring readers to the next book in the series. The characters were well developed and even though it was a little predictable, it kept my interest. I recommended it to our children’s department for purchase. I may also buy a copy to read to my own daughter who is 5. It seemed like something she would enjoy.

Supernatural Devices - Review

Supernatural Devices: A Steampunk Scarlett Novel #1
By Kailin Gow

Supernatural Devices is really more of a historical paranormal novel, rather than a steampunk novel, which makes the title very misleading. The Devices are the only steampunk elements in the book and they don’t come into the story until almost the end. Most of the book is instead about a seventeen year old girl named Scarlett Seely who has second sight, which is the ability to see things such as ghosts and other paranormal beings. She is asked to help out on a case of theft by none other than the famous Sherlock Holmes. Because of her gift, Scarlett is very good at finding things, which is why Mr. Holmes calls for her assistance. As the story goes on, you find out that the item she is searching for is, in fact, a magic ring. There is a love triangle, a kidnapping, and a few attempted surprises which were very easy to predict. While this book will appeal to any paranormal fan, it was not very original and certainly will not appeal to those looking for a steampunk book. As the series continues, it has potential to turn into a steampunk series, but Supernatural Devices was nothing more than a pretty girl deciding “do I want the vampire or the bad boy fae?” The heroine was your stereotypical beauty who had long golden hair and a beautiful body and knew how to fight anything and everything. Scarlett was a strong character but she wasn’t very unique, and she also wasn’t very smart. This would be an additional purchase to a public library system.

Homework Help

So, I got a comment a few days back on one of my reviews from this kid who asked for my help. Now normally I'd be like oh yeah I'll help what do you need? Help researching something, help learning about something? No, he wanted me to explain to him exactly what a particular book was about, and the point of the book. Here's the exact comment: can u tell me the main proiblem in the book like whats the point of the book what do they need to do and what do they do i need the info for a book thin plz help. Now like I said, I don't mind helping with homework. But I will not do it for you. If you are searching and find one of my reviews only to ask me something that sounds like an assignment so you don't have to read the book, save your fingers. If you have read the book and want to discuss it then I'm more than willing to discuss it with you or help point out particular points. Happy Reading!