The Mediator - High Stakes

HIGH STAKES

This book is the second book in the mediator series following the first book "love you to death".

In this novel, Suze's new life in California continues. She has to live with her mum, Andy her new step father, her 3 step brothers and Jesse (a ghost). Starting a whole new life away from New York is pretty cool, with pool parties and friends. But a new life doesn't mean that Suze stops being a mediator. A screaming ghost appears in her bedroom one night needing her help. Suze finds herself following the trail of a murderer. All the clues lead to a mega rich business man, Red Beaumont. She then finds out that Red isn't just a killer, he also appears to be a vampire! Suze isn't sure if vampires even existed, but in a world with ghost whats stopping her?

I really liked this book since I enjoy reading books that have a little mystery in them. I think that Meg Cabot is a superb author and her specialty consists of teenage fiction books.

Specials by Scott Westerfeld- 372 pages

After becoming a Special, everything seemed perfectly normal for Tally Youngblood. At first.

With just a cut of her own flesh, everything was in place and how it's ought to be. Her existence and reason for living is to track down runaways from the New Smoke. It's what Specials do, right? Though, like before, something felt out of place, tugging at Tally's existence. Did becoming a Special change who she was inside? Tally had her doubts.

When Shay and Tally destroys the city's armory in search of a cure for Zane, everything becomes a blur.

In this thrilling book, Tally finds herself trying to reverse her lies and prevent the war that she has caused.

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In my opinion, "Specials" had more adventure and action than its previous books, though it's more depressing.

Overall, a fast-moving book with plots and twists unraveling within every page.

Highly recommended! c:

The Time Traveler's Wife - 518 pages (2 books)

"A big, reckless novel...utterly convincing" - Daily Telegraph

This best-selling book written by Audrey Niffenegger is about a phenomenal love story of Clare and Henry - the time traveler. They met when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, but were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry was thirty. This might not seem possible, but it's true, since Henry has to suffer from an unusual 'illness' where he sometimes finds himself suddenly pulled into his past or future against his will and control.

Although the story is mainly about Clare and Henry's love, many other things, such as issues of friendships, family tensions and jobs, revolve around it as well, gradually accumulating to the crux of the story.

Overall, this book is an OK read and I'll give it a 6/10. I especially liked the intricacy of traveling from present to past to future and back to present again, making the structure of this book really intriguing. I also liked how the author dealt with "time travel paradoxes", making this masterpiece more realistic, assuming that time travel is possible. I also loved how titillating it is to keep track of how the two main characters miraculously manage to overcome the hindrance and successfully sympathise each other. However, what I don't like is the ending is just too tediously "stereotypical" for a sad romance, in which the male character always dies / meets a terrible fate at the end. I didn't find the ending satisfying because his death seems unrealistic (read it and you will find out how he dies!). Well, in summary, I think those who like bawling their eyes out due to the poignant ending / love story (which I don't) should try it out because it is definitely your type.

The Magician's Assisstant - 357 pages (1 book)

This is a novel by the award-winning author Ann Patchett.

Sabine was an assistant of the magician Parsifal, who also happened to be her in-name husband. But Parsifal was gay; he loved Phan, the Vietnamese software designer who shared Parsifal's life and who became Sabine's dearest friend. Despite this, she maintained with Parsifal a 20-year vehement yet platonic relationship. However, at the beginning of the book, both main male characters were dead of AIDS, leaving the disconsolate Sabine behind with a plethora of memories of the time they had together. She is also left bewildered with the flabbergasting news that Parsifal wasn't all he claimed to be - that his family wasn't dead at all like he told her. It's a discovery that sets her on a journey to find out about the truth, and to claim a surprising new love of her own - with Parsifal's sister, Kitty.

In general, I think this book is okay, and would give it a 6/10. The story is mildly intriguing and the characters are generally well-crafted. However, there are something irritating about this book. First off, the most frustrating thing is about this book is that it lacks CHAPTERS, making me find it hard to decide when to put the book down for the night! Secondly, the ending was just too abrupt, unsatisfying and anticlimactic. What I mean is that I expected the book to have an exceptional ending but all of the sudden it was over, leaving me go "what?" with the ludicrous and predictable ending that I didn't anticipate. However, overall, this is a good read for those who enjoy those kinds of poignant, heart-wrenching love stories. :)

Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan

Malgudi Days is a book written by R.K. Narayan. This is about a small, imaginary town, called Malgudi. The author has set this town in South India, so he gets an idea of what the people of that town are like and what different cultures are in that town. It is a book of the author's collection of short stories. The stories are written in simple style and show the color of Indian life.

I like this book because it sets examples of motivating characters and role models, which helps the reader understand the various different personalities every day people go through in their daily life. The author has used very rich language to show many of the daily life stories in a town. I would give this book 9 out of 10.

Bad Dreams by Anne Fine

Bad Dreams is a book written by Anne Fine. The genre of the book is friends. It is about a girl called Melanie, also known as Mel, who is a class bookworm. She likes to read books more than talk with other people. Mel was the first-week minder of a new-comer girl called Imogen, which was something Mel did not look forward to. There was something about Imogen, that was very strange... Mel slowly finds out about this and begins to realize that stories can happen in real life.

I like this book because it shows a whole new world. The characters in this book have very different personalities than the normal ones. They interact with different situations, which end up in a very difficult condition. The author has used interesting, descriptive language in the book for describing language in the book for describing the characters, the setting and background. I would give this book 7 out of 10.

Gentle reminder to Year 9 Happy Bloggers!

Please remember that you should always attempt to write in a formal manner - even on the blog. Remember simple things like capital letters, appropriate punctuation and spelling. Otherwise, superb job all!