Maid for Me by Kat Lieu

This book I bought on accident.  I was on Amazon looking for all the books I could find that were free (for my ipod).  It was late and I was tired and not watching what I was doing.  In the end I purchased it for my Ipod.  I couldn't take it back because I didn't notice it costed until about a week later when it when through my bank.  I felt like an idiot.  I decided to read it because I didn't want to waste it. 

So, I expected it to be weird and perhaps a bit inappropriate due to the cover.  It ended up being a pretty good book.  It is definitely a book with the intention of hooking the teenage reader.  There's much about it that I enjoyed.  The story line is funner if you discover it yourself but I really like the main character.  I like her spunk and independence.  I also like the change in her through out the book.  It was a good read strictly for entertainment.

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

Who knew a Labyrinth could be so vast and so complicated?  This book puts it all into perspective on how big the Labyrinth in the book is.  It's huge and extends to many cities far apart (from San Fransisco to New York to New Mexico and bigger).

Annabeth gets a quest and takes along Percy Jackson, Tyson (Percy's half brother) and Grover.  The quest is to go through the Labyrinth to get to Daedalus to prevent Luke from getting the string that would help him get through the Labyrinth to attack Camp Half-Blood. 

There's fun adventure and even Percy's new friend, Rachel, helps out in the Labyrinth.  We also learn more about Nico di Angelo.

I liked this book in the series a lot.  It was easy to get carried away in the story.  There's more romance in this book.  That makes it even better.

Now on to the next one!!!

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

Percy has more adventures with Thalia (and Zoe, a new friend, too) as they try to save the Hunting goddess, Artemis and to try to save Annabeth.  Atlas is in this volume as are many Gods and Goddesses from Greek Mythology and their friend, Luke comes to play in this volume too.)  I enjoy the Percy Jackson books.  Percy comes out of some amazing situations usually with the help of others.  It was a fun read.  I am excited to read the next two volumes.

Daphne's Book by Mary Downing Hahn

This book was fun.  As I was reading, I started to think about when it was written.  Things reminded me of when I was growing up.  Things like combs in the back pocket made me wonder how old the book is.  I looked in the front of the book.  It said: "First Avon Camelot Printing: May 1995"  and it said copyright was 1983.  So then I understood because it was made back in the day when I was the girls age.  That was kind of fun to think about.

This is a book about a girl named Jessica.  Jessica is really shy.  She is paired up in class with a girl named Daphne.  She doesn't dislike Daphne but doesn't want to have people make fun of her like they make fun of Daphne.  She's afraid to say anything. 

But, as Daphne and Jessica work together to on their school project of a children's book they become close.  Daphne draws and Jessica writes the story.  Then Jessica learns something about Daphne that is a secret and it is a secret that might be too big for Jessica to handle. 

This book was well written and I enjoyed it.

December Stillness by Mary Downing Hahn

I finished this book last night. The last book I read of Mary Downing Hahn's I didn't recommend but this one I would recommend.

This is a story about a girl named Kelly McAllister.  She is given an assignment in her class to write about something controversial.  She decides to write about homeless people.  She tries to talk to Mr. Weems.  Mr. Weems is a homeless man who comes to the library each day.  Mr. Weems doesn't want help or friends.  This is a story of how she struggles to help this man and the reactions of the people around him.   It is a good read and I was able to really think about some of the issues.

I think this book could really help a youth to see this issue in a different perspective and discover along with Kelly more about Vietnam and about Homelessness and what a problem it can be.  A good handle on a controversial topic.

Peasant Queen by Cheri Chesley

This was a fun little tale that I enjoyed.

Krystal is a girl that her brother's take care of since her mom is blind and her father has died.  Her brothers set up an arranged marriage for her.  She is not happy about it and runs away.  As she runs away though she is surrounded by some guards and kidnapped.  Magic is used and she is very far from home and taken to a castle and to King Gregory.  This is a different life and there is lots of adventure in this distant land.

One thing about the book I would have liked to have different is I kept wanting to make the main character eat. It seemed she never ate. She was always too involved in what was going on around her to bother eating.  Her stomache was often upset.

This book has magic, romance, kissing, adventure, beauty and is just a fun read.  I enjoyed it.

The Wind Blows Backward by Mary Downing Hahn

This book is about a girl who starts to hang out with an old best friend from her younger years.  Though she resists she finds she still likes him even though he wouldn't talk to her for many years.  Now he seems to want to share something with her.  She has to wait for him to share it when he is ready.  They become quite close and he does share his secret with her.

I probably wouldn't recommend this book. While this book gives me an idea of another way of thinking different from mine, I think I would have like to have spent my time on a different book.  I picked this one up because she was an author at the BYU Symposium on Books for young Readers.  I think she handled things well, but I would have rather had a book take a stand to not have sex before marriage.  I think she is a great author.  She weaves a great story and she writes with interest BUT it just wasn't my kind of book.