Street Magic by Tamora Pierce

In Street Magic, Briar and Rosethorn are in Chammur, a desert area with beautiful rock formations. Rosethorn is trying to help the area farmers and Briar is working to sell minature trees. While at the market, Briar sees a young girl polishing stones and putting magic into them. When he confronts the girl, she flees, because she does not realize she has magic. Briar is friendly with one of the local gangs, the Camelguts, who help him when he is tailed by a Viper. The Vipers are a new gang given weapons by rich Lady Zenadia, who is using them to deal with boredom. Lady Zenadia decides she wants Evvy, the girl with the stone magic, and uses her gang to try to capture her. Briar learns that he is responsible for Evvy, because he is the first to notice her magic. When the only stone mage decides not to train Evvy, Briar takes over and becomes close to the girl. When Evvy is kidnapped, Briar stops at nothing to free her.

I was glad to see another tale about Briar, because I enjoyed his story the most from the Circle Quartet. Briar is funny and extremely loyal to his mates as he calls them. I love Pierce's series and this one is as good if not better than the first.

Favorite Character: I like Briar, Rosethorn, and Evvy all equally and it is hard to choose a favorite. Evvy was the perfect match for Briar in her humor and background. All three are rough around the edges, but the loyalty and love they have for others is wonderful. I know Evvy is a part of Melting Stones, so I will be glad to read more about her.

Favorite Quote: "'You're more trouble than your worth,' he informed Evvy tartly. She shrugged. 'I'm a girl. That's my job.'
I love this series! It is full of action and shows how the four mages are maturing as they grow older. I will have to add the next one as soon as I can find the time. 5 bars of chocolate!

Gift by Andrea Buchanan

I received Gift as an e-galley.

Daisy is able to fry all electrical devices near her. Ever since she was young, she had to control her "gift." She does deep breathing exercises and yoga to keep from ruining everyone's computers and other devices. Extremely inconvenient as her gift is, it becomes the least of her troubles. Daisy finds Vivi, a girl from her English class, in the girl's bathroom. Vivi has taken some pills to try to be with Patrick, a ghost who claims to be her soulmate. Daisy saves Vivi and Vivi claims that Patrick is connected to Daisy in some way. Daisy and her friend Danielle decide to help Vivi and both of them are plagued with dreams of a past tragedy over a hundred years old, in which they seem to be the main characters. As Daisy tries to puzzle out the meaning of the dreams and Patrick, she becomes involved with Kevin, a cute senior, who tries to help. Kevin also has a hidden secret and past. As Patrick seems to become more real and Daisy starts to fall for Kevin, she must decide who the real villian is. Could the past be repeating itself and is Daisy's gift the key?

Part ghost story and part supernatural power, Buchanan creates a wonderfully suspenseful story with a twist ending. I really enjoyed the book and I loved the end where each of the four other main characters reveals a bit about themselves and provides their own insights into the ghost story.

Favorite Character: I really liked Danielle. She was spunky and realistic. She pays for her flaws, but she is extremely loyal in the end.

Favorite Quote: "WHO IS THE TEENAGED GIRL HERE? SPOILER ALERT: NOT YOU, GHOST."
"Everyone wants me to hold back all the time. Nobody wants me to be who I really am."
I liked the twist on the ghost story and the idea of a heroine with extreme powers. I give this 4.5 bars of chocolate. I think it is really unique and enjoyed the characters.

Reading Stack #10

I am 3/4 of the way through Gift and halfway through Street Magic, so I am going to finish these books. I am adding Away by Teri Hall to my stack and Tempest Rising again. I checked Tempest Rising back out from the library, so hopefully I will have time to finish it. However May is the release month for all the series I want to read, so I may not finish my stack. It will really depend on when I receive the books. I really want to read Insurgent by Veronica Roth, Destined by Aprilynne Pike, and The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan, which all release May 1, so that will be a tough decision. Then more books release on the 8th, 15th, and 22nd that I can't wait to read as well. I did take two days off from work in May to hopefully catch up on my reading!

Goliath by Scott Westerfeld

I hated to see this series end, but what an ending!

Deryn and Alek find out they are traveling into Siberia to rescue a man who may have a weapon to end the war. Nikola Tesla, who invented the Tesla machine that can destroy airships, claims to have a weapon called Goliath. Goliath has the strength to destroy an entire city and the threat of its use alone could stop the war. Dr. Barlowe and Deryn both doubt Tesla, as he seems to be a madman. The area where they find him has been flattened and no wildlife exists in the area. Could he have destroyed the area or could it be something else? In the midst of Tesla's claims, the truth about Deryn is finally revealed to Alek and he must decide his true feelings about Deryn. The end of this series is filled with romance, excitement, and explosions and is just as wonderful as the other two books. I don't want to give too much away, but this may be one of my favorite endings ever in a book. Since this is the end of the trilogy I will save details, so that it is not too spoilery.

Favorite Quote: "A bit daft, she finally said. Getting a medal for falling down." I also like the dedication, "To everyone who loves a long-secret romance, revealed at last."

Favorite Character: Deryn of course. She is brave, reckless, and extremely loyal. She does not need anyone to take care of her, but she is willing to risk everything for Alek, so she also knows how to love. She is one of my favorite fictional characters ever! I did like the character of Alek and he was the most interesting as far as growth. He changes from a spoiled prince to a man who respects women and learns what the most important things in life really are. He feels  the pressure of the world and learns his true place in it.
5 bars of chocolate! As if there was any doubt. This is one of my favorite series now and these are by far the best books I have read this year. I can recommend this series to so many people, because it has a light romance, extreme action, and hilarious parts all mixed together. Wonderful!

The Line by Teri Hall

I have been reading lots of dystopia novels lately and the Line is no exception to this. Teri Hall imagines for us an alternate United States in which the government controls everything and the Bill of Rights was rewritten to give the government the power to spy on people, keep a record of their genes, and even take them into custody if they are deemed a threat. Free speech does not exists and all information comes from the official records, basically the government. This may seem like something that could never happen, but Teri Hall makes it very believable and shows us how easily things could come to this.

Rachel and her mother Vivian live on the Property with Ms. Moore and Jonathan. They have lived there since Rachel's father, Daniel, died in a war. Rachel learns how to grow orchids, which is Ms. Moore's occupation and her mother serves as a housekeeper. Vivian is an extremely overprotective parent, but Rachel does not question this, until the two witness an identification and her mother refuses to help the woman who is arrested. Rachel learns that her parents were collaborators, who worked to fight against the laws of the country. After Daniel's death, Vivian lives in fear and worries for Rachel. The Property is a place of safety for them, until someone comes to the Line, the border between Rachel's country and Away. The people of Away were cut off from the US when the Line was activated and they were bombed by another country. Rumors abound about the people of Away, but Rachel wants to help the boy Pathik who needs medicine for his sick father. With the help of her mother and, surprisingly, Ms. Moore, the group plans to help Pathik, but Vivian's cover has been revealed and others want what Vivian has been hiding.

This would be a great book for classroom discussion, especially about the ideas of rights of citizens, rights during wartime, and questioning sources. The book is scary, because it is something that could easily happen.

Favorite Quote: "As long as the sun has not set on a day, anything can happen." "Whenever you watch streamer coverage about some issue, remember who controls the media."

Favorite Character: Rachel and Ms. Moore. Rachel is very brave and innocent. She risks everything to help Pathik, but she does not really know what she is risking. She is intelligent, but she also makes mistakes. Ms. Moore seems the most real. While she comes across as standoffish, she is really very caring, but not as brave as Rachel.

I give this 4 bars of chocolate. It is a very interesting and thought-provoking read.

Still reading

I finished Goliath yesterday and will hopefully find time to review it this weekend. I loved it! It is a really great series and I hope Scott Westerfeld will write more twists on history. I highly recommend the audiobooks for this series, because Alan Cummings was an entertaining narrator. I did flip through the books as well for the nice illustrations. Once I am finished with my books for this year, I hope to start the Uglies series by Westerfeld. I also finished the Line by Teri Hall and I liked it. I enjoyed how she played around with an alternative future for the US and I like how she shows the importance of questioning sources. This would be great classroom discussion! I hope to review that book as well this weekend. However I will have little time to do this, but reviews will be coming.

Which Divergent faction?

After reading Divergent, I wondered what faction I would choose if I were in the story. I took a couple of Divergent faction online quizzes and I was labeled Divergent. I am not surprised. Reading the story I felt connected with most of the factions. The next most common choice for me was Amity. I do value kindness, probably more than honest, bravery, knowledge, and selflessness. To me being kind is the one of the most important values. It is hard to be honest, brave, knowledgeable, and selfless, but I think it is easy to be kind. So I guess Amity would be my choice, since being Divergent is dangerous. :)