I've Got Your Number

Dates Read: November 2012
I was in the mood for a light-hearted read so I decided to pick up this chick-lit book from the library. I thoroughly enjoyed it - as evidenced by the fact that I read it in approximately 48 hours. It is a silly, slightly unrealistic, but wonderful read!

Summary: (from the amazon)
Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect! Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life. What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.

Froi of the Exiles

Dates Read: October 2012
This is the second book of the Lumatere Chronicles. I thought it was better than the first because the story picked up a lot faster and didn't have as many slow parts. I am now anxiously awaiting the third book's release sometime next year.

Summary: (from the amazon)
Three years after the curse on Lumatere was lifted, Froi has found his home . . . or so he believes. Fiercely loyal to the Queen and Finnikin, Froi has been taken roughly and lovingly in hand by the Guard sworn to protect the royal family, and has learned to control his quick temper with a warrior's discipline. But when he is sent on a secretive mission to the kingdom of Charyn, nothing could have prepared him for what he finds in its surreal royal court. Soon he must unravel both the dark bonds of kinship and the mysteries of a half-mad princess in this barren and mysterious place. It is in Charyn that he will discover there is a song sleeping in his blood . . . and though Froi would rather not, the time has come to listen.

Finnikin of the Rock

Dates Read: September 2012
After reading The Unwanteds, I decided to continue procrastinating reading Emma and pick up another Young Adult fantasy novel - one that came highly recommended on a blog I read.  The book started off slow... well, very slow... but I'm glad I pushed through because the last half of the book was a page-turner. 

This book is in the Lumatere Chronicles, but it was also a good stand alone book (though I have already picked up the second book from the library). 

I would say the book is a toned down version of Lord of the Rings - there are a lot of lands and names to remember (don't worry, there's a helpful map in the front of the book) but it's not as intricate as I imagine Lord of the Rings is (though I did consult the map frequently).

Summary: (from the amazon)
Finnikin was only a child during the five days of the unspeakable, when the royal family of Lumatere were brutally murdered, and an imposter seized the throne. Now a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere’s walls, and those who escaped roam the surrounding lands as exiles, persecuted and despairing, dying by the thousands in fever camps. In a narrative crackling with the tension of an imminent storm, Finnikin, now on the cusp of manhood, is compelled to join forces with an arrogant and enigmatic young novice named Evanjalin, who claims that her dark dreams will lead the exiles to a surviving royal child and a way to pierce the cursed barrier and regain the land of Lumatere. But Evanjalin’s unpredictable behavior suggests that she is not what she seems — and the startling truth will test Finnikin’s faith not only in her, but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny.

The Unwanteds

Dates Read: July 2012
I can't believe it has been so long since I last finished a book! The reason is that I've been busy with life and I'm struggling to get through Emma. On July 3rd, I read a book review on a blog and was instantly intrigued.  The book? The Unwanteds. The review said it was a mid-teen age fantasy book and it sounded like just the quick, light-hearted read I need for the holiday while taking a break from Emma. I picked it up from the library on the way home and finished it approximately 24 hours later!

It was a great book! The cover says it's a mix between Hunger Games and Harry Potter. I think that it's like HG in that it's a quick read meant for pre-teens, but, like HP, this book has more than one plotline - meaning clues are introduced in one chapter and you have to ponder and wonder for a few chapters before the answers are discovered. Definitely better than the singular plotline of HG!

This book will be the first in a series (Book 2 is due out in September - can't wait!). It left the door open for a sequel, but it also came to a nice conclusion so I'm not mad that I have to wait until September to read the next one - but I am excited to read it (and hopefully Emma will be done by that time).

Summary: (from the author's website)
Every year in Quill, thirteen-year-olds are sorted into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, and the artistic Unwanteds are sent to their graves.

On the day of the Purge, identical twins Alex and Aaron Stowe await their fate. While Aaron is hopeful of becoming a Wanted, Alex knows his chances are slim. He's been caught drawing with a stick in the dirt-and in the stark gray land of Quill, being creative is a death sentence.

But when Alex and the other Unwanteds face the Eliminators, they discover an eccentric magician named Mr. Today and his hidden world that exists to save the condemned children. Artimé is a colorful place of talking statues, uncommon creatures, and artistic magic, where creativity is considered a gift... and a weapon.  

Twenties Girl

Dates Read: January 2012
I was craving a light-hearted easy read and this book was perfect! It started a little slow but once it picked up, I couldn't put it down! The main character has some boyfriend troubles, a ghost that is trying to run her life, and she has trouble telling her family the truth about what's happening. In essence, it's a great chick book!

Summary: (from Amazon.com)
Lara Lington has always had an overactive imagination, but suddenly that imagination seems to be in overdrive. Normal professional twenty-something young women don’t get visited by ghosts. Or do they?

When the spirit of Lara’s great-aunt Sadie—a feisty, demanding girl with firm ideas about fashion, love, and the right way to dance—mysteriously appears, she has one request: Lara must find a missing necklace that had been in Sadie’s possession for more than seventy-five years, because Sadie cannot rest without it.

Lara and Sadie make a hilarious sparring duo, and at first it seems as though they have nothing in common. But as the mission to find Sadie’s necklace leads to intrigue and a new romance for Lara, these very different “twenties” girls learn some surprising truths from and about each other. Written with all the irrepressible charm and humor that have made Sophie Kinsella’s books beloved by millions, Twenties Girl is also a deeply moving testament to the transcendent bonds of friendship and family.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Dates Read: January 2012
This book was ... odd. The story is told from various perspectives (the little boy, letters from the grandma, letters from other people) and a lot of the sentence structures are run-ons (like some pages have no paragraphs and only a few periods but a ton of commas) and sometimes it was hard to keep conversations straight (quotes ran into each other and I had trouble keeping track of who said what). This is one case where it was nice that I saw the movie first because I think I would have been really lost if I read this book without knowing something about it. The story was interesting and thought-provoking and it was fun going on the journey with Oskar but it took me a while to read the book because of the structure of the sentences and storyline.

Summary: (from Amazon.com)
Nine-year-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible task will bring Oskar into contact with survivors of all sorts on an exhilarating, affecting, often hilarious, and ultimately healing journey.