Mary, Bloody mary

In the classic story of King Henry VIII and his many wives one person who often gets looked over is Mary. She was the 1st daughter of the king, and by far the oldest. She was a catholic, and daughter of a Spanish princess. During her reign as queen England had a very dark period of slaughter and religious persecution. This book delves into mary's life as she sees her father change from a good king to a tyranny. She is forbidden to see her mother and deemed illegitament, her title taken away. She is personally humiliated by Anne bolyen, the woman who changed her father, and the eventual threat of execution. Mary's life is full of danger, deceit, change, and chaos. From a princess to a lowly maid Mary is a very compelling character often forgotten by history. Personally I loved this book and found it very interesting and great historical fiction.

Fall reading

I can't believe it's already october, were heading into fall. I have some reviews that could go along with Halloween, Fall, and spookiness. Check back each week for a new review :)

Kathryn

Updates, Gordon Korman,

Sorry i haven't posted in a REALLY long time, but I've been pretty busy. There are a bunch of new books I've read, but unfortunately I cannot do a review on all of them. Below is the list of my recent readings:
Deep and Dark and Dangerous- Ghost story that was sorta spooky but really good
Wings- A Fairy Tale- Interesting plot line, but a very fantastic book. It's about fairies.
Eleven- Pretty good, about a 11 year old girls' life.
Twelve- The continuation of the girl's life when she's twelve.
Thirteen- The same series, about the girl when she's thirteen.
Access Denied[and other eight grade error messages]- Drama that goes on in 8th grade
The Fifth Of March- Good, interesting historical fiction about the Boston Massacre.
Tuck Everlasting- Interesting plot line, sorta, but pretty boring and short.
Witch & Wizard- Very good series about magic in the real world. I may do a post as the rest come out and I am able to read them.
The Book Thief- Great Historical Fiction book. Set in Germany during WWII and narrated by death. I would highly recommend it, unless you hate great loss.
Breathe, A Ghost Story- Kinda strange and creepy. Don't read if you're the type who freaks out.

Gordon Korman
He is a really great author and I wanted to point out two books of interest that just came out by him. The first is The Medusa Plot. It is the first book in the continuation of 39 clues series, and it's really good. I'll put my review on the 39 Clues tab so it'll be there, long with he rest of the new series

The next new read from Gordon Korman is the TITANIC Trilogy. In order to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's horrific sinking he wrote this new trilogy. It follows four kids who end up on the Titanic's maiden voyage. Trouble seems to follow them on board the ship, and that's before the events of the fateful crash bring us to the legendary events of April 15th. It's well written and interesting once you get past the beginning. I would recommend it, especially if you're interested in the Titanic.
:) kkuhar

Hey!

I know I haven't posted in a really long time, so here's a bunch of updates.

1.This summer I went to Turkey for vacation. It is such an amazing place, with so much ancient history there. I was lucky enough to go to an ancient marble quarry, and gothic churches. It was a really interesting trip, so I would suggest Turkey to anyone.

2. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 came out as I'm sure many of you know. I have to say it was a great end to such an amazing series. I personally love Harry Potter, the books and the movies. I was really happy with the way they finished it, even though it was different from the books. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's disappointing by the fact it's over, but it's a great movie.

3.39 Clues update! The first book in the new part of the series, "The Medusa Plot" comes out August 31st. http://www.the39clues.com/part2 You can read a bit about it at the link before. It sounds interesting so I'll be sure to add a review when that comes out. You can also check out the prologue at http://cdn.static.the39clues.com/pdf/medusa_prologue.pdf.SInce tragically Borders is closing I'm also going to try and find new places to buy books

Alphas

Shira Brazielle has everything, billions of dollars, merchandise, and fans. Her teams, inventing all kinds of amazing gadgets, and a school. The super exclusive Alpha Academy, on Alpha Island. There, the 100 most talented girls on the planet are assembled. The best dancers, writers, musicians, and inventors, all girls. But of the 100 there can only be one Alpha left to win the worldwide fame.

This series follows Skye, Charlie, Allie A., Allie J., and Triple. They live together in Jackie O's house and quickly become friends, and enemies. Everyone seems to have a secret they're hiding, and everyone seems to have set their sights on the forbidden fruits, Shira's sons. Soon a network of lying, cheating, destroying and backstabbing is wound through the girls weak friendship. Only one can win, and what will each do to stay at the school?

I liked these books a lot. They were intresting and I'm waiting for the next few to come out. I would suggest these books for anyone who likes adventure, romance, fighting evil, and fun.

I Like Him, He Like's Her

Alice McKinley is starting high school. She has everything she could possibly want, a great boyfriend, two best friends, a friendly older brother, and a father about to get married to her 7th grade English teacher; what more could she want? Then her boyfriend Patrick finds his lucky penny. Alice's world starts to turn upside down and everything seems to spiral out of control. She joins clubs, which only leads to more problems. Suddenly the drama of high school is completely surrounding her. Her friend's parent problems, her brother's girl friend problems, her heart broken father. Her first year in high school is a huge change. It's nothing she thought it would be. I like this book because it's realistic, funny, and sad. All of the stuff in her life changes, and things you don't expect to happen happen. You really get to see all sides of the characters, and it's really funny. I would recommend this book to people 12/13 and above.

The Airhead Trilogy

Hundred's of girls say they would die to be Nikki Howard. Nikki is the face of Stark Industries, her face is plastered everywhere you can buy Stark merchandise, which is just about everywhere. Emerson Watts likes playing video games and laughing about the stupidity of fashion, models, and of course, Nikki Howard. Emerson hates everything that her sister Frida values. Stark's newest megastore, just blocks from their New York apartment is the biggest thing happening. Stark's cheaper prices and superstores were putting tons of local business out of business. Why would Emerson want anything to do with that? Frida loves it, she's crazy about one of the performers at the opening, Gabriel Luna. Then the world goes upside down. How is it that Emerson's the chosen one? The Phoenix? Why is it that she's able to live the rest of her life? Why is it that Emerson Watts becomes the most known model in New York? Stark Industries is not all that it seems, and it's CEO, Robert Stark is at the head of it all. How can Nikki Howard, and Emerson Watts expose the truth about what Stark Industries is really doing?

High society, celebrities, black mailing, love, brain surgeons, and runways all go into this great trilogy by Meg Cabot. I would like to thank my friend Maria for lending these to me. This summer I'll try to get a lot of posts out:)

Kathryn

The Gallangher Girls

On the outside The Gallangher Academy For Exceptional Young Women may seem like a snobby rich girls boarding school, that's what it's suppose to be. But look inside the door, the bulletproof windows, and you see an all girl spy school. Yep, as in learning about bombs, poisons, tailing, covert operations. For the headmistress' daughter Cammie things begin to turn into a real mission in her sophomore year. A new Covert Operations teacher comes, along with a senator's daughter. Well, and then Cammie gets a secret boyfriend in the nearby town and has to sneak out of school. Cammie and her friends have to use all their spy training to try and make it work. Then operation Blackthorne starts, and a whole new chapter opens in Cammie's life, along with reopening of her father's death on a mission. Bugs, laundry chutes, and secret passages later their real mission begins. Kidnapping attempts, double agents, and top secret come into play as they learn of a new threat, a real threat, one that will stop at nothing to get their unknown prize.Their lives in danger, and confusion on friends and enemies lead to unreeling plot, and the fact that the group will kill. In a world where espionage, lying and spying is normal, how will Cammie figure out how to be a normal girl, or at least pretend to be one. Plus, for a girl who knows fourteen languages, will she ever figure out the language of boys?

A Great and Terrible Beauty

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've been reading a lot. "A Great and Terrible Beauty," by Libba Bray just goes to show that you should never judge a book by it's cover. Looking at the title you think of some high society rich girl drama with love and stuff like that. Although there is some of that throughout the book, this story is much more interesting. There is intrigue, magic, fights, confusion, and friendship. After some unfortunate and unclear events in India, Gemma Doyle is sent to London, to go to an elite private boarding school, The Spencer Academy. But something else is new to Gemma, other than her new home. She can see into the realms, magical places beyond our world. The only mention of anything like Gemma's gift is The Order, a secret group of women who had magic to travel to the realms. They have long been gone, and forgotten. With a group of friends, Gemma begins to realize the power she has, and it's importance. She also realizes the danger it poses to the world. What will she do to save her world?

I really liked this because it is more than what meets the eye. You find this heroin confused in this odd world. The beginning of the book you find the people you want to hate, but then you end up loving them. It shows how friends can be the most important thing ever, and you never do know who your friends will be. There is just enough magic that's mixed in with the drama of school and pressure to be proper noblewomen to make it good. I really enjoyed this book, and you can also check out the rest of the trilogy:)