Ice by Sarah Beth Durst

Summary (from back of book): When Cassie was a little girl, her grandmother told her a fairy tale about her mother, who made a deal with the Polar Bear King and was swept away to the ends of the earth. Now that Cassie is older, she knows the story was a nice way of saying her mother had died. Cassie lives with her father at an Arctic research station, is determined to become a scientist, and has no time for make believe.

Then, on her eighteenth birthday, Cassie comes face-to-face with a polar bear who speaks to her. He tells her that her mother is alive, imprisoned at the ends of the earth. And he can bring her back—if Cassie will agree to be his bride.
That is the beginning of Cassie’s own real-life fairy tale, one that sends her on an unbelievable journey across the brutal Arctic, through the Canadian Boreal forest, and on the back of the North Wind to the land east of the sun and west of the moon. Before it is over, the world she knows will be swept away, and everything she hold dear will be taken from her—under she discovers the true meaning of love and family in the magical realm of Ice.

Review: The book is as cheesy as the summary makes it sound, and slightly worse. I picked up the book because I am a fan of urban like fantasy stories, ones that integrate fantasy into everyday life (also, I’m a sucker for anything with wild animals in it). I have such mixed feelings over this book. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. The main characters, Bear and Cassie mainly, annoyed the heck out of me. Bear was far too perfect for even a character in a book, and Cassie was so stubborn it made her stupid. The pregnancy wasn’t realistic and the idea that a soul determines whether a baby is stillborn or not bugged me. Mostly because I am in a child development class right now and I know the ins and out of pregnancy and birth at this point.

As for the plot? It seemed very rushed. One minute she hated Bear the next she loved him, and was risking her life to save him. It flowed very easily, I mean you were not stuck in one place very long so Durst doesn’t give you very much time to get bored with the book. I skimmed a lot of the book so the description and dialogue were not enough to keep my eyes glued to every word. I read and it just didn’t get me interested from the start, so I simply skimmed to get the book done.
All that being said it reminded me very much of a common folklore story that natives tell to explain a certain phenomena—not necessarily a bad thing. Overall it wasn’t horrific, but it wasn’t really all that great either. It kept me entertained and I didn’t want to gouge my eyes out.

Rating: 3/5

Reviews from the Pros:

“This beautifully drawn tale captured me in a realm of wonders!” –Tamora Pierce

“I loved this deeply romantic story!”—Juliet Marillier

"ICE is a beautiful and shivery tale of sacrifice and love. Highly recommended, and just in time for the winter season." -- Becca Fitzpatrick

"Durst flawlessly weaves together romance, adventure, and a modern sensibility to create a highly inventive and suspenseful story of a girl on the cusp of adulthood. Readers will take Cassie and Bear to their hearts." -- School Library Journal

"Durst skillfully integrates a contemporary girl into an updated version of the tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon, balancing the magical with the modern... [Cassie's] quest for self-worth, independence, maturity and love, is twisty, absorbing and satisfying." – Publisher’s Weekly

"Told in a descriptive style that perfectly captures the changing settings, Durst's novel is a page-turner that readers who enjoy adventure mixed with fairy-tale romance will find hard to put down." -- Booklist

On a side note, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! Hope Santa brings you all you wished for! I am hoping for some great new reads!
~She Who Reads A Lot

Catching Fire

Summary: Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellmark are miraculously still alive, Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her long time friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gales holes her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol---a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest s he’s afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she’s not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol’s cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can’t prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

Prequel: The Hunger Games

Review: This book gave me nightmares. That is how good it was, and on top of that I still kept reading it despite that it gave me nightmares that left me terrified. Literally I had to take a break from reading it at one point because a nightmare was a little too real for my wimpy tastes. The reason I think that this book gave me nightmares was because last year I took a Genocide class and we studied in depth the Holocaust in WWII and all the techniques that the Germans used. So when all of a sudden {SPOILER} bombings, riots, shooting into random crowds, and nerve gassing {SPOILER END} popped up, I could easily picture it happening. This book is so life-like it is scary.

I don’t want to give anything away from this book because you have to go read it, but Katniss is such a believable character. Sometimes I want to smack her, but she is a breath of relief when considering literature. She is a survivor and you can see that in her doubts, fears, but she is also brave and will not back down. She is relatable and as always Peeta is a genuinely good human being.

Gah. I can’t even put it into words. Basically just go read it, like now. If you have not read the prequel, the Hunger Games, then shame on you! I will hit you over the head with a rock so could read them both now!

Reviews from the Pros:

#1 USA TODAY BESTSELLER
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
#1 WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER
#1 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE
TIME MAGAZINE
TOP 10 FICTION BOOKS OF 2009
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR:
CHILDREN'S FICTION
A BOOKLIST EDITORS' CHOICE, 2009
KIRKUS BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOKS OF 2009
#2 ON FALL 2009 CHILDREN'S INDIE NEXT LIST
BARNES & NOBLE BEST TEEN BOOKS OF 2009
AMAZON BEST BOOKS OF 2009:
TOP 100 EDITORS' PICK
TOP 10 BOOKS: TEENS

"Collins has done that rare thing. She has written a sequel that improves upon the first book."
--The New York Times, Gabrielle Zevin

"Again, Collins’ crystalline, unadorned prose provides an open window to perfect pacing and electrifying world-building, but what’s even more remarkable is that aside from being tremendously action-packed sf thrillers, these books are also brimming with potent themes of morality, obedience, sacrifice, redemption, love, law, and, above all, survival. Honestly, this book only needs to be good enough to satisfy its legions of fans. Fortunately, it’s great. And if you were dying to find out what happens after the last book, get ready for pure torture awaiting the next."
--Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

"...doesn’t disappoint when it segues into the pulse-pounding action readers have come to expect. Characters from the previous volume reappear to good effect: Katniss’s stylist, Cinna, proves he’s about more than fashion; Haymitch becomes more dimensional. But the star remains Katniss, whose bravery, honesty and wry cynicism carry the narrative...Collins has also created an exquisitely tense romantic triangle for her heroine...by book’s end (and it’s a cliffhanger), readers will be picking sides—Peeta or Gale?”
--Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

"Stellar, imaginative writing."
--Los Angeles Times


"Beyond the expert world building, the acute social commentary and the large cast of fully realized characters, there’s action, intrigue, romance and some amount of hope in a story readers will find completely engrossing. Collins weaves in enough background for this novel to stand alone, but it will be a far richer experience for those who have read the first installment and come to love Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch and the rest of the desperate residents of this dystopia. A humdinger of a cliffhanger will leave readers clamoring for volume three."
--Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW


"...this sequel has enough action to please Hunger Games fans and leaves enough questions tantalizingly unanswered for readers to be desperate for the next installment."
--School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

"Collins ratchets up the tension in the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy. With a host of well-drawn new secondary characters and more lives on the line, this will keep readers of all ages up long past their bedtimes."
--Romantic Times Book Reviews, ****1/2 STARS

"Collins has once again delivered a page-turning blend of plot and character with an inventive setting and provocative themes."
--The Horn Book Magazine

Read it. NOW.