Book Review: Maximum Ride #1: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

Maximum Ride #1: The Angel Experiment
James Patterson
Read by Evan Rachel Wood
Hachette Audio, 2008
ISBN 160024226X
Abridged Audio Book
The Flock is a group of six kids who were an experiment from before birth, genetically engineered to have wings.  Led by Max, a fourteen-year-old girl, the six have escaped but are being pursued by another group of kids whose [...]

May 31, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: My Reviews  No Comments

Book Review: Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher

Th1rteen  R3asons Why
Jay Asher
Razorbill, 2007
ISBN 1595141715
Hardcover
Imagine you’ve come home and a surprise package is waiting for you.  You’re a high school boy, no money to order anything and it’s not your birthday.  You’re excited opening the book only to discover seven cassette tapes inside.
Cassette tapes — nothing in the house will even play them, but [...]

May 12, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: Full Reviews  2 Comments

Review: The Hunchback Assignments

The Hunchback Assignments
Arthur Slade
Narrated by Jayne Entwistle
Listening Library, 2009
ISBN 0739380206
Unabridged Audio Book
Modo is an abandoned child in Victorian London, a child with such a fearsome appearance that no one could possibly care for him.  Mr. Socrates, though, a mysterious gentleman of means,  takes Modo in and raises him in a somewhat aloof fashion but with [...]

March 6, 2010  Tags: , , , , ,   Posted in: My Reviews  No Comments

Review: Split

Split
Swati Avasthi
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN 0375863400
Hardcover (ARC), March 2010
When his abusive father kicks him out for having the audacity to fight back, 16-year-old Jace Witherspoon has only one place to go–his older brother Christian in New Mexico. From Chicago to Albuquerque is not an easy trip, particularly if you have only recently [...]

February 15, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: Full Reviews  No Comments

2009 Top 40 at Creatures ‘n Crooks

This time, the Top 40 is a bit weird since we closed the shop at the end of September and sales then dropped off dramatically.  Here it is, though, in all its glory—
1.    The Merlot Murders—Ellen Crosby
2.    Pride and Prejudice and Zombies—Seth Grahame-Smith
3.    Lament—Maggie Stiefvater
4.    The Clockwork Teddy—John J. Lamb
5.    The Chardonnay Charade—Ellen Crosby
6.    The [...]

January 9, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  2 Comments

Review: Ballad

Ballad
Maggie Stiefvater
Flux, 2009
ISBN 0738714844
Trade Paperback
James, a teen with a remarkable gift for music, is surrounded by other students with artistic talents at Thornking-Ash School of Music, a boarding school in the mountains of Virginia.   His long-time best friend, Dee, is also a student there but they are estranged, torn apart by earlier events involving the [...]

November 27, 2009  Tags: , ,   Posted in: My Reviews  No Comments