Weekly Round-Up 6/7

Weekly Round-Up is my wrap-up of last week's activities and includes what I'm reading this week, reviews I've posted, books in the mail and anything else of interest plus From the Library, my weekly listing of what I've checked out from the library.

This week I'm reading L.A Candy (Conrad) and The Mystery of the Leaning Chimney (Keene).  I'm listening to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling).

Since last week I've read The Ghost of Blackwood Hall (Keene),  The More You Ignore Me (Brand), and This World We Live In (Pfeffer).
I abandoned The Krybosian Stairpath (Colvin) (see below) unfortunately.

Other reviews posted:
Forgive My Fins (Childs)
Howling's Moving Castle (Jones) plus movie
The Clue in the Old Album (Keene)


Abandoned:

From Goodreads:
In a refreshing change, along comes a children's book that does not rely on magic to explain the unexplainable. The Krybosian Stairpath puts forth the notion that just because you don't understand something, it doesn't mean there must be magic behind it. Knowledge and perspective can make all the difference.
Enter a world of wonder deep inside the earth as 11-year-old geologist Madison Terrence follows her pet gopher down a stairpath portal she discovers in her family's cavern. When she descends the Krybosian Stairpath, a mystery from her family's past begins to unravel. She soon realizes her arrival in the interior world of Krybos is no accident. Madison discovers that she's been pulled into a sinister plot to destroy the most beautiful place she has ever seen.

 The only reason I'm writing anything about this book is because I got it as an ARC from Traveling ARC Tours.  I really thought I would like it and it would be a quick read for me.  But I just couldn't get into it.  The writing and the characters were dry.  I didn't even get to the mystery part.  This book just wasn't for me.

won from Extreme Reader Book Reviews Thanks so much!
Radiant Shadows - Melissa Marr

Hunger for nourishment.
Hunger for touch.
Hunger to belong.

Half-human and half-faery, Ani is driven by her hungers.
Those same appetites also attract powerful enemies and uncertain allies, including Devlin. He was created as an assassin and is brother to the faeries' coolly logical High Queen and to her chaotic twin, the embodiment of War. Devlin wants to keep Ani safe from his sisters, knowing that if he fails, he will be the instrument of Ani's death.
Ani isn't one to be guarded while others fight battles for her, though. She has the courage to protect herself and the ability to alter Devlin's plans—and his life. The two are drawn together, each with reason to fear the other and to fear for one another. But as they grow closer, a larger threat imperils the whole of Faerie. Will saving the faery realm mean losing each other?
Alluring romance, heart-stopping danger, and sinister intrigue combine in the penultimate volume of Melissa Marr's New York Times bestselling Wicked Lovely series.

I checked out several, e-books, but most I've already spotlighted.  I actually plan on reading them this time.
L.A. Candy by Lauren Conread
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
The ABC's of Kissing Boys by Tina Ferraro

Witch and Wizard (ebook) - James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

Everything is about to change. The government has seized control of every aspect of society, and now kids are disappearing. For 15 year-old Wisty and her older brother Whit, life turns upside-down when they are hauled out of bed one night, separated from their parents, and thrown into a secret compound for no apparent reason. It's clear that the new government will stop at nothing to suppress Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Being a Normal Teenager.

For the sister and brother, the chaos started when Whit's girlfriend, Celia, was spirited away in a black van, never to be seen or heard from again. Locked inside their cells, the two fear that they have been taken to the very same complex that swallowed Celia and realize that a daring escape is their only hope of survival.

While imprisoned together, Wisty and Whit start exhibiting strange abilities and powers they never knew they possessed. Their new talents lead them to believe that maybe there is a reason they were singled out. Can this newly minted witch and a wizard master their skills in time to save themselves, their parents--and maybe the world?