The Witch's Guide to Cooking with Children (audio)

Sol and Connie move to a new town with their father and stepmother and meet the old lady down the street whose dog is playing with a very strange bone.  When Sol identifies it as a human bone, it leads the siblings down a very strange path.

This was a very cute, fun book.  It's an updated reimagining of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale.  Sol is very clever although lacking in confident after a failed science project and Connie is a typical little sister, although not unsympathetic to Sol.  They are stuck with their dim father and his new wife in a new home.  And when Sol discovers the bone of the neighbor's dog, they follow a path that readers will recognize from the Hansel and Gretel story.  I really liked it.  It only took a couple of hours to listen to and it was so much fun.  I would recommend it to kids or anyone who likes children's book and fairy tales.

The Summoning (Darkest Powers #1)

Chloe is a typical teen. Her mother died when she was young and her father is always absent. When she is fifteen, she sees a ghost at her school and is sent to a group home for teens with mental problems. There she learns the secret of her powers and is introduced to the dangers of having her abilities. With a home of teens with some suspicious problems, Chloe must figure out what is going on.

Warning: the following contains spoilers and is slightly PG-13. It's possible I could offend someone, I'm just saying.

First of all, I'd like to say that I did like this book and it was a fast read. The following will not convey that message at all but I did. Everyone else liked this book and had no complaints.

However, I call bullshit. The ending was ri-dic-u-lous. Yes, it was slightly shocking when her aunt turns in her in but not really. I'm also getting tired of "cliffhanger" endings. It seems everyone is doing that these days. Also who didn't figure out that everyone there was going to have powers of some kind and that the adults knew about the teens? If you didn't then you've never read this kind of book before. In fact it was pretty formulaic. Even Derek turning into a werewolf, I mean please. When he started having a fever, I was like Does he have a fever of a hundred and werewolf (shoutout) or what? and he did. I saw that coming before that anyway since his muscles were involuntarily rippling and he had "extra" abilities. I am a little suspicious of Simon and Rae. Someone there is up to no good, mark it.

I will admit that parts of it did give me the shivers especially when she is locked in that crawlspace. That just creeped me out although it did give me a Sabriel flashback so whatever. The real problem is the whole I have powers! no I don't! thing that Chloe goes through. It's in every freaking fantasy book now. Find. something. new. In fact, it reminded me of the Maximum Ride series crossed with the Old Kingdom series with a little Twilight for good measure. At least it wasn't about fairies.

See I told you it would sound like I didn't like it. Let me say something positive about it. It was well written and I liked Chloe. She was very feisty and it was cute how she tried to frame everything like it was movie. I don't trust the character Simon for some reason like I said but I liked Derek. He was a nice change from the normal flawless beautiful hero. The world building could use some work but then it is a series so there is time for that. I'm probably read the next one, but it's not on the top of my list or anything.

Raven's Gate (The Gatekeepers #1)

Matt has been a troubled boy ever since his parents died when he was eight. Now fourteen, Matt is living with his aunt and her boyfriend. When a guardsman is stabbed while Matt and his friend break into a warehouse, Matt is sent to live with Mrs. Deverill in the town of Lesser Malling. Strange and sinister things are happening and Matt is at the center of an evil plan. But he is chosen for something else too.

Honestly, I went into this book thinking that it was going to be abandoned. I don't know why. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked it. It was really good. Matt is so sad and mistreated and he acts out and, yes, deserves punishment but getting sent to Mrs. Deverill is too much. She is a little cliched as are all the town characters. The premise is a good one, boy is chosen to guard the world from evil and to find the other Gatekeepers. The information is a little lacking, but then this was obviously set up to be the first in a series. It's like a pilot for a TV show. You get just enough information to pull you back. I think I'm going to switch to the audio though for no real reason.