Someday by Alison McGhee and Peter H. Reynolds

I went to the bookstore the other day to get books for my son's birthday and for Christmas for him and my daughter. I was looking for a hardcover picture book for each of them. And I saw this one. I actually cried in the bookstore and I rarely just cry in public. It is so sweet and sentimental and touching that I immediately put it in the buying pile. I had to get it for my girl. It is a short book with lovely pictures that carried the mother and child from infant hood to old age, told very simply but very poignant nonetheless. I'm not entirely sure how I will get through it without crying when I read it to her (to them both really) but I am going to try.

On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman

On the recommendation of my sister-in-law I got this book from the library to read to my kids. It is a lovely book about how special the child is and how their birth was a miracle and something to be celebrated. The illustrations are darling and it really is a sweet book. I enjoyed it and I will have to pick up a copy of it to keep.

Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer (audio)

In the final installment of the Artemis Fowl series, Artemis is up against Opal again.  This time she is trying to open a magical gate that will lead to the destruction of mankind and will allow fairies to rule the world with her as the leader, of course. But the boy genuis and his friends will not allow that to happen especially since all of this takes place at Fowl Manor and Artemis' little brothers and Butler's sister are possessed by ancient fairy spirits bend on revenge against the humans.

An excellent finish to a great series! I am going to miss the adventures of Artemis Fowl, Holly Short, Butler and all the other great characters in this series. When I reviewed The Atlantis Complex I said I had no idea how the series would end. I guessed Opal would be involved and I was right. But I didn't really make any guesses beyond that because the Artemis Fowl books have always been surprising. And the ending of this book is really surprising and I enjoyed seeing Artemis grow so much as a person. He is such a different character in this book than in the first one and that is some amazing character growth. The adventure itself is sort of not again for the characters but it was fun and hilarious in some places. And I never doubted that they would win. I was genuinely surprised at how they won. Now I really want to go back and read the first book again, just to remind myself at how far the characters have come.

Nathaniel Parker is the narrator for this book and I enjoyed listening to him. He brings a great sense of urgency, excitement, and humor to his reading. I've pretty much only been listening to the Artemis Fowl books for a long time because they are great on audio and really one of the best audiobook series I've come across.

Messy by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

From Goodreads: 
After a rocky start in Spoiled, Brooke Berlin and her newly discovered half sister, Molly Dix, have settled into something like sisterly love, but the drama is far from over.
Now that Brooke's caught a taste of fame and her movie star father's attention, she wants to launch a blog that will position her as the ultimate Hollywood insider. But between schoolwork, party-planning committee meetings, and spa treatments, she hardly has the time to write it herself...
Enter Max McCormack, an aspiring author with a terrible after-school job pushing faux meat on the macrobiotic masses of La-La Land. Max reluctantly agrees to play Brooke's ghost-blogger for an impressive salary, and the site takes off, but how long can their lie last? In person, Brooke can't live up to the intellectual wit of openbrooke.com, and Max soon begins to resent hiding her genius behind a bandage dress-wearing blonde. Can the girls work together to stay on top, or will the truth come out and ruin everything they've built?

I adored Spoiled and I really loved Messy. Both have the terrific sense of humor and pop culture jokes that you'd expect to find from the Fug Girls. There are a lot of references to clothing and gossip, of course, but some of the best things are the made up stuff like the soap opera "Lust for Life." Max, as a character, didn't stand out in my mind from the first book but it was cool having her front and center with Molly returning as a secondary character. I enjoyed that and I enjoyed seeing more of Brooke. She is a very complex character and it is nice to see more development of her.

It was a good story too. It wasn't a groundbreaking plot or anything but it was very fun and the characters more than make up for some of the more generic plot elements.  There are a few surprises along the way and Max and Brooke grow a lot as characters. I enjoyed the character of Brady Swift as well. He was a genuinely nice guy as was Jake, the football player Max has a crush on, and that was nice to see. It is a very fun book, something to pick up for a good, quick read.