We have moved to a new site!
This site will remain open only so you can copy anything you need, such as critques. Do so quickly because the old Forward Motion boards will soon disappear.

Are you ready for the new site? You must create a new login, but the chat login will remain the same as here for now. Click here to join us at the new

Forward Motion for Writers

See you there!

---

This is where I'll post the books I read in 2010. I'm shooting for 50+.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

I've had the trilogy setting around forever and always talked myself into reading something else. But, finally I decided to give them a try.

I did enjoy Sabriel, but it wasn't my favorite. I enjoyed the originality of the story, but it just seemed too dark for my taste. However, it was good enough to intrigue me to read the second book.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

If you like YA books, and stuff that is a little bit different, you'll love this one. I did. I finished it just a couple of days, and that's rare with my super busy schedule.

I normally don't focus well reading while at my kids' extracurriculars (dance, gymnastics, cheerleading, etc.). I see other parents doing it, but that's always been hard for me. Reading is a more "private" thing to me - I don't feel comfortable reading when there's other people around me doing other things. But, for this book, I found a way around it. I'd sit out in the car and read while practice was going on.

I enjoyed it so much that I bought the next two books of the 5-book series the same night I finished this one while waiting at dance classes and started reading the next one

It covers some interesting topics for kids to learn from, including war, mass murder, plagues, etc., but in a unique way involving super large creatures that have their own world under the ground inside teh earth. Cool stuff.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

The 2nd of a 5 book series. Again, I couldn't put this one down. BUT, you have to like YA books or you'll possibly hate this one. But things definitely get picked up a notch in this book for Gregor as he discovers more about ties to the underland.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

This is the 3rd of a 5 book series. I finished these first 3 in about a week's time. I was hooked for sure by this time. My only problem I had at this point was that my middle daughter had hurt her foot and had to stay off it - therefore no cheerleading for a while. This made it much more difficult to get to B&N to buy the last 2 books of the series. So I opted for the second of the Abhorsen trilogy next. Actually that's not completely true. FIRST I tried reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. I liked it, but this book required a lot of focus and concentration to be able to keep up with all the various families and my life wasn't allowing that at the moment, so I shelved it for a later date (possibly summer), when things calmed down a bit.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

Now this one was a lot better than Sabriel I thought. I felt the author did a much better job and that his writing had improved tremendously. It wasn't quite as dark as Sabriel either. This was my favorite book of the trilogy.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

Well, it started out good - picking up where Lariel left off. But this one was a disappointment for me for some reason. I've heard a lot of praise for this one, but for whatever reason it didn't do it for me. Good, but not great. It didn't need to be as long as it was. I felt like the author was trying to throw in too much fluff to hit a word count or something.

I would recommend trying the trilogy to you guys, but caution that it is not for everyone.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

I was so excited to get back into this series that I started reading it on a Friday night and was finished before I went to bed Saturday night. This was the 4th of a 5-book series. I really enjoyed this series.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

Great finish to a wonderful series. If you enjoy YA books you'll enjoy this series. No, it's not Harry Potter, but it's pretty good.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

After enjoy Suzanne Collins' Gregor the Overlander series, I looked for something else written by her and found this one. WOW, it did not disappoint. This is the first of a planned trilogy and it was VERY GOOD!!!! The book store was out of the second book of this trilogy, Catching Fire, when I went by to purchase it, so I picked up a book about Merlin that I had bought a couple of years ago and never got around to. I started it but then got my hands on Catching Fire. So I'm reading both of those now (one at lunch and one in the evening before I go to bed).

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

Excellent second book of a trilogy. Can't wait to read the third one. Comes out end of summer I think. Based upon the ending of the second one, wow, I can't wait to see how this third one unfolds!

Highly recommend this trilogy.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

Sorry so long since an update. I keep forgetting to post what I've read on this site. I've been reading the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix lately. These are quick little reads, and a very enjoyable YA fantasy series.

Each book in the series focuses on one of the "Morrow Days" characters, which are all named after a day of the week, and each have their own domain in "the House". The House is the place where The Architect lived. The Architect is the creator of all things, all universes, all worlds, all realms, all everything. The Architect left a will, for which the Morrow Days were the Trustees. The will was not executed and was ripped into 7 pieces, one for each of the Morrow Days. The will had to act on it's own accord and elect a rightful heir. That heir was 12-year old Arthur Penhaligon, the protagonist of the story.

Arthur gets pulled in to recover all 7 pieces of the will. To do this, he must conquer each of the Morrow Days by capturing the key of sorcery that each holds that gives it the power over it's domain. Once he has the key, then he can also get the piece of the will that was hidden within that domain.

Arthur gets involved screaming and kicking. He's extremely reluctant and just wants to be home with his family. As the series moves along, though, the safety of his family becomes in question as the later Morrow Days plot to get rid of him and prevent him from taking them over.

This series is good. If you have any youngsters that love to read, I highly recommend these as well. I'm now on the "Friday book". My 5th grader just finished the "Wednesday book" a couple of days ago - he loves them. So do I

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

The continuing story of Arthur Penhaligon and his pursuit of the 7 keys and 7 parts of the will. The rest of Arthur's family become involved at this point and things start becoming a little more intense for him.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

This book was totally different from the first two. It was set out on the high seas, with pirates and everything. Very cool. Arthur pursues Drowned Wednesday whose domain is The Border Seas of The House. Arthur is starting to recognize the importance of his task at hand now. It is overwhelming to him, but he is become accepting of it - mostly because of the danger this whole thing has brought to his family.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

Matters intensify significantly in this book as Arthur faces Sir Thursday. He learns of the importance of Superior Saturday and Lord Sunday and their possible role in the destruction of Arthur and all worlds. He also gets faced with another conundrum. Each time he uses one of the keys for it's sorcery, it makes him become closer and closer to becoming an immortal and no longer capable of going back to earth with his family. By the time he learns this, he's already well on his way. A sorcerer in the series provides Arthur with a ring that lets him know how close he is to becoming immortal. He was stunned to see just how close he was when he first put the ring on. With each use of the key he'd get closer and closer and it wouldn't take that much longer. This obviously complicates matters significantly for Arthur because things are much harder, if not impossible, to do without the use of a key sometimes; especially when he's in danger. He always weighs this against the knowledge that if he uses too much sorcery and becomes immortal, he'll never get to see his Earthly family again. This is the book that really kicked things to a whole new level for Arthur.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~