Winds of Fate (Mage Winds, #1)
by Mercedes Lackey
DNF at page 236
1 out of 5 stars
Elspeth is the heir to the throne, so she takes it upon herself to travel to far off lands in search of a mage who can train her magic abilities so she can protect her nation. Darkwind is worried that his tribe is in trouble when their magical Hearthstone is broken, and he struggles to protect their borders without violating his oath to never use magic.
1 out of 5 stars
Katie discovers a mushroom that will erase her mistakes if she writes down her mistake and eats a mushroom before bed. She wakes up the next day and gets a second chance. Soon she is making mistakes and bad choices all over the place, and just erases them the next day. Her career as a chef is in shambles as she struggles to open her new restaurant, and her personal life is in total chaos since she is sleeping with two different men. A mysterious house spirit appears and tells her that it’s against the rules to use more than one mushroom, but Katie doesn’t care. She keeps erasing all her foolish mistakes and getting further and further from a normal life.
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The Curse of Ravenscourt: A Samantha Mystery (American Girl Mysteries)
by Sarah Masters Buckey,\ Jean Paul Tibbles (Illustrator)
4 out of 5 stars
Samantha and her adopted sister Nelly go with Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia to live in an apartment in New York for a few weeks. The Ravenscourt Apartments are the height of luxury in the big city, but everything keeps going wrong in the building. The furnace breaks down, rats get into the walls, and a service elevator breaks and falls down the shaft. Some people think that the owner, Mr. Raven, must be cursed because he is such a harsh landlord to poor tenants in other buildings that he owns. Samantha and Nelly begin to investigate the strange occurrences around the building, determined to prove that the curse it not real, and someone must be targeting Mr. Raven.
Clue in the Castle Tower (American Girl Samantha Mysteries #4)
by Sarah Masters Buckey (Illustrator)
Samantha and Nelly are touring through England with Grandmary and the Admiral. They visit an old friend of the Admiral’s who lives in a grand manor house with a ruined castle on the grounds. There are rumors of a ghost in the manor, but Samantha and Nelly don’t believe in ghosts. However, when it’s discovered that some rare books have been stolen, they begin to wonder if someone has been using the ghost as a smokescreen for crime. The girls befriend two mischievous boys who live in the manor, and together they start to investigate the thefts.
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The Steps Up the Chimney
by William Corlett
3 out of 5 stars
William, Mary, and Alice visit their uncle Jack at Christmas in the ancient Golden House in Wales. Uncle Jack lives with his girlfriend Phoebe, and they are having a baby together, but they think it is “old-fashioned and hypocritical” to get married. The children notice some odd behavior from animals in the forest surrounding the Golden House, and they meet a Magician who says they must be tested before they will be ready to help him. William notices that there are footholds to climb up inside the massive chimney in the oldest part of the house, and their adventures lead them into magic and danger.
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The Postman from Space
by Guillaume Perreault (Goodreads Author), Françoise Bui (Translator)
4 out of 5 stars
Bob is just an ordinary postman delivering mail in space. He likes his boring routine. But one day his boss orders him to take a new mail route and he runs into trouble at every stop! Gone are his predictable days and safe routines, and Bob is thrown into every kind of wild situation and difficult delivery imaginable! He delivers a package to a planet inhabited by dogs and they chase him and take his lunch. One difficult customer refuses to sign for their package until Bob draws them a picture of a sheep. One little old lady has such a messy and chaotic planet that Bob is hit with flying debris caught in the gravitational field. Bob hates his new route, until he realizes that maybe he has just made some new friends.
The Postman from Space: Biker Bandits
by Guillaume Perreault (Goodreads Author), François Bui (Translator)
4 out of 5 stars
Bob is just an ordinary postman delivering mail in space. He likes his familiar routine. But one day his boss orders him to take on a new trainee, and they only have one letter to deliver… to a king! When they take a detour on their delivery route, the Biker Bandits get wind that the king is receiving an important letter and they track down Bob to steal the letter! Along the way, Bob and his trainee, Marcelle, pick up a hitchhiker who was stranded on an asteroid, but Bob doesn’t trust the hitchhiker. Could they be in even more trouble if the Biker Bandits catch up to them?!
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The Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (King Arthur Trilogy #1)
by Rosemary Sutcliff
This book chronicles King Arthur’s ascent to the throne by taking the Sword from the Stone and the creation of the Round Table of the Knights of Camelot. We hear the legends of famous sword fights and adventures and quests. Sir Lancelot arrives in Camelot, and Sir Gawain confronts the Green Knight. Beaumains serves in the kitchen before anyone knows his true royal lineage. Lancelot is tricked and seduced by Elaine, and Tristan tells his sad history with his uncle’s bride, Iseult. Sir Gawain marries the Loathely Lady, but breaks the magic spell that made her ugly. And this book finishes with the mysterious arrival of Percival, a knight who wanders in from the wild.
(To read more about Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere, and their tragic fate, you would have to read the rest of the series.)
Midnight Mayhem
by Christina Uss (Goodreads Author)
2.5 out of 5 stars
Kaz is the victim of a fluke that makes him unable to sleep, not one wink. He is bored to death all night long while his family is sleeping. When he meets another boy, Floyd, at a sleep clinic, they take off on midnight shenanigans all around the city, hoping their parents won’t find out and they won’t get in trouble.
Floyd takes animals from cages in the lab at the clinic, but he always brings them back. However, they lose two valuable owls from the lab, they get stuck on the roof of Philadelphia Hall and lie to the firemen who rescue them, and they knock down an airplane replica in a museum. Wherever Floyd goes, trouble follows! Kaz starts to think that maybe they should find more safe ways to beat the boredom.
Sir Edmund of the Wild West: Mystery in the Grand Canyon
by Dusti Bowling (Goodreads Author), Beth Hughes (Illustrator)
3 out of 5 stars
Edmund is a highly-trained British service dog who can detect seizures. He has a new owner, Willy, who makes videos about tracking down ghosts at historic locations. They hike through the Grand Canyon, searching for clues about what might have happened to some river rafters who disappeared decades before under mysterious circumstances. Although dogs can’t talk to the living, they can see and communicate with the dead ghosts that haunt the canyon. Edmund meets a lot of friendly ghosts who kindly lead him in the right direction to solve the mystery.
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Nell O’Dell Hates Quests (The Golden Crossroads #1)
by Emily B. Martin
5 out of 5 stars
Nell is sick and tired of quests. She works at the crossroads inn where she constantly hears about chosen ones, grand prophecies, and magic weapons. She sneers at all the questers who pass through the crossroads looking for glory and fame. Nell just wants a quiet life at the inn taking care of her chickens and her garden. But when there is a problem with the deed to the inn, Nell’s parents send her on a “journey” (NOT a quest!) to the capital to present the deed at the Exchequer’s office and prove their ownership of the inn. She is joined by an overly-excitable goblin, Midge, who is delighted to be included on the journey (NOT a quest!). Along the way they run into a mysterious thief, a hermit faun, a dragon keeper, and a sad troll whose name has been stolen by an evil fairy. Their journey (NOT a quest!) is fraught with danger and adventure and mystery, but Nell O’Dell hates quests, so it just CAN’T be a quest… can it? If a quest is “just a trip with a goal that’s important to you”, will Nell embrace the questing legends or find a way to complete her quest on her own terms?
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Sneaks
by Amy Tern (Goodreads Author)
1 out of 5 stars
Valory has a reputation as a thief and liar. She is rude to all the adults in her life, especially her mother’s boyfriend. She gives adults rude nicknames that she calls them behind their backs. She is well-known at her school for elaborate pranks and for stealing from the teachers. She disobeys her mother on various occasions, saying she knows she will get in trouble, but she doesn’t care.
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