Wildflowers - Robert Noonan

Rating: 3

Pages: 227

Challenges: 1st in a Series

Synopsis (from BN.com)

From 1854 to 1929, more than 200,000 homeless children left New York City on orphan trains to find new lives across the country. Some found loving homes; others experienced physical and mental abuse. Bridie's Daughter brings that world to life in this second novel in Robert Noonan's Orphan Train Trilogy.
Bridie's Daughter is an eye-opening tale that follows four teen-aged children who are filled with hope, concern and uncertainty, as they ride the rails to an unknown future. Once the train stops, however, it's a roll of the dice where they'll each end up.
Bridie McDonald, a wealthy spinster, finds in Catherine the daughter she has always wanted. Catherine learns to love Bridie and her new elegant home, but is concerned about Bridie's relationship with Jack, her mentally challenged handyman.
Though most of the citizens of Newberry, Illinois, befriend these children, some are not so welcoming, believing all the orphans from New York City are bastards and should be treated as such.

Review

I really liked this story, but I wished it went into more detail. It was fast moving and a lot happened, but the author didn't explore in depth reasoning of decisions. So if you want a good story and a quick read but aren't expecting a lot of in depth knowledge of the why people are making decisions.

Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Rating: 2 Drink more Mint Juleps before reading (åå)

Pages: 238

Challenges: First in a Series, Novella Challenge

Synopsis

This is the first book in the Little House in the Woods series. You might remember the show with Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert. ;) Here they live close to their family and get help harvesting, they eat Sugar Snow (living in Minnesota they make Maple Syrup from the trees and put it on the snow). There were lots of fun little stories in this book. In fact I felt more like it was a collection of short stories than a book, which is OK.

Review

I didn't like the book a lot. I listened to it on audio and I had a few problems with it on Audio. First off how can you read the book and not imagine Melissa Gilbert as Laura. Secondly the voice on the audio was clearly a mature woman - I would have expected someone who could sound like a young girl. I think that I would enjoy this series in a few years reading it with my daughter - from the books! It will be fun sharing the stories with her and seeing her face as she listens to the stories. I do think it is appropriate for young children, since no big traumas happened in the book (i.e. no violence, death or relationship actions that need to be explained). Also because it seems more like short stories it would be a good book to read a chapter at a time. It wasn't a bad book I just didn't enjoy it for the time and place that I am now.

The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman

Rating: 3 Don’t bet on this one…wait for the movie (···)

Pages: 299

Challenge: 1st in a Series

Synopsis (from BN.com)
The action follows 11-year-old protagonist Lyra Belacqua, accompanied by her daemon, from her home at Oxford University to the frozen wastes of the North, on a quest to save kidnapped children from the evil 'Gobblers,' who are using them as part of a sinister experiment. Lyra also must rescue her father from the Panserbjorne, a race of talking, armored, mercenary polar bears holding him captive. Joining Lyra are a vagabond troop of gyptians (gypsies), witches, an outcast bear, and a Texan in a hot air balloon.

Review

I thought this book was ok. I went in with some preconceived notions that I don't think helped the book and was really expecting it to be better. I thought it was too violent for the age range. I think it will be interesting to see the movie, but I don't think I will be reading any of the other books in the series. Amazing I figured I would have to read all the books of all the series!

A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray

Rating: 4 Tell a Friend over a Derby pie (ääää)

Challenges: Spring Thing, First in a Series, A-Z Challenge: G Title

Synopsis (from BN.com)

It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?

Review I liked this book a lot and really wanted to continue reading (really listening) to it. It reminded me some of Harry Potter but it was very different from Harry Potter. If you like Harry Potter I think you will like this book. I liked the characters especially Gemma and her Mom and the worlds that were created. I thought that Libba did a great job of researching girls in boarding school in this time period. On the audio version there is an interview with Libba Bray reading parts of her diary in trying to get the book published. It was great I really felt like she could be one of my good friends or my next door neighbor. She was so down to earth.

The Negotiator - Dee Henderson

Rating: 4 Tell a Friend over Derby Pie (ääää)

Pages: 296

Challenges: 2008 TBR, First in a Series, From the Stacks, A-Z challenge (N TItle)

The first book of the year is complete!! I really enjoyed this book.

It starts out with Kate walking into a Negotiation with a man who has taken a bank employee and customers hostage. In this situation she meets Dave who is a hidden hostage and also an FBI agent. After the situation is resolved with Dave's help they strike up a friendship. Well the mystery of the bank hostage situation develops when a plane is bombed and it seems Kate is in the middle of the mystery. Dave is right at her side as a friendship develops. Kate is also an orphan and has formed a "family" with several other orphans who we all meet in this book - they take the last name O'Malley and are very protective of each other.

Kate is a very likable character and I want to read more about the O'Malley's. Luckily this is the first book in the series and there is a prequel about Dave and his sister Sara, who the book mentions was stalked and Dave protects her. So I am interested to read that book too. Dee Henderson has made some very likable characters and I am sure each one can carry a book of their own. There are 5 more books in the series plus the prequel!

This book satisfies 3 of my challenge books:

From the Stacks

1st in a Series

2008 TBR Challenge Alternate