"A War of Gifts" by Orson Scott Card

A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card is a very short story about Zech who gets drafted to battle school against his will. He has an extraordinary memory, has the whole King James version of the bible memorized. He is the son of a minister who abuses him. At battle school, he just wants to go home and refuses to do any practice fighting at all. This was disappointing; was not interesting to me at all because it put Christians in a bad light. There was a big issue made about whether Santa Claus was a custom or some kind of religious practice and I didn’t care for this one at all. Ender Wiggin had a very small part in this. (Karen's review, 1 star)

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"Ever the Hunted" by Erin Summerill

In Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill, Britta is alone and hungry. She gets caught poaching on the King’s land which carries a death sentence. However, the King gives her a deal—capture the person who killed her father and bring him to the King, and she will be set free and get to keep her cottage. The only problem is the killer is her one and only friend!

This book starts out slow but gets better so stick with it. Britta is a real good lead character that knows what she wants and hot to get it! The action is good with some twists to add to your reading pleasure, leading to a very strong ending! I look forward to reading book 2 in this series!
(Gerard’s review, 4 stars)

Teaser from page 17:  It takes a beat for his warning to hit me.  I jerk out of his grip, mumble thanks, and race toward home.

Karen's review:
Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill is the first book of the Clash of Kingdoms series. In this fantasy, 17-yr.-old Britta is in love with Cohen, her father’s former apprentice. Her father was a bounty hunter for the King of Malam until he was killed and Cohen has been accused of his murder. Britta agrees to hunt him down for Lord Jamis when she is charged with poaching on the King’s land and faces being hanged unless she agrees. Britta has a special gift for telling if one is lying or not, so when Cohen captures her from the royal guards, he convinces her he is innocent and together they try to track down her father’s killer. Then royal guard keeps after them both! Secrets come out along the way that keeps things interesting.

I thought the pace of this book was pretty slow, but it did pick up near the end. I really liked Enat and felt bad when she was killed. I like both Britta and Cohen alright so will probably continue on with this series. (4 stars)


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"Grist Mill Road" by Christopher J. Yates

It is hard to write a review of Grist Mill Road by Christopher J. Yates without giving something away, but I will try. Patrick, Matthew and Hannah were involved in an incident when they were in their teens.  Now, years later, their paths cross again.  Will there be a resolution to that incident?  Although this book goes back and forth in time, I did not have a problem with it.  I thought the three main characters were well developed.  Some parts of the book dragged along, but there is more good than bad.  The ending was just okay but still worth the read.

Teaser from page 15:  Mornings after, she remembers only the screaming, not the words.  But even so he can't lie to her.
(Gerard's review, 3.5 stars)

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"I Am Watching You" by Teresa Driscoll is a Good Mystery

In I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll, when Ella is on a train, she overhears a conversation between two young girls and two young men just out of prison.  It sounds like they plan to hook-up?  Ella debates if she should warn the girls that maybe this is not such a good idea, but says nothing!  The next day, she finds out one of the girls has gone missing!

Teaser from page 26:  So that I see it even more clearly now.  This is my fault.

I really enjoyed this book a lot!  It is told by various people who have a connection to the girls which only adds to the mystery of what did happen to this girl and why!  If you know the answer before you finish, you are way smarter than me!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

Karen's review:
I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll is a mystery of a missing person with a surprise ending. I did not figure out what happened, but there were a couple things that I did not care for about this book. One was that there was so little action and the second was that the chapters ended on cliff hangers and then jumped to another person’s view. The changing of views was distracting to me and seemed to slow down the pace of this book None of the characters were very well developed, which made me not care about them much at all. I would not recommend this one. (2 stars)

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"Bruiser" by Neal Schusterman

Bruiser by Neal Schusterman is a contemporary fiction novel but with one special boy, named Bruiser. Somehow, he has an unusual power to take on himself the pain of those he cares about, like his younger brother and his Uncle. His uncle tries to protect him as best he can be keeping him home so he doesn’t make friends. He just goes to school and comes home, until Bronte decides to be nice to him. Her brother, Tennyson, doesn’t like her seeing Bruiser at first, but then also becomes his friend, realizing he’s not really so bad after all. Bruiser is wired to only receive pain, not give it.

Teaser from page 14:  I hate him.  I hate the concept of him.  He's a freight train of bad news barreling at my sister.

I thought this book was just okay because Bruiser was so unbelievable in what was an otherwise modern-day contemporary fiction book. The story was pretty good and it kept my interest but it wasn’t near as good as the other books I read by this author.
(Karen's review, 3 stars)


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