Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

(607 pages)



Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth book in J.K. Rowling’s bestselling series, picks up shortly after we left Harry at the end of The Order of the Phoenix. Lord Voldemort is acting out in the open, continuing his reign of terror which was temporarily stopped almost 15 years beforehand. Harry is again at the Dursleys, where the events of the previous month continue to weigh on his mind, although not as much as the impending visit from his Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Given their last meeting, Harry is understandably confused as to why the old wizard would want to visit him at home.
Rowling opens with a chapter she had wanted to use for the first book, of The Philosopher’s Stone--Lord Voldemort has been creating chaos in the Wizard and Muggle communities alike, the war is in full swing and the Wizarding community now lives in fear. The press have been questioning the events at the Ministry which led to the admission of Voldemort’s return, and of course Harry’s name is mentioned a number of times. Harry’s got his problems, but his anxiety is nothing compared to Hermione’s when the OWL results are delivered. There’s a new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, an assortment of new characters and creatures, and startling revelations about past characters and events.
Gone is the rage-filled Harry of The Order of the Phoenix--he’s not being kept in the dark any more, his unjustified Quidditch ban has been lifted and he has matured considerably in his short time out of school. Half-Blood Prince follows Harry into the world of late-teens, and his realisation that nobody is infallible has made his growth that much easier. Accepting his destiny, Harry continues to behave as teenagers do, enjoying his time with his friends, developing his relationships outside of his usual circle, and learning more about how he must, eventually, do what he is destined to do.

it was totally unputdownable! I don't know how JK keeps these books so gripping and addictive. I was chuckling, gasping and at the end even crying! Fabulous, cant wait for number 7! just hope it doesnt take another 2 years:(
I dont want to write too much about the story cos i dont want to spoil it for those who havent yet read it :D

All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki

(432 pages)



"All Over Creation" is the second novel by Ruth L. Ozeki. Lloyd Fuller and his Japanese wife, Momoko, have begun to feel the ravages of time. They must consider the future of their precious yet fragile livelihood on Fuller Farms in Power County.

this was an enjoyable read, not my usual fare, but still good!

The Pact: A Love Story by Jodi Picoult

(400 pages)



For eighteen years the Hartes and the Golds have lived next door to each other, sharing everything from Chinese food to chicken pox to carpool duty - they've grown so close it seems they have always been a part of each other's lives. Parents and children alike have been best friends - so it's no surprise that in high school Chris and Emily's friendship blossoms into something more. They've been soul mates since they were born. So when midnight calls from the hospital come in, no one is ready for the appalling truth: Emily is dead at seventeen from a gunshot wound to the head. There's a single unspent bullet in the gun that Chris took from his father's cabinet - a bullet that Chris tells police he intended for himself. But a local detective has doubts about the suicide pact that Chris has described. As its chapters unfold, alternating between an idyllic past and an unthinkable present, "The Pact" paints an indelible portrait of families in anguish...culminating in an astonishingly suspenseful courtroom drama as Chris finds himself on trial for murder.

I absolutely loved this book!!! I am now officially a Picoult obsessive!!
I just adore the way she moves you forwards through the story by taking you into the past to build up such a deep multi-layered and emotional story. She, and this book are truly magnificent!! I cannot reccommend her work highly enough. I will read this one again and again (when I get my own copy that is!!)

My Brother's Keeper by Patricia McCormick

(187 pages)



From the acclaimed author of "Cut" comes this new novel that explores the anguish of living with divided loyalties and the cost of keeping family secrets, as a young teen struggles to keep his family together when his father abandons them.


My Brothers keeper is the story of a single parent family consisting of mom, Eli who is slightly strange, has a bike called Tonto and a female cat called Mr Furry, Jake who has fallen into 'bad company' decided that his beloved baseball is uncool and started using drugs and finally Toby, a 13 year old who is going grey and whose best friend is the local shopkeeper called Mr. D (who also happens to be a pensioner). It is Toby who takes it upon himself to try and hold his family together after his alcoholic father left. He does so by covering up for his older brother Jake and hiding his moms bill because he knows she cant afford to pay them.Unfortunately Toby's best intentions dont always work out quite to plan and the family nearly enters meltdown before too long.
Patricia McCormick has succeeded in bringing to the fore the problems faced by teens today with regard to the availability of drugs and the hassles they can bring to a family. She also manages to touch upon the breakdown that can occur when one parent leaves, and the emotional turmoil that can be caused and what further problems it can lead to.
However, as good as the story was and as touching and likeable Toby appeared, the book seemed to be lacking a depth that would have allowed the reader to get more inside the world of the disintegrating family. The book is aimed at younger teenagers, so this may be the reason for the apparent surface nature of the drug abuse, but a great opportunity was missed to investigate and explore the sheer destructive nature of the problem at hand. I feel that the message could have been got across more clearly if the story had continued on further into 'what happened next'.
Overall this was an easy, likeable and touching read, bnut it was lacking some depth.

Pariah by Brian Vallee

(372 pages)



The murders begin in rural Pennsylvania, in a high rent nursing home. Then come more brutal killings in Spain, Las Vegas, Paraguay, all with a macabre trademark; a crisp new dollar bill stuffed into the mouth of each of the victims, most of them close associates of the late, eccentric billionaire Elliot R. Brodie.

this is truly one of the worst books I have ever tried to read!! the story was all over the place and the writing was so chauvanistic in infuriated me!!! LOL!

Still Thinking of You by Adele Parks

(563 pages)



New love, old relationships and a question of fidelity from the bestselling author of The Other Woman's Shoes.
Tash and Rich are newly engaged and wild about each other. They can’t wait to celebrate their wedding with their closest friends, all of whom have known each other since university, where they enjoyed a hedonistic whirl of parties, popularity, sex and success.
But is fun really as easy-come-easy-go in your thirties as it was in your twenties? How do relationships change once you leave college and have to cope with real life? And what if the love of that life were to reappear now?
As old, long buried passions are reawakened, the group realise that a lot can change in twelve years. And a lot can happen in seven days…

I did quite enjoy this. The range of chaacters was great, I am sure everyone will be able to relate to at least one of them. The story had a couple of twists and had me gasping and giggling all at once. I absolutely hated Mia at first, and then in the end I started to feel quite sorry for her.
The only fault i could find was that at nearly 600 pages it was a tad overlong, but definitely worth the read :D

I'm a Believer by Jessica Adams

(380 pages)



‘I’m A Bellever’ is a funny, moving and sophisticated novel about Mark Buckle, a cynical primary teacher in south London who doesn’t believe in anything, and absolutely, positively doesn’t believe in life after death. Then, five days after his girlfriend, Catherine, dies in a car accident and he’s trying to come to terms with his loss, she starts communicating with him and turns his world (and belief systems) upside-down. As the novel progresses, the truth about Mark’s relationship with Catherine is revealed. And we encounter his friends and colleagues who provide support during this difficult time including Felix, a flamboyantly camp Australian, Caroline the Sloane who just longs to meet a nice man and Tess, drama teacher and practising Christian who starts to become increasingly attractive to Mark. Jessica Adams’s characteristic humour is combined with an exploration of more serious issues that affect us all. ‘I’m A Believer’ is a wonderful novel about love, life and what lies beyond.

I found this one really hard to read for some reason. The first 100 pages were fine, then it seemed to drag on and eventually pick up ove the last 100 pages. I thought the ending was good, but I didn't really connect with any of the characters (some felt a little shallow to me).

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

(128 pages)



She was a schoolmistress with a difference. Proud, cultured, romantic, her ideas were progressive, even shocking. And when she decided to transform a group of young girls under her tutelage into the "creme de la creme" of Marcia Blaine school, no one could have predicted the outcome.

I enjoyed this. She was slightly reminiscent of a teacher I had once!
I would recommend this read as it is witty and emotional whilst being only 128 pages long :)

Getting Over It by Anna Maxted

(416 pages)



Helen Bradshaw, 26, has a lot to get over. A dogsbody job on a women’s magazine. An attraction to unsuitable men. Being five foot one. Driving an elderly Toyota. She is about to ditch the infuriating Jasper when she hears the news that will change her life. Her father has collapsed with a massive heart attack. Initially Helen thinks of this as an interruption in her already chaotic lifestyle. But with his death everything starts to fall apart around her – her relationship, her mother, even her cat. Her flatmate Luke has the tact of a traffic warden with toothache, her friend Tina is in love with her new man, her landlord Marcus is in love with himself, and, after the tequila incident, it looks as though Tom the vet will be sticking to Alsatians. Seems like Helen will be dealing with this one herself…

I really enjoyed this and was impressed by how unafraid to tackle the problem of grief Anna Maxted was. Having said that though it was hysterical in places and has meade me want to read more of her work :D

The Bull Is Not Killed by Sarah Dearing

(206 pages)



Into the unsettled life of a young Portuguese graduate comes the sensuous and uninhibited Luisa, a gypsy princess. The year is 1974, the hated Salazar is still in power and the turmoil of the revolution is matched only by the turmoil of their love.

this was an odd little book, not knowing much about Portugal I found it interesting, and would reccommend it :)

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

(176 pages)



A girl called Fern loves a litte pig called Wilbur. Wilbur's dear friend Charlotte A. Cavatica, a beautiful grey spider, saves Wilbur from the usual fate of nice fat pigs, by a wonderfully clever plan (which no one else could possible have thought of).

I absolutely adore this book, it brings back so many childhood memories. Wilbur is adorable and Charlotte has to be the nicest spider in the world!

Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot

(272 pages)



When you work for a T.O.D. (short for Tyrannical Office Despot... also known as Amy Jenkins, Director of the Human Resources Division at the New York Journal, New York City's leading photo-newspaper), and your musician boyfriend of ten years has just announced that he can't commit to a long term relationship because he has to take it "one day at a time", and your best girlfriend is on fertility drugs because she and her husband can't seem to get pregnant, and your mother is driving cross country in an RV with a younger man, and you can't seem to be able to find an affordable studio apartment anywhere in the five boroughs, it might seem like things can't get any worse.

They can. Because the T.O.D. might make you fire Ida Lopez, the most popular employee in the paper's senior staff dining room. And Ida might sue for wrongful termination. And you might just find yourself giving a deposition in front of Mitch Hertzog, son of one of Manhattan's wealthiest law families, "a soulless corporate drone" who embraces everything you most despise... but also happens to have a nice smile and a killer bod. The last thing anybody - least of all Kate Mackenzie - expects to find in a legal arbitration is love. But that's the kind of thing that can happen when... Boy Meets Girl.

this was rather an odd book. I enjoyed it, and tobe honest was surprised that I did.
It wasn't written like a novel, but instead as a series of e-mail, IM's, letters, notes and transcripts of answerphone messages. very strange
The synopsis tells you everything you need to know about the story, needless to say there were a few laughs, and glee ant the baddie getting their commupance :)

Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud

(192 pages)



This novel is about a feckless young mother and her two daughters in Morocco in the 1960s. While mum immerses herself in the Sufi religion, the children begin to rebel: Bea insists on going to school while the five-year-old narrator dreams of mashed potato.

A nice quick read, with a fascinating narrator and a cast of strange and intriguing characters.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

(448 pages)



"A major decision about me is being made, and no one's bothered to ask the one person who most deserves it to speak her opinion." The only reason Anna was born was to donate her cord blood cells to her older sister. And though Anna is not sick, she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since she was a child. Anna was born for this purpose, her parents tell her, which is why they love her even more. But now that she has reached an age of physical awareness, she can't help but long for control over her own body and respite from the constant flow of her own blood seeping into her sister's veins. And so she makes a decision that for most would be too difficult to bear, at any time and at any age. She decides to sue her parents for the rights to her own body.

I loved this so much. At first i thought that it was going to be reall preachy and biased, but I soon realised that it wasn't! phew!
the story is told from the perspective of all the key characters including Anna, her parents, brother and Lawyer, and the story builds up in layers looking at the issue at hand from different angles.
At times the tale is veryu harrowing, and at others I found myself giggling away (especially at Jesse's attempts at flirting), but overall it is simply grippping.
A lot of people have said they felt let-down by the ending, but I think that it was kind of fitting, destiny and fate and all that. I don't want to spoil it here, but read it and you'll see what I mean :)
This is a book that I cannot recommend highly enough. READ IT... NOW!!!!!!

The Presence by Heather Graham

(424 pages)



Sometimes closing your eyes doesn't help. . .
Toni MacNally and her friends think they've hit on the ultimate money making plan. Buy an ancient run-down Scottish castle. Turn it into a tourist destination. Sweep visitors into a reenactment that combines fact and fiction, complete with local history, murder and an imaginary laird named Bruce MacNiall.
But when the castle's actual owner — a tall, dark and formidable Scot who shares the fictional laird's name — comes charging in, Toni is shocked. How is it possible he even exists? Toni invented Bruce MacNiall for the performance. . .yet every particle of his being is eerily familiar.
Soon the group is drawn into a real-life murder mystery; young women are being killed, and their bodies dumped nearby. And Toni is having sinister lifelike dreams in which she sees through the eyes of the killer — dreams that suggest a connection to Laird MacNiall. Bruce claims he wants to help catch the murderer. But can Toni trust him. . .especially when his ghostly double wanders the forest in the black of night.

A well written gripping story with plent of twists, turns and spooky bits, with a healthy dollop of romance thrown in for good measure.
I personally found the twist at the end slightly predictable, but I certainly enjoyed this quick read :)

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

(192 pages)



In 1967, 18-year-old Susanna Kaysen was sent to McLean Hospital to be treated for depression and spent most of the next two years there. In this, her memoir of her time there, she questions our definitions of sane and insane, and offers vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers.

This was a really quick and interesting read. It read more like a collection of vignettes than anything, and this made it feel disjointed. I am a huge fan of the film (with Winona Ryder as Susanna & Angelina Jolie as Lisa), and reading the book filled out some of the characters a little, but Honestly, I preferred the film as it felt much more linear and easy to follow.

Rapture in Death by J.D. Robb

(320 pages)



The year is 2056. mood-altering drugs are legal, prostitution is licensed, virtual-reality games have replaced TV sets for entertainment and New York supercop Eve Dallas continues her sleuthing in Robb's fourth installment in the Death series (Naked in Death, Glory in Death, etc.). This time around, Eve has married her soul mate, Roarke, and is caught up in the puzzling suicide of a technician who's been working on Roarke's unfinished space resort. The young tech, Eve learns, had cheerfully hanged himself after a VR trip. Back on Earth, autopsies from two similar suicides reveal a pin-sized burn on the brains of the victims. All clues point to a deadly subliminal message in a VR toy?one that Roarke produces. This is sexy, gritty, richly imagined suspense.

This was a really easy and quick read, but I didnt enjoy it as uch as the others in the series. I dont theink the 'murders' were puzzling enough and I spotted the 'twist a mile off.
Having said that though, I do still quite fancy Roarke ;oD