Chuyển đến nội dung chính

Grammar Snufus by Karla Stover

Okay, here's the deal. When did people become "that" instead of "who?" I hear this on the radio on the TV ( and shouldn't news reporters know better )? and unless my memory is wrong, have even read it in places. Why? How hard is it to remember that people require a "who"? And here's another--myself instead of me. My boss did this all this time and it drove me crazy. Are we so afraid to  be in the spotlight that we have to say, "So-and-so and myself did such-and-so?"

The Secret

House of Secrets by Christopher Columbus and Ned Vizzini Review

House of Secrets (House of Secrets #1) 
by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini
Available Now
Balzer and Bray
Hardback 490 pages
To Buy Links-
Amazon/ Kindle/ Audible/B and N/ Book Depository/ Indiebound/ Kobo

GoodreadsThe Walker kids had it all: loving parents, a big house in San Francisco, all the latest video games . . . but everything changed when their father lost his job as a result of an inexplicable transgression. Now the family is moving into Kristoff House, a mysterious place built nearly a century earlier by Denver Kristoff, a troubled writer with a penchant for the occult. Suddenly the siblings find themselves launched on an epic journey into a mash-up world born of Kristoff’s dangerous imagination, to retrieve a dark book of untold power, uncover the Walker family’s secret history and save their parents . . . and maybe even the world.


This is what I call an EPIC adventure. Almost 500 pages of nonstop action  shared by the ever resourceful Walker kids and some characters from fiction who seem to serve their purpose outside the pages of their books. Let's see if I can make some sense out of it for you.

This is a hard book to review. So much happens and so many characters go in and out of the book that it's hard to tell you about it. The main characters are the Walker children, 15 year old Cordelia, 12 year old Brendan and 8 year old Eleanor. They find themselves battling the Wind Witch an evil woman that has a wish that only one of the Walker children can fulfill for her. She sends the house hurtling through Denver Kristoff's novels where the Walker children meet characters, good and bad, that lead or chase them through their adventure.

There are giant cyclops, savage Viking like warriors that serve a Queen who eats little children's fingers. An ocean filled with carnivorous sharks and blood thirsty pirates, the captain of which performs horrifying experiments on his captives. Bones come to life becoming full skeletons, fighting against the Walkers.  A WWI pilot crash lands scaring savages away. Grenades, Sopwith Camels, Walther PPK's, a boy wanting to be a man.  A girl with a crush.  A boy forced to be a man before his time. Chivalry, sibling rivalry, family bonds.  It' all in there. So much more. As I read this book, and I read it over several months, I found I could put it down and pick it back up with no problem even after a week or more. I could pick right up where I'd left off and not forget what had happened before. I think it' a great read aloud book. One chapter a night, it would be a great one to share with your kids. 

Now you might wonder why I took so long to read it, I had to stick other books in between as this was my own book I was trying to read for pleasure. Things got in the way of it, but I was really happy I never forgot what was going on. It is full of adventure and mystery, characters from books coming into existence. It's just a really full book. I can see a movie as I read the book, see it happening as I read it. It's really creative and though this story is wrapped up, the overall story arc is far from over.

I'm interested to see how this continues with Ned Vizzini's passing. This is a series and I wonder if Christopher Columbus will continue to write this series on his own or find another writer to co-author with. Or maybe several of the books have already been written. Whatever the case may be, I do hope that the series continues. 

Have fun with the pirates!! And watch out for the Book of Doom and Desire.






Nhận xét

Bài đăng phổ biến từ blog này

Grammar Snufus by Karla Stover

Okay, here's the deal. When did people become "that" instead of "who?" I hear this on the radio on the TV ( and shouldn't news reporters know better )? and unless my memory is wrong, have even read it in places. Why? How hard is it to remember that people require a "who"? And here's another--myself instead of me. My boss did this all this time and it drove me crazy. Are we so afraid to  be in the spotlight that we have to say, "So-and-so and myself did such-and-so?"

Blog Tour- The Dyerville Tales by M.P. Kozlowsky Review and Giveaway

I am always happy to be part of a tour with Walden Pond Press, but today I'm really excited. The Dyerville Tales Blog Tour features a giveaway of a signed hardcover book at each stop and reviews, guest posts and interviews. It also features a really fantastic Middle Grade book that I am so in love with. I would put it in any reader's hands. Make sure to follow the rest of the tour so you don't miss your chance to win a copy of The Dyerville Tales and read about the author and what others thought of this really enchanting tale. (see below) The Dyerville Tales by M.P. Kozlowsky Available NOW Walden Pond Press Hardcover 336 pages MG/ Fairytale/ Fantasy/Coming of Age Reviewed ARC from Publisher To Buy Links: Amazon / Kindle / BN / Book Depository/ Indiebound / Kobo Goodreads -  A young orphan searches for his family and the meaning in his grandfather's book of lost fairy tales in this stunningly original coming-of-age middle-grade fantasy Vince Elgin is an orphan, hav...

Grand Finale: DAWNSINGER by @JanalynVoigt w/ @PrismBookTours #DSPrismTour #Giveaway #PrizePack Tales of Faeraven!

On Tour with Prism Book Tours Book Tour Grand Finale for DawnSinger By Janalyn Voigt We hope you enjoyed the tour! If you missed any of the stops you'll find snippets, as well as the link to each full post, below: Launch - Note from the Author Dear Friends, Welcome to this book tour of DawnSinger , an epic medieval fantasy adventure. Fantasy will always be my first love, although I’ve become a multi-genre author. That’s a fancy term for a storyteller. If I could turn the clock back to the Middle Ages, I’d be a bard. Author Linda Windsor, an endorser of DawnSinger , named the story bardic fiction. I consider that high praise indeed. . . Colorimetry - Excerpt Now for a stormy moment in flight... A crosswind caught Kai’s wingabeast as lightning flared too near. Shrilling, the winged horse tilted in flight, and Kai’s stomach lurched. A gust snatched the hood from his head and roared in his ears. He blinked to clear the stinging rain that drove into his eyes. Thunder boomed like a tim...

Free $100