Review: Return to Exile (Blog Tour)

Title Return to Exile (The Hunter Chronicles 1)
By E.J. Patten
Genre MG Supernatural Adventure
Pages 513
Recommended by Me

First sentence Phineas T. Pimiscule was not what you'd call an "attractive" man.

Synopsis
Sky and his uncle Phineas have always been close. His uncle has taught him all about puzzles and traps and monsters that roam the earth. Sky thought it was all a game; a distraction from the pain of moving from town to town. But on the eve of his twelfth birthday, with his uncle suddenly missing, he's about to learn the truth, including the truth about the mark on his hand.

What it has going for it
The biggest reason I wanted to read this book, I'll be honest, is that the author is local, and after meeting him at several different events I found him highly amusing. I figured if he was that amusing his book would be, and hopefully adventurous too. I mean, a book about a boy monster hunter who fights monsters with weapons made out of trash. Sounds exciting right? I was not disappointed. This one had me giggling from page one; from the first paragraph, even. It's incredibly witty amidst the mystery and action and I thoroughly enjoyed that. There's nothing like reading through an action scene, all tense and nervous, only to burst out laughing at some character's remark. Love it. I also was awed at the similes and metaphors. Sure, there might have been a few too many but every single one had me thinking how very clever the author was! I can't think up a good simile to save my life! I was impressed. And one last thing that I loved. John Rocco, the artist behind the covers of the Percy Jackson series, did the cover art for this one as well. There were awesome pictures to go with each chapter that were so fun to look at and added a fun touch to the whole book.

What's lacking
This is, I believe, marketed as a MG book and I'm not a HUGE fan of MG books. I like them and appreciate them but there is a simpleness to them that always grates on my nerves. I don't mean a lack of vocabulary or even a lack of "grown up" situations. I mean the telling, the repetition, the characters inner dialogue. It's all for good reason. Kids can sometimes need things spelled out for them, that's fine, it's just something that starts to bother you as you get older. Or maybe that's just me. *shrugs* I also was bothered by the length. Five hundred pages is an awfully long book for a kid to read...heck, most adults would consider that too long.  Still, I've heard several people say their kids loved this one and I can easily see it becoming the next Fablehaven or Percy Jackson. It definitely has kid appeal.

Yea or Nay?
For the wittiness and adventure alone I'd say yes.

Click here to see the Blog Tour Calender and read other reviews. 

And I just had to add the authors bio from the back flap because it made me giggle too. 

In April 1974, a beautiful baby boy was born at a small hospital in Mesa, Arizona. E. J. Patten ("Eric James") was in the next crib over. The first story he ever wrote involved a strange ad, a Laundromat, and a bowl of chili; thankfully, it was never published. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Arts, and a Masters in Business Administration from Brigham Young University. He currently resides with his wife and three children in Utah.

Sunday Salon

Welcome to the new Sunday Salon. A weekly update post about my boring life. ;)

Weather Small Talk: Very nice week! We did have one windy rainy storm but it was late at night and by morning it was lovely again. It has gotten colder after the storm, though. Sigh! 

Music Discoveries: Michael Buble is a hit or miss for me but this soft melody, though not well known, is so beautiful and sad. End of May 

On The Idiot Box: I LOVED the episode of House this week. The inconceivable sight of Chase kissing Park. Hee hee. Vampire Diaries had a bit of a heartbreaking incident that Cait and I discussed via Twitter, it was fun...er...sad, it was sad. ;) 

Weekly Reads: Ugh, can we not even talk about this, this week? I'm stuck on Precious Bane and Return to Exile. Neither is bad but I just can't get myself to read. 

Crazy Kitty: It's time to purchase a running water dish. Stupid kitty won't drink standing water and it's driving me crazy! 

This Week: Hmmm, I had a nail party with my sister on Thursday and then we went out for Pizza and Tiramisu. Yum! I went swimming with another sister and her kids. Oh, and I went running one day and got crapped on my a bird. I think the exercise gods are against me losing more weight. :( 

Movie of the Week: Lockout. It was OK, the truth is, I saw it because Guy Pearce was in it. Sigh!  

Food Talk: I've been eating a lot of canned chili lately because it's easy. However canned chili can be a little scary so I only eat Dennison's. You should try it. Much better than Nalley Chili which often has stuff in it that makes me cringe. 

Soccer Sightings: So, when I went out to dinner with my sister I spotted this guy that looked EXACTLY like one of my soccer players. The Vampire, to be exact. She was brave enough to ask him if she could take his picture. So check him and his adorable son out.  

Plans For The Week: I'm going to finish my books! I want to move on to something else and I'm just going to have to commit. 

A Call To Arms!

After an hour an a half of gut wrenching and hand clinging while watching my game yesterday, it went into overtime. No! Then it went to penalties! Double no!

(for those of you who don't know the rules of soccer, don't worry. Just know that one never walks away from a game deciding penalty shoot out without the startings of an ulcer and lots of tears, good or bad.

Unfortunately "my boys" lost. They're out of The Champions League. :( It's bad enough that they lost but what makes it a million times worse is the dang German who scored the winning goal.

Let me introduce you to Schweinsteiger, pronounced, sh vyn -sh ty ger.

Isn't that arrogant face just asking for my fist?! Ugh! I can't even begin to explain my dislike for this man. He's arrogant as all get out and not even a good enough player OR good looking to make up for it! Disgraceful! Pale, pastey, freak!

I swear if this guy ever is unfortunate enough to come face to face with me, he's going to end up with a bloody nose and a broken foot! Maim Schweinsteiger, has become my motto. But I wan't to take it a step further.  I dislike the guy so much I've started using his name as a curse word, and that's where you come in. I'm hoping to make it spread as one nasty cuss. Come on, just say it. Try shaking your fist air the air and growling the word. Nice, huh? So join me and spread this word as a curse!

Suggestions: Son of a Schweinsteiger! You little Schweinsteiger! Mother Schweinsteiger! ;)

Ramble Much?

My little brain is all over the place lately and I'm afraid my blogging slump is still going on and on. :( Anywho, I thought I'd just ramble for a bit.

First off, "my boys" played Barcelona, their biggest rivals, on Saturday and won!!! My throat was actually sore from all the screaming that happened. And, yeah, everyone thought Ronaldo was man of the match but my vote goes to Arbeloa, yes, the vampire. ;)

They're playing an important game today as well against a dang German team. Don't even get me started on my hate for German soccer teams. You'll get plenty of that this summer during the Euro Cup. ;)


                                                                                                                                                                                                Secondly, I'm pondering some post ideas and changes and wondering if anyone actually reads or cares about my Sunday Salon posts? I don't mind writing them up but I feel like for you, the reader, they're horribly boring and I'm thinking about dumping them all together. Anyone care?


Thirdly, I'm about two inches from going to the book store and spending a ridiculous amount of money on books I want! I'm trying to be better at budgeting my money since I don't have a job at the moment and am starting to feel like I'll NEVER get one. :( Anywho, I could use some sage advice about now or I'm going to  lose it!

And forthly, awhile ago I whined about blogs I read and comment on all the time but who never return the favor. And it  occurs to me I may be inadvertently doing this myself. do any of you lovely bloggers visit me all the time and never hear a peep from me on your blog? I'd feel awful if this is so. Let me know and I'll rectify the situation. We're all friends here. :)

Thanks for listening to my rambling. Bear with my while I sludge through this slump. Happy reading!

Review: The Demon's Lexicon

Title The Demon's Lexicon (The Demon's Lexicon 1)
By Sarah Rees Brennan
Genre YA Urban Fantasy
Pages 322
Recommended by Melissa and Cait

First sentence The pipe under the sink was leaking again.

Synopsis
Nick and Alan have been on the run their whole life from magicians and demons. The magicians want their mother and a charm she possesses. When a brother and sister come to them for help removing a demon mark, the brothers are swept into a race for their lives and Nick is about to find out more than he bargained for.

For those of you who don't know, I wrote a post a few days ago asking for guesses on what people thought I'd like and what I'd hate about this book. Yeah, I'm bored of the same boring reviews. Anywho here's what people said:

 fakesteph

This is what I liked, that I hope you will like too: Nick and Alan's complicated relationship, all the violent talk that makes me go giggly in a good way. Love those brothers.

K, Steph, I started out not knowing what I thought about these brothers. I mean, Alan was portrayed through Nicks eyes and Nick seems to love him but...well...it's complicated. ;) I was mad at Alan most of the time because I was sympathizing with Nick but by the end I was all teary eyed about them both. Their relationship was definitely the highlight of the book.  Nicks dark attitude and violent streak was fun, wasn't it?

melissa @ 1lbr

Pretty much, I think you'll like Nick and Alan. They are guys and they are realistic and I think they might just remind you a little bit of Cassel. I hope that's what you'll like (though, it's been quite some time since I read this one, so I might be way off base...) Oh, and I think you'll like the demon thing. The whole world of demon fighting and such. Vague enough? As far as hating...not sure. Maybe the girls? :)

Yep, Melissa, by the end I loved them both. As for reminding me of Cassel...nope not at all, but that doesn't mean I didn't like them and enjoy the book. The demon fighting reminded me of Supernatural the TV show I LOVE so I did enjoy that and the twist at the end (even though I saw it coming from page one) was fun! I definitely want to know what's going to happen next.  LOL! Yep, Mae drove me nuts!

Well, as I only got two responses/guesses, I'll expound a little more, if you don't mind.

The best thing about this book is Nick and Alan's relationship. By the end I was seriously crying over their love for each other...especially Alan's love for Nick. I LOVED the "special-ness" of Nick. I saw it coming from page one, in fact the whole book was ridiculously predictable, but I have an obsession with MCs being special and unique in a cool way and become crazy invested in them.

There were a few things that bothered me...come on, this is me we're talking about. ;) I was bothered, for some reason, that the book was written in third person. The book stuck with Nicks point of view the whole time, why did it need to be in third person? I was also slightly irritated with how predictable it was but in the end the "twist" was expounded on and I found myself smiling really big and thinking, "COOL!" And, alas, the other thing that truly drove me crazy was all the telling! Soooooo much telling not ANY showing. I'm hoping that things get better in the next books. Yes, I definitely plan on reading them.

Thanks for helping me write a different type of review, everyone! Hope you enjoyed.