The Last Apprentice: Revenge of The Witch|Review

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books, review

Rating- ♥  

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Title- Revenge of The Witch

Author- Joseph Delaney

Published- 2006

Summary-

For years, Old Gregory has been the Spook for the county, ridding the local villages of evil. Now his time is coming to an end. But who will take over for him? Twenty-nine apprentices have tried—some floundered, some fled, some failed to stay alive.

Only Thomas Ward is left. He’s the last hope, the last apprentice.

Why ♥?

This book was a really neat story idea, but that was the only good thing about it. The plot was full of holes, horrible dialogue, and unbelievably unrealistic characters made it hard for me to finish. Add the fact that it was all so ridiculously predictable an you have my new least favorite book. I will be fair, for Delaney’s first book it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I’m hoping that the series gets better.

You came for an honest review, and you got it.

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Book Review: Greetings From Nowhere

Tags

books

Rating- ♥♥♥♥♥

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Title- Greetings from Nowhere

Author- Barbara O’Connor

Published- 2008

Summary-

Aggie isn’t expecting visitors at the Sleepy Time Motel in the Great Smoky Mountains. Since her husband died, she is all alone with her cat, Ugly, and keeping up with the bills and repairs has become next to impossible. The pool is empty, the garden is overgrown, and not a soul has come to stay in nearly three months. When she reluctantly places a For Sale ad in the newspaper, Aggie doesn’t know that Kirby and his mom will need a room when their car breaks down on the way to Kirby’s new reform school. Or that Loretta and her parents will arrive in her dad’s plumbing company van on a trip meant to honor the memory of Loretta’s birth mother. Or that Clyde Dover will answer the For Sale ad in such a hurry and move in with his daughter, Willow, looking for a brand-new life to replace the one that was fractured when Willow’s mom left. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that Aggie and her guests find just the friends they need at the shabby motel in the middle of nowhere.

Why ♥♥♥♥♥?

I bought this book several years ago at our local Dollar Tree. I fell head over heals for the Sleapy Time Motel within the first few chapters. My favorite character, by far, is Willow. All the characters are relatable, realistic, and flawed (which I like), but Willow is more ME. Her love of horses, how she attaches so much value to something as ordinary as a pair of pink plastic sandals, and also how she gets how much Aggie loves the motel, all make a 3D character that springs to life. This book shows how even complete strangers can shine a ray of light into your life. Like Loretta. Almost always happy, and wanting to make others happy, shes so sweet and generous. It also explores people who have problems at home- Kirby. He is on his way to a school for “bad boys”, and as things happen and he makes friends with Willow and Loretta you begin to see a change in him. There is no difference in his home life, but hes making friends and realizing that he doesn’t have to act up to get attention.

Willow took the letter and ran around back and sat on the steps. She looked down at the envelope in her lap.

And then she got a bad, bad felling because she realized she had been wrong.

You can fool a person.

You can fool a dog.

You can fool a cat or a horse or a teacher or a friend.

But you cannot ever fool a heart.

No matter how many letters from Dorothy she wrote, Willow’s heart was still going to ache.

I love this part cause shes going through the pain of her mom leaving and her parents no longer loving each other, and shes trying to make herself feel better because no one else seems to care. And she knows that it won’t work.

Aggie’s hand fluttered up and adjusted her glasses. “Well, you know, life marches on. And sometimes we have to join the parade whether we want to or not.”

Aggie is having to leave her home cause she can’t keep up with it anymore, and she is trying to explain to Willow why she has to leave. Its so amazing how Aggie is faced with all this and Willow, who has her own set of problems, is doing all she can to make her feel better.

Greetings from Nowhere is a very well written book, with a great cast of characters, and it holds a special place in my heart.

Is there anything I didn’t like?

NOPE!!!!!!!

Book Review: Things Not Seen

Rating- ♥♥♥♥

Watson’s rating- ♥♥♥♥

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Title- Things Not Seen

Author- Andrew Clements

Published- 2002

Summary-

Bobby Phillips is your average fifteen-year-old not. That is, until he wakes up one morning and can’t see himself in the mirror. Not blind, not dreaming- Bobby is just plain invisible. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason for Bobby’s new condition and even his dad the physicist can’t figure it out. For Bobby, that means no school, no friends, no life. He’s a missing person. Then he meets Alicia. She’s blind, and Bobby can’t resist talking to her, trusting her. But people are starting to wonder where Bobby is, and even if he’s still alive. Bobby knows that his invisibility could have dangerous consequences for his family and that time is running out. He has to find out how to be seen again- before its too late.

Why ♥♥♥♥?

Things Not Seen is very well written. Its fast-paced, but not confusing. The characters are, to me, pretty realistic, and the relationships between them are equally realistic. At the beginning Bobby and his parents don’t really get along all that great, but as things progress, they get better. Bobby’s relationship with Alicia is so adorable! They’re sarcastic and know each other so well that neither of them let’s the other’s temper or teasing get I’m the way of their friendship.

Why not five hearts?

Even though I really liked it, there was a part where Clements is using a Sherlock Holmes reference (page 115).

“The great thing about Sherlock Holmes is, he never sat around looking for theories. He was into the facts. And observation. Like in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”? About the man who dies in his bed one night, and no one can figure it out? It’s because no one took the time to really look at the room. ”

The Adventure of The Speckled Band was about a woman, Julia Stoner, who was two weeks before her wedding by her stepfather using a trained snake, a swamp adder to be exact. It was a “small” mistake on the author’s part, but if your going to write a reference into your story you should, in my opinion, research said reference so that you have complete accuracy.

All in all, it was a good book that I highly recommend. .)