April 26, 2014

Obsession by JoAnne Keltner (Good)

I recently read Obsession by JoAnne Keltner.

Here's the cover:


*Note: this book was given to me by the author to review*

I would rate Obsession somewhere between alright and good. 

Obsession is about a teenage girl, Abby, who moves into a new house. At her new house, she meets Greg. Greg is a really creepy boy who will not leave Abby alone! While trying to get away from Greg, Abby notices a girl with brown hair hanging around her new house. Could this girl be Debbie Holt, who mysteriously disappeared alive with the rest of her family?

The writing was superb and really made the book very exciting and interesting. The plot line was engaging. It got me involved in the story of Abby, Greg, and the mysteriously disappearing Holt family. The storyline was really nicely thought out, but the quality of the characters detracted a little from the story.
Personality, I could not connect with the main character, Abby, at all. She really annoyed me, but I imagine that most people wont find her nearly as irritating as I did. She came off to me as being a spoiled brat.  She spent the majority of the book complaining about their new house. 

I had one more issue with the characters. With the exception of Abby, many of the characters were one dimensional. I imagine that this will not affect the average reader's opinion of the book, but I like to understand the characters' motives more than just that they are the "bad guy". To be fair, their motives were revealed at the end of the book, but the motives seemed a little too forced.
All in all, I enjoyed reading Obsession. It was a good book with an engaging storyline with a few characters that left a little to be desired. 

Phrase: Do they even have a track team?

April 5, 2014

Derek Agons Slays a Dragon by Samuel Tucker Young (Great)

I have recently received a book to review, Derek Agons Slays a Dragon by Samuel Tucker Young. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by it.
The cover:
The cover shows 15-year-old Derek holding the book that seems to glow.  He is in front of a dragon's lair, accompanied by a cat whom has a mysterious air and a rebellious attitude.  Honestly, I like the cover.  The artist did a nice job.

Brief Description: 
Derek finds a special book that everyone wants to take from him.  Right when he has no where to turn, a cat comes to him with a special message: Derek must save the world by slaying a dragon.  Derek and the cat voyage to complete what Derek assumes is his destiny.  But things are more complicated than they seem.  The cat has a mysterious and dark past, the previous owner of the book will do anything to get it back, and the entire world rests into the balance of Derek's actions.

This book kept getting better and better the further into it I got.  Nothing was as it seemed, and the conclusions made did not seem forced at all.  While at first, I was skeptical about having talking animals in the book, they connected to the story and made sense in the context.  That is a problem that many authors face when they try to use talking animals, but Samuel Young made it work well.  Another great feature of this book was that the main character, Derek Agons, did not fit perfectly into the stereotypical mold of a teenage boy (a pet peeve of mine is when a book is completely stereotypical).  It was very interesting and intense, especially in the last third of the book.  I couldn't put it down.

I had assumed it would be a single book, but the ending made me think there would be a sequel.  If there is one, I will read it without question.

I would definitely suggest reading Derek Agons Slays a Dragon if you are looking for something to read.

Phrase: The whole nine lives thing.