Clockwork Angel

by Cassandra Clare

Its rare when I read a made-for-teen novel and fall in love with it.  Case-in-point: The Twilight Series; not really my favorite, but I did read them.  And...I'm going off on a tangent now, but does it feel like every novel written lately is part of a trilogy?  I mean, what happened to people writing it all down in one novel so we don't have to wait forever to know the end of the story?  I feel like all of the novels I have read lately are exactly like a television series: cliffhangers, love triangles, and to-be-continued plots...not fair!!  Now I'm waiting for celebrities to make guest appearances in novels.  It wouldn't surprise me at all.  :(

Anyway, I digress.  As I was saying, I really did fall in love with this novel, although not during the first chapter.  It took a few pages to get into it, but once I started liking the novel, I couldn't put it down.  I think I ignored my husband and kiddos for a few hours while I immersed myself in the details of this book. 

The story is set in Victorian London and contains all elements of magic, mythical creatures, angels, secret domains, hidden buildings (think Harry Potter) and supernatural dealings in general.  It felt like a Gothic Buffy the Vampire Slayer of sorts.  Tessa Gray sets off for England to look for her brother and ends up getting involved in a lot more than she bargained for.  She finds herself plopped in the middle of a war between two supernatural factions that humans didn't even know existed (no...not like Twilight...get that idea out of your head!!).  The sequel, Clockwork Prince, is already published and the final in the trilogy, Clockwork Princess, is due in March 2013.

Similar Novels: Divergent by Veronica Roth and Matched by Ally Condie

Length: 512 pages

Copyright: August 2010

There's No Place Like Here

By Cecelia Ahern

Here is one of my books that I ordered from my Barnes and Noble giftcards for Christmas! I was in the middle of another book when I started this book and had to finish it. I loved the angle the author took when writing this novel. Have you ever lost a sock in the dryer or a book you know you had, but can't find? Ahern addresses this very phenomenon with a novel about being lost when you want to be found.
The protangonist of the story is Sandy who is a detective that makes a living out of finding lost people. She's devoted her life to help families of loved ones that have gone missing. While pouring herself into her latest case, Sandy herself finds herself missing. Where does everything go when it goes missing? This novel is a highly creative way to tell a story about a subject we are all too familiar with.

Similar Novels: Notebook by Nicolas Sparks and If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern
Length: 341 pages
Copyright: 2007

The Negotiator

By Dee Henderson

This is book one in the O'Malley Series. The series is centered around a group of orphans who adopt each other and take the same last name, O'Malley. Each of the O'Malleys entered into a public service career. There is a firefighter, an EMT, a Secret Service Agent, a doctor, and more. I think there are seven books in the series plus a prequel. Dee Henderson has also written two other series of books that I follow. There is the Uncommon Heroes series that has main characters in the services and the Rachel Flynn Mystery Series. I've been reading Dee Henderson books since my roommates in college introduced me to them.
This book deals with Kate O'Malley who is a hostage negotiator. In the opening scenes of the book, she unknowingly becomes a hostage herself in a bank robbery gone bad. Another one of the hostages happens to be FBI Agent Dave Richman. When they make it through the hostage situation unharmed, Dave and Kate began a relationship that could be cut short by the death threats that Kate starts receiving. Determined not to let anything happen to Kate, he makes the decision to do everything in his power to keep her from being harmed.

Warning: This is a non-denominational Christian romance novel. There isn't any explicit sex and there isn't a focus on one religion. It simply covers the main character's relationship with God.

Similar Novels: True Devotion by Dee Henderson and Danger in the Shadows by Dee Henderson
Length: 308 pages
Copyright: 2000