Courtney's Book Nook

By Cornelia Funke Prince Charming never made it to Sleeping Beauty.  Her skeleton is still lying in her bed.  A strand of Rapunzel's hair is a rope that is any length the holder wants.  The tailor is a monster that kills humans and then makes his clothes out of their skin.  Things on the other side of the mirror are darker than they seem.  But Jacob Reckless doesn't worry about these most of the time -- occasionally they do become problematic.  Jacob doesn't consider his dad as being his father because he hasn't seen him in years.  Jacob escapes the normal world to the world on the other side of the mirror with increasing frequency until one time his brother, Will, follows him.  By the time Will followed him, Jacob was a well known treasure hunter which has made him many friends and enemies.  Just one moment of carelessness and Will's life may never be the same.  The Dark Fairy curses many people who oppose the Goyl.  The curse turn...

by P. J. Hoover Piper lives in a world of extreme heat.  It's a cool day if the temperature dips below 100˚, and it often goes over the danger level of 122˚.  Piper's mom is overprotective to the extreme, and she has one friend, Chloe.  She claims to love her mother, but I found this a little hard to believe because she always complains about her.  Then come two new boys, Shayne and Reese, and both of them are extremely good-looking, and both of them have an interest in Piper. Then Piper's mom suddenly leaves because her father is nearby, and he is not allowed anywhere near her.  Within the first few chapters, Piper hardly does anything that her mom would like.  She breaks about every rule she can.  She gets a tattoo.  She goes on a date.  But really, she wouldn't do anything to hurt her mom because she cares about her. On one of her excursions, Chloe is killed (except not really).  Shayne, who is nearby, tries to comfort her, and he doe...

By Jaclyn Moriarty This book was one of the best books I have ever read.  The characters in A Corner of White are realistic and unique.  The writing is beautiful, funny, sad, and just overall unique and whimsical.   A Corner of White  is a perfectly made raspberry cheesecake.  It is full delicious rich flavor that never gets old.  The cheesecake has a distinctive flavor that makes the it taste even better because it is good and different from everything else you've had recently.   A Corner of White  was like a breath of fresh air that has a trace of flowers, bright orange leaves falling, and grass.  My summary won't do this book justice because the book is clearly a five.  One reason I loved this book so much was the use of color in the book.  In Cello there are monsters that are called purple, yellow, gray, and red as well as other colors.  Madeleine dresses in red, green, and blue.  Madeleine and Elliot talk about compl...

by Cat Winters It's 1918, and death is everywhere.  Mary Shelley Black's best friend, Stephen, has gone off to fight in the war, and the Spanish influenza is rampant.  When her father is accused of being a traitor and is imprisoned, Mary is sent to live with her aunt, Eva.  Her aunt lives near Stephen's house, and Stephen's brother, Julius, takes spirit photographs, in which the spirits of the dead appear.  During a visit, Eva and Julius convince Mary to sit for a picture, and when she receives the photograph, the ghost of Stephen stands behind her.  Not long after that, Stephen's insane ghost starts to haunt her, and Mary is thrown into a tangled mystery as she attempts to determine exactly how Stephen died. Supplemented with photographs, this book is brutally haunting.  Because school was closed, Mary is stuck with nothing to do but contemplate the horrors around her, which are emphasized by the gauze masks that everyone wears.  There was nothing tha...

by Mindee Arnett Dusty Everhart goes to Arkwell Academy, a school for magickind such as sirens, wizards, and demons.  Dusty is a Nightmare (and I don't know why Nightmare is the only one that's capitalized).  She sneaks into people's rooms every other week to feed off their dreams.  One night, she feeds off Eli Booker's dreams and everything changes. They have a special connection that allows Dusty to see the future in his dreams, so Eli is brought to Arkwell Academy even though he is not magical.  I knew from the back of the book that Eli was a love interest, but it went a bit overboard.  Naturally, they could not fall in love immediately, so there had to be some tension.  Eli's is understandable; he is frustrated with being ripped out of his normal life, where he was popular, and thrust into this one, and he blamed it on Dusty.  Dusty's tension is less understandable.  She seems to object to the hotness of Eli.  She is simply mad at him for...