lfroeberg's Blog

     I read Virals, by Kathy Reiches. Its a fiction book about a girl named Tory Brennan and how she and her friends became (wait for it)………………………VIRALS!

     Just from the first page Tory’s life is an adventure. Tory lives in Charleston, south Carolina, and spends most of her time exploring Loggerhead Island, with her best friends, Ben, Hi, And Shelton. Loggerhead is an island where her dad Kit works as a marine biologist. Tory’s adventure starts when she is searching for a missing wolf-dog. Instead of finding the wolf-dog which they named Cooper, the group found a monkey holding strange dog tags. Tory having a natural curiosity broke into Loggerhead lab with her friends late at night to clean and decipher the tags. After carefully cleaning them the teens find that it reads the name F. Heaton. But solving whats on it doesn’t mean their questions were gone. Who was F. Heaton? And why was his dog tag buried on Loggerhead Island?

     That mystery was put on hold when Ben heard barking elsewhere. Tory, Ben, Hi and Shelton followed the barking to a lab where they found Cooper in a glass box with needles and tubes sticking out of him. Tory was enraged at how some one could test a puppy with a deadly disease. The disease wasn’t supposed to be contagious to humans so Tory broke Cooper out and the friends hurried him to their secret bunker. But because Cooper had other chemicals in him the disease was infectious.

     From then on Tory and her friends are infected with an odd sickness resembling a bad case of the flu but it’s slightly different for each of them. Though one part, one very vital part of the disease is all the same; their senses are greatly enhanced. The sick feeling passes leaving them with more questions than ever. The friends learn that they will “flare” when they feel threatened of on edge. Flaring is what Tory calls a sudden boost of energy that rises their senses to top performance.

     Tory, Ben, Hi and Shelton learn to control the flare a little better and soon use it to solve their many mysteries and questions. But How? Read the book and you’ll see, exactly how each and every little thin somehow intertwine. Apart, the teenagers are just rule-bending, life-defying kids, together they are VIRALS.

     I give Virals a five out of five star review. Awesome book it left me…in awe! Why? Because Virals is “Adventure Unleashed“.

     There isn’t really one thing I didn’t like about this book. It has suspense, action, drama and just a really cool way of putting things in perspective. Virals has exhilarating chases, action packed fights and tense situations that will keep you turning the page. Over all cool, great book.   Don’t miss Tory’s next adventure in book two; Seizure.

 Oh and if you like the Maximum Ride series, you’ll definitely like this book.

“Something incredible had happened to our bodies.

something new to the world, I feared.

whatever we’d contracted had warped us.

In our brains? Our DNA? I didn’t know.

But I knew that we were transformed.

Twisted, to the core.

VIRAL.”

     I read the book Half Upon A Time By James Riley. It is about a girl who is transported from modern time into a fairy tale universe, where she meets a boy named Jack and a prince named Phillip.

     In the beginning, Jack’s life isn’t exactly a fairy tale. His grandfather nags him about rescuing a princess 24/7, he can’t help failing his training, and the kingdom boys just hate his guts. Jack’s view on princesses is that he thinks they’re all stupid, stuck up, snobby brats. Until a strange girl falls out of a blue ring of fire wearing a t-shirt reading “Punk Princess.” When she awakens she says her name is May and denies she is royalty. Soon Jack learns that May’s grandmother might be Snow White who has been gone for a very long time. So, Jack and May embark on a quest to find long lost Snow White!

     On their exiting journey to the Black Forrest Jack falls off the broomstick into a giants mouth. Inside, Jack tries not to get swallowed by jumping from the giants throat to the giants tongue. Jack is startled when he find a spirit of an Eye. (An Eye is a knight that works for the Wicked Queen.) The Eye gives Jack his sword witch draws a lot of attention throughout the book. Suddenly the giant tips over tossing Jack out of its mouth!

      When Jack is out of the giant, May introduces him to Prince Phillip. May thinks Phillip is prince charming, Jack’s not so sure. Phillip is very smart and bests Jack in most ways. But there is much to  Phillip that neither Jack or May see. Phillip cares greatly for his family and friends. He will do what’s right even if it’s dangerous.

     Along there journey the friends encounter many frightful villains and brave heros, but every thing is not what it seems when you live in a fairy tale world. In this story the evil are good and good are evil. So, if enemies are allies, who’s the real threat? Read the book to find out.

     I’m giving Half Upon A Time a four and a half star review! This is a great story with a fantastic plot.

     I liked how anyone can relate to the feelings and decisions the kids have to make. I thought this book was funny and suitable for all ages. I also liked how the story wasn’t just about an altered fairy tale but it was also about how three teens with vary different lifestyles come to be friends.

     I don’t want to spoil the end but it has a big twist that will knock you out of your chair!

    The one thing i did not  like was, that to me the characters personalities didn’t seem very original. Other than that this book is really good and i can’t wait for the sequel!

     I read Twelfth Grade Kills by Heather Brewer. This is the fifth and last book in the Vladimir Tod chronicles. Vladimir is a teenage vampire.

     In the beginning of the book the main character Vladimir Tod was killing his backstabbing “friend” Joss. He only stopped when he heard a very familiar voice. His father, Tomas Tod. This was a surprise because Tomas was believed to have died in a fire a long time ago. Then his father vanishes making Vlad believe he just imagined it. At home Vlad tells his uncle Otis about what he saw. Togeather they begin a search for Tomas.

      Vlad also has other problems to deal with like The Slayer Society is trying to kill him. The Slayer Society is a group of people who only live to kill vampires or anyone who gets in their way. Joss was the slayer that was supposed to kill the Pravus. The Pravus is half human, half vampire, all Vlad. Since Joss befriended Vlad more and more slayers were sent out to kill him, all failing. The Pravus is said to have extra abilities on top of the regular vampire powers: strength, speed, and mind control.

     After searching everywhere Vlad finally finds his father in the belfry. Vlad discovers his true intentions of evil. In self defence Vlad kills his dad by plunging a stake straight through his heart.

     In the thrilling finale of the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod Vlad is sad about killing his father. Now he is even more alone than before.

   I’m giving Twelfth Grade Kills a five star review! It’s a great series if you like vampires.

     In Twelfth Grade Kills, I liked how even though it isn’t written from Vlads point of view i can still feel all the emotions he goes through.

     I liked that it has a mix of different genres like horror, romance and mystery.

     If you like these books, check out the authors blog. I found it really cool because it gives you little heads ups on her new books and she has a poll that has really funny questions.

Find it at http://heatherbrewer.com/blog

    I think Vlad has matured a lot compared to the other books. Not only in age but also with all the obstacles in his way he has gotten much more tougher physically and mentally.

      This book has a dramatic ending to an epic series. I recommend it to people who like to feel their blood pumping.