Lisa PapademetriouRecensioni

Fantasy

A pure magical delight. Also, a rare, but wonderful fat positive moment where an auntie is described as fat and glamorous!

CW: Attempted Suicide

“She swore vengeance on all men with dark hearts.”
― Lisa Papademetriou, Siren's Storm

The Siren's Storm.

This writer can write!

First off..This book is absolutely beautiful. The way it is written..incandescent maybe the right word. It is all about Will. And Gretchen. And Asia. And the sea.

I started getting into books about Sirens after reading the masterpiece "The Wicked Deep". I keep looking for another "Wicked Deep". I was so lost in that book I want to find another book about the sirens that has that eerie and wildly beautiful feel.

So this is a book I loved for the writing and the atmosphere. I would not rate it as high as "Wicked Deep" nor did I love it as much. I did read it in one siting though.

Will's had much tragedy in his life. His brother Tim was lost at sea. Will was with him. Will was found unconscious in the sand..with no memory of what happened.

Now a year past, Will is still trying to deal with the past tragedy. It doesn't help that his best friend Gretchen is sleep walking. They live in a tiny beach community, on the sea, and Gretchen can not seem to stop walking in her sleep, usually finding herself a bit to close to the cliffs where the sea roars below.

And who is Asia? She is the new girl in town but moves as if made of liquid. She is ethereal..as if from another century. And she knows things about people or can sense them. An air of mystery is all about her and Will cannot stop thinking about her and he doesn't understand why.

And there is other stuff....like one of the local boys who slowly appears to be going mad..he hears things..can't you hear it too he asks. Hear what, people ask him? But nobody can make sense of what he says..

This was a beguiling, eerie and completely luscious book that I gobbled up in one sitting. I will say no more about the plot..well do I have to? If you like books about Sirens or Sailors or folklore or the sea..or all of the above..you will like this.

I hate to say anything negative but the reason why 4 stars and not 5..

Slow to start..but just give it time..still, the first 20 percent of the book did move quite slowly.

One scene toward the end of animal violence..and it was completely unexpected. This was not a violent book AT ALL except toward the end and I wish it had stayed non violent.

The end let me down in a number of ways. I'd still recommend the book. But..without giving spoilers..it completely loses its quiet eeriness and devolves into cliches. I really got turned off at the end..did not expect the tone to change that much, so much that I would take off a point.

I'd still recommend though as for 90 percent of the book, I was swept away. A strong 4 stars for a lyrical and sweeping story.

Squad Goals is a great read that teens will love (think middle school). There is school drama, romance drama and friends who save the day. It is a quick read - can be done in a day. A great book to read while enjoying a lazy summer day.

Last summer was the worst of Will's life. A year later he is now beginning to deal with the events of last summer that took his brother from him. With no memories of the night his brother disappeared, Will has been haunted by what could have happened. But it's not until the arrival of a mysterious new girl does he beguine to understand just what did happen to his brother, and what may yet still happen to those he cares for.

Gretchen has always been prone to sleep walking, however recently it has been becoming more and more prevalent and each time she wakes it is to find herself closer and closer to the perilous sea. Closer to the place where one year ago Will was found unconscious and his brother not found at all. The secrets kept inside her can not remain secret for long, not from those she loves most, not now with the arrival of a mysterious new girl.

Siren's Storm is a blend of history, myth, mystery and the supernatural all rolled into one. A tale of fear, guilt, confusion and loss that begins in a storm and slowly builds into a furious tempest that is full of sea maids and fire and an unbreakable friendship. For Will and Gretchen, they must first live through their present danger if they are to heal from their stormy past.

This middle school book talks about Rafe's sisters first year in middle school and how it all goes downhill for her. Teachers think she will be just as bad as her brother . But she ends up being a little bit worse than her brother.

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Wow, I happened upon this book at a local booksale and was pretty skeptical at first. "Ah," I thought, reading the summary. "some story about a girl and her ~sassy, gay friend~ fuuun..." But I kept picking it back up, flipping through it, rereading the summary. Something about it just caught my attention. Then I noticed there were two authors, and one of them was male. I think that was the tipping point that landed it in my "to buy" pile.

I couldn't get the book off my mind, and the moment I left the book fair, I was already reading it. I didn't have to get far before I knew I'd made the right decision. To start off, the humor in this is fantastic. Not a chapter went by that didn't make me laugh. Next, any and all fears I had about Marcus's portrayal were out the window. Sassy, gay friend-accessory WHO? Marcus was his own person and a wonderful one to read at that! Of course he fit some stereotypes (we all do in some way, don't we?), but he wasn't a walking stereotype. I just really enjoyed his humor and how... human he was, as if you could run into someone like him out on the street. Finally, I like how the story kept me on edge. There were these twists and turns I hadn't even expected.

This was just such a fun read that I literally couldn't put it down. (If not for the fact that 1 am "technically" counts as a new day, I would've finished it in one.) If you're having any doubts, I would wholly recommend it. It's worth the read & then some.

This is a fun, cute book. It has some funny moments and it takes me back to high school. If you are looking for a sweet fun romance, I would recommend it.

this book was a new one for me because it is telling the story of the other sibling and not rafe

So, this was a tough one to rate. We all know that I'm a sucker for magical realism, and that nine times out of ten I end up loving books that fall into this category madly and deeply. A Tale of Highly Unusual Magic was, well, unusual. While the magic and mystery were definitely there, it felt bogged down by the way that it was told. So much promise, but the way it played out didn't quite hit the mark.

Let's start with the good. First of all, Leila's character is more than enough reason to read this story. Leila is a girl between worlds. Not at home in the U.S., where her Pakistani roots make her stand out. Not at home in Pakistan, where her upbringing keeps her from fitting in. Although I never had it quite as bad as Leila, I still saw myself in her. Growing up I always felt like I never quite fit in with my extended family, because of the way I was raised. I know there are other kids out there like that too, and they'll instantly take a liking to Leila and her battle to find where she fits in.

In fact, the settings that this book take place in are the other part of this that I loved. Leila spends the story in Pakistan, and Kai spends it in Texas. Watching these two go through such similar problems, in such different locales, was interesting. Lisa Papademetriou hits the trials of growing older right on the head. The bullies. The friends. The family interactions. As separate characters, these two were adorable.

So why the three stars? As I mentioned above, it was really the way that the story was told. The magical book that tied these two together, and the mystery that surrounded it all, felt off. It almost felt too surreal to really fit in with everything else that was going on. Plus, there were never any really tight resolutions. I kept wanting to see something good happen to our girls, but it never did. While this is a pretty solid coming of age story, it lacked the pieces to make it feel like it was really steeped in magic.

It was good, not my favorite, but good! I'll have a review soon.

Touching, sad, funny, and fun. This is the closest thing to a true piece of literature Patterson has ever come close to writing.

My 10 year old read this and enjoyed it and passed it on to me to read. In the book, two characters in different situations discover the same book, a book with a touch of magic to it that starts telling them a story as they write in it. Both girls are visiting relatives in unfamiliar places, and are learning about the places and about themselves as they go. Then the book starts telling them an old story - part love story, part dark mystery - that links them together and inspires both girls to search for the truth. It was a fairly quick read, but nice to see the girls learning and growing and standing up for themselves while wrapped up in an intriguing story.

This is a very mysterious book that brings mermaids to real life and tells about them in a different light. There is a boy named Will whose brother had died the last summer his friends Angus and Gretchen. They are all having a normal summer and then a girl named Asia moves into their town. After her arrival more mysterious things start happening and Gretchen starts sleepwalking more. Then they find out that Asia is a mermaid and that there are more of them out in the waters near their town. Then they have to fight the mermaids and save the town before even more people in the town die. I think that this book may not be recommended for young children because it is very creepy and mysterious.

This is a book about a girl named Hayley her little sister Chloe, and what happens after their parents got divorced when they are living with their grandmother. Hayley loves to bake cupcakes and that is how she shows the world what she is feeling through her interesting flavors of the cupcakes.

This is a book about two girls who each find a magic book that is part of a set while they are visiting their family members over the summer. One girl is named Kai and she is visiting her grandmother in Texas where she finds the book and meets a friend named Doodle and that sets out an interesting magical adventure for her during the summer. Then another girl Leila who is visiting her family in Dubai finds a copy of the book across the globe. This is about their adventures with the magical book, and what they do in each of their new and interesting environments over their summer break. The magical old book that they both find joined copies of is about their adventures that they have had throughout the summer.

This was a cute read. My friend is allergic to nuts and this was a great read for both of us. She and I both plan to reread it.

This was a cute read. My friend is allergic to nuts and this was a great read for both of us. She and I both plan to reread it.

awesome