Half-blood follows Alexandria, a 17 year old, who after the death of her mom is forced back into the world of the covenant. Alexandria trains to become a sentinel, a person who hunts daimons. Becoming a daimon is worse than death, but the threat of being turned is more prevalent than ever. This book is very similar to Vampire Academy, like the exact same premise but instead of vampires and moroi, they are half-bloods and pures.
Stolen follows Gemma, a sixteen year old girl who was abducted on vacation with her parents. Gemma is taken to the Australian outback and is forced to adjust to the harsh terrain. Her attempts to escape her captor are useless, but as she spends time with him she realizes that he’s not as bad as she’s made him out to be. This book was definitely strange. It had super quick pacing, but ultimately had a rushed ending leaving a lot to be unresolved. I liked the setting for the book as well as the characters.
Good Girl, Bad Blood follows Pip after the events of solving her last case. It doesn’t take long for Pip to take on a new case. When Jamie Reynolds disappears on the anniversary of Andie Bell's death, Pip recognizes that it’s too big of a coincidence to ignore. While this book wasn’t as good as the first one I still really liked it. I thought that it very quickly picked up after the events of the last book, and had really good pacing overall.
After being left haunted by her last case, Pip is done investigating mysteries. But when online threats turn into being followed in real life, Pip is forced into solving one more case. This book was easily the most action packed in the series. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. It has a very different tone from the other two books and it definitely gets way darker, but the progression of Pip’s character was amazing. I think this was a great way to end the series.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder follows high school senior Pippa Fitz Amobi uncovering a murder case that has haunted her small town for years. Sal Singh was suspected of killing his girlfriend, Andie Bell, but Pip isn’t convinced. I loved this book. The characters felt very realistic and it was very fast paced. One of my main problems with mysteries is when the twists are not foreshadowed in the book. I think the author did a great job at making the ending hard to guess, but also laying out easy to find clues.
Rick Riordan’s final installment in the Percy Jackson series comes in amazing fashion with The Last Olympian. The book begins with Percy and Beckendorf attacking an enemy ship, however the mission goes haywire and Beckendorf is killed. Percy then travels to get bathed in the river Styx, something his enemy Luke had done previously. After getting bathed, Percy and the people of Camp Half-Blood travel to New York to defend Olympus, which is left unguarded due to the gods fighting Typhon.
Starry River in the Sky is a book written by Grace Lin. This book follows Rendi, a mysterious boy who arrives at an inn, and is given a job as chore boy. Although he plans to leave the inn, he ends up bonding with a few customers and the innkeeper. Throughout his time at the inn however, he notices the moon has gone missing. He and Madame Chang, a visitor to the inn, tell stories of people that are only revealed later.
This book is about Kamala Harris, who was the first woman to serve as vice president of the United States. This book tells her life story, from her childhood in California to becoming a lawyer, senator and finally vice president. It highlights her hard work, leadership and the challenges she overcame to break barriers in politics. The book also explains her role in the government and how she made history.
Monsters, Inc. is an amazing movie with a unique world. The movie introduces Monstropolis, a city powered by the screams of children in the human world. The screams are collected by the monsters working at Monsters, Inc. using closet doors to enter the children's rooms.
Despicable Me is a good movie. The movie starts off showing us how Gru, the protagonist, plans on stealing the moon fueled by the motivation to top the thief who stole the pyramid of Giza. With the help of his minions, this plan takes an unexpected twist when he agrees to adopt three children.
