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By Suzanne Harper [Librarything - Amazon]

All Sparrow wants is to live a normal life. That’s why her mother, grandmother, and six older sisters, all of whom are psychics, don’t know that Sparrow has been talking to ghosts since she was five years old. That’s why her classmates at her new school, including her friend Fiona and her cute-but-surly history partner Jack, don’t know that she lives in Lily Dale, a town so full of mediums it’s been nicknamed “Spookyville.” And that’s why she’s determined not to help Luke, the dreamy teenaged ghost who’s been haunting her, put his unfinished business to rest.

Unfortunately for Sparrow, Luke doesn’t give up very easily. Even more unfortunately, Jack insists on doing their joint history project on Spookyville. But it’s not until she discovers a connection between Luke and Jack that Sparrow realizes she may just have to give up her dreams of a normal life – and give in to her destiny.

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By J. K. Rowling [Librarything - Amazon]

The blurb on the book jacket says it best: “We now present the seventh and final installment in the epic tale of Harry Potter.” Potterdammerung being what it is, we’re switching up the review style a bit this time around, and will be discussing our impressions of the book behind the cut. Beware: spoilers abound in them thar hills, so if you don’t want to know who dies and who gets smooched, read the book first!

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By Derek Landy [Librarything - Amazon]

When Stephanie’s Uncle Gordon dies and leaves his house and fortune to her, she finds that she’s also inherited her fair share of dangerous secrets – not to mention the friendship of the walking, talking, magic-wielding skeleton Skulduggery Pleasant. A detective by trade, Skulduggery is investigating the mysterious circumstances surrounding Gordon’s death, which he believes are tied in with a plot to bring back a race of evil, destructive gods and destroy civilization as we know it. Together with Ghastly the magical boxing tailor and Tanith the goofy-but-ruthless swordswoman, and armed with a little bit of magic and a whole lot of snappy patter, Stephanie and Skulduggery must navigate a network of conspiracies and double-crosses in order to unlock Uncle Gordon’s secrets and save the world.

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Cornelia Funke (translation by Anthea Bell) [Librarything - Amazon]

Inkheart is about a girl, Meggie, whose life turns into a fantasy story when strange people begin chasing her father, trying to bring him and a mysterious book to a villain named Capricorn. Along the way, they befriend a grouchy book lover, Elinor, and have strange dealings with a traveling showman, Dustfinger.

When the group is caught and kidnapped, Meggie learns that her father, Mo, has the magical ability to read characters out of books…but in doing so, he reads someone else in. Her mother long ago disappeared into the book “Inkheart” as out came Capricorn, Dustfinger, and one of Capricorn’s henchmen. Though Mo has tried many times to read Meggie’s mother back out, he’s never succeeded—he doesn’t have any control over his ability.

Then it turns out that Meggie has inherited her father’s ability…and Capricorn plans to use her to read an even more horrible, murderous creature out of the book.

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Whither Rebecca leads, thither I follow. Here are some older reviews of mine of Kids/YA Genre Fiction:

The Circle of Magic #1: Sandry’s Book (The Magic in the Weaving), #2: Tris’s Book (The Power of the Storm), and #3: Daja’s Book (The Fire in the Forging), by Tamora Pierce. Three cupcakes for Sandry’s Book, four cupcakes for the other two. (Genre: High Fantasy)

Secrets of Dripping Fang #1: The Onts, by Dan Greenburg. Three and a half cupcakes. (Genre: Contemporary/Urban Fantasy)

Dealing With Dragons, by Patricia C. Wrede. Four and a half cupcakes. (Genre: High Fantasy, Fairy Tale/Mythic)

Sorcery and Cecilia, or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot, by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. Four and a half cupcakes. (Genre: Historical Fantasy/Steampunk)

The Keys to the Kingdom #5: Lady Friday, by Garth Nix. Three cupcakes, although the series as a whole gets a tentative five (which may be reevaluated when the last two come out). (Genre: Portal Fantasy)

Not a review, but what’s with the torn edges on the pages of books lately?

Before we get started, here, some older reviews I’ve done, relevant to this site:

The City of Ember and The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau. Five cupcakes, and a friggin’ cherry on top. (Genre: Apocalyptic/Dystopian Science Fiction)

Uglies, Pretties and Specials by Scott Westerfeld. Four and a half cupcakes for Uglies, three and a half for the other two. (Genre: Apocalyptic/Dystopian Science Fiction)

Bruce Coville novels, including the My Teacher series, The A.I. Gang, The Dragonslayers, The Nina Tanleven Ghost Series, and The Magic Shop series. I’d say the average rating is about four cupcakes. (Genres: Aliens Among Us, Other, High Fantasy, Contemporary/Urban Fantasy, and Fairy Tale/Mythic)

Pendragon, books one and two, by D.J. MacHale. Two cupcakes. (Genre: Portal Fantasy.)

Meta talk about writing and books:

Fantasy Females (Of the Literary Variety), about the roles female characters play in fantasy.

Seriously, What is Wrong With Cinderella?, about Disney princesses, ideas about how to keep female characters dynamic, and a little bit of repeated review of Pendragon.