Oh my goodness, it’s been a busy start to the school year.  I changed schools, coordinated a LOT of volunteers for an awesome Tweens Read Book festival (see below – real life astronaut, person extraordinaire and author of Chasing Space, Leland Melvin, eeeekkkkk!!), kept up with my family, their appointments and had a few naps in between.

I have been busy reading books nominated for a Spirit of Texas award and it is a program of the Texas Library Association.  The books are fiction and must be written by an author from Texas or the book is set in Texas.  The thing about reading books from a lists is that you end up reading books that you might never have picked up yourself and I had a few gems that surfaced from that list.

This is Not the End by Chandler Baker:  If you are looking for a book like Where She Went by Gayle Foreman, this is your book.  Weeks before her 18th birthday Lake Devereaux looses her best friend and her boyfriend in a car wreck.  Now she is faced with a decision that will be the hardest on in her life to make.  Resurrection Technology makes it possible for her to either pass or choose one person to resurrect on her 18th birthday.  Complicating matters even more she has one more person to consider because of a promise she made long ago.  I liked how the science fiction characteristics of this novel blended seamlessly with the realistic dimension of the book.  The “Resurrection Technology” aspect and ritual never seemed too far fetched.  The book keeps you guessing as to how it will all end and in the end I think she came up with a good decision.  So at 18 years old who would you “regenerate”?

Beneath Wandering Stars by Ashlee Cowles: Gabriella’s older brother is wounded in Afghanistan and is in a coma in a military hospital.  Coming from a military family Gabi feared that this day would come.  Her brother was encouraged by his best friend Seth to join the army so she tends to hold this against Seth.  While in a coma, Gabi promises her brother that she will she walk the Camino de Santiago through Spain, a pilgrimage that Seth insists that he goes on with her.  In the midst of the beautiful scenery, culture and people that they met along the way they both face their fears, come to terms with what they are facing in their relationship with Gabi’s brother and fall in love under the wandering stars.  I really enjoyed the story line of this book and I loved the characters that were developed along the way during the pilgrimage.  It is one of those books that you take and Google all the places that they visited just to see how beautiful they really are in person.  If you love to travel I wouldn’t go on another trip before I read this book.

Kingdom of Ash and Briars by Hannah West: Ok, confession here – elicromancers, shape-shifters and epic battles are not usually “my thing” when it comes to books and normally those books are broken into various numbers of volumes and waiting for the next one to come out.  But, guess what, this book does not have a sequel and you don’t feel like it’s crammed all at the end to wrap it up.  I highly recommend this fantasy novel, like they say it has  “all the things”, romance, intrigue, action and adventure” of a well written novel.  There are allusions to several fairy tales, some more obvious than others.  Bristal is an orphaned kitchen maid until she discovers that she has the power to shape-shift.  She transforms into a fairy godmother to protect a future princess and then sneak into an army as a solider to fight against a band of supernatural evil doers out to destroy several kingdoms.  Wow, is that all?  Talk about girl power you need to read this one.  I guarantee that you will not be disappointed – even if you are not a girl…..