#52 Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

I was looking forward to reading this because I'm going to see the musical in Boston on November 3rd, and I wanted a more concrete understanding of the story before seeing it.

I enjoyed this take on The Wizard of Oz, as seen from the viewpoint of the Elphaba, later to be known as the Wicked Witch of the West. Elphaba was born in Munchkinland, a province of Oz, daughter to a Unionist minister and his privileged wife, a woman with what some called "loose morals". She was born with green skin, extremely sharp teeth, and a very temperamental manner. Her father, Frex, thought Elphaba was his curse to bear, and Elphaba grew up feeling this guilt her entire life.

Eventually Elphie, as she was known to her friends, heads off to school at Shiz University in the Emerald City, where she meets Galinda, who later becomes known as Glinda the Good Witch of the North, and some other key figures relating to Oz politics. Elphie has a very strong personality and develops some strong ideals for which she fights. After her sister Nessarose, who was born without arms and eventually becomes the Wicked Witch of the East, joins her at Shiz, and their Ama is killed for witnessing something she shouldn't, Elphie runs away, fearing that as the headmistress predicted, she's being used as a pawn for the evil Wizard of Oz.

So Elphie begins a campaign of her own to right what she believes is wrong in the world. Her actions eventually cause the death of her lover and her life seems to go downhill from there.

I really felt for Elphie in this book. Maguire portrays her not as the evil witch we have all become so familiar with through the famous movie, but instead as a misunderstood but headstrong character with strong ideals which she defends to the very end!

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#51 Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this going in... would it be just another silly chick-lit paranormal wannabe? Fortunately, that wasn't the case here. Shanna Swendson has some talent, and this book didn't come off like a standard chick-lit trying to jump on the paranormal bandwagon either.

Katie Chandler is just your ordinary girl living in New York City... so ordinary in fact, she's actually pretty special. As an Immune, magic has absolutely NO effect on her; all the glamour and illusion used throughout the world to mask the use of magic doesn't work on her at all. She can see right through it, which makes her a hot commodity to MSI, Inc., that's Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc.

After being recruited by Rod and that hot guy, Owen, from R&D, Katie goes to work for MSI as a Verifier, and learns that all the things she used to try to write off in her head as "that's NYC for ya" really are there!

And to top it all off, she's just learned that an evil wizard who once worked for MSI is attempting to introduce a number of manipulative spells to the market, which will cause all kinds of chaos and mayhem. And if that happens... oy, our entire world as we know it could come to a screeching halt! Fortunately, it's Katie to the rescue!

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#50 The Mysteries by Lisa Tuttle

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

Ian Kennedy is a private investigator in England, who's been hired by Laura Lensky to find her missing daughter, Peri. Ian's got a thing for missing person cases since his first case which sent him to England and Scotland in the first place. There he did indeed find Amy, the young girl he was seeking on behalf of a family friend, but he also discovered a whole otherworld he hadn't realized existed. Now he thinks Peri's case seems a bit too similar to Amy's, and he wonders what he'll find this time....

I enjoyed this book, though I found it a bit difficult to follow at times due to the way the author inserted relevant short stories from the past between chapters. I realize they were put there to get the reader thinking on the right track, but combined with how it sometimes jumped back into Ian's past as well—the Amy case or his relationship with Jenny—I still found it a bit disconcerting at times. But overall, still a very interesting read. :)

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#49 Murder Under a Mystic Moon: A Chintz 'n China Mystery by Yasmine Galenorn

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

I very much enjoyed this 3rd book in Galenorn's Chintz 'n' China Mystery series. On the personal front, Emerald's relationship with Joe is beginning to get a bit more serious. And now Autumn is in full swing and the town is getting ready for it's annual Early Autumn Breeze Celebration.

Emerald has also become good friends with Jimbo the biker, who featured in the previous book. And now, Jimbo's friend Scar has gone missing, and tales point to the legendary Klakatat monster, supposedly living in the woods surrounding Klickavail Valley. Scar asks Emerald to use her senses to try to figure out what, if any, ill will has come to Scar since the local police chief isn't too concerned about a missing biker. But what Emerald and Murray discover is older than man itself!

I look forward to more of this series!

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#48 Vampirates: Tide of Terror by Justin Somper

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

I loved this second in the Vampirates series just as much of the first. Lots of action and adventure, and best of all, both vampires AND pirates! :)

This book picks up right where book 1 left off. We've got Conner and Grace, now both on the Diablo, the pirate ship that rescued Conner from the waters when he and his sister's boat capsized. They are happy to be together now, but Grace can't help thinking back to her time on the Vampirate ship, and she sorely misses some of them, especially Lorcan and Darcy. And she's also not so sure anymore that the Diablo is the right place for her and Conner....

So off to Vampire Academy they go with Cheng Li, to learn more about what it means to be a pirate and other useful skills. But how will what they do and learn there affect their future on the Diablo, or if they even return....

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#47 Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie by Holly Black

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

I didn't like this one quite as much as Tithe. Though it seems more of a standalone, there are a few characters from Faery from the first one that are mentioned later on here. Apparently, Ironside, the third book in the series, is more of a direct sequel to Tithe.

When seventeen-year-old Val finds her mom and her boyfriend making out, she runs away from her home in New Jersey to the streets of New York City. She befriends a group of kids who live in the subway tunnels where she encounters some strange substances, and meets some even stranger people, including Ravus the Troll. She agrees to help him with deliveries since he cannot go out in the sun, while he teaches her sword fighting in return. She grows to admire him and when he's accused of poisoning the other exiled faeries, she vows to help him in any way she can and everything ends happily ever after (sorta). Just like a true fairy tale. LOL

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#46 Thunderbird Falls by C.E. Murphy

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

Not bad... I can't say I like this series as much as the Retrievers series by Laura Anne Gilman though, which I find similar enough that I get some of the characters mixed up between the two series. :( It's really just the two main characters, Joanne and Wren, that seem pretty similar to me.

In this second installment in the series (3rd if you count the short story appearing in the Winter Moon anthology), we start off with Joanne trying to deny her powers (again!) because of what happened last time in the first novel. Some of the same things that bothered me there bother me here as well, with the main character suppressing her powers rather than embracing them. But since it's a story involving magic, which happens in our world in the here and now, I can't keep away. :P And I've got a lot of hope for this series going forward.

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#45 Shakespeare's Christmas: A Lily Bard Mystery by Charlaine Harris

My Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Another great entry in the Lily Bard Mystery series. In this one, Lily travels home during the holidays to be a bridesmaid in her sister's wedding, and of course trouble follows her... as does her sexy new boyfriend Jack! ;)

We learn a bit more about Lily's background in this one as she stays with her family during her homecoming. This is really the first time she's been home since the incident which scarred her both physically and emotionally.

I'm looking forward to reading more of this series!

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