The Host by Stephanie Meyer

• Hardcover: 624 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (May 6, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0316068047
• ISBN-13: 978-0316068048
• Price: $25.99
• I finished this book on July 8

That's right, lovelies: I'm kicking off my grand return to blogging with a goddam Seal of Approval: this stuff is good.
Okay, so: Stephanie Meyer has been very lucky thus far with her covers, and this one is also good. You can't tell from the picture but the silvery ring around her eye is reflective in real life.
The plot: imagine Invasion of the Body Snatchers from the Body Snatcher's point of view. That's more or less what's happened here. Wanderer, a silvery, feathery alien being has come to Earth after inhabiting many other planets. The invasion of Earth has been underway for a long time and assimilation is almost total. Wanderer is put into the body of a young girl named Melanie, the only problem is Melanie is still inside. And it's not all skipping and playing hopscotch and singing "Kid Sister and Me". Actually, Mel is pretty fucking pissed, and she torments Wanderer with her memories of her previous life and loved ones.
Right off the bat I was in love with the concept of this book. I liked being able to hear it from the alien point of view. But increasingly as you read it you begin to feel equally strong about both girls, and are therefore caught in the same conundrum as Wanderer. The story then takes you a long way away from the typical storylines and expectations the beginning drums up. When I was a little more than halfway through I couldn't believe we'd gotten to where we were.
The other cool part of it is that it doesn't read overly like a romance (Like Meyer's other works, which I effin love with all my heart and soul) and it doesn't really read like a scifi either, even though it's about aliens. It's really more about families, and fitting in and finding your place. Either way it's super good, and even though I called the ending pretty well ahead of time I was totally satisfied with it. And you know I love it when things turn out the way you want them to.

Wide Awake by David Levithan

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (September 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375834664
• ISBN-13: 978-0375834660
• List Price: $16.95
• I finished this book on Jan. 16

An Open Letter to David Levithan
Dear Mr. Levithan,
Please figure out how to make the beautiful things you write turn into real life. If even half of the things that happen in your books existed in real life (like acceptance, Sound of Music Drag Reviews or Infinite Darlene) the world would be a much cooler place. Please get on top of that stat.
Thank you,
The Management (bee)

Seriously: I effin love this man. He is magic. If DL were to somehow meet and create an intellectual love child with Francesca Lia Block I would experience a joygasm of epic proportions.
Oh, plot? Okay. In the future: First gay Jewish president is voted in ---> election contested ---> the people make a stand. That's all you get. Effing read it.
What is so amazing here are the characters. Jimmy and Duncan are a sweet gay couple with an amazing group of friends that the story centers around. Levithan always has these amazing characters that might be floating off in the peripheral of the story that you're like dying to have lunch with. For me, in this story, it's Gus. He says some amazing things, I love the way he speaks. Also: there is a young man who hates his parents (because they won't let him be Jewish) who unleashes a hilarious tirade on how they are the apotheosis of suck. Love. It. Oh, also: a boy named Sue and his transsexual dad. Oh! And someone says that someone else is "rainbow sprinkles" I frocking love that! I wish someone would say that about me.
So, yeah, this got a seal of approval from me, and I would give it two if I could. I told like six people about how much I loved this today, totally unsolicited. I believe that when you are a librarian you are allowed to be a crazy person about books you like. Either way, you can look forward to more DL book reviews because I have ordered all his books for the library.

The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

• Hardcover: 832 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (December 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385730306
• ISBN-13: 978-0385730303
• List Price: $17.99
• I finished this book on Jan. 14

You may remember that I read the others in this series and have been eagerly awaiting this book for some time now. Also, let me say that these book have the coolest titles and covers. Double extra points and a cherry on top for Ms. Bray. To catch up, read my reviews of the other two books: here and here.
So: in the last book our heroine, Gemma, bound the magic of the realms to herself and promised to make an allegiance with the other forest folk. Let me stop here and tell you a story: the other night by b/f and I went grocery shopping and while I was picking out lean cuisines he threw a frozen pumpkin pie in the cart. Me: "What's that for?" Him: "Our faces." What he really meant was we were going to cook a whole pie, not offer any to our pals, and hoard it and eat it like the dirty pie sluts we are. Selfish pie. Cause you know if you start offering it out then it's gone before you know it and then...no pie. Do you see where I'm going with this? That's right, Gem begins to feel less and less like sharing. Other characters in this book work hard to gain Gemma's good graces by being completely untrustworthy. Not to mention that out of all the nogoodnicks to choose from Gemma picks the worst (Circe, the big bad from the previous book who is now imprisoned) to seek help from and she gives her power. Boo! Another boo? One of my favorite characters totally bites it. Balls. Also: things don't necessarily go the way you think they will in the end, but either way it's satisfying.
On the plus side: there is kissing with Kartik (mmm, forbidden Indian...nutritious and delicious.) Also, the girls seek to create lives for themselves outside of the narrow roles that their culture expects them to play. I love this. Someone becomes an actor. Oh! And someone comes out of the wardrobe (worst gay related - historical fiction joke ever? the world may never know). Hint: it might be someone who is very beautiful and who you thought only loved herself. So, with making one of the characters gay Ms. Bray has successfully covered all teen "problem novel" issues plus written a fantastic historical fiction/fantasy series that is not only deep and beautiful but it looks great on a shelf. Well done. I say: seal of approval to you!
p.s. this is my 100th book review on this site. thanks for reading!

Blogoversary!

That's right, guys and ghouls, it's been one hot sexy year of blogging for this booknerd.
Also, remember how I did a 50 book recap? Well, after this post my next review will bring it up to 99 books in a year. Not too shabby.
I started the blog last year as a way for me to keep track of what I've read. I wanted to be able to look back and see, and I honestly didn't think anyone would read it. So, thanks, my lovelies.
Some fun facts:

• I have read 26527 pages this year.
• I have given the bee seal of approval 9 times.
• The biggest tags on my tag cloud are: Supernatural and YA
  
• Many of the books I read since the 50 book benchmark are series, for example: His Dark Materials, The Twilight Saga, the Abhorsen Trilogy, and of course, Harry Potter.
  
• I added a tag called "In which I claim to be dating someone famous" because I like to say that people are my boyfriend all the time. Here's the ranking on that so far: Stephen King - wins it with 5 times. Trent Reznor - 2. Snape/Alan Rickman - 3. Tim Curry - 1. Laurie Halse Anderson - 1. My actual real life boyfriend? Yeah, I mentioned him once. Only to tell you that he's a slower reader than me. Pwned!

In addition: I have been contacted by two different authors of books I've reviewed this year. Because I am fucking awesome. Who are they? Guess. Seriously. Okay, I'll tell you. Laura M. Zeises commented on my review of her book: here. Graham Joyce sent me a meebo message and friended me on myspace (I'm basically goddamn famous). This gave me major warm fuzzies and a hugely big head. I'm now sitting around and waiting for SK or Mr. Gaiman to waltz on by and ask me to tea (or not).

Also, please enjoy another booknerd recap feature: What keywords brought you here? The following are keywords people used and ended up here. Last time there were lots more sex ones, seems I'm loosing my touch, or, people are getting better at finding internet porn.

• wikipedia warm fuzzies (aw)
  
• whats cher doing lately does she have a boyfriend (i dunno, but she's probly not gonna date you)
  
• invisible man movie sex (huh? perv. i think)
• sexy indian
• dark witchraft (spooky)
• sexy lines stephen king books (heehee)
• sexy male pictures
• rebels rape pretty girls (yucko)

So, Merry New Year, my darlings, and thank you for reading. Please allow me to suggest some resolutions for you: add booknerd to your RSS feeds. Tell a friend about this kickass blog. Comment on booknerd. Talk to bee on meebo (cause she's nice!)
Seriously, thanks for reading.
Cheers!

P.S. the nerdy cake images are from a blog post, here. If you're interested in baking me a cake I would like a Labyrinth theme cake, please and thank you (Bridget, I'm looking at you).

Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer

• Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (August 7, 2007)
• Pages: 628
  
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316160202
• ISBN-13: 978-0316160209
• List Price: $18.99
• I finished this book on August 8

Remember when I was wistfully missing Edward and Bella? Well, they are finally here. I picked this up as soon as it came out and read it in just over 24 hours. I was almost as excited for this as I was for Harry Potter. Only, unlike HP I have no one to talk about this with, because I don't know anyone else who's read it. When HP came out my phone was ringing off the hook with people who wanted to discuss and scrutinize. Now, there's no one to discuss my favorite vampire love affair with. So, I'll tell you.
Edward and Bella return in the third book in the Twilight Saga. You may remember I reviewed the first two: Twilight and New Moon. In this volume Bella and Edward are about to graduate from high school and they are trying to figure out what to do in the future: turning Bella-wise. So there are some arguments about that because Edward is reluctant to turn her and she's very stubborn. Also, Bella's werewolf friend Jake, who is painfully in love with her stirs up some trouble between the love birds. Including some kissing!! So, poor Bella has to choose between Jake (who's hot, cause, apparently werewolves are super-heated) and Edward who's so cold. I, however, had never had even one beautiful supernatural creature who was vying for my affections. I'm just saying. Regardless: the love triangle action was very cool. I am totally Team Edward, though I can see what is appealing about Jake (he's so hot!).
Anywho: this book also features lots of cool fighting / vampire war goodness. And, the Big Bad was not who I was expecting, so that was cool too. Another cool part of this book was hearing the background stories on some of the other vamps in Edward's family. I was not expecting to ever feel sorry for Rosalie, but...what do you know, I do.
My predictions for this book were woefully wrong. I had hoped to see two things: Bella turned into a vamp and some sexin'. And you know what? Unsurprisingly, I am 0 for 2. Also, no wedding. I expect the next book will come out and it will be the three days leading up to the wedding and I still get nothing. My my that is frustrating. Though the book wasn't what I was expecting it is always nice to spend time with characters like these. The next one should be out in the Fall of '08 and I super want her to release the book Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edwards point of view) but that may never happen. For those interested, you can read the first chapter of that on Meyer's website. For crazy fan news and other related goodies, visit the fan site, here. For general info, go here. Also, this series gets extra point for having three beautiful covers that will look lovely on my bookshelf in my home library some day.
All in all, it went by too fast and now I'm annoyed to have to wait for the next one. Oh, well, I suppose I can find something to read to tide me over...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover
• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (July 21, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0545010225
• ISBN-13: 978-0545010221
• List Price: $34.99
• I finished this book on July 21
  

Well, my lovelies, it's finally here. I went to midnight madness at our local Borders and let me tell you, it was nuts. There were awesome costumes, my favorites were: a perfect Professor Sprout, a teenage Bellatrix Lestrange, and an amazing Luna Lovegood. There was also a tiny baby dressed up like a house elf: effin cute. Anywho: my boyfriend and I got our books and our complementary posters and ran home to read (guess who is a faster reader, and therefore way cooler? Oh, that's right, this girl). Let me tell you, my dears: we were not disappointed. Hence, the bee seal of approval.
Because you can find spoilers pretty much everwhere on the internet there will probably be a few light ones in here, so beware. However, if you're a diehard I'm sure you've finished by now (unless you're my dad, who will probably still be reading next week).
First off, several of my theories were right, because I am awesome. I liked to see Harry being a bit of a badass in this one. Who calls Voldemort "Tom Riddle"? Only badasses, that's who! Face! Anywho, Ron acts like a baby and then gets over it, and Hermione is a bit more emotional in this book than we've ever seen her which was very cool. Other acts of coolness were committed by: McGonagall, Momma Weasley and of course, Neville, the dark horse.
My favorite part of this book was that we got to see a lot more realistic, 3 dimensional portrayals of some of the characters. Was Dumbledore perfect? Nope, but he was still an amazing wizard and mentor to Harry. Oh, and my boyfriend Snape? Mmm, we are gonna make out (because, you know, he's real).
Overall I was very pleased with this book, though I will admit I'm awfully sad it's over. I will definitely have to reread this one, I'm thinking in the wintertime, when it will taste like comfort food. Anyway: just because it's over doesn't mean I can't yell spells all over the apartment. (the cats especially love this.) Bombarda!
Oooh! Oooh! I almost forgot, there was a bit of swearing in this one! Besides the normal ones like "bloody" (love the Brits) there were a few Bastards, several Arses and a few "effing" which had me cackling at my book. Oh, I love swearing and I love HP and when the two come together it's like a hug from Jesus. Anyway, if you were fighting the Dark Lord you'd be cursing too. I know I would be. And yelling spells. Expelliarmus!
Update: My boyfriend Stephen King has written an amazing review of this book here which you should read. Now. Go do it.

Abhorsen by Garth Nix

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Listening Library (January 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807205605
• ISBN-13: 978-0807205600
• List Price: $25.00
• I finished listening to this audio book on June 6

That's right, kids! Two seals of approval in a row! We're on a streak! (apparently we are also on an exclamation point streak!! sorry, i'll calm down).
Okay, so, as you may have guessed this is the third (and, regrettably final) installment in the Abhorsen Trilogy. Of course, we remember Sabriel and Lirael. Well, this one takes all the best fun parts from these books and rolls it up into a great big ball of charter magic shenanigans
So, here's the rub: the big bad in this book is The Big Bad (not to be confused with strongbad) meaning he's called The Destroyer and he means to destroy. He's been bound up in some metal circles for about a gajillion years and he's piiissed (that's only read properly if you kinda sing it, you know what I mean). So, Lirael and Sam have to stop it with the help of my favorite character ever: The Disreputable Dog. Craziness and badassery ensue. Big time. This book had some really good parts and I had chills more than once.
Also, you may remember in the Lirael post I wrote that I had some requirements for this book. One: I wanted to find out more about the Disreputable Dog *bing* Done! I'm not gonna tell you, but I will say that I giggling and clapping in my car like a total nutcase. Two: I wanted Sam to stop being such a girly man. Check! He totally stopped the whining which was a total plus. Three: I wanted Lirael to kiss someone, anyone (besides the Dog who licks her constantly). You can't hear it but I'm making the Taboo buzzer noise. No kisses for Lirael, but as Eddie from Rocky Horror tells us two outta three ain't bad. What? Did I just mention Rocky Horror, which also stars my favorite audio book reader, Tim Curry? Why yes, yes I did. I know you're sick of hearing it, but I'm not sorry. I love this man's voice.
Apparently there is a collection of short stories from Mr. Nix titled Across the Wall: Tales of the Abhorsen and Other Stories. According to the review here it only contains one story relating to this series, but I would still read it.
Anyway, I loved this series, there is such cool magic going on and the female characters are strong and interesting. I'm sort of surprised that this series isn't more popular. I definitely recommend it. Also, if you read these and like them I suggest the Sevenwaters Trilogy. This is one of my favorite fantasies with amazing female characters, one of which my my cat is named after. p.s. I wish my cats could talk, though I doubt they have anything as interesting to say as the Disreputable Dog or Mogget.

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick; Library Binding edition (August 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763617229
• ISBN-13: 978-0763617226
• List Price: $17.99
• I finished this book on June 3

My stars, I loved this! I haven't doled out the seal of approval in a while, so this is momentous. I was just waiting for something like this to come along. This is another one of those that I picked up and read in one sitting before bed. It was like a sweet and satisfying cup of tea with cookies (I'm very into cookies). The subtitle of this book is Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread which I love. And this cuteness has also won a Newbery Medal, which made me assume that it would be sad and possibly feature the gratutious death of one or more characters (possibly a child) but, awesomely, it was not like that at all. It was cute and sweet.
See, Despereaux is a tiny mouse, really tiny, with these great big ears, who lives in a castle. He doesn't want to be like other mice, he's not interested in hunting for crumbs, or scurrying, or even nibbling paper. In fact, he is much more inclined to read the romantic tales in the library than to eat them. So, of course, I want to snorgle Despereaux, despite the fact that he's a fictional mouse. Also, I love talking animals. But that's the problem, Despereaux talks to the beautiful Princess Pea, worse, he falls in love with her. This sets all the other little meeces' knickers into a twist and they banish tiny Despereaux to the dungeon to be eaten by rats (oh no!) From there, the story splits off and introduces us to a few different characters who all play a part in Despereaux's tale.
My favorite scene is where Despereaux is trying to tell the king something and he won't listen. The king basically puts his hands over his head and says "Nah nah, I can't hear you..." like a child, which I found hilarious. Not to mention that he has outlawed soup and rats, which, you know...makes perfect sense and is not at all crazy.
Another great part of the story is DiCamillo's voice. She talks to the reader, and even encourages the reader to go look up words, which I think is fantastic (I will not tell a lie, my dears, I had to look up a word). There are also sweet illustrations of the tiny mouse, the mean rats and the beautiful Princess Pea done by Timothy Ering. Anywho, the book was great, and it's one of mine for the challenge. I will definitely be reading more of Ms. Camillo's work in the future.

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (May 10, 2005)
• ISBN-10: 0375832998
• ISBN-13: 978-0375832994
• List Price: $8.95
• I finished this book on Mar. 24

Wow, I'm currently trying to think of my favorite type of candy right now so that I can compare this book to it. Hmm, chocolate truffles? candy apples? chocolate covered cherries? Honestly, I think I am in love. Once upon a time I sat down before class to read a book having no idea what it was about. I read the whole thing sitting there in the hallway at school with rapt attention. When I finished I was borderline weepy. That book was Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block (who I am also in love with) and the comparisons don't end there, my friends.
But I digress. I'm not sure how to tell you about this book so that you will get how wonderful, how delicious it was. Paul lives in a sort of wonderful version of the way the world should be, where gays and straights and in betweens are accepted for the most part. In his high school the quarterback of the football team is a 6"4' transvestite named Infinite Darlene, and the clubs at school include the quiz bowling team and a school cover band competition (Dave Matthew's covers, of course). Anywho, like the title says, Paul meets a boy and there is loving and losing and romance ensues. The prose reminds me of Weetzie because of its originality and beauty. It is almost its own descriptive language. I heart the characters and I wish I lived in this town. Not everything is dreamy and perfect, of course. Paul has a friend who lives a town over who's parents cannot accept his sexuality. But of course, there is a sugary sweet ending that makes me think of gorgeous and decadent desserts.
First off, I want to be in a cover band competition. I read this one in one sitting, and if you intend to read it, that's the way I recommend it. It's not long, and it' s a bit like sitting down and enjoying a big glass of delicious wine. (Coincidentally, that's the absolute limit of times I can say the word delicious in one post, I think) I dunno, this book just really got me, I would be lying my foolish face off if I said I wasn't all misty at the end. I would like to share with you a quote, "I find my greatest strength in wanting to be strong. I find my greatest bravery in deciding to be brave." That was one of many passages that I had to re-read. Sometimes, in books I find things so beautiful I have to look at them again and let them wash over me a bit. There were many of those in this one.
I am excited to read more of David Levithan's books, and he is slated to be at the book festival too. It appears that his website has not been updated for a while, but it does have excerpts from his books, so that's fun. I also friended him on Myspace.
That's all for me, I'm going to go moon over this book elsewhere.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st ed edition (February 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380977281
• ISBN-13: 978-0380977284
• I finished this book on Mar. 18

Okay, so I'm a big fan of the Neil Gaiman stuff I've read before, like Sandman and Coraline. I also happen to heart his blog. He's cool and funny and links to neat stuff, in addition to saying something during scrotum-gate about loving librarians.
So, being the flaming nerd that I am I felt it only prudent to read more of his stuff (the good news is, he's written approximately a bajillion things). I interlibrary loaned a bunch of his books, and Stardust happened to be the first thing to arrive (there's another one waiting for me as we speak, which makes my day). Guys, two pages in I was in love. There's many reasons, so here goes. Number one, the design of the book is great (though I've since learned there are illustrated copies, I do not have one of those). The pages are that cool uneven rough cut which I find oddly satisfying. The author and title info are in a weird place, which is also neat. I also love chapters that have descriptive names, and I double love ones that are titled "In which..." and then cryptically detail what happens in said chapter. love. it.
So, besides all that stuff we have a funny, sweet and captivating little fairy tale. Tristan makes an impossible promise to the most beautiful girl in town and sets off into the land of Faerie to retrieve a star for her. The good news is: he finds the star (who is a young woman like creature) the bad news is, he's about six months walk from home and trying to bring an obstinate star with a broken leg back with him. There are also other story lines that of course come flawlessly together in the end. There are some ghosts, many people changing into other things and back again and even the mysterious unknown lineage of several characters, so, basically, all the components of a great fairy tale. Not to mention that Gaiman's prose is funny, weird and perfect. Reading this pasted a goofy smile on my face and gave me the warm fuzzies. I can't wait to read more of his books.
I have since learned that they are making this into a movie. I hope it will be good, though it seems like the story has been changed marginally. Claire Danes plays the star, so that's cool, I imagine she should look like she did in Polish Wedding, and looks like she will, so I'm psyched about that.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (October 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316160172
• ISBN-13: 978-0316160179
• List Price: $17.99
  
• I finished this book on Feb. 3

Wow, guys, you're not seeing things, it's two Bee symbols of highest booknerd praise in a row. I just finished reading this and I'm still all pumped. Why? Because #1 I heart YA books. #2 I heart vampires. #3 This is almost exactly the book I would want to write if I were able to write an actual book and not just nerdy blogs. For real, folks, I feel that I have daydreamed nearly every part of this book at some time in my life. So good! For real.
So, here's the scoop: Bella has just moved to some tiny town near Seattle with her father. She hates the area, prefers sunny Phoenix, but has moved here to give her mother some space. Anywho: on her first day she sees this incredibly beautiful "family" of adopted kids sitting together at lunch. Who are they? Vampires. Does she fall in love with one of them, thereby putting herself in incredible danger? Yes sir. Is it cool and sexy? You'd better believe it.
This book mixes cool vampness with a lot of good tension and plenty of confused, angsty teenness. Also, Bella, our hero, is super clumsy and I am also super clumsy, so you know, maybe a vampire is on love with me. (probly not). I really liked Bella's first person narration and her total social awkwardness at times. It was not enough to be annoying, in fact it was totally realistic.
Also, this book has a sequel already in print, and according to Mrs. Meyer, the whole things some big series. So that's excellent too. This book is so popular with the YA kids I know and it's checked out at nearly every library in the area. I'm stoked to read the next book in the series, when I can get my hot little hands on it. In the meantime, there's more reading (book outtakes?? effin outstanding!) at her website, here.
Hmm, if I can't get the sequel at the library, maybe I can find some more vampire goodness. Just keeping you posted!

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (August 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374320918
• ISBN-13: 978-0374320911
• List price: $16.00
• I finished this book on Jan. 31

So, wow, I literally just finished this book minutes ago. It has left me smiling in a goofy was and feeling all nostalgic and enlightened.
So, here it goes: Liz is 15 (almost 16) and dies in a car accident. And you're all: 'Why are you reading such a bummer?' and I'm all: 'Not even.' Liz finds her dead self on a boat. It takes her a long time to realize she's dead. The boat takes her to a place called Elsewhere where dead people age backwards until they are babies again (at which point they go back to Earth and are reborn). This seems cool to me, but Liz is mad. She wants to turn 16, and she doesn't want to live with her grandmother (who she had never met before) in Elsewhere. Eventually she realizes that life is sort of the same both forwards and backwards.
So, I really liked the book. I dug all the characters, and I spent a good deal of the reading of this book with a really goofy grin on my face. It was funny and creative and sweet. I couldn't have liked the concept more and I thought the writing was really flawless. I am totally loving YA books more than adult books lately. I'm not sorry.
Plus, extra points to Ms. Zevin for a great cover (even though I know she probly didn't pick it) and owning an 'unusually clever' pug dog named Mrs. DeWinter. Double extra bonus points for having a cool website; here.
So, the moral of this story is, it gets the illustrious bee seal of approal. I'm not the only one who dug it, fyi, ALA also listed it as a Notable Book.

Born in Death by J.D. Robb

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (November 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399153470
• ISBN-13: 978-0399153471
• List Price: $24.95
• I finished this book on Jan. 6

Mmmmm, soooo tasty. I heart this series. Born is the 25th book in J.D. Robb's ...in Death Series. I effin highly recommend these books. Robb is the pseudonym for Nora Roberts. I can't tell you why she writes under a well known pen-name for this series and puts a silly pic of herself trying to look like a BA on the back, but I don't even care. This is fluff to the ult, and very satisfying. If you want to check out the series check here, but beware for spoilers!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Death
So I'll give you a brief: Eve Dallas is a super hardcore cop in the future. She happens to be married to the most beautiful, rich and powerful man in the world Roarke. Yep, I know it's ridiculous, and yes, he only has one name. Deal with it. Anywho, her best friend is this popsinger (obviously, that makes perfect sense) and she's super knocked-up and about to have a baby and to top it all off there's this double murder case to solve. Throw in another missing pregnant broad and that's pretty much the book.
New readers would be able to jump in with this one and go with the flow. But why would you want to when you could start at the beginning and have 25 more books of a delicious calorie-free treat. Plus, it's worth it to read how Roarke and Eve met.
These books are full of plenty of good jokes, excellent cop work, futuristic gizmos and graphic sex fun. Did I mention it totally gets the Bee seal of approval? Because it totally does. That's what the Bee symbol in the top left corner means, highly approvicized by me. I will add this icon to those book that really rock my socks.