Jeane DuPrau

Been awhile since i talked about books here. Just read City of Ember and People of Sparks. I'm waiting for Prophet of Yonwood to complete the trilogy. City of Ember dragged just a bit in places, but the series as a whole is an enticing journey through post apocalyptic societies. Two of them to be exact -- one that's been hidden away and left untouched and unaware of the disasters happening in the world out side Ember and one that's cobbled itself together and is finally seeing growth and success in a harsh post-war world. I enjoyed the characters and the storyline moved nicely aside from a couple bumps in the first book. You'll find the books in the Young Adult section and the movie made from the first book in the dvds. ~April Dawn

Meg Cabot

Can you imagine reading a story written entirely of emails? Meg Cabot has written the Boy series where the stories are created with emails, faxes, chats, diaries, phone messages, legal documents, receipts, telegrams, and memos. Yes, even memos!
"The Boy Next Door" is the first I read in the series. Mel Fuller is a New York journalist whose neighbor, Mrs. Friedlander, falls into a coma. Max, the neighbor's nephew, has come to take care of the dog and the apartment. They meet, hang out, and fall in love. Although, is he really the neighbor's nephew? This book is my favorite of the series. I really liked Mel, she's funny.
"Boy Meets Girl" is the second I read in the series. I didn't like this one as much as the first one. Kate Mackenzie works at the New York Journal but she really wants to be a social worker and help others. This is why she feels horrible for having to fire Mrs. Lopez for not serving pie to her supervisor. Yeah, like the first 80 pages have to do with pie! Also this book does contain a lot of bad language. Just a warning for those of you who can do without that.
"Every Body's Got One" is the last of the series. I attempted it and lasted 20 pages before I quit.

What I found annoying was the lack of character building in the main characters. I felt, in each book, they started to sound the same.
In "Boy Meets Girl", Mel would say:
"I think he really does love me, and it IS just a stupid societal more. Marriage, I mean."
Or "And he's not a businessy type of person (Dale, I mean)..."
And "Only he's SO NICE--Mitch, I mean--and he smells good, too..."
Then Mitch would say: "The fact of the matter is, Stuart's girlfriend really pulled a number on us both. Kate and me, I mean."
In "Ever Body's Got one", Jane says: "Which wasn't even what I was asking him to watch. My water, I mean. Clearly, I meant my BAG."

Believe me, I had many examples to choose from. I just wondered why they all sounded the same if they were supposed to be different people.