Jessica just wants to enjoy her senior year as a normal girl but soon falls under the spell of the very attractive Lucius.  She does her best to help Lucius keep his “condition” a secret but rumors start to fly when Lucius begins to show an interest in Faith Crosse, a shallow airhead cheerleader in Jessica’s opinion!  As action heats up toward a conclusion, Jessica works to convince Lucius he isn’t the evil person he’s been raised to be by his evil uncle.  But what kind of a future is Jessica heading for–college student or vampire princess?  Fun book, lots of humor!

This is two stories which seem to alternate, but come together magically at the end. A calico cat meets a hound dog and an unusual friendship begins. When Sabine and Puck are born to the calico cat, the four become an odd family. Gar Face is the owner of Ranger, the dog, is mean and causes tragedy to the new family. In the other story, a shape-shifting water serpent has been asleep in the Piney Woods mystical forest and is coming to life again. Although it seems like a typical animal story or a good versus evil story, it is more.

The cover is not fitting of the book. Keep in mind the old saying, “Don’t judge the book by it’s cover.”

So Galen, home from the war and now a gardener’s apprentice at the palace, has made the dangerous decision to follow the princesses and find out what’s happening to them.  Some magical gifts and messages he received on his way home from war now give him extra powers and courage to find out the secret of the dancing princesses.

I really enjoyed this retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, even though fantasy stories aren’t usually my favorites.  I think readers who like the Cinderella-type stories will like this one, too.

Temping Fate by Esther Friesner

Llana needs a summer job. She would prefer something out of her boring town, but she is ready to do anything. When she goes to a apply at a temp agency, she gets the feeling that things are a bit strange. After meeting the manager of the temp agency, Llana is ready to leave without a job. The contract she is asked to sign is equally frightening, “… accepts no responsibility whatsoever for employees’ loss of life, limb, lucidity, lawyers, or lemurs…” Then she is given an envelope full of money for her first week’s work. This encourages her to give the job a try.

When she gets on the job site, she realizes things are only getting weirder. Her temp job requires her to use a typewriter (not computer, typewriter) to fill out death receipts. Soon she realizes her summer job will be different. She becomes involved with gods and heroes. Those interested in mythology will notice the myths and characters of the myths involved in the novel.

If you’ve read and liked Just Ella by the same author or similar “Cinderella”-type stories, you’ll enjoy the twists and turns faced by Cecelia and her friends as they try to figure out this princess mystery.

Bert knows this move will be hard on the more timid Will, so the two boys switch identities and Bert soon finds himself exploring the mysteries of The Crags, leaving Will back at home.  One of these mysteries is a secret passage leading from his room to an enchanted mirror (remember Snow White?) that is ready to satisfy all his wishes.  Or is it?

Read The Mirror’s Tale, a 2008 Maud Hart Lovelace book, to find out the story about this magical mirror and what happened to the Seven Dwarfs, called Dwergh in this story, in the years after Snow White is rescued.

Lady Saren, a young girl from a wealthy family, is in love with Khan Tegus from another realm, but her father has promised her to evil Lord Khasar in a marriage for his political gain.  When Lady Saren refuses go with Lord Khasar, her father condemns her to 7 years locked inside a brick tower.  Fortunately for Lady Saren, shortly before being sentenced to the tower, orphaned “mucker” Dashti has come into the village seeking employment and ends up as Lady Saren’s maid.  So they go to the tower together, along with 7 years of food and water.

Of course, things don’t go well in the tower.  Lady Saren gets depressed (who wouldn’t?), the food starts to rot, and then the rats come!  Their only access to the outside world is a 6-inch square through which fresh milk and “waste products” can be passed in and out.  And…visitors can communicate with them, including both Lord Khasar and Khan Tegus.  But what do they have to say and who does the talking back to them–Lady Saren or Dashti?

Without telling too much of the story, I’ll say that they do get out of the tower before the 7 years are up, but that’s when another whole story begins–and I had to read it to the end!  Animals with special powers, people with weird powers, kingdoms at war, and of course, a fairy tale romance.  Great story!!

Percy Jackson (Perseus?) is in 6th grade and has always had trouble in school. He’s dyslexic and has ADHD, and his behavior problems have caused him to be bounced around 6 different schools in 6 years. But then something happens on a field trip to an art museum in New York City. An incident there leads to him being expelled and ultimately finding out that some of his teachers weren’t human at all but other-worldly beings that, up to now, he only knew as mythological beings.

It’s finally at Half Blood Camp, after escaping the minotaur in a battle that might mean the end of his beloved mother, that Percy learns who he really is, who his father is, and gets the details of his upcoming quest. The quest is to do something that will save the world, except he and his 2 friends, have to accomplish this task by the summer solstice, June 21st, which is in 10 days time. Now get ready for a wild ride!

This is a great story because it’s funny, contains lots of social comment if the reader is paying attention, and is entertaining. Maybe it’s even better because it really makes mythology come alive…literally! As different mythological beings were mentioned in the story, I was wishing I knew or remembered more about them. Classic Greek poet Homer wrote two epic poems, The Odyssey and The Iliad, that were mentioned in the course of the story. The reading challenge would be greater but it might be fun to find the same Lightning Thief characters in a work done in 8th century BC.