Well you know what I'm doing once I finish blogging this post....

Entertainment Weekly's website, ew.com, is giving you a sneak peek at the first chapter of BREAKING DAWN! In case you've been living under a rock (or maybe just don't care), Breaking Dawn is the latest book in the ridiculously popular Twilight series.

Okay, I guess you have to go out and buy the special edition of Eclipse to read the entire first chapter, but it can't hurt to check out the very beginning online. Right?

Book Review - In the Space Left Behind, by Joan Ackermann

Colm's got the house to himself. His mom just remarried, so she's off in Vegas with her new husband and Colm's baby sister; his older sister has already moved out of the house. He plans to re-do the laundry room as a wedding gift, organize his baseball cards, and enjoy the peace and quiet. But of course, things never go as they are planned. Colm's dog dies unexpectedly, and something even more upsetting happens. Colm's long absent father turns up, offering Colm $70,000 if he'll drive him to California, to Frank.

Huh?

Colm wouldn't even be interested in his offer, having long dismissed his father as a loser at the game of life, but when his mom starts talking about staying in Vegas and selling the house, well, Colm just can't let that happen. He has to keep the house off the market; he has to buy the house. Which means accepting the $70,000 and his father's proposition.

Joan Ackermann (who turns out to be related to this librarian's boyfriend) has written a heartwarming and at times, laugh out loud funny, first novel. In The Space Left Behind is a road trip story, but so much more than that.

* * * *
Four stars

Recommended to: fans of realistic fiction, baseball fans, readers that like stuff by John Green, Barry Lyga, etc.

Book Review - The Adoration of Jenna Fox

You know that feeling you have, just for a moment, when you wake up and you don't know where you are? Then you realize, oh right, I'm at Becky's house, etc. Well what if that feeling just stuck with you...

When Jenna Fox wakes up, it's not just that she doesn't recognize where she is, she doesn't know the names of the people surrounding her bed, or even what year it is. She is told by her mother that she was in a coma after an accident, that she's been asleep for a whole year, and that her family moved from Boston to California. Jenna accepts this, but doesn't understand why her mom keeps such a watchful eye over her. As time passes, memories come back to her. Memories of her friends, her life back in Boston. The one thing she doesn't remember is the accident. Her mom eventually permits her to go back to school, but it's a small alternative school, and everyone seems to have their quirks and issues. Jenna's a little weirded out when she recalls, verbatim, Thoreau's Walden Pond. It wouldn't be such a big deal, but that's not the only thing that's weird...

Follow Jenna as she uncovers who she truly is, and what happened during the accident in The Adoration of Jenna Fox, a riveting, science-fiction thriller by Mary E. Pearson.

* * * * 1/2
Four and a half stars

Recommended to anyone who likes a good sci-fi/mystery book, especially one that seems so close to reality you can almost believe it.