Books, Books, and more Books

First, a book review:
I finished reading Model Spy by Shannon Greenland. Absolutely love it. Thankfully, the second book in the Specialists series comes out this September. The Specialists are a teen spy organization. They are all children from the system - no parents, shuffled around from one foster home to the next. These delinquents are invited to the team for their unique specialties: computer techie genius, martial arts, electronics, chemistry, et al. Here they find family. Kelly Spree becomes GiGi, girl genius. The book is first person through her perspective. Her teenage attitude brings me back to those days, and she became very real for me. I empathize with her. She may have model looks, but she's a clutz with computer technology on the brain. I rooted for her every step of the way as she grew throughout the book.

The library trip:
I made it to the library on Wednesday. Not a very wide selection of books, but I did pick up a few. Mystic Empire by Tracy & Laura Hickman, book three of The Bronze Canticles. I own the first two so will likely buy this one eventually. Justine Larbalestier's Magic or Madness, which just won the Andre Norton award. I read Justine's blog, and have been wanting to pick this one up for a while. Wolfskin by Juliet Marillier. I love her Sevenwaters Trilogy, so thought this would be a good time to try another of her books. The Dragon's Son by Margaret Weis, sequel to Mistress of Dragons. There were other books I wanted to check out, but 1) that branch didn't have any copies; and 2) as a new patron, for the first month I can only have 5 books out at a time. Next time I'll have to request books sent over from the other libraries in the network, or go to a bigger library.

A tribute:
Lloyd Alexander, author of more than 30 books for children and adults, died yesterday. I remember reading the Chronicles of Prydain. He was one of my favorite authors growing up. I learned about his death on the Endicott Studio blog, where they have a beautiful entry to him. I cannot do him justice, so go read the entry for yourself.

Promoting:
Shannon Aviles, publicist and media specialist, will be guest-blogging for Erica Ridley next week. Head over now to post some questions you'd like her to answer.