Land

I am not sure how Land ended up on my Nook but it was a late night pick when I could not sleep. The overall story was a bit strange and the plot line too convenient for the kids but despite that I enjoyed the story and do plan on reading Sea at some point.

When some Canadian's kids trip to Disneyland goes horribly wrong they are left stranded with no way to communicate with home. Determined to get back to Canada five kids decide to make their way from the happiest place on earth back to home. The trip is not without perils though.

Overall the story felt more like a fluffy light read that was somehow dystopian. The writing was not bad but not always clear at times. I did see improvement as the story continued so I hope that will be reflected in Sea.

Pirates!

I grabbed Pirates! from a clearance shelf at the local book store because I liked the cover and it was cheap. While I did like the story it is hard to say why, the story was nothing like I though it would be. Despite being a good length book I am hard pressed to really describe the story to someone else, it felt like it should have been full of action but it never seemed that way and it was not a love story either.

Nancy's life spiraled out of her control when her father died and she was left in the care of her elder brothers. Determined to keep their business they decide to marry Nancy off to a rich merchant in hopes of saving their late father's business. Having none of that Nancy runs away in the middle of the night with two slaves she has made friends with. Fearing her prospective husband hunting her down Nancy does the only thing she can think of she joins a pirate crew to hide.

I expected a lot of adventure, gruffness from Nancy, and pirate escapades, I got none of that. It felt a lot like I was reading a diary of a young woman and less like the adventure it was presented as. Despite the slow writing I also found I could not stop reading. The writing pulled me in and it was hard to put the book down at times. I would consider reading more work by Celia Rees because I like the writing style immensely.

Hunting Prince Dracula

Hunting Prince Dracula is the second book in the Stalking Jack the Ripper series. It is the intriguing cover that drew me to research the series and get it from the library.

Audrey Rose continues to be one of my all time favorite literary characters. Still fascinated with cadavers Audrey travels with Thomas to Romania to compete for a chance to attend a school of forensics medicine. It is not long before a murder takes place right outside the train car Audrey is riding in and soon she finds herself in another tangled web of horrific murders. I really enjoyed seeing the trauma Audrey was suffering from being involved with Jack the Ripper cases, instead of just taking it all in stride Audrey struggled mentally and emotionally to come to terms with what happened. Despite struggling Audrey fought to keep it hidden in order to let her peers see her as an equal and not handicapped by her gender.

A couple times I did get confused at the end but it was a complex ending and I was super tired so that could be why.I cannot wait for the third book and I am already trying to think of which famous murders in history Audrey will begin to investigate. I do hope to see more of the wit between Audrey and Thomas continue, they are hilarious when they get going and I love their easy friendship. I was a bit shocked by some of the things that happened in Hunting Prince Dracula but I do not want to post spoilers so I will refrain from mentioning them.