"Sixth Grave on the Edge" by Darynda Jones

5 of 5 stars!

OMG! Darynda Jones never seizes to amaze me! I love her and her writing. She is just an amazing author. I wonder if Charley is in any way a reflection of Darynda. Either way, I'm done fan-girling for now.

The Basics: So, the fifth book in the series had the reader in absolute shock as Reyes asked Charley to marry him, via a Sticky-Note. So, that momentum continued in this book. Charley has yet to answer the question and leaves Reyes waiting (throughout the novel) for an answer. On top of that, Charley continues her PI work with her best friend, Cookie at the helm. The plot continued to thicken and Charley continued to get herself wrapped up in other's lives. There is a naked, old, dead guy (with an impressive boner) in the front seat of Misery, Charley is trying to make Ubie jealous by setting up Cookie on dates each night, a Dealer (demon) is in town who makes trades for souls, the hellhounds have supposedly been let loose from hell, Charley is looking into a closed case of a kidnapping which she figures out Reyes is the abducted child, the Captain of the police department is blackmailing Charley for an actual noble reason, we learn the truth about Angel, and some crooks find a away to incapacitate Reyes. Wow! That was a mouth full.

My Thoughts: Spoilers ahead! OMG! I loved this book. As I read, I was trying to keep up with everything that was going on. I felt like there was a lot going on. The incident with the deaf boy (I can't recall his name right now) was spooky, and I like that Charley cares so much about him and the ghost that she sees, to look into their tormentors. I am also happy that Charley finally figured out how to mark souls once she was in the midst of the dilemma with the Mendoza crew who attempted to kill her, successfully killed Reyes (though he was resurrected by Charley), and unfortunately killed Jessica (Charley's bff turned enemy). I see some interesting things developing from that situation since Jessica was always a skeptic toward Charley.
This book just had a lot going on and for that reason, I want to hate it because I'm hoping I don't forget anything as I move to the next book. But, it's Charley, she always has a lot going on. I am interested to see how the Dealer is going to play a role in all of this. I thought he was completely untrustworthy at first but he has proven himself useful a time or two. I like that he is also willing to give Charley more info than Reyes. I am actually starting to not trust Reyes because though he is sexy as hell, he seems to be hiding a lot that he could just tell Charley, but he doesn't want to.
But, in true Darynda Jones fashion, she leaves us with our mouths wide open at the end of the book as we find out that Charley is indeed preggers!!

~Remember, teachers read fun stuff too!

"Locket Full of Secrets" by Dana Burkey

3 of 5 stars.

I have finally finished reading this book!!!! I was supposed to finish reading this book in December to complete my GoodReads 2015 Challenge, but I am just now finishing the book. Lol! Life always finds a way to distract me from my reading.

The Basics: After Claire's best friend, Olena, has to suddenly leave, she returns several years later and leaves a dead body in the wake. Olena is now on the run and Claire has no idea what danger Olena could be in or what has become of her close friend. Claire has now went off to college and has a budding romance with Steven, when Olena pops back up. But, Olena is in search of the locket she gave Claire many years ago. Olena then takes Claire and Steven on a journey to Kiev and eventually Pripyat, the scene of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, to unveil a story that will uncover deception related to this disaster. In addition, there are many willing to kill Olena for the information she has and being with Olena makes Claire and Steven a perfect target.

My Thoughts: Though it took me forever to finish the book, I did enjoy it. The Chernobyl connection (though fictional) was a nice touch. I've never read or seen much about the Chernobyl disaster so it was nice to get a little background (and then I went and looked up some stuff on the internet, it is quite interesting). The relationship between Claire and Steven was sweet, but it was obvious that Olena an Steven knew each other in some way.
I did think some of the story line was a bit unbelievable, like Olena obtaining the passports in a short period of time and securing a significant amount of money for them to travel with. Either way, this was not the best story I've read but the Chernobyl connection made it much more interesting to read.

~Remember, teacher read fun stuff too!

"Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury

3 of 5 stars.

This book is a classic. I read it several years ago and decided to try to tackle it with my eighth graders. Some enjoyed it, some did not but it is such a great book to experience. Though for my students, it was a challenge and a bit archaic, there are some great discussion points in this novel. We spent a whole quarter reading this book (though it is short) because I had to make sure my students understood what they were reading and there were so many discussions we had based off of what was going on in the book.

The idea that the government can censor what you read is rather intriguing for my students. We had a discussion on whether this would be viable in the world we currently live in. We also discussed that it in the book, the government didn't have to stop citizens from reading, they pretty much did that on their own. The firemen where an added spectacle or "circus" as they are referred to it in the book.

Even the idea of having TV walls as Mildred sits in front of the TV like a zombie everyday, entertained my students. In actuality, there are many people like Mildred in the world we live in. So, though Bradbury wrote this book in the 50s about a futuristic society, we are indeed experiencing the things he wrote about. People are Ok with being entertained rather than informing themselves about what is going on in the world, the media seeks to distract the public away from the real issues in the world, people don't value education, children have become reckless, society is superficial, and knowledge is not valued. Isn't this the world we currently live in?

Though Bradbury can be overly descriptive and metaphorical, the content of his novel is a great leeway into awesome discussions. I have to think about whether I want to read it in the coming years with my students, but it definitely had my students thinking more than they usually do. We are going to follow up with the movie which will allow them to visualize some of the content of the novel.

~Remember, teachers read fun stuff too!