Book Bucket List | Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

A few weeks ago, I wrote about some of the series that have new books coming out this year.  One of them was Ransom Rigg's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  The second book in the series, Hollow City, was released earlier this year.  And while I wrote about them, I had never read the actual book so checked it out on my Kindle over our Overdrive app.  I finished it in two days.  It was fantastic and the most I've enjoyed a fantasy book since Harry Potter.  I put myself on the hold list for Hollow City and finished that quickly too. 

Jacob, a self described average teenager, is bored of his life as a privileged kid in Florida.  He works part time at a drug store and is constantly trying to handle his eccentric grandfather. Jacob's grandfather has always had a mysterious past, but once the circumstances involving his death are suspicious, Jacob is drawn into a world he thought only existed in fairy tales.

Hollow city, the sequel, takes off exactly where the first book leaves off.  There's no break in the action, and it's easy to dive right back into the story. (Though in my case there was no break between finishing the first and starting the second book.)  There is more action, more character development, and definitely more peculiarity in this sequel.

The books also contain real photographs that have had little to no doctoring.  The strangeness of these real photos adds a lot of realism to the otherwise fantastical books.

Book Bucket List | New Series for a New Year!

I've been in a reading rut lately where it's been hard for me to keep reading a new book after starting.  I was looking through books that are coming out in 2014, and a lot of them are the latest in a series.  So here are a few series to start if you need extended reading material.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs was one of the most popular paranormal books in the last couple of years.  The story follows Jacob, a sixteen year old reeling from a recent family tragedy.  On the island of Wales, he comes across an abandoned orphanage and finds clues about what happened to its residents and why they're no longer there. Hollow City is the next book in this series and it comes out on April 14th.  Jacob ends up in London, which is the hotbed of Peculiars.  Unfortunately, Jacob and his friends are at risk again, but this time from a super natural threat.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer is an updated take on the Cinderella story.  Instead of being the downtrodden step sister, Cinder is half android, which makes her a second class citizen.  However, she is unaware of her true identity which turns out to be too dangerous of a secret.  The third book in the series, Cress, is being released this February.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion was a popular title after it's release because it was almost a spoof on teen romance stories like Twilight. (Because honestly, who falls in love with a zombie??)  In a recent interview, Marion said that he set out for Warm Bodies to be a self contained story in a single book, but the world kept expanding in his mind.  In 2014, the sequel to Warm Bodies will be released.  You can also see the film based on the first book, which we have in our collection.