Single Dad's Christmas Miracle

Althea Johnson takes a job as a tutor for Jack, Clark Beaumont son. He has another child Teagen. His ex-wife cheated on him with another man. Clark has struggled with this for 3 years after the divorce. He didn't put his kids in school because he was nervous about the gossip. Because of this his 12 year old son has no friends and his 3 year old daughter can't talk. Althea works her magic by stiring up some Christmas magic for Clark and help to feel like she finally belongs somewhere. She helps him conquer his fears. She is scared to get involved with a relationship with Clark because of her dad abusing her as a kid. She stole her dad's car to get away from him when she was 18 and he wants money for it. She leaves Clark because of this. He goes after her, the tell each other they love each other, get married, and live happily ever after. I hope they have a kid together too.

Oddly Normal One Family's Struggle to Help Their Teenage Son Come to Terms with His Sexuality

This book was a memoir written by John Schwartz. The story took place outside NYC in New Jersey. It was about his son Joe and his struggle through elementary to high school about being gay. I found it very interesting since I am friends with several LGBT people. I liked seeing the inside mind of how a father dwelt with trying to advocate for his kid and identifying the signs he saw from an early age of being gay. He also provided statistics and information about LGBT youth. Joe struggled with his teachers and it was hard to find any support for kids that are gay. He went through a suicide incident and had to be taken to the hospital. He encountered many psychologists who tried to label him as having autism or Asperger's but he didn't have these conditions. In middle school he found support in a center in NYC that provided services and fun activities for LGBT kids. After attending the center for a few months he finally felt comfortable enough to come out at school. He attended a LGBT camp. It was great to hear it from a parents perceptive on dealing with Joe struggle but it would have been interesting to read it from Joe's perceptive.

Heroes of Olympus The Son of Neptune

Like I said in my previous post about this about this series that Percy Jackson is missing. He has been wandering around in the wilderness and led to the wolf house where he was trained for Camp Jupiter. Camp Jupiter is the Roman camp version of Camp Half-Blood. He was led down to the camp and fighting monsters along the way. He rescues a Goddess aka Hera that gives him great recognition at camp. He can't remember anything just like Jason. He starts to learn the ways of how the Romans train and it's very different from Camp Half-Blood. I find it quite interesting. The gap between life and death has increased. The door of death have been opened too far. So people that are supposed to die don't die. This isn't good if no one dies the cycle of balance gets messed up and the harder it is to repair the damage.
       Hazel is the daughter of Pluto aka Hades. She has this curse that she can find hidden gems but they are cursed. She is supposed to be dead. She went to rescue her mother form Gaia on an island. They both sacrificed their lives to keep Gaia from rising. Frank is the son of Mars aka Ares. He is very special with tons of gifts. He was supposed to die when he was a baby but his mom saved him. He has a curse too. If this stick of wood gets burned he dies. Percy, Hazel, and Frank are sent on a mission to rescue Thantos the guard of the underworld. There are a ton of monsters on their way to fight Camp Jupiter. They encounter the goddess Iris (Goddess of Rainbows), some poisonous snakes, and the Amazons warriors who use the Amazon company as a cover. Hazel also encounters her dream horse who takes them on a fast chariot ride. They travel to Portland to see a seer and rescue a harpy that is very smart and has a huge impact on their journey. They unintentionally encounter Frank's granny's house. Frank is actually related to Percy. His ancestor was Poseidon's nephew. He has an ability where he can shape shift into anything he wants. He was given a magical spear by his dad. His granny confirms his family gift and gives him a plane ride to Alaska to free Thantos. There was a small gathering of ogres waiting for them.
      After arriving in Alaska, Percy falls through a mud hole and Hazel rescues him and they do some reminiscing of her old life in while cleaning up. they then charter Arion (Hazel's dream horse) that only she can control to take them to the glacier. After arriving at the top they encounter an ice version of Camp Jupiter. They battle the giant and free Thantos. Frank gets to use his gift of shape shifting a lot. Then after defeat they hurry to Camp Jupiter to help aid in the attack. Percy reunites with Tyson. They also rescue some imperial gold tools, imperial gold is deadly to monsters, which makes the battle happen much quicker. Even the Amazons show up to help. After the battle is over Percy is accepted by the Romans and named the praetor. He doesn't want to be this because he misses Annabeth too much and he feels like Jason should have it instead. Percy learns that Hera kidnapped Jason and Percy and erased their memories so that they could both unite the camps together so the Prophesy of 7 can be fulfilled and the gods and demigods need to work together to take on the final battle with Gaea. They receive a letter from Leo saying to let the metal boat enter the camp and they have nothing to fear. Frank and Hazel become close and actually start dating but does their romance get ruined because Leo is actually her long lost soul mate? After the boat arrives Percy hurries to meet with Annabeth who he is dying to see.

Wrecked

Miranda and her friends go out on the ocean on her boat that she doesn't use very often. There was an accident and all her friends die except for 2. She lives on an island and goes to an elite private school. Her parents were killed in a car accident when she was younger. There is a legend on the that there is a sea witch named Sephie causes she accidents all the time and if you say her name on the ocean it can cause an accident. Everyone on the island blame Miranda for the accident. She is isolated and her boyfriend, who was on the boat during the accident, is in a coma. Then she meets Christian. He is a merman. He was sent by Sephie to take her soul because she was not supposed to be rescued. But they end up falling in love. He decides he wants revenge on her so he wants to kill her. In the meantime Sephie calls the cops and tries to get Christian arrested. She can come on land and hosts a dinner party. Miranda attends that party and is captured by Sephie, tied up, and she tries to drown her. Christian like a knight in shinning armor comes to rescue her and wants to have her take him instead.
         Then Miranda ends up catching her and the boat on fire. Everyone gets off the boat this time with no casualties thank the Lord. But after all that Christian and Miranda can't be together because he is cursed to be in the water. It was a book I couldn't put down but I was disappointed by the ending. I wish there was a sequel where they could be together. I love mermaid romance! I loved this book but I only give it 4 stars because they couldn't be together.

The Heroes of Olympus The Lost Hero

This is 1st book by Rick Riordan following the Percy Jackson series after the great war with the Titian's. They are defeated but there is a new enemy on the rise who wants wrath upon the Gods and demigods for destroying her Titian's. Percy Jackson is missing. Jason, Piper, and Leo are the new heroes in this book. Jason wakes up with no memory, with friends, and people he doesn't recognize. He is the son of Zeus. Piper is the daughter of Aphrodite and Leo is the son of Hephaestus the God of fire and blacksmiths. They attend the Wilderness School for troubled kids. While on a field trip their class is attacked and their teacher is killed.  Piper's dad was kidnapped by the giants. The 3 of them are sent on a mission to rescue Hera who was kidnapped when Zeus shut down Olympus.
      Leo discovers a secret cave at camp half blood and he finds a dragon made out of metal. He fixes it up and uses on the mission. He can make things randomly appear, control metal, make stuff, and has a rare fire power. Leo is traumatized by thinking that he killed his mother when he was young but it really wasn't his fault. Hera has tormented Leo since he was a baby and she still does. He isn't very excited about freeing her. Even though Jason has amnesia he knows he doesn't belong in camp half blood. He later discovers that his sister is Talia. Piper has the gift of charm speak. Her dad is a famous actor. They are part of a prophesy of 7 demigods that are supposed to try to save Olympus from Gaea and the Giants. On the mission they are attacked by cyclopes, encounter a King Midas, and meet Medea. When they encounter Medea they discover that their teacher Coach Hedge is still alive.
      They are all supposed to be dead. The Underworld is starting to bring back people and monsters that should be dead and monsters don't stay dead. They can materialize instantly. They also visit Aneomi the wind God to help find the Wolf house where the Goddess Hera is being held. They find the wolf house and free Hera, and stop the rise of the leader of the giants. Gaia is trying to awaken and if that happens it's bad super bad. The 3 of them stop the awakening of her for now.

Ice Kissed

This is the second book to the Kanin Chronicles. The queen of Skojare people didn't feel safe so she had Bryn and Kasper come to the kingdom and make some changes to the guard. Ridley and her relationship started heating up too and he was willing to step down as Oveste so they could be together. I thought it was very romantic. Bryn's friend gets married. She feels at home in Skojare but she feels uneasy. The king's son Kennet takes an interest to her while she is there but she doesn't feel the same way back and get a strange/dark feeling when she is around him. The king is almost gets killed but Bryn and the queen save him. There were some jewels stolen out of the vault. The king is arrested and sent to the dungeon. Kennet becomes the next king. Bryn was right about the Kennet. He was responsible for the stolen jewels, the attempt on the king's life, and wanted him out of the way so he could rule. She accuses the prince of committing the crimes but he denies it. As punishment she is banned from her kingdom and Ridley helps her escape. Awe so sweet. At the end of the book she meets up with Konstantin Black, by accident, and asks her who side she is on and if she wants to join him. There are lot's of twists in this book and I can't wait to find out what happens in the 3rd book.

Ensnared

This is the last book to the Splintered series. Alyssa journey's into Anywhere-Else which is also known as the Looking Glass World with her dad to rescue Jeb and Morpheus who are trapped there. She has to rescue her mom too but she is in Wonderland. A lot of weird things happen. She learns about her dad and how he has family that lives in the Anywhere-Else and he was actually a prince. He would have ruled if he hadn't been rescued by her mom. Once they locate Jeb and Morpheus she discovers that Jeb has got magic from Red and Morpheus has lost his magic. Jeb can bring his paintings to life. At first Jeb was very made at Alyssa for kissing Morpheus but after a while he forgives her and the go back out again. Eventually Alyssa gets inhabited by Red's spirit and then she puts her spirit to good use. Jeb, Morpheus, and the Ivory queen restore Wonderland, leave Anywhere-Else, and rescue her mom. I cried when I thought Jeb was dead but he wasn't. That was a relief. I really enjoyed it! The ending was great!!! She got to have her human life with Jeb by getting married, baring children, and growing old. Then she got to go back to Wonderland, return to age 16, become queen, and marry Morpheus. She has a child with Morpheus too. This puts an end to the stealing of children's souls from the human world to Wonderland.