What I read in October!

My daughter just informed me that she "loves to read my blog, but the 'what I read' blogs are stupid".  Oh, well....enjoy, child :)

1.  39 Clues:  Flashpoint So here's what was really good about this book.  It was the last one in the series.  And the last series in the collection.  So....we really did enjoy listening to the adventures of Amy and Dan as they searched for the 39 Clues and then saved the world over and over again...and I'm glad they can now just be kids.  Until they decide to write another series I guess.  Final opinion on the whole collection?  Worth it--especially as a book on CD--the kids and I enjoyed them, the reader was decent, the storylines entertaining...but I'm glad they are done!
2.  My Sisters, The Saints (Colleen Carroll Campbell) I picked this up at the library after seeing it in a display at church.  Amazon calls it a "spiritual memoir" and I'd say that is accurate.  It tells one woman's story through her young adult life and who her spiritual mentors or role models were at each stage.  It included brief biographies of each of the women, all saints in the Catholic Church as well as stories about the author's life.
3.  The Best of Me (Nicholas Sparks)  Those of you who know me personally know I'm a sucker for a good Nicholas Sparks book...don't bother with this one if you feel the same.  One of my least favorite of his books...I could tell what was coming about half way through.  It was still a tear jerker, but not up to his usual standard.
4.  Legend (Marie Lu)  Ok, Child, if you are reading--read this--loved this book!  It is a young adult, post apocalyptic story about life in what used to be the Western United States.  It has a lot of similarities to the Hunger Games series, but a different twist.  Very entertaining, has a love story, has adventure and part is set in Denver (or maybe that is one of the other two books in the series)
5.  I Will Fear No Evil (Debbie Viguie)  I still want to know "what happens next" in this series...and this book was better than a couple of the others in the series.  I guess there could be up to 8 more...so I won't hold my breath to get to the "happy ending"
6.  Life Before Legend (Marie Lu)  This was free for a few days on Amazon, part of a promotion to get us to buy the trilogy, I suppose!  It gave some back story and character development for the Legend series...if you read the Legend Trilogy, pick this up, too.
7.  Prodigy (Marie Lu) I think I actually held my breath at points, hoping that the story wouldn't "take a turn for the stupid" like other trilogies have.  It was good--still entertaining!
8.  Champion (Marie Lu)  I read an interview with Marie Lu about this book in which she said that she hoped "her fans didn't hate her after reading the ending".  After my experience with Allegient (Argh!  Still makes me frustrated!) I was kind of hesitant...and I have to say I liked the ending!  It isn't what I expected and it was well done. Yay!

Total so far this year?  81...

Next up on the reading list:
Reedemed--the 12th book in that crazy vampire series that I couldn't stop reading last winter  stay tuned... I'm sure it will be an exciting report....
and someday I promise I really will write my report on Drive, I did finish it, sort of (I skipped a couple chapters) so I hadn't included it in my list yet..