The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

[From back cover]

Welcome to the magical world of Venice, Italy. Here, hidden canals and crumbling rooftops shelter runaways and children with incredible secrets….

After escaping from their cruel aunt and uncle, orphans Prosper and Bo meet a mysterious boy who calls himself the “Thief Lord.” Clever and charming, the Thief Lord leads a band of street children who enjoy making mischief. But the Thief Lord also has a dark secret. And suddenly Prosper and Bo find themselves on a fantastical journey to a forgotten place. What they discover there will change the course of their destiny… forever.

Fob’s review:
This book won many awards and I don’t know if it actually deserved it or not. The was good, but not incredible and I found the beginning very boring. The book only started to get interesting once the detective actually starts talking to the children. I recommend the book for it’s insight into children’s lives and how they view their world. I warn you though. The beginning was very boring…

Fob’s rating: 3.5/5 (Boring beginning.)

Westminster Abby (SASS 1) by Micol Ostow

[From back cover]

Abby has always considered herself to be a little vanilla – sweet, plain, and not very exciting. So when she finds herself flying across the ocean to London, trying to forget her problems with her cheating ex-boyfriend and her overprotective parents, she figures her semester abroad is her chance to become one big hot-fudge sundae. And she isn’t disappointed. London boasts a plethora of funky pubs and shops, drivers on the wrong side of the street, French fries called chips, and a very charming Brit named Ian. As Abby moves closer to the vision of her wild-child self, she realizes that sometimes leaving behind what you know best actually brings you closer to what you know best – yourself.

Fob’s review:
Okay, last time I said that this series was a romance series, but I take that back. Its just a chick series that highlights teen problems and girls with different personalities who go through a life changing study-abroad program. Oh yeah, they also finds some guy they end up liking.

Of course I’m not disappointed. The main characters in the books really feel real and their problems are also very realistic. You can relate a lot with these girls who were just taken out of real life from the likes of me and you! I absolutely felt for this character because I know what it’s like to have overprotective parents…

Fob’s rating: 5/5 (Yep, once again the authors in this series accomplish what they were supposed to. These books are really funny too!)

Getting the Boot (SASS 2) by Peggy Guthart Strauss

[From back cover]

Studying abroad isn’t at all like Kelly thought it would be. Instead of shopping for fine Italian leather and living in an elegant apartment with a view of the Colossuem, she is stuck in a stuffy dorm room with three other girls, and is sharing one shower with the entire floor! This is not the bella Roma that she’d dreamed of. But there is on part of Italy that Kelly doesn’t mind — Joe, a really cute guy who’s in the study-abroad program too. Joe’s into staying up late and partying hard, two things that Kelly used to love doing. Bad habits are hard to break, and she soon finds herself on thin ice with the program coordinators. If Kelly’s not careful, she just might get the boot….

Fob’s review:
SASS (Students Across the Seven Seas) is teen romance series by penguin that follows, mostly girls I believe, a student’s experience on the SASS study-abroad program. The series is meant to be for romance lovers who don’t want to deal with the adult romance novels. I started with the second book in the series apparently, but it doesn’t matter which one you start with because all the books in the series have different characters. What I liked about the book were all the descriptions and background stuff about Italy. You really get to experience the country through the main characters!

Getting the Boot was mainly focused on the theme of friendship, which was very sweet. All the characters in the book reminded me of many people from my high school, so the book was realistic enough. It went through some of the many left turns teens take. Kelly Brandt, the protagonist, is faced with all these choices and while I was reading I kept rooting for her to take the right turn. I also laughed a lot! There’s a lot of sarcastic humour in the dialogues. It was a short and fun read.

Fob’s rating: 5/5 (It’s not an extraordinary book by any means and it doesn’t bring anything that’s new, but the book does accomplish what it’s meant to accomplish. Hats off to the author for accomplishing a fine romance novel for teens!)

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Imagine you could bring characters out of the books you read aloud. Imagine you had no control over this gift. Imagine that one of your loved ones disappeared into the book. Imagine that the most evil villain was standing right in front of you. What would you do? How would you change the story unfolding before your eyes?

Would you want this gift?

Fob’s review:
We’ve all had moments when we wished we could truly escape into some of our beloved books. Or moments when we really wished we could meet some of these incredible characters! Cornelia Funke takes this wish and uses it in her Inkheart series where the ability to bring characters to life is more like a curse then blessing.

I found the book’s concept wonderful and some of the characters in the book were really well done! I especially loved Elinor! Unfortunately, the main characters in the book didn’t feel as ‘human’ as the secondary characters.

The biggest disappointment was the villain himself. From the beginning, the villain is described like Voldemort from Harry Potter. The villain is so evil that everyone is scared of him and has even labeled him as a demon. Alas, when we finally meet this “villain” he comes across as a spoilt rich kid who likes too bully others. He’s more like Malfoy. Ooo, I’m sooo scared! [sarcasm]

The big bully and his henchmen definitely let the book down. Keep your chin up though. I hear that the sequel is far more brilliant and makes up for all the mistakes in this book!

Fob’s rating: 4.75/5 (Some parts weren’t that logical.)

Half-Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer

Fletcher Moon is not like any other kid. He’s short for his age and that earned him the humiliating nickname “Half Moon”. That’s not what makes him special though. Fletcher, unlike his schoolmates, has a very special talent for sniffing out mysteries, which unfortunately costs him socially.

Fletcher doesn’t care about that as much as he cares more about his silver-plated detective’s badge. He earned it after graduating at the top of his class on an Internet class. This made him the youngest detective in the world officially!

Things have been going as usual for Fletcher until a classmate hires him to solve a crime. Everybody believes it’s the Sharkeys even Fletcher. But the unthinkable happens. Fletcher’s badge gets stolen and soon he finds himself framed for arson! Can Fletcher solve his client’s case, get his badge back, and clear his name? He only has twelve hours to find out!

Fob’s review:
The book was pretty good. I found the characters quite funny and believable. The story reminded me of a cartoon I used to watch when I was little. I’m hoping the author will publish the sequel to this book soon because it was definitely a fun read and short too. Three hundred pages approximately. Okay, the author hasn’t said anything about making this into a series, but the ending eluded to something of that sort.

If Half-Moon becomes a series then Eoin Colfer will have two series about child geniuses. Half-Moon being a detective and Artemis just being himself (the all-around genius). Eoin Colfer is going down as one of my favourite authors!

Fob’s rating: 4.75/5 (A few parts were boring, but they didn’t impact my reading that much.)