Author : Garth Nix

Book name : Abhorsen

Published : 2003

Paperback published : 2004

Pages : 518

 My lovely book was torn by my stupid schoolbag.....!!!!

Lirael and Sam need to stop the Destroyer from awakening. With the help of the Disreputable Dog and the cat, Mogget, they set off to save the whole world from total destruction.

This book is a seguel to Lirael. It has many different views from which the story is told from, but always it's clear from who's point the story is continuing from, though it's not from me point of view.

I really liked this one, even though it was hard to read it since I was sick and having so many distractions, but the overall was really good, and I would definitely read this book again. The ending cuts so close, and the ending is kind of sad, but it leaves room for another whole story to be told. I think there is a fourth book which has tales from Nick's life and some others, though I don't think it's really a sequel. I'm not sure.

Spoiler alert!! The ending was really different from what I thought it would be. At first, when I thought Lirael would die, I was like this can't be possible, but then when the Disreputable Dog takes her place to die instead, my heart skipped a beat. And when she died, I almost burst into tears. It was just too sad that Lirael's best friend would die, and especially since she was one of the seven, if the Destroyer would ever be freed again there would be no way to bound it. That made me even more sad, but I don't think there'll be another story about the Destroyer since this is(to my knowledge) for young adults, or teens, so a total destruction of the world sounds too cruel to a series that was so full of hope and had a happy ending, all in all.

This was another amazing piece of work from Nix, full of magic and magical beings, death but life, desperation but hope, and especially the ending had a great impact on me, it was full of power and joy, exactly how a story should be written. The only thing that disappointed me in this book was that the Shadow Hands' dark material was called stuff. That didn't suit the story at all, it felt like you had been in the middle of a serious conversation and someone yells poo. Seriously, I don't think many will notice this at all, but to me it was a great bummer.

Otherwise than that it was a wonderful book and I loved it! You definitely need to read it if you have read Lirael and Sabriel. You just can't leave the story unfinished.

Next I'll TRY to read Sabriel, but I might get sidetracked since I have so many good books left to read.... But either way I'll try to post another review as soon as possible!!

Once again all critique and comments and feedback is appreciated, both English and Finnish~~

Thank you for reading!!

-Katori~~

Lucy Dillon - The secret of happy ever after

Author : Lucy Dillon
Book name : A secret of happy ever after
Pages : 493
Published : 2011

Michelle is starting her life over, trying to make herself a new person and forgetting her past. She's still married, though.
Anna lives with her husband and his three children and a dalmatian. She dreams of her own baby, but will it be possible for her to have her own little baby when there are three other children in need of her constant attention and care.

What I liked about this book was that it had so many elements in it. There isn't just the friendship of the two women, Michelle and Anna, but also their love life, parenthood, having children, step-mother, dogs, bookshop, business keeping, divorce, all sorts of things. It felt like too much at some point, like Dillon couldn't possibly finish it so that there would be a happy ending, and I found myself stressing over at what will happen to the women and their loved one's.

I originally picked this book up because it tells about a woman starting her own book shop, but it was so much more than just that. I loved all the characters, no matter how they acted, because I could see a goodness in all of them, except for two who I found awful. But all the main characters were lovely, especially in the end when they could get past their problems.

I was quite disappointed with the ending though. It left me wanting for something more. It felt like it didn't really end, like there would be a sequel, but there isn't to my knowledge and that took away from the whole reading experience, but even with that it was a good read and I could imagine reading the book again sometime in the future.

I'll try to finish my next book(Abhorsen, sequel to Lirael) really soon, and after that I'm, probably reading Sabriel, maybe some The Hunger Games and The Language Of Flowers, + other books I have unread~~(which is a lot! XD)

Hope you liked this, please feel free to comment or give me critique or advice on how to improve~~