Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

This book has been an astounding shock to my way of life in very good ways.  While I don't necessarily buy all of the global warming propaganda, I can appreciate the need to buy local for many reasons.  Peppered with interesting statistics about our food industry, I found the most interesting to be the statement that our children's generation is the first to have a shorter life expectancy than the previous generation.  What!?!  I consider myself to be somewhat knowledgable about healthy food choices but in reading this book I realized how much I don't know. Now, I have been on the hormone/antibiotic/pesticide free bandwagon for awhile but what I had never considered was the ridiculous amount of money and petroleum spent to make every fruit or vegetable available to me year round.  Believe it or not eating what's in season has never been something I paid much attention to.  But it makes sense, if I buy local and what is in season then I am eliminating not only the waste of gas (and lining the pockets of the big oil companies) but probably buying and eating what my body and my kids bodies need during that time of year.  What a concept!  The biggest life changing information for me though was the thought that I would be helping big oil to continually line their pockets with my money when I buy stuff shipped here from all over the world.  So, I have decided that the best way I can make a difference is to buy at the very least Made in the USA, better California Grown and best from the farmers at my local market. Very interesting read.  I don't think I can do what she does and farm all of my needs from veggies and fruits to eggs and poultry but I will try to make my choices count towards the kind of world I want my children and grandchildren to grow up in.

Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Continuing my foray into the realm of teen supernatural romance are Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater.  Grace and Sam find one another in Shiver.  Grace is a girl who is fascinated by the wolves in the forest behind her house until she realizes that there is one she loves and who loves her back.  Sam remembers Grace from the woods and from his time as a wolf.  During the winter, Sam becomes a wolf and runs the woods with his pack but he is drawn again and again to the woods behind Grace's house.  Sam and Grace's new found love is a race against time, winter and a possible cure for Sam's changes.
In Linger, Sam and Grace fight to stay together but Grace has a dangerous secret of her own.  We'll find out how it all turns out in Forever...coming soon.  I like the series so far, it is something I would have read and loved as a teenager.

"Vampires are sooo....two years ago!"

One of the highschool girls who frequents my library uttered this insightful phrase and so I perused  the vast realm of supernatural teen romance novels.  Apparently, it's all about fallen angels and Nephilim now.  The Nephilim are the offspring of fallen angels and humans briefly mentioned in the Old Testament.
Well, there is nothing biblical about this trilogy by Lauren Tate but it is entertaining in a dark, twisty high school kind of way. An interesting alternative to glittering vampires and overheated werewolves.

Here are the descriptions of the individual stories:

FallenThere's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.
Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--and goes out of his way to make that very clear--she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.TormentHell on earth.

That's what it's like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel.It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts - immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students: Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.
At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn't told her everything. He's hiding something - something dangerous. What if Daniel's version of the past isn't actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else?

The second novel in the addictive Fallen series... where love never dies.
Passion
Luce would die for Daniel.

And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn't need to be that way....

Luce is certain that something - or someone - in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime, going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel... and to finally unlock the key to making their love last.
Cam and the legions of angels and Outcasts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as Daniel. He chases Luce through their shared pasts, terrified of what might happen if she rewrites history.Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames . . . forever. Sweeping across centuries, PASSION is the third novel in the unforgettably epic FALLEN series.

Back to Books....again.

I cannot believe it has been almost an entire year since I have written anything here.  What a sad testament to the state of my reading affairs during the school year.  Once again, I vow to do better...to read more, write more and stay current with my beloved Book Club website.