Croak by Gina Damico - review

Croak
Gina Damico
urban fantasy/Young Adult

cover - this cover kept me coming back.  it took me over a year to decide to buy this (young adult read), but the cover kept my interest until I finally broke down and bought the da**ed thing.  so glad I did. 

Croak. It's definitely a teen read.  There are some parts that are just a tad melodramatic, but they are trifling compared to the rest of the novel.  I enjoyed the writing style, the narration and the dialog of all the characters.  Pretty much early on, I had guessed which of the characters was going to be trouble, but I was surprised at just exactly how that trouble was going to go down...

Lex is a rather troubled young 'lady'.  This book has been out for a while already, so many already have read it.  I loved the premise of it.  Troubled teen (and boy is she trouble!) goes north to live with her strange Uncle Mort and finds herself in the strangest town ever.  Quirky characters abound, and you won't find this place on your own.  People who accidently stumble into this town find themselves leaving with hazy, vague memories of having a good time, and with quite a bit less money than they showed up with.

Turns out there's a good reason Lex has been having, er... anger issues.  She's been so angry and violent that her parents tend to tie her to kitchen chairs for dinner or talks.  There's this talent that's just dying to get out (pardon the bad pun).  And she's good at her talent, too good.

Ms Damico has a wonderful way with teen dialogue, teen anger, and the character of Uncle Mort is just priceless.  Wish I had an uncle who was as odd as Mort, who is just the right kind of off to deal with an angry, violent teen like Lex.

I found Croak to be a fun read with believable sounding teens in fantastic situations.  I would definitely recommend this to any teen who enjoys a good quirky story.

I recently bought the sequel, Scorched, and it's now languishing on my TBR pile - this rather large amount of books that I have waiting for me to read.

:)

It's Monday, and...brrrrrr

it's been a busy week. the normal work week; along with me getting the oh so bright idea of going into work an hour and a half early so I could volunteer in my granddaughter's classroom....

this wouldn't have been so traumatic, but then this also happened to be the night that the kinders, 1st, and 2nd graders were performing in the Winter Showcase.  ahhhh - this started at 6 p.m. and ended when it ended.
my last job of the day ended at five thirty, so i had a half hour to walk back down to the multipurpose room and snag a seat.  no such luck.  the room was standing room only at the back and sides - the seats were completely taken.  completely.  ahhhh - if it weren't for this being my first granddaughter's very first performance i would have left.  I was in so much pain from the cold and work - but i put on my big-girl panties (what a term!) and just handled it.

i would have posted a pic of the kids on stage, but i don't think it's okay to post pics with other kids without permission from all the parents, so you get a pic of the granddaughter in her glory.  she chose to wear her flower girl dress, with the neckalace from x-mas.  she was beautiful - all the kids did a great job singing and reciting their two poems, and i could swear that i could hear her voice over the rest of the class - it was blended in, but recognizable. not one shy moment from her - she got on stage with her class and belted out the song. all the kids had strong voices and carried the tune very well.  so proud of them.

when i finally made it home, i was in some extreme pain (helped by pain meds, thank god) - but i would totally do it again.  volunteering for the class was fun - working at a table with the kids, helping them understand their assignment - all fun.  then watching the performance with so many kids that i deal with on a daily basis between library, lunch supervision and daycare - so much fun also, amplified with my granddaughter being part of this.

Well - On to the Book Meme...

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey.  We "get together" and see what others have been reading - finished reading, and are reading.  It's fun.  It's easy.  It's a good thing to do.

I didn't get a whole lot of books finished, but I did finally finish....

Ghosts & Echoes by Lyn Benedict...good story, grew on me as I got further along.

I also finished another short story (or two) from the Dragonthology anthology.

The shorts were titled  Unto the Breach by Jason Andrew and The Dragon of Sullivan Hall by Marian Allen.  Both were good, opposite sides of the story telling spectrum.  And...

I finished reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie - a VERY good young adult novel written diary style with accompanying cartoons  great book, tackling issues such as alchololism, family disfunction, racism, stereotyping, sex and other things that teens go through on a daily basis.

I had a little more finished than I though I did...

currently reading...

Wicked Wives by Gus Pelagotti - a fictional account of some very greedy, crazed women based on true events.  Boy are some people evil!

I also used my last gift card to buy a few books at Barnes & Nobel.  Not sure which book I'll pick out to read yet - while putting one book away, I ended up completely rearranging a book shelf of mine, which of course led to pulling books from two other shelves, as well as moving the stack from my bedroom shelf onto an actual book shelf.  Really - a stack on my bedroom floor?  Yup - for reals.  The books from the bookstore giftcard were...

         

 Scorch (#2) by Gina Damico, DeathLands Nemesis by James Axler (confusing, is it really no 1 or no 10? as all the other DeathLands books seem to be numbered - whatever, it was hard to find online), God Save The Queen by Kate Locke and Disappearing Nightly by Laura Resnick (the first in a series that I've been trying to find ever since I bought the unclearly marked second of the series).  I'm kind of leaning toward reading God Save The Queen.

Going through some of my shelves was an exciting way to 'rediscover' some of the books I've been wanting to find - some that i've been wanting to read for a while, some that i've bought and FORGOTTEN  that I bought (like Tin Swift by Devon Monk - it's here.  I don't remember buying it, but it's here!)  Might be a good reason to go over the bookshelves - rediscovering books you forgot you've bought.  oh boy. 

What are you reading, and what are you planning..?

A book I might buy in March...

I was cruising my blog list, when I came across this blog (Katie's Book Blog) where she posted a variation of Waiting On Wednesday, or Books to Pine for memes...
Anyway, in her list of books she's been waiting for is this new book by Gina Damico. The blurb was pretty interesting and I kind of like the cover - girl looks downright sassy there. But even on Damico's website, I couldn't find an excerpt. Thankfully, I checked Barnes & Noble and LO......there was a pretty good length excerpt. I have to say, even though I'm not a huge Young Adult reader, I think I want to get this. It seems like it's going to be an interesting, humor filled book about town of grim reapers. yup. it's gonna be interesting.
Book comes out March 20, 2012