Huh??

1) Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey / JF / ***
I was surprised this book was JF... I think it should have been YA. It is the story of a blacksmith's daughter who longs to leave the home of her abusive father.  She gets her wish to leave, but only when she escapes her captors after being accused of witchcraft.  She is assisted in her journey by a woodsman who is more than he seems.  The story has many Arthurian references. I enjoyed the first 3/4 of the story but the last quarter was a little odd to me. The resolution happened in literally one paragraph. It was very strange. 
2) Tiger's Voyage (Book 3 in the Tiger's Curse Series) by Colleen Houck / YA / *
Favorite line: “Regrets are only felt by those who do not understand life's purpose.”  
This is the third book in the Tiger's Curse SERIES. Notice I said SERIES.  I seriously think someone needs to come up with a word to describe the dizzy feeling you get when you are about 3/4 of the way through a book you THINK is the last of a trilogy and you realize there is NO WAY the story is going to be resolved in the amount of pages you have left.  I am so disappointed in this book. It was THAT BAD.  I don't even want my girls to read it for fear that they will think any part of the behavior of the main female character is normal (or acceptable) in any shape or form. 
3) Paper Towns by John Green  / YA / ***1/2
Favorite line: “Those of us who frequent the band room have long suspected that Becca maintains her lovely figure by eating nothing but the souls of kittens and the dreams of impoverished children.” 
John Green is a great YA author. The book begins with a middle of the night adventure undertaken by the main character, Q, and his old-best-friend-who-is-now-out-of-his-league Margo Roth Spiegalman.  She convinces Q to help her exact revenge on all that have wronged her... and then disappears.  The rest of the book Quentin and his friends are trying to find Margo.  The first of the book was quick paced and exciting as Q and Margo have their adventure. The middle part of the book dragged along while Q follows clues left by Margo.  The later part of the book is hysterical as Q and his friends skip high school graduation and go on the ultimate road trip to find their friend.  It was laugh out loud funny.  It seriously brought back a lot of memories of high school for me. 
4) The Dovekeepers: A Novel by Alice Hoffman  / A / ****
Favorite line: “Let my burden be your burden, and yours be mine.” 
This is the story of four Jewish women after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Empire in 70AD.  The people have fled to the desert fortress of Masada which became a last hold-out.  The story is told in four voices as each woman progresses the story while also telling their back story.  The story was beautifully written.  It made me want to learn more about the events.
5) Restoring Harmony by Joëlle Anthony / YA / ** 1/2
You know I love me some dystopian apocalyptic literature.  This one was set in the 2040's after "The Collapse".  It is a story of a young girl in Canada whose family loses contact with her grandparents in Oregon.  She is sent on a journey to find the grandparents and bring them home. Sounds great right?  Well it just wasn't SCARY enough. No one tried to EAT anyone.  There was the big bad mafia but even then they were mild.  People weren't SUFFERING enough.  The characters were not well explored, either.  Just a little too light and fluffy for me.