Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner

Bones of Faerie by  Janni Lee Simner, 256 pages
Book 1 of the series

The war between humans and Faerie has changed the modern world. Gone are all the conveniences of life. The world is unfriendly with trees and plants that attack and kill. Any trace of magic is evil and must be destroyed, or so teen Liza has been taught by her fanatical father. She witnessed him carrying her newborn sister to the wilderness, leaving her to die, all because she was born with silver hair. Her mother left soon after -- considered tainted by magic. When magic presents itself in Liza, she flees from her home in terror knowing her father and the villagers will kill her for it. Her only hope is to find her mother. Joined by others possessing magical gifts, Liza soon comes to realize the world is not as evil as she first thought it to be. Can it the gap between faerie and humans be healed?

Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay

Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay, 304 pages
(Library Lovers Mystery book 1)

Oh boy, where to start on this disappointing, yet aptly named book. For one thing, _EVERY_ character was way too stereotypical from the overweight-Barney Fife Chief of Police to the smarmy boyfriend/victim. (Even the effervescent children's librarian dresses up like Eric Carle's Hungry Caterpillar to do storytime). The story follows Lindsey Norris, newly-made director of the Briar Creek Library who has your typical cantankerous reference librarian, geeky pages and silly children's librarian all on her staff. All is well in the homey little town full of knitters, picturesque seasides and New England recipes until the local celebrity children's author is murdered and the Children's Librarian becomes the prime suspect. Of course you can't have someone accused of murder in a small town without the over-dressed, overly aggressive local news reporter (who doesn't care what the truth is) trying to harass the next big story out of the locals.  I'm surprised my eyes didn't get stuck in the back of my head from rolling them so much. Unbelievably, I finished the story. Was I surprised of who the murderer was? Nope. It was pretty much an open shut case from the very beginning.

Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross

Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross, 326 pages

Spare yourself the agony and do not pick up this book. It is, by far, the worst book I have read. The main character, Maude Pichon, joins an agency that hires ugly girls as companions to the wealthy to make the upper society women more attractive. She does so after failing to make it on her own in Paris. I can sum up the whole story in three sentences: Girl leaves home because father wants to marry her off to a horrible, older man. Girl moves to Paris to become something more but ends up as an ugly companion to a debutante who doesn't wish to marry. Debutante goes on to be what she wants to be and Girl starts a whole new life being something more than just an ugly companion. That pretty much sums up the whole story.