Sorry I Pooped in Your Shoe

Sorry I Pooped in Your Shoe: (and Other Heartwarming Letters from Doggie) by Jeremy Greenburg is a book with delightfully cute pictures of dogs followed by letters to their owners (or inanimate objects) .  These letters say all the things we would imagine that dogs would say such as "Piggy told me you said I was cuter as a puppy" and "why do you make me eat alone on the floor."

This is an adorably cute book that will have adults and kids laughing.  It would also make a good demonstration for a creative writing project for kids.  This is the type of book that you can put on your coffee table for adults and kids alike to enjoy.

Appropriateness:  This is  an adult book but it's one that kids would enjoy.  There is a little potty humor so you'd want to keep it away from kids who are still working on making sure that they don't repeat inappropriate phrases.  I would recommend it to kids and adults 8 and up.

ARC received from netgalley.

Bunheads

Bunheads by Sophie Flack follows Hannah a dancer in the Corps of the Manhattan Ballet.  Sophie's life is the ballet, she goes to rehearsal and class and performances every night and hopes to become a soloist.  When she meets a guy outside of the ballet she finds herself struggling to find the time to see him and starts questioning her priorities.  Is the life of a professional dancer really what she wants?

I loved this book.  It was a book about a dancer that was obviously written by someone with insider experience.  I really felt like I was getting a peek into the life of a dancer in a serious ballet company.  The descriptions of the dance and costumes were fantastic.  The characters and the plot are entertaining enough but it's not exactly the most original plot.  I was very happy to find that this wasn't a book about a girl who decides to give up everything for a boy, Hannah makes her own decision because of what is right for her.

Appropriateness:  Hannah is nineteen and has been living on her own since she was a young teen and acts like a nineteen year old.  There is a large amount of underage drinking and a bit of non descriptive sex.  There is a large amount of weight talk in the book, much of which is unhealthy, as the company requires the dancers to have a super slim silhouette.  While I suspect this book will be marketed as a romance the romance is only a small part of the story and readers should read this book as a look into the world of dance and not as a romance novel.  I would recommend the book to teens and adults 14+ and I'd encourage parents of younger readers to address the alcohol and diet/eating disorder issues that are present in the story.

Bite Club

Bite Club is the 10th Book is the Morganville Vampires Series.  The Morganville Vampire series follows Claire a 16 year old prodigy who attends Texas Prairie University because her parents aren't ready for her to go off to MIT.  After an altercation Claire moves off campus into The Glass House with three other young people.  Michael a rocker with a secret, Shane a cute boy with a troubled past and goth girl Eve.  Morganville isn't your ordinary town.  It's controlled by vampires.  These aren't nice vampires, these vampires control what the human citizens do through force and give protection with regular blood donations.  It's an excellent paranormal romance series that teens and adults enjoy.

In Bite Club a new gym has opened up in town and is being run by a sketchy young vampire who has special powers.  Shane quickly becomes interested in the gym and starts sparing with vampires.  He seems more and more distant and Claire soon learns that vampire/human fights are being broadcast on the internet.

While I loved all of the other books in the series I was disappointed in this installment.  The characters and the mythology all seemed a little off like it was taken over by a ghostwriter who wasn't quite familiar with the intricacies of the town or it's inhabitants.  When Claire was so upset about Shane (who was being physically and emotionally abusive to her) being gone so much that she cried at his wrinkled bedsheets I rolled my eyes in frustration at Claire's total change of character.  Additionally the author added some narration by Shane that really took away from the storytelling.  They were unneeded and took away from the flow of the story and I skimmed or skipped them after I got half way through the book.  The story did have it's moments and it hasn't quite jumped the shark (as often happens when a series gets this many books) I'm hoping the next book goes back to the Morganville that I've come to love.

Appropriateness:  This series has a little adult content but not much and it's handled well.  There is some sex between the main characters in the series but it is not frequent or descriptive and it takes several books before it happens and the young couples display a strong sense of commitment and an understanding that they need to not rush into things.  There is a little alcohol use in college party settings but it does not happen in every book.  There is quite a bit of violence.  I would recommend this series to teens 13 and up and the adult crossover audience.

Bite Me

Bite me by Parker Blue stars Val a part demon who fights vampires. Val has spent her teenage years hunting vampires to keep the succubus (sex demon) inside of her under control.  When Val turns 18 she is kicked out of her house and fired from her job in her parents bookstore because her mother claims she's a bad influence on her little sister.  After leaving in a huff she meets a talking dog (a hellhound with the ability to sniff out vampires) and gets a job with the police department's paranormal department and is partnered up with a sexy partner.

 I enjoyed this book and it's a great series for the crossover audience.  Val is a strong female character who kicks a lot of vampire butt and her fluffy hell hound sidekick is entertaining.  The romance has a nice buildup and left me hoping for more at the end of the book and there is lots more of vals story to tell.

Appropriateness:  This book was marketed to me as a YA paranormal romance with crossover appeal and I agree.  It read quite like the adult paranormal romances I like to read except it was missing the sex and had a younger heroine.  The main character does not live with her parents and lives and works in an adult world.  Val is a succubus and struggles with the sexual urges of her demon.  There are a couple steamy makeout sessions but no actual sex.  I would recommend this book to paranormal romance fans 16 and up (but it is not inappropriate for younger readers) and teens who are transitioning to adult romance novels.

Review copy obtained from the publisher via netgalley 

America Pacifica

 America Pacifica by Anna North is a dystopian novel that takes place on a tightly packed small tropical island where Americans have moved to following an ice age which made North America Uninhabitable.  The island is controlled by a leader who ensures that the rich (those who made it to the island first) live a nice and comfortable life while the poor squander to stay alive.  Darcy has grown up on the island in severe poverty dropping out of school to work at a nursing home to help support herself and her mother.  When her mother disappears she drops everything to find her and uncovers more than she expected about the real history of the island and it's founders.

I had mixed feelings about this book, it's being cross marketed to the YA audience so I expected something completely different, once I realized it was an adult book I enjoyed it more.  The book is very gritty.  Darcy lives in total poverty and is so desperate to find her mother that she is willing to do anything to get information.  While the story was entertaining it was not always engrossing and the dystopia and "enemy" were not strong enough for this book to be fantastic.  There were plot points and characters that were unnecessary and distracting to the main plot which bogged down the story for me and the lack of a strong and prevalent secondary character kept me detached at times.  Darcy went from place to place and met with different people most of which did not ever appear again.

Appropriateness:  As I said earlier I was initially under the impression that this was a Young Adult audience because it has been cross promoted to YA bloggers.  This is not a young adult book, it is an adult book that has a main character that is a teenager.  The main character is a reformed drug addict (who huffed solvent) and speaks longingly about the drugs as an escape.  There is quite a bit of sexual content in this book which are "icky" rather than erotic.  There are descriptions of sexual organs, masturbation and a graphic description of Darcy having sex with someone for information.  There is some violence but not a large amount and there is no romance at all.  I would recommend this book to science fiction and dystopia fans 16+ who would not be put off by the sexual content.  This book isn't erotica by any sense and would not be harmful for younger readers however the nature of the sexual content is of the type that would make younger readers uncomfortable.

Insatiable

Insatiable by Meg Cabot follows Meena, an independent young woman who loves her job writing for the soap opera Insatiable. She hates vampires and is not happy when her boss tells her that she is going to have to write one into the storyline of her soap. Later while taking her dog for a walk she is attacked by a horde of bats and is protected by a handsome stranger. When she meets him later at a dinner party held by her neighbor she falls instantly for him. After their lovely night together she finds that he's a vampire and all the hi-jinks start happening.

Insatiable is different than Cabot's previous adult fiction. While it is about a young woman who knows what she wants it's missing much of the humor that I've come to expect from Cabot. It is much darker than one would expect from Cabot. It's more than just a fun love story. It is a fantastic paranormal fantasy and it's a different take on the vampire craze and will introduce a new set of fans to Cabot's work.

Appropriateness:  This is an adult book but it is written by Meg Cabot who is one of the best young adult authors.  For the parents of Cabots young adult fans who are unsure if this novel is appropriate for their child this book has some sex and violence but nothing excessive or different than you'd find in most of the popular young adult vampire series that are geared towards older teens.