Getting the Girl (The Wolfe Brothers #3) by Markus Zusak

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Title: Getting the Girl

Author: Markus Zusak
Series: The Wolfe Brothers

Genre: Young Adult

Length: 256 pages

Published: 2004

Publisher: Push

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Cameron Wolfe's life gets very complicated when he falls for his brother's girlfriend in this winning, wise novel from the dynamic author of FIGHTING RUBEN WOLFE.

Cameron Wolfe is the quiet one in his family, not a soccer star like his brother Steve or a charming fighter with a new girl every week like his brother Rube. Cam would give anything to be near one of those girls, to love her and treat her right. He especially likes Rube's latest, Octavia, with her brilliant ideas and bright green eyes. But what woman like that would want a loser like him?
Maybe Octavia would, Cam discovers. Maybe he'd even have something to say. And those maybes change everything: winning, loving, losing, the Wolfe brothers, and Cameron himself.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

I finished this trilogy quickly. Not only were all three books were super fast reads, they really captured my interest. I wanted to find out what happened with Cameron, as well as his family. 

This is truly a tale of family, brothers, and rising above your situation. It's more than just a story, you truly feel for Cameron as he fights with his brother, but then turns around and rescues him. You hurt with him as his other brother tells him something very hurtful. 

I definitely recommend this whole trilogy. It's well-written, a quick read, and a really great coming of age story. Because that's exactly what Cameron does - grow up.

You can purchase the entire Wolfe Brothers trilogy through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format.

Have you read Getting the Girl? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Fighting Ruben Wolfe (The Wolfe Brothers #2) by Markus Zusak

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Title: Fighting Ruben Wolfe

Author: Markus Zusak
Series: The Wolfe Brothers

Genre: Young Adult

Length: 224 pages

Published: 2002

Publisher: Push

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) It's the difference between being a winner and being a fighter...

Cameron and Ruben Wolfe are brothers from a family clinging to the ragged edge of the working class. Initially to make some money, the boys hook up with a sleazy fight promoter who sees something marketable and audience-pleasing in the untrained brothers' vulnerability.

So they hide the boxing from their long-suffering mother. And Cameron hides what's going on in his head from the girls who come to the matches, the girls he wishes he could reach.

But the Wolfes soon find that they're fighting for more than tips and pay-off money. It becomes for them a fight for identity, for dignity, and for each other.

The question is, in a fight like that, who makes it out of the ring intact?

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

This book continues the saga of Cameron and Ruben Wolfe. It takes place some time after the events of The Underdog. Their father has lost his job due to an unfortunate accident and can't seem to find work. As Cameron watches his father's depression worsens, his mother works her fingers to the bones, his brother Steven moves out, and his sister Sarah starts drinking and partying hard. 

Then one day, Ruben gets in a fight at school when another kid calls Sarah some nasty names. A few days later, they're approached by Perry Cole, a man who proposes they come fight for him. As Cameron loses bout after bout, Ruben wins every single match and changes significantly. And then they must fight each other.

This is a great story about brothers; what it means to have a brother and what it means to be a brother. It's also about what brings a family together and how that family can rise up above circumstances which strive to pull them down: whether it's together or separate.

You can purchase the entire Wolfe Brothers trilogy through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format.

Have you read Fighting Ruben Wolfe? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

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Title: Stardust

Author: Neil Gaiman

Genre: Fantasy

Length: 238 pages

Published: 1999

Publisher: William Morrow & Company

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) In the sleepy English countryside at the dawn of the Victorian Era, life moves at a leisurely pace in the tiny town of Wall--a secluded hamlet so named for an imposing stone barrier that surrounds a fertile grassland. Armed sentries guard the sole gap in the bulwark to keep the inquisitive from wandering through, relaxing their vigil only once every nine years, when a market fair unlike any other in the world of men comes to the meadow. Here in Wall, young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to beautiful Victoria Forester. But Victoria is cold and distant--as distant, in fact, as the star she and Tristran see fall from the sky on a crisp October evening. For the coveted prize of Victoria's hand, Tristran vows to retrieve the fallen star and deliver it to his beloved. It is an oath that sends the lovelorn swain over the ancient wall, and propels him into a world that is strange beyond imagining.

But Tristran is not the only one seeking the heavenly jewel. There are those for whom it promises youth and beauty, the key to a kingdom, and the rejuvenation of dark, dormant magics. And a lad compelled by love will have to keep his wits about him to succeed and survive in this secret place where fallen stars come in many guises--and where quests have a way of branching off in unexpected directions, even turning back upon themselves in space and in time.

Neil Gaiman works his unique literary magic in new and dazzling ways in "Stardust, a novel that will shine in the heart and memory far beyond the turning of its final page.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

Tristran is half-human, half-faerie. Raised in the human world, he doesn't know that his mother is really only his step-mother and that his true mother is a faerie trapped by a witch. One night, he begs of the one girl he loves to kiss him and she will not. Nor will she marry him. However, when they see a star fall to the east, she promises she will give him anything he desires if he brings her the star. With barely a thought, he promises to do just that.

Thus begins his journey to find the star and bring it to the girl he loves. He gets some unlikely help, finds the star, and finds a lot of danger. For more than just Tristran are searching for the star. An evil witch seeks to take her heart to extend the lives of her and her sisters. Two princes seek the star, for she holds the key to one of them gaining the throne.

This was an excellent fantasy story. A coming of age story which holds danger, love, and friendship. I really enjoy reading Neil Gaiman's books, and Stardust definitely did not disappoint. Tristran and Yvaine are both lovable characters. I'm definitely going to have to check out the movie which was based off this book and see if it does the story any justice.

You can purchase Stardust through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Stardust? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

The Underdog (The Wolfe Brothers #1) by Markus Zusak

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Title: The Underdog

Author: Markus Zusak
Series: The Wolfe Brothers Trilogy

Genre: Young Adult

Length: 139 pages

Published: 1999

Publisher: Omnibus Books

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Boys are like dogs - ready to bite, bark and beg to be given a chance to show their value.. "I vowed that if I ever got a girl I would treat her right and never be bad or dirty to her or hurt her, ever." Cameron Wolfe is a dirty boy. He knows it. His brother Rube knows it, because he's one too. they could change - but what would it take?

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

Cameron Wolfe has no friends. His best friend hangs out with a different crowd now, though occasionally they still talk. Mostly he spends his days fighting with his brother, Ruben, and hatching plans to pull off robberies. One day, when working with his dad, he meets Rebecca Conlon and falls for her. He spends his days getting into trouble with his brother and working up the courage to speak to Rebecca.

This was a pretty good tale about a kid who isn't a loser but a fighter, and the realizations about himself and his family that he comes to in the end. It was a short, fast read. Each chapter ends with a dream he's had. The dreams are windows into Cameron's anxieties about life.

Does he get the girl? Not in this book, but there's two more in the trilogy, so I'm going to keep reading to find out!

You can purchase the entire Wolfe Brothers trilogy through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Underdog? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

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Title: Slaughterhouse-Five

Author: Kurt Vonnegut

Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Science, & War Fiction

Length: 275 pages

Published: 1976

Publisher: Dell

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.

Don't let the ease of reading fool you - Vonnegut's isn't a conventional, or simple, novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters."

Slaughterhouse-Five is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is also as important as any written since 1945. Like Catch- 22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority. Slaughterhouse-Five boasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it a unique poignancy - and humor.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

This was...strange. It took me 90% of the book to decide if I liked it or not. The writing was easy to read, which is always great to find. The story was disjointed - but not without reason. The disjointedness of the story was exactly what the author intended. You're following Billy Pilgrim through his life. He becomes unstuck in time and travels back and forth between different eras: WWII, meeting the author Kilgore Trout, time spent in the psychiatric hospital, time spent on the alien planet Tralfamadore, etc. 

I'm going to be reading Galapagos by Vonnegut soon, and I hope I enjoy it as much as I ended up enjoying Slaughterhouse-Five. I definitely plan on picking up more Vonnegut books in the future as well.

You can purchase Slaughterhouse-Five through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Slaughterhouse-Five? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally

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Title: Schindler's List

Author: Thomas Keneally

Genre: Historical, War Fiction

Length: 400 pages

Published: 1993

Publisher: Touchstone

Brief Synopsis:(Taken from Goodreads) Schindler's List recreates the true story of Oskar Schindler, the Czech-born southern German industrialist who risked his life to save over 1,100 of his Jewish factory workers from the death camps in Nazi-occupied Poland. Thomas Keneally's "documentary novel," based on the recollections of the Schindlerjuden (Schindler's Jews), Schindler himself, and other witnesses, is told in a series of snapshot stories. It recounts the lives of the flamboyant profiteer and womanizer Schindler; Schindler's long-suffering wife, Emilie; the brutal SS (Nazi secret service) commandant Amon Goeth; Schindler's quietly courageous factory manager, Itzhak Stern; and dozens of other Jews who underwent the horrors of the Nazi machinery. At the center of the story, though, are the actions and ambitions of Schindler, who comes to Kraków, Poland, seeking his fortune and ends up outwitting the SS to protect his Jewish employees. It is the story of Schindler's unlikely heroism and of one man's attempt to do good in the midst of outrageous evil. The book explores the complex nature of virtue, the importance of individual human life, the role of witnesses to the Holocaust and the attention to rules and details that sustained the Nazi system of terror.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

This book was just as good as I'd  heard it was. I can't believe it took me this long to get around to finally reading it. Mr. Keneally draws on the real life of Oskar Schindler and his quest to save his Jewish employees and adds some fictional elements, such as dialogue. It was really hard to believe I was actually reading a fiction novel instead of a biography. 

The ending made me cry. I don't think much can be said about why it made me cry. I wept not only for those that did not survive the horrors of the Holocaust, but also for those that survived.

You can purchase Schindler's List through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Schindler's List? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

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Title: Coraline

Author: Neil Gaiman

Genre: Young Adult, Horror, Fantasy

Length: 195 pages

Published: 2006 (original publication date: 2002)

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Brief Synopsis: Coraline discovers a door in her house that is bricked up. The next time she opens the door, it's no longer bricked up. She follows the path and finds...her home, only better. However her other mother and other father have buttons for eyes and they want her to stay with them. She escapes, only to find that her real parents have been taken from her. She sets out to save them and herself from her other mother.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

This was a really fast read, which is great. I love to intermingle super fast reads and ones that take longer, as it makes the plodding through the slower/longer reads much easier to tolerate. 

This was the harrowing tale of plucky, young Coraline who loves to explore. Her explorations nearly cost her the lives of her parents, her freedom, and her own life. Through her own brand of cunning, she manages to save everyone, including herself from the horror on the other side of the door. 

If you enjoy a really good middle-grade to young adult scary story, then pick up Coraline.

Neil Gaiman is truly a master, and I really enjoyed this delightful tale. You'll be seeing quite a few more reviews on his books in the upcoming weeks, as I have a stack of them waiting for me.

You can purchase Coraline through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Coraline? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.