In The Shadow by: H.R. Hyacinth

Just finished reading "In The Shadow" by H.R. Hyacinth and it was great! This book is very touching and I recommend that you take the time to read it. Great job! Bulling is a very serious issue. My daughter just went through some troubles with this and the one thing that really made me mad is when grown adults would say "they're just kids being kids". NO that is not it and we need to step in before things go to far. Mental abuse is just as harmful as physical. WE as parents and grown adults need to step up and help not only the victims but the bullies as well because they are picking on other kids for a reason (maybe a bad home life or they feel bad about themselves, regardless its a cry for help). This book will open your eyes to it all on both sides. Very well done and written. Broke my heart to know someone suffered this way, I really can't say how I would have handled the situation in either role, the poor young girl being bullied or as her parents. I even felt my heart break for the person doing the bullying. Like I said this book is an eye opener. Parents should really read this book as well as high school kids. I'm a parent and it helped to show some of the signs to look for on both sides.

http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-High-School-Horrors/dp/1482582821/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364410725&sr=1-1&keywords=in+the+shadow+by+H.R.+Hyacinth

$3.00 kindle
$6.30 paperback

Author's facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/hr.hyacinth.5?fref=ts

The Host by: Stephenie Meyer

As we all know the movie will be out very soon and yes I will be going to watch it with one of my older daughters so I had to read the book first. I almost always find the books to be better then the movies, so I read the book then compare the movie to the book. I have to say that this book for me started out a little slow, probably due to having to explain everything that was going on so we would have a better understanding of what was happening. As you continue to read (if you haven't given up after the first few chapters) the book starts to pick up and then it becomes a great story. I wish the book would have just started towards the middle. It starts by telling you a little about the aliens or "souls" who have taken over Earth and are taking over our human bodies (the host for the souls). These "souls" are gentle creatures who cannot understand the violence we have here on Earth, so they think by coming here and taking over our bodies that they are helping us. But those who are still human do not see it that way and will fight to stay human. There are also some people who fight to stay human even with a "soul" in them, such is the case with Melanie Stryder. She will do whatever it takes to stay in her body to protect the information and whereabouts of the ones she loves. Once she finds them, they are not so nice to her because she has a "soul" known as Wanderer in her. It becomes
very hard on both of them which is what brings them closer, but the longer Wanderer stays in Melanie, the greater the chance Melanie will disappear for good. Will Wanderer give her greatest secret and biggest weapon for the humans away to save Melanie or will Melanie disappear forever?

Like I said the book starts out slow (at least for me) then picks up and gets better. I really enjoyed it once I got to the middle. I have read it twice now and will read it again. I can say that I cannot wait to see the movie. I know not everyone is a fan of Stephenie but I do enjoy her work (though I was not happy with vampires that sparkle in the sun, nothing to do with this book, just saying).