i'm sorry i don't wholeheartedly love you.

I had a 4-day weekend last weekend, but didn't actually get any reading done, as my husband was finally moving up here and we now have a bagillion boxes. I did listen to part of a book on cd in the car. And yesterday was only a 1-day weekend, as I was the librarian on Saturday. Dragon's Keep, by Janet Lee Carey. The writing seemed a little overly formal, almost like the author was trying just a smidge too hard to capture a historical/fantasy feel. The story also seemed a bit long, like it would have had a faster feel if there weren't so many minor detours and little extra bits. But this wasn't supposed to be a fast action book, it's a girl fantasy, so I'm not sure what I'm complaining about. I really liked the fairy tale ending-- it wrapped things up without being uber sweet and unbe-fairy-lievable. The characters felt a little staid, a little expected, but they were likable enough. The Devil's Paintbox, by Victoria McKernan. This started out very well, but got rather depressing. I like that it wasn't the sugar-coated version of the West where cows are always fat and no one dies, but this seemed to go to the other extreme, where the character slowly looses all hope. The writing technicalities, the vocabulary and the sentence lengths, etc., were very very good. It makes my opinion mixed. This is maybe the kind of book to use for a school purpose-- to liven up a history lesson or to use for a book report-- because it was very well written, well researched, and accurate. The descriptions were very good. But it wasn't exactly fun. Also, check this out. I sure am glad boys make inventions. A bunch of people I showed this too were shocked that something like this could have been published so relatively recently. I'm not shocked-- my mom grew up on this kind of thinking and it showed. Finally, you should send me ARCs. It's my birthday :) .