"The Midnight Dancers"

So this is #4 of the fairy tales retold:

(This cover is different then ours too...it looks weird...hmm...)

This is The Midnight Dancers by Regina Doman. This book is based after The Twelve Dancing Princesses, so, again, the plot is predictable, and, though this is my least favorite of the five she's written so far, I still like this one.

This book now switches from the life of the Briers plus Bear and Fish, to one of Rose's best college friends.

Paul Fester, medic, solder, juggler, and ninja is planning a fun summer of juggling at a festival in Maryland, when he gets pulled into the life of a family whose 12 mostly-teenage daughters have some problems. They're strict Christians but seem to have trouble reconnecting with their dad. Their Dad can tell that something is up but can't quite tell what. So he asks Paul Fester if he can figure out the mystery.

Rachel Durham is the eldest daughter of Colonel Durham. She and her sisters share the secret of freedom. While moving around the furniture in their room, they found a hidden door leading to freedom—freedom from their church, freedom from their parents, and mostly, freedom from their “daytime lives”.

Paul finds out the secret easily, but can’t tell Colonel Durham until he convinces the girls to tell him themselves—something that’s not going to be easy.

Rachel is having the time of her life. The door leads to the Durham’s private beach where the girls like to swim. But swimming soon gets boring, and they have to find some other way of amusement. Rachel convinces some friends from her school to come and give them boat rides and soon convinces them to explore a mysterious island not far from the land.

Paul continues to follow the girls, and when they get in danger, rescues them from the shadows.

Rachel finds out what Paul’s doing and gets mad...No, she doesn’t get mad; she gets furious. She’s willing to tell her dad a lie that could cost Paul his career and maybe even send him to jail.

Barely saved from catastrophe, Paul tries to warn the girls not to keep going to the island, but they ignore him.

Rachel thought everything was perfect, but then...well...what used to be just a secret turns into something that could endanger everyone’s lives.

A couple of quotes:

The Durhams-

“The problem is, our family has no life outside of this church,” she said aloud as she came into the basement, hauling a load of laundry,

“Tell me about it!” Prisca agreed. “My gosh, it’s like were enslaved to this group of people!”

“The pastor’s personal slaves,” Miriam minced words. “It there’s a job to be done—‘oh call those Durhams. He’s got plenty of kids—he can spare a few!”

“‘Your daughters are so capable,’” Rachel quoted, pressing her hands to her breast. “‘They have been such a blessing to our church.’”

She was referencing the last church anniversary, where the pastor’s wife had stood up before the congregation and praised the Durham family. The girls had been singled out as models of hard work and zeal for God, which had thoroughly embarrassed them, mostly because Rachel thought it wasn’t true.

“They don’t know anything about us,” she said. “For all of the ‘sharing’ and ‘testifying’ that goes on, they don’t really know what any of us likes, or wants, or cares about.”

Prisca tittered. “If they found out what we really wanted, they wouldn’t like us very much, would they?”

Rachel gave a bitter smile. “No, I doubt they would.”

Paul Fester-

He seemed to make a decision, and bent over her again. “Perhaps it’s better for you if you struggle,” he whispered, and she yelped and tried fruitlessly to move away from him. Then she heard an extra beat to the music—the sound of feet softly landing on the stone near her.

“Let her go,” a measured voice said.

Rachel’s heart leapt. Michael twisted around to see who had spoken, and the Rachel had a clear view. A masked man in black stood there, his stance defiant and ready.

“Who are you?” Michael swore.

“Let her go,” Paul’s voice came calmly through the mask.

“Daddy’s hired bodyguard?”

“I said, let her go.”

“Get off my property.”

Paul took a step forward and put a hand on Michael’s shoulder. “Not until—”

Michael turned suddenly and threw a roundhouse punch at Paul’s face, releasing Rachel’s arms. What happened next was almost too quick for Rachel to comprehend.

Even though this isn't my favorite, it's still good...so definitely don't skip it!

Ok. So now for my ratings:

Strength of plot: ****

Strength of characters: ****

Overall rating: ****

"Waking Rose"

Book #3 - Waking Rose by Regina Doman

You may have realized that Black As Night was all about Blanche, Blanche, Blanche.

This is Rose's story. (based on "Sleeping Beauty")

She and Fish are now at college, and Rose is studying for a paper on comas. After she falls off the hayloft of her dad's old barn while looking for his notes on patient abuse, Fish, Kateri Kovach (Rose's friend who leads protests at a hospital that performs abortions), and the Cor knights (you guys get to figure out who they are 'cause I'm not gonna tell you) try to figure out if this was an accident or not and if it's not, who pushed her and what his/her motive was.

So far:

Suspects

-Dr. Prosser

-Nurse Lucille Johnson

-Dr. Murray?

-Whoever the woman in black was

Motives

Daniel Brier (Rose’s dad) took notes 15 years ago while interviewing an anonymous nurse. This interview described patient abuse in the Robert Graves Memorial Hospital. Rose is now doing a paper on comatose patients, and someone is trying to keep her from finding those notes. Why? Because then she would know way too much about the hospital and its doctors...and their treatment of the patients.

Evidence

Rose interviewed Dr. Murray and told her that she was going to a barn to look for the notes. She also interviewed Lucille Johnson and told her the same thing. Lucille Johnson told her friend Dr. Schaffer who then told Dr. Prosser. This was on November 16^th—the day Rose “fell” from the hayloft.

Dr. Prosser works at the hospital, and Dr. Murray helps out. Lucille Johnson previously worked at the hospital and says that the patient abuse is just rumors.

After Dan Brier took the notes on patient abuse at the RBM hospital, his mother died of a "broken ankle" when taken to the RBMH. Soon after, the nurse who had given him the information died in a "car accident". Now are the same people trying to kill Rose?

Their Likely Plan Of Attack

Push Rose off the hayloft of her dad’s barn as she’s looking for the notes he took?

Strength of Characters: ****** (she really does a good job with the characters in this book--much better than any of her other books, so I just have to give her a 6. :) Rose and Fish seem just like part of the background in the previous two books, but here their personalities and feelings really shine. She also does a good job keeping the personalities of Bear and Blanche running...even though it doesn't talk too much about them.)

Strength of Plot: ***** (Ok, ok, I know I've given only 4 to the others so far because they were too predictable, but I still have to give this one a 5. Maybe that's too unfair, though, because I LOVE mysteries, and this book seems a LOT more like a mystery than a fairytale or plain-old-fiction or whatever. I don't know...ask Vivi. But this is my favorite of Regina Doman's books!!)

Overall rating: ********

HIS –

His eyes traveled over to the IV equipment, and he suddenly spotted the bag of milky white fluid he had seen months before. He could see the liquid was dripping down the IV tube into Rose’s veins.

Suddenly, he had a strong suspicion that this was not cold medication. Reaching for the bag, he checked it. No markings. Making a sudden decision, he switched the IV off and gently pulled the needle out of Rose’s arm, massaging it to numb any pain. He held his breath, but nothing seemed to happen.

“Rose, I’m sorry we took this doctor’s word about what happened to you so readily. I know now that you’re really not in a coma, but in some sort of drugged state.”

HER –

And at once she was thrashing, pulsing, coming out of the water towards the smiling moon—

And she was in the midnight world again, looking through the dark waters, and she could see someone standing by the window, someone lean and shadowy and familiar. A young man.

Fish.

HIS –

Dr. Murray halted, seeing him, and stared. Then cautiously, she came forward.

“Who are you?” She asked, her dark eyes cautious.

He gave a slight shrug to his shoulders and said, in his accent, “I was told someone would meet me here.”

“I see,” she said. She seemed uncertain as to how to proceed. At last she said, “What is it you want?”

“I am delivering something,” he said, slipping a hand into his pocked. “Are you the one I am to give it to?”

“That all depends,” she said. “Let me see what it is.”

He stepped forward, and she took a step towards him. He pulled out the stack of bills, and held it out to her, in clear view of his hidden camera.

She took the money and looked through the bills, and then glanced up at his face. Her expression suddenly changed, and he saw what had happened. She was recognizing him.

She started to back away from him, reaching for her pager, but he stopped her by putting his hand firmly on her arm.

“Is there a problem with the money?” he asked, in his accent.

“I know who you are,” she said. “You can’t fool me, Mr. Denniston.”

He had to smile. “I’m here for a kidney,” he said calmly, in his accent. “Isn’t that what you came to sell me?” He tightened his grip.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, gasping. “I just came here—for the results—of a lab test.”

He pivoted so that her exit to the door was blocked. “I came here to buy a kidney,” he said quietly. “I was told you had a virtually unlimited supply. I thought they were exaggerating. But if the hospital is buying its organs through you, I can see where they can get so many so quickly.”

HERS –

“Where’s Fish?” she cried.

Bear couldn’t point, but he turned, and looked towards the blazing barn. For a moment, Rose’s heart stopped, but then she ran forward to the place where he had looked. As Lear might have stumbled towards his child’s corpse.

There on the ground before the barn doors he lay. He was lying on his side, his back to the inferno. As she came closer to him, she could see his disfigured face, his burned clothes, the ropes brutally tight around him, his one foot disjointed from the other in an ugly way. His eyes were closed, and his face was still, terribly still.

His body was hot. She moved him, dragging him backwards onto cooler ground, then gathered him into her arms. He hadn’t responded when she had touched him.

Now she ran her hands over his shoulders and bruised face, smoothing back his rumpled, unusually dark hair. His cheeks were black with soot, but when she wiped the soot, there was red beneath, and blood.

“Please, God, no,” she whispered with her empty voice, putting her wet cheeks down to his face. “Please, God, let him be alive.”

Vex not his ghost; O, let him pass!

He hates him that would upon the rack of this rough world

Stretch him out longer…

She tried to move him further from the fire, but as she did so, his face suddenly spasmed and he winced in pain but didn’t cry out.

Now she called his name, but there was no further response. She put her hands on his rough cheeks.

“Fish,” she whispered huskily. “You can’t die now. Please.”

The wonder is that he hath endured so long…

His chest rose and he gave a deep sigh that was cut off halfway down, and he coughed slightly.

“Why not?” his voice came wearily. There was a faint smile on his face, but his eyes were still closed.

She laughed at him even as she cried, pressing her fingers into his bound hands. “Please, please, if you love me, don’t die.”

His fingers reached through the ropes and grasped hers, and tightened. His grip was surprisingly strong, but his voice was fainter. “If I love you?”

“You do,” she whispered, brushing aside his hair. “I know you do.”

“…smart girl,” she thought she heard him say, but his voice drifted away, and that was the last he spoke.

The Saturday Morning Daybook - November 6

(hosted by Miss Jo March at Scraps From My Workbasket)

Date... 6 November

Starting time... 11:04am

Mood...I just got back from being outside at freestyle at the ski swap for three hours, so...

Outside my window... It was surprisingly not-cold this morning! (I mean, it WAS cold, just not as cold as normal...)

I'm thinking...that I'm thinking

I'm currently reading...Waking Rose by Regina Doman

I'm listening to...Vivi typing

I'm wearing...jeans, striped shirt, gray sweatshirt

I'm looking forward to...basketball game tonight!

I'm hoping...that UVA will win!

Yesterday, I...watched How to Train a Dragon

I'm hungry for...something sweet :)

The song stuck inside my head is..."Let Me Love You" - Josh Wilson

I love...hot chocolate!

I loathe...when it's so cold that my fingers get numb!!

This week, my goal is...hmm.....to get the 2nd movement of the Andante somethingwhatever french piece really fast!

Did I meet last week's goal?...yes (I think)

Ending time... 11:09.am

"Black As Night"

I get to do this one. I'm doing #2 and #4. :)

This is Black As Night by Regina Doman:

(The book we own doesn't look quite like this...it's a little less....ghosty!!)

This book is based on "Snow White"...so the plot is very predictable, but the author changes it a lot...so it's still a very good book.

This book kind of continues with the life of Blanche, Rose, Bear, and Fish. Bear and Fish are now wealthy and decide to travel out of New York and take a European tour. Rose and Mrs. Brier are in California, Bear and Fish are in Europe, and Blanche is alone at home....or so everyone thought.

Bear and Fish suddenly go back to America when Bear starts to have a suspicion that Blanche isn't at her home. When they get back, she's missing, and they've been framed for drug dealing...again.

All the while, Blanche is at a friary hiding from something...or someone (BEWARE: This book and author are Catholic, but please don't make that keep any of y'all that aren't Catholic from reading these...these are some of the best books I've read!).

Rose and Mrs. Brier get called home from California and they, Bear, and Fish try to find Blanche...who seems to have been framed also. They try to figure out what Blanche could be hiding from, who framed them, and where Blanche could be.

Blanche is slowly recovering from a big scare...and thinks she safe--that is, until someone starts threatening her life.

And then it all happens, and because of this, Bear, Fish, Rose, Mrs. Brier, and the friars are all pulled into helping Blanche get out of trouble...if she's still alive...

I'm going to leave the rest of the book for y'all to find out...I don't want to give away too much. ;) So, if you want to know the rest of the story, YOU HAVE TO READ IT!!

And now for just a couple paragraphs from the book:

Rose Red-

Mr. Carnazzo stopped in front of Bear and Fish and scrutinized them distrustfully. “I’m sorry, but as manager of this establishment, I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” he said stiffly.

Bear stared at the manager. “We’re just—“ he said. Fish put up his hand and stepped forward authoritatively, cutting his brother off.

“Leave?” he repeated. “Isn’t this hall available?” he asked, pulling out an appointment calendar. “I’m interested in renting your facility for an event I’m having.”

“What kind of an event?” the manager said suspiciously.

Bear looked at Rose. “A wedding,” he blurted. Rose, immediately picking up the cue, moved closer to Fish and took his arm possessively.

“Yes, that’s right, a wedding,” Fish gritted his teeth in a smile at his brother. “So can I rent this place? We were just looking it over and it seems adequate.”

“Well—“ The manager hedged. “I’ll have to check with someone first.”

Fish heaved a deep sigh, took Rose by the arm, and flipped open his calendar. “The date’s December eighteenth, and I want the best hall you have to offer. How about the one downstairs with the drippy things on the chandelier?” He started to trail the manager, who was retreating in the direction he had come.

“But honey, are you sure it’s big enough?” Rose queried, putting on her sunglasses. “We have five hundred guests coming.”

“Five hundred? Who said we were inviting your side of the family?” Fish glanced over his shoulder at Bear and grimaced, meaning, “Hurry up and look. I can’t keep this up forever.”

Snow White-

As she opened the door to her room, pulling bobby pins out of her veil, she heard a faint noise. A rat? She dropped the hood of the veil and looked into the shadows in the corridor beyond. A creeping sensation came over her. Someone was inside the building.

“Who’s there?” she called, in case it was one of the friars.

There was a footstep, and a figure came around the edge of the corner. She could see the green eyeshade.

Run. She turned, gathered her skirts, ready to run back towards the door.

“Blanche.”

She knew that voice, It was similar to Bonnie’s voice, but deeper, richer. Younger.

“That is your real name, isn’t it? Don’t go yet. I just want to talk to you.”

Go. She started towards the door again.

“Is there any harm in listening to me? Just stay by the door and listen. Did they really say you couldn’t even speak to me?”

Hand on the door, poised to run, she looked warily over her shoulder at the figure in black.

[…]

Suddenly the woman darted forward and pulled her away from the door, spinning her around. Now she was between the girl and the door. She made a grab for the bottle, but the girl held it away from her and screamed. They struggled as the woman yanked at the girl’s arm, but the girl wrapped the bottle tightly in both hands. Breathing hard, the woman pinched the nerves at the base of the girl’s neck. Black spots swelled up before the girl’s eyes.

The woman’s voice whispered mockingly in her ear. “Sleep, sleep, black night girl, snow white girl, and dream of your phony prince…”

So let me rate this:

Strength of plot: **** (I'm afraid that I can't give this a 5 star (or I would) because, since it's based on Snow White, you already know the final outcome)

Strength of characters: *****

Over all rating: ******************** (And this isn't even my favorite one!!)

Thursday Afternoon Daybook

Outside my window...

It's wet...and cold...and miserable. :(

Mood...

Creative. That's a mood, right?

I'm thinking...

About my writing assignment!! We have to do a creative writing assignment with Romeo and Juliet...so...yeah. It's gonna be AWESOME!!!

I'm currently reading...

Well, I've been reading books back and forth....some history, and some for my book reviews...

I'm listening to...

The dog on the kitchen floor, Gab's timer, running....

I'm wearing...

My new Gators shirt! It's navy blue, with VIRGINIA GATORS in neon on the front...and then in neon on the back it says, "WE ARE what we repeatedly do. EXCELLENCE, then, is not an act but a HABIT" - Aristotle

The Gators shirts almost always scream JJ...he's all about habits and working hard and how it's all about what we want to do....yeah. Stuff like that.

I'm looking forward to...

The weekend!

I'm hoping...

That our Romeo and Juliet project will turn out well...

Yesterday, I...

Worked on my book review...watched part of a movie...and did lots and lots and lots of school (especially co-op work).

Around the house…

Bug is getting into stuff. But I still love him. :)

I'm hungry for...

Hmm....Aunt Susan's macaroni. :)

The song stuck inside my head is…

Well, if anything, it's Theme from Scheherazade

I love…

Reading!! When I have a good book, that is...

I loathe...

Being FREEZING cold in the early morning. The heater (don't worry...the air heater, not the water heater) hasn't been working at the Bubble, so it's extremely cold when we get there.

From the kitchen…

Dinner...sticky chicken!

School right now…

Ooh...let me see. We're studying a bunch of ancient religions for history....and we're going to do the Romeo and Juliet thing......

What we’re planning for this week…

More school, sleeping in, UVA basketball game (the football game is at Duke)...

I am thankful for…

Down blankets. I have one on my bed.

$5,000 for adoption

Help the crowd at Pure Joy win $5,000 to help 5 other families with adoption!

Vote here EVERY DAY (you can vote once a day). To win, they need to be one of the top ten videos voted on, and then the judges will choose three to win $5,000. If you have a blog or facebook, post the link to help them!!

"Shadow of the Bear"

Viv and I recently read some books (I don't know if there's a name for the series, except maybe something like "Fairytales Retold" [see the front covers]) by Regina Doman. She takes a fairytale and modernizes it and changes it into the next book in the series. It makes it quite interesting but very predictable. These books are not very well known, I think, so Viv and I thought that they might be good to do book reviews on!

Book #1 - Shadow of the Bear (please don't judge by appearances. They ARE Christian books.)

Shadow of the Bear is the first of the five-book series and is based on the fairytale "Snow White And Rose Red".

The two main characters, Blanche and Rose Brier (sisters), meet a complete stranger who calls himself "Bear". They quickly become friends yet do not question him about his past and have suspicions that he might be a drug dealer...or is someone just trying to frame him?

Then all gets turned upside down when:

Bear is challenged (while at the prom with Blanche) and told to leave.

Rose starts suspecting their not-so-nice principal and follows him home.

Blanche discovers who Bear really is and what he's looking for.

Rose is kidnapped while she tries to rescue the also-kidnapped Fish (Bear's brother).

And Blanche gets kidnapped by a group of kids from her school who are getting paid if they find out more information about Bear.

Rose then realizes who Bear and Fish's enemy is and what the guy's after, but is it already too late?

Here's a leetle section I typed out for you guys:

“If you have to kill one of us, kill me,” Fish said, with an edge to his voice.

“Naturally, that’s how you’d feel, Benedict,” Mr. Freet said mildly. He pulled out a pair of leather gloves and began to put them on.

Rose said nothing, afraid of influencing Mr. Freet the wrong way. She moistened her lips, and waited.

“Freet, you’d better not touch her,” Fish said wildly as Mr. Freet took a step towards Rose.

“It’s all right,” Rose said softly. If she hadn’t been there, it would have been Fish whom Mr. Freet would have killed. Mr. Freet picked up a roll of duct tape and began to toy with it musingly.

“Come on, Freet, I know you’ve been dying to get rid of me. Think how happy it’ll make you. You hate me so much,” Fish said coaxingly, but Rose could see the sweat standing out on his forehead.

Mr. Freet ripped off a piece of duct tape and advanced on Fish with a grim smile. “Exactly,” he whispered as he pressed it over the boy’s mouth.

Then he turned, pick up the plastic bag, and walked over to Rose.

Fish yelled something incomprehensible through the tape. Rose look into Mr. Freet’s eyes once more, and saw that he seemed strangely agitated by her gaze. For a moment, there was the barest pause. She was conscious that she was not afraid, and that because she wasn’t, Mr. Freet was. Feeling his hesitation and not wanting him to change his mind, she bowed her head. She heard the rip of duct tape being torn from the roll. His leather-covered giners pressed the tape over her mouth fiercely, and she yielded, taking a deep breath. There was a pause, then he pulled the plastic bag over her head and began to tape it around her neck.

But the men signed of the cross of Christ go gaily in the dark…

She dimly heard Fish screaming against his gag and tearing at his bonds as Mr. Freet left the room and pounded up the stairs.

Strength of plot: **** (Even though it's predictable, it is still very suspenseful. She does a great job changing the plot to make it more interesting also!)

Strength of characters: *****

Overall rating: ****

Ah, yes. And a movie is being made for this book. Check out this site.