The Secret Spiral

While babysitting this weekend, I managed to polish off another great read: The Secret Spiral by Gillian Neimark. Flor Bernoulli lives a comfortable life in Brooklyn Heights, New York. She spends her time dreaming about her estranged french artist father, avoiding her next door neighbor, Ms. Plump (who is quite thin) and pining for Wednesdays when the lovable Dr. Pi opens the doors of his pie shop and sells magnificent pastries that don't just lie flat but spiral upward. When sent to get pie one day, Mr. Pi tells Flor to be expecting visitors. How does he know? "'It's not hard, I just take a peek around the curve of time."' True to his prediction, Mr. Bit ans Mr. It come crashing through her skylight and send her on a crazed adventure with math, spirals and truly amazing hats.

This is one of those fascinating books with it's own internal logic. It reminds me of The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosh or A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. While having a whimsical air, the book also encompassed themes such as the space-time continuum. I liked how the book also touched lightly on math, since I haven't read a good fiction book that taught math since fourth grade, when I read The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. My one complaint about the book: a cliffhanger ending. It was clearly a setup for a sequel, when in my opinion, a book should be able to stand on its own, and a sequel should be more of a companion. Super popular books, such as Harry Potter and The Hunger Games stand out because they compel the reader to pick up the next book without a dramatic ending. Should you read it: Yes, if you're willing to wait for the sequel and don't have much else on your plate. No if you have other things to read. 8/10

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

The Cahill girls (Cate, Tess and Maura) aren't like other girls. They're too pretty, too smart and too reclusive. But they have a secret to keep, the girls are witches! If they were to be discovered by the Brotherhood, a religious institution that rules their town, they could be imprisoned or executed. Cate knows she should hide her powers, marry Paul McLeod and live happily ever after. But instead, she finds herself exploring her powers and discovering that the fine ladies in her small town are not who she thinks they are.
I really enjoyed this book. It started out kind of slow, mostly with Cate complaining, mostly about Thieu father going on a long trip. If I could tell these girls one thing, it's that nothing interesting can happen if you have decent parents! I know my mom and dad wouldn't let me have pirate adventures or experiment in witchcraft. Even though I was bored at the beginning, by the time I was 1/4 of the way through it was really engaging. I found it to be really predictable, but I couldn't put it down. If you like Parnormal Romance, I'd really reccomend this. I'll be meeting Jessica Spotswood next week, so look out for an update on that! See you soon

Lily