Otis Frampton's "Oddly Normal"

Title: Oddly Normal, volume 1 and volume 2 ("Family Reunion")
Author/Illustrator: Otis Frampton, Sergio Quijada (ill. vol. 2 only)
Published:May 2006/May 2007 by Viper Comics
Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Teen

      Oddly Normal (yes, that's her name) is half-witch with green hair and is miserable in the rain/snow. Up until her tenth birthday, she lives a deary life with her parents (a witch mother who went to the human world looking for "normal" and found Mr. Normal, Oddly's human father), teased and belittled by the kids at school. After an "unfortunate wish," she ends up in Fignation, and under the care of her great-aunt.

      Beginning life as a web comic, this wonderful series has continued to grow (volume 3, "Fignation Times" was released September 2008). It was listed on the American Library Association's "Top Ten Graphic Novels for Youth" in 2007, but has enough substance to keep an adult entertained! If you liked the Harry Potter series, give Oddly a go - the circumstances are different, but the themes - discovery, magic, belief, friendship - are the same.

      This series was recommended to me as an example of a writer who is also the illustrator (first volume only) of his work - but as I delved into Oddly's quirky little world (I desperately want a blinkie for "I love Oopie"! ;-) I found myself becoming attached. Oddly's no shrinking violet, despite what circumstances (and certain English teachers) throw her way, and her adaption to her new life (and friends!) shows us that, while it's not easy, we must believe in ourselves, or we'll never move forward.

      I borrowed both volumes' through the library, and devoured them (not literally, LOL!) on my lunch breaks. I can't wait to get my paws on volume three, but Chapters doesn't carry the series and Amazon.ca is out of stock for the first two, and doesn't even list the third... (whimper, whimper)

      Ta!

Edit: I still haven't read Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dream Warrior! It's sitting on the bookshelf, taunting me... (along with Susan Carroll's Midnight Bride, though I'm waiting for book one of the St. Leger Legacy before I touch that baby! ;-) But I am determined to get the first part of the Grand Abecedaire SAL done first, especially since part four was just released...

Dead after dark anthology

Title: Dead after dark
Author(s): Sherrilyn Kenyon, J. R. Ward, Susan Squires, and Dianna Love
Published: December 2008 by St. Martin's Press
Genre: Paranormal romance
Includes:
      * Sherrilyn Kenyon's "Shadow of the moon"
      * J. R. Ward's "The story of Son"
      * Susan Squires' "Beyond the night"
      * Dianna Love's "Midnight kiss goodnight"

Since it included Sherrilyn Kenyon's latest addition to the Dark-Hunter universe, this anthology was a must-buy (actually it was a Christmas present that I only now - cough, cough - got around to reading!), but I loved 3 out of the 4 stories contained within it's pages. I'm not, for the most part, a fan of short stories - since I prefer, for the most part, character over plot (though the plot has to be there as well - I'm not an easy girl to please ;-), there's not enough character development within the span of a short story (for obvious reasons).

      * Kenyon's "Shadow of the moon" is Fury's story - the latest addition to the were-hunter sub-series. It was a good little snippet, a teaser with old characters reappearing (Z, but no Bob - pout!), a new plotline that will probably be carried over, and all the while whetting our appetite for Fang and Aimee's story due out in the summer.

      * Ward's "The story of Son" was unexpected - I had borrowed her first book in the "Black Dagger Brotherhood" series, but I never got around to reading it and she was pushed back to the end of my authors-to-read list. After breezing through this story, I've already ordered the first two books in her series! It starts out with a female lawyer who has no interest in the domestic sphere, or anything to do with men - until she is held captive for a rather unusual man. Nice mix of sex, sensuality, action, and plot.

      * I have never read anything previously of Susan Squires, but after flipping through her "Beyond the night," I probably won't. A female vampire masquerading as a ghost, the hero on the lam, and a dead-former-love - with a weird vampiric backstory. Too much eroticism, not enough plot.

      * What wasn't there to "love" about Love's "Midnight kiss goodnight"? It had strong characters, a driven and up-beat plot, backstory...shades of Kenyon's 'Dark-hunter' and 'BAD' series combined, but a girl can't be picky, can she? ;-)

      Ta!