Ahoy there mateys! I wanted short books with magic and I enjoyed this author's alien book so I tried these.  Basically every book has a young kid ending up in Mr. Elives' magic shop and taking home an artifact that brings an adventure.  The first book deals with a ring that turns Russell into a monster, the second with Jeremy having to raise a dragon's egg, the third with Jennifer and a talking toad, the fourth with Charlie getting a talking skull, and the fifth with Juliet getting a magic locket.  I liked the first two, loved three and four, and didn't really like five at all.  The toad book had excellent magic dealing with kissing in a silly way.  And the skull book had some seriously funny things dealing with Shakespeare that kids might not get but I sure did.  These are short and fun and I really think middle school kids would love these. Arrrr!

Ahoy there mateys! I wanted short books with magic and I enjoyed this author's alien book so I tried these.  Basically every book has a young kid ending up in Mr. Elives' magic shop and taking home an artifact that brings an adventure.  The first book deals with a ring that turns Russell into a monster, the second with Jeremy having to raise a dragon's egg, the third with Jennifer and a talking toad, the fourth with Charlie getting a talking skull, and the fifth with Juliet getting a magic locket.  I liked the first two, loved three and four, and didn't really like five at all.  The toad book had excellent magic dealing with kissing in a silly way.  And the skull book had some seriously funny things dealing with Shakespeare that kids might not get but I sure did.  These are short and fun and I really think middle school kids would love these. Arrrr!

Ahoy there mateys! I wanted short books with magic and I enjoyed this author's alien book so I tried these.  Basically every book has a young kid ending up in Mr. Elives' magic shop and taking home an artifact that brings an adventure.  The first book deals with a ring that turns Russell into a monster, the second with Jeremy having to raise a dragon's egg, the third with Jennifer and a talking toad, the fourth with Charlie getting a talking skull, and the fifth with Juliet getting a magic locket.  I liked the first two, loved three and four, and didn't really like five at all.  The toad book had excellent magic dealing with kissing in a silly way.  And the skull book had some seriously funny things dealing with Shakespeare that kids might not get but I sure did.  These are short and fun and I really think middle school kids would love these. Arrrr!

Ahoy there mateys! I wanted short books with magic and I enjoyed this author's alien book so I tried these.  Basically every book has a young kid ending up in Mr. Elives' magic shop and taking home an artifact that brings an adventure.  The first book deals with a ring that turns Russell into a monster, the second with Jeremy having to raise a dragon's egg, the third with Jennifer and a talking toad, the fourth with Charlie getting a talking skull, and the fifth with Juliet getting a magic locket.  I liked the first two, loved three and four, and didn't really like five at all.  The toad book had excellent magic dealing with kissing in a silly way.  And the skull book had some seriously funny things dealing with Shakespeare that kids might not get but I sure did.  These are short and fun and I really think middle school kids would love these. Arrrr!

Ahoy there mateys! I am a big fan of Kelley Armstrong but this series was hard to get through and if I had not listened to the audiobooks, I might not have finished.  In fact, I thought it was a trilogy and was actually sad when book 3 ended and I knew there had to be one more.  I may have liked this if I were younger but being as I am much older, I had issues.  The primary one is that the main character, Rowan is a special snowflake.  The other big one is she is 12 and sent on missions to hunt with little real training.  She collects an entire menagerie over the course of the book but really only a few animals are used well in the books.  The number of times Rowan yells "Malric, NOOOOOO!!!!!!" was annoying.  And Rowan did not use her brain and often just rushed into danger getting out by luck.  The books got repetitive.  Run into dangerous monster no one has seen in centuries.  Fight.  Rinse.  Repeat.  Did like the focus on science to learn about monsters though I don't know if I can recommend this to anyone who isn't under the age of nine. Arrr!

Ahoy there mateys! I am a big fan of Kelley Armstrong but this series was hard to get through and if I had not listened to the audiobooks, I might not have finished.  In fact, I thought it was a trilogy and was actually sad when book 3 ended and I knew there had to be one more.  I may have liked this if I were younger but being as I am much older, I had issues.  The primary one is that the main character, Rowan is a special snowflake.  The other big one is she is 12 and sent on missions to hunt with little real training.  She collects an entire menagerie over the course of the book but really only a few animals are used well in the books.  The number of times Rowan yells "Malric, NOOOOOO!!!!!!" was annoying.  And Rowan did not use her brain and often just rushed into danger getting out by luck.  The books got repetitive.  Run into dangerous monster no one has seen in centuries.  Fight.  Rinse.  Repeat.  Did like the focus on science to learn about monsters though I don't know if I can recommend this to anyone who isn't under the age of nine. Arrr!

Ahoy there mateys! I am a big fan of Kelley Armstrong but this series was hard to get through and if I had not listened to the audiobooks, I might not have finished.  In fact, I thought it was a trilogy and was actually sad when book 3 ended and I knew there had to be one more.  I may have liked this if I were younger but being as I am much older, I had issues.  The primary one is that the main character, Rowan is a special snowflake.  The other big one is she is 12 and sent on missions to hunt with little real training.  She collects an entire menagerie over the course of the book but really only a few animals are used well in the books.  The number of times Rowan yells "Malric, NOOOOOO!!!!!!" was annoying.  And Rowan did not use her brain and often just rushed into danger getting out by luck.  The books got repetitive.  Run into dangerous monster no one has seen in centuries.  Fight.  Rinse.  Repeat.  Did like the focus on science to learn about monsters though I don't know if I can recommend this to anyone who isn't under the age of nine. Arrr!

Ahoy there mateys! I am a big fan of Kelley Armstrong but this series was hard to get through and if I had not listened to the audiobooks, I might not have finished.  In fact, I thought it was a trilogy and was actually sad when book 3 ended and I knew there had to be one more.  I may have liked this if I were younger but being as I am much older, I had issues.  The primary one is that the main character, Rowan is a special snowflake.  The other big one is she is 12 and sent on missions to hunt with little real training.  She collects an entire menagerie over the course of the book but really only a few animals are used well in the books.  The number of times Rowan yells "Malric, NOOOOOO!!!!!!" was annoying.  And Rowan did not use her brain and often just rushed into danger getting out by luck.  The books got repetitive.  Run into dangerous monster no one has seen in centuries.  Fight.  Rinse.  Repeat.  Did like the focus on science to learn about monsters though I don't know if I can recommend this to anyone who isn't under the age of nine. Arrr!

Ahoy there mateys! This book deals with dragons so I always wanted to read it.  The book has a wonderful beginning where Creel's aunt wants to sacrifice her to a dragon so a knight will save her and raise her out of poverty.  Creel thinks this plan is stupid but isn't too worried because no one has seen a dragon in centuries.  Surprise they exist!  Bigger surprise she doesn't get eaten.  She wins a magic pair of shoes.  She then goes to the city to make a new life, gets involved with other dragons, and gets into trouble.  I loved that the dragons all have different hoards - shoes, stained glass, dogs!, etc.  I liked a lot of the minor characters too.  Creel spent a lot of time oblivious or annoyed.  The plot was uneven.  Good beginning, very slow middle, and fast ending.  I did love the dragons but not enough to read the rest of the series. Arrr!

Ahoy there mateys! I wanted to read this series even though I was warned there wasn't a lot of the cat in it (despite the cover).  This series was okay and I can see why the younger set would like it.  The main character, Cassidy, can see ghosts and enter the "veil" or the world between living and dead.  I enjoyed that.  Book one takes place in Scotland, two in Paris, and three in New Orleans.  I liked that readers would learn facts about cities.  I thought the plots of all three were meandering, how the magic worked made no real sense overall, and felt Cassidy uses her powers very little.  Also how does she come across every major ghost from legend if this secret society exists to deal with the problem?  These were quick and I am glad I listened to them via audiobook. Arrr!