Ok. I just finished reading this book and it's certainly not the worst book I have ever read. It's got some interesting characters - especially the heroine's mother and her relationship with the heroine's father (who hadn't seen her since the day the heroine was born). However, this heroine, Berry, is just ridiculously stupid. She has a stalker - presumably a dangerous thing- but she calls him up and apologizes for losing her temper with him and saying mean things about 2 days before he breaks into her house and shoots a married co-worker of hers. Then when the co-worker is in the hospital and his wife is all jealous and angry, Berry comes in and says she wasn't having an affair with the coworker even though several months ago, she might have, but now she's a different person. Then she feels all offended that they don't give her bizarre confession the reaction she's expecting. The police are pretty bizarre in this story too. They don't seem to think that the whole stalker/shooting a co-worker thing is too serious - just some love triangle thing, but when the stalker shoots some straight A teenage boy, well, then it's serious. Seriously if it wasn't for the parents' backstory, I would have just not bothered to finish this book.

This is one of those books I would have loved to read as a child and still am drawn to as an adult; it is exciting, fun, and full of complex and fantastical ideas. I used to love to read those British adventure stories of children being whisked away to magical lands to experience amazing quests and journeys of discovery. This book reminds me of those books and is beautifully written full of hints of darkness and intrigue. As an adult, I picked up this book because I had read the author's paranormal mysteries and was intrigued to read a children's novel by her. This book was a pleasure to read and I can't wait to recommend it to friends both for themselves and for their children. I can't wait to read the next book in the series: The Curse of Deadman's Forest.

Stargate Atlantis is a wonderful television show. The characters are quirky, smart, and very likeable. Joe Flanigan as Major Sheppard and Tori Higginson as Dr. Weir balance each other perfectly as representatives of the military and science in this series. Rachel Luttrell as Teyla is a strong, smart female character who adds sensitivity and humour to the group. Rainbow Sun Francis as Ford is great as the "juinor" member of the group - everyone picks on him but it's always good-natured. David Hewlett as Dr. McKay undergoes some of the most significant growth as a character in the series and it's nice to see a Canadian finally made the team. (I always wondered why on Stargate there were Russians but no Canadians on the teams.) Anyway - Buy this series - trust me you will not regret it!