The Calling

I almost thought I wouldn't have time to write this week!  The whole family came down with the plague, which led to ear infections and other fun doctor's visits.  I feel like I live there.  And then we took the kids to Disney World while we were all sick (what on earth were we thinking???) and I learned that sometimes Disney World is the place where dreams go to die instead of come true.  I felt extra bad because our dear friends who are currently expecting their first child were with us and I think that my children at Disney may have made them go home and cry.  I know it made me want to.  My 18 month old was on a medication for his lungs that makes him go crazy and I'm pretty sure he tried to rip my face off at one point.  I was about to scream "It's got sharp teeth!! Run away!"  Bad Monty Python joke...I know.  I had one of those moments where I'm pretty sure everyone at Disney thought I was the worst parent ever...oh well.  There are good days and bad days, right?  That good day has got to be coming soon!  On the up side of being sick, once the kids go to bed I don't feel like doing anything but laying down and reading, so in a matter of 48 hours I re-read The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong, and then the sequel, The Calling, which just came out last week.

Best picture of them the entire day!

This pretty much sums up their attitudes for the day!

Have you read The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong?  And have you read her Darkest Powers series as well?  If so, you need to read The Calling, because it came out last week and it was another classic Armstrong book (which is a good thing).  The Calling is the second book in Armstrong's Darkness Rising series.  You don't have to have read her Darkest Powers series to understand this series, but I feel like it definitely helps you have a little more insight into what is going on.  In the Darkest Powers, there were a series of youth who we learn have supernatural abilities, and were also experimented on to strengthen their abilities, sometimes to a dangerous level.  I really enjoyed this series and wish that Derek could be the awesome big brother I never had!  Okay, so I had a big brother, but he definitely was NOT like Derek....sorry Christian.  There is mention in the Darkest Powers series of other groups of kids that were experimented on.  Enter the characters in Darkness Rising!  We met the characters in The Gathering, and in classic Armstrong style, we were given a lot of info, but no answers.  Have no fear, because The Calling gave more answers than I expected...but still leaves lots of things for the third book to come out next year!  I find that her trilogies are amazing when you look at each trilogy as one long story.  If I try to judge each book individually, I just get angry because she raises a bunch of questions without giving answers and doesn't necessarily give a specific challenge that is overcome, ending with a satisfying resolution in each story, which is what makes us readers feel good inside when we finish a book.  So getting back to The Calling, we pick back up with Maya, Rafe, Daniel and their friends as they try to decide who to trust as they are lost in the wilderness, fighting for their lives and trying to figure out what is "special" about each of them.  I still don't know who they should trust and it has me all sorts of excited for the next book.  But what I'm most excited about is that they hinted that we may get to see the characters from the Darkest Powers series in the next book!  Yes, I'm a nerd, but as I said, I want Derek to be my brother.  I would highly recommend this book and all her young adult series to anyone who enjoys a good supernatural fiction.  I do NOT recommend Kelley Armstrong's several other series that she's written that are set in the same world and include many of the same characters.  Her other series are considered adult fiction...and they are definitely adult.  I tried to read one once, and got about a fourth of the way into the book before I returned it to the library.  This is one of the reasons I enjoy young adult fiction.  I want to read entertaining and uplifting stories...not pornography.  Anyways, I'll get off my soap box now and say that her young adult series are great and I will continue to read them as long as she writes them!!