Nothing but Blue Skies by Tom Holt

Back Cover Synopsis: There are very many reasons why British summers are either non-existent or, alternatively, held on a Thursday. Many of these reasons are either scientific, mad, or both - but all of them are wrong, especially the scientific ones. The real reason why it rains perpetually from January 1st to December 31st (incl.) is, of course, irritable Chinese water dragons.

Karen is one such legendary creature. Ancient, noble, near-indestructible and, for a number of wildly improbable reasons, working as an estate-agent, Karen is irritable quite a lot of the time. Hence Wimbledon. She becomes positively incensed, however, when she discovers that her father, the Adjutant General to the Dragon King of the North-west, has been kidnapped by a mob of livid weathermen.

This book was pretty funny. Just reading the synopsis is confusing and outrageous, like the book itself, but that makes it very interesting. Apparently dragons can change into humans and a special type of goldfish, along with being a dragon. So Karen, the main character, becomes human because she saw a human guy she fell in love with. But her running away caused problems back home. And then you have crazy weathermen all upset because they know about the dragons and want to tell the world, but government people don't want dragons exposed, they want to use them as a weapon. Parts of it get very confusing, but it's usually pretty easy to follow.

The only downside I saw was that the ending didn't really finish things off well. In a way they did, they did answer the question of whether or not Karen would remain human or be a dragon again, but some other issues weren't really answered. Books do that sometimes though to keep the imagination running :)

I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak

Back Cover Synopsis: protect the diamonds / survive the clubs / dig deep through the spades / feel the hearts Ed Kennedy is an underage cabdriver without much of a future. He's pathetic at playing cards, hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey, and utterly devoted to his coffee-drinking dog, the Doorman. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That's when the first ace arrives in the mail. That's when Ed becomes the messenger. Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary) until only one question remains: Who's behind Ed's mission?

I really enjoyed this book. One great thing about it, is it's an easy read. It keeps your attention because it's amusing and cause so many emotions. Parts of it make you angry, sad, depressed, happy, hopeful, excited. You just follow Ed's adventures every time he gets an ace. Each ace leads him to three locations, or people, who somehow need his help, or harm. At one point you don't even know if he might actually kill a guy. He meets people he absolutely despises and others that he returns to even later in the book because they touched him so much.

It just shows the different aspects of people and what happens when you care. Some people accept his help, many question it. Which would be expected in our world today. Everyone questions the motives of others. I think that's why I liked it so much. I love caring about people and helping out whenever I can, and eventually Ed enjoys it and looks forward to it. He stops focusing on the routines in his life and how he's going no where in his life and realizes there's other people out there that need him. And after it's all over, he realizes he was never really living life before, just going through the motions. There were so many different messages in this book, you get a lot out of it. Plus it's one you just don't want to put down!