The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

This book was very dense although I enjoyed it. It was not a fast read for me. I read a bunch of other novels in between. There were a lot of twists in this book and surprises. The location was Canada and Toronto was often mentioned. References to Greek and Roman mythology and exerpts in French is probably some of the reason why this book was on the reading list for a first year English class at University of Winnipeg in 2001. The time frame of the book took place during the First and Second World Wars. I suppose the novel brought a flavor of Candian life at that time, however, everyone's flavor would have been differently experienced, so I am not so sure that description is accurate. Also, the heroine was rediculously wealthy, however, towards the end of the novel she wasn't. It was quite sad and depressing overall, but I still enjoyed it. I would give this book an 8/10.

Esperanza by Trish J. MacGregor

At first I thought this book might be a trashy cheap romance novel. It was not like that. It was more like the James Patterson books. There was a lot of action and some romance. The story was about brujos who were some South American ghost that took posession of peoples' bodies which most often killed the one who was posessed in a horrible and painful way. The back of the book indicates that this is a very scary novel. Usually when a book says that I am scared, but in this book I was not scared, just entertained and interrested. There was over-the-top swearing which turned me off, but the rest of the book was very good. There was time-travel which I find usually doesn't work well when I am reading a book, but in this novel it was great. Aparently this book was the basis for a hit TV show Dexter, but I've never heard of it. The end of the book leaves ideas open for sequels to this novel.