The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

The battle against Chaos continues, and Apophis is very close to rising. The only way to stop him is to awaken Ra. Problem is, no one even knows where Ra is. And to awaken him, they need the three scrolls of the Book of Ra which are unreadable. Sadie and Carter Kane are not alone, though. They now have the assistance of their new trainees and a few of the gods.

To add to all the confusion, Carter has found some information leading to Zia's possible location. In this fresh, intense, and humorous race, it is all about the Throne of Fire.

I liked this book even more than the first in the series. It is in many ways, similar. A race to save the world in just a few days, with several battles and bits of humor along the way. This tends to be the pattern in Riordan's mythology books. The difference in this book is that it has a theme of identity. None of his other mythology books seem to as clearly have a theme. A great sequel. I liked how it went further into Egyptian mythology. Very excited for the next, and final book in the Kane Chronicles!

Clarity by Jenna Kay

Clarity lives in a small hick town in Southern Georgia with her aunt. She has a best friend and loving boyfriend. Partying and being a teen. This is the life Clarity has come to know.

But when she meets Sam, who claims to be an angel, and tells her that she is a Seer, her nicely packaged life is thrown into chaos. Everything is changing and strange things are always happening. She must decide whether to go back to normal or embrace being a Seer in her difficult search for clarity.

I found Clarity to be a very good book with great spiritual warfare. It is well written, and fast moving. Clarity and some of her friends can be a bit dirty so some of it is... interesting. I suppose that makes it more realistic however, in our society today. Clarity is from the first person point of view of a woman. As a guy, it is always hard to tell whether the book will be to feminine in this case, but this time, it was fine. More towards a female audience, but I didn't feel awkward reading it. Great job, Jenna, excited for the next one!
     

40 by Travis Thrasher

Just nine months before his fortieth birthday, Tyler Harrison receives startling news: he is going to die on his fortieth birthday. He is told this by an angel named Matthew, and has no doubt that the information is valid, but he still does not know what to do with the information.

Tyler is a music producer, and the crazy life of the job continues. Tyler is befriended by both an internationally-known DJ named Ellis, and a pastor called Will. Both confuse him. To add to this, Tyler is haunted and questions his own sanity. All of this is part of the countdown, to the day that Tyler Harrison turns 40.

I am going to be honest and say that the first half of the book is very slow; being in the first person point of view of a man going through his mid life crisis and working through the knowledge of when he will die. I was able to push through though, to the second half of the book which is much more interesting. The story picks up speed and gets intense. The best part of this book, however, was the ending. It had a fabulous twist that I never saw coming and never even considered. The ending was the redemption for reading it, and is one of my favorite endings of all books.