In My Mailbox (2)

Okay, so two of these books I actually got in the mail. The other book I ended up buying. It was more like a see-it-sitting-on-a-Costco-shelf-and-snap-it-up-for-11-bucks-book. I'm sure you can tell by the little sticker that is on the Along For The Ride cover. I just couldn't resist. I love Sarah Dessen!

Along For The Ride by Sarah Dessen (summary taken from book jacket)
Riding a bike is only one of the many things Auden's missed out on. Even before her parents' divorce, she was cast in the role of little adult, never making waves, focusing on academics to please her demanding mother.
Now she's spending the summer before college in the tiny beach town of Colby with her father and his new wife and baby. A job in a trendy boutique introduces her to the world of girls, their friendships, conversations, romances. And then there's Eli, an intriguing loner. A former star on the bike circuit and a fellow insomnia, Eli introduces Auden to the nocturnal world of Colby. Together they embark on a quest: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she's been denied; for Eli, to put a tragic episode behind him. Combine two lonely people with a charming beach town and an endless supply of long summer nights, and just about anything can happen.

Double Life by Dawson Vosburg (summary taken from back of book)
Josiah is the name. What if you could leap into your own overactive imagination? And what if you met your imaginary friends there? What if it was real? This all happens to an intelligent, imaginative boy named Josiah Jones, who find a portal into his own world. Now, stuck inside, he has to fight the battle of his life inside his own head. This masterpiece of storytelling is hilariously funny and keeps you engaged into this boy's strange double life between the imagined and the real.

The Emerald Tablet but P.J. Hoover (summary taken from book jacket)
Benjamin and his best friend Andy love being different from the other kids. They like being able to read each other's minds and use their telekinesis to play tricks. In fact, they are getting set to spend their entire summer doing just that when Benjamin's mirror starts talking. Suddenly, he's looking at eight weeks of summer school someplace which can only be reached by a teleporter hidden in his hallway. And the summer only gets stranger.
At schoool, Benjamin discovers he isn't really human but something called a telegen. It turns out the powers he always thought made him special only make him normal. But then the mysterious Emerald Tablet chooses him as its champion, and all chances of an uneventful summer (well, as uneventful as summer school on a hidden, submerged continent can be) disappear.

^^^I won this one from the lovely Book Chic during his second blog-o-versary. Thanks Book Chic! I can't wait to read it! :)

Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty

Review: Confessions of A Triple Shot Betty by Jody Gehrman
Released: April 17th, 2008
Pages: 255
Publisher: Dial Books
Grade: A

Amber loves John.
John wants Hero.
Hero loves Claudio.
Geena and Ben are archenemies.
But not for long.

Geena is so excited for this Summer. Her cousin Hero is coming home from boarding school for the Summer and Geena got her a job working at the coffee stand that she works at. She is so excited for Hero to meet her close friend, Amber. Geena believes that all of three of them will become best friends and have the best Summer ever. But her attitude quickly changes when Amber thinks that Hero is a stuck up prissy girl, and has no intentions of becoming friends with her.

Geena is your typical skater girl who hates dresses and everyone believes she strongly dislikes boys, especially Ben Bettaglia. Geena and Ben are always at each other's throats. Both are determined to be valedictorian of their class. Every chance they get they're always picking on each other and pissing each other off. But Geena's friends keep trying to tell her that Ben likes her though she doesn't want to believe it.

Summer basically goes down the drain when Geena, Hero, and Amber go to a party and Hero ends up getting wasted. After she pisses off John (the local ass), he plans payback in the worst way. Geena hates seeing her cousin being taken down and vows to take John down once and for all. He has hurt way too many girls' reputations, including Amber's, and he just has to be stopped! Will the Betty's be able to pull of a major scheme, and still end up having a fabulous Summer?

This book was absolutely delish. It's a delightful Summer read full of coffee, drama, and boys. The main characters were easy to identify with and the book just flowed along at a nice easy pace. I didn't find myself to be bored even once during this book. Jody has a gift for writing for young adults. Each girl (and even the guys) had their own individual voice. The book is told from the lovely Geena's point of view. It's basically her writing in her diary. I love books like that so as soon as I started reading this one I knew it would be a winner. I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a cute Summer read. I definitely enjoyed it and I'm sure you will too. :)

Twenty Boy Summer

Review: Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
Released: June 2009
Pages: 290
Publisher: Little, Brown and company
Grade: A-

Anna, Frankie, and Matt have been closer than close since they were little babies running around in diapers. The three have been inseperable. Frankie and Matt are brother and sister and Anna is their next door neighbor. For years Anna has had harbored a love for Matt that she has kept very secret. But on her fifteenth birthday alone with Matt he kisses her. After that kiss the two are swept up in a whirlwind of love. Matt doesn't want to tell Frankie until their Summer trip together to California that their family always takes. Anna agrees to keep their relationship a secret.

Before Matt has the chance to tell Frankie though he dies suddenly, and Anna swore to secrecy so she isn't about to tell Anna about her and Matt now. She decides she'll keep the secret forever because she promised Matt she would.

Just a little bit over a year later Anna goes with Frankie and her parents to California. Anna's parents thought it'd be good for them to take a trip as a family again even if Matt wouldn't be there. Frankie being the crazy girl that she turned in to not long after Matt's death decides this will be the Summer that Anna loses her virginity. To make it fun she makes a game she calls "twenty boy summer" the goal being to talk to at least 20 boys during their 3 week vacation. Anna isn't too pysched about the idea but wanting to keep Anna happy she goes along with it. But she has no idea what she's gotten herself in to.

WOW. That was my first reaction. I had heard people raving about this book for a month before I actually got a copy. From the first page I was hooked. I knew from reading other reviews that this was a sad book but I didn't realize how sad! I found myself tearing up every so often over the smallest things. Sarah Ockler truly has a gift for writing. The words just flow together so nicely. One minute you could be sad and the next you're laughing. To me that makes an amazing book. When I can feel two completely different emotions so close to each other I know that I'm reading an amazing story. There were a couple of things that got to me that made me a little frustrated but I still enjoyed the book very very much. I also liked how it ended. I'd definitely recommend picking up this book if you don't mind crying every so often. It's really a heartwrenching story but it has it's funny moments and I just think it's well worth the read. I hope Sarah writes something else for us very soon!

Teaser Tuesdays (1)

My first Teaser Tuesday, Yay!

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to...

1. Grab your current read.

2. Let the book fall open to a random page.

3. Share with us two "teaser" sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

4. You also need to share the title of the book that you're getting your "teaser" from. That way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

5. Please avoid spoilers!

6. Join the list over at Should Be Reading.

Today my "teaser" is from...Twenty Boy Summer by Sarach Ockler! :)

"What's the big deal?" I ask, thinking that if this is as good as it gets, I'll be lugging around the old albatross for quite a while. "The big deal, Anna, is that they're totally staring at us. And we aren't even done up or anything."

I'm loving this book so far. Definitely check it out if you have the chance!

Identical

Review: Identical by Ellen Hopkins
Released: August 2008
Pages: 565
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Grade: A+

Summary taken from jacket flap.

Do twins begin in the womb? Or in a better place?
Kaeleigh and Raeanne are identical down to the dimple. As daughters of a district-court judge father and a politician mother, they are an all-American family-on the surface. Behind the facade each sister has her own dark secret, and that's where their differences begin.

For Kaeleigh, she's the misplaced focus of Daddy's love, intended for a mother whose presence on the campaign trail means absence at home. All that Raeanne sees is Daddy playing a game of favorites-and she is losing. If she has to lose, she will do it on her own terms, so she chooses drugs, alcohol, and sex.

Secrets like the ones the twins are harboring are not meant to be kept-from each other or anyone else. Pretty soon it's obvious that neither sister can handle it alone, and one sister must step up to save the other, but the question is-who?

Ellen Hopkins has done it once again. Now I have to admit that so far the only book of hers that I've read is CRANK. But I loved it so I figured I'd love this one too. From the very first page I was hooked. Ellen writes amazingly well in verse. The pages just flow together. It's easy to feel what each girl is feeling when they're talking. I just believe it was very well written. When I can actually feel like I'm inside a character's head that's when I know I'm reading a great book. If you've read anything else by Ellen (and of course even if you haven't) I highly recommend picking up a copy of this. Due to some of the disturbing things in this book I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under the age of 16.

In My Mailbox (1)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren. Find out all the information here. This is my first actual In My Mailbox post so bear with me! Here we go...

Cathy's book by Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman (synopsis from Amazon)

Things weren't so peachy in Cathy's life before Victor broke up with her. Her father died unexpectantly, she's failing school, and her best friend is mad at her. But when Cathy decides to investigate Victor's reasons for ending their relationship, things suddenly go from bad to very, very, very bad as her findings produce more questions than answers. For instance, what does the death of Victor's co-worker, the strange mark that appeared on Cathy's arm, and the surreal behavior of several Chinese elders have to do with it?

Cathy's Key by Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman (synopsis from Powell's Books)

In the sequel to Cathy's Book, Cathy is trying to keep a job, her journal is stolen, the cute boy is not who he seems to be, and even Emma's side project/start-up company is about to get caught up in the mystery surrounding Cathy's presumed-dead father.

Cathy's Ring by Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman (synopsis from Amazon)

Cathy cannot manage to find more than a few days to relax in her hectic (and mortal) life-she barely has time to put the mystery surrounding her father to rest before she finds herself targeted by a group of Ancestor Lu's professional killers! Recognizing she is a serious threat to everyone in her life, Cathy makes plans to leave town. But her friends, Emma, Pete, Victor, and, surprisingly, Jun, unite to convince Cathy that they must finish Lu once and for all to have any chance at peace-mortal or immortal. In order to defeat Lu, the friends must come together in a way they never have before. (There's more to it but this is enough, haha).

Access Denied (and other eighth grade error messages) by Denise Vega (synopsis from back cover)

Computer whiz Erin Swift is ready to start eighth grade. The Year of Humiliating Events (aka seventh grade) is behind her and she's ready to rule the school. But eighth grade comes with its own set of problems for Erin to navigate, including her first boyfriend, her first breakup, and the fact ther her mom has been treating her more like an eight-year-old than an eighth grader. Even worse, there's a new girl at Molly Brown Middle School who is determined to remake Erin in her bad-girl image, and former crush Mark "Cute Boy" Sacks has been acting strange lately.

But as Erin's school year once against hurtles toward disaster, a personal tragedy forces her to realise that things, and people, aren't always as bad as they seem. Can she save what's left of eighth grade before it's too late?

ghostgirl: Homecoming by Tonya Hurley (synopsis from back cover)

Charlotte Usher, a.k.a ghostgirl, discovers that the afterlife isn't quite what she expected when she's forced to intern at a hotline for troubled teens. But duty calls when Hawthorne High's leading love-to-hate cheerleader and her gothic little sis suddenly find themselves in dire need. Charlotte's opportunity to help them may prove to be the risk of a lifetime-for all of them.

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler (synopsis from inside book jacket)

According to Anna's best friend, Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there's a pretty good chance Anny will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there's something she hasn't told Frankie-she's already had her romance, and it was with Frankie's older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

I pretty much never get this many books in one week, ever. So this will probably be my only long In My Mailbox post for a while. But I can't wait to read all of these! :)

Edit to add: About two weeks ago I was mailed a copy of ghostgirl: Homecoming so I now have two copies. Expect a contest for that extra copy pretty soon!

Cathy's Book

Review: Cathy's Book: if found call (650) 266-8233 by Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman
Released: October 2006
Pages: 143
Publisher: Running Press
Grade: A-

After Cathy's boyfriend Victor abruptly breaks up with her she's determined to find out why. It just happened out of nowhere. One day they were together and the next they weren't. It was like he suddenly disappeared and just wanted to be out of her life. Little did she know that there was a reason for Victor to not want to be in Cathy's life.

After she breaks in to what she thought was his uncle's million dollar home she finds out a few things about Victor. When she's almost caught in the house she steals almost everything that she touched and flees. Back home she starts going through his planner and old pictures and notes that she found. Things aren't quite adding up. She tries to get her best friend Emma involved. At first Emma doesn't want anything to do with finding Victor. But after something she changes her mind and wants to get more involved than even Cathy does.

Soon Cathy finds herself in a dangerous situation after having run in to Victor a few times. He told her to stay away from him but of course Cathy wouldn't listen. Now Cathy's life could be in danger all because she wanted to find out the truth from Victor. What will end up happening? Will the truth be as shocking as she ever imagined it to be?

First off, I finished this book in two days. It was one of those books that I just couldn't put down. From the first page I was sucked right in. Cathy's sassyness and attitude towards everything is awesome and makes the book so great. There were times I was a bit confused but after re-reading a few certain things I was right back on track. Basically the voice of Cathy makes this book. I couldn't wait to find out what happened at the end. It ended sort of abruptly but left a nice opening in to the next book, Cathy's Key. I'd suggest this book to anyone who's put off by reading. This book makes you want to read. It's written in a journal sort of format with a bunch of doodles all over the place. It feels like you're reading a diary. Overall it was just a great book that I highly recommend. It's a great mystery.

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Best Friends and Drama Queens

Review: Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Best Friends and Drama Queens
Author: Meg Cabot
Released: March 2009
Pages: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Ages: 8-12
Grade: A

Allie thought her life was going pretty good during holiday vacation. Her family got a new game system and she was anxious to share it with her friends when they came home from vacation. Right before school starts up one of her friends tells her that their teacher said they are going to have a new student when they come back. At first Allie isn't too excited about this. But once she finds out that the new student is a girl and from Canada the excitement sets in.

Though on her first day back Allie is asked to sit in the back of the classroom with all the annoying gross boys so the new girl, Cheyenne, can sit up front with the girls and feel welcome in her new class. Not long after Cheyenne starts going to Allie's school Allie and her friends realize that she isn't that great. Mostly she's just bossy and rude. She thinks that all the girls in the fourth grade should be "going" with boys because that is the mature thing to do. Pretty soon she ends up getting most all of the girls to even go with all the boys, but not Allie. Allie is determined to stand her ground and to not be bullied by this bully.

This was a really cute third book in the Allie Finkle series. Meg Cabot has the perfect voice of a girl in the fourth grade. I can just picture little Allie and her friends. I thought some parts of this book were a little out there. Like the new girl Cheyenne forcing all the girls to "go" with the boys. It just seemed a little off the wall. But even so it was a cute read. I'm sure young girls (and even boys) around the world will enjoy this book, and the rest of the Allie Finkle series. I love all the little rules she makes up. My favorite in this book was: "Boys can seriously be so stupid sometimes. Also deeply thoughtless." So true!

*Reviewed for TeensReadToo
Check out my reviews for the first two Allie Finkle books...Moving Day and The New Girl

Yay, Lookie!

I finally have an adorable layout! And it's all thanks to Kelsey of Just Blinded Book Reviews and her new site Just Blinded Blog Makeovers. So if you need any help making your blog look amazing talk to her! She came up with the idea for my blog out of pretty much nowhere and I loved it! She's so awesome. I'm so happy to have a regular and nice looking blog now. Yay! So for the record, Kelsey rocks and now my blog does too! Yay! :)

Obsession (ARC)

Review: Obsession by Donny Stephens
Release Date: July 10th, 2009 (I believe)
Pages: 206
Publisher: Idea Publishing Company
Grade: B-

Amy Brantley is a normal 16-year-old girl. When her parents divorce her mother, Claire, and Amy move to a small town that is located a couple hours away from their old home. This town is called Andersonville. Amy's father, John, is a private detective and never had any time for his family because of his work which was the main cause of the divorce. Amy has always taken great interest in her father's work and wants to be a private detective too someday. When Amy and Claire first get to Andersonville Amy meets a nice old man who owns a little gift shop. She talks to him a few times and he tells her that Andersonville isn't a very nice place. He tells her stories about how the town was built and about an evil man who he thinks took over the starting of the town.

On Amy's first day of school she meets a boy named Joshua Freedman. Right away he takes a liking to Amy and asks her out. Amy of course accepts because Joshua seems like a nice enough guy and he's also attractive.

Claire gets a job as a bank teller at the local bank. Her boss is Bobby Freedman, Joshua's father. Not long after being hired Claire realizes that Bobby has taken a liking to her. Of course Bobby's wife realizes this too and all of this drama is starting to confusing Claire.

After only a couple dates with Joshua Amy realizes that he may be becoming obsessed with her. He starts to be really controlling and more demanding. Whenever another guy even tries to talk to Amy Joshua will either beat him up or get someone else to do it.

After a bad date with Joshua one night Amy comes home to find her mother watching the news. When she asks her mother what is going on Claire tells her that the old man from the gift shop is dead. She says that everyone thinks it was a suicide but Amy knows better than that. She's determined to put her detective skills to work and dig up the dirt on this town. If she doesn't who knows what could happen to her or her mother...

This was a pretty intense read. The first few chapters are a little slow but it soon picks up after that. The ending is especially action packed. It literally had me on the edge of my seat. The only thing that I wasn't too crazy about with this book was some of the writing at times. Some of the times when the characters were talking it just didn't seem like words they would really say. Other than that this was a great book. It's great for anyone who likes mystery and action. I loved how determined Amy was to find out what was going on in the town, and I really liked how Claire handled everything with her boss and his wife. Overall I think this was a pretty good book. Also, due to some mature topics especially towards the middle and the end of the book I wouldn't recommend this to anyone under the age of 16.

Reviewed for teensreadtoo :)

Blog-o-versary and Blog Award!

Today I have officially been blogging for a year! I feel kind of lame seeing as I only have like 40 something reviews up but oh well. At least I'm still here. I plan to have a lot of reviews up this Summer so be sure to check back! I may have a contest or two as well so keep your eyes peeled :)

Today I was also nominated for my first blog award, yay!!!! Jo from Ink and Paper nominated me for The Lemonade award. Thanks Jo!

Rules are...Link back to the person he/she received the award from.
Nominate 10 bloggers who are deserving of this award.
Put the Lemonade Award logo on your blog.

And here's who I'm nominating...that one girl emily
In Bed With Books
Wondrous Reads
The Book Obsession
GreenBeanTeenQueen
Readingjunky's Reading Roost
Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf
And Another Book Read...
Reading Keeps You Sane
Mrs. Magoo Reads

Yay for the blog award. Thanks Jo! Keep an eye out for my review of Obsession that will hopefully be coming within the next couple of days. :D

Bad Girl's Don't Die

Review: Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender
Released: April 2009

Pages: 346

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Grade: A+

Alexis thought she was leading the typical life of an angsty teenager (pink hair and all). Her friends are a group of people that she refers to as "the doomsquad" and she has a younger sister who of course tends to annoy her at times. All the popular kids at school hate her for things she's done in the past. Her life was pretty normal. But then one day her sister, Kasey, starts acting strange. She'll have spells where she doesn't even seem like herself. She'll use words that she'd never usually use, and has weird attitudes towards things. Her eyes will even go from her usual blue to a strange emerald green.

Pretty soon things around the house start to get scary. The brakes in her mom's car get messed with and her dad gets into an accident because of it. Soon Alexis starts to believe that Kasey had something to do with it. She really believes it when Kasey actually tells her that she did do it. But soon after she doesn't remember a thing about even telling Alexis. When Alexis and Kasey have a run in with a cheerleader named Megan at Alexis' school Megan informs her that there is evil in Kasey, and from there they try to solve the mystery...

Holy crap this book almost scared the pants off of me! It's been a long time since I've read a creepy book like this. It's one of those page turners that keeps you guessing until the very end. I didn't find it predictable in the least bit. Every few minutes I could feel a shiver go down my spine. Seriously, it was that creepy to me. Keep in mind that books don't tend to scare me that easily. Other than the obvious creepiness this book has all the elements of a great book. The characters are awesome and full of life, the story line never lagged for a moment, and there was a hot guy! I just thought everything about this book was good. The ending didn't even disappoint me. I thought it was a good wrap up to everything. All in all I'd highly suggest this if you're looking for a type of mysterious and/or spooky read. My advice though: Don't read it at night, alone in the dark. :)

Worst blogger ever..

Okay so I haven't reviewed a book in like over 2 months now. I'm such a loser! But right now I'm in the middle of Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender. Let me just say if you're looking for something to scare you then this book is definitely for you. I've gotten chills many times in the first like 200 pages.

Anyway, so on the 11th (in 2 days) I'll have had my blog for a year already. Crazy! And since my last final is tomorrow I'm planning on catching up on my reading as soon as possible. I want to be a good blogger again! Speaking of being a good blogger has anyone noticed how my blog sucks? Yeah, it needs a major makeover but I suck with html and everything. So if there's anyone out there that is willing to do a makeover on my blog I'd totally appreciate it! I want it to look nice like all the other reviewer blogs out there. I'd owe you for life so please consider it!!!!

So there's my lame update for now. Expect a new review soon though. :)

Oh and one more thing I'm changing my rating system. Instead of the boring 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 stars I'm switching to grades of A, B, C, D, or E. Of course I'll add in a - or a + if need be. I think grades would make more sense so expect those from now on.