Tell Me a Secret

Review of: Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala
Release date: June 22nd, 2010
Pages: 292
Publisher: Harper Teen
Received: Won in a contest
Overall grade: A

"It's tough living in the shadow of a dead girl..."

It has been 5 years since Miranda's (aka Rand) sister, Xanda, died. Xanda was always the bad seed in the family and their mother always considered Miranda to be the good daughter. Rand is just starting to get used to things the way they are. Her mom is always tied up with something at church and her father is constantly working which really isn't nothing new in the first place. She has a new best friend at school, Delaney, and a pretty great boyfriend, Kamran, who has taken an interest in Rand's art work. But when Rand comes back from being gone all Summer she's got a secret of her own, and many more secrets to find out along the way.

Get ready for a real heartwrencher with this one. The last 100 pages or so were real tearjerkers but I loved every minute of of it. For the most part I couldn't really tell what would come next. It was hard not to feel bad for Rand during the whole story from the way she was being treated by everyone, and how her life had been for the past few years after her sister's death. This story was a real page turner. I never wanted to put it down so I'm thankful I actually had a block of time to finish it in. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who's had to deal with death or teen pregnancy. It sends out a good message. I can't wait until Holly's next book comes out!

Nothing Like You

Review of: Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick
Release date: October 20th, 2009
Pages: 209 (paperback version)
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Received to review for: TeensReadToo
Overall grade: B

During her Junior year Holly lost her mom to cancer. In her Senior year Holly loses her virginity to Paul. She assumes it's just a one time thing because Paul is pretty much out of her league and he also has a long time girlfriend, Saskia. But after that day Paul keeps trying to talk to Holly and pursue her further. Pretty soon they are regularly sleeping together and Holly feels awful about it knowing that Saskia is Paul's real girlfriend. But it's really nice to have someone show their feelings for her even if it is only in secret. Since her mom died she hasn't been to feel much until now.

While this is going on Holly's only guy friend, Nils, has yet another new girlfriend. Holly thinks he has intimacy issues but should she really be judging him when she is doing what she is doing?

Everything changes for Holly when she's partnered with Saskia in class one day. She realizes that Saskia isn't the rude girl that Holly has always believed her to be. Soon the two of them become best friends and Holly is in a tough spot and knows that she has to completely end things with Paul, but how? Things get even worse when suddenly Nils and Holly start having feelings for each other..

At first I wasn't sure this book would really go anywhere but after the first couple chapters I realized what a pickle Holly had gotten herself in. And when she started talking to Saskia I was basically holding my breath every page! Holly and Nil's relationship was pretty great too. He was always there for her trying to cheer her up and make her smile. I was rooting for them to end up together during most of the book. Paul was just a total sleazebag. I kept wanting Holly to just smack him in the face or something. If you're looking for a great contemporary book to read then this is definitely it. I couldn't wait to get to the end of the book to find out what happened and I'm sure you'll feel the same way too. This was definitely a great first novel from Lauren Strasnick, and now I can't wait to read her other book, Her and Me and You.

In My Mailbox (6)

In My Mailbox is held by The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie. It is a way for bloggers to show what books they got that week, whether they are from the library, recieved in the mail, or won in a contest.

This week I got...an ARC of Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Wood

Signed copy of Forget Her Nots by Amy Brecount White

ARC of Dark Song by Gail Giles

ARC of Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

two chapter preview of Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala

Broken Birds by Jeannette Katzir

ARC of Stealing Death by Janet Lee Carey

ARC of The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Mary Downing Hahn

Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick

What a haul! I won the copy of Forget Me Nots and the preview of Tell Me a Secret from James at Book Chic. Thank you James! I also won the copies of Dark Song, Incarceron, Stealing Death, and The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall from Renee at The Book Girl Reviews. Thank you Renee! Dead Beautiful, Broken Birds, and Nothing Like You were sent to me for review. I'm reviewing Nothing Like you for Teens Read Too.

The Ghost and the Goth

Review of: The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Release date: June 29th, 2010
Pages: 281
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Received for review by: Disney Hyperion
Overall grade: A

Alona Dare is your typical popular girl. She's co-captain of the cheerleading squad and Homecoming queen for 3 years in a row. Now Alona is also dead; hit by a school bus leaving school early one morning.

Will Killian is an outcast who just wishes that ghosts would stop pestering him. Yes, that is correct. Will can hear and see ghosts and vis versa. All the ghosts ever want is help from Will to send messages to their loved ones and Will can't stand it. It also doesn't help that his psychiatrist just wants to throw him in the loony bin. So of course when Alona realizes that Will can see and hear her he's not too happy about it. She's always asking him questions about the afterlife and why is she still stuck on earth and not up in heaven.

When Alona starts being Will's "spirit guide" he isn't too sure about the situation but then he realizes it might not be such a bad thing after all. Especially if it can help him get rid of the big shadowy ghost that seems like its out to kill him. Now all Alona and Will have to do is get along..

This was an excellent read. Alona and Will are constantly at each others throats throughout most of the book and it makes for a good laugh. The chapters are told in Will's point of view and in Alona's point view. They switch every chapter and I really liked that. You get to be in each character's head for a short period of time. I also liked how hard it was for Alona to say even one little nice thing about someone. Overall this was just an entertaining, and at certain times serious read. Be on the lookout for the next book in the trilogy. Queen of the Dead will be released in the Summer of 2011.

Tweet Heart

Review of: Tweet Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick
Release date: June 29th. 2010
Pages: 264
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Received for review by: Disney Hyperion
Grade: A

Claire has two best guy friends, Will and Bennett, who are complete nerds with basically no social life. She also has her best friend Charlotte, aka Lottie.

Ever since she was little Claire has been majorly crushing on this guy named JD Whitcomb. He is super popular and Claire thinks that he'd never notice a girl like her. She is always talking about JD to Will. She always seems so upset about him not noticing her that Bennett gives Will an idea...a very dumb idea. He tells will he should make up a name on Twitter and pretend that he is JD. He tells Will that he should only message Claire once, just to make her smile. But does Will listen? Of course not.

This book was absolutely delish and was of course super easy to read and also short because it's written in emails, blogs, and tweets. But I think that it actually makes the book even better. Basically I loved the way it was written. And the four characters of the story were awesome as well. This is the ultimate Summer read. It has boys which is always a plus, even if they are nerdy, hehe. And it has a really sweet girl plus a very flirty girl which always adds up to some trouble. I'd go pick a copy of this book asap. It really is a super cute read. <3

A Field Guide For Heartbreakers

Review of: A Field Guide for Heartbreakers by Kristen Tracy
Release date: June 1st. 2010
Pages: 348
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Received for review by: Disney Hyperion
Grade: A

Best friends Dessy and Veronica get into a college writers workshop that Veronica's mother is teaching at during the Summer in Prague. They will be there for a month during the Summer and both girls have different plans for their time. Dessy wants to mend her recently broken heart after her first love, Hamilton, smashed it and Veronica wants to make her newly ex-boyfriend Boz jealous by encountering all the hot guys she possibly can in one month. Once they get to Prague Veronica even starts to put cut outs of all the hot guys she's met up on her wall in their dorm. She calls it the "wall of hot dudes".

But not long after they've been there everything seems to start going wrong. The guy that Dessy is interested in suddenly stops paying attention to her, and Veronica makes enemies with Corky who is one of their roommates and is apparently crazy. Soon Dessy and Veronica's friendship is strained and when Corky reveals something to Dessy about Veronica and Dessy's ex back home their friendship may be ruined forever.

For starters, this was a really great Summer read. Reading about two high school girls spending their Summer in Prague and chasing hot guys to me is the ultimate Summer read. I loved how Dessy and Veronica's friendship was so strong but they would constantly have these little small fights with one another. It was almost like they were sisters really. Also, this book wasn't all that predictable to me. It was nice to turn the page and not have what I expected to happen to be there. I always appreciate that in a good book. I also really liked the scenes when they are in the workshop and everyone is critiquing each others stories. Even the crazy girl, Corky, was interesting to me. I'd recommend this book to any girl who is looking for a relaxing Summer read. :)

Check out this contest!

Check out this contest that is going on over at Confessions of a Bookaholic. It's called the Summer Lovin' giveaway and it runs until August 19th. There are 10 prize packs to sign up for, isn't that so awesome! So head on over to Confessions of a Bookaholic :)

TELL ME A SECRET by Holly Cupala

I'm posting this video to help promote Holly Cupala's new book, Tell Me a Secret. I'm also entering the contest of course! I really can't wait to get my hands on this book. :)