B is for Books

I'm back! (Again)

2011-06-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

Hello for those of you who are still following me! I can't believe I haven't posted in close to a year now. I feel awful! But I've been attending school full-time and looking for work constantly so I haven't had much time to read. But fear not fellow blog readers I just got sent some books to review for UnRequired reading and I have already started on one, Queen of the Dead, yay! I'll have a review for that in a few days, or less. So look forward to that!

How much have I missed since October?!

Real Live Boyfriends (ARC)

2010-10-06T10:25:00.001-07:00

Review of: Real Live Boyfriends by E. Lockhart
Release date: December 28th, 2010
Pages: 240
Publisher: Random House (Delacorte Press)
Received for review: ARC tour
Overall grade: A

*yes, boyfriends, plural. if my life weren't complicated - I wouldn't be Ruby Oliver.

In the fourth book of the Ruby Oliver series Ruby is a Senior and indeed has real live boyfriend. After some fights and misunderstandings Ruby and Noel are now a full on couple. Ruby is as happy as can be...that is until Noel goes to New York to visit his brother and after a few days he stops calling Ruby and won't answer her calls. While he's gone Gideon stops by (shirtless) and wants Ruby to go out on his boat with him. When Noel gets back from New York Ruby thinks he's acting like a "pod robot" and analyzes their relationship way too much. Of course this screws everything up.

While Ruby's love life is in shambles her home life isn't doing much better. Her father is depressed over the loss of his mother and Ruby's mom is obsessed with making meat dishes and constantly being annoyed with Ruby and her father. What's a girl to do?

This book definitely fit in nicely with the series. Who couldn't love Ruby Oliver? She's always over analyzing things and freaking out about the smallest things. But she's just an ordinary girl with some out of the ordinary problems. All in all I thought this book was a great follow up to the last one and I'd for there to be more! I hope E. Lockhart feels the same :)
The only thing I was sad about was the cover. I wish it matched the other three. Those covers were so cute!

(Re)Cycler

2010-09-26T14:54:00.000-07:00

Review of: (re)cycler by Lauren McLaughlin
Release date: August 25th. 2009
Pages: 288
Publisher: Random House
Received for review: Won in a contest
Overall grade: B

After the terrible incident that was prom Jill has to decide what to do after graduation. Should she travel with Tommy or should she go to New York with Ramie? Obviously since Jack is basically afraid of Tommy she chooses New York. Jack is of course thrilled because he gets to spend time having sex with Ramie as much as possible at their apartment. Jill is of course bummed because she misses Tommy terribly.

While there Jill and Ramie get mixed up with some "girl traders" that Jack has met. Jack is repulsed by this and wants to get back at the guys so he comes up with a plan to ruin their little scheme. But now Jill has sort of fallen for one of them and wants to lose her virginity just to get it over with. Recently Jack's cycles have been getting out of whack and Ramie is basically attached to this new fashion girl, Marguerite, who apparently has all sorts of connections. How many more problems can Jill and Jack run in to?

I think this was a great follow up to Cycler. It started off right after prom when Jill has to make her decision, and I liked that not a lot of time had passed from the first book. I also thought it was great that Jack actually wanted to protect Jill even though she had basically hid him for the first few years he was alive. Overall this was a good second book about Jill and Jack and their problems of being girl/boy. I hope there is a third book sometime in the future.

Big Contest!

2010-09-18T23:01:00.001-07:00

Princess Bookie is having her Contest Craze start soon!!! This year it will be two weeks long. Aren't you excited, I know I am! The start date is September 27th. So be sure to stop by her blog and check out all the contest madness on the 27th! And also the major blowout contest day is on October 9th. So don't forget to stop by her blog on that day as well! :) Happy contesting!

Cycler

2010-09-07T23:34:00.001-07:00

Review of: Cycler by Lauren McLaughlin (ARC)
Release date: August 26th, 2008
Pages: 256
Publisher: Random House
Received for review: from Random House (a while ago)
Overall grade: A

Jill is just your average girl. She's a senior in a small town. She has a best friend, Ramie. And of course, just like every young girl, she has a crush on a new kid in town named Tommy.

Oh yeah, there's one little thing I forgot to mention. Every month for the four days before her period Jill turns into a boy, aka Jack. This has been happening since Jill was 14. Now of course this puts quite of a damper on Jill's life. She has to keep this big secret from Ramie and the rest of the world. And now Jack has developed an obsession with Ramie. If it wasn't for Jill's 'Plan B' and her mantra "I am all girl" she would be stuck with all of Jack's thoughts (and actions) in her head all the time. But soon even those techniques might not even work anymore. What is a girl/guy supposed to do?

This was an incredibly brilliant first novel from Lauren McLaughlin (the second is out now too (Re)Cycler). It was so strange that it was amazing, if that even makes any sense at all. I absolutely loved it. It's hard to imagine what kind of life someone would have if they actually had this happen to them every month. It's crazy to even think about! But Lauren definitely captured the right feelings for both Jill and Jack I'm sure. I loved how each chapter switched between the two. So the book was basically half of Jill's point of view and vis versa. In the front of the book there is a message from Lauren saying that she was born to tell the story of Cycler and after having finished this story I definitely believe this. If I were you I'd go check this book out if you're in for a real page turner. And also, keep in mind that there is some mature subject matter in this book, and of course it mostly comes from Jack. Haha, boys.

Dark Song

2010-09-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

Review of: Dark Song by Gail Giles (ARC)
Release date: September 2010
Pages: 292
Publisher: Little Brown
Received: won in a contest
Overall grade: A

"It felt dangerous. I found something dark in me that sang. I wanted to listen. Maybe I wanted to sing, too."

15 year old Ames has been betrayed. Her whole life she has been one of the rich kids until her father runs her family's life down the drain with his stupidity. Now her life is spiraling downwards. Her mother is freaking out and taking out her worries on everyone else, and all her father seems to be able to do is drink. The only level headed one in the family is Chrissy who happens to be 6 years old.

Now they are living in a hell hole somewhere in Texas and Ames is constantly being yelled at, worked to the bone, or getting very close to being smacked around by her parents. But in Texas she also has Marc. Marc is 22 and exactly the guy that Ames' friend Em would go for. Now that Ames has this different life she decides she could be dangerous like Em. Right away Marc says he's going to protect her, that he doesn't like the way she's being treated. When he's at her house one day and says he's got a gun it excites her. But she doesn't realize the trap that she is quickly being pulled in to.

This book was one of those page turners. I finished it in about a day. Of course it helped that it was one of those books that is a really quick read but even if it wasn't I'm sure I would have finished quickly. The first half focuses on Ames' family falling apart because of her father and the second part focuses on their new life in Texas and Ames' obsession with being a bad girl. As soon as Marc showed up I got a bad feeling but of course that was to be expected. I definitely wasn't expecting the book to end the way it did, and I liked the ending. If you're looking for a fast paced drama filled read then this is the book for you. Check out Gail Giles' other books as well. They're great just like this one.

Zombie Blondes

2010-09-03T22:34:00.001-07:00

Review of: Zombie Blondes by Brian James
Release date: May 2009
Pages: 232 (paperback)
Publisher: Square Fish (imprint of Macmillan)
Received: Bought at Borders
Overall grade: C

Hannah and her father never stay anywhere for very long. She is never in the same school for more than a few months at a time at best. Because of this Hannah is always the new girl and usually has problems making friends. She has never been one to be popular.

This time they move to Maplecrest, Vermont. It has an old town feel to it that Hannah's father loves. But Hannah feels that something is off. Too many houses are for sale and it seems so quiet. Then of course there is the fact that the cheerleaders are strangely pale and all have amazingly piercing blue eyes. Hannah doesn't think much of it until her new friend Lukas tries to tell her that they are zombies. At first Hannah thinks he's crazy. Then the cheerleaders want her to be one of them and Hannah starts to notice things about them and the football players as well. What is going on in this town?

This book was okay. It wasn't breathtaking or anything, just okay for me. It was also a bit predictable but I liked Hannah and Lukas so that made up for it. I wasn't really hooked until the last forty pages or so. The rest of the book seemed to just drag out the inevitable. So unless you're really obsessed with zombies I wouldn't really recommend it. I do love the cover though and the way how the zombies were portrayed. It was a bit different then how they've been portrayed in other books and that was a plus. Overall it was a pretty okay read.

Tell Me a Secret

2010-08-30T14:44:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

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)

2010-08-22T18:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-10T23:57:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-08-05T10:20:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

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. :)

Question for my readers

2010-07-28T11:00:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I know I'm not the greatest blogger. I've been slacking recently because I'm moving soon and of course that's a hassle. But I have a question for you guys. What would you like to see on my blog? Any specific things like Waiting on Wednesday or Teaser Tuesdays? I never really know what to post. I want to draw readers in but I'm not creative enough! Haha. So if any of you have any opinions of what you want to see on my blog leave me a comment and let me know! I'd really appreciate anything you have to say, seriously.

And also, is there anything that you don't like about my reviews? I'm still trying to make my review better. So if there's anything you like or don't like let me know about that too! Thanks guys. I really appreciate it. :)

Every Little Thing in the World

2010-07-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

Review of: Every Little Thing in the World by Nina de Gramont
Release date: March 2010
Pages: 282
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Grade: A

Sydney Biggs is 16 years old and somewhat of a rebel. After her and her best friend Natalia sneak out to a party one night her mother ships her off to her father for the Summer so he can deal with her. Her father tells Sydney that he is sending her off to a wilderness camp for a month. The only problem is that Sydney is pregnant, and she needs to decide whether she wants an abortion or not within a very short period of time.

She plans to not think about her pregnancy at all during the month that she is away but then Natalia shows up on the trip with her and is a constant reminder of Sydney's situation. In the end what will Sydney choose to do?

This was a fantastic read. As soon as I read about it I wanted to get a copy right away and when I got my hands on one it definitely did not disappoint. I felt so bad for Sydney during the whole book. She was constantly trying to figure out what the right thing to do was and it didn't help that her best friend was always pushing her opinion on Sydney. All of the characters were great and I liked the ending. It was a great story about a huge decision that a young girl has to make.

Torn to Pieces

2010-07-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

Review of: Torn to Pieces by Margot McDonnell
Release date: September 9th 2008
Pages: 258
Publisher: Delacorte Books for young readers
Grade: A

Anne is a 17-year-old girl who lives with her quirky mother. Ever since Anne was little her mother and her (and her grandparents) would move around every once in a while. Anne's mom is a writer so she does a lot of traveling and Anne stays by herself in their house but often stays with her grandparents just down the street because it's creepy being alone in that big house.

Anne has always found her mother to be a bit strange by the furniture that she buys and the long business trips that she takes. But her mother has always been a stable mother figure for Anne and Anne hasn't minded her mother's long trips because she always comes back and is always there for Anne. But when her mother misses Anne's birthday she knows that something is up. Not once has her mother ever missed her birthday, no matter what. Immediately Anne starts to investigate, starting off with asking her grandparents questions. When that doesn't work so well she starts to dig further. Who knows what she may find out..

This book was so addicting. I read it in like two days. It really was a page turner. It seemed kind of like a mystery to me. I had to keep guessing what was going to happen. Anne was such a determined character. She would stop at nothing to find out what was going on with her mother and I loved that about her. The secondary characters were pretty awesome as well. All in all this was just a really good book to me. The writing was really great and the suspense was awesome. I'd check this one out if you're in for some mystery and suspense.

Defying the Diva

2010-07-09T12:23:00.001-07:00

Review of: Defying the Diva by D. Anne Love
Release date: March 2008
Pages: 257
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Grade: B

Haley Patterson is a 14-year-old freshman in high school. She has two great best friends and is planning on making a name for herself by writing in the school paper. But when one of her articles gets the queen bee (Camilla Quinn) of the school in trouble Haley's life takes a turn for the worse. All of a sudden her two best friends have turned on her thanks to Camilla and the whole school basically thinks she is a slut from what Camilla has spread around. Of course absolutely none of this is true but now Haley is stuck being a total outcast.

For the Summer she has to go stay with her Aunt in some small town far away from her home because her parents are going on a trip and her brother is exploring the world. While there her Aunt makes her get a job at a nearby hotel. Haley is so messed up from her horrible experience back home that she isn't sure she can really trust anybody that she works with. But maybe, just maybe, someone there will get her to open up and be the amazing girl that she really is.

This book shows the classic doings of a terrible high school girl. It really upsets me how girls can be so mean, especially in high school. Throughout the whole book you can't help but to feel bad for Haley. She was basically an innocent victim who got stomped on for one little thing that she didn't even think was that big of a deal! This book was pretty emotional at times and at other times it just made me want to scream because of how badly Haley was being treated. But I really enjoyed the middle and the ending of the book. It's a pretty good Summer read too because it basically takes place during the Summer. :)

Tell Me Who

2010-07-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

Review of: Tell Me Who by Jessica Wollman
Release date: February 2009
Pages: 261
Publisher: Dutton Books
Grade: B

Molly's dad is engaged to Phyllis. Molly refers to Phyllis as "the claw" because of her nails. Molly's mom died when she was young and after her mother's death her and her dad became the best of friends. They spent so much time together but now Phyllis is ruining everything and Molly hates her.

One day Molly and her best friend Tanna find a weird antique machine in the basement that belongs to "the claw". When they turn it on they discover that machine tells you who you are going to marry. After several tests they decide that it indeed does tell the truth. Molly is determined to change the outcome of the Who-Meter when it comes to her father. All Tanna wants to do is tell people and charge them money to find out who they will end up marrying. But when an interesting thing happens Molly and Tanna might start thinking differently about the machine.

This book was really cute and also funny. Phyllis "the claw" seemed like such an awful person that it made sense that Molly wanted to find her dad somebody else to be with! There were a few parts of the book that were unexpected to me which was a nice surprise. The ending was pretty good as well. I'd recommend this book to younger readers around age 12 or so. It seems like a book they might enjoy a lot.

Huge contest from Bree Despain

2010-06-30T22:52:00.000-07:00

Bree, the author of The Dark Divine is having a pretty great contest. She's giving away a bag of books! To enter you just have to link to her video of the teaser trailer to The Dark Divine or post the video itself. So of course, I'm doing just that.

Go check out the contest for yourself here. It's pretty awesome. :)

Pretty Monsters

2010-06-30T08:55:00.000-07:00

Review of: Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
Release date: October 23, 2008
Pages: 389
Publisher: Penguin Group, USA
Grade: B

Pretty Monsters is a collection of 9 short stories; all of which were quite interesting. Here is a sentence or 2 about each story...

1. The Wrong Grave - Miles Sperry decides to dig up his dead girlfriend, Bethany Baldwin, to get back some poetry that he wrote for her after she died and wasn't smart enough to make copies of. When he opens the grave he has discovered that it is the wrong one. Now he's got some strange dead girl following him around all night.

2. The Wizards of Perfil - This is about a boy named Onion and a girl named Halsa. Onion's parents have died and Halsa's mother is watching after him and the other children. While in the market of Perfil she sells Onion to someone who says they will take him to the Wizards of Perfil. For some reason they bring Onion right back and take Halsa instead. Once Halsa is there she discovers that the Wizards are incredibly vain and super lazy. But there is something that neither Onion or Halsa knows about the wizards.

3. Magic for Beginners - A boy named Jeremy Mars and a few of his friends are obsessed with a show called The Library. Jeremy's mother and father of some problems getting along because Jeremy's father is a writer. When his father puts Jeremy in one of his books and then kills him off his mother insists that she and Jeremy go to Las Vegas to see the wedding chapel she has inherited from her late sister. But Jeremy is afraid that he'll miss the next spontaneous episode of The Library!

4. The Faery Handbag - Genevieve's grandmother Zofia has a mysterious handbag that is apparently a family heirloom and over 200 years old. She never lets the bag out of her sight. Zofia tells Genevieve crazy stories about how a whole little village lives in that bag, and a nasty dog too. If you open it up and aren't careful you could get sucked into the handbag and not come out for years even if you are only in the bag for one day. When Zofia dies Genevieve is to be the keeper of the bag but once Zofia is gone Genevieve can't find the handbag anywhere.

5. The Specialist's Hat - Samantha and Claire are identical twins who live with their father on the second story of a huge house. Their father is writing the history of the Eight Chimneys where they are currently living. Samantha and Claire have a babysitter who tells them about The Specialist who apparently goes around the house killing people and that she herself used to live there and has seen The Specialist when she was younger. Things get a little creepy when The Specialist himself shows up that night.

6. Monster - Bungalow 6 has to go on their camp out before camp ends for the Summer. It's pouring out but they still want to go. The boys from Bungalow 4 say they saw a monster and they are determined to see it. James Lorbick is kind of the loser of the cabin and Bryan Jones dares him to put on a dress once they've set up camp. He puts it on and ends up wearing it most of the night. When their counselor, Terence, goes down the hill to help out a female camper out of nowhere the monster shows up...

7. The Surfer - Dorn is kidnapped by his father and taken to Costa Rica to see the elusive Hans Bliss who was picked up by aliens years before and was told that they would come back to Earth someday. After landing in Costa Rica they are quarantined because of the flu pandemic that has been killing for quite some time now.

8. The Constable of Abal - After Ozma's mother, Zilla, has killed the constable of Abal they flee to a place called Brid that Ozma hates. Back in Abal ghosts were quite the fashion. Zilla made them that way but in Brid Ozma's mother acts like she despises ghosts and makes Ozma dress as a boy.

9. Pretty Monsters - Lee and her friends Nikki, Maureen, and Bad capture Czigany and (not on purpose) her sister, Parci for Czigany's "ordeal" which is a ritual in their all girls school. While on Lee's aunt's farm Lee keeps pulling out her current book about a girl named Clementine and a boy named Cabell.

I enjoyed basically each of these stories. A few of them were so far fetched. You can definitely tell that Kelly has a crazy imagination which is incredibly awesome. I think my favorite story of the bunch was Monster. The ending of that one was just so strange to me. If you're in the mood for some crazy out of this world stories then this book is definitely for you. This would be a great book to read during the Halloween season.

Debbie Harry Sings in French

2010-06-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

Review of: Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers
Release date: May 27th 2008
Pages: 234
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Grade: A

Johnny has had a bit of a tough life so far and he has always been somewhat of a freak. When he was younger his father died and his mother completely fell apart. Johnny had to learn how to pay the bills and practically take care of the both of them. When Johnny ended up falling in to the Goth scene his mother somehow came out of her funk and became all concerned for Johnny. All Johnny wants to do is party with his friends and drink. But one night at a club this girl gives him some sort of drug when all he wanted was an aspirin and he heads up in the hospital from a drug overdose.

Of course after the overdose his mother sends him to rehab and while there Johnny discovers Debbie Harry of Blondie singing in French. He is immediately taken aback. Debbie's voice blows him away and of course she's a complete bombshell.

After Johnny gets back from rehab things are a bit weird between him and his mother and his mother can't really handle it so she sends him away to live with his Uncle Sam and his daughter Bug in South Carolina. Johnny is flaming angry at first but once there realizes that his Uncle is pretty great and Bug is an awesome little kid. And of course, there's Maria Costello (as in Elvis). She's an interesting girl who Johnny takes a liking to pretty quickly. When Maria discovers Johnny's love of Debbie, and that secretly Johnny wants to be like her, she buys this dress that looks like one of Debbie's and tells Johnny about a drag contest in New York. At first Johnny doesn't know whether she's serious or if she's making fun of him.

With trying to practice for the contest, helping Bug with projects for school, getting bullied around nonstop by some guys who used to be Maria's friends, and dealing with the fact that his mother can't handle him Johnny has a lot on his plate.

This was a great debut novel by Meagan Brothers. It puts you inside the head of a pretty confused young man. Things are tough enough for teenagers in the first place but when you throw in the loss of a parent things can be even more tough. The title had me intrigued when I first picked up this book and it didn't let me down. Johnny was a really great in depth character and so was Maria. If you're in the mood for reading about a slightly troubled boy who turns to Debbie Harry, and of course his girlfriend Maria, to stop him from starting to drink again then this is a great book for you.

Very LeFreak

2010-06-20T14:38:00.000-07:00

Review of: Very LeFreak by Rachel Cohn
Release date: January 12th, 2010
Pages: 303
Publisher: Knopf Books (division of Random House)
Grade: B

Very LeFreak (real name: Veronica) is a freshman on scholarship at Columbia University who is practically addicted to technology. She's constantly on her laptop doing anything and everything she can think of. She's addicted to every single type of music that she seems to have on her ipod and she's practically attached to her iphone. She's always sending out meme's during class or making random playlists, and of course talking to her online crush, El Virus. They've been talking for quite a while and love to play out crazy fantasies with each other but they have never seen each others faces. Very also cannot seem to stop moving. She's constantly throwing parties and getting completely trashed. She doesn't seem to have an off button.

Eventually her roommate Jennifer (to Very its Lavinia), her friend (who used to want to be more than a friend before a specific incident) Bryan, her RA Debbie, and the Dean stage a sort of intervention letting Very know that all of her technology usage is getting way out of hand, aka she's addicted. Bryan has confiscated her laptop and her ipod and iphone are in the hands of Lavinia and Debbie. Very thinks this is ludicrous, how the heck can she live without her technology?

She gets over the whole "being told you're an addict to technology" thing pretty quickly actually. But when one of her friends who wasn't really big on the intervention in the first place gets her use of a laptop some information gets out to her which leads to Very practically killing Bryan..

She wakes up in the psych ward with Lavinia and her Aunt Esther over her. She is told that she will be going to a sort of rehab place called ESCAPE which stands for Emergency Services for Computer-Addicted Persons Everywhere in Vermont. Very is livid at first but once there for a week she actually starts to open up to her therapist there and all of her emotions start coming out. But then a sort of weird twist of fate occurs and her progress could start spiraling downwards.

First off there was a lot of very mature material in this book so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under age 16. Some of what went on I thought was a little unnecessary to be putting in a book for Teens but I suppose some people like that. It's the only reason I gave it a B though. It was a really great book. I've never thought that someone could get that out of control with technology. But once Very starts pouring out everything that has happened to her throughout her life it makes sense why she'd want to escape into the virtual world. The girl had definitely had a tough life. But of course getting way too involved with her technology ended up making her life all the more difficult. This was overall a great book. The element of surprise plays a fairly big part. May parts I never saw coming which made the book really great, and the ending wasn't really lackluster either. If you've read Rachel Cohn in the past you'll be sure to like this book, and even if you haven't it'll be enjoyable :)

The Good the Fab and the Ugly

2010-06-18T09:25:00.000-07:00

Review of: POSEUR - The Good the Fab and the Ugly
Release date: October 1st, 2008
Pages: 266
Publisher: Little Brown, Poppy
Grade: A

Halloween is nearing at Winston Prep and the four girls of POSEUR decide its time to to introduce their very first accessory. After some debate they decide on a handbag that they will call the "Trick-or-Treater". Now all that is left to do is to actually design and make the perfect bag before Halloween. Which doesn't give them a lot of time. And of course with Janie, Petra, Melissa, and Charlotte nothing is ever simple. Each girl has ideas for her own handbag and when it comes to picking out the right one they all insist..."Mine is the best!". What are the girls to do?

Of course there is also the drama of trying to figure out who sabotaged their drawing for picking the name of their group at their release party. If they could just find one of those many tags that has POSEUR written across it they may be able to find out who the culprit is.

There is also plenty of drama involving the guys of Winston Prep and one guy who doesn't go to Winston Prep but will soon be connected in some way. And also just the regular drama!

This was a great second book in the POSEUR series. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love each of the four girls and it's fun trying to picture what they're wearing. All of the drama makes you not want to put the book down, and of course the cute guys help as well. The ending left off at a very good spot for the next book to come in at. Therefore, I can't wait to get my hands on book 3, Petty in Pink!

Oh and also I think that POSEUR is a great series to read during the Summer. It's one of those kick-back-and-relax-in-the-sun type of series.

POSEUR

2010-06-14T18:49:00.001-07:00

Review of: POSEUR by Rachel Maude
Release date: January 1st, 2008
Pages: 290
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Grade: B

Janie, Petra, Melissa, and Charlotte are all as different as can be.

Janie is a girl on scholarship at Winston Prep and never fit in the 9th grade. But now with her acne cleared up she feels as if she can be a different person, at least that is until she actually gets to school on the first day of 10th grade. She discovers that her twin, Jake has become one of the popular boys after hanging out with Charlotte all Summer long. Janie is also a fantastic drawer and would love to be able to make her own clothes.

Petra is the daughter of a very famous plastic surgeon. She is drop dead gorgeous no matter what she wears and everyone believes that her father has done work on her to make her flawless because, well, he's told people that. Because of Petra's parents constant fighting and the fact that everyone thinks she's little miss plastic rich girl she tries the best that she can to be the total opposite. She never brushes her long blonde hair, wears hideous clothing, and also smokes weed. She hates being a rich girl. Petra is obsessed about the earth and hates that everyone at Winston Prep is so material.

Melissa is the daughter of the rap king as people like to call him so she is mighty rich as well. She likes to go around dressing like a thug even though she is definitely far from it. Her mother has been in rehab since Melissa was little and her father is now marrying a girl that is significantly younger than him and that Melissa HATES with a passion. She wants to be a famous fashion designer when she's older. She is determined that it will happen.

Charlotte is little miss popular. Her parents is house is huge and of course they are very rich. She has guys drooling all over her but when she discovered that Jake (Janie's twin brother) has turned into a little hottie over the Summer she spends every moment she can with him on her father's movie set. She is determined to have Jake as her boyfriend but that would mean being nice to Janie and Charlotte isn't too excited about the thought of that. Charlotte is all about the boys but she also loves to sew.

Each of the girls proposes a class for their Special Studies having to do with what each of them is interested in. The teacher in charge of Special Studies sees the four different applications and ends up putting them together to form one Special Studies class. Each of the girls are extremely frustrated. How can they be seen together? But since they're stuck in this 10 week class they decide to make a fashion line. Ladies and gentleman...let the sparks fly.

I wasn't quite sure what to think when I first picked up this book. The cover made me think it wasn't something I'd really like to read. But Rachel is so good with drama that I got sucked into it. At the beginning parts were a bit confusing with getting to know each of the four girls, and throughout the book additional characters were thrown in. But all in all it was a pretty great read. If you like fashion, guys, and cat fights you are in for a real treat. I'm diving in to the second book in the series next: POSEUR - The Good, the Fab, and the Ugly.

Positively

2010-06-12T14:52:00.001-07:00

Review of: Positively by Courtney Sheinmel

Release Date: September 15, 2009

Pages: 216

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Grade: A

Emerson Price has had a tough life so far. When she was young her mother got sick from HIV which eventually progressed into AIDS. Then not long after that Emmy's parents discovered that Emmy has HIV too. She got it while her mother was pregnant with her.

Emerson is 13 and her mother has just died from AIDS. She was always okay with having HIV when her mother was alive because her mom knew what it was like. Her father never understood and divorced Emmy's mom because of it when Emmy was a little girl. Now her father is remarried to a woman named Meg who is now pregnant. Emerson has never liked Meg and now since her mother is gone she has to go live with her father and Meg. She vows to herself never to let Meg into her life because she feels like it would be betraying her own mother.

Now that Emmy's mother is gone Emmy feels so out of place. She feels like everyone is just feeling sorry for the "sick" girl. She even believes that her best friend is only being nice to her out of pity which is not true at all considering that they have been best friends for years. She pushes everyone away and at one point tries to skip taking her very important medication. Her father and Meg are scared at what will happen. So when things take a turn for the worse at the house Meg mentions a camp that she has heard of called Camp Positive. It is a camp for girls that are HIV positive. Emmy's father tells her that she is going no matter what. Emmy refuses to be happy about the decision.

But when Emmy gets to camp she meets a girl there named Whitney who starts to change Emmy's outlook on things. She still isn't crazy about being at a camp for kids that are HIV positive but being around Whitney makes it better for her. Then one day Whitney gets pretty sick and she has to leave to go to the hospital which sends Emmy off the deep end. But in the end this camp might have been the best thing that Emmy has experienced.

This was such a heart wrenching story. The whole time I couldn't help but feel bad for Emerson. I couldn't even begin to imagine what living with HIV would be like; especially when you're that young and have just lost your mother. I didn't think she'd ever give Camp Positive a chance but was glad to discover later on that it was changing her attitude towards life a little bit. I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes heart wrenching but at the same time uplifiting books. This book was really great and I actually read it in one day so I can definitely say it is a page turner. And I found it interesting that it was based off of the author's experience with the Elizabeth Glaser AIDS Foundation. That fact made this book even more real to me.

Kisses and Lies

2010-06-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

Review of: Kisses and Lies by Lauren Henderson
Release Date: January 13th, 2009.
Pages: 309
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Grade: A

After discovering that someone had put Dan McAndrew's Epipen in their purse at the party that Scarlett had kissed and accidentily killed Dan at she starts an investigation of Dan's murder. With the help of her new friend Taylor at Wakefield Hall they start looking at who was at the party that night and who had the purse that Dan's Epipen was in. When Taylor is on a mission she notices that there is more than one of the same purse that Dan's Epipen was in. At this point Scarlett is stuck. So as a last resort she writes a letter to Dan's mother saying how sorry she is about Dan and that she would like to come up there to talk about what happened with the family.

While all of Scarlett's investigating is going on her crush on Jase (the son of the head grounds keeper at Wakefield Hall) is developing. Jase even asks her out on a date which gives Scarlett mixed feelings and all but she isn't about to pass up the opportunity to go on a date with Jase!

While Scarlett is still reeling from her date her cell rings. She immediately picks it up and discovers that it's Dan's mother. She tells Scarlett that she would like it if Scarlett comes up during the Holiday that is nearing. So Scarlett does just that. But once there she is hit with some nasty surprises. Is Dan's killer living at Castle Airlie (the castle that has been in the McAndrew family for centuries), and is Scarlett in immediate danger?

I have got to say that Kisses and Lies was even better than Kiss Me, Kill Me. I am loving the Scarlett Wakefield Series. Lauren Henderson is so good with suspense. I didn't ever want to put this book down. It really seemed like there was a different surprise/shocker on every page. I loved that. And the ending was a big shocker to me. I didn't see it coming at all. I'd highly recommend reading this book, but only after you've read the first one in the series, Kiss Me, Kill me. It will make a lot more sense that way. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the third book!

Check out my review for Kiss Me Kill Me :)

Why look, its Breanna!

2010-06-04T18:51:00.001-07:00

Okay everyone so I know I'm a complete loser and just dropped off the face of the book reviewing world but I'm working on coming back to it. I've been busy with life and it's driving me crazy! Taking care of 2 three-year-olds is a pain and it has cut into my reading time. So has looking for a job but I think that problem is close to finally solved. So starting very soon I will hopefully start reviewing again. I know I've lost some of my followers but I hope to maybe get some new followers! I wonder if I can even remember how to review anymore, haha.

So ladies and gentleman hopefully I'm back!

In My Mailbox (5)

2009-08-02T15:05:00.001-07:00

So I haven't done an "in my mailbox" for a few weeks now because I've been slacking. Yes, I know, shame on me. IMM was started by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie :)

Anyway, about 3 or so weeks ago I was at the mall with one of my close friends and we stumbled upon a Borders so I just HAD to go in. I quickly sought out the YA section and once there proceeded to drool. Well almost drool. I feel like I'm in a candy store when I'm surrounded by YA books! We spent a little over an hour there and by that time I had a whole armful of books. Since I had already spent a lot of money that day my friend helped me go through them and I ended up weeding out like three. Which saved me about 30 bucks so that's a good thing. But I still ended up getting a whopping 8 books. Crazy, no? Haha I thought so.

So these are the titles I ended up getting:
- Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers
- Crash Into Me by Albert Borris
- Doing It by Henry Holt
- Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev
- Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
- Skinny by Ibi Kaslik
- The Boy Book by E. Lockhart
- Zombie Blondes by Brian James

Woo! That's a lot of books. I spent around 80 something dollars. Thankfully I had a 10 dollar giftcard so that helped a teeny tiny bit.

All of these books sounded so good. I just couldn't resist them! Some I've wanted for a while like Zombie Blondes, Skinny, and Crash Into Me. Others were just too nummy sounding to pass up. I've already read The Boy Book and loved it! I had never heard of Doing It before but when I read the back of the book it said that the tv show Life As We Know It was based on this book and I looooved that show when it was on for the very short time that it was so I figured the book would be even better! So there you have it. My IMM from like 3 weeks ago. Hehe :)

Double Life

2009-08-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

Review of: Double Life by Dawson Vosburg
Release Date: December 2008
Pages: 173
Publisher: D Productions Publishing
Grade: B

What would happen if you could actually live in your own imagination? Well Josiah finds this out one day when he finds a random pair of sunglasses at a store that just happen to be free. When he gets home he puts them on and as soon as he does he's swept up in to an imaginary world that he believes he has created. Once there he meets two of his imaginary friends that he's had for many many years. At first this doesn't seem real to Josiah but soon he realizes that this is as real as it gets.

When he takes the sunglasses off he's back home and time hasn't even moved the whole time he was gone. A week or so later he decides to go back and this time when he does he sees a girl there that looks familiar. She looks familiar because in the real world she goes to school with him! Soon Josiah and this girl become great friends in this different world and manage to stay friends in the real world as well. Things start to get a bit scary when a sort of war starts between the two different groups in Josiah's imaginary world. The one thing he doesn't quite know for sure is...if you die in your imaginary world do you die in the real world as well?

This book was pretty good. It wasn't something that I was really excited about reading because it wasn't my type of read. But it ended up being pretty good despite all of the action. This book was written by a 15-year-old boy! Which means he wrote this when was probably at least 13 or younger. It's crazy to think about. I think he's a great writer and definitely has a future ahead of him in writing. He could definitely write a sequel to this book. I think readers would like to see Josiah go back to his imaginary world and keep fighting along his imaginary friends and the other friends that he has made there. Overall if you're a big fan of action then this is the book for you. This book is filled with action and some intrigue as well.

New Blogger, check her out!

2009-07-31T23:56:00.001-07:00

The other morning I woke up and did my morning ritual which of course involves checking my email. I was surprised to find an email from a really sweet girl named Reggie. I could be jumping to conclusions but I do believe she's a girl, lol. Anyway she very politely asked me if I could promote her blog seeing as she is a new blogger and doesn't have very many followers yet.

Her blog is called The Undercover Book Lover. Isn't that a super cute name? I think it's great. I checked it out and I love it. She has a really awesome grading system for her reviews that really breaks the book down, her layout is adorable, and she's just over all really awesome! I think she has an excellent future in book blogging so I think all of you should check her out! :)

(I've seen a few other bloggers post about Reggie's blog already so sorry if this post seems repetitive. I wanted to be nice and promote Reggie's blog!)

Mrs. Magoo Reads

2009-07-31T23:47:00.001-07:00

Alright, so there's this blogger out there in the blogger universe who has excellent book reviews and even more excellent contests! This blogger's title is Mrs. Magoo Reads.

I have to say that I'm a fan of hers. I love her honest reviews and whenever I see a new one up I read it when I have the chance. And what's really awesome about her blog is the fact that she always has more than one contest going on! How awesome is that? Right now she has a few going on and the biggest is that she's giving away 9 books to one person! Just one person, crazy right? You can find the post to the contest here. In the post it mentions which books that she's giving away. And let me tell you, there are some great books on that list.

If I were you I'd head over there ASAP because the contest ends on August 8th I believe. So that would be next Saturday. And if you're smart you'd become a follower so you can keep up on her awesome reviews and the new contests that she posts. Go check her out!

Contest: Geektastic!

2009-07-31T23:04:00.000-07:00

Okay you guys, as promised I have a new contest for you! I have 3 copies of Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci courtesy of Little, Brown to give away! Aren't you excited?! I totally know I am.

I'll let this contest run for lets say 2 weeks. I think that's a fair amount of time to get all your entries in. So that would mean the end of this contest will be on August 14th. Midnight, PST.

Now on to the entries: 1 entry: comment on this post with your name and email :)
2 entries: If you were a follower before this contest. (Please specify)
1 entry: If you become a follower now.
1 entry: For everywhere you post about this contest. Like on your blog, on an update on twitter, etc. You get one entry for each time you post. Up to 3 places only.

So get to entering! You have 2 weeks...ready..set..go! :D

Winners!!!

2009-07-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

I didn't think my contest was ever going to end but it finally did! I used a handy dandy random number generator to pick the winners. So here we go...

Grand Prize of the Book and the Harry Potter pin go to..Kathy!

The four remaining books go to..Ninja Fanpire, Liz, elusivestorm, and CrystalGB!

I will be contacting you via email in a little while. Please be sure to send me your snail mail addy within 48 hours or else I'll have to pick a new winner.

Stay tuned because later on I'll be posting a new contest for 3 copies of Geektastic! Yay!

Woah, buddy

2009-07-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

I don't check my blog for a couple days and then when I do I see I'm up to 40 followers! Woo, go me! Someone must have posted about my contest or saw one of my comments on Lee Verday's blog. Crazy times. Anyway, I'm happy about this news.

Now for some more news for all of you. I am currently in Oregon. Gearheart, Oregon to be exact. I can see the beach through the balcony window in the hotel as I type this. It's so pretty. I love the ocean. My girls love it too! I'd post a picture but they're all on my cell and I have yet to send them to my email so I can put them on the computer. Plus I'm on my sister's laptop right now anyway so that wouldn't work too well. Oh and some other exciting news. My girls LOVE the pool! They took to it like little fish I swear! They absolutely love the water. I need to get them in a swimming class ASAP!

I've been getting some reading done while I'm here too. I finished The Boyfriend List and have moved on to The Boy Book, soon to be followed by my ARC of The Treasure Map of Boys if I end up getting that far. I love Ruby Oliver, she's the best! I can't believe I haven't started reading this series earlier. I also brought along Zombie Blondes. So if I finish with TTMOB and get really crazy on the 3 hour car ride on the way home I might start reading that too! When I get home I'll have a bunch of reviews to write. So look out for those in another week or two. Yay! I hope all of you are having a great week. And congratulations to Stephanie Kuehnert on her release of Ballads of Suburbia! I can't wait to get my hands on a copy :)

Win an ARC of THE HOLLOW!!!

2009-07-16T15:56:00.001-07:00

Okay so if you want to a chance to get your hands on a copy of The Hollow by Jessica Verday then I suggest going on over to her husband's blog here and entering the contest he has going on right now for an ARC of The Hollow! Jessica will even sign it for the winner! *Squeee*

I have to say that I am highly excited about this. Ever since I first heard about The Hollow a couple months back I have been dieing to get my hands on a copy! I know that when it's released it'll be huge. I expect to hear lots and lots of The Hollow talk going around the blogger world :)

Now if you do go over and enter be sure to tell Lee that I (Breanna) sent you. You need to do this because then I will be entered to win one of a very few amount of The Hollow t-shirts that Lee has and for a copy of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving! I'd love to be entered at least once. So if even one of you head over there and leave a comment on the contest blog saying that I sent you I'd have one entry! What's also awesome about this contest is that you can comment as many times as you'd like. Each comment equals an entry. Neat, huh? The number of comments is already close to 3000. Insane! So go head over there and start leaving comments! Remember that the contest ends on July 26th.

In My Mailbox (4)

2009-07-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

This was a pretty awesome week for me. I got in the mail...The Treasure Map of Boys, Spring Breakup, A Non-Blonde Cheerleader In Love, and I got The Boyfriend List from the library. I won A Non-Blonde Cheerleader in love off of the Books, Boys, Buzz blog from Stephanie Hale. She also was generous enough to send me a copy of Spring Breakup, yay!

The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart. Published March 2005
Ruby Oliver is 15 and has a shrink. She knows it’s unusual, but give her a break—she’s had a rough 10 days. In the past 10 days she: lost her boyfriend (#13 on the list), lost her best friend (Kim), lost all her other friends (Nora, Cricket), did something suspicious with a boy (#10), did something advanced with a boy (#15), had an argument with a boy (#14), drank her first beer (someone handed it to her), got caught by her mom (ag!), had a panic attack (scary),lost a lacrosse game (she’s the goalie), failed a math test (she’ll make it up), hurt Meghan’s feelings (even though they aren’t really friends), became a social outcast (no one to sit with at lunch)and had graffiti written about her in the girls’ bathroom (who knows what was in the boys’!?!). But don’t worry—Ruby lives to tell the tale. And make more lists.

A Non-Blonde Cheerleader In Love by Kieran Scott Published May 2008
Non-blonde cheerleader Annisa Gobrowski has a major boy problem: The Sand Dune High National Championship cheerleading squad has gone coed, and not everyone is happy about it. As if dealing with her teammates freaking out over the guy cheerleaders wasn't enough stress, her boyfriend, Daniel, just signed up. At first Annisa is psyched to be spending more time with Daniel, and stunting with the guys is pretty cool. But then the battle of the sexes starts to heat up, and Annisa is caught between her squadmates and the guys. Can one non-blonde figure out a way to keep the girls from killing the guys? Or will the battle turn into an all-out cheer-war?

Spring Breakup by Stephanie Hale Published March 2009
Aspen Brooks trades in sand between her toes for shopping on The Strip when she agrees to go to Las Vegas for spring break with her boyfriend, Rand, her bff, Angel, and Angel’s bf, Lucas. Their hotel is hosting the Miss Teen Queen Pageant and surgically enhanced beauty contestants are everywhere. But when Miss Illinois goes AWOL, it’s up to Aspen to represent her home state and find out what’s really going on. Even if it means putting down the suntan lotion and ignoring Angel’s meltdown over breaking up with Lucas.

The Treasure Map of Boys by E. Lockhart Publishing date July 28th, 2009
Ruby is back at Tate Prep, and it's her thirty-seventh week in the state of Noboyfriend. Her panic attacks are bad, her love life is even worse, and what's more: Noel is writing her notes, Jackson is giving her frogs, Gideon is helping her cook, and Finn is making her brownies. Rumors are flying, and Ruby's already sucky reputation is heading downhill. Not only that, she's also: running a bake sale, learning the secrets of heavy metal therapy, ecountering some seriously smelly feet, defending the rights of pygmy goats, and bodyguarding Noel from unwanted advances. In this companion novel to The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book, Ruby struggles to secure some sort of mental health, to understand what constitutes a real friendship, and-if such a thing exists-to find true love.

Suite Scarlett

2009-07-04T16:12:00.001-07:00

Review: Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
Released: May 2008
Pages: 353
Publisher: Point
Grade: A

Scarlett lives in the Hopewell Hotel with her family that consists of two sisters and a brother and of course her parents. Lola and Spencer are a few years older than Scarlett and Marlene is a few years younger than Scarlett. Now people might be led to believe that living in a hotel would be glamorous. Well in this case it isn't really so. Scarlett's family runs the hotel so they all have a responsibility. When the children reach a certain age they become in charge of a suite. Of course on Scarlett's birthday she is given a suite and on the same day a lady checks in to that room. Enter Mrs. Amberson. She's a slightly odd lady who has many stories to tell about back in the day when she tried to be an actress on broadway.

While Scarlett is running around the city doing errands for Mrs. Amberson her brother, Spencer, is trying desperately to find an acting job and quick. He somehow finds one but it's not really a paying job (and that's what he needs). It's a role in the classic Hamlet. His new stage partner is named Eric. Eric has just moved to the big city and immediately takes a liking to Scarlett when they first meet.

When something happens to the rehearsal space that the Hamlet cast needs to rehearse in, and Scarlett suggests that they use the basement of the Hopewell for rehearsal things start to get a little crazy. Especially when Mrs. Amberson ends up covering for them at one point and then appoints herself to be some sort of assistant director. Meanwhile the Hopewell runs out of guests and everything just seems to be falling apart around Scarlett. Will things start to look up and will the play actually end up happening?

This was an incredibly cute read. I love Maureen's writing. I've only read a couple other books by her but I've loved each one. She just has such a creative writing style. Scarlett and Spencer were the perfect brother and sister team in this book. They were so in tune to each other. Even Lola was great and the little spoiled brat Marlene was enjoyable too. I felt so bad for Scarlett in the beginning of the book when she just wanted to find a regular paying job instead of spending the Summer couped up at the Hopewell. Once she met Eric and Mrs. Amberson though I knew she'd end up having an eventful Summer. This book was just all around great. It was a nice light and summery type of read that was full of humor. I have to say I'm really excited for the sequel now!

In My Mailbox (3)

2009-07-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

In My Mailbox was started by Kristi over at The Story Siren. She's an awesome book blogger!

This week I only received one book and it was L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad. I'm super excited to read this one! I will be reviewing it for teensreadtoo. I'm not even a big fan of The Hills or any of those reality type shows that Lauren is/was on. But I'm excited to see if she can write a good book!

L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad. (synopsis taken from book jacket)
Los Angeles is all about the sweet life: hot clubs, cute guys, designer . . . everything. Nineteen-year-old Jane Roberts can't wait to start living it up. She may be in L.A. for an internship, but Jane plans to play as hard as she works, and has enlisted her BFF Scarlett to join in the fun. When Jane and Scarlett are approached by a producer who wants them to be on his new series, a "reality version of Sex and the City," they can hardly believe their luck. Their own show? Yes, please! Soon Jane is TV's hottest star. Fame brings more than she ever imagined possible for a girl from Santa Barbara—free designer clothes, the choicest tables at the most exclusive clubs, invites to Hollywood premieres—and she's lapping up the VIP treatment with her eclectic entourage of new pals. But those same friends who are always up for a wild night are also out for a piece of Jane's spotlight. In a city filled with people chasing after their dreams, it's not long before Jane wakes up to the reality that everyone wants something from her, and nothing is what it seems to be.

Doesn't this book sound great? I think it'll be a perfect summery type read. :)

Contest! My first :)

2009-07-01T14:37:00.001-07:00

Alright guys this is my first contest. FINALLY! As you can probably tell from the picture that the contest is for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in paperback. It's the final book in the series and I have to say that when I read it I definitely enjoyed it. Though I can't remember much of what happened anymore. I think I might need to re-read it.

What's even cooler about this contest is that it's not just for one copy. It's for 5! And the grand prize winner will also win a cool Harry Potter pin (pictured above.)

What better way to celebrate the release of the 6th HP movie coming out this month and the release of Deathly Hallows in paperback? I think this is an awesome way to celebrate!

Here are the details: This contest is only open to those in the US (sorry for those of you that are international!) and for those of you that do not have PO boxes. The prizes can't be sent to PO boxes.

-The contest will end on July 27th, midnight pacific time.

For entries: -For 1 entry you can comment on this post with your name and email address. Please don't forget your email!

-If you're already a follower then you get 2 entries. Be sure to let me know in your post if you were already a follower before the contest.

-1 entry if you become a follower. I'd love it if you started following me!

-1 entry for posting about the contest. You can post about it on your blog, on your sidebar, on twitter, wherever you can think about. You can get up to 3 entries this way. Be sure to leave me a link to where you posted about the contest.

So that's a total of either 5 or 6 entries!

So what are you waiting for?! Get to entering!

In My Mailbox (2)

2009-06-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-29T13:40:00.001-07:00

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

2009-06-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-06-23T15:23:00.001-07:00

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

2009-06-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-06-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-19T17:09:00.001-07:00

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

2009-06-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-18T16:26:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-06-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

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..

2009-06-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

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.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

2009-03-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Released: March 2008
Rating: 5 stars

Frankie Landau-Banks is a 16-year-old girl who attends a boarding school called Alabaster Preparatory Academy. To her family she's known as "Bunny Rabbit". Her mother thinks she can't do anything by herself. Everyone considers her to be a young girl who basically can't do much of anything by herself. Frankly Frankie is sick of this.

This year at APA Frankie is returning as a sophomore. She has her eye on a senior, Matthew Livingston. She also wants to find out more about the secret all male club at APA called The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. This little so called club has been around for many years. Frankie's father was a member and is very proud of that fact. Frankie would love to be a part of the loyal order but of course because she's a girl this isn't possible. She knows Matthew is involved and once they start dating she starts following him around to try to get details. Soon Frankie finds herself in love with Matthew. She wants to be accepted by him and the only way she thinks that can happen is to be a part of the loyal order.

After she finds out which guys are in it and how lame the whole thing is she decides to take things in to her own hands. Frankie takes on a whole new identity (well, not completely new) and comes up with some crazy awesome ideas for pranks. Pranks that are intended to make people think. But soon Frankie may find herself in over her head. Will she ever get the attention that she wants from matthew or will it all blow up in her face?

This book was pretty amazing. It's told in third person narrator which was a switch from the first person narrator that I'm used to, but it made the book that much better. I forgot how awesome third person can be. Frankie's character was great. I'm sure there are girls out there that could relate to her. Every girl wants to be loved and accepted by her boyfriend and Frankie just knew that the only way to really be in with Matthew was to be in the Loyal Order. So she just had to do something. And of course she was sick of the old Bunny Rabbit name that had been following her around since she was little. This would be the perfect book for most any teenage girl I think. E. Lockhart's writing is truly just amazing (for lack of a better word). This was the first thing I've ever read by her and I can definitely say that the rest of her books are going on my "to read" list asap. :)

Mackenzie, Lost and Found

2009-03-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

Mackenzie, Lost and Found by Deborah Kerbel
Released November 2008
Rating: 4 stars

15-year-old Mackenzie Hill is still recovering from the loss of her mother when her father announces that they're moving to Israel because he was offered a position at a university there. Being torn away from the only home she has ever known in Toronto, Canada is not Mackenzie's idea of a good time. Her father promises that if after three months she still doesn't like it there she can move back to Canada, and she plans to do just that.

But soon Mackenzie meets an American girl named Marla who has lived there for a few years. She helps to show Mackenzie around and in no time at all the two become best friends. Also, Mackenzie discovers an amazingly cute boy named Nasir that works at a little shop near her apartment. Soon (even though Nasir's parents would forbid it if they knew) Mackenzie and Nasir start dating little to the knowledge of Mackenzie's father and Nasir's parents. Soon the 3 month period is up and Mackenzie doesn't mention going back home. Things are going so well and Mackenzie is actually happy with her life. But one day something happens that will quickly change everything..

First off I have to say that this book was pretty intense. There was indeed a point where I cried. The whole book moved at a pretty fast speed and near the end it was pretty action packed which was a surprise but it was a good surprise. Not one part of this book was dull to me. After the first few chapters of just Mackenzie talking it switches and most every other chapter after that is a chapter based on Nasir. So the story is told from two different point of views which I always like. Deborah is a strong writer and I definitely look forward to reading something else by her. I'd recommend this book to anyone who's interested in what's going on in the Middle East and to people who don't mind a heartwrenching a story.

The Debs: Love, Lies, and Texas Dips

2009-03-22T23:32:00.000-07:00

The Debs: Love, Lies, and Texas Dips by Susan McBride
Release Date: June 9th, 2009.
Rating: 5 plus stars!

Well they did it. Laura, Mac, Ginger, and unfortunately Jo Lynn were four of the handpicked girls to become rosebud debutantes of The Glass Slipper Club. But the only thing harder than getting in to the GSC is staying in it...

Laura's dream is finally on it's way to becoming true! Or at least that's what she thought at first until an awfully nasty lie was spread around about her by who she can only assume was Jo Lynn or one of her followers. She just seems to keep getting herself in to more and more trouble by talking to Dillon and Avery and Jo Lynn just won't have it anymore. Will this heinous lie get Laura kicked out of the GSC for good?

Mackenzie aka Mac still isn't psyched about becoming a rosebud. Now that she actually is one she keeps referring back to her late mother's letters for inspiration and guidance. She especially needs the extra guidance now after realizing how shallow girls can really be what the whole Laura and Jo Lynn stuff going on. To top it all off the new girl in town, Cindy Chow, has her eyes on Mac's oldest pal Alex who has always been there for her. Now that he's spending time with Cindy Mac may be starting to feel a little bit jealous. But will she ever be able to confront Alex about how she thinks she may feel?

Ginger having finally put what happened with the college boy behind her is ready to move on to bigger and better things like of course being a rosebud, social activism, and fine art. But when her grandmother wants her to sit for a portrait in her gown by the son of a local artist she realizes that she already knows the guy. And what she remembers isn't good at all. Why oh why must she attract the bad guys? But wait, is he really as bad as Ginger can remember him to be?

All Jo Lynn wants to do is take down Laura once and for all. After finding Laura's number in Dillon's phone she has just had it. According to Jo Lynn the girl has to go down. There is no way that Laura is taking Dillon from her, and she sure as hell is not getting back with Avery yet again.
She just has to think of the perfect rumor that will get her kicked out of the GSC and ruin her reputation for good.

This is the second book in THE DEBS series and I have to say that it is amazing! It's even better than the first. In THE DEBS you're introduced to Laura, Mac, Ginger, and Jo Lynn but this book goes much deeper in to their relationships and of course there's scandal. Each chapter draws you more in to the story, and each chapter is told by one of the four main characters so you get a different point of view in each. It's pretty easy to sympathize with Laura, Mac and Ginger. And Jo Lynn is just a girl you love to hate. She is the perfect bad girl in this story and despite her witchiness I love her character. I'd recommend this to anyone who has read THE DEBS of course, and for anyone who likes to read about teen girls, relationships, and scandal. I bet if you pick up this book you won't be sorry.

Me, In Between

2008-12-24T23:19:00.000-08:00

Me, In Between by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Rating: 5 stars

Lacey Underhill is a 12-year-old girl who has what her Dutch grandmother refers to as luxe problemen: luxury problems. These problems being her breasts. At just age 12 (and in 8th grade because she skipped a grade) she's already at a size 36C. Girls (including her best friend) are jealous and boys never stop teasing her about them so of course she's self conscious. Whenever she's out in public she wears more than necessary just to try to cover up her breasts.

Then one day while playing in the arcade at the mall she meets Chad Wilcox, a 16-year-old boy that is just taken with her right away and not even because of her breasts! She is of course entirely thrilled about this and doesn't even really care that he's 4 years older than her. Though her best friend Margot thinks that she's making a big mistake just thinking about getting involved with the guy.

Just a few days later Lacey's old best friend Sam Samuels moves back in to town. Sam and Lacey have known each other since they were babies so Lacey is super excited to have him back, except for one little problem: her breasts. Sam wasn't around during the years when she developed the monstrosities so she feels she has to cover them up or Sam will think differently of her.

Then Lacey's grandmother, Nana Anna, gets sick and ends up in the hospital. Lacey feels guilty for always lying to her grandma about seeing an older guy and soon everything that's happening starts to catch up with her. Luckily Sam and Margot are there for her. And maybe, just maybe, Sam could be there for her in a different way if only Lacey would realize it.

This was such a cute book! From the first page I was hooked and finished it within a day. Lacey is just such a neat girl and you can't help but feel bad for her and her over sized chest. The way she's constantly teased by the boys in her school is just awful. When Chad showed up for the first time I just couldn't help but be happy that she was finally realized for more than just her chest! I really liked the way Lauren wrote from Lacey's point of view. The thoughts were perfect for a 12-year-old girl. The ending was also really cute. If you're looking for a quick cute read then this is the book for you.

Does This Book Make Me Look Fat?

2008-12-23T21:34:00.000-08:00

Does This Book Make Me Look Fat? (an anthology)
Edited by Marissa Walsh

Rating: 5 stars :)

With fourteen stories and personal essays written by popular authors such as Sara Zarr, Carolyn Mackler, Ellen Hopkins, etc. this book is quite amazing. The stories all focus on the weight and body image issues that most everyone has at one point in their life. Whether it's feeling overweight or thinking you're too skinny, how you feel that your breasts are either way too small or way too big, everyone has issues with their bodies.

Not much else I can really say about this book. I actually loved each and every one of the stories, and that really surprised me. I thought at least one or two of them I probably wouldn't end up liking. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has issues with their body and even to people who don't. Every single story is just written so well. I didn't want to finish the last one when I got to it. The only thing wrong with this book: it should have been longer!

Dream Girl

2008-10-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

Dream Girl by Lauren Mechling
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Claire Voyante (yes, that is her real name) has had strange visions ever since she was little. She's never been able to do anything with her visions but that all changes on her fifteenth birthday when her grandmother, Kiki, gives her a beautiful cameo made out of onyx and ivory on a gold chain. Pretty soon she starts having these strange black and white dreams.

While all this is happening Claire is in a new school and has made a fabulous new friend, Becca. Becca happens to be part of a very rich family and she has a very attractive brother named Andy. Although he happens to have a beautiful stuck up girlfriend. When Claire starts having her black and white dreams she's afraid that they might have something to do with a family that has always had it out for Becca's family and she's afraid that they might be in danger.

With her powerful cameo Claire might actually be able to solve this mystery! At least that's what she hopes.

This was a really cute book. It was even a great sort of mystery. I actually wasn't even sure how the book was going to end. But I did like the ending. Lauren gives her characters such strong and humorous voices. Claire and Kiki were my favorite characters. I love how they acted together. Basically this is just a really fun and light read. And isn't the cover adorable? I fell in love with it instantly. =)

DRAMA! Entrances and Exits

2008-09-21T00:18:00.000-07:00

DRAMA! Entrances and Exits by Paul Ruditis (Book 4 in the DRAMA! series)
Rating: 5 stars

It's time for the Fall One-Act Festival at Orion high school. This year it's pretty special what with one of the three plays being written by Hope and also being directed by Bryan! And to top it all of Sam and Jason will be the two leads. Surprisingly Belinda (one of Sam's step sisters) is also cast as the minor character in the play.

Of course after Belinda is cast all the usual drama starts happening. Hope has a fit and then Belinda's twin sister tries to get involved in the play too. Plus all of the rehearsals always have an audience what with Eric being there for Sam and of course the usual Drew tagging along behind Eric as usual. Then of course there's Belinda's sister, Alexis, and then their friend and basically leader, Holly. All poor Bryan wants to do is help his cast rehearse for the one and only night of the play.

Soon things start heating up between Sam and Jason and Eric starts getting really jealous. Then Drew offers to paint a painting for the play and actually starts talking to Bryan after their long spell of basically not even being friends anymore. And then of course there's Gary who has taken an interest in Bryan ever since he's let him become the stage manager for his play.

Will all the drama settle before the one and only night of the play? And most importantly will the actors even be ready?

I've only read the first book in this series (The Four Dorothy's) but that really didn't matter. Paul made the fourth book stand alone pretty well. I'm sure he probably did the same for the second and third as well. But anyway this was definitely a great read. Paul is such a witty writer. I love Bryan's voice and all of his sarcasm. Paul just knows how to write a good book. His characters are great and the story just flows off the pages making this book a really fast and great read. If you like to laugh this is the book for you. I swear I was laughing during like every other page. I highly recommend checking out the DRAMA! series. It's really acting related and of course full of drama and that's what makes it so great. At least I like to think that's why.

The Debs

2008-09-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

The Debs by Susan McBride
Rating: 5 stars

The Debs is told through the eyes of four girls in Houston, Texas. These four girls being... Laura Delacroix Bell, Michelle "Mac" Mackenzie, Ginger Fore, and Jo-Lynn Bidwill. Laura, Mac, and Ginger have been best friends for ages. Jo-Lynn is basically their enemy. The one thing these four girls all have in common is the desire to be a Debutante Rosebud in the illustrious Glass Slipper Club.

Laura is a size 14 girl who's mother is friends with the head of the GSC committee. She is totally psyched to be a Rosebud and her mother and herself both think she's a shoe in. But Jo-Lynn has had it out for her ever since she dated Avery who is one of the most popular guys in school. After Laura gets back from fat camp Avery happens to show up at the airport. Will this end up causing Laura even more trouble with Jo-Lynn?

Mac would definitely rather be reading than become a deb. It's never really been a dream of hers. But it was her late mothers dream for Mac to become a deb so of course Mac wants to do it. Also, it doesn't help that her new step mom, Honey Potts, is obsessed with Mac becoming a deb. With her two best friends also in the running she doesn't think it would be such a bad idea to become a deb at least.

Ginger is really excited at the thought of becoming a Rosebud and she'd really love to be able to wear her grandmother's vintage ball gown on the big presentation day. But when a really cute college guy, Javier, gets her into a bit of trouble involving a protest over a tree that is supposed to be torn down to make more room for more parking for her school she could end up in a lot of trouble. Hopefully it won't cost her chance to become a Rosebud though.

Jo-Lynn is a former beauty queen who makes it her mission in life to take out the so called "debu-trash". Her main target being Laura Bell. What she has in store for Laura is not in the least ladylike. But she has no idea that payback could be finding a way straight to her door. What's a stuck up and spoiled beauty queen to do?

This was such a great book. I loved how each chapter was told through each different girls' experience. And I liked how great of friends Laura, Mac, and Ginger are. They would do anything for each other (including finding a way to take down Jo-Lynn) and I think that was the greatest thing about this book. Susan has a great writing style and I loved each and every one of her characters. I even liked Jo-Lynn despite her witchiness. All in all this was just a fabulous book about the lives of four different girls who all want the same thing. Definitely check it out. I'm sure you'll love it.

I Know It's Over

2008-09-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

I Know It's Over by C.K. Kelly Martin

Released on September 23rd.

Rating: 5 stars

Nick plans on having a long carefree Summer with no distractions and no problems. With his parent's divorce and his father's new girlfriend Nick needs all the down time he can get. Even the girl he's seeing (Dani) is starting to get to him. The girl is up for anything but for some reason Nick just doesn't seem that in to it anymore.

But Nick's Summer plans of carefree go out the window when Sasha shows up. She's been going to school with him for as long as he can remember. They've just never really talked to each other. One day they do and suddenly something starts. Sasha is totally different than Dani and isn't about to do anything sexual so fast. But Nick and Sasha start getting hot and heavy by the time Fall rolls around. And then Sasha breaks it off saying that she wants to be able to concentrate on school and getting in to the best colleges. Nick is crushed but there's not much he can do.

Then on Christmas Eve Sasha shows up out of nowhere and tells Nick that she's pregnant. Sure they were always careful and used protection but one time something happened. Neither one of them thought much about it at the time. But now they're over analyzing the night. Sasha is hesitant about her decision about the baby. After she tells her parents she decides on an abortion and doesn't really let Nick have much say. Nick being so mixed up about the whole situation really wishes Sasha would talk to him more and let him be more involved. But the truth is that they could never really have a relationship again, even with the baby.

With the help of his gay best friend Nathan and his other best friend Keelor Nick manages to make it through this whole fiasco. But will he ever have another chance with Sasha? And what will Sasha's final choice be?

First off, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone under the age of 17 due to the sexual scenes and the topic of pregnancy and all. This was such a great read. I loved how it was told from the guy's point of view. We hardly ever get to see it from the guy's point of view. I felt so bad for Nick from the very beginning. Of course my heart went out to Sasha as well. Kelly is such a strong writer and this was an amazing book for her first one. Her words just jumped off the page to me. I loved Nick's attitude and actions along with Sasha's. And Nick's younger 14-year-old going on 30 sister was great. Basically I loved everything about this book but the ending. It was okay. I just kind of wanted it to end differently. But anyway, definitely pick up a copy of this book when it's released on September 23rd. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. And I really hope Kelly writes another book soon! =)

Seeing Redd (Finally)

2008-09-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Seeing Redd (the second book in the Looking Glass Series) continues off from where the last book ended. 20-year-old Alyss is now queen of Wonderland. Her aunt Redd has disappeared in to the Heart Crystal along with her sidekick The Cat and everything is starting to calm down.

But soon glass eyes start appearing out of nowhere and causing mayhem. Everyone believes that Redd has somehow come back and that they're all doomed. Little do they know that these aren't Redd's glass eyes. Someone else is having them made. And that someone else is the King of Boarderland, Arch. King Arch has some plans to take down Wonderland and all of the surrounding cities. And he is determined to do so. He has Molly (the Queen's bodyguard) captured and intends to have her father (Hatter Madigan) come rescue her.

Meanwhile, Redd and The Cat find their way to Earth and Redd gets a whole new group of followers. She is determined to get back to Wonderland and finally kill Alyss so she will finally be Queen.

Alyss and Dodge finally come to terms with the fact that they are meant to be together. But Dodge is still set on killing the beast that killed his parents. Nothing will get in his way besides Alyss that is.

Wonderland is in a world of trouble with King Arch and Redd doing all they can do to finally get Alyss out of the picture once and for all.

Full of violence and mayhem Seeing Redd is a pretty intense read. It's a pretty good second book to the Looking Glass Wars series. Parts were a bit slow but overall it was a good read. I definitely liked The Looking Glass Wars much better. For some reason it didn't seem as wordy as Seeing Redd or something. But this was still a great book. I especially liked the way it ended. This is definitely a book you should read if you liked The Looking Glass Wars. It's a pretty good second book to the series. =)

Contest information

2008-09-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

So there are some great contests going on right now. First off the ladies over at On My Bookshelf... are giving away a copy of Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky. Now I've heard many great things about this book. I haven't had a chance to read it yet myself but I totally plan to. It sounds great. So anyway, this contest ends on September 7th. so get your butts over there pronto and enter. You have three different ways! Woohoo!

Second off Kelsey from Reading Keeps You Sane is having a belated 100 posts contest. Yay for Kelsey! The prize is two books of your choice out of a pile of 6 books that you can pick from. How awesome is that? The deadline for this contest is September 5th, Midnight Eastern time. So you have about two days left to enter. So go do it now, hurry! There are various different ways to earn entries. So head on over and check out all the contest details.

Yay for contests!

Linda Gerber's Release Party!

2008-09-03T14:42:00.000-07:00

Starting on September 18th, Linda will be having her online release party for DEATH BY LATTE on her blog, yay! I have yet to read DEATH BY BIKINI but I've heard many great things about it and read many awesome reviews.

So of course I'm also excited for the release of DEATH BY LATTE. Anyway, stop by Linda's blog starting on September 18th for yet another fabulous week long release party. Linda's blog parties are the best! At least I think so, lol.

Also, if you post about the release party by tomorrow (yeah, I'm posting this late. Sorry!) and leave a comment on Linda's blog on her most recent Freebie Friday post you'll be entered to win a copy of DEATH BY LATTE and a Starbucks gift card! How awesome is that? So quick, post now and leave a comment to win. And don't forget about the release party everybody! September 18th, remember that date =)

Oh and also if you head over there and enter the contest that ends tomorrow be sure to mention that I (Breanna) sent you. I'll get an extra entry if you do. Thanks!

I'm not dead, I promise

2008-08-28T04:20:00.000-07:00

I know I've had a lack of reviews since the 18th. Sorry people! The reason was I finally could not wait a minute longer to read New Moon. And I didn't feel like reviewing it because well so many people have read it already and whatnot. I'll just say right now that I LOVED it and need to run out and by Eclipse fast so I can read it and and then Breaking Dawn. *squeals*

Anyway, right now I'm reading Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor. It's the second book in The Looking Glass Wars series. The main reason that I'm only on like page 100 of this book is my new boyfriend who I have been spending a lot of time with. It's so strange how it all happened so fast. It's a long story that I'll spare you all from.

Anyway that is the reasoning for my lack of reviews. Don't worry, hopefully I'll finish Seeing Redd soon. And then I have some more amazing (or what seem to be amazing) books to read and review. So look forward to that. =)

-Breanna

Whale Song

2008-08-18T23:13:00.001-07:00

Whale Song by Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Rating: 5 plus stars, amazing read =)

11-year-old Sarah and her parents Daniella (an artist) and Jack (a marine biologist) move to Canada from the states. Sarah is not happy about the move but she starts warming up when she sees their beautiful new house located right along the beach that has an amazing view. She's even more happy when she meets Goldie. The two quickly become best friends. Sarah loves Goldie's family, especially her grandmother who they call Nana most of the time. Goldie is of Indian descent (along with most of the other people in the town where Sarah is living) so Sarah learns all these new traditions
and tales from the past.

Sarah develops a crush on a boy in her class, Adam. She also gets majorly bullied by a girl in her class named Annie. But for the most part she likes her new home. She especially loves going out on the schooner with her parents and listening to the whales which are Sarah's and her mother's new love.

Not long after being in their new home Sarah's mom starts having fainting spells. And it turns out she has a rare condition that is slowly wasting her away. When Sarah finds this out she's devastated. But unfortunately there's nothing anyone can do for her mother. Her doctors only give her about two to three more years of life, max.

When Daniella ends up in a coma something happens and she dies. Jack (Sarah's father) is arrested for pulling the plug on the machines that were keeping his wife alive. Sadly after his long awaited court date the jury finds him guilty and he's sentenced to ten years in prison.

Sarah has to go back to the states with her grandparents and leave everything behind once again. She tries to block everything out that has happened to her back in Canada, even all the good things. But when she's older (in her 20's) someone comes along and opens her floodgates (so to speak) and she once again remembers everything, even how her mother died.

Okay so this was an incredibly hard book to write a summary of. So there's my crappy one, So much happens in this book it's hard to cover the basic things in a short summary. Just go read the book and you'll find out how amazing it is! It's completely heart wrenching because you know all along that Daniella is dying. But the whole book is just amazing. I seriously never wanted to put it down. Cheryl's use of words is amazing, like when she's talking about the killer whales or describing scenery. They just flow so easily across every page. My heart strings were being pulled the entire time and I absolutely loved it. If you like these type of books I seriously recommend getting yourself a copy. You seriously won't be disappointed. And yes I know I just overused the word seriously, sorry. =)

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: The New Girl

2008-08-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: The New Girl by Meg Cabot
Rating: 5 stars

After having moved with her family to a new neighborhood in a slightly creepy old house Allie is the New Girl at her new school, Pine Heights Elementary. But being the New Girl isn't all that easy. Sure she's made some great new friends and she loves her new teacher. She even gets to go home for lunch because her new house is only two blocks away from school. But there is a girl in her class, Rosemary, who isn't so fond of Allie and even threatens to beat her up. Allie keeps getting advice from everyone about what do about the whole Rosemary situation but she has no idea which thing is the right thing to do.

During all of this school drama Allie is worrying about her future kitten, Mewsette. Because the mother of her future kitten gave birth to her litter early so all the little kitties are premature.

Poor Allie, what's a New Girl to do?

Aww this was a really cute second book to the series. I loved it! I'm happy Meg started writing for younger kids. My cousin is going to love this when I give it to her for her birthday next month. Definitely have your little sisters (or even little brothers) check it out. Hopefully they'll like it. Allie is such a fun little girl. =)

You can check out my review for Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day here

Also reviewed for Teens Read Too

I've finally been tagged

2008-08-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Bookluver-Carol (thanks Carol!)

What was I doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was 10 years old so I was probably just running around outside enjoying my Summer probably with my now ex best friend Jenae. Wow that seems like ages ago. Crazy.

What are five things on my to-do list today?
1. Start reading Allie Finkle's Rules For Girls: The New Girl
2. Finish Slipping. (done)
3. Write a review for Slipping. (done)
4. Do some sit-ups
5. Watch one of the movies we have from Blockbuster.

Snacks I enjoy:
Hmm...the puffy Cheetos
Dark chocolate Snickers or anything Dark chocolate really
Sun Chips
Peanut Butter M&M's
(no wonder I'm still kind of chubby)

Places I've lived:
Washington (Tacoma)
Nevada (Sparks)

Things I would do if I was a billionaire:
I would buy a large house with an awesome backyard so my girls could run around outside a lot, donate a lot of money to charity (not sure which charity ATM), stock up on diapers and clothes and whatnot for my girlies, buy as many shoes as I want including lots of Chucks and Vans, hire a personal trainer, and after I got in shape again I'd go on a major shopping spree for awesome new clothes!

Who's being tagged:
I have no idea who to tag. So if you haven't done this one yet and want to do it then go ahead! lol

Slipping

2008-08-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

Slipping by Cathleen Davitt Bell
Rating: 4 stars

Michael is an average ordinary boy. But when his grandfather that he barely even knew dies something happens to him. Somehow Michael is seeing his grandpa. All of a sudden he'll get really cold and he'll open his eyes and he won't be where he was a minute ago. He'll be in a dark place with his grandfather standing in front of him. His grandpa tells him that he can pull Michael in somehow and show him all of his memories. Because of this Michael is finding out things he never knew before. Like how him and his grandfather always fought and never got along. And that that's why his father is the way he is today.

Of course Michael is freaked out about all of this and has no idea if what's happening is real or just an elaborate dream. A boy at school, Ewan, who is obsessed with the dead because his father is dead tells Michael that what's happening to him is called Slipping and that it's very rare. Michael's art teacher even gives him the number of a very famous psychic and tells him to go see her because even she doesn't believe what Michael is telling her.

He ends up going to see the psychic with his ex best friend Gus, his older sister Julia, Ewan, and Trip (Gus's new best friend). The psychic tells him that what's happening to him is much more serious and dangerous than Slipping and that he should try to stop it immediately before something happens to him. But can Michael really control what's happening or will he end up dead just like his grandfather?

This was a pretty intense story. It was short but very intense. From the very first page I was hooked. What was happening to Michael was totally freaky but cool at the same time. Being able to his grandfather's memories and everything was so awesome. The whole book was very touching along with all of the crazy intense moments. The ending was pretty good. I feel like it could have been a bit longer and the ending gone in to detail a little bit more. But all in all this was a very good book. I hope Cathleen writes another great one soon. =)

Also reviewed for Teens Read Too

Bleed

2008-08-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

Bleed by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Rating: 4.5 stars

So much can happen in just one day. On this one day the lives of 10 teenagers will be forever changed.

Nicole has a secret crush on her best friend Kelly's boyfriend, Sean. But it's not so secret. And something just might happen involving that crush.

Maria is a friend of Nicole and Kelly who just loves having people cut her for some strange reason. She just wants to know who her true friends are.

Kelly has two boyfriends. She has Sean of course and then she has Robby. Although she's never even met Robby because he's a murderer and they've only been talking through letters for the past 5 years. Now that Robby is out of jail Kelly finally has a chance to meet him. But when she does will her nerves get the best of her?

Derik has a chance with a mystery girl who he's seen around town lately but has never had the courage to go up and talk to. Now when she walks into the family restaurant Derik might finally get up the nerve. But is this girl really worth it?

Sadie is a young chubby girl who just wants to fit in. And of course she wants to be able to eat what she wants to eat when she wants to eat it without her mother harassing her about it and telling her she's fat. When she gets her hands on the snack key of the house will she finally be satisfied?

Robby is so excited to meet Kelly but when she runs out on him he has no idea what to do with himself. Then he ends up spending the day with the waiter girl trying to resist his urges when they come upon the spot where he killed his first girlfriend.

Mearl (pearl with an M) just wants to find her roots. She spends a lovely afternoon with Derik but of course that isn't enough for her. She just wants to find someone who's related to her whether they're dead or alive. Is that too much to ask?

Ginger has the opportunity to get back at Kelly for making her life a living hell. But if she actually goes through it will she feel any better or just feel like a jerk.

Joy hates boys and today is the day she's going to get back at them. Enough said.

Sean has always noticed Nicole around but has never really thought of her in that way. But after he spends time with her in her mother's garden he realizes that Nicole is great. What the heck is he doing with Kelly when Nicole is right there just waiting for him?

Over the course of one day all ten of these teens have something significant happen to them. What surprises does the future hold?

This book was great. I liked how all ten of them were connected in one way or another. Each different storyline was well developed and most had an interesting ending to them. The flow of the book was also great. It was a pretty quick and I really liked it. I highly suggest checking it out. You probably won't be disappointed.

Get Well Soon

2008-08-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

Get Well Soon by Julie Halpern
Rating: 4 stars

Anna Bloom is a depressed girl. And she's even more depressed on the day that her parents admit her in to a mental hospital with a bunch of other screwed up teens. Once there she immediately starts focusing on a really cute boy named Justin. She also gets a roommate who has a sort of secret.

Soon Anna starts actually enjoying be there. She's made some new friends and she's not acting like her usual self at all. Is she even really depressed anymore?

Everything is going great for Anna and then her doctor tells her that she's being released after only having been there for three weeks. Anna is crushed. For once she actually has friends and is feeling alright about herself. Also there's the whole Justin situation. But going home and starting over is the best thing for her, right?

Aww this was a cute book. I felt so bad for Anna at the beginning of the book. It would be so horrible to just be thrown in a mental hospital one day without any warning or anything. But I loved how she just soldiered on and actually started making friends with the other teens there. All of the other kids had some big problems but they weren't so bad. Most of them even seemed pretty normal, especially Justin. It was hard not to feel bad for her once again when she was told that she was going home. But the ending was pretty good. It's weird to think that the author Julie actually based her book off of her own experience. But that makes the book so much better. =)

Pretty Is

2008-08-07T00:05:00.001-07:00

Pretty Is by Elizabeth Holmes
Rating: 4 stars

Erin is a fifth grader who will be entering middle school the next year. But there's one problem. Her older sister Monica is already in middle school and is a main target for a lot of teasing. Monica is really dorky. She wears baggy clothes and never shaves her legs. Plus she never really even talks to anyone. Erin is dreading the fact that everyone is going to know that the dorky girl is her older sister. And it doesn't help that her friend Kayla is an extremely rude girl who's older sister Claire teases Monica the most. And deep down Erin feels that a part of her is just like Monica and that of course terrifies her.

Shortly before the school year ends Kayla starts ignoring Erin. Erin automatically thinks it's because of Monica. But she makes a new friend in Hannah. Hannah is a wildly outgoing girl who is always thinking of crazy things to do. And soon she has a way for Erin to get back at Kayla, which involves scissors and Kayla's long beautiful blonde hair. Well Erin does it and gets away with it until Monica says something about Erin sneaking out right in front of their mother. Erin is caught and has to go apologize to Kayla and give up practically all the money she has to her parents to pay to get Kayla's hair fixed up.

During all this madness Monica finds an interest in something that's actually not dorky. She starts shooting hoops at the house next door almost everyday. Erin sits and watches her day after day. She has nothing better to do because Hannah is off with her family on vacation. Plus Erin is grounded anyway. She still thinks that Monica is really dorky and is still embarrassed to be seen with her.

During the final month of Summer Erin and Monica are sent off to the week long church camp that they attend most every year. While there Erin tries to make sure that no one realizes that Monica is her sister. But she ends up failing when they have to stay for another week because her mom is going into a surgery that got pushed back a few days that they didn't even know about. Monica then ends up staying in Erin's cabin. And over the next few days Erin realizes that yes her sister is dorky but there really isn't much she can do about it. Plus some of the girls in the camp even think that Monica's knitting is pretty cool.

When they get back from camp will Erin still be friends with Hannah and stop hating her sister because she's such a dork or will everything just be the same as it was before they left for camp?

This was a pretty good read. I finished it in one day so it was a pretty fast read. The story itself was good. I could totally see a younger sister thinking this about her older sister. I've never really thought of sisters disliking their older sisters before. But it definitely makes sense. The ending was a bit predictable but it didn't make the book any less good. It had your typical characters; the social outcast, the popular girls, the girl that's new to the school. Overall I'd recommend this book to someone that's looking for a light summery read.

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched

2008-08-06T13:46:00.001-07:00

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot
5 stars (of course, lol)

Lizzie Nichols has just spent the night with her ex's best friend, (and a close friend of hers) Chaz. In the morning though her ex Luke shows up and proposes to her. Being Lizzie she of course says yes and then has to run upstairs and tell Chaz to get the heck out before Luke sees him. A crushed Chaz, after telling Lizzie she's crazy for saying yes to Luke, leaves the apartment.

But soon Chaz's words start getting to Lizzie and they end up being all she can think about. She also realizes that whenever she thinks about her and Luke getting married she breaks out in to hives. Which is obviously not a good sign. Chaz is on her mind constantly and she has no idea what to do. And it doesn't help that her friends and even clients are telling her she needs to just dump Luke once and for all and to get with Chaz. Even her grandma is telling her to get with Chaz already.

Lizzie has to make a choice very quickly but what in the heck will her choice finally be?

This was such a great ending to the Queen of Babble series. I absolutely loved it. It was also great because I had no idea what was going to happen and of course I love that in books. The ending surprised me and I totally loved it. Meg Cabot has done it yet again =).

Ghostgirl

2008-08-03T23:32:00.001-07:00

Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley
I'm giving it 5 stars!

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I should die before I awake,
I pray the popular attend my wake.

This is the year for Charlotte Usher. The year that she's finally going to be noticed. She's finally going to have what she's always wanted: to be a popular girl and fit in with the head cheerleader in the school, Petula Kensington. She feels that the first day of school will be the start of her new life. She'll finally have the attention of the most popular guy in school, Damen. Who is of course Petula's boyfriend.

In a way she does start a new life. Although it's actually her after life. Poor Charlotte chokes on a red gummy bear just before she leaves her first period physics class and dies. Her hopes of starting over fresh and finally being noticed for once are all crushed in an instant. Especially when she finds out that she still has to graduate even though she's dead! There's a whole class of students from her school who have died and are still attending classes there.

Charlotte isn't giving up though. She's still determined to win over Damen. And with the help of Scarlet Kensington (Petula's younger sister) she's sure she'll be able to do it. Scarlet can actually see Charlotte and Charlotte isn't about to let that fact go to waste. She figures she can hang out in Scarlet's body and get through to Damen that way. But her new dead classmates aren't liking Charlotte's plans too much and are making it incredibly hard for her to get anything done. Plus the more time Scarlet spends time with Damen (when Charlotte isn't in her body that is) the more Scarlet is starting to like Damen herself.

Charlotte is determined to be noticed though. She thinks that if she can just get noticed and be popular that she'll finally move on. But is popularity really what Charlotte needs to move on? Or is it just finally realizing that you don't have to be the center of attention to matter.

This book was great. I couldn't really guess what would happen throughout the book which I always like. Poor Charlotte has such a rough time! Especially in the beginning of her after life. But she pulls through and even learns a valuable lesson along the way. I loved Scarlet's character. The way she acts towards her sister is hilarious. They are total opposites in every way. I loved all the nick names the other dead students have too. And I thought the ending was cute. It might not have been totally realistic. But then again this book wasn't really all that realistic in the first place. So I thought the ending fit pretty perfectly. I highly suggest checking this book out.

The Dead and the Gone

2008-08-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer.
I'm giving it 5 stars out of 5

Alex Morales is a 17-year-old Puerto Rican boy living with his family in New York. He has two younger sisters, Briana and Julie and he his parents who he calls Mami and Papi. Everything is going pretty normal for Alex. He's the vice president of his school and he's looking forward to getting in to a great college.

But in one moment everything changes. Something huge hit the moon and knocked it out of place. It's now closer to Earth causing a lot of horrible changes including tidal waves, flooding, blackouts, and overall panic. According to many people the Earth is coming to an end. Alex's father was in Puerto Rico when it happened and they haven't heard from him since. And his mother was called in to the hospital where she works and Alex is afraid that since she hasn't contacted them that she died when there was a flood in the subway.

All of a sudden Alex realizes that he is the sole caregiver to his two sisters. He has no idea when his parents will be back (if ever) and he's terrified. People all around New York are dropping like flies. Bodies line the streets. People are going crazy trying to get their hands on food. Nothing that seemed important before is important now. All that matters is staying alive. And Alex is determined to care for his sisters and keep them alive no matter what. But is that really possible with what has happened to the Earth?

Wow this book was intense. It's scary in all ways possible. Reading about the bodies lining the streets of New York brought shivers to my spine. It's hard to explain in words how basically crazy this book is. If you like really intense books then this is definitely a book for you. Also be sure to read Susan's other book, Life As We Knew It. It deals with the same issue that's discussed in this book. I haven't read it but I'm sure it's just as good and frightening as this book.

CRANK

2008-07-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

Crank by Ellen Hopkins
I'm giving this one 5 stars

Kristina Snow discovers Crank while visiting her father in Arizona. While there she meets this guy that introduces her to it and she's hooked right away. She even comes up with a new name for her other self. The person that she is when she's on Crank. And that name is Bree.

When she gets back home after the three weeks with her father her bad ass Bree self takes over. She ends up meeting two guys Brendan and Chase. She knew of Chase beforehand as a troublemaker around her school so she never dared to talk to him until now. She met Brendan at a water park.

As time goes on Kristina keeps getting her hands on more and more Crank and gets in to all sorts of trouble. Brendan ends up raping her and she feels like she let it happen because she needed more Crank. After the Brendan fiasco Chase comes to her rescue. And she ends up falling in love with him.

All the while Kristina's grades are steadily dropping and her mother doesn't trust her anymore. And her mom's boyfriend Scott is really getting on her nerves. Will Kristina ever be able to break her addiction, especially after she finds something out that will change her life forever?

This book looks long when you first pick it up but it's really not. I started reading it last night and finished it this morning. It's written as a bunch of small poems put together as a story. I love books like this. The whole book was just great. It moved at such a fast pace and was really easy to read. It was crazy to see Kristina change from her normal almost perfect self in to Bree. This girl who is totally addicted to the monster and will do basically anything to get her hands on more. It really opens your eyes to the drug world and how caught up you can get so quickly. Basically in the blink of an eye your life can change. Needless to say I can't wait to read the sequel, GLASS.

Switch (ARC)

2008-07-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

Switch by Carol Snow
(released September 9th.)
I give it 5 plus stars! Great read =)

Claire Martin is your average 15 year old girl. She has her loving mom (Dr. Martin) and her best friend Beanie. She also has a big crush on her fellow swimming buddy, Nate. And of course the ghost of her deceased grandmother (Evelyn) who has been around since Claire was a baby, even long before that. She probably doesn't sound that average anymore, right? Here's the real kicker: Claire is what she and her grandmother call a "Switcher". Whenever a bad storm kicks up in Claire's little beach town she'll be pushed out of her own body in to another girl's body But only a girl who was born close to the same time Claire was and that lives only around a mile or so away. So most of the time Claire switches in to a visiting girl's body. Just someone who is vacationing with her family. Overnight Claire ends up back in her own body and wakes up back to her old self.

But at one point (during the day even) a little bit of static electricity sends Claire in to the body of a girl that her and her friend Beanie saw just the other day on the beach. She was obviously not a local from the looks of her and she was watching two little boys. She was a skinny little thing in a bikini that barely covered her at all. She also seemed like a complete B word to both Claire and Beanie just by looking at her. Of course she had all the attention from the guys though, especially Nate. So when Claire is zapped into this girl's body (her name is Larissa) she is of course shocked but at the same time a bit excited. She finally has a body that she loves and is actually able to show it off without looking ridiculous.

But when Claire wakes up the next morning she's still in Larissa's body. And now she's stuck watching these two little attention starved boys from basically dusk till dawn. But she has the attention of Nate and she's not about to lose it. What could a few days in Larissa's body hurt? Except for the fact that Larissa's soul is just floating around while Evelyn is hanging out in Claire's body for the time being. Will Claire ever switch back in to her own body? And the most important part: will she actually want to?

This book was amazing! I pretty much couldn't put it down. I got so engrossed in it every time I picked it up. I could totally understand why Claire was debating whether or not she wanted her old body back. I mean she finally had the attention of the guy she's liked for so long. Who would want to give that up? And I loved Evelyn's character. She was hilarious. Always walking around as her ghosty self (when she wasn't in Claire's body that is) smoking the same cigarette day after day. The ending was also really touching. It was just overall a fantastic book. I highly suggest picking up a copy when it's released. =)

Undone Contests!

2008-07-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

So there are two great Undone contests going on right now.

The first is from Reviewer X and all you have to do is leave a comment on the "Pretty Damn Cool Undone Contest" entry to enter. You can also get extra entries. The details are on the same entry obviously, lol. The contest ends on July 27th, so go enter now! She also has an author interview with Brooke Taylor herself up as well. So go read that too.

The second is a kick butt contest from Brooke Taylor herself to win a copy of Undone of course and 6 other signed books of your choice from the authors listed! How incredibly awesome is that?! All you have to do to enter is post the trailer for Undone on your website and send Brooke the link on any of her blogs. The contest ends tomorrow the 25th. at noon CST. So go enter quickly!

The Blonde of the Joke (ARC)

2008-07-23T23:43:00.000-07:00

The Blonde of the Joke by Bennett Madison
(out on September 2nd.)
I give it 5 out of 5 stars =)

Valentina has had friends throughout the years. But they all just seem to fade out and then she's left by herself again. She spends her time at the mall hoping that one day something there will change her life. And what do you know it actually happens. While she's browsing the racks at the Wet Seal Francie Knight taps on her shoulder. Francie is a very provocative girl in Val's class who has been seen around campus wearing the "whore's rain coat". Apparently Francie is a major shoplifter and soon Val is too. All the girls ever do is hang out at the mall shoplifting basically whatever they can get their hands on in search of the "Holy Grail". The one most amazing thing that they have ever seen in their life.

When Val isn't with Francie she's worrying about her older brother Jesse who is mysteriously dying. Val has never really understood why he is but apparently he is and it's going to happen someday soon. She's also starting to mess around a bit (behind Francie's back) with the very attractive boy that met her and Francie at the mall one day.

Francie also deals with her own problems involving her basically psychotic mother who randomly disappears and when Francie finds her she'll end up staying with her grandmother for a week or so when her mom checks herself in to the hospital.

Soon Val gets a little tired of Francie's ways and decides she needs to do something. But how drastic will that something be?

Alright so that wasn't my best summary but this one of those books that's kind of hard to summarize. But I definitely loved this book. It was great. Francie's character was so out there and soon Val's character was too. The whole part about Val's brother dying and everything was a little weird but I'm sure it will make sense to other people. I loved the ending of this book too. It wasn't too abrupt and it was just a nice ending. All in all a pretty great book. I definitely want to read something else by Bennett now. =)

Audrey, Wait!

2008-07-06T21:14:00.000-07:00

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway
I give it 5 out of 5 stars!!!!! (amazing book, seriously)

16-year-old Audrey Cuttler breaks up with her boyfriend Evan who is the lead singer in a local band called the Do-Gooders. She breaks up with him before a major show where an agent is coming to listen to their music to see if their music is any good. Evan is crushed and ends up writing a new song right before the show titled none other than "Audrey, Wait!". Now this obviously screws with Audrey. The song makes her sound like a horrible person who broke Evan's heart. And guess what, it's terrible catchy and everyone at the show loves it. Audrey just stands there totally frozen and speechless. She goes home that night telling herself that it's not a big deal and that after tonight it'll just be another one of the Do-Gooder's songs. Not such a huge deal. Little does Audrey know that on the same night of the concert the band is told that their songs are great and are immediately signed on for a record deal.

None of the boys return to school in September and no one really thinks it's that big of a deal. Until one day when Audrey is working at her definition of hell, The Scooper Dooper with the other main employee James who is totally obsessed with doing everything perfectly at work. While listening to the radio all of a sudden "Audrey, Wait!" starts playing and Audrey just freezes. It turns out the song is turning in to be a huge hit and suddenly Audrey is famous.

Audrey's whole life changes. People at school are looking at her differently and whispering about her. People are coming into her work having driven an hour or more just to have a picture taken with her. All of this attention is driving Audrey crazy. All she wants to do is hang out with her friend Veronica and go to all the amazing concerts that they can. She also wouldn't mind going out with James after she finally realizes that she likes him and that he likes her despite the way he acts around her.

Pretty soon Audrey's life is in total chaos. Reporters from newspapers and magazines from all over the world want to talk to Audrey and get her side of the story. But she really couldn't give a crap! Her best friend Veronica is sucking up all the publicity and trying to get Audrey to use everything to her advantage and it's starting to really annoy Audrey. Really, who's side is Veronica on anyway? James and Audrey can't even go out in public without being attacked by the paparazzi. Will this madness in Audrey's life ever end?

Ahh! This book was completely amazing! I couldn't put it down. I stayed up until 2 in the morning finishing it. It was just so good. I loved Robin's writing style and the way she had Audrey and Veronica talk. And Audrey's and James' relationship was just too adorable. I seriously loved everything about this book and I already know I'll read it many many more times. So I definitely suggest you go read this if you haven't already, especially if you love music. It's definitely a book for music lovers. =)

Contests!

2008-07-05T23:29:00.000-07:00

There are some great contests going on right now. You should go check them out.

Hope of Hope's Bookshelf is giving away a copy of The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine by April Lurie. The contest ends on July 9th, Wednesday at Midnight eastern time. So go hurry up and enter! She also has a review posted of the book. So go check that out too.

Lenore of Presenting Lenore is giving away 3 (yes 3!) ARC's of The Joy of Spooking by P.J. Bracegirdle. There are 5 ways to enter and the contest ends on July 20th. at 9pm CST. So go enter that one too!

Reviwer X is giving away a copy of The Elite by Jennifer Banash. The contest is open until July 11th. So go enter now! And if you do enter tell them that Breanna sent you and be sure to make sure that your entry is not Anonymous as Anonymous entries do not count.

Harmony of Harmony Book Reviews is giving away 2 copies of The Elite by Jennifer Banash plus a mixed CD of songs that inspired Jennifer while writing it. How cool is that? Just be sure to enter by July 31st. It's as simple as that. There are also ways to get extra entries, which is always nice. =)

Oh and also of course The Story Siren is having her monthly contest. Which I have to say is pretty freaking awesome. Head on over for her blog for details. The winner gets to choose one of 7 books this month. The books being Band Geek Love by Josie Bloss, Alive and Well in Prague, New York by Daphne Grab, Braless in Wonderland by Debbie Reed Fisher, Sisters of Misery by Megan Kelley Hall, Violet on the Runway, Violet by Design or Violet in Private by Melissa Walker. So head on over to her blog and check out the details!

And of course be sure to check out Carol from Bookluver-Carol's Reviews monthly contest. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on her reviews and you get two entries for leaving a comment on her author interviews. The prize is a book that you get to pick from the available books she has to give away. The last day to enter is July 31st. So go ahead and enter, it's easy!

Megan of From the Corner of Megan's Mind is currently holding the second Mystery contest. It's only open to U.S. residents (but don't worry, the next one will be open to everyone) and the ending date is undetermined. So head on over to her blog for details. What are you waiting for? Go enter!

WAKE

2008-07-04T20:55:00.000-07:00

WAKE by Lisa McMann
I give it 5 out of 5 stars!

17-year-old Janie Hannagan is sick and tired of seeing other people's dreams. Ever since she was 8 whenever someone around her starts having an intense dream Janie will be sucked it in to it. She blacks out and practically has seizures when a really intense dream will hit her. She works at a nursing home and doesn't have too much trouble there because the older people have trouble sleeping so they rarely ever dream. But once in a while an intense dream will hit her and she has to try to keep it together, which can be extremely difficult at times.

Lately she's been being sucked in to Cabel Strumheller's dreams. A guy that is in her class but has been held back a year so he's 19 now. Cabel's dreams are the worst she's ever seen and they have the most horrible effect her. At one point she ends up telling Cabel about her problem and they start to get pretty close until Cabel starts hanging out with the popular girl (Shay) from her class and doing drug business with her dad. When Janie finds all this out she's extremely pissed off and has no idea what to even think of Cabel anymore.

In the meantime Janie has been able to start controlling the dreams that she's pulled in to. She can even stop herself from being pulled into a dream if she concentrates hard enough. Cabel keeps trying to make up with her and talk to Janie but she never lets him. Until one day when Cabel asks her to come see his boss because she wants to have a talk with Janie. At this point Janie is completely baffled but ends up going along anyway. What will she find out when she gets there?

Wow, this book was intense! It was a really quick read but so amazing. I can't wait until FADE comes out next year. I loved Janie and Cabel's characters. They were both so intense and just out there. Lisa has an amazing writing style, and I completely loved it. I was so caught up in this book the whole time I was reading it. I never wanted to put it down. Seriously, go read this book. You won't regret it, I promise! =)

Stephanie's Release Party!

2008-07-03T22:23:00.000-07:00

Check out Stephanie's release party starting next week on July 7th on her blog. There'll be some great giveaways and I'm sure it'll be a great release week! So go check it out next week and party with Stephanie =)

The Brothers Torres

2008-07-02T23:37:00.000-07:00

The Brotheres Torres by Coert Voorhees
I give it 5 stars out of 5.

Frankie and Steve Towers are brothers. Frankie is a freshman and Steve is a Senior. Frankie has always looked up to his older brother who has gotten a soccer scholarship, is one of the most popular guys in school, and is very popular with the ladies. Frankie spends most of his time with his friend Zach shooting off fireworks in his back yard while Zach's mom makes them Kool-Aid flavored popsicles. The remainder of his time is put in to Rebecca, the girl he has had a major crush on since grade school and working at his parent's restaurant.

Recently Steve has been hanging out with the local "cholos" (aka bad boys) and Frankie hasn't really thought anything of it until he gets in to a fist fight with John Dalton who has always been on Steve's bad side and is one of the richest, preppiest kids at their high school. After Frankie gets beaten to a pulp by John and two of his sidekicks Steve stops ignoring his brother and tries to help him out.

Soon with Steve's help Frankie finally has the attention of Rebecca in the form of a Homecoming date and life is going pretty well until another incident with Dalton happens. This time Steve really wants pay back and will stop at nothing to get it. And Frankie has to decide whether he wants to help Steve retaliate or stand on the sidelines and watch.

This book was great. I loved Frankie's character and how he acted around Rebecca. I could totally see the events in this book actually happening in real life which indeed made the book a bit scary at times. But it also made it even more great. I love real life situations. Coert is a really strong writer and I loved his style. This book had me laughing at times and on the verge of tears at others. Overall it was really a great book and I can't wait to read more by this great author.

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day

2008-07-01T13:31:00.001-07:00

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day by Meg Cabot
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Allie Finkle is a happy fourth grader who lives with her parents and her two younger brothers. She has a best friend named Mary Kay who cries a lot. Sometimes Allie doesn't even know why she's friends with Mary Kay.

The day before Mary Kay's birthday Allie's parents tell Allie that they will be moving. And that once they move Allie will have to go to a different school because they'll be in a different school district. A few days later Allie's family goes to see the house and Allie immediately doesn't like it. It's big, dirty, creepy, and old. All the stairs creak and there are spiders everywhere. But then Allie sees a girl next door and ends up going over to talk with her. The girl's name is Erica and she's in the same grade as Allie. While over at Erica's house her brother comes over to talk to them and tells Allie that there is a zombie hand living in the attic. At this point Allie has had enough and flat out refuses to move into this house with her family. She just knows something awful will happen to all of them. So she comes up with a plan to get her parents to stay in their old house. But will her plan work, or just backfire?

This was such a cute book. I bought it to give to my cousin's daughter for her birthday this year but I wanted to read it before I gave it to her. I loved it. It was so funny and just plain cute. I think pretty much every young girl would love to get their hands on a copy of this book.

Stephanie Kuehnert week on Shooting Stars Mag, plus a contest!

2008-06-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

Alright so this whole week over at Shooting Stars Magazine is Stephanie Kuehnert week. In honor of her first release, I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone that's being released on July 8th. of next week! Aren't you excited? I know I am! I've been wanting to read this ever since I first saw the cover back in like December I believe. Anyway I'm getting off track here. Shooting Stars Magazine already has four posts up to kick off Stephanie's week. Including an author guest blog with Melissa Walker (author of the Violet series) so be sure to check that out!

Now for the big news. A huge contest is also being held. The prize being around 10 gift cards of $10 each to some of your favorite places. The people donating these gift cards are us book reviewers, myself included. Here's a list of what's put together so far:

And Another Book Read: Tasha (Barnes N Noble)

Shooting Stars Mag: Lauren

Reading Mania (ElainaReads): Elaina

The Compulsive Reader

Bookluverreviews: Chelsie

The Story Siren: Kristi

B is for Books: Breanna (me!)

Teen Troves: Mollie and Ariel

Lauren (from Shooting Stars Magazine) might be adding one or two more reviewers to this list later on this week. So keep an eye out for what you could win in this contest! All you have to do to enter is buy Stephanie's book. Amazon is already shipping copies out, isn't that crazy? So go and order one now! Once you have your book take a picture of you with the book or of your receipt and be sure to send it in to Lauren at Lauren51990@aol.com The contest is open until July 30th. so you have plenty of time to get your copy. The winner will be announced sometime during the first week of August! So go pre-order your copy now to enter! Also be sure to check out Stephanie Kuehnert on her website at www.stephaniekuehnert.com or on her Myspace at www.myspace.com/theblacknotebooks.

Fake Boyfriend

2008-06-29T23:04:00.000-07:00

Fake Boyfriend by Kate Brian
I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Lane, Vivi, and Curtis have had it with Isabelle's boyfriend, Shawn Littig (aka Sluttig). Over the past four years they have broken up numerous times. The beginning of each break up happening in a more nasty way. Like on her sixteenth birthday when he crashed her new car on the way to her party. This time Shawn has hooked up with some girl that Isabelle knows right across the street from her for her to see. Of course they break up again but this time Lane and Vivi have had it. They hate seeing Isabelle crushed once again by "Sluttig".

While hanging out in Vivi's room on Myspace she has a brilliant idea (or at least Vivi thinks so). They should make up a fake boy and put him on Myspace. Lane doesn't think it's such a great idea but lets Vivi do it anyway. They name him Brandon and put most all of the things that Isabelle likes in a guy on his page. Then they have Vivi's younger brother (who is a junior at their school) Marshall send her a message as Brandon because neither of them are guys and can't think of anything to say that a guy would actually say. Isabelle instantly takes to "Brandon".

As time goes on they realize that they need to find a guy to play Brandon in real life if they have any shot of keeping Isabelle away from Shawn seeing as she's desperate for a prom date and has always thought she'd go with Shawn anyway. And she doesn't think that Brandon would want to take the time to drive up to see her just to go to prom with her. So Vivi and Lane go on the search for a Brandon. They finally find him in the form of Jonathan, a somewhat preppy guy that Isabelle wouldn't really go for. In the next two weeks before prom they have turn him into a believable Brandon that Isabelle will just fall head over heels for. But in the process Vivi develops a crush that screw up their whole plan. Can they really pull this off without hurting Isabelle once again?

This book was great. I really wasn't expecting the book to end the way it did either. Which was nice. I was more happy with the ending that actually happened then the ending that was in my head. Isabelle was such a dramatic character at times but it was great. I could totally sense the crush coming on with Vivi and Jonathan too. I knew that would make an interesting ending to the book. This was a great light read, and I really liked it. I need to read something else by Kate Brian now.

Leftovers

2008-06-27T23:48:00.001-07:00

Leftovers by Laura Wiess
I give it 5 out of 5 stars!

Blair and Ardith are best friends who come from two different families. Blair's parents are never around and her mother is fighting her way to the top to become a judge, and nothing will stand in her way. At one point she even forbids Ardith to ever come to the house again.

Ardith has had to spend her whole life with a mother who always pushes things aside and never faces what's happening in her families' lives, a drunken father who will jump at the chance to feel up basically any teenage girl, and a brother who pretty much takes after his father and will go for pretty much any girl he lays his eyes on, including Blair the one time she comes to Ardith's house. Ardith has to lock herself in her room most of the time to escape the rowdiness of her house with all the parties that are always going on.

Blair and Ardith have committed an unforgiveable act in the name of love and justice when a dear friend is hurt in a horrible car wreck. They think that committing this horrible act will finally set them free of their crappy lives and will bring justice to the situation at hand. But will it?

This book was so good. I literally couldn't put it down. I walked around the house with it all day today whenever I had a chance to read it. It was so easy to dive in to Blair and Ardith's lives and see how crappy they felt from day to day. I cried twice during this book. It usually takes a lot for me to cry from a book so doing it twice for one is big for me, lol. It's such a deep read and it really makes you think. I just really liked it. If I keep going now I'll just repeat myself in one way or another so I'm done. Definitely read this book if you're into deep emotional stuff.

Beautiful Disaster

2008-06-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Disaster by Kylie Adams
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Beautiful Disaster is the third and final book in the Fast Girls Hot Boys series. It picks up from where the second book in the series Bling Addiction has left off. It follows the lives of the "fabulous" 5 students at Miami Academy for Creative and Performing Arts in the last few months of their high school career. The fabulous 5 being Vanity St. John, Max Biaggi Jr., Pippa Keith, Dante Medina, and Christina Perez. But only four out of the five of them will make it to graduation day alive. The question is who?

Max has a hard time when his sister Sho ends up in a coma after taking some drugs that somebody made at one of Max's infamous parties. Pippa blackmails Max's father for almost raping her on his private jet and decides to take off to New York without finishing high school. Christina jumps off of a roof hoping to kill herself to escape the fact that her mother is sending her to some camp that is supposed to specialize in "degayification" only to get caught up in some Christmas lights and saved by a random guy who happened to be nearby. Dante ends up leading the police to a room where Vanity is tied up and about to be killed by some druggie who made a sex tape of her a while back. And after Dante saves Vanity they start a relationship together.

Right before their graduation day one of them is killed. And their lives are all changed forever.

I haven't read the first two books in this series but this one was great. I finished it in a day it was that good. It was also a short book as well, so that helped too. But it was amazing. It moved at such a fast pace and it was a real page turner. I loved the 5 main characters, especially Max. They were all great and each of the story lines involving them were strong. This book is definitely intended for older readers ages 16 and up. It's a great Summer read so if you're without something to read during Summer I would highly suggest this series. The first two books are probably just as great as this one is.

The Midnight Twins (ARC)

2008-06-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

The Midnight Twins by Jacquelyn Mitchard
I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Meredith and Mallory are Identical twins born on either side of midnight on New Year's Eve. One born at 11:59 and the other at 12:01 am. It's now 13 years later and the girls are best friends but they have completely different interests. Also, like many Identical twins they can read each others minds. But they also have the exact same dreams. Up until one New Year's Eve when a fire breaks out at the house that they are babysitting their cousins in. Someone purposely started the fire and the twins have a pretty good idea who that someone is.

After the fire Mallory starts seeing strange images and scenes in her head involving David, the guy that they believe started the fire that the twins almost died in. These scenes are so strange but Mallory believes that they are actually going to happen. But Meredith isn't seeing the same things or even having the same dreams anymore. Instead she is seeing scenes involving David that are less creepy.

Over the next few months Mallory keeps seeing the strange scenes in her head that are getting more disturbing, like what seems to be David almost raping a girl. She even starts having blackouts after seeing the frightening images. She tells Meredith that they need to confront David but Meredith isn't too sure about the idea. Will confronting David help the disturbing scenes to finally stop or will they continue on forever?

I was lucky enough to win this ARC in a contest. I read it in like 2 days, it was great. Having Identical twins myself it was fun to read about Identical twins. The characters in this book were strong and Mallory and Meredith were easy to love. A bit of the book was confusing towards the middle. Mallory and Meredith had nick names that I found to be confusing at times. But the storyline was great and I loved the ending. I really hope Jacquelyn writes a sequel to this one.

Kissing Snowflakes

2008-06-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

Kissing Snowflakes by Abby Sher
I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Samantha Levy (or as she calls herself, Levy) is being dragged on her dad's honeymoon with his new young wife Kathy and her brother Jeremy. They're all going up the Bishop Inn in the mountains to ski. Sam is none to thrilled about the idea to bring along herself and her brother on her dad's honeymoon during her Winter Break of all times. She is also not so fond of young cherry Kathy who keeps trying to be all "buddy buddy" with her.

But before Sam left home her best friend Phoebe and herself decided that while she was gone she would find a boy to kiss and just have fun with. Seeing as how the only kiss that Sam has ever had was in a school play and after that play she found the boy that she kissed in the corner with a new sexy exchange student.

While taking a beginners skiing class Sam meets Drew. Drew is a very attractive ski teacher who claims to have been at the Olympic try outs. All the girls are giggling and flirting with him. And when he starts focusing on Sam she is utterly shocked. But it turns out all Drew wants is to get into Sam's pants and she is definitely not ready for that. Meanwhile, back at the Bishop Inn there is an incredibly annoying guy named Eric that helps run the place with his father. At first he drives Sam crazy with him butting into her life all the time, like when she's being a brat to Kathy. And telling her that she's not acting the way that she should be. But in the long run, is Eric all that bad? After Sam has a minor ski accident she's about to find out what Eric is really like. And she just might like it.

I bought this book a while ago because I'd heard about it. This book was pretty good, it didn't disappoint me. I liked Sam's character and I how Drew was such an ass. Well I didn't like how he was an ass to Sam, hopefully you know what I mean. I especially liked Eric though, I could tell from the beginning that he was a nice guy. Sam just wasn't about to realize that any time soon because she was so caught up with Drew. This was a really fast read for me, but good just the same. It's definitely a good Summer read even though it's set during the Winter. It's light and quick and overall a sweet book. The only thing I didn't like about it was some of the things Sam said when she was talking to Drew. I don't know, some it was just strange. But it was still a good book.

The Temptress Four (contest!)

2008-06-21T21:51:00.000-07:00

Theres this new book out called The Temptress Four by Gaby Triana. I haven't read it yet but I've heard many great things about it. Its about these four girls who have been friends since they were young that have just graduated from high school. To celebrate they are going on a Caribbean Cruise ship called The Temptress. But the night before the trip they see a fortune teller who not only knows the girls are about to go own a trip but also that one of them will not be making it back alive.

This book sounds amazing to me! I can't wait to read it. And right now Gaby herself is having a contest to win a copy of The Temptress Four, a cute totebag, and a $25 gift certificate to itunes! The contest ends on June 30th. So go enter now! And get yourself a copy of The Temptress Four. =)

Kiss Me Kill Me

2008-06-20T23:24:00.001-07:00

Kiss Me Kill Me by Lauren Henderson
I give it 5 out of 5 stars!
(I really don't love every book that I read, it just seems like I do)

Scarlett Wakefield is like most every other 16 year old teenage girl, with a few exceptions. She has two best friends (Alison and Luce) that aren't really popular just like she is. She is heavily involved in gymnastics and is feeling alright about her life for the most part. As alright as she can feel without having her parents that is. For the new year Scarlett has three resolutions, one being to finally get her first kiss. And hopefully from a guy that she has had a crush on for a while, Dan McAndrew.

Out of nowhere the popular girls in her school call her over to their little group one day and end up inviting her to a party that's coming up soon. Scarlett of course jumps at the chance knowing that Dan is going to be there. Well Scarlett finally gets her wish along with something terrible. Right in the middle of kissing Dan he drops dead, he pretty much suffocates in Scarlett's arms.

Scarlett is pretty much chased out of her school and sent to attend school at her Grandmother's school. While there and obsessing about Dan's death, thinking it's her fault like everyone else thinks she discovers something: A letter in her desk addressed to her containing only four words. But four words that have a strong impact on Scarlett. Then, with the help of a new friend (Taylor) Scarlett sets out to find out what really caused Dan McAndrew's death.

Wow, I have to say that I loved this book. I always love a good mystery. And this one was really a page turner. I finished it in about a day, granted it is Summer and I do have more time to read. But still, I don't usually read one book in a day. I love Scarlett's character, she was so great. I couldn't help but to feel bad for her after Dan's death. Thinking that you killed a guy just from your kiss? Thats some pretty heavy stuff for a 16 year old to be going through. Not to mention all the harassment she got from her former classmates after Dan's death. I loved this whole book, seriously. There wasn't one part that was dull to me. The whole thing was a page turner. I'd recommend this book to any teenage girl that loves a good mystery and hot guys, lol. Seriously though, this was hands down an amazing book. And I can't wait to read more by Lauren Henderson. =)

The Looking Glass Wars

2008-06-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Alyss Heart lives in Wonderland in a place called Wondertropolis with her parents King Nolan and Queen Genevieve. But her Aunt Redd who was practically thrown out of the family when she was young is determined to take over Wonderland. On Alyss' seventh birthday Redd does just that. Both of Alyss' parents are killed in Redd's wrath and Alyss and Hatter (Genevieve's loyal assistant) barely escape through an emergency looking glass portal. Once out of the portal Alyss realizes that Hatter isn't with her. They were somehow separated while in the portal.

For years Hatter searches for Alyss while Alyss ends up being adopted by a family with two other children that make fun of her for talking about Wonderland all the time. Meanwhile back in Wonderland Redd is wrecking havoc sending anyone who believes in white magic to torturous camps to work until they die. Some of the Wonderlanders have formed an army called the Alyssians and Hatter is still on the search for princess Alyss.

Many years later Alyss is 20 years old, has pretty much blocked everything about Wonderland out of her mind, and is about to be married to a wealthy Prince named Leopold when Hatter finally finds her. All of a sudden she finds herself back in Wonderland about to fight the biggest battle she has ever seen. With the fate of Wonderland resting in her hands.

When I first heard about this book it sounded interesting. Frank Beddor got the idea to write it from the old fairy tale Alice in Wonderland. While this book heads in a different direction than the original fairy tale it is even more amazing. It was full of action and all the other elements that any great book has. The characters are all incredibly strong, especially Alyss. Redd was especially easy to hate which was awesome. I always love to hate the evil characters in books like this. This book is the first in a trilogy and the second book Seeing Redd is out now as well. So go go get your hands on them and read them! You won't be disappointed. Granted I haven't read the second book yet but I'm sure it's just as great as the first.

Francey

2008-06-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

Francey by Martin Dubow
I give it 5 out of 5 stars!

"At its heart, a love story or three, Francey is moreover a tale of mystery, betrayal, murder, and sorrow."

Francey is a mature beyond her years sixth grader who has an incredibly close bond to her father Rick. Rick is a fabulously known architect who has recently been asked to build a manor for Lord Crimson who is a rich and sorrowful member of English royalty. But Rick is not to build just any manor. He has been asked to build a manor that imitates a seventeenth century manor that keeps showing up in Lord Crimson's dreams that practically haunt him every day. Meanwhile, Francey is having these horrible nightmares that somehow turn out to be memories.

It turns out that Francey has taken on the persona of Susan Sebastian, a seventeenth century noblewoman. And Francey's nightmares are about her lover, Edward Delaney who was murdered because of their love. Francey also takes on one of Susan Sebastian's amazing attributes; her ability to draw amazingly well. But if Francey's nightmares continue at the force with which they are coming on something terrible is bound to happen. With the help of Lizzie (Francey's teacher) and Alex (Lizzie's younger brother) will Rick be able to save Francey in time?

Oh my goodness, this book was amazing! It was a pretty quick read but great just the same. It covered everything readers love; mystery, love, betrayal, murder. Not to mention the fact that the characters themselves were amazing. Rick and Francey's relationship was just perfect for this book along with Lizzie and Alex's relationship as well. Francey was such a strong and loveable character from the beginning. I absolutely adored her. I loved all the suspense and mystery in this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves reading about the seventeenth century and artistry. And of course anyone who loves a great love story. I can't wait for Martin's next book!

Contest!

2008-06-13T21:00:00.000-07:00

Enter to win a copy of Undone by Brooke Taylor at Midnight Twilight. All you have to do is leave a comment. So hurry up and go enter already! The contest ends on June 29th. =)

Lullaby

2008-06-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

Lullaby by Jane Orcutt
I give it 4 out of 5 stars

Merrilee Hunter is 15 years old and pregnant. Nora Rey is happily married to Steven. Their marriage is only missing one thing, a baby. For years they have tried everything to conceive but nothing has worked. Even adoption hasn't seemed to work for them seeing as they're an older couple. Everything changes for them when they get a call from the adoption agency saying that they have been chosen to be parents.

After meeting Merrilee for the first time Nora becomes attached to her, and not just because she is carrying her and Steven's baby. While Merrilee doesn't offer to say much about her life before she met Nora and Steven Nora just knows that Merrilee is a wonderful girl who deserves to be loved for always. The more time that Merrilee spends with Nora and Steven the closer they get until one day something awful happens...

I randomly checked out this book from the library a while back. I'm definitely glad that I did. This book was good, not to mention heart-wrenching. Merrilee was such a sweet girl, you just couldn't help but to love her. The ending definitely surprised me. I didn't really ever see it coming. This book was relatively short, I finished it within one day. But that didn't make it any less good. I was expecting a bit more out of this book once I started reading it, but it was still a great read.

The Host

2008-06-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

The Host by Stephenie Meyer
I give it 5 out of 5 stars!

Earth has been invaded by aliens, these small little silvery souls who need a host to survive. The hosts on the planet Earth are us, the humans. The whole planet is being taken over by these small creatures living inside human bodies. One of the aliens named Wanderer is living inside Melanie Stryder's body. But there is one big problem, Melanie refuses to leave her body. Wanderer is swept up in all of Melanie's emotions and memories, not to mention all of her rude comments.

Soon Melanie has her on this long and dangerous trip to go find what is left of her family and the man that she loves, Jared. Once Wanderer finds who Melanie is looking for a bunch of things start to happen, not all of them too great. But with Melanie's help and the help of the others with them Wanderer starts to learn what being human is all about.

I absolutely loved this book. The first 100 pages or so were a bit slow, but the book quickly changes after that. There was a point where I just didn't want to put it down. All of the characters have strong personalities and the writing is just amazing. Stephenie Meyer really is a genius. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes the Twilight series. It's a great read.