Catching Up

Well, readers, it has certainly been a while. I have been so wrapped up in being in my school's production of Footloose this year that I have barely had time to read, let alone let all of you know about it. But I'm bringing that to an end. Today, because I have been gone so long, I am just giving you a quick review of the books I have read since I last blogged. The last book I mentioned reading was the last book in the Artemis Fowl series, so let's start there.

The Last Guardian (Artemis Fowl #8) by Eoin Colfer                                         3.5/5

• This was the final book in the series that I have really grown up with. I have loved it since I was 8-years-old. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed, and a little angry with the ending. The rest was still the great Artemis Fowl writing that I have come to adore! I just hate how the whole series ended.

Nevermore (Maxiumum Ride #8) by James Patterson                                         1/5

• This was the final book in the Maximum Ride series. It was absolutely horrible. If I could smack James Patterson in the face right now, I would do it. The writing has just gotten worse and worse as the series progressed, and I hate it when an author is too afraid to do the smart thing and just kill off a character or two. We say we hate them, but finding stupid ways to keep characters alive just makes me hate a book more. Also, the emotion and stressful situations were SO forced. It hurt me, as a writer, to read them. It is a good thing this was a library book, or I would have thrown it at the wall once I had finished.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne                                                         4/5

• I actually loved this book. We read it in my English class this year. I'm worried that my love for certain classics is going to get me a big "I told you so!" from a lot of sources, but I don't really care. I thought the writing was easy to understand, and beautiful to read. The descriptions were beautiful and I actually really liked the ending. If all you read is fantasy and Sci-Fi, you may not love this book. But I thought I was one of those people and I absolutely devoured the whole thing.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles #1) by Mary E. Pearson     4/5

• This book was brilliant. It is a story told in the future, but you only realize that the world is futuristic subtly. The writing is controlled, not overloading you with information or shouting from the rooftops that, "this takes place in a time far away!" I loved the character of Jenna Fox. Her perspective is written beautifully, and I love her poetry. I felt so involved with the story as a whole. And now I just found out that there are more books about her? Sign me up!

Flyte (Septimus Heap #2) by Angie Sage                                                            3/5

• Ah, Septimus Heap. My weakness. I know it is a children's book, but I can't seem to care. I know the writing isn't very good. I know the characters are unrealistic, and the action is silly. I, on multiple occasions, wanted to slap a few of the adult characters for being such bumbling idiots. And yet, I can't wait to read book 3. This book is just a call back to my childhood fantasy books. It is silly and not well written, but I can't help but enjoy them much more than I should.

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer                                                                      3.5/5

• This book was... interesting. To say the least. I was missing Artemis Fowl a bit too much, so I decided to sink my teeth into a new Eoin Colfer book. Well, points for originality, Eoin! The book was fairly well written, I will say that. The lead character was believable, and likable too, which made him fun to read about. Actually, I really liked all the characters. This is just a book for people much younger than myself, I think. It was too simplistic for me, but it was a well-written simplicity. Give it to your younger siblings, or children, or nieces, or nephews. I'm sure they will love a good "ghost" story that isn't scary at all.

FEAR (GONE #5) by Michael Grant                                                                        4.5/5

• I WANT BOOK SIX NOW! I devoured this book in about a day. Yes, a day. I don't know how Michael Grant does it, but he can write to thrill. I can't put these books down. This is a legitimate problem for me, because the books tend to be pretty disturbing, so they keep me up at night, but I don't care. For all of you reading the series, we finally get a look outside! Many chapters in the book are about Connie Temple, and others outside the dome. This book is the perfect lead in to the final book in the series, LIGHT, which will come out sometime next year.

Burn by Ted Dekker                                                                                             4/5

• Ted Dekker, I love him too much. After reading the Circle books and Thr3e, he had me in the palm of his hand. And this book just tightened his grip. It was interesting and different. I really liked all of the characters, even the ones you love to hate just a little bit, or love to hate quite a lot. I loved the mystery of the whole book (as usual, Ted), and I loved the thrill of it (again, as usual). Another book that kept me up all night in suspense.

Unwholly (Unwind #2) by Neal Shusterman                                                       4.5/5

• Finally, book two. And it was no let down, I assure you. I read this over last weekend in preparation to meet the author himself. He came down to our school last week and it was awesome to hear him speak about all of his books. Let me tell you, I added a few more of his books to my To-Read list. But Unwholly, what a perfect sequel. It gave me exactly what I wanted: a look at what my favorite characters from book one have been up to, and a few new characters to sink my teeth into. The clashing personalities of Lev with a new character are great, and I adore reading about Connor. I just love him too much. Plus, a much much new character, Cam, is a great addition to the group. I can't wait to read more about him in book three.

Well, that is it! I would like to suggest you go out and get any book by Neal Shusterman or Ted Dekker, and please, PLEASE start reading the GONE books if you haven't started them already. You won't regret it. And now, I'm signing off. Here's hoping it won't take me another two months before I write again!

Updates

Hello, readers! Who is ready for book/movie updates? Some of these, I know, are a little behind, but hey, what are you going to do? My life as a senior has not been kind to my blogging life. But I am here! And I am ready to let you in on all that is happening, so let's get going.

1. Veronica Roth (author of Divergent) recently released that Lionsgate has been set for release in March of 2014. Before you get overly excited, I will add that she also said to remain calm, because all is not set in stone! We have a long, long, long way to go before we get to see Tris and Four on the big screen. I'm just going to tell you right now, I'm ignoring Veronica on this one. I'm just to excited for Divergent!
2. Another thing in Veronica Roth news: If any of you have read (and obviously loved) Divergent and Insurgent, then there is a new book out there for you! Free Four: Tobias Tells the Story was relased a while ago. It is very VERY short, but retells the knife-throwing scene from Tris's initiation from Tobias's point of view. Unfortunately, it is not going to be relased in any sort of paper form, as it is so short. But is it only $0.99 to buy an ereader copy. If you click this link, you will be taken to Veronica's post about the ebook. She has a link on that site to purchase the book, if you are so inclined. Alright, moving away from (the amazing) Veronica Roth.
3. You may or may not have heard about this book yet, but I am jumping on it now. The book is Program 13 by Nicole Sobon. Until I heard about this book, I had never even heard of Nicole Sobon, but I am beyond excited for this book. If you check the Coming Soon page (I hope you do, that's why I made one) then you will know that this book was released on August 31st. I'm getting my hands on a copy as soon as possible, and I hope you do to. If you get to the book before me, please tell me how it is!
4. In my horribly behind haze, I have just discovered that it is, in fact, near the end of September. Which means that I missed the release of a book I have been excited about for a year! Shadows, sequel to Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick, was released on September 11th! If any of you haven't read Ashes yet, please read it. It is one of the best books I read last year (and also one of the creepiest...) and I can't wait to read book 2.
5. This isn't as much an announcement as a stray thought for you to muse on along with me. For those of you who have read Ashes (the cool people), have you heard of a new show on NBC this year called Revolution? I am noticing some similarities in the beginning of the plot. The power going out everywhere, all at once, for every kind of electronic? That may be where the similarities end, but I'm not sure. How similar do you think they are? Ok, sorry for the distraction. Back on track.
6. New series to get excied about now, people! If any of you have read The Mortal Instruments books, then prepare to be excited... and then enfuriated by release dates so far away. If your only experience with Cassandra Clare is through old fan fiction, or just through the Infernal Devices books, then go pick up a copy of City of Bones, I promise you will love it. Anyway, to the people who have already read the amazing books, Cassandra Clare is writing a new series called The Dark Artifacts, which is (thankfully) still in the world of Shadowhunters. It will have new romances that can never happen, and new demons to kill. Book one, Last Midnight, won't be released until 2015, with the next two to be released in 2016 and 2017. That's right, those are the correct years. And just because I am steamed up, I will also add that City of Heavenly Fire, book 6 in our much-loved Mortal Instruments series, will not be released until 2014! Yup, if you though you only had a few more months to wait, you were WRONG. I'll just go sob into my pillow now.
7. To add a new book onto the scene, a brand new series called The EVER trilogy is beginning October 1st, with book 1, Ever. This series is by Jessa Russo, and it looks like it is her first book. So go out and support her this October because the book looks fantastic. To read more about it, plus get reviews from the people go got early releases, CLICK HERE
8. In news that I, at least, am very excited about, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is now out in a theater near you. The commercials just look incredible, and I have been excited about this movie all summer. So far, reviews are looking good. If you have seen it, please tell me how it is!
9. Finally, in more news about Cassandra Clare (I just can't help it), she is writing a new series with Holly Black called the Magisterium series. Book 1, The Iron Trial, will be released somtime in 2014. So if you were wondering why Cassandra Clare's books are taking so long to be released (you know that I have) then this is why: she is writing so many books even I can't keep track!

Happy reading, one and all! Check the announcements page for updates on movies and other news. Also, if you have read a book and you think I'll like it, please comment. I want to know what you are reading now. Oh, and please tell your friends who love to read about my blog. Lets get enough people reading that I can actually start doing giveaways like I want to!

Dystopian August

Have any of you been doing some Cornelia Funke reading? I certainly hope so! Just last week I passed one of my favorites, Inkheart, on to my aunt. I'll let you know if she loved it as much as I did. But meanwhile, I thought I would let you know that I have been reading like crazy for the past month. I reread the entire Harry Potter series, and loved it even more the second time around. I love reading books over again to catch things the author put in there. J.K. Rowling is a genius, and it is amazing how much she put into her early books that allude to things you don't learn until book 7. I also finished the Artemis Fowl series, which was great, but kind of sad because it was like finishing up part of my childhood. I've been reading those books since I was 8-years-old, and it was hard to be done. I will admit, I wasn't totally happy with the ending. Maybe others will feel differently. Please let me know if YOU did.
And now, onto reviewing a couple of books I've finished recently. Delirium by Lauren Oliver and Partials by Dan Wells. I am on kind of a dystopian kick right now, as I am reading Brave New Worlds, a collection of short dystopian stories written over many years. Delirium is a story of love - or the lack of it. In the world of Delirium, it has been discovered that love is a disease! It must be cured, or people could be driven to insanity and eventually death. At age 18, you are cured of love. Lena has always believed in the cure, but now she isn't so sure. In fact, she would rather be infected and eventually die than be without the feeling that love has set alight inside of her.
I adored this book. For me, it was more than dystopian. It was a love story. It was a story of discovering things you never thought possible, and of learning things you never thought were possible. Lena was a perfect character because of how much she believed. It made it more believable to hear from her head what it was like to fade away from all you have ever known.

Rating: 4.5/5

The second book of the day is Partials, by Dan Wells. Now, you should know right now, I adore Dan Wells. I attended a teen writers conference, and him and his brother taught a session and it was hilarious! And then I got to go to a release for his new book, The Hollow City and get all of my books signed by him. Which means that my copy of Partials (plus The Hollow City, and books 1 and 2 of the John Wayne Cleaver books) are signed by the man himself. Ok, I have raved enough. But seriously, I love Dan Wells. If you get the chance to meet him, MEET HIM! Back on track, Cecilia....

(Here's a picture of me and my Dan Wells Books!)

 

Partials is also a dystopian novel, also with a twist I haven't seen before. In the future, warriors were created called Partials, who were organic beings identical to humans. But, because they weren't actually human (seriously, when are people going to learn their lesson when it comes to robots?), they turned against their human creators and leave the population completely decimated. And even worse, no children have been born in the decade that has passed since the Partial Wars. Every woman is required to get pregnant as quickly as possible once they turn 18, and now Kira's friend is pregnant. It is up to Kira to find a cure for her friend, before it is too late for her child.
It took a long time for me to get into this book. I didn't feel connected to the characters which left me putting the book down frequently. In fact, I would say that it wasn't until about halfway through the book that I really started getting invested in Kira's future. As soon as I found a way to care, though, I cared! The book attacked me after that, and I read the rest all in one night. Kira was a fairly good narrator, but I felt like I was missing a few things that would have helped me to know her and care about her more. Overall, I did end up liking the book, and I am looking forward to reading future books. I would recommend it, but I would warn you that it won't start as fast as books like The Hunger Games do.


Rating: 3.5/5

Author Spotlight - Cornelia Funke

In my last (and most popular) post, I gave you guys a list of my favorite authors and books. I thought that I would spend a little more time on some of my favorite authors to really give you the full view of their work. First up, my very first favorite author. This was the author I first named as a favorite when I was younger, but has really held up over the years: Cornelia Funke.Cornelia Funke is a German author who writes fantasy books. Her books are the kind of books that make me want to learn German because if her books are so beautiful when they are translated, I can't imagine how beautiful they must be when read in their original language. She creates these amazing new worlds that I always love falling into. Ever world she creates is totally different, but they are all obviously very carefully constructed. The first book I read by Cornelia Funke was Inkheart.
Inkheart is story about a girl named Meggie, who has grown up without a mother. She lives in a world of books, as her father, Mo, is a bookbinder. They live in a house that has books stacked up to the ceiling in every room. I adore this book, it is still one of my very favorites and I love to return to it every couple of years. The sequels are just as amazing, if not better. Inkdeath is one of the best finales I've ever read in a series. Beautiful finish. These books are for those who love to read, along with those who just want a book that was put together with the utmost care.

   

Inkheart series: 5/5

The next book I read by this author was Dragon Rider. This book is intended for younger audiences than Inkheart was, but it is also a very large book. I think this just shows that Cornelia Funke doesn't underestimate kids. They can read big books, no matter how young they are. I adore Dragon Rider. The world she creates fascinates me, and I fell in love with every single character. I have read this book more times than I can count.

Dragon Rider: 4.5/5

As I continued on my list, I read The Thief Lord. This book takes place in Venice, Italy in the past. It is about a group of orphan boys who follow their brave leader, Scipio. As I was reading the book, I kept thinking that it was odd that Cornelia had written this book that wasn't fantasy, and was actually all very much possible, but she sprung that element of magic on me before I knew what was happening. And the fact that the book didn't all take place in a magical world, but still had that magic in it, was a really nice change.
The Thief Lord: 4.5/5           
(I plan taking this book with me to read if I ever see Venice)

These are just the most highly rated of Cornelia Funke's books. She has also written a children's series called Ghosthunters, a couple of stand-alone books called When Santa Fell to Earth and Igraine the Brave, and one of my favorite fairy tale retellings, Reckless. I am eagerly anticipating a book 2 to go along with Reckless, which will be called Restless. I can't wait! I hope you will read some of these amazing books and that you too will come to see how beautiful Cornelia Funke's books are. Happy Reading!

     

 

“Stories never really end...even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page.” 

-Cornelia Funke, Inkspell

My Absolute Favorites

Since my last lists have been the most popular of all of my posts, I thought I would create another one. I thought I would try something a little different this time, though. Instead of giving you a list of my favorite books, I am going to give you a list of my favorite authors, and my favorite books by those authors, plus the list of budding authors I could see on my favorites list in the future. These authors either haven't written enough books to make a a real decision, or I haven't read enough of their books to decide.

Favorite Authors:

1. J. K. Rowling
2. Cornelia Funke
3. Shannon Hale
4. James Dashner
5. Nancy Farmer
6. Ted Dekker
7. Christopher Paolini
8. Gail Carson Levine
9. Alex Flinn
10. C. S. Lewis

Potential Favorites:

1. Suzanne Collins
2. Kristen Cashore
3. K. L. Fogg
4. Ilsa J. Bick
5. Veronica Roth
6. Diane Setterfield
7. Dan Wells
8. Obert Skye
9. Michael Grant - for the Gone books (Lies is my least favorite, but all great besides that)
10. James Patterson - The Maximum Ride books (getting worse and worse, unfortunately)
11. Scott Westerfeld - The Uglies books (All great, but I didn't love the last 2 Midnighters books)
12. Lois Lowry
13. Ally Condie
14. Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice (absolutely amazing)
15. Moira Young - Blood Red Road (amazing, book 2 to come out soon)
16. Cassandra Clare

Favorite Books:

1. The Harry Potter series (yes, all 7 books. I can't pick favorites out of those) - J.K. Rowling
2. The Inheritance Cycle (book 3, Brisingr, is probably my favorite) - Christopher Paolini
3. The Books of Bayern (I adore book 2, Enna Burning) - Shannon Hale
4. The Inkheart series (can't pick a favorite!) - Cornelia Funke
5. Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine
6. The Thief Lord - Cornelia Funke
7. Dragon Rider - Cornelia Funke
8. The Hunger Games (I adore all 3, even Mockingjay) - Suzanne Collins
9. The Circle books (That is Black, Red, White and Green) - Ted Dekker
10. The Giver - Lois Lowry
11. The Serpent Tide (I don't love books 2 or 3) - K.L. Fogg
12. Ashes - Ilsa J. Bick
13. The Maze Runner series (can't pick favorite) - James Dashner
14. The 13th Reality series (I just want book 4!) - James Dashner
15. The House of the Scorpion - Nancy Farmer
16. The Sea of Trolls (check out the amazing audio book) - Nancy Farmer
17. Book of a Thousand Days - Shannon Hale
18. Beastly - Alex Flinn
19. The Chronicles of Narnia (If I threw a dart, probably Dawn Treader and Last Battle are my favorites) - C.S. Lewis
20. The Matched Books (Crossed is better than Matched) - Ally Condie
21. The Graceling Realm books (Graceling is my favorite) - Kristin Cashore
22. The Mortal Instruments (I think book 4 is the low point, all the rest are amazing) - Cassandra Clare
23. The Thirteenth Tale (as if I haven't raved about that book enough) - Diane Setterfield
24. The Leven Thumps books (can't pick a favorite) - Obert Skye
25. The John Cleaver books (I like the 2 that I have read, still need book 3) - Dan Wells

Well, I just hope I haven't overwhelmed you. Please give me feedback on my posts so far so that I can hopefully write the things that YOU, the reader, want to read about. Also, suggest books you love. Happy reading!

4-Part June Wrap-Up

Happy summer, readers! I have been reading like mad all summer, and I have actually gone down to only 2 behind in my goal, but I went from 7 behind to 2 behind in one week, so I know I will catch up. I finished reading Bitterblue, the whole Green Mile series, The Devil Wears Prada, Midnight in Austenland, Insurgent, The Replacement, Grammar Snobs are Great Big Meanies, The Dangerous Days of Daniel X, Bruiser, and, finally, I am NOT a Serial Killer. Wew, I have been doing nothing but reading this summer. I am not going to summarize these books, I will just let you know how the writing is and the overall opinion I had of the book.

Bitterblue, book #3 in the Graceling Realm, by Kristin Cashore. Fantastic writing, though I think it took a while to get going. I think I like the first 2 books more, but book 3 was still amazing. It was also nice to read about someone in the world of Gracelings who wasn't a Graceling, nice new view on things. I highly recommend the series. Book 1 is called Graceling

Rating: 4.5/5








Green Mile books by Stephen King. In order: The Two Dead Girls, The Mouse on the Mile, Coffey's Hands, The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix, The Night Journey, and Coffey on the Mile. These books get better as they go along, I promise. The first 3 are good, but I love the last 3 more. The final book is my favorite. Warning: some language. This is Stephen King, after all.

Rating (average): 4/5



The Devil Wears Prada Lauren Weisenberger. If you have seen the movie, this is nothing like that. Names are the same, and I think some characters have the same personalities as described in the book, but that is where the similarites end. I didn't like this book. I didn't sympathize with the main character, but I was still mad at other characters for treating dear old Andy the way they did. So, overall, I hated all of the characters. And if you want me to like a book, give me a reason to empathize with the main character at the very least. Warning: again, bad language.

Rating: 2/5




Last of all for today, The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff. Ok, this book kept leaving me feeling.... empty. I just kept feeling like I was reading a good book, but I wasn't reading it like it was a good book. The characters were nice, but they didn't feel real. The story wasn't all there. Just overall, it seemed like this book should be good, but it didn't quite feel right. Warning: some bad language in this book. It is no Stephen King, but there IS language. You have been warned.

Rating: 3/5

That's a Classic!

Alrighty, I haven't written in a very long time. I feel like that is how I start every post, but I just always end up having big gaps between posts! I have been reading like a crazy person because I am trying to catch up with my goal of 100 books in 1 year on goodreads. I am still 7 books behind... but I know I can do it this year! I finished the first 5 books of The Green Mile so I only need to read one more. I read the first book of Septimus Heap, Magyk. I finished Pride and Prejudice. Last night I finished City of Lost Souls (WOW!). Oh my gosh, still so much to read. I'm in the middle of Bitterblue, book 3 in the Graceling Realm series, and I am reading Green Mile: Coffey On The Mile (part 6) and finally, I started reading The Devil Wears Prada. We'll see how that turns out.
I'll try to do a couple of quick reviews. I assume you all know the story of Pride and Prejudice, wirtten by Jane Austen? Well, I had never actually read it. I kept avoiding it and avoiding it because I thought it was too hard. I read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith instead and I loved it! But finally for English this year I decided I would muddle through it, if only to say that I had.
Oh wow, I loved it. Somehow I had been totally oblivious to that amazing element of romance (I know, only by being an idiot or just resistant to reading the book could do that to me). I was caught up in all of it, and I was reading avidly every night, wanting to know if Darcy and Elizabeth could make it work, even when I knew how it ended! And I got all girl-who-is-watching-the-end-of-a-romantic-comedy giddy about the last few chapters. I felt like melting when it got romantic. And after a while, I hardly noticed the writing style and I understood it all perfectly. This is truly a classic that I will always love.


Rating: 4/5
Also, I read Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. This one was A LOT harder to get through than Pride and Prejudice, but there was a reason I was able to get through it: have any of you seen the movie She's the Man? Well, that is the story of Twelfth Night. Twin brother and sister get split up, sister dresses up as a boy, meets the Duke as his serving boy, Duke goes after the super cute Olivia, twin sister (Viola) gets mega jealous as she has fallen in love with the Duke, everything goes to crap. Or something like that. I love the movie, so I decided to read the play, and let me tell you, my advanced knowledge of Twelfth Night helped me by a million percent to understand the play. I'm not saying it all suddenly came to me like Shakespeare was speaking like a 21st century teenager, but I found myself understanding a lot more.
Another big help was reading the full breakdown of the play on Shmoop.com and I related back to it every now and then if I got lost. I have decided I can really enjoy reading Shakespeare, so long as I have lots of access to things that help me to understand it! Anyway, I really loved this classic too!


Rating: 4/5

Clear Skyes

Just a reminder to everyone, go get on the waiting list for City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare! It came out at the beginning of the month and the waiting list at my local library, at least, is already very long. For those of you who haven't started the Mortal Instruments series yet, I highly recommend it. I won't say that it is a coming classic, like I believe Harry Potter to be, but it is still a really goo series. Very fast paced and fun. Onto our book, Pillage by Obert Skye. Now many of you might ask why his name sounds familiar. I'll tell you: because he wrote Leven Thumps! Pillage is about a boy who has to move in with his uncle after his mother's death. Beck (the boy) thinks his uncle is extremely strange and the two don't exactly hit if off, but after a bit of time, an odd bit of info comes into the light. Beck's family has a curse. A curse that allows members of his family to make plants grow on command and, this is the weirdest part, make dragon eggs hatch!
OK, I really love the Leven Thumps books. I read them super quickly and I gave a copy of the first book to my little sister to read just a few months ago. This high opinion of Obert Skye, plus the very cool book cover, made me think that Pillage might be even better. I mean, Leven Thumps is great, but this book has dragons! Unfortunately, I was very let down. This book was not that good. Honestly, it was far too short for the story that Skye was trying to write. The book honestly felt forced, and I wanted way more. Sorry, Pillage, but you just don't measure up to the Leven Thumps standard.

Rating: 2/5

Of New Books and Old

Hey there, readers. I can't believe it is already May 6th! Time is just flying by. I am so sad I wasn't here to update you on the fact that Insurgent by Veronica Roth and Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore both came out on Monday! I have been excited for both of them for so long now and I am dying to get my hands on a copy of both of them. Fantasy readers, I beg you to go read book one by Kristin Cashore, Graceling. It will blow your mind. It was the first adult fantasy book to really hold my attention. Also, I don't think I have forgotten to mention to my dytopian-loving readers that Divergent is worth your while. So please go to your local library or go buy a copy of these books, because they are all very very good. Also, The City of Lost Souls, book #5 in the Mortal Instruments is coming very soon. I am talking 2 days away, people. And since I am on a very very long waiting list, those of you who get your hands on it before me, please let me know if I have to read the rest of the Infernal Devices books before I read this one! 

OK, now onto the book that I actually have read. The school year is finally finishing up, which means that I am just about done with school required reading for a few months. Usually the books we have to read in school just drive me insane, but I finally got my hands on a classic that I really enjoyed: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This book follows George and Lennie, men who travel and work together to scrounge up whatever money they can in the hope of someday having some land of their own. But Lennie can be trouble. George says he just isn't bright, but we as future readers know it is more than that. Lennie doesn't understand most things and even as old as he is, his only real joy is in touching things that are soft. Like rabbits, or the fabric of a nice dress. But sometimes his limited understanding can get him and George into a lot of trouble.

This book just blew my mind. It was really nicely written, and it was really short so it didn't take me that much time at all to read. The characters didn't have a lot of time to be developed, and yet I understood them perfectly. I understood their motivations and feelings and felt like I was right there in the book with them. I understood George's anger at Lennie and I wanted to hug Lennie for just always trying to make it better when he knew he had done something wrong again. This is a beautifully written book, and it should be read by all children so that they can have an understanding of the value of some of these classics. This is one of the good ones. 

Rating: 4/5

The Westing Game

Hey, two days in a row. It is really a miracle! Still no word on info from our good friend Neal Shusterman. I'm really hoping I'll be able to figure it out soon. But if not, don't worry. I will still review Unwind very soon. And if you have already read Unwind, check out the Coming Soon page for the date for the sequel, Unwholly, which I am very much looking forward to. Also, I hope everyone is excited for the release of Insurgent which comes out so very soon! I can't wait to get my hands on a copy. Divergent was amazing!
Anyway, as promised, here is my review for The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. This is a mystery, so I won't summerize too much. In fact, I am just going to quote the blurb from Goodreads.com because it says exactly enough, in my opinion: "When an eccentric millionaire dies mysteriously, sixteen very unlikely people are gathered together for the reading of the will...and what a will it is!" 
This is one of my favorite mysteries. I grew up reading Nancy Drew and this is just the perfect book to read if you enjoyed those, and even if you didn't. It is a perfect mystery, one of the few I couldn't figure out until the end when Ellen Raskin finally revealed the truth! It says in the introduction of the copy I read that Ellen Raskin didn't plan out how this book would turn out because she thought that was no fun. She wanted to be just as surprised as the reader. This astounds me even more because this book has a complex mystery I would have had a hard time writing, even if I had known how it was going to end.

This book is read by many younger audiences and adored, so be warned, this isn't Agatha Christie mystery writing. You won't have to read the book twice to understand and enjoy it - which was my experience with Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. Good book, by the way. This book is still simple enough to be read by younger children but complex enough and fun and creative enough to be enjoyed by generations. And by the way, people, I would love to have this book on my shelf. My birthday is only, well, 11 months away.... But Christmas is coming up! Actually that is still 9 months away.... Well, hopefully I can have my own copy someday. Read it!

Rating: 4/5

Been A While

Oh wow, I haven't posted in a while. I forgot to even mention that I was going to meet an author I particularly admire, Neal Shusterman who wrote the Everlost books and Unwind, to name the ones that I have read. I'm really hoping to read a few of his other books because they all sound amazing. I wanted to review his book Unwind as well as include a few quotes from the interview we got (over Skype, not in person) but I am still waiting on permission for that. Any who, I'm going to try to get through as many books as possible to catch up.Firstly, to go along with my post on fairy tale retellings, I want to quickly go over a couple of books that I put on my "to-read" list. Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde is the first. This book is small and simple, in fact in only took me about 2 hours to read the book. It is just a collection of 8 short stories, all different retellings of Little Red Riding Hood. Each story is told from a different perspective, and each brings a little more to the story then we have ever heard before. If you have seen the movie Hoodwinked, this is your kind of book.
The Author's Note at the beginning of the book had me rolling on the floor in tears it was so funny, and all of my friends reacted the same exact way when they read it. Unfortunately, the author's note was so well written and hilarious it lessened the greatness of the rest of the book. I enjoyed the first 5 stories, but I wasn't knocked off my feet. The real magic didn't come back until the last 3 stories, which were all fantastic. They were clever and fun and I'm so glad to have read those views of the story. Really fun, but it doesn't live up to the wonderful promise of the author's note.

Rating: 3/5


Next comes Wild Orchid, A Retelling of "The Ballad of Mulan" by Cameron Dokey, part of the Once Upon A Time series. If you love the movie Mulan, warning, this is very very different. But I adored it! It still wasn't a particularly well-written book, but it was better than the other Once Upon A Time books that I have read. Especially the ones from Cameron Dokey. I will warn you that the story line that makes the story, Mulan heading to war in her father's place, is a long time coming. This story is a lot of exposition, because the beginning of Mulan's story is very different from the Disney movie. It is much more sad.
I read this in no time at all because, again, it is just a short book. A lot of retellings are (except for East by Edith Pattou, which is just a beautiful book) very short. But this book had a lot of heart. I connected with the characters so much because of this struggle that doesn't exist in the story I have known growing up. I really loved this book, but I will warn you, I cried on multiple occasions. Then again, I am a crier, so there's that. Hope you enjoy!


Rating: 4/5



P.S. Look forward to my reviews on Unwind by Neal Shusterman and The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. Both great books which I really meant to review sooner....

Fairy Tales

Because yesterday's post was so successful, I am going to go one more day without a review. Today I am going to list my favorite Fairy Tales! Well, sort of. Fairy Tale re-tellings, as I said in my review titled Once Upon A Time, have become really really popular lately. And that isn't just limited to the book world! But for now, I will only list the BOOKS that are fairy tale retellings, those that I love and those that I have heard were great! The link above will go to my review of numbers 3 and 14 on the list below. Remember, this is just retellings, not fantasy, so I will maybe write my favorite fantasy later in the year. Oh, and be sure to get your hands on Grimms Fairy Tales, because those stories are the ones that started it all.

Favorite Re-Tellings

1. Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine (just one of my all time favorite books)
2. Belle, A Retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" - Cameron Dokey
3. Golden, A Retelling of "Rapunzel" - Cameron Dokey (Review
4. Just Ella - Margaret Peterson Haddix
5. The Goose Girl (Books of Bayern #1) - Shannon Hale
6. East - Edith Pattou
7. A Kiss in Time - Alex Flinn
8. Beastly - Alex Flinn (my favorite of the three companion novels, but all of them are very good)
9. Cloaked - Alex Flinn
10. The Looking Glass Wars - Frank Beddor
11. Reckless - Cornelia Funke (I don't think this counts, but it does contain a lot of much darker takes on some fairy tales. Plus, I had to include one Cornelia Funke book on this list)
12. Peter and the Starcatchers - Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry (More of an origin story than a retelling, but these books are all great)
13. Fairest - Gail Carson Levine
14. Snow, A Retelling of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" - Tracy Lynn
15. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales - Jon Skiezka (These are just illustrated kids books, but they are very fun and started me on the track of retellings when I was just a kid)

Retellings I've Heard Are Good

1. Beauty - Robin McKinley
2. Princess of the Midnight Ball - Jessica Day George (check out her Dragon Slippers books, very fun)
3. Briar Rose, A Novel of the Fairy Tale Series - Jane Yolen
4. The Storyteller's Daughter, A Retelling of "The Arabian Nights" - Cameron Dokey
5. The Frog Princess - E.D. Baker (This sounds quite similar to the movie Princess and the Frog, but since it came out first, I will give it the benefit of the doubt)
6. Before Midnight, A Retelling of "Cinderella" - Cameron Dokey
7. Cinderellis and the Glass Hill - Gail Carson Levine
8. Beast - Donna Jo Napoli
9. Midnight Pearls, A Retelling of "The Little Mermaid" - Debbie Viguié
10. The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold - Francesca Lia Block
11. The Night Dance, A Retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" - Suzanne Weyn
12. Sisters Red - Jackson Pearce
13. The Rumpelstiltskin Problem - Vivian Valde Veld (What a name)
14. Beauty Sleep, A Retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" - Cameron Dokey (Apparently this woman only writes retellings!)
15. Scarlet Moon, A Retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" - Debbie Viguié
16. Spirited, A Retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" - Nancy Holder (Yes, another Beauty and the Beast. It's very popular)
17. Water Song, A Retelling of "The Frog Prince" - Suzanne Weyn
18. The Crimson Thread, A Retelling of "Rumpelstiltskin" - Suzanne Weyn
19. The Wild Orchid, A Retelling of "The Ballad of Mulan" - Cameron Dokey
20. The Diamond Secret, A Retelling of "Anastasia" - Suzanne Weyn
21. The World Above, A Retelling of "Jack and the Beanstalk" - Cameron Dokey

Believe it or not, there are still many more. The books on these lists with the title of the book and then what story it is retelling are part of a set called the Once Upon A Time book. They are a group of books with a few different authors, all retellings of classic stories. I actually did not include ALL of the Once Upon A Time books! But beware, these Once Upon A Time books are quite... fluffy. They make you feel all warm inside, but they aren't exactly Newberry quality, if you know what I mean. I just thought I would warn you!
Hope you enjoy all of my Retelling suggestions, and feel free to make more if I left any of your favorites off of my list! I'm always excited to get more book ideas.

Lists

Ok, no review today. Instead, I'm going to give you a list of my favorite dystopian books, and the dystopian books I still have on my list to read. I will do my level best to review all of these dystopian books at some point, because they have all been great, but you have read them already, take a look at the coming soon page, because many of these books have sequels coming within the next couple of years.
Dystopian Favorites

1. The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
2. The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger - Lois Lowry
3. Matched, Crossed - Ally Condie
4. Uglies, Pretties, Specials - Scott Westerfeld
5. 1984 - George Orwell (Really didn't like this one, but it is the beginning of dystopian literature and everyone should probably read it to appreciate dystopian literature now. Warning: some mature content.)
6. The City of Ember, The People of Sparks, The Prophet of Yonwood, The Diamond of Darkhold - Jeanne DuPrau
7. The Long Walk - Stephen King (Check out my review Here)
8. Gone, Hunger, Lies, Plague - Michael Scott (not sure if this one counts, but it's still good. Review Here)
9. Blood Red Road - Moira Young
10. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
11. Divergent - Veronica Roth (Review Here)
12. Ashes - Ilsa J. Bick (Review Here)
13. The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm - Nancy Farmer
14. Among the Hidden - Margaret Peterson Haddix
15. The House of The Scorpion - Nancy Farmer (Review Here)
16. The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure - James Dashner (Maze Runner review Here)
17. Unwind - Neal Shusterman

Dystopian Books I've Heard are Great

1. Delirium - Lauren Oliver
2. Legend - Marie Lu
3. The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
4. Life as We Knew It - Susan Beth Pfeffer
5. Shatter Me -Tahereh Mafi
6. Under the Never Sky - Veronica Rossi
7. Enclave - Ann Aguirre
8. Incarnate - Jodi Meadows
9. The Forest of Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan
10. Across the Universe - Beth Revis
11. Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
12. Bumped - Meagan McCafferty
13. The Declaration - Gemma Malley
14. Feed - M. T. Anderson
15. Genesis - Bernard Beckett
16. The Sky Inside - Claire B. Dunkle
17. The Enemy - Charlie Higson (reading now)

Goodreads is down right now, so I think this is the complete list, but I might be missing one or two. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the ones I've already said are great, and please let me know if these ones on the second list are good or bad!

The DaVinci Code for Kids?

Some have nicknamed Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett The DaVinci Code for kids. I don't know that it applies. This book is about art, sure, and it has mystery, but I don't know that that alone qualifies it to be called The DaVinci Code for kids. I had better start at the beginning, because right now I am just ranting and you most likely have no idea what I am talking about. Maybe you do, but I doubt it. This isn't a super popular book... Sorry, ranting again. Let's start from where you might understand.Chasing Vermeer is about 2 fifth graders named Calder and Petra. They are in the same class, but don't know each other. Each kid is odd in their own way. Petra is obsessed with reading, and knows just about everything, and Calder has an obsession with pentagrams, shapes that fit together to form rectangles. Calder and Petra are suddenly brought together after an incident at a museum field trip. They discover their mutual love of art, love of their fantastic teacher, and love of little blue M&M's. This small connection is strengthened greatly when a painting by Vermeer is stolen in their home town en route to another museum. The thief has put clues in the newspaper, and apparently some people have received special letters with clues inside them to help locate the missing painting. Petra and Calder are on the hunt! With the help of Calder's pentagrams and a special book about art, can these kids solve a mystery no one else seems to be able to put together?
This book was... fine. It wasn't my favorite. The characters were nice enough, and I liked the idea of the story, and I even enjoyed solving a few puzzles throughout the book, but the problem was, the book was simply forgettable. It held no special charm, and it didn't catch my interest in any real way. Plus, books where the kids involved get off on crazy stunts that are utterly impossible and then get no consequences bother me. It always makes me want to yell, "Where are the parents in all of this?" Some of the lack of parental presence was explained, but I wasn't satisfied with it. Overall, it was a fine book, but it belongs nowhere near the nickname The DaVinci Code for kids.

Rating: 3/5

P.S. For those of you who don't know, the shapes that appear in the artwork on the front cover of this books are some of the shapes of pentagrams. Each pentagram represents a specific letter, which is actually a major plotpoint in this book. There should also be sequel, I believe, called The Wright Three.

Dust to Dust

I feel like I haven't written in forever! Mostly because everywhere I stayed whilst on vacation had no wifi, and so no blog. I did finish Crossed by Ally Condie, Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson (reviewed previously) and Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick while I was on the drive, but I'm not going to review Crossed or Crescendo except to say that Crossed was great and Crescendo was not so great. Becca Fitzpatrick isn't my favorite. I just started reading The Enemy by Charlie Higson. Might be good. I think that is all I wanted to cover, so now onto my book of the day.
Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick is book #1 in the Ashes trilogy. Book 2, Shadows, is coming out later this year. Ashes begins with a girl named Alex. She is hiking in the woods, trying to put the memories of her parents to rest, when all of a sudden a pulse hits the earth. The pulse kills every electronic device, knocks out all computerized systems, and kills millions of people. Soon Alex is on the run, trying to find others who survived the pulse. She forms a make-shift family with a small girl named Ellie, whose grandfather was killed by the pulse, and a young soldier named Tom. Together they cross the woods, in search of anyone. But the pulse appears to have done more than just kill. Kids are going mad, or something like it. Alex and Ellie come across a very gruesome display of just what this EMP (as Tom and Alex have named it) has done to the brains of many young people left. How can this family pulled together in a disaster make it through this world wracked with pain and destruction?
Ashes was really fantastic. I adored reading it, and couldn't put it down after I started it. The book was fast, smart, and horrifying. The idea that something as simple as an electromagnetic pulse could wipe out civilization as we know it is a little too real to feel safe as you read it. The characters were very well written and their pasts colliding was one of the better ways I have seen the people-brought-together-by-destruction theme that has been in books lately. Alex was a very complex character, and I felt like I knew her, but I was still in the dark enough to keep it interesting.
Oh, be forewarned, this book is not going to be OK for a few younger audiences. There were, I believe, 3 F-words very near the end of the book, along with some very very Gorey images. One near the very beginning was quit intense, and a little sickening, but it did add to the story. Overall, it was worth it. Very good book, and it's about time we saw the beginning of a dystopian disaster thriller. FINALLY a look at what caused the destruction!

Rating: 4.5/5

When "It's a Small World" Attacks

Over spring break, my family, as usual, is heading for Disneyland. We go every year, sometimes twice a year, and one year we went four times! But this year, in celebration of our annual/semi-annual 14-hour drive to the land of Disney, I decided to read a book about Disney. I have been wanting to read this biography of Walt Disney, but since that book is gigantic, I decided upon a much much easier book. Disney After Dark: The Kingdom Keepers #1 by Ridley Pearson. I really liked Peter and the Starcatchers, a collaboration between Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry, which is a prequel to Peter Pan. No, Dave Barry is not the actual author of Peter Pan. But it was a good book, and the second one was good too. I really will get to books three and four soon...
So, Disney After Dark. The story's main character is a thirteen-year-old boy named Finn, who has recently met fame. With new technology, Disney has created a system of young tour guides to lead you through Disneyworld that are completely holographic. Five children were chosen and their movements and scripts were recorded on a stage and then turned into an advanced, interactive hologram. Finn is learning the deal with the fame of being Disney's newest star when something strange happens. At night, when he falls asleep, he is transported into Disneyworld, after the park has closed. And even stranger, he is the holographic version of himself. An old imagineer, Wayne, who actually knew Walt Disney way back when, says that Finn and the other DHI's (Disney Host Interactives) need to all fall asleep at the same time and meet up in the park. Some dark magic is brewing, and Wayne thinks the characters in the park are behind it!
This sounded like such an amazing plot. I was upset that I hadn't thought of it myself! I went into this book with high hopes, but they weren't really met. The dialogue felt very forced, along with the emotion. The whole time I was reading the book, I felt like Ridley Pearson was writing what he thought the audience would think character's reactions would be, but he didn't really understand the characters himself. I did like the scene in It's a Small World, with all the little dolls attacking the kids, because I've always thought those little dolls were creepy, and I also loved the idea of being at Disneyworld after all of the lights were out. At the end I was a little confused, but I found out that the book has three other books, with a forth on the way, so I'm thinking it will all be explained.
Overall, I have to give Pearson props for keeping me reading. I read this book in one day, and I will pass it on to my younger sister, but I just don't think that it holds up once you are over a certain age. It just doesn't have the Disney magic I wanted. I wanted more characters! Maybe those will be in the other books... I will probably still read book two, because I have a hard time not finishing a series, but if the second is written as poorly as the first, I don't know if I will make it to book three. Oh! And while I was writing this review, I found out that Peter and the Starcatchers has a fifth book out! I really have some catching up to do.

Rating: 2.5/5

The Thirteenth Tale

Alright, as promised, here I am to review my recent read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. First, quickly, I would urge you to check out the announcements page. There is lots of stuff going on you should check out! Also, I am really enjoying Crossed and I just started reading Fast Food Nation for my English class. I'm really liking it so far, I hope it holds strong. OK, now that that is out of the way, we can begin.
The Thirteenth Tale is kind of shrouded in secrets so I'm going to try to summarize this in a way that makes sense but doesn't give anything away. Margaret Lea is a biographer who has grown up around her father in his antique book shop. She has been reading for her whole life and always gets lost in the stories. One night, when she returns to the shop, she finds a letter from world-famous author Vida Winter. Miss Winter is dying and she wants someone to record her life story in a biography, and she things Margaret is the one for the job. Margaret is entirely shocked. Not only has she never met the author, but she has not read a single one of Vida Winter's dozens of novels. For research purposes, Margaret retrieves an antique copy of Vida Winter's The Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation. She is captivated by the stories, and stays up all night reading them. But when she comes to the end of the book, she finds there are only 12 stories. Appropriately intrigued, Margaret agrees to go meet the dying author. Once at the house, Vida Winter takes Margaret on a journey through the dark secrets of her past. She tells Margaret of her days at the Angelfield estate, now long burnt to the ground. As Miss Winter continues though her story, Margaret carefully records the details, but she becomes more and more entangled in the story. In the end, both of these women must learn to face the ghosts and secrets of their past, the things that have haunted them their whole lives.
This book was simply marvelous. A friend gave me the book for my birthday and I kind of put it off for who knows why. Quotes all over the book say that lovers of books will love this book, and I most certainly fall into that category. When I did start reading it, I fell in love with both women's dark stories. The characters were so beautifully written, and Vida Winters chilling story felt so real and powerful. I would come out of the book in a daze, because I had fallen into the story so deeply I forgot anything else existed. I know that the next time I need to buy a book for a book-loving friend, this will be the one. I strongly recommend this thrilling and dazzling story, I know it is a book that will last though many generations.

Rating: 4.5/5

Happy Birthday

Unfortunately, I just don't have time for a book review today. I started reading Crossed, the sequel to Matched (because I'm putting off my homework reading) and I'm liking it way more than I liked the first book. But what I wanted to say was that my birthday was last week, on March 21st, and when I went to see how many people have been checking out my blog that day, I got a super awesome birthday surprise.

So thanks people of the USA! For my 3-21 birthday, I got a fun 321 from all y'all. Oh, that felt so awkward to spell... Anyway, thanks, more reviews to come!

Life

So I finished The Thirteenth Tale last night and it was absolutely incredible! I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed it. It wasn't blindingly fast-paced like The Hunger Games was, although there is nothing wrong with that, but it was one of those books that didn't have to have me on the edge of my seat for the entire book for me to want to keep reading. But I'm rambling. I will do a full review on that book in a couple of days, I just thought you should know that it was great. Now that I am done with that, I am resigned to finishing Pride and Prejudice, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, and Fast Food Nation. But I am going on a very long car ride this spring break so I should get a lot of them read and done.
Now for today's book, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass. I read this book a few years ago, actually, but even though it wasn't my favorite book, it kind of stuck with me. The book is about Jeremy Fink (obviously) who is going to turn 13 in a month. He is kind of an introverted kid, he collects "mutant candy" and if he can help it, he is never more than 4 blocks from home. His friend Lizzy is the exact opposite. She is ready to do anything at anytime, no matter what the consequences, just so long as it is an adventure. And she gets her wish when Jeremy receives a strange wooden box in the mail. A note that comes with the box says that inside is the meaning of life, but to open the box, you need all of the keys. If you try to open the box without the keys, the contents will be destroyed. Only one problem, how do you find all of the keys with no idea of where to start. Soon Jeremy and Lizzy start their amazing adventure to find the meaning of life, but when they start meeting strange people and going on strange trips all over the city, they start to think that maybe there is more than one way to find the meaning of life.

I enjoyed this book, though like I said before, it wasn't one of my favorites. The characters were nice, but I thought they needed more dimension than they had. I really enjoyed the ending, it was a good pay-off, but the rest of the book needed a little more editing before it went to print. I recommend it for kids about to go into junior high or kids already in junior high struggling with who they are and what they want to be. The ending really is inspiring, and it gave me a much better perspective on some parts of my life when I read it. I'm glad to have had it in my reading library.

Rating: 3.5/5

P.S. There is also a movie, which I just barely found out about. If anyone has seen it, please let me know how it is. But based on the IMDB page, not enough people saw it for it to even count as a movie. So I'm guessing it's not great.

The House of the Scorpion

So who has seen The Hunger Games? I saw the midnight premiere on Thursday and I actually loved it! I thought they did such an amazing job. For those of you who were worried about the PG-13 rating making it not bloody enough, I promise the scene at the cornucopia is plenty gruesome. It probably could have had more, but it was pretty realistic. And the actors were perfect. I loved all of them, and even though I am totally team Peeta, I wanted to see more Gale because the actor was fantastic. Well, my main point is that it was great.
Now, confession: I actually love Nancy Farmer. I have read quite a few of her books and I almost always adore them. So I figured I should talk about one of my favorites, The House of the Scorpion. This is a book about a boy named Matt. But things are not as they seem with Matt, because he is a clone. He is a clone of El Patron, the ruler of a strip of land in Mexico covered in poppies called Opium. For El Patron, Matt is the key to eternal life. He loves Matt like he loves himself, because Matt is himself, down to every last strand of DNA. But things threaten Matt. El Patron's power-hungry family and servants along with many other sinister characters of Opium. To most people, Matt is a monster. Something horrifying grown in a cow for nine months and then cut out, something with no soul and no chance of life beyond the one he already lives.
I adored this book. It pulled me in with Nancy Farmer's fantastic story-telling and for a while I didn't even register that it was a kind of dystopian fiction. Maybe dystopian is the wrong word... it takes place in a world of the future where clones exist. Anyway, the characters were frightening and sinister and they pulled me into the story instantly. I loved following Matt and I sympathized with him, which can be hard to get me to do. He felt like such a real character. I strongly recommend this book, and I will tell you now, it will pull you into an entirely new world you never would have thought existed.

Rating: 5/5

Chilling

Chilling isn't just clever wordplay in this case, it describes this book perfectly. The book Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson was very chilling. It is the story of a girl named Lia who suffers from anorexia, and most recently, the death of her best friend Cassie. Cassie was anorexic too, and her method of losing weight was purging. On the day of her death, Cassie leaves many messages with Lia, but she doesn't answer one of them. Now Cassie's ghost is plaguing her. It tells Lia to lose more weight, to join Cassie on the other side. The skinny side. Every time Lia eats something, the calorie count goes through her mind. She puts quarters in her bathrobe for when her watchful stepmother watches her step on the scale every morning. But no one understands! Even at 95 pounds, Lia can see the sacks of fat hanging off of her body. And Cassie is calling for her to drop those next 10 pounds...
This book was sometimes horrifying. As someone who never understood anorexia, the thoughts of this girl, a girl my age, made me sick on occasion. But annorexia is a real problem. The fact that Lia thinks of her food in terms of the number of calories that are in it just astounded me. Lia's description of herself while she was in the help center for anorexia made me want to cry. Anoriexia is a horrifying problem and this book tells us all of the horrifying details no one wants to think about. Some of the storytelling methods started to get on my nerves. There was a lot of scoring through words words crossed out when Lia wanted to amend her thoughts, and it really interrupted the flow. Also, the motives behind the anorexia, I felt, were never properly explained. And finally, Lia's family was kind of vague at times, and I felt like that part of the story was never told.

Other than that, this book was actually really fantastic. It has made me really want to get my hands on the book Speak also by Laurie Halse Anderson. I have heard it is fantastic. Wintergirls was appropriately chilling and real, and I think every girl in high school should read this book, no matter what. They need to understand the horrible world of anorexia, and this book really shows it.

Rating: 3.5/5

And Hope to Die

Steal dealing with the sad loss of my Grandparent's house, but we have found a lot of pictures and special memories we are so glad we haven't lost. You never know what you have until it is gone (see last review). On the other side of things, The Thirteenth Tale is turning out to be a fantastic book, and today I got a copy of Fast Food Nation to read in English class. I've actually heard that it is a great book and I can't wait to get started. One thing I know, in times of sadness, I'm glad I can turn to my special friends, the books.
And now to get started, Cross My Heart by Julie Wright. This is definitely in the category of LDS chick lit. It is very very very chick lit. Lovers of fantasy, this holds no dragons or death defying stunts. It actually involves so many love triangles and quadrangles my head was spinning (which the back of the book actually predicted, might I add). This books is about lovesick Jillian. A recent love study her boyfriend Jack took her to (a bit suspicious, Jack?) revealed that Jill was still in love with her ex, Geoffrey. Geoffrey, the one who stole Jill's advertising idea and got a promotion out of it, which led to his untimely dumping. Then, when Jill gets a job back in her home town with Geoffrey at a competing company and her parents down the road, she just happens to meet a wonderful (and Mormon) man named Allen. Allen is sweet and they really have a chance of hitting it off, if he wasn't so hung up on his ex-girlfriend who also happens to be dating some hot-shot in advertising. Whoever will Jill end up with?
I didn't love this book. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great. I just isn't my kind of book, frankly. I picked it up at a teen writers conference when the author was there, and she signed my book (and mentioned that she was in love with my hair, thank you very much). The book just felt so predictable. All of the reactions were just what you would expect, and it felt like the Mormon side of it was so forced! Everything she said was like she was pushing the religion in my face, which is weird, considering I'm the same religion! The characters were kind of flat and the sarcasm wasn't great. Also, the ending held none of the surprise the book's blurb promised. The whole book just fell flat.

Rating: 3/5


P.S. The book says "Cecilia, Love rocks! Be Happy believe in yourself and keep writing" On a side note, Julie Wright was my favorite teacher at this writers conference. She was amazing and I would willingly go take another class from her!

Where'd Ya Go?

Today wasn't a great day for me. My grandparent's house burned down, and although my grandparents were fine, thank goodness, I've still been feeling a little shocked and a little out of it. Dealing with loss is hard, even if it is just a house. It is still the house you grew up in. Anyway, the mood I'm in made me feel like reviewing one of the sadder books I read this year, and one that kind of deals with loss. So the book I am reviewing is Gone by Michael Grant, book 1 in the Gone books. "In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE." This is the first line on the back of the book and it caught my eye. In Gone, one moment Sam is watching his teacher in front of the class, the next moment she has disappeared. Everyone is freaking out about where she is when all of a sudden other students run into the room. All of the teachers are gone. Everyone over the age of 15 has disappeared. Only toddlers, kids, young teens, are left. But that isn't the worst part. Soon people have started to mutate, some of them have powers, abilities they can't explain. Bullies crop up, and it is the powerful against the weak, and no one knows who to turn to.
I actually loved Gone, but the next books, Hunger and Lies, aren't nearly as strong. The fear in the kids in this book was so real. They are trying to ignore the fact that their parents are missing, and deal with trying to control a whole town full of kids. I mean, these kids all of a sudden have to deal with all of the babies and toddlers that no longer have moms, and there is no access to the outside which means that they are going to have to worry about finding food soon. I can't imagine that kind of responsibility! I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much, and I'm sure that readers of The Hunger Games, Everlost, Found, and Unwind will really enjoy this series too.

Rating: 4/5

Slapstick and Kiss

I know, my regular naming isn't up to par. I could not think of anything that creative to go with both books so you will just have to live with this one. Just to keep you updated (although I doubt you are keeping track of what I am reading every day of your life) I am reading The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and The Green Mile book 2 by Stephen King. I'm really thinking I could love The Thirteenth Tale. It is awesome so far, can't wait to let you know when I finish it.
Ok, I'm a little disorganized today. 2 books in 1 review has me distracted. The first book is Slapstick or Lonesome No More by Kurt Vonnegut. It is told as an autobiography written by a rapidly aging president of the United States. Incidentally, the last president of the United States. He tells the story of him and his twin sister growing up together, being geniuses and looking quite freakish. I mean, really freakish. They are far too tall, gangly, and the sister has 4 breasts. Shudder. Anyway, he tells the story of how he evolved  from everyone thinking that he was an idiot freak to becoming the final president of the United States and how his sister wasn't quite so lucky.
I didn't love this book. The main characters "senile hiccup" of saying "hi ho" all the time got to be annoying. When it comes right down to it, I read this book for English and only for English. I would have never picked it up on my own, and that's what I got out of it. I think if you like other Kurt Vonnegut you will like this book, but it just wasn't for me.

Rating: 2/5

 The next book I read was called Kiss, written by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy. I adore Ted Dekker, I should just start with that. I really have to get to reviewing more of his books because I haven't read one I haven't liked, and more commonly loved. Kiss is about a girl named Shauna who wakes up from a 6 week comma missing 6 months of her memory. She can't remember her loving boyfriend, Wayne, and apparently the car crash she was in that caused her comma also caused her deeply loved brother severe brain damage. Her family hates her (although it wasn't like they liked her that much before) and they all blame her for her brother's condition. While Shauna is trying to understand what happened and remember the memories she has lost, she realizes she is starting to remember things not about her. They are memories from the people around her, and she thinks that maybe these people can't be trusted anymore. Because if these memories are right, someone is trying to kill her and it might be someone close to her.
I really really liked this book, as usual with Ted Dekker. You hit a certain point and you can't put the book down no matter how hard you try. I was up all night reading just to see who was behind everything with Shauna. She was a really great character and she had lots of great layers, and she was just oblivious enough and just untrusting enough that you didn't feel like she was stupid but you didn't feel like she was picking up on things way too fast. I don't know where Erin Healy's particular contributions were, but she certainty didn't take anything away from Dekker. I really like this book and I can't wait to get to their next book together: Burn.

Rating: 4/5

To Infinity and Beyond

Phew! Done with school for the week. You have to love getting a day off at the end of the week, it feels amazing. Especially when the weather is so perfectly lovely out! New announcement, but I'm not going to post it on the announcement page. If anyone here cares about James Dashner (awesome author) then go to find out his awesome announcement here: http://jamesdashner.blogspot.com/ It is just some info on his new series of books for grade-school age. Very cool for him!Last post I mentioned I was reading 3 books... Well I finished all 3 already. What? I've been bored! Anyway, without further ado, I'm going to review the book I finished today. Maybe I'll try to get through 2 of them tomorrow....
First up, Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon. By the way, I kind of love this woman's name, don't you? Sorry, off subject. Infinity is about a boy named Nick who lives in New Orleans. He is a regular kid, no dad around and he and his mom barely get by with the money she earns as a... ahem, dancer. He is mistreated by all of the people in his private school, including the principal. One day walking home from his mom's job, Nick gets shot (I won't give away why) and is rescued by a super-cool, ninja-fighting guy all dressed in black. When the strange man says he wants to pay for all of Nick's hospital bills, Nick is reluctant, but Kyrian (the ninja guy) offers Nick a job to pay off the debt. Life is actually taking a turn for the better! But the next day, when Nick goes to school, his fellow classmates are turning into zombies and eating each other! Now Nick's life is really in danger, plus it is full of Vampires, Demons, and even Werewolves, plus some really attractive new girl at school named Nekoda. What ever will he do?! This book is book one in the Chronicles of Nick series.
Infinity sounded really funny to me based on the back of the cover and I have been really excited about reading it. Unfortunately, this book just didn't cut it. Infinity was so clichéd, it sounded like it was written by someone really young who had never experienced any teen feelings and so they just based all of their dialogue on movies that they had watched that took place in high school. All of the reactions were just how you would expect, no surprises, but the reactions weren't well written, and I didn't love any of the characters. And apparently only super attractive women live in the same town at the main character, Nick, because whenever he sees a woman all he talks about is how attractive she is. The way women are portrayed in the book is like the author wanted you to feel like she could create strong, female leads, but it ended up feeling forced. I just felt like she was trying to stick some kind of strong female character in their so the book wasn't as male dominated, and it didn't work. I just really didn't like this book. Was I not clear on that?
Ugh! Just seriously don't read this book. It was not good. I kept being told it was good and it just isn't. It's amateur writing and I don't understand how Sherrilyn Kenyon got to be as popular as she is, or how this book sold enough copies for there to be not just 1, but 2 sequels. I wish I hadn't wasted my time on this book, and I'm trying to save you from the same fate!



Rating: 1.5/5