 Water for Elephantsby Sara Gruen368 pages, Algonquin Books, (2011-03-01) $8.31 (Amazon.com) |
| Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers 256 pages, St. Martin's Griffin, (2010-01-05) $9.99 (Amazon.com) |
Purchased on Amazon.com as a bargain book for $4.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I’ve read so many good reviews of this one and all of Courtney’s books I thought I’d give it a try. And at $4 I didn’t feel that I’d lose anything by trying.
Regina is a mean girl and her mean girl posse freezes her out for a horrible night gone wrong. She tries to redeem herself, not really, what she attempts to do is get revenge. What she finally ends up accomplishing is much, much more.
The writing was awesome. Regina was a deeply emotional and thoughtful girl. I hated her at times but understood her completely.
Regina befriends Michael, a guy she helped sabotage his reputation. Their friendship grows—regrows—to something unforgettable.
I was never a mean girl in high school. I also wasn’t the focus of any mean girls either. And boy am I glad. Anna, Kara and Regina are such bitches. I honestly don’t get why girls can be so mean to each other. It’s horrible. Regina gets it right when she finally understands that there’s a real world out there. That high school bullshit doesn’t matter once you graduate.
Some advice to high schoolers: don’t let it get to you. Get over it. Move on. Tack on a smiley face and suck it up. There’s no reason to get revenge on someone failing at life so bad that they act out against you. Be the bigger, better, person!
Buy and share it with all high school girls
A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies 400 pages -- HarperTeen (Sep 27, 2011) $10.98 (Amazon.com) So, I started this book last night and finished it this afternoon. I’ve written my full review for it already. (Aren’t you proud!?)
The problem I’m having is that IT WAS SO FREAKING GOOD! I have to share it with you now. A little bit any way. The other problem is that it doesn’t come out until Valentine’s Day 2012!
So, read this little bit of my review that’ll post in full on Feb. 13, 2012. You will love this book if you love YA Romance at all. Think Simone Elkeles.
| Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley 272 pages, Knopf Books for Young Readers, (2012-02-14) $11.46 (Amazon.com) |
So much swoon I nearly died by heart bursting! An epic tale of finding love, acceptance, painting, and broken noses.
Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she's going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He's out there somewhere—spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night—and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for. Really fall for. Instead, Lucy's stuck at a party with Ed, the guy she's managed to avoid since the most awkward date of her life. But when Ed tells her he knows where to find Shadow, they're suddenly on an all-night search around the city. And what Lucy can't see is the one thing that's right before her eyes.
Goodness me! There are way too many. The scene where Malcolm finds Ed and Lucy in the park is one of the best! Lucy sure knows how to handle herself.
"Why don't you give it to Leo? Wait, I know, it's because you're scared of him, you cockroach-eating-coward motherfucker."
I look at her. "Motherfucker?"
"Motherfucker," she says.
"The next one to call me a motherfucker takes the message," Malcolm says.
"Motherfucker", Lucy and I say together.
Gah! This book is so packed with so much swoon it's not even funny! I thought for sure my heart was going to burst a few times with the amount of "Awwww" that came pouring out of some of these scenes! I was a giddy teenaged girl all afternoon! Yes, I read this in only one afternoon! It's amazing and you have to know what happens and it's so easy to read the words just flow into you and fill you with pure joy.
Preorder this book. I promise you won’t regret it!
| A Long, Long Sleepby Anna Sheehan 352 pages, Candlewick, (2011-08-09) $9.99 (Amazon.com) |
eBook from Candlewick via NetGalley.
Plot: 5
Setting: 5
Writing: 5
Originality: 5
Characters: 5
Romance: 5
Title/Cover Bonus: 2
An emotionally charged sci-fi of a young girl traumatized by her unfit parents who left her in stasis for 62 years; awoken to a new, unknown world full of technology and unending traumatic stress.
| Cows Can't Jump by Dave Reisman 44 pages, Jumping Cow Press, (2008-10-19) $7.99 (Amazon.com) Paperback |
 Cows Can't Jump by Dave Reisman 44 pages, Jumping Cow Press, (2008-10-19) $10.19 (Amazon.com) Board Book |
Jumping Cow Press sent me two copies: one signed paperback and one signed board book.
It’s funny because baby kangaroo has it’s eyes open on the first page and then the baby kangaroo falls asleep in the pouch and the mother doesn’t even notice.
A great book of compare and contrast on the abilities of many animals with a subtle touch of rhyming words.
The illustrations are cute and I enjoy seeing the canvas stitching details. I also enjoyed the flow from animal to animal as the scenery continued along the way.
I’m a fan of the board book as paperbacks usually see much more wear and tear around our house.
Madison was able to read this mostly by herself. A few words she stumbled on such as: slither, stampede, wallow, and trample. For a 1st grader I think that’s pretty good but after reading it a few times now she can handle them much better now.
| The Iron Queen (Harlequin Teen) by Julie Kagawa 368 pages, Harlequin, (2011-01-25) $9.99 (Amazon.com) |
I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
Plot: 4
Setting: 4
Writing: 5
Originality: 4
Characters: 5
Romance: 5
Cover/Title Bonus: 4
An awesome addition to an already amazing series. Cannot wait for The Iron Knight!
| American Vampire by Jennifer Armintrout 336 pages, Mira, (2011-02-22) $7.99 (Amazon.com) |
An eARC was provided by Mira/Harlequin via NetGalley.
Plot: 3
Setting: 3
Writing: 2
Originality: 4
Characters: 3
Romance: 3
(2 stars per Goodreads)
Cover/Title Bonus: 0
A mystery driven (lacking) romance between a bitchy human and a selfish vampire stuck in the middle of no where surrounded by crazy country hicks.
| Delirium by Lauren Oliver 448 pages, HarperCollins, (2011-02-01) $17.99 (Amazon.com) |
I received this ARC while attending BEA 2010.
Plot: 5
Setting: 5
Writing: 5
Originality: 5
Characters: 5
Romance: 5
Cover/Title Bonus: 4
A brutal society where love is disguised as a disease and is ultimately tragically and beautifully worth fighting for.
Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that one love -the deliria- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.
But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.
It has been sixty-four years since the president and the Consortium identified love as a disease, and forty-three since the scientists perfected a cure.
During one of the raids an ass of an enforcer encounters a barking dog. Lena handles the situation as best as she could but it still hit a nerve with me as an animal lover.
Also, Lena and Alex visit the insane asylum, or prison, and that entire situation had me on the edge of my seat.
Love as a disease? I’ve always been a fan of dystopian societies and this book proved to me why that is. They all have something you’re not allowed or supposed to have but ultimately you find a way to want it and grasp it and if you’re lucky keep it.
Delirium portrays Lena as a young girl about to meet her life partner (I can’t remember if there’s a specific term used or not) and about to get her treatment against the delirium, love sickness.
Every aspect of the plot was meshed together perfectly. I love that there was more to it then just the love story.
Lena’s world is a pretty brutal place. A required treatment to inhibit the ability to fall in love or feel anything remotely like love or hate is one of the ultimate free will abilities humans have.
There’s a citizen curfew and required badges or identification cards. Periodically there are raids to search homes.
This was the first book by Lauren Oliver I’ve read. I did try to read Before I Fall but I just couldn’t make my way through it. This book is written awesomely. I love that it was written from Lena’s point of view. I love the detail that was given to her feelings and her surroundings.
Again, love as a disease? Pure originality.
Lena doesn’t plan to fall in love or even rethink her governments plans for controlling their citizens. I like it when characters surprise themselves; learn more about themselves.
Hana is Lena’s best friend. She isn’t too exposed as a character but we grasp her as the pretty, popular one.
My awful secret is that I like to run with Hana partly because it’s the single, sole, solitary shred of a thing that I can do better than she can, but I would never admit that out loud in a million years. – page 47 – ARC edition
Lena and Hana run quite a bit together. This is one of the most important events of the entire story. Hana is also quite the rowdy one.
Lena and Hana both meet Alex while exploring the back of one of the government buildings while on a late afternoon jog. He’s a guard. But oh so much more. Alex’s character is awesome.
Lena and Alex are amazing together. They cover so much territory in such a short amount of time. Ninety-five days of one amazing love. One could almost be happy about that. Except, you can’t because you want to hold on to that forever. But what are your options when treatment day comes?
The ARC cover is a bit too meek for my tastes but it fits fine. The title is absolutely perfect.
The final cover does not appeal to me at all. I’d much prefer the ARC edition.
One of the most touching endings I’ve ever read. I was so torn to see it end. I read this May 30 – 31, 2010. This doesn’t even come out until February 1, 2011 and who knows when the next book will be out. I have so long to wait to see how this will continue.
The next two book titles are already on Goodreads.
Pandemonium – publishing sometime in 2012
Requiem – publishing sometime in 2013
I highly recommend this to anyone who loves dystopias or rebellious teens. :)
| Across the Universe by Beth Revis 416 pages, Razorbill, (2011-01-11) $17.99 (Amazon.com) |
I received an ARC from the publisher. I've since given it away in a giveaway.
Plot: 5
Setting: 5
Writing: 5
Originality: 5
Characters: 4
Romance: 4
Cover/Title Bonus: 4
A sci-fi filled dystopia about murder, love, maturity, and power. Amazing technological concepts and a plot that keeps you guessing until the end.
Today is the release day for one of the best books I’ve read this year. Not only have I enjoyed it but all the readers in my family have loved it as well (mother-in-law, aunt, and cousins).
If you haven’t ordered this book I’d highly suggest doing so.
| Matched by Ally Condie 369 pages, Dutton Juvenile, (2010-11-30) $17.99 (Amazon.com) |
Read my review.
Read an excerpt.
I gave away an extra ARC copy in my Blogoversary giveaway!
| Dreamfever: The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning 512 pages, Dell, (2010-10-26) $7.99 (Amazon.com) |
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This review is from last year, I’ve updated or crossed out irrelevant information.
I finished this book last night. It's book 4 of KMM's Fever series. It was amazingly good and I will not be doing a formal review of it.
"I'm not a dude. Lose it." I was not going to ask, "So, how did he look at me?"
"Like it was his birthday and you were the cake."
At least he hadn't smashed this one into the ceiling. It seemed Barrons had finally gotten his cake and eaten it, too.
The above quote is one of the best of the book. If you haven't read this series, you are sorely missing out. Although, I'd recommend waiting until [January] after Shadowfever is released that way you'll have ALL the books of the series and won't have to wait an ENTIRE YEAR or more to find out what the hell just happened at the very end of this freaking book! KMM is the Queen of Cliffhangers.
Now, you'd have to understand my predicament. I was reading this on my Kindle and it has these little dots at the bottom that shows my progress. I can usually tell about how many more pages are left in a book by this timeline. And by pages I mean roughly the number of clicks or even minutes of reading left. However, Dreamfever ended with 4 more dots to go!!!! I was SO upset you don't even understand. I was NOT prepared for it to just END. GAH! 4 more dots would be at least 50 more pages......
Anyhow, this series is well worth all the angst it's proving to be. KMM is a brilliant storyteller, world builder, and heart breaker. BUT she promises a happy ending, and for that I have faith.
 Darkfever (Fever Series, Book 1) by Karen Marie Moning 384 pages, Dell, (2007-08-28) $7.99 (Amazon.com)
|
 Bloodfever (Fever #2) by Karen Marie Moning 368 pages, Dell, (2008-08-26) $7.99 (Amazon.com) |
 Faefever (Fever, #3) by Karen Marie Moning 416 pages, Dell, (2009-07-28) $7.99 (Amazon.com) |
 Dreamfever (Fever, #4) by Karen Marie Moning 512 pages, Dell, (2010-10-26) $7.99 (Amazon.com) |
| Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins 384 pages, Dutton Juvenile, (2010-12-02) $16.99 (Amazon.com) |
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Enjoyed this very much! A great read.
Page 108: Fun, cute, and easy to read. :)
And that about sums up this book! It was one of the most adorable books I've ever read! I'm usually not a fan of contemporary and while I didn't have any interest in reading this one I decided to give it a try. I was unable to put it down. I credit the amazing writing as the reason as well as the incredibly likable characters.
The setting of being in Paris was a very nice touch. The boarding school was very attractive and I wish I could have gone there in high school!
Anna and St. Clair's relationship maturing along the way with real teen drama such as drinking, school, current and ex girlfriends and other friends dramas were a really good blend of plot details that made this even more enjoyable.
The falling in love feeling you get from this book is the sweetest feeling ever. You want them to be together so bad you're practically ripping your hair out towards the end of the book!
I enjoyed this so much I'll probably read anything Stephanie Perkins releases!
I'll be giving away my copy sometime in the near future so keep an eye out!
 Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce 336 pages, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, (2010-06-07) $16.99 (Amazon.com) |
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Page 133: Loving it so far!
Finished: A good read. Wasn't a fan of the fight scenes but loved the chemistry between all 3 characters.
What an interesting retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf!
The March sisters were an unstoppable pair! And Silas was an awesome sidekick.
I'm not going to mention much of the plot but suffice it to say that it will keep your attention. It was all very engrossing.
The only issue I had while reading this were some of the fight scenes. I've read a ton of urban fantasy that centers around confrontations and general ass kickings. The fight scenes in Sisters Red are lacking. It was torturous to read some of them as they just didn't flow like I'm used to. And some of the descriptive words used to describe the fight were kind of out of place. It was very apparent that this might have been Jackson's first go at writing fight scenes.
I enjoyed this book mostly because of the originality and the relationship of the characters.
I cannot wait to read Jackson's next retelling, Sweetly, which will be out sometime in 2011 and then another book is already on Goodreads to be the third book of this series, Fathomless.
 Sweetly by Jackson Pearce 320 pages, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, (2011-06-07) $17.99 (Amazon.com) |
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Wasn't that great. Official review to come.
Page 83: Getting interesting...finally.
I'm usually a big fan of the boarding school for gifted students with super powers. And while I enjoyed the characters, to an extent, this book just didn't wrap it all together as good as I've come to expect from other series that have this sort of theme:
And while those two are more paranormal I think they are still comparable.
I felt that the story line took too long to get moving that the setting, while interesting, was dragged out a bit too much and more details to what was actually going on needed to be addressed but in a better fashion than it was already being done.
The timing was also arranged weird. Dancia, what a weird name too, was able to go home to her grandmother's for the weekend but that was hardly ever shown. I really liked her grandmother and wanted more interaction between them.
The love triangle was also pretty infuriating.
And the ending pretty much sucked. I was not a fan.
At this time I have no plans of picking up the next book of this series.
 Insatiable by Meg Cabot 464 pages, William Morrow, (2010-06-01) $22.99 (Amazon.com) |
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Wasn't a fan of the ending but it was a good read.
This was my very first Meg Cabot book and I probably wouldn't have read it if it wasn't for James of Book Chic Club who so very nicely sent me his extra ARC that he used for his ARC Tour! Thanks so much James!
I'm pretty sure that this would be considered an adult series because all the characters are very much adults. There's nothing too rated X or even R really to keep the young adult crowd from reading this though.
Insatiable is the name of the daytime show that Meena works for as one of the writers. She lives next door to some vampires who are always trying to hook her up with someone. Meena has the gift of seeing how everyone around her is going to die. She does her best to warn them vaguely to prevent them from dying. She ends up in the middle of a vampire war that's funny in some ways, dangerous, sexy, and of course action packed.
This is written in alternating points of views between several of the characters and while this was enlightening in some ways it flickered around too much for my liking. If it was just between Meena and the Prince then I wouldn't have had a problem but sometimes Meena's brother, a vampire hunter or best friend or even the neighbors popped in to steal the show. It felt very much like watching a soap opera.
I wasn't a fan of the ending either because I have a soft spot for vampires, especially when they find true love. I'm pretty sure there will be a follow up to this and I would love to read what happens next. While I might not be on the Meg Cabot bandwagon I certainly will follow this paranormal series of hers!
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Emotionally strong. Not a fan of the ending though. I'm thrilled to see a sequel is releasing in '11.
I won this over on Book Chic Club. Thanks James!
This book was kind of hard for me to get through. It was a weird subject matter: horrible accident causes girl to go into a coma and ends up walking around watching her friends, family, nurses, doctors and boyfriend basically fall apart in one form or another.
The ending isn't much of an ending. It basically sets up a possible sequel, which I was thrilled to see there would be one, or a really horrible open ended ending that lets the reader interpret as they wish, which in this case isn't a worthy ending at all.
I enjoyed the characters but it's such a tragic book that the connection of the reader to characters isn't completely needed because it just happens.
Lastly, I'm glad I read this before I became pregnant as I know that my pregnancy hormones would never had let me finish this book without tons of waterworks. Be prepared.
The next book in the series, Where She Went, will release 04/05/2011.
 Where She Went by Gayle Forman 208 pages, Dutton Juvenile, (2011-04-05) $16.99 (Amazon.com) |
| Girl Parts by John M. Cusick 240 pages, Candlewick, (2010-08-10) $16.99 (Amazon.com) |
Grabbed this author signed copy at BEA 2010.
Plot: 4
Setting: 4
Writing: 4
Originality: 5
Characters: 4
Romance: 3
Cover/Title Bonus: 5
A great look at teenaged interaction between boy and girl and technology.
| The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter 288 pages, Feiwel & Friends, (2010-09-14) $16.99 (Amazon.com) |
Feiwel and Friends sent me an ARC for review.
Plot: 5
Setting: 5
Writing: 3
Originality: 5
Characters: 5
Romance: 5
Cover/Title Bonus: 5
An amazing castle adventure showing just how strong a child’s love for a mother really is; fire breathing dragons and all.
