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Saturday, August 30, 2014

Lock and Key

1295102Ruby, where is your mother?
Ruby knows that the game is up. For the past few months, she's been on her own in the yellow house, managing somehow, knowing that her mother will probably never return.
That's how she comes to live with Cora, the sister she hasn't seen in ten years, and Cora's husband Jamie, whose down-to-earth demeanor makes it hard for Ruby to believe he founded the most popular networking Web site around. A luxurious house, fancy private school, a new wardrobe, the promise of college and a future; it's a dream come true. So why is Ruby such a reluctant Cinderella, wary and defensive? And why is Nate, the genial boy next door with some secrets of his own, unable to accept the help that Ruby is just learning to give?
Best-selling author Sarah Dessen explores the heart of a gutsy, complex girl dealing with unforeseen circumstances and learning to trust again.
 I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this book, Most of the reviews I have seen all say this is there favorite Sarah Dessen book. This is my third one by her and I am surprised by how each of her books are so different from each other yet similar in theme. Each has it flaws but I really enjoy them and reading them so much. Who doesn't like chick lit that's deep? I love chick lit as much as the next girl but don't always want something super light, yet not super deep. I always have found myself reaching for one of her book when that's what I need, I have never been disappointed either. I loved this book, I loved the characters and all of their little flaws that made them so much more real  to me, I have a hard time connecting to  the characters that are too "perfect". I feel like they are less human somehow. I Loved Nate from page 1 to the last, he was the "perfect" rich kid with his own hidden problems that he has no control over even though it seems like he has control over the rest of his life. I loved that he had these deep hidden flaws. I would so recommend this book , its seriously on my favorite shelf now. I now understand why everyone loves this so much!
This is book 10 of 10 of the 10 in 12 read-a-thon, I finished all of my books several days ahead of schedule ,it ends on Sept 1 .  

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Teacher's Pest (Tales from Lovecraft Middle School #3) BOOK 100 OF THE YEAR!

15823466“Two-headed monsters, giant tentacles, angry demons—Lovecraft Middle School is great creepy fun!”
—Ransom Riggs, author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
 
DON'T BE FOOLED by his friendly smile, his perfect manners, or his shiny red apple. Student council president Howard Mergler is actually a sinister bug-monster in disguise—and he's summoning swarms of roaches, wasps, fleas, and head lice into the corridors of Lovecraft Middle School!  Twelve-year-old Robert Arthur is the only student who can stop him--but he'll need help from his best friends: the school bully, the school ghost, and an extremely courageous two-headed rat.
 
This third novel in the Lovecraft Middle School series begins right where Professor Gargoyle and The Slither Sisters ended—with more action, more adventure, and more outrageous monsters!

Basically, again the same thoughts, I read all of these one right after another and really enjoyed the story overall. I enjoy the characters and the mysteriousness and creepiness of the whole series. Yes there are ways to improve the series but I am not bothered to much by the flaws of the storyline. I really enjoyed this and am going to be picking up the fourth one eventually. I really loved this series overall and wonder how its all going to end.

This is book 9 of 10 for the 10 in 12 read-a-thon. Also this is my 100 book of the year! Which completes my reading goal of the year! 

The Slither Sisters (Tales from Lovecraft Middle School #2)

13642245“Two-headed monsters, giant tentacles, angry demons – Lovecraft Middle School is great creepy fun!”
–Ransom Riggs, author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
 
This second novel in the Tales from Lovecraft Middle School series begins right where Professor Gargoyle ended.  Seventh-grader Robert Arthur has discovered that two of his classmates are actually sinister snake-women in disguise. Even worse, his new middle school is full of “gates” to a terrifying alternate dimension – a haunted mansion full of strange spirits and monstrous beasts.  For Robert to protect his teachers and classmates, he'll need to return to this haunted dimension with his best friends Glenn and Karina.   Can they uncover the secrets of Lovecraft Middle School before it's too late?
 
The Slither Sisters features more bizarre beasts, more strange mysteries, and more adventure.  It's perfect for readers ages 10 and up. Best of all, the cover features a state-of-the-art “morphing” photo portrait – so you can personally witness the sisters transforming into their slithering alter egos.  You won't believe your eyes!

I feel basically the same about this one as I did the first one, so I am not going to say much in that way. Basically it was good and worth the read, my only complaint was that I feel like these books could be condensed into one longer book as one is just a continuation of the one before it. But they are still good and a very short, quick reads. I can read one of these in a little over a hour. 

This is book 8 of 10 for the 10 in 12 read-a-thon. 

Every Day

13262783Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.

There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

Nothing much to say. It was good, not amazing, but good; different then I thought it was going to be but was still good regardless. Overall I enjoyed this and would recommend this if you are looking for a different kind of read. 

This is book 1 of 10 for #10booksin12days read-a-thon. 

Professor Gargoyle (Tales from Lovecraft Middle School #1)

13414506Every volume in the Lovecraft Middle School series is fully illustrated and features an original lenticular portrait on the cover. Display them on bookshelves—and then watch the cover characters morph into monsters as you pass by!

Strange things are happening at Lovecraft Middle School. Rats are leaping from lockers. Students are disappearing. The school library is a labyrinth of secret corridors. And the science teacher is acting very, very peculiar. Robert Arthurt knew that seventh grade was going to be weird, but this is ridiculous!

With the help of some unlikely new friends, Robert discovers there's more to Lovecraft Middle School than meets the eye. Can he uncover the secrets of the school before it's too late?

I really liked these, like who couldn't like these? I was drawn in by the cover first then by the story.  Like monsters, and demons inside of a middle school? Yes please, my kind of fantasy! I really enjoyed these and am looking forward to read books 2 AND 3 next. These are really short coming in at around 170 each. 

This is book 7 of 10 for the 10 in 12 read-a-thon. 

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall

10407919When twelve-year-old Florence boards the crowded horse-drawn coach in London, she looks forward to a new life with her great uncle and aunt at Crutchfield Hall, an old manor house in the English countryside. Anything will be better, she thinks, than the grim London orphanage where she has lived since her parents' death.
          But Florence doesn't expect the ghost of her cousin Sophia, who haunts the cavernous rooms and dimly lit hallways of Crutchfield and concocts a plan to use Florence to help her achieve her murderous goals. Will Florence be able to convince the others in the household of the imminent danger and stop Sophia before it's too late?

Okay I bought this under the pretense that this was going to be creepy and  maybe borderline a horror novel. Yet what I go was a slightly creepy, entertaining read. It was good, as a story and as a whole, but lacked what I wanted from this book.   So on that aspect  I had picked this up for. Over all a good read and a very short one but not a scary one. 

This is book 6 of 10 for the 10 in 12 read-a-thon. 

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

That Summer

15393060The more things change...

As far as Haven is concerned, there's just too much going on.

Everything is changing, and she's not sure where she fits in.

Then her sister's old boyfriend shows up, sparking memories of the summer when they were all happy and everything was perfect...

But along the way, Haven realizes that sometimes change is a good thing.

This book screams summertime and romance. Yet there wasn't any which was disappointing to say the least. With that being said, i still loved it and still love her writing style and how well she can write about everything and anything.  Defiantly excited to read more by her in the near future. 

Book 5 of 10 for the 10 in 12 readathon. 

Cold Kiss

10429015It was a beautiful, warm summer day, the day Danny died.

Suddenly Wren was alone and shattered. In a heartbroken fury, armed with dark incantations and a secret power, Wren decides that what she wants--what she must do--is to bring Danny back.

But the Danny who returns is just a shell of the boy Wren fell in love with. His touch is icy; his skin, smooth and stiff as marble; his chest, cruelly silent when Wren rests her head against it.

Wren must keep Danny a secret, hiding him away, visiting him at night, while her life slowly unravels around her. Then Gabriel DeMarnes transfers to her school, and Wren realizes that somehow, inexplicably, he can sense the powers that lie within her--and that he knows what she has done. And now Gabriel wants to help make things right.

But Wren alone has to undo what she has wrought--even if it means breaking her heart all over again.

When i picked this up at goodwill  I had no idea how good of a find it really was! I loved this so much, it was amazing and so worth the $1 I paid to get the hardcover of this. I really enjoyed it, I only somewhat understood what Wren did though. I liked a little over Danny, how he wanted to be Wrens protector and etc. I really enjoyed this book and am defiantly going to be on the look out for the sequel!

This is book 4 of 10 for the 10 in 12 readathon.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Waiting for You

5168517At the beginning of her sophomore year, Marisa is ready for a fresh start and, more importantly, a boyfriend. So when the handsome and popular Derek asks her out, Marisa thinks her long wait for happiness is over. But several bumps in the road—including her parents’ unexpected separation, a fight with her best friend, and a shocking disappointment in her relationship with Derek—test Marisa’s ability to maintain her new outlook. Only the anonymous DJ, whose underground podcasts have the school’s ear, seems to understand what Marisa is going through. But she has no idea who he is—or does she? In Waiting For You, this third romantic novel from Susane Colasanti, Marisa learns how to “be in the Now” and realizes that the love she’s been waiting for has been right in front of her all along.
This is the perfect type of chick lit. It's the chick lit that isn't senseless romance the whole time,its the kind that has real character development and real life situations. LOVED IT. I am defiantly going to  be reading more of her in the future, I have 2 or 3 of her books so i am excited to get to read more by her!

This is book 3 of 10 for the 10 in 12 readathon. 

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Lena

266509At the end of "I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This," Marie's friend Lena and her little sister Dion ran away to escape their abusive father. Now, disguised as boys, Lena and Dion search for their mother's relatives, unable to afford to make even one mistake.

This book is good, just not amazing. Its super short so it makes for a fast read, but I feel like you don't get to know the characters very well. Also there wasn't a lot of character development either because of the small amount of time the book went over. It was basically over three of four days. That's it. So over all it wasn't the best book like this i have read, it was just okay. 

This is book 2 of 10 for the 10 books in 12 days read-a-thon.     

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

5559333If Naomi had picked tails, she would have won the coin toss.
She wouldn’t have had to go back for the yearbook camera, and she wouldn’t have hit her head on the steps.
She wouldn’t have woken up in an ambulance with amnesia.
She certainly would have remembered her boyfriend, Ace. She might even have remembered why she fell in love with him in the first place.
She would understand why her best friend, Will, keeps calling her “Chief.” She’d get all his inside jokes, and maybe he wouldn’t be so frustrated with her for forgetting things she can’t possibly remember.
She’d know about her mom’s new family.
She’d know about her dad’s fiancée.
She wouldn’t have to spend her junior year relearning all the French she supposedly knew already.
She never would have met James, the boy with the questionable past and the even fuzzier future, who tells her he once wanted to kiss her.
She wouldn’t have wanted to kiss him back.
But Naomi picked heads.
This book wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be. It was good, I understand the hype that's its been getting but I just thought it was going to be a little bit different then it was. I Really liked Naomi as a character, even though she was a little annoying at times. Another thing was how she had so many different love interest throughout the book. Which I understand why, but I then had a hard time decided which guy I liked better. Overall i enjoyed it, I was hoping it was going to be a little more fast paced, but its a good shorter read for those who want a deeper book. But it could have been a little deeper then it was, I was looking for a deep read that would give way to some very deep thoughtful thinking and this just didn't cut it as far as that goes. But i still enjoyed it. 

Monday, August 18, 2014

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

12700353Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics.

Until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.

Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia—-cue extreme adolescent awkwardness—-but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives.

And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight.


Wow, I love this so much I don't have words to describe it. Its funny, deep, and sad all at the same time. Its one heck of a ride through this book. I was so impressed by this and I am so happy I picked this up. I think of this as almost a funny version of TFIOS, not even go to lie I love this just as much, this should be a movie, it would be one heck of a movie!  Waiting on that to happen... I would defiantly recommend this to those who loved TFIOS and are looking for similar books. It was deep yet light and made you think far after the last page, I would recommend it highly! 

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Paper Towns

9706096Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.

Wow, I loved this book. I have read almost all of John Greens books and I love them all, they each hold a place in my heart, some more then others but this one, this one is my third favorite. I loved all of the characters and the story and the ending, wow. I feel in love with this book from chapter one and flew through it as fast as I could, I had to see the ending and see what was going to happen, i had to know what happens! I loved this book, I would defiantly recommend this one to any John Green fan and I heard this is going to be a movie so I am excited to get to see that when it comes out probably late next year. 

Thursday, August 14, 2014

An Abundance of Katherines

49750Katherine V thought boys were gross
Katherine X just wanted to be friends
Katherine XVIII dumped him in an e-mail
K-19 broke his heart 
When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun--but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl. Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself.

First off I want to talk about this cover,  its amazing, I love how there are, get this, 19 "Katherine's" on the cover. I love that for some weird reason, I mean other then that I really don't like the cover that well. I always seem to judge a book by its cover, unless i have already read the book and therefore I can ignore the cover, or I have to know its an amazing book in order to get myself to read it. Not even lying. I enjoyed this book, but I can't say I loved it. I liked the story and how the main character only dated girls with the same name, what I hated was the footnotes, I hated having to remember to  stop and look at the notes at the bottom and read the notes and all the math was a little much for my brain. I am bad at math so i guess if you were amazing at math you would be able to figure out what he was talking about. All in all a good book, just not my favorite, nor my favorite one by John Green. 

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Shatter Me

13455782Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.


So what I thought about this book is impossibly hard to put into any worm of words, but ill try anyhow. I loved this story, the whole book is well planned and there are twists put in all the right places to make it one heck of a ride. I flew through this even though i have been busy and reading has become a little harder to fit in. The writing is beautiful, very poetic, just amazing. I liked the ending, it didn't end on a cliffhanger yet left plenty of room for it to pick up in the second book. Which i am so excited about getting to read. And look at the cover, GORGEOUS!  I would defiantly recommend it and i am very excited to see how the rest of series unfolds. 

Monday, August 11, 2014

Happy Ever After

I have been thinking about the different things that people write about. I mean there are so many different worlds that people create, so many different people they invent, so many place to build in their minds. I just don’t understand how they can do that. I can come up with all sorts of stories involving the present and people like the people I know, but to create a whole new world and all new people I don’t think I could very easily. I, I just take my hat off to those people who can do that, make these amazing books that I get to read and I just love it so much, I love what they do and wish I could do what they do. Don’t you ever feel that way? I love thinking about what must have went through the authors mind when they did something, like when they kill off one of my favorite characters and how could they do that to their own fictional person they created and molded into who they wanted them to be and then turn around latter and kill them?? I mean how do they do it?? If I ever wrote a book it would have a very happy ending, no one would die, unless it was a villain or something, I don’t know, I like happy endings in books. I like to read to escape from the real world where there aren’t enough happy endings as is. I want books to have a happy ending so I can feel like not everything has a sad ending or a bad ending. I love/hate books with sad endings, on one hand I like them, they are true to life, yet I don’t want it to be true to life at the same time. I want the happy ever after ending that we all love. That’s just me I guess but I love the good endings where everything is alright, not always perfect, just alright. That’s all I ask.


Saturday, August 9, 2014

Anna and the French Kiss

9754815Can Anna find love in the City of Light?
Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her affection. So she's less than thrilled when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year. But despite not speaking a word of French, Anna meets some cool new people, including the handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend. Unfortunately, he's taken —and Anna might be, too. Will a year of romantic near misses end with the French kiss she's waiting for?

Oh my goodness. I don't have much to say about this book except that I loved it! I love Paris and getting to see different parts of the city and also more about the different, diverse people living there. It was so wonderful getting to read this through solely   through the eye's of Anna.Not that i have anything against books with more then one perspective. But with this one it just seemed nice to get to see everything only through the eyes of Anna. I loved St. Clair, he is officially one of my top book boyfriends. Their relationship was the best, I loved how real they felt and how real their relationship felt through the book. It was also very real feeling because of the way they acted around each other, they didn't have a perfect relationship, they fought and got at each other frequently and it just perfectly showed what a real relationship would be like. I would highly recommend this. And I am excited to read the rest of the series one day. 

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Drama

13436373PLACES, EVERYONE!

Callie loves theater. And while she would totally try out for her middle school's production of Moon Over Mississippi, she can't really sing. Instead she's the set designer for the drama department stage crew, and this year she's determined to create a set worthy of Broadway on a middle-school budget. But how can she, when she doesn't know much about carpentry, ticket sales are down, and the crew members are having trouble working together? Not to mention the onstage AND offstage drama that occurs once the actors are chosen. And when two cute brothers enter the picture, things get even crazier!

This book is drama, just like the title says. There is a lot of crazy stuff that happens in just the first handful of pages. So  a good middle school book full of all things drama. The only thing i didn't like was the whole, "gay" friend thing, does anyone really need to read about that??Oh and this is also a graphic novel. I would recommend it if the whole gay friend thing doesn't bother you. 

Monday, August 4, 2014

The Spectacular Now

17620971So, my girlfriend, Cassidy, is threatening to kick me to the curb again, my best friend suddenly wants to put the brakes on our lives of fabulous fun, my mom and big sister are plotting a future in which I turn into an atomic vampire, and my dad, well, my dad is a big fat question mark that I’m not sure I want the answer to. 

Some people would let a senior year like this get them down. Not me. I’m Sutter Keely, master of the party. But don’t mistake a midnight philosopher like me for nothing more than a shallow party boy. Just ask Aimee, the new girl in my life. She saw the depth in the Sutterman from that first moment when she found me passed out on the front lawn. Okay, so she’s a social disaster, but that’s where I come in. 

Yes, life is weird, but I embrace the weird. Let everyone else go marching off into their great shining futures if they want. Me, I’ve always been more than content to tip my whisky bottle and take a ride straight into the heart of the spectacular now.

THIS BOOK IS SO FULL OF FEELS FOR ME I CAN'T STAND IT. While reading this book I probably used 40 page markers... It was such an amazing book. Sutter is such a pain to read about though, one second he's this amazing guy and the next he's being a really big idiot and ruining everything. Its such a good read nevertheless. I HAD to read this book after seeing the trailer on Youtube a month or two ago.  So when I ordered some books off of amazon and saw this one for cheap I had to buy it.  I don't regret the $5.77 I paid for this gem, it was soooo worth it! I highly recommend this book. 

Saturday, August 2, 2014

The Raven Boys

15743650Blue has spent the majority of her sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. When Blue meets Gansey’s spirit on the corpse road she knows there is only one reason why – either he is her true love or she has killed him.

Determined to find out the truth, Blue becomes involved with the Raven Boys, four boys from the local private school (lead by Gansey) who are on a quest to discover Glendower – a lost ancient Welsh King who is buried somewhere along the Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour.

Never before has Blue felt such magic around her. But is Gansey her true love? She can’t imagine a time she would feel like that, and she is adamant not to be the reason for his death. Where will fate lead them?

I enjoyed this book. I have never read a Maggie Stiefvater book before and have heard a lot of mixed reviews for her Shiver series so was pretty iffy about reading this book. I picked this one up mainly because of the synopsis on the back.  I was very intrueged by it. It turned out to be differnet from what I was expecting. I still enjoyed it though, my biggest complaint would be that the ending was a little bit of a hanger. It just kind of wraps up but doesnt wrap up everything  if you know what I mean. But in the end, I really liked it and am hoping to read the rest of the series latter on.