Don't Forget These Books!

Awhile back I reviewed The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch and I wanted to remind you that it's released tomorrow on September 1st!  Please check it out, it was a fantastic YA novel about the end of civilization and I have a feeling it's going to be huge.  Goodreads.  My Review.  I'm hoping to get my ARC signed at the Decatur Book Festival this weekend!

Also, if you're into Amish fiction like I am, The Healing, the second book in the Kentucky Brothers series by Wanda E. Brunstetter comes out the 1st, too.  It's a great series so far.  Goodreads.  My Review.

Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink

Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink
Stephanie Kate Strohm
212 pages
Publisher: Graphia
Source: Netgalley.com
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Libby's best friend Dev may not understand why Libby wants to spend her summer interning at a living history museum, but Libby does: she loves history and she wants to immerse herself in it.  But she'll soon learn that immersing herself in history and teaching a summer camp for girls at the same time, isn't exactly what she expected.  Especially when Cam walks into town and starts to sweep her off her feet...

I loved this book from the get-go!  I love history and living history museums, so that aspect of the plot was a huge draw for me.  The plot got interesting fast when Libby learns cooking in 1791 is kind of, well, gross.  Then when Cam enters the scene, the book becomes a great YA romance, with a great ending and lessons learned!  A very cute story overall.

Of course, the little girls in the summer camp were just so cute, too.  I think they were my favorite part of the book.  Very eager to learn the domestic arts, but also very interested in their teacher's personal life, just as all little girls are.  I found them, and all the characters really, to be pretty realistic.

If you like history, even a little bit, I highly recommend this book.  It had it all for me - a great YA storyline, history, fashion, and a great soundtrack.  The book won't be released until mid-May, but I think you should definitely check it out.

You can pre-order at: Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink

PS:  Sorry the cover image is so small, that's the only size image I could find!

Cosmopolis

Cosmopolis
Don DeLillo
209 pages
Publisher: Scribner
Source: paperbackswap.com
★☆☆☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

This isn't the kind of book I would normally read and there is only one reason I decided to read it: it's being made into a movie starring Robert Pattinson.  Yum.

Image from the Cosmopolis website: cosmopolisthefilm.com

Thank goodness it was short, only about four chapters/just over two hundred pages.  Here's what happens: this insanely rich dude gets in his limo one day and drives around the city.  People visit him in his limo and sometimes he gets out of the limo to visit people and get shit done (ie: get a haircut).  In the meantime, his investment against the Yen is failing.

The storyline was written poetically, but at times was confusing to me.  Thankfully, according to other Goodreads users, I wasn't the only one left confused.  I wasn't always sure what was going on, but by the end had had the gist.  It was meh.

If this isn't the kind of book you'd normally pick up for yourself but you're considering it just because of RPatz, I'd say skip it.  Just wait for the movie to come out on DVD because after reading it I'm wondering how they could turn it into a good movie.

PS: This was not a YA friendly book; there were some adult situations.

21 Proms

21 Proms
Various authors
289 pages
Publisher: Scholastic
Source: Paperbackswap.com
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

21 Proms consists of twenty-one short stories by popular YA authors about prom. 

In a collection like this, you can only expect that you'll like some of the stories while there will be others you either don't like, or don't "get."  This was the case with 21 Proms.  I did not understand the story about the gorilla prom.  I understood that the main character was gay, but what was with the monkey fetishes? 

My favorite story was actually the last one, "The Great American Morp" by John Green.  In this story, Maggie's parents are hired to photograph her prom, which to her is mortifying.  So she and her best friend plan a Morp (prom spelled backwards) as an alternative to Prom.  I loved the outcome of their Morp, which made it my favorite story of the twenty-one.

There is a reason the back of the book states the book is for those 15 an over.  There was lots of sex, drugs and alcohol in these stories, but I didn't find any of it offensive.  I think this would be a great collection to read if you were actually going to prom soon, maybe not so much if the last prom you attended was in 2005.
Naturally this book got me thinking about my own high school proms and dances, so now I'm going to leave you with my own prom-related anecdote.

I had a boyfriend in high school who went to private Catholic school, so I actually went to four proms and countless other dances.  I used to love dances; in my youth I had the energy to dance four hours straight, never leaving the dance floor.  Now I'm lucky if I have any breath left after two fast songs, but I digress.

I used to think it must be stressful to be a chaperone at a Catholic high school dance.  We used to joke back then about nuns telling us to leave a foot between us "for the Holy Spirit."  Jokes about our dates' Holy Spirit in their pants ensued.  Anyway, I thought it would be stressful to be a school official, having to walk around a gym, looking at each couple to make sure they weren't touching to much and that they certainly weren't grinding to this awful music the DJ picked. 

My date and I attended a dance at his school one evening and I don't think I was feeling too well that night.  It might have been anxiety, I can't remember, but we ended up sitting at a table chatting and watching everyone else dance.  He sat down, I sat down, and I put my feet in his lap.  Soon one of his teachers was rapidly approaching.  "Oh no!" I thought.  "Here it comes."  I thought for sure he would tell us we were breaking the rules and kick us out, but instead he introduced himself and chatted about school for a bit, and then moved on.  Whew.

Ironically, the chaperones to my public school senior prom were more offending by youthful touching than the Catholics were.  There were chairs outside set up for a wedding that had either happened that day or was going to happen the next day.  It was a lovely evening where we all pretended we would be with our dates forever.  I got many a compliment on my "classy" attire and I was feeling good, despite the dry chicken.  So my date and I went out side, he sat in a chair and I sat on his lap.  Very chastely, I might add, as the only things touching were our thighs.  We weren't even kissing, my head was at least twelve inches from his!  And then, the chaperone yelled at us.  Startling for me, considering I was a good kid and at that point had not been yelled at in a school setting.

She was a cat lady, so I think maybe she was jealous.  Middle aged with no prospects and dressed in a floral patterned Coldwater Creek dress from four years previous, she must have been jealous that we were such a good looking young couple with endless prospects.  She told me to get off his lap, not once but I think twice if I remember correctly. 

It just goes to show you never know who is going to be offended by what.  And there's my anecdote.

Did you go to prom?  Did anything unexpected happen?  Were you yelled at by a crazy cat lady, too?  Leave me your prom stories below!

Dark Lover

Dark Lover
J.R. Ward
393 pages
Publisher: Signet Eclipse
Source: PaperBackSwap.com
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

When the father she never knew she had is killed in an attack, Beth finds a mysterious man sent to "protect" her.  Wrath.  She's wary at first and then extremely drawn to him.  She soon learns her father was a vampire and she's half vampire... and her change is rapidly approaching.  Meanwhile, the Brotherhood is trying to defend their race from the lessers.

I really enjoyed this novel!  Despite the fact that it wasn't heavy reading, it was still a nice break from the YA kick I've been on recently.  It was fast paced and definitely a page turner.  There weren't too many boring moments and lots of good steamy scenes, if you know what I mean.  The plot was pretty straight forward and there was just the right amount of angry vampire action scenes.

Four stars!  The only thing I didn't like was how Beth and Wrath's romance was immediate; they took no time to fall in love and there wasn't much development there, no explanation of why they are in love.

I have to thank my fellow NBC Nesties for recommending this series.  I really enjoyed the first book and I can't wait to get the second one in the mail to start that.  You can add my name to the list of people who recommend the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

Radiance

Radiance (Riley Bloom #1)
Alyson Noel
183 pages
Publisher: Square Fish
Source: Borders sale :(
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Riley died along with her parents in a car accident that her sister, Ever, survived.  After spending some time in Summerland and following Ever around, she finally crossed over to Here, which is where Radiance starts.  The Council soon assigns her a job - she must help ghosts who have not yet crossed over, cross over to the Here.

So... kind of like a young Ghost Whisperer, but with a spunky little twelve year old instead of Jennifer Love Hewitt.  Score!

Despite the fact that this book seems to have been written for a younger audience than the Immortals series, which it was spun off from, I thoroughly enjoyed this books for several reasons.  It was a really interesting, short read that I was able to finish in an evening (I love books like that!).  The plot was interesting though brief and the characters were diverse, from Riley's classmates in Here, to The Council, to her guide Bodhi, who was described very well.

What I absolutely loved the most was the traditional paranormal aspect of the book, which deals a lot with ghosts.  I loved the way Noel treated them in a traditional way, rather than changing the characteristics of the paranormal groups like so many other authors have changed the aspects of vampirism, for example.  I'm a huge fan of ghosts/ghost hunting, etc., so I was glad to see them presented accurately in this novel.

I'm giving Radiance four stars instead of five because I felt like it was very short and was more of an introduction to the rest of the Riley Bloom series.  It didn't have a very in-depth plot.  Still, if you've read and enjoyed the Immortals series, I highly recommend this book.

Rae

Rae: My True Story of Fear, Anxiety, and Social Anxiety
Chelsea Rae Swiggett
156 pages
Publisher: HCI Teens
Source: PaperBackSwap.com
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I first heard about this book through the Goodreads giveaway program and when I didn't win it immediately went on my PBS wishlist.  I had to read this book, which follows Chelsea Rae as she starts attending a new high school and learns that her anxiety is so bad, she needs professional help.

Although Rae and I have different triggers for our anxiety, I could totally relate with her story.  Rae fears death and thoughts of dying trigger panic attacks for her.  I fear anxiety in general and that triggers panic attacks for me in a terrible feedback loop.  While she thinks people are mocking her every move during a school day, I sometimes think that people are just mad at me all the time.  Despite our slight differences I saw a lot of myself in Rae.  I hope that writing her memoir was therapeutic for her and helped her realize that she's not alone.

One of the most interesting parts for me was when Rae talks about her "old house" being haunted.  I've learned in my research of both anxiety and the paranormal that those with anxiety issues are more prone to seeing ghosts and experiencing the supernatural in general.  Rae's experiences with the old man are spot on with an experience I had myself when I was young and three ghosts showed up in a hotel room I was staying in on vacation.

If you have anxiety or social phobias, or know someone who has it, I definitely recommend this book.

Forever

Forever
Maggie Stiefvater
390 pages
Publisher: Scholastic
Source: Once Upon a Twilight Book Tours
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

You know what Forever is, right?  It's the third book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy.  The much anticipated final book.  In Forever, Grace has a turn at being wolf.  In the meantime, Isabel's father has finally found way to legally shoot all the wolves in Mercy Falls so Grace, Sam and Cole must come up with a way to save the pack before it's too late.

I was so excited to finally get my hands on this book!  So this is hard for me to say... Forever did not live up to my expectations for a few reasons.  One, I felt like it dragged on with too much information at times.  It wasn't a fast page-turner for me.  I kept waiting for something to happen.  Two, on the other hand, I felt like there were parts missing from the plot.  I would have liked to have read more about Isabel and Cole, for instance, because the book was seriously lacking in delicious sexual tension.

But there is still so much to like about Forever.  I loved that Sam and Grace moved past being boyfriend/girlfriend with the side problem of one or the other being a wolf.  Their relationship was very serious in this book, and I was glad for them to finally get it together and have common goal.  There's more to like, but I feel like I can't give it away without spoilers.  Just let me say that the second half of the book's plot flowed better than the first and the characters, as always, made me happy - they are all so different but their friendship is so real.

And now the trilogy is over.  So bye-bye Mercy Falls, it's been a fun ride.  On to Scorpio Races!

PS: I found this in the Afterword: "Other real places in the books include the candy shop (based on Wythe Candy in Williamsburg, VA)..."  As a child I spent many a summer in Williamsburg and Wythe's was one of my absolute favorite places to visit.  I haven't been there in years and now I miss it.  Their confections are to die for.

Totally Not Book Related - the Earthquake!

Did you guys feel it?  I was sitting here in my apartment, minding my own business munching on some pasta for lunch, when I felt the chair I was sitting in shaking.  I turned around and looked at the back of the chair and I could see it shaking!  I looked at my glass and my diet Coke was sloshing back and forth.  I looked at my cat and she had a look of "OMGWTFBBQ" on her face.  So my first instinct was that I had somehow angered the ghost that lives in our apartment, but then I got on Facebook and saw that other people had felt it, too.  Whew, it was just an earthquake!

According to my Facebook friends, it was felt as far north as New York (all the was over to Buffalo) and then down here in Decatur, GA.

Did you feel it?  Where were you and what were you doing?

Bliss

Bliss
Lauren Myracle
444 pages
Publisher: Amulet
Source: library book sale
★★★★★

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Bliss has been left with her Grandmother in Atlanta in 1969 as her hippie parents journey to Canada.  Life in Atlanta is a huge adjustment to Bliss who has thus far spent most of her life in a commune, but she's looking forward to making friends.  On her first day at Crestview she gets a very creepy feeling from one of the buildings, where a student from long ago committed suicide.  She befriends a girl named Sandy and soon realizes that Sandy is into something very dark and Bliss is getting sucked into it unwillingly...

I was so impressed with Myracle's Shine, which I read earlier this summer, that I was looking forward to reading another book by her.  Bliss takes on serious issues just like Shine did, but this book was so different from Shine.  Whatever Myracle did to make this book, let me tell you it worked.

OMGOMGOMG.  This book was so good.  It sucked me in from the beginning because of the very creepy things that happen.  The book starts with Bliss learning about the Manson killings, followed by those ominous feelings she got when she started school.  I loved how all the dark magic elements came together in such a tumultuous time period, they went together perfectly.  The dark magic at school, the Manson killings, as well as racism in the south... everything melded together so well.

I enjoyed the set up of the book as well.  Bliss's first person point of view is interspersed with someones diary entries (it took me to the halfway point of the book to realize who it really was) and quotes from the Manson trials, popular culture in 1969, and The Andy Griffith Show.  All these elements came together to really give the reader the full story.

And I, of course, have to mention how great the characters were, particularly Sandy.  If ever there was a tragic figure in YA lit to feel sorry for, it's her.  And I don't feel sorry for her in the "bad things happen to her, how sad" way, I mean I feel sorry that she is what she is and that she's oblivious to real life.

Five stars to this simply amazing piece of work.  I highly recommend this novel, which I fear has been overlooked by the masses.

Matched

Matched
Ally Condie
366 pages
Publisher: Dutton
Source: library
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Cassia lives in a world where seventeen year olds are matched with each other in a special ceremony that they all look forward to.  When Cassia is matched with her best friend, they're both happy, but when Cassia's SD card thingy flashes the face of a different boy for a second, she begins to question the whole ceremony - especially when she falls in love with the other boy, and he with her.  Maybe Society isn't as cracked up as it's supposed to be.

Awesome book.  Awesome.  I loved the premise and the plot - this was a true dystopian.  People thought they had perfected society and it seems to be pretty perfect for Cassia, too, until she starts to realize that there are no decisions one can make for oneself.  I loved the character of Cassia.  She didn't just jump in and say, "Hey, things aren't right!" and then immediately start out on a quest to "fix" it.  It took her awhile to get that far, which seemed a lot more realistic.

Four stars.  What would have made me give it five?  More sexual tension between the three main characters.  Still, it was a fantastic read and now I'm looking forward to the second book in the trilogy, Crossed, due November 1st.

Books Can Be Deceiving

Books Can Be Deceiving
Jenn McKinlay
269 pages
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Source: The library (fittingly enough)
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Lindsey is all settled in to her new job as librarian in the small town of Briar Creek when her best friend's ex-boyfriend is found murdered in his island home.  It's a little suspicious because he had plagiarized his latest book from his ex, Beth.  Their break-up wasn't pretty and very public, so now Beth is being accused of the murder!  Lindsey knows Beth is innocent, but who did it?

This was a fantastic cozy!  I absolutely loved it.  The two main characters, Lindsey and Beth, were very endearing.  I was so afraid for Beth when she was wrongly accused of murder.  I liked the hint of a relationship Lindsey had with Sully and I'm looking forward to seeing that fleshed out later in the series.  I also have to give a shout out to Ms. Cole, the crotchety old lady who works in the library and who never smiles.  She was a character I loved to hate.  Every library has one, even the one I go to!

I love the premise that this series takes place in and around the library - I love libraries!  The plot was great, very clever, and it all came together very cleanly in the end.  I didn't have any leftover "but what happened..." questions in my head when I finished reading, which is how I prefer it in a cozy.

This is now my second favorite cozy mystery series (second to The Haunted Guesthouse series by E.J. Copperman) and I'm really looking forward to reading the second book when it comes out March 6th.  I highly recommend.

Starstruck

Starstruck
Cyn Balog
244 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Books With Bite Book Tours
★★★★★

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Qwen has been separated from her boyfriend, Wish, for four years when he suddenly announces he's moving back into town and can't wait to kiss her finally!  There's just one problem, Qwen has gained about seventy pounds since last seeing him and had zero social life.  She's afraid she's so much of a loser that when Wish takes one look at her, he'll dump her.

I absolutely loved this book.  What drew me in immediately was the character of Qwen - her problems are so realistic but her sense of humor about them made me laugh at least five times during the book.  I couldn't wait to read what she was going to say to make me laugh next.  Qwen was just an awesome character all around.  I want to be her friend IRL.

I also enjoyed the banter Qwen had with Christian, the winter help at her family's bakery.  There was an are they or aren't they question running through my mind throughout the entire book and I wish that had been explored a bit more.  Christian seemed like a good dude and I would have liked to learn more about him.

The plot was great, I devoured it in a night.  The book ended on a slightly paranormal note that I didn't see coming for the first half of the book, but when Wish returns something is obviously up with him.  He's very particular about the sun and rain - sort of the opposite of Edward Cullen, so I knew he wasn't a vampire.  I haven't seen anything like this in YA lit before.  Refreshing and not too paranormal if that's not your thing.

So yeah, five stars from me!  I highly recommend it and it's out now!

I Loved You First

I Loved You First
Reena Jacobs
142 pages
Publisher: the author
Source: the author
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Alexandria and Seth have been friends since they were kids and now they're off to their first year of college together.  It should be a happy time for both of them but there's a problem - Seth is gay and trying to stay in the closest, and Alex is hopelessly in love with him.  I Loved You First is the story of how Alex deals with that.

I don't understand unrequited love at all, probably because I never experienced it.  If I liked a guy growing up and he didn't like me back, I got over it and moved on pretty quick.  What I especially don't understand is Alex's unrequited love for Seth.  She thought that he was awesome, but why couldn't friendship be enough for her?  It's not like he was going to have a serious relationship with another woman.  That bothered me about this novella, but I admit that maybe I just don't understand because I haven't been there.

What was even more annoying was Seth himself.  I can't tell you why without going into some spoilers about the ending, but he was whiny in general.

I will give the author this - I Loved You First was an extremely well written self-published novella.  The characters were all developed equally, the plot flowed evenly, and there were no spelling or grammar errors.  It wasn't a fast paced page-turner, but I kept clicking those pages to find out what would happen next, would Alex ever get over it?

The author's representation of college has been called stereotypical, but I thought it was pretty accurate (aside from the dormrooms.)  Trying to find new friends at college can be hard; there is always that desire to get off campus; and college frat parties are obnoxious sometimes, especially when the brothers are so dense.  It happens!

The afterword by the author caught me off guard.  I thought she had done a great job in the novella showing that people need to have tolerance and understanding and her afterword came off as superfluous and, unfortunately, preachy.  If you read the book, skip the afterword.

leave a comment, then head over to Reena's blog for a chance to win a signed copy of 
I Loved You First.
follow the tour stops HERE 
*courtesy of aobibliophileTM  

Possession

Possession
Elana Johnson
405 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: Books With Bite Book Tours
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Violet lives in a world where boys and girls don't do anything together.  She also lives in a world made up of good and bad - the Goodlands, the Badlands, Good people, Bad people.  When she is arrested in a park for walking with her boyfriend, she is sentenced along with another criminal, Jag, to spend a week together before they are expelled from the Goodlands.  Possession follows Vi and Jag as they go through that journey together.

Possession is a story about alliances, good and bad, family, and friends.  It's also about finding yourself.  Vi doesn't have a big sense of self in this novel and she is constantly struggling to find out who she is based on the decisions she has to make.  Should she choose her boyfriend or Jag?  Or sister or her father?  The decisions she makes will define her.  Even as the book started to wind down, she wasn't entirely clear.

I would have liked some more background on Vi's world, though.  I would have liked to have read more detail about how her futuristic world came to be and more how it operated.  If felt like the information given on those topics was presented very piecemeal and left up to the reader to figure out.  What I absolutely loved were the last two chapters.  I went back and read them three times.  They really... I can't even say, you'll just have to figure out what I mean when you read it yourself.

If you love plot twists, you will love this book.  Just when I thought I'd figured out what was going on, something happened that made me think something else was going on.  By the end of the book I had a feeling of, "what just happened?" but in a good way.  It will be interesting to see how this storyline continues in the second book.

Possession is out now!

Town in a Blueberry Jam

Town in a Blueberry Jam
B.B. Haywood
308 pages
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Source: library
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.


Town in a Blueberry Jam is the first cozy in the Candy Holliday series.  I randomly came across this book while browsing the library and was drawn in by the Candy Holliday logo on the spine and then the cover.  Plus, I love a good cozy so I was eager to read it.

Candy (named so because of her Halloween birthday) lives in the town of Cape Willington, Maine and works on her father's blueberry farm.  On the eve of the Blueberry Festival a popular local citizen is found dead, appearing to have either jumped or pushed off a cliff.  When the winner of the Blueberry Festival pageant is also murdered, Candy finds her self investigating the murders to exonerate her friend who has been wrongly accused.

It was a cute cozy, even if it did have a bit of a slow start - it wasn't until a third of the way though the novel that the second victim is killed and Candy starts her investigation.  I did enjoy reading about the festival goings-on, particularly the pageant itself, which had some humorous moments.  I did see one major plot twist coming a mile away, but I didn't know who the murderer was until the end, though it didn't really surprise me to read it.

The character development was about nil and the plot sometimes seemed to drag on, that's why this book gets three stars from me.  It was a cute cozy, but it didn't blow me away.

PS: I'm tempted to try the recipe in the back for blueberry whipped cream, but my diet started today.

Becoming Marie Antoinette

Becoming Marie Antoinette
Juliet Grey
398 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Source: NetGalley.com
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Becoming Marie Antoinette opens when Marie Antonia of Austria is just ten years old.  Her mother has announced that if all goes according to plan, she will marry the Dauphin of France, Louis, and thus someday become the Queen of France.  Princess lessons, for a lack of a better term, start right away - preparing Marie both mentally and physically.

I loved this book!  What drew me in the most was the character of Marie... Marie Antoinette was such a likable character; a very charming child that grew into a young wife determined to please her indifferent husband.  She had grace, humor, generosity, and style.  She didn't want to offend anyone and was acutely aware that she had it better than the commoners.

And when I read what happened to her immediately following her marriage, what her husband would not do, I couldn't help but have sympathy for her.  On her shoulders fell the great burden of providing an heir for France, but without the participation of her husband, that was impossible.  My favorite scenes in the novel were those between Marie and Louis as their admiration and love grew towards each other.

Aside from these things, which drew me in and had me clicking through the pages anytime I had a spare moment, the author's prose was simply beautiful.  Juliet Grey has a real talent for the written word and I'm looking forward to reading future novels by her.  On top of that, her research was impeccable.  This historical fiction is filled with historical fact and I enjoyed reading her blurb at the end of the book explaining where she took artistic license.

Like I said, I loved this book!  If you have any inclination at all towards historical fiction, I think you'll love it, too.  I am eagerly awaiting the second book in the trilogy, which is due next Spring.

The Ghost and the Goth

The Ghost and the Goth
Stacy Kade
281 pages
Publisher: Hyperion
Source: Borders sale :(
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Alona is leaving school one morning when she is hit by a bus and killed, but instead of moving on she becomes a ghost... a ghost the school's outcast, Will, can see.  At first they don't want anything to do with each other, but when it becomes apparent they can help each other with their respective goals, they team up.

Yes, the title and cover are totally cheesy, but don't let that deter you from reading the book.  There is so much more to this novel than a goth boy being haunted by a dead cheerleader.  For one, from the descriptions of Will he doesn't seem goth to me, and second, Alona is so much more than a stuck-up cheerleader.  Alona had some serious, real-life problems to deal with when she was alive and now she has to come to terms with that as a ghost.  Will was also a realistic character - if you believe someone can be harassed by ghosts everyday to the point where those around him think he's schizophrenic.

The moral of the story: people are not always what they seem and that's a lesson we can all use once in a while.  I'm definitely looking forward to reading the sequel, Queen of the Dead.

Mathias Bootmaker and the Keepers of the Sandbox

Mathias Bootmaker and the Keepers of the Sandbox
Edward Medina
134 pages
Publisher: the author
Source: the author
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Mathias Bootmaker is, appropriately, a bootmaker who has a problem - he has a bit of amnesia and can't remember who he is or what he does - in addition to bad dreams that plague him.  So he sets out on a journey to find out who he is and on the way he meets a little boy who is then stolen by the kingdom, just as all young children are stolen to brainwash the creativity out of them.  Now Mathias, who objects to the general public's lack of doing anything about it, decides something needs to be done.

What I liked: The author did a great job with the voice of the narrator; the book is very lyrical and descriptive and that drew me in even though it was a bit confusing at first.  The whole book had a great magical and wondrous quality to it because it was so imaginative; Medina has more imagination in his pinky finger than I have in my whole body and that works to his advantage.

What I didn't like: It was a bit confusing, I'm not going to lie.  It took me a few chapters to figure out what exactly was going on.  I also didn't like the ending, which I guess you could call a cliffhanger, but it was more like the book ended mid-thought.

I asked the author before I started reading what the intended age group was and he simply said it was written for a wide audience.  Here's my take: Overall, this was a pretty existential children's book that might go over young children's heads.  I think middle-schoolers would like it and also if you're an adult and you're into existentialism, you'll probably enjoy this cute little book, too.

Three stars because I liked it, but I was not in love with it.  For 99¢ on Amazon, you can't go wrong if you're looking for something short and whimsical to read on a rainy night.

When authors review their own works... a discussion.

Please leave me some comments with your thoughts!

Let's take a break from our frantic reading and reviewing to have a discussion about authors and their reviews... of their own work.  I can't be the only one out there who gets irritated when an author reviews their own work on Goodreads.  At least now Goodreads will tell you when it's an author's review of their own work, but still, their five star review can skew the overall rating, especially when it's a self-published work with under a couple dozen ratings.  I personally would prefer if authors refrain from giving their books a star rating on Goodreads or any other site, for that matter.  I would like to see an honest representation of what real readers thought of the book, not what the author thinks or what they have solicited their friends to rate, which brings me to another point...

Suspicious reviews on Amazon.  I'm contacted every so often by self-published writers looking for reviews of their book to show up on my blog.  I'm usually flattered that they've chosen me out of the thousands of blogs out there, but I always look into the book before I accept or decline.  I look at the material they e-mail me, their Goodreads page(s), etc.  One of the stops I make is Amazon.com to see what other people have rated the book, but a few times these reviews have raised flags in my eyes.  For example, one such book (I will not name titles ;) ) had a dozen or so reviews of the book.  All the reviews were five stars and not very detailed about the plot or what they thought of the book, just that it was "AMAZING!  THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER READ!!!1!."  More than one gave a personal shout-out to the author, which I thought was suspicious.  When I clicked the link after each reviews username that said "see all my reviews" the book was the only item they had reviewed.  That is suspicious to me as well.

I wanted to believe people are honest, however...

What do you think?  Do these things bother you?  Am I overreacting?  Should I refuse to review books whose reviews appear to have been tampered with?  It's something I've been contemplating.

Speak

Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson
198 pages
Publisher: Penguin
Source: Borders sale :(
★★★★★

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I didn't think I'd read this book before, but knowing it was a classic for teens I thought I would read it.  I didn't think I'd read it before, but by the end I remembered.  I've definitely read this book before, I just can't remember when.  I remember liking it then (whenever that was) and I loved it again this time.

Anyone who has even remotely battled depression as a teenager can identify with Melinda right away.  What we don't know right away was that her depression stems from the fact that she was raped.  It happens right before her first year of high school and because she called the cops at the party where she was hurt, the rest of the school casts her as an outcast.  Melinda has no friends, no chance, terrible grades, and bickering parents.  The novel follows her through the four marking periods of the year.

Melinda was hurt and very depressed, but at the same time I found her to be a strong character.  She knew herself even though she didn't think she did.  If she were real, I would tell her to continue on with her art because it gave her so much strength and something to live for.  I would love to see a followup novel someday about how Melinda is doing as an adult.

Like I said, it's a classic and I give it five stars, so check it out.  On a related note, Speak is one of those books that annoying people like to "ban."  Since I am participating in the Banned Books Week Hop this September (hosted by I Read Banned Books and I am a Reader, Not a Writer), I will be giving a copy of the Platinum Edition of Speak away, which includes a blurb by the author about censorship, to one lucky blog follower.  Stay tuned!

Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have)

Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have)
Sarah Mlynowski
354 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: library
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

When April's father and step-mother decide to move to Chicago, April says no way.  She somehow convinces her father to let her move in with her friend Vi and her mother, who April fails to mention is not going to be living there anymore.  So it's just April and Vi living together in a house.  Typical teenage antics ensue.

I'll be honest - I'm not entirely sure why I liked this book so much.  There were a couple things that annoyed me, mainly the whole character of Vi and a little of April's character, too.  I was a little confused by April because she had a moral compass, but kept fighting against it.  The other thing that annoyed me was the premise - I have a hard time believing responsible parents would let this happen to their child.  April's mother annoyed me, too - she didn't like that her ex-husband allowed April to move in with a friend, but wouldn't even pick up the phone to discuss that, or anything, with him.  Maybe April's parents aren't as responsible as they would have you think.

But besides that, I really did like this book.  It made me laugh and I loved the adopted cat, Donut.  All of the characters had distinct personalities, even Donut, and I love that in a book.  Things really got interesting towards the end of the book when something dramatic happens to April (no, she doesn't get pregnant, but I won't tell you what happens!) and that made the book realistic.  Yes, even though I thought the book would never happen in real life, I also found it realistic.  How's that for an enigma?

And don't go thinking this book glorifies teen sex, because it definitely shows the more horrible aspects of teen sex.

Four stars!  Give it a go!

Kissing Comfort

Kissing Comfort
Jo Goodman
378 pages
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Source: Goodreads win!
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Sometimes a gal just needs to read a book with a half naked cowboy on the cover, am I right ladies?

The year is 1870 in San Francisco.  When Bode doesn't show up right away to his own birthday party, his brother Bram fills in the awkwardness by announcing his engagement to Comfort, but there's one problem: he never proposed and she's just as surprised as the rest of the guests at his announcement.  Bode is suspicious of Bram's "engagement" and decides that he's the one for Comfort.  Comfort must choose whether to break her sham of an engagement or not and she must also come to terms with her past at the same time.

This was a great romance!  As the cover might suggest, there are a few steamy scenes in this novel, which were not cheesy in the least (thankfully).  But there was also a great plot, complete with plot twists and mysterious bad guys, and equally great characters.  Overall Kissing Comfort was very well written and I really enjoyed it.  It will be released September 6th.

PS: The fact that I got this book free from the publisher did not affect my review.

Coffee at Little Angels

Coffee at Little Angels
Nadine Rose Larter
188 ebook pages
Publisher: the author
Source: the author
★★☆☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

After Phil dies his friends all arrive back in their hometown for his funeral.  That's pretty much the whole plot and I kept feeling like I was waiting for the book to get started.  Then it ended.  I wanted to like the book because I think it's such a great premise - someone dies and their friends all meet up again after a long period of time - but I just didn't love the execution.

I had a bit of a hard time keeping the characters straight in this book because it was eight different characters all written in the first person and they weren't exactly distinctive.  Because of that I think it would have been better if the book had fewer main characters and had been written from one point of view or in the third person.  But there is one thing I know for sure - I hated the character of Melanie, especially during her little rant about halfway through the novel.  She was even more bigoted and selfish than Scarlett O'Hara.  I was glad to see the other characters resent her crap.  Of course, none of the characters were what I would call endearing.  Except maybe Phil.

Overall, I have to give this book two stars, meaning "It was okay."  I just didn't quite like it enough to give it three stars.

How to Wash a Cat

How to Wash a Cat
Rebecca M. Hale
295 pages
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Source: library book sale
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

When she inherits her Uncle Oscar's antique shop after his death, our heroine (a former accountant) also inherits a mystery Uncle Oscar left behind for her, something he discovered before he died - something that might have caused his death.  Now it's up to her, along with her two cats, to figure it out before whatever killed Uncle Oscar kills her too!

I loved this cozy!  It was so easy to follow, a fast read, and pulled me in immediately - probably because the first scene is literally about washing a cat - it's not an easy task!  Speaking of cats, I loved the two cats in the book: Rupert and Isabella.  At some points in the book they seemed almost human and more animated than any of the human characters.  Their antics always kept me laughing to myself and I could definitely picture them.  They were my favorite part of the book!

The plot itself was good, too.  The story takes place in the Green Vase, Uncle Oscar's antique shop.  Hale did such a good job describing the place that I just wanted to crawl through the book and start cleaning up.

Finally, I thought it was interesting that our main character doesn't have a name!  I didn't even realize that until I was typing up the brief summary for you.  I don't think I've ever seen that before in a book.

If your'e a cozy fan, this is a book you're definitely going to want to pick up.  Personally, I can't wait to get my hands on the next two books in the series!

Shoe Strings

Shoe Strings
Christy Hayes
264 pages
Publisher: the author
Source: the author
★★★★☆

You read the Goodreads summary here.

When Angelita's father shows up in her shop the day she's supposed to go on vacation, she changes her plans and spends two weeks in the North Carolina mountains to think things through.  He has a business proposition for her that she's not at all crazy about.  While in the mountains Angelita meets the cabin owner's son, Jesse.  Can Jesse help her with the situation with her father before things turn illegal, all while falling in love?

This was a cute romance story.  What I loved, aside from the main plot about Angelita and Jesse, was that there were a couple subplots, which kept the book interesting!  Both Angelita and Jessie, and Kerri Ann and Bryce and great chemistry.  I also enjoyed reading about the shoes Angelita designed.

I think Christy Hayes needs to look into writing for Harlequin, or rather Harlequin needs to look into her.  Her romance was much less formulaic but at the same time captured situations that Harlequin readers like to read about.  Hayes would be a breath of fresh air for that publishing company.

If you like romances, then Shoe Strings is definitely worth the $2.99 it is right now for Nook and Kindle.  You won't regret this quick, classic, lighthearted romance.

PS:  How awesome are the shoes on the cover?  I wouldn't have paired them with black hose, but I love them and I want them.

Spellbound

Spellbound
Cara Lynn Schultz
320 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Source: NetGalley
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

After a tragic family accident, Emma moves in with her aunt and starts a new school with her younger cousin guiding her through the high school social scene.  At school she meets Brandon and they are instantly attracted to each other, but a family curse has been put on Brandon's family, a curse which is determined to keep Emma away.

What I didn't like: I felt like the author's voice was forced, like she was trying too hard to sound like a teenager and was trying too hard to be witty.  The voices of her adult characters sounded off, too - no one says "dear" that much.  I also felt like the book got off to a slow start, like the real plot didn't start until about halfway through the novel.

What I liked: Spellbound was like a cross between Twilight and Hex Hall, two of my favorite series.  The relationship between Brandon and Emma reminded me a lot of Edward and Bella - fated to be together the fall instantly and heavily in love, only to be kept apart by some evil force.  You can't go wrong with that plot line in YA romance, that's for sure.  I liked that Emma was a witch too, but I also liked that this wasn't a huge plot point because I think the book would have been too cluttered if Emma were trying to harness that in at the same time as dealing with the curse.

The book gets three stars from me because, while it was entertaining and I liked it, I felt like it took too long to get going and wrapped up too quickly and easily after that.

Still Missing

Still Missing
Chevy Stevens
340 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: Goodreads win!
★★★★★

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I don't want to give away too much about this book: Annie O'Sullivan was abducted from an open-house and taken to a remote cabin by a man she later calls "The Freak."  Still Missing follows Annie's story through her sessions with her therapist.

This book was amazing.  The author did a great job making her characters unique and realistic.  I read some reviews that said they didn't like the book and/or Annie because she was such a bitch.  Um, wouldn't you be a bitch too if you'd been abducted for a year and been hounded by the press when you got back?  I thought Annie was realist and raw and I really enjoyed her character.

The plot itself was inventive, especially towards the ending of the book when therapy session went from discussing what happened to the current investigation.  I thought Annie's therapy sessions were presented very well, I liked that it was a one sided conversation rather than a back and forth with the therapist.  In fact, we never hear the therapist speak.  In addition, the descriptions of the mountain cabin and Annie's life there were very compelling.

The ending will blow your mind - fucked up is the only phrase I can think of to describe it.  You seriously need to give this book a read, I was riveted.  I was going to give it four stars, but oh hell, it's getting five.

PS: The fact that this book was provided free to me by the publisher has in no way affected my review.

July Recap - 27 books

Um, can someone please tell me where this month went?  Holy cow it's August!  For me, summer is winding down (I run on a retail calendar, so I'm heading into fall even though it's still hot down here) but my reading isn't winding down at all.  This month I participated in my first Nest Book Club Challenge and finished it already!  Most of the books I read this month went towards that, the rest were library books that I'd been on the wait list for, but overall I read a lot of great YA this month.  Here's the list whether it got reviewed here or not:

State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy
The Front Porch Prophet by Raymond L. Atkins
Sleight (AVARA-K #1) by Jennifer Sommersby
Columbine by Dave Cullen
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Shine by Lauren Myracle
Dominance by Will Lavender
If You Ask Me by Betty White
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood
Entwined by Heather Dixon
Hope and Danger in the New South City by Georgina Hickey
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Wanderlust by Danielle Steel
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
Shadowland by Alyson Noel
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Released by Megan Duncan

YTD books: 154
YTD pages: 51,255

PS: Stay tuned tomorrow for my review of a really awesome book, Still Missing.