Hi all.
I'm hanging my head in shame.
I know it has been FOREVER.
And I'm sorry.
It's so much hassle having to keep up with this blog AND my everday blog.
And so.
I'm moving book reviews to my other blog.
It just makes sense!
So feel free to follow me over there.
Near the top you'll find a list of my 2009 book reads. Most have links to reviews I've done and grades that I've given the books.
Once again, sorry!
Sloppy Firsts
Sloppy Firsts
by Megan McCafferty
Rating: A-
Rating: A-I changed the rating scale. The stars were starting to annoy me so I'm switching to a grading scale instead.
I'm actually on Megan McCafferty's 4th book in this series but I'm a little behind. Sorry!
Sloppy Firsts is the story of Jessica Darling (and yes, she realizes that she shares her name with a porn star. She's Googled it). When, at 16, her best friend Hope Weaver moves away from Pineville, New Jersey Jessica is devastated. To hold onto their friendship, they agree to write, phone, email and IM. However, aside from that Jessica is having a hard time dealing with her life, from being stuck with the Clueless Crew, handling her dad's obsession with her track career, dealing with her mom and sister as they prepare for The Big Day and on top of it all the class dreg, Marcus Flutie, seems to be stalking her. How will she make it through this without her best friend?
I found this book as I was browsing in Borders. I knew I'd heard of it before, most likely on the Nest Book Club message board and it sounded decent so I bought it.
At first I didn't like it. Jessica annoyed me, her parents annoyed me, her "friends annoyed me. I was having a hard time starting it. However, right about the time Marcus Flutie arrived on the scene (*sigh* Marcus Flutie) I found myself getting hooked. Jessica is REAL. Yes, maybe she pays more attention, writes a little bit better and all that than the average teen. But so many books about teens portray them as being "perfect" and this book is just refreshing and hysterical. When I was done, I couldn't wait to pick up the next book in the series and continue Jessica's crazy adventure.
Coming Up Next: Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty
I'm actually on Megan McCafferty's 4th book in this series but I'm a little behind. Sorry!
Sloppy Firsts is the story of Jessica Darling (and yes, she realizes that she shares her name with a porn star. She's Googled it). When, at 16, her best friend Hope Weaver moves away from Pineville, New Jersey Jessica is devastated. To hold onto their friendship, they agree to write, phone, email and IM. However, aside from that Jessica is having a hard time dealing with her life, from being stuck with the Clueless Crew, handling her dad's obsession with her track career, dealing with her mom and sister as they prepare for The Big Day and on top of it all the class dreg, Marcus Flutie, seems to be stalking her. How will she make it through this without her best friend?
I found this book as I was browsing in Borders. I knew I'd heard of it before, most likely on the Nest Book Club message board and it sounded decent so I bought it.
At first I didn't like it. Jessica annoyed me, her parents annoyed me, her "friends annoyed me. I was having a hard time starting it. However, right about the time Marcus Flutie arrived on the scene (*sigh* Marcus Flutie) I found myself getting hooked. Jessica is REAL. Yes, maybe she pays more attention, writes a little bit better and all that than the average teen. But so many books about teens portray them as being "perfect" and this book is just refreshing and hysterical. When I was done, I couldn't wait to pick up the next book in the series and continue Jessica's crazy adventure.
Coming Up Next: Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty
American Wife
American Wife
by Curtin Sittenfeld
Rating: ****
Rating: ****From the author of Prep (a book I really, really loved) comes American Wife. This book is about a normal little girl from a small town in Wisconsin who ends up becoming the First Lady of the United States. The book is loosely based on Laura Bush and it honestly will make you sympathetic towards her and make you pause to think, "Hmm, I wonder how these women do end up being married to those men."
Score another one for Curtis Sittenfeld. While I was EXTREMELY disappointed with her book The Man of My Dreams I LOVED Prep and so I thought I'd check this one out hoping it would be another goodie. I was definitely impressed. Sittenfeld has a way of creating characters that you love or that you love to hate. I think this book is a must read and a definite eye opener. Makes you wonder what you never hear about the President and his First Lady.
Coming Up Next: Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
Score another one for Curtis Sittenfeld. While I was EXTREMELY disappointed with her book The Man of My Dreams I LOVED Prep and so I thought I'd check this one out hoping it would be another goodie. I was definitely impressed. Sittenfeld has a way of creating characters that you love or that you love to hate. I think this book is a must read and a definite eye opener. Makes you wonder what you never hear about the President and his First Lady.
Coming Up Next: Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
The Best Day of Someone Else's Life
The Best Day of Someone Else's Life
by Kerry Reichs
Rating: ***
Rating: ***Kevin "Vi" Connelly is the ultimate bridesmaid. When she was young she was hit with the wedding bug and from that day forward she lapped up anything having to do with weddings. However, now in her mid 20's and with a TON of friends getting engaged Vi had decided that maybe there's more to life than weddings. Throw in airplane rides, expensive dresses, wedding gifts and more and Vi is realizing that her bank account cannot take all that attention! 11 weddings in 18 months is enough to make anyone want to do away with weddings for good but in the midst of it all Vi discovers some important things about herself and her life.
I picked this book up because it sounded SO much like the movie 27 Dresses. When I started it I found myself a little bored but once the book picked up I was drawn in. While there are a few similarities to 27 Dresses (falling in love with weddings from a young age) there definitely aren't many. I found the book funny and endearing, with likable characters and a decent ending. Not a HUGE love story but it definitely kept my attention until the last page.
Coming Up Next: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
I picked this book up because it sounded SO much like the movie 27 Dresses. When I started it I found myself a little bored but once the book picked up I was drawn in. While there are a few similarities to 27 Dresses (falling in love with weddings from a young age) there definitely aren't many. I found the book funny and endearing, with likable characters and a decent ending. Not a HUGE love story but it definitely kept my attention until the last page.
Coming Up Next: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Uglies, Pretties and Specials
Uglies, Pretties and Specials
by Scott Westerfeld
Rating: ****
Rating: ****I know, I am a huge slacker. Not so much a reading slacker but I have not posted a new book in forever! So I decided to take a short cut and rate all three of these books in one post. Sue me.
Uglies is the first in this three part series. Planet Earth has become very, very different than the Earth that we know. Somehow humans nearly destroyed the planet. And it the place of the civilizations we know today small cities have popped up and many new changes have come about. For the first 16 years of life you live in a part of the city called Uglyville. You look - well, pretty much like the humans that we know today. And you spend that part of your life looking across the river at the Pretties. When you turn 16 you are given a surgery to make you pretty and then move across the river to party, have fun and pretty much do a whole lot of nothing else.
The book Uglies begins with Tilly, who can't wait to turn pretty. Until she meets Shay, who wants to run away from the surgery and find something better. When Shay runs away, Tilly is sent after her. And what Tilly discovers seems to be so much more than she ever could have imagined.
Pretties opens, once again, with Tilly who, along with her friend Shay, is now a Pretty. And while all this seems fine and dandy, Tilly has a nagging feeling that there is something more. When Tally receives a note from her past her would is shaken to its core and Tilly realizes that once again she must push everything she's ever know aside to find more.
Specials is the conclusion to this trilogy. Tilly is now a superpower Special and is sent after the people that she once considered her friends. However, Tilly still has memories of something else and when she's offered the chance to stamp out her old friends Tilly has to make a decision: do away with the New Smoke for good or follow her heart.
I LOVED LOVED LOVED these books. They were so easy to get into, you love Tilly and have a love/hate relationship with Shay, who is with Tilly every step of the way. The worlds that Scott Westerfeld creates are just amazing as are the words: bubbly, bogus, etc. I found myself unable to put these books down and at the end of Specials felt so hopeful and sad for Tilly all at the same time. These will definitely be rereads for me and I definitely recommend them to everyone.
Coming Up Next: The Best Day of Someone Else's Life by Kerry Reichs
Uglies is the first in this three part series. Planet Earth has become very, very different than the Earth that we know. Somehow humans nearly destroyed the planet. And it the place of the civilizations we know today small cities have popped up and many new changes have come about. For the first 16 years of life you live in a part of the city called Uglyville. You look - well, pretty much like the humans that we know today. And you spend that part of your life looking across the river at the Pretties. When you turn 16 you are given a surgery to make you pretty and then move across the river to party, have fun and pretty much do a whole lot of nothing else.
The book Uglies begins with Tilly, who can't wait to turn pretty. Until she meets Shay, who wants to run away from the surgery and find something better. When Shay runs away, Tilly is sent after her. And what Tilly discovers seems to be so much more than she ever could have imagined.
Pretties opens, once again, with Tilly who, along with her friend Shay, is now a Pretty. And while all this seems fine and dandy, Tilly has a nagging feeling that there is something more. When Tally receives a note from her past her would is shaken to its core and Tilly realizes that once again she must push everything she's ever know aside to find more.
Specials is the conclusion to this trilogy. Tilly is now a superpower Special and is sent after the people that she once considered her friends. However, Tilly still has memories of something else and when she's offered the chance to stamp out her old friends Tilly has to make a decision: do away with the New Smoke for good or follow her heart.
I LOVED LOVED LOVED these books. They were so easy to get into, you love Tilly and have a love/hate relationship with Shay, who is with Tilly every step of the way. The worlds that Scott Westerfeld creates are just amazing as are the words: bubbly, bogus, etc. I found myself unable to put these books down and at the end of Specials felt so hopeful and sad for Tilly all at the same time. These will definitely be rereads for me and I definitely recommend them to everyone.
Coming Up Next: The Best Day of Someone Else's Life by Kerry Reichs
The Secret Circle Volume II: The Power
Secret Circle Volume II: The Power
by L.J.Smith
Rating: **
Cassie's in The Club but it's quickly becoming deadly. Torn between two leaders, Cassie must choose between her love for Adam or saving all of New Salem. Will Cassie's power be strong enough and will she do the right thing? 
Rating: **I'm having a hard time even writing this review. Again, it did keep me involved, which is why I gave the book two stars. However, it was just kind of bleh for me. Cassie lies, she then fesses up, it's too late... blah blah blah.
Coming Up Next: The Uglies by L.J. Smith
Secret Circle Volume One: The Initiation
The Secret Circle: The Initiation and The Captive Part 1
by L.J. Smith
Rating: **
After visiting New England for the summer Cassie soon finds that her mother has decided that they're moving there permanently, taking Cassie away from California and instead living in a small town called New Salem. Cassie is quickly drawn to the most popular group in her new high school, The Club, and she soon figures out their darkest secret. When Cassie falls for Adam, a member of The Club she is pulled between what it right and what is wrong.by L.J. Smith
Rating: **I know I need to be fair. Had I read this book back in the day I probably would have loved it. It's got the whole mysterious feel with a little bit of romance and the main character is fairly likable. However, I guess for me it lacked that certain something that more adult books seem to have. It did manage to keep my attention but... I'm not sure why.
Coming Up Next: Secret Circle Volume Two: The Power by L.J. Smith