Friday, December 24, 2010

A Kiss in Time - Alex Flinn

Talia fell under a spell . . . . Jack broke the curse.
I was told to beware the accursed spindle, but it was so enchanting, so hypnotic. . . .
I was looking for a little adventure the day I ditched my tour group. But finding a comatose town, with a hot-looking chick asleep in it, was so not what I had in mind.
I awakened in the same place but in another time—to a stranger's soft kiss.
I couldn't help kissing her. Sometimes you just have to kiss someone. I didn't know this would happen.
Now I am in dire trouble because my father, the king, says I have brought ruin upon our country. I have no choice but to run away with this commoner!
Now I'm stuck with a bratty princess and a trunk full of her jewels. . . . The good news: My parents will freak!
Think you have dating issues? Try locking lips with a snoozing stunner who turns out to be 316 years old. Can a kiss transcend all—even time?


3/5 Enjoyable.

This book fell a little flat of my expectations, though I think it was worth my time to read. It was pretty cute over all, following Flinn's style of taking a classic Disney fairytale and bringing it into modern time, as Flinn did in 'Beastly'. This time, Flinn did a modern take on 'Sleeping Beauty', which is one of my favorite Disney Princess classics. It's a great idea that didn't work quite as well in this book as it did in 'Beastly', but I still really, really liked this book.

I never grew particularly attached to the main character, Jack, though I did completely love Talia. She was adorable, funny, and witty, because there's nothing quite as hilarious as a pampered fairytale princess thrown into a modern day setting. Some of the messages and ideas in this book really stuck with me and still come in and out of my head. Ideas of beauty and what it really is and what it means, and ideas of dreaming. These beautiful ideas were presented in a fun, charming, witty way that I can't help but love.

I wasn't too happy with the resolution of this book. It seemed a bit cheap and cheesy, but it didn't ruin the book as a whole. Overall, it's a great read that I'd recommend to anyone who wants something fun and refreshing to read.

See Also: Beastly

Beastly - Alex Flinn


I am a beast. A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog, but a horrible new creature who walks upright – a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever – ruined – unless I can break the spell.
 Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and a perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly beastly.


4/5 Adorable.

I loved this book. It's a cute, modern take on the classic story of 'Beauty and the Beast' that kept the integrity of the story as well as the overall magic feel without coming across as a cheap remake of an old idea. This book made the story and the characters its own.

Kyle is a character that you don't connect with at first. He seems perfect and is completely arrogant and a jerk. But as time goes on and things get worse for him, and as he is turned into a beast, it, ironically enough, brings out the more human side of him, who is much more loveable and beautiful than the boy with the perfect face that he is originally potrayed as. The romance between him and Lindy is soft, gentle, and adorable. The constant paralell between the roses that him and Lindy both love and the rose from the original story of Beauty and the Beast retains some of the whimsical, fairytale feeling that we're so familiar with.

I think that some parts of this book could've been a bit better, but I'm not complaining at all. 'Beastly' is a personal favorite and a cute book that readers everywhere can enjoy as this classic is brought into the 21st century.

See Also: A Kiss In Time

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson




Malinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know hate her from a distance. The safest place is to be alone, inside her own head.

But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens.
 And then she would have to speak the truth.





3/5 A good read.

I really did enjoy this book overall. It had an interesting combination of humor and realistic, dark matters that I'm not altogether sure was my favorite. It made the book unique and memorable, and it was written in a way that dealt with harsh circumstances but was easy to relate to and humorous, making it easy to read and hard to put down. It dealt with the consequences of not speaking, of not telling what is on your heart in a rather touching way. The main character, Medlinda, was somewhat frustrating throughout the story, but showed great growth by the stories end, becoming a stronger person and a strong role model.

I did not fall in love with 'Speak', although I think it was worth my time to read. I have a love-hate relationship with the writing style, but it kept me intrigued through and through. It had strong meaning and was impacting overall, with some emotional connections if not to the characters, than to the circumstances. I would recommend it to people who want a quick, casual read, even if it won't become their favorite book of all time.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Unwind - Neal Shusterman


In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them. Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by the world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.


4/5 Thrilling.

This book captivated me. This book is more enticing for its plot, not so much its characters, and yet the characters managed to be very real and easy to sympathize for, though they were not too all together memorable and I didn't completely fall in love with them. This book was especially refreshing and very devoid of stupid cliches. It presented many strong ideas of morality and philosophy that I found extremely interesting, all the while keeping me on edge with the suspense and action.

'Unwind' was a disturbing and yet thrilling read that ended with one of the best senses of revolution that I have experienced in a book. The plotting was well paced with great rising action that constantly introduced new settings and situations that kept my attention span engaged without seeming random and overbearingly quick paced. The goal of surviving until age 18 provided constant suspense and desire that you could feel for the characters. It was somewhat graphic but not in an unnecessary way. I was fully engaged from the first page to the last, and would recommend it to anyone who wants a thrilling read that'll have them on the edge of their seat.

Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher



Clay Jenson doesn't want anything to do with the tapes that Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead, he reasons. Her secrets should be burned with her.

Then Hannah's voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes - and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death.

All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah's recorded words all throughout his small town...
...and what he discovers changes his life for forever.




5/5 - Beautiful.

This book was hard to read, but I couldn't put it down. It deals with the very real issues of teenage suicide and all the little things that add onto an already breaking heart. This book lets you see life through the eyes of a girl that's already committed suicide, and through the eyes of a guy who barely knew her and yet feels somewhat responsible for her death.

'Thirteen Reasons Why' is beautifully tragic in a way that kept me holding my breath on every page. It's a harsh dose of reality that isn't cushioned by ideals of innocent teenage life. It deals with premarital sex, rape, and drinking, but not at all in a way that advocates them. This book doesn't beat around the bush, but tells all the dirty little secrets that have become common in teenage life, along with the results of them. It also deals with the dangers of not telling and not reaching out to those who are struggling. It also deals with the very realistic neglect of adults who dismiss the struggles of teens as a power trip. The girl who died, Hannah Baker, becomes more than just a name on a page. Clay Jenson, the boy who is taken on a journey by the recorded last words of Hannah, shows development and personal growth by the book's end.

As difficult and heartbreaking this book was to read, it is one I would recommend, but only to those who are willing to be taken on a harsh journey that pushes the limit, dealing with what we so often decide to overlook instead of diving right into it.

Stuck in Neutral - Terry Trueman


Shawn McDaniel's life is not what it may seem to anyone looking at him. He is glued to a wheelchair, unable to voluntarily move a muscle -- he can't even move his eyes. For all Shawn's father knows, he may be suffering. Shawn may want a release. And as long as he is unable to communicate his true feelings to his father, Shawn's life is in danger.
To the world, Shawn's senses seem dead. Within these pages, however, we meet a side of him that no one else has seen -- a spirit that is rich beyond imagining, breathing life.





2/5 - Hardly worth it.

I was totally captivated by the concept presented in this book. The first few pages did a great job of pulling me in, but the overall plot fell flat. The pacing was slow going despite the fact that it was an extremely short novel. Many of the events in the rising action were unrealistic at best, and seemed cheesy, whimsical, and somewhat new age-ish. Not an all together great combination. The main character, Shawn, undergoes seizures in which his spirit is released from his body and he is floating through space. The rest of the story was very realistic, and this strange, magical twist simply made the story ridiculous.

The fact that Shawn's father had plans to kill Shawn for the entire story built a lot of tension, but never got resolved either way. Shawn's mother not dealing with this fact did not add to the plot.

On top of that, in one part of the book Shawn's brother grows angry at someone for insulting Shawn and then beats the guy within an inch of his life, pouring gasoline on him and almost catching him on fire. This seemed unrealistic, seeing as the guy just walked away and the brother never got in trouble or anything.

I loved the concept and the ideas that were presented and argued,but the end left the story unresolved and unappreciated. This book could have been so much better. I was sad to see it fall so short of my expectations.

Linger - Meggie Stiefvater



This is the story of a boy who used to be a wolf and a girl who was becoming one.
Just a few months ago, it was Sam who was the mythical creature. His was the disease we couldn’t cure. His was the good-bye that meant the most. He had the body that was a mystery, too strange and wonderful and terrifying to comprehend.

But now it is spring. With the heat, the remaining wolves will soon be falling out of their wolf pelts and back into their human bodies. Sam stays Sam, and Cole stays Cole, and it’s only me who’s not firmly in my own skin.




4/5 Definitely worth your time.

Linger is the sequel to Meggie Stiefvater's 'Shiver', and I must say, this is one sequel that did not fall short at all.

The first book ended with a great sense of closure, making you think that this story of the Mercy Falls wolves was over with, but still wanting more. 'Linger' did not at all feel like a sequel that was written just for money. It opened the story back up without throwing too much new random crap in to try to get a decent plot going. It kept the integrity of the story and of the romance between Grace and Sam without feeling forced at all. It tied in well with the first book, bringing to light many things that were at first overlooked. It introduces a new character, Cole, who is easy to fall in love with, and fleshes out the character Isabel from the first book, showing a side and soul to her that you never got to see in 'Shiver' without making it feel fake or like her sudden personality change was simply to fit the plot.

Suspense builds over the course of the book as new difficulties are thrown Sam and Grace's way, all the while keeping up the romance that I fell in love with in the first book. The last chapters had me biting my nails as I waited to see what happened, only to leave me with the biggest cliff hanger of all time. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the third book to the sequel, 'Forever'. Hopefully this final installment will live up to the rest of the series.

'Linger' doesn't detract from 'Shiver', as man sequels do, but simply adds to the beauty of the first book.

See Also: Shiver

Shiver - Meggie Stiefvater



The cold. Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house. On yellow-eyed wolf — her wolf — watches back. He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn’t know why.

The heat. Sam has lived two lives. As a wolf, he keeps the silent company of the frill he loves. And then, for a short time each year, he is human, never daring to talk to Grace…until now.


The shiver. For Grace and Same, love has always been kept at a distance. But once it’s spoken, it cannot be denied. Same must fight to stay human — and Grace must fight to keep him — even if it means taking on the scars of the past, the fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future.

5/5 - A must read.

Shiver is, by far, one of my favorite books of all time.
A lot of people say that it's the sort of book that Twilight fans will enjoy, but upon reading both, I don't see a whole lot of correlation between the two apart from the fact that they both feature some form of werewolves. I myself enjoyed both Shiver and Twilight, but I think that Shiver can be enjoyed by a much wider audience than just Twilight fans, including readers who didn't care for the Twilight Saga.

Shiver includes a somewhat fresh take on the ideal of werewolves, and is truly brought to life by the characters. It's easy to fall in love with both Sam and Grace, especially because they share telling the story from first person point of view, which gets you into the the minds of both of them.

The story is well paced with an excellent plot that has you holding your breath until the very last page. This book pries at your emotions and lets you feel exactly what both Sam and Grace are feeling. You get to know them both on a personal level- Sam, the hesitant, shy, but caring boy and Grace, who is strong-willed, passionate, and stubborn. These two act as literary foils that bring out the best in eachother.

This is one romance book that managed to be tragically beautiful without being cheesy or sappy. It set my heart churning and left me wanting more. My hat is off to Meggie Stiefvater for this beautiful story of love, passion, loss, and hope. I recommend you read this book to fall in love with this winter boy and his lovely summer girl.

See Also: Linger