In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a post where I tell you the books that I received this week either by buying them from the bookstore, going to the library or from my mailbox. In My Mailbox was created by Alea and turned into a meme by Kristi.

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult

Moving seamlessly from psychological drama to courtroom suspense, Plain Truth is a fascinating portrait of Amish life rarely witnessed by those outside the faith. When a young Amish teen hides a pregnancy, gives birth in secret, and then flatly denies it all when the baby's body is found, urban defense attorney Ellie Hathaway decides to defend her. But she finds herself caught in a clash of cultures with a people whose channels of justice are markedly different from her own… and discovers a place where circumstances are not always what they seem.

Ghostgirl: Lovesick by Tonya Hurley

Before she can rest in peace, Charlotte Usher must return to the tragic site of her death: high school. Once there, her assignment is to help a designated teen solve a personal problem in time for the all-important prom. But no one explained what happens if you fall in love with your class project. Charlotte would die (again) for love but facing the all-too-familiar feeling of invisibility may be too much for her to swallow.

-Amanda

A Look Inside: Wintergirls

A Look Inside is a post where I give you a couple of quotes from a book that I've read and enjoyed!

Today's book is Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

"I knew how much it hurt to be the daughter of people who can't see you, not even if you are standing in front of them stomping your feet."

"What do I want? The answer to that question does not exist."

"Eating was hard. Breathing was hard. Living was hardest."

"Do I want to die from the inside out or the outside in?"

"I wish I had cancer. I will burn in hell for that, but it's true."

"We are crayons and lunchboxes and swinging so high our sneakers punch holes in the clouds."

-Amanda

Waiting on Wednesday: The Unwritten Rule

That book that I am waiting on this week is...

The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott
Release Date: March 16, 2010

Sarah has had a crush on Ryan for years. He's easy to talk to, supersmart, and totally gets her. Lately it even seems like he's paying extra attention to her. Everything would be perfect except for two things: Ryan is Brianna's boyfriend, and Brianna is Sarah's best friend.

Sarah forces herself to avoid Ryan and tries to convince herself not to like him. She feels so guilty for wanting him, and the last thing she wants is to hurt her best friend. But when she's thrown together with Ryan one night, something happens. It's wonderful...and awful.

Sarah is torn apart by guilt, but what she feels is nothing short of addiction, and she can't stop herself from wanting more...

-Amanda

Captivate by Carrie Jones

Originality- 19/20
Characters- 18/20
Remembrance- 7/10
Quote-ability- 7/10
Entertainment- 17/20
Ending- 8/10
Recommend to read- 8/10
TOTAL- 84/100
Grade- B

Zara and her friends thought they’d solved the pixie problem. And they did — sort of. The pixies are all locked away, deep in the woods. But the king’s needs grow stronger each day that he is in captivity, while his control over his people weakens. And it’s enough to draw a new king into town. Astley claims he is different. He claims there are pixies who can live peacefully with humans, that it doesn’t have to be all violence and nastiness all the time. Zara wants to believe him . . . until Astley also claims that she is fated to be his queen.

There is no way Zara would ever turn pixie. And she’s got good friends who will make sure of that. Besides, she and Nick are so in love they’re practically inseparable. But when the very thing Zara wants to protect most is exactly what’s at risk, she is forced to make choices she never imagined. . . .
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I am surprisingly happy with this sequel to Need. Need was a so so book to me. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. I've been getting used to being disappointed while reading a sequel to a book and that's what I expected while reading Captivate. Thankfully that wasn't what I got.

Like I said in my review for Need (WHICH by the way I reviewed for Book Divas and now a part of my review was in the ARC!) I love how creative and out of the mainstream the novel is. I'm glad the fantasy is really popular now but I'm getting tired of Vampires and Werewolves. It's fun and refreshing to read about creatures that you don't know a ton about.

There were some new characters and even a couple of surprises. The characters developed which was great. The story is growing exactly like it should be.

The relationships that were presented in the novel also caught my attention. I'm so used to characters wanting to do everything themselves so that their friends won't get hurt. Every time I read something like this I think, wouldn't they get pissed if they're friend was doing what they were? I was soooo happy that didn't happen. Instead they enforced sticking together to keep each other safe which made a lot more sense to me.

Overall I would say that Captivate really impressed me and kept me captivated the entire way through. I will definitely be reading the next book. I recommend any fantasy lover to check these books out.

-Amanda

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Originality- 15/20
Characters- 19/20
Remembrance- 8/10
Quote-ability- 8/10
Entertainment- 18/20
Ending- 8/10
Recommend to read- 8/10
TOTAL- 84/100
Grade- B

When her best friend, Hope, moves away after her brother dies of a drug overdose, sixteen-year-old Jess copes with loss of the only friend who understands her. Diary entries and monthly letters to Hope reflect Jess's longing for love but refusal to settle for just anyone, and reveal her rivalry with her perfect, engaged sister. Frustrated because she excels in school with ease, Jess feels that she is participating in class only for her college applications. When she conveniently hurts her ankle and replaces track with journalism, her acerbic editorials make her a spokesperson for the non-Upper Crusts at her high school.

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This book was absolutely hilarious. I've seen it so many times at the library a couple of years ago and I saw it more online when other reviewers talked about it. I couldn't understand what was so compelling about it. Until I read it that is.

The book was only a little hard to get into but once I was a chapter or so in I couldn't stop. I really liked Jess. Usually the main character finds some way to annoy me but Jess didn't. In a lot of ways she seemed like me. She overthinks everything and stresses out. It's interesting to see how Jess deals with being friends with people she can't really identify with. It gets pretty old reading about friendship fights and drama of the same genre, but not here. You usually see the girls who are on the receiving end or the giving end. Jess was on neither. She was caught right in the middle. I know exactly how that feels.

Even though the book wasn't incredibly original, the characters were. They had a way of drawing me in. And since I love the bad boys I was completely infatuated with Marcus. How come we don't have any guys like that here in the real world? I want a unique thinking guy! It's a little cliched that the good girl with fantastic grades falls in love with the prior bad boy. What can I say about that though? This is exactly what I want to read!

Overall I think that Sloppy Firsts is a great beginning to the series. I am definitely going to buy the next book very soon. I would reccomend this books to teen girls who want to read about someone that seems to have it all but doesn't have what she really wants.

-Amanda

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a post where I tell you the books that I received this week either by buying them from the bookstore, going to the library or from my mailbox. In My Mailbox was created by Alea and turned into a meme by Kristi.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Lee Fiora is an intelligent, observant fourteen-year-old when her father drops her off in front of her dorm at the prestigious Ault School in Massachusetts. She leaves her animated, affectionate family in South Bend, Indiana, at least in part because of the boarding school’s glossy brochure, in which boys in sweaters chat in front of old brick buildings, girls in kilts hold lacrosse sticks on pristinely mown athletic fields, and everyone sings hymns in chapel.

As Lee soon learns, Ault is a cloistered world of jaded, attractive teenagers who spend summers on Nantucket and speak in their own clever shorthand. Both intimidated and fascinated by her classmates, Lee becomes a shrewd observer of–and, ultimately, a participant in–their rituals and mores. As a scholarship student, she constantly feels like an outsider and is both drawn to and repelled by other loners. By the time she’s a senior, Lee has created a hard-won place for herself at Ault. But when her behavior takes a self-destructive and highly public turn, her carefully crafted identity within the community is shattered.

Ultimately, Lee’s experiences–complicated relationships with teachers; intense friendships with other girls; an all-consuming preoccupation with a classmate who is less than a boyfriend and more than a crush; conflicts with her parents, from whom Lee feels increasingly distant, coalesce into a singular portrait of the painful and thrilling adolescenceuniversal to us all.

-Amanda

A Look Inside: Elsewhere

A Look Inside is a post where I give you a couple of quotes from a book that I've read and enjoyed!

Today's book is Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

"If you are going to forgive a person, Liz decides, it is best to do it sooner rather than later. Later, Liz knows from experience, could be sooner than you thought."

"The scent is sweet and meloncholy. A bit like dying, a bit like falling in love."

"No one actually needs another person or another person's love to survive. Love is when we have irrationally convinced ourselves that we do."

"On Elsewhere we fool ourselves into thinking we know what will be just because we know the amount of time we have left. We know this, but we never really know what will be. We never know what will happen..."

-Amanda

Waiting on Wednesday:

The book that I am waiting on this week is...

Wanted by Sara Shepard

Release Date: June 29, 2010

There is no synopsis yet. This is the last book in the Pretty Little Liars Series. I'm guessing that all will be revealed. I am anticipating this book so much!

-Amanda

Late In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a post where I tell you the books that I received this week either by buying them from the bookstore, going to the library or from my mailbox. In My Mailbox was created by Alea and turned into a meme by Kristi.

Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult

Every expectant parent will tell you that they don't want a perfect baby, just a healthy one. Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe would have asked for a healthy baby, too, if they'd been given the choice. Instead, their lives are made up of sleepless nights, mounting bills, the pitying stares of "luckier" parents, and maybe worst of all, the what-ifs. What if their child had been born healthy? But it's all worth it because Willow is, well, funny as it seems, perfect. She's smart as a whip, on her way to being as pretty as her mother, kind, brave, and for a five-year-old an unexpectedly deep source of wisdom. Willow is Willow, in sickness and in health.

Everything changes, though, after a series of events forces Charlotte and her husband to confront the most serious what-ifs of all. What if Charlotte should have known earlier of Willow's illness? What if things could have been different? What if their beloved Willow had never been born? To do Willow justice, Charlotte must ask herself these questions and one more. What constitutes a valuable life?

-Amanda

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Originality- 19/20

Characters- 17/20

Remembrance- 8/10

Quote-ability- 7/10

Entertainment- 17/20

Ending- 8/10

Recommend to read- 7/10

TOTAL- 83/100

Grade- B

It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. Their Leviathan is a whale airship, and the most masterful beast in the British fleet.

Aleksandar Ferdinand, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With the Great War brewing, Alek's and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way...taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure. One that will change both their lives forever.

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I asked my friend if she could let me borrow one of her books and this is the one she chose for me. To be honest I wasn't too excited about reading it. It just really didn't seem like my kind of book. It took me a lot of time to even get into it.

Eventually though, it started to lure me in. The two main characters and both of their adventures became more and more captivating for me. I really liked Alek. Of course I felt sorry for him, but I also admired his courage. Alek and Deryn were amazing main characters. I was always worried for their safety. When one was doing okay the other was struggling. There were times when I was annoyed at Deryn. She put the Service before everything.

I was very impressed by the pictures as well. Without them I couldn't really imagine the different animals, ships, and machines that the characters saw and talked about. They still left room for my imagination but I could get a good idea about how they looked.

The entire novel was really creative. It made me look at history a whole new way. The whole idea of the Clankers and Darwinists is fantastic. I really liked seeing it brought to life in my mind. I seem to be getting more interested in historical fiction novels.

Overall I would say that Leviathan was a very creative novel that kept me interested and my mind conjuring up pictures of the one of a kind creatures. I would recommend this to both boys and girls that are interested in a different kind of history.

-Amanda

A Look Inside: Going Bovine

A Look Inside is a post where I give you a couple of quotes from a book that I've read and enjoyed!

Today's book is Going Bovine by Libba Bray!

"I'm just saying it's not all sand castles and ninjas."

"These are hard times. The world hurts. We live in fear and forget to walk with hope. But hope has not forgotten you. So ask it to dinner. It's probably hungry and would appreciate the invitation."

"In a world like this one, only the random makes sense."

"But as soon as the thought enters my mind, another one swims in and eats the first one like a shark. Fuck that, it burps."

"You can never know about about your oun destiny: are the people you meet there to play a part on your oun destiny, or do you exist just to play a role in theirs?"

-Amanda

Waiting on Wednesday: Burned

The book that I'm waiting on this week is...

Burned by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Release Date: April 27, 2010

Things have turned black at the House of Night. Zoey Redbird’s soul has shattered. With everything she’s ever stood for falling apart, and a broken heart making her want to stay in the Otherworld forever, Zoey’s fading fast. It’s seeming more and more doubtful that she will be able pull herself back together in time to rejoin her friends and set the world to rights. As the only living person who can reach her, Stark must find a way to get to her. But how? He will have to die to do so, the Vampire High Council stipulates. And then Zoey will give up for sure. There are only 7 days left...

Enter BFF Stevie Rae. She wants to help Z but she has massive problems of her own. The rogue Red Fledglings are acting up, and this time not even Stevie Rae can protect them from the consequences. Her kinda boyfriend, Dallas, is sweet but too nosy for his own good. The truth is, Stevie Rae’s hiding a secret that might be the key to getting Zoey home but also threatens to explode her whole world.

In the middle of the whole mess is Aphrodite: ex-Fledgling, trust-fund baby, total hag from Hell (and proud of it). She’s always been blessed (if you could call it that) with visions that can reveal the future, but now it seems Nyx has decided to speak through her with the goddess’s own voice, whether she wants it or not. Aphrodite’s loyalty can swing a lot of different ways, but right now Zoey’s fate hangs in the balance.

Three girls… playing with fire… if they don’t watch out, everyone will get Burned.

-Amanda

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Originality- 18/20
Characters- 18/20
Remembrance- 8/10
Quote-ability- 9/10
Entertainment- 18/20
Ending- 10/10
Recommend to read- 8/10
TOTAL- 89/100
Grade- B

The first rule about fight club is you don't talk about fight club. Chuck Palahniuk's outrageous and startling debut novel that exploded American literature and spawned a movement. Every weekend, in the basements and parking lots of bars across the country, young men with white-collar jobs and failed lives take off their shoes and shirts and fight each other barehanded just as long as they have to. Then they go back to those jobs with blackened eyes and loosened teeth and the sense that they can handle anything. Fight club is the invention of Tyler Durden, projectionist, waiter, and dark, anarchic genius, and it's only the beginning of his plans for violent revenge on an empty consumer-culture world.

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This book was this months school book club choice. It wasn't my decision to choose this but that's how it turned out. I was actually going to skip reading it entirely. Of course I couldn't do that. Instead I spent my whole Sunday listening to the audio book.

I am so glad that I ended up reading it. I have no regrets. I expected to just read about a whole bunch of fighting but it was so much more. The book not only talks about the narrator's own personal problems but also society's as a whole.

The whole book had a freaky feel to it. Like everyone was crazy or something. You began to agree with what people say even though it sounds insane. I started to say "You don't talk about fight club" a lot.

The characters were amazingly developed. Even though there weren't many that we get to know a lot, the ones that are talked about are crazy awesome. The narrator and Tyler are so different but yet have similar feelings.

I also really liked the idea of fight club. A place where you can just fight to fight. Not to win. A time to take control of your life. I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed and a little afraid when fight club got really big. Even the narrator couldn't stop it and he helped create it. Imagine that everywhere you go, even the police, have members of fight club. People that know you. Eventually you get to watch it take over their lives.

The ending had an amazing unexpected twist. The twist had me thinking back throughtout the book trying to make sense of it. I really had to analyze every part and realize that it made sense.

Overall I think that Fight Club was a action packed, thought provoking book. I would recommend this book to anyone that doesn't mind some very graphic fight scenes.

-Amanda

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a post where I tell you the books that I received this week either by buying them from the bookstore, going to the library or from my mailbox. In My Mailbox was created by Alea and turned into a meme by Kristi.

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyperobservant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. A fish out of water at school and a stranger at home, Jessica feels more lost than ever now that the only person with whom she could really communicate has gone. How is she supposed to deal with the boy- and shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad’s obsession with her track meets, her mother salivating over big sister Bethany’s lavish wedding, and her nonexistent love life?

Captivate by Carrie Jones

Zara and her friends thought they’d solved the pixie problem. And they did — sort of. The pixies are all locked away, deep in the woods. But the king’s needs grow stronger each day that he is in captivity, while his control over his people weakens. And it’s enough to draw a new king into town. Astley claims he is different. He claims there are pixies who can live peacefully with humans, that it doesn’t have to be all violence and nastiness all the time. Zara wants to believe him . . . until Astley also claims that she is fated to be his queen.

There is no way Zara would ever turn pixie. And she’s got good friends who will make sure of that. Besides, she and Nick are so in love they’re practically inseparable. But when the very thing Zara wants to protect most is exactly what’s at risk, she is forced to make choices she never imagined. . . .

-Amanda

Heartless by Sara Shepard

Originality- 19/20
Characters- 18/20
Remembrance- 9/10
Quote-ability- 9/10
Entertainment- 19/20
Ending- 9/10
Recommend to read- 10/10
TOTAL- 93/100
Grade- A

In picturesque Rosewood, Pennsylvania, neighbors gossip over picket fences, and gleaming SUVs sit in every crushed-granite driveway. But recently, friendly smiles have been replaced with suspicious glares and accusatory whispers—and it's all because Hanna, Aria, Emily, and Spencer just can't keep their mouths shut. . . .

First they claimed they found a dead body in the woods behind Spencer's house, only to have it vanish without a trace. Then when the same woods went up in flames, they swore they saw someone who's supposed to be dead rise from the ashes. And even after all that, the pretty little liars are still playing with fire.

Hanna's trading in her Dior trench for a straitjacket. Aria's trying to contact the dead. Emily's dumped her boyfriend and is skipping town . . . again. And Spencer thinks someone in her family has gotten away with murder.

The friends insist they're telling the truth about what they saw, but all of Rosewood thinks they're simply out for attention—and nobody likes a girl who cries wolf. So when the big bad killer comes after the girls, will anyone believe them . . . or will they be the next to disappear?

I can never get enough of this series! It's not just the plot but the sub plots as well. Usually we just get a little romance, but with four main characters we get four different stories and backgrounds.
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Each book brings you deeper and deeper into their lives and minds. It has come to the point where I feel like I know the girls. It's amazing what a book can make you feel. I'm able to move past the parts where they are being mean or stupid and think about the serious problems that they are facing.

The msytery in the book is getting even bigger. As usual "A" is confusing the girls to no end. Right when you think the girls have any sort of idea about what is going on everything is turned upside down. Even you get the feeling that you're puting the pieces of the mystery when everything turns out differently. "A" has a way of making the girls believe different thing.

By the end of the book one part of the mystery is supposedly solved and the other grows even larger. I want to write about all of the freaky, crazy, and sad things that happened but I can't. I really don't want to ruin the book for you.

I definitely recommend everyone to check out this series. It will leave you wanting to shake your best friend into reading it so you can talk about it.

-Amanda

A Look Inside: Keeping the Moon

A Look Inside is a post where I give you a couple of quotes from a book that I've read and enjoyed!

Today's book is Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen.

"You should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect, you should expect it."

"It's true. It's like the hidden secret that no one tells you. we can all be beautiful girls, Colie. It's so easy. It's like Dorothy clicking her heels to go home. You could do it all along."

"I've always known who I am. I might not work perfectly, or be like them, but that's okay. I know I work in my own way."

"All the bitchy girls in the world are just a training ground for what men can do to you."

"Self respect, Colie. If you don't have it, the world will walk all over you."

-Amanda

Waiting on Wednesday on Thursday

The book that I'm waiting on this week is....

Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

Release Date: September 14, 2010

I can't find a good synopsis for this book but it is the final book in the Crank/Glass trilogy. It takes place in the future when Kristina's children are teens. It talks about how her choices affected their lives.

-Amanda