Review: The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott

The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (March 16, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416978917
ISBN-13: 978-1416978916
Rating: 4/5

This was my first book by Elizabeth Scott but I know it will not be my last!  I read this in almost one sitting! It's basically the story of a love triangle between two girls and a guy but interestingly the girls are best friends!
Ryan is Brianna's boyfriend but it's really complicated because Sarah, Brianna's best friend, liked him first and Brianna just sort of assumed there was no way he could actually like Sarah over her so she basically just took him! 

Brianna has this complex idea she is God's gift or something and things she rules the world.  She is a snotty nosed brat if you ask me because she lashes out and puts folks down even Sarah but does it in a way like it's innocent.  I definately recommend reading The Unwritten Rule whether a new or old fan of Elizabeth Scott!

Review Copy Provided by Author/Courtesy of 1ARC Tours

Review: The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Bantam (March 16, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0553807218
ISBN-13: 978-0553807219
Rating: 4/5

Emily's mother passes away leaving the teenager alone but soon to discover she has a grandfather she never knew of in Mullaby, North Carolina and he has agreed to be her caregiver so off to Mullaby she goes.

She has many questions but is met with resentment from most of the towns folks and her grandfather doesn't seem to want to talk about her mother. A neighbor, Julia, befriends her and tries to help her to fit in but it's really hard when your having to live down your mothers sins she later discovers.

Julia has issues of her own she is trying to work out and by helping Emily it distracts her a bit. She inherited her fathers diner after he passed away and returned to town herself and vowed to only stay long enough to get it doing well enough to sell and she was out of there but things dont always go the way we think and wounds heal while she is there and old love tries to be rekindled but will it be able to withstand all the secrets?

And then there's Win Coffey whose family has forever lived in Mullaby and who has a long time secret of their own that destroyed his uncle while he was involved with none other than Emily's mother before she was shooed out of town so many years ago.

This story is full of secrets, love, and even a bit of magic and I enjoyed it all! It was beautifully written and easily shifted from scene to scene. All the characters were strong and believable. I truly hated for it to end.

Review Copy Provided by Author

Reviews: Of All the Stupid Things by Alexandra Diaz

Of All the Stupid Things by Alexandra Diaz

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: EgmontUSA (December 22, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1606840347
ISBN-13: 978-1606840344
Rating: 3/5

This is a story of friendship, love, same sex relationships, jealousy, and rumors. A nice list of things until you mix them all together.

A rumor gets started that Tara's boyfriend, Brent, has been having sexual relations with a male teammate and she cant deal with it so she asks for a time out from their relationship. Now this is what I thought the book title meant by stupid is that she would just assume a rumor like that to be true especially after she had been dating this guy for like a year or more?

While they are on a timeout a new girl comes to town and it appears as though Brent may have an interest in her so Tara's friend Whitney Blair rises to the rescue and threatens the new girl to back off that he is taken, but then when Tara also takes an interest in the new girl the crap literally hits the fan in alot of ways!

Overall I enjoyed the book and loved how the author divided each person up into their own chapters when the story shifted to them. I feel like she took some touchy subjects and addressed them in a tidy, easy to understand way while still being realistic.

Review Copy Provided by Publisher/ Courtesy of Other Shelf Tours

Review: Captivate by Carrie Jones

Captivate by Carrie Jones

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books (January 5, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1599903423
ISBN-13: 978-1599903422
Rating 4/5

Synopsis: Zara and her friends knew they hadn't solved the pixie problem for good. Far from it. The king's needs grow deeper every day he's stuck in captivity, while his control over his people gets weaker. It's made him vulnerable. And now there's a new king in town.
A turf war is imminent, since the new pixie king, Astley, is moving in quickly. Nick nearly killed him in the woods on day one, but Zara came to his rescue. Astley swears that he and Zara are destined to be together, that he's one of the good guys. Nick isn't buying it, though Zara isn't as sure -- despite herself, she wants to trust the new king. But it's a lot more than her relationship with Nick that is at stake. It's her life -- and his.

Review: I'm not sure if it's because I have not read book one, "Need", yet or what but it took me a bit to get into Captivate. The characters were great and I easily took to them but the story line just kinda dragged until about middleways into the book. And if I never hear the word "Baby" again it will be too soon!

About midways the action picked up and some new characters were tossed into the mix and it seemed even the dialogue became more interesting. Zara reaches a turning point towards the end and only time will tell if she has made a huge mistake in judgement oh and the next book that is. lol I cant wait for the next book and in the meantime I am off to find "Need" and see how it all began!

Review Copy Provided by Publisher, Courtesy of Around The World Tours

Review: Wereling by Steve Feasey

Wereling by Steve Feasey
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (April 27, 2010)
Rating: 3.5/5

Last night 14 year old Trey Laporte went to bed a ward of the state, but at least normal, and today he wakes up to his room in shambles, a mysteriously rich Uncle Lucien he had never heard of, and finds out he is a werewolf!

My thoughts: It took me about seventy pages before I really could get into this one. Mainly those first seventy or so pages introduces you to the characters and lays the ground work for what has happened which in itself was fine but what bugged me was being that far into the book and Lucien more or less was stalling Trey and me as to what his situation was and what he had to do with it.

Trey would ask a question and Lucien always had something else to do or some reason not to sit down and explain everything to him. I just wanted to reach in and smack Lucien a few times and have him to get on with it already!

Once you make it past all that the story actually starts getting some action and takes off! The ending had a nice cliff hanger and left me yearning for the next book of the series.

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

Review: The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Kidnapped by Yxta Maya Murray

The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Kidnapped by Yxta Maya Murray
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Razorbill (January 7, 2010)
Rating: 5/5

Michelle has finally got her life on track and has a wonderful opportunity to get into a nice private school. She has awesome grades and is even a great athlete. She has a terrific foster father and a super duper best friend; Kiki, but she also has a past that refuses to let her go.

I Loved this book which is a pleasant surprise because I didn't think I would! Yxta really has done a super wonderful job with the language and settings for this. I was sucked in with the first page like a Hoover vacuum in a sandpile!

There were times that I felt I was in the story maybe even Michelle herself! It was just such a kick ass book with lots of action and I really felt for Michelle. She was really struggling inside even amidst all the danger her and Kiki was in trying to figure out where she really belonged.

The ending however left me with mixed feelings because it doesn't really end. It just sort of comes to a point and leaves it up to you to decide what you think happens next. I feel like it was left this way maybe because there is going to be a sequel or at least I hope so anyhow because it was soooooo good!

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

Review: Just Breeze by Beverly Stowe McClure

Just Breeze by Beverly Stowe McClure

Genre: Young Adult
Paperback: 196 pages
Publisher: 4RV Publishing LLC
Rating: 3.5 / 5

Breeze is the story of a young girl entering the 8th grade and trying to find herself by trying out different things in her school including her first dose of puppy love and yikes cheerleading!

Cam is the mysterious new boy that catches Breeze's eye and he likes her alot too but he speaks a whole nother language it seems and he has a big secret that could be deadly. Can they ever get it together?

This was a really clean and funny read but my heart went out to poor Breeze even though she didn't let things get her down. She actually took most things in stride. It's a great read for tweens because Breeze is so easy to relate to and goes thru so many things that torture the tween society of today.

Review Copy Provided by Author

Review: The Truth (I’m a girl, I’m Smart, and I Know everything) by Dr Barbara Holstein

The Truth (I’m a girl, I’m Smart, and I Know everything) by Dr Barbara Holstein

Genre: Tween

Publisher: The Enchanted Self Press

Paperback: 112 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

This is an adorable story told thru pages of a little girls diary.

In this diary “the girl’s” most intimate thoughts, hopes, and dreams are expressed as she begins reaching puberty.

She makes an entry every other day about topics such as the love of her life at age 10, Paul, and how she dreams of marrying him someday and having a family but gets mad at her mom for saying that she will fall in love many more times before then and that Paul will be forgotten.

She expresses how afraid she is of death, of growing up, and many other emotions including being teased at school and how sad it makes her but how happy she is about other things like birthdays and sleep overs.

I recommend this book for any little girl aged 10 and up or for any mother, sister, aunt, friend, ect.. Of a little girl reaching puberty.

Reading “the girl’s” diary brought back many feelings I had long forgotten and it was refreshing to be able to sit back and reminisce and say “Hey I lived thru those years and I did turn out okay!” just like Mama said I would!

Review Copy provided by Publisher.

Review: The Magic Warble by Victoria Simcox

The Magic Warble by Victoria Simcox

Genre: Young Adult

Pages: 276 pages
Publisher: Two Harbors Press
Rating: 5/5

Kristina has only one friend in the whole world, Raymond her pet rat. Kids at school mostly teased her and made her feel bad. Her life changes when one day she gets the strangest gift, The Magic Warble, from her teacher and is cast into Bernovem, a land of dwarfs, fairies,and other talking animals who address her with importance as "The Chosen One".


She makes friends and meets Werrien, who turns out to be a prince, but whose family has been banished from their throne by an evil Queen Sentiz. Kristina must join forces with her new friends as they guide her to the spot she alone must place The Magic Warble so that all of Bernovem can return as it should be and so she can be able to return back home to her world.

I loved this fantasy tale. I related so well with poor Kristina feeling unpopular but then excited for her when she holds an entire kingdoms well being in the palm of hand literally.

Review copy provided by author.

Do-Over - Niki Burnham

Do-Over by Niki Burnham

Publisher Simon Pulse
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 240 pages
My Rating: 3½

Summary: Girl meets prince. Girl looses prince. Girl gets prince back -- right? Well, that's what Valerie is hoping. She's back in Schwerinborg after spending some time with her mother in the good ol' US of A, and hopes that sparks are still flying between her and Georg. At first it looks like things are going great, until a ski trip to the Alps has Val and Georg's romance hitting some moguls. Could Val's love life be heading for a face-plant?

My Review: I got this in a stack of used books and at first glance tossed it on my “maybe read” stack of books because at the time it just didn’t appeal to me. However over the weekend was the Dewey 24 hour read-a-thon and since it was a short reader I gave it a try and added it to my read-a-thon stack. Needless to say, I picked it up began reading and could not put it down until I had read the whole book!

Poor Valerie has had a tough year what with her mom asking her diplomat father for a divorce and then dropping a bomb on them that she has been dating another woman on the side and they want to move in together! Then as if things can’t get any worse, because of her fathers high profile job at the White House and the president running for re-election having your ex-wife come out of the closet is not a good thing where your job is concerned so Val’s dad quietly, until after the election, has taken an equally great job as a diplomat in Europe.

This leaves Val torn between staying with her friends and moving in with her mom and her lover or moving millions of miles away with her dad and having to learn a totally different language and way of life.

She vouches for the latter and there she meets him; the prince They immediately form a friendship as they are close in age, will be attending the same school, and both even living under the same roof, even if it is a huge palace with lots and lots of wings!
I enjoyed the quiet relationship between Val and Prince Georg, but like them, long for the day they can go public and have fun like other kids their age. I felt so sad for Val longing for her old home and friends to be near but not wanting to lose this new found puppy love with Prince Georg either. I look forward to seeing what happens next and hope to get the opportunity soon to go back and read the first part of this series!

Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson

Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Puffin
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Pages: 224
Copyright: 2006
My Rating: 5/5

Summary: "Since the beginning of the school year, high school freshman Melinda has found that it's been getting harder and harder for her to speak out loud: "My throat is always sore, my lips raw.... Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze.... It's like I have some kind of spastic laryngitis." What could have caused Melinda to suddenly fall mute? Could it be due to the fact that no one at school is speaking to her because she called the cops and got everyone busted at the seniors' big end-of-summer party? Or maybe it's because her parents' only form of communication is Post-It notes written on their way out the door to their nine-to-whenever jobs. While Melinda is bothered by these things, deep down she knows the real reason why she's been struck mute..."
 
My Review: This was a powerful book that had a huge impact on me.  I laughed, I cried, and I remembered! Melinda is every teenager who has ever been teased, laughed at, ridiculed, belittled, outcast, and tormented.
 
My heart went out to her thru-out her entire story. I felt her pain. I was in that closet with her. I felt her inner rage and anger that she didn't know how to release so she held it in. She was speaking as loud as she could yet nobody heard.  Nobody listened.
 
Everybody whether you be mother, child, father, teacher, pastor, sister, friend, or other needs to read Speak so you will be able to listen.

Listen by Laurie Halse Anderson

I got the book "Speak" in the mail today and immediately dove in as I had been waitng to read it for a while after hearing the following poem "Listen" by the same author. Be back later with my review but if the book is as powerful as the poem.....





Here is previews of the movie as well.