Monday 28 February 2011

If I Stay review

If I Stay
Gayle Forman
April 9th 2009 (US)/May 6th 2010(UK)
Dutton(US)/Random House(UK)

What if you had everything: 

A gorgeous boyfriend who was madly in love with you? 
Quirky hip parents who totally got you? 
A musical talent that could take you anywhere? 
What if your biggest problem in life was choosing which path to take? 
Follow your first love--music-- to New York City? 
Or stay with your boyfriend, friends, and family? 

What if one day, you went out for a drive... 

And in an instant everything changed? 

What if suddenly all the other choices were gone? 

Except for one--the only one that truly mattered? 

What would you do? 

A sophisticated, layered, and heart achingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make—and the ultimate choice Mia commands.



If I Stay is probably one of the most moving, most beautiful books I've ever read. And not just because it was sad.  Because it was sad. It was pretty damn tragic. But it was funny in places, it was happy in places, it was really really upsetting in places. It was a rollercoaster of emotions and it took me on extreme highs to extreme lows. I cannot even describe how well done this book was.


The book starts fairly normally, and I admit I was kind of like, what was all the fuss about? I wasn't really sure what to expect because the summary is pretty vague. It doesn't really let on to how the book really is. Anyway, I was sort of meh about it until the crash. THEN I knew what all the fuss about.


After the crash Mia ends up in a tragic state, and she has to make the ultimate decision. If she stays, or if she leaves. The majority of the story is told through flashbacks of various key points in Mia's life, from the first time she picked up a Cello (or played one rather), to the day her brother was born, to her first kiss, and it is through these flashbacks that we get to know most of the characters, in particular her immediate family. 


I loved her parents! They were so brilliant, such vibrant people, and I can relate to having Punky parents ;P And I adored Teddy! He was so cute and sweet. Come to think of it, there probably weren't any characters I didn't like in this book. They were all so well written, and all thought about with the love that Mia had for them because of the flashback format. I felt like they were my own family, that I knew them as well as Mia did. I loved Kim and her fancy coffees and her no-nonsenseness. I could imagine being good friends with her. And I LOVED Adam. He was so amazing. He plays in band, he cares a ridiculous amount for his girlfriend, he (probably) has nice hair, he has a similar taste in music to me... He was just... There was nothing not to like about him. And I like the fact that they had arguments. That their relationship wasn't just smooth sailing, that they had to work to make it work and it wasn't always fine. And Mia was such a wonderful, three dimensional, fleshed out character. I loved her passion for her music, and her love for her boyfriend, and her indecision, and that she wasn't perfect. That she had problems. That she WANTED to just go. And that she sorted through her problems, or at least that she began too.


If I Stay is a touching, emotional book that I won't be forgetting any time soon. Oh that ending was a killer. Somebody rec me a funny book soon, please. I need to stop reading all the sad books all the time! But If I Stay was positively amazing. 5 stars :D

Saturday 26 February 2011

In My Mailbox (21)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren :D


This week I got:



Bought:

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford (cannot wait to start this! :D) Oh, and guys, yesterday, I officially broke my book buying ban! Not with ATM, that was on pre order since way before, but I ordered a bunch of books from the book depo, and I am looking forward to losing my Sarah Dessen virginity! :D

Recieved:

Pretty shiny signed A Touch Mortal bookmarks and stickers (what do you do with stickers? I like them, but what is the actual purpose?)
Pretty shiny signed Sweet Venom bookmarks for helping out  with the cover reveal :D

What did you get in your  mailbox?

Timeless review

Timeless
Alexandra Monir
January 11th
Delacorte Press

When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance. 

Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their lives.



Timeless is a book about love, loss, learning and ultimately, Time Travel. (Yes, the time travel was the best part. Why? Because I'm a science/Dr. Who geek AND a history geek. I am in  love with the concept of time travel) But despite the topics of the novel, it didn't completely impress me.


This book was definitely plot driven, as I didn't really like the main characters that much, but I do love me some time travel. I the whole idea of the story, of Michele having to go back to several different key periods of her family's timeline (two of the were two of my favourite time periods, the roaring twenties, and the fourties) and I, being a history geek, loved the historical accuracy of the book. It is such a pet peeve when people get little details wrong in historicals...  And I thought the time travel was well done too, though the whole book kind  of reminded me of Fushigi Yuugi (which, for those of you who don't know, is a fabulous manga in which a teenager travels into Ancient China via a book) what with the starcrossed/time crossed lovers and all that jazz.


Michele did get on my nerves a bit though, and I don't think the character development was done well. It was just like 'And she learnt her lesson and went home and lived happily ever after and became a better person for the experince' Basically, it was way too clunky and obvious for me.But that's probably just me. Also she was so woe-is-me for the book. It grated on me. And as charming as Philip was, I'm not a big fan of instalove.


I also think that the last chapter should've been an epilogue, and I don't think that there's enough left in the story to produce a sequel... In my honest opinion, it should've been a stand alone. But we'll see with book 2. But I just feel like it would be an unnecessary addition. I liked the ending, but I don't like the prospect of a sequel.


Timeless was a book that I enjoyed solely for its time travelly plot and joyful side characters (I loved Lily!) but didn't entirely hit the right notes (music related joke! Unintended musical pun! If you've read the book, you'll understand the reference to music as it's pretty integral to the plot!) with me. 3.5 stars :)

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Waiting on Wednesday #20

Shattered Souls
Mary Lindsey
December 8th 2011

Lenzi hears voices. She also sees visions--gravestones, floods, a gorgeous guy with steel gray eyes. She knows she must be going crazy, just like her dad did. Her boyfriend, Zak, can't do anything to help, and the voices just keep getting louder, the visions more intense. But when Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, everything makes sense. 

Sort of. 

He tells Lenzi that she's a reincarnated Speaker--someone who can talk to lost souls and help them move on--and that he has been her Protector for centuries. But instead of embracing her abilities, Lenzi struggles between her life as the girlfriend of a sexy musician and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. Yet time is running out; a malevolent spirit has been trying to destroy Lenzi for ages, and he will surely kill her if she doesn't make a decision soon. 

Her choices are clear: Destiny or normalcy. Alden or Zak. Life or death.


This book just sounds awesome. And the cover is stunning. The only bad thing I can think of is that we have to wait until DECEMBER(!!!!) for it to come out...


What are you waiting for?



Tuesday 22 February 2011

Desires of the Dead review

Desires of the Dead
Kimberly Derting
February 15th (US)/ March 17th (UK)
Harper (US)/ Headline (UK)



The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.
Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.
As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into
 Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger.

Desires of the Dead is the second book in Kimberly's brilliant The Body Finder series (in which TWO more books have just been announced! Squee!)I really enjoyed The Body Finder. I loved the suspense and I LOVED Jay. Seriously. He is quite possibly one of my favourite YA boys ever! (Not in my top 5 YET though.) Anyhoo... Enough Body Finder love...

Desires starts up a few weeks after the end of The Body Finder with Violet 'finding' a dead child in a cargo crate, which sort of kicks off a train of events to do with the FBI. Now, before anything else, can I just say, did anyone else imagine Sara Priest being Saundra Bullock... Or is it just me who connects female FBI member=Miss Congeniality... ;P) The thing that caught me as different from The Body Finder is that there were a lot of different plot threads in Desires, not that there weren't in The Body Finder, but the threads in Desires were more independent, and they only really, really made sense in the last fifty pages. They all just  felt like independent events, which, while all important to Violet's character growth, didn't seem very related to each other. Which isn't a bad thing! I had a much better understanding of Violet and all her problems for it, and I liked how it all came together at the end (which, y'know, I should've known would happen..)

I think that there was less suspense in Desires and that the main mystery was pretty easy to solve, but I think that that's probably because there wasn't really as much of a threat and because it wasn't the main purpose of the story. I think that Desires was more meant to be about Violet's ability and how she wants to use it, and also for her to come to a greater understanding of it, as well as for use to get a better knowledge of the other characters. (I have grown to love Chelsea a hell of a lot more over the course of this book. She's fab! :D) But of course this is all just interpretation. I could be completely wrong.. That's just how I saw it.

I really like Violet, and I felt I got to know her a lot better in this book. She's kind of hard to dislike.. Apart from when you think of how she's got Jay... Jay was amazingly gorgeouly beautifully brilliant in this book as always, though he a bit of a douche in one bit... Though that only lasted for about 8 pages... Gosh, he's just so sweet. And they're relationship got a lot better too. It wasn't just plain sailing, which was something I liked. Because real relationships aren't like that, and their relationship has always been something I've appreciated :D (Some people might think this next bit is spoilery so I'll write it in white, and if you want to see it then you can highlight it :D I'm a bit of a spoiler fiend.. it's not good ;p) THEY HAD SEX! FINALLY. But I was liked the way it was done. Kimberly didn't actually write them HAVING SEX because it's a teen book and I'm a teen and I don't like reading people having sex y'know... It kinda grosses me out (yes, yes, I'm immature.. ;P) But also when she was writing about the aftermath, it wasn't all like 'and it was all fairies and flowers and happy sparkly rainbow unicorns and happy smiling sunshiney things..' Because the realism of it all is something that draws me too these books, and if she'd one that, then it would've killed it  Anyways, yeah, that didn't make much sense...

Desires of the Dead was a brilliantly done sequel that had me gripped throughout with it's exciting plot lines and excellent character development. I cannot wait for book 3 to come out! :D 4 Stars 

Saturday 19 February 2011

In My Mailbox (20)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren




This week I got

For review:
Dark Goddess by Sarwat Chadda (Thank you Puffin for sending me this :D)
If I Stay by Gayle Forman (very excited to read this)
Dark Touch: Shadows by Amy Meredith (Thank you to Random House for sending me those two :D)

Bought: (Pre-ordered so doesn't count against my book buying ban)
Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton (SOOO HAPPY to finally have my own finished copy of this. I read it on netgalley and it was SO SO GOOD. I loved it!)
Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting (again, very excited for this. I loved the Body Finder and definitely can't wait for more Jay ;p)

What did you get in your mailbox?



Friday 18 February 2011

Supernaturally Cover!

Umm, guys, so I am super excited about the fact that Supernaturally's (the sequel to Paranormalcy) cover has FINALLY BEEN RELEASED. [Insert MEGA EXCITEMENT/Much of the Happy Dancing here]

So, without further ado (and if you haven't seen it already) the Supernaturally cover!


OMFG IT'S TOOO PRETTY. I think I might DIE from it's prettiness. Don't you just adore it?! And now to start the long, long wait until August! For the pretty. I think if the prettiness hasn't killed me yet, that wait will have! I'm soo overexcited for this book.... :D:D
(and to see Kiersten's original blog post + more pictures of The Pretty, click here :D)

So, what do you think of it?



Thursday 17 February 2011

Stolen review

Before I get into this review, I'd just like to say that the lovely Amber from Books of Amber has let me ramble on about my favourite YA boys on her blog, so if you want to check that out, then please do! :D


Stolen
Lucy Christopher
May 4th 2009
Chicken House (Thank you muchily for sending me such a fantastic book!)


Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back? The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don't exist - almost.


Stolen is, undoubtedly, a hard book to read because of the controversial subject matter, but all the same, it is probably one of the most brilliant books I've read in a while.


The book is written entirely in the form of a letter to Ty, Gemma's kidnapper, and he is always referred to as 'you'. The second person was something I really enjoyed, and it was interesting to read about Ty like that. It felt like I was completely involved in the story.


Gemma was a character I really liked, and felt I could relate (minus the kidnapping...) But she reacted like how I'm sure most of us would if put in a similar situation. I felt Gemma's hate towards Ty at the beginning, and I felt the transformation from complete and utter loathing (which I think nobody can blame her for) into tolerance and ultimately love. I felt her confusion as to why Ty was treating her well, and why she began to like him, I felt her anger at him. I felt her desperate need to escape, and then her ultimate hopelessness. That the land had beaten her into staying.


Ty was the most interesting character of the book though. At first, I really didn't like him. He was a bit of an arse where I was concerned. He's just kidnapped a girl. But, he wasn't so bad. Sure, he had a few mood swings, and he was was a wee bit wrong in the head, but he'd had a terrible childhood. And I felt sorry for him, because he wasn't evil. He wasn't going to hurt Gemma. He was not a monster.


And I think that's what made this book so incredible. It made me question my morals. It made me think about kidnap, and not only about the kidnapee's or the laws view of it, but the kidnappers. It made me think about hpw badly these people may have been treated in their childhood, and how maybe they think that they're doing the 'right thing'. It made me question what the 'right thing' was. (Please note that I'm not sympathising with kidnappers. I am aware that the majority of them are still pretty f***ed up. But this book really made me think A LOT about the whole kidnapping thing, which isn't really something I've thought about before.) It also made me think about Stockholm Syndrome, and how it works. I've never know how it would be possible to love someone who'd taken you away from all you knew, but, I don't know... I'm just rambling.


I adored the setting, how the land was described. I never thought I'd love a book set in the Australian outback so much (I don't do hot places) but I loved that how the land first came across as being bleak and empty and dangerous, but as Gemma's view of her situation changed, so did her perception of the land. That even though it was a desert it was bursting with so much life. And the painting Ty did in the shed!  It was so fabulous. I had such a great image of it all in my mind.


The ending was bittersweet, and if I'd skipped ahead to the end when I'd first started it I would've thought that it was happy, that it was what she wanted, but after all the events of the book, I just... I feel kind of strange. I KNOW that it's how it should've been, that that's the 'right' way for it too end, but it didn't feel as right as it should. And Lucy is a fantastic author if she can make me question all the things I've thought of as right before. I don't really know what else to say. Stolen is intense, and difficult, controversial and slightly dangerous, but amazing all the same. 5 stars.

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Waiting on Wednesday #19

Divergent
Veronica Roth
May 3rd 2011
HarperCollins


In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the YA scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.





How amazing does this book sound?! I cannot wait! And the cover is stunning. And, also, I've heard that  the boy, Four, is really something. It just looks so brilliant! Bring on May!


Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine

Tuesday 15 February 2011

Sweet Venom Cover Reveal!

Okay guys, so here it is, the cover of Tera Lynn Childs next book: Sweet Venom!



Isn't it just stunning!

So Sweet Venom is the first book in Tera's new series, Medusa Girls, which, if you haven't guessed all ready, is about three descendent of Medusa (which I think is so cool becasue I love Greek mythology :D)

The current synopsis/tagline: Three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in a world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

The main characters:  The three main characters are Grace, Gretchen, and Greer. You can see their character collage in this Books, Boys, Buzz... post http://yawriters.blogspot.com/2010/05/title-help-time.html (by the looks of those collages, I think I'm gonna like Gretchen the most, but we'll see... :D)

Release Date: October 2011 So exciting!

So yeah! You wants to be looking out for this pretty, pretty book in October! Yay! :D

Monday 14 February 2011

Happy Valentine's Day! (my sweet sweet bookshelf)

So, it's that time of year again. Valentine's day... *sighs* I'm not usually one for Valentine's day, because it's all about love, and being that I'm a robot that feels no human emotion, it's not really appropriate. (Now, Halloween you say...) Either that or I'm just a bitter old woman who likes to scorn cute young couples who 'get each other cards' and 'buy each other flowers'. Eugh. (I'm gonna go with the former, 'cause robots are way cooler than Old Scornful Ladies)


But anyway! On to the point of this post... I got a new bookshelf, and I'm in love with it. I honest to God nearly made it a Valentine's card, that's how much I love it. We had our first date yesterday and it was just awesome. Who knew that bookshelf's could cook?  Not me!

This is as close as your going to get to a full shot of it :)



This shelf is the majority of my TBR... Alphabetised, of course ;D 


This is the rest of the TBR and the beginning of The Rest of the Books. Key points here would be Graceling, Clockwork Angel, TMI (my sister hijacked the rest of them...) and Entangled.


More books! Such a surprise. Hunger Games! Nevermore! PERFECT CHEMISTRY!!! (Both Crescendo and Hush, Hush are signed, Becca is a sweetheart!) Hex Hall, Howl's Moving Castle, and I haven't read Will Grayson yet, it's just there, for no reason...


Even more books! The Iron Fey books, Wicked Lovely, Twilight, ANNA & THE FRENCH KISS (!!!) I do have Delirium, but my friend is reading it. I've told her if she doesn't cry then she has no human emotion... (sometimes I overexaggerate...)


Even more more books! (Plus the tail of my loverly cat Leela!) Across the Universe, Marcus Sedgewick books, Darren Shan books, The series of unfortunate events, Vampirates, Shiver, PARANORMALCY!


And then this is my manga shelf, where all my manga is (plus a bit of Jane Austen at the beginning there. Black Cat (which is AWESOME and I really need to read more of it), Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist (my favourite) Hayate the Combat Butler (which is random and HILARIOUS) Naruto, School Rumble (which is EVEN MORE random and hilarious. You guys should watch the anime. SO SO FUNNY.)

So that's about it for my bookshelf. I will try and get around to doing a proper bookshelf tour if you want, but this is as good as your gettin' for a while :D

Happy Valentine's Day! I love you alll! If I could give you all hugs I would, but you'll just have to live with these cyber ones for a while :D *HUGS EVERYONE* 

Seeya tommorow! (Which may or may not involve the cover reveal of Sweet Venom! Excited? You should be! It's GORGEOUS!)


Low Red Moon review

Low Red Moon
Ivy Devlin
February 7th 2011
Bloomsbury (Thank you for sending me this for review! :D)


The only thing Avery Hood can remember about the night her parents died is that she saw silver—deadly silver, moving inhumanly fast. As much as she wants to remember who killed them, she can't, and there's nothing left to do but try to piece her life back together. Then Avery meets the new boy in school—Ben, mysterious and beautiful, with whom she feels a connection like nothing she's ever experienced. When Ben reveals he's a werewolf, Avery still trusts him—at first. Then she sees that sometimes his eyes flash inhuman silver. And she learns that she's not the only one who can't remember the night her parents died.Part murder mystery, part grief narrative, and part heart-stopping, headlong romance, Low Red Moon is a must-read for teen paranormal fans. As breathless as Twilight and as spooky as Shiver, this is a book to be devoured in one sitting—by an acclaimed YA author making her paranormal debut under the pseudonym Ivy Devlin.


Low Red Moon is a loose modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood written by 'Ivy Devlin', who I soon learned was much loved author Elizabeth Scott. Now I've never read one of her contemporary books before, but with Low Red Moon being my only experience with one of her books, I'm not exactly raring to pick one up. Not to say I wouldn't if I had the chance, and I'm not going to never read one of her books ever because I've heard her contemporaries are just AMAZING, but I think Low Red Moon kind of underwhelmed me.


I didn't really like Avery that much, though she did grow on me by the end of the book. I get that she was incredibly upset because her parents just died, and I get that even though her parents had just died, she was meant to be strong willed and moving on, but I just didn't really see it. Going to school a few days after your whole life has just been changed forever is not a sign of being a strong willed person. I think it's a bit silly really. She clearly wasn't ready to get back to a 'normal life', so why go back? I know this is a really kind of silly thing to go on about, but it grated on me...


I wasn't too keen on Ben either. I don't really think he had that much of a personality, but that might just be me. And it seemed to me that Ben and Avery's relationship had no foundation. They had all of two minor conversations before they were snogging each others faces off, but then again, I'm just not a fan of Werewolf books, and the whole insta-bonds that they form with people. I'm not much of a Werewolf person, I have realised over the past few months.


I did enjoy many aspects of the plot though, and I thought the premise was intriguing. Little Red Riding Hood is one of my favourite fairy tales and I'm always open to a retelling of it, and I was genuinely taken by surprise at the end. I didn't see it coming at all. It was a great twist on the traditional story. And I also really enjoyed the setting. I loved the forest. I loved reading about how the forest was alive, and how it wanted to keep itself from being destroyed for the sake of expanding the town.


I regret to say that I did not love Low Red Moon as it was not the book for me, but I think that it's a great book for Werewolf lovers and romance lovers. 3 stars. :)



Saturday 12 February 2011

In My Mailbox (19)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren



This week I got:

For review:
Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin (This book looks so cute! Like a Levithan/Cohn book. Looking forward to reading it. Thank you Bloomsbury!)
Stolen by Lucy Christopher (I started this last night... So good! Thank you Chicken House :D)

So, I didn't get a lot this week... But I'm expecting a few next week :D And soon I'll be allowed  to buy books again! :D:D


What did you get? 


(P.S. I finally got a bookshelf!! :D)



Friday 11 February 2011

Book Blogger Hop/Follow Friday (18)

In the spirit of the Twitter Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop  is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and find new book-related blogs that we may be missing out on! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed!

Each week, participating blogs are asked questions to post and answer on their websites.

Tell us about one of your posts from this week and give us a link so we can read it (review or otherwise)!

Umm... Well, you could have a look at my Rules of Attraction review, which is less of a review and more of me drooling about The Fuentes Brother (which is something I do often.. Oh, Alex... *sighs*)
Or, you could have a look at my Withering Tights review, which is me talking about learning Irish dancing from fictional people....




Thursday 10 February 2011

Withering Tights review

Withering Tights
Louise Rennison
July 8th 2010
HarperCollins Children's books


Hilarious new series from Queen of Teen – laugh your tights off at the (VERY) amateur dramatic antics of Talullah and her bonkers mates. Boys, snogging and bad acting guaranteed!

Picture the scene: Dother Hall performing arts college somewhere Up North, surrounded by rolling dales, bearded cheesemaking villagers (male and female) and wildlife of the squirrely-type. On the whole, it’s not quite the showbiz experience Tallulah was expecting… but once her mates turn up and they start their ‘FAME! I’m gonna liiiiive foreeeeeever, I’m gonna fill my tiiiiights’ summer course things are bound to perk up. Especially when the boys arrive. (When DO the boys arrive?) Six weeks of parent-free freedom. BOY freedom. Freedom of expression... cos it’s the THEATRE dahling, theatre!



Can I just start this off by saying that Louise Rennison is brilliant. And that I wish that I was as funny as her books are. Because they are funny. Very, very funny. Which is a very, very good thing.


I will first admit, though, that I was slightly wary because I was scared that it was just going to be another Georgia (not that I would complain, Georgia is a legend, but y'know, it wouldn't be all that original.) But, despite Tallulah's close relation to Georgia (they're cousins) they were not the same. Yay! Or yaroo!! as I'm sure Tallulah would say.


Louise's character's were, as always, fabulous! I want to be Tallulah's best friend, well I felt like her best friend anyway because it always feels like that with her books, but I want her to be real. I want to give her a hug and then convince her to give me Irish dancing lessons, because we all know how brilliant (or disastrous depending on your view on life) that would be! And I loved all of her friends too. I felt I could relate most to Jo, because I get like that about my shortness on occasion ;p Flossie was fab too. I want her southern accent. I love southern accents. I don't know why. I just do. *sings Ohhhklahooma!* Hehe. And Honey and her really bad lisp (or lithp). Or Vaisey and her hat hair... Awww... I just love them all. Apart from Cain. He's a right douche. (Jo and Phil are so cute together though! And I so knew it would be Charlie. I like Charlie's hair. It's good hair, or at least it is in my head. I like blond people.)


Dother Hall. What can I say about Dother Hall. Well, I'd definitely want to stay there for a term, especially if I got to see 'Sugar Plum Bikey'... And I loved how hard Tallulah was trying to fit in even though she wasn't really good at performing (EXCELLENT at comedy though. If only she'd realised it was her calling earlier.)


Withering Tights was a delightful book that had me laughing from page one. Tallulah is a character you won't be forgetting for a while, I can tell you that! I cannot WAIT for book 2 and for more Lullah misadventures in love, life, and THEATRE, DAHLING! 4 Stars :D


(also, look at me scheduling posts like a proper grown up blogger :p)

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Waiting on Wednesday #19


Starcrossed
Josephine Angelini
May 31st 2011

How do you defy destiny?

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

How AMAZING does this book sound?! And I adore the cover. It is just stunning! It just all sounds so good! Demigods, myths, blood, nightmares, irresistible male lead... Can't wait!

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine

Tuesday 8 February 2011

Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I'd Name My Kids After

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where bloggers make lists about books and other suitably bookish things. This week we're listing characters we would name our kids after. :D

1. Alex from Perfect Chemistry. I am obsessed with this book this week. Sorry about that, but I would hope that if I called my son Alex (Fuentes) he would become incredibly hot. Then I could show him off and be all like.... I am just going to shush now. I promise the rest of these will make sense... Maybe

2.  Lena from Delirium. I LOVE THIS BOOK. I LOVE LENA. I WOULD ALSO CALL MY SON ALEX FROM THIS BOOK TOO. (What can I say?! I like people called Alex. Alex F, Alex from Delirium, Alex Pettifer...)

3.  Ellie from Angelfire. As you can already tell, I'm really not calling people this by name. I'm doing this by people's awesomeness. Also, I don't like fancy names. I grew up with one, heck I still have one. Not fun. Not fun at all. So, Ellie because Ellie is awesome and then I might get to have a kid who owns Khopesh swords, in which case I might have to get some myself. *Evil laugh*

4.  Kit/Fancy from Slice of Cherry. I don't have a preference out of the two. If I have twins, that's what they're getting called. No questions asked.

5. Dash from Dash & Lily. Not Dashiell, just Dash. Yes, I want to call a child after punctuation, you got a problem with that? Wanna fight about it? ;P

6. Evie  from Paranormalcy, because if they grew up to be like Evie, I would be sooo happy. Paranormalcy <3

7. Aura from Shade. I like the name Aura. It reminds me of Aurora, and I am a Disney freak. Plus I like Aura. 

8. Logan from Shade. I LOVE LOGAN. I want a son like Logan, only one who wasn't an idiot and took drugs and died. 

9. Jace from TMI. I want a son with Jace's hair. That is all.

10. Tallulah from Withering Tights. I really, really love the name Tallulah, and if I had a mad baby like her, I don't think I would mind.

Now, for some characters I WOULDN'T name my children after. (Not 10 though...)

1. Ever Bloom from Evermore.  Ever Bloom. Ever. Bloom. I would only call my child that if I was an evil woman who wanted my child to live through an eternity of  torment!

2. Any character from the Hunger Games. Okay, as much as I LUURVE the Hunger Games, I really don't like their names... Gale's name is OK, but he is an ass. (IMO) So, I love the Hunger Games, not so much the character names....

That's it from me this loverly Tuesday :D
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