Thursday, April 30, 2009

Hope was Here by Joan Bauer

Hope. But her mom named her Tulip, what kinda of name is that? But she is a waitress and lives with her aunt, Addie. Her mom visits every now and then with some good waitressing tips, but that's about it. The same Christmas card every year. All that. Hope is used to moving around. But she had a great place in New York, until someone stole all their money and they had to move to Wisconsin to help. They end up going to Welcome Stairways. A diner owned by G.T Stoop. Throughout the book, Hope and Addie become a part of the town. And then G.T decides he wants to run for mayor against Eli, whose been in office already 8 years. The campaign goes on and Eli is trying to destroy G.T, whose battling leukimia. I thought thid book was def inspirational and had a great storyline. It just reelend me right in. I like reading books about small towns, and how those relationships work so much differently than in big cities. And I love how they talk about different food and everyhing haha. It's def a book you should read, just like all the ones I read right? haha

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Go Figure by Jo Edwards

Ryan is the fat girl. But so is her best friend Chelsea, so she feels some type of contentment with that. Her exboyfriend Noah turned into some national popstar! So now she's known as Noah's ex. She takes Zoloft and goes to a psychologist/psychiatrist who gives her a goal every week to accomplish. But she's so caught up in her fat. One of her other best friend Kimberlee is so gorgeous and thin. But Kimberlee knows the truth that everyone has problems. That people who are fat wanna be skinny but people who are skinny sometimes wanna be a little more full, and not be payed attention to all the time. But Ryan is fighting with herself in her senior year of high school. And what about Josh, whose been starting to talk to her more. They're both in this exclusive photography class. And Chelesea is acting weird. But this is her senior year and she's gotta live it up! I thought it was alright. I mean typical type of book. I mean I just like reading stories, sometimes they are alot similar, but it's ok with me. Haha, I kinda suck with reviews. I just like telling someone what the book is about and ya know, sometimes some books have more umph than others, but yeah. Not a waste of time though.

Poseur by Rachel Maude

Petra, Melissa, Charlotte, and Janie are all completely different. But when the new "Special Studies" makes them form some type of plan for a project, all four of theres get put together. And they don't like it at all! Their styles aren't the same and neither are there lifestyles or friends. But they soon find out that to hate is to love, and become friends, in the end. Along with the trouble of them trying to make a label, comes boy problems with Jani'es brother Jake with Charlotte and Marco and Melissa. No one life is perfect right? They end up naming their label poseur, because they want to show how its hard to always be yourself, and if finding yourself is changing around, then so be it. That's cool. I thought it was pretty good. I like stories where it's different girls. But the thingI'm confused, is why is there only 3 girls on the cover when there's the 4 main ones in the book? haha. But it was a good book. The personalities are fun to read. Maybe I'll read the second one if I come across it in the library, but won't buy it hehe.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Huge by Sasha Paley

April saved up all her money to attend the Wellness Canyon camp, or "fat camp". While Wil, the daughter of two fitness crazed parents had no choice to go. They beocme room mates and their presence with one another is very limited. They book think Colin is hott, so they make a challenge to see who gets to him first. Wil seems to be always so negative, while April is pining to become friends with Jessica and Marci, who really aren't that fat and seem to be like the popular group there. But they found out that Colin is a jerk and plan something to get back at him. All the while they're getting to be better friends without even knowing it. They have team activities with two other guys, Paul and Dave. At the end of the summer, both have lost weight, but an incident occurs where they end up being mad at each other. But both realize in the end that they want each other as friends and forgive. Each comes out with a new best friend. I thought this was an amazing book! I loved it, like the beginning of every chapter had either April's or Wil's food and what exercises they did. I'm not really fat, but I totally have gained weight, so I like reading about other people's stories and how they deal with things, compared to myself and other people. But I like it and that picture on the cover is like damn no one could put their mouth around that! haha

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Bloom by Elizabeth Scott

Lauren has the perfect boyfriend, Dave. He's sweet, understanding, smart, has awesome parents, good at everything! And her best friend Katie is going out with Marcus, Dave's best friend. What could be better? Nothing right? But she's unhappy! And then the son of one of her dad's ex girlfriends, Evan, reappears in her life. And he's the one she's lusting after, not Dave. So she gets wrapped up into these two lives. Of being with Evan and how happy is makes her, but also with Dave because he's secure and safe. But what will shd decided to do? This was a good book! I'm not sure why it's called bloom, maybe because the last sentence his smiles blooms or something like that. But i like the cover. :] This is my book number 91!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Partiers Preferred by Randi Reisfeld

Jared is supposed to be at summer school getting his grades up, but instead he's at his uncle's house. And he finds 4 room mates to live with and pay rent to him. Lindsay, his exgirlfriend, Eliot and Nick who are coming from Michigan, and Sara from Texas. Then Naomi comes into the picture later, whose a mysterious girl who was on the streets when Sara found her. Sara and Lindsay are both trying to be come actresses and try out for the role of Cherry. Nick wants to be a male model but at his job, it's not what he thought it was. And Eliot is taking summer classes. And all of these people are living under the same roof. Of course some drama unfolds and who would have thought, an earthquake. But in the end it turns out for the better, of course. I thought it was ok. I mean, it wasn't as like fluid in the words as other books. It didn't come to me as smoothly, but I still enjoyed reading it. It was alright.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Estrella's Quinceanera by Malin Alegria

Estrella, or "Star" as her friends call her does not want a quinceanera. She is on scholarship to this private school and her two friends there Christie and Sheila. At school and when she hangs with them she tries to be someone she's not. Meanwhile at home her mom is planning a big quinceneara for Estrella and it's not going over so well. She also meets Speedy, who she went to elementary school with. With school, Speedy, and her family all of this makes her go crazy. Especially her two ex best friends Izzy and Tere, who won't talk to her because she blew them off for Christie and Sheila. But in the end Estrella figures out how important family and tradition is and puts together her own quinceanera that makes her happy and feel loved. I liked this book. I like seeing how other cultures work and reading this gives a sense of what goes through this big 15th birthday. Like how we have sweet 16! It's genuine and real and I like the author. I read another one of her books recently. Good read fo sho.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

True Crime by editors of Seventeen magazine

This was just a book with stories of crime of young girls. Whether the victim was the girl herself or she did a crime to someone else. Some of these stories are really sad and I can't believe that a girl mt age or younger could do some of the things that they did. The most intense part was in the middle where they showed the pictures of the stories. It's def not for the fainthearted. It's pretty intsense, at least some of them are. Now I really want to read the True Love one by the seventeen editors!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Soulless by Christopher Golden

This is told by different viewpoints at the beginning that all meet each other at the end. Basically, they're having a seance on this tv show, Sunrise. Phoenix's dad is one of the people who is holding hands. They call to the dead, and then the unthinkable happens. All the dead people from their graves starts coming out and they're empty. It starts in New York but spreads to other states nearby. They go back to where their family is but then they also want to eat them. Phoenix is with a group of people who don't know if they should break apart the 5 people or not. Tania is with her friend Derek when they hear the news and try to escape. Matt and Noah who go to the same University and really don't like each other, go to a professor's funeral and witness him coming back. Sara is Matt's sister, and is with her dad and Zach in their house. Jack is a gangbanger who wants to run away to Canada, but ends up going back to where it all started. While the zombies are killing everyone, these different stories tell how they managed to survive and how theyall came together to go the studio and stop the uprising. This was a really good book! zombies again I know. It got pretty detailed and gross how the zombies like ate out people's stomachs and arms. Gross! But it was really good how the different viewpoints were showing how the whole story came together. Definitely intense!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

No Shame, No Fear by Ann Turnbull

Susanna is a young Quaker girl who wants to leave her family so she can find work. Her dad is in prison for standing up to what they believe. She ends up finding a job with a lady named Mary who owns a printing shop. Then there's William, or Will, whose the son of a wealthy man and wants him to go on a apprenticeship for 7 years. But William then falls in love with Susanna. This causes both of them much strain. But Susanna learns that she has it within her to stand up to those constables and police and show her love to God. They have meetings but then the Parliament makes it illegal. Will's dad doesn't want his son to be medling with that girl. The book is told by both Susanna and Will. What will happen to their love? I loved it! It was a change of teen books haha. But it was really good and there's a second one which i should totally go find! It just had good emotions and also like history in it.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Love and Peaches by Jodi Lnn Anderson

All three girls, Birdie, Leeda and Murphy come back to Georgia for the summer. Leeda has had her first year at columbia and Murphy went to school in New York too, while Birdie was in Mexico with Enrico. All thee girls learn new things and experience some struggles. Leeda gets an inheritance from her grandmother that no one expects. But she rises to the ocassion and gets some work done. Murphy finds out her mom has done a test to find her father, and she wants to know who it is. But not in a mean i hate you way. And she tries to avoid Rex, but really can't. Birdie was engaged to Enrico but calls it off and has to battle with selling the peach orchard that all 3 of them became adults in. What happens with these girls and to their beloved peaches? I loved it. I have read the second one, but not the first one and at first I kinda forgot who was who but then I remembered! I like the characters because they're so realistic and how feelings are described play out really well. Each girl is different yet they all are friends. I love reading about friendships like that.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Great Call of China by Cynthea Liu

Cece is going to China for an anthropology program, but there's another big reason. She was adopted and is from China and wants to find out more about her birth parents. She gets her room mate Jessica, and starts the hectic schedule planned out for her. She makes a new friend Kallyn, but also gains a love interest, Will. Peter, her guide also becomes a friend. While maintaining relationships and going through classes, she's struggling for the answers to her story, to her past. She finds some information that could lead her to the answers, but does she really want to know the truth? I love these traveling books! They're so awesome. I wanna read all of the S.A.S.S. books! I liked this one, it is sad how China has the one child policy, and what she goes through thinking just because she was a girl that she was abandoned. But it's def a good book! And I'm just chugging along here trying to get to my goal ahh! I hope I can do it!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Sea of Love by Jamie Ponti

Darby moved to Florida when her dad decided to drop everything in New York and move to Coconut Beach. At first Darby is definitely hating the vibe. She does make a good friend Kate. But then she really starts to love the city when Zach starts hanging with her and showing her around. But then her old boyfriend Brendan comes back to pick her up. Things never really ended between them but weren't there for them either. Will Darby get the man she loves? I liked it. It's just a little romance book that I go through really fast and there's tons of them, but I still like reading them. Plus it adds book to my goal of 300 books faster! :]

Monday, April 13, 2009

Crazy in Love by Dandi Daley Mackall

Mary Jane constantly has two voices going in her head. The "Plain Jane" voice and the "M.J." voice. She is starting out senior year with her group. "The Girls" have a complicated tree going on. But she knows one thing, that she likes Jackson House, but he's off limits because he's Star's boyfriend. Who is in her supposed group of friends. She has a best friend Alicia who is in her first year at college. And her sister Sandy goes to a special school. Rumors go around about her that she's "easy." But then all her dreams come true and Jackson breaks up with Star to be with her. But it's more complicated than that. She thinks she loves him and wants to have sex, what teenage girl doesn't feel like that sometime in their high school years? But what voice will she listen to and how does her relationship with Alicia change? I thought this was a good book. Not like extremely good, but not like boring. But I liked it, and could def identify with some of the feelings. And also agree that sometimes there are voices for different parts of you and you don't know who to listen to.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Skinny by Ibi Kaslik

Giselle is anorexic. She has a sister, Holly, whose younger than her. Her dad is dead. Her mom is alive. The book goes between Giselle and Holly. Giselle is battling herself and her anorexia, while questioning why her dad hated her and love Holly the best. Holly is a runner and sees how Giselle acts. Sol is Giselles's boyfriend I guess, but he likes Holly too. Giselle convinces herself that all the men in her life love Holly more. What happens to Giselle in her own battle? Wow, this book was def interesting. It was kinda of weird at points, but I guess it's in the view of someone whose anoerexic and so it's how they would feel. It's so sad because she like has her evil side talking to her and then she talks back. She wants to eat and does but then her evil side makes her throw it back up or not eat at all. It's a good book though.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Reckless by Cecily Von Ziegesar

Jenny and Easy are officially dating. Jenny has been getting up early before Callie even wakes up and coming back late at night. Brett is back with Jeremiah. But when a party goes wrong, they all get in trouble, the whole hall of Dumbarton is on house arrest for the weekend. They're supposed to write an essay on how to be a responsible owl. But of course they find a way to party, with the leftover beer from before, and the guys find tunnels that go to their dorms. But Easy is confused, he kisses Callie in her closet. He loves Jenny and Callie! Callie forgives Jenny, but then they play I never and some secrets come outta the bag. From everyone..... So Kara, Callie, Jenny, and Brett make a pact to respect themselves and hopefully the guys will too. I thought it was good. It went by really fast, but that's ok. I'm glad another girl, Kara, joined in hopefully in the other books. But I have books in between to read and then the 4th and 5th so we'll get back to that later!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Notorious by Cecily Von Ziegesar

Tinsley is back! So now it's Tinsley, Brett, Callie and Jenny all in the same room, seems intense. Well Easy officially breaks up with Callie, is it for Jenny? Tinsley makes sure that Callie won't go through that, she can be a good friend, just a bitch too haha. Brett is distracted by Mr. dalton, but he breaks it off, and then going to New York with Tinsley, where she sees Jenny and Easy together. Word goes around fast. They start this cafe society, which is a secret society of girls with no boyfriend, being glamorous. They decide to have a pizza party and invite the pizza boy in, Angelo. They play spin the bottle and Jenny has to kiss him, but doesn't want to. Later Tinsley has something up her sleeve hmm. Heath decides to have a big party in two suites next to each other, but then the Dean finds out and their punshiment is now they have to be in 2 separate rooms. Brett and Tinsley in one Callie and Jenny in the other. They're just getting started. I liked this book, I love how they always have to say the name of the stuff they're wearing like the designers and colors. But that's cool, I learned some new ones from that fashionista talk haha. But can't wait for the 3rd one which I'm reading next!

Monday, April 6, 2009

The It Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar

So, Jenny is going to attend Waverly Academy. She ends up rooming with the two girls who were best friends with Tinsley, with some scandal about her leaving. Brett and Callie are their names. Brett is going out with Jeremiah (i think or Jeremy I forgot haha) but then gets the hots for a new Disciplinary Committee head. Callie is going out with Easy, but then Easy starts liking Jenny and vice versa. Jenny wants to get out of the mess that she got into at her old school, but it seems she's being sucked back in. And then Tinsley comes back, will there be enough room for all 4 of them? Loved it! I totally didn't even realize it was the Jenny from the Gossip Girls until like halfway through haha but hey ive only read the first gossip girls haha. But it was good, kinda reminded me of the private series, but there are lots of differences. Woohoo I have the next 4 in the series so it's exciting! :]

Saturday, April 4, 2009

The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory

Hannah Verde escaped from Spain because she was a Jew and her mother was burned as a heretic. She is bethrothed to Daniel. They go to England and hide their Jewish faith to be safe hereh. Her dad has a printing press and makes books. One day a few gentleman come for books and then she sees a ghost. She is then deemed to have the Holy Sight. She ends up going to the court, and when King Edward dies and Queen Mary takes the throne, she becomes Mary's fool. She lives through many ups and downs with the queen, while having her own. Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn comes into the picture. She seduces every man. While Mary cannot rule by herself she marries Phillip of Spain. Then Hannah goes to Daniel and her dad to Calais, Italy where they have escaped once again. But then she finds out Daniel had a baby with another woman. She is a fool and leaves him. Then finds she truly does love him, but she goes back to the court to see Mary dieing, and alone and lost everything. But all Hannah cares about is going to Daniel to show her true love for him, and they will live together with the son and follow their Jewish faith openly. Ok soo I probably kinda summarized that crappily haha hey, it's def much longer and more complicated than teen books. But I loved it, it helped that I've read The Lady Elizabeth, because I recognized some parts they both talk about, but I love these books, Learning about what they did back then and how it's so freaking different! But yeah, it's a good book and she's a good author. I def wanna read more of her books.