Unbelievable by Sara Shepard

Description: Our pretty little liar's charmed lives have turned into living nightmares. Emily's been shipped off to Iowa to live with uberconservative cousins. Aria's boyfriend is behind bars--because of her. Spencer's afraid she was involved in Ali's murder. But Hanna's fate is far worse: She's clinging to life in the hospital because she knew too much. If these girls don't start listening to me, Hanna's going to look like the lucky one.

~A

Review: This is the fourth in the Pretty Little Liars series. I read the first three during the beginning of last year. It really got me hooked and wondering who A is. It is so well written.

Sara Shepard did such a good job of keeping the suspense going about what is gonna happen to the girls next. It has alternating chapters, which each one focusing on one of the girls. Even when Hanna was in the coma, it had her chapters. I really liked it because that way you can feel for all the girls. The only problem I had with the alternating chapters were that if something exciting happened to one, I would want to know what happened to them right away and not have to wait for it come up again, which sometimes it didn't happen for a few chapters.

The book is really well written, as I have said, and the suspense that Shepard creates is marvelous. The stuff that happens to the girls is so marvelous that it would take such a strong imagination to create them.

I would give it 4 1/2 coins.

5=best

1=worst

Thinking About Thursday - Feb 26

This is similar to Waiting On Wednesday except that the books are necessarily not published at the moment. Some may be from a few years back and maybe even a rumored book every once in a while...

So this week's book that is for Thinkin' About Thursday is:

Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher

In a sentence or two: clay receives a box of cassette tapes (yes, apparently they are still around) from his classmate and crush Hannah...who died by suicide two weeks ago. There are 7 cassette tapes with a total of 13 recordings on them - the 13 reasons why Hannah gave up.

Hannah was the new girl her freshman year, with a clean slate. She was funny, smart, pretty, and socially capable of doing pretty well for herself. She makes friends with the other two new kids that year, and they find themselves supporting each other as newbies while spreading their wings socially among the other students. And that's about the end of what goes right for Hannah. Her two 'closest' friends betray her and a path of seemingly unrelated events and rumors tear her down piece by piece until she can't stand it anymore.

Clay is the latest recipient of the tapes that Hannah recorded the day before she died. He can't remember a single malicious thing he did to her, in fact, he was pretty smitten with her so he can't figure out why he would be one of Hannah's 13 reasons. But in order to find out, he has to listen to all the tapes in order, hearing each other person/reason why. Each story is heartbreaking and hauntingly familiar to clay. He saw/heard the rumors Hannah is talking about but is hearing the truth from her now. The way he sees his classmates, his town, his teachers, even himself, changes with each tape he plays.

I'm been hearing about this book for a long while. It just seems like a book that I would totally enjoy.

Booking through Thursday: Collectibles

• Hardcover? Or paperback?
• Illustrations? Or just text?
• First editions? Or you don’t care?
• Signed by the author? Or not?

I like hardcovers better, even though sometimes the paperbacks aren't bad. I like text with some pictures, just to give me a little tease. I would love first editions, but you can't always get them. Signed by the author is just a wonderful thing!

Blog Party: Amanda Ashby

Yes, I just said. Blog Party. For a book. How awesome is that?

Don't forget to enter all previous posts for chances to win. The contests are only open for a couple of days!

Go visit her at http://amandaashby.blogspot.com/.

Teaser Tuesdays: Coraline

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page. Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

Please avoid spoilers!

Page 103 of Coraline by Neil Gaiman

"She realized than that, terrifying through the thing on the wall that had once been the other Misses Spink and Forcible was, it was attached to the wall by its web, encased in its cocoon. It coulf not follow her."

Hope You Enjoy!

Meetin' Monday: Book Chic

Book Chic has graciously offered to my first Meetin' Monday! Yea! I've got to start somewhere, right?

Well, as you might figure out. These are not typical questions you read all the time. Well, they are in a way, I guess. So here he is. Don't forget to comment on what you guys think about it! Thanks!

What is your full name?
I'd rather not reveal my full name, but my first name is James.

What has been a promient interview that has stuck out in your memory?
Well, Lauren Barnholdt's was the first one I ever did, so that's a great memory. I'm also proud of my interviews with Meg Cabot- I'd been a fan for like 3 years and then I had the chance to interview her for my blog. It was a dream come true.

What has been a promient book that has stayed with you over the years, even from when you were a child?
I don't know, lol. I have SUCH a horrible memory. In fact, a mystery that I had solved several months back now has to be solved again, lol. Luckily, I found the answer on a blog entry from September. One of the series I LOVED to read as a child was the Billy and Blaze series, about a boy and his horse and they do amazing things or something along those lines. A more recent one would probably be the Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot, as it was the first YA book I read and it got me started on reading YA.

Who are some people you looked up to growing up?
Here's the thing... I didn't look up to people. I mean, yeah, I had favorite actors/actresses, authors, etc. but no one I really looked up to. I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life until I was already pretty much grown up, so yeah. Probably not the best answer ever to this question, lol. Right now though, I guess I look up to authors, particularly ones like Meg Cabot and Sarah Dessen, who now write full-time as their job. It's something that I want to be able to do someday. 

Were you nervous first contacting authors or them first contacting you?
A tiny bit, but not really. I mean, barely a week passed from starting my blog that I went and contacted the queen of YA Meg Cabot to ask for an interview. Authors are people too, though I do still get WAY excited meeting them and also tend to clam up because I'm scared of saying something stupid in front of them, so it shouldn't be a huge deal contacting them. The worst thing that can happen is that they don't reply or say no, but in my experience, they'll do so politely. The YA community is so kind and caring- it's a pleasure to be part of it all. 

I don't think I was nervous if an author contacted me since they were seeking me out. I generally became more excited when that happened, lol. The nervousness occurred when contacting authors, as mentioned above.

Who was your first author you contacted and how did you feel?
Technically, Lauren Barnholdt was the first, but it was for an entirely different reason. It was to help promote her new book (at the time) Two-Way Street and she was looking to her LJ friends to post reviews of it on their blog or on Amazon. She was also willing to do interviews if people wanted to include those. Well, I have a Livejournal, so I had just planned on doing it there, but in the course of coming up with questions, I thought to myself "This is really fun. I want to do this more often." and I decided to make a book review blog. I had never read any review blog before, so I had very little idea of how to go about it and how to contact people, but that was the beauty of being on Myspace since lots of authors are on here. It made contacting and showing off my blog easier. 

What is your favorite bite size candy?
Yay, a short answer finally! hehe. I love Skittles. In fact, I'm going to go have some right now. :) 

Thanks so much for having me on your blog!! I loved these questions! :)

Book Chic

Man, isn't he just the awesomest? I love making up my words or using ones people have already made up, ha!

In My Mailbox (1)

My first vlog, Yea:

Please, please tell me what you guys think! I did this over so many times, trying to find something to do this with. Finally, I figured out how to use my webcam, after having my computer for almost 6 months! Epic fail...

Anyways, sorry it's late. Please comment on it!

Oh, I hate how I sound and my room is way too messy!

Let's Do the Shuffle (game...)!

I got this meme from Musings of  Fledging Writer. Yes, I know this has been around the internet for a while...The instructions are pretty simple:

1. Set your iTunes, iPod, Windows Media Player to shuffle.

2. Answer each question with the next song that comes up.

If someone says "Is this Okay?" You say:

"Rip Her to Shreds" - Blondie

Very Nice!

How would you describe yourself?

"Never Wanted to Dance" - Mindless Self Indulgence

Not really....

What do you like in a guy/girl?

"God of Wine" - Third Eye Blind

?

How do you feel today?

"It's Gonna Be Love" - Mandy Moore

That sounds about right...

What's your life purpose?

"Mobile" - Avril Lavigne

That totally does seem right!

What do your friends think of you?

"Radio" - Smash Mouth

Windows Media Player really does not get me....

What do your parents think of you?

"It's Gonna Be Me" - *NSYNC

Ok....

What do you often think about?

"The Perfect Scene" - Mercy Mercedes

I guess this is better...

What do you think about the person you like?

"Angeles" - Enya

Alrighty....

What is your life's story?

"Anything" - PFR

...middle child...

What do you want to be when you grow up?

"Clock Shop" - Ronen (For the short play When Fatty Eats Time, or something like that, on Celtx)

That is so totally random!

What will you dance to at your wedding?

“Thank You" - Simple Plan

That is so horrible!

What will they play at your funeral?

“This Bitter Pill" - Dashboard Confessional
Wow. Windows Media Player really does hate me!

What is your biggest fear?

“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" - Johnny Cash
That's what I'm really scared off! Rawr!

What is your biggest secret?

“Doctor Finkelstein/In the Forest" - Amiina (Nightmare Revisited)

I like this part. It was so cute. The whole movie was.

What do you think of your friends?

“Girlfriend [Remix]" - *NSYNC

Idk...

What is your future going to be like?

“Stoned" - Smash Mouth

I don't understand...Is that a warning?

What do you see in the person you like?

“Far Away" - NickelBack

Why must it always be this way?

What will the song be for you and your spouse?

“You'd Better" - Sony Ericsson
That's so funny because it's the ringtone where it tells you to answer your phone. Ha!

Now go and try it for yourself! No Cheating!

*I swear, Windows Media Player really hates me. I really need to get an iPod.*

Books In Their Natural Habitat

I saw that Book Chic posted a few pictures (even getting the manager mad at him...), so I thought I would snap a few.

I don't really have bookstores near me. All I really have are Hastings, Wal-Mart, and Target. So here are a few from Wal-Mart:



Above, we have Geek Charming by Robin Palmer and Confessions of a Shopaholic (Movie Tie-In)by Sophie Kinsella



Above, we have You Are So Undead to Me by Stacie Jay; Masquerade (Blue Blood Novel) by Melissa de la Cruz; and a Gossip Girl: The Carylies book.



Above, we have Evermore by Alyson Noel with a The Clique book trying to "hide".

Last, but not least:



We have a lot here:
Cross My Heart, Hope to Spy by Ally Carter
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'll Have to Kill You by Ally Carter
Just Listen by Sara Desson
Envy: A Luxe Novel by Anna Godbersen
You can also see Harry Potter books, Eragon books, and a few mangas on the bottom.

Well, I hope you enjoy this and I hope to find more good Books In Their Natural Habitat!

Thinkin' About Thursday - Feb 19

This is similar to Waiting On Wednesday except that the books are necessarily not published at the moment. Some may be from a few years back and maybe even a rumored book every once in a while...

So this week's book that is for Thinkin' About Thursday is:

Flash Burnout by LK Madigan

Fifteen-year-old Blake has a girlfriend and a friend who's a girl. One of them loves him, the other needs him.

When he snapped a picture of a street person for his photography homework, Blake never dreamed that the woman in the photo was his friend Marissa's long lost meth-addicted mom. Blake's participation in the ensuing drama opens up a world of trouble, both for him and for Marissa. He spends the next few months trying to reconcile the conflicting roles of Boyfriend and Freind. His experiences range from the comic (surviving his dad's birth control talk) to the tragic (a harrowing after-hours visit to the morgue).

In a tangle of life and death, love and loyalty, Blake will emerge with a more sharply defined snapshot of himself.

I honestly don't know where I found this book. It was a review on a blog, but I can't remember. (Please let me know if you know. I am not trying to take credit. Please help me give it.) It just sounded so interesting. I will have to find this somewhere because I just wanna see what happens!

Booking Through Thursday

This week’s question is suggested by Kat:

I recently got new bookshelves for my room, and I’m just loving them. Spent the afternoon putting up my books and sharing it on my blog . One of my friends asked a question and I thought it would be a great BTT question. So from Tina & myself, we’d like to know “How do you arrange your books on your shelves? Is it by author, by genre, or you just put it where it falls on?”

I would have to say that my books (and movies) are organized alphabetically. Books are organized by author, movies by title. If I run out of room, then I just try to find a spot for it somewhere.
Honestly, they really need bigger bookshelves in college. I hope they realize that we don't just read textbooks. How else would we have gotten this far? Duh!

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page. Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

Please avoid spoilers!

Page 88 of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

"But already my heart rate is acclimating, slowing down, easing up, released from the suffocation of that club and that noise and so many people inside, who surely all know of my humiliation and my regret.
She's the reason I could not break through to Nick and I want to know why."

Hope you enjoy!

Contest!

I am not holding the contest, but Melange's Book Reviews is!

All you have to do is become a follower. You could be 1 of the lucky 6 (sounds like Willa Wonka +1...) who could win 50 books!

Don't forget to tell her I sent you! There are 3 spots for those who added and 3 for those who refer!

Contest is open until February 26 so hurry!

So Yesturday by Scott Westerfeld

Description: Ever wonder who was the first kid to keep a wallet on a big chunky chain, or wear way-too-big pants on purpose? What about the mythical first guy who wore his baseball cap backwards? These are the innovators, the people at the peak of the coll pyramid.

Seventeen-year-old Hunter Braque is a Trendsetter, on the second level of the pyramid. Hi job: find the newest, coolest thing for the retail market. His MO: observe, don't get involved.

But he has to get involved when he and his crush, Jen, discover his boss's cell phone in an abandoned building--and his boss missing. Hunter and Jen are soon snared in a web of brand-name intrigue: a missing cargo of the coolest shoes they've ever seen, ads for products that don't exist, and a shadowy group dedicated to the downfall of consumerism as we know it.

Review: I got this book from Barnes & Nobles after I got a gift card from my boyfriend's grandmother. I didn't realize that it was older, but that didn't seem to affect it. Some of the technology was kind of out of date, but otherwise it was pretty modern.

I liked how Hunter didn't use name brands. That would have taken away the intergrity of the book. It kept me reading. I didn't want to stop reading, but I had to in order to do homework. The end was not what I expected, but I guess that was in it all along, just very underlined.

My favorite scene was the commercial of Poo-Sham, the fake shampoo. It was just funny!

I would totally recommend it anyone, especially people who always wonder where trends come from and what happens when something is way "too cool"

I would give it 4 coins.
5=best
1=worst

Thinkin' About Thursday

This is similar to Waiting On Wednesday except that the books are necessarily not published at the moment. Some may be from a few years back and maybe even a rumored book every once in a while...

So the first book that I for Thinkin' About Thursday is:

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Description: When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for—her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more. In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart.
(Taken from faithful Amazon.com)

I first saw the book trailer of this on Stephanie Kuehnert. She was talking about whether or not she should make a book trailer for Ballads of Suburbia. She had this book trailer as an example of a good one. I saw it and had to find it somehow. But I can't afford it! I hope I can get it soon!

Review: A Bride Most Begrudging

Description: When Lady Constance Morrow finds herself held against her will aboard a
ship bound for the American colonies—a ship filled with "tobacco
brides" and felons—she is quite sure that as soon as she arrives she
will find a reasonable man who will believe her father is an earl and
send her back on the next ship to England. Instead she meets Drew
O’Connor, a determined Colonial farmer who is nearly as headstrong as
she is. Drew wins Constance as his bride but soon realizes he has taken
on much more than he bargained for. (stolen from Amazon.com)

Review: I got this book from my dad's book stash. I was reluctant about it because it was a Christian romance, but was I wrong. I thought it was a nice romantic story without all the sex interfering. It did have God and the Christian element in it, but it was preaching the message. It was showing more than telling. It also was pretty accurate, and I thoroughly enjoyed.

I would give it 4 coins.
5=best
1=worst

Originally Posted on: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 1:32 p.m.

Review: Violet on the Runway

Description: A wallflower in the spotlight can do one of two things: wilt, or blossom...

Violet Greenfield's life changes forever when a lady in giant Chanel shades tells her she could be IT, the next Kate Moss-but taller, and without the PR problems. That's how Violet winds up with a business card in the front pocket of her jeans on her first day as a senior in high school. Angela Blythe from Tryst Models in New York City wants to put Violet on a plane and whisk her into the world of high-heeled boots and oversized sunglasses. Tall, skinny Violet, who's been P-L-A-I-N practically forever.

And guess what? She's going...(stolen from Amazon.com)

Review: I had heard a lot of hype about this book and had wanted to read it for the longest time. Sometimes when a lot of hype is surrounded around a book that I don't like it. But I was very surprised. I actually enjoyed this book. I didn't want to put it down but I had to in order to finish my homework.

It started off good but after a while it kind of rushed. It didn't slow down a little after that but then rushed a little bit more. The end slowed down a lot and kept it open for a sequel, which I want to get soon. I really like it a lot. It made me really feel like I was Violet and living in her life. I actually felt at one point that I was her.

I would give it 4 Coins.
5=best
1=worst

originally posted on: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 at 10:50 p.m.

New Blog for Books

We have moved! I am now using this space for my book reviews and stuff. I hope to start putting up interviews and things. I hope to get Book Chic on here first and then go from there. Book Chic inspired me so that's why he's first.

All previous posts from MySpace will be moved here.

I review every kind of book when I get the time to read them. Please stay tuned and have fun.

Don't forget:
Peace, Love, Vote!