Magic's Child

Magic's Child
written by Justine Larbalestier



First of all, I really did like the title of the thrilling conclusion to the trilogy. I really did, as usual with this series by Larbalestier, enjoy the writing and interaction between the characters. I think the most interesting aspect of this comes up with a really frank and open discussion regarding the connection between religion and magic. I loved that Larbalestier was able to fairly show two differing opinions through her characters without sounding preachy or carrying a bias. One bone I do have to pick was the changing points of view. I am usually a fan of this if done well, but really, that bothered me a bit in this book. I don't think it fit in well with the rest of the novel. The final face off was fantastically well done, and really, I don't think I've ever read a book series that would translate so well to film. I hope one day this happens. All in all, it's a slow-paced read, but in a comfortable way, and the ending totally justifies all the preceding events.

Rating: 4/5

Also by Justine Larbalestier:

Magic or Madness (Book 1, Magic or Madness)
Magic Lessons (Book 2, Magic or Madness)

Liar

I got this book from...:Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Runaway

Runaway
written by YA writing goddess Meg Cabot



Man, I missed Meg! I was so excited to see what would happen in the final installment of this series, especially with the semi-cliffhangery ending of the 2nd book. It wasn't one of my favorite series by Cabot, not by far, but it held my interest, and I did keep reading, and I'm glad I did so. Right off the bat, my first thoughts before reading were a hope and a prayer that Meg would include Christopher through the whole book, instead of just bringing him in for a satisfying romantic conclusion, and I was very glad to see this hope come true, as he is my favorite character of the series. I did feel that he acted strangely out of character at random times, but it was still nice to see more of him, and I liked how his and Em's relationship evolved and grew through the duration of the novel. Overall, it was a good novel, I was glad to see it be very high-paced. I wasn't really a fan of everyone randomly pairing up at the end of the book and I felt like it may have cheapened Em and Chris's relationship a little bit, but hey, it's Meg Cabot, can't read her books without expecting amazing mindless fluff in massive amounts, right? I think the whole big scandal and resolution with Stark could have had more...epicness, for lack of a better word, to it, but was still happy with the way the story was resolved.

Rating: 4/5

Also in the series:
Being Nikki

I got this book from...:Barnes & Noble

By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead
written by Julie Anne Peters



It is kind of difficult to review this one without touching on what happens at the end, so read at your own risk, I suppose?

I kind of have a thing for books with characters dealing with depression and other mental illnesses, since I have seen so many people go through similar situations. I am really glad to see the genre rising in popularity, written both well and not-so-well. It's amazing (and at the same time, sad) to see how an author can put themselves into that kind of mindset and come out with a great work of fiction. My point, I suppose, is that these books are what teens need, just as there's recently been an explosion of fiction featuring LGBTQ teens, teens have to know that there are others, even if they just exist in a book, dealing with similar issues, reassuring the readers that there is still hope. While Julie Anne Peters writes an incredibly touching story about a teenage girl struggling with extremely severe, debilitating depression, it's difficult to tell whether her story is one of hope. Reality, yes. Obviously, teens have dealt with and sometimes lost the battle to depression. Others have survived. So yes, the story's resolution is very realistic in its vagueness. And there's definitely the idea that not all books need to end happily. But the very first thing I wrote before even opening the book was the idea that I really wanted there to be a definite conclusion. I didn't want a cliffhanger ending, or an ambiguous ending. I wanted the girl to either die or survive. And I didn't get that. So I loved the narration. I loved the writing style. I wasn't a big fan of the romance novel interludes, but I still read through them. The ending just ticked me off though. I feel like the readers deserved to know what had happened.

Rating: 5/5 for writing, 3/5 for plot

Is this just me? Did anyone read this in a particular way, where they believed she definitively lived, or definitively died? I'd really like to hear other peoples' interpretations.

Also by Julie Anne Peters: Luna

I got this book from...:Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Be More Chill

currently [re]reading: Jinx by Meg Cabot

Be More Chill
written by Ned Vizzini



Oh, Ned Vizzini. I had such high hopes for this. It's Kind of a Funny Story blew me away, and I expected much of the same from this. Maybe it's because of high hopes that the story fell flat? Good things first, the story was narrated in a very honest, teenage boy-ish perspective. The main character was funny in a subtle, sarcastic way, and the book reinforced that age old idea...that boys and their minds are absolutely gross. =P Jeremy, the main character, is your typical awkward gawky teenager, who lives a pretty ordinary life, no big traumatic drama going on, so naturally, the point of obsession for his self-fulfillment...is a girl. And in order to get that girl, Vizzini unfortunately falls back upon the old overdone in-crowd, fitting in story. He gives it a technological/supernatural twist with a device called the "squip", which can be inserted into human beings as a sort of guide to achieve coolness. From the point where Jeremy gives up his individuality, the story takes an immediate turn for the worse. It becomes the cliche predictable story that everyone else has already done to death. Everything about this story just feels annoyingly staged. It would have been interesting if the squip had been an actual dimensional character, but it's not, it's just a book about this clueless kid taking instructions from a machine. There are some interesting real-world parallels to be made here, but those parallels have been done before, there's nothing new here. Reading this book passed the time. The writing was good, I had nothing better to read, but it would definitely not be my immediate pick. I do have Teen Angst? Naaah... sitting on my bed right now, and I'm still really excited to read it, but I would pass on this book and read It's Kind of a Funny Story instead.

Rating: 2/5

I got this book from...:Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Stealing Heaven

Stealing Heaven
written by Elizabeth Scott



And Elizabeth Scott is back with yet another story featuring a teenage girl stuck with a dysfunctional family--in this case, one that makes its living through burglaries. It is a wonderful story of transformation, featuring an older teen, which I really like seeing as I'm getting older and starting to have a bit of difficulty identifying with younger teen characters. I found myself internally cringing for the main character throughout the whole novel, knowing there was no way this would end well--which just shows how well the story was written, making someone who steals an identifiable and likable character! As usual with E. Scott, there is realistic, honest dialogue. It's a simple story, typical with the author, but powerful and holds the reader's attention. The end twist to the story was completely shocking but at the same time, logical. I absolutely loved that the end held so much hope and promise, even for someone with such a twisted family situation. Great book!

Rating: 5/5

Also by Elizabeth Scott:
Bloom
Living Dead Girl
Love You, Hate You, Miss You
Something, Maybe
The Unwritten Rule

I got this book from...: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots

Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots
written by Abby McDonald



Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots is about self-proclaimed environmentalist, Jenna, who gets thrown into a summer living with her godmother in the middle of the woods. There, she learns a really great lesson about what environmentalism is really all about. The thing I really appreciate about this book (other than the really great timing of reading it, as I'm currently taking a short class about environmental literature) is that it's not overly preachy like it could have been. While some stereotypes are portrayed towards the beginning of the book, about typical, sign-carrying, protest-loving environmentalism, this image really takes a sharp turn by the end of the book, by which point, environmentalism is shown as a lifestyle change, and one that might not be the best to make for everyone (for instance, the negative economic impact of jobs being cut in favor of a more environmentally friendly lifestyle is shown, and this largely affects some of the characters' lives). It's a very open-minded book that emphasizes the need for balance. The reader is truly given all sides of the issue, and then told to make a decision. By the end of the novel, the message really is about getting out in nature and just having fun. Environmentalist issues aside, the writing is wonderful, with a very honest, down-to-earth, authentic narrator. I really liked the size of the cast of characters--it wasn't too narrow-focused, but there wasn't a character overload, where it's hard to keep track of who is who. While some of the relationship stuff wasn't as great as I thought it could be, with a severe lack of communication between Jenna and Reeve, as well as unnecessary secrecy, it was still a good read, and I really encourage people to use this book as an introduction to what true environmentalism is all about. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more by Abby McDonald!

Rating: 5/5

I got this book from...:LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Summer Sisters

Summer Sisters
by Judy Blume



This is a post written by someone who adores Judy Blume and has read all her children's and teen novels. Having read her other books, I was really expecting a novel with actual substance, rather than just fluff fiction. The strange twisty drama I got was nowhere near my expectations. It seemed so juvenile for such a prolific writer, and this was supposed to be an adult novel! It was filled with...oh, for lack of a better phrase, trashy drama. The fact that it was slow paced and pretty dull, teeming with pointless filler, did not make a stronger case for this novel. Not to mention, whoever wrote the summary on the back of the book pretty obviously never bothered to actually read the book, so details on the ending were revealed before I even opened the book, and some of the material from the back summary never even occurred. Just do yourself a favor and stick with her more substantial teen books.

Rating: 1/5

I got this book from...:What's On My Bookshelf

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

written by E. Lockhart

This was my second time reading this book. It's always a great read, but I've found it to be a pretty forgettable one as well, oddly. One of the bigger advantages this book has is its quirkyness: it's quirky and off-beat without being annoying, leading to an astoundingly funny and clever story told by a very authentic narrator. The one thing that stuck out to me the most through this read and the last was the astounding similarities between some of the characters in this book and their Harry Potter Marauder parallels, because that is just the default way I think. The book is a great combination of amazing writing and a fascinating subject: secret societies. Who hasn't been completely intrigued by the idea of those, right? I felt like the ending could have been sped up a little bit, to allow for more time dedicated to the ending, as I did feel the ending to be a last minute cramming of final details. I also thought it would be really neat to see what became of Frankie's brilliance in the future. I would have liked to see some resolution to the Frankie's love life, and I really did think she and Alpha's mischievous personalities would make a great match. I wonder if this book would lend itself to a sequel...=)

Rating: 4.5/5

Also recommend:

The Spell Book of Listen Taylor--by Jaclyn Moriarty

Also by E.Lockhart:

Ruby Oliver series:

The Boyfriend List

The Boy Book

The Treasure Map of Boys

How to be Bad

Fly on the Wall

I got this book from...:Paperbackswap

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Will Grayson, Will Grayson
written by John Green and David Levithan



I don't know if I can properly express my love for this book. I'm a proud nerdfighter, so I've been looking forward to the day when John Green's new book would be coming out ever since I first heard about its existence. Upon reading it, I was kind of shocked. Sure, John Green's Will Grayson was a really great character...but David Levithan's will grayson, David Levithan, whose only other work I've read was a short story in Geektastic, made me want to jump into the book and give him a massive shower of hugs. And while John Green is responsible for the creation of Tiny Cooper, it's David Levithan's Tiny that really goes places. So anyways, one of the best things about these two authors is their authenticity. It's like they've grown up without having lost their teenage selves, and are fully able to capture those teenage emotions and write them into an emotionally moving story.
Give me another moment to fangirl over will grayson. I know many people have expressed an intense dislike of David's will's inability to use the shift key. But here's the thing: when depression strikes, it honestly feels like your universal shift key is missing, like nothing you can say deserves capitalization, or in a weird way, recognition and ownership. Your proper nouns are not important enough to be capitalized. So I found myself really relating to that lack of capitalization. Simply speaking, David Levithan broke my heart with will grayson, especially after bringing Tiny Cooper into will's story.
John's contribution to the story was okay, but I felt like it was the same John Green formula we've all seen already. Typical teenage guy, with his larger-than-life sidekick that takes him on a wild journey through the big wide wonderful world. The Love Interest, Jane, bored the heck out of me, and overall, though the writing was predictably spectacular, I was just disinterested in Will Grayson and his story.
I did not want this book to end. I felt like it incorporated every possible teenage high school problem that teens, real teens, have at some point had to deal with. I don't think it's possible to finish this book without wanting your own personal Tiny Cooper.
Anyone else desperately wishing for a soundtrack to this, with big, cheesy, over-the-top musical numbers? Youtube musical theater nerdfighters, get on that!

Rating: 5/5

Related reviews:
Paper Towns
Looking for Alaska
An Abundance of Katherines

Hello, World!

Hi everyone! I'm back!

Sooo, spring semester kicked my butt, needless to say. It's finally done as of yesterday, and I'm really glad to be [hopefully] back to blogging on a regular schedule. No guarantees, as I'm taking a "Maymester" at my school, where I have classes running through the 21st of May, but...oh, I really hope it lasts, I miss blogging soooo much!

So to kick off this rebirth of my blog, I'd actually like to go through an author event I attended last night! I went to my local library and got to see Lisa McMann, author of Wake, Fade, and Gone. I haven't read the third, but I did read the first two and LOVED them.

So let's see, I got to the library around 45 minutes before the event started. I returned a few books and checked some more out (including one by David Levithan!). I killed some time until the event, and then spent a good deal of time trying to find the location of this classroom where the event was going to be held.

I did find it eventually, it was being held in one of the museum's classrooms (our library is attached to the natural history & art museums). That was kind of cute, since there was an adorable picture of a dinosaur on the whiteboard.

We started the event as soon as Boothy (!!!) got there. We got the lecture about the sponsors of the event (PPG Industries) and they talked about some of the other authors they had hosted, which included Ned Vizzini, Hank & John (!!!!), Maureen Johnson, Avi, and David Levithan. With that being said, the librarian, Karen Brooks-Reese, introduced Lisa McMann!

Yesterday was a chilly day in Pittsburgh, so she opened the event talking about how she is from Arizona, where they are enjoying nice 95 degree weather. I don't think I could have been any more jealous at that moment. She also talked about being in Pittsburgh 20 years ago, and remembering our iconic bridges.

Lots of the questions she took the time to answer have been talked about on website (which kind of bothers me, as I feel it could be time better spent, but whatever, apparently that's just me :P) We had the obligatory "Why are you a writer/how does one get published/I am desperate to become a writer even though I probably haven't even written a book yet tell me how to do it because I'm not original enough to figure it out myself!1!!one!!" questions. (Am I being irrationally snarky? Probably. Sorry. This is one of my biggest pet peeves though, those writing questions. Google. Use it, people.)

I'm sorry if you're familiar with Lisa McMann and some of this information is repetitive, but here's what she took the time to talk about:
-She got the idea for Wake from a dream she had, about being in her husband's dream. This was one of the few times she wrote and later read her notes about her dream and thought it was a really interesting concept that could be expanded upon.
-Her original idea involved spying on people's dreams for revenge, but she felt stuck with that plot thread, so she then went to the idea of what if this was uncontrollable, what if the person traveling through dreams didn't even want to be doing so? And from there we got the trilogy we now know!
-She went through and summarized the books, which I'm not going to do, since you can find those at a countless number of places.
-She read an excerpt of Wake.

-She addressed questions, based on a system of which question received the largest applause. The clear favorite was a question about most embarrassing moments. For those, she began with some audience stories to sort of break the ice. We heard stories about accidentally sitting on a classmates head, walking around school with split pants (a story where a girl was ratted out by her father who was also attending, no less!), and a story about two people literally colliding into each other while they were reading in the halls. McMann then segued into her own story, which was about being in English class, sitting in the back corner, sneezing, and having a bit of a snot problem, resulting in the nickname "Gort Snort", as Gort was her last name at the time. She also told a story about wearing a snap button shirt and having that yanked open accidentally by a person she strongly disliked.

She then took the time to discuss her covers. Apparently, she had no say over the Wake cover, but loved it anyways. For Fade, she was given "consultation rights", where she'd basically be asked her opinion, and whatever it was, it'd essentially be ignored, but she'd still be asked. This resulted in a little bit of pink being removed from the cover before publication. For Gone, she was actually given the option of taking pictures of any chairs she found interesting. What is now the cover of that book is actually a photo she took on her cell phone!

She got a question about how books get turned into movies as well as the general publishing process, which, again, Google if you're interested.

She talked a little bit about her early promotion process, and how she'd reach out to fans of paranormal YA before Wake got published, on MySpace. She'd friend-request people she thought might enjoy her book and told them a little bit about it, which she says went a long way.

She also said that Janie & Cabel's story has been told, and she doesn't at the moment plan on telling more.

She was asked about what she was currently working on, which was a good transition to her reading from her two upcoming novels. She's going to have two books out in 2011, a YA Paranormal entitled Cryer's Cross about a girl's disappearance and its aftermath, out in February. The other novel is a dystopian fantasy, due out in fall 2011. This one is about a society where strength and intelligence are valued in teens, and artistic and imaginative personalities are punishable by death.

The final question asked about her process for coming up with character names. For Janie, she was just looking for an ordinary sounding name. For Cabel, a boy in her son's 3rd grade class inspired that unusual name. She also brought up the sort of "Cain and Abel" feel it has. Sometimes she just hits the baby name books for ideas, the name of 'Kendall' in Cryer's Cross was actually auctioned off, and some names are given with intended meanings in mind.

We then lined up to get our books signed (everyone who attended got a copy of Wake and Fade for free, which was kind of awesome, even though I had brought my own copy of Wake). I talked to a young lady from University of Pittsburgh, who had JUST read Lisa McMann's books and had found out about the event literally half an hour before it occurred! So awesome :D I got my books signed and got to briefly talk to her, and also got a picture taken with her:


Anddd then I basically ran out of there, because I was too much of a coward to actually talk to Boothy. Which is pretty sad, since I've been wanting to meet him since the good old Meg Cabot Book Club days. Ah well. All in all, a pretty wonderful experience :)

Alright lovely readers, that's where I end this one. I can't wait to share my thoughts on some awesome new books with you all :) [Hint: Um. I really truly appreciate the heck out of Tiny Cooper, and I can't wait to fangirl all about it!] Talk to you all tomorrow!