Of course, you probably wouldn't believe a voodoo doll could work either. Or that it could cause someone's leg to blow clean off with one quick prick. But I've seen it. It can happen.

And when there's suddenly a doll of YOU floating around out there—a doll that could be snatched by a Rottweiler and torn to shreds, or a gang of thugs ready to torch it, or any random family of cannibals (really, do you need the danger here spelled out for you?)—well, you know that's just gonna be a really bad day ..."


Review:

Reed MacAllister: A slacker more likely to be found by the stoners’ tree than in class.

Julia and Reed might have graduated high school without ever speaking to each other…until, during a class discussion of Romeo and Juliet, Julia scoffs at the play’s theme of love at first sight, and Reed responds by arguing that feelings don’t always have to make sense. Julia tries to shake off Reed’s comment and forget about this boy who hangs with the stoner crowd—and who happens to have breathtaking blue eyes—but fate seems to bring the two together again and again. After they share an impulsive, passionate kiss, neither one can deny the chemistry between them. Yet as Julia gets closer to Reed, she also finds herself drawn into his dark world of drugs and violence. Then a horrific tragedy forces Julia’s and Reed’s families even farther apart…and Julia must decide whether she’s willing to give up everything for love.

Defy the Stars is written in an edgy free-verse style that will appeal to fans of Ellen Hopkins and Lisa Schroeder; however, the writing is accessible enough to speak to non-verse fans as well. The novel’s combination of steamy romance and raw emotion will appeal to fans of Gayle Forman, Simone Elkeles, Jennifer Echols, and Tammara Webber. With a story, language and form that both pay homage to and subvert Shakespeare’s play, Defy the Stars is much more than just another Romeo and Juliet story"
Review:

I had little to no expectations going into this book. I had received a review request, and saw that the book was in verse. I'm a huge fan of verse novels, so I thought I would give this a try.

I loved it. It consumed me for two days. I couldn't stand putting it down, because I was so into the characters and plot of this novel. I play the piano, so I especially loved all the musicalness that Stephanie injected the verse with. If you don't know anything about music, I'm sure you could still enjoy this book, but some of the jargon may go over your head. But even if you've never even played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, you should give this book a read.

I can see myself in Julia. Though she makes choices throughout this novel that I would question myself, I can still relate to her because she seems so real to me. The way her feeling and emotions were described in this book make perfect sense.

Reed: the kind of guy that most parents would cringe at seeing on the arm of their daughter. He definitely plays the bad boy well, but he avoids falling into a lot of shallow stereotypes by having an amazing back-story, and backbone for that matter. I love male leads who can stand on their own two feet and make decisions. His story is super tragic. :(

The plot was great, and though I thought that maybe it dragged a tiny bit right before the climax, I was too in love with the characters to care. For being a relatively unknown book, the depth of the characters really surprised me.

I knew from the beginning that this book was a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, but I still hoped somewhere in my heart that there would be a happy ending. I knew that I couldn't have one, and I'm actually glad there wasn't one. I don't want to give anything away, but the ending was bitter sweet, and perfect.

I really recommend this book to, well, anyone. Please give this a read if you have an ereader! You can find it on Amazon. :)

Zita's exploits from her first adventure have made her an intergallactic megastar! But she's about to find out that fame doesn't come without a price. And who can you trust when your true self is being eclipsed by your public persona, and you've got a robot doppelganger wreaking havoc . . . while wearing your face?

Still, if anyone can find their way through this intractible mess of mistaken identity and alien invaders, it's the indomitable Zita, in Legends of Zita the Spacegirl."

Review:

Legends of Zita the Spacegirl is the second in an amazing series of graphic novels by my new favorite author/illustrator. I had heard great things about this series and decided when the opportunity came up to review this second installment to give it a shot. I'm so glad I did! 

Never before have I loved the art style in a graphic novel as much as this one. As I was reading, I felt myself lingering on the pages for longer than need be just because of how detailed and amazing it was. The colors were rich and full and the lines were just curved enough to make it feel cartoonish. This helped add love to the characters that were already likable enough. Zita in particular, of course.

The plot was never boring, and just when you thought the adventure was going to stop, it picked right back up. I literally finished this in one sitting, which though not hard to do with a graphic novel, is something that seldom happens for me. And the end (which of course leaves at a cliff-hanger) leaves me just wanting more of Zita and her cute friends.

*A side note: My favorite character of all happens to be a huge mouse that Zita rides around like a horse. CUTEST THING EVER.

People who should read this book: boys, girls, teens, parents, and anyone with a fun-hearted soul. Actually let me re-phrase: everyone should read this book.

Review:

I'm in love with Cassandra Clare's writing style and characters. For that reason (and also because I need my yearly dose of Jace's amazing snarkyness) this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2012. The Mortal Instruments Series has long been one of my favorites, and this book was just another great addition to an already great series.

Let's start with the characters. I have absolutely love all of them. Jace and Magnus are my favorites because of their wit and humor, but every single character this author puts on the page has something that I love. The depth to her characters astounds me; it's like a onion that has endless layers to peel off. I have no idea how she keeps it all straight. She must have endless notebooks full of traits for all of her characters or something. I would love to ask her how she develops her characters. Also, how does she think up the funny as hell dialogue?? I bet she could write for a stand-up comic.

Pacing and plot: the first was okay and the second was great. The pacing was the only problem I had with this book. I felt like the first 200 or so pages were kind of slow, and the only thing that had me keep reading was the characters and the dialogue. Thank god it didn't last that way forever. By the middle of the book I was on the edge of my seat. If fact, I finished that last 250 pages all in one sitting. I was even posting chapter updates on Twitter because I was so excited. The plot was definitely great. Clare is great at crafting an amazing story. The twists and turns in the plot have me guessing all the time, which is super important in a book that is as long as this one is. I was sad at the end though because of a certain thing. Maybe this will be worked out in book six though. I sure hope so!!

This wasn't my favorite book in the series (City of Glass is) but it's still good book to read. Now all I have left to do is wait for book six to come out. A WHOLE YEAR. I'm going to die. Definitely pick this up if you are a fan of the series. Stick with the beginning and I'm sure you'll love it. :)  

Review: 

I hadn't heard anything about this book before I got the chance to review it (as is usual with books not published with the big six publishers) but once I heard the premise I became intrigued. I love books with Irish folklore/guys with Irish accents and so I thought this book would be a good fit for me. The only thing that had me worrying was that vampires were involved. More on that later.

Harmony started out fast paced enough. The prologue was super cool and all "back-in-time-like" and had me wondering where the story was going to lead from there. I think the pace was definitely what I liked most with this book. There never really was a point where we could sit back and relax as readers, because there was some kind of action always happening. I LOVE faced paces in books, so I was super happy with this.

Onto the characters: I liked some and disliked others. Characters I liked: Sophie, Ian, Max, and Emily. Why? These characters were believable and they way they were told in the story had me picturing it all in my head like it was a movie. I especially like Ian, mostly because I go head-over-heels for Irish accents and gentlemen, and he is both. Sophie is nice enough for a protagonist, even if sometimes I wonder how she believes all she is told so easily. And of course Max and Emily, Sophie's "human friends" were cute and though kind of one dimensional they did their jobs. Characters I didn't like: Grandma, and all the old characters from "way back when." Why? I don't like the grandma character for one reason. She does things that any person in her right mind wouldn't do. I don't want to give too much of the story away, but the way her choices are rationalized just don't sit right with me. And I don't like the old Irish characters because of lack of back story and overall confusion regarding basically everything having to do with them.

Reasons this book gets 3.5/5 Stars: Great romance, a good yet unpredictable ending, a spin on the now classic vampire YA paranormal romance thing, and a face paced adventure that has me wondering if there is going to be a sequel. If this sounds like your book, be sure to check it out!

Review:

When this book first came out, it had a bunch of buzz. Usually, for me, that means I'm going to love the book. So when after months of thinking about reading it but not getting a chance, when I saw this at the library I grabbed it right away. It sounded really interesting, so I was super excited. I read the first hundred and fifty pages no problem.

But then the romance entered.

I'm sad to say this is just one of those books that I had to skip large portions of to get anything out of the experience. The dialogue between Karou and her friends is great, and the world that Taylor created is so creative and creepy. But then LOVE had to happen and then I hated the book. It wasn't that I'm not a fan of love at first sight, but seriously, I just didn't like the way it was put together. I fell terrible for giving a book with such great opportunity and writing such a negative review, but I couldn't even really finish the book because the romance put a sour taste in my mouth for some reason. 

I wouldn't say this book was outright terrible, because there were moments where I loved the writing and such, but I just can't stand the way the couple interacted. If this book had more fantasy and less super predictable romance, I may have given it four stars, with the romance, it gets two. :/

"The Story revolves around:

Elisabeth Wheatley started writing short stories when she was as young as seven years old. She began working on what would eventually become The Key of Amatahns when she was eleven. The story went through countless total rewrites until Elisabeth began working on what would be the final version when she was fourteen. When she completed the draft at fifteen, her parents (being supportive) sent her manuscript to a professional editor in West Texas. The editor, Suzanne O'Bryan, was so impressed with Elisabeth's work that she recommended it to a friend at a small publishing house, Chengalera Press. Chengalera Press was also very impressed and wanted to publish the manuscript. The Key of Amatahns was reviewed and edited by Professor Emeritus of the English Department at Southwestern University, Dr. T. Walt Herbert. The Kindle version of The Key of Amatahns was released on June 30, 2011, when Elisabeth was still fifteen. The paper version followed days later. Elisabeth is currently working on the second and third installments in the Argetallam Saga, while continuing to attend high school in the Texas Hill Country. Her hobbies include beekeeping, cheesemaking, mythology, and studying American Sign Language.

And now a post from the author herself about the writing process!

Elisabeth Wheatley--

How did you get the idea for The Secrets of the Vanamrs?

About the Books:

Book 1: The Key of the Amathans 

Book 2: The Secrets of the Vanmars 

After her adventures with the Key of Amatahns, sixteen-year-old Janir Caersynn Argetallam returns home to find Brevia on the brink of war with a neighboring country, Stlaven. Her foster-father and even Saoven—a brave young elf warrior—think it will be safe at the castle where Janir grew up. However, while trying to unravel a looming mystery, Karile—self-taught wizard and Janir’s self-appointed best friend—becomes certain that there is danger in the mountains surrounding Janir’s childhood home and that it has something to do with Stlaven’s most powerful family, the Vanmars…









Thanks so much to Elizabeth for stopping by! If you want to know more about her or the books she writes, head to http://www.argetallam.com ! Feel free to comment on this post about if you've heard of this series, or what you think of teenage writing in general.

Only a week and a half until summer! Now that I'm finally coming up on the home stretch for school, I hope to get lots posted this summer.

Review:

I love gore (even though I might not like to admit it) and love graphic novels (now that I don't mind admitting) so I figured this would be a good match for me. Bloody Chester is a western though, and I haven't really read many, so that was the one thing that I was apprehensive about.

This book didn't really wow me or turn me off to westerns. It seemed relatively to period, and the expressions seemed right for the time frame. Though the cursing was fairly frequent, I didn't might much because of the context, something I know that others will find offensive. The "N" word is used and the "F" word is used multiple times. Know that if swearing or racism even in period context bothers you, this isn't the book for you. The book also isn't for people who don't like a little blood and guts. But if you picked up the book and realized that its title was "Bloody Chester" and didn't think there would be a little gore then maybe you had unrealistic expectations. It definitely lived up to it's name.

Now to talk about the characters. One of the things I most enjoyed about this book was the development of Chester's character. You can tell in the beginning that he had little to no hope for the future and is willing to do almost anything. But as the story progresses, you can tell that he develops how he sees himself and the world around him, and he develops his own sense of self and of what's right and wrong. Though this graphic novel is incredibly short, you really manage a full range of emotion and development with his character. 

Sadly, I think the other characters weren't as developed as they could have been. The character Potter, for example, could have had been developed way more. From the small samples that I got, I could tell he was a witty and sarcastic person, but that's really the only side of him we see. The same goes for the character of Caroline. I really wish that we could have learned more about her life and seen more sides of her. 

The plot was fine, though the ending for me was a little weak. I also wished there was some more explanation. The way the whole thing was closed out was kind of vague. But maybe that's so the reader can draw their own conclusions. I usually like those open-ended type of things, but I didn't so much here.

The artwork (I can't go without mentioning this in a graphic novel review) was fine. I especially liked the artwork of scenes that took place at night. I really admire the shading and depth that went into them. The violent scenes had just enough detail to make you cringe but not to make you puke. I think that the characters could have had more expression on their faces some of the time, but overall the illustrations worked fine and added to the story as a whole.

Read Bloody Chester if you too like graphic novels and don't mind some swearing and gore. I defiantly need to put a note that this book (while having NO sexual content) probably isn't for kids younger than 14.

--Alexis

Title: Watch Me
Author: Lauren Barnholdt
Release Date: February 8th, 2011
Format: MP3 Audiobook
Source: Library
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Pages In This Edition: N/A
Rating: 3/5

On the Cover:


Beyond the Cover:


Summary from Goodreads:

"Ally has everything under control. She’s about to move into a house full of strangers and have her life broadcast to the world, but as long as she still has her long-distance boyfriend, Corey, nothing can go wrong. Nothing, that is, until Ally starts spending time with her housemate Drew, the hot and sensitive guy who always seems to be around when she needs someone the most.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy of this book. It took me long enough (I didn't get a copy until two months after the release date.) AND I'M SO HAPPY I GOT ONE. This book was the follow-up to my favorite book possibly ever. Delirium was so amazing, I was actually kind of worried that there was no way a sequel could ever compare. I was wrong.

This book was un-put-down-able. It rushed ahead at a break neck pace so that I couldn't help but read it for hours and hours until I was done. I don't want to say too much about the plot since it is a sequel and I don't want to spoil it for the few who haven't managed to read the first book. All I will say is WOW. The beginning, middle, and end all managed to be equally amazing. The end was a shocker though. And a mega cliff-hanger. I can't wait for the last book to come out now!

As always, Oliver manages to develop her characters in a way that most authors can't. Lena is defiantly one of the top five characters that I've read. The way she grew throughout this book was astonishing. Because the story is told in alternating "then" and "now" chapters, the way the voice changes between the two perspectives until they meet in the middle is amazing. I wish I could write like that.

As a second book, the pacing was so fast. For me, the second book in a trilogy is usually the one that is the slowest. Now that the author has you glued to the characters, they must go through some long "journey" type thing before the final book where everything is wrapped up. But Pandemonium is just what the title states it is: pandemonium. 

Again I don't want to say too much for fear of spoiling, but this book doesn't disappoint. The end (as in the last page) leaves such a cliff-hanger! I want the last book like NOW. So if you've read Delirium and haven't managed to read Pandemonium yet, you must!

--Alexis 

It was as if he called to me, demanding I reach out and touch the brushstrokes of color swirled onto the canvas. It was the most exquisite portrait I'd ever seen--everything about Lord Denbury was unbelievable...utterly breathtaking and eerily lifelike.

There was a reason for that. Because despite what everyone said, Denbury never had committed suicide. He was alive. Trapped within his golden frame.

I've crossed over into his world within the painting, and I've seen what dreams haunt him. They haunt me too. He and I are inextricably linked--bound together to watch the darkness seeping through the gas-lit cobblestone streets of Manhattan. Unless I can free him soon, things will only get Darker Still."

Review:

When I saw this book on a lot of blogs at the end of last year it had me wanting to read it. But when I found out it was a historical paranormal, I was instantly turned off. Me and historical fiction of any kind usually don't get along. At all. I figured if I was meant to read this book I would some how stumble upon a copy. And then I won it in a giveaway on a blog, so I thought I would give it a try. It had gotten some pretty good reviews, so I thought what the hell.

The beginning for me was the weakest part of the book. Probably the first 100 to 150 pages were very boring to me, and the chaste historical romance not enough to keep my interest. The characters seemed kind of one sided also for a large portion of the book, and I craved more depth. When the romance started to pick up I got more interested, and the ending isn't too bad, so I ended up thinking the book was okay.

My biggest complaint is the lack of action for most of the book. Besides the climax of the story, it was just.... dull I guess. There were large portions where I found my mind wandering. I wanted the mystery part of the book to be a much bigger part then it was, and when the mystery was included I found myself coming to conclusions about what was happening long before the characters in the story did, which I find kind of annoying.

The romance in Darker Still left much to be desired for a lot of the book. I understand this is the 1880's, but I just like a little more recklessness I guess. By the end it was good though, and the romance ended up being a huge reason why I finished the book. I wanted to know where the characters were going.

So I might continue this series to see if the plot picks up the pace in the second volume. Now that the romance has heated up some, maybe it can hold my attention. Over all, this book was okay, and if you like historical (which I don't) you would probably like this a lot more than I did.

I saw this book around the blog community and thought "Wow. That looks good. I should put in a request for it." When I did and got sent a copy, I was so excited. And for good reason; this book more than met my expectations. Once I had started it, every moment was just an excuse to go back to reading it, even if I knew I had other things I should have been spending my time on (studying for finals, doing housework, etc..) And that's because Shirvington has created a world that I'm definitely in love with. Head over heels.

The first thing that had me gripped in this book was Lincoln. WOW. Is he hot or what? It's pretty insane, and the chemistry between him and Violet is swoon-worthy. There just something about him that makes you wish you had a carbon copy of him to have as your own. And because one amazingly handsome guy per book wasn't enough, Violet meets Phoenix, a guy who is may be just as hot and amazing as Lincoln. I'm sure some people who read this will be like "Oh great, another YA love triangle. Like I haven't seen that before." But it's alright with me, because seriously, these guys are so great, I would be insulted if I didn't get to spend time with both of them.

And it's not like the romance is the only thing that goes on in the book. The mythology that Shirvington explains is the most explained and interesting of any "angel" book I've read in YA. It is believable and EXPLAINED. It feels like a lot of times authors expect you to know the back-story of their characters without any explanation, but Jessica does a great job of explaining. I really appreciate that. REALLY.

Finally, the plot is something you just can't help but want to flip pages for. It's fast paced and perfectly balanced with great romance. What's not to love? Not much. Except for one scene (I don't want to spoil) that seems to drag a little for my taste. That knocked it down from 5 stars to 4.5. Still, Embrace rocks my socks.

--Alexis