Flower In A Storm 1 by Shigeyoshi Takagi

Title: Flower In A Storm Vol. 1

Author: Shigeyoshi Takagi

Publisher: VIZ Media LLC

MSRP: $9.99 US

Pages: 200 (paperback)

Riko is a normal girl (as we are constantly and overly informed in each episode) with un-normal superstrength. Until the day when Ran Tachibana, rich heir of the famous Tachibana family, breaks into her classroom, claiming her as his bride. When Riko refuses, he gives her until 5 o'clock to to escape him and he'll let her go. While Ran has unlimited money and infinite favors, Riko has superhuman strength.

First of all, the characters. Riko is constantly reiterating that she's "just your ordinary, every-day high school girl" (often said as she's running insanely fast, saving balloons for children, and generally putting her superhuman abilities to use), and it's obvious she just wants to belong. However, it's constantly being repeated gets tired quickly, loses all its irony, and starts to feel like the author felt we wouldn't get it. Riko isn't a character I'm particularly attached to, but she is a very interesting character, and very realistic, because she's just like any other insecure teen, trying to hide what makes her special because it's what she's been taught she should do.

And then, there's Ran. Ran is also an interesting character, charming, creepy, odd, and lovable, all at the same time. It's obvious he really is in love with Riko, and his sincere adoration for her is something I definitely liked: but it doesn't change his stalking her, and being slightly insane. Overall, they're a cute, strong main pair.

But they're the only strong characters: supporting characters, like Riko's friends (the shaved-headed student council member was good for a laugh or two, but not much else), he assassin, etc. have no personality and are really flat and one-dimensional, which is disappointing. The side characters are basically just there for the sake of the plot, which isn't how it should be.

The dialogue was pretty weak, even at times between Riko and Ran, especially at the beginning. It seemed a little awkward and repetitive, weirdly worded: but once you got more familiar with the characters, the dialogue got better, and was redeemed by Ran's romantic gestures.

And then there's the plot. Ran chasing after Riko only lasts through the first episode or so, and after that, you'd think the- admittedly shallow- plot would sort of fizzle away. But I felt like the author did a great job with it from there: every chapter has crazy, often funny misadventures of Riko and Ran as Riko slowly starts coming around to Ran.

The art wasn't particularly special, just your traditional shojo style: big eyes, unnatural beauty, inordinate amounts of rose petals floating around. But, it's still very pretty, and nice to look at and try to draw.

There's also a bonus manga, called The Need For Artificial Respiration. It's a nice contrast to Flower, more serious and realistic, and its shortness leaves it feeling even more poignant. On the other hand, Flower in A Storm feels kind of rushed and unreal.

Overall, this manga definitely has its flaws: lacking side characters, a slightly shallow plot, and repetitive chapter beginnings, but if you're new to manga, it's definitely worth a try, and I still loved it anyways. I recommend picking it up at the library (or used on Amazon) if you see it.

(By the way, the 2nd and final volume is out August 3rd!)

Book review: The Heroines by Eileen Favorite

Title: The Heroines
Author: Eileen Favorite
Publisher: Scribner, December 11 2007
Pages (Hardcover): 256 pp
MSRP: $24.00
Rating: * * */ 5

Summary: Although a true lover of books, Anne-Marie Entwhistle prefers not to read to her spirited daughter, Penny, especially from the likes of Madame Bovary,Gone With the Wind, or The Scarlet Letter. These novels, devoted to the lives of the Heroines that make them so irresistible, have a way of hitting too close to home -- well, to the Homestead actually, where Anne-Marie runs the quaint family-owned bed and breakfast.In this enchanting debut novel, Penny and her mother encounter great women from classic works of literature who make the Homestead their destination of choice just as the plots of their tumultuous, unforgettable stories begin to unravel. They appear at all hours of the day and in all manners of distress. A lovesick Madame Bovary languishes in their hammock after Rodolphe has abandoned her, and Scarlett O'Hara's emotions are not easily tempered by tea and eiderdowns. These visitors long for comfort, consolation, and sometimes for more attention than the adolescent Penny wants her mother to give.Knowing that to interfere with their stories would cause mayhem in literature, Anne-Marie does her best to make each Heroine feel at home, with a roof over her head and a shoulder to cry on. But when Penny begins to feel overshadowed by her mother's indulgence of each and every Heroine, havoc ensues, and the thirteen-year-old embarks on her own memorable tale.
******************************************************************


In theory, this book sounds like a fantastic premise, and it is: a magical inn, absolutely drowning in Southern charm, and a mother and daughter who own it, where heroines of famous novels come to life? What could be better?

I had many problems with this book, but one of the main one was that I felt Favorite was trying to accomplish too much with her book. It seemed as though she was trying to blend teen angst of the most annoying manner, a female Holden Caulfield, satire on the huge amount of praise given to books just because they've endured the test of time (and not because the book itself is any good), a kind of "Girl, Interrupted" thing, AND magic into one book, and was spreading the characters, elements and plot too thin to try to accomplish it. As a result, inconsistencies abounded.

The most major inconsistency was of the heroines themselves: sometimes they were portrayed as modern individuals who had no problem with the modern lifestyle, working things fine and dressing/speaking normally; then, about halfway through the novel, they suddenly became old-fashioned, starting with Hester Prynne and Pearl from The Scarlet Letter.

Another thing is on the plot. Like I said, it's a really fantastic idea- but it wasn't delivered on. It wasn't as charming and magical as the premise called for, and it was very vague about the heroines: they stayed for too short a time, and we never really got to "re-meet" them again as promised, and if we did there was never enough description. I felt like this really took away from the believability of the book, and as a result the enjoyment.

Penny wasn't a character you'll like- she's self-centered, angsty, bratty, and stereotypical. She may have been planned this way, but she wasn't so much of an antihero as just a slightly crazy, foolish young girl.

Despite many discrepancies and follies, the book did have it's likable moments that, for some readers could be a sort of redeeming quality. I really wouldn't recommend buying it or going out of your way to get it, but if you see it on the library shelves pick it up and skim through, if you're still interested.

The Film Club by David Gilmour

Title: The Film Club: A Memoir
Author: David Gilmour
Publisher: Twelve, 2008
MSRP (Hardback): $21.99 (Also available in paperback reprint)
Pages: 256
Rating: * * */5

Don't get me wrong, The Film Club has many good things about it, including an interesting enough, original plot, and it talked about some of my favorite movies- from Roman Holiday to Volcano with interesting trivia on them.

The main thing I had trouble with was the writing. I felt like it skipped around too much- things weren't delivered at the right time, chronologically or otherwise. Another thing that bugged me so much was he'd be writing about one thing, for example, in the middle of a conversation with his son Jesse, and all of a sudden, he'd start in on his second wife, Tina- how gorgeous she is, how he met her, all that. And I'd be sitting there, wherever I happen to be reading, confused and annoyed. He doesn't write like the veteran writer he is, but more like an amateur. At the very least someone without an editor!

Besides the writing quality, the topic of the writing was just as bad. It had this completely annoying sexist attitude about it, I don't know what it was! I also felt like I didn't really get to know Jesse, or really anyone besides David- it was wholly self-centered.

Overall, this isn't something I'd recommend, unless you can get past a multitude of text inadequacies.

DBR B-Day Challenge Review: Carbon Diaries 2015, by Saci Lloyd Review

Title: Carbon Diaries 2015

Author: Saci Lloyd

Publisher: Holiday House

MSRP (Hardback): $17.95

Pages (numbered): 330

Rating: * * */5 stars

Summary: The enviro's gone completely mad. After the Great Storm hit London, everyone was like, "It's 2015 already. Stop global warming now." So the gov volunteered Britain to be the stupid guinea pig freak and ration carbon while the rest of Europe flew to Ibiza on holiday.

At first it was weird- blackouts, looting, food shortages. But I still hads my lifeline- my band. the Dirty Angels. And the hope that Ravi would notice me. Eventually.

But then everything got bare twisted. All winter the country was a frozen tundra. Then after months of no rain, Europe literally caught fire, and the mayor had riot police shoot protesters with live bullets! I'll give him a carbon footprint- right up the arse.

Now, as I write this, the highest-category storm in history is headed straight for us. People have died all around me this year, and I'm dead scared. I just wish things would go back to normal, but I don't know what that means anymore.

MY REVIEW:

PLOT: The plot kind of skipped around, and I kept getting lost! I'd pick up where I'd left off and have no idea what the significance of what was happening was, or what had happened prior. BUT, when I knew what the heck was going on, it was exciting and a good theory on what will happen if we don't work to control global warming.

START/ENDING: Start (and most of the middle) I really didn't enjoy. Like I said, it was confusing and I kept getting lost. BUT (in most of these there will be a but) it had a fantastic ending and around page 200 I started really liking this book. However, 200 pages is too long to wait to like a book, in my opinion.

CHARACTERS: I didn't much like the characters. It's written in diary form, so it's not like there was much of an oppurtunity to get to know them, but what I did I didn't enjoy much. They were supposed to come off as quirky, original and real, as I guess was the intent, BUT (see?) they were just plain annoying, if you ask me. There was some good times though, where they were hilarious!

SETTING: The author did an excellent job with the setting of this book- it was thoroughly detailed, and wonderfully imagined, and totally true to the situation. More believable than most sci-fi books acheive.

WRITING: I wasn't much a fan of the writing- kind of blah, and she (Laura Brown, the main character writing the diary) used a lot of slang that I didn't know and even when I did got on my nerves majorly.

OVERALL/ ANYTHING ELSE?: Overall, I think it's something I'd recommend. Definitely not a favorite, but something that really makes you think. ANYTHING ELSE PART- I totally thought of the perfect theme song for this book!

Do The Panic, by Phantom Planet

I always want to do a little feature on my reviews with a theme song for each book, but few times can I get it right enough to do it. This one, though, I think I NAILED it *smug grin* :)

Ok, 3 books down, 5 to go...

Confessions of A Triple Shot Betty Review

Title: Confessions of A Triple Shot Betty
Author: Jody Gehrman
Edition: Paperback Reprint
Publisher: Puffin (reprint)
MSRP: $7.99
Pages: 272
Rating: * * */ 5

SYNOPSIS: Geena, 16, plans to spend her summer working at the local coffee shop in her Sonoma Valley town with her cousin Hero and her friend Amber. She envisions grinding out espressos and supersize iced mochas during the day and spending sleepover nights painting toenails and confessing secrets. Within the first few hours of her arrival home from a Connecticut boarding school, Hero falls in love with an Italian boy working at her father's vineyard and it's clear that she and Amber are not going to be friends. As the story unfolds through Geena's diary entries, readers discover each girl's strengths, flaws, and personality.

PLOT: The plot was a little repetitive- I kept getting this feeling of deja vu when I was reading it- I was like, "Didn't this happen already?" It did, but in slightly different circumstances. I really would have like a fresher deal.

CHARACTERS: I didn't feel a connection to the characters at all, and that's really important to me! If anything, I was annoyed by them a bit. Geena was so crabby and whiny, I could barely take it. It gave me a headache.

SETTING: Even for it being a diary entry, it lacked details about the setting. So, not much to report besides that.

START/ENDING: Pretty slow beginning, but once you got into it and got the characters down, their personalities and whatnot, things picked up and got better. Great ending, though- by the end, I DID start to like Amber a little- well, I could tolerate her more than the others, anyways :)

OVERALL: We had some good times, and I might recommend it, but it's DEFINITELY not on the top of my list at all.

OTHER THOUGHTS: Anyone else think the cover is appallingly pink!? I'm not a big fan of pink. That probably should have been a warning sign that I wouldn't like the book much :(
Also, for some reason I KNEW Amber was a ****** (Spoiler, I'm protecting you)! I don't know how, maybe because that's how I would have done it if I wrote this, but it's supposed to be a shock, so that wasn't good. If you read it and knew tell me!

All American Girl Review

It's pretty late, but I HAVE to write reviews for books immediately after I finish them sooooo... here it is! (It probably doesn't help that I'm hyped up on coffee and coca cola, huh?)





Title: All American Girl
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: HarperCollins, first published 2002
MSRP (Paperback, USA): $7.99
Pages: 416 (sounds like lot but it's one of those tiny compact PB's)
Rating: * * */5

Description, courtesy of Amazon: While waiting for her ride home from an after-school art class, Samantha Madison, a sophomore at John Adams Preparatory School in Washington, DC, inadvertently saves the President's life by jumping on the back of a would-be assassin. Suddenly, she is a celebrity, invited to the White House for dinner, named the teen ambassador to the U.N., and revered by her fellow classmates. Yet, even her new star status doesn't allow her to get what she really wants-a date with her sister's boyfriend, Jack. Hoping to make him jealous, she asks out the President's son. The plan backfires, but Samantha discovers who she really is in the process. Cabot uses vision as a metaphor for how a budding artist grows to "see" herself and others more clearly.

Something about this book didn't really work for me. I really love Meg Cabot's writing, how ditzy and fun it is, but this was a little disappointing to me.

Samantha wasn't someone I liked much. She was kind of... depressing. She walks around acting like she is just SO much more intelligent, creative, and generally BETTER than the rest of the world- she "mourns for her generation, whose main concern is what will happen on 'Friends' this week," as she says in the book (first of all, what does the girl got against my fave TV show? :P). She dyed all her clothes black to show it, too (gah!). That REALLY bothered me- she just drove me absolutely crazy sometimes with her whining! But, thinking back, it was probably written that way purposefully so she realizes at the end how pompous she's being. (Still...)

Actually, my favorite character in the book was, for some reason, surprisingly her sister Lucy. I don't know why- probably for the same reason my favorite character in Peace, Love and Baby Ducks was Peyton, for how crazy they are :)

So let's do a checklist on this book:

Is the plot ridiculously far fetched? Definitely.
Is the main character pretty dang annoying? Yup.
Is it a well written read anyways? Yes to the well written. It DID have excellent subplots, and (advance warning: I'm about to sound like one of those annoying old people who look for "lessons" in the books their kids read- GAH) had meaningful lessons. I was also really glad that she finally realized- to a certain degree, at least- how ridiculous she was being.

So overall, not Meg Cabot's best work, and not something top-recommended by me, but still a funny, interesting-enough read.

Peace, Love and Baby Ducks Review

Whew, 1:47 in the morning and I'm wide awake. Finally finished PL&BD, after many renewals and fines for being due many moons ago... painted nails, removed polish, painted them again, am watching a whole marathon of Gilmore Girls (moment of silence in sadness of the end of a great thing... *sniffle*) Awww, how sweet are Luke and Lorelei together? I thought of the perfect song for them: Losing Streak by the Eels. LOL sorry, TV freak over here :P ANYways, enough of my personal life... let's review this book shall we?





Title: Peace, Love & Baby Ducks
Author: Lauren Myracle
Publisher: Dutton Books
MSRP (Hardback): $16.99 USA
Pages: 296 pp
Rating: * * */5

If I did halves in my system, this would be a three and a half. But since it's not, it's not worthy of a four so there you go :)

The general idea (courtesy of Amazon): Fifteen-year-old Carly has a problem—two, actually: her younger sister Anna’s new “real live Hooters-esque boobs.” While Carly was away getting self-actualized at a back-to-nature camp, Anna was busy turning into a hottie, a state that makes “granola-girl” Carly uncomfortably jealous. Now back in her privileged Atlanta suburb, Carly is struggling with feelings of insecurity as she tries to reconcile her newly acquired bohemian belief system with the incredible wealth in which she has been raised. In addition, her crush hardly notices her, she feels trapped between her rival best friends, and her parents seem to be growing more distant with each other by the day. Writing for an older teen audience, Myracle empathetically explores issues of socioeconomic class, sibling rivalry, and parental influence in Peace, Love and Baby Ducks.

This was actually a very good summer read. Carly, the main character, was multi-layered, there was the right amount of characters, *some* of the characters were also well developed, and I really liked some of the plot. It was really funny sometimes, and it was so absolutely believable! I loved the focus on sisterhood and friendship, too. But when it came to the romantic part of this book, I really wasn't impressed (more on that in a second)... :(

I did have a lot of problems with this book, though- like, when Carly first saw Cole at Holy Roller, the private high school she and her friend Peyton attend, and where Carly's sister Anna will be starting her freshman year- the cliches that arose made me so mad! "Head over heels"? "Falling and hard?" Inane stuff like that.

And as for the characters, they often came off the wrong way. I really liked Vonzelle- she was sweet and a good friend, funny and honest. But Anna? Anna was more like a spoiled baby. I really didn't like her throughout the whole book. And Carly, though she was supposed to seem real and different, beyond all the poor-little-rich-girl problems (another thing I had issues with!)- like, she loved disco, she wore stuff like dashikis, she laughed at people who weren't so extremely different like her. She just seemed like she was trying too hard to be different, and it was really annoyingly hypocritical when you think about her behavior throughout the book...

I also wish Roger would have been more developed. He was hardly in there, and he was REALLY important! However, the parts he was in were done fantastically.

Another thing is that the book delves a LOT deeper than the cover would lead you to believe. It deals with a lot of issues, like rascism, love, faith, beliefs, body image, and many other difficult issues. I really liked that- it dealt with them in just the right way.

But overall, it was an original, goofy read that really showed perfectly the dynamics of sisterhood. A great summer read.

Private by Kate Brian

ZOMG... I am so tired. :( gbaoa'kng <<< That's where my head fell when I fell asleep. Sitting up. Apparently the dog I'm puppysitting didn't get the memo that wakeup time is 9:30, not 5:40. We'll just have to fix that, won't we? Otherwise, the world shall prepare to face the world shall face the wrath of a sleepy Meggin. Not pretty, folks. NOT. Pretty. ANYways, I just finished the first book in the Private series. Private, obvs.


Title: Private
Author: Kate Brian
Publisher: Simon Pulse, 2006
MSRP: Paperback US $8.99
Pages: 236 pp
Rating: * * */5

Private is basically a series about a sophmore new to a private school who is desperate to associate with some spoiled, rich party kids whose main hobbies include messing with her, and screwing up other peoples' lives. The book is all about how hard she tries to get in with them. Which should have been a warning sign right there...?

Something that ruined it for me was that Reed Brennan, said desperate girl, is just not likeable. She's a little whiny, a lot ruthless, and just completely self centered... It's just not enjoyable to read. Makes you cringe a little. The only character I did like was Taylor, because you could tell she had a little reality in her.

And the plot? So incredibly repetitive! I find where I left off based on what's happening by skimming the book, and I couldn't find it. The same things kept happening, and it wasn't even that interesting to start with.

BUT, I did like that it dealt with a lot of important issues- basically everything the average angsty teen would deal with, like popularity, relationships, family, alcohol... and even though they didn't always make the best decisions with it all, it was really realistic, and that's always something I look for in a book. I also liked the atmosphere of the book- gloomy, low key, enigmatic.

So, if you're at the library and it's a slow time in books, I would suggest picking up the series. It's got a ton of books in it, and more keep coming out, so it's something to get addicted to :)

Palace of MIrrors Review; School's Out, Summer's In (And so are new books!)

Before I review on this post, let me just say that: SCHOOL'S OUT, SUMMER'S IN!!!!!! Probably been like that for awhile for most of you, but my schools had a ton of makeup days. SO here's a nifty little icon for you:

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) : ) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

.l. Hey look, it's a baby chicken on the left! ...What, nobody sees the resemblance? Okay, so maybe I need to lay off the coffee. Sorry, people. Decaf from now on! (Maybe.)

Anyways, to what the mission of this post is, reviewing Palace of Mirrors, by Margeret Peterson Haddix. No clapping for it, because I personally was very "meh" about this book. Three starz. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

Title:Palace of Mirrors

Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Publisher:Simon & Schuster

MSRP:

Pages: 297 pg's

Rating: * * */ 5 starz

"Somewhere in the world I have a tiara in a little box. It is not safe for me to wear it... It is not safe for me to tell anyone who I really am. But I know- I have always known."

That's the beginning of it, and from there I was drawn in, I thought it was goign to be a really great book- not that it wasn't good- but then I realized it wasn't. Why in a second...

Cecelia has always known she was the true princess of Suala, hidden away as a newborn to protect her from the enemies that killed her parents, the king and queen, when she was born. No one but her, Sir Stephen (the knight who teaches her the proper protocol and lessons for being the future ruler of Suala), and Nanny (who Cecelia lives with in a village of Suala), so to everyone else she seems lie just another peasant girl.

But when she's about to turn fifteen, she starts to grow tired of waiting, of Sir Stephen's endless lessons, and she and her best friend, Harper, run away to the Palace of Mirrors, where the decoy princess, Desmia, lives- where, as Cecelia repeats along with the phrase "I'm the true princess" to the pint where it's redundant and annoying- to"thank Desmia for her bravery in serving as the decoy for the true princess' life" and- actually, I don't know what they thought they were goingto do, I guess take over the throne, but there were so many unacknowledged obvious faws that there's no way that's what they were going to do- only to find when they get there that- sorry for the cliche phrase- everything she knows is a lie.

Characters: The only character I really liked was Ella, who was in "Just Ella," and it continues her story a little bit. Her book was like a feminist continuation of Cinderella, where the happily ever after isn't so happy or forever after all. Anyways, she was so calm and sweet, which was why I liked her. The main character, Cecelia, seemed kind of self-absorbed to me, and ignorant, but that's not how the author meant her to come across, I think, she just did. And Harper, her best friend she travels with, was supposed to seem sweetly stubborn and secretly devoted to Cecelia, in a way, but he was more annoying. They kind of reminded me of Rugrats, which was pretty hilarious, when I pictured it. Again, just me?

Desmia just seemed unstable to me, when she was perfectly sane and just meant to seem like she didn't know what she was supposed to be doing. She was suppposed to come across as innocent and clueless, needing Cecelia's help, and I guess giving clues to the truth through that.

I thought she just needed some little yellow pills with smiley faces on them, actually.

Plot: Actually, a really excellent plot. It kept you interested, it wasn't predictable, it was exciting enough at times- I thought of at least four ways the story was going to go, none of which were right. The ending could have been better- it was supposed to be romantic, it wasn't, "Eelsy," which is Cecelia's nickname (I don't see how the got that from that, but I don't get how they get Meg or Bob from Margaret or Robert), thought it out too much.

If her work is slightly better in the other books she's written. I might give them a try, but none of them seem like they would... Anyone able to back this up?

Being NIkki review coming soon! Also North of Beautiful, which was new when I got it in February. Tsk tsk tsk, shame shame shame, I've had so many of the books I'm working on since LAST YEAR- Perfect You among them. I don't even remember anything about them by now. HELP!

Peace out, Meggin

P.S. I may never finish the S.D.C.! I'll have to buy most of them, that'll take a WHILE.

So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld Review

Title: So Yesterday
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Pages: 225pp
Publisher: Penguin Group
MSRP: $16.99
Rating: * * */5


Not a new book, I know, but my site reviews the books I read- like this one.

This book didn't impress me, honestly. The plot was pretty good, the writing was funny, but parts were just... odd. The ending wasn't very satisfying, more anticlimactic, actually. I didn't really feel any which way about the characters- the narrator, Hunter Braque, and Jen, as well as the other characters, were just there.
It does make you think a bit though- Westerfeld's books are known for that- like, about what is cool anyway, and who decides what is and isn't cool? 'Coz I want to talk to the person who decided all this; they made some serious mistakes.
So, some background info: Hunter is a teen who is hired by a certain company (this book has a thing about not naming brands, so it gives hints, which was kind of fun; I think this company, which everyone calls "the client," is Nike) to find what's "cool" lately. So, he goes "cool hunting" one day in Manhattan, where he lives, and meets a girl named Jen, when he asks to take a pic of her shoelaces because of their design. Jen is an Innovator, at the top of the Cool Pyramid, who comes up with the at-first-unpopular trends second-level Trend Setters like Hunter make cool.
He takes her to a meeting, and then another at a street in Manhattan to meet his boss Mandy, but they find just her phone in an abandoned building- she's been kidnapped!
There was this cool thing about paka-paka, Japanese animation color sequence, that was in there, which actually happened in '97. It gave kids seizures, apparently. I thought that was so cool. Um, not the seizures, the paka-paka thing!
Over all, this book is worth reading, despite the average rating.
Mmkay, gotta get cracking on my other books!
Peace out, Meggin

TheDisreputable HIstory of Frankie Landau-Banks

Title: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Author: E. Lockhart

Pages: 352pp

Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children

MSRP: $16.99 US

Rating: * * */5

I think the book jacket blurb can best explain this, so here it is:

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14:

Debate Club.

Her father's "Bunny Rabbit."

A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15:

A knockout figure.

A sharp tongue.

A chip on her shoulder.

And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston.

Frankie Landau-Banks:

Not a girl to take no for an answer.

Especially when no means she's excluded from her boyfriend's secret society.

Not when her ex shows up in the strangest of places.

Not when she knows she's smarter than all of them.

When she knows Matthew is lying to her.

And not when there are so many, many pranks to be done.

Frankie LandauBanks at age 16:

Possibly a criminal mastermind.

This is the story of how she got that way.

This is one of those books where it's good parts are awesome (like I loved the obscure little bits of info, like the panopticon theme of Alabaster Prep, the boarding school Frankie goes to), but there were also more than it's fair share of... well, stupid or boring parts, basically (like Frankie's sudden obsession with neglected positives. That was just embarrassing to read, frankly).

Another thing is all feminism-I mean really, I 'm all for equal rights of men and women and all, but don't write a novel about it- literally.

I couldn't bring myself to like Frankie, actually, I didn't much like any of the characters. Her boyfriend Matthew was annoying, and falling in love with the leading man ranks high in the Laws of a Great Book. The closest you could come to liking Frankie was admiring her courage and, some may say, slightly psychotic, brilliance. She made the men- including Matthew- follow her instructions just by pretending to be another character. Of course, all the pranks she had them do, particularly the Library Lady, were secretly feminist statements that kind of took away from the entertainment.

Some parts of this book, I was fascinated, but other times I felt it necessary to skip a page. Maybe it's worth a try- it's not like I didn't enjoy it a bit, but just don't spend 16 bucks on a hardback edition like I did months back when this was new.

Okay, off to bed with me... yes, I know it's only about ten, but I am sooo knocked out I just want to go read myself to sleep. Bye, ya'll!

My Almost Epic Summer by Adele Griffin Review

Title: My Almost Epic Summer

Author: Adele Griffin

Pages: 170 p.s (Hardback)

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)

HB price: $15.99

Rating: ***/5

I really liked this book, and if I didn't have to use whole stars in my rating system, this would be a 3.75, so it's above average.

Nothing much happens in this book, like epic, as the title says. Just a very believable story about Irene, a girl with a big dream, and her summer before ninth grade.

My favorite part of any book, the characters: there weren't a lot. I can count the main and semi-main characters on my two hands, and a lot of these characters were underdeveloped. But it is only a 170 paged book, and meant to be a light summer read. I really liked the main character, Irene, but she had her odd moments. She wants to be a hair stylist in L.A. when she grows up, even though she's so bad at helping to run her mom's that her own mother fires her! She reads classic books like "Lolita", which has been on my reading list to get for a while, or "Jane Eyre," which is what I liked so much about her. We were actually a lot alike , and that's really important in a story. When she reads these books, she sketches the heroines' hairstyles in her notebook, which she calls "Heroine Heads," for inspiration in her future dream stylist place.

I hated the other main character, Starla, so much! And Irene just obsessed about her throughout the whole book- how beautiful she is, and her attitude, etc. It's kind of like Regina George and Cady in Mean Girls. She hates her, but can't stop thinking about her. And in Irene's case, haunting her blog.

Overall, even though important characters were severely underdeveloped, this author had great use of literary elements, which made it more interesting to read, and partially made up for the others.

Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli Review

Title: Love, Stargirl
Author: Jerry Spinelli
Pages: 274 ps (Hardcover)
Publisher: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007
Rating: * * * / 5

I haven't read anything by Jerry Spinelli before (I tried to read Eggs and Stargirl but got bored as they were boys, thus I couldn't really relate to them), but I'm pretty sure this is his only book where the main character is a girl.
A description in one word of this book I would have to say is: adorkable. It has really random, quirky characters that have some depth, and the book is written entirely in diary entries that are part of "The World's Longest Letter" to Stargirl's boyfriend, Leo, who lives back in Arizona (she moved and is now in Pennsylvania).
There's a book before this, called Stargirl, but it's not about Stargirl. It's about the boy that the letter is written to.
You don't have to read Stargirl to understand this (I only read 10 pages and those I just skimmed), but you need a little background. Okay, so Stargirl is actually a girl named Susan. She named herself. When she moves to Mica High, where Leo goes to school, everyone is captivated by her. She's so different, so unique! And Leo falls in love with her, and she falls in love with him.
But then, all the students at Mica turn on her- they don't want someone different. Leo has to choose between the one he loves, and everyone else. Guess who he chooses? Well, Stargirl wouldn't be so sad if he had chose her.
But then she meets her neighbors: Charlie, who goes day after day, all day, to the grave of his lost wife, Grace, to relive the past; Dootsie Pringle, a lovable 5-year-old who becomes Stargirl's best friend; Alvina, an angry 11 year old with one sparkly nail; and Betty Lou, who is a middle-aged agoraphobic who becomes Stargirl's friend and confidant.
Stargirl does a LOT of seemingly random and pointless things. Like, she puts orange slices out every day, in different places, getting farther away. But she has a really sweet reason for it you have to read to find out. She also does this thing where she buys a lot of plastic spatulas from the dollar store, and sticks one in a circle each Thursday on a field, where she also goes to meditate. This is so she can have a Winter Solstice Festival.
Then, there's Perry Delloplane: the blue-eyed thief who lays his own claim to Stargirl's heart. Who will Stargirl choose?
It was a really sweet book. It took me forever to read, because i have a Big Scary Bookpile of books from two different libraries, where i have reached the maximum allowance on one, and have quite a few on the other (don't think I'll reach the other maximum because there's no limit, it's too big for them to care!).
That's it for today!

How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbaleister

Title: How to Ditch Your Fairy
Author: Justine Larbalestier
Pages: 32o ps
Publisher: Bloomsbury US Children's Books, September 16, 2008
Rating: ***/5
Price:$16.99
How to Ditch Your Fairy focuses on a 14-year-old named Charlie. She lives in New Avalon (which is a country like a mix of the US and Australia as well as something else, which was my favorite thing about this story), where everything about your life is determined by your fairy. Almost everyone is assigned a fairy, except for a few who don't believe, which decides whether you make a team (Charlie's high school revolves around sports), pass a class, or find the perfect outfit.
Or in Charlie's case, the perfect parking space. Charlie has a parking fairy, which ensures that whatever car she's in will get a perfect parking spot. She doesn't even drive, and she hate cars! Tired of always being dragged along by neighbors, friends, relatives, and the school bully Danders Anders (yes, these people have some funky names, like Fiorenze or Steffi) in their cars (as well as always smelling faintly of gasoline), she devises The Plan: She'll walk EVERYWHERE. No buses, no taxis, no cars, just on foot. She thinks that "starving" her fairy will make it go away and be replaced.
This almost works, but Danders grabs her and her fairy comes to life once again.
And on top of all this, there's Steffi- the new, more-than-noticeably handsome boy in her grade. Charlie's sure how she feels about him, but not what he thinks of her. But at least he doesn't seem interested in Fiorenze, who has an all-the-boys-like-you fairy. Until he meets her...
FIorenze's mother has written a book called the Ultimate Fairy Book, but thinks no one knows about. So Charlie goes over to Fi's house, and they sneak in her mother's room, unlock the case it's in, and read through it- turns out Fi hates her fairy as well, which shocks Charlie. They finally find a swapping method, and Fiorenze gets Charlie's fairy and vice verso.Charlie couldn't be happier- Steffi loves her now! But her new love fairy isn't what it seems- compared to this, she would have gladly embraced her parking fairy! Steffi obviously isn't in love with Charlie herself, just the fairy forcing him to. What should Charlie do?

I gave this only 3 stars because it had weird slang, and most people don't know there's a glossary of it at the back, so you're seriously confused when people say "doos" or "spoff's" and "poxy". I knew, and it was kind of hard to read to read when you have to keep flipping to the back.
Another thing was that I didn't fall in love with Steffi. You have to fall in love with the boy that the character does, and I didn't. In 4 and 5 star books, I do. Twilight fans might understand what I mean, you probably fell in love with Edward or the other dude, whatever his name was, I"m not reading it, right? He just seemed fake. Yes, I know it's a book. It's really hard to explain. I just didn't like him! Anyways, I really liked it besides, despite the characters and weird slang, and it's pretty cool besides. Maybe if it's at the library, because it's kind of expensive, and only in hardback.

Top 8 by Katie Finn

Title: Top 8
Author: Katie Finn
Rating: ***/5

Top * starts with a girl named Madison MacDonald's profile on something liek the fictional equivalent of Myspace, Friendverse, and when she goes to the Galapagos for spring break, she comes back to find weird comments from the people in her top 8, all her friends. Then, she takes a look at her profile: a picture of her looking SO drunk, creepy people replacing her friends on her top 8, and stupid errors and, say, song choices, as well as saying she wants to break up with her new boyfriend, Justin! She's shocked, and it's ruined her whole reputation. She can't walk down a hallway without being looked at like everyone was just talking about what she allegedly did. Who could have done this to Madison? Kristen, the popular girl? Her evil little brother, who had been spending a lot of time and money on the ancient computer on the cruise? or someone even closer to her than she thinks...?
Then she meets Nate, whose family was on the cruise with them. They go out to get dessert and somehow end up eating gelato on a kind-of date. At first, i really liked Nate, he seemed all cool, and he had this one quote from the movie Clue, where when Madison said, "So, too make a long story short-" He was all, "Too late," and got all embarrassed, and I thought he was so cool. I've been thinking about it, and I've seen the movie Clue numerous times. While funny, it's not really all that, um, COOL and enigmatic as we are supposed to think. Plus, I don't like quoting stuff like that in conversation, it's too cliche. Anyways, so they kinda fall for each other.
At first, i really liked this book, but I read it last year when school was starting, and I've changed my mind. Madison is a prep, and the characters are kind of... flat. And there's this whole big thing about how Madison said she doesn't like drama kids and how the hacker posted that and how it was actually true and realizing that drama kids were O.K. people was dumb. But it was good when I was reading it, you might like it, and i got some song recommendations because every chapter starts with a song and quote that goes along with what happens.

Looks by Madeleine George

Title: Looks
Author: Madeleine George
Rating: ***/5

Looks is a book about new girl Amiee Zorn, an anorexic girl with poetic aspirations, missing her almost-stepdad, and Meghan Ball, a regular student at the same school. Well, she's normal except for the fact that she is ENORMOUS. She is constantly and intensely scorned by J-Bar and his "crew", who we later find out has a past with Meghan (J-Bar, I mean). Aimee joins the school's literature mag, the Photon, and meets Cara Roy, a fellow student and leader of the paper, who befriends Aimee. Aimee goes over to Cara's house one Satuday, and they share poetry. Aimee has written a poem called "Hunger Strike," which Cara thinks is about anorexia, and tells Aimee a secret related to the issue about herself, and asks if she can keep the poem. They both enter a poetry contest and Cara wins, and Aimee sees that it's her own poem, rewritten a little ("It even has her poem's shoes- the last line!" Parts like that are what made e give this book a mediocre rating)! She has no choice but to ask Fat Girl, Meghan, for help getting her poem back. Meghan has been hurt by Cara as well, long ago, and they both team up to write a different poem and replace it with that. But it ends up with Cara being put in serious danger by J-Bar- you'll have to read it to find out what exactly happened. I really liked all the good similes Madeleine G. used. I just wasn't impressed by this book, and half of it was spent talking about how fat Meghan is and how pitiful and loserish. If it happens to be at your library and not on a very low shelf so you odn't have to work to get it, you might try it.