Title: Veil of Roses
Author: Laura Fitzgerald
Pages: 309 p.s (paperback)
Publisher: Bantam Books 2007
Rating: * * * */5
This book is from the P.O.V. of a an Iranian woman named Tami. She's 27 years old, but I just kept forgetting that- she seemed so innocent, like she was 14 or something!
Tami is from Iran, but her parents get her a visa on her 27th birthday to go to America and "wake up her luck." She is supposed to find a husband before her visa expires. Her parents' hope is that Tami will never return to Iran, which means she has just 3 months to do that.
She goes to live with her sister, Maryam, and Maryam's husband Ardishir. She has all kinds of wonderful adventures her in America, things she would never do in Iran, where she has always been forced to wear a veil and live in fear, like her first Victoria's Secret bra, first ride on a motor scooter with an American man, as well as a country line dance. She picks up an interest and talent in photography, taking pictures of "tiny acts of rebellion." But the fact that she has to concede to an arranged marriage soon looms over her fun and freedom. To make matters worse, her feelings for Ike, the American boy who works at Starbucks, are becoming harder and harder to ignore.
The plot was good, but it didn't make sense at the end. It wasn't resloved right- it was really sweet, as obviously much of this book was, but it didn't go along with the whole "expired visa, must go back" thing.
Now to my favorite part, the characters! Ike was really sweet, if a little under-developed than I would have liked. Tami was very sweet and the author wrote this book in what seems to be an authentic way. It had just the right amount of minor characters, who all did their jobs in an enjoyable way. I also liked it because it taught me a lot about a culture I didn't know anything about before, and made me appreciate the freedom we in America have.
Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald Review
Meg Cabot Gives Away Books!
Meg Cabot, my absolute favorite author, is said to be giving out the sequel to her hit book, Airhead, to blogger and other book reviewers! It's called Being Nikki, and I have yet to read the first book, I know, bad. But since it's by Meg Cabot, I'm sure it'll be good. Bumping to top of my reading list.
If you have a book reviewing site, email Meg Cabot and see if you can get a free copy! Check out The Story Siren (http://www.thestorysiren.com/) for more information. I got this from Em's Bookshelf (http://www.emsbookshelf.blogspot.com/) on the April 5th post. Go check it out for more info, Cabot fans!
Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee Review
How To Be Bad by E. Lockhart Review
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!
Serafina67 by Susie Day
Title: serafina67 *urgently requires life*
Author: Susie Day
Pages: 240ps
Publisher: Scholastic Press, Sept. 1 2008
Rating: *****/5
serafina67 is different because it's written entirely in blog form (how appropriate: P). The blog belongs to Sarah, a funny (if slightly emoish) teen in England. Sarah really tries to do her best for her mom and at everything else as well, but it always turn out badly.
It starts from her life New Years Eve onward. She got a "Shiny New Laptop" from her dad, who is getting remarried soon, and along with that comes a shiny new blog! She makes a resolutiion to be happy by April 22nd, which is when the mysterious Incident happened.
Another thing she wants to do is find out who the mysterious blog-reader, daisy13, is. Boy? Girl? Friend? Foe? Gooey chocolate goodness!?! Whoever it is, it's definitely not who you expect.
This book was absolutely hilarious! It has wierd British slang in it (no offense, British peeps) but has a glossary in the back for foreigner types like myself. It's a really easy read, and if you read in short periods at a time, the "chapters" are post and usually only a page long, plus you'll probably find it unputdownable like I did, especially if you're of the teen girl variety.
P.S. You can visit the author, Susie Day's, newly-renovated blog here: http://www.susieday.com
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.
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