Friday, January 22, 2010

Review by Alex- Some Girls Are

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard--falling from it is even harder. Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High... until vicious rumors about her and her best friend's boyfriend start going around.

Now Regina's been "frozen out" and her ex-best friends are out for revenge. If Regina was guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumors are far from the terrifying truth and the bullying is getting more intense by the day. She takes solace in the company of Michael Hayden, a misfit with a tragic past who she herself used to bully. Friendship doesn't come easily for these onetime enemies, and as Regina works hard to make amends for her past, she realizes Michael could be more than just a friend... if threats from the Fearsome Foursome don't break them both first.

Tensions grow and the abuse worsens as the final days of senior year march toward an explosive conclusion in this dark new tale from the author of Cracked Up To Be.


First Impressions: This is Courtney Summers, author of the fantastic Cracked Up To Be. 'Nuff said.

Some Girls Are is a blistering novel about the ruthlessness of girls, and how messed up our world can become. People are cruel. They'll make you cry. They'll punch you when you're at your worst. They won't believe you when you tell the truth.

But they'll also fall in love. They'll do the right thing because it's the right thing. They can remind you about what's good in life.

Some Girls Are is not a light novel, and whoever thinks high school is a light and trivial topic is dead wrong. High school is instrumental in our lives to creating who we are. The novel proves this point beautifully.

Regina is just... almost beyond words. She can be pathetic and weak, then big hearted and hopeful, then malicious and cruel, all in the span of a mere 250 some pages. And she goes through those phases many, many times. I've no clue how Courtney Summers does it, but Regina is one heck of a messed up character.

Which means I, and no doubt countless others, love her all the more for it.

I wish I could give justice to this mind-blowing novel, but it's impossible. The plot flows at a quick pace, with it starting with the incident that freezes out Regina, and therefore jumping the gun without really delving into an initial situation. That's fine- it's not needed. I was instantly hooked by page one. Every single way to get back at Regina is done, and the acts start getting worse and worse and worse, even going so far to target the one person that Regina likes: Michael.

Getting onto the topic of Michael: it's hard not to feel for the guy. He transferred to the high school and was suddenly hated by Anna, hateful Queen Bee, and therefore her gang, which at the time, included Regina. The girls did everything they could to make him miserable, and then his mom dies, and he obviously is not a happy-go-lucky guy. Yet he still manages to feel for Regina, and lend out a hand to her when she needs it.

With a bevy of characters you can hate but sympathize with at the same time, a whole lot of back stapping and viciously cruel acts, Some Girls Are kept me enthralled (which is not exactly good as I should be studying for exams). I'd consider it impossible to put down this novel without finishing it. Put down this novel, yes, because it is sheer horribleness acts of bullying, but then pick it right back up.

I love Courtney Summers' blunt prose with it's no nonsense attitude that dives right into the thick of the problem. Avoiding nothing, not abuse, not drugs, not swearing, she writes about what happens to teenagers when they go terribly, terribly wrong. Some Girls Are is what happens when girls are cruel to others to raise their own self esteems, when kids don't trust each other and in fact hate each others guts, when parents neglected their children so much they're ignorant to huge events happening.

Some Girls Are is heart-wrenching and just all around fantasticawesomemustreadworthy stuff. If this review is scrambled and makes no sense, it is because Some Girls Are has blown my mind away, and I am writing on pure, raw emotions. Because that's what the novel is about (in my opinion). Basic human instinct- self preservation and a dogged sense of stubbornness to never give in- flies until fights ensue in the novel, and tears and laughter are provoked from the reader.

Just- just read the novel. Mind you, it's not for the faint of heart, nor for the young of mind, because it does deal with weighty topics. But if you like those utterly depressing and impossibly heart-carving novels that still somehow remain hopeful and attracting throughout, you'll devour Some Girls Are.

Final Impressions: Pretty sure you can tell by my less than coherent review, but I was blown away. I knew Some Girls Are would be fantastic- but I didn't know it would be so to such a high degree.

Favourite Character: Regina, for being so complex I guess. But Michael is so lovable, so he's a very close second.











Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Review by Alex- Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.


First Impressions: With a slew of praises from many prominent YA authors and reviewers, Beautiful Creatures seemed like a good book to read. However, following Lauren's review, I decided to proceed cautiously and not get my hopes up.

Perhaps it was good that I didn't.

While Beautiful Creatures is no where near a terrible book - it's actually reallyreally good- I'm a little undecided on how much praise it can receive from me. Yes, I did like it a lot. It's interesting, and a nice break from vampires. A teen witch is nothing new, but this clan is different and diverse, strange but likeable.

One of the downfalls for me, are the main characters. Lena seems like a fascinating character on the outside, and she is, but her constant confusion and the way she expressed it- staying away from Ethan- was awfully annoying at times. Ethan, while not a bad guy, isn't that exciting. And he throws away his whole life for Lena. I like my relationships with a little less obsessiveness, a little more independance. Not quiting the basketball team, where he could be great, not skipping school constantly, not caring about anyone else. This may be my own personal quarrel though, and getting over that, it could be considered sweet, how attached the young lovers are.

Not coming from the south, or even from the US, I have almost no back history on the South or the Civil war, so that atmosphere of the novel didn't have as much of an impact on me that it might have on others. It was interesting, yes, but I don't care for reinactments enough, or know much about them, to appreciate it. I did like how the “popular” girls are the ones who wear big old-fashioned poofy dresses that I imagine as a cross between a peach and Bo Peep. The town itself, Gatlin, is beautifully created though, to make it so that the setting comes alive.

It has a great plot. While not super original, it flows well and packs quite an amount of suspense. The point of view from Ethan's perspective, the male and the outsider, is wonderfully different, though a switch at the end throws the pace off.

Final Impressions: Though maybe not worthy enough in my mind, Beautiful Creatures is nonetheless an excellent supernatural novel that has all the elements to please YA fans.

Favourite character: Going with Lauren and saying Uncle Macon. I do like Sarafine and some of the bad guys too though. I'm hoping they'll get a little more attention and personality in the next novel.

Add to Shelf: Well, I did. It's a nice big book too, so if you like this sort of book, definitely worth the buck, even though it's a hardcover.

4.5/6











Monday, January 11, 2010

Review by Alex: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landeau-Banks

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landeau-Banks by E. Lockhart

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 Laundau-Banks.
No longer the kind of girl to take “no” for an answer.


Especially when “no” means she’s excluded from her boyfriend’s all-male secret society.
Not when her ex boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places.

Not when she knows she’s smarter than any of them.
When she knows Matthew’s lying to her.
And when there are so many, many pranks to be done.

Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16:
Possibly a criminal mastermind.

This is the story of how she got that way.


First Impression: Having read this gem a couple years ago (or was it last year? Whenever the book first came out), I felt like rereading it when I found it in a library. :) So naturally I took the novel and devoured it, falling in love once again.

Frankie is a fantastically strange and intelligent girl, tired of being Bunny Rabbit, the cute arm candy to her boyfriend Matthew, the innocent child to her family. And so she plots... she plots crazy schemes to turn her boarding school upside down, all the while no one knowing her identity.

All the characters are wonderfully unique and different. Frankie, mentioned above. Matthew, her silly boyfriend, who comes from a prominent family, who is obsessed with words (like he actually cares about the difference between "I could care less" and "I couldn't care less". He automatically gets the Alex Stamp of Approval.), who loves Frankie, but doesn't think of her as the intelligently superior girl that she is. Alpha, Matthew's best friend, who doesn't come from a prominent family, being illegimate, who is a natural born leader, who pretends to be a bravadous boy but is really more ordinary than he seems, who, as it turns out, is the boy everyone thinks is pulling all these pranks. But he's not.

The genius behind this book is not just the characters, but the ideas too. Panopticon, for example, is brilliantly used. Wiki it if you must. Neglected positives, words like "turbed", from "disturbed", are words Frankie spouts constantly. Love.

Final Impressions: The humor is spot on, the ideas are magnificient, the characters are never dull- in fact, some are magnificiently silly, as Frankie puts it.

Favourite Character: Frankie. But Matthew and Alpha pull some close seconds.

Note this! Fun tidbit: I gave Lauren 3 clues: "My new goal is to become magnificiently silly", "I have also decided to use neglected positives" and, "and mastermind boarding pranks". She got it after the third. :P









Saturday, January 9, 2010

Mini Reviews by Alex

Gosh, it's been ages. But I read quite a bit over the holidays, so here are a few mini reviews on some of the books I did read. :) Hopefully I'll post some actual longer reviews of other books soon.

Every Crooked Pot by Renee Rosen
I read this one ages ago, and decided to reread it again, since it's been on my mind for a while now. It doesn't seem like many people know of it, but it's actually really good. About a girl who grows up in the 70s, with a "larger than life" father, and a huge birthmark over her eye that disfigures her, Every Crooked Pot is written simply by the girl from age 7 to 20 or so. It strikes a cord deep down, with lots of realisations; it's essentially a beautiful coming of age novel, that's highly unforgettable. 5/6

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
With several author recommendations and a description that is both confusing and enticing, When You Reach Me is a book a really looked forward to reading. It does not disappoint. Many things don't make sense at all at first, but as the pages keep turning (and they will, I assure you; the novel's addicting) the pieces come together to craft a story that's intelligent and unique, despite referencing frequently to another novel. This story's definitely not just for kids. 5/6

Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
While I wasn't as enamored with Hush Hush like many others, it's surely one of the best paranormal romances out at the moment. Nora's an interesting protagonist: she has a brain, for one, though I sometimes question her judgement. Patch has the whole bad boy image going for him, in all his pool playing, black clad, dirty joking glory. Anticipation for the sequel, Crescendo, is high, with secrets and mysteries still left to unfold. 4.5/6

The Blonde of the Joke by Bennett Madison
It has an intriguing description, and quite a few big authors praising it, but I honestly did not get The Blonde of the Joke. It's like one long joke, and I missed the punch line. I do think that it's wonderful that a usually ordinary place like a mall can be transformed into a magical and exciting place. But it seems like there wasn't much of a plot of the novel- or perhaps it's missing a point. Though it could just be me missing the point. (All you who have read it, what's the deal with the Sign and her brother?) 3/6

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Review by Lauren - Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.

We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.

At least, that's what I thought.

Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.

There was a curse.

There was a girl.

And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.


First Impression: The amount of hype this book has gotten was really astounding - Amazon Top Teen Pick of 2009, CEO of Chapter's & Indigo Book Stores Pick etc. - and it was actually the only book I asked for for Christmas. It seemed amazing.

Beautiful Creatures is a haunting supernatural mystery filled with magic, love and plenty of other stuff, but I would not say it was amazing. The insane amount of praise lead me to have high expectations and it really ruined my enjoyment of the book - I kept waiting for that moment where I just couldn't put it down and thought "Jeez this book is so insanely good, I just want to read it over and over again." With amazing books, I often spend multiple days just skimming through it, rereading parts, but with this one, I just don't feel the need to.

That's not to say Beautiful Creatures was a bad book - the plot is amazing. I loved the story, loved the characters - all the crazy family members - and the mystery. I enjoyed it, but I did not love it. I would definitely recommend it, I just feel that there was a little too much hype surrounding it, so don't get your hopes up. If you love it, great - but I'm just saying that it didn't blow me away.

Favorite Character(s): Oh by far Lena's Uncle Macon. Great character.

Final Impression: As I said before, a good book with a little too much hype. Liked but not loved.

5/6 shelves.

Hopefully you see a little more of Alex & myself in the New Year! Happy 2010 everyone! And we are continuing our 100 Books in a Year Challenge :)








 
Site Meter