08.21.09
Wings review
Wings
Aprilynne Pike
2009
Rating: Very Good
Located on the fiction shelf under PIK
Laurel’s family has just moved to a new town so her father can open a bookstore. This means that Laurel, who has been homeschooled all of her life will have to start going to high school. She quickly becomes friends with David, despite feeling closed in at school. But then Laurel finds a bump on her back, which keeps getting bigger and bigger. At first she ignores it and hides it from her family and friends, but eventually she has to tell David when she wakes up to find a wing-like blossom has grown from the bump.
David and Laurel set about trying to figure out what’s going on with her body. David, the science wizz, concludes after looking at Laurel’s cells through a microscope that she is more plant than human. But it takes a trip back to the woods behind her old house and an encounter with the handsome Timani for Laurel to realise that she’s a faerie! She also learns that it’s up to her to save her old home from the evil that is trying to take it away from her, her parents and the faeries that live there.
Wings was a really enjoyable story to read. It had a unique twist, was funny at times and overall a very entertaining story. Laurel was a very likeable character, although I felt that David was a little boring at times. But both them, and the other surrounding characters grow through the novel and you really get to know them.
Another blogger mentioned something about the possibility of there being a sequel which would be interesting, especially with the growing love triangle between Laurel, David and Timani.
08.17.09
Exchanging Lives review
Exchanging Lives
Kathy Buchanan
April, 2009
Rating: Good
Exchanging Lives is a very light and fun novel about two young girls from Sydney, Australia. Charlie and Annie used to be friends, but once they hit high school, Annie joined the popular group and pushed Charlie away. Now both girls have been chosen for an exchange student program where they will spend 3 months in America with a host family. Annie is supposed to be going to New York where she’s excited about checking out the latest fashions, and Charlie is supposed to go to a small town in Ohio, where she’s excited about finding out what living on a real farm will be like. But their parents, who are also friends, decide to pull the ultimate switcheroo and send Charlie to New York and Annie to Ohio with interesting results.
Exchanging Lives was a nice story about what real friendship is about, and making the most of what life throws your way. Both girls learn a lot about themselves and each other in their 3 months away, and also to look beyond their first impressions of places and the people they live with.
Second Star to the Right review
Second Star to the Right
Deborah Hautzig
2008 (first published 1981)
Very Good
Second Star to the Right is an incredibly moving story about 14 year old Leslie Hiller. Leslie is a perfectionist and constantly worries about disappointing her mother. To take control, and she believes, to make herself happy she decides to go on a diet. But things get out of control, when Leslie can’t stop dieting. She starts eating less and less, believing that she’ll know when she’s thin enough. But she’s never thin enough. Soon Leslie is throwing up whatever she eats, throwing food out her bedroom window and is too exhausted to even go to school. Leslie is aware that she’s slowly killing herself and that she needs help, but finds it impossible to bring herself to eat.
08.13.09
The Year my Sister got Lucky review
The Year My Sister got Lucky
Aimee Friedman
June 2009
Rating: Very Good
Katie and her sister Michaela are extremely close, more like best friends. They have lived in New York all their lives, both attend a prestigious ballet school and both love their lives in New York. Or so it seems.
Katie is devestated when she finds out that she has to move with her family to a small town, called Fir Lake, in upstate New York. It’s nothing like her beloved New York City. The people are overly friendly, her new ballet school is, to put it bluntly, a joke and they actually live near real cows! Katie immediately sticks out like a sore thumb, with her ‘New York’ sense of style and attitude. But to her surprise and horror, Michaela fits in straight away.
As Michaela settles into her new country life, making friends, gaining a footballer boyfriend, joining the yearbook team and attending homecoming, she and Katie grow apart. Katie finally does start making friends and trying new things, but she does this reluctantly. And then she finds out that Michaela has been hiding things from her, important things that she would usually tell Katie. Can these sisters also be best friends?
I had added The Year my Sister got Lucky to my wish list on Amazon, only to have it bought by my Library the next day. What a coincidence! And I’m glad I got to read it too, as it was a wonderful and entertaining book, with a great message about how your attitude effects your situation. Both Katie and Michaela were likeable, in their own way. Neither of them were perfect and made plenty of mistakes through the book, but this was part of what made them so likeable and real. The Year my Sister got Lucky is a great story about sisterhood, change and growing up that I’d definitely recommend.
08.09.09
Pink by Lili Wilkinson
Pink
Lili Wilkinson
2009
Rating: Excellent
Blurb: “The pink jumper was practically glowing in my grey bedroom. It was like a tiny bit of Dorothy’s Oz in boring old black-and-white Kansas. Pink was for girls. Ava Simpson is trying on a whole new image. Stripping the black dye from her hair, she heads off to the Billy Hughes School for Academic Excellence, leaving her uber-cool girlfriend, Chloe, behind. Ava is quickly taken under the wing of perky, popular Alexis who insists that: a) she’s a perfect match for handsome Ethan; and b) she absolutely must audition for the school musical. But while she’s busy trying to fit in – with Chloe, with Alexis and her Pastel friends, even with the misfits in the stage crew – Ava fails to notice that her shiny reinvented life is far more fragile than she imagined.”
I’ve often seen Lili Wilkinson’s books around but have never had the chance to read any. When I saw Pink though I knew I had to read it, especially since one of my favourite colours is pink.
I can honestly say I really enjoyed reading Pink. Ava’s story and her struggle with her identity and sexuality were very real, honest and something I think most people can relate with. Pink shows that it’s okay to be unsure of who you are and who you want to be, but that in the end it’s important to just be yourself and not be ashamed of any aspect of yourself. All of the characters were easy to identify with, many of them hiding parts of their lives as well.
Pink was very well written, with quick snappy and funny dialogue, and conversations and stories seemingly straight out of a schoolyard. I loved the fact that the book was set in Melbourne, with mentions of lots of places I like to go to. I will definitely be hunting down more of Wilkinson’s books in the future.
08.02.09
Envy: A luxe novel
Blurb: “Two months have passed since the dramatic homecoming of Elizabeth Holland – Manhattan society eagerly awaits her return. But Elizabeth won’t rejoin her sister Diana’s side. The whispers are beginning – is all as it seems behind closed doors? Uptown, Henry and Penelope Schoonmaker are the city’s most celebrated couple. But despite the glittering diamond she wears, the newlyweds share little more than scorn for each other. Manhattan’s most envied residents appear to have everything they desire: wealth, beauty, happiness. However, in a city where appearance is everything, sometimes the most practiced smiles hide the most scandalous secrets.”
I must admit, the first thing that attracted me to the Luxe series was the covers. Who could resist those beautiful dresses?! Not me!
I wasn’t sure how ’Envy’ would span out and if I’d like it considering Henry and Penelope…… But I wasn’t disappointed. Envy was just as good and just as addictive, juicy and scandalous as the first two books in the Luxe series!
Although despite all the juiciness it’s nice to see some of the characters growing up a bit and starting to stand up for themselves.
I’m excited that the fourth book ‘Splendour’ is not far off being released, although I’m sad to hear that it’s going to be the last book in the series.
05.11.09
How to Ditch your Fairy
Welcome to New Avalon, where everyone has a personal fairy. Though invisible to the naked eye, a personal fairy, like a specialized good luck charm, is vital to success. And in the case of the students at New Avalon Sports High, it might just determine whether you make the team, pass a class, or find that perfect outfit. But for 14-year-old Charlie, having a Parking Fairy is worse than having nothing at all—especially when the school bully carts her around like his own personal parking pass. Enter: The Plan. At first, teaming up with arch-enemy Fiorenza (who has an All-The-Boys-Like-You Fairy) seems like a great idea. But when Charlie unexpectedly gets her heart’s desire, it isn’t at all what she thought it would be like, and she’ll have resort to extraordinary measures to ditch her fairy. The question is: will Charlie herself survive the fairy ditching experiment?
This is a fun book that I’d definitely recommend if you’re in the mood for something light and quick.
03.18.09
Princess of Gossip
Avery is a new girl in a huge high school, where she feels unnoticeable, boring and lonely. She creates a MySpace mini-tribute to Marisa, a singer whose first album is about to drop, and soon she has 30 people waiting to be added to her friend’s list – and they think she’s Marisa. And so Avery starts blogging as the singer. She rationalizes that it’s all in fun, and she’s helping people who are ordinary and lonely like herself. When Avery gets an invitation for Marisa to attend an exclusive party, she goes as Marisa’s assistant. There she stumbles on some hot gossip about a celebrity couple. Avery realizes she’s got an exclusive if she acts fast, but she can’t post as Marisa. So she starts a new blog as Princess of Gossip. Then Beckett Howard, a playboy celebutante, asks her out, and the paparazzi snap a picture of them together that gets posted on all the gossip sites. Her classmates are wowed, and Avery can’t help but love the attention. But it’s all going to come crashing down, and not even the Princess of Gossip will be able to hold on to her crown…
Princess of Gossip is very entertaining and I loved how they included modern technology (like MySpace and Ning) how it’s actually used!
You can actually visit the Princess of Gossip’s Ning page here.
Check out more info and reviews about Princess of Gossip here
03.16.09
The Uglies series
I’ve just finished reading ‘Extras’, the last book in the Uglies series. If you haven’t read these books yet I suggest you go out and get yourself a copy (or better yet pick up a copy next time you’re in the Library)! The novels are based on a very interesting idea that in the future cities will be split into groups of people called ‘Uglies’, ‘Pretties’ and ‘Specials’. Everyone wants to be pretty and live the ‘perfect’ life, but as we find out not everything is as it seems, especially when the main character Tally rebels against this idea.
The forth book, ‘Extras’ is more of a companion story to the series with the main character being a girl called Aya. In Aya’s world the most important things are status and popularity. Aya is, however, an ‘Extra’ with an embaressingly low status. Aya thinks she has found the key to fame when she discovers some of the least famous people in the city, with face ranks in the bottom thousand, performing incredible stunts. To exploit them, she joins their group, resulting in the discovery of a hidden weapon in the mountains that could destroy life on Earth. Suddenly Aya becomes famous, but fame doesn’t seem so good when you’re the one risking your life to get to the bottom of this.
You can find further info about the series here at Scott Westerfeld’s website and reviews here on the Amazon website.
10.27.08
Lock and Key
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
(Description from Amazon.com)
“Ruby, where is your mother?”
Ruby knows that the game is up. For the past few months, she’s been on her own in the yellow house, managing somehow, knowing that her mother will probably never return.
That’s how she comes to live with Cora, the sister she hasn’t seen in ten years, and Cora’s husband Jamie, whose down-to-earth demeanor makes it hard for Ruby to believe he founded the most popular networking Web site around. A luxurious house, fancy private school, a new wardrobe, the promise of college and a future—it’s a dream come true. So why is Ruby such a reluctant Cinderella, wary and defensive? And why is Nate, the genial boy next door with some secrets of his own, unable to accept the help that Ruby is just learning to give?
Best-selling author Sarah Dessen explores the heart of a gutsy, complex girl dealing with unforeseen circumstances and learning to trust again.
