Monthly Archives: July 2015

We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist

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If you’ve We Should Hang Out Sometimeever felt embarrassed or awkward read this book and you will feel like nothing you have ever done was embarrassing or awkward.  This is a book that you will be laughing out loud while reading it.  You will feel for this boy who just can’t get it together and find a girlfriend.  You’ll want to tell him what he’s doing wrong and explain to him how a cell phone works (we’ll get to that later).  At the same time, you’ll relive all the awkward middle school, college, and life experiences you have had.

Josh Sundquist is a 25 year old leg amputee who has just discovered that he has never had a girlfriend.  What is really sad about this fact is that he was under the impression that he had a girlfriend when he found this out.  Awkward.  So he decides to be all scientific and interview all his old “girlfriends” to find out what went wrong.  Enter all the said life experiences we all try and forget about.  Prom, mini golf dates, gross food eating contests at youth group, calling a girl every single day of summer until we learn what caller ID is…wait that one was just Josh.  All he really figures out after reviewing what happened and then speaking to the girls is that there is not one specific thing that he was doing wrong.  I won’t give away the ending except to tell you it’s a good one.

What I wasn’t expecting from this one was the lesson that we all need to stop questioning what other people are assuming about us, we need to accept who we are and love that person before we expect another person to love us.  Now, go read this book and let me know what you thought of it!

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

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An oldieThe Geography of You and Me but a goodie, another day another dollar, all’s well that ends well, an apple a day keeps the doctor away.  You guys know what these are?  Clichés, just like this book is a cliché.  I had to make myself finish this one because I knew how it was going to end on the first page.  I also knew pretty much what was going to happen by the second or third chapter.  I felt like I had read this book a million times over.  Don’t waste your time.

Lucy and Owen meet in the elevator during a New York City blackout and end up having a picnic on the roof of the building that night.  And guess what, they like each other!  Who knew that was going to happen?  Answer: everyone.  Here is the one thing the book had going for it; travel.  Unfortunately, the travel part didn’t pan out either.  The only way we know where they are is at the beginning of the chapters it says “In London Lucy…”.  Lucy and Owen can’t be together because Lucy is moving to Edinburgh and Owen is going out west with his dad.  So they start sending each other postcards from wherever they are.  But wait, you can’t have a book like this without a little jealousy sprinkled in there, right?  So of course both Lucy and Owen end up dating someone else and when they see each other in San Fransisco they find out and stop talking for a while.  As you’ve probably guessed, after San Fransisco  they keep thinking about each other (featuring one line pages about where they are thinking about each other) and end up meeting in New York where it all started and have another picnic on the roof of the building.  The End.

Now this is only my opinion of the book, if this seems like something you would like, go ahead and read it, but just remember if you have read any other teen romance books, you’ve read this one too.

Room by Emma Donoghue

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I was really excRoomited to read this book, but it didn’t impress me as much as I thought.  It was too slow and simple.  It was written from the point of view of a five-year-old, and even though he did have a big vocabulary, it still felt dumbed down.

A woman, Ma, is kidnapped and is forced to live in an eleven-by-eleven shed for seven years.  She has a son while living there and the story begins on the boy’s, Jack’s, fifth birthday.  The first part of the book is about living in the shed.  They play track, running around the shed, cards, watch TV, read the few books that they have, and clean the shed and their clothes.  The second part is when we see more of their captor, Old Nick.  He brings them Sunday Treats every week, which can be groceries or clothes, and sometimes toys for Jack.  Old Nick hurts Ma in the second part and we begin to see how much she wants to get out.  The third part is my favorite, because it has most of the action of the book.  Jack and Ma come up with a plan to escape and carry it out.  The fourth part starts when they are out of the Room and are sent to live in a clinic.  This is the part when we see how badly Jack has developed.  He has trouble going outside because the wind hurts him and he has to learn how to be away from his Ma.

I did like how Donoghue described all the new things that Jack was experiencing.  The simplest things that we all take for granted are seen as the best treasures in the world to Jack because he had so little in the Room.  In today’s world I think we could all learn a little bit from Jack about not wasting everything we have and only taking what we need instead of everything we want.

Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

Book Reviews

I’ve never read Where the stars still shineanything by Trish Doller before this book, but she is an amazing writer.  She does a really good job of writing characters and plot lines that draw you in and make you care about them.  You can feel the guilt that Callie feels when she realizes she is forgetting about her mom, and you can feel how happy she is when she learns how to be a friend and how good it feels to tell that friend everything.

This story is about a seventeen year old girl, Callie, who lives with her mom.  The catch is that her mom kidnapped her when she was little and they are constantly on the run.   Callie doesnt know this until they get pulled over for driving a stolen car and she has to go back to living with her father.  She’s been on the run for twelve years though, so it takes some getting used to.  After running off a few times only to come home her dad being glad she is safe and accepting her punishment, Callie finally begins to settle down with her new old family and set down roots.  Which is when her mom comes back into the picture and she feels guilty for feeling good about where she is.  With the help of her cousin/best friend, she learns that she has to do what is best for her, not anyone else.

Be prepared to feel like you know these people personally when you read this one.  And be prepared to laugh, cry, and celebrate with the characters.  This is a good one.

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

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This boThe Sky is Everywhereok is so real.  It’s about a subject that no one really wants to talk about but Jandy Nelson takes it and makes this beautiful story out of it.

It is about Lennie Walker and what happens to her after her sister Bailey dies.  She starts writing little poems on everything she can find; gum wrappers, scraps of paper, bathroom walls, barn walls, to-go cups; and buries them under pine straw or just drops them where she writes them.  This was such a good story because it explains how you become a different person when someone you love is suddenly gone, and it explains it in the most real, heart-breaking way.  If you’ve ever lost someone you love, this book will be all too real to you.  The other part of the story is, of course, about love and how Lennie finds her first boyfriend.  And about Lennie and Toby, Bailey’s boyfriend.  Things get complicated between the three of them, but through that Lennie figures out who she is and who she wants to be now that her older sister is gone.

Beautiful, descriptive writing, along with a story that anyone can relate to, create this wonderful book that you need to go out and read now!

Welcome to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Book Reviews

Dark HouseWow.  Wow, wow, wow.  Such a good book.  I couldn’t put it down.  Fantastic writing.  If you’re into horror books, read this.

When I first read the description I thought this book would be like Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, but I liked this one better.  This book is something I think we all think about from time to time, what if some of our craziest nightmares came true?  Seven teens win an essay contest and get the opportunity to meet their favorite horror movie director, Justin Blake.  They are told they will be staying at a Bed and Breakfast, only to realize when they arrive that it is actually the set from one of Justin Blake’s most famous films.  The first half of the book is written so that you can believe nothing is going to happen, that everything is a set-up by the director.  When you get to the second half though, it turns to chaos.  They are sent to an abandoned amusement park and told they have to find their specific rides and get through them to get out of the park.

The characters in this story along with their very un-generic nightmares make this story great.  They really pull you in and make you care about what happens to them.  There will be a sequel coming out July 21st, 2015 and I cannot wait to read it. Don’t let this book be a nightmare, go read it and comment what you think!

The Game (The Game is Life Book 1) by Terry Schott

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The GameAll I want to say about this book is GO READ IT NOW!!  My brother actually suggested this to me so I didn’t think it would be that great, but it might be my new favorite series.  I would say this book is science-fiction with a little bit of thriller.

This one is about Brandon Strayne and Zack.  Brandon is the CEO of a virtual reality game that is basically the main economic income for the entire world.  Zack is Brandons patron when he is inside the Game.  The Game is the new school system for the world, instead of going to public schools, they go into the game and live a lifetime inside it, an entire lifetime inside the game takes about three months in real life.  The whole plot of the first book is Zack’s last game before he ages out.

The best part of the book to me was when the mainframe allowed Alexandra a chance to go back into the game which got her out of the public school system.  The second book is just as fantastic, I’ll post a review of that one soon!

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

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ViciousThis book ended up not being what I expected, but it was still a very good book!  I wouldn’t read this if you are looking for a fantasy book, but if you’re looking for a crime drama then I would suggest this one.

This book is about Victor Vale and Eli Cardale/Ever and their hatred towards one another.  They started out as college roommates but when a science experiment that they performed on themselves worked for Eli and not for Victor, he got jealous and tried the experiment again.  Without Eli this time.  The experiment is trying to give them superpowers, or turn themselves into ExtraOrdinary’s (EO’s) in other words.  Someone gets killed and Victor and Eli decide to hate each other.  One thing I thought I would like about the book, but ended up not liking, is the fact that they explain how Eli and Victor get their superpowers through science.  I thought that would be cool to know, but it turns out it just made the powers less cool.  More natural, as if anyone could become an EO if they wanted to.

My favorite part of the book was Victor picking Sydney up on the side of the road when she was hurt and taking her in.  When he did that, I figured out who the “good guy” was and who the “bad guy” was.  There should be a sequel coming out soon and I can’t wait to read it!  Comment what you think!

Hello world!

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Wow, so this is my first post on my blog about books!  Very exciting!  Basically this site is just a place where I will post reviews on books I have read.  Please feel free to comment on any of my posts and let me know what you would like me to review and I will try my best to read it!  Also please comment with any thoughts you have on the books I write about, I would love to discuss them with you guys!  And don’t forget to tell your friends!