Book Review: A Match Made In High School by Kristin Walker

Title: A Match Made In High School

Author: Kristin Walker

Series: none

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: Febuary 4 2010

My Source: Library

My Rating: 3/5

When the principal announces that every senior must participate in a mandatory year-long Marriage Education program, Fiona Sheehan believes that her life can’t get any worse. Then she marries her “husband”: Jerky jock Todd, whose cheerleader girlfriend, Amanda, has had it in for Fiona since day one of second grade. Even worse? Amanda is paired with Fiona’s long-term crush, Gabe. At least Fiona is doing better than her best friend, Marcie, who is paired up with the very quiet, very mysterious Johnny Mercer. Pranks, fights, misunderstandings, and reconciliations ensue in an almost Shakespearean comedy of errors about mistaken first impressions, convoluted coupling, and hidden crushes.

The premise of this book is that the principal decides that all the seniors in East Columbus high school have to participate in marriage education, where they are randomly paired with another student and have to "pretend" they're married. They have to do a job together, and make real world money, then multiple it to be their household income. They choose what kind of house and luxuries they want and try to budget their money. As is obvious from the description, everyone gets paired up with the most unlikely people, and many results follower. I thought the marriage "match up" sounded creative and funny. When I heard of this book, I immeadietly thought about how awful and funny something like that would be at my own high school, and so I really wanted to read this book.

The main character, Fiona, I found to be annoying but at the same time I admired her a bit. She didn't care what anybody thought about her appearance or behavior. She was unpopular, but she got paired with a popular jock, Todd. Their "relationship" and feuding was very interesting and I enjoyed reading about it. Fiona was extremely obnoxious and loud, and some of her actions and thoughts drove me a bit crazy sometimes. I found it hard to relate to her. I didn't like her character too much. All the characters were all typical high school stereotypes. Fiona is the girl who doesn't care what others think, Todd is the popular jock, Amanda is his popular girlfriend, Johnny is this mysterious guy who turns out to be really cool, and Gabe is the hot guy who Fiona is obsessed with then realizes he's not that great in the first place. Not the most original characters, but at the same time they did develop (to some degree).

I did enjoy reading this, it was fun light entertainment, but I could recommend other books that I would describe that way that I liked a lot better. The characters in this book weren't that great, even though I loved the plot idea.

Overall, there were things I liked and things I didn't, but I would still recommend it if you like stories set in high school!

Book Review: One Night That Changes Everything by Lauren Barnholdt

Title: One Night That Changes Everything
Author: Lauren Barnholdt
Series: none
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: July 6 2010
My Source: Read online at Pulse It

My Rating: 4/5

Eliza is in a full-blown panic. Her notebook has been stolen—the one that lists everything she wants but is afraid to go after. And the absolute worst person in the world has it: her ex-boyfriend, Cooper.
Like it’s not enough Cooper was lying to Eliza for their entire relationship, now he and his friends are blackmailing her. They’re giving her just one night to complete the most humiliating tasks on her list or they’ll post her secrets online—including the ones that aren’t just about her.
Eliza’s sure of only one thing: she isn’t going down without a fight. Cooper may have what’s left of her dignity, but she’s not the only one with something to hide …

I read it online in one sitting this morning (by the way, Pulse It is an awesome site for teens where you can read books online for free- they have up to 4 at a time). It pulled me in from the first page and the story just kept going. Eliza is like most teenage girls-self concious and absolutely does not want her secrets posted all over the internet! Her ex-boyfriend Cooper and his friends have stolen her notebook where she wrote all her secrets and they blackmail her into doing all the things she's listed that she's way too afraid to do. The whole book took place in one night (hence the title), which was different but I really liked it. Eliza's adventures were hilarious and I could totally relate to her fears. In the end, it was predictable but cute, and I loved it.

This is a great quick read, if you can ignore the fact that 90% of the book is completely unrealistic. The 318's (Cooper's group of friends which was more like a secret society) was a pretty unrealistic group, as was Tyler, their leader. I never really could figure out why Tyler was blackmailing and stalking Eliza, I guess it was just for fun, and because she posted some nasty stuff about Cooper online. I'm pretty sure no guy or group of guy friends would ever do something like that to a girl they hardly knew. Anyway, that wasn't really the point of this book. It was just a one night adventure that taught both Eliza and Cooper a lot of great lessons and ended with a great feeling.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes quick reads with a good heart! Sounds cheesy, but it's true. I enjoyed reading this and my complaints are few! It wasn't the kind of book that made me go "wow" or anything, so it's not 5 stars, but it was still really good.
*content warning: some strong language

Book Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Shiver
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: August 1 2009
My Source: Library

My Rating: 4/5

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human ... until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Shiver was exactly what I expected it to be. The two main characters, Grace and Sam, have loved each other forever, it seems. The romance is really nice and refreshing. They've never met in person, but when they do, they're instantly attatched to each other. There's not of that "which boy should i choose?" or anything. It's just the two of them, but it fails to get boring, because of the way they interact. What they have is like a dream relationship. I'll admit- it probably is unrealistic in some ways, but for a story it's good none the less. That was definitely my favorite part about this book.

On the other hand, it was extremely predictable and lacked tension. I felt like I knew what was going to happen and there was really nothing there to keep me reading. The only reason I kept reading was because of the romance between the two main characters- they kept it interesting. But when I got done with the book, I looked back at it and thought what a great read it was, it just left me with a happy satisfaction when I was finished, so I gave it four stars. The only thing I wish this book could've done for me is leave me eager to read the next one. I still will read Linger, but it seemed like Shiver wrapped up most of the loose ends, so I'm not dying to read the next one. Maybe Linger will top Shiver with some kind of new plot to keep it going. I sure hope so.
*content warning: some mild language and suggestive content

Book Review: Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

Title: Blue Bloods
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Series: Blue Bloods #1
Publisher: Hyperion
Release Date: May 1 2006
My Source: Bought


My Rating: 3/5


When the Mayflower set sail in 1620, it carried on board the men and women who would shape America: Miles Standish; John Alden; Constance Hopkins. But some among the Pilgrims were not pure of heart; they were not escaping religious persecution. Indeed, they were not even human. They were vampires.The vampires assimilated quickly into the New World. Rising to levels of enormous power, wealth, and influence, they were the celebrated blue bloods of American society. The Blue Bloods vowed that their immortal status would remain a closely guarded secret. And they kept that secret for centuries.
But now, in New York City, the secret is seeping out. Schuyler Van Alen is a sophomore at a prestigious private school. Suddenly, when she turns fifteen, there is a visible mosaic of blue veins on her arm. She starts to crave raw food and she is having flashbacks to ancient times. Then a girl from her school is found dead... drained of all her blood. Schuyler doesn't know what to think.
Could those vampire legends really be true? Steeped in vampire lore and set against the heady backdrop of the rich, young, and powerful in the heart of New York City, Blue Bloods will be devoured by Melissa de la Cruz's legion fans.


This book is a combination of vampires meets rich new yorkers, which in the premise sounded really intriging to me, and that's why I picked it up. I really wanted to like this book, and it was entertaining, even if it wasn't best book I've ever read. Schuyler Van Alen, along with many other teens her age, found out she was a vampire when she turned fifteen, but not only that, they learned that they had lived many past lives and were reincarnated over and over again. I'm sorry, but every time I read a book with the whole reincarnation thing it usually drags the book down for me (...like Evermore, a book I really didn't enjoy). I'm not sure why, but it's like if they'd had so many past lives I hardly care about this one. Fortunately, without giving away any spoilers, I'll just say that this book had enough differences, twists in the whole reincarnation thing that I was able to deal with it. It was definitely interesting enough, a new take on the vampire thing by having them be immortal angels, you'd have to read it to really understand it.
One thing I did like about this book was that it was told in third person, and not just focused on romance where there's one perfect mysterious guy. Actually, I didn't really like any of the guys in this book, which was a little bit of a let down, but it was okay.
I have to say the writing in this book was pretty horrible. I absolutely do not get the point of having the Schulyer/Bliss photoshoot, it completely didn't relate to the plot and totally got me confused about Schuyler's character. The books started out like this: Mimi is the fashion obsessed, rich girl, Schuyler is the goth girl who don't care about that, and then suddenly she's this vampire and model. What? No character development. I'm so confused! That wasn't exactly the only thing in this book that totally didn't make sense. It was really unrealistic, but I still kept reading because even though it was lame at times, it certainly wasn't boring. You might be dragged down by all the designer labels, clothing descriptions, etc, but I was reading it fast enough that I didn't care, though there was a point where it started to get ridiculous.

I'm going to continue reading the next one, but if it starts getting worse (more ridiculous and unbelievable characters) than I don't know if I'll stick with the series.
*content warning: some completely uneccesary (in my opinion) sexual content!

Book Review: Gone by Michael Grant

Title: Gone
Author: Micahel Grant
Series: Gone #1
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: July 1 2008
My Source: Library

My Rating: 3.5/5


In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.
Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened.
Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.
It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else...

Even though I'd say this book is science fiction and that's why I was interested, you don't have to be a science fiction lover to pick this up. The premise was intriging. It took me awhile to get through because it's pretty long, and there are times it seemed a little slow for me paticularly in the beginning, but after that, it was non-stop action. There were a lot of characters with different stories and the perspective constantly changed, which I liked because I think any one of the stories by itself would have been a little dull. One thing I didn't really like about this book was that the main conflict was just bullies. The kids were just fighting each other, and since none of them were older than 14, their problems were hard to take seriously. Throughout the book, kids discovered they had powers, such as shooting lightning from hands, moving things with their mind, extreme speed, etc. The battles actually became quite violent for the ages of the kids.

One thing I really liked about this book was how the author managed to answer some of the reader's questions- just enough so the book felt like it had a good conclusion, but leaving some open to entice the readers to pick up the next book in the series. It was a perfect balance and I thought it had a very nice ending.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, but it wasn't one of my favorites, but it's a series, so I'm still going to read the next books because I want some questions answered!

+ an extra .5 (I'm going to have new buttons up soon with .5 stars!)

Book Review: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Title: Before I Fall

Author: Lauren Oliver

Series: none

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: March 2 2010

My Source: Library

My Rating: 5/5


What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?
Samantha Kingston has it all—looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12th should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it’s her last. The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. In fact, she re-lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she had ever imagined.

I don't even know what to say about this book except one thing: read it. Seriously. This is such an amazing book, and even though it's 470 pages long, I read it in one day. It's an interesting story about a popular girl, Samantha, who dies in a car wreck, then relives the last day of her life seven times. Each days differences reflect her changing and evolving character. I hated and loved this book, because I was frustrated, and happy, and I didn't know what to make of it. It's one of those books that leaves you thinking about it every second you put it down, even when it's finished. The only critique I have was that the ending seemed a little bit of a dissapointment. I won't go on about it, because I don't want to spoil the book, but I was so frustated by the end. Maybe it was just because I liked the book so much I didn't want it to end. Anyway, this was an amazing book and I would definitely recommend it. Loved this book!

*content warning: moderate-typical high school sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and language

Book Review: Burned by P.C. and Kristin Cast

My Rating: 3/5

Zoey Redbird is the youngest High Priestess in House of Night history and is the only person – vamp or fledgling – that can stop the evil Neferet from raising all kinds of immortal trouble. And she might just have a chance if she wasn’t so busy being dead.

Well, dead is too strong a word. Stevie Rae knows she can bring her BFF back from her unscheduled va-cay in the Otherworld. But it’s going to take a lot more than hoping to bring Zoey back. Stevie Rae will have to give up a few secrets of her own . . .

This is the seventh book in the House of Night series. I've heard there's plans for 9, but also for 12, so I guess we'll just have to see how many there will be total. Like the previous book Tempted, this one is told from multiple character POVs. It was similar to the other books though, and that's one thing I've started to get sick of with this series. There's alwasy something new in each book, but in the end, not really much has changed. They're usually not much closer to getting rid of the antagonist.The end of Tempted was a huge shock for me, but that was about the only shock provided in this series. This book was entertaining and kept me reading because it changed views and storylines, and moved quickly, even if in the end, we weren't much further from where we were 2 books ago plot wise. One thing that has stayed consistent through the series is the narration, whether told from 1st or 3rd person, is written like a voice talking. It adds a lot of character, but gets extremely annoying after a while, and sometimes I wish they could be written better. I really liked the different perspectives though, getting out Zoey's head and into other people provided a lot more stories.

The more of these books come out, the more complex the mytholgy and religion of the vampyres get. 90% of it I can track with, but there were a few times I got mixed up because there was so much going on, and there's still some questions I have that hopefully will get answered in future books, or maybe I need to reread the series because I just forgot (Such as, how can Kalona be killed, isn't he immortal...?).

Regardless of my complaints, if you liked the whole series, you'll like this one. I enjoyed reading it, and I might recommend it, depending on who you are. It was a pretty quick read for me, even though there were a lot of complex stuff. Start with Marked, read through them all in a row. No time takes place between books and it's easier to do it that way and it's a lot simpler to follow.

*content warning: A lot of strong language, some sexual content

Book Review: The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

My Rating: 4.5/5

Gabry lives a quiet life, secure in her town next to the sea and behind the Barrier. She's content to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. Home is all she's ever known and, and all she needs for happiness.
But life after the Return is never safe and there are threats even the Barrier can't hold back.
Gabry's mother thought she left her secrets behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, but, like the dead in their world, secrets don't stay buried. And now, Gabry's world is crumbling.
One night beyond the Barrier . . .
One boy Gabry's known forever and one veiled in mystery . . .
One reckless moment, and half of Gabry's generation is dead, the other half imprisoned.
Now Gabry knows only one thing: if she has any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother's past.

I was extremely excited to read this after finishing The Forest of Hands and Teeth (see my review here). Carrie Ryan is a great author and wrote another beautiful book with this one. It's hard to compare books, but I liked this one even better than the first one. Gabry was just as interesting of a character as Mary, trying to figure out her identity, along with her mother's (her mother is Mary, the main character of the first book).

Everything I didn't like about Hands and Teeth was redeemed here. Elias was a breath of fresh air. It's just my opinion, but i really liked him. Unlike other male characters from Hands and Teeth or this book, he was mysterious and had secrets. The tension and mystery between him and Gabry was there from the very beginning to the very end. I also enjoyed the plot twists in this book. I never would've guessed some of the things that get revealed, but it all makes sense. Catcher, another new character, who forms a love triangle with Gabry and Elias, also added a lot to the book. I really like him, but not for Gabry.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was the end started to get really slow for me- right when there was a lot of action, approximately the last 1/4 of the book, for some reason it was hard to get through. Regardless, it was still an awesome book and anyone who loves YA fiction or paranormal romance should definitly read this series!

+ an extra .5 :)

Book Review: This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer

My Rating: 3.5/5

It's been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth's climate. For Miranda Evans, life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbors are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce. The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda's father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomes is Alex Morales, and as Miranda's complicated feelings towards him turn to love, his plans for the future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever.

This book is the last in the Life As We Knew It trilogy. I read the first two and I wasn't extremely impressed, but I decided to go ahead and read the third one anyway. This one was definitly my favorite of the series. It connected the two protagonists of the first two books and combined their stories. I liked how, in this book, you could really feel the tension between a lot of the characters. I also liked since it was Miranda's diary, her thoughts were really realistic and human and a lot of the times funny. This was something I really missed with the second book, The Dead and The Gone, which was centered around Alex. The other books seemed extremely repetitive, and this one slipped into that a little bit, but generally it was pretty new and interesting. Alex got really annoying a few times, but it was still realistic. There was suspense, and at the end it almost gave me shivers. The thing I didn't like the most about this book was the ending. I hope there's a fourth book that will give it more conclusion. It was also really short!

Overall, I would recommend this book, but you have to read the first two to really appreciate it, and those books were a little more dull.

*content warning: none that I remember

Book Review: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

My Rating: 4/5

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in hsi pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun- but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

I picked this book up at the library because I'd heard it was good, but I really didn't know what it was about and I was really surprised when I started reading it. In a good way. This book was comical, and some elements were extremely unrealistic (he really knew and dated that many girls named Katherine? how did he manage to have so many girl friends when he proclaims he is far from popular and has one friend?), but by the end of the book that didn't seem to matter much. I still was able to relate to the characters and Colin was really intriguing. It seemed super nerdy at times and I think that's why I liked it. If he wasn't a child prodigy and had his Theorem, it would have been dumb and just like many other books I've ever read. It was unique and a bit nerdy and not afraid to be so. That's why I liked this book. I would definitly recommend it. I haven't read any other books by John Green, but now I really want to. It was a great book that made me think.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was that about 1/2-3/4 of the way through it I started getting tired of the same things over and over- the book wasn't changing much. Katherines were the same, he kept trying the figure out the Theorem, and it was pretty predictable how it would end. Fortunately, it was short, so I got through it quickly with still a lot of good thoughts about the first half.

*content warning: a lot of language, some sexual content

(note: i wanted to add a content warning to my reviews because I don't want to just recommend books with a lot of mature content to any reader, especially younger people who might read it- for example, this is definitly a mature book and i don't think everyone should read it, and i want my readers to know that)