Title: Ten Rules for Living With my Sister

Author: Ann M. Martin

Genre: Middle Grade Fiction, ages 9-12 (according to Kirkus Reviews)

Length: 256 pages

Publisher: Square Fish; Reprint edition (September 4, 2012)

Source: borrowed from library

Blurb: Pearl’s older sister, Lexie, is in eighth grade and has a boyfriend. Pearl’s only boyfriend is the family’s crabby cat, Bitey. Lexie is popular. Pearl is not, mostly because of the embarrassing Three Bad Things that happened in school and which no one has forgotten. Everything Pearl does seems to drive Lexie crazy. On top of that, their grandfather is moving into their family’s apartment and taking over Pearl’s room. How will these sisters share without driving each other crazy? Pearl is good at making lists of rules, but sometimes, life doesn’t play by the rules!

Wow, this was such a cute, sweet book! It made me laugh and I really sympathized with Pearl, the Main Character. Life is tough for Pearl – as a fourth grader, with a 1st-grade best friend, and three enemies (‘Jill-Rachel-Katie’), plus an annoying older sister to boot. I’ve wanted to read to read it for a while now, but my bookstore only carried the hardback copy, which I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on. When my library got it, I checked it out right away – oohhhh my goodness, the pages smelled awesome. (That was… well… anyway!)

More than the pages, though (lol!), this book will be a favorite of mine for a while now because it reminded me a lot of my sister and I. Of course, I’m an older sister, so it’s bit different, but it was cool looking through the younger sister’s point of view. They… see things differently, I guess. (Sigh.)But it did make me bust out laughing a lot – Pearl’s imagination reminded me a little of Ramona, or Clementine. It was very relatable, to me.

The characters all changed a bit, in some way or another, by the end of the book. Pearl’s sister, Lexie, became a little less snobby, Pearl learned how to handle and be kinder to her sister, and even Pearl and Lexie’s grandfather, Daddy Bo, comes to peace with moving into a retirement home.

Now, I know I’m biased here, but I totally reject the whole “snobby, mean older sister” stereotype. I was appalled in the beginning of the book – whaaat? C’mon, Pearl, your older sister just needs her space. Take a hint! Besides, I’m not like that. (Riiigghhhtt, Anna??)

So this was an awesome book – I loved it! I give it four stars =)

Go and read it – and tell me what you think about it! 🙂

Title: To all the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Author: Jenny Han

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Length: 368 pages

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Source: bought it (via e-reader)

Blurb: What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them…all at once? Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

I actually liked this book more than I thought I would! I absolutely adored the main character, Lara Jean, and loved all of the other minor characters as well. I think part of what made the story so believable is it’s relatable. I mean, first of all, Lara Jean has two sisters – and her relationships with both of them is very realistic. (Being an older sister myself, I laughed at all the parts I could see my little sister doing, and clenched my fists at things my lil’ sis better not be doing!)

Also: Lara Jean’s personality. We’re a lot more alike than different. She’s what some people might call a goody-two-shoes, but what I’d call a really smart teenager. (Excluding the fact that she can’t really make up her mind!) At least, I hope I’m like her when I’m her age.

Okay, but the plot. Everything would be going smoothly, and then someone would wreck it all and I’d be like “noooo” and then it would fix and then get messed up again. And then I’d be like “nooo” again. Also, I totally saw the ending. Like, seriously? Ummm duh. I think the mystery of who sent out the letters wasn’t built up quite enough… I’d have liked to see that have an actual twist to it; it was rather obvious. And who she ended up with? I’m not sure if this was supposed to be a quote “mystery” or not; if Jenny Han wanted us to know or if she wanted us to be stuck between the guy next door and Mr. Hey-We-Used-to-be-Buddies-Now-We’re-Gonna-Fake-Date-to-set-our-love-lives-straight or not. But yeah. Pretty obvious… I was kind of disappointed.

Overall, I really loved this book. I’d definitely recommend it!

That’s a total of… 4 stars!

Title: The Red Umbrella 

Author: Christina Diaz Gonzalez

Genre: MG Historical Fiction

Length: 284 pages

Publisher: Yearling

Source: bought it

Blurb: In 1961, two years after the Communist revolution, Lucía Álvarez still leads a carefree life, dreaming of parties and her first crush. But when the soldiers come to her sleepy Cuban town, everything begins to change. Freedoms are stripped away. Neighbors disappear. Her friends feel like strangers. And her family is being watched. As the revolution’s impact becomes more oppressive, Lucía’s parents make the heart-wrenching decision to send her and her little brother to the United States—on their own. Suddenly plunked down in Nebraska with well-meaning strangers, Lucía struggles to adapt to a new country, a new language, a new way of life. But what of her old life? Will she ever see her home or her parents again? And if she does, will she still be the same girl?

I really enjoyed this one. It had been sitting on my bookshelf for several weeks before I decided to read it, and I’m really glad I finally did. I really loved that the reason for the title had a very direct link to the book – the MC, Lucy thinks her mother’s red umbrella is hideous, but her mother tells her the color red stands for strength. I loved that.

I enjoyed watching Lucia grow throughout the story, and see her opinions change but her love to her home country, Cuba, stay the same. The character development was great. I thought the conclusion felt a little forced, and honestly, I really would have liked this book to have gone a bit longer. Other than that, I really loved it. A really short, quick read, but the book still has some hard topics. Two thumbs up!!

Four and a half stars!

Title: Sarah’s Key

Author: Tatiana de Rosnay

Genre: Historical Fiction

Length: 320 pages

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Source: bought it

Blurb: Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family’s apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France’s past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl’s ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d’Hiv’, to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah’s past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

Even if I disliked this book, I’d still hate to criticize it because the story is so beautiful. Basically, it’s a story inside a story – the main story follows Julia Jarmond, an American who lived half her life in Paris, married to a husband she begins to question her love for. But then, after doing an article for the magazine she works for on the Vel D’Hiv roundup in July 1942, she finds a connection to a Sarah Starynzki, and she starts piecing Sarah’s untold story together.

Sarah’s story… it was really hard to… I don’t know, process. Digest. That this kind of thing, this story, this history, is real. It REALLY happened, and just because she was a Jew, a little girl like Sarah and thousands of other children were sent to hot, bare, dirt-floor sheds with no food or water to suffer for days and then to gas chambers. To die. For no reason at all. And, the thought that scared me the most as I read this – who’s to say history can’t repeat itself?

Going back to Julia, the main character’s story, her passion for finding the missing links to Sarah’s escape and life after the war, is so touching. Despite marriage problems, her 11-year-old daughter, a child she doesn’t want to “get rid of” but her husband does… she completely devotes all of her time, all of her little energy, to finding Sarah’s family and helping her father-in-law, who plays a small role in Sarah’s life as well, find a sense of closure Sarah herself never had. It’s so beautiful.

And this was a really sad, depressing book (My mom says I read too many sad books!) I mean, seriously, I hadn’t even anticipated how deep and depressing it would be – and it’s a WWII story, I normally do prepare myself for the worst.

But, really, this was an incredible story. I highly recommend it…. and I can’t wait to see the movie!

5 stars!!!

Title: The Selection

Author: Kiera Cass

Genre: YA Romance/Fantasy

Length: 352 pages

Publisher: HarperTeen; Reprint edition

Source: bought it (via e-reader)

Blurb: For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn’t want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks. Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she’s made for herself—and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

Okay, so can I just say WOW?!! WOW. W-o-w wow. It’s weird, too, because when I was looking at getting it and looked at the reviews on Amazon and GoodReads and such, the reviews were all anywhere between 1 star and 5 stars. (Whaaaat?) I guess this book is for some people and not for others, but it was definitely for me.

Okay, so first thing’s first: I really connected to the characters.
 

Aren’t America and Maxon gorgeous?! At first, I was all for America and her childhood first love, Aspen Leger. But then when he gave up on her, I was like blech. Then I noticed his name sounded a lot like Aspirin. I was pretty much a full-fledged Maxon + America shipper since the beginning. (No spoilers here, though, promise!) Aspen eventually came around too, and I was kind of mad at him because he kept ruining America’s feelings and making her doubt how much Maxon really liked her. On the surface, all of the characters seemed shallow and cliche, but then they went a lot deeper than I expected for this type of book. Two thumbs up, and three if I had an extra!

More than the love story (which is, of course, the main thing going on in the book), was the relationships of the girls competing to be the next queen of Illea. (And wife to Prince Maxon.) Some of the girls I clicked with, especially with Marlee, America’s closest friend. But most of the time I was just like…

By the end of the book, I was like “NOOO IT CAN’T END NOW I HAVE TO PAY FOR THE NEXT BOOK!!!” But of course, I did. I had to know what was to happen next. Writing this AFTER I’ve read the entire series is hard, too, but I truly did adore this series. However it had ended, I probably would have been happy. I LOVED it though. The next two reviews on the next books will go more into detail, but I just… I loved this book. Loved it.

Four and a half books!

So if you’re looking for a book to throw across the room, this is the one. No, not because it’s a horrible book. In fact, Second Chance Summer is a really great, light summer read. It still made me sob and angry because sometimes characters can be so stupid. (Just saying!) But I loved it!

The first thing I loved is how Morgan Matson tells the story – why Taylor, the MC, didn’t want to return to Lake Phoenix in the first place – by going back a little at a time in between chapters to when she was 12, and what happened between her and her best friends, and why she didn’t go back for five years. I kept wanting to read more chapters about when she was 12 so I could figure out what horrible things she did that made her closest friends, Henry and Lucy, hate her so much.

Then, once that semi-problem was solved, there was her dad. The whole reasons she and her family returned to Lake Phoenix was to spend their last summer with her dad, who had Stage 4 Cancer. The whole book I kept getting know her dad, and I loved him. His puns, his understanding ways, and when he takes Taylor out for ice cream behind her mom’s back. I loved the way he loved his work and was dedicated to work, but still made time for each of his kids. In fact, he reminded me of my own dad. (Who made time with me by helping set up this blog. Points for dad!)

I liked how the setting was generally around the same place, and how everything sort of clicked back into place in the end. Taylor learns even with obstacles she must face and her biggest fears becoming real, you have to face them headstrong and not run away from them. The whole premise of the book was a very clear message and intriguing plot. I loved it!

So this was a great summer read! (Even though I went through half a roll of toilet paper. We were out of tissues.) You’ve been warned: “light” summer reads doesn’t mean they can make you cry… but go read it, okay? Seriously! I LOVED IT. Okay now stop reading this. Go pick up that book. Now.

All in all, this was a really great book. I loved the plot, the characters, and the character development (my favorite part in books, just not my favorite part when I myself am writing them!) and I was hooked – hook, line, and sinker in the first chapter and I didn’t set it down once!

The MC, Macy Queen, secludes herself from the rest of her friends and even from her own mother – trying to save herself from the grief she faces when her father died two years before. She plays safe – she makes sure she always appears calm and collected; perfect. Starting with her perfect boyfriend right down to her perfect study routine. But then she meets the whole Wish Catering gang and her whole summer turns around. There’s Kristy Palmetto and her peculiar scars, Monica Palmetto who’s anything but the outgoing, loud sprite her sister is, Delia, the pregnant owner of Wish Catering, Bert, her youngest nephew and Wes – her oldest nephew. The one who always tells Macy the truth.

I wasn’t impressed with the overall story line; it was sort of cliche and to me, the book didn’t stand out much from others like itself, and so it’s not necessarily on my favorites list. Like I already said, though, I loved the character development. Sarah Dessen definitely did a great job on that. Macy really changed by the end of the book, and I loved that about this book. One thing that did make it different was that the character development allowed Macy to grow and learn from her past throughout the book without the book feeling stilted and drawn-out.

By the end, I was very much in awe over The Truth About Forever. I really liked the characters – every character was well formed, particularly the Main Character, and I really enjoyed reading it. I’d definitely read it again, without hesitation. Two thumbs up!

I was very surprised at how fast I sped through this book; two days! The page-turning events kept my heart pounding and my palms sweaty the entire time. The Captive Maiden is a fairy-tale retelling (one of my favorite genres to read! One many of you may have read/seen the movie of is a favorite of mine – Ella Enchanted), and this particular re-telling is a classic version of the one of the most known tales, “Cinderella.”

At first, the story really reminded me page after page of one of my favorite movies of all time, Ever After. I had no problem with this – I love, love, love that movie and while The Captive Maiden wasn’t a modern spin by itself of Cinderella, it wasn’t completely like every Cinderella version – book or movie – I’ve ever known. Last summer, I read The Fairest Maiden and The Healer’s Apprentice, also by Melanie Dickerson. I loved both of them, so when I began this one, I expected it to be very similar to the other books. And, to my pleasure, it was!

I really love these books because in Melanie Dickerson’s amazingly talented way, she manages to turn these classic fairy-tales into a creative spin all on her own, yet still very much corresponding to the original story. In this version, “Cinderella” is named Gisela, and her Prince Charming is actually the brother of the last Prince in The Fairest Maiden, Valten Gerstenberg. Of course you all know the basis of the story line – princess is living with her horrible stepmother and stepsisters who treat her as a servant and the girl dreams of a true love and escape from the life she’s lived with since her father’s death as a little girl.

In Melanie Dickerson’s telling, Gisela escapes to the tournament where Valten is participating, and when he wins the tournament he chooses her as the Queen of Beauty and Love! But Valten’s enemy Ruexner is out to get him… and his queen of beauty and love. The two get captured by the scoundrel and it’s up to Valten to save his beautiful princess.

I was pleasantly surprised at how it ended; I was enchanted with all of the characters the entire duration of the book and Melanie is a fabulously talented author in how she writes her main characters and creates heart-pounding scenes for readers to enjoy. I absolutely loved it! Definitely go and read this! 🙂

I have to tell you, I’ve been trying to finish this book for a year or two now! (I know, after my review on The View from Saturday you probably think I put books off all the time…) but the book was good. I had to sort of push myself to finally finish this particular one, though, because the problems the characters faced were so point blank. There wasn’t as much character development as I would have liked, and the main problems in the book, as I said before, were very out there; throughout the book I felt like the author didn’t even try to make the reading process in and of itself suspenseful – more of “this is the character’s problem and this is how they solve it.”

Each chapter was a character’s perspective – there’s Aggie, Kirby, Loretta, and Willow – and how they face their fears and meet one another at the Sleepy Time Motel. Aggie is putting on a brave face when she’s forced to sell the motel, Kirby is being defiant because he’s stuck at the motel with his mother while their car is being fixed; then he has to go to a military school, Loretta is happy to be visiting the Smoky Mountains where her birth mom visited at one point, along with her adopted parents, and Willow is trying to embrace the changes in her life – her mother leaving her, and her father up and selling their house to buy a stinky old motel.

While I did thoroughly enjoy the book, I felt it was too short and fast-paced. Albeit it is completely written for younger readers, the author still could have done a better job. I would have loved to have gotten to know Aggie, Kirby, Loretta, and Willow better, and may have finished this one a few years ago when I first picked it up had it been more page-turning.

This was, however, a heartwarming tale that made me smile; in the end all of the characters got what they wanted or aimed for, and that makes the reader happy. Still, the point in telling a story is telling the journey the main character takes to get where they want to be, and the telling of the journey wasn’t over-the-top, nor thrilling or very exciting to me. A good book, even though in my opinion, it could be great.

But who knows? It could be for you. Go and read the book for yourself 😉