Pearl- Jo Knowles

The Gist 

Pearl
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Pearl a.k.a Bean isn't the most sociable person in the world.  She has only ever made one friend in her lifetime, Henry, who happens to live across the street.  Pearl, like most teenagers, has troubles with her mom but she especially has troubles with her mom's friend Claire.  The only person in the house that Peal can tolerate is her grandfather Gus.  He is always there for her when she needs someone to talk to or if she needs someone to go fishing with.  That is until one morning Pearl discovers her grandfather has died.  She starts planning the funeral and notices some weird things beginning to happen.  Her mother becomes 100% happier and is practically a ball of sunshine 24/7.  Henry's mom who hasn't left her house for years starts to come out of her shell and hangs out with Pearl's mom and Claire.  Pearl feels like the only normal person left is Henry. As Pearl and Henry start to investigate the weird behavior family secrets are uncovered and Pearl finds she has new feelings for Henry that have never been there before.  


What We Think
Reviewed by The North Star
Number of Pages: 224
We got this book as an ARC a couple of months ago and kept putting it on the top of the list to read and then review but then other things would get in the way and it just remained on the top of the list.  I finally got to read the book on a plane ride and got to take it off our ever growing list.  No offense to the author but, this was one of the worst books I have read in a long time.  The plot on the back of the book had promise with the whole discovering the family secret thing.  The whole time while I was reading I was anticipating this big secret that they were going to uncover at some point during the book.  Just to warn you when you find out what it is and is not worth reading the 150 pages before.  The pacing was really bad because almost nothing happened in the beginning but the author found a way to stretch out the nothing for 175 pages.  Then the last 49 pages were jam-packed with things happening and it was overwhelming.  The book would have been 1000% times better if she just moved a few things around and had the "exciting" things happen sooner.

None of the characters in this book were very strong.  Pearl whined a little too much about her grandfather and her mom.  I know that her mom was cheering because her dad died (which is weird) bit why can't she just be happy for her mom because her mom has been depressed for 16+ years.  Pearl also overacted all the time and it was over the littlest things.  One time they were all watching a movie and her mom and Claire were laughing at a funny part and she ranted about how annoying them laughing was and how they should quiet down.  Henry, was my "favorite" character if I had to pick one.  He never complained and thought logically when they were trying to figure things out, instead of freaking out.  The thing that bothered me about him was that he completely let Pearl push him around all the time and that is not usually a characteristic you find in a guy.  All of the other characters were just there for me and at points in the book I sometimes forget that they were there and that is not a good thing when there is only 6 characters in the entire book.

The cover of this book was just OK when I first saw it but then once we received the book I had a closer look.  If you look closely at the pearl in the middle of the book there are two people snuggling their heads together and it is supposed to resemble Pearl and Henry.  If I had seen this close up in the book store then I would NEVER have bought the book, bad choice on the art directors end.  All in all, this was a really bad book and not worth the $10 you would be spending to buy it at the store.

Real Teen Rating: D- : If you have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to read! 

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Pandora Radio

Reviewed by Living Destiny

So I know North recently did a review of Spotify, the new music app.  I thought I'd jump on that band wagon and do a review of Pandora.  Pandora is a website, not an app, but like Spotify it's a master of music.  The address is www.pandora.com.  Basically, it creates radio stations.  If you really like a song or artist (or, I have just discovered, composer), you type it into the search bar.  If the name is something popular, like 'bad' - which has 100 results - you choose the one you were actually referring to.  Then, Pandora creates a radio station that plays music similar to what you typed in originally.  Just like that, you're provided with a never-ending supply of songs you'll probably enjoy listening to.  And you can make as many stations as you so desire.  Personally, I currently have nine stations, and I'm always meaning to make more.  In addition to making these stations for you, Pandora also lets you 'like' songs, artists, stations or albums, and look at them later.  You can follow friends and see what they're listening to if you want to.  I think the best part is that it tells you everything about everything.  When a song is playing, it lists out the artist bio, the song lyrics, and artists that are similar.  You can click on see more to get a more detailed description.  And if you click the song title it shows the features of the track and similar tracks.  Click on the album and it gives a list of tracks.  You see where I'm going with this?  It has everything.  Not to mention the fact that it introduces you to music you never before knew existed but will soon fall wildly in love with.  I have this station I made from the band Hot Chelle Rae, and it plays tons of angsty punk music which is awesome, but it played a song by The Summer Set.  I really liked it, so I looked them up, and now have their whole first cd on my Spotify account.  Oh snap mixing music sites.  My bad.  It has some ads between songs, but they aren't very frequent or very long.  Since the site itself is free, it needs a way to pay for itself, and the ads are how.  So don't get irritated with them, just remember you're listening to music for free.  You can upgrade Pandora by paying if you want, but it isn't necessary, which is nice.  It's good either way.  If you really love a song or album, Pandora links all the songs to iTunes and Amazon, so you can buy them.  This website is just super convenient and shows you all kinds of new music you probably wouldn't have found otherwise, but will guaranteed love.  I'm gonna go listen to showtunes radio now.  You should go make a Pandora account now.  Seriously.  Do it up.

Real Teen Rating ~ Totally awesome, go make an account!

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Prada and Prejudice- Mandy Hubbard

The Gist

Prada and Prejudice
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Callie Montgomery's school trip to England was supposed to fix everything. Her lack of popularity. Her lack of self-confidence. But why should things overseas be any different from back home? She's just as unpopular and clumsy in England as she was before, except now she's forced to hang out with three of the most popular girls in the school - they're her travel buddies. When Callie realizes that it'll take more than a few not-so-cozy days together to make them friends forever, she decides to do something drastic; she buys a pair of real Prada heels. The other girls are so seriously into fashion that the heels would have to impress them. But, on her way back to the hotel from the Prada store, she trips in her new heels and hits her head on the pavement. When she wakes up she's in another time. Victorian England. 

What We Think

Reviewed by Dream Catcher

Number of Pages: 238

I read this a long time ago as a sort of dare. My friends had bought me three books for my birthday that year. Pride and Prejudice, Pride Prejudice and Zombies, and Prada and Prejudice.  I have yet to read the other two.  But Prada and Prejudice called to me. For whatever reason it did. 

Let me rant a little. First about the plot. So it was okay. Eh. Time travel with Prada shoes. So. Question. If she hadn't gotten those Prada shoes would she have traveled back in time anyway? Did she just need to hit her head? Or were the Prada shoes magic? We will never know. Unless we all go out and buy some Prada shoes, trip five seconds after wearing said shoes, and hit our heads on the pavement. Ta daa. We'll either have a concussion or we'll be back in the Victorian era! Yeah. That's nice. You get the point. There were a few plot holes. It was a little romance-y and very victorian-y. But basically all it was was someone causing mischief in a time where mischief was scandalous. Which was fine. But not the makings of a great novel. I'm not asking for a paradox or anything like that. I mean, that'd  be  nice but they can't all be the best book ever. But at the very least I want something. There wasn't much of a plot here and that makes for a fluff book. You know the kind. The books you read when you don't really want to think. We all need a book like that every once in a while. But they're forgettable. That's what this was.
So let's get this over with; the cover and title. Eew. Scratch that. EEEWWW. They're the worst. I mean,  the cover is some girl's legs and her shiny, new time-travel shoes. With an aqua blue background. Ugh. If I were the publisher I would fire the cover artist. Sorry. The title is only slightly better. But hardly.  Kind of witty, but nothing genius. It's pretty laughable. But that certainly doesn't make it good. At all.
Characters...were actually not that bad. Yay. Callie (turned Rebecca) was a pretty decent character. Not the greatest character I'd ever read about but not the worst. Sometimes clever, sometimes relatable, sometimes interesting. But. You see I overused to word sometimes.  I did that for a reason - she was sometimes a good character. Sometimes. Emily - her medieval best friend - was a sweet character. Didn't have one mean or unpure thought in her head. She was polite and innocent - which honestly makes for a boring character at times. She was just okay. Alex - the Duke of Harksbury and complete jerk - was certainly an interesting character. Tall, dark and handsome, of course. He was the mean one who turned out to be more than that. Cliche, I know, but his character was important and never boring. His mother, the duchess of Harksbury, was just kind of there. I think she was supposed to be hated but I couldn't ever muster up enough enthusiasm to even dislike her. Eh. I think you can sense a pattern. Everything about this book is average. I didn't hate anything but I didn't love anything either.
Finally I'm going to write a few quick words on the writing. Pretty good. There. Done. That's really all that needs to be said. There was nothing remarkable about it but it wasn't bad. I think, as the author writes more, she'll improve on her style. She has potential.
So, if you're in the mood for some fluff book that you won't love and you won't hate, read this. And I'm not trying to be sarcastic. Sometimes you really just need one of those books. I know I do every once in a while. And this book fits the bill.  Not good, not bad, just forgettable. 


Real Teen Rating ~ C+ : Well, I guess it was good...

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The Secret Friend- Viola Harris and Siobhan Fallon

The Gist 
Anna Marshall has had a tough couple of months.  Her husband of 30+ years has recently died and so she now lives alone in her house with nothing to do all day.  On occasion her neighbor Julia will stop by with a goodie or two but that is about all of the human interaction that she ever gets, that is until she receives a phone call.  One day, while in the kitchen baking Anna receives a phone call from a mysterious stranger who doesn't talk.  Confused and thinking that it is a prank Anna hangs up the phone and goes about her business.  The next day at the exact same time Anna receives another phone call from the same person who just calls but doesn't say anything once she picks up.  Day after day this "secret friend" calls at the same time and no matter what Anna says to get this person to stop harassing her they continue to call everyday.  Eventually, Anna accepts the phone calls and begins talking to this stranger.  Anna soon learns that silence is sometimes more powerful than a single word.

What We Think
Reviewed by The North Star
Run Time: 15 Minutes
Rating: Not Rated 
Shorts are the hardest film category to master. You have to get your point across, have people connect with characters and completely develop everything in a regular movie in under about 25minutes.  Most movies can't get their point across/ get people to care about the characters in 2 hours.  With a short everything must be tight/necessary or the audience will notice and get bored.  This was the really good thing about the Secret Friend.  Major props to whoever wrote the script/edited this film.  Everything was cut exactly enough so that you didn't lose interest but not cut too short so you felt things weren't answered.  We received this movie from the films director and couldn't wait to watch it.  I'm not going to lie, I had very low expectations for this film for various reasons but I couldn't have been more wrong.
Viola Harris was really good in this role.  I didn't think this was going to be a comical movie but she had great timing.  Every time there was supposed to be something funny, I laughed and not just baon (this stands for blowing air out of nose, you don't exactly laugh but you kind of just....blow air out of your nose).  After watching the short I was walking around quoting the random funny parts of the movie.  Viola could also get really serious when the scene called for it.  She was really great at staying in character throughout the whole film and being able to switch on different emotions at any moment when the mood of the scene changed.  Siohan Fallon was a very random character and was almost not needed at all.  The only thing that she was there for was to tell the audience that Anna was a widow which could have been told in a different way.  It wasn't that Siobhan was a bad actor it was just that her character was unneeded (minor detail).
The plot was extremely interesting and kept me watching for the full 15minutes.  The one thing that I LOVED about this film was that there was no plot holes that I noticed at all and that is a very rare thing.  Everything was explained and the one thing that I've noticed with shorts is that people try to bite off more than they can chew and things are often introduced but never followed up on.  This was a cute little story that was told in the good time of 15minutes.  One of my favorite parts of this film was the ending because as I was watching it I couldn't think of how they were going to end it and I was worried that the ending was going to be unsatisfying, but.....again I was wrong and they thought of the perfect ending.  Again, major props to the screenwriter and whoever had a hand in writing the script.
All in all this was a pretty good short and I was really glad that I got to see it!  If I had to fix one thing I would cut out Siobhan Fallon's character because I feel that the pace would have gone by a little smother and then little nit picky things like showing random shots of flowers (that I myself wouldn't have picked) but, other than all of that it was really good!! If you ever find yourself with an extra 15 minutes this is a film to pick up an watch, I don't think you will be disappointed.

Real Teen Rating~ A-: See it with some friends! 

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