Katana - Cole Gibsen

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Katana
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Rileigh is a regular teenager, a skater girl who wants nothing more than to relax over the summer, hang out with her best friend Quentin, and maybe catch the eye of new guy Whitley. That lasts right up until the last day of school, when she and Quentin are attacked in a mall parker lot, and Rileigh single handedly fights off three muggers. Now there's a voice in her head, a warm silk through her body, and a fighting ability she never had. Just as Whitley is finally showing interest, Rileigh keeps getting attacked, and a strange boy named Kim shows up claiming to understand what's happening to her. She'll do anything to go back to normal. But how's an ordinary teenage girl supposed to know who to trust when she can't even trust her own body?

What We Think

Reviewed by Living Destiny

Number of Pages: 375
I can't justify my reading of this book. I saw it in the bookstore, and there's really no reason I should've picked it up. It's got an atrocious cover and it sounded stupid. And I bought it anyway. I am ashamed and it's all my fault. But if you buy a book you have to read it, right? So I read it. I'm just really sad about it. Here we go.
The plot was just eh. A girl whose past life was a samurai. I'm pretty sure it's been done. Or maybe it was just written so poorly I felt like it had. So the girl is a samurai, and her samurai self keeps popping out to save the day, and the girl decides she's being possessed and freaks out and basically spends the whole book looking for ways to exorcise herself out of herself. Because that makes sense.
The characters were awful. I don't think I liked any of them. Rileigh, the main character, was so whiny and superficial and obnoxious I wanted to cry. She tried so hard to be normal, but also to stand out. Please stop contradicting yourself. She refuses to listen to anyone, and honestly, she's just stupid. Really stupid. Her best friend Quentin is gay. Of course. I think it's becoming a requisite of young adult novels. Every new book published must contain at least one gay best friend. Getting old real fast. He wasn't that funny, or actually that helpful. He was always there for Rileigh, so that's a point in his favor. Kim was creepy. Also, Kim as a boy name? Couldn't have picked something that sounded a little more masculine? But he was creepy, and he didn't really understand societal rules. Like people won't believe everything you say when they first meet you, even if you are supposedly attractive. They won't believe you the second, or even third time, if you're saying something outlandish like you're actually a samurai and so are they. The three other samurai are almost bearable. Braden, Drew, and Michelle. They're ok. Braden and Drew are kind of the epitome of the word "bro", and Michelle is a little overbearing. They've got a weird relationship, and there are some hints of incest in a strange, past life samurais way. It's complicated. Oh, and I forgot about the mom and Dr. Wendell. Stupid. That's all. The mom is really stupid. She's only there to give Rileigh a back story and a reason to have issues. Dr. Wendell is a plot device, nothing more. Useless.
Here's something I've noticed about the author, Cole Gibsen. She tries too hard. She adds in weird plot twists that are unnecessary and don't make sense. She adds in convoluted bits that don't advance the story. It's a valiant attempt to be edgy and entertaining, but it falls flat. She writes mediocre dialogue that is witty and snappy, but not realistic sounding. At least that's sort of ok, and she should have stuck with it instead of adding in too many false leads and cliches worth of a dime store mystery novel. A mysterious intruder, a ransacked room - and I'm sure the word ransacked was used - it's all overdone.
The ending was actually not bad. Confusing, and wicked bizarre, but not bad. Exciting, dramatic, suspenseful, and not too predictable. The very end was a bit frustrating, but typical of Rileigh's character. At least Gibsen stuck with the characterization she started with. But of course it's a series. It could stand alone, it really could. But it won't, and there are more to come. That will probably be just as mediocre. I'm so thrilled.
Real Teen Rating~ C-: Read it if you're bored

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Frozen Fire - Tim Bowler

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Frozen Fire
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It starts when Dusty gets a phone call late at night. The voice on the other end is a boy she doesn't know, telling her that he's dying. He's committing suicide, but he wants someone to talk to. Then it gets weird, as this boy knows things about her life that he couldn't possibly know. Dusty is sure that the boy knows something about the disappearance of her brother Josh, so she sets out to find him. Trouble is, others are looking for him too, and they're out for blood.

What We Think
Reviewed by Living Destiny
Number of Pages: 328
Normally while writing a gist, I have to think hard about what to say, so I don't give anything away. In this case, there isn't anything I could give away, because very nearly nothing is resolved. And that is possibly the most irritating thing a book can do. There are so many interesting threads within the story, and ignoring the lack of good writing, these could have been fantastic aspects of the story if they were given answers. But they weren't. We're instead left wondering, as readers, how these elements fit, how they could be explained, and ultimately why we don't get to know. Does the author even know? Or did he just write down whatever popped into his head, but doesn't really know why it's there. Examples. Sometimes, when Dusty is walking through her snow covered town, everything gets too bright and she feels like she's leaving her body, and the whiteness envelopes her. The way it's described sounds dangerous, like she could die or something equally awful. The boy tells her that very few people see the fire, which we assume is the brightness. But then it's never explained. Why can she see it? What is it, exactly? I'll never know. The boy himself is, it appears, not quite human. So what is he? And how can he do what he does? Well, that isn't explained either. It's essentially a mosh pit of confusion.
And the writing. It wasn't good at all. There was too much description that didn't add much. It's been pretty well established that the town is cold and snowy. That doesn't need to be explained every time Dusty goes outside or looks out the window. The relationship between characters is dysfunctional, in every case. Dusty and the boy, Dusty and her parents, Dusty and her friends. Maybe she's just a messed up girl, but it's not believable. And speaking of unresolved issues, there's a group of kids in her grade that she hates. They're introduced for that specific purpose. And when they come in a second time they help her, and everyone's all nice. And that's it. It hangs there, and we're left wondering what happens between Dusty and this group. Again. I will say, there was something about the writing that drew me in. I'm not sure what it was, but it's the only thing that salvaged this book for me.
The characters were bad. Nothing else to say about it. Dusty's dad was whiny, her mom was a dead beat. Her friends were stuck up. The bad guys were completely unbelievable in their actions. Subtlety is a thing that is apparently unheard of in the works of Tim Bowler. Forming a lynch mob in the middle of a small town to go after a boy you can't even find is ridiculous. Oh, and the boy. He was ok. Except he understood nothing. He was a hot mess, basically. Dusty I didn't like. I get that she's headstrong and feisty, and I respect that, but she's always looking for a fight and not listening to anything anyone says, and those are foolish qualities. She's so fixated on her brother, and I know that losing a sibling must be a tragedy, but it's been two years since the time he vanished, and she has made no attempts at moving on. Side note on Dusty, or really the writing in general. I said she likes to get into fights. What I didn't mention is that people have no problem fighting back. Boys her own age will gladly punch her in the face. What happened to not hitting girls?
One good thing I can say, I'm impressed it's not a series. So often authors try to stretch out a story, either to make money or because they can't think of any other ideas. I have to respect Tim Bowler for writing a stand alone novel that, while not good at all, isn't just one in a series. Which I guess is a nice way of saying I'm glad there aren't more of it, but I really do have respect for the singular novel.
The more I think about it, the more I hate this book. There's something there, a little spark, that in the hands of a more competent author could turn into something good. But it seems nowadays that people don't write good books. I can't remember the last time I read a book I wholly enjoyed. And that's a sad fact.
Real Teen Rating ~ D: It passes time. I guess.

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Stork (Stork #1) - Wendy Delsol

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Stork
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Katla Leblanc is a city girl and she always has been. But when her parents get a divorce and her mother get's custody, it's off to Norse Falls, Minnesota , her mother's hometown, and bye-bye to California beaches and city-scapes. Kat can't image a worse fate than having to live in Norse Falls forever, but her mother tells her to try and embrace her heritage. But when weird things start to happen to her, and family secrets come out, Kat's left wondering if she really does fit in with Norse Falls after all, and if Jack, a sullen boy who insists they know each other, might have more to him than meets the eye.

What We Think
Reviewed by Dream Catcher
Number of Pages: 355 
Well, I started out reading this book for no reason at all. Honestly. I saw it at a bookstore in the "slightly hurt" (and therefore cheap) section and thought I recalled it from our to-read list on goodreads. I said what they hay, bought it, went to check it on currently-reading and suddenly it seemed we had not ever marked it as to-read. What a waste of $5.75, right?
I read it anyway, though and I was surprised to find that it actually wasn't that bad. Ridiculous and a little juvenile, of course, but other than that...I mean for what I expected, I was pleasantly surprised. Which brings me to first item on my agenda, the cover. I mean, look at it. Look at it. Is that supposed to be Kat? If so, what is she smirking at? She honestly doesn't have all that much to smirk about. Gah. I would change that cover in a heartbeat. Less than a heartbeat. Half of a quarter of a heartbeat.
And don't get me started on characters. I'm kidding. They weren't that bad. Kat, for a somewhat stubborn, somewhat smart, somewhat derp protagonist, wasn't half bad. She wasn't completely oblivious, which was a nice change of pace from most protagonists in most book (that is, flighty, undecided, clueless bumpkins who wouldn't know a clue if it smacked them in the nose) and she tended to figure things out quickly enough. The only thing I didn't love about her was her relationships with her friends and boyfriend. With her parents she seemed normal but around her friends she just sounded off, like she wasn't all there, like she wasn't invested in the conversation. As far as Jack goes, hoo-rah to Wendy Delsol for making another perfect-guy clone. He wasn't as glaringly obvious as a, let's say, Edward or Jacob, and he did have his angsty-teen moments, but I feel like overall he lacked a little depth. I'm not even going to mention the other characters; they were wallpaper. I lied. I just decided to mention Hulda. Who is Hulda? you ask. Naturally, you wouldn't know who Hulda was because there was no space for her in the gist, but Hulda was a crazy old bird-lady and probably my favorite character in the whole book. She was from Iceland and was full of crazy spells and potions and wisdom. I think she was supposed to have an accent because of the grammar of her dialogue...if not that's how I envisioned her anyway. She was awesome. I want to be just like her when I'm an old lady.
I think I'm only going  to mention one more thing. The plot/idea of the story. It was, to say the least, different. And I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way. You can, or should, infer by the title that this book has something to do with storks, the mythical baby-bringing beings. I didn't include it in the gist because I wanted a sort of ambiguity, but I'll spoiler it right now; it's about storks. But only in the technical sense - there aren't literal birds who bring babies, but there are some stork-like things..or people...if you catch my drift. Don't worry, there's only one pregnancy in the book, and it's nothing truly scandalous, I assure you. Honestly, though, have you ever heard of a book about something like that before? I haven't, so MAJOR props to Wendy (for real, this time) for a completely original idea. They're hard to come by. In addition to that, the plot was multi-layered. There were small story-lines beneath the over-arcing one, so it was hard to get bored when reading.
Overall, I would say this is a perfectly nice bit of fluff, which I know sounds like an insult, but isn't. Everyone needs a fluff book every now and again, and this would be okay for that sort of thing. If you're looking for philosophy, look somewhere else. But as far as simple pieces of YA fiction go, this takes the supernatural-romance YA book cake. Not my favorite book ever, but I don't regret reading it. And it's a series....so there's still more to come...

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

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The Eternal Ones - Kirsten Miller

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The Eternal Ones
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Haven Moore is a 17 year old girl living in a very small, southern, very Christian town. She gets these visions of a young woman named Constance and a young man named Ethan who lived back in the 1920's. Her grandmother is certain that she's being possessed by the devil, but Haven has other ideas. What she sees in her head are memories of a past life, and Haven feels herself being pulled to New York City to find the reincarnation of her Ethan. When she sees playboy Iain Morrow on the television one day, she knows he's the one. She runs away from home to find him, and gets into more than she bargained for with Iain, a web of lies, and a mysterious society that specializes in reincarnation.

What We Think
Reviewed by Living Destiny
Number of Pages: 411
Have you ever bought a book, and been super excited to read it, and it was a total let down? Well, guess what this was. There I am, sitting in the waiting area of the airport, excited to travel the country with a good book. It's a long one, so I figured I wouldn't need to bring anything else to read. Within the first ten pages, I seriously considered throwing the book across the airport and finding a new one. Ten pages, everybody.
I've always loved the idea of reincarnation. It's a nice thought that this isn't the only life you'll live. So I figured a book about reincarnation had to be good. I forgot about the author's ability to screw it up. The main character, Haven, was so annoying I couldn't tolerate her for more than fifty pages at a time. She was so wishy-washy. She changed her mind probably twelve times over the course of the book. Her love interest, Iain, was just an idiot. All he did was lie to Haven, and he assumed she would be ok with it. If my supposed true love continued to lie to me, I wouldn't take it. Why he thought she would, when he evidently knows her from a past life, is beyond me. Together, the two of them make the world's most obnoxious couple. The only good characters are bit players, as per usual. Haven's best friend Beau, a gay kid in a super conservative town, is snarky and clever, but also cares a lot about his best friend. Even if she is annoying all the time. He's the most entertaining part of the story. Second to him is Leah, another girl in Haven's town, who has visions. Maybe she's just interesting because she's different, or because she isn't overdramatic despite seeing the future. But she's a good character too, though she's not in it very much. Everyone else isn't fun to read, and that makes the book hard to read.
Another thing. I basically read this book in two parts, because I took a huge break about halfway through it. Going back and skimming it, I realize there are two very distinct parts that don't seem to fit together. Before she leaves her town, and after. Then, there are all these plot points that have no relevance, or are introduced in a way that is forgettable. So many plot holes. It's frustrating to read.
Even with all of that said, the story really did have potential. Reincarnation is, as I've said, pretty cool to think about. And the whole concept of a secret society, and all the troubles Haven gets into, could have been great. But the characters were way too unlikable, there were serious plot holes, and some parts of it were too unbelievable. Suspension of disbelief only goes so far.
One last thought. The ending was awful. And it didn't get awful until the second to last paragraph. It wasn't phenomenal, of course, but it was ok. Your average bad teen novel. But this ending. It made these vague references that didn't make any sense, and what it was implying made me actually angry. A horrible ending in a mediocre book.

Real Teen Rating ~ D+ : Use it as an excuse not to do things.

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Pearl- Jo Knowles

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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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Prada and Prejudice- Mandy Hubbard

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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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Room - Emma Donoghue

* National Bestseller
* A New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year


The Gist

Room
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Five year old Jack has never been out of Room - the small space he's been enclosed in his entire life. All he knows is what's in Room; a toilet, a rug, a small TV, a potted plant, a trash bin, a stove, a bed with a blanket, a table, and a wardrobe. Jack doesn't know there's such thing as Outside. The pictures, the people, the shows he sees on TV are all fake, and made just for him and his mother. No one else exists. Except for Old Nick - the mysterious man who comes in Room the same time every night.  Whenever Old Nick comes in - unlocks the door and locks it behind him - Jack's mother hides him in the wardrobe and won't let him come out until Old Nick is gone. Despite this, Jack is content in Room. But his mother's not. And she's determined to get them both out.

What We Think

Reviewed by Dream Catcher
Number of Pages: 336
I read this for school summer reading. I was glad to. I'd been meaning to read this book for ages. Ever since all the hullabaloo started about how great it was. And after reading it...eh. I don't particularly understand why everyone was so thrilled with it. Frankly, I found it disturbing that the whole thing was narrated by a five year old. Yeah. Little Jack was telling us the whole thing. Horrifying? Yup. But I'll get more into that later. Let's start the reviewing, shall we?
Let's start with something easy. Like characters. Jack. I don't know exactly how to judge him. He was so little and obnoxious. I didn't like his character at all. He was annoying. All he ever did was whine or yell or ask weird questions. Eh. Maybe that's just because he was a little kid, but it was so annoying to read. His mother wasn't any better, honestly. All SHE ever did was lie to the kid and annoy me. Ugh. Sigh. None of the other characters are all that important. And the ones that WERE sort of important I can't really talk about because that would give things away. So...that's characters for you. Wow. That is probably the shortest paragraph on characters I've ever written. You're all probably cheering.
Plot next. I found the beginning to be extremely slow and boring. Nothing really happened except for Jack watching his beloved Dora on TV and the mom telling "make-believe" stories of the outside world. About half way through the book things started to get a little more interesting, but by that point it was too little, too late for me. I think the author needs to improve on her pacing.
Cover and title are great. Perfect for the book, really. A crayon-written title is ingenious. It really makes the book seem as if it was written by a five year old - cover and all. The title is great, too, mostly because of how foreboding it sounds. Right? Room. It explains exactly what the book's about and it has a nice ring to it. Everything a title could ever need. Hooray.
Lastly I'll mention something about the writing style itself. This was the most impressive part of the book. Emma Donoghue made it sound like a five year old was narrating it. Which is really crazy. Not many people could do that, and of the people that could, even fewer would have the patience to. This is a sign of a good writer, and I have to give her props on that. It made the whole story seem a lot more real (and pretty disturbing. A five year old talking about living in a box. Creepy!) than if it had been written from a different point of view. This aspect of the book is why it's getting a semi-decent grade. It would be much lower if she'd been even a little off on the voice of her narrator.
So, basically, I wouldn't recommend this book. I don't really understand what all the hype is about. I don't get why it won so many awards or got so much attention. For summer reading, it's not the worst book I've ever read. But if I had known what it was going to be like beforehand, I wouldn't have even picked it up at the bookstore. I would have left it on its little pedestal for some unfortunate person to pick up and read. I honestly don't think it was worth the read. Others feel differently. I know the North Star thought it was good. But not me. Too boring, too bland, and too annoying. A waste my precious summer hours, if you ask me. 


Real Teen Rating ~ C - : Read it if you're bored.

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Watched- Sharde Richardson

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Watched
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Mikayla has never been completely normal and sheunderstands that,a weird Q-tip addiction and a stutter makes it harder and so does seeing those dark auras around people. She just wants to be as normal as possible.Turns out that it is impossible because after a traumatizing incident she is thrown into a world completly new to her. A world that has always been there but that she can't remember because she was adopted when she was thirteen and can't remember anything before then. This whole new world comes at her and she has to learn if she can keep the demons away and how she is going to fit into this new shape-shifter world that she has just learned she belongs to. 

What We Think
Reviewed by ShoreWhisperer
Number of Pages: 345
This book is a very easy read but it deals with more mature topics. There are mature elements in it, but the writing is aimed at more a 9-14 age range. So just keep that in mind. I read this book in a day and it was not bad. It was interesting and  kept me entertained. It was comical and the writing was very unique. I didn't know that someone could have a Q-tip addiction but apparently you can, to tell the truth I found it a little disturbing. Mikayla was very comical, as she is the narrator, I found myself laughing out loud at many parts. Up until Mikayla starts to train, I liked it. Once she started to train I thought that it resembled the Mortal Instrument series profoundly. This is not particularly bad but I want the upcoming books in the series to be a little more unique in developing this world. Now, in any good YA book you need romance, and there is plenty of that. Lucas is the charming boy in this book. The love story in this book is more mysterious and really comes out at the end and it leaves off for the next book to clear up. I will say that that the whole dream sequences she has when she is in Lucas's head were intriguing and I can't wait to see more of that because I really haven't seen anything like that since Twilight and I think that the way this book is approaching it will be more realistic and interesting. This books has many ups and downs.  It's an easy, entertaining book to read in one day and  leaves you wanting more, but it's not extremly unique, at least not in a way that stands out alot. This is definitly not one of the best books I have read but it is not the worst either.


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

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Frost - Marianna Baer

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Frost
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Now that Leena Thomas is a senior she gets to choose where she rooms at her boarding school, and she and her friends choose Frost House: the cozy Victorian house usually reserved for boys.  But she certainly didn't choose head case Celeste Lazar to live there with them.  Celeste is assigned to live with them for the first semester, and there's no way to change that, so they all have to move on.  As the school year starts up, weird things start to happen in Frost House.  Little things, like pictures falling and doors locking.  Celeste blames her roommates, and the other girls all blame Celeste, with Leena trying to act as mediator between the groups to get into Celeste's brother David's good graces.  With all these new scares and changes, Leena doesn't know if she can handle it.  Is she crazy, is her roommate crazy, or is there really something strange about their new life?

What We Think
Reviewed by Living Destiny
Number of Pages: 402
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of this book is: huh?  It was a little confusing.  The beginning was like a cheesy teen book.  All about dorm life at boarding school and the cute new guy and the weird roommate.  Nothing too bizarre, just very giggly and cliche.  The sort of book that makes me want to tear my hair out and then cry for all of humanity.  That sort of thing.  Then it starts to get strange, but it still isn't very spooky.  Slightly out of the ordinary, but not bad.  Then it gets really weird, then it resolves very quickly.  That's not very good pacing if you ask me (which evidently you did, if you're reading this).  The action isn't spread out very well.  Not that it was a bad book.  It wasn't, really.  It just...I don't know.  I didn't not like.  But I didn't really like it either.  It was very meh.  I didn't like the main character, Leena.  She was super stressed about everything, and she had this one character flaw that I hated.  It's kind of a big thing, so I won't give it away, but it made me angry.  It wasn't pointless per se, but I doubt it was necessary for the advancement of the story line.  I didn't like Leena's friends either.  They were so blah I can't even remember their names, but I remember one was really harsh and mean and unforgiving, and one had no backbone and just did what the other one did until the very end.  I liked Celeste and David.  They were both good characters.  Celeste seemed a little too crazy to actually be crazy, which is what she was supposed to be.  She was a strong minded girl who believed in herself, which was nice to see, but it was also interesting to see her slow decline as her mind was twisted and turned.  David was loyal and kind.  He knew what he was doing most of the time.  He got annoying, but then, doesn't everyone?  I do have to say, I really didn't like the ending of this book. At all.  It feels...lame.  Half-hearted.  Almost like the author stopped caring about what happened, so everything that did happen was mediocre and unsatisfying.  I was not pleased.  Bad wrap up to the climax and adventure, bad wrap up to the relationships within the book.  Not.  Pleased.  The first line of the book sounds like it's trying too hard to be spooky.  The whole book is told in past tense, and the first line mentions "before any of this happened".  Guess who wants to sound mysterious?  This book does.  The last line holds a lot more power.  While I didn't like the ending, I did like the very last chapter.  The end of the end, I guess.  It was much more final than the few chapters before it that tried to hold the resolution.  The last line was definitive, and it was well done.  There wasn't anything really wrong with this book, but I can't think of many awesome things to say about it either.  That's really it.
Real Teen Rating~ C+: Well, I guess it was good.

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Starstruck by Cyn Balog - Advanced Copy

The Gist

Starstruck
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Gwendolyn Reilly just got the worst news of her life.  Her boyfriend is coming back from California.  The problem there?  He has gotten incredibly hot since she last saw him three years ago, and she has gotten - well - fat.  Her nickname, Dough, is accurate.  Wish, her boyfriend, has no idea that the girl he left as a best friend and starting dating over email has gained seventy pounds and is ostracized at school for being poor and fat.  It doesn't help Dough that her mom owns a bakery, and she works there.  Who could resist all the baked confections?  Dough's sister Evie can't either, though Evie stays stick-skinny, which isn't fair.  Dough isn't ready for Wish to come back, isn't ready to start junior year, and isn't ready for the new hired help in the bakery, a convict-looking boy named Christian.  But, she starts to learn, nothing is what it appears on the surface.  


What We Think
Reviewed by Living Destiny
Number of Pages: 244
The entire 244 pages of this book, I was thinking one thing.  STOP COMPLAINING!!!  The main character, Dough, is always complaining.  Reading almost turned into the Charlie-Brown-adult-voice in my head.  Whine whine I'm fat whine whine I'm poor whine whine no one likes me whine whine.  Guess who happens to especially hate whiny people?  Me.  I can not tolerate people who complain about their lives (or anything really) but don't do anything to fix it.  Just change it or shut up!  Nope, Dough liked to complain a lot, but really didn't do too much to remedy her weight situation.  She just gradually grew to be not as bothered by it.  But she was still fat at the end.  
The plot of this book was sort of...muddled.  It was almost like there were two different attempts at plot smushed into one book.  It was confusing, and not paced out well.  Most of the action was in the last seventy-ish pages, and the whole beginning was filled with typical teenage fluff.  Boring, typical teenage fluff.  The author tried to make Dough the poor outcast who tries to fit in with the popular crowd, but it didn't work well.  The popular crowd was so stereotypical they came off as flat.  Speaking of characters, I hated very nearly all of them.  Dough was whiny and annoying.  Wish, the boyfriend, was really fake.  I know he was supposed to seem that way, but he was so fake.  If I actually knew a person like that...well it wouldn't be pretty for them.  Evie, the sister, was naive, but also rude, which is a weird combination.  The only character I actually liked was Christian, and I still can't tell if I genuinely liked him or if he was just the only one I didn't totally hate.  He was creepy and sarcastic, but very intelligent.  Huh, maybe I did actually like him.  Yes, ok, so I liked Christian.  But that was literally it.  Everyone else made me cringe a little bit.  
At least the writing was good.  That saved this book from total fail-dom.  Cyn Balog is a witty individual, or at least her writing is witty.  I found myself giggling at some of the lines.  I mean, some of them were trying to be funny and just weren't, but some of them were genuinely funny.  I know I have a funny sense of humor, so I'm thinking that you have to appreciate heavy sarcasm to find this book even the least bit funny, because that's what I laughed at.  But it is funny.  It was boring, confusing, and blah, but it had wit.  Woo-hoo!  Note the sarcasm.  My favorite use of the English language ever, although irony is a close second.  
I have to talk about the first and last lines.  They are the most important part of the book.  The first line sets the tone, and the last line wraps it all up.  Technically, the first line of this book is 'HEY!', but that's in an obnoxiously capitalized email from Wish to Dough that is placed right before the first chapter, so I don't count that.  Which is good because that would be a very strange first line, and I don't think it could be considered strange in a good way.  So the real first line is 'For the first time in four years, I've lost my appetite.'  Way to set the fat girl tone early.  There isn't even some introductory part before pointing out her extra weight.  It's the very beginning.  Open the book and BAM I'M FAT!  Yow.  Already, I don't care.  Not a good first line.  The last line is 'Lacing our fingers together, we race breathlessly toward the school, on the wind, like two crazy people, two kindred spirits, laughing all the way.'  Well, I lost interest after the second comma.  And really, it could have ended at the second comma.  The rest is nice and all, but it's kind of overkill.  Too much description in one sentence.  I guess the story itself wrapped up ok, but it left a couple things hanging, and in a book that plans to stand alone and not be a series, it needs to be totally finished.  I don't want to finish a book and wonder what happens next if I never get to know.  If I wanted to tell myself a story, I would have pulled out my notebook, not your published work of fiction.  
This was the fat girl book.  That's what I called it, because I honestly couldn't remember the name, and it just seemed to fit.  It was about a whiny fat girl.  Surprisingly, I didn't hate it too as much as I thought I might from the first few chapters, but I certainly didn't love it.  It was just sort of there.  At least the cover art is cool looking.

Real Teen Rating~ C-: Read it if you're bored.

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Laney (The Brookehaven Vampires #1) - Joann I. Martin Sowles

The Gist

Laney
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Laney Alexander is totally ready for her second year of college.  But when her and her best friend Kiera Blake arrive at campus, they're in for a shock in the form of new-guy Oliver Knight.  Tall dark and stunning, with piercing emerald green eyes, Oliver is gorgeous and more than a little distracting.  Especially given he's in all of Laney's classes.  They become closer, and he becomes all she ever thinks about.  As their relationship progresses, it's clear that Oliver is much more than he seems.  Laney can't stay away, but she's fighting for answers, for Oliver, and for her life.  Some creatures aren't so fictional, and Laney needs to watch her back - and her neck - to be with Oliver.  And she has to consider, 'What would you give to be with the one you love?  Would you give it all, including your life?'  


What We Think
Reviewed by Living Destiny
Number of Pages: 285
Do you know why I was graced with this book's presence first?  It was a simple decision.  Of the four of us, I'm the only one who hasn't read the Twilight series.  And from looking at it, this book seemed suspiciously like Twilight.  Yay for me, right?  Well.  No.  This was not a good book.  First of all, the pacing was bad.  It was slow for half the book, started to get faster in the middle, and was packed with action and information in the last 80-ish pages.  And it wasn't worth reading the boring first 200 to get to the action-y last 85.  Bad pacing makes a bad book, and this is absolutely no exception.  
Then there were the characters.  The main character, Laney Alexander, was awful.  She was whiny and possessive and slightly paranoid.  There's this one chapter where she flies completely off the handle for a small thing, and freaks out and screams and cries while at the same time wishing she weren't freaking out.  It was over the top and unnecessary.  I had to re-read the chapter three times before it sunk in that what I read actually happened, and wasn't just the creation of my sleep deprived mind.  Her best friend, Kiera, was ditzy.  That's pretty much all there is to say about her.  Her other friend Carter was the same.  There wasn't a lot of substance to him.  He also wasn't in the book a lot.  I give the author credit for the name 'Oliver Knight', because I really liked it.  However, there's only so many times you can say 'he's my Knight in shining armor' before it gets REALLY DUMB.  This book exceeded the limit.  He was an ok character.  He was very clingy and desperate, and I didn't find him to be a believable character.  There were two characters I liked, Julz and Hayden, but neither of them were in the book very often.  They were introduced about halfway through (more bad pacing), but weren't in too many scenes.  Julz was harsh, and Hayden was just likable.  Like I said though, they were barely there.  
The plot was over used.  It really was like Twilight, and I've never read Twilight.  In fact, they watch the movie Twilight in the book, and proceed to talk about vampires.  Ew.  I get that Twilight was popular, and it sold a lot, so quite a few authors want to jump on the vampire bandwagon, but I'm begging you here: create your own ideas.  Move away from the vampire theme.  Unless you're a writing prodigy, like someone I know, anything you do with vampires will feel old and cliche.  Including this bunk.  (Bunk is my new word.  Anything bad or annoying is bunk.  Ergo, this is bunk.)  
The writing made me want to die.  Ok, that's an exaggeration.  But barely.  Seriously, every time Laney talked about Oliver, it mentioned how gorgeous and perfect he is.  He's (or some part of him, like his eyes, smile, etc.) gorgeous, stunning, gorgeous, beautiful, perfect, beautiful, gorgeous, beautiful, gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, perfect, perfect, perfect, stunning, gorgeous, drop dead gorgeous, dazzling, beautiful and gorgeous. All within six pages.  It was painful to read about he-who-is-flawless.  PHYSICAL PAIN.  There were a few little gems, but not enough to make it a good book, and not good enough for me to remember.  The first line, if you don't count the 'message from the coven' (which is stupid and cliche), wasn't good, but wasn't bad either.  Utterly forgettable.  The last line was so cheesy it made me want to throw the book against the wall.  
So yea I totally can't wait for book two!  Oh wait...
Real Teen Rating~ D+: Use it as an excuse not to do things.

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Griffin Rising by Darby Karchut - Advanced Copy

The Gist

Griffin Rising
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Guardian angels do exist.  Also known as Terrae Angelus, they live on Earth, can control the elements, and have free will to choose between good and evil.  And they save humans in danger.  Tiro Griffin is one of those angels.  After spending three horrible years being abused by Mentor angel Nicopolis, Griffin is reassigned to Mentor Basil, to be taught the ways of the Terrae Angelus.  He has three years of knowledge, training, mission, and affection to make up for before his Proelium at age sixteen, where he will fight to become a full guardian angel.  Three years isn’t a very long time. 

What We Think

Reviewed by Living Destiny

Number of Pages: 169

Oh, where to begin.  Wheeeeere to begin.  Angels.  Guardian angels.  Not the most original concept, but at the same time, not the most overused.  How bad can it be, right?  Bad.  Very bad.  The plot had potential, for sure.  It just wasn’t carried out well enough.  The book was SO SHORT.  Sorry.  But seriously, 169 pages?  I’ve had homework longer than that.  And the funny part?  It took me a month to finish it.  I sincerely did not want to read it.  And here I am trying to review it, and honestly I don’t want to do that either.  BUT.  I must.  So.  Characters!  The dynamic between Basil and Griffin was enjoyable to read.  They had a little witty banter going on, which was honestly one of the few redeemable qualities of the book.  Katie was also a good character, but some of her decisions were stupid or exaggerated.  She didn’t come off as very intelligent at times, and Griffin came off as trying too hard, which made for an odd relationship.  The other characters weren’t developed at all.  The bad guy, Nicopolis, is very bad.   He’s super bad (no relation to the movie).  But it never explains why he’s so bad.  It’s just like, RAR I’M DEVIOUS AND EVIL MWAHAHAHA!!! Why is he devious and evil?  Um...well it’s totally unclear.  He just is.  And that’s annoying!  You can’t just have a bad guy without an explanation as to why he’s so vindictive.  And speaking of things that have no explanation, there’s clearly some sort of history between Basil, Nicopolis, and Guardian Mayla, probably sprung from when they were young Tiros, but that isn’t explained either.  Half of this book needs to be inferred, and if I’m reading a book I expect it to tell me a story, not make me tell the story myself.  Oh, and Guardian Mayla was way too trusting.  She comes in twice, and both times she doesn’t question Nicopolis at all.  If the three of them do have history, which I can only assume as it doesn’t say, she would know what a sneaky, conniving person he is.  Unless, of course, his general evil-ness is a recent occurrence, which is doubtful, although it DOESN’T SPECIFY (can you tell that bothers me?).  Guardian Mayla is simply too naïve.  And since I’m talking about Mayla, I have to ask: what’s with the names?  I understand the concept of creating names for characters; names you like, names that fit the character, names that speak to you.  But some of these names I find hard to believe are actually names at all.  Nicopolis?  Mayla?  There’s a bit character, who literally appears only in two pages, whose name is Sukalli.  Basil and Griffin are bizarre names too, but at least they’re actual names.  Those other three are just absurd.  Oh but they’re angels!  They’re magical!  Guess what.  You can be a magically magical angel without having a name spelt Joakkaenn.  It drove me crazy. 

The plot itself was dull.  One would think, if the book is about guardian angels who live solely to save people, it would be more exciting.  No.  Most of the book revolves around the relationship between Griffin and Katie, which I honestly didn’t care about.  There wasn’t anything interesting in it.  They meet.  They like each other.  There are problems.  They are solved.  That’s the whole relationship right there, but it’s stretched out over 100 pages.  There was almost no action.  The only time I was interested was when Basil and Griffin were out on missions, saving people.  Those moments, however, were few and far between.  And most of them were just descriptions from the ‘journal entries’ that the author was so fond of using.  I was so bored reading this book.  The only other conflict in the book was between Griffin and this other guy named Nash.  That was where Griffin really got to showcase his stupidity.  It was a beautiful moment, really.  Nash goes to attack him, and there’s Griffin, all guardian angel like and ready to defend himself.  He has super strength; he could just fight him off.  But does he?  No, he breaks the ground and shoots fire.  Yea, that’s totally discreet.  No one suspects anything abnormal about you now Griffin, don’t worry about it.  What a moron.  There was just nothing particularly captivating in the story.  And since I mentioned it before, I feel like I need to talk about it: the way the story is told.  Quite possibly one of the weirdest narration techniques I’ve ever run into.  This story is told in third person omniscient (which, in case you don’t know, is using ‘he’ not ‘I’ and giving thoughts from multiple characters).  I’m ok with third person omniscient.  When it’s used right it’s actually very fun to read.  But just that one writing style wasn’t enough for this book.  No, Griffin Rising had to be told from third person omniscient, plus journal entries from the three main characters, Griffin, Basil and Katie.  That was just awesome to read!  Oh…wait…NO IT WASN’T!  It was confusing and annoying, and I always had to check to make sure I knew who was doing the talking, or who was having the thoughts I was reading.  This book invented a brand new, totally obnoxious way of story telling, that had some potential but was carried out poorly.  The ending was totally awful.  It was just too…fake!  Overly hopeful and cheesy.  Plain bad.  The last line too.  It was so gross I wanted to puke when I read it.  Are there any merits of this book?  I remembered one!  I enjoyed the whole ‘manuscript’ thing in the beginning.  Pity she didn’t expand on that one more.  Or put more focus on the saving people as opposed to the Pinocchio-esque, I’m-a-real-boy theme.  Blech.  I didn’t like any of the characters (unless the dog counts), I didn’t like the storyline, and I truly hated the ending.  This teensy-tiny, poor excuse for young adult fiction should be avoided.  Period.  

Real Teen Rating~ D: It passes time.  I guess.

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Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs- Advanced Copy

The Gist

Tempest Rising
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Six years ago Tempest's mother left her and her family and swam out to see. She hasn't returned since. But Tempest is about to turn seventeen, and her mother promised she'd return by then. Because on her seventeenth birthday, Tempest will need her more than ever. On that day Tempest will need to decide whether she'll stay on land as a human or give herself to the ocean as her mother did six years ago - as a mermaid. Tempest wants nothing more than to stay human; surf the beautiful California waves and become an artist. Stay with her family and on-again-off-again (currently on-again) Mark. If she became a mermaid she couldn't keep those things in her life. And on top off that, she wouldn't be any better than her mother, just walking out on her family and life on land. Therefore, Tempest refuses to give in to the temptation of the ocean. As her seventeenth birthday approaches, a mysterious boy named Kona [Kai] suddenly appears in her life, popping in and out at the worst possible times. She doesn't know what to think - is he just human, or could he be something more? And if he is, will he try and convince her to choose the ocean over everything she loves? Tempest has to make an impossible decision; between Mark and Kona [Kai], between the ocean and land, and between what she wants and what she knows she has to do.

What We Think
Reviewed by Dream Catcher
Number of Pages: 341
Usually I start a review with a sort of introduction. The content of which varies. But for this book, I really don't have much to say that doesn't fit into one of the categories up for review. So I'll just jump right into the reviewing and try to be as brief and painless as possible. Like ripping off a bandage.
The author's obsessive use of adjectives knows no bounds. As funny as that may be to imagine, it's torturous to read. A statement can never be just one thing. Like, it's never just "his brown eyes". No, it has to be something like "his deep, amazing, soulful, sexy, dark brown eyes". It was painful. So, as you may have guessed, I'm critiquing her writing style, or maybe just the writing itself. There's no sugarcoating it. It was terrible. Simply horrible. Sorry. Maybe that's the style for romance-esque novels - maybe they're all like that - but nonetheless it wasn't good. Just painful. Another thing I cannot leave out is how much the word "sexy" is used. When describing something she could not for the life of her leave out that cursed word. It had to apply to everything. Mark's hair, Mark's eyes, Mark himself, Kona [Kai]'s voice, Kona [Kai]'s mysteriousness, Kona [Kai] himself. It was too much. I mean, seriously. Not everything is that sexy.  Also? Too many metaphors and/or similes. Not just that, but they were all overly-dramatic and sounded childish - and very out of place in the mind of a seventeen year old girl. If I were her, I'd take out most of the similes and metaphors and replace the ones left with something a little less ridiculous. Still, with the majority of them taken out, they'd total an amount more than the average YA novel has. Ugh. Just no. The writing killed this book.
Speaking of killing the book: characters. They weren't good. There's no other way to say it. They were just plain not good. Tempest Maguire. Was she supposed to be likable? She was whiny even though she claimed not to be, and weak even though she claimed to be strong, and just altogether bad. I do feel bad and everything because her mom took off and what not, but that just makes me hate the mother, not like the main character. Overall, Tempest did a bit too much complaining about her problems and not enough trying to fix them. Mark, Tempest's boyfriend, was not nearly as annoying as Tempest describes him. He asks her if she's okay when she nearly drowns and what does she do? Complain about how nosy he was! Jeez, give him a break. I actually felt bad for him, for having to deal with Tempest and her never-ending mood swings. And by never-ending, I do seriously mean never-ending. Her mood is constantly flopping from furious to mad to not-very-mad back to furious again. And Mark had to take all that without complaint, or she's just get more mad. Mark wasn't a complete fail, as far as characters go. He was pretty observant, actually, which is interesting. But other than that, he's the typical good-looking pawn of a boyfriend who's always the last to know everything having to do with their girlfriend. Poor Mark. Kona [Kai] was...ambiguous. Mysterious and, of course, supposedly amazingly hot. Whatever. He was a creep. CREEPER. He just appears out of nowhere to Tempest when she's alone and professes undying love for her. Okay, maybe he never said the words "undying love" but that doesn't really make him any less creepy. Can anyone say STALKER? Because that's basically what Kona [Kai] was. He was probably supposed to come off as mysterious and brooding and (at some point) lovable. Yeah, no. He was just a little too much. At the same time, however...I felt bad for him. Because he, too, had to deal with whatever Tempest decided to dish out. Lovely. But that doesn't make up for his creepiness either. Okay, you're probably wondering why I keep putting [Kai] after Kona's name. Repeatedly. The reason is, when I first read this - as an arc - Kona's name wasn't Kona. It was Kai. I actually had no idea it changed...until I went to my favorite book store and happened to see Tempest Rising on a pedestal. I picked it up and flipped through it for laughs...only to find that the beloved Kai was replaced with  a stranger...weirdly named Kona (take note the I use the word 'beloved' with much sarcasm). I couldn't believe it. They changed the name of a vital character at the last minute - meaning probably within a few weeks of the release date. I went to her website - where the synopsis of the book is - and the name was still Kai! On goodreads, the synopsis still reads Kai. I thought I'd gone completely insane, imagining the whole Kona occurrence. But then I saw some other reviews that had the [odd] Kona name. So I knew I wasn't COMPLETELY crazy. So, what's wrong with the name Kai, I'd like to know. Whatever. I just had to include it. Anyway. Every other character was pretty minor...well, there was her father. Sure. He was alright. I mean, it's not like I think he should win the DAD OF THE YEAR award or anything, but it's not like he was horrible. Very mellow, very go-with-the-flow, with some underlying sadness. Yup. That pretty much sums his character up nicely. But altogether though, the characters weren't good. If the writing killed the book,  the characters managed to resurrect it and then kill it again.
What else is there? Plot? Ugh, well it's supposed to be a romance, right? Romances don't have plots. They kind of just have romance with something thrown around them like tinsel on a Christmas tree (see what I did there? Ha, ha. That's what her similes were like - except HUNDREDS of them) to make them seem more than they really are. But, whatevs. The plot was Tempest whining and trying to decide between two almost equally unappealing guys. Ha, ha, it sounds like Twilight. Anyway, that was basically it. There wasn't much there, really. I mean, there was this thing with a sea witch...eh. I wasn't impressed, to say the least. I guess. I'm tired. It's way to late to be writing a bad review about a bad book. Sorry. That was my impersonation of Tempest - whining about things the reader doesn't particularly care about. So, yeah, I'm done talking about the plot. It wasn't interesting and for the entire book I didn't really care what happened to her or what she chose to become. Very lack-luster and to some extent non-existent. Hoorah.
The beginning to the book was a very corny letter from mother to daughter. Tempest's mother writing a letter to her before she left for the ocean - never to return. So the first horrendous line is "My Darling Tempest," if I want to be technical. Because of how gross of a line that is, I DON'T want to be technical. So the first line goes "I was just in your room, making your bed, looking at all your little-girl things, breathing in the soft, sweet  scent of you, and wondering how I'm ever going to live the next part of my life without you,". It comes right after the darling Tempest thing. Honestly, though, this wasn't any better. If anything, it's certainly more creepy. Ugh, yeah that wasn't good. The last line was better. For this book, it was fitting and a good ending. Predictable, but it's a romance. How could it not be predictable? I realize I'm bashing the romance genre. Sorry. I'm not saying it's a bad genre (just not necessarily my type of thing), just that they tend to be more romance than plot twists and that they're predictable. I thought those were accepted stereotypes of the genre. Sorry if I offend.
Finally, I'll review something easy: cover and title. Sadly, I wasn't all that crazy about either. At all. And I know I'm not the only one, because when I brought the book to school to read, people actually commented on the cover and scoffed at the title. The cover I find to be disgustingly dramatic and just TOO MUCH. Same with the the title. Tempest Rising. What is she rising FROM? Am I supposed to know? Is is metaphorical, too?! Goodness gracious. I don't know. All I do know is that I didn't like either the cover or the title, and if I was the publishing company, the thing at the very top of my to-do list would be to change both.
Overall...just no. I know that may not have been as painless as I said it would be - like a bandage - but at least it's truthful. I honestly didn't like that book at all and would not recommend it to my friends or enemies. The only reason I finished it - that I can think of - was to get it over with and because I HAD to. It was an ARC. I couldn't just NOT read it. I wish it could have been good. But it just wasn't. At all.

Real Teen Review ~ D- : If you have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to read.

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Beastly - Alex Flinn

The Gist

Beastly
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Kyle Kingsbury is a beast. Beautiful on the outside and hideous on the inside, with a rich father and not a care in the world. But everything changes when he meets the witch. Disguised as a physically ugly student at Kyle's school, the witch Kendra out about true beauty in class. This catches Kyle's attention. Mostly just because he can't believe what he's hearing. He doesn't understand the whole concept of inner beauty, and the fact that an uglier person is saying it is too much. He decides to pull a mean prank.  Ask Kendra to the next school dance, then show up with another date;  completely humiliating her. And he goes through with it.  He asks her, she reluctantly agrees, and he shows up with another date - popular and pretty girl Sloan - to embarrass her. His plan works perfectly, but instead of being humiliated she's just angry.  But Kyle pays no mind to her, and goes to the dance, has a good time, and goes home.  Later, she appears in his room and casts a spell on him. She takes away away his beauty and turns him into a beast. Covered with hair, claws and fangs.  Ugly. She tells him that he has two years to find some one to love him despite his ugliness. If he can't find anyone, he'll have to stay that way forever. Horrified, Kyle's father moves him  to a dark  mansion on the other side of New York City to live alone with only his maid Magda for company. Kyle doesn't know what he's going to do. He'll never be able to break to spell. Because who could ever fall in love with a beast?


What We Think
Reviewed by Dream Catcher
Number of Pages: 304
I had been wanting to read this book for a while. I love fairy tales. But I especially love them with modern-day settings. I love imagining I'll be the next modern-day Cinderella story or somthing. Or the next Repunzal is sitting next to me in Algebra or the next Snow White is my neighbor. With modern fairytales my imagination can roam free and believe that maybe magic and happily ever afters can be real, even now. Needless to say, I'd been excited to read a story - Beauty and the Beast - set in modern-day NYC. The city that never sleeps. The Big Apple. New York City. How could that NOT be completely AMAZING? It's a fairytale in New York City! Well, that aspect of the book was kind of a disappointment. If I hadn't been told it was NYC I would never have known. It's the tiniest part of the book  - senseless, really. So that was kind of annoying...but not that bad. It was the author's decision to only mention the location, so if that's what she wanted, sure it was great and  it didn't bother me at all. Also I could just be a little biased because I LOVE New York City. Anyway. It was the smallest thing that hardly affected how I enjoyed the book as a whole.
The plot was Beauty and the Beast with a modern twist. So instead of a snotty jerk of a prince who gets turned into beast, we have Kyle: a snotty jerk of a rich high schooler. Instead of an old hag who begs for shelter from a storm, we have Kendra: a high schooler-disguised-witch wandering from place to place.  And instead of waiting until an entire rose wilts (doesn't the beast have until he's eighteen or something?) Kyle has until two rose PETALS wilt. A.K.A. two years. Tough break, dude. Really don't know what else to say about the plot. It's really just the classic modern fairytale. Maybe a little more unique than the average retelling because I really haven't heard of too many retellings of Beauty and the Beast. So that was pretty cool.
The characters...had their moments, I suppose. And by "have their moments" I mean good and bad ones. Let's start off with the main character: Kyle. Simply stated, he's a jerk.  He only cares about himself and how many people he can put down or hurt.  Then, over time, he magically changes into a caring, thoughtful person. Would this happen in modern-day New York City? I have no idea. Point being, it happened in the book and it wasn't as inspiration as one would hope. I mean, I guess it was fine, but before his miraculous transformation he sounded REAL. After he sounded fake and just altogether not like a regular teenage guy. And when that happened everything got a whole lot more cheesy - making me drop the grade. A lot.  Kendra was an interesting character.  She had the wisdom factor while at the same time managing to be kinda sassy.  I liked how she could justify her beast-spell and really not care who Kyle was. She didn't care that he was good looking or rich, just that he was a complete jerk.  Kyle's father was...can I say the word tool? He was a tool. Negligent and botox'd and all that jazz. Ugh, terrible person but important to the book, because he was the one who made Kyle act the way he does. Underlying statement: Kyle's father is  to blame for the spell put on Kyle?? I'm not sure if you could go so far as to say that, but if that's how your going to take it the whole thing is very ironic. Because his father couldn't image a worse fate for his son. Irony. The family maid, Magda was just kind of there. I mean, she was nice and everything, but there didn't seem to be much of a point to her character at all (until the very end, I guess...).  A character I didn't mention in the gist was Will. He was Kyle's blind tutor. Yes, blind. He was my favorite character, except for maybe his dog Pilot. Will was funny and witty; he always seemed to know exactly what to say to make Kyle feel better or to get him to shut up if he was being a jerk again. He was great, and is played by Neil Patrick Harris in the Beastly movie (fun fact)! So he was pretty amazing. That only leaves Lindy, the girl Kyle is trying to get to fall in love with him. In the beginning of the book, she was smart and sensible and strong.  She thought before she said things and didn't like Kyle just because she had to.  But near the end she became...or at least seemed to become...less smart. She just...flopped. Ugh. She was just too corny near the end and I lost too much respect for her. A pity.  So overall the characters were okay.
The dialogue was sadly mediocre.  Maybe it was just because romance isn't her forte, but whatever the reason the romantic dialogue made me want to vomit. Example? Ugh. Well, Kyle was too afraid to profess his love for the Belle of this new Beauty and the Beast, so he would just say it in his head. Puke. Okay I'm going to make up a random example, but this type of thing is what was in the book. Here we go. GIRL: "Do you want to go look at the roses?" KYLE: "Yes." Yes, my love. Like he couldn't say it out loud, so he just HAD to say it in his head. I dunno, maybe some people think that's romantic, but I DON'T.  Other than some of the romance dialogue...it was alright, if a bit unrealistic. Somethings just didn't match up with the characters. It seemed like it was written by an adult trying to remember what it was like to be a kid. And not doing it that well.  It was...eh. Alright but nothing special.
The writing style was just a little bit better than the dialogue. But it follows the same patterns. Too many exclamation points, for one. I mean, seriously, no one's that excited when they've convinced themselves they're going to die alone because of their beastliness. Secondly, it was all just a bit too cliché and a bit too cookie-cutter for me. Also a little childish, but maybe that's just the overuse of exclamation points. All in all the writing wasn't that bad, but not amazing.
First and last lines. One of my favorite things to review. There could technically be two different first lines. There's this little thing that appears periodically throughout the book, a sort of online support group for mythical or magical creatures. It was one of my favorite things about the book. It was cute and original and I always looked forward to that. One of those little online chats is at the very beginning of the book. The first line of that is, "Mr. Anderson: Welcome to the first meeting of the Unexpected Changes chat group,". So that as a first line isn't that bad, but in my opinion isn't that great either.  Mediocre. But if you skip the chat at the beginning the second first line would be, "I could feel everyone looking at me, but I was used to it,".  I'm not sure if this one is any better. Either way, the beginning line is alright; nothing more, nothing less. The end line is really LAME. Really, really lame. When I read it I groaned. WHY DID THEY HAVE TO END WITH SOMETHING SO CORNY? Seriously. I'm shaking my head in disappointment right now. Terrible.
Lastly, the cover and title.  Honestly I love them both. The white rose on the cover is enticing and beautiful, and unlike a lot of books nowadays it actually relates to the book. Even the title of the book is artful and I mean the actual title drawn on the book. Like thorns of the rose. Awesome. The literal title was great, too. Beastly. Dark, mysterious and intriguing. Theses things, as shallow as it is, actually made me want to read the book.
Overall, it was just the tiniest bit above average for me. The characters, plot, setting, and dialogue was very mediocre. The little things, unique things, like the title, cover, and online chat excerpts were great. I wouldn't say this book was great. I'd say it was pretty good. Average with a few splashes of surprising (for lack of a better word) awesomeness.  Maybe the technical aspects of the book were a bit lacking, but really I enjoyed it. Not like it's the best book I've ever read - because it's not at all - but while I was reading it I thought it was pretty good. I certainly don't regret reading it. If you're going to see the movie read the book first. Because I'm pretty sure the book is WAY better. Always.

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

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