Review of Be Careful What You Witch For by Thomas Hoobler

I love the cover of this book! Be Careful What You Witch For is about a fourteen year old girl named Olivia who is staying in New York with her aunt while her movie star parents are filming a movie. She feels out of place in her new school, is on the popular girl’s bad side and then she find out that her aunt is  a Wiccan.  Maybe this year won’t be so bad after all.

I like all of the main characters in the book and I could picture each one.  I was happy for Olivia when she made friends with Paul and Dulcimer. At least she wasn’t alone.  Alex was funny with the way he relates everything to X-Men. I just wish the Olivia would’ve made better choices because she made a huge mess of things. Luckily for her, he aunt had an 800 year old witch friend who could bail her out.

I like the way the author handles the topic of Wicca. You can tell he researched the subject thoroughly.  Even on a non-magickal level, I like that he shows that all actions have consequences and the we shouldn’t try to change people to suit our needs.
I got this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review of The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg

Cecil Castellucci is one of my favorite authors so, when I saw this at the thrift shop, I had to get it. I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It shows the positive impact that art can have on people’s lives, that art can heal and art can save.
The book is about a girl named Jane who lived in Metro City with her hair dresser parents until she is injured in a bombing. After she gets out of the hospital they move to Suburbia where they think its safer. At her new school Jane meets some other “social outcasts” and they all happen to have the same name, but spelled differently.  After becoming friends, they start doing random acts of art around town and call themselves P.L.A.I.N. (People Loving Art in Neighborhoods).
I love how the “art attacks” bring the Janes closer together and the effect it has on the town. While the adults don’t get it, the kids embrace it.
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys graphic novels, art and young adult stories.

Review of This Song is (Not) For You by Laura Nowlin

I really enjoyed this book. The characters are interesting and well written, the imagery is excellent and I really like the author’s writing style. The characters (Ramona, Sam and Tom) compliment each other well while still being their own person.

The book starts out with the three main characters applying for an arts school. While they’re in the waiting room, Ramona introduces herself to Tom and decides that he needs to be in a band with her and her best friend, Sam. He agrees and their lives get better and more exciting from there.

They learn a lot about themselves and what they want in life through their friendship and the music and art that they of them create. My favorite thing about them is how accepting they are of each other and those around them. I like that each character knows who they are and what they believe in. There are some unconventional themes in the book, but they work for the characters.

If there was a sequel, I would read it in a heart beat. 5/5 Stars.

I got this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.

My first book haul of 2016

New books!

I got seven new books at the thrift shop on Thursday. They are:

Vampire Dreams (an SAT vocabulary Novel by SparkNotes

Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule

Evermore: A Novel (The Immortals #1) by Alyson Noel

Pretenders by Lisi Harrison

Three Quarters Dead by Richard Peck

The Crow: Temple of Night by S.P. Somtow

I’m Next by Goldberg

 

Has anyone read any of these? If you have, what did you think of them?

 

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Review of The Casquette Girls: A Novel by Alys Arden

This book was amazing! The characters, setting, descriptions and plot are all excellent.  The story starts with Adele and her father returning to New Orleans after The Storm. The opening scene of the book with them driving through the city is so well described that I could picture the destroyed homes and abandoned cars. It really sets the tone for the whole book.
All Adele wants to do is go back to her arts school, see her friends, design clothes and daydream about her Mom’s assistant, Emile and be a normal 15 year old. Unfortunately, her life gets a lot more complicated. Especially once she starts being able to control objects with her mind and unintentionally breaks a centuries old curse.
While trying to learn about her new powers she meets two mysterious brothers, Gabe and Nikko, gets reunited with some of her friends and starts at a new school.  Things start going back to normal for her until she discovers her ancestor’s journal hidden in the floor boards of her bedroom. From there, everything gets a bit crazy.
The story has a bit of everything: magic, telekinesis, voodoo, vampires, shape shifters, plot twists, drag queens, romance, family and friendship. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy, paranormal, or young adult books.

I got this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review of Without Chance by Christopher Bailey

Without Chance is about a fourteen year old boy named Ryan who moves to a new state in the middle of the school year after his dad takes a job at a hospital. He’s pretty angry about it until he meets his new friend, Chance. Chance is the first person in the new town that nice to him and he’s just really happy to have a friend. He also has a run in with the school bully, Noah Porter.

I think all of the characters were well done. I like that the author writes the dialogue the way it would be pronounced since the characters have southern accent. (ie “I hav’ ta go.”) Ryan isn’t the most observant person ever. I had figured out what people wanted him to know about Chance way before it was revealed, but that didn’t take anything away from my enjoyment of the story. It took me a little while to figure out who the bad guy was. I liked trying to figure out Ryan’s dream as it changed (he has prophetic dreams). I figured out what he was dreaming about, but I didn’t know what certain parts meant.

I was really happy for Ryan that he survived everything and gained some new friends. I really liked his relationship with his dad. At first, they barely communicated, but their relationship got better over the course of the book. I love how accepting he is. I hope more parents are starting to be this way.

Christianity is a big part of the book. The book isn’t anti-religion, even though the church in the book is crazy, so I’m not sure if that will offend people. It didn’t bother me.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes young adult, lgbt and mystery books.

I was given a free copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review of Breaking Saint Jude by Nikki Godwin

This book was given to me by the author for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I liked the main character, Jude, right away. He’s a gay vegetarian who owns black cats and loves polar bears. When we first meet him, he’s on his way to an lgbt youth support group. He uses the “f-word” a lot (so do some of the other characters) so you might not like the book if that type of thing bothers you. He sees an attractive guy at the support group meeting and nicknames him Eye Candy. After the group he heads over to a church that’s about t be demolished to steal some stained glass. His therapist suggested that he collect glass in the colors of the rainbow and he really wants the red glass from there. As he’s stealing the glass he sees a group of guys hauling a dead giraffe into a truck and recognizes one of them as “Eye Candy” from the group. He’s horrified, yet intrigued, and this sets him off on kind of a crazy adventure. He finds out that “Eye Candy’s” name is Max and they end up dating.

I love the relationship between Jude and Max. It’s sweet, caring and funny. The author does a great job with all of the characters in the book, but the two of them are my favorites. After a few dates, Jude meets the “brotherhood.” They were a little hard to figure out at first, but when I learned why they were doing what they do it all made sense and was sweet in a way.

The major conflict between Max and Jude was predictable but it still worked really well in the story. I felt bad for Jude. He lost his boyfriend and the brotherhood and then suffered another loss a few weeks later. I actually got a little teary eyed over that one. I just wanted to hug him.

I really like how everything was resolved in the book. I think he was finally happy at the end.

Review of Thirsty by M.T. Anderson

This was another thrift store find. I had it marked as Read on Goodreads, but I don’t remember reading t, so I decided to actually read it/read it again. This is an odd book. Not really bad or good, just odd. The book is about a boy named Christopher who lives in Massachusetts with his family. Vampires exist there along with a few other creatures. In this place, you don’t have to be bitten to be turned into a vampire. It just happens sometimes.

Chris is basically an outcast at school. He has two friends, Tom and Jerk, his life at home isn’t fun and he just wants Rebecca Schwartz to notice/date him.  Sounds like your average teenager, but Chris seems to be turning into a vampire.  When he’s offered help from someone in exchange for a small favor, how can he say no? Unfortunately, that decision makes things even more confusing and dangerous for him.

I really can’t go in to much detail without spoiling everything, but I thought it was an ok book. The writing style is pretty unique, and a little repetitive, but I kind of liked it once I got used to it.  I figured out where things were going pretty quickly and I found the ending predictable.

Review of Hidden (House of Night #10) by P.C. & Kristin Cast

I think Hidden is a good addition to the House of Night series.  I really like Shaunee more now that she’s on her own.  She’s a much better character now and she uses her brain more.  I’m still not sure what I think of Shaylin.  She’s just kind of there.  She’s part of Zoey’s group, but she’s not very interesting yet.  Erik (Zoey’s ex-boyfriend) is in this one for a bit and he annoys me.  He’s still a self-centered jerk.

One of the main characters changes a lot in this book.  I was surprised about it and disappointed in her. I get  little too into the characters sometimes and think of them as actual people. *shrug*  This character wasn’t ever one of my favorites, but the change was pretty abrupt.  There is more death in this book. They’ve been killing someone, or something, off in each one.  To balance it, two characters have been given love interests.  I hope it works out for them as the series continues.

This one has quite a bit of action because of the showdown with Neferet.  It’s crazy that it took this long for the vampire council to realize that she’s evil.  Have they not seen her? Zoey and her friends have to throw everything they have at her in order to save someone they love.  I was slightly disappointed with how the book ended, but I knew they wouldn’t be able to kill her off that easily.

I already started book 11 (Revealed) and pre-ordered book 12 (Redeemed), which will be the end of the series.

Review of Marked by P.C. & Kristin Cast (House of Night book 1)

My best friend has been trying to get me to read this series for years now, and I regret not taking her advice sooner.  This book is a really good start to the series.

The authors do a great job with the characters and setting. The vampire school sounds really cool!  I love that the authors did their research regarding the religion aspect. If that was off, it would’ve ruined the whole story for me.

I like Zoey as a character. The way she talks and the way her thought process works is very true to her age (16). Her friends are pretty great too. I was happy for her that she made friends at the new school. Damien is my favorite.  He’s smart, witty, and gay. Excellent!

The book has quite a bit of action and magic, which kept the story interesting.  I really liked seeing Zoey’s affinities manifest.  She even gets a potential boyfriend.  There’s some swearing, incase that bothers anyone.

I’d recommend it to anyone who likes young adult paranormal, magic, and/or vampire books.