Genres

Book Review: The Pregnancy Project by Gaby Rodriguez with Jenna Glatzer

March 30, 2012 1 Comment

Synopsis: In The Pregnancy Project, Gaby details how she was able to fake her own pregnancy—hiding the truth from even her siblings and boyfriend’s parents—and reveals all that she learned from the experience. But more than that, Gaby’s story is about fighting stereotypes, and how one girl found the strength to come out from the shadow of low expectations to forge a bright future for herself.

The Pregnancy Project first came on my radar in January, when I watched the Lifetime movie based on the book . I had never heard the story and how could it not peak my interest? A teenager who faked her pregnancy for a school project? What was that all about? While the movie was decent, it left me with more questions, so I headed to the library for the book.

Luckily, this memoir provides a concise and pretty powerful story of not just Gabby’s struggles, but her family’s struggles as well. This is the first book in a while I’ve actually had an emotional reaction too.

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Book Review : Divergent by Veronica Roth

March 23, 2012 4 Comments

Synopsis : In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

When I first got back into reading YA, Divergent was everywhere. When I grabbed it for 6.00 at the used book store, it just sort of sat on my shelf. However, after Divergent won Favorite Book of 2011 at Goodreads and Story Siren’s Best of 2011 DebutI knew I had to check it out.
Divergent has a unique concept. Tris and her family live in a peaceful Utopia where society is dived into factions which represent individual ideals Dauntless (bravery), Amity (peace), Abegnation (selflessness ) and Erudite (intelligence).

Every child is raised in their own faction , but when they turn sixteen they are tested to determine the best faction for them. They can either choose to stay with their faction or leave it all behind to join another faction, never to see their families again.

Faction before family.

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Book Review: Shine by Lauren Myracle

March 14, 2012 4 Comments

“I’d heard a saying about meth, that it took you down one of three roads: jail, the psych ward, or death.”

– Shine by Lauren Myracle

Shine first came on my radar with the drama over The National Book Award debacle, where Lauren Myracle was accidentally nominated and asked to back out. The synopsis intrigued me, so I finally picked this book up.

Shine is the story of Cat, a teenaged girl on the journey for answers when her former best friend, Patrick is the victim of an extremely violent hate crime. Along the way she learns the dark secrets and hidden realities of the town she lives in.

This books starts off brilliantly, there is a certain atmospheric writing style that Myrcale uses that just brings you in to the world of the story. You very quickly learn the life that Cat leads.The setting, Black Creek, North Carolina is a back woods town with a lot of backwards thinking. One of the biggest problems plaguing the town is meth.

There are a lot of rich characters in the novel and you start to feel for them. This reminds me very much of To Kill a Mockingbird, where the context of the story is so much involved in learning about the people in the town. The only thing is their is no Atticus Finch in this story. None of the characters are particularly redeeming or good, not even Cat herself. I think Robert, an eleven-year-old who was born addicted to drugs and yearns for attention from the older teenagers stood out the most for me.

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Book Review: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

March 10, 2012 2 Comments

“Am I a player in this scenario or a puppet? I guess, in the end, it doesn’t matter. It is what it is: my destiny.”

– Cynthia Hand, Unearthly

So, seriously Harper Teen is the best ! I got this book for .99 on my Kindle over the holiday season. Before that, it wasn’t even on my radar , it was just another pretty girl in a pretty dress cover.

I’m not a big fan of paranormal romances. To me they all tend to be the same and have a similar kind of ugh-inducing female protagonist who doesn’t exist outside of the new guy they met. And while Unearthly falls victim to some of the usual tropes in paranormal romance (new person in school, love interest is dating mean girl, single parent . . .) I took a liking to it.

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Book Review : Cinder By Marissa Meyer

March 8, 2012 4 Comments

Release Date: January 3, 2012
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Genre: Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Pages: 387
Audiobook hours: 10 hours 6 minutes

Synopsis : Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. . [Cinder is] a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future

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Book Review : Illuminate by Aimme Agresti

March 3, 2012 2 Comments

Illuminate (Gilded Wings # 1) is one of those novels where the mystery and glamour will instantly pull you in, as the characters uncover the seemingly perfect facade of The Lexington Hotel, owner Aurelia Brown and the perfect employees known as the Outfit.

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