Friday, December 28, 2012

Mini Review: Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti

title: Keep Holding On
author: Susane Colasanti
Published May 31st 2012 by Viking Juvenile
Goodreads // Amazon // BookDepo
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Very cute, very expected. Not saying that expected is bad, though. The book is all about standing up for yourself and dealing with your insecurities and accepting you for who you are, weird and all.

I think it’s a great book for tweens. The writing is easy and fast-paced. Although I have some complains because this book might as well be called a series of unfortunate events because that was all it was, a range of situations in which a teen girl was bullied and the correspondent expected reactions. It felt like a bunch of unfortunate events put together instead of a book, or a story, you know what I mean? It just lacked depth. And sometimes it felt more like a lecture than anything, for example, all those words Noelle says at the end, when she gets all inspirational? Way cheesy. And the romance was nonexistent. Julian is supposedly in love with Noelle (he actually dropped the L word, no kidding) but there’s no relationship build-up and we never get to see what is that makes him love her.

But I still think it is a good book for teens, and I hope they get more of it than I did. And I am 100% on board of this anti-bullying train, and it’s awesome that YA authors are taking a part and writing stories that could possibly help teens everywhere.



 

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: Salvation by Anne Osterlund

WoW is weekly meme created by Jill at Breaking The Spine in which bloggers can share books they're excited to get soon :)
 
 

Salvation

by Anne O.
 
A smart, unexpected romance from an award-winning author. 
Salvador Resendez--Salva to his friends--appears to have it all. His Mexican immigrant family has high expectations, and Salva intends to fulfill them. He's student body president, quarterback of the football team, and has a near-perfect GPA. Everyone loves him. 
Especially Beth Courant, AKA the walking disaster area. Dreamy and shy, Beth is used to blending into the background. But she's also smart, and she has serious plans for her future.
Popular guy and bookish girl--the two have almost nothing in common. Until fate throws them together and the attraction is irresistible. Soon Beth is pushing Salva to set his sights higher than ever--because she knows he has more to offer, more than even he realizes.
Then tragedy strikes--and threatens to destroy everything that Salva has worked for. Will Beth's love be enough to save him?
Thoughtful and romantic, this is a beautifully written story about following your heart and fulfilling your potential.
 
 
 
 
So, I am Mexican and I actually avoid books with Mexican characters like the plague. (That's why I never read that Simone Elkeles' series)
'Cause it's always kind of painful to read the cliches and I always feel like no one can understand us if they aren't one of us and yadda yadda...
 
but this book sounds too good to pass!
Count me in this time!
 

Friday, December 21, 2012

Review: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

title: The Sea of Tranquility
author: Katja Millay
Published November 13th 2012 by Atria Books
Goodreads // Amazon // Book Depo
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Stunning, phenomenal, marvelous, amazing, I could go on and on, but I think you all have heard it before. This book is excellent, and I mean it. When I give it 5 stars, I mean every single particle and atom of those stars.

I won’t even try to tell you what is inside these pages, but I have to reassure you, it’s heartbreaking and beautiful and it’s why I am such a huge fan of contemporary young adult literature. It is what makes me spend my money and my time every time I invest myself in a book, the hope that I find something remotely as good as this.

I just have to applaud the story, and the characters and the gorgeous writing. And the magnificent way in which Katja Millay develops such a complex plot and topics and makes us feel part of it. I refuse to believe this is her first novel, because that would make her not human, I don’t think you can possess that kind of talent and still call yourself a simple human.

It’s been a while since I went through so many emotions in just one book. I had to remove myself from the scrutiny of other people’s stares because I was a wreck, it was getting to the point I was starting to wonder if maybe I was too invested, but I had reached the no-turning-back point so I just let myself go.
 

This book is so good I’m sure the other books pick on it and call it names. I had to stop reading and take a minute so my breathing could get back to normal. That’s how good it was, it gave me idiopathic tachycardia, except it wasn’t idiopathic because Josh Bennet and Nastya caused it.

I have to confess though, the angst reached places your mind and my mind can’t comprehend, so I had to take breaks to pull my head together. But I can’t deny I adored every single minute of it.
 
I want to order people to read it, but I can’t, you have to make the choice and I hope you chose correctly. I will tell people, though; that this book will burn their hopes, and break their hearts and then it will rebuild everything from scratch.


 
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Waiting On Wednesday: ACID by Emma Pass

WoW is weekly meme created by Jill at Breaking The Spine in which bloggers can share books they're excited to get soon :)
 
 
ACID
by Emma Pass
 
A fast and furious thriller featuring the coolest, toughest bad girl since Lisbeth Salander. Meet Jenna Strong.
 
In Jenna’s world, ACID – the most brutal, controlling police force in history – rule with an iron fist. And it was ACID agents who locked Jenna away for life, for a bloody crime she struggles to remember.
 
But Jenna’s violent prison has taught her a thing or two about survival. And when a mysterious rebel group breaks her out, she must use her strength, speed and skill to stay one step ahead.
 
A gripping futuristic debut that will hook you from the very first page.
 
 
 
 
I'm always up for books featuring awesome, kick-butt chicks.
 

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Review: Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

Title: Wanderlove
Author: Kirsten Hubbard
Published March 13th 2012 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Goodreads // Amazon
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What a ride.

No literally, it’s like I’ve been traveling alongside Bria all this time. This book is all about that one journey, that special growth journey you take some time in your life, it can be metaphorical or physical, and lucky Bria Sandoval had the chance to make both. She takes us with her to the beautiful countries of Guatemala & Belize, crossing borders, breaking barriers and crushing old misconceptions about this hidden paradise.

I loved Bria. She is believable, she is going through some stuff, she just broke up with her boyfriend (who I amicably call the bastard) which made her gave up her art, the thing she loved the most; and she’s trying to escape all of that by booking a Mayan route tour with Global Vagabonds. But that turns out to be a huge disappointment, so she ditches them for a pair of backpackers that invite her to join them, Starling & Rowan.

 I loved both Starling & Rowan, too. They were everything I was hoping they’d be, they were open minded and adventurous and completely enchanting, I would have been thrilled to meet people like them in one of my trips. Rowan especially, he is so different from your cookie-cutter YA male, he is mature and independent; there’s a raw quality to him too, like Bear Grylls except young and not disgusting. But you can’t believe to imagine how attractive he was, even though he wasn’t very chatty, his actions always spoke volumes, like how he buys bracelets from every kid that asks him. I loved how he was trying to reform from bad boy to good boy, instead of the other way around.

Like Rowan, I also love it when Bria talked about art. I am not much of an art geek, and honestly most of the time I don’t get it when people talk about art, but Bria was a whole ‘nother thing. It was beautiful, the way she explained her love for art; it practically changed me.

And what an amazing change of scenery! I cannot begin to express how grateful I am for this setting, and for the exposure Ms. Hubbard is giving to the people in both Belize & Guatemala, from the bottom of my heart I thank you in their name.

Also, there's a paragraph stuck with me, Rowan talking about why people don’t dare to step out of their calculated tour routes and taking a chance and seeing the country for what itt really is and not just like an attraction; and about how people are always afraid of goiing to third world countries and how they forget that people live there their whole lives. It made me feel embarrassed even though I’ve never been one of those people, but it is kind of sad because it was so true.

So I am enamored, what a great book, infinitely amazing. I loved Kirsten Hubbard’s writing so much; it was beautiful, so beautiful. A master-piece, I’m sad it doesn’t get much recognition, but I’ll make sure to lend my copy to my friends (life-threating them if they don’t give t back of course).


 
 

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: Also Known As by Robin Benway

WoW is weekly meme created by Jill at Breaking The Spine in which bloggers can share books they're excited to get soon :)
 
 
 
 
Also Known As
by Robin Benway
Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations. Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She'll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school's security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all while trying not to blow her cover.
Goodreads
 

Yo! I'm all about spies.
Some are all about ninjas, some like zombies.
SPIES?! my thing. Mio.
so is not surprising that Ally Carter is one of my favorite authors, and I enjoyed Digit so much this year (even though she's not officially a spy).

I requested it on netgalley but just like middle school volleyball, Bloomsbury rejected me ):
but I don't care, I'll still buy it when it comes out and review it for you guys :D

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Review: Tempestuous by Kim Askew & Amy Helmes

Title: Tempestuous: A Modern-Day Spin on Shakespeare's The Tempest
Authors: Kim Askew & Amy Helmes
Expected publication: December 18th 2012 by Merit Press
Goodreads // Amazon //
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So once in a while something totally unexpected happens, like finding a ten-dollar bill on the street or discovering there’s only 2 girls in your class, both of them named Melannie. OR starting a book and loving it from page one, that’s what happen to me while I read Tempestuous, loved it from page 1 ‘till the very last one.

Miranda is an ambitious girl, who kind of has the power of getting people to do what she wants. She’s popular and beautiful yet the authors managed to make her likable. I loved her from the start because she’s so witty, and she means no harm, she’s just used to having people offering to do stuff for her but it’s not like she’s bossing them around. Well, at least not after that pesty situation that made her fall from grace at her private school and has her working for minimum wage at the food court in the mall.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Waiting on wednesday: The Summer I became a Nerd

WoW is weekly meme created by Jill at Breaking The Spine in which bloggers can share books they're excited to get soon :)
 
 
The Summer I became a Nerd
by Leah Rae Miller
 
On the outside, seventeen-year-old Madelyne Summers looks like your typical blond cheerleader—perky, popular, and dating the star quarterback. But inside, Maddie spends more time agonizing over what will happen in the next issue of her favorite comic book than planning pep rallies with her squad. That she’s a nerd hiding in a popular girl's body isn’t just unknown, it's anti-known. And she needs to keep it that way.
 
Summer is the only time Maddie lets her real self out to play, but when she slips up and the adorkable guy behind the local comic shop’s counter uncovers her secret, she’s busted. Before she can shake a pom-pom, Maddie’s whisked into Logan’s world of comic conventions, live-action role-playing, and first-person-shooter video games. And she loves it. But the more she denies who she really is, the deeper her lies become…and the more she risks losing Logan forever.
Add on Goodreads




Doesn't this sound kinda like The Big Bang Theory?
IKR! and since I love that show I will totes read this one :)