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Ciley

Ciley

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1TPHDLLNNEAVK/ref=wl_web --] my Amazon wishlist with tons of books I still *want* to read (my local library system hardly has anything or trust me, I'd be getting them there)

The Book Sp(l)ot review blog on blogger more »
  • member since July 27 2007

Reviews

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  • Cracked Up to Be
    • Rated 5 stars

    “What's the worst thing you've ever done? Not the time you stole a pack of gum from the grocery store or the time you ot mad and told your sister she looked fat. Not even the time you lusted after your best friend's guy. I mean, the worst thing you've ever done?

    What if it was something no one else knew about?

    Parker Fadley has something like that. Something she's trying to remedy in a few...choice ways. She's on a basic suicide watch at school, has weekly meetings with the counselor, broke up with her perfect boyfriend, and left her Perfect Parker title far, far behind.

    Cracked Up to Be is a book that keeps you out of the loop (as to what exactly Parker's secret is) for just about all of the book, but in a way that keeps you wanting to already be on that next page--not in a way hat gets you fed up. Lits bits are given throught the story as to what Parker did in ways that helped the story along, but never revealed too much too soon.

    The characters were great (and there wasn't a punk rock best friend like in about 90% of the books I've read lately, so plus there!) and all worked amazingly together. The four main characters were ones that I could really see being friends...even when they kind of weren't and some of them couldn't stand each other ;-) ( )
    27 other reviews | May 7, 2009 | edit | flag
    Deadly Little Secret (A Touch Novel) (Touch Novels)… by Laurie Faria Stolarz
    Deadly Little Secret did a great job of being a mystery. It played the characters well against each other, always making you curious or suspicious of one character just as soon as you became sure another character was the purpatrator.

    Sure, some of the characters were stereotypes (the punk-y best friend, the bad boy who you're just sure is secretly a sweetheart underneath it all...) but they worked into the story well and it didn't detract from the story. Besides, this wasn't really driven by what kind of relationship Camelia had with her best friend. There was a nice (if small) subplot involving Camelia's mother, however.

    I don't think Deadly Little Secret is a book that's going to become a classic but it is written well and in such a way that it is a quick and easy read--more of a can't-put-it-down way than a 'is this really YA or is it more MG?' way. It's also a book that I would easily recommend to someone looking for a good mystery or for a more suspensful YA book; some parts of the story might even be scary or horror movie-esque to certain readers. (”

    Ciley wrote this review Thursday, May 7 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Handcuffs
    • Rated 4 stars

    “Parker Prescott has always been the dependable middle child. The one her parents love. 'Has been' being the key words. Two weeks ago she actually broke up with the boyfriend they all wanted her to break up with.

    But then came the afternoon with the handcuffs when everything changed. Now she's no longer Perfect Parker.

    That's really as much summary as I can give--and as much as really anyone else gives--but there's much, much more to the story than what that all makes it sound like. I came into the story expecting it to be about a goody-goody girl who had some torrid afternoon (of some sort or another) and then everything went boom. But really, everything was much more complex than that (and I can understand why the summaries are what they are; there's not really any other way to say things).

    What isn't in my summary though is that Parker has a reputation-that she does quite a bit of living up to-of being an ice princess. A reputation that's fostered, cultivated and nurtured by Marion Hennessey's blog. Marion who used to be her neighbor; Marion who runs her own TMZ and hates Parker now.

    And that's an example of why this book was enjoyable. There were several things (the blog, Parker's brother's ADD, etc) that helped the characters work. It wasn't just that Parker had a brother--her brother was a character--and so was her sister--and best friend--and so on.

    I thought that the wayt he different characters and subplots ultimately worked themselves out (or not) in a way that brought everything to a conclusion was a nice way of doing things. It wasn't an A, B, C setup, conflict, resolution but seemed to work out more like life would.

    The few things that I didn't like about the book: at the end of some chapters there were little bits that didnt' really seem necessary. It almost seemed as if someone wanted them included in the story but they didn't quite fit anywhere? (Or maybe I just missed how they contributed?) The other thing was that ages were mentioned quite a bit, but-to me at least-it was more distracting sometimes because it didn't always seem like they worked out (ex: one chapter was Parker's sister's birthday party-at the start Parker was 13, at the end she was 12; then they were 4 years apart and 2 grades apart...it just detracted from my reading a bit). ”

    Ciley wrote this review Thursday, May 7 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall
    • Rated 3 stars

    “I forgot this was written in verse when I first checked it out of the library-I just remembered that I had looked at it at B&N but not bought it for some reason. I'm pretty sure this is the first novel written in verse that I've read.

    Now, onto the review: Tessa doesn't duck when the dodgeball comes flying at her head in gym class. Instead she thinks about how her thighs look in her gym shorts, Ashlee Simpson lyrics flit through her mind...but she doesn't duck.

    She doesn't duck and she wakes up in the mall. Or what looks a lot like the mall where both of her parents work and where she's spent countless hours of her life. Just like A Christmas Carol, she's going to need a guide, of course: enter Nail Boy.

    As the story progresses the stores in the 'mall' are used to teach Tessa lessons through different stories of her past. Each chapter title is a store name.

    I'm going to be honest right now: I didn't particularly like this book. It wasn't that I exactly disliked it, I just didn't really like Tessa. I understand that she's supposed to be an imperfect character and that the little tales of each chapter are supposed to show her (and us) the wrong decisons she's made in life and why she's who she is, but I just didn't like her.
    I thought she was ditzy and kind of stupid and the things she did growing up/through the book became more than 'learn from them' things. She was the kid that if you found out what she was doing not only would you not be friends with her, you'd want to tell on her because she didn't really have a good reason-she was just a bad, jerky kid.

    (See, I didn't like her--she wasn't sympathetic for me.)

    The choices of the 'events' in the book were interesting, though...like in 13 Reasons Why (but for very different reasons) it's shown how random, seemingly insignificant events can really impact things. There's also one particular thing that I thought fit in the book very well and was also the first time I've seen it in a book yet and I'm glad that it was used (because I believe it fit--but I'll keep it a secret, it's a real world event so if you read it, you'll know).

    The other thing I couldn't stand: Nail Boy? Yeah, he had a drill bit in his head. A drill bit looks like a screw so if you want Tessa to not know it's a drill bit, then at least let her call it a screw--but not a nail because a nail is smooth, straight up and down. (And maybe she could have gotten that wrong, but because she could not have, screw would have been a compromise, right?)

    So, for the book...it was well written, the stories worked out well and the whole mall as a sort of heaven idea is really interesting....but I just can't get past really not liking the main character.

    Book Sp(l)ot ”

    Ciley wrote this review Thursday, May 7 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Skeleton Creek
    • Rated 4 stars

    “Skeleton Creek is a new kind of book-the text we're used to seeing in books, but also links to a website where you can enter passwords and watch short videos relevant to that part of the book. Here's a bit of a summary: Ryan and Sarah are determined to get to the bottom of the weird happenings in their town of Skeleton Creek (including where that name came from). But after a mysterious accident injures Ryan and leaves him housebound, their parents forbid them from seeing each other and they are forced to communicate (and mystery solve) in private. The storyis told Ryan's journal entries and Sarah's videos.

    I'll admit that at first I wasn't sure about the idea of combining a traditional book with web videos as part of the storytelling. I know that kids and teens (and boys in particular) are reading less now and using the internet more (and yes I'm aware that I'm using the internet to review books), but the idea of saying, "Hey, read 20 pages of this book and you can watch a video!" gave me a little pause.

    I was really surprised, though, just how much I did enjoy the format and the book. While it's listed as being for 9-12 year-olds, I think older readers could enjoy it as well (I know I did). I also think the video integration was done really well so that younger readers really can read the book because except for the last video, the journal entry following each video explains enough in Ryan's reaction that if one did miss the video, they could go on with the story.

    What this means is that parents could go through and watch the videos to see if they had a problem with them for their kids (some of them might startle you or be creepy but nothing's violent or bloody or has bad language), and not allow them to watch those specific ones.

    I hope I explained that well enough...

    The book is in all caps (in a handwriting type font so it's not annoying) except for when other papers are pasted in so it's easier for younger readers to read but the writing finds that great balance between being easily understandable...yet not sounding like it's only for ten-year-olds.

    Basically, I think the writing, the style, and presentation of Skeleton Creek are done so that readers of almost any age can read it (maybe with some parental oversight, but still). (I might be wrong and some of the plot points might be too complicated for younger readers but because nothing goes too in depth, I think it's okay.)

    *and this fits nowhere because I had to add it in, but I loved that the passwords for the videos were literary-I think that'll encourage kids to possibly check out the respective tales. ”

    Ciley wrote this review Thursday, May 7 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Gamer Girl
    • Rated 5 stars

    “Forced, by her parent's divorce, to move--along with her mother and younger sister--into her grandmother's home, Maddy Starr has to leave her old life and school behind. After an unfortunate incident involving her grandmother and her (Maddy's) clothing, she's labelled Freak Girl and school is hell for her.

    Maddy's only escape is into the world of Fields of Fantasy, the roleplaying computer game her Dad gave her for her birthday. In FoF she becomes Allora, a beautiful, confident elf...who catches the attention of a handsome knight named Sir Leo.

    But while romance is blooming between Sir Leo and Allora, Manga loving/drawing Maddy is still struggling to find her way in her new school. Can she find a way to deal? And would anyone ever choose brunette, skull-tight wearing Maddy over busty, blonde Allora?

    (Now you know why I usually let Amazon write the summaries/synopses.)

    This novel was really enjoyable to me (someone who doesn't know much of anything really about interactive/roleplaying games or manga) because while it did involve things that I think would have also made it enjoyable for people who did know about those things, it never went to one extreme or the other. When Maddy started playing the game, her setup was described, when she first met Sir Leo he explained some 'etiquette' I guess to her, and what she did in the game was described. The way all of this was done made it not a how-to lesson and just a part of the story that happened to tell you about FoF.

    And when it came to the manga, different characters liked different types so one character explaining what they liked about a to a character who liked b, let you know what those were if you had no idea.

    There was information given that was interesting and helpful to someone who didn't know about the topic and (from what I've seen in some Amazon reviews) fun for those who do. I think that's a fantastic achievement.

    The characters made the book even more enjoyable. Maddy's grandmother seemed almost like a fairytale character to me (I'm not really sure I can explain that but I just feel like she wouldn't have seemed out of place in one of those Grimm Brothers' tales)..not because she's sweet or evil, just... Maddy's sister and parents also had a lot more depth to them than siblings and parents usually have in stories that are focused on a single, teenaged character.

    Gamer Girl is a book that I believe teens (and young adults) will enjoy whether they're Gamers or not because it really does not have a weak aspect (characters, plot, writing). ”

    Ciley wrote this review Thursday, May 7 2009. ( reply | permalink )

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