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girljordyn

girljordyn

has 12 followers and is following 13 people

I love books. Love love love. They are my bread and music is my butter, haha that made no sense but I'm weird right now because of yeah... weird. Anyway, I love books.
I've been published in Red: The Next Generation of American Writers - Teenage Girls - On What Fires Up Their Lives Today, edited by Amy Goldwasser. And with any luck it won't... more »
  • member since March 9, 2008

Reviews

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  • Crimes of the Sarahs
    • Rated 3 stars

    “**from my blog, www.pagenumbered.wordpress.com**
    Sarah T is not an individual. Or at least, she doesn’t act like one. She’s one of The Sarahs, the popular and outwardly perfect clique secretly involved in criminal activity. Sarah A is the leader of the group and mastermind behind their carefully orchestrated crimes. Like stealing from the library, from Lowe’s, from Barnes & Noble. This life of crime doesn’t always sit well with Sarah T, but being a Sarah (and particularly being Sarah A’s friend) is more important to her than speaking her mind. Which is why when her future as a Sarah is called into question, she’ll do just about anything to prevent herself from being ousted.

    I wanted this book to be better than it was. Sarah A’s complete lack of a conscience really grated on me. It was hard to see her as an actual person when she displayed so little empathy toward anyone but herself. Aside from her, the characters seemed both believable and likable, but it was hard to see what plausible reason the other Sarahs could have for sticking around her.

    Kristen Tracy’s first novel, Lost It, was quirky, funny, and completely enjoyable. It was also a lot shorter. At 354 pages, Crimes of the Sarahs seems to take too long to really get going. It felt as if the story didn’t really begin until about halfway through the book.

    As a whole, this book is amusing and funny, written with the same offbeat style as Kristen Tracy’s first book, but not as enjoyable. I can’t give it a glowing review, but neither can I tell you to avoid this book. Because while it was far from perfect and I expected better, it was still a good story. I liked reading it.”

    girljordyn wrote this review Tuesday, March 18, 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
    • Rated 0 stars

    “**from my blog, www.pagenumbered.wordpress.com** The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart YA JOKES! Frankie Landau-Banks: Sophomore, recently blossomed “swan”, girlfriend of the gorgeous Matthew Livingston. And, oh yeah, brilliant. She’s sick of everyone thinking of her as the “Bunny Rabbit” - cute, but harmless. And she’s out to prove that she’s more than that, to infiltrate her boyfriend’s secret society and outsmart the smartest of them. I kept hearing such great things about this book (from YA authors who had already read it) that, to be honest, I wasn’t sure it would live up to the hype. I mean I had some seriously high expectations here. And, uh, it kinda went above and beyond. This book is incredible. Frankie is extraordinary. Dispite the storyline being out-of-the-ordinary and something that could very much wind up seeming far-fetched, the realism of the characters and their motives ground it in reality. No one in this book is perfect, not by a long shot - including Frankie. But their flaws make them believable and none are too flawed to be lovable. This book is about looks and unfair assumptions. It’s about secret societies and history being uncovered. Criminal masterminds, the panopticon, and power. ”

    girljordyn wrote this review Thursday, March 13, 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
    • Rated 0 stars

    “From my blog (www.pagenumbered.wordpress.com).

    THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE
    Middle Grade
    YAYS!
    This is a book about a china rabbit. His name is Edward and he is loved fiercely by a little girl named Abilene, but he doesn’t care. Edward is many things: overdressed, expensive, arrogant. But able to love is not one of them. At least, not until the day he gets lost. Then, things begin to change.

    This book is, quite simply, amazing. It’s simple but elegant. Kate DiCamillo manages to convey gigantic emotions and events in just a few words, a few carefully constructed sentences. If you read Middle Grade, if you’re a fan of BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE (and really, who isn’t?), I suggest this book. It’s a quick read, but so worthwhile.”

    girljordyn wrote this review Wednesday, March 12, 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • Five Things I Can't Live Without
    • Rated 3 stars

    “**from my book blog, www.pagenumbered.wordpress.com** Five Things I Can’t Live Without, by Holly Shumas. The book is grown up fiction about a 29-year-old woman (Nora) struggling with her “meta-life”, her career, and her relationship. She’s quit her nonprofit job at the animal rescue and starts freelancing, helping people with their online dating profiles. But like with everything else in her life, when it doesn’t work out as great as she at first hoped, Nora begins to doubt that she’s doing the right thing. This doubt is what seems to permeate the rest of her life too, from her steady relationship with her boyfriend to the fact that she’s constantly living inside her head instead of in the outside world. This book has got some really great reviews on Amazon, but to be honest my recommendation of it is somewhere along the lines of MEH. It definitely wasn’t bad and it obviously held my attention long enough for me to finish reading it, but I wasn’t all that interested. It was one of those books where I wanted to see how it ended, but I didn’t actually want to read it all the way through to get there. ”

    girljordyn wrote this review Tuesday, March 11, 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • Little Friendly Advice
    • Rated 5 stars

    “**from my book blog, www.pagenumbered.wordpress.com**
    A Little Friendly Advice, by Siobhan Vivan
    YA
    JOKES!
    At ten years old Ruby watches her dad leave, watches him pack his belongings in a suitcase as she tries to watch Annie. The suddenness of it startles her, the whole thing makes her go a little crazy, and for years afterward it’s her best friend Beth’s job to help her keep it together. A shoulder to cry on, hands to braid her hair, the perfect trundle bed for sleepovers are the tools at Beth’s disposal.

    By her sixteenth birthday Ruby likes to think she’s put the past behind her and finally done a good job of moving on. She’s got her mom, she’s got Beth, she’s got her still-new friends Katherine and Maria. But when her dad shows up suddenly, in the middle of her birthday celebration, his five-minute visit shakes up her world (again) and forces her to see the cracks in her life. She begins remembering things she thought she was over and feeling emotions she’s ready to forget about. The cloud between her and her mother becomes more evident as her mom refuses to talk about him even after the impromtu visit. But worse than that is what she discovers Beth’s hiding from her.

    This book is about friendship and love, about loss and the devastating effects of family breakdown when it happens to you. It’s about people who care about Ruby all trying to protect her, but all doing it in messed-up ways. And it’s one of those books you fall into, feeling like you know the characters as well as your own friends. It’s beautifully written, well-crafted, etc etc. I love it.”

    girljordyn wrote this review Tuesday, March 11, 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Last Summer of You and Me
    • Rated 3 stars

    “**from my book blog, www.pagenumbered.wordpress.com**
    The Last Summer (of You and Me), by Ann Brashares
    Grown fiction
    MEH.
    I should probably start this review by saying that my history with books that take place in small beach/island towns is not great. I generally avoid them as every one I’ve read has left me feeling a bit off, a little disconnected. I know that’s weird and I can’t explain it but it’s true.

    It’s been three summers since sisters Riley and Alice (whose family spends every summer in their Fire Island home) have seen Paul. His family owns the house next to theirs and every summer since they can remember has been spent with him. He’s been Riley’s best friend forever and he used to live at their summer house just as much as they did - avoiding his own after the death of his dad. All through their teen years he was as much a part of the family as the sisters were.

    But it’s been three summers and now things have changed. The intangible bond the three of them have is still there, sure. But Alice is sick of denying the romantic feelings she has for Paul and Paul’s sick of treating her like dirt to conceal his own feelings. There is always a sense of tragedy surrounding Alice and Paul’s new sort of relationship and when that tragedy does strike it’s not the least bit surprising, but still sad.

    I think the problem I have with this book, the biggest problem at least, is that in theory it sounds great. Really great. But the reality falls short. The whole time I was reading I felt like there was this veil between myself and the characters - like they weren’t real. Which, of course, they aren’t, but I always like to feel as if they could be. The relationship that Alice and Paul have (both in the book and in the past) is described in detail, as is Alice and Riley’s sisterly love. The part of this triangle that seems to be lacking is Riley and Paul - the supposed “best friends.” And seeing as how Riley is really the most important character in the book, it made me feel disillusioned.

    Ann Brashares’ other books (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series) are great. But this one just doesn’t stack up. The prose is very pretty and I do love the idea of the relationships between the characters, the idea that the three of them live by different rules than the rest of the world, but ultimately this just wasn’t great.”

    girljordyn wrote this review Tuesday, March 11, 2008. ( reply | permalink )

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