Hope.

• Rated 5 stars

“All Alice wants is to be noticed. Not to be invisible with her best friend Jewel anymore.

Her wish gets answered when Simon Murphy, the second most popular guy in school, notices her. Unfortunately, Jewel hates him. Jewel also tells her he's in love with her in the same day.

Alice and Jewel drift apart, and Alice and Simon draw closer together. However, being noticed isn't all Alice thought it was.

The Opposite of Invisible was a really good book. I usually don't like short books, and this one definitely was - it's only one hundred fifty-one pages! I love Liz Gallagher's writing style, it's new and unique. She describes locations and the characters very nice. This is a really good book, I recommend it to everybody!”

Hope. wrote this review Monday, June 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Sylvia, Megan, Carolyn, and Ellen are known as the Pretty Little Devils - the most popular group in the school. Everybody knows them. Everybody wants to be them. Suddenly, Hazel IS one of them. She gets to go to the soirees, the parties, everything. And she snagged Matty Vardeman, the guy of her dreams.

Suddenly, however, Breona, the head cheerleader and Sylvia's biggest enemy, turns up dead. The police are in the school, questioning everybody, and the table is turned upside down. No one can be sure of anyone anymore. Nothing is every certain. You may think you know someone... but you might not.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book or not. I'd heard of people who loved it or hated it, and I hadn't really seen anything in the middle. I thought it was really good though. It wasn't just the usual 'the popular girls and their lives, blah, blah, blah,' that I usually see. It was a really good mystery that kept you on your toes.”

Hope. wrote this review Monday, June 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“The Malones and the Crutchfeilds hate each other. Always have, always will. So, when Kaitlyn Malone's dad gets sent to prison for manslaughter - which was totally an accident, but the Crutchfields don't believe that - Kait's mom can't afford to send Kait and her sister to their expensive private school.

She has to send them to Twin Oaks - on Cruthfield property. Kait's mom enrolls them under Hampton, her maiden name, so no one will hate them.

But when Kait falls in love with a Crutchfield - who doesn't know that she is a Malone - what will she do? What will she do when he finds out the truth that he fell in love with his families enemy?

Scribbler of Dreams was a really good book that is now on my favorites list. It's like a modern day Romeo and Juliet. Mary E. Pearson wrote it really good, I couldn't put it down. It was very addicting - I stayed up until one in the morning reading it last night. Also, it was believable, which I also liked. It wasn't far out there - when I was reading, I felt like it could actually happen today.”

Hope. wrote this review Monday, June 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“Colie's mom is the famous fitness guru Kiki Sparks, known worldwide, giving women the hope to lose weight. She has a nice body and seems to have a good life living with her mom.

This is not what it is really like, however. Colie is very unconfident and insecure. The people at her school make fun of her and call her nicknames like "Hole in One." And the fact that Colie has lost forty five and a half pounds in a few years adds the the fact. Her mom calls those years the Fat Years, and the Fat Years are really what makes her famous. It just makes Colie more insecure and unsure about herself.

Her mother has a tour in Europe during the summer and doesn't want Colie staying in their house by herself, so she ships her off to her Aunt Mira's. Mira very different, and most people in her town don't like her, and they often make fun of her, especially about her weight.

Colie, at first, doesn't want to go with Mira over the summer. But then, she meets Morgan and Isabel... and Norman. The summer makes her a different person. One she's happy with.

Sarah Dessen managed to wow me again. This is the third book of hers I've read, and I just can't get over the fact of how good she can get into a teenage girl's mind. The books are all very realistic, and I felt myself instantly drawn to Colie. I'm not the most confident and insecure person on the block, and this book, even if it was fictional, taught me ways that I can try and be more confident and not to care what other people thought of me. Sarah Dessen wrote another book that I can add to my favorites list.”

Hope. wrote this review Monday, June 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Tyler is known as an outcast. It has been this way ever since he wrote a few choice words about the principal on the wall of the school. He was caught, so it wasn't like nobody knew about it.

But things this year are turning around. He's a senior, his sister a freshmen, and she's just determined to turn his outcast status to a bad boy image. Then, the popular girl, Bethany, starts taking notice in him. But what will happen when a scandal involving Bethany hits the school? Tyler is a main suspect in the investigation... and he's finding that's not a good thing.

I thought Twisted was a good book. You don't see too many books written from a guy's point of view - especially by a female author - so I thought that was really unique. The book has a really good storyline, and it's not a typical one, which was also really cool. This book really makes me want to read Laurie Halse Anderson's other books, I cannot wait to get my hands on them now.”

Hope. wrote this review Monday, June 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“It wasn't Miranda's fault that she crashed her dad's convertible into a tree. Honest. Her sister was having trouble with a bully and she had to go and pick her up. But after this incident and maxing out her step-moms credit card, Miranda's mother and father send her to Bard Academy.

Located in the middle of nowhere on an island that doesn't even get cell service (can you say cruel?), Miranda doesn't know how she'll survive. Then, she starts noticing occurances that happen on campus that is very similiar to old literature classics. Is this coincidence? Or is it something else... something a little bit more freaky?

I enjoyed Wuthering High a lot. It was a very good book, with a very origional story line, which I liked. I have never heard a story like this before, it was definetly a first for me. The characters were "normal" and I could relate to them in many different ways. I also liked how even though the book dealt with ghosts and things like that, it also dealt with things that lots of us go through every day. Romance, divorced parents who don't even act like they want to spend time with you. It just makes the story seem even more realistic.

However, I thought I noticed a few inconsistencies, but it was nothing major. It might have just been me, I'm not sure. (I was reading with my contacts out and my glasses not on...) This is the only thing that I could say, besides a few grammer mistakes, that wasn't good about this book.”

Hope. wrote this review Monday, June 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Cameron didn't want his prom to be this way. He just wanted to go with Shane, his boyfriend, and be able to dance with him and whatever else people do on their prom nights.

But Shane came up with a plan for their prom night, since no one else, besides Jane, Shane's best friend, knew they were gay. They would go with dates, but stick together. Shane goes with Jane, and Cameron goes with Jane's friend, Virginia.

Cameron didn't know that his prom night would lead to breaking up with his boyfriend, burning his "dates" hair, and being chased by the police, just to name a few...

A Really Nice Prom Mess was a really good book. Brian Sloan made parts really funny, so you were sitting and laughing your head off, and others serious. You feel like you are right there, sitting and watching the action happen. If you like reading books about the prom, I would definitely recommend this book. It's not the normal they went to prom, they danced, they went to the after-party kind of book. Far from it, actually. It's very unique, which I like.”

Hope. wrote this review Monday, June 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 5 stars

“I have a liking for the Princess Diaries series. They are close to my heart, for the reason that they were the first Young Adult series - and book - that I ever read. I thought the first few books were great, but then they started losing their touch.

Princess Mia will definitely get you hooked back on the series again.

Mia is going through a rough time. She just broke up with Michael - the love of her life - and agreed to just be friends with him. Wallowing in her Hello Kitty PJ's in bed for almost a week is what follows. Her dad has enough of this and decides that she needs to get her life in order. So, she goes to see a psychiatrist.

It seems like her life might be going downhill, and that she's stuck in a deep hole and nobody can help her up, but it seems like people can. Her friends, for example, are there waiting to help her - Mia just needs to let them know.

I think this is my favorite Princess Diaries book. Mia doesn't seem immature anymore - she really grows up. She becomes more of an adult, and more like she could actually become a ruler. Meg's style is the same as it was in all the other books, which I love.

Overall, if you haven't read the Princess Diaries series, you really should. When you read them all back to back (and I'll admit, I've done this) you can really see the growth in Mia - especially in this last book.”

Hope. wrote this review Monday, June 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“It seems like Haven's summer couldn't get too much worse. Her best friend is off at 4-H camp, her sister, Ashley, is getting married, and her father is getting married to the "Weather Pet" - the person who broke her mom and dad apart.

Then, one day, she runs into Sumner, one of Ashley's ex-boyfriends, and remembers a summer when things seemed so perfect. Once a new light is shed on things, however, she realizes that things weren't as perfect as they seemed.

That Summer was kind of a let down to me. It was Sarah's first book and I don't think she had her touch that she has now yet. Don't get me wrong, it's not horrible - it's better than some YA books I've read before. After the other Sarah Dessen books I've read, this one was just.. different. At times, I thought it was hard to understand what Haven was thinking or feeling. I don't really like that in a book - it bugs me.

If you're looking for a better Sarah Dessen book, I'd check out The Truth About Forever or Someone Like You, the other two which I have read.”

Hope. wrote this review Monday, June 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“Ruby's sixteenth birthday is going pretty good. She's enjoying her time with friends and she loves the camera that her mom got her. Then, unexpectedly, her father shows up only after about, oh, ten years of nothing from him. She doesn't know what to do, and him coming just brings up painful memories from her childhood.

By her father coming, Ruby learns things about family and friends, though mostly friends. She finds someone she thinks she might just love, too. But with friend and family issues getting in the way, will she really be able to love him?

Siobhan Vivian wrote an excellent debut novel. I can now see why she was included in The Class of 2k8. The book is down-to-earth, and you can relate to the characters - especially Ruby - in one way or another. The style of the book reminds me of a Sarah Dessen book. The story is real, the characters are real, they deal with real, down-to-earth problems that every teenager does.

I hope that Siobhan Vivian writes another book soon! This one is on my favorites list now, and I know it will be one of yours, too.”

Hope. wrote this review Monday, June 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )