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Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski

Released: June 7th, 2011
Published by: HarperTeen
Series: Stand Alone
Star Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Source: Bought
Edition: Kindle
Page Amount: 368
Age Group: Young Adult

Summary

2 girls + 3 guys + 1 house - parents = 10 things April and her friends did that they (definitely, maybe, probably) shouldn't have.
If given the opportunity, what sixteen-year-old wouldn't jump at the chance to move in with a friend and live parent-free? Although maybe "opportunity" isn't the right word, since April had to tell her dad a tiny little untruth to make it happen (see #1: "Lied to Our Parents"). But she and her housemate Vi are totally responsible and able to take care of themselves. How they ended up "Skipping School" (#3), "Throwing a Crazy Party" (#8), "Buying a Hot Tub" (#4), and, um, "Harboring a Fugitive" (#7) at all is kind of a mystery to them.
In this hilarious and bittersweet tale, Sarah Mlynowski mines the heart and mind of a girl on her own for the first time. To get through the year, April will have to juggle a love triangle, learn to do her own laundry, and accept that her carefully constructed world just might be falling apart . . . one thing-she-shouldn't-have-done at a time.

Review

I bought this on my Kindle for 99 cents awhile back. To be honest, I kind of forgot about it until I was going through my Kindle recently and found it again. I decided it would be the perfect summer read. I had read really good reviews going into this book, so I thought it would be a good one to pick up.

First of all, the title. I mean, who can’t love that title? I think it’s adorable and perfect for the novel.

Even though this book is totally unrealistic, and something like this would be very unlikely to happen in real life, I could totally imagine myself in April’s shoes. All of the characters in this novel are very realistic. I fell in love with Hudson very fast, and detested Noah almost immediately. Vi and Marissa are people that I would want to be best friends with. April is very much the person I wish I was - independent, wild, strong, carefree, and outgoing.

I love the different settings involved in this book - Westport, Paris, and Cleveland. But really… April, why in the world wouldn’t you move to Paris? I mean… it’s Paris!

I gave this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was the ending. I felt as though it was extremely rushed, as though Sarah Mlynowski wanted to hurry up and finish the novel. I didn’t have enough closure with this book as I would have liked.

I very much enjoyed this book. It was the perfect summer read and exactly what I was in the mood to read. I definitely suggest you pick up Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have)

Cover Comments

I love this cover! I think it’s absolutely adorable, and perfect for this novel (which is absolutely adorable as well). I think it fit’s the story and title perfectly. I think it’s the perfect cover for a fun chick lit book like this one.

Teaser Tuesday: The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Here are the rules:

• Grab your current read
• Let the book fall open to a random page
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Be careful to not give any spoilers... you don't want to ruin the book for everyone!

Title: The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud
Author: Ben Sherwood
Page Teasers are From: p.g 35

"Fewer people have circumnavigated the world alone than had climbed Mt. Everest, and Tess's goal was to become one of the first ten women ever to make the journey. So far only eight had succeeded."

That is my Teaser Tuesday... post a link to yours in the comments below :)

Review: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

Released: July 17th, 2012
Published by: Little, Brown Young Readers
Series: The Land of Stores, Book One
Star Rating: 5 out of 5
Source: Bought
Page Amount: 438
Age Group: Middle Grade

Summary

Alex and Conner Bailey's world is about to change, in this fast-paced adventure that uniquely combines our modern day world with the enchanting realm of classic fairytales.
The Land of Stories tells the tale of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about.
But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.

Review

First of all: I absolutely love Chris Colfer. He’s seriously the most flawless human being on his earth. I love Kurt (his character in Glee) and he’s my hero. Second of all: no, that is not the only reason I gave this book five stars.

Alex and Conner are perfect protagonists for this novel. I loved how they are two very different mindsets, and loved how that played a role in things that happened to them. Alex is very much like myself in ways, she loves to read and grew up reading the things she’s seeing in the Land of Stories. If that ever happened to me, trust me I would be very much like her, looking around and crying at things I recognized. Conner is very much the opposite of Alex, he wants to get things done and get them done fast.

I was on the edge of my seat almost this entire book. I felt so attached to these characters, and whenever they ran into something I was rooting for them and wondering how in the world they were going to get out of this mess.

I was absolutely in love with the world that was the Land of Stories. I also loved the little fold out map in the book (I’m not sure if that’s going to be in the paperback, but I’m sure they’ll include it somehow) and how whenever they would mention something, I could fold out the map and see where they were and what they were talking about. I think that made me like the book a little more, I love when there are little touches like that in novels.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun read and I can’t wait for the rest of the books in the series to come out.

Cover Comment

At first, I wasn’t a fan of the cover at all. I thought they should have chose something better. But now that I have read the story, I think it’s the most perfect cover they could have chose for the book. At first I wasn’t a fan of the artwork (well, all in all I’m not a fan of artwork covers. I prefer real photographs) of Alex and Conner with the other pieces of artwork (like the frog, wolf and queens) surrounding them. Now, I don’t think they could have represented the book any other way. There’s jut so much going on that I think what they did was perfect.