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.

Updates

Yes, I know I haven't blogging in MONTHS. There's really no excuse for it, but I thought I would make a little bit of an updates post.

I do have A LOT of book reviews that I need to catch up on, and those will be coming your way soon. I haven't been in the reading mood lately but I think my desire to read might be coming back. Let's hope that's the case.

I just turned 13! I am finally a teenager, which means that I will no longer be a pre-teen blogger. Now I'm a teen blogger! I'm so excited for this year coming up and hope I get to share it with you.

My two year blogging anniversary is coming up on June 27th, and I wanted to ask you guys if you had any fun ideas to help me celebrate. If you do please leave them in the comments or email me.

That's pretty much all, I just wanted to say that I love you guys and hope that your reading some very good books!

Love,
Sierra

Review: Twilight The Graphic Novel by Stephanie Meyer and Young Kim

Released: March 16, 2010
Published by: Yen Press
Series: Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Book One
Star Rating: 5 out of 5
Source: Borrowed ?
Page Amount: 224
Age Group: Young Adult

Summary

When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his true identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret...

Review

Yes. I am a Twilight fan. Why does that surprise you? Well, it might not. But trust me, I’m not a screaming, annoying Twi-hard. I liked it before it was all hyped up. I’m not the hugest fan of it any more, but I still wanted to read the graphic novels. And god I was not disappointed.

I read this in… half an hour? While I was on my cruise back in December they had a bunch of books, so I chose to read this one because I knew I would be able to finish the book before the week was done. I probably would have waited until this came out in paperback to read this, because I don’t think it would have been worth it to pay 20 bucks on a book that would take me half an hour to read.

First off: the art was my favourite thing through this whole novel. Oh. My. God. It is one of the most GORGEOUS things I have ever seen in my entire life. I mean, look at Edward. *swoon*. I liked that the character’s didn’t look exactly like their actors in the movies, because I probably wouldn’t have liked it as much.

The story is the exact same as the regular Twilight books, just shortened. I wish it would have been longer, like I wish they would have just made the first book the whole Twilight novel, rather than breaking it up into parts.

Overall, this was a very great read and I can’t wait to pick up the second one!

Cover Comments

Like the art all throughout the novel, the cover is gorgeous. I like that they didn’t base Bella’s looks off of Kristen Stewart, but how Stephanie Meyer envisioned her with her imagination.

Review: Bright Young Things by Anna Godberson

Released: October 12, 2010 Published by: HarperCollins
Series: Bright Young Things, Book One
Star Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: Amazon Kindle Store
Page Amount: 389
Age Group: Young Adult

Summary

The year is 1929. New York is ruled by the Bright Young Things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the Roaring Twenties.

Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey escaped their small Midwestern town for New York's glittering metropolis. All Letty wants is to see her name in lights, but she quickly discovers Manhattan is filled with pretty girls who will do anything to be a star...

Cordelia is searching for the father she's never known, a man as infamous for his wild parties as he is for his shadowy schemes. Overnight, she enters a world more thrilling and glamorous than she ever could have imagined—and more dangerous. It's a life anyone would kill for...and someone will.

The only person Cordelia can trust is Astrid Donal, a flapper who seems to have it all: money, looks, and the love of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. But Astrid's perfect veneer hides a score of family secrets.

Across the vast lawns of Long Island, in the illicit speakeasies of Manhattan, and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls' fortunes will rise and fall—together and apart. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe comes an epic new series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age.

Review

I’ve always been a big fan of historical fiction, and I knew I needed to read more of it. When I was informed that this book was temporarily free for the Kindle, I took advantage of it. I’ve never read anything by Anna Godberson before this, but her books have been on my to-be-read list for a long time now. I was not disappointed!

The beginning of this novel didn’t captivate me right away. I wasn’t totally in love with the whole concept of escaping to New York City to live out big dreams of becoming a Broadway star/actress and being rich and famous (that’s a little Rachel Berry, don’t you think?) but by the middle of the novel I knew it wasn’t going to be one of those stereotypical breakout-star novels.

I loved the setting of this novel. New York City is somewhere that (before reading this novel, shortly after I went there for a couple days) I’ve always wanted to go, so I love reading books that are set there because it gives me a good image of what “the city that never sleeps” looks like.

Anna’s writing was beautiful. It was a lot more complex than some of the novels I’ve been reading recently, and I think it fit the story very well. I think she wrote it perfectly in that era. Even though I’m totally not an expert in history, I could totally see someone from that era speaking like Anna wrote it. At some points though, I could see a bit of modern talk slipping through, but it didn’t happen very often.

I loved Letty and Cordelia’s friendship in the beginning. Although, once you got around the middle it got very stereotypical and I couldn’t stand it. I although I loved Cordelia’s relationship with her father, I found it a bit unrealistic in some areas. It felt a bit rushed, as if it didn’t have time to fully develop like a real relationship should.

I recommend this novel to anybody who likes historical ficition which takes place during the flapper period. I would also recommend this novel to anybody who likes drama-type novels, as this novel was full of it! I really enjoyed reading this novel, and I look forward to picking up the next book in the series and reading Anna Godberson’s other works of fiction!

Cover Comments

This cover is gorgeous. I love it, I love the flapper era so this cover is definitely up my alley! I also LOVE the girl’s dress, I would totally wear it! I also love the font the title is written in, it’s simple yet not boring.

Review: Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Released: December 23, 2008
Published by: Hyperion Books
Series: Touch, Book One
Star Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: Netgalley
Page Amount: 252
Age Group: Young Adult


Summary

Some secrets shouldn't be kept...

Up until three months ago, everything in sixteen-year-old Camelia's life had been fairly ordinary: decent grades; an okay relationship with her parents; and a pretty cool part-time job at the art studio downtown. But when Ben, the mysterious new guy, starts junior year at her high school, Camelia's life becomes anything but ordinary.

Rumored to be somehow responsible for his ex-girlfriend's accidental death, Ben is immediately ostracized by everyone on campus. Except for Camelia. She's reluctant to believe the rumors, even when her friends try to convince her otherwise. She's inexplicably drawn to Ben...and to his touch. But soon, Camelia is receiving eerie phone calls and strange packages with threatening notes. Ben insists she is in danger, and that he can help--but can he be trusted? She knows he's hiding something... but he's not the only one with a secret.

From the best-selling author of Blue is for Nightmares comes a story of paranormal romance that's sure to be a thrilling and chilling teen favorite.

Review

I saw this novel on Net galley (weird right?) and I knew I wanted to read it so I requested it. I’m so glad I got the opportunity to get this novel because I was not disappointed!

This story was so fast paced, getting right down to business right at the very first page. I really liked that, I felt it went very well with this story.

Camelia was a very enjoyable character. She was realistic, but without being too boring. I love my bad boys so of course I fell in love with Ben. The only thing I didn’t like was that I could see through him through the whole book, I would have preferred him to have a more hard core bad boy feel through the whole book. Camelia’s friends were some of my favourite I have ever read about… I wish they were my best friends!

I found the writing incredible, I think the author wrote the story beautifully. There were some moments that I was so captivated by the writing alone that I lost track of time.

I enjoyed this novel a lot, and I can’t wait to get into the other books in the series.

Cover Comments

I love love LOVE this cover. I think the little detailing around the title is gorgeous! I love the girl’s dress, and overall I think it’s a good representation of this novel. Gah!

Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Released: August 1, 2009
Published by: Scholastic
Series: Wolves of Mercy Falls, Book One
Star Rating: 3 out of 5
Source: Bought
Page Amount: 309
Age Group: Young Adult

Summary

Grace and Sam share a kinship so close they could be lovers or siblings. But they also share a problem. When the temperature slips towards freezing, Sam reverts to his wolf identity and must retreat into the woods to protect his pack. He worries that eventually his human side will fade away and he will be left howling alone at the lonely moon. A stirring supernatural teen romance.

Review

I read this book back in October… yes, October. I’m having a bit of a hard time trying to remember what I thought about this one but I’ll try as hard as I can.

I remember that I had a really hard time getting into this novel. I’m not a huge fan of paranormal romance, but I heard this novel was brilliant and a very good read so I decided to give it a try. I wasn’t totally blown away by it, but I remember I enjoyed it.

I really liked Grace and Sam’s relationship. I felt like they were two people that really complimented each other very well.

I feel like I’m the only one that wasn’t really blown away with Maggie’s writing. Sure, it was really good but I think I’ve read better. I really liked the simplicity of it.

I’m going to leave it at that, but I did enjoy this novel a lot.

Cover Comments

I think this cover is absolutely gorgeous. I think the simplicity of it is wonderful, and I think the series matches very well.

Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Released: October 16, 2008
Published by: Speak
Series: Stand Alone Novel
Star Rating: 5 out of 5
Source: Gift
Page Amount: 305
Age Group: Young Adult

Summary

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life--dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge--he follows.
After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues--and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.
Printz medalist John Green returns with the brilliant wit and searing emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers.

Review

I read LOOKING FOR ALASKA a few years back, and I had instantly fallen in love with John Green. His writing style is just so unique and riveting that I couldn’t get enough.

One thing I think I like most about John Green’s books is that they are written in the perspective of boys. Must Young Adult books these days are written in the perspective of girls that I think it’s a nice breath of fresh air when I read one about a boy.

One thing that I didn’t like much about this novel is that it reminded me a lot of LOOKING FOR ALASKA. I don’t know if I just had LOOKING FOR ALASKA on the brain or something, but I felt that it was very similar. Margo reminded me of Alaska and Quentin reminded me of Miles. Other than that though, this novel was amazing.

I enjoyed this book very much. John Green is definitely one of my favourite authors in the entire world and his books have made me look at this world in a totally different way than I did before I read his novels. He made me realize how many secrets one person can really keep bottled up inside and how we don’t really know someone, no matter how long we’ve known them. People aren’t open books. You need to dig and John Green has made me realize that more than ever between LOOKING FOR ALASKA and PAPER TOWNS. Everybody needs to read these books because everybody needs to realize these things.

Cover Comments

I wish I could have gotten the blue cover with Margo’s face on it, but this one is much better than the yellow one with Margo’s face on it. I like the whole photo and how it works with the title, but it’s not one of my favourites.