In My Mailbox (36)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren. So this week I only got 1 book but 1 really good book!

Bought:

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

I already read it and I loved it! It's so good!

Accomplice by Eireann Corrigan

Title: Accomplice

Author: Eireann Corrigan

Published: 2010

Pages: 296
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis: They've gotten good grades - but that's not good enough. They've spent hours on community service - but that's not good enough. Finn and Chloe's advisor says that colleges have enough kids with good grades and perfect attendance, so Chloe decides they'll have to attract attention another way. She and Finn will stage Chloe's disappearance, and then, when CNN is on their doorstep and the nation is riveted, Finn will find and save her. It seems like the perfect plan - until things start to go wrong. Very wrong.

Review: The story starts with Finn talking about the things that have been going on. She and her best friend have decided that they need to call the attention of the world so they can go to the college they want to. Their plan was simple and shouldn't have strayed from it but as the time goes by everything changes and makes them question if what they're doing will ever turn out good.

Finn wasn't the normal main character because she had to say so many lies and pretend to be feeling something that she wasn't. Even though she sometimes got me irritated towards the end she realized that what they were doing wasn't right and wanted to back away from it. She thought of those who were suffering and because of this and decide to do what was right even if at the end it took some time.

The one that really made me mad was Chloe. I kind of felt that she was only thinking about herself the whole time. Throughout all the times that they should stop what they are doing she never wants to. The ending only made my opinion of her worse, showing that she really doesn't care for others.

I really liked the story overall though at times I couldn't understand why some people were acting the way they were. I keep going back to the ending but that's what made me give it a 4. Even though it shows who Cloe really is I also liked that Finn decided to stand up for her beliefs.

Book Blogger Hop & Follow Friday!

Book Blogger Hop is a fun meme hosted by Crazy For Books. Enter your link and go hop around other blogs that are out there, ready to be discovered!

All this week I had to take my finals! I had to study for the first day and then I actaully had to put notes inside my books so that I could use them for my English essay! I had no time to read, the reason why there wasn't a review this week but I'll try to do it very soon!

What book are you most looking forward to seeing published in 2011?  Why are you anticipating that book?

Out of the top of my head I would have to say Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton. I've heard so many good things about this book that I wish I could just have it and read it! 

To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list.
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can

What is/was your favorite subject in school?

My favorite subject used to be math simply because it came easily to me and I didn't have to force myself to learn it. Now that I'm having some trouble in math I would say maybe English because we get to read even though it's a different kind of reading.

If you're visiting, make sure you leave your link and I'll make sure to visit your blog!

In My Mailbox (35)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren. This week I got 1 book. I've been wanting to read it so I was excited when I finally got it!

For Review:

The Princess of Las Pulgas by C. Lee McKenzie

I loved this book! If you want to see my review just click here!

Thanks to The Teen Book Scene!

The Princess of Las Pulgas by C. Lee McKenzie

Title: The Princess of Las Pulgas
Author: C. Lee McKenzie
Released: 2010
Pages: 334
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: After her father's slow death from cancer, Carlie thought things couldn't get worse. But now, she is forced to confront the fact that her family in dire financial straits. To stay afloat, her mom has had to sell their cherished oceanfront home and move Carlie and her younger brother Keith to the other side of the tracks to dreaded Las Pulgas, or 0"the fleas" in Spanish. They must now attend a tough urban high school instead of their former elite school, and on Carlie's first day of school, she runs afoul of edgy K.T., the Latina tattoo girl who's always ready for a fight, even on crutches. Carlie fends off the attention of Latino and African American teen boys, and one, a handsome seventeen-year-old named Juan, nicknames her Princess when he detects her aloof attitude towards her new classmates. What they don't know is that Carlie isn't really aloof; she's just in mourning for her father and almost everything else that mattered to her. Mr. Smith, the revered English teacher who engages all his students, suggests she'll like her new classmates if she just gives them a chance; he cajoles her into taking over the role of Desdemona in the junior class production of Othello, opposite Juan, after K.T. gets sidelined. Keith, who becomes angrier and more sullen by the day, spray paints insults all over the gym as he acts out his anger over the family's situation and reduced circumstances. Even their cat Quicken goes missing, sending Carlie and Keith on a search into the orchard next to their seedy garden apartment complex. They're met by a cowboy toting a rifle who ejects them at gunpoint from his property. But when Carlie finds him amiably having coffee with their mom the next day -- when he's returned her cat -- she begins to realize that nothing is what it seems in Las Pulgas.

Review: The very first line of the book basically gives you a feel of what the book is about. "Last night I pleaded with Death, but he turned a bony back to me, pushed Hope into the corridor and shut the door." (Page 1)

Carlie has recently lost her father to cancer and all her family is suffering from this loss. They have to move to a city that is the complete opposite of what they are all used to. They must adjust to their new life and make many sacrifices. As they spend more time there, they find that things may be different than what they thought they would be.

At the beginning Carlie isn't happy the way her life is shaping up to be. Her new school is nothing like the one she went to before and there were many things that she had to learn. At first she wasn't happy at her new school and didn't try to fit in but as the story progressed she noticed that there were many good things in Las Pulgas.

There were so many emotions that passed through her and I think it's a reason why I liked this book so much. She felt anger towards her dad for having died and left them the way they are but at the same time she's sad he isn't there anymore. One thing I loved is when her dad talked to her in her mind when she needed guidance.

Her mom and brother, Keith, had a lot of adjusting to do and the reader could tell the different ways that each were handling their problems. Keith gets in trouble but at the same time that brings him to accept their new reality. Their mom was always hurting for what had happened to her and her way of life had to change.

There were some amazing characters each dealing with different problems that I think brought them together. The ending was one that I really liked! It was emotional but I think it suited the book well. I had high hopes for this book and I'm glad to say that I loved it!

I reviewed this book as part of a blog tour.

It's My Birthday & Blogaversary & A Giveaway!

So 15 years ago I was born! It was actually a Monday, though I hate Mondays! I think they seem to drag on forever! Anyway, it's my birthday!! And it also happens to be 1 year that I started this little blog! And so I decided to do a giveaway to celebrate my birthday and blogaversary and my followers!

What You Can Win

-A hardcover copy of Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
-A hardcover copy of If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince? by Melissa Kantor

The Details

-There will be 2 lucky winners.
-US only. I have no money!
-You don't have to be a follower but it's always appreciated!
-Deadline is 11:59 February 12th Pacific time. There's a clock on the left side.
-Winners will be announced on the 13th and will have 48 hours to respond to my email.
-1st winner will get first pick and the 2nd will get the other book.

All you have to do is fill out the form or the one below!!

Winner!!

Ashley from Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing!!

Congrats! You've won The Princess of Las Pulgas! I will be sending you an email soon!

Book Blogger Hop & Follow Friday!

Book Blogger Hop is a fun meme hosted by Crazy For Books. Enter your link and go hop around other blogs that are out there, ready to be discovered!

I've been trying to enjoy this week before my finals next week! I've been getting so much reading done and it feels good! It kind of feels like Wednesday since we didn't go to school on Monday but that just means Saturday seems closer!

To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list.
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can

Who do you cheer for?

If we're talking about football then I have no idea!  I know nothing about football and it's actually something that I wanted to learn more about this year!

If you're visiting, make sure you leave your link and I'll make sure to visit your blog!

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Iron Daughter
Author: Julie Kagawa
Released: 2010
Pages: 359
Rating: 4.5
Synopsis: Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.

Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

Review: After reading the first book I really wanted to see what happened next.

Meghan is in the home of Winter, where there is no one she can trust. When something important is stolen she is blamed and a war between Summer and Winter begins. She goes on a journey to find the stolen object that could possibly stop the war that is starting. Finding the object is proven to be hard and she will need help from friends and some that aren't exactly friends.

I really like Meghan. She's willing to do what she needs to do but still acts like a sixteen year old. Even though she's risking her life to save Faery she still wants the normal life with normal situations. Even though she can't use her fey powers she finds out that she may have a different power that can save them all. At the end of the book you can see that she's willing to sacrifice things for what she believes in.

I loved the conversations between Ash and Puck! There were parts were only Ash was with Meghan and there were parts were only Puck was there and I enjoyed all of them. The things that Puck, like always, are funny! Ash tried to do things by himself and it honestly hurt me to see him how he was for a while.

At the beginning the pace was kind of slow but as the book progressed the pace picked up. I liked how the it ended and it also left things hanging that I'm hoping will be answered in the next book. If you haven't read the first book you really need to and after you've read it, you need to start reading this one!

Guest Post: Marina Budhos (Tell Us We're Home)

Today I have Marina Budhos, author of Tell Us We're Home stopping by the blog! I think this is something that affects everyone, not just those living in the U.S.

How do you think that immigrants from around the world are changing the U.S. and those that live here?

It used to be that we thought of the suburbs as all-American. You know, the white-picket fence, the yellow school busses, moms picking us up at the bus stop, families knowing each other from generations back. But all that’s changed. Immigrants are everywhere now—not just in cities, but in suburbs. And they are all kinds of immigrants, from doctors to men who wash cars. For instance, in Fairfax County, VA, a suburban area just outside Washington, D.C., some of the school districts have more students who speak a foreign language, and whose parents were born elsewhere, than American-born families. In one part of Denver, CO, the school district has gone from being working class whites to over 60 percent Hispanic.

But of course, when you have so much change, and so much diversity with immigrants, there’s bound to be frictions. Some states have grown openly hostile to immigrants. In Arizona, there was a controversial law enacted, allowing law enforcement officers to stop anyone who might look suspiciously like an undocumented immigrant. IIn Long Island there was a rash of “Mexican jumping”, one terrible incident leading to the death of a Latino day laborer. But there are other places such as Cook County, outside Chicago, where they pride themselves in being a ‘mosaic’ suburb, made up of so many different cultures.

The suburb I portray—Meadowbrook—is just on the cusp of that change. Most of the immigrants live on the fringes, in apartment houses, since this is an expensive place to live, or the commute in to work there. And they are the underpinning of the town—they cut the lawns and hedges, or serve as nannies and maids—they’re the invisible people that make suburban life possible.

What I hope is that all this change is opening the eyes of American teenagers. That they can see there other ways to be, other languages, other experiences that can enrich theirs. That it shows them they are part of a global world.

But that means getting used to a lot of changes, right on their street, right in their schools.
 
You can find Marina Budhos here:
-Website
-Goodreads
 
Here is the book trailer if you would like to know more about Tell Us We're Home.
 

In My Mailbox (34)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren. So this week I didn't know if I would be getting any books but I did!

For Review:

Shadow of the Sun by Laura Kreitzer 

Soul Stalker by Laura Kreitzer

and some bookmarks!

Thanks to Laura Kreitzer and The Teen Book Scene!

What did you get this week?

Fused by Kari Lee Townsend

Title: Fused
Author: Kari Lee Townsend
Published: November 2010
Pages: 189
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis: After Sam is fused with her cell phone, she's ready to conquer the world! Or at least the 8th grade...

When Samantha Granger touches a meteor while talking on her cell phone, her life is changed forever: her body now has all the capabilities of her phone (GPS, phone, text, camera). She secretly calls herself a "Digital Diva" as she rushes to answer emergency calls. But will her identity be discovered when sparks fly (literally!) between her and Trevor, her dreamy crush? Samantha has to get a handle on her abilities and quick, because when Sam gets kidnapped and the entire town is in danger, she is the only one who can save them.

Review: This story stars with Samantha lost in the woods of her new home. She finds a mysterious object that looks like it came from space. When she tries to touch it she gets fused with her new phone her mom had given her. Her life is turned upside down when she finds out that she can now do everything that her phone could do.

Sam was a funny character that I didn't get tired of. She tries to solve her problem by herself but she will find out that she needs the help of others. Even though she had bigger problems she still acted like a girl who was trying to live her life like any other girl her age.

I liked how the idea of being fused with your phone was something that I hadn't heard of. Sam had to go through many different things to figure out how to use her new powers. She finds that some of them are actually useful while others she like to get rid of.

I would have never guessed who was the person behind all the bad things that happened. It was a surprise but I can also see where it came from. It was an enjoyable book that was light and funny. It was a fort book that I'm sure every one would enjoy!

I reviewed this book as part of a blog tour.

Book Blogger Hop & Follow Friday!

Book Blogger Hop is a fun meme hosted by Crazy For Books. Enter your link and go hop around other blogs that are out there, ready to be discovered!

I guess this week was both good and bad. I had to take a test and I did well but I also didn't have late start so I didn't get to sleep. I've also had to put aside reading for the past few days because of homework.

Why do you read the genre that you do? What draws you to it?

I read young adult books because I like being able to understand some of the things the characters go through. Some of the things are things that can happen in life.

I especially like reading fantasy because the author creates a whole new world but at the same time it can seem like the world we live in.

To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list.
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can

What makes up your non-human family??

I actually don't have a non-human family! I used to have a turtle but it died. My parents don't trust me to take care of any other animal!

While you're here make sure to enter my giveaway to win The Princess of Las Pulgas by C. Lee McKenzie!

If you're visiting, make sure you leave your link and I'll make sure to visit your blog!

Top Ten List with C. Lee McKenzie + Giveaway

I would like to welcome C. Lee McKenzie, author of The Princess of Las Pulgas, who is here to tell us the top ten craziest things she's ever done!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. My absolutely craziest and dumbest thing I ever did was to take a kayak out on the Colorado when it was running low--lots of sleepers in that river.(A sleeper is a boulder just under the surface of the water and not easy to spot.) I wrapped that kayak around one of those lovely boulders and had to portage my kayak across a mosquito infested two miles. Learned a big lesson that day.
2. I bought a mountain cabin and then rebuilt it--well, my husband and I did. It was crazy enough to make my grandmother cry when she saw where I planned to live.
3. I wrote a book. That was kind of crazy because I had no idea what I was doing. I only knew I wanted to tell a story, so I did.
4. I took a walk alone in Beijing and got lost. I thought I’d covered myself by remembering the name of the hotel. Very big mistake. It turned out there were several hotels in the city by the same name. I think being lost among 15, 000,000 people, none of whom I could find who spoke English, was kind of wacko.
5. I went up in a WWI bi-plane with a pilot who thought doing lazy-eights and barrel rolls wouldn’t upset my stomach. Wrong!
6. I rode a Scottish Highland cow. Euuu! Talk about crazy. It took several baths to undo that.
7. I dyed my hair red. Big crazy mistake.
8. I entered a marathon without training. Doctor bills for hamstring repair!
9. I ran away from home when I was ten.
10. I ordered Goat Tripe for dinner in Istanbul's Bazar. It was a dare. I took it. I still can’t look a goat in the eye.

I never ran away from home at ten and I'm not sure if I would do it even now, though I do kind of want to go to Beijing, minus the getting lost part!

-Visit C. Lee McKenzie's website to know more about her!

--------------------Giveaway!!--------------------

After her father's slow death from cancer, Carlie thought things couldn't get worse. But now, she is forced to confront the fact that her family in dire financial straits. To stay afloat, her mom has had to sell their cherished oceanfront home and move Carlie and her younger brother Keith to the other side of the tracks to dreaded Las Pulgas, or "the fleas" in Spanish. They must now attend a tough urban high school instead of their former elite school, and on Carlie's first day of school, she runs afoul of edgy K.T., the Latina tattoo girl who's always ready for a fight, even on crutches. Carlie fends off the attention of Latino and African American teen boys, and one, a handsome seventeen-year-old named Juan, nicknames her Princess when he detects her aloof attitude towards her new classmates. What they don't know is that Carlie isn't really aloof; she's just in mourning for her father and almost everything else that mattered to her. Mr. Smith, the revered English teacher who engages all his students, suggests she'll like her new classmates if she just gives them a chance; he cajoles her into taking over the role of Desdemona in the junior class production of Othello, opposite Juan, after K.T. gets sidelined. Keith, who becomes angrier and more sullen by the day, spray paints insults all over the gym as he acts out his anger over the family's situation and reduced circumstances. Even their cat Quicken goes missing, sending Carlie and Keith on a search into the orchard next to their seedy garden apartment complex. They're met by a cowboy toting a rifle who ejects them at gunpoint from his property. But when Carlie finds him amiably having coffee with their mom the next day -- when he's returned her cat -- she begins to realize that nothing is what it seems in Las Pulgas.

The Details

-There will be 1 lucky winner.

-US only. Sorry to all my international followers!

-You don't have to be a follower though it is always appreciated!

-Deadline is midnight January 20th Pacific time. There's a clock on the left side.

-Winner will be announced on the 21st and will have 48 hours to respond to my email.

All you have to do is fill out the form by clicking on the link or the one below!!

Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country by Allan Richard Shickman

Title: Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country

Author: Allan Richard Shickman

Published: 2009

Pages: 151
Rating: 4/5

Synopsis: The prehistoric saga continues in Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country, the sequel to the award winning Zan-Gah: A Prehistoric Adventure. In this story, Zan s troubled twin brother, Dael, having suffered greatly during his earlier captivity, receives a ruinous new shock when his wife suddenly dies. Disturbed and traumatized, all of his manic energies explode into acts of hostility and bloodshed. His obsession is the destruction of the wasp men, his first captors, who dwell in the Beautiful Country. When he, Zan-Gah, and a band of adventurers trek to their bountiful home, they find that all of the wasp people have died in war or of disease. The Beautiful Country is empty for the taking, and Zan s people, the Ba-Coro, decide to migrate and resettle there. But the Noi, Dael s cruelest enemies and former tormentors, make the same migration from their desert home, and the possibility develops of contention and war over this rich and lovely new land.

Review: After reading the first book I kind of had an idea of how the writing and how things would be different.

The book starts off some time after the first book ended. Their lives have changed and things aren't the way they were before. Zan has a wife and Dael has changed. He's not himself anymore and many fear what things he may do to himself and others. When the go the land of the wasp people they find that that land can now be theirs.

I enjoyed reading through the perspective of Zan. During that time the men didn't think very highly of the women but he's not like most of them and actually respects them. Like always, he doesn't want his people to suffer so he tries to guide the elders to take decisions that won't harm them. Even though Dael had changed he always tried to get near him and help.

Dael wasn't the person that was described at the beginning of the first book. He doesn't the men should ask the opinion of the women and thinks that Zan is weak for respecting them. He only wants to fight those who caused him so much damage and this leads him to make some dangerous actions, both for himself and his people.

When I first started reading this book I didn't think that I would be so eager to finish and know how everything ended. I liked how everything wrapped up and how Dael changed at the end. This is a book that everyone should read! It's so different from the things that I read that I enjoyed how it was so different!

In My Mailbox (33)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren. These books are from the past few weeks!

From Santa:
The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima
Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

For Review:
Logic of Demons: The Quest for Nadine's Soul by H.A. Goodman
The Samantha Granger Experiment: Fused by Kari Lee Townsend

What did you get this week?

Book Blogger Hop & Follow Friday

Book Blogger Hop is a fun meme hosted by Crazy For Books. Enter your link and go hop around other blogs that are out there, ready to be discovered!

This week I had to go to school. The good news is that I've been reading! My goal this year is to read 75 books so I hope I can achieve it! In 2010 I read more than my which 50 so I think I will!

What book influenced or changed your life? How did it influence/change you?

I would have to say Harry Potter. Apart from being the books that made me want to read, they also helped me through some really hard times in my life and made me understand why some things happen in life.

To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list.
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can

What book(s) have you discovered lately from someone's book blog?

Maybe not discovered but that the review made me want to read it is Unearthly by Cynthia Hand. The reviews that I've read make me want to buy it!
If you're visiting, make sure you leave your link and I'll make sure to visit your blog!

The Pearl by John Steinbeck

Title: The Pearl
Author: John Steinbeck
Published: October 1947
Pages: 97
Rating: 4/5
Summary: The story is about a man named Kino, his wife Juana and their son Coyotito. Coyotito gets stung by a scorpion and is close to death. Kino and Juana bring him to the doctor but the doctor turns them down because they do not have money.

Kino resolves to find a pearl among oysters to bring them out of poverty and his greatest wish comes true. However, the magnificent pearl brings with it misfortune that befalls Kino.

Will he choose to keep the pearl?

Review: If I had the chose I don't think I would've read it but thanks to my English class I ended reading it.

It's a very short novella that has a lot to it. The plot is simple and yet it manages to have a lot of meaning. Kino lives a not-so-very-rich life. Coyotito is ill and when he needs help it is denied for the status he has in society.

Kino was just a person living a normal life that happens to come across something that could change his life, a pearl. Like any other person trying to be someone better and have a better status in society he tries to get money from it but his plans are turned upside down.

It was really sad to see all the bad things that happened to Kino, Juana and Coyotito. They were just trying to earn some money that would help them cure Coyotito. The result of the having found the pearl is something that neither of them could have ever thought possible.

I liked the book for what it represented but I really didn't like the ending. The ending was sort of confusing and I don't know if I would've understood it by myself if someone hadn't helped me understand. The ending didn't help the book or the things that happened but I enjoyed reading it.