"If that was life, then it was twisted..."

     Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Grade:         48/50 = A

Synopsis:

Everybody told him to be a man.

Nobody told him how.

High school senior Tyler Miller used to be the kind of guy who faded into the background. But since he got busted for doing graffiti on the school, and spent the summer working outdoors to pay for it, he stands out like you wouldn’t believe. His new physique attracts the attention of queen bee Bethany Milbury, who just so happens to be his father’s boss’s daughter, the sister of his biggest enemy-and Tyler’s secret crush. Soon his life is a roller coaster, with fantastic highs, devastating lows, and no seat belt to protect him. he has no choice. He’ll have to ride it out...

Review:

So the beginning started off slow for me. I didn’t feel like I couldn’t put it down, like I have with other books. I felt like it didn’t matter if I kept reading or not. But then I got really into the book and Tyler’s story. I mean his life is definitely twisted, like the title suggests. I really like Tyler, I think he is genuinely a good person who is just trying to find who he is. After years of abuse, whether physical or verbal, from his dad and his peers, he took a stand. Not a smart one, but a stand. After the incident, he got arrested and spent the summer working with the school janitors and working for a landscaping company. Over the summer, he changed from a dorky boy to a grown man. 

We meet Tyler at the end of summer and we follow him on this journey to finding himself. While we go on this journey with him, we see him playing a game called Tophet a lot. The moral of the game is to get to the last level of hell and Tyler has no idea what happens when he beats the game. 

I really like how this book was written. It was crazy, and like it says before you actually start reading “This book is not for children.” Laurie Halse Anderson did a great job describing her characters. I felt like I could have been in my own high school when she was talking about the popular kids. The popular girls in my school mostly played basketball and soccer instead of tennis though. I think she did a great job with Tyler’s sister as well. We see her in the beginning as this little frosh and even though she stays the kid sister, she definitely has times where she sounds like a grown up. And here I must give an example, because I love this quote and I wish I heard it back when i really needed to... “The popular kids aren’t really popular. They’re obnoxiously loud, good-looking, and rich. Nobody likes them, but they rule the place.”

Ok so I need to add that towards the middle of the book, I found myself starting to get angry at a lot of the other characters. I got really angry at Tyler’s dad who just seems like a complete ass. I just felt like a father should really try to see what his kid is actually going through instead of blaming him for everything. I feel like his dad thought he ruined his life, and I feel like if you aren’t going to try to be a good parent, then why bother having kids. 

I am really happy I finished the book. The ending was amazing, the last line was amazing. I was moved with this book, just like I was with Speak. But I guess I shouldn’t have though otherwise with a great author huh?

Cover: 10/10

Beginning: 4/5

Ending:         5/5

Plot: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Satisfaction: 10/10

Top Ten Favorite love Stories

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. This week is your Top Ten Favorite Love Stories.

1. Graceling by Kristin Cashore- I don't know if this would be considered as a love story, but it was for me. I love Katsa and Po together. I love that Po loves Katsa so much that he will let her be herself and will not force her into marriage. 

2. the Georgia Nicolson series by Louise Rennison: So throughout the series Georgia goes between a couple of guys. But she keeps going back to Dave. I love the relationship between Georgia and Dave. I love their friendship and I loved how hard Georgia fought to fall for other guys. (I know that sounds really strange)

3. Inkheart, Inkspell, Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke: Other books that I don't know if they actually count as love stories. I feel like I can't even explain all I loved about Meggie and Farid. 

4. Rosie Dunne by Cecelia Ahern: It's really a story about best friends and how the time is never right for their love to blossom. It's just a beautiful story and it  makes me believe that some friendships really can last a lifetime.

5. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen: I don't remember all of this book, I read it quite a few years ago, but I remember feeling hopeful at the end of it. Hopeful that Remy and Dexter would stay together and that she could believe in love after all.

1. Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella: The book version is much better than the movie. I love Rebecca and Luke. He loves her with all her faults, he deals with her shopping problems, it’s a perfect couple. At least in my eyes.

Ok so I could only come up with 6. I think I need help in remembering the books I read more. So what are your top ten?

"I've heard you have one eye green as the Middluns grasses, and the other eye blue as the sky."

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Synopsis:

In a world where people born with an extreme skill- called a Grace- are feared and exploited, Katsa carries the burden of a skill even she despises: the Grace of killing. She lives under the command of her uncle Randa, King of the Middluns, and is expected to execute his dirty work, punishing and torturing anyone who displeases him. 

When she first meets Prince Po, who is Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.

She never expects to become Po’s friend.

She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace- or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away...a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

Review:

First and foremost...I loved this book. I think this story is better than Romeo and Juliet (which I have loved forever and it has now been passed over for Graceling.) I loved the adventure of this book, I loved the love story, I loved the fear that I felt when reading this. I have to say, I have probably experienced every emotion possible while reading this story. I laughed, I cried, I wished I was living in this world. I wondered what my Grace might be if I had one...then I decided I probably wouldn’t have had one. But how cool would it be to have two different colored eyes?

So back to the review. This book is a complete fairy tale, set in a different world with kingdoms and royalty and special abilities. It had the love story that all disney princesses get, but it had the adventure of a James Bond film. It was just a complete story that seemed very real. I read this book and kept thinking that if they made this into a movie, who would play who? Could a movie really portray the beauty of Lienid? I don’t think my imagination could even see all the beauty of this world, as much as I wanted too (maybe on the second read?) 

I loved the beginning of the book where we learn mostly about Katsa and her life as a killer. I loved the ending of the book, I think Kristin Cashore did an amazing job with a last sentence. Even though I really didn’t want the book to end, I just wanted to keep going and read more about Katsa and Po and where their lives would now take them. I really enjoyed how the story unraveled and I loved the thought process I put into trying to figure out what was really going on along with Katsa and Po. Kristin Cashore did an amazing job with her characters. She must have one crazy imagination that I wish I had as well. 

I feel as though Graceling would be a book that both boys and girls, adults and teenagers, would thoroughly enjoy. I think it had something for everyone and it was just very well rounded. I was so satisfied with this book that I feel I feel I must thank the author for writing something so brilliant and I cannot wait to pick up Fire (once I read the other 10 books on my nightstand.)

Cover: 10/10

Beginning: 5/5

Ending: 5/5

Plot: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Satisfaction: 10/10

Grade: 50/50 = A+

Thursday's Top Ten: Top 10 Things You Love/Hate about V-day

Thursday's Top Ten is a weekly meme you can find here. This week is the Top 10 Things you Love/Hate about Valentine’s day.

Love:

1. Candy...I love sweets, this is the one good thing about Valentine’s day...but even better is the sale on the candy after Valentine’s day...
2. Colors...I love the color red, especially with black. They were my school colors for both my high school and college
3. Elementary school Valentine’s Day “mail” boxes made out of shoe boxes...I still find this adorable, and I think now, they make everyone give a card to everyone if they are giving cards (make sense?) So now no one feels bad for not getting a valentine from the “popular” kindergartner.
4. the movie, Valentine’s Day... I really liked this movie. I think parts of it are hysterical. 
5. The real Valentines... There was a priest named Valentine who was put in prison because of his teachings. He was beheaded on the 14th. Supposedly he performed a miracle for the jailer’s daughter. He cured her of her blindness and left her a note stating “From Your Valentine.” Now this would be a good tradition on V-day. Doing something nice for someone without needing credit for it. The other Valentine was an Italian bishop who was imprisoned for marring couples in secret. Now that is sweet. He believed in love and helped people who loved each other get married (let’s hope he wasn’t the one who marred Romeo and Juliet since we all know the ending of that story.”

Hate:

1. The actual day...Why should there be one day where you celebrate your love for someone? Why should there be just 1 day where you should buy your loved one a gift? There is no spontaneity in this. My dad used to randomly come home from work with a rose for my mom, sometimes for my sister and me as well. Now that is love.
2. the Candy...or should I say gaining weight from eating too much candy. I wish I had a fast metabolism, and I wish I enjoyed fruits and veggies, but my love belongs to things that include sugar as one of the first ingredients.
3. When people feel bad for you when you do not have a Valentine. Back when I was like 12, my best friend (who I am still friends with now) felt bad for me because she had a Valentine and I didn’t. Why on Earth would someone feel bad for me. I don’t need a Valentine, I am perfectly capable of going and buying myself whatever I please (well within my budget which back then was pretty small but still...) Maybe some people don’t want a Valentine...like me.
4. the expectations that some people have...Back in high school and college around this time my friends would talk about what they wanted to Valentine’s day, what they were going to do, and how great it was going to be. But guys don’t think this way (or do they?) I guess I just don’t understand why this day matters so much. (anyone want to give me a hint.)
5. How Cupid is a baby with a bow and arrow or a grown man in a diaper (depends where you look I guess.) Who came up with this symbol for this day? First of all, who would give a baby a bow and arrow? Babies can barely hold a fork by themselves and now you want them to help people find love? That’s what match.com is for. And if you go the grown man route, why is he in a diaper? What happened to pants and a nice shirt? (do you see about the expectations thing?)

So this is my insane list. I might have gone a little crazy, but I am not feeling so well and took a bunch of medicine in hopes that it would help. Ok maybe we can’t blame it all on the medicine. We can probably blame some of it on the students in my school who only care about what gifts that will be getting on Monday. Thank goodness I am taking off. Have a great day everyone!

In My Mailbox:

IMM is a weekly meme hosted by the Story Siren. I actually got a bunch of books this week (all from the library...yay free books) So here is what I got.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Envy by Robin Wasserman

Masquerade by Melissa de la Cruz

  

Sweet Little Lies by Lauren Conra

Jemima J by Jane Green

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Wedding Girl by Madeleine Wickham

"You're okay for a bloodsucker..."

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

Synopsis:

Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is on a streak of bad luck. First, her coworker is murdered and no one seems to care. Then, she’s face- to- face with a beastly creature that gives her a painful and poisonous lashing.  Enter the vampires, who graciously such the poison from her veins (like they didn’t enjoy it).

Point is, they saved her life. So when one of the blood-suckers asks for a favor, she complies. And soon, Sookie’s in Dallas using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire. She’s supposed to interview certain humans involved. There’s just one condition: The vampires must promise to behave- and let the humans go unharmed. Easier said than done. All it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly...

Review:

I am really enjoying this series. I like that Sookie Stackhouse isn’t portrayed as a normal main character that I read about. Basically, I like that she isn’t extremely skinny. She is voluptuous and pretty, and I found out in this book a size 8. As much as I enjoy books that include the stereotypical main female character that is a size 2 and gorgeous, I really really like when authors bring in average females into the mix.

Other than Sookie’s supposed looks, I like how she thinks. While I read this book, I was trying to decide if I would have made the same decisions as Sookie made. I like how Charlaine Harris makes you think. I like that in this book, there were 2 mysteries. Who killed Lafayette and who had taken Farrell. You get so involved with what happened to the missing vampire in the middle of the book, that you seem to forget about who killed the cook (sounds like clue doesn’t it?) Charlaine Harris makes you think a little. As much as I enjoy easy reads (which are great when I am actually teaching and my brain hurts to think so much), these are the books that I enjoy when my brain doesn’t hurt. These are the books that won’t turn my brain to mush when I read too many of them because they keep me thinking. 

So in my rating, I said the cover was a 10 out of 10. I think I should explain this. At first glance the cover is confusing. Sookie is on a coffin flying above a city. I didn’t understand until I read the book, and then I thought it was a genius idea. 

Cover: 10/10 Beginning: 5/5

Ending:          5/5         Plot: 10/10

Characters: 10/10 Satisfaction: 10/10

                                     Grade: 50/50 = A+

"Welcome to Hollywood"

LA Candy by Lauren Conrad

Synopsis:

Los Angeles is all about the sweet life:

hot clubs, cute guys, designer...everything. Nineteen year old Jane Roberts can’t wait to start living it up. She may be in LA for an internship, but Jane plans to play as hard as she works, and has enlisted her BFF Scarlett to join the fun. 

When Jane and Scarlett are approached by a producer who wants them to be on his new series, a “reality version of Sex and the City,” they can hardly believe their luck. Their own show? Yes, please!

Soon Jane is TV’s hottest star. Fame brings more than she ever imagined possible for a girl from Santa Barbara- free designer clothes, the choicest tables at the most exclusive clubs, invites to Hollywood premieres- and she’s lapping up the VIP treatment with her eclectic entourage of new pals. But those same friends who are always up for a wild night are also out for a piece of Jane’s spotlight.

In a city filled with people chasing after their dreams, it’s not long before Jane wakes up to the reality that everyone wants something from her, and nothing is what it seems to be. 

Review:

I had been wanting to check out this book since I first heard about it, what seems like forever ago. I loved watching Lauren Conrad on Laguna Beach and the Hills (which totally went downhill when she left.) I think she did a pretty good job writing this book. It completely comes from experience which I am sure made it easier, but I think she has a knack for writing. I loved the beginning, I thought it was creative, and it gave us a sense of what the main characters were like before the cameras. I liked how the chapters went back and forth between Jane and Scarlett with a few other random characters thrown in once in awhile. 

While reading this, I found myself wondering if Jane and Scarlett’s friendship was like Lauren’s and Heidi’s friendship, and if the girls would last as friends throughout the series. I also found myself wondering if MTV helped Lauren get her apartment, like in the book. I guess I couldn’t help wondering if the fiction was truly fiction, or if everything happened to Lauren the same way. Maybe this is why I enjoyed the book so much, I thought I was getting an inside look at the Hills. However, I will be checking out the next book, and I hope it will be as enjoyable as this one was. 

I think this book would be good for anyone who wants an easy, beach type read. It didn’t include much mystery, so it didn’t involve as much thinking as say a Dan Brown book might. 

Cover: 10/10 Beginning: 5/5

Ending:           5/5         Plot: 9/10

Characters: 10/10 Satisfaction: 9/10

                                    Grade: 48/50 = A