Book Review: "The Virginity Club"

The title alone of this book is probably more than enough to stir up controversy. Oh yes, The Virginity Club is one of those books; that no matter which side of the line you stand on, there's probably something between these covers that will end up getting your panties in a bunch. And I'm not immune.

This is by no means a new pet peeve of mine, but personally, it bothers me whenever a book, a film, or anything else decides to force the notion that virginity is something to be ashamed of and should be shaken off as quickly as possible. Let me make it clear: there is NOTHING wrong with virginity, and I don't care what age you are - if you happen to be one, even if you feel like you must be the only one left at your age, trust me. There's PLENTY of others out there who're just as old as you, and older. Whew, okay, got that out of the way. Now, onward.

This book has an almost schizophrenic sort of flip-flopping on the issue. All the girls in this book are vying for the same scholarship; one in which the biggest caveat is that you must be "pure of body and spirit". Not once in this entire book does it end up saying just how that rule is to be enforced. The term is very much open for debate as far as its true meaning goes. Regardless, prior to this scholarship, it seems that most of the girls wanted to lose their virginity ASAP. Then when this came around, oh, of course. It's a different tune now that money's involved. And you have characters from both sides here, ones ridiculing virgins, and ones martyrizing them. Not much for in between the two extremes, either. But that's not all... they also go the opposite extreme and do a TON of slut-shaming. (Yes, that's a real term.) Which makes one think then that the author must, on some level, be more on the side of thinking that virginity is virtuous and should be kept at all costs, but....there's so much in here that contradicts that. Basically, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't according to this book. Well what, exactly, is this book trying to convey as a message then? I don't know, and because of that, it seems to have missed its mark majorly. At best, I feel I can only bear to give this book a 3 star rating, and even that feels like it's being generous.

Book Review: "What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know"

First thing's first: let me start out by saying that I generally don't seek out poetry/prose books. Not that I have anything against them - I don't in the least - it just doesn't usually happen. And I had no idea when I picked up this book that it was written as such. What surprises me more, and is completely new to me, is that this author actually wrote a novel-length story out of their poetry and prose. I've never seen a story written that way, so forgive me if I'm being completely naive here, but I found it to be very refreshing and downright intriguing. I honestly never even occurred to me that an author could do that! So, speaking as a writer who has an incredibly hard time writing so much as one little poem, say nothing of a STORY out of them... I'm in absolute awe of this book.

The story too is also intriguing. You almost forget about the ages of the characters, they're so far ahead of their time. Then again, I might be biased, because in school, I felt I basically was a female version of the main character in this story. A social outcast; an avid fan of classic rock; an artist at heart; a hopeless romantic. I felt so much at home reading this that at times, I nearly felt like I was reading back through old diary entries of my own. I really, really enjoyed this one, and highly recommend it! Big 5 star rating!

Book Review: "Star Power (Talent #3)"

In this final installment of Zoey Dean's Talent series, the girls are truly finding themselves on the up and up. Mac has taken it upon herself to become everybody's agent. (It used to just be Emily's.) She starts out meaning well, but soon becomes heady with power and starts letting it get to her. Emily is still in full swing of her Davey Woodward crush, and it's only coming out more and more in spades since working with him on set in a romantic role. Becks has been signed on as the fourth Dixie Girl, which are a world-renowned surf team. And Coco is trying to make a name for herself as a singer, and not as just Cardammon's daughter. But since Mac keeps putting her managerial duties first and friendship second, and as is to be expected, ends up making a huge mess out of things. As with most things, things find a way of working out in the end, and ends up on a cute note.

I'll be sad to see the girls go, but at the same time, one can really only put up with so much middle school drama. After all, isn't living it firsthand once enough? But I did enjoy the story, and I'm rating this one a 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "Hollyweird"

Hollyweird by Terri Clark is a fun little read that's essentially a new spin on the classic good vs. evil tales. 3 girls win a trip out to LA to meet their favorite actor and idol, Dakota Danvers, and be treated to the whole celebrity treatment while they're there. What they don't know is that their idol...is the son of Satan.

But all hope is not lost. Just as unknowingly as they'd gotten mixed up with hell's minion, one of God's fallen angels, Jameson, is provided to them as a protector. They don't know it right away that he's an angel, but in time, the truth is revealed, as is the knowledge that the supernatural world of demons, vampires, witches, werewolves, etc all exist in the underground. Likewise, it's brought to their attention that much of the celebrity world is part of this preternatural existence. (What an interesting thought that would be if it really did work that way?) But Jameson has been given the assignment of being put in charge of defeating Dakota before he unleashes evil on the entire world...and his plans are coming together faster than anyone could possibly think. The only help in the world that he has is that of which he entrusts in the girls.

There's a lot of aspects of this book that remind me of one of my favorite films ever, Stanley Donen's Bedazzled. Good vs. evil, the 7 deadly sins, etc. It all comes into play here in a fresh, modern spin on a classic tale. It's a quirky, easy read (you could easily read it in one sitting if you were so inclined), and I highly recommend it to just about everybody :) 5 star rating!

Book Review: "Almost Famous (Talent #2)"

This second installment of Zoey Dean's Talent series is thankfully a huge step up from its predecessor. Whereas the first book in the series was bland and boring, this one is filled with juicy drama all the way through, and really fleshes out what each character is all about. It's all in the tone of middle school drama gone VERY awry, and eventual revenge. However, morality is to be upheld, and the underlying message is that revenge doesn't pay, no matter how badly you've been burned. (It would've been too predictable if everything had ended up working out according to plan with the revenge plots.) I think there's a lot of themes throughout this book though that most people can relate to on some level, as most people have been harassed in school at some point in their lives; maybe not to the degree these girls are, but it still gets its point across. Regardless, I'm voting this one a big 5 stars :)

Book Review: "Talent"

Outside of her The A-List series, Zoey Dean has another offering for us with a miniseries meant for a slightly younger demographic, starting with this book, Talent.

The premise is basically this: Emily, a typical all-American girl from Iowa, comes to LA to visit the city with her mother and her best friend for a week. Just as Hollywood-obsessed as most girls their age, they soak up every little detail about the business that they can... but especially when it comes to their movie star obsession, Davey Woodward. There's the typical levels of teenage star obsession...and then there's these girls. Who, after hearing that Davey has a movie premiere party just 10 blocks away from where their hotel is they're staying at, sneak out after Emily's mom falls asleep that night. Paige gets turned away from the door immediately, whereas Emily succeeds in lying her way into the party. She's quickly discovered by the one girl who caught her little 'performance', whose mother just happens to represent Davey - along with 90% of the rest of young Hollywood. Feeling that she's stumbled upon something special here, she decides to try and make Emily a star. However, as her mother's not willing to even hear her out for her efforts, she's left to do this almost entirely on her own...and it inevitably proves to be much harder than she ever could have anticipated.

I get the feeling that this book was aimed for a middle school demographic, and is written as such. It's not bad - it's actually a very cute read, not to mention a quick one at that (despite being almost 300 pages). It's just interesting enough to have picqued my interest into wanting to check out the next book in the series. :) Rating this one 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "City Of Angels (The A-List: Hollywood Royalty #3)"

The final book of Zoey Dean's A-List series has now truly drawn to a close...and I must happily say that I was finally impressed with this off-shoot of the original series. If you've read my reviews of the other two books in this trilogy spin-off, you'll know that I felt the other two books left much to be desired and paled vastly in comparison with its mother series. This book, however, makes me a little sad to see it go so soon now. Why couldn't all three have been written as well as this one?? I'd be rooting and cheering for more if they'd all been like this! (I'm tempted to shoot the author an email, asking if there's any chance there might just be one more story left in her to round out these books...perhaps to tie up loose ends a little more, but I'm sure that it's just not in the cards.)

The characters that I'd more or less resented in the past two books, I finally came to love in this one. Especially when it came to the rockstar romance drama of Daisy and Ash, it truly made me yearn for more. In all honesty, I would be beyond thrilled if there were a series just for them out of all this, as I feel that in this book, they became my favorite characters. Maybe I'm a little bit biased, as I once lived a romance verrrrry similar to the one that was outlined here, but that's neither here nor there. Then there's the drama of Jake with Amelie and Jojo, which made me yearn with every ounce of my being to finally see Jake end up with Jojo and get their own happy ending story. Hell, I even wanted to see Myla and Danny hook back up, once and for all, but that wasn't to be, either. (Insert dramatic sigh here.) I just... I feel like I just now finally got into these books, and now it's all over. :( This really bums me out, because this story was written so well. Please, Zoey Dean, write one more for me?

A big 5 star rating to this one!