Book Review: "Let It Snow - Three Holiday Romances"

I'm sure you guys all remember my Lauren Myracle phase, where I barrelled through just about every book she wrote in a few months' time. ...Except this one, because our library's copy was ALWAYS checked out. Well, I finally got a hold of it (a couple of years later), and while I was anticipating it to be your typical, run of the mill collection of short stories, it does fit that bill...but more.

You see, these aren't just any holiday-themed short stories. You don't realize it going into it on the first one, but every detail is important, as all three of these stories are intertwined and connected (and pulled together especially at the end of the third story). It's done VERY expertly and really cutely, in my opinion. I found myself starting to fangirl every time the stories started to crossover on each other and link together, and it happens with increasing intensity the further it goes on, until you just feel like you know this close-knit small community in full. A nice quality to embody in a Christmas-themed story, if you ask me. Ranking this one 4 stars!

Book Review: "Diva (The Flappers, #3)"

I know I should have read this series in sequence, but I just couldn't help myself -- I was so in love with the cover of this one that I read it first. ;) (I'm going to backtrack and read the other two though.) Anyhow, Diva, the third book in Jillian Larkin's The Flapper series, is a perfectly marvelous romance/drama/mystery about the 1920's, right in the height of the same era as The Great Gatsby. The author certainly did her homework in terms of fashion, slang, popular locations, you name it... I was absolutely thrilled to see this. The book is really about three miniature stories all in one book, all intertwined and running parallel to each other. Each chapter is labeled with which woman it involves, so once you realize that, the book is far easier to follow. I don't know how much I can truly say here about the plot without giving it all away, so I'm going to just leave that part a mystery for you to find out if you should choose to read it. ;) Anyway, I absolutely adored this book and I'm rating it 5 stars!

Book Review: "The Treasure Map Of Boys (Noel, Jackson, Fin,, Hutch, Gideon -- and me, Ruby Oliver)"

Having just finished reading the fourth book in the Ruby Oliver series, I have to admit, I think I like this one the best so far. It perfectly captures the complexities of high school relationships with friends, enemies, boys in general, adults, employers....you name it, it has it. It conveys exactly what it feels like to be caught in the middle of so many strongly conflicting emotions with different people and not knowing ideally how to handle any of it, even when your heart is in the right place and you're trying to do the right thing. All of this sounds very vague, but take my word for it. There's a lot to be said for this little book; so much so that I'm giving it a 5 star rating!

Book Review: "The Boy Book (A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques For Taming Them)"

The Boy Book (A Study of Behaviors, Plus Techniques For Taming Them) by E. Lockhart is the second book of the Ruby Oliver series. The girls are a little older in this story, but the drama still hasn't stopped -- or even really died down since the last school year. (Then again, does high school drama ever?) But now our Ruby isn't just pining away after one boy, oh no. Now there's about three. As you can imagine, her reputation can hardly handle such a thing at this point. And then there's the matter of still being a social leper carrying over from the previous year...

Far-fetched though some of the drama may sound, a lot of it seems to be spot on for being exactly how I remember high school drama working. It sounds ridiculous as soon as you're old enough to be past it, but while it's going on, it seems like your world is going to end because of these things happening. (Obviously, it doesn't really happen.) I think a lot of girls could relate to the sort of feelings that get deal with in this story, and with some of the tough decisions that have to be made here. Have to say, I'm already looking forward to seeing how the story future unfolds in the next book! :) Rating this one 4 out of 5 star.

Book Review: "The Boyfriend List: (15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver)"

The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Cermanic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart reads as though it were the much-convoluted dating diary of one Ruby Oliver, average teenager. Or not so average...

When Ruby begins to suddenly have panic attacks, her mothers signs her up to start seeing a therapist. Her first assignment is to make a list of every boy she's ever had any sort of romantic connection to whatsoever, and well...that's what starts the ball rolling for all the chaos that ensues.

The teenage tales of woe told here are not only relatable, but extremely humorous at the same time. It pokes fun at the drama of high school life without painting it as a charicature. My only complaint is that it's hard to keep track of who all's who in this story, but then again, isn't that how high school works as well? Rating this one 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "The Memory Keeper's Daughter"

It's not often that a  book can come into your life whose story, practically from the very first chapter til the last page, will rip your heart out, stomp all over it, utterly destroy you....but yet, you can't put the book down...

This. This is that book.

From the moment you open this book, you're plunged into a world of drama. It starts in the early 60's with a newlywed couple, doctor David Henry and his wife, Norah, expecting the birth of their first child. Norah goes into labor in the middle of a blizzard, and they barely make it to the clinic in time. The doctor who would have delivered the child got into a car accident on the way to the clinic, so David is left to deliver his own child...or rather, children. Unbeknownst to the couple, Norah had been carrying twins. The first, a boy -- Paul -- had been born perfect in just about every possible way. The second, a little girl named Phoebe, is born with Down's syndrome, which was practically a death sentence in those days. Having had the attending nurse act as an anesthesiologist, Norah had been knocked out for the birth and unaware she'd even given birth to twins until after the fact. She never saw the daughter, as David sent Phoebe off with the nurse, Caroline, to send her to an institution. However, as fate would have it, Caroline sees the horrible conditions of the institution and refuses to leave the child in such a place, as she has no doubt in her mind it would destroy her. Acting against the doctor's wishes, she takes the child to raise as her own.

Without giving away the entire plot, there is much drama from both sides: Caroline with the rigors of trying to raise a child that's not only not her own but is severely handicapped, David having to keep this secret with him for his entire life, never telling another soul that Phoebe had been given away but instead letting the world believe the infant had died at birth. The guilt consumes him; the grief consumes Norah, and the pressure of both placed on Paul end up causing him to lash out and rebel. There's so many twists and turns this story takes over the quarter of a decade that it spans over, it's unbelievable. This is easily one of the best books I have ever read in my life. There is no 'everybody wins' happy ending; there's a form of resolution, but not the type everyone would have expected here.

This book will grip at your heartstrings, twist them tight, swing your emotions around, and do it all over again, from start to finish. I highly recommend this book almost higher than any book I've ever recommended in my life. A huge, HUGE 5 star review!

Book Review: "Fat Cat"

As one is able to easily surmise both by the title and by the cover of this book, this is a story about weight loss. Drastic weight loss. Almost prehistoric weight loss--

Our main character, Cat, has been overweight for years. As part of a year-long science project, she decides to try living as close to cavemen as possible in the modern world to see what effects it would have on the body, and to hypothesize just how negatively modern lifestyles impact our health. Her friends try to tell her she's nuts for taking on such an endeavor... until it works. This more or less triggers a domino effect type reaction on all those aroun her, and the results are far more reaching than she could have imagined.

While some of the typical high school drama is a bit too *real* for me (honestly, if I wanted to relive my high school years, I'd take a trip down to the local high school for a day and re-acquant myself with why I hated those years so much...) and I had to keep putting it down from time to time because of this because it just frustrated me too much, it's otherwise a pretty interesting story that kept me coming back to find out what would happen. I'm ranking this book a 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "Audrey, Wait!"

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway reads like both a dream come true and a nightmare all at the same time for rockers everywhere. Who hasn't dreamt of becoming a musician's muse, having a famous song written about them, and instantly becoming famously immortal to the point of brushing elbows with the rock world themselves; even famously making out with one of the hottest musicians of the moment? Careful what you wish for; the reality can quickly turn sour and into a complete and total disaster.

Such is the case of Audrey Cuttler. Just yesterday, Audrey was your typical 16 year old American girl, with a boyfriend in a local band and living your typical, average everyday life. That is, until Audrey and her boyfriend break up, and he writes a song detailing their breakup that quickly shoots him into superstardom -- and subsequently, Audrey as well by association. Everything Audrey has ever known as her normality is turned absolutely upside down...and not in a good way.

The story is written from a fresh point of view of a girl who's caught in a private hell of unintended, unwanted noteriety and all the problems that go with it, but sounds very *real* as a person. I also have a great appreciation for the song quotes at the beginning of every chapter, I felt they were a nice touch and addition to the story as well.

Basically, I love everything about this book and highly recommend it on every possible level. A big, big 5 star rating for this book!

Book Review: "Pure"

I'm going to go out on a limb here and be 100% honest... I only picked up this book because the concept seemed like it would be somewhat of a trainwreck. In my experience, it always seems like any story that places way too much emphasis on virginity -- for or against -- tends to come off all sorts of wrong, unrealistic, and oftentimes... unintentionally hilarious. Even the cover of this book made it feel like this wasn't even going to take itself seriously. But actually? I was wrong.

Well, it still placed an unrealistic basis on the topic of virginity -- how many people would become religious zealots because one of their friends broke their purity ring promise and end up trying to shove their beliefs on an entire school? -- but the story itself, for the most part, is pretty good. There's a lot of emphasis on how one person's actions tend to have a ripple effect far beyond just that of themselves and their immediate life.While the details may be a bit overdramatized, the general message is not if you look past the specific details they're pushing. And I think it's actually handled pretty well in that respect. Giving this one a 4 star rating!

Book Review: "Annie On My Mind"

It's long been established that Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden is basically considered to be essential reading material among the LGBT crowd. That said, it took me many years to track down the book in its physical format (I once found it in ebook form, but I have a hard time staying focused with ebooks -- I digress). And I'm glad that I finally got a chance to read this classic.

The story of Liza and Annie is quite an honest look not only at teenage love, but at finding oneself during those tumultuous teenage years -- made invariably more difficult when struggling with defining one's sexuality at the same time. It's a confusing, scary, secretive time (and one that I know all too well from first-hand experience) with more layers to it than an onion. And this story explores many of them. (Not all -- everybody's story is different -- but a lot that are fairly universal among the LGBT community.) Add in the additional factor of one of the girls going to an uppity private school and all hell breaking loose for it, being treated as some sort of social perversion (another thing that I identify first-hand with) and you've got an interesting, honest look at what quite a few of us have gone through. I only wish I had known this book existed back when I was a teenager, when it would've make me feel so much better to know I wasn't the only one.

The wrap-up of the story at the ending goes by far too quickly, and I wish it would have delved more into how it got from point A to point B, so I do knock this book down a few pegs for that, but ultimately, it's well-written and I still highly recommend it. 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "Baby Proof"

Baby Proof by Emily Giffin seemed like my kind of book when I skimmed over the short synopsis GoodReads gave me when it showed up in my recommendations. Based on both that and the title, I figured what the hell, I'd give the book a shot. And, it's not that the book is badly written or anything - much the contrary, it's actually very well written and has a lot of good humor in it. Except that for someone like me.....

It reads like a damn horror novel.

Seriously. The premise of this book is basically a nightmare come true as far as I'm concerned. As a late-20's-something female with no intention of having children and knowing that this causes a HUGE strain on trying to form lasting relationships with, well, much of anybody, I thought maybe a story like this would be empowering. Liberating. Feel like somebody's got my back, even if it's just a fictional character. The main character, Claudia, is about 30 and wants *no* part of parenthood. Same goes for her husband, Ben. Except that over time, for Ben, he changes his mind and wants a baby more than anything. Inevitably, this leads to a divorce. All hell ensues.

Now, I realize this happens in real life pretty often; that's not the part that bothers me. What bugs me about this story is the fact that it teaches a really shitty moral, as far as I'm concerned. Lose your sense of self at any cost, if it means saving your relationship with your man. How terrible is that?? Seriously, the way the story ends up, Claudia decides she'll have a baby to appease Ben just so she can get back together with him. I just... I have no words for how upset I was with the ending of this book. I felt it was very patronizing to women like myself and trying to instill some notion of sell your values; you'll never be happy without a man and a baby! *facepalm*

I wanted to like this book. I really, REALLY wanted to. But the ending just ruined it for me. I don't know if I'm the only one who felt this way about the book or not, but, that's how it was for me. Nevertheless, the quality of the writing itself was good, so I suppose if you're like 90% of the rest of the female population, you'll probably like this book just fine. If you're like me, however, you'll resent it. But by quality alone, I'll rate this one a 4 star review.

Book Review: "Remember Me?"

Remember Me? is a fresh spin on an otherwise tired-out amnesia plotline. Our main character takes a pretty bad clock to the head.... and can't remember a single thing about the past three years of her life. The thing is, those particular three years were a majorly transformative three years for her, and she doesn't even recognize the person she's become in that time. Everything feels foreign to her as she tries to navigate her way through her new life, with a new job, a new home, a new husband (!!!), and many other things that leave her feeling like this can't possibly be her life.

There's many twists and turns in this plot and I don't want to give much away - it's one of those books that's best if you just read it for yourself. However, I WOULD like to give props to the author on one major point (and sorry if this is a spoiler): I appreciate that the book doesn't end with some miraculous magical "I REMEMBER EVERYTHING!!!" moment. No, our main character still doesn't remember what's been lost even as the book ends - only one tiny glimmer of one single memory. It's very open-ended to your own interpretation if you think she gets her memory back or not. I feel that this is a more realstic approach, because honestly, after so much time has passed, what would be the realistic possibility of one's memory just magically re-appearing? Yeah, exactly. So I think this was actually handled fantastically.

I rate this one a 4.5 out of 5 stars :)

Book Review: "The Undomestic Goddess"

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella is a classic story of a prim and polished high-powered businesswoman being plunked suddenly into a lifestyle of which she is completely unprepared to handle. Not that she planned it that way, anyhow. But she learns to cope, and as she does, it's not long before she adjusts and this becomes her new way of living - even when her old life is offered back to her on a silver platter.

While I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as I did Twenties Girl, it's still pretty good. Probably half my problem is that it's all about the world of lawyers, which I have little to no interest nor knowledge in, so a lot of that went sailing over my head. I can appreciate the lifestyle and the way it's portrayed, though. So I can't really dock any points away for that. Still, some parts of the story did seem to drag on a little dryly, whereas with Twenties Girl, I couldn't put the book down for two seconds practically. I'm going to go ahead and rate this book 4 stars though, as it's still a very good story and you'll probably enjoy it. :)

Book Review: "Knit Two (A Friday Night Knitting Club Novel, #2)"

The sequel to The Friday Night Knitting Club, Knit Two by Kate Jacobs brings back almost all of the old characters (minus Georgia, of course) from the first book so that we can see were everybody ended up 5 years later (and beyond, when you reach the end of this one). Unlike the first novel, which centered around Georgia, this book is a bit more equal opportunity to the rest of the characters and gives all of them more time to develop each of their storylines and personalities more in full. For this, I actually prefer this sequel to the original, but the sense of loss is palpable throughout the entire thing, and you can't help but feel like you, yourself, have lost a friend as well while reading it. While most of the other reviews I've seen of this book rave about how they like how Catherine got more of a storyline in this one, I guess I'm rooting for the underdog here. I love the fact that Anita, the lovable old woman, got so much page-time as it were to detail her engagement, upcoming nuptials, and the search for her long-lost sister. Of course, I also love everything about the Rome trip. ;) And it's kind of cool getting to see Darwin in so much more of a domestic role now. A lot can change in 5 years, and this book definitely goes into it. The story has a bit of a twist ending that yanked at my heartstrings, similar to how the first book did that at the end too, but I think it tied up some loose ends, as odd as it may be to say so over that particular ending.

I flew through this book quite a bit faster than the last one, and I'm rating it a bit higher; this one gets a 4 out of 5 star review.

Book Review: "The Friday Night Knitting Club"

I have to admit, when I first heard mention of The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs on the Goodreads website, I was instantaneously filled with glee. You see, I just picked up knitting as a new hobby last November. Everything about it still excites and thrills me. To see that it was the cornerstone of a novel? Oh my goodness! Instantly it was filed into my "to reads" list (of which, if any of you have me added over on that site, know is quite the lengthy and extensive list indeed). I'm limited only by what my local library system has on its shelves, and many times, they don't have some of the titles that I get most excited about. I was delighted to see that this one, they did have. I found it slightly daunting that almost every review for this book on the website were about 2 stars and below on average. Still, I pressed forward, figuring that the people rating it so low probably aren't even knitters and "just don't get it".

The story itself is very much a Seinfeld-esque set-up. Set in NYC, the story basically outlines the life and adventures of Georgia Walker, owner of the Walker & Daughter yarn shop, as well as her family and friends. For much of the book, nothing particularly noteworthy happens as far as plot - it's one of those stories where it's just a slice of life in each of these characters' lives. I almost found it hard to keep turning the pages, but I wanted to see where it was going. There had to be some good reason that this story got published, other than the kitschy literary devices of using aspects of knitting to teach life lessons.

And then I reached the bombshell. A mere few chapters before the end of the book.

I'll give you a spoiler: the main character dies.

And you do NOT see it coming. At all.

It's enough to tear at your heartstrings - I actually did cry when I hit this part of the story. I didn't emotionally connect with much of anything else in the entire book, but when THAT happened...oh my lord. Where did THAT come from?? It TOTALLY blindsides you, but at the same time, it happens in a very realistic way. You DON'T always see it coming when you lose a close friend. Sometimes they literally are fine one minute, and within a matter of hours, they're gone. I think the reality of this drives deep at home, and THIS is what places the book in amongst the best-sellers lists.

I feel like the dramatic moments should have been spaces out intermittently across the length of the book, rather than keeping everything SO calm and casual almost the entirety of the book and saving it all up for the ending. The writing style was also fairly dry and kind of boring for the majority of the book, which makes trying to continue reading particularly difficult. But I did it, and I'm glad I did. Now....two more books to this series to get through...

I rate this book a 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "Hollywood Is Like High School With Money"

When you hear the name of the author Zoey Dean, it's quite likely that the first thing you'd think of would be the A List series. (It's also quite easy to dismiss her as an author if basing her off of said-series.) I would just like to say that Hollywood Is Like High School With Money is nothing like that. No, this story is vibrant, fresh, and it pops. You connect with the characters. You KNOW it probably won't end well, and you root for the underdog anyway, even when she's doing wrong. But most of all, Zoey has finally broke out of her mold of teen books. She's writing for a slightly older demographic, and the effort shows in spades. Yes, there's still nods of the head towards those teen books here and there throughout, but mostly, it is written intentionally for an older audience, and is a million times more enjoyable. It also offers a very candid, honest view at the world of being a personal assistant to someone important (which is impressive for still technically being classified as fiction), and that it's not all fun and games and brushing elbows with the rich and famous. The title of this book rings true in many ways over, and is felt reverberating throughout the entire story.

I absolutely LOVED this book and would re-read it again and again. A big 5 stars to you!

Book Review: "Posh and Prejudice (Diary of a Chav #2)"

The second installment of the Diary of a Chav series, Posh and Prejudice, had a tall order to live up to for being able to even hold a candle to the original...and it delivers. It's consistently funny, deals with realistic problem, and - unlike many of its rivals on the teen book market - has a far more realistic outcome than most. Not to mention, I've grown quite attached to miss Shiraz quite quickly. It's not every day that the main character in a teen novel is quite so vibrant and naturally lovable. Big bonus points for this, and for keeping it consistent from the first book to the next.

The storyline deals with themes such as the difficulties of secondary school, failed relationships, discrimination against the working classes, feeling trapped and wanting a way out of what everyone else around you just blindly accepts as their destiny, etc. The ending of the book totally sidelined me; I did NOT see that coming. But it leaves the door wide open for interesting things to happen in the next book. :)

Unfortunately for me, it'll probably be quite a while before I get a chance to read the rest of the books in this series, as not only does my local library not carry them, but NONE of the libraries in the county have any of the others. :-\ So unless someone can hook me up with the others, I have no idea how long it'll take...which really bums me out, because I've been enjoying these more than just about any other books I've read this whole year. Oh well, what can you do, right? Anyhow, I give this book another huge 5 star rating. :)

Book Review: "Diary of a Chav"

Well now! Diary of a Chav by Grace Dent turned out to be an extremely refreshing change of pace from most of the books I've been reading lately! Spoken like a true Brit, the entirety of this book is written in very much legitimate Brit-speak...none of your prim and proper stuff 'round here! This is more along the lines how real British people speak...or at least, judging by all the ones I've ever been friends with. (And there have been many over the years.) A lot of this book might go right over the tops of a lot of Americans' heads given all the slang (despite a nice glossary in the back), but it just felt natural to me reading it; probably thanks in part to all the Brits I've known in my lifetime, it just feels like talking to any one of them. And I love it.

As the title implies, the book is written in the style of a diary of the main character, Shiraz. It basically follows one year in the life of trials and tribulations (often overdramatically so, as is usually the way of most teenagers) of a typical lower-class 15 year old girl, which always turns out to be completely hilarious, no matter what it is that's gone on with her. It also shows some personal growth on the part of the main character over the course of this particular year, which is good to see, because in many teen books, the main characters often end up no better off than they were in the first place where the book started.

I really love the style of this, and was overjoyed to find out there's an entire series of these! If they're all this good, they may be my new favorite thing of the moment. This seems to be the first series to *really* grab me this much since the Secrets Of My Hollywood Life series earlier this year. Big five stars!

Book Review: "Blonde Ambition (The A-List #3)"

Blonde Ambition is the third novel by Zoey Dean in the popular A-List series. If you thought you'd seen drama in the books before - you haven't seen anything like this yet!

In this piece of the series, Anna scores an internship with Cammie's father for his new tv series, Hermosa Beach. This of course angers Cammie to no end, who's forever jealous of Anna's influence on all she comes in contact with. This is hot on the heels of her having snagged the boy of her dreams away from her, as well as 2 more - and having quickly become closer with the friends she's known for years than she is, she quickly seeks revenge. Needless to say, the result is not pretty. Cammie plots all throughout this book about how to exact revenge on Anna, but let's just say, karma is a cruel mistress...

This has been the most gripping book of the series so far and I'm eagerly looking forward to reading more of these! Rating this a 5 out of 5 stars!

Book Review: "Backstage Pass"

Backstage Pass by Gaby Triana is an intimate, albeit fictional, portrait of the lives of rockstar children. Not a troubled, strung out, rebellious child in sight - such is the reputation that so many of them wrongfully have - but the well-adjusted teenager who longs for nothing more than a stable home in any one given place, who yearns for life beyond tour buses and concert venues. From my own mild brushes with fame (and the offspring of said stars), I can pretty safely say this book is actually more or less the true reality of what it's like to be the child of a rockstar. Nowhere near as dramatic as the tabloids might like you to believe.

This is the story of Desert McGraw; daughter of fabled rock god Flesh: lead singer of Crossfire, and her quest for normality as an american teenager in Miami; wanting nothing more than the typical, everyday generic teen life - the highschool relationships, drama, the whole deal. She tries to maintain anonymity for as long as she can, but she unknowingly befriends a girl who seems to be her father's biggest fan, and starts to date a boy whose stepmother is a reporter for a tabloid. Naturally, her secret gets leaked fairly quickly, and it becomes more of the same mess she's had to deal with in every town she's lived in. On top of everything else, her father is collaborating with a modern young pop star - and failing miserably at it; her mother's personal assistant seems to be out to backstab the band; and her dad cheats on her mother. Desert has to deal with adversity in the best ways she can, while at the same time learning that she's not the center of the universe and that her friends have just as big, if not bigger problems than she does.

I really enjoyed this book thoroughly. Might be partly because of my lifelong obsession with rockstars and the business, but regardless, I loved this. Rating this one a 5 out of 5 stars!