Book Review: "On Christmas Eve"

Before you say anything, yes. I know. Christmas was a month ago (almost to the day, in fact!), and yet I'm just now reviewing this one? ...Frankly, I expected it to be a super quick read, and normally, it would have been, but having to catch up on Etsy orders, it took me until just now to finish it. No judging.

Anyway, that aside, this past NaNoWriMo season I decided I might like to take a crack at writing some children's books sometime (no, it wasn't my NaNoWriMo project this year), but that it's been so long since I've read one, I've almost forgotten what children's literature looks like. So, I harkened back to one of my favorite old mainstays of children's lit: Ann M. Martin, author of the beloved Babysitters Club series (of which I used to read practically religiously, and may even give a re-read to in the not-so-distant future). Truth be told, I actually was unaware she'd written anything outside of the Babysitters Club series/franchise, so when I learned by chance that she's actually written quite a few other books, I was intrigued, and this particular book happened to be the first one I was able to track down.

It's hard to really give a proper synopsis of this book without giving the entire plot away, but in a nutshell, our main character, a little girl named Tess, has a best friend (Sarah) whose best friend's father is dying of cancer. As this story takes place back in the 1950s, children were not yet allowed to visit patients in the hospital, and as such, Sarah progressively begins spending more and more time with Tess's family, even as the holidays approach. She remains ever hopeful that her father will be home in time for Christmas, even though the odds of that happening become more and more bleak as time marches on. Tess does everything in her power to try and keep Sarah in good spirits, including making sure she's included in her own holiday festivities (which she normally is anyway -- these two have been joined at the hip practically since birth), and at one point, even plan out a Christmas 'concert' to put on in the parking lot of the hospital, right outside her father's window, singing all his favorite carols.

Sarah's father is allowed to come home for Christmas -- coming home from the hospital "for the last time." Tess remains optimistic that perhaps this means he's getting better, and that this is the end of his medical woes, but Sarah knows more than she's letting on. Still, ever the optimist, Tess this whole time has been devising her own secret plan to stay up on Christmas Eve so that she can meet Santa Claus, face to face. Initially she has her own motives for wanting to do so, but when the time comes, she has only one Christmas wish: for Sarah's dad to get well again.....but there's some things that even Santa can't fix.

This story brought back an old childhood myth I had long forgotten about: the story about how at midnight, on Christmas Eve, animals are able to speak. (I always did wonder if this was true, and if I had gotten around to reading this book a little bit sooner, I probably would've stayed up at midnight this past Christmas Eve to see if my dog could speak at midnight. No hurt in hoping, anyway. ;)) Even as an adult, just reading about that even in this story, I got ridiculously excited and swept up in the hope that maybe this myth just might be true. Forget about meeting Santa -- I'm way more all about the prospect of talking to pets!

Anyway, this story is definitely one of hope, on many levels, and is definitely one that any child who's ever lost a parent (or any other relative, for that matter) to cancer might be able to relate to in not only the loss itself, but in how it changes and affects your life afterwards, and forces you to grow up way too fast. This really hit home, and I commend Ann M. Martin for going there. But I ALSO commend her for including a point where Sarah begins to find joy and hope in her life once again, even in the face of loss. I rate this book a 4 out of 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: "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: "Reality Check"

Reality Check by Jen Calonita is a slight stray away from my usual type of books that I grab at the library, and I'll tell you, was on a total whim - I saw her My Secret Hollywood Life series on the shelf and grabbed all of them, hoping I'd nabbed the whole series (and I did) and spotted this one off to the side and wasn't sure if it was part of the series or not. It's not, but I got it anyway and read it first. (Not to mention, I thought the cover was absolutely freakin' adorable.)

This story is about 4 friends who live together in a beachside town in New York. Just a small, rural place- nothing like the big city whatsoever, and they all live very ordinary everyday lives. The main character, Charlie, works in a coffee shop; Keiran spends 99% of her time babysitting her younger siblings. Hallie works at her parents' restaurant, the Crab Shack, and Brooke...well, Brooke always felt she was destined for stardom and will do anything to get away from being viewed as a farmer's daughter.

Their lives are all turned upside down practically overnight when Susan comes into town. Susan is one of the head honchos at the Fire and Ice network - basically, a new and improved hipper version of MTV and the WB rolled up into one. Little did they know Susan had been scouting the country for the stars of a new reality show, and had fallen in love with them. They eagerly sign up to do the show, with promises of fame and fortune and the ability to pay for college.

But then things begin to change. They find out that their idea of reality and the network's idea of reality are two very different things. Not to mention, everyone begins to treat them differently, and many people blow in and out of their lives with the intent to use them for screen time. One such suspect is the local rich girl, Marleyna, who never had the time of day for any of them before and had always hated Brooke. Suddenly, they're BFFs and Brooke's been isolated from the rest of the group and suddenly treating them all like crap and like they don't matter. Particularly Charlie, who she's been jealous of from day one for being the star of the show.

Bad things continue to happen until the girls finally hit a boiling point and want off the show. But the network keeps dangling the phrase "breach of contract" over their heads to intimidate them into staying. What happens? Read the book to find out. ;)

Personally I thought it was a pretty cute book and an easy read (I finished it in about 5 days). It also gives a little insight into the world of reality television, because many of the details here and based from real life accounts from different reality series. (It also makes me question just how much I saw in The Osbournes back in the day when I was obsessed with that show...) That said, it is very much a girly girl book, and if you're someone who rolls your eyes at that sort of thing, you should probably skip this. Otherwise, go grab yourself a copy and have a nice read! I'm rating this one a 4 out of 5 stars.