Book Review: "Tall Cool One (The A-List #4)"

The girls are back in the 4th installation of the A-List series by Zoey Dean, and they've all got their own storylines going on this time around! Cammie and Adam are trying to give a love affair of their own a whril; Sam's stepmother Poppy has unofficially adopted Dee as one of her own (and have been connecting on a spiritual level all their own); and of course, Anna takes center stage as her sister Susan has once again gotten out of rehab and disappeared into thin air - having brought the both of their parents together to try and present a united front for her, if only she'd show up. Anna takes an impromptu trip to Mexico to scout out a hotel for her father and give imput whether he should purchase it or not, and is quickly met with a sleazy business associate, an Australian hottie who quickly takes a shine to her, and general paradise. Sam shows up at the most unexpected moment and scores a potential love interest of her own while there, and she and Anna embark on some unexpected adventures. You know what they say - what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico! (Or was it Las Vegas? Oh, never mind.)

I like that this book gives us a temporary break from the false glitter and superficiality of Hollywood and a brief glimpse at the girls experiencing things that are a little bit more important in life. Just as it's a vacation for Anna, it's a vacation for us, the readers, as well. I really enjoyed this one, and am looking forward to seeing where the storylines continue to unfurl in the next book. :) Rating this one another 5 out of 5 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: "Girls On Film (A-List #2)"

Girls On Film is the second book of Zoey Dean's The A-List series, and I have to admit, it's beginning to grow on me - and more than a little.

Previously thin and stereotypical characters are now becoming a bit more fleshed out and 'real', despite their all being of the Hollywood brat variety. Certain amends are made, friendships forged, and bridges even further burned. It's hard to say a whole lot about he storyline of this book without giving away crucial plot points as spoilers, but I must say, also new to the series is the inclusion of Anna's sister Susan; fresh out of rehab - and on a one-way fast track right back in. Things are definitely getting a lot more interesting. I'd really recommend for you all to just read the book, since I don't have a lot of other ways of explaining this one without ruining the element of surprise. This one gets a 4 out of 5 stars - they're getting there!

Book Review: "The A-List"

Having just embarked on the start of a new journey in reading the A-List series by Zoey Dean, I have quite a few things I feel like I need to say about just what I've seen so far in this first book.

It style it's written in is very, very dry. Perhaps this is because of our main character, Anna, being such a goody-goody that this is to reflect her prim and proper upbringing, and perhaps as the series progresses, maybe this will change. Or maybe not. Regardless, it took a while for me to really start feeling 'into' this book, and I have a feeling that this style is why, since the subject matter should have been interesting.

Oh. I should also mention that this thing reads like a trashy reality show. You know the type... The ones with the over-pampered, over-privileged Hollywood princesses acting like spoiled brats just because they can. There's gratuitous sex (well, it's not actually written out, but it's referenced many, many times....but still in that dry, sterile sense that the whole book is), there's cattiness, there's backstabbing, there's drama, you name it. This shit may as well be aired on whatever channel airs Real Housewives of wherever. (I've never actually watched any of those shows, but just from what I've observed from and outsider's point of view, it fits right in with that.) Sure, the catty drama is delicious, but at the same time, it's not very satisfying when you finish the book and go "...that's it?"

The whole story takes place over the course of 3 or 4 days, what's that tell you? (Ironically, I finished the book in just as many.) And yet, there's enough shit-slinging to fill cover-to-cover. Fights over boys. Daddy issues. Abandonment. Dead parents. Celebrity parents. Teen pregnancy. Cheating. Lying. Deceit. It's all here. I'm actually shocked that this book hasn't become a movie or a TV show. It's nothing particularly original, so as a film or show, it would probably tank hard, but that never stopped people like Gossip Girl. (Oh yes, I went there.) I don't know, I wasn't very impressed by this. It's not the most awful book I've ever read, but I can't in good conscience call it good by any stretch. I'm hoping that the rest of the series is better, since I'm going to be reading them anyway. I'm rating this one a 3 out of 5 stars. Fairly mediocre.

Book Review: "Secrets Of My Hollywood Life: There's No Place Like Home"

Well folks, we've officially hit the end of the line in this series. Secrets Of My Hollywood Life: There's No Place Like Home is the sixth, and final, book of the hit series by Jen Calonita. And parts of it are definitely heart-wrenching.

Kaitlin has come a long way since the first book of the series as far as both her life and her career are concerned. But with that also comes the ever-looming realization that she's not in control of her own life, and that if she doesn't make some changes, she never will be. (There's a lot to be learned from this lesson.) Everything around her is changing as well, which makes things that much harder to digest. She's starring on a hit tv series; her mother is pushing her to film not one but TWO films with huge big-name producers; Sky has stolen her personal assistant right out from under her as her new manager; and there's college looming ever-closer as the clock ticks onward. A collapse is imminent. But nobody could ever predict just how, exactly, it would happen.

Much as one can surmise by the cover and the title of the book, there's a heavy influence by The Wizard of Oz. Following a car crash, Kaitlin is thrust into an alternate dimensional version of her life - one where she's not famous and hasn't had the sort of Hollywood upbringing she's always known. Her friends, co-workers, and family are also all vastly different from their real world selves. It takes a realization of self and personal values to help Kaitlin find her way back home.

I have to admit, this isn't how I expected the series to end, but I liked it! (Well, that's to be expected, as I'm a huge Judy Garland fan.) I think it was much-needed to help bring a sense of closure to things, and I can't think of a better way it could have been handle. Major kudos to Jen Calonita for writing such a fabulously entertaining and intriguing series! As always, another huge 5 star review for this book. :)

Book Review: "Secrets Of My Hollywood Life: Broadway Lights"

It's getting very near the end of the run, folks - Broadway Lights is the second the last book in Jen Calonita's Secrets of My Hollywood Life series, and I'm getting kind of bummed about it. I've gotten very attached to these characters over the course of the past month or two when I started reading these - what will ever taken their place? (Then again, I say that every time I hit the end of a series I love.) Regardless, I soaked up every word of this book like a sponge, and not only because of it being so close to the end and loose ends starting to become tied up. I pounced all over it because...

IT'S BASED ON BROADWAY! DUH! :-p

Seriously though, everything about this book held my attention like crazy, and mostly in part because of my love affair with NYC. Sure, it was a little bit of a stereotypical of a view of the world's greatest city, but then again, a lot of stereotypical liberties have been taken as far as the whole views on showbiz throughout the whole series, so I'm not going to dock it down any points for that.

This story takes us through Kaitlin and Austin's first ever lengthy separation, which is heart-wrenching for me to read. Especially with all the jealousy arising from jealousy in the long-distance relationship, it stirred up far too many memories and still-raw emotions of the past within myself to be able to put this book down for long. I HAD to know how it would all end up. (That said, I had expected a little more realistic solution to have arisen, but it is what it is. Que sera sera.) But also, the process of putting together a Broadway production and sharpening it to perfection for the public. This, I have a lot of respect for, given my roots in theatre culture. And there were some completely unpredictable twists and turns along the way as well - I won't give them away, but they were very cool to see!

Overall I'm giving this book yet another big fat 5 out of 5 stars, because it is just divine perfection. :)

Book Review: "Secrets Of My Hollywood Life: Paparazzi Princess"

Secrets Of My Hollywood Life: Paparazzi Princess by Jen Calonita is to date (at least of the ones I've read this far) the most heart-wrenching story in the series. Kaitlin's soap opera, Family Affair - that she's been a part of since she was 4 years old - is going off the air at the end of the current season, and therefore leaving Kaitlin to soon-be unemployed. As her family's primary breadwinner, she's being pressured from all sides to quickly pick her next project, despite her mother shooting down whichever ideas she likes and trying to force her own ideas of what she thinks Kaitlin should do onto her. Add onto this the stress of her best friend seemingly growing distant from her as she begins to make her college plans for on the opposite side of the country, everyone around her but herself getting their driver's licenses, her boyfriend also potentially moving away to another state for college, on top of the mounting pressure from her mother to shop every business opportunity out there and pick one immediately, is a recipe for disaster. Enter Ava and Lauren, who are the novel's equivalent of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie back when they were hard partying BFFs. Sensing Kaitlin's vulnerability, they latch onto her like lice and milk her for all she's worth. Kaitlin's good girl image begins to take a nosedive the more she's seen with them - sort of a guilty by association type deal. In the midst of all this, Kaitlin's mother forces her to at least show up for an interview with one of the hottest, but most notoriously manipulative record producers in the industry. He forces her to do a quick demo of a song they'd written for her, of which the book was titled after. All hell breaks loose, as it doesn't at all reflect how she feels about Hollywood and was never meant to be released for the public to hear. (Naturally, it gets "leaked".) Things eventually hit a fever pitch, and something has to give.

I don't want to give away too much of the storyline, so I'll stop there with it, but I have to say that there were more than a few times I got misty-eyed reading this book. I can't wait to see what's next! Rating this a huge 5 out of 5 stars, and would rate higher if I could!

Book Review: "Secrets Of My Hollywood Life: Family Affairs"

Secrets of My Hollywood Life: Family Affairs by Jen Calonita is the third, and so far juiciest book in the series so far!

Now that the drama with working on the film Pretty Little Assassins is done and over with, Kaitlin figures that her life will finally be able to regain some normalcy, going back to Family Affair life. Only, it won't be as it was before: the show's getting a new actress. And she seems to be hellbent on destruction of all that's around her to make her own star shine.

The new girl, Alexis, starts out acting sweet-as-pie to anyone and everyone around her; trying to butter up the writing staff especially to get in their good graces, even though her story arc is only intended to last half a season. But she makes such a splash with the public on top of her charming graces with the staff of the show that they decide it might not be such a bad idea to keep her own as a potentially permanent character. Herein ensues the drama.

Sky feels that Alexis is trying to impede on their territory, and Kaitlin thinks she's just being jealous of the new girl. But the more that Kaitlin witnesses, the more she begins to see through the facade and that the nice act is just a put on, and for once, Sky is 100% correct: this girl wants to destroy both of their jobs and become the star of the show. And will stop at nothing to get it. Trying to prove this to everyone else, however, is a feat to be seen.

I don't want to give out too many spoilers here, but the ending of the story has a completely unexpected twist. For one, I never expected to ever see Kaitlin and Sky teaming up and acting -friendly- to each other in a million years. So you would assume that life on the set after all is said and done would be so much more pleasant now that they've seemingly made friends, but a much bigger bombshell than anyone could ever expect rocks their world and changes their lives forever.

Want to see what I'm talking about? Grab yourself a copy of this fantastic book today! Once again, I rate this book a huge 5 stars!

Book Review: "Secrets Of My Hollywood Life - On Location"

Secrets of My Hollywood Life: On Location by Jen Calonita is the second book in the popular hit series. This time around, our main character Kaitlin Burke has been cast to star as the leading lady in an upcoming film by Hollywood's hottest director of the moment. It's a dream come true in more ways than one; not only does she idolize this director, but this is the ultimate career comeback after the stunt she pulled in the last book. But all is not well; not only does her onscreen rival from her soap opera series (who also does everything in her power to make Kaitlin's life a living hell offscreen as well) get cast as the nemesis, but Kaitlin's ex-boyfriend and fellow Hollywood hunk gets gast as the co-star and love interest. Sparks will fly. (And they do.)

All the while, Kaitlin is trying to carry on as normal of a relationship as possible with her boyfriend, Austin - who's one of the only people she knows who's not in the business. He doesn't understand a lot of the ins and outs of Hollywood politics, so most of what happens on location is a huge shock to him.

Throw into the mix as well a meddling PR con-artist who's out for blood, and you've got a recipe for disaster. And that's not even the half of it. It's all one huge Hollywood headache, and enough drama to make even the most veteran of actors question whether or not this film will even come to fruition.

I thought this book was an amazingly good read, and I absolutely couldn't put it down. (I read through it in a matter of a few days!) Definitely 5 stars for this baby, and I'm itching to sink my teeth into the next juicy piece of the series!

Book Review: "Secrets of My Hollywood Life"

Secrets of My Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita is the first book in a series by the same title, written for teens. The premise of this first book is essentially a spin on the classic starlet-leading-a-double-life plot. (Think Hannah Montana, without the redneck overtones.) Kaitlin Burke is the hot young star du jour, best known for playing one of the long-running starring roles on the soap opera Family Affair. Since she's been playing the role since she was a toddler, she's never known any semblance of normalcy in her life, ever. She's always craved it and been obsessed with how all the 'normal' kids live, even though most people would kill for the sort of opportunities she's had. Her family has never let her really take so much as a break the entire time she's been on the show, telling her that "vacations are for normal people" and not for stars who want to keep their name in the public conscious.

Naturally, she eventually hits the point of burn out and needs a break. But, where wuold she go? In her obsessive quest for normalcy, she develops a plan that, instead of working non-stop during the soap opera's hiatus, she'll go to school like a normal teenager instead. But how could she, America's #1 'It Girl', go to school without being mobbed and without being placed on a pedestal? Easy. Create another persona. One who's poor, British, can't afford nice clothes, and looks absolutely nothing like her, and adopt a false name and backstory.

All is not well with this plan though. Not only was she offered the audition of a lifetime by her favorite ever film producer/director almost the same day that she hatched this plan, but the media is taking notice of her absence on the typical Hollywood scene. Her co-star, who's always hated her and fought with her like cats and dogs, is planting nasty rumors about her left and right as well. And of course, there's the stress of maintaining the double life and making sure that they in no way whatsoever overlap, and that nobody finds out.

But as you can imagine....she eventually does get found out. And it's not pretty. But, the aftermath is completely unexpected and I didn't even see it coming. I'm very impressed!

Overall, I thought this was a really well-written book. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series! I'm rating this a 5 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.

Book Review: "Rhymes With Witches"

Rhymes With Witches by Lauren Myracle (yep, another one ;)) is a story revolving around the phenomena that is high school girl cliques, and into perhaps just why those girls seem to cast SUCH a spell over everybody they meet. Easy...witchcraft! There's a reason bitches rhymes with witches, right? ;)

This book could technically fall under the category of supernatural, although not by traditional standards. It's a good book for getting one's feet wet if they're squeamish about the idea of supernatural storylines though - it just dabbles in it without going too heavily. Since Lauren Myracle writes primarily for tweens and teens, that seems like about the right age demographic for such a book anyhow.

I'm going to rate this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars. It's good, but nothing particularly fantastically out of the ordinary.

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!

Book Review: "Emily The Strange: Dark Times"

Emily The Strange: Dark Times is another novel in the Emily The Strange series; the newest one to date that's been released, I believe. This time, Emily has moved to another new town (as usual) and soon builds a time machine, with intentions of learning about the past through firsthand experience. Emily also enrolls in homeschooling this time around, which quickly leads to her mother teaching her a course about the family history - especially the Dark Aunts. There happens to be quite a mystery about her aunt Lily's premature demise that just doesn't add up, so she decides to go back in time to find out what really happened - and to try and save her life, if she can. However, she runs out of liquid black rock (the magical substance she runs the machine with) and gets stuck in the 1700's - how will she get home? You'll have to read it to find out.

I liked this book because it had a much more in depth plot to it than the last Emily the Strange book I read. It was totally gripping, and I found mysef having read the entire thing in 2 or 3 days because I just couldn't put it down! Very, very good. 5 stars!

Book Review: "Emily The Strange: Stranger and Stranger"

I must confess; when I saw a couple of Emily The Strange books on the shelf at my local library recently, I inwardly squealed with glee. I didn't know there were any books about this girl; I thought she was just a fashion logo. I'd been very intrigued by her when I was about 14 because I felt she looked like a cartoon version of myself. Anyway. Needless to say, I grabbed the books. They're not the first in the series, so I'm sure there's some backhistory I missed out on, but that's okay. It's still pretty straightforward.

The first of the books I read was Emily The Strange: Stranger and Stranger written by Jessica Gruner, Rob Reger, and Buzz Parker. The book is written in the style of a tween journal. A dark, semi-gothic and almost sociopathic journal, but a journal nonetheless, complete with drawings all over the margins. The story basically goes on to tell how Emily has moved to another new town, and in getting settled, invented a duplication device. Her initial ideas for purpose was to clone everyone in town and sit back to watch the pranking begin. However, she accidentally clones herself, and chaos ensues. She quickly comes to learn that this is not a perfect clone of herself; oh no. By outward appearances, yes. However, as a person... the device split her good and bad sides into two different people. So she herself has stayed good, and then there's basically an evil twin of herself running around rampant. How will she manage to remedy this? You'll have to read on to find out.

As far as quality goes, this is an incredibly easy read since it was intended for a tween audience. Had I have had the time to do so, I could have read this in a single sitting. So, if you're looking for a 'silent reading' book for school, this probably isn't the best pick, but if it's just for fun, I'd recommend it. Anyway, I'd rate it maybe a 3 and a half out of 5 stars. It's not bad, but it's not some fantastic amazing piece of literature. That said, it IS a fun read!

Book Review: "Island of the Sequined Love Nun"

At the recommendation of both one of our neighbors and one of my long-time best friends, it was advised that I check out the works of the author Christopher Moore. (No relation to Dudley Moore, before you ask, given if you know me. ;)) It just so happened that our neighbor owns quite a few of his books and loaned a few of them to me. After fighting the mass distraction of procrastination, I finally got around to reading the first of these, and it happened to be Island of the Sequined Love Nun. It had me at the title alone, which sounded (to my mind anyway) like an odd combination of Liza Minnelli, Keith Moon's character in Frank Zappa's 200 Motels (where he plays a suicidal, roller-skating nun), and Sally Field's iconic Sister Bertrille. Knowing full well it wouldn't have anything to do with any of these, but intrigued by the mental image it conjured up anyhow, I immediately dove into it and wasn't sorry.

From page one, I was hooked. The main character, Tucker Case, is a ancoholic womanizing pilot for a large cosmetics conglomerate. One day, his appetite for both liquor and women gets him in trouble as he decides to steal a plane and join the Mile High club in it. Needless to say,he crashes, and nearly dismembers himself (emphasis on the latter half of that word...), and has his life in the balance of whether he'll be sent to prison, excommunicated, or what will happen to him. Having had his flying license revoked, and having not much else to offer the world he can do with himself as a career, he's sunk. But along one day comes an offer from a doctor out in the island of Alaulu offering him wealth beyond his wildest dreams, and all he has to do is fly a plane "for medical supplies" for him. What he doesn't know that he's getting himself into is an island dictated by a cargo cult, and his 'supplies' he'll be flying and harvested organs of the clueless islanders.

All of the characters in this story are intensely unique and colorful, and I LOVE it. Not one is your typical cookie cutter image of anybody. They're incredibly memorable, as is the storyline itself. It's unlike anything you'll probably ever read elsewhere, and I would highly recommend this book to you no matter what sort of genre you enjoy, because it has it all included. You won't be disappointed. A huge thumbs up, props, and 5 stars to Mr. Moore for this fine work!

Book Review: "Kissing Kate"

Kissing Kate is a book about self-discovery during a critical period in a young girl's life. Essentially, the gist is that two best friends go to a party; one of them gets drunk, and things go a little too far with a kiss. And then neither of them know how to deal with it, or interpret their own feelings about what had just happened. Much as in real life, there's a lot of turmoil surrounding the situation, and none of it is cliche. It's heart-wrenchingly real.

Sexuality is a hard thing to figure out, especially when you're still a teenager. Everybody feels mixed up and confused at some point or another, whether they want to admit it or not - gay, straight, or bi. A lot of soul searching has to go on to figure one's self out. And oftentimes, guilt sneaks into the equation. Books like this most definitely help teens feel much more normal and self-assured in that whatever they are, it's okay to be that. The world will keep on turning, one way or another. As for myself, it particularly hit home, because it was when I was about 15 that I started questioning what I myself might be.

I give a big hats off to Lauren Myracle to not only writing this, but that it was her first novel. I'm going to give it a big 5 star review.

Book Review: "The Girl With A Baby"

The Girl With A Baby by Sylvia Olsen was somewhat of an impulse choice at the library that I grabbed just by the title alone. Teen pregnancy is something that hits very close to home with me; two of my siblings ended up becoming teen parents (and I fear for the third sibling), and I very, very nearly almost did as well - depending on just how you define it, you might say I count anyway. Anyhow, I digress. It's a topic that holds a lot of interest and sentimentality for me, so I picked it up and decided to read it.

This book gives a good view into just how hard it is to raise a baby as a teen parent - more specifically, as a SINGLE teen mother, as the father skipped out on them. It might open some girls' eyes that a baby is not something to take lightly, or to tote around like an accessory. It will make your life difficult and be a huge responsibility, and people will never look at you quite the same way again once you've become a teenage mother.

On the other hand, it also enlightens that being a teen mom also isn't the end of the world, and life goes on. Granted, this book give one of those 'best scenario' type of looks at it - I can't think of too many girls who could actually successfully pull off being the lead role in a school musical with a brand new baby at home - but I like it nonetheless. It also throws in the reality that old friends will pull away, but new friendships will be made; boys treat you differently, but there's still some boys out there who are able to treat you with some decency. It deals with the reality of how hard being a teen mother doesn't just impact the baby and mother themselves; it affects the entire family, as it generally does become a family affair and involve help from everyone to pull the weight around.

I love that this book gives a fairly realistic view of teen parenting. It sure as hell doesn't glamourize it, nor does it go and use scare tactics to try and force the oldschool notions of abstinence only. It just opens your eyes to what is out there and what will happen, without using horror stories. I appreciate that for what it is. I would actually like to see more books like this one around.

I'm rating it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "Peace, Love, & Baby Ducks"

After having read the quirky Internet Girls series by Lauren Myracle and finding out that she's written a whole entire myriad of other books as well, I decided I was curious and wanted to see just what else she could write, apart from the IM-style books. With a title like this one beckoning to my inner hippie-girl, I had to grab this book from the library shelf. And I'll tell you what, I wasn't at all disappointed.

This book, I swear, practically sums up what my teenage existence was like. Here's this teenage girl named Carly who lives in a private, upper class, privileged neighborhood; attends a very proper, very religious, very private Catholic school; but shuns the norms of society. She embraces being different and all that comes with it. She doesn't want to be a Barbie doll; she's a free-spirit and wants to be understood for being her own unique person. She embraces all things 1960's, from the slang to the styles to, especially, the music. People thinks she's weird, and sometimes she gets laughed at for being so different, but underneath it all, she has a good heart and is a sweet person.

She stands out like a sore thumb even in her own family. Her parents are all pomp and circumstance, while her little sister Anna thinks she's a freak for essentially wanting to be a hippie. She herself embodies all things girly and stereotypically teenage girl.

Over the course of one summer, while Carly had been away volunteering her time, Anna seemingly grew up overnight. No, more specifically, her boobs grew up overnight, and suddenly she was the hot girl that everyone either wanted to be or be with. Carly has to adjust to becoming known as "Anna's sister" instead of her own person. While Anna's trying to grasp growing up and not being a little kid anymore, Carly feels the strain that this inevitably puts on their what had always been close relationship. Such is often the case with siblings.

The book is about relationships of all sorts, growing up, and staying true to yourself. It's a VERY cute story (and even brought tears to my eyes a couple of times towards the end) and I'd HIGHLY recommend it. This book gets a full 5 out of 5 star rating from me!

Book Review: "L8r, g8r"

This review marks the third (and last) of the trilogy of Lauren Myracle's Internet Girls series. So comes the end of the line for Zoe, Maddie, and Angela, the winsome threesome.

It's senior year for these three friends, and everything is changing. Everyone's preparing to go to college - different colleges, at that. The realization hits home that they won't be "together forever". Will their friendship survive such an upheaval? Add typical boy troubles into the mix for added drama.

Some things never change though. Feuding with the monster who calls herself Jana is still going strong. Much of the story of this book has to do with all the warring going on between the friends and Jana. A valuable lesson can be pulled from this in this particular book of the series: revenge only begets more revenge, and it will never stop until someone makes an effort to put an end to it.

There's the typical topical internet things mentioned, although not nearly so much in this book as much as the first two did. It hardly goes any further than constantly mentioning the Big Bunny cartoons (which, dated though this book may be now, I was shocked to see this mentioned - I used to peruse that site all the time in its heyday before the days of Youtube). No Googlewhacks this time around, no internet quizzes - just Big Bunny.

Also, I give it a bonus point for a positive Beatles mention. Just about any book that mentions them in a positive light holds favor with me. ;)

This is probably the weakest of all three books (it really felt like it was grasping at straws just to drag the series out one more book), but at the same time, the most "real", should I say. One thing's for sure: after reading this trilogy, I don't think I miss high school anywhere near as badly as I thought I did before. As for this particular book though, I think I'm going to rate it a 3 out of 5 stars. Fairly neutral, which is more or less what I was left feeling after finishing it and realizing the series is over.