Hi, guys! Hope you're having a wonderful last couple days of summer or first days of school. We have yet to start school until the 8th!! Today I will be writing about The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West. I had previously read The Distance Between Us in one night because I couldn't sleep. That was an awesome read so I decided to give her other novels a chance. I also saw a lot of posts about this book on Instagram (find us @mindofaworm) and I was like, "Yeah okay sure."
My brief overview:
Gia Montgomery has great friends. Now if only they would believe her about her hot college boyfriend, Bradley. When he dumps her in the parking lot at her high school prom, Gia must find a quick fix or be toppled as queen bee. Then she notices the boy sitting in the parking lot by himself and convinces him to be fill-in Bradley. One night, a few hours, no big deal right? After it's all said and done, Gia can't stop thinking about Fill-In Bradley. If only she knew his real name. His sister decides she owes him a favor back so she must become his fake date. They actually kind of make friends. Then the real Bradley decides to waltz back into her life and screw things up.
Ah, what a great summary.
There is so much more to this novel and I really liked it. It was a really quick read and I finished it in a weekend. Gia is a very relatable girl who deals with technology and at first is very annoying. I wanted to punch her the first couple of chapters. I liked how West developed her character because Gia's faults made her less of the fake popular girl she was portrayed as. I want my own car to throw baseballs at. It'd be super relaxing! I'm left with books :) I also loved the sister who stepped in. She was freaking awesome. This book deals a lot with technology and the obsession that is taking place with it. It really made me think a lot about how much I use it and what is healthy and what is not. The ending of the book totally threw me for a loop. I thought things would end up happy and the characters would get that fairytale ending but it was better without it. It felt more real than the picture-perfect one. I liked seeing Gia screw up but grow as a person as she fixed her mistakes.
Okay, I hope this helped you find a possible new read! Happy reading!
Sophie :)
Friday, August 28, 2015
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Don't Go Breakin' My Heart
Hello! Sophie here again! Today I will be writing about Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius. I kept seeing this book in my Instagram feed and thought I'd take a chance on it. I can't say I was totally disappointed but I could kind of see where the plot was heading sooo...
An overview for you:
Fallon Dupree comes from a family of inspectors. Her parents are health inspectors, whom she believes ruin lives, and her brother is a fashion inspector of some sort. So Fallon is headed off to high school in Grimbaud, a city famous for its atmosphere of love and their love charms, especially from Zita, a charm maker whose love fortunes always come true. Fallon's parents and brother both attended school in Grimbaud and got their fortunes there, too, and are happily married. The Duprees have a history of being fated to fall in love with their high school sweethearts and then marrying young. Fallon is just as excited to fall into her family's footsteps when she is fated to never fall in love. Of course this is a bit of a bummer, I mean who would want to know that you'll die alone with a thousand animals (personally, I'd die surrounded by books but ya know, you do you), and at fourteen nonetheless. As school picks up, Fallon falls into a club of misfits who also landed unsavory love fortunes. There she discovers there may be more to Zita and her charms, and they are determined to free the city from her ironclad grip.
Okay, so that's Fallon's story for ya. Only partially of course, I wouldn't want to give away the whole story now, would I?
I got through this very fast. I liked the characters but Anais, Fallon's friend kind of bothered me. From an analytical standpoint, I could totally draw parallels between Zita and some other well-known monopolists. (Rockefeller, Carnegie, just to name a few.) I mean she had that town wrapped around her darned little finger and enjoyed it. I also could see allusions to Greek mythology with the story of the Minotaur which was pretty cool. It was well written but Fallon kind of annoyed me. But I also kind of liked her too, so I have a love-hate relationship with this book. There is a sequel coming out, I don't know when, but I'll have to read it. There were some loose ends at the end of this book and I am curious to see what will happen to the characters. I also liked Bastion. He was a cool dude, but a little to brooding for me. I hope to see Fallon grow up a little bit in this next novel too, she was a bit juvenile (weren't we all at that age? I know I was and that was only two years ago :O)
Alright, I hope this review helped! Let me know in the comments if there are any books you're looking at in particular for a review. Happy reading!
Sophie :)
An overview for you:
Fallon Dupree comes from a family of inspectors. Her parents are health inspectors, whom she believes ruin lives, and her brother is a fashion inspector of some sort. So Fallon is headed off to high school in Grimbaud, a city famous for its atmosphere of love and their love charms, especially from Zita, a charm maker whose love fortunes always come true. Fallon's parents and brother both attended school in Grimbaud and got their fortunes there, too, and are happily married. The Duprees have a history of being fated to fall in love with their high school sweethearts and then marrying young. Fallon is just as excited to fall into her family's footsteps when she is fated to never fall in love. Of course this is a bit of a bummer, I mean who would want to know that you'll die alone with a thousand animals (personally, I'd die surrounded by books but ya know, you do you), and at fourteen nonetheless. As school picks up, Fallon falls into a club of misfits who also landed unsavory love fortunes. There she discovers there may be more to Zita and her charms, and they are determined to free the city from her ironclad grip.
Okay, so that's Fallon's story for ya. Only partially of course, I wouldn't want to give away the whole story now, would I?
I got through this very fast. I liked the characters but Anais, Fallon's friend kind of bothered me. From an analytical standpoint, I could totally draw parallels between Zita and some other well-known monopolists. (Rockefeller, Carnegie, just to name a few.) I mean she had that town wrapped around her darned little finger and enjoyed it. I also could see allusions to Greek mythology with the story of the Minotaur which was pretty cool. It was well written but Fallon kind of annoyed me. But I also kind of liked her too, so I have a love-hate relationship with this book. There is a sequel coming out, I don't know when, but I'll have to read it. There were some loose ends at the end of this book and I am curious to see what will happen to the characters. I also liked Bastion. He was a cool dude, but a little to brooding for me. I hope to see Fallon grow up a little bit in this next novel too, she was a bit juvenile (weren't we all at that age? I know I was and that was only two years ago :O)
Alright, I hope this review helped! Let me know in the comments if there are any books you're looking at in particular for a review. Happy reading!
Sophie :)
Sunday, August 16, 2015
That One Quote I Mentioned
This is the quote I was talking about in the last post. Also if you haven't already read Paper Towns you should totally consider it because it's good. Though I'll be honest and say it wasn't my favorite John Green book.
A Long Lost Book
Hiiiii! Okay so my sister ordered me this off Amazon for me and when it came in the mail I literally squealed. I have been waiting anxiously since the announced publication. Especially since I love Harper Lee. Enough to name one of my cats after her. (She's adorable btw.) Go Set a Watchman has been my long-awaited book for a long time now and I was so excited to read it. I had to bring it with me to band camp so I could finish it and I finished after lights out (I'm a hard-core rebel, I know) and it was so good. Except the ending I was a little let down about. Whatever.
Here's my overview:
Jean Louise "Scout" Finch is twenty-six years old and on her way back to Maycomb for a visit from New York. Things are starting to stir up and trouble is brewing in her beloved town. During her visit she discovers things about her past she never knew about and has revelations about people she holds dearly.
Sorry for the short description but I don't want to reveal to much and that's about as much what the book jacket gives you.
I really am kind of undecided on this one. I really love To Kill a Mockingbird and my sister loves it so much she named her first daughter after Scout. This took the characters I love and my preconceived notions about them and turned them on their heads. Remember this is set in the 1950s so the American Civil Rights movement is just starting to stir up trouble, especially the NAACP. *Just a note; the NAACP was and is an African-American special interest group. They helped Rosa Parks with her case and took several legal cases to the Supreme Court like Brown v. Board of Education which declared separate schools were not equal in quality and started to upend segregation's mentality of "separate but equal." (Forgive me for the brief history lesson, I took U. S. History last year and thought a little background into the story might help.)* Anyway, back to the book! So Scout discovers things about herself and we are kind of surprised at her naivety at some things but I still liked her. I wanted to smack her in the back half of the book but nevertheless she absolved herself in the end. Two new characters are introduced in this book too. Okay, Uncle Jack isn't new but he is a more developed character and I liked that. He was a really cool old guy. We also meet a love interest for Scout but throughout the novel she refuses to marry him. Which was interesting to me but I could see her reasoning a bit but she was really hard on him. I am not exactly where their relationship is at the end of the novel and wish there was little bit more specificity in the matter. We also get to see Atticus again but as an old man. I actually liked the new facet of Atticus's character because it shows that we can't idolize people. As John Green says in Paper Towns, "What a treacherous thing to believe a person is more than a person." Very powerful words I would say, don't you think?
Okay, okay, I'll get off my soap box now. Happy reading!
Sophie :)
Here's my overview:
Jean Louise "Scout" Finch is twenty-six years old and on her way back to Maycomb for a visit from New York. Things are starting to stir up and trouble is brewing in her beloved town. During her visit she discovers things about her past she never knew about and has revelations about people she holds dearly.
Sorry for the short description but I don't want to reveal to much and that's about as much what the book jacket gives you.
I really am kind of undecided on this one. I really love To Kill a Mockingbird and my sister loves it so much she named her first daughter after Scout. This took the characters I love and my preconceived notions about them and turned them on their heads. Remember this is set in the 1950s so the American Civil Rights movement is just starting to stir up trouble, especially the NAACP. *Just a note; the NAACP was and is an African-American special interest group. They helped Rosa Parks with her case and took several legal cases to the Supreme Court like Brown v. Board of Education which declared separate schools were not equal in quality and started to upend segregation's mentality of "separate but equal." (Forgive me for the brief history lesson, I took U. S. History last year and thought a little background into the story might help.)* Anyway, back to the book! So Scout discovers things about herself and we are kind of surprised at her naivety at some things but I still liked her. I wanted to smack her in the back half of the book but nevertheless she absolved herself in the end. Two new characters are introduced in this book too. Okay, Uncle Jack isn't new but he is a more developed character and I liked that. He was a really cool old guy. We also meet a love interest for Scout but throughout the novel she refuses to marry him. Which was interesting to me but I could see her reasoning a bit but she was really hard on him. I am not exactly where their relationship is at the end of the novel and wish there was little bit more specificity in the matter. We also get to see Atticus again but as an old man. I actually liked the new facet of Atticus's character because it shows that we can't idolize people. As John Green says in Paper Towns, "What a treacherous thing to believe a person is more than a person." Very powerful words I would say, don't you think?
Okay, okay, I'll get off my soap box now. Happy reading!
Sophie :)
Friday, August 14, 2015
Music, Green Women, and Wuthering Heights
Hey, I haven't written in weeks I know, but I've gotten really busy. Reading even more books. Hahah but really, I've had to catch up in my summer homework (ick). SOO this review will be about one of my new favorite author's books The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. Really guys, she's pretty sweet.
Okay! Here's a description:
The Lennie plant is decaying. The real Lennie is also struggling with the grief that assaults her after her sister drops dead during a play rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet. As she tries to pick up the pieces of the life she thought she had, Lennie finds solace in her sister's (ex?)boyfriend Toby. And then things get a bit sticky. But then in walks musical genius Joe Fontaine (what a babe) who challenges Lennie to really go for what she wants in life.
Really though, it's a freaking awesome book. So go read it. Now!
I know that was really short, for me especially, but that's the best description I am willing to give without giving too much of the plot away.
Alright, since I really love Jandy Nelson, my opinion will probably be a little biased but even if it wasn't her, this is a freaking awesome novel. I loved how I could relate to Lennie's musical taste and her reading habits. (Sidewalk reading? Yes, please!) Anywayy, I also loved that it involved an older novel to help develop the story. I also just love Wuthering Heights but same difference right? Okay so this is gonna be a short one.
Chat again soon! Happy reading!
Sophie :)
Okay! Here's a description:
The Lennie plant is decaying. The real Lennie is also struggling with the grief that assaults her after her sister drops dead during a play rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet. As she tries to pick up the pieces of the life she thought she had, Lennie finds solace in her sister's (ex?)boyfriend Toby. And then things get a bit sticky. But then in walks musical genius Joe Fontaine (what a babe) who challenges Lennie to really go for what she wants in life.
Really though, it's a freaking awesome book. So go read it. Now!
I know that was really short, for me especially, but that's the best description I am willing to give without giving too much of the plot away.
Alright, since I really love Jandy Nelson, my opinion will probably be a little biased but even if it wasn't her, this is a freaking awesome novel. I loved how I could relate to Lennie's musical taste and her reading habits. (Sidewalk reading? Yes, please!) Anywayy, I also loved that it involved an older novel to help develop the story. I also just love Wuthering Heights but same difference right? Okay so this is gonna be a short one.
Chat again soon! Happy reading!
Sophie :)
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Love Games
Hi, there! I was recently on a road trip, and what better way to pass the time (11 hours there, 12 on the way back) than to read, right?! I had been wanting to read this for a month or two so I got it from the library when I saw it: The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough. I was so excited, particularly by the concept behind it. (It kind of reminded me of Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.)
Alright, here is my overview:
Love and Death are locked into games that are, well, deadly, not only for the players but for the world, too. For years, each has chosen one player - Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Helen and Paris. Each time, Death wins and Love despairs at each tragedy.
Fast-forward to 1937 and Love and Death are back at it. The Game is reaching its peak and the players are getting close.
Flora Saudade is a strong, young woman, who can't seem to stay out of the sky. Flying is where she can be herself - no matter that she's African-American - and she is determined to be the next Amelia Earhart. In order to reach her dream, she must sing in the night club that she owns with her uncle.
Henry Bishop, a white boy, lives with a wealthy adoptive family amidst the Great Depression. He has his future ahead of him with a college scholarship and a prospective girlfriend that will secure him into his adoptive family and their society.
For Love to win the Game, they must choose each other above all else.
Okayyyy, enough of an overview? I thought so too. Long story short, I think it was an awesome book.
I really loved this book. Throughout the book I couldn't decide if it would be a cliche ending but it wasn't and that was awesome. I liked how Love and Death were very developed characters instead of just being narrators unlike The Book Thief (I love that book too, no hate). I especially liked the ending and seeing how they ended up. I wish I got to know for sure what happened to Ethan. But we can't always get what we want ya know?
Okay, happy reading!
Sophie :)
Alright, here is my overview:
Love and Death are locked into games that are, well, deadly, not only for the players but for the world, too. For years, each has chosen one player - Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Helen and Paris. Each time, Death wins and Love despairs at each tragedy.
Fast-forward to 1937 and Love and Death are back at it. The Game is reaching its peak and the players are getting close.
Flora Saudade is a strong, young woman, who can't seem to stay out of the sky. Flying is where she can be herself - no matter that she's African-American - and she is determined to be the next Amelia Earhart. In order to reach her dream, she must sing in the night club that she owns with her uncle.
Henry Bishop, a white boy, lives with a wealthy adoptive family amidst the Great Depression. He has his future ahead of him with a college scholarship and a prospective girlfriend that will secure him into his adoptive family and their society.
For Love to win the Game, they must choose each other above all else.
Okayyyy, enough of an overview? I thought so too. Long story short, I think it was an awesome book.
I really loved this book. Throughout the book I couldn't decide if it would be a cliche ending but it wasn't and that was awesome. I liked how Love and Death were very developed characters instead of just being narrators unlike The Book Thief (I love that book too, no hate). I especially liked the ending and seeing how they ended up. I wish I got to know for sure what happened to Ethan. But we can't always get what we want ya know?
Okay, happy reading!
Sophie :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)