Book Review: Unlikely Places

(the amazon version of the book cover was the only one I could find that was a good size, which is why it says "Click to look inside." Sorry about that)
Summary: (I read this a month or two ago, so sorry if the review is a bit fuzzy) If you ask Nicki Thompson (or Nicole, as it says on the cover) what this book is about, she'll immediately respond "Fairy princesses." And that's a good answer. Thought this particular book happens to be about a fairy princess trying to juggle schoolwork at college, get over her hatred of a certain Deirdre, while quoting everything related to pop culture and dealing with a character's cheese addiction.
If you haven't guessed after the above sentence, Unlikely Places is about Satrina, a fairy princess who decides to leave her world and her family to go to college. Is that a good choice? Maybe not, considering all her newly acquired roommates and friends (including Maeve, a bubbly girl who tends to obsess over everything, and loves pink, and Zoe, the smart one who happens to have EVERYTHING ANYONE WOULD EVER NEED, batteries not included) seem to think she's from Farm Planet and tease her about not knowing what anything they're referencing is, something I can relate to all too much. (*Cough cough*)
But she soon starts getting along with this wild cast of characters, and all is well, until DEIRDRE arrives
Deirdre is a fairy from the other world, the fairies that are the enemies of the kingdom Satrina lives in. She happens to be going to the same college and is dating a friend of Satrina's, so she's pretty hard to avoid (that's right, right? In my fuzziness, I didn't just not realize that Maeve dating Deirdre is inccorect, did I? Did that sentence make sense?).
Anyway, I won't spoil whether the two enemies become friends, or whether Satrina starts going out with a certain Luke Skywalker (fine, not Skywalker, but Luke) or whether they all go on a fabulous adventure in the end, with the traveling between worlds and procrastination and cheese and mustaches! Okay, maybe not mustaches, but all the rest applies.
Opinion: The book was amusing. At certain points I got a bit confused about what was going on, but all in all I suggest this as a fun read (not fun as in light and insignificant, fun as in fun. Come on people, don't you know the meaning of the word?)  

Book Review: Remembering Raquel

By Vivian Vande Velde

Summary: Raquel, a ninth grader who pretty much goes unoticed in her school, except by her best friend Hailey, gets hit by a car one night, and dies.
 Yup, she dies. This is made obvious from the first chapter, and is in fact what the whole book is about. Every chapter takes place from the point of view, from people very close to Raquel (her best friend, her Dad) to people who barely knew her (two boys who had been standing there talking to her when she stepped off the curb, the person driving the car, her classmate). Every person has something to say, a memory to share, an opinion on the subject. As the book goes on, more and more is revealed about Raqual's life, about her death, about her relationships, showing her to be a funny, likeable person, that you wish you knew when she was alive.
 The whole book is shadowed by the knowledge that she is, in fact, dead, but it doesn't feel so sad, probably because the writing in the book is well written and amusing.

My opinion: I really liked this book. The thing that makes it interesting is how it's written from everyone's point of view but Raquel's, since the book takes place after she died. But you feel like you know her anyway, proving that the writing is really good. I totally suggest this book. It's small, and it would've probably taken me about 1-2 hours to read, if it hadn't been for the fact that I was reading it on a roadtrip, so I kept stopping, and doing other stuff.

A little bit 'o critique: As good as the book was, I felt like it was missing something, and after I thought about it a bit, I figured out what (I think) would've made it a bit better.
 You follow all these different characters all the way up to her funeral, but you don't really see most of them interact with each other. I think it would've been cool if the author had had everyone gather around at the funeral and talk about Raquel, to kind of give the book it's final kapow. However, the book didn't have that, and it's good enough as it is (the book did have a small kapow, but I still think they should've had all the characters talk).



Review: How my Private Personal Journal Became a Bestseller

By Julia Devillers
Okay, I haven't read this book in a while, but the book I'm planning on reviewing next, I haven't finished yet, and the other book isn't really chick lit- y, so I'll do this one.

Summary: So 14 year old Jamie Bartlett is your typical character- a girl who reads teen magazines, obsesses about her image, crushes on a cute popular guy at school, avoids an evil popular girl at school, who happens to be his girlfriend (so cliche, right?), paints her nails, and wishes she was pretty and popular. She has a best friend named Harmony, and another friend named Liz, who is constantly feeling pressured about being overweight at home.
The thing that sets Jamie apart from all the other book character like this, is that she likes to write. Wait....that's kind of like Mia in the princess diaries.

Except Jamie isn't a princess. Whatever. Anyway, she writes her typical reports for school, the type of thing teachers want to see, then goes home and pounds it out in her journal. One day, when she's supposed to write about a change she would make in the world if she could, she types in her journal instead (she's using Harmony's laptop, and is excited about the glitter gel pen effect it lets her have). She is sick of feeling so down about her image, being surrounded by models in her room all the time (on posters; they aren't actually in her room). She writes a fictional story in her journal about a girl named Isabella, a girl who does her own thing and fits no stereotypes. But there's another thing about Isabella: She's secretly IS! IS is a superhero type, who can banish all evil, such as The Backstabber, The Gossiper, The Best Friend Stealer, and more, by flicking them.

All these evil people are sent by her nemesis, Myrna, based on a person in Jamie's life, named Sawyer (I mentioned her before, remember? She's Jamie's crush, Marco's girlfriend. Wait, that sounds weird. I meant to say, Marco Vega is Jamie's crush, and Sawyer is Marco's girlfriend). IS finally defeats Myrna in the end, and thus, Jamie finishes her novel/journal and goes to bed (after sending her school report to Harmony to print out and give to her in the morning).

The next morning, she turns in her english report, and goes about the day as usual. But (gasp!) what happens when she finds out she sent Harmony the wrong paper? What happens when her english teacher reads her Diary in front of the whole class? What happens when everyone loves it? What happens when her teacher sends it to a literary agent to read, and they like it, and a bunch of publishers end up having a bidding war over it, making Jamie rich? ($$$$$$$. Not that Jamie will ever see much of the money....) What happens when her book hits the bestselling list, she becomes famous, and ends up doing things like being interviewed for the newspaper, getting her own media coach, walking the red carpet, and actually meeting some of the people in the posters she keeps on her walls?

And how does this effect Jamie's life, her friendships, her personality? What happens when she feels like everyone is expecting her to be IS, and she feels like she just can't do it anymore?

I guess you'll just have to read the book to find out.

My opinion: This was actually the first book in the teen section I've ever read. Before that, I'd been in the children's section my whole life, so the teen section felt sacred. It was amazing. The book was totally different from anything else in the children's section, and I loved it. I would find out later that some of Jamie's issues were a bit cliche, but when I first read it, it became my favorite book, ever.
Julia Deviller's writing is really funny. Her characters tend to find themselves stressing over nothing and getting in totally embarrassing situations, but her books are enjoyable through it all. I recommend this book if you're looking for a light, fun read.
One of the things best about this book is that Jamie's fame doesn't seem unbelievable. I've read a lot of books where people become famous out of the blue, and it just feels so fake that it makes you feel like throwing the book across the room.
Anyway, the book was good, they made a movie out of it, which wasn't that good (it's called Read it and Weep, and I watched it on youtube, which means you probably can too) and so, this book review ends.

Hausta la vista, baby(s)!

Review: The Pity Party; 8th Grade in the life of me, Cass

Allison Pollet

1 rebel, 2 best friends, and a horror movie about Oliver Twist.

Summary: Cass Levin (not Levine) is entering 8th grade with her friends Penelope and Tillie. There's just one teensy problem: Both of them are in every single class together, and neither one of them is in any classes with her. Obviously, this makes Cass quite a bit upset, even though she doesn't show it in front of them, because she doesn't want them to feel sorry for her (more on that later).

She gets more and more unhappy as the day goes on, and goes to bed pretty miserable. But for some reason, on the first day of school, she wakes up buzzing with energy and opportunities. And when her school bus goes over a pothole, causing a pair of old heart shaped glasses missing a frame to go flying out of her pocket, she takes a chance and puts them on.

They aren't magical. They don't give her superpowers. But she likes them because they take the attention away from her, and focuses it on the glasses.

Now, here's a little fact about Cass: She's an orphan. No, she's not one of those tiny kids in an orphanage singing sad songs and clinging to a locket (she's 5'8, not even tiny!). Her parents died when she was 8, and though it doesn't mention this much, there are several flashbacks throughout the book. One of the things she hates is people feeling sorry for her because of this tragedy.

It doesn't help that they're reading a bunch of books about orphans in her english class. Nor does it help that there's a boy named Rod Punkin who sits behind her, who tends to blurt things out at random. He has obvioous behavior problems, but, according to Rod at least, so does she.

She slowly becomes friends with Rod, hanging out with him at an opening at some clinic her Aunt started, and talking to him on the phone about a project their group is doing for English, and actually talking about how her parents died with him.

It's hard to describe their friendship, mostly because it doesn't go on very long. Rod randomly doesn't show up at school one day, and rumors go around saying he was expelled. Cass is shocked and unhappy, having lost yet another person in her life.

The inside flap acts like this is the most important part of the book, but it really doesn't happen till the end-ish part of the book, and is quickly resolved. That's probably a longer summary than the book requires, so I'll stop there.

My opinion: At first, the book kind of bored me, and the fact that it took place in the 80's didn't help much. But the story picked up, and I found myself enjoying it. I grew attached to Cass, and was sad when the book ended. That was a negative thing about the book. They say a book ending should leave you wanting more, but I feel like a book should make you feel like it ended at just the right time, in just the right way. This book didn't give me that feeling.

Other than that, the book was good, though it randomly turned sad towards the end. Apparently there's a book that comes before it about her friend Penelope, called "Nobody Was Here." I haven't read it, but maybe you should read it first.

Happy reading!