Thursday, August 7, 2014

Review!! Dork Diaries 7: Tales from a Not-So-Glam TV Star

Tales from a Not-So-Glam TV Star (Dork Diaries, #7)
Title:  Dork Diaries 7: Tales from a Not-So-Glam TV Star
Author:  Rachel Renée Russell
Format/Source: Hardcover, Won
Age Range: 9-13
Publisher/Publication Date: Alladin, June 3, 2014
Genre: Fiction, Friendship
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Book Summary from Goodreads

    Everyone’s been rooting for Nikki Maxwell and her crush, Brandon—and fans will finally learn if they had their first kiss in this seventh book of theNew York Times bestselling Dork Diaries series!

    Nikki’s juggling a lot this month. A reality TV crew is following Nikki and her friends as they record their hit song together, plus there are voice lessons, dance practice, and little sister Brianna’s latest wacky hijinks. Nikki’s sure she can handle everything, but will all the excitement cause new problems for Nikki and Brandon, now that cameras are everywhere Nikki goes? Read More

My Thoughts

       OMG, where do I even start? After reading this book I’m sitting here wondering how could I miss six books of hilariousness? HOW!?
       This Dork Diaries book starts out as Nikki Maxwell is still drooling over prom night when she is interrupted by a call from Trevor Chase about recording a song. But wait, there’s more! She even gets her own reality show! However, with all the things she has to do including dealing with the cameras following her and Mackenzie who was out for revenge, Nikki starts to wonder if it’ll ruin her friendship with Brandon, the guy she has a crush on.
       The book was well written and kept me going without yawning once. Although I loved Nikki and her humor, there was another character—not mentioning names— introduced in this book that was so funny I cried.  I absolutely loved how Nikki solved her problems as well as the conclusion to the story.
       If you want to dork out this summer, you’ll definitely want to read Dork Diaries 7: Tales from a Not-So-Glam TV Star.
Review written by my teen, Adri
--Andrea M.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Review: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

MistbornTitle: Mistborn
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Source/ Format: Purchased, Paperback
Age Range: YA
Publisher/ Publication Date: Tor (Tor Teen), May 13, 2014 (First Published July 17, 2006)
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     Warning, there aren’t spoilers ahead. (I tried to contain my excitement, and willingness to spew spoilers left and right by numerous rounds of editing this review.)

     So where should I begin? I want to say with EVERYTHING, but I should start with one at a time, right? Well for starters, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson has become one of my favorite books ever, effectively earning its spot right beside the Rithmatist. With its interesting cast of characters, amazing world building, and plot that kept me reading despite the books length, Mistborn is easily a read I would recommend to just about anyone.

     The characters were interesting, all of them, one-dimensional doesn’t even describe them, not even a little. Vin was fantastic and I enjoyed seeing her change across the events that unfolded throughout the book. Kelsier was a character who was shrouded in an air of mystery, and I liked that his history was eventually revealed—so I could understand his motivation for what he did. Breeze, Ham, Dockson, and the rest of the crew were great as well, and I loved seeing their team work together. The Lord Ruler, the villain, he was so powerful that I was left wondering what they were going to do about him. Then there was Elend, he was interesting, but I don’t want to say much about him, otherwise I might end up putting in a massive spoiler…unintentionally. So to avoid doing so I think I’ll just stop talking about the characters now, moving on.

     The world building in Mistborn was executed nicely; the pacing was also excellent because despite the length, which I mentioned before, it was entertaining throughout. The Finale Empire and the system of magic, Allomancy, were both impressive concepts at the core of Mistborn, and I enjoyed learning more about both. The opening chapters really set up a nice beginning for the rest of the epic story. The descriptions really helped me get a sense of the setting, and I could really picture what was happening as it was happening. The ending was satisfying to say the least and wrapped up the plot quite nicely. Mistborn just sort of solidified my reasoning for why Brandon Sanderson is one of my all-time favorite authors. So, anyone that’s looking for a good fantasy read with strong characters, solid world building and plot, then you should definitely check out Mistborn.

Monday, August 4, 2014

Musing Mondays (3)

    

     Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading, that asks you to muse about one of the following each week:
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

My Musings for the week...
     I'm going to keep this kind of short today, but lets talk briefly about books with illustrations. Sometimes I do like books that have small illustrations in them, because it gives me a sense of what the characters and settings really look like beyond what my imagination came up with. (They also come in handy when small, intricate details like symbols, some pieces of complicated jewelry worn by the characters, etc aren't really explained.) Some great examples of books with illustrations in them are: The Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld, The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson, The League of Princes Trilogy by Christopher Healy, *shuffles through books*...hmmm I don't seem to have many young adult ones, but plenty of middle grade ones. Anyway, what about you guys?  What are your thoughts on books with illustrations, young adult or otherwise?

Friday, August 1, 2014

The Friday 56 (2)

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

The Archived (The Archived, #1)
"I wonder if boredom prompts him to it, or if it's more."-The Archived by Victoria Schwab




What's on your page 56 this week?

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Review: Shadow of the Mark by Leigh Fallon

Shadow of the Mark (Carrier, #2)Title:Shadow of the Mark (Click title for Synopsis)
Author: Leigh Fallon
Source/Format: won, paperback
Age Range: YA
Publisher/Publication Date: Harper Teen, July 9, 2013

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My Thoughts:

     Ok, so I’m going to keep this kind of short today. Recently I’ve tried to read some of the older unread books on my shelf, and so I picked Shadow of the Mark as one I was going to get to at last.

     I’m not going to lie: this one took me weeks…WEEKS to read and it’s not even that long. I’ve read the previous book, and it wasn’t bad, the writing was consistent and it was mildly entertaining. But with Shadow of the Mark, I found myself sort of bored, and I kept putting it down for days at a time. The middle was the worst for me, and everything else was just sort of meh. The writing was once again consistent, but the plot…well the pacing felt a little off. The beginning and middle were slow, and it wasn’t until the last so many pages that the action really picked up. The romance was just…romance, that’s all I’ve really got on it. The twist at the end with a few of the characters was pretty out of nowhere—I didn’t expect it at all—and probably the most interesting part for me, so I did enjoy it and I found that I was a little more interested in what was happening. The ending wraps up a few plot points, but leaves things wide open for the next book.

     So in the end this book was sort of average for me. Would I read the next book? I don’t know, maybe, just to see where the story goes.
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