Feature and Follow Friday: Summer is Magic

Parajunkee / Alison Can Read

FEATURE & FOLLOW FRIDAY

Once you answer be sure to leave me your link so I can follow you back

Q: School is out! What is your favorite summer reading book? 

My definition of summer is: laughter and margaritas. Add a hot tub/pool to that and you get heaven, just like this little wonder called Ten Things we did and probably shouldn't have by Sarah Mlynowski.

It's light, it's funny and talks about parties, rooming with your best friend, and dealing with a love triangle. Important things to learn during the summertime.

Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

The peculiar thing about this book is that it's presented as a horror, when it's actually a fantasy. Putting that deception aside, we discover a well meaning character, Jacob, who after witnessing his grand-father's murder, must accept that maybe, just maybe Gramps stories about bizarre children were true. 

The middle is slow paced as he mourns his grand-father and then sets off to meet all the children -- Emma in particular -- and enter their eerie world. Jacob is an intrepid boy, who proves to be just as brave as his grand-father. Also just as bizarre. Does he belong with the children?

Peregrine, National Geographic

With the open ending, the question whether we'll have a second book kept eating at me. But alas, Ransom Riggs has confirmed on Twitter that there will be a sequel. If I happen to see a peregrine flying around, I'll be sure to ask when. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Don't Cry But We do

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

TOP TEN BOOKS DEALING WITH TOUGH SUBJECTS

These types of books are heavy, which is strange because most of them have very few pages, and yet manage to bring us to tears. Here is my top ten:

Suicide

Illness

     

Sexual Abuse

     

Family Issues

              

Bullying

    

Caught my arrow # 14

Caught my Arrow is a meme similar to In my mailbox and  Stalking the Shelves featuring books that were purchased, borrowed or received that week.

I'm happy to announce that I am finally reading The Host. About time too. I thought I should do this before the DVD came out.

 

I also borrowed Boundless and Meant To Be from the library. 

What are you reading this week?

Review: Every Little Thing in the World

Every little thing in the world stopped once Sydney found out she was pregnant. How could she think of anything else? The father is a guy she barely knows, she is sixteen, and has a hard time integrating into her own broken family, let alone start one of her own.

To make matters worse, she gets shipped to a camp with her best friend Natalia, who volunteered. But Sydney can't see it. For most of the book, the jealousy toward her friend Natalia is horrendous and very realistic of a teenager with self-esteem issues. She even crushes on Natalia's beaus, Steve and Mick. 

In fact she crushes on everybody even though she is pregnant, making it hard to connect with her as a character. Too bad Natalia wasn't the protagonist, as the author placed a lot more importance to detail when it came to her family and love life, providing her with a steady boyfriend and a hot camp guy that would make many ladies swoon.

All in all, I enjoyed how teens shared their different views on abortion. It must not be easy to have a child at sixteen and I couldn't blame Sydney for considering her options.

Looks like We Have Our Gus for The Fault in our Stars

I'm so excited.

The Fault in our Stars film continues to take shape, as Ansel Elgort is offered the role of Augustus Waters. My only concern is that he will also be playing Caleb in the upcoming Divergent movie along side Shailene. Will we be able to distinguish both actors from both roles?

He does look the part. And hopefully he will accept the offer and the crew can start filming.

Feature and Follow Friday: No Mommy Dearest

Parajunkee / Alison Can Read

FEATURE & FOLLOW FRIDAY

Once you answer be sure to leave me your link so I can follow you back

Q: Happy Mother's Day! Who is your favorite mom from fiction?

Ma.

Room is a hard read. The story is told from the point-of-view of a five year old who lived with his Ma in a room where Old Nick held her in captivity for seven years.

Now, Ma could have completely lost her mind. But instead she fought for her son. She made a schedule in which they would push the furniture and run around for exercise. Or draw on the toilet paper, since they had no paper....just so many ideas to shield him  from the horror and give him whatever life she could. 

Review: Stargirl

Being different in high school can lead to terrible things. I mean, look at Carrie. You'd think that the sweet and shy kids would be left alone. Instead, they are teased.

Carrie, pic by Everett Collection

However, unlike Carrie, Stargirl isn't shy. She is very sweet and very loud. Her cafeteria school breaks are consumed by playing her ukulele and signing Happy Birthday to ''lucky'' kids, and bonding with her pet rat. During games, she enjoys cheering for the opposite team because everyone deserves to be cheered. As for the biggest thing that made Stargirl different, Leo said,

"If we were hurt, if we were unhappy, or otherwise victimized by life, she seemed to know about it, and to care, as soon as we did. But bad things falling on her - unkind words, nasty stares, foot blisters - she seemed unaware of."  

Will Leo stand up for Stargirl in the end? The big climax enfolds during a school dance, dun dun dun.

Spinelli captures his own individuality while tackling the universal topic of discrimination. He pushes Stargirl to the limits, but never turns her into a farce, giving us a very realistic turn of events.  

Despite it all, I couldn't blame Leo for wanting Stargirl to act normal, specially when kids begin to shun him too for being her friend. Will we ever learn to accept one another?

Top Ten Tuesday: If Books were a Snack

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

TOP TEN BOOKS THAT ARE BOTH LIGHT AND FUN

Summer is on it's way. There is no better feeling than marching off to the beach with a fun and pleasant read. Here are my top picks:

TEN THINGS WE DID AND PROBABLY SHOULDN'T HAVE by Sarah Mlynowski
If given the opportunity, what sixteen-year-old wouldn't jump at the chance to move in with a friend and live parent-free? Although maybe "opportunity" isn't the right word, since April had to tell her dad a tiny little untruth to make it happen.

LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR by Stephanie Perkins
Budding costume designer Lola lives an extraordinary life in San Francisco with her two Dads, and beloved dog, dating a punk rocker, but when the Bell twins return to the house next door Lola recalls both the friendship -- ending fight with Calliope, a figure skater, and the childhood crush she had on Cricket.

EX-MAS by Kate Brian

Seventeen-year-old Lila Beckwith's parents just left for vacation, and Lila's all set to throw the holiday party of the season. But when her Christmas-obsessed little brother, Cooper, discovers that global warming is melting the North Pole, he and his best friend, Tyler, take off on a runaway mission to save Santa. Lila has to get Cooper safely home before her parents get back on Christmas Eve. But the only person who can help her is Tyler's older brother, Beau -- a.k.a. Lila's musician, anti-everything ex-boyfriend.

THE QUEEN OF BABBLE by Meg Cabot

Lizzie Nichols has a problem: she can't keep anything to herself. And when she opens her big mouth on a trip to London, her good intentions get her long-distance beau, Andrew, in major hot water. Now she's stuck in England with no boyfriend and no place to stay until the departure date on her nonrefundable airline ticket. Fortunately, Lizzie's best friend and college roommate, Shari, is spending her summer catering weddings in a sixteenth-century chateau in southern France. Can Lizzie figure out some way to use her big mouth to save the day or will she only make things worse?

A KISS IN TIME by Alex Flinn
Sixteen-year-old princess Talia persuades seventeen-year-old Jack, the modern day American who kissed her awake after a three hundred year sleep, to take her to his Miami home, where she hopes to win his love before the witch who cursed her can spirit her away.

Also absolutely anything from Sophie Kinsella!!!

Review: Level Up

When my cousin was born, my uncle promised to mold him into a doctor. Years later, he put him through medical school, a place my cousin hated so much he became a psychiatrist; that way he could have his own office, his business, without the need to clean oozy wounds. I always wondered if this was the true meaning of a compromise, or simply the lack of confidence to stand up for yourself.

In Level Up, Dennis' Dad wants him to become a gastroenterologist. But all Dennis wants to do is play videogames. I love how the author begins by putting us in the middle. No one would want to be told what profession to follow, and yet, anything seems better than being an addict. Just when it looks like Dennis won't change his mind, his dad dies and his whole world crumbles. 

Cleverly designed with levels one, two, and three -- the story enfold in a comfortable pace. Dennis even gets a ''conscious'' disguised as little guardian angels along the way. 

All in all,  Luen Yang teaches us about the peace we get when we sacrifice ourselves for another, and the way it slowly rots us inside.

Also by Luen Yang

American Born Chinese

Feature and Follow Friday: Mind Switch

Parajunkee / Alison Can Read

FEATURE & FOLLOW FRIDAY

Once you answer be sure to leave me your link so I can follow you back

Q: Give us a sneak! What are you reading? Tell us about a fun or fail scene in your current read.

*Puts the article about crazy Amanda Bynes down*

On the plus side, I'm also reading Shadow Lands. A story about a girl who has to move into custody with her family after a serial killer attempts on her life. That scene in particular where he attacks her, didn't really get to me. The author began in the mind of the killer, then switched to our main character as if we couldn't have known of his intentions if we had started in her head.

Review: Scapemaker

The limit between consciousness and subconsciousness is very thin. All we have to do is fall asleep to cross over. But a dreamscaper -- well, he doesn't have to do anything. He rules both worlds.

In Scapemaker, Steve V. Cypert introduces us to Matthew Namely, a teenage boy whose father works at his school. Their relationship is terrible. His Dad barely wants him around and keeps a lot of information from him. It takes a bizarre accident, in which his Dad just won't recover, for Matthew to try and solve the puzzle that was his father.

I was overwhelmed with all the information that was given in the first few chapters. The strained relationship, the accident, another tragic event, the move, and then all the characteristics of what dreamscaping was about. A lot to take in. Things got better once Matthew settled and found a group of friends he could count on.  I admire his determination to help his father, regardless of everything he kept from him.

Another good point to mention, is that Cypert, didn't limit this writing to science-fiction. There is a lot of romance in this book (love triangle). Matthew's adventure will continue in the sequel.