Two-Way Street

Ah yes. This was a very cute book by Lauren Barnholdt. It's really amazing to see how people can care so little about someone that they really care about so much. The problems and conflicts in the book were believable things that high school exes would run into, there was a touch of suspense in the beginning to keep things interesting, and you just can't go wrong with a happy ending like that, can you?
Oops. That kind of spoiled it.
Well. The story was more straightforward, and although there are a few unexpected things, it isn't much if you like tons of road trip-esque adventure. Still worth the read, though!

Courtney McSweeney is on a road trip to college orientation with her boyfriend Jordan. Four days all to themselves, and it's gonna be great. Except...Jordan's her ex-boyfriend, and Courtney thinks that there couldn't be anything worse than this. I mean, he dumped her for some girl on MySpace (whom Courtney is sure is named Mercedes) and now they're supposed to get together on a road trip. Agh. But beneath all those layers of hate is one small part of her that's still attached to him. If Jordan can reveal the big secret about why they couldn't be, is it possible that he can still return her feelings?

Related links:
• Author's site

Airhead

After quite a bit of "It's stupid." "It's not." "It's stupid." "It's not." from Intu there, she finally convinced me to read Airhead, a book by someone we've all heard about, Meg Cabot. This book is getting a tad more hype than necessary, with the sequel that used to be on the top 10 list. I love the way that Meg Cabot writes her stories about normal teenage girls, but manages to put in a minuscule amount of unique modern fantasy or fairy tale aspects to make it go just a bit beyond average chick lit. In this case, it's not princesses or spirit mediators, but supermodels and brain transplants. The writing is subtly sarcastic (just how I like it), and there are cliffhangers at every chapter to keep you reading more. However, some parts of the story felt like they were skipped, and I felt that the writing got a little rushed and under-done during the middle. All in all, it's a fair representation of a total newbie supermodel.

Life in Tribeca Alternative High School has Emerson Watts labeled computer geek and resident freak. And to make it worse, her little sister is turning into "popular material", and demands to see Nikki Howard, teenage supermodel, at the grand opening of the new mall (all the cool girls want to). That is, until a protester's paintball gun screws up a plasma TV. Mayhem ensues as the huge screen crashes down to the ground...right where Em is standing. Once the chaos is over, police find Em's body among the rubble. Then, right afterwards, the tabloids are eating up a new story about Nikki Howard's case of amnesia. Could these events be connected? Of course not. And Em is definitely dead.
Right?

Related links:
• Author's site

The Magician...sequel to waaaaaaay back, The Alchemyst

After The Magician, I'm afraid that my head will explode if I read the third book, The Sorceress, anytime soon. Well, that's actually a good thing, because Michael Scott's characters, despite being actual mythological creatures and people, are packed with personality and feeling that make them seem real. The plot, however, got a bit confusing during the climax and the some of the characters started acting a lot less believable in the middle, but otherwise, I loved this sequel to The Alchemyst. The best part for me was the blend of modern and magical (alchemyst = rock star), which wasn't too different from the style of Percy Jackson.

After a narrow escape from California, master Alchemyst Nicholas Flamel, (real) vegetarian vampire Scathach, and the supposedly all-powerful twins Sophie and Josh, find themselves in Paris. Flamel is overjoyed to see the city of his birth in the 1500's, but not everyone is a happy camper. Josh is growing increasingly jealous of his sister's new magic powers. Sophie is growing more and more convinced that the only reason why her little brother (by 26 seconds) is in danger at all is the work of their so-called allies. Like-minded after a disastrous run-in with a ginormous monster, Josh is starting to wonder whether the bad guys might be the good guys after all.

Related websites:

• Author's site

• Official series site

• Fan site
• SotINF Wiki

Um...heh...please don't kill me...

Sorry about the lack of related links lately if any of you guys actually use them...
I finished posting them all up, so click away, my friends!

Zenith

New approach, everyone. This is the SECOND book in a series by Julie Bertagna of which I have not started reviewing. I might post the first book, Exodus, I might not. As you can see, I survived Zenith without reading Exodus without too much confusion. The part of this book that I enjoyed the most was the unique way that Julie Bertagna writes. It's almost like poetry, but the storyline is still very clear. The book gives you a dystopian fantasy edge, while still focusing on the effects of global warming. There are two different worlds, one on a quest, and one pirate sea-city. It's fascinating to see how they collide (literally).

Aboard the white ship Arkiel, the emigrants of the lost city Wing are on a mission to find more land at the top of the Earth. They are smooth sailing, until they meet a fleet of ships made into a crumbling city called Pomperoy. Forcibly. In the boat city, Tuck the gypsea boy is fed up with his life on the edge of poverty. He joins the group on the Arkiel as they lead the ships of Pomperoy to land. But once they have it in their sights, who knows what's waiting for them?

Related links:
• Author's website
• Author's blog

The Time Paradox

And here it is! The last book (so far) in the Artemis Fowl series. Colfer's use of time travel in this book makes a lot more sense than the last one, and more than once, you're guaranteed to facepalm yourself when the little details and allusions all come together at the end. Another great thing about the use of time travel in this novel is that you can compare the characters of the past and how much they've evolved over the course of the next five books (a colossal amount). And of course, the plot is one big, funny, adventure that makes this book one of the best ones in the series.

Artemis Fowl has called up his fairy friends once more. This time it's because his mother is deathly ill, and getting worse by the minute. She is diagnosed by the fairies with Spelltropy, a disease that can only be cured with the brain fluid of the Silky Sifaka lemur. What's the catch? Artemis himself killed the last member of the species when he was ten years old. So in order to save his mother, he has to travel back in time to steal the lemur back. This plan proves to be working just fine, until things don't go according to the past. Will the little lemur be safely transported back, or will a new (and old) villain return to ensure that two members of the twenty-first century get permanently stuck in the twentieth?

Related websites:

• Author's site

• Official series site

• Fan site

Deadly Little Secret

Gah. Well. That was a pretty creepy book (the secret wasn't deadly, though). There were freaky stalker people, exes with handcuffs, and boys who sense things through touch...?
Okay, fine. It was still good. In the book, there are chapters told from two different viewpoints, although the narrator of one of them is never revealed (though by the end, it doesn't take a genius to figure out who it is). As the story goes on, the author leads you to figure out exactly what's going on, and then bam! Sudden big plot twist, and you had no inkling whatsoever that it's going to happen. Very crafty. Laurie Faria Stolarz also pulls off alternating between a best friend's hilarious one-liners and scenes that give you a chill up your spine.

Camelia's normal high-school world is turned upside down upon the arrival of the mysterious new kid, Ben. Gossip has it that he murdered his girlfriend. Everyone seems to be shunning Ben. Everyone except Camelia. A while back, the same Ben saved her life right before she was hit by a van (Twilight, no?). Her friends repeatedly warn Camelia to stay away from him, but she simply shakes off their worrying. Then Camelia starts getting packages, her room is vandalized, and she's sure someone is stalking her. Could her friends be right about Ben's past and Camelia's future?

Related links:
• Author's website
• Wikipedia article on psychometry

Shark Girl

Oh, wow. This book by Kelly Bingham is full of all these great poems narrating the life of a girl who lost her arm in a shark attack. There actually was feeling in the unique poems, and they told the story with enough detail for me to follow the plot. At times, we find the main character whining about the things she'll never be able to do again, and then she's celebrating how she can FINALLY crack an egg. It's not much if you like plot twists and adventure, but it's a moving tale.

Jane loves life. And her art. As you can imagine, when her arm gets bitten off by a shark in an accident, she's devastated that she now struggles with the things she took for granted just days ago. What use is Jane if she can't cook, put on her clothes without help, and worst of all, draw? As Jane's story unfolds, she finds unexpected hope in friends, family, and of course, purple makeup kits.

Related links:
What?!? No related links? Hmm...

Sarah-Land!

Is anyone here a big Sarah Dessen fan?

Well if you are, there's a huge new fansite that you can check out (if you haven't heard of it already) called Sarah-Land.
See it here.

Happy viewing! ^^

The City of Ember

Oh happy day. I finally get to The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, looooong after the last book comes out. I am really pathetic. Anyway, the story was quite short and good enough to make me want to read the second book. I could really imagine the city of Ember in my mind's eye, and most of the characters had good descriptions. The one thing is, I'm you're someone who adores plot twists, this book isn't likely to please as much. The author did a good job of setting up a place for the sequel to pick up, which I WOULD LIKE TO READ BUT CAN'T FIND AT THE LIBRARY. Grr. Now about that movie they made of it...

Surrounding the city of Ember is darkness for as far as anyone can see. The city itself is lit by a huge generator. But sometimes the generator dies, plunging the city into utter darkness and leaving the residents of Ember scared that they might not light up again. Two children who have just been assigned their citizenship jobs, Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow, are finding the lights to be flickering ever more frequently. They begin exploring the city for clues on how to fix the gargantuan machine. But when Lina finds a piece of paper she believes can save the whole city, she and Doon will have to take some drastic measures.

Related links:
• Author's website
• Movie site

13 Little Blue Envelopes

This is a very charming book by Maureen Johnson. I had great fun watching the characters travel around Europe, while perpetually complaining about either being a tourist, or trying (and usually failing) to cross that ever-present cultural barrier. The book was unique, because it was basically dictated via letters from someone who had already died. Each character had a distinct personality, and most of the time, the author reflected the country or region where they were supposed to be from. The only problem for me was that the ending seemed to be abrupt. If Ms. Johnson intended a cliffhanger, she definitely succeeded.

One day, Virginia "Ginny" Blackstone finds a package with 13 blue envelopes inside. She opens the first one, and is immediately given a task. She has to go to London and embark on a crazy cross-country mission to follow in her late artist aunt's footsteps. With every completed letter, she meets new people, sees new sights, and learns about new countries. But if Ginny's aunt was so persistent about the 13 envelopes, what could be the treasure at the end of her journey?

Related links:
• Author's website
• Author's blog

The Fire Eternal

Let's all get the dragon books over with before I forget about the fourth book (and before the fifth one comes out. Meep).
Compared to The Fire Eternal, Fire Star was like a cake walk. It was so confusing, and I had pretty much two thoughts throughout the book:
• These keep getting worse.
• NOOOOOO. They KILLED him off! GAHHHHHH!!!!
I think the new characters were quite believable, though, and the story about the history of the dragons was relevant and overlapped with the present-day story quite well. Also, the overall idea of the plot was original and mixed the fantasy world with the modern one. Do I recommend reading this book? Not really, but I WOULD recommend the first three books.

Life at the Pennykettle household has taken a whole new turn after the disappearance of David Rain. His sibyl girlfriend Zanna and their daughter Alexa are very depressed. But taking the worst of it is sixteen year-old Lucy Pennykettle, who was only eleven when David moved in. In fact, Lucy misses him so much that she takes off on a journey with a seemingly kind-hearted reporter, Tam Farrell. As evil spirits, ravens, and witches are caught up in the story, there's only one way that Gawain, the last dragon, can be protected.

The Hunger Games

Huh. Is it just me, or do The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Graceling by Kristin Cashore have a bit too many parallels? Here are a few I noticed.

• As mentioned in the Graceling post, the main character's names start with "Kat"
• The main male character's name starts with "P"
• Both books involve a girl who is very good at killing/wounding/mauling/mutilating people
• Both books involve a girl with a gift for survival in the wilderness
• The plots are set in a kingdom or nation which is (mostly) built around a central district
• The relationship between the two main characters in each book both start out bitter and becomes a ton more romantic/complicated
• Near the end of the books, the main male characters both get permanently wounded in some way

Yeah, well. I could go on for ages. But that doesn't mean The Hunger Games is a bad book or anything. It had just the right amount of adventure (between "Then she did this. Then she did that. Then she got nailed by a club." and "ZOMFG!!!!! She tooo-tally SKOOLED the girl!!! She threw her knife and OMGOMGOMG the girl's guts were, like, all over the place!!!!! OMG!!!!"). The part that stood out the most for me was that practically the whole book seemed to be alive with survival skills, but in reality, it was based around money and fame, giving the book a kind of "behind-the-scenes" feel.

Summary: Katniss Everdeen was living on the edge of starvation. But on the day when the contestants for the Hunger Games are picked, she volunteers to go instead of her little sister. Why? Because the Hunger Games is a twenty-four kid fight to the death. Literally. Now she's headed to the Capital with her partner (and fake boyfriend), Peeta to train. Will she make it through to win the hearts of the twelve districts, the President, and most importantly, her worried sick family?

Related links:
• Author's website
• Official series website
• Official UK site
• Fan forum

Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator

Here comes yet another post. (Four in one day!!! Has BYS gone mad???) Gilda Joyce: Private Investigator. Doesn't sound exactly like a book I would read, but I decided to give it a go because I had to read a few books on the school list. I thought the book was a bit on the boring side. The plot was anticlimactic, the characters didn't seem too consistent, and there was hardly any kind of action or a plot twist. I mean, it's a mystery. It's got to have at least ONE unexpected moment. Should you read it? Meh, not really.

Gilda Joyce has some very detailed plans on being a psychic investigator when she grows up. Sadly, everyone else thinks she's too old to be playing "games" like that. Gilda, however, has found a way to see exactly how good she is at her kind of work. She moves in with her mom's cousin, Mr. Splinter, and his daughter Juliet. Soon, Gilda and Juliet find themselves searching for the ghost of Mr. Splinter's sister, who apparently committed suicide. The two eighth-graders must find out the reason her ghost is still around. Could it be related to the many family secrets Mr. Splinter must be guarding?

Related links:
• Official series site
• Author biography

Rate this book

Yesssss!!!!!!! After days of various HTML tweaking, de-fancifying templates, and mauling the refresh button multiple times, I found out how to add the "reactions", or in this case, the "rate this book" functions. So please rate away!

And sorry that it only let me put four stars there. Just pretend that's the highest rating.

Note: This is just a coincidence that it works the same day I post something about commenting.

Comments

I just looked through my posts and noticed that there are like no comments!!! If you've read one of the books I blogged about and have something to say, please let me know via the comments! Literary Pizazz is NOT a reference site; it is a blog about children's and YA books, and if you could leave your opinion, I would really appreciate that.

The Last Olympian—finally

No way! I finished the last Percy Jackson book so no one has to listen to me blab on and on about them anymore! Woohoo! It's also the first series I've finished blogging. Celebratory moment, peoples. *hands out e-truffles and e-cake*
So. The thing is, this book is so popular that I kind of already knew how the plot goes. This is partly due to the time I spent poring over sites to find out each detail about the other four books to blog about. Also, some of my friends love the book, and they kept spewing quotes and facts about it. (coughcough-Intu-cough)
The battle thing was not as bad as I thought, and for a book with a melancholy-looking dark green cover, you'd find a LOT of humor. I found myself alternately snorting with laughter and mourning the death of various characters (it's a battle. What did you expect?). As always, Riordan does a great job of creatively jazzing up the Greek gods and heroes. It's a big pity the series is over.

Percy knows he's doomed. It's what his big prophecy says, and no one can change that. The camp, however, isn't quite as prepared for battle as he is, and they have to cobble together as many campers as possible to fight evil Luke/Kronos and his army of monsters. But after two days of nothing but gore (and disintegrating monsters), could there be a loophole that the all-powerful Titan hasn't thought of?

Related websites:

• Author's site

• Official series site

• Percy Jackson fan club

Percy Jackson movie!!!

Would you look at that. They're filming the movie version of The Lightning Thief! Like right now! See the IMDb page here.

How My Private Personal Journal Became a Bestseller

Well. That's a very long title. This book by Julia DeVillers I found to be a bit lacking in action and predictable. The original idea was pretty creative and the title caught my eye immediately, though. I mean, there wasn't a really big climax, and the happy ending was a bit expected. That being said, it was a very cute and light read during the more dark Operation Twilight Saga.
Ah yes. Disney made the book into a movie, too. And renamed it Read it and Weep. Completely irrelevant title.

Plot summary: Jamie Bartlett, a high school freshman, has turned in her journal instead of her paper! The funny thing is, everyone thinks the story she wrote is really cool. Her teacher even decides to send it to a publisher. The publishers also fall in love with the story, and now they're going to turn it into a real book! Soon, the new title is on the market, and selling very well. In fact, it's the #1 bestseller, and suddenly Jamie is getting bombarded with fan mail and the like. Jamie has to learn that as much as she might adore the fame, screen time, and shopping sprees, she can't forget the people—and the world—she's known before.