Help Wanted! [Chelsie]

I am writing this from the front desk at the town library, where I am now officially employed.

Wait, what? Employed? At the library?

Yep. No longer am I a volunteer... I am now working, doing fun stuff for pay. And I get access to all the new books before anyone else does.

But that's just something I felt like sharing. =D Mostly because, well, I don't have much to say on the reading front.

I finished Audrey, Wait! this week. Finally. I feel better about the fact that I'm not the only one having trouble reading a lot this summer, but I still feel bummed out that it took me a week and a half to read a book that I was thoroughly enjoying.

Now, on the Audrey, Wait! subject, there are two things I need to say.

1. I now have a list of 40+ songs that I need to listen to, all from the book.

2. Robin Benway is amazing. Her characters are all amazing, her writing is amazing, her story is amazing... the whole book was amazing. If you haven't read this book you'll definitely need to buy it, because it is definitely worth it.

Last night, I also started Goddess Games by Niki Burnham. But... I can't say anything about that. I got 40 pages into it and... well, I like it. But today as I was working I realized that 15 books on my shelf from the library is too many, especially when most of them have been checked out since March.

So I decided to turn most of them in. Granted, I haven't done it yet, but I am extremely determined to drag them with me tomorrow.

All except for three, for sure, that I'm going to keep: The Host, Vampire Academy, and City of Bones.

But there are others that I'm not sure about. So this is where you come in. I want to keep one or two books instead of turning all of them in. So in the comments, please pick one or two from this list for me to keep, and I'll take your advice into consideration.

1. Nobody's Prize by Esther Friesner

2. Legacy by Kate Brian

3. The Straight Road to Kylie by Nico Medina

4. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

5. Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

6. Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

7. Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley

8. The Kayla Chronicles by Sherri Winston

9. Crimes of the Sarahs by Kristen Tracy

In this post, I was also thinking about mentioning our hosting the book club, but since Megan already mentioned it... I don't really have much else to say.

Happy Reading!

-Chelsie-

Summer Procrastination [Megan]

Last week I finished The Off Season by Catherine Murdock. The Off Season was the sequel to Diary Queen, but for me it is lacking some of the qualities that made me love it so much. DJ has always been a little obsessive, as many of us are, thinking about things in such a way that blows them totally out of proportion. But at the same time there is a humor that comes out of her obsessiveness. Yet in The Off Season I didn't feel as connected to the humor lying underneath the voice. DJ's obsessing was completely hyperbolic and not verging on realistic as they had been in the first book.

Many people have told me they really enjoyed The Off Season better, but I was really disappointed with it and came very, very close to not finishing it. Have you read both books? Tell me what your thoughts were in the comments.

The Teen Tuesday Blog is now the new home of Chelsea's young adult book club. This month's picks are The Luxe and The Looking Glass Wars. If you have read these or want to, we would love to have you join us for these books or for future picks. Email teentuesday@yahoo.com subject:book club for more info! In order to get ready I am reading The Luxe and enjoying it more than I thought I would. Before I started it I thought one of two things would happen, it would grab me from the first page and never let me go or I would hate it and have to struggle through it. But neither of these things did, in fact, happen. The beginning of the book was boring but grabbed my interest because of it's similarities to early American novels. I am only about 100 pages or so in right now, but I will definitely be reading more. Are you reading The Luxe?

I also finished Keesha's House. This is an AMAZING book of poetry YOU ALL NEED TO READ. It is just proof that poetry doesn't have to be all floral and pretty. I love how gritty and realistic the poems in this book are, and I also love how they tell a story. You can read a little bit more about my thoughts on it here.

Why does the summer have to be so hot?
My eyes move across the page and nothing sinks in.
The books pile up around me, they lay next to me in bed, I am grateful they aren't a heat source like my husband used to be.
What was the best book you read this week?

Teen Tuesday - Third Edition [Hope.]

Well... this week has been a very interesting one for me. lol. I've read four books since last Tuesday! =D


First off, there was Violet in Private, which I finished! Yay! And I don't want to say anything about it, because I don't want to give spoilers, since it's not out yet (which it totally something I would do, lol). But when you get your own copy, you'll LOVE it. And if you haven't read the Violet series yet, you need to go out and get it because it's amazing!


Then, I read the first book in the Clique Summer Collection series, which is Massie's book. I was very dissapointed with it, honestly. I read the Clique series, and I enjoyed that, but then I read this one and I just didn't like it at all. First, it was short -- only 120 pages. Okay, I can deal with that, lots of books can be short. But I felt like Massie never really grew as a character and there didn't seem to be any plot at all. I don't think I'm going to be reading any more books from the Summer Collection of the Clique series.


The meeting for my AP American History class was yesterday, so I was frantically reading Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.. It was... interesting, to say the least. It was all his experiences in World War II, but there's kind of a twist. He experiences them by time travel... because these weird alien people have granted him the ability to time travel. Yeah. It was definetly an interesting book, lol. Now, I'll be writing two papers and reading 1984 by George Orwell before July 21st, when we meet the next time. Has anybody read 1984? I had to read Animal Farm by George Orwell for this same teacher last year and enjoyed it, so I hope I like 1984, also.


I recieved Read My Lips by Teri Brown in the mail to review for Pulse IT, and so I picked it up yesterday to read it. It was really good. There were a few things about it that I might change, like how she kept repeating about how she was a 'punk skater' all the time. I would've only put it in a few times, then decided that the reader would know that she was a punk skater. The idea of the book was really good, though. I don't really have anything to compare it to -- it's the only book about a deaf girl that I've read before. Has anybody read any other books about deaf teenagers that doesn't make them sound like they're sorry for themselves? I'd definetly like to read another one.

This week, I hope to start and finish The Elite by Jennifer Banash, Frenemies by Alexa Young, and Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by Jody Gehrman, which all arrived this week in the mail. =D




See y'all next week!
hope.

Teen Tuesday-Second Edition (The Story Siren)

Wow! My second edition of Teen Tuesday.... has it been a week already!?

My reading week is very unproductive. It seems I underestimated how busy the summer really is. I did however read three books this week. Although only one of them was a Young Adult Novel.

I finished Must’ve Done Something Good, which turned out to be a very funny and cute novel. I also received Queen of Babble Gets Hitched in the mail yesterday from Meg herself *hyperventilating* and I ripped that package open and I didn’t put it down until I was finished. She was also sweet enough to send me a copy of her Middle Aged Novel Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls: The New Girl, which looks so very cute! Yesterday was a really good mail day because I also got a copy of How to be Bad! I know, what can I say.

The one Young Adult novel that I did read this week was Rumors by Anna Godbersen. Those of you who aren’t familiar with Rumors, it is the sequel to The Luxe and it’s a wonderful dramatic historical fiction. Do you like historical fiction? I love it! And it seems that I’ve been reading a lot of it recently now that I’m looking at my recent read list. La Petite Four, Bewitching Season, and now Rumors! All wonderful reads!

If I had to choose a book to live in, I would happily choose one of those books. I could wear beautiful gowns and go to lavish balls. Well if my family was wealthy, for my fantasy’s sake we will say they were. And the boys were actually gentlemen! Well they had to act like they were in the presence of a lady anyway! Of course I’d want a gentleman, but I’d even take scandalous Henry Schoonmaker from Rumors! I simply can’t help but be drawn to the historical novels like the ones listed above. I think it must all stem from my everlasting crush on Mr. Darcy. I just think they look handsome in their high collars and long jackets.

Okay enough fantasizing for one day.

I’m currently reading The Comeback Season by Jennifer E. Smith. Go Cubbies! I’m only into the third chapter since I took a break to read Queen of Babble, so I can’t really say too much about it right now. I have enjoyed it so far though. I remember last week I was whining about my lack of a review pile. Well, ask and ye shall receive! Since last week I’ve gotten a slew of books in the mail to review! Seven to be exact! So, hopefully you can expect some reviews coming up.

On a completely non related note, do you like the theme icons in my reviews? I thought it was something different. But if you think they just take up room and don’t add to the review, then let me know and I’ll take them off.

Thanks for tuning in! Until next Tuesday. TTFN!