Vanessa (First Edition!)

Hey Teen Tuesday! I'm Vanessa and I'm brand-spanking-new. So what's going on with my reading, eh?  I've got to say, I've been catching up on Sarah Dessen's novels. I've read her more recent ones but not her early ones. So in the past week I've read That Summer and Keeping The Moon (and the week before that Someone Like You). Her older novels should surrender to her newer ones, because they are so much better. I guess that's how writers get better... one novel at a time.

I've posted up Keeping The Moon's review here, including a podcast review of the book I made.

Then, I read Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and am amazed by how Hannah, the girl who commits suicide and left 13 tapes for the reasons to her death, was written. Jay Asher is an amazing writer and I hope he writes more books.

I've started The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. Although at first I was pushing myself to read it because it's in third person and uses larger words than The Boyfriend List and her other books, now I can't wait to get back to it. I can't wait till it gets into the way she becomes this criminal mastermind, even excelling the boys. Right now, I don't very much like Matthew Livingston, I kinda like the other boy better (I'm not going to say who because I'll ruin it!) but I wonder what's going to happen. I'll finish this before the weekend and will post a review on it on my blog (whatvanessareads.wordpress.com).

I'm going to be boarding an airplane to visit my mom in Canada on Saturday, so during that three-hour flight I will surely read, read, read. I'm thinking of reading Cindy Ella by Robin Palmer while I'm there... it looks like a fun and short read. 

I'll be reading these in Canada: How To Be Bad, Bass Ackwards & Belly Up, Hot Mess: Summer In The City, 13 Little Blue Envelopes, and of course Cindy Ella (although I'll be reading that all over the country.... Florida, Georgia, Tennesee, Illionois, Pennsylvania, to Canada). Reviews of these will be available as I get them done.

Have fun reading!

Tootles!

Vanessa.

Teen Tuesday - Chelsea

This week, I was busy yet again. I'd planned on reading at least one book a day this summer, but things have proved too busy. So I only read two books this week, both ironically memoirs.

The first book I read was I DON'T WANT TO BE CRAZY by Samantha Schutz. I didn't know this was a memoir until after I rented it from BookSwim. I had just read the summary of a girl with anxiety and instantly wanted to read it, having an anxiety disorder myself. Told in verse, it was a true tale told straight from the author's emotions onto the page. I really enjoyed it and could relate extremely well.

The second book, WASTED by Marya Hornbacher, was a memoir about anorexia and bulimia. It was depressing to read -- all that time spent reading about someone who could do something like that to their body, to the point where they're an inch away from dying, was just plain sad. But it was also a book I needed to read, and I suggest everyone else does, too. I had learned so much about these disorders and what goes through the head of someone that has one. I began to understand anoretics and bulimics more, which is important considering the rising numbers of teens and women that suffer from these disorders these days. Marya starved herself, threw up to the point of blood, ran twenty five miles a day, shook constantly, grew patches of fur, and fainted. And she continued to starve herself. It seems unfathomable to me, but these are true diseases. A very interesting, informative read.

I'll be back next Tuesday with info on what else I'm reading! :)

-Chelsea-

Week of Intentions [Megan]

When my children left a week ago I thought I would be filling my time with page after page in book after book. But how many books exactly have I finished in this time span? None. Not a single one.

Tonight is out chat for The Luxe and in some ways I wish I had it here with me so that I could have spent this last week looking over it. But alas it needed to be returned to the library. It is not too late to join us this evening at 8pm EST. Email: teentuesday@yahoo.com Subject: The Luxe. I am looking forward to talking about all the characters of The Luxe and wondering why we all liked it so much.

I also started Chasing Windmills. I loved it so much I was sure I was going to finish it the first day I started it. But I guess that didn't happen. There is also that feeling when you love a book so much that you want to read it slowly, so you can savor the experience. Do you ever have that feeling? I have to say that I like the cover of this book. And the title drew my interest from the moment I first heard murmurs of it in blogs. Even though I have haven't finished it yet, this book has really made me curious about Catherin Ryan Hyde's other books. I hope to be reading more soon, though our library only has Pay It Forward. I should take it out soon, but if that actually happens will be another story.

Speaking of the library, I have also put off going there all week. I have been wanting to go and get Scott Westerfield's Peeps. And some other Vampire themed books for the new Genre of the Month blog. Though I must admit I am feeling slightly overwhelmed as the books I intend to read build up in imaginary piles around me and I am simply treading water here. Did you intend to do or read something this past week and unintentionally put it off?

Also, to add yet another book to the pile I found a new book club at http://darkandstormybookclub.com/ and they are reading The Book Thief which I have been intending to read and now am happy to have the excuse to do so! If you are thinking about joining me make sure you say so in the comments!

I am hoping, probably in vain, to have a very successful reading week despite the fact that my children will be showing up this evening. I want to finish 3 books by Friday. It may not happen but here I have said it public in some sort of attempt in accountability. What book are you going to finish by Friday?

Teen Tuesday - Harmony's First Edition

So this is my first Teen Tuesday post and I'm sorta nervous about it because there's a bunch of really awesome reviewers doing it too. But oh well.

This summer I planned on reading a book a day like I had last summer but that's just not working out. First, my dad gave me a "summer bedtime" and is forcing me to go to bed at 11 (wayy too early) and then I have all this marching band stuff going on. There's drumline practice, plus full-band practice, not to mention our first parade this coming weekend which I'm super nervous about and then I still have to practice on my own. Needless to say, that's been keeping me quite busy and I still have other things I need to be doing.

But I have been able to read quite a few books so far. A few of them were for younger readers, like Just Grace Walks the Dog and The Cupid Chronicles, which were fun and fast reads, but I've also read some more thought-provaking well-written YA titles. One of these was Trouble by Gary Schmidt. I can not put into words how much I loved that book. It made me laugh but also brought me very close to tears which is not easy for books to do and I swear that my heart was breaking for Chay, one of the main characters, throughout the whole novel. It was absolutely amazing. If you don't have this on your shelf, go buy it now and if you do, read it next!

I also took the time out to reread New Moon. It actually started out as me looking up a quote but then I started looking up other scenes and before long, I'd read the whole book. Again. This is probably about the fourth or fifth time I've reread it. I just love it. It is, by far, my favorite of the three Twilight novels. Jake has always been my favorite and I just love the way he helps Bella out. Now, I believe that Bella belongs with Edward but I still think Jacob deserves someone and it'd better not be Leah. I can't stand her.

I'm really pumped for Breaking Dawn. I'm not too big of a fan of the cover but I'm really excited to see what happens. It's one of the very few books that I will pull an all-nighter for. Deathly Hallows was the only book I've done that for but I'm dying to find out what happens to Bella and Edward and Jacob.

But it's only less than a month until the release date so we don't have much longer to wait!

-Harmony
http://harmonybookreviews.wordpress.com

Reading Frenzy

Ah, the second week of July. The hottest week of the year here in Michigan, and...Fair Week. That's right, I'm a 4-Her. So that means that in between shows, weigh-ins, meetings, and barn duty, the only time I've had to blog is in a few stolen minutes when I run home to shower. Thank you, Google Tech Gods for making Scheduled Posts available!

It also means that I've got a whole slew of books strewn across the backseat of my car. Once I finish one, I toss it back there (gently, of course) and grab a new one. My car has become the black hole for books. In contains, but is not limited to, The Host by Stephenie Meyer, The Silver Kiss by Annete Curtis Klause, Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith, Prom Nights From Hell by Various Authors, Slam by Nick Hornby, Untamed by the fabulous mother-daughter Cast duo, all of Ellen Schreiber's Vampire Kisses books, Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velder, The Summoning by Kelley Armstong, and heaven knows what else.

You may have noticed a vampire trend...that's due to a feature that's running on my site all this month devvoted to teen vampire books. Check it out...thecompulsivereader.blogspot.com.

I'll be showing my pig (that's right...you read that corectly)around the time you read this, so enjoy! Also, not matter when your county fair is, go out and support your local 4-Hers! We appreciate it!

Teen Tuesday- Kyle's First Post

Hi. This is my very first post for teen tuesday you probably know me as the
Book Review Maniac. If not then go to bookreviewmaniac.blogspot.com which is my blog for author interviews, book reviews and much more.

First I want to talk about THE KITE RUNNER. I posted the review yesterday on my blog, so check it. I really enjoyed the book, but it wasn't a book that I could not put down. The story of it was excellent. The book was about friendship, love, family and mistakes that you wish you could take back.

I also got to read The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong, which came out to stores last Tuesday. Here is a quote from my review:
"I loved this book! It reminded me a little bit of Harry Potter except that Chole isn't a wizard, she doesn't go to a wizard school... overall it was a great book that did keep me hanging on to every page... I recommend this book to every teen out there! ... buy it today!"

To read the rest of my review click here!

I also posted my inter view with Jennifer Banash, the genius behind her newest book THE ELITE. Which can be viewed here!

Coming up:

I am currently reading The Emerald Tablet by P.J Hoover; which is great so far.
I am also planning on reading Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and New Moon, which are the first two books to the Twilight Series. The last and forth book in the Series comes out August 2nd. I am planning on reading the first three before it comes out. Their is also going to be a movie for the first book, it comes out in December.

happy reading,
Kyle

bookreviewmaniac@gmail.com

Teen Tuesday- The SS

Sorry for the lack of Teen Tuesday last week. I had a crazy Monday and Tuesday! So, needless to say my Teen Tuesday post was never written up, but that just means I have a ton of books to tell you about this week. Because unlike my previous weeks, I’ve actually gotten back into my reading swing!

Okay,so last Teen Tuesday I mention that I had just started reading The Comeback Season by Jennifer E. Smith. What a great book! Really even if you aren’t a baseball fan, I think you will fall in love with the story! Very good writing, can’t wait to see more from Jennifer.

I also had a chance to read two books by Catherine Clark, I hear awesome things about her new book Wish You Were Here! I was able to read two of her previous titles Picture Perfect, a great summer read and Banana Splitsville. Picture Perfect was my favorite of the two.

I also read Promise of the Wolves. I think I was expecting more from the story, it was good but it could have been better. The writing on the other hand was superb! Dorothy Hearst is an awesome writer, thanks to that alone I will be reading the rest of the Wolves Trilogy.

Hmm... what else. OH! Samantha Hansen has Rocks in Her Head by Nancy Viau and Frostbite by Richelle Mead. They were both very good books. Viau’s book is a MG book, which I don’t usually read, but it was so very cute!! You might remember Nancy from the Class of 2k8! And I love love Richelle’s Vampire Academy and Frostbite did not disappoint! Plus, I met Richelle one time and she is such a super cool chick, it only makes me like her books better.

That ladies and gentleman entails my reading montage for the past two weeks! Hopefully I will be able to pick it up even more. I would have been able to read more this weekend, I had a four day weekend... YAY!! But I was putting up a fence. So, that took A LOT of my time this weekend..... actually we aren’t even done yet, because Home Crapot I mean Depot seemed to misplace some of the fence panels. The computer said they had 60 in stock but they could only find 27. I mean I could totally understand misplacing fence panels, NOT! Hence why I call it the Home Crapot!

I was however able to start Braless in Wonderland by Debbie Reed Fisher another 2k8er and it is just getting good! I’m sure I’ll have more on that next week.

Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend! See ya next Tuesday!

Exceeding Expectations [Chelsie]

This week I mentioned that I would put aside The Host in order to read I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone.

This has gone by surprisingly well. I have about fifty pages to go (which I hope to have finished by the time this post actually makes it out to everyone) and I am extremely pleased with what I have been reading.

This was one of those books that I was scared to start reading. Since I talk to Stephanie Kuehnert quite a bit (well... more than I talk to any other authors) I was afraid that if I read the book and didn't like it, it would feel weird. I have been building myself up to read this book forever... my friend Justinne and I would talk about it constantly... we have even gotten to referring to Stephanie by just her first name, because we always know who it is we're talking about.

So I was nervous. As a debut novel, I understood that it might fall short of my expectations. Or it just might not be that good... I knew that all of this could happen, and I was prepared for the worst. I hoped that I wouldn't have to write a bad review or tell Stephanie that I just didn't like it, but I knew that I would be honest if that was how I honestly felt.

After all, if a reader doesn't have honesty, what do they have?

Well, let's just say that I am extremely pleased to report that I will not have to write a bad review. Sure, the book wasn't what I was expecting... but not every book I read is. I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone completely exceeded my expectations... I love the way it's written, I love the characters, I love the story... I just love it.

Expect my review soon (I'll try and link next week) and make sure you're still checking out the contest.

It's up to $130 now. Plus, if you snoop around the blog, you'll find other contests you can enter to win as well for some smaller prizes =D

Now I must say that I am extremely pleased with myself for actually getting my post done early, and not late... and now I must finish the book!

[Side note: Okay, so I tried to get this to do scheduled posting, but I had already accidentally posted it before I remembered, and now it won't go back to schedule, so I figure I'm only an hour early, so I'm not even going to bother.... or maybe I just have the time zones set to an hour ahead? who knows... either way, it's posting now =D]

-Chelsie-