Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Mrs. Magoo's Edition (not sure which one... third? fourth?)

www.mrsmagooreads.com

Well, I can safely say that I am VERY behind on my reviews. Here's a list:

Poison Ink
Haroun and the Sea of Stories
The Adoration of Jenna Fox
The Squad: Perfect Cover
Drama! The Four Dorothys
Drama! Everyone's a Critic
The Outsiders
Dream Girl
Peaches
Kiss Me Kill Me
Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty
White Sands Red Menace
Stealing Heaven

So I'll have to get on those. I'm also looking for Saturday's Scribes, so if any authors are out there that are interested, please let me know. Stephanie Kuehnert will be featured this Saturday, and I am currently planning something with Ellen Hopkins!

If you haven't heard about the awesome thing that Chelsea and Lauren are doing, you should definitely check it out.

Meanwhile, I'm brainstorming for a super secret something, and I'm wondering: are authors allowed to help aspiring writers improve drafts of their work? I don't see why not, but somebody told me otherwise. Thanks!

~Mrs. Magoo

The Oh-My-Gosh-School's-Already-Getting-To-Me Post.

As you can probably tell from the title, school's already getting busy. I have a really hectic schedule and just got home about 23 minutes ago at 8 PM, and I left the house at 7:20 this morning. I almost forgot it was Tuesday and almost forgot that I had to post here... but I didn't. :D (I really need to learn to schedule my posts, lol.)

I've finished one book since last week and that is Crush du Jour by Mical Oscow, and it is a Simon Romantic Comedy. I love Simon Romantic Comedies. They make me laugh and have a good time. :D

I'm also finishing up Anatomy of a Boyfriend right now. I'm in the last fifty pages of it and I'm hoping to finish it tonight.

I also started Chasing Windmills by Catherine Ryan Hyde, though I'm only on the first chapter still... I haven't gotten too far.

Yesterday, I went to the library for a bit and got eight books. Yes, eight. I still have a bunch here I need to read, but I think I just compulsively check books out from the library and put books on hold from the library... it's a really bad cycle.

The one book that I got that I am really excited to read is Impulse by Ellen Hopkins. I read a few of the poems last night, and they were really good. I hope to read more of that this week, also.

The other books I got from the library yesterday were Death by Bikini, Generation Dead, City of Ashes (!!!), Artichoke's Heart, Austenland, The Fold, and On Beale Street. They all look really good and I can't wait to read them all!

That's all the time I have for today, sorry this is so short. See you all next week. :D

hope.

Harmony - The Uh-Oh Edition

Welll... It's been a while since I've posted. Like, three weeks. *blushes* Just don't hate me, okay? I'm a procrastinator so whenever I remembered "Oh! Teen Tuesday is in a couple days. Maybe I should write the post now!" I'd tell myself no to and then when Tuesday rolled around, I'd forget. So that's my excuse.

Well, that and the fact that school has started with with Algebra 2 and Spanish 1, both tenth grade classes I'm taking as an eighth grader (yes, that's me bragging :P), I'm working my butt off to stay ahead so I never fall behind.

I've also been reading like crazy too.

Anyway, here are the books that I've read since I've last posted (I think), that I've yet to post reviews for.

1.) Anatomy of a Boyfriend (LOVED it)
2.) Song of the Sparrow (Best historical fiction I've read)
3.) Pact of the Wolves (Pretty good but darker than what I normally read)
4.) Writing Magic (my new writing Bible)
5.) The Funeral Director's Son (cute)
6.) Hummingbird (Okay. Not as good as I was expecting)
7.) Sleepless (I.Could.Not.Put.It.Down.!!!!)
8.) Amor and Summer Secrets (Pretty awesome!)
9.) Peaches (Enjoyable)
10.) I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone (Stephanie is a genius!)
11.) Secrets of my Hollywood Life: On Location (Not as good as the first)

So there you have it. ELEVEN books. Actually, there's probably more than that. But still. Whoa. I'm a bit behind on reviews, as you can see, but I'm working on it!

Right now, I'm reading Zoey Dean's Talent. It's okay. I keep forgetting that the girls are only in middle school. It'd make SO much more sense if it was set in high school. *grr!*

Ooh, so everyone heard about the Midnight Sun leak, right? I'm pretty disapointed. Not at Stephenie, but at whoever did it. My friend says it was Robert Pattison but I'm not. I'm hoping it's not because I <3 him...

Any thoughts on that?

Well, that's all for now. I WILL post next week. Promise!

-Harmony

It's Finally Tuesday? Really? (Kelsey)

My Blog: http://readingkeepsyousane.blogspot.com/

Wow, this last week was like never ending. First I had my first week of school. It went really well, I like my classes and I think I'll be getting more chances to read because I have B lunch and there is only one class in my grade that goes to that lunch and I don't really have any friends in it, so I read upstairs in the library until the bell rings and I go back to English to finish 4th hour because the weird thing is, we go to 4th hour for 30 minutes, then at 12:15, we go to lunch, 30 minutes later, we go back to 4ht period and finish that class up. It's kinda nice because you don't have to put your books in your locker first and all, so yeah, more reading time, yay! Then on Saturday morning, I wake up with the feeling that I'm going to vomit. And what do I do? Vomit. Yeah, you probably don't want the details, the main thing is that I threw up all day Saturday, only eating a slice of toast all weekend and missed school on Monday because of it. But Between that mess of a week, I did get a few books read, yeah! The books I read are:

  1. Harmless by Dana Reinhardt
  2. In Your Room by Jordanna Fraiberg
The Little Bestie Awards:

  • Best Character: Molly in In Your Room by Jordanna Fraiberg
  • Best Plot: Tie
  • Best Setting: In Your Room by Jordanna Fraiberg
  • Best Writing: Harmless by Dana Reinhardt
Winning Book: In Your Room by Jordanna Fraiberg.

In Your Room is a really neat book. It's REALLY short, like 200 pages max. But I loved the whole plot and Molly was a pretty good character and, it was basically an awesome love story, and I love myself an awesome love story. Harmless was a good book, kind of slow and not as fun. The plot is really good and all, but the whole story and the characters were kind of boring. But I really recommend In Your Room when it comes on sale in October.

I don't know if you've seen it or not, but for some very odd reason, but awesome!, I won a load of contests last week. I won one of the packages Liv was offering for her HUGE contest and I won another contest where I created a banner and she liked that so I won another book, then I won Bookluver-Carol's monthly contest and won two books there. Then I had two books come in last week also, so yeah, I should be getting a TON of books soon.

I'm reading Where People Like Us Live by Patricia Cumbie right now, then I plan on reading Pretty Things by Sarra Manning, then if I get to the library I should get All We Know of Heaven by Jacquelyn Mitchard, that somebody mentioned last week, can't rememeber who, but it sounded good so I requested it at the library and it's there, so I just need to get to the library now.

Then I got Sleepless by Terri Clark and Fabulous Terrible by Sophie Talbot in the mail on Friday and Saturday and I should get Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard(?) and I Was a Teenage Popsicle and Beyond Cool by Bev Kats Rosenbaum and Model by Cheryl Diamond and The Blonde of the Joke by Bennett Madison in the mail this week or next week, so yeah, those are my upcoming books to be read. Oh and Freaksville by Kitty Keswick, I might be reading soon also.

Well, I think that's all.



P.S. My 100th Post Contest was a BLAST and SO many people joined it, and I just wanted to warn you that I will be having another HUGE contest for Halloween and my birthday coming up soon, sometime is October, and will last a month, so look out for that!

Happy Because I'm Going to Barnes & Noble's Today! (Vanessa)


Name: Vanessa
Blog Name: What Vanessa Reads
Blog URL: whatvanessareads.wordpress.com
MySpace URL: myspace.com/whatvanessareads
Forum/Message Board: likeomgteensread.com (click here where it says "Are you looking for the message board? Click here".

Hi! I totally forgot to post last week and then I was going to post but it was Wednesday and told myself "your punishment for not remembering is not posting". Of course, that's how I remembered this week (woo, go discipline). Anyway let's get started.
First and foremost, head on over to my blog to enter a contest for a copy of I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder if you haven't already. The contest ends September 30th.
Second, I read two books this week. Which is actually pretty good. I read a short book for English class, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, which I loved. And I also read Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin. Both great books, but I still have some things to point out.

For one, I thought I got an overwhelmingly recommended to read Elsewhere. So I did. It was good. I liked it a lot. However, I did expect a five-star book but still settled for a four-star (what I'm giving it). I really liked the plot, its something I've never heard of before. I also liked the characters. You'll see more of this over at my blog in about a week (I'm starting a review schedule so my readers always get a consistent amount of material). So wait around for the post.
Next, I read Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This book is GREAT. It was a little plotless in the beginning but it still was an amazing read. I guess you should trust the books you are made to read for English class. The story is about two guys who travel together: Lennie and George. Lennie is always getting into trouble although he never means to do any harm. George takes care of Lennie. They work at a ranch where they farm. George and Lennie's life dream is to own their own "promised land" where they can farm and do whatever they please. However, it's hard to come about that when Lennie is making trouble and they live in a hand-to-mouth existence. If you're looking for a "classic" you should definitely try this book out. The southern language may be hard to get into, but the book is worth it. Wait around for this review also, which will be posted before Elsewhere.
Today I'm going to Barnes & Noble's when my dad comes home from work. I'm going to TRY to keep it at a 3-book minimum (even though that's so hard). I know one book I'm certainly getting is Like OMG Teens Read's September Book of the Month... Sisters of Misery by Megan Kelley Hall. I think I'm also going to get Madapple by Christina Meldrum and Amazing Grace by Megan Shull. I'm not completely sure. So that will add to my TBR pile. 
Thanks for tuning in! Til next week,
Vanessa


I Have Jumped on the Bandwagon...and I'm Loving it! (Meaghan)

So, Inisde the Mind of a Book Geek is my book blog. It's located at http://insidethemindofabookgeek.blogspot.com/. If you go and check it out, you'll find that I am running a Best Review of the Week award.

How to Enter:

1. On the post announcing the winner of the last contest and the start of the current contest, leave me a comment.

2. In the comment, leave me a direct link tp the review you want to enter. If you are nominating a review, leave me a link and the e-mail adress of the person. You can enter a review and nominate a review every week.

3. Winners and start of the current contest will be announced every Monday.

4. You can start sending in nominations on Mondays after the contest is announced, and stop on Saturday night at 10 PM Eastern.

5. The first contest started yesterday, so head on over and leave me your entries and nominations! If I get enough nominations/entries, I'll also give out second and third prizes. prizes are actually just little award things.

Now onto my reading week...

I have to say that the highlight of my reading week has been reading New Moon, by Stephanie Meyer. It's book two of the Twilight saga, and yes, I have already read Twilight.

I don't understand why I ever doubted Stephanie Meyer's writing abilities. New Moon is an absolutley amazing book. I haven't finsished it yet, but I plan to very, very soon. And I will read the rest of the series.

"For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella could ever have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning...

Legions of readers entranced by the New York Times bestseller Twilight are hungry for the continuing story of star-crossed lovers, Bella and Edward. In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural twist. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality."
~from http://www.stephaniemeyer.com/

This book so far is...wow. It had me on the edge of my seat and I couldn't wait to get out of school so I could read more. I can't really review it because i haven't finished it, but keep a look out for a New Moon review over at my book blog! Suite Scarlett and all other books mentioned in my previous post have been put on hold for now, so no news about them.

Team Jacob all the way!

A book I finished this week was a short read. It's called Inside Out by Terry Trueman. I read it in about a day. I liked it all the same.

"A busy coffee shop-
a robbery gone wrong.
Two gunmaen,
nine hostages,
flasing lights.
And Zach is caught in the mayhem.

But nobody realizes that Zach- who has no gun and no knife- has a mind more dangerout than any weapon."

Zach is a 16-year-old schizophrenic, and the story is told from his POV. This is the kind of book that will keep you on the edge of your seat for the entire thing. And I loved it. The ending, especially the last two pages is...wow. An ending I never expected. I suggest you check this book out. A full review will be posted soon at my book blog.

Until next Tuesday,

I'm BACK!!! (Kristi)

I am the worst blogger ever. No, really I am. I have seriously been lacking on my responsibilities as a Teen Tuesday blogger. I mean when is the last time I even made an appearance. I can’t even remember, just pathetic. Well, I’m am so going to remedy that starting right now. I will be posting next week and the week after that and the week after that, I think you’ve gotten the picture.

So what’s been going on with me... as you might have thought, I’ve been busy reading. I’ve read all the Queen Geek series. I was, well I’ll just say disappointed. But they might appeal to some people, but I guess they just weren’t for me. If your still interested in reading them after I just said how much I didn’t like them, well you are in luck because I’m giving away the whole series here.

I also finished a kick a** faerie book. Loved it. Not as dark as Marr and Black, but awesome all the same. If you are a faerie fan or even if your not you should check out Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception by Maggie Stiefvater. She’s a debut novelist! All I’m saying is if this is her first book, I can’t wait to read what she has in store next (which would be the sequel to Lament, entitled Ballad!)

Something very cool happened to me this past weekend too. I was nominated the "Best YA Book Blog” compliments of Amy from My Friend Amy and her BBAW. (Book Blogger Appreciation Week) I seriously didn’t even consider myself to be in the running. When I saw the finalists.... I was like where is Teen Book Review, where is Reviewer X, where is Em, where is -fill in a very cool blog here-. I kept looking at my name thinking... it had to be an error. I’m freaggin thrilled about it though!

I’ve teamed up with Steph from Reviewer X. And we are doing the YA Connection. I think it’s going to be posted every Saturday, alternating between blogs. I’m pretty excited to be doing it. And if you want to be mentioned please email me or Steph!

There is an interview with me today over on Innovative: A Word for the Wri-Teen. Head over there and leave some love!

I’m currently reading War of the Witches by Maite Carranze, I’ll have to let you know how it goes next week. I’m glad to be back, hopefully you missed me!





Monday, September 8, 2008

Tired Version (Chelsie)

bookloverreviews.blogspot.com

So, I am sitting here and I just thought about the fact that in about an hour and 15 minutes it will be Tuesday. And this is the only time I have for making a post, so I figured I'd do it now before I forget and get too tired.

I read one book this past week. It's taken me a whole week to read Ivy by Julie Hearn.

And, finishing it, I wonder why I even bothered. I don't think I'm going to write a real review of this, because I have very few nice things to say.

Then again, I just finished reading it like five minutes ago. I might need some time to have it settle in my brain, and to actually think about it.

*spoilers below in random places, proceed with caution*

It just seemed so... pointless. 351 pages, and no reason for it. It wasn't particularly exciting, the main character wasn't really the best mc ever. And, like I said, there was no point. I felt like I just read a book about nothing. Sure, things happened. But was the point that Ivy was poor and trying to get away from her family, or that she was trying to get over her laudanum addiction? Or was it about just her relationships with the people she meets in general?

And how does it end? With her floating down a river. Um, hello?! Is this strange or what? I mean, I figured Ivy would change or something, or something would happen. Maybe she would stand up to her cousin, or Mrs. Frosdick, or even say something memorable and brave. But no. She just starts floating down a river. And goes to save some dogs. Woohoo?

That's the problem, I think. There is nothing memorable about this book whatsoever. In a year, I will remember nothing about it other than a beautiful cover and that it took me forever to read it.

*end possible spoilers*

Anyways, that's my reading week. I could probably talk about the weeks I've missed, and what I was reading then, but I seriously am not feeling able to right now. I only had like 4 hours of sleep, and so I really should be getting to bed.

Hope everyone else had a better reading week than I did!

I probably won't be on today because after school (and I am just dying to add this to this post) I will be at orientation for my new job (!!!) and I will be starting dance class, jazz this year (!!!!!!)

Sorry, just had to throw that bit of exciting news in there.