Review: "Between"

Between by Jessica Warman
3 out of 5 stars

I'm not sure where I heard about this book (I should start documenting that), but I didn't know much about it other than the Goodreads blurb: Elizabeth Valchar-pretty, popular, and perfect-wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday party on her family's yacht, where she'd been celebrating with her six closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, what she finds will change everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and everything in between.


A lot of the reviews on there tell you the main hook/mystery right off the bat, so I'm really glad I didn't get spoiled beforehand and I am not going to spoil it for those of you who have not read it yet either. :) I checked this out from the library, but I think I would consider buying it. It was a fairly long book, close to 500 pages, but it moved smoothly and quickly for the most part. I would have gobbled this book up as a teenager.


So there's obviously some kind of mystery going on here (actually two, I forgot about the 2nd twist lol). Liz is the main character, and honestly, very hard to like or feel sorry for. She's conceited, spoiled, self-centered etc...she's the "IT" girl at school and she knows it. Her only redeeming quality is probably her love for her father and stepsister Josie. That's not quite enough though unfortunately. I enjoyed her story and all, obviously, but I never ended up liking her or felt like she redeemed herself enough.


An example of her spoiled-ness that really shocked me: when she is little, she talks her dad into getting her a kitten. When the kitten grows out of it's cute stage, he takes it to the shelter and gets her a new young and fluffy kitten. This happens 3-4 times. OMG! Who does that??

This book reminded me a LOT of Christopher Pike's series Remember Me. Does anyone remember (hah!) those? Since I didn't know anything about Between before starting it, I was completely shocked when I found out she was dead. I think I actually gasped out loud and said "What??!" Lol...but the whole "dying and not knowing what happened" and then "omg the killer is your evil half-sister/BFF" thing was totally late 80s/early 90s Scream King Christopher Pike. 


I'm going to digress a bit here so just bear with me. :) I loved Christopher Pike as a young teen. Those books were like crack to me. Some of them were about crack. They were about love and murder and mayhem all twisted together into a horrifying story. These books scared the living hell out of me. Plus they had these amazing, 80s-tastic covers with neon lettering and 3D effects! I have most of my copies still and do plan on rereading them sometime soon (you know, after I get through the 25+ already on my to-be-read shelf eek)...I'm thinking they'll still scare me just as much as when I was 12 or 13.  Remember Me was probably my favorite series, but I also loved Die Softly (pervy kid trying to get pics of naked cheerleaders witnesses a murder, hello awesome!) and Road to Nowhere (for years and years I wanted to name my future children Freedom Jack and Poppy Corn. Luckily I grew out of that.) I also loved The Last Vampire series (and was talking about them on Twitter this morning!) but I think I got rid of them at some point which makes me sad. I may have to buy the new sets.


Okay, I'm done digressing...back to Between! It was pretty obvious to me from early on that it was probably the sister that had hurt Liz and that they had something to do with Alex's death. Did y'all watch Castle this week? The fairytale one? The twist about the car crash reminded me of this also. For a book that is like a lot of other things, it's actually pretty good still lol.


The dude blackmailing Liz for dirty pictures freaked me out BAD. He gave me asco (Spanish word for total disgust). And I feel like maybe her dad should have known something serious was going on when she stopped eating and exercised constantly since, you know, her mom died from ANOREXIA complications. That was just stupid. I liked Liz's boyfriend, Richie, all right but he wasn't a "leading boyfriend" type...he had his own problems with drugs and negligent parents (I wonder if the BSCers could help him? Hah!) He claimed to love Liz but slept with her sister so yeah, that shows true love. And as for Josie, the sister and killer? She was messed up. I'm sorry. She was just as spoiled, conceited, and mean as Liz but she didn't learn her lesson in the end. She just didn't want to get caught and mess up her life. WELL THEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE PUSHED YOUR SISTER OVER THE EDGE OF THE BOAT YOU DUMBHEAD! Whew...thanks for letting me get that off my chest. 


And that brings me to my last point in this ridiculously long review...what was with the cowboy boots? (They were cowboy boots right? I can't remember now.) Why couldn't she take them off? I was expecting that to be super important to her death since the author mentioned it every other page or so, but no. It was just a stupid metaphor for finally being free or something. Blegh.




*Note: I apologize for the weird spacing in this post...I have no idea why it does that sometimes and I've tried everything to fix it and it's driving me INSANE!*

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Books I'd Give a Theme Song To

It's so funny this is the topic on Broke & Bookish for this week, because I was just finishing Scott Westerfield's The Last Days, which is very music-centric, and I was compiling a list of songs that I kept thinking of while I was reading it. Hopefully I can do this list pretty easily lol...okay no, this was way harder than I thought! Eep! Also, I picked all songs that were actually on my iPod, just so you know. :)

Top 10 Books I'd Give a Theme Song To:

1. If I Stay by Gayle Forman--Last Kiss by Pearl Jam

I know the lyrics don't quite match the story, but I can see Adam listening to this in the hospital waiting.

2. Where She Went by Gayle Forman--You & I by Lady Gaga

Yeah.

3. Between by Jessica Warman--Death by Diamonds and Pearls by Band of Skulls

Gives the feel of the book well...not going to say more since I'm going to review it soon. :)

4. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick--Harder to Breathe by Maroon 5

I didn't enjoy this book at all, but this song seems to go with it, very stalkerish.

5. Gone by Michael Grant--Livin' on the Edge by Aerosmith

This song could really go for any of these dystopian, end of the world books lol...

6. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins--We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister

Whoa, this video is kind of scary lol...but it gets the feel of the uprising well I think.

7. Lola & The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins--You're Still the One by Shania Twain

Awww...

Review: "Claudia & The Sad Goodbye: The Baby-Sitters Club #26"

Claudia & The Sad Goodbye: The Baby-Sitters Club #26 by Ann M Martin
3 out of 5 stars

Ugh, I've been dreading this book since I started this whole reread project! It's so freaking sad, I can hardly stand it. The last several books have been hinting that Mimi, Claudia's grandmother, has been getting sicker and sicker. So it really didn't come as a surprise to anyone but Claudia when she ended up in the hospital again and eventually died.

This book feels very disjointed, which I guess kind of goes with the story-line, but it's hard to follow at times. Claudia jumps around a lot and has really vague memories of a lot of things. She doesn't know how to handle her grief after Mimi dies, especially because she feels mad and guilty at her. It's actually a really well written story for younger kids dealing with death.

Claudia talks to Mimi the night she dies, right before bed, and Mimi ends the call with "Good-bye, my Claudia." I think that was the first time I teared up. After that it was just one big sob-fest. (I'm at the library writing this review and trying not to cry again...people already look at me weird for reading a BSC book hah!) Okay...I'm going to have to do my What Claudia is Wearing now so I can get happy again.

At the moment I'm wearing lavender plaid cuffed pants with suspenders [I think she might actually be repeating clothes, because I used the same overalls before] over a green shirt with buttons down the front, a matching lavender beret (and not just because I'm at my easel), and fleece-lined, high-top sneakers which I must admit are uncomfortably hot, but they look great. Also, I've got on earrings shaped like Christmas tree lights that actually blink on and off. [Oops...I forgot the earrings, but I think you can picture their hideousness on your own.] I think there is a way better way to wear plaid pants if that's what she's going for than the awfulness she picked...so I decided to show it. :)

The B-side story in this one is all about Claud and Mary Anne starting an art class on Saturdays for the neighborhood kids, including a new girl named Corrie. I'm not sure if Corrie and family move away soon after this or just decide to get more mature baby-sitters, but I don't remember her at all. (I'll have to keep an eye out for her in future books.) She's one of the typical "neglected children" of BSCLand that the BSCers end up helping. Funny, her brother is neglected too but they don't really care about him. Anyway, Claud is teaching the kids to make paper mache puppets and Corrie turns out to be pretty darn talented (maybe more than Claud?!?) and makes a Nancy Drew puppet.

Side story to end with: Every time Claud mentions the Nancy Drew books it kind of makes me want to start rereading those too. Would that be totally crazy? I don't even know how many there are and I don't have any of them anymore. I used to have a whole bunch, like a trunk full, but we got rid of them. (I also collected old Reader's Digests for some reason, I was kind of nerd lol.) What do you think? Totally crazy or totally cool?

Review: "Anna & The French Kiss"

Anna & The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
5 out of 5 stars (formally 4)

This is the last book (non-series) that I'm going to review from 2011. I read it at the end of November (on the Overdrive app on my phone) and I just fell in love with it. Seriously, I haven't felt this way about a new book in a long, long, long time. I mean, there are definitely books that I have liked a lot and really enjoyed and that I would call a favorite. But nothing has grabbed me or enchanted me the way this one did. Well, then why didn't I rate it 5 stars, you ask? Honestly, I don't know lol...maybe I didn't want to seem too needy. :) That's it, I'm changing it to 5 stars!

I'm kind of mad I read this on the app now though, because I want to go buy it and reread it over and over and hug it and squeeze it til it's eyes pop out. O.O But that's okay, I will get it eventually and I got her newest book, Lola & The Boy Next Door, last weekend. I started it last night and I was hooked by page 28. Like, I stopped to tweet that I was in love with this book already lol. I'm so excited to find a new author!! I hope she continues writing for a long time.

"Is it possible for home to be a person and not a place?"


Okay, I'll stop gushing and tell you about the dang book now. :) Anna is all set for her senior year in Atlanta, GA until her dad drops a bomb and ships her off to a boarding school in Paris. And not Paris, Tx lol...we're talking croissants, menus and movies all in French, the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, French bookstores (omg I so wish!!), berets (okay not really). Anna is a bit peeved to say the least, but she quickly finds a new group of friends including a swoon-worthy young English American French (yep all 3) boy named Etienne St. Clair. He's got floppy hair, speaks French with a British accent, and shows Anna how to live and survive in Paris. There's just one catch: he already has a girlfriend. *le sigh*

You would think this is going to be a typical YA, romancey, pink book but it's not somehow. I mean yes, there's the teen angst and drama along with some hand-holding and longing looks. But Anna is also a smart, sarcastic girl who loves movies and plans to become a director or producer or something. And yet, she doesn't know France is like the movie capital of the world? That was the only thing I found hard to believe. St. Clair (as he likes to be called) is a witty, short guy afraid of heights and with some family problems.

I've probably made this book sound totally cheesy now and you're sitting there thinking, "geez Jenn, why would I try that when you've hyped it up so much? It's probably going to totally suck." And maybe it will for you. But what if it doesn't suck and it's totally awesome and you fall in love with it and Perkins just as much as I did? :)

And my (2nd) favorite quote from the book...I so wish this was true. I try to hold my sister's hand (at home) sometimes but she won't let me.

“I wish friends held hands more often, like the children I see on the streets sometimes. I'm not sure why we have to grow up and get embarrassed about it.”

Book Haul!

Okay, so I didn't get good pictures of my books last night, but I do have one cell pic from Saturday so I'm going to go ahead and do a haul. Because I want to. :)

Saturday afternoon, I talked my mom into stopping by Half Price because I wanted to look for the last Vampire Academy book (which I did not find there) and I had a coupon. Plus I knew I could talk her into buying me some extras because she had bought my sis a bunch of Avon stuff earlier this month lol...I love my mom! :D (And yes, I am in my 30s and talking my mom into buying me stuff!)

The first one I got was The Handmaid's Tale which I had added to my list after seeing it on a good friend's favorites list. I thought it looked interesting and different, so I decided to give it a shot.

Zombie Blondes was a total impulse buy that my sister picked up off an endcap and handed to me lol. I'm glad I didn't check out the reviews ahead of time, because I never would have picked it up. It's good sometimes to go against all the reviews and stars and such.

The Last Days is the sequel to Peeps, which I just finished yesterday and was truly disgusting and good. I didn't even know there was a sequel, so that was a pleasant surprise. I'm about to start it at work in a few minutes! I'm not crazy about the cover of mine though, it's too "vampire chicklit". I wish it had been more edgy or something like the first.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children has been on my to-buy list forever-ever, I'm so glad I finally got it!

The Book of Tomorrow was another one suggested by my sis, she saw it on one of her beauty guru channels I think lol...I love the cover and style of the book, it's so "fairytale". My mom liked it a lot too.

Then on Sunday, we went to a movie and I conned my sis into going to Barnes & Noble so I could spend my gc from Xmas. I don't know why, it's not like I needed books to read lol, but I just felt like I *needed* to. Do you ever do that? I'm going thru a major "must buy all the books" phase right now. Oh well, I'll be good with books til at least June or July lol...

How did I con my sister into going, you ask? Well, I bought her the giant, expensive doodle coloring book she's been wanting for a long time. :) (My Wonderful World of Fashion if you're interested.) I also bought Maleficent over there...she was an impulse buy at the checkout because I've been wanting her and the Disney store has been sold out. Plus they were cheaper! So if you happen to be looking for some of the older FunkoPop! guys (or Lalaloopsy or Monster High I've heard), check out your local B&N! :)

Oh yeah, I bought some books too lol...Vampire Academy 6 finally plus House of Night 9 and Uglies 4. And the last book was one I am very excited about: Lola & The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins. I'm going to review her first book, Anna & The French Kiss, next week probably and I *loved* it so I've been wanting her 2nd ever since then.

So that's my haul. I hope you enjoyed it. I want to eventually start doing video hauls because I think that would be fun, but we have to get a better camera first. I may or may not have dropped ours in the sand in Galveston last May. O_o

And the winner is...

NATC (gfc follower: Natiiii)

Congrats!! :)

Please email me with your address information at seejennread@yahoo.com

Thank you to everyone who entered and has started following my blog...I really appreciate it and I hope you have found something you will like here. I will be doing more giveaways in the future, both BSC and regular, so I hope y'all stick around! 

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Books I Would Save From Aliens

I was going to do a book haul post today because I got a ton of awesome books over the weekend (from my mom because she's awesomesauce and I also finally spent my B&N GC from XMas!) but I went to take pictures last night and every.single.RECHARGEABLE battery for our camera was dead. Seriously, I don't know how that happened. I was so annoyed I just gave up and didn't even bother charging them lol. (note to self: charge batteries tonight)

So instead of a haul, I thought I'd do this Top Ten meme (where did the word 'meme' come from? just wondering lol) that I came across (indirectly) from The Broke & The Bookish. I've been looking for some fun memes/lists/quizzes to do so that was cool! This week is what 10 books would you save from an alien attack or other disaster. I would think my alien attack would look like the alien scene from Spice World haha!! (Hoo boy, am I dating myself there or what? Whatev...I'm proud to say that my sis, BFF & I saw that in the theaters at least 12 times! :) And we own the DVD now!) Okay, on to my list:

1. The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling...pretty obvious don't ya think? I don't care, this is a series I could (and will) read over and over again, no matter how old I get.

2. The Hunky-Dory Dairy by Anne Lindbergh...my go-to book when I'm feeling down or sick and just need a pick-me-up.

3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak...I would call this my "intellectual read".

4. Talk Nerdy to Me by Vicki Lewis Thompson...because it's about aliens and hovercrafts and that might help me lol...plus it's quite naughty ;)

5. The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M Martin...how could I not? I've got my entire collection from when I was a kid, so they really mean a lot to me.

6. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak...my absolute favorite children's book. And I think it might help soothe the aliens!

7. The Sandman graphic novel series by Neil Gaiman...because I haven't read them in forever, but they are my favorite graphic novel ever!

8. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen...for magic.

9. Anna and The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins...because it's light and fluffy that makes me happy.

10.Strangers in Paradise graphic novel series by Terry Moore...to show the aliens how to love. :)

This was actually harder than I thought to do! What would be on your list?