Lily W's review of "The Problem with Forever" by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Heya everybody I know it's been a while since I last wrote a review, sorry about that I will try to do better. So last night I finished The Problem With Forever! I want to say first that this review will have spoilers later on and I will warn you before I get to that section but here is the no spoilers review.

I found this book to be extremely cliche, but not in an awful way. The ending did surprise me somewhat which is good! I thought the whole book would be cheesy and predictable! I didn't hate it, which you all know takes a lot for me to say especially for sappy romance novels since the genre usually leaves me wanting to vomit. (Good news I didn't this time!) Some things you should know about this novel before you read it: if you have experienced a very rough childhood and don't wish to be reminded of somewhat similar circumstances do not read this novel (at times there are vivid descriptions of abuse physical and verbal), if you cannot stand any amount of romance don't read this novel (I really hate romance and this book was filled to the brim with it), and if you hate reading don't read this book (really needed a third thing to make the commas worth it guys).

So I personally sorta liked this book. I took two school days to read it but I started reading later on the first night (to give you an idea how long I think it was a little less than five hundred pages or so but I wouldn't swear to that). I was first drawn to it by the super cute clover with these rainbow water colors because water colors are one of the most fun things to work with and it just brought up so many happy memories (but no water coloring in the book I felt so cheated!). When I read the inside flap summary thing I decided to get it because (no spoilers yet this is all on the inside cover flap thingy) it said it was about a girl who had gotten out of an abusive family but had been taken from the foster child she'd grown up with and who protected her from a lot of beatings and stuff like that. They were really, really close. So since then she's been adopted by great parents and has gotten better through therapy and homeschooling, but decides to go to her senior year of high school at a public school where she ends up seeing (cue the drums!) the boy she grew up with who she somehow doesn't think of as a brother but as a love interest and that isn't creepy at all!!!!! Seriously puke worthy for me anyway, but this story isn't awful and I think you guys should check it out I think you'll be happily surprised by the ending! If you can get past the thought of them sorta being like brother and sister...that was hard for me.

HERE COME THE SPOILERS! AVERT YOUR EYES IF YOU HAVE NOT READ AND WISH TO!!!!

So ok now I can just get my true feelings out without being vague. What the heck? Ok so Mallory is in love with Rider? Like how did they not see each other as brother and sister? I mean they grew up together and took care of one another like siblings, I mean it doesn't matter if you aren't related by blood you are still brother and sister. I guess they didn't see it that way because as we all could tell from the story they are happily doing things siblings just should do not do to one another. It took me a while to get past this and accept it because it was clear these guys were lovey dovey from the get go but I tried, I already get grossed out by romance normally I don't need to think about incest being thrown into the mix. Blech! Gross! Ok still getting over that image...onto the next topic!

I felt as if this wasn't the worst love story I've ever read. Like it was nice that they weren't trying to be up in each other’s business every five second and all which lately in teen novels seems to be a common theme. Speaking of common themes, why is it always that the girl is the inexperienced dater? I mean for once can we have the boy in the novel be more nervous than the girl? I mean I understand Mallory is a nervous person and all but come on! I mean every freaking book, the girl is so nervous about it all and the guy is just like “lemme show ya how to smooch sweet cakes” and the girl’s like “but I'm nervous” and he's like “then I'll take it slow honey bunny no rush” then she's like “well even though I said I'm nervous I'm just gonna throw myself on top of you now...because you were so kind and said we'll take it slow.” That's not at all how the dialogue was in this book but this is just how stupid romance novels sound to me all the time!

But anyways, onto the positive! So remember when I mentioned that I liked the book (you know way at the beginning before I said all these mean things) it was not for the new found love and crap, or the fact that they killed off the one sane person in the book...as usual. No I liked it because as stupid as the story seemed, I was vaguely interested enough in reading it and was pleasantly surprised when Mallory stood up for herself at the end of the novel. To her beloved Rider too!!! I was all like “YOU GO GIRL YOU ARE A STRONG INDEPENDANT GINGER WHO DON’T NEED NO BOYFRIEND WHO HAS NO SELF ESTEEM! YOU TELL HIM THAT HE IS WORTH WHILE! WHOOP!” And she also stood up for her career dreams to her parents or whatever...less important. But I was honestly happy! Like she understood that she could fight for herself and did, she screamed love and affection (the only way to express these emotions if you ask me) to Rider and told him he needed to get a grip and realize he deserved happiness, family, and love, that he was isolating himself from these things. I loved that this was not an immediate change for Rider or Mallory. That at the end of the novel they were each still working on believing they deserved happiness! I loved that their happy ending didn't even happen in the book, that it was established they were in a good place but needed to improve and would. On a different note, I was also surprised when they got back together because I thought this book might have wanted to focus on the fact that sometimes no matter what you try, you can't change people even if you love them. But nope, they just had to get back together didn't they?

Overall I like how this book focused on self growth and realizing that you are worth it. That no matter what is in your past you can have a positive impact on others, and can make a good life for yourself. I love positivity and try my best to be positive in real life (just wanted to say because these reviews can be pretty brutal). I know a lot of people take for granted everything they have in life, while they don't even realize that while their parents might give them a ten o'clock curfew to make sure they are safe, somebody else in their school has to deal with extremely brutal situations of their own. Yes we all have our flaws, and I most certainly have a lot I'll be the first to say so! But I believe that we shouldn't take for granted the opportunities our lives give us, because like this book stresses, we don't always get a second chance.  

Jax's Lightspeed Reviews: 'The Reckoners Part 1: Steelheart' by Brandon Sanderson

Welcome to Jax's Lightspeed Reviews. These are just like any other of my regular reviews, though they're much quicker to read through and write - hence the title. The review is split up into 5 pieces: The story overview, the positive elements of the book, the negative elements of the book, a final verdict, and a recommendation level.

Today's book: 'The Reckoners Part 1: Steelheart' by Brandon Sanderson

I've seen Steelheart bleed, and I WILL see him bleed again.

The Story:

     Life is modern, and it's great. Of course, with any book that starts great, something bad will happen. America is struck by a natural disaster known as 'Calamity', which causes random people around the world to gain a variety of superpowers, thus turning those people into 'Epics'. Unlike your typical Marvel or DC story, though, these powers corrupt the souls of those who are blessed by them, and soon the Epics wreak havoc on the world, causing an apocalypse. The most high of all Epics is Steelheart, who rules Chicago (now called Newcago, for some reason) with an iron fist.

     For any story featuring villains, there needs to be a hero to combat such a being, and that character is David - haha, how ironic. As a young child, David's father was murdered by Steelheart, so he does the usual 'high-and-pompous' thing among heroes and vows revenge against Steelheart. As he grows up, David learns as much as he can about Epics and their weaknesses, hoping that he can one day get rid of Steelheart for good. Along the way, David meets up with The Reckoners, a group of rogues who fight Epics for a living. David joins up the Reckoners in an attempt finally kill Steelheart.

The Good:

     The Reckoners may be another Post-Apocalyptic book, but it is a good one indeed. The story is suspenseful from start to finish, with many plot twists within - and unlike last month's book, they're actually done very well. I obviously won't spoil them here, though. David isn't like other heroes in Apocalypse stories, where he tries to be this big darn hero: Instead, he has a very goofy personality that clashes well with the rest of his Reckoner partners. The other Reckoners also play well as 'mentor' figures to David, which leads to some strong character development on David's part.
     Steelheart is written from the narrative of David instead of the author, which seems to work best for this genre. When you here all the details from the characters themselves, you're given a better idea of exactly what's going on. I wish this style was used more frequently, though I guess I can't be one to judge because I haven't read too many Apocalypse-themed books. David also provides enough commentary to give you a perfect picture of what's happening in the story, but he leaves enough details out so you can interpret the story's tiniest details to how you see fit: Whether or not you think David is ruggedly-handsome is up to you.

The Bad:

     I mentioned earlier that David provides a realistic sense of humor to the story. Does it work throughout the entire story, though? Nope. One of David's many defining traits is that he can't come up with good metaphors. Trust me, it really isn't as hysterical as it sounds. In most cases, this is used as the defining 'awkward' trait for him, which gets tiring after the second or third time you read it. It's a little detail, but it can occur upwards to five times within a chapter.
     You know what else I don't like about this book? The beginning. The book starts with an incredibly satisfying Prologue - which I have to say might be one of the best ways to introduce any book (READ IT), - but once that passes, you're left with a couple filler chapters before the intensity starts up again. Again, I'm mentioning this as a warning rather than as an insult to the book.

Conclusion:

     Steelheart does many things right that other Post-Apocalyptic stories have failed at: it takes the usual 'Super-powered Heroes VS Ingenious Villains' tale, swaps the roles around, and mixes in some other genres to boot. The tale is long, and has a couple speed bumps along the way where the story stops to relay useless backstories, but if you can tolerate a thick tale now and then, you'll find a lot to like with Steelheart and the rest of the 'Reckoners' franchise.

Recommendation: Above average (Read it as soon as you can!)

Jax's Lightspeed Review of 'Book Scavenger' by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Welcome to Jax's Lightspeed Reviews. These are just like any other of my regular reviews, though they're much quicker to read through and write - hence the title. The review is split up into 5 pieces: The story overview, the positive elements of the book, the negative elements of the book, a final verdict, and a recommendation level.

Today's book: 'Book Scavenger' by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

"Life is a game, and books are the tokens."

The Story:

Book Scavenger is split into 3 main plot pieces that work around each other. In this story, a fictional game exists called 'Book Scavenger', where patrons can hide books for others to find in the real world, then pinpoint their book's location using a clue system built into the 'Book Scavenger' website. The admin and leader of the Book Scavenger games, Mr Garrison Griswold, is often considered the self-proclaimed 'Willy Wonka' of the book industry. Griswold starts plans on a new sub-competition of the game, where players will have to track down one of many copies of 'The Gold-Bug' (which is a REAL book by Edgar Allen Poe), which contains clues to where a special prize is located in San Fransisco. However, Griswold is mugged by a group of thugs prior to the start of the competition, causing the new game to be postponed.
      ...then we get to the other main character of the story: Emily Crane, a passionate player of the Book Scavenger game. Emily's family has a dream to live in each state in the U.S. at least once for a full year, and their next stop is - coincidentally, - San Fransisco. Once Emily and her family arrives, she meets up with James, a puzzles enthusiast, and they find a mysterious Gold-covered version of 'The Gold-Bug'. Emily doesn't make much of it at first because nobody actually knows of Griswold's cancelled game, but once she finds out a secret lying within the book, she starts a quest to complete the game - with the help of James, of course.

The Good:

Book Scavenger is the best kind of Fiction because it's a completely plausible story. The whole tale is obviously made up, but because of how clever the Book Scavenger game within the story actually is, it could easily be played in real life. In fact, the official website for this story has a mini-'Book Scavenger' built into it that you can play right now! Check this link: http://bookscavenger.com/hide-find-books/   Sure, there aren't many books hidden around our Lake County area as of right now, but we could change that, couldn't we? I challenge all of you readers to hide at least 1 book within the next few weeks and record it on the website. Think you're up to the challenge?
      The primary genre of Book Scavenger, 'mystery', is implemented to perfection here. It's fun to keep up with all of the puzzles that Emily and James encounter on their quest to finish The Gold-Bug's hidden adventure, and it's not very hard, either. There were at least 2 or 3 times within the book where the main characters stumbled upon a new step they couldn't solve, even though I already had a hunch on how to solve it. I like this style of the 'mystery' genre better than the stereotypical 'Sherlock' kind of mystery because they feel interactive.

The Bad:

I didn't have any immediate distaste with Book Scavenger, but on the other hand, not too much about the story really struck me. In easier terms, I couldn't find any flaws in the book that detracted from the experience, but aside from the fun setting of the book and the mystery aspects, the writing itself is rather run-of-the-mill. Not much about the story stands out from other tales of this caliber.
      As a side note, there's a very weird mis-match of plot twists near the end of the book. I don't mind plot twists, but in this case, at least 3 twists occur within the same chapter. This kind of writing can throw you off, and it should especially be avoided during the climax of the story.

Conclusion:

Book Scavenger is a simple story at face value, but the simplicity of the story helps contribute to how fun it is to read. Pick this one up if you can, and if you get a spare book and some time, try out the Book Scavenger game online! Or, perhaps you should wait for another month to do that, since it is still winter right now...

Recommendation Rating: Moderate (Read it if you can!)

GadgetJax doesn't like dog books.

Not a fan of the genre. Check us out on Vine!

Ashley's Review of Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Do you like to reading fantasy books with a twist? Then you would like to read the book, Cinder. It is easy to like and easy to read. Reading also helps improve your learning skills. It is important to read and learn about books.

About The Author

Marissa Meyer is the author of The Lunar Chronicles. This series is a four book series with one novella. It is also a bestselling series. Before she became a author, she was a book editor. The other stories she wrote are short stories. She is 31 years old now. She is now writing a new book based on super heroes. Now that you know about the author, you should learn about the book.

About The Book

The first book in The Lunar Chronicles is Cinder. It is about a cyborg girl named Cinder. It takes place in a time that war may come. The setting is mostly in New Beijing. Humans, androids, and cyborgs all live together on Earth. Also, people with magical abilities live on the moon. They are called lunars. There is a lot of tension between the lunars and people on Earth, enough to cause a war. Now that you know about the book, you should know how much it has in common with its fairytale.

How Close The Story Cinder And Cinderella Are Related

Many books are based on something. In this case, the whole series it is based on fairy tales. In the book Cinder, she has two step sisters and a step mother. She had a nice step father who died. Also in the story, a ball is hosted. In all of the book in this series they each have something similar happen to them as it did in the fairytales.

About The Fairytale

In the fairytale Cinderella a girl named Cinderella’s mother dies. Her father then remarries. When Cinderella’s father dies her new stepmother and step sisters becomes very mean. They make her do all of their work and chores. Then she goes to a ball that she is forbidden to go to, with the help of a fairy god mother, and meets a prince. Then after the ball the goes back home leaving the prince behind the palace. Later on, the prince comes looking for her using the shoe she left behind. In the end, they get married and live happily ever after .

That was my book review on the book Cinder and the fairy tale that goes along with it.

Thank You

For Reading

This Review

Sources

Wikipedia.com, “Marissa Meyer”

Lcplin.org, “Cinder”

Comedyimprov.com, “Cinderella”

Google Images 

Want to read more about the world of the Lunar Chronicles? Check out Lily's review of the last book in the series: "Winter"

Carry On Written by Rainbow Rowell Snarky review by Lily W.

Carry On
Written by Rainbow Rowell
Snarky review by Lily W.

So Rainbow Rowell, we meet again, only this time your ending isn't half bad but the book itself
sucks beyond suck. If you couldn't tell I don't like this book, well I'll make it clear it was awful. I promise no spoilers for this first part of the review (to warn those of you who have not yet read it.) but honestly it doesn't matter if you carry on reading this because it was so gosh darn awful I want you to save your precious life from reading this awful excuse of fiction. Ok I'm especially harsh today so sorry about that but this is as close to a journal as I'll ever get so I promise to be honest about my opinions. For those of you intending to read this please stop reading the review now, but also keep in mind that I AM WARNING YOU IT IS SO AWFUL IT WILL MAKE YOUR BRAIN HURT. Alright now onto why I think all these awful things.

So Fangirl was a pretty good book, funny, not too heavy, but weird ending. I'm starting to notice a pattern with Rainbow Rowell’s books too. So like the first 150 pages or so the main character wanders around with no purpose but telling us some backstory from their life (you know instead of making life easier for all of us and just starting at the beginning) and basically just making me want to hit my head against the wall because I began reading another weird Rainbow Rowell book, I should have learned by now you'd have thought? Then everything changes for the main character when he/she realizes their true love is right there and goes from zero interest to must stick my tongue down this guy/girl’s throat immediately me life depends on this make out session! Like in Carry On Simon didn't even think he had a thing for Baz but he just thought yo there's a dude freaking out about to kill himself in a forest fire, you know what will make him feel better right about now? Me deciding to “snog” him without actually knowing if he has interest in kissing boys or girls and not previously thinking even for a second if I myself was interested in kissing boys or if I was interested in just this one. Because kissing people when they are having a magical mental breakdown makes sense. But anyway back to the pattern. Now that they are sure they have true love within fifteen minutes (because that's how love works) something complicates things. (Ok I feel like I should mention that Attachments doesn't quite follow this pattern, that book was basically saying that reading someone else’s email and falling in love with them is okay and not creepy and stalkerish in anyway. No that's sweet, because it's not like there are creepers out there and cyber stalkers but anyway sorry tangent) So something HUGE comes to complicate the two love birds, weather it be your weird eleven year old magic sucking self come to kill your bloodsucking boyfriend, or it's just the guy you like ended up kissing some other chick or something to that affect(Fangirl), and that HUGE conflict
really makes it difficult for the love birds to be love birds. Than they get through the complication
and get to an ending that really doesn't actually wrap up the story, it just ends. Like she was
going to write an ending, but didn't hit save before she shut off her computer and she lost all the
progress and was like screw it I'm done with this crap.

So in Carry On we are basically reading the equivalent of The Deathly Hallows or The Last
Olympian but without actually reading the several books before it. Like you just skip to the end.
At least in Harry Potter and Percy Jackson we got explanations, in Carry On we are just told this
is how this works and there is no good reason other than magic. Ok? What KIND of magic, what
is the backstory on this, why should I blindly believe that this book represents magic? Because
you start with Simon killing one goblin (like one monster thing the whole book? And he claims to
have slayed several in the past like this is normal? And one never really pops up again accept in
flashbacks? And he briefly just rode a dragon? Come on!) we just assume that the precedent for
being told the bare minimum of how this world works will be enough to help us get by and
understand completely what's happening. Let me just say, J. K. Rowling can write spells that
could sound silly (wingaaadiumleviosaaa), but it doesn't sound stupid because there's
reasoning, whereas Rainbow Rowell is all like You can't touch this because song lyrics now
have the power to be powerful? And what's all this crap about a musician having to have a
voice, what about mute or deaf magicians? Like for real I refuse to believe that in this world of
many many magicians that they all can speak and hear perfectly well. They are human too.

Not only are we thrown into a strange place in full on story mode without any idea what the heck
is going on or how anything is happening, but did Rowell seriously never hear about copyright? I
mean I know J. K. Rowling doesn't own the idea for wizard schools but come on! A British
wizardry school, a super smart and loyal girl bestie, orphaned brunette who is the chosen one ,
evil mysterious roommate with widows peak ( Draco anyone?), a kindly groundskeeper who is
tearful and cares for animals all the time? I mean seriously (but not Siriously...that guy’s dead)
how dumb do you think I am? Like I don't think you even had to have had watch the movie to
catch this! How is Rainbow Rowell not being sued at this very moment? Is she? If she is I really
wanna know. Anyway how can you rip off Harry Potter and not include RON? He was great, a
poor friend for poor Harry but Ron showed him what it was like to have a perfectly dysfunctional
family! Then you give Penelope Hermione’s attitude and characteristics and just make her have
Ron’s family dynamic? Did you not rip off Ron just for the purpose of not having another guy be
competition for Baz?

And what was up with Agatha anyway? What was even her purpose? Was it to be the Ginny of the Carry On universe? Because if so I wanna say how brave and powerful Ginny was in Harry Potter and point out Agatha is nothing like that. And for real I can understand that she wanted nothing to do with magic but then why would she befriend the most powerful magician out there? And then date him? And break up with him? And basically just say you don't want a normal happy ending then move to California to live a normal happy ending life? Good for you to following your dreams but you also totally left Simon, Penelope, and Baz for dead because you were too busy running away to care about possibly keeping them safer. And Baz, could you get more vampire cliche? Widows peak? Evil rich guy? And why does every book with a gay main character automatically make sure he has had a disappointing childhood because their parents don't accept their gayness? Like isn't there any other way to give someone a dramatic backstory? I mean I guess watching his mother pretty much incinerate herself after he himself was bitten by a vampire wasn't enough right? He couldn't manage to have a loving supporting family? And the dude is totally 100% no doubt Draco Malfoy.

And then Simon. Dude is an orphan who will pretty much never know who his parents are (never seen that one before right?). And then he totally was visited by his dead mother, but confused her for Baz’s dead mother, and never found out that he not only killed the Mage but the Mage was literally his father! No wonder Penelope used the these are not the droids you are looking for spell at the end to hide Simon’s for no reason devil wings, because the Mage was Darth Vader and Simon is Luke. And I haven't even seen Star Wars and I know that!

And so the story was seriously lacking story and like plot and other important stuff like I don't
know character development? The whole story can pretty much be summed up with this: if
Draco had a crush on Harry all along and then Harry randomly decides to kiss him. Than the
climax is a lame excuse of an action sequence in which Hagrid is killed by a weird Dumbledore
and Harry gives away all his magic to save the world from himself causing future harm but not to
actually fix the mess he unintentionally made. And kills Dumbledore by accident and will never
know he was really his father. Then Draco and Harry get all cuddly in front of Hermione's and
she starts to suspect that perhaps Harry and Draco are cuddly instead of trying to kill each other
why? STILL FOR NO REASON BECAUSE IN THIS BOOK YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH
SOMEONE YOU NEVER BEFORE HAD INTEREST IN BECAUSE HE IS TRYING TO BURN
DOWN A FOREST. Like for real I'm not trying to sound like a homophobe here trust me that is
not at all the message I am trying to get across, what I am trying to say is even with my limited
understanding of love one does not suddenly flip a switch in their brain and say yep I hated you
yesterday by now want you to be my soulmate. And this is just for Simon, I know Baz always
had a thing for Simon so he's ok in this instance. But also from what my gay friends have told
me one doesn't just all of a sudden think I'm gay . It's something they come to accept over time,
or always knew. Simon at the ending was still very clearly confused as to why he decided to kiss
Baz in the first place, so why hasn't he tried to figure it out yet? BECAUSE RAINBOW ROWELL
HAD THIS THING WHERE SHE JUST DOES NOT THINK BOOKS SHOULD MAKE SENSE!

And whatever happened to Nicodermus anyway? And like everyone else? Was that part of the
book you forgot to save on your computer before it shut down too? And then is Penelope’s mom
is now Professor McGonagall because she took over after the Mage died. For no reason other
than well she seems ok to be headmistress and we need a sassy woman to run the school to be
a true Harry Potter rip off.

Anyway I didn't like this book all that much and have almost nothing good to say about it except
that the cover art was ok? Oh and one more thing I don't think Harry Potter used as many British
specific words to convey the idea of it being British. Like only an American would exaggerate it
that much. Plus every character used the f word like it was seriously the only possible way to
convey annoyance, anger, or sadness. Like I don't mind cussing but that was a bit excessive
towards the beginning of the book. You would think an actually author would be able to afford a
thesaurus! Anyway I hope you enjoyed this review more than I enjoyed the book have a magical
day!

Lily's review of Winter by Marissa Meyer

A review of

Winter

By Marissa Meyer

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS PLEASE READ THESE BOOKS I PROMISE YOU CROSS MY HEART IT IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ IN MY 15 OR SO YEARS OF READING EXPERIENCE! Ok granted a good portion of that time was spent learning to read but still! Please read Marissa Meyer’s series called the Lunar Chronicles! There are five books (the first of which is Cinder) it is such a great twist on the fairytales that we all know and love...or tolerate. Like for example to show how good this series is if you know me, you know how much I hate the fairytale of Cinderella *I’m literally like gagging now* but these books are AMAZING LIKE SO GOOD IT MADE ME LOVE THIS VERSION! The writing style is so cool and unique (I haven't seen third person omniscient in quite some time! Oh I hope I got that right and I didn't totally bomb my English final..) and the way the author lines up her completely different story with the classic fairy tales is amazing! Like one second you're all like “what does being a cyborg have to do with being Cinderella?” And than you're all like “OH MY GOSH THAT WAS SO COOL HOW THAT ALL FITS TOGETHER LIKE OH MY GOSH TOP FIVE BOOK SERIES LIST RIGHT NOW!” So I really wanna not spoil these books for you so here is my presidential teen advisory board declaration READ THEM ALL NOW! The lake county public library system has all the copies floating around somewhere so head on over there and request some novels! So I'm gonna continue the review now but there will be spoilers! So don't be a dummy and keep reading this review if you haven't read the book yet ok? You can read my completely opinionated and biased review after you read these beautiful books!

Alright so Winter was a really great way to end this series! I really love happy endings like what's the point of sad endings anyway books are meant to entertain you not make you all depressed and confused *cough cough Divergent*. And I lllllloooooovvvveeee fairytales like to Luna and back (see what I did there! ) Fairytales are so sweet and magical and... morally ...like it's too great to pass up a good fairytale (unless it is that stupid Cinderella like for real no one else has the same shoe size in the whole kingdom? Come on!)

So at first I was reluctant to read Cinder because Cinderella (yes I know don't judge a fairytale based book on your previous hatred of that stupid story whatever) but when I started I was totally hooked! This world was so high tech but believable, I loved Cinder even though she didn't love herself that much (It's ok I love her enough for the both of us), and it was so cool she was all like “I'm a mechanic and who can google blueprints with my built in computer!” I loved all the characters in book one and it was such a great story, I love how she was like “oh no I'm from the moon and a cyborg that's like double the weird” at first but later in the series came to terms with it all and I think that's really sweet! And Scarlet and Cress were just as amazing! But I gotta say that I was a little creeped out by the whole dating wolverine “alpha” thing but I mean I won't judge, actually yeah I judge that's kinda why I write reviews in the first place! Like Scarlett was so not sweet innocent red riding hood (but totally likeable) and Cress was such an adorable satellite hermit and so sweet and innocent like red riding hood! The series was really epic so far! I liked Fairest, but honestly I wasn't as into it because the narrator couldn't be trusted you know? She was crazy and when you hate everything  the main character does it doesn't make you feel invested in the story, but I feel like it was a good prologue. And her short stories for the series were nice too (I'm pretty sure I read at least two of them but who knows that was like a year ago and my memory is about as good as Dory’s).

So Winter...OH MY GOSH IT IS SO GOOD! So I loved how it was written because I feel like every character got a fair amount of spotlight unlike previous books that leave you wanting more from one or less from another. I really liked that Winter was innocent and perfect, she was so good that she refused to use her moon mind control on anyone which made her crazy. I like how her story intertwined with the other’s slowly too. And quick tangent  I was so sad when Scarlett was captured and tortured like forget about the cruelty she faced that's not fair putting me through that emotional distress! Anyway I was like BOOYAH when she got out semi-safe even if she was smelly. I liked how the whole book felt actiony and like something big lead to something bigger which lead to something catastrophically huge which then lead to serious stress! But the end of Winter couldn't have been more perfect! I seriously miss books that let all the main characters live to see their happy endings! Like everyone was happy. The moon was on the track to recovery as well as Earth, and Cinder was totally still the coolest chick!

I about had a heart attack when Levana stabbed Cinder in the heart, I thought that she might have died and that whole chapter after it where Scarlett says I love you or something gushy and gag worthy to Wolf/Ze’ev (never know what to call that guy) I was like so focused on Cinder I couldn't focus on like anything else! (Can I just do a blanket apology for using “like” every five seconds, I just try to write whatever pops into my head so my reviews are more honest and I am a teenager so I certainly talk like one!) but then she was ok (not The Fault in our Stars “okay”, because that's depressing… Although that dude totally was missing a limb like Cinder…) and I was all like WOOT WOOT because she gets her own happy ending… Or will eventually I mean she has to get through the whole being queen for a limited amount of time before they go all republic and then she’ll get to be the official empress/mechanic of New Beijing. Yeah like Scarlett/Wolf, and Cress/Thorne got like immediate happy endings and Winter/Jacin and Cinder/Kai get like happy ending rain checks but still extremely good ending! And can I say just how much I love Iko? Good call on the color changing depending on mood eyes!

I really miss books that have happy endings without too much heart break, I read “young adult fiction” books not for the hormones or the drama in them (believe me I've got enough of that going on around me to write my own book) but for the chance of a sweet story that has good life lessons where you love the characters and they all get happy endings like they should (in my opinion, some authors like Lemony Snicket may beg to disagree). I really can't complain all that much about this series. I really loved the characters, writing, story, and the inside jokes! Overall this series is totally five stars and is on my top five list! It's not like an official list it's just like I know Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus are #1 and I think the Lunar chronicles could be #2(hehe #2 duty) it may have tied with Artemis Fowl for me which is a huge honor I might add! I hope you all enjoyed these books as much as I did and oh my gosh I literally just realized I read Winter during the season of winter! How cool is that!?!? Okay I'm done with the puns (I hope) hope you guys have a happy new year and all that jazz!

Oh really quick I just realized this is like the only series on my top five list to not have magic, like unless you call glamour magic, I mean she gave a logical-ish explanation right? Oh well it. Counts a sci-fi not completely magicy series is on the top five list! This totally counts as branching out right? Right. Okay bye guys!

-Lily

Lily's review of Fangirl By Rainbow Rowell

A Review of 
Fangirl
By Rainbow Rowell

Ok so I'm not new to the Rainbow Rowell book universe, I've read Attachments as well as Eleanor and Park, but I think Fangirl really stands out! I really didn't like the others that much, that's what you get for having a friend that's a sucker for sappy weird love stories that give you the heebijeebies!
Okay so some generic no spoiler reasons why I like this book so much:

Adorable main character who makes you just want to hug her and tell her everything will turn out ok in the end!
A realistic and relatable setting that reminds me of college (I mean I think so, I'm still only in high school so I only have those brochures to compare it to in my head…)
REALLY fun characters that you actually love because of their different personalities! Or love to hate...that too!

So I can't really continue this book review, I feel like for this to keep going I need to be able to spoil things like the ending so I can complain and praise this book so 

CONSIDER THIS A WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! 

If you read the book (I think you totally should check it out from the library!) make sure to read the rest and tell me what you think! Ok spoiler time!

JEEZ RAINBOW ROWELL COULD YOU PLEASE WRITE AN ENDING TO A BOOK THAT ISN’T SO ABRUPT AND STRANGE? Every time I read one of your books I feel like you just ripped it right out of my hands, like I WAS READING THAT DO YOU MIND? Or a more relatable comparison, you're just eating a sandwich and Rainbow Rowell comes up to you and goes HAH right in your face and swipes it out of your mouth running away laughing villainously! Even saying “SWIPER NO SWIPING SWIPER NO SWIPING SWIPER NO SWIPING” doesn't work! Once again I WAS NOT DONE WITH THAT! Like the ending for Attachments was ok (the whole book weirded me out a lot!) and Fangirl is, like, one million times better than Eleanor and Park (I'm literally puking in my mouth from that whole book) but for real Rowell it's like you can't decide when to stop so you just do! Like you could have finished a lot more hanging storylines by the end of Cath’s spring semester but you didn't! You seemed only worried about Cath and Levi’s lovey-doveyness...like she didn't even wrap up the fact that they wouldn't see each other that much in the summer and stuff. Not to mention the mother thing, like I respect that Cath doesn't want anything to do with her mom, but Wren and her mother Laura both want Cath to have some sort of relationship with her. Sooooo many loose storylines! I can't even fathom how an author who very clearly understands the need to finish a story right ( example: Cath obsessing over how to wrap up Carry On) could have totally disregard how her endings! Ugg! Just it was a really good book and you don't want your last memory to be sour! Right? Please agree with me Rainbow Rowell (not that you'd actually read this but slight minuscule chance that you do I'm sure you're a great gal...I just hate your endings:) )

So Cath and Levi, even though I'm, like, the most anti love and mushy goshies person in the world, even I can agree that this love story was not the grossest one I've ever read, it was sweet (even though sweet makes me want to puke on the inside, not in anyway does this reflect on Rainbow Rowell’s writing, just my total disgust towards love). I thought it was nice that Levi tried so hard, but I feel like that part where Levi made out with that other girl before he and Cath were a thing was a little forced, like it was written to show that “Dudley-do-right” could mess up, like he had to do that to show that nobody is perfect. Like it just made Cath not want to go back to school which was really saddening.

Anyways Fangirl has like THE BEST sarcastic lines! For real you guys it just is the kind of quick sarcasm that makes you snort laugh and think *I totally have said something like that*( I can be very sarcastic, in fact just this morning my mom said “ Don't you want to support *insert teacher name* and buy spirit wear? I believe my response was “ if he wants support so bad he can go buy a bra!”) this book made me keep reading for the quick one liners that are the best!

This book was pretty great and even though I sound harsh, it's just that I'm a harsh person and am very blunt with my reviews, so I hope you all enjoyed (the like two who read it:)love ya guys!) and see you at the next library event!

-Lily

(Image source: Nice Save Baz by Nina on deanneedsyou.tumblr.com)

Jack's review of Gameworld

Personally I cannot recommend or not recommend this book. It was very cliche and the twists could have been predicted. I do have to give the author credit for using Caribbean magic, a magic that is not commonly referenced in literature. There is just not much I can say about this book. 

David's YALSA Hub blog post!

Our very own GadgetJax (alias David) has a book recommendation post up on the American Library Association's YALSA Hub blog:

Teen Perspective: A Trio of Tales about Dragons

Congratulations David!

GadgetJax Reviews: The Lord Of The Flies by William William Golding

   I love old things. A lot. Okay, maybe not the stuff that's really old, like dinosaur bones and 8-tracks, but I still love to look back at all the media of last century. Some of my favorite video games of all time were released during the 1980's, and many of Disney's best animated features debuted during the 1950's as well. But what about books? 

    Truth be told, I rarely read old books, which is odd, isn't it? I like reading, and I like old media, so you would think that stuff would make me explode with happiness, but it doesn't. Even titles like 'The Hobbit' have failed to spark my interest. Still, there are many times where I'll have to read an old title for one reason or another, such as a book discussion.
    This leads me to the book for today: Lord Of The Flies. It's obviously not the oldest book in on Earth, but when you consider how it debuted in 1957, you really start to realize how old that is. Anyway, going off the title of the book, you would expect some kind of epic tale about a king among insects, but considering how misleading old book titles were, you can ignore that notion.

    Our tale begins with 2 young boys named 'Ralph' and 'Piggy'(No, that's not his real name) waking up on an island in the middle of nowhere. They believe they are alone at first, but discover that they were on an airplane with several other boys, but it crashed, with only the children surviving. They eventually meet other boys on that island; some who are their age, and some who are smaller. They then come to terms and try to start a makeshift society where different boys are assigned to different roles, such as hunting and the like. It's nothing too out of the ordinary for a survival story, except for the MacGuffin of the island; The Conch.
    The Conch is a crucial part of the story and should be recognized as such. Prior to meeting the other boys on the island, Ralph and Piggy discover a conch on the island. As the story progresses, the significance of the conch rises to a point of royal power among the surviving boys; whoever is holding the conch has the right to speech among the group of boys. It may seem like a little touch at first to the story, but if you look deeper into it, it represents much more than meets the eye. The rest of the story contains very few objects that would hold any significance or lasting impression, so the conch feels like almost like a holy relic in a desolate wasteland.
    Speaking of things that stand out, I guess you could apply this definition to many of the other aspects of the book; insignificant at first, but surreal and astonishing upon inspection. I was bored the entire time during my first read of this book, but after re-reading it and searching up more about it online, I discovered just how narrow my opinions on this title were. Every boy in this book is given an underlying trait that represents some kind of struggle that the group faces on the island, and it almost makes you feel bad for the characters and their struggles.

    Of course, with any book that takes the path of using underlying meanings, you will notice many flaws riddled in the tale. I found many parts where characters would almost seem to repeat the same sentences over and over again, and it makes the plot feel like it's not going anywhere at certain points. Also, while we're on the subject of 'not going anywhere', I should remind you that I didn't get much of a good impression from this book the first time through. Because of this, I can only recommend this book to someone who wants to decipher the deep meaning behind the story. If you're looking for raw entertainment, Lord Of The Flies won't fit your taste, but if you want to read about a truly serious struggle between several children and their wits, then Lord Of The Flies will spark your interest for sure.

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...wait a second! A GadgetJax review with little-to-no comedy? What is this garglemesh?!? Don't worry, valiant readers! I'll be back next time with something that's sure to knock your socks off! Can you guess what it is? I'll give you guys a hint: it'll push everybody to the limit.

GadgetJax Reviews: 'Meanwhile' by Jason Shiga

I'm constantly fascinated by the Graphic Novel section at the Highland branch. Sure, I don't read too many popular comics, but it's always fun to see what's new and unique. One specific book that has always attracted my attention was an odd book called 'Meanwhile', which only sparked my curiosity because of the abstract cover art. I eventually decided to pick it up and see if it was any good...
...and now I really want to read more Graphic Novels in my free time.

The first thing you need to know about Meanwhile is that it isn't any ordinary story: It's interactive. If you've read any of the 'Choose-your-own-escapade' books, then you'll know what I mean. To sum it up in a heartbeat, this comic allows you to choose the exact path you want to take when reading, just as if you were the one in the story. I liked this format a lot in the 'Choose-your-own-hodgepodge' series, and it's done even better here because the story is told through a comic format - kind of like a Video Game, if you will.

    As for the plot itself, you start the story as a boy named 'Jimmy'. You're at the Ice Cream shop trying to decide on a flavor to get, with your options being Chocolate and Vanilla. So, what happens if you pick 'good-old-gray' ice cream, you may ask? THE BOOK ENDS RIGHT THERE. Yeah, I'm not kidding. Jimmy gets his ice cream, eats it, heads home, and the story ends. Wow. Obviously, the story only starts if you pick 'boring-brown-chocolate'.

So, once Jimmy gets his 'bbc', he'll get a stomach ache from over-eating, which makes him scramble to the nearest bathroom. While trying to reach nature's call, he meets an old man named 'Professor K', who shows him around his lab. The lab is where you truly start the adventure, as the professor will give you 3 different inventions to test out: The SQUID (memory-reading device), the Killitorn 2000 (doomsday device), and a toaster.
   

...oh, sorry, I meant a time machine. A toaster-that-toasts-toast would be boring.

From there on, it's hard to discuss anything without spoiling one of the possible endings. The options start out as simplistic, but then they get almost mind-boggling. There's a section in the book where you have to enter a passcode to activate the time machine, and it's so realistic! I could easily see this book being translated into a point-and-click Video Game, based solely on how interactive it is.

    Obviously, there are a few flaws with the custom path style. The first is that the book doesn't explain to well on how to follow along with the story, which means you might be confused for your first 5 minutes reading. Secondly, it is VERY easy to read a spoiler for a later arc in the story because of how compacted the book is: A single page could contain upwards to 5 different plot chains!

    Meanwhile is pretty basic as a story, but the execution is amazing. I can't wait to see other authors start using this writing style, because it is one of the most unique ways to read. I would encourage you all to read Meanwhile if given the chance, and while you're at it, go read the 'Choose-your-own-challenge' series from long ago!

...wait, that wasn't the name, was it?

Ashley's Review of Suddenly Supernatural by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

Kat develops abilities and is able to see the dead. The only other perosn who knows is her one and only friend Jac. Kat is trying to find out what the ghost at her school is asking of her. She is trying to figure out what the ghost is still there and is trying to help.

Emelia's Review of The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass took forever for me to finish, but I had to read it all; it is so convincing, original and addicting to read.

GadgetJax Reviews: The Lightning Catcher series by Anne Cameron

It's almost the end of the Summer, and I spent a good chunk of it reading. Of course, if I'm going to invest my time in lots of reading, I should make sure that the book I select is good, right?
Well, we're reviewing The Lightning Catcher. Don't let the title of the book fool you; The Lightning Catcher has no affiliation with the Percy Jackson franchise. Sadly, I can't really say that The Lightning Catcher holds up to the epic title it has, but that's what we're reviewing it for, right?

The story begins with our main character, Angus McFangus, an average boy (not actually average) that lives in a little town with his uncle, all while his parents are gone on business trips(not actually business trips).
One day, a man named Felix Gudgeon visits Angus, telling him that he must come with him to a place called Perilous, where the 'Lightning Catchers' conduct their training academy. Angus eventually learns that his parents are Lightning Catchers as well, and that they've been captured by Scabious Dankhart.
Yes, that's his name. I don't know if he's into those kinds of memes, but we'll just roll with it for now.
So, Angus goes to Perilous and he trains to become a Lightning Catcher. Along the way, he makes friends with 2 other students there; Dougal Dewsnap and Indigo Midnight. Dougal is your stereotypical sidekick character that is a mix between 'The Brains' and 'The Brawn', while Indigo is the most boring character imaginable. The only 2 redeeming things about her character design are that A) She's the most shy character you'll ever meet in any story ever and B) Her uncle is actually Scabious Dankhart, which is kind of confusing at first.
...and this leads me to the biggest issue in The Lightning Catcher and all of the other titles in the franchise: They are so darn OBVIOUS! Every character is as boring as a plank of wood. For example, the primary leader of Perilous is a lady named 'Principal Dark-Angel', who (surprise surprise) eventually turns out to be in cahoots with Dankmeme- sorry, I meant Dankhart.
I would go out and say that the best character in the entire franchise is Felix Gudgeon, and that's only because he's a naturally upset guy that slowly starts trusting Angus after time. Everyone else is 'The dumb guy', 'The smart guy', 'The athletic guy', 'the bossy guy', or whatever is commonly used nowadays.
Characters aside, the rest of the book is just as barren. The whole theme of the story is supposed to be about the Lightning Catchers and how awesome they are, but trust me when I say that 60% of the chapters in this story involve the characters just trying to EXPLAIN everything. This book is too big for its own good, and it shows because of how many times that they have to explain how their crazy Fiction world actually works. Muderous Fog? Let's spend 7 pages just explaining it! Backstory about a character that will never appear again? Takes up an entire chapter!
Because of all this stuff that it tries to pack in, it leaves very little room for action portions. All 3 of the books follow a similar pattern where Angus, Dougal, and Indigo find out something about the histry of Perilous, and they have to find out before Dankjoke does. The first 85% is them doing whatever the book needs them to do in order to buy time, and the last 15% is their encounter with Danklegs. To be fair, though, the third book mixes this up by adding a lot more depth to everything, but the story still ends on a cliffhanger...
...and that's what gets me so mad at this franchise. Every book in the series ends on a cliffhanger, and you might think that it would be cool for something like that to happen, but no. The last 10 pages of every book could be summed up as 'Hey man, thanks for helping us out. We haven't found your parents yet, but we're still looking. Go back to your hometown and we'll call you back here when we write the next sequel'.

So, that's how I spent my Summer Reading segment. Did I like The Lightning Catcher and all the sequels? No, I didn't, but I do think that the author needs to iron out the next installment. The atmosphere of the books are really unique and invigorating, but the story itself is always barren and boring, so the writer doesn't get to make use of all the little quirks and oddities that come with such a vast field of creativity. I'm dearly hoping the 4th book fixes all these problems and then some, but as it stands, there are much better books to read than The Lightning Catcher.

Cardboard Review by Zack

Cardboard by Doug TenNapel

This graphic novel is filled with subtle meaning and innocence. Yet behind all of this is a story about two families. One where a father struggles to provide for his child and one where the child is a spoiled brat. Will they survive the mistakes they made or will they be crushed and smothered by their own creations?

By Zack

Tell us what you think about the book at our Teen Book Club meeting on Wednesday July 1st at the Highland Branch! 

Photo credit: Cardboard Fibers on Flickr by Andrew A. Shenouda

Lily's Review of Oedipus a greek tragedy

Review of Oedipus a greek tragedy

No. Just No. I am required to read this for school. Just no. I was excited because I love the Greek Myths, but, just do yourself a favor and don’t read it, please. Just No.

-Lily