Review: The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

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Source: Library
Published: January 2010
Scholastic, Inc. 

From Goodreads: Love is all you need... or is it? Penny's about to find out in this wonderful debut.

Penny is sick of boys and sick of dating. So she vows: no more. It's a personal choice. . .and, of course, soon everyone wants to know about it. And a few other girls are inspired. A movement is born: The Lonely Hearts Club (named after the band from Sgt. Pepper). Penny is suddenly known for her nondating ways . . . which is too bad, because there's this certain boy she can't help but like.

This is kind of the 'In Which Ems Has An Epiphany' post. I've said for a long time that I don't really like contemporary fiction, but I was looking back through my list of the books that I've loved, and a lot of them are contemporary. They're YA, adult, and middle grade. What I'm learning is that I don't particularly care for ISSUE contemporary. The lighter stuff is quickly becoming one of my favorite things. 

I really loved my latest stab at contemp. The Lonely Hearts Club was just what I needed to lighten things and I'm so glad I picked it up. Obviously, it has a Beatles tone to it, and that sticks throughout the book. I'm a huge Beatles fan, so it was a fun addition. And let's be honest...what girl out there hasn't thought of starting her own Lonely Hearts Club? I know I have.

I really liked the story. I liked how things evolved with the club and with guys in general. I liked how the girls interacted. For the most part, we have teenage girls actually being nice to each other and supporting each other!

...

...

...

Sorry, that was me picking my jaw up off the floor. You mean it's possible for teenage girls to NOT be nasty?! 

Yes! Yes, it is! It's possible for them to be nice and supportive and true friends!

That was my favorite thing about this book. It was SO incredibly refreshing. I get tired of the mean girls, you know? So you know, there is some mean girl action, but it's not the focus. It totally takes a back seat. Nice.

Really, there wasn't anything about this book that I *didn't* like. It was great! 4 Eiffel Towers great, really.

Content Advisory

Language: Moderate

Sexuality: Moderate (mentions only)

Violence: Mild

Special for Sundays #29

Welcome back to Special for Sundays!

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Special for Sundays is an original feature, created by Heather of ‘Heather's Opinion on All Things Book Related’ and Ems of ‘In which Ems ReviewsBooks’. We’ll rotate each week through various subjects, as follows:

1st Sunday: One of your Favorite Books and why is it so special to you

2nd Sunday: Two books that everyone must read and why

3rd Sunday: One of your Favorite Authors and why you pick their books up again and again

4th Sunday: A book on your TBR list, why you picked it, and when do you hope to read it

5th Sunday (on the rare occassions): Random book we have read and a quickie review.

We hope you’ll join us for this fun feature!

My quick review this week is for Spells, by Aprilynne Pike. You might remember that I read and reviewed Wings not too long ago. You can check out that review HERE.

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Source: Library
Published: May 2010
Harper Teen

From Goodreads: Six months have passed since Laurel saved the gateway to the faerie realm of Avalon. Now she must spend her summer there, honing her skills as a Fall faerie. But her human family and friends are still in mortal danger--and the gateway to Avalon is more compromised than ever.

When it comes time to protect those she loves, will she depend on David, her human boyfriend, for help? Or will she turn to Tamani, the electrifying faerie with whom her connection is undeniable?

And Girl-as-Plant is back in the second installment of the Wings series. This time around though, I was ready. I knew that Pike's faeries were completely different from other faeries out there, so the plant bit didn't throw me.

I found myself enjoying this book a lot more than I did Wings. There was more action and Laurel seemed like she'd matured more. She wasn't as whispery and timid. I liked that she took things into her own hands more.

The story is a lot the same: plant-girl and her friends face mortal danger and get out of it, usually with help from outside. I'm okay with it though. The stakes keep getting raised, so it doesn't feel tired.

The characters are pretty much the same and I felt about the same way as I did in Wings. 

This series seems much more plot-driven than character-driven, and I can live with that. At any rate, it's not something that discourages me from continuing reading. Sometimes you just need a nice story, and this is it.

I found Spells to be about 3 Eiffel Towers.

Content Advisory:

Language: Moderate
Sexuality: Mild
Violence: Moderate

Find Aprilynne online:TwitterFacebookGoodreadsWebsite

Review: Soulless by Gail Carriger

*I am contemplating my future in the blogging world right now - I may just take a sabbatical, but I may give it up entirely. Things are very much up in the air. Also, I will no longer post book cover pictures unless I take it myself. Since I'm on vacation and didn't bring all the review books I still need to cover, there will be no pictures for awhile.*


And now, on to Soulless.


From Goodreads: "First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire - and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?" (Source: Goodreads)

Hilarious. That's the first word that pops into my head when I think of Soulless. I don't know if I've ever read a book with a heroine that I liked as much as I liked Miss Alexia Tarabotti. She's strong (demonstrated from our very first meeting with her), opinionated, not afraid to share that opinion, and very much okay with her social status. Finally!! A woman who isn't throwing her entire personality away to fit in where she doesn't really care to fit in!


This = love for me.


Yes, I loved this book. It was the perfect story, completely witty, and such an engaging read. The only thing that bugged me was that I waited so long to read it. Seriously.


The supernatural creatures were awesome. I loved the vampire/werewolf sniping going on. It made things incredibly hilarious, with some actual 'laugh out loud' moments.


Speaking of vampires and werewolves, Lord Maccon and Lord Akeldama. Absolutely LOVE them. I can say in all honesty that it's totally a personality thing. Neither of them are the completely drop dead gorgeous, make a lady swoon in her sleep kind of guys. Lord Maccon is rough around the edges and not very socially aware. So refreshing. He gets himself into trouble as often as Alexia does. Lord Akeldama is strictly off-limits to the ladies, and also quite the dandy in his manner of dress. I loved how he spoke in italics. I'd love to sit down for dinner with him. Well, as long as I'm not the dinner.


Really, this book was fantastic. I loved every bit of it. It's a 4-tower book for me!

(I purchased this picture for my personal use, so as far as I know, I am safe to continue using it.)


Content Advisory:
Language: Mild
Sexuality: Moderate
Violence: Heavy (supernatural)

Pertinent Information:

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Source: Own

Published: October 2009

Orbit

Review: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

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Source: Library
Published: March 2007
Scholastic

From Goodreads: Author-artist Selznick has 284 pencil drawings and actual photos (an old train engine falling from upper story to street below, Harold Lloyd in "Safety Lost" 1923, film stills), bases his story on facts. Automatons could draw pictures, write poems, and sign the maker's name, one by Maillardet neglected in a museum. George Méliès, 1861 magician turned film-maker, son of shoemaker-magnate, built his own camera Kinétographe, had 500+ successes, and was rediscovered in 1926 working at wife's Gare Montparness railroad station toy kiosk. 

Fiction: orphan clock-winder 1931 Paris lad Hugo steals to eat and repair robot from father's notebook, until he meets Méliès' pretty god-daughter Isabelle accompanied by helpful film student Etienne (movie Professeur Tabard). An unusual blend of graphic novel and history lesson results. 

Award-winning 2011 film expands book stills into color clips, stars Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, and Chloë Grace Moretz, expanded gendarme Sacha Baron Cohen and dog for comic relief, directed by Martin Scorsese for his daughter 11.

I've been meaning to read this one FOREVER. It was discussed in my children's lit class and I've had in on hold at the library since. After over 100 people, it was finally my turn. It took me all of 20 minutes to get through it the first time and then I went back immediately and read it again. I took my time on the 2nd go around, because I wanted to savor the absolutely gorgeous artwork. Wow. It was beautiful. The artwork serves to tell a fantastic story. It's gorgeous in its simplicity.

There are not very many words in Hugo Cabret. The few words that Selznick chooses to use are perfect and keep the story moving in perfect time with the pictures. Absolutely wonderful story.

It should be known that, as a very near future elementary teacher, I am a huge fan of picture books. This one seriously takes the cake as the best picture book I've ever come across.


You should also know that this book won the Caldecott Medal in 2008. That's a huge deal...the Newbery equivalent for picture books.

5 Eiffel Towers for this one.

Content Advisory:

Language: Mild

Sexuality: None

Violence: Mild

Special for Sundays #28

Welcome back to Special for Sundays!

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.emsreviewsbooks.com/p/special-for-sundays.html" title="In Which Ems Reviews Books"><img src="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k551/rosie_chic/SpecialforSundaysButton.jpg" alt="In Which Ems Reviews Books" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Special for Sundays is an original feature, created by Heather of ‘Heather's Opinion on All Things Book Related’ and Ems of ‘In which Ems ReviewsBooks’. We’ll rotate each week through various subjects, as follows:

1st Sunday: One of your Favorite Books and why is it so special to you

2nd Sunday: Two books that everyone must read and why

3rd Sunday: One of your Favorite Authors and why you pick their books up again and again

4th Sunday: A book on your TBR list, why you picked it, and when do you hope to read it

5th Sunday (on the rare occassions): Random book we have read and a quickie review.


We hope you’ll join us for this fun feature!

Goodreads

This week, let's talk about books on that TBR pile that never seems to shrink. *sigh*

I'm determined to pick up Shadow Games this month. It's one of the books for my A-Z challenge and I need to get to it.

This one hasn't been on my list for too terribly long (unlike some others that I swear I WILL get to one of these days!), but the fact that it's part of that challenge makes me feel the need to get to it sooner rather than later. Also, it's Star Wars and that's an auto-win for me!


Which book on your TBR list is next? Link up!

Review Policy Change

In light of recent events, I am amending my review policy. I will no longer accept self-published books for review. I didn't accept very many before, but now I won't do them period. With all the nastiness going around the Web these days, I'm feeling rather more cautious about who has my real life contact information. Taking on a self-pubbed book is not worth the potential problems anymore. 
Evie said it better than I could HERE, as did Amanda HERE.
You can read my updated review policy HERE.  
*Note: If I have already accepted your book, I will absolutely honor that commitment*

Review: Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

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Source: eARC via NetGalley
Published: June 2012
Delacorte Books for Young Readers

From Goodreads: Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge. They blame Hancock for their mother's death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family's homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily. Easy enough—especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistable good looks and charm on ususpecting girls. Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily—just as Lily starts to suspect that there's more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him.

I've been looking for a fantastic mermaid book for awhile now. I was really hoping that this one was it, but alas, it didn't quite do it for me. There were a couple of things that I did like however, and I'll focus on those first.
I liked the setting. It felt very realistic to me, which was cool, because I've never been to that part of the country before. Reading this felt to me like being on location. I always appreciate when an author puts time and effort into making the setting as real as possible.
I really liked that this tale was told from a male POV. It's kind of rare to find a male narrator in YA these days and I like it when we get one who is a strong character. I liked Calder and I liked his growth through the book. He didn't feel at all one-dimensional to me. He was someone I could work on understanding and really kind of get a feel for. I thought he was very well-written.
The rest of the characters, though, felt slightly flat to me. I think that's more just a taste thing, because I know several people who've thought just the opposite. (that's great, btw! I love being able to read different reviews of the same book and see how we all see things differently) They just didn't ever really connect for me. Tallulah may be an exception, but I didn't realize that until the end. By the time I figured her out, it was kind of a wasted epiphany.
The story was okay. I originally thought the idea was really great and I honestly wish that I'd liked it more. I wanted to, really I did! In some cases, I could lay the blame on what I would consider poor writing, but that is SO not the case here. Ms. Brown is a very talented writer and her style is very easy to read. I just didn't connect with the story itself. A matter of some things working better for others than for me and vice versa. I will definitely read more of Ms. Brown's books (though probably not in this series), because I want to see what else she has up her sleeve.
Overall, 2.5 Eiffel Towers for Lies Beneath.

Content Advisory

Language: ModerateSexuality: ModerateViolence: Moderate/a bit heavy in some places

I am on vacation finally!

After a VERY long time, I am finally heading out on a vacation. A real, live vacation! We're headed to the Midwest to visit my brother and his family, and then we'll be making a trip up to Mount Rushmore and Rapid City, SD. I haven't been there since I was a little girl, and my sister hasn't ever been. We're excited!

With that, I may or may not have posts next week. I am trying to have things scheduled, but it may be sporadic at best. I will try to do a couple reviews before I hit the road.
Hope you all have a fantastic week, and I shall 'see' you again soon!

Review: My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent

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Source: Library
Published: August 2009
Harlequin Teen

From Goodreads: She doesn't see dead people. She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who'll be next.

I've been hearing so much about the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent and finally had a chance to pick up the first book. I've read a lot of faerie books, but nothing specifically about bean sidhes. I found this to be a very fresh and quite enjoyable read. Also, I learned how to pronounce bean sidhes. Huh. Who'da thought it wasn't BEAN SID? I fully admit that I totally pronounced it that way before. Now I know that it's BANSHEE. You can see where I'd have never known that, right? :P

I liked the story here. I can't imagine having death premonitions and feeling like there's nothing you can do. Vincent portrayed Kaylee's agony over that very convincingly. She really was distraught and I could feel that. It threatened to bubble over even when someone else was trying to help her control the screaming. I liked watching her grow stronger, even with a potentially debilitating urge. She really had to work at it.

I mostly liked the relationship progression. At first, it was kind of just there. BAM. 'I have never spoken to you before but now I want to be with you'. It threw me and I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. Luckily, that was explained later on and the explanation made a lot of sense to me. After that, it was like, 'Okay, you're not quite the same insta-love that I thought you were and I'm good with that'.

I liked the characters and liked their interactions. I know I'm coming to the series late in the game, so some of the reviews for later books have been confusing and/or intriguing to me. There's very little mention of some characters, while others are taking center stage. I'm very interested in finding out what's going on with that, so I'm picking up the next books for sure.

My Soul to Take is a 3.5 Eiffel Tower read for me.

Content Advisory:
Language: Moderate
Sexuality: Mild
Violence: Mild

Review: Starters by Lissa Price

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Source: eARC via NetGalley
Published: March 2013
Delacorte Books for Young Readers

From Goodreads: HER WORLD IS CHANGED FOREVER
Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . .

This book was, in a word, freaky. The idea of senior citizens taking over teen bodies and living out their fantasies is pretty much one of the most disturbing things I've ever heard of.

In the end, this book left me with more questions than answers:

Why, when facing a world-ending crisis, do you allow the 20, 30, 40, and 50-somethings to die of the disease? Are there not brilliant minds in there that deserve saving? Why is it that only the very young and the very old received the vaccine? I mean no disrespect to the elderly, but doesn't it make sense to allow them to go when they've reached their last years instead of making them live to 150+? It seems very counterproductive to let the entire middle part of the population die.

I did not like that bit.

Also, what was up with the teases about Michael? I'd have rather had more of him and less of Blake. I never once bought the relationship between Callie and Blake and it kind of weirded me out from the beginning. Yeah, never really rang true to me. It was just weird and awkward.

There were other things as well, but I won't go into details because they're of the spoilery sort.

I did like Callie and thought she was a pretty cool character. I liked that she always put her family first, even at great risk to herself. I liked that she was true to herself in the face of great difficulty, even though she made some poor choices (poor choices in my opinion and ones that I can't honestly say that I wouldn't make too when facing the same situation). 

Overall, this one ended up being 2.5 Eiffel Towers for me. I will totally continue the series, because I want to see if my questions end up getting answers.

Content Advisory:

Language: Moderate

Sexuality: Mild

Violence: Moderate

Find Lissa online:

Twitter

Goodreads

Facebook

Website

Review: As You Wish by Jackson Pearce

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Source: Library
Published: August 2009
HarperTeen

From Goodreads: A brokenhearted Viola inadvertently summons a genie into her world. Jinn agrees to stay until Viola makes three wishes, but she's afraid she won't wish for the right thing. Jinn can't deny that he's falling for Viola, and only after she makes her first wish does Viola realize she's in love with Jinn.

I picked this one up on a whim, because I liked the idea of a genie in a book. I haven't ever read a genie story before and I was looking forward to this one.

It was fun. I liked that it blended the whimsy of the jinn with the heartbreak of real life. It was a cute story, made better by the characters.
I really liked them. A lot. I felt like they were natural and had flaws that made them realistic. Viola isn't the perfect girl right from the beginning (she never is, actually). She has her weaknesses and her hardships. She has to work through them just like anyone else. I like that she learned her lesson in wishing and that it doesn't automatically make things better.
I thought Jinn was also a pretty cool guy. Totally not what I expected and I liked that. He also went through quite a lot of growth and developed into a good 'person' by the end.
This was a great story and one that I'd suggest if you're looking for something other than the currently popular creature trends in YA. It gets 3 Eiffel Towers.

Content Advisory:

Language: MildSexuality: MildViolence: Mild
(Also, due to less time, I'm not going to be putting links to the different author websites anymore. If you're interested in finding an author, click the Goodreads link under the book cover and you'll be able to find them on Goodreads, and then other places from there.)