Review: Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

Genre(s): young-adult, paranormal(vampires), fantasy, romance

Published: April 1st, 2007(paperback)

Pages: 302

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
                                                                            

                          Synopsis
 
Schuyler Van Alen has never fit in at Duchense, her prestigious New York City private school. She prefers baggy, vintage clothes to the Prada and pearls worn by her classmates. But when she turns fifteen, Schuyler's life changes dramatically. The death of a popular classmate haunts her in unexpected ways. And strangest of all, Jack Force, the most popular boy in school, is showing a sudden interest in her.
 Once an outcast, Schuyler is thrust into Manhattan's most exclusive social circle. Its members are the powerful, the wealthy,and-as Schuyler soon discovers-the unhuman. They are Blue Bloods, an ancient group of vampires and for centuries they've been invincible. Now something is preying on his elite group, and Schuyler wants to find out the truth. But is she the most vulnerable of them all?

                                                                                                                 

                                                                Thoughts

I wanted to start off the beginning of this month with a paranormal-scary type of read, so I decided to pick up this one up. And it was a great book to start off the month of Halloween. I am officially in the mood to read another supernatural book. 

Blue Bloods is the beginning if a 7 book series.  And it is set in present day New York City, at a very sophisticated private school. I really liked the concept in that sense, and then to put a twist onto the concept, was that some of the students were vampires(called Blue Bloods, that's the reason why the series is called whats it's called). And Schuyler, was one of them, which made me love the concept even more. 

When I started reading it, I was a bit confused of which perspective it was in, which I finally figured that it was in the perspectives, of Schuyler, Mimi, Bliss, and even a little bit of all the characters. That is what made me think that it was little misleading, in case you were wondering, or maybe i explained it differently I DON"T KNOW! Anyways, once I understood what was happening with that situation, I LOVED it. I was pulled into the story from page 1,and I never wanted to put the book down.

Schuyler,was an easy, likable character. She wasn't that annoying, even though at times I wanted to slap her in the face and say:"it's so obvious!" She seemed like a very normal character, who reacted realistically when she found out she was a Blue Blood herself. I liked that she was different from all of her other female classmates, which made her stand out. she was also very curious to find out about everything and to find out the truth about what was going on(I would want to find out too). I really love Schuyler, and wanted to be her friend, I definitely want to read more about Schuyler.

I enjoyed this book from the very beginning and can't wait to read the next book in the series: Masquerade. To end off the review,  I want to wish all of you Canadians(since they celebrate it this month) a Happy Thanksgiving!

                                                                                                        

                                                               Rating


                                                                   5/5

Currently Reading

Summary:Fifteen year old Schuyler Van Alen goes to Duchesne, the prestigious private school in New York City. She has never seemed to fit in anywhere within the school, until she finds out that a popular classmate has passed away and is exposed to The Committee, who are a group of vampires called Blue Bloods.

Thoughts:Since I have the paperback version, the synopsis gives me a completely different one then the original hardcover(which still has the same sort of concept), so I thought the actual synopsis itself to be very misleading. I visioned this book to be very different from what I've read so far. I am really enjoying this book, and since this is the first one in the series, I want to read the second one.  However, I still don't entirely understand what's going on, but since I am halfway done, I will have lots of time to figure it out. I haven't made the final decision as for a actual rating, but I definitely know, it's going to be a high rate for sure.   

Review: Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler

Genre: young-adult, contemporary, romance, realistic-fiction

Published: May 21st 2013

Pages: 352

Publisher: Simon Pulse

                                                                              

               Synopsis(from the book)

Jude has learned a lot from her older sisters, but the most important thing is: The Varags brothers are notorious heartbreakers. She's seen the tears and disasters dating a Vargas boy can cause, and she swore an oath--with candles, contracts,and everything to never have anything to do with one.
 Now Jude is the only sister still living at the house,and she's spending the summer helping her ailing father restore his vintage motorcycle. No one wants to end up with a toaster on wheels, so they hire a mechanic to help out. Was it Jude's fault he happens to be cute? And surprisingly sweet? And a Vargas?
 Jude tells herself it's strictly bike business with Emilio. Her sisters will never find out, and Jude can spot those flirty little Varags tricks a mile away--no way would she fall for them. But old warnings fade fast, because Emilio turns out to be the first guy in forever she likes. Really likes. Jude's defenses are crumbling,and if history is destined to repeat itself, she's speeding toward some serious heartbreak...
 But what if her sisters were wrong?
 Jude may have taken an oath, but she's beginning to think that when it comes down to love, some promises might be worth breaking.
                                                                                                                          

                                                              Thoughts

From what I read in the synopsis above, I knew this book would be amazing. I figured this book would be fantastic, because of all of Sarah's other books being great. 

I loved the plot, it was so original and different from all of her other books. I loved the characters as well,like: Jude, Emilio, Mari--even the father! I loved the father, he was so funny when he wasn't having one of his memory losses(hint, hint, wink, wink). He literally made laugh aloud at some parts.

Jude was actually a very likeable character for me. I managed to put up with her, and not get annoyed by her all the time. I loved her badass attitude. If I related to her feelings about her family circumstances, I would've been able to understand her a lot more, then I did while reading it. But aside from that, she was a really great character to read about, and one of the most realistic characters I've read in a long time.

Emilio turned out to be a really sweet guy in the end. Although in the beginning he was being a bit too cocky for me, he was still able to change his ways, and be this great guy that every girl loves. He was not judge worthy at all towards Jude and her family, with the circumstances that were there and, he was perfectly supportive of them. You know? I seriously want a boyfriend who is good with bikes to teach me a thing or two about them, and how to fix one up...and stuff. LOL. *jumps up and down, and giggles like a little girl* He really cared for and loved Jude..like a lot. IT WAS SO CUTE! <3 yeah that's it, i got nothing left say about that....awkward.

Overall, I enjoyed this book very much. It is truthfully one of my favourite books of all time, and I hope I will re-read this book again soon. Plus, Sarah Ockler is one of my favourite authors of all time. I love her writing style so much,because it is very relatable to what teens are actually thinking and feeling. It was all emotional and happy all at the same time. It is (again) one of those books where you learn a very valuable life lesson. This time, the lesson was: Don't focus on the past all the time. And live life with NO regrets. There's probably more lessons but that 's all I got right now(sorry). This is a great book, so i strongly recommend it to all of you! :)
                                                                                                                     

                                                                 Rating

                                                                 
                                                                    5/5
                                                     

Book Wrap Up for August and Semptember 2013 (1)

Hello everyone it's Nicole Henderson here and this is my first book wrap up blog post. I will do these posts at the end of every month or two months depending on how many books I've read in those  months.
 So, these are the books I've read in August and September:

 

I also read The Summer Of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells, after Sixteenth Summer by Michelle Dalton, and before Summer Boys by Hailey Abott. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the image for The Summer of Skinny Dipping onto the page, something was wrong, but I don't know what it was. I will work something out.





  I have full reviews for the first three books on this blog, so you can check them out if you scroll down. I have not quite finished The Book Of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler yet, but I will finish it soon(like in the first two days of October soon). I'll have a review up for the Book Of Broken Hearts as soon as I'm done.

 I really hope I read way more books in this next month then I have been lately. Good Luck to me! So that's it for this blog post, I hope you found it to be entertaining to read. Goodbye for now.



 

Review: Summer Boys by Hailey Abbott

Genre: young-adult, romance, woman's fiction(chick-lit)

Published: June 1st 2004

Pages: 214

Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks

                                                                                

            Synopsis(from Goodreads)

It's summer. It's hot. And it's time to hook up.

Cousins Ella, Beth, and Jamie are at the family beach house, and there gearing up for the wildest time of their lives. Sassy Ella is majorly crushing on a cute older boy--who happens to be her sisters boyfriend. Meanwhile, practical Beth is surprised when she finds herself falling for her best friend, George. And shy, creative Jamie gets her heart broken when her summer love abandons her.

Three girls, too many boys, and some seriously stormy romances... it all adds up to one unforgettable summer.
                                                                                                                               

                                                                  Thoughts 

 I wanted to end off my "beachy" summer romance reading in the most appropriate way possible. So when it was time to pick which book to read, I went straight for this one because I knew this would be a decent summer book to read to end the "summer" reading for the year.
 I sort of thought this book was going to be the typical summer read. But, it turned out to be completely different from what I originally thought. It was full of drama, full of craziness, and full of cute boys.

Three cousins, Ella, Beth, and Jamie Tuttle, go to Pebble Beach with their families for the summer in Maine.
Ella- She is the sassy, flirty, confident girl out of the three cousins. She feels like she can get any guy she wants, and that she can take advantage of any opportunity she has. Now, in my opinion I didn't like Ella very much. A part of me wanted to slap her across the face, because it seemed to me that she was being slutty(excuse my profanity,but it is true) around the guys. Then of course as we all know for whoever has read this book, she develops a crush on her older sisters BF Peter.  She tried way to hard to impress him, and just was downright a whore towards him(excuse my profanity, again).Truthfully, it was not necessary for Ella to do any of the things that she did, she could of just been herself without her "sluttiness" and her immaturity. However, at the same time I liked Ella because she was very confident with any situation that she was faced with. Which was what I appreciated about her.

Beth- She is the practical, sporty, mature girl out of the three cousins. She feels like no guy has ever really paid attention to her in the way that she'd like. She also feels like she doesn't need to care about her appearance as much as everyone else. I really liked Beth, she was my favourite out of the three of them, and it was nice just to read about someone who is a little bit more mature for there age. In this book, Beth starts to fall for her best guy friend George. It seemed as if  he didn't really return her feelings, but it was nice to find out in the end that he indeed did like her back. I loved the fact that she was the most relatable person, and that she was reserved as well. Beth was one of those characters where she "thought before she acted" on something, which is what I think all girls should be like. 

Jamie- She is the shy, creative, independent girl out of the three cousins. She feels like she's in her own little world, plus she feels that certain romances or situations are going to last forever. I had a love-hate relationship with Jamie. One part I loved her, but then the next part, I hated her. I liked Jamie, because of her love for writing, and for the arts in general. I hated her because certain things she did were extremely immature. In the book, she feels heartbroken about the fact that Ethan, who was her previous summer love, is distant, and in the end breaks up with her. She is constantly trying to find ways to get over him, but she doesn't really do a good job  it at first, but she ends up getting the hang of it as the book progresses. I liked that she was trying to move on from Ethan, and not try to win him back. It was also nice how, she ended up with Scott, who is one of Ethan's friends. She realizes(thank god) that not all relationships throughout her life are not going to last forever.

The guys that the girls were interested in, were very different from one another. Peter, was the punk, jerk, and rude one. While George, was the kind, sweet, and sensitive one. Lastly, Ethan was a mix of both Peter's and George's personalities.

The book itself was good. I wouldn't say I loved it, but I wouldn't say I hated it either. I still found it to be a quick and easy read for me to get through. I don't 100% recommend this book, but if you want to read it, I suggest you do.
                                                                                                                      

                                                                        Rating


                                                                            3/5

The Book I'm Currently Reading At The Moment

Hello everyone it's Nicole Henderson here, and I know I haven't posted anything new in awhile but I am just really busy with school, and to be quite honest I haven't been reading anything new. But just recently I started to get back into it with a fantastic new book I will be showing you today. Actually, I did start reading Summer Boys by Hailey Abbott, but I'm literally 5 chapters away from finishing it. So, there's really no point in doing a blog post on what "I'm Currently Reading".But, I promise you I will do a book review for Summer Boys in my next blog post.
 The book that I'm reading right now(which I will show you now), is The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler. I will summarize to you on what it's mainly about in my own words, and then express my thoughts on the book.
Summary: Jude Hernandez, has been influenced by her 3 older sisters that the Vargas brothers are a bunch of heart breakers. But, that all changes when her father decides to hire Emilio Vargas to fix an old motorcycle of his(along with Jude's help). But then Jude starts to fall for Emilio, and wonders if her sisters might be wrong about the brothers.

Thoughts: Now, Sarah Ockler is one of my favourite authors of all time, so I loved her previous books. But, with this book, I wouldn't say this is an all time favourite, however, it is on the list to being one of my favourites( Do you see what I'm saying?).
 I really do like the plot, it's very original, and very different from her other books. I like all of the characters; there not super annoying, but not boring either, they are just right.
   I am enjoying this book a lot. It's making me super emotional, and super happy all at the same time.
 Since I am halfway done, I haven't made a final decision on rating it yet, or my full complete thoughts on this book. Alright, those are my main thoughts on the book so far, and I will post a full review soon. So until then, goodbye everyone.

Book Review:The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells

The Summer of Skinny Dipping

Genre: young-adult, romance, contemporary

Published: June 1st 2010

Pages: 295

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire


                                                                                                      

                 Synopsis(from the book)

Sometimes I still wake up shivering in the early hours of the morning, drowning in dreams of being out there in the ocean that summer, of looking up at the moon and feeling as invisible and free as a fish, But I'm jumping ahead, and to tell the story right I have to go back to the very beginning. To a place called Indigo Beach. To a boy with pale skin that glowed against the dark waves. To the start something neither of us could have predicted, and which would mark us forever, making everything that came after and before it seem like it belonged to another life. My name is Mia Gordon: I was sixteen years old, and I remember everything.  

                                                                                                                                                         
                   
                                                                      Thoughts

I know that everyone who has read this book, has said in their reviews, that they were expecting a light and drama free read. Well, there not wrong. I could actually agree with those people and say "yes, I was expecting a light read out of this book", which is true. I was. But, I got the complete opposite instead. Which is what everyone else had said about it too.

 I'm really having a hard time collecting my thoughts about this book. It's hurting my head just thinking about it. However, I'm still going to write this review as planned. So, let's begin:

Mia was a very well developed character I thought. I found that she wasn't super annoying or anything like that. But she did kind of seemed always sad and never happy(and I'm seriously talking about all throughout the book) Okay, I shouldn't say that necessarily, she was happy(when she was with Simon), but it's just that it didn't seem very realistic to me. It was as if she was an angel from heaven and saying that she's happy and free. Angels are not real you know (and I'm talking about mythical angels, not our guardian angels). In the aspect to relating to Mia, I couldn't relate to her, at all. I don't love the ocean, I don't have a dysfunctional family, and I never had a boyfriend who died from a tragic event. Also, with her thought process, I didn't relate to her there either. I really did feel sorry for Mia though, when she finds out Simon(which i will talk about next) had gone through a tragic experience which lead to death. What did upset me though about that, was when Mia thought Simon drowning, was a JOKE. I'm like: "Mia, your so dumb, he's actually drowning, and you think this is one of his pranks?" Even I would've known he was drowning, if I were there. Like my god Mia, get your head together.

Simon, was not like any male character I have ever read. He was witty, wise, charismatic, and charming. And of course he was kind, sweet, and wonderful. Simon was very different, from anyone else; he had his own personality, his own values and beliefs on life. I really loved Simon a lot. Even though he didn't seem to be the most attractive guy ever, he was definitely the smartest guy I have read about in a book, and that's a good thing. However, towards the end he got rebellious and I was kind of turned off by that a little bit, but I knew where he was coming from with it. I still really enjoyed Simon though.

The book itself was really good and I enjoyed it, but there was a problem that kinda ticked me off just a bit; which was, the amount of usage of alcohol, and cigarettes (plus drugs), was terrible. Some of the characters smoked and drank, and it happened very frequently. Personally, Amanda should not have done that, it was like she was trying to promote smoking, drinking and doing drugs to teens. Which I was NOT okay with. It pissed me off very much. If that didn't happen, then I would of been fine.

It was a very emotional, dramatic, and life-lesson-type read. It was one of those books where you're taught a valuable lesson. I definitely realized that life-lesson which(to me) was: don't be afraid to take chances, and to take some risks. Always follow your dreams and stick to them; and that sometimes it may not work out for you, you just gotta try again and never give up.
                                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                     Rating

                                          
                                                                      4/5
                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                 Last Words

I recommend this book to people who are looking for a surprising, wise, life-learning, emotional, and dramatic book. So, that concludes this review. Until the next one, goodbye everyone!