What Would Emma Do? by Eileen Cook

Title: What Would Emma Do?

Author: Eileen Cook

Summary:

While juggling friendship issues (her best friend isn't speaking to her), a love triangle-turned-square (okay, maybe she shouldn't have kissed her best friend's boyfriend...but it was totally an accident!...sort of), and escalating mayhem in her small religious town (uh-oh...what would Jesus do?), Emma realizes she has to stop trying to please everyone around her and figure out what she wants for herself. It's time to start asking, "What would Emma do?"

Rating: 4/5

Review:

This book was very easy for me to get into, and even more easy for me to enjoy. It was funny-- hilarious, even. Emma was one of those characters who was just fun to listen to. She wrote lists practically every two seconds (and I LOVE lists, especially sarcastic ones) and the way she narrated her story was just so entertaining, I couldn't help but be drawn to it from the very beginning.

Emma also made it very easy for me to empathize for her. I can very easily imagine myself in her situation-- she and I both have dreams too big for the small towns we live in. Also, both of our towns our very religion based (although hers is probably more so than mine, although I'll get to that.)

That is all fine and well, and things go great for the beginning, but then things started to get a little iffy for me. A lot of the story seems too far exaggerated, like the EXTREME emphasis on religion. Maybe that happens in real life, but I wouldn't know about it... I have never been to or heard of a modern-day place that is so religion-focused. I also wish that the story were more original, more of it's own. I had high hopes, but I just can't help but want to scream SALEM WITCH TRIALS! Obviously it's not a coincidence; it was written entirely intentionally to be like a modern-day Salem. So it's like a retelling, which would be alright if not for the fact that in my honest opinion, the book had so much more potential than what it turned out to be.

The Van Alen Legacy

The cover for the newest Blue Bloods novel is amazing.

This coming from someone who didn't really like the first book.

The cover is almost enough to get me to try the series again. I may end up doing that over the summer; along with all of my other book projects :)

<3 Chelsie

Love, Meg by C. Leigh Purtill

Title: Love, Meg

Author: C. Leigh Purtill

Summary:

Fans of Sarah Dessen’s Just Listen will fall in love with this gorgeously written story of one girl’s search for her family and herself.

Sixteen-year-old Meg Shanley has to start life over again in Los Angeles because her thirtyyear- old sister Lucie can’t get it together. Lucie is always chasing a new man, quitting her job, and packing up their lives. Meg wishes she didn’t have to count on Lucie, but she’s the only family Meg has ever known.

Then a man arrives on their doorstep and reveals a shocking truth: Back in New York Meg has an uncle, a grandmother, and a father who might not even know she exists. Meg sees an opportunity to have the family she’s always dreamed about. She summons all her will, defies Lucie, and travels to New York.

But happiness, she discovers, doesn’t lie in a new family. Instead it rests in the true source of her inner strength; in a secret that has been buried deep inside her heart.

Rating: 3/5

Review:

This book can be described in one word: cute. It's one of those books that you start reading and you just wanna say, "Aw, how adorable!" It has a fair amount of cheese and predictability, but at least it has something going for it... it's cute as hell.

There really isn't much to say about Love, Meg to be honest. It wasn't bad, and it wasn't fantastic... probably somewhere in the middle (although it's a bit closer to the "fantastic" than it is to the "bad") The story was great; it had all the good elements to make Meg into a real person with real hardships. The writing, as I see it, is a bit harder to describe. The book sounded like it could have been written by Meg, which is great, but that might have taken away from the quality of the story (if that makes any sense at all.) At some parts I felt like there were some private jokes I wasn't a part of, and it was during these moments where I found myself detached from the book. I know that I am an outsider from every book I read, but I don't like it being as obvious as it was during this novel.

Overall, though, I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to reading C. Leigh Purtill's second novel, All About Vee.

poking out of my dark hole to say...

That there is an awesome contest that you have to be part of.

It started with this review of an amazing book. (or two, I suppose, is the correct thing to say!)

Then this publication story, that was really interesting.

And now this contest. Which will get you all of Elizabeth Scott's books, signed.

Um... you'd better be excited. This is probably the greatest contest in the history of contests. All thanks to Steph over at Reviewer X, and obviously Elizabeth Scott, for making it happen. Wooohooo!

<3 Chelsie

the school's internet...

Talk about sporadic :) (that's my word of the day)

Earlier I was checking my hotmail and looking at things that are usually filtered (like the chat boxes in the sidebar of many blogs)

Now, I logged on again... and everything is filtered. What is up with that? It's both frustrating and amusing. :)

On a different note, I have changed my background... I was getting tired of plain white, and I realize it's not really different. However, I got rid of the double sidebars. I needed some change, but not too much.

Anyways, that's all for now :) Expect a review (or two) next week!

<3 Chelsie

Linky Links (or I have no reviews to post right now and I need to do something bloggish before I go insane)

Carol has an interesting poll that I found myself filling out.

Kelsey reviewed a book that I have that I am now extremely excited to read.

Elizabeth Scott is having an interesting contest to win an ARC of Love You Hate You Miss You.

Steph is having a contest also... although this one is, as the blog title suggests, EPIC!

Steph (who is amazing, btw) posted about some upcoming books that I am now dying to read.

Shooting Stars Mag is giving away some neat-sounding books :)

Shooting Stars Mag is also having this contest (has anyone seen the pattern about how excited I am to read this?)

That's all for now :) Hopefully I'll do something creative with my time sometime this week... tomorrow maybe?

<3 Chelsie

interesting links I've found

Once again, in my lack of relevant posts, I'm going to link to a couple interesting things I've found on Google Reader.

This news about Rachel Cohn, David Levithan, and John Green.

Another good review on this book I want to read.

This contest that I am sure to enter, because it is amazing!

That's all for now :) Expect more sometime later... if I have time.

<3 Chelsie

my poor google reader

It was at 712 when I logged on, and while I've skimmed through a little over 300 of them, I find I still have too many to go.

Part of me is tempted to just click the button that will mark all of them as read, but I don't have the heart to do that... there are too many interesting things that I can find. Such as...

This contest.

This wonderful news. (not the point of the post, as she clearly mentions, but the main thing that caught my eye)

And this review that makes me want to read the book that much more (mostly due to the last sentence.)

So that's what I have found worthy of posting about, just for the sake of posting. Now the bell is about to ring, so it is sadly time to go. *sigh*

*crossing fingers that I get the internet back soon*

<3 Chelsie

Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger

Title: Shine, Coconut Moon





Author: Neesha Meminger





Summary:
Seventeen-year-old Samar -- a.k.a. Sam -- has never known much about her Indian heritage. Her mom has deliberately kept Sam away from her old-fashioned family. It's never bothered Sam, who is busy with school, friends, and a really cute but demanding boyfriend.

But things change after 9/11. A guy in a turban shows up at Sam's house, and he turns out to be her uncle. He wants to reconcile the family and teach Sam about her Sikh heritage. Sam isn't sure what to do, until a girl at school calls her a coconut -- brown on the outside, white on the inside. That decides it: Why shouldn't Sam get to know her family? What is her mom so afraid of? Then some boys attack her uncle, shouting, "Go back home, Osama!" and Sam realizes she could be in danger -- and also discovers how dangerous ignorance can be. Sam will need all her smarts and savvy to try to bridge two worlds and make them both her own.




Rating: 3/5





Review:


This book was sent to me to review by Pulse IT, and to be honest I wasn't extremely excited about it. I've never heard anything about it (which isn't surprising lately seeing as how I haven't been on the computer much) and by what little info I had, it didn't seem like a book that I would enjoy.





Now, I can't say that it was amazing because it wasn't. However, I can say that it wasn't hard at all to get through. The story is about a girl on a mission to get to know her family better, and in doing so she will learn more about herself. Interesting enough, although I can say one thing that bugged me. This book is set in 2001, right after the attacks on the Twin Towers. Shine, Coconut Moon is a book that probably should have been released about seven years ago, when the attacks were recent and fresh on everyone's mind. It could have been a much more powerful and moving story then.





As far as the writing, it was nothing special. During some parts, it was slightly amateur-ish, which bothered me, but not that much.





Other than that, the book was enjoyable enough. *shrug* Not much else to say.