The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Title: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Author: E. Lockhart

Reading Level: 13 and up

Summary: Frankie Landau-Banks rich and intelligent finally blossoms in her sophomore year. Which means she attracts the attention of her crush Matthew and is subsequently let in to his clique of friends. Finding herself growing deeply attached to them, Frankie is upset when she finds they are keeping secrets from her and won't let her join their all male society. Setting out to prove her worth to them Frankie begins planning and putting together the greatest pranks in the history of her school.

My Review: Truthfully I picked up this book in the library because the tag on the back cover calling Frankie a near criminal mastermind intrigued me and I was in the mood for a clever story that was girl empowering. Alas this was not to be. I'm not sure why Frankie is described as a criminal mastermind. She is clever that's for sure but mastermind? Not so much. She was just overly obsessed with her boyfriend and his friends, and getting into their club. Why? Because she is overly needy and has to be with them 24/7 even though she complains she never has any alone time with her boyfriend. Not because she's asserting her independence as a smart female. A smart female wouldn't care about being excluded and being with her boyfriend 24/7. She'd go on and live her life. The only other character that made an impression on me other than Frankie was Alpha, her rival, but he was pushed into the background to make room for her boring and uninteresting boyfriend Matthew. The the other characters were so one dimensional and unemotional it's not even worth to mention their names.
The narrating of the story tried to hard to be smart. In the beginning the use of big words was cute, and I felt would encourage teens to look up these words and heck maybe even start using them in real life. The explanation of "neglected positive" was interesting, but Frankie's use of them got annoying after a while. The conversations between the "basset hounds" were not as fascinating as Frankie or the author would lead you to believe. It's just a bunch of guys spouting nonsense, which is fine in real life but not so much in books. The pacing of the novel was slow, the interesting pranks that Frankie masterminded didn't show up until near the end, and then they were skimmed over so quickly you really didn't have time to enjoy them.
I did however enjoy finding out what a panopticon was, Frankie's suicide club essay, and the mentions of P.G. Wodehouse and his books.
Content: Actually I forget if there was any language or not in this book. Some sexual innuendo.
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Recommend: No

The Lonely Hearts Club: A Book Review

Title: The Lonely Hearts Club

Author: Elizabeth Eulberg

Reading Level: 13 and up

Summary: After finding out the boy of her dreams is nothing but a liar and a cheat, Penny Lane Bloom has decided she wants nothing more to do with boys. So she starts The Lonely Hearts Club dedicated to swearing off dating, and spending the rest of her high school existence being true to herself and her friends. Soon the idea catches on and all the girls in school are following after Penny's example, just as she starts to realize there may be one boy in school who's worth her time.

My Review: I did enjoy Elizabeth Eulberg's debut. It was a sweet, humorous, novel about the trials and tribulations involved in teen dating, and how girls find a way to stay strong and confident in themselves. It was nice to read a book with such a positive message, for girls to not center their lives, and happiness around boys, and to be particularly careful in choosing a guy. After all every girl out there is a truly special one of a kind human being, and deserves an equally special guy.(because truthfully there are a lot of nice guys out there in the world, despite what you might think. ~_^) I feel many a girl will be able to find solace in the company of Penny Lane and her many friends.
Content: Some sexual references in the beginning
Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
Recommend: For girls in high school

My Fair Godmother: A Book Review

Title: My Fair Godmother

Author: Janette Rallison

Reading Level: 12 and up

Summary: After her handsome kind boyfriend Hunter breaks up with her for her older sister Savannah Delano is feeling down in the dumps. Until she meets her fairy...umm excuse me fair Godmother. Enter Chrysanthemum Everstar (Chrissy as she likes to be called) who uses her less than perfect magic to get Savannah is terribly sticky situations only to end up sending her classmate Tristan back to the middle ages. With a few modern conveniences in hand Savannah goes back in time determined to rescue him, as they go up against, ogre's, dragons, and the mysterious black knight in this whimsical romantic tale of magic gone wrong.

My Review: This book was pure adorableness. It was (super)funny and sweet, one of the best light magical tales I've read in a long time. Janette is a wonderful comedic writer, I love all the crazy situations she's able to get Savannah in, from having a spell on you so that you can't lie or else lizards and other slimy creatures will grow on your tongue to being chased by a cursed goat. The way Janette incorporated Cinderella and Snow White in the story was a very nice and a clever touch, it all pulls together fantastically in the end. I loved all of the characters, Tristan was really nice, I liked him as a love interest. Probably because he wasn't wishy washy and sentimental. Chrissy was a bit annoying at times, and I wouldn't want her for a fair godmother. So basically this story teaches you that, you better be careful what you wish for, or you might just get Chrissy. ;)
Content: A little violence
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Recommend: Oh yes!

Ramona and Beezus Movie

When I was a little girl my favorite books were the ones Beverly Cleary would write about that pesky, imaginative little girl Ramona. I absolutely adored them, I related a lot to Ramona. I found out a while ago that the books are being turned into a movie, starring Selena Gomez, and Joey King, the cute little girl hugging Selena (playing Ramona's long suffering but ever loving big sister Beezus short for Beatrice) in the poster. I have also added the trailer for your viewing pleasure. I look forward to checking it out. It looks cute, and I hope it can do the beloved book series justice.

Tagged

Thanks to Katherine from Akeret haBayit in Training for tagging me in her post. It took me forever to finish it, sorry about that Katherine. >_< I have to now tell my readers 7 things they didn't know about me, and then tag 7 people. Okay here I go.

1. I have to have it quiet when I read. I will go to great lengths to find my quiet so that I can read. So my favorite place to read in my house is my mothers closet because it's the quietest place in the house. It's a quiet comfortable closet.
2. I like thinking up ideas for fan-fictions but I rarely write them because I never feel I write other peoples characters well enough.
3. I didn't learn how to read until I was 8 and in one year I got completely caught up to the reading level I was supposed to be at. Which is good because I can't imagine not being able to read, it's too horrible.
4. Whenever I read a book with a character I really like, I sometimes feel as if they were real, or that they are members of my family. Example: I think of Percy Jackson as my little brother, I don't know why I just do. :P
5. I used to think I loved musical but I realized I only really love a few(like Wicked), and most of the time I'm wishing the characters singing would just shut up, and get on with the plot.
6. I wish I could play soccer! I really really do!!!
7. I love comedy of error's, and plot lines that sometimes have random things happen in the middle for example one of my favorite movie series are the Road Movies starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. If you haven't ever seen them, see them!



Well, I'm done! Here are the directions for those I am going to tag.

1. Copy the award into a blog post.
2. Thank the person who gave you the award.
3. Tell seven things about yourself that your readers didn't know.
4. Declare seven bloggers as the new recipients.
5. Notify the winners with comments on their blogs.

And I am tagging-

Philly Farmgirl at http://frumphillyfarmgirl.blogspot.com/
Morgan at http://booksandliteratureforteens.blogspot.com/
GirlwiththeBraids at http://readingtomyself.blogspot.com/
Reggie at http://theundercoverbooklover.blogspot.com/
Katherine for her literary blog http://literaryloves.blogspot.com/
Meggin at http://serendipityreviews.blogspot.com/
I've run out of people, but hey it's only one away from 7 so, whatcha gonna do. :P

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  

"The next morning I decided I would prove to the dwarfs I was useful. I may not know how to cook, but I do know how to do hair."
--My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison

I've been really dead lately, and I'm sorry about that. I haven't given up on reading though, and I figured since I was still reading I might as well do my teasers until I finished a review.

New Arrivals!!!

So I finally tore myself away from my latest obsession (outside of books of course, they're my constant obsession.) to bring you this update. I've been very awful in the updating department, because I have book restlessness, and am reading 5 different books right now because I can't concentrate on just one. So another side affect of my book restlessness is the deep and undeniable urge to buy any book that catches my fancy. So here are my latest treasures, courtesy of my mother taking me to one of my favorite places in this world, Barnes and Nobles.
my hardcovers: Heist Society by Ally Carter
Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland
The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg
The Amanda Project:Invisible I by Stella Lennon(Melissa Kantor)
My Soft covers: My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison
The Right To Write by Julia Cameron
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun
Look to the Lady by Margery Allingham
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

So now I think I have my reading schedule full for a long time now.