This gripping account of a troubled friendship unfolds both as a contemporary story and as a compelling glimpse into the world of Evgard. The Traitor Game tackles difficult issues without hesitation and will surely draw in gamer and fantasy fans as well as contemporary fiction readers.
Why I want this: The paperback version is being released in September so now I'll go and buy it! It just looks really riveting and different. Sometimes it's hard to find original voices out there and this looks like it'll be just that!
Happy Reading Everyone!
Almost-15-year-old Austin Gray is tired of standing at the curb and watching the parade pass her by. Literally. She decides this is the year she’ll ride on the hood of a shiny pickup truck in the annual parade, waving to the crowd and finally showing the town bully that she’s got what it takes to be the Sweetheart of Prosper County. But far from simply being a beauty contest, becoming Sweetheart involves participation in the Future Farmers of America (FFA), raising an animal, and hunting or fishing. Austin will do almost anything to become Sweetheart, and has the support of her oldest friend, Maribel, her new FFA friends (including the reigning Sweetheart, and a quiet, cute cowboy), an evangelical Elvis impersonator, a mysterious Cajun outcast, and a rooster named Charles Dickens. If only her momma would stop overprotecting her, and start letting Austin live her own life. But Austin can’t move on until Momma moves on, too—and lets the grief of losing Austin’s daddy several years before out into the open.
The Sweetheart of Prosper County was such a lighthearted and heartfelt novel. I know lately I've been using cooking metaphors for my reviews but this reminded me of homemade cookies. With each ingredient being important and made special. The author put so much of her experience into the novel. I learned so much, like, I had no idea what grappling was until this novel. And I didn't know having a rooster as a pet could be so cool.
The characters in this novel were unforgettable. At the core of this novel was friendship and love. Each character had depth and identity that shone through each page. I think everyone can relate to Austin in some way-just trying to find that something that makes you special. Maribel and Austin's FFA friends were quirky, sweet, and I loved reading about them.
If I could live in a novel, I think I would live in this one. The story, character, plot, and setting all were so real. While I was reading I felt like I lived there my whole life. Sometimes you need a little small town lovin'. Everyone knows everyone and especially, helps everyone out.
I recommend this novel to anyone who's ever had a friend. Or has ever been a teenager. This novel is the perfect, real, coming of age story I've read in a long time. I loved it.
Rating: 4.5
Happy Reading!
Hottie by Jonathan BernsteinShunned as a Pyro-Freak, Alison must adopt dorky David Eels as her crime-fi ghting sidekick. Worse, she's falling for the one guy who wants to "extinguish" her forever, Junior Class President of Cuteness— and wannabe fi refi ghter—T. Hull. But she doesn't realize that a supervillain's lurking. . . .
Has Hottie met her match?
I got this one from 1 ARC tours-my review will be up soon!
How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford
New to town, Beatrice is expecting her new best friend to be one of the girls she meets on the first day. But instead, the alphabet conspires to seat her next to Jonah, aka Ghost Boy, a quiet loner who hasn't made a new friend since third grade. Something about him, though, gets to Bea, and soon they form an unexpected friendship. It's not romance, exactly - but it's definitely love. Still, Bea can't quite dispel Jonah's gloom and doom - and as she finds out his family history, she understands why. Can Bea help Jonah? Or is he destined to vanish?
You Are So Undead to Me by Stacey JayFifteen-year-old Megan Berry is a Zombie Settler by birth, which means she's part-time shrink to a bunch of dead people with a whole lot of issues.
All Megan wants is to be normal—and go to homecoming, of course. Unfortunately, it's a little difficult when your dates keep getting interrupted by a bunch of slobbering Undead.
Things are about to get even more complicated for Megan. Someone in school is using black magic to turn average, angsty Undead into flesh-eating Zombies, and it's looking like homecoming will turn out to be a very different kind of party—the bloody kind.
Megan must stop the Zombie apocalypse descending on Carol, Arkansas. Her life—and more importantly, homecoming—depends on it.
Pledged by Alexandra RobbinsWhy is the desire to belong to a sorority so powerful that women are willing to engage in this type of behavior -- especially when the women involved are supposed to be considered "sisters"? What definition of sisterhood do many women embrace? Pledged combines a sharp-eyed narrative with extensive reporting and the fly-on-the-wall voyeurism of reality shows to provide the answer.
Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger
It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live.A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend.
First of all, let me say how much I love this cover! Maybe I'm just drawn to pink. But I love it, it's classic. I think it's my favorite Sarah Dessen cover yet.
Now on to the book, reading Sarah Dessen is like curling up with a blanket or pillow you've had since you were a baby. Or eating that casserole your mom has made you your entire life. It's comfort. And you know it's going to make you feel good. Sarah Dessen yet again delievers that kind of a story.
Auden is about ready to go to a very elite college. Something she's being aiming to do her entire life. When one of her brother's girlfriends brings her a gift of a picture frame that says "best of times" on it, Auden realizes that she doesn't have one single picture that she could put in the frame that would represent a best of times. So she decides to spend the summer with her dad, her much too girly stepmother, and her newborn sister who never stops crying in Colby.
Reliving childhood is something we try to do all the time. As big kids (teens+) we try to find crazier and more dangerous ways to that, to find that thrill we used to get so easily as a kid (paint-balling, sky-diving, etc...). Since Auden never had a childhood thanks to her scholarly parents who treated her as a adult her entire life, much too tired out from her colicky older brother, after she meets Eli she has a chance to do all the things she couldn't do as a kid. And Eli is finally getting over a tragedy that's been plaguing him.
Eli and Auden are magical together. The dialogue, as always, realistic and true. I felt like I was reliving me own childhood with Auden. Heidi, Maggie, and the other bright cast of characters really brought life to this novel and to Auden herself. The writing was flawless and everything else was just right. It seems to me as though Sarah Dessen tells the perfect story every time. I devoured this novel.
I recommend this book for every girl who has every fallen in love, or not fallen in love. Studied or played too hard. But especially for anyone who's ever experienced what it's like to be part of a family and true friendship
Rating: 5.0
Sometimes a good-bye is just the beginning...When Emily Carson's parents die in a plane crash, she's left with nothing but her mother's last words scrawled in lipstick on a tray table: "Emily, please forgive me."
Now it's fall and Emily moves to New York City— where she attracts the attention of two very different boys: the cute, popular Owen, and her quirky chemistry partner, Anthony. With the help of some surprising new friends, Emily must choose between the boy who helps her forget and the one who encourages her to remember, and ultimately heal.
Emily just found out that both her parents were killed in a plane crash. Now she has to go live with her aunt in bubbling NYC-much different from her hometown in PA. I was really engrossed with one of the two competing story lines in this novel. The one in which Emily heals by making new friends and trusting new people. I found that the secondary cast of characters were the most fun and interesting. Jolie was very real, and I really enjoyed her character. Trent was hilarious. I devoured the scenes where he was present. Lindsey, Anthony, and Carly were also very heartfelt and I enjoyed their "on screen" time as well.
Hannah by Kathryn Lasky
Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers
Lost It by Kristen TracyMost people would not react well.
Tess Whistle's junior year of high school is off to a fairly bizarre start. One might even say her life is spiraling out of control. But with her sense of humor firmly intact and her first real boyfriend on her arm, Tess is dealing with the ridiculous twists quite well, thankyouverymuch.
Just wait until her shoes explode.
Prada and Prejudice by Mandy HubbardThere Callie meets Emily, who takes her in, mistaking her for a long-lost friend. As she spends time with Emily's family, Callie warms to them—particularly to Emily's cousin Alex, a hottie and a duke, if a tad arrogant.
But can Callie save Emily from a dire engagement, and win Alex's heart, before her time in the past is up?
More Cabot than Ibbotson, Prada and Prejudice is a high-concept romantic comedy about finding friendship and love in the past in order to have happiness in the present.
I'm going to start reading!
Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a bold and inspired teacher named Azar Nafisi secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. As Islamic morality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran, fundamentalists seized hold of the universities, and a blind censor stifled artistic expression, the girls in Azar Nafisi’s living room risked removing their veils and immersed themselves in the worlds of Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, and Vladimir Nabokov. In this extraordinary memoir, their stories become intertwined with the ones they are reading. Reading Lolita in Tehran is a remarkable exploration of resilience in the face of tyranny and a celebration of the liberating power of literature.
At Fairfield High, everyone knows that south siders and north siders aren’t exactly compatible elements. So when cheerleader Brittany Ellis and gang member Alex Fuentes are forced to be lab partners, the results are bound to be explosive. Neither teen is prepared for the most surprising chemical reaction of all – love. Can they break through the stereotypes and misconceptions that threaten to keep them apart?
This book was beautiful. When I first read the description I was like oh, Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, She's All That...but this book held it's own and was very original.
(only I have the hardcover which I couldn't find a pic of)
Devoured by Amanda Marrone
Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
Going Too Far by Jennifer EcholsAll Meg has ever wanted is to get away. Away from high school. Away from her backwater town. Away from her parents who seem determined to keep her imprisoned in their dead-end lives. But one crazy evening involving a dare and forbidden railroad tracks, she goes way too far...and almost doesn't make it back.
John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules. To serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won't soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won't be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge -- and over...
As I'm sitting here thinking, there aren't too many boys in my life that I talk about books with. And the boys I have talked to about books, the books have never been anything outside of "classic" literature. I'm not sure why this is. It's as if the only books that have any merit are the ones deemed so by the (very) well educated (and well read) community. Now, I'm not bashing the classics, heck, that's what I study in school but I know that when I'm reading Dickens for class I'm not going to read Bronte before I go to bed at night. I want to read authors who are taking the stage now! There are great things happening in the literary world and I don't think great pieces of literature have to be around for a hundred years to be considered so. Maybe society has this stigma out there that boys can't read for pleasure. But I say that's ridiculous.
Rebecca couldn't feel more out of place in New Orleans, where she comes to spend the year while her dad is traveling. She's staying in a creepy old house with her aunt. And at the snooty prep school, the filthy-rich girls treat Rebecca like she's invisible. Only gorgeous, unavailable Anton Grey seems to give Rebecca the time of day, but she wonders if he's got a hidden agenda. Then one night, in Lafayette Cemetery, Rebecca makes a friend. Sweet, mysterious Lisette is eager to talk to Rebecca, and to show her the nooks and crannies of the city. There's just one catch: Lisette is a ghost. A ghost with a deep, dark secret, and a serious score to settle. As Rebecca learns more from her ghost friend - and as she slowly learns to trust Anton Grey-she also uncovers startling truths about her own history. Will Rebecca be able to right the wrongs of the past, or has everything been ruined beyond repair?
