Tag Archives: reviews

My True Love Gave to Me

My True Love Gave to MeMy True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by Stephanie Perkins, Holly Black, Ally Carter, Matt de la Pena, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Rainbow Rowell, Laini Taylor, Kiersten White, Jim Tierney
on October 14, 2014
Pages: 321
Goodreads
four-half-stars

If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins. Whether you enjoy celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or New Year's there's something here for everyone. So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love.

Hey!
I’m back with yet another book review. Yes, I know I should post more real life things, but at least I am catching up on my reading goals. This past week I was reading for the #Tistheseasonathon Reading Challenge, which I love and find it so fun to read holiday books during this time of year. This is actually the second book I finished for the week, but since the first book will actually come with a movie review that will come later. I loved this book for the most part. There were a few stories that I couldn’t get into, but I couldn’t stop turning pages and wanting to read more. An anthology like this is so great because it gives me a chance to try out new authors and find books that I might want to read in the future.

This is also the second book edited by Stephanie Perkins for the holidays the first one is Summer Days, and Summer Nights and you can read my review here. I kind of wish that there were more anthology books out there. Let me know if you have read this book or the other anthology edited by Stephanie Perkins and what you thought. I hope to see you soon in another post.

four-half-stars

Confessions of a Hater

Confessions of a HaterConfessions of a Hater by Caprice Crane
Published by Feiwel & Friends on August 27, 2013
Genres: Friendship, Peer Pressure, Social Themes, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 368
Goodreads
three-half-stars

Mean girls are always the haters - Right?

Hailey Harper has always felt invisible. Now her dad has a new job and the family is moving to Hollywood. Just what Hailey needs: starting a new high school.

As she's packing, Hailey finds a journal that belonged to her older sister, Noel, who is away at college. Called "How to Be a Hater," it's full of info Hailey can really use. Has Hailey found the Bible of Coolness? Will it help her reinvent herself at her new school? Will her crush notice her? Will she and the other Invisibles dethrone the popular mean girls? After all, they deserve it. Don't they?

Caprice Crane's funny--and deeply felt--observations about high school, bullies, popularity, friendship, and romance will leave teens thinking...and talking.

Hello Everyone!
Are you still with me? Is anyone still out there? Are you still hanging in there for a bit more reviews and posts that I have lined up for you. I think I have a ton lined up for you. I might be changing the way I do posts in the future, but that is still something I am contemplating in my brain.

Today’s post is a review on Confessions of a Hater by Caprice Crane. Oh Lord, I have on my bookshelf for WAY too long. Sorry Caprice Crane! I bought this book when it first came out because I loved your novels, but then couldn’t get into it and got distracted by life and other novels but my goal this year was to conquer the books on my bookshelves and figure out if they are really necessary to keep. This also helped me to fulfill a challenge on the Creating & Co book map for the year. Yes, I am still on the first one even though people have already moved on to the second one *sigh*

I honestly could go on about this novel, but I won’t. This is Caprice Crane’s first foray into writing something aimed at a younger audience the rest of her books are usually aimed at the 20-30 year audience. Though I still love her writing style and had some laugh out loud moments with the book I feel as if I’m getting to old to read certain YA books or maybe its just that this book was published in 2013 and some things in the media and the way teenagers communicate has changed since then.

Either way I would still recommend this book if you are looking for a fun read or want to reminisce about high school. If you are looking for an older audience book that is still funny I would definitely recommend some of her other novels. Let’s not forget to check out Caprice Crane on other platforms and some of her other accolades that include screen writing for tv.

I hope that you enjoyed this review and look for more reviews and life posts coming soon.

three-half-stars

Coraline Movie

Scaretober 2019

Hey!
I’m back with yet another post for Scaretober. I apologize that there aren’t as many posts this year, but I am still determined to get up as many posts as I can for you. I just wish that I could be watching more scary movies and doing more reviews for you, but this is what it is.

Today I’m reviewing Coraline the movie. Not to give anything away, but there will also be a review on Coraline the book by Neil Gaiman. I found the movie fascinating and weird. It was done in a claymation style similar to that of Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, and other such movies.

If you haven’t seen the movie, the basic storyline of the movie is that Coraline Jones recently moves from Michigan to a new town and since she has no one to play with she has a very active imagination. In addition to that she discovers a door in her house that appears to go nowhere during the day, but at night appears to go to an alternate universe in which she is treated to everything she wants and everything she hopes for in her life. Soon, Coraline is visiting the universe regularly until one day the Other Mother demands that she stay for good and Coraline decides that she doesn’t want to stay and makes a deal with the Other Mother in order to leave.

If you haven’t watched Coraline I highly recommend it, I found it a fascinating movie and the animation is well done. Matt had never seen the movie before and he really enjoyed it. He is also a fan of Neil Gaiman in general, but had not read Coraline. Stay tuned for more posts during Scaretober and hopefully they will be equally fun. See you soon.

Batman: Nightwalker

Hello Everyone!
Today I’m back with yet another not so scary review. Recently a graphic novel based on one of the books in a book series by DC Ink came out and of course I had to pick it up and read it. Don’t worry I’ll definitely be reading the actual book that this graphic novel is based on as well, just not right now. This review is going to be on Batman: Nightwalker adapted by Stuart Moore.

In this graphic novel of Batman, we find Bruce Wayne just on the cusp of his 18th birthday and learning the real ramifications of all that his parents fortune has given him the moment he turns of age. We also see the troubles of Bruce is high school dealing with bullies and people that would be his friends and not be his real friends. In this novel, Gotham is dealing with the problem of a gang of individuals called the Nightwalkers, who are raiding the homes of the rich, killing them and talking all their wealth. Bruce after an attempt to bring one of the Nightwalkers to justice on his own finds himself doing community service as his punishment from the Gotham City Police Department. This brings Bruce head to head with Madeline Wallace, the most recent Nightwalker to be captured by the police department. Bruce develops a crush on Madeline and is determined to figure out a way to save her and unravel her secrets.

I won’t spoil the ending of the book, but I would definitely recommend this book to you. I found this book fascinating and would love to read more about the Bruce Wayne, Madeline Wallace romance if it ever happens. In addition to that I love that we get to see Harvey Dent before he becomes TwoFaced and in a teenage form as well as other people that will only begin to start to play a bigger role in Bruce’s life as his story evolves.

If you haven’t read any of my other reviews on novels and graphic novels by DC Ink you can read them here, here, and here. Let me know if you will be picking up this novel or have already picked it up. Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Scaretober is back!

Scaretober 2019

Hello!
I know that I have been hinting around this for a while, but I didn’t want to give it away since in years past I have started strong and failed in the end. I wanted to bring back Scaretober for this year. If you were reading along with the blog before you will have heard of Scarteober in 2017 and a bit in 2015.

I also wanted to do something different this year, since I have been reading so many books and books have played such an important part of Fall in every day life and an even bigger part of instagram life, so I wanted to read a few of the classic books and include them as part of this year’s Scaretober. Also there were so many classic books that have been turned into movies and even more movies that have been getting remade for the newer generations of audiences.

I hope that you’ll enjoy each and every moment of Scaretober and give me suggestions for what to include in next year’s Scaretober. Look forward to posts every day from here until the end of October. 🙂