Teaser Tuesdays October 23rd 2012

1-Grab your current read.

2-Let the book fall open to a random page.

3-Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.

4- Please share the title and author of the book to allow people to find the book if they like the teaser you’ve given!

***Please avoid spoilers!***

The Diviners

Libba Bray

"'I can tell your secrets simply by holding an object dear to you and concentrating on it.' There were polite chuckles among the party-goers." (Page 16)

 

"The Diviners" is a wonderful book.  I was worried that it would take forever to finish, it is pretty giant, but it went by very quickly.  This is my new favorite by Libba Bray and the audio is excellent.

Feel free to share your teaser sentences by adding a comments

Review: Unwind Neal Shusterman

Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Pub. Date: November 6, 2007
Pages: 335
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Short and Sweet Synopsis: Parents can now decide that between the ages of 13-18 teens can be unwound, a process that takes the child's organs and transplants them into other people.  Three teens with different backgrounds, whether by their choice or their parents, are going through the unwinding procedure- this is their story.  

"Unwind" is amazing. I read this book a month or so ago and I still can't stop thinking about it! You may have seen me around the library having conversations about this book with staff. I have read a lot of dystopian, but I found myself completely unsettled by this book. There was a part that was making me sick to my stomach because it was so horrifying- it may be the most terrifying part of any book I have ever read.

While this is a teen book, I think any book group could read this book and have a lively discussion for hours. It touches upon some very interesting issues that politicians have been arguing about for decades (if not longer).

Review: Ender's Game

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Pub. Date: July 15, 1994
Pages: 324
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Short and Sweet Synopsis: Andrew "Ender" Wiggins is drafted into battle school so that he can be molded into a military leader that could one day end the world with the buggers for once and for all.  Ender is taken from his family at a young age and

I'm starting to get the feeling that classic sci-fi may not be my genre. I like dystopian, but that may be where my interest in the genre ends.

I had two problems while reading Ender's Game. I kept waiting for something to happen and by the time there was a twist I just felt like it wasn't a big shock and then the book ended. I wanted to be interested in what was happening, but it didn't feel all that urgent or important. My other problem was with the characters. I just felt bad for all of them even though I found only a few of them to be likable and they weren't in the book very often. It just felt like 300 pages of kids being bullied by their peers and adults.

Honestly the biggest problem I had with "Ender's Game" was the hype. For years everyone has been telling me "I NEED to read this book!" and that "it is THE YA book!". I just don't think very many books could live up to the expectations I had for it.

For me, it was good. I would probably even recommend it, but it just wasn't for me.

Teaser Tuesdays October 16 2012

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Any one can participate! Just

1-Grab your current read.

2-Let the book fall open to a random page.

3-Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.

4- Please share the title and author of the book to allow people to find the book if they like the teaser you’ve given!

***Please avoid spoilers!***

What I Saw and How I Lied

Judy Blundell

"Margie and I believed in magazines and movies  more than church.  We knew that if we practiced hard enough, one day we'd smoke a real cigarette with Revlon matching lips and fingertips while Frank Sinatra sang 'All or Nothing at All' right at us." (Page 4)

I am 200 pages into "What I Saw and How I Lied" and I can't wait to find out how it ends!

Feel free to share your teaser sentences by adding a comments

Review: Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach
Pub. Date: June 1, 2011
Pages: 311
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Stupid Fast" is an interesting book. My ideas of the book and what the book actually was did not mix at all. I was under the impression this book was about a kid who discovered that he was great at sports and became an amazing football player with a side plot of some family issues. While Felton being a football player and an athlete is part of the plot, the main focus of the novel is the crumbling of his family. I think I was even told this book had humor in it, but I don't remember myself laughing.

Another reason I wasn't the biggest fan of this book was that I found parts unbelievable. I just didn't believe that the characters would act the way they did. They were too mature for high school students. I am not saying that no high school students are mature, I actually know many teens that are more mature than adults, but to have a town full of teens all willing to do the right thing just felt forced. Maybe I am just becoming a cynical "spinster". ;)

Overall the book was good, I read it in a few hours, but it wasn't what I was in the mood for.

Review of Tiger Lily

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Pub. Date: July 3, 2012
Pages: 292
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Short and Sweet Synopsis:  The story of Tiger Lily told through Tinker Bell with some romance between Peter Pan and jealousy over Wendy.  P.S.  This book is a harsh, realistic twist on the fantastical Neverland.

Another book with huge hype... I don't really know what to say about it. While I liked this spin on Peter Pan, especially with the emphasis on Tiger Lily, it moved slow. It took me about 100 pages to get into the story. While the book felt slow while reading, a lot happened and it was almost hard to take in everything.  It had a realistic love story (yes I said realistic when talking about a Peter Pan spin off) and I do appreciate that in most books, but for some reason I wanted a little bit more romance.  I have a feeling that the problem was not with the book, but that my expectations of "Tiger Lily" did not match the reality.

I just feel kind of confused about it because there was so much I liked, but it just dragged while reading it.  I wish I had read this for a book group so I could have talked out my confusion.

Review: "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Pub. Date: Feb. 6th 2012
Pages: 452
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Short and Sweet Synopsis:  A young British Spy tells her story mixed with details of the British War effort as she waits for her Nazi captors to kill her.

"Code Name Verity" is a beautiful book. While many WWII books focus on the atrocities done by Nazis to the unwanted populations, "Code Name Verity" focuses on the British War Effort. Yes there are Nazis and they do terrible things, but I wouldn't classify this book as a Holocaust book.

"Code Name Verity" follows two young women's journeys as they get wrapped up in a war that changes their lives forever. It is the friendship between these characters that has stuck with me at the end of the book, not the horrors of war.

I'm not going to say anything else about this book because I would give away something important. I really enjoyed uncovering the story knowing very little going in and I would hate to spoil that feeling for other readers.

Review: "Every Day" by David Levithan

Every Day by David Levithan
Pub. Date: August 28th 2012
Pages: 336
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Short and Sweet Synopsis:  The story of a 16 who wakes up in a different body of a random 16 year old everyday.

I just finished "Every Day" and LOVED IT! I'm sure there are other people at my library who can attest to the fact I hunted them down and went a little fan girl trying to express their need to read the book immediately. While "Every Day" didn't take me long to read, I found myself thinking about some of the situations that the main character was put in.

"Every Day" is hard to describe, but I think realistic fantasy sums it up. While it has fantastical elements, the main character waking up in a new body every morning, the story still deals with real issues. It felt like the characters were regular people in our world dealing with both normal and paranormal issues.

"Every Day" has a unique plot and great characters that will keep readers of all ages up all night frantically reading to find out what will happen next!