New Changes!

Hey readers! I'm changing a few things about the blog, instead of just book reviews, I'm going to post reviews on movies, restaurants, newly released songs, and plays/musicals. You'll be able to read about what I ordered at Los Hermanos, how I felt when I watched Super 8, and what I thought of my school's musical. Hope you enjoy these changes, and thanks for reading!

Book Review #13: Don't Die My Love by Lurlene McDaniel

Imagine you're back in 6th grade and a boy proposes to you. You say, "Get lost Bozo." and then later when you turn sixteen, that same boy comes to your door on your birthday with flowers asking you out, what else could you say but yes! That's how Julie Ellis and Luke Muldenhower became a couple. Ever since that day they've been inseparable. When Luke gets a virus Julie urges him to go to the doctor, but when the test results come through they are devastating. Luke has cancer. Through everything Julie and Luke remain together, but when Luke goes to the doctor after several weeks of therapy, the new results are even more devastating than before. Can their love survive EVERYTHING?

I LOVED this book. Lurlene McDaniel's books are PURE therapy. If you or someone you know has just lost someone or something give them a Lurlene McDaniel book and watch the magic happen. This book made me feel like there is still a life to enjoy rather than staying sad the whole time.

Lurlene McDaniel as I've said before in previous reviews of her books knows how to make someone cry. She also knows how to touch her audience in a way that I think is really important. We don't get to choose what life throws at us but we can choose how we respond. We can choose if we go on with life or if we hundle up under our blankets and never leave our bed again. We can choose if we let things go or hold on to them like their life. Lurlene McDaniel books are very appropriate for teenagers going through rough times and even those who aren't currently because when they do, they'll remember they can choose how they will respond.
  
I thought that Julie and Luke were a very cute couple, they're romance was slightly cheesy but it was appropriate for the story. This book was very very sweet and touching.

I rated this book 5 out of 5 because it was touching and taught very important lessons.

Book Review #12: The Help by: Kathryn Stockett

Pages: 444

In the 1960’s where black people are considered dirty and full of diseases, where they can’t even share a toilet with they’re white bosses. In Jackson Mississippi Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter, have an idea to expose the white women in their town. Miss Skeeter seems to be the only white woman who sees the awfulness of the way the black maids are treated, and she wants to do something about it. It has to be anonymous though because in the 1960’s anything Civil Rights could get you killed. The only way to do this anonymously is to write a book of interviews from the Help.

When I first read this book I was amazed at how wonderful it was. It seemed very realistic because no human can make such humiliating things such at not being about to use a toilet used by a white person. I know there has been a lot of such about how “it was written by a white person so she can’t know what it was like…” blah, blah, blah. This book was written by a white woman as a tribute to her black maid!

Since its set in Mississippi you have to read with a southern accent, which just makes it more fun! It’s a funny book at points, sometimes it’s kind of sad, but over all it’s a really, really good book. I really enjoyed reading it. It only took me a few days to read. It was an easy read.

I’m very happy I had the opportunity to read this book. At times I wanted to scream at my book, at other times I wanted to cheer. I felt like I didn’t want the book to end but at the same time I wanted to know what happened. This book will make you feel a lot of things at the same time. I’m glad I read this book.

I loved the recent movie they made of this book! It followed the book really, really well, they got the maids personalities very well and the movie made you feel about the same way as you did in the book only you could see the events going on right in front of you, so you could feel angrier or whatever other emotion ten times worse then when you were reading the book.

I rated this book 5 out of 5, because it was a really good book to read on a rainy Sunday night. It was easy but taught an awesome lesson. It was also written very well. Thanks for reading!

Book Review #11: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Pages: 448
Tally Youngblood is ugly. In her world she is hideous, she is completely horrible, but in our world she is totally normal. Tally lives in the future, in this future when you are sixteen you go through an operation, and you are pretty and you live in "Prettyville". Tally is only one month away from turning sixteen when she meets Shay. Shay tells Tally a secret, and that secret is that there is a place out in the wild waiting to take uglies in so they don't have to get the operation. A couple days before they are both sixteen Shay runs away to this place, and tells Tally not to tell anyone where she went. When Tally goes to get her operation she is not aloud to. Dr. Cable from Special Circumstances sends her on a mission to find Shay so that Shay may receive her operation too. When Tally finally does find Shay she realizes that convince Shay to come back isn't as hard as convincing herself, especially when she finds out the secret of the Pretty operation.

The first time I tried reading this book it was quite confusing because I didn't understand that they were in the future. The second time I actually finished it and I fell in love with it. Now I have quotes from it written in notebooks and paper taped to my walls. If you gave up Uglies I urge you to give it a change it's a really great book.

I'm very happy I gave it a chance because it's really interesting to see how people see themselves and how they think they need an operation to be pretty, just like people these days do. In a part of the book Shay and Tally were looking at magazines from our time saying that the models and stars had "That Disease" meaning anorexia or bulimia. I thought that that was really interesting because it's frowned upon in their time and it seems like a way to get skinny in our time.

I rated this book four and a half out of five, because you really have to persevere through the first few parts before you can fully appreciate it. I'm glad I did because if I didn't I wouldn't have been able to enjoy this great book.   

Book Review #10: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pages: 378

All Mrs. Bennet has ever wanted for her daughters are to get them married to good men with connections and money. When a handsome rich bachelor, Mr. Bingley moves in to Netherfield, she sees her opportunity to marry off one of her daughters. Our heroine Elizabeth Bennet, the second daughter in the Bennet family, meets Mr. Bingley’s oldest and closest friend, Mr. Darcy, she can’t help but loathe him. Mr. Darcy is proud and seems to feel he is above her family and friends, so Elizabeth can’t help but hate him. Who cares if he makes ten thousand a year? He is too proud and rude for her. But when Elizabeth’s sister visits Mr. Bingley’s sisters and gets sick Elizabeth walks all the way to Netherfield , Mr. Darcy’s can’t help but see that her eyes are quite brightened by exercise. Thus begins the greatest love story in all history.

When I picked up this book I wanted a real challenge, old English literature. I got exactly what I wanted. But after I really got into the book I began to understand. When I got really into this book I couldn’t put it down. I read late into the night, I would keep turning the pages even after eleven. I felt so happy when I finally finished it because it was the first classic that I had read, and now I love reading classics.

I would only recommend this book to people who know that they can handle the difficult old English language. When you can understand the language it is easier then trying to figure out what their saying. Cliff notes will help as well.

This book is very light and happy, it is full of humor. The simple things they said back then are simply hilarious nowadays. I found myself laughing hysterically over the simplest things because of the things they said that would not be acceptable now. The way they insulted each other in a very subtle way made me laugh.

While I was reading this I could feel myself getting smarter, so if your looking for something to raise your IQ this book is perfect. I wouldn’t suggest it as light reading because you’ll get sucked in before you know it.

I rated this five out of five. It was a lovely happy book that made me laugh. I’m very happy I read this because I feel smarter and I know that I can read any classic I want now. Thanks for reading!  

Book Review #9: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Pages: 400

Ani has always been an odd sort of princess according to the people of her country, Kildenree, so when her mother tells her that she will be traveling to Kildenree’s neighboring country to marry an unknown prince to make peace will them, she accepts hoping to finally find her place. But after several weeks traveling in the forest Ani’s lady in waiting, Selia, and half of Ani’s guard betrays her and attempts to kill her so that Selia can be the princess. Ani flees and finds her self in the foreign country with a job as the palace goose girl, determined to get her name back and make Selia face her crimes.

In fifth grade my teacher read this story to us and I totally fell in love with this story, so much that when we hit a cliffhanger just as the bell rang I screamed! I fell completely in love with the book. On my list of favorite books this one is definitely number two. This book is perfect for everyone; it has action and gore for the guys, and love and princesses for the ladies.

I love this book, it’s a perfect book; princess fairytale, deception, betrayal, action, magic, and of course a little romance! I would recommend this book to anyone, even guys! It’s a perfect, it’s appropriate for all ages, the thickness might make some others not want to read it but it’s totally worth it, there are no boring parts, you’re always wondering what is going to happen to Ani, and what Selia is going to do next.

I feel bad for those publishers who turned down Shannon Hale because they thought her book wasn’t good enough, they really are missing out on a lot of money from those people like me who buy her books! I love Shannon Hale’s books!

I rated this book happily a five out of five! It is an awesome book and a great one to re-read over and over again!

Book Review #8: Evermore by Alyson Noel

Pages: 320
Her family is dead, she is psychic, she can see peoples auras AND read people's minds, and to top it all off there's a hot new guy at her school. This girl's name is Ever Bloom. Ever has two best friends, Miles, and Haven. They are the out casts of the school, so when the hot new guy comes to sit at their out cast table they can't control themselves. But Ever doesn't look at Damen's hot face, or flawless self, she notices that he doesn't have an  aura. After running into him  many times after she starts to fall in love with him. But Damen has a secret. A secret he's kept for six hundred years.

This book was very much like Twilight. Yet it was written much much much better. I loved it! It was strangely addictive though. If your not in the mood to think about a book for a long long time or obsessively look for the next book in the series. The romance wasn't as cheesy as most cheesy books about such things. I'm so happy I read it though. The books got better as the series went on.

I loved this so much. I loved waiting for the moment when something so epic happened in the book. I couldn't put it down. I know I say this a lot in my book reviews but I can't help it. I loved this book.
I rated this book a five out of five. Because I felt so very happy when I read it. I couldn't believe how good it was, I had heard that it was much like Twilight and it kind of made me cautious but it was SOOO much better. I would recommend this to girls and ONLY girls. Boys wouldn't like this book at all. I really think that it is a chick flick book. It was a really good book!