Sunday, September 28, 2008

Devil Beside You

Summary: When Qi Yue (Rainie Yang) finally gets up the courage to give a love letter to her crush, Yuan Yi (Kingone), by a stroke of bad luck he passes by her and does not see her. But someone else did! Jeng Meng (Mike He) is the son of the school’s director, Jiang You Hui (He Du Lin), in order for her not to have her love letter posted around, she has to be his slave. While she is being his slave, Qi Yue finally gets up the courage to ask out Yuan Yi, who actually likes her a lot! While they are dating Qi Yue finds out that her mom, Huang Xue Wei (Ge Wei Ru) is actually dating and is going to marry Jiang You Hui. During the wedding planning Qi Yue finds out that under his hard exterior, Jeng Meng is actually a very sweet guy and she starts falling for him. Things get really complicated when their parents finally get married. Who ever heard of siblings (even if they are just step-siblings) dating? Things can get pretty heated up!





Wdebo's Review: I love this show! I am a total supporter of Mike He and Rainie they r so cute together! Rainie is so pretty in this show! Anyways, this show was very serious, but I especially love all the childish parts, it was really TDrama-y, I think everyone can just fall in love with it, because it is just AWESOME! 9/10.


My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins & Fenway Park


"Here's to us.
Who's like us?
Damn few."
~Sondheim (Merrily We Row Along)


Title: My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins & Fenway Park

Author: Steve Kluger

HARDBACK

Amount of Pages: 403

Difficulty: Easy-It went by smoothly (Best way to put it, i guess)

Reccomended for: 13 and up

Summary: Augie, T.C. and Ale are three teenagers living through the torture chamber of life AKA High School. T.C. is Augie's "brother", that is they decided to be brothers after T.C. started to hang out with him when they were six. T.C. is in love with Ale, but it drives him crazy that she doesn't return the feelings back. Ale is the daughter of an ambassador, but all she wants to do is be a musical star. Augie...well, all I can say is, he's gay and he doesn't know it. This book follows them through their Freshman year, from love all the way to Mary Poppins.



Wdebo's Review: I honestly am in love with these kinds of books. Chick Lit for girls by guys. Just like Boy2Girl, Steve Kluger does not have that same reservations that most girl authors do. It was very witty and very very VERY funny. His word choice is just AMAZING! I loved this book, it made me cheer for all the couples especially Augie and Andy. AHH, they're sooo cute together! Well, I'll shut up now or ill spill the whole story. I would reccomend this book to all my girl friends, I loved it, it was funny and every one (girl) should read it! 10/10



Saturday, September 27, 2008

Audrey, Wait! By: Robin Benway

Title: Audrey, Wait (I am wondering if I should even write this, because its kinda obvious-what do you think?)
Author: Robin Benway

HARDBACK
Amount of Pages: 313

Difficulty: Easy read, especially if you thoroughly enjoy hardcore chick lit plus music, which I do :P

Reccomended for: Ages 14 and up (For cussing-said F word around 7 times or so)




Summary: Audrey is like any normal teenager, she fell in love with the lead singer of the garage band in her school, then they broke up. Ordinary old stuff right? Not quite. The day Audrey breaks up with her boyfriend, is the day he wrote the #1 song of America "Audrey,Wait!" Now not only are the papparazi up her you-know-what, but she can't even get a date with the cute boy who works with her in the Scooper Dooper, James. Can she live with this kind of fame and get her date, or will she crack under the pressure of being "America's favorite music siren" and have it published in the latest issue of People?

Wdebo's Reivew: This book hit me hard and wouldn't let me go and I loved it! It was so cute and great Audrey really spoke to me, I felt her pain and laughed at her blunders and hid my face behind my face as I got to a part I knew would be VERY embarressing for her. (Well, not literally b/c I wouldn't b able to see the book then). The book was quite cuss filled, but then again, most of the young adult books are, so you can't do anything about it. However, I really liked it, it sticks to me like that song you love and can't get out of your head. 9.7/10.




Friday, September 26, 2008

OMG UGLY BETTY

Totally big Ugly Betty fan! So I know that the series premiere was yesterday, but I can watch it on the web now, and AHH, I so want her and Gio together!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Breathe One, two, three YOGA!

So, I've been doing yoga everyday before school, and I feel so relaxed and stuff! I would reccomend that everyone do yoga, it is really good for you and very fun if you know how to do it. A good book for beginners is Breathe: Yoga for teens, it has good instructions and good pics and interesting sidenotes that intrege teenagers! (Well, me)

Monday, September 22, 2008

Rumors: A Luxe Novel By: Anna Godbersen


"True Love
False Friends
Scandalous Gossip,
Welcome Back to Manhattan, 1899"
Title: Rumors

Author: Anna Godbersen

Sequal to: The Luxe (click link to read my review)

HARDBACK

Amount of Pages: 423



WARNING: Spoiler Alert for those who havent read the first book. WARNING

Summary: The second book in the Luxe trilogy. With Elizabeth "dead", Penelope thinks she can finally have a chance for Henry to marry her. With all those evil deeds she did she can finally have what she wants and has worked for, for ever. However, marrying Penelope is not on Henry's To-Do List, his heart belongs to Dina now, and all both of them want to do is to get married together. While on the other side, Lina is working hard to get to become the social queen she needs to be to capture Will's heart, little does she know the "dead" Elizabeth and Will are now in California together, happily sitting together. With the help of Tristen, will Lina become the women she wants or will her secret be blabbed out, so she will be ruined forever? Will all the couples come out victorious or will one lover fall down dead (for reals).

Wdebo Review: Oh wow, most sequals are pretty bad, like they just add random things to an already complete story, and that just makes you sigh and silently scream, "why did they do something so stupid??!!!" This was NOT one of those books. I enoyed it a lot, just like I enjoyed The Luxe. I like it as much as I like Scott Westerfield's Uglies Trilogy (though technically not a "trilogy", because of Extras, but then again Uglies/Pretties/Specials was all about Tally the other was about Aya). Anyways, I can't wait for the next book, Envy (Wait for my review!) to come out, because of the cliffhanger at the end (super sad ending :( ), gosh I HATE cliffhangers! 9/10!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Twenty Fragments of Ravenous Youth By: Xiaolu Guo

Book:

"My Youth began when I was twenty-one. At least, thats when I decided it began. That was when I started to think that all those shiny tings in life-some of them might possibly be for me."

Title: Twenty Fragments of Ravenous Youth

Author: Xiaolu Guo

HARDBACK

Amount of pages: 164

Difficulty: An easy read

Reccomended for: 15 and up, there was no actual mature themes, just harsh language.


Summary: Fengang Wang is a twenty-one-year old living in big Beijing to seek fame in film. (even though she only plays as extras). She has no desire to go back to her old village's sweet potato fields. She wants to live a modern life. Ultimetly she finds independence, where she never thought she would find.


Wdebo's Review: Oh my goodness, I so loved this book, not just because it is about a chinese girl, yeah! Go asians! It really hooked me in from the first sentence and wouldn't let go till the last eight words. I really really really enjoyed it, I was happy there wasn't a lot of mature sceens, even though it is an adult book. There wasn't as much cussing then in Tithe which I am thankful, even though there was some, but it was great too. I would reccomed it to all of my friends, it is one of the best books I've ever read, and I would reccomed it to you too! 10/10!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Tithe By: Holly Black

Books:
Title: Tithe


Author: Holly Black


PAPERBACK


Amount of Pages: 331


Difficulty: Small book small print, no hard words


Reccomended for: Ages 16 or 15 and up. (Very heavy amount of cussing and some mature stuff


Summary: Kaye is a sixteen year old nomad. She travels with her mom's rock band, until her mom's boyfriend tries to "kill" her and they are taken back to her grandmother's house. There, she begins to look for her childhood friends/faries who have always helped her out when she was younger. When she saves a rival farie, she gets caught in an ancient faerie rival-this monkey in the middle thing, could led to death.


Wdebo's Review: This was a really good book I was really taken in by the voice of Kaye and the weirdness about how she's half asian and blonde, yeah, you don't hear about that often. lol. It was really good, but I honestly am not a big fan of cussing or mature themes, call me a goody two shoes or whatever, if there was so much cussing it would have been better. But, I'm not complaining. I really like this book and I would reccomend it to some of my friends. 7/10

Friday, September 12, 2008

How Not to Be Popular By: Jennifer Ziegler

Books:
Title: How Not to Be Popular


Author: Jennifer Ziegler


HARDBACK


Amount of Pages: 339


Difficulty: Like all chick novels easy read, but would reccomended it for ages 13 and up.


Summary: Maggie Dempsey is the daughter of two free spirited hippies. With hippie parents comes a lot of moving, with a lot of moving comes a lot of new schools with a lot of new schools comes saying good bye to your best friends. When Maggie has to leave behind Portland for Texas and her boyfriend she decides enough is enough and begins her plot of unpopularity. All she needs is a bad sense of style and the nerdiest thought she can get and what do you get? A big culdron of laughs and awkwardness!


Wdebo's Review: I liked this book a LOT! It was cute and sweet and adressed a lot of points we teenagers have to face. It also had really funny observations about what teenage life REALLY is about. It really showed what it ment to be "Real" and "popular/unpopular". It was sweet and touching and the character of Maggie really speaks to you you feel her pain and laugh along with her awakwardness of going from popular to unpopular. You cheer her on to do the right thing even if she goes the toally opposite way you want her to conquer it, so you clamp your hands together praying she comes out strong! I was quite satisfied with the ending, because it is hard ending a good chick lit/realistic fiction book. It was cliche, but like I say in all my other posts, that's why I like these books! :P Well all in all I would reccomended this book to all my friends 9/10


P.S. Starting now I will have labels so I can let everyone find all my book reviews/manga reviews/taiwanese drama etc etc. So I will have a diffrent post for a different thing! (Might have two or more a day sometimes)

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Mira, Mirror By: Mette Ivie Harrirson With lots of hairspray

Books:

Title: Mira, Mirror

Author: Mette Ivie Harrison

Amount of Pages: 314

Difficulty: Easy read, made for kids ten years and up (Mostly girls)




Summary: Mira was abandoned by her parents and then sent to be apprenticed by a witch named Zebra. Mira is quckly captivated by Zebra's other aprentence, a girl with much MUCH more magic then Zebra herself. Full of beauty and more power then she can ever dream possible, Mira is enthralled when the beautiful witch wants her to be her sister. Then with a simple spell the beautiful girl changes Mira into a mirror. Her sister wants her to make her into a queen and thats what Mira does, but one day the queen never comes back and one hundred years later peasent girl comes and a new fairy tale begins. Then the lives of a simple mirror, a peasent girl, a merchent and his daughter and the duke's are entangled in this spellbinding fairy tale of a novel.

Wdebo's Review: I honestly loved this book, I was drawn in from, "I thought that day was the end of my heartache. It was but the beginning." It was sweet and cute. I love retellings of fairy tales like those books like someone and the one hundred year sleep or cinderella and the glass hill or something like that. (If you know what those books are called please comment and write the series name), also Wicked and the Storyteller's Daughter. I would reccomended all those books and Mira, Mirror to everyone! The bad thing about this book was the gross-ness, there was only like three small parts but even a little mention of a deer getting caught in a bear trap or something makes me fell sad and grossed out, I also wish that it would've been a harder read, but I can't complain, lol. Well, from all that I would reccomended this to my friends. 8/10.

Broadway:

I said I would review it and I did! It's...


HAIRSPRAY!

Hairspray is about a big girl, with big dreams and even bigger hair, Tracy! Tracy and her best friend Penny like to watch the show, The Nicest Kids in town. When they have an audition, Tracy skips school and goes then gets thrown into lots of fun, romance and lots of thinking.





It was so cute, great little play, I would reccomeneded this book to all of my friends it was so great and awesome, I love the character of Tracy I can really feel her, she is just awesome. I always wanted her to be with Link, and I am very happy they are together!!!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Signature

So I got a new signature!!!


I saw everyone else had one so I got one too (You can call it blog pressure)



I honestly have no idea why it is a blackbackground, oh well.

Another manga Spotlight!!!

I know I said I would post when I would post another, I am sorry I didn't, I didn't know I would. lol!


Manga Spotlight
Pearl Pink~

Summary: Tamako has been dreaming about being Kan-chan's wife since she was three and he was seven when he promised her that he would marry her when she became strong and brave and not a cry-baby (because her mom had to leave her). Now ten years later, her mom has just become a super pop star and must keep her child a secret because her image was based on purness- while she had little Tamako when she was a teenager. Now, Kan-Chan must remember that promise he gave to her and find out just how love can blossom.

Wdebo's Review: I loved this manga it is so cute and sweet! It really made me cheer on for Kan-Chan and Tamako, he shows just how hard love is but how great it can be! My favorite character is Kanta the monkey! 9/10

Boys Over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango)~

Summary: Even though Tsukushi Makino is from a poor family she attends a school that was made specially for rich people (she got in on a scholarship), when her life becomes intertwined with the F4 (the leaders of the school) her life turns upside down, when the leader, the hard faced, Tsukasa. (He's the guy with the pineapple head lol)

Wdebo's Review: I do love the story it is so cute(on volume 13 now!) anyways, I first wanted to read this after i read the taiwanese drama counterpart, Meteor Garden, it was so cute and sweet. It is kind of hard to get into the drawing but I liked it. 8/10
C U l8r
wdebo

Saturday, September 6, 2008

School

Because school is mean to me, I will not be able to review a lot and I cannot read a lot either :(

Thursday, September 4, 2008

A moment for my thoughts

Ah, ready!

Books:

THE LUXE!!!

Yeah! I finally finished it! I'm so happy!!!

"In life, Elizabeth Adora Holland was known not only for her loveliness but also for her moral character, so it was fair to assume that in the afterlife she would occupy a lofty seat with an especially good view..."

So begins the New York Time's bestselling book The Luxe.
Prequal to: Rumors (Click link to read my review)

Summary: Beautiful dresses and people are what occupied the bright streets of Manhatten in 1899. However under the beautiful exterior there lies many ugly things; jealousy, lust, scheming, and plain evil-ness. This book follows five teenagers through their lives, even though they are of diffrent social statuses their lives still intertwine around the lives of the two Holland sisters- Elizabeth and Dina. When life gets hard on them, who can they turn to, when society has turned their back on them, it takes on determined headstrong girl, one rule following beauty, one angry maid, one backstabing socialite and one very single bachlor to make this whole story come alive.


Wdebo's review: Ah, this is the real example of a "can't-put-down-book". Just by reading the prologue I was hooked. I was always interested in these socialites and stuff especially by their beautiful dresses! I would love it all except the corsets of course. I love my tummy the way it is, thank you very much. I would reccomend this book to any of my friends (girls of course, I am pretty sure none of the guys would be intersted lol) She uses such a good voice all of the characters spoke to me. I know everyone likes Elizabeth, but truely I am more of a Lina friend, don't know why but she just stuck to me lol! 10/10

C U 2mrrw

Wdebo

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

School starts TOMORROW! AHHH!

I am nervous for school, I kind of want to go but I kind of don't lol. Oh well, I have lots of friends in my classes.

Books:
Prom

"I had been saying prom was stupid for years, andit still was, but it was different for them. They had been waiting forever for this. Dichelle, she lived with a foster family who had nothing, but everybody, even the second cousins, had pitched in to buy her a dress and shoes and sparkly headband that looked like a beauty-pagent crown, only not as tacky. Junie had been dating the same stand-up man, Charles, since freshman year, and they were the cutest couple on the planet, and he was going into the army right after graduation, and we were all sure he was going to ask her to marry him at prom. Aisha had been working for free at a braiding shop so she could get her hair done. Monica, her mom died of cancer last year- hell, if anyone diserved a dance, it was that girl." ~Prom


Ashley Hannigan is the total opposite of her best friend, Natalia, and the whole female population of her school, because unlike them she couldn't care less about the prom. Natalia also happens to be the head of the prom committee. So, when the faculty advisor is busted for stealing the prom money, Ash suddenly finds herself roped into the thing she most detests. She has to find a way to turn no money into the time of anyone's life. Through this she learns a lot about her life, her family, and her slimy boyfriend.

When I first saw this book I thought it would be one of those really cliche cookie cutter stories. When I ACTUALLY READ IT, I was very thankful it was not (I had a summer of cookie cutter-ness), it was such a good book, hillarious and sassy like only Laurie Halse Anderson could write. 8/10.

CU 2mmrw
Wdebo

Monday, September 1, 2008

The Adoration of Jenna Fox By: Mary E. Pearson

Book:

"There is something curious about where we live. Something curious about Lily. Something curious about Father and his nightly phone calls with Mother. And certainly something curious about me. Why can I remember the details of the French Revolution but I can't remember if I ever had a best friend?"

Jenna Fox is no ordinary seventeen year old girl. Most girls don't get into a car accident, lose their memory in the future. (At least I'm pretty sure not). After waking up from a year long comma, her parents show her every home movie they have hoping she will get her memory back. She remembers things bit by bit, until she gets to unanswered questions, like what happened after the accident?

The Adoration of Jenna Fox is one of the most heartfelt, can't-put-down- books in the world. (At least in the young adult catagory). It draws you in from the first sentence and won't let go till the last period. I thourghly enjoyed it. There wasn't anything "bad" in it. (A good pro) and it didn't drag. (Another pro), can't think of any cons, so I would give this book a 9.99/10 (End could have been .01 better)

Taiwanese Drama:

Prince that Turns to Frog


Shan Jun Hao (Ming Dao), is the CEO of the largest hotel chain, Sewell. He is a stereotypical rich man-spoiled and arrogant. He meets Ye Tian Yu (Chen Qiao En AKA Joe Chen), meets Jun Hao when he is visiting Guan Mei (Her village) to shut down her stepdad’s motel, because it is part of Sewell. They meet and he immediately doesn’t like her, because she sells him a pack of gum (around 3 sticks) for 100NT$ (around $3). After a series of events, Tian Yu “accidentally” runs him over, then he loses his memory and lives with her family under the name of Dang-Ou. After another “accident” he gains back his memory and forgets about TY, forgetting all about how they fell in love with each other. But life isn’t so easy when there is a girl you don’t know who says you guys fell in love, after a while lots of events happened that wouldn’t have happened if those “accidents” didn’t happen. Will these events hurt TY and JH being together?

Ok, so I know the english title is weird, I swear I didn't make that title up. This was a cute drama, a great showcase of what Taiwanese Dramas are all about. It did get a little infuriating about how slow it went on some parts though. 9.1/10

CU 2mrrw

Wdebo :)