Monday, September 28, 2009

Rumer & Qix: The Race to Terra Incognita

Title: Rumer & Qix: The Race to Terra Incognita
Author: Kathleen S. Wilson
PAPERBACK
Amount of Pages: 229
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
Publishing Year: 2009
Geared Towards: Teens
Extra Info: Click HERE for a character post with Rumer.




Summary (From B.O.B): Rumer, a petite 16 year old with a flair for fashion, loves zipping around the vast cityscape of 31st Century Nanjing for her job as an apprentice reporter for the Global Quotidien. There's one big problem, though. For some reason, the stories she's assignd are always tedious and never interesting. To make matters worse her insensitive boss wants her to report on the activities of Alfa, the same mega-conglomerate where her parents died mysteriously when she was eight.

Feeling frustrated, the rebellious Rumer escapes into the indie networks and, along with her pocket-sized sidekick Qix, soon finds herself puzzling over a series of images of bizarre nature sightings posted by seemingly credible eye-witness. Ever since the world's flura and fauna were replaced with Alfa's Syncov replicas eons earlier, nature sightings like this have been routinely dismissed, but Rumer senses that something is different this time.

When ethereal voices relay a coded message for confirming her feelign that something is terribly amiss, Rumer slips away with Qix on a globe-trotting quest for answers. Two colossal forces are about to square off for the final epic battle that will determine the fate of the planet who will triumph, Dr. BigCo, the ruthless CEO of Alfa bent on expanding his empire at all costs, or his nemisis, MoNa, the vulnerable marriarch of the somos. The fate of the world hangs in the balance and Rumer holds the key in a race against time.

Wdebo's Review: [Note: OK, so it's been a LONG time since my last review so I feel a little rusty ;) Just an FYI :) Enjoy!] I knew this book was in decision to become a Traveling to Teens book-but I don't think it ever did, and that's a pity becuase I really enjoyed this book, it was a surprisingly good read.

Rumer & Qix gives a nice twist to the totally overdone futuristic books, and is not so unbelieveable as those other books. I can see our world becoming a synthetic mess, that is beleiveable, aliens coming to the earth and getting killed by boomboxes....not so believeable. [I know Mars Attack! wasn't technically a "futuristic" story-but I'm on a time limit now and it was the best I could do!]

Though the beginning was a little boring and hard to get into, after a while the story came together nicely and it was a fun read. Except a thing that annoyed me was that there was a lot of missing quotation marks.

I did enjoy the character of Rumer. She was a strong female heronie and fought to find the truth, always. [A very important journalism skill-I might add.] But I seriously loved Qix. Qix was just like a relistic poochi with fur and an adorable tail and everythinig else, AND he can also talk and think for himself! And Qix is just so kawaii!

Cafe Cover Chat: I honestly don't like this cover. Though the drawing is well drawn the whiteness distracts from it, and doesn't work for me. The cover feels so plain, while the story was very well written, I just feel like it takes away from it. (B-)

All in all, a great story for futuristic sci-fi lovers and haters alike. Rumer & Qix was a very nice read.

Grade: B+

Wdebo :)

Thanks to Author Marketing Experts, Inc for sending me a review copy~

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Last Demeanor By: Show Luo

Ok, this is a such a great song by Show!! I l o v e listening to him sing sad songs, because he always put so much feeling into it, there is just a sincerity in his singing (It comes out more when he sings live tho). Then again I love listening to him sing fast songs, cuz I love watching him dance...lol

Anyways, this mv, just randomly makes me cry...and I don't know if Show really played the piano part for this mv (I kinda doubt it though) but I do know that he DOES play piano.


Sorry...not allowed to embedd the english subbed version...but you can watch the ENGLISH SUBBED version H E R E!!


The Vietnamese Subbed Version HERE!

This MV is also known as "Gentleman Like Manner"

Anyways...E N J O Y....






Hope you enjoy! And please comment!!



Wdebo :)

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

This makes me HAPPY :)

Awesome news for fans of Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side....

The first couple of chapters are up for Jessica/Lucius' wedding...check it out HERE!!!

Wdebo :)

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Cafe Chit Chat: Malinda Lo

Malinda Lo is the amazing debut author of the wonderfully dark retelling of Cinderella~Ash. [Click HERE for review]. Malinda was born in China and then she moved to the US (woohoo another Chinese author :) ) She was also the former managing editor of AfterEllen.com.

Now on to the interview....

~~~~~~~


Wdebo: Can you describe a typical day?

Malinda Lo: I get up around 6:30-7 because my dog wakes up that early! Then I eat breakfast while checking my email and reading the news. Around 8:00, I take my dog out for a walk. When I get back, I like to spend the whole morning writing. If I am working on fiction, I try to stay offline. In the afternoon, I may continue writing, or I might spend time doing business stuff like answering email, doing blog interviews :), etc. In the evening I hang out with my partner, eat dinner, and if I'm lucky, I watch TV. I love Top Chef!

W: My dog wakes up that early too, I'm glad my dad is the one who takes care of her, lol. How did you come with the idea for Ash?

M: My favorite books as a child were Robin McKinley's fairy tale retellings, but she never retold Cinderella. So I decided to write the book I wanted to read.

W: Could you give a short summary of Ash for those readers who might not be familiar with it?

M: Ash is a retelling of Cinderella, a fairy tale about a girl who is forced to work as a servant for her wicked stepmother after her father dies. In traditional versions, Cinderella falls in love with Prince Charming, but in my novel, Ash, the Cinderella character, falls in love with another girl.

W: Are any of your characters based on someone you know?

M: I answer[ed] this in my Ash FAQ right here: http://www.malindalo.com/ash/faq/#faq8

W: What is your favorite thing to do (apart from writing)?

M: Eat!

W: What is your favorite color?

M: Red.

W: If you were stranded on an island and could only bring five things what would they be?

M: 1. A satellite phone to call for help
2. Water purification tablets
3. A tent
4. Good hiking shoes
5. A book about edible plants
(I'm practical.)

W: Are you working on another project now? And if so, can you tell us about it?

M: I am currently writing a companion novel to Ash. It is set in the same world as Ash but several hundred years earlier, so there are no crossover characters. It's a young adult fantasy, and it should come out in fall 2010.

W: Who are some authors you look up to?

M: Robin McKinley and Madeleine L'Engle are my favorite children's/YA novelists.

W: What is your FAVORITE book in the whole world, one that you think everyone should read.

M: A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle

W: What is your favorite chinese dish in the whole world?
M: Hong shao rou, or red-cooked pork. Specifically, the kind made by my mother!

W: Do you have anything else you would like to say?

M: Thanks for the interview!

~~~~

Thanks so much for letting me interview you!!
Check out Malinda's site HERE! And don't forget to check out Ash!!
Wdebo :)

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Gan Bu Gan (Dare to) By: Show Luo

I love this song :) Show is so young looking (Hard to believe this was around six years ago-this was part of his first album) but it's so cute :) and he looks so much like Jimmy Lin when he's spinning around.

E n j o y...



Hope you enjoy!! And please comment!

Wdebo :)

Monday, September 14, 2009

Sucks To Be Me: The ALL-TRUE Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (Maybe)

Title: Sucks To Be Me: The ALL-TRUE Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (Maybe)
Author: Kimberly Pauley
HARDBACK
Amount of Pages: 293
Publisher: Mirrorstone
Release Date: August 26, 2008
Geared Towards: Teens
Extra Info: The sequal Still Sucks to Be Me is scheduled to be released on September 2010.
"Myth: Vampires Don't Exist
Truth: Dead wrong"
Summary: All teens think that their lives suck, but Mina Hamilton knows it does-literally....
Mina Hamilton is a normal girl, with a normal (posser goth) BFF, Serena, a normal crush on a normal All-American hottie, Nathan, and a normal family with normal parents...well...if normal parents were vampires, that is.
Mina has always known her parents were vampires, but now that the Concil is onto her family, Mina must pretend that she just found out about her bloodsucker parents and join a class about whether or not to become a bloodsucker herself.
During her vampire classes, Mina meets the smoking hot Audrey, the cheerleader Lorelai, and the nerdy-but-cute George. What will Mina's future (or death) hold for her? Normal-cy or bloodsucking moments?
Wdebo's Review: I really didn't know what to expect after reading the summary from Amazon/the front flap, because it didn't really say anything and made the parents sound like they were hunting their own kid to turn her into a vampire, but this book was nothing like that, it was amazingly funny, and just had this comical spoof on vampire books, none of that sparkly, stalking, standing-next-to-your-bed-to-watch-you-sleep Twilight vampire fluff, but laugh-out-loud fun.
I loved the plot, it gives new life into the overdone vampire senario. It was a light read, yes, but it was hard to put down. Mina's sarcastic voice just stays in your voice the whole time and makes reading Sucks to be Me way enjoyable. You would think that reading from a voice that talks in a sarcastic voice the whole time would be annoying and make you want to rip out your hair but it wasn't, it was awesome fun! As much as I liked Mina, her stupidity in love really pisses me off, like it's obvious that Audrey was *Spoiler Warning* just using her so that he could know what it's like to be a vampire, and that Nathan wasn't interested in her, but was interested in Serena, gosh, her stupidity annoyed me so badly *End of Spoiler Warning* but apart from that she was a really awesome main character.
I really liked in the beginning of each chapter, the myths and truths of vampires, they were way funny and the pictures were cute :)
Cafe Cover Chat: The cover pose is cute and the book is created into a binder looking-ness that reminds me of the binder that holds all my pokemon cards :P Except the girl on the cover scares me, I know Mina does not have very pretty hair, but it wasn't THAT frizzy and her eyes are so bloodshot...she's not a vampire yet, cover creators!!! (B)
All in all, a really cute and funny story that all vampire lovers (and even haters) can enjoy, filled to the brim with a sarcastic, teenagy voice (Mina!) which makes reading all that much more enjoyable.
Grade: A-
Wdebo :)

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Prophecy of the Sisters By: Michelle Zink

Title: Prophecy of the Sisters
Author: Michelle Zink
HARDBACK
Amount of Pages: 343
Publisher: Little, Brown and Co.
Release Date: August 1, 2009
Geared Towards: Teens

"Without the Keys, something terrible will happen
Something that cannot be undone.

And with them, I might bring an end to the riddle
of the Prophecy and my strange part in it.

If Alice and I are on conflicting sides of the Prophecy,
the Keys would be dangerous in her hands.

With means I have to find them.
And I have to do it before my sister."

Summary (From Front Flap):
AN ANCIENT PROPHECY
DIVIDES TWO SISTERS-

ONE GOOD
ONE EVIL...

WHO WILL PREVAIL?

Twin sisters Lia and Alice Milthrope have just become orphans. They have also become enemies. As they discover their roles in a prophecy that has turned their generations of sisters against each other, the girls find themselves entangled in a mystery that involves a tatoo-like mark, their parents' death, a boy, a book, and a lifetime of secrets.

Lia and Alice don't know
whom they trust.

They just know they
can't trust each other.

Wdebo's Review: What a great book The Prophecy of the Sisters is! Though I did find the beginning to be a little bit tedious and hard to get into, but then again, very rarely is there a perfect beginning!

The writing is wonderfully gothic and exciting. It flows into an exciting can't-put-down book, as you hungrily read through every twist and turn to the cliffhanger ending.

I really liked the character of Lia, she works hard to figure out the mystery and to protect her loved ones. Actually, I liked all of the characters (well at least one small part) even Alice sometimes, I just felt bad for her sometimes.

But I loved Henry, Lia and Alice's little brother, the most. He was the sweetest guy ever and would do anything he could to protect Lia, maybe even give up his life?

Cafe Cover Chat: Oh, the cover is great looking, so dark and victorian just like the book! Except those stone angels scare me a lot, so though the cover is pretty good looking, I still like the Germany (I think it's Germen) cover more. [Click HERE to see it] It looks just awesome!!

All in all, an amazing gothic YA novel, and an amazing defut from author Michelle Zink.

Grade: A-

Wdebo :)

*************

Releated Books:

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Disdain - Alien (Xiao Gui)

O M G, finally...finally...Xiao Gui has an MV out!!! *fan girl squeel* From Xiao Gui's newest/only EP...Bu Xue (Disdain)

Enjoy...

His black outfit looks very shuai



Hope you enjoy!!

And please comment!!

Wdebo :)

Friday, September 11, 2009

Favorite Male Fictional Characters: Befriend or Date?

So, I'm bored...here's a list of my favorite male fictional characters...and whether I would just befriend them or date them...enjoy :)
So, I am seriously lazy so I won't link back to the reviews for the certain book/movie/tv/etc...sorry, but there is a link up top with all my reviewed materials and you should find it there! :D
Hope you enjoy!

Rorschach (Watchmen)
Total badass, and the definition of awesome. Rorschach does all he can to protect the innocent and naive (mainly children) from the big bad wolf of a world. Even though he is kinda creepy looking and stuff I am still obsessed over him:D And he is totally crazy and settles not by talk but by violence...but the most amazing thing about him...I have now adopted the word "Hurm" in my vocab :P But after all this time, so don't know why I am so obsessed with Watchmen.
[Befriend]-Come on with a friend like Rorschach your back would be covered 24/7.

Favorite Quote(s):

"None of you understand. I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me. "

Plus

"Heard a joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says "Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. Says "But, doctor...I am Pagliacci." Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains. Fade to black. "

Otani (Lovely Complex)



The cute, sweet, unnaturally dense, and short guy from the sweet couple Risa + Otani. Seriously, he is just adorable and Koike in the movie *faints* how can there be such a cute guy in this world??!!


[Date] -1 million times date!! I want my own Otani RIGHT NOW!!!

Screech (Saved By the Bell)

The nerdy, funny addition to the awesome Saved By the Bell crew. He makes my Saturday morning Saved By the Bell marathons even more entertaining (seriously that show is awesome...except for the 80's outfits...seriously, *shivers* )

[Befriend] - Haha he is a sweetie and unnaturally hillarious :)

Lucius (Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side)

Dark and sexy...Lucius makes Edward look like a naive little kid. Not only is he rich, but he's arrogant yet I just fell totally in love with him.

[Date] - Seriously if Jessica didn't have him, and he was real, totally date :DD

Ok, that's all I have for now...would you like me to do more soon?



Wdebo :)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Random Entertainment Clips (11)

As many of you know...I am a total Xiao Gui fan girl...and to my happy surprise, I saw Xiao Gui finally has an mv out!!! :DDD

So, here is a clip from YLBFB of his MV...enjoy...I'll be posting the full version on Saturday, watch out for it!!!



Hope you enjoy! And please comment!!

Wdebo :)

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Character Post: Carley Wells from How to Buy a Love of Reading

This is, I think, the last post as part of my Blogoversery Bash.

This post is perfect for today seeing as how it is the first day of school AHHH wish me luck!!!

You can click HERE for my review of How to Buy a Love of Reading.

~~~~~~
It always feels wrong, the first day of school. For one thing, the air still thinks it's summer. The breeze coming off the water is soft and tangy and nearly thick enough to rest against. It'll be weeks before fall will sharpen its saltiness into something that stings. For another, nearly everyone will be wearing new clothes too hot for the weather even though nobody is in a hurry for fall. All trying not to look like they're trying to wear something new because what's the rush--they'll still be new in a couple of weeks and there'll always be new new things. All trying not to look like they're trying.

Trying:
1. v. (present participle of try) Attempting to do something.
2. adj. Difficult, getting on one's nerves.
3. adj. Desperate--for example, needing to wear new fall clothing purchased yesterday because one returned from Fat Camp last week unable to button the shorts one wore in June.

"Which two books did you end up using for your summer reading project?" Hunter asks. At the stop sign a block before Montclair Academy he brakes too long. Though he's in linen and seersucker--Hunter never wears the wrong clothing, never feels rushed--his face is moist. He wipes it with a handkerchief and rubs his temples.

Behind us, Jake beeps, as if Hunter getting through the intersection ten seconds sooner would get us to school any faster, as if we aren't all part of a slow-moving parade in which everyone is checking out everyone else's new clothes and new tans and new cars (Amber's Rover, Jake's Jag, Hunter's Mercedes), tops down and windows open, rubberneckers all rubbernecking each other, like a giant accident waiting to happen.

"What time did you leave the Station last night, H?" He has that pale-beneath-his-tan look. Hard to tell if he's solidly into his first-day-of-school hangover or just starting to sober up.

"Did you go with Slaughterhouse-Five or Pride--"

"You drive like a senior citizen!" Jake shouts, and leans on the horn.

"Go already," I say. "Go."


* * *

Understand, this all happened earlier. Understand, I know there's something totally fake about telling a story--or typing one--as if it's happening right now when it clearly isn't happening right now because I'm in front of my computer, in my room, not in Hunter's car or at Montclair (where I'm about to be in the next part of this story). But present tense sounds right in my head. In my head, it is happening right now. Or rehappening.
And understand, I know no one is reading this. If a girl sets up a blog in the middle of cyberspace but nobody knows about it, does it make a sound? I know I'm invisible here. And I want to be. It's safer here than on paper or on a computer file, both of which my mother could find. I just need somewhere to scream where no one will hear.

* * *

"At exactly what point this summer," Mr. Nagel asks, standing over my desk, "did you manage to forget about the assignment?"

This being a rhetorical question, I shrug. Most of the time you can't go wrong with a shrug. Hard to debate a shrug.

"Miss Weiss," Nagel says to my friend Amber, "can you fathom how someone could forget the assignment?"

Caught in the middle of texting, Amber slips her cell phone under the twelve-page "Demonstrate Your Familiarity With Literary Terminology" handout Nagel has just plopped on our desks. The instructions ask us to be honest about what we know. It's supposedly just to help Nagel get a grip on what he needs to teach us, to "assess your collective gaps."

Hunter warned me on the way to school to look up everything on the Internet tonight so I can claim to be on a first-name basis with every literary term in the packet--even synesthesia. Last year, when Hunter took the class, people who answered the handout honestly got called "Gaps" by Nagel for the entire first month of school.

Amber flashes me a look that says, Sorry, but I'm going to need him for a college rec next year, and tells Nagel, "It would be hard to forget. I mean, it was a lot of writing. Not too much, but, um, just enough." She pats her twenty-page typed journal response to how The Crying of Lot 49 "resonates" with Sense and Sensibility, as if to remind herself that it's still there, on her desk, ready to be handed in. Amber gets those nightmares where you show up to a weird class you don't remember signing up for--say, Greek--and it's the day of the big test. Sometimes she needs to double-check that she's not in the middle of one.

Her last text to me, before Nagel had started surveying us about which books we'd each picked for the "Odd Couples" summer reading assignment, had been: "Europe turned Hunter extra-über-hot." He came back different, sure, but it's hard to say how. I mean, he's been gorgeous as long as he's been at Montclair, but now there's this almost unreal look to him. It's hard to describe, so I shouldn't even try. I just know that his being hungover or exhausted or sick just makes everyone think he's even better looking now. Like a poster of a beautiful, pained guy.

"I didn't exactly forget," I tell Nagel. "It was more like I thought I did it, and it turned out I didn't."

"And which books, Miss Wells, did you imagine this hallucinatory assignment for?" People snicker.

"I read the list," I say.

"All one hundred recommendations?"

"No. I mean, I read the list. Just the, um, list. A lot. I read it a lot." The snickers turn into full-out laughter. I let it crash over me, like a wave it's too late to body surf. I submerge into my head, and let it roll by.

* * *

I could recite the whole list if I wanted to. Not in alphabetical-by-last-name-of-the-author order, the way it is on the handout everyone got last June that asked us to choose two books that seem dissimilar and write an essay about how this "Odd Couple" had more in common than they at first appear to.

I could recite them, though, in the order Hunter read them (or in many cases, I suppose, re-read them) this summer. He read all one hundred of them while he was away. I couldn't tell you, exactly, what The Sound and the Fury is about, but I could tell you how he felt about it, what he wrote about it in a blog he doesn't know I know about, a blog no one has ever read but me. Probably he was afraid his cousin Ian would read his journal while they traveled together. Probably, the same way I'm doing now, he figured cyberspace was the only place big and dark enough to hide a piece of his heart.

Bored at Fat Camp, I was Googling combinations of books--hoping, honestly, that someone at some other school had posted an essay that put together two very random books like this. (I wasn't planning, exactly, to plagiarize. More like get inspired. Or, okay, borrow an idea or two.) I was trying three or four books at a time, seeing what came up, and there it was: a blog that mentioned The Grapes of Wrath, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Emma, and The Remains of the Day in the same sentence. One paragraph in, I knew it was Hunter. He wrote the way he talked. Also, he went by the name Scott Fitz.

And so, all summer, though he didn't e-mail very often and only called a couple of times, I felt like I was with him in Europe. I knew when he was sad (often), like when he wrote about a book called The Age of Innocence, saying people were trapped there the way they are in Fox Glen, everyone having to put on an act. I knew when he was trashed (also often), like when he went on for pages about how F. Scott Fitzgerald was predicting his own end in The Beautiful and Damned and how there was something he called "meta-" about an author writing his own life and making it come true.

I knew that even though he wanted to pretend he was only writing this for himself, and even though he didn't go around commenting on other people's book blogs to get them to notice him, he wished, secretly, that someone would stumble upon his blog by accident--some random, book-loving girl. She would be gorgeous but secretly geeky, like him. She would understand him from the way they both thought Mr. Darcy was actually a jerk, and not just at the beginning of the book. She would see what he thought Pride and Prejudice had in common with 1984. He'd have found his soul mate by accident. Instead, the accident was me.

* * *
"Everyone was talking about it, C," Hunter says softly as we drive away from Montclair at the end of the day. "I just don't get you sometimes. Pissing Nagel off on day one. Starting the year with a zero. It was a tricky assignment, I know. And if you were having trouble… if you found it was…"
"Stupid," I say. "Putting together things that don't belong together. I wasn't going to waste my summer shoving together things that don't fit."
~~~~~
Wow! Awesome guest post huh? Remember to check out the site HERE. And my interview with the author, Tanya Egan Gibson HERE.
Remember to join my contest HERE, for a chance to win a copy of How to Buy a Love of Reading and also a 1 of 3 postcards!
Wdebo :)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

School Starts...Tomorrow...ew

Ok, ew grossness, school starts tomorrow and I am NOT a happy camper about it.

So, now that I am going to be a Junior, things are going to be a little diffrent around here.

1) I won't be able to update a lot/post up reviews/other things because my parents want me to focus on my SATs mainly...but I will try!

2) Since my parents have permenatly grounded me from the library for this year, I won't have a lot of books to review in the first place :D

But I will still be accepting books to review/trying to join contests...my reading will just come at a slower pace :)

That's for understanding!! Wish me luck tomorrow, I still have to study for my calc test...yucky.

Wdebo :)

Monday, September 7, 2009

Hate List By: Jennifer Brown

Title: Hate List
Author: Jennifer Brown
HARDBACK
Amount of Pages: 416
Publisher: Little, Brown and Co.
Release Date: September 1, 2009
Geared Towards: Teens



"Was I the bad guy who set in motion the plan to mow down half my school, or the hero who sacraficed herself to end the killing? Some days I felt like both. Some days I felt like neither. It was all so complicated"

Summary (From B.O.B): Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends, and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

Wdebo's Review: All I can say is that this is such a powerfully, wonderfully written book. There is such a powerful message in the book, just like all the others about school violence, that just makes me look around and feel grateful that this has never happened to me before. That I have all my friends around me (plus my blogger buddies of course :) )

The story is tied together with the past, present and newspaper clippings about all of the victims. When it goes back and fourth there is none of that confusision that sometimes comes with books that go, well, back and fourth between various stories and/or past and future.

Sometimes, I cheered Valerie on but sometimes she just really bugged me. First she would be all strong, sticking up for herself, and suddenly she would become a weakling under all the pressure from her peers, which made me want to scream at the book saying, "What is wrong with you? Fight fight!! Where is that fighter spirit that was just there like five seconds ago?"
I did feel bad for Nick though, even though I hated him for killing all those people, but there is just one aspect of books like Hate List, those about school shootings, that annoy me is that even though I know the shooter does something wrong but they have to acknowledge that those killed were also in the wrong, they can't just keep these people hung up as martyr, they have to show them that they were mean and this caused it. (As part of the newspaper clippings)
Cafe Cover Chat: (New Feature!) Hey what can I say, I like my alliterations! This is a pretty good cover, even though the black does show the feeling of the book, I still don't really like it, the blackness is what draws me into the book, but also kinda repulses me. Though the tear does look cool and how the title is in it. But not my favorite cover. (B-)
All in all, a really great book, for those who are not afraid of getting sad (I even got a little teary eyed when I read it) and not afraid of violence, an amazing book that teaches us not to tease people, for you never know what is going to happen after embarassing/hurting someone during school.
Grade: A-
Wdebo :)

***********

Other books like this one...


Thanks to Little, Brown for sending me a review copy~

Sunday, September 6, 2009

In My Mailbox 十四 (14)

Ok, I'm late!!
This was a slow week, but school is starting in like 3 days AHH so I have to get cracking on that, so I will probobly not have a lot of reviews and stuff this year, it's junior year and the SATs are coming XO I'm scared !!! Anyways, so I will probobly have a mini rant about that soon...But I recieved one book this week...

Enjoy!!

IMM is brought to you by The Story Siren~

The Recieved:

Sucks to Be Me: The All True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (Maybe) By: Kimberly Pauley

(From Amazon): "Mina Hamilton's parents want her dead. (Or undead to be precise.) They're vampires, and like it or not, Mina must decide whether to become a vampire herself. But Mina's more interested in hanging out with best friend Serena and trying to catch the eye of the too-hot-for-high-school Nathan Able than in the vampire training classes she's being forced to take. How's a girl supposed to find the perfect prom date and pass third-year French when her mom and dad are breathing down her neck--literally? "

I would like to thank Velvet at vvb32 [Check out her blog HERE] for sending me this book :) I really enjoyed it, it was cute and a fun read, my review is coming soon!!

The Bought:

None :(

The Borrowed:

None :( My parents are now permenatly grounding me from the library so I can focus on "studying"...until NEXT SUMMER AHHH I'm gonna die! X(

Anyways...thanks for reading! What did you recieve this week?

Wdebo :)

P.S. Don't forget to join my contest which ends on the 21st. So you have a while, but it's nice to get everything done early huh? Click HERE for the contest.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

100th Book Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes By: Maureen Johnson

Title: 13 Little Blue Envelopes
Author: Maureen Johnson
HARDBACK
Amount of Pages: 321
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: August 23, 2005
Geared Towards: Teens

"She barely believed it herself. And besides, she had to go."






Summary (From Front Flap):

Inside little blue envelope 1 are $1,000 and instructions to buy a plane ticket

In envelope 2 are directions to a specific London flat.

The note in envelope 3 tells Ginny: Find a starving artist.

Because of envelope 4, Ginny and her artist, a playwright/thief/bloke-about-town called Keith, go to Scotland together, with somewhat disastrous-though utterly romantic-results. Ginny isn't sure she'll see Keith again, and definitely doesn't know what to think about him.

Could the answer be in the envelopes?

Ginny doesn't know it, but adventrues in Rome and Paris are in envelopes 6 and 8. The ruels are that she hasto open one at a time, in order, so perhaps it isn't surprising that she discovers things about her life and love one by one. Everything about Ginny will change this summer, and it's all becuase of the 13 little blue envelopes.

Wdebo's Review: This was such a cute read! Even though Ginny is too trusting...she allows herself to be taken all over the place without a second thought...things could have gone horribly wrong if this wasn't a chick-lit.

Apart from that, I did like Ginny, she was headstrong and ready to do whatever it took to get through the envelopes and do everything that her aunt said (even though her aunt is dead...and she didn't exactly need to do everything).

It was a super sweet story, how someone could patiently go through every set of direction, and how the aunt could write ALL of this and PLAN IT OUT when she is ubber sick. (Kind of impossible? If I was dying, I would want to be RESTING not setting up a treasure hunt for my shy niece.) But apart from that little annoyance for me, it was a cute story and Aunt Peg is an awesome person...think hungry artist gone smitten in romantic Europe.

Now, Keith, might be the one that Ginny likes a lot, and he really likes Ginny too, but he seems too rough, too sarcastic when he was around her, not lovey-dovey enough for my taste...I would pass on him for my "Best love interest for heronie in a chick-lit" nomination.

I like the cover, the model has such a cute outfit on!! (Simple but cute). But seriously, that cover has nothing to do with the book, yes there is a girlie color scheme of an envelope and a London postage, but apart from that, I could never see Ginny wearing something like that. (B+)

All in all, a cute story to wet the appetite of those girlie readers who want to add in some adventure to their romance.

Grade: B


Wdebo :)

~~~~~~~~~

Other Books By Maureen Johnson:

Suite Scarlett
Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances

Friday, September 4, 2009

Catching Fire By: Suzanne Collins

Title: Catching Fire
Author: Suzanne Collins
HARDBACK
Amount of Pages: 391
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Release Date: September 1, 2009
Geared Towards: Teens
Extra Info: Catching Fire is the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy, the first book is The Hunger Games [Read My Review HERE].

"I am the mockingjay. The one that survived despite the Capitol's plans. The symbol of the rebellion."



Summary (From Front Flap):
SPARKS ARE IGNITING.
FLAMES ARE SPREADING.
AND THE CAPITOL WANTS REVENGE.

Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol-a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As tie draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

Wdebo's Review: I was totally in love with The Hunger Games so I HAD to run to Barnes & Nobles the day it was released to get a copy :) It was, to put it simply, an amazing book. I loved it!!!! It picks up right where the first ended, even though I always find it hard to get into sequals, but after a few pages I was enthralled with Catching Fire, just as I had with The Hunger Games, it was just so well written and guides you through the story so amazingly well.

There was a giant twist in the middle that I could not have seen coming. *Spoiler Warning* I mean seriously, who knew she would have gone into the games AGAIN? I thought they were going to torture her in various diffrent methods but never in a million years did I think it would be like that! *End of Spoiler Warning*

As per usual, Peeta was defidently my favorite character, I mean he's cute and sweet, what more can Katniss want??!! Her naive/conflicted thoughts annoy me, gaaahh!!! He says the sweetest things ever, like this line...

"'If you [Katniss] die, and I [Peeta] live, there's no life for me at all back
in District Twelve. You're my whole life," he says. 'I would never be happy
again.'"


And other lines like that.

I am not a big fan of The Hunger Game covers, and even though the mocking bird is a big symbol in Catching Fire, I still don't really like it, yes it does look cool, but it doesn't appeal to me (B)

All in all, another amazing book to add to The Hunger Games trilogy, fans of the first will not be disappointed, and everyone else who hasn't read The Hunger Games before, it's never too late to start.

Grade: A+

Wdebo :)

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Fade to Blue By: Sean Beaudoin

Title: Fade to Blue
Author: Sean Beaudoin
HARDBACK
Amount of Pages: 208
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Release Date: August 1, 2009
Geared Towards: Older Teens




"I'm so Goth, bats pick up my sonar.
I am so Goth, I sprinkle staples on my Special K.
I'm so Goth, I keep toenail clippings in a mason jar.
I am so Goth, my black sweatband wears a black sweatband.
I'm so Goth, when I get my period, I bleed tiny mascara'd guitar players."
"I am so Goth, I'm roadkill."

Summary (From B.O.B): Sophie Blue started wearing a black skirt and Midnight Noir lipstick on her last birthday. It was also the day her father disappeared. Or spontaneously combusted. Which is sort of bad timing, since a Popsicle ruck with tinted windows has started circling the house.

Kenny Fade is a basketball god. His sneakers cost more than his Jeep. He's the guy all the ladies (and their mommas) want. Bad.

Sophie Blue and Kenny Fade don't have a thing in common. Aside from being reasonably sure they're losing their minds.

Acclaimed author Sean Beaudoin's wildly innovative novel combines uproarious humor with enough plot twists to fill a tube sock. Part thriller, part darkly comic philosophical discussion, and accompanied by an intriguing comic book element, Fade to Blue is a whip-smart romp that keeps readers guessing until the last paragraph.

Wdebo's Review: This book was...interesting, to put it simply. The beginning, was confusing but it slowly fell into place and had this dark humor in it, in a very Funny Little Monkey kinda way, where it was creepy and kinda sick but it still held your attention.

During the middle, after it built up the setting and stuff quite well, there was a bunch of twists and turns in the plot, but after a while all the twisting and turning just made the story confusing, even though it was a entertaining read, I still had no idea what was happening, and after a while, I just stopped caring about the plot, and just read for the heck of it.

The ending had this twisted version of a happily ever after, everyone was happy, but there was a hint of darkness, and this just weird feeling in my skin. Also at the almost end *Spoiler Warning* where everyone was melting, I just had this thought about the Coraline scene where the garden, the world and her dad where melting...random huh? But I love that movie *End of Spoiler Warning*.

The cover is pretty cool, except all of the comic book covers are weird and kinda gross and stuff, that my friends, is why I am not that big in the whole comic book scene. (C+)

I didn't really like any of the characters, they were all too weird and creepy for my taste.

All in all, an interesting, darkly tale for those who enjoy, well stories that are twisted but a good read.

Grade: B-

Wdebo :)

Thanks to Little,Brown for a review copy~

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Geektastic: Stories From the Nerd Herd By: Various Authors

Title: Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd
Author: Various authors
HARDBACK
Amount of Pages: 403
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Release Date: August 1, 2009
Geared Towards: Teens/ "Geeks"



Summary (From Amazon): Acclaimed authors Holly Black (Ironside)and Cecil Castellucci (Boy Proof) have united in geekdom to edit short stories from some of the best selling and most promising geeks in young adult literature: M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, John Green, Tracy Lynn, Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Barry Lyga, Wendy Mass, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfield, Lisa Yee, and Sara Zarr.

With illustrated interstitials from comic book artists Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley, Geektastic covers all things geeky, from Klingons and Jedi Knights to fan fiction, theater geeks, and cosplayers. Whether you're a former, current, or future geek, or if you just want to get in touch with your inner geek, Geektastic will help you get your geek on!


Wdebo's Review: I was so happy to get this book! I'd been waiting for it for a month, and it also felt kinda weird to hold a contest for a book I've never read before.

The book has one awesome lineup of authors, Scott Westerfield, Lisa Yee, Liba Bray, Holly Black, etc etc. My favorite story was I Never By: Cassandra Clare (The author of City of Ashes, etc, that I know I should read, but I haven't yet, I know, horrible huh? lol) After reading this book, I figured out how hard it is to be a geek, seriously, I like being a nerd so much better, for a nerd all you have to do is read a lot and get good grades, but when you're a geek you have to memorize all of these diffrent words/"languages", etc etc. Very confusing, I was confused a lot during the stories when they were talking about all the Star Trek, Star World, Cosplaying, etc, even though it does sound like fun.

The characters all had their own flair, but in one word all of them were geeky, but there is nice romance in the stories, how cute! :)

The cover is intense, haha I think it's cool all of the authors have their own pixiled avatars.

All in all, a cute collection of stories for geeks and the geeky at heart.

Grade: B

Wdebo :)

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Character Post: Amber Borden from the Dead Girl series

This week, I am proud to present Amber Borden from the Dead Girl Series (Dead Girl Walking [Click for review HERE], Dead Girl Dancing [Click for review HERE] and Dead Girl In Love).

She is here for an exclusive interview with The Electrical Book Cafe, for the blogoversery bash.

Check it out...

~~~~~~~~~

Wdebo: Hi Amber, how are you doing right now?

Amber Borden: I'm hanging in my bedroom with Alyce and we're working on welcome baskets for the HHC (Halsey Hospitality Club). I'm working on a basket shaped like a bird cage for a new student who raises parrots. But my cat Snowy keeps stealing the feathers and hiding them under the bed. It's annoying--but Alyce can't stop laughing.

W: Are you excited for the new Dead Girl book, Dead Girl in Love, that has just come out?

A: Oh, sure...but kind of embarrassed, too. It was a shock to find out I didn't know what was really going on with my best friend. But ultimately I found out some stuff about Alyce and that was worth everything I went through -- even the bat's blood. But once the book is out, everyone will know how badly I messed up romance. Why am I so trusting? I really have to work on that. Hmmm...I need to get a self-help book on trust issues.

W: For those readers who do not know anything about the Dead Girl series, could you give a brief summary?

A: DEAD GIRL WALKING: Amber Borden (that's me!) is earnest, eager to help people and aspires to be an entertainment agent. Things go wrong for her at a party then things improve--but SMACK! I'm hit by a mail truck and go off to the white light. I meet my Grammy Greta and my childhood dog then I'm told to go back. Only I make a wrong turn and wake up in the body of Leah Montgomery: the most popular and gorgeous girl at school--who has just attempted suicide. While I discovers secrets about Leah, I race against time to return to my real body and ordinary-but-nice life.

#2. DEAD GIRL DANCING: Due to crazy events, I land in the body of a college girl going to get wild on spring break--which could be a fun adventure except for one thing--the college girl is the older sister of MY boyfriend. Awkward becomes deadly when a Dark Lifer stalks me--and threatens my life.

#3. DEAD GIRL IN LOVE: Another body swap--this time into my best friend Alyce, who has been keeping a dark secret about her family that involves graveyards, mental illness and a secret death. While I works hard to help Alyce, a Dark Lifer works hard to steal my heart and soul. Some sizzling out-of-body romance in this one!

W: What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

A: Chocolate chip cookie dough!

W: What do you think you're going to do after this interview?

A: Hmmm...are we still talking about ice cream? Excuse me, I'm going to to the fridge. Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream is calling my name.

W: If, for some reason, it was going to be the end of the world, and you had the power to save yourself and just one person, who would that be?

A: Okay, I thought hard on this one. I considered taking Alyce because she's my BFF, but she's morbid enough already without adding the whole end of the world drama. Then I considered my other best friend Dustin because he's so smart and protests against corrupt politicians. But Dustin's brilliance comes with computer hookups, and the electricity might be out if things go globally-critical. Next I thought about my adorable triplet little sisters but I could never choose between them. Same things with my parents. So I finally decided that I'd take my boyfriend Eli because he's got math-smarts and great problem solving skills. I just know he'd figure out how to save the world so then everyone would be okay. And if not we'd have lots of romantic alone time together. We could start a family and make things right for the world this time.

W: Is there anything else you would like to say?

A: Of course! I read self-help books, you know, so there's a lot of advice I could give to so people wouldn't need temporary replacements in their bodies and could solve their own problems. Mostly it's common sense stuff like be honest, respect yourself, keep a journal to help sort through your feelings, try to exercise even if you hate it like I do, go for nerdy nice guys because brains are HOT, and always have a cat or dog or some pet around for company and hugs.

Oh! And don't forget to read the DEAD GIRL series. Tell your friends to read them, too. If your bookstore doesn't carry them, say "Why not? Are you dumb or something? Order them now!" Also check out the author's website < www.LindaJoySingleton.com> to find out when the short story about me (and this psychic named Sabine) will be posted. It's called SABINE MEETS DEAD GIRL

W: Thanks for letting me interview you Amber!!!

~~~~~~~

For those who would like....HERE is my interview with Linda Jay Singleton, the author of the Dead Girl Series.

Hope you guys have a great day!!

And remember you get TWO extra entrees into the contest by commenting on this post and don't forget to join the contest HERE...where one of the prizes is a GIANT Linda Jay Singleton fan pack!!!

Wdebo :)