Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski

April comes from a broken family. Her mom cheated on her dad, and made him move out. Her mom moved to Paris with her new husband and April's brother, and her dad remarried. During the middle of her junior year, her dad announces that they will be moving. April is devastated. How could she leave her home with her friends and boyfriend of 2 years? April convinces her dad to let her stay with her friend Vi. Vi's mom isn't going to be home at all, but she's fine with letting the girls stay. April's dad... not so much. April knows that, so with some clever planning and convincing, her dad agrees to let her finish her junior year, and then they will re-discuss her future. This adventure leads to ten things that they did, and really, probably shouldn't have done.

I loved this book. It was entertaining and I was instantly addicted by the first 10 pages. Even though it was really unrealistic, and the characters seriously get away with everything, it was hilarious and a great read. I like how the chapters were broken up, with creative titles.

The characters were great. They all had their flaws, and were easy to relate to. They might not have been fully rounded characters, but I liked them just the same. I really understood April and her frustration with Noah and Hudson.

**THERE'S A SPOILER HERE SO SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ IT**

One thing I have to say, is that April is absolutely devastated about when she finds out Noah cheated on her. But come on, you were the one who slept in the same bed with another guy the night before. So you really can't be that hard on him because what you did was a fault on its own.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was how the book ended. I won't spoil it for you, but I wanted to know what happened after. I honestly can't say what I didn't like about it without ruining it, so you'll just have to read it for yourself! haha. And also, how they got away with EVERYTHING. If it was real life, there's no way that would happen! I also didn't like how this book basically said that condoms prevent all STDs, which isn't true. How misleading... lol

As for the cover... ehh... It could have been better, and I'm not really a fan of covers with people on them. Or at least where their faces are shown. And covers with a guy and a girl... lol. And is it just me, or does a book with a boy and a girl looking into each other's eyes with a title "Ten Things We Did" seem kinda dirty? Maybe it's just me haha.

Overall, it's a great summer read. It's not too serious or anything, just for enjoyment. It's funny, so I would recommend this book if you're just looking for a light read :) 5 out of 5 stars.



Matched (Matched #1) by Ally Condie

Hello everyone :) How is your summer going? I've finished Matched last night, and I'm going to review it now. Is it just more or are dystopian books becoming more and more popular?? Haha alright anyway....

I'm really not that great about giving summaries of dystopian books, because I always feel like there's certain important information that I'm forgetting. I'll do my best, but your best bet to get a better summary is to go here and read the description and some other reviews :) Just trying to be honest here!! haha 

The Society determines everything for you, and Cassia hasn't ever thought too much about it. She gets Matched with her best friend Xander. At first, everything is great. She's going to be with her best friend after all! And then when she plugs in the little chip thing, someone else's face appears. According to the Officials, it's a glitch. Cassia wouldn't normally worry, except for the fact that she knew the guy. His name is Ky, and he's the "bad" guy. He wasn't even supposed to be Matched. Her grandfather gives her something before he passes away, and after that, she begins to wonder how perfect the society she lives in really is.

A lot of people have compared it to the Giver (which I read last year but btw I hardly remember), but I find that unfair and kinda harsh. Dystopian books all have similar elements, so come on, give it a break. Like romance novels don't all have the same basic plot line? I can understand why people would say that, but not everything was the same...

I really liked Matched and all the "perfect society" bits. The romance part was kinda ehhhh for me but the storyline and characters were interesting enough to keep me going. It was a bit slow at some parts, but it picked up from there. I really liked the cover, it's so pretty and relative. She's stuck in a pretty green bubble! I liked both Xander and Ky, they were both cool in their own way. I can understand why Cassia would have trouble deciding between them. There's not a lot of action or rebellion in this part of the story, but I'm sure that there will be lots in the future books.

I'm do want to see what happens next, and will be reading Crossed when it comes out. :) I've also heard that Disney is going to make it into a movie. I would recommend this book, but I have to say that The Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld still remains my favorite dystopian series. 4 out of 5 stars !!!

Thank you for taking the time to read my review, I hope that you'll be visiting my blog again sometime soon :)

The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

I read this book about a month ago, and before I return it to the library I would like to review it. Please note that if I don't do a review directly after I read a book, it's a lost shorter. I'm doing this from memory, so please bear with me :)

The Lover's Dictionary is by my favorite author David Levithan. I heard that he had a new book out, so I decided to read it. This book is his first novel with post-high school characters.

An anonymous male author tells about his relationship, highlighting the good and bad parts of it. Unlike your traditional novel, this book is like a dictionary as the title suggests. There is a word at the top of the page, and then a "definition". The definitions are what tell the story. They aren't in chronological order, they are in alphabetical order.

And it did NOT disappoint me. I loved every page of it. Each entry was like a treasure, and I found myself reading and re-reading passages most of the time. It was magical, intimate, and special. It highlights both the good and bad parts of a relationship.

I love the unique feel of reading it, how it's not your typical novel. I love the messages it's telling me and how the story is told. I honestly can't find a thing to critique about this book because it was just THAT amazing for me.

I marked some passages to write down later and was going to quote some here, but then I realized I had practically marked the entire book. If you want to read some of them to get a feel of the book, go here . If you like them, then definitely get a copy of it so you can read the rest. You won't be disappointed :)

I absolutely loved this book. It was unique and beautiful and as I was reading it, I wished that I could share some of the passages with someone, because that's how powerful they were. I am putting this on my birthday wish list, so that I will be able to go back and refer to the pages that I love whenever I want. 5 out of 5 stars for the Lover's Dictionary!!

Crush Control by Jennifer Jabaley

Hopefully this color isn't too bright!!!! lol

Willow's mom forced them to move from Georgia to Las Vegas when she was 9 so she could pursue her career as a hypnotist. Willow was sad that she would have to leave her childhood best friend, Max. So she does what she must, and hypnotizes him so that they will always be best friends. Now, she's a senior and her mom wants a more "normal" life and decides to move back to Georgia. Willow has fallen in love with Max over the years and is excited to come back so that what they have can finally be more than just friends. Except she's faced with an unexpected surprise, Max has a girlfriend. Willow then finds herself using her inexperienced hypnosis techniques again to get what she wants.

I enjoyed the concept of this book, because hypnosis fascinates me. I found it a little hard to relate to Willow, because I would never to hypnotize someone to feel differently about me. I would just want them to like me for me, and not be thinking about what was fake and what was real. Our world is already fake enough, I wouldn't need more of that! haha. Max was just there every once in a while, I never felt a real connection with him. I thought that Mia was well-portrayed. I found Georgia to be a little unrealistic, because she seems too eager and happy to help Willow with whatever she was doing. Like the sidekick, who was fine with just being that. I thought that the author did a perfect job of creating  Quinton. I could feel Willow's frustration with him, because I was definitely frustrated with him too!! haha Minnie however, I felt was just thrown in and out of the story. I would have liked to have gotten to know her more, because she was there for a little bit, and then just gone without any explanation. I like full circle endings :P

The story was your typical love triangle, with some typical teenage characters. It was a nice, happy ending story. I liked how the author also wrote about some family problems too, so that Willow had other problems besides Max. It's somewhat predictable, even though there were some parts I didn't see coming. The characters were fun, no backstabbing villain ones, which was nice for a change.

It's nothing special, it was worth reading, but not something I would read again. If the summary interests you, give it a try! It's thought provoking and fun, and will most likely be enjoyed. I would give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars . I liked it, but it wasn't an outstanding story for me.

My To Read List

In this post, I would like to tell you what books I am going to be reading and reviewing soon. These books are pretty much in order, but they are subject to change depending on my reading mood.

There's Crush Control by Jennifer Jabaley. I've already started this one and I'm almost halfway through. I'll probably be writing a review for it within the next few days :)

Next, Ill probably be reading Matched by Ally Condie.

And after that, Bumped by Megan McCafferty. That is, if I can handle that much of dystopian reading! haha :) And if not, I'll be reading it soon.

And last, Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski.

Wish me luck and have a lovely summer week! If you have any comments, questions, or recommendations, you can reach me in the comments, myteenreads@gmail.com , or http://www.goodreads.com/myteenreads . :)

 

<3

Sisterhood Everlasting by Anne Brashares

Sisterhood Everlasting is a story of four girls we have come to know well over the years. Tibby, Bee, Lena, and Carmen, who’ve dubbed themselves “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”. Now, ten years later, they’re all grown up and are just trying to discover themselves and find out what they want.

Carmen is an actress who is becoming pretty successful in “the business”. She’s engaged to Jones, but she still misses her friends and thinks about them constantly.

Bridget lives in California with Eric, but doesn’t quite want to settle down and get married. She doesn't know what she wants, but she knows it's not that.

Lena paints and teaches, and likes to keep her life as quiet and un-dramatic as possible. She’s content, but not what anyone would consider happy. She finds herself thinking about Kostos and what could have been.

Tibby moved to Australia with Brian unexpectedly, and has been out of touch with them. So unexpectedly, as in they find her empty apartment.

One fateful day, they get a message from Tibby arranging from them to go to Greece. Of course they agree, and Carmen, Bridget, and Lena all find themselves in Greece a week later. Until an unexpected tragedy changes everything for them.

Let me say, that I did NOT see that one coming. It was actually really sad, and I kept waiting for the punch line, like “just kidding everything’s going to be okay”. That didn’t happen though, and I was forced to read on.

The four other books in this series are about these four girls through their high school years, teaching them about loss, love, and friendship. This novel is about them ten years later, basically facing the same things, but in a more adult way.

I love this story, and how it shows the girls who we’ve come to know and love over the years at a later time in their lives. I also like how their lives aren’t perfect, and the storyline isn’t all happy, because it’s easier to understand and appreciate. The girls all have their own problems to deal with and are just trying to figure out how to solve them.

The only negative things I have to say about this book are that if these girls were such “close friends”, how the heck did they let themselves grow so distanced from each other? Also, even though they’re almost 30, it seems that they still have the mind of a teenager, if that makes sense. Carmen is still self-centered (being an actress isn't helping this lol), Bee is still just as restless and doesn't know a good thing when she has it, and Lena is still as quiet and thinks about Kostos more than she wants to admit. Not much has changed right? Almost as if they haven’t embraced their adulthood yet, which I suppose is what this book is about. And last, 3 out of the 4 girls are still have relationships with their high-school sweetheart. Now as terribly romantic as that is, it is very hard to believe!!! Haha :)

I am so jealous of these girls. They have a bond so special and strong. I am sad to say that in my lifetime, I have never a constant close friend in my life. My friends have come and go for various reasons, and I find it unfortunate to say that I don’t have a “sisterhood” with anyone.

The cover… well, not the most interesting. REALLY not the most interesting, but anyway….

I enjoyed this unexpected conclusion to the Sisterhood and would recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed the other books.

I’ll give it a 4 out of 5 stars . :) It's worth it if you’ve read the other ones!

Gender Blender by Blake Nelson

Gender Blender is a treasure from my childhood. I remember reading it when I was in 4th or 5th grade and LOVED it. It was one of my favorite books. Now that I'm almost in 10th grade, I decided to go back and re-read this book that I had loved so much.

This story is about a 6th grade girl and boy named Emma and Tom.

Emma hates boys. Except for the adorable Jeff Matthews, of course. She loves school, gets straight A's (except for that one B last year), and is involved in countless after-school activities like gymnastics and piano lessons.

Tom hates girls. Except Kelly, who is extremely developed and curvy. No one expects too much of him, so he spends his time goofing off with his friends or practicing for the baseball tryouts.

Emma and Tom used to be good friends, but now they're older and of COURSE everyone knows that once boys and girls get to a certain age, they just don't stay friends anymore! Duhhh obviously :P

After an unfortunate accident, they find themselves in each other's bodies. They only have four days to understand the opposite sex and break the curse, or they will be stuck in each other's bodies forever.

In 5th grade, I loved this book. I liked the plot of it and how the girl and the boy have to work together so that the curse will be broken. It's fun, creative, and an interesting view into a boy's mind. I found it hilarious about the different situations they were put into.

Now, 5 years later, I still like the creative plot and yes the situations are quite entertaining. But the characters are SO stereotyped. I don't like books or characters I can't relate to, and there were a lot of things I can't relate to about this book.

First of all, Emma and Tom are supposed to be in 6th grade. They're pretty much at the boys-are-disgusting and girls-have-cooties stage. The girls have formed a group called the Grrlzillas, where they discuss their sisterhood and how much they don't like boys. Now maybe I was just a mature 6th grader, but I do NOT remember chasing around any boys or being in any girl clubs. Maybe when I was like in 3rd grade, but not 6th! At some times, the characters seem a lot younger than they actually are, but at others, they seem much older. Brad draws pictures of naked girls. Tom spends all day trying to look at Kelly's breasts because she just "spills out of her shirt". Okay, you're in 6th grade, like seriously?

 And when Emma (in Tom's body) gets a boner, how far does that thing really stick up? She claims it was like a "small rodent" sitting on her lap. Let's say that Emma wasn't wearing any pants or boxers, and then there was only a thin sheet covering her. Yes, I can understand that. But I'm pretty sure she wasn't. She was most likely wearing boxers, pajama pants, and a thin sheet (if not more) over that. Now, that must have been pretty massive erection for a 6th grader to have stood up THAT much, if you know what I mean.

The entire book was pretty much like this for me, hard to relate-to and understand, since I had been in most of the situations Tom and Emma had. After living through them, it's hard for me to find them realistic. By page 10 I was rolling my eyes and considering not finishing the book. However, it was too entertaining to leave unfinished.

I found the chapter titles extremely silly, and show exactly who the age group this book is targeted for. Examples: Morning Wood, Tom's First Naked Girl, Emma Likes Jeff!, Tom Gets A Little Trampoline Action, How 2 P, Tom Gets An Eyeful. So you can basically get a feel for the book by reading those chapter titles I've given you.

I would recommend this book to a mature 4th grader, or a 5th grader. Anyone over the age of 7th grade will probably be able to see how unrealistic and stereo-typical this book is from real life. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad book. It's actually an enjoyable, hilarious one. Just not for the age that I am now. So yes, I would recommend this book to a pre-teen, but not a teenager. Thank you Blake Nelson, for writing such a great book for my pre-teen self.

When I read it in 5th grade, it was definitely a 5 star book, but now, it's more of a 2. So, for my final grade, I will average the two and come up with a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Normally on my Goodreads reviews, I will round up (ex. I would round to give this book 4 stars), but I think that's a little too deserving for a book I found myself scoffing at the entire time, so 3 stars for my Goodreads review. :)

Happy reading everyone! <3