Review: Geek High by Piper Banks

Review of Geek High by Piper Banks

Release date: November 6th,2007
Format: Paperback, 242 pages
Publisher: NAL Trade
Source: Bought.


Summery from Goodreads:

"At this school, everyone's a geek. And Miranda Bloom still can't fit in...

Miranda is a math genius with divorced parents, an evil stepmother, and no boyfriend in sight. She can't even fit in with the other geeks at the Nottingham Independent School for high-IQ students, because theyactually have useful talents. Miranda, on the other hand, is known as "The Human Calculator," which doesn't amount to much when people have, you know, their own calculators.

Then Miranda gets stuck planning the school's Snowflake Gala. And as she struggles to find a date and drum up some school spirit at Nottingham-aka "Geek High"-she finds that who you are means more than where you fit in."



When I first read the summery for Geek High, I was hooked. This book isn't some great epic that will keep you up all night wondering what'll happen next, but it is a cute pleasurable read. It's just what you need after reading something dark. Geek High is light and a little bit of fluff. But it's good. It was funny and endearing, a little predictable in some places, but also a new take on being a teenager. Being a nerd!


A nerd that was judging others the way she didn't want them to judge her. The way she assuming the pretty rich girl would be a snob or the hot jock would be a meat-head was a little annoying, but she is only 15, and really, who doesn't occasionally do that? 



Rating- 3/12 stars.

-Jodie

Review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Review of Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.

Release date: August 30th, 2011.
Format: Hardcover, 316 pages.
Publisher: Tor Teen.
Source: Gifted.

Summery from Goodreads :

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

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This book. The Feels.  Anna.  

Anna Dressed in Blood opens while Cas is on a hunt, a poor ghost trying to get to the girl he'll never see again. Right from the start, it hooked me. Cas was funny and broody and badass. And Anna. Anna is the badass. I love Kendare's description of Anna, especially when we first met her. It was frightening and beautiful. She was frightening and beautiful. But also tragic. Her murder, and her horrible mother. I really hope her mother hatred is explained a little more in Girl of Nightmares. 

But something that really annoyed me was Gideon and Cas's mother trying to keep Cas from knowing anything about his father murder. I didn't like the way he had to hide the research he was doing. Also, Will. Will was a complete,ahem, ding-dong. I really,really disliked Will. And he was  really the only one that missed Mike, which I found funny. The way Mike's disappearance  was just swept under the rug was a little disconcerting, but not entirely surprising. 


Anyway, I'm still a little overwhelmed with that ending. 


Rating: 4 1/2 stars.

-Jodie

Review: Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier.

                                              Review of Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier.

  

Release date: May 22, 2012 (Original German Publication January 6th 2009)
Format: Paperback,352
Publisher: Square Fish (Original German publisher is Arena Verlag)
Source:Library book club.

      Summery from Goodreads:

Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era!

Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon—the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwyneth and Gideon journey through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust.

Kerstin Gier's Ruby Red is young adult novel full of fantasy and romance.

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Ruby Red was voted for next months book club at my library and I received the book today-well,technically yesterday,as it in now 3:05 am. I had gotten home, gotten on my laptop and was going through email and Goodreads when my laptop was lagging, so I decided to read a little while waiting,so I picked up Ruby Red. I quickly lost interest in the internet (Yes,I'm shocked too!) and was engrossed in the book! That was around 10:30ish pm. I finished Ruby Red about ten minutes ago. And I loved it!


I loved the mystery, while simultaneously hating being kept in the dark. It being in first-person,the reader,being me, only knows as much as the character,Gwyn,which isn't nearly as much as I'd have liked!
Everyone in  treating her like  either a child or a threat , and it's infuriating! Gwyneth handled all that much better than I would, I would have ended up punching someone or throwing a big fit until I was told everything. Kerstin Gier,the evil-mastermind, manages to let only the barest information loose,keeping the reader on tenterhooks throughout the whole book,always wondering what is around the corner. 

And the Boy! Oh,Gideon. So annoying and infuriating one moment and then so sweet and endearing the next. Ordering her about and being chauvinistic and downright obnoxious and then kind and alluring .
And Gwyn's friendship with lesley was so cute and funny. It was nice to have that little from all the secrets and danger. And the surprise at the end! Gosh! I'm going to have to get Sapphire Blue tomorrow! Really,who needs sleep?




Overall rating: 4 1/2 stars. 


-Jodie

Books-n-Bloggers Swaps!

                   Books-Bloggers Swaps!

Hello,my name is Jodie and I have too many books. So when I saw this awesome swap,I had to enter!
I've never done one of these before,but I'm sure it'll be awesome! :D

                               
                                                 How it works:

You purchase 3 books for your partner.  One book you love, one book you haven't read but think they'll like, and one book from their wishlist which will be provided to you.  Then you ship them off, and your partner does the same for you!

Books can be used, new, hardcover, paperback, or even ebook format (if your partner has an eReader) but must be in good condition.

Dates to Remember:
Sign-Ups Open: January 7th, 2013
Sign-Ups Close: January 13th, 2013
Partners Assigned: January 15th, 2013
Books Sent: January 25th & 26th, 2013

Books Arrive by: February 5th, 2013
Linky Party Runs: Jan. 30th-Feb. 7th, 2013

Shipping:
Due to issues with shipping in the past all packages sent through USPSMUST be sent priority and must get a tracking number.  This is mandatory, and not optional.  Packages can also be sent FedEx or UPS and a tracking number is also mandatory with these services.

This swap is open to participants in the USA and Canada.

To participate, head over to

Chaotic Goddess Swaps Books ‘n’ Bloggers Swap Sign-Up.

   It's too late now,but subscribe to her  blog for updates for next time! :D

150+ Reading Challenge for 2013

You can sigh up for this challenge here.

DETAILS/RULES:

1. The goal is to read 150 or more books. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate. Posting on GoodReads or wherever you post your reviews is good enough.

2. Allowed are: Audio, Re-reads, eBooks, YA, Manga, Graphic Novels, Library books, Novellas, Young Reader, Nonfiction – as long as the book has an ISBN or equivalent or can be purchased as such, the book counts.

What doesn't count: Individual short stories or individual books in the Bible and comic books.

3. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

4. Crossovers from other reading challenges count.

5. Challenge begins January 1st, 2013 thru December 31, 2013. Books started before the 1st do not count. You can join at anytime.

6. When you sign up under Linky, put the direct link to your post where your books will be listed. Include the URL to this post so that other viewers can find this fun challenge. If you’d prefer to put your list in the sidebar of your blog, please leave your viewers the link to the sign up page. Again, so viewers can join the challenge too.

Books Read:

1.Inuyasha volume 8
2.Inuyasha volume 9
3.Inuyasha volume 10
4.The Earl and the Fairy volume 1

5.Ruby Red (Review)
6.The Earl and the Fairy volume 2
7.Rosario+Vampire Season II volume 5
8.Inuyasha volume 11
9.Inuyasha volume 12
10.Anna Dressed in Blood (Review)
11.Nightlight: A Parody
12.Cactus's Secret volume 1
13.St.Dragon's Girl Volume 2
14.Heaven!! volume 2
15.Fall in Love Like a Comic volume 1
16.Stolen: A Letter to My Captor
17.Geek High (Review)

Review-Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Release date: September 6th,2011
Format:Ebook
Publisher:Katherine Tegan Books
Source:Kindle app


Description from Goodreads:

Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.

Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.

Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they're triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.

These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

I really love mythology and I really love Tera Lynn Childs other series ,Oh.My.Gods.,so I figured this book would be win-win. And it was. I love all the monsters, all the ways she used the mythology and all the mystery! The surprise with Ursusla and the mytsery about Nick.(I really hope Sweet Shadows explains more about Nick) I'm still wondering about Thane.

One thing that caught me up was when the girl encountered a Satyr and Gretchen describes it as half-man/half-horse .As much mythology as I've read(which is a lot),  the Saytr has always been half-man/half-goat. That kinda stuck in my head as I continued reading. Otherwise, it was an enjoyable and addictive read.

The Ending: When's the sequel coming out? Oh, it's out already? Brb.

I'm going to give this one 4 stars. Almost made it to five,but the Satyr thing bumped it down.


---Jodie

Guest Review by Sana: Lord Loss

Lord Loss (The Demonata #1) by Darren Shan

Grubbs Grady was a normal kid. Sure, he liked to play awful pranks on his sister, and his parents had a strange obsession with chess, but, overall, Grubbs’ life was basically normal. That is, normal until he comes home to find his family brutally slaughtered by demons. Lord Loss, the first book in the Demonata series, takes you Grubbs' admittance into a mental institute, and his strange relationship with his new-found Uncle Dervish. There is also the matter of finding out why demons killed his family. Not to mention, how werewolves and chess get involved.

If you are squeamish, this book isn’t for you. This book is so packed full of gore, it couldn’t even be made into a successful horror film. It would require far too much fake blood.  Magic allows the characters to sustain a lot more pain than what would be realistically possible, so, there are a lot more gruesome injuries. The descriptions of torture and murder are especially vivid. It was a graphically violent book, with a lot of striking imagery.

Most of the characters were very charismatic, even the antagonist, Lord Loss. It was very easy to root for Grubbs Grady. He was snarky and sarcastic without being too unrealistic. I thought it was important that Darren Shan had Grubbs institutionalized, even though it didn’t really add to the overall plot; it connected the whole story to the real world. The real world connection is what really makes these stories scary. The grisly gore without the connection would mean nothing. This book has the potential to keep people awake at night, because it connects the frightening violence to the real world.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is not squeamish, and is looking for something exciting, but easy. This particular book is not full of deep, societal insights, or any complicated political plots. It is really just about a kid being really awesome and fighting demons. It is a light read, entertaining, amusing, and quite dark. The combination of light banter and sarcasm of the characters with the dark, somewhat disturbing violence creates a really unique mood. When reading it, you feel like screaming and laughing at the same time. Certain concepts of the book are really amusing when they are first mentioned, then alarming when described. It was really well-balanced. It was dark, and scary, and witty and fun to read at the same time.

This book was fast-paced, and funny, even if certain paragraphs cause your stomach to flip. If you are looking for a quick, slightly horrifying, yet entertaining read, Lord Loss is the book for you.

Guest review by Sana