Waiting on Wednesday

Putting Makeup on Dead People by Jen Violi



"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.




Summary:

It's been four years since Donna Parisi's father passed away, but it might as well have been four days. Donna makes conversation and goes through the motion, but she hasn't really gotten on with life. She's not close with anyone, she doesn't have a boyfriend and she's going to college at the local university with a major that her mother picked. But one day Donna has an epiphany. She wants to work with dead people. She wants to help people say goodbye and she wants to learn to love a whole person--body and soul. She wants to live her life and be exceptional...at loving, at grieving and at embalming and cremating,too. Even as she makes the decision, things start to change. Donna makes friends with the charismatic new student, Liz. She notices the boy, Charlie, at her table and realizes that maybe he's been noticing her, too. And she begins to forgive the rest of her family for living their lives while she's been busy moping.

Jennifer Violi's gentle, moving story of a girl who finds a life in the midst of death will appeal to any reader who's felt stuck and found inspiration in an unexpected place.


Well.... if you can't say anything else, at least you can say it's unique!
If you visit please leave the link to your WOW so I can return the visit :)

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Summary:
         When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.



A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once.


While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.


Review:
    This is one of those books that can be summed up by its cover: Strong. The cover is fierce. You know who I think Ellie would get along with? Rose from the Vampire Academy. Hate to say it, but if a battle ever came in between Rose and Ellie, Ellie would win. She is in the running to be my favorite butt-kicking girl right in between Katniss Everdeen, and Katsa.

She wins on sarcasm. I loved the sarcastic banter going on between Will and Ellie. I also liked the other things going on between them...
Will is just about the perfect love interest for Ellie. Dark and moody IS hot. Will proves that. It was fun seeing Ellie try to force him out of his shell. And in turn, Will trying to make Ellie every reaper's nightmare.

I would recommend Angelfire to fans of the Vampire Academy, Hunger Games, Graceling, and Nightshade.

Artichokes Heart by Suzanne Supplee

Stars: 3.5

Summary from Goodreads:

 When she is almost sixteen years old, Rosemary decides she is sick of being overweight, mocked at school and at Heavenly Hair--her mother's beauty salon--and feeling out of control, and as she slowly loses weight, she realizes that she is able to cope with her mother's cancer, having a boyfriend for the first time, and discovering that other people's lives are not as perfect as they seem from the outside.




Review:
I was left with mixed feelings on the book. I wanted to love it. I did feel touched by it, but...
Some things were unbelievable. Like, Rosie's and Kyle's relationship. All Rosie seemed to be thinking was: Why would Kyle pick me? I'm so fat and ugly. I bet if I sat on a whale it would sink.... must try out this theory.... OMG I LOVE KYLE!!!
And Kyle says: You're so beautiful, and so smart. I will do ANYTHING for you.
I didn't feel a spark. I don't care if your attraction is that you both love to frolic among meadows or whatever. AT LEAST IT'S A SPARK. It feels their relationship was based on Rosie insecurities.
The good points:
I think Rosie's battle to lose weight is realistically portrayed. Before the book, I had no idea what some one with weight problems actually thought about that. The issue about weight never stuck out to me. I have friends struggling with weight, but except for the occasional comment about bathing suit season, they don't talk about it. I assumed they don't care that much.
If you can get past the flaky relationships and the slow writing, I would recommend this book.

Waiting on Wednesday

WOW is hosted at Breaking the Spine.

http://www.gaiaphage.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=38 is an inteview with the author.



I may have used this book before, but... I DON'T CARE! I am in love with these series. LOVE.
So, I've heard some one's having a baby. And the waters running out. And (more obviously) THIS BOOK HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH A PLAGUE!
I'm drooling over the cover right now, in case you want to know....
TWO MORE WEEKS.
APRIL 5.
FOREVER.

I donated to Priness Bookie's contest!

Here is the link to the best contest ever.
This is my first time "donating" to any contest of sorts/ having to do with any contest at all. (I must admit I'm slightly giddy about the fact.)


The book is Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick!

You have to be a follower of Owl Review a Book to enter, so followers... you're in good shape : D


RUN TO YOUR DOOM MY CHILDREN, RUNNNNN.

Say no to CAPTCHA

Yes, word verification.
(This paragraph was taken from Holes In My Brain because I am being lazy today)

You might not even know your blog has it turned on! But if you wanna turn it off and you use Blogspot, go to your "Dashboard". Click "Settings". Click "Comments". Under "Show word verification for comments?" click NO.



The typey wordy thingie annoys me SO MUCH. Believe it or not, I do not want to wait while the page loads again just so I can type in some wimsical word of no meaning. I make a point to not comment on blogs that have that.

Word verification was made to stop spammers, so if you have a spammer problem then OK. I have never had that problem, and never in my life have I used the word thingy.

Link up here.





:D

Win Breathless

Nuff said. That is one amazing contest there.  I've only read Matched, Nightshade, and Across the Universe so far.
: )

Pincess Diaries by Meg Cabot

Stars: 4

Summary from Amazon:

Mia Thermopolis is your average urban ninth grader. Even though she lives in Greenwich Village with a single mom who is a semifamous painter, Mia still puts on her Doc Martens one at a time, and the most exciting things she ever dreams about are smacking lips with sexy senior Josh Richter, "six feet of unadulterated hotness," and passing Algebra I. Then Mia's dad comes to town, and drops a major bomb. Turns out he's not just a European politician as he's always lead her to believe, but actually the prince of a small country! And Mia, his only heir, is now considered the crown princess of Genovia! She doesn't even know how to begin to cope: "I am so NOT a princess.... You never saw anyone who looked less like a princess than I do. I mean, I have really bad hair... and... a really big mouth and no breasts and feet that look like skis." And if this news wasn't bad enough, Mia's mom has started dating her algebra teacher, the paparazzi is showing up at school, and she's in a huge fight with her best friend, Lilly. How much more can this reluctant Cinderella handle?





Review:

This is the sixth book I have read by Meg Cabot. I have found that all her books tend to be a cute and funny read. The Princess Diaries are no different!

The writing style of the book felt like I was exchanging casual e-mails with a friend. I haven't read any diary format books (except Anne Frank, but she's real) and this blew me away. I was giddy with happiness the first time the book overused exclamation points. That made my day.

Mia doesn't think very highly of herself. In her mind she's a total LOSER. While that made me feel way better about myself, I was annoyed at her friend choice. Lilly is so critical of Mia, no wonder Mia thinks she's dirt!  In the future books I want to see Mia get better friends.

Toward the end, the book started getting a little repetitive. I would, firstly, recommend it to younger teens, and secondly, to chic-lit lovers.

I'm back permanently now!

The Duff by Kody Keplinger

Stars: 5


Summary:
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn't think she's the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her "Duffy," she throws her Coke in his face.
But things aren't so great at home right now. Desperate for a distraction, Bianca ends up kissing Wesley. And likes it. Eager for escape, she throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley.
Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out that Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.


Review: 
   This cast of kick-butt characters made the book unputdownable. Bianca's pessimistic, worrying  voice was funny and easy to understand. Bianca is literally me, but older. I think (however cheesy this may sound) that we all have a little Bianca in us. Well... her teen-ness anyways. At some point and time most people worry (if you don't, you're a vampire) that they aren't good enough. That they are weird, and no one is ever going to like them. If you ever thought that, read the book.

       WESTLEY! I knew from the beginning, despite his sluttish tendencies... and his tendency to act like a total bitch.... that he was sweet. His high, sarcastic attitude made a perfect match to Bianca's cynical, take-no-bullcrap-attitude.

     What semi-bothered me was the sex. I kept waiting for Bianca to get pregnant or something. If that will bother you, you do not want to read this book.
Dude, middle school sex ed. is intense. I have images in my head that will never go away. I cringed every time a sex scene came up... that slide show... *shudders*

Enough of that depressing topic. Great book, read it.




(I'm taking a break from my break now. I'll be perminently back next week.)

Short blogger break.

Hey,
I may be gone from blogger for a week or two. I have a school play that is happening this week, which is awesome, but somewhat stressful. AND I also have a school trip that will last three days...
But you blogger people are awesome, and I'll come back soon!