Review: Willow

Title: Willow
Author: Julia Hoban
Publication date: April 2nd, 2009

Summary:
Seven months ago, on a rainy March night, Willow’s parents drank too much wine at dinner and asked her to drive them home. But they never made it—Willow lost control of the car, and both of her parents were killed.

Now seventeen, Willow is living with her older brother, who can barely speak
to her. She has left behind her old home, friends, and school. But Willow has found a way to survive, to numb the new reality of her life: She is secretly cutting herself.

And then she meets Guy, a boy as sensitive and complicated as she is. When Guy discovers Willow’s secret, he pulls her out of the solitary world she’s created for herself, and into a difficult, intense, and potentially life-changing relationship.

Julia Hoban has created an unflinching story about cutting, grieving, and starting
anew. But above all, she has written an unforgettable tale of first love.

Review:
Oh my goodness, I don't even know where to start with this! I suppose I'll start by saying that first of all, I loved the cover on this book. This would be a book that I would buy on impulse for the cover alone, even if I knew nothing else about it.
But more importantly, the book itself was AMAZING. If you haven't read it yet, I strongly suggest that you get a copy as soon as possible. There are a few other YA books I'm aware of about cutting, but I think this one captures it almost perfectly. As someone who's witnessed a lot of other people struggle with cutting, I'd say that this book is very realistic. Willow was very real, and very powerful - on both the subject of cutting, and of finding love. It was written in such a way that you could definitely feel the emotion. I can't think of anything else I've read that was written quite like this - and I really liked it. I think I've run out of words to describe how I felt about this book. If you haven't read it, and want to, do yourself a favor and find a copy of it somewhere. I know I had a bit of a hard time finding it because Borders didn't carry it, but if you can get a copy of it, it's an absolutely amazing book that I would recommend to anybody. It's definitely in the top 10 of my all time favorite books.


Characters: 10/10
Plot: 10/10
Originality: 9/10
Writing: 10/10
Overall grade: A+

"Doing It" Contest Winner!

Because today is my birthday (finally) I have chosen the winner for my first giveaway, Doing It by Melvin Burgess.

The winner is: Katie :)
I've sent you an email, please respond within 72 hours or I'll have to pick a new winner.

Thanks to everyone who entered! If you didn't win, you still have another chance to win more books in my 25 Followers Giveaway.

Contest in celebration of having 25 followers!

I've been thinking for a while now, "I think I'll do a contest when I reach 25 followers." I reached that goal today, thanks to Kayla! :) So now, I'll be holding a contest in celebration of that. It will be slightly bigger than my last one (which ends on Tuesday - check it out if you haven't done so already).

When it ends, I'll pick two winners.
First place winner gets their pick of two of the following books.
Second place winner gets the remaining book.




To enter: Leave a comment with your email address, and tell me what you like most about my blog.

Extra entry: Post about this contest somewhere, and give me a link to it.

Open to: USA and Canada. (Yes, Canada. I've had a few requests for this, so for this contest, all of you Canadians can join too! :D)

Deadline: May 4th. Winners will be announced on May 5th.

In My Mailbox (4/20 - 4/25)

While I didn't get anything in the mail this week, I did find a few books on sale at Borders that I picked up :) $3.99 each, yay! I love book sales. I've heard of a few of these books before, so I just decided to pick up all of the YA ones I could find ;D

Also, I want to apologize for not having any reviews for any of the recent books I've been getting. I've got quite a few books from before I started blogging that I'm trying to finish first, so that's why you've been seeing mostly older books. I will get to the other ones soon, though, I promise! My review for Willow should be coming in a few days ;)


Local Girls
Jenny O'Connell

Kendra and Mona are best friends, local girls who spend their summers catering to rich tourists and the rest of the year chafing against small-town life. Then Mona's mom marries one of the island's rich summer visitors, and Mona joins the world of the Boston elite, leaving Kendra and Martha's Vineyard behind. When Mona returns the following summer, everything is different. Now Mona spends her days sunbathing with her private-school friends, while Kendra works at The Willow Inn -- a job she and Mona once hoped to do together.

Unlike his sister, Mona's twin brother Henry hasn't changed. He's spending his summer the way he always has: with long, quiet hours fishing. Early mornings before work become special for Kendra as she starts sharing them with Henry, hoping he can help her figure Mona out. Then Kendra hatches a plan to prove she's Mona's one true friend. She'll uncover the identity of the twins' birth father, a question that has always obsessed Mona. And so she sets out to unravel the seventeen-year-old mystery of the summer boy who charmed Mona's mother. But are some secrets better off staying buried?

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

The Book of Luke
Jenny O'Connell

Emily Abbott has always been considered the Girl Most Likely to Be Nice -- but lately being nice hasn't done her any good. Her parents have decided to move the family from Chicago back to their hometown of Boston in the middle of Emily's senior year. Only Emily's first real boyfriend, Sean, is in Chicago, and so is her shot at class valedictorian and early admission to the Ivy League. What's a nice girl to do?

Then Sean dumps Emily on moving day and her father announces he's staying behind in Chicago "to tie up loose ends," and Emily decides that what a nice girl needs to do is to stop being nice.

She reconnects with her best friends in Boston, Josie and Lucy, only to discover that they too have been on the receiving end of some glaring Guy Don'ts. So when the girls have to come up with something to put in the senior class time capsule, they know exactly what to do. They'll create a not-so-nice reference guide for future generations of guys -- an instruction book that teaches them the right way to treat girls.

But when her friends draft Emily to test out their tips on Luke Preston -- the hottest, most popular guy in school, who just broke up with Josie by email -- Emily soon finds that Luke is the trickiest of test subjects . . . and that even a nice girl like Emily has a few things to learn about love.

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

Rich Boys
Jenny O'Connell

For seventeen-year-old Winnie, summer can't arrive fast enough -- anything to get out of the house and escape the cold war brewing between her parents. With her older sister, Shelby, spending the summer in Boston, Winnie's left to deal with the situation all by herself. Which is why she's happy to spend all day away from home at a cushy job -- camp counselor at the prestigious Oceanview Inn.

And when the Barclays, a wealthy summer family, offer Winnie an additional babysitting job in the evenings after work, she jumps at the opportunity. Little Cassie Barclay is fun to take care of, and hanging out in the gorgeous Barclay summer house overlooking the harbor is far more pleasant than being on the front lines of the battle between her parents.

Then Cassie's older and devastatingly attractive stepbrother Jay arrives on the island after a disastrous first year at college, and he seems to want nothing more than to wreak havoc for his stepmother and the rest of his family. Winnie soon discovers that life in the Barclay summer house isn't so perfect after all, and what was supposed to be a carefree summer escapade is quickly becoming more complicated than she ever thought possible....

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

What Happens Here
Tara Altebrando

When Chloe's parents decide to take her to Europe the summer before senior year of high school, she's ecstatic...she only wishes her best friend, Lindsay, could come too. Living in Las Vegas, they have long imagined the world through the casinos inspired by great cities and have vowed to travel the globe together someday. Unfortunately, Lindsay's parents won't agree to send her along.

So Chloe goes to Europe and sends postcards to Lindsay every day. But when she comes home, she must cope with shocking news that rips her family -- and Lindsay's -- apart. And as she tries to uncover the truth about what happened, Chloe soon begins to feel that Lindsay's brother, Noah, is the one person alive for whom she'd go to the ends of the earth....

From the acclaimed author of The Pursuit of Happiness, this is a stunning new novel of friendship, love, and loss, set against the dazzling dual backdrops of Europe and Las Vegas.

Review: Temping Fate

Title: Temping Fate
Author: Esther Friesner
Publication Date: June 1st, 2006

Summary: Until she stumbled upon the Divine Relief Temp Agency, Ilana Newhouse was having a hard time finding a summer job. Apparently, a t-shirt that reads "ORC: The Other Green Meat" isn't appropriate for an interview. But when she reports for her first day as a temp, Ilana discovers why Divine Relief isn't shy about hiring someone a little left of ordinary. Ilana is temping for the extraordinary Greek mythological goddesses, the Fates. The three Fates are responsible for spinning, measuring, and cutting all the life-threads on the planet. Now her summer is going to be less about surviving a stuffy office and more about avoiding being turned into a pig - or worse!


Review:
I was a bit skeptical about this book at first, as I'm not usually a huge fan of books about dragons or wizards or gods or things of that sort. As I started reading, though, I really got into the book. It seems very weird for the first chapters, until you realize what's really happening. I was thinking, "This lady who's trying to hire her is crazy!! Why would anybody act like that?" but by the end of the book it just seemed natural. I think my favorite character in the book was Arachne - who was turned into a spider by the goddess Athena. She brought a bit more fun to Ilana's temp job with the Fates. I also loved the concept of the life-threads, that everyone has their own thread that is their life, and different aspects can be controlled by the Fates. I enjoyed this book a lot more than I originally thought I would, it was fun to read and it was definitely original.

Characters: 8/10
Plot: 8/10
Originality: 9/10
Writing: 9/10
Overall grade: B

One Lovely Blog Award

Today I found out that I've received another award, from Katie at Katie's Book Blog. Wow, thank you!


This award is given to new blogs and blogging friends.

The rules to follow are:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.


Well considering that I'm still fairly new to blogging, I'd say that all of the blogs I've discovered so far are new to me. :) So I'll nominate 15 of my favorites. Most probably won't be NEW blogs, because I don't think I'm aware of that many.

1. Addicted to Books
2. Juiciliciousss Reviews
3. Korianne Speaks
4. Michelle's Bookshelf
5. Read This Book
6. Reading is Bliss
7. The Compulsive Reader
8. In Bed With Books
9. Karin's Book Nook
10. Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf
11. One Reader's Trash is Another Reader's Treasure
12. Reader Rabbit
13. Mrs. Magoo Reads
14. Bookworm Readers
15. Bookluver-Carol's Reviews

My first award

So this is pretty cool, I got an award today thanks to Michelle at Michelle's Bookshelf. I've seen them on other blogs and I've always thought the zombie chicken one was pretty cool. I'm kind of curious about the origin of the zombie chicken award, haha. It's so random, and awesome. That's okay though, because I like random! I'm totally honored to get this. Thanks, Michelle!

So now apparently I have to nominate 5 other blogs to get the zombie chicken award.
1. Carol
2. Amy
3. Lauren
4. Laina
5. Karin

Yay, zombie chicken award! :)

And thanks again to all of you who follow my blog, or post comments. It means so much to me, and I love having conversations with fellow bloggers.