Beautiful Creatures By Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Let me start off by saying, if you did not know this was written by two women, you would never know. This was a pretty darn good book altogether, but honestly, the only thing that kept me reading through the 200 page mark was the fact that I can't leave a mystery unsolved and I had to write this book review, that and sự lãng mạn (that's one of my reasons for sticking with the book in a language I'm not telling you). But in the end, I'm glad I stuck with it for whatever reason in whatever language.


The book is about Ethan and Lena (as Leena, I didn't figure that out until around a hundred pages in, so here it is from the start). Ethan is a normal human being, a Mortal, and Lena is a Caster, like a witch but less evil-sounding. Caster's, at their sixteenth birthday, go Dark or Light, A.K.A. they choose when they're sixteen and full of teenage hormones whether they want to spend the rest of their life on Team Good or Team Bad. But Lena's family is different, the women in Lena's family are cursed to have their fate chosen for them, and Lena's scared she's going to get picked for Team Bad. Ethan has been having dreams of Lena, and Lena's been having the same dreams. When Lena moves to Gatlin (the town in which the story takes place), Ethan doesn't recognize her immediately like he should because he can never remember the girl's face. But what he does remember is her scent. So when he almost runs Lena over, and gives her a ride home, he recognizes her through her smell, lemons and rosemary. The rest of the story basically goes on with these aspects mixed together-
1. Ethan finds out Lena is a Caster
2. Ethan copes with Lena being a Caster
3. Lena's weird relatives
4. The Cheerleaders from Hell
5. Information that I kept thinking was meant to fill up time, but really does turn out to be helpful in the end.
Now on to the review.
I found it really refreshing to have a YA novel almost completely narrated by a dude (I say this because there are a couple pages near the end that are narrated by Lena). The book was good, long though. I kept whining to my friend and my mom that there were a hundred pages for less than 24 hours. The book kept me thinking, but I think this was only because I have a hard time putting my thoughts into words. It was written beautifully, but I'm not sure it had the best plot to back it up. This is the opposite of the problem with the last book I reviewed, Shiver, that had a good plot with not so good writing, and you need both to make for an excellent novel. Let me just say that I think the cover is awesome, but really hard to read if you stare at it too long. Besides that, I have nothing more to say. I bid you good bye!
Taryn.
P.S. I will now embark upon the journey that is Harry Potter *crossingmyself*, may God help me look at this critically. Help.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Don't you hate it when you have arguments in your head? Strange thing to start off with, I know, but I really do hate it. And don't you hate it when you want to know everything but you don't so you just silently torture yourself wondering why the world doesn't know these very pressing questions (I actually took this to the point where I don't think to myself because I will drive myself crazy trying to understand why I don't understand how I think to myself!). Well anyway, I was having little arguments in my head, and then screaming at myself because I don't understand how the arguments in my head work all throughout this book. Let me get on to the synopsis to procrastinate trying to put the arguments into words a little longer.
This book is about Grace and Sam, Girl and Werewolf. Grace was attacked by a pack of werewolves when she was a kid, saved by Sam in wolf form, never turned into a wolf for some unknown reason. And you know, the werewolves don't turn into werewolves during the full moon, they turn to wolves when it gets cold (don't you love YA novels bashing ALL myths!). Grace didn't know that it was a pack of werewolves that attacked her, but when a kid at her school gets attacked by wolves, and she later sees a wolf with his eyes in the woods, she starts to expect the truth. The police start to hunt for the wolves, and Wolf!Sam gets shot. For some reason he turns into a human again, and Human!Sam goes to Grace's house and waits. When Grace returns to find Human!Sam shot and on her back porch, she instantly knows it's her wolf because of his strange yellow eyes. Grace takes Human!Sam to the hospital, where he gets stitches that are useless because werewolves heal MEGA fast. Grace takes Sam home and hides him in her room (this is achieved through Grace's parents never being home). The rest of the book (up until the climax) tells of Grace and Human!Sam's relationship and struggle to keep Human!Sam from turning into Wolf!Sam. There are many revealing points including

1. Grace and Sam love each other.

2. Grace and Sam would risk their lives to be together.

3. Grace wishes her parents would love her more.

4. Grace and Sam think each other hot.

5. Grace and Sam ..../.-/...-/./..././-..-/ (that was Morse code, if you beep Morse code, you know what I said, if you don't, well, look up the alphabet on Google.)

Anyway, I won't give away the ending, but I will tell you that I hated it, but not for the reasons you might think, like, someone dies. No, that would be too commonplace and meaningful to be worth the fit I threw in my head, it must be something trivial! The ending wasn't a solid one, (yay! they kiss!!). I swear when I get around to finishing my book, there will be a solid ending (however, there will not be a million like in Lord of the Rings).

Now for the part I've been putting off, the review. I honestly have no idea what to say, I'm torn between wanting to like so much, but that would result in giving into the majority (to quote G.H. Hardy, It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people for that), and between wanting to hate for its stereotypical-ness. So let me explain my likes and dislikes. It was well written, but it seemed like the words were forced, almost as if the author had to pick and pull at her brain to get the right words out. There was a good story line. The characters were fairly likeable, but I never got to loving Grace or Sam, or any character in the book for that matter. I didn't like them all that much, I didn't root for them like I did other characters (Harry Potter, Maggie Quinn, Sayuri (Memoirs of a Geisha), Maddie (Runemarks, which I plan to review in the future, but it will be a re-read). Other than that, it was actually an enjoyable book, but unlike some other books, I'm not sad to leave it, nor am I happy, just, unfeeling.
Good day,
Taryn
P.S. I'd like to say that I kinda took the idea for the Human!Sam and Wolf!Sam from Rosemary Clement-Moore, it's on her blog, here's the link in case you want to read it. http://readrosemary.blogspot.com/
P.P.S. Completely unrelated to post, but I found out that on the list of Rosemary Clement-Moore's favorite television shows there is Phych! That is like the best thing on television since Bewitched! (There is also The Big Bang Theory, which I love.)

Reread of the month, Maggie Quinn: Girl VS. Evil by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Ah, leaving a series, the hardest thing to do, especially if it is an abnormally awesome series, like this one.  Here is the repost of the review I posted last month.  There's an edit at the end, so, if you like, you can skip the review and go on to the edit, but I would enjoy it greatly if you read the review as well.

Prom Dates from Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore is an amusing book full of wit and Sci-Fi movie references (which I'm a sucker for). The book is about Maggie Quinn and is the first in a trilogy of books featuring her. She goes to school in Avalon High with her best friend D&D Lisa and the Jocks and the Jessicas. When some freaky stuff starts happening, she starts to rediscover and accept her clairvoyant gift. With the help of her new friend Justin, Lisa, and Brian (surprisingly one of the Jocks) they save their prom from the ancient Babylonian demon Azmael.

In Hell Week Maggie has moved to the local collage, and for a spot on the collage newspaper, tries to infiltrate Rush. For those of you who don't know, Rush is what all aspiring sorority girls must go through. Maggie gets her spot on the newspaper and writes under the pen name Phantom Pledge. She eventually discovers some weird things happening in the Sigma Alpha Xi sorority that she pledged to. This activity turns demonic quickly and during Hell Week Maggie saves the day with Lisa, Justin, and Devon (a SAXi who turned on her sorority.)

And finally, in Highway to Hell Lisa and Maggie go on spring break (again for the school newspaper for a story under "The Least Likely Spring Breakers") Their car runs over a cow in the middle of the road with strange bite marks all over it's body. Their Jeep gets broken by the cows horns and they are stuck in the nearest Middle of Nowhere town, Dulcina. And by now you probably know what happens next, freaky, weird, strange things happen. Maggie and Lisa hear a rumor from the barkeeper that the strange stuff (animal killings almost exactly like the one with the cow that the girls ran over) is because of El Chupacabra a mythical monster that kills livestock and drinks their blood (hope you don't mind if I go off track here for a little bit, but ever since I heard Blood by My Chemical Romance, every time I see the word, I get the song stuck in my head). Of course the killer can't just be some monster that can be killed, it has to be demonic. Maggie saves the day with, let me hear it, Justin and Lisa, and one new addition, Justin's childhood friend Henry.



NOTE

From this point onward, I will be referring to the books with these acronyms-

Prom Dates From Hell- PDH

Hell Week- HW

Highway to Hell- HH

I immensely enjoyed each book but I feel as though PDH was great HW was good and HH was okay. PDH used the one thing that will win my heart in excess, pop culture references. It was fun, funny, and real (if you exclude the demons, and the physic powers). I honestly think anybody would like it, the main character is likable and witty, the supporting characters keep to their personality, and there's one gigantic plot twist at the end. I didn't like HW as much because the supporting characters weren't as developed as in PDH, which one thing I really liked about the first book. Also, the pop culture refences were kept to a minimum, other than that, the book was as enjoyable as the first. HH was, again, funny and awesome, but not as good as the previous two books. HH has the same problems as HW, supporting characters weren't as developed and even the supporting main characters (as I like to call the other main characters, like in Harry Potter, Harry is the main character, Ron and Hermione are the supporting main characters) weren't like Ron and Hermione but were like, um, let's say, Hagrid in the Sorcerers Stone and Dumbldore in the Half Blood Prince. And the pop culture references were almost nonexistant. I would recommend this book to anyone for that matter, but I have one final note, there is swearing in this book (but nothing too bad confined mainly to the S-word, D-word, and H-word).
 
 
 
 
Edit-
You find, when you reread a book, you are left with a greater understanding of the book, there is no exception here.  I found out that the main reason I love this book so much is because it's not like other YA novels.  Let me elabortate, here is my typed impersonation of a typical YA novel-
 
Boring girl-  Oh, my life is so boring, I'm so boring and plain, I hate my life.
Oh, look, a hot guy, I wish he were my boyfriend, but who would want to be with me, boring and plain girl with a boring and plain life.
Hot Guy-  I love you boring girl
Boring girl- You can't love me, I'm boring!!! And plain!!! And you are so hot, and gorgeous and god-like!!!
Hot Guy- You're not boring or plain, and I love you!
Boring girl- I love you too, even though we have only known eachother for three days.
Hot Guy-  I know!!!
Sucky author-  ohmigod, I spent so much time explaining how boring this girl is and how hot this guy is I forgot to work in a plot!!! Oo, here's one!!
Hot Guy- Look, there is a plot, and this lame plot will make this book even more sucky, I must try to destroy it, causing the book to be only slightly more sucky!!
Boring Girl- Oh no! I'm alergic to plots, both sucky and good! I need someone to save me to make this book even more misogynistic and lame than it already is!!!
Hot Guy-  I shall save you!
Hot Guy saves Boring Girl in a totally lame and misogynistic way that involves killing the plot with The Dagger of Lame.
Sucky Author- Look, I made a totaly awesome plot!! Now my book is finished, and I shall send it to editors so it can be published!!
Dumb editor upon reciving lame and sucky book-   THIS IS A MASTERPIECE!!! I will publish it to impose upon America this awesomeness that is really suckiness, thereby making modern American literature even worse than it already is!!
 
 
See.  Anyway, this book is different, but I will point out that there are bound to be similarities like-
1.  The book says that Justin is a chauvanist, I disagree on that point, I think that he may not be a complete chauvanist, but definitly thinks something similar to 50's standards, women should stay at home, and the men should do the hard stuff.  I'm not sayting that this is exactly how he thinks, but if you read the book you'll see that it's more like "Women should stay and do the easy stuff because men should be doing the dangerous and hard stuff."  I don't think this means that he thinks that men are the superior gender, but I do think that means that he thinks that women shouldn't be risking anything for the greater good and that men should be doing that kind of stuff.
2.  In the book you do get the typical admiration for the 'hotness' of the men in the novel.  But I do think it's different than my impersonation of stereotypical YA novels because Maggie doesn't degrade herself or think that she's not worth Justin's love, just that she thinks he cute.
 
 
I think that's it.  Just so you know, I've read this series so much slower than the previous books because I got back to school when I started the reread of the month, so I don't have as much time for reading.  That and I did get grounded twice from reading.  (I'd like to add that my mom did go back on the promise she made to me when I was seven, that she would never EVER stop me from reading.)
 
Taryn.

Reread of the month.

This is the first reread of the month, each month during the last week, I will reread a book I read and reviewed during the month. This month I'll be rereading the Maggie Quinn Girl v. Evil series. There will be a repost of the review afterwards.


Taryn.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

The Adoration of Jenna Fox is a futuristic sci-fi novel for young adults. It records Jenna Fox’s life after her year long coma. She has been in a terrible accident and can’t remember a thing. Her parents give her discs recording all her life before the coma in hopes that she will remember who she was. She has trouble remembering the important stuff, like if she had friends, but remembers perfectly sock shopping. Her grandmother doesn’t like her for some reason, her mom is a complete control freak and her father is barely present. She is told that they moved from Boston to California after the accident for a more personalized care. Throughout the book, she makes discoveries and advancements leading up to a great realization three-fourths in. The rest of the book says how she deals with this realization.


I really liked this book and the themes it deals with, such as medical advances and ethics, also how far a parent will go to save their child. The book was great, but not very captivating, to be honest, if it wasn’t for the eight hour long flight I’m on, it would have taken much longer to finish the book. For some reason I keep reading books that I love but creep me out, maybe I’m masochistic in a strange way because I honestly want to read the disturbing books. One more note, another thing I love about the book is at certain intervals it gives you poem sort of composition, I’ll leave with three of my favorites that I love so much I want to type them up, go to Kinko’s, have it printed and frame it so I can hang it in my room.

There is a place.
A place where I have no eyes, no mouth.
No words.
I can’t cry out because I have no breath. The silence is so deep I want to die.
But I can’t.
The darkness and silence go on forever.
It is not a dream.
I don’t dream.

I needed it like I needed air.
But no one could hear me.
No one could listen.
No words. No sound.
No voice.
I couldn’t event dream myself away.
Choices were made.
None of them mine
At first I wondered if it was Hell.
And then I knew it was

A bit of someone here.
A bit there.
And sometimes they don’t add up to anything whole.
But you are so busy dancing.
Delivering.
You don’t have time to notice.
And then one day you have to look.
And it’s true.
All of your pieces fill up other people’s holes.
But they don’t fill
Your own.

Taryn.

My Bake Day, here you go Auntie Maranda

Now, for anybody reading this for book reviews (though I highly doubt it considering the only people I see on this site are my family), but if there are any anonymous, non-family readers, sorry for going off topic but I promised my aunt I would write about our bake day.


NOTE- this may be long, I seem to be almost incapable of telling a simple, to the point story, helpful if you're writing a book, not so much if you’re telling an oral story to someone.


*typewriter sounds*-
0700 Friday, March 26, 2010
I wake, it is dark and cold. My mother is rushing around the house preparing everything, she tells me to get dressed, and I do.

*typewriter sounds*
0730 Friday, March 26, 2010
My mom and I enter our transportation vehicle, it is still cold, I think Hell has frozen over, time for the cheerleaders to kiss the nerds. The sun is starting to shine, but it has little effect on the snow leftover from the blizzard two days ago.

*typewriter sounds*
0800 Friday, March 26, 2010
We reach the house in which we will be baking, I collapse onto the bed and wait. The dog comes to greet me, I reply with a simple "Hi". I fall into a half sleep. I continue to wait.
*typewriter sounds*
0830 Friday, March 26, 2010
I hear the doorbell. It is my Aunt. She enters and she and my mother converse. The baking commences. We start with yeast for rolls. We prepare the ingredients whilst the yeast rises.

*typewriter sounds*
0900 Friday, March 26,2010
we mix the dough. We then let it rise for an hour and start on the almond roca at 0945.

*typewriter sounds*
0945 Friday, March 26, 2010
We make the toffee for the Almond roca. Mother again documents the event on her iPhone. We pour the caramel into the pan and let it harden a little bit, so it is caramel toffee. We place the chocolate squares on top of the caramel toffee and let it melt, we then spread the chocolate over the entirety of the toffee and then place and press the almonds onto the top. We let it cool in the fridge and wait the remainder of the hour.

*typewriter sounds*
1000 Friday, March 26, 2010
We start rolling the bread. I apparently get the rolling down pact faster than normal. Auntie Maranda makes one pan, I make two.

*typewriter sounds*
1030 Friday, March 26, 2010
We wait for the bread to rise more. Auntie Maranda's is done first, we place it into the oven at 1045, it is done cooking at 1100.
*typewriter sounds*
1100 Friday, March 26, 2010
My bread is done rising, I receive praise for the good placing and rolling of the dough. We bake the bread, it is done at 1120.

*typewriter sounds*
1145 Friday, March 26, 2010
While Mother is eating the bread, Auntie Maranda and I break the almond roca. We then eat some of the roca.

*typewriter sounds*
1200 Friday, March 26, 2010
Bake day is over, message will self destruct in 5 seconds.
*robotic female voice*
five, four, three, two, one.
*BOOM*

Sweethearts (Zarr)

Sweethearts by Sara Zarr is a captivating story of love and loss. With that first description you would probably think, "God, another stupid chick-lit", but honestly, it's not really all that chick-lit-y. It's about Jenna Vaughn, 17-year-old high school student, perfect body, perfect friends, perfect boyfriend, seemingly perfect home life. But what the rest of the world doesn't know about Jenna is she used to be the "fat kid" the one who didn't talk to anybody, who got teased. Her only friend was Cameron Quick, child abused kid that was so totally weird, everybody would be scared (I think a good parallel would be a nerdier version of Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club with a little bit less swagger). On Jenna's ninth birthday Cameron takes her over to his house to show her the birthday present he made, only to be abused by his father in front of Jenna, they escape, but terrified only to be cornered again by Cameron's father. Cameron disappears shortly after this incident, everybody tells her he's dead, and Jenna reforms herself. Now I didn't mention this before, but Jenna was never Jenna, she used to be Jennifer Harris, that was the fat kid, Fattifer to use her nickname. Now Jenna's mom's remarried and she has a loving step dad, an entire new life. But on Jenna's eighteenth birthday she finds a note in her mailbox from Cameron and her life gets turned upside down. The rest of the book tells of Jenna's realizations during her time with Cameron.




This is a really thought-provoking book that I loved but also creeped me out a little bit. I was weirded out by the fact that Jenna has completely compartmentalized her life, there's Jenna Vaughn and there's Jennifer Harris, who is almost compliantly suppressed. The term 'compartmentalization' creeps me out in this scenario for two reasons, A. (this applies to all uses of the word compartment with any additions to the root word), now, I'm not a slob but I'm not a neat-freak, so I don't agree with compartments and cabinets and frankly, the word gives me a microscopic case of the heeby-jeebies, B. The whole part of the book that says that someone can completely force themselves to change and suppress their previous selves within, gives me a MACROSCOPIC case of the heeby-jeebies. Of course the parts I loved were awesome, like the fact that the 'Ninth Birthday Case of 1998' is revealed slowly in little pieces until everything falls into place, ecelente. Another awesome thing, the perfect placement and development of supporting characters adds just the right amount of crazy. This book is a must read for anyone, it tells of human nature and puppy love (a perfect combination in my opinion).



P.S. I seem to be saying that everything is awesome, but don't worry, I picked up some books that people said were complete bombs. Also, if anyone has suggestions of books that sucked please tell me, I need to work on my constructive criticism.



P.P.S. WARNING, if you get easily annoyed by fictional characters that are total shitake (substitution for the S-word I picked up today), you have been warned, proceed with caution.



Taryn.

Maggie Quinn Girl vs. Evil series (Prom Dates from Hell, Hell Week, Highway to Hell) {Clement-Moore}

Prom Dates from Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore is an amusing book full of wit and Sci-Fi movie references (which I'm a sucker for). The book is about Maggie Quinn and is the first in a trilogy of books featuring her. She goes to school in Avalon High with her best friend D&D Lisa and the Jocks and the Jessicas. When some freaky stuff starts happening, she starts to rediscover and accept her clairvoyant gift. With the help of her new friend Justin, Lisa, and Brian (surprisingly one of the Jocks) they save their prom from the ancient Babylonian demon Azmael.




In Hell Week Maggie has moved to the local collage and for a spot on the collage newspaper, tries to infiltrate Rush. For those of you who don't know, Rush is what all aspiring sorority girls must go through. Maggie gets her spot on the newspaper and writes under the pen name Phantom Pledge. She eventually discovers some weird things happening in the Sigma Alpha Xi sorority that she pledged to. This activity turns demonic quickly and during Hell Week Maggie saves the day with Lisa, Justin, and Devon (a SAXi who turned on her sorority.



And finally, in Highway to Hell Lisa and Maggie go on spring break (again for the school newspaper for a story under "The Least Likely Spring Breakers") Their car runs over a cow in the middle of the row with strange bite marks all over it's body. Their Jeep gets broken by the cows horns and they are stuck in the nearest Middle of Nowhere town, Dulcina. And by now you probably know what happens next, freaky, weird, strange things happen. Maggie and Lisa hear a rumor from the barkeeper that the strange stuff (animal killings almost exactly like the one with the cow that the girls ran over) is because of El Chupacabra a mythical monster that kill livestock and drinks their blood (hope you don't mind if I go off track here for a little bit, but ever since I heard Blood by My Chemical Romance, every time I see the word, I get the song stuck in my head). Of course the killing can't just be some monster that can be killed, they have to be demonic. Maggie saves the day with, let me hear it, Justin and Lisa, and one new addition, Justin's childhood friend Henry.



NOTE
From this point onward, I will be referring to the books with these acronyms-
Prom Dates From Hell- PDH
Hell Week- HW
Highway to Hell- HH
I immensely enjoyed each book but I feel as though PDH was great HW was good and HH was okay. PDH used the one thing that will win my heart in excess, pop culture references. It was fun, funny, and real (if you exclude the demons, and the physic powers). I honestly think anybody would like it, the main character is likable and witty, the supporting characters keep to their personality, and there's one gigantic plot twist at the end. I didn't like HW as much because the supporting characters weren't as developed as in PDH, which one thing I really liked about the first book. Also, the pop culture refences were kept to a minimum, other than that, the book was as enjoyable as the first. HH was, again, funny and awesome, but not as good as the previous two books. HH has the same problems as HW, supporting characters weren't as developed and even the supporting main characters (as I like to call the other main characters, like in Harry Potter, Harry is the main character, Ron and Hermione are the supporting main characters) weren't like Ron and Hermione but were like, um, let's say, Hagrid in the Sorcerers Stone and Dumbldore in the Half Blood Prince. And the pop culture references were almost not there. I would recommend this book to anyone for that matter, but I have one final note, there is swearing in this book (but nothing too bad confined mainly to the S-word, D-word, and H-word).

Animal Farm by George Orwell

      Animal Farm by George Orwell is a fairy tale for adults. It is about a farm, Manor Farm, to be exact. An old pig tells the animals on Manor Farm of a song he heard when he was a small pig, Beasts of England. Hearing this song arises a spirit of rebellion in the animals on Manor Farm. The animals eventually rebel and expel Jones (owner of Manor Farm) and his employees. The animals rename the farm Animal Farm and make it a place of equality. The pigs on Animal Farm, the smartest of all animals, lead the Rebellion, come up with "The Seven Commandments of Animalism". Animal Farm works in perfect order with only one battle of the humans trying to take the farm back. This works until Snowball (one of the pigs) proposes the idea of a windmill which will do much of the animals work for them. But then, Napoleon sets hounds he has trained from birth on Snowball and drives him out of Animal Farm. Napoleon then takes over Animal Farm and slowly turns the farm back to the tyranny it used to be. But this change happens so gradually that none of the animals notice enough to change it before it is too late.


      I really enjoyed this book, but honestly, some parts after Napoleon takes over Animal Farm, I honestly want to kinda punch that two-faced swine in the face (two notes on that, A, I mean swine in the insulting sense, you know, "You miserable swine!", and B, I really do mean that, I don't care if it's a book or if the PETA and the ASPCA start knocking on my door, they should knock on Napoleon's). This book was technically excellent and a great study on the effects of tyranny, rebellion and the effects thereafter. This book reminded me of an e-mail I got from a Filipino friend (a chain e-mail), about a leader or something in the Philippines who said he had humble beginnings but the e-mail showed his house and how he was using all of his power to provide an overly extravagant life for himself. Whenever I think of Napoleon and post-Snowball Animal Farm, I think of that e-mail, and I think it provides a really good parallel for the book. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a thought provoking read.



4 7/8 (1/8 taken off because I didn't like it as much as other books I've read.)

Taryn.

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen

     The question is, where to start. Well, we can start by listing traits of this book, awesome, funny, indescribable (either that or I'm horrible at putting my thoughts into words). It's about Bryce and Juli, boy and girl. Juli's lived in the same house all her life and when Bryce moves in across the street a few days before second grade, she flips. This book documents their life from both sides from the start of second grade to mid-eighth (don't worry, it's not extremely detailed, as it documents the major events). Bryce starts the book with this line, which I love,

All I've ever wanted is for Juli Baker to leave me alone, for her to back off- you know, just give me some space....... She didn't just barge into my life, she barged and shoved and wedged her way into my life.

This perfectly describes their situation until eighth grade, where everything changes. Up until then, Juli Baker loved Bryce (well, as much as a kid can romantically love some other kid), and Bryce vehemently disliked Juli. She was annoying, loved climbing a huge sycamore tree, and kept chickens for fun (not only that but she dived into the chicken coop filled with chicken poop to snuggle with her chicks). Then Bryce sees something in Juli, something he's never seen in anyone else before. I won't go into details on how this came up, but I think it worked out pretty perfectly. But what totally sucks, the moment Bryce starts liking Juli, the roles get flipped, Bryce loved Juli, and Juli vehemently disliked Bryce.

I haven't described the book in detail, because there's a lot to give away. It's not like I can say "This happened which caused this to happen, which brings about the ending" and not give the ending away. So, I'll just say that this book describes junior high in such a way that makes me wish I wasn't homeschooled (but then I turn on the TV and thank my lucky stars I don't go to normal school). It's great and gives me hope, people can change, and there are other complete weirdoes out there.

I have three other comments to make on this book, mainly regarding what other people say about it. First, some people say that Juli doesn't sound like a real eighth grader, I deny that, I'm in seventh grade and Juli and I have the same tone of voice and besides the tree climbing, chicken keeping, and boy loving, we think A LOT alike too. Also, regarding the Basket Boy thing (again I won't give too much details, but Basket Boys are a tradition started by Bryce and Juli's school, that elects twenty middle school boys that girls bid on, they have lunch with the Basket Boy and can skip the second half of school), I forgot where, but I have seen something similar to the Basket Boy tradition. And finally, the ending, I thought that sucked, but it was about the only thing that sucked, it ended basically "Maybe I'll go talk to him, 'cause we never really talked". BAM. END. So, I hope there's a sequel, and if there isn't Van Draanen's got some 'splaining to do.

I give the book 4 out of 5 smily faces ☺☺☺☺ (one taken off for the ending).
 
Taryn.