Friday, September 30, 2011

Review: As I Wake - Elizabeth Scott

Where I got it: Library
Rating: 4 stars  
Cover Rating: 3 stars (Looks a little homemade, the quality of the graphics are low and the orange of the authors name and glow around title makes it look kind of terrible in person.)  
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: September 15, 2011
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Page Count: 269 p.
Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

Ava wakes up in a body, in a house, in a town she doesn't recognize. She is confronted by doctors and a woman who says she's Ava's mother. Ava can't remember anything. She isn't even sure of she is Ava. She starts having dreams and seeing fragments of things that seem real. She feels like she is remembering something, but it can't be right. Everything in these memories is different. Everyone is different.

This was a very interesting and intense novel. Imagine waking up and having nothing be familiar, not even your own hands. Then imagine that you are having dreams that portray you in a completely different world. That could make anyone a bit scared, but Ava is simply confused. She feels like she doesn't fit. The only thing that she does remember is Morgan. He seems to cut through everything and is a steadying familiar force.  The one thing that really bugged me in this novel, is actually the same thing that bugged me about Grace. This book had too many false ending. The last few chapters all seemed like perfect ends, but then I turned the page and there was more. I liked the extra information, but for some reason it just felt like each chapter was written to be the last. Regardless of this though, I really enjoyed this strange little book. There were some elements I wasn't really expecting, and it went together nicely. I do wish we knew more. I feel like Elizabeth Scott may revisit this story again at a later date, because there seems to be so much more to it that the reader doesn't get to find out. I suggest you pick this up if your a Scott fan, or if you like books that deal with memory.


First Line:
"Wake up."


Favorite Lines:
"Touching his skin is like reading a book I know, like the dreams I had that weren't dreams at all. His skin is strange, though, cold and stretched tight, and he arches under my touch like he feels it down to the bone, like my fingers can slide inside his skin. Reach his heart."

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Booking Through Thursday #2

Booking Through Thursday Meme hosted here.
Today's question are...
1. What do you think of reading aloud/being read to? Does it bring back memories of your childhood? Your children’s childhood?
2. Does this affect the way you feel about audio books?
3. Do you now have times when you read aloud or are read to?

I don't have any children, and don't really remember being read aloud to. I do however remember reading to my younger brother all the time. I would read from our book of Aesop's Fables, or English Fairy Tales. I would read a couple stories and then have him read one. It helped him a lot, but he doesn't really read anymore.


I don't know if it has any impact on audiobooks for me. I can only listen in the car, because otherwise I get too distracted. I also have to have a good reader, if the reader isn't just right, it's a deal-breaker.


I do a program for teens at the library where they can come in their pajamas and I read a few picture books to them and maybe some chapters from new YA. I also do a book talk then. I also make my boyfriend read new picture books to me every once in a while, because it is nice being read to and not doing all the reading yourself!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Review: Dreamland - Alyson Noël

Where I got it: Library
Rating: 3 stars  
Cover Rating: 4 stars (Pretty, and dream like. I don't like the color of her hair though, it doesn't blend right.)  
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: September 13, 2011
Publisher: Square Fish
Page Count: 210 p.
Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon
Sequel to Radiance and Shimmer

 Riley is forced by the Council on yet another vacation. This time she doesn't mind as much though because she has a destination in mind, Dreamland. Riley figures that if she gets some advice from Ever, then she will be able to finally turn thirteen. All she has to do is waltz right into her dreams, how hard can it be? Apparently quite hard, there is a lot more to dream jumping than, well, jumping. When Riley finally gets it down, it's closing time. She refuses to give up that easily though, and stays after dark. There she meets a boy about her age, who shows her that dream jumping might not be the only way. Riley's not sure if she should trust him, or help him, but she really just wants to be thirteen.

Again another great book in the Riley Bloom series. I seriously need to start reading the Immortals series, I'm such a slacker. I like that Riley is starting to come into herself, coming of age. It's always great when you get to follow a character as they realize things and start to mature. Dreamland wasn't as amazing as I thought it was going to be, but it was far more different than I thought. I liked it though, it was an interesting take on dreams and their role in lives. I really enjoyed the extra characters in this one. Even though the ghost boy she meets is a bit creepy, he is just misguided and I think he could be a good character. I loved the director, he was bursting and foreign and hilariously drawn. This was a fun book, though not a lot of storyline developed. There was a lot of personal growth as far as Riley is concerned, but I'm ready to see more of her adventures.


First Line:
"The second I laid eyes on Aurora my shoulders slumped, my face unsquinched, and I heaved a deep sigh of relief knowing I had an ally, a friend on my side."

Favorite Lines:
"I fought as hard as I could---but it didn't do the slightest bit of good. 
I was devoured by insects.
I was buried alive."

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Review: You Against Me - Jenny Downham

Where I got it: ARC from AmazonVine
Rating: 3 stars  
Cover Rating: 4 stars (I like how simple it is, but it's not really eye-catching. I like the scratch marks on the photo.)  
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: September 13, 2011
Publisher: David Fickling Books
Page Count: 413 p.
Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

Mikey's sister accuses a boy of rape. Mikey doesn't know how to handle this situation, other than roughing up the guy in question. Ellie's brother is accused of rape and just made bail. She's happy to have him home and wants to protect him, but isn't sure if he's innocent. When Mikey drops by Ellie's house looking for trouble, he is instantly taken with her. But Ellie doesn't know who he is and the consequences of her finding out may be devastating for everyone.

So there was kind of two stories going on in this novel. There was the rape accusation/trial fiasco and then the Romeo and Juliet love story. I wished there was more about the trial. They are young and at the mercy of their instincts I suppose, but it seems like the trial is a pretty big fricken deal!
» Click to show Spoiler «
The love story part of this novel was good though. A tale of star-crossed lovers who are from two feuding families. Mikey is also from the poor part of town, whereas Ellie is quite rich. I liked both of them, even if Ellie was a fairly weak character at times. I'm glad she stood up for her beliefs and I'm glad her mom was a good mother. Her dad was a angry dad, that wanted the best for his family, but punished any mistake, except for rape apparently.  I wish that there was more focus on one thing or another in this story though, it seems to jump between them a lot. It was told in alternating third person view between Ellie and Mikey and that could be the cause of some of the I liked Before I Die a lot better than this one, but this was still an okay read.jumpiness.

First Line:
"Mikey couldn't believe his life."

Favorite Line:
"Dizzy behind her eyes, sharp stabbing pains in her head, like holding her breath underwater, as she reached for the door handle."

Sunday, September 25, 2011

In My Mailbox #105

In My Mailbox brought to you by The Story Siren




a Beautiful Creatures t-shirt and tons of swag

and I also got...
For Review: from AmazonVine and HarperCollins
Fifteen-year-old Will Besting is sent by his doctor to Fort Eden, an institution meant to help patients suffering from crippling phobias. Once there, Will and six other teenagers take turns in mysterious fear chambers and confront their worst nightmares—with the help of the group facilitator, Rainsford, an enigmatic guide. When the patients emerge from the chamber, they feel emboldened by the previous night's experiences. But each person soon discovers strange, unexplained aches and pains. . . . What is really happening to the seven teens trapped in this dark Eden?

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie? 
The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune, and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses. 
But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.


A modern retelling of the German fairytale "Tristan and Isolde", Tris and Izzie is about a young witch named Izzie who is dating Mark King, the captain of the basketball team and thinks her life is going swimmingly well. Until -- she makes a love potion for her best friend Brangane and then ends up taking it herself accidentally, and falling in love with Tristan, the new guy at school.

Bought/swapped:

So that's what I got this week, what did you all get?


Friday, September 23, 2011

Friday Favorites #4

Okay, so mostly this post was inspired by the first trailer, because I just got home and could finally watch it with sound and really it's just amazing. I want more like this! The last trailer, for Cryer's Cross, totally creeps me out. I really need to read that book!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Review: Glow - Amy Kathleen Ryan

Where I got it: ARC from AmazonVine
Rating: 3.5 stars  
Cover Rating: 4.5 stars (I really like it and it's relevant. Pretty neat.)  
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: September 13, 2011
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Page Count: 307 p.
Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

The Empyrean is flying through space on its way to New Earth. The twin ship New Horizon is also on the same path. When trouble erupts on the New Horizon however, the trouble comes to the Empyrean's front door. Kieran is the Empyrean captain's favorite and is all set to marry Waverly. When chaos engulfs the ship though, they are separated and forced to fight for their own survival. They don't know if they will ever see each other or their parents again. They have to rely on their instincts of what's right, especially since they don't know who is friend and who is foe.

This was a very intense read. I liked all the excitement and chaos that surrounded the characters. Once again we were brought to a world that is housed within a spaceship. Imagine never seeing a sunset, or feeling the wind, or seeing a vast landscape before you. The crew on these ships are forty plus years into their voyage to New Earth. The kids on the ship have no real idea what happened on Earth that made them have to leave for something new. All they know is that it had to have been really bad. Everything is shrouded in mystery. I like that element, how little the reader and the characters get to know. It's also very interesting the heightened anxiety of not knowing who is trustworthy or who is telling the truth. One thing I did find hard was keeping the characters straight. I feel like we were introduced to them too quickly, and then didn't spend enough time with them to sort them out. By the end I still struggled between Sarah and Samantha. They were different characters, but maybe it was intentional giving them similar names. Maybe they didn't have to be two separate characters. In the beginning I struggled with Waverly's name. It's a nice name, but unisex, so I kept having to think about who she was. I enjoyed that the novel was split into two viewpoints, even though it was third person. It was interesting to see everything that was going on, even when the characters were split up. The religious aspects of this novel were a bit over the top. It seemed that the author was conveying a strong religious message, while also portraying it as an evil thing. I will be interested to see where Amy Kathleen Ryan takes it in the next novel. I wish the epilogue hadn't happened though, it felt like the beginning of the next book, rather than an ending to this one. I am very eager to read the next installment. If you like book like Across the Universe and Ender's Game with a dash of Lord of the Flies thrown in, make sure you check this one out.

First Line:
"The other ship hung in the sky like a pendant, silver in the ether light cast by the nebula."


Favorite Line:
"Her leg exploded into shards of agony, and she fell down with an enraged scream."

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Teaser Tuesday #61

This week's Teaser Tuesday is from Glow - Amy Kathleen Ryan. Read an excerpt here.

(page 111)
"He could only stare out the portal as the New Horizon rotated to change course. Its powerful engines spattered blue light, and it sped away, disappearing into the nebula's haze."

Teaser Tuesday is brought to us by Should be Reading.
Rules:
1) Grab your current read
2) Open to a random page
3) Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
4) BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Giveaway: Amulet: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi

Two (2) winners will receive:
A copy of AMULET Book Four: The Last Council



Book description:

Kazu Kibuishi's thrilling, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling series continues!

Emily and her friends think they’ll find the help they need in Cielis, but something isn’t right.  Streets that were once busy are deserted, and the townspeople who are left live in fear.  Emily is soon escorted to the Academy, where she’s expected to compete for a spot on the Guardian Coucil, a group of the most powerful Stonekeepers.  But as the number of competitors gets smaller and smaller, an awful secret is slowly uncovered – a secret that, if left buried, means the certain destruction of everything Emily fights for.

Praise for AMULET:

“Five – no, three pages into Amulet and you’ll be hooked.”
-Jeff Smith, creator of Bone

“A must for all fantasy fans.”
-Kirkus Reviews

Review: Amulet: The Stonekeeper - Kazu Kibuishi

Where I got it: Library
Rating: 4 stars  
Cover Rating: 4 stars (Cute.)  
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: January 1, 2008
Publisher: Graphix
Page Count: 192 p.
Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

Emily and Navin lost their father in an accident. Their mother takes them to a new town to start over. The house they move into has been in their family for years after their great-grandfather went missing. Now their mom has been taken away too. When Emily finds an amulet necklace, it starts to help show her the way. What will they uncover deep within the house, and how do they know that the amulet won't lead them astray.

This was an exciting little tale. I can't believe they killed off the father within the first ten pages. Terrible. Emily is a very spunky and brave young girl. She makes for a great heroine for the story. Her brother, Navin is quite brave too, and maybe a bit more clever than his sister gives him credit for. The extra characters are fun too. I love Miskit. I really like the art style, and some of the illustrations are completely wonderful. If there were puzzles, I would say this book reminds me a lot of the Professor Layton video games. This has been labeled middle grade and YA and I think it can easily slip into either catergory. I look forward to seeing what lies ahead for these two and the rest of their family and friends.

First Line:
"We're supposed to pick up Navin at eight o'clock."


Favorite Line:
"And how can you rely on faith when time is running out?"

Sunday, September 18, 2011

In My Mailbox #104

In My Mailbox brought to you by The Story Siren

Won: from Goodreads
(So excited for this one!)
Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice—until one night a ghost appears from the darkness. It is Po, who comes from the Other Side. Both Liesl and Po are lonely, but together they are less alone.
That same night, an alchemist's apprentice, Will, bungles an important delivery. He accidentally switches a box containing the most powerful magic in the world with one containing something decidedly less remarkable
Will's mistake has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey.

Bought/Swapped:
(Horrible cover, but fantastic novel!)
Set in Savannah, Georgia, in the early 1970s, this is a novel of the anarchic joy of youth and encounters with the concerns of early adulthood. Francis Doyle, Tim Sullivan, and their three closest friends are altar boys at Blessed Heart Catholic Church and eighth-grade classmates at the parish school. They are also inveterate pranksters, artistic, and unimpressed by adult authority. When Sodom vs. Gomorrah '74, their collaborative comic book depicting Blessed Heart's nuns and priests gleefully breaking the seventh commandment, falls into the hands of the principal, the boys, certain that their parents will be informed, conspire to create an audacious diversion. Woven into the details of the boys' preparations for the stunt are touching, hilarious renderings of the school day routine and the initiatory rites of male adolescence, from the first serious kiss to the first serious hangover.

Meet Andy Warner, a recently deceased everyman and newly minted zombie. Resented by his parents, abandoned by his friends, and reviled by a society that no longer considers him human, Andy is having a bit of trouble adjusting to his new existence. But all that changes when he goes to an Undead Anonymous meeting and finds kindred souls in Rita, an impossibly sexy recent suicide with a taste for the formaldehyde in cosmetic products, and Jerry, a twenty-one-year-old car-crash victim with an exposed brain and a penchant for Renaissance pornography. When the group meets a rogue zombie who teaches them the joys of human flesh, things start to get messy, and Andy embarks on a journey of self-discovery that will take him from his casket to the SPCA to a media-driven class-action lawsuit on behalf of the rights of zombies everywhere.

So that's what I got this week. What did you all get?

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Review: Ravenwood - Andrew Peters

Where I got it: ARC from publisher
Rating: 3 stars  
Cover Rating: 4 stars (Magical. The colors are great too. The raven is a bit creepy.)  
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: August 1, 2011
Publisher: The Chicken House
Page Count: 350 p.
Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

Ark is but a lonely sewage worker. He's taken over as head of the house since his father has fallen ill. Mucum works alongside Ark in the sewer, but they aren't really friends. They both live in Arborium, high up in the sky in trees. Maw is the ground, a city devouring the world with its towering metal and glass skyscrapers. When Ark is fixing High Councillor Grasp's toilet and overhears a plot to overthrow the King between the Councillor and someone from Maw he accidentally makes a noise that leads to his discovery. Luckily he narrowly manages to escape with his life. Now though, Ark must warn to King against his fate and to do so he might need some help. Mucum agrees to come along, but Ark might need to open up and make more friends from all over the kingdom if he is to stop Maw from destroying their very homes.

So this book was pretty action packed. Something was always happening. The only problem with this is that it left very little room for character development. We knew so little about our main characters that it was very hard to feel for them. I found myself often not really caring too much if they lived or died. It seemed that the secondary characters got to me more than Ark and Mucum. Regardless there was plenty of action and tons of surprises to keep people interested while moving through this story. The world development was phenomenal, I could easily picture the tree-esque landscape stretched out before them. This was in third person so we saw what was going on with a lot of the characters, not necessarily just Ark and Mucum. While there is certainly room for a sequel, this novel finished up quite nicely and I was a bit sad to see it end. I think younger YAs will devour this one, due to all the adventure. They might be a bit weary of the kissing scenes though ;) This was a magical and inventive tale and I recommend that you check it out.

First Line:
"The arrow flew over his shoulder and thudded straight into a wooden post."


Favorite Line:
"You get used to anything, given time."

Friday, September 16, 2011

Friday Favorites #3

So this week I though I'd share with you some of my favorite 2011 fictional characters. There have been some that just stuck with me throughout the year, and try as I might I can't forget them.

Gideon from Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz
 Really, how could you not adore Gideon? He was the life of the novel. He was one of those supporting characters, that carries the weight of the novel on his shoulders. Without him this would have practically just been a summer read of love and sex and beach scenes. Gideon (and Camus) gave so much depth to this novel. I mean the first line is "Gideon keeps falling down." Gideon's deafness made his family have to try harder to communicate with him and thusly they found many new ways to communicate. This book wasn't only about Gideon, but damn it, he was the very heart of this novel. I would love, love, love to see this book correctly turned into a movie, to see the perfect Gideon on screen with his charismatic hands would just be phenomenal. Moskowitz wrote the best character when she penned Gideon into these pages.

R from Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Alright, so I was already head over heels for R when I was reading this book. Yes, his dreaminess was somewhat stifled by his rotting flesh, but boy was he charming. There was just something about him that drew me into him and made me want him to be a better person, and less of a decomposing corpse. Now, I do not think I could control my excitement when I heard that they were making this into a movie(actually into a movie not just buying rights). On top of the awesomeness of it becoming a movie, Nicholas Hoult would be playing R. I love the 1st season of Skins and a lot of it was Nicholas Hoult. Yeah, he was kinda a complete dick, but he is cute and just has charm shooting out of him. I can not wait to see him portray R, I am quite certain I will fall in love with that character all over again.


Keek from And Then Things Fall Apart by Arlaina Tibensky
Oh Keek you spunky, Plath obsessed girl. Lying in your sick bed, spewing nonsense from a typewriter. Despite the itchy pox, it sounds like the dream-life. I loved reading her maniac, fever-induced rants about Esther and Slyvia Plath, and her cheating father. I mean "Cute as a fucking button. Esther/Sylvia was as serious as a nuclear bomb."  These are fantastic lines and I really just loved Keek the whole time. Screw her family, who falls apart around her. Screw her boyfriend who doesn't understand. I know in my review I do talk about the grandmother as being my favorite and in a way she was, but Keek is the relateable character that I think back and chuckle about. 


Evan from Every You, Every Me by David Levithan
Okay, so I know I just read this book, but I already know that I'm going to be thinking of quirky Evan and the bizarre mystery he was forced to unravel. He was a very odd duck, but there was just something about him that made me want to take care of him. I wanted to be his friend so I could hold his hand while he faces the horrors and pain of missing someone he was so close to. I hope I could be a better friend than Ariel was, at the very least a bit more sane than her. He was a quite kid and I imagine it would be very interesting to lie out under the stars with him and converse about the universe. Evan seems like the guy who doesn't feel like he has to hide his thoughts and emotions as long as you have earned his trust. Some guys are always closed off with only the smallest windows of honesty. Evan is an open book, who carries a lot with him.


Clare from Clarity by Kim Harrington
I really liked Clare, because she was a character who started off with knowing about her abilities and it made her much more believable and likable. I appreciate that she didn't stumble upon her ability in a confusing series of mishaps, which I guess is more Kim Harrington's doing than Clare's. Regardless, Clare was a kind character who was willing to try and help with her powers. I like that Clare didn't sit around brooding and whining about how unfair life is. This was a great book anyways, and I often find myself comparing Clare's character to other similar characters that always seem to fall short.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Review: Every You, Every Me - David Levithan

Where I got it: ARC from AmazonVine
Rating: 5 stars  
Cover Rating: 3 stars (S'okay. He looks like a Beatle and emo.)  
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: September 13, 2011
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Page Count: 245 p.
Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

Ariel is gone. She was Evan's only real friend. Through her, Evan is kind of friends with Jack. Jack was Ariel's boyfriend before she was gone. Now Evan is getting mysterious photos, photos of events where he thought it was just him and Ariel. He's so close to figuring out who it is and what they mean, but he is slowly losing his mind over it too. Jack tries to get him to see reason, but Evan can't let go of the past. Evan can't let go of Ariel.

As always, David Levithan does not disappoint. I can not wait to get my finished copy so that I can see the photos in color. I love the style this was written in, with sparse sentences, words and thoughts crossed out and of course the mysterious photographs. This was a unique mystery and a very fast read. There was a part that I was a bit disappointed in, because it would have added an intense schizophrenic aspect, but the way it turned out was a bit better. If you are a fan of Levithan I know you'll already be picking this up, but if you aren't and you like a good mystery, or a novel written in a unique way please check this out. I loved Evan, even as he spiraled down and down, maybe he was holding on for selfish reasons, but I found him endearing. I really appreciated how little we saw, glimpses and pieces of a girl, of a boy. It made their personalities even more fragmented and close. I really loved this book and will probably re-read it the second I get my finished copy. Go buy it now!

First Line:
"It was your birthday."


Favorite Line:
"I thought of what you'd say every you, every me and then stopped thinking about it."

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Review: Want to Go Private? - Sarah Darer Littman

Where I got it: ARC from publisher
Rating: 4 stars  
Cover Rating: 4 stars (Simple and unique. I like it.)  
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: August 1, 2011
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Page Count: 330 p.
Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

Abby is a straight A student with one really fantastic best friend. They are about to start high school and Abby has no idea what to expect. She doesn't expect her best friend to find another friend and join drama. Abby is in no way interested in doing drama, and starts to snub her friend for awhile. She doesn't really need a friend anyway, since she started talking to Luke. Luke is a bit older than her (twice her age), but at fourteen Abby feels bold and is glad that an adult will treat her as an equal. Plus Luke totally understands Abby, better than anyone else. Abby's heard the lecture's in school about talking online with strangers, but Luke doesn't feel like a stranger. Luke loves her and is definitely not one of those creeps. So when he suggests that she runaway with him after she has a fight with her parents, she thinks it's a great idea. She doesn't tell anyone about him, or her plans, she just slips away. No one has any idea where Abby might be, but if they don't start putting clues together, they might not ever get her back.

In the same vein as Katie.com(A Girl's Life Online) Sarah Darer Littman crafts a cautionary tale of online safety through example. Abby is a smart kid, but she's only fourteen. She may feel like she knows everything, but she doesn't. That's how online predators feed. They feed by agreeing with their victims, taking their sides and making it seem like they are two of a kind. Littman did a fantastic job at portraying Abby, you could feel her sinking lower and lower and then being temporarily lifted. Even though we now Abby is book smart, she is not worldly. She has never had a boyfriend and she only has one female friend. I can definitely see how Abby could fall for the charm of someone older who knows exactly what to say to her. This book creeped me out, I hate thinking about the fact that online predators are a very real thing. Luke wasn't particularly old and didn't look like a creep, but he's still über creepy. I didn't like when they gave a little back-story about him, because that little bit made me feel like we were supposed to feel bad for him. There are plenty of people who were abused and did not go on to abuse. It's a choice, you have free will over your own actions. I can not feel bad for someone who decided to prey on children. I do wish Abby was a bit smarter though, but I can see how she easily fell into talking with Luke. She felt like no one listened to her and that she was loosing her only friend. When Luke came online and made her feel better, I suppose it makes since that she would seek solace with him. Abby also has never been in love, so when she is told that Luke loves her, it throws her for a loop and she has no idea how to assess her own feelings in the situation. I think this is an essential book for kids to read, because as Littman pointed out, kids always hear the speeches about online safety and think this can't happen to me. I don't think this book will 100% convince them that it can, but they might keep it in their mind if they end up in a similar situation.

First Line:
"'How can you not be excited?'" 

Favorite Line:
"Where will that little piggy go next?"

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Teaser Tuesday #60

This week's Teaser Tuesday is from Ravenwood - Andrew Peters. Read an excerpt here.

(page 111)
"The echoes of their grunts bounced off the dripping, trickling walls. Mucum found the going slow, worried any moment that the spindly rungs would snap under his weight."

Teaser Tuesday is brought to us by Should be Reading.
Rules:
1) Grab your current read
2) Open to a random page
3) Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
4) BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

If you love British accents make sure you check out the author reading from Ravenwood below!

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