Review: The Theory of Everything

Author: J.J. Johnson
Publisher: Peachtree Publishers
Pages: 334
Pub date: oct 1, 2012
Genre: Grief, Loss, Psychology

Summary: Just because everyone else thinks you should be over it doesn't mean you are.
Last year, Sarah's best friend Jamie died in a freak accident. Back then, everyone was sad; now they're just ready for Sarah to get over it and move on.
But Sarah's not ready to move on. She can't stop reliving what happened, struggling with guilt, questioning the meaning of life, and missing her best friend. Her grades are plummeting, her relationships are falling apart, and her normal voice seems to have been replaced with a snark box. Life just seems random: no pattern, no meaning, no rules - and no reason to bother.
In a last-ditch effort to pull it together, Sarah befriends Jamie's twin brother Emmett, who may be the only other person who understands what she's lost. And when she gets a job working for the local eccentric who owns a Christmas tree farm, she finally begins to understand the threads that connect us all, the benefit of giving people a chance, and the power of love.

 

Review: When I first started this blog one of the first books I reviewed was by J.J. Johnson. I absolutley loved this book! J.J. Johnson knows how to craft a tale. I believe I will always read any books by J.J. Johnson. They are absolutley amazing! I of course suggest this book! To like everyone. Seriously. Amazing!

 

1-10
quality of writing: 9
pace: 8
plot development: 8
Characters: 10
Enjoyable: 9
Insightfulness: 9
Ease of Reading: 10
Do you recommend this book: Heck yes!
5+ Stars

Review: How lucky you are

Author: Kristy Kusej Lewis
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Pages: N/A
Pub date: Sep 2012
Genre: N/A

Summary:

In the tradition of Emily Giffin and Marisa de los Santos, HOW LUCKY YOU ARE is an engaging and moving novel about three women struggling to keep their longstanding friendship alive. Waverly, who's always been the group's anchor, runs a cozy bakery but worries each month about her mounting debt. Kate is married to a man who's on track to be the next governor of Virginia, but the larger questions brewing in their future are unsettling her. Stay-at-home mom Amy has a perfect life on paper, but as the horrific secret she's keeping from her friends threatens to reveal itself, she panics.
As life's pressures build all around them, Waverly knows she has some big decisions to make. In doing so, she will discover that the lines between loyalty and betrayal can become blurred, happy endings aren't always clear-cut, and sometimes you have to risk everything to gain the life you deserve.

Review: Good book but maybe a book for an older group. Maybe I haven't really hit that point in my life where I have had to make big life changing desisions. I of course still suggest you read it because it was written well. It's just not my taste in book.

1-10
quality of writing: 7
pace: 6
plot development: 7
Characters: 8
Enjoyable: 5
Insightfulness: 8
Ease of Reading: 8
Do you recommend this book: yes
3.5 Stars

Review: Fool Moon

Title: Fool Moon

Author: Jim Butcher

Publisher: Roc

Publication Date: January 1, 2001

Reviewer: Annie

Summary:  (From Amazon) Could a werewolf be loose in Chicago?  Common sense says no.  The grisly evidence says yes.  So does Harry Dresden.  And with his weird connections, he should know.

Review: This was the second book I read of his, and the second in the series.  These books are great, a typical thriller with a fantasy twist on it.  My only complaint is I wish he would give us a better background on each character, for example what had happened in the end of the previous book.  I would like to follow all the characters through this series but since most people will just pick up on or two of these somewhere in the middle of the series I guess it’s not really necessary.  I felt like there were a few more plot lines in this one than the previous book, which was good, but if he keeps adding more every book it will definitely be too much for me.  I also get really frustrated with Dresden at time, he makes stupid decisions and I feel like yelling at him, but I guess that’s probably a sign of good writing from the author.

I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of thrillers and/or sci-fi fantasy.  The nice thing about these is they are quick, not an epic, and they still have just enough of a fantasy element to keep things interesting.  I don’t know of many other series or even books that fall into this category so I like mixing in his books to my reading pile every now and then.  They are also fantastic airplane/traveling reads!

~ Annie

The Princess Diaries

Title: The Princess Diaries

Author: Meg Cabot

Publisher: Listening Library (audio)

Publication Date: July 26, 2005

Reviewer: Annie

Summary:  (From Amazon) Mia must take princess lessons from her dreaded grandmere, the dowager princess of Genovia, who thinks Mia has a thing or two to learn before she steps up to the throne.

Well, her father can lecture her until he's royal-blue in the face about her princessly duty - no way is she moving to Genovia and leaving Manhattan behind.

But what's a girl to do when her name is PRINCESS AMELIA MIGNONETTE GIRMALDI THERMOPOLIS RANALDO?

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Review: I listened to the audio version of this book.  Mia is your average awkward high schooler, with a couple close friends who are just as quirky and a crush on a boy who probably doesn’t know her name.  Then she finds out she is the only heir to the Genovian crown, and her life is immediately changed.  This was a quick and easy fun listening experience.  Some of it is a little hard to grasp since most of it comes straight out of Mia’s journal, which might be better to read than to listen to.  But I still enjoyed it.  I knew most of the story since I’ve seen the movie, but for once I think I like some of the stuff the movie did better than the book!  I love that the movie takes place in San Francisco, not Manhattan, in my opinion a better city (I’m not biased at all).  Also, with Julie Andrews play grandmére you can’t not like her, in the book you never really like grandmére, but I love the way Julie Andrews portrayed her as more of a grandmotherly figure.  I think this is a must read for young teenage girls, it’s just a fun story that is well written.  It’s also a good read if you like girly young adult books (which apparently I do).  As an adult reading it, it’s not a bad read, very well written, but you will probably read it in a day.

~ Annie

The Bar code prophecy

 

Author: Suzanne Weyn
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 208
Pub date: Nov 2012
Genre: Fiction/ Action, Sience Fiction
Summary:

The third book in the Bar Code series, in which one girl struggles to escape the conformity of a dystopian world.
Just as in the original Bar Code Tattoo, the year is 2025 and the mysterious, ubiquitous, and seemingly omnipotent multi-national corporation, Global 1, is in power through their agent President Loudon Waters. But now this ominous situation is experienced through the eyes of sixteen-year-old Grace Morrow.
When Grace finds out that she's adopted, her biological father, who's the head of the Global 1 nano-bot injection project, urges her against getting the bar code tattoo when she turns seventeen. Stunned by the revelations, she goes home to find her adoptive family vanished, and she's determined to find them, turning to the anti-bar-code group Decode. As they uncover more information about tracking, Grace must hide deep underground and under cover, trying to discover information that will allow Decode to figure out what Global 1 is up to, and trying desperately to shut the organization down for good.

 

Review:

 

I loved this book! But part of it seemed to be in a completley different language. Needed better formating but it was an advanced copy so im sure the finished copy wont be like that! Now onto the book I love it! Oh i already said that! Its not something I would normally read. But its good, really really really good. I just wanna tell you all about it! Buut i cant. The book is so difficult to put down! The end is seriously dissapointing but still worth reading. It seemed like it wanted to rush to the end. Book held with great meaning. side note: I didn't know this was a series and I read it perfectly fine.
1-10
quality of writing: 6
pace: 5
plot development: 7
Characters: 8
Enjoyable: 8
Insightfulness: 8
Ease of Reading: 8
Do you recommend this book: yes
4 Stars