Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, while not as amazing as Anna and the French Kiss (and they are quite comparable), is a really good and quick read. If you’re not into Pride and Prejudice as a summer read then Lola is the perfect light beach read full of all things cute and young love-y. And for those of you who read and loved Anna, she totally makes a cameo in Lola. And yes, I am still surprised that I like these books so much.
Synopsis:
Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion… she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit—more sparkly, more fun, more wild—the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.
When Cricket—a gifted inventor—steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is the perfect book to tackle over summer break. I have started Pride and Prejudice a total of three times and it finally stuck on the third try. It took a little bit of time but I did it and it was worth it. I liked it a lot but I honestly don’t understand people’s obsession with it. I mean, it’s a great book but it wasn’t amazing like I was led to believe. My favorite characters to read about were Elizabeth Bennett and her cousin William Collins. Elizabeth is “fiercely independent” and rather witty and sarcastic while Collins is a bit of a blundering fool who embarrasses and annoys pretty much everyone he comes into contact with. I think the most interesting thing about the book, aside from my favorite characters, was getting a glimpse of what regular life was like in the early 1800s (the book was first published in 1813). Between Elizabeth Bennet, William Collins, and the intriguing glimpse into life in the 1800s, I was thoroughly entertained throughout the entire book. I did enjoy Pride and Prejudice and it’s something I’ve been wanting to read for a while so I’m glad I finished it and I’m looking forward to reading other Austen novels. I’ve heard Pride and Prejudice was overrated while some of her other novels are underrated. We shall see Booklandians, we shall see.
Synopsis:
‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’ Thus memorably begins Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice—Austen’s own ‘darling child’—tells the story of fiercely independent Elizabeth Bennett, one of five sisters who must marry rich, as she confounds the arrogant, wealthy Mr. Darcy. What ensues is one of the most delightful and engrossingly readable courtships known to literature, written by a precocious Austen when she was just twenty-one years old.
Humorous and profound, and filled with highly entertaining dialogue , this witty comedy of manners dips and turns through drawing-rooms and plots to reach an immensely satisfying finale. In the words of Eudora Welty, Pride and Prejudice is as ‘irresistible and as nearly flawless as any fiction could be.’
Blood Red Road by Moira Young is an ah-mazing book! I read it in two days. I would have read it in one sitting if I didn’t get so damn tired. I stumbled across this one at my local used book store. I was reading the inside flap thingy and as soon as I read, “a gang of girl revolutionaries” I was in. I started reading it on the car ride home (I wasn’t driving) and I couldn’t stop reading it. It’s a dystopia, it had a gang of girl revolutionaries, and the main character was a kick-ass female who learns and grows as the story goes on. It was like it was written just for me. The only bad thing I have to say about Blood Red Road is that the romance was boring and predictable but that was such a tiny portion of the book that it’s forgivable. I so cannot wait for the second installment of the Dustlands series!
Synopsis:
Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That’s fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba’s world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.
Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she’s a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.
Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetically minimal writing style, violent action, and an epic love story. Moira Young is one of the most promising and startling new voices in teen fiction.
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins is not the type of book I typically enjoy. You know, the teen romance type. This one seemed extra cheesy since it was set in the city of love. Despite all that I took a chance on it because so many bloggers have just raved about this book. I’m so glad I read it because I absolutely loved it. I ended up not sleeping so that I could read it in one sitting. It is a really cheesy teen love story but it’s also really funny and engaging. When I was reading this book I felt like I was actually in Paris going to the cinema with Anna. Which is amazing since the author, Stephanie Perkins, has never even been to Paris before. I really can’t say enough good things about this book and I’m making my best friend and my mom read it as well. I think Anna and the French Kiss is definitely one of my favorite books and I feel like it’s going to become one of my comfort books. I definitely can’t wait to read Stephanie’s next book, Lola and the Boy Next Door.
Synopsis:
Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he’s taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.
As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?
I think The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz has become my new comfort read. The Spellman Files is extremely character driven, which I love about a book. I love a lot of interesting characters more than I like plot. This is the book to read it you’re feeling shitty about yourself. The Spellman family is… dysfunctional, to say the least. The Spellman Files is full of hilarious characters and dark humor. It’s the first in a series of four.
Synopsis:
Meet Isabel “Izzy” Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to Get Smart reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors—but the upshot is she’s good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family’s firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people’s privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman.
Part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry, Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses aka Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who’s become addicted to “recreational surveillance”); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed “Lost Weekends”). But when Izzy’s parents hire Rae to follow her (for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of Izzy’s new boyfriend), Izzy snaps and decides that the only way she will ever be normal is if she gets out of the family business. But there’s a hitch: she must take one last job before they let her go—a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick is freaking AMAZING. It may be 500+ pages but it’s a really quick read because it’s told with both pictures and words. It isn’t quite a graphic novel and it isn’t quite a regular novel, it’s a strange hybrid that makes it all the more magical. I couldn’t put it down for very long. The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a great read about an orphan living a secret life behind the walls of a train station. Definitely a great, quick read to get in before summer is over.
Synopsis:
Orphan Hugo Cabret lives in a wall. His secret home is etched out in the crevices of a busy Paris train station. Part-time clock keeper, part-time thief, he leads a life of quiet routine until he gets involved with an eccentric, bookish young girl and an angry old man who runs a toy booth in the station. The Invention of Hugo Cabret unfolds its cryptic, magical story in a format that blends elements of picture book, novel, graphic novel, and film. Caldecott Honor-winning author-illustrator Brian Selznick has fashioned an intricate puzzle story that binds the reader like a mesmerist’s spell.
The Hunger Games is an amazeballs dystopia. The characters are awesome, the society sucks but in an awesome way (dystopia, duh), and Collins’s imagination is excellente. I’m sure you’ve heard it all about this book and more so all I’m going to say is if you haven’t read it yet, you really shouldn’t wait much longer because you’re life isn’t complete unless you’ve read The Hunger Games.
Synopsis:
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been so close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
I just want to preface this suggestion with an explanation. I haven’t posted in a while because I haven’t been reading any good books and the one I’m recommending now took me damn near a month to read. Anyways, onto the suggestion. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice is great for anyone wanting to read a mystery. It’s set in the 1920s and the main character, Mary Russell, becomes Sherlock Holmes’ pupil. I had to read this one with a dictionary close at hand, which is probably why it took me so long to read. But The Beekeeper’s Apprentice was totally worth the month spent reading it because I really loved this book. It’s probably not the best choice for Holmes purists, but I think King stays true to his character. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice is the first in a long series.
Synopsis:
Long retired, Sherlock Holmes quietly pursues his study of honeybee behavior on the Sussex Downs. He never imagines he would encounter anyone whose intellect matched his own, much less an audacious teenage girl with a penchant for detection. Miss Mary Russell becomes Holmes’ pupil and quickly hones her talent for deduction, disguises and danger. But when an elusive villain enters the picture, their partnership is put to a real test.
Although it takes place at school, I found Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins to be a great beach read. It’s really light and funny. Not the best writing but I really enjoyed the characters and the fact that it’s set in a reform school for witches, faeries, and shapeshifters. Again, not the best, but a good read for fans of the supernatural. I’m personally looking forward to reading the sequel, Demonglass.
Synopsis:
Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered she was a witch. It’s gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie’s estranged father—an elusive European warlock—only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it’s her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a, witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.
By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.
As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.
Dust City by Robert Paul Weston is a seriously dark read. I expected a whimsical fairytale retelling and got torture, genocide, murder, and drugs among other things. It’s a great book for those who can stomach all the aforementioned. It’s also good for those who can’t, such as me. Also, it’s about a teen wolf trying to find his place in the world.
Synopsis:
Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?
His son, that’s who.
Ever since his father’s arrest for the murder of Little Red Riding Hood, teen wolf Henry Whelp has kept a low profile in a Home for Wayward Wolves… until a murder at the Home leads Henry to believe his father has been framed.
Now, with the help of his kleptomaniac roommate, Jack, and a daring she-wolf named Fiona, Henry will have to venture deep into the heart of Dust City; a rundown, gritty metropolis where fairydust is craved by everyone and controlled by a dangerous mob of Water Nixies and their crime boss leader, Skinner.
Can Henry solve the mystery of his family’s sinister past? Or, like his father before him, is he destined for life as a big bad wolf?
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