Cinderella Society review

Cinderella Society

Kay Cassidy

336 pages

Category: YA/romance

Source: Purchased/own

Rating:

Challenges: YA, Chick lit, 100+, Debut Authors

Synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old Jess Parker survives by staying invisible. After nine schools in ten years, she's come to terms with life as a perpetual new girl, neither popular nor outcast. At Mt. Sterling High, Jess gets the chance of a lifetime: an invitation to join The Cinderella Society, a secret club of the most popular girls in school, where makeovers are the first order of official business. But there's more to being a Cindy than just reinventing yourself from the outside, a concept lost on Jess as she dives tiara-first into creating a hot new look.

With a date with her popular crush and a chance to finally fit in, Jess's life seems to be a perfect fairy tale. That is until the Wickeds—led by Jess's archenemy—begin targeting innocent girls in their war against the Cindys, and Jess discovers her new sisterhood is about much more than who rules Mt. Sterling High School. It's a centuries-old battle of good vs. evil, and the Cindys need Jess on special assignment. But when the mission threatens to destroy her new dream life, Jess is forced to choose between this dream realized and honoring the Sisterhood. What's a girl to do when the glass slipper fits, but she doesn't want to wear it anymore?

Review:

I had read soooo many really great reviews of this book that I thought that I would check it out as well. Though I didn't absolutely HATE the book, I didn't absolutely LOVE the book either. I guess some parts of it cut a little bit to close to home. But anyways, that's neither here nor there.

Writing wise I thought that Kay did a pretty good job of writing from the mind of a teenager. Jess is "the new kid" and is being bullied by her secret crushes sister. Which leads to an invitation to join the secret Cinderella Society, which in the beginning Jess is skeptical about. Because she feels it is an elaborate prank against her by her nemesis, but then she starts to really enjoy it UNTIL she is asked to gather info about a Reggie (regular kids) that she's tried to befriend in the past and is basically told that you can't "save" everyone. That's the point where Jess starts to resent being a member of the society.

Lexy is Jess's nemesis and is REALLY good at it. There was a very traumatic event that happened in her life that caused her to go from a "good girl" to a "wicked girl" that I'm not going to give away. Lexy's whole goal in life is to make Jess and a select few others lives miserable and for a while she succeeds in spades. Then Jess grows a backbone and decides not to take it anymore.

All the while Jess has a super huge crush on Lexy's older brother Ryan. And the feeling is mutual. Ryan is a pretty complex guy. At first you think he's just your typical high school jock (AKA...A Jerk) but then you get to the mini golf date and you realize that there is oh so much more to him than that.

I guess my only faults with the book are that Lexy is written with basically NO redeeming qualities and Jess is written in almost a "it's all about me" sort of fashion....You know typical TEEN mentality. Like I said earlier I liked the way that Kay was able to write from the teen perspective, I just didn't particularly care for the way that the two main characters were written. I thought that the supporting characters were written very well though.

Even though I am middle of the road on this book I totally would recommend reading it. A LOT of people have enjoyed it A LOT. Here are what others are saying about Cinderella Society:

The Compulsive Reader
The Page Turners
Chick Lit Teens
Bookworming in the 21st Century
The Book Cellar

The Iron King review ~ May contain a few spoilers

The Iron King
Julie Kagawa

368 pages

Rating:

Synopsis:

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny—one she could never have imagined…

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school…or at home.
When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth—that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face…and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Review:

OMG! I absolutely LOVED this book! Fan-freaking-tastic! I'm usually NOT a real big fan of faery books..Vampires, werewolves and those sorts of paranormal are more up my alley. But once I started reading it I had a VERY hard time putting it down.

Julie Kagwa is VERY vivid and thorough of her descriptions of not only the characters, but of Nevernever land and the overall landscapes of the various Fey Courts. I felt like I was right there with Meghan and crew while they were on their journey.

There is action and "weird" things happening almost from the very start of the book. So your

on a fast track to Nevernever land real quick. See Meghan's life is turned upside down when her little brother (technically he's her 1/2 brother but who's being technical?) is kidnapped and a super nasty changeling (who attacks both Meghan and her mom) is left in his place.

But this is where Meghan's best friend Robbie comes into play. See in actuality Robby is the prankster Puck from a Midsummer's Night Dream. And off they go through the "trod," which is the portal into Nevernever land (conviently found in the closet of Meghan's brother.) As beautiful as Nevernever is a VERY dangerous place and you never really know who your friend or your foe is.

Pretty much everything keeps going wrong, more so when Grimalkin, who is a cat sith gets involved. Meghan keeps finding herself in one pickle after another, which makes her goal of finding her little brother seem almost unattainable. She's fighting trolls, gremlins, other faeries, each other, and other mythical creatures. It seems that Meghan and crew just couldn't catch a break if their lives depended upon it.

There were a couple parts of this book that were predictable. Like...Meghan is the daughter of the Summer king, so naturally she's gonna go and fall for the son of the Winter Queen. In all honesty I think that that piece of predictability was key to the story. I would have been severly dissapointed if it wasn't written the way it was. But for the most part the story kept me on my toes and guessing what was going to happen next.

Unlike Meghan (who is there looking for her brother and wants to get back to her life ASAP), it seems that pretty much all the rest of the characters in the story have a hidden agenda or have something that is brewing right there under the surface.

I think that Robbie/Puck takes the cake in this one, with his wicked sense of humor. Meghan is a very likeable character and seems to grow as the story goes along. Sometimes you think she's not real bright....Like bargaining with a faery. But just when you think she's going to go and do something dumb yet again, she throws you for a loop.

Which brings us to Ash, who is the prince of the Winter Court. He's written as a total hottie who is seriously cold in so many ways. He's attracted to Meghan but at the same time he wants to kill her. He even thinks about it several times but manages to stop himself. Ash is a superior swordsman with his sword of iciness and if his sword isn't cutting it....he likes to drop his predators by shooting icicles at them. Which I think is pretty cool.

I have to agree with Alyssa from Teens Read and Write. I just don't think that there was enough Ash in the story. We see him a little bit in the beginning but after that we don't really see him again until your well over a 100 pages into the book. Really that is my only complaint with the book....I wanted MORE Ash.

I can hardly wait until the second book comes out in the series. The Iron Daughter is being released in August. August seems so VERY far away!

A Match Made in High School review

A Match Made In High School
Kristin Walker
278 pages


Ratings:






Synopsis:

When the principal announces that every senior must participate in a mandatory year-long Marriage Education program, Fiona Sheehan believes that her life can't get any worse. That's until she marries her "husband": jerky jock Todd, whose cheerleader girlfriend, Amanda, has had it in for Fiona since day one of second grade. Even worse? Amanda is paired with Fiona's long-term crush, Gabe. At least Fiona is doing better than her best friend, Marcie, who is paired up with the very quiet, very dorky, very big Johnny Mercer.


Pranks, fights, misunderstandings, and reconciliations ensue in an almost Shakespearean comedy of errors about mistaken first impressions, convoluted coupling, and hidden crushes.

Review:


There is a reason this book got 5 boots out of 5 boots....It's FREAKING AMAZING! Not only is the plot one that I've never read before....a MANDATORY marriage education program....the humor is pretty dang AWESOME too! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! I'm actually writing this review on 4 hours of sleep...and once I post this I'm gonna go get some more that's for sure! I picked this book up because all the ARC reviews I had read on it said pretty much the same thing....."Read this book! Awesome and totally hilarious!" Again, I'm jumping on the bandwagon and saying READ THIS BOOK! IT'S AWESOME AND TOTALLY HILARIOUS!


Here's a small passage, just to showcase a little bit of the humor:


"I could tell Maggie Klein realized the problem at the last second, because she made this squeaky inhalation. But it was too late. Zoe fell backward into the trembling arms of Izzy McCully, and continued falling with him beneath her. They thudded to the floor, and all that could be seen of Izzy were his spindly arms and legs flailing from Zoe's sides, making her look like a Hindu goddess on her back."


When we first meet Fiona she is in love with Gabe. But Gabe doesn't even know she's alive. Marcie is Fiona's best friend who has been helping her with her "Gabe craze" for a VERY LONG time. On the first day of senior year, the boom is dropped....They find out that the entire senior class must participate in a mandatory marriage education program for the whole year and will be randomly paired up with a partner. Of course Fiona has been having some pretty crappy luck and ends up being paired with uber-jock Todd Harding....One of the few people that Fiona can't stand! Marcie get's Johnny Mercer who is a bigger guy, quiet with a secret crush on one of the characters. And Gabe? Well Gabe get's paired up with Amanda (uber-jerk...I mean jock Todd's girlfriend).


From the first time Todd and Fiona converse in the book you can tell that they pretty much hate each other. The pranks and name calling start and the surprises start happening. Some of the surprises you expect, which I think actually helped the story in my opinion. Some were not so expected....Which made it all that much more fun and funny, for me anyway. So for real....If you haven't read this book yet....DO! NOW! YOU WON'T BE SORRY!


What we're really thinking:


Jamie - I LOVED this book! I haven't laughed that hard or that often in a pretty long time!

Gus - I'm glad you enjoyed , but you kept waking me up! The upside....LOTS of cuddle time!

Laci - I'm with Gus on this one!

The Secret Year review

The Secret Year
Jennifer R. Hubbard
208 pages
Rating: 4.75/5
Source: Purchased at Barnes and Noble
Challenges: 2010 YA Challenge, Debut Author Challenge, 144 books in 2010, 100+ Challenge, Once Upon a Time Challenge

Synopsis: from Barnes and Noble
Take Romeo and Juliet. Add The Outsiders. Mix thoroughly.
Colt and Julia were secretly together for an entire year, and no one—not even Julia’s boyfriend— knew. They had nothing in common, with Julia in her country club world on Black Mountain and Colt from down on the flats, but it never mattered. Until Julia dies in a car accident, and Colt learns the price of secrecy. He can’t mourn Julia openly, and he’s tormented that he might have played a part in her death. When Julia’s journal ends up in his hands, Colt relives their year together at the same time that he’s desperately trying to forget her. But how do you get over someone who was never yours in the first place?
Review: I had read all sorts of great reviews all over the book blogging community about this book enough so that I HAD TO HAVE a copy of it for myself. I’m really glad that I decided to spend the money on it because IT TOTALLY LIVED UP TO THE HYPE! This is another one of those stories that has a “Romeo and Juliet” feel to it…not so much a re-telling but it most definately has that feel to it. See Colt and Julia were seeing each other secretly for a year and then Julia is killed in a car accident. Shortly after the school year begins Julia’s brother gives Colt a notebook that Julia had written letters to him in and Colt goes through the process of reliving their year together while also trying to get over Julia and move on. Which isn’t so easy for him.
Overall, I really enjoyed this debut novel. I really liked the author’s writing style and even went above and beyond to make even the worst character(s) in the book sort of likeable. I guess the only reason this book doesn’t get a 5/5 is because I was a little luke warm on the ending….It wasn’t a terrible ending but it also wasn’t the best ending I’ve ever read either.