My Life in Black & White by Natasha Friend

Summary

What if you lost the thing that made you who you are? Lexi has always been stunning. Her butter-colored hair and perfect features have helped her attract friends, a boyfriend, and the attention of a modeling scout. But everything changes the night Lexi’s face goes through a windshield. Now she’s not sure what’s worse: the scares she’ll have to live with forever, or what she saw going on between her best friend and her boyfriend right before the accident. With the help of her trombone-playing, defiantly uncool older sister and a guy at school recovering from his own recent trauma, Lexi learns she’s much more than just a pretty face.

• Number of pages: 304

Review

Short and to the point, this book started off depicting an average, beautiful girl and showed to process she went through to become someone who accepts herself for who she is. And the process to get there wasn’t pretty let me tell you.

The story was cute in and of itself. Personally I found parts to be a bit overplayed, but it really got the connection through as to how she was hurting. I can’t say that a lot of the things that happened surprised me. There was an undertone of cliché moments, to be sure, but it was nice to see how it ended. It was definitely an “okay book” if not “good”, but I can’t say that I was on the edge of my seat or anything. It was a classic “bad thing happens-disaster-everything turns out okay” story, and there is nothing wrong with that. I did like how in the end, when Lexi starts getting a clue and finally starts fixing her life, the tone of the book became very . . . philosophical. From 1-10? I deem it a 5. 

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Summary 

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveauz arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it’s the start of a new life at a London Boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city—gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific work of Jack the Ripper in the autumn of 1888.

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only on who saw. Even her roommate, who was with her at the time, didn’t notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, what is he planning to do about her?

Number of pages: 372

Review 

I’m not exactly sure how I feel about sleeping in my very dark, spacious room tonight. Not after reading this book.

And I’ll let you know why. This book is all about a series of murders that resemble the murders taken place in 1888. And let me tell you, none of them were pretty. The victims were mutilated in a series of ways that is pretty gory. I wouldn’t say the book is completely graphic, but when it came down to it some parts were pretty nasty to read about. But don’t let that freak you out! No, what is freakier than that is the invisible killer doing all of these murders. Yea . . . invisible killer.

This book was a good read. I had some issues with it at the beginning. I’d have to say that the book didn’t really pick up speed until 150 pages or so into the book, I thought. It went by meticulously slow at the set up of the store while Rory settled into her new school and you were caught up to speed on Jack the Ripper’s murders. It got more enjoyable near the second half of the book. That was where the more suspenseful side of the story kicked in. The plot was a good one. Definitely one that was planned out in all of it’s complexity. The main character was all right. I found her kind of tedious to follow sometimes, but she did well when push came to shove. Now the ending of the book was great. That really was a good ending for it over all. Now, it kind of leaves the reader with a new revelation. I’m not sure if that is supposed to signify the start of a new book, or just a way to close the curtains with a bang. I gets we will just have to wait and see. From 1-10? I’d give The Name of the Star a good solid 5.

Cover Close Up: The cover is really quite beautiful and interesting, but it has nothing to do with the story. At all. I hate when that happens . . .

(This is irrelevant, but when my room door is slightly ajar it sometimes closes by itself . . .  and it just closed for no reas

Between the Sea and Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore

Summary

For as long as Esmerine can remember, she has longed to join her older sister, Dosia, as a siren—the highest calling a mermaid can have. When Esmerine takes her sire’s vow she means to protect the sea and all that live within it—until Dosia runs away to the mainland and Esmerine is sent to retrieve her.

Sectretly thrilled with the prospect of seeing a world that shes only glimpsed from the ocean, Esmerine uses magic to transform her tail into legs and journeys to the capital city. There, she comes upon a friend she hasn’t seen since childhood—a dashing young man named Alander. Who belongs to a winged race of people. Alander, whose odd ways and brash opinions offend yet fascinate her. But as Esmerine embarks on a search for her sister that will take her farther away from the sea she lobes and the life she has always known, she and Alander rekindle a friendship . . . and amore.

• Number of pages: 229

 Review

This was a cute story. I guess that’s the best adjective I can give to this book. It was a cute, sweet, light story that I enjoyed reading. I haven’t gotten much into the mermaid books, but I have a feeling that they are going to start getting popular. This book was about a mermaid who must go to the dry land to find her sister who she thinks was kidnapped and forced to marriage. There she recruits the help of her old childhood friend who happens to be one of the winged people. So clearly this is a story that doesn’t take place in what is the modern earth we live in now. It’s interesting though how the author created an old Queen Elizabeth era to it with the corsets and dresses and manners.

I think that it was a story that was very unique in some aspects such as the mix of sky, earth, and water. The love story in it was very unique as well. There were some obvious problems as to why they couldn’t be together as well as some little surprises that got me shocked. Like I said it was cute. But cute doesn’t necessarily mean I loved it. There were some boring spots here and there where I just wanted to skip ahead. The adventure part mostly happened in the last half of the book. From 1-10? I give it a 5

Cover note: something that did strike out at me was the cover. I found it so beautiful and whimsical. I love the way the sea and the sky merge. I must admit that the cover did influence me quite a bit to read this book. 

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

Review

Every girl who has taken the test has died.

Now it’s Kate’s turn.

It’s always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate’s going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won’t live past the fall. Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he’ll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests. Kate is sure he’s crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she’ll become Henry’s future bride, and a goddess.

If she fails . . .

• Number of pages: 293

Review

I’ve had my eye out for this book for quite some time. It caught my eye expressly because it dealt with some Greek mythology. I actually adore mythology. Reading The Goddess Test was very interesting. The concept of the story was good. I always thought that Hades (in this case Henry) to be misunderstood. It was great seeing someone recognize it as that. But there were lots of stuff that really bothered me about it.

The characters seemed quite annoying to me. I don’t know why, they just seemed very fake to me, like they didn’t have much substance. One in particular was Henry. God, it killed me that he was portrayed as an empty shell for the most part. I mean I get that Carter was trying to make it out that he had given up, but there just wasn’t any spunk to him! He didn’t have any special qualities about him that separated him from the rest. And honestly I don’t know why Kate fell for him. There was nothing in this book that made sense as to why she loves him. And if I can’t understand why she loves him then I, as the reader, can’t fall in love with him either! Kate sometimes came out as . . . I don’t want to say annoying (again) but somewhere near that. I just couldn’t understand her

Another thing was that some stuff was just way too predictable to me. Then again, somethings weren’t. It just all depends, but there were times when this piece of news, or that piece of news was suppose to come out as a surprise, and I had already predicted it. Then again, there were some moments when I was in shock that I hadn’t seen it coming. I think I would have liked it if this book just ended its, that there wouldn’t be more to the story to come in a sequel because this book could have ended itself right, and I would have been happy. But I guess I can understand why there would be given more to the story. I will be putting book two down in my list of books to read, maybe it’ll come out better than this one. So from 1-10? I give The Goddess Test a solid 5.