March 31, 2009

Some Like It Wicked by Teresa Medeiros

Some Like It WickedCatriona Kincaid is in deep need of a hero, for she wants to return to her beloved Scottish Highlands and find her brother Connor and reunite the Clan Kincaid. And the hero she has in mind is none other than Simon Wescott, whom she met years ago when he was busy trying to seduce her cousin Alice.

Now, a naval hero who also happens to currently reside in Newgate prison, Simon doesn't think of himself as a hero but he isn't able to resist Catriona's proposition of half her dowry in exchange for his services keeping her safe on the way to her beloved Highlands.

So, the two of them set off to Scotland, ostensibly to get married in Gretna Green but both their plans turn awry, Simon refuses to be the hero Catriona thinks he is, and Simon can't help to care about her.

I've read a few of Teresa Medeiros books before and some I have liked better than others, for me this one was a bit luckewarm, I kept expecting things to happen but nothing ever quite did. It felt sort of flat to me. But it was charming, I liked Catriona and her cat Robert the Buce and I liked Simon but it lacked a 'climax' so to speak, I felt like nothing ended up happening.

Still, Grade:

starstarstar1/2

AnimeGirl

March 29, 2009

1-800-Where-R-U By Meg Cabot



The first time Rob Wilkins offered Jess Mastriani a ride from school, her life changed completely but it had little to do with that ride she didn't take. Instead -and even though she really liked Rob - Jess found herself walking home with her best friend Ruth when they got caught in the middle of a thunderstorm.

That day Jess got struck by lighting - literally - and the next morning, when she woke up, she knew exactly where to find a couple of missing kids. That skill turned her life upside down.

1-800-Where-Are-You is one of my favorite series by Meg Cabot, mostly because I loved Jess from the start. From the first book when she discovers her abilities, through books 2, 3 and 4, when she struggled with them and finally in book 5, Missing You, when she embraced her rare gift and found the most important person of all: herself.

Jess is a girl anyone can look up to, she looks after herself and those she loves. Sure, sometimes she gets in trouble but she still kicks ass. Another thing I love about this series is Rob Wilkins, gotta love a guy who tries to do the right thing and who is constant.

This is one of my Personal Faves. Personal Favorite



AnimeGirl

March 28, 2009

Book Gossip (#4)

Book Gossip #4
Covers

Well, I was just snooping about and I came across 2 covers.
First, Amazon.com posted a cover for Front and Center (Catherine Murdock hasn't updated her site so I don't know if it's the final one)

front and center

And then, a friend told me this I could find in Fantasticfiction.co.uk. It's the Brit Cover for Lisa Kleypa's Tempt Me at Twilight
Tempt Me at T

Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Nobody Baby
Super smart Dr Jane Darlington is a prominent physicist who just turned 34 and wants a baby desperately, however, having grown up a 'freak' because she was a child prodigy and her father didn't know what do do with her, Jane wants to have an average kid (and she means it in the best way) and she figures the best way is to find someone 'dumb' to father her baby (to even out her super smart genes). She doesn't want a relationship, she just wants a baby.

By accident, while talking to her neighbors' 20-something daughter Jodie, she sees in the TV an interview with Cal Bonner the Chicago Stars' legendary quarterback who's mocking his interviewer by acting dumb. In a fit of inspiration, Jane decides that's the guy she wants to father her baby and it so happens that Jodie knows Cal and a bunch of other players who, coincidentally, want to get Cal a 'real classy hooker' for his 36th birthday and Jodie convinces Jane that posing as said hooker is her best chance to get to Cal.

Now, Cal isn't having the best year of his life, his sister-in-law and nephew died recently and his brother Gabriel is in despair; Cal knows his football career can't last much longer and he has no idea of what he's going to do once his career is over and he also has Kevin Tucker - the team's other quarterback - breathing down his neck.

Jane -posing (badly) as a hooker - and Cal do met twice and Jane does end up pregnant and Cal ends up finding out and marries Jane - with the intention of divorcing after the baby is born - and takes her to Salvation, North Carolina (his hometown) so their marriage seems real to the press.

With this book I found things that I did like and others that I didn't like but it was pretty good over all, I liked the sub plot surrounding Cal's parents and I liked Jane's brilliance about somethings and complete ignorance about others. Cal was, at times, harder to like but he ended up in the plus side of things by the end. All in all, it was a rather sweet book.

Grade:

starstarstar2/3

AnimeGirl

March 27, 2009

Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Heaven
Gracie Snow thinks working for Windmill productions it's her ticket out of her boring life but her world gets turned upside down when her first assignment as a production assistant is to fetch former NFL star Bobby Tom Denton from his house in Chicago where he has holed up and is not answering calls from Gracie's new boss.

Bobby Tom is a football star - he played for the Chicago Stars in It Had To Be You - forced to retire too soon after a bad knee injury and now is at lost at what do to with his life, he has money and women and for a while he thought making a movie would be exciting but now he's stalling about that particular thing. He did plan on showing up at Telarosa, Texas - his home town previously known as Heaven - for filming he just isn't sure when and he certainly isn't going to be 'escorted' by Gracie Snow.

But then, he can't shake Gracie and they end up going together to Telarosa where Gracie ends up working as Bobby Tom's personal assistant and his sham fiancée along the way.

Again, good characters, decent plot but it didn't finish charming me. I did like it better than It Had To Be You but only a little bit. At times I grew annoyed with Bobby Tom and at times with Gracie but over all it was good.

Grade

starstarstar1/2

AnimeGirl

March 25, 2009

It Had To Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Had to BeBe you

Phoebe Somerville - a beautiful New York girl, notorious for some paintings a famous Spanish painter did of her many years ago - is not quite ready to return to Chicago for her father's funeral. A father who neglected and humiliated and basically disown her years ago but who left her two things: custody of her little half sister Molly and the Chicago Stars football team.

Phoebe doesn't want anything to do with the team, she kind of hates it just as she hated her father and cousin - both of them Deserve to be hated Big Time - but she agrees to return to Chicago and be in charge for a while after the Stars' coach Dan Calebow convinces her to do so, letting her know that if the Stars flunk a lot of people will lose their job.

Phoebe and Dan don't like each other, they think they each represent what they hate most about the opposite gender. But they turn out to have more in common than what they first suspected.

For me this book was alright, I kind of liked Phoebe and I kind of liked Dan and the book was kind of interesting but it never finished clicking with me. And I really disliked Dan's relationship with his ex-wife. But I liked Molly and the other characters in the surroundings.

Grade:

starstarstar

AnimeGirl

March 24, 2009

Violet on the Runway by Melissa Walker

VioletAlways a wallflower, Violet Greenfield thinks she's a plain nobody as she starts her senior year of high school and, even though she makes fun of the popular girls of her class with her friends, she secretly longs to be one of them.

So, when Angela shows up and tells Violet she could be a model and convinces her to fly her to New York for the castings for fashion week, Violet decides to grab the opportunity and run with it, not yet knowing where modeling will take her.

Well, Violet, the plain blah nobody from a high school in North Carolina, rocks New York Fashion Week, in the aftermath she rushes to finish high school and move to New York, where she becomes the new It Girl and everyone wants a piece of her, from the designers and photographers who criticize her like she's a piece of meat and Angela and her modeling agency to her club promoter somewhat boyfriend and Veronica her roommate and fellow model who gives her advice and back stabs her all in the same night and who has some dangerous behavior.

At the home front, things aren't going well, as Violet gets lost in modeling, partying and being the center of attention she starts to neglect her family and friends from back home and begins to forget herself because being Model Violet is so much fun but it also comes at a high cost.

I read the book the past weekend and it wasn't bad, it was not what I was expecting but I didn't love it - even though it has gotten pretty high reviews all over - it sounds like a somewhat accurate account of the modeling world but I never really grew to like Violet or her friends, fake and otherwise. The character I ended up liking best was Veronica.

Grade:

starstarstar1/2
AnimeGirl

March 21, 2009

Book Gossip (#3)

Book Gossip #3

News, first, the confirmed ones:

The third book in the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter will be out June 9, 2009 and this is the cover:Girl by her coverI think it is very cute and in theme with the other ones. More info at Ally Carter's site

And, then, the rumor part of the blog:
I don't have it confirmed yet but the rumor is that the final two books in the Pretty Little Liars Series will be called Twisted (7) and Heartless(8). The latest one is Wicked (5) with Killer (6) coming on June 30, 2009. I'll confirm it or deny it as official info comes up.
Here is Killer's cover by the way:

Killer

AnimeGirl

March 16, 2009

Book Gossip (#2)

Book Gossip
Book Gossip #2

Just a quick note - About Blue Blood's 4th book The Van Alen Legacy
Well, basically, the pub date has been pushed back roughly a month; because Melissa de la Cruz wanted more time to work on it. So now the Pub date will be sometime in October.

She also confirmed a rumor I head a while back that, though the Blue Bloods will encompass roughly ten books, there will be three narrative arches. The first one will be mostly resolved in The Van Alen Legacy; and in book 5 a mini-trilogy will start, with another starting in book 8.

She also announced there is going to be a sort of spin off novel called Wolf Pact, so I'm guessing furry, cute werewolves will come into play at some point in The Van Alen Legacy

For more info, check Melissa's site FAQ
AnimeGirl

March 13, 2009

Book Gossip (#1.1)

Book Gossip
Book Gossip 1.1 - Just an update on Tempt Me at Twilight

The Summaries are up both in Lisa Kleypas' site and Amazon UK

From Lisa K's site

Poppy Hathaway, who has always longed for a normal, ordinary life, has been abandoned by her true love, Michael Bayning. Caught up in scandal, she has only one way out-- to marry Harry Rutledge, a handsome and mysterious hotel owner. But Harry is a man of many secrets, and eventually Poppy faces a heartwrenching question: What does a heroine do when she ends up married to the villain?
From Amazon UK

Engaged to the very sensible Michael Bayning, Poppy Hathaway is content with her lot - having longed for a life of normalcy. That is, until she meets a mysterious hotel owner, Harry Rutledge - the most complicated and dangerous man she has ever met. Harry is wealthy and powerful, a collector of secrets, with hobbies more dangerous than Poppy could imagine. What Harry wants, Harry gets - and Harry wants Poppy, like he has never wanted a woman in his life. So when Michael breaks off their engagement and Harry makes his move, Poppy quickly learns that her life is destined to be anything but normal - filled with wild, passionate days and steamy nights...
And there is a new excerpt of it right here

AnimeGirl

March 11, 2009

In the Cards: Love by Mariah Fredericks

LoveAnna Morris thinks of herself as a blah-nobody among her friends: sweet and shy Syd and wild goth Eve; and sometimes thinks she's unable to say no: She can't say it to her mother when she stuck her with taking care of her little brother Russell, and she can't say it when her elderly neighbor, Mrs. Rosemont, ask her to cat-sit for her. Then Mrs. Rosemont died and left her one of her cats, Psycho Mouli and a deck of Tarot Cards.

On an impulse, she and her friends decide to make a reading, trying to figure out what will happen between Anna and her crush former geek turned Greek god Declan. At first, Anna is kind of ambivalent about the card and what they tell, but then things start to happen!

I don't want to spoil, so I'll just say that I do see Love in the horizon for Anna.

It took me a couple of chapters to get into it, and I'm still not sure I like Anna's friend Eve; yet, the dynamics between the three girls work And I want to read the next book In the Cards: Fame, even if Eve is not my favorite out of the friends.

What I like the most about this book is that it's about a normal girl: she doesn't fight aliens, she's smart but not super smart, she's neither a social reject nor is she super popular, she falls in the middle were most of us are. And what I love the most about Mariah Frederick's writing (something that shows here and that showed very clearly in The True Meaning of Cleavage -one of my favorite books ever) is that she is consistent in saying one thing: You're best when you are yourself.

Grade:
starstarstarstar

AnimeGirl


March 10, 2009

Book Gossip! (#1)

Book Gossip
Okay, so no matter how fast I read I can't post as often as I might like, because writing reviews isn't was easy as it sounds, sometimes I truly don't know what to say - especially when I really loved a book - and, on the other hand, I'm a spoiler hound.

I LOVE spoilers - though I try not to spoil anyone in here.

And I'm always coming across lovely tid-bits of gossip and such.

So, I decided to start a new section: Book Gossip!

Where I'll relate and link you all to the information I find!!!



Book Gossip # 1


Release dates:

Tempt Me At Twilight
Tempt Me at Twilight (book three in the Hathaway Series by Lisa Kleypas) is coming out on September 29 according to Amazon.

The story is that of Poppy Hathaway - the third sister - and the mysterious Harry Ruthledge, owner of the Ruthledge Hotel (which Lisa K's fans will recognize as many characters have stayed there over the years, I think the first one was McKenna from Again the Magic).

There is an excerpt of it right here

Front and Center
Catherine Murdock recently updated her site with information about the third book in the D.J. Series following Dairy Queen and The Off Season. It's going to be called Front and Center, it will take place during D.J.'s junior year basketball season.

And I'm so very so excited!

It's coming out on September 19, 2009.

And here is the summary:

After five months of sheer absolute craziness I was going back to being plain old background D.J. In photographs of course I’m always in the background—it’s a family joke, actually, that us Schwenk kids could go to school naked on picture day, we’re all so crazy tall. But I mean I was returning to the background of life. Where no one would really notice me or talk about me or even talk to me much except to say things like “nice shot,” and I could just hang out without too many worries at all.

But, it turns out, other folks have big plans for D.J. Like her coach. College scouts. All the town hoops fans. A certain Red Bend High School junior who’s keen for romance and karaoke. Not to mention Brian Nelson, who she should not be thinking about! Who she is DONE WITH, thank you very much. But who keeps showing up anyway . . .

What’s going to happen if she lets these people down? What’s going to happen when she does? Because let’s face it: there’s no way, on court or off, that awkward, tongue-tied D.J. Schwenk can manage all this attention. No way at all. Not without a brain transplant. Not without breaking her heart.

More info in Catherine Murdock's site


Talking about Sites! Cara Lockwood finally update her site! She has a new book coming soon called Every Demon Has It's Day, it's an adult book (I HATE YOU MTV BOOKS! I TRULY DO AND WILL KEEP DOING SO UNTIL YOU GIVE ME MORE HEATHCLIFF), but I'm sure it will be great.

AnimeGirl