Me, As A Guest Blogger

So over at her wonderful blog Harmony Book Reviews, Harmony has set up an awesome new feature where she lets us reviewers have a chance in the limelight by being featured in a guest blog or interview. And guess whose blog post got published today? Mine! You guys should all definitely head over and check it out. Maybe leave a comment. I would love you forever! You can find my rather nerdy post about summer reading here. And thanks so much to the fantabulous Harmony for her amazing idea and for letting humble little me be featured. :P

Lucky by Rachel Vail

Phoebe Avery has always been a lucky girl. Both of her parents are successful business people and she has lived in the lap of luxury for as long as she can remember. Everything she could ever want is at her fingertips and that's exactly the way she likes it. She's also having a ton of fun planning a big bash for her eighth grade graduation with her four best friends. Everything is perfectly coordinated and put in place and Phoebe knows that it's going to be the night of her life. Especially if she gets to wear that delicious green dress she saw in Teen Vogue in front of her on again, off again, sometimes, maybe boyfriend. Then something goes wrong. Phoebe's mom gets fired from her job and Phoebe is forced into the real world where money matters and people have to work for what they want. When Phoebe's check for the party arrangements bounces, she fears that everyone will find out about her misfortune and she won't be such a lucky girl anymore. Will she be able to pull through trials of friendship, money, and romance to show that she really is a strong Avery woman?

*scratches chin thoughtfully* It wasn't until after I finished this book that I realized that it was more of a middle grade book. And for that, I'm going to cut it some slack. While the characters were stereotypical and the plot events were cheesy and predictable, I guess this could still count as a decent book. I think the whole thing was rather boring though. I just wasn't jumping out of my seat with passion, excitement, surprise, or anything. Which kind of stinks. And with a cover as cool as this one, you'd expect a fabulous book to go along with it wouldn't you? And while it didn't meet my expectations, there's still a certain sort of earnest feeling about it. You could tell that the author wasn't so much about realism but about getting the message across which is laudable. It really is a good message. Phoebe came from this background of pampering and had to learn that not everything revolved around her. In the end she discovered that life isn't about the material things, it's about friendships and family; which is a message that should be driven home for middle grade girls everywhere. I really hate seeing those materialistic rich girls who get everything they want. It's a serious pet peeve of mine. And I'm not saying that people who are well-off are bad are horrible, far from it, just be smart about it. You know what I mean? Oh and the last thing that bugged me about this book was that all the girls were dating in, like sixth grade. I certainly didn't date or get any action when I was in middle school so I don't really know how realistic that aspect of the book was. Or maybe I was just a girl that no guy would want to go out with in middle school. Heh. Anyways, although Lucky wasn't astounding in any way, the message was cute and well meant which redeems the book somewhat. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this trilogy from Phoebe's older sisters' perspectives. Hopefully I'll be able to relate to them more as they're closer to my age. :D

Birthdays...

It's that time of year again...at least for me. It is the time when I get to officially turn one year older, and really, it's about time. Don't you ever get the feeling that after a year of usage, your age is starting to sound a little young and it's time to move it up a notch? Well, that's about how I feel. I've always been told that I look old for my age, which I suppose could be taken as compliment...I guess. So whenever my birthday rolls around, I always breathe a sigh of relief because it means that I'm one year closer to actually looking the age that I tell people I am. If that makes any sense...

And so in honor of my special day, I've decided to let myself post about anything I wanted to. I hope this isn't boring for any of you. After much speculation, I've decided to devote this post to my favorite literary heroine. No, it's not Bella, Hermione, Princess Mia, or any of those other girls. My favorite bookish female is Olivia. Olivia the Pig. Anyone familiar with her? Now you might be thinking; Olivia the pig? But she's from a children's book! Children's books are lame! And to that I would say; while some chilren's books are rather, shall we say, lame, others are complete works of genius, the Olivia The Pig series standing among the more genius of the bunch. Not only is the writing witty, precise, and hilarious, the drawings really are fabulous.
Don't you just love her? I think one of my favorite parts in the the books is when Olivia tells her class this huge story about how she ran the circus and tamed lions and got tattoos. She concludes the story with; Then one time my dad took me sailing. The End. Ha! I don't know if you guys think that that's funny, but I really do. It's the simplest form of comedy but it cracks me up every time. Wow am I easily entertained. Oh, and then the following dialog goes on with her teacher: " Was that true?" Olivia's teacher asks. "Pretty true," says Olivia. "All true?" "Pretty all true." "Are you sure Olivia?" "To the best of my recollection." Oh my goodness, that whole paragraph has me on the floor laughing. But maybe it's just me being biased because the main character has my name. I don't know. Anyways, over the years I myself have accumulated quite the collection of Olivia the Pig paraphernalia. I have a tea set, a charm bracelet, a jewelry box, a lap desk, a puzzle, and a purse. I even have the original book signed by the author. It says; To Olivia from Ian Falconer and Olivia. Hehe. And if you haven't discovered Olivia the Pig by now, I urge you to go out to a bookstore and pick up one of her books. I guarantee that you will laugh out loud at the author's subtle style of humor. You're going to appreciate the series even if your name's not Olivia. :D And it will show you that there are really some quality children's books out there! Of course I never doubted that, but still...

And that concludes my little birthday post. I hope it wasn't too excruciating, boring, or weird. :P I'm really glad to be starting a new year! And no, I am sadly not having any contests or fun things like that. I wish I could, but as I'm going away soon, I really don't want the hassle. But be sure to look forward to a super duper big contest when I get back (the 20th of July)! I promise you that it will be completely awesome.

Happy Birthday to me...

Scrambled Eggs at Midnight by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler

Eliot lives at a North Carolina bible camp for fat kids with his overly religious father and now distant mother. Things are bound to go wrong when your dad dedicates his whole life to God and money and tries to steer you through your teen years by spouting religious proverbs spontaneously. Enter, Calliope, the gorgeous redhead who has many problems of her own, some of which include a distant father, a self-centered jouster, and a mother who could care less about her own daughter. After one chance meeeting, Cal and Eliot feel a powerful connection and realize that maybe them being together was meant to be. They understand each other and are able to get past the other person's outside to the complex inside. With that kind of chemistry, only good things can happen right? Wrong. Almost everything that could go wrong does. Can Cal and Eliot work through all of the difficulties that are thrown their way and find a way to be together?

First of all, I just have to point out that the town of Olivia, Minnesota was mentioned in this book as being home to gigantic corn. When your name and your state are mentioned in a book, it has to be good, right? Right! Yay! This book really couldn't be much better. There were little plot confusions and character flaws, but basically, the story was amazing. It was original, quirky, enjoyable, funny, marvelous, and adorable. I especially loved the side character of Abel. I think he added a great other aspect to the story I think he was one of the guys that was written the best. He seems just like the kind of father figure that any of us would want. I also loved the two main characters of course, except for the fact that they were perfect! Sure, their situations had big problems, but they themselves couldn't seem to do anything wrong which was one of the tiny things that annoyed me, strangely. I want characters that do things wrong and make misakes. Instead, Eliot and Cal worked through all the problems with grace, realistic-ness, and perfection. Grr. Of course that could be counted as a good thing too because it just added to the overall flow and marvelousness of the book. One of the other things that I loved about this book was the chemistry that they had. You could tell that they were just meant to be together and I think that the two authors worked really well together in making that whole relationship seem realistic. All in all, I think that Scrambled Eggs At Midnight is your perfect summer read, full of fluff, romance, cuteness, and happiness. Go read it now.

Upper Class by Hobson Brown, Taylor Materne, and Caroline Says

Nikki is pretty much the spunkiest girl you will ever meet. She comes from a family with "new money" and has been sent to attend the prestigious Wellington boarding school to escape the bad influences of her friends back home. She's loud, sparkly, and utterly oblivious. Then we have Laine who is a Wellington girl from the start. She's more reserved than Nikki but knows her place at the school because she has had many of her family members attend and come out as bright politicians or blooming business owners. She's also the star of the field hockey team as only a sophmore so even though she has friends, she has enemies too. Both girls are trying to find their spot among the rich and rather snobbish kids that attend Wellington. But just surviving is harder than they expected. Will they be able to flourish at the academy or will they be just another entry in the The Crash Test book that records all the failures and dropout students who haven't had what it takes to make it?

Urgh. I think if I tried to write down all my thoughts in a single paragraph it would be both long, boring, and completely confusing. So for just this review I'm categorizing my thoughts into good and bad.

Good: TONS of description. For example, the first sentence reads as so; Outside the black window of the country club, moonlight glazes tiger lilies, dripping off the petals like cream. Doesn't that sound completely delicious? And their are many other sentences in the book that are as warm and sparkling as that one. I think I would've read the book just to be able to read nice sentences like that one. The story also has a nice and zippy plotline. Nothing ever stops for long and there's twist after twist to keep you coming back for more. There is also a character that I liked a lot who I think deserves a spot in the good category and that would be Nikki and Laine's woods instructor. I can't remember his name off the top of my head, but I liked him a lot.

Bad: And now we get to the juicy stuff. First of all, the characters were horrible. They were not developed at all and I really couldn't tell one person apart from the next, especially the boys and the parents. They just all blended together which makes a story completely suck. Also, Nikki and a guy supposedly had this relationship going on, but I really didn't see that. Sure they hook up in random scenes, but there was no dialog, no interaction, no chemistry, nothing to indicate that they actually liked each other. And characters without chemistry? Yuck. Also, the zippy plot was in the good category, but it should also be in the bad, because you could barely get your bearings before everything was mixed up again, making the whole entire book confusing and unorganized.

So I guess for the most part, Upper Class was a pretty bad book. I really liked the imagery, but other than that, it stunk. I don't think I'll be reading the next book. I have better things to do with my time.