Do you ever hear a song on
the radio and wonder who it was written about? When Audrey's
ex-boyfriend's band comes out with a new hit single called "Audrey,
Wait!" Audrey is thrust into the spotlight. Now the music-loving witty
teenager is forced to deal with her 15 minutes of fame and all the good
and bad that comes along with it while trying to live an ordinary life
just hanging out with her best friend and crushing on her cute
co-worker.
For the most part, this entire novel was very clever
and witty. From the story to the one-liners to Audrey's thoughts, it was
very entertaining but perhaps a bit too much so. Don't get me wrong I
loved it and how smart it was, but sometimes I felt like it was so smart
that it wasn't realistic.
The idea behind this book really was
adorable and the characters were all very interesting and life-like
(except for their extreme levels of wittiness). What I didn't get was
why all of America cared so much about what Audrey was up to. I really
enjoyed the book but if the tabloids were going crazy about the subject
of a hit song then I would probably just ignore it all. It was nice that
Audrey wasn't bitter, as were the heroines of the few other books like
this that I've come across. Audrey was happy with who and where she was,
she wasn't begging for attention and she wasn't desperate for a guy who
wouldn't look at her twice.
4.7 stars
California high school
student Audrey Cuttler dumps self-involved Evan, the lead singer of a
little band called The Do-Gooders. Evan writes, “Audrey, Wait!” a
break-up song that’s so good it rockets up the billboard charts. And
Audrey is suddenly famous!
Now rabid fans are invading her
school. People is running articles about her arm-warmers. The lead
singer of the Lolitas wants her as his muse. (And the Internet is
documenting her every move!) Audrey can't hang out with her best friend
or get with her new crush without being mobbed by fans and paparazzi.
Take
a wild ride with Audrey as she makes headlines, has outrageous amounts
of fun, confronts her ex on MTV, and gets the chance to show the world
who she really is.
We
get reminders from doctors and dentists about our next appointments,
but Lucy got a reminder about not missing her appointment with life.
Yes, life. After skipping her appointment several times, Lucy eventually
comes face to face with her life in the form a run-down man. As Lucy
continues trudging through her days, her life takes over and leads her
in directions that she never would have dreamed of.
The concept
of this book seems a bit confusing, especially because the man Lucy's
Life (as in his name) but rather Lucy's life (as in the noun). When I
first saw that life was a man I was convinced there would be a romance
between him and Lucy but once I vaguely understood the concept of an
appointment with life I realized how implausible that would be. My
comprehension of the idea swayed back and forth between a logical
explanation of that being Lucy's life was the man's job, but at some
point in the novel I was forced to let go of logic and enter Ahern's
slightly magical world.
My favorite thing about Cecelia Ahern's
books is how though they may seem similar to many other novels, there is
often either a mystical element or a unique way of writing that lifts
her books above the norm and keeps them from being cliche. She manages
to insert humor into topics that aren't the most cheerful and reading
her books ignites all different sorts of emotions in the reader.
The
reason why I gave this book 4 stars was because of the slow beginning.
It took a while for it to really kick off and so when I was really
tempted to stop I flipped to the ending and after determining that I
liked it I resumed at my boring location near the beginning. My advice
is to stick through the dull parts because once it gets good it gets
great.
4.3 stars
Lucy Silchester has an appointment with her life – and she’s going to have to keep it.
Lying
on Lucy Silchester’s carpet one day when she returns from work is a
gold envelope. Inside is an invitation – to a meeting with Life. Her
life. It turns out she's been ignoring itand it needs to meet with her
face to face.
It sounds peculiar, but Lucy’s read about this in a
magazine. Anyway, she can’t make the date: she’s much too busy
despising her job, skipping out on her friends and avoiding her family.
But
Lucy’s life isn’t what it seems. Some of the choices she’s made – and
stories she’s told – aren’t what they seem either. From the moment she
meets the man who introduces himself as her life, her stubborn
half-truths are going to be revealed in all their glory – unless Lucy
learns to tell the truth about what really matters to her.
On
the worst night of her life, after her boyfriend finds out that she
cheated on him and leaves her on the side of the road in the pouring
rain, Katie wishes she had never kissed her best friend Mitch. When she
opens her eyes, the locket she borrowed from her grandmother has
transported her to an alternate universe, one where she has the chance
to redo that fateful moment of betrayal. However, the magical world of
redo isn't exactly like the world that Katie came from. There are some
subtle and some not-so-subtle differences in this redone world, as well
as consequences that Katie never counted on. At some point Katie has to
ask herself, is it really worth turning back the clock?
The
concept of turning back the clock and going to an alternate universe is
not a new one for Stacey Jay, and kind of seemed like a book-long
version of the end of Juliet Immortal. However, I did think that unlike
Juliet Immortal, it was done incredibly well here, with all the tiny
details lining up (or rather, not lining up) and the complicated topic
not being squished into ten pages. I especially liked how she made the
plot develop, with the events of the alternate universes getting
progressively worse and worse. It kept the story moving, and was
sufficient background for Katie to determine which boy she loved, as she
was put into odder and odder situations with them.
I have only
one complaint about this book. Katie got the locket from her
grandmother, and based on the pictures in the locket it is assumed that
Katie's grandmother used the locket to make everything turn out as they
did in the universe Katie originated in. I just want to know what
happened. I think that would make an amazing prequel, and it would
provide a lot more insight into the mysterious titular villain of The
Locket.
4.5 stars.
On her seventeenth
birthday, Katie discovers a locket and decides to wear it for good luck.
But when her boyfriend Isaac finds out she cheated on him - with their
mutual best friend Mitch, no less - he dumps her, leaving her
devastated.
And then a miracle happens. The locket burns on
Katie's chest and she feels herself going back two weeks in time, to the
night she cheated with Mitch. At first, Kate is delighted to be a
better girlfriend to Isaac this time around. But as other aspects of her
life become inexplicably altered, she realizes that changing the past
may have had a dangerous effect on her present.
Can she make things right before the locket destroys everything - and everyone - she loves?
My reviews of the previous books can be found here: Secret Society Girl, Under the Rose, Rites of Spring (Break)
Graduation is approaching
and tap time has arrived. Amy and her brothers are searching for
suitable Eli-ites to replace them in Rose and Grave and are running into
a few more issues than expected. Amy's list of prospective Diggers is
growing and shrinking, and while she's doing recon on her candidates
she's also trying to finish her thesis and get closer to her new
boyfriend. Everything comes to a climax when information is revealed
about Amy's first choice that threatens to undo over 50 years of society
history.
This book was a great ending to a great series. I was
nervous that the last book would totally undo all the awesomeness of the
previous books but thankfully it didn't. Funnily enough, all my
predictions about this book were wrong. George and Clarissa did not end
up together, Matthew did not get a Digger boyfriend, and the Diggers
didn't redeem themselves. Though they did seem a lot less pathetic. My
only disappointment was that Michelle wasn't in any previous books. She
was awesome and had way too few appearances.
5 stars. The best of the series.
The countdown to Amy’s
graduation has begun, and suddenly the perfect ending to a perfectly
iconoclastic college career is slipping from her grasp. Her new
boyfriend is considering an offer he can’t refuse, while Amy hasn’t even
filed her fellowship applications. And the young woman she’s chosen to
take her place in Rose & Grave seems to come complete with a secret
life already intact.
Lunging toward real life in the world
beyond the hallowed halls of Eli University, Amy finds trouble around
every corner, from society intrigues and unlikely stalkers to former
flames and mandatory science credits. Surely it couldn’t get worse . . .
until Initiation Night explodes into a terrifying scene and into a
final test of wits for a young woman just trying to make it out of the
Ivy League in one piece.
Links to my reviews of the previous Secret Society Girl books:
Secret Society Girl
Under the Rose
Life
is never quite for a Digger, especially Amy Haskel. Amy, or Bugaboo, as
her brothers call her is up to her usually antics, getting in trouble
with guys and being the new target for the pranks of a rival secret
society. When spring break comes around, Amy is ecstatic to escape from
Eli campus and go to a private island off the coast of Florida occupied
only by fellow Diggers and their families. However, life does not calm
down in the slightest when she arrives on Cavador Key. Instead it gets
more excited as unaccidental accidents keep happening and once again,
Amy is the target. Put this together with what may be a new romance with
a guy Amy had always hated until she didn't (though I totally predicted
it-just look at my review of Under the Rose) and this vacation is bound
to be Amy's most exciting adventure yet.
This book was
INCREDIBLE!!!! You know a series is good when the middle books are just
as good as the first and last books (like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson)
and strangely enough, Secret Society Girl is like that too. I loved
this book so much that I ordered Tap and Gown a second after I finished
it because my library doesn't have it. Just thinking about this book is
getting my thoughts to give little girlish squeaks.
Spoilers Ahead- skip to the italics on bottom for the publisher's summary
I
was very surprised that Darren was the one causing all the trouble. If
there's one thing I've learned from the SSG books it's that you never
know what will happen and when Darren started getting all violent then I
was shocked. It made sense afterwards, and because he's just a kid the
author was able to get him out without being labeled a psycho, but it
still caught me off guard.
I thought the whole Brandon thing at
the beginning was unnecessary. Yes, it helped with plot, but it also
split the book into two stories-before spring break and after spring
break. It also seemed pointless to me because once they were on the boat
for Cavador Key Amy only thought about him when people mentioned that
she was going through a hard time. If no one mentioned it she was
perfectly fine. Only when the topic of guys came up did she feel bad
about what had happened. Her romance with Poe could have happened
without the Brandon prelude.
Because there is only one book left
in the series, I am going to make a few predictions before I read book 4
to see if they will come true:
1. George + Clarissa are totally going to happen. I don't know why I think that but I did sense something there.
2.
Malcolm should get a society boyfriend. There has to be someone around
who's secretly gay, and whoever he is will end up with Malcolm.
3.
The Diggers are going to do something so great that everyone will take
them seriously again. This isn't so much a prediction as much as a hope,
but I put it on this list anyway.
4.8 stars.
A week of R&R on
her Rose & Grave’s private island should be all fun in the sun—and
an escape from an on-campus feud with a rival society that’s turned
disturbingly personal. But Amy is bringing a suitcase full of issues to
Florida. Graduation from Eli University looms, not to mention unfinished
business with a former flame and the confusing transformation of a
mysterious Rose & Grave patriarch from sheer evil to dead sexy.
Just when Amy thinks Spring Break can’t get any less relaxing, a
distressing accident puts everyone on edge. And that’s only the
beginning. It seems that someone has infiltrated the island. There are
major Rose & Grave secrets at stake—secrets which could take down
one of America’s most loathsome figureheads—but this party crasher is
serious about one thing: making sure Amy doesn’t get back to Eli alive.
The
ideas connecting all the stories in this book was fascinating. Each
author took the topic of prophecy and prediction and interpreted it
completely differently. It was cool to read all the different takes and
twists on this one topic, especially because none of them were as
generic as I expected.
Gentlemen Send Phantoms, by Laini Taylor: I
loved this story so much that it inspired me to read Laini Taylor's
novels. It was light and sweet with hints of fantasy but with the
uncertainty if whether what you're reading is fantasy at all.
Burned
Bright, by Diana Peterfreund: Diana Peterfreund is one of my favorite
authors and I found out about her when I read her short story in
"Zombies and Unicorns". This story was absolutely fascinating. The twist
at the end reminded me of the O'Henry stories I had to read in 8th
grade, the ones with the shocking endings. After reading the last line
of this story my jaw dropped and it took about five minutes for me to
get it shut. It was totally unlike the killer unicorn or the Secret Society Girl books, which was quite unexpected and shows great talent on
the author's part that she could write in such different styles.
The
Angriest Man, by Lisa McMann: This story kind of scared me. I'm not
sure how literally I was supposed to take it but I'm not much of a fan
of symbolism so if there was any, I didn't get it. This take on
prediction was one of self-fulfilled prophecy and for some reason I just
thought of the movie "Megamind" in that everyone expects the main
character to be bad. Don't be mistaken though-this story is NOTHING like
Megamind.
Out of the Blue, by Meg Cabot: Cute, but typical Meg Cabot. One of my favorite stories in the book.
One
True Love, by Malinda Lo: The only way I can describe this story is
lesbian Oedipus Rex. But I think that was the point of the story.
This
is a Mortal Wound, by Michael Grant: Very very interesting but I
couldn't figure out how this story connected with prophecy and
prediction.
Misery, by Heather Brewer: Fascinating and introspective. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I did appreciate it.
The
Mind is a Powerful Thing, by Matt de la Pena: Another story of
self-fulfilled prophecy, just this time with a paranoid girl who thinks
the world is out to get her.
The Chosen One, by Saundra Mitchell:
Sweet and strong. A more classic take on the whole prophecy idea, but
the main character was full of spunk.
Improbable Futures, by Kami
Garcia: Not a particularly unique story, but definitely good. I wasn't a
huge fan of Beautiful Creatures so I wasn't looking forward to reading
this story or the next one, but this story was a lot darker than I
realized. This story is about a fake fortune teller who realizes that
everything she is predicting starts coming true.
Death for the
Deathless, by Margaret Stohl: This story was the first that had a
prediction loop which makes you question what comes first. I liked a few
of the other stories, but this one was definitely my number one
favorite. I was shocked when I looked at the author's name and realized
that I thought her other books were stupid.
Fate, by Simone Elkeles: This story had no fantasy involved but was just a short contemporary romance. Another goodie.
The
Killing Garden, by Carrie Ryan: This story was nasty. The concept was
messed up and made me cringe multiple times. I felt bad for the main
character for not realizing the truth behind her father's words until
the end, but the end of the story was okay.
Homecoming, by
Richelle Mead: To anyone who hasn't read the Vampire Academy books, this
story will seem out of place and won't be fully understood. To anyone
who has, it's nice to read about Dimitri's reunion with his family.
3.6 stars.
Have you ever been
tempted to look into the future? To challenge predictions? To question
fate? It's human nature to wonder about life's twists and turns. But is
the future already written—or do you have the power to alter it?
From fantastical prophecies to predictions of how the future will transpire, Foretold
is a collection of stories about our universal fascination with life's
unknowns and of what is yet to come as interpreted by 14 of young adult
fiction's brightest stars.
In a fabulous blend of the bestselling traditions of Prep and The Devil Wears Prada, Secret Society Girl
takes us into the heart of the Ivy League’s ultra exclusive secret
societies when a young woman is invited to join as one of their first
female members.
Elite Eli University junior Amy Haskel never
expected to be tapped into Rose & Grave, the country’s most
powerful—and notorious—secret society. She isn’t rich, politically
connected, or…well, male.
So when Amy receives the distinctive
black-lined invitation with the Rose & Grave seal, she’s blown away.
Could they really mean her?
Whisked off into an initiation rite
that’s a blend of Harry Potter and Alfred Hitchcock, Amy awakens the
next day to a new reality and a whole new set of “friends”—from the
gorgeous son of a conservative governor to an Afrocentric lesbian
activist whose society name is Thorndike. And that’s when Amy starts to
discover the truth about getting what you wish for. Because Rose &
Grave is quickly taking her away from her familiar world of classes and
keggers, fueling a feud, and undermining a very promising friendship
with benefits. And that’s before Amy finds out that her first duty as a
member of Rose & Grave is to take on a conspiracy of money and power
that could, quite possibly, ruin her whole life.
A smart, sexy introduction to the life and times of a young woman in way over her head, Secret Society Girl is a charming and witty debut from a writer who knows her turf—and isn’t afraid to tell all....
As a fan of Diana
Peterfreund's Killer Unicorns books (KILLER UNICORNS!!!! HOW CAN YOU NOT
LOVE THEM????) I was looking forward to Secret Society Girl, despite
the cover which predicts a petty shallow sorority novel. Instead of
girls bouncing around and predicting the apocalypse because of a bad dye
job, SSG was filled with unique characters and women that made me proud
to be one. Amy is a junior at the fictional Ivy League Eli University
and with all her extra-curriculars and internships is hoping she'll be
tapped to a secret society, but when the time comes, it's not the one
she would have expected. Rose and Grave is the most exclusive secret
society on campus, and for the first time is inducting women. Through
the process of becoming a Digger (a member of Rose and Grave) Amy has to
deal with a jealous and secretive roommate/best friend, a friend with
benefits who wants to be more than that, the stuck-up rich girl who is
also one of the first female Diggers along with Amy, and the sexist
alumni who will do anything to keep their all-guys' club from turning
coed.
I am trying desperately to think of another comment, but
the best I can come up with (besides that this would make an awesome TV
show) is that when I finished the book, it didn't feel like the end so
much as the end of the beginning. I know that it's supposed to be the
end of the beginning, after all it's the first book in the series, but
what I mean is that I wouldn't read it on its own. There are some books
which don't need a sequel to be satisfying, but not SSG. So, maybe I'll
have more to say after I read Book #2.
4.8 stars.
