Kieran Scott. GEEK MAGNET

For some reason, KJ Miller attracts geeks. She has at least three of them who fawn all over her on a regular basis. First of all, Andy is constantly quizzing her about her favorite things to see how much they have in common. Then there’s Fred, who is always giving her gifts. And worst of all, there’s Glen who is always gawking at her chest when he talks to her. All KJ wants to do her stage manager job for the spring musical, GREASE, and not feel like she’ll be bombarded at any given moment by someone she’s not interested in. But, she’s nice. She can’t say anything to the guys. Enter Tama Gold, the star of the musical. She tries to coach KJ in handling the geeks. After just talking with Tama for a while, KJ begins to attract the attention of a totally-not geek, Cameron Richardson, school hottie. KJ thinks Tama maybe onto something. Will KJ be able to free herself of the geeks and be Cameron’s girlfriend? Read it and see.

Kieran Scott is awesome! Not only is she hilarious, but she has characterization down pat! When I read Andy’s dialogue, I can literally hear his voice in my head. I know exactly who this guy is! And she did a great job differentiating the geeks into three distinct personalities. They weren’t just stock geek characters.

Also, Scott wrote the balancing act of KJ’s drama at home with the light & fun atmosphere at school brilliantly, especially when the two intersect. All the characters were realistic. The plot was good. All around, it was an enjoyable read.

You might be familiar with Kieran Scott's NON-BLONDE CHEERLEADER BOOKS:
Here's the first one.

Then BRUNETTE'S STRIKE BACK and
finally A NON-BLONDE CHEERLEADER IN LOVE

I reviewed all of them here. They're hysterical!

Stephenie Meyer. BREAKING DAWN

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

I just emerged from the bunker I was hiding in so I could finish the 754 page enormous end to the TWILIGHT saga. It’s going to be hard to write this without spoilers. So, let me warn you – there will be spoilers – so stop reading now, if you haven’t read the book yet. There is just no way around it. Let me begin by saying, WOW, what a roller-coaster ride. Frankly, it needed the ups & downs, otherwise at that length, it would’ve gotten boring. But it didn’t. There is a lot of positive and negative discussion being thrown around on the Internet about how this series ended. I avoided the Internet like the plague to ward off spoilers. Now that I’ve seen the discussions, I must ask – what is all the fuss about? I think this was a fitting end to the series. It did surprise me in many ways. I thought for sure that Meyer would put off the wedding, but she didn’t. I thought for sure that she’d put off the change, but she didn’t, although it was done in a “we had no choice” manner, which I think was the only way she would do it. I didn’t think she would write it as a willing choice by Edward. Even though he had agreed to it, he still would’ve tried to postpone it, if he could. I certainly wasn’t expecting the baby – was anyone?? Um, how about that name? Yeah, I know it’s a combo between the two mom’s names, but…I didn’t really like it.*

Let's move on to Jacob. At first, I was annoyed at the change of point of view, right when things were getting suspenseful (isn't that always when they do it!). But I was surprised at how much I enjoyed hearing Jacob's point of view & his story. It ended up being so crucial to the novel. I remember this happened in an earlier novel too, where I was annoyed, but then glad to hear more about Jacob. Was it New Moon? Or Eclipse? It doesn't matter. I'm glad he ended up being tied to Bella forever, along with Edward.

Another aspect I loved was the way things evened out between Bella & Edward. I was getting a little tired of the clumsy girl routine that Bella had in the first three books. Plus, not to be rude, but you really did wonder, along with Bella, why Edward would love her so much in the first three books. Now that she's a super-vampire, it just seems like she grew into the person he always saw her to be. Also, in this book, the choice of changing her didn’t seem so tragic as before, because it really did seem that she was made for the life. Everything seemed right with the world. Meyer did a great job in wrapping up the series, in my humble opinion. As a bonus, the last page of the book announces that there will be an encyclopedia-like OFFICIAL GUIDE to the TWILIGHT saga. It’s due out in December, which is right around when the movie is due out, so TWILIGHT fever will burn a while longer. Yay :)


**Addendum: After further pondering, I feel I need to add something. This book is a very different book from the first one in the saga. TWILIGHT was a beautiful love story that happened to have a vampire in it. NEW MOON & ECLIPSE had a lot more vampire and werewolf lore and action. BREAKING DOWN is full on vampire story, in my opinion. So, if you aren't into any gore whatsoever, then this isn't for you. The gore isn't that explicit, but it is there, and I don't want to mislead you. It is not TWILIGHT at all. I feel the story evolved and ended well. And I'm a fan of the entire sage. But, I just wanted to be clear.

*To be fair, what name could she have chosen that all the fans would like? A regular, everyday name surely wouldn't do. The sentiment of combining the two most treasured women in her life into one name was the only way to go, I guess. The nickname isn't too bad.

Joan Bauer. PEELED

PEELED is the latest in a long line of awesome books by Joan Bauer. Hildy Biddle lives in a small orchard town in upstate New York called Banesville. She’s a reporter for the high school newspaper and waiting for the chance to prove herself as a real reporter when a mystery begins unfolding. Strange occurrences begin at the supposedly haunted Ludlow house. At first there were threatening signs posted on the front door, but when a man is found dead on the property, the community is frightened. People are afraid the ghosts in the Ludlow house are stirring and out to get them. The local newspaper in town does its best to work everyone up into a panic. They publish articles with witnesses declaring how they’ve been scared by the ghosts. Hildy and her friends at the school paper begin their own investigation. They feel like they have to combat their town paper, since it’s been acting more like the National Enquirer, than a real paper. But, as they get closer to the truth, they are being threatened by those who want to keep the truth hidden. Will they have the courage to keep fighting for the truth?
I loved being in Hildy’s world. I love being in a place so completely different from my own. The nickname of the town is Happy Apple Town, which is the best way to describe the atmosphere of this book. It felt so comfortable and simple. But not simplistic. It was fun to learn about the world of apple orchards while also solving a mystery with Hildy. The characters are well-developed, realistic and quirky. Along with the spunky Hildy, I enjoyed Zach and his scientific view on life and Elizabeth’s positive outlook. The adults were great too. Minska, a woman who lived through the revolution in Poland and Baker, a successful reporter, were both inspirations for Hildy and her friends. Definitely a fun and inspiring read. It makes me want to go uncover an injustice somewhere!

Other great ones by Joan Bauer (trust me, Ms. Bauer does not disappoint)

Her website is here

STAND TALL

RULES OF THE ROAD











HOPE WAS HERE

Rachel Vail. LUCKY

Phoebe Avery is a lucky girl. She and her sisters live in a big house with a housekeeper and nanny. She has four wonderful best friends. And on top of all that, she and her friends are planning a fabulous end of year party to celebrate graduating from eighth-grade. They’ve planned every detail from the fashion photographer to the engraved invitations. Now Phoebe just needs to find the perfect dress. (Of course, if everything is going perfectly, you know it won’t stay that way – otherwise there’d be no book, right?) Phoebe does find the perfect dress, the dress that really makes her feel beautiful. Then a crisis in her family endangers her entire way of life. She’s too scared to tell her friends, so she hides it as long as she can. Will Phoebe begin to realize what is really important in her life, or will she long for the days before the crisis?

This was a nice fun book about friendship and remembering to be grateful for what you have. I enjoyed it. I found the different personalities between the friends really well written. I could really see all of them clearly. The interactions and dialogue was also realistic for eighth grade girls (I’ve been around them long enough to say that!). Plus, the sisters had a fun & true dynamic.

This is the first of a trilogy. The book jacket states that there will be two more books that are told from the other sisters' points of view. That sounds intriguing, so I’ll be on the lookout for those.

This is the first one I’ve read from Rachel Vail. Click here to find out more about her or click here to check out her other books.

Mary E. Pearson. THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX

I intentionally steered clear of any reviews of this book before I read it. After reading merely a snippet of a review, it already seemed so intriguing that I didn’t want to spoil it. I’ll sometimes do that with movies too. I hate getting all the good parts ahead of time in the trailers. That ruins it for me. So, I went in with barely any knowledge, except that I knew it would be good. Indeed it was! Wow! If you’re like me, stop reading right now, go get the book & read it without any sneak peeks. But, if you do need a little more of a teaser, go ahead and read on.

Jenna Fox wakes up after a year-long coma. All she knows is that she was in a terrible accident. She doesn’t remember anything about her former life. She doesn’t recognize her mom, dad or grandmother. She doesn’t even remember the meaning of some simple words like curious or lost. Although, for some strange reason, she can remember certain historical events down to the last detail. She’s been given a set of DVDs of her life try to jog her memory. Her parents must have really adored her, since they recorded nearly every detail of her life. While watching the videos, Jenna notices characteristics that are different between the Jenna on screen and herself. As the memories return little by little, the questions begin piling up. Plus, the accident itself is still a mystery. She wonders what happened to her two friends that are showing up in her memories. Were they with her during the accident, and if so, why does she keep hearing their voices?

This was an incredible book. It lived up to all my expectations. It is set in the near future where science and ethics are even more intertwined than they are today. Scientific advancements have introduced so many questions about what is right and wrong. Just because we can do something with science, does that mean we should? I’m being intentionally vague here, so as not to spoil the book. Read it. It will give you a glimpse into what might be in our not so distant future.

If you'd like to learn more about this author or see her other books, check out her website here. Or her visit or blog here.