Review: Perfect

Title: Perfect

Author: Sara Shepard

Publisher: Harper Teen

Pages: 308

Series: Pretty Little Liars #3

Rating: 4 stars

**Warning: Contains spoilers for books 1-2**

From the book jacket: 

In a town where gossip thrives like the ivy that clings to its mansions, where mysteries lie behind manicured hedges and skeletons hide in every walk-in closet, four perfect-looking girls aren't nearly as perfect as they seem.

Spencer, Aria, Emily, Hanna, and their best friend Alison were once the girls at Rosewood Day School. They clicked through the halls in their Miu Miu flats, tanned in their matching Pucci bikinis, and laughed behind their freshly manicured fingernails. They were the girls everyone loved but secretly hated - especially Alison.

So when Alison mysteriously vanished, Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna's grief was tinged with...relief. And when Alison's body was later discovered in her own backyard, the girls were forced to unearth some ugly memories of their old friend, too. Could there have been more to Alison's death than anyone realizes?

Now someone named A, someone who seems to know everything, is pointing the finger at one of them for Alison's murder. As their secrets get darker and their scandals turn deadly, A is poised to ruin their perfect little lives forever.

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My thoughts about this one in terms of character development and general drama are pretty much the same as they were for the first two. The characters are relatable (although less so in this one, I felt like) and the drama is a little overdone but still definitely engaging. What made Perfect different from Pretty Little Liars and Flawless was the plot.

While "A" is still definitely present, this book is a lot less about the girls freaking out about being stalked and a lot more about finding out a) who killed Ali, b) who the stalker actually is, and c) putting their lives back together as A messes around with everything that matters to them. Hanna has always been the hardest-to-relate-to character for me, and in Perfect I started to really connect with her. As always, some of what goes on is way over the top, but it worked here.

Shepard's tackling a lot of issues - not only murder and stalking, but bulimia, homosexuality, divorce, family problems, cheating (in more ways than one), and being afraid of yourself. She manages to pretty much pull it off, though. I don't want to inadvertently spoil something (this one's got so much mystery that spoilers really suck), but I will say this: the ending of this one definitely makes me want number four ASAP, because I want to know what happens next. The plot of Perfect is probably the most engaging yet, at least in the second half, and I want to know what comes next!

Links:

Pretty Little Liars website

Review: The Wednesday Wars

Title: The Wednesday Wars
Author: Gary D. Schmidt
Publisher: Clarion Books
Pages: 264
Rating: 5 stars
From the book jacket: 
Holling Hoodhood is really in for it. He's just started seventh grade with Mrs. Baker, a teacher he knows is out to get him. Why else would she make him read Shakespeare...outside class?

The year is 1967, and everyone has bigger things to worry about, especially Vietnam. Then there's the family business. As far as Holling's father is concerned, the Hoodhoods need to be on their best behavior: the success of Hoodhood and Associates depends on it. But how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? Rats, for one thing; cream puffs, for another. Then there's Doug Swieteck's brother. And Ariel's costume: tights. That's just for starters. In a series of mishaps and adventures over the course of the school year, fate sneaks up on Holling again and again.

Gary D. Schmidt has written a novel that is at turns comic and compelling, down-to-earth and over-the-top. In The Wednesday Wars, he offers an unforgettable antihero in Holling Hoodhood, a kid from the suburbs who embraces his destiny in spite of himself.

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The Wednesday Wars is written for a little bit younger audience than most of the books I read - it's set in seventh grade, not in high school. The only reason I picked it up was that my Dad, who read it for a YA Lit class he teaches, insisted that I would love it, and I agreed to give it a try. Turns out Dad was right - The Wednesday Wars was fantastic. I adored it.

Holling Hoodhood (which, by the way, I think is a completely ridiculous name) is convinced that his English teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates him. He's the only person in his class who isn't Jewish or Catholic - which means that instead of going to Hebrew School or Catechism on Wednesday afternoons, he has to stay with Mrs. Baker. And she has a nefarious plot in mind: she's going to bore him to death with Shakespeare. Or so Holling thinks, anyway. But her plan backfires, because it turns out Shakespeare isn't so bad after all.

There is so much about this book that is just delightfully funny and adorable, from the escape of pet rats Sycorax and Caliban to Ariel's bright yellow tights (you'll understand if you read it). But there's a whole other level, too - Holling's family issues and the Vietnam War. Parts of The Wednesday Wars had me laughing hysterically and parts of it were heartbreaking. The characters are just wonderful - Holling is a fantastic narrator and I want Mrs. Baker to be my English teacher. I loved this book so much.

If you're a fan of Shakespeare, read this! If you're not a fan of Shakespeare...read this anyway! The Wednesday Wars is an adorable, wonderful book and I absolutely loved it. Even if you don't normally read more-like-MG stuff and prefer to stay in the realm of older-YA, I think it would be pretty impossible to dislike this one.

Review: Flawless

Title: Flawless
Author: Sara Shepard
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 330
Series: Pretty Little Liars #2
Rating: 4 stars
**Warning: Contains spoilers for Book 1 (none for this one, though)**
From the book jacket: 
In the exclusive town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania, where the sweetest smiles hide the darkest secrets, four pretty little liars - Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna - have been very bad girls...

Spencer stole her sister's boyfriend. Aria is brokenhearted over her English teacher. Emily likes her new friend Maya...as much more than a friend. And Hanna's obsession with looking flawless is literally making her sick. But the most horrible secret of all is something so scandalous it could destroy their perfect little lives.

And someone named "A" is threatening to do just that.

At first they thought A was Alison, their friend who vanished three years ago...but then Alison turned up dead. So could A be Melissa, Spencer's ultracompetitive sister? Or Maya, who wants Emily all to herself? What about Toby, the mysterious guy who left town right after Alison went missing?

One thing's for certain: A's got the dirt to bury them all alive, and with every crumpled note, wicked IM, and vindictive text message A sends, the girls get a little closer to losing it all.

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Normally, I get kind of annoyed by books that are super-girly and full of brand-name-loving rich kids, but Pretty Little Liars is an exception to that. The references to everything that makes Hanna (and, at one time, Ali) so popular and all the brand names are the hardest parts to get through, but there's a complex plot that more than makes up for it.

At the end of book one (yes, I warned you there'd be spoilers for that one), Alison turns up dead. Since she's dead, she obviously can't be the one sending Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily all sorts of mysterious and threatening text messages and emails - so who is? And then, of course, there's Toby. Toby knows the girls' darkest secret: he knows about "The Jenna Thing," an incident they've kept secret for four years that could very well come back to haunt them. He's been at a reform school in Maine since then, but now he's back, and he's showing up everywhere.

On top of that, there are all the other events from the girls' lives. Aria's issues with her family - and her English teacher; Spencer's problems with her sister and her boyfriend; Emily dealing with her sexuality; Hanna's daddy issues. There are so many different things going on in this book. As far as the characters go, Aria's probably my favorite and the one I find the most relatable, but they're all very engaging and real.

My two major complaints about Flawless were that the drama seemed kind of overdone in places and that (some of) the characters are so focused on brand names and popularity. That said, the drama, the plot, and the characters do make you want to keep reading and find out more about who these people are, what their secrets could be, and who's behind it all. I will definitely be looking for book three as soon as I can!

Links: 
Pretty Little Liars website

Review: Clockwork Angel

Title: Clockwork Angel
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 476
Series: The Infernal Devices #1
Rating: 4.5 stars
From the book jacket: 
Magic is dangerous -- but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks, and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, who are members of a secret organization called the Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by - and torn between - two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and vlatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

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I think I would have loved Clockwork Angel a lot more if I hadn't been very busy noticing all the similarities to the Mortal Instruments series (which I absolutely adored). That said, I still thought Clockwork Angel was pretty freaking awesome.

Tessa makes an excellent protagonist - her feelings about/relationship with her brother are awesome, especially later on in the novel - and I adored Charlotte, but I think my favorite characters are the boys. Henry is adorable and reminded me of a cross between Beetee from the Hunger Games series and Luna Lovegood...but Will and Jem were the best. I would love to be friends with Jem in real life, and Will... oh, Will. I can't decide whether I love him or want to strangle him - which means that I agree with just about everyone else in the novel. I kept comparing him to Jace from TMI, but fortunately it's been long enough since I read those that I was able to (mostly) come at this as an independent story, and I loved it.

I'd offer you some quotes, but a) I'd have to pick just a few favorites, and b) they'll be so much better if you find out for yourself.

The plot was awesome too. I kept wanting to find out what happens - I've gotten pretty good at figuring out endings long before I get there lately, but Clockwork Angel had some major twists that genuinely surprised me and were executed very well. I'm really not sure how much I can say without being too spoilery, but I do think the jacket description plays up romance too much. It's definitely there but it takes a backseat to the mystery and suspense, which was good. Once I started reading Clockwork Angel I did not want to put it down (I had to at times, but I'd have loved to read it straight through). It kept me turning the pages and I am so sad that I have to wait until next September for the second one!

Also I love the cover. The cover is awesome and 1800s-England-y (which is fitting) and Shadowhunter-y (also fitting) and I just think it's lovely. And the setting! England in 1878 is a delightful setting. And my friends can attest to the fact that I slipped into old-fashioned British English for a bit while I was reading it. Oops. Oh, and the literary references! *happy sigh*

Definitely, definitely read this one if you get the chance and like supernatural things. I simply loved it! I do think, though, that City of Bones and the rest of the Mortal Instruments series were better. So read those too!

Links: 
Cassandra Clare's website
And her blog
And her Facebook page

Book Blogger Hop and Some Excitement!

The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Crazy for Books. This week's question is:


Do you judge a book by its cover?

My answer: sometimes. I try not to let covers that I dislike prevent me from reading a given book, but when I'm just browsing the shelves for books that look interesting, it's covers that get my attention. The publishing industry is all about people judging books by their covers. Covers are marketing. We all do it sometimes.




And now for the excitement part!

I'm really excited because I have reached fifty followers! I've only been blogging for about two months, so I think it's cool that so many people are interested in what I have to say about what I read. It's pretty awesome. You guys rock!! Thanks so much!! ♥

I wish I had something awesome planned for this like a giveaway or an author interview, but for right now you'll have to make do with knowing that I think you're all very awesome. :)

~Becky

Backstage Blogging at The Story Siren

Happy Thursday, guys!

Kristi at The Story Siren has a cool new feature I wanted to tell you guys about. It's called Backstage Blogging - basically, she's posing questions to a group of 30 new bloggers and another group of 30 more experienced bloggers and then posting their answers on her blog. In last week's post, 15 newbie bloggers talked about why they're blogging, and in today's post, she's posted the other 15 new bloggers' answers.

If you're a blogger and have ever wondered whether other bloggers approach things in the same way you do, or if you're a reader who just wants to know how we bloggers think, or if you just like getting inside other people's heads, check it out! (And if you look at today's post, you just might see a few words from yours truly...)

~Becky

Review: John Belushi is Dead

Title: John Belushi is Dead
Author: Kathy Charles
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 309
Rating: 3.5 stars
From the back cover: 
In the end, we all fade to black.

Pink-haired Hilda and oddball loner Benji are not your typical teenagers. Instead of going to parties or hanging out at the mall, they comb the city streets and suburban culs-de-sac of Los Angeles for sites of celebrity murder and suicide. Bound by their interest in the macabre, Hilda and Benji neglect their schoolwork and their social lives in favor of prowling the most notorious crime scenes in Hollywood history and collecting odd mementos of celebrity death.

Hilda and Benji's morbid pastime takes an unexpected turn when they meet Hank, the elderly, reclusive tenant of a dilapidated Echo Park apartment where a silent movie star once stabbed himself to death with a pair of scissors. Hilda feels a strange connection with Hank and comes to care deeply for her paranoid new friend as they watch old movies together and chat the sweltering afternoons away. But when Hank's downstairs neighbor Jake, a handsome screenwriter, inserts himself into the equation and begins to hint at Hank's terrible secrets, Hilda must decide what it is she's come to Echo Park searching for...and whether her fascination with death is worth missing out on life.

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I won my copy of John Belushi is Dead from Goodreads First Reads. Thank you Simon & Schuster!

Ordinarily I'd begin by giving you a brief description of the plot of the novel, except the back cover does all that and more. In a sentence, though, John Belushi is Dead is the story of Hilda coming to terms with death. Her parents died in a car accident five years ago, and since then she has developed an obsession with Hollywood deaths. After all, if death comes for even the rich and famous, it must be something she can deal with. Then there's Benji, whose obsession with death is a lot more intense than her own.

If I say too much more about the plot, there wouldn't be a whole lot of point in reading the novel, because the summary from the book cover is pretty detailed. Instead, on to what I liked and didn't like:

I really liked the characters. Hilda, especially, was extremely well-developed and she just felt like a real person. Benji...I didn't like him, and he was a little overdone, but he was still well developed. When I say I didn't like him, I mean it in the sense that if he were a real person, I would be terrified of him and I definitely wouldn't like him. Hank, too, was a great character. And Jake. I love Jake, and I love the dynamic of his relationship with Hilda. It is so nice to see a novel where the female protagonist doesn't immediately think "oooh I'm in love!" and then start obsessing the first time she sees a cute guy. Their relationship developed in what I felt like was a genuine and excellently written way. And it wasn't knock-you-over-the-head romance, which was a very pleasant change. Romance was more of an undertone.

I didn't like the end. I won't tell you what it was, of course, but I didn't like it. I wasn't a fan of some of Hilda and Benji's interactions, either - they felt kind of forced in places. In all honesty, though, there wasn't a whole lot I didn't like about the writing and the characters in the book. My problem was with the subject matter.

Dead celebrities. Two teenagers who have an obsession with dead celebrities. Okay, fair enough, but I don't really want to hear all the gory, graphic details about all these celebrity suicides and murders. The attitude Benji especially had toward suicide (accidental or otherwise) as something to shrug off and/or glorify really bothered me. I'm not particularly squeamish and I love creepy stories, but I had some problems with the approach this novel took to death. It did get better by the second half, though.

Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone who likes Hollywood and is okay with some blood and guts. Not a good book for someone who has a problem with blood, definitely, and like I mentioned before, I got kind of bothered by the idea of glorifying death. Still, though, on the whole I think it was a good book and one that's worth your time if you're okay with the subject matter.

Links:
Kathy Charles' website