Monster High Book Review

jacqui_monet
October 8, 2016

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Title: Monster High

Author: Lisi Harrison

Series: Monster High (book 1)

Genre: YA/ SciFi

Pages: 246

Review:

So I started reading Monster High by Lisi Harrison, and when I say “started” I mean that I’ve inhaled all four of the original books. Ms. Harrison is the woman who brought us The Clique and Alphas. That being said, although I initially loved the idea of famous monsters’ children (or grandchildren) attending a normal high school while reluctantly “hiding with pride” I was afraid that the story would be well, shallow.

Ms. Harrison’s characters in her previous stories have tended to be incredibly one dimensional. I am glad to share that this series has been great. Heck, she even has a mean girl learn her lesson. Unlike Sharpay from High School Musical who has to relearn her lesson over and over and… Done with the rant. Anyway…

I love her decision to use nearly all of the different characters that Universal Studios explored in the 1930s. The books have everything from swamp monsters to mummies and Hyde to the son of Medusa. All of the characters are very different from each other and even though some of them are popular kids at the school, Lisi Harrison does a great job at making sure that they all have different goals and anxieties. Not all of them are popular by the way, some of them are practically invisible to those around them especially Billy (but he actual is invisible).

There is also a good mix of “normies” or normal kids like Melody and her sister Candace who move to Oregon from Beverly Hills at the beginning of the first book.

I say read the books or buy them for a teen girl you know. It’s a great way to introduce SciFi to younger people without being too out there. Another plus is that it’s a series and introducing a series to a young reader is the best way to ensure that they continue reading. Simply put: if they love the characters, they will want to know what happens to them.

Remember, if this book interests you, check out the links below to experience Monster High for yourself.

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Audio Books

*Side note: my brother Josh and I plan to be dressing up as Clawd and Clawdeen Wolf, the werewolf siblings at the high school, for Phoenix ComiCon next year. There is also a cartoon for Monster High on youtube, but be aware that it doesn’t follow the story line of the books AT ALL. Think of cartoon as more of an extended epilogue. I still think it’s kinda cute though. They have also released some full length animated features and a live action film is in the works (supposedly).

Taking The Stage Book Review

jacqui_monet
September 5, 2016

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Title: Taking The Stage

Author: Paige Parsons

Series: n/a (well, not yet anyway)

Genre: Romance, Interracial Romance (BWWM)

Pages: 134

Taking the Stage is the debut novel of Paige Parsons and I have to say I loved every second of it. I’ve never read a romance novel with the intention of  sharing my experience with the public, but I’ve decided to go for it anyway. You know, why not?! That being said, let’s jump right in to it.

This book centers around the working and personal relationships of stage manager Robyn (Roby) Rose and her director Joseph (don’t-call-him-Joey) Davis. Roby has moved back to her home state of Arizona because she suffered a massive personal blow; she caught her husband with his head between the legs of a hot young teacher. Considering that he was the principle of the school that both women worked at, he’s lucky there wasn’t a messy lawsuit along with professional embarrassment. Roby, however, stuck it out for the rest of the school year and then bounced which is more than I can say for myself, I honestly would have walked right out of his office never to be seen or heard from again.

Anyway, after a few weeks or so in good old AZ, Roby is settling into a new apartment and is handed a job at a theatre in town. Roby is chronically late to everything which drives Joseph crazy. He wants to resolve the problem and gives her a choice: 1) every minute late will be docked from her pay or 2) each minute results in a swat. A SWAT!! As in, spanking. There is spanking in this book! At first I thought, “Mm sounds like a sexual harassment lawsuit to me,” because well, he is her boss. But as the book went on I became okay with it  because the spanking wasn’t sexualized. What was sexy though, was the dialogue and their inner monologues about each other. I could feel the sexual tension between them as the story progressed. Throughout the novel, our potential lovers deal with family, meddling mentors and an old flame come back to town in the form of a desperately needed leading actress.

Now, I know I listed above that Taking the Stage is an interracial romance novel but I didn’t really touch on it. In all honesty, the book doesn’t either. The most we get is the occasional description of her skin comparing her to chocolate, which I hate! Why are black characters always described in conjunction with food? Ugh. We don’t describe white characters as mashed potato colored. Anyway, I did like that race never came up. Roby’s blackness is never used against her nor is Joseph’s whiteness used against him. Seriously, I loved that this is a modern story and that race just isn’t an issue.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. Once I got past the um “original” spellings of Roby’s sisters’ names, Taking the Stage ended up being a very quick read. In fact, I wish the book had been a little bit longer; I could stand to know a little bit more about what happened between Joseph and his ex. But when all is said and done, this novel was fun and sexy and full of accurate theatre lingo. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, especially my theatre friends.

Check the links below to get this e-book for yourself!

https://www.amazon.com/Taking-Stage-Paige-Parsons-ebook/dp/B01IWQEP3G#nav-subnav

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/taking-the-stage-paige-parsons/1124141693?type=eBook

The Invisible Library Book Review

jacqui_monet
July 15, 2016

Cogman_The-Invisible-Library

Title: The Invisible Library

Author: Genevieve Cogman

Series: The Invisible Library (book 1)

Genre: Sci-Fi; Steampunk; Fantasy

Pages: 351

Review:

I obtained this book as a part of some swag that I received at Phoenix Comiccon this year. I was totally drawn to this book and it was the first one that, based on the blurb on the on the back, I just had to read. The book is about a Librarian named Irene and her new trainee Kai. The pair must locate a book that was owned by a vampire and then stolen when he was beheaded. Unfortunately for them, they aren’t the only ones trying to recover the book. To make matters worse an evil Former-Librarian is on the loose and in the area.

This book contains elements of steampunk, Fae and magic and some supernatural stuff thrown in for good measure. The writing is decent if not a little dry but there is some excellent world building going on and considering that this is a series, it will be exciting to see what comes next for the Librarians.

Ok. So, if you have been following me on social media you know that I’ve been reading this book for what feels like years. Okay, it’s only been a couple of weeks but it feels like forever. I normally read books in days despite their high page count. This book though, was a struggle. It dragged. There would some interesting action going on and then it would drag… again. Getting through it was rough. I’m sure it won’t be that way for everyone. This book and I just didn’t click. Maybe I’ll reread it again in a few years or maybe I’ll just give it way for someone else to enjoy. Oh, well, there are other books out there for me to love.

 

Check out the first few pages of audio below:

Daddy-Long-Legs Book Review

jacqui_monet
June 17, 2016

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Author: Jean Webster

Series: kind of the sequel, Dear Enemy, takes place in the same world but not with our protagonist.

Genre: YA

Pages: 185

When I first saw this book, it was sitting sadly on the shelf at the library. The front cover was particularly boring featuring an ambiguously aged girl sitting with a pen and paper half smiling out of a window. Then I thought, “Daddy-Long-Legs? Really? What is this, the true life story of Little Miss Muffet?” So, being the strange ol’ bird that I am, I checked the book out.

You know the old saying “don’t judge a book by it’s cover?” It totally applies here. Daddy-Long-Legs was a great read. With only 185 pages, I inhaled the books in a couple of hours. Two words: page turner.

First published in 1912, Daddy-Long-Legs tell the story of an orphan named Jerusha aka Judy who gets sent to college anonymously by a man who donates to the orphanage. This mystery benefactor will pay for her tuition, books, food, clothes and any and all incidentals along the way. Judy is told that she can attend school without fear of being indebted to him, but on two conditions.

  1. Judy must write a letter to him every month until she graduates knowing full well that he will never write her back.
  2. She cannot know who her benefactor is.

At first I was worried when I realized that all but the first ten pages were written in a letter format. Yet, this style never got stale. Judy’s letters were so detailed that while reading, I forgot that there wasn’t any actual dialogue. The letters are also pretty funny especially when she is angry about something. Also, the book gets its title from the way Judy begins nearly all of her letters: “Dear Daddy-Long-Legs.” She calls him this because at the orphanage, she was got a glimpse of his leggy shadow.

Another worry I had, was the book’s publish date because I hate reading a book and experiencing some type of language barrier. (For example, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere; it’s good but the British slang is confusing. I guess I don’t watch enough BBC.) Luckily, I didn’t have to deal with that one bit. It’s almost as if Jean Webster debuted this book yesterday! The diction sounds current if not a more polite way of speaking. You wouldn’t even realize that this took place in yester-year if it weren’t for the cost of things being so little back then. The story also has interesting twists and turns like Judy falling in love with her roommate young uncle, school dances, vacations with wealthy friends and potential boyfriends.

So, I’ve concluded that I love this book and I stand behind it all the way. I mean, if the only thing I don’t like about it is the outside cover, it’s great! If you read this and decided you want more, films have been made in the US (several times), Korea and Japan as recent as 2005. There are even anime and stage versions that have been created. I haven’t seen all of them yet, but I will say that the Fred Astaire film is great, but has some very bizarre sequences that are literally excuses to have him dance.

 

If this book interests you, check out the links below to experience it for yourself!

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006PV801Y/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/daddy-long-legs-webster-jean/1120679007

 

Rules of Summer- Book Review

jacqui_monet
June 2, 2016

rules-of-summer-by-joanna-philbinAuthor: Joanna Philbin

Series: Rules of Summer (book 1)

Genre: YA

Pages: 368

I recently read Rules of Summer, the first book in a series of the same name, by Joanna Philbin. The story centers around two girls summering in the Hamptons. The girls are from two completely different worlds and are there for two totally different reasons.

Isabel Rule is the youngest daughter of the Rule family. She’s kind of a black sheep. She doesn’t fit in well with her older siblings, she isn’t interested in the same things as her peers from the exclusive Georgica Club and doesn’t really feel the love from her parents either. She’s been living in California at a boarding school and this is her first time being back with her family since she’s been away.

Rory McShane is coming to the Hamptons from New Jersey. She’s a pretty good student with two best friends and no boyfriend to speak of. Her family consists of a mom who can’t really take of herself and a revolving door of step-dads-to-be. Rory doesn’t want to deal with her home life nor does she want to work at Mario’s pizza place again. So, when her aunt hooks her up with a gig to be an errand girl for an uber rich family for the summer, she is totally down. If only the Rule’s youngest daughter was such a terror.

Rules of Summer was a very fun read. The first chapter was a little slow though, I think I read one of the pages like three times. But after that, it totally takes off!  Hot guys and surfing, make overs and family secrets. This book has a little bit of everything. It’s not very deep, I’ll admit, but the story does have some heart. As the summer progresses, Rory and Isabel learn more about each other and come to realize that they aren’t all that different. Despite only being in high school, they both want to experience true love, to be understood my their families and to be more independent. Like any YA novel worth its salt, there are secrets, misunderstandings, missed opportunities and mean girls. There were some unresolved issues at the end that frustrated me until I learned that there would be a sequel. I really did like this book and I plan on reading the second one soon.

This book came out in paperback right as the summer of 2014 was kicking off, so here are the hottest songs from that summer to set the mood!

If this book interests you, check out the links below to experience it for yourself!

http://www.amazon.com/Rules-Summer-Joanna-Philbin/dp/0316212040

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rules-of-summer-joanna-philbin/1113742188

http://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/rules-of-summer/179648