Archive for Book Review
WATCH ME by Lauren Barnholdt Book Review (Previously published as Reality Chick)
Publication Date: June 20th 2006 by Simon Pulse
Rating: 
– Acceptable | 
Book Summary: She thinks she has nothing to hide…
Ally has everything under control. She’s about to move into a house full of strangers and have her life broadcast to the world, but as long as she still has her long-distance boyfriend, Corey, nothing can go wrong. Nothing, that is, until Ally starts spending time with her housemate Drew, the hot and sensitive guy who always seems to be around when she needs someone the most.
As suspicions and lies start pulling Ally and Corey apart, she’s not sure if she can trust anyone, not even herself. Ally is about to learn the hard way that life is what happens when everyone is looking, and it doesn’t always capture her good side….
Book Review Overview:
- Love that WATCH ME features college-aged teens
- If you take out the cameras, WATCH ME is a realistic portrayal of a long-distance college relationship
- Ending was sweet and satisfying, but it isn’t my favorite Barnholdt
WATCH ME by Lauren Barnholdt is a quick, fun contemporary read. I’ve had WATCH ME sitting on my shelves for a while, and I finally picked it up when I decided I needed a good Lauren Barnholdt fix.
On a side note, title changes are confusing. WATCH ME by Lauren Barnholdt was originally published under the title Reality Chick with a different cover. I had a difficult time finding it on GoodReads at first since WATCH ME is still under its original title.
Minus the fact that Ally is on a reality television show, I think that the premise of WATCH ME is pretty realistic. I think from the very first page of the novel, readers can guess that Ally and Corey’s relationship is going to go downhill. It’s inevitable. Ally experiences a ton of insecurities about her relationship with Corey despite the fact that they’ve been together for almost two years. The distance is a problem, plus the fact that college is an overwhelming experience that changes you. I think that at the end, Ally was very mature about the way she handled her relationship with Corey.
Like a good reality television show, WATCH ME is full of fun and interesting characters:
- Jasmine: the sexy, flirty girl who doesn’t want to be tied down by a boyfriend
- Simone: the soft-spoken virgin
- Ally: the girl with the long-distance boyfriend
- James: the ghetto guy who claims he’s a player
- Drew: the hot, Abercrombie type
As far as first impressions go, I didn’t like Jasmine. She’s just the kind of girl that I don’t see myself being friends with. But as the novel progressed, I grew to like her. She’s fun, comfortable with her body, and she’s extremely loyal to her friends. She was definitely my favorite secondary character.
I thought that the ending of WATCH ME was sweet and satisfying. However, I don’t think that WATCH ME comes even close to the level of my favorite Barnholdt novel, Two-Way Street. There was chemistry among the characters, but WATCH ME lacked romantic tension because Ally was in a relationship for almost the entire book.
Despite the fact that I thought WATCH ME was just okay, this is not stopping me from reading the rest of Barnholdt’s novels. I’m determined to read the rest of her books until I find another one that I love just as much as Two-Way Street.
I would definitely recommend WATCH ME by Lauren Barnholdt to those who are fans of contemporary romance, reality television, and juicy gossip. Read WATCH ME if you like books by Elizabeth Scott or Jennifer Echols. And of course, if you are a Lauren Barnholdt fan, you should definitely still check this one out.
Why I’m Biased: I’m a big Lauren Barnholdt fan ever since I read Two-Way Street.
Other Book Reviews:
Escaping Through Books
Paranormal Indulgence
Reading Lark
About the AuthorLauren Barnholdt is also the author of Two-Way Street, The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney, Four Truths and a Lie, and One Night That Changes Everything. She lives in Waltham, Massachusetts. |
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Book Review, Three Stars - Audience: Young Adult, Author: Lauren Barnholdt, Book: Watch Me, Borrow It, Genre: Contemporary, Genre: Romance, Publisher: Simon Pulse | 
1131 words
WITHER by Lauren DeStefano Book Review
Series: The Chemical Garden Trilogy, #1
Publication Date: Date
Rating: – Acceptable | 
Book Summary: Obviously, something went terribly wrong. Genetic mutations have festered, reducing human longevity to twenty-five, even less for most women. To prevent extinction, young girls are kidnapped, mated in polygamous marriages with men eager to procreate. Sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery, a recent victim of this breeding farm mentality, has vowed to break loose from its fetters; but finding allies and a safe way out is a challenge she can only hope she will survive. A dystopian fantasy series starter with wings.
Book Review Overview:
- The concept is intriguing but it just went against my morals/ethics
- The romance felt forced and unnecessary
- But the novel still manages to entertain and the world-building is quite fantastic
I’m surprised that WITHER by Lauren DeStefano has not stirred up more controversy. I found myself having such a hard time picking up this book; not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because I did not agree entirely with this dystopian society. In Rhine’s world, humans thought they had perfected medicine. Cancer was cured. Diseases were eradicated. But something had gone wrong. Though the first generation lives full and healthy lives, their children and their children’s children are not so lucky. Women die at 20 and men die at 25. There is no cure. The world is at a chaos trying to make as many babies as possible before the human race dies off.
WITHER by Lauren DeStefano is the kind of book that will make you think hard. It will make you question your morals; it will make you question medicine and ethics. While I love a book that makes me think, WITHER by Lauren DeStefano was also a book that made me frustrated. I found it despicable that girls as young as thirteen were being carted off the streets and basically sold into prostitution. The most frustrating part of the novel is that the main character, Rhine, is unfortunately incapable of changing society. She represents only a tiny fraction of the big problem. The only thing that she can really change is her fate. She cannot find a cure for the disease, nor can she somehow stop the Gatherers from selling girls into prostitution.
However, written in the first-person narrative, I found it quite easy to put myself in Rhine’s shoes. I like how she did not just accept her fate and that she had to play her cards just right to have any chance of escaping. On the other hand, I don’t know if there’s anything particularly striking about her personality that makes her stand out against other protagonists.
It’s very easy to sympathize with Linden as a reader because he is treated as a naive little kid who just lost the love of his life. Despite the fact that Linden is able to go beyond the walls of the mansion, his freedom is severely limited by his overcontrolling father. Though I knew I should sympathize with Linden even just a tiny bit because he was duped by his own father, I still can’t find it in my heart to feel sorry for him. Why? Well, there’s that little fact that he impregnated a thirteen year old. Yes, it was one of the sister wives. Yes, the sex was consensual. But it’s quite obvious that Cecily is still a little kid. Linden has his sweet moments and he is a nice guy. But it is not okay to take advantage of an equally naive and misguided thirteen year old.
And ahem, unnecessary romance much? I just didn’t feel it with Gabriel. I honestly think the romance was completely unnecessary. If I was locked up and forced to be someone’s bride, the last thing I could possibly think about is getting it on with another guy. I didn’t really feel any chemistry between Rhine and Gabriel. I thought the romance felt a bit forced and it was something that sparked out of convenience.
I know I just spewed a bunch of negativity, but despite it all, WITHER is still a rock-solid debut from Lauren DeStefano. Though I never finished reading Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, WITHER by Lauren DeStefano is reminiscent of the first fifty or so pages of Handmaid’s that I had read. However, I find DeStefano’s writing style to be a lot more accessible.
Furthermore, I admit that the world-building is kind of fantastic. The fact that DeStefano has me so riled up about this society and its amoral characters says something about the writing. DeStefano has the ability to get readers striking conversation and starting debates.
And finally, I guess I have to take back what I previously said about the covers. Okay, they aren’t the most beautiful covers ever, but the cover jacket of WITHER is actually 100% relevant to the novel. Wow, imagine that.
I would definitely recommend WITHER by Lauren DeStefano to fans of dystopian novels like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Matched by Allie Condie. Just be prepared to get your sense of morals and ethics a bit tested.
Why I’m Biased: This is a hyped-up book. I also got my copy of WITHER signed by Lauren DeStefano so I feel obligated to like it.
Other Book Reviews:
21 Pages
Book Purring
Diary of a Bibliophile
Pass the Chiclets
About the Author
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Lauren DeStefano (pronounced: de STEFF ano) graduated Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT in 2007. Her debut novel, WITHER, the first in The Chemical Garden Trilogy, published by Simon & Schuster BFYR, is out now.
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Book Review, Three Stars - Audience: Young Adult, Author: Lauren DeStefano, Book: Wither, Genre: Dystopia, Genre: Science Fiction, Makes You Think, Series: The Chemical Garden Trilogy | 1349 words
STEEL by Carrie Vaughn Book Review
Publication Date: March 1st 2011 by HarperTeen
Rating: |
Book Summary: It was a slender length of rusted steel, tapered to a point at one end and jagged at the other, as if it had broken. A thousand people would step over it and think it trash, but not her.
This was the tip of a rapier.
Sixteen-year-old Jill has fought in dozens of fencing tournaments, but she has never held a sharpened blade. When she finds a corroded sword piece on a Caribbean beach, she is instantly intrigued and pockets it as her own personal treasure.
The broken tip holds secrets, though, and it transports Jill through time to the deck of a pirate ship. Stranded in the past and surrounded by strangers, she is forced to sign on as crew. But a pirate’s life is bloody and brief, and as Jill learns about the dark magic that brought her there, she forms a desperate scheme to get home—one that risks everything in a duel to the death with a villainous pirate captain.
Time travel, swordplay, and romance combine in an original high-seas adventure from New York Times bestseller Carrie Vaughn.
Book Review Overview:
- Highlight of the book are definitely the fencing and sword-fighting scenes
- Would have loved more on Captain Cooper and Edmund Blane; felt that Blane was a little flat
- Time travel just happens and is never really explained
Jill stumbles upon a a broken rusted blade that washed upon the shores of the Bahamas. Intrigued by the blade, Jill pockets it and wonders where it came from. During a boat ride with her family, a wave pitches Jill into the ocean and she suddenly finds herself transported back into the early 18th century on a ship full of pirates. STEEL by Carrie Vaughn is a novel full of swordplay and pirates but fails to truly captivate the reader.
As a former high school fencer, I have to admit that I just loved the fencing and sword-fighting scenes in STEEL by Carrie Vaughn. For me, the sword scenes were the main highlight of the book. Vaughn takes sword fighting seriously; it’s not just slashing swords and steel on steel. Vaughn uses fencing terminology and stresses the fact that this is where the sport originated. The terminology is probably a bit hard to get used to for someone who’s never fenced before, so I thought it was handy to have the glossary at the end of STEEL that described terms such as redoublement and passé.
But despite the fact that I enjoyed the fencing scenes, STEEL failed to capture my attention most of the time. STEEL is under 300 pages and told from the third person perspective, with Jill as the single main character viewpoint. I just didn’t enjoy this novel coming from Jill’s perspective. I didn’t really understand her role in STEEL. Yes, she brought back a shard of Blane’s sword by accident – but that’s it. Nothing about Jill is special.
To be honest, I would have loved reading this novel from the perspective of Captain Cooper – or even better, Edmund Blane. The story is really about them and their fierce rivalry. Captain Cooper is such an interesting character since you usually don’t read about revered female pirate captains. I found her back story fascinating and I wished that she had been more central to the story. Furthermore, for a villain, I felt like Blain was such a flat character. You always just heard about how terrible he is, but you never really get to hear it from his point of view.
There’s a smudge of romance in this book and I honestly thought it was quite unnecessary. Why can’t guys and girls just remain friends? The romance didn’t satisfy me in any way, and I just felt a bit irritated that it was in the story at all.
The last detail that bothered me about STEEL is that the time travel aspect is something that just happens. Vaughn unfortunately does very little to explain the phenomena and just relies on the reader’s imagination to believe that Jill can just fall into the ocean and get magically transported back to the 18th century. The device may work on some readers, but it failed to impress me. I feel like Jill just blended in so well into the time period, and no one really questioned her. I’d expect that many of her mannerisms and speech differed from the pirates, but it was never really brought up in the book.
I honestly wanted to like STEEL more than I did. I had pretty good expectations for this one because I generally love time travel and pirate books. However, the combination of the two just didn’t work out for me in STEEL by Carrie Vaughn. I would still recommend readers who are interested in this novel to give it a shot and to Borrow It from your public library. But for those who want a little more romance and minus the time travel, there’s always TO CATCH A PIRATE by Jade Parker (you can read my book review here).
Other Book Reviews:
Good Books and Good Wine
Into the Book
Novel Thoughts
About the Author
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Vaughn was born into a military family and has lived all over the U.S. She received a BA from Occidental College, after which she went on to work too many jobs to count until she went back to school to receive her MA from University of Colorado at Boulder. She currently lives in Boulder, CO.
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Book Review, Two Stars - Audience: Young Adult, Author: Carrie Vaughn, Book: Steel, Borrow It, Genre: Historical, Genre: Time Travel, Publisher: HarperTeen | 1238 words
- Action Packed
- Hahaha Funny
- Heartwarmer
- Makes You Think
- Page-Turner
- Poetic Prose
- Romantic Read
- Tear-Jerker
