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From the Back of My Shelf (10): The Orange Houses by Paul Griffin

10 Feb

From the Back of My Shelf is a bi-monthly event, that happens on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of the month where you pull a book from the back of your shelf (with a 2009 release or prior) and review it. It’s a way to read some of those books that have been gathering dust while new books came out. Feel free to join in and participate, and link your reviews up in the Mr Linky below. Check out more in my intro post here here.

The Orange Houses

Paul Griffin

Publisher: Dial

Release Date: June 11, 2009

Pages: 160

Rating:  2.75 stars

Meet Tamika Sykes – Mik to her friends (if she had any). She’s hearing impaired and way too smart for her West Bronx high school. She copes by reading lips and selling homework answers, and looks forward to the time each day when she can be alone in her room drawing. She’s a tough girl who never gets close to anyone, until she meets Fatima, a teenage refugee who sells newspapers on Mik’s block. Both Mik and Fatima unite in their efforts to befriend Jimmi, a homeless vet who is shunned by the rest of the community.

The events that follow when these three outcasts converge will break open their close-knit community and change the lives of those living in the Orange Houses in explosive and unexpected ways.

I was very excited for The Orange Houses by Paul Griffin after reading his novel Stay With Me. Sadly, this one did not live up to the expectations I had for it.

I was not crazy about The Orange Houses being told in third person. It made the story very hard to get into as it was so disjointed. The story was also told from 3 POVs, and that was too much for this book. I liked the idea of it, but considering the book was only 150 pages, it was too little for each character.

Most of the characters were great. I had a bit of an issue with Tamika, as to me, it felt like she didn’t have the strength and courage to keep going. There was nothing holding her back but her own attitude, and because of that I was not too keen of her. I really liked both Fatima and Jimmi. They were definitely my two favorite characters of the book. Fatima was such a good soul.

There was definitely a plot, but there wasn’t much to it in my mind. The characters all had a worthy story to be told, but there wasn’t a lot of continuity between the plot points.

The Orange Houses by Paul Griffin was a book that had a lot of good things about it, but was not executed the best. I had a hard time getting past the writing, as it was just so disjointed that I couldn’t get into the story.

From the Back of My Shelf (9): Purge by Sarah Darer Littman

27 Jan

From the Back of My Shelf is a bi-monthly event, that happens on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of the month where you pull a book from the back of your shelf (with a 2009 release or prior) and review it. It’s a way to read some of those books that have been gathering dust while new books came out. Feel free to join in and participate, and link your reviews up in the Mr Linky below. Check out more in my intro post here here.

Purge
Sarah Darer Littman
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: April 1, 2009
Pages: 240

Rating: 4 stars

Janie Ryman hates throwing up. So why does she binge eat and then stick her fingers down her throat several times a day? That’s what the doctors and psychiatrists at Golden Slopes hope to help her discover. But first Janie must survive everyday conflicts between the Barfers and the Starvers, attempts by the head psychiatrist to fish painful memories out of her emotional waters, and shifting friendships and alliances among the kids in the ward.

Purge by Sarah Darer Littman was a book I really enjoyed – It feels weird to say I enjoyed it, given the subject matter, but Sarah Darer Littman has written a book filled with such hope and a positive message for teens.

I really liked the characters. I thought Janie, and all the other teens at Golden Slopes. They all were very different, but I found them all very easy to connect to. No, I haven’t  gone through the same things as they had been through, but so many contributing factors to their situation I have experienced in some manners, making it really easy to relate to all of them. I really liked Tom. He was hands down my favorite character of the book. I also really liked Brad, he definitely played a smaller role, but I just loved the one scene he was in.

Each chapter started with an entry from Janie’s diary, and I thought it was a really neat format. The diary entries were very different from the regular narrative, as it was not only here thoughts, but also a lot of Janie’s back story. The one thing I wasn’t too crazy about was how Janie referred to everyone as a Puker or a Starver. It just felt a bit odd to me, and it was almost like there was like a battle between the two.

Purge‘s plot was very sad at times, but it had such an element of hope throughout most of it. There were so many touching scenes. I found Nurse Joe to be hilarious and he helped Janie a lot when no one else was really succeeding. Any scene with Tom was just great, he always brought something new to a scene

I really liked Purge. I thought it was a book that addressed a very important topic, and that Sarah Darer Littman really succeeded in writing about it. This is my first Sarah Darer Littman read, but after Purge, I am very anxious to pick up another!

Did you do a From the Back of My Shelf post? Link it here :)

From the Back of My Shelf (8): Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

13 Jan

From the Back of My Shelf is a bi-monthly event, that happens on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of the month where you pull a book from the back of your shelf (with a 2009 release or prior) and review it. It’s a way to read some of those books that have been gathering dust while new books came out. Feel free to join in and participate, and link your reviews up in the Mr Linky below. Check out more in my intro post here here.

Jellicoe Road
Melina Marchetta
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release Date: September 1, 2008
Pages: 416

Rating: 4 stars

“What do you want from me?” he asks. What I want from every person in my life, I want to tell him. More.

Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham, now seventeen, is finally being confronted with her past. But as the reluctant leader of her boarding school dorm, there isn’t a lot of time for introspection. And while Hannah, the closest adult Taylor has to family, has disappeared, Jonah Griggs is back in town, moody stares and all.

In this absorbing story by Melina Marchetta, nothing is as it seems and every clue leads to more questions as Taylor tries to work out the connection between her mother dumping her, Hannah finding her then and her sudden departure now, a mysterious stranger who once whispered something in her ear, a boy in her dreams, five kids who lived on Jellicoe Road eighteen years ago, and the maddening and magnetic Jonah Griggs, who knows her better than she thinks he does. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future.

I have heard that Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta is amazing for ages, and decided I finally needed to sit down and read it, to see what everyone was talking about. Jellicoe Road had a very touching story to tell, and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t love it to the point that I feel others have, but I thought it was a story worth telling.

This was a very slow book to get into. I had no idea what was going on until just before page 100, and didn’t grasp a full idea until closer to page 200. This was bothersome in a way, but it almost made me more curious. I was so intrigued by the storyline, yet I had no idea what the basis for all of it was. After that, I found the story to be so charming. The story line from the past, with Narnie and the others, was very hard to follow. I found myself finishing still not having a clear understanding of everything that happened. I was able to piece together the gist of it, but I still had so many questions that I didn’t feel were answered. That went for the main storyline as well, there definitely were some questions that remained unanswered, when I had hoped I would discover an answer.

I really adored all the characters. Jessa was a character who really grew on me throughout the book; at first, I was not super crazy about her, but by the end I could not imagine the book without her. Griggs was awesome. He was just such a great guy. Ben was another character who I really loved – he was such a good-hearted person. Taylor grew a lot as a character as the book went on, and I loved seeing the changes in her as the book went on.

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta is definitely a book worth reading, and while it wasn’t a for sure favorite of mine, I still am happy to have read it. I am very interested to check out other works by Melina Marchetta after this one. Jellicoe Road was a story of a simply wonderful cast of characters.

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From the Back of My Shelf (7):

5 Nov

From the Back of My Shelf is a bi-monthly event, that happens on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of the month where you pull a book from the back of your shelf (with a 2009 release or prior) and review it. It’s a way to read some of those books that have been gathering dust while new books came out. Feel free to join in and participate, and link your reviews up in the Mr Linky below. Check out more in my intro post here here.

UPDATE: From the Back of My Shelf is going to be taking a break. I hope to start it up again in December, life has just been really busy. I can keep posting the Mr Linky though and I’ll make sure to comment on all the reviews :) Let me know in the comments :)

From the Back of My Shelf (5): The Espressologist by Kristina Springer

23 Sep

From the Back of My Shelf is a bi-monthly event, that happens on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of the month where you pull a book from the back of your shelf (with a 2009 release or prior) and review it. It’s a way to read some of those books that have been gathering dust while new books came out. Feel free to join in and participate, and link your reviews up in the Mr Linky below. Check out more in my intro post here here.

The Espressologist
Kristina Springer
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Release Date: October 27, 2009
Pages: 184
Source: Gift

Rating: 4 stars

What’s your drink of choice? Is it a small pumpkin spice latte? Then you’re lots of fun and a bit sassy. Or a medium americano? You prefer simplicity in life. Or perhaps it’s a small decaf soy sugar-free hazelnut caffe latte? Some might call you a yuppie. Seventeen-year-old barista Jane Turner has this theory that you can tell a lot about a person by their regular coffee drink. She scribbles it all down in a notebook and calls it Espressology. So it’s not a totally crazy idea when Jane starts hooking up some of her friends based on their coffee orders. Like her best friend, Em, a medium hot chocolate, and Cam, a toffee nut latte. But when her boss, Derek, gets wind of Jane’s Espressology, he makes it an in-store holiday promotion, promising customers their perfect matches for the price of their favorite coffee. Things are going better than Derek could ever have hoped, so why is Jane so freaked out? Does it have anything to do with Em dating Cam? She’s the one who set them up! She should be happy for them, right?

The Espressologist was a super cute read! The pages flew by at a crazy fast speed, and all too soon the book was finished and I was left wanting more from this fantastic plot Springer had spun.

The plot was adorable. I loved the whole idea of matching people by the drinks they order – it’s so unique and I would really love to see if it would actually work out ever!

I really loved the characters in The Espressologist. I thought they were all super easy to connect with and a lot of fun. I thought Derek was absolutely hilarious, with all his different moods he would be in. I did have a little more of an issue connecting with Em, Jane’s best friend but she was still a ton of fun.

The ending was about the most adorable thing in the world! This was a great book, that I would absolutely recommend! This is my first book from Kristina Springer but after this one, I definitely want to check out her other book now!

From the Back of My Shelf (4): Lovestruck Summer by Melissa Walker

9 Sep

From the Back of My Shelf is a bi-monthly event, that happens on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of the month where you pull a book from the back of your shelf (with a 2009 release or prior) and review it. It’s a way to read some of those books that have been gathering dust while new books came out. Feel free to join in and participate, and link your reviews up in the Mr Linky below. Check out more in my intro post here here.

Lovestruck Summer
Melissa Walker
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: May 1, 2009
Pages: 272
Source: Won


Rating: 3.5 stars


Austin Music Fest
Yay, summer in Austin!
Good food, good times. Fun for everyone!
Okay, living with my sorority-brainwashed cousin, who willingly goes by “Party Penny,” is not exactly what I had in mind.
All your favorite bands
But the cute musicians I’ve met totally make up for it . . . like Sebastian. Swoon.
All ages welcome
So why can’t I stop thinking about Penny’s friend All-American Russ and his Texas twang??
Saturday & Sunday, from noon to midnight
Don’t wait up!

I have been hearing of Melissa Walker’s amazingness for ages, and since I read Small Town Sinners I’ve been determined to remedy the fact that that was the only book by her I had ever read. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one, I had heard tons of praise but I wasn’t sure by the premise if I would be on board or not.

I wasn’t too crazy about Quinn as a main character – she was very self-motivated, which is great, but it was a bit too much. Plus, there was the whole I’m going to call at 3 AM about an internship – what was she thinking? Then lying about THAT to make herself look better. Those 2 things right off the bat made me not too crazy about her.

The other characters I absolutely loved. I loved Miss Tiara, the cross dressing dog. That was just too funny. I loved that Penny wasn’t a stereotypical sorority girl, but instead this super fun character. Jade was another character I really liked.

The plot was a bit cliched, with girl goes for guy while the right guy is there but doesn’t realize it, etc etc. It was still so much fun to read though! I loved seeing what Quinn and Russ would get up to next.

This was a super cute read, and definitely the right one for a nice summer day. I would totally recommend checking it out!

From the Back of My Shelf (3) : Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

12 Aug

From the Back of My Shelf is a bi-monthly event, that happens on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month where you pull a book from the back of your shelf (with a 2009 release or prior) and review it. It’s a way to read some of those books that have been gathering dust while new books came out. Feel free to join in and participate, and link your reviews up in the Mr Linky below. Check out more in my intro post here here.

Dead Until Dark
Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: May 1, 2001
Pages: 292
Source: Bought

Rating: 4 stars

Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life–and one of her coworkers checks out…Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn’t such a bright idea. A fun, fast, funny, and wonderfully intriguing blend of vampire and mystery that’s hard to put down, and should not be missed.

I have been watching True Blood on TV since season 1 came out, so I figured it was time to read the books that inspired the amazingness of that show. I really enjoyed Dead Until Dark -  I didn’t find the writing or anything super spectacular, but the plot was a lot of fun.

I loved the plot. It was a lot of fun reading, as I already knew a lot of what was coming from the show. I  already knew who was behind the murder and what not, but the show leaves out so many little details that it was quite cool to read and see all those things.The writing wasn’t my favorite thing, but I feel like the plot made up for it.

It was a ton of fun to all play compare and contrast with the show, and see what the show kept what the show changed. I was surprised how much the show stayed true to the book, at least for this book so far.

I really liked the characters. I wasn’t too crazy about the romance between Sookie and Bill – it felt so OK now we’re gonna be together after meeting right now? It built slower after that, but right off the bat, I thought it was quite rushed. I really liked Sookie’s character. She is just so fun and quirky. Arlene is another character that I really just love, despite the smaller role she plays. I love Eric, there was only little snippets of him but I thought he was just a marvelous character.

I would suggest reading this one. The beginning was a bit slower but after a certain point I didn’t want to put it down! With it’s enticing plot and fun characters, Dead Until Dark is one you won’t want to miss.

Share YOUR Reviews Below :)

From the Back of My Shelf (2): Fakie by Tony Varrato

22 Jul

From the Back of My Shelf is a bi-monthly event, that happens on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month where you pull a book from the back of your shelf (with a 2009 release or prior) and review it. It’s a way to read some of those books that have been gathering dust while new books came out. Feel free to join in and participate, and link your reviews up in the Mr Linky below. Check out more in my intro post here here.

Fakie
Tony Varrato
Publisher: Lobster Press

Release Date: April 15, 2008
Pages: 144

Rating: 5 stars

At first glance, Alex Miller seems like a typical teen – typical hair, typical clothes, typical hobbies. Look closer, and you’ll see that his life is anything but typical – for Alex, fitting in has become a matter of life and death. The unfortunate witness to a murder, Alex can’t forget the things he has seen, and neither can the man he helped put in jail. The Witness Relocation Program has changed the identities of Alex and his mother repeatedly, and they need to keep running to stay one step ahead of his enemies. His latest identity as a skateboarder in Virginia Beach is no easy ride – nosegrabs, ollies, and kickflips are all new to him. Alex has to catch on quickly to blend in – but the biggest trick he’ll have to master is staying alive.

Fakie was an absolutely brilliant read. I had heard about it, was excited, then saw how short it was and got a bit nervous. I don’t know why I ever worried, I was captivated with every page.

The story was just so interesting. It is told in alternating perspectives between Alex and the killer. It is super fast paced, with page 1 Varrato has readers diving in head first and it doesn’t slow down at all. For as short of a book as Fakie was, it definitely had a lot of punch and one heck of a story.

The characters were also really well written. I had a really easy time connecting with them. I thought that Tim was a super great character. Alex was a really strong character.

Fakie is a book I would recommend 100%. It was one of those hidden gems – an overlooked book that I hadn’t heard much about. I will be very anxious to see what Tony Varrato will come up with next.

Cover Rating: B – This is a cover that is alright, I don’t real have strong feelings for or against it.

From the Back of My Shelf (1) : The School for Dangerous Girls by Eliot Schrefer

8 Jul

The School for Dangerous Girls
Eliot Schrefer
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: January 1, 2009
Pages: 341
Source: Bought

Rating: 4 stars

Angela’s parents think she’s on the road to ruin because she’s dating a “bad boy.” After her behavior gets too much for them, they ship her off to Hidden Oak. Isolated and isolating, Hidden Oak promises to rehabilitate “dangerous girls.” But as Angela gets drawn in further and further, she discovers that recovery is only on the agenda for the “better” girls. The other girls — designated as “the purple thread” — will instead be manipulated to become more and more dangerous . . . and more and more reliant on Hidden Oak’s care.

This was a book that I had received for my birthday 2 years ago, yet I hadn’t gotten around to reading until now. I had been super excited for it, but something else always seemed to pop up and I read that instead. I was so happy to finally read it, finding a beautifully woven story that kept me on the edge of my seat.

The plot was very well twisted. I never had any idea what exactly was going to happen next, not even a small guess. I loved the essence of mystery the story had to it.

The characters were all very well written. They all developed so much more as the book went on. I really liked Harrison. I thought he was a riot. The other cast of girls were all great as well, they all were so different from each other. I loved that none of the characters seemed to blend together, they were all very distinct.

This is definitely a book I would recommend. It was a great story that kept me flipping pages, dying to know what would happen next. I cannot wait to read more by Eliot Schrefer after this one :)

Cover Rating: B+ I love the cover – I love the boarding school look on covers, and I love that the cover is slightly out of focus, much like everything that went on at Hidden Oaks.

Link up your reviews below! Remember, books for From the Back of My Shelf must be released in 2009 or prior. Full details in my intro post here.

From the Back of My Shelf: A New Feature!

24 Jun

From the Back of My Shelf is a new feature I am starting on the 2nd & 4th Fridays of the month!

Do you have a ton of older books that have been collecting dust on the back of your shelf because you haven’t read them yet? I know I do, so here comes in From the Back of My Shelf! Two Fridays a month you pick a book, that came out in 2009 or earlier and review it. We figured it was time to start putting a dent in those old reading piles.

Then you can come back to either Katie‘s or my blog and link up your reviews and we can all comment :) The first official From the Back of My Shelf will be July 8, so that gives you two weeks to read one of your older books!