Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Don't Forget....
To enter my big birthday contest! The deadline is January 20 (inauguration day! Yay!), and I'm sure you don't want to miss the chance to win 10 awesome books.....so click here if you haven't entered yet! (:
Monday, January 5, 2009
The Monday Muse: Interview with Yvonne Collins & Sandy Rideout
Today's Muse(s): Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout!
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Favorite book?
Y: I don't have an all-time favorite. The book I enjoyed reading the most in 2008 was Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen.
S: Growing up, I loved anything by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Lately, I enjoy a variety of authors, including Jennifer Weiner. I also really enjoyed Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer.
Favorite TV show?
Y: I really like Extras and currently, I'm enjoying Friday Night Lights, thanks to Sandy who turned me on to it.
S: Yvonne recommended my current favorite, Mad Men. I'm also a fan of Heroes and Grey's Anatomy.
Favorite movie?
Y: An all-time favorite of mine is The Full Monty. I also love City of God, and in 2008, I enjoyed Mamma Mia!.
S: I love all the old John Hughes movies. This past year, I really enjoyed Iron Man, and also Ghost Town.
Favorite ice cream flavor?
Y: My husband's home-made vanilla.
S: Anything that features chocolate.
Favorite piece of clothing that you own?
Y: At the moment, it's the one pair of jeans that still fit after my Christmas pig-outs!
S: Anything cashmere!
Favorite vacation/holiday?
Y: In an ideal world, I love a trip that mixes a good dose of the great outdoors with big city culture--like the time I went hiking for a week in the Pyrenees mountains, followed by ten days exploring the museums and architecture of Barcelona. I also LOVE the trips I've taken to New York with Sandy.
S: Ditto on our trips to New York, and also to California. And I love spending time at my family's cottage in northern Ontario, where I can walk in the wilderness for hours (though occasional bear sightings have cut a few hikes short)!
Favorite book that you've written?
Y: The Viven Leigh Reid books are my favorites. I guess because we've written three of them, I feel quite connected to the characters.
S: My favorite at the moment is Girl V. Boy, but Yvonne will tell you I usually like our latest work best.
Favorite character from your books?
Y: Annika, from the VLR books. She's fun to write because she's so vain.
S: I really like our villains. In Girl V. Boy, my favorite character was Grace. But my all-time favorite character is Judy, the rude and pushy producer from The Black Sheep.
What are you currently writing?
Y & S: We are working on a new series of books, but at the moment the content is still under wraps!
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Thanks for the fun interview, Yvonne and Sandy! Can't wait to see what's next from you!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
In My Mailbox: Take Four
Created by The Story Siren, "In My Mailbox" shows all books gained (for review, from the library, or bought) weekly! This week was pretty slow, post-holidays. (Summaries courtesy of Amazon.com):
My Life in Pink and Green by Lisa Greenwald (coming out March 2009)
Twelve-year-old Lucy Desberg is a natural problem solver. After the local homecoming queen shows up at her family's struggling drugstore with a beauty disaster that Lucy helps to fix, Lucy has a long line of makeover customers for every school dance and bat mitzvah. But all the makeup tips in the world won't help save the pharmacy. If only she could find a way to make the pharmacy the center of town again-a place where people want to spend time, like in the old days. Lucy dreams up a solution that could resuscitate the family business and help the environment, too. But will Lucy's family stop fighting long enough to listen to a seventh-grader?
Thanks, Lisa, for sending me a copy of your book! It looks really cute--and I love the cover!
3 Willows by Ann Brashares
seeds
Polly has an idea that she can't stop thinking about, one that involves changing a few things about herself. She's setting her sights on a more glamorous life, but it's going to take all of her focus. At least that way she won't have to watch her friends moving so far ahead.
roots
Jo is spending the summer at her family's beach house, working as a busgirl and bonding with the older, cooler girls she'll see at high school come September. She didn't count on a brief fling with a cute boy changing her entire summer. Or feeling embarrassed by her middle school friends. And she didn't count on her family at all...
leaves
Ama is not an outdoorsy girl. She wanted to be at an academic camp, doing research in an air-conditioned library, earning A's. Instead her summer scholarship lands her on a wilderness trip full of flirting teenagers, blisters, impossible hiking trails, and a sad lack of hair products.
It is a new summer. And a new sisterhood. Come grow with them.
Thanks to Random House for sending me a copy! It looks good-hopefully Brashares' new novel is as good as her previous four bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series!
Willa by Heart by Colleen Murtagh Paratore
It's almost summer on Cape Cod, where Willa Havisham and Joey Kennelly are finally enjoying their status as the most compatible couple at Bramble Academy. When the community theater advertises auditions for Our Town, Willa and Joey seem fated to play the romantic leads. But when Marielle, the dazzling new girl, offers up some dramatic competition, Willa turns greener than the lawn at her parents' inn.
With two inn weddings the same weekend in June, Willa, who is now the official assistant wedding planner, has enough to do just helping Chef Rosie bake the wedding cakes of the century, and keeping sixteen beauty pageant bridesmaids in check. When a dance with a Southern gentleman sends her spinning beneath the stars, there's no telling what's destined for Willa and Joey.
Gah! I should've warned myself for spoilers before I read the Amazon summary, because I've just read the first book and this little description gave a lot away. Oh, well--I kinda predicted what would happen later after I read the first book, and of course Stella would have to make Willa her assistant and of course Willa and Joey would get together. And no, I'm not psychic.
I picked this one up at Borders (in paperback! Yay!) and can't wait to get the second, Cupid Chronicles, at the library, so I can start this one--it looks just as great, if not better, than the first!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
The Wedding Planner's Daughter
Title: The Wedding Planner's Daughter
Author: Colleen Murtagh Paratore
Pages: 200
Aladdin Paperbacks, 2005
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Recommended to: Preteen girls, 10-13
Rating: A
Dreamy twelve-year-old Willa Havisham wants only one thing in the world: a father. She's spent countless wishes on stars, birthday candles, and lucky cherry pits from her favorite confection, cherry cordials. But then Willa and her steely, businesslike wedding planner of a mother, Stella, move to Bramble, Cape Cod, and meet Sam, Willa's poetic, romantic seventh-grade English teacher--he'd make a perfect dad! Willa is determined to marry Stella and Sam off, and with the help of her candy-store owning grandmother and fun new best friend Tina, she might just have a dad by her thirteenth birthday!
Then a disastrous event at a very important wedding occurs, possibly wrecking Stella's orderly business, and it's up to Willa to save Sam and Stella's relationship and secure her happy ending...
One word to sum up this whole book would be this: Awww. The whole story had, all-in-all, a sweet, fluffy vibe, a perfect read for summer. A satisfying combination of Cape Cod charm, friendship, romance, and the true meaning of family, the overall product was simply charming, from the warm, lovable characters right down to the fairytale-happy ending that sets up perfectly for a hopefully equally-lovely sequel. The plot was fast-paced, and readers will find themselves rooting for the oh-so-realistic Willa, who reads classic novels, eats her grandmother's homemade cherry cordials, gets mad at her mother, and dreams about her crush, Joey. The whole atmosphere felt light and breezy, and the quotes and "Willa's Pix" at the end gave it an old-fashioned, homemade feel, which I greatly enjoyed. It just felt like the author put a lot of love into her novel, and as a result, the finished product was radiant, its characters shaped into realistic almost-perfection.
My one problem was that the book seemed a little syrupy sweet at parts, too much for my taste. I get it: it's supposed to be mellow and light, but I just found the last half of the book to be a bit predictable and cliché: everything resolves and is perfect again, ho-hum, a bit unrealistic for my taste.
However, I cannot say I didn't enjoy this little confection of summer-fun. I felt like I personally knew Willa and her friends and the sweet town of Bramble (I want to live there, eat Nana's candy, dance at the June Bug, spy on Stella's weddings, and live in the Havishams' darling little classic seaside home!) by the time I had finished. I can't wait to read the second in the series, The Cupid Chronicles.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Death by Latte
Title: Death by Latte
Author: Linda Gerber
Pages: 204
Sleuth/Speak, September 2008
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Recommended to: All teens, 12 and up
Rating: A+
****Spoiler Alert***! Read no further if you haven't checked out the first book in the series, Death by Bikini! (review here).
Aphra's life has completely changed ever since Seth Mulo and his family, bearing a deadly secret, showed up at she and her dad's serene island resorts just weeks ago. They brought danger, romance, and...the address to where Aphra's mom, Natalie, lives in Seattle. Determined to meet up with her mother for the first time in four years, Aphra defies her father and sets out to learn all of the secrets that Natalie has been keeping from her.
But when Aphra arrives in Washington, Natalie and her partner Joe seem anything but happy to see Aphra: she possesses a valuable ring, an unknowing gift from Seth, that a potential killer might be after, and now she's dragging Seth and his family into danger...
There are very few books that I absolutely love, love, love, but this is one of them: Gerber's writing is so addictive, and the book was quick and moving, with high action and suspense. Her descriptions absolutely sparkled, and she had me at the edge of my seat, madly flipping pages to the climax and the cliffhanging ending.
OK, I'll admit it. I didn't have very high expectations for Death by Latte, after reading the first, fantastic book in the series. I expected it wouldn't be as good as the high-adventure, fast-paced, thrilling Death by Bikini, and I was reluctant about starting it. But-wham!-by the third page, I was drawn in, and Gerber's writing kept me in for the rest of the novel, a fast-paced read that I finished off in a day.
I loved the change of scenery-there was something about the busy Seattle city life and pine forests, mountains, and rivers of the Cascades that just made DBL so much more exciting and addicting. I adored the narration-Aphra has such a clear, strong voice, and it really felt like I was getting into her head. The characters were all relatable and realistic-and I was rooting for them the whole way. To put it simply, Death by Latte was definitely one of the best books I've read all year, and now I'm more eager than ever to start Death by Denim, the third in the series!
Enter to win this book in my birthday contest by clicking here.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Best Books of 2008 and My Year-End Awards
Happy New Year, everyone! It's been a busy-but-great year of reading and reviewing. Most of the books that I read were excellent. I had a bunch of really fun author interviews. And I encountered some fabulous books this year that I've ranked, the first one being my personal favorite of the year.
Here are my Top Twenty-One (I couldn't stop at just 20) picks for 2008!:
1) Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
2) Death by Latte by Linda Gerber
3) Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale
4) Out of the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst
5) Death by Bikini by Linda Gerber
6) I SO Don't Do Mysteries by Barrie Summy
7) Introducing Vivien Leigh Reid: Daughter of the Diva by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout
8) The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaefer
9) Frenemies by Alexa Young
10) The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
11) The Black Sheep by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout
12) Amazing Grace by Megan Shull
13) Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee
14) Oh. My. Gods by Tera Lynn Childs
15) Lucky T by Kate Brian
16) Candyfloss by Jacqueline Wilson
17) LBD: Live and Fabulous by Grace Dent
18) The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine
19) The Clique Summer Collection: Dylan by Lisi Harrison
20) Bad Kitty by Michele Jaffe
21) Tennyson by Lesley MM Blume
...What were your favorites of the year?
Now.....
Year-End Book Awards:
No prizes are actually awarded, just bragging rights. And this is just my opinion. And feel free to make up your own categories and winners and submit them--I want your opinion on who deserves to win!
Drumroll, please.....
Best Debut Author: Barrie Summy, I SO Don't Do Mysteries
Best Debut YA Novel: Vidalia in Paris by Sasha Watson
Best Debut MG Novel: The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaefer
Best Debut Series: Death By...by Linda Gerber/Frenemies by Alexa Young
Best International Novel: LBD: Live and Fabulous by Grace Dent
Best Female Character: Rapunzel from Shannon and Dean Hale's Rapunzel's Revenge
Best Male Character: Seth Mulo from Linda Gerber's Death By... series
Best Book in a Series: The Clique #5: The Pretty Committee Strikes Back by Lisi Harrison/Death by Latte by Linda Gerber
Best Mystery: Death by Latte by Linda Gerber
Best Fantasy: Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Best Graphic Novel: Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale/Chiggers by Hope Larson
Best MG Contemporary Fiction: As If Being 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother is Running for President! by Donna Gephart/The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaefer
Best Book for Younger Readers: Candyfloss by Jacqueline Wilson
Best Discovery in 2008: the Confessions of a Teen Nanny series by Victoria Ashton
Best Unexpectedly-Good Read: The Princess and the Pauper by Kate Brian
Most Creative: I SO Don't Do Mysteries by Barrie Summy
Best Retold Fairytale: Out of the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst/Rapunzels' Revenge by Shannon & Dean Hale
Best Cover: The Luxe by Anna Godbersen and Death by Bikini by Linda Gerber
Funniest Character: Sherry of I SO Don't Do Mysteries by Barrie Summy
Cattiest Character: Jo Lynn Bidwell of Susan McBride's The Debs
Bravest Character: Princess Addie of Gail Carson Levine's The Two Princesses of Bamarre
Most Fashionable Character: Imogene from A Girl Like Moi and Project Paris by Lisa Barham
Character With the Best Personality: Lucida Sans of Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zemser
Character With the Best Hair: Jas from Michele Jaffe's Bad Kitty and Kitty Kitty and Rapunzel from Shannon & Dean Hale's Rapunzel's Revenge
Character With the Best Clothes: Avalon of Alexa Young's Frenemies
Happy New Year!
Bookworm Readers wishes you and your family a safe, happy, and healthy New Year!
2008 sure was busy for me--I read a ton of books, created nearly 200 posts, celebrated my blog's first birthday, started using a new reviewing style, and was even nominated for a blog award!
Here are Bookworm Readers' 2008 statistics:
Books Read: 116
Posts in 2008: 199
Author Interviews: 17
Contests: 3 (The birthday contest is still going on...check it out!)
Here are my resolutions for 2009:
1) Be consistent in my Monday Muse and Friday Flashback posts (:
2) Think of new, better interview questions
3) Try to post every other day
4) Have more contests!
5) Enter more contests!
6) Make an archives section on my blog
7) Try to add a second sidebar to my blog
What are your resolutions for the New Year?
2008 was a great year! Welcome, 2009! (:
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