Fragments

Friday, 15 April 2011

FAMOUS by Simone Bryant

Title: FAMOUS
Author: Simone Bryant
Series: The Pace Academy (book #2)
Publisher: Kimani Press
Release Date: 1st January 2011

Summary: At prestigious Pace Academy, the Pacesetters make the rules. But in the world outside, being rich and popular doesn't always get you what you want.…
Starr has ambition, charisma and—thanks to her father's record company—all the connections to get her group major exposure. Just one problem: Starr can't sing, and now her friends are looking to replace her with her archrival, Natalee.
Dionne is excited about being the rapper of the group—even if her parents don't approve. But it's hard to focus on her rhymes when there is too much drama at home.
Marisol loves the stage, though it's dancing, not singing, that's in her blood. She'd do anything for her friends—except give up her own shot at stardom.
With ego trippin' and infighting tearing their friendship apart, Starr, Dionne and Marisol are finding that the big time comes with even bigger problems.…

Review:
Let me start by saying that I couldn't finish this book.
When I started reading it I was looking forward a light book, where characters were privileged and had an easy life. Well, this book is about that but, after 115 pages NOTHING happened. Everything that the summary promised didn't happen. Those 115 pages only ~~showed~~ told us about the amazing live that the girls had and nothing else. Usually I don't have a problem with that, but this time I had because (a) this is the second book in a series, so someone that had already read the first book, knows everything about the characters’ life, and (b) because it took 115 pages to do that when after the first 20 pages I had already understood that these girls thought they were fabulous and their life was the dream of many people.
The characters aren't very likeable: they're the typical mean girls, spoiled and shallow. One positive thing about them is that they are well built and we know practically everything that there's to know about them. Also, two of the characters deal with a few family related problems that ordinary teenagers may deal with: divorce and one parent cheating on another.
This book began well but it didn't lived to my expectations. Not the right book for me.
4/10

Thursday, 14 April 2011

The Twilight Saga Official Guide it's here

Just a quick update.
I finally bough the new Official Guide of the Twilight Saga. Well, I do not consider myself a hardcore fan of the Twilight Saga, I never attended to any book launch party, I never waited in lines to get the tickets for the movies, or anything like that.
I read and re-read the series, and I must be frank, every time I re-read it I start to see more flaws in the book (though the first time I read them I liked them), and they start to fall in my imaginary Book Ranking List. Nowadays none of the books from the Twilight Saga are in my favourite book list.
So, why did I decided to buy this guide? Well, I hope this guide covers some of the lack of information from the books and perhaps gives more information about the platonic attraction between Bella and Edward (one of the things that I most disliked in the series is that there isn't any reason for the love interest that Edward has on Bella), and I also hope that Alice story is revealed at least!
Happy Readings

Wednesday, 13 April 2011

Waiting on Wednesday

Wainting on Wednesday is a wekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine.
This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Title: Beautiful Chaos

Authors: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Release Date: 18th October 2011

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Summary:Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected - and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What - or who - will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?

For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it isn't by Lena - and whatever is haunting him is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Even worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself - forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and most days he's too afraid to ask.
Sometimes there isn't just one answer or one choice. Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.

Doesn't the plot just hook you?

Sunday, 10 April 2011

Title: Whiteout
Author: Ken Follett

Remember that I said, this was not going to be an YA lit exclusive blog? Well, this is my first adult book review.
Whiteout is a fantastic book and I couldn't stop reading it (I know I've been saying this too much, but lately I've been reading really good books).
Set in the cold and snowy Scotland, this book gain lots of points just because of the setting.
One thing that I really enjoyed, about Whiteout,was that the book is really fast paced, so though you will still be turning pages to find out what is going to happen (because the chapters end very conveniently in the climax) you won't sufferthrough long and boring descriptions and lots of scientific facts (wich sometimes happens in books of the thriller genre) to discover what happens next.
The cast of characters is really interesting. They're all different from each other but at the same time they are all captivating and the reader cares about them. I believe that the villains are kind of a cliché but that didn't bother me.
The plot is incredible, and there are going to happen things that you never imagined. It's easy to understand all the subplots and not get lost in the sequence of events.
Witheout is an incredible thriller and if I were you I would read it.

9/10

Wednesday, 5 January 2011

Times & Places - Paris

Times & Places is a new feature, where I explore the settings and the eras of books I loved! I'm working on a logo and everything but I'm not very good at Photoshop.
This first edition is about Paris, the setting of Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.
Who has never dreamed with Paris? Walking down Champs Élysées, climbing the Eiffel Tower, visiting Louvre,...
I visited Paris a few years ago and I loved it. I hope to return there very soon.
Please join me for a tour around a few sites of Anna and the French Kiss:

A city view at your left your left!

Point zero, where Anna and Étienne made wishes. We will stop for a few minutes. Fell free to make a wish here.

Everyone has made his wish? Great!
Anna and Étienne visited Notre Dame the first time she leaves the school and actually visits Paris.

latin-quarter-paris

In front of you is The Latin Quarter where the School of America's is. Anna and Étienne attended to this school.

This is Cinema Le Champo where Anna and her friends watched movies every other night!

The library where Étienne bought Anna a book by Pablo Neruda.

And this is the end of tour through a few Parisian places mentioned in ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS!

Tuesday, 4 January 2011

Anna and the French Kiss

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton
Release Date: 2nd Decembre 2010

Summary:Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. and painfull waiting for this book I finally got to read it. There aren't words to say how much I liked it.
Anna is sent to France after, in my opinion, her snobbish father (after a quick rise to fame), decides that studying in France will be a "good learning experience". In the beginning of her senior year abroad, she's annoyed and sad because she's far away from her friends, her mother and her brother but then.... she meets Étienne and her feelings change. And I'm not going to say much more about it, because I don't want to spoil the book for you.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?

(details above from Goodreads)

Review: After a long and painfull waiting for this one, I finally got to read it and I loved it.
Étienne is probably one of my favorite male characters of all time. He's gorgeous, he's funny, he's British (accent, duh?) he's French, he's sweet, he's kind, he loves his family and he likes art and history. But he also has flaws (which is great, because I hate when the guy is too perfect): he is short, he likes normality too much and he can't express some of his feelings.
Anna is a great character as well: she is funny, ironic and strong but at the same time vulnerable. She's kind ,smart and a movie addicted!
The other characters are very interesting to read about. They are all very different from each other: some love the arts, other sports, others parties,...The setting is amazing of course. I really enjoyed revisiting Paris trough the pages of Anna and the French Kiss.
One of the best books of 2010.
10/10

Sunday, 2 January 2011

Debut Alert - January

I'm participationg in the Debut Author Challenge this year, hosted at The Story Siren, so I decided to create this monthly feauture that willahow the US and UK debuts (YA and MG) that are going to be realeased every month.
Last year, two of my 3 favorite books were debuts so I can't wait to read some of them in 2011.
Let the list begin... (insert music here)
US DEBUTS