My absence explained

Did you know that finals suck? And that they require immense amounts of studying?

So yeah, that's why I haven't been on as much. And I probably won't be able to get any more done over break because I'm trying to finish my book, hanging out with friends and getting my wisdom teeth removed.

Sorry you guys. I'll try to stop doing things other than blogging eventually.

LATAH

Owyn

Book Review: Burn for Burn

NOTE: I got this as an ARC and just wasn't able to read it for a while until after it was published.

(This following paragraph will make sense eventually)

I originally read The Summer I Turned Pretty series by Jenny Han and quite enjoyed them. I had read Not That Kind of Girl but I let that one character who's best friends with Natalie warp my view of the book. I automatically hate any character who longs to be popular because I don't relate to that. But the writing was very good, and I liked the whole feminism aspect since it wasn't preachy. And I want to read The List.

Burn for Burn is a book about 3 girls who extract revenge on the people who've wronged them by Vivian and Han.

I liked this book. It's really captivating. It was a good thing I read it on a plane ride.

I am going to explain each of the three girls and revenges and why I liked them or maybe something I didn't like.

*THERE MIGHT BE SPOILERS. WE'LL SEE*

Kat: She wants to go against her ex-best friend Rennie, who is now best friends with Lillia. Kat wasn't the best influence, since she was often under the influence, but I started bouncing in my seat when I read the revenge against Rennie. THAT BITCH DESERVED IT.

Lillia: Lillia wants revenge against the guy who she's always trusted because he started going after her younger sister. Being an older sister, I instantly got this. I wouldn't hesitate to cause bodily/emotional harm to someone who did ANYTHING to my baby sister. But when it turned out it was the younger sister's fault since she aspires to be popular, I just shook my head because I saw that coming. The revenge, while eventually unnecessary, was reasonable.

Mary: Mary wants to get even with Reeve, the guy who completely ruined her life. As a girl who's been bullied, I instantly sympathized with her plight and wanted all harm to go to Reeve. So when his revenge happened, I didn't care that it was a little bit excessive. When you bully people, bad things deserve to happen to you.


But the whole thing with Mary being a bit supernatural was really odd to read. I didn't like it that much. It just seemed off to me and out of place.

I did enjoy this book. I give it 300 Monte Cristos out of 302.

Until later
Owyn

Book Review: Time Between Us

NOTE: I got this as an ARC but, due to my hectic schedule, I was only able to read it in the past week after it was published.

Hello fellow Internet People! So for this post, I'm reviewing Tamara Ireland Stone's debut novel Time Between Us.

This book is about a girl named Anne in 1995 Illinois who accidentally meets Bennett, a San Franciscan time traveler from 2012 and how that can mess everything up.

*SPOILERS AHEAD. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THIS BOOK YET, I WILL RUIN IT*

I liked this book. I really did. Here's a list because I am completely in love with lists.

1. I loves the plot. It was clear, concise and easy to read with still being able to surprise me.
2. I loved the romance. They were both so unassuming and awesome and I just adore that about couples and people in general. Pretentious people annoy me.
3. The comedy was really great but not overshadowing to the romance. Each joke gave me a little titter, which was just what it needed. 
4. Stone did a great job of juggling romance, intrigue, drama, slight historical and slight sci-fi.

But there is only one thing that really bothered me.

The fact that Anne uses Bennett to save her best friend from a devastating car accident.

NOTE THE SEQUEL: This is just a personal thing that I have when characters do things like this. I still will always love this book. Just not this part.

First of all, you can't just use someone or their gift. Especially when you want to be romantic with them. It's completely selfish.

And, this is just another personal thing that has nothing to do with the book, I don't normally read time travel stories because they get twisted around to fit each story. And the women typically take unsafe risks around the leading males.

I mean, I think it's dangerous to go through time with a boy you hardly know just because when you are around him, you feel this "intense" thing.

Luckily, I don't think that any of Anne's decision were too rash.

I rate this book 11 T.A.R.D.I.S.es out of 14.

I recommend it for people who like teen romances where there are obstacles but LOVE TRIUMPHS OVER ALL.

Until eventually,

Owyn

Book Review: Struck By Lightning

NOTE: This is a book based on a screenplay of a movie that's coming out in January.

Not gonna lie, the first season of Glee was actually pretty good. But then the DRAMA and BULLSHIT Meter went through the roof and I stopped watching for the sake of my angst and sanity.

But because of that show, I got to realize my first crush-on-a-gay-guy: Chris Colfer.

#Sexual.

He just screams the ability to write or be written about. He got the creators of Glee to write a character for him. That's just awesomeness. And, you know, he was one of Time's Most Influential Persons.

Then, when I was interning, one of my bosses Liesl told me that he had a book coming out called The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell. And she gave me an ARC of it. I was nervous at first, "What if this ruined him for me?" Luckily it didn't.

QUICK REVIEW OF RELATIVE BOOK: It was way better than I'd ever expect. Read it. That is all.

When I heard he had a YA book called Struck By Lightning coming about a cynical high schooler who liked to write I was like: This book was written for me!

I read it in less than 2 hours. I literally could not put it down. I read it during school, in between classes, during my off time, and during my classes. P.S. If I get a bad grade in Spanish, I'm blaming Struck by Lightning.

Here are the reasons I loved it.

One, the first line: "Dear Journal, one more school year with these shitheads and I'll be free." I feel that all the time.

Two, this lovable rogue had me empathizing with him immediately. I am on my school's newspaper, I love to write, I am very cynical when it comes to high school affairs, and I am one of the only sophomores in a 2100+ school who knows what she wants to major in, what she wants to be when she grows up or where she wants to go to college.

Three. I am starting to read this to my mom... Guess what? She loves it too! I was completely happy but shocked with this turn of events.

  

And, *HUGE, WORLD-SHATTERING SPOILERS AHEAD EVERYONE* even with all the amazingness, I am filled with anguish with the ending.



HE ACTUALLY GOT STRUCK BY LIGHTNING!

I was hoping that entire book that was just a metaphor/simile! But no, Colfer actually had to kill off the only literary character I've been able to relate to completely. But I still adore him, since the rest of the book was better than I could've hoped for.

I give this book 44 Kurts out of 44. Perfect score it up, Colfer!

I have to go back to schoolwork now. Later.

Owyn

10 Kickass Writing Quotes: Part 1

NOTE: I honestly don't know what this is. But enjoy

Everyone knows authors are like the best people ever. I started fangirling internally (and externally) when I met Tiffany Schmidt (author of Send Me a Sign).

And I've always wanted to be an actual published author with people fangirling over me. But in order to do that, I must finish my book. And when I feel the need to be inspired, I read quotes about writing to help. Here are my favorites:

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." -- Benjamin Franklin

"Writing is like prostitution: first you do it for love, and then a few close friends, and then for money." --Moliere

"Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else. -- Gloria Steinem

"Writing is the best way to talk without being interrupted" -- Jules Renard

"Writing well is the best revenge" -- Dorothy Parker

"Please don't make me mock you in my novel." -- I saw this on a t-shirt that I now must acquire. I don't know who says it, but I think it's awesome.

"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." --W. Somerset Maugham

"Writing and cafes are strongly linked in my brain" -- J.K. Rowling

"Writing saved me from the sin and inconvenience of violence." -- Alice Walker

"#WhyIWrite because when everything else changes, my writing can only get better." That's me!!!

Hope you enjoyed! And drew some inspiration in whatever you're doing from it. Leave a comment if you have a favorite that you didn't see here.

I have to go do homework. Laters,

Owyn

Book Review: Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys

NOTE: This is a book. It was when I read it and it should probably still be one.

Sometimes when I walk aimlessly around the bookstore, books just stare at me and beg me to read them. It's very rare that I can ignore it.

One of those books is this one. Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys by Kate Brian. Hell of a title, am I right? No, oh okay.

I just wanted another gif and this makes me happy

It's about a girl named Megan who emails her friend "boy tips" since she's going to be living with 7 of them for some time while dealing with soccer, drama, and romance.

Something about this book just made me HAVE to read it. So I did.

And I genuinely liked it. And I was surprised because I thought this would be a modernization of Snow White due to the fact it had 7 boys in a house away from her family. But no, I didn't actually find a connection to that.

I'm going to list 2 reasons why I liked it and 1 reason I'm kinda pissed.

*SPOILERS AHEAD, MATEY! AVAST YER ASS*

I really liked the characters and how unique they were. You could tell the brothers, the soccer girls, and all the friends apart since they were all different and awesome. With such a huge ensemble, that takes talent.

Secondly, the drama and romance we're actually readable. When it comes to drama, people complain a lot and I want to shove socks down their throats. But here, it just seemed like normal teenage drama that was actually a part of the plot.

Now here is why, as a reader who liked it, I did not like it.

The mother-bleeping ending.

The ending was so vague! Brian didn't tell me whether Megan got with Finn or Evan or even Doug! I was so heartbroken because I don't think there's a sequel planned and she just LEFT ME HANGING LIKE THAT.

I give this book 23 cliffhangers out of 25. You should read it and see if it frustrates you as well.

See you later!

Owyn

Book Review: Guitar Notes

NOTE: This was an ARC when I read it. But now it's published.

I grabbed this book at the bookstore in the ARC closet. I love that closet. If I had to stay late or got there early, my bosses would let me just stand there browsing through the books on the shelf for teen books.

My bosses are awesome.

One of the books that came up in a search was Guitar Notes by Mary Amato. I read the back.

PARAPHRASED SUMMARY: Tripp is an underachiever who plays guitar. Lyla is an overachiever who is supposed to only play the cello. They share the same practice room on opposite days so they pass notes back and forth and form an easy friendship. But when tragedy strikes, will that friendship remain the same?

What intrigued me was the whole epistolary aspect. I love things written in journal, letters or notes. I'd playfully call it a fetish but I'm awkward enough in person, nobody needs that on the internet.

So I read it. In 2 hours. I literally could not put this book down. My dad called me down to dinner but I could not move from this book. So I read it at the dinner table.

I liked the book. It was compelling, funny and interesting. But I did have some problems. So I have 2 reasons why I liked it and 2 reasons why I kinda didn't it.

LIKES:

Like I said before, I loved all the notes. They added something extra to the story. And I really liked that something extra. And I liked how they were actually an aspect for the book. Approval.

And I loved the voices each of the characters had. Tripp sounded insanely different from Lyla who sounded different from her best friend. I've always thought that was a sign of good writing. Approval squared.

DISLIKES:

*THERE ARE EPIC SPOILERS AHEAD. PROCEED WITH CAUTION. OR DON'T, WHATEVER, I'M JUST A SENTENCE*

The whole car crash at the end came out of nowhere. Like KA-BLAMMO

This also leads to my second problem because, up until that point, nothing really happened. They became friends, wrote and played music together, then she's hit by a car.

That kind of bothered me. Plot is always a good thing. And it seemed that this book lacked it.

So I give this book 75 stars out of 100. It's not bad and I probably will reread in the near future, but it's not something I would recommend to a friend who is a lit snob.

So, yeah, that's it.

Have a great day!

Owyn

Bad Reader Habits

NOTE: Not a review, just something's that been bothering me.

As much as I'd like to think to the contrary, I am not perfect.

I'm impatient, loud, slightly annoying (depends on who you ask), and I have bad habits, especially when I read books.

I have to have 3 that I am insanely aware of. 3 really bad ones. I hope I'm not the only one who has these. So, when you're done reading mine, leave a comment on what yours are!

#1: Absurd Music-to-Ear Consumption: I need music when I read. It helps me concentrate. But this is bad because when people need to talk to me for whatever reason, I cannot be accessed. You could scream into my headphone-plugged-in ears but I would not even glance up. But then they start incessantly poking me and annoying me. And I jump in absurd surprise.

The resemblance is striking.

So, for other people, this is a bad habit. For me, it's just bad news because they say my "music is too loud". It's not that loud. I'm READING while LISTENING TO MUSIC. That's like a signal to shut up and walk away. Oh? Are you offended? Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get the hell over it.

#2: Lending Books To People But They Take Too Flipping Long Reading Them So I Ask For Them Back. According to my Mom, when you lend a book to someone, you're not really asking for it back. Personally, that's stupid. I always want to re-read books. And I love to talk about books I've read with people I know, who I love but they're cheap. But apparently this is "common courtesy" so now I'm going around and getting my books back like a douche muffin.

Now here's my worst one.

#3: Last Page Reading. Whenever I'm like a fifth into a book, I go to the last page and read the last paragraph. I think it started this horrible custom when I was 8 and I did it with some silly little book. But then it developed into a really awful habit. I can't NOT do it now. I did it yesterday. I did it today. I'll do it tomorrow.

My reaction when I'm caught doing this. DON'T LOOK AT ME

But yeah, these are my Bad Reader Habits. If you have any leave some in the comments. To me, comments are like a huge, cuddly, virtual hug.

And with that, I part,

Owyn

Robin Palmer Review: 3 Books

NOTE: I have read 3 of the 4 Young Adult books by Robin Palmer. In order, Geek Charming, Wicked Jealous, and Cindy Ella. Here is a review of those 3 since they are a part of the same series.

Let me start by saying I (relation)ship Matt Prokop and Sarah Hyland together. If you haven't heard of them, Prokop was in the third High School Musical movie. Hyland is one of the main characters in Modern Family. And they are absolutely cute together, like they were in the movie adaptation of Geek Charming.

I had just gotten Netflix back during the summer and decided to spend it looking at teen movies since teen things are my weakness.

One of the things that came up in the Top 10 list was the movie Geek Charming. Intrigued, I watch it.

And I liked it. Like a lot. So I read the book. Then Wicked Jealous and Cindy Ella. Even though that wasn't chronological.

So here are my reviews for those three Robin Palmer books.

*SPOILERS ARE AHEAD. No maybe about it. If you have a problem with it, then look at the gif above*

Geek Charming: While I did genuinely like the book, I have this problem with comparing the movie to the book when I've seen the movie first. The one problem I had with the book is the fact that Dylan and Josh didn't get together when they got together in the movie. I mean, they were just so adorable together only to end up as friends while he goes out with Dylan's ex-friend and she goes out with a random college guy. I respect the author's opinion to do what she wants, but I wanted them together.
Rating: 10 nebulas out of 13

Wicked Jealous: I loved this one. This is my favorite. I read it as an ARC after it was already published, because that's how I roll. I enjoyed the characters, plot, little jokes and the fact that Simone ended up with Blush instead of that weird Bieber-loving guy. To Palmer: I APPROVE.

Rating: 15 Thanksgiving Pies out of 15.

Cindy Ella: Now, when reading this with the background knowledge that Palmer didn't really put the princess with the prince in her stories, I was kind of shocked when Cindy ended up with Adam. I'm not saying I didn't like it (I always thought they were awkwardly perfect together), I just didn't think she'd go in that direction. But, I still adored the books.
Rating: 17 Twinkies out of 19

Thanks for checking out the review! I'll try to post more later.

Owyn

The Problems of a Teen Reader

NOTE: This is a rant. I apologize for any and all curse words. But, that being said, I will not remove them. *evil cackling laugh*

NOTE REDUX: I'm sorry I've been gone for a while. Thanksgiving plans impeded my blogging efforts.

Being in high school is supposed to suck for awesome people. The awesome people in life do not have an easy adolescent experience. And to make that much harder on awesome people like me, because when we try to read we have to overcome many obstacles. Here are three that piss me off when they happen.

Obstacle #1: Dealing with Ignorance. Whenever I'm reading at school, people always ask me the same damn questions. "How do you have time to read? Don't you have homework? You probably don't take your studies seriously, right? Are you seriously reading that book?"

I'm normally polite, saying "I make time to read, because I enjoy it". But when I'm having a bad day or I'm sick of hearing this question, I answer like this:

Obstacle #2: Homework is Not Useful and I'd Rather Read. I like to learn. But I do not need homework to learn. Besides, it cuts into my reading time. One time, I finished two 400ish page books around the time of finals. Then my mom revoked my reading freedom the week of finals.

Obstacle #3: Everyone Wants Me to Read Paranormal Romance Because of the Assumption that I Am a Teen Then I Therefore Must Read It. I don't know if I've stated this before, but I don't like the Paranormal Romance genre. It's like trying to make your body a plot, which grosses me out a little. Whenever someone tells me how great it is (when they know damn well I hate them), I'm all like this:

That was nice to get off my chest. I hope you enjoyed my gifs.

Laters!

Owyn

Book Review: My Life Next Door

NOTE: I got this as an ARC but read it after it was published.

The book I'm reviewing is by Huntley Fitzpatrick, called My Life Next Door. It's about a girl named Samantha who befriends the boy next door Jase from a big, gossiped-about family, while her own family is much more prestigious but just as scrutinized.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this already, but back in the office of my internship there was a closet filled to the top with Advanced Reader's Copies. So one day, after they got in a new shipment for the teen shelf, I went through all the books I had to see if any stood out to me.

This one did. I'm not really sure why. I mean, I liked the cover, title and found them intriguing.

But the summary put me off a little. I won't put the exact words but it talked about fighting against parental expectations.

I like relating to teen books. And I figured I couldn't relate to that. I mean, my parents have expectations for me but they're, "Go to where you want to go for college, and be happy." That's kind of it. And clean my room, that too. But they aren't forcing me to be a doctor or going to their college. So worrying about living up to a parent's expectations isn't something that I relate to.

But I couldn't get over this book, so I forced my expectations about parental expectations to shut up and decided to just read it.

And then I did. And I liked it. A lot. I even related to Sam. I thought it was a great story and I am now in love with Jase. Samantha just has to deal with it, Jase is moving next door to me.

Here are my three reasons:

I liked the forbidden romance of it (since it was definitely more forbidden than boy/girl next door). I normally don't, since it just seems all whiny like, "Oh why can't my parents just let us have our love!" Seriously, shut up. I'm sick of hearing you and your lover-person complain.

But, in this book, they didn't complain. I don't want to spoil it so I won't explain how, but I found the way Fitzpatrick wrote it to be more than tolerable. Actually enjoyable.

The second reason was the whole opposing sides of having a big family. Everyone in the town kinda opposed the Garretts' huge family, especially Samantha's family the Reeds. Personally, I like big families, so Samantha's transition into spending more time with them and having fun with all the siblings was really awesome to read.

Finally, I loved all the extra stuff added to the story. Like the siblings' quirks (which I won't spoil, because everyone should enjoy them originally). I enjoyed hating the characters Nan and Clay. I liked hating then loving the characters Tim and Tracy.

I give this book 399 Hot Neighbor Boys out of 400. Because I wish I had a hot neighbor boy. But the only viable options are years younger than me. *sigh*

Good night!

Owyn

My Reader Feels

NOTE: This is not a review but it's mainly an explanation and question for you guys. Here's the exposition:

I cannot stand e-books/Amazon shopping. Not because I'm haughty and need the feel of updated classic pages and book covers under my fingertips. And not because I'm a conspiracy theorist who thinks that these "mainstream" electronical book ma-thingies will ultimate lead to the demise of this country as we know it and the aliens/terrorists/government will win.

No, I hate them because I cannot browse through the books on there.

Let me explain. When I go to a bookstore, I can curl myself comfortably near the shelves of the teen section and examine each and every cover to see if my READER FEELS (that I mentioned in my MaEatDG post) go off.

Now, what are reader feels? When I see a book it sometimes gives me this odd little alert in my head to check it out. It could be the cover, it could be the title. But there's something about the book that makes me wanna read it.

Now that can change when I read the summary. Like I think this book is going to be this amazing thing but then it turns out it's about a paranormal-love triangle-dystopian piece of hooplah. Thanks to this superpower I almost NEVER read a bad book.

It works at Teen Advisory Board too. At the last 10 minutes of the meeting, the amazing leader (and my ex-boss from my internship) Stephanie dumps two boxes of teen books. Those of us at the meeting attack the books like ravenous wolves to an elk carcass.
**The only reason I have this analogy is because I just watch a documentary about this for my science class.

But we get to go through the books, and I get to test out my reader feels. Sometimes the books turn out to be amazing or they can suck. But, because of this built-in radar, I almost never just "read a book". It's an extensive process.

Oh god. I could be possessed by the ghost of an omniscient reader.

This is the result of watching too many episodes of Supernatural. Beware of the awesomeness.   

What about you guys? What draws you to a book? Or is it just arbitrary? Let me know.

Until eventually,

Owyn

Book Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

NOTE: I did not read this as an ARC in any way/shape/form. But please, enjoy.

I'm reviewing Jesse Andrews' debut novel Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. It's about Greg (the Me) and, sometimes, his rage-filled friend Earl (the Earl) and how they befriend Rachel, who's afflicted with Leukemia (the Dying Girl).

While interning at the bookstore, I worked at the very top level office in the three-story-ish building. When I say "office", I meant a nice decent-sized room scattered with books, computers, desks and awesome people (including me).

Occasionally, I would drift out into the "real world" and stay in the fiction ballroom. And this book was on the recommended shelf. When I would help out the booksellers with shelving, it would stare at me. In an oddly-eerie voice it would beg me "Read me, Owyn....... REEEEEAAAAAADDDD MEEEEEEE".

My resolve broke and I bought the book, but that was around when school started and I stopped making time for reading in order to focus on school.

The horror!

I know, I know. Disgraceful. But on Monday I finally picked up the book.

By the middle of the first chapter, I knew this book was amazing. Based on what I call my "Reader Feels" (when I just know a book is good by its vibe it gives me). In fact, so amazing, that this thought ran in my mind:

So throughout the whole school day, I read it. On the bus to school, during my aiding period, during my off-period, when my teachers weren't teaching me anything anyway (well, anything useful), and I finished it on the bus ride back.

This book was fantastic. I was reading it in a hallway and would burst into laughter at all the hilarious points. And seriously, this book was side-splitting. I got even more weird looks than I did when I read Meant to Be. I think I snorted. And I was too enamored with this book to care.

So along with the pure funniness, there were two other reasons on why this book is like pure amazingness.

There are not a lot of books that perfectly capture the little things, but this one did. "Little things" is what I call those tiny parts of characters that make me love them even more without it being overwhelming. Like Earl swearing like a sailor banging on his toe on the edge of a table. Or the fact that Greg Gaines is an Anglo-Saxon-named Jewish boy because his mom admitted while drunk she wanted them to be "Surprise Jews". Or all the awkward jokes Greg tells Rachel after they both realized she had cancer. (Oh wait, !SPOILER! someone gets cancer.)

The final thing is the whole set-up of the book. There was a lot of dialogue, which is good because every character in this book was funny. But Andrews had some chapters set up in a script format. Since I love dialogue, I found this better than HUGE PARAGRAPHS OF POINTLESS DESCRIPTIONS (I'm looking at you Dickens.)

I give this book 20 pounds of awesomeness out of 20. You should probably read it.

Until later today, when I spam my site with blog posts,

Owyn

ARC Review: Meant to Be

NOTE: This book comes out on November 13th, so when that days comes, you can buy it if you want!

The book I'm reviewing is called Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill. It's about a girl named Julie, a very to-the-book nerd/true love believer character, who goes to a party on a school sponsored trip to London and gets text messages from an unknown number from when she was DRUNK! So she teams up with annoying popular guy/total opposite Jason to find out who, as long as she has fun on the way.

This book was fantabulous. A perfect mix of romance, slight drama, and humor. When I read it in public, I was laughing so hard that people looked at me weird.

It was almost exactly like this

There were lots of reasons why I liked it, but I'm going to talk to you about 3.

I loved the whole "opposites attract" romance. I related to Julia because I like to consider myself a good kid. So I started to "fall" (I'm not silly enough to fall for a fictional character. I have standards. 1. They have to be real.) for Jason. I mean he's the polar opposite to Julia and challenges her belief in a person who's "meant to be" for someone else, when no one else could do that before.

For the second thing, I'm going to refer to a term in screenwriting called "fish out of water". It's when you take a character out of their element, like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. Morrill took Julia out of her comfort zone so she could experience life. And I think that's something everyone relates to and/or struggles with.

The final thing was the whole intrigue. Who was the mysterious texter? What made Mark Julia's Meant to Be? Why was Jason so eager to help her? Tis a mystery.

So I found this book enchanting and irresistible. I give it 99 British people out of 100 British people. Because British people are awesome. And so is this book.



Until later,
Owyn

PS When I was reading the "party scene", I knew it wasn't going to end well since that's what the book's summary said. So when I got to the part where she's lamenting her inebriated-induced actions, I was very haughty because that doesn't happen to me because I'm alcoholically celibate (along with being under-aged). This image ran through my head:

But I still loved the book. So yeah. Check it out. Ignore my haughtiness. 

Book Review: Venom

NOTE: I read this as an ARC but this got published this week so you can read it if you want.

Happy Halloween! Well, happy November 1st. I'm close enough.

In honor of this spooky holiday, I'm going to review a spooky book.

DEAN IS FRIGHTENED

The book is called Venom. It's by Fiona Paul. Venom is about a rich Italian girl named Cassandra in the Renaissance who finds a murdered body in a graveyard. So she tries to solve the mystery with a poor artist named Falco while dealing with her friend Mada's wedding and her own arranged engagement to rich guy who's studying in Paris.

I got this book at Teen Advisory Board. The cover was fantastic because all I could think was "Damn. I want a mask like that." (Want to know what I'm talking about? Google it. Or, better yet, buy it.) So I decided to check out the summary.

Not going to lie, I was a little hesitant to read it after reading the summary. Only because it had mentioned a "wrong" attraction to a poor guy when Cass is betrothed to a rich guy. Everything else was awesome.

An alert had went off in my head when I read about the romance-part. "This was going to be a love triangle thing, wasn't it?" I swore off those after reading The Hunger Games. Along with dystopian or paranormal romance.

But I decided to read it anyway. Because I had the highest hopes in my heart that they would focus more on the mystery of the killer than just the love triangle. And there aren't that many teen mysteries out there. And the book had me intrigued. "Who had killed the hooker?" was running through my mind.

I had a really tough time putting this book down. But I had to, because I read Venom during that sucky time at the beginning of the year where teachers first test your knowledge and assign you a ton of projects and tests. That was my hell for two weeks.

Back to the book!

I thought this book was amazing. For three reasons.

*SLIGHT SPOILERS PROBABABALLY*

The first was the OODLES of sexual tension.

I instantly shipped Falco and Cass. (Calco? Falss? I'm not good at this.) I mean they met over the bloody corpse of a prostitute and Falco managed to make Cass blush. That takes skill. Paul didn't even really focus on the fiancee, just Cass and Falco so my worries weren't necessary. And how can the underdog-supporter-in-all-of-us not love the fact she's "engaged" and manages to find true love (I hope, it's only the first book of a trilogy) in a wrong place to a "wrong" guy. MY SHIPPER FEELZ.

I also loved the fact Paul integrated some actual Italian words into the literature. Who needs school? Literature is my guide. I take Spanish at school so I didn't have to use Google Translate to figure out all the words (I needed it like twice). But when I finally figured out what a word meant it helped the story.

Finally, there was the fact it was historical. Not paranormal. Paranormal romances irk the HELL out of me. There have to be more love stories than a human with a werewolf/fallen angel/vampire/freaky demon hunter/toaster/shape shifter. It didn't need actual magic to make this book magical. And I found that amazing. You go Fiona Paul!

So yeah. This book was amazing and you can check it out. I give it 1200 awesome masks out of 1200.

If you have read it, are reading it or want to read it, leave a comment down below. Comments make me feel fuzzy inside.

Always reading, (trying to figure out farewells. Tell me your favorite!)

Owyn

Book Review: Take a Bow

NOTE: This is completely unrelated to any of my ARCs that I try to review. But I'm going to do it anyway.

So this book is called Take a Bow. It's by Elizabeth Eulberg. If her name sounds familiar, that's because she's also written Prom and Prejudice and The Lonely Hearts Club. This book is about four people at a very rigorous prep school for performing arts-talented teenagers.

There's:
Carter, a former child star that longs to be normal.
Sophie, a performer who will do anything to be a star.
Emme, a shy songwriter who lives in Sophie's shadow.
And Ethan, a close friend to Emme with a darkness inside his head he can't shake.

So some time ago I read Prom and Prejudice and I absolutely loved it. Then I read Lonely Hearts Club since I was developing a serious writer-crush on Elizabeth Eulberg. Then Take a Bow came out.

I decided to read it. And while I read it, I kept my standards ridiculously high. Eulberg's new book was not allowed to be a flop. It was to be perfect.

And guess what?

It was. I could not put the book down. I read it in 2 and a half hours when I should've been studying for the test in one of the classes I probably had.

Of all the many numbers I could probably list of amazing things about this book, here are 3:

*Character bashing and slight spoilers, maybe. Ye have been warned.*

The first thing I loved was the way Eulberg made me feel about the characters. I instantly sympathized with Emme and being constantly put down by a frenemy. I pity Carter for feeling like he was trapped in a life he doesn't want. I worry about Ethan and all the darkness he thinks he can't escape. And I flipping hate Sophie and every inch of her snobby guts. Every time the point of view shifted to her, I was all:

Not at Eulberg, but at Sophie. Since I hate her.

The second thing was the secondary characters and how they added that extra OOMPH to a story. For example, there were the two members of the band "Teenage Kicks" Jack and Ben, along with Emme and Ethan. Jack known for "predicting" their future after they graduate and Ben for being the straight man (pun because he's gay) to Jack's eccentric nature.

The third thing was the fact Eulberg made each of the character's POV chapter different than the others.  For example, Carter thought his out in script-form and Sophie had self-centered dialogue. It gave each of the characters a voice I found interesting.

So yeah. I give this 5 billion bitch-slaps-to-be-delivered-to-the-character-that-shall-not-be-named out of 5 billion.

Always awkward,
Owyn

Book Review: Send Me a Sign

NOTE: I got this book as an ARC, read it as such, but now it was published October 2nd. So, now you can all read it.

The book I'm reviewing is called Send Me a Sign by Tiffany Schmidt. It's about a girl, named Mia, who gets cancer but doesn't tell any of her friends.

Now, normally, I don't read Cancer books. The protagonist dies or loses someone close to them and there's a sobfest and people know what it truly feels like to lose someone. And I hate those stories. I prefer to root for my characters and I can't do that if they die. I mean, I didn't read a whole book just for you to kill a character I probably love off.

I decided to read it anyway, challenge my typical read. I decided to keep my expectations low. Not that I had heard bad things about the author (it's her debut) but because I naturally keep my standards high and add that to reading a book that's not in my wheelhouse? Yeah... no.

But then, it happened.

I LOVED THIS BOOK.

Like, seriously. There were many wonderful things about this book. So let me tell you about all of them.

*SLIGHT SPOILERS MAYBE, I HAVEN'T REALLY GOTTEN THAT FAR YET*

One of the things I loved was how I related to Mia. Mia is a popular cheerleader who has a football player wrapped around her finger. Let's just say books are my friends.

So when I actually found myself relating to Mia, I was really surprised. You know what that means, good writing. In real life, I probably wouldn't even talk to Mia. But in this book, due to the fantastic style of Schmidt (that should go viral), I was sobbing at the end.

Another thing I loved was the names. Sometimes characters have these really common names and I nearly have to force myself to read the books since I prefer the characters to have names unique to them. Or maybe it's the story behind them allows that to be an e. Like there's a character named Gyver, after MacGyver. According to a meeting I had with the author, it's based on that her husband wanted to actually name heir son MacGyver.

The last thing I'm going to mention that I loved about this book was the complex but perfectly understood messages that Schmidt captured perfectly to the reader. Like how when something goes wrong, they try to salvage whatever they can control. Or how parents have expectations of you that you sometimes just can't live up to (and maybe how you just think they do). And that sometimes, we need to face a huge difficulty to know who will truly stand by us.

I definitely recommend that you read this book. Hell, I give it two snaps and a twist.

Until later,

Owyn

Introduction

SALUTATIONS!

My name is Owyn, I'm a sophomore in high school somewhere in Colorado, and I love words. Writing them, reading them, defining them, misspelling them, watching them. It's probably an inch away from becoming a problem.

This is a literary blog. Over the summer I interned at Boulder Book Store, the best indie bookstore I've ever been to. And I discovered ARCs. Advanced Reader's Copy. When a book is going to be published, they give out some before they're formally published so book freaks like me can read them.

And when that bookstore internship ended, I joined their Teen Advisory Board. It's for teens in the area to meet once a month, read books that have yet to be published, and review them for the store.

I also decided I'm going to start doing that here. So whenever I can, I'll try to review books (maybe not ARCS, maybe books I just love) and maybe you'll check them out.

Until next post!

---- Owyn