Num8ers by Rachel Ward

First things first, this book is British. No biggie, right? Harry Potter is British. HUGE biggie. The characters in this book are abandoned, lower-class and uneducated. Because of all these things, they speak with a lot of slang (that you may not understand because its different from American slang) and A LOT of cussing. I tried to rationalize that they dropped "F" so often because it isn't as bad of a cuss word there, but even so...its pretty intense cussing. I don't really mind language as long as there is a reason for it. And, I guess the author was trying to show how uneducated and angry these characters were, but I still thought much of it was unnecessary. Similarly, there is a sex scene that is necessary for the story, but the characters are 15 and 17 years old. Sorry, but I am not ok with that, even if it is important for the story. So, saying all that, PROCEED WITH CAUTION if you read this book.

The story follows Jem, a 15 year old orphan whose mother died of a drug overdose when she was little. Since then, Jem has floated from foster home to foster home with everyone trying to "fix" her. However, she is not interested in being fixed because she refuses to get close to anyone. Considering her past it's completely understandable that she would be guarded, but there is much more to her story than that. When Jem looks into a person's eyes, she sees 8 numbers. These numbers are the day the person dies. Jem hates looking at children the most and seeing when they die.

So Jem lives her life in a very guarded way, until Spider, a boy she goes to school with, can't get the hint to leave her alone like everyone else does. Plus, she feels really bad for the guy, because he only has a few months left. Spider doesn't give up and eventually he and Jem form a strange sort of friendship. They end up both suspended from school and decide to go into London for the day. While they are in a very public place, Jem starts noticing that everyone around them has the same numbers in their eyes...today. She freaks out and tells Spider they have to leave right now! They take off running and when they are less than a mile away, a bomb goes off in the public area they just left.

Police begin to investigate and witnesses, as well as cameras, show Jem and Spider fleeing the scene of the crime. Jem and Spider are now wanted for "questioning".

I liked the book but, as mentioned earlier, I felt parts of it were unnecessary. Furthermore, the story wasn't really about the numbers but more about Jem and her complete inability to love. But, I don't feel like her inability to love was developed well enough. I don't know, if you're interested, you might like it. It was just really "Meh" for me. There is a sequel out, but I probably won't read it.
Grade: C
Rating: R

Before I Fall Book Review

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is a truly fantastic book. The genre is iffy- it can fit anywhere from humor, inspirational, romance, to young adult. It offers insight on some of life's most unnoticed aspects, shows how modern teenagers can become so shallow, and offers a variety of things to think about.
In this book, the character that we follow is Samantha Kingston, one of the most popular girls in her school of Thomas Jefferson High. She has the "best" boyfriend anyone could ask for, the best parking spot in the school, she's rich, and has the most amazing of friends. But why is it that the night of one of the biggest parties, a person from the very school that Sam is Queen at gives her own life because of this Royal Pain.
Juliet Skyes is a soft- spoken girl that has a very hard family life and is tormented by Sam and her friends day by day. She's the "freak" of the school, the one that everyone avoids in the hallways. And this is all because Sam and her crew make her out to be this way. So Juliet thinks that the only way to get out of this is to kill herself.
Kent McFuller was Sam's best friend when they were young kids, when Sam was the biggest loser in school. Kent saved her, was her friend, helped her regain her life. And even though he was a loser, too, she didn't care. And because they got so close, he fell in love with her.
Kent throws a party at his house on Valentines Day and invites Sam and all her friends- pretty much everyone at the entire school, too. They make it to the party and start going their own ways. But to their surprise, Juliet Skyes shows up and confronts Sam. Everyone is astonished. But when Sam and her friends make fun of Juliet to show that they're still the top dogs, she runs out. But the girls shake it off. Except for Sam. She can't help but feel off.
Then the fateful night. Sam is in the car with the girls driving home (with a not-so-sober friend driving) and you guessed it: they get in an accident. But in this accident, Sam dies.
She wakes up the next morning, though. And not only does she wake up, she wakes up on Valentines Day. Again. She soon figures out that she keeps reliving the same day of her death until she can make it right. She has to sacrifice her own life to save another's to make up for her days of being so mean to all the wrong people.
She relives her last day seven times, and throughout it, she gains insight and a new perspective for the world. She sees people like she's never seen them before. Some of them, she realizes, are not all that they were made out to be while some were never given the credit they deserved. This book is the process of her changing from this stuck-up, shallow high school girl into a young woman who finds out more about true life in one day (replayed 7 times) than most people do in their entire life. And it's one of the best journeys I've been on in a book. The way she starts to think about life made me think, and it was really interesting, especially when I realized how much of the world I was missing out on, too. This book really helps you get back to true, pure life.
Overall, this was a truly fantastic book. I saw very, very few flaws, if any. This book was well written with clear themes, and themes that were hidden just enough to make you think and keep you interested. This book was a brilliant mixture of life lessons, humor, and even romance. It was a perfectly balanced book with a delicious after taste. This is one of those books that makes me remember the beauty of writing truly fantastic stories compared to a lot of the crap floating around now.
I would recommend this book to anyone in a heartbeat. I know that everyone will enjoy it! It was a brilliant read. A++

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Arthur Dent once woke up to find his house ready to be demolished so a bypass can be placed through his property. As he is protesting his good friend Ford Prefect pops out of nowhere and wants him to go get drinks at a bar and claims that the world is about to end. Arthur, of course, didn't want to go because his house was going to be demolished but somehow got convinced to come. Suddenly, huge yellow blocks appear out of the sky and aliens say the world is going to be demolished for a spacial bypass. Out of nowhere, Arthur finds himself on the yellow, alien ship with aliens reading horrible poetry. They then get thrown into space, find a planet making planet, almost discover the meaning of live, the universe, and everything, and find out that Earth was created to find the answer. Mice, in fact, were the key to finding the answer and the world was destroyed five minutes before the answer was discovered.

This wild fiction book by Douglas Adams, had ideas that came out of nowhere but it is probably one of the funniest books I have ever read. It left me crying because I was laughing so hard. The inserts from the electronic book (in the book) The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy are hilarious. It states, for example, why a towel is the most important thing to have with you, or what space really is... big.

Overall, this book was great. Although it had ideas flying into the pages without warning, (a missile turning into a sperm whale) it had clever ways to get the story where it was going. The jokes were clever, and the characters were likable. The book had only a few characters that needed to be remembered, so it wasn't hard to follow along. The characters also had some interesting names, like Slartibartfast.

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan is one of my favorite authors. His books are my absolute favorites, especially his Percy Jackson series. One of Rick's newest fantasy fictions The Lost Hero is the first book of the continuation of the Percy Jackson series. In this new series, Jason, one of the main characters, wakes up to find himself in a bus full of kids. Normal, right? Wrong. He has no idea where he is, who he is, or what the heck the girl next to him is doing holding his hand. It turns out, he was put there for a specific reason, but the question is, what is it? Who is this Percy character that people keep talking about? Why is he missing?
The second main character's name is Piper. Piper thought she finally had a boyfriend. She thought that she finally had friends. But she soon finds out that the whole 2 months she had with her "boyfriend" was fake. On top of that, 3 days previously she had a hellish nightmare. In this nightmare, a dark voice told her to follow certain instructions or her father was going to be killed. If she chose to follow the instructions, her dad would be spared, but her friends would perish, She had no idea what it meant, but her dad had been missing for a while and his "lovely" assistant doesn't know where he is either. After all she goes through, all she really wants to do is die, but she wants so desperately to save her dad and her friends.
The last, but definitely not least, main character is an awesome little dude named Leo. He's super amazing with metal and springs, he can make just about anything you could possibly ask him to. Throughout the book, he's always inventing and fixing all kinds of gadgets and gizmos. He has a killer sense of humor (even when he's so close to death) and is altogether a great guy. Despite his ingeniousness, he has a problem. His abilities end up costing his mother's life and getting him into a lot of trouble. He keeps having dreams of this beautiful ship that he had no idea his mind could dream up. What is this mystery ship? Why is it important?
This amazing story will thrill you, scare you, make you feel joy, sadness, terror, hatred, envy and love. I ran through many emotions while reading this enticing book. Will Jason ever find his memory? Will Piper save her friends or her dad? Where's Percy? These are only a fraction of the questions I had after reading this book. This story definitely taught me all about Greek and Roman mythology (along with many other things). I think that's my favorite part about it. Even though it's a fictional book, it's still jam-packed with adventure stories and legends in mythology that may or may not be fact. I both hate it and love it at the same time. I hate it because there's a HUGE cliffhanger at the end. I love it because Rick Riordan's writing is spectacular and it kept me up all night reading for just one more chapter. There were no dull moments in this book and all the exciting parts were more exciting than ever. If you read this book, you'll know why so many people are so worked up about Jason, Piper, and Leo's adventures. A quick warning though: If you choose to read this book, you MUST read the Percy Jackson series first. Otherwise, nothing will make sense and you'll just end up lost and confused. So, make haste and read Rick Riordan's beautiful works of art before the next one comes out next fall! Grade A.

The Ranger's Apprentice: The Kings of Clonmel

     The Ranger's Apprentice Book 8 was written by John Flanagan. It's an adventure that follows Will, who is no longer Halt's apprentice. Just like the last book, there are a few parts where Will is separate from the rest of the group, which is a smaller group by far, and each chapter (minus a few exceptions where there is maybe 2 in a row) alternates between Will and the rest of the group (Halt and Horace). There are several themes in this book, for the most part they are the same as the last books in the series. The theme I'll use as an example though will be friendship, yet again just because it's easy. When Horace is going to fight this "giant" person (he's just really tall and strong, oh and there's two of them) Will keeps getting nervous because he isn't able to share the danger with him, only watch. Also, because of it being a trial of combat, he isn't allowed to interfere with the fight at all. The book starts out at the Ranger's meeting are that all 50 rangers, and their apprentices (if they have one). Halt, Will's old mentor, isn't there because he is on a mission investigating a group of religious people that everyone refers to as "Outsiders." They claim to be followers of a god called Alseiass, and I can't tell much more about that without ruining the first, I think, 10 chapters. Actually, I think that's all I can say about the book without ruining it... Just like the last book, and ALL the other books, there are small details that have something at least slightly important to do with them, even though they seem unimportant. For example... What I'm about to say makes no sense, but if I explain more it'll ruin part of the book. For example, Horace is getting a drink and when the water is pored there is the sound of ice, but the water had been sitting in a hot tent for awhile so the ice should have melted. Like I said, it doesn't make much sense, but yeah... There you go. The entire book is interesting and filled with detail, but a lot of people may or may not like the type of thing most of the book is, and just for those people there a fight scenes that are just GREAT! I feel like adding Spanish in here for no apparent reason, so here's the rest. Tienes que empezar por el principio de la serie para que tenga sentido. Yo doy el libro en algun lugar entre una A o una A+. This translator may nor be very accurate, so just in case that isn't right. Make sure you read from the beginning of the series or it won't make sense. I give this book somewhere between an A or an A+. At least, I think that's what I put in...

Entwined

Entwined is a fantastical book and the world within is riddled with magic, love, and darkness. This book written by Heather Dixon is a beautifully created fiction novel. Entwined is about 12 sisters, all of whom love to dance, and just happen to be princesses. Every last one of them, even down to the very youngest one who had just been born. In Entwined the 12 sisters learn about love, friendship, loyalty, and what evil really is.

Entwined starts out with a ball. This ball, is the annual yuletide ball the royal family of Eathesbury hosts. in fact it is the only ball the royal family hosts. Usually Azalea's mother hosts the ball, but since she is with child and too sick to attend, Azalea, as the Eldest of the 12 princesses, is given the responsibility of hosting it in her mother's stead. That night, the festivities are shortened at the news of the queen's death during child birth.

After his wife's death, the king becomes sullen, mean and snappy. The royal household enters a state of mourning. In this state the princesses cannot wear color except for black, and go outside. In addition, the girls cannot even dance. The girls a furious at these new rules, and insist on dancing still. Soon Azalea finds a hidden, magic passageway through a silver forest to a small dancing pavilion. The girls are elated. Now they can dance in secret without anyone ever knowing. But dancing there doesn't come without a price. The keeper of the pavilion likes to keep things even if it is not his. Soon the girls realize that dancing every night may not be as fine and dandy as it seemed at first. They also discover that Mr. keeper is not as friendly and handsome as he seemed. He may only ever defeated by silver and Azalea's bravery. Entwined spirals into a suspenseful end with unexpected romances, dark secrets uncovered, sad deaths, and families reunited.

I loved Entwined. The story line was very even paced until the climax, where naturally it became a little faster paced. After I had gotten about 3/4ths through the book, it speed up. In fact I actually read the whole last 1/4th of the book in one night because it was so exciting and enthralling. Some parts of Entwined were a bit predictable though. Such as the romance with Clover. I completely saw that one coming. Also, when ever Azalea described a tall dark gentleman with deep brown eyes, I immediately knew she was talking about Mr. Bradford. I think Azalea was kind of slow in the part that she didn't even fully realize she was in love with Mr. Bradford until the last half of the book. Especially because when she first meet him at the Yuletide ball at the very beginning of the book, she described him as very handsome and manly. I also thought the age differences in Entwined was a bit weird. For example, All three of the older sisters, Azalea, Bramble, and Clover, fall in love with guys at least 10, 15 years their senior. OK, maybe Azalea's man is only a bit older than her, but still I've got a point. In addition, there wasn't a single swear word in the entire book. Not one! I really liked that.

Over all, Entwined was a spectacular book. It's thrilling conflicts and tangled romances were very interesting to read about. I would definitely would recommend this book to anybody. (well maybe not certain boys who don't like romance) Entwined should for sure go on your "must read" list. A+

Sweethearts

sweethearts is probably one of my favorite books, which is weird, since i don't normally read this sort of book. i know it sounds waaaaaaaaaay weird, but i normally read more depressing books. they just interest me more.

this book starts out in 1998 with jenna(jennifer at this time)standing in the living room of her only childhood friend, cameron quick. she's all alone because camerons in-trouble. he was late coming home. the first three pages of this book tells you sooo much. it's a little crazy. it tells you that camerons dad is just a little bit abuse and doesn't care that his son is only about nine years old. he looks at his son as a grown adult that needs to be responsible and talk of himself. it also lets you know that jennifer is a chubby kid who likes to steal food from convenient stores. it tells you jennifer is not popular, and never will be unless she changes completely. but she doesn't realize this until cameron disappears.

i think i loved this book sooo much because i could relate to jenna soooo well. she's a girl living in utah who's..not like everyone else. i don't want to say anything that will get me into some trouble, but i feel the same was jenna feels. it makes me happy to know that things get better.

this is such a good book. i loved all the characters and i was glad her step dad wasn't a nikenpoop like so many other step dads are.

A+