Lush by Natasha Friend

Synopsis:
Samantha has a secret. . . . It's hard enough being a thirteen year-old girl, but when your dad can't stop drinking and you're not allowed to tell, life gets even harder. Add to the mix a yoga-obsessed mother, a gym teacher who hates you, and boobs that won't stop growing, and you really need someone to talk to. When Sam picks a random high-school girl in the library and starts sending her notes asking for advice, a mysterious friendship develops. But who is A.J.K., really? And will she be able to help Sam help her father, before it's too late?

My Take:

What. The heck. That's all I can really say.  I can safely say that this book was like no other I have read.  Despite making me feel painfully awkward, it gave me something to do while my sister roamed the book warehouse for 2 hours.  If you are one of those people who get tense when you walk past the uncomfortable magazine section at the grocery store, I wouldn't recommend reading this.  I don't mean to make it sound like the latest Playboy edition- it just wasn't my kind of read. 

From the first page, I just wanted to give Sam a big bear hug.  She's  in an awful situation with no one there to help.  Her father's a drunk and her mother's always in her own little world.  The chick's crazy self-conscious and her old best friend suddenly thinks he's too cool for her.  It's just too much! Cut her some slack, will ya?

As far as the writing goes, that was splendid. Natasha Friend's style uses imagery to the max!  Some people might argue that Lush is too racy, but seriously, this crap goes on, anyway.  Kids know about it, some more unfortunate kids even experience it.  Natasha has gotten so much crap about this book and the rest of its kind.  And for what? Thinking outside of the box? Having the balls to actually write about something different and risky? I completely admire her for that.

Rate: 7 out of 10
(good book, just not for me)

P!nky

Creative Blog Award

Just wanted to share my first blog award with everyone!  It was given to me by Deirdra Eden Coppel @  A Story Book World.  The name of the award is 'The Creative Blog Award.'  Deirdra draws all of the images on her award buttons, and as I scrolled through them, they were all beautiful.  This one is a particular favortie of mine, nevertheless.

    

'Plague' by Michael Grant

Synopsis:

It’s been eight months since all the adults disappeared. GONE. They’ve survived hunger. They’ve survived lies. But the stakes keep rising, and the dystopian horror keeps building. Yet despite the simmering unrest left behind by so many battles, power struggles, and angry divides, there is a momentary calm in Perdido Beach.
But enemies in the FAYZ don’t just fade away, and in the quiet, deadly things are stirring, mutating, and finding their way free. The Darkness has found its way into the mind of its Nemesis at last and is controlling it through a haze of delirium and confusion. A highly contagious, fatal illness spreads at an alarming rate. Sinister, predatory insects terrorize Perdido Beach. And Sam, Astrid, Diana, and Caine are plagued by a growing doubt that they’ll escape - or even survive - life in the FAYZ. With so much turmoil surrounding them, what desperate choices will they make when it comes to saving themselves and those they love?

SPOILER ALERT!

My Take:

It took me a while, but I've finally got the review of the fourth book in the addicting Gone series up and Adam. Despite my nasty review of the third book, it is impossible for Michael Grant to ever let a devoted reader down. I found Plague to be very pleasing in the sense of tying up a couple loose ends. That was my biggest problem with the third book, Lies, that I felt so bad for these kids, on their own, starving, and killing each other. And Grant never cut them a break! My power went out for an hour today, and I was pretty miserable. It's just hard for me to wrap my mind around their situation, is all. Anyway, this review is on the fourth book. Not the third. :)

Still, the situation remains quite the same. They've got 'plenty' of food, or more like edible mutated animals and cabbage. The FAYZ kids' current dilemma is of water and the fact that they have basically none of it. There is a lake where they have previously been retrieving their fresh water from in a water truck. But remember, there is no fuel!! So how is a water truck supposed to run with no fuel? Besides, it wouldn't matter anyway, because the lake has about 6 inches left. For about 300 or so kids. Because of the severe lack of drinking water, Sam, Dekka, and Jack set out on foot to find the 'half-lake' that was cut in half by the barrier at the far end of the FAYZ.

Caine, Diane, and Penny are still living the life on the movie stars' island they inhabited in the third book. 'Living the life.' They are so better well off than the FAYZ kids, yet even on a secluded island the controversy continues.

This book is fast-paced and obsessive. I would recommend it to anyone who can take having their nose stuck in a book 24/7.

Rate: 9 out of 10

P!nky

Word Wednesday!

Yeah, I know the name is cheesy, but I just had to share this. :]

Don't ask me why, but I was looking up the definition of words that sound kinda weird, don't make any sense.  So, I looked up the word 'nerd.'  When I typed it into dictionary.com, it came up with two definitions.  1. a stupid, irritating, inneffectual, or unattractive person.  2.
an intelligent, but single-minded person, obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit.

All the while, I'm thinking 'stereotype alert!!'  First of all, who says nerds are unattractive?  Someone's been watching too much TV! Just saying. :]

Anyways, after that, I looked it up on Wikipedia and found something real neat-this is the main reason I wanted to use this word.  You know where the word 'nerd' originated?  I'm sure you all know Dr. Seuss.  Well, HE actually created the word!  In his book If I Ran the Zoo from 1950, in which the narrator Gerald McGrew claims that he would collect "a Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker, too" for his imaginary zoo.  By the early 1960s, usage of the term had spread throughout the United States and even as far as Scotland. At some point, the word took on connotations of bookishness and social ineptitude.

An alternate spelling, as nurd, also began to appear in the mid-1960s or early '70s.  Author Phillip Dick claimed to have invented the phrase in 1973, but it's first documented use was in a 1965 student publication at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute.  But what really made the slang word 'nerd' popular was the sitcom Happy Days from the 70s.

P!nky

Best Twilight Quotes of All Time!

Ok, so I was browsing the web, and came across this handy little collection of quotes. Everyone loves Twilight, right? If so, these should be really familiar to you. Well, check out these quotes and comment, telling me which one is your favorite! :]

1. “If I could dream at all, it would be about you. And I’m not ashamed of it.”
-Edward Cullen

2. "And So the lion fell in love with the lamb.
What a stupid lamb.
What a sick masochistic lion."
-Edward & Bella

3. "But if you ever bring her back damaged again - and I don’t care whose fault it is; I don’t care if she merely trips, or if a meteor falls out of the sky and hits her in the head - if you return her to me in less that perfect condition that I left her in, you will be running with three legs. Do you understand that, mongrel?"  -Edward Cullen

4. "About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was part of him — and I didn’t know how potent that part might be — that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him." - Bella Swan

5. Alice:”I’ll play you for it. Rock, Paper, Scissors.”
Edward:”Why don’t you just tell me who wins?”
Alice:”I do. Excellent.” -Alice and Edward Cullen

I think I know which one will win, but we'll just see if I'm right! :] Personally, being a die-hard Team Jacob fan, I think there should have been a Jacob quote. What team are you on? Jacob, Edward, or Switzerland?

P!nky

Prince Harry becomes Comic Book Character!?

It was announced on July 28th that Prince Harry of Great Britain is being made into a comic book character by Bluewater Productions.  Random news from P!nky?  Well, yes, but because of Bluewater Production's recent comic book: 'The Royals: Prince Williams and Kate Middleton,' and their breathtaking marriage in April, I thought it was rather appropiate.

Harry, who is third in line to the throne, joins other well-known figures, including pop stars Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber and soccer player David Beckham, to have his life story adapted by Bluewater into a comic book.  Two formats are set to be released on August 24 at comic book stores and online outlets.  A 32-page comic and a special collector's graphic novel.  What do you think? Would Prince Harry make a good comic book character?

 

P!nky

Lies by Michael Grant

Synopsis:

It's been seven months since all the adults disappeared. Gone.
It happens in one night. A girl who died now walks among the living; Zil and the Human Crew set fire to Perdido Beach; and amid the flames and smoke, Sam sees the figure of the boy he fears the most: Drake. But Drake is dead. Sam and Caine defeated him along with the Darkness—or so they thought.
As Perdido Beach burns, battles rage: Astrid against the Town Council; the Human Crew versus the mutants; and Sam against Drake, who is back from the dead and ready to finish where he and Sam left off. And all the while deadly rumors are raging like the fire itself, spread by the prophetess Orsay and her companion, Nerezza. They say that death is a way to escape the FAYZ. Conditions are worse than ever and kids are desperate to get out. But are they desperate enough to believe that death will set them free?

My Take:

Michael Grant blessed the world of literature with yet another masterpiece.  Despite my enthusiastic review of the sequel in the series, Hunger, Lies was not quite what I had had in mind for the threequel.  Don't get me wrong, it's a great book, just a bit disappointing in my opinion.  I guess it's like, after a while you start feeling SO sorry for these kids.  And things never get better, they only continue to get worse, more problems emerge.  The predicaments that we thought were solved come back to bite them.  And the cheerful bits from the first two books have almost completely disintigrated.  The romance in the books are basically gone, which I can understand, because they, like I said earlier, have so many things to deal with!  As I'm reading it, I'm just like 'These poor kids!! Cut 'em some slack, will ya?'  BUT, despite the fact that it was a little too dank and disturbing, it is impossible to ignore Michael Grant's obvious talent. 


Sam Temple is walking around town at 2am, checking to make sure chaos hasn't broke out in the unpredictable place called the FAYZ.  He spots a mutant named Orsay Pettijohn on the beach, surrounded by kids who are looking at her as if it is storytime and she is their mother.  Orsay has been spreading rumors about how to get out of the prison they are trapped in.  But her theory is a bit scary.   


The Human Crew, Zil's 'gang' is still at it, and they are taking it to the extreme.  Which is much too far for Sam to allow.  Even worse, they set half of Perdido Beach on fire to help Caine, of all people.  Without getting into too much detail, lets just say there is some island where two adult movie stars lived before the coming of the FAYZ.  Movie stars are rich, you know, with junk food, yachts, mansions and helicopters.  And foster kids under the age of fifteen.  This is surprising to the reader-to find out that while our regular FAYZ kids back at Perdido Beach are surviving off of fish, squirrels, and cabbage, there are five kids living on some fancy island stuffing themselves with ice cream and Cheerios.  You can imagine how the mainland characters felt when they found out.


I would so recommend this book-after you read the first two, that is.  Even though it wasn't my favorite of the series, you never know, you might really enjoy it.  It is very fast-paced, but not quite as much as Gone and Hunger.  However, I am ecstatic about reading the fourth one. 


Rate: 6 out of 10

P!nky