Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen

Out of all the characters that Dessen has written so far (except for the main character from The Moon and More – since I haven’t read that one yet – That Summer and Dreamland) I think I love Nicole – Colie – Sparks the most. She is the most realistic character so far, and I get where she was coming from especially during the Fat Years.

Anyway, Colie is sent to live with her aunt Mira for the summer while her mother Kiki Sparks the fitness guru is overseas touring for her brand. While in the town of Colby she meets Norman, Isabel and Morgan, characters who are instrumental for her summer of change, of getting out of her shell.

I loved this book for that reason. Instead of being about falling in love, this book is about coming out of your shell and accepting who you are no matter what others think of you. You’re the only one who knows the truth of what you’re about. No one can change that. Although, the whole falling in love thing is a minor plot line in this book – and I do mean minor, it doesn’t really show up until the last fifty or so pages. And while we’re on the subject, um…why is it in a lot of chick lit that I read, the girl is totally oblivious to the fact that a guy likes her until a friend of hers points it out? I don’t know is it just me?

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. Again, I think this book was just a little too short.

Bookshelf worthy? I own everything (except for That Summer and Dreamland) by Sarah Dessen so…

Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

Before I start this review, I feel like I have to say something up front. Like with Meg Cabot, I absolutely adore Sarah Dessen’s books. I’ve been reading them ever since I was in junior high and it started with Someone Like You. So I might be a little biased when it comes to reviewing her.

Okay, so now that that’s out of the way, let’s continue with this review. Someone Like You is a novel about Halley and her best friend Scarlett. They’ve been best friends forever, and have always been there for each other. That’s why when the book starts, with Halley at a summer camp receiving a call from Scarlett informing her that Michael Sherwood – the boy Scarlett had been dating all summer – is dead, Halley knows that she has to come home to be there for her friend. But as the book unfolds it turns out that Halley will have to be there for her friend more than she originally thought, Scarlett is pregnant and she keeps the baby.

Although this book mainly focuses on Scarlett going through the pregnancy, it also focuses on Halley’s first relationship. Michael’s friend – Macon – seems to always show up after Michael’s death (it helps that they have third period P.E. together) and eventually asks her out. The kind of boy though that Macon is, her mother wouldn’t approve of. Not that Halley really minds, her mother and her haven’t been close since early that summer. Her mother is a therapist who makes money over the fact that her and her teenaged daughter turn out to be so close.

You know I have stated my dislike for parents in YA literature, and this book was no exception. I get where Halley’s mom was coming from, but c’mon. She’s a therapist, she should know that teenagers eventually need some separation from their parents and a rebel phase. But honestly, she was so controlling! I was really excited when Halley told her off after the whole seeing Macon after the accident thing. It was fantastic.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. There were a lot of feels in this book, but not as many as in other later Dessen books. I didn’t like the character of Noah and I felt that the book ended too soon. There were still plot lines that needed to be completed. Like what were Elizabeth and Macon talking about in the truck outside the hospital? Why did Macon stick around?

Bookshelf worthy? Like with all my favorite authors, I would love to own everything that they come out with. And with Sarah Dessen I do – except for That Summer and Dreamland.

Blue Bloods Series Book #7: Gates of Paradise by Melissa de la Cruz

In the final book of the Blue Bloods series, Schuyler, Oliver and Kingsley are doing all they can to protect the final gate that leads to Paradise. The Covens have all been disbanded and are hiding underground. Jack and Mimi have disappeared and the rumors are spreading that they’ve returned to the Dark and Lucifer. Bliss has found the wolves that will help the Blue Bloods in their battle for Heaven, but they are stuck outside of the passages of time.

Jack and Mimi, have indeed joined with Lucifer again, but as those who read the last book know, it’s only to play double agent so that they can break the bond that they have to each other so that they can each be with the person they love. But their plan seems to be backfiring, because the Morningstar knows all. Jack is sent to kill Schuyler and Mimi is sent to kill Kingsley. There is no way that they can get out of it. And as I was reading this book, I was going crazy trying to figure a way out of it for them, but I was coming up with nothing.

It didn’t look good, and as the final pages rapidly passed by it got bleaker and bleaker. Especially when Jack started to act like his true self – Abandon the Angel of Dark. I’ll be honest when I saw Jack act like his Dark self, I was intrigued. This was the Jack that I remembered from the first book, who was intriguing and mysterious. But while we’re on the subject of Jack and his bad self, can we talk about Schuyler’s reaction to him being evil? He confesses that he’s no longer her Jack and what they had was all false and that he feels nothing for her, and what does she do? She sacrifices herself to him! “Take what you need. I’m yours.” I’m sorry…but if the twist hadn’t been thrown in there near the end, I would have been like – girl, you totally deserved your death.

Anyway, the last 100 pages of this book were an emotional roller coaster and just when I finally got my breath back, cleared the tears and calmed my heart, de la Cruz throws in the final chapter that deals with Oliver and Schuyler’s half-sister, Finn. I’m sorry, but when exactly did Oliver become a vampire?!

…Oh, you mean there’s another book series dealing with Blue Bloods coming out in September? Well…okay then.

Final Rating: 5 out of 5 stars. I’ll admit that I was with those people at the beginning who said that this was just a mash up of Gossip Girls and Vampires and who’s origin stories were muddled and confused. Vampires who had been Angels? Preposterous! But after seven books, damn. It was just amazing.

Bookshelf worthy? I still own the whole series, even this one.

Artemis Fowl Series Book #6: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer

In book 6 of the Artemis Fowl series, Artemis is dealing with the fall out from his three-year absence. He’s playing with his younger brothers when his father comes in and tells his son that his mother is barely hanging on to life. Her organs are shutting down. It turns out that Angeline Fowl has a disease call Spelltropy that plagued the People for many years before a cure had been found. The only cure for this disease comes from a species of lemur that is instinct, thanks in part to Artemis Fowl.

So what does Artemis do? Well…as the title of the book suggests he goes back in time to stop himself from selling the last of this species of lemurs and bring it back so a cure can be administered to his mother. Through twists and turns that gave me a few headaches, you find out that the mastermind of this plot is none other than Opal Koboi only from eight years ago. The following quote from the book when Artemis realizes this, pretty much sums up how I felt when she was brought in: What do I have to do? He thought. How many times must I save the world from this lunatic?

Seriously? What does Artemis Fowl have to do to defeat this devilish pixie? This girl has survived a coma, becoming human, and yeah, even though this is the Opal from eight years ago, she still survives a kraken collapsing on her. The only problem now is that there are two Opals out there, this CAN NOT end well.

While writing this book blog over the last few months, I’ve gone through a list of things that I don’t like in books – prequels written after the primary series, novellas, etc. – now I’ll add one more thing to my list. TIME TRAVEL. Seriously. Here’s another quote from the book that basically explains my feelings about time travel in books:

 It was confusing even for Artemis. Opal wouldn’t even be in his present if he hadn’t gone back in time. And he had only gone back in time because of a situation she had created. It had been Artemis’s own attempts to cure his mother that had led Opal to infect her.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. I loved Artemis and Holly in this book – especially a teenaged version of Holly. It was fantastic. The only two things I didn’t care for was the use of Opal and the time travel. My head still aches from trying to figure out how any of it was possible. …Wait. That might have actually been the headband… hm…

Bookshelf worthy? Support your local library!!

Artemis Fowl Series Book #5: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer

With Artemis’s memories restored, Holly Short no longer a member of the LEP, and Mulch Diggums partnering with Holly to start a private investigation service, how can the Artemis Fowl series get any better? Well, by throwing in the mysterious race of the People – demons – of course!

I’ll admit that the Artemis Fowl series hasn’t really made me laugh before; shake my head in disappointment and shame, sure. Smirk at the sarcasm, definitely. Groan in protest, obviously. But never laughter…until this book. There’s something about a boy genius experiencing puberty (“I will find a way to beat it!” Artemis said. ) that’s just gut-wrenching hilarious. Especially when you throw in the fact that his ‘adversary’ for this book is a twelve-year-old French girl named Minerva. Who he instantly grows an attraction to, because of course, she’s a genius too!

Anyway, yeah. Minerva is the female and younger version of Artemis – but think Artemis from the first book – only instead of being after faeries and gold, she’s after demons and a Nobel Peace Prize. Holly, Artemis, Butler, Mulch and Foaly team up to retrieve the demon she has captured and rescue his planet whose time spell is unraveling or else the People are in serious danger of being exposed.

Speaking of demons, let’s talk about the character of No1 shall we? Personally, I loved him, especially while he was in Minerva’s possession and started to speak English. I was really rooting for him throughout the whole book.

The ending though! The ending killed me. Like, what do you mean Artemis and Holly have been gone for three years?! And Artemis is an older brother?! What?!

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. The Lost Colony was good, but I didn’t care for the ending. The specifics of the saving of the demon island kind of confused me a little, especially with the whole time loop thing.

Bookshelf worthy? Still undecided, if anything guys just borrow them from your library.

Artemis Fowl Series Book #4: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer

In the last book, Artemis Fowl had been mind wiped after helping the People secure technology that could have endangered their existence. He has no memories whatsoever of faeries. The only thing he does know is that he woke up one morning with mirrored contact lenses in his eyes. He just doesn’t know why.

A few months later, the reason becomes clear as the People have need of his help again. Well, at least, Captain Holly Short of the L.E.P. does. A familiar foe from book 2 has decided that it’s time to take her revenge out on those that have betrayed her.

This book was fantastic. I mean, out of all the possible villains that Colfer could have brought back – in reality there were only two – I’m glad he chose Opal Koboi. I got the feeling in The Arctic Incident that her tale wasn’t over just yet. There was no way someone with that much intellect could have been taken down that easily. And don’t you know she wasn’t.

Holly Short’s character is still fantastic, and ass kicking. It was fun to see her become friends again with Artemis – and can I say that it was oddly weird for him to agree to help her out with the whole Opal thing before he got his memories back. Obviously, he must have subconsciously recognized her, right? As usual, Opal was mind boggling frustrating, but in a good way, and the new Commander of the LEP – Sool? – was a total ass hat. Kind of don’t blame Holly for quitting. I just wish she had hit him in the process.

Only two dislikes were the fact that Julius Root got killed off. I was just starting to like the guy! And I didn’t really care for the way Artemis got his memories back. He had to watch all the videos he recorded for himself, while Butler just had to hear his first name to remember everything. Then again, people’s minds are always different, aren’t they?

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. Characters are still awesome. The plot was fantastic. I’m curious to see if Artemis can continue his nice guy streak or will the criminal part of him still show up every now and again?

Bookshelf worthy? I’m still undecided on this one.

1-800-WHERE-R-YOU Series Book #2: Code Name Cassandra by Meg Cabot

Jessica Mastrani has lost his psychic powers to find kids. Or so she told the US Government at the end of the last book and that’s how she wants to keep it. The problem is, she still has the powers and she is still finding kids. These kids though, she’s made sure that they actually want to be found.

In the second book, Jess is dealing with the psychic powers thing while being a counselor at a gifted kids music camp – hey, it was better than working the steam table at her dad’s restaurant. Although, she is thinking of giving up the psychic power thing when she is put in charge of a cabin full of boys who turn out to be total nightmares.

Especially when an emotional father comes asking for her help in finding his daughter.

I’ve said this before, but the thing I love about Meg Cabot books is that there is constant action, and the plot just flows. There are not too many moments while reading that you find yourself going, okay, what’s the point of this paragraph? These books are also very funny. The only two things that still piss me off about these books are the adult characters for being so damn pushy and judgmental, and the whole forbidden romance between Rob and Jess. Seriously, there is zero action between the two in this book – he doesn’t even show up until about 140 pages in or so.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. A little comedy, drama, mystery and horror all rolled into one. It was great. Only complaint was that there was no romantic action between Jess and Rob.

Bookshelf worthy? As with all Meg Cabot books, yes, definitely.