Evermore by Alyson Noel

Genre: Fantasy, Romance,
Rating: 3/5
Pages: 301

Summary
Sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom is left alone after a horrible accident that claims the lives of her family. Since then, she can see people’s auras, hear their thoughts, and know someone’s entire life story just by touching them. She now spends her life, going out of her way to retain her abilities and avoid human contact, and for those reasons the students at her new high school have branded her a freak.
Little does she know that it will all end soon, because when she meets the gorgeous, exotic and wealthy Damon Auguste her abilities temporarily vanish and as mysterious as he is to her, the only thing she knows for sure is that she’s falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.

Why Read It?

Evermore is an enjoyable, sometimes dark story about a girl with extraordinary psychic powers. The story gives you a suggestion of what it might be like being psychic. If you’re craving a twisted, creative and magical love story this will hit the spot!

My Thoughts

Evermore was one of those books where you’ll buy it because you feel like you won’t be disappointed. It was weird at times and impressive and I was totally right about going ahead and buying it. However, even though I have that craving to read it again, I might not.
I loved the way this book was written, it was very easy to read which made it a nice break from my normal level of reading. I am a sucker for love stories, especially ones like this and I plan on reading the rest of the series.
Damon is definitely not my type of guy, even though he’s “gorgeous, exotic and wealthy”. I think it was the way he was described in the book that turned me off and the fact that he’s a little too exotic for me.
I sort of connected with Ever, but in truth it was really difficult to see things her way. And there were times when I completely disagreed with her choices. One of the things among others that I understood about her was hiding her beautiful self, listening to really loud music and avoiding people. She’s got these abilities that she doesn’t know how to control and she’s forced to hide herself away from the rest of the world. I felt horrible for her and I wanted to do nothing but help.
Something else that bothered me about this story was the beliefs. The part about being reincarnated just made me feel really restless. This is what a lot of the story line leaned against, so if you don’t agree with reincarnation I wouldn’t suggest this book to you. However, I am a very open minded person and I think without this main ingredient the book wouldn’t have been anywhere near the same or as interesting without it.
A part that I was totally mesmerized by was when she turned to alcohol to make things better for her. It dulled her abilities and made her feel good. I think it’s a part of the book that would make anyone who has not tried alcohol before curious about it and something to just really think about. If you think like me, you’ll probably see that there are other ways to deal with things without the abuse of alcohol or drugs. I don’t think it was the Alyson Noel’s intention to say that there are other ways to deal with things because it’s a small hint that I don’t think many people would pick up. (You’ll know more about what I mean once you’ve read the book and you can leave a comment if you want to discuss it).
All in all, even though I thought the book was strange, I was able to relax and just simply enjoy this unthinkable story.

The Last Song By Nicholas Sparks

Genre: Romance, Tragedy
Rating: 5/5
Pages: 390

“Sometimes you have to be a part from people you love, but that doesn't make you love them any less. Sometimes you love them more." –Steve Miller


Summary

The life of seventeen year old Veronica “Ronnie” Miller’s life was flipped, twisted, shaken, and in her perspective torn apart when her parents divorced and her Father moved from New York city to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. For three years, she remains angry and isolates herself from her parents and automatically pushes everyone away, mainly her father, that is, until her mom decides that she and her younger brother should spend the summer with him in North Carolina.
Living a quiet life in the beach town, Ronnie’s father, a former pianist is immersed in creating a work of art that will be the centerpiece of a local church. When Ronnie and her younger brother arrive, he continues his attempts to reach to her even though she insists on rejecting them. Rebellious Ronnie threatens to return home before the summer ends. Then suddenly, everything changes and Ronnie meets the town local heartthrob Will, the last person she thought she’d be interested in. Slowly but surely Ronnie lets her guard down, falls deeply in love, making amends with her father and unknowingly unlocking herself to the greatest happiness and pain that she could have never believed possible.

Why Read It?

The Last Song will bring the very best of you to the front of your mind. It will make you think and make you see things so much differently. You’ll connect with all the characters and there’s nothing you can do about it. Ronnie will make you see her perspective and her father will make you see his and then you’ll be left dying to solve things for the both of them. Except you can’t and all you can do is read!

My Thoughts

Okay, so I can’t even begin to tell you how well I relate to Ronnie! There are parts of her that are just like me, and parts of her in me which I’m not sure how to unlock. Yes, there are so many girls that could relate to Ronnie, but the way I relate to Ronnie is unbelievable. We think almost the same way, the only thing that Ronnie has really got that I don’t is a lot of guts and a local heartthrob boyfriend.
Nicholas Sparks, wrote this in a way so you could see all the perspectives of the characters and that sure helps you understand things so much better... In other words it’s definitely well-written!
To be completely honest, the only reason why I read this book was because I knew Miley Cyrus was going to be in the movie. (And yeah, I’m a Miley Cyrus fan!) But I’m so glad I read it and I’m sure I would have eventually gotten around to reading it even if there wasn’t going to be a movie because I want to read Dear John (which I haven’t read yet, but will soon) and then probably or actually hopefully I would have discovered this book.
Focusing on Ronnie, I just stopped and thought about her character and thought, WOW, this girl is having a really hard time, even though most of it was her fault, and I just had to know how she got through it all.
The Last Song’s atmosphere changed immensely and continually throughout the plot. I believe that that is what made it such a touching novel and one that I never want to let go of!
What I learned from Ronnie... I learned that bottling anger up as she did is probably the most life ruining experience you will ever have and also extremely unhealthy! What I also discovered by reading about her is that I will always want to keep my friends and family close and that was the biggest mistake that she made...she pushed everyone away from her. The third thing I gained from her was that I should say what’s on my mind and always stand up for myself and what I believe in. I’m so glad I learned those lessons, and what’s just as great is that she learns them too!
I’ve never had a favourite book before, never actually. I mean Twilight was never even my favourite book... maybe a favourite series or something... but The Last Song is DEFINITLEY a FIVE OUT OF FIVE!!!!
So, please do me a big favour... or actually, correction... do yourself a big favour and keep your head attached your shoulders by READING the book BEFORE you see the MOVIE because for those who know me personally, when it came to Twilight, New Moon and now soon Eclipse, I was all on your case about reading the book first!!!!

The Definitive Book Of Body Language By Allan And Barbara Pease

Genre: Psychology
Rating: 4/5
Pages: 386

Summary

The Definitive Book Of Body Language by Allan and Barbara Pease gives detailed description on people’s nonverbal communication. It teaches you how to read it correctly and use it to make a great first impression or acing a job interview. Discover how palms and handshakes are used to gain control, how the legs reveal what the mind wants to do and especially, the most common gestures of liars.

Why Read It?

If you want to learn about body language or just want to know how to make an excellent first impression this book is one of the best. It provides you with examples and exercises which include diagrams, and steps on how to read someone’s body language efficiently in order to help you communicate more powerfully without needing to speak a word.

My Thoughts
First off, you’re probably trying to figure out why I read this book. Truth is, I read it because I love psychology. Also I craved to know what body language said what. This book taught me so much, and I believe it be very trustworthy.
I rated it a 4 because I would most definitely recommended this to a friend that was interested in body language, or psychology. I think I’ll read again one day, but for now I don’t really have any desire to read it again. It was easy enough to read and comprehend that I’m positive I know a good portion of it.
When I was one the hunt for some good body language books I found that most of them I didn’t even want to try to read. It was just pages of words and they looked much too overwhelming. However, when I found this book full of examples and exercises I knew I would be capable of learning from this book.
Personally, I think that anyone should give this book a try...you just might learn something interesting.

Dread Locks by Neal Shusterman

Genre: Fantasy,
Rating: 4/5
Pages: 164

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot. It seems all I can do these days is think, playing the events over and over again in my mind until I’m numb. I see all the ways it could have turned out differently. How the nightmare could have been avoided, and the deaths–all the deaths–would never have happened.” -Parker Baer

Summary

At fifteen, Parker Baer is completely bored. Why? Because he has everything he could ever wish for in his perfect life. But, suddenly, a girl named Tara comes from out of nowhere and Parker finds her sleeping in his bed and things start to become well...interesting. She’s gorgeous with golden curls that seem almost alive. But she doesn’t share her looks so easily, she keeps her mysterious eyes hidden behind sunglasses, but that’s not all what is so unusual about her... She lives on her own in a house full of live-like statues. While Parker watched intrigued, Tara picks students at the high school to befriend and soon they are wrapped around her little finger, but not in the way Parker is.
As Tara’s new friends begin developing strange habits, such as drinking gallons of milk and eating dirt, only Parker realizes something is wrong. Except, Tara has introduced him to some of his own cravings...will Parker be able to resist and stop her destructive game in time or will he yield to the new cravings Tara has exposed him to?

Why Read It?

Dread Locks isn’t exactly a mystery, but it’s definitely a puzzle that you get to put together. Take some time to just think about it after you’ve read a couple of chapters and you won’t want to put down until you have a better understanding of Tara and her stunning looks and peculiar habits.

My Thoughts

I rated Dread Locks a three and a half. Why? Because It was a fairly good book, it just wasn’t something that I went totally crazy for. Don’t get me wrong because I loved it! And I hope I do get around to reading it again in awhile but for now I got to many other books to read. Of course, if I had all the time in the world I would read books I’ve read over and over again, unfortunately I don’t have that time... If only I were immortal... Yeah, that’s why I want to live forever so I can read books for eternity!
I found this book randomly on a book shelf in the library when I was suppose to meet a friend there but she came about fifteen minutes late. Anyway, I sat down and began reading it and I just didn’t want to put it down after the first two pages. I thought about forcing my friend to wait fifteen minutes extra while I read because I had waited for her, but I just wanted to get on with our day.
I have to say, yes it does get slow, and the action is mostly at a uniform motion (when an object is not speeding up or slowing down), in other words it’s a bit of a slow paced book and the action doesn’t speed up until close to the end (I’m squeezing physics into this! How smart is that!).
Unfortunately, I found it difficult to relate to the characters which are always important in a book. However, sometimes it’s nice to be able to relate to them because it pulls you out of your own little world. Now, I’m not saying that this book sucks because of the characters or that the characters are unreal or just plain shallow, because truth is the characters are awesome just not people that you might have in your life...
I’m really trying NOT to give anything away about the book, because as I said it’s a puzzle that you’ve got to solve on your own. So check it out! It’s from the Dark Fusion Series...which are these titles all by Neal Shusterman...

1. Dread Locks (Book 1)
2. Red Rider’s Hood (Book 2) (I have not read this book)
3. Duckling Ugly (Book 3) (I have not read this book)

Important: I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the way I rate books is very personal to me. That’s probably something to keep in mind.

Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas

Genre: Novel in Poem, Tragedy
Rating: 3/5
Pages: 352

"I am always there.
But they don’t care if I am,
because I am furniture.

I don’t get hit
I don’t get fondled
I don’t get loved
because I am furniture.

Suits me fine."
-Anke
Summary

Anke comes from an abusive environment, well at least her mother, brother and sister do. Ignored and invisible Anke is forced to witness some awful and nasty things in her home. However, she doesn’t feel as much as a witness as she feels like she’s either the living room couch or maybe just a coat hanger.
Unfortunately, she simply believes that she isn’t even worthy of the most unpleasant attention of all. Why does Anke believe this? What makes her home so dark and lethal? Her father does. He succeeds in harming her family, his family but he leaves her to just stand and watch. Maybe that’s how he abuses her, by neglectance, by pretending she doesn’t exist?
Fortunately, she makes the volleyball team and being a part of the team has helped her not only build her confidence but discover her voice. Anke learns that if she can make herself heard and noticed at school maybe she can be a little bit more than a piece of furniture at home... just maybe.

Why Read It?

This secretive novel in poems will capture your interest by stealing you away from your reality and put you in Anke’s. Because I Am Furniture will leave you starving to help Anke on her journey through this rough spot in her life, but all you can do is continue reading and support her with all your heart. And that’s all she ever wanted, all she ever needed: A little bit of valuable attention.

My Thoughts

Because I am furniture drew me towards itself even before I had a look at the cover. I mean, I was on the public library website browsing for novels and I came across this one. So I took a closer look and the plot had imprisoned my attention, thus I wrote the title down on my To-Read list.
I came across it in the school library bored and began reading it. When I opened it up to find almost a blank page I was devastated. Where were all the words? Not here. Not on this page. Then I realized it was a novel in poems like Crank by Ellen Hopkins and the other series.
Anyway, I continued reading and I just had to know how Anke solved her problems and how she dealt with things that I couldn’t imagine myself even coping with. Throughout this horrible period in her life I wanted to help her, to be by her side but, truth is, she really needed to learn to speak up on her own... and she managed...
I rated this book a three. Yes, I know it’s a low rating for a book that I think was amazing, but if you go to the legend you’ll see what I mean by a three. Yes, it’s a good book; it’s a fantastic book...except I wouldn’t read it again. I’m not saying that the book isn’t worth reading over and over, but personally I feel bad that Anke had to participate those experiences in her life and I’m not really willing to go through that again. Why though? I’m a sensitive person and I let myself get wrapped up in that book... Now combine that answer with the knowledge you have after you’ve finished reading the book...maybe you’ll see what I mean.