Better off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg

* * * *

For Macallan and Levi, it was friends at first sight. Everyone says guys and girls can’t be just friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share tons of inside jokes, their families are super close, and Levi even starts dating one of Macallan’s friends. They are platonic and happy that way.

Eventually they realize they’re best friends — which wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t keep getting in each other’s way. Guys won’t ask Macallan out because they think she’s with Levi, and Levi spends too much time joking around with Macallan, and maybe not enough time with his date. They can’t help but wonder . . . are they more than friends or are they better off without making it even more complicated?

From romantic comedy superstar Elizabeth Eulberg comes a fresh, fun examination of a question for the ages: Can guys and girls ever really be just friends? Or are they always one fight away from not speaking again — and one kiss away from true love?

Review:

It’s the first day of 7^th grade and Macallan can’t wait to throw herself into endless hours of school work.  Anything to keep her mind of feeling lonely and missing her mom.  But before she can even start her first class she is called into the principal’s office.   She’s quickly relieved to find out she isn’t going to be forced into another round of visits with the school counselor.  She’s not so relieved when she learns she is expected to show the new kid around.  That’s when Macallan meets Levi.  And she couldn’t be more put out.  She shows him where his classes are, drops him off at his first period and quickly dismisses him when he hopefully says “see ya around?”  But her dismissal doesn’t last for long because as serious as she might be, Macallan is a nice girl.  When she sees Levi struggling to find somewhere to sit at lunch she invites him to sit with her and her friends. That’s when Macallan notices the Buggy and Floyd button on Levi’s backpack.  She’s a huge fan of the British show as is Levi.  And on that shared love of a television show an epic friendship is born.

From there on out, Levi and Macallan are almost inseparable.  Like Best Friends tend to be.  The problem is that everyone assumes they are more than just friends which makes dating difficult.  And in some instances, horribly awkward.  One of the most awkwardly hilarious scenes in this book is when Macallan and Levi go on a double date together.  I think I audibly groaned while reading it.  It was so uncomfortable.  Amusing but uncomfortable.  Eventually, Levi starts to question his feelings for Macallan.  But is Macallan on the same page?  And if not, what’s more important?   Risking their friendship for love or ignoring their growing attraction so as not to upset one of the most wonderful friendships either of them has ever had. 

I’m a self-proclaimed romance whore.  I can’t get enough of it.  I’m rather greedy that way.  There are a lot of different romances I enjoy but one of my favorite types of stories is what I like to call “The Best Friend Romance,” or “Friends-to-Lovers.”   Whether they are cute and funny or full of angst, it’s guaranteed that a Best Friend Romance is going to put a smile on my face.  After reading Better Off Friends, I was trying to determine when my love affair with this type of story began.  And as if someone was whispering in her ear, Julia Quinn posted the following graphic on her Facebook page:

That’s it!  Emma!  I have three favorite Jane Austen’s  (Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion and Emma) but Emma and Mr. Knightley’s story was the one that put butterflies in my stomach.  And it was because, just like Macallan and Levi, Emma and her Mr. Knightley were friends.   And just like Emma and Mr. Knightley, Levi and Macallan value each other’s friendship above all else.  That’s what makes their love extra special.  They KNOW each other already.  And there is something miraculously romantic about that. 

If you are a hopeless romantic like me and love to read about friendships becoming something more then you must read Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg. 

~Nat

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

* * * * 1/2


Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...

Review:

Gansey is trying to not question Adam about waking the ley line and how it has affected him.  Gansey is also trying to not be disappointed by the fact that not only was it not him that woke the ley line but Cabeswater seems to have disappeared.

Adam is confused by his new attachment to Cabeswater.  He’s also confused by his relationship with Blue.  Is she his girlfriend?  Is she not?  How is he supposed to know for sure when she flat out refuses to kiss him but still holds his hand.  And it doesn’t help that he only knows how to express his confusion through anger.  A not so lovely trait he picked up from his crappy dad.

Noah is still smudgy.

Blue is trying to figure out what her feelings for Adam.  Does she really love him?  If not, maybe she COULD kiss him.  Then there’s Gansey, who both still alternately annoys and impresses her.

And then there is Ronan.  And his dreams.  Ronan brought Chainsaw back from his dreams.  What other things can he bring.  What other secrets about himself has he yet to learn?

Just as in The Raven Boys, Stiefvater gives a little attention to Blue and each of her friends as they continue on their search for Cabeswater and the old king, Glendower.  But this story is mainly Ronan's and secondly, Adam’s.  We learn the secrets of Ronan’s dreams.  Why he has them, where they transport him to and who powers them.  And we see Adam struggle as he comes to term with the sacrifice he made when waking the ley line.

The Dream Thieves was just as good if not better than The Raven Boys.  This is another story full of intrigue, magic and adventure and I wait anxiously for the next installment in the story.

Nat

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

* * * * 1/2

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.


Review:

Blue is the only non-seer in a house full of psychics.  A house full of psychics that all agree on one thing – Blue will kill her one true love.  The one thing lacking from their prediction is the who, when and where.  But one thing Blue knows for sure is that the who could never be one of the pretentious and spoiled Aglionby Raven boys.

Gansey has one obsession.  And that is to find the body of the old king Glendower.  Gansey, a natural leader, has won the loyalty of three Aglionby classmates – Ronan, Adam and Noah.  With the help of his friends, the quest for the ley lines that lead to Glendower’s resting place eventually drops them at Blue’s house for a psychic reading.

Blue never in a million years would have believed she would befriend one, let alone four, Aglionby boys.  But after a chance meeting and a psychic reading that poses offers up more questions than answers, Blue can’t help but join Gansey’s misfit crew in their quest.

As we all know, I adore Maggie Stiefvater.  She is my girl crush.  Don’t believe me?  Even she agrees….

But I don’t think I am being partial (at least not too much) when I say that this story is wonderful.  The characters are ALL engaging and described in such a way that they just pop right off the page.  Besides the purposely quirky Blue, there is the confident yet sometimes self-doubting Gansey and his friends – “elegant” Adam, “sulky” Ronan and “smudgy” Noah.  Stiefvater leaves no room for doubt as to who these kids are inside and out.

When I was a kid I would hide in the back of my long dark and old closet and close my eyes while I imagined that the back wall would open into Narnia.  With the imagery that breathes life into every page, I felt like I was living their magical quest.  I am not ashamed to admit that after reading this I found myself doing the modern version of what I did as a kid - imagining the places I could go while I went on my own search for ley lines and old kings.  As you may have guessed, The Raven Boys is a book full of adventure that I would recommend to pretty much everyone.



Nat

Rockoholic by C.J. Skuse

* * * * *

 

She's got it bad, and he ain't good -- he's in her garage?

"I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me..."

Gonna have to face it: Jody's addicted to Jackson Gatlin, frontman of The Regulators, and after her best bud Mac scores tickets, she's front and center at his sold-out concert. But when she gets mashed in the moshpit and bodysurfs backstage, she's got more than a mild concussion to deal with. By the next morning, the strung-out rock star is coming down in her garage. Jody -- oops -- kind of kidnapped him. By accident. With a Curly Wurly candy bar. And now he doesn't want to leave.
defrrrrrrr-0xs/pd
It's a rock-star abduction worthy of an MTV reality series...but who got punk'd?! (GoodReads)

 

Doesn’t the above summary make you think this will be a silly light hearted read?  I sure thought so.  I was expecting some hilariously ridiculous misunderstanding between two people that looks like a kidnapping but really isn’t one.  Boy was I wrong.  Sure, our rock star, Jackson, is so wasted and high that he mistakes the Curly Wurly Jodie is trying to offer him for a knife.  But our heroine, Jodie, realizes his mistake right away and instead of correcting him, she recognizes an “opportunity” and ACTUALLY kidnaps him.  Which I guess could be silly had she been a fun and silly character (Stephanie Plum comes to mind) but she isn’t.  She is a teen in a bad place and she does this bad thing that left me completely flummoxed. 

 

We learn a few things early on in this story.  One, Jodie’s granddad was one of the funniest free spirits ever.  Two, Jodie is very insecure and has a penchant for making really bad decisions.  She is also unhealthily obsessed with her favorite band The Regulators and their lead singer, Jackson Gatlin.  And three, if it wasn’t for her best friend Mac (Mackenzie), Jodie would be even more of a mess (if that’s even possible).  

When Jodie decides to liven up Granddad’s wake, her mom rips up her ticket to the Regulators concert.  Jodie runs away and moves into the spare room behind the pub owned by Mac’s parents.  Being the amazing friend he is, Mac gives Jodie his ticket and drives her to the concert.  A concert that should have been an epic one time chance to see her hero in the flesh becomes a series of disasters that ultimately land her in a makeshift triage room.  When a very high Jackson makes an unexpected appearance and speaks to Jodie personally, a misunderstanding between them gives Jodie the idea to kidnap the love of her life and take her home with her.  What starts out as a thoughtless crime ends up being a lesson in life, reality and love for Jodie and her hero, Jackson. 

This book just wasn’t what I was expecting.  I was in the mood for light hearted and silly.   And I was disappointed.  So disappointed that I sent a message to my fellow Bibliojunkies bitching about it.  I even considered putting it aside to read something else.  But I decide to move forward and keep reading.  

And in the end…as much as I tried to resist liking this book and as disappointed as I was in the beginning (simply because it wasn’t what I was expecting)…I caved.   At every turn of the page I became more and more sucked in.  It was as if C.J. Skuse was saying, “You WILL read this and you WILL like it!”   

I surrender, Ms. Skuse, I surrender.  I read it.  And not only did I like it, I LOVED it.  And when I say I loved it, I mean that Rockoholic has a guaranteed spot on my Top 10 of 2012.  So there you go.  Thank you for giving me a brilliant dramatic novel (with admittedly hilarious moments) that I had no choice but to embrace.  That was very sneaky of you, dear author.  I applaud your sheer awesomeness.

 

Nat

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

****

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

I have been thinking that maybe I am the wrong person to write this review. You know, since I have already admitted my author-crush on Maggie Stiefvater. But since I am the only one of us that has read Scorpio Races so far, you will have to deal with my fangirl tendencies.

This is a bit difficult for me to admit but it took me a little while to get into The Scorpio Races. The story captured me immediately but the pace is slower than what I am used to. It took time to switch gears and fall into the pace that the story requires. But once I caught the rhythm, I was able to enjoy the words and phrases that Ms. Stiefvater has yet again turned into works of art.

I won’t give a synopsis of this story as providing more than what is given above would spoil the fun. I will tell you this. The Scorpio Races is a story about simple people living in a simple yet very dangerous world. If you are looking for an action packed story, this is not it. Of course you will see some action because really, you can’t have man-eating horses and not have some action going on. But in the end, this is a simple and quiet book highlighted by simple and beautiful prose.

Don’t be fooled though. Although quiet, this book will demand quite a bit from you. It will demand that you make a cup of tea. It will demand that you drink said tea as you sit in your favorite reading nook. And it will demand that you not move from that spot until you finish the story. And a book that demand those things? Well, that’s a book that will probably grace my bookshelves Forever…



Nat

Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

* * * 1/2


Slut or saint? Good friend or bad friend? In control or completely out of it?


Life is about choices, and Natalie Sterling prides herself on making the right ones. She’s avoided the jerky guys populating her prep school, always topped honor roll, and is poised to be the first female student council president in years.


If only other girls were as sensible and strong. Like the pack of freshmen yearning to be football players’ playthings. Or her best friend, whose crappy judgment nearly ruined her life.


But being sensible and strong isn’t easy. Not when a prank nearly gets her expelled. Not when her advice hurts more than it helps. Not when a boy she once dismissed becomes the boy she can’t stop thinking about.


The line between good and bad has gone fuzzy, and crossing it could end in disaster . . . or become the best choice she’ll ever make.


Natalie Sterling is a perfect student. She has perfect grades. She studies religiously for her upcoming SAT’s. She is extremely focused and knows where she is going after high school. She is also a feminist with very clear views on how women should be treated and viewed. Sounds like a pretty awesome person right?

The only problem is that Natalie sees everything in black and white. Her views border and sometimes downright cross the line of extreme. You don’t notice this in the beginning. At first she seems like the super nice girl that has stood beside her best friend when said friend was going through one of the worst high school experiences ever. She is portrayed as a great leader. Someone that always has an encouraging word for the other girls. But slowly you realize that Natalie is highly judgmental and prejudiced. On more than one occasion she shows how superior she thinks she is to her classmates. Including her best friend.

Early into her senior year, when she is expecting perfection from herself and everyone around her, Natalie’s perfect life begins to unravel. A new freshman, a girl she once babysat, sets off on a course that both enrages and challenges Natalie’s way of thinking. Her best friend has decided to become less dependent and has started branching out. On top of that she has a new found attraction with one of the high school boy she so desperately mistrusts. A boy that does not fit into her future plans at all.

I really wanted to like Natalie but found that I couldn’t. Her overly superior attitude drove me nuts. And really that was the point, I think. Her attitude is repelling and that is the obstacle she needs to overcome without necessarily losing herself. As Bibliojunkie Bel reminded me today, it took “balls” on Siobhan Vivian’s part to write this character. Regardless of how I feel about Natalie Sterling, I can’t dispute that this book is excellent. The writing was wonderful. The author kept me interested. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen from one page to the next. Also, many of the secondary characters, particularly Autumn, Spencer and Connor, were quite likable. I kept reading because I wanted to know what happened to them. And I admit a part of me was hoping Natalie would change. And maybe she did….but I can’t get all spoilery now, can I? You will have to read and find out for yourself.

And here is the really tough part. Rating this book. As I said, it did keep my interest. I enjoyed the overall story. Would I recommend it? Yes, but with the caveat that the main character is extremely unlikeable. So I decided to put it in between Enjoy and Awesome which in the Bibliojunkie world is 3 ½ stars.

~ Nat