Tag Archives: reviews

Book Review: Beauty Queens

Posted in Audiobooks, Books by

Beauty Queens CoverBook: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray|Narrated by Libba Bray

Published May 2011|Published by Scholatic Audio|Run  time: 14 hours, 33 minutes|Audiobook via the library

Series Or Stand-Alone: Stand-Alone

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Libba Bray’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: From bestselling Printz award-winning author Libba Bray, the story of a plane of beauty contestants that crashes on a desert island. 

Teen beauty queens. A “Lost”-like island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to e-mail. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives underground in girls, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Oh, the horror, the horror! Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.

SPARKLE PONIES!!!!!

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Beauty Queens!  It’s hysterically funny, and this one was the perfect book to listen to as an audio book!  Like, funny as in listening to it in public wasn’t the best idea, because I’d randomly start laughing.

The fictional pop culture references were great…and more than a few bore an uncanny resemblance to real life people and products.  I mean, Joey Testosterone reminded me of Mario Lopez, there was an evil corporation, the island was kind of like the one on Lost, Lady Bird Hope kind of reminded me of Sarah Palin…although I was never able to put my finger on who Mo-Mo, the hilarious dictator of The Rock reminded me.  Just the general stereotype of someone who publicly doesn’t like the U.S. but secretly like certain aspects of our culture.  Also great were the random footnotes and commercials.  They just fit with the book so well!

It was fun to listen to the 12 survivors survive on a deserted island.  You wouldn’t expect all of those 12 to survive as well as they did, but of course, they all survived, got off the island and went on to lead very productive lives, while remaining close friends.

The characters were definitely cliché, but for the most part, I wasn’t annoyed by it.  I mean, Miss Texas was the ultimate beauty queen, and it’s a shame we don’t really see more of her, especially after she goes off the deep end.  That’s one story I’d like to read!

Idina, by far, was the character who irritated me the most.  She’s the girl who’s only in the pageant because she wants to expose how evil and horrible pageants really are, and, at one point, complains about how stupid girls can get when they’re around guys (only to act that way herself).  She does have some great moments with Taylor (Miss Texas), who is her polar opposite in many ways.  I loved Tiara and Mo-Mo.  Tiara was just adorably random, and Mo-Mo was hysterical.

Narration!  Libba Bray (the author) also narrated, and she did a great job with all the voices, footnotes and commercials.  I already mentioned that this book worked well as an audio book, and I am so glad I did listen to the audio book.

Girl power and accepting others for who they really are did come through, but it just didn’t work for me.  It was kind of hard to take those messages seriously, mostly because it seemed a little too random.  I mean, I know they’re stranded on island, and it was easier to be themselves away from society and all, but…it was still a little too random.

Final thoughts:

Beauty Queens was great, especially in audio form.  I liked the characters, the book was hysterical, and the pop culture references keep me guessing.  Beauty Queens gets 5 stars.

Book Review: Confessions Of An Angry Girl

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Confessions Of An Angry Girl CoverBook: Confessions Of An Angry Girl by Louise Rozett

Published August 2012|Published by HarlequinTeen|272 Pages|Purchased for my Nook

Series or Stand-Alone?  Series, Confessions #1

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Louise Rozett’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl, has some confessions to make…

1. I’m livid all the time. Why? My dad died. My mom barely talks. My brother abandoned us. I think I’m allowed to be irate, don’t you?

2. I make people furious regularly. Want an example? I kissed Jamie Forta, a badass guy who might be dating a cheerleader. She is nowenraged and out for blood. Mine.

3. High school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time. (Mars is red and “seeing red” means being angry—get it?)

Here are some other vocab words that describe my life: Inadequate. Insufferable. Intolerable.

(Don’t know what they mean? Look them up yourself.)

(Sorry. That was rude.)

I liked Confessions Of An Angry Girl.  It was a fun read, and I was reminded of The Princess Diaries partway through the novel.  If you like the Princess Diaries, you might like this one.

I loved the vocab words throughout the books, and how they kind of described what was going on with Rose’s life.  I do wish there was more of a connection between Rose and her being a word geek, because I didn’t get a sense of her love of words or how important they were to her.

I didn’t get her interest in Jamie Forta.  At all.  I would have been fine without her crush on Jamie.

Moving on from the romance, I didn’t feel like Rose was all that angry.  But she does have her own issues that we see throughout the book.  She does, however, do what she thinks is right…and that is completely awesome!  But…I didn’t really get why a lot of the minor characters were there.  They weren’t that interesting, and more often than not, the characters felt pretty superficial, even Rose.

I did like seeing her journey, and work her way through the loss of her dad (which wasn’t as important as I thought it would be) boys, friends, and adjusting to high school.  She felt very much like a 14-year-old who’s trying to figure all of this out, so she did feel pretty real.

Final thoughts:

Overall, I liked Confessions, but there was just something that didn’t completely click for me.  I’m not sure if I’ll be continuing this series, but it’s a pretty decent YA contemporary.  It gets 3 stars.

Book Review: Lola And The Boy Next Door

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Lola And The Boy Next Door CoverBook: Lola And The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Published September 2011|Published by Penguin Group|237 pages|E-book from the library

Series or Stand-Alone? It’s a companion to Anna And The French Kiss…so it’s a little of both

Genre: YA Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Stephanie Perkins’ Website

Goodreads.com Summary: In this companion novel to “Anna and the French Kiss,” two teens discover that true love may be closer than they think.

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit – more sparkly, more fun, more wild – the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket – a gifted inventor – steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Lola And The Boy Next Door.  I mean, I totally loved Anna, and there was a lot of fan-girling by the end.

I really liked it.  I think I loved the parts where Anna and St. Clair appeared the most, but there were some really funny moments throughout the book.

I loved Lola and how she went all out with her fashion.  Making a Marie Antoinette costume for her winter formal?   Seriously cool!  She’s just so quirky, and I love that about her.  But as much as I loved Lola and her costumes…take away the costumes, and Lola doesn’t seem too special.

I wasn’t a big fan of her relationship with Cricket but then again, who can live up to the aswesomeness that is Anna and Etienne?  I can’t help but compare the two, which is sort of sad, because they are different books.  But Lola and Cricket were a cute couple, and after years of liking each other (and things getting in the way) they do end up together.  I liked Cricket, but I didn’t love him…if only we saw more of Cricket, but I kind of get why we don’t see as much as we should have!

It does some a lot more light-hearted than Anna…which reminds me, it seemed like the opposite of Anna in terms of the romance.  I mean, Cricket is waiting in the wings, for Lola to be available.  Just like Anna was waiting for Etienne to be available.  Maybe I wasn’t a big fan of their relationship because I saw how she knew he liked her (and she knew she liked him) but didn’t break up with her boyfriend for a long time and just kind of strung him along.

I loved Cricket’s inventions, and they sounded super-interesting.  It seems to fit with Lola’s costumes really well.  Plus, being related to Alexander Graham Bell made his inventing really interesting.

Final Thoughts:

I wish I listened to the audiobook, instead of just reading it, but I did really like Lola.  The characters were fun and quirky, and there was an overall quirkiness that you didn’t get in Anna.  Lola gets 4 stars!

Book Review: The Probability Of Miracles

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The Probability Of Miracles CoverBook: The Probability Of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

Published December 2011|Published by Penguin Group|386 Pages|Purchased for my Nook

Series or stand-alone? Stand-alone

Genre: YA/Contemporary Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Wendy Wunder’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Cameron Cooper, a cynical teenage girl dying of cancer, is told by her doctors she needs a miracle to survive. In a last-ditch effort to save her daughter’s life, her mother takes her to a small town in Maine rumored to be magical. If there’s a shot for Cameron, her mom believes, it’s here. But for Cameron, believing in miracles would mean believing she has another chance at life … and that’s dangerous for someone who knows better than to get her hopes up. As the girls settle into Promise, amazing things start happening: it snows in August; there’s a rainbow when it doesn’t rain; a flock of flamingos takes residence in the pond behind the high school, even though they’re not supposed to live this far north. Cameron, a scientist at heart, searches for explanations for these bizarre occurrences, refusing to believe they’re miracles. But soon, the magic of the town—and her feelings for Asher, a local boy who seems to know Cam better than she knows herself—become impossible to deny. Over the course of the coming months, Cameron lets go of her cynicism and opens herself up to life and the world. In the end, Promise is a magical place, but for Cameron becoming a believer might just be the biggest miracle of all.

I really liked The Probability Of Miracles.  I did get a little teary-eyed, and I totally loved the crazy town of Promise.  I totally get why her mom would take her to such a magical place.

I thought Cameron was okay as a character.  I get why she doesn’t believe in miracles, and it’s refreshing to see a character dying of cancer who’s not all inpsirational and hopeful.  But in the end, she does believe in miracles.  I never completely warmed up to her, and I didn’t completely warm up to a lot of the other characters either.  But I did like her sister, who seems to be lost in the shuffle.  And all of the things that Cam experiences?  It kinda felt like it was randomly thrown in so she could have a chance to experience it.

Honestly, I’m not completely sure why I liked The Probability Of Miracles so much- I just did.  Maybe it’s the fact that the book takes place in a town where things just happen.  Cam didn’t seem to fit into the craziness that is Promise, and part of me wishes she fit into that better.  But there is something that is interesting about Cam slowly liking Promise…a very cynical girl in town full of miracles and hope.  I liked that Cam’s mom had hope that Cam would be okay, that Promise would help her feel better.

But there is something to be said about the journey itself, which may be the important thing in this book.  You get why Cam is cynical, and she is pretty realistic about her disease.  And you see her (very slowly) become more open to letting people in and having even a little bit of hope.  Hope and magic and possibilities are good.

Final thoughts:

I really am at a loss here.  I know I really liked it, and I just can’t put my finger on why.  It’s weird that I can kind of pinpoint why I didn’t like it, but can’t explain why I did like it.  The Probability Of Miracles gets 4 stars.

GG 1 x 21: Love, Daisies And Troubadours

Posted in Season One, The Gilmore Girls Project by

Love, Daisies & Troubadours originally aired May 10, 2001.  It was written by Daniel Palladino and was directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino.

We open with Lorelei waking up early because Luke is fixing her porch rail at 6:30 in the morning.  She wakes up Rory and proceeds to ask Luke why he’s fixing things so early.

At the inn, Michel and Sookie are suffering from onry- and we learn that Sookie seems to be a hypochondriac.  Later on, Lorelei is telling Rory about a dream and is trying to describe one of the townspeople to Rory, but can’t remember his name, so she asks Luke.  We see Rory find the Dean box in the closet, and Lorelei explains that she couldn’t throw it away.  Lorelei apparently regrets getting rid of some of her boyfriend boxes, and wants Rory to look back at the box someday and think about how she had an interesting life.  We see Rory looking at some of the stuff in the box.

We next see Rory and Lane talking, with Lane mentioning that someone from Stars Hollow High said she was good cheerleading material.  Rory looks at Doosey’s and says she’s going in, even though it’s not Wednesday.  Lane gets excited, because she thinks Rory and Dean are getting back together.  Rory goes inside, to learn that Dean isn’t there.

At Chilton, Tristan asks Rory to go see P.J. Harvey with him, but she turns him down.  Rory lends her biology notes to Madeleine.  And minutes later, Tristan tells Paris, Madeleine, and Louise that he and Rory are going to see P.J. Harvey- and Paris (naturally) doesn’t take it well.  Meanwhile, Lorelei runs into Rachel, who is looking for Luke, because they were meeting for lunch, and he was a n0-show. He, of course, is at Lorelei’s fixing things, and Lorelei wonders why he’s not spending his free time with Rachel.  Luke is definitely used to being alone, and having Rachel there is a big adjustment for him.

Rory goes to Dean’s house and meets his sister, but eventually runs off when he comes downstairs.  Next, we see the town meeting, where the main topic of discussion is how there can only be one town troubadour.  Rory gives this speech about how he should be able to sing around town, but really, it was about how she wanted to fix things with Dean but couldn’t.  After the meeting, Rachel leaves town, because she thinks Luke is interested in Lorelei.  As she leaves the diner, she tells him not to wait too long to tell her.

At Chilton, Rory tries to give Madeleine the notes she asked for, but refuses to take them.  Paris tells Rory that she never should have let her guard down, and how Rory is going to get some less-than-stellar writing assignments for the school newspaper the following school year.

Luke comes over to pick up his toolbox, and then Max comes by for his date with Lorelei.  I definitely sensed a competitive vibe between the two of them.  Max thought Luke and Lorelei dated while they were apart, and Max admits that he saw people during their separation.  He ends up proposing, but Lorelei doesn’t agree to it- she doesn’t want it to be a way to stop their bickering, and thinks it should be planned, with music and 1000 yellow daisies and a horse.

We see Tristan waiting for Rory, and wants her to go to the concert with him, but she still refuses to go with him.  He takes her books, and we see that Dean came by to talk to her, but changed his mind after seeing her with Tristan.  She tells him she loves him (finally!) and they stand in the courtyard kissing.  Random thought time: Shouldn’t Dean be in school?

Moving on, Lorelei arrives at the inn to find 1000 yellow daisies, which was Max’s way of proposing to her the proper way.  He wants her to take some time to think about it.

The episode ends with Lorelei and Rory sharing their good news in the middle of the street.

Favorite lines/scenes: Nothing really jumped out at me in this episode, but I did like the town meeting.

Pop culture: Dick Tracy, Henry David Thoreau, Lee Harvey Oswald, Unibomber, Blue, Courtney Love

Final Thoughts:

I liked this episode, and it was a pretty decent season finale.  I like that things were wrapped up really well.  It really is how a finale should be, as far as things being wrapped up.  There are also quite a few things we’ll see throughout Season Two.  Overall, this episode wasn’t too memorable, but still a fun episode to watch.  It gets 3 mugs of coffee.

Book Review: Bite Club

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Bite Club CoverBook: Bite Club by Rachel Caine

Published May 2011|Published by Penguin Group|368 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Part of a series? Yes, Morganville Vampires #10

Genre: YA/Paranormal- Vampires

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Rachel Caine’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: After discovering that vampires populate her town, college student Claire Danvers knows that the undead just want to live their lives. But someone else wants them to get ready to rumble. 

There’s a new extreme sport getting picked up on the Internet: bare- knuckle fights pitting captured vampires against each other-or humans. Tracking the remote signal leads Claire to discover that what started as an online brawl will soon threaten everyone in Morganville…

Morganville Vampires!  I really do like this series more and more, and Bite Club is no exception to that.

First of all, the title of the book is super cute and super appropriate, given what happens in the book.  It’s no surprise that Shane is one of the humans fighting vampires.  He’s definitely angrier in Bite Club than we’ve ever seen him- and you have to wonder if maybe he’s always been so angry, and going to the gym really brought that out.  But I just didn’t like seeing him so angry and wounded (even if maybe I knew it was kind of there, just simmering under the surface).

There is a bit of trouble where Shane and Claire’s relationship is concerned- he, understandably so, is worried that Claire’s relationship with Myrnin is more than a teacher-student relationship.  I really hope it doesn’t kill their relationship in the next few books, but I have the feeling it could become more of an issue for the rest of the series.

One thing I thought was interesting was seeing certain things from Shane’s perspective.  It really made me wish he were really so I could slap him!  It worked a lot better than I expected.  I like that you see his thought process.  While his parts of the book were in italics, Caine seemed to slip in his perspective a little too suddenly.  I’m willing to overlook it, though, because it’s the first time I’ve seen her do the multiple narrator thing.

Also weird?  Everyone seemed to figure out something was wrong a little too slowly, and it took them a while to figure out what to do about it.  Either there’s a side of Shane we’ve never seen, or they’re just really being stupid for not noticing that he’s acting really different.  I do wonder what’s in store for Michael and Eve, what with the huge life decision they’ve made- which also kind of seemed to come out of nowhere.  And Kim was completely ridiculous, especially at the end of the book.  Goodness, how many times does Shane have to say that he loves Claire?

And Claire NOT GOING TO MIT?!?!?!  What is going on with that?  For pretty much the entire series, we’ve heard about how much Claire wants to go to MIT, and when she actually gets the chance to go, she passes it up?  And all because MIT and science will be there, but she only has so much time to learn what she can from Myrnin?  Seriously?  There’d better be a dang good reason for this…

I’m definitely looking forward to Last Breath (the next book in the series) because I can’t wait to see how things play out.

Final thoughts:

There were definitely some surprises in Bite Club, and it was definitely interesting…and made things in Morganville super-interesting.  As much as I loved this book, there were some things that were frustrating.  Bite Club gets 5 stars.

Book Review: The Raven Prince

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The Raven Prince CoverBook: The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

Published November 2006|Published by Grand Central Publishing|265 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Part of a series? Yes, Princes Trilogy #1

Genre: Historical Romance

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Elizabeth Hoyt’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: There comes a time in a woman’s life when she must do the unthinkable – and find employment. For the widowed Anna Wren, that means taking a job as female secretary for the Earl of Swartingham. Secretaries are always male – never female – as Anna well knows but the real downfall of her career is the realisation that she is falling in love with Edward de Raaf – the Earl. But when she realises that he is going to visit a brothel in London to take care of his ‘manly’ desires, Anna sees red – and decides to take advantage of the opportunity to also take care of her ‘womanly’ desires – with the Earl as her unknowing lover. But the Earl has another reason for going to London. He is formalising his betrothal and trying (with little success) to forget about a secretary that has no right being female. Unhandsome, he knows that no woman wants him. Except for the mysterious lady with whom he spent two unforgettable nights at Aphrodite’s Grotto, the most scandalous brothel in London. But when Anna’s plan is revealed, a bit of blackmail is thrown into the mix, a proposal is rejected and even the Earl himself will be unprepared for the intrigues that ensnare them.

Another romance novel!  I’m slowly finding romance authors that I love, and Elizabeth Hoyt has earned that place with The Raven Prince.

At the beginning of each chapter, there’s a quote from a fictional book called The Raven Prince, of which Edward has a copy.  I loved seeing this fictional fairy tale play out, and it went along with the book so well!

I really liked Anna, and she really was a sweet person!  I also liked that Anna and Edward had some tragic moments in their lives but we never saw them complain about it.  In fact, they generally went about their lives like they didn’t have any baggage…even though they did end up bringing some of their issues to their relationship.

I loved the setting, and how well Hoyt described everything.  The town they lived in sounded so pretty and quiet!  And while I knew it was historical romance, and even with the historical romance vibe, I didn’t really get a good sense of time.  A little bit of context would have been nice.  But maybe that’s because I just finished Revealed by Kate Noble, which had references to Napoleon and Jane Austen.  But it was still fun to read.

I just LOVED The Raven Prince, though!  Anna really is a good person, and I really liked her with Edward.  Seriously, they’re super-cute together!  Opposites really do attract.  Actually, the relationships between all of the characters were great…and Anna taking care of a sick prostitute, even when people got all judge-y, was so nice of her!  All of the minor characters are great, from Coral, to Mother Wren, to Mr. Hopple…they just made an already great book even better!

Final thoughts:

I LOVED The Raven Prince!  It was fun to read, with a cute couple and a lot of interesting characters.  It gets 5 stars!

Book Review: Revealed

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Revealed CoverBook: Revealed by Kate Noble

Published March 2009|Published by Penguin Group|368 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Part of a series? Yes, The Blue Raven #1

Genre: Historical Romance

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Kate Noble’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: From the acclaimed author of Compromised comes a tale of love and war among the ton. Phillippa Benning is the unrivaled beauty of the Season. But when another lady challenges her for a marquiss attentions, Phillippa entices him to a secret rendezvous only to stumble upon The Blue Raven, Englands most famous spy, lurking at the site of her planned tryst. The Blue Raven has uncovered an enemy plot directed at upcoming society functions, but hes unable to infiltrate London society. Phillippa makes an offer: in exchange for entre among the ton, he agrees to have his true identity revealed at the Benning Ballguaranteeing her unrivaled notoriety. As the danger draws closer, the mysterious spy and Phillippa give in to mutual desire. But when the game turns deadly, betrayal waits around the corner, and Phillippa must decide once and for all, is it the myth that captured her heart, or the man?

I totally wasn’t sure about Revealed at first, but by the end, I was so acting like a fan girl!  When I read a book like Revealed, I’m reminded of why I love romance in the first place, and it always makes me want to read more!

Like, I loved the parts where Marcus and Philippa were together.  Seriously, reading some of those scenes made me giggle.  They’re great on their own, but you put them together, and something magical happens!  And I so wanted Broughton to be the bad guy, but thankfully it wasn’t Byrne.  Phillippa was a fun character, and even when she acted like a total brat, you still couldn’t help but like her.

I liked the spy element of it, and Phillippa trying to help Byrne and Marcus was…interesting at times.  Especially when they had to call on Jane, Philippa’s rival, for help.  It’s too bad we don’t get more of their history in this one, but I loved the snarkiness between the two of them.  And of course, the whirlwind that is the Season, was fun to read.

There wasn’t as much romance as I was expecting, but there was still a lot of tension between Marcus and Phillippa.  Just seeing the back and forth was so much fun!  Considering there was a (surprisingly) not annoying love triangle, and trying to figure out who was selling info to France, I didn’t mind that the romance took a back seat times.

Everything worked so well together, and I can’t wait to see what sort of trouble Philippa gets herself into in the next one!

Final thoughts:

I don’t have much to else to add, but I am definitely a fan of Kate Noble…after one book!  I’m looking forward to reading her other books, because I really enjoyed Revealed.  It’s a fun read, and it was just…delightful!  The characters are great, I loved the setting, and I love the mystery too!  Revealed gets 5 stars!

GG 1 x 20: P.S. I Lo…

Posted in Season One, The Gilmore Girls Project by

P.S. I Lo… originally aired May 3, 2001.  It was written by Elaine Arata and Joan Binder Weiss and was directed by Lev L. Spiro.

Brief Summary: Rory goes to Richard and Emily’s house after having a fight with Lorelei.

We open with Rory and Lorelei playing 1,2,3 at the diner.  Luke, of course, wants to know what they’re playing, and watches as Kirk is Lorelei’s choice.  Rory’s first guy is Dean, and they stop playing.

Max calls Lorelei, and Lane and Rory are talking as they walk through town.  Lane tells Rory that Dean doesn’t work at Doosey’s on Wednesdays, while Lorelei later runs into Luke at the Cat Club.  He went shopping to get Rachel a birthday present, but hates going to the mall.  Lorelei volunteers to go shopping for him and will pick out a few potential presents.

Dean is Lane’s partner for a science project, which is awfully convenient.  Mrs. Kim has very specific rules for them working together, and they talk about Rory.  Lane mentions how Rory can’t go into Doosey’s, because Dean works there.  As much as I like Rory, not going into the market because Dean might be in there is a little weird.  It’s a small town, you can’t avoid places just because your ex-boyfriend might there.  Rory walks in and finds them working on the project, and leaves immediately.

The next morning, Lorelei wakes up Rory, and wants her to skip school so they can go shopping together.  Rory goes to school instead, and Lorelei gets a great present for Rachel and a bunch of clothes for Luke, who is insistent that he doesn’t want it.

At Chilton, Rory isn’t paying attention in Mr. Medina’s class, and he wants to talk to her after class.  He’s worried about her, and mentions her break-up with Dean.  Rory is confused as to why he knows about her and Dean, and she learns that Lorelei and Max have been talking for a while, and are now back together.

Back at Luke’s, he’s trying on the clothes Lorelei got, and says he’s going to return them later on.  Meanwhile, Lane is waiting for Rory at the bus stop with coffee, and apologizes for not telling her that she was studying with Dean.  Lane didn’t want to make Rory sad, because Rory gets sad every time someone brings up Dean.  Rory doesn’t want anyone to protect her, and that she’d get over Dean faster if people stopped protecting her.  I totally get Lane’s point, and Rory in this scene was kind of annoying.

Rory and Lorelei talk about how Lorelei didn’t tell Rory about Max- Lorelei didn’t want to share her happy news when Rory was so sad about Dean and because she wanted to give Rory some space.  Rory mentions Lorelei breaking up with guys a lot, so she’s not expecting the thing with Max to last long.  Lorelei stops at the market while Rory goes home…only she goes to Richard and Emily’s instead.  Lorelei arrives at home to find that Rory isn’t there.

When Rory arrives at Richard and Emily’s, they’re getting ready to go to a fundraiser.  Richard pays the cab driver and Rory goes inside.  Random thought- why did Rory take a cab instead of taking the bus?

Anyway, Rory tells them she had a fight with Lorelei, and didn’t know where to go.  She apologizes for ruining their night, and goes to bed early.  Lorelei is all worried about Rory, because she has no idea where Rory is.  Emily calls Lorelei, who wants to go get Rory, but Emily says to wait until morning so everyone can have some time to think and calm down.  The next morning, Rory goes off to school, and Emily mentions that she talked to Lorelei, who wasn’t mad at Rory for leaving, but was really worried.

Lorelei is walking home from Luke’s, after a night of not sleeping well, and sees Dean in the market, so she goes to talk to him.  I really hated how Lorelei went off on Dean, who did tell her about why they broke up.  I’m not the biggest fan of Dean, but I do think he has a point when he says that he’s tired of everyone blaming him for the break-up and how he’s tired of everyone treating him like he’s the bad guy.  I mean, everyone’s so willing to blame Dean, and it’s like the thought that Rory might have had something to do with it never crossed their mind.

Lorelei goes to talk to Rory, and tells Rory that she doesn’t want Rory to make the same mistakes she does, in terms of relationships.  Rory finally talks about the break-up, they make up, and they go home.  The episode ends with Lorelei calling people to tell them she’s dating Max.

Favorite line/scene: Mrs. Kim: “I see all.”

Rory: “Don’t take this personally, but get out.”

Richard: “Rory, I’m sorry you’re upset, but I applaud your timing.”

Pop culture: Anna Nicole Smith, Mary Kay LaTournaeu, Out Of Africa, Meryl Streep, Fabio, GQ, Hanson

Final thoughts: I really liked this episode, which is the last one BEFORE the season finale.  Things are getting wrapped up for the finale, which I’ll talk about next week.  I really can’t think of anything I want to add, so this episode gets 4 mugs of coffee.  I didn’t love this episode, but it’s still pretty good.

The Raven Boys

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The Raven Boys CoverBook: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater|Narrated by Will Patton

Published September 2012|Published by Scholastic Audio|Run time: 11 hours, 4 minutes|Audiobook via the library

Part of a series? Yes, Raven Cycle #1

Genre: YA/Fantasy

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Maggie Stiefvater’s website

Goodreads.com Summary: Legend holds that Glendower, a vanished Welsh king, sleeps beneath the hills until he’s needed. The first person to find him will be granted a wish – either by seeing him open his eyes, or by cutting out his heart.

Gansey has it all – family money, a car, time for extracurriculars and friends – but he’s always loved the tales of sleeping kings. He thinks he’s found one too, or at least the area where one might be: in the town of Henrietta, VA. And the best way to be there is to attend prestigious Aglionby Academy for Boys.

Blue is the daughter of the town psychic in Henrietta, Virginia, but is too practical to believe in things like spirits or true love. Her policy is to stay away from Aglionby boys…but it may be that one in particular can change her mind about magic, and maybe even love.

My Review:

I’m really not sure what to say about The Raven Boys.  I started out liking it, but by the end, I found myself getting bored.  I will admit that getting a wish by way of a sleeping Welsh king is intriguing, and I loved the idea of ley lines and magic and psychics.  But there was just too much going on for me to properly stay interested.  There were a lot of characters, who are all unique, and I loved that they were unique.  But many of them had their own storylines, and it felt like a lot of them narrated parts of the novel, so keeping track of everything I was listening to get a bit tiresome.  Plus, whenever I’d get interested in something, I’d lost that same interest minutes later.

Virginia seemed like a strange setting- and it took me half the book to realize that it was even set in Virginia.  With all the talk of ley lines, magic and psychics, it really seemed like it was set in, like, Scotland or England.  It just, whenever I hear ley lines, I think of the Southwest or the U.K., maybe even Central America, but not Virginia.

As for the narration, Will Patton was a great choice.  He did a great job narrating, and he really got it right.

I think the major reason why The Raven Boys didn’t work for me was because I listened to it.  There was enough going on that I had trouble keeping up with it, so it’s quite possible that I might have liked it better had I held the book in my own two hands.

Final Thoughts And Rating:

I kind of get why people like Maggie Stiefvater, but The Raven Boys had too much going on, and I felt like Stiefvater introduced too many characters and had more plot points than was really necessary.  It really didn’t work as an audiobook, even though Patton did a wonderful job narrating.  Nothing really seems to be explained but a lot is introduced.  It gets 2 stars.