Book Review: Killer - Sara Shepard

KILLER:

Published: January 5, 2010 (first published July 1, 2009)

Publisher: HarperTeen

Format: Paperback

Page Count: 321 pages

Source: Amazon.com 

In picture-perfect Rosewood, Pennsylvania, ash-blond highlights gleam in the winter sun and frozen lakes sparkle like Swarovski crystals. But pictures often lie—and so do Rosewood's four prettiest girls.

Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily have been lying ever since they became friends with beautiful Alison DiLaurentis. Ali made them do terrible things—things they had to keep secret for years. And even though Ali was killed at the end of seventh grade, their bad-girl ways didn't die with her.

Hanna's on a mission to corrupt Rosewood's youth, starting with a very attractive sophomore. Aria's snooping into her boyfriend's past. Spencer's stealing—from her family. And pure little Emily's abstaining from abstinence.

The girls should be careful, though. They thought they were safe when Ali's killer was arrested and A's true identity was finally revealed. But now there's a new A in town turning up the heat. And this time Rosewood is going to burn.

"Sara Shepard never ever disappoints with her novels. KILLER was an exciting and fast paced novel that made me never want to set it down. Absolutely stunning." 

In the sixth Pretty Little Liars novel, I expected a lot from it because of the ending of the fifth book, Wicked.  And believe me, it did not disappoint in any shape, way or form.

There's trouble brewing between Hanna and Kate. Hanna is sick and tired of Kate sucking up to her Dad so Hanna's dad will picture Kate as the 'good girl' in the house. So, Hanna goes after the person that Kate likes the most -- Aria's younger brother, Mike. 

Aria has found somebody to talk to about the death of Ali -- Ali's brother, Jason. But while rock climbing one day, something strikes a chord in Jason that makes him hate Aria. She then finds out some secrets about Jason that may not be the best secrets to reveal.

Emily's new boyfriend, Isaac, has a mom that absolutely hates her. And his mom might just be planning to do some very harsh things to Emily.

Spencer has found of some super deep secrets about her past. Secrets that her parents have built up on her and has made her question her entire family.

As always, Sara Shepard's novel are one of the best around. They're upbeat, current, mysterious and overall,  just simply amazing. They captivate me into the story, toss me around, and then when the ending comes, throws me back onto the ground and leaves me begging for the next installment. 

I love the four main girls in Sara Shepard's PLL novels. They all have their story, and most of all, they're not bipolar. You know, they don't switch back and forth their moods. And Sara Shepard's writing style is just awesome. Yeah, it may be immature at times, but of course, it's written about teens. She keeps the story very current and fast paced throughout the entire novel.

But then, I did have some problems. I notice that the girls like to stammer and stutter a lot. "H-hi." "W-what are you doing here?" "I-I don't know what to say." And then Mike was just a total jerk about the whole I-have-two-girls-lusting-over-me thing.

Overall, this sixth installment was my favorite by far in the series and I can't wait to see where Sara Shepard takes the story in the next book, HEARTLESS.

My Rating:

My New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year's!

This New Year's I want to accomplish two goals in my reading.

This year, I read 210+ books. When I saw that my face was like: :-O

I've having surgery done soon (I have a post set all about the surgery), and I'll be home a lot from school. I'll be on Homebound, where the teachers come to me and give me homework. So, I'll only be focused on a few things for the majority of 2012: my blog, homework, and reading.

But, I want to keep it very simple this year. I want to read 100 books this year. If I can get more than 100, cheers to me! But, I felt under pressure this year to finish books. I don't know why though. So this year, I'm keeping it simple.

Finally, I want do a lot more with my blog. I'm talking a lot. I can't wait for 2012 to be here so I can share all my ideas with you!

I hope everybody has a very happy 2012 year! 

YA Books Coming Out in January 2012

At the beginning of every year, I'll be doing a blog post about the YA books coming out in that month that I'm anticipating! Let's go!

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows (Goodreads | Amazon)

January 31, 2012

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Goodreads | Amazon)

January 3, 2012

Everneath by Brodi Ashton (Goodreads | Amazon)

January 24, 2012

A Million Suns by Beth Revis (Goodreads | Amazon)

January 10, 2012

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand (Goodreads | Amazon)

January 17, 2012

What books are you excited for in January? Let me know! 

:-)

~Brad

Book Review: The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight - Jennifer E. Smith

THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT: 

Published: January 2, 2012

Publisher: Poppy

Format: Hardcover

Page Count: 256 pages

Source: Amazon.com

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A.

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

"One of the funnest rides a book has ever taken me. One of the best contemporary romances I've ever read."

Jennifer E. Smith's THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT (try saying that five times fast) was a novel that was light and fun, but it also had the element that kept it on my mind and made me want to never put it down. Smith's writing style was vivid, beautiful, and so light, it was almost a privilege to read this novel!

This should be the worst day of Hadley's life. She's flying overseas to her father's -- and soon to be stepmother's, who she's never even met -- wedding. But then, she misses her flight by four minutes. While trying to catch the next flight to London, she meets Oliver while waiting. The relationship was almost like BAM! They talked a lot while waiting for 9:45 P.M. to come (the time that the next plane arrives). And usually, these types of situations depart themselves from one another. Except Hadley's in seat 18A. Oliver's in 18B. From there, their relationship takes off as they talk and instantly fall in love with one another. 


I know that this novel has the one turn-off that annoys the crap out everybody, including myself: insta-love. And believe me, there is insta-love in this novel. But for some reason, I didn't mind it. I guess that they way that Hadley and Oliver's situation came about and how they found true love inside of it made me not notice it. Their love was beautiful and true. And besides, they had conversations on the plane ride to London about the most random and quirkiest things ever, but it was just so much fun to be on their journey with them!

Our main characters, Hadley and Oliver, were excellent characters. I felt for Hadley when she had to go to her Dad's wedding in London to see her new step-mom that she's never even met. Then when Oliver came along, I was like YES. It was little bit awkward at first for him just to approach, I guess, but in the end, I was absolutely like YES. I loved their connection, their spark, and just their relationship in general. It was fantastic.


Overall, Jennifer E. Smith's newest novel THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT was a fantastic novel with a beautiful writing style, wonderful characters, and an ending that made me happy. It's just a wonderful  novel!

My Rating:

Book Review: The Lying Game - Sara Shepard

THE LYING GAME:

Published: December 7, 2010

Publisher: HarperTeen 

Format: Hardcover

Page Count: 307 pages

Source: Amazon.com

I had a life anyone would kill for.

Then someone did.

The worst part of being dead is that there’s nothing left to live for. No more kisses. No more secrets. No more gossip. It’s enough to kill a girl all over again. But I’m about to get something no one else does—an encore performance, thanks to Emma, the long-lost twin sister I never even got to meet.

Now Emma’s desperate to know what happened to me. And the only way to figure it out is to be me—to slip into my old life and piece it all together. But can she laugh at inside jokes with my best friends? Convince my boyfriend she’s the girl he fell in love with? Pretend to be a happy, carefree daughter when she hugs my parents good night? And can she keep up the charade, even after she realizes my murderer is watching her every move?

Let the lying game begin.

In the prologue of THE LYING GAME, we follow through the eyes of a girl named Sutton Mercer. She's woken up in a bathroom and doesn't remember how she got there. She looks at herself through a mirror, but doesn't see herself. That's because she's dead. 

Flash forward to chapter one. Told still through Sutton's eyes, we follow Emma. She's a foster child whose now be accused of choking somebody to near death with the proof of a video online by the title of SuttoninAZ. The girl who was being choked to death in the video looks exactly like Emma. Emma does some research and finds out that the girl who was strangled might just be her long-lost twin sister. Emma sends her a Facebook message to Sutton explaining everything. Sutton then sends her a message back telling her to come visit her at her house. There's only one problem: Sutton didn't write that message.

When Emma arrives, everybody begins to call her Sutton -- mainly because she looks exactly like her. She can't explain that the real Sutton could have ran off. One day, on the way to school, Emma rides with Sutton's foster sister. The foster sister gives Emma a note and claims "it was on her windshield". The note says: Sutton's dead. Keep playing along or your next. Emma then tries to piece everything together and why somebody might want to kill Sutton. Then again, Sutton does pull lots of pranks on people that could easily infuriate them -- a game called The Lying Game.

First off, the book totally sucked me in. The prologue captivated me because I just wanted to figure out how she got in that bathroom! The action and the suspense kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire novel.

First, the characters. Emma was an awesome main character. She wasn't whiny because she didn't get the good life like Sutton did -- she was an awesome sister by trying to figure out who murdered Sutton. That's all she wanted to do. She didn't want to inhale the glamourous life and live it up instead of looking for the killer. Because if she tells or runs away, she'll be the next one dead.

There's also more characters, like: Sutton, Garrett (Sutton's boyfriend), Ethan (an outcast to Sutton's clique), The Twitter Twins, Madeline and more characters. Emma was the best of them all, hands down.

The way that Sara Shepard crafted this mysterious world with possible backstabber friends and a dead twin whose murderer is still on the loose had me holding my breath during some scenes, shouting at the characters for them to do certain things or don't do certain things, and had my eyes glued to the pages.

The novel kept me guessing and flipping through pages the entire ride. Sara Shepard never disappoints with her novels, and I can't wait to see where she takes it with the next novel in this series. 

My Rating:

A Big Thank You to Christine!

I'm starting on my blog officially on January 1, 2012 where I will be sharing what I want in January 2012. But, I had to write this review.

I have an author friend named Christine E. Schulze, who is nice and awesome. She's sent me almost all her books I think! Her novels are fantasy & they're epic and I love them! I just got a package from her today with her series The Legends of Surprisers inside of it. I'm currently reading the first book, and so far, it's great!

I think you should check her books out! Before I go any further, let me say that she didn't ask me to write this about her. But anyways, her novels are AWESOME. Like I said before, they're fantasy/high fantasy and I can't get enough of them. Her writing style is just... wow. I love it.

Click on the links to see my review of her books on Goodreads!:
Bloodmaiden
Golden Healer, Dark Enchantress
Silent Hero
Lily in the Snow and Other Elemental Tales
Tears of a Vampire Prince
The Hero of 1,000 Years
Heroes Reunited
Heroes of the Dove
The Secret Sister and The Silver Knight
The Princess of Destiny and the Princess of the Night
The Prism of Ashlei

So yeah. I've read a bunch of her novels. And I love every single one of them!

Go check her out on Goodreads! Again, she's super nice and I think that you will love her novels!

Thanks again Christine for all the books!!! :-)

See you all on January 1!

New Things Are Coming!

So I've basically like abandoned this blog.

But not anymore!

2012 is going to be the year of Brad's Blog (for me anyways). I have planned out a blog post every day starting January 1, 2012 to March 31, 2012 so far!

I'm having surgery done on my feet in late January, and I'll be homebound from school (I'll go into detail about the surgery on the day of my surgery because I'm scheduling a blog post; I'll give you a hint of what will happen: it's on my feet and they're going to fuse two bones into one, add a bone graph and stretch my heel cord).

I'm really excited to start blogging again, and hopefully, every day in 2012!

See you all on January 1!