Abducted by The Second Summer of the Sisterhood

Sunday marked the fourth anniversary of my blog! In celebration I have decided to feature a new review every day this week! I hope you will enjoy them!

THE HEADLINE: Four friends get ready for another crazy summer!

TIME IN CAPTIVITY: I was severely disappointed with this book. I mean it was written in the same tone and style as the first, which I loved, however it also had almost the same story lines as the first book which I could not believe! I mean literally, the exact same story lines!
Lena is obsessed with Kostas, even though she spends over half the book not even speaking to him. Tibby has yet another person following her around like a puppy dog that she is choosing to ignore. Carmen is mad at one of her parents because they aren't giving her enough attention. And Bridget is depressed.
Actually, Bridget's story line was the only one I liked because depression doesn't just clear up in a flash. So I was grateful that they showed her still struggling with the symptoms.
Now, Tibby frustrated me because she so easily ignored her friend Brian. I understood why she was reluctant to befriend Bailey in the first novel, because she was 12 and no 16 year old once a 12 year old following them around. But Brian was already her friend, and a very close one at that. He didn't deserve to be ignored. But in fairness I will also say that I thought it was crazy that Brian kept showing up the way he did. And I could see where Tibby had wanted to do something new on her own this summer and him showing up all the time got in the way of that.
Lena and Carmen really pissed me off though. I didn't buy Lena's feelings for Kostas in the first book, so my dissatisfaction with that couple carried over to the sequel. I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt because the book only takes place during the summers and so Lena and Kostas had a relationship during the school year that I wasn't privy-ed to. But the whole thing wore on me by the end. And Carmen was just being ridiculous! I couldn't believe how selfish she was behaving. I mean I guess some teenagers freak out when their parents start dating again, but Carmen really let it consume her.

In the end, I spent so much time being frustrated with the plots that it made it hard for me to enjoy the book. But I will finish the series! My sisters and I all want to do a read-a-long for the fifth and final book so I'm already committed to finishing. But the good news is that Carmen has run out of parents to be mad at and Bridget is finally doing better so the next book has to be different....right?

THE ABDUCTOR: As I said already Bridget was the only character I cared about in this book. It would have been incredibly unrealistic if I had opened this book to find Bridget as bubbly and provocative as she was in the first one. But I also didn't expect the author to make the choice of still having her struggle as much as she was to get back to feeling like herself again. So, for that alone I was extremely grateful!

POINT OF ABDUCTION: I can't think of a point of abduction for this book. I just tried my best to push through it and I really did try to make the best out of it.

PICK UP LINE:

I mean putting yourself out there in the way of overwhelming happiness and knowing you're also putting yourself in the way of terrible harm. I'm scared to be this happy. I'm scared to be this extreme.

ABDUCTION RATING:

Abducted by The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Sunday marked the fourth anniversary of my blog! In celebration I have decided to feature a new review every day this week! I hope you will enjoy them!

THE HEADLINE: Three kids die in accident. Will the only survivor have the strength to remember the truth?

TIME IN CAPTIVITY: I went into this book with absolutely no expectations. I was hoping to like it, but I had also seen some negative reviews for it so I was prepared for some issues. I ended up really liking it though! It definitely wasn't perfect, but it was still enjoyable.

Mara Dyer is a teenage girl who wakes up in the hospital with no memory of the accident that put her there or the fact that three of her friends died in that same accident. Now, she has moved to Miami with her parents and two brothers and is starting at a new school. 

But not all parts of this transition play out smoothly. For one thing, she is struggling with severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This part of the plot I found most exciting. With all her hallucinations I had no idea if she was crazy or haunted or stalked or what was going on! Normally, I get frustrated when it takes too long to figure out what the plot is, but for some reason I was having so much fun thinking she was crazy that it didn't bother me. Every time she met someone new I kept waiting for someone else to acknowledge them before I trusted that they were actually there. 

And Mara did meet a few new people, a friend named Jamie, and the cute boy at school Noah. 

The harder that Mara tries to ignore her hallucinations, the worse things seem to get. 

And the closer she gets to Noah increases her desire to finally discover the truth. 

THE ABDUCTOR: I loved Noah in this book! He was cocky and crass, which I normally hate, but for some reason I found it all really funny and cute. And I didn't believe all the stuff that Mara heard about him from her fellow classmates. Apparently there are a lot of rumors going around the he is basically a man whore, but I didn't buy it. 

I'm sure the abductor was supposed to be Mara, but she turned out to be a slightly unlikable character. I didn't ever really hate her or anything, but she could be bratty and self-centered at times. 

POINT OF ABDUCTION: There was a scene towards the beginning that involved a dog that Mara tried to rescue and I think that was my point of abduction because I was so concerned about the dog I had to keep going. 

I was also abducted by all of the creepy hallucinations! They were so spooky I just had keep going to find out how crazy she was!

RATING: 

Abducted by Misery

Sunday marked the fourth anniversary of my blog! In celebration I have decided to feature a new review every day this week! I hope you will enjoy them!

THE HEADLINE: How far would you go, to inspire your favorite author?

TIME IN CAPTIVITY: There was a time in my life when I thought I hated Stephen King. I thought he was too creepy and too weird and too out there and waaaaaaaay to long winded. However, as she has with many things in my life, my dear friend Kate showed me the error of my ways.
Now some of his books can be creepy, weird, out there and waaaaaaay long winded. But others are really good! And in a way I would say Misery is one of those books.
Paul Sheldon (think James Garner from the movie) is a well known author for a series of romance novels he has out with a main character named Misery. Annie Wilkes (aka Kathy Bates) is his self proclaimed number one fan. On one dark and stormy night, Paul drives his car off the road during a blizzard and is found by Annie who removes him from his car and takes him back to her house. Once there she goes to great lengths to keep him there, at first just for the company. However, the last Misery book that Paul wrote is released while he is in Annie's care and she is not too pleased when he kills off the title character.
She forces him to write her another novel bringing Misery back to life, and that's when the real torture begins!

I loved the way the novel was structured. Everything is told from Paul's perspective and Annie keeps him pretty drugged up most of the time and therefore the novel does bounce around from time to time. But once you get into it the story is pretty easy to follow. Some of my favorite parts were when Paul began working on the re-write for Annie. I loved reading about his writing process and seeing how the events with Annie were shaped into the book.

THE ABDUCTOR: I'm not really sure who the abductor of this books was. I loved the book itself but I didn't really love any of the main characters. I mean don't get me wrong, I didn't like Annie...AT ALL! And of course I did not feel that Paul deserved anything that happened to him, and his situation definitely wasn't something that would encourage him to be charming or out going. But I usually hold the title of "The Abductor" for those characters that I fall in love with, but I didn't really love Paul.

POINT OF ABDUCTION: The first point of abduction for me was when Annie finished reading the book where Misery dies. Her reaction is completely unnerving and the build up and tension when you are just waiting for Annie to explode was unbearable!

PICK UP LINE: 

...If you promise to be good Paul you can have a piece of birthday cake but you won't have to eat any of the special candle so he promised to be good because he didn't want to be forced to eat any of the special candle but also because mostly because surely because Annie was great Annie was good let us thank her for our food including that we don't have to eat girls just want to have fun but something wicked this way comes please don't make me eat my thumb Annie the mom Annie the goddess when Annie's around you better stay honest she knows when you've been sleeping she knows when you're awake she knows if you've been bad or good so be good for goddess' sake you better not cry you better not pout but most of all you better not scream don't scream don't scream don't scream don't 

This is just a little snippet that shows how twisted Paul's mind gets after everything that Annie does to him. I also just liked how he tied in so many well known phrases and you can really get a sense of the desperation at the end.

ABDUCTION RATING:

All in all I loved that book and I am officially over my blatant fear of Stephen King. As long as the page count doesn't get too high up there I am more then willing to give him a shot.

Abducted by Attachments

Sunday marked the fourth anniversary of my blog! In celebration I have decided to feature a new review every day this week! I hope you will enjoy them!

THE HEADLINE: Lincoln has fallen in love via email, unfortunately they were not emails sent to him!

TIME IN CAPTIVITY: Rainbow Rowell has become one of my new favorite authors! Attachments was Rowell's first novel, however I read her other books first so I was excited to finally get to this one. Rowell writes both YA and general fiction novels and this one is her GF work.
Lincoln has just moved back home, literally, he's back living with his mother. He has taken a job in the security department at a local newspaper. The company has a very strict internet policy and it is Lincoln's job to read through the emails that have been flagged to make sure that everyone else is toeing the line.
That is when he stumbles upon emails between Beth and Jennifer.
The story actually takes place in the winter of 1999 over the Y2K countdown. Lincoln feels most comfortable when pursuing academics and so even after he has completed a couple of degrees he is having trouble figuring out his place in life.
The story of Attachments follows Lincoln in his efforts to move on from his past and decide on his future. And along the way we get to watch him fall in love! However, what will happen when the girl he loves finds out he's been reading her personal emails? That's what you have to read to find out!

THE ABDUCTOR: As much as I loved Lincoln in this book, I was mostly abducted by the emails that passed between Jennifer and Beth. There quick wit and cleverness actually reminded me of my own friends, which made me love them even more.


POINT OF ABDUCTION: At one point in the book when the emails between Beth and Jennifer
stop and Lincoln doesn't know why. The reason isn't a huge plot point, but I know some people are particular about spoilers so I wont say much. But I was just as desperate to find out what was going on as Lincoln was.

PICK UP LINE:

There are moments when you can't believe something wonderful is happening. And there are moments when your entire consciousness is filled with knowing absolutely that something wonderful is happening. Lincoln felt like he'd dunked his head into a sink full of Pop Rocks and turned on the water. 

ABDUCTION RATING:

Is anyone really that surprised? I LOVED it!!! Funny, clever, smart, and deeply sweet! Rowell delivers yet again!

Abducted by Jess Jordan

Today marks the fourth anniversary of my blog! I didn't really have time to host a giveaway or anything but I still wanted to mark it in some fashion. I do have several reviews already scheduled to post from now through May so I've decided to move them all up and feature a new review every day this week! I hope you will enjoy them!


THE HEADLINE: Meet; Jess Jordan...British teenager extraordinaire!!!

TIME IN CAPTIVITY: My friend Holly loaned me these books because she knew that I am a fan of the Georgia Nicolson books by Louise Rennison. Jess Jordan is yet another verging teenager that lives in England and has crazy misadventures with her family and friends. Jess is brought to us by the author Sue Limb in her series that begins with Girl, 15, Charming but Insane and Girl, Nearly 16, Absolute Torture!

In Girl, 15 Jess is trying to navigate her way around a boy she likes and a friend who is seemingly perfect putting a lot of pressure on Jess. In Girl, Nearly 16 Jess is on vacation with her mother and grandmother on a trip around England ending at her fathers house.

I loved them! It took me a while to get into the first one but by the time I got to the end I was in love with Jess Jordan! Her humor was fantastic. The language of the book wasn't as silly as the Georgia Nicolson books but I actually felt that in the end Jess was by far more clever and brave then Georgia. Don't get me wrong I love Georgia, but she has a tendency to follow in line with whatever her friends or magazines tell her to do and spends all her time trying to figure out how to seduce boys. Jess is aware of how her actions effect her friends and the boy she likes but she doesn't pretend to be someone she's not.

THE ABDUCTOR: Obviously Jess was the abductor in these books! I loved how independent she was

and strong and yet she still would end up getting into hilarious predicaments.

THE POINT OF ABDUCTION: In Girl, 15 my point of abduction was when Jess started working on her stand up comedy routine for the school talent show. Girls wanting to be comedians isn't a very common scenario and it is something that I can see a lot of other teenage girls not wanting to be vocal about that desire for fear that her peers would think it was weird.

In Girl, Nearly 16 the point of abduction was when Jess finally made it to her father's house and found out that main reason why her father has been keeping secrets from her! I don't want to divulge any spoilers but let me just say that the way that Jess handled that situation was beyond brilliant! Made me love her and Sue Limb even more then I already did.

THE PICK UP LINE:

She had read somewhere that you shouldn't throw yourself at boys. It was best to preserve an elegant sort of mystery and poise. That was how you would retain your allure, or something. Jess knew for sure that her allure was zilch. Her only hope of retaining Fred's interest was to grab him and cling to him and never let him go. So completely without mystery or poise, they kissed.

I love this quote because it is a prime example of how different Jess Jordan is from Georgia Nicolson. Georgia is always listening to the advice of How To Get A Man books and magazine columns and doing things that are completely absurd in hopes it will lure in her recent crush. I loved that Jess acknowledged what the advice would be, but acted with abandonment anyways. 

RATING: Both the Girl, 15, Charming but Insane and Girl, Nearly 16, Absolute Torture received a rating of...

I LOVED THEM! They were adorable! Great series for teenage girls!

Abducted by Matched

Headline: In a world where Cassia has had all of her decisions made for her, choosing who to love could cost her everything

Time in Captivity: Cassia lives in a world where their government picks everything for their citizens from their clothes, food, jobs, and partners. And Cassia is surprised when she is matched to a boy she already knows, Xander. Normally when citizens are matched it is to peers from other provinces. They are matched, given a file on the individual they are matched to, and go home to await the future that lies before him. It may be rare for someone to be matched to a boy they already know, but not unheard of.
The morning after her match, Cassia opens the file on Xander but sees a flash of another boy instead, Ky.
Suddenly, Cassia can't help but be curious about Ky and the more she sees the more she begins to question the society she lives in.
So, why did I struggle with it so much?
Because I hate love triangles. They drive me crazy! Especially if they aren't presented to me in a way where I believe the emotions within them.
It really felt to me in the beginning that Cassia only developed feelings for Xander because the society told her to. And she started to have feelings for Ky because he was the forbidden fruit.
I'm always impressed when I read reviews by my friends where they admit that they struggled with a book but found a way to keep an open mind towards it, because I completely lack that ability.

I feel like I go into most situations in life with a pretty open mind but too often I shut down as soon as I loose interest and it is hard for me to get back in. So, when this love triangle started to form I didn't like the way it was handled so I shut down and just tried to finish as quickly as possible.
However, I will say that as the story develops the love triangle does disappear. Cassia still has choices ahead of her, but who she loves is pretty obvious. And there is a twist at the end that could be compelling.
Unfortunately, for me it was too late. I was ready to just be done with the book and I also couldn't help but think about the other books I could be reading instead. I'm not big on dystopians but I definitely felt that by comparison I prefer the Delirium trilogy. Although, I probably wont be finishing that one either because the sequel ended with a big old fat love triangle that made me want to pull my hair out.

Abductor/Point of Abduction: The truth is I was never really abducted by this book. I was disappointed because I was actually looking forward to reading this one, but I just felt like the whole story was felt flat. I didn't really have a favorite character or any one story line that I was interested in. If I had been reading this book on my own I probably would not have been able to finish it because I would have put it down at some point and then never picked it back up. However, because I checked out the audio from the Library and only had it for a limited time I forced myself to keep going.

Pick Up Line:

Growing apart doesn't change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side. Our roots will always be tangled.

This line was said in regards to Cassia and her friend Em.

Abduction Rating:

I would give Matched a two because I didn't hate it, but I was pretty bored through out most of it.

Abducted by The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The Headline: Four friends, a pair of jeans, and one crazy summer.

Time in Captivity: I had seen the movie adaptation of this novel when it first came out so I felt very familiar with the story lines and was pleased to see that the movie didn't really deviate from the book to drastically.
Sometimes my friends and I complain about the lack of YA books that show strong female friendships and this book is the complete antithesis of that problem. The girls are strong and smart and completely there for each other. They each have their own lives and issues and obstacles to deal with this summer, but they love each other. That much can not be denied.

If you have seen the movie version, then like I said you will be familiar with these girls. Tibby is working on a documentary at home while also slaving away at a local department store. Lena is off visiting family in Greece. Bridget is at a soccer camp in southern California. And Carmen is supposed to be spending the entire summer with just her dad. Of course they each have surprises in store for them.

I loved seeing how close these girls were and this is really the first summer that they had to deal with tough issues on their own. I mean they weren't completely alone but still...

Now, there was one story line that was different in the movie in comparison to the book. That was the story line of Lena and her love interest Kostas. And to be perfectly honest, I actually felt that the movie did it better. The conflict in the book started out as a minor misunderstanding. But as Lena allowed the conflict to grow and become a bigger deal with pretty serious accusations, it made her character seem pretty vapid and shallow.

My only other critique is that the romantic relationships in this book all seemed pretty flat. But I feel like

those relationships were really supposed to be secondary compared to the dynamic between the girls in the story so I can get over it. I mean if the romantic relationships were the main focus of the book I wouldn't be interested in finishing the series but I want to know what happens to these friendships.

The Abductor: I really liked Bridget in the book because I felt like they dealt with her depression really well. It was very subtle and under the surface but it was still very much there. I also really liked Tibby's relationship with Bailey.

Point of Abduction: I was pretty much abducted from the beginning because I knew the movie so well and knew what the story lines were working up to. But I'm a huge fan of emotional scenes so I really liked the part when Carmen threw the rock through her dad's window and then the phone call that followed.

Pick Up Line: 

I could tell the pants hadn't come to our lives because of tragedy. They'd just witnessed one of those regular but painful life transitions. That, it turns out, is The Way of the Pants.

Abduction Rating:

I love these girls and can't wait to finish the entire series! It would have been a full five but I really didn't like Lena's story. The rest was perfect!