Colin Preston Rocked and Rolled by Bert Murray

TITLE: Colin Preston Rocked and Rolled

AUTHOR: Bert Murray

PUBLISHER: Davanna Books

PAGES: 251 

MY RATING:

SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): It's September 1985 in the bosky precincts of Elerby University (though it conveys the intimacy of a small liberal arts college) in upstate New York. Colin is entering his sophomore year with a lousy love life and a lousy relationship with his father, but he does have a good friend in Karl (a handsome natural athlete who has a way with women) and in the Beatles—"when you love a band so much that its songs fill the empty spaces inside your head and heart." But along comes Jasmine, a serious dish with lips like butter, who really gets inside Colin's head and steals his heart.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Overall, this was an enjoyable book. I've read better books, but I've also read worse books. It was a fairly quick read about a high school student and was pretty much what I expected it to be. The storyline was basically just a telling of a year of Collin's life in college; how he falls for a girl and what happens to his relationship and how that affects other parts of his life.

CHARACTERS: The main character, Colin, is pretty much a typical college guy. Then there's Colin's best friend Karl. I did not like him from the beginning. he's pushy, not supportive, and cocky. Colin's girlfriend Jasmine seems a little bit off to me. She has these crazy mood swings and appears to me like she might be slightly bipolar. Chester was the most interesting character in the book to me. I wish we had a little more interaction with him. He was entertaining and I wanted to learn more about his story. The only character that Colin is able to count on is one of his teachers, Mrs. Vesquez. She seems to be the only character in the book who truly cares about what happens to Colin and tries to help him by giving him good advice.

COVER: I like the cover. It makes me feel happy and makes me want to lay in the grass and pick out all the shapes in the clouds. :)

*I was sent a copy of this book by the author for review.

Digital Scrapbook Software Review and Giveaway Comming Soon!

Hey everybody! I was approached by www.MyMemories.com to review their digital scrapbook program, My Memories Suite, and host a giveaway for you guys. This will be coming up soon, but in the meantime while I test out the program and get everything ready, how about a discount code in case you can't wait for the giveaway. Once you're ready to checkout add the coupon code STMMMS79055 to save $10 off of your purchase.

Also, feel free to visit My Memories at these other places:
Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/
Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/mymemoriessuite
Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite

Hooked by Catherine Greenman (ARC)

TITLE: Hooked

AUTHOR: Catherine Greenman

PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press

PAGES: 288

MY RATING: 2/5

BACK COVER BLURB: Seventeen-year-old Thea Galehouse has always known how to take care of herself. With a flighty club-owner mom and a standoffish recovering-alcoholic dad, Thea has made her own way in her hometown, New York City, attending the competitive Stuyvesant High School. But one chat with Will, a handsome and witty senior, and she's a goner--completely hooked on him and unable to concentrate on anything else.

Always worried that she loves Will more than he loves her, Thea is pleasantly surprised when their romance weathers his move to college and he goes out of his way to keep her involved in his life. But then Thea discovers that she's pregnant. And that starts Thea and Will on a wild ride that neither of them is prepared for.

After they decide to keep the baby, their disappointed parents contribute what they can to keep Will in school and give both teenagers a safe place to raise their child. When Ian is born, Thea and Will couldn't be happier. But a freak accident leaves Thea shaken and threatens to tear apart their little family, and she must turn to the last person she would have chosen to be her source of comfort: her stiff, uncompromising father.

This smart, touching first novel brims with realistic, beautifully drawn characters and reminds us that love is never as easy or predictable as we might like it to be.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I had really high hopes for this book and I was pretty disappointed. I really like reading stories about teenage pregnancy and I was hoping this would be a great read, but it fell flat. I found Thea and Will's first date extremely weird. Neither seemed the least bit nervous and they were both blatantly asking and answering personal questions like it was completely normal. It seemed to me like their relationship just kind of fell together instead of developing. I was confused for a lot of the book. To me it felt like it jumped around too much and was hard to me to follow sometimes. It also seemed like the book moved really slow. It took forever for Thea to get pregnant, and I was very impatient waiting for it to happen. The back cover summary made it completely obvious that Thea was going to get pregnant, and I felt like the book was dragging along because I already knew it was going happen and I was just waiting for it.

CHARACTERS: I didn't really get attached to any of the characters in the book. I just felt like once the story was over, I didn't really care about any of them. I couldn't stand Thea's parents at all. I understand how they would be upset with their daughter for getting pregnant, but they were just downright mean to her, even before she got pregnant. They were awful and supportive of her.

COVER: I like the cover of this one. Right off the bat it lets you know this will be a book about someone's pregnancy, and I really like it when book covers tie into the book.

*I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine.

The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle (ARC)

TITLE: The Beginning of After

AUTHOR: Jennifer Castle

PUBLISHER: Harper Teen

RELEASE DATE: September 6, 2011

PAGES: 432

MY RATING: 4 Stars

BACK COVER BLURB: Laurel's world changes instantly when her parents and brother are killed in a terrible car accident. As she tries to piece together the shards of what remains in the eerie stillness of life after the tragedy, David -- the son of the man responsible -- swoops in and out of her life. Laurel find herself attracted to him against her better judgment, and their connection will change them both in unexpected ways.

Fans of emotionally true and heartfelt stories, such as Sarah Dessen's The Truth About Forever and If I Stay by Gayle Forman, will fall in love with Jennifer Castle's incandescent debut novel.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I was hooked on this book from the very first sentence. I could just tell that this was going to be a book that I was going to enjoy immensely, and I was right. I could not put this book down and I flew through it probably faster than any other book I've ever read before. I just wanted to know what was going to happen and how Laurel (the main character) was going to deal with this tragedy, and then how she was going to deal with events that caused her to remember the tragedy all over again. I really enjoyed the ending of this book. It resolved everything, but was left at a point where the author could write a sequel if she wanted too, but it is not necessary if she chooses not to do so. This was an amazing book and I would recommend it to anyone. I really enjoyed the ending of this book. It resolved everything, but was left at a point where the author could write a sequel if she wanted too, but it is not necessary if she chooses not to do so.

CHARACTERS: There was not one character in this book that I did not like. Laurel's character was very inspiring, watching her to overcome this great tragedy in her life. She had her moments of breakdown, but I believe she was strong and I'm not sure I would have been able to handle this situation she was thrown into as well as she did. Megan is another character I enjoyed. She is Laurel's best friend and always there for Laurel. They had their arguments, but they were around for each other when it counted. And of course, there was a little bit of romance in the book between Laurel and two other characters, David and Joe. These two could not be more opposite characters. David is the dangerous bad boy rebel type, while Joe is the sweet safe one. I have to say that I was definitely team David on this one.

COVER: Love the cover of this one. The pose of the girl on the cover is vulnerable and scared, but to me her face looks strong. I also love the way the sun is barely making an appearance in the background as if to say that things will get better.

*I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine.

Harry Potter House Quiz

I've always wondered which Hogwarts house I'd be sorted into given the chance to visit the school of Witchcraft and Wizadrdry and today I came across a sorting hat quiz on The Cozy Reader's Blog. So of course, I just had to take it. Here's my results:

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

Your in-depth results are:

Gryffindor - 13
Hufflepuff - 11
Ravenclaw - 10
Slytherin - 8

Did anyone else take this quiz? Which house were you sorted into?