Unicorn On A Roll Review

TITLE: Unicorn on a Roll (Heavenly Nostrils #2)
AUTHOR: Dana Simpson
PUBLISHER: Andrews McMeel Publishing
PUBLICATION DATE: 5/26/2015
FORMAT: eARC
PAGES: 224
SOURCE: Netgalley
MY RATING:

SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): The magical friendship of Phoebe and her best friend, unicorn Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, is back in this second adventure of a girl and her mythical creature!

One year has passed since Phoebe skipped a rock across a pond, accidentally hit a unicorn in the face, and was granted a single wish--which she used to make the unicorn, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, her obligational best friend. In some ways, not much has changed. At school Phoebe still clashes with her rival--and sometimes "frenemy"--the ever-taunting and imperious Dakota. Outside of school, she still fills her free time with extra-credit homework assignments, dramatic monologues about the injustices associated with school cliques, and imaginative conspiracy theories regarding global forces like the "powerful construction paper lobby." But unlike before, Phoebe now has a best friend to share it with--someone to make her laugh and to listen to all her extravagant ideas.

In this second volume of Heavenly Nostrils, titled, Unicorn on a Roll, the reader is invited on a journey into the lives of Phoebe and Marigold as they navigate the difficulties of grade school, celebrate the winter holidays, and explore their super hero/super villain personas together. Join in the fun, as Phoebe competes against Dakota for the leading role of "Lisa Ladybug" in their fourth-grade-play--or as she struggles to "manage" the PR debacle related to her nose-picking-scandal. ("I will neither confirm nor deny the events surrounding Boogergate.") Witness a band of unicorns staging an "intervention" and learn all the details of Marigold's secret crush on a mysterious creature she has never seen. Perhaps most important, watch as this surprising friendship between a charming, nine-year-old dreamer and a vain, mythical beast forever changes both of them for the better.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I really enjoyed this book. I haven't read the first in the series because I didn't realize it was a series, but I don't think that took away too much from the second story. There were some parts of the story where I felt like it was randomly jumping around and I didn't quite know what was going on, but overall the story was really fun. It was very cute and quirky and I actually found myself chuckling out loud at quite a few points throughout the book.

CHARACTERS: I love Marigold Heavenly Nostrils (the unicorn). She was so vain and full of herself that it was humorous. Phoebe (the main character) was also a great character. I can see lots of 5th grade age range girls loving her.

COVER: I like the cover. It's purple, which is my favorite, and has the two main characters from the book on it.

**I received an eARC of this graphic novel from Netgalley for my honest review.**

The Summer After You and Me Spotlight Blitz + Review & Giveaway

TITLE: The Summer After You and Me

AUTHOR: Jennifer Salvato Doktorski

PUBLISHER: Sourcebooks Fire

PUBLICATION DATE: May 2015

ISBN: 9781492619031

FORMAT/PRICE: Trade paper/$9.99

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1bdZCrJ

Apple: http://apple.co/1GZ6qq1

BAM: http://bit.ly/1wWFUdw

B&N: http://bit.ly/1ABV3x6

Chapters: http://bit.ly/1EnXK6R

Indiebound: http://bit.ly/1EtSUr9

Will it be a summer of fresh starts or second chances?

For Lucy, the Jersey Shore isn't just the perfect summer escape, it's home. As a local girl, she knows not to get attached to the tourists. They breeze in during Memorial Day weekend, crowding her coastal town and stealing moonlit kisses, only to pack up their beach umbrellas and empty promises on Labor Day. Still, she can't help but crush on charming Connor Malloy. His family spends every summer next door, and she longs for their friendship to turn into something deeper.

Then Superstorm Sandy sweeps up the coast, bringing Lucy and Connor together for a few intense hours. Except nothing is the same in the wake of the storm, and Lucy is left to pick up the pieces of her broken heart and her broken home. Time may heal all wounds, but with Memorial Day approaching and Connor returning, Lucy's summer is sure to be filled with fireworks.

About The Author:

Jennifer Salvato Doktorski is the author of two YA novels and is a freelance nonfiction writer. Her first paid writing gig was at The North Jersey Herald & News, where she wrote obituaries and began her lifelong love of news and coffee. She lives in New Jersey with her family.

An Excerpt:

Connor opened the gorgeous double doors, each with half-moon stained-glass windows on the top, and motioned me inside. “After you.”

The house had that distinct yet hard-to-describe smell of a beach home that had been closed up for a while. I walked to the center of the high-ceilinged foyer and immediately pic­tured pine garland and twinkling white lights wrapped around the sweeping banister.

“Wow. I’d love to spend Christmas here,” I said and immedi­ately regretted being so sappy.

Connor smiled. “You could fit a twelve-foot tree in this hallway.”

I admit, over the years I’ve had my share of Connor-centric fantasies. However the image of him watching his children pad down the stairs on Christmas morning had never been one of them…until that very second. I liked thinking about Connor that way.

“Come on. You’ve got to see the master bedroom.”

The wholesome image of a Malloy family Christmas van­ished.Aha, I thought. That was the Connor I knew.

“Uh-uh,” I said. “The widow’s walk. I want to go there first.”

“Race you,” he said and took off running.

He beat me up the two flights and was waiting for me in the third-floor hallway toward the back of the house. Off the hallway was an art studio, with a drafting table and a bookcase. There was also a telescope standing near the window.

“Follow me.” He crossed the studio and unlocked the dead­bolt to the narrow door leading outside.

“You’ve already been up there?”

“First thing I did when I got here,” Connor said.

“Not the master bedroom?”

“Nah, that’s the first thing I wanted to do when you got here.”

I thought it was just more flirty banter, but Connor’s flushed cheeks looked as warm as my body felt. He stared at me for a beat too long and my throat constricted. I was suddenly aware that I’d left the house with slept-on hair and no mascara. The look on Connor’s face told me he hadn’t noticed. His eyes never left mine.

Finally he said, “Come on, Luce. I’ll follow you.” The space was tight when I passed in front of him, and the closeness of his body gave me the shivers. I opened the door and stepped outside onto a small patio. I walked toward the wrought-iron spiral staircase that lead to the widow’s walk on the roof and placed my hand on the railing. My knees felt shaky as I began the climb, but I never looked back.

My Review:

This book was a fun read. It is a great book to pick up while lounging on the beach or by the pool during the summer. The main character was really frustrating to me. If you don't want to be in a relationship with somebody, then don't be in that relationship. It's not a hard concept, but this girl just can't grasp that concept. Other than that, this was a fun, quick read. I absolutely loved the ending. It was so sweet and perfect.

**I was given an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts are my own and have not been influenced in any way.**

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Mini Reviews #1

(picture from freepik.com)

Mini reviews will be a new feature on my blog. It won't have a set day for publication and will probably be a fairly rare post. I have a stack of books that I have read and haven't gotten around to writing a review for. Some of the books are books that I read quite a while ago and have forgotten the details of, so I will be writing mini reviews of those books with some notes I have taken while reading, as well as a star rating.

TITLE: Rutabaga The Adventure Chef

AUTHOR: Eric Colossal

PUBLISHER: Harry N. Abrams

PUBLICATION DATE: 3/3/2015

PAGES: 128

FORMAT: eARC

SOURCE: Netgalley

MY RATING: 

MY THOUGHTS: I chuckled out loud a few times while reading this. It was a pretty weird story. The ending was abrupt, I didn't know it ended until I tried to turn the page and there were no more pages.

TITLE: The Silence of Six

AUTHOR: E.C. Myers

PUBLISHER: Adaptive Books

PUBLICATION DATE: 11/5/2014

FORMAT: eARC

PAGES: 274

SOURCE: Netgalley

MY RATING: 

MY THOUGHTS: I was definitely pulled in by the story. There's a lot of talk about hacking, but I didn't find it confusing at all and it was actually really easy to follow. I wanted to know what was going on throughout the book and why Evan did what he did. I found myself pretty invested in the story line and was trying to pay attention to see what everything was building up to. I think the ending was a good one. It tied things up, but didn't have a complete finale so a sequel could be made, but isn't necessary. 

TITLE: Every You, Every Me

AUTHOR: David Levithan

PUBLISHER: Ember

PUBLICATION DATE: 9/11/2012

FORMAT: Paperback

PAGES: 243

SOURCE: Bought

MY RATING: 

MY THOUGHTS: I wish the photographs in this book were bigger or in color so I could actually see them. I was very confused while reading this book and had no idea what was going on. This was a really weird book and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

TITLE: Bad Taste In Boys
AUTHOR: Carrie Harris
PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press
PUBLICATION DATE: 7/12/2011
FORMAT: Hardcover
PAGES: 201
SOURCE: Bought
MY RATING: 

MY THOUGHTS: I picked this book up because I wanted a quick, easy read and the back of the book implied that it was going to be funny. Going in, all I knew was that it was about zombies. In my opinion, this book wasn't funny at all. The story and the "cure" were extremely far fetched to me. I was glad that this was so short, or I probably wouldn't have finished it.


TITLE: Lost For Words
AUTHOR: Alice Kuipers
PUBLISHER: Harper Teen
PUBLICATION DATE: 5/11/2015
FORMAT: Hardcover
PAGES: 210
SOURCE: Bought
MY RATING: 

MY THOUGHTS: This book sounded like it was going to be really emotional. It was a really quick read; the writing was very juvenile with a lot of short sentences. The main character seemed to me like a typical girl and I felt she handled the tragedies in her life pretty much the same way I would expect anyone to. The ending was just as it should have been.

Horrorstor Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Horrorstor

AUTHOR: Grady Hendrix

PUBLISHER: Quirk Books

PUBLICATION DATE: 9/23/2014

PAGES: 256

FORMAT: eARC

SOURCE: Netgalley

MY RATING: 

SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.

To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour, dusk-til-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they'll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I love the idea of this book. I am obsessed with IKEA and they did such a good job making this book look exactly like an IKEA catalog. This book was terrifying. About halfway through the book, I started getting so scared that I had to limit my reading to where I would only read early in the day and only a few chapters at a time. I loved the whole reading experience. My only problem is that I think I would have enjoyed this book more as a physical copy to complete the whole "catalog" feel.

CHARACTERS: I feel like the development of these characters was done very well. I definitely learned more about each of them as the story progressed and even changed my opinions on a few of them before it was over.

COVER: They did such a great job with this cover. It's so incredibly creepy, but it takes you a minute to actually see that's it's creepy.

**I received an advanced reader's copy in the form of an e-book of this title from Netgalley for my honest review.**

For Real Review

Goodreads

TITLE: For Real

AUTHOR: Alison Cherry

PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press

PUBLICATION DATE: 12/9/2014

PAGES: 320

FORMAT: eARC

SOURCE: Netgalley

MY RATING: 

SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): No parents. No limits. No clue what they're in for.

Shy, cautious Claire has always been in her confident older sister's shadow. While Miranda's life is jam-packed with exciting people and whirlwind adventures, Claire gets her thrills vicariously by watching people live large on reality TV.

When Miranda discovers her boyfriend, Samir, cheating on her just before her college graduation, it's Claire who comes up with the perfect plan. They'll outshine Miranda's fame-obsessed ex while having an amazing summer by competing on Around the World, a race around the globe for a million bucks. Revenge + sisterly bonding = awesome.

But the show has a twist, and Claire is stunned to find herself in the middle of a reality-show romance that may or may not be just for the cameras. This summer could end up being the highlight of her life...or an epic fail forever captured on film. In a world where drama is currency and manipulation is standard, how can you tell what's for real?

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This story is so fun. I really enjoyed reading it and waiting to see what the next challenge would be for the contestants on the TV show. One of the best things about this book was seeing what would get thrown at the contestants next. This book was filled with the perfect balance of drama, laughter and touching moments. I would have given this book 4 stars, but I was a little bit disappointed by the ending. It wasn't a bad ending, I just felt like it needed to be expanded more.

CHARACTERS: The character development in this book is wonderful. I loved watching the main character, Claire, grow and develop throughout the story. I also liked seeing the relationships between all of the different characters.

COVER: The cover is cute. I like it.

Populazzi by Elise Allen (ARC)

TITLE: Populazzi

AUTHOR: Elise Allen

PUBLISHER: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

RELEASE DATE: 8/1/2011

PAGES: 400

MY RATING: 3/5

GOODREADS SUMMARY: Cara has always dreamed of being a Populazzi, one of the popular crowd. But it’s not until she changes schools that she gets a shot at it, thanks to her best friend Claudia’s crazy plan. The idea is simple: The rungs of The Ladder are relationships. First get a boyfriend who's ranked low, then climb up through more boyfriends until you're not just one of the Populazzi, but the Supreme Populazzi. Yet what starts off as a fairy tale turns into a somewhat dark comedy of errors. Just when Cara reaches the top, her life hits rock bottom. She wonders why she wanted to be popular in the first place—and if there’s any way to live happily ever after now.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This was a cute fun read. We've all gone through high school so we all know what it's like wanting to be liked by other people and to have lots of friends. The book made me want to keep reading to see whether or not Cara would fit in with the crowd she desperately wanted attention from.

CHARACTERS: I liked the main character, Cara. There were some parts of the book where she wasn't the greatest most selfless person, but she is in high school and she is worried about fitting in with the popular crowd, which is something that I think is pretty common. The two characters that I did not like at all were Cara's mother and Cara's stepfather. I feel that they were way too harsh on her and it was completely out of line the way that they treated her. We all make mistakes, but the way that Karl (Cara's stepfather) handled the punishment was totally unacceptable. My favorite character was Archer. He was just all around a great guy.

COVER: The cover is cute. I love all of the bright colors and the girl on it looks the way I would imagine Cara to look.

*I recieved a copy of this book from netgalley.

This Girl is Different By JJ Johnson (ARC)

TITLE: This Girl is Different

AUTHOR: JJ Johnson

PUBLISHER: Peachtree Publishers

RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2011

PAGES: 288

MY RATING: 3.5/5

GOODREADS SUMMARY: This girl is different… That’s what Evie has always told herself—and it’s true. Home-schooled by her counter culture mom, she’s decided to see what high school is like for the first time—for her senior year. And what a year it is.

As it turns out, it’s not just Evie who’s Different. Lots of people are. Many of her assumptions about others are turned on their heads as she makes friends with kids her own age for the first time, discovers what’s good and what’s bad about high school, and learns lessons about power and its abuse—both by the administration and by Evie herself.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This was a good book. I have recently started watching the show Gossip Girl, and this book reminded me of it what with the whole online gossip blog. This book was a good example of standing up for what you believe in, but also figuring out the right way to do that without hurting people along the way. Overall, a great story with a good lesson.

CHARACTERS: I liked all of the characters in this book. While they got into some petty arguments, they were all honest with each other for the most part.

COVER: 3/5 This was an okay cover. I'm not sure if it would catch my attention on a shelf next to a bunch of other books, but it definitely ties into the story line.

*I received a copy of this book from netgalley.