#Fridayreads

          Hey guys, hope you’re all good!  So this blog is a little different from what I’m use to doing, and I may go mainstream with this, I guess we’ll see how it goes. I thought it would be fun to do a Friday reads blog, it’s something I've seen on YouTube, twitter and facebook, and I thought, hey, why not do one too. It’s basically the books you intend to read/finish reading for the weekend. =)  So the books that I’ll be reading this weekend are: Invasion of the boy snatchers by Lisi Harrison, Spiritual Seduction by Desiree Day,  The Candidates by Inara Scott and Crush, from the Just a Little series by Tracie Puckett. Not to worry, today’s blog is absolutely free of any MAJOR spoilers.

            I absolutely have to say though, that all except one these books are books that I've started reading ages ago, but for some reason or the other (besides my snail’s pace reading) I've been unable to finish them, so let’s start.

        Invasion of the boy snatchers by Lisi Harrison. If you didn’t know, this book is a Clique novel, which happens to be the very girly YA genre, which wouldn’t normally suit my taste, just because they’re very clichéd and very predictable, but I've never read a Clique novel before, and since I started this blog a couple weeks back, I thought it would be good to read one and then blog about it. (For friends who actually follow my dumbness of Facebook, you’d know that this is a Library book, that I borrowed, which I don’t normally do, because I have a habit of reading very slooooowly, and since as it’s borrowed, it has a due date,  and late arrivals usually attract fines…yeah, screwed!  I almost never dodge these fines, I already have a bill with the library and I have extended the date on this book twice already! *Thanks Mrs. Edwards*)  So yeah, this book is about a bunch of girls who have their own clique at school (as the name of the series suggest) and they basically make life a living hell for other females (sometimes the opposite gender too) but also what is interesting is the infighting that takes place among these teenagers.  I’m not too keen on looking forward to the ending of this book, but since as I started it already, I guess I’ll just finish it (probably have to extend the date on this one 2-3 more times!)

          Spiritual Seduction by Desiree Day. So this read, is a surprisingly interesting read, I’m almost through with it. It’s a mixture between, romance/fantasy and paranormal/supernatural activity, there are some cursing in this read and it’s definitely not YA! At all!  This book was given to me by a friend who migrated recently (months ago) and I decided to read it, cuz she said it was good, and it is! Just that it can get slow at times and I would have loved if it could be a little more fast paced with the events, one scene seems to go on and on forever in this book. The story is about how the main character tries to fend off her dead husband’s spirit from killing her and taking her son away to live with him in his ‘world’ (actually hell). She finds protection in her boss and school Vice Principal who happens to be a sort of good-guy-hunts-bad-guy-spirit. And needless to say things between them get hot and steamy, very, very quickly!  But it is a good read though and I am looking forward to finishing this one.

          The Candidates by Inara Scott. This book is one that I haven’t started reading as yet, I did borrow it from a friend some time ago though, promising to read it but failing to start, because of school. What I can tell you about this book though is that it is YA and it has a supernatural quality about it (based on the summary inside the front flap of the jacket). I do wanna read this one, I haven’t been too acquainted with the supernatural genre until just recently, and I find that I do like them (evidenced by my like for Spiritual Seduction) And I have been told by a teacher friend of mine that this book reminds her of The Hunger Games (which I've yet to read, *feeling so left behind), and I am interested in reading that as well. 

          Crush by Tracie Puckett. This book, is also another very girly YA book, I got this one from the Amazon book store on my Kindle Fire (it was free).  I find the writing style to be okay so far, very girly though and kind of amateurish (I’m not a huge literary genius, but I know what I’m talking about). The story is about how the main character finds herself helping out her local police department on a school project, of which her uncle is the chief, and subsequently has a crush on one of the members of the department. So far there’s a very cute, awesome dynamic between the two main characters and I’m really interested to see how the story plays out between the two of them.

       So that’s it guys, my Friday reads, I doubt I’ll finish any of them, mainly because it’s exam season, and I have to do some major buckling down. So yeah, but I’ll maybe read a few chapters or so in between exams or on the weekends. My good reads and Facebook are some where down below so you can follow up on my shenanigans! Thanks guys and I’ll blog you later! =)

The Geography Club- Brent Hartinger

          Hey guys, how are you? Hope you’re all well. So, this is my review on the book “The Geography Club” by Brent Hartinger.

            Even before I finished reading this book, I knew the ultimate word I’d use to describe it. WITTY! Other applicable adjectives include smart, funny and sarcastic. I officially began reading this book just before spring break, and the fact that this book was about a 60 paged PDF document that I had on my kindle, means that it could be read by anyone who wished  to read it, within a day or night. But of course, that rarely happens with me, so it took me about three days to read, mainly because of my terrible reading habits (which include reading a paragraph to a page three to four times, juicing out every bit of funny element out of it) and the fact that I’m always busy.

            The genre of this book is definitely YA (young adult) and my judgement in this manner is not just because the book takes place in mostly a high school setting with teenagers! (Screaming YA), but mostly because of the writing style, which incidentally, had a few very mature high points.

            So here we go! This book is about how the main character Russell Middlebrook struggles and subsequently finds his sexuality but is then trapped in a high school where he thinks, there’s no one else to whom he can relate. Eventually, he finds a very unlikely character to whom he can relate in the form of high school star jock Kevin Land. And from here the entire story materializes into finding a few other characters similar to himself whom he knew and didn’t suspect to be who they really were. (How very much a cliché of society) They, subsequently forms what is known to them as the ‘Geography club’ (obviously how the book got its name) which functions, somewhat as a support group for young teens of their orientation. The line of deduction they used to come up with the name of this club is hilarious (and it’s one of those episodes where I reread the paragraph over and over just to laugh over and over!)

            Now, if it hasn’t become obvious to you by now, the screaming undertones of this book, then the entire book is lost on you. The theme of the book is wrapped up in LGBT drama. And the undertones are gay, (lesbian/homosexual/bisexual) based on this alone, many of you may refrain from reading this book, and that’s okay. Just know that you’ll be missing out on a great read. 

            The book’s setting, as I mentioned, takes place in a high school setting, and therefore many of the events which take place in the book, surrounds the Robert L. Goodkind High School (though not all take place here). As such the book does include all the teenage drama you’d expect it to include, teenage ostracism, idle adolescent gossip, etc, etc. but through it all, the premise remained the same.

            Now for the characters. I absolutely have to note, that at numerous times during the book I hated the main character (who also narrates the book) Russell Middlebrook, for his behaviour, but interestingly he happens to also be my favourite character as well, mainly because of his repentant and penitent behaviour after those intervals of less than great behaviour. Most of the smarts, wittiness and sarcasm that I described earlier were due in part by him. Another character I liked was Brian Bund, whose importance, at least in my estimation, isn’t realized (much) until the end of the story. His heroic actions leading up to the end of the book played a huge role in my liking his character a lot, I found him to be a very relatable character for me and many other misunderstood individuals in the high school system. If you have read this book, or intend on reading it and subsequently do, then my decision of Kevin Land as least liked character should come as no surprise to you. In very similar ways, he was like Russell during his unforgivable moments, except Russell was much less menacing and eventually repentant, Kevin wasn’t. Other important characters include, Min a Chinese-American friend of Russell’s who happens to be like him, Gunnar, bestfriend of Russell and desperate to acquire a girlfriend, to the extent of the interesting things he does to achieve this. Among various others. The dialogues between the characters are very natural, inclusive of a lot of ‘likes’ and ‘whatever’s and some amount of cursing, but nothing that can’t be handled by the book’s target demographic. Everything you’d expect from a typical high school, and true to form, just like a typical high school, where no Romeo and Juliet saga last for very long, it happens here too. Do not expect a Romeo and Juliet story!

            All in all, the book had a very strong and interesting premise, it held little weaknesses for me, my only problem being that the author could have stretched the book a little longer, and keep me reading for a few more days or nights (preferably nights, as this was on my kindle and I prefer to read on it, had it been in hard copy though, it would require reading with lights on in the wicked hours of the night and this usually attracts attention to my room from my parents and siblings and after the third person reaches my room, I usually get annoyed, so I just go to bed). This book has been very insightful and is most definitely provocative. Taking into account all this teenage greatness, I give The Geography Club 4 and a half stars out of 5.

            Remember, guys, these are just my opinions on the book, yours may differ greatly or by reading it, you could find that we come to the same conclusions, either way, I implore you to have a go at it and tell me what you think by commenting on my blog about it! I’m always excited to have discussions about the books I’ve read. =)

My First Book Review!!! =) Fashion Kills - Jordan Di Vito

        Hey guys, this my review of the book Fashion Kills by Jordan Di Vito, it’s an adult fiction drama read. I initially started reading this book in the latter parts of last year (2012) but the New Year caught me reading this one (in part because of my snail’s pace reading habits), and then I reread my favourite parts at sporadic periods leading up to March of this year. This is also the first full novel I read on my Kindle Fire that I got from my birthday a couple months earlier. (It was a free book!) =)

As you may have guessed, this book has something to do with the fashion world/industry (as the name suggests) The book’s setting is in Milan, which, as most would know, is the fashion capital of the world, so already you should have guessed that the book is heavily supported by Fashion and modelling and all the dubious events that surrounds them. The book actually begins by introducing the reader to one of the nefarious occurrences that surround the fashion world. Where a model was raped as she was performing her ‘double duty’ as a call girl, her role in the book is, however, really minor, and she has little effect on the book, her presence is felt for her tone setting purposes.

The book introduces the main character Jonathan Delfino and how the people, who surround him in some way, shape or form affects his life.

      Delfino is the owner/operator of this massive (according to the book) model booking agency, (and as we know) agencies like this employs models and books them into photo shoots for magazines and other model/fashion related things. Jonathan is portrayed in the book as a cocky, arrogant; work-a-holic who cheats on his wife and uses drugs. For me he takes the role of chief antagonist, but during the progression of the book this character seem to mellow, humbled by the events of his life, and towards the end of the book he makes a transition from antagonist to protagonist (yes, I know how weird this sounds)   Another character of the book Marina Rocobaldi, who works with Delfino, as the companies booking agent in the female’s division, uses her connections in the industry to run a call girl ring for the elite members of society, eventually the setup throws her into some unforeseen difficulties and as the book progresses, she falls into more problems surrounding this call-ring. Jonathan’s wife Pamela is a supreme socialite who is described in the book as a beautiful and vivacious woman. Her past however, is one of particular interest and for me this happens to be one of the biggest surprises within the book, how this woman happens to be connected intricately with other characters in the story.  Between her and her husband, Jonathan, their interesting pasts and these occurrences are really what tie the entire story together. Other characters include: Eric Silver (A noted fashion photographer) Massimiliano Solari (Rich, film mogul) Sydney Adams (Rape victim-turn-model-turn-movie star) among a few others (not note worthy in my estimation)

      The character I happened to like the best was Eric Silver, to me he was the most misunderstood character of the whole book, he is connected with both Pamela, Jonathan’s wife, and Sydney Adams in a most interesting way. He has a troubled history with women what with his schizophrenia and all. He stands to be, for me, one of the more interesting characters of the book, and for those of you who intend on reading this book, you’ll see why! =) The most unlikable character for me was Massimiliano Solari. In the interest of not adding any more spoilers to this review I’ll refrain from saying much more about this character! =) (Again you’ll see why if you read the book)

What I supremely enjoyed about this book was that the surprises kept coming and coming, from one unravelling moment to the next. Needless to say it was a page turner! The book had a way of making me LOL a lot (but then again I do that for most books I like). It was funny, witty, and all those other adjectives. Another point of interest for me about this book is that it steered clear of literary clichés…you know...when only good things happened to good people and vice-versa. The story relies heavily on the reader’s imagination as the scenes, though all set in Milan, changes quickly, between character episodes. Interestingly enough, this book did not move into a slump or a slow period…it coasted right on, from start to finish!

The only problem I had with this read, was that the cover was BORING! It held no appeal! And let’s face it, even though we’re taught to not judge books by covers (proverbial and otherwise) we do it anyways! Other than that, it was great!

For me, if there was suppose to be an underlying reason for writing the book, it would definitely be to inform or give the reader some insight or a glance at the nefarious goings on surrounding the fashion world, because this is exactly what the book does (for me at least)

Taking all this literary fabulousness into consideration I would give Fashion Kills 4 stars out of 5 for its writing style, general funniness, and extremely exquisite entertainment value. Of course, I implore all readers to go ahead and read this one it’s a definite recommend, one for the best reads shelf.