Chicago Star's Series by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Some more summer beach reads:

Chicago Star #1: It Had to Be You 3/5 Stars

Chicago Star #2: Heaven, Texas 3/5 stars

I plan on reading the rest of the series because they are quick, light reads.

*edit* 7/30/11

Read all 7 books. I really like this author.

Smorgasbord continued...

I'd like to add Susan Donovan to the quick, easy summer reads list. All of her books are light (yes predictable for the most part).

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

5/5 Stars

B&N:

As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the Great Depression, and for Jacob the circus world was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an un-trainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was ultimately their only hope for survival.

My Review:

I have not seen the movie for this book yet (so I don't know if they changed anything in the movie or not), but I do plan on it. I bought this book a few years ago, but didn't read it until a year or two ago with my book club.

And, I didn't write a review at that time and honestly forget what I liked/didn't like about it...but I must have really liked it because I did rate it 5/5 Stars on goodreads right after I read it.

I do remember getting it at a yard sale but not really being interested in reading it. Why would I be interested in a carnival setting... well good thing I was "forced" to read it with book club because I loved it. I loved everything about the setting and time period and the overall story. I usually always suggest this book to people when they ask me what to read.

Waiting for You by Susane Colasanti

2/5 Stars

B&N:

It's sophomore year, and Marisa is ready for a fresh start and, hopefully, her first real boyfriend. But after popular Derek asks her out, things get complicated. Not only do her parents unexpectedly separate, but Marisa has a fight with her best friend, and Derek-the love of her life-delivers a shocking disappointment. The only things keeping Marisa together are the podcasts from the anonymous DJ, who seems to totally understand Marisa. But she doesn't know who he is . . . or maybe she does.


My Review:

This is the second book by this author that I've read. I must say, not a huge huge fan. I remember thinking the same thing about another of her's. I have a couple more of hers on my Nook and I will probably end up reading them, but not really excited about it. You know how when you find an author that you really enjoy you're wicked excited about reading the author's other work...yea not so much with this one.

What didn't I like about it? Well, it was kind of slow in the beginning...and the middle. I really only started enjoying it the last 1/4th of the book. The main female character annoyed me. She was pretty whinny. She has anxiety- which all fine and good (I have anxiety), but all she did was kind of complain to herself and then yearn for this guy (but in an annoying way).

I did like her childhood friend though. His character was developed better than the main character.

I'm all about character development. :)

Forget You by Jennifer Echols

1/5 Stars

B&N:

WHY CAN’T YOU CHOOSE WHAT YOU FORGET . . . AND WHAT YOU REMEMBER? There’s a lot Zoey would like to forget. Like how her father has knocked up his twenty-four- year old girlfriend. Like Zoey’s fear that the whole town will find out about her mom’s nervous breakdown. Like darkly handsome bad boy Doug taunting her at school. Feeling like her life is about to become a complete mess, Zoey fights back the only way she knows how, using her famous attention to detail to make sure she’s the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect girlfriend to ultra-popular football player Brandon. But then Zoey is in a car crash, and the next day there’s one thing she can’t remember at all—the entire night before. Did she go parking with Brandon, like she planned? And if so, why does it seem like Brandon is avoiding her? And why is Doug—of all people— suddenly acting as if something significant happened between the two of them? Zoey dimly remembers Doug pulling her from the wreck, but he keeps referring to what happened that night as if it was more, and it terrifies Zoey to admit how much is a blank to her. Controlled, meticulous Zoey is quickly losing her grip on the all-important details of her life—a life that seems strangely empty of Brandon, and strangely full of Doug.

My Review:

Ok, let me just say I heard some decent things about this book. But I thought it was horrible. I was bored with hit. I literally skimmed through half the book just to find out what actually happened the night of the accident. I didn't feel any sympathy for the main character, I can't even remember her name and I just finished the book- oh yea, Zoey.

Mild spoilers:

Anyways her character was extremely annoying going on and on about Brandon. I'm sorry, if your "boyfriend" isn't calling you,texting you, checking in with you after you had an accident, he's not a good guy and something is up. Zoey is just an idiot.

Also, I wasn't a fan of the authors writing- which is probably also why I skimmed through most of the book. I did like the character, Doug (had to look up his name, too!). He was the most developed and he wasn't even that developed.

--And now I'm laughing a little because I just finished the book and I forget the two main characters' names of a book called Forget You

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

5/5 Stars I may have even given it 6/5! (Just finished reading it July 1st.)

B&N:
Barcelona, 1945-just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother's face. To console his only child, Daniel's widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona's guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again. Daniel's father coaxes him to choose a volume from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the novel he selects, The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax's work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last one in existence. Before Daniel knows it his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness and doomed love. And before long he realizes that if he doesn't find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly.

My Review:

This book was amazing. I didn't think I would enjoy this book as much as I did. (Thank you book club for "making" me read it!) The author did a phenomenal job of keeping the reader guessing throughout the entire story. You would get a piece of the puzzle that really made you think, and then the story would move on giving you more information and other smaller pieces of the puzzle. Then the author would reveal what the first piece of the puzzle really meant causing you to piece the entire thing together a little bit more. I must say some of the information revealed were shocking (even if I started to guess a little of what was going on.)
The plot was perfect. There were basically two stories going on at once, but they were somehow connected. If you enjoy family drama, history, Spain, books, and mystery (I am not a mystery reading which is why I was shocked at how much I loved this book!) this is definitely a book you will want to add to your "to-read" list.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

4/5 Stars

B&N:

In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families,left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.

My Review:

I didn't want to read this book. I'm not exactly sure why. It could be because I'm teaching the Holocaust right now, so I'm kind of "WWIIed" out. I know this story takes place in the USA and really focuses on the Japanese side of the war, but still...I didn't want to. It was a book club pick. That didn't stop me from not getting the book. I figured I'd just not read this month. But, for some reason (probably not reading the past 2 books made me feel guilty) I went to the library and got it.

I must say, I really enjoyed this book. I started to read it and just didn't want to stop. I fell in love with the story. I needed for Henry and Keiko to end up together. It was very well written and I really enjoyed how it went from "present" day to back to the 40s. The way the author showed Henry when he was younger and then when he was an older gentleman was fantastic. I found the descriptions to be just enough. I usually hate books that go on and on with descriptions- I want the "action" the dialogue! I was fine reading this book. It has a good amount of both.

The setting for the book was very well constructed. I want to go visit all the places that it mentions! It helped move the story along, which is always a nice thing for the setting to be so involved in a story.

The history was just amazing. As I mentioned before, I have studied the Holocaust aspect of WWII. It was very interesting to read the other aspect of how things were happening here in the USA.

My heart actually ached throughout the book. It was a heart-wrenching book that I am very happy I read.

Smorgasbord of authors

Ok, so there are a few authors where I like all of their books. And yes, they fall under the romance/chick-lit category. Now I know what you're thinking...you're thinking of skipping this post. Well, you can do that, but I suggest you don't. Especially seeing that it's summer time! Do you like "girl movies/chick flicks"? If so, that's what these books are. These reads are quick, mindless reads but still good. In no particular order:

1. Contemporary - Nora Roberts' Three Sister Island trilogy (Dance Upon the Air, Heaven and Earth, and Face the Fire.)

2. Historical - Lisa Kleypas' Wallflower series (Secrets of a Summer Night, It Happened one Autumn, The Devil in Winter, and Scandal in Spring)

3. Contemporary - Vicki Lewis Thompson's Geek series (She has like 7 out and they do not need to be read in any order.)

4. Contemporary - Lori Foster's books

5. Contemporary - Lisa Kleypas' Travis series (Sugar Daddy, Blue Eyed Devil, Smooth Talking Stranger) Wasn't too thrilled with the ending of the 1st one, but once I read the other two in the series I liked it much better and it made sense why it ended that way.

6. Historical - Lisa Kleypas' books...all of them. Here's the order to read them, although you don't need to read them all in order.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Kleypas#Bibliography

7. Contemporary - Sherryl Woods' books (Again, there's an order for the different small series she has and some stand alone books.)

8. Contemporary - Jennifer Cruise's books

9. Contemporary - Dierdre Martin's - New York Blade's series

10. Contemporary - Rachel Gibson's books

11. Contemporary - Julie Ortolon's series

And I think that's a good start for the summer. ;)

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

5/5 Stars

B&N:
When Melinda Sordino's friends discover she called the police to quiet a party, they ostracize her, turning her into an outcast -- even among kids she barely knows. But even worse than the harsh conformity of high-school cliques is a secret that you have to hide.

This is Laurie Halse Anderson's award-winning, highly acclaimed, and controversial novel about a teenager who chooses not to speak rather than to give voice to what really happened to her.

My Review:

I've read this book a few times. It's an easy read in the sense that the format is not straight on prose. This book is one of my favorites due to the way the author presents a strong emotional topic.

The characters are real and dealing with a situation that unfortunately happens too often. And just like Melanie, girls don't always know how to speak up.

I am happy to say that my old high school has put this book as on of the choices on the summer reading list. I think girls should definitely read this.

Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead #6 (last in series) Vampire Academy

4/5 stars

B&N:

In this final book of the Vampire Academy series, Rose is in the worst trouble she's ever been in, and she's been in a lot. She is being falsely accused of killing Queen Tatiana and is imprisoned for the crime which she did not commit. Her friends, Lissa, Dimitri, and Adrian help her escape from jail and vanish into hiding while they set about trying to prove her innocence by finding Tatiana's real killer. Rose is frustrated with not being allowed to help in the search for the real killer, but she's even more on edge because Lissa has assigned Dimitri as her bodyguard. There hasn't been anything between the two of them since before Dimitri turned Strigoi, but the old feelings begin to surface as Rose questions whether Dimitri's motives in protecting her as fiercely as he does are only because he's been assigned to, or because he feels more for her then he's willing to admit. Mead's novel is the final installment in the series, and her established fans are sure to enjoy it.

My Review:

Unfortunately, I forgot to write a review for this book after I read it and truth be told, I actually forget it! I do remember that I was happy with the ending. I'm going to have to reread it now. I do know I love this series and the author so it must have been good! I rated it 4/5 stars on goodreads. :)