Review: The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaefer (2008)

 Posted by Anastasia on March 8, 2009  No Responses »
Mar 082009
 
Share

Teashop Girls The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaefer
Publication: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books (2008), ARC, Paperback, 248 pages / ISBN 1416967931
Genre: Fiction, Children’s/YA
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
First sentence: There’s a right way and a wrong way to do many things, and when it comes to tea, my opinion is one should not mess around.

I first learned of The Teashop Girls through the author’s Twitter account, and it’s through that same avenue that I got a copy to review. Basically? The Teashop Girls is adorable!

Summary from Amazon:

Annie, Genna, and Zoe have been hanging out at the Steeping Leaf since elementary school. The Teashop Girls do everything together — at least they used to. With the end of eighth grade approaching, Genna’s too busy with theater, Zoe’s always at tennis, and Annie feels totally left out. What happened to tea every week, no matter what?

When Annie convinces her grandmother to give her a job as a barista at the Leaf, things begin to look up. In between whipping up chai lattes for customers, and attempting to catch the attention of her Barista Boy crush, Annie is finally beginning to feel as grown-up as her best friends. But an eviction notice spells trouble for the Leaf and unless they can turn the business around, the teashop will have to close its doors forever.

The Teashop Girls reminds me of a lot of books I read when I was younger. It’s kinda like The Baby-sitters Club with an emphasis on tea instead of babies. It’s sweet and cute and it’s got a lot of moral-type things in it, including how important it is to support locally owned business. Also, friendship. Also, tea. Okay, moving on.

Annie was a great main character. She has spunk and passion, yet she hates change and can’t deal with it when it comes around. Quite realistic, I thought, especially when you throw in her two friends, Zoe and Genna, who are moving forward and growing up, and Annie feels left behind. As Annie puts it: “[...] I still look and feel mostly like a kid, and my friends are starting to seem like, I don’t know…women. It’s weird.” I felt left behind when I got to high school, too! (I still feel kinda lower down on the ladder of maturity, ha.)

Also, my dad totally still calls me “Annie Banannie,” too. Er, so I sympathized with her.

One of my favorite things was actually the relationship between Annie and the annoying Zach– he totally digs her, and I’m hoping Annie gets that in the next book (and that Zach tones down the teasing a bit; girls don’t like it!). It was actually kinda cute, how he kept trying to get her attention by, um, saying mean things about her grandmother’s store. Oy vey, boys.

Besides the main story, of course, there’s lots of extra little things like recipes for tea and snacks, quotes about tea and coffee, plus some lovely pictures of old tea advertisements. Annie collects them, and yeah, she’s completely obsessed about tea. Not that that’s a bad thing– I collect tea tins, myself. And finally, there’s illustrations by Sujean Rim, who does some art for the website DailyCandy. Awesome!

Be sure to check out the website for lots of fun stuff, including activities and free stuff, like autographed samples of tea!

Other reviews: Kidliterate | Tweendom | Bookshipper

Bookmark and Share

Share
 4/5, Fiction, Reviews, YA

links for 2009-3-7

 Posted by Anastasia on March 7, 2009  No Responses »
Mar 072009
 
Share
Share
 Link Posts, Misc

Review: Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones (1993)

 Posted by Anastasia on March 7, 2009  No Responses »
Mar 072009
 
Share

Hexwood Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones
Publication: Greenwillow Books (1994), Hardcover, 295 pages / ISBN 006029888X
Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, YA/Teen
Rating: 4/5
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Challenges: Read Your Own Books 2009 (#15)

Okay, so, sometimes sci-fi gives me problems. If it’s heavy on the science or if the plot structure is a little different than the norm, it can take me a while to get into it. Dune, for instance, or Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom– they both gave me some trouble when I first started reading them, but I stuck with it and eventually really enjoyed myself. So too is my experience with Hexwood!

Summary from Amazon:

Strange things happen at Hexwood Farm.

From her window, Ann Stavely watches person after person disappear through the farm’s gate — and never come out again. Later, in the woods nearby, she meets a tormented sorcerer, who seems to have arisen from a centuries-long sleep. But Ann knows she saw him enter the farm just that morning. Meanwhile, time keeps shifting in the woods, where a small boy — or perhaps a teenager — has encountered a robot and a dragon. Long before the end of their adventure, the strangeness of Hexwood has spread from Earth right out to the center of the galaxy.

Hexwood starts off weird, continues to be weird, and then never really clears up the weirdness. It does get easier to understand, however, around page 50. But one of the main points of the plot is that the characters are part of a field that runs a program that runs possibilities. It’s constantly changing time (seasons, years, etc.), events, people, and so on. It can all get horrible confusing, and I’m still not sure that I entirely understand everything that happened. I’m not sure I’m supposed to, but I would have liked the book better if I did. Eventually I had to stop worrying about what was going on when and just hang on for the ride, and I made it to the end okay.

Besides the confusing bits, the plot is both exciting and horrifying. There’s some really nasty characters in here, and they’re not afraid to do nasty things. Reigner One, for instance, does genetics experiments with children of his enemies, and runs Ender’s Game-like programs to train more children into being his Servants. Skeevy skeevy skeevy! Made me feel all icky, so I was really glad when he got his comeuppance.

There were some good characters, of course, that did good things. I liked Ann and Mordion, one of the Servants, and I adored their little romance subplot. The ending scenes were really fantastic, with lots of action and revelations and tidying up and so on. For all that, though, I never entirely understood what was going on, and I don’t know if that’s a failing in myself or in the text. But then, I’ve never much liked DWJ’s sci-fi books.

(But at least I understood all of A Tale of Time City!)

There’s a LOT of different covers for this one. I might have to do a separate post just to showcase them all. In fact, I think I will!

Other reviews: The Occasional Blog of Phil Masters | Scholar’s Blog | Books Love Me!

Bookmark and Share

Share
 4/5, Fantasy, Fiction, Psychic Abilities, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Teen, YA

Saturday Search: March 7

 Posted by Anastasia on March 7, 2009  No Responses »
Mar 072009
 
Share

Saturday Search Saturday Search is a monthly meme hosted by Callista at SMS Book Reviews. Basically, we just post interesting or funny search terms people use to get to our site. If you’d like to participate yourself, check out this month’s post!

how to view .lit files on ipod touch
I get a lot of these kind of searches, mostly because of my two iPod Touch posts. I wonder if I’ve helped at all?

fantasy novels for people who don’t read
Oh! That’s a wonderful search term, actually! I think they most likely found my 10 YA Fantasy Novels Everyone Should Read (Yes, Even You) post. Though maybe I should do a post specifically for “fantasy novels for people who don’t read,” eh?

an ancient evil is brewing novels
Um. What IS that? Now I’ve gotta Google it myself.

Oh! It coincides with two or three summaries on my 10 YA Fantasy Novels Everyone Should Read (Yes, Even You) post. That thing is more popular than I realized.

how long should a ya fantasy novel be?
Dunno. As long as it wants to be?

secret hour flow map westerfeld
I don’t remember any flow map (or flow chart) in Midnighters #1. One might’ve been helpful, though!

free diana wynne jones ebooks
Whoops, there are none. And if you found one? It’s illegal. There are legit DWJ ebooks, however. (I get a lot of these kind of searches, too.)

Bookmark and Share

Share
 Memes, No Longer Do These

links for 2009-3-6

 Posted by Anastasia on March 6, 2009  No Responses »
Mar 062009
 
Share
Share
 Link Posts, Misc

LibraryThing's March Early Reviewer hopefuls

 Posted by Anastasia on March 6, 2009  No Responses »
Mar 062009
 
Share

LT Early Reviewer The March list of LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program went live yesterday, and there’s several interesting books on there. For those who don’t know, the ER program is a great way to get ARCs and copies of books that’re being published soon. If you’re interested, there’s some more info here.

There’s so many good books for this month’s batch. I wanna read quite a few of them; whatever I don’t get is going on my wishlist for sure! Here’s what I’m interested in for this month:

Hunger Games The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Description: In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death – televised for all of Panem to see.

Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

I’ve seen this being talked about on many blogs and on Twitter, and I’m horribly curious!

Breathers BREATHERS: A Zombie’s Lament by S.G. Browne
Description: Darkly funny and surprisingly touching, this is a romantic zombie comedy (or a “rom-zom-com”) that will leave you laughing, squirming, and clamoring for more! And, you’ll find just that at www.undeadanonymous.com , where you can read the newly minted zombie’s blog, watch a short infomercial for a new “Zombie anti-depressant drug” called NecroBufrin, and much more.

This has the potential to be SO AWESOME. Yes/no?

Punkzilla Punkzilla by Adam Rapp
Description: For a runaway boy who goes by the name “Punkzilla,” kicking a meth habit and a life of petty crime in Portland, Oregon, is a prelude to a mission: reconnecting with his older brother, a gay man dying of cancer in Memphis. Against a backdrop of seedy motels, dicey bus stations, and hitched rides, the desperate fourteen-year-old meets a colorful, sometimes dangerous cast of characters. And in letters to his sibling, he catalogs them all — from an abusive stranger and a ghostly girl to a kind transsexual and an old woman with an oozing eye. The language is raw and revealing, crackling with visceral details and dark humor, yet with each interstate exit Punkzilla’s journey grows more urgent: will he make it to Tennessee in time? This daring novel offers a narrative worthy of Kerouac and a keen insight into the power of chance encounters.

Okay, so, yes, it could possibly end up being depressing, but it sounds quirky enough that I might really enjoy it.

Manual of Detection audiobook The Manual of Detection [Unabridged Audio Ediiton] by Jedediah Berry
Description: In an unnamed city always slick with rain, Charles Unwin toils as a clerk at a huge, imperious detective agency. But when an illustrious detective, Travis Sivart, goes missing, Unwin is reluctantly thrust into the role of investigator. His only guidance comes from a sleepy secretary and the pithy yet profound Manual of Detection. Soon he finds himself framed for murder, pursued by gunmen, and confounded by a femme fatale. Meanwhile, strange and troubling questions proliferate: Why does the mummy at the Municipal Museum have modern-day dental work? Where have all the city’s alarm clocks gone? Why is Unwin’s copy of the Manual missing Chapter 18?

When he discovers that Sivart’s greatest cases were solved incorrectly, Unwin must enter the dreams of a murdered man and face a criminal mastermind bent on total control of a slumbering city.

I’ve been burned by ER detective novels before, but this one might actually be as good as it sounds!

Triskellion 2 Triskellion II: The Burning by Will Peterson
Description: After the shocking revelations in Triskellion, being guests of the “Hope Project” might seem like a relief. But Rachel and Adam soon figure out that they’re being held prisoner, and that the program has more sinister goals than archaeological research in mind. A hideous discovery at the funeral of their grandmother makes it clear that the teenagers must flee from England to Paris, Seville, and fi nally Morocco, evading not only their former benefactors but also the followers of “The Englishman,” a zombie-like fi gure with a frightening agenda of his own. It will take all of their special abilities and courage to stay alive until their journey reaches an explosive climax — and they unearth, on the North African coast, an ancient secret even more startling than the first.

I’ve read the first one and can’t WAIT to read this one. It’s gonna be hard to wait for #3, though!

What books are you hoping for?

Bookmark and Share

Share
 Misc

Review: Vampire Beach #1 & 2 by Alex Duval (2006)

 Posted by Anastasia on March 5, 2009  No Responses »
Mar 052009
 
Share

Vampire Beach 1 & 2 Vampire Beach: Bloodlust and Vampire Beach: Initiation by Alex Duval
Publication: Simon & Schuster (2007), Paperback, 381 pages / ISBN 9780760794968
Genre: Paranormal, Teen
Rating: 2/5 (for both)
Find @ Barnes & Noble
Challenges: 666 Horror/Paranormal Book Challenge (Vampires #3)
First sentence: Malibu. | “Hey, Freeman! Wait up!”

I got the two-books-in-one version, so I thought I’d review them together. I first spotted Vampire Beach on the shelf somewhere– well, how could I not, with that virulent orange cover? I didn’t buy it right away, and it looked, er, incredibly stupid. I went home first and checked out some reviews. Folks, they tricked me. I thought Vampire Beach might be a lol-fest but still a good read, and well. It’s not.

Summary from the back cover:

Jason Freeman is stoked when his family relocates to exclusive DeVere Heights, Malibu. The kids at his posh new high school are surprisingly friendly, and pretty soon Jason’s part of the in-crowd. He even gets to meet the hot-but-unattainable girl.

Then, the morning after one off-the-hook party, a girl washes up on the beach dead. There’s no explanation– except a suspicious bit mark on her body.

Now Jason has to admit that what you don’t want to know can hurt you. And when an old friend pays him a visit, they have no idea that they’re about to put themselves in mortal danger. Literally.

Okay, think of Vampire Beach as The O.C. but with vampires. Non-deadly vampires who sneak-suck blood out of you after plying you with alcohol and hints of popularity. It’s pretty tame, actually, and kinda boring. There’s some sniffs of more interesting things that could possibly be explored, but at least half the plot is spent on the “romance” between Jason and Hottie McVampire chick. It’s not much of a romance. It’s tame, and boring. Also, I didn’t like any of the characters except Adam, the film director wannabe who drops the bomb re: vampires in Malibu.

I’m not sure if it’s because Jason is such a typical teenage male or if he’s just not a good character. He’s obsessed with getting with girls, especially Hottie McVampire (okay, seriously, I can’t remember her name. It’s something supposedly “exotic” though– oh! Sienna! Ha!) and fitting in with the popular kids and having and adventure, or something. He doesn’t completely sell out, though, as he becomes friends with Adam, who’s not in the popular (aka Hottie McVampire and the McVampires) clique.

There a at least one weird plot-point that goes nowhere: something about a super expensive water that supposedly keeps you looking young. Three pages spent on that stuff, and then never again. What was the point, please?

Also, c’mon, all the weird stuff happening in Malibu that Jason notices but doesn’t think about? It’s obviously VAMPIRE STUFF. I spent the whole time going “It’s VAMPIRES. Vampires doing vampire-y thing in the vampire town! COME ON.” The word “vampires” wasn’t even mentioned until page 116. I mean, yeah, I suppose a normal person wouldn’t immediately think of vampires when they see a pale, sick dude go into the locker room with another dude, then comes out looking pink and healthy while the other dude looks pale and sick and yet HIGH, but unless Vampire Beach turned into Gay Vampire Beach, Jason being a little more involved with the plot would have been a good thing. Or SOMETHING.

I wouldn’t mind it if there was a Gay Vampire Beach, actually. It’d certainly be more interesting than this rancid fluff.

I thought the second book, Initiation, was, comparatively, much better than the first one. It had a more interesting plot, and now that Jason (and Adam) know about the vampires, there’s some lovely conflict between Jason and his McVampire. He wants her, but she’s not human. She wants him, but he’s freaked out she might go psycho and kill him. Also, Hottie McVampire already has a boyfriend (also a Hottie McVampire. I’ll call him Hottie Manpire.) and Jason isn’t down with the whole mackin’ on another dude’s chick. Which is fine by me; there’s enough “angst” in there already. No need to pile it on with more forbidden fruit metaphors.

Besides that, there’s some drama with Jason’s old friend, er, Ritalin Boy. Ritalin Boy swoops into town and messes things up, but I don’t think his subplot was used to it’s fullest potential. There could have been a lot more to it, I think. Not that I expected it to be any more melodramatic, but it seemed stunted. However, Ritalin Boy’s actions lead to a really fantastic “OMG!” moment that has the potential for some really good plot development later.

I will say that if I had been sitting on the beach, sipping margaritas and watching muscle-y men run around, I probably would have taken better to Vampire Beach. It is a very good beach book. I also do want to read the next book(s) for some reason; I just probably won’t buy them (at least not full-price). Especially not with the amount of punctuation errors I found! Sheesh.

Other reviews: Books4Ever | Chicklish | Simply Nerdy

Bookmark and Share

Share
 2/5, Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal, Reviews, Teen, Vampires
 Older Entries  Newer Entries
© 2011 Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha