In My Mailbox (2)

In My Mailbox is held weekly by Kristi at The Story Siren. Click here for the details on how to participate.

This week, I've only got two books! I'm trying to cut down the number as I've been having difficulty trying to read in a short period of time. It's not summer, anymore and I can't read for the whole day! How I wish I could, though.

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Being Nikki (2nd book in the Airhead series)
by Meg Cabot

Emerson Watts was pretty sure there couldn't be anything worse than being a straight A student whose brain had been transplanted into the body of a teenage supermodel.

But it turned out she was wrong.

Because that supermodel could turn out to have a mother who's mysteriously gone missing, a brother who's shown up on her doorstep demanding answers, ex-boyfriends crawling out of the woodwork who want more than just a photo op, and a British heartthrob who's written a song about her that's topping the charts.

How can Em balance all that with school, lingerie runway shows, and weekend jaunts to St. John—especially when she's got final exams; a sister who is headed to the high school cheerleading championships; a former best friend, Christopher, who's intent on destroying Stark Enterprises to avenge the death of his lost love; and a company she represents that seems to be turning to the dark side...

But then, nobody said it was going to be easy, being Nikki.

*This one is STILL in the library....waiting for me to pick it up in the requested shelf.*

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Defining Twilight
by Brian Leaf

Can you resist the allure of Edward’s myriad charms—his ochre eyes and tousled hair, the cadence of his speech, his chiseled alabaster skin, and his gratuitous charm? Will you hunt surreptitiously and tolerate the ceaseless deluge in Forks to evade the sun and uphold the facade? Join Edward and Bella as you learn more than 600 vocabulary words to improve your score on the *SAT, ACT®, GED®, and SSAT® exams!

Use this workbook side-by-side with your own copy of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight!

• Each chapter of the workbook gives you eight words taken from Twilight, with page references for you to read the words in the context of your favorite novel
• Define the words on your own before turning back to the workbook for their actual definitions
• At the end of each section you’ll take SAT, ACT, GED, and SSAT drills and quizzes to review and integrate what you’ve learned
• Plus, you’ll learn synonyms, Latin word parts, and memorization tools throughout the workbook

*And this one came today in the mailbox. I won it at Crystal Reviews! YAY!*

Friday Fill-Ins (1)

Friday Fill-Ins is a weekly meme hosted by Janet at Friday Fill-Ins.

1. Plans and schedules help me get organized. I do this quite a lot in my head.

2. I'm happy when things turn out alright.

3. The last thing I drank was water. I heard it's good for you.

4. One of the most valuable things in my life is my family.

5. I like mushrooms & pineapple on my pizza.

6. Dear November, couldn't you have come quicker? But I'm so glad you're here.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sleeping and reading, tomorrow my plans include working on projects (bleh) and Sunday, I want to jam with friends!

Justine's Thoughts: The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld

The Last Days
By Scott Westerfeld

Pages:

286

A quote:

When the last days come, they will come quickly.

Any thoughts:

• I searched for this book in Scott Westerfeld’s website...but I can’t find it anywhere! I mean, it’s a sequel to Peeps, so it would only make sense if The Last Days was on that same page. I don’t know, I just don’t get it.

• Now, I understand. This is taken from Scott Westerfeld’s site: “Just to remind you, The Last Days is my not-really-a-sequel to Peeps. It’s set in the same parasite-afflicted New York City, but instead of the Night Watch, it follows a bunch of kids trying to start a band and get famous.” Anyway, I won’t give the rest away because it may spoil some things.

• There is some “fact goodness” before each chapter in the novel, which had sparked my interest as always. I love me some pieces of information.

• One more thing I love is how it’s written in different points of view. Five, to be exact. They’re all in first-person. And the thing is: each character has a different style, so you instantly recognize who is narrating. It’s the same in Peeps: Luce always says “dude” a lot, and she’s fierce, in my opinion. In The Last Days, a new character - Zahler - says “fawesome” and “fool” instead of “cool”, Pearl says “nine/all kinds of...”, and etc. You get the point. It’s just really interesting how Scott Westerfeld gives each character a signature.

• Music in The Last Days is described so beautifully, that I found myself rereading the same paragraph more than twice. Of course, it helps too that one of the characters hallucinates sometimes. Still, it’s like you can picture the music notes floating in the air, reaching out and affecting the audience. Music really is a big part of the story, but I can’t say why since that’s a spoiler.

• One thing I was excited to read about was the characters from Peeps coming back! That’s right; two characters appear in the novel towards the end and I was trying to read slowly to...capture that moment, haha. I just love them, that’s all.

• Overall, I really enjoyed Peeps and The Last Days. They don’t really seem like the typical vampire books you read about these days. But that’s okay, originality is a good thing. Plus, you can learn a lot about parasites and evolution.

Waiting on Wednesday (4)

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine.



Of All the Stupid Things
by Alexandra Diaz

Release Date:
December 22, 2009

Description:

It really was a stupid thing that Brent Staple did – doing it (so the rumour goes) with Chris Sanchez, one of the guy cheerleaders. Who’d have thought that Brent, the school’s hottest jock, could be gay? But the doubt about Brent doesn’t just hurt Tara – it’s the beginning of the end for an inseparable trio of friends. Tara’s training for the marathon, but also running from her father and her fear of ever being abandoned again. Beautiful Whitney Blaire’s got everything and nothing, because her parents have never had time for her. And Pinkie has a compulsive need to mother everyone to make up for the mom she never stops missing. The girls couldn’t be more different, but doesn’t that just prove the strength of their friendship?

Then new-girl Riley arrives in school, wafting her long black hair and a scent of lilacs. Suddenly, Tara starts to feel things she’s never felt before for a girl - and to reassess her feelings about Brent and what he may/may not have done. Is Tara gay – or does she just love Riley? And can the map of her deepest friendships ever be redrawn in a post-Riley world?

Teaser Tuesday (4)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading.

The rules are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• DO NOT INCLUDE SPOILERS.

My teaser:

Outside the snow drifted down just as soundlessly, blanketing the world in muffling stillness. Elena stared at it with unseeing eyes, scarcely noticing the tears than ran down her cheeks.

~pg. 114 "The Vampire Diaries - The Fury & Dark Reunion"
by L.J. Smith

Justine's Thoughts: Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

Peeps

By Scott Westerfeld

Pages:

304

Book Description:

Okay let’s clear up some myths about vampires. First of all, you won’t see me using the V-word much. In the night watch, we prefer the term parasite positives, or peeps for short.

The main thing to remember is that there’s no magic involved. No flying. No transforming into bats or rats either. We’re talking about a disease.

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After a chance encounter with a mysterious woman one night, Cal Thompson’s life is changed forever. He’s been infected with an insidious parasite. The good news: he’s only a carrier -- still sane, without the worst of the symptoms. The bad news: he’s infected all his former girlfriends -- and now they’ve turned into what Cal calls peeps. The rest of us call them vampires. And it’s Cal’s job to hunt hem down before they create even more of their kind. . . .

A quote:

Welcome to the wonderful world of parasites.
This is where I live.

Any thoughts:

• A wonderful novel. It reminds me of Uglies, Scott Westerfeld’s series of novels, which I’ve read ages ago and now I don’t remember anything about it other than it was a Sci-Fi novel. So is Peeps. But it’s written differently. Every other chapter it goes on to explain a few facts and it is quite interesting to know all about parasites, really. I cringed at least once because I don’t know anything about parasites and reading about how they function, where they’re found, what they do, the effects they cause...well, let’s just say that I’ve never thought about that.

• I love the plot of this story even though the end will make you feel like it is unfinished. That’s why a sequel to Peeps was created. It begins with how Peeps was finished...so it makes sense, but it’s focused on other people.

• While reading the novel, I realized how much I missed the action. There’s action in this story, which I really love, and it’s just been so long since I started reading novels with action in it. It’s awesome, just to let you know. Scott Westerfeld knows how to brilliantly describe super cool moves.

• And the characters. They’re great. Cal is the one telling the story and also the one to explain the cool facts about parasites and evolution. The others - Lace, Dr. Rat, Manny, Sarah, Morgan (and there’s a bit more you get to read about) - are interesting, but I just wish the novel was longer so I got to know them better. I felt that the time sped by (in the novel) when he talked to the characters. But anyway, all in all, the characters are amazing. I love Lace ;)

• That’s about it. Coming up next is The Last Days, the sequel. Oooh. I’m on it.