Off the Shelf Challenge

I don't know about you, but my 'to be read' pile just keeps growing and growing.  My TBR bookshelves are filled to the point of overflowing onto any other piece of furniture next to it.  So once I heard about the Off the Shelf Challenge hosted by Bookish Ardour I knew I had to participate.  The goal of this challenge is to read some of the books that you own (without counting books purchased after the start of the challenge), but have never gotten around to reading yet.  Hopefully this is lessen my TBR pile and give me a chance to finally read some of those books I bought long ago.

Here's my list:
1.  Wildthorn by Jane Eagland
2.  Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
3.  A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
4.  Thief Eyes by Janni Lee Simner
5.  Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson
6.  Front And Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
7.  The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger
8.  Torment by Lauren Kate
9.  Crescendo By Becca Firzpatrick
10.  Let's Take The Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell
11.  Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry
12.  Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
13.  The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman
14.  All Things Bright And Beautiful by James Herriot
15.  The Rest Of Her Life by Laura Moriarty

What Challenges are you doing for 2011?
    

Review of An Irish Christmas by Melody Carlson

Book: An Irish Christmas
Author:  Melody Carlson
Published by:  Revell
Pages:  192

From Goodreads:  For Colleen, life is spinning out of control. She just lost her husband, and her relationship with her young adult son Jamie is crumbling. Should she confess to him the secret that has been haunting her for twenty years? Jamie has a few secrets of his own. When he announces his plans to join the military, Colleen decides it's time for the two of them to take a trip together--to Ireland. The truth they discover there could fulfill both their dreams in a way neither ever thought possible. An Irish Christmas is a captivating story of love, deception, and secret passions, from popular and prolific author Melody Carlson. 

This was another book for my Holiday Reading Challenge hosted by All About {n}.  Once again I want to tell you how much I love Holiday novels.  They usually make me feel warm and fuzzy and get me in the holiday spirit.  Apparently, this season just hasn't been my best season for picking great holiday reads. 

An Irish Christmas was a very short read.  The writing tended to be simplistic and predictable.  It didn't really capture my attention and pull me into the story.  I did, however, enjoy the descriptions of Ireland in December.  The country sounds beautiful and makes me want to take a vacation there soon. 

For me, the characters themselves were believable but their expectations of each other were not.  Both the mother and son have MAJOR secrets they are keeping from each other and they expect the other person to not to be horribly upset when they reveal them.  I don't think this is believable at all.  If I was as deceptive as either of these characters I would expect monumental explosions once I revealed my secret.  I was talking to my mother about this book (she read it for her bookclub) and she agreed with me that if I ever kept a secret like that I'd be disowned and disinherited...not really...but she did say she'd be disappointed in me and we all know how catastrophic that is coming from a parent.   

Another thing about this novel that I didn't enjoy was the ending.  Without giving away too much, it was too unrealistic and extremely unlikely.  

Review of City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Book:  City of Ashes
Author:  Cassandra Clare
Published by:  Margaret K. McElderry
Pages:  453

From Goodreads:  As readers of series starter City of Bones already know, teenager Clary Fray is a Shadowhunter, a demon slayer who has the gift (?) of spotting Downworlder werewolves, vampires, and faeries. She is also an adolescent in an abnormally dysfunctional family: Her mom is in a magically induced coma and her father is probably insane and undoubtedly evil. All of which places Clary in situations that would challenge even the most talented average American girl.

This was definitely another one of those books that you stay up all night just to finish.  The storyline itself was thrilling, exciting and completely original.  The action kept me on my toes and the edge of my seat, while the romance left me aching for more.

The characters were exactly what you are looking for in a story.  I definitely wanted integrate myself into this novel.  I wanted these characters as my friends or more than friends (my charter crush on Jace, which I might add, only increased in this novel).  I wanted to be a kick-butt shadowhunter fighting for my friends and family.  As you might guess Clare's characters are completely relate-able and real.  You can empathize with them and feel yourself really caring for these people.

The only character I had a problem with was the inquisitor.  The whole time I was reading this novel she reminded me of Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter novels.  They both were controlling and manipulative.  I actually found myself yelling at this character multiple times when reading the novel.

As for Clare's writing...it's wonderful.  I guess that is a given when she has me feeling so strongly about characters to yell at them or want them as my friends.  Her descriptions of places and feelings are extraordinary and perfectly magical.

I cannot wait to read the rest of this series!          

Review of Boys That Bite by Mari Mancusi

Book:  Boys That Bite
Author:  Mari Mancusi
Published By:  Berkley Trade
Pages: 272

From Goodreads:  Technically Sunshine can't get killed-because she's immortal. Well, not quite yet. Due to the worst case of mistaken identity with her dark-side-loving twin sister at a Goth club called Club Fang, Magnus, a vampire hottie, went for Sunshine's innocent neck. Now if she doesn't reverse it in time, Magnus will be her blood mate forever and she's doomed to be a blood-gulping, pasty, daylight-hating vampire. That would seriously bite.  And now, after the unfortunate slaying of the vampire leader, Sunshine, her sister Rayne, and Magnus must find the one thing that can solve her problem: the Holy Grail. They wish it were a joke but it's not. It's absolutely necessary that Sunshine gets out of this in time, because somehow she scored the hottest prom date in her school, the mouth-watering Jake Wilder. So she just can't be a vampire for the prom-let alone the rest of eternity.


The tagline for this book is "This is not your typical boybites-girl love story." I don't think I really agree with that.  Of course I understand that Sunshine was not the sister who wanted to be turned into a vampire. but yet all the typical YA vampire plot events still occured.  Sunshine still had to avoid the sun (no pun intended), slept during the day and was awake at night, and of course craved blood.  

The writing just didn't do it for me.  I liked the story line and they idea behind the series, but I felt the writing lacked the flow and inventiveness of many other YA writers. 

Some of the things I did enjoy about the book was the relationship between Sunshine and her sister Rayne.  I felt this to be true to some sister relationships and even though my sister is my best friend we are often drastically different just like these sisters.  I, however, don't agree with the actions of both of the sisters at the end of the novel.  I don't think that if the sisters were as close as they seemed that they would both be ok with the choices made.  (I know this sounds confusing but I don't want to give away too much.)  I also liked Magnus as a character.  I really felt bad for him and found him to be the most likeable character of the book. 

Overall, if you are looking for a vampire read I think there are others out there you would enjoy more. 

Follow My Blog Friday

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View.

My answer to this week's Follow Friday question:
 

Do you have an under-noticed author that 

you think we should all know about?

The author that I think is under-noticed is YA author Melina Marchetta.  She wrote an amazing book called Jellicoe Road or On the Jellicoe Road (I've seen it with both titles).  It's one of my favorite books and if you haven't read it yet go get it.  I have another one of her books, Saving Francesca, on my TBR pile.   

Thursday's Name Game

Name:  Clarissa
Gender:  Gender
Character From:  Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare

Meanings and history of the name Clarissa:

• Form of Clara, from Latin, meaning "clear, shining"

Personal Experience:

• None...what about you?

Places name Clarissa:

• Clarissa Minnesota, United States.
• Clarissa Falls, a resort in Belize.
• Clarissa Street is a historical street in Rochester, New York that had once been a cultural and commercial center of the city.

Famous real-life people named Clarissa: 

• Clarissa Childs, American golfer, DOB March 23, 1974
• Clarissa Scott Delany (1901-1927), American poet
• Clarissa Kaye, Australian stage, film and television actress
• Clarissa Eden, Countess of Avon (born Anne Clarissa Spencer-Churchill
• Clarissa Pinkola Estés, American poet, psychoanalyst, and author

 

Clarissa in song, story & screen:

• Clarissa Harlowe, heroine of Samuel Richardson's novel "Clarissa"
• Clarissa Darling, main character in T.V. show "Clarissa Explains It All"
• Clarissa Dalloway, protagonist of Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway"
• Clarissa Harlowe, from Samuel Richardson’s popular novel Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady. 
• Clarissa Spenlow, from the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield.
  

List adapted from www.babynamewizard.com


These are just some I know...what about you?

Review of Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales

Book:  Mostly Good Girls
Author:  Leila Sales
Published By:  Simon Pulse
Pages:  288

From Goodreads:  The higher you aim, the farther you fall….It’s Violet’s junior year at the Westfield School. She thought she’d be focusing on getting straight As, editing the lit mag, and figuring out how to talk to boys without choking on her own saliva. Instead, she’s just trying to hold it together in the face of cutthroat academics, her crush’s new girlfriend, and the sense that things are going irreversibly wrong with her best friend, Katie.  When Katie starts making choices that Violet can’t even begin to fathom, Violet has no idea how to set things right between them. Westfield girls are trained for success—but how can Violet keep her junior year from being one huge, epic failure?
This was a cute, light read.  I've read other prep school novels where they seemed to be focused on the trouble students got in, the 'stuck-up' rich kids or the romances with the all boys school nearby.  This had some of those aspects but it was mostly a book about friendship.  I don't come across many of those books anymore.  Sure there are elements of friendship in every novel but not many that focus purely on that. 

I really enjoyed the author's character development of Violet and Katie.  Both of these girls seemed very real to me...in fact, I must admit that I am Violet.  I was always the girl who was smart and got good grades but I was never number one, but not for a lack of trying.  Like Violet, I pushed myself harder than my parents, teachers, or anyone at school ever could.  Because I had such high expectations of myself I often had too high of expectations for everyone else also, which is one to the problems with Violet and Katie's friendship.  I understand Violet's determination but I also understand Katie's need to be 'normal' and not have to live up to everyone's expectations.  She just wanted to be herself, what I essentially think every girl wants deep down.

This book was very funny and I often founds myself laughing along with the girls.  One of the main problems I had with the book is that there wasn't much action and the 'problem' or 'conflict' that did occur didn't happen until the end of the novel.  I wish there was a little more action or at least enriched the conflict more.

Overall, if you need a book you can relate to or a break from the paranormal books out there give this a try.