Kids Korner Review: Dragon Daily News By: Gene Twaronite

Goodreads Summary: 

“… he heard a strange rumbling noise coming from the kitchen. Then a loud crash. He got there just in time to see a small glacier go right through the kitchen wall, into the living room, and out the front door.” (from “The Glacier That Almost Ate Main Street”) A glacier that starts in a refrigerator is just one of the weird things that can happen in these twenty-one stories by Highlights for Children author Gene Twaronite. What if you showed up for school one day, but the school wasn’t there? What if words suddenly leapt off the page in the book you’re reading and floated away? What if the jet you’re on is afraid to fly? What if your parents gave you a real live rhino for your birthday? What if a little snake stretched and stretched to become the longest snake in the world? What if dragons really exist somewhere? What if …? Discover the answers to these and other questions. But be careful. Imagination can be a dangerous thing … especially if someone closes the book on you while you’re inside. While some of these stories were first published in magazines including Highlights for Children and Read (Weekly Reader), many are brand new. So what are you waiting for? Jump right in—have fun with your head!



My Review: 

ReadingNook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I read and reviewed one other book from Gene so when he contacted me again to read his newest novel, I agreed right away. Gene has such a great imagination, and through his writing paints a picture that makes you feel like you've fallen right into the story. Dragon Daily News is a collection of short stories for young kids, and I honestly thought they were all so entertaining and fun!! I loved the introduction where he explained where and how some of the stories came to be, in my opinion and I think the adults that pick up this book will find that interesting, and make the stories a little richer.


I am not yet a parent, but i've had a love of reading since a very young age, and its followed me through out the years, it's not above me to read childrens stories, whether it be books that I read and loved as a child or books that i didn't read as a child, but will simply bring me back to a simpler time in life when everything wasn't so complicated. I don't have kids of my own, but have already started collecting books to pass on to my kids when I do have them, and I hope that I can instill my love of reading onto them, and Dragon Daily News is a book I can completely see myself reading with my future kids or even my nieces and nephews.

If you haven't read any of Gene's writing you should definitely check it out, especially if your in the mood to read something that will bring you back to the simpler times in life. This book was a quick read, but definitly what I needed to get myself through a slow, boring day at work.

Waiting on Wednesday (31):

Goodreads Summary: 

The Passage meets Ender’s Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey.

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.


Expected Publication Date: May 7th, from Dutton 
Pre-Order: HERE!!!



Why I Cannot Wait For This Book: Every now and again, i'm in the mood for a good thriller, and this book sounds like a mix of that with a bit of a dystopian and sci-fi feel to it. I've heard nothing but great things about this book, and as a blogger; I feel like NOT having read any Rick Yancey yet is a bit of a crime. 

Book Review: Survive By: Alex Morel

Goodreads Summary: 

Hatchet meets Lost in this modern-day adventure tale of one girl's reawakening

Jane is on a plane on her way home to Montclair, New Jersey, from a mental hospital. She is about to kill herself. Just before she can swallow a lethal dose of pills, the plane hits turbulence and everything goes black. Jane wakes up amidst piles of wreckage and charred bodies on a snowy mountaintop. There is only one other survivor: a boy named Paul, who inspires Jane to want to fight for her life for the first time.

Jane and Paul scale icy slopes and huddle together for warmth at night, forging an intense emotional bond. But the wilderness is a vast and lethal force, and only one of them will survive.



My Review: 

ReadingNook Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

As soon as I heard the synopsis of this book I knew I wanted to read it, in fact I featured it on my blog for a WOW (waiting on wednesday) post back when I first heard about it. I had very high expectations of this book after reading the synopsis. The fact that this suicidal girl leaves the "nut house" for christmas break due to good behavior and plans on killing herself while the plane is in the air completely intrigued me. The plane instead crashes, and only her and a boy her age survive and suddenely all she wants is to live and get off this snow covered mountain.

I've always loved "survival of the fittest" type books. Hatchet was one of the books growing up that really got me into reading in the first place, and one of my favorite Young Adult series is The Ashfall series by Mike Mullin, both of which are survival type stories. I guess in the end I was a bit let down. I really wanted to connect to Jane's story and felt that she had a wall up so that I couldn't really connect with her, and same goes for Paul. I wanted more drama on the mountain and was looking for more obstacles I guess. I felt like everything, (food, water, clothing) came too easiley for them and I wanted to see more of a struggle. I also felt like their characters fell into the trap of the YA "insta-love". I do believe that being the only two survivors of a plane crash and going through something that tramatic together would ultimately lead to feelings developing but I just felt like it happened way too quickly to be real or believeable. 

I did enjoy certain aspects of this book for sure, and it was a quick read, but ultimately I wanted more from the story and more development that lacked a bit for me. Would I still say this book is worth a read? Yes. without a doubt, but I think personally I had my expectations set too high and it resulted in a bit of a let-down for me.



I Recieved this book via ARCYCLING if you haven't yet checked this blog out you should!!! 

Book Review: The Wrap-Up List by: Steven Artson

Goodreads Summary: 


In this modern-day suburban town, one percent of all fatalities come about in the most peculiar way. Deaths—eight-foot-tall, silver-gray creatures—send a letter (“Dear So-and-So, your days are numbered”) to whomever is chosen for a departure, telling them to wrap up their lives and do the things they always wanted to do before they have to “depart.” When sixteen-year-old Gabriela receives her notice, she is, of course devastated. Will she kiss her crush Sylvester before it’s too late?

Friendship, first love, and fantasy artfully mesh in this magically realistic world that ultimately celebrates life.





My Review:

ReadingNook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

It's taken me a while to write this review, not because I didn't like the book but because I didn't know how to formulate my thoughts about this story. Steven Arnston definitely has a unique and creative mind, that's for sure. His writing almost felt poetic in nature but in a very organic way. In this new civilization Death is in the form of a person, and when he writes you a letter, your days are numbered, that is unless you can find out your Deaths' weakness and recieve a pardon, but those are few and far between, which is why you are encouraged to write a "wrap-up" list or in other words a bucket list of wishes or things you want to happen before death takes you away. 

Gabrielle decides that she wants her first kiss to be with her crush Sylvester before death takes her away, but she also wants her friends to experience their first kisses too before she leaves this earth, and her last and final wish is to be pardoned, which sends her friends and her are on a journey to try to figure out her death's weakness. 

I really enjoyed this story, but felt like it was missing something, I think the book could have been a little longer, and I wish there was a more in depth discussion of the Deaths and the letters they wrote to warn people of their ensueing deaths, not that I didn't understand the concept but that I wish it was more developed. I did like Gabriella's character but wish we got to know more about her as well. I didn't think this book was bad by any means, but wish it was longer and more developed because I think it was such a unique concept, and would have liked to see more from it.




I recieved this book via ARCYCLING if you haven't yet checked this wonderful blog out, please do!! 

Blog Tour Review: Going Vintage by: Lindsey Leavitt

Goodreads Summary: 

When Mallory’s boyfriend, Jeremy, cheats on her with an online girlfriend, Mallory decides the best way to de-Jeremy her life is to de-modernize things too. Inspired by a list of goals her grandmother made in1962, Mallory swears off technology and returns to a simpler time (when boyfriends couldn’t cheat with computer avatars). The List:
1. Run for pep club secretary
2. Host a fancy dinner party/soiree
3. Sew a dress for Homecoming
4. Find a steady
5. Do something dangerous
But simple proves to be crazy-complicated, and the details of the past begin to change Mallory’s present. Add in a too-busy grandmother, a sassy sister, and the cute pep-club president–who just happens to be her ex’s cousin–and soon Mallory begins to wonder if going vintage is going too far.



My Review: 

ReadingNook Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Ok I absolutley adored this book, Lindsey Leavitt can do no wrong in my eyes. Her writing is so real and relatible and her characters draw you into the story in such a capitivating way. The main character Mallory find out that her boyfriend Jeremy has been cheating on her with an online girlfriend under the sudonym BubbleYum, and therefore decides to "go vintage" or use things that were around in the 1960's therefore getting rid of all current technology.

I loved the concept of this book, as well as the classic, vintage feel of it. It was exactaly what I was hoping for, and this book was so close to 5-star rating for me but i'm giving it a solid 4.5 strictly due to the fact that the ending let me down!!! (**SPOILER ALERT** skip this is you haven't read it, but come on why not be with Oliver, freakin A man) It fustrated me!! That being said, other then that choice that Mallory made, I loved everything else about this book!!!

I cannot get enough of Lindsey Leavitt's books, they are always a nice, light read, but with some heartfelt, real issues, and sometimes that's exactaly what you need from a book! Lindsay Leavitt is definitely now an auto-buy author for me, meaning I will purchase and read anything she writes. Do yourself a favor and if you haven't read this or Sean Griswold's head, GO OUT AND BUY THEM AND READ THEM ASAP!!! I have a feeling this book despite not being 5-stars for me, will probably be in my top books of 2013!!!! P.S. Totally have a literary crush on Oliver!

Blog Tour: Me, Him, Them, and It by: Caela Carter

Goodreads Summary: 

ME is Evelyn Jones, 16, a valedictorian hopeful who's been playing bad girl to piss off THEM, her cold, distant parents. HIM is Todd, Evelyn's secret un-boyfriend, who she thought she was just using for sex - until she accidentally fell in love with him. But before Evelyn gets a chance to tell Todd how she feels, something much more important comes up. IT. IT is a fetus. Evelyn is pregnant - and when Todd turns his back on her, Evelyn has no idea who to turn to. Can a cheating father, a stiff, cold mother, a pissed-off BFF, and a (thankfully!) loving aunt with adopted girls of her own help Evelyn make the heart-wrenching decisions that follow?







My Review: 

ReadingNook Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I've read many books regarding teen pregnancy, but this one was unique in many ways. Evelyn's family life is falling apart after her father cheats on her mother, and her mother is as absent as ever. Evelyn decides to give up the good catholic girl persona to become a "bad girl" and although the reality is that she's now named the school slut, she has only been with one person, worse though she got knocked up and the baby's daddy isn't even her boyfriend.

Evelyn goes through up and downs of deciding what to do with an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. She goes off to her favorites aunt's house because she dosen't want anyone to know about her pregnancy, even her best friend, but keeping secrets, especially secrets this big from the people she loves leads to disasterous consequences.

Me, Him, Them, and It was a good book regarding teenage pregnancy, I just didn't love it like everyone else did. Evelyn aggravted me at times with her thoughts about the baby, and maybe it's just because i'm at the point in my life where kids are a reality and knowing the struggles some people have to get pregnant makes situations like this extremely fustrating to me. Overall, I did think it was a decent story, but just didn't have the same feelings of elation towards it that everyone else did.

Waiting on Wednesday (30): Freakboy by: Kristin Elizabeth Clark

Goodreads Summary: 

From the outside, Brendan Chase seems to have it pretty easy. He’s a star wrestler, a video game aficionado, and a loving boyfriend to his seemingly perfect match, Vanessa. But on the inside, Brendan struggles to understand why his body feels so wrong—why he sometimes fantasizes having long hair, soft skin, and gentle curves. Is there even a name for guys like him? Guys who sometimes want to be girls? Or is Brendan just a freak?

In razor-sharp verse, Kristin Clark folds three narratives into one powerful story: Brendan trying to understand his sexual identity, Vanessa fighting to keep her and Brendan’s relationship alive, and Angel struggling to confront her demons.





Expected Publication Date: Oct. 22nd, 2013 from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux


Why I Cannot Wait For This Book:  I love books about tough/taboo issues, I feel that there not only important, but make people less ignorant to such topics, and make you more well-rounded. This book sounds powerful, and heartbreaking, and I can't wait to read it.