Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The Book Thief Movie Trailer!

The official trailer for the movie adaptation of The Book Thief has been released! It looks amazing so far! What are your thoughts??

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Review: The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns by Chris Colfer

Summary: After decades of hiding, the evil Enchantress who cursed Sleeping Beauty is back with a vengeance.

Alex and Conner Bailey have not been back to the magical Land of Stories since their adventures in The Wishing Spell ended. But one night, they learn the famed Enchantress has kidnapped their mother! Against the will of their grandmother, the twins must find their own way into the Land of Stories to rescue their mother and save the fairy tale world from the greatest threat it's ever faced.

Kim's Review: When I read the first Land of Stories book, I was completely obsessed with Chris Colfer. Not so much a year later though, and so I was looking forward to reading one of his novels without bias.

I thought this book was good. The story was pretty interesting even though it's a children's novel, and I did care about the characters. However, the writing could've been better. There were a few things that annoyed me, like how he almost always describes Alex and Connor as the same person: "The twins felt sad/The twins woke up before sunrise/etc." Colfer hardly, if ever, tells you how one of the twins is specifically feeling. I suppose they say some twins are ~connected~ and what not, but it's like these two never had their own feelings or opinions.

This book takes place in a fairy-tale world, which I've sort of grown out of over the years. For a children's book, though, I thought the plot was intriguing (even if I skimmed over a few pages). I probably would have given it five stars if I were in the target demographic and not as critical to the actual writing. :)

3.5/5 stars!


Monday, August 12, 2013

Review: Cracked by K.M. Walton

Summary: Victor hates his life. He has no friends, gets beaten up at school, and his parents are always criticizing him. Tired of feeling miserable, Victor takes a bottle of his mother’s sleeping pills—only to wake up in the hospital.

Bull is angry, and takes all of his rage out on Victor. That makes him feel better, at least a little. But it doesn’t stop Bull’s grandfather from getting drunk and hitting him. So Bull tries to defend himself with a loaded gun.

When Victor and Bull end up as roommates in the same psych ward, there’s no way to escape each other or their problems. Which means things are going to get worse—much worse—before they get better.





Kim's Review: Cracked is told from two POVs - Victor, a boy who is bullied at school and has parents who don't care about him, and Bull, the boy who bullies Victor. I loved reading from the bully's point of view, getting more insight to his character, and seeing how his home life leads to him bullying Victor. 

In this book, both of the characters end up in a psychiatric ward - and are roommates. Through the five days they spend together there, they learn more about each other and discover that they both have their own issues at home.

K.M. Walton does an amazing job at making the plot realistic, especially at the end. Not everything is happily ever after, and I liked that. The reason this book earned only four stars instead of five was because I feel like Walton could have done a better job at writing the characters's emotions about their suicide attempt/accidents, because a lot of the time it seems like they (mostly Victor) was only concerned with their love interests and not what had happened to them.

Unless you are triggered by suicide or abuse, I would recommend this book. It's a pretty quick read - I finished it in a few hours - and offers insight into not only the victims but also the bullies themselves.



Friday, August 9, 2013

BOOK GIVEAWAY!!

There is a giveaway going on right now on our tumblr page!