Review: The Elite by Jennifer Banash

By

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August 12, 2008

Casey’s move from Normal
to New York is top rank!

Casey McCloy left the Midwest to move to New York City. She is going to live with her grandmother and attend the prestigious Meadowlark Academy. At her new home, The Bramford, she meets some of her Meadowlark classmates, Sophie, Phoebe and most of all Madison. With Madison’s popularity being iconic, Casey tries to make friends with her. But staying on Madison’s good side is harder than she thought and things quickly go sour when Madison’s ex Drew is thrown into the mix. This Normal, Illinois native finds out her life in NY will be no where near Normal.

The Elite is well written and a great read. I love how each chapter was from the point of view of a different character. It really helps you get a better understanding of each of them. I enjoyed the plot and the relatable characters. Banash has truly created a book that leaves you wanting more. I can’t wait for the sequel, In Too Deep, out in the fall.

Review: Jet Set by Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman

By

Tempestt Patterson

-

June 30, 2008

2

Living the fabulous life in a not so fabulous story!

Jet Set is about an American girl named Lucy Peterson who earns herself a scholarship to Switzerland’s most elite Van Pelt Academy. With Van Pelt’s caviar at every meal, white-tie affairs and royals everywhere, hopefully she can stay focus on her academics and tennis goals. Sadly for Lucy, Van Pelt has distractions around every corner, she has no clue what she has gotten herself into.

This books plot was truly a great idea but I feel it was poorly delivered. The story was all over the place, as soon as I would get into something it would jump to something else and it would be a while before it got back to what I had gotten interested in. I wish the characters weren’t so dull and that the author’s were more descriptive of the characters. Jet Set was a big disappointment to me, all the glitz and glam surrounding this story couldn’t save this jet from it’s nose-dive. So if you want you can check out Jet Set when it is released in August from Harperteen.

Review: Gossip Girl: The Carlyles by Cecily von Ziegesar

By

Tempestt Patterson

-

June 22, 2008

3

Gossip Girl is back with a new cast to gossip about!

The Carlyles is about sixteen year old triplets, moving from Nantucket, Massachusetts to the Upper East Side. They are not just moving anywhere in the Upper East Side but are moving in the Waldorf’s old apartment. The triplets consists of Owen, Avery and Baby. Owen wants that perfect girl, Avery wants to fit in and Baby wants to go back to Nantucket until she meets J.P. With all of this going on, you know the Gossip Girl will have a lot to gossip about.

At first it was hard for me to get use to the idea of a new cast because I really loved the old gang, (Serena, Blair, etc) but the Carlyles really bring a fresh flare to the series and still gives you what you love about Gossip Girl books, scandals, enemies and all the gossip you could want. I must say I enjoyed the book and will continue reading the series. I do hope that the Gossip Girl series will go back to Serena and the others in future books. I would love to know what happens to them in college and I am sure Gossip Girl is curious too.

Review: Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by Jody Gehrman

By

Tempestt Patterson

-

June 15, 2008

3

This Betty’s tell all, has it all!

Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty is told through the journal entries of a skater girl named Geena Sloane. Geena had her summer all planned out, work at Triple Shot Betty and bond with her fellow Betty’s, newly arrived cousin Hero and outspoken friend Amber. As soon as Hero arrives, Amber’s claws come out. The situation worsens when John Jamieson, Amber’s ex, falls for Hero. Hero is not interested in John, her eyes are set on Claudio, a guy from Italy who is interning at her father’s winery. With all of these summer events, the Betty’s find out they have a lot more brewing than just coffee.

Triple Shot Betty is truly a triple shot, it hits you with humor, romance and the real smell of coffee, thanks to the cool scratch-n-sniff cover. I love the fact that it is written in journal form, it gives the story a more personal feel. The main characters are very relatable, anyone could be a Betty and the coffee shop guests are great, you always wonder who’s going to show up next and what’s going to happen next. This book has all the right ingredients and makes it fun to wake up and smell the coffee!

Review: In Your Room by Jordanna Fraiberg

By

Tempestt Patterson

-

June 2, 2008

3

Can perfect strangers be perfect soul mates?

In Your Room is a story of a summer house swap between two families. This swap had the greatest effect on two teenagers.

One being, Molly Hill from LA, who’s mother re-marries and wants her to come along for the honeymoon in Boulder, Colorado. And the other is Charlie Richards from Colorado, who is surprised to hear that his two mothers have them moving to LA for the summer.

Both not being thrilled about their summer plans, Charlie loving mountain trails more than city streets and Molly feeling that Boulder is lacking what she needs to be creative and create designs. They both go in thinking this is going to be a long boring summer and come out thinking something totally different.

In Your Room truly takes you along for Molly and Charlie’s summer swap. Through e-mails, IM’s, adventures and events, you can’t help but find this story cute and delightful. Molly and Charlie are characters that are both relatable and likeable. This book has the perfect twists in its plot to avoid predictability and proves that you can always make the impossible possible.

Be sure to pick you up a copy of In Your Room when it is released in October!

Review: Chill by Deborah Reber

By

Tempestt Patterson

-

May 22, 2008

1

If stress is getting the best of you, the only way to deal is to CHILL!

Chill is a self help book that was designed to help you create order out of complete disorder. To reduce stress in your everyday life. Whether your stress is coming from school, home, friendships or maybe even the hectic schedule you keep, Chill has some sort of a solution for you.

Chill is like no other self help book I have read. Most self help books are written for adults, and teens cannot relate to them. But Chill was written with teens in mind from the cool pictures throughout, fun quizzes and creative topics for your journal.

I am currently using a lot of the techniques discussed in Chill like the Time Management chapter under Managing Out Your Work, the Apply to Colleges chart helps me ease the stress of worrying about what I’ve done and more importantly what I need to do. The Organization chapter made me organize and delete a lot of the items I had in my computer.

Chill could not have came at a better time in my life, with the stress of applying to colleges, managing time and just the stress that comes with being a teen. After reading Chill, I did feel a sense of balance and peace but most of all I felt the need to sit back, relax and CHILL!

Review: The Temptress Four by Gaby Triana

By

Tempestt Patterson

-

May 13, 2008

3

Four Friends Unforgettable Trip
On
The Temptress

The Temptress Four is about Fiona and her three friends setting sail for their graduation cruise to the Caribbean. But the night before the cruise, at the senior fair, they all agree to have their fortunes read by Madame Fortuna. Little did they know that Fortuna would predict strife and storms. Then would turn over the DEATH card and state “One of you will not come home.” Now with that in the back of the four girls minds, they set sail for a true adventure of a lifetime.

The Temptress Four was outstanding. Gaby Triana really created four great characters. I liked how distinct each characters traits were and how with every day on the trip and with every plot twist they each evolved in some way. Reading this book made me wish I could have taken a trip with my friends after our graduation, the only thing it would not have been as eventful.

In addition: I loved the name of the ship (The Temptress), So closely related to my name!

Review: She's So Money by Cherry Cheva

By

Tempestt Patterson

-

May 6, 2008

1

Maya’s Money Making Solution

I loved reading She’s So Money by Cherry Cheva! It was about a girl named Maya who was a very smart girl so she was a tutor at her school. She balances working at her parents Thai restaurant and tutoring. But when her parents leave her in charge of the Thai restaurant she gets a $10,000 fine from the Health Department, she has to pay this fine off but has no clue how to get the cash. So Camden (a boy she is tutoring in school) gives her the idea to use her smarts to get the money.

I enjoyed Maya’s witty sense of humor and the chemistry between her and Camden was just amazing. They truly were like a comedy team, they matched each other’s wisecracks perfectly. I admired Maya’s determination to rectify the fine over her parents restaurant, even though her method of doing so was wrong, she going to make things right the best way she could. From the first day I began reading She’s So Money, I couldn’t put it down, with Maya’s wit and the ever evolving plot, you never know what is going to happen next, and that is what is so wonderful about this captivating book.

Contests Online

By

Tempestt Patterson

-

April 14, 2008

0

http://www.elizabethwrites.com/blog/

weekly contests on her blog and MySpace.

http://lindagerber.blogspot.com/
Linda has Freebie Fridays

http://www.melissacwalker.com/blog/
Win-It Wednesday, check back there for prizes.
Current contest: check website for details!

http://www.thepageflipper.com/
Chelsea has contests every Monday.
Current contest: check website for details!

http://reviewerx.blogspot.com/2008/09/ya-connection-week-of-september-21st.htmlReviewer X’s YA Connection is giving away three ARCS of Paper Towns by John Green!

more to come…….

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