Tiny (Text)Books for School

Okay, so....yes, I confess...that title is slightly misleading because although some of these books may be tiny (compared to...say, the world, perhaps), they aren't the tiny you're thinking about. By tiny, I mean....my reviews for them are tiny and lackluster, and....who am I kidding...it feels like the blurb is longer than my review! Aaah! That's...just....depressing. Maybe I've grown out of writing reviews....I'm running out of things to say...and....maybe...maybe...maybe it's time for me to just give up on writing reviews altogether?! Anyways....this post isn't about that....so....I don't know....here ya go...some TINY REVIEWS....

Review: Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

Read: October 31-November 1, 2016
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Format: Paperback, 154 pages
Publication: May 2011 by University of Wisconsin Press
Genres: tragedy, classic, play, poetry

Blurb from Goodreads:

"Oedipus Rex is the greatest of the Greek tragedies, a profound meditation on the human condition. The story of the mythological king, who is doomed to kill his father and marry his mother, has resonated in world culture for almost 2,500 years. But Sophocles’ drama as originally performed was much more than a great story—it was a superb poetic script and exciting theatrical experience. The actors spoke in pulsing rhythms with hypnotic forward momentum, making it hard for audiences to look away. Interspersed among the verbal rants and duels were energetic songs performed by the chorus."

Guys! This is the first classic novel...wait, no...this isn't quite a novel....it's a play!  I've given 4 stars to!

Celebrate with me!

I finally found a classic novel....that I appreciated!

Review: The Lunar Chronicles Series by Marissa Meyer

Hey guys!  So....this is one of those series where I've read some books a long time ago...and didn't review them....so um...bear with me as I try to write a short and simple review of a book I've read more than four years ago.

Review: Fifteen Lanes by S.J. Laidlaw

Read: Aug. 6-15, 2016
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Format: hardcover, 304 pages
Publisher: Tundra Books, April 2016
Genres: realistic fiction, cultural (India)

Blurb from Goodreads:

"Noor has lived all of her fourteen years in the fifteen lanes of Mumbai’s red light district. Born into a brothel, she is destined for the same fate as her mother: a desperate life trapped in the city’s sex trade. She must act soon to have any chance of escaping this grim future.
Across the sprawling city, fifteen-year-old Grace enjoys a life of privilege. Her father, the CEO of one of India’s largest international banks, has brought his family to Mumbai where they live in unparalleled luxury. But Grace’s seemingly perfect life is shattered when she becomes a victim of a cruel online attack.
When their paths intersect, Noor and Grace will be changed forever. Can two girls living in vastly different worlds find a common path?Award-winning author S.J. Laidlaw masterfully weaves together their stories in a way that resonates across class and culture.Fifteen Lanes boldly explores the ties that bind us to places and people, and shows us that the strongest of bonds can be forged when hope is all but lost."

Review: The Savvy Series

Ooookay, so!  I read the first book a really, really long time ago.....and the second one...also a really long time ago....and back then....I didn't really keep track of when I started or finished books, or what I thought of them....so!

Bah.....let's just get on with this....

Read: sometime in 2013
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Pages: 342

Random gibberish....

Wow...5 stars?!  I guess I was easily impressed back in 2013, understandably, though.  I mean.....back then....I didn't read as many books as I have today....right...um, okay!

So, this family is......special.  When a member of this family turns 13, they gain a special ability.  Woo!  This novel follows Mibs, a girl who just got her special ability-savvy-and, it's been so long, I can't even remember what her savvy was....um.....I remember she found this really nice guy....her age, of course.   And they were a cute couple.  Aaaanyways.  Mooooving on.

Review: Macbeth 1989 by William Shakespeare

Read: May 9-June 6, 2016

Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pages: 258

Genres: classics, Shakespeare

Shakespeare! FUN.

My English class is just finishing up the unit on Macbeth, and I have to say....Macbeth.....very well done!

Ah, Macbeth....

The bloody play....

When my teacher told me it'd be bloody...I wasn't expecting this! So much...bloodiness...and...unnecessary killing....

For those of you who don't know what Macbeth is about, Macbeth is a soldier to the king, Duncan.  One day, he comes upon three witches who call him three different things, one of them being king.  

Macbeth foolishly decides to believe the witches and does everything in his power to get on the throne.  Lots of stabbing!  Lots of blood!  Lots of...blood.

Review: Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes

Read: May 5-13, 2016
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pages: 362
Genres: realistic fiction, mystery, romance, thriller, contemporary

Blurb from Goodreads:

"Max Cantrell has never been a big fan of the truth, so when the opportunity arises to sell forged permission slips and cover stories to his classmates, it sounds like a good way to make a little money and liven up a boring senior year. With the help of his friends Preston and Parvati, Max starts Liars, Inc. Suddenly everybody needs something and the cash starts pouring in. Who knew lying could be so lucrative?

When Preston wants his own cover story to go visit a girl he met online, Max doesn’t think twice about hooking him up. Until Preston never comes home. Then the evidence starts to pile up—terrifying clues that lead the cops to Preston’s body. Terrifying clues that point to Max as the murderer.Can Max find the real killer before he goes to prison for a crime he didn’t commit? In a story that Kirkus Reviews called "Captivating to the very end," Paula Stokes starts with one single white lie and weaves a twisted tale that will have readers guessing until the explosive final chapters."

The blurb is what initially attracted me to this book. The idea of selling lies as a business venture? Cool!

And then you sell a lie to a friend to go meet this girl online...and he goes missing?
Uh oh!

Review: Mythic Misadventures Series by Carolyn Hennesy

I started reading this series a long...LONG time ago.  Unfortunately, I didn't write reviews back then...or documented when I started and finished reading them.  All I remember is that I read them before

*sigh*

Oh well...

So...from the beginning to end...we have...Pandora Gets Jealous....to....Pandora Gets Frightened.  All great books...I also rated them all a solid 4 stars.  HUH.

Anyways...so, to summarise the series...Pandora, aged 13, brings the infamous box of evils to school for a project.  Accidents happened, and tada!  The box was opened, unleashing all kinds of evils out into the world.  Evils like...jealousy, anger, greed, and fear.  Yep, all these nasty things were let out into the world.  And Pandora was called to catch them all, and put them back in the box.  

Review: Epic Game by William Kowalski

 

Read: March 24-26, 2016
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pages: 144
Genres: realistic fiction

Blurb from Goodreads:

"Kat is a tough, independent woman who makes her living as a professional poker player. She is single, childless and happy about it. But when her best friend, Josie, commits suicide, she names Kat as the temporary guardian of her ten-year-old son, David, until his father can come for him. In the few weeks that David is with her, Kat finds herself changed in ways she had never thought imaginable. With the old poker adage "bet with your head, not your heart" ringing in her head like a warning bell, Kat nevertheless finds that all the money and success in the world don't mean a thing unless you have someone to share it with...and that maybe there is more to life than winning after all."


This...was surprisingly good.

Review: Seven Ways We Lie by Riey Redgate

Read: Jan. 13-March 24, 2016
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Pages: 352
Genres: contemporary, realistic fiction

Blurb from Goodreads:

"Paloma High School is ordinary by anyone’s standards. It’s got the same cliques, the same prejudices, the same suspect cafeteria food. And like every high school, every student has something to hide—whether it’s Kat, the thespian who conceals her trust issues onstage; or Valentine, the neurotic genius who’s planted the seed of a school scandal.

When that scandal bubbles over, and rumors of a teacher-student affair surface, everyone starts hunting for someone to blame. For the unlikely allies at the heart of it all, the collision of their seven ordinary-seeming lives results in extraordinary change."

Confession: I procrastinated the reading of this book. BAD.

Review: The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith

Read: Feb.19-26, 2016
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pages: 384
Genres: contemporary, realistic fiction (abuse)

Blurb from Goodreads:

"Eden was always good at being good. Starting high school didn’t change who she was. But the night her brother’s best friend rapes her, Eden’s world capsizes.

What was once simple, is now complex. What Eden once loved—who she once loved—she now hates. What she thought she knew to be true, is now lies. Nothing makes sense anymore, and she knows she’s supposed to tell someone what happened but she can’t. So she buries it instead. And she buries the way she used to be.

Told in four parts—freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year."

Review: Wide-Awake Princess Series by E.D. Baker

Hey peoples!

As you will clearly see later on in this post...I started reading this series a long time ago...so...my reviews are pretty much nonexistant...and I didn't even organize my dates as meticulously as I do now...also...you might notice that I became more harsh and critical with my reviews as the years went by...or maybe not...I don't know...you be the judge...then remember to tell me, okay?

I'd also like to confess something...I may have read the first two maybe three books in this series without any inhibitions, but as I grew older, I started becoming more conscious of what other people thought of me...so I now find myself reading up to five books at a time:

• the book I'm not ashamed of reading and bring to school to read for our beloved silent reading periods (which are irritatingly not silent)

• the eBook that I read on my HTC, the much more mortifying reads that I hope none of you ever find...(nono, don't you go purposely looking for my secretive stuff now, okay?)

• the childish book belonging to a series I started way back in elementary school but am now too old to be seen carrying to school, also...I bring these books out on weekends when my other non-shameful book is too thick, or a hardcover. 

• the ARC that I received and must read so that I can review, hopefully before the book is published....

• and the occasional audiobook I happen to be interested in.

But I digress.  Back to the post at hand!  So here we have a series that I started reading way back in 2013, practically a century now.  As you can see in 2013, I haven't really understood the concept of reviewing yet (a pity), so...non existent reviews coming your way...well, I have a star rating, but that's not a review.

Review: Shadow Falls Series by C.C Hunter

I'm compiling my reviews for the different books in this series to this...long post with...uuuuuh....words are failing me right now...so I'll just get on with this.  So!  This series starts with Born at Midnight where a girl with strange abilities goes to a camp with strange people who also have strange abilities.  But even here, this girl still can't fit in.  Keep in mind that the first book I read was in 2013, so the review might not be all that great....all I did was copy and paste my review from 2013...really....have fun reading my thoughts as a little squealing girl who hasn't read much...so has really low expectations...
*actually...my first review is kinda sad...even as a fourteen year old...my writing sucked.....uuuuuuuuuugh....don't look at me like that........

Review: The Asylum Series by Madeleine Roux

Peoples!  I introduce to you, the second horror series I've read!


Read: Dec. 7-22, 2015
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pages: 310


Guess what?! This was the book I read for book club! My very first book club book! YAY!

Anyways...this book was creepy. Not scary...but freakishly creepy. I chose this book because I was promised chills and thrills and all sorts of horrifying things...but I also chose this book, expecting not to be affected. I've only ever read one horror story before, and it was not horrifying. At all. This one on the other hand...creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy.

Well, there are several factors that contributed to the feeling, I suppose.
1) I'm very easily scared (yes, I jumped when someone sneezed abnormally loud once)
2) I was reading this at night (pretty much the only time I ever get to read in peace)
3) I was reading this in a silent room (it was really, really quiet, okay?)
4) I was the only one in the room (imagine all the weird looks I would have gotten if I had screamed...)

So there I was reading this book when suddenly...*bzz bzz*
I very nearly screamed and hurled the book across the room.

What I DID do, however, was jump and scold myself for being afraid of a book. I mean...what's the worst that could happen, right? It's just paper...

Now, the blurb on the back did warn me of haunting images from actual asylums, but I didn't think much of them. Until this long period of reading when I was beyond freaked and I turned the page , only to be greeted by this girl with this hair with these clothes...gaaaah! From then on, I would always scout ahead a few chapters to warn myself if there was something alarming coming...

There was this point in the book, where I was so deeply entrenched in the book that I was actually afraid to turn the page or even treat the book with anything but utmost respect and care...I thought...I thought...a hand or SOMETHING would reach out of the book. I actually did. I kid you not.

Thankfully, I did the sane thing and took a break (at some point in the book when I couldn't take any more creepy) before I finished the rest of the book. And by break, I mean, I walked around the house and shouted some gibberish, then decided to go back into the book. Of course...at another point...I told myself to go to bed and finish the rest of the book in the morning where it would be bright, and loud, and not a perfect environment to read a horror novel...

The ending...although the main problems that were introduced in this book were addressed, and all those little nuances finally made sense...there were still a few things that I still don't get...still some things that have left me without a reasonable explanation...hmm...

This book really had the creepiness down pat. It wasn't the sudden surprise thing I was always afraid of in the movies...this book had this great build up of suspense, and I was taken from mild amusement in the beginning, to reading behind a pillow...

As for the next book, well...I'm pretty sure I will read it...I mean, it's unlike me to NOT finish a series I've started...but I think I've had enough creepiness to last the year...or what's left of it anyway...I think there's...a week left...a week and a day...?

Aaanyways....I'm definitely taking a break from the creepy. I'm going to read something much less horrific and goose bumps-causing. Something that requires little to no brain power to comprehend...a fluffy, girly, read, if you will...
_________________________________________________________________________________

Read: June 14-28 ,2016
Rating: 3out of 5 stars
Pages: 343

This started out a bit tame, well, actually, the entire first half of the book was kinda tame, but no matter...I get scared way too easily anyway.

I...was a bit disappointed with this book though, I expected this book to be every bit as horrifying as the first. Now, since I scare so easily, you would think that this would be a good thing, no? Unfortunately, I don't think so! I was bored.

The events that unfolded were somewhat amusing, and the ending almost made up for the lack of scariness, but otherwise, this book was....meh.

I also thought that the trio of friends kinda lost their...connection. They just didn't feel as trusting and friendly towards each other as they used to. What a shame, I quite liked this group. Oh well.

    What is the scariest or creepiest book/movie you've ever read/watched? 

Review: Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

Read: Dec. 7-17, 2015
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pages: 221
Genres: historical, Canada

Synopsis from Goodreads:

"Saul Indian Horse has hit bottom. His last binge almost killed him, and now he’s a reluctant resident in a treatment centre for alcoholics, surrounded by people he’s sure will never understand him. But Saul wants peace, and he grudgingly comes to see that he’ll find it only through telling his story. With him, readers embark on a journey back through the life he’s led as a northern Ojibway, with all its joys and sorrows.

With compassion and insight, author Richard Wagamese traces through his fictional characters the decline of a culture and a cultural way. For Saul, taken forcibly from the land and his family when he’s sent to residential school, salvation comes for a while through his incredible gifts as a hockey player. But in the harsh realities of 1960s Canada, he battles obdurate racism and the spirit-destroying effects of cultural alienation and displacement.

Indian Horse unfolds against the bleak loveliness of northern Ontario, all rock, marsh, bog and cedar. Wagamese writes with a spare beauty, penetrating the heart of a remarkable Ojibway man. Drawing on his great-grandfather’s mystical gift of vision, Saul Indian Horse comes to recognize the influence of everyday magic on his own life. In this wise and moving novel, Richard Wagamese shares that gift of magic with readers as well."

Review: The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas

Wow...where do I even start? 

This series is so epically awesome! 
This series is fantastic! 
Marvelous! 
Fantabulous?! 
Superb! 
Splendorous!  Splendiferous!? 
Stunningly unrivaled?!  Gloriously splendid! 
Majestically marvellously magnificent!

Anyways...I'll just get on with this...
Again...here's a compilation of all my reviews from this series...

Review: Finding Paris by Joy Preble

Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Read: Oct.6-13, 2015
Pages: 272
Genres: action, contemporary, mystery

Synopsis from Goodreads:

"Sisters Leo and Paris Hollings have only ever had each other to rely on. They can't trust their mother, who hops from city to city and from guy to guy, or their gambler stepfather, who's moved them all to Las Vegas. It's just the two of them: Paris, who's always been the dreamer, and Leo, who has a real future in mind—going to Stanford, becoming a doctor, falling in love. But Leo isn't going anywhere right now, except driving around Vegas all night with her sister.

Until Paris ditches Leo at the Heartbreak Hotel Diner, where moments before they had been talking with physics student Max Sullivan. Outside, Leo finds a cryptic note from Paris—a clue. Is it some kind of game? Where is Paris, and why has she disappeared? When Leo reluctantly accepts Max's offer of help, the two find themselves following a string of clues through Vegas and beyond. But the search for the truth is not a straight line. And neither is the path to secrets Leo and Max hold inside."

Review

I received this book as a galley (ARC) and it was signed by the author, and she even included this super cool bookmark that had the cover on it.  Anyways, I was reading this in school one day in English and guess what? 

Review: Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1) by Robin LaFevers

Read: Sept 26-Oct 6, 2015
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pages: 550
Genres: historical fiction, mystery, romance, adventure

Synopsis from Goodreads:

"Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?"

Review: Jane Unwrapped by Leah and Kate Rooper

Read: September 9-13, 2015
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads:

"Some tombs should never be opened...

Fluorine uranium carbon potassium. Jane’s experiment really went wrong this time. After a fatal accident, teen scientist Jane becomes the first modern-day...mummy. Waking up in the Egyptian underworld without a heart certainly isn’t the best—especially when it means Anubis, god of embalming, has to devour her soul. Yuck. But when Jane meets the drop-dead gorgeous god, suddenly she's thinking this might not be the worst thing to happen. And then she is pushed to do the impossible—just time-travel and kill King Tut. Well, every experiment has variables which can end in disaster... Jane just wishes she could decide whether she wants to strangle Anubis or kiss him."

My Review

Peoples!  Guess what?!  This is the first book where I was required to leave a review in exchange for getting my hands on this copy!  I usually don't read books that require a review because I'm too insecure about reviewing, but this book was way too interesting to let the opportunity pass.  Thank you so much Entangled Publishing for providing me with this wonderful book.  I'm so excited to share my review with you! 

Review: Thirst Series by Christopher Pike

Hello!  Again, I'm compiling my reviews, so some extremely amateur reviews coming your way, but don't worry, I hope they get better as I progress through the series, because if I don't I'd be worried...