Test Review: The Girl in the Steel Corset

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



*this is a quick little review of a book i read a view months ago. I am writing it now as a practice to see if it will send to my blog.*


I truly and thoroughly enjoyed this book. Every element of the story just captivated me. It is always hard for me to get into a Steampunk story just because there is so much about the setting I am not familiar with. But I fell in love with this book relatively quickly. I loved how deep we got into each character. I really felt like I knew them. I loved how we kept uncovering little secrets here and there and they just Kept building and building.
When I think back on this book I just remember and feel a lot of raw emotion. I remember feeling so frustrated and confused while I was reading because I just wanted to know what was going on. But I didn't hate that feeling because it gave me such a drive to continue and finish the story. And I was so Happy when i realized there was going to be a second!



View all my reviews

General Mills

So now that I am finally posting again I figured I should do a bit of a general update. I kinda forgot how much I like blogging. My own little private journal that anyone and everyone can read. And to be honest i like it that way. Most things I write are meant to be read. whether by one or by many. Even when i write down something private I think of it more as writing down something for people to find in the future. Kinda strange I know, but i guess I just like the idea that someone is paying attention. 

Ok enough of the deep psychology of my actions. Lets start my update with this: I have for the past 2 weeks had some part of an All Time Low* song stuck in my head for the entire day. It's almost always a different song and it comes and goes throughout the day. And when it is stuck in my head it is on constant repeat. This band is great and all but after hearing "Walls" for the 59th time you start to wish you could listen to another song with out starting to hum Walls in the middle of the second verse. 

Next note of this update, Spanish. Here is some advice to you all: if you don't think you exceed in Spanish, if you just got by with a middle to low B in Spanish last year, and if you don't really love Spanish that much, DON'T take Honors Spanish IV. Because most of the people in honors Spanish IV actually like Spanish. And most of the people in honors Spanish IV are actually good at Spanish. And so if you just wanna make it thru the year like you did in spanish III, think again and just drop the class. Because You could end up like me in a class of 26 people (that is a lot actually) half of whom you actually would rather not talk to like... ever. And a slightly over lapping half of whom make you feel like an idiot they speak Spanish so well. And if you decide to look up from your pointless, frustrated doodles and actually try to learn something, well forget about that happening. Not over all the side conversations going n everywhere. Cause remember, the kids in Honors Spanish IV are already fluent in Spanish. Why would they need to listen to the teacher to teach them something? 

so now that it is 4:30 i should probably get off the computer and do some of my spanish homework. Lame. So i guess that is my update. Kinda pathetic i know but thats it for now. I have a couple movies to talk about later so stay tuned. And remember to check out my Goodreads for more frequent updates on my latest books of interest. 

p.s. this post was title General Mills because I was eating cereal while writing it. And because I thought i was clever. 

*If you don't know who All Time Low is go check them out. They are all over youtube, and most all of there songs are on spotify as well. 

Going Postal

I am having a problem. My mailman is incompetent. I'm serious here. They just can't seem to get anything right. We get our neighbors mail and who knows who gets ours. Now usually this really doesn't effect me aside from a magazine here and a lame college brochure there. But This is just too much.
I am part of a program at school that meets at odd times. It is just starting up again with the new school year so I have been waiting for an announcement about our first meeting. Now let me just be clear, this isn't some random little glee club, this is like a real program where we meet and learn lessons to teach our peers. So I am wait for this announcement for a few days when I hear my friends talking about how they are running late on turning in their form for the program this year. I was like, Ummm what in the world are you talking about? Well here's what seems to be the thing: Everyone in the program received by mail a letter abut returning to the program and a form to complete by the next meeting. well thanks to the superb postal service i have yet to acquire this document. And now its awkward b/c i don't know if it really got lost in the mail or if for some reason i purposely didn't get sent a letter.
Either way I blame the Post man. I am So giving his Christmas gift to the UPS man this year.

Like a Spill Canvas Playlist

Sometimes It Happens by Lauren Barnholdt

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Songs for this book: Lessons in Love- Cartel, What the Hell- Avril Lavigne, Don't let Your Enemies become Friends- The Spill Canvas

I have read a few other books with this central idea, Something like Fate, The unwritten rule, and now Sometimes it Happens. And i think of the 3 this book it the one that i enjoyed most. I loved the set up, back and forth between summer and the first day of school.
Mostly i just really connected with the main character and i wanted to know her story.
I love Lauren Barnholdt so i knew i would not be disappointed. I think it is one of her best works.

Official Overview:
On the last day of her junior year, Hannah's boyfriend Sebastian dumped her. Facing a summer of loneliness, Hannah turns to her best friend Ava for comfort. Ava does what BFFs do: she stays by Hannah's side...until it's time for Ava to head up to Maine for the summer. Also left behind is Ava's boyfriend, Noah, who's such a great guy he gets Hannah a job at the diner he waits tables at. Slowly, Hannah comes out of her funk thanks to Noah's good conversation and their fun times at the diner. But things get complicated when their friendship turns into attraction—and one night, into a passionate kiss. The novel opens on the first day of senior year; the day Hannah is going to see Ava, Sebastian, and Noah all in one place. Over the course of the day secrets and betrayals are revealed, and alliances are broken and reformed. In the end, everyone is paired up once again, but not the way you might think...


View all my reviews

Everything comes Naturally

Supernaturally by Kiersten White

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Songs for this book: Bend or Break- Allstar Weekend

Ah! so much to say! i dont wanna go into any spoilers so let me just say I love Kiersten White's voice in all of her writing. It is so strong and humorous and after reading her blog you can almost imagine her laughing at this part she wrote or a little commentary about tasey going on in your head. And i really love that. I think the thing that makes me love these books so much is you can really sense the time and thought and love that she poured into the story and each of the characters. It's not that Kiersten has her fans best interest in mind, its that she has her characters best interest in mind. (ya know, in the long run :]) And that is what makes these special to me. Love Love Love.

Official Overview:

Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees.

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself.

So much for normal.

View all my reviews

TeenBitches and Tiaras

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Songs for this book: Misery Business- Paramore 

I'm not sure what i was expecting from this book but it was definitely not what I just read.
The beginning of this book was intriguing. The concept of beauty queens in the wild sparked my interest for sure. But reading it, i found it very hard to understand what was going on. Supposedly almost everyone on the plane died, yet these girls are just shrugging it off like nothing happened. Which made me question what was really going on. I just found it hard to believe that people could act this way after what just happened. I realize this could have been a copping mechanism, denial. but they never seem to acknowledge it any differently. To add to my confusion Miss New Mexico had a tray sticking out of her forehead...? how was that not damaging to her brain? like, i'm sorry I just can grasp the fact that she really has a hunk of shrapnel in her head. Next on my list of "things I cannot believe": Sosie and the snake. Ummmmmmmm what she was actually swallowed by the sNAKE??

Then in the middle of the story I had no idea where the story was headed. all these background stories of the girls. The actual plot was at a complete stand still. And these stories were bizarre. The WIld girl? what does that mean? i was so confused. I thought she was turning into a werewolf at first.

Ok so lets skip the rant about the rest of the things i cannot believe/ dont understand about this book. towards the end I actually got into the story. This book was like Lord of the Flys meets 1984 meets an ABCfamily TV show.
And so lastly lets just say despite the weirdness throughout this book Libba Bray certainly knows how to wrap up an ending. That was my favorite part of the book. the flash forwards were great and it was the best closure i have had at tthe end of a book in a long time. :)    

Official Overview:
The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.

What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program--or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan--or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?

Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again.


View all my reviews

Not Just another Paranormal Teen Romance

Die for Me by Amy Plum

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Songs for this book: All That I Am-Parachute

I will be the first to admit when I heard about this book i was less than interested. Just the title "Die for Me". Really? how is that going to be any different from every other predictable paranormal book out there these days. And so I ignored it. But last week I downloaded the HarperTeen Dark Days of Summer sampler and started reading Die to Me at random. And despite my first impressions, I really enjoyed it, so must that i had to get the rest of the book right away.
Every since I read Anna and the French Kiss (by Steph Perkins [Amazing book]) I have been really interested in reading books set in Paris. It is such a wonderful setting and brings so much life to a story that Canton, Ohio just can't. (no offense to Canton!) anyway, Reading about Kate's journeys through the city to the cafes and museums was so fun to here about.
What really Surprised me was the originality of the paranormal aspect of the plot. Sure it is the whole "un-dead" thing again but the idea of a Revenant was so new to me. I loved getting learn about them having known less than nothing about them before, unlike in other paranormal books where you already know how a Vampire works but ooooh look this time they sparkle or this time they are vegetarian.(Um what??) Sorry been there read that. *Yawn* But this was new to me and i liked learning about them with Kate.
This book did have its fair share of sappy moments. And i think that is because for 1: its Paris! the city of love and 2: honestly underneath the 200 years or so Vincent is a huge sappy romantic. end of story. Needless to say I would be going for Jules if I had the choice. I have a thing for sarcastic men. (i.e. Jace Wayland)
One last thing I want to praise about this book is the family dynamic. In so many Books of this genre these days the heroine is an only child with absent parents. I loved the sisterly bond Kate and Georgia share and i think there relationship brings something very special to this novel.
Overall, I loved characters of this book, they all had something about them that made me want to get to know them better. I loved the Paranormal aspect. Revenants are so fun to learn about. (And the history lesson isnt bad either!)I wasn't impressed by the cover, it was pretty but kinda typical teen paranormal romance cover that makes me overlook it. But other than that and the relative sap factor i thought this was a great read!


View all my reviews