Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors

Reviewed by Ashley

Katrina, is a girl who lives and works in a coffeehouse with her grandmother since her parents died in a car crash. She is just an ordinary girl (at least that’s what she thought) until she meets Malcolm. Malcolm is a guy who sleeps in their alley. She noticed him one morning and decided to give him some breakfast, and Malcolm insisted on giving her a reward for her good deeds. It turned out that Malcolm is a messenger (a kind of angel). Malcolm insists that he has to give her the reward, something she most desired. The problem is, she does not know what her greatest desire is. Like the old saying, “You won’t be able to put it down” this is a fantastic book.

Find it at the library!

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

Reviewed by Ashley

Naomi Parker has been given a blank slate. She fell down the steps at her high school, hit her head, and now she can’t remember anything from the past four years. She doesn’t remember meeting her best friend Will, she doesn’t remember why she likes her jock boyfriend Ace, she doesn’t remember her parents’ divorce and she doesn’t remember how to drive. What Naomi has is the chance to star over, to press the reset button on her life. And the things that remain the same might indicate what she should really be doing with her life and where her heart truly lies.  Gabrielle Zevin is my favorite author, her books are like no other and keep you engaged in the story till the end when you’re so sad it ended.

Get it at the library!

Saving Juliet by Suzanne Selfors

Reviewed by Ashley

This story is about a girl named Mimi. She is an actress for theatre, even though she hates it. Mimi gets these magic ashes from her aunt, and to make a long story short she and this boy Troy end up in the play Romeo and Juliet. She plays Juliet and Troy is her dreamy and cocky costar. He plays Romeo.  Even if you haven’t read Romeo and Juliet, that’s just fine, the play doesn’t exactly go its original course. This story was a light read, so pick it up if you are looking to be amused.

Get it at the library!

Alex Van Helsing: Voice of the Undead By Jason Henderson

  By Rhea

Voice of the Undead, by Jason Henderson, is about Alex Van Helsing, a young vampire hunter in training. He works for the Polidorium, a group working towards stopping the evil vampires. Alex is constantly attacked by these vampires. One day on his way back to his boarding school after vampire hunter training, Alex is attacked by Elle, a vampire who is out to get him. She throws blood-sucking worms at him, but he gets rid of them, or so he thinks. When he gets back to his dorm room, he finds that one of these worms is still in his jacket. This worm ends up biting Steven, one of the meaner boys at the school, and also leads to Alex setting fire to his room. Not only does his room catch fire, but he also ends up burning down part of his school. With his school inhospitable, the entire student body moves to LaLaurie, their partner school for girls. While adjusting to life with the girls and preparing for a debutante ball, Alex also has to watch out for new danger. The Polidorium has learned that a special vampire, Ultravox, is coming to the school for vampires, which conveniently happens to be located under the lake where Alex’s school and LaLaurie are built. With so many problems it’s hard to do anything right, but Alex has to manage or else things will not be pretty.

Voice of the Undead is an okay book.  It’s good, but it’s nothing special.  The plot is good but slightly predictable.  There are some moments when you get annoyed because what’s going to happen next is much too obvious.  Still, the story is interesting and does make you want to read it.  The book is fast paced and doesn’t waste much time with worthless details, which is good.  It is an action/adventure novel, but even then I think most people would like the book.  It is a good book if one wants to pass the time and is looking for a quick read because this book is pretty short and easy to read.  It isn’t the best book, but it isn’t that bad either, and I would recommend it to anyone who just wants to pass the time for a little while.

Beastly Movie Review

  By Rhea

Beastly is a modern version of Beauty and the Beast. I am not going to include a summary because there is a summary of Beastly the book in a previous review, and the plot is pretty much the same. I really like the book. However, I cannot say the same about the movie. Of course, the plot of the movie was good because it was based on the book. Yet there were many issues with the movie. First of all, the beast in the movie was nothing like the beast in the book. The beast in the book was a hairy, fanged, beast-thing. In the movie, it was just a guy with tattoos and scars. I have read the book so this annoyed me, but if one hasn’t read the book, this can be overlooked. Another issue I had with the movie is more of my person bias. The female lead is played by Vanessa Hudgens, and in my opinion she is not the best actress. Again, this is a biased viewpoint and can be ignored. The movie also moved kind of fast and left out some key points, but I guess this is true about most movies based on books. There were some other issues I had with the movie, but they are small and not a big deal. There were some funny moments in the movie which made the movie a little better. The acting by the tutor was funny, and the witch was pretty interesting too. It was an okay movie, not amazing but not that bad either. Plot-wise the movie was pretty good, but for those who have read the book, the movie may not seem as great. For those who haven’t read the book, Beastly is a good way to pass the time.

The Five Fakirs of Faizabad By P. B. Kerr

  By Rhea

In The Five Fakirs of Faizabad, by P. B. Kerr, John and Phillipa are at on another adventure to save the world. As John and Phillipa work towards becoming mature djinn, they must complete the task of granting three wishes to someone who really deserves them, and then explore to a board of members why their choice is correct. Phillipa goes to Italy to help the unluckiest man in the world only to find that he is happy with his life. John, on the other hand, goes to the town of Bumby England, which has been very unlucky, with Groanin, his Uncle Nimrod’s butler. John does not have much luck, but while there he finds a white gorilla that no one can seem to see. This gorilla seems to be causing bad luck for the town.  While John and Phillipa try to solve their problems, Nimrod becomes aware of an even larger issue. His friend Moo helps him discover that the luck in the entire world is shifting towards a greater amount of bad luck. He soon discovers that someone is trying to cause bad luck in the world so that they can awaken a mysterious fakir who knows an amazing secret. Nimrod, Moo, John, Phillipa, and Groanin, along with the white gorilla, the unluckiest man in the world, and others, go on a mission to stop the wicked djinn who is messing with the luck before it is too late. Will they be able to save the world?

I really enjoyed The Five Fakirs of Faizabad, just like the previous five books in the Children of the Lamp series. It was my favorite book in this series because it has many different story lines that all come together at the end. There are also many surprises that build upon the previous books in the series even though the books don’t seem related. The plot is good and the book is not a very difficult read, and it is all in all pretty entertaining. Sadly, the ending, at least to me, was annoying. It was surprising, but I also think that it was not a very good way to end the book. Despite this, I think that The Five Fakirs of Faizabad was a great book!

Death Sentence By Alexander Gordon Smith

  By Rhea

Death Sentence, by Alexander Gordon Smith, is the third book in the Escape from Furnace series. After another failed attempt to escape from the prison, Alex and his friends Zee and Simon have finally been captured by the Warden. Now the three will be given a punishment equivalent to, if not worse than, death. The three will be turned into black suits, the Warden’s “employees,” who make sure that things in the prison continue smoothly and the Warden continues to be able to do whatever he wants. The black suits are boys from the prison who were taken, and they are supposed to have no memory of who they once were. Alex does not want to become one of these, of course, but it is almost impossible to resist since he is especially weak while the Warden is powerful. Alex won’t go quietly, he won’t give up who he is, and he won’t stop fighting. But slowly he starts to lose himself and starts to think that becoming a black suit is a good thing because it makes him powerful. He starts to become “brainwashed” and think that the weak don’t deserve to live. With thoughts like these swimming through his head, how can Alex possibly escape?

Just like its predecessors, Death Sentence is an amazing book. Again it captivates the reader and there is no way to put the book down. I sure couldn’t! The writing makes one feel as though he or she is Alex. One becomes completely immersed in the story. Just like the previous books in the series, Death Sentence is a very violent book. I found it to be very sad as well. However, it is not all gloom and doom. It is an intense, fast-paced book that never lets one get bored. While the ending doesn’t exactly lead one hanging, it does make them look forward to the next book (which sadly comes out in 2012). Everyone should read this book!

Source Code Movie REview

  By Rhea

In the movie Source Code, soldier Colter Stevens finds himself sitting on a train he doesn’t remember boarding in a place he doesn’t remember going, talking to a woman he has never met. After looking in a mirror he learns that he is not himself, but is in the body of another man. After trying to figure out what is going on, the train explodes and he finds himself in a dark chamber with a computer screen. The woman on the screen, Goodwin, informs Stevens that he is on a mission for the government in order to save many lives. As it turns out, Stevens is taking part in a government program in which he takes goes into the consciousness of a man in his final eight minutes before death using the source code in order to find out vital information. In this case, Stevens is sent to the last eight minutes of a man who died on a train that exploded because of a hidden bomb. It is up to Colter Stevens to keep going back until he can find out who the bomber is. If he can do this, he can save many people from the possible second bombing expected in downtown Chicago. If not, innumerable lives will be lost.

While I like most movies I see, there are very few movies that I truly love. However, I absolutely loved Source Code. The plot is great and surprising. The line “expect the unexpected” completely applies to this movie. It is also interesting to see how small actions greatly change the final outcome of the bombing every time Stevens goes into the consciousness of the man. All in all the plot is amazing. Many people said that the movie was not good because it was the same eight minutes repeated again and again. This is most definitely not true. While each eight minutes start the same, they all become drastically different, and are thus not the same eight minutes repeated. Also, the ending was very good. Without giving too much away, the ending had a nice surprise which was, at least for me, both happy and sad. The ending may seem slightly confusing so it is really important to pay close attention at that time. Source Code is a fantastic movie!

Cross Game By Mitsuru Adachi

  By Rhea

Cross Game, by Mitsuru Adachi, is a manga, a Japanese comic, about a boy named Ko Kitamura and his adventures with baseball. Ko Kitamura was best friends with a girl in his neighborhood, Wakaba. The two were always together. However, Wakaba died trying to save another girl while swimming. Ko is an amazing batter at baseball because he has been batting at Wakaba’s family’s batting center his whole life, but he is not as great a pitcher. He works hard so that he can improve and become better than Aoba, Wakaba’s little sister. He wants to fulfill Wakaba’s dream for him to pitch in front of a packed house at a prestigious stadium. A while after Wakaba’s death, Ko joins the baseball team in hopes of making this dream come true. But things are difficult because the coach only allows his hand-picked students to play. Will Ko’s dream ever come true? This is only the beginning!

This is a review of Cross Game volumes 1-6 because those are the ones available at the Farmington library. The six books are all combined because they all continue from one to the next and it is hard to write a review about just one volume. As said before, Cross Game is a Japanese comic. Many people to do not like to read comics but Cross Game is actually a pretty good manga. The story is centered around baseball so baseball fans will love this series. The plot is interesting, but the best part is that it is a comic and is thus illustrated. The art in the books is nice and, while not that detailed, still conveys the correct emotions, and thus adds to the appeal of the books. Overall this is a good book and one should try it even if they do not often read comics.

Soul Surfer Movie Review

  By Rhea

Soul Surfer is a movie based on the real life story of Bethany Hamilton.  Bethany was a great surfer; it was what she was meant to do.  She and her friend Alana had just gotten sponsors and she had a promising future as a professional surfer.  All her dreams came crashing down one fateful day.  While surfing with her friend Alana and her family, Bethany is attacked by a shark.  The shark manages to bite off one of Bethany’s arms before she gets out of the water.  She is quickly transported to the hospital and, even after losing one arm, holds onto life while she makes it through; her arm does not.  Along with her arm, she loses not only her career as a pro surfer, but also any chance of surfing.  How can Bethany possibly continue without surfing, the thing she loves most?

As said before, Soul Surfer is based on a real story which makes it all the more sad and inspiring.  It is really hard to believe that this could happen to someone and the entire story is inspiring, without giving anything away.  Sadly, there is very little action in this movie, but that doesn’t make it any worse.  The only thing is that this movie is slow at parts.  The effects in the movie are really good, and it truly looks like the actress playing Bethany doesn’t have an arm.  Over all it is a good movie and I would definitely recommend this to anyone!