Review: Wildthorn by Jane Eagland

Have you entered my Book Blogging to Save Japan contest yet! Do something to help Japan in this time of crisis, let me know what you did (either in a comment or by e-mail - zedster.tbb(at)gmail(DOT)com), and be entered to win! Ending in two weeks, so check it nowish! :-)

Title: Wildthorn

Author: Jane Eagland

Rating:

Who Should Read It?
A GREAT book for all fans of YA, especially those that like a lot of intrigue and a bit of mystery.

What I Have to Say:
I really really really LOVED this book, and I desperately wanted to feel like I could give it 5 stars or even 4 1/2 stars. Unfortunately, though, there were just some parts that felt over-contrived. If that makes sense. As difficult as it was to get to the point in which things worked out for Lou, things worked out just a little bit too easily for her. Things always ended up being pretty much EXACTLY as you expected them to be.

That said, this book read SO smoothly. I had barely started before I was finished - almost like I got so into it that I never even really felt myself reading.

The story starts off when Lou ends up at the doors of a mental institution, where she is told she is crazy, and she must be schizophrenic, as she doesn't even seem to know her own name. The more she tries to convince the people there that she is not crazy, the crazier she seems. No one believes her, except for one exceptionally sympathetic worker, Eliza.

This book moves flawlessly back and forth between Louisa's time at Wildthorn, the mental institution, and her memories of growing up with her mother, her doctor father, and her terrible brother. This book moves back and forth between past and present so smoothly that, if you don't think about it too much, it's difficult to know whether Lou's memories are memories or figments of her imagination. Is she actually Louisa Cosgrove? Or is she really the crazy Lucy Childs?

I really enjoyed every aspect of this story, except maybe the love story. I don't want to say too much about it, as I'm afraid it will give to much away, but it really just felt out of place to me. I was totally incapable of believing it, even from a fictional point of view.

Anyway, overall, this book is mysterious, well-written, and full of mystery and intrigue! It will keep you easily reading and excited right up until the very end.

Summary:Seventeen-year-old Louisa Cosgrove longs to break free from her respectable life as a Victorian doctor's daughter. But her dreams become a nightmare when Louisa is sent to Wildthorn Hall: labeled a lunatic, deprived of her liberty and even her real name. As she unravels the betrayals that led to her incarceration, she realizes there are many kinds of prison. She must be honest with herself - and others - in order to be set free. And love may be the key...

Cover Story: It's kind of fabulous. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like the corsette might be symbolic for all the different ways that Lou found herself trapped throughout her life. Wonderful cover!

Disclosure: This book was received for review from Net Galley. This in no way affected my review.

Review: Karma Bites by Stacey Kramer and Valerie Thomas

As I think has been evidenced by my lack of presence in the blogging world lately, I haven't really been feeling the desire to say anything about books lately. I want to read them and not feel like I HAVE to have something to say. It's weird, as I used to feel like I was just DYING to get something out every time I would finish reading something. Anyhow, I'm going to give this a try here, but it's been a while. Also, have you entered this awesome contest yet? If not, you should. So go do it. Now.

Title: Karma Bites

Author: Stacey Kramer and Valerie Thomas

Rating: 1/2

Who Should Read It?
This is a book that will really appeal to middle grade readers. It's absolutely brilliant for the age range to which it's aiming, and adults might still enjoy it for nostalgia purposes.

What I Have to Say:
Karma Bites was cute. Really cute. An absolutely adorable read for any middle grade reader, I think. I feel like the problem I have, a lot of times, with middle grade books, is that I am so far away from being that age that I'm just totally incapable of understanding the main character. Which leaves me finding them absolutely annoying and unsupportable. Franny Flanders, while slightly annoying at times, managed to escape the annoying middle grade main character stereotype.

She was funny and ballsy and ridiculous, and even though she often had absolutely nothing going for her, she managed to be just the right amount of OCD neurotic ridiculous (which is something, I must say, I can totally understand). And maybe that's why I almost ended up loving her at the end. She messed up EVERYTHING, but in that way that it's just messed up enough so that everything is okay. And this is something I also do regularly in my daily life. Which made her, despite our age difference, totally relate-to-able.

Franny Flanders aside, the rest of the characters, from the into the occult Granny with the magic box to Alden, the supposed love of Franny's life who once managed to touch her ear for a whole few seconds, to her two best friends who can't talk to each other, were all just the right amount of ridiculous. I loved reading about everything and everyone Franny managed to screw up.

Unfortunately, there were also times when this book lagged. Some things that were funny in the beginning just kept going on and on and on and on and on (and then on and on some more), when I really wished they would just end. The twists never really felt like twists, instead feeling more like inevitabilities. The plot was just too easy at times. And then, while I'm into magic and therefore loved that aspect of the book, I'm also tired of reading about stereotypical cliques, and without those, this book couldn't have existed.

Still, my final conclusion is that it was an overall pleasant and funny read, best read in one sitting.

Summary: Life seems to have it in for Franny Flanders.

Her best friends aren’t speaking, her parents just divorced, and her hippie grandmother has moved in. The only karma Franny’s got is bad karma.

Then Franny gets her hands on a box of magic recipes that could fix all of her problems. It could even change the world! Finally, life is looking up.

But Franny is about to learn that magic and karma aren’t to be played with. When you mess with the universe, it can bite back in unexpected ways.

Ouch!

Cover Story: I really enjoy this cover! I don't know why, but it sort of reminds me of a Goosebumps cover. I used to LOVE those books back when I was, like 10. Definitely got the nostalgia feeling going on!

Disclosure: This book was sent to me for review for the publisher, which in no way affected what I had to say. :-P

CONTEST prizes: all about Neil Gaiman; SIGNED How to Talk To Girls at Parties Print

Have you entered my Book Blogging to Save Japan contest yet! Do something to help Japan in this time of crisis, let me know what you did (either in a comment or by e-mail - zedster.tbb(at)gmail(DOT)com), and be entered to win!
Below is just one of the many awesome prizes you have the opportunity to win!

This is a print that was done in conjunction with Neil Gaiman's short story,How to Talk to Girls at Parties, which can be read by clicking this link! It's a great story, so I highly recommend reading it! The print will be signed by the artist!
This was donated thanks to Cat from neverwear.net. It's beautiful, and I SO wish I could be the one to win it. All you've got to do to win is something to help Japan (it doesn't have to involve money, for you poor people like me). Let me know what you did, and you're entered!
You don't want to pass this up!
The contest will only be going on for a couple more weeks no, so HURRY and ENTER!

CONTEST Books: SIGNED copy of Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Have you entered my Book Blogging to Save Japan contest yet! Do something to help Japan in this time of crisis, let me know what you did (either in a comment or by e-mail - zedster.tbb(at)gmail(DOT)com), and be entered to win!
Below is just one of the many awesome books you have the opportunity to win!


A signed copy of Water for Elephants!

Title: Water for Elephants

Author: Sara Gruen

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Summary:Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.

Jacob was there because his luck had run out - orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive 'ship of fools'. It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act - in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

I read and ADORED this book long before I started book blogging. If you haven't read it yet, with the upcoming release of the movie, you totally should. All you have to do is do something to help Japan, let me know what you did, and you'll be entered to win!

CONTEST Books: If You Follow Me by Malena Watrous

Have you entered my Book Blogging to Save Japan contest yet! Do something to help Japan in this time of crisis, let me know what you did (either in a comment or by e-mail - zedster.tbb(at)gmail(DOT)com), and be entered to win!
Below is just one of the many awesome books you have the opportunity to win!

Title: If You Follow Me

Author: Malena Watrous

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Summary:Hoping to outpace her grief in the wake of her father's suicide, Marina has come to the small, rural Japanese town of Shika to teach English for a year. But in Japan, as she soon discovers, you can never really throw away your past . . . or anything else, for that matter.

If You Follow Me is at once a fish-out-of-water tale, a dark comedy of manners, and a strange kind of love story. Alive with vibrant and unforgettable characters from an ambitious town matchmaker to a high school student-cum-rap artist wannabe with an addiction to self-tanning lotion it guides readers over cultural bridges even as it celebrates the awkward, unlikely triumph of the human spirit.

This book totally sounds like it's all about me! I can't wait to read it! Be sure to enter for your chance to win!

CONTEST Books: Hopeful Monsters by Hiromi Goto

Have you entered my Book Blogging to Save Japan contest yet! Do something to help Japan in this time of crisis, let me know what you did (either in a comment or by e-mail - zedster.tbb(at)gmail(DOT)com), and be entered to win!
Below is just one of the many awesome books you have the opportunity to win!

Title: Hopeful Monsters

Author: Hiromi Goto

Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press

Summary:“Hopeful monsters” are genetically abnormal organisms that, nonetheless, adapt and survive in their environments. In these devastating stories, the hopeful monsters in question are those who will not be tethered by familial duty nor bound by the ghosts of their past.

Home becomes fraught, reality a nightmare as Hiromi Goto weaves her characters through tales of domestic crises and cultural dissonance. They are the walking wounded—a mother who is terrified by a newborn daughter who bears a tail; a “stinky girl” who studies the human condition in a shopping mall; a family on holiday wih a visiting grandfather who cannot abide their “foreign” nature. But wills are a force unto themselves, and Goto’s characters are imbued with the light of myth and magic-realism. With humor and keen insight, Goto makes the familiar seem strange, and deciphers those moments when the idyllic skews into the absurd and the sublime.

Doesn't that sound AWESOME?!? I know I can't wait to read it! Be sure to enter for your chance to win!

Book Blogging for Japan CONTEST!

Do something for Japan, let me know what it is, and WIN A BOOK!

Left is Sendai, Japan before.
Right is Sendai, Japan now.

As many of you know, I've been living in Japan for the past year, and as such, this recent tragedy has really struck close to home for me.

As such, I've decided to host a Book Blogging for Japan CONTEST!!!! Right now, there will be 9 winners! To enter, all you have to do is help Japan. You do something to help Japan and send me an e-mail (zedster.tbb(at)gmail(dot)com) or post a comment letting me know what you did, and you're entered!

You can do something as simple as donate money, or, if you're poor like me, you can be creative.

Some EXAMPLES of things you can do:
-Thursday night I went to a meditation session where we meditated for the survivors.
-A kindergarten teacher is having her class collect marbles for when they're good. For each marble the kids earn, parents are donating a dollar.
-make a paper crane - there is a myth in Japan that for every thousand paper cranes you fold, you get a wish.

What can you win?
#1 - a box of books from me! Old books I've read, whatever fits in the box!
#2 - Hopeful Monsters: Stories by Hiromi Goto - donated by Arsenal Pulp Press!
#3-5 winners will win If You Follow Me: A Novel (P.S.) by Malena Watrous - donated by Harper Collins
#4-2 winners will receive books donated by Egmont UK.
#5-a SIGNED copy of Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen


If you've never heard of these books, they will be being featured in the blog over the next few days, so keep a look out!

The contest will end at a date to be determined in the future. I look forward to seeing what kinds of things you guys come up with to help.

You don't have to spread the word to be entered, but the more people helping Japan the better, so I'd really appreciate it if you would!

**If you're hosting a contest for Japan, I'd love to link it up, so please let me know! Also, please let me know if you'd like to donate a book to the contest.**