Stargazer by Claudia Gray

Title: Stargazer
Author: Claudia Gray
ISBN: 9780061284403
Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary:
"Evernight Academy: an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all - vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them.

But Bianca fell in love with Lucas - a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school.

Although they may be separated, Bianca and Lucas will not give each other up. She will risk anything for the chance to see him again, even if it means coming face-to-face with the vampire hunters of Black Cross - or deceiving the powerful vampires of Evernight. Bianca's secrets will force her to live a life of lies.

Yet Bianca isn't the only one keeping secrets. When Evernight is attacked by an evil force that seems to target her, she discovers the truth she thought she knew is only the beginning..."
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Review:

This is the second book in the Evernight series - and to be honest, it took me a little while to remember exactly what had happened in the first book (just because there are so many vampire stories in my head at this point). Once I finally waded through to the right story, I finally found myself enjoying this book. It did take a little bit of work to get into, but I'm glad I did.

The story is so basic, but this book added a very interesting ghost story element that I really appreciated. It gave the story just a little more oomph to it and kept me involved. There's always the question of the love interests and all in these vampire stories. This one has a bit of a different view, but the same semi-triangle thing going on.

But this is a good book for those who are into the vampire romance. I'd recommend it specifically for the older YA reader - there are just a few scenes that are really kinda gorey and a bit of experience needed to get. I think. Of course, who knows... maybe middle schoolers will love this too and I'm totally wrong.

I do wonder when the next book will be coming out - I see that it's called Hourglass, but no date is set yet. I hope it's not too long, or I might forget the story again!

Author's Website
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Other Blog Reviews:

The Book Smugglers
Poisoned Rationality
Karin's Book Nook
SimplyNerdy
And Another Book Read...

Zombie Queen of Newbury High by Amanda Ashby

Title: Zombie Queen of Newbury High
Author: Amanda Ashby
ISBN: 9780142412565
Publisher: Speak/ Penguin

Summary:
"Quiet, unpopular, noncheerleading Mia is blissfully happy, Rob - super hot football god - has asked her to prom! Life couldn't get any better. Eneter Samantha - cheerleader queen and Miss Popularity - who has made it quite clear that Rob should be her prom date. Mia is desperate to make sure she doesn't end up dumped in front of the whole school. So with prom in just a few days, she turns to Candice - her holistic, hypochondriac best friend - and decides to try a love spell to make Rob stay with her. Unfortunately, she ends up inflicting a zombie virus on her whole class instead, and she is their zombie leader! At first, she loves all the attention. But when she learns from zombie hunter hottie Chase that her classmates will actually try to eat her in a few days, she's not too thrilled. She's sure she and Chase can figure something out, but in the meantime, she's suggesting that no one wear white to prom, because things could get very messy."
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Review:

I'm so ready for this zombie thing to take off. I mean, this vampire stuff has been fun (and my next book is vampire), but I'm ready to move along to the zombie stuff. It's so much fun and there's a lot of comedy to be had in the shuffling, water-hating, brain-eating zombie stories.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone open to moving on to the zombie stories. It's a great story and it pulled me in immediately. It's very humorous and upbeat - a very easy book to get into. I did wonder where the story was going to go at some points, but everything turned out perfectly.

There are a few other books by this author that I'm going to look for now. She's a great story teller and look forward to reading more of her stuff. I'd definitely recommend this one for any age, though - middle school and up.
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Other Blog Review:

The Book Splot
Tiny Little Reading Room
Juciliciousss Reviews
Persnickety Snark
Chicklish

L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad

Title: L.A. Candy
Author: Lauren Conrad
ISBN: 9780061767586
Publisher: HarperCollins


Summary:
"Los Angeles is all about the sweet life:
hot clubs, cute guys, designer... everything. Nineteen-year-old Jane Roberts can't wait to start living it up. She may be in L.A. for an internship, but Jane plans to play as hard as she works, and has enlisted her BFF Scarlett to join in the fun.

When Jane and Scarlett are approached by a producer who wants them to be on his new series, a "reality version of Sex and the City," they can hardly believe their luck. Their own show? Yes, please!

Soon Jane is TV's hottest star. Fame brings more than she ever imagined possible for a girl from Santa Barbara - free designer clothes, the choicest tables at the most exclusive clubs, invites to Hollywood premiers -and she's lapping up the VIP treatment with her eclectic entourage of new pals. But those same friends who are always up for a wild night are also out for a piece of Jane's spotlight.

In a city filled with people chasing after their dreams, it's not long before Jane wakes up to the reality that everyone wants something from her, and nothing is what it seems to be."
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Review:

I really had some big reservations about reading this book. I have watched The Hills before, but that was for a completely brainless passtime. I was more than a little worried when I heard that Lauren Conrad had written a book. Usually it seems to not go well when a celebrity writes something - especially fiction.

The story was pretty much what I was expecting. As the saying goes, "write what you know." That's exactly what she did. Reading this book was exactly like watching an episode of The Hills. The conversations, the locations, the friendships, the feel... all the same. The only difference is the small look into the behind-the-scenes stuff. But it's nothing shocking - most of it seems about right (mikes, scripts, etc).

That being said - the book isn't bad. It's not great... but for chick lit, it's not bad. I'd really only say you should read it if you haven't watched The Hills or The City or whatever other spin offs there are. The story is fun, flows well, and it took me no time to read... but it's nothing new if you've seen those shows. It makes the story a bit repetitive if you have. And it was fast - it took me less than 48 hours to get through the book. But, again, I've heard the story.

I was surprised and a little dismayed to realize this was only the beginning of the story. The end of this book is very much a cliffhanger - in that it stops dead in the middle of the story. That was a little annoying, but I suppose it keeps people coming back for more. I'll have to decide if I want to continue.
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Other Blog Reviews:

Fug Girls Book Club
Ms. Bookish
The Novel World
The East Carolinian
Book Binge
Chick Lit Books

Carpe Corpus by Rachel Caine

Title: Carpe Corpus: Morganville Vampires Book 6
Author: Rachel Caine
ISBN: 9780451227195
Publisher: Jam Books

Summary:
"In the small college town of Morganville, vampires and humans lived in (relative) peace - until all the rules got rewritten when evil vampire Bishop arrived, looking for the lost book of vampire secrets. He's kept a death grip on the town ever since.

Now an underground resistance is brewing, and in order to contain it, Bishop must go to even greater lengths. He vows to obliterate the town and all its inhabitants - the living and the undead. Claire Danvers and her friends are the only ones who stand in his way. But even if they defeat Bishop, will the vampires be content to go back to the old rules after having had such a taste of power?"
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Review:

I think I have talked about this series before in blog posts. It's a great series that I've been with since the beginning - I tend to pick it up without thinking... just because I need to keep reading them.

The last few books have left some serious cliff hangers. Enough that I really just wanted to get on with the story - have some sort of closure. But this book solved all of those ills. It was exactly what I expect when I pick up one of the Morganville Vampires books. A great story that continues to keep my interest.

I was very thankful that this book didn't end on a questionable note like the other books have lately. And really I thought this might be the end of the series - things were just wrapping up so neatly. I know there's always more story to be had, so I look forward to those when they come out.

I'd say that if you're a fan of the vampire stuff, you need to read this series. The romance aspect is picked up in this story too - it's a good balance of both. Therefore, read it! :)
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Other Blog Reviews:

Michelle's Book Blog
Literary Escapism
YA Reads
I Heart Monster
Juciliciousss Reviews
My Life in Books

Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin

Title: Fade to Blue
Author: Sean Beaudoin
ISBN: 9780346014175
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Summary:
"Sophie Blue is sarcastic, artistic, and always decked out in black leather and Midnight Noir lipstick. A year ago on her birthday, her dad left. Or spontaneously combusted. Or joined an Amazonian cult. Either way, it's sorta bad timing, since a scary Popsicle truck with tinted windows has started circling the house.

Kenny Fade is a basketball god. He's got the cheerleader, the scoring title, the matching sweat suit, and sneakers that cost more than his Jeep. He's the guy all the ladies (and their mommas) want. Bad.

Sophie Blue and Kenny Fade don't have a thing in common. Aside from being reasonably sure they're losing their minds."
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Review:

There are times that I think jumping into a book without having read any reviews or anything might not be the best idea. Generally I like being surprised by a story - I always read the inside cover (summary), but I don't really like to know how people have felt about the book. That seems to skew my idea of the story.

That being said, I should have looked up reviews for this book. It was very much not what I was expecting. The story started out the way I expected. But about half way through I kinda got hit in the face with a crazy story. There is a huge twist that I wasn't expecting and had a hard time understanding. It's extremely trippy.

That isn't to say that I didn't like it - it was just WAYYY different than I was expecting. I am marking this one as sci/fi for the sake of categorizing, but I really am not sure what to call it. Was it all a dream? Was it really happening? Who is what, now? I'm confused. But anyway... It's a very interesting book.

I suppose I would recommend this book to someone looking for something different - nonformulaic. If you're just looking for a fun YA story, this might not be for you.
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Other Blog Reviews:

Em's Bookshelf
Robots and Vamps
The Book Zombie
Melissa's Bookshelf
Karin's Book Nook
Inkweaver Review
The Book Vault

There are MANY more reviews out there. And most of them good! So go for it!