North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

Terra Cooper is tall, blonde, and has an amazing figure. But when people look at her, all they see is the port-wine stain that marks her right cheek. Terra is determined to escape the stares in her small Washington town and attend college on the East Coast, but her controlling father won't pay for her tuition to go there. Everything seems to be falling apart, until Terra (literally) crashes into Jacob, a Goth Chinese boy who's the first person to truly understand her. Set to theme of maps, Terra travels outside of her comfort zone (in more ways than one) and learns that real beauty is on the inside.

This book was really good. I loved how everything was centered around maps: Terra's father is a cartographer and Terra makes many references to famous explorers, elements of maps, etc. Speaking of her father, he was a real piece of work. He was always putting down Terra and her mother and said some really nasty things to both of them. There was this whole level of tension between Terra and her father because he wouldn't pay the tuition of a private school and I couldn't help with agree with him. As the old saying goes, beggars can't be choosers, and if Terra wanted him to pay for college, then he got to dictate where she went.

Anyway, I loved having Terra as narrator because her voice was just so real. I felt like she could be an actual person; she was that complex. I thought it was really interesting reading about port-wine stains and how Terra had to deal with all the stares and comments. She was very resilient and strong, and a good role model for young girls. I also loved Jacob. He was such a great character. He was interesting and embodied all the traits that girls like to see in a boyfriend ; )

As for things I didn't like (they're aren't that many), Terra's mother was really weak. She let her husband walk all over her and it annoyed me. By the end, though, she gets a backbone which was nice to see. Also, there was this backstory with Terra's aunt who had died. They would mention it and I didn't see the point of the story until the end. I think it could have been explained a lot better, though.

Even so, the story had an important message: that inner beauty is what really counts. For anyone feeling down, this book will definitely give you a dose of self-confidence. And what about the cover? I think it's amazing! (Side Note: Wouldn't it be awesome if your face was on a book? I mean, that girl is out there somewhere, reading a book with her face on the cover. I'm so jealous!)

8 out of 10.

Release Date: February 2009

It's Inventory Time!

As you can see, I've already begun my inventory with the alphabetical author's list. Next comes my review archives, genre archives, then explanation of how book promotion works on my blog and an official bio (which I know all of you are dying for). So my blog will be plagued with boring posts such as the one that proceeds this one. Don't worry about reading them, I'm really doing it so I could put it on my sidebar and make finding reviews and authors ten times easier. So bear with me, please :). I don't know how long it could take to finish this little project, so it could be done by the end of month or in March. Who knows?

Anyhoo, I was planning on reviewing North of Beautiful tonight, but my sister just got off and it's 9:51 pm here, so I don't feel like doing it now. Definitely tomorrow though.

Also, I have a question. My computer is being weird again so my internet explorer window is making everything very narrow. Does that make sense? I was wondering if my blog looked weird, like do the book covers look really stretched out? I want to make sure it's just my computer that's messed up and no one else can see it.

Goodnight!

Authors

As to make my blog more organized I've decided to list all the authors whose books I've reviewed in alphebetical order. I'm going to put a link to this post on the side so you can access it whenever you want.

-A-
Albom, Mitch
Anderson, Laurie Halse
Atwood, Margaret
Austen, Jane

-B-
Banash, Jennifer
Bauer, Joan
Bell, Amber Dawn
Benway, Robin
Black, Holly
Brande, Robin
Bray, Libba
Brody, Jessica
Bronte, Charlotte
Brooks, Martha
Brown, Dan

-C-
Cabot, Meg
Cadnum, Michael
Caletti, Deb
Calonita, Jen
Cantor, Jillian
Carter, SarahBeth
Chaltas, Thalia
Chima, Cinda Williams
Clare, Cassandra
Clarke, Linda Weaver
Clement-Moore, Rosemary
Cohn, Rachel
Collins, Suzanne
Conrad, Joseph
Cullen, Lynn

-D-
Decter, Ed
De La Cruz, Melissa
Dent, Grace
Derting, Kimberly
Dessen, Sarah
Dolamore, Jaclyn
Duncan, Lois

-E-
Elkeles, Simone
Ellis, Ann Dee

-F-
Fantaskey, Beth
Ferraro, Tina
Finn, Katie
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Fitzpatrick, Becca
Flinn, Alex
Ford, Michael Thomas
Forman, Gayle
Freitas, Donna
Friedman, Aimee

-G-
Garcia, Kami
Gehrman, Jody
George Jessica Day
Gerber, Linda
Godbersen, Anna
Goetsch, Leslie
Gray, Claudia
Green, John
Gregory, Philippa

-H-
Harvey, Michael
Headley, Justina Chen
Hijuelos, Oscar
Hoban, Julia
Holder, Nancy
Hubbard, Jennifer R.
Hubbard, Mandy
Hurley, Tonya
Hurston, Zora Neale
Huxley, Aldous

-I-
Irving, John

-J-
James, Sara
Jarzab, Anna
Jay, Stacey
Johnson, Maureen

-K-
Kadohata, Cynthia
Kafka, Franz
Kalogridis, Jeanne
Keegan, Nicola
Kincaid. Jamaica
Klause, Annette Curtis

-L-
Larson, Kirby
Leviathan, David
Libby, Alisa M.
Lockhart, E.

-M-
Mackall, Dandi Daley
MacLean, Sarah
Mantchev, Lisa
Marillier, Juliet
Marrone, Amanda
McAulay, Alex
McMann, Lisa
Meyer, Stephenie
Michael, Ted
Miller, Arthur
Mlynowski, Sarah
Myracle, Lauren

-N-
Napoli, Donna Jo
Nelson, R. A.

-O-
O'Brien, Caragh M.
Ockler, Sarah
Oliver, Lauren
Orwell, George
Osterlund, Anne
Ostow, Micol

-P-
Palahniuk, Chuck
Patterson, James
Pauley, Kimberly
Pearson, Mary E.
Pfeffer, Susan Beth
Picoult, Judy
Proulx, E. Annie

-Q-

-R-
Reinhardt, Dana
Ruckdeschel, Liz
Ryan, Carrie

-S-
Salerni, Dianne K.
Salinger, J.D.
Schroeder, Lisa
Scott, Elizabeth
Selfors, Suzanne
Shakespeare, William
Shelley, Mary
Sittenfeld, Curtis
Smith, Emily Wing
Snadowsky, Daria
Sparks, Nicholas
Springer, Kristina
Stiefvater, Maggie
Stimpson, Michelle
Stohl, Margaret
Strasnick, Lauren
Strasser, Todd
Supplee, Suzanne

-T-
Tashjian, Janet

-U-

-V-
Van Etten, David
Vaught, Susan
Viguie, Debbie
Vivian, Siobhan
Vonnegut, Kurt
Voorhees, Coert

-W-
Walker, Melissa
Wasserman, Robin
Wharton, Edith
Whitney, Tim
Williams, Carol Lynch
Wolfe, L. Diane
Wolfson, Jill
Wright, Richard

-X-

-Y-

-Z-
Zarr, Sara
Zemser, Amy Bronwen
Zevin, Gabrielle
Ziegler, Jennifer
Zink, Michelle

Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zemser

Elaine Hamilton would love nothing more than to follow her idol, Julia Child, in attending Smith College and then going to a culinary school in France. The only thing stopping Elaine from pursuing her dream of being a chef is her ultra-feminist mother who doesn't want her daughter slaving away in domesticity. When Elaine meets Lucida Sans (yes, named after the font), she gets pulled into Lucida's wacky escapades, which include exacting revenge on pretty-boy Croton, acquiring a cable-access channel and winning a cooking contest. During these adventures, Elaine realizes that she does have the courage to fight for what she wants, if she could just find it in herself.

Dear Julia was okay. Not bad, but not that good, either. It was definitely a fast read - I read it in a weekend. The plot had a good premise, but it needs some work. The characters also could have been fleshed out better. Elaine, especially. She had two character traits: timid and polite. The only thing that made her interesting was her passion for cooking. Besides that Elaine was literally an empty shell. Lucida's M.O. was to be famous, in any way possible. This included dressing up in crazy costumes to school (she wore a mouse costume to school), which was very weird and maybe not allowed in the dress code? At least at my school it wouldn't be. I also really liked Elaine's five brothers, though, they made the book funny. In spite of the other stuff, the one thing I did enjoy about this book was the fact that the author included real French cooking terms and even though I didn't understand a thing, it made the book authentic. There were even cooking techniques, and I could tell that Amy Bronwen Zemser did her research.

5 out of 10.

Release Date: October 14, 2008

Tithe by Holly Black

Kaye has always been different. As a blonde Asian, she's used to the weird looks and stares. And the fact that when Kaye was younger she played with faeries didn't help her elementary school image. So when she suddenly finds herself back in her hometown, she's sure some magic will follow. And it does. After Kaye saves a faerie knight, she's thrown into a war between two rival faerie factions--a war in which she'll be lucky to survive.

To be honest, I hated this book. I know that sounds harsh, and if you actually liked Tithe, you might not want to read my review. But I decided to state my grievances in a list, as to make it more organized.

1) The characters were...well, let's just say they left much to be desired.

Kaye, the protagonist, was weird. There's no other way to say it. Not different or unique, just weird. And I hated when other characters would call her clever, because she did like two clever things throughout the whole book. Kaye was 16, smoked, drank, and dropped out of school. Yeah, that sounds real smart to me. The only character I kinda liked was the faerie knight Roiben. He was actually interesting.

2) The plot was a mess.

Throughout the whole book I had no idea what was going on. This character was good, then they were bad, Kaye is suddenly a pixie, just really random stuff was going on. At the end, Kaye has this epiphany (where she came up with it, I have no idea, because there was no foreshadowing), anyway, she explains everything that was going on. But I was still not clarified.

3) The writing was awful.

I have no idea how this book was published because the writitng was terrible. Holly Black tried way too hard to conjure imagery (i.e: "[talking about a sunset] Like he slit his wrists in a bathtub and the blood is all over the water."). I thought that was too much. Also, there was a lot of cursing. There's nothing wrong with a little swearing here and there, but when you drop the f-bomb while asking for the salt, it starts getting ridiculous. Ok, that didn't really happen but you get the idea.

4) The fantasy aspect was unbelievable.

I know the words 'fantasy' and 'believable' contradict each other, but good fantasy makes you believe that whatever happening is real and draws you into a new world. And this book didn't do that. I hate to say it, but books like this are the reason I don't really like the fantasy genre.

As you can tell, I really didn't like this book. I would have stopped reading it after like two chapters, but I had to review it for Pulse IT. Even so, I felt like that was a huge waste of my time.

2 out of 10.

Like OMG Teens Read Newsletter

I've been quoted! The September issue of Like OMG Teens Read Newsletter includes an article about Teen Tuesday, a blog that I contribute to. I just gave a blurb about why I like Teen Tuesday. The newsletter is really awesome, though. It has book reviews, author interviews, contests and much more. Visit What Vanessa Reads to check it out!

Banned Books Week

So even though it's the end of Banned Books Week, I still decided to blog about it because I think it's an important topic. Every year, readers get to celebrate their freedom to read freely. We are all extremely lucky to live in a country with free speech, free press, and everything mentioned in the First Amendment. This includes the right to read whatever we want. So it drives me crazy when people try to ban books in public schools and libraries. Sure, there's explicit things that maybe young students shouldn't be reading. But if you look at the Banned Books List, you can see that almost every book is harmless. It drives me crazy when people think they can tell people what they are allowed to read or not. I think these people have a superiority complex or something, because I would would never tell someone else what can and cannot read. And I wouldn't want someone telling my kids what they can and cannot read.

For example, a few months ago, a school in New York wanted the junior class to read Looking For Alaska by John Green. As we all know, there is some inappropiate content so the school sent out a letter asking the parents if it was okay if their child read the book. But another parent, one that had a freshmen student and had no association with the junior class, read the book and decided that no one should be able to read it. I mean, how crazy is that? I can't believe that some people feel threatened by the written word and that they would ban books and burn them in rallies. Okay, so I'm not sure if people actually do that but it sounded good.

Anyway, all I'm trying to say is: don't take any crap from those crazy book banners who think they know anything about books. Because obviously, they don't.

For more information on Banned Books Week, visit www.ala.org/bbooks/.