MY LIFE UNDECIDED by Jessica Brody-REVIEW

Brooklyn Pierce has a knack for making bad decisions. It started when she was 2 and fell down a mine shaft. Being led off to jail in handcuffs, a result of burning down the model home that her mother was showing, was just the latest catastrophe in a long list. 

Sentenced to community service Brooklyn is determined to make wiser decisions in her life. She starts a blog to enlist the help of others. Before making any decisions Brooklyn polls her readers asking them to vote on different decisions she needs to make. Whatever decision the masses vote on that is what Brooklyn will follow. 

The hardest decision of all is who she should fall in love with. The hot new boy that she dubs Rhett Butler or the guy that saved her life at lunchtime whom she dubs Heimlich? 

With the decisions being out of her hands Brooklyn is finding that there is more to life than fashion and being popular. 

This was really a cute read. I did have issues with the underage drinking, and a few other “teens at risk” scenes, but for the most part it was cute, funny and enjoyable.

Language Content=There was some language content throughout the book, but not overused

Sexual Content=None

Violence=None

Teens behaving badly=There was underage drinking but it fit in with the story of Brooklyn making bad choices in her life. 

SEQUINS, SECRETS, AND SILVER LININGS by Sophia Bennett-REVIEW

  

Nonie loves fashion. She has her own style that sometimes stumps her friends and family. At the beginning of the book you get the impression that she and her mother don't have much of a relationship, but towards the end it seems they develop a mutual respect for one another. Nonie seems closest to her older brother Harry.

Jenny had a small part in a recent hit movie. At first every time she shows up on the red carpet everything she wears looks totally disastrous on her. Instead of looking like a young starlet she looks miserable. She also has a crush on the boy who played her brother in the film. He is the new drool-worthy hot young hunk that all the girls are screaming about.

Edie is the humanitarian of the group. But for someone who has empathy for the downtrodden she can be brutally honest.

While shopping one day they meet Crow. She has set up a booth to sell her homemade clothing. They take her under their wings, and provide a place for her to create her clothing. They learn that she is from Uganda sent to live with her Aunt to get her away from her village and away from the rebels that kidnap children and make them into slaves or soldiers.

When approached to do a fashion show the girls set out to help Crow reach her dream of creating fabulous clothing. They also have the goal of raising awareness of what is going on in Uganda and to provide help for families to find their abducted children.

I really enjoyed this story. I enjoyed getting to know each girls' character. It was light-hearted yet there was compassion in each of the girls. The next book in the trilogy comes out in Spring 2012 entitled: Beads, Boys, and Bangles.

SO NOT HAPPENING by Jenny B. Jones - REVIEW

Bella Kirkwood was living the life of luxury. She had her own credit cards, lived in Manhattan, the best boyfriend, in the “in-group” at her all-girls school. That life changes when her mother re-marries and she is forced to move to Truman, Oklahoma.

From the moment she arrives things do not seem to go well. In an effort to unite the family her mother cancels all of her credit cards. She is forced to ride to school with her step-brother in his “hearse”. When she writes some non-flattering things about the people in Truman and posts them on her blog things go from bad to worse. At every turn she is trying to find anything to get her back to Manhattan.

Being forced to work on the school paper she meets Luke the newspaper editor. Immediately sparks fly between the 2 of them. Being invited to a secret party, she uncovers a mystery that puts her and Luke together on a story that will affect the whole town.

Bella’s character seems to mature throughout the story. At first her prima-donna attitude kind of got on my nerves, but as she matured and grew out of herself I started enjoying the book more. Bella’s humor is very amusing and the climax of the book has the reader turning the pages as fast as they can! I don’t know that I would consider this book “Christian” although God and Jesus and prayer are mentioned, that theme is not what the story revolves around. It is a clean read that keeps the reader involved with humor, mystery and suspense. Well done!

ELEVEN BIRTHDAYS and FINALLY by Wendy Mass - 2 for 1 Post - REVIEW

Amanda and Leo are born in the same hospital on the same day. Every year they celebrate their birthday together. Until their 10th birthday. Amanda overhears Leo saying something about her that causes her to walk out of their party and not talk to him for a year.

When their 11th birthday arrives they wake up as usual and start their routine as usual. Each has planned a separate party for themselves. Neither is happy without the other. Most of Amanda’s guests leave to go to Leo’s party. Amanda goes to bed without opening her gifts.

When her alarm goes off the next morning she is confused. Not remembering why she would set her alarm on a Saturday. When her family starts to wish her “happy birthday” she believes that they are pulling a prank on her. But she soon realizes that she is back to the day of her birthday again! Everything is the exact same as it was on her original 11th birthday. Afraid that she is going crazy she goes through the day doing exactly what she did originally. Once again she is woken up by her alarm only to start her birthday day all over again. This happens several “days” in a row. Leo realizes that they are both re-living their birthday first.

Once they realize that they are both reliving their birthday they set out to try and find out how to make it stop. They learn about an old family feud between great grandfathers. They take a day to do whatever they want to do. They do nice things for people hoping that that will break the spell. They become best friends once more.

This is such a cute story! I loved every bit of it. There is humor in it. There is renewed friendship. There is family relationships and there is self-discovery in it. Wendy Mass has also written Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life which was very good and I’m looking forward to reading Finally.

 

   

Rory is counting the minutes until she turns 12. She has a list of things that she wants to do once she is 12. A couple of the things that she will be allowed to do are get a cell phone, get a pet, shave her legs and get her ears pierced. One mishap after another follows.

 

Wendy Mass did not disappoint me with this book! It made me laugh- out- loud in some parts. I think my favorite part was when Rory tried shaving her legs for the first time~oh my goodness it was funny! Even though there were laugh-out-loud moments in Rory’s attempts at working through her list you could see the life lessons that she was learning and the maturity that she is reaching by the end of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!