The Notebook

The book “The Notebook” by Nicholas Sparks, is a really good book. It starts out with an old man reading an old woman with Alzheimer’s a love story, that is all about Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson, who dated while they were young. They were then forced to separate, and since they really cared about each other, it was very hard for both of them. They went their separate ways, but about 15 years later, they’re still thinking of each other. Noah has remained single and is living alone in the small town where they spent their summer together, while Allie is engaged and living far away. When she reads about Noah in a newspaper article, she is inspired and takes off to go talk to him. They haven’t had any contact since she left with her family, so she has no clue what to expect. When she arrives, she first kind of hesitates to go see him, because she doesn’t exactly know how she feels, but she finally musters up the courage, and goes to his house (which was featured in the newspaper article, because he rebuilt it all himself). When she arrives he is ecstatic, because he has been waiting for her pretty much all of his life to see her again, and has really missed her. They start talking and kind of catch up on what’s happened in their life in the past couple years, and while Noah is disappointed that Allie is engaged, he tells her that he at least wants to be friends. They then meet the next day, when Noah takes Allie out to a secret kind of lagoon where all of these swans are staying during their migration. While they were out on the water, it began to thunderstorm, forcing them back inside. That night while they’re talking, they both kind of realize how much they still love each other, and kind of renew their love. Allie then stays with Noah for the next couple days (while they’re almost secretly dating again), until the unexpected happens, and Allie’s mother shows up at Noah’s house, looking for Allie. She realizes that Noah and Allie are back together, and tells Allie that she needs to pick between Noah and her fiancé, Lon, or else they’d all end up getting hurt. She then also reveals a secret, that she had been keeping all of the letters that Noah had been sending Allie (after they had left), and had never told her about them or showed her. It shocks both Noah and Allie, but then they knew why the other one had never responded to their letters, and it all started to make sense. Even though they’re happy, Allie knows that she has to go back to Lon to either tell him that she’s back together with Noah, or to go back with him forever, and leave Noah. That’s where the old man ends reading the book to the old lady, and she starts to ask questions about what happens in the “missing” ending. That’s as far as I’m going to summarize, since I don’t want to blow the ending for anyone who hasn’t read the book, but I can truthfully say that the ending is really good.
I really liked this book, because even though it was fairly predictable, it still threw in things that you weren’t expecting. It was good because you really felt connected to the characters, no matter what they did, and by the end you really wanted to see them end up together. At the beginning of the book, you really didn’t see what was coming, so it was nice to be kind of surprised. Like I kind of said before, one of my favorite things about the book was the characters, because they were the kind of characters that you’d want to read about. Some books are good, but you can’t really relate to the characters, but in this book I could totally relate to almost all of the characters in it. Noah was a person who liked to read, and was very easy going and nice. Allie was a very intelligent person, who had a hard time choosing between following her brain and her heart, and even though they may not sound like a perfect match, they were very cute together. The only thing I didn’t really like about the book was that it was kind of confusing in the beginning, but then luckily it ended up making sense. After I finished, I realized why the author kind of tied the two stories together, and why then it really made sense.
The setting in this book seemed like a really nice place, even though it was a small little town. The book took place in New Bern, South Carolina, which really seemed like a nice little town. Everybody knew everybody, and there really were little to no problems. This was the kind of town where everyone else looked out for one another, which was shown when Noah was best friends with his old neighbor, who would come over to keep him company. It shows that everyone really cared about one another, and would do anything for their neighbors. The one bad thing about that type of town is that everyone knows everyone else’s business, but luckily that type of thing really didn’t happen in this story. The overall mood of this story was very kind of lovey, because it’s all about kind of picking between your soul mate and what’s right, and all about Noah and Allie’s journey together. Overall, I really liked this book, and would recommend it to anyone who likes kind of sad love stories.

By: Ali, Hour 6

An Abundance Of Katherines

An Abundance of Katherine’s is about a high school senior named Colin Singleton, a child prodigy. Colin not only had a knack for science but he dated exactly nineteen girls and all of them were named Katherine. Not just any Katherine, it couldn’t be a Katherine nicknamed Katy. It had to be Katherine, spelt K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. Out of nineteen Katherine’s Colin had been dumped every single time. Coming out of the worst breakup yet, Colin felt awful he was alone once again. His Arab friend Hassan had a great idea, they were to go on a road trip. This was to clear their heads and find adventure.
After driving for along time they decided to follow a sign that lead them to Archduke Franz Ferdinad. Not expecting to stay long they meet a girl name Lindsey Lee Wells when Colin tripped over his own feet. Lindsey brought him home and her mother said that she had a job for them. Lindsey’s mom owned a factory that makes tampon strings. Accepting the job offer, Colin and Hassan decide to stay with Hollis and Lindsey. Meanwhile Colin was trying to find meaning in his life, and meaning for the nineteen Katherine’s. Why had they all dumped him? Colin, being the genius he is decided to make a mathematical formula for all the Katherine’s. There was something missing though, Colin couldn’t figure out why K-3 (Katherine the third) was not working with the equation. He later called her and found out he had dumped her, he was not the “dumpee” in all of his relationships. After two months with the Wells’ family, Colin finds an unexpected romance. I’ll leave it at that because I don’t want to spoil the ending.
I really enjoyed this book, I think it had a lot of comedy in it. I enjoyed the way Colin invented a graph to predict how his relationships were going to pan-out. I think the author wrote it very well. There were some words that I did not understand, a lot of them were in different languages, but the author included a foot note that contained information to help understand the story better. Another thing that I enjoyed is that he gave the characters a habit. Colin would constantly anagram any word that came to mind, which was comical during certain situations. That was also another reason why he got dumped. Lindsey Lee Wells had the habit of chewing the inside of her thumb and Hassan was always concerned if what he was doing was okay with the lord. There were also some things I did not like, I didn’t like how the author didn’t “finish” the story. It doesn’t say exactly how the book ends but it isn’t made to be a sequel. That was the only thing I didn’t like about the book, I really enjoyed reading An Abundance of Katherine’s and I consider it one of my favorites.
ALIKI

He’s With Me

‘He’s With Me’, by Tamara Summers, is a story about a Lexie, pretending to date her one true love, Jake, so Bree McKennis, won’t have a crush on him. She can get away with convincing the world that their dating, but could she truly convince Jake that their meant to be? Lexie’s summer isn’t exactly starting out the way she wanted it to: her mom got her a bikini — she’s hates bikinis, she and her brother, Collin, can’t take the art class they signed up for, so instead she’s going to a tennis camp. Bree takes a sudden intrest in Jake, but Jake denies her. Bree always expects guys to love her, so Jake, Lexie and Collin come up with a plan. Though Collin doesn’t suspect that Lexie likes Jake, he mindlessy suggests the idea. They agree, accidentally putting Lexie in a really, really ackward position. Lexie is surprised to find that Jake is going to the tennis camp too, except he’s in the advanced class. Lexie and Jake must come up with a series of lies to fool everyone into thinking their dating. With the school’s most powerful girl pressuring Lexie and her own brother keeping a strange secret from her, it’s hard for her to even think straight. Conflicts come up and things get messy, but the bottom question is: Are Lexie and Jake meant to be?

Lexie is the main character of the book. She is very self-conscious, but very deep and kind. Her in-depth, sarcastic humor will entertain you through out the course of the book. Last, but defiantly not least, she has a huge crush on Jake, though she can’t let him know because she’s like a sister to him. Jake is a cute guy who moved to Lexie’s town 2 years ago. Other character’s in the story include Lexie’s twin brother, Collin, who is best friends with Jake. Sally, also a character of the book, is another popular girl at their school, whose actually more down to Earth then Lexie could have ever suspected. Bree Mckennis is a gorgeous, cruel being who hates Lexie’s guts because she’s dating her supposed-to-be boyfriend. Riley is a mysterious boy Lexie encounters that automatically takes interest in her.

The setting is at a tennis camp and Lexie’s house. It takes place in modern times, so it’s easy to understand and follow along with. Mood of the story is pesamistic. Themes would be “Never give up hope” and “Things will all work themselves out in the end”. I would highly reccommend ‘He’s With Me’ for teenage girls looking for romance. I, personally, loved it! It’s a fabulous, up-beat book with a cute, sweeter-than-honey ending. Similar books include ‘Island Summer’ by Jeanine Le Ny, and ‘What’s Hot’ by Caitlyn Davis, all three in the ‘I Heart Bikinis’ set.

Bliss

The Sweet Far Thing

Libba Bray’s 819 page novel, The Sweet Far Thing, is the third and final book in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. In the first two books, A Great and Terrible Beauty, and Rebel Angels, we are introduced to the character Gemma who is living in India. She is at a market and temporarily leaves her mother to later find out that she has been killed. Gemma’s world is spun around and upside down as her father then sends her to England to attend Spence Academy for girls. There she discovers her power of visions and being able to enter a place called the realms, where anything can happen. She becomes great friends with Felicity, Pippa, and Anne, who help her on her adventures. (Pippa later on eats food from the realms, and then dies in the real world and stays to live in the realms.) The plot for this book then begins with Gemma trying to keep her back perfectly straight as Mrs. Nightwing tries to teach the girls how to become proper ladies. At the same time, some builders are renovating the East Wing, which burned down in a fire years ago because of Gemma’s mother and Circe. Gemma has bound all of the realm’s powers to herself, because Circe, the enemy to all of the realms, would have taken it. Now months later after the binding, Gemma finds that she can no longer enter the realms with her powers, and she is afraid that perhaps they have left her for good. Throughout the book, Gemma is getting ready for her debut, a time in the 1800’s when girls would look for potential husbands, but she is distracted by odd visions of a women in a purple dress who seems to be sending her messages. Once the East Wing is partially completed, Gemma finds a door in the foundations that allows herself to enter the realms once again. The realms don’t seem in danger, yet there is something peculiar about them. Creatures crowd around her trying to get a taste of magic, and she ends up giving alliances to tribes of the realms, when she doesn’t want to. It seems that everyone wants something from Gemma, and she doesn’t feel like she can trust anyone. Felicity wants the magic to ensure she will get her fortune from a relative, so that she will be able to live a free life in France, and Anne wishes to use the magic to get out of becoming a governess for her horrible cousins. Because of this, they urge Gemma not to give away the magic, but the tribes of the realms grow angrier by each chapter that Gemma doesn’t share the power. Soon, a new teacher comes to Spence by the name of Miss McCleethy, and the girls think she is Circe because her name spells out to be “I am Circe.” Felicity, Anne, and Gemma learn though that Miss McCleethy is actually part of the Order, and wants to get the magic back to the Order. Later on, as they continue to travel to the realms, they find their friend Pippa who was lost, living with a group of factory workers in a castle. Gemma isn’t sure that Pippa can be trusted either, once she starts getting magic of her own and her teeth become pointed… I won’t reveal to you the end of the book, but I will mention that Gemma is forced to make a decision that will affect the entire world. Mixed with emotions, and different facts from different people and things, this is a decision that might kill in the process.

There is never a specific mood that envelopes the whole book, simply because of the immense amount of plot changes. At one moment Anne is sad and crying about becoming a governess, and the next moment she is at a play watching her favorite American actress, Lily Trimble, laughing along. The book shows the emotions of love, happiness, joy, hate, fear, and utter panic. Though when in the realms I always felt a sense of something dark brooding about, and I could never really feel at ease when the girls made rocks turn into butterflies, or have little parties and dances at the castle, ignorant of danger. The creatures of the realms always appeared to be happy, beautiful, and lovely on the outside, but once Gemma realized their inner desires and true motives, they seemed sinister and gaunt-like in their hunger for magic showed.

I thought this book was WONDERFUL, even with such dark moods at times! The descriptions and characters were so involved and intricate, that I was never bored of a single sentence. The plot is very complex, and with this there are numerous plot twists and turns that I would have never expected. This is the type of book that once you pick it up, you can never put it down until you’re finished. But I must warn you NOT to read the last 75-50 pages in any public place or with anyone around, because it’s definitely a tear-jerker. I cried for quite some time and couldn’t stop thinking about it for almost week after I read it. Did this make me not enjoy the book as much? Perhaps I still wish that it would have ended differently, but it if had, it wouldn’t have been as powerful. This book is a love story that intertwined with adventure and mystery, that can have you confused at times. It was hard to tell who exactly to trust, such as Miss McCleethy who sometimes seemed like an angel or a demon. But in the end there is a great sense of comradeship that makes you proud of the characters joining together. Joining together in what, I will not say, but it involves a battle between two worlds!

Overall, I would consider this trilogy to be even greater than the Harry Potter series, a claim no other book could perhaps have. The deep love Gemma and Kartik have for each other is so sweet that it is sad this could only be a fictional tale. I would most definitely recommend this book to any person who wishes for a book about magic, adventure, and love.

Review by Nicole

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen

This book is about a girl named Juli Baker and this new boy that moves into her town when she was a little girl. It starts off with Juli being a regular little girl and then Bruce (a boy who is the same as her) moves in next door. Juli immediately likes him because he is just what she wished for: a playmate that was her age and someone that she likes. When they first met, she falls for him and his shiny, blonde hair and his bright blue eyes. She even goes as far to think that Bruce will be her first kiss. However, Bryce has a almost opposite impression of Juli. He think that she is a annoying, know-it-all, clingy kid. From the very first moment she sees her, which just happens to be when she is trying to help unload the boxes, but instead she is leaving muddy footprints all over the boxes, he knows that she is going to be trouble. A while later after the boxes have been unloaded, Juli wants to hold Bryce’s hand and his mom sees this and thinks that it is cute. Bryce is turned off by Julia and desperately tries to avoid her by staying inside the first week.

As the years pass, Juli and Bryce occasionally bump into each other and Juli still has a passionate love for him. But, again, Bryce is just the opposite: He thinks that Juli is continually getting more and more annoying. But, he feels that he can’t push her away because, after all, she is whispering the answers to the spelling tests in his ear.

Every morning Bryce goes to the bus stop and hops on the bus. And every morning Juli climbs a huge tree and then gets on the bus. But one day, when Juli is enjoying her early morning climb, a bunch of workers arrive and want to cut down the tree. The workers as her to climb down so that they can do their job, but she stubbornly refuses. The school bus arrives, and then leaves and Juli still refuses to leave her perch in the tree. She sits up there all day and finally her dad comes home and tells her to get down and that every thing will be okay, because after all, it is only a tree. But that is not what Juli thinks. After a lot of fuss, Juli reluctantly comes down from the tree and it devastated.

Juli has pet chickens and every day she gives a dozen to Bryce’s family as a kind gesture. Except, Bryce’s family doesn’t trust her enough to eat her eggs. They have seen her back yard where the chickens are and they conclude that it is a dump. So, every day Bryce’s family has to throw them out without Juli catching them in the act. One day, Juli catches Bryce throwing them out and she is appalled. But then Bryce tells her why and she realizes that her backyard is filthy. So, she spends all weekend fixing it up just for Bryce and his family. When she is cleaning, she realizes that she doesn’t really know Bryce all that well and she begins to think that Bryce really isn’t worth it. But, by this time, Bryce is finally starting to see Juli for who she really is. He never noticed how smart she is, or how her eyes sparkle, or how energetic she is. He begins to think that maybe Juli is maybe the one for him.

At school, there is this kind of ritual where a boy’s lunch is auctioned off to the girls, and they trade lunches. But, usually it is not the lunch that they are buying, but rather the boy. Now, I won’t give away the ending, but who do you think Juli will choose and who do you think Bryce wants to choose him? It’s not what you think!

- Kelsey

FLAWLESS (a Pretty Little Liars novel)

The book that I am reviewing today is the second novel in the Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard. Flawless tells the story of former best friends Spencer, Aria, Hannah and Emily, and what happens when their best friend Ali goes missing. After Ali goes missing in the previous book, the girls all kind of spread apart and don’t really stay in contact with eachother. However, the girls are soon brought back together in a series of events that involves all four of them getting notes from a mysterious person that always just signed their name “A.” The notes spilled secrets that the girls never thought anyone knew about, and the only people that they can remember telling is Ali. Up until the middle of this book, the girls hadn’t told eachother they were getting these notes, because each person thought she was the only one. All the girls secretly thought that “A” might have been Ali, but that prediction was proved wrong when Ali is found out to be dead. In this book more of the girls secrets are unveiled when “A” still sends them all notes; proving their theory was wrong. An event called The Jenna Thing that has been kept secret up until this book is finally revealed, proving any suspicions you had about what this big secret may be wrong. Without giving too much away, I can say that the secrets get deeper, the deception greater, and the suspense heavier. I promise, after reading this book, you will be absolutely dying for more!!

I thought that I would talk a little bit about some of the characters in the book, just so you can get an idea of who they are, and what they are like. First of all there is Spencer;a beautiful, genius girl who seems to be involved in just about everything! Spencer has had some shaky things in her past, usually involving her sister’s boyfriends, and “A” wants to make sure that she gets the full punishment that she deserves. Aria is a sort of earthy, bohemian beauty who fled to Iceland after Ali disappeared, but realizes when she gets back that “A” still knows everything about her. Aria has plenty to hide, and you only hope for her sake that more people won’t find out all of her deep, dark secrets. Hannah is the new ‘it” girl since losing weight, and undergoing a complete makeover after Ali disappeared. However, don’t let her perfect looks decieve you; she is still one of the most shaky girls on the inside. Emily is the sporty swimmer who probably has the most to hide. You see, Emily is not sure what boy…or girl? she likes, and “A” always did love a good scandal. All you can hope for Emily is that she gets her priorities straight before a certain someone, or…someones finds out and ruins her life forever.

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who loves to hear about drama, love, and deception. It is a fantastic combination of wit, drama, and mystery, and Shepard has a way of making you have opinions about the characters that are so strong, you feel like you might cry when they cry, or, in some cases, laugh when they cry! It will keep you on the edge of your seat, and make you think so hard that you will find yourself trying to solve the mystery of who “A” is long after you have finished reading the book. These have to be one of my all-time FAVORITE series that I have read, and that really is saying a lot. These books will keep you on the edge of your seat, and will make you laugh, cry, and scream right up until the last page!

-ANNA  :]

The First Part Last

I read the book called

The First Part Last

. It was about a boy named Bobby, that was telling his story on how he found out his girlfriend, Nia, was having a baby at the age of 15 (Bobby is 16). It switches from before she had it, to after she had it in every other chapter. They weren’t planning on having a baby, but then she gets checked for it and it’s positive. They have to tell their parents, which I think is one of the hardest parts for them in the story. They were going to have the baby get adopted by a different family. Then Nia finally has it and Bobby decides to keep it. In the other chapters about after she has it, it tells the story of how Bobby is takng care of the baby, Feather, while he still goes to school. He also isn’t the best kid in school, but I think he makes a great father. There is more to the story, but you are going to have to read the rest if you want to know what happens.

I liked the book because I think it is based on stuff that happens now a days. It also shows the choices they have to make and how hard it is to have a kid. It also showed me that you should wait until you are older to have a kid, because having a kid this young makes you miss out on a lot of other things teenagers who don’t have kids get to do. It’s like you are missing out on a whole big part of your life.