The Juliet Club by Suzanne Harper

Romeo and Juliet have always fascinated hundreds of thousands of people throughout centuries. As one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, it has been subjected to hundreds of re-writes, essays, and modernization.


This particular version: The Juliet Club, is in perfect Shakespeare fashion; a play within a play. Well, it isn't really a play within a play, but it is a Romeo and Juliet love story taking place in a seminar 

The Odyssey by Homer

If I didn't have to read this for my Advanced World Lit class, I probably would never have read it. Even though I love to read, the classics have never really appealed to me. I went in thinking that this will be just another boring book that I have to read, blah, blah, blah this and that, symbols and crap like that. But as I got into the story, and stopped thinking of it as a required read, I realized just how amazing it really is.

I will admit, it does get a little repetitive sometimes, and don't even try to pronounce the Greek names, my English teacher who is an actor and has been teaching for 20-something years can't even try on some of them.

If you don't have at least a basic knowledge of Greek Mythology, you wouldn't understand a great majority of the story. But once you read this, you will start seeing mythilogical references everywhere you look, I know I did. Take the song Wrapped Around Your Finger by Police. There are at least 2 different parts indicating knowledge of The Odyssey.

The characters in the Odyssey all seem to act the same. They don't really have personalities of their own. Odysseus seems no different from Telemachus. Which may have been done on purpose, to further indicate the father-son relationship the two share. Multiple times during the story Homer uses the same lines to describe both Telemachus and Odysseus;

And so he let a tear fall from his eyelids to the ground... but his hands held up his purple cloak before his eyes.

One of my favorite parts in the story (And my class') was when it seemed like Homer was reminding his audience that he was still human and needed sustanence. Repeatedly, he would randomly talk about a blind poet who is given food. Hmmm, sound like Homer anyone?

All in all, this was a pretty decent book. Between the battle scenes and the funny parts (brouhaha) it was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be.

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

I have to say, this series has gone downhill. To me, the first book was the best. This last one being the worst. Three years ago, I found Eragon on my brother's shelf, read the back and decided to read it. I never gave the book back. I went to my local library and got the next two books. I liked Eldest pretty well, not as much as Eragon, the action kept me going. But the book was so long that it just kept going. It felt repetitive, and boring. By the time I got around to reading Brisingr, I had almost given up hope of this series being on to complete on my bookshelf. It caught my attention to start out with. Then gradually I felt my mind losing interest. But this one was the last straw.

We start out in the middle of the siege of a major city. Within the first hundred pages, we have two more sieges. Then about page 300, the length kicks in. The repetition lulls the mind and leaves you wondering why you're even reading it. And the last hundred pages, seem like they were wasted. If he's planning on making a spin-off or continuing the story, it'd be okay, because it seems like he's setting up a new plot line. He could've just left the book off after they killed the king, and let Murtagh go. But no, he had to go on and on for another hundred pages.

And then there's the writing itself. It's twisted and wordy. It takes him an entire page to say something he could say in a single sentence. He dances around ideas, as if he's searching fro a word, can't find one and settles for one less appropriate for the circumstances. I understand that he's trying to make it sound more unique and old, but really? Can't you make it a little easier to understand?

Don't even get me started on the characters. They're constantly changing. I get that, because people change, but sometimes he went to the extreme. Murtagh, if you told me while I was reading the first book, that he would fall in love with Nasuada, I would've fallen over laughing. The thought is inconceivable! Even now, after I've read the book.

I think he tried to tie up all the lose ends he created in the first three books. Which is what made the book so long. And I hate that! I love lose ends. I read books partly for the story, partly for the opportunity to create my own little world within that world. Fan fiction is a great way to do that. But he basically to away any abilty to do that, because he didn't want any lose ends. He even brought back Katrina's father for crying out loud! I mean, really?

The thing is, though, if you look a little deeper, you'll see things that mean something completely different than they do in the concrete sense. to me, the dragons symbolize the belief in something greater than yourself. Paolini touches on that at some points in the series, and I think that's a good thing. Throughout the series, magic is used for good, and for bad. But the magic itself is not what makes the deed evil. It is the intentions. When the dragon rider killed himself in the home of the Dragon Riders, he destroyed the entire area, leaving hte island desolate, and uninhabitable. But he ensured that the secret of the eggs was safe. He represents courage, I think but he could alse represent cowardice. His dragon had died about a month earlier, and he was all too willing to die to join him. He didn't want to live without his dragon. To some, that would be considered loyalty, but to me, that's considered an escape from the pain.

All in all, as a story, I enjoyed it. It was a good book and a great conclusion to the series. But as a novel, it was sloppy and far below my expectations. And my expectations were allready low in the first place. And it took far too long to be released.

The Gray Wolf Throne by Cinda Williams Chima

Long live Queen Mellony!!! Oops, did I say that out loud? Ignore that.

Raisa ana'Marianna, Princess Heir to the Queendom of Fells, is currently on the run from those who would try and kill her.

Han Alister is searching for a woman he claims he doesn't love. She happens to be Rebecca Morley: Raisa.

When the truth about Rebecca's identity comes out, Han is not particulary happy. But he does get some perks; being the lord of a castle he'd never heard of, being appointed to the Wizard Council, access to Raisa's personal quarters. Well, the last one is good and bad at the same time.

And what about Amon Byrne? The handsome Corperal in charge of Raisa's saftey? He's engaged now. Micah Bayar is hitting on Raisa's little sister. Cat is Raisa's chambermaid (whatever that is.)

Han is attempting to bring the past into the present when Crow, his teacher from Aediion that was introduced to us in The Exiled Queen, reveals his surprising past. Hanalea makes an appearance also, but probably not in the way you may think.

Personally, I think that this is the best book Cinda Williams Chima has written. Even though it's slow at the beginning, the pace picks up, and by the end, it will leave you itching for more.

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

I used to be a firm believer that books that a majority of people in the world like (example: Twilght) are completely and utterly CRAP!!! (see previcous example) Then I remembered how popular Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and the Hunger Games books are, so I decided, maybe, this one might be okay.

Well, I have to say... It definatly wasn't the best book in the world, as some people would have me think, but it definatly wasn't horrible.

Meghan is just your average teenager. I mean really, who doesn't have a step-father who never remembers you, has a brother kidnapped by bogeys, and has Robin Goodfellow (yes, the Puck, from A Midsummer Night's Dream) as a best friend? By God, this sounds like one of those paranormal books that I hate. Oh, wait! It is a paranormal book! Complete with faeries, giants, and gnomes. Yep, I know, creepy.

Who knew fey were so evil. I mean, really, we got the Seelie Courts, ruled over by the sadistic King Oberon and his "trigger-happy" wife Queen Titania. Well, Oberon did have an affair with a mortal woman, had a child whose presence he kept a secret from her, while he sent Puck to protect her. (In case you couldn't figure it out, Megan's that daughter, talk about awkward.) Back to the topic at hand; we got the Seelie Court, and we got the Unseelie Court, ruled by Queen Mab and her three sons; Sage, Rowan, and Ash. Of course, since we're following William Shakespeare, we have to throw in some Romeo and Juliet.

Seelie and Unseelie fey absolutely hate eachother, so when the Princess of Seelie and the Prince of Unseelie, (It's Ash, by the way) um, 'hook up,' something's bound to happen.

But really? Who's counting how many cliches are in this books, there aren't like so many I lost count before chapter 5... nope, not at all...

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Why is it that the cute guys are always taken before you get there? And why are they always British?

Anna is just your everyday girl from Atlanta. Her parents are divorce. Her brother can't eat anything red. And her famos author father is sending her to school in Paris.

What's not to like about Paris? Well, lets see. It rains. They speak French there. (Who would've guessed?) They don't like Americans. And last but not least: St. Clair is already taken.

Sad face...

In face-paced book that will leave you yearning for more, Stephanie Perkins does not disapoint with this fun, eccentric and 'passionnante' debut novel.

The Reluctant Heiress by Eva Ibbotson

At the time that I saw this on the shelves of my second-hand book store, I had only read one of Eva Ibbotson's books; A Countess Below Stairs. I thought to myself, if this is anything like the other one, I'm going to adore it. but it took me three months to find the time to read it. And, I was not disappointed.

Ibbotson truly knows the landscape and history of Vienna in the early twentieth century. With grace and poise, she sets out a plot thick with romance, social standing, and music. But what surprised me the most was her ability to create a delicate history for a family that it seems like they really existed.

He has wealth, she has titles. Tessa and Guy are a match made in heaven. Literally, they were born under the same astrological sign.

Something Blue by Emily Giffin

My first thought when I found out that Emily Giffin had wrote a sequel to Something Borrowed was one of extreme happiness. My first thought when I found out that the sequel was told by Darcy was one of extreme anger.

Seriously? Darcy's a controlling, help me, I deserve everything, B**ch. Why on earth would I want read a book narrated by her?

But, being the diplomatic reader I am, I got it from my local library (There was no way I was going to buy that!)

I soon realized that there was something seriously wrong with Darcy. She wasn't nice, but she wasn't who I thought she was. She has some sort of need to be pampered, but she recognized that there are other people who need her, more than she needs them. At least, she figured it out by the end of the book...

Forget About It by Caprice Crane

Jordan Landau is a slight pushover.

Wait, there's nothing slight about it. She IS a pushover.

But when Jordan gets hit by a car, everyone thinks she has amnesia. Well, even though she doesn't, she doesn't feel like correcting them. And neither does her best friend, who happens to be in love with her.

And so begins the life of the new and improved Jordan Landau!

She no longer lets her cheating boyfriend get whatever he wants out of her. (Honestly, he wants her to have a three way!) She no longer lets her mother and half sister walk all over her. (The twins as she calls them, love to make her feel bad.) She no longer lets her boss take all the credit for everything she does. (Well, everyone hates their boss, right?)

But what happens when she really does forget?

Where I Belong by Gwendolyn Heasley

Amazing blend of New Yawk City, and Texas.

Corrine has always been a fashionista... A shopaholic, a social butterfly. She's never had to do anything she hasn't wanted to. She's always given exactly what she wants.

Until now.

Transplanted suddenly, from her New York home, to middle-of-nowhere Texas, she's no long the spoiled brat she's always been. Well, she's still a brat, just not spoiled.

Kicking and screaming the entire time she's there, Corrine is on strike against Texas. Wanting to be home before school starts. But guess what?

She's not...