Garrulous & Bookish

Garrulous & Bookish

I'm Rebecca. I talk a lot, about anything but mostly about books. You can also find me  @ my blog Garrulous and Bookish. I also post bookish videos on my Youtube channel.

Review
3 Stars
The Death By Bikini Mysteries (Death By Mysteries, #1-3) - Linda Gerber
Mini-Review:
I liked the book. It was a good mystery and it was short so it is great for the summer.
I thought it was odd that Aphra kept thinking about kissing Seth when they were running from the killer. It seemed a bit unrealistic and she seemed to become very close Seth in two days after 2 conversations. I did like the mystery because I felt that it was decent and you can figure out the "bad guy" pretty quickly and it was fun.
Review
5 Stars
Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick - Joe Schreiber
I loved it! It was packed with action and suspense- it was a bit like watching a movie. It is a short book but that's great because it doesn't drag on. It doesn't try to be too serious (there are some serious moments- for example when we find out why Gobi is killing all of these people) and I did not find it cheesy at all (which I am happy about because there are moments in some books when I feel embarrassed just for reading certain lines). It was like the movies Salt and Hannah had a book baby (maybe we can throw Nikita in there too). Not much of it was predictable (for example Gobi actually being hot and just hiding it beneath all those strange clothes- not surprising) and I liked that. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for something action packed but light.

Review
4 Stars
Matilda - Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake
I recently re-read this book because I had not read it in a while and I really enjoyed it the second time. I liked the story and the characters, I like that it is pretty simple (It is a children's book) The villains are pure evil and the Heroes are good and kind.
Review
4 Stars
A Cat Was Involved: A Chet and Bernie Mystery eShort Story
A Cat Was Involved: A Chet and Bernie Mystery eShort Story -
I really liked this short story. It was cute and I enjoyed reading about Chet and Bernie's first meeting. It does mess with the continuity- in the books, Bernie and his wife were still together when Chet joined the family but that is not the case in this story. I was entertained and I am ready for A Fistful of Collars!
Review
5 Stars
The Darkest Minds - Alexandra Bracken
It is so good- and I just loved it! If I can get my thoughts together I will write a review. (a video review will be up in a few days)
Review
4 Stars
Girl, Stolen - April Henry
I really enjoyed this book I thought that the story was great and I liked Cheyenne and, I even sympathized with Griffin.
I will post a longer review soon.
Review
3 Stars
The Loop - Shandy Lawson
The book was very exciting and fast-paced. It was a very quick read. It wasn't as suspense/action-filled as I expected it to be but it was interesting.
The book was narrated by Benjamin which I wasn't expecting because I thought it would be 3rd person or alternating perspectives but we do get a small part told from Maggie's point of view.
I tried not to think about the concept too much because some aspects don't seem to make sense (or I'm not smart enough to get it...) but I really enjoyed it and the last quarter of the book (the part narrated by maggie) goes by very fast because it is a summary of events but it was an interesting one that didn't seem too short or boring.
Overall I would recommend this book I enjoyed it very much.

Sorry for any typos this was written on my phone. I will correct it later.
Video
Sweet Venom (Sweet Venom Series #1) - Sweet Shadows - Tera Lynn Childs Confessions of an Angry Girl - Louise Rozett The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - Nadia Knows Best - Jill Mansell

In which I discuss the books I read in July 2013.Let me know if you have read any of these books and what you thought of them. 

Review
5 Stars
Perfect Scoundrels - Ally Carter
I really really (...really) love this series. The characters are great, and I love their interactions (and banter) even when they talk about the names of cons (and I have no idea what they are referring to) I still love it. and I love how much they care about each other.

This book is a great addition to the series. If you haven't read the other books in the series then go and read them... We will wait. Actually, I don't think that you need to read the other books to understand what is going on in this book but I still think that everyone should read them all.

Anyway, I really loved the book and we get a lot of Hale. (I didn't remember that they were a couple... when did that happen?). Some of the plot points seemed a bit off to me but I don't care (and I don't want to give anything away so I wont say what).

I also filmed a mini review if you want to know more about the book, it can be watched here on my Youtube channel .
Review
4 Stars
Perry's Killer Playlist - Joe Schreiber
I really enjoyed reading about Perry and Gobi again. This book was just as light, fast, and fun as the first one. I don't think you need to read the first book to grasp what is going on (although I did read it) but I would recommend reading it because it is also very good.
Perry's Killer Playlist starts a few months after the last book ended. Perry is getting on with his life after the wild night/ killing spree with Gobi. His band has booked a tour in Europe and things are looking up. Curiosity gets the better of him however, when he decided to go and look for Gobi while in Venice. He finds her and gets sucked into another adventure. People aren't who they seem to be and soon Perry (and his family) are in danger.We get to learn more about Gobi, although this story is not a book with a lot of character growth, it is nice getting to know more about her.
This book is basically just action- and it is like watching a movie. At a bit over 200 pages long , this book packs a fast-paced, adventure filled story.

My video Review can be found here on my youtube channel
Review
4 Stars
Never Eighteen - Megan Bostic
I just finished reading this book about 30 minuets ago so it is still fresh in my mind but I also haven't had much time to analyze it. With that said I am going to say that I enjoyed it, or I enjoyed it as much as one can enjoy a book that makes them cry.

The book is about seventeen year old Austin, a boy who is dying. The reader doesn't know what he is dying of until the very end of the book- in fact we don't really know what he looks like aside from his being tall and, because of his illness, very skinny. He asks his best friend, and the love of his life, Kaylee to drive him around for two days as he tries to make a change in people's live while he still can.

At first I felt like the book was going to fast- within the first few chapters Austin speaks to three different people and he just seems nosy- so I thought that the short length of the book (the story part of the book is about 200 pages- I read it in a couple of hours) wouldn't work. However, as I read I was able to relate more to the characters and I could understand why everything seemed to be going by so fast- Austin doesn't have much time and he wants to know that the people he is leaving behind won't lead wasted lives. He also has a personal list of things he wants to do.


I liked this book, it more then a book about a boy who is dying. It is about life, friendship, family, and love.
Review
4 Stars
Edgewood - Karen McQuestion
I received a signed copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway which was exciting.

This book is about a group of teenagers who develop some abilities and discover that they are wanted by a mysterious organization. Action and intrigue ensue.

In Short: I really enjoyed this book- I definitely plan on picking up Wanderlust- the action was great and so were the characters. The twists were good and i even have some theories about where the story may be going next.

If you enjoy Science Fiction and YA then I would definitely recommend this book.

Review
2 Stars
Such A Pretty Face - Cathy Lamb
This will be a, largely, negative review. I just couldn't enjoy the book (I will get into why I say "couldn't" instead of "didn't" a bit later). The good things first- I liked the story line and the ideas behind it. I liked the abstract of the book- Stevie, her coworkers and her family. Her struggle to accept her new body. The execution is what I had a problem with.
I liked the good characters. It is impossible not to. The author paints them as such good, wonderful, and kindhearted people that you would have to be without a heart or brain to dislike them. She tells you over and over how good they are- sure she does show you how good they are (remember telling vs showing when writing?) but in between the showing, she interjects and tells you too. The bad characters are so thoroughly evil and bigoted it is unbelievable- and there are so many of them in Stevie's life. Her best friend might be the worst because we are suppose to believe that her cruelty stems from her jealousy (the author tells us as much) but it comes out that she has always been a terrible person (which undermines the whole jealousy angle). These characters are good vs evil- their is no grey (except for Stevie's mentally ill mother who gets a pass considering that she was so tortured mentally).
The result, of these contrasting characters, is that The reader is incapable of misinterpreting the characters because they (we) are never given a chance to interpret them. The characters actions don't speak louder then the authors words. Everything is explained, even during passages with heavy dialog, when information can be written in, the author is cutting in and explaining the reasoning behind the characters actions/words. The story is narrated by the main character, Stevie, so I guess you can say that Stevie interjects and explains everything (weather it needs explaining or not) except it doesn't feel like it is Stevie. I counted three times (3!!!- but their may have been more) where the readers are referred to as "folks", usually it's after one of Stevie's proclamations/observations (sometimes they are a page long or longer) that an extra sentence with "folks" is thrown in to sum it up. It took me completely out of the story.
There was even a part where the author Stevie stated out right that her garden was a metaphor for her life. I wanted to see the garden grow as Stevie grew but all we get are some scenes with her garden (insisting that she can't grow corn) and the author telling us that it stands for Stevie's life. And there was a part where Lance, Stevie's cousin (good guy), is telling her that he had a graphic designer make the invitations for his mother (Stevie's aunt- good) and his father's (BAD) anniversary dinner. He used the same graphic design for the invitations to his blowup doll buisness' launch party- a party that takes place the night after the anniversary party. Now I could see where this was going- and I was looking forward to it (an invitation mix-up in case you missed it). But the author proceeded to drop hints about what was going to happen instead of just letting it happen naturally.
I felt like I couldn't enjoy the book because the author wouldn't allow me to just read the story. She kept trying to make points without letting it come out naturally. When we learn that Stevie's cousin has an eating disorder (anorexia) we are told that their issues stem from the same problem- they both want some control. I would like to be able to see that for myself. unfortunately this book, which could have been amazing, doesn't reach it's potential because it lacks subtlety. People are never completely good, or completely bad we all have sides. Lamb doesn't show those sides and the book suffers.
Review
4 Stars
Prom - Laurie Halse Anderson
Quick Thoughts/ Mini Review: I really liked this book- it was a quick read and it had a lot going on but in a good way. There are a few characters and side stories but they keep the story moving. I loved ash's family- I thought that they were described very well and that they were "crazy" (doesn't everyone think their family is crazy?) but loving and supportive. I enjoyed the characters and the story- I and I really loved the end (shhhh no spoilers- although there isn't much to spoil).

Favorite Line? from page 40 (Ashley's dad) - "I sort of dropped that old punch bowl that we never use anymore. But don't tell your mother. You know how she gets."
Review
3 Stars
When Irish Guys Are Smiling - Suzanne Supplee
I thought this book was a cute, fun romance. I did enjoy it- a good, light, summer read. It isn't too serious, I thought there might be some more sad/emotional parts (because she is still grieving) but there were not many and they were all very quick. She kind of blurted out that her mother was dead every time she told someone and it felt a bit rushed but I don't know if that is realistic or not.
Anyway, I would recommend it to someone looking for a quick YA romance.
Review
2 Stars
Love Undercover
Love Undercover -
I expected to like this book a bit more then I did. It was pretty fast paced and it is a quick read. Some parts were funny (Kaitlyn "studying" how to be a spy by watching Alias and The Jason Bourne films) but it had too many pop culture references that (even though I was a teenager when this book was released) still took me out of the story. they watched a lot of Laguna Beach and update Myspace. Many of the characters were just one dimensional villains and I wished we could actually see Kaitlyn and Blaine falling for each other. All you know is that he is cute and nice(although he just seems to be a bad judge of character).

If you want to read a book where the bad girl is just bad (no reason, just a terrible person) and the good girls are a bit awkward (and have a lot of embarrassing moments) but cute then I would recommend this book. Good for a day at the beach.