Peaches - Jodi Lynn Anderson

Rating: 4 out of 5 horses

Pages: 320

Genre: Young Adult (Romance)

Challenges: Young Adult, Young Adult romance, New Author, Library

Synopsis (from BN.com)

In a Ya-Ya Sisterhood for teens, Peaches combines three unforgettable heroines who have nothing in common but the troubles that have gotten them sentenced to a summer of peach picking at a Georgia orchard.

Leeda is a debutante dating wrong-side-of-the-tracks Rex.

Murphy, the wildest girl in Bridgewater, likes whichever side Rex is on.
Birdie is a dreamer whose passion for Girl Scout cookies is matched only by her love for a boy named Enrico.

When their worlds collide, The Breakfast Club meets The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in an entirely original and provocative story with a lush, captivating setting.

Review

This book reminded me a lot of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (the movie I haven't read the book). But it was different and very good. I liked it a lot and will read some of the others in the series.

Higher Power of Lucky - Susan Patron

Rating: 3 out of 5 horses

Pages: 160

Genre: Young Adult

Challenges: New Author, Audio, Library, Dewey Recommended, Young Adult, Award Winner

Synopsis (from BN.com)

Lucky, age ten, can't wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has.

It's all Brigitte's fault -- for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she'll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, won't be allowed. She'll have to lose her friends Miles, who lives on cookies, and Lincoln, future U.S. president (maybe) and member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. Just as bad, she'll have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own -- and quick.

But she hadn't planned on a dust storm.
Or needing to lug the world's heaviest survival-kit backpack into the desert.

Review

I thought this book was cute, but thought it was a little slow until the last few chapters. It was a quick read!

Contest for 3 Books and Amazon Gift Card

Maureen Lang is hosting a great contest! Here are the details from her site:

"To enter the contest, all you need to do is sign up for my newsletter (either here to the left or on my website) and you'll be entered to win a fabulous basket full of books (The Oak Leaves, On Sparrow Hill, My Sister Dilly), chocolate and a $25 Amazon.com gift card! "

To enter go here and sign up for her newsletter. The contest ends today so hurry!

2008 Reading Statistics

Here are some book summaries:

Book I would never have picked up on my own, but sure am glad I did:
*Life As We Knew it
*Luxe

My favorite books of 2008:
*Tallgrass - Sandra Dallas
*This Heart of Mine - Susan Elizabeth Phillips
* Five Fortunes - Beth Gutcheon
* Love Comes Softly - Janette Oke
* Monsters of Templeton - Laura Groff
* Life As We Knew It - Susan Beth Pfeffer
* The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
* Somthing Rotten - Jasper Fforde
* The Goose Girl - Shannon Hale
* Love Walked In - Marisa De Los Santos
* Firefly Lane - Kristin Hannah
* Garden Spells - Sarah Addison Allen
* Luxe - Anna Godbersen

Series I started in 2008 that I must finish: Luxe, Hidden

Books I want to see continued: Life As We Knew It

New Authors that I read for the first time in 2008 and I want to read more of:
* Sarah Addison Allen
* Anna Godbersen
* Marisa De Los Santos
* Shelley Shepard Gray

* Philippa Gregory

* Susan Beth Pfeffer
* Jennifer Cheiaverini
* Laura Groff

Here are my stats for 2008:

Total books read in 2008: 60 (this is my first year tracking but I am sure all of the challenges have helped me to read more books!!)

* Pages Read: 20,986

* Fiction: 43

* Non-Fiction: 2

* New Authors: 40

* Audio Books: 32

* Did Not Finish Books: 4

* Challenges Signed up for: 14

* Challenges Finished: 7

* Challenges Carried Over to 2009: 3 (Young Adult Romance, Awards Challenge, Soups On)

My challenges finished is only 50%! I will have to try to improve that this year!! I am surprised that this is so low - but I can't complain I read many more authors and books than I would have without them!!

Ratings Stats:

2 = 7

3 = 23

3.5 = 1

4 = 16

5 = 13

Cape Refuge - Terri Blackstock

Rating: 3 - Just OK
Pages: 400
Challenges: 2008 1st in a Series

Synopsis (from bn.com)
When Thelma and Wayne Owens are found murdered in the warehouse where they held their church services, their son-in-law Jonathan is arrested for the crime--but his wife Morgan and her sister Blair, Thelma and Waynes daughters, are confident that he didnt do it and set out to find the real killer.

Review
Mysteries aren't my genre of choice so others may enjoy this book more than I did. The last part of the book was excellent and I wanted to finish it, but I thought it got a slow start. It is a mystery that I didn't figure out until the last part of the book, so that was great!

This is a book I started in 2008, but didn't finish until a few days in 2009 so I am counting it towards 2008 books. This is my last 2008 book - here I come 2009!!

The Luxe - Anna Godbersen

Rating: 5 - Loved it!

Pages: 433

Challenges: Young Adult Romance Challenge

Genre: Young Adult

Synopsis (from BN.com)

Pretty girls in pretty dresses, partying until dawn.Irresistible boys with mischievous smiles and dangerous intentions.White lies, dark secrets, and scandalous hookups.This is Manhattan, 1899.

Beautiful sisters Elizabeth and Diana Holland rule Manhattan's social scene. Or so it appears. When the girls discover their status among New York City's elite is far from secure, suddenly everyone—from the backstabbing socialite Penelope Hayes, to the debonair bachelor Henry Schoonmaker, to the spiteful maid Lina Broud—threatens Elizabeth's and Diana's golden future.

With the fate of the Hollands resting on her shoulders, Elizabeth must choose between family duty and true love. But when her carriage overturns near the East River, the girl whose glittering life lit up the city's gossip pages is swallowed by the rough current. As all of New York grieves, some begin to wonder whether life at the top proved too much for this ethereal beauty, or if, perhaps, someone wanted to see Manhattan's most celebrated daughter disappear...

In a world of luxury and deception, where appearance matters above everything and breaking the social code means running the risk of being ostracized forever, five teenagers lead dangerously scandalous lives. This thrilling trip to the age of innocence is anything but innocent.

Review

Loved it! Read it in only a few days which is amazing for me because I get so little time to read! I enjoyed the history of the time period and the ways that the ladies got around doing what was proper. Each chapter started with an article from the time or a tidbit of information about the time period, which was great to really understand the confinements that women had. The book starts out with a mystery that I had an idea what happened but not how. The book didn't resolve the details of how the mystery occurred but I still enjoyed it. There are 2 more books in the series, so far and I have them reserved at the library!

There are a few racy parts in this book so I would think hard about give it to a young teen, but perhaps someone in high school.

The Host - Stephenie Meyer

Rating: 3

Pages: 624

Challenges: Stephenie Meyer Mini-Challenge

Synopsis (from BN.com)
Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.

Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves-Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel that will bring a vast new readership to one of the most compelling writers of our time.

Review

I want to start off saying that Science Fiction is not my favorite genre, but I have found books that I have enjoyed (see my review of Life As We Knew It). I know there are MANY people who love Stephenie Meyer and I have enjoyed her books but not loved them like many have. This book just didn't pull me in until the last half. In fact, I read the first half and put it down for a few months then picked it up again because I wanted to loan it to a friend and finish it in 2008. I was very glad I finished it. This is a hard book to rate because I would give the first half of the book a 2 or a 3 rating, but the last half would be a 4 or a 4.5 rating. So I think I will settle down the middle with a 3 - average.