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June 30, 2010

Waiting on Wednesday # 7

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick:


Summary from Goodreads.com
One happily-ever-after rocking chair…

And no sign of any forthcoming babies to rock in ol’ Georgebury, Vermont. For Callie Grey, turning thirty means coming to grips with the fact that her boss (and five-week fling) is way overdue in his marriage proposal. And way off track, because Mark has suddenly announced his engagement to the company’s new Miss Perfect. If that isn’t bad enough, her mom decides to throw her a 3-0 birthday bash in the family funeral home.

Bad goes to worse when she stirs up a relationship with the town’s most eligible — yet not so warm and fuzzy — veterinarian, Ian McFarland, in order to flag Mark’s attention. So Ian’s more comfortable with animals… So he’s formal, orderly and just a bit tense. The ever-friendly, fun-loving and spontaneous Callie decides it’s time for Ian to get a personality makeover. But, dang — if he doesn’t shock the heck out of her, she might actually fall for Vermont’s unlikeliest eligible bachelor…
Kristan Higgins
August 2010 by HQN

June 24, 2010

Book Review: Crazy by Han Nolan

Crazy by Han Nolan
Crazy
Author: Han Nolan
Release Date: September 13th 2010
Age: Young Adult
Fifteen-year-old Jason has fallen upon bad times—his mother has died and his father has succumbed to mental illness. As he tries to hold his crazy father and their crumbling home together, Jason relies on a host of imaginary friends for guidance as he stumbles along trying not to draw attention to his father’s deteriorating condition.
Both heartbreaking and funny, CRAZY lives up to the intense and compelling characters Han Nolan is praised for. As Jason himself teeters on the edge of insanity, Nolan uncovers the clever coping system he develops for himself and throws him a lifeline in the guise of friendship.
One word: Awesome!

I wanted to read this book so much, and when I received it through NetGalley I was very excited.

Jason is the protagonist. He spent his day at school, then comes back straight to his house, to take care of his mentally ill father. His mother is dead, and nobody has to know about his father, because they will take him, and Jason will be placed for adoption. So it doesn't matter to him that he has to take care of his father, sell almost every item in his house to get food and medicine, and that they live without heat.

Then, one day, he starts failing in school. It's very silly, but he needs the attention. So he has to talk a few days a week with Ms Gomez and other kids with problems....

Jason is amazing, one of my favorite male characters of all time. He's just like any 15 years old boy, but he has so much responsibilities. He loves his parents, and his mind is awesome. He doesn't have friends, except the ones that live in his head and talk only to him. But that doesn't mean he is crazy, right? Right?

Desperation, love, fear, anger. Jason has to deal with this everyday, but when he finally made some real friends, in a way, it becomes easier.

Wow, I loved this book. Couldn't stop reading it!. This is a very powerful book, and I cried a lot while reading it because it's exactly as real life is: very unfair. Very intense, but also funny, between a bunch of imaginary friends, real teenagers friends, and a crazy person, you can imagine!

Excellent writing. It grabbed me from the first line. It's not usual to start a book with the protagonist inviting you to his life, like a talk show. Very original.

Really, you must read Crazy. I recommend it to everyone! Teenagers and adults. Believe me, you will like it, and you will learn a few things.


More about this book at hannolan.comGoodreadsAmazon, The Book Depository.

June 23, 2010

Waiting on Wednesday # 6

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick:



Summary from Goodreads.com
Elizabeth has a new job at an unusual library— a lending library of objects, not books. In a secret room in the basement lies the Grimm Collection. That’s where the librarians lock away powerful items straight out of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales: seven-league boots, a table that produces a feast at the blink of an eye, Snow White’s stepmother’s sinister mirror that talks in riddles.
When the magical objects start to disappear, Elizabeth embarks on a dangerous quest to catch the thief before she can be accused of the crime—or captured by the thief.

Polly Shulman has created a contemporary fantasy with a fascinating setting and premise, starring an ordinary girl whose after-school job is far from ordinary— and leads to a world of excitement, romance and magical intrigue.
Polly Shulman
July 8th 2010 by Putnam Juvenile
Hardcover, 336 pages

June 20, 2010

In My Mailbox # 4


In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted @ The Story Siren

No money = nothing bought. BUT I won a few contests :)



From Sonia Gensler --- Set In Stone by Linda Newbery & Magic Under Glass (Magic Under #1) by Jaclyn Dolamore.

Which one do you recommend me to read first?

UPDATE: I forgot about this book! Can't believe it, really, I'm a big fan of this serie and just today I realized it was already out! So I had to buy the e-book...


Beyond The Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #6) by Alexandra Ivy

June 19, 2010

Book Review: My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters by Sydney Salter

My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters by Sydney Salter
My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters
Author: Sydney Salter
Publisher: HM Harcourt/Graphia
Release Date: April 1st 2009
Age: Young Adult
It's the end of junior year, and summer is about to begin. The Summer of Passion, to be exact, when Jory Michaels plans to explore all the possibilities of the future - and, with any luck, score a boyfriend in the process. But Jory has a problem. A big problem. A curvy, honking, bumpy, problem in the form of her Super Schnozz, the one thing standing between Jory and happiness. And now, with the Summer of Passion stretched before her like an open road, she's determined for Super Schnozz to disappear.
Jory takes a job delivering wedding cakes to save up for a nose job at the end of the summer; she even keeps a book filled with magazine cutouts of perfect noses to show the doctor. But nothing is ever easy for accident-prone Jory - and before she knows it, her Summer of Passion falls apart faster than the delivery van she crashes.
In her hilarious and heartbreaking debut novel, Sydney Salter delivers a story about broadening your horizons, accepting yourself, and finding love right under your nose.
I like strong women as protagonists, so maybe that's why I didn't connected with Jory. She is very self-conscious and self-doubting, and her big nose is just one of the things she hates about herself. She is very clumsy and her family seems to ignore her because she can't make anything right.

Her nose problem seemed so insignificant to me, but Jory takes it very seriously. She thinks its because of her nose that she doesn't have a boyfriend, and she is saving money for her nose job. But why does she thinks like that? Nobody criticizes her nose, except her mother. She just seemed to be very superficial, and I didn't like it, because if there is something I hate in this world, its superficial - people.

Also, I didn't liked her friends, Hannah and Meghan. They do stupid stuff, also are superficial,  and choose boys over friendship. Really, I don't understand why Jory is still friends with them! I didn't like the way they threated her, and I kept waiting for her to find better friends. I couldn't stand Meghan, who thinks she is soo superior. She would have been better with more supportive friends.

Anyway, I know every teenager girl wants to have a boyfriend, but there where so many boys in this book! I didn't knew which one was going to stay: maybe super cute Tyler, or Tom, or Gideon. At least I liked Gideon, he was very cool with his band, but making jewelry and wanting to "wait" just didn't seem to me like real boy stuff.

Sadly, this book didn't grab me at the beginning. I had to read a few chapters before getting really interested on what was going on. It was in the middle that I didn't wanted to stop reading, and I must say, there are a few surprises in this book I wasn't expecting, but liked them.

The end was very sentimental. I thought it was a light reading, but in the end it became very intense. Body issues are very important, specially in teenagers, and if you have a supportive family and friends, its easier to accept yourself just as you are.

Overall, if you are looking for a summer romance story, you should read My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters.



I recieved this book through International Book Tours.

News: WAKE movie

Hi guys! I just read at Lisa McMann's blog:
Paramount and MTV Films have picked up the film rights to the WAKE trilogy, with Christopher Landon (Disturbia) writing/directing. Miley Cyrus is considering the lead role.
As you know, even with people and studios attached, it takes a lot for a movie to actually happen, so there are no guarantees it'll get made. But I'm crossing my fingers.
I am thrilled!
As soon as I have more information, I will let you know. Read all the details at the link above!
xox
Lisa
P.S. I have no control over casting or anything else -- I'm just here to let you know what's up. So please, don't be all about the hatin' all over my blog, my lovelies! Did I mention I am thrilled? I am! I think Miley is awesome. Anybody who can accomplish more by the age of 17 than I can do by the age of 42 is top notch in my book. I think every teen has tremendous potential to shine, don't you? xox
What do you think? Have you read the Wake trilogy? I read Wake and Fade, but still have to read Gone. Anyway, I'm not a big fan of Miley Cyrus, and you?

June 16, 2010

Some Contests!

Hi people!!
Maybe you want to win some books? Then you must check out these blogs and their amazing contest!:

The Book Vixen    Summer Book contest

Waiting on Wednesday # 5

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick:


Summary from Goodreads.com
Ari Mitchell feels invisible at her Brooklyn high school. Her hair is too flat, her style too preppy, and her personality too quiet. And outside school, Ari feels outshined by her beautiful, confident best friend, Summer. Their friendship is as complex and confusing as Ari’s relationship with her troubled older sister, Evelyn, a former teenage mom whose handsome firefighter husband fills Ari’s head with guilty fantasies.

When an unexpected inheritance enables Ari to transfer to an elite Manhattan prep school, she makes a wealthy new friend, Leigh. Leigh introduces Ari to the glamorous side of New York—and to her gorgeous cousin, Blake. Ari doesn't think she stands a chance, but amazingly, Blake asks her out. As their romance heats up, they find themselves involved in an intense, consuming relationship. Ari’s family worries that she is losing touch with the important things in life, like family, hard work, and planning for the future. Meanwhile, Summer warns her that what she feels for Blake is just an infatuation. Not real love. But Ari’s world is awash with new colors, filled with a freshness and an excitement she hasn’t felt in years.

When misfortune befalls Blake’s family, he pulls away, and Ari's world drains of color. As she struggles to get over the breakup, Ari must finally ask herself: were their feelings true love . . . or something else?

Lorraine Zago Rosenthal
January 11th 2011 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Hardcover, 368 pages

June 14, 2010

Awards!

I'd like to thank Beth @ Maybe Tomorrow? because she gave me this lovely award and also was my first follower!
"A prolific blogger is one who is intellectually productive, keeping up an active blog with enjoyable content. After accepting this award, recipients are asked to pass it forward to seven other deserving blogs."
1. LuxeCouture @ Books & Lemonade
2. Stella @ Ex Libris
5. Trillian @ A Trillian Books

And big thanks to Tammy at The Book Fairy's Haven because she nominated me for this fabulous blogging award!

If you are given this award you must first accept it by leaving a comment on the post you were nominated on. 
Then copy and paste the post and add it to your own blog. Make a list of the last 5 books you read and pass the award on to 5 other bloggers (no backsies!). Please also identify the blog from which you got the award and don’t forget to tell your picks that they have a blog award!
The last five books I've read:
My Big Nose and Other Natural Disaster
My Invented Life - Lauren Bjorkman
The Oracle of Dating - Allison van Diepen
Aries Rising (Star Crossed #1)  - Bonnie Hearn Hill
The Love Market - Carol Mason

My nominations:
1. Kritter @ Kritters Ramblings
2. Sarah @ Sarah's Book Reviews
3. Sara @ YA Vampire Books
4. Miss Eliza @ strange and random happenstance
5. Rebecca B @ Vicarious Reader

June 13, 2010

Bloggiesta! - Final Summary Post


Bloggiesta is done! *phew* I'm tired...but happy.

Number of hours spent on the challenge: 16 hours.

What I accomplished:

- Write reviews: HALF DONE! /I was going to write 4 reviews, but just manage to write 2: The Oracle of Dating by Allison van Diepen and My Invented Life by Lauren Bjorkman.

- Organizing my TBR pile: DONE! Now I have an order to read the books that have been waiting for me in my bookshelf...not just grab anything and read it!

- Write 5 "Waiting on Wednesday" posts: DONE!

- Create 10 template posts for my future reads: DONE!

- Create a Google Doc of cheat sheets: DONE!

Add a favicon, install plugins: DONE! It took me a lot of time, but I'm happy with the results...

After trying a lot of social bookmarks plugins, I found one I liked at http://www.bloggerplugins.org/. Now you can find it at the end of every post :)


And my new fav icon:


- Add/Edit my about me and review policy page (Mini-Challenge: Your Review Policy): DONE! I edit my Review Policy page, and now its much better! Also I added an About page.

Grade my blog: DONE! Before Bloggiesta, I graded my blog at Website Grader and my result was 56/100. I wasn't happy at all. After Bloggiesta, my grade is 75! Yay! Definitely an improvement!
The Website Grade for http://oh-my-books.blogspot.com!

I also graded my Twitter account at http://twitter.grader.com, and my result was: 87/100. Cool :)

- Updating my social network profiles: DONE!  I wasn't a lot of work really. Just took me some minutes.

- Clean up my feedreader: FAIL! My feedreader is a disaster. It was the first time I tried to clean it up, but I'm starting to believe its impossible. I spent 1 hour doing it and I don't think I did more than 5%!.

---------

This was my first Bloggiesta and I loved to participate! It was an excellent way to improve my blog and met new bloggers! Thanks PEDRO!

June 12, 2010

Review: My Invented Life by Lauren Bjorkman

Title: My Invented Life
Author: Bjorkman, Lauren.
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Release Date: September 29th, 2009.
Pages: 240
ISBN: 0805089500 (isbn13: 9780805089509)
Age: Young Adult
With Roz and Eva everything becomes a contest—who can snag the best role in the school play, have the cutest boyfriend, pull off the craziest prank. Still, they’re as close as sisters can be. Until Eva deletes Roz from her life like so much junk e-mail for no reason that Roz understands. Now Eva hangs out with the annoyingly petite cheerleaders, and Roz fantasizes about slipping bovine growth hormone into their Gatorade.
Roz has a suspicion about Eva. In turn, Eva taunts Roz with a dare, which leads to an act of total insanity. Drama geeks clamor for attention, Shakespearean insults fly, and Roz steals the show in Lauren Bjorkman’s hilarious debut novel.

Wow. I didn't know what to expect from this book, but it was a nice surprise.

Roz is crazy, but I like her. With a weird personality; she is just another teenager growing up and trying to look for her real self. She definitely needs someone taking care of her, but her parents are very occupied with Eva, the perfect daughter, and she doesn't really have friends. I understand her way of acting, and why its so important for her not to loose Eva's friendship.

When Roz started to have suspicions about Eva's sexuality, instead of leaving her along, she starts to act as a lesbian to give Eva security about her sexuality. What she didn't expected was that while doing that, she was going to start exploring herself, thinking about how it will feel to be with a girl. Is it different? Will she like it? Does it matter?.

Roz actually steals the show. She is very unique and I had fun reading her. Actually, I couldn't stop reading! She made me laugh every time she answered things as: "my father is not prostitute". She has becomes one of my favorite characters.

The other characters (Eva, and their friends) are very real and well done too. Sometimes mean, but exactly as teenagers are. And it helped a lot that the writing was awesome too. It was fluid, light, exactly as any teenager will think/speak. It amazed me.

Its a light reading, but brutally honest. Sexuality and acceptance are the main themes of this book, and I believe the author manages them perfectly.

Filled with teen-age drama, but also humor, I enjoyed it very much (but maybe not everyone will). I don't have issues reading GLBT literature, but if you don't feel confortable with this, then don't read it.

Also, I think the cover is great. Very eye-catching, and it feels perfect for this book. Excellent picture.

Rating: 

More about this book at laurenbjorkman.com

I received this book through International Book Tours.

June 11, 2010

Book Review: The Oracle of Dating by Allison van Diepen

The Oracle of Dating by Allison van Diepen
The Oracle of Dating
Author: Allison van Diepen
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: May 1st, 2010
Age: Young Adult
No one at Kayla’s school knows she’s the famous Oracle of Dating—the anonymous queen of dating advice, given through her own Web site. Kayla doesn’t even have a boyfriend. Two relationship disasters were enough to make her focus on everyone else’s love life. But then her advice backfires on her own best friend. And Kayla starts to seriously obsess about Jared Stewart—the very cute, very mysterious new guy in school. Suddenly, the teen queen of advice needs her own oracle of dating--and she knows just where to find one...
I loved The Oracle of Dating. I thought is was middle grade because of the cover, but its actually young-adult.

I read it very quickly. Kayla is a great girl, very real and sweet to listen. She could be my best friend. She is funny, honest, girly, intelligent and cool, and behaves exactly as I did when I was her age.

Kayla's blog is excellent. She loves to blog, its practically her life. And her advices are very useful, for all ages, and everyone can learn from them.

Jared is the cute boy. He is cool, mysterious, and respect girls. The romance between them its very innocent and develops slowly, and they are a great couple. But I felt as if they wouldn't last together because he is a senior.

Her friends are also very cool. Not the kind of friends you wish the protagonist didn't have, but funny, not-bothering, not-stupid, real friends. I wish I had friends like that when I was a teenager!

I really liked the writing. It was easy to read, light, and I couldn't stop until I finished. I laughed a lot, and in the end, I wanted to read more. Obviously I will read the next one, The Oracle of Rebounds (November 01, 2010), to see what happens between Kayla and Jared..

Funny, cute and very girly light read. Excellent choice if you like Chick-Lit.


Bloggiesta! - Starting Line (update)


Today, 8 am, I'm starting the Bloggiesta Marathon!. I have 76 hours to improve my blog in every possible way. (read more)

The things I want to will do:
  • Write reviews:
    • The Oracle of Dating - Allison van Diepen 
    • My Invented Life - Lauren Bjorkman
    • My Big Nose and Other Naturals Disasters - Sydney Salter
    • The Forest of the Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan
  • Organizing my TBR pile.
  • Write 5 "Waiting on Wednesday" posts. 
  • Create 10 template posts for my future reads (ie: title, images, linking, tags, etc).
  • Create a text file (or Google Doc) of cheat sheets (html codes, post url’s, etc).
  • Improve your blog template, clean up sidebars, add a favicon, install plugins.
  • Make buttons for my blog.
  • Add/Edit my about me and review policy page (Mini-Challenge: Your Review Policy).
  • Grade my blog.
  • Updating my social network profiles. 
  • Clean up my feedreader: go through my subscriptions and unsubscribe from blogs I don’t read anymore.
* ABC: Done before bloggiesta.

I think that's all. I'll try to complete everything, but with the FIFA worldcup 2010 starting at the same time, I'm not sure...Anyway, Wish me luck!


Chile 2010!!