Book Review: Don't You Wish by Roxanne St. Claire

At First Sight: Annie Nutter might not be pretty or popular, and her parents might not have a lot of money, and yeah, her brother is annoying, but she has a best friend and a family she loves. And she's generally OK with her life. 

Until one day when bad things just keep happening to her - some of which put many 'what ifs' in her mind - and it all ends with a crazy finale when she's zapped by one of her father's inventions gone wrong and wakes up in a completely different world.

Her name is no longer Annie Nutter, and she's definitely not in Pittsburg anymore. Now she's the gorgeous, super rich Queen Bee Ayla Monroe, who's living big in Miami. Suddenly, she has everything she ever wished for, inhabiting this Ayla person, but on the inside, she's still Annie. 

And sure, she might now have all she ever dreamed off - including popularity and the hottest guy she has ever seen for boyfriend - but she quickly starts to wonder if the trade of is worth it: Her new friends shoplift for fun, her boyfriend Ryder pressures her to have sex and her mom (who is actually her own mom but completely different) doesn't even like her, and the only person she seems to connect with is the school's outcast Charlie .

Second Glance: When I first saw the cover for Don't You Wish, I was drawn to it, because it looked so cute and girly. Usually such covers let me down but, thankfully, Don't You Wish was a happy exception. 

Annie is a sweet girl and she makes for a great narrator, she's as confused as the reader is by all that's happening, so it's both easy and fun to follow her as she starts to make sense of things, and I loved seeing her grow and change as she learned who Ayla Monoroe was before Annie got there. 

The other characters served their purposes well, and I liked seeing the contrast between the people from Ayla's World and the ones from Annie's, seeing how much a life can change due to the choices we make and the situations we find ourselves in. 

I even liked Charlie, he's nice and super smart, and a great brother, though I do wish he had been a bit more fleshed out, since he has a large role in the book. In fact some of the other characters could have been more developed, too.

Other than that, the only other hang-up I had with the story was the Big Explanation of what happened and how Annie ended up with Ayla's life. I'm not going to tell you the explanation itself, but I'll say that I have an above average knowledge of quantum physics - because, yeah, sometimes I do read physics books for fun - and I like science, but I was so bored by the explanation, felt like it needed to be more concise. 

Bottom Line: When it's all said and done, I liked Don't You Wish. I liked the characters and the plot, and the way Annie handled the situations she was thrown into. I had some minor troubles, but nothing that took away from my over all enjoyment of the book. And I really liked the ending. Don't You Wish Comes out on July 10th, 2012.

Book Review: Things Your Dog Doesn't Want You to Know by Hy Conrad and Jeff Johnson

The Deal: 11 very different and courageous dogs confess all you ever wanted to know about your own dog. 

In confessional style, dogs big and small, with all type of owners confess that no, they will never be full, no matter how much you feed them, that they think that you're spoiling the puppies, and that Birthdays aren't exactly all that important to the psyche of a canine. 

This among other stories. 

My Thoughts: I'm not going to rate Things Your Dog Doesn't WAnt You to Know. One because it doesn't fit any of the genres I usually review, I just requested it because I love dogs and I think that a dog in a book makes everything better. 

And Two because I actually only saw a sampler of the book - the first seven stories, I think - so I'm going to write my impressions based on that.

I think this is a very cute book and if you're the the type of person who would buy a book like this in the first place, then you'll probably like it a lot. The stories I read, some I liked more than others but they were short and easy to read and yeah they showed some stuff that I could imagine a dogs thinking. And it was funny.

Love,

Tune in Tuesday (34) - Desire by Ryan Adams

This meme is hosted by Ginger at GReads and music. Each week you can post an old or new song so that it gains more interest! So head on over and link up.

This week I chose Desire by Ryan Adams. I first heard this song during an episode of HOUSE and I've loved it ever since. Hope you like it.

So, what song plays for you?

Book Review: Magic Knight Rayearth Vol 2 (Ominibus)

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

The Deal: After the events of Vol 1. Uni, Fuu and Hikaru return to Cephiro, only to find it much changed since the Princess' death. The kingdom is crumbling bit by bit and three enemies are poised to take over any second now. 

So the country is at the verge of war and they are without a Pillar, which makes the girls sudden return to Cephiro even more startling as the Chief Magician, Clef, knows of no one with a heart so strong as to bring them back.

On one hand, this is a big mystery, on the other it gives them hope that a Pillar does exist out there, that they just need to find it. 

Meanwhile, the girls decide to stay and help Cephiro deal with the possibility of invasions, which means Fuu, Hikaru and Umi will eventually have to face Farhen, Autozam and Chizeta - the countries with their own reasons to want to invade Cephiro. 

And they aslo start to explore the possibility of romance...

My Thoughts: Magic Knight Rayearth Vol 2 is the second and last volume of this compilation put together by Dark Horse. I've talked about the story before so I'll just say that, while the first volume of the manga and the anime adaptation are basically the same, the second volume and second seasons differ a lot. 

In this version - the manga version - there is a bit of a difference on why the girls are able to return, and the villains Nova and Lady Debonair are absent as they were created specifically for the anime version.  The ending is different too - but I won't spoil it.

But most of the stuff I loved about the second season of the anime are present, Including Zagato's younger brother Lantis who was the one person who always knew Zagato was really in love with the Princess and was just trying to set her free. 

Now, this edition is awesome. The format works well, there is a new, smoother translation and the paper and illustrations are high quality. Plus, its a really good value - the book is over 600 pages and costs 20 dollars or less, depending on where you buy it. 

If you're a CLAMP/Manga fan I highly recommend it

At the Movies: The Lorax

Ted Wiggins lives in "Thneed-Ville" a place were everything is artificial and people like it that way, and Ted doesn't really care either way until the day Audrey - the pretty, older girl next door - tells him her biggest dream in life is to see a real, living three. 

Ted sets out to find a real three for Audrey, and the only advice he gets comes from his grandma: to go out of the city's walls and talk to the Once-ler. The Once-lear lives on the wasteland outside the city, and is a bit of a recluse who grumpily agrees to tell Ted what happened to all the threes if he agrees to listen to his story over the course of several visits. 

Ted agrees but his sneaking out of the city catches the attention of Mr. O'Hare, the richest man of the city  who owns a bottled-air company, and who really wants Ted to desists. But Ted doesn't and eventually learns how the Once-ler arrived to a valley full of Truffula Trees and discovers the tufts from these threes are the perfect material for his invention. 

However, his chopping trees doesn't sit well with the valley's dwellers and The Lorax - an orange spirit that speaks for the threes - is summoned. The Lorax is annoying and is out to teach the Once-ler a lesson, but the two reluctantly become friends.

This movie is cute! Very cute in fact, and for the most part I really loved it. It had a good message, the animation was good and I think that even very small kids can understand it. My one problem with it were the musicals... there were about four musicals too many and they just kept chopping the rhythm of the movie, and only two or three of the songs were any good.

Over all, I would give it a B-