September 2008 Books Read

Basically, summaries are in black, opinions are in purple. Links go to Amazon. Dates are when I finished the book.

Books read in September of 2008:

9*1*08.....Bass Ackwards and Belly Up by: Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain
The summary from the books got me interested at first. Four friends taking a year after high school to chase their dreams? Sounds like an interesting plot to me. I read it, it was okay, and since it wasn't quite over, I had to read the next book to find out what happened.

9*6*08.....Footfree and Fancyloose by: Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain
Again, the book was okay. It was definitely an interesting concept and had some good plot twists; as did it's predecessor. I don't think that I would re-read these two books, though. And as usual, there is a little bit of cussing in the books that made me uncomfortable.

9*11*08...Beauty Shop for Rent by: Laura Bowers
This book was pretty cute. It follows a 15 year old, her grandmother, her grandmother's 3 (or was it 4? I can't remember. It was almost a month ago when I read the book.) friends, and a woman who buys the grandmother's beauty shop that has been up for rent for a couple of years. Overall, it was pretty good.

9*13*08...The Temptress Four by: Gaby Triana
Yeah, I finally got to read this book! It was just as good as I had hoped and expected from the hype. Although the ending was not at all what I expected!

9*16*08...The Juliet Club by: Suzanne Harper
Such a sweet book. The book summary got me salivating for the book:

Italy . . . Shakespeare . . . but no romance?

Kate Sanderson inherited her good sense from her mother, a disciplined law professor, and her admiration for the Bard from her father, a passionate Shakespeare scholar. When she gets dumped, out of the blue, for the Practically Perfect Ashley Lawson, she vows never to fall in love again. From now on she will control her own destiny, and every decision she makes will be highly reasoned and rational. She thinks Shakespeare would have approved.

So when she is accepted to a summer Shakespeare symposium in Verona, Italy, Kate sees it as the ideal way to get over her heartbreak once and for all. She'll lose herself in her studies, explore ancient architecture, and eat plenty of pasta and gelato. (Plus, she'll be getting college credit for it—another goal accomplished!) But can even completely logical Kate resist the romance of living in a beautiful villa in the city where those star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet met and died for each other? Especially when the other Shakespeare Scholars—in particular Giacomo, with his tousled brown hair, expressive dark eyes, and charming ways—try hard to break her protective shell?

"In fair Verona, where we lay our scene . . . "

The book was so good. I loved reading every page. It made me laugh in parts, and if you read it, I am sure that you will too!

9*20*08...The Magician by: Michael Scott (Book number 2 in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, book 1-The Alchemyst)
I was incredibly excited when this book came in at the library! I had been waiting for at least 7 months for this book. And the wait was well worth it. The detail was incredible! I felt like I, too was in the setting, seeing what the characters were seeing, feeling what they were. (I really would give details, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who would like to read the series.) When I got to the end and realized that I would have to wait for yet another book, I went online to the author's website and found out that the 3rd book, The Sorceress will be released in May of next year. So at least I have a date to look forward to!

9*22*08...Beauty: a retelling of Beauty and the Beast by: Robin McKinley
Beauty and the Beast is my favorite of the Disney movies and princesses! So I tend to read any retelling I can find. This was a really good one. Beauty has 3 sisters in this book, and she is the homeliest of the three, her father is a ship merchant, and she, of course, loves to read! After some financial ruin, her family goes to live in the country where one of her sisters married, her father opens a wood-working shop next to his son-in-law's blacksmith's shop. Beauty helps out around the house, and is warned to never go into the woods near their house. The story goes on from there... And it is soo good. I just love re-told fairy tales!!

9*23*08...Out of the Wild by: Sarah Beth Durst (sequel to Into the Wild)
SPOILERS FOR FIRST BOOK: In this sequel, after defeating the Wild, Julie's life goes back pretty much to normal. Then all of a sudden her dad is spit out of the Wild. After that things get really crazy. Again. Once again, I loved it. This book was just as, if not better, than the first.

9*24*08...Plan B by: Jenny O'Connell
Vanessa 's senior year is supposed to be a breeze. But then she gets a phone call that changes that. Her parents find out that her Dad has a son. Which means that she has a half-brother who is a few months older than her. And not only that, he is a famous TV star. And he is coming to live with them for his senior year. This book was okay-good. I mean, I have kinda seen this type of plot before. And for this type of book it was good. But overall, I would only read it the one time.

9*26*08...Peeled by: Joan Bauer
Summary from Amazon:
Something’s rotten in the heart of apple country!

Hildy Biddle dreams of being a journalist. A reporter for her high school newspaper, The Core, she’s just waiting for a chance to prove herself. Not content to just cover school issues, Hildy’s drawn to the town’s big story—the haunted old Ludlow house. On the surface, Banesville, USA, seems like such a happy place, but lately, eerie happenings and ghostly sightings are making Hildy take a deeper look.

Her efforts to find out who is really haunting Banesville isn’t making her popular, and she starts wondering if she’s cut out to be a journalist after all. But she refuses to give up, because, hopefully, the truth will set a few ghosts free.

This book was entertaining. It had good characters, a very unique plot, and a good message of standing up to the bad guy! Plus the end was just not at all what I expected. Can you say out of the blue?

9*29*08...Teach Me by: R.A. Nelson
Teach Me was about a girl, Nine-short for Carolina, and her English teacher-Mr. Mann, who had an affair. It is all from Nine's point of view. It was not graphic and it was not what I expected either. I know, not my kind of book at all. But with all the stories on the news of teachers having affairs with students, this got my attention. Which I am sure is what the author was thinking about, too. The student was almost 18 when she started the affair, and over 18 when it ended. The teacher ended the affair about a month or two (I think, there weren't any specific dates) after it got really serious without explaining why. Which sent Nine into a kind of depression and crazy streak. She describes what kind of craziness she did, and how she eventually came out of it. I probably wouldn't read it again. It was a one-time book for me.


So as you can tell, I did something different from the other months. I wrote a mini-review for each book that I read, versus highlighting the books that I liked the best. You can do me a favor and go back to the older months and tell me which version you like better.

Older months: August July June May April March

Maybe I will make a poll, and then you can vote. Yeah, that is what I will do.

I am sorry for this being soo long.