Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler

Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler

Release Date: January 3, 2012
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 384
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Once upon a time, Hudson knew exactly what her future looked like. Then a betrayal changed her life and knocked her dreams to the ground. Now she’s a girl who doesn’t believe in second chances, a girl who stays under the radar by baking cupcakes at her mom’s diner and obsessing over what might have been.

So when things start looking up and she has another shot at her dreams, Hudson is equal parts hopeful and terrified. Of course, this is also the moment a cute, sweet guy walks into her life—and starts serving up some seriously mixed signals. She’s got a lot on her plate, and for a girl who’s been burned before, risking it all is easier said than done.

It’s time for Hudson to ask herself what she really wants, and how much she’s willing to sacrifice to get it. Because in a place where opportunities are fleeting, she knows this chance may very well be her last....

Before I start this review, I'd like to say that this book totally brought me out of my slump. I'd gone so long without picking up a book that could keep my interest long enough for me to finish. However, when I started this book, I found myself making time to read it. I would lock myself in my room and not leave until I was content with a stopping point. So, thank you, Sarah Ockler for your entertaining books!

So basically this book begins with the main character recalling a moment that changed her life drastically: the finding of a cheetah bra. It's not hers, it's not her mother's, so who does it belong to? Unfortunately, she knows who it belongs to. It's a unmentioned secret the family can't force under the table anymore. Her father is having an affair, and her mother can't deny it any longer. The book opens with this event because it changes Hudson's, the main character, life drastically. For one, her fathers moves out and her parents get divorced. With her father away, the diner that belongs to Hudson's mother is slowly running down to the ground. And, perhaps most significant is the fact that Hudson no longer skates. It was a dream she had followed since she was young, and she threw it away when she purposely messed up during a big competition to get her parent's attention.

Fast forward a couple years, and you'll find Hudson spending the majority of her time at her mom's diner. And, she actually enjoys it at first, because of what she does there. Cupcakes. She bakes cupcakes now, and she's really good at it. However, her enjoyment of working there soon fades away when her mother asks her to take on another role: a waitress. Not only is she very clumsy, but she also doesn't appreciate older men leering at her while she works. She knows her mom needs her help though, so she agrees to the job. All at once it seems, her life is becoming a clustered chaos, and not just because of her new job.

Around this time, Hudson gets a letter in the mail. Her old skating coach has died and all of her teacher's skating students are being asked to join a competition for a scholarship. Hudson knows  more than anything that she wants to get out of this town, but she hasn't skated since that day she threw it all away. Needless to say, she's very rusty. After a lot of thinking, she makes the decision to try for it anyway; however, she keeps this piece of information from her mother, which makes her life an even more complicated mess, because she has to focus on how she can practice without her mother getting suspicious. Enter: her school hockey team, a cute boy, and an opportunity.

By chance, Hudson runs into (quite literally) Josh, a cute hockey player, who says the hockey team could use some help on technique if she's interested in helping. After some contemplating, she takes up the opportunity and now has so much on her plate: practicing ice skating, teaching the barbaric hockey team some new tricks, keeping her mother satisfied, and she has to be able to watch her adorable little brother all at the same time. Let's just say she's very busy these days.

As you can tell, there are a lot of plot lines here, and one could easily lose their way while trying to fit the whole story in together, but Ockler does an amazing job at keeping the story moving and everything flowing well. Not only that, each character is developed well, and I find that Hudson is character that I really like. For one, she is able to juggle everything while still keeping a smile on her face, most of the time anyway, and she doesn't let anything bring her down for long. She's strong, and that plays a major role in the decision she makes at the end of the book. (Not going to tell you what it is! You're going to have to read this yourself to find out.)

This is the second book I've read by Sarah Ockler, the first being Twenty Boy Summer, and I find myself liking this book more, because it's more memorable and I feel that she's improved in her writing. I really recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun read, AND anyone looking for some yummy cupcake recipes along the way. Why, you ask? Because each chapter starts with a delicious cupcake idea.

As a reader, I found Bittersweet very likable and it was very easy to lose myself in the entertaining world Sarah Ockler created. Don't think that this book is a cookie-cutter-girls-meets-boy teenage novel, because it's not. I can't stand those, and I really liked this! Go out and read this book, because you won't regret it.

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Update

Wow I've been leaving you all in the dark, huh? Sorry about that, but I do have an update! I'm probably going to branch out and create a sister blog having to do with music and such. I'll post on here once I have that up and I will continue to read books and write reviews.

Happy reading!
Danielle

Oh and thanks for sticking with me!

Deadly Little Voices by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Deadly Little Voices by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Release Date: December 6, 2011
Publisher: Hyperion
Pages: 352
Overall: 

Camelia Hammond thought her powers of psychometry gave her only the ability to sense the future through touch. But now she has started to hear voices. Cruel voices. Berating her, telling her how ugly she is, that she has no talent, and that she'd be better off dead. Camelia is terrified for her mental stability, especially since her deranged aunt, who has a suicidal history, has just moved into the house. As if all of that weren't torturing enough, Camelia's ex-boyfriend, Ben, for whom she still harbors feelings and who has similar psychometric abilities, has started seeing someone else. Even her closest friends, Kimmie and Wes, are not sure how to handle her erratic behavior.

With the line between reality and dream consistently blurred, Camelia turns to pottery to get a grip on her emotions. She begins sculpting a figure skater, only to receive frightening premonitions that someone's in danger. But who is the intended victim? And how can Camelia help that person when she is on the brink of losing her own sanity?

Deadly Little Voices is the fourth book in the Touch Series by Laurie Faria Stolarz, and just as I expected, it did not disappoint! I purchased and finished the book in a couple of hours! When that happens, you know it's a good read. I could never recommend this series enough to friends and fellow reviewers. If you haven't had the pleasure of picking up the first in this series and reading it, then what are you waiting for? You won't be disappointed.

Camelia, the main character throughout the series, has a special ability--one that has put her in dangerous situations on more than one occasion. This so-called ability is known as psychometry, or the ability to sense the future through the touch. She is an avid sculptor and it's through her works of art that she sees clues to the future. In this book, she starts to create things that lead her to believe a girl from her school is in trouble. As if trying to convince this girl that she's in trouble isn't enough, Camelia is also hearing voices that degrade her so harshly, and she's seeing things that aren't there.

She finds herself wondering constantly if she's going crazy like her aunt--who just so happened to move in with her family. At times like these, she falls back on her support system: her two friends: Kimmie and Wes. If things were different, she'd also look to her main love interest, Ben, for help as well, but because of things that happened in the last book, the two aren't exactly on speaking terms. Enter: Adam. (Actually, Adam was introduced as a new character in the last book, but I'm just catching any of you who haven't read the series up to date without spoiling anything!) He's another love interest of Camelia's and he's always there for her. He should be the guy she wants more than anything, but her thoughts keep going back to Ben, especially when he seems to know something she doesn't.

Whoa, did this book throw a fast one on me. I really like Stolarz's books for that reason. She likes to write in a little mystery into each book of the Touch series, and the outcome always ends up being something I didn't expect. The ending has such a twist, and we get to read something about Ben (who I'm rooting for by the way) that helps give more understanding to his complex character. I wish he was in this book more. He's probably my favorite character, because what girl doesn't love a girl with a little mystery?

I'm really excited for the next book. It's too bad that this one only came out this month! Now I'll probably have to wait another year! Definitely worth it, though.

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Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Release Date: April 2011
Publisher: Penguin Group
Pages: 208
Overall: 


Where She Went is the perfect read, filled with romance, emotion, and music. Gayle Forman's book, the sequel to the highly praised If I Stay, is much more than a mass marketed teen love story and will lure you in immediately with it's angsty point of view and suspense of what'll come to be with the two characters in the end.

The sequel begins a while after the last one left off. In the first book of the series, Mia and Adam, the two main characters, are in a hospital. Mia, after being in a coma, wakes up to a promise. A promise Adam swore he'd keep if she lived. And she did. But it might not have been for the better, because in the period of time skipped between the two books, Mia has gone off to Juilliard and Adam is about to tour the world with his uprising band. The two have gone their separate ways with no real reason.

If I Stay was told from Mia's point of view, however Where She Went is told from Adam's perspective. I usually hate it when authors feel the need to switch point of views between books, but in this case, it was a crazy good idea! It gave insight as to how Adam was feeling, and helped develop a connection to is character. It brought depth and real, raw emotion to the story and showed the characters as realistically as possible.

Right from the beginning of the novel, you can tell Adam has his issues with how he's living his life. It seems like he's living for other people, not for himself. He doesn't show his true feelings, pulls himself away from others, and surprisingly doesn't want the rock star life he's been given. And there's a reason for all of this: Mia. He's distraught from her pulling away from him with no explanation. Though he'd pushed those feelings away in the back of his mind, she still lingers and is the true reason behind all of his troubles. But then she enters his life again spontaneously, and all is thrown into a bundle of chaos. With this once in a lifetime chance, the two spend the night together in New York talking, exploring Mia's favorite secret locations, and even, yes, reconnecting. And thank god their reunion was plausible! I can't tell you how many books I've read where the characters see each other again and boom, they're back together, nothing is awkward and all negative feelings vanish. This book wasn't anything like that. Like I said before, it was realistic! And I enjoyed every sentence of it.

Where She Went is a wonderful and appealing novel written by a talented author. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend the series to anyone looking for a fresh, and realistic read. I'll definitely be reading this one again. In fact, I'm thinking about skimming through my favorite parts right after I finish this!

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Just Read a Book + Joined a Book Club!

Since I sadly don't have a finished review for you guys yet, I'll attempt to entertain you all with an update on how things are going with my relationship with books.

I just finished reading Where She Went by Gayle Forman, which is the sequel to If I Stay. If I Stay was a book I read last year, and remembered loving. I got out of the reading habit and haven't been keeping up with new releases lately due to school, but when I heard the sequel had released, I went out and bought it.

I read it in four hours!!!

So I'll have a review up for that soon. If you want, you can go check out my review for If I Stay here. I HIGHLY recommend it, because it's different, and I enjoyed it. A lot, obviously.

As for other book related updates, I joined a book club at my school called TLC(The Literary Circle). We're going to be reading Tithe by Holly Black, which I haven't had the pleasure of reading yet. I feel so bad! I've seen reviews and news about Holly Black's series, but never had the impulse to actually pick any of her books up for a good read. Looks like I'll finally have the joy of doing so.

Bye for now!

Any new book news from any of you?

I'm Back!!!

Wow.

That was the longest hiatus ever...what was it...almost a year?

Hmph. I sure have missed a lot haven't I? Well, I'm hoping to get back into reading again. Thanks for sticking around and waiting for me to return :) Look forward to new book reviews. Some should be coming in soon.