Book Review: Sweet Little Lies by Lauren Conrad

Sweet Little Lies - Lauren Conrad

Synopsis:
It’s three months into the filming of hit reality TV show L.A. Candy, and stars Jane Roberts and Scarlett Harp are facing more problems than they ever thought would be possible.
Jane’s reputation is on the line when a series of racy photos are leaked to a tabloid magazine and published. Taken of Jane with Braden (her boyfriend’s best friend) from her bedroom window, the pictures spell the end of what little privacy Jane has left since landing a role on the show- she is now the paparazzi’s ‘golden girl’, and under constant media surveillance. Hoping to benefit from the extra attention, one of Jane’s co-stars, Madison Parker- under the guise of being a caring friend- attempts to ‘shield’ Jane from the hordes of photographers (and in the process, from her best friend Scarlett). Unfortunately, Scarlett is unable to convince Jane of Madison’s true nature, and they find their friendship at a crossroads.
As Jane struggles to deal with the attention fame brings her, Scarlett is facing her own dilemma- she has fallen for someone who she is contractually forbidden to date, a member of the show’s crew. To keep the newly blossoming romance alive, Scarlett has to keep the relationship secret- not an easy feat when your life is playing out on television screens nation-wide.
With the first season about to wrap up, will Jane and Scarlett’s relationship recover? Or has Hollywood destroyed their fourteen-year friendship forever?

What I gained from reading this book:
In this novel, Jane’s trusting nature makes her an easy target for malicious Madison, who hopes to oust her out of the show and become the leading lady. Madison purposely gets closer to Jane, becoming a confidant and ‘watching her back’, while simultaneously passing on the information she learns to a tabloid magazine that isn’t afraid of twisting the truth to sell more issues. Madison isn’t terribly bothered by the fact that she’s tarnishing Jane’s reputation, and is willing to do almost anything to remove her as competition for the starring role in L.A. Candy. Seeing Madison’s true nature, Scarlett is unable to persuade her best friend Jane to see the truth, and this causes a massive rift in their friendship.
This is not an isolated problem among young women, some of whom form toxic friendships (although they are unaware of it at the time), and find themselves ditching their closest friends as their new friendships grow. This novel acts as a reminder that even though it’s okay to make new friends, it’s not good to ignore the ones you already have (especially if your new friends are intent on destroying your social standing). In other words, true friends can be hard to find, so keep close the ones that you have- they’re the people that will stand by you when you really need them.

Positives:
The storyline for Conrad’s sequel is just as addictive as the original- Jane, Scarlett, Madison and Gaby attend numerous Hollywood parties, fall in love, meet new people (both good and bad), and continue to have their lives flashed across television screens and magazine covers. You can’t help but enjoy the dramas, despite knowing that the producers of L.A. Candy are orchestrating almost everything.

Negatives:
It’s no secret that Hollywood is filled with jealousy, bitching and backstabbing- in fact, it’s renowned for it! You’d think that after all of her experiences, Jane would be less naïve about Hollywood and the people that reside there, but unfortunately, her character is still just as trusting as ever. Even her best friend Scarlett- the person she trusts most- can’t make her see that some of the people they associate with are only trying to cause trouble. I realise its just part of her character makeup, but Jane’s gullibility can be extremely frustrating!

Rating: 7 out of 10

Genre: Teenage Fiction

Recommended for: People who read the first L.A. Candy novel and would like to find out what happens next.

Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book Review: The Book Of Awesome by Neil Pasricha

The Book Of Awesome - Neil Pasricha

Synopsis:
There are so many simple things in life that can make you happy, and this book (which started its life as a blog called 1000awesomethings.com) is one of them.
Some of the gems featured in this book include fixing electronics by smacking them, popping bubble wrap, finally remembering a word that’s been on the tip of your tongue for ages, using rock-paper-scissors to settle anything, finding the thing you were going to buy is already on sale, the smell of freshly cut grass, finding your keys after looking forever and having a good floss after a tough steak. These (and many more) are things that everybody experiences at one time or another, and are guaranteed to put a smile on your dial. Awesome!

What I gained from reading this book:
In this materialistic world, we often want expensive things- whether they are the latest, high-tech gadgets, the fastest car or the most dazzling jewellery- to keep us amused or entertained. But this book acts as a reminder that sometimes the best things in life are free, and they can often do more to make you happy than anything else ever could.

Positives:
Happiness, and the way that it is passed on, can obviously transcend national borders, especially where this book is concerned. Nearly every one of the ‘awesome’ things mentioned in this book could be related to my life, and the lives of those around me, even though the author lives on the other side of the world. He has chosen the best parts of his blog and made them relatable to all people, from all countries, so that everybody can appreciate the truth of what makes life good.

Negatives:
This book could maybe benefit from having more pictures. But, having said that, the descriptive language that Pasricha uses to describe each happy-making item more than makes up for the lack of imagery.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Genre: Non-Fiction Humour

Recommended for: Anybody looking for a reminder of the things that make them happy.

Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book Review: Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Let The Right One In - John Ajvide Lindqvist

Synopsis:
Living with his single mother in the Swedish suburb of Blackeberg, twelve-year-old Oskar Eriksson’s life revolves around going to school- where he is bullied by a group of thugs led by Jonny Forsberg- and spending time alone around the dreary housing estate he calls home. With no friends his own age, an odd fascination with murderers, and an incontinence problem, Oskar seems destined to forever be a loner. That is, until he meets Eli, a strange young girl who lives next door, seems to have no aversion to the winter cold and whom he only sees at night. The two soon form a tentative friendship, bonded by the fact that both are victims of different circumstances.
When a teenage boy is found murdered in the nearby town of Vällingby, his body drained of blood, panic strikes the heart of Blackeberg and the surrounding towns.
As more bodies begin to pile up, there are fears that the killer, dubbed the Vällingby Murderer by the media, is on a serial-killing frenzy.
Oskar holds a gruesome interest in the developing story, and soon begins to piece together some disturbing facts about his new neighbour and friend.
Why does he never see her during the day and why are her apartment windows blacked out? Why does she sometimes seem wise beyond her years? Why does she sometimes appear to look like an old woman, and the next day look as fresh and sweet as ever?
But Oskar’s digging soon finds him learning more than he ever wanted to know about Eli. Will what Oskar learns turn him from the only happiness he has ever really known? Or will he keep Eli’s terrible secret and stay loyal and true to his mysterious, and deadly, friend?

What I gained from reading this book:
This novel is essentially about victimisation. Oskar is bullied from the outset- teased and harassed by Jonny and his friends, Tomas and Micke. Eli’s victimisation is different but still causes her just as much pain as is inflicted upon Oskar- she is over 200 years old, trapped in the body of a child and has to live with the guilt of killing innocent people, drinking their blood to survive. Eli has also experienced a devastatingly brutal past, which has completely shaped her life as a vampire. Even some of the older characters experience feelings of distress brought about by negative circumstances. Oskar’s mother does the best she can, but clearly struggles as a single parent, while Håkan, Eli’s ‘father’, is a victim of his own weaknesses. Although not all the characters are victims of bullying, many still struggle to get on with their lives, and this novel reminds readers that although life may be tough to deal with sometimes, it usually does improve with time. Oskar’s experiences also show readers that if they fight back and stand up for themselves, justice will prevail in the end.

Positives:
While reading the novel, I had a clear view in my mind of what each of the characters looked like, thanks to Lindqvist’s descriptive language. Admittedly, I saw the film before I read the book, and so this could have some bearing on the way that I imagined the characters, but if that’s the case, then the casting of the film was exceptional! The strengths and weaknesses of each person are explored in the novel, and most of this translates nicely into celluloid. But like all films that are adapted from books, there are key scenes that have been cut (for timing reasons), which add to the depth of the story, and can only be explored when you read the novel.

Negatives:
Some of the subject matter in the novel could be disturbing for some readers. Themes including child prostitution, sodomy, paedophilia and murder pervade the text, and help to form the characterisation of some of the people in the novel. This could be considered a ‘serious’ vampire novel (ie. not a fluffy teen romance like the Twilight saga or some of the other vampire novels around at the moment). Believe me when I say that this book is not for the faint-hearted.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Genre: Horror

Recommended for: People who have seen the excellent Swedish film, and want to read the novel that spawned it.



Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book Review: Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Hate List - Jennifer Brown

Synopsis:
When bullied teenager Valerie Leftman, and her boyfriend Nick Levil, create a list of the people and things they hate, it seems like a harmless way to let off steam. But while Valerie finds it satisfying to write down names and things and simply let it rest, Nick has more sinister plans.
May 2, 2008 seems like any other day, but everything changes in the morning before school starts, when Nick opens fire on his classmates in the school cafeteria. Using the Hate List as a guide on who to pick as targets, Nick seeks revenge against his peers in the worst way he knows how, and forever changes the lives of the staff and students of Garvin High School.
Five months later, Valerie (who was shot in the thigh while trying to stop Nick) is about to return to school to complete her senior year.
While officially cleared by the police for any involvement in the shooting, many of Valerie’s classmates believe that she should be held accountable for helping to write the Hate List. Many others believe that she is a hero for stopping her boyfriend, yet she is still socially excluded from the school community. Valerie’s former best friend doesn’t want to be associated with her, and the only person remotely interested in showing any compassion towards her is the girl who she inadvertently saved.
Valerie’s life, already complicated by her guilt following the shooting, is made even more complex by the ever-increasing tension within her family, regular visits to her psychiatrist Dr Hieler, and the love she still holds for her dead boyfriend.
As a result, all Valerie wants to do is forget the horrible events of the past and pretend that none of it ever happened. But to be able to move on with her life and make amends, she first has to come to grips with the tragedy, and her role in it…

What I gained from reading this book:
Unfortunately, school shootings are more common than we would like to admit, especially in America. According to most news articles, the perpetrator is often described as the ‘quiet one’ who ‘no one really knew’, and the victims often can’t believe that something like this could happen in their close-knit community.
This novel subtly challenges the perception that these incidences are not borne simply from mental illness, but are spurred on by the hate and bullying that the shooter is often a victim of beforehand. In the novel, Nick and Valerie are teased mercilessly because they choose to look and act differently to their peers. While this in no way condones shooting people, it does help readers to see that there is often another side to the story, and that the victims of words and taunts are often overlooked when compared to the victims of bullets.

Positives:
Valerie experiences conflicting physical and emotional feelings throughout the novel, and readers can’t help but empathise with what she is going through. The author is brilliant at portraying the trauma and guilt that Valerie feels, as she tries (with the help of Dr Hieler) to put the past behind her and get on with her life.
But her attempts at recovery are dampened by the fact that her family is disintegrating, and that her classmates are directing a mixture of confusion, fear, anger and forgiveness towards her, for her role in the tragedy.
Hate List cannot be considered a shallow or light-reading novel, for the hard-hitting themes and thoughts it provokes.

Negatives:
I honestly couldn’t find anything wrong with the story, but, like I mentioned above, if you’re after a light and easy read, this book is not for you. The themes in the story (ie. School shootings and bullying) could be confronting subject matter for some readers.
But this shouldn’t deter you from reading this otherwise exceptional debut novel.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Genre: Teenage Fiction

Recommended for: People who are interested in reading about one girl’s journey of guilt and atonement, after circumstances which she couldn’t have prevented.



Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book Review: Never Bite A Boy On The First Date by Tamara Summers

Never Bite A Boy On The First Date - Tamara Summers

Synopsis:
Kira November is a sixteen-year-old vampire, secretly living among mortals, and attending her second high school since becoming a vampire one and a half years earlier.
When star football jock, Tex Harrison, is found dead on the front steps of Luna High School, Kira’s family immediately point the blame at her, despite her protestations of innocence. As the second youngest vampire in the ‘family’, and partly responsible for the incident that forced them to leave their previous home, Kira’s reckless reputation means that she is the likely suspect regarding the gruesome murder of her classmate. Determined to clear her name and desperate to avoid getting locked up in a padded coffin by her old-fashioned ‘father’ Wilhelm, Kira sets out to find the real murderer.
Narrowing the suspects down to three cute boys, Kira has to use all her detective skills (which she has learnt from Nancy Drew books and the Veronica Mars television series), to find the culprit. Could it be Rowan, the weird loner who’s clearly hiding something? Or Milo, the sweet and sexy swim team member? Or perhaps it’s Daniel, the new boy in school who seems to shadow Kira wherever she goes…
All Kira knows is, she has to solve the mystery if she doesn’t want to spend the rest of eternity confined in a coffin.

What I gained from reading this book:
After she died and was turned into a vampire, Kira was adopted by four adult vampires- Wilhelm (her ‘father’), Olympia (her ‘mother’), Crystal (her ‘sister’), and Crystal’s husband Bert, and they taught her how to cope with being one of the undead. Zach was a later addition to the family, but he too was taught how to control the blood urges and re-integrate into society as a ‘human’. Kira explains in the novel how vampires who create others like them are obligated to take the new vampires under their wing and therefore avoid any disasters or suspicious human deaths. While the blood-drinking part doesn’t apply to us, I think that similar honour codes to this, as well as a strong sense of familial obligation, are important factors to remember in every day society. If everybody treats each other with respect and helps others in need, the world will be a much better place.

Positives:
Kira is a refreshing change, compared to the dark and moody characters of other teenage vampire novels. While she isn’t exactly enamoured with the idea of being a vampire and drinking blood, it’s for reasons entirely original- she was a vegetarian for four months before her death and thinks blood is ‘disgusting’. She also hates that she can’t check herself out in the mirror and has to have her makeup done for her by her ‘sister’. These normal teenage characteristics, plus her witty retorts, make her into an appealing person that you can’t help but like.

Negatives:
The ending. It’s not too bad, but I want to know what happened to some of the other characters. It feels as though the author took the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach with them, which leaves you wondering how the characters of Rowan and Milo are coping with what happened to them towards the end of the novel.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Genre: Teenage Fiction

Recommended for: Teenagers looking for a tongue-in-cheek novel that has everything- humour, a murder-mystery, romance, action, and (of course) vampires!

Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book Review: Six Feet Under Or Up In Smoke by Jim Eames

Six Feet Under Or Up In Smoke - Jim Eames

Synopsis:
In this novel, Eames explores the Australian funeral industry and provides readers with an interesting overview of what goes on behind closed doors. While many people dread the thought of death and funerals, Eames jumps right into it- interviewing people from the industry and explaining all the intricacies involved in such a necessary but morbid profession. He covers many topics, including information about the picking of gravesites, the process of cremation, viewings, coffin manufacturing, hearses, women in the industry, unusual family requests, and people whose job it is to deal with the aftermath of natural disasters, war or terrorism. He also points out the drastic differences between the funeral profession in large cities like Sydney or Melbourne, compared to those of small and isolated rural communities such as Brewarrina or Wanaaring in New South Wales.

What I gained from reading this book:
Everybody dies. It’s a fact of life. Through reading Six Feet Under Or Up In Smoke, readers can learn all about what happens after they pass, and can then make informed decisions about how they want their funerals or memorials arranged. Whether you want to be cremated and have your family scatter your ashes on a favourite beach, or if you’d rather be entombed in the family mausoleum, Eames looks at the pros and cons of each method without passing judgement. This book will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the business of death in Australia.

Positives:
There are many amusing anecdotes scattered amidst the facts in this novel. While many are these are from Eames’ father’s experiences as an undertaker in the Australian bush, other people in the profession have also contributed some very interesting tales. These experiences include everything from bogged ‘hearses’ (or utes) to strange requests from the families of the deceased (like the person who was buried with a beer keg as part of his tombstone, so visitors could ‘have a drink on him’)!

Negatives:
Anybody who is reading this book and hoping to see how the Australian funeral industry compares to those overseas may be disappointed. Although Eames mentions the international trade, he does not delve too deeply into the similarities and differences between the two. This book is primarily about Australians and how they cope with death and dying.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Genre: Non-Fiction

Recommended for: Anyone who is interested in reading about the Australian funeral industry, and how it is has changed throughout the years.

Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book Review: Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Crank - Ellen Hopkins

Synopsis:
It’s been eight years since Kristina Snow last saw her dad. When she is given the opportunity to spend her summer holidays with him, Kristina jumps at the chance to spend quality time with the man who she once considered the ‘Prince of Albuquerque’, despite her mother’s wishes. But on her arrival in Reno, she is confronted with a father who is totally different to what she expected- the strong, loving father she remembers from childhood has been replaced by a drinking, drug-taking layabout. Desperate to reconnect with her dad, and intensely interested in Buddy, the young man who lives in an apartment downstairs, Kristina finds herself embracing her dark side, going by the name of Bree and partaking in activities that shy Kristina would never consider. While in this state of emotional unbalance, fearless Bree starts taking crank- crystal meth- and quickly becomes addicted to the rush that it brings her. Soon, crank starts to take over her life, and before she knows it, good girl Kristina has receded into the shell of her body, and is ruled by the destructive Bree, in need of her next fix.
As Kristina/ Bree’s addiction grows, and she disassociates herself from her family and friends, she begins to realise why people call crank ‘the monster’, and struggles to find a way to get herself back on track. But the monster is always there, and it’s a difficult demon to ignore…

What I gained from reading this book:
This novel delves into the dark world of drugs, booze and sex, but what makes it all the more challenging to comprehend is that this is experienced by a sixteen-year-old girl. Crank is loosely based on real-life events that occurred in Hopkins’ daughter’s life as she became addicted to the drug, and turned into a virtual stranger to those who know and love her. The sad thing is, this is probably not an isolated story, with many teenagers facing similar concerns as their substance abuse grows out of control.
In the novel, the character of Kristina is a model student, and rarely finds herself in trouble. But on her trip to Reno to visit her dad, she unleashes her darker side- Bree- who is sitting on the sidelines and just waiting to cause problems. Living in a place where she is an unknown, meeting a sexy bad boy, and realising that she has glorified her father in her memories, Kristina recreates herself as Bree as a way of coping with all the sudden changes. When she is introduced to the monster, she is more than happy to jump right in and try something new- even if it is potentially risky- in order to gain respect from the new people in her life.
This sort of damaging behaviour sets the tone for how the rest of the novel plays out. Readers become aware, through reading the verses, that addiction to an illicit substance such as crank changes everything in a person’s life, and affects more than just the person taking the drug.

Positives:
Although I’m not usually a fan of poetry, this verse novel had me hooked. Kristina/ Bree’s story drew me in and I found I couldn’t put the book down- I wanted to find out what she would do next to get out of her predicaments.

Negatives:
Kristina’s alter ego Bree- a strong and vibrant character- is also very destructive. As her addiction to the drug grows, Bree’s actions get progressively worse, resulting in a novel that is recommended for those aged 14 and up, due to its content. This book would probably not be a good choice for people who hold more conservative opinions about human behaviour, or for those who struggle to emphasise with a young person who has fuelled her own demons.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Genre: Teenage Fiction

Recommended for: People who are interested in reading a verse novel that is addictive as the subject matter.

Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below: