I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 271
When I started this book I actually thought that the main character (John) was much older, but he's actually a sophomore in high school. Here's the basic premise of the book; John and his mother live/work in a mortuary and John is fascinated by serial killers and believes that it is his fate to become one. He goes to a therapist so that he can talk about how he suppresses himself and his thoughts about wanting to kill people. John has a variety of rules for himself to keep the demon inside of him, and to prevent himself from turning into a serial killer. Soon a serial killer comes to town and John is in awe with trying to figure out who it is, why they're making the killings, etc. The rest of the story goes on this great adventure of how John deals with his own inner turmoil and tries to solve the mystery of who the serial killer is.
I had my doubts when starting this book because I thought it would be an adult book, but actually it's not. It's written flawlessly and I kept wanting to read more and more and not put it down. I love seeing how John grows and keeps himself in check throughout the story. It's really an awesome thing to read about.
There's two more in the series and I will definitely be picking those up because this one was so good. It's different from what I usually like but it's kind of inspired me to read more books sort of like this one! Five out of five stars on my grading scale! And I would recommend it to a lot of people too (I think adults and highschoolers and above would enjoy it).
See you soon!
Paige

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Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

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Number of pages: 183
Out of the three books that I've read by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan I'm surprised that I don't like this one the most. I've heard a lot of other reviewers say this one is the best of the three but actually I liked Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List the best. I don't know.
As usual, this story is super fast paced, and the writing is extremely distinct, but this book had a LOT more cussing, drinking, partying, and sex than the other books (Just a warning for younger readers!). If you're not in high school I would not recommend this book.
The whole story takes the span of one night where Nick needs a girl to pretend to be his girl friend for 5 minutes and that girl happens to be Norah who is friends with the girl Nick is trying to make jealous. The rest of the night consists of an awesome adventure the two go on. It's not a funny book, it's actually kinda sobering but it's great! (I gave it four out of five stars on GoodReads)
Like I said before, the writing is really distinct and you can tell it's a Cohn/Levithan book, but that's great! It really works! They let go of traditional writing and grammar laws and just write and it's awesome! I would recommend this to people who won't get offended by the amount of language and other bad things these teens get into, but hey! That's life that's what really happens out there! If anything, spread the word.
See you soon!
Paige

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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

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Number of pages: 362

Updated Review (February 1st, 2014): I now like this book so much better. I didn't appreciate it at first because I was forced into reading it by my friends, but now I appreciate it so much more. Katniss is an amazing heroine who is a true force to be reckoned with. As I said in my Mockingjay review, she shows so much strength and adversity, and is always looking out for her family and friends.
She has the ability to win people over even though she often lacks charm and the usual niceties. She is one of the first strong female heroines of this time period (in real life) and, frankly, is not given enough credit for that. 
I have to admit the first movie was not that good, but the book is always better right? I think this is one of those books that everyone should read. It teaches young kids about hope and standing up against something that is oh, so wrong. 
This is definitely one of my all time favorite series.

Original Review (March 25th, 2012): Can you believe I just now finished this book?? It's been on my TBR list FOREVER but I just haven't had time, but my friends were all reading it at school so I said I would finally read it.
Honestly, I thought it would be a lot better. For all they hype it gets I thought it would be the most amazing story but honestly it's not. (Please don't hate me!!) The beginning quarter, maybe even half, of the book drags on and on. All my friends told me to just wait until the Games started but my thinking was okay, a book needs to reel you in from the first page not half way through. But I continued on.
Once the Games did start I felt like there could have been a lot more action and was it just me or did Katniss annoy you too? She was extremely self-deprecating, ("Oh two boys possibly like me but I'm SO ugly!!") and I felt like she didn't kill enough people in the Games. If anything she got lucky. As a heroine I expected a LOT more out of her.
Moving on to Peeta and Katniss' relationship. It's built on lies!! How is that okay?? I was finally happy at the end of the book when Peeta realized this and brushed her off and then KATNISS got upset!? Oh boy I have a bone to pick with this girl if I ever met her.
I have to admit the last day of the Games was probably the most exciting but other than that the story kinda fell flat for me. I will be reading the rest of the series though just to see if they are any better and to see how the story ends.

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Witch Season: Summer and Fall by Jeff Mariotte

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Number of pages: 593
This book (as you can see above) was REALLY long!! It is a big hunk of a book! It is a omnibus and has the first two books (Summer and Fall) of the Witch Season series inside. These two books were also pretty good! I was expecting a story kind of like the L.J.Smith omnibuses but it wasn't like that at all! Jeff Mariotte's writing is pretty distinct and has a lot of descriptors. I can totally imagine the scenery in these books, but he doesn't describe the characters really well. I don't connect to a majority of them because he didn't give too much of a background on them.
Summer starts out with a group of 6 kids living in a house together in La Jolla, CA and then a mysterious stranger lands on their doorstep half dead and the central character of the story, Kerry, decides to take him in and nurse him back to health. Eventually he leaves once he's better but he does come back and the group finds out that he is a witch and is battling an evil with, Season, and she happens to be in La Jolla as well. The first book is basically a hunt looking for Season and then the second book Fall describes the aftermath of Season and Daniel's epic battle which occurs at the end of Summer.
I really liked the books, but sometimes they was just too many words and they could have been cut back on a tad. I also didn't like some of the characters attitudes after the battle. (I don't want to say too much on that, because I don't want to give anything away) Also, there was a lot of grammar, spelling, and pretty much just common errors in the book (Bad editing on the editors part!!).
Would I recommend this to a friend? Probably not but it was a good book to pick up and flow through fairly quickly. There is another omnibus that follows this one and I will be reading/reviewing that one too.
See you soon!
Paige

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A Veiled Deception by Annette Blair

Read a synopsis here!
This is not one of my usual YA book reviews. I took a break from YA to read one of my cozy mysteries that I've had waiting on my shelf for me for...forever it seems!
First off let me just say that this cover is adorable!!! The cover is really the reason I bought the book in the first place. I was at my used bookstore saw this and thought I have to have it! And it was a steal at $4.00 so how could I pass it up? (I also got books 2 and 3 in the series too!)
So the story itself was....okay. Good not great. I would recommend this but I've enjoyed other cozy mystery books a lot more. However this cozy mystery is also a lot better than other one's I've read so it sort of falls in the middle category of average.
Maddie is our main character and she can see ghosts and talk to some of them. She sees the ghosts by touching pieces of vintage clothing and fabric. When there is a murder in her home, her supernatural ability helps her put the pieces together of the murder.
I liked the supernatural take on this story because it took something that could possibly never happen and put it into a cozy mystery, something I've never seen before! But I liked it! It's called fiction for a reason! Give it a fantastic element!
I will be reading the next 2 books in the series because I already own them but I probably won't continue on from there. This book can be read as a stand alone because it doesn't have some cliff hanger ending where you have to rush out and buy the next book.
Like I said before; good not great! See you soon!
Paige

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Star Power by Zoey Dean

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 257
I think out of the whole series this one was the most disappointing. As an ending to a series it was very open ended. Through the entire book we see how Mac struggles to keep up her friendships with the Inner Circle while still maintaining her friendships.
With Emily, she is onset with her constantly and the leading actor, Davey, that Emily has had a crush on forever, starts to crush on Mac. Mac doesn't want to hurt Emily but really likes Davey too. In this way, she says she is going to try to avoid Davey but in actuality, she spends a lot of time with him! (She's a little hypocritical which I didn't like)
Mac also gets Becks into the Dixie Gals (a campaign for surfing), but ultimately ignores her friend and rarely helps her out because she's so buys helping Emily on set. Becks befriends the other Dixie Gals, and they seem nice but there's a twist at the end of the story that makes your heart really go out to Becks.
Finally, Coco. Coco is still trying to get out of her mothers superstar spotlight and she tries to perform her music in little known coffee shops so that people won't recognize her. However, this doesn't work and she goes undercover to attempt to see what people really think of her before they already judge her for simply being her mothers daughter.
The book was a little dry. I wished there had been more details about Emily on set, Coco performing, and Becks surfing and hanging out with the Dixie Gals. In the first couple of books I really liked Mac but she was so dull in this third installment. I needed some action! And I sadly never got it. Like I said before there was also a lot of open ended questions and problems that were never resolved from the first two books and I definitely felt there could have been one more book.
If I was rating this book I would give it 2 out of 5 stars but the series itself was a 4 out of 5 for me. Check it out for some easy reading!
See you soon!
Paige

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Februay Book Haul

Hello everyone! Hope you had a great February and are looking forward to a great March!
Here's what I got this month! (Click on the books picture for a synopsis!)



List Price: $7.99 (paperback)
(I got it from PaperBackSwap so, free!)


List Price: $9.99 (paperback)
(I got a brand new copy from Half.com and only paid $5!)


List Price: $17.99 (hardcover)
(I paid $7.99 because I had a half off coupon for Barnes and Noble!)


That's all I got this month! :) See you soon!
-Paige

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