The Outsider by Melinda Metz Review

The Outsider by Melinda Metz

Publisher: Pocket Books

Paperback: 170 pages

Cost: $1.99

Date Started: 1/17/12

Date Finished: 1/17/12

A few days ago I went back to my library to pick up two new books on hold for me: Matched by Ally Condie, and this WONDERFUL BEAUTY: THE OUTSIDER BY MELINDA METZ. 

(You can tell by the caps that I am super excited.) 

This last December my sister introduced me to the '90's series called Roswell. I watched for hours on end every single day...until I saw one episode that changed my view of my favorite show forever. I couldn't even hear the word 'Roswell' without cringing...sob.

So I did a ton of googling and found out that the show was actually based on a series by Melinda Metz. After even more googling, I found that the episode that made me cry didn't happen in the books - in fact, the characters that made it happen didn't even exist. Naturally, I got it on hold as soon as I finished reading the last word. 

Synopsis: 

He's not like other guys.

Liz has seen him around. It's hard to miss Max -- the tall, blond, blue-eyed senior stands out in her high-school crowd. So why is he such a loner?

Max is in love with Liz. He loves the way her eyes light up when she laughs. And the way her long, black hair moves when she turns her head. Most of all, he loves to imagine what it would be like to kiss her.

But Max knows he can't get too close. He can't let her discover the truth about who he is. Or really, what he is....

Because the truth could kill her.

Cover: This time the cover didn't matter to me at all. I was more absorbed in the content :3 It's fitting though - very mysterious. My version had a picture of the original people who were supposed to be the Roswell crew inside. They look really different than the cast of the TV show. In my opinion, I think the show's cast was much more fitting.

The Good: The book was really different from the show, which I liked. A lot of things happened that never happened in the pilot. Max has more personality than he did in the first episode, too, and we got to see his side - why he fell in love with Liz, how he felt when he was with Liz, all his thoughts and emotions. We also see POVs of the other characters that we never really get to see in the show. They aren't written in first person, but I could understand whose eyes we were looking through. It was suspenseful - I was gripping my blanket when Sheriff Valenti stopped Michael and Isabel in their Jeep. It was romantic - I had a smile on my face every time Max and Liz kissed. And it was sad - I was teary when Max separated himself from Liz for her good. The writing style was simple, but also very 90's by the tone (90's babies, you'll know what I mean). It was also fast, but there are more volumes to come - yay! (: 

The Bad: I'm a really romance-oriented person when it comes to books, so whenever it skipped to Alex, Isabel, Maria, or Michael, I got really impatient and almost flipped through the pages. But it was good, because that meant it took longer to end :) I really loved the book. Later, all those characters fall in love anyway, so it'll be even BETTER to read!

Overall: It was a great quick read. Nothing too sci-fi for me, and had just the right amount of romance! I just wish the books were longer ):

Rating: 4.5 

My next post is coming very soon about Ally Condie's Book, Matched. I've already finished it (I'm a fast reader) so a review will be posted shortly. I'm getting closer and closer to finishing my list!

I've also signed up for a site called Good Reads, which shows me all the books that people liked. It's giving me great ideas for what to pick out at the library next. If you're having trouble, definitely sign up!

International Kissing Club Prizes!

The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams

Hi everyone! Long time no post ):

I'm just gonna be talking about these insanely awesome prizes I got from Ivy Adams, which is a group of authors that wrote the book The International Kissing Club (: I still have yet to grab a copy, but I'm working on it (: They have a contest called "Around the World in 80 Kisses" going on that lets you enter daily at Smooch Stops to try and win prizes. At the end, you can win a grand prize - a Kindle Fire! Unlike many book bloggers I don't own a Kindle Fire, so I thought I could try my luck to win one this time!

I won two Smooch Stop daily prize packs, so here they are!

(Sorry for not flipping it) 

(front of the bookmark pictured above)

Funny thing was, I was actually going to buy that same lip balm that same week (: Thanks a ton!

I didn't get to take a picture of the other pack, but it contained a bookmark from Emily McKay, a pelican card, another IKC bookmark, an IKC tattoo, a pencil with a sticker and kisses all over, and a Beauty Splash lipgloss! I would google a picture of the gloss to show you, but I can't tell what flavor it is since there's a sticker wrapped around it that I don't want to tear ^^" Maybe I'll do a review on this and the lip balm above.

Thanks Ivy Adams! 

Across the Universe Review

 

Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Publisher: Razorbill
Hardcover: 368 Pages

Cost: $17.99

Source: Library

Date Started: 1/3/12

Date Finished: 1/3/12

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

I haven't read such a big book for my own enjoyment in a while, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was able to zip through Across the Universe in one day! Of course, I did read almost nonstop - that's what happens when I get hooked in a novel. I put this on hold to pick up at my local library, but even though the book is actually stored IN THE SAME LIBRARY, the librarians were behind schedule and didn't put it away from me. I freaked out and ran to the library in the morning to pick it up and ended up having to make four trips back and forth because I didn't have enough money to pay my fee (I told you, I'm busy enough to not return books on time...but not enough to read them in one day). Since this is my first official review for anything, I'm pretty darn excited. Onwards, my friends!

Cover: ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. I haven't seen such a beautiful cover in a long time! This one definitely attracted me from the very beginning. The colors are stunning and seem to glitter invitingly like stars, even if the cover isn't holographic. I love the longing on the boy's face when he gazes at the protagonist, and the focus of the yellow (sun?) in between their lips. The deeper purple and hot pink, as well as the bright star on the I in the title, make for a very attractive contrast between the upper and lower levels of the cover. I think that the way the title is laid out, with UNIVERSE being the biggest, captures the eye very well - especially with that glowing star on the I like I said earlier. Rating: 5/5

The Good: It's SO creative! Like I've said, the only books I've seen in the stores now are too girly, too dark, or about vampires and werewolves. It's really rare to see a book about space! And the author sounds like she knows what she's talking about when she explains the scientific aspects. The characters are very well-developed because we get to see the POVs of both main characters, Amy and Elder. This also allows the story to be explained and developed more in-depth. I could clearly imagine the setting of the story and - my goodness! - the emotions the characters felt being trapped on the ship for *spoiler* longer than they knew. I felt frustrated, sad, happy, and angry each time a character felt the same way because Revis's diction and explanation of the character's mindset was amazing. The protagonist Amy, although frozen like the other passengers, had a conscious mind while she was in the cryo chambers for all those years, which was absolutely terrifying and would have driven me crazy if I were her. She was  easy to relate to, thoughtful, and realistic despite the clearly fictional story. Elder was also a great character - he liked her the first moment he saw her, and was a wonderful companion for her the entire time although *spoiler* they aren't officially together in the end. I also liked when he got jealous - how cruel of me! - because, rather than showing a possessive attitude, he was portrayed to be more of a caring and lonely person who wanted the company of the girl he liked. 

The Bad: The story was a bit tedious and long at times, with me anxiously scanning through the unromantic parts of the book at some points, but they weren't unnecessary. The romance took quite a while to develop - I felt that she had more of a connection with Harley than with Elder!  The reason why I said "companion" above was because they didn't really have much of a romantic relationship, *spoiler* save for one kiss. Since this is a trilogy, I'm hoping that as the story goes on there will be a little less fictional fact and more love! In fact, they were key for the main plot to continue and expand. I'm just more of a romance person than a science person (:


Overall: I really liked it! I finished it in a day despite having other homework to do. A real page turner. Again, some parts were tedious, and I would LOVE for the romance between Amy and Elder to flesh out a bit more, but it was great. I'm really curious as to what will happen in the next book! 


Rating: 4/5


Now that this is done, I'm excited to be able to read other books while I get the next volume of this trilogy. Out of all my holds, the only one that came was The Outsider by Melinda Metz - SWEET! SO DARN EXCITED! 


To start varying (from the very beginning!) I'll be posting some sort of haul post next once I get my hands on a camera. I'll also try to keep a list of books I'm planning to read on the side of my blog entries to keep track (sorry for the clutter!). Finally, I will try to play around with Photoshop to create a more me type of look for this blog, but it will take a while...not really a graphics type of person.


See ya later!

Books I'd Love To Read

I'm on the last day of my winter break and had nearly no time for myself to do any reading whatsoever. Two days ago I finally had some time to compile a list of books that I've been wanting to get my hands on, but I don't have a lot of options to speed up the process. 

All the Borders closed, which makes me sad because they always had coupons that I used to buy books (RIP Borders). Then there's the issue that my library is really slow at getting the books I put on hold because of the limited number of copies, and I barely have any time to pick them up. I don't even return a majority of them on time because 1) I don't have time to read them, and 2) I don't have time to return them!

It's also very hard for a book to capture my interest. I'm not really into clique novels (Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars - eque) and, for some strange reason, covers are really important to me. If they're not pretty, I automatically have zero interest in picking them up until I see raving reviews about them. I'm trying to branch out, but I need your suggestions!

Did I mention the fact that I'm also a super hard-to-please critic? In my AP Writing class, I have to listen to pieces by my classmates as they're read aloud. Now, AP Writing is an elective, so only people who really love it and are good at it are allowed to be in it, and my school is uber-competitive in selecting only the brightest students (though I'm not as smart as they are). Everyone around me always talks about how good the pieces are, and even my teacher goes on and on about it as well. However, I'm the lone student who is never really satisfied with the writing. There are always little things that I pick out that bother me, which distracts from the whole piece.

Imagine me with that same reaction, only with a novel. Do you see how hard it is for me to be able to enjoy a book? There are a few books that I've read and disliked (and one that I remember hating) - but those are to be reviewed another time.

 In my reviews, I try to be completely honest and detailed as possible. I don't mean to hurt people, but I do mean to get my opinion across. I really am NOT a mean person! Please don't be scared (: Also, my opinions are just that - MY opinions. Don't think that what I say is fact! Try to see for yourself!

These are the books that I'm really craving right now (off the top of my head):

Touch by Jus Accardo

Matched by Allyson Condie

A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams

Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon

Roswell High Series by Melinda Metz (DYING to read these!)

Torment by Lauren Kate

If I don't have time to read books, I may review books that I've already read long ago. 

I'm currently reading Across the Universe by Beth Revis, which has an absolutely GORGEOUS cover and an interesting plotline. So far, it's pretty good! When I finish reading I'll be sure to do my first proper review on it, yay!

I think I've occupied much of your time already. Toodaloo!

Welcome!

Hello! My name is Vy, and I live in the East Coast of the United States. 
I've always wanted to blog, but never mustered up the courage (and enough interest) to start one until today. I have a multitude of interests, and because I was unable to pick one to blog about, I decided on doing them all!
They include (but are not limited to):

Books

Manga

Clothes

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Haircare

Music

Shows/Movies

Crafts

Food

I'm a rather busy person, but when I do post, I will make sure to make them as interesting and engaging as possible. I'm also new to this, so any help would be very appreciated!