The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot

Overall Rating 4
Cleanliness Rating- 2- mild language

From the back cover of the book:

To: Everyone (every.body@theworld.com)
From: Mel Fuller (Melissa.fuller@thenyjournal.com)
Subject: THE BOY NEXT DOOR

Um, hi. Does anybody out there know anything about this guy who’s moved in next door to me? The tall, good-looking one who came to my rescue when I was stuck taking care of my comatose neighbor Mrs. Friedlander’s Great Dane Paco? I’m grateful. I mean, if Mrs. Friedlander’s nephew Max hadn’t finally shown up to take over dog-walking duties, I might have been fired for habitual lateness at my job as gossip columnist of the New York Journal. It’s just that Max Friedlander is supposed to be this womanizing fashion photographer, and since when is a womanizer such a devoted nephew, so determined to prove that his aunt’s accident was the result of foul play? And if his name is really Max, why does he want me to call him John? How do I know he really is Max Friedlander and I don’t give Mrs. F’s keys to the wrong guy? What I do know is that he’s funny and sweet and gorgeous, with those kind of eyes- you know, the knees-weakening, soul-searing, green-hazel kind. And that I think I’m in love. Or in trouble. Or both. Any info anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

This book was so cute. It is written entirely in emails (just like the synopsis above). It is so clever and very unique. I like to get the point of view from all the characters, as you get in this book, through the emails. Mel and John are totally likable characters that you are rooting for from the start. This book has a lot of humor in it also. I was totally laughing out loud at some parts. It’s a very quick read and hard to put down. Some of it is a bit predictable and a few stereotypes abound (brainless models, for instance). But, if you are looking for a light, chick-lit read, this is the perfect candidate. Enjoy.

Magyk (Book 1), Flyte (Book 2), Physik (Book 3), by Angie Sage and Mark Zug

**This review was submitted by Jessica Nilsson. Thanks!

Overall Rating: 4
Cleanliness Rating: 1

Admittedly, when I read, I prefer to read books as an escape. Sad books make me, well, sad. And knowing that, these books were right up my alley! I really enjoyed them! They're Young Adult books, but are totally engrossing and entertaining. An easy read. They are quite clean, with hardly any swearing (that I can remember) and absolutely no sex whatsoever.

Here is the plot in a nutshell: At birth, Septimus Heap is carried away for dead, and his father, Silas Heap, is entrusted with a baby girl. When the villainous Supreme Custodian tries to assassinate the now 10-year-old Jenna, who, it turns out, is the daughter of the murdered queen, the girl flees to the Marram Marshes along with some family members, the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, and a young army guard known only as "Boy 412." Pursued by the servants of the Necromancer DomDaniel, and aided by an engaging array of magical beings, they finally prevail in a satisfying and fairly exciting conclusion. The next two books take the Septimus Heap on a journey to rediscover "flyte" and then "physik".

Here's what one reviewer said on Amazon, ”After several picture books, Angie Sage makes a splash with her first novel. 'Septimus Heap Book One: Magyk' treads familiar territory for fantasy fans, but it has enough humor and interesting magic to keep the story moving at a steady clip. As first-of-a-series books go, this is a keeper.Sage's writing is solid enough, with enough details to keep the spare narrative from seeming colorless. Lots of goofy clothes, offhand humor, splashy magic and interesting characters are sprinkled throughout the book.”

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

Overall Rating- 4
Cleanliness Rating- 3.8 – for some descriptive sexual content and adult themes (i.e. adultery)

I really loved this book. I just wish the cleanliness factor was a little better. I really enjoy reading historical fiction- you can learn so much about the time period. This book takes place in the 1500’s during the reign of Henry VIII, which was quite an exciting time in Europe. Most people know the story of Ann Boleyn, who was a mistress of Henry VIII and later ended up becoming Queen of England. This book has that story in it, but it is all told from the point of view of Mary, Anne’s younger sister. Before Anne, Mary had caught his eye of King Henry VIII and became his mistress. Mary, unlike Anne, became his mistress because she was in love with him, not just for the gain of power and money. The king’s interest begins to wane and Mary is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then, Anne takes over and you read all about her rise to power and her eventual downfall. Mary realizes what a pawn she is in her family’s ambitions and knows that she must defy her family and her king and take her fate into her own hands by marrying for love rather than money and leaving her glamorous life at court and her family behind.

By now, everyone probably knows that I’m a total sap and always love a good love story- well this book is filled with them. Mary, the main character has three different love stories herself. But this book is more than just mistresses and love stories; it deals a lot with the sisterly relationship between Anne and Mary. They are best friends and love each other, yet they are bitter rivals at the same time. This is a compelling novel and the author really makes the characters come alive, especially Mary. It made me understand how difficult it must have been to be a woman in the 1500’s. It is a pretty long book (661 pages) but is a definite page turner.

Rebecca by Dauphne Du Maurier

Overall Rating- 3
Cleanliness Rating- 1

This tale of fear, suspicion, and love opens as the unnamed narrator reminisces about her former home, the grand English estate, Manderley. She had been young and shy, a lady's companion, when she met the wealthy recent widow, Maxim de Winter, fell in love with him, and married him in a matter of weeks. They return to his great home, Manderly, which she loves, but it can not hide her from Rebecca's (Maxim's first wife) overwhelming presence. To her it seems Maxim is always thinking about Rebecca, whom everyone loved, who died in a boating accident just a year before. She feels herself being constantly compared to Rebecca; this is not what Rebecca would have done, Rebecca must have done it like this, Rebecca was taller, Rebecca was a social butterfly, Rebecca was very beautiful, Rebecca Rebecca Rebecca. She is 'nothing like Rebecca.' Her new husband was strangely distant to her, until a horrible secret was revealed that would change their lives and the very existence of Manderley.

What follows is a love story and a ghost story of a woman haunted by the powerful presence of the former mistress of Manderley. We never learn the name of the heroine as she marries Maxim, moves into the rigid but elegant life at Manderley and tangles with Mrs. Danvers, Manderley's sinister housekeeper. What unfolds is not only a mystery but a story of obsessions and evil. The end is a shock.

Daphne Du Maurier has created a wonderfully spooky story with remarkably little action. The first half is a bit slow, but it picks up in the second half. Rebecca is never seen, and yet she is the main character, dominating the story with her passions and cruelty. Another main "character" is the great house itself, which is described in such captivating detail that you almost feel you are there in person. The narrator is purposely kept anonymous to contrast her with the larger-than-life Rebecca, and Maxim is a seriously flawed but lovable man. Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a little slower paced than I’m used to, but it was a good read.

Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot

Overall Rating- 3.5
Cleanliness Rating- 3- for some language (including a few f-words)

From Publisher’s Weekly
This latest adult novel by the prolific Cabot (she's responsible for the ever-popular Princess Diaries franchise) unfolds, like 2002's The Boy Next Door, enfolds entirely through e-mails, journals, instant messages, phone mail, deposition transcripts, notes scribbled on menus, to-do lists and other hallmarks of a modern girl's life. Kate Mackenzie, an idealistic HR representative at the New York Journal, has just been forced by her evil boss, Amy Jenkins, to fire Ida Lopez, the wildly popular dessert cart lady at the company cafeteria. Ida bakes delectable goodies, but she won't serve them to priggish Stuart Hertzog, the paper's legal counsel, who happens to be engaged to Amy, known as the T.O.D. (tyrannical office despot) to Kate and her best friend and co-worker Jen. Sweet Ida sues for wrongful termination, and Stuart charges his younger brother, Mitch, with handling this delicate matter. But Mitch actually cares about justice more than his brother's witchy fiancee (he's only working at the family firm at his sick father's request), and he quickly confounds Kate's expectations with his Rocky and Bullwinkle tie and "tie-him-to-the-bed" good looks. When the T.O.D. tries to lay the blame for her HR blunder on Kate, Mitch goes to the furthest reaches of lawyerly chivalry to save his ladylove.

My review
This book was really cute. I was a little skeptical of how it was written (through emails, journals, instant messages, voicemail messages, etc). I was afraid that it wouldn’t flow very well or that you wouldn’t get enough details. But, I was pleasantly surprised. You actually really get to know the characters very well. I found myself really loving Kate and Mitch and really hating Amy and Stuart. I did wish there was a bit more description in some of the scenes and with the writing style, it seemed to kind of just give the main points but not all the descriptive details. Overall, though, I found it a uniquely wonderful idea as it breaks the monotony of a novel and is a fresh new way of telling a story. This book is a fast read and very enjoyable

Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer

This review was done by Jessica Nilsson from North Carolina. She is a friend of Leah's who is Jennie's sister. Thanks Jessica! I have to agree with your review. I absolutely loved all these books!

Overall rating: 5
Cleanliness rating: 2- for some mild language

I adored these three books! The author is a BYU grad, so I had a certain amount of expectation going in. And does Meyer deliver! I was a little wary, because I usually don't go for vampire books, but I took a chance and was pleasantly surprised! The books are well-written and impossible to put down.

Here is the review from Amazon.com about the first book Twilight.

"Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. 'Be very still,' he whispered, as if I wasn't already frozen. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. Then abruptly, but very gently, he rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat." As Shakespeare knew, love burns high when thwarted by obstacles. In Twilight, an exquisite fantasy by Stephenie Meyer, readers discover a pair of lovers who are supremely star-crossed. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she arouses in him, because--he's a vampire. At any moment, the intensity of their passion could drive him to kill her, and he agonizes over the danger. But, Bella would rather be dead than part from Edward, so she risks her life to stay near him, and the novel burns with the erotic tension of their dangerous and necessarily chaste relationship.Meyer has achieved quite a feat by making this scenario completely human and believable. She begins with a familiar YA premise (the new kid in school), and lulls us into thinking this will be just another realistic young adult novel. Bella has come to the small town of Forks on the gloomy Olympic Peninsula to be with her father. At school, she wonders about a group of five remarkably beautiful teens, who sit together in the cafeteria but never eat. As she grows to know, and then love, Edward, she learns their secret. They are all rescued vampires, part of a family headed by saintly Carlisle, who has inspired them to renounce human prey. For Edward's sake they welcome Bella, but when a roving group of tracker vampires fixates on her, the family is drawn into a desperate pursuit to protect the fragile human in their midst. The precision and delicacy of Meyer's writing lifts this wonderful novel beyond the limitations of the horror genre to a place among the best of YA fiction. -- Patty Campbell

Bridget Jones's Diary Series by Helen Fielding

Overall Rating- 4
Cleanliness Rating- 3.5- for language (including the F- word and crude language) and sexual content (but no details). The first one is cleaner than the second.

These books were awesome. Bridget Jones’s Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason are totally laugh out loud funny. These books are written as a diary (hence the title). Everyday, Bridget records her weight, calories, alcohol intake, and cigarettes for the day, among others. It took a little getting used to the format as some of the shorter entries are written in fragments (ex: “Right, am going to be positive about this. Am going to be marvelous: elegant, vivacious, beautifully dressed. Oh, though. Do not have long dress.”) But, the longer entries, where the main stuff is happening is written like a normal book with details and dialogue, etc. Bridget is a totally likable and relatable character that you can’t help but fall in love with and root for. She gets herself into some hilarious, always embarrassing situations. I couldn’t help while reading these books to pictures the characters as the actors who play them in the movie (because they really are cast perfectly- Renee Zellweger as Bridget, Hugh Grant as Daniel and Colin Firth as Mark Darcy). The plot of Bridget Jones Diary loosely parallels the plot of Pride and Prejudice, but obviously very modernized! The second book explores what happens after the happily every after. If you are looking for a fun, hilarious read definitely pick these up!

Princess Academy by: Shannon Hale

Sharlyn (our cousin) wrote the following review for this book (Thanks Sharlyn!):
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Overall Rating: 4.5
Cleanliness: 1.5 (I would read this book to a 6 or 7 year old)

From School Library Journal: The thought of being a princess never occurred to the girls living on Mount Eskel. Most plan to work in the quarry like the generations before them. When it is announced that the prince will choose a bride from their village, 14-year-old Miri, who thinks she is being kept from working in the quarry because of her small stature, believes that this is her opportunity to prove her worth to her father. All eligible females are sent off to attend a special academy where they face many challenges and hardships as they are forced to adapt to the cultured life of a lowlander. First, strict Tutor Olana denies a visit home. Then, they are cut off from their village by heavy winter snowstorms. As their isolation increases, competition builds among them. The story is much like the mountains, with plenty of suspenseful moments that peak and fall, building into the next intense event. Miri discovers much about herself, including a special talent called quarry speak, a silent way to communicate. She uses this ability in many ways, most importantly to save herself and the other girls from harm. Each girl's story is brought to a satisfying conclusion, but this is not a fluffy, predictable fairy tale, even though it has wonderful moments of humor. Instead, Hale weaves an intricate, multilayered story about families, relationships, education, and the place we call home

My Review: Just because the title is 'Princess Academy' don't think it's a frilly, Disney Princess type book. It is about a group of 'mountain girls' learning to become a princess. The main character Miri is easy to fall in love with from the begining. It was a very good book that I couldn't put down (I finished the book in one day).

Eat, Pray, Love by: Elizabeth Gilbert

Overall Rating: 4
Cleanliness Rating: 3.8 due to some language (f-bomb) and about a page worth of sexual content

From The New Yorker
At the age of thirty-one, Gilbert moved with her husband to the suburbs of New York and began trying to get pregnant, only to realize that she wanted neither a child nor a husband. Three years later, after a protracted divorce, she embarked on a yearlong trip of recovery, with three main stops: Rome, for pleasure (mostly gustatory, with a special emphasis on gelato); an ashram outside of Mumbai, for spiritual searching; and Bali, for "balancing." These destinations are all on the beaten track, but Gilbert's exuberance and her self-deprecating humor enliven the proceedings: recalling the first time she attempted to speak directly to God, she says, "It was all I could do to stop myself from saying, 'I've always been a big fan of your work.'"
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

My Review:

I’m sure that most of you have read this book. I was watching Oprah and the author, Elizabeth Gilbert was on talking about her book. The way they were talking about it really made me want to read this book. So I did. A little slow in the beginning and a bit in the middle, but overall a really great book. You get to read about a women’s journey through Rome, India and Bali. You get to know a bit about the culture and about a spiritual search. Pretty good read.