Iron Fey Series - Julie Kawaga

one sentence summary:
A half fey, half human girl tries to figure out where she belongs.

review:
I have only read the first two books in this series and I don't think I will keep going. The idea behind the novels is interesting but the execution needs some help. The characters are all really annoying, all whiny and they all create drama for themselves, basically teenagers will relate well to these stories.

4/10

Darkborn - Alison Sinclair

One Sentence Summary:
There are two races, one born of light the other of darkness, they coexist but what happens when something threatens both races??

review:
This was better than I expected it to be. The characters were fairly stock, not a lot going on with most of them but there are enough entertaining quirks that they kept me interested in what was happening to them. And that was the strong point of the book, a fast paced plot that keeps the pages turning. I recommend this to you if you enjoyed the Hunger Games series.

8/10 middle/high school (the people who like hunger games)

Skylight Confessions - Alice Hoffman

one sentence summary
Follow one family as it shatters and tries to pull itself together.

review:
I really enjoyed this story, I can tell the imagery from it is going to stick with me for a long time. The characters were very well developed, they all had wonderful flaws and were very relatable. Hoffman must have spent longer researching mental illness and drug addiction than she did writing the book because from my perspective it was really well written. I highly recommend anyone interested in drug addictions or anyone who wants to understand how to develop characters without glaring descriptions.

9/10

Emma - Jane Austen

one sentence summary:
A young woman feels that she knows best about not only her love life but her friends as well, she does not.

review:
The funniest read of the Summer of Jane Austen, Emma was remarkably similar to me, trying to make everything perfect for everyone without even knowing what would make me happy. The wit in the writing is brilliantly entertaining, and, as always the characters and plot development are top shelve. I recommend this to any awkward teenage girl who has no friends and is wondering why.

6/10

The Crystal Cave - Mary Stewart

one sentence summary:
the story of Merlin before he was the great Wizard we all know him as.

review:
A wonderful take on the Merlin myth. We are introduced to a young Merlin and follow him as he enters adulthood. Filled with family drama and suspense, mystery and intrigue this is a well written, entertaining read. Stewart did a fantastic job of flushing out not only fantastic characters and relationships but also a fascinating country complete with politics and details that are often overlooked in "Arthur" stories. A great mix of verifiable fact and familiar myth. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys long, detailed historical novels and/or the Arthur legend.

6/10

Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

One sentence Summary:
The age old tale, spoiled plantation daughter falls in love, but oops there is a war :(

review:
This is a classic for a reason, it is well written with one of the most evolving protagonists I have ever read. At the beginning you hate Scarlet, she is a horrid girl but she evolves into a slightly less horrid girl who is head over heals in love, and from that into a strong (most of the time) woman. It is a long read, I recommend breaking it up with something trashy so that you don't get sick and tired of Scarlet's antics and shelve the book without finishing it.

8/10

Intertwined - Gena Showalter

one sentence summary:
an angsty teenage boys has four angsty personalities all inside his head (...and, really, what angsty teen doesn't)

review:
normally I *love* Gena Showalter's writing, she is awesome at steamy love scenes and keeping a story moving to the next one. I figured, why not read her YA novel, it should be pretty good,, she has talent after all... OH BOY, I was wrong, so very wrong. The writing was solid, good vocabulary and grammar, but it was as if with out the sex to anchor her writing there was no direction for her story. The premise sounded like it would be a great story, but no, it was so cluttered and confused that the characters got lost and the point was missing. There was a beginning but no middle or end, it was like you got into a raft to go over some rapids but... oh snap...no paddles. but then your river keeps switching continents, and then is a on a pond, and then it morphs into a submarine (not that that makes any sense), then suddenly you are back on the river in your raft, but the water is jello. Yeah that is how the story flows (not at all). It is an entertaining read if you are looking to read something to learn how never to write. People who enjoyed Twilight may enjoy this series.

3/10

The Twilight Series - Stephanie Meyer

one sentence summary
an overly emotional teenage girl falls in love with a much older man...(a vampire is still a man right...?)

review:
This series is not the worst writing I have ever read (here's looking at you Fifty Shades) but it is far from what I would call good. Longer does not mean better. The books keep getting longer as you read through the series. The writing is reminiscent of Harlequins but with infinity more teen angst.  Some of the characters were really well developed while others were lacking, and one in particular (here's looking at you Bella) did not grow at all over the thousands of pages, she ended pretty much identical in ideology to where she started, you would think that learning about the paranormal world first hand would alter one's perspective on the world...you would be wrong. That said the story is fairly entertaining and does move along at a pretty good clip (other than the hundreds of pages interspersed here and there so full of superfluous details that any sane editor would have left in the rubbish and never ever have published...maybe they are paid by the page?). I recommend this to anyone who has an angsty teenage girl that they are trying to get to read.... or anyone who is curious what all the fuss was about (in which case I recommend skipping to the last book "Breaking Dawn" as it was the most interestingly extreme of them all, just read the Wikipedia summaries of the first 3 and you will be k).

4/10
4/10

The Med Center Series - Diane Hoh

one sentence summary:
Grey's Anatomy for 11 year old girls in the 1990's.

Review:
This is a cotton candy read, bad action, terrible dialogue and unbelievable characters. All thrown into one unbelievable disaster after another.They are awesome in their ridiculousness. I recommend them for pretty much noon but they are highly entertaining reads, just don't bitch at me about how terrible they are, I already know it. I am one of those people who will watch bad action movies (such as 2012, Twister, Day After Tomorrow, Earthquake, Volcano etc.) over and over again, these books are like those movies. People like me are who I recommend them to.
6/10