Review #10 - Saturday Night series by Caroline B. Cooney

Dancing in the Dark,

A series that focuses on four dances that five very different girls attend.

The plot is basically this for each of the girls in each book:

Anne 

The schools golden girl who suddenly finds herself pregnant in book one. 

She recovers from this by the second book and nothing exciting really happens to her until the fourth book when she gets a job travelling round the world with an author

Unfortunately, in every single book of the series, Anne's main story is repetitive - she breaks up then gets back together with boyfriend and father of her child, Con, which shows weakness in character development as well as plot.

Kip 

Bossy and commanding Kip is the organiser of the dances and often the saviour of them as well - she put out a forest fire in book two and resolved petty crime in book one. 

Kip meets Mike (utter annoyance) at the end of book one and finds herself torn between him and a waiter named Lee in book two, who she ends up with.

However, book 4, Kip is boyfriendless in the end but has a promising future in New York at college.

Beth Rose 

Previously a wallflower, Beth is transformed by Gary's love in book one when he pity's the fact that she's dateless. 

In book three, she has a brief romance with one of Kip's younger brothers but in book four she meets photographer Jere who she ends up with.

Molly

Not part of the same group as the other girls, Molly actually does everything to destroy them.

In book one, she invites a drunk college guy to the dance. Next , in book two, she starts the
aforementioned forest fire and tries to drive Con and Anne apart.Book three, she attempts to get the girls arrested for false drug possession. 

Finally, in book four, her attitude is changed dramatically when she falls for Blaze who she ends up with.

Emily 

I saved the best for last, Emily definitely has the best plot by far.

Making a dramatic entrance in book one, Emily barely makes it to the dance when her and her date the sweet, dashing Matt get caught in a storm with dangerous electrical wires surrounding them as they try to save a dying man after crashing their car.

In book two, Emily is kicked out of her house and almost attacked by Molly's date from book one.

The most romantic yet, in book three Matt proposes to Emily and book four follows her denial about the proposal when Matt gets an overseas job. She and Matt fortunately get a happy ending.

Overall Opinion

On the whole, this series probably should've stopped at book one with a passage at the end about the futures of the girls as the characters plots don't really develop.

Verdict : 3 Stars !

Dear Bruce Springsteen review tomorrow maybe,
 Mimi
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Book Haul #1

So many books, So little time,

Today I was pretty successful on my shopping expedition although I unfortunately didn't get any Sweet Valley or Babysitters Club books. I did however get some things I didn't even know I wanted.

I shall list what they are from the top down and why I bought them/what they're about.

Anyway here are the books (and cassette) :

(Photo belongs to me)

The Police - Every Breath you take - The Singles Cassette  50p in Cancer Research UK

The Police are my favourite band (as well as loving 80's books I love the music and movies - I don't  listen to anything that was released after the 90's) so I couldn't resist when I saw this for such a low price. 

I love that it lists the lyrics and particularly the order form for a VHS showcasing their music videos for £16. Oh the world before YouTube ! 

The complete guide to the music of Bruce Springsteen by Patrick Humphries  £1.99 in Oxfam

Bruce is my favourite lyricist and my second favourite singer after Sting so I was overjoyed when I discovered this.

Essentially it ranks and explains the history of every Springsteen song up to his album 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' including pictures of The Boss through the years.

I want the complete guide to the music of Sting and The Police now which is listed on the back.

Samantha Slade #2 - Confessions of a Teenage Frog by Susan Smith  40p in Martin House Hospice 

I first heard of this series on Cliquey Pizza's (awesome Blog you should totally check it out by the way) A-Z of 80's YA series' and immediately added it to my TBR - who wouldn't love a horror
version of The Babysitters Club ?

Therefore when I saw the sequel I snapped it up immediately. It sounds extremely far-fetched but
that's what you expect from 80's YA.

Different Directions by Theresa Breslin 40p in Martin House Hospice

The plot line of this is so unrealistic - a teens Mother decides to go back to school and goes to the same school as her daughter. The teen is embarrassed but all her friends love her mother and she may even be dating her Maths teacher.

This sounds utterly hilarious so I can't wait to read it.

Point Romance - Russian Nights by Robyn Turner  50p in Scope

The cover is very cringe worthy for public viewing and so is the story - ballet student falls for a sexy Russian Dancer but they could be torn apart before their relationship even starts.

This doesn't stop me wanting to pick it up soon though.

Point Horror - The Snowman by R.L Stine 50p in Scope

I have already read this but I only owned it in a point horror collection and I wanted to own that spine chilling cover so I bought it.

One of R.L Stine's best and creepiest.

Magenta #2 - Magenta in the Pink by Echo Freer 89p in Oxfam

I have read and own the rest of this series which I love dearly.

It's similar to the Georgia Nicholas series for humour value so I'd recommend it to fans of that.

This final book I didn't purchase today but weeks ago but it arrived today.

The Lying Game #6 - Seven minutes in heaven by Sara Shepard 

The conclusion I've been anticipating - I can't wait to see how this ends.

I shall be back tomorrow with a review,
Mimi
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