Saturday, 25 January 2014

Review #7 - Fear Street #3 - The Overnight by R.L Stine

Keep with me forward, All through the night

Sorry, I didn't post this earlier - I've been pretty busy this week.

No picture for this  because yet a again it's the collection cover. The same shall go for the feature of my next review - The Babysitters Club #40 - Claudia and the Middle School Mystery by Ann M. Martin which will posted tomorrow.

Back to the Present :
One of the worst Fear Street books, particularly because I hate it when a supposedly dead character suddenly comes back to life.

This far-fetched weakling has you actually rooting for the main characters to die, instead of stay alive, because they're utterly annoying.

Maia was over-sensitive (which just reminded me of Mary Anne who's my least favourite member of the Babysitters Club), Suki was clearly flirting with Ricky so she was leading Gary on, Ricky's jokes were terrible,Della was an idiot and I could just about tolerate Pete and Gary.

The plot was just as bad :

The Outdoors Club's ( I seriously doubt there'd be so many members, all the people above) overnight gets postponed so they decide to go on their own overnight without a super visor.

Surprisingly their motives aren't what you'd initially think.They actually start of the trip by playing an innocent game of paintball.

Della comes across a 'handsome' gentleman, wearing a skull necklace , in the woods who proceeds to attack her. In act of self-defence she pushes him off a cliff and he 'dies'.

The group decide not to contact the police but cover the body with leaves when it's windy. Seriously R.L ?

When they return home, Della and Gary receive skulls, from the dead mans necklace, with
threatening messages attached. Also, Pete and Della almost die in a car chase.

 What the group have forgotten though is that nows the  time to go on the supervised overnight.

Dead guy comes back to life and attempts to kill Della but is quickly arrested.

What I've discovered is that I prefer Fear Street's were a character actually dies as they usually tend to be better.

Verdict : 3 stars !

Post again soon,
Mimi
xheartx

Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Review #6 - Sweet Valley High #12 - When love dies by Francine Pascal

It must have been love, but it's over now,
Posted a day early because plans fell through. No picture unfortunately because I only own the 3 in 1 that it's in so you'd be getting a picture of Deceptions.

My opinion :
It seems like ages since I've read a Sweet Valley High, since December I've only read Sweet Valley Twins books, and what a good decision it was to pick up this one, that I received for Christmas, to remind myself how far-fetched and loveable they are.

This has to be one of my favourite Sweet Valley High book and maybe from every Sweet Valley series one of the best. In my opinion books 5 to 30 are the best from the SVH series are the best for plot in my opinion as the book proves.

Both twins work as Candy Striper's at the hospital, Elizabeth to actually help out and Jessica to swoon a hospitalised SV resident celebrity. 

Karma's a bitch (and so's Jessica) so Elizabeth ends up working on the ward that the aforementioned  celebrity is on and ,downside, a creepy stalker who keeps asking her strange  questions and watching her when he thinks she's not looking. Meanwhile Jessica's plan has majorly back-fired, again..., so she's working on the maternity ward run by a witch of a woman.

This doesn't stop Jessica from going to see the celebrity and stirring up trouble by accidentally injuring him every time she tries to make him swoon.

Elizabeth discovers the real motive for Jessica's volunteering and seeks revenge by getting the celebrity to fake propose to Jessica. Hilariously, Jessica actually considers marrying him but changes her mind - how convenient for the sake of the series.

The book also focuses on their brother's, Steven, girlfriend's ,Tricia Martin, dilemma - Should she tell everyone she's got leukaemia ,including Steven ? 

The answer is yes and Tricia realises this after a lot of  unnecessary crying and a break-up. They make-up after Steven's short- lived relationship with Cara Walker , one of Jessica's best friends (can you guess who set them up in the first place ?), crashes and burns.

The ending is probably the best part of the book - Elizabeth is kidnapped by the mental orderly who has been stalking her all week ! This is the focus of the next book which I literally want to read right now - it might be even better !

Verdict : 5 out of 5 stars !

Coming soon : Fear Street #3 - The Overnight by R.L Stine Review,
Mimi
xheartx

Monday, 20 January 2014

Review #5 - Babysitters Little Sister #4 - Karen's Kittycat Club by Ann M. Martin

Manic Monday,


(Photo belongs to me)

So I actually read this book on Friday but have only just managed to post this. The day after tomorrow I'll be posting a Sweet Valley High review so look forward to that.

Anyway here's my thoughts on this book :

So as per usual these books are incomparable to the greatness that is it's predecessor The Babysitters Club, but they're rather cute.

In case you didn't know, these books focus on Kristy's 7 year old stepsister Karen's antics.

This book focuses on Karen wanting to be like Kristy (why Kristy when there's Stacey, Claudia practically anyone else in Stoneybrook ?) so she creates her own club about cat-sitting - so naive !

Predictably the club fails but Karen does learn some important lessons - such as karma will get you if you even admire Kristy. What I learnt was that Karen's a better speller than Claudia  even though Claud's 9 years older than her.

The cover has to be one of my favourites of the series even though the even worse equivalent of Mary Anne yet a stylish version,Nancy isn't on the cover.

Verdict : 2 Stars !

Until Wednesday,
Mimi
xheartx

Saturday, 18 January 2014

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
xheartx









Friday, 17 January 2014

Review #4 - Sweet Dreams #99 - One boy too many by Marian Caudell or Seriously Marian, just let her date them both !

Friday Fabulousness,
My first review in months but what actually feels like years and boy am I happy to be reviewing again. Been busy the last couple of days that's why this wasn't up on the day after I read this (Tuesday).

Heads up for tomorrow - a book haul may be posted. Unfortunately last week when I went shopping I only got 1 book - Sweet Valley at least for 5p ! But another from a mini series -second in a series I don't own the rest of.I hate it when that happens. The town I'm going to tomorrow I haven't been to since October so the shops should be well stocked - including one that practically specialises in 80's/90's books.

Anyway onto Today's review (couldn't find a picture of this one sorry) :

I seriously regret that I don't own any more of these - I shall hope to buy some more tomorrow or if not in my monthly Amazon order - and also regret not picking them up sooner.

Splendid story again : an avid reader (who I felt very poignant to) has to choose between two identical twins with very two very different personalities - which I can't fathom how she managed to do because they were both equally attractive.

My personal favourite parts were the 80's mall scenes as they went into excruciating detail about the dresses and books at the time. Also the poolside scenes were pretty cool.

Not as good as Sweet Dreams #83 - Love by the book by Anne Park - the only other a Sweet Dreams book I've read - but still amazing !

Verdict : 5 out of 5 Stars
Don't forget to comment below about what you thought of this post or you not allowed to date the other twin,
Mimi
xheartx

Monday, 13 January 2014

New Schedule

A Change of Heart,
So I know I said that this Blog would only be for read-a-thon's but I've changed my mind due to the amount of attention the Blog's gotten this week.

From now on I shall be posting every two to three days and the posts shall be either a review, book haul or anything else I feel like posting.

I won't be doing a read-a-thon wrap-up because I ended up reading less than I'd read in a normal week during the read-a-thon week funnily enough.

I hope you continue to love this Blog and I promise to try not to abandon it again,
Mimi
xheartx

Saturday, 11 January 2014

Bout of Books 9.0 Read-a-thon Update #5 and Book Spines Poetry Challenge

Keep Reading, Keep Breathing,
Update #5 
Yesterday I again managed not to surrender to sleep and woke up earlier so I could finish Sweet Valley Twins #10 - One of the Gang by Francine Pascal. 

It ended up actually being one of the worst Sweet Valley (maybe even THE worst Sweet Valley Twins books) books I've ever read. It did have some good points - such as how Jessica broke her ankle (hilarious) and the last 30 pages or so - however this doesn't redeem the fact that the rest of the book was utterly unexciting. Can't wait for the next book though - it could potentially be the best SVT book ! My verdict of this was 4 stars - all other Sweet Valley books I've rated 5 stars, except for SVH #2 - Secrets which was equally atrocious.

Last night I did a lot more procrastinating than reading, as I only reached page 56 in The Lying Game #4 - Hide and Seek by Sara Shepard.

SERIOSLY THOUGH, IF YOU LOVE THE BABYSITTERS CLUB YOU NEEED TO CHECK OUT THE URL BELOW :
http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/the-definitive-ranking-of-baby-sitters-club-cover-outfits

Anyway today I want to get to page 150, at least, of The Lying Game #4 - Hide and Seek by Sara Shepard.

Book Spines Poetry Challenge

This challenge is pretty simple - you take the titles of the books you have and put them together to make a Poem.

You can compare this year's to last year's if you want by clicking on this URL :
http://abonkersbookaholic.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/summer-lovin-read-thon-update-4-my.html

My Attempt (this year) :


(Photo belongs to me)

Charlotte, Olivia,
Best Friends,
Two Weeks in Paradise,

Behind Closed Doors,
Unbelievable Secrets,
Wanted Killer,

Paradise Lost...

Personally I love it because it sounds like the synopsis of an 80's YA novel.

Book Haul Coming soon ?,
Mimi
xheartx