Saturday, February 28, 2009

"Books for Teens" book store!

Hello!

I have set up an amazon.com book store with all of the books that I have reviewed on this blog. The profits from you purchasing from the store, which is amazon, will help in future contests and goodies!

Please take a look! I hope you enjoy!

http://astore.amazon.com/boofortee0a-20

You will also be able to visit the store from the side bar that says "Books for Teens Store!"

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Waiting on Wednesday




I thought that it was time to start my own "Waiting on Wednesday!"

"The Forest of Hands and Teeth" is coming out on March 10th! Doesn't it look neat?

And also, Carrie is hosting a contest on her blog to win a copy! It ends tonight, so hurry!

http://carrie-me.blogspot.com/2009/02/giveaway-forest-of-hands-and-teeth.html

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Review: Wake


"Wake" by Lisa McMann

Janie is almost normal, the one thing that separates her from everyone else is her ability to be inside of other peoples dreams. At first she sees it as a terrible thing, and regrets it happening. However, things get more difficult the higher grade she enters and when she starts working at the nursing home to earn money for college. When a lady at the nursing home dies, she also leaves Janie a note about her dreams and a good hunk of money for college. Janie learns that its not so bad to be in other peoples dreams, and she even learns how to help them out in their dreams. She even figures out how to use them to help solve a mystery that involves drugs. Throughout the story, Janie also has to struggle through boy problems and they learn some important things about each other. What will happen with the rest of the story? Thats for you to find out!


I enjoyed reading "Wake" it was one of those books that you constantly are reading! However, after finishing, I was asking myself "what were the main points of the story?" However, I still really enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading "Fade!"




Saturday, February 21, 2009

Book Review: To Catch a Pirate


"To Catch a Pirate"

Analisa is on a ship with her Father and the crew when they get attacked by pirates. Analisa hides but is found by one of the pirates, and in exchange for her freedom she gives a ring and he takes a stolen kiss. Now, her Fathers in jail and she wants to get him out. Analisa buys her own ship and starts the journey to get back the treasure, probably the only way to prove that he is innocent. They capture James Sterling, whom is the only one other than Crimson that knows where the treasure is. Soon though, Analisa finds herself falling in love with James, and he surprisingly starts falling in love with her. Will they find the treasure? Will Analisa loose the love of her life?

"To Catch a Pirate" was such a wonderful story! Analisa is different than a lot of characters, she is bold, strong, and very courageous. She sets out with a ship of her own! I really enjoyed this book and suggest reading it!!

Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Trip to the library....


So, today I went to the library and came home with some pretty exciting reads!



-"To Catch a Pirate"
-"The Truth about Forever"
-"Model a memoir", this is nonfiction
-"Nothing but the truth (and a few white lies)"
-"Knitgrrl"

I am reading "To Catch a pirate" right now!

My birthday...

So, yesterday was my wonderful, ultra fun, fabulous, birthday! And guess what my family and I did? We went to Disneyworld! And afterwards, went out to eat for a delicious pizza and opened my presents. I got a adorable purple I-pod nano, 2 dresses from Delias, and some cute pj bottoms!!! Very fun, right?

My favorite ride was probably Splash Mountain! It was so fun, and wet!!

Also, did you know that you can get in free for your birthday at Disneyworld? Its pretty neat.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Yet another aewsome contest!

I couldn't help myself. Just had to make a post on this one!

http://melangesreviews.blogspot.com/2009/02/behold-contest.html

***If you enter please mention you were referred by me!! Thanks!***

She is hosting a wonderful contest, in hopes of getting her follower amount up! It looks like its working to!

Enjoy!

2 contests that you should definatley check out!




I found these two contests on "For the Love of Books!" Enjoy!
1. To win a copy of "Flygirl": http://fortheloveofbooksblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/february-giveaway-flygirl-by-sherri-l.html?showComment=1234150440000#c8180690972972746846 2. To win an ARC of "Wintergirls": http://fortheloveofbooksblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-very-first-contest.html

Book Review: Zombie Queen Of Newbury High



Zombie Queen of Newbury High

Mia is a typical girl. She isn't popular, but she isn't a geek. She is perfectly happy, and gets even happier when super popular Rob asks her on a 5 dates, plus to go to the prom with her! However, when he starts sitting by the beautiful cheerleader, Samantha, Mia starts getting worried that Rob will change his mind. So Mia and Candice go to a little witchy looking lady and by a love potion. It seems to be working, at first anyways! Soon she finds out that everyone that was in the room with her, except herself and Chase, while she was doing the potion turned into a zombie! Not to mention that she is the Zombie queen, which is definitely not a good thing. Will Mia be able to turn them back into humans? Or will she get eaten alive?

I loved reading "Zombie Queen of Newbury High!" it was such a fun, exciting, adventurous, and thrilling book to read! It was easy to grow attached to the characters. I even found myself wishing along with the characters that things could have gone differently. I suggest you read it, it was very enjoyable!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

In My Mailbox

This week I was lucky enough to get "Zombie Queen Of Newbury High!" I actually just finished reading it tonight! I also got three other "mystery" books that are out of state so I wont find out what they are for a while!! Watch out for a review on this book, I'm going to be posting one soon!

Also, I hope you like the new background!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentines day everyone!!!



I hope that everyone has a wonderful, fabulous, love filled, Valentines day today!!! Does anyone have any special plans? We are probably going to go swimming outside Then we might, MIGHT, go to a drive in Movie!!!

Valentines day makes a good day to post love story's, right? So here are a bunch that I scrou
nged up!















Friday, February 13, 2009

Books that were made into movies

There have been so many fabulous books that have been made into wonderful movies as well! Here are a bunch of different books, and there movies as well. Which are your favorites? Do you enjoy the books better than the movies? I have included the movies, along with the book, or a book from the series!






















































Thursday, February 12, 2009

Author invterview! Shelley Adina!


Author Shelley Adina was kind enough to answer these interview questions for this blog! Thank you very much for your time! Hope you enjoy! She writes the "All about us" novels! I have reviewed "Who Made you a Princess" on this blog, so check that out if you would like as well! Enjoy!


What inspired you to become a writer?

The sheer coolness of knowing that words on a page could create an experience in someone’s head is what made me want to be a writer when I was small. When I was learning to read, the words and the pictures blended in my mind to make this cinematic experience that got me hooked. Even today I don’t really see words when I read. I see the movie playing that the words create as I read them. But then, I see numbers and letters in color, too, so I don’t know what that says about my brain :)

Do you have a favorite spot or way to write?

Strangely enough, I don’t write in my office. My brain seems to have decided that’s for left-side things like doing e-mail and taxes. In order for the creative side of my brain to work, from 11 until 3 or so I go into the garden or on the deck and work out there . . . except in the winter, when I work on the couch. I use an AlphaSmart Neo, which is portable, light, and indestructible. Good for my style of writing, which boils down to ramble here, ramble there, sit down and write a page, ramble somewhere else, write another page . . .

What is your favorite book?

Eek—you’re going to make me pick only one? How about a three-way tie between Pride and Prejudice, Anne of Green Gables, and Connie Willis’s Doomsday Book.

Why did you choose to write young adult books?

Because I remember vividly what it was like to be a teenager, with all the decisions and disappointments and joys. Technology and communication may have changed, but being dumped by your boyfriend hasn’t. Nor has the happiness of making a real friend, or the excitement of deciding who you’re going to be. Young adult books allow the writer to be honest, and to say things and create situations that might not fly in books for adults. Plus the clothes are way more fun, so I play dress-up with my characters a lot :)

Do you read young adult books?

I sure do, and have since I was ten or so. I remember being really angry at my school librarian for not letting me read the seventh-grade books when I was only in sixth. She didn’t care that I’d read everything “appropriate” to my age group. I wanted to read up and that was my first experience with censorship. Grr. Today I read everything from Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling to new voices like Kelly Parra and Tina Ferraro.

Where do you get your ideas for your books?

My books begin with a “flash” of an opening scene, like a trailer for a movie. I see people and places and maybe an event, but I don’t really know the plot that leads to and from that point. For It’s All About Us, the first book in the All About Us series, I saw a blonde girl standing on the steps of a boarding school, unwilling to go in, and I thought, How come she doesn’t want to go in? Where has she come from? What’s waiting for her in there? I started writing to answer those questions for myself.

The story ideas come from places like People magazine, the newspaper, YouTube, overheard conversations, a show on the Discovery Channel, you name it. Everything goes into a pot boiling away in the back of my brain, and before long a story comes out! So far in this series I’ve dealt with the technical virgin, date abuse, a stalker, and a handsome prince. Not to mention clothes, midterms, shoes, and crème brulée. That pot in my brain is a busy place.

I finished reading Who Made You a Princess? not long ago, and really enjoyed it! Was it harder to write the prince’s character than it was for your other characters?

Actually, no, because I saw him so clearly. I based his external looks on the actor Eric Balfour, but his inner character had to be created thoughtfully in order to make him work. I mean, if you’d been brought up to put your country and its throne first, but were still a modern young man, how would you feel about your parents arranging your marriage? How would you adapt to a term at an American school, where there’s a lot more freedom than you’ve been used to? How would you reconcile new ideas about freedom and the rights of women with what your parents lived by in an old-fashioned monarchy? So Rashid was an interesting mix of old and new, of power and courtliness. And putting him up against Shani, who is outspoken, quick-tempered, and knows her own mind, was fun!

Which character do you think you relate to the most in your All About Us novels?

I relate to Lissa the most, because she has the longest journey. She makes a lot of mistakes but yet she’s vulnerable. She really depends on her friends, which I relate to, and she always tries to do the right thing even though others may not agree, which I’ve experienced as well. That said, I think Carly is the warm heart of this group of friends. She may be the one with the least in a material sense, but her love for her friends covers them all.

Do you have any tips for teens who want to become writers?

Don’t give up. This business isn’t for the faint of heart. If you’re burning to tell a story, get all the training you can and tell it. Check university extensions and community colleges for writing classes. Take classes online. Focus on your craft—grammar, punctuation, pacing, motivation, point of view, conflict—until it becomes instinctive and the story flows through that net of skills. And then pull out all the stops, be true to the story in your heart, and write!

Do you have a favorite out of your All About Us novels?

Ack—another difficult question! I can’t say any one of them is my favorite because I put heart and soul into each one trying to make it unique and fun. But there are bits of them that I love … the way Lissa and Gillian always have each other’s backs. The way Carly can dream a beautiful dress out of thin air. The way Mac owns any room she walks into. The way Shani wanted the Star of the Desert so bad and yet was strong enough to say no when it came down to the choice that would define the rest of her life. And my favorite thing of all is how the powers of friendship and faith bind all the girls together in ways that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Do you plan on writing any other young adult books?

I sure do! I have ideas for three series, all completely different from one another. It’s just a matter of getting some chapters on paper and finding a publisher who loves them as much as I do.

What was the first story that you wrote?

I wrote short pieces for school, but I wrote my first complete novel at 13. It was called Six and the Silver Statue, and it was Mary Sue meets Nancy Drew, LOL! I even sent it off to a publisher. It came right back, of course, but the editor was kind enough to recognize how young I was, and he told me not to give up, that I knew how to tell a story. That was enough to keep me going for the next couple of decades, until I got some life experience and a couple of degrees under my belt and could take on writing as a career.

I really appreciate your coming to my book blog for an interview! Thank you so much!

Thanks, Reyna, for the chance to sit down and talk. I hope your readers will stop by my website, www.shelleyadina.com, and also the series website at www.allaboutusbooks.net, where my characters blog daily. This month’s prize is to have the girls of Spencer Academy foot the bill for your prom dress, so be sure to drop in!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Animals Read To!

Animals Read To!

Yes, humans may read the most, but animals do to! Right?

Winter is the perfect time to cuddle up with a warm cup of cocoa, a good book, and a fuzzy friend. So in honor off all of our animals that have put up
with countless hours of our reading, and I do say so myself, they enjoy it, I have compiled a bunch of pictures for you to
enjoy! So, have fun looking at them!




































Align Left









Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Book Review: Pine Hollow, Changing Leads

Pine Hollow: Changing Leads

After the horrible accidental crash that occurred in a previous book were Stevie was driving and Scott Foresters sister ends up injured, Scott just cant seem to forgive Stevie, event though it was an accident. It gets harder though when Scott and Stevie's boyfriend, Phil, start spending more time together and become friends. Will Stevie reach breaking point? Or will she keep basking in her troubles? Lisa is back home from her visit with her Dad. She's happy to be back, but feels like she doesn't quite fit in like she used to anymore. Especially since Stevie and Carol started hanging out with another girl. Will Lisa learn to accept the changes? Carol is also having troubles of her own. She tells her best friends almost everything, especially important horsey news! However, that changes when Max, her boss and Pine Hollows owner, makes her promise secrecy to an important event in Lisa's riding horses life. Will Carol tell her best friends? Or will she stay true to Max, even if it gets her into trouble with Lisa and Carol? Bonnie Byrant has created a wonderful new series, "Pine Hollow", especially for girls that grew up loving and reading her "Saddle Club" series. The "Pine Hollow" series has the same characters, Stevie, Carol, and Lisa, but they are teens now, and therefore are changing. Were as the "Saddle Club" books are meant to be for a younger age group, preteen (but they are still aewsome reads for teens!!), "Pine Hollow" will excite and meet the reading expectations of an older audience, in their teens. I really enjoy this series, and this book in particular, and suggest it to anyone that loves the "Saddle Club" as well as anyone that adores horses! Enjoy!


Guess What????




Guess what?????? I figured out how to fix the comments on my blog! Yipee! Now post away, please!

Monday, February 9, 2009

February Books for Teens News!!


Exciting February News for Books for Teens blog!

This month is my birthday, so to celebrate on my blog.....

I am going to post something exciting for this blog, such as a book review, or author visit, everyday until my birthday, which is on February 17th! So keep watch on the blog!

In my Mailbox



This week I got "Cracked up to be" by Courntey Summers! I won it in a blog contest! Thanks! I'm looking forward to find out what I'll get this week...

"The Season"

Three girls and best friends, Vivi, Alex, and Ella, are now beginning their Season, and truthfully, they aren't looking forward to it. They just aren't interested in getting married of to some boy who hardly talks of anything other than themselves. While Vivi believes that there really is "the one" waiting for everyone, Ella and Alex aren't quite so sure. That is, until Alex starts falling for her friend, Gavin, that she has know for years, and he starts falling for her. Their friendly relationship that they shared their whole lives starts to tumble as they fight more often than what they used to, but yet their love still grows. When the mystery of Gavin's Fathers murder starts to unfold and Alex finds herself wrapped up in it as well and Gavin and Alex start loving each other more, will they accept their change in emotions and figure out the mystery? Find out in "The Season" by Sarah MacLean.


I just finished reading "The Season" today, and wow. Sarah MacLean did a fabulous job, especially considering that this is her first book written. If I ever got to choose to live in a different time period, this would be the one that I would pick. Sarah does a nice job tying exciting events, mystery, murder, and love all into 336 page book. "The Season" is for sure a good choice for a young adults next book read!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Blog Layout Updates

Just wanted to make a quick post on the new blog layout updates!!

I found this adorable valentine layout, isn't it cute? So, until after Valentines Day, "Books For Teens" will be in this cute layout!

Also, from now until the day after Valentines day, I am going to make all of my posts in pink!

Happy February!

4 nice contests(updated on Monday), a free online book, and in a in my mailbox post all in one day!

Yipee! 3rd post of the day and it isn't even noon!

I found these super contests from book muncher, WORD for Teens, Bookshiper, and Em's Bookshelf, you should take a look!

http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com/2009/02/romance-lovers-contest.html

http://wordforteens.blogspot.com/2009/02/february-09-giveaway-love-and-lies.html

http://emsbookshelf.blogspot.com/2009/01/winter-book-give-away-contest-2009.html

http://bookshipper.blogspot.com/2009/02/its-contest-time-again.html

The Luxe




I was looking around on a forum today and found a post saying that you can read "The Luxe" online for free! How cool is that? Its only for a small time though, I think its actually ending this month, so hurry!

Enjoy!

http://browseinside.harpercollins.ca/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061345685&pg=1

Or Read it here:


In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a post that was started by Story Siren. Every week, you post all of the books that you got in the mail that week. Its a lot of fun and a lot of different book bloggers do it! The posts are also fun to read!

Here are the books that I received this week:





"Who Made you a Princess?"

I wrote a review below for you, it was a good book! I got this one as a free ARC to review.












"The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks.
From bookdivas.com. The cover is so pretty!










"The Season"
I think this one looks amazing! I won it in a contest, now I'm so excited to read it!









The other thing that I was lucky enough to get in the mail this week was "Body Dust!" I got that from bookdivas.com as well!

Happy February to everyone!