ARC Review: My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody

PLEASE READ THIS! MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!

Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but I’m sorry, I’m feeling a bit melodramatic at the moment.

Here’s the deal. My name is Brooklyn Pierce, I’m fifteen years old, and I am decisionally challenged. Seriously, I can’t remember the last good decision I made. I can remember plenty of crappy ones though. Including that party I threw when my parents were out of town that accidentally burned down a model home. Yeah, not my finest moment, for sure.

But see, that’s why I started a blog. To enlist readers to make my decisions for me. That’s right. I gave up. Threw in the towel. I let someone else be the one to decide which book I read for English. Or whether or not I accepted an invitation to join the debate team from that cute-in-a-dorky-sort-of-way guy who gave me the Heimlich Maneuver in the cafeteria. (Note to self: Chew the melon before swallowing it.) I even let them decide who I dated!

Well, it turns out there are some things in life you simply can’t choose or have chosen for you—like who you fall in love with. And now everything’s more screwed up than ever.

But don’t take my word for it, read the book and decide for yourself. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll scream in frustration. Or maybe that’s just me. After all, it’s my life.

 
     If there ever was a unique concept, this would be it. I was instantly surprised at it and also quickly entranced. Brooklyn's voice was slow to start off, but then she got on a roll and I enjoyed her fascinating dialogue. Brooklyn was really prone to making bad and turned to blogging and her readers to make decisions for her. When I realized what she was going to do, I instantly thought it was the stupidest choice anyone could ever make. I also really wanted to find out what would happen. As I continue reading, I see that the blog is a good thing for her mostly and leads to a lot of good outcomes. Her hardest choice ended up being who to love. At that point, I realize that the blog wasn't the point at all. The point was that to make good decisions, you have to first make bad ones.
     I really enjoyed this book. Brooklyn was awesome and Hunter and Brian were wonderful. It was funny and extremely open to a 15-year-old's life. It shows how much society can influence a person's life and shows how sometimes, if you want to be happy, you have to ignore them.

Banned Books and My Opinion

     In case some people didn't know, this week is Banned Book Week. It is held every last week in September. I just recently discovered it myself about two years ago. I had no idea the banning of book was even possible, let alone, going on! When I heard about it. though, I instantly formed an opinion and here it is.

     Banning books is wrong and unconstitutional. It limits the freedom of speech and is flat-out censorship. I can't imagine a parent going in a requesting something, as wonderful as book, to be banned. I believe that life is about choices. It is my choice what I want to read and no one has the right to take it away from me, but my mom. :) She trusts that I am mature enough to handle the subjects I read in books. That's what I think banners need to step back and think about. Sure, you may think that this book is too mature for your kid. But who are you to stop somebody else's child from reading it? I read banned books. Twilight is a challenged book and it is what started me back to reading.
      Parents and banners try to ban books because they use profanity and have drug use in them. Sheltering your child from the world does nothing but hurt them in the long run. In this world, my generation is filled with sex and profanity on television and sometimes it seems that everything is associated with something undecent. Books with profanity and sex in them are like peer pressure. You have to trust that no matter what is thrown at your child that he/she has been taught enough by you to know right from wrong. If you have to ban books in order to insure that your child stays on the right track, then you have no confidence in yourself and even less in your child.
     So in conclusion, I say to the banners. Think about the consequences before you ban a book. Books are filled with opportunities and are you making children miss out on them because somebody's dad said "damn?" To the readers, I say, exercise your right. Read all the banned books you want. Because you know what they say, what's "bad" for you always has the sweetest taste.

Crush Control by Jennifer Jabaley

Willow has spent most of her life as her mother's sidekick in a popular Las Vegas hypnotism show. So when she and her mom move back to their sleepy southern hometown to start over, she thinks she's in for a life of quiet normalcy. Except that her new life turns out to be anything but, when she kinda sorta hypnotizes Quinton, the hottest guy on the football team, to fall madly, deeply, head over heels in love with her. But what started out as an innocent way to make her best friend, Max, jealous soon gets way out of hand, and Willow begins to wonder if the mind - and more importantly, the heart - is something you can really control. (Goodreads)

      It's totally corny, but I was hypnotized by CRUSH CONTROL. It was interesting, funny and filled with fluff. It was also realistic because it dealt with topics I could relate to, too. My favorite character was Willow. She was so hilarious. Her life had definitely been unlike any other and she did pay for it's awesomeness. She was insecure after hiding behind her mom these past few years and understandably wanted it to be different this time back. She gets pulled into the spotlight and decides that she doesn't want to be without it. She makes a lot of bad decisions throughout the book and she doesn't realize them until she has to resolve them. She learned that most things aren't what they seem and to just accept others as they are.
Her and Max's relationship was sadly almost nonexistent until the end of book. I liked Max. He was sweet and unique. They had secret inside jokes and he just knew her. It would've been ridiculous of them to not even give each other a shot just once.
     Crush Control was a very memorable book and Willow was a n infinitely more memorable female character. From Willow's crazy eyes to her smushed-faced dog, it is because of this book that I will probably laugh every time I see the M&M commercial and smile every time I listen to Taylor Swift. Crush Control is a debut not to be missed.

Follow Friday & Blogger Hop (9/23/11)

Follow Friday & Blogger Hop (09/23/11) 

It's Follow Friday! This is my Follow Friday post, a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee!

This week's question: Do you have a favorite series that you read over and over again? Tell us a bit about it and why you keep on revisiting it?

My Answer: I am a big rereader and I really hate that I don't have enough time to reread books like I want. There are a few series that I keep rereading and that is Twilight, of course, The Body Finder series, Strange Angel series and Vampire Academy series. No matter how many times I read them, they never seem to get old and I find new things I love every time I read them.

It is also time for the Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Crazy-For-Books! Today's Book Blogger Question:

Coming!!

My Answer: 

Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle

Wealth, privilege, and way too many pastel-tinted opinions...that's Carly's life. And guess what? It's. Getting. On. Her. Nerves.

Carly wants to be real, and she's always counted on her little sister, Anna, to lover her and support her—and tell her how right she is. But when Anna turns "hot" over the course of a single summer, everything goes weird. Suddenly Anna's swimming in the deep end with the big girls—while Carly watches, hurt, from the kiddie pool. And of course there are boys involved, complicating things as boys always do.

With warmth, insight, and an unparalleled gift for finding humor even in stormy situations, beloved author Lauren Myracle dives into the tumultuous waters of sisterhood and shows that even very different sisters can learn to help each other stay afloat. (Goodreads)
Plot Opinion: I liked this plot and situation a lot and felt I could really relate to Carly. I hardly ever read or remember reading books that revolve so heavily around the South. Carly was an outdoorsy person that cam back to her baby sister Anna wearing bras bigger than hers. She has to figure out how to deal with things and still keep herself sane, which is harder than it sounds. I think Lauren portrayed Carly and Anna well and with this book, for a change, the intense realism was what made it awesome.

Characters: I have such bittersweet things that I liked and didn't like with Carly. Sometime I found her intelligent and mature. Other times....she was one of the stupidest people I'd ever read about. She didn't do well under stress, like dealing with Anna's growth and a boy not liking her. Some times she treated Anna like crap to make up for her own self-esteem issues.
Even though Carly was the main character, Anna was by far my favorite. I could understand her more because of Anna's insecurities. I admired her strength and sometimes felt sorry for how Carly treated her.

Overview: In its true and bittersweet characters, I loved this bookend was left with an invigorated feeling after I closed the cover. I felt as if I had learned something important and applicable. A feeling that comes with all truly good books.