Review of "Populatti" by Jackie Nastri Bardenwerper

Populatti by Jackie Nastri Bardenwerper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Received as a free ARC from Netgalley.

You think Facebook has a play in today's bullying? Imagine if it was private and monitored only by teenagers.

This book is about Livi, a seemingly normal--but insecure--teenage girl who's at the top of her High School's society because she's friend's with the right people.

Jackie has a flair for writing teenagers, and while I was sitting here questioning Livi's choices and self-contradictions on every page, I could still recognize my own adolescent voice in Livi's experiences.

Livi is on the Honor Council at her school, meaning she helps decide if students are suspended or not. It's only briefly explained in the book, but it helps paint the picture of the Main Character. She's a good student, basically.

However, when the adults aren't looking (Not that her doctor parents are much present in the book) she uses her time on the social networking "Populatti". Livi's friend Crystal is a child-genius, and in order to ace her way into a good college, she created this secret network. Completely without adult supervision or moderating.

When Livi's place on this exclusive, invite-only social network is threatened, she has to figure out where the truth ends and the lies begin. She's fed information from her best friend's but over time, she realize that her so-called friends may not be as great as she'd hoped.

What I liked: There was a lot of great teen-angst coming from Livi. That's not always easy to pull off. And I especially liked how naturally the author portrayed Livi's thoughts.


What I didn't like: Unfortunately, there's a few things I absolutely didn't like.

1. I know my version was an ARC, but I sincerely hope the publisher/Author has looked through for formatting mistakes. There was quite a few, along with jumbled sentences switching place. The start of every chapter, didn't really work on kindle on my phone, and it was only a tad better on my tablet.

2. It dragged on. And not in an entertaining way. The middle was too... bland. And my interest faded after the first 30% and didn't pick up until after 60%. The rest of it, however was intriguing, though.

3. I'm a bit sad it ended when it did. After taking a long break from the book, I was just getting into it again, and was looking forward to seeing the aftermath of Livi's choices. However, this opens up a possibility for a sequel, and I guess that's also good.

Conclusion:

All in all. It's an okay book. It tackles issues with online-bullying, and I would certainly give this to my sister to read once she starts going online.

I think my issues with the book has more to do with formatting, and my age than the content of the book, because it's a light read that leaves you thinking.

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Review of "After Math" by Denise Grover Swank

After Math by Denise Grover Swank
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was actually pleasantly surprised by this particular book. However, as good as the set-up was, I still felt let down near the end.

May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

The story is told from Scarlett's POV. She's grown up in a trailer-park, and finally escaped when she went to college. Scarlett is described as extremely smart, and she has a job as a tutor at the school. When the school's star-athlete Tucker is in danger of losing his scholarship, he asks for her help. At first she's reluctant, but when it's revealed that her help might be the turning point in a new research lab, she agrees.

Over the time we find out that both Tucker and Scarlett has issues.

She's deeply plagued by her past, and lives in fear of turning into her mother or sister. (The former has a bad history with boyfriends, and the latter got pregnant as 16 year's old)

While he's adopted and basically only loved for his soccer talent.

They form a sort of friendship, and I liked that it wasn't insta-love, but at the same time I was much too annoyed at how long they took to finally admit there was anything deeper between them, and then even longer to actually act upon it.

Tucker's history confused me almost as much as Scarlett's. While both of their pasts must have troubled them both deeply, I still believed it was overdone compared to how small scale it was. We only hear about their past, but doesn't really see how they interact with those fragments that torments them.

For example:

Scarlett's issues is rooted in her mother's dysfunctional relationship. I get how that can make any girl wary of guys, but at the same time, Scarlett seemed to change her mind often about whether she was wary or frisky. It might have helped to see her interact with either her sister or mom--or even her nephew/niece--but no such luck.

Likewise, Tucker has his own issues. I liked how the book was set-up in a way that kept the reader guessing what his deal was. However, when we finally found out about the many brothers and sister--and about Tucker's own regret--it seemed to be resolved so quickly, that the suspense almost seemed wasted on me. We didn't see him interact with any of his brothers, but was only briefly told what had happened as Scarlett was briefed on the status.

Despite all that, it was an entertaining read. I loved Scarlett's relationship with her roommate, and how protective they were of each other. The scenes between Tucker and Scarlett was sweet, especially when he ran with her.

A good read if you're up for some sweet romance, and some quirky lines. Would recommend to people who enjoy college-reads.



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Review of "College Collage" by Scott Haworth

College Collage by Scott Haworth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Do you feel like you are missing out because you're not in College? Don't worry, this book can give you an almost play-by-play of the experience.

I can't decide whether this book is pure genius, or if it's a bad attempt at a new adult read. I honestly can't. Never in my life have I been more annoyed at a book's character's as I was while reading this. No seriously, my friends had to tolerate my rage all through the day.

The following review may contain spoilers. Proceed only if you don' mind.

The story is told from Nick's POV. We follow him, from his first day of college and until graduation. Here we're introduced to his roommates, and the otherwise agony pleasure of his college days.

At first, he completely loathe his two roommates. One, Chris, is a christian guy, who seems to be Nick's favorite victim of passive aggressive behavior. But not to worry, the party-boy, Drew, also receives quite a spectacular amount of Nick's sarcasm.

Out of the three characters, the only one who seems like a straight-up guy is Chris.

Nick hates almost anything. And if he doesn't hate it, he strongly dislike everything else. Throughout the book, he's annoyed at pretty much anything. The college, his roommates, his classmates, his teachers, the teacher assistants, the parties, religion, non-religious people, the girl's he deem slutty and even the girl's he deems too uptight. He's annoyed at the two girlfriend's he ends up having, and he's even annoyed at himself on a few occasions.

Basically, Nick is a major pessimist.

Before the half-way point of the book, he meets a muslim girl, Adara, at a Halloween party, and somehow ends up hooking up with her on the same day. Adara is a sensible, adventurous girl who wants to experience american culture to the fullest. I'm not too sure how her character is a correct portrayal of Muslims, but I gathered it could happen--and probably has--that a muslim would experiment with another culture. On several occasions, she doesn't wear her scarf, and she has sex with Nick quite a few times, along with partying hard. Around halfway through the book, she is discovered by her brother, who pulls her back to Saudi-Arab, and she sends an email to Nick, explaining she had fun but that she won't be coming back to College.

(view spoiler)[Then Nick shows his first real feelings for her. At earlier points in the book he seemed to be with Adara only out of convenience--she wasn't as bad as the rest. I felt bad for him for at least a minute before he turns around and acts like a dick to Drew who helped him get home by postponing his own return to his family.

After that, the book shifts a bit, and Nick's own pessimism is pushed to the background. Now, instead we're introduced to a horn-dog version of Drew. He sleeps around, and nothing is sacred--not even Chris' girlfriend Candy. I got annoyed at that, because Drew had seemed like a straight-up friend, despite using the word "slutty" to describe any girl he meets.

All while Nick finally gets a new girlfriend, Amanda, who he doesn't like at all. In fact, the only reason he's with her is because she says she's been raped. We later find out she's been lying about this.

The Climax of the book seems to be after Drew chooses to sleep with Candy. In response to figuring that out, Chris shoots himself and moves out of the apartment. After hearing that Chris survives, we suddenly shifts a year into the future. (hide spoiler)]

The book is riddled with Nick's opinions, and while I agree with many of them, it often seemed like a tool to shove opinions down my throat. Also, as we follow Nick around to his classes, I personally think there are way too many filler scenes where we hear Nick being annoyed at his school life. Complete with direct dialogue from a class that has no importance to the actual plot of the book.

I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if it wasn't so... bleh. A lot of the things I cared for was skipped. Like the tender moments that made Nick and Chris friend's for life.

With that said, I adored Chris, though. His character was definitely the person I saw develop most in the book, and he made me crack up the most. Chris was the entire reason I finished the book, and he bumped this book up from a one-star.

Chris was awesome. More Chris, please!

I don't know if I would recommend this book to anyone I know. If you have nothing to read, I suppose you wouldn't be completely off with this book, but I wouldn't recommend it over so many others.

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Review of "Animus" by Ophelia Bell

Animus (Dragon Erotica): Sleeping Dragons #1 by Ophelia Bell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tired of normal sex between humans? Jump a statue to wake a very old horny dragon.

Animus is... special. I think I liked it, hence the three stars. But I'm not actually sure--my mind still a bit mushy after trying to picture what I read (It's a gift--and sometimes a curse.)

Anyway, Animus is about this crew of treasure hunters deep in a jungle. This particular crew fits well together, both mentally and apparently also physically.

They find a crypt on an expedition, surprised to see dragon people etched on the drawings on the wall along with statues of naked dragons with genitalia.

After the initial look, they all go to bed only to find that they're all incredibly horny--and that's where the fun starts. Especially since no one can get a release. (Meanie Dragons!)

The plot thickens and hints at a somewhat interesting twist in the sequels.

I don't know who I'd recommend it to, but it was entertaining enough. Give it a shot if you're generally into erotica, it might surprise you :)

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Review of "Stardust" by Mimi Strong

Stardust by Mimi Strong
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Food-girl meets Wannabe-Vamp-Guy.

NOTE: If you're low on naughty-bits synonyms, this book offers you classics like "taco shop", "hotdog stand", "cucumber" and "peaches".

Stardust is an light-read with a few good lines, some amazing side-characters, and a seemingly good plot. It continues in the sequel, ending on a cliffhanger.

We meet Peaches Monroe, a sassy, smart-but-boring, plus-sized girl. In an attempt to cover up an air vent leading to a bakery, she stands on a stool when super-famous Actor Dalton--who plays a vampire on TV--stumbles into a bookstore, knocking her down so she literally falls into his arms.

After that, the glorious Dalton invites himself to accompany Peaches to her cousin's wedding.

Over the course of the next 200+ pages, we find out that Dalton Deangelo is perfect . He has a perfect body, perfect face, perfect hands, his ears are perfect, his lips, perfect, his touch is perfect. Everything is perfect.

All while Peaches is boring, sassy, low on self-esteem--but confident--she is book-smart, but boy-dumb. And apparently her exposure to super-star Dalton Deangelo makes her hooha tingle with excitement for any action.

And so forth, every single character trait she has, she has the exact opposite whenever she needs it.

Example: She is book-smart, often telling how high grades, and how many books she's read. Now, I'm no librarian myself, but whenever I read books, I often find myself comparing them to my real life. If she's so book-smart, then even though she's boy-dumb, she should be able to recognize a cheesy line when delivered. Of course, that's just me.

Another example is her low confidence. She's obviously gorgeous--or in any case do-able--seeming how every guy wants a piece of her. And she knows this, flirts back and show off her assets, but two pages later she's in her closet, crying because she can't fit her jeans, and she's so fat, ugly and disgusting, for then to change back to frisky, sexy Peaches who don't mind sexing it up at all.

Also, Peaches really loves food. And not just in a food-critic fashion, but in a let-me-compare-everything-especially-genitalia-with-fast-food-names way. I mean, I get it, she's on a diet--it sucks.

Mimi Strong has an engaging voice, and the book is for the most part okay. There a few cutesy moments and hilarious lines. But it's rarely the times that are intended to be fun(the fun names for sex, the side notes, the excuses in parenthesis or the forced flirtation)

My most favorite part of the book was the character Adrian Storm. Somehow, as annoyed as I was for Peaches flirting with him, gushing over how hot he was(especially since she was with Dalton) then I didn't really mind--they were that natural.

Peaches friendship with her roommate is good too--except when Peaches again can't decide her character traits and acts either melodramatic, or bitchy.

I really can't stress the fact how confused Peaches made me. I wanted to like her so badly, but then she ends up turning me completely off from her character with just a sentence.

Dalton... He has potential, but I just thought his behavior was too rehearsed, cheesy or erratic. Half of the time he annoyed me more than else.

All in all. An Okay book. I wouldn't say it blew my mind. It had some entertaining moments, but didn't make me roll around laughing. I've read better, but also far worse books. Not bad for a weekend read if nothing else is pulling at you.

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