btwnprintedpgs's Reviews (1.3k)

Cursed Kirsten is what everyone calls her. Why? Because she always seems to get herself injured and into problems. When she goes to her sister’s house to help her, she knows that the month will be a stressful one. Not only is Gretchen, her sister, a little crazy, but she always looks down on Kirsten as if she were still five-years-old. Then there’s also the fact that she needs to find a guy to invite to go with her to the weekend getaway her friends and her had planned. Three problems. 1. Her ex-boyfriend’s going to be there, if that’s not pressure, then what is? 2. She seems to be stuck between a lovely set of brothers. One hates her guts, while the other is too blase to care. 3. Which of the two make a better date to a weekend getaway?

This book was very well written, and definitely had its storyline twists. It’s filled with romance, teenage indecision, and the one thing I can relate to the most: Accident Proneness. This was definitely an excellent novel, though not necessarily a summer read. More of a new years read.

-review by Between Printed Pages

Katarina Bishop’s life has never been normal. She has traveled the world, but not out of leisure. She has gone to many museums, but not to admire the art. Her family’s business was not normal: it was theft. The life of a thief wasn’t glamorous, it wasn’t safe, but it was always interesting. However, Kat decided to leave the life of crime for a normal life, or as normal as any stolen life could be.
When her old friend Hale busts her out of school and tells her her family and friends’ lives were in jeopardy, she hopped onto the next flight back to the world of crime. She finds that a dangerous man had been robbed of five lost historic paintings, and her father wasn’t just on the suspect list. He was the list. To clear his name, she must get back the paintings from a thief greater than her father, and more daring and crazy at that. Meeting new people, trusting old friends, Katarina must pull of the greatest heist in her family, and maybe the world’s, history-hoping to steal her life back along the way.

This story is crazy with adventure, taking you all around Europe, where danger lurks at every corner, and challenges await. And, as in every other book I’ve read, it hints at love, but is it with Hale or someone with a little more mystery to their suit?
This book was epically addicting, and you could never tell which way they would turn, or which challenge or enemy was going to strike.

-review by Between Printed Pages

Allison Van Diepen used the concept of Jiang Shi, Chinese for ‘stiff corpse’, in her story as the cover people made for immortals. It was very interesting, because well, I didn’t know what Jiang Shi were, and I’m Chinese. Anyways. This book was really good, and well written. There were a lot of parts in the book about dancing and the battles they had between dance groups. I could totally see this being a cool movie, kind of like Step Up but with a twist~

The story line was really well written, with smooth transitions between various parts. I really enjoyed this book.

-review by Between Printed Pages

When I saw this book, the cover caught my eye. Well, mostly because it was my favourite colour (blue) but that counts, right? I picked it up and read the back and the reviews said that Sarah Dessen fans would love it. Man, were they right. It was an amazing novel, probably even better than most of Sarah Dessen’s. Sorry to say, but it’s true. It was well written, and I cried like four times… It’s a great book that brings up a lot of emotions and talks about the world of girls, and how it feels to lose to ones you love. Yes, there is death, but there’s also love, challenge, adventure, and humor. I definitely recommend this book for any girl out there.

A great read, it was truly amazing (in my humble opinion). Can’t wait to read more novels by her~!

-review by Between Printed Pages

This story about Auden was another great book by Sarah Dessen. Again, she had the predictable storyline, but was able to pull it off as usual. As all her stories are, Auden experiences some problems, in this story, it’s with her parents. Her father and mother is divorced, but her father and her mother are still causing her problems. Heidi, her new stepmother, just had a baby, but the dad doesn’t really care. He just ignores all the baby problems and works on his books. Auden, however, is there to see her father’s carelessness, and helps Heidi. As she does, she meets three (I believe there were three) girls who work for Heidi and teach her about being a regular, teenage girl. It’s kind of crazy, a little bit different. And what about the guy?

Eli and Auden meet one day, of course. They find that they are both insomniacs who suffer from their own various problems. They start hanging out together, and help each other heal and make up for what they lost and missed out on.

It’s a charming and very well written book by Sarah Dessen, who once again successfully made this regular storyline, amazing and intriguing.

-review by Between Printed Pages

This book was interesting, I’ll give it that. The concept was good, but the overall book lacked a real hook. The beginning gave little to no history to some of the characters. It was also connected oddly, but enough to keep the story running. The real interesting part started near the end of the book when the action began, but before that, little caught my attention. There were also some confusing parts to the story.

I’m not going to put down the book like it was puke-worthy, or so boring you fall asleep, but it definitely is not on my greatest reads list.

-review by Between Printed Pages

This book is about a girl named Nora Grey. Her life is okay. She’s not dead, but she not totally upbeat and happy. Her father was murdered while shopping, and her mother now works 24/7 in order to pay for taxes. She spends most of her time at home with her housekeeper, Dorothea, chatting and doing homework, or out hanging with her friend Vee. But when the new transfer, Patch, waltzes into her life, everything changes, and maybe not for the best. Within the week strange things begin to happen, and it is not her crazy suspicions about Patch’s past or motives, or the way her heart beats faster when he’s around, it is the violent, crazy, attacks. But is it reall happening? Or is it just a part of her imagination? As Nora’s world begins to spin on a totally different axis, she finds herself part of Patch’s fate, and him part of hers.

This book was filled with action, mystery, romance, danger, and deception. I found that everything is tied well together at the end, every event falling into place just right.

-review by Between Printed Pages

Another one of my favourites. Girl At Sea is one of many books by Maureen Johnson, a very talented author. I’m sorry that yes, all of my reviews have been for female authors, but there are just so many good ones, and I’m kind of biased…

So Girl At Seas is about Clio who lives with her mother in Philly. Her father had left them years ago. He was a spontaneous man. Clio had just secured a job at an art store with her long time crush Ollie. When she gets back, however, she finds out she’ll be spending the rest of the summer with her dad in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. When she gets there, she meets Julia, her father’s new assistant, and girlfriend, Elsa, Julia’s beautiful Swedish daughter, and Aidan, Julia’s very good looking and intellectual assistant. Joining them is her dad’s old friend Martin. As they set out on their trip, all three, Aidan, Elsa, and Clio, are left out of what they are really doing on this ship. Time goes by, romance blossoms, and secrets are revealed to all.

Girl at Sea is a book of adventure, romance, and humor. I love her books, because there’s always something that’s going to jump out at you from around the corner. 13 Little Blue Envelopes is another very good book by her. Also, in Girl at Sea, I loved the way she was able to make Aiden, a very smart, good looking guy, smart, funny and arrogant all at once. That, I find, is very difficult. Her books are realistic as well. The way the characters are set make them seem real. There’s no cookie-cutter ‘let’s please everyone and make the characters perfect’ kind of thing going on. Instead, each character has a story.

-review by Between Printed Pages

I've been a big fan of Sarah Dessen since my friend convinced me to read This Lullaby back in ninth grade (and it remains as my favourite novel by Sarah Dessen). There's always something real about the characters that's hard to find in other books. The Moon and More was no different~! Although the first 50 (?) pages were a little slow, in my opinion, I REALLY enjoyed this book ! Especially the way it all wraps up, leaving the characters with a world of potential and open doors (:

Emaline is spending her summer working at her family's house rental company, whilst having a lot some guy problems, and worrying about college and moving away from home for the first time. This was me last summer (minus the job... and the guy problems (anyone out there want to hire me ?)), and I really related to Emaline's constant worry-and-avoid mind set. I also loved Emaline's friends, my favourite being Morris, because of his epic slowness, as well as his character development throughout the novel. I love that her characters have such mundane, real world problems - like parental divorce, awkward relations with ex-boyfriends, or not so there fathers - as well as simple everyday joys - like taking your little brother out to play mini golf, or have fun at an arcade, and even just having a heart to heart with your best friends. Sarah Dessen's characters really pop out of the page to me, and I love how she builds up their world and their lives.
On another note, can I just mention how much I didn't like Theo (and Margo .. ish, ended up loving her by the end though). ERGH. Too bad, outside of fiction, annoying people exist too... If anything, I think Theo was what I like least about the book. Unfortunately, he's present for much of it. Fortunately, I love the way the story ended, in terms of his character.

Something else I absolutely LOVE about Sarah Dessen's books, is the fact that she connects them with her other novels. In this one, we get to see Auden and Heidi again, from Along for the Ride~ Wes and Bert, from The Truth About Forever, are also mentioned, as well as their game of Gotcha! which I was really excited about (like I literally hopped around and squealed excitedly at the fact that THEY STILL EXIST!). In reading all of her other books, you really see how everything's connected. Less philosophically, it makes you feel in the know, haha~

Overall, I really enjoyed this book~ A great summer read (:

Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 3.83/5

-review by Between Printed Pages

There is an International giveaway for an ebook copy of this book, All In by Marta Brown. Ends June 28, 2013. Enter here:
http://betweenprintedpages.wordpress.com/2013/06/14/all-in-book-blitz/

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Lane is a local trying to make enough money to go to university, while Ashley’s a senator’s daughter, her family staying in Martha’s Vineyard for the summer. As much as he hates her world, where everything is handed to you on a golden platter and the guys can be as douchey as they want, Lane finds himself falling for Ashley, and her for him. But when said douche comes barreling between them, Lane and Ashley begin to see the cracks in their perfect summer fling.

Even though he wasn’t exactly a main character, I fell in love with Andrew, Ashley’s brother. He’s the perfect brother and friend, and I LOVE that he doesn’t put up with people’s shit (for the most part). Also, I oddly appreciated Gregory, mainly ’cause of his unshakable persistence, and the fact that he wasn’t overwhelmingly irritating (again, for the most part).

Lane and Ashley were perfect. They pretty much represent the epic relationship you want to keep and hold on to forever. I loved what they did to try to help each other and the fact that they fought so hard for each other~ One thing I would’ve liked to see, with regards to their relationship, was a longer falling in love process, because honestly, it seemed pretty instantaneous to me, and me and insta-love just don’t agree. I’m not saying it’s unrealistic, ’cause, hey, people have said it happens, but I would’ve liked to have gotten more get-to-know-you and more depth to the characters than simply what we got.

Overall, All In proved to be a great, light, and fun summer read~

Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing: 4.5/5
Overall: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 4.00/5

-review by Between Printed Pages