Running with Scissors: A Memoir

So, I just finished reading "Running with Scissors" a memoir by Augusten Burroughs. It tells the story of Burroughs' life from rougly age 13 to 16. "Running with Scissors" is the result of daily journals kept by Burroughs when he was a teenager living in Massachusetts. After his parents divorce, his mother begins treatment with an unconventional psychiatrist, Dr. Finch. Augusten is forced to spend more and more time with Dr. Finch and his unusual family as his mother grows increasingly unstable. Eventually, his mother decides she is unfit to raise Augusten and leaves him in the care of Dr. Finch and his family. He's split between two households where each scene becomes more and more bizarre. Although the subject matter of the book is fairly disturbing, I found it to be a funny read about topics often considered taboo. I literally could not put this book down, wanting with upmost anticipation what was waiting in the pages to come... Highly recommended!

Forever by Judy Blume

Forever by Judy Blume is a good read for anyone from teenagers to adults. It is a realistic look on teenage love and views on sex. The book, talking a lot about sex, is often challenged. It has even been banned from most libraries, and I can see why some parents wouldn't want their children reading Forever. However Blume brings in knowledge of safe sex practices and the consequences it [sex] brings along with it.

In the first chapter, Katherine meets a young boy, Michael, at a  New Year's Eve party. They go on a date the next day, become completely involved with each other, and as they continue to go out on dates he pressures Katherine more and more about sex. Everything seems to be just great, but when they are separated over the summer, Katherine learns that forever might not just be forever. She meets an older and more mature guy while working at the camp. 

Blume truly does tell a story of first love in Forever. It is a great book for teenage girls. However, younger girls should wait off awhile until they are more mature on the subject of the book. A lot of younger girls have been 'grossed out' by this books graphic details. Mind you, that it is in no way pornographic. The honesty of how teenagers deal with changes and growing up is one of the great aspects of this book. 

This book is  a reminder that love is not always forever, and it doesn't have to be. Forever gives anyone who reads it an outlook on sex and love. I didn't think that this book was too explicit for anyone that is mature enough to read it. This book doesn't end with a perfect ending; just like life doesn't always. If you are looking for a story about love and truth, then this is a great book for you to read.

Coming Out Soon..

From stephaniekuehnert.com

"Stephanie's first novel I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE will be published by MTV Books in July 2008! 

I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE is: 

A raw, edgy, emotional novel about growing up punk and living to tell. 

The Clash. Social Distortion. Dead Kennedys. Patti Smith. The Ramones. Punk rock is in Emily Black's blood. Her mother, Louisa, hit the road to follow the incendiary music scene when Emily was four months old and never came back. 

Now Emily's all grown up with a punk band of her own, determined to find the tune that will bring her mother home. Because if Louisa really is following the music, shouldn't it lead her right back to Emily?"

GET A SNEAK PEEK OF THE FIRST CHAPTER BELOW!

Pretty Little Liars:Unbelievable 

From Amazon.com:

"Behind Rosewood's grand façades, where the air smells like apples and Chanel No. 5 and infinity pools sparkle in landscaped backyards, nothing is as it seems. It was here, back in seventh grade, that five best friends shared everything—Seven jeans, MAC makeup, and their deepest, darkest secrets. For Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily, it was a dream come true . . . until Alison, the most beautiful of them all, suddenly vanished.

Now someone named A has turned their charmed lives into a living nightmare. Emily has been shipped off to her hyper-conservative cousins in Iowa. Aria is stuck living with her dad and his home-wrecker girlfriend. And Spencer fears she had something to do with Alison's murder. But Hanna's fate is far worse than all of that—she's clinging to life in the hospital, because she knew too much.

With A's threats turning dangerous and Ali's killer still on the loose, the girls must uncover the truth—about A, about Ali, and about what happened to Hanna—before they become A's next victims. But as they unravel Rosewood's mysteries and secrets, will it bring an end to the horror . . . or is this just the beginning?"

May:Contests.

1. http://lindagerber.blogspot.com/2008/05/bikini-day-4-melissa-walker.htm ~ In honor of the release of Linda Gerber's Death By Bikini, Melissa Walker presents: The Top 5 Reasons I Love a Beach Read. Melissa Walker will be picking a commenter on the blog link above to win a signed copy of her first book, Violet on the Runway. All you have to do is post a comment telling her one reason you love a beach read. (Ends May 21st)
   
2. http://www.melissacwalker.com/blog/ ~ Each week Melissa Walker hosts Win-it Wednesday. Check back there weekly for her current prizes. (Ends each Wednesday)
   
3. http://claudiagray.livejournal.com/ ~ Claudia Gray is hosting, at the moment, at least five contests promoting Evernight.
   
4. http://us.penguingroup.com/static/html/youngreaders/plugin_sweeps.html ~10 winners get Audrey,Wait! by Robin Benway.  (ends 5/20/08, 11:59 p.m. EST) 10 winners get Lock and Key by Sara Dessen (ends May 27th) 10 winners get Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by Jody Gherman (ends 6/03/08, 11:59 p.m. EST) 10 winners get Peeled by Joan Bauer (ends 6/10/08, 11:59 p.m. EST)
5. http://www.teensreadtoo.com/Contests.html ~ Check here each month for new contests and how to enter each one. (ends at the end of each month or as posted)
   
6. http://thecompulsivereader.blogspot.com/2008/05/may-books-of-month.html
   1 winner gets: When it Happens and Take Me There by Susane Colassanti. (ends 5/28/08, midnight)
   
7. http://www.michaelspradlin.com/contest.php
   1winner gets: Spy Goddess: The Chase for the Chalice by Michael Spradlin. (ends 5/29/08)
   
8. http://www.jointheclique.com/contests.vm
   10 winners get: The Clique Summer Collection, Book #3 Alicia by Lisi Harrison. (ends 5/17/08, 11:59 p.m. EST)

I've Been Tagged by Book Brat.

Rules: 
1. Pick up the nearest book. 
2. Open to page 123. 
3. Find the fifth sentence. 
4. Post the next three sentences. 
5. Tag five people and post a comment to the person who tagged you once you've posted your three sentences.

1. The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall

2. Check.

3. Check.

4. Leaving me, to speak to the guards, he hadn't raised his voice, because he knew I would hear and thus hoped I would believe in what I heard; my own sentence of death. There are many and distinct types of courage and fear. A man who will climb the face of a cliff may funk grasping a snake; a man who will brave a raging sea may faint at the sight of blood.

5. Check!

Secrets of My Suburban Life by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Secrets of My Suburban Life, no doubt, is an exceptionally interesting book. The narrater, Lauren-or Ren, is learning to adjust to living with her newly widowed dad and moving to a new town, with new people and a new school. Ren's parents are both writers, however, her mother gets killed by Harry Potter. Not literally, but when a stack of Harry Potter books fall on her mother she dies.  As a result, her father decides to move out of New York and into a suburban town in Connecticut. 

At Ren's new school everyone is expected to participate in at least one sport. Ren meets Farrin, the popular girl, when she is forced to join the school cheerleading team. They are both in some of the same classes, and its during English that Ren learns the Farrin has been keeping a secret. She learns that Farrin has been talking to older men over the internet, and even says that she wants to meet one of these men who goes by FDA. Ren comes up with a plan to stop this pervert in his tracks and figures out how to impersonate Farrin over the internet while talking to FDA. The more Ren learns about FDA the more she thinks that she just might now who this man is; but she is in for a surprise when she really finds out who it is.

Author Lauren Baratz-Logsted does a great job keeping the suspense up throughout the entire book.  I would highly recommend this read to teenagers and adults alike. It's full of many surprises and an overall fun book to read, with a message that warns teenagers of the dangers of the internet.

April Book Releases.

001. Clique Summer Collection #1 Massie (Clique Series)

by Lisi Harrison.

Release

 date:April 1,2008

Editorial Review from www.amazon.com:

"Massie gets BE-yoo-tiful: After Massie Block gets kicke

d off her high horse and out of her ultra exclusive Westchester riding camp, her pa

rents force her to do the unthinkable-find a summer job. Not one for dog-walking or brat-sitting, M

assie comes up with the ah-bvious solution: She'll be a sales rep for the cosmetics brand Be Pretty. Massie fully

 hearts her new role as fairy gawdmother of makeup-until she discovers transforming LBRs into glam-girls takes more th

an a swish of her royal purple 

mascara wand. "

002. Creation In Death by J.D. 

Robb

Release Date:April 1,2008

Editorial Review from www.amazon.com:

From Publish

ers Weekly
"At 27 books and counting, Nora Roberts is more prolific under her Robb pseudonym t

han most authors manage in a single career. Yet the latest in her not-so-near-future detective series 

featuring New York Police Det. Eve Dallas offers a 

satisfyingly novel mélange of suspense, sex, forensics and heroics. It's 2060, and the serial ki

ller nicknamed The Groom is back in town after an absence of nine years, res

uming his horrific run of kidnapping, torturing and killing young women. Dallas, who served as a detective in the 

frustrating first investigation, assumes lead role in this one. This time, not only do the killer's chosen 

victims have ties to Dallas's husband, Roarke, but Dallas herself may be the killer's ultimate target. Swiftly p

aced, the story cuts frequently from the investigation to the killer's

 progress with his victims. Dallas works to outplan, outfight and outsmart the killer; to keep 

her handsome, rich husband happy; and to be ready for the next round after a good night's sleep. Rob

b's latest is bound to please Dallas fans." (Nov.) 
Copyright © Reed Bus

iness Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

002. Once Upon A Time In The North by Philip Pullman

Release date:April 8,2008

From the back cover:

"Another mesmerising episode from the universe of His Dark Materials including the very first meeting of those two legends and friends, Lee Scoresby, the Texan balloonist, and Iorek Byrnison, the armoured bear."