The Year of Secrets Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty

Hello wonderful readers! Lydia here, and don't worry, I'm trying to get Amy to post, but she's got a TON of homework. So, because I'm not doing well on my coming-up-with-other-ideas-other-than-reviewing plan, i guess that I have another review...

The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty (back of book)

The Ashbury-Brookfield pen pal program is designed to bring together the two rival schools in a spirit of harmony and "the Joy of the Envelope." But when Cassie, Lydia, and Emily send their first letters to Matthew, Charlie, and Sebastian, things don't go quite as planned. What starts out as a simple letter exchange soon leads to secret missions, false alarms, lock picking, mistaken identities, and an all-out war between the schools--not to mention some really excellent kissing.

Ok, the main reason that I picked up this book was because there is a main charachter names Lydia. You don't see many Lydia's, so it made me excited. You get excited when your name is in a book. Or at least I do, because there are only a few books I have ever found that have my name in it.

I read The Year of Secret Assignments at camp, and absolutly loved it. It was really cute, and the charachter Lydia is extremely similar to me! Like, at the beginning, she was testing to see how smoke decetors worked, and that is TOTALLY something I would do!

Lydia, Cassie, Emily, Matthew, Charlie and Sebastian (Seb) are some of the funniest and wittiest charachters I've ever read about. I loved how at the beginning of the pen pal program, Lydia and Seb were testing to see if their teachers actually read their letters. They decided to pretend like they were selling pot (or some other drug), and it made me laugh out loud (legitly) during "rest hour" at camp.
Overall The Year of Secret Assignments was one of the funniest books I've ever read. If you've never read this book, you must go to the store, or library, or wherever and get our hands on a copy of this book NOW!

so there is my review for Friday/Saturday. I will be back on Sunday (HALLOWEEN!!!!! I LOVE HALLOWEEN SOOO MUCH!!) for my IMM.
rock on! ~lydia~

No IMM This Week....

Secrets of My Hollywood Life: Broadway Lights by Jen Calonita

Hollywood teen queen Kaitlin Burke packs up her entourage (showbiz family, friends, assistant, and publicist, but unfortionatly not the dreamy boyfriend) and moves to the Big Apple for the summer for her Broadway debut. Kaitlin is the toast of the town and she hits the most exclusive New York nightspots, enjoys the best food (Hello, Magnolia Bakery!), and even guests as a celebrity host on Saturday Night Live!
But the acity that never sleeps isn't all cupcakes and virgin daiquiris. Long distance and a handsome new costar puts a strain on Kaitlin's relationship with Austin, and it turns out Broadway os a whole different breed of neurosis and compteion from Hollywood starlets.

I really like this series, and I'm glad that Jen wrote it where she went to New York, and that Liz could come with her. The storyline of this one, was better than the one before. One thing that I liked about this, was how it was LONG. I'm into long books right now, and I guess that just something weird about me.....
Ok, i think it's obvious I'm in a reviewing slump right now, and you can tell by the really suckiness of my review....Please forgive. I haven't done a good review in a while....

toodles!
~lydia~

Teen Inc. by Stefan Petrucha

I (Lydia) actually read this book a while ago, and it was ok, so I'm going to review it. Also, Amy has a lot of books to review (end quote), so if there are two posts today, so be it. That's just how awesome we are.

Teen, Inc. by Stefan Petrucha (inside flap of the book)

Jaiden Beale has it all: a killer plasma TV, top-of-the-line computer, a ton of video games and his own bathroom. He has it all, that is, except a family. Instead he has NECorp.
When Jaiden's parent's were killed by faulty equipment manufactured by NECorp, the company decided to adopt baby Jaiden as its own. Now, fourteen years later, a team of executives decides what school he goes to, who is friends are, and even who he is allowed to date. Jaiden just wante to live a "normal" life, but nobody gets to choose his parents....right?
When he uncovers some damaging fnformation about the company, Jaiden's loyalty to NECorp is tested. Can he betray the only family he's ever known in order to do what he feels is right?

When I started out reading this book, it was blah. Then as I got more and more into it, I could not read large chunks of it at one time. Overall, when I was reading it, it wasn't my favorite. But when I was done, and thinkng about what had happened...my view on the book changed a little. The charachters were created well in their scenes, but when Jaiden is on his study date withe the girl (abby? I don't remember...), they didn't seem to mix well...But most ofeverything else worked. I liked how the team Jaiden had all these meetings, and everything.....so funny!

Well, that's all for now! I'm going to go find a cookie!
toodles!
~lydia~

Another Review...

It's Lydia, and I have another review. As I said in my last post, I know that reviews are boring somethies, so I'm looking for ideas of things to post about OTHER than reviews! Thanks!

The Good Girl by Kerry Cohen Hoffmann (summary from inside flap of the book)
Ever since her brother Mark's accidental death, fifteen-year-old Lindsey has been the good girl--good daughterm good friend, good student. She puts everyone's needs before her own. Secretly though, she's frustrated by her family's silence about Mark; she wishes she had the never to tell off on of her so-called best friends, a queen bee who wants the new boy at school all to herself; and she longs to ditch obligations that prevent her from starring in the school musical. But instead of speaking her mind, Lindsey does somethine else. She starts to steal-and immediately wonders how good she really is.
The pressure to be what others expect fuels Lindsey's impulse to take things. Each time the risk becomes greater, and each time she thinks she'll be caught. Wants to be caught. And then, finally she is...

I've never read a book about a theif before, so I though t it would be a cool change of pace. And it was. At the beginning of the book, When Lindsay first steals, and he sister gets blamed for it, I thought that was going to contune for the whole book, and I'm glad that it didn't. If it did, I probably wouldn't have finished it. I also liked when she asked her principal about switching lockers, and what her excuse was. Then the chain of events that lead to the ultimate downfall at the end of the book.
The charachters didn't seem to mesh well with each other, some relationships to believable or unbelieveable to be real. And the cover didn't make much sense in relationship to the book. Overall, it was good, with a good plot, but some of the senerios didn't seem to make much sense..

toodles
~lydia~

The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart

It's Lydia, and I'm very happy right now, for 2 reasons, 1. I have another review! Yay!! And 2. We don't have school on Friday! I don't know or care why, but we're out and that is a GOOD thing! But I get my retainer tomorrow. So that puts a damper on this otherwise happy day! ok, on to the review!

The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart (Ruby Oliver, #1) summerization from back of the book.
Fifteen-year-old Ruby Oliver has had a rough ten days. In the past ten days she:

• lost her boyfriend (#13 on the list)
• lost her best friend (Kim)
• lost all her other friends (Nora, Cricket)
• did something suspicious with a boy (#10)
• did something advanced with a boy (#15)
• had an argument with a boy (#14)
• had a panic attack (scary)
• lost a lacrosse game (she's the goalie)
• failed a math test (she'll make it up)
• hurt Meghan's feelings (even though they aren't really friends)
• became a social outcast (no one to sit with at lunch)
• had graffiti written about her in the girls' bathroom (who knows what was in the boys'!?!)

But don'y worry-Ruby lives to tell the tale. And make more lists.

AH! This was THE cutest book!! I love Ruby Oliver! She's so funny, and extremely easy to relate to! I actually started The Boyfriend List a few weeks ago, and stopped (for some weird reason). Then today at school I had two tests, so I found it in my locker and brought it with me to class. I just finished reading it, and LOVED it! I love how Ruby put the footnotes at the end of each page to enlighten on her stories, and how the charachters related, even when they didn't get along. The senarios seemed so real that I lost myself in them. There were parts that I laughed, parts where I wanted to kill a charachter, and throughout the entire book, I was thinking to myself, "I know what that feels like! I'm there right now, or I've been there!" I can relate to Ruby so much and overall LOVED Ruby Oliver #1!

I just reread that, and think that it was a great review! I know that in my last post, I said that I was reading Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist but I left it at home today, so I finished this instead. Because I just finished The Boyfriend List I don't have anything to say that I'm currently reading!
toodles!
~lydia~
ps-toodles??? oh well, i'm weird..