Ready or Not by Meg Cabot

Back/Inside Cover:
Top ten things Samantha Madison isn't ready for:
10. Spending Thanksgiving at Camp David
9. With her boyfriend, the president's son
8. Who appears to want to take their relationship to the Next Level
7. Which Sam inadvertently and shockingly announces live on MTV
6. While appearing to support the president's dubious policies on families, morals, and yes, sex
5. Juggling her new after-school job at Potomac Video
4. Even though she already has a job as teen ambassador to the UN (that she doesn't get paid for)
3. Riding the Metro and getting accosted because she's "the redheaded girl who saved the president's life," in spite of her new, semipermanent Midnight Ebony tresses
2. Experiencing total role reversal with her popular sister Lucy, who for once can't get the guy she wants
and the number-one thing Sam isn't ready for?
1. Finding out the hard way that in art class, "life drawing" means "naked people."

My Thoughts:
I loved this book! It had everything from those “Omg! That is totally my life right now!” moments to the moments when I just wanted to reach into the book, grab the character by the colar, and tell them to either work it out or move on already! The way in which Cabot wrote this is totally relatable, even if you haven’t saved the president’s life or dated his son. It’s funny, somewhat realistic, sad, basically? Amazing.

Reccommendations for...:
This would make sense to kids as young as 5th grade, but honestly? In order to relate better I'd say like 7th grade and up. That's just because the characters are all highschool and up. I mean, the youngest character is a sophomore (10th grade), so highschoolers can relate better. But hey, who am I to put an age limit on books?! Either way, enjoy :)

Price, genre, publisher, info.:
US $7.99
CAN ??
HarperCollins Publishers

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Back/Inside Cover:
"This powerful first novel...tells a story of fierce cruelty and fierce yet redeeming love. Both transform the life of Amir, Khaled Hosseini's privileged young narrator, who comes o fage during the last peaceful days of the monarchy, just before his country's revolution and its invasion by Russian forces. But political events, even as dramatic as the ones that are presented in The Kite Runner, are only a part of this story. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini gives us a vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence-forces that continue to threaten them even today." --The New York Times Book Review

"A Powerful book...no frills, no nonsense, just hard, spare prose...an intimate account of family and friendship, betrayal and salvation that requires no atlas or translation to engage and enlighten us. Parts of The Kite Runner are raw and excruciating to read, yet the book in its entirety is lovingly written." --The Washington Post Book World

My Thoughts:
This was a great school book and would have been a good book to read outside of class too. This is one of the very very rare books I've come across that even though we disected it a lot I never grew tired of the story. This is a great book that never got old for me.

Reccommendations for...:
High schoolers looking for a good, modern book to read. It really opens your eyes to what is going on over in Afghanistan.

Price, genre, publisher, info:
US $14
CAN ???
Fiction
Penguin Group
http://www.riverheadbooks.com/
http://www.penguin.com/

Royally Jacked by Niki Burnham

Back/Inside Cover:

Valerie's life is pretty good. While she's not the most popular girl in school, she does have decent grades, great friends, and a potential boyfriend. All a girl could want.

Then her mother announces that (1) she's gay, and (2) she's leaving Valerie's dad for her girlfriend. Just when Valerie is getting over this bombshell, her father tells her he's gotten a new job working for the royal family of some obscure European country.

Valerie's would has come unglued. She can either stay in Virginia with her mom and her über-organized, veggie-burger-eating girlfriend, or go with her dad, leaving everything she knows for some place she's never heard of. Valerie opts to go, and quickly discovers that it was a mistake-until she meets the prince, and all bets are off!

My Thoughts:

This was a very good book. Not one of my favorite books from the cartoon series, but still a good read. It was a lot quicker than I had anticipated it to be, but that doesn't mean it wasn't good. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't even more about the prince and the relationship there, but whatever, I will continue to insist that it was good. So yeah. Good read.

Recommendations for...:

Teen girls. Preferably 15 or 16 to relate to the characters, but other high school ages work. No boys on this one, it's pretty girly in a couple places!

Price, genre, publisher, info.:

US $5.99

CAN $8.99

Romantic Comedy

Simon Pulse

http://www.simonsays.com/

South Beach Sizzle by Suzanne Weyn and Diana Gonzalez

Back/Inside Cover:
Road trip! Lula Cruz has her last summer before college all mapped out. She's checking out of NYC and checking in to the sizzling hot "SoBe" scene with her best friend, Jeff.
When their day jobs get to be a drag, they spice things up by entering a local band contest. And spicy it is! Turns out that the hottie Lula keeps running into is also her band's toughest competition! Enrique might seem like the perfect guy, but as things heat up Lula has to wonder: Can she trust her biggest rival with her heart?

My Thoughts:
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There really wasn't ever a dull moment. The authors did such a good job as to making me feel connected to the character that I cringed whenever she would. I really got in to this book and was able to connect to the character on a deeper level than just reading about her and her best friend. This is a great book that I and probably going to end up giving to a friend as a gift sometime soon!

Recommendations for...:
This is for teen girls. I tend to read only teen girl books as I am a teen girl myself - so get used to it! Ha ha. This might be for girls just out of high school and going in to college, but it was a super simple read for me, and let me just say I'm still in high school. Anyway, this is an amazing book and good for a boring day during the summer when all your friends are off doing something and you're too lazy to do anything yourself.

Price, genre, publisher, info:
US $5.99
CAN $8.50
Romantic comedy
Simon Pulse
http://www.simonsaysteen.com/