Book Review: Pretty Little Liars #1 by Sara Shepard

About The Book


Three years ago, Alison disappeared after a slumber party, not to be seen since. Her friends at the elite Pennsylvania school mourned her, but they also breathed secret sighs of relief. Each of them guarded a secret that only Alison had known. Now they have other dirty little secrets, secrets that could sink them in their gossip-hungry world. When each of them begins receiving anonymous emails and text messages, panic sets in. Are they being betrayed by someone in their circle? Worse yet: Is Alison back?


My Thoughts


I didn't used to be into this murder mystery/crime story genre, but after I watched a bit of the Pretty Little Liars show and found out that it was based on a series of novels, I just had to check out the books! I'm in love with the books as well as the show! The author does a great job with introducing each character and you can differentiate between the characters really well. They each have their own thing going on and they have their own distinct personalities. The only real thing they seem to have in common is that they were friends with Alison DiLaurentis. It's very suspenseful and I just had to keep turning the pages to see what havoc A would cause next. The characters are so life-like that I wonder what it would be like to be friends with these girls.... it would probably be terrifying if I started to receive weird texts from an anonymous person though. The story flows along smoothly and I can keep up with what's going on with all these characters. I will say that the show is a bit different from these books because some of the traits that are found in the books about Aria Montgomery, Hannah Marin, Spencer  Hastings, and Emily Fields are different in the show. I don't believe that this causes any problems with the story in either medium though. I'm sure anyone who enjoys the books will enjoy the TV show and vice versa.  I recommend this book to anyone who loves mystery/crime novels and to anyone who likes reading books about teenage girls.


Overall, I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars.


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Book Review: Shadowland (The Mediator #1) by Meg Cabot

About the Book:

Suze is a mediator which means that she can see and communicate with the dead. Some may think of it as a gift, but to her it's more like a curse. She doesn't like the fact that these dead people aggravate her  until she solves the problems that are keeping them from going on to the other side. When she moves to sunny California to find a ghost living in her bedroom and he doesn't seem to want her to solve his problems, she's a little stumped. She even finds herself being a tad bit attracted to him, but she hates to admit that.

Just when she thinks that she'll have it easier in California, she arrives at her new school. A different, much more violent ghost of a recently deceased teenage girl occupies the school and she is blood thirsty. Suze can't allow such an evil spirit occupy the school so she must figure out a way to get the ghost to leave for good and hopefully not become one of the dead she's become used to seeing.


My Thoughts:

This book was an enjoyable read. I really like the fact that Suze is a female character that can take care of herself. She doesn't have to rely on someone else to rescue her, but she can get herself into more trouble than she bargained for and may need a little help along the way. She's a very confident young woman in what she can do as a mediator. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that she is attracted to the (living) boy that is liked by most girls and he really seemed to be an air head. Sometimes, it makes sense for a character to like that kind of a person, but I didn't think it suited Suze to fall for a guy like him. It's also interesting that Suze can communicate with spirits but she still isn't so sure that God exists. Suze is really the only character that I feel like I got to know very well in this book. Jesse, the ghost who lives in Suze's bedroom, is probably a close second. I love the fact that this is a series of books, so I hope the other characters in the book will become more dynamic and seem more like actual people as the series goes on. I would recommend this book to fans of Meg Cabot and anyone who has an interest in the paranormal and people who can speak with ghosts.

Overal, I gave this book a 3 out of 5 stars.

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Book Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

What this book is about:

It's Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. The clever and beautiful wife, Amy goes missing on this same day. At first, everyone thinks someone broke in and kidnapped her, but then things take a nasty turn when the evidence starts to point toward Nick. Even though nick does seem to be a bit unemotional and detached from what's going on, does that automatically make him a killer? Everyone in town seems to think that he could have done this, but he swears that he's innocent.

Thoughts:

This was a very interesting read. At the beginning of the story, I didn't really much care for Nick or for Amy. They seemed like people who I definitely wouldn't get along with, but that didn't make me want to put this book down. I was sucked in from the beginning and then, boy there was the TWIST in the storyline and I was like an addict. I had to see what was going to happen next. How was this story going to end? I was up late at night reading just so I could get that much closer to seeing what would happen. I couldn't believe how crazy Amy was! She was a freaking psycho! I definitely couldn't see how anyone could stand her. But I guess, Nick and Amy were basically meant for each other. By the end of the book, I was almost literally exhausted from the crazy ride. I've never read anything quite like this book and I'd definitely want to read more from this author in the future. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested to know what the heck I'm babbling about and wants to see what all the fuss is over this crazy thriller of a book. 

Overall, I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars. 

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Book Review: Assured Destruction by Michael F. Stewart

This book is about a teenage girl named Janus Rose who is a hacker. She works at a shop that recycles and destroys computer hard drives. She has a secret though, she doesn't always destroy the hard drives that customers give her. She keeps them and creates social networking profiles for the hard drives by using the information she finds. The network she creates with these characters is called Shadownet As you can imagine, doing something like that can get a person in BIG trouble.

Things start to happen to the real people that these characters are based off of and Janus realizes the mistake she has made by creating Shadownet. Hopefully, she can make amends before something really terrible happens to someone.


I really enjoyed reading this book. Janus is a strong female character who is very tech savvy, which is a great respite from the usual female characters in many stories that I've read. I love that she's very intelligent and not exactly all boy crazy, but that's not to say that she doesn't have a interest in anyone though. There's a bit of suspense, some drama, and a little dash of teenage romance in the mix of this story.

I loved getting to know Janus and the other characters in this book. Janus really had a lot of depth and I could believe that she was an actual human being rather than some stereotype of a person. I'm sure there will be more in store for the rest of the characters along with Janus as this is a series.

I would recommend this book to any fans of computers, spy stories, and anyone who enjoys reading a story about a strong female character. This book is basically for anyone who enjoys a good story.

Overall, I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars!

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P.S. The next book in the series is called Script Kiddie and will be published in August of this year!