5 Witty Romantic Comedies

A New feature of the Book Slooth, 5 Books. 

5 Books will be selected around a central theme of the books. Reviews will be linked to each book...

Enjoy this week's: 5 Witty Romantic Comedies.

1.     Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison

       Join Georgia Nicolson, and the Fabbity-Fab Ace Gang as the chase boys, act in school plays,    boy-stalk and stop in the name of pants at the sight of Georgia's crush- the Sex God, Robbie.      But can Georgia win over Robbie when Wet Lindsay the hall monitor already has control?

        Find out in the escapades of Georgia Nicolson...

2.     Kisses for lula by Samantha Mackintosh

Lula Bird is about to turn 16, never been kissed, all because she's jinxed... (Well... Apparently)
 It's five days until Lula turns 16, and she is determined to be kissed. But trouble is brewing all around her.


The Possibility of a stalker, going on a dream date, a horrible crime that leaves the town angry and the fact that her dad is sneaking out of the house late at night, with a woman's handbag to meet a mystery woman named Freya doesn't help either.
With a list of candidates, can Lula lift the curse and stop the crime?

3.     Girls to total goddesses by Sue Limb 

Zoe and Chloe are back!
But this time, they have taken on a project... Turn themselves into goddesses in 7 Days* - * Weather Permitting.

4.     Dash & lily’s book of dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

When Dash finds a red notebook in the aisle of his favourite bookstore, he's curious. Opening the notebook, he finds a list of dares, along with a message:

“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.” 
As Dash takes up Lily's book of challenges, he finds himself  slowly learning about the Lily who left the book. Will Lily & Dash finally meet, or will they always wonder what each other are like?

      5.     The serious kiss by Mary Hogan
Libby Madrigal's life is falling into place. The guy she crushes on actually knows she exists, and she is getting closer to that long awaited Serious Kiss. 
But then, out of the blue, her parents tell her and her brothers to pack up their things, in two days, the whole family is moving to the middle of the desert. 
Libby is crushed, all hopes of a Serious Kiss go out the window, she doesn't even get to say goodbye to her friends. 
Can Libby deal with her embarrassing mother, alcoholic father and the sweltering heat of the dessert and still get her a Serious Kiss?

REVIEW: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

Claire Danvers has always been smart, genius smart. Which has  always made her an outsider.
When 16 year old Claire starts college,, the mean girls pounce. She expected that, but what she didn't expect is their deadly motives. The town of Morganville is ruled by vampires, old and deadly, they are out for fresh blood...

Supernaturally original, Glass Houses is a novel that takes on the vampire genre and makes it it's own.

The book is aimed at older high school teenagers, and I think it acheives that, It uses popular culture, situations that are relevant to people of the target age to relate to them, which makes it highly enjoyable and hard to put down.

Personally, once I started reading Glass Houses, I couldn't put it down, I read through the night just to find out what was coming in this toothsome novel filled with plot twists and turns.

The main character, Claire, is just an ordinary teenage girl, which makes a refreshing change from the super-powerful-destined-to-rule-the-world main character cliche. I loved the other characters, them all being like able; except of course, the ones who you weren't supposed to like. Those characters were just hideous.

Highly enjoyable and easy to read, Glass Houses is the first book in the Morganville Vampires series, recently re-published by Penguin.


Check out all the news on the series at the Penguin Blog, Between the Lines here...

Coming Attractions

Can you imagine my excitement??

I was extremely excited to come home to this stack of packages waiting for me by the door.
Thanks to the lovely people at Penguin and Random House, I have some books that will be reviewed soon! 

 The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Twelfth Grade Kills by Heather Brewer

WARNING !! SPOILER ALERT!! for Vlad Tod

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS.

Part vampire, Vlad, is running out of time. The Elysian Council has given him only weeks to live, and that's if the Slayer Society doesn't kill him - along with all the citizens of Bathory - first.  Then there's the issue of Vlad's father, who may or may not still be alive after all these years. And can Vlad recognise Snow as more than just a snack? Oh yeah, and that tiny little detail in the Pravus prophecy about Vlad enslaving Vampirekind and the human race.  So much for college applications.

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

They were taken from their beds one frozen night, when the world was covered in snow. The silhouette of a tall, thin man has haunted Kate ever since.

Ten years on, Kate, Michael and Emma have grown up in a string of miserable orphanages, and all memories of their parents have faded to a blur. Arriving at Cambridge Falls, where the rolling fog distorts their sense of time and the town is eerily silent, the children quickly realise there is something different about this place – and Kate feels sure she has seen the dark, crooked house before.

Exploring the house, they discover an old, empty leather book. The moment they touch it, an ancient magical prophecy is set irrevocably in motion, and the children are thrown into a dangerous alternate reality of dark enchantments, terrifying monsters, noble dwarves and entire cities buried beneath the earth. Only they can prevent the terrible event that will ruin Cambridge Falls – and stop the world from falling into complete devastation.

 The Valley of Blood and Gold by Tony Palmer


'I'm a daughter of my homeland.  We're Irish. It's all we need to know.'
'This isn't Ireland, Niamh.' Kilkenny Pat cut through her words. 'It's a new country.
Even the English aren't English here.'

It is 1854 and Ballarat is teeming with miners, dreamers and rebels. On the eve of the Eureka Stockade battle, Fintan Donovan is fighting private battles of his own. Torn between his Irish upbringing and his friendship with an English boy called Matthew Ward, Fintan must make a stand. Will he be dominated by the hatreds of the old world or will he find a new way to live in the new country?

Moonshadow by Simon Higgins

Attacked by the powerful Fuma clan, young Moonshadow and the agents of the Grey Light Order fight for their lives. In the heat of battle, one of their number disappears. Was the Grey Light Order agent abducted by the Fuma or did they leave willingly? Was there a double agent in their midst? Moonshadow and Groundspider are ordered to the Fuma's mountain fortress, said to be impregnable. Their mission: discover the truth, then act accordingly. Will their dangerous quest end in a rescue? Or will Moonshadow be forced to destroy a trusted friend?

The Road to Belgrandia  by Michael Stephens

Marcia says there are wondrous things in Belgrandia - houses like palaces and enormous chandeliers and flying cats and music like nothing you've ever heard. But is it a real place or is she just a bit crazy? Her best friend Lewis isn't sure, but over four extraordinary days in their quiet seaside town, the evidence begins to build. And on that last breathtaking night, their belief in Belgrandia becomes one of life or death.

The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate

Natalie is utterly determined to cement her position at the top of the high school social ladder by becoming prom queen. When it looks like an interfering ex-boyfriend might get in her way, she devises a little prank to humiliate him. But when the prank goes devastatingly wrong, Natalie starts to lose control of her life. Caught in a web of dark secrets, shame and abuse of power, it's not guilt that eventually defeats Natalie. It's fate: the only thing she can't control . . .

Haunted by Barbara Haworth-
Dee is feeding the chickens the morning that bones are discovered on the mountain. Something doesn’t feel right - and her feeling is confirmed when local police show her a ring that they found with the bones, a ring belonging to Mary Ann Simpson, who disappeared four years earlier. Other girls, Dee learns, have gone missing from this small town nestled in the shadow of the Bruce Peninsula’s rugged escarpment, the ‘mountain’ that Dee loves.

Like her grandmother, Dee has ‘the Sight’, an ability not only to see spirits from the afterlife but also to experience their earlier deaths - an experience that becomes more horrifying as events take darker turns. While trying to help with the investigation, Dee is drawn into a deepening mystery that soon strikes terrifyingly close to home.

Thyla by Kate Gordon


My name is Tessa. I am strong. I am brave. I do not cry. These are the only things I know for certain.

I was found in the bush, ragged as a wild thing. I have no memory - not even of how I got the long, striping slashes across my back. They make me frightened of what I might remember.

The policewoman, Connolly, found me a place in a boarding school and told me about her daughter, Cat, who went missing in the bush.

I think there is a connection between Cat, me, and the strange things going on at this school. If I can learn Cat's story, I might discover my own - and stop it happening again.

Tripple Ripple Book Launch

Last night, I went to the Tripple Ripple Book Launch at the Fremantle Childrens Literature Centre.


Anna from Cherry Banana Split and I met the author, Brigid Lowry and were very excited to purchase our copies of the Long-awaited book.

The Blurb & A Bit About Brigid:           from goodreads

Brigid Lowry's original fairytale with a modern twist will totally charm romantic girls from age 12 up. It's a clever story that combines a fairytale and a modern-girl's tale, and reveals the magic of the writer's creative journey.

The Writer begins with a sparkly good idea for a fabulous fairytale. A girl called Glory is sent to work in the Royal Palace, where the queen is planning a grand ball and a bad-tempered princess is sorting through jewels and tiaras. And, unknown to Glory, the threads of her destiny are coming together.
Nova is reading the fairytale. Fairytales are not usually her thing, but right now she's feeling a bit messy and lost. Her best friend has gone away and bitchy Dylan is hassling her. Still, Nova is curious to find out why Glory's mother is scrabbling under the bed for an old magic book.
Can the Writer make everything turn out happily ever after? Will the princess find true love? Will Glory escape a secret curse? And can Nova smooth out the lumps and bumps in her life?


Brigid Lowry was born in New Zealand and now lives in Australia. After the success of Guitar Highway Rose, she wrote Follow the Blue, and then she collaborated with her son, Sam Field, on the fantasy adventure Space Camp. Brigid's next novel, With Lots of Love from Georgia, won the YA section of the New Zealand Children's Post Book Awards. Her collection of stories and poetry, Tomorrow All Will Be Beautiful, won the Victorian Premier's Award for YA fiction and was shortlisted for the NZ Post Awards. Her inspiring guide for young writers, Juicy Writing, was a finalist in the NZ Post Awards.

REVIEW: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Debut novel of Author Stephanie Perkins, Anna and the French Kiss is a heartwarming novel about finding yourself, and finding love.

When Anna is uprooted from her last year in High school in Atlanta, Georgia and forced to attend boarding school in Paris, she is not happy.
But when she meets heartthrob Etienne St. Clair. the summer starts to look up, maybe with the prospect of romance in the mix...
I tremendously enjoyed this vibrant novel by author Stephanie Perkins.


The characters were true-to-life, all bringing a unique characteristic to the table that completed the overall mood of lightheartedness. The plot was well developed, each stage bringing you a step closer to the enjoyable outcome.

Pure escapism, this novel was light, fun and easy to read. It kept you interested with not a dull moment. I didn't find any characters that annoyed me and I think that Anna was a well drawn protagonist, with Etienne coming in as a great male lead.

I will definitely check out the companion novel where Anna and Etienne make an appearance, Lola and the Boy Next Door. 

I recommend this book for teenage girls aged 12- 17 - Great Fun!

Quote of the Week 2

Be enticed to read 7 souls by Barnabas Miller and Jordan Orlando, with this week's quote:

"Mary turned her head, squinting against the blinding sunlight. Her bed was inches from a window that ran all the way from wall to ceiling, wall to wall, its brightness interrupted by regular shadows that she suddenly realised were words -- huge, backward white letters imprinted across the glass like a movie title seen in a mirror: 

C R A T E  &  B A R R E L

She sat up in bed and her body went rigid."
 
What the book is about:

Mary expected her seventeenth birthday to be a blowout to remember, courtesy of her best friends, fellow New York City prepsters Amy and Joon, and her doting boyfriend, Trick.
            Instead, the day starts badly and gets worse. After waking up in a mortifying place with a massive, unexplainable hangover, Mary soon discovers that nobody at school is even aware that it's her birthday. As evening approaches, paranoia sets in. Mary just can't shake the feeling that someone is out to get her—and, as it turns out, she's right. Before the night is over, she's been killed in cold blood.
            But murder is just the beginning of Mary's ordeal. Her soul gets trapped in a strange limbo, and she must relive the day of her death through the eyes of seven people—each of whom, she finds, had plenty of reasons to hate her. As Mary explores the mysteries of her world, discovering secrets that were hidden in plain sight while she was alive, she clings desperately to the hope that she can solve her own murder, change the past, and—just maybe—save her own life.
            With its blend of suspense, horror, fantasy, and realism, 7 Souls is an adrenaline rush of a thriller.
Blurb from Goodreads

Look out for the review coming soon! 

Winner of I Am Number Four Giveaway- Gladys

Thank you to all those who entered the competition and/ or became followers.  

Best of Luck next time, 

Isme, 

The Book Slooth

I Am Number Four Giveaway NOW CLOSED

Thank you to all those people who entered the I am Number Four Giveaway.

But, unfortunately, it is NOW CLOSED.

The Winner will be announced on the 13th of March, Sunday AM.

Good Luck fellow readers, 

The book Slooth

Libraries, Libraries... and More Libraries Volume III

I love all these amazingly decadent libraries, they feel like they should belong in another time. They did once!

Have you been to any of these?

Biblioteca Geral University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal    found here

 

 

Strahov Theological Hall - Original Baroque Cabinet  found here

Duke of Humphrey’s Library, Bodleian, Oxford University, England   found here

 

 

Just Look at the roof!!!

Hereford Cathedral Chained Library, Hereford, England (Rare books were once kept chained to the bookshelf to prevent stealing.)  found here

Melk Monastery Library, Melk, Austria       found here

Aren't these libraries astonishing!!??

REVIEW: Mercy by Rebecca Lim

Intriguing and mysterious, Mercy is an original novel that will keep you up at night.



Ever- stirring soul Mercy wakes in a new body, she has forgotten her past, and has no clue about her present, and she must string together the clues about whose body she is inhabiting before people realise. Carmen, a petite, genteel teenage girl is her host; on exchange in a town called Paradise, Mercy discovers herself, who Carmen is and what she really is. But can Mercy help solve the town's mystery and save a lost girl before it's too late?
 


Mercy is just the kind of book I love. 
Lim intertwines the genres of mystery, romance and thriller together to make just the right balance for a novel that will keep you on your toes, believing that you are part of the story, an onlooker into the world of Mercy.



I also loved the way that Lim created a strong heroine to centre the novel around, she didn't get caught up in the moment and lose herself, she kept strong morals; she didn’t falter and fall when an obstacle or a distraction walked into her path, while discovering herself along the way.

I felt that the characters (including Mercy/Carmen) were likeable and truthful, the queen bee playing the part that she was born to do, there was the known roles, but they had a twist to them that was exciting to read about.

The plot line was unique, on many occasions taking unexpected turns that made the book even more enjoyable to read. Mercy stands out from all the other angel/ supernatural novels out there by using bewitching prose and combining multiple genres.

I would recommend this book for teenage girls aged 13 -16, it is highly enjoyable and would be great for a reluctant reader, it keeps you interested.

THE SERIES

1. Mercy
2. Exile (out soon)
3. Muse (out soon)

Quote of the Week 1

Quote of the week to entice you into reading a book, this week is from:

PROM & PREJUDICE BY 

ELIZABETH EULBERG

THE QUOTE
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single girl of high standing at Longbourn Academy must be in want of a prom date. 
While the same can probably be said of countless other schools across the country, prom at Longbourn isn't just a rite of passage -- it's considered by many (at least those who matter) to be the social even for future members of high society. 
Longbourn girls don't go to the mall to get their dresses. 
No, they boast couture form designers whose names adorn their speed dial."

From Prom & Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg.
 
THE BLURB

After winter break, the girls at the very prestigious Longbourn Academy become obsessed with the prom. Lizzie Bennet, who attends Longbourn on a scholarship, isn’t interested in designer dresses and expensive shoes, but her best friend, Jane, might be — especially now that Charles Bingley is back from a semester in London.
Lizzie is happy about her friend’s burgeoning romance but less than impressed by Charles’s friend, Will Darcy, who’s snobby and pretentious. Darcy doesn’t seem to like Lizzie either, but she assumes it’s because her family doesn’t have money. Clearly, Will Darcy is a pompous jerk — so why does Lizzie find herself drawn to him anyway?
Will Lizzie’s pride and Will’s prejudice keep them apart? Or are they a prom couple in the making? Whatever the result, Elizabeth Eulberg, author of The Lonely Hearts Club, has concocted a very funny, completely stylish delight for any season — prom or otherwise.
blurb from goodreads