Harriet Manners knows a lot of things.
She
knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a "jiffy" lasts 1/100th of
a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. What she
isn't quite so sure about is why nobody at school seems to like her very
much. So when she's spotted by a top model agent, Harriet grabs the
chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her Best Friend's
dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly
humiliating herself in front of the impossibly handsome supermodel Nick.
Even if it means lying to the people she loves.
As Harriet
veers from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly
enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, she begins to
realise that the world of fashion doesn't seem to like her any more than
the real world did.
And as her old life starts to fall apart,
the question is: will Harriet be able to transform herself before she
ruins everything?
3 STARS out of 5
TITLE: Geek Girl
AUTHOR: Holly Smale
GENRE: Young Adult
Meet Harriet Manners -- our resident 15 y/o geek girl.
"I'm not a big fan of the colour red, even if it is the longest wavelength of light discernible by the human eye."
Well, my fave color is red, and I didn't know that.
Let me tell you, I feel pretty giddy whenever I start a book. I believe that no book can be so bad that it doesn't contain even a single new knowledge or information.
Fortunately, this book is full of them. I'm seriously learning lots of actual trivias while reading this YA goodie -- now, that's a first.
Because this book dragged a bit at times, I don't think this could be read in one sitting. Took me almost a month and other good books in between to finish this one. But whenever I pick it up again, I found myself enjoying the few chapters. Nothing beats good humor in an uneventful day.
The only thing that irritates me the most was the varied terms of endearment used by the top model agent, Wilbur.
Petal, Sponge-finger, Chocolate-drops, Baby-baby Unicorn.
Like, seriously??? She must have called Harriet a hundred different names throughout the book!
First off, I have nothing against the gay community. I don't even know how fashion mavens talk but I thought Wilbur's personality was so exaggerated it's NOT even funny. In fact, whenever I read about Wilbur's line, I feel like pulling my hair out. It's just so annoying!!
Thank goodness, I let that out.
~This book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exhange for an honest review.
Written in her
wonderfully honest, edgy, passionate and often hilarious voice, Tiffanie
DeBartolo tells the story of Eliza Caelum, a young music journalist,
and Paul Hudson, a talented songwriter and lead singer of the band
Bananafish. Eliza's reverence for rock is equaled only by Paul's, and
the two fall wildly in love.
When Bananafish is signed by a big
corporate label, and Paul is on his way to becoming a major rock star,
Eliza must make a heartbreaking decision that leads to Paul's sudden
disappearance and a surprise knock-your-socks-off ending.
4 STARS out of 5
TITLE: How to Kill a Rock Star
AUTHOR: Tiffanie Debartolo
GENRE: Adult
“But I’m almost thirty and my day job is folding shirts at the Gap. Have you seen my room? I’m not messy. I’m rebelling against folding."
– Paul, the rockstar
Okay, I thought it's about time I write a review about HTKARS.
The book was exceptionally written; but honestly, it wasn’t something that stayed with me.
From what I could remember, I just wanted to bitch slap Eliza so hard she won’t be seeing straight anytime soon. I know that fear is an incapacitating force. But if one really wanted something done, one should face their own fears once in awhile.
So you see how disappointed I am with Eliza’s behavior. Other than her obvious fear of flying, WTF was wrong with her? Even when presented with a predicament where the only win-win solution is very apparent, she just had to mess things up.
Loring, the supposed third party, said it better – “Eliza,” Loring sighed, “don’t you see how ridiculous this is?”
But who am I to complain? We won’t be having HTKARS if not for Eliza’s moment of stupidity anyway.
If there’s just one thing I could love about this book, it’s Vera’s Mother-of-Pearl! Genius! I can no longer read about the expression mother of pearl without thinking about HTKARS!
Ellie Watt is used to
starting over. The daughter of a grifting team, Ellie spent her
childhood being used as a pawn in her parents' latest scam. Now she’s
much older, wiser and ready to give her con artist life a rest. But
returning to the dry desert town of Palm Valley, California means one
more temptation than she bargained for – Camden McQueen. Once known as
the high school weirdo, Camden is bigger and badder than the boy he used
to be and a talented tattoo artist with his own thriving business.
Ellie’s counting on Camden still being in love with her but what she’s
not counting on is how easily unrequited love can turn into obsession
over time. When Camden discovers Ellie’s plan to con him, he makes her a
deal she doesn’t dare refuse, but her freedom comes with a price and
it’s one that takes both Ellie and Camden down a dangerous road.
5 STARS out of 5
TITLE: Sins & Needles
AUTHOR: Karina Halle
GENRE: Adult
If I ever want to assume a new identity in the very improbable future, I’ll take lessons from this book. See, I’m already making notes:
When in doubt, just go. My parents had taught me that, along with “never underestimate your mark” and “emotions don’t win the game.”
This book is just UNBELIEVABLY GOOD. Kept me up late last night!
Tattoo artist extraordinaire Camden McQueen may think that he’s running the show here, but the real boss will always remain to be the trained con artist and blonde bombshell, Eden White!
No, scratch that. The black-haired beauty, Emily Watson!
NO! NO! NO!
I sure had a knack for pissing off men and making them hold grudges. They sure had a knack of making me pay for it.
It’s Ellie F#cking Watts!!! (Who can forget that middle name??)
Their relationship is just so insane, original and off-the-charts that it was so unputdownable! I’ve never read anything like this! I seriously need to do some GR searching because I really like this con artist type of romance books.
And oooooh, I know this was common sense already; but I found something that could very well resemble a clue on what will happen on the next book. Look:
“I’m afraid,” he whispered.
“Why?” I whispered back, wiping away the tears, my body somewhere on a cloud.
“I can’t ever lose what I just felt.” He kissed my cheek. “I’m afraid if I did, I’d come looking for you too. I’m afraid I can relate… to him.”
Dangit!! I’m hoping Camden will go ala Liam Neeson from the Taken movie (one of my all-time-fave movies btw); this time, the lover version!
Just imagine that hot piece of tattooed guy above, with every inch of an 007 attitude, saying the very words that made Mr. Neeson even more famous (of course, just the shorter version and I tweaked the name):
If you let Ellie go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.
Until that moment happens, I think I’ll fixate my fascination to some other mafia guy.
But I digress.
I’m just hoping Camden will grow on me by the sequel. Halfway through the first book, he was trying so hard to take control of the really messed-up situation that I found him to be a bit wimpy for my taste. Even when he redeemed himself, I still can’t fully embrace his character. Must be the goth eyeliner days??
Nah, too petty. Though seriously for me, he is simply a walking contradiction.
Our Mexican drug cartel guy Javier, on the other hand, was a mystery to unravel. And haven’t you heard? Mysterious guys are attractive!
I mean, what normal person even has both yellow-green eyes??
Well, that would still be none other than Javier, the man from Ellie’s past who will soon bite her in the ass. Literally and figuratively, if you know what I mean.
Anyhoo, don’t let this book sit on your TBR shelf for long. I can’t stress this enough – READ THIS BOOK ASAP.
I hate people telling me what to do so if I was doing the exact same thing, there must be a great reason. And kindly ignore the cliffhanger warnings; because honestly, it was bad but NOT that bad. I can’t think of any better scenario for an alternative ending. (That’s just my lack of creativity talking.)
Well, there’s the sequel coming soon anyways.
Just for the record, THIS BOOK IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Now, there you go Sins & Needles, straight to my 2013 faves shelf!
“I love you,” he whispered. “From now until the end, under any name you choose.”
