The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Hey everybody! Cassia here! Recently, I was introduced to the music of Les Miserables. I automatically loved it. Not only are the songs great, but they are extremely catchy. I was trying to sleep one night, and all I heard was "Look down, look down..." I love the songs, so I didn't really care. :) This led to me watching the movie. Now, as you know, I don't cry for movies and books. For this movie, though, I had tears in my eyes (aka VERY close to crying). Finally, this led to me buying the book on Amazon. It's 1400 pages. I'm about 500 pages in, and it's very good so far, and a review will come! Here's a review of The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan:

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Mary’s life has always been sheltered from the Unconsecrated. The only thing separating the living from the Unconsecrated is the fence. However, if one strays too close, they can be bitten, becoming Infected, destined to either die before it kills them, or die from it and Return as Unconsecrated. The Sisterhood says that the people in Mary’s village are the only humans left in the world. To keep the population up, marriage is about breeding; not love. Only few have ever found love in marriage, and Mary is determined to be one of them. But can she break a man’s heart to marry his brother?

Note: I apologize in advance for my ranting. It is my opinion, and if yours is different, I respect that, so please respect mine. I'm sorry if it sounds mean, but I am being honest, and you won't hear a whole lot of meanness from me. Thank you!

Okay, so I picked up this book not really knowing that it was about zombies. I didn’t mind it, and I think I’ll read the next book, but I don’t know if I would choose to read about zombies again.

Review | The Archived by Victoria Schwab

The Archived

Author: Victoria Schwab
Series: The Archived #1
Release Date: January 22, 2013
Pages: 328
Review by: Max

"Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books."

Mackenzie Bishop is stuck.
Both her Da (her grandfather, not her dad) and her little brother Ben have died recently, and frankly, it sucks.
To cope, her mom has picked up her family, or, well, what's left of it, and they've moved to a new home, an old hotel now sold as apartments, so Mac's stuck there, without her best friend or anyone she knows.
Mackenzie is also stuck with a job. A scary one.
Really, her was her Da's job, but he had to pass it on to someone. And that someone is Mackenzie.
Her Da would tell her stories, all about the world that wasn't theirs. Where Histories, the dead who hold the stories of the lives they've led, sleep in the Archive, where only Librarians can read them and the Keepers can hear them.

But sometimes, these Histories wake up and try to escape. And that's where Mackenzie comes in.
Her job as a Keeper is simple (well, as simple as it gets when one's dealing with a  secret world filled with rogue dead people that are kind of like ghosts). She finds the Histories that have woken up, and sends them back to the Archive, where they belong. Simple enough, right?
Wrong.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

My Sister's Keeper

Author: Jodi Picoult
Release Date: February 1, 2005
Pages: 423
Review by: Tessa

*WARNING* If you watched this movie and now you want to read the book you might be disappointed. The ending and some other parts of the book are VERY different from the movie. So if you liked the happy ending in the movie, don't read the book!

We all know that humans will do anything to survive, but is there a line that we can't cross?
This is ultimately a book about morals and ethics. The question the book revolves around seems like it has a simple answer, but when you see the situation from everyone's point of view it becomes less clear.

Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson

Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
A Maximum Ride Adventure
By: James Patterson
Review by: Max

Hey guys! Max here, with a review from the very series I was named after!

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
Warning: This book is the third in a series! You could probably get by with reading this book alone, but really, guys, it takes away from the whole experience.

This book was when the Maximum Ride series started going downhill. After this one, the rest just kind of...stunk.

Once again, this book is a series, and this book picks up where School's Out-Forever left off. The Flock (Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel) has a mission; save the world from the evil company, Itex. While Max strives to complete her life goal, basically, to save the world, Fang her 'advisor' in a way, wants to just step back, live on some tropical island, and let somebody else do all of the work.

As you might be able to guess, that doesn't exactly go over well.
This book tells the tale of the Flock's struggle to stay together, Max and Fang's relationship struggles, and  the Flock's struggle to keep the evil company Itex from 're-populating'
the world.
And if they fail the last one, they'll have a hard time fixing the other two.

This book sounds good, doesn't it?

Happy Fourth!

Happy 4th of July!!!
Today is actually America's 237th birthday. We are celebrating over 200 years of independence and freedom. Try to imagine how hard it would be to create a new country. Our founding fathers (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, etc.) created our country, but we are the ones that keep it strong. Today is a day to celebrate, but also a day to remember how many of our soldiers are still fighting for our freedom. I hope everyone has a happy 4th, filled with fireworks, hamburgers, and apple pie.
 
Some good books to read today are:
 
 
Happy belated Canada Day to our neighbors to the north! Canada Day was on July 1st, but I have been too busy to post anything lately. Canada is a great country and we love your maple syrup!


                                                                                         Farewell,
                                                                                         Tessa

Review | Faery Tales and Nightmares by Melissa Marr

Hey everybody! Cassia here! A couple days ago, I discovered my weakness for Books-a-Million (BAM). Let's put it this way: I walked in with $40. I came out with: The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen, Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen, Until I Die by Amy Plum, and The Selection by Kiera Cass. As soon as I walked in I thought, "Crap. I'm gonna walk out of here with a book, aren't I?" More like four. The anthology I'm reviewing today was also there, along with the whole Wicked Lovely series, which I was happy to see. Here's a review of Faery Tales and Nightmares by Melissa Marr:

Faery Tales and Nightmares by Melissa Marr

This is an anthology, which means it’s made up of short stories that may or may not be related to each other. Five are in the Wicked Lovely world, which I loved! So I did a little mini-review for each short story.

Where Nightmares Walk

This one is from an anthology titled Half-Minute Horrors.  Literally.  It's only about one page, so you really can read it in 30 seconds.

Edit to Ender's Game Review

Hey everybody! Cassia here! So, I was just thinking about the Ender's Game movie, and which songs I think should be on the soundtrack. Well, actually, it's just one. Anyway, I'm adding on to my review of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I'm putting it on the bottom, but I wanted people to see it, so I'm putting it here and on the review as well. Just wanted to let you all know that. Here's the edit:

P. S.  You wanna know a really good song for this book? "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day. Good song, and it really shows the theme of the book: know your enemy. If you don't know your enemy, then you can't pinpoint their weaknesses, and then use those weaknesses to your advantage. If you can't do that, well...good luck. Also, maybe you think you know who the enemy is, but you might be wrong. Those are two main themes of the book, all wrapped up in one song, and one phrase: "Know your enemy." This should be on the movie soundtrack, in my opinion. It's kind of repetitive, but a good song nonetheless. I would post a lyric video, but he doesn't mumble too much and it's easy to understand. Instead, I'm posting a link to the lyrics and a link to the music video so you can check it out.

"Know Your Enemy" Lyrics

"Know Your Enemy" Music Video

Goodbye for now,
Cassia