The Boy Project: Notes and Observations of Kara McAllister – Kami Kinard

The Boy Project: Notes and Observations of Kara McAllister
By Kami Kinard
Available Now

Description:
For anyone who’s ever felt that boys were a different species….Wildly creative seventh grader Kara McAllister just had her best idea yet. She’s going to take notes on all of the boys in her grade (and a few elsewhere) in order to answer a seemingly simple question: How can she get a boyfriend? But Kara’s project turns out to be a lot more complicated than she imagined. Soon there are secrets, lies, and an embarrassing incident in the boy’s bathroom. Plus, Kara has to deal with mean girls, her slightly spacey BFF, and some surprising uses for duct tape. Still, if Kara’s research leads her to the right boy, everything may just be worth it. . . .Full of charts and graphs, heart and humor, this hilarious debut will resonate with tweens everywhere.

This Blonde’s Review:
Kara has turned into the girl who is obsessed with getting a boyfriend. When she realized she was the only girl in her class who hadn’t had a boyfriend she decided she needed to find out how to get one. Being the smart, creative girl that she is Kara decides to use the scientific method to find a boyfriend and use her research as a science fair project. Then she can find a boyfriend and get the A she needs to earn unlimited texting. As with any research you have to study your subjects, so Kara takes notes on the boys around her.

Kara hadn’t been interested in kissing boys or having the 7th grade and younger version of a boyfriend before, so it was easy or her to become a girl who hadn’t had one. Kara has to figure out how to get the boy she likes to like her back when she doesn’t have the confidence to talk to him, not without her friend’s help. Of course this backfires for her when her friend starts dating the boy she likes.

Throughout the story we are constantly reminded of how young they are with all the mentions of 14 year old boys, which made it hard for me to relate. Less because of my age now than because I don’t recall anyone I knew acting like that in middle school. Meeting these 14 year olds through Kara’s eyes we’re able to see which boys are boyfriend material and which she wouldn’t consider. But the way life goes, sometimes what we think we want isn’t what we need.

It was interesting watching Kara attempt to turn her quest for knowledge and a boyfriend into an acceptable science fair project. Kara tries to figure out boys, friendships, and mean girls all while learning what really matters to her. Her obsession was hard to watch since it was less about wanting someone than not wanting to be left behind.

If you’re interested in reading a story about a young girl trying to use her boyfriend search to make an A, then you should give this one a shot.

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Digit: She’s Got Your Number – Annabel Monaghan

Digit: She’s Got Your Number
By Annabel Monaghan
Available June 2012

Description:
Farrah “Digit” Higgins may be going to MIT in the fall, but this L.A. high school genius has left her geek self behind in another school district so she can blend in with the popular crowd at Santa Monica High and actually enjoy her senior year. But when Farrah, the daughter of a UCLA math professor, unknowingly cracks a terrorist group’s number sequence, her laid-back senior year gets a lot more interesting. Soon she is personally investigating the case, on the run from terrorists, and faking her own kidnapping– all while trying to convince a young, hot FBI agent to take her seriously. So much for blending in…

This Blonde’s Review:
Farrah is a 17 yr old girl who spends more time trying to blend in than anything else in her life. She is the girl who never has an original opinion of stands up for anything, she goes along with the crowd. Her goal is to keep Digit from coming out. Digit is her nickname from her last school. Farrah has genius skills with numbers and can see patterns in numbers that others can’t without the help of computers. With the help of brain numbing techniques to keep her need for order from driving her crazy she manages to downplay her intelligence even to her best friends. Luckily she has a family who loves her and is willing to let her enjoy a normal life instead of pushing her to take her skills the highest they can go.

When she sees a series of numbers on TV they catch her eye and she soon starts trying to solve the pattern. Her desire not be become Digit leads her to attempt to dismiss it. Until the bombing. She isn’t believed by the local FBI office until she is chased by a member of a terrorist organization right into view of the FBI cameras. She is quickly put into protective custody under the guise of a kidnapping while the FBI work to capture the people out to kill her. Who else should protect her except the hot young FBI agent, John.

As John and Farrah spend time talking and looking through phone records in order to look for patterns they grow closer. She can’t help but notice how hot he is and hope he’ll kiss her. John denies any possibility of anything happening between them and of course acts as though he’s 10 years older than she is instead of only a few years. Watching them interact makes us wonder why Farrah would ever be ashamed of Digit, especially with someone like John who can be impressed with her talents and comfortable around her.

I hated seeing Digit try so hard to be what other people wanted her to be. How can anyone know her if she hides herself, and how can she know anyone else if she spends so much time worrying about how they’ll see her? I loved watching her with John and seeing the way she could be herself and appreciate her abilities in ways she clearly hadn’t before. The adventure and the terrorists felt secondary to Digit learning to accept herself. It was still great to see John doing what had to be done to protect her though.

I loved the Digit’s family and John’s parents were wonderful. I didn’t think I’d like Digit’s friends, but we didn’t get to know them much since Digit couldn’t know them as well with the wall she kept up. As great as Digit was she wasn’t a great person when she was Farrah, since she wasn’t a great friend. As she became more comfortable as Digit she becomes an even more loveable character.

This is a short story and I would have loved to read more. The good news is there is a sequel in the works! I’m looking forward to reading it. I can’t wait to read more about Digit, John, and their families.

If you enjoy reading about a girl who has to find her way to accepting herself then you’ll enjoy reading about Digit’s story.

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Partials – Dan Wells

Partials
By Dan Wells
Partials – Book One
Available 28 February 2012

Description:
The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic in training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws threaten to launch what’s left of humanity into civil war, and she’s not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will discover that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

This Blonde’s Review:
The Partials aren’t humans, they were engineered to be like super humans to fight in wars. They were faster, stronger, and better in every way. When the wars people fought were over, soon they found themselves in a war with the Partials. During this war a manufactured virus was released that destroyed the human population, so few people were immune to this virus that they are all able to fit on Long Island. No baby has been born immune to the virus and they all die within days, leading to laws requiring all girls to become pregnant once they hit a certain age. An age that is being lowered as more time passes without living children.

Kira is a medic in training, a girl who is torn apart each time she sees a baby die while only being able to take down the baby’s stats for the researchers to look through. When she discovers someone she loves is pregnant she knows she has to do whatever it takes to keep that baby alive. Kira has ideas that people in leadership positions are quick to dismiss. She believes that researching dying babies won’t help, that they need to do research on a Partial.

Her love for her friends and her hope for the future lead Kira and her friends to plan how to capture a Partial on their own. Luckily her friends are intelligent people and have connections in different areas, including military and political. Things don’t go as smoothly as hoped but they do manage to capture a Partial. Surprisingly Kira is put in charge of the research on the Partial instead of more experienced researchers. As she conducts her research Kira encounters more questions than answers; about RM, about Partials, and about the their leaders.

The relationships in this story weren’t as solid and connected as I would have hoped for but Kira and a few other characters managed to keep me interested in their story. Kira is supposed to have a boyfriend, but the author is quick to show Kira’s uncertainty and just as quick for him to fail her. I had little interest in that romantic relationship and would have been happy to have left it out entirely. This is not a book to be read for romance, instead it is a book to be read for the story.

This story has a lot more science in it than I expected, but Dan Wells has managed to write it in such a way that as Kira figures it out or learns it we are able to learn and understand it. I found it fascinating and was continually hoping for more information about what was happening with the virus.

The relationships may have been too shallow for some readers, but I enjoyed this one and can’t wait for the next book. I loved the way the author built this story up with many things not being what they seemed. I was drawn in by the things I was learning, even if it was all fictional. The way the story ended was less than satisfactory for me in some ways, but it wasn’t bad enough to leave me unhappy with the story. Instead it has me impatient to read the next book in the story to find out what happens next.

Partials is a book about a girl, a virus, engineered beings, and political unrest. It’s the story of how a teenage girl who grew up in a world of orphans sets out to save the future of mankind. If the description sounds interesting to you then this is one you should pick up as soon as it comes out. I know I’m ready to read the rest of Kira’s story, but until then I’ll be looking into other books by Dan Wells.

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Pandemonium – Lauren Oliver

Pandemonium
By Lauren Oliver
Delirium – Book 2
Available February 2012

Have you read Delirium, the first book in this series? If not be aware that the description contains spoilers for book one.

Description:
The old Lena is dead. The old Lena remains with Alex in Portland, Maine, behind a wall of smoke and flame, but the new Lena was born in the Wilds, transformed by hardship, deprivation, and loss.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena fights for a world in which love will no longer be considered a dangerous disease. Her inner life is as turbulent as the world around her. . . . Although consumed with grief for Alex, might she be falling in love with someone else?

This Blonde’s Review:
Pandemonium is told in the Then and Now. In many ways it’s like being told from two points of view since Lena has gone through so many changes that she’s not the same girl. The things that happened in the first book have changed her. In the Then Lena is hurt and scared and has no faith in the world. All she can think of is Alex and the things that happened. She uses tricks that used to mean nothing to help her build her strength back up. We see her working towards the Now. In the Now Lena is strong and solid and cynical. She will do what needs to be done, she will lie, and she will refuse to feel anything at all if she can help it. She only wants to accomplish her mission and possibly find her mother.

I loved Delirium, I loved the way the author built a new world and managed to keep me surprised and wanting to know what was going to happen next. There were things that I expected and things I didn’t, but even when I expected it the way it would happen was always a mystery. In Pandemonium we had similar attempts, but it wasn’t quite the same. There were many things that I could see happening and I could see how it would happen as well. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the switching timelines, but I did like the way some of the chapters were lined up to almost be flashbacks as Lena remembered. Overall, I am not a fan of Then/Now writing, but I can also see how it worked for this one in many ways. It makes the changes in Lena much more obvious and that was important to recognize.

I loved the romance between Lena and Alex and I was not prepared for her to have any feelings for someone else. Attraction possibly, but actual feelings were something that I was not willing to accept as a reader. Despite the trials Lena and Julian go through together, their romance moves fast enough that their relationship seems more fitting to a lustful unfeeling one than a loving one. Lena went through so much with Alex that a relationship built on lust seems to better fit what she would need than love.

Despite what she saw and what she knew to be true, Lena still had hopes that she could be wrong about Alex. She still wanted more for them all throughout the Then. Seeing her grow stronger in herself and slowly give him up was painful to see. I kept expecting Alex to pop back into her life and throw her Now into a spiral, and then I started to accept that perhaps we wouldn’t get him back. It was possible that Lauren Oliver would do something few authors seem willing to do and Leave such a major character dead and allow his memory to be another major player instead of bringing him back. I hated that thought, but then I started to hope that this book would be so different from the rest that we would have that.

I found myself thinking about this one after I finished it, trying to decide if it was one that I liked or not. I read so many reviews of this book, some readers have loved this book and are eager for the third book in this series. Other readers have been annoyed by the predictability, how easy it was for Lena to fall for another guy, or the way the author switched between Then and Now. While I didn’t love the viewpoints or the love angle, I can’t help but love it.

If you enjoyed the first book I know you’re eager to find out what happens to Lena and you’re looking for a fix until you can get your hands on it. Yes, there are mixed reviews but the majority seem to love it, so be sure to get out there and get your copy.

If this series is new to you and you read my review Anyway… you may have had a few things spoiled for you. If you want to read about a world where Love is considered a disease, where people have to fight for the right to have Feelings for another human being and loving leads to death, then you’ll want to step inside Lauren Oliver’s world and read Delirium and Pandemonium. I hate that I have to wait until 2013 to read the third book in this series!

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Delirium – Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Pandemonium – Amazon | Barnes & Noble

 

Ditched: A Love Story – Robin Mellom

Ditched: A Love Story
By Robin Mellom
Available Now

Description:
High school senior Justina Griffith was never the girl who dreamed of going to prom. Designer dresses and strappy heels? Not her thing. So she never expected her best friend, Ian Clark, to ask her.

Ian, who always passed her the baseball bat handle first.
Ian, who knew exactly when she needed red licorice.
Ian, who promised her the most amazing night at prom.
And then ditched her.

Now, as the sun rises over her small town, and with only the help of some opinionated ladies at the 7-Eleven, Justina must piece together — stain by stain on her thrift-store dress — exactly how she ended up dateless. A three-legged Chihuahua was involved. Along with a demolition derby-ready Cadillac. And there was that incident at the tattoo parlor. Plus the flying leap from Brian Sontag’s moving car…

But to get the whole story, Justina will have to face the boy who ditched her. And discover if losing out at prom can ultimately lead to true love.

This Blonde’s Review:
Justina is a mess. She is stranded at a 7-11 in a stained thrift-store prom dress and no idea how her night fell apart. It may have started when she took her mother’s advice and dyed her shoes to match her prom dress. She thought they’d be okay, but then he ditched her. Now she has to figure out where it went wrong and what happened. She tells the story of her night to some strong minded women at the 7-11 by telling the story of each stain and tear on her dress.

Justina is not the kind of girl who cares about prom or fashion, which is how she finds herself following her mother’s prom advice. Justina alternates between thinking Ian is a jerk and wondering if she did something wrong. She’s a typical girl this way, since most girls would be going a little crazy as they wavered back and forth after being ditched at prom. Luckily she isn’t going through it all alone since she receives insight from the woman who works at the 7-11 and other customers.

Watching Justina try to figure out her night is crazy since she experiences so many unbelievable things. Who wouldn’t want to find out how she ends up in a tattoo parlor or jumping out of a moving car?

Ditched isn’t a long story, but it’s adorable. I loved Justina and I couldn’t wait to find out if Ian was the good guy he seems at points, or a guy who doesn’t know what he wants and makes bad decisions. Even characters who had short appearances were easy to feel for since they were all written so well.

The story does hop around in a confusing way, since that is the way a girl in that situation would be thinking. It is something that I was annoyed by at first, but once I got into the story I didn’t mind that style at all. That is something that could distract some readers from the story, so keep that in mind if you can become distracted from a good story by a storyline that doesn’t follow from point A to point B.

If you enjoy a lighthearted story about a night gone wrong that could lead to something right, then you should pick up this debut story from Robin Mellom.

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