The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly Book Reviews

Kristin Cashore Blog Tour- Fire

2009-09-14T15:13:00.008-04:00

Hey guys,
I have great news. Kristin Cashore will be hosting a blog tour starting yesterday (hehe) and everyday she will give us an inside look on new characters and the blogs will be giving away FREE SIGNED BOOKS!!!! Sounds incredible, I know. Click here picture above for more information.
Here is an excerpt from Fire. (I've read it and it's incredible. CAN'T WAIT!!)

Fire by Kristin Cashore

And here is an extremely cool widget because I know you are all counting down the seconds till Fire comes out (I know I am!)

if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('9d9a7d72-e90f-44f8-8ec7-a202ea529c3e');Get the <a href="http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/fire-yrpenguin">Fire</a> widget and many other <a href="http://www.widgetbox.com/">great free widgets</a> at <a href="http://www.widgetbox.com">Widgetbox</a>!

Please check out this great blog tour!

On to a more serious note. I just wanted to let you know that I was really hoping to keep this blog open once school started. But I'm taking harder classes this year and with after school stuff its not going to be a possibility. So for now GBU Reviews will be on hold til the new year. Maybe then I'll be ahead in reviews and be able to get this blog going! Thanks so much for my wonderful readers. Hope to see you back in January!
Keep Reading
GBU

Wow It's Been Awhile!

2009-08-25T17:54:00.002-04:00

Ahh so I'm back. Its been like two months and I have an excuse. My computer crashed and well I'm really busy too (I mean who isn't). Though it doesn't make much sense for me to be starting this up again with school starting in less than a week. But I am going to make an effort to build up this site, get more reviews, and followers. So check for a new review tomorrow.
But I have BIG news. I was checking out my myspace today for the first time in ages and I saw that Alyson Noel (Author of Evermore and Blue Moon) had posted a new blog. And GUESS WHAT?
Shadowland will be coming out a whole 2 months earlier!!!! The final realese date is set for November 24. Anddd...... It's going to be in hard cover!!! This just made my day. I think now I might make it til Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (sequel to Hunger Games) comes out in a week maybe I'll even make it till Fire by Kristin Cashore comes out in October. (I just read the prologue and first two chapters and I'm hooked.) Hmm but maybe not.
Anyway, also on Alyson blog was information about a new group she's starting, along with 3 other authors, called Living Your Five. Its this great inspirational community geared toward saving the world, one person at a time. So please visit the site www.livingyoufive.com for more information. (There also giving away great prizes!!) So please please please check it out here!
So I know its been awhile but please keep reading my blog and I hope to put up lots of new reviews soon. til then
Keep Reading
GBU

Evermore by Alyson Noel

2009-07-10T20:12:00.007-04:00

Evermore is the first installment of The Immortals Series by Alyson Noel. Ever is a psychic. She sees auras, knows life stories by touch, hears people's thoughts, and gets all the knowledge from a book by simply placing her hands on the cover. It hadn't always been this way for her, she used to be normal before she was in accident that killed her family while she went on living. Now an outcast at school, her life seems unimportant till mysterious, brooding, drop-dead gorgeous Damen shows up and gives Ever's emotions a roller coaster ride. One day he's begging her to skip school with him and the next he's sitting with her enemy, Stacia, giving her magical white roses and whispering sweet nothings in her ear. But Ever knows there something not right about Damen, he doesn't have an aura, she can't hear his thoughts, and every time Drina turns up he seems to disappear. Now Ever must find out what's going on with her new boyfriend before its too late.
The Good: Evermore is one of my favorite books of all time. Alyson Noel does a fantastic job of describing the anxiety, frustration and passion of teen love. The connection between Damen and Ever makes me feel all warm inside and I just can't get enough of them. This book is excellently written with an amazing set of characters, humor, and the best thing, heart-squeezing romance.
The Bad: I found parts of Evermore to be a bit confusing, certain sentences required rereading to get the complete meaning.
The Ugly: There is absolutely nothing ugly about this book. I loved it and have reread it countless times. Everyone should read this book!
Alyson Noel's other books include Cruel Summer, Saving Zoe, Kiss & Blog, Laguna Cove, Art Geeks and Prom Queens, Faking 19, and Fly Me To The Moon.
Look for the review of Evermore's sequel, Blue Moon, on Monday. Also Shadow Land, the third book in the Immortals series, hits bookshelves in January 2010. Finally you must check out the website for The Immortals series. You can read excerpts from her books, search for tulips that give you audio clips of scenes never heard before, and download fun wallpapers. You can access the website by clicking here.

Yeah! Third review is up. I have a question for everyone, what is your favorite book to reread and how many times have you read it (if you can remember)? Leave a comment and let me know. Have a great weekend and Keep Reading.
GBU

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

2009-07-10T13:51:00.004-04:00

The Looking Glass Wars is the first book of Frank Beddor's retelling of Alice in Wonderland trilogy. It begins on Princess Alyss Heart's seventh birthday when her evil Aunt Redd comes back from Mount Isolation, where's she been sent because of her association with Black Imagination, and tries to once again steal the crown from Queen Genvieve. The castle is under attack from hundreds of Redd's card soldiers and the Princess must escape with the queen's bodyguard, Hatter Madington, through the Pool of Tears. A pool which takes you to Earth but from which no one has ever returned. But when Alyss and Hatter are separated, ending up on opposite sides of Europe, and innocent people are being killed by Redd's hand in Wonderland it's all left up to the Princess. Alyss must find her way back to Wonderland, remember the strength of her imagination, and finally defeat Redd once and for all.
The Good: The Looking Glass Wars is a wonderful action book. The suspense keeps you on the edge of you seat all throughout the book. Frank Beddor take on Lewis Carrol's classic is fantastic from his caterpillar oracles and giant card soldiers. The creative energy this book took to write is incredible and is a must read for all fantasy, action, and suspense fans.
The Bad: This book has one of my biggest pet peeves: switching points of view. I find myself wanting to skip over some parts and then wondering if they're important, just so I can get back to my favorite characters.
The Ugly: As a sucker for love this book frustrated me with its lack of finality between the little romance it did have. Now reading the sequel I find myself still annoyed with the lack of "leaping" to the next step in their relationship because of silly reasons.
Look for my review of the sequel Seeing Redd sometime next week. Also look for the third and final book in the Looking Glass Wars Trilogy, Archenemy, in stores October 15th. Finally keep your eyes open for The Looking Glass Wars movie, which is in the process of being put together.

Okay so I hope everyone enjoyed my second review. I'm telling you this is a lot of fun to do! Finally I'm going to be putting off a contest until I get some more followers. So join, and get your friends to join. Keep Reading!
GBU

Need by Carrie Jones

2009-07-09T18:12:00.005-04:00

Need is another wonderful book by Carrie Jones. It tells the story of depressed, phobia-obsessed Zara recovering from her step-father's death. She moves from beautiful South Carolina to a chilly, snowy, small town in Maine to live with her Gram in hopes of staying sane. Because someone's following Zara, he keeps showing up ever since her father died from a heart attack and now he's even followed her to Maine. Then boys start disappearing and gold pixie dust is showing up everywhere. Zara and her friends, Issie, Devyn, and Nick, must found out what's going on and link these event to the past to keep people from disappearing forever.
The Good: This book was very intriguing, I couldn't seem to put it down. I really expected the book to be a typical faerie book but it blew my expectations away. Need has a diverse, complex, interesting set of characters that I fell in love with. I especially loved Issie, who was funny, energetic, and truly compassionate. Need was full of romance, action, suspense, and humor. It's a must-read for all paranormal fans.
The Bad: I didn't really like how this book ended. It seemed to tie up too many ends for there to be a sequel, but not enough for me to be satisfied with the ending.
The Ugly: The book made me really sad when it had to end. I loved this book (reading it in one night) but I wish I had more time with the characters. I absolutely loved them and wished there was a sequel
Carrie Jones' other titles include Tips on Having a Gay (Ex) Boyfriend, Love (And Other Uses For Duct Tape), and Girl, Hero.

okay so I hope you enjoyed my first review. I'm always open to comments, suggestions, and ridicule. I decided that for a great treat on the opening of my blog I'm going to post reviews everyday for a week. And there may be a possibility of a contest I'll let you know for sure tomorrow. Keep Reading!
GBU

Welcome to GBU Book Reviews!!

2009-07-09T12:26:00.000-04:00

Okay so yeahh first post. I'm really excited to start this blog. It's going to be filled with wonderful book reviews that go through the good, the bad, and the ugly of every book. I'm hoping to post 2-3 times a week but when school starts up again it might slow down. Look for my first book review of Need by Carrie Jones later today. Keep Reading!