Shopaholic and Sister

by: Sophie Kinsella

*****

Becky Bloomwood is married to Luke Brandon! She's been around the world for her honeymoon and she's happy. Especially when she picked up the impossible-to-get Angel bag from Milan with the help from a guy named Nathan Temple for a free launch party hosted by Luke's company.

When Becky comes back from holiday, Suze has a new best friend, and her parents her hiding something from her. So when Becky finds out that the surprise her parents are hiding is...her long-lost sister! Becky has a long-lost sister named Jess. Becky is certain they'll have fun together, shopping, drinking coffee and talking, eating toffee popcorn and watching movies together. So when Becky meets Jess, she's stumped.

Jess is a saver, not a spender. She recycles every single thing, from the onion mesh bags to the wrapping paper she picked up from the bank even though she has a ton of money in her account. Becky can't understand. Jess really doesn't get along with her. She hates everything Becky does and doesn't have any same taste in anything-books, shoes, clothes...Jess likes rocks.

Rocks. Finally, Becky and Jess have a fight. Becky can't stand Jess being such a skinflint.

But Luke is taking Jess's side, especially when he finds out about the Angel bag and her promise with Nathan Temple. Luke doesn't like Nathan, and this leads off to Becky having a fight with Luke. Becky feels terrible afterwards and tries to find Jess after Luke goes on a business trip.

Her life is messed up again...hopefully, she can fix it. Again.

The best part was when Becky's "souvenirs" from around the world comes to Luke's flat. She's bought two dining tables with twenty dining chairs, seventeen carpets, forty mugs and wooden masks and swords and much, much more. Luke's flat is completely unrecognizable. Becky is so hilarious-she is irresponsible as an adult.

Shopaholic ties the knot

by: Sophie Kinsella

*****

Becky's best friend Suze is getting married-when will she ever, too? Then a

proposal from Luke lands into Becky's ring-free left hand. She's getting married!

Luke's rich mother, Elinor is preparing a fancy schmancy wedding at the Plaza Hotel, while Becky's mother is planning a wedding right at Becky's house...on the same day! Becky really wants the all-expenses-paid wedding by Elinor, with the flown-in birch trees from Switzerland and the Cristal champagne and $1,000 and over wedding cake, but she doesn't want to disappoint her mother, who is so excited as well. The wedding date comes closer, but Becky doesn't want to choose. Her wedding planner keeps on dragging her around the cake studio, shows the gorgeous invitations and the big Plaza ballroom, beckoning Becky while her kind, innocent mother is just plain excited.

What is Becky going to do...can Becky Bloomwood has to solve this. Fast.

The best part was when Becky visits the cake studio. She's trying a slice of cake when she asks the clerk how much it is-it's over $1,000! Becky almost chokes on her champagne and is even more wanting this Plaza wedding. She wants some royalty, you know...

Shopaholic takes Manhattan

by: Sophie Kinsella

*****

Becky Bloomwood is back....in Manhattan. Luke has some business to take care of in New York, and Becky is asked to go with him. Becky loves New York-the people, the designer stores. All her overdraft credit card bills are back in London, and she's getting some great opportunities here-to be a financial adviser at financial TV shows. Life at New York couldn't be better.

But Becky is a shopaholic, and she can't resist shopping. Again, she has an overdraft that she's been trying to ignore. She's lied and she has the image of a very sensible person with tons of money in her savings account and no overdraft card bills to all the producers of the financial TV shows and the people who watch one of her TV shows. So when a paparazzi takes a picture of her shopping, her hands full with designer shop bags, she's screwed. The picture's all over in the newspapers, all her meetings with the producers are canceled and Luke is mad at her. Real mad.

Becky's life is even more tangled up now, with the new bank manager who isn't as nice as the old one, her boyfriend is mad at her, and she's lost all her job careers. But somehow-Becky Bloomwood figures it all out. After all, how could've she become a financial adviser if she wasn't that smart?

The best part was when she was shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue. This was one of her clueless and childish thinking as well. She had bought a $500 Kate Spade bag, and while she was buying it, she was thinking 'Well, these bags must be at least, what, half the price back in London with the quids! This is a real bargain!'

Confessions of a Shopaholic

by: Sophie Kinsella

*****

Meet Becky Bloomwood:

Journalist of a financial newspaper.

Big amounts of overdraft on her many Visa cards.

A shopaholic...

Becky is miserable. She is living off her best friend Suze's flat, (without paying a rent, of course) she doesn't earn much money but wants to buy everything and she has no boyfriends. Most of all...overdraft and consultant letters from her bank are interrupting her life every single moment. She doesn't have a single quid that she can pay back.

Becky finds ways to save money-from trying to skimp and make "curries that you can make for two pounds" for dinner and failing, and trying to earn more money by getting extra jobs at a clothes store called Ally Smith and getting fired without even lasting a day.

The whole book is about how shopaholic Becky tries to pay back her overdraft and about how she meets Luke Brandon, her future boyfriend during her struggles. It's funny, because everything she thinks and does is so childish even though she is an adult.

The best part of this book, I think was when Becky wanted this Denny&George scarf and she was missing 20 pounds, so she lied through her teeth and said she was buying a gift for her dying aunt. Luke Brandon lent her 20 quids and later on when Becky bought the scarf and was coming out of the boutique, Luke Brandon saw her. Of course, later on, the scarf becomes Luke and Becky's special thing.

Charmed and Dangerous

*****

By: Lisi Harrison

This is the prequel of The Clique series. This was about how The Pretty Committee (Massie, Dylan, Alicia, Kristen and Claire) meet together.

Massie is invited to Merri-Lee Marvil(Dylan's Mom and the host of the most popular morning show)'s New Year Yves Party. There, she gets ditched by her best friends(Ahnna, Brianna, Lana, and Shauna), and loses her three charms from her charm bracelet. Later, she learns from a fortune-teller that when five meet together, everything would be complete and Massie would be destined to lead. Of course, Dylan, Kristen, and Alicia each find a charm each. Later, they are returned to Massie and the girls meet together for the first time, then become good friends, naturally forming a clique!(Unfortunately, Claire doesn't find a charm but Claire will become a part of the Pretty Committee.)

My favorite part was when Massie's ex-best friends ditched her, and then Dylan, Alicia and Kristen stood up for Massie. I liked that part because it showed a strong bond of friendship between them, and I think friends should support each other just like the Pretty Committee.   

The Mysterious Benedict Society

*****

By: Trenton Lee Stewart.

This book is amazing!!!! I can't even describe how good the book is! This was definitely a five-star-worthy novel.

It starts off with an ad in the newspaper.

"Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" A very talented boy named Reynie Muldoon decided that he was fit for that ad, and headed off to the location the ad instructed to go to. There, he takes several tests and he passes them all. Later, he meets with 3 other kids(Sticky, Kate and Constance)that have passed the tests as well.

After the fourth and last test, the foursome meets Mr. Benedict, the reason of this whole ad. Later, they find out that Mr. Benedict is on an important mission to save the world, and that he needed very special and talented children to help carry out the mission, which, only children could accomplish. The mission was to stop an evil man named Mr. Curtain from brain-sweeping the world! Lately, Mr. Curtain had sending out messages to people's minds, brain-sweeping them slowly. 

So Reynie, Kate, Sticky and Constance go to the Institute, a school Mr. Curtain had built. They spy on Mr. Curtain and his lately movements to find out what he was doing. I won't tell anymore...read the book!

My favorite part was when Constance swallows the licorice. While Kate was spying, she  threw  a marble at the guard, then sneaked off, accidentally stepping on a piece of licorice left by a guard. When the guard found the marble, he found that the licorice he spat out was gone. So the guards inspected everybody's shoes. Of course, Kate had the piece of licorice stuck to her shoe. Fast as lightning, the tore the licorice off and passed it to her Reynie, who passed it to Sticky, who passed it to Constance. Constance, without any clue, lifted up the licorice and said, "What is this?" Luckily, the guards hadn't seen Constance holding the licorice yet, but they were turning around to where Constance was sitting. At the last minute, Constance realized what she was going to happen, so she swallowed the licorice! The soggy, dirty licorice that had been stepped on Kate's dirty shoes!!!! Blecchhh...   

Exclusive Interview with Roald Dahl's editor!!!

This is a little pretend video I did with Roald Dahl's editor, from the book 'Matilda'.
Hope you enjoy it!

Princess of Gossip

by Sabrina Bryan & Julia DeVillers

*****

Avery is stressed! She'd just moved to L.A., and she's a total nobody with no friends. All her friends back home are not texting, chatting, or calling her. Life in L.A.'s really boring-until now! Avery learns about a talented singer named Marisa, and she starts a blog in MySpace for Marisa and people love it! People are visiting Marisa's page and leaving positive comments! And BAM! Avery is mistaken for Marisa's assistant, and is invited to a launch party with all the famous celebrities! There, she snaps a photo of two celebrities as a couple! Avery sees this as juicy gossip, and makes a gossip blog, her identity shown as the Princess of Gossip. People reads this gossip blog, and it's a huge hit! Suddenly, Avery is super famous, and is determined as a music industry insider by the people. 

Avery gets free dresses, phone, makeup, spa gift certificates, chocolate... everything, because of her Princess of Gossip blog! And then, the hot nephew of one of the famous designers asks Avery out because she was wearing his uncle's clothes, and Avery falls for it! She hosts a beach party using the gift certificate delivered to her to host a beach party at a luxury hotel, when the hotel managers and the officers come over to find the Princess of Gossip, to see a teenage party! Then the Princess of Gossip's identity is revealed! Uh-oh. Avery is in major trouble, and to make it worse, the photos and the gossip she had written was a fauxmance-meaning, fake romance! It was all fake! Avery is hated from many people, but she saves her reputation by Marisa's blog! At a on-line party Avery made to apologize to people, Marisa comes and announces that the blog made fourteen hundred dollars for charity! Avery is saved!

The best part of this book was at the on-line party, when Marisa came as a surprise and gave the party her private concert! It would be so awesome to have a singer give a concert at your party! And, I liked it because Avery has a happy ending! She is saved by Marisa, who comes up to the stage and announces the news. Then the concert begins, and all the avatars that represented the people at the party, started going wild! The tech part was cool too, because they used this satellite connection for Marisa to go to the party herself, using her picture. It would be cool to have a on-line party like Avery did.      

Princess Diaries #2

by Meg Cabot

*****

Mia Thermopolis is back! With more problems! Her mother is pregnant with her Algebra teacher's baby! And now they're going to get married! And she takes a interview with 24/7, a TV program and sounds like a total idiot, gets one of her teachers in trouble, and makes people think her school's some crazy out-of-control schools! How could Mia be so stupid?And worst of all, her grandmother's getting involved in her mother's wedding, and it's getting out of control! First, her grandmother invites the Thermopolis grandmother and grandfather, and invites celebrities and kings and queens all over the world, to Mia's mother's wedding, when Mia's mother only wanted a small, simple wedding! Oh boy, this is getting big. Oh, boy.

The best part was the wedding, because there was this surprise, of Mia's mother and her algebra teacher not showing up. It was also the best part because it was the first time that her grandmother wasn't so fierce and in-control! She was actually embarrassed!!! And, I liked that part because it was a wedding with celebrities for the guests! If that was my wedding, I'd faint right before my eyes because, it's so cool having celebrities for guests, and you're the center of attention, and the celebrities are congratulating you, they're sending presents to you, and they're doing something for you, unlike the usual times, when people do things for them. 

Dial L for Loser

by Lisi Harrison

*****

The Pretty Committee(Massie, Dylan, Alicia, Kristen and Claire) are off to Hollywood to audition for the new teen blockbuster, Dial L for Loser! They're going for the part of a loser, and Massie can't imagine a better actress than her. But when she actually auditions, Claire gets the part! Claire, the actual loser in the real social life back in Westchester! And now Claire is so famous, she gets free designer clothes and have interviews with famous magazines while Massie has to just sit and stare. Claire's the mini celebrity, and Massie can't just sit while her alpha seat is taken. Massie is jealous, and she'll just do anything to torment Claire. 

The best part was when Massie, Alicia and Claire auditioned for the play, because right before the audition, Massie and Alicia played a trick on Claire and Claire had this huge water stain on her T-shirt, and she had a total loser haircut. The result was really surprising, because Massie was the usual alpha, the usual popular, pretty girl. And I think it would be so cool, you being a loser and then bam! You're some celebrity who meets the most popular people on Earth. I thought that was really cool, and I would definitely trade spots with Claire, when she got picked for the movie.  

Revenge of the Wannabes

by Lisi Harrison

*****

This book was about Massie, Dylan, Alicia, Kristen and Claire(A.k.a. The Pretty Committee). But now Alicia's just plain tired of Massie being the alpha, she wants to start her own clique. So she makes a clique with one of her dance class friends, and is now on a fight with Massie. Massie paints a mural saying mean things about Alicia, and Alicia is totally on revenge, but things keep twisting. Massie gets herself for modeling for Teen Vogue when Alicia was actually the only one, and Massie swipes the dress Alicia wanted to buy for the shoot, right before the actual shoot! And Alicia has to decide if she would keep her clique, or apologize and go back in The Pretty Committee.

The best part was at the very end, where everybody got in a huge fight with each other in the set. This was also the part where Massie and Alicia made up. Everybody was like crazy, stuffing fake snow in each other's face, actually hitting and pinching, and throwing the fake present boxes near the Christmas tree. I liked this part because in words, it was totally hilarious. 8 girls going crazy with fake snow, destroying the set and making a complete chaos. I couldn't imagine it, and it was really funny, just reading the words and thinking about it.  

What Holly Heard

by R.L.Stine

***

Mei Kamata's parents are sensible doctors, and they approve sensible people. But Mei has a not-so-sensible boyfriend named Noah, which the Kamatas disapprove. Mei holds a party and there, Dr. Kamata banns Mei from meeting Noah. The next day, a girl named Holly accidentally hears Mei and Noah talking about killing her Mom so they could meet together. And then Mrs. Kamata is found dead, next morning. Holly and her best friends Ruth and Miriam suspects it's Mei and Noah. The next day, Noah looks at Holly with such hateful, cold eyes and Holly's afraid. And the next day, Holly was found dead. There were bloody notebooks in Ruth's bag, with horror poems. Miriam is getting freaked out. Was it really Mei and Noah?

Then Miriam goes over to Ruth's house and discovers dead hamsters and an another poem. When Ruth goes over to call the police, Miriam discovers a bloody hammer and a bloody T-shirt in Ruth's closet. Miriam discovers that is was Ruth all along, and Ruth tries to kill Miriam to dispose the evidence, but fails.

The most scariest part was when Miriam found Holly's body. Miriam was having a phone call with Holly, when Holly was unexpectedly cut off. Miriam went over to investigate, to see Holly's body. Her green eyes were rolled back, her body was pale and lifeless, and her favorite blue scarf was tightly wrapped around her neck, choking her. It was scary and uneasy to forget. Ruth had choked her, with Holly's scarf. She choked her until Holly was completely dead. It was a complet horror moment, and if this book was made into a movie, this part would be like the highlight/scariest moment.  

The Princess Diaries

By Meg Cabot

****

This book is about a ordinary teenage girl named Mia, who is actually the heir to the next throne of Genovia!!! Mia's life is pretty tangled, she has so much to deal with! 

1. Her mother is dating her Algebra teacher-Yuck!

2. She is failing Algebra

3. She has to take princess lessons with her grandma-Ugh!

4. She has to deal with everybody staring at her while a bodyguard trails around her-embarrassing much?

5. She's fighting with her best friend

6. She has social problems-including dates for dances

Mia is stressed and worried about her life, but she balances it out. She earns herself a D for Algebra, she makes up with her friend and she handles with the date problem!

My favorite part was when Mia spends the night at Lily's house after the dance, because finally, Mia is happy! This was the part when all the good stuff happened to Mia. I thought this book had a really interesting subject of being a royalty, and I want to try the second book. 

Sealed with a Diss

By Lisi Harrison

*****

This book is about 5 girls named Massie, Alicia, Dylan, Kristen and Claire. This year, they finally get hold of the secret legendary room at OCD(Octavian Country Day School)! And voila! The room is filled with cool clothes, makeup and a Starbucks espresso machine, but most of all...a T.V. and camera system that allows them to see what boys are actually thinking! 

But they have a little challenge before they can actually use the room for themselves! First they all have to find suitable dates for the eighth grade alpha Skye Hamilton's costume party, and Massie has to convince her old crush, Chris Abeley to like the eighth grade alpha, Skye Hamilton!

My favorite part was when they first visited the secret room and learned about the system that allowed them to see the boys' mind becuase I thought it was really cool how the system worked, and that you could read somebody's mind! I wish I had something like that, not to read necessarily boys' mind but my family's mind!! 

The BFG

by Roald Dahl

****

This book is about a girl named Sophie, and a giant called the BFG. Sophie is snatched from her orphanage by the BFG, and is taken to the land of giants! There, Sophie learns that the BFG doesn't eat humans, but the other giants go off around the world, snatching and eating humans everyday. Sophie determines that this should be stopped, and she stops them with the BFG.  

The main job of the BFG is to deliver dreams to humans, and Sophie gets the idea there. She asks the BFG to make a dream about the giants eating children, the BFG himself, and Sophie sitting on the Queen's windowsill. Then they deliver the dream to the Queen of England, and Sophie sits on the windowsill, so that when the Queen saw Sophie, she would believe the rest of her dream was true too. The plan worked, and the Queen sent the head of the Army and the head of the Air Force to the land of giants, and they buried the giants into a deep hole.  

My favorite part was when Sophie read the labels and looked at the dreams that the BFG collected over the years. I thought it was really cool how you could just pick up a jar and know what kind of dream a person would dream. I also liked the part where Sophie first tasted the frobscottle(A drink that giants drink) because there was a lot of good description. I thought that 'The BFG' was a really unique and clever book.