The Juliet Club-Suzanne Harper

Italy . . . Shakespeare . . . but no romance?
Kate Sanderson inherited her good sense from her mother, a disciplined law professor, and her admiration for the Bard from her father, a passionate Shakespeare scholar. When she gets dumped, out of the blue, for the Practically Perfect Ashley Lawson, she vows never to fall in love again. From now on she will control her own destiny, and every decision she makes will be highly reasoned and rational. She thinks Shakespeare would have approved.
So when she is accepted to a summer Shakespeare symposium in Verona, Italy, Kate sees it as the ideal way to get over her heartbreak once and for all. She'll lose herself in her studies, explore ancient architecture, and eat plenty of pasta and gelato. (Plus, she'll be getting college credit for it—another goal accomplished!) But can even completely logical Kate resist the romance of living in a beautiful villa in the city where those star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet met and died for each other? Especially when the other Shakespeare Scholars—in particular Giacomo, with his tousled brown hair, expressive dark eyes, and charming ways—try hard to break her protective shell?

So I bought this book basically on a whim, but it turns out that I really loved it. The main character was accepted to a Shakespeare Seminar so that was what intrigued me the most about why she was going to Verona, Italy. The author uses wonderful descriptions of the city and all the sights that the main character saw there. By the end of the book, it felt like you had just visited Italy too. She also uses mulitple points of view among all the characters in the story, and I really liked how that turned out because they were all very interesting. So this is a really great novel if you love Shakespeare. I wasn't quite satisfied with the ending, but authors do that to you I suppose. This is a book where I hope there is a sequel. I highly recommend this book.

New Moon-Stephenie Meyer

Seriously, who even needs a summary? I'm sure you all know what this book is about by now. Though you should be warned that there are major Twilight series spoilers to come. And also...

***Please consider before reading this post***

I have nothing against this series. In fact, I love this series. If you're a huge Twilight fan, don't take anything in this post personally. While I may have some strong opinions about some of the characters, it does not influence my opinion of the book, and I still like it very much regardless.

Okay, so I'll get started now. What can I say about New Moon? It used to the only book in the Twilight series that I had only read once. I also thought that it was my least favorite. That's the main reason that I kept putting off rereading it. But I gave in about a week ago.

So there were things that I liked and hated about this book. The first time I read this, I absolutely hated and despised Jacob Black. I, like most everyone else, just wanted Edward to come back. But I had this opinion before I read Eclipse, which was when I realized I didn't like Edward as much as I thought I did. Anyway, I was always constantly annoyed with Jacob and wished that he would just go away. Even through my second time, I still found myself wishing that at some parts. But I approached him with more of an open mind this time. I figured, what was it that I hated so much about Jacob Black? (just in New Moon, don't get me started about Eclipse.) Seriously, what did I dislike about him so much? He was a kind, caring friend towards Bella. He was the one who got her out of her huge pit of depression after Edward left. From the outside, he seems like an awesome guy. Then I realized the only reason I didn't like him was because he threatened Bella's relationship with Edward. And then like I said before, I realized after I read Eclipse that I didn't like Edward as much as I thought I did. So through my second reading of New Moon, Jacob didn't annoy me half as much as he did before. So that was an improvement I noticed while reading it again. So even though I was still relieved when Alice came back and the plot started to pick up again (and reach my favorite part when they go to Italy), I still appreciated that part of the book more when Bella hangs out with the werewolves.

Still remember that this is my opinion on the characters in New Moon. My Eclipse one (that will be interesting) won't come until later.

So like I said, it was better the second time when I had an open mind. Even though my favorite part was still the Volturi in Italy. That part was just awesome. So I enjoyed it, and it went by a lot quicker than it did the first time.

So some Eclipse thoughts will be coming soon. This is all just in preparation for Breaking Dawn on Aug. 2, which I am excited for. I think that it has the potential to be the best in the entire series, so that's what I'm looking forward to.

I added a playlist!

I've been thinking about doing it for a while. Not many songs on there right now, but I'll probably add more later. So for now, enjoy!

Don't expect any new book reviews for a while. Right now I'm rereading a book (that you've all probably read), and will giving my thoughts on it, even though I've read it before. Should be fun.

Have a great week!

Leanna

Some Narnia News

Will Poulter has been cast as Eustace Scrubb in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader! He's fourteen, so he'll be two years older than Georgie Henley and two years younger than Skander Keynes. He's okay, except I wasn't expecting him to be so... small. Though I guess he'll fit the part perfectly. This just raises my hope that maybe Dawn Treader will be better than Prince Caspian was. I can only hope. ;)

Pretty Face-Mary Hogan

Hayley wishes she could love living in Santa Monica, blocks from the beach, where every day—and everybody—is beautiful and sunny. But she just doesn't fit in with all the blond, superskinny Southern California girls who have their plastic surgeons on speed dial. Hayley is smart and witty and has such a pretty . . . face. Translation: Don't even think about putting on a bikini, much less dating superhot Drew Wyler. A bikini will never be flattering, and Drew will never think of her as more than a friend.
Just when Hayley feels doomed to live her life in the fat lane, her parents decide to send her to Italy for the summer—not for school, not for fat camp, just for fun. It's there, under the Italian sun, that Hayley's vision of herself starts to change. She's curvy, not fat. Pizza isn't evil. And life is so much more than one-size-fits-all. Who knows? Once Hayley sees herself in a new light, maybe the girl with the pretty face will finally find true amore.

The main reason that I wanted to read this book was because the main character went to Italy. It was a fast read, and I read the whole thing in one day. They describe a lot of the Italian scenery and about all the sites and buildings there, so I enjoyed that. It was the typical story about a young girl going off on her own for the first time, meeting a guy, etc. So in all, it was a pretty good read. Check it out if you want some light summer reading.

I went to the library

Okay, first off, I don't go to the library much. I used to go all the time, probably every other day, when I was a kid. But I stopped going because I realized I didn't like the books there. I started to prefer new books from the bookstore, plus I found out that the bookstore has a way better selection. So I probably didn't set foot in the library again for years.
Yesterday, I went there with my sister and I was surprised...they actually had books! We went to the Teen section (which only consists of three bookcases, but whatever) and they actually had books I recognized. Even new ones. I think that I was under the impression for years that they didn't have a good selection of anything, and that there would be nothing I would know there. But there were. Many of them that just barely came out. I was so excited, my sister was kind of like, " Duh, what were you expecting?" And also surprisingly, most of them were in good condition ( I don't think many people go in the teen section much.)
So libraries have books. Who would have thought?

English Goose Girl

I bought the English The Goose Girl while I was in England! Sadly, I haven't been able to get a picture of my actual book, but this is what the cover looks like. The Enna Burning and River Secrets books were the same except for the background on EB was red and on RS it was blue. I wish I could have gotten them all! I have to say looking in the bookstores was one of the parts I enjoyed most, because it was interesting to see the different covers to all the books that you know about. The YA section in most of them were limited to about two shelves so it was kind of sad. But I was really glad to see that they had a lot of Shannon Hale books!

I'm back!

Yay! I am so happy to be home. After two extremely long flights, I finally got home at around midnight last night (or technically, early this morning). And I have to say...

I hate airports. The entire security thing is so dumb. We had to go through it twice, plus check our luggage twice when we reached our layover in New Jersey. It just tires me out, especially when you're in a line with one hundred other people front of you and behind you. And after one seven hour flight, plus three hours of waiting in the airport in New Jersey, my plane back to Salt Lake City was sitting on the runway for an hour because of who knows what. So I was in a pretty bad mood on that last flight.

Okay, I'm done complaining. This morning my grandpa surprised me with a cell phone as an early birthday present. I'm very happy.

Now I can finally enjoy summer vacation (which will mostly be spent reading, online, and things of that nature.)

Have a great day!

Leanna

Even More Pictures

When we went to Oxford yesterday, we got to see the building where they filmed the first Harry Potter movie. It was cool, and you could really recognize it, especially the halls and staircases. That's where the picture's from.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm ready for this trip to be over. I'm completely exhausted. I think that once you start wanting to come home, it means that you made the most out of the trip, right? Plus everyone is probably getting tired of these trip posts.

I'll probably have some new book reviews when I get back. I'll post again once I'm home!

Leanna

More Trip Details

We went to Bath yesterday and I have some pics from it. It was extremely cool to look at everything. The picture above is of me touching the water from the baths. The water is really hot! But I should mention that England is absolutely beautiful, both in the country and in the cities. The buildings are amazing and if you're an architect like my sister you'll be having lots of fun. We went to Oxford today and I got a University of Oxford t-shirt. Since the sizes work differently in Europe, I got a little confused so I hope I grabbed the right one. ;) Some things you should know about England:

• When you order lemonade at a restaurant, they'll bring you Sprite.
• None of the drinks are cold ( no ice).
• They call parking lots "car parks".
• They call the restrooms "toilets".
• Chips are called cripses.
• When you put a dime in their vending machines, it will come right back out.
• Most of the buildings are from the 1400s.
• So much more, I can't write it all.

More later!

Leanna

London Picture

I'm still in England and I haven't had too many opportunities to use the computer yet. Sorry. But we did go to England yesterday and I have a picture of my sister and me in front of Buckingham Palace!

Hopefully I'll have some more opportunities to post later!

Leanna

Unbelievable-Sara Shepard

Behind Rosewood's grand façades, where the air smells like apples and Chanel No. 5 and infinity pools sparkle in landscaped backyards, nothing is as it seems. It was here, back in seventh grade, that five best friends shared everything—Seven jeans, MAC makeup, and their deepest, darkest secrets. For Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily, it was a dream come true . . . until Alison, the most beautiful of them all, suddenly vanished.
Now someone named A has turned their charmed lives into a living nightmare. Emily has been shipped off to her hyper-conservative cousins in Iowa. Aria is stuck living with her dad and his home-wrecker girlfriend. And Spencer fears she had something to do with Alison's murder. But Hanna's fate is far worse than all of that—she's clinging to life in the hospital, because she knew too much.
With A's threats turning dangerous and Ali's killer still on the loose, the girls must uncover the truth—about A, about Ali, and about what happened to Hanna—before they become A's next victims. But as they unravel Rosewood's mysteries and secrets, will it bring an end to the horror . . . or is this just the beginning?

This is the fourth book in the Pretty Little Liars series. The main reason I like these books are that they're easy and can entertain me pretty fast and well. Compared to some of the other books in the series, this one wasn't the greatest but I still enjoyed it. I would recommend these books if you're looking for a suspenseful mystery, but don't want anything too hard. A little warning though, these books do have some suggestive content. This one hardly had anything at all though. So go out and try these if you want.

P.S. I found out I'm taking my laptop with me on my trip so I will be able to give updates.

Have a great week! Yesterday was my last day of school. :)