Book Review for 'Between the Lines'

 BOOK REVIEW FOR 'BETWEEN THE LINES' BY JODI PICOULT AND SAMANTHA VAN LEER

Once upon a time, there was a young boy named Oliver who was born without courage. His love—Seraphima—had been stolen away and locked in a distant castle, and Oliver must go on a quest to save her. After an arduous journey across the kingdom, Oliver finds his true love and rescues her from the evil villain, and they live happily ever after.

If only life were that easy. Oliver lives in a twisted fairytale world, where he can talk to anyone and do anything—unless the book is opened. 

As soon as a reader cracks open Between the Lines, the characters have to act out the story. Day, after day, after day.

Nothing is as it seems. Oliver doesn't really love Seraphima, and Rapscillio—the evil villain—is actually a kind-hearted man who enjoys collecting butterflies.

Oliver is the only one who tires of acting out the story time after time. Everyone else is happy to do it, but all Oliver wants to do is live. He wants to explore the real world. He wants to live his own life, not act out a role that was created for him.

Then one day, the book is opened again, but something is different this time. This Reader notices more than anyone else ever has, and Oliver's enraptured by her. Her name is Delilah and somehow, some way, she and Oliver begin to talk and find solace in one another. 

But Oliver soon tires of just talking to her. He wants to escape the book, live real life, and be a normal teenager. He tries and tries and tries some more to escape out of his life, but nothing works. He’s stuck in his fairytale world, and there’s nothing he can do about it.

Or is there?

Between The Lines, a suspenseful tale of love, adventure, and hope, is sure to have you reading with your hands clenched around the pages. Told from three different points of view, this story is easily one of the best things I have read all year, and is (in my opinion) an essential for everyone’s bookshelf.

Read more here.

New Book Review Coming Soon!

Hey, everybody! I've started writing a book review for Jodi Picoult's new book, Between the Lines. It's a really really good book, and she wrote it with her daughter (who's in high school, by the way!), Samantha Van Leer.

I'll probably finish it in a few weeks, as I have a few MASSIVE projects for school that are due in about a week or so, and I won't have any time to write anything until then.

Thanks!

Alex :)

The Hunger Games Movie Review

So, I saw The Hunger Games today! It was really really really amazingly  awesome (I used three reallys just to show you how amazing it is). I still have to say that the book is better, but this is a really close second. All the emotions that were in the book were conveyed in the movie; the intensity of it was very well captured without it seeming Capitol-ized.
The movie was actually surprisingly true to the book, even though some of my favourite lines were taken out . But the characters were all really well cast (Jennifer Lawrence (aka Katniss) is perfect for her role especially), and the male leads (Peeta, Gale and yes, even Cato) were nice looking enough that all of the (other) girls were like:


…And, moving on. I really liked how the movie showed showed scenes from the Gamemaker’s lab, and district 11 in that one scene (which, by the way, was totally heartbreakingly touching and sad). The mutts, and the arena and almost everything was really well done. Especially Rue, who’s definitely one of my favourite characters in the books. I really really liked what they did with her character; I liked how they gave her time to shine and made her mischievous.
All in all, the movie is really really good, and definitely worth spending some money for a ticket on.
And now, movie commentary from me!

The fact that the “Well, don’t step on me, sweetheart,” line was taken out:



“I can still cook you, you know.”

“Well, win. And when you come home, she can’t refuse!”
“Thanks, but that’s not going to work in my case.”
“Why not?”
“Because she came here with me.”

“That’s mahogany!”

“I keep wishing I could think of a way to show them them they don’t own me. That I’m more then just a piece in their Games.”

“Katniss… sing to me.”

“You call that a kiss?”

“You know that day when you came to school in a red plaid dress, and your hair was in two braids instead of one? The music teacher asked who knew the valley song, and you… you put your hand up. *laughs* And everyday after that, I watched you walk home.”

I don’t own any of these pictures. Just saying.

That’s all for now! See you later!

BOOK REVIEW FOR ROTTEN APPLE
Rotten Apple introduces us to 16-year-old Apple, daughter of the very famous TV personality, psychologist Dr. Bee Bee Berg, the “Queen of Hearts”. Apple seems to have the life we all dream of, wonderful friends, money, and (sigh) a crush on her friend, Zen. Apple is the complete opposite of her mom (her nickname is the “sponge”), because she takes it all in and doesn’t let anyone know how she feels.  Apple doesn’t tell anyone about her crush, especially Happy, her BFF.
In the beginning everything is normal, then her hot crush Zen returns after being away in Australia and things change drastically; he now harbours a crush on Happy – and Apple loses her cool.  She initiates Plan Z to get Zen to like her. When this fails, she turns to more drastic measures - like hacking her mom’s computer and giving out bad advice. Unfortunately, all the lies and manipulation get her into a load of trouble. Happy, upset with Apple and her antics seeks vengeance and goes on “The Queen Of Hearts” to tell the world what Apple has done.
Apple starts to realize she made some bad decisions; she starts to understand why she did it and what she could have done to handle it better.  In the end, she realizes that family and friends are too important to lose. In order to keep what happened from happening again, she needs to open up to people and express her feelings.
By Alex. W.