[fiction] Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies)

By: Justina Chen Headley

"Truth: We are all hapas, in one way or another. Not necassarily half-Asian, but trust me we are all half something. Half-good, half-bad. Book smart, street stupid. Math guru, beachbum. Class geek, closest romantic. Student body president, school coward. Boyfriend, jerk. Couldn't we all be in the "check all of the above category"?"


This charming, heartbreaking, and hilarious book follows a girl named Patty Ho as she struggles to find her place in her world. A debut novel from Justina Chen Headley and it really has this humourous spark to it that really makes you laugh. This nocel was quite fun to read -- it was very enjoyable to follow. The twist at the end really makes everything all gather up if you ask me. (Twists after all are a good story's best friend).

Patty's been taken to see Belly-button Grandmother who channels her future via her belly button. Since it's been her fate that she ended up with a white guy -- Patty's mom freaks out and sends her to math camp at Stanford. Patty uncoveres a lot there more or less about hersled and her family. From it all, she begins to accept who she is and realizes her mom might actually love her more than she'd think.

The writing style was very flowing and I think it seemed so young, so perfect and you automatcially knew Patty's personality and of course it was easy to relate to her most of the time. The drama was easy to follow. Humour was inserted ingeniusly at correct times. And of course, the way the story was plotted out was quite well done if you ask me as well. It was fresh and richly narracted. The ending -- it was slightly dissappointing for some reason and I think it blew everything back a little.

The whole lesson and moral was great. I mean in a great book there's always a philosophy and a twist and/or a really sweet ending. The moral of us all being hapas was great. Her truth thing at the end was just something expected and soemthing we were all waiting for really. So it was nicely done but .. i seemed so incompletely strange. When I re-read the ending.. the last line showing her whole name was actually quite nice. So I guess was just expecting too much.

nice story, nice plot, nice twist, okay ending, I ... could... put it down. nice cover :P lol.

Mark: 7/10

[fiction] Rucker Park Setup

By: Paul Volponi

This is the 3rd novel by Paul Volponi and it follows the perfectly written basketball drama story about friendship, deaths, and the price of it all when it's gone. Volponi's characters are right-on. They story was easy to follow in emotional and plot purposes. It's full of mystery and drama all packed into an important game. Our opinions wander around the shape of the situtation depicted in the book and really, in the end we just hate the bad guy full-out.

The story follows Mackey, a young inspired basket-ball player with his friend J.R. -- both living to win the basketball tournament at Rucker park. Street balling isn't just about sinking balls into hoops, its about the drama too. On the day of an important game J.R. is stabbed. Mackey blames himself. The story exposes "the painful truth that some wrongs cannot be made right."

I think the story flows pretty well actually. Volponi's style shows that he understands the characters inside out and knows exactly what they can say and how they can say it. Not expected huh? But it's o perfect. The story is actually pretty dark. Not much good happens in it. The plot really shows us some really intense mystery. I kind of like it actually. The ending was written in Stove's point of view and I thought it was actually very well done. It seemed like a good way to end it off. I would've liked it better if J.R. said soemthing about Mackey being a good loyal friend or something like that.

It would make you feel bad and want to tell him everything. But this ending works out great.

Mark: 6/10

[fiction] Skin

*vusunbat.a-'nabas-dbugde-vyig'--. .

By: Adrienne Maria Vrettos

This book really outlines problems of an unstable family. A debut novel written by Vrettos and I find it so amazing -- the pace is perfect, the situation - reactions - thoughts.

Skin is a touching story about real-life and the problem of disappearing. A wonderful debut novel from Adrienne Maria Vrettos. The story is about rebirth and death. And the rebirth death can bring. It's about family problems – breaking apart. Most of all change.

It follows the life of Donnie – induced with pure conflict and chaos. His sister isn't eating healthy and his parents are in fights almost every time they meet. Donnie's world is changing – and this story really depicts how he can stop being invisible and fix it – maybe not back to normal, but to something better.

I love how Vrettos has a balance about how to write. In writing style basically for me there's a scale on whether or whether not it's mature (like a computer block writing with no character) and freeflow (writing as spoken). I like how the balance creates a good flowing style that really has the image in your head – and really hooks you into the book because it seems so easy to follow. I tend to love the humour packed into this novel very much. It made me burst out laughing at one point haha.

I loved the characters, the problems, the setup – and of course the reminder of events. Especially the last sentence. It was amazing. I loved how it ended. This was an excellent book – not the best but I really thought it was something.

Mark: 9/10

[news] Another Trip to the Library!

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YAYYY!! We have books :D Just took another trip to the library to get more books to review of new authorsssss. Well-- their debuts anyways :D.

finally! It's sooo nyeh. So many books to read lol. I think I'll cancel out a few.

So I have two author debuts --

Nothing but the truth (and a few white lies) By: Justina Chen Headley

Hilariously written story about being half chinese and american.

FirstLight by Rebecca Stead

And enchanting tale of two worlds.

♥