The Fault in Our Stars by, John Green

Publishing House: Dutton Books

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Reasons:

So this book… before I get into the reasons that I have rated this book I just want to say that I read this book in two days. The only reason it took me that long was because I started back to school.

Okay so if you read the summary of this book you know that our wonderful protagonist, Hazel Grace, is sick. Hazel has cancer, this is one of the reasons for the PG-13 rating. Cancer is not a light and fluffy subject and John Green does a very well about addressing death and mortality.

As in most cases when cancer is involved there is death. This is also handled in an almost beautiful way.

 Another reason for this rating is that there is a sex moment. There is no description of the act itself just small glimpses before and after.

Finally for the cussing in the book, there is very little that I remember reading. They use A and JA.

So there you go! That is my review of The Fault in Our Stars.

Identity by, Ted Dekker

Publishing House: Outlaw Studios

Genre: Thriller, Christian Fiction

Rating: PG

Summary: Who am I?

My name is Christy Snow. I'm seventeen and I'm about to die. 

I'm buried in a coffin under tons of concrete. No one knows where I am. My heart sounds like a monster with clobber feet, running straight toward me. I'm lying on my back, soaked with sweat from the hair on my head to the soles of my feet. My hands and feet won't stop shaking.

Some will say that I m not really here. Some will say I'm delusional. Some will say that I don t even exist. But who are they? I'm the one buried in a grave. 

My name is Christy Snow. I'm seventeen. I'm about to die.

So who are you?

Reasons:

Alright so by now, if you have read my posts or you actually know me, you will know that Ted Dekker is my favorite author and I tend to rave about his work….   Well this post is no different.

Identity is the first short story in the Eyes Wide Open book. So the way that Ted Dekker released this book was a little weird. What he did was offered Identity as a free book to anyone who wanted it and then over the course of 6-ish months he released the other three books (Mirrors, Unseen, and Seer).

These 4 short stories make up the book Eyes Wide Open. I have not read the other three yet because there were some series that I needed to complete that took so precedence but I plan to get to them soon so that I can get a review out for all of them. (If I read the last 3 in a few days then I may just do them all in one review)

Anyway, Identity is a great little story that will get you very interested in Christy and what is happening to her. So the synopsis doesn't really tell you that much about the story and I have found just by reading Identity that this is because there is no way to tell you about it without spoiling the book for you.

So since we don’t want to do that I will just give some brief reasons for why this book is rated PG. This book does not cuss (that I remember) so the reason this book is rated PG is solely due to violence and suspense.

This book is a quick read at only 66 pages but if you choose to read it that it is a small part of a bigger story and because of that you should really be ready to be sucked in because Identity is the shortest of all the books.

Pet Peeve Post

So this week I will be straying from my typical post to talk about something that I personally find a little more... well... personal. I am going to talk about one of my biggest reading/book pet peeves.

So ever since I was 8 or 9 and I really became interested in reading I have been looking for book suggestions. I love to hear about what books people are reading and what they think about them. However, I cannot stand it when someone loans me a book that I didn’t ask for.

This has happened to me several times where a friend will come up to me one day with a book in their hand and give it to me and says “You have got to read this book I loved it and I just know you will love it too.”

Don’t get me wrong I love it when people are reading and think that I should read a book and want to recommend it to be but I don’t want the book just handed to me. I want you to sit down with me and tell me about it and tell me why you loved it.

However, I have enough books to read already. I have so many books that are just sitting on my shelf waiting to be read and I now have to put them on hold because I have a book on loan to me that I did not plan to read but now feel obligated to read as soon as possible.

Because of this there have been times that I have kept a book for a week or so and then returned it without reading anything more than the back cover and tell the person that I read it and it was a good book.

This does not happen often because I do try to give every book that is given to me the fair shot that it deserves. However, some books I can read the back cover and know that it is not a book that I will enjoy and in some cases the type of book that I read.

This all came up because I was straitening my desk that has become and danger zone since I started back to school and found a book that someone had loaned me in December that I had never even heard of before. I have not read it yet. Fortunately this person does not seem to be missing it and I am pretty sure that they have forgotten they have given it to me at all.

The book is one that I would be interested in reading I just don’t have a lot of time to do so. In any case that is my rant over my big reading pet peeve. So when talking to me about books keep this in mind… PLEASE!

Hana (Delirium #1.5) by, Lauren Oliver

Publishing House: HarperCollins

Genre: Young Adult, Science fiction

Rating: PG-13

Summary: The summer before they're supposed to be cured of the ability to love, best friends Lena and Hana begin to drift apart. While Lena shies away from underground music and parties with boys, Hana jumps at her last chance to experience the forbidden. For her, the summer is full of wild music, dancing—and even her first kiss.

But on the surface, Hana must be a model of perfect behavior. She meets her approved match, Fred Hargrove, and glimpses the safe, comfortable life she’ll have with him once they marry. As the date for her cure draws ever closer, Hana desperately misses Lena, wonders how it feels to truly be in love, and is simultaneously terrified of rebelling and of falling into line.

Reasons:

So I had seen this book when it was first published however I was a little worried about it because I have read several books that were ‘1.5’ and they were horrible. I could not stand them at all. However, Hana was a book that answered so many questions that I had from the first book.

When I started this book I really did like Hana, I felt a little bad for her because in the first book you get the feeling that Lena has abandoned her to be with Alex. However, when I finished this book I could not stand her.

Now that my little rant is over on to the review. In spite of the fact that I no longer like Hana due to this book I also loved it at the same time. Basically this book and I have a love/hate relationship. I rated this book PG-13 because it is a sort of ‘coming of age’ book.

Hana goes to parties that are against the law, their kids are doing partaking in very intimate behavior and Hana mentions that they are not at all shy about it. In one scene there is talk about a girl having her skirt hiked up, in another Hana walks into a room where there are couples going at it in every corner, in yet another there is a scene of a girl kissing another girl.

At one point a boy tries to get Hana into bed with him and on the way to that scene they walk down a hall and Hana talks about the beams across the ceiling having girls’ underwear thrown over them. If I remember right it is briefly talk about why they are there.

In all of this nothing is described but is defiantly not something for young readers.

There is also some slight cussing but it does not happen too often in the short story.

This book has an ending the broke my heart in to pieces and I have to say that if you read Delirium and enjoyed but have questions about why some things happened this is the book to get those answers. 

However, as always, the choice is yours.

Last Rite (Personal Demons #3) by, Lisa Desrochers

Publishing House: Tor Teen

Genre: Paranormal, Young Adult

Rating: PG-13

Summary: In this final installment of the thrilling, edgy Personal Demons series, the battle between Heaven and Hell has become critical, and Frannie Cavanaugh is right at the center of it. 

With the help of the powerful angel Gabe and demon-turned-mortal Luc, Frannie has been able to stay one step ahead of the forces of Hell. But when the demons killed Frannie's best friend and destroyed her brother, they raised the stakes. If Frannie wants to keep her family and friends safe, she knows she has no choice but to go on the run.

Their best defense is the power Frannie has been struggling to master, but her attempts to hone her skill go horribly awry. If Frannie doesn't learn fast, the consequences could be devastating--even apocalyptic.

What happens when you can't outrun Hell...or trust the ones you love?

Reasons:

This is the last book in the Personal Demons series. I was honestly sad to see this series in because it had sucked me in to whole heartedly that it only took me a week to read this book (and that is including the fact that I am in my first year of college).

In terms of the rating this book is very similar to the other books in the series however this time it is more rated for violence. This is the final book so of course the final battle takes place and that is where most of the valance comes from.

There are also a few risqué scenes but nothing to descriptive. Then of course there is some cussing as well.

This series caught my attention and wouldn’t let it go. All in all I loved these books but as always the decision is up to you.

The Murder of King Tut by, James Patterson

Publishing House: Little, Brown and Company

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery

Rating: R

Summary: A secret buried for centuries

Thrust onto Egypt's most powerful throne at the age of nine, King Tut's reign was fiercely debated from the outset. Behind the palace's veil of prosperity, bitter rivalries and jealousy flourished among the Boy King's most trusted advisors, and after only nine years, King Tut suddenly perished, his name purged from Egyptian history. To this day, his death remains shrouded in controversy. 

The keys to an unsolved mystery

Enchanted by the ruler's tragic story and hoping to unlock the answers to the 3,000 year-old mystery, Howard Carter made it his life's mission to uncover the pharaoh's hidden tomb. He began his search in 1907, but encountered countless setbacks and dead-ends before he finally, uncovered the long-lost crypt. 

The clues point to murder

Now, in The Murder of King Tut, James Patterson and Martin Dugard dig through stacks of evidence--X-rays, Carter's files, forensic clues, and stories told through the ages--to arrive at their own account of King Tut's life and death. The result is an exhilarating true crime tale of intrigue, passion, and betrayal that casts fresh light on the oldest mystery of all.

Reasons:

I am a huge history fan. I am fascinated by Ancient Egyptian History so when I discovered this book and saw that it was written by one of my favorite authors I was very interested.

This book is defiantly not for children just because of the fact that some manners discussed in the book would be hard for children to grasp. Examples of this are murder, marriage to a sibling (something common in ancient Egypt), rape, and a wife giving her husband another women to sleep with.

I rated this book as R because of these themes as well as moments of intimacy are briefly described.

This book is very good and truly enjoyed it even with the jumping over pieces. As always the choice to read this book is yours. 

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by, Carrie Ryan

Publishing House: Delacorte Books

Genre: Young Adult, Horror

Rating: PG-13

Summary: In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

Reasons:

This book has got to be one of the best I have read in a long time. It is about zombies and lately zombies have been very much over done but this book is amazing.

I rated this book PG-13 for the reason of violence more than anything else. They do a lot of killing zombies and because of the fact that in order to kill a zombie you have to chop their head off there is a lot of blood and guts.

There are a few cuss words if I recall correctly but they are few and far between. However, be forewarned the ending of this book disappointed me a little. I’m sure that is mostly due to my personality type but I found the ending fairly disappointing. Non-the-less I loved the book.

However, as always, it is up to you.