Gallagher Girls Chapter 28 Discussion!

Welcome to the discussion for chapter 28 of I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter! The discussion is open to everyone. There are no right or wrong answers so feel free to tell us what you really think!
HEADS UP: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS**

1. They lost communication with the other teams. Technical difficulty or possibly failed mission?
2. Mr. Solomon definitely underestimated the girls. Have you ever been in a situation where you were underestimated or you underestimated someone else? How did it make you feel? Did it cost you anything?
3. What Josh did totally surprised me. Did you think he was capable of something like that? Did Cammie underestimate him?
4. What an odd situation to meet her mom! Have you ever met someone under weird circumstances? How did it affect your relationship in the future?

Book Trailer: The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading by Charity Tahmaseb and Darcy Vance

When Bethany -- self-proclaimed geek girl -- makes the varsity cheerleading squad, she realizes that there's one thing worse than blending in with the lockers: getting noticed. She always felt comfortable as part of the nerd herd, but being a member of the most scrutinized group in her school is weighing her down like a ton of textbooks. Even her Varsity Cheerleading Guide can't answer the really tough questions, like: How do you maintain some semblance of dignity while wearing an insanely short skirt? What do you do when the head cheerleader spills her beer on you at your first in-crowd party? And how do you know if your crush likes you for your mind...or your pom-poms? One thing's for sure: It's going to take more than brains for this girl genius to cheer her way to the top of the pyramid.

Dying to read it now? Check out this book trailer!

The Elite by Jennifer Banash

From the top, you can see everything . . . except yourself.

When Casey McCloy steps into the elegant Bramford building, she's overwhelmed. Fresh from the Midwest, she's moved to New York's Upper East Side to live with her grandmother and attend the prestigious Meadowlark Academy. Here all that matters is who you know. The girl to know is Madison Macallister: popular, pretty, platinumblond. She's not just Casey's new classmate and neighbor; she's an icon. So Casey aims to get in with Madison and her gorgeous gal-pals from the start. As the reigning queen of coolness, Madison is capable of destroying reputations with one welltimed whisper. Better to be on her good side.

But after a city-haute makeover from her new frenemy Madison, Casey is wearing the right clothes, saying the right things, and meeting the right people-including Drew, the boy-about-town who Madison thinks belongs to her and her alone.
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I was somewhat surprised by The Elite. It was well-written and very readable. Banash can throw in brand names and still keep the story's integrity, a talent some authors are hard to come by. While the character's wardrobes were mentioned, the plot wasn't overly focused on what the character's were wearing. It was dramatic without being unrealistic.

The points of view rotated between the five main characters. This allowed the reader to get to know each of them better. I think they were all better developed because you got to see firsthand what they were thinking, how they perceive others, and how others perceived them. I believe this definitely upped the readability and enjoyability of the novel.

I found many things I could relate to which is rare in my past experiences with novels dealing with high class New York.

Overall, it was a fun read that anyone can enjoy. I can't wait to read the sequel, In Too Deep. I'll also be picking up the third book, Simply Irresistible, when it is released.

I want those huge sunglasses on the cover! =P

3.5 out of 5 stars

Five Minutes More Winner

Thanks to everyone that entered my contest for Five Minutes More by Darlene Ryan! A special thanks goes to Darlene Ryan for providing the prize!

The winner is:

Ashley

Congratulations!! I'll be emailing you shortly and you'll have 2 days to get back to me before I pick a new winner.

Check back for another contest soon!

Waiting On Wednesday (10)

The Cupcake Queen by Heather Hepler
Pub. Date: September 17, 2009
Publisher: Penguin


A confection of a novel, combining big city sophistication with small town charm. When her mother moves them from the city to a small town to open up a cupcake bakery, Penny’s life isn’t what she expected. Her father has stayed behind, and Mom isn’t talking about what the future holds for their family. And then there’s Charity, the girl who plays mean pranks almost daily. There are also bright spots in Hog’s Hollow—like Tally, an expert in Rock Paper Scissors, and Marcus, the boy who is always running on the beach. But just when it looks as though Penny is settling in, her parents ask her to make a choice that will turn everything upside down again. A sweet novel about love, creativity, and accepting life’s unexpected turns.
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The cover is what originally made me take a second look at this book. I mean, those cupcakes look delicious! The synopsis, though, looks really interesting too. This is Heather Hepler's first solo novel, all her previous ones have been collaborations with Brad Barkley. I haven't read anything she's worked on before but I have some high expectations!

The Waiting On Wednesday feature was created by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers

Perfect Parker Fadley isn’t so perfect anymore. She’s quit the cheerleading squad, she’s dumped her perfect boyfriend, and she’s failing school. Her parents are on a constant suicide watch and her counselors think she’s playing games…but what they don’t know, the real reason for this whole mess, isn’t something she can say out loud. It isn’t even something she can say to herself. A horrible thing has happened and it just might be her fault. If she can just remove herself from everybody--be totally alone--then everything will be okay...The problem is, nobody will let her.
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Cracked Up To Be was a really fast read. It just drew me in and I couldn't bear to put it down.

At first, I was enthralled with the story because I wanted to know what happened to Parker to make her throw her amazing life away. She had everything a girl could want but for some unknown reason she didn't want it anymore. She broke up with her boyfriend, stopped getting good grades, renounced her position as cheerleading captain, and started drinking at school and getting into all sorts of trouble. I was most interested in seeing how a person could suddenly just make their personality do a 180 degree turn.

Parker was an interesting character to read about and she had a great voice. Her wit, snark, and attitude made her seem so real.

I really liked Summers' writing style. Every so often she would add in flashbacks that clued you in to past events.

The drama builds up until in the end you finally find out just what happened to mess up Parker's life so much. Not disappointingly, it makes sense and wholly satisfies you.

Overall, Cracked Up To Be was an interesting read that you'll devour in no time. I recommend it!

4 out of 5 stars

Cold Hands, Warm Heart by Jill Wolfson

Dani was born with her heart on the wrong side of her body. In her fifteen years of life, she’s had more doctor’s appointments, X-rays, and tests, and eaten more green hospital Jell-O than she cares to think about. Fourteen-year-old Amanda is a competitive gymnast, her body a small package of sleek muscles, in perfect health. The two girls don’t know each other, don’t go to the same school, don’t have any friends in common. But their lives are about to collide.
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There were parts of this book that were touching and other parts that made me laugh. It was all over the map in regard to emotions.

I liked that Dani wasn't really bitter about all her medical problems. She dealt with things with a fairly positive attitude. This made her a lot more likable to me.

I think reading this novel made me a little humbler. It sort of opens your eyes to how fortunate you are just to have a heart and all the rest of your internal organs that work correctly. I know I definitely take that for granted. I probably would never have even thought about it if not for this book.

The points of view of each chapter were all different and mixed up and I sometimes had difficulty discerning who it was that the story was following. Sometimes it even switched from one paragraph to the next. It was mostly in the 3rd person, though, so eventually it identified a specific person. I found myself thinking "Jeez, can I get some labels please?"

The plot was sometimes a little boring and just plain made me sad. It wasn't something I'll be eager to read again.

Overall, I didn't have many complaints about the actual story itself, just the way in which it was presented. If you like reading about people with medical problems and how they live and deal with their issues, I recommend Cold Hands, Warm Heart.

3 out of 5 stars