Review: All That Matters by Youseph Tanha

“Ethan Wright is just like any other high school kid that is one day lucky enough to meet the girl of his dreams. Throughout the course of high school the young couple learn to cope with incredibly difficult odds to discover all that matters.’All That Matters’ is a novella about love and life and all that the heart can endure. With memorable characters and a deep story you will find it difficult to put this book down.”
(Source: http://www.YousephTanha.com/ )
Raw, real, and a little gritty this book shows a true struggle in life.
Really describes what going into high school is like in a small town. I loved it. Ethan is a teen boy that falls for a pretty girl in his tech class. I loved Ethan. He is such a sweet guy and endures a lot for Amanda, the girl of his dreams. Despite the fact that the book covers the heavy topic of cancer, the book isn’t really depressing. If anything, it is inspiring and hopeful showing how much a relationship can be stretched. It's a great love story told from the boy's point of view. I haven’t read a book that is so honest about what a high school student experiences in a long time. “All that Matters” shows Ethan, a normal high school guy, go through the normal high school events, like first love and finding true passion. In a word, I would call this book “real”. I loved this book, from the characters to the storyline to the setting in a small town.
Pages: 98
Chapters:16
Level of Romance: The story kinda revolves around Ethan’s love for Amanda. There is some sexual content.
Rating: Favorite!
 Buy this book here: Amazon

Review: "Hello," I Lied by M.E.Kerr

Lang Penner is a teenage boy spending the summer on the exclusive estate of retired rocker, Ben Nevada. His mother is a cook for Nevada and Lang is just along for the ride. When Nevada gets a guest from France, the lovely Huguette, Lang is employed to keep her busy. Lang is reluctant, but as time wears on, he begins to like hanging out with Hugette. In fact, she makes him question his status as homosexual and everything he's already decided for himself. One thing is for sure, that summer will be one Lang will never forget.
I loved this book so much. Lang was a great narrator with an authentic teen attittude. Even though I didn't expect it, this book kept me up at night finishing the last page and then hours after that thinking about the outcome that shocked me, but at the same time didn't. Honestly, after finishing this book, I feel how Langdescribes himself at the beginning: torn. Lang questioning his sexuality is something I expected to be so much more awkward, but Kerr does a great job making it flow into the story. I had preconcieved notions about this book, but as I read and became entangled with the characters, they all melted away. In my opinion this has everything that an LGBTQ book should have.
   As a warning, this book does have some mature language like "fag". The word is used quite a bit so...Also, as an LGBTQ book, sexual interactions is addressed and talked about.
  Level of Romance: mild? I guess it's not really romance-y, but Lang does talk about his feelings ...
Rating: Favorite

Review: The Boys of Summer by Richard Denney

  The Boys of Summer( Book one: Secrets)
Declan Ambrose is an openly gay vampire in love with a human...whom he's never met. Sent on a mission by his coven's leader, Victor, to retieve a bracelet from Riley Morgan. Riley is a teen boy with an awful fate and Declan is determined to save him from it. As for his mission, his love for Riley may hinder Declan's progress in that.
   I didn't enjoy this novella as well as I did the rest of Richard's works. I'm not sure what it was, but I didn't like Declan and reading this book, told through the point of view of his eyes, was hard. Honestly, Declan's motives are a little blurred makig his whole character less than believable. On the other hand, I loved Riley. He is my favorite character of Richard's to date. He is the character torn between love and what he must do. But it doesn't feel fake, which I love. I really hope to see more from him. The storyline was good and it definitely kept me guessing and engaged. Overall, absolutely worth the read .
Level of Romance: Just count on a lovesick vampire narrating the story. His thoughts are enough to spice it up.
Rating: Like
Buy it here
Pages (on the kindle): 66
Chapters: 6
Source: Amazon
Edition: Kindle e-Book
Release Date: August 2nd, 2011

Read Dangerously Final Report

So, it's officially over, this read-a-thon. I didn't do too shabby. Here are the stats:
Books Read: 4
1. Schooled by Gordon Korman
2. Crash by Jerry Spinelli
3. Claimed by Lauren Barnholdt and Aaron Gorvine
4. Tricked by Lauren Barnholdt and Aaron Gorvine

Pages Read:488

Hours of Reading: about 9

Best book Read: I think it's a pretty close call between Crash and Schooled. I enjoyed both so much and they are both written by my favorite authors. If I had to choose, I would probably go with Schooled because it has a little more depth to the narration and character arches.

Worst Book Read: This one is really tough because I sincerely enjoyed all the books I read. I'm not going to pick anything for this category.

Did you enjoy the read-a-thon?: Absolutely. I read a lot in these past three days and the challenges were really inventive and a great relief when you needed a midday break from reading. I'm really glad I participated!

I always seem to be come super busy during a read-a-thon. I really should have logged more hours of reading and gotten more done. Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk, right?
I'll have all the reviews up soon (within a week I hope!) so you can know all there is to love and dislike about these books. See ya'll soon and Happy Reading,
                              :D Marriah

Read Dangerously Day Two Challenges

1. The object of this challenge is to describe what you are reading in 7 words or less. Here it goes:
                  Home-schooled boy goes to public school.
That was my 7 word description of Schooled by Gordan Korman


2. The second challenge of today is to come up with a dream cast for one of your read-a-thon books. I'm going to use the other book I'm reading for this one, which is Tricked by Lauren Barnholdt and Aaron Gorvine.


    Brody is a popular jock with money and a cocky attitude. I'd cast Brody Jenner as him.

Campbell is another jock, but he's really nice and new to the popular scene. He also happens to be some kind of obsessed with the new girl. I'm choosing Chace Crawford.

Natalia is the new girl with a worrisome past that she is running from and hiding from her new schoolmates. I'm gonna choose Kristen Stewart.

And lastly, I'll cast the resident It girl of Santa Anna. Raine is the girl who is at the top of the social food chain and gets whatever she wants. Miley Cyrus is who I'd choose to play her.

So I've still got quitea few pages to read, so wish me luck and I'll update you tomorrow.

  :D Marriah

    

Read Dangerously Day One Report

  It's now day two of this read-a-thon and I've decided to give you an updated version of how I did yesterday.
   Books Read
1. Crash by Jerry Spinelli (162 pages)
2. Claimed by Lauren Barnholdt and Aaron Gorvine (60 pages)

Currently Reading
1. Schooled by Gordan Korman
2. Tricked by Lauren Barnholt and Aaron Gorvine

Day One Stats:
Total Pages Read- 222
Total Reading Hours- about 4
Total Books Read- 2

I'm really happy with how much I got done on day one. Let's hope that luck transers to day two! Wish me luck
            :D Marriah

Read Dangerously Read-a-Thon Update and Challenges

Since I can't just read one book at a time, I am currently reading two books for this challenge, both of which will be finished by the end of today.

1. Claimed(Witches of Santa Anna Book One) by Lauren Barnholdt and Aaron Gorvine
    44 out of 60 pages complete

2. Crash by Jerry Spinelli
    92 out of 168 pages complete

Hours Read (so far): 3
Total pages read (so far): 136

Here are today's challenges:

1. For this challenge, we are supposed to pick 1-3 songs that relate to the book we're currently reading. Since I'm reading two, I'm going to use the use Claimed for this one.
    A. Decode by Paramore
           Reason: This book reminds me of Twilight sorta with the new girl and the mysterious kids that everyone swoons over. This song kinda embodies that along with the questionable romance aspect, which is also present in the book.
     B. Shameless by All Time Low
             Reason: I feel like this song plays every time Raine, one of the popular main characters, walks into the room. It definitely describes her in title alone.

2. The second challenge was to have a mini excerpt of your current read that doesn't contain spoilers. I'm going to use Crash for this one. This excerpt is from page 17:
                " My mother  didn't like the peel job on the tree, so I was grounded for three days. My sister  
collected the scraps of bark and got some Elmer's glue and pasted them back on the tree trunk like a jigsaw puzzle."