Book Review: Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

A tainted batch of the flu vaccine gives an entire homeroom (minus two students who did not get the vaccine) the ability to read minds.

There's not much to the story.  There's no depth and really no character development.  There are a lot of characters being that this is about what happens to an entire 10th grade homeroom.  There are a few that we focus on more than others, but it's a still a number that doesn't allow us to get that close to them.

It's a cute story that I could see made into a cute teen-made-for-TV-movie, but it lacks depth. The issues these kids have to deal with aren't explored very much.  All the reader sees is there is a problem and either it's caused or enhanced by their ability to read minds.  And even the ESP thing isn't focused on in great depth, either.

The ending was also a dissapointment.  That's not to say I am unhappy with what was decided, but again, it just lacks that depth.  It just happens.  Decisions are just made.  It seems very superficial and on the surface.  I really feel there is a lot that could have been explored.

I read this book as a review request from Netgalley.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.

Book Review: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor was the new girl in school and Park was just the boy sitting alone on the bus.

Set in 1986 this is the story of two, I don't want to say outcasts, that unexpectedly fall in love.  Eleanor returns home after being thrown out of the house by her stepfather.  She's a bit overweight with red hair and freckles--a combination that doesn't help her make friends at her school.  Park is half Asian with a few friends but he's not a majorly popular boy or anything.

Eleanor has her own troubles aside from Park to get through, not that Park is a trouble.  She had been thrown out of the house by her stepfather and now returns home to a life where her siblings like or pretend to like him.  She can't stand him and he can't stand her.  She feels creepy due to situations in the house.  Park is her escape.

The book is not a clean read.  There is cussing.  In the beginning it was a lot and I was afraid every page would be littered with dirty words, but fortunately they died down quite a bit.  I'm against cussing, but I'm not going to turn a book away because it has in it.  I read for the story and the story here was really good.

I read this book for pure pleasure.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.

Book Review: Dark Eyes, Deep Eyes by T. Neal Tarver

I finally finished this book.  It's not so much the book's fault.  It got caught in that time period where I took a break before Christmas.

Wayne and Nick.  Father and son.  Heaven and Hell.

Described the book right there and that's pretty much my problem with it.  The story has nothing.  No depth. A story like this could really have depth.  It could really focus on the characters and how they got to where they are.  But, I never found that.  They're just there.  There's a little explanation to why they're where they are, but in the whole grand scheme of things it's nothing.   I was not impressed with this book.

I read this book as a review request for Book Look Bloggers formally known as Book Sneeze.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.

Book Review: The Book Thief by Mark Zusak

A story of Nazi persecution in Germany as told by an interesting narrator...death.

Liesel Meminger is an orphan going to live with her foster family.  Her brother dies along the way.  At his burial she comes across a book, The Gravedigger's Handbook.  This book helps to save her.  She does not know how to read, but her new father helps her learn and together they make to the end of the book. Liesel is in search of more books.  She wants to read.

This story is not just about a girl wanting to read.  It's about living in Germany in 1939 after they hosted the Olympics and Jesse Owens won his medals, after he became a hero to a young white boy named Rudy.  It's about hiding someone in the basement.  It's about Nazi Germany, Heil Hitlers, and the Hitler Youth.

I've read a few Holocaust stories.  This story is different.  While not the narrator, it is told from the view of a Jewish sympathizer.  But, it's not like Anne Frank or Number the Stars.  It's not about hiding and all that stuff.  It's about discovery.  I wish we could have gone deeper into Liesel's head, but I was intrigued by death being the narrator, so maybe the story would not have been so good if he wasn't.

I read this book for pure pleasure.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.