The Reading Hideaway

Tit le:  Pirate Cinema Author:  Cory Doctorow Publisher:  Tom Doherty Rating:  1 Synopsis   (via Goodreads):   Trent McCauley is sixteen, brilliant, and obsessed with one thing: making movies on his computer by reassembling footage from popular films he downloads from the net. In near-future Britain, this is more illegal than ever. The punishment for being caught three times is to cut off your entire household from the internet for a year - no work, school, health or money benefits.  Trent thinks he is too clever for that to happen, but it does, and nearly destroys his family. Shamed and shattered, Trent runs away to London, where slowly he learns the ways of staying alive on the streets. He joins artists and activists fighting a new bill that will jail too many, especially minors, at one stroke. Jem introduces him to the Jammie Dodgers, beautiful brilliant "26" to love and cemetery parties.  Things look bad. Parliament is in power of a...

Title: Insignia Author: S.J. Kincaid Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books Rating: 4 Synopsis (via Goodreads):   The earth is in the middle of WWIII in   Insignia , the first entry in S. J. Kincaid's fast-paced sci-fi adventure trilogy perfect for fans of   Ender's Game .  The planet's natural resources are almost gone, and war is being fought to control the assets of the solar system. The enemy is winning. The salvation may be Tom Raines. Tom doesn't seem like a hero. He's a short fourteen-year-old with bad skin. But he has the virtual-reality gaming skills that make him a phenom behind the controls of the battle drones.  As a new member of the Intrasolar Forces, Tom's life completely changes. Suddenly, he's someone important. He has new opportunities, friends, and a shot at having a girlfriend. But there's a price to pay. Review: I don't normally read sci-fi, but the beauty of Battle of the Books is that I get to explore different genres. N...

Title: The False Prince Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen Publisher: Scholastic Rating: 5 Synopsis (via Goodreads): I n a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point -- he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.  As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.  An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truth...

Title: The Living Author: Matt de la Pena Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Rating: 5 Synopsis (via Goodreads):   Shy took the summer job to make some money. In a few months on a luxury cruise liner, he'll rake in the tips and be able to help his mom and sister out with the bills. And how bad can it be? Bikinis, free food, maybe even a girl or two—every cruise has different passengers, after all.  But everything changes when the Big One hits. Shy's only weeks out at sea when an earthquake more massive than ever before recorded hits California, and his life is forever changed.  The earthquake is only the first disaster. Suddenly it's a fight to survive for those left living. Review: I have just a few quick updates before I rant about how amazingly awesome The Living was... (=  1) I have a poor reason for my lack of blogging -- Life got in the way. You have no idea how upset it makes me when I don't have time to read a book, or do anything I...

Title: Waiting on the Sidelines Author: Ginger Scott Publisher: Self-Published Rating: 4 Synopsis (via Goodreads):   Nolan Lennox had things figured out. Named after a baseball legend, she enjoyed being the Tomboy, her closet filled with her brother’s hand-me-downs, cut-off jeans and soccer shorts. But when her first trip to high school results in a broken heart from the first boy to ever make her heart flutter and cruel words from an older girl she once thought a family friend, Nolan starts to question the very person she thought she was and wonders if her humble upbringing can compete with the afforded luxuries of her privileged peers.  Throughout the next four years, Nolan struggles to maintain herself throughout her path of discovery, learning just how cruel teenagers can be through the pressures of underage drinking, sexuality and class. And despite how life seems to continue to work against her, she still manages to listen to her heart, falling deeper and dee...

Title: The Notebook Author: Nicholas Sparks Publisher: Bantam Rating: 3 Synopsis (via Goodreads):   Set amid the austere beauty of the North Carolina coast, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner recently returned form the Second World War. Noah is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen years earlier, a girl he loved like no other. Unable to find her, yet unwilling to forget the summer they spent together, Noah is content to live with only memories...until she unexpectedly returns to his town to see him once again.  Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just the beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments and the fundamental changes that affect us all. It is a story of miracles and emotions that will st...

Title: Looking for Alaska Author: John Green Publisher: Speak Rating:  2 Synopsis (via Goodreads): Before.  Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.  After.  Nothing is ever the same. Review: This book should really be titled Sex & Booze because a majority of what I read revolved around those two subjects. I'd rather not read about some teenage kid watching porn and experiencing...