Review: Rockoholic by C.J. Skuse

Title: Rockoholic
Author: C.J. Skuse
Page: 368
Publisher: Chicken House

Synopsis from the back cover:
Jody's obsessed with a rock star. At Jackson Gatlin's concert, she's right at the front. But when she's caught in the crush, Jody's carried backstage. Throw in a concussion, a super-wired superstar, and a Curly Wurly- and she finds herself taking home more than a poster. OMG! Jody's kidnapped  him. But what happens when the rock god in her garage doesn't want to leave? Jody's stuck between a rock idol and a hard place.




Review

Truth be told, I couldn't really relate to the main character of this story in the context of obsessing over a band member since I have never worshiped them. I am just somebody who enjoys multiple genre of music. However, as the world is producing more and more hot singing/dancing boys to ogle at, I can usually witness those kind of idiotic adoration via the internet.

Since it is not something I'm familiar with, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was supposed to be a new experience and I was a bit expectant when it came to romance between them. The author just proved me wrong and that was what I love the most about the book. They did not immediately fall in love and make babies. It turns out that Jackson is a druggie and he was high when Joy kidnapped him. When he is finally at Jody's house, her best friend who is a guy opposed her decision of keeping him like some lost puppy.

Jody learned that not everything on tv was real. Because of him, she managed to fix her relationship with her family.  Besides, she managed to destroy the thoughts that his best friend is gay. She finally opened her eyes that he actually love her. Thus the reason he always stick with her. I mean, who would stand all your weirdness and not love you. But, she is still quite thick for a girl. She gave her entire savings just to help Jackson get another identity.

Jackson the rock star suffered from being indirectly abuse by his producer. If you can call being fed drugs so he can perform 24/7 as indirect, then that's what it is. During his stay with Jody, he was detoxed and learned friendship. He get to skip his life and start over. He did set up another identity but was always caught and brought back to his producer. But, with Jody's help he did.

This is a sweet read and I got to see what's all the big deal with artists. However, I'm still not convinced to join the bandwagon of worshipers.

These are the other covers. I personally like the one above actually. My house mate bought it at a Big Bad Wolf book sale.

Review: Eve and Adam

Title: Eve and Adam
Author: Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Page: 291

Goodreads synopsis:

And girl created boy…

In the beginning, there was an apple—

And then there was a car crash, a horrible injury, and a hospital. But before Evening Spiker’s head clears a strange boy named Solo is rushing her to her mother’s research facility. There, under the best care available, Eve is left alone to heal.

Just when Eve thinks she will die—not from her injuries, but from boredom—her mother gives her a special project: Create the perfect boy.

Using an amazingly detailed simulation, Eve starts building a boy from the ground up. Eve is creating Adam. And he will be just perfect... won’t he?

Review:

Look at the cover. Isn't it swoon worthy? This book can actually be summarise by one quote which is  "Love isn't finding a perfect person. It's seeing an imperfect person perfectly". Although this book talks about the supposed conspiracy that Eve's mother is up to, I see it more as a love story. Ah, teenage love. I sound like an old lady, didn't I. I assure you, I'm a barely twenty teen that have never experienced love.

Eve had an accident. Her mother whisk her away from the general hospital to her own medical facility as it is the best in the world and had cured countless diseases. There, she met Solo whose character does not just draw her in by he seems mysterious enough. 

Solo is actually her mother's ward. He had been living at the facility for almost a decade. He befriended Eve, but not without an ulterior motive. During his stay there, he believed that he had uncovered a conspiracy where Eve's mother, Tera had done severe experiments that lead to many grotesque deformities in humans and animals alike. He thought that she was an ice queen who stop at nothing to gain profit. He rationalizes his action of taking down Spiker's Corporation is for the greater good. The fact that he's taking down his parents' murderer is just an added bonus.

But then his perfect plan became not so perfect when Eve is involved. When he included her in the plan, she readily helped but they learned something valuable along the way. Not everybody who appeared bad is bad. and before we assume, we should do this crazy method called asking.

Before I forget, almost half of the book talked about how Eve created Adam. I literally mean created as he was not patch up like Frankenstein. He was genetically built, raises in a tank and was utter perfection. Since Eve is a perfectionist, she designed everything according to her heart's desire. However, in the end, she did not choose Adam. This shows that we do not need perfection. He's perfect but too perfect for her. Adam is not perfect to her best friend. he got a great IQ and all but he is still a baby in a sense. He match up well with her.

The best friend that I was talking about has bad luck with boys. It's not that she's not pretty but she tends to fall for the bad boy. She was also one of the source of conflict in this book. Why? Her boyfriend is a pot dealer and did not like to pay his benefactor. Being a good girlfriend, she would always shell out money for him. It's a relief that she finally got the guts to just dump him. In my opinion, it would be much more fun id\f she just pull the trigger and kill him. Such worthless creature should not be allowed to live. He endangers her, ruins her and steal depends on her. That is not a quality a man should have. Not to mention that he's a coward as well.

Okay, I'm sorry that my review sounds kinda like a summary of the story. It's just that, it was such a quick read that not much things register. It was a bit too perfect for my taste. The conspiracy was over quickly although not entirely predictable. Everything was resolved in the end. It's just that I've read other books by Michael Grant and compared to the previous book, it's way to easy. His other dystopian books gave me nightmares.

By the way, here's another cover for the book. It's not that pretty but this is the cover for the book that is sold in my country.

Review: Heist Society by Ally Carter

Title: Heist Society
Author: Ally Carter
Publisher: Hyperion (a division of Disney)
Page: 287

Goodreads synopsis:

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own—scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring Kat back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has a good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.

For Kat, there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family's history--and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way.

 Review:

I think that Goodreads synopsis have already gave an apt description for this book. I have always love stories about pranks or anything that got to do with spies. Come on, who doesn't like Spy Kid? When I got older I watched Leverage and Covert Affairs which feature all this cool spies.


This book is about a thief who is sick of stealing that she wanted to live as a normal girl. However, normal is way too over rated and she was kicked out of the school that she conned to get in, in the first place. They're trying to persuade her to go back to her world because her father is in danger.


What intrigue me was there's this anonymous guy who actually committed all the crimes against bad thieves. He used the infamous pseudonym Visily Romani. Visily Romani is Chelovek Pseudonima which literally translate as Alias Man. In this story, it claimed that Visily Romani had done various crimes that is said to be high leveled. That would have been awesome except that this time the Visily Romani crimes pointed directly towards Kat's dad. This Visily Romani stole some paintings that belongs to a tycoon that is another type of bad. They are thieves but he's worse, more ruthless. Even when Kat tirelessly explained countless times that her father did not stole anything because he was busy doing another theft, he still won't believe her.


It was up to Kat to clear her father's name. All this is easier said than done. When even her great-uncle refuses to help, what is a teenager to do? Her cousin Gabs and best friend Hale contacted their partners in crimes, mere teens to assist them to find where the paintings are.

Their adventures of relocating and re-stealing the paintings is truly an awesome read. Along the way, they managed to meet some interesting new people and Kat learned something about her past.

Besides, their con actually made Kat rethink her decision of being normal. Besides, someone of her talent should put it to great use. 

Review: Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

Title: Stupid Fast
Author: Geoff Herbach
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Page: 311

Summary from Goodreads:

I, Felton Reinstein, am Stupid Fast. Seriously. The upper classmen used to call me Squirrel Nut, because I was little and jumpy. Then, during sophomore year, I got tall and huge and so fast the gym teachers in their tight shorts fell all over themselves. During summer, three things happened all at once. First, the pee-smelling jocks in my grade got me to work out for football, even though I had no intention of playing. Second, on my paper route the most beautiful girl I have ever seen moved in and played piano at 6 a.m. Third, my mom, who never drinks, had some wine, slept in her car, stopped weeding the garden, then took my TV and put it in her room and decided she wouldn’t get out of bed.

Listen, I have not had much success in my life. But suddenly I’m riding around in a jock’s pick-up truck? Suddenly I’m invited to go on walks with beautiful girls? So, it’s understandable that when my little brother stopped playing piano and began to dress like a pirate I didn’t pay much attention. That I didn’t want to deal with my mom coming apart.

Review:

This book is fast paced  and the summary didn't do it much justice. Stupid fast is written in a boy's point of view whom I assume just undergo  puberty. The way it is written, I think I'm either reading a 15-year old's diary which he wrote everyday before bed or I'm accessing a boy's thoughts. Either way is fine.

 I think his household is whack. His mother had him when she was 19 and hide him from the real truth about his father. His mother made him believed that his father is the opposite of what he really is. He accepted all those lies because he did not get the chance to know his father. Why? His father committed suicide when he was five and he was the one who found him hanging from the ceiling. Still, his mother believed that they had a pretty complete loving family.

I symphatise with Felton because he was bullied in school and had to live with the assumption that he's no better than anyone. His best friends are jerks and one of them had to go and live with his grandmother. His other best friend ditched him.

The day his mother finally lose it was when he started playing football. Puberty had made him taller, lifting weights and training made him buffer. Suddenly, he was the spitting image of his father. Throughout the book, it discussed on how his day has gone, how he cope (or not cope actually) with his life and handle the thought of a girl fancying him. It's quite hilarious seeing how he handled his new friends and his inner voice that prevent him from strangling those annoying people.

Felton believes that he's a retard. I think he's just a typical boy who actually haven't recovered from the incident. Add in a hippie mum, a piano-genius brother and bullies in a small town, there you have it, a kid who feels scrawny even when he outgrown his tiny shell.

Stupid Fast makes you think about why people enjoy sports in general. You don't necessarily have to enjoy sport to like this book though. What makes me happy was everything was resolved. He became happier, got new friends, a girlfriend, a better relationship with his brother and his mother's getting help for depression.

All in all, it's a good read which can be devoured in one sitting. The plot is not that hard to follow and uses simple words so you don't have to think much. :) 

Review: Girl Parts by John M. Cusick

Title: Girl Parts
Author: John M. Cusick
Page count: 218
Publisher: Candlewick Press

Summary from Goodreads

David and Charlie are opposites. David has a million friends, online and off. Charlie is a soulful outsider, off the grid completely. But neither feels close to anybody. When David’s parents present him with a hot Companion bot designed to encourage healthy bonds and treat his “dissociative disorder,” he can’t get enough of luscious redheaded Rose — and he can’t get it soon. Companions come with strict intimacy protocols, and whenever he tries anything, David gets an electric shock. Parted from the boy she was built to love, Rose turns to Charlie, who finds he can open up, knowing Rose isn’t real. With Charlie’s help, the ideal “companion” is about to become her own best friend. In a stunning and hilarious debut, John Cusick takes rollicking aim at internet culture and our craving for meaningful connection in an uberconnected world

Review

The reason why I chose the book was mainly because of the cover and the summary. Besides, there was a manga called Zettai Kareshi with similar premise that I've read a few years back so I decided to read it.

Girl Parts is written in multiple point of views which are of David, Charlie and Rose. Unfortunately, when having so many different point of views, there is a lot of things to cover but not enough pages to tell everything. David has this air of neglected son but his character was not fully developed. All I can see that he was a boy lusting after girls. He is considered dissociative by his school counselor when he witnessed a girl committing suicide but he didn't do anything about it. The fact that she is from a neighbouring school didn't help either. When given the chance to have his own Companion, he thought that the idea was ridiculous at first but soon complied. I thought he was sweet when he spend most of his time with her, teaching her different things abut life. It was quite difficult as it's like introducing the world to a baby. I was fooled to the point where I believed that he was easily swayed by a pretty girl. However, his true motives shown when he discovered that he cannot deflower her as she do not own any vagina.

Another point of view is from Charlie, a boy who was raised by a single parent. I find him much more mature than David but him snapping at Rose is a huge no-no for me. He jumps to conclusion much too easily when it comes to Rose. He was also offered by the school counselor to join the Companion program as he seemed to be experiencing a Dissociative Disorder and the Companion could teach him how to be better around people. He declined saying that it is silly. It is true as who can gauge a person's true happiness. He is happiest alone but if that suits him, then it's alright.

Rose, the Companion is just a robot but she is much too human to be considered as one. When she was dumped by David, she tried to commit suicide only to be saved by Charlie. Charlie also tried to help her by sending her to chop shop for her to be free of the memory of David. She was then hunted by her creator but she escaped successfully.

The story is set somewhere in the near future because even if the class is conducted using computers and they have to stay put in class, other things don't really change such as their cars. It just seemed to be a normal high school experience with the addition of robotic prostitutes.

What I don't really enjoy about this book is that there's so much more to tell than Rose's heartbreak. The fact that her flashes of memories serve no purpose as they don't exactly revealed much about her. How special she is? Why was she number one and the only one of her model?

Besides, David was suddenly grieving about his loss (Rose's disappearance) and Charlie's sudden friendship with him was a bit tad confusing. It also subtly shown that they're fighting for her. In the end, nothing was resolved and I felt like I wasted my precious hours for nothing. This book just deal with loneliness that teenagers feel and some teen angst.

Unsurprisingly, the character that  I dislike in this book is the school psychologist who is there to replace the old one. His character is dodgy and he seems to be manipulative. He try to appear sympathetic and understanding but he is really picking on the students weaknesses and turn their words against them. I almost screamed in joy when Charlie caught him in the act of dishonesty during a session. Go Charlie!

I do feel this story is a bit rushed and think there ought to be a sequel so this torture can continue. If you have loots of time, you can pick this book up for a quick read but it is not something that I would recommend. Why? I don't like books with unresolved issues and leaving me hanging.