The Queen of Kentucky Review

Title: The Queen of Kentucky
Author: Alecia Whitaker
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company/Poppy
Source: Borrowed from my Library


Goodreads Summary:

Fourteen-year-old Kentucky girl Ricki Jo Winstead, who would prefer to be called Ericka, thank you very much, is eager to shed her farmer's daughter roots and become part of the popular crowd at her small town high school. She trades her Bible for Seventeen magazine, buys new "sophisticated" clothes and somehow manages to secure a tenuous spot at the cool kids table. She's on top of the world, even though her best friend and the boy next door Luke says he misses "plain old Ricki Jo."
Caught between being a country girl and wannabe country club girl, Ricki Jo begins to forget who she truly is: someone who doesn't care what people think and who wouldn't let a good-looking guy walk all over her. It takes a serious incident out on Luke's farm for Ricki Jo to realize that being a true friend is more important than being popular.

My Take:

Yay! Another Contemporary book that I liked! Ricki Jo symbolizes EVERY girl starting out High School. I loved the drama! The drama of a crush, girly fights, best friend issues, the underage drinking, the sexual conversations, and even the embarrassing parents. That kind of drama is real. Real, but not extreme drama that would have me closing the book and just calling it ridiculous. That didn't happen! I do not miss high school. :)

Wolf. Everyone probably has their very own Wolf-type story. 

I had a couple of guy best friends in school. We weren't as close as Luke and Ricki Jo, but kind of close. Don't worry, though! I didn't fall in love with either of them.

I'm happy about the ending. I'm not happy about what happened to Luke, but happy that he took a stand. Yay for Luke! Yay for Ricki Jo!

Sometimes, we have to learn that the grass is not always greener. Lord knows I've been there, done that! Have you?

My Rating:

This will be a great book to recommend for readers who may not be big fans of contemporary novels. I really enjoyed it!  

The Queen of Kentucky satisfies a part of both of my challenges I've signed up for: CCC, hosted by Chick Loves Lit (Shanyn); and SARC hosted by IceyBooks (Hafsah) and I Like These Books (Britta)

I find myself straying from my original lists quite a bit! I do hope that's OK!

Dearly, Departed Review

Title: Dearly, Departed
Author: Lia Habel
Pages: 467
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Source: Borrowed from my Library


Goodreads Summary:

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie? 
The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses. 
But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.
In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.

My Take:

Let me start by saying that this was my very first zombie novel. Secondly, let me say...HOLY COW, I'm so GLAD!!!!

Lia Habel created a world that is different, yet familiar. I TOTALLY loved the futuristic Victorian age. The technology that she's added is amazing! Even the retro machinery and clothing -- fantastic!

I loved Nora. She's a great main character! Prim and proper, yet open-minded and handled everything better than I could ever imagine doing. 


Bram. Bram. Bram. Bram, I need a man like you in my life. Such manners. So handsome. Floppy hair. Did I mention the manners? How about breaking the rules to help the girl you liked? The uniform? Sa-woon!  

CHAS! She was so much fun! A zombie who was pretty much a princess in her human life and she remembered what it was like. "Makeover!" I laughed so hard at that! A zombie excited about dressing Nora. SO, so funny!

Pamela. I want to be like her when I grow up. Girl's got some big kahunas! 


Samedi and his head. Hahaha! "Well of course, you've had that bloody uniform on all day. I was half ready to tell you how much I liked you." Teeheee!!!


I wonder what will happen for Miss Mink? And Ren? Ooooo!


Boy, near the end, there were quiiiiite a few pages I sobbed through while reading. Oh my goodness!

My rating:

I WILL be purchasing my own copy of this book and be ready for the rest of the series. AH-MAZING!

This book was read just for fun! No challenges for this one.

Demonglass Review

Title: Demonglass

Author: Rachel Hawkins

Pages: 359

Publisher: Hyperion Teens

Source: Borrowed from my Library

Goodreads summary:

Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch. 
That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth. 
Turns out, Sophie’s a demon, one of only two in the world—the other being her father. What’s worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will destroy her powers. 
But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new friends? They’re demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Archer to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?

My take:

Sa-wooooon! Archer or Cal? Cal or Archer?!?! I'll take them both, please!

This book had all that a book should have -- great characters, evil, wittiness, some more evil, sarcasm, a girl learning more about her powers, the bad guy not being so bad, loooooove, hot guys, more evil, a father/daughter bonding, even more evil, kissing, secret about mom, and so much suspense until the next book. Gah! So good!

My rating:

I am definitely going to buy my own copy of this book so I can read it when I need some great humor!

This book was read just for fun! No challenges for this one.

Giveaway! Win a copy of Where Things Come Back!

Title: Where Things Come Back
Author: John Corey Whaley

Goodreads summary: 
Just when seventeen-year-old Cullen Witter thinks he understands everything about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town, it all disappears. . . .

In the summer before Cullen's senior year, a nominally-depressed birdwatcher named John Barling thinks he spots a species of woodpecker thought to be extinct since the 1940s in Lily, Arkansas. His rediscovery of the so-called Lazarus Woodpecker sparks a flurry of press and woodpecker-mania. Soon all the kids are getting woodpecker haircuts and everyone's eating "Lazarus burgers." But as absurd as the town's carnival atmosphere has become, nothing is more startling than the realization that Cullen’s sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother Gabriel has suddenly and inexplicably disappeared.

While Cullen navigates his way through a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young missionary in Africa, who has lost his faith, is searching for any semblance of meaning wherever he can find it. As distant as the two stories seem at the start, they are thoughtfully woven ever closer together and through masterful plotting, brought face to face in a surprising and harrowing climax.

Complex but truly extraordinary, tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity, this novel finds wonder in the ordinary and emerges as ultimately hopeful. It's about a lot more than what Cullen calls, “that damn bird.” It’s about the dream of second chances.

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Hex Hall Review

Title: Hex Hall

Author: Rachel Hawkins

Publisher: Disney Hyperion Books

Pages: 323

Source: Borrowed from my Library

Goodreads Summary:

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

My take:
I loved this book so much! The humor in it was just perfect and it didn't mess with the "serious" parts of the story. I am SO GLAD I finally got around to reading this one. I think I may have to purchase it for my own collection.

The school and magical world that Rachel created for this story is great. I think I'd like more Cal in the other books. :)

A great quote from the book, actually near the end..."There was a sensible part of me somewhere that clutched its pearls and hissed that I better not give up my V-card in a cellar..." Southern belle at heart!!!! HAHAHA!

Moving on to Demonglass NOW!




My rating: 

I am definitely going to buy my own copy of this book so I can read it when I need some great humor!

This book was read just for fun! No challenges for this one.