*A quick thank you to HarlequinTeen for my first official ARC.


Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett

Released: AU 28th August 2012
Series: Confessions [Book One]
Publisher: HarlequinTEEN
Pages: 272
Source: Review
Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository | Bookworld

Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl, has some confessions to make:

…1. I'm livid all the time. Why? My dad died. My mom barely talks. My brother abandoned us. I think I'm allowed to be irate, don't you?

2. I make people furious regularly. Want an example? I kissed Jamie Forta, a badass guy who might be dating a cheerleader. She is now enraged and out for blood. Mine.

3. High school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time. (Mars is red and "seeing red" means being angry—get it?)

Here are some other vocab words that describe my life: Inadequate. Insufferable. Intolerable.

(Don't know what they mean? Look them up yourself.)

(Sorry. That was rude.) - GoodReads

Book Trailer: [click here]

Confessions of an Angry Girl takes you on a bit of a journey. The journey of Rose Zarelli, as she struggles with loosing her dad, starting high school, peer pressure, and having feelings for boys. After her father died while working in Afghanistan, her mother stopped talking to her and her brother moved away to college. As she struggles to deal with this feeling of desertion, her best friend Tracy won't stop talking about joining the cheerleading squad, and wanting to hook-up with her boyfriend. Rose just isn't interested, and becomes increasingly frustrated with the people around her. She tries to do the right thing, but gets shut down at every turn. Why does high school have to be so difficult?

One night while at a party, in which alcohol is present and under age drinking is rampant, Rose discovers one of her classmates unconscious in the bathroom. Concerned for her, Rose calls 911 and as a result, the party is shut down by paramedics and police. Her classmates want to seek revenge. She tries to save Tracy from drowning in alcohol, as the cheerleading squad pours it down her throat as part of her initiation. Tracey can't believe how embarrassing Rose is being, and just wishes she'd relax. But Rose can't relax, because she's falling for the bad boy in school, Jaime Forta; and even though he has girlfriend, Rose has kissed him. Twice! All her pent-up anger comes to a head, when head cheerleader (aka. Jaime Forta's girlfriend) Regina confronts Rose about being a loser, and insults Rose's dead father.

Rating:
Even though I consider myself nothing like Rose, she still felt strangely familiar, and I found myself relating to her. As the title suggests, Rose is an angry girl. She faces a lot of challenges that most teenagers face during high school, doing what is right or trying to be popular. In her debut novel, Louise Rozett's writing brings these scenarios to life and made me feel like I was in high school again, right beside Rose. I felt like the book ended in a peculiar place. Although this could be a segue into the next book in Rozett's Confessions series. The book description had me expecting a little more in the way of language, describing Rose as a "word geek". But I did enjoy the word, definition, and synonym (often referring to Rose herself) at the beginning of each chapter. I was also expecting Rose to be an outwardly "angry girl", but found the majority of her anger built up inside, with little release.

I've been reading a few contemporary books lately, and Confessions of an Angry Girl was definitely on par with them. It's another book that I would recommend to teens going through high school, as a learning experience and as an enjoyable read. Or to anyone who enjoys YA fiction.

Happy reading,
Alisa

This review may contain spoilers if you have not read Storm Glass and Sea Glass by Maria V. Snyder. (I suggest you do, they are amazing! Then come back to this review).


Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder

Released: AU September 2010
Series: Glass [Book Three]
Publisher: HarlequinTEEN
Pages: 424
Source: Gift
Buy it: Book Depository | Amazon

Opal Cowan had been willing to make the ultimate sacrifi ce to save her friends and rid the world of blood magic. Though she survives, she is forever changed…

Opal has lost her powers. More than that, she is now immune to magic. Opal is an outsider looking in, spying through the glass on those with the powers she once had, powers that make a difference to the world and were her whole world…

Until spying through the glass becomes her new power. Suddenly, the beautiful pieces she makes fl ash in the presence of magic. And then she discovers that someone has stolen some of her blood and that fi nding it might let her regain her powers. Or learn if she’s lost them forever… - GoodReads

When we last left Opal Cowan, she had sacrificed her own magic in an attempt to save her friends. Unfortunately for her, but lucky for her friends, she was successful. In a twist however, Opal not only lost her powers, but is now immune to magic. Going from ‘powerful glass magician’ to losing her powers is tough for Opal, and at the start of Spy Glass we find her in her home town of Booruby, moping (although she won’t admit it). But she can’t stop thinking about her magic and about Ulrick, Tricky, and Devlin. She feels that she doesn’t have a purpose, and that if she was somehow able to restore her magic, that it would bring meaning back to her life. So, she travels all around Ixia in search of answers. In the process, she is attacked, attempts to break into a high security prison, gets caught in a mine explosion, and finds herself battling with blood magic. Poor Opal!

We meet some old friends in this final instalment of the Glass Series, and are also introduced to some new ones. Her relationship with her family, friends, and Kade are stretched to the limit. She finds herself drifting apart from people she once held close, and is attracted to people (or more specifically a someone) that she was once repulsed by. Her new immunity to magic turns out to be rather helpful, when she helps rescues a new magician on the verge of flaming out. With or without her magic, this new magician and his sister help Opal discover herself, and help her to discover another purpose.

Rating:
Overall, Maria V. Snyder does another amazing job at keeping you connected with the characters, and on the edge of your seat (or bed, or cushion, or wherever you happen to be while reading). Each cliff-hanger/surprise/mysterious chapter ending had me wanting more, and I finished the last half of the book in 2 evenings (I generally read before bed, so I had a couple of sleepless nights because of this book). Although I don’t ‘like’ the final decision Opal makes, it is explained well enough that I accept it and am happy for her. Opal’s seeking her ‘sense of purpose’ while searching for her magic is relatable, and although set in a fictional setting, gives the book a feeling of reality.

I really enjoyed Spy Glass, and the entire Glass Series. I truly hope that Maria continues writing about Ixia; even if Opal’s journey has ended!

Happy reading,
Alisa

“Hello, my name is Alisa, and it has been 10 months since my last blog post.”

You may have noticed, but The Novel Nook and I have been M.I.A for almost a year. Although I wasn’t posting, I have still been doing a lot of reading and rating on Goodreads. I love Goodreads. It has kept me connected with books and other readers, and I feel a sense accomplishment being ahead of my reading challenge schedule, even if I haven’t been as proactive with my blogging.

I feel like I owe you all an apology and an explanation on why I’ve been gone so long. The reasons are fairly simple and non-personal, so I’ll just get to it.

When I first started The Novel Nook, I was in my final year at university. Looking back, probably not the best time to commit myself to a blog, but as with most things, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately, I found myself letting my uni work slide, in favour of working on my blog. Then as the year continued, I started my internship at a school, and planning, teaching, and marking became my main priority. Soon graduation followed, as well as the task of applying for an education panel interview and job hunting. These things took up a large part of my time for several months.

Next, things weren't going as smoothly with my family as they had in the past. Sibling ‘disagreements’, work troubles, and ill family members; It all added up and took its toll on me too.

Now, seven months after I’ve graduated, things are looking better all-around for my family, and I think I’m ready to start blogging again. Last time when I began blogging, I feel like I took on too much at once. So this time, I’m giving myself a simple schedule which I feel I can manage along with my other commitments. You, the book bloggers community, are so friendly and accepting, and I hope you’ll join me again in sharing something we all love!

Thank you,
Alisa

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren.
I only purchased a couple of books this week, and one of them was a children's book. When I was a child, I used to love watching, and listening to, the Tales of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. I saw this book, and knew it was a must buy! Wicked Lovely was on sale, and I couldn't walk past the lovely cover of Delirium.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Petter Rabbit Bedtime Stories by Beatrix Potter


What did you get in your mailbox this week? (feel free to leave your links below)

-Alisa

I assume that a lot of you that follow/read/visit my blog enjoy reading YA novels. So when The Talking Teacup posted a list of the current Best 100 YA novels, I jumped at the chance to see which ones I had read.

You probably would have heard of a lot of these authors and books, but there was quite a large number that I hadn't heard of. This doesn't surprise me, as I'm new to blogging, but it certainly was an interesting list!

I have put the books I have read in bold, and I have underlined the books I own. So, without further ado:

1. Alex Finn – Beastly
2. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
3. Ally Carter – Gallagher Girls (1, 2, 3, 4)
4. Ally Condie – Matched
5. Alyson Noel – The Immortals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
6. Anastasia Hopcus – Shadow Hills
7. Angie Sage – Septimus Heap (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
8. Ann Brashares – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1, 2, 3, 4)
9. Anna Godbersen – Luxe (1, 2, 3, 4)
10. Anthony Horowitz – Alex Rider (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
11. Aprilynne Pike – Wings (1, 2, 3)
12. Becca Fitzpatrick – Hush, Hush (1, 2)
13. Brandon Mull – Fablehaven (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
14. Brian Selznick – The Invention of Hugo Cabret
15. Cassandra Clare – The Mortal Instruments (1, 2, 3, 4)
16. Carrie Jones – Need (1, 2, 3)
17. Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth (1, 2, 3, 4)
18. Christopher Paolini – Inheritance (1, 2, 3, 4)
19. Cinda Williams Chima – The Heir Chronicles (1, 2, 3)
20. Colleen Houck – Tigers Saga (1, 2)
21. Cornelia Funke – Inkheart (1, 2, 3)
22. Ellen Hopkins – Impulse
23. Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
24. Faraaz Kazi – Truly, Madly, Deeply
25. Frank Beddor – The Looking Glass Wars (1, 2, 3)
26. Gabrielle Zevin – Elsewhere
27. Gail Carson Levine – Fairest
28. Holly Black – Tithe (1, 2, 3)
29. J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
30. James Dashner – The Maze Runner (1, 2)
31. James Patterson – Maximum Ride (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
32. Jay Asher – Thirteen Reasons Why
33. Jeanne DuPrau – Books of Ember (1, 2, 3, 4)
34. Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
35. John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
36. John Green – An Abundance of Katherines
37. John Green – Looking for Alaska
38. John Green – Paper Towns
39. Jonathan Stroud – Bartimaeus (1, 2, 3, 4)
40. Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – Caster Chronicles (1, 2)
41. Kelley Armstrong – Darkest Powers (1, 2, 3)
42. Kristin Cashore – The Seven Kingdoms (1, 2)
43. Lauren Kate – Fallen (1, 2, 3)
44. Lemony Snicket – Series of Unfortunate Events (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
45. Libba Bray – Gemma Doyle (1, 2, 3)
46. Lisa McMann – Dream Catcher (1, 2, 3)
47. Louise Rennison – Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
48. M.T. Anderson – Feed
49. Maggie Stiefvater – The Wolves of Mercy Falls (1, 2, 3)
50. Margaret Peterson Haddix – Shadow Children (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
51. Maria V. Snyder – Study (1, 2, 3)
52. Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
53. Markus Zusak – I am the Messenger
54. Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
55. Mary Ting – Crossroads
56. Maureen Johnson – Little Blue Envelope (1, 2)
57. Meg Cabot – All-American Girl (1, 2)
58. Meg Cabot – The Mediator (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
59. Meg Cabot – The Princess Diaries (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
60. Meg Rosoff – How I live now
61. Megan McCafferty – Jessica Darling (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
62. Megan Whalen Turner – The Queen’s Thief (1, 2, 3, 4)
63. Melina Marchetta – On the Jellicoe Road
64. Melissa de la Cruz – Blue Bloods (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
65. Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
66. Michael Grant – Gone (1, 2, 3, 4)
67. Nancy Farmer – The House of the Scorpion
68. Neal Shusterman – Unwind
69. Neil Gaiman – Coraline
70. Neil Gaiman – Stardust
71. Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book
72. P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast – House of Night (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
73. Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials (1, 2, 3)
74. Rachel Caine – The Morganville Vampires (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
75. Rachel Cohn & David Levithan – Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
76. Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
77. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
78. Rom LcO’Feer – Somewhere carnal over 40 winks
79. S.L. Naeole – Grace (1, 2, 3, 4)
80. Sabrina Bryan & Julia DeVillers – Princess of Gossip
81. Sarah Dessen – Along for the Ride
82. Sarah Dessen – Lock and Key
83. Sarah Dessen – The Truth about Forever
84. Sara Shepard – Pretty Little Liars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
85. Scott Westerfeld – Leviathan (1, 2)
86. Scott Westerfeld – Uglies (1, 2, 3)
87. Shannon Hale – Books of a Thousand Days
88. Shannon Hale – Princess Academy
89. Shannon Hale – The Books of Bayern (1, 2, 3, 4)
90. Sherman Alexie & Ellen Forney – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
91. Simone Elkeles – Perfect Chemistry (1, 2, 3)
92. Stephanie Meyer – The Host
93. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga (1, 2, 3, 4)
94. Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees
95. Susan Beth Pfeffer – Last Survivors (1, 2, 3)
96. Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games (1, 2, 3)
97. Suzanne Collins – Underland Chronicles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
98. Terry Pratchett – Tiffany Aching (1, 2, 3, 4)
99. Tonya Hurley – Ghost Girl (1, 2, 3)
100. Wendelin Van Draanen – Flipped

Looking at this list, and the number of books I've read from it (or lack there of) I really feel like a bad reader/blogger. I know everyone has different tastes, but you'd think I would have read more of them than that. In my defence, I have read a lot of other books that are not on this list :). It was definitely fun to do, and has definitely inspired me to read more!

If you've filled out this list on your blog, I'd love to see what books you've read!

-Alisa

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren.
I haven't posted since July, which means I have a lot of books to share that I have purchased/received over the past 2 1/2 months. To save on some time (for both you and me) I will link each of the book titles to there respective Goodreads pages, and if you want to know more, then you can find the information there. So, here they are:



Purchased
Generation Dead by Daniel Waters
Trash by Andy Mulligan
You Against Me by Jenny Downham
Fallen by Lauren Kate
Torment by Lauren Kate
Passion by Lauren Kate
Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder
Outside In by Maria V. Snyder
The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Crosst
Blue Moon by Alyson Noel
Shadowland by Alyson Noel
Dark Flame by Alyson Noel
Night Star by Alyson Noel
Everlasting by Alyson Noel
Bloodlines by Richelle Mead and a SUPER cute owl bookmark ;)

Gift(s)
Storm Glass by Maria V. Snyder
Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder

Won
Bloodlines by Richelle Mead - I won a from @QBDTheBookshop on twitter
During August, I was lucky enough to get a few books signed by some great authors. Lauren Kate was in Australia, and although I wasn't able to make it to her signings, Dymocks was kind enough to hold copies of Fallen, Torment, and Passion and she signed them for me.

Maria V. Snyder also visited Brisbane in August, and I went to her one (and only) signing in the city. She signed Inside Out and Outside In for me! I was really nervious to meet her, and barley managed a "Hi", but she was super nice, and even posed for a photo.


What did you get in your mailbox this week?