Time Traveling Fashionista books by Bianca Turetsky Review

Disclaimer: I bought this book to read to give it an honest opinion!

Time Traveling Fashionista 1
Author: Bianca Turetsky
Pages:262
Published: April 5, 2011
Publisher: Poppy

Overview
What if a beautiful vintage dress could take you back in time?

Louise Lambert has always dreamed of movie starlets and exquisite gowns and longs for the day when she can fill the closet of her normal suburban home with stylish treasures. But when she receives a mysterious invitation to a vintage fashion sale in the mail, her once painfully average life is magically transformed into a time-travel adventure.

Suddenly onboard a luxurious cruise ship a hundred years ago, Louise relishes the glamorous life of this opulent era and slips into a life of secrets, drama, and decadence. . .

My Take I saw this book in the store one day. Honestly the pink cover caught my attention and I just had to have it. Time traveling by fashion? That is awesome. Of course this book is geared towards 5th-8th graders but the story itself is great! I love the whole book and the themes that are in this book.

Louise Lambert craves for vintage fashion. She can't get enough of it considering she's only twelve years old in the book. So one day she gets an invitation to this vintage fashion sale. She could not resist this. She had to go and off she went! She is on a mission to find a dress for the dress that is coming up.

Off to the store she goes. She ends up meeting these two strange ladies in the shop. While Louise browse the shop, she finds a stunning dress that just calls to her. The two older ladies encourage her to try it on. Loving the dress, Louise eventually gets shipped back in time on a ship! At first she did now know where she was and who she was. But somehow she figures it out and learns she was on the Titanic! She needs to figure out how to save herself and those she's met on the ship? Can she do it?

This was such a fun read and quick too! I love how the author brought these pages to life by the story and illustrations of the gowns and events that were going on. I am also a fan of Titanic stories. So I was glad to make this purchase! The character Louise is a likable, fun and adorable character. One would be happy to go on her journey with her.

The Time Traveling Fashionista at the Palace of Marie Antoinette

Author: Bianca Turetsky
Hardcover
Pages: 272
Published: September 2012
Publisher: Poppy

Overview
Louise Lambert's best friend's thirteenth birthday party is fast approaching, so of course the most important question on her mind is, "What am I going to wear?!" Slipping on an exquisite robin's egg blue gown during another visit to the mysterious Traveling Fashionista Vintage Sale, Louise finds herself back in time once again, swept up in the glory of palace life, fancy parties, and enormous hair as a member of the court of France's most infamous queen, Marie Antoinette.

But between cute commoner boys and glamorous trips to Paris, life in the palace isn't all cake and couture. Can Louise keep her cool-and her head!-as she races against the clock to get home?

My Take:
Louise Lambert shows up again. She is another year older and learns that her father is out of a job and her class trip to France is cancelled due to financial woes. She was feeling a bit bummed out now. Even to make matters worse the one boy she likes seems to like a new student.

The one thing that cheers her up is that she received an invitation for another vintage fashion sale by the two strange ladies that she met from the last book who's names are Marla and Glenda. She arrives to the shop as she glances around checking out the dresses while Marla and Glenda are strange as usual. She somehow finds a stunning blue French gown tucked away. She was tempted to try it on but it wasn't what the owners wanted her to slip on. She transformed back in tome to the world of Marie Antoinette court with politics and drama!

Louise finds herself in shock and sees France for its truth in wealth and poor. She remembers if what her history teacher told of her the events that happen to Marie and tries to fix it. She does her best but somehow realizes she needs to get herself back before the revolt starts. I love how Louise learns about herself again in this journey, how rich history really is and how history can even reflect on your own home.

Another fun and quick read! The illustrations are stunning as usual! I love these series. The pace and history details in this book and previous book is just amazing. I look forward to more from this author! Book three I think will be in the works considering Louise may have a new crush!

Go pick up these series today...great reads, great fun!

Stories Ratings: A
Cover Ratings: A


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Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van leer Review

Disclaimer: I bought this book to read to give it an honest opinion!

Between the Lines

Author: Jodi Picoult & Samantha van Leer
Hardcover
Pages: 358
Published: June 26, 2012
Simon Pulse

Overview:
Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.

And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.

Delilah and Oliver work together to attempt to get Oliver out of his book, a challenging task that forces them to examine their perceptions of fate, the world, and their places in it. And as their attraction to each other grows along the way, a romance blossoms that is anything but a fairy tale.


My Review:
I grabbed this book as the title caught my attention. I read the the tidbit about what the book was and decided to give it a go. Well when I started it was okay but when I got further into the story, it seemed slow and a bit confusing from the different point of views that were going on. Each chapter or sub chapter would be from the charter's point of view (mostly Delilah's or Oliver's). You would have to concentrate a bit on the story to keep up with it.

Fairy tale story with a modern twist. Of course this story has a prince, love, friends, creatures..the usual aspects that fairy tales consist of. Then there's the heartbreaking part of losing someone. The modern twist is at the end of the book which I thought was pretty amazing!

The fun thing about this book was the sketches. I loved seeing the sketches with the story in this book. You could actually get a feel for what was going on better.

The two characters that are mentioned in this book mostly is Oliver and Delilah. Delilah is a gal who is a loner and loves to read. She wants to get lost in a story and not deal with real life. What teenager wants to get lost in a different world at times? Oliver is a character in the book who wants not to be in a book anymore. He is curious of what is outside of this story and book. He wants to be free. Freedom is something everyone treasures and dares to be explored! Delilah identifies with Oliver and see him as a friend. They both are likable characters. Who could not like them? I thought they were a good match for each other.

So one day Oliver ends up trying to talk to Delilah and she hears him! Their worlds collide as they chat to one another. Can you imagine a book talking to you one day? This was pretty neat. They both like each other and yet the mission was to figure out how to get Oliver out of the book! I liked how they come up with hypothesis and then test them out! Some go well and some do not. Each one is an adventure. At times both Oliver and Delilah get frustrated in dealing with figuring things out along with reality that hits them in their own worlds but they still try to figure out a way. Will they succeed in getting Oliver out of the book?

As I mentioned up above, it was kind of confusing for me a bit on what was going on and seemed a bit slow. It was an okay story. To those who like fairy tales, I'd give it a shot if you are into that genre! I'm glad I read it just to try something different and new.

Cover Rating: B

Story Rating: C


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Ripper Review by Amy Carol Reeves

Disclaimer: I bought this book to read to give it an honest opinion!

Ripper


Author: Amy Carol Reeves
Pages: 340
Publisher: Flux
Published: April 8, 2012

Overview
It's 1888, and after her mother's sudden death, Abbie is sent to live with her grandmother in a posh London neighborhood. When she begins volunteering at Whitechapel Hospital, Abbie finds she has a passion for helping the abused and sickly women there.

But within days, patients begin turning up murdered at the hands of Jack the Ripper. As more women are murdered, Abbie realizes that she and the Ripper share a strange connection: she has visions showing the Ripper luring his future victims to their deaths--moments before he turns his knife upon them. Her desperation to stop the massacres leads Abbie on a perilous hunt for the killer. And her search leads to a mysterious brotherhood whose link to the Ripper threatens not just London but all of mankind.

My Review:
The cover caught my attention immediately! I purchased this book and then started to read. The setting takes place in 19th century in London. The author immediately makes you feel like you are there during that time period. Of course I liked how Abbie gets thrown into the world of the medical field. She seems to be the type of gal that can handle anything thrown her way. If I was thrown into that situation I don't think I could handle the cases that Abbie attended to. Abbie seems very interested in learning about the medical field and wants to pursue it. I thought this was great. During that time, it was very rare for women to try to pursue this considering most were to be married and have children.

Anyways, the main character is Abbie who has a wild spirit like her mother but is living with her grandmother who wants her to act a certain way. Her grandmother wants Abbie to have the proper upbringing. Although Abbie tries to abide her grandmother's rules but she knows better than to go down that path. She's a generous, kind and a hard worker character.

While she continues to volunteer, she gets visions tied in with Jack the Ripper killing the victims. Abbie is very brave to tolerate those visions she gets. I know I would be out of mind if I saw what Jack the Ripper did. This also gets Abbie's curiosity peaked as she tries to solve who Jack the Ripper is. Abbie also feels guilty that she had to see those women die and she cared for them.

Of course there is a love triangle in this story. There is Simon and William. The one thing different about this love triangle compared to the usual one is that Simon and William are both good guys. It's not like the good guy vs the bad guy. Okay Simon genially cares about his patients and would be a great approval from Abbie's grandmother as well. Simon is a saint type of guy. Then there's William who is a great physician as well but holds back in trust a bit. Simon is a bi tore open while William is a bit more closed. Who will Abbie go for?

The ending let me wanting more. Is there a second book? I so want to see what happens next with Abbie, Simon and William. Will the Ripper get caught? What will be next?
BR>

Cover Rating: A
Story Rating: B +

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Ghost Town: Saranormal 1 by Phoebe Rivers Review

Disclaimer: I bought this book to read to give it an honest opinion!

Ghost Town: Saranormal #1

Author: Phoebe Rivers
Page: 160
Published date: May 1, 2012
Publisher: Simon Spotlight
Series: Yes
Style: Paperback

Overview:
Sara Collins is a normal twelve-year-old girl with an abnormal secret: She is psychic. She’s had her abilities for as long as she can remember, but she doesn’t like to talk about them. She hopes that if she ignores them, they might go away. Sara wants nothing more than to have a normal life, and to her, “normal” doesn’t include anything paranormal.

But Sara’s life is about to be turned upside down, because she’s moving across the country with her dad to an old shore town in New Jersey. A shore town with a lot of history…and more than its fair share of ghosts roaming around. As Sara tries to settle into her new home, she discovers that for the first time, the ghosts around her can communicate with her. One ghost in particular desperately needs something from her and won’t leave her alone. Sara wants to help, but she’s scared. Can Sara put her fear aside and help the spirit? Will doing so put her in jeopardy?

My Take
So I picked this book up in the children's section of a bookstore while my kids were exploring the store at the time. The book caught my eye and made me think this is something I would so read when I was younger.

It took me about a day and half to read this book. As the overview mentions up above Sara is heading into a new town which is an older town and she isn't too keen on being there since she has the ability to be psychic and see ghosts. So she tries to not deal with her ability while being in the new town and so wants to be normal.

Sara ends up meeting another girl who she becomes friends with. She still haven't told anyone of her gift. Of course there is the kooky psychic lady that lives near by Sara and her dad which Sara is not sure what to make of the lady. Somehow while being in this town, she then somehow gets tangled in with a ghost who wanted her to do something. Does Sara eventually help the ghost or does she ignore her gift?

This book is great for elementary children and up! The cover is rather cute and catches the eye rather nicely. Another great find in books!

Cover Rating: A
Story Rating: A

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His Dark Embrace Review by Amanda Ashley

Disclaimer: I bought this book to read to give it an honest opinion!

His Dark Embrace
Author: Amanda Ashley
Published: June 1, 2012
Publisher: Zebra
Pages: 338

Overview:
Tall, dark, mysterious—and with a faint scar on his cheek that only makes him more gorgeous—Kaiden Thorne is one schoolgirl obsession Skylynn never forgot. Now, returning to her childhood home after eight years, she can’t believe her reclusive neighbor is still living across the street—and hotter than ever. Skylynn doesn’t know how Kaiden manages to stay so young, virile, and impossibly attractive. But she knows she wants him…even if he harbors a fearful secret he refuses to tell her.

When Kaiden sees the beautiful young woman Skylynn has become, he can no longer control the bloodlust that is his true nature. Once he pulls Skylynn into his arms, presses his lips against hers—and accidentally draws blood—he longs for more. Only she possesses what he wants and what he needs. Only she can save him or destroy him. But once Skylynn agrees to help Kaiden battle his darkest desires, there is no turning back.

My Review:
Occasionally I read Amanda Ashely's books as I haven't read her books in a long time. Some are good and some are so so. Yes I occasionally like the vampire romance type of genre.

As the overview is mentioned up above, I liked both characters: Kaiden and Skylynn. Of course Skylynn always had a crush on Kaiden when she was growing up. Kaiden seemed to developed a crush for Skylynn when he sees her as a woman. Somehow Skylynn learns of what Kaiden is as the two get close together. At first she was in shock and thought how was it even possible that vampires exist? She did not know what to do but slowly decided to hear Kaiden out. Once Kaiden explained himself to her, things to be calm.

Skylynn brother returns home with amnesia and Kaiden's enemy arrives. Drama peaks up and both Skylynn and Kaiden go on an adventure together. The adventure seemed a bit short paced somehow. Of course there are turns and twists in this story which I did not even see coming. It was a refreshing change of pace for myself to read.

So will Kaiden and Skylynn be together or will one of them bite the dust? Pick up the book today and find out.

I do have to mention the cover is stunning. I like the gold and black together with Kaiden's appearance on it.

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Cover Rating: B Story Rating: B

Quick mini Update...

I've been away since I've moved back to Illinois with my family and it has been one thing after another in adjustment, getting the house in order, a wedding to go to, and the list goes on. Hopefully things will all mellow out and I can get some reviews going. So the reviews will come slowly but surely.

I'm also a co blogger at Me, My Shelf and I : http://www.memyshelfandi.com/ There will be some reviews up there as well under my name: Sarah.

I do hope you continue to read my blog on my reviews to come! I can't wait to share with you what I've read.