Title & Author
Sweet Little Lies by Lauren Conrad

Publisher
HarperCollins

Publication Date
February 2nd 2010

Pages
309

How Sweet it is?

Jane Roberts was the average girl next door until she and her best friend, Scarlett Harp, landed their own reality show, “L.A. Candy.” Now the girls have an all-access pass to Hollywood’s hottest “everything.” But there’s more to life on camera than just parties and shopping….

When racy photos of Jane are leaked to the press, she finds herself at the center of a tabloid scandal. She turns to her co-star Madison Parker for help, unaware that Madison is scheming behind the scenes. She might be Jane’s shoulder to cry on, but does Madison really have Jane’s back?

Scarlett’s working on a scandal of her own. She’s fallen for someone who’s strictly off-limits–which means Scarlett has a big secret to keep … from the “L.A. Candy” cameras, the paparazzi staking out her apartment, even from her best friend.

Of course, nothing stays secret for long for the stars of the newest hit TV series, and all this drama couldn’t be better for ratings. But can Jane survive another season in the spotlight?

In television star Lauren Conrad’s dishy, entertaining novel about young Hollywood, the lies are only as sweet as the people telling them. – Goodreads

I have never watched “Laguna Beach” or “The Hills” (without being forced), but I do have to say, Lauren Conrad is a pretty cool person. She is very proactive in working in fashion as well as writing books and I applaud that.

This is the second book of the “L.A. Candy” series and I thought it was pretty good. It was even a little better than the first – there are definitely a lot more questions left to be answered and of course always more drama.

Lauren Conrad has a rather unique style of writing, with a lot of asides (kind of like me), but I think it works quite well given the subject of her books. A lot of her detail lies on the people, more so than the scenery, but I think this works well as the focus is more on the stars of LA Candy and the people involved with it.

I think my favorite character of this series is Scarlett Harp. In this book she proves that she’s not all in your face and doesn’t care about things; she also shows that she has a girly side to her. Especially with her “love interest”, she finds out things about herself that even surprise her.

Final Thoughts: Even if you’re not a fan of reality TV, this book does show insights of what it could be like to be a reality star. It is quite interesting and I only think I like to read about it, rather than live it.

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to let you know I am currently in the process of writing a review (plus making the rest of the site’s pages), but I’ve been feeling sick again so reading/writing are not the number one things I want to do when I’m constantly getting headaches (which really sucks because I want to read the stack of library books I got!) I haven’t abandoned you all yet, never fear!

Title & Author
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Publisher
Hyperion Book CH

Publication Date
March 2nd 2010

Pages
323

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. – Goodreads

I’m not exactly sure what it was, but I just couldn’t seem to put this book down and I read it in one night. It was extraordinary. I haven’t had an experience with a book like that in quite a long time.

The very beginnings of this book were really funny and light. There were a lot of good one-liners by Sophie Mercer, the main character. Her thoughts and reactions throughout the book are pretty hilarious and I found myself (whether it was from what I was reading, the time of night or a combination) laughing uncontrollably at one part. I think Sophie is every kind of girl’s girl. She’s sarcastic, witty and I think she’d make an awesome friend, despite her being a witch.

I love how Rachel Hawkins describes things in this book. For example, when Sophie first walks into Hex Hall, it’s a gross, dingy, rather shabby looking place. You can just feel the mustiness in the building, along with the decaying furniture. You can really visualize the transparency faerie wings and the spells the witches perform.

Though the book was had humor throughout, the story got pretty intense. There was some moderately dark stories/imagery (not terrible) and a lot of plot twists I didn’t expect. I was right one element though because I had an inkling about it, since it’s something you see in a lot of supernatural based stories, but otherwise, it was pretty suspenseful.

There were obviously main ingredients of school life: the handsome guy everyone liked, the best friend, the mean girls, that one teacher everyone dislikes, but I think the author made the plot so well, to me it didn’t seem like an ordinary boarding school book.

This was a really great story and I’m so looking forward to reading the next two books!

Final Thoughts: Humor and the supernatural definitely fit well together for this book and I would totally recommend it!