Waiting on Wednesday (37)

WoW is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine!

Ripple by Mandy Hubbard
Razorbill/2011
Description (from GoodReads):
Eighteen year old Lexi Wentworth is cursed. For as long as she can remember, she’s spent every night swimming. If she doesn’t, she’ll regret it—simply walking will be agony, as if she’s stepping on shattered glass. Her body craves the water, demands the water, until she can’t say no.



But it's not the swimming that troubles Lexi. It’s the singing that goes with it.When she turned sixteen, her siren song killed the only boy she's ever loved. Now, she avoids the popular shores of the Pacific in favor of a long forgotten lake up in the mountains, where she can swim and sing in peace, far from the population of her oceanside home.


Until, that is, Troy Mills discovers her lake. He’s new to Lincoln City High, and he doesn’t know about Lexi’s reputation as an ice queen—a reputation she’s carefully cultivated to keep everyone around her safe. He pushes her, talks to her, forces her to dream of what life could be like if she weren’t a siren.


Lexi can’t stop herself from warming to him, from falling for him. Soon, he’s demanding answers, following her to the lake, unknowingly risking his life. How can she keep him safe when the one thing she wants most--to hold him close-- will endanger his life?

I enjoyed Mandy Hubbard's PRADA AND PREJUDICE, which was extremely cute, and I'm curious about RIPPLE. It seems a bit darker than her previous novels, so I'm interested to see how this story compares to P&P and YOU WISH.

I'll be watching for it in 2011!

Review: Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard

Title: Prada and Prejudice
Author: Mandy Hubbard
Publisher: Razorbill
Pub. Date: 2009
Genre: YA
Main themes: Time travel, Love, Rank/Popularity, Friendship, Self Esteem
Pages: 238
Plot (from back cover):
"Callie is tired of being a clumsy geek-girl. So during a school trip to London she buys her ticket to popularity: a pair of REAL Prada pumps. But then she wobbles on the cobblestones, trips on her too-high heels, and conks her head. When she comes to, it's the year 1815!
Luckily she meets kindhearted Emily, who mistakes Callie for a long-lost friend. Sparks soon ignite - of the nice and not-so-nice variety - between Callie and Alex, the handsome but totally arrogant Duke of Harksbury. Too bad Alex seems to have something sinister up his ruffled sleeve...
Can Callie save Emily from a dire engagement, win a kiss from Alex and prove to herself that she's more than just a loud-mouth klutz before her time in the past is up?"

Prada and Prejudice was cute and quick read that blends romance, time travel, and a wonderful coming of age story!

Callie was a good main character, it was easy to relate to her insecurities and rejoice at her growth and newfound confidence as the story progressed. :

Alex was a perfectly written - Pride and Prejudice's Darcy is the model for all of my favorite character crushes and Alex definitely fit that mold!

I liked Prada and Prejudice, but there were some aspects that disappointed me, like the ending. I felt like the book ended abruptly and unsatifactorily. There was a character, that I won't name because of spoilers and all that, who was promptly forgotten about after being a main focus of the book up to that point. It was so frustrating to me! :( I like that it was a cute and quick read, but I felt like it was missing some substance. I can't really say for sure what - perhaps I just felt like Callie was a bit too cookie cutter...

Ratings (out of 10):
Plot: 9
Characters: 8
Writing style: 10
Romance: 8
Originality: 10
Total: 45/50 (A-)

I thought that this book was definitely worth reading, but it wasn't really a rush to the top of your TBR pile read. I recommend checking it out from the library and reading it before you decide to buy it...

In My Mailbox (6)

IMM is hosted by Kristi, aka The Story Siren!

I'm really pumped about all the books IMM this week - all of them have been on my wishlist!


The Tear Collector by Patrick Jones (9/1/09, Walker Books)
"Fans of urban fantasy should prepare for a new kind of vampire–one that feeds off of tears instead of blood. Descended from an ancient line of creatures that gain their energy from human tears, Cassandra Gray depends on human sorrow to live. Only Cass has grown tired of living this life and wants to live like a human, especially now that she's met someone worth fighting for."
This book came as part of Traveling to Teens and I am so excited for it! It looks so amazing!


Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard (already out from Razorbill)
"To impress the popular girls on a high school trip to London, klutzy Callie buys real Prada heels. But trying them on, she trips…conks her head…and wakes up in the year 1815!
There Callie meets Emily, who takes her in, mistaking her for a long-lost friend. As she spends time with Emily’s family, Callie warms to them—particularly to Emily’s cousin Alex, a hottie and a duke, if a tad arrogant.
But can Callie save Emily from a dire engagement, and win Alex’s heart, before her time in the past is up?
More Cabot than Ibbotson, Prada and Prejudice is a high-concept romantic comedy about finding friendship and love in the past in order to have happiness in the present."
I found this one at my new library where I live in Kalamazoo - which is huge! Basically, I am in love with a library. Creepy? I think not! Okay, maybe, but I don't even care!


Meridian by Amber Kizer (out now from Delacorte)
Half-human, half-angel, Meridian Sozu has a dark responsibility.
Sixteen-year-old Meridian has been surrounded by death ever since she can remember. As a child, insects, mice, and salamanders would burrow into her bedclothes and die. At her elementary school, she was blamed for a classmate’s tragic accident. And on her sixteenth birthday, a car crashes in front of her family home—and Meridian’s body explodes in pain.
Before she can fully recover, Meridian is told that she’s a danger to her family and hustled off to her great-aunt’s house in Revelation, Colorado. It’s there that she learns that she is a Fenestra—the half-angel, half-human link between the living and the dead. But Meridian and her sworn protector and love, Tens, face great danger from the Aternocti, a band of dark forces who capture vulnerable souls on the brink of death and cause chaos.
This one was at the library too - and I've been dying to read it so I was super excited!


The Naughty List by Suzanne Young (2/10/2010 from Razorbill)
"Tessa Crimson: Cheerleader by Day, Spy by Night
As leader of the SOS (Society of Smitten Kittens), Tessa’s mission is twofold: pep preservation and relationship salvation. That’s right, Tessa is a head cheerleader whose night job is catching cheating boyfriends in the act! Thank goodness her own relationship with Aiden is strawberry-smoothie purrfect—except for the fact that she’s been concealing her nocturnal habits for, oh, two years.
Aiden suspects something’s up, and his patience is wearing thin. But in the meantime, Tessa’s far too busy to deal with her own romantic roadblocks. The Naughty List is at maximum capacity; because so far, every single suspect on it is 100% guilty.
When sultry Chloe Ferril transfers to Washington High, things only become more catastrophic. Tessa knows this predatory vixen won’t stop hunting Aiden until her claws are planted firmly in his backside…
But Tessa’s in for an even bigger shock when Aiden’s name shows up on The Naughty List, and she’s finally forced to confront the unthinkable: is her own boyfriend just as naughty as all the rest?"
I can't wait to read this one!! I think that it has such an interesting premise... for some reason it reminds me of Veronica Mars, which makes me want to read it even more. And watch Veronica Mars... :) Thanks Razorbill for the copy!